Marina and the Diamonds
Marina Lambrini Diamandis is the Welsh & Greek songstress who goes by Marina and the Diamonds. First hitting the scene with The Crown Jewels EP on ultra-indie label Neon Gold, Marina is tiding over her US fans with the digital release of The American Jewels EP before the debut of her first full-length album The Family Jewels on May 25th.
Mayer Hawthorne
Drawing upon the influence of great soul artists such as Barry White and Issac Hayes, Mayer Hawthorne released his debut album A Strange Arrangement in the fall of 2009. Since then,his songs have been featured in Kanye West and Spike Jonze’s short film We Were Once a Fairytale and the television series Ugly Betty and Private Practice. For Ahead of the Curve, Hawthorne sings “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin Nothin.”
The Middle East
They break-up to make-up. Despite a brief estrangement after the initial release of their debut album, The Middle East regrouped and scaled back the track list for the North American release of The Recordings of the Middle East EP last fall. Steadily gaining attention since that time they play single “The Darkest Side” for Ahead of the Curve.
Mike Posner
A very recent graduate of Duke University, Mike Posner was signed to J Records on the strength of his two mixtapes: A Matter of Time and One Foot Out the Door. He is now prepping his debut album for a summer release, but revisited the track “Cooler than Me” off A Matter of Time for Ahead of the Curve.
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