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Labrador: Amanda Mair, Club 8, and Wan Light

AMANDA MAIR
facebook.com

We have been following Sweden's Amanda Mair early in her career. Well the big news is that she finally turned 18.

What that really means is that she can play gigs and not have to worry if it's legal or not.

Anyway, having won "2012's Big Breakthrough" by the Swedish Music Industry, Amanda Mair is taking her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album on tour in America for the very first time.

Minneapolis happens to be one of the very few dates on Mair's intinary:

June 24 - Jammin Java - Vienna, VA
June 25 - Milkboy - Philadelphia, PA
June 26 - Rockwood Music - New York, NY
June 27 - The Red Room @ Cafe 939 - Boston, MA
June 30 - Nether Bar - Minneapolis, MN

Come out to the Nether Bar (the tiny bar under Mill City Nights) for an intimate show with Amanda Mair. Find out why it is Idolator's "newest obsession" and Magnet thinking she's "next in line in Swedish pop invasion."

CLUB 8
www.club-8.org

Since the last time we mentioned Club 8 (in early April), we mentioned that they have an eighth studio album called Above the City, but no other details were given, outside of its pending release date of May 21st, 2013.

Well, I have good news for you - I have complete track listing and cover artwork courtesy of their record label Labrador Records below:

1. Kill Kill Kill
2. Stop Taking My Time
3. You Could Be Anybody
4. Run
5. Interlude
6. Hot Sun
7. A Small Piece Of Heaven
8. I'm Not Gonna Grow Old
9. Interlude #2
10. Into Air
11. Instrumental
12. Travel
13. Less Than Love
14. Straight As An Arrow

WAN LIGHT
wanlight.com

Not a whole of information sent in from these guys called Wan Light. All I know is that they've signed to Labrador Records.

The biography on Labrador's site indicate that they are a duo (K. Svensson and M. Karnock), and the name "Wan Light" was named after an old Orange Juice song.

With Let's Wake Up Somewhere Else featured a collaboration with producer Björn Öqvist. I am assuming Öqvist has his hands in helping out Svensson and Karnock for their new album called Space Canaries (released April 10, 2013 on Labrador).

Trivia: I've never heard of Wan Light, but apparently the duo has been around for ten years (since 2003). Their music is often compared to Mercury Rev and Pet Shop Boys.

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Girls Girls Girls 8: The International Edition

Read More Kina Grannis Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Kina Grannis is giving away a free song called "Valentine"

Yes, if this enough for you, check out more Girls Girls Girls. This is the 8th installment.

>>>
KINA GRANNIS
kinagrannis.com

Kina Grannis is a Japanese/American singer/songwriter who won the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest in 2007. I mentioned her in February 2011.

Then, about three months ago, she had a massive viral hit music video for "In Your Arms", off her debut album, Stairwells, with over 5.5 million views as of this writing. If you haven't seen the video, get this: they used 288,000 jelly beans and took 22 months to put together. Talk about commitment.

On the strength of viral video, she's been after selling out dates (sounds familiar, Gotye?) in the UK and S/E Asia and Australia.

Kina Grannis returns to the US this April, below are her confirmed headlining tour dates:

Apr.9th Porter’s Pub San Diego, CA Apr. 10th Martini Ranch Scottsdale, AZ Apr. 13th The Parish Austin, TX Apr. 14th Fitzgerald’s Upstairs Houston, TX Apr. 15th The Kessler Theater Dallas, TX Apr. 17th Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA Apr. 18th Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC Apr. 20th Sound Stage Baltimore, MD Apr. 21st Theatre of the Living Arts Philadelphia Apr. 24th 9:30 Club Washington, DC Apr. 25th Irving Plaza New York, NY Apr. 27th Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA Apr. 28th Corona Theatre Montreal, QC

Apr. 29th Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON May 1st Park West Chicago, IL May 2nd Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH May 3rd Blind Pig Ann Arbor, MI May 4th Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison, WI May 5th Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN May 7th Bluebird Theater Denver, CO May 11th Aladdin Theater Portland, OR May 12th The Rio Theatre Vancouver, BC May 13th Neptune Theatre Seattle, WA May 17th The Fillmore San Francisco, CA May 18th John Anson Ford Los Angeles, CA May 20th Next Door Honolulu, HI

EVEN MORE:

PEPPER pepperofficial.com Not a whole lot of details given, other than that she just signed to Dirtee Stank Records. She also is based out of London. You can preview "Happy Girl" (Acoustic) via Soundcloud.

