Reasons To Be Cheerful

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Hey ya’ll

Reasons To Be Cheerful today (apart from this gorgeous heatwave we’re having) are as follows:

1. Lattitude Line Up

Lattitude have really out done themselves this year with an absolute insane line up.

The proof is in the pudding: I’ve just asked Sybil and Joe which are their top five artists to watch (to make an orderly list) and recieved a torrent of names thrown at me all in one go.

We will be definitely watching Miss Janelle Monae (whose Glasto gig last year was outstanding), Elbow, SBTRKT, Alabama Shakes, Tuneyards, Team Me, We Are Augustines, Lianne La Havas, Alt-J,  The Horrors, Ben Howard, and Richard Hawley. Luckily there’s three of us so we should be able to get coverage of this delectable selection plus more.

2. Soho Flea Market

Sunday May 27th
12pm – 8pm
Dean Street, Soho London

Soho Flea Market isa unique new one-day event happening in the heart of London on Sunday 27 May, which will bring together London’s up and coming creative talent in support of HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust.

Organiser City Showcase will host an outdoor stage at the event featuring new and emerging music and comedy acts. Performing live will be musicians Sam Gray, Hudson Taylor, I Am Harlequin, Jason Clarke, Nina Baker, Akayzia, poet Tim Wells, and comedian Paul T Eyres.

Between 12pm and 8pm, the historic length and breadth of Dean Street will be closed to traffic and Soho Flea Market’s specifically-curated ‘creative market stalls’ featuring artisans, artists, fashion designers, jewellery designers, and filmmakers will exhibit and sell their works directly to the public.

City Showcaseis a not-for-profit year round festival of new music, responsible for helping break some of the best names into the industry since 2003. City Showcase: Spotlight London hosts over 200 new musicians performing in Central London, covering a range of musical genres. Artists that have previously taken part include Amy Winehouse, Keane, Laura Marling, Gabriella Cilmi, N-Dubz, Newton Faulkner, Ray LaMontagne, Razorlight, Hot Chip, Scouting For Girls and Seth Lakeman.

Businesses in and around Dean Street will be supporting Soho Flea Market, including Pizza Express, The Groucho Club, The Soho House Group, Dean Street Studios, The French House, Cay Tre, Candy Bar, Toucan, Zenna Bar, and Soho Theatre, many of whom are hosting special events including art exhibitions, fashion shows and live music.

Nanette Rigg, Founding Director of City Showcase added: ‘We are proud of our track record for helping and supporting new talent in the field of music and are delighted to be able to extend our work to showcase all creative talent in one of London’s most iconic streets’.

Hopefully we’ll see you there,

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

Posted in Alabama Shakes, Alt J, Ben Howard, Elbow, Janelle Monae, Latitude, Lianne La Havas, Richard Hawley, SBTRKT, Soho Flea Market, Team Me, The Horrors, Tune-Yards, We Are Augustines | Leave a comment

Liverpool Sound City Diary

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Hello one and all,

What a week its been! This blog is actually being co-written by both Fiona and Sybil as we both have far too much to say. Joe – he’s just being slient and mysterious in the corner.

Firstly, apologies for not getting our act together for a Reasons To Be Cheerful on Friday, Liverpool Sound City was just too darn good! For those of you that still haven’t been to Sound City because you do The Great Escape and think they’re the same, you really are missing out.

Don’t get us wrong, The Great Escape really is an outstanding weekend. We saw hoardes of people we knew. But this isn’t an either/or.

Having The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City back to back is like those 2 centre holidays you get. You know, Safari then beach. Both brilliant breaks but for different reasons.

We always see lots of old friends in Brighton and make a few new ones, and in Liverpool we make lots of new ones and see a few old ones. It’s not even all the panels or the same bands.

We love ‘em both and long may they continue.

