UB40 are Robin Campbell, Brian Travers, James Brown, Earl Falconer, Norman Hassan, Duncan Campbell, Martin Meredith, Laurence Parry and Tony Mullings. They are one of the most successful British bands of the last 40 years and one of the greatest reggae artists of all time. Their achievements include 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart (including three UK number ones), four Grammy Awards nominations, two US number ones and in excess of 100 million album sales.
Releasing 100% independently, with no label backing, The Reytons have announced
their second album is set for release on 27th January 2023, just over 12 months
since their debut album rocketed to Number 11 in the Official UK Charts, with over
20,000 sales to date.
Since the release of their debut album ‘Kids Off The Estate’ in November 2021, The
Reytons have gone from strength to strength, the word of mouth sensation spreading
like wildfire throughout the UK. The band now boast an impressive 750k+ monthly
listeners on Spotify, however this online popularity is far from superficial. Over
17,000 fans are set to see the band live on their huge UK tour this Autumn, including
landmark sold out dates at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom, London’s Electric
Ballroom and Nottingham’s Rock City, to name just a few.
A host of huge festival dates in the summer, including the likes of TRNSMT,
Neighbourhood Weekender and Y Not Festival, plus some huge support dates with
Gerry Cinnamon and The Libertines have left an army of fans clamouring for new
music.
Setting The Reytons apart from the competition is their fiercely independent
approach to the way they work. Not exactly welcomed with open arms by the
industry from the very start, the band channel their working class grit and
determination to overcome every obstacle thrown at them. Aided by the masses of
loyal fans, no achievement is out of reach.
Youngs Teflon is a rapper from South London. He brings his own unique style of rap which many say bridges the old school and the new. His consistency over the years has seen him collaborate with the likes of WSTRN, AJ Tracey and 67 whilst also featuring On both Giggs & Wretch 32 studio albums.
South London rapper Youngs Teflon was prolific in the early stages of his career. In 2010 he released the Call of Duty and Over the Head mixtapes, both of which were released on Hill Productions. After a string of further mixtapes, Teflon released his debut album – The Renaissance, which peaked at 21 in the album charts and number 1 on the hip hop charts With no intention of slowing down, Youngs Teflon put together two mixtapes in early 2016, titled January Sales and March Madness. Summer 2016 saw the release of his second full-length album, Tracksuit Diaries, which climbed to the fifth position on the U.K. album charts. His latest project ‘Blood, Swagg, Tears’ peaking at number 13 in the album charts was delivered in three instalments, with Tef’ yet again pioneering a new way to engage his fans. Each instalment bringing its own vibe with hits like ‘3am in Brixton’ and a feature with Avelino on ‘Juice’.
His upcoming album ‘Call Of Duty; The Third Rendition’ sees him add a third tape to his ‘Call Of Duty’ mixtape franchise. A collection due to be arguably one of the best UK Rap trilogies to date.
When FEET self-released their debut album in 2019, the group offered up a particularly oblique title: What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham.
But once fans and casual listeners alike delved into the record, it didn’t take long to realise that the band were offering something far meatier than wafer-slim slices of that eponymous sandwich filling. Instead, here was a record that saw them carving up thick slabs of guitar music that careered wildly between flavours of indie-pop, psych, and even subtle shades of new wave across an exciting and brilliantly unpredictable 35 minutes.
The album attracted acclaim from music titles across the land, but there was praise for the band’s bold visuals too. The video for ‘Petty Thieving’, one of the band’s early standouts, came accompanied by a video that saw them donning armour and chainmail to stage the silliest Medieval fight since Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Since then, FEET have been slowly readying themselves for a grand return. 2021’s Walking Machine EP showed that their reputation for jagged guitars and spiky lyrics remains firmly intact, while prominent live shows have seen them supporting the likes of Inhaler and even The Rolling Stones at their huge 2022 Hyde Park shows.
But all of it, the band say, has been leading to this: the start of a new era that will beckon in their anticipated second album.
The first taste comes today in the form of comeback single The Real Thing, which bounds along with spiky guitar lines, an endearingly wonky groove, and the razor-sharp pen of frontman George Haverson.
“Am I in-between, something more like a dream, or is this The Real Thing”, Haverson posits on the track.
The answer to his question, you sense, is that it’s very much the real thing in all senses. It feels like a massive step up for a band who are clearly ready to make their anticipated return and grab it with both hands.
