Fans of Durham, N.C., family band Delta Rae — which plays The City on Thursday — are familiar with Brittany Hölljes’ smoky vocals from the band’s recent debut album, “Carry the Fire.”   They have heard her, and her co-vocalist and childhood friend, Liz Hopkins, on Peggy Lee’s “Bless You (For the Good That’s in You)” on the “Gangster Squad” soundtrack, and with brothers Eric (keyboards) and Ian (guitar) on a YouTube cover of “The Chain” by their stylistic forebears Fleetwood Mac. The outfit is also featured in the upcoming animated film “Escape From Planet Earth.” Read More

Techno-pop singer Ellie Goulding is familiar with the 19th-century fable of a depressed gentleman who is advised by his physician to see Grimaldi, Britain’s most famous clown of the era, and sighs, “But doctor, I am Grimaldi!” She can relate. “That’s such a sad story, but it’s quite interesting, because it was like that for me for a bit,” says the English vocalist, who plays the Fox Theater in Oakland on Friday. Read More

If singer-flutist Ashleigh Ball sounds unusually animated on “Is” — the frothy debut of her Canadian alterna-pop trio Hey Ocean! — don’t be too surprised. The singer, who brings Hey Ocean! to The City this week, has been lending her elastic vocal talents to children’s cartoon TV programs for eight years, playing everything from the Care Bears’ Oopsy Bear to Black Widow in “Iron Man: Armored Adventures.” Read More

While getting her master’s degree in French literature at Stanford University four years ago, Nataly Dawn received an interesting piece of advice from a professor. The charismatic Pomplamoose vocalist took the words to heart when conceiving her new solo album, “How I Knew Her.” Read More

Describing unexpected obstacles she dodged in recent years, surfer-singer Tristan Prettyman calls them “a series of diversions that happened out of thin air.” Between 2008’s album “Hello…x” and the new CD “Cedar + Gold” (with soulful singles “My Oh My” and “I Was Gonna Marry You”), the performer, who appears in The City next week, went through what seemed like a minefield. She got engaged to longtime beau Jason Mraz, traveled the world instead of penning a follow-up to “Hello...x,” then wrote the follow-up, but scrapped it after she and Mraz broke up. Read More

After her debut “Holy Smoke” swept the New Zealand Music Awards in 2010, R&B-fueled Kiwi rocker Gin Wigmore was besieged by questions. “Over and over, it was, ‘What are you going to do next? What kind of record will you make? It’s your second album — aren’t you freaking out?’” says the blond spitfire, who finally told everyone that she would track a blues album, even though she knew little about the genre. She arrived at a perfect method of familiarizing herself with it, and her plan worked. Read More

Midge Ure clarifies that it wasn’t his idea to reconvene his long-dormant new-wave outfit Ultravox three years ago for an overseas tour and reunion album, “Brilliant.” But he says LiveNation, the promoter that seems to “own everything,” emailed saying, “If you’re ever thinking of doing anything, this is the year to do it — it’s the 30th anniversary of your album ‘Vienna,’” says the Scotsman (who lives in Bath, England), adding, “I honestly, hand on heart, had no idea that any of us would be interested.” But everyone said yes. Next week, he plays The City in a solo show.   Read More