Back to Liverpool now……

The music, the panels, the roundtable sessions, the afterparties, running around in the rain with tesco bags on our heads, portaloos (and their phone box equivalent….), the Expo, the Aussie BBQ, the John Peel World Cup… all of it was brilliant and a massive slap on the back/kiss on the cheek to the whole team at Liverpool Sound City for putting on another fantastic event.

Although we were officially dead for the last two days (it really does get harder as you get older), we have just about managed to perk up enough today to get flashbacks, so…

Here’s our round up of the best bits:

Alt-J: The Kazimier

The electricity in the Kazimier before Alt-J even started playing was palpable. A big sound and one to watch for 2012, they completely blew us away with Joe’s breathy vocals and an eclectic mix of an indie folk sound, woven with heavy synth, dub and sometimes even classical edges.

Post War Years

It was great to see Post War Years at the Red Bull Garage too…..so excited to hear the album finally get released and live they were as exciting, fresh and as chaotic but tight as ever.

PPL Open Artist Session

The PPL Panel was so oversubscribed they had to turn people away. John Robb was brilliant – asking all the questions young artists wanted answers to and he was asking them genuinely as he wasn’t PPL registered and has never been!

Keith was so articulate in explaining what exactly PPL does and how it differs from PRS for Music – an area of continual confusion for so many people. He, along with Mark Kelly, covered off some of the newer issues such as Spotify and also international collections and reciprocal arrangements.

The networking afterwards went on for well over an hour with at least 3 people saying it was the best session they had attended over the weekend.

This was the first time PPL had held a performer meeting outside London and we hope it won’t be the last.

Sybil’s special hat

When the heavens opened on Friday, we were all slightly miserable, wandering through the streets of Liverpool, looking for a warm seat and a cold beer. However, Sybil fixed all our problems with her ‘cockerel-like’ solution to a rainy day.

Pond @ The Kazimer

This was the last official thing we saw on Friday night – you know the feeling – the end of you gig tick list, a long day and evening, a sherry or three……So seeing this bunch of psychadelic bonkers rockers really hit the spot. And the crowd lapped up every single riff, beat and lyric to round off Saturday in a very crazy way.

Carpe Diem: Red Bull @ The Garage Official Closing Party

The ultimate eclectic French prog band, covered in Facepaint and mad outfits (We were particularly in love with the violinist with live fire attached to her bra). They gave the perfect finish to a mad weekend.

Sadly, that is all we’ve got time/room for and by no means did these bands stand alone – there were so many good acts this year, just too many to blog about.

Speak soon!

Sybil, Fiona & Joe

Posted in Alt J, Carpe Diem, Industry Issues, John Robb, Kazimier, Keith Harris, Liverpool Sound City, Mark Kelly, Pond, Post War Years, PPL, Professor Ian Hargreaves, The Great Escape, The Red Bull Garage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Liverpool Sound City – All The News

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

Afternoon all,

Firstly, thank you to everyone who came down to FM last night. It was a compact crowd but we met some fantastic people and I think its the first FM that I’ve met some Norwegians (love a Norwegian…)

We are bringing you an epic blog today because Liverpool Sound City is about to strap on its dancing shoes and we are now going to throw a massive amount of information in your face. So try to keep up…

The Music Bit

LSC have partnered with SoundAustralia, Brasil Music Exchange, c/o pop, KOCCA, New Zealand Music Commission, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Taiwan GIO to bring some of the best new international talent to the shores of the Mersey.

LSC’s highlights of the partner events include:

Death in Vegas, Alt-J, Ghostpoet and White Denim at Artrocker;
The History Of Apple Pie, Bleached, Towns and PINS at The Line Of Best Fit;
Bear In Heaven and Patterns at Last.fm;
Tim Hecker at Mutek;
Slow Club and Mystery Jets at Noisey,
Alkaline Trio, Lower Than Atlantis and Kids In Glass Houses at Shakedown;
Charli XCX, Django Django and Niki and the Dove at Red Bull
Mark Jones, Killa-flaw, Kids On Bridges and Adamski at the Wall Of Sound/Two Louder party

To see the full line up of artists click here.