As Haverson explains, it’s the sound of a band who have become more regimented with their approach in the search for greatness.
“There’s no throw away ideas on this album and everything has to have its place. It has to be ironed out and perfected,” he says.
“I don’t like to say polished, but it is perfected to a point where everything can be done in its fullest form. I feel like we’ve got 12 complete songs on this album and not 12 ideas. We’ve made the FEET machine and now it’s a case of inserting the right idea and the output is a great song. Before, it felt a bit more like we were throwing shit at the wall. This time round, everything feels a bit more refined.”
One full listen to their second album – the upcoming Make It Up which arrives on Submarine Cat Records – shows exactly what Haverson means.
It’s a cohesive and fully formed record that builds on the sonic DNA of their debut, while effortlessly taking it to the next level too. The first track ‘Better Than Last’ is defined by its flitting guitars and airy groove, while another standout comes in ‘Greasy Boy’ – a charming slow-burner that grows into something quite magnificent.
All of this, the band explain, is defined by a newfound identity and understanding of what the nature of their own friendship as bandmates is too.
“We spend a bit less time together,” he explains – having written their debut album in eclectic places such as a caravan and even a brief spell when the band stayed in a Bournemouth retirement village.
“But the time we spend together is valued so highly. In fact, I wouldn’t say that this album took five years to write. It just took three or four years for us to gel in an entirely different way. We’ve shed our skins and we’ve developed in quite a major way, which I think we need to do before we began working on a second album. Instead, I think there’s a lot of our lived experience in there and that made this album really easy to write.
“Everyone’s roles in this band are so defined now that we’re coming at the same ideas, but we’ve each got our own perspective.”
He adds: “Being in a band is a big chunk of time in your life, but this is a choice we all make, and we don’t ever have to even think about coming back to FEET. It’s like our child, really, and we’re all the surrogate fathers of this band! That keeps us together, this desire to create and make something that’s truly great.”
Another thing that comes across in the record is Haverson’s confidence as a lyricist too. The bold visions of their debut album remain, but it’s tempered with the life experience of a man who has been up to other things in the last five years.
“I saw this whole other side of George in these songs,” says drummer Ben Firth.
They also boast a great producer in Andy Savours, who has previously been behind the mixing desk for some of Britain’s most boundary-pushing bands of the last decade – including Black Country New Road and The Horrors.
“Spending five weeks with him as well as in the studio, it felt like a home from home and he created the atmosphere of the album. He’s the one who created the sparseness of it and added the bells and whistles on it,” says Firth.
And the through-line through it all, they explain, is a desire to create great guitar music.
“When we constructed this album, we wanted to keep it very simple in the way we did everything and that’s because I want people to listen to the album and be able to play it too. I want kids to pick up guitars like we all did when we were 14 or 15 and sit in the practice room and learn them at lunchtime,” says Haverson.
“That’s our whole ethos as a band and our general creative output. It needs to be accessible and repeatable.”
A very welcome return, then, for one of Britain’s most inventive bands, starting a new chapter afresh that builds on the brilliance of their first outing and takes it to a new level entirely. 2024, it’s fair to say, is ready for Feet to stomp all over it.
Since falling in love with dance music as a teenager, Charlotte Devaney has has worked tirelessly over the last decade to become one of the most unique, multi-faceted artists on the electronic underground. Over the course of her career so far, she’s been a headline DJ, platinum-selling musical artist, radio host, record label owner, animal rights campaigner, video director and even a Hollywood actress.
It is undoubtedly for DJing that Devaney is best known. She was initially obsessed with hardcore, jungle and drum & bass, & was taught to DJ by some of Britain’s most iconic DJs, inc Fabio and Randall.
Devaney’s DJ career has flourished since she made her club debut in 2009, notching up headline sets in such far-flung places such as Croatia, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, India, Italy, Bali and Barbados. Her success is due to her innate ability to read a crowd and rock a party with an eclectic, bass-heavy mixture of music. As well as possessing tight technical skills & inspired track selection, Devaney is also renowned for delivering lively and passionate performances where she takes to the mic to host & spit rhymes.
Devaney has collaborated with an impressive list of artists, including Rich The Kid , Riff Raff, Lil Debbie , LadyLeshurr , Bali Baby , Ms Banks , Fatman Scoop , Ragga Twins, Tanya Lacey, MC Neat, and the legendary Snoop Dogg. Her cut with the latter, 2016’s “Flip It”, became a crossover smash worldwide, eventually being awarded Platinum status by ARIA.
