Future Bubblers announce Year 5 candidates

10 June 2020 - Press release

9 new, unsigned artists chosen for Gilles Peterson-backed talent development scheme

 

The Future Bubblers team are excited to announce the 9 new artists selected for Year 5 of their talent discovery and artist development scheme. An expansion of the Gilles Peterson and the Brownswood Music network, they’ve been supported by Arts Council England to develop unsigned talent and build audiences for new left-field music.

From receiving hundreds of applications, the final 9 come from an open call seeking up and coming musicians from across England. Aligning with the Bubblers ethos, all finalists have foundations in the underground, alternative music culture. At the risk of losing incredible talent due to lengthy applications, the Future Bubblers process is a no-frills, no barriers form that strips things back to just the bare essentials.

The artists will be paired with an industry mentor who is tailored to their individual needs and from there, the journey begins. Each Bubbler will receive a number of opportunities that will ideally set them up professionally. The venture offers; one-to-one production workshops from music software company, Ableton, performances at live Future Bubblers showcases, recording live sessions from the iconic Brownswood basement, professional press shots and beyond the year, long-term support throughout their career.

The previous 4 years focus cities have included; Salford, Nottingham, Hull, Sheffield, Southampton, Liverpool, and this year the focus city is Wolverhampton. With musicians in the capital privy to opportunities that non-Londoners are not, Future Bubblers aim is to promote and encourage music across the country. Promoting and motivating artists in the lesser supported cities will ultimately aid in creating micro music cultures with desired ripple effects.

Below, you can read the full breakdown of the 9 Bubblers and the mentors they’ve been assigned.

 

Bubbler - AMA//MIZU

Born in Nice and based in London, AMA//MIZU is a producer and multi-instrumentalist. Inspired by both electronic music and folk, his compositions combine escapist rhythms with vivid narratives. He sees his music as a feeling: a moment of uncertainty, poised between reflective poise and hyperactive energy.

Mentor - Pete On the Corner

Pete On the Corner has a distinct party groove blending a heady mix of percussive house, deep disco and dirty funk. He traverses the eclectic underground laying down that good time feeling for the floor.

As a regular at european festivals, beach bars and in the clubs of East Africa the sounds of his travels influence his cosmopolitan residencies and his diverse label.

Pete plays and releases exceptional music that pushes boundaries. Linking local scenes globally his imprint On the Corner is renowned for it’s personal connection to Worldwide scenes and innovates at the edge of leftfield electronics, deep jazz and percussive house music.

 

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Bubbler - Madi Saskia

A singer-songwriter raised in Birmingham and based in the West Midlands, Madi Saskia creates music intended to heal. Her modern soul music is defined by her distinctive vocals. Her path to music started with a music mentorship programme in school, where her dream of being a history teacher was soon abandoned in favour of music. Ever since then, it’s been all about the music, her output shaped by her early creative beginnings writing poetry, a nostalgic frame of mind, and an honest approach to creativity.

Mentor - Eddie Smith

Eddie Smith is part of Final Form X - an art development and management company representing Ego Ella May amongst others.

 

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Bubbler - Griz-O

Griz-O is an MC defined by his bold and direct approach. Based in the UK’s South West, he totes lyrics and artwork that nod to martial arts; he has the combative, tough-talking braggadocio to match, delivered through smart, head-turning bars. Embracing an experimental, grizzly sound, influenced by grime and UK rap, his career thus far has already seen him travel as far afield as Kazakhstan to play a headline show.

Mentor - Jack Clark

Jack Clark is an Agent with Echo Location Talent Agency based in Camden, London. Jack previously worked at WME for over 6 years before joining the company in 2017. Since then, he’s been responsible for the development and growth of many artists’ live careers. These include Octavian, Jax Jones, DJ EZ, Gorgon City, Pa Salieu, Ocean Wisdom, Hardy Caprio, and Not3s to name a few.

 

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Bubbler - Mark Cake

An ambitious, wide-ranging producer and multi-instrumentalist, Mark Cake has a deft touch for creating thoughtful musical projects. He’s worked with a huge variety of artists, through his project to create an extensive series of one-off collaborations, each of them accompanied by a video created in tandem with the artist.