The Business Bit

Incredible keynotes feature at this years LSC in the form of:

Legendary photographer Gered Mankowitz, in conversation with editor of the frankly ace Liverpool music magazine Bido Lito!,

Hip-hop writer, filmmaker and cultural commentator Nelson George in conversation with uber-producer Arthur Baker

Tech superstar Andrew Mains of Mobile Roadie in conversation with highly-respected journalist Eamonn Forde.
Panel highlights include sessions on digital start-ups, the new record label, distribution, gaming and music, tech, music discovery, sync, social media and more – you can read more about any/all of these here.

As we mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the LSC Roundtable Sessions are worth their weight on gold and our experience of them at the Dubai Sound City was insanely successful. You need to try and get to one…all you need is to be a delegate and to email Alex or Rose to book a place. Places are limited!

Thursday 17th May, 10:45-11:45 in Grace One, Hilton and 14:30-15:30 in Grace Three and Two, Hilton

Friday 18th May 14:30-15:30 in Grace Three and Two, Hilton (as part of The North West Ethnic Minority Music Sector Roundtables: in association with Diaspora) and 17:00-18:00 in Grace One

The roundtables give exclusive access to a host of Sound City keynotes and businesses: part talking shop, part networking event, part a chance to engage in interesting, topical and, hopefully, fun debate.

It’s also a chance to put forward your ideas and opinions in a relaxed environment with a group of like-minded souls and meet some amazing new contacts.

Speed dating, this most certainly isn’t – instead it’s a place for you to meet like minded people, be inspired and do great business.

THINGS YOU NEED TO RSVP FOR:

The North West Ethnic Minority Music Sector Roundtables: in association with Diaspora
Friday 18th, 14:30-15:30

PPL Open Session for Artists with Networking Drinks
Friday 18th May 13:15-15:15

A Master class – Women and the Music Industry
Thursday 17th May, 14:00-16:00

Connected Digital Economy Catapult – in association with Creative Industries KTN 
Friday 18th 13:45-14:45

John Peel World Cup

Full details of Match Day 2012, incorporating Kicking + Screening, The John Peel World Cup and CALM table football tournament – tailored by Umbro and SPIEL Magazine


For 2012, Liverpool Sound City have – added Match Day to the LSC programme and celebrating the beautiful game alongside the beautiful sounds.

Kicking + Screening, Thursday-Saturday, 17th-19th May, Static Gallery, 23 Roscoe Lane Liverpool, L1 9JD

LSC are proud to announce that, as part of Match Day, Kicking + Screening will be coming to Liverpool: founded in 2009, Kicking + Screening Football Film Festival (K+S) is an annual global series of festivals dedicated to engaging, connecting, and inspiring football fans and film enthusiasts through the celebration and presentation of football culture.

For more information please visit www.kickingandscreening.com

We can’t wait to get up there now, roll on Thursday…

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

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The Great Escape Diary and Liverpool Sound City Prep

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Happy Monday – and FM is upon us!

We will be seeing you tonight from around 6pm at The Alley Cat on Denmark Street.

Just to remind you there’s no SMS tonight. We’re going back to our roots this month and just having a good ol’ session of drinks and chats. This will, for many of us, be a continuation of what we have just spent four days doing at the Queen’s Hotel on the Brighton seafront.

Apart from the fabulous networking at The Great Escape, we saw some incredible new artists including Lianne La Havas (love her!), The Sheepdogs, Toy, Willy Mason, Jethro Fox and many more.

One of the most unforgettable evenings was Africa Express Sound System; a vibrant, colourful and powerful performance by a collaboration of African and Western artists that lasted over two hours. We were left feeling exhausted and exhilarated just from watching them. Spoek Mathambo, Noisettes vocalist Shingai Shoniwa, Senegalese artist Diabel Cissokho, Gorillaz keyboardist Jesse Hackett, Ghanaian hip hop pioneer M3NSA, and British singer/songwriter Terri Walker all took part.


