FIRST CUT – The Ruskins Online Premiere

Here’s the latest video from Converse “First Cut”, which sees the pairing of talented new directors and up-and-coming artists. This time round sees aspiring young director Andy Little working with The Ruskins on the video for their forthcoming single Old Isleworth. It took months of preparation, lots of train journeys, phone calls, site scouting and a day filled with rain, but check out the results for yourself! You may even recognise a few of the characters and friends of The Ruskins in there too!

The track is out on the 26th April so head over to their Myspace www.myspace.com/theruskins to find out more and check out all the details on when and where you can get your hands on the single.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR UNDERAGE EASTER SPECIAL COMPETITION

To tie in with the release of The Ruskins’ new video we are giving you the chance to tell us what you think of the video. In return you will be in with the chance of winning tickets to the Underage Easter Special on the 9th April and reviewing the night for Converse.

NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB / EGYPTIAN HIP HOP / DJANGO DJANGO / LATE OF THE PIER SOUNDSYSTEM / IS TROPICAL / FARIS ROTTER/ THE HORRORS / DUBFREAKS.

On the 9th April Underage Club and Converse present THE UNDERAGE EASTER SPECIAL at Village Underground in London. Along with the fact that this is one amazing venue we have also got a brilliant line up of acts to keep you dancing all day and warm you up for the big event at the Underage Festival in Victoria Park on Sunday 1st August. So we are not only giving you the chance to win a pair of tickets but also review the Underage Easter Special for Converse… we may even throw in some shoes too!

HOW TO WIN TICKETS

We have just launched and premiered the latest Converse First Cut video with The Ruskins and so to win, all you have to do is review the video, post the video and your review on your blog or myspace blog and then send us the link. Its that simple! Your review can be as long, short, nice or not so nice as you like… it’s your opinion so getting watching, writing and sending… good luck!

SEND ENTRIES TOO : editor@conversemusic.co.uk

Remember you must embedd the video in your blog along with your review- links to reviews that don’t have the video will not be included.  If you have any problems embedding just drop us a line! editor@conversemusic.co.uk *Competition is strictly only open to those aged 14-18 years old*Competition closes on FRIDAY 18th March @ Midnight*

Its almost time to bring you another Converse Music exclusive First Cut video, which will be going live on Monday afternoon exclusively at conversemusic.co.uk.  Its been a more than hectic and busy time with Andy the director in York and the band in London and everywhere else gigging regularly and not to mention the snow over the Christmas period!  But last week on the streets of Isleworth Andy, The Ruskins and some very special friends (you will have to watch the full video to find out who!) finally got filming underway and despite the rain got some amazing footage.

This was one of the clips that didn’t make it into the final cut but we still love it! So check out our little cheeky teaser above and a few stills from the video below…you may catch a glimpse of one of the main characters, who you may just recognise….

Its a brilliant track and a great video, but when it goes live we want to know what you think too so we will be giving you the chance to review the video for yourself and be in with the chance of winning some tickets to the Underage Easter Special too!

READ THE FULL BIO ON THE RUSKINS, ANDY LITTLE & FIRST CUT HERE AND THEN SEE YOU ON MONDAY

Picture – Freelance Whales

Its another month and another line up of New Blood bands for you to feast your little ears upon!  We are inundated with loads of great music so New Blood is a neat round up and chance to share with you just a few of the bands we have picked up on over the past month.  Aiming to bring you some of the most interesting artists and bands from across the board, you may not like some of them, you not like any or you may love them all…but we suggest you just give them one moment of your time.  Check the streams below and then you can head over to the DOWNLOADS section to read a short bio and get the full free tracks from each band!
Vandelles / California Killer by Conversemusic.co.uk

Snowman / Hyena by Conversemusic.co.uk

Philadelphia Grand Dury / Going To The Casino (Tomorrow Night) by Conversemusic.co.uk

Gold Blood / Don’t Waste My Time by Conversemusic.co.uk

Shabby Rogue / My Life as a Secret Agent by Conversemusic.co.uk

Ono Palindromes – Black Lungs by Conversemusic.co.uk

Freelance Whales / Generator 2nd Floor by Conversemusic.co.uk

Club Smith / Courtyard by Conversemusic.co.uk

Airship / Kids by Conversemusic.co.uk

Admiral Fallow / Squealing Pigs by Conversemusic.co.uk

Mansfield Holiday / Priorities by Conversemusic.co.uk

Click here to head to the DOWNLOADS SECTION now to get your tracks and don’t forget you can read the full profiles in Artrocker Magazine which is out now!!!

