This week's Label of Love was born in Weymouth but now has homes in Portsmouth and Plymouth.

After promoting gigs and festivals, they decided a label was the next step forward in celebrating and promoting the music they loved. And so Art is Hard Records was born, with its fresh and keen attitude.

I spoke to David from the label to get the lowdown on cassettes, snacks and the story so far...

Links

https://artishardrecords.tumblr.com/

Boys Playing Music, a.k.a. BPM, are a producer duo from London consisting of long-term friends, Jude and JJ.

With a Twitter name like @TEAMBPM I was expecting their music to be some high octane, too fast, too furious, motivational gym music. Luckily, it's not quite that intense and features some lovely vocals fromNai Veronique.

Information about the boys is hard to come by, although they did share this quote on their blog once:

"Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it."

Does that shed any light onwhat they stand for? Maybe, but you can also find a list of the 50 best fighting games of all time on their blog (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was the winner, in case you were wondering), so I'm still undecided on what they are all about.

Whoever they are, with artists like Lil' Wayne, Wretch 32, Musiq Soulchild, Daniel Merriweather, and D'angelo on their 'artists we like' list, I'm sure they will fit in nicely amongst the Radio 1 playlist alumni. You can hear this track, Robot, on Radio 1 all this week:

Links

https://www.facebook.com/Boys-Playing-Music

https://www.twitter.com/TEAMBPM

https://www.myspace.com/boysplayingmusic

Well hello there. This week's Label of Love is Dovecote records, straight outta NYC. Home to Oxford's Jonquil and ace new US bands Wise Blood (one of the best things I saw at South by Southwest this year) and Hooray for Earth, and also the American home of the Futureheads, Dovecote are into cassettes and cool sounds.

I found out more...

Links

https://www.dovecoterecords.com/

Flags. This was one of those songs that I loved the minute I heard it, and then proceeded to play again and again and again just to make sure it was as good as I thought it was the first time around. 32 plays later, and yes it definately was as good as I thought.

Sure I have a weakness for banjos, folky riffs, harmonies and violins, but you can't help loving a song that makes you feel like you're barn dancing with a farmer in a hay barn at 5 o'clock in the morning, drinking organic cherry cider and wearing a straw hat and denim dungarees (not that I've ever done that).

It comes from a band named Owl in The Sun, a band who play 'original melody-driven songs rooted in folky america and gypsy jazz, combining acoustic instruments with rich vocal harmonies'. I usually object to the uneccesarily over-flowery language used by bands to describe themselves, but I couldn't have put this any better myself. I don't even know what 'gypsy jazz' sounds like, but when I hear this song I hear the sunshine, the horse and cart trotting along the open road, and it all makes sense.

They're from Bath and appear to be tearing up the South West having played events like The Bath Fringe Festival, Priddy Folk Festival, Salisbury Live Festival and many other folk festivals.

Let's hope this Radio 1 airtime gets them some more festival bookings this summer, as I for one would love a wee jig to this on a sunny Sunday afternoon in a field.

Links

https://www.myspace.com/owlinthesun

https://www.owlinthesun.com/

You know I hate to ask

But are friends electric?

Only mine's broke down

And now I've no-one to love

Was it this Gary Numan verse that gave rise to the name Friends Electric? I don't know. Probably. What I do know is that Friends Electric are a young four piece from a small town called Neath, a place 'as far from the hip clubs of London as it’s possible to get without crossing water', as they put it.

The band first started to take shape when the boys were just 14 years old, but after sneaking in to a Soulwax show they decided to swap their guitars for synths. They moved in together and started cracking on writing 'slinky rhythms and euphoric beats'.

They've already played at SXSW, and if you want to hear how good they sound live, why not get yourself over to Stuck! Festival in Salzburg where they are playing this summer. Having supported the likes of Frankmusik, and re-mixed tracks for Ellie Goulding and Noisettes, they're not messing around with getting themselves out there.

This track, Golden Blood, is our latest addition to the Radio 1 playlist, and they've made a nice little video for it too. Until next week...

Links

https://www.myspace.com/friendselectricmusic

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FRIENDS-ELECTRIC

https://twitter.com/friendzelectric

Here's Joseph 'JP' Patterson with three more underground bangers, from the feature he presents on BBC Introducing in Scotland with Ally McCrae.