Africa Express Sound System

The Sheepdogs

Willy Mason

Lianne La Havas

Jethro Fox

Not a lot of time for a breather (As someone emailed me saying today – I need TLC after TGE and before LSC!) as we only have three days until we do it all over again in Liverpool for Sound City! We’ll be sending out a dedicated blog tomorrow with all the news and updates, keep an eye out.

We’re extremely excited to be heading up north to take full advantage of a magnificent line up and the Asia/tech focus on panels during the Thursday and Friday.

One of the things to look out for and sign up to without fail is the Roundtable Sessions. When Sound City ran these in Dubai, they were single handedly the best networking sessions we’d ever been to.

The quality of the other participants (spent an hour talking to the guy that sync’d music on all the coolest US shows including the OC), the topics that drove quality discussion and debate and the time they allocated – no mad rushing from one desk to another every 5 minutes.

If you’re registered as a delegate, these sessions are free to attend – definitely worth their weight in gold so if you are still undecided about heading to Liverpool, here’s your reason.

Something else worth checking out is the PPL artist networking session on Friday…this is open to all artists and managers – whether your registered for Sound City or not.

See you tonight!

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

Posted in Africa Express, Diabel Cissokho, Gorillaz, Industry Issues, Jesse Hackett, Jethro Fox, Lianna La Havas, Liverpool Sound City, M3NSA, Noisettes, terri walker, The Great Escape, The Sheepdogs, Toy, Willy Mason | 1 Comment

Stop Press

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

Afternoon all,

We’re coming to you live today from the gorgeous Hotel Du Vin on the sunny Brighton seafront. First night of the Great Escape well and truly over (we’ll send out a diary blog next week, hold on to your hats) so apologies if we’re a little slow off the mark today.

First announcement is that unfortunately there won’t be an SMS on Monday. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to postpone Howling Monkey’s talk, but they will appear later on. Meanwhile, FM is still going ahead as planned – just drinks and chit chat – old school.

A quick mention for The Horrors, who were outstanding at their Jack Daniel’s Roots gig in South End on Sea on Thursday. Absolutely loved them. They are touring the UK this summer as well as appearing at Leeds, Reading, Latitude, Bestival and T in the Park, so if you do get a chance to catch them…go.

We’re off for breakfast on the beach now. Catch you later,

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

Posted in Jack Daniels, The Horrors | Leave a comment

Camden Crawl, No Direction Home & Howling Monkey

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

Afternoon folks,

How are we all today?

Well, Camden Crawl was eventful. For us, it consisted of moving Sybil’s entire living room to The Holiday Inn for Access All Artists.

Unfortunately, many photo opportunities were missed of carrying the HEAVIEST SOFA IN THE WORLD up two flights of stairs but ‘Friends’ scenes of ‘PIVOT…PIVOT!’ come to mind… and props to Joe who did the majority of labour (mostly due to the fact that Sybil and I couldn’t breathe for laughing)

A big Thank You to all the companies who came down to chat to the artists, these included Bolt Burden, Sheridans, Pledge Music, MMF, The MU and Hardwick & Morris.

Luckily for us too, we had an excellent view of the day time sessions on the mezzanine below us including The Futureheads (below), Kids In Glass Houses, Niki & The Dove and Glasvegas.

No Direction Home Festival

If you fancy attending a festival for free on in June then you need to get into the spirit of volunteering and head over to No Direction Home in Sherwood Forest.