Hailing from Suffolk and originally born into music as Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds, these five cheeky chappies have since changed their name to The Cheek.  Whilst the guys upon recording their debut album last year in Belgium changed their name and did a little musical maturing, they are still bringing us a good smack-you-round-the-chops get up and go punky pop music.  Championing the sounds of early Britpop and the likes of Roxy Music and The Velvets, The Cheek should not be mistaken for being a musical photocopier – instead they are here to bring us all a little reminder that pop music is more than just the chart trash its become to be associated with.  The Cheek combine the many facets of great british band music whilst drawing on an electric mix of their own flavours, experiences and sounds to bring us something wholly their own.  You may love it or hate it, but one thing we do know is that they do what they love and they do it well.

With their forthcoming single coming out in May and a forthcoming album for summer 10, we caught up with The Cheek to find out a bit more about what makes them tick and what we can expect from them this year….

Give us a picture to sum up The Cheek?

Who are The Cheek and what do you do? The Cheek are Ali, Rory, Christian, Charlie and Tom and we make loud music pretty much every day.

You used to be called Cheeky Cheeky and The Nosebleeds, why the change or does it just irritate you when people ask that? We called ourselves that when we were fourteen years old, so it was quite funny when our main interests were things like top trumps and sweets. We would have been pretty stupid not to change it though.

Do you think your sound has changed since the name change? We went off to Belgium at the start of 2009 to record our album. We had the intention of recording a bunch of old songs, but started to write new stuff which got us all excited and hot under the collar. We realized for the first time just what we could do and the name change was a product of that.

You were popular at Underage Festival 08 and Christmas Special in 2008, do you prefer playing to an underage crowd?      The Underage crowd is probably the most excitable crowd we’ve ever played to, they’ve got so much effing energy. It is nice when people dance from start to finish, and I think we play better for it.

You’re all from Woodbridge in Suffolk, has this played any part in influencing your music…if not what does? It definitely has had an influence in that it’s very quiet, which helped us to spend quite a long time sharpening our own sound, without being influenced by any trend or scene. We focused entirely on what we love about music and set off to make music that we wanted to hear at the time, cos no one else was doing it for us.

What’s your creative process when it comes to making music? It depends from song to song. Sometimes it can come from a lyric, sometimes we will work out a rough chord progression and go from that, sometimes it’s just working around a groove.

What’s the most embarrassing moment you’ve had as a band? When we all turned up to band practice wearing identical outfits.

Your planning to release an album later this year, can you tell us a bit about what we can expect? It’s a celebration of everything we love about life and music and a reaction against the slew of dull, plodding, grey guitar bands of the last few years.We’ve got Any Mackay from Roxy Music playing saxophone on it, which is cool.

Musical vice? At the moment it’s Arthur Russell, can’t get enough of that guy and everything he did. That and other loft disco stuff.

Pet Hates? That noise that speakers make when phones are near them.

Favourite Music Moment (in picture please)

Tell us something completely random that we may not know about you?  The most watched DVD in the van is almost certainly Home Alone.

Sum up The Cheeks in 3 words. Heavy pop music.

Finally what are your top tips in life and or music for 2010? Music tip would be watch out for the Night Slugs folk, L-Vis 1990, Mosca, Roska and Bok Bok.

THE CHEEK: Hung Up Everything Everything Remix by Conversemusic.co.uk

WE HAVE BEEN VERY LUCKY and THE CHEEK have given us to give to you, a little present. You can get your free download of The Cheek’s track HUNG UP remixed by Everything Everything now over in the download section. SO HAVE A LISTEN ABOVE AND THEN DOWNLOAD AND ENJOY.

Their forthcoming single ‘JUST ONE NIGHT’ is out 17th May, head over to their Myspace to find out forthcoming dates and all the latest news

GOLDIELOCKS – I’M NOT HER

Much like her name which conjures images of the sweet but naughty little girl from the childhood tale of the Three Bears, this independent musical force is most definitely not the sweet and innocent blonde that she may appear to be. Hailing from Croyden, Goldielocks is a producer, DJ and rapper / singer who has been knocking out mixes and beats for a few years now.  Stirring up a poppy mix of Grime, Dubstep and RnB, Goldielocks brings both a touch of her cheeky charm and love of gritty music to her tracks.

Fed up of being told what to do and what she should wear a determined Sarah Akwisombe aka Goldielocks decided to go it alone setting up her new label ‘Gut Instinct’.  Its on this label that Goldilocks released one of her best works to date in the form of her new EP “Im Not Her” with a little help from dubstep scenester BENGA. Now 24 Goldielocks is producing a much more focused and mature sound than you may have previously heard, moving forward and pushing the boundaries of the urban underground, taking inspiration from London underground music scenes – 2step / garage / grime and concealed gritty emotions.

