Buzz Track: Never Wrong

Darling Parade will perform this Friday, February 17th at Highline Ballroom in NYC. The latest EP released in November was produced by Jon King (Augustana, Throwing Gravity, 3 Pill Morning) and charted #8 on Billboards Next Big Sound Chart as well music featured on ABC Family’s The Lying Game. The band is currently on tour with Cassadee Pope (of Hey Monday) & Stephen Jerzak.

Contact: mgmt@darlingparade.com

Music fans may have witnessed a glimmer of hope watching Adele clean up at the Grammys who scored an award in all six categories including Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Vocal Performance, Short Form Music Video, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year.

Lady Gaga was shutout at the Grammy Awards as Adele beat her 3 times. It seems that auto-tune and manufactured songs written by overpaid songwriters which has saturated radio may have hit its peak. This may explain why Adele’s smash album spent 20 weeks on the chart at #1, sold 6.6 million albums and will sell another 250k records this week.

Foo Fighters David Grohl commented on the state of artistry recommending to learn an instrument and sing in the microphone.

“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]”

In the case of Adele’s impact, will the music industry scramble to find the next Adele? I’m not sure if that is possible because Adele is unique.

“She’s a rare case of an artist where she can breeze in, sit down and just knock everybody out. On top of the quality of the songwriting, there’s just an indefinable charisma and power to her voice. It was so obvious that there didn’t need to be anything to mask it,” Thompson recalled. “There wasn’t an issue of production…there was nothing dressed up about it…She never even took off her gloves.”

Instead of the music business flooding the market with Adele clones, it should be viewed as a learning lesson. We can learn that the public picks up on sincerity in performance and artists are still capable of selling millions of CD’s. The cliche “it’s all about the music” comes to life.

Richard Russell, founder of her record label, XL Recordings says:

“The whole message with [Adele] is that it’s just music, it’s just really good music,” he told U.K. newspaper, the Guardian.

“There is nothing else. There are no gimmicks, no selling of sexuality. I think in the American market, particularly, they have come to the conclusion that is what you have to do.”

Russell said the “faux porn” imagery of some female artists had left him feeling “a bit queasy.”

With Adele topping charts, he thinks record companies will think again about how they market female artists and suggests that will have a positive influence on young girls.

He said: “Now you see that Adele is No. 1. What a great thing, how amazing. Not only are young girls going to see that, but [also] the business people who are behind all those videos.

“It’s going to make them rethink what they should be doing.”

Adele said in a recent interview with Q magazine that she did not sexualize her image because it did not fit with her music.

“Even if I had Rihanna’s body, I’d still be making the music I make and that don’t go together,” she said.

Buzz Track: Novacane

Rapper and singer-songwriter Becky G is the newest Dr. Luke’s Sony/RCA signing. Check out her video for the track Novacane that lead her to buzz.

Some news on Kings favorite female fronted act I Killed the Symphony. The band is touring with Black Veiled Brides in Brazil playing sold out shows, have been selected for Xtreme Games tour as well as SXSW in March.

Buzz Track: Alive

I Killed the Symphony, a female fronted act lead by Britt Joyce has become a Kings favorite after listening to the track My Enemy. Her music is influenced by cult classic films particularly writer/director Tarentino.

Contact: Roger.ivm@gmail.com

Buzz Track: Hold On

Alabama Shakes have been the focus of the indie crowd. Boys & Girls, the full-length debut album was released in North America in April by ATO Records and released internationally by Rough Trade. They were named “New Band of the Year” by Paste Magazine and appeared on NPR Music’s list of favorite new artists while “Hold On” ranked as one of NPR Music’s “100 Favorite Songs of 2011.” MTV dubbed them as the ‘Artist To Watch” in 2012.

Contact: christine@redlightmanagement.com