Raider

My third favourite track of the month comes from a Wolverhampton-based MC who goes by the name of Raider, who is also one of the many members of Midlands-based grime crew, StayFresh.

StayFresh, as a unit, have broken down a lot of barriers when it comes to grime music from outside of London, proving that they, too, can release music of a high standard, just like their London peers. Their work ethic is also something to be reckoned with. Raider's When You Hear This One is a straight grime club banger.

2. Trim – I Am

My second pick comes from the legend that is Trim. Having been a member of Roll Deep back in the day, he's gained a real cult following. The east London MC has teamed up with Wolverhampton's TRC for this laid-back, bassline-influenced grime number. You can catch this track on Trim's forthcoming Monkey Features Volume 2 mixtape, which is out on March 28.

1. TRACK OF THE MONTH: Merky Ace – Every Time

My favourite track of the month comes from south London's Merky Ace. His angry flow and creative bars over this Flava D-produced track caught my attention straight away.

Merky Ace is one of my favourite grime MCs around at the moment, one I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of in the near future - well, one hopes so, anyway. You can catch this track on Merky's ‘Blue Battlefield' mixtape, out on April 4.

SCOTTISH TRACK OF THE MONTH: Kobi Onyame Feat. Mista L - Congratulations

Kobi Onyame has teamed up with Mista L for the very personal Congratulations. Kobi opens up about some of the situations he’s been through in life and compares it to others around him. Now, to some, it might come across as if he’s hating on other people's accomplishments, and to others (which includes myself), he’s just showing everyone that he’s on a different path in life. If someone is doing bigger and better things than you, carry on congratulating them. It’ll be your time soon!

Follow Joseph ‘JP' Patterson on Twitter.

Listen again to BBC Introducing in Scotland with Ally McCrae

Once upon a time (well, last year) YAAKS were recommended to us by Huw Stephens and became our Tip of The Week.

They were pretty elusive back then, holding back any useful information about who they were, shrouding their lives in secrecy and transforming themselves into mythical creatures of the musical underworld.

Many months later, a young man from BBC Introducing came along to try and de-mystify the musical beasts and open them up to the world. It was a tormentous task. After some solid investigative journalism and hours of qualitative research, he managed to obtain this revealing photograph of the band.

But he wanted more.

He delved deeper and deeper into their mysterious world, searching for clues, piecing together riddles, following their every move. He lived dangerously close to the band, risking everything in order to gain their trust, until eventually he got what he was looking for; a direct quote from the band:

"Am I a man and not a brother?" asked Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Sometime later, five minds, collected in the form of a brotherhood, answered with an agreement to portray the thoughts of this man, the father of Noble Savagery.

Emerging in late 2010, from Eastbourne, a town whose fame is split between the elderly, suicide and sunshine. Yaaks produce music of a bright and balearic nature - their sound filled out with warm and dusty synths, doused in reverb and delay accompanied by polyrhythms and wailing harmonies, all the while maintaining pop sensibility.

And suddenly, everything made sense. YAAKS went on the Radio 1 playlist with their track HRHRHYTHM and everybody lived happily ever after.

You can catch YAAKS live on Tuesday 8th March at Academy 3, Manchester, or Wednesday 9th March at Digital, Brighton where they are supporting The Naked and Famous.

Links

https://www.myspace.com/weareyaaks

https://soundcloud.com/yaaks

https://twitter.com/weareyaaks

Hello!

It's Jen Long here from BBC Introducing in Wales. I sat in for Huw this week, but don't worry, I've still got a little Label Of Love for you.



Since I live in Wales and Huw sure ain't shy of championing the odd Welsh band, this week I've gone for Cardiff label Barely Regal.



Run by Matt Fidler and Isaac Jones, Barely Regal isn't even a year old yet but has already helped reignite the local scene. Their first release was a compilation of sixteen odd bands from the city, spanning every genre from hardcore to delicate instrumental.



Their second release was the Homes EP by their own band, the brilliant Among Brothers. This month sees the release of Barely Regal 003; a split 7" from Samoans and Strange News From Another Star, and pretty awesome it is too.

Links

https://barelyregalrecords.com/