Liz Lawrence interview and new track

Ruth Barnes with Liz Lawrence

Supremely talented singer-songwriter Liz Lawrence dropped by the studio at Amazing Radio to play us a brand new track, Health & Safety, but also to talk about the trials and tribulations of being a young whipper-snapper signed to a major label (EMI) only to realise that it's not all that you dreamt it would be, but quite the opposite. Going indie is the way forward!

Bachelorette interview on quitting and new album

  

Ha! That got your attention didn't it? Well, the New Zealander is not exactly quitting but this may be the end of the Bachelorette project... the world is Annabel Alpers' oyster!

Bachelorette is Annabel Alpers, a quiet New Zealander who has made a dreamy, other-worldy, electronic record filled with clever lyrics and melodies worthy of the pop greats. Bachelorette, her third album, is out now on Souterrain Transmissions and could be the end of the solo Bachelorette project, as she says, she may just find a band and start rocking out - who knows! We chatted backstage ahead of her show at Camp Basement in east London and - you lazy journo's who name check Bjork as her main influence - the Icelandic songstress had nothing to do with this!

The Other Woman interviews east London hipster duo Visions of Trees aka Joni and Sarah - talking synths, remixes and R&B

Joni and Sara are London duo Visions of Trees, labeled the 'new kings of UK miserablism' by RCRDLBL.com. They are doing an excellent job of making some distorted, synth-heavy, dreamy electro-pop which they assure TOW is heading is far more upbeat, R&B direction...

The power of the blogging fraternity is highlighted once again, as the duo only met a year ago but the buzz has been steadily increasing to what is now a frenetic roar - regarding their debut EP Sometimes It Kills, which is out on Moshi Moshi.

We met over a drink in east London, and one false start outta the way, we chuntered on about how they met, remixing Ashanti and how it would be nice if someone actually PAID them to do what they do!

You can catch them live at Camden Crawl, Great Escape and Glastonbury this year... as well as a show at Koko on April 24th.

The Other Woman meets DIY US artist Merrill Garbus aka Tune-Yards to discuss her new album w h o k i l l out now on 4AD

Almost a year to the day since we met Merrill Garbus ahead of her mind-boggling show at Cargo we meet again at a pub in Tufnell Park, north London. Since then her debut album Bird Brains released on 4AD has topped 'Best of' bloggers lists around the world and her highly anticipated follow up, w h o k i l l is due out soon...

TOW has had a listen, we LOVE it and so we caught up again to talk through the new album's themes: 'women' and 'violence' top the agenda. Nate Brenner, her partner and bass-player extraordinaire joins in too to emphasise how much they've worked on Merrill's voice for this album - he's made her sing aswell as holler and the result is gorgeous, click on the picture to listen:

TUNE-YARDS!! aka Merrill Garbus - an interview in three parts

Merrill Garbus aka Tune-Yards knocked the crowd at London's Cargo last night to the floor with one of the best gigs TOW has seen in yonks. Look out 2010 here she comes!

 Part 1:

   Tune-Yards 1  by  ruthbarnes

*On signing with 4AD, how things have changed so fundamentally in the past year, headlining Cargo, life since graduating ten years ago, African influences

Please excuse the drum sound check which is going on in the background! It goes away eventually...

Part 2:

   Tune-Yards 2  by  ruthbarnes

*More about Africa and questions surrounding how as a Westerner you can use 'World Music' (so called) without exploiting it, on Bird Brains being essentially a pop record

Part 3:

   Tune-Yards 3  by  ruthbarnes

*On not overusing the loop pedal, the DIY work ethic, on producing other people's music, on women producers, the future...