Alice klar

A jobbing soul singer puts her love of Erykah Badu and Jill Scott to one side and finds inspiration in Robyn instead; she kills off thebig ballads and gives it out with gob, just like she does in real life. "Don’t starve myself to be the lollipop kid," she sings on ’I Don’t Have A Story’. "Eight years on, and I’ve served my apprenta-shit / Now I’m ready for some big me time, but I’m not gonna strip." Attagirl. She’s a 5’1" Scouser - a pocket rocket of an electro pop star in the making but get this right now... her name is not Alice Klar. Alice Klar is a band - a collaboration between Toni James, frontwoman, and Christian Badzura, a classically trained pianist withapenchant for cutting a killer beat. "Everything I’m not, he is," says Toni. "He’s a real muso - an amazing musician and I’m not trained like he is. He’s really laidback too, and I’m full of energy. It works really well. And I’m tiny and he’s six-seven." They make quite a pair - a one plus one equals three equation - and they’re bringing the best out of each other. There’s a threetrack demo doing the rounds at the moment that’s something of a re-invention for them both. "I’d got to the point where I wanted to do something different," continues Toni. "I worked out that I had more to say than I could in a soul song. As a person, I say what I see Roy Walker-style - but in my music, I was always trying to be like the singers I was influenced by. With the new stuff, I don’t feel like I’m looking up to anyone. It just feels like me and I not feeling any pressure." So, of course, Toni does have a story, but part two has only just begun. Another class lyric, from ’Môntag’: "I’m on a mission and I don’t need no permission / You look so hazy / Don’t fuckin’ faze me." "As soon as Christian played me ’Montag’, the lyrics just fell out," says Toni. "It shocked me and it shocked a lot of other people. But my mum loves my new stuff. I’ve just been to the Isle of Man to see her and we were both drunk and dancing till half-five in the morning. I never normally listen to myself, but she kept playing the eight songs we’ve finished over and over again." Jim Deliriou

- Stool Pigeon

Yes, we've heard it all before. But as homages go, Alice Klar's teutonic electronica is so perfectly conceived that we'll forgive their heart-on-sleeve influences and, instead, surrender to their ruthless euro beats. We'll even forgive their sub-Lynxx fretless squelchy bass, and the fact that Alice/Toni has more than a passing vocal resemblance to Into The Groove era Madonna (actually, that's a huge plus-point).

They're here at the right time, too, as Santogold, MIA and Gossip prove, you just can't keep an old Korg synth down.

Wirral based Alice Klar (aka soul/electro singer Toni James), and cohort Chris Badzura ( a classically trained pianist) add a dash of humour to a diet of drum machines, disco and killer hooks.

Check out their three-track demo, or better still, catch them live. Like Robyn and Royksopp before them, they're the friendly face of northern European robo-pop.
- Liverpool.com