AMANDA MAIR facebook.com/amandamairofficial Remember Amanda Mair? Since I last mentioned her, she finally released her debut album (out on Sweden's Labrador Records on February 15th). She's not quite legal, she's 17 years old now. I have to say, I do really like Swedish pop music, and what I've heard of Mair, she's good. Check out the music video for "Sense" on Youtube . UPDATE: Her album will be released internationally on June 5th, 2012.

ANGELINA LAVO angelinalavo.com From Russia, with love… I've always wanted to start with that… although in her biography , she's been living in New York as of 2009. She unveiled her Circus Act in late 2011, which I did look at; it sounds very hip-hoppy. Lavo thinks her single is easily accessible: "My EP is easy-going & fun because everyone has terrible, tough situations, but my music puts all of that away. "

KITTY CLEMENTINE kittyclementine.com Kitty Clementine is from Sally's town, Sydney, Australia. Her self-titled album is coming out March 6th, 2012, via Clumpty Records (New Power Media). You can download a preview track, "Blow That Horn", at Soundcloud . Her biography said that she comes from Sydney's "warehouses and speakeasies" singing jazz ballads, baroque aria, and even screaming noise; all sounding very artsy and poetic… which is hard to place her music.

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Teenage girls

AMANDA MAIR www.labrador.se Labrador Records, out in Sweden, was very, very excited to let us know that they've signed Amanda Mair, a girl who was then 15 (now 16), who sounded like a mix between Dusty Springfield and Kate Bush. She's not online at all (no myspace/bandcamp) and she's never played live or sent out demos. Her debut single, House, produced by Philip Ekström (The Mary Onettes / Det Vackra Livet), is coming out June 8th. Download the free track here.		SKY FERREIRA skyferreira.com I first heard of Sky Ferreira last year, with her debut single, "One". Christopher said it was criminal that she's only made it on the charts at #60. At the time, she was 17, I think she's legal now. That might explained her "Sex Rules" title ? It's actually not what you'd think, it's the rules of nature, not that "it's totally awesome". Capitol Records was kind enough to send me a review copy of her EP, As If!, which I have to say, I actually really like it. I've always liked pop music, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise. I think if things works out, Sky Ferreira could be the next Katy Perry or Ke$ha, although Sky's probably too clever.

MICHAELA WALLACE michaelawallacemusic.com Michaela Wallace is a 14-year-old girl from Missouri, her song, "Justin Bieber's Girlfriend" got a lot of youtube attention. I did download the acoustic track (free at michaelawallace.bandcamp.com), and I have to say: can't relate. I know Lara has Bieber fever, and I guess, I never understood why he's so popular. Besides, doesn't he already have a girlfriend (Selena Gomez)?		REBECCA BLACK rebeccablackonline.com If you haven't heard Rebecca Black's "Friday" song, then clearly you've been living under a rock. This 13-year-old girl got over 135 million views for her youtube song. Everyone loved the song, even Conan O'Brien made a parody video for his song "Thursday". Not really much to add this this, except that we wonder what's next for her? Is this a one-hit wonder deal ?

BONUS: Did you know that every week, I get about five or six songs from Glee, that popular Fox television show, courtesy of Columbia Records. As much as I am a cover lover, it's hard for me to keep up. I don't watch the television show, however, a fan pointed to me that on the May 10^th episode, "Prom Queen", they covered Rebecca Black's "Friday" song. This is pretty interesting, considering that most of the Glee's standard cover is for more established bands (Beatles, Zeppelin, etc).

I looked into finding out why they covered this really recent song, apparently Mark Salling (who plays Puck) is a fan of the song and suggested they cover it for this episode. Hearing Salling sings the song from a male perspective is pretty interesting. It sounded pretty faithful to the original song, complete with the rap bits.

I gave the rest of this week's music a listen, while I was at it. They did ABBA's "Dancing Queen" and Black Kids' "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You", which are fitting for a promenade dance. The ABBA cover is fantastic, the other stand-out cover is Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". I didn't know which Glee cast member sung it, so I looked it up. Apparently it was a proposal song from Artie. The recorded version had Artie sounding very, very similar to Stevie Wonder's vocal styling.

You can always buy ever week's music via iTunes, read more of our Glee coverage here.

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