Saturday 12th July: Independent Label Market

Today is the Independent Record Label Market with all of London's finest music families representing from XL to Acid Jazz.  Each stall has rare releases specially dug out from the depths of the crates and some of the artist's out on personal appearance signing duties.  Here is Victoria from Anushka at the Brownswood stall celebrating the release of their record, whilst Floating Points was on hand at Eglo to help me out with buying his new EP, guessing the track from me trying to hum it to him : /  I'm so chuffed that I got some records that I've wanted for ages and managed to bag a whole stash of stickers from Werkhaus (Actress) and Warp (Kwes) and even a lighter from Big Dada!

Friday 11th July: Summer Of Somewhereto

Yesterday I spent the day in South London at a new cultural centre on Peckham high street which has been scouted and taken over by initiative "Somewhereto_" which actively finds empty buildings in central locations to offer as free space.  For the month of July is a new festival called "Summer Of Somewhereto"  with a similar set-up in other cities thru Northern Island,  Scotland, Wales and England.  The hubs allow open access for young people to use as they wish to explore and practise their skills from rehearsal space for performing arts & music to studio space for visual arts or simply using Wifi and holding meetings.  

Since setting up my own studio, I have never got over the novelty of having my own environment to feel independent and secure to work in my own way.  For this reason I fully appreciate the luxury of having a designated destination to be able to have a neutral ground in which to escape your home environment and feel free to explore ideas and express yourself.  This is why I wanted to support this charity and join up as a mentor to offer advice and encouragement to young people coming to make use of this new space.  Yesterday was the launch of the first day which was opened by ambassador PlanB who gave an amazing talk, Q&A session and meet'n'great opportunity for everyone to have a one on one chance to ask a specific question.  Here he is cutting the ribbon of the site along with Kay Davis who is artist in residence for the festival with her own work exhibited and also heading up curating a group show of submissions.  

If you are between 16-25, check out the site to get your talent, business or creativity seen by your generation, the media and talent scouts ....... sell your products, services, designs, film or music direct to crowds from your community and beyond........ boost your skills with free expert master classes...........  visit https://somewhereto.com/summer

(All photos by me except group shot of mentors by Shakira Payne - inc. TJ Morgan,  Aaron Roach Bridgeman, Jo Burford, Faraz Osman, Cassandra Stavrou, Drew Davies,  Nikhil Shah, Syco Entertainment )

Weds 9th July: Pelicans & Parrots "Tropical Takeover" preview

Ready for Carnival season, Pelicans & Parrots are having a totally tropical takeover with specially commissioned cosmic collaborations with some of their family network of artists.  Here is a preview from two of those talents - Lizzie King for her spectrum tassel accessories and Safia El Dabi for her lovingly crafted soft-sculpture pineapples.  Their trademark signature classics are being suped-up and given a Carnival twist of colour for this exclusive range.  The private view is taking place tomorrow alongside other contributors Leyman Lahcine, Amy Hall, Clio Peppiatt and Gabriella Piccolo.

(Thanks to Lizzie and Safia for these studio snaps from their working process, preparing for the launch)

Tues 8th July: Anushka's "Broken Circuit" Debut Album out now!

Following on from yesterday's post with photos from Thristian's trip to Sete for Gilles Peterson's Worldwide music festival - now you can put a face to the name as this is Thristian in the first shot here.  Snapped at Brownswood HQ, he's holding the debut record "Broken Circuit" from Anushka which came out yesterday on Vinyl and CD with the sleeve design that I art directed.  Thanks to Stephanie Sian Smith for the beautiful photography and Claude D'Avoine for the cosmic design of the whole campaign.  Thanks also to PC Williams on the styling, Thresea Davies on the makeup and Valerie Benavides on the hair.  

Head over to Hyponik for a track by track break down of the album and buy it here!

(Top two images of Thristian and Gilles from Brownswood's Instagram)

Monday 7th July - Gilles Peterson's "Worldwide Festival" in Sète, France via Thristian's photos

I regularly like to show international music festivals via insight from friends who have opportunities to play them or enjoy as a reporter / photographer.  Over the years of running the content on this blog I have seen the scene spread with more and more festivals popping up across countries between both the summer and winter seasons.  One of the original truly global festivals is Gilles Peterson's Worldwide (literally) in Sète, France which I still haven't set foot on (OMG excuse the pun sorry) and desperate to visit as it's line-up just looks the best!  This year's acts included Theo Parish to Conan Mockasin and here are snaps of Little Dragon, Fourtet b2b with Floating Points and Bradley Zero captured by Thristian.   The whole thing was streamed live on the website and here you can also see an interview with French radio station Nova.  If you missed the week long celebration of Peterson's selection of favourite upcoming and established musicians, then make sure you check out the awards later in the year!

(Thanks to Thristian for his photos - see more at his instagram  and follow his work as lead programmer / A&R at @BoilerRoomTV and listen in to his Dark n' Lovely Global Roots show on @NTSlive every Sunday 8pm - 10pm )