Everything about singer- songwriter Nathan Ball feels unforced. A natural, easy, calming presence, his music scales universal emotional highs with as much fluidity as it descends into moody introspection.
Finding inspiration in the outdoors, much of Nathan’s material is connected to his surroundings. “It’s where I write best; by the sea, in the mountains, in the woods. I love being totally immersed in nature so naturally those themes find their way into the music. I love being in the ocean – just being in it and feeling totally insignificant. It’s a reminder of the order of things.”
Nathan’s work fuses two chief loves – classic song writing and an eagerness to experiment and push sonic boundaries. Perhaps unexpectedly, he finds inspiration in left-field house music. “I love the way it makes you feel – it’s euphoric, but sad, introverted but expressive. I love that darker side of the genre”
Based in Cornwall – Nathan Ball’s music possesses universal appeal, his breakout singles “Right Place”, “Drifting”, ‘Borders’ and ‘Just Say Something’ connected with audiences in the UK and internationally. 2019 saw Nathan release new music and tour throughout the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and Sweden.
Recently Nathan has been excited to get back to basics. After recording an EP of new material, in 2022 he toured it in unique spaces rather than traditional music venues. From floating barges to rooftop carparks, clifftops to shipping containers, he created unique places for people to connect with music and each other.
In 2023 Nathan tours the UK with Australian folk pop legend Ziggy Alberts, and will release his new EP ‘Beyond the Silence’.
Leicester born footballer/rapper hybrid Kamakaze is a force to be reckoned with, slaying the game both on and off the pitch. His lifelong love of Grime and Hip-Hop are manifested in his unique lyrical prowess, delivered by his deep and gravelly tone over ear-worm beats.
As a testament to his talents, Kama became the first person ever to feature as an in-game character in FIFA 20, as well as having a song on the soundtrack (and again on FIFA 21) with ‘Last Night’ racking up over 5 million streams to date on Spotify alone off the back of the appearance. His sync success didn’t stop there, when Christmas 2020 saw Kamakaze as the sound and face of Pepsi Max in their seasonal UK & Europe commercial.
With a bright future on the horizon, Kama shows no signs of slowing. His collaborative, introspective 2021 album ‘Wavey Shirt Wednesday II’ is just a taste of what’s to come. Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled.
The Milford Mayor, hailing from Catford the king and founder of Wave-Drill brought together the youngsters on his estate Milford Towers to create Block 6, he is the Co CEO and Founder of 600 Empire Music Label, an independent record company. Ghostface with his own genre and style has already gained a huge following with 3 solid body’s of work showing fans worldwide we he’s tipped to be the next big thing leaving him with a big future defining no just the UK’s Wave Scene but the genre worldwide.
Bucking the trend of U.K. road rappers, south-east London’s Tiny Boost is a prolific talent, whose gritty, deep-voiced delivery graced no fewer than 50 releases in the five years that followed his 2018 career reboot.
He was born-and-raised in a pre-gentrified, early-’90s Peckham, his father leaving home before he reached secondary school. Part of the gang Peckham Young Gunners, Boost was barely into his teens when he fell into crime and was first arrested for robbery. Alongside other crew members — such as Y Lap and Shocks Shot — he recorded a handful tracks in the mid-2000s under the PYG moniker: “Coming Up,” “Gunshot Riddim” and “Who U Talkin’ To?” The latter cut was picked by his musical mentor Giggs for a 2007 SN1 mixtape, Welcome to Boomville. Two years on, under both his Giggs and Hollowman aliases, the rising star gave Tiny Boost equal billing on an expansive project titled, Who Said Dat? However, shortly afterwards in 2009, Boost was arrested in Aylesbury for firearms offences. His resulting conviction placed him behind the bars of 10 different prisons for the next eight-and-a-half years. During that time, his only musical activity came in the form of “Popping Freestyle,” a 2015 recording made with Swaggie Studios while on day release.
