大象传媒

It鈥檚 my annual countdown of my favourite acts from the last 12 months - and what a year it鈥檚 been...
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Since the March lockdown - 231,422 tracks have been sent into 大象传媒 Music Introducing! And while the world鈥檚 been a lot more creative, naturally the quality of sound has diminished with more people using domestic equipment to record their work and collaborate digitally rather than in person.
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It鈥檚 also been the year of the virtual gig; not only have musicians embraced audio and visual streaming platforms - but music fans have flocked to such services as the hunger to be entertained hit an all-time high. The lack of human contact has also seen the comeback of raves, the birth of drive-in gigs (like at the Abbey Stadium in Redditch) and the creation of socially-distanced events - such as the Worcester Disco Festival. Who would have thought our first large-scale outdoor gathering wouldn鈥檛 be until the end of the summer? But it鈥檚 also cost us venues like the Artrix in Bromsgrove and the Worcester Arts Workshop, who simply weren鈥檛 able to pay the bills.
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Our biggest-selling songwriters have continued to reach new heights. Kington鈥檚 Ellie Goulding achieved another #1 album, Bewdley鈥檚 Becky Hill spent more than a year in the album charts with her debut release - as did Redditch/Evesham鈥檚 Harry Styles with his album Fine Line. We鈥檝e also seen the meteoric rise to fame by Weobley鈥檚 220 Kid, whose debut single dominated the charts for a large swathe of the lockdown. Malvern鈥檚 Paul Farrer rewrote the theme to the Weakest Link, which was relaunched in America, and enjoyed heightened success with Michael McIntyre, The Chase and Dancing On Ice.
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But with the astonishing volume of new music, we鈥檝e also lost some of biggest movers and shakers in our area. 2020 was the year we said goodbye to Jez Cole - who run the Worcester School of Rock & Performance, Ian King - who split his time between writing folk music and composing for Worcester Cathedral, and 鈥楾he Rev鈥� Genghis Memphis - the energetic and humorous frontman of the Worcester band Massive Head Trauma. After a year of Redditch musicians campaigning for a reduction in knife crime, we tragically lost one of our most up-and-coming artists to that very issue - Colton Bryan.
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The biggest problem, as we move into the next 12 months, is that of money. Music has become one of the most consumable products but with so many of our creatives having to take up other jobs to make ends meet, it鈥檚 high time we find a fairer system where musicians aren鈥檛 treated like premiership footballers or Sunday league players - all or nothing. People have never been more willing to support the arts - we just need those platforms to follow suit. Quite how that happens - I think the whole industry is open to ideas...

He featured in my Ones To Watch list four, five, seven and eight years ago - so, you can see he鈥檚 an artist of some considerable quality, but this is the first time George Barnett has been crowned our king!
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AKA George, as he's also been known, has lived all over - but it was during his time in Leominster that he really got noticed. In 2016, he performed at Glastonbury on the 大象传媒 Introducing stage - after sending his music into us!
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We first met George in 2011 when he was writing 17 songs, every 17 days, for his 17th birthday album '17 days'. In 2013, we put him on stage at SnodFest, near Pershore, and passed his track No Idea onto 大象传媒 Radio 1, who added it to their daytime playlist. Just one year later, we had him perform for us at the Wychwood Festival, where he released 'Animal Keeper' which we, again, got onto Radio 1. Later that year, we passed his music onto 大象传媒 Radio 2 who put him on in Hyde Park.
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After a quiet couple of years, George has stormed back onto the local scene and made his way straight to the top of our chart.
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鈥淗e鈥檚 now been in our end-of-year top tens on five occasions - more than any other artist - and, this year, walks away with the top spot. Enough said?"

I first discovered the members of Redditch鈥檚 Bad Money playing in the band LostAtHome. Instantly, I fell in love.
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Their music was upbeat, fun, catchy - and, most importantly, felt like you鈥檇 heard it a million times before. In the best way possible.
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The familiarity of their tracks - tracks you鈥檝e not yet heard - is a direct line to success and I was honoured to have them play their debut gig for me at our virtual Nozstock in 2020.听
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After their live session, I said they鈥檙e "a band who are on top of their game; pure pop/rock that is a sure fire contender for being one of my artists of the year鈥�. Living up to my word, here they are鈥�

Apples and I go way back! You could say - if it wasn鈥檛 for this band - I wouldn鈥檛 have landed the job as presenter of 大象传媒 Music Introducing, becoming one of the founding fathers of the platform the 大象传媒 uses to discover new music!
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Years ago, this group were called Brandon Steep and I used to put a band night on upstairs at The Imperial, in Hereford, on Wednesday nights. Brandon Steep were so good, they become my monthly resident. I loved them!
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As I got more involved with the 大象传媒, so did they - becoming one of the last bands to ever be played by the late great John Peel.
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In 2009, the renamed Apples signed a publishing deal with Universal. A single, Reason 45, was released the same year and immediately became 大象传媒 Radio 6 Music's Single of the Week and Q Magazine's Track of the Day.
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Next year鈥檚 follow-up release, Theo, became an earworm for gamers all over the globe when it featured on Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.
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And then, on the eve of a make-or-break European tour, their lead singer left. Despite quickly finding a new singer, the momentum had been lost.
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The band went their separate ways and a hard drive full of some of the most joyous, heart-felt and danceable guitar pop recorded this millennium was left to gather dust. Until now...
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Having been taken on by a producer who wanted to complete the album as a 鈥減et project鈥�, a new found energy has been uniting the members of Apples - and who knows what a post-lockdown future will hold for this group of Hereford lads.
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鈥淭he band that launched MY career. Apples are THE reason for 大象传媒 Music Introducing. Every band that鈥檚 ever been championed by the 大象传媒 since owes an enormous debt to these guys.鈥�

