Huw Stephens|18:11 UK time, Thursday, 29 September 2011
This week's Label of Love is Double Denim records. A young label, they've quickly made a name for themselves with releases by Stay +, Outfit and Zulu Winter. I caught up with Hari to find out why, how and when. Not neccessarily in that order, but you get my drift..
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Dan Lucas|13:57 UK time, Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Now I have to admit, before Reading and Leeds 2011 I'd never heard of 'slo mo' as a music genre. Then came Black Diamond Bay, a six piece who were said to play this mysterious blend of electronic music which sits somewhere between 95 and 118 BPM. To be honest I still have no idea if this genre actually exists or whether the band just made it up, but you have to say their brooding sound is summed up quite neatly with the words slo mo.
I'm sure you are just itching to hear what this sounds like so I'll let you crack on and watch the highlights of their Reading performance but be warned; they do reach their top speeds of 118 BPM during this set so 'don't spin off the end or anything' as the lead singer puts it.
They've already received airplay on Radio 1, 6Music, Kiss and Xfm, and have been supported by BBC Introducing in Leeds from the off. The more they get played the closer they get to world domination and fulfilling their mission of bringing slo mo to the masses... muhahaha!
This track I Dreamt We Were Bank Robbers mixes Kanye West style synth vocals with an All Saints style female voice and reminded me of the rather cheesy moment in The Beach when Leonardo Di Caprio goes swimming with the French girl amongst all the disturbed glowing plankton! In fact, if they ever make a sequel to The Beach, this should definitely be used on the trailer. Until then, it's on the Radio 1 playlist all week.
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Dan Lucas|10:30 UK time, Tuesday, 20 September 2011
It’s that time again kids, the time when Christmas chocolates sneak on to supermarket shelves, our TVs start becoming infected with the horrible disease known as X-Factor, winter fur coats creep like beasts to the mouths of shop windows and we all come to the cold realisation that festival season is over.
On the positive side, it means it’s also time to look back and reflect on some of the weird and wonderful moments on the BBC Introducing Stage this summer. As the stage photographer I saw everything from bras in the air to mosh pit congas and seeing as though we filmed and photgraphed almsot every performance, I thought I'd pick out some highlights for you.
The glorious BBC Introducing Stage
First up we went north to Carlisle where we set up our stage in an air-field and got ready to go Gaga at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2011. On Saturday we were treated to a double dose of cheeky chappy rap from Aaron Delahunty and Rizzle Kicks, but the spine tingling moment for me came from Among Brothers. Their violins, drums, keys, and beautiful vocals filled the smoky orange air, creating a fairytale like atmosphere
Among Brothers - Great Famine Family
Next we went south. And a little bit west. All the way down to Glastonbury where we had three whole days of BBC Introducing delights. Nestled deep inside the dance village and trapped inside a 12 foot moat of thick sticky wellie stealing leg-breaking mud, it was surprising anybody made it into our tent alive. But the lucky few who did got to see masterful headline performances from Ed Sheeran, Vessels, and The Good Natured, who all knew exactly what they were doing in terms of putting their crowds into their proverbial pockets.
Like the festival itself, our stage at Glastonbury hosted the most eclectic, diverse and magical mixture of musical genres that even an iPod shuffle would have been be proud of. For the electronic heads out there D/R/U/G/S whipped up some hearty home baked tracks through his mean lean beat making machine and Worship bought a real haunting atmospheric edge to the stage. However, I just couldn't leave out the moment of pure joy when F-Block stepped out to a huge crowd (who were admittedly all waiting for Ed Sheeran) and milked his moment in the limelight for every last drop! His beaming ear-to-ear grin, dive into the crowd and word for word memorisation of the 'mad as hell' scene from Network will be sure to make you chuckle.
F-Block - Mix
Shammi Pithia was like a modern day musical Pied Piper, using his flute to entice cellos, violins, singers, guitars, drums, and MCs on to the stage, Jake Bugg bought that Dylan-esque man-with-a-guitar moment that every Glastonbury needs, and The Patrick James Pearson Band with their keyboard playing Doom t-shirt wearing frontman were excellent. It’s always a joy taking photos at Glastonbury, you can see the best shots here.
