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DELPHIC at Digital, Newcastle

THE bar has been set high for a band like Delphic. They are one of the acts to watch this year and recently came third on the BBC’s Sound of 2010, so expectations were high when they played Digital as part of Radio One’s and Pete Tong’s In New Music We Trust.Read

GRIME artist Tinie Tempah, who is currently at number one with his single Pass Out, is heading to the Middlesbrough Empire next week.

Creating a buzz within the urban scene, Londoner Tinie, 21, shot his first music video aged 17 for promotional single Wifey, which was destined to become an underground smash hit. Since then, Tinie has ascended into the mainstream. His highly anticipated album Discovery is due for release in early 2010.Read

Shedding Light on our success

THE chart-topping Editors are on another UK tour and will be in Newcastle tomorrow. LIZ LAMB chats to drummer Ed Lay about the band’s rise to fame.Read

Shambling in

HE’S more famous for his private life than his music these days but Pete Doherty has sold out two dates in the North with his band Babyshambles.Read

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ALPHABEAT – THE BEAT IS...: A clear tradition of Scandinavian pop/rock groups incorporating a male/female vocal dynamic runs from Abba through Roxette and on to Aqua, and it will surely be continued by a second album from Alphabeat, which is crammed full of catchy, undemanding chart-bound fun. The charming interplay between the two main singers certainly raises their sophomore effort above the vast miasma of contemporary processed and packaged pop. The beguilingly effective tracks here are Always Up With You and Till I Get Round. The Beat Is . . . also showcases a fashionable dance music swagger at times, with the current single Hole in My Heart and the title track proving particularly beat-heavy.Read

PICK OF THE UNSIGNED TALENT

NEXT week, The Journal Tyne Theatre in Newcastle will host the regional finals of Live and Unsigned – one of the biggest UK talent competitions in the music industry.Read

Gearing up for flight of the Falcon

THE Courteeners play the Radio 1 In New Music We Trust gig in Newcastle on March 4 before embarking on their UK tour. LIZ LAMB talks to the band.Read

Mixing it up with Maximo

INDIE rockers Maximo Park are offering up-and-coming musicians and bedroom DJs the chance to showcase their skills by remixing the band’s latest album. LIZ LAMB chats to keyboard player Lukas Wooler.Read

Evolution end for Donovan

LEGENDARY singer Donovan will be performing his last ever gig when he appears at this year’s Evolution Festival on Newcastle’s Quayside.Read

RADIO ONE’S IN THE TOON

SOME of the greatest acts in the new music scene are heading to the North next month.Read

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THE son of Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney is following in his father’s footsteps.Read

A HAITI Fundraiser is being held at The Cluny, Newcastle, on Friday, with Field Music, Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny. There are also DJ sets from Frankie & The Heartstrings + Our Beat Is Correct. 7pm to 1am. Tickets £8. See www.ticketweb.co.uk

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS have announced a new UK tour. The British pop band will head out on a 22-date tour in April to coincide with the release of their second album, Everybody Wants To Be On TV, on April 12. Band member Roy Stride says: “Having spent the past year locked in the studio, we cannot wait to get out there and do what we do best. We are so excited about this tour – It should be our greatest yet.Read

Timing right as ’Beat goes on

DANISH pop group Alphabeat are heading to the North in March to support Lady Gaga. LIZ LAMB chats to singer Anders SG.Read

CORINNE BAILEY RAE – THE SEA: It is four years since Corinne Bailey Rae’s eponymous debut album of happy jazz tunes was released. In the intervening years, the Grammy-nominated 30-year-old has been to the depths of despair when she lost her musician husband Jason to an accidental drugs overdose in 2008. Her second album, The Sea, clearly reflects her emotional journey. Lead single I’d Do It All Again was written two months before Jason died, after the pair had a fight. Are You Here combines the lightness of a simple guitar riff, with Bailey Rae’s soaring, yearning vocals, while Paris Nights/New York Mornings is even more upbeat. The record has been therapeutic for her and, while many lyrics touch on pain and death, it has a hopeful feel.

THE POSTMARKS – MEMOIRS AT THE END OF THE WORLD: Imagine being given a beautifully wrapped box of chocolates with a shiny ribbon around it, intricate swirls on every sweet and a “menu” of flavours under the lid complete with fancy fonts? Now imagine putting one in your mouth and finding out it is just a Rolo. Listening to The Postmarks’ new album produces a similar sense of deflation. Everything about it is wonderfully put together – a suitably grandiose title, lovely retro packaging and the crispest of production. Then there are the songs. Thoroughly inoffensive and, like a Rolo, perfectly fine. But there is no wit and little panache and the recurring orchestral rushes scream style over substance.Read

MARINA MAKES HER OWN MARK

WITHOUT a hint of irony Marina confesses: “I knew from when I was nine I was going to do this. I knew,”Read

Tempest’s still raging

THEY were once one of the biggest rock bands in the world, selling 16 million albums worldwide – and now Europe are back with a new album and tour. LIZ LAMB chats to lead singer Joey Tempest.Read

YOUR Sunday Sun is giving you the chance to meet the sensational hard rockers Europe before their highly-anticipated concert at the Newcastle O2 Academy on Saturday, February 27.

Not only will you get the chance to meet Europe before the show, but you will also win a pair of tickets to the concert, a signed copy of the band’s Last Look At Eden album and an exclusive band T-shirt.Read

Latest album could be best yet

SONGSTRESS Katie Melua could be on the way to producing her finest album to date.Read

FYFE DANGERFIELD – FLY YELLOW MOON: Ever since Guillemots were on everyone’s Ones To Watch list back in 2004, there’s been something special about the band’s charismatic frontman, Fyfe Dangerfield. As he’s proved on their two albums, Through The Windowpane and Red, he knows his way around a song and has a glorious touch with a melody. Taking a step away from his band for a second, he’s managed to record a solo album, and what a lovely effort it is too. Fans of the breezy nature to Guillemots’ debut will find lots to enjoy here. Thankfully, Fly Yellow Moon abandons the R’n’B elements which threatened to spoil Red and goes for simple, emotive string and piano arrangements, which let Dangerfield’s wonderful songs, none finer than closer Don’t Be Shy, do the talking.

ESMEE DENTERS – OUTTA HERE: She was spotted by Justin Timberlake when her R&B covers were uploaded to YouTube. Now, signed to the NSYNC* star’s own label, Tennman Records, she releases her debut album with “Trousersnake” as the executive producer on the singer’s album. Timberlake has made a shrewd business move by signing the Dutch singer. While she doesn’t offer anything particularly out of the ordinary, her vocals lend themselves perfectly to pop R’n’B numbers – the kind which has been clogging up the charts over the past couple of years. Think of Amerie and Ciara crossed with Miley Cyrus. The tunes are radio and chart-friendly and should see her thrust into the mainstream.Read