Mentor - Will LV

As one half of LV (Brownswood, Hyperdub, Keysound) Will has worked with some of the UK's foremost labels and released four critically acclaimed albums as well as numerous singles and remixes. He is currently just finished working on the new Kondi Band album, which will be released on Strut Records. He has DJed and played live across the world and is a regular on radio. Will has also mentored at Raw Sounds, a music project for young people in Brixton, South London.

 

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Bubbler - Tony Spark

Tonyspark is a self-taught musician who wants to expand horizons. A singer, songwriter, rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist, he’s not bound by genre markers when sketching out his creations. Raised in London and based in Nottingham, his style is blissful and sultry, his tracks’ atmospheres grounded in the synths and bass which are his mainstays.

Mentor - Tom Deffee

Tom is a senior manager at Solar Management. Solar represents a wide range of artists, producer / mixers, writers and composers. Its roster includes Dan Grech-Marguerat, David Holmes, David Wrench, Floating Points, Four Tet, Nigel Godrich and Zero 7.

 

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Bubbler - NeOne

Born and raised in Wolverhampton, MC and producer NeOne makes tracks that are a journey. Influenced by comic books – and specifically, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman world – he channels a sense of myth into the narratives he constructs, creating tracks that are thought-provoking, often starting in a dark place and ending up somewhere different.

Mentor - Dan Horitz

Daniel Horitz is an A&R and project manager at London-based record label and music publisher Lex Records. Having joined the company in 2012, Daniel previously oversaw digital marketing, content management and design, before moving into A&R and project management. Lex Records releases music by artists such as Danger Mouse, MF DOOM, Eyedress, MIKE, Kate Tempest, Golden Rules, Prefuse 73, Andrew Hung, Kaleida, Haleek Maul, Neon Neon, Boom Bip, BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah.

 

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Bubbler - Damos Room

A three piece whose music combines bleak, soupy soundscapes with rhythmically arranged musings, Damos Room are a dubby sound storm of hip-hop with the occasional yearning falsetto. Made up of Rex Domino, Pondoo & Polar Kid, their tracks embrace apathy and the abyss, going down obscure creative avenues to see what they might find.

Mentor - Kay Wrate

Kay works as Artist Relations manager at Warp Publishing, sister company to the Warp Records label. Kay's main role is to develop creative relationships for the Warp Publishing artists - this includes collaborations, songwriting, and more generally sourcing potential projects.

Warp Publishing look after a diverse roster of artists, producers and writers which includes Anna Meredith, Kwes, Khruangbin, Mount Kimbie and Kamaal Williams.

 

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Bubbler - Shakira Alleyne

A vocalist, songwriter and musician, born and raised in London, Shakira Alleyne creates music that’s atmospheric and honest. Guided by an experimental ethos, she explores big themes through her music: questions of human existence, interaction and identity are recurring subjects she muses on, framed through her background in considering philosophy and exploring the English language.

Mentor - Emily Kendrick

Emily works as a Global Project and Event Manager for much-loved independent music imprints XL Recordings and Young Turks Recordings. She has overseen campaigns for Thom Yorke, Arca, The xx, Låpsley, KAYTRANADA, Radiohead, Ibeyi and ADELE, amongst others. Her role encompasses development of strategy, marketing and promotions and co-ordinating the international teams across the full breadth of each artist’s campaign. Her portfolio includes experiential events for Radiohead, The xx, Thom Yorke, Jamie xx, Jack White and Everything Is Recorded. With roots in the UK rave scene, XL Recordings has gone on to become a multi-faceted cultural trendsetter.

 

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Bubbler - Ella Knight

Hailing from Nottingham, singer- songwriter and composer Ella Knight is a versatile artist whose sound is grounded in alt-R&B, neo-soul and jazz. As comfortable laying down vocals on drum & bass tracks as on jazz, soul or hip-hop, she has already carved out an oeuvre that’s as accomplished as it is multi-faceted. Growing up around musicians and producers in the East Midlands, she continues to stay involved with and influenced by a variety of Midlands based music projects.

Mentor - Eva Greene

Eva co-runs Black Acre, a Bristol-based independent record label and management company. Established in 2007, the label has released debut records by the likes of Rocks FOE, Romare & Connie Constance. As a manager she represents Kampire, Clap! Clap!, Branko & Leifur James.

 

 

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