De La Soul is an American hip hop group formed in 1987 in Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres. The members are Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos, Mercenary, Plug Wonder Why, Plug One), David Jude Jolicoeur (Trugoy the Dove, Dave, Plug Two) and Vincent Mason (P.A. Pasemaster Mase, Maseo, Plug Three). The three formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Paul Huston (Prince Paul) with a demo tape of the song "Plug Tunin'". Prince Paul was also sometimes referred to as Plug Four. The "Plug" names are alleged to come from the numbers that each bandmate's microphone was labeled on the soundboard. Posdnuos was always plugged into plug one, Trugoy was plugged into plug two, and so forth.

With its playful wordplay, innovative sampling, and witty skits, the band's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, has been hailed as a hip-hop masterpiece. It is also the band's biggest commercial success to date, with their subsequent albums selling progressively less, despite receiving high praise from critics. A measure of 3 Feet High and Rising's cross-over appeal was the fact that it was voted Album of the Year by NME Magazine, a title better known for its taste in guitar-based music. De La Soul has influenced numerous other hip hop artists such as Camp Lo, Black Eyed Peas, and Digable Planets. They were also influential in the early stages of rapper/actor Mos Def's career, and are a core part of the Spitkicker collective. They are the longest standing Native Tongues Posse group, after the Jungle Brothers.

GOMEZ

ATO Records artist Gomez has revealed details of its new album, A NEW TIDE which marks a return to the British band's more experimental roots.  Gomez toured extensively surrounding the last album's release, as both headliner and opening slots, as well as performing at such annual gatherings as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Sasquatch!, Vegoose, Summerfest, and the UK's V Festival.   The band also made a number of national TV appearances, including performances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno , Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and A&E's Breakfast with the Arts .   Gomez will be touring in support of A NEW TIDE throughout 2009.

FUTURE OF THE LEFT

Future of the Left features Andrew Falkous (vocals/guitar/keyboard), Kelson Louis Matthias (bass/vocals/keyboard) and Jack Egglestone (drums/vocals).  Their latest album takes its name from the memoirs of 20th Century war reporter Martha Gellhorn, ‘Travels With Myself And Another’ and was recorded in three concentrated bursts at Monnow Valley studios in Monmouth, with mixing at Faster Studios and Warwick Hall in Cardiff.  There are songs about the modern male identity, a brutish heaviness, and there are strange inventions, like the closing ‘Lapsed Catholics’, which begins as an acoustic/spoken word piece, but confuses Jacob's Ladder for The Shawshank Redemption, reveals Rupert Murdoch to be Satan incarnate, ponders the notion of an afterlife, and brings the whole edifice tumbling down with guitars that go up like TNT sticks. And that's it, twelve songs in fewer than 33 minutes.

AWESOME COLOR

Since the June 2006 release of their eponymous debut album on Thurston Moore's label, Ecstatic Peace!, Awesome Color have been busy touring relentlessly and spreading their psych-rock-Michigan-pride-free-radical sounds to anyone with ears to listen and hopefully some pancakes to eat, a floor to sleep on and directions to the local skatepark.

In addition to tours with Dinosaur, Jr., Sonic Youth, Radio Birdman, Be Your Own Pet and Tall Firs in 2006 and 2007, Awesome Color have ventured to the UK and Europe multiple times.

The new album “Electric Aborigines on Ecstatic Peace!” sees the band more comfortable with the studio environment and experimenting with different sounds. Not lost is their passion for playing high-energy rock'n'roll. Once again they also get down with some of their friends: Scotty Karate (Scotch Bonnet), Joseph Harms (Used To Be Women), and Matt Mottel (Talibam!), who help with guest musician and vocalist duties.

The album has received postive reviews in Spin, MOJO, Plan B and was album of the month in Vice.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN

With Carly's debut Tug Of War, one gets the sense we're hearing an album that would have shimmered into existence with or without the blue-lit over-exposure native to a nationwide talent contest (Canadian Idol). As Carly points out - without a hint of self-aggrandizement - there can't be too many Idol-survivors whose first album contains nine self-penned originals.

Jepsen's unfussy debut plays like a middle passage through the stealth pop gloss of Nelly Furtado and the more adult concerns of Feist, whom Carly adores. Her childhood diet of James Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, and Van Morrison serves her well on Tug Of War, from the smartly built, double-edged title track, to the sense of drama that invigorates the record's centerpiece, "Sweet Talker."

Carly mentions "I want to play good music that lasts a lifetime. You don't need to be known by everybody. You just reach out to the people who feel what you're doing, you know?" Spoken, as somebody once said, like a true musician.

EDWARD SHARPE

Birthed by Mouth in the year two-thousand and five, young Edward Sharpe had to wait nearly two years before he was to grow his arms and legs and fingers and toes.

Immaculately conceived, his father (a Robot who had magically become a real boy…but that’s another story) declared his undying devotion to the creature.  He perched the fleshy bust upon a teetering pedestal fashioned from stacked cereal boxes and positioned the display at his window for all the town to see.   Young Edward soon proved no ordinary boy.
 

And Many More!