We鈥檝e been keeping our eye on Redditch鈥檚 Camden Cox for a few years now, who's been consistently releasing vocally perfect dance beats.
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In these last few months, her career has skyrocketed - working with music producers all over the world, including Weobley鈥檚 220 Kid!
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She now got more than 35 million Spotify streams to her name, and counting.
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Most recently, Camden鈥檚 been working alongside Joel Corry, Dimension, Wilkinson, Naughty Boy, Example, Karen Harding, Headhunterz, Rui Da Silva as well laying down some vocals at the world famous Abbey Road Studios.
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鈥淭he most euphoric epic tracks to lose yourself to. Expect to hear this in some of the biggest clubs in the world鈥�

Mazen Sly is a DJ based in Redditch who鈥檚 originally from Poland.
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2020 has been the year where the 36-year producer has started sharing his music with people around the world - and they鈥檙e dancefloor bangers!
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But that's no wonder when your influences list The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Spinnin' Records and Ultra Music!
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鈥淢assive tracks that would work on any dancefloor - anywhere in the world. If Mazen Sly can鈥檛 get you dancing, you may need to check your pulse!鈥�

Not many people can produce this many songs and have them all at top notch quality.
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Since the birth of the 大象传媒 Music Introducing Uploader in 2010, Worcester鈥檚 Shaun Williams has been a constant, having now sent 67 tracks to 大象传媒 Hereford & Worcester - the majority have been broadcast or earmaked for airplay.
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Shaun鈥檚 a DJ, a producer, has run his own record label, club nights in multiple cities and - as it turns out - is a secret producer, who鈥檚 been working on different genres, for no credit!
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But he鈥檚 also written one of our biggest songs of the year.
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鈥淧ick a A-list artist. Any artist. Think of all the songs they鈥檝e written. Now add a 0 to it. That鈥檚 the kind of output you get from Shaun Williams, which is why he鈥檚 firmly in my list鈥�.

Black Bear Kiss have been a constant on the music scene for the past four years.
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With every release, their songwriting and production prowess has hit new levels - creating more and more opportunities for this five-piece who are scattered across the Midlands, including here in Worcester.
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In 2019, they joined us on stage at Digbeth, Birmingham, to launch the Peaky Blinders Festival - and 2020 saw them working with Gavin Monaghan at Magic Garden Studios, who pulled out all the stops to create a razor-sharp sound of drive and energy.
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With influences including Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Black Keys, Jack White, Kasabian, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age and Foo Fighters, Andrew Marston described them as having 鈥渙ne of the phattest rock sounds coming out of the Midlands right now鈥�!

Nick Tsang set himself a challenge at the start of 2020: to release new music every three weeks, throughout the whole of the year. Most people who do that end up producing run-of-the-mill average-sounding tracks...not Nick!听
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That's because he's toured the world with acts such as Ed Sheeran, The Ting Tings and Charli XCX, whilst amassing production and songwriting credits with artists such as Jess Glynne and Nina Nesbitt.
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The name of his project - Amberlake - came from the Worcester Chinese takeaway that Nick's granddad started when he first arrived in England.
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He also worked, for a while, in his father's restaurant - The Four Seasons - which recently closed down because they weren't able to keep the business viable with social distancing in place.
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Nick ended up studying at the King's School where he got obsessed with playing the guitar, which led into a full time career in music.
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He eventually met vocalist Emma on the London live circuit and immediately something clicked between them.
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鈥淏eautiful, haunting and hugely uplifting - the very artist to lift us all out of a year like 2020鈥�.

We first discovered Droitwich鈥檚 Lauren Nicole making music on her acoustic guitar, back in 2015, which was gaining quite a bit of traction online - so we invited her to switch on Malvern鈥檚 Christmas Lights.
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Fast forward five years and, after a stint at university, she鈥檚 back in Droitwich and her music is now reaching millions of fans worldwide.
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In March, she should have been performing in front of thousands at a massive stadium in Japan, supporting the Japanese DJ, DJ Tora.
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But that hasn鈥檛 stopped Lauren - as she鈥檚 since found a career as a JPop and KPop songwriter, who's most recently been teaming up with DJs in Brazil.
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Her new single, 'Love It (Sun Goes Down)', has just exceeded one million views on Spotify.
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鈥淣ot only is she consistently writing massive top line vocals, but her work with international producers means she鈥檚 one of the fastest rising stars in our area鈥�.

GoodGrief is a bedroom project that happened when Benji and Damo - who live together - started writing some music over lockdown because they were bored!
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They used to be in the Stourport band You Know The Drill - and played our 大象传媒 Music Introducing showcase as part of the Bewdley Festival several years ago.
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Their influences include Blink-182 and Sum 41.
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鈥淕reat pop punk vibes that make you want to wind your windows down, blast out their tunes and sing like nobody鈥檚 listening鈥�.