Calvin Harris is rapidly becoming the premier dance artist in the U.K. if not the whole world. He started with his debut album I Created Disco, with hit singles such as Acceptable In The 80s and The Girls, and released his second album Ready For The Weekend in August of this year.

His new single is Flashback, and it’s a brilliant slice of electro-pop and dance music. It was released on Nov. 2 and has so far peaked at number 18 in the U.K. charts. And even though dance isn’t my favorite genre this is a gem of a song. Embedded …read more

Wow. One watch of this video is enough to declare Mika is back with a vengeance, more camp, extravagant, and out there than ever. Whether Mika’s return is a good thing depends on whether you’re one of the people who loves him or whether you’re one of the people who hates him. Because this is a man who splits opinion right down the center.

I’m personally split on Mika myself because I’ve liked a lot of his stuff while hating certain tracks, mainly because they were played too often upon release. Maybe a little of the novelty factor has now worn …read more

The Prodigy have had a fair few years out of the limelight. But they came back this year with a brand new album and this is their brilliant new single. The album is called Invaders Must Die and the single is called Take Me To The Hospital.

The Prodigy have always been a great band, mixing traditional elements of dance with other genres including rock and alternative. Take Me To The Hospital looks, sounds, and feels very retro, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it has the dual effect of taking the older generation back a decade while …read more

I’m a big fan of the Sugababes, and have been since they started out in the last millennium. Back then they were a very different group of course. For starters, two of the girls were different, but more than that they had a very different style. So they’ve changed and evolved, but whether that’s a good thing or not depends on your point of view.

My personal take on it is that they’ve dumbed down considerably, now appealing more to the lowest common denominator, which in the U.K. today is chavs. The refined pop sound has disappeared to be replaced by …read more

Calvin Harris is an acquired taste. I happen to like the slightly retro, slightly awkward music he writes and produces. At least in the main. I wasn’t actually that keen on his last single, I’m Not Alone, but he’s still an artist I respect and admire. Or at least he was until he decided to rant on Twitter about a negative review for his new album Ready For The Weekend.

Calvin Harris is a well-known Twitter addict, using the social networking site to talk to his fans and let everyone know what he’s up to. And that’s usually a good thing. …read more

Dance isn’t my preferred genre of music. I’ve dabbled over the years, going through a phase when younger of loving the rave and house music scene. Then there are the big acts such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx etc. that have crossed genres and crossed over into the mainstream. And those acts I like. But Simian Mobile Disco are a new one on me.

I’ve heard of the group by name, and know that one of its members, James Ford (the other being Jas Shaw), is also a producer for the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Klaxons. But …read more

La Roux are a new British duo, not a solo act like many have assumed. Elly Jackson is the quiff-wearing front woman, with co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid taking a more backseat role. Think of the Pet Shop Boys if Chris Lowe stayed even more in the background than he does already. Their music is a mix of electro-pop and dance, all with an eighties flavor running through it.

La Roux have already released two singles, Quicksand and In For The Kill, the latter of which managed to reach number two in the UK singles chart. Then came their third release, …read more

There are some strange little pop stars who seem to pop in and out of existence time and time again. Dido is one, having been huge on the back of Eminem’s Stan sample, then again in her own right, before disappearing off the face of the planet. And Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the daughter of a Blue Peter presenter who was many young schoolboys’ first crush, is another.

It’s entirely possible that you’ve never even heard of Ellis-Bextor (I’m already sick of writing the double-barreled name), but she’s been in and around the music scene for well over a decade. She’s just never …read more

Modern British music has been popular and successful since the UK headed the Rock’n’Roll revolution in the 1950s and 1960s. Since then it has enjoyed a fantastic half-century, providing some of the greatest artists the music world has ever seen.

Like every other country, styles and tastes in music have changed in the UK massively over the last 50 years and the Brits have managed to change with the trends of the day. Consequently, this little island has musicians and artists providing all sorts of genres.
But which genre of music do Brits excel at? Thankfully, the readers of Brit Music Scene …read more

Gorillaz may only be a cartoon band at heart but they were absolutely huge on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world a years ago. Then Damon Albarn and his fellow collaborators decided to call it day and go off and do other stuff.

This means we haven’t had a new Gorillaz album since Demon Days was released way back in 2005. But fans of the animated satirical anti-band won’t have to wait much longer for new material, with the third album due for release in 2010.
The source of this unofficial announcement is Albarn’s manager Chris Morrison, who revealed …read more