She’s a feisty independent girl who knows what she wants and what she likes, her cavalier attitude may turn some of you off but its so refreshing to see a female making her own way and bringing a new grime-pop sound that is both dirty and fun in such a male dominated genre.She’s played around the world, had her songs used in Marc Jacob shows, on the Adulthood soundtrack and we were also lucky enough to have Goldielocks come down to Underage festival 2009 to play a very special set in our Converse Music Silent Disco. Not bad for a girl who left school at 16 to work in JD sports.

Check out the video for her single ‘Cold Sweat’ which is taken from her recent EP,make sure you also check out the track Addict produced with legendary Benga and watch this space as soon we will bring you a track to download!

www.myspace.com/goldielocksmusic

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs are a UK duo, who along with their love for crazy antics and dressing up (check out their video for Ducks above) make happy, dubby music that will not only put a smile on your face but is guaranteed to get you up, motivated and moving.  It’s a mixture of powerpop and awesome synths, perfect for these slightly more depressing days.  Along with awesome tracks including ‘Bournemouth’ the guys work hard remixing tracks for an eclectic line up including remixes of Crystal Fighter, Wolf Gang and even a brilliant mash up of a sugarbabes track. Having played Glastonbury last year and recently on one of The Playground’s line ups in East London, Totally Enourmous Extinct Dinosaurs have just been announced on the line up for Camden crawl 2010 and with many more announcements to come, it seems like 2010 could be a very good year for this party your pants off duo.

After hearing about them last year, checking them out at puregroove and being intrigued by what they had to say in their own words on their myspace ‘RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH A time machine was sent back to just before all the dinosaurs went BOOOOOOOM!!! and died. horribly. and they said “RRAAAGH listen up future kids. we got the big tunes.” and they sorted us out with a few dubplates. prehistoric dubplates made of granite. using the latest in free software the “big tunes” have begun to be uncovered and are ready for your listening.’ We wanted to find out a little bit more about this dynamic party duo on what they are all about and what makes them tick….

How are you and what have you been up to recently? Good, trying to get January moving, but its a hard month to do anything in. Just done a gig at the Roundhouse in Camden. It was filmed and streamed live over the internet and there was no audience in the room. Got a lot of old synths out and the dancers and some other odd types involved. It was completely different from any gig dinosaurs have done so far. Tried out some new tracks on the non-crowd. good response. There should be an edit of it all floating about quite soon.

What are the five albums that have most influenced you? Thats a hard question, one that I cannot give a definite answer for, I stopped listening to whole albums about 5 years ago. In fact I cant think of any.

Where did you grow up? What was it like for a budding musician? Grew up in a jungle in Oxford, surrounded by record shops and orchestras. I learnt how to use the phillips CD player when i was three and would go and day-dream to recordings of The Planets and Dave Brubeck. Then I got into vinyl and raves and editing drums. There is a good music scene here, particularly bands, and increasingly producers.

If you could be a musician in any era when would it be and why? Thanks to technology musicians now can get a sound out of their head and into a physical form incredibly quickly, which is amazing. Also I don’t have the patience to write manuscript music for instruments so i’d have to rule out anything pre-drum machine. Maybe the ideal time would be 1983 writing soul and disco, and playing massive synths. Or now.

Is there any particular venue you’d like to play and why? Just festivals. Clubs and venues are great but festivals are in a different league. All about the people

We have also been lucky enough to get a track from TEED for all of you to download, listen to and check out…but hurry up as its only going to be available for a week. TEED have a host of confirmed gigs already planned for 2010 so check out their Myspace here for more info.  Keep an eye on Playground’s forthcoming line up’s too as not only do they guarantee a brilliant night they know how to pick out some pretty interesting upcoming acts….and we hope to see TEED on there again soon!

“In cities and suburbs around the world, another generation of young musicians is emerging. Inspired by the underground music of the last 30 years, they are unencumbered by the restrictions on style and attitude that traditionally divided genres. Cities that once tried to emulate New York or London are coming to the forefront, newly confident in their unique local blends. The youth are coming into their own, cheering the home team, celebrating wherever they can stay out late and telling their stories with cracked software and cheap guitars. To praise the metropolises of the world for their diversity seems quaint – it doesn’t seem worthy of self-congratulation if it’s all you’ve ever known”

An exert taken from Bonjay’s bio it couldn’t have set the scene better for this new arrival and latest taster on conversemusic.co.uk.  Drawing their name from spice island slang for “Good God!, Bonjay originally formed in the basement of a pub at Ottawa’s legendary disorganized parties and from what originally began as a crowd pleasing lark, has now quickly developed into something so much more.