A hand-crafted new festival – No Direction Home, to be held on 8th – 10th June 2012 at Welbeck (near Sheffield & Nottingham) on the edge of Sherwood Forest. It’s a unique setting that is second to none. There will be music, there will be merriment, there will be all sorts of things that you could expect from the team behind End of the Road Festival: Attention to detail, fabulous bands, award winning ales, Somerset Cider Bus, great food, cutting edge film, comedy, children’s entertainments, a chance to make, do and discover. Camping will be beside the lake with views of the historic Welbeck Abbey.

If you are interested in Volunteering at this fab festival (and who wouldn’t be) then click here.

Howling Monkey

A final message today involves the brilliant Howling Monkey, who are coming to speak at our next FM (14th May).

Don’t miss out on hearing about:

  • Music and content strategy
  • Full music supervision including rights procurement
  • Talent & rights management

You can view their showreel of work here.

Click on the link to the left to RSVP for the event.

See you there (unless you’re in Brighton first!)

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

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Reasons To Be Cheerful – More TGE news: UKTI Networking Session

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Happy liquid lunch day,

Firstly, congratulations to someone who has a stonking reason to be cheerful today – Well done Ben Allen for winning a full delegate pass to The Great Escape courtesy of UK Music.

Ben’s winning answer went something like “I deserve a TGE delegate pass because I can do an Emperor Penguin impression (including props) and would love to show it to you…” – which we will actually hunt you down for in Brighton next weekend, Ben, so props at the ready.

Second reason to be cheerful comes from the delectable Philippa McEvoy at UK Trade & Investment:

UK Trade & Investment International Networking Sessions at The Great Escape 

Delivered by UK Trade & Investment with Association of Independent Music.

 

When: Friday 11th May 2.30 to 4.30pm
Where: The Great Escape Convention Exchange, Mezzanine Level, Dome Foyer
Format: 15 minute, one-to-one meetings – available by appointment 

Meet a label from Japan, an agent from the States or a festival promoter from China by signing up for one of UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) one-to-one 15 minute networking sessions to meet key international music sector professionals.

We have over 20 key international industry representatives waiting to talk to you about their markets and how you might do business there.

IMPORTANT: These sessions are open only to UK companies who are registered, or are intending to register, as delegates at The Great Escape.

To apply, email creative@ukti.gsi.gov.uk for an application form.

If you aren’t already registered for The Great Escape please let us know in your application. We won’t be able to confirm your place until you are registered as a Great Escape delegate.

The markets, areas of expertise and representatives attending are as follows:

USA, Live, Windish Agency, High Road Touring, Paradigm, CMJ and SXSW. CAA - TBC.
USA, Sync, Andrea Von Foerster (Independent Music Supervisor) and Atlantic Records. ICM Agency – TBC.
Japan, Live, Creativeman (Summersonic Festival). Smash – TBC.
Japan, Label, Imperial Records, Creativeman, Zankyo Records and KSR
Japan, Publishing, Fuji Pacific and Avex
China, Live, Modern Sky. S.T.D. - TBC
India, Live/Label, NH7 Festival and OML
Brazil, Live, Malab Productions, Dancum Se Rasgum Productions, Marcelo Damaso & Luri Freiberger (Independent Producers)
Poland, Live, Tauron Nowa Musyka Festival
Austria, Live/Label/Sync, INK Music/Waves Festival
Slovakia, Live, Pohoda Open Air Festival - TBC
Estonia, Live, Tallin Music Week - TBC

We are still confirming international participants so we will keep you informed of any new amendments and/or additions.
All queries to creative@ukti.gsi.gov.uk

Reason To Be Cheerful number 3 is of course Camden Crawlwhich starts tonight!

We’re taking Access All Artists up to Camden town this weekend and will be setting up our own lounge in The Holiday Inn in Camden all weekend.

We’ll be there from 12pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Come by for a drink and a chat, and meet industry experts such as lawyers, trade bodies, management companies, funding & crowdsourcing and accountants.

Don’t forget your RSVP to the Howling Monkey FM First Monday – all set for 14th May….

Done and done.

Fiona, Sybil & Joe

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