Confrontational, unabashed, decadent, ironic, whimsical and totally sweat-drenched honest, The Brute Chorus are a London folk blues rock band that walks on the intellectual side of heavy-guitar music. From the countryside to the gloomy city’s streets and dive bars, this band has been winning over fans and critics alike with their often morbid tales of harden lives. JUICE has a word with lead singer and guitarist James Steel. Indie be damned!

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The clubbing scene is evolving all the time, both musically and technologically. But one thing remains constant: people still want to go out and enjoy a great party. And that’s where the DJ comes in, being primarily responsible for delivering a tight playlist to ensure the dancefloor is kept full and the atmosphere stays electric. These days, with the emergence of DVD-turntables, a new breed of DVJs (Disc and Video Jockeys) are coming out of the woodwork and making an impact in the clubs. What’s the difference? DJs mix music from vinyl, CDs and MP3s; DVJs mash up real-time music videos that you can witness onscreen. JUICE gives you a crash course on the new revolution. [more »]

It started with an interview with hip hop DJ Cza about his directing debut with Sona One’s ‘HUH’ video, which he mentions Derek Pike as one of his favourite video music directors. Derek is only 22 and is an established director and photographer from New York City, which began with snowboard and skateboard videos in the beginning of his career. A few days after the interview with DJ Cza was published, Derek Pike’s publicist contacted JUICE through that interview to find out if we wanted an interview with the man himself. Of course! Who better to interview the guy that had worked on some amazing hip hop videos but DJ Cza himself. We linked them up and here’s DJ Cza’s interview with the music video director  Derek Pike, who is currently working on a Def Jam/Serato 25th Anniversary commercial as mentioned on his website. Nice! [more »]

From a metal growler to a classy rnb singer, Nadhira has come a long way since her early days of being in rock bands with the need to scream her emotions out. These days, she’s since broken away from her groove-deprived shackles and revealed the inner workings of her tender heart. The result is the very personal, rnb-driven EP From Malaysia With Love. [more »]

Davern Koh aka HypeEmBeats and Jee Hoe of DJ collective Melee Punks have actually been in the DJ circuit for a while now, but they’ve never really gotten the chance to shine. However, when they came together to form House This!? at Barsonic with dance music mastermind DJ Blink, they opened up a whole new echelon of partying by throwing down all kinds of house music in their sets. Slammin’ it on the decks at the JUICE 8th Birthday Party: Space Invaders just last month, we shine a light on our cover boys HypeEmBeats + Jee Hoe in August. [more »]

The female French DJ was in town recently for an Ohrwurm night at Mist. We caught up with the Bpitch Control leading lady before she hit the decks. [more »]

Hip hop has always been linked back to boom bap, but there’s more to it than being just a style explored by Wu-Tang Clan or The Roots. Melodic and chilled out, the subgenre doesn’t get much recognition in the scene. After the death of one of the most influential record producers, J Dilla, the world has opened up its ears to a wider spectrum of hip hop music, with a certain LA beat-mangler now taking on that experimental groove and unconventional rhythm. Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus (or FlyLo) has been showered with praise from the indie music industry and even BBC Radio 1 presenter Mary Ann Hobbs has named him “the Hendrix of his generation”. He tells us why Dangermouse isn’t his favourite person. [more »]

Shameless! was an album of sorts. Back in 2005 when it was released, Saer Ze’s debut effort was a mix of different genres and an experimental endeavour that helped audiences gauge what kind of artist she wanted to be. 5 years on, she’s back with not only a new album but a new name as well. After much soul searching in the UK and Europe, Ze! is back with I Am Glam, and charging forth in electro pop with the same youthful and quirky exuberance that makes her one of a kind. With most of the production done by Belgian producer Ruben Debusschere, and containing collabos with Docolv (who is also known as French producer Alan de Laniere), Posh! The Prince (currently touring with Lady Gaga) and Ze!’s own sister Miss.osixnine, this spunky artist has only one mission in mind: to make people dance. JUICE sits down with our cover girl to talk music and fashion. [more »]

You probably know this band who made it big in the 90s when they released some of their biggest singles ‘Govinda’ and ‘Tattva’ during the whole Britpop invasion during the rise of other bands like Oasis and Blur. Kula Shaker was creating Tamil-infused psychedelic Britpop music, which started in 1995 and got disbanded 4 years later. The band later reformed and released Strange Folk in 2007 and their latest Pilgrim’s Progress this year. The band will be heading over here this coming Thursday and we managed to speak to the bassist Alonzo Bevan before they rock our stage. [more »]

The LapSap boys are up to no good again and this time they’ve unleashed Litterall. This new project features Blink (aka 5ft), XU (aka Mr. Puah) and 3 other artists, with Sebastian Jurkowski on lighting, Fauzi “Efozy” Yusoff on visuals and Edwin Raj churning up the psychedelic ideas to make Literall the next best thing in Malaysia. They make their debut at this month’s Heineken Green Room with The Rapture at KL Live and we can’t wait to see what happens. We stole a moment with busy boys 5ft and Mr. Puah to find out how they’ve been doing. [more »]