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  We are very excited to announce that @lateworks_  of Noise will be out on @slowdancerecords on 10TH NOVEMBER You can pre-order the limited edition vinyl now via our website in our bio and on @roughtrade The 40 minute album features members of @bmblackmidi @goatgirlofficial @404guild @sorrybanduk @powerplant___  @curlrecordings & more who came into a studio in six groups to record with a set of instruments sculpted by @mathildabgreene @a4ngus @joe.bradleyhill & @jonaspequeno     The groups were only allowed to sample the instruments and their voice, and any lyrics had to be written in the time (of which they only had six hours). You can listen to a sampler and find more information on the Slow Dance & Late Works websites. Tracklist: A1 – “forged in fire” ft.( @djdairy2020 @thegreep @agaujma @silkarmour100 & @jerskinfendrix ) A2 – “diggy diggy fuck off” ft.( @plopper5000 @mrinstargram @maxsyedtollan & @tobyevansjesra ) A3 – “don’t sleep on” ft.( @glowsmusic & @felix.raman ) A4 – “unmenacingly violent” ft.( @marthaskye @krnlnrd @skrillig & @cajm_ ) B1 – “DRAIN MYTH” ft.( @bathwater.404 @devenny.404 @eliot.404 & @sonny.404 ( @404guild )) B2 – “DARK LORE BINGO” ft.( @bianca_scout @jacobfsamuel @homerhands @j_b_glazer @h__smart & @elenaisolini ) Musicians selected by @ggskips @joe.bradleyhill @maddymokeefe & @biancascout . All tracks mixed by the respective artists and @felix.raman and mastered for vinyl by @technodaddy666 (@pva_are_ok ) . Concept + vinyl design by @joe.bradleyhill inspired by Luigi Russolo’s 1913 manifesto “The Art of Noises”.

A post shared by Slow Dance (@slowdancerecords) on Oct 5, 2020 at 4:06am PDT

Ventures like this are typical of Slow Dance, run by three entrepreneurial music lovers Marco Pini, Darius Williams and Maddy O’Keefe. Slow Dance is a label, management, radio and events company that grew organically out of a college art zine. It has been recognised for its status as ‘one of the capital’s finest arbiters of taste’, and for its grassroots ethos, by publications such as NME, Dazed and The Quietus.

Fitting with their artistic origins, Slow Dance have collaborated with intermedia arts organisation Late Works on this project. Late Works founder Joseph Bradley Hill, who designed the concept, was inspired by Luigi Russolo’s 1913 manifesto The Art of Noises which classifies noises into six categories. Hill chose the four sculptors to contribute while O’Keefe, Pini and Bianca Scout weighed in to choose the musicians.

One group of musicians includes Lottie Pendlebury and Rosy Jones from the Rough Trade signed band Goat Girl while another saw DJ Dairy & MC Spritz, from the 2019 Mercury nominated black midi, team up with burgeoning experimental-folk musician Aga Ujma. The musicians were only able to sample the instruments and their own voices. The result is a fascinating cross-genre set of tracks, created over six hours, that demonstrates the innate musicality of its participants.

The physical product is covered in interesting graphics and contains a black and white risographed concertina booklet detailing the project. Projects like these are important because they question the purpose of music and push its parameters.

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Happy 2 year anniversary Hunter My hunter years have been thrilling and scary and beautiful. I can’t wait to open a new chapter with you again

A post shared by Anna Calvi (@annacalvi) on Aug 31, 2020 at 5:19am PDT

Hunter is an apt name for an album so ferocious and primal as this one. Calvi said that she chose the title because she ‘hate[s] the fact that strong words about going into the world and taking what is yours are so male-gendered‘. This hatred is clear from the first track onward. In As a Man Calvi sings over a repetitive bass-line and war-like drums: ‘If I was a man in all but my body// Oh would I now understand you completely’.

It is an exploration of the still pervasive sentiment that Queen Elizabeth expressed when she defended her status as a female leader with the words ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king‘. Calvi said in a press release that: ‘If a woman wants to be powerful she’s expected to exhibit ‘male’ traits… the woman in the song is trying to understand a man by imagining becoming him, but as it progresses she asks the man to become more like her instead’.

She continues, ‘there hasn’t been enough effort for men to become more like women… Men are brought up believing that to be feminine is to be weak… both sexes need to be able to move to the middle of the spectrum’. This measured and interesting idea runs through the album, especially on the track Don’t Beat the Girl out of My Boy.

This song starts with a doo-doo chorus over upbeat guitar. It is a joyful celebration of gender non-binary ideals, a call to society to let the children be. To let boys cry and girls be bossy in the playground. Toward the end of the track Calvi sings ‘I shout out// Let us, be us’ and lets out a Kate-Bush-esque wail for a full 40 seconds. Her passion and pain toward the subject of gender is evident in her cry, and as a result its sound is enough to send shivers down anyones spine.

The album is a political piece of artistry. It remains as relevant now as it was two years ago, if not more so.

2 years ago I made a documentary with FOREVER FILMS about growing up around West London free party culture – in light of official #NottingHillCarnival being cancelled we decided to put it out to the world@NOWNESS just put it as their pick of the week https://t.co/8NSSLDmqdT pic.twitter.com/jQ33Y0ez4O

— LAVA LA RUE (@lavalarue) August 28, 2020

In the video, Lava La Rue talks about the DIY rave culture in West London in the 90s. The Windrush movement that started in the 1950s brought an influx of Caribbean people to Notting Hill and Portobello.  At this time, ‘Caribbean people weren’t welcome in the clubs‘ so ‘had to move the party elsewhere‘. Elsewhere was the ‘crumbling West London terraces‘ that now cost around £4 million. At these ‘blues parties‘, Stranger Cole and Patsy Todd would blast out of the sound-system.

In West Born, La Rue tells us her parents arrived in England in the 1990s. Gone were the ‘blues parties‘ and in their place was an evolving rave scene based on a DIY community ethos. Lava La Rue talks about these days fondly, though she experienced them through the lens of childhood. ‘I was around sound-systems and thumping booming music from a very young age… [I was] the little kid running around barefoot while everyones on a trippy one‘.

It was an unorthodox childhood, but one she enjoyed thoroughly. So much so that she wanted to start putting on similar parties in her teens, desiring to ‘curate a space‘ that felt safe and shared the community values of the ones her parents went to.

In the documentary, she and musician Louis Culture discuss East v. West in terms of nightlife. Louis contends that East is ‘kind of winning’ at the moment, and Lava agrees ‘there’s been an attack on the arts in West… for some reason securing a venue in West is difficult to obtain… it’s the prices, they’ve not made it accessible to locals.’

Toward the end of the video, Lava La Rue stands on Tavistock Road talking listening intently to Leslie Palmer, Trinidadian community activist and one of the pioneers of Notting Hill Carnival back in the mid 1960s. Palmer’s vision was that people from different Afro-Caribbean communities would come together to make Carnival bigger and better. This was certainly achieved as Carnival is now a festival of  thousands from all different cultures.

Lava La Rue holds Carnival close to her heart, saying in Vogue that her first carnival was ‘in the womb‘. This intimate connection makes her documentary both authentic and inspiring to watch.

Groundbreaking British painter Dawn Mellor has been tasked with crafting the honorary mural. With a longstanding residency at the Tate, London, Mellor is more than capable of creating a beautiful permanent fixture for the late great singer.

The mural will be a visual representation of Michael’s life and career, and will be uncloaked during Brent Borough of Culture 2020. Along with the grand reveal will be an assortment of activities and learning programmes for the public, all of which will take place at the local schools that the beloved pop star attended. A spokesperson for the event said that “It will be taken forward and fundraised for by Metroland Cultures, the new charity established to deliver the year of culture programme,” 

The painting is part of elsewhere, a collection curated by Studio Voltaire that features a series of public artworks dotted across the city of London. Studio Voltaire is one of the United Kingdom’s key players for the art world. It is a leading non-profit arts organisation that focuses on exposing the exciting work of emerging or relatively unknown artists in the industry. 

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Announcing our next commission: Dawn Mellor Artist Dawn Mellor will create their first permanent public artwork: a nine-metre high mural in Kingsbury, Brent, celebrating the life of local hero George Michael, who lived and went to school in the area. Mellor’s artwork is part of Studio Voltaire elsewhere – a series of offsite commissions taking place around London. Co-commissioned by Studio Voltaire, Brent Borough of Culture 2020 and Create London, it will launch in September 2020 in Kingsbury as part of the Brent Biennial – a series of projects for Brent Borough of Culture 2020. A programme of engagement will take place with schools that George Michael attended, as well as talks, walks and workshops. Link in bio. Image: Dawn Mellor, Studies of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, 1984-5, courtesy Dawn Mellor

A post shared by Studio Voltaire (@studiovoltairelondon) on Aug 11, 2020 at 3:43am PDT

No stranger to painting celebrities, Mellor has created portraits of some of society’s most recognised names in arts and culture, including Karl Largerfeld and none other than her majesty, Queen Elizabeth. However, the upcoming Michael mural will be the first public piece of art for Manchester-born artist Mellor.

As well as the honourary mural, Michael’s name was added into The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in January of this year. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is an esteemed book that ensembles life stories and legacies from prestigious British individuals across history.

Notable new additions to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography include fellow music icon David Bowie and record producer Sir George Martin. As new entries into the book are only permitted following the death of the influential individual, all of 2020’s additions having passed away in 2016.

George Michael, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was widely known for being a part of the exemplary pop group, Wham! Created with his longtime friend Andrew Ridgely, Wham! Formed in London in 1981. 

Bursting on their scene with their electric debut album, Fantastic, Michael and Ridgely shook the pop world in the best possible way, and went on to make three phenomenal albums together. Penning many cult classics, some of the most notable being Club Tropicana, Everything She Wants, and I’m Your Man, Wham! Were pioneers in the 1980s pop revival.

As well as a thriving solo career and releasing classic hits Freedom, Careless Whisper and Faith, George Michael was heavily involved in record producing and philanthropy. Heartbreakingly, Michael passed away suddenly on Christmas Day in 2016, but his revolutionary music will live on forever. 

Тhe first announcement for the headliners was posted on the official YouTube page of the festival.

Shortly after, Lily Allen was revealed as the third headliner. She has been performing and writing music for the past 14 years, winning the hearts of fans with songs such as ‘Smile‘, ‘Not Fair‘, ‘The Fear‘, ‘LDN‘ and ‘Trigger Bang‘.

The Festival will feature renown DJs such as Alix Perez, Clipz, Critical Sound System, Darkzy & Window Kid and many more.

Some of the  MC’s that will take part in the festival this year are Carasel, Catalyst, Crisis MC, Designate and Dread MC.

The Skate and BMX set will include International Pro+ Open Competitions, Ring of Fire and Wallride.

The Street Art exhibition and performance program will offer International Artist & Top local talent live and curated art. The exhibition program will also include showcased ramps, rails, vehicles and walls.

Just like every other festival, the NASS was also affected by the Coronavirus situation. On 25 March the following message was posted on the official Facebook page of the event.

More information and further news can be found on the official website of the event, www.nassfesstival.com .

I’ve made 3 new tracks as part of an exhibition with the artist Anna Liber Lewis that opens at the Elephant West gallery in London on Friday. This will be the only place you can hear the new music. Headphones and audio players are supplied at the gallery. pic.twitter.com/dmZ6wQKnt2

— Four Tet (@FourTet) January 15, 2019

Headphones will be provided during the exhibition for a full sensory experience. The artists hope the experience will that will challenge contemporary ideas of what art is. In a press release Elephant West said “This will be a multi-sensory experience, where the audience should feel able to move freely, and dance if they want to; it aims to disrupt the idea of the ‘white cube space’ exhibition, ubiquitous across the contemporary art scene since the end of the 19^th century.”  Four Tet (real name Kieren Hebden) has been friends with Anna Liber Lewis since childhood, and the music and paintings are to be experienced in tandem together.  

Tomorrow we open the second artist commission at Elephant West—a collaboration between London painter and winner of the Griffin Art Prize 2017, Anna Liber Lewis, and her life-long friend, the illustrious electronic musician Kieren Hebden, aka @FourTet. https://t.co/CIW8u4CIXT — Elephant Magazine (@ElephantMag) January 17, 2019

Describing the music created by Four Tet, Elephant West stated “each [track is] made in response to the images Liber Lewis was sending him over a period of about 6 months.  The tracks range from ambient and twinkly, to bass-heavy and danceable, echoing the emotional journey across Liber Lewis’s work”, and fans are very excited to see the results.

You are a true artist when i discovered your music I was transported off this crazy planet. Thanks!

— Visceral Fate (@euforik80skid) January 15, 2019

Born in 1977 Hebden has amassed a back catalog consisting on nine studio albums and a raft of singles and remixes, including an anthemic version of The XX VCR. Whilst this will be the only place to hear these three new tracks from Four Tet, fans from outside of London need not fear as he is currently in the middle of the North American leg of their world tour, with full dates listed below. 

Tour Dates

19^th January Igloofest Montreal, Canada

2^nd February, Palladium, Los Angeles, CA

5^th February, Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY

6^th February, Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY

8^th February, 1015 Folsom, San Francisco, CA

9^th February, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA

10^th February, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA

9^th March, Days Like This Festival, Sydney, Australia

10^th March, Golden Plains, Meredith, Australia

11^th March, Pitch Music + Arts, Melbourne, Australia

13^th March, Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand

8^th May, Alexandra Palace, London, UK

9^th May, Alexandra Palace, London, UK