By:  Gere Iverson - MSTv

Often its true that brilliance comes from beginnings of true drive and discipline.  Such is the case for Alexis Marceaux and her partner, Sam Craft - both of which make up the contemporary pop duo, Alexis & the Samurai.

Marceaux was fortunate enough to compete last year on NBC's "The Voice" and Craft, a mufti-instrumentalist,  played with the popular local band, Glasgow. 

Despite their specific highlights, neither reached a generalized success they sought. The two just didn't find their personal "voices," that is until they incorporated their talents in 2009.

Their working relationship began in almost a "musical chairs" sense with Craft first joining Alexis's band. She, in turn later joined his band, Glasgow. They also collaborated with Susan Cowsill’s band and worked together to produce  Marceaux’s 2011 album, “Orange Moon.”

Finally, for touring purposes and to keep it simpler, Marceaux’s band shrank into their Alexis & the Samurai duo.  Craft's former band-mates in Glasgow morphed into the musical collective Sweet Crude, featuring the Craft brothers, Marceaux, multiple drums and keyboards, violin and a diverse collections of songs.

Now joined with a sense of alignment that comes from a true collaborative symmetry, the duo are now truly finding their path. Excited audiences, from their performances at the French Quarter Festival, the Jazz Festival and Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo, are now a typical and expected occurrence.

As the two are willing to experiment with their sound and range, being labeled with a classic and contemporary pop label isn't surprising.

Craft and Marceaux actually plan to perform and produce type songs made popular by the likes of Carole King and by another duo, Karen and Richard Carpenter.

“People are shocked by that because I’m very young,” Marceaux said. “But when you’re a child growing up and learning the voice as an instrument, you connect with people you can sing along with. That’s who did it for me, Karen Carpenter.” 

With high-level produced songs like "Stars" and the comforting, yet excitable tune, "Dogs" to their credit, no can doubt that Marceaux's voice, along with Craft's perfectly added orchestration, join to become finely tuned instruments to delight the auditory senses.

Now currently recording their freshmen album, the two agree that their partnership works famously. They find their whole works much better then the solo parts would apart.

“He adds so much to something I might just have a blip of an idea for,” Marceaux said.  Whereas Craft added, “I’m not really a vocalist per se, but if I bring an idea to Alexis, I know she’s going to give it a show-stopping performance.”

A listen of their song, "Dogs" below and see why a multitude of listeners would tend to agree with their statements.

By Alex Templar - MSTv

Dance music is slowly becoming the United States fourth most popular music genre; slightly trailing behind Pop, Hip-Hop/Rap and R&B.

Attributing its increased growth due to heavy radio rotation form the likes of the electronic music duo, Daft Punk w/Pharrell, Avicii vs Nicky Romerond and Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera have helped dance sale figures slightly overtake R&B in the first half of 2013.

Only Pop and Hip-Hop music have been more popular this year. 

Already a significant force in the European music scene, dance music is now well on its way to becoming one of the defining sounds in the American market.

A prime example is the current #1 hit "Get Lucky" from Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams; that plus the growing usage of dance music being used as background music in several current television shows.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI states, "It's drawing in artists normally associated with other genres, such as hip-hop and dubstep. These fresh influences are giving 2013's dance music an edge which is really cutting through to fans."

Ben Turner, co-founder of the Association for Electronic Music, added: "The explosion of electronic dance music in the USA is well-documented worldwide. It's great for the UK to now be in a position to reveal statistics as strong as this to show how dance music continues to drive the UK music business forward."






The top 10 selling dance singles this year are as follows:

1. Get Lucky - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams

2. Waiting All Night - Rudimental ft. Ella Eyre

3. I Could Be The One - Avicii vs Nicky Romero

4. White Noise - Disclosure ft. AlunaGeorge

5. Need U (100 Percent) - Duke Dumont ft. A*M*E

6. Drinking From The Bottle - Calvin Harris ft. Tinie Tempah

7. I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding

8. Get Up (Rattle) - Bingo Players ft. Far East Movement

9. Feel This Moment - Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera

10. Harlem Shake - Baauer