Scruffy Bird

Becoming Real is a somewhat illusive entity  who sits somewhere between the dance world and a place that is altogether more sinister. It is Dance music for haunted dancefloors.

He started as a grime/footwork hybrid taking in as much influence from early Eski-beat as from the growing Chicago-based Footwork scene. Distilling these influences into his own haunted dreamscape pallet, he makes sounds that haunt themselves, music with its own memory, the sub-conscious of London city given voice through his creations.

The name is a reference to the Lacanian order of the ‘Real’ , which, very much like Becoming Real’s music , is always insisting and always mutating.

Having toured with the likes of Salem and Mount Kimbie , and played shows with Actress, Hudson Mohawke, Terror Danjah, Jamie xx and many others, Becoming Real’s live shows are as potent as his recordings. The next 12 months will see much more of both.

Worship are one of the newest additions to the Scruffy Bird roster.

Their music is a rich mixture of the acoustic and the electric; ethereal drift underpinned by solid songcraft, melancholic grandeur tempered by forceful rhythmic propulsion.

Worship thrive on monastic seclusion and 2011 will be spent laying the musical foundations of their debut album.

Post War Years coalesced in Leamington Spa’s young and fertile indie scene, cutting their teeth on the bustling local gig circuit. Before long their adventurous spirits led them to explore new sonic possibilities, mixing synthesisers and sound modules with the guitars and drums they had already conquered to create an ever evolving, and yet distinctive, sound.

The band moved to London to pursue their careers and quickly built a buzz around themselves. Spirits undimmed even by the dour cynicism of the capital, they turned a basement flat in Dalston into a Heath Robinson recording studio and set to work self-producing their first album ‘The Greats and the Happenings’, which Rough