A statement was posted on music platform Certified Jackin’s Facebook announcing the news. They called the DJ  “one of the pioneers who helped shape UK Jackin’, House & Bass”. The statement read “Nick didn’t just make tracks – he made memories. His music soundtracked countless nights out, countless moments, and left a mark on a whole generation of ravers. From Leeds to the world, Nick Hannam’s legacy will live on in every speaker, every dancefloor and every heart he touched through his music. Rest easy Nick. You’ll never be forgotten.”

No age or cause of death was given.

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Amongst the many other tributes given to the DJ and Producer, fellow DJ and rapper Tom Zanetti called Hannam a “beautiful soul” who “always knew the answers”. He wrote: “I’m heartbroken to announce the man who helped me build the song ‘You Want Me’ brick by brick in a little bedroom studio in Leeds, a song you all know and love which is randomly going super viral at the moment – Nick Hannam has passed away.”

Back in 2016, the pair collaborated to co-produce ‘You Want Me’, a song which went platinum in the UK and made its way into the UK Top 40. The song also charted in countries such as Belgium.

Nick began producing music in the early 2010s and quickly made a name for himself in the house-focused sounds that combined groove, funk and jackin’ house. Responsible for other underground hits such as ‘Serious’, ‘Love You Girl’ and ‘I Like To F*ck. ‘You Want Me’ peaked at Number 22 in the UK Top 40 and Number 7 on the dance charts.

“Nick didn’t just make tracks – he made memories. His music soundtracked countless nights out, countless moments, and left a mark on a whole generation of ravers.”

VENUS REMIX out Friday https://t.co/5LdtERYpjr

— Boys Noize (@boysnoize) August 14, 2023

“Venus,” itself a cover by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, was a considerable hit for Bananarama, making the dance floor hit a global sensation and earning the trio a top ten place in the UK charts. Now, Boys Noize has taken a turn reworking the single and has added his own, high speed spin on the track-ensuring the song is a hit on the dance floor once again.

Boys Noize of his newest release, “when the request came in I was quite excited to take this on. I really enjoyed the challenge making the classic work in my DJ sets, speeding it up and making it pop on new sound systems. Besides the vocals, some of the original worked really well in my new musical dress too-it’s really fun to play this one!”

The @boysnoize rework of #Venus is OUT NOW Listen here: https://t.co/cKtLajP0Iy pic.twitter.com/zFvIAONhBt — Bananarama Official (@VivaBananarama) August 18, 2023

Formed in London and Ireland in 1980, Bananarama were an unprecedented success for an all female pop/dance group, announcing themselves on the scene with a top ten collaboration with Fun Boy Three on “It Ain’t What You Do (It’s The Way That You Do It).” The group would have similar chart topping success throughout the 80s with songs such as “Cruel Summer,” “Love In The First Degree,” and “I Want You Back.”

By the early 1990s, the group became a duo, continuing on with original members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward-the pair remaining active as Bananarama to this day. The group released their latest album Masquerade in 2022. Celebrating 40 years, Bananarama have released a re-mix of their hit song “Cruel Summer” as well as “Venus” by Boys Noize.

Boys Noize, also known by his given name, Alex Ridha, is a German-Iraqi record producer and songwriter. Having notable success as a DJ, Boys Noize has received high praise from a number of music outlets, with many citing him as one of the best currently active DJs in the world. Boys Noize has also produced records for Kano, The Black-Eyed Peas and Kelis as well as winning a Grammy Award for Lady Gaga’s “Rain On Me,” featuring Ariana Grande.

Boys Noize will be playing a live show in London this October with VTSS. Tickets can be purchased here.

Boys Noize Tour:

27/08/2023 – Solomun + 1 – Ibiza, Spain
15/10 – E1 x Percolate – London

Bananarama Tour:

16/09/2023 – Radio 2 In The Park – Leicester

‘Squeaky Wheel’ – new from James Ellis Ford

Listen now ↓https://t.co/NMnXeW6HdF

— Warp Records (@WarpRecords) April 12, 2023

Ford initiated his music career in 2000 as a founding member of rock band Simian before teaming up with Jas Shaw from the aforementioned group and forming the spin-off duo Simian Mobile Disco in 2003, this time with a focus on electronic music. The duo have enjoyed a fair deal of success since, even amassing somewhat of a cult following, but have been on hiatus ever since Shaw was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis in 2018, which has in turn afforded Ford the chance to think about producing music solo on his own terms.

Watch the video for “It’s The Beat”, the lead single from Simian Mobile Disco’s first album Attack Decay Sustain Release, below:

Ford is also a founding member of The Last Shadow Puppets, formed in 2008 with Alex Turner, Miles Kane and Zach Dawes, yet his musical exploits do not stop there. He has producing credits on 55 albums, most notably Klaxon’s Myths of the Near Future (2007), Florence and the Machine’s Ceremonials (2011), Gorillaz’ The Now Now (2016), and all of Artic Monkeys’ records to date, and plays a multitude of instruments on many, mainly on drums, keyboard and percussion.