Strictly for the Streets
Following his release in early 2018, Tiny Boost took full advantage of the streaming age and announced his return with three quickfire singles — “Streets Back,” “2 Days” and “240 Seconds (Pt. 1)” — that September on Giggs’ SN1 label. His first solo mixtape, Strictly for the Streets, appeared the following month before early 2019 brought one-off collaborations with Joe Grind, Frisco and Billy the Kid. August 2019’s “Feels Good” anticipated his second project, Street Dreams, which appeared later that year after a joint single with Lewisham’s Rosca Nini Zullu. Mid-2020 saw him work with ASB on “Where I Been” and “Get It,” two tracks that ultimately appeared on the west London rapper’s Prayer, Profit & Progress mixtape. After November’s “Street Diary,” Tiny Boost teamed up with the Paperboys Records production team for “Still Here,” “Pandemic” and “Fresh.” Alongside self-released 2021 singles such as “Certified” and “Nobody,” Tiny Boost also issued tracks on other labels that year such as Sicario, Link Up TV, TruCulture and Rich Made.
Purple Hearts
Perhaps his busiest year to date was 2022, during which he not only released Street Paper — a third full-length project — but also worked with labels like Street Lounge, 23 Formation, JJR, Mxney Szn and GRM Daily. Then, early the following year, he released “Sharks 2” the first fruit of a joint project with Youngs Teflon, ultimately released as Purple Hearts that June. The record included guest spots from Wretch 32, K-Trap, Giggs and Miraa May and the pair embarked on a U.K. tour to promote it.
After the success of her breakout EP, ‘Water-Based Lullabies’, a playful, Zodiac-inspired odyssey through life and love, Mancunian fan favourite Abbie Ozard is back with a bang. The last release hinted at an evolution in sound, and as she starts to release tracks from her forthcoming album, we see all that potential realised as Ozard’s musical and personal growth is laid bare.
Growing pains and the overwhelming first steps into adulthood stand out as overarching themes in this more serious, introspective body of work, in which Ozard explores beyond her bedroom-pop origins and lays bare the vulnerabilities that will resonate with so many young women becoming adults in a complex, confusing and ever-changing world. Even without the transcendent vocals that could belong to no one else, Ozard is present in every second of this album – from musical performances from close friends to samples of old family videos, she is enshrined in this spellbinding debut that could not be more authentic to its creator.
It will no doubt be lapped up by a supportive indie scene that has welcomed and lifted Ozard from her early outings with the likes of Lauran Hibberd, Whenyoung and Phoebe Green. She is also proving somewhat of a press darling, with glowing reviews and features in broadsheets (The Times), indie bibles (The Line of Best Fit, DORK) and music blogs. Radio support is snowballing – BBC Radio 1 are giving Ozard frequent airtime, with Jack Saunders and Huw Stephens offering consistent support and a recent Track of the Week feature for latest single ‘Ford (drive)’ on BBC Introducing. Following her first headline tour in December 2022, this year also saw her first appearance at Glastonbury Festival.
Now Ozard is entering into a new era, of life and music, taking what she describes as a “more mature approach” to songwriting, drawing on her own life experiences, her hopes, anxieties and daydreams, and taking more control in the studio. This new reflection and introspection has allowed the music of Ozard’s childhood to enter the fore, with influences creeping in from New Order, The Smiths, The Cure, Debbie Harry and Bruce Springsteen. Musically, she’s turning to “more natural, organic” sounds, less programming and a focus on the live experience, writing and working with Ben Matravers and Pale Waves’ Hugo Silvani.
Her debut album, Everything Still Worries Me, is set to drop early next year and is a celebration of love and relationships of all kinds – though particularly friendships and sisterhood, which has taken on new significance for Ozard. Lead single ‘I don’t know happiness without you’ perfectly encapsulates the struggle of navigating life in your mid-twenties – it’s a celebration of friendship as a tonic to the chaos, contradiction and confusion of life. Ozard speaks to a universal experience of growing up – of the excitement of striking out on your own, a tension between the urge to let loose and have fun, to be young, the desire to be taken seriously and the guilt of not having figured yourself out yet. A similar thread runs through the follow-up single, ‘Days like these’, which offers timely commentary on the internet as a source of connection but also comparison.
Taken as a body of work, a clear theme emerges, that of being overwhelmed by life. The excitement. The optimism and hope. But also the fear, uncertainty and anxiety. These are themes that reflect a generation grappling with an intimidating, fast-paced world in which connection is everywhere but nowhere – Ozard’s voice will cut through the noise and speak to a cohort of similarly overwhelmed young people wanting, in their exhausting quest to find meaning, identity and purpose, to lose themselves for a while in music.
Ozard will be taking these new songs on the road and no doubt winning an army of new fans, with an upcoming winter tour in the UK and Europe supporting Briston Maroney. New single ‘I don’t know happiness without you’ will be released in September ’23, with the album due early in 2024.