New to the playlist this week: Viola and Ruby Wood

There’s loads more new music on Shed FM Internet Radio this week, but we’re looking at two in particular, Finnish pop duo Viola and Huddersfield jazz singer Ruby Wood.

Viola

We like this Finnish duo, whose music can be found here: http://www.violamusicclub.com. Why? Well, it’s not just because their latest single, Shimmery Summery (Sha La La Love) has been spinning almost non-stop on the Shed FM turntable, it’s because all of their music is completely and utterly free. And here at Shed FM, we salute any band that puts their entire discography up for grabs, undoubtedly accepting the fact that selling CDs and mp3s is in the past and all your money’s in gigs and stuff like that.

So what of Viola themselves? They are, in their own words:

Two guys influenced by beautiful heartfelt music, ass-shaking beats, sub-par humor and hidden messages.

We’re the ones sitting in the corner of a hot discothèque, watching others have fun.

We make music to dance to – for people who seldom dance outside the dancefloor of their minds.

We’ll no doubt be hearing more from the poppy Finns in the months to come!

Ruby Wood

We didn’t think we’d have to go as far as Huddersfield to find a British jazz singer to rival the American greats, but we think we’ve done it. Ruby Wood (listen more here: http://www.myspace.com/rubywoodmusic) is a prolific singer-songwriter who works with the likes of Extra Curricular, Voicebox, Solaris and Wooden Ark, and travels as far afield as Croatia to get her music heard. Indeed, sometimes she goes as far as the Marsden Jazz Festival.

Ruby managed to turn the ear of legend Humphrey Lyttleton on BBC Radio 2, who appreciated the way she took old songs and made them her own.

An early starter, Ruby played in a West Indian steel band at the age of seven, learning different styles before settling on jazz. Perhaps jazz was pre-destined, though, as she was named after a Thelonious Monk classic, Ruby, My Dear by her jazz-mad parents.

Look out for Ruby on Shed.fm – and visit Ruby’s site. We think she’s awesome.

30 minutes – rock/pop… introducing Next To Beluga

Back in the Paris Shed, Jonny Sly picked Next To Beluga out as his entry for 2007’s EuroVirtual competition, and while the Danes might not have won the competition overall, they won the hearts of many of our regular listeners.

Copenhagen’s finest are back, now on shed.fm, with the pop-tastic Love Composer, and remain the band that the Cardigans could – and should – have become instead of going off into out and out rock. Proper sugar-coated pop songs. Their latest album, Out of Place, is available through Digivision, and you can buy it here on iTunes - we recommend that you do.

Next To Beluga are: Sara Futtrup Lund (lead + backing vocals + songwriter),
Sidsel Storm: (backing vocals + glockenspiel),
Karen Bach: (Keys + backing vocals),
Ole Lindholm: (drums),
Thomas Marcussen: (bass)

Also in this 30 minutes, you’ll find the brilliant, but sadly no longer with us, Kimlico, along with Major Major, Drunksouls, Marie Tueje and the brilliant accapella of Ruby Wood.

• Kimlico – Superhero
• Next to Beluga – Love Composer
• Drunksouls – No More Fighting
• Major Major – No Rhyme
• Amelie – Do It Over
• Marie Tueje – Killer in the Road
• Ruby Wood – The Fact is I Need You