For Bonjay making music is about more than reacting to the now but drawing on an eclectic blend of influences, sounds and cultures.  Beautiful, soulful and powerfil vocals are driven from Alanna on the mic  (who along with a striking voice, packs one hell of a punch live) and Pho turning up the tempo and bass behind the turntables with tribal twists and turns.  It’s an interesting combination – not quite a duo or a band, just one brilliant coming together of two very different but very talented artists who mix high energy sound system bass, beats with some raw, authentic soul.  Dancehall innovation, indie sentiments, and R&B hooks – Bonjay draw on dancehall music, the raw and pure energy that is bursting out of Toronto at the moment and making sounds all of their own.  The result, is finally after storming Toronto as one of the best live acts around for a while and injecting people with their party full-of-life,love&soul music they finally released their debut EP ‘Gimme Gimme’.  Released late last year and having received rave reviews for their own music, Bonjay have also remixed for labels like Mad Decent, NinjaTune and Ghetto Arc (XL Recordings).

Brought to our attention by the keen ears and eyes of Sunny of Slingshot london, Bonjay are yet to fully take on the UK however our little source tells us they will hopefully be arriving over in the UK this year.  Here is a little taster of what to expect in the form of a remix for Thunderheist (Ninja), and then head over to the downloads section here to get your free track ‘Gimme Gimme’.  Keep your eyes and ears peeled because Bonjay are coming!

Bonjay.net

Thunderheist – LBG (Bonjay Remix) by Ninja Tune

Last week i finally managed to catch this band live as Mirrors played at The Borderline, London as part of the ‘Next Big Thing’ line up of gigs.  It was definitely worth the wait.  On record these guys sound great, but what they do best they do live.  They are an interesting make up of four dapper young lads who are dressed like they have stepped off a period drama set, but surrounded on stage by a network of laptops, keyboards, synths and wires! Bringing together strong and powerful vocals, flashing , synths and frantic keyboards, Its a brilliant visual showcase of just what these guys do and why they may be worth checking out.  We have brought you the Mirrors before, but finally we managed to grab them for a few questions so instead of us telling you just what they are all about here it is in their own words….

Who are Mirrors and what do you do? Mirrors is a receptical for the musical and aesthetic ideas of Ally Young, James New, James Arguile and Josef Page.

How would you describe your sound? Mirrors’ sound is expansive, and painstakingly contructed. We aspire to create a kind of electronic soul music.

Tell us a little bit about how you guys came about and formed mirrors? Mirrors forged their aquaintances with each other slowly, during a long, cold winter spent sheltering in various Moscow cellars.

What’s your creative process when it comes to making music? The music is built in the studio, constructed carefully, piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle. Recently, however, the band have experimented with composing as a group, playing together, live.

What inspires you in music and in life? Inspiration can arrive in many forms. Mirrors are just as likely to find inspiration in elements of architecture, gastronomy, physics, or chess, for example, as in the music of others.

Musical Vice? Vintage synthesizers.

Pet Hates? Complacency and narrow-mindedness

Favourite Website? www.caughtbytheriver.com

If you weren’t making music what would you be doing? This is difficult to answer.

What does being in a band and making music mean to you? The creative process is a way of growing the soul. Art is what makes us human.

If you could design a pair of Converse to represent “Mirrors’ what would they look like? unfortunately, they wouldn’t exist, so they would not look like anything!?

What can we expect from you in 2010…??? In 2010 Mirrors plan to record and release their debut album, and hope it will be loved and appreciated by many people and Mercury Prize judges.

Tell us something completely random or a secret….something that we don’t know about you? Mirrors have no secrets to reveal, but one rarely appreciated fact is this: Mirrors are all highly skilled trout fishermen.

You can head over to the downloads section to get a free Mirrors track and you can check out more from the band on their Myspace.  With some exciting gigs and releases in the pipeline, 2010 looks like it could be a good year for Mirrors.

www.myspace.com/mirrorsmirrorsmirrors

Napoleon In Rags

Good Shoes, Two Door Cinema Club, Hockey… with all these new boy bands sprouting up around the place we’re getting the hint that what the world needs now, after the millionth Lady Gaga single, is guys with guitars. A decade after The Strokes first left an impression on Earth, Swindon, of all places, has produced a band to join in battle against the mainstream. Enter to the ring: Napoleon In Rags.??Comprising of four friends who amalgamated after a few failed attempts in different electro bands they soon went about writing some jerky, elbow-and-knee friendly indie. What they lack in originality they make for with visceral live sets, and as the saying goes: great artists don’t steal, they borrow. ‘Dirty Hands’ is a 5am, summertime, sunrise kind of tune. Power chords battle with crashing high hats as front man Ben Altieri breaks out into a passionate, “I was looking at the Sun, and it was staring back at me… it’s about time you realised that this is the real thing.” It’s ‘Don’t Let It Out’ though, their set closer with the refrain of the tracks’ title which blasts out like The Cure with a grungy twist. These guys are one of many who give a fatal blow to the sickly charts of the previous year.

GET ‘DON’T LET IT OUT’ FROM OUR DOWNLOADS SECTION NOW!