Brownswood Music announce the UK’s Future Bubblers of music

26 November 2015 - Press release

Funded by Arts Council England – the nationwide hunt for untapped leftfield talent reveals its year 1 selection
 
Almost 300 submissions received from across England
Leading music execs and artists nominated as mentors
Help Musicians UK confirm £10k bursary fund to support artists’ development

 

 
Nine promising young music acts from across England have been selected by Brownswood Music to receive a year of one-to-one mentoring as part of the music company’s recently launched ‘Future Bubblers’ project.
 
Beginning in April this year and based out of two focus cities, Nottingham and Salford, Future Bubblers is a three-year talent discovery, mentoring and development project conceived by BBC 6 Music DJ, Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Music company. An ambitious nationwide search, funded by Arts Council England, the project aims to break down the barriers for emerging musicians from cities across England and encourage artists making innovative and left-field music.
 
Shortlisted from almost 300 applications the selected candidates – the ‘Bubblers’ - will now receive a year of professional and creative support via a bespoke mentoring programme, giving them music industry insights, tools and the self-confidence towards achieving their individual artistic ambitions.
 
Helping the Bubblers to unlock industry doors and helping them to develop skills and flourish locally, a panel of esteemed music industry execs and seasoned artists have been signed up to act as their personal mentors.
 
The nine confirmed Bubblers and their mentor pairings are:
 
Congi (Nottingham)
A production duo representing the bassier end with a distinct ‘UK’ vibe that draws on jazz, soul, hip hop and grime influences.
Mentor: Swindle aka Cameron Palmer (Artist)
 
Snowy (Nottingham)
An incredibly talented Grime wordsmith.
Mentor: Sway (MC and music business exec.)
 
Thru Colours (London)
Infusing the sounds of dancehall & dub with techno to create 'dancehall techno'.
Mentor: Max Wheeler (artist and producer, ‘Anushka’)
 
Yazmin Lacey (Nottingham)
A beautifully gifted singer songwriter out of Nottingham
Mentor: Victoria Port (artist, ‘Anushka’)
 
Three Body Trio (Nottingham)
Free jazz meets electro from this brave musical trio out of Nottingham
Mentor: Simon Goffe (Managing Director of Brownswood Music)
 
Medikul (Loughborough)
A young beats driven producer
Mentor: Alex Patchwork (Project Manager for Ninja Tune and Brainfeeder)
 
Kid Katharsis aka Abdus (Manchester)
A glitchy dream pop singer songwriter.
Mentor: Rob Gallagher aka Earl Zinger (artist)
 
Revenu (Hull)
Influenced by the Detroit techno world delivering innovative sounds through the prism of the UK underground.
Mentor: Alex Patchwork (Project Manager for Ninja Tune and Brainfeeder)
 
Munro (London)
Representing the housi-er end of the spectrum for someone making music for such a short time, Alex shows lots of promise.
Mentor: Will Horrocks (artist, LV)
 
“The artists we have selected are a varied spread musically and geographically”, commented project lead, Amy Frenchum. “They epitomise the values of the Future Bubblers project, which is to find the best in new music, specifically that which falls between the cracks... stylistically speaking.”
 
To support Brownswood Music with its mission, Help Musicians UK is offering a £10k bursary fund, which will be divided among the Bubblers and invested in developing their careers. The Bubblers will work with their mentor and the Brownswood team to put together a tailored proposal for financial support. The grants will enable the artists to take forward their creative work and build their profile, for example by covering specific promotional costs, studio time or collaborations with live musicians.
Tim Foxon, Talent Programme Manager at Help Musicians UK said “We’re excited about the emerging artists that Brownswood have uncovered through their nationwide search and pleased that we can help the Bubblers go the extra mile with these special bursaries.”
 
How the nine candidates found their way onto the Brownswood stereo
 
To fill the gaps in support that still exist in the music industry, despite the opportunities to connect provided by the internet, the Brownswood team worked tirelessly to connect with local networks in each of the focus cities; searching for talent through old school person-to-person networks, demo drop-off boxes in record stores; workshops in community centres; and even a series of free community street parties that Gilles Peterson himself made appearances at as a surprise headline DJ.
 
A leftfield, genreless, innovative world of music needs nurturing
 
The Future Bubblers project was born out of the awareness that a specific ‘sound’ - that being the more leftfield, genreless, innovative world of music - was incredibly under-represented in the sector of music funding and industry education.
 
For the Future Bubblers team, the music industry felt quite narrow in terms of development opportunities. Focused instead on the ‘here and now’, making young music makers feel like they have to conform to market pressures and compromise a slow and natural musical growth and evolution.
 
“The music industry is a scary place, that is ever changing and it’s hard for a young music maker to understand their place within it, especially if they are making music slightly off-centre and if they are based away from London where it all seems to be going on,” explained Amy Frenchum. “Future Bubblers is about creating a network of exciting and innovative music talent and giving them the contacts and opportunities to navigate their way naturally and in a real-life non-jargon way.”
 
Year One partners included Rough Trade and MIMM in Nottingham, and Reform Radio and Islington Mill in Salford.
 
Future Bubblers continues for a further two years, with Hull already confirmed as a focus city for year two. The scheme is open to all musicians from across England, further details will be announced early 2016.
 
www.futurebubblers.com