Next we went back north, this time all the way to Kinross, Scotland for T in The Park. Sadly I was missing for this as I was busy getting lost in a Serbian Fortress at EXIT Festival but upon my return I was sure to watch all of the performances online and was instantly attracted to Bwani Junction (not in a sexual way, purely musical) for their silky smooth riffs and deep male harmonies.
Bwani Junction - T in The Park Highlights
Then it was time for Reading and Leeds which was quite literally insane. The younger more hyped crowd turned up in astronomical force at Reading, creating the biggest and rowdiest crowds I’ve even seen on the BBC Introducing Stage. The artists fed off the crowds, the crowds fed off the artists and through some complex crowd-artist exponential relationship this multiplied into some of the most electrifying performances of the summer, perhaps ever! This was most definitely the case for Ham Sandwich..
An army of fans descended on the stage with the words ‘Ham Sandwich’ scrawled across their faces in mud, they carried signs denouncing all other kinds of sandwich, chanted ‘Ham Ham Ham Ham’, and munched through chunks of bread and ham like wild carnivores throughout the performance. At one point I got slapped in the face by a piece of ham that had been flung from the crowd. As I peeled back that flap of processed pig from my wet cheek, I heard Ham Sandwich play Ants and it became one of the defining moments of summer. Possibly of my life.
Ham Sandwich - Reading Festival Highlights
Reading really was all about the performances. Don Broco bought their own milk crates so they could fling themselves to the very edge of the stage, and their lead singer threw himself into a raging mosh pit then completely disappeared under the mass of filthy perspiring bodies. A few minutes later the microphone was slowly reeled back on to the stage without the singer attached, like an empty hook on a fishing rod that had just lost it’s bait. For a minute I feared I would never see him again, until moments later he rose magnificently from the muddy ground, threw himself back on to the stage and orchestrated what I could only describe as a mosh pit conga!
The Minutes brought some real 'Rock 'n Roll' to the stage, the Irish front man gazing wide eyed into the distance like a man possessed. Solo female artists Rae Morris and Daughter both left the unsuspecting crowds speechless with their mesmerising voices and thought provoking lyrics but another performance that really took my breath away (and almost my lens) were Murkage, the grimy hip hop fuelled outfit from Manchester who sent the crowd into mosh pit frenzies with their thumping track In The Jungle.
Murkage - Reading Festival Highlights
With our tent left battered, bruised and shattered, we only had enough energy for one last event; The London Mela. Foji brought some traditional Bhangra beats and an array of dancers and drummers, however there is one image I just cannot get out of my head from that day, that was of Shizzio’s monster bodyguard who stood planted to the stage whilst deciding who in the crowd deserved to win a T-shirt! He whispered in the ear of Shizzio like he was carefully selecting the winner of musical statues during a children’s party, then patiently waited for the set to finish and waddled off with his monstrous arms protruding out from his frame like that muscle-man toy from Toy Story.
Shizzio's bodyguard. Get hench or die trying.
The 9pm London Mela curfew was met with a crisp cool sunset and that was that, the BBC Introducing Stage was packed away and we were left with a big empty space in our hearts.. but a lot of new music! 161 performances across six different festivals, from hip hop crews to Punjabi MC’s, from 'Rock n' Roll' to slo mo, we heard it all. If you want to discover even more new music, all the videos are up online forever for your viewing and listening pleasure. Who needs X-Factor eh?
See all the photos and videos from the BBC Introducing stage 2011 at:
Dan Lucas|16:00 UK time, Thursday, 15 September 2011
Fight The Bear describe themselves as 'six years old, over 500 gigs hardened, over 75,000 miles travelled, six countries explored'. Sounds like some sort of prehistoric beast featured on Planet Dinosaur. First meeting at a primary school in rural Shropshire these boys really have got themselves out and about. They've also got themselves a brilliant logo that just begs you to ask the question on everybody's lips; how did that bear lose its eye?
During the summer they added 'BBC Introducing Stage - T in The Park' to their massive list of gigs, and an excellent job they did as well. You would think after 500 gigs as a band you might start getting fed up of each other, but not these guys (well, they didn't show it at least).
This track does exactly what I like indie rock to do to me. To suck me in with some slow minor chord guitar picking, to make me question the relevance of my existance and the state of the human race with cryptic melancholic lyrics like 'as humans we might live to rule the soil, as we fight to burn the remaining midnight oil, some may stand up high while others crawl, but it's only from the grass that they stand tall'. Then it holds my attention with the slight change of pace, building slowly but surely adding more layers and texture and volume, next comes the drum roll of anticipation and then BANG into some rock! It's on the Radio 1 playlist all week y'all. Enjoy.
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Dan Lucas|10:30 UK time, Monday, 12 September 2011
Hugo Manuel is no stranger to the BBC Introducing stage. He first played on it at Glastonbury 2008 with his band Jonquil, then in 2011 he chopped off his pony tail, had a shave, changed his shirt and returned to the stage at T in The Park as solo artist Chad Valley.
Here are the highlights of that very performance, the opening track Portuguese Solid Summer is particulary uplifting and you have to say somewhat ironic as the camera pans to the crowd to reveal a wet miserable Scottish summer rather than any glimmer of Portuguese sunshine.
Despite the weather, Hugo has that blend of chilled electronic music and soothing vocals that makes you feel you are watching the sunset from a terraced cafe in Ibiza for a brief moment, even if you do have to come crashing down to a muddy field in Kinross a few moments later.
This summer Chad Valley has played in Dublin, Paris, Budapest, Belgrade, Istanbul, and In The City, and has supported the likes of Amiina, The Mountain Goats and Foals. His music has been a big hit in the blogosphere, and in October was the fourth most blogged about artist on the planet apparantly.
This track Up and Down has far more up's than down's, and is one of those songs you would imagine underneath a reflective montage of all the fuzzy magical moments of Glastonbury on the final BBC2 programme of the weekend (you know, everyone smiling, the silliest costumes, Beyonce saying hello Glastonbury, children eating ice cream whilst sitting on their dads shoulders, a shot of Wayne Rooney in wellies and a young couple passed out in eachothers arms as the sun sets majestically over the stone circle). Anyway, maybe it will be used as that track at Glastonbury 2013, but for now it will be on the Radio 1 playlist all week, maybe you can make your own summer montage of your festival memories as you listen. Awwwwwww
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Huw Stephens|10:24 UK time, Thursday, 8 September 2011
Oh hello. All good? I do hope so. This week my Label of Love is Lucky Number Music. They are home to a select few artists, including the ever brilliant Darwin Deez, Caged Animals and the newly signed Friends. I spoke to Steve Richards about how the label started, where it's heading and of course, the favourite snack at the label...
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The Truth are an exotic cocktail of cultures and sounds, the kind of cocktail with little bright umbrellas and sparklers twinkling from the edge of the glass. Take one London rapper who calls himself The Truth, squeeze a dash of backing vocalist classically trained in traditional Hindi & Punjabi, chop up a bit of Bobby Wonda keyboards and his ear crunching dub bass, mix with experienced guitarist Ricky, shake vigourously with the majestic hands of Portugese bass player Rui, then pour smoothly to the rhythm of Jamaican born drummer Marley (who else). That 10 Euro summer holiday concoction will give you The Truth.
In June 2011 this international rap collective played on our stage at Glasto, bringing a touch of bling to the muddy fields of Pilton, and the traditional Hindi vocals certainly turned a few unsuspecting heads as they escaped the beats of the dance village.
That makes The Truth our first act to step off the stage at the London Mela and on to the Radio 1 playlist, and here is the track that will be filling the airwaves all week, I Heard 'Em Say.
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Huw Stephens|12:21 UK time, Thursday, 1 September 2011
This week I spoke to Nick at Secretly Canadian records. The label has prided itself on releasing interesting records since the late 90's, with some breakthroughs thanks to Yeasayer and Antony and the Johnsons. With new releases from Jens Lekman and The War on Drugs on the way, I found out more about this uber cool label, not actually based in Canada.
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|18:11 UK time, Thursday, 29 September 2011
