MTV Presents Marina And The Diamonds & Rox

Plus Stricken City on January 26th 2010 at Dingwalls, London

10:50, Thursday, 17 December 2009

MTV PRESENTS | Marina And The Diamonds & Rox plus Stricken City
WHEN | Tuesday, January 26th 2010
WHERE | Dingwalls, London
PRICE | £10

BUY TICKETS HERE

MTV and Gift Music have teamed up to put on a series of exclusive live shows featuring the best established and emerging talent around.

Taking place across the country, each show will present our pick of the finest, freshest acts out there – some already big stars and some on the way up.

Up next is Marina And The Diamonds & Rox plus Stricken City at Dingwalls, London.

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS

For those people who mistake gender for a clumsy misspelling of genre, Marina And The Diamonds is bound to be confusing. From behind that deliberately pluralised name (she is Marina, you are her diamonds), Marina Diamond is creating some of the most arrestingly and original pop music since Kate Bush first howled about Heathcliff.

The 23-year-old songwriter creates music as multi-faceted as her gemstone namesakes, flitting nimbly from the heart stoppingly beautiful piano pop of Obsessions to the artful and anarchic sound of Mowgli's Road - memorably described by Popjustice as "a Siouxsie-fueled cross between Personal Jesus and [Girls Aloud's] Biology - with an ease that must enrage her rivals.

All her songs show off a natural gift for nagging melodies, unusual harmonies and vivid lyrical imagery replete with visions of monkeys, angels and marching spoons, but behind the fairytale imagery Marina is a bundle of contradictory desires - a performer with a distinctly dark side and a strong streak of shyness that's at odds with her confident stage show, and songs that often hide a creeping sadness beneath their shiny exteriors.

However it seems as if she may be able to tread the pop path without giving up the eccentric touches that make her music so compelling.

Where once she was trapped behind her keyboard, Marina has recruited a band to translate her sparkling songs live, freeing herself to pursue dreams of a show augmented by Kanye West style gold lame dancers and a giant onstage diamond. This is a performer that takes the prosaic nature of every day life and splits it open to reveal the colour inside, producing songs that glitter like gems from a distance and reveal sharp edges and odd angles on closer inspection.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MTV PRESENTS AND BUY TICKETS HERE

ROX

Growing up in a household full of people, food and music, from the age of 5 Rox was completely obsessed about harmony, and how it can colour a melody. Today although her tracks may differ in genre, harmony still plays a massive role in her music. Singing along with her mum first awakened Rox’s gospel influences and those interests were broadened when her Dad’s record collection opened up a whole different world: SWV, Sade, Mary J, Boyz 2 Men, Alfonzo Hunter, Rakim, Guru, Chubb Rock...

From there Rox started to discover music for myself; Alanis Morrisette, Eva Cassidy and Mary J kept her in touch with her emotional side, while artists like Lauryn Hill, Sade, Rufus Wainwright, Elton John inspired her to become a better songwriter and vocalist with an understanding of how to take a song away from the conventional. Top that with Portishead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Massive Attack showing her it was possible to throw different styles of music together to make a cohesive sound and you start to get to Rox. And all the time Common showed Rox that wanna make a statement, be poetic with it, while Mahalia Jackson kept her in touch with her gospel roots...

And so Rox’s sound has evolved over the years and continues to grow everyday, allowing no convenient label. In fact it shouldn’t be labelled at all, because you should listen and make that choice yourself.

Rox has spent the last year writing and recording songs, performing with her own band and touring with Wiley, Nitin Sawhney (at the BBC Proms) and Mark Ronson, (Mark asked her to perform ‘Valerie’ when you know who wasn’t available!). She has recently returned from New York where she has been recording some of her album with legendary producer Commissioner Gordon (Lauryn Hill “Miseducation’) and is currently in the studio in West London with Shux (Jay-Z - “Empire State of mind”) adding the final touches.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MTV PRESENTS AND BUY TICKETS HERE

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