Quite the CV then. With this quite frankly stupendous amount of musical prowess Ford naturally sets the bar sky high, and fans of Simian Mobile Disco and The Last Shadow Puppets, and possibly even Artic Monkeys themselves, will undoubtedly be tremendously excited by what Ford has to offer in his first solo outing.

If we are to judge the rest of the album by the two singles released from it already (“I Never Wanted Anything” is the other track), we should expect dreamy, partly funky, partly Pink Floyd-esque vibes. Tape loops are used immaculately in both songs, lending an ethereal touch that allows them to float on and along flawlessly whilst simultaneously giving the tracks a satisfying cohesive arc.

Listen to  “Squeaky Wheel” below:

Pre-order your copy of The Hum now here.

Black Butter’s most recent venture involves none other than DJ and producer p-rallel. The West London based artist has been shaping his expansive sound alongside his counterparts in the Elevation/Meditation collective consisting of other notable names Lord Apex, Louis Culture and Finn Foxell. It is with this involvement in production for key figures in the London hip-hop/R&B scene that has gained p-rallel notoriety, landing him positions on tour with Lava La Rue, Jeshi and one of England’s latest exports Slowthai.

After announcing on Instagram the signing to Black Butter Records a week and a half ago, it has since been revealed a further subsidiary label is being launched, with p-rallel as the debut signee. The label named 4ZA has launched with a new website currently displaying the logo and a contact email for any further enquiries. It is unknown who else will be signing to 4ZA if anyone, but with p-rallel’s chameleon style encompassing genres from hip-hop, to garage, to soul, to jungle there is lot to play around with here in terms of rosters. It is here that fans expect to see the release of his next extended play, following the highly regarded ‘Soundboy’ EP from 2020.

The short documentaries are available now and feature the appearances of emerging artists Avelino, Mysie, Joy Crookes and Easy Life. Fraser commented on the docu-series: ‘The Amazon Music ‘Produced By’ format is such a revolutionary gift, to be able to show people the process of making the record whilst making the best EP I could possibly make. Bringing these artists together for this project has been an exciting and cathartic process. I chose four artists who are going to make a huge dent in 2021’.

The artists too are mesmerized by having worked with a Grammy winning producer. For instance, North London rapper Avelino said ‘This was an overdue link up with a creative and executive that I respect very highly’ and R&B English artist Mysie though that ‘Working with Fraser has been amazing. Through our mentorship, I’ve learned so much about myself – not only as a musician – but as a human’.

Born in England’s Buckinghamshire, the fifty-year-old producer started his career by performing in local pubs as a solo musician or with different bands. In the early 2000s, Smith decided to focus entirely on his songwriting and production skills. This choice brought him nominations and successes from Grammys and Brits Awards, with the productions he worked for winning from MOBO Awards’ Best Album to Latin Grammy Awards’ Record of the Year. During the COVID pandemic, he was the man behind the scene producing the viral version of Foo Fighters’ ‘Time Like These’, featuring many internationally acclaimed artists recording from their homes.

Amazon is currently working on a full documentary on Fraser T Smith, following his process step by step and featuring interventions of Craig David, Rita Ora and more. You can find ‘Produced By’ here.

Among the artists that will feature on Suddenly Remixes is UK’s hot artist Four Tet on his version of the track Never Come Back. Among the artists who will feature for the first time on the new album are Toro y Moi, Jessy Lanza, Prince Nifty, and Koreless, all who have produced remixes for Never Come Back, Home, You and I and others.

When discussing the upcoming Suddenly Remixes, Caribou stated that, ‘Sometimes remixes are commissioned to be marketing tools or to make the music functional in a club. But for me, there’s only one reason to get remixes done: because I’m a giddy fan of the remixer. Looking down the tracklisting of this remix album, it’s a thrill to see a list of producers whose music I find so inspiring collected there. Some are established artists, some are just starting out; some I messaged, begging a remix, right after coming across their music for the first time; and some are dear friends whose music I’ve loved for a while—but in every case, I feel very lucky to hear their music and mine connected on this remix album.

The original album Suddenly was released Februrary 28th, 2020 and in October of that year, Caribou released the first round of remixes for the album via EP. The remixed EP consisted of two remixes for the song Sunny’s Time, one by Kareem Ali and the other by Logic1000.

Like I Loved You by India Jordan and Shanti Celeste produced Ravi. The remixed singles Sister and Never Come Back were however released 3 months earlier, which was the beginning of the long slew of remixes to come for Caribou in the years 2020 and 2021.

Suddenly Remixes Tracklist:

01 Never Come Back (Koreless Remix)
02 Never Come Back (Four Tet Remix)
03 Home (Toro y Moi Remix)
04 Sunny’s Time (Logic1000 Remix)
05 Sister (Floating Points Remix)
06 Ravi (Shanti Celeste Remix)
07 You and I (Jessy Lanza Mix)
08 Sunny’s Time (Prince Nifty Saddle Up Mix)
09 Never Come Back (Floating Points Remix)
10 Never Come Back (Morgan Geist Remix)
11 Sunny’s Time (Kareem Ali Remix)
12 Like I Loved You (India Jordan Remix)

‘Loom’ is both gentle and urgent, built around one repetitive refrain. It builds intensely, and then everything falls away, leaving the piano and a whisper of unintelligible lyrics. It carries the listener along at every turn.

Speaking of the whole experience of putting together ‘Loom’, Arnalds says, “I am a long time fan of Bonobo and have been fortunate enough to get to know Simon as a friend in the last few years. Last year we spent a couple of days in the studio, after traveling and camping in the Icelandic highlands, with no intention other than to spend some quality time with music. Later, as I started working on the album, I kept coming back to that one piece, ‘Loom’, as it felt like the perfect album opener. We kept working on it remotely early this spring and the end result is something I’m incredibly proud of.”

Bonobo (real name: Simon Green) said this, “’Loom’ was one of the pieces we worked on together during that time. It was a real honour to create something with Ólafur. A friend and someone I admire greatly.”

Loom ft. @si_bonobo
15.10.20 pic.twitter.com/QSifn23HYv

— Ólafur Arnalds (@OlafurArnalds) October 13, 2020

‘Loom’ is almost completely the other end of the spectrum to Bonobo’s previous collaboration: ‘Heartbreak’, with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. First shared at the end of September, this is a disco-driven, 70s inspired, NYC track through and through, and you can hardly imagine it in the Icelandic highlands. In fact, ‘Heartbreak’ will become the first 12” to be shared on Bonobo’s new label OUTLIER, on November 13. His consistent versatility is inspiring.

Bonobo has certainly been stirring these last few months – until recently, his latest project was his own studio album, Migration, released in 2017. Now, as of October, he has shared two new collaborations, a record label, and even a recent remix of Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Final Days’ – Bonobo’s first remix since 2016.

Arnalds is also busy in the run up to some kind of peace; he has shared ‘Woven Song’, ‘We Contain Multitudes’ and ‘Back To The Sky’ (a collaboration with JFDR) already. some kind of peace will come out on November 6. Fans won’t have to wait long to see it live (virtually, anyway); he has been announced as the closing act of the first night of Iceland Airwaves’ online festival, Live From Reykjavík, on November 13 at 11pm.

The PDF lineup is available below, featuring sets from established DJs such as Mr Scruff and Auntie Flo as well as lesser known names such as See Thru Hands. Afro-beat jazz band Kokoroko will be playing the “Main Stage” on Saturday evening at 8.30pm, which will be a treat for fans who watched them last year at the festival in Abbots Ripton, former home of Secret Garden Party.

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Start planning your weekend Our full weekend timetable is here! Head to our bio for PDF version.

A post shared by We Out Here Festival (@weoutherefest) on Aug 20, 2020 at 7:15am PDT

We Out Here Festival was started only last year by music industry legend Giles Peterson. A successful broadcaster, DJ and record label owner, there is not much that Peterson hasn’t tried his hand at. His music taste is global and various but he has a particular interest in jazz, hip-hop and soul. Now he can add virtual festival co-ordinator to his list of achievements! Peterson’s independent record label, Brownswood Recordings, showcases talented underground musicians from all over the world, many of whom are on the bill this weekend. We Out Here already has an impressive reputation, hailed as a lively celebration of the ‘UK’s grassroots jazz scene‘ that isn’t limited to live performances.

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Whilst we can’t all be together again this year, we do have something very special planned for over our festival dates – 21-23rd August. Save the date and look out for more information coming next week! ________ Photo: Harry Jackson

A post shared by We Out Here Festival (@weoutherefest) on Aug 7, 2020 at 6:28am PDT

Peterson definitely wants his audiences to have a good time: the Evening Standard describes him ‘bounc[ing] around‘ the festival grounds last year spreading joy. But he is also keen for his festival-goers to engage in the more intellectual and serious side of music. Last year there were talks from musicians such as Saxophonist Gary Bartz and creative workshops to attend. This year there will be a talk on Sunday evening entitled ‘Politics of Joy on the Dance Floor‘ and also one on ‘Cross Cultural Collaboration‘. Additionally, there will be plenty of workshops such as an online music production class for young people aged 9-18.

We Out Here is not the only festival that has made the decision to go digital this summer. Tomorrowland paved the way back in July with a virtual weekend that was met with positive reviews; one drawback mentioned however was occasional difficulties with sound and loading. Hopefully technical difficulties will be kept to a minimum this weekend so that we can enjoy the likes of Dele Sosemi and Amahla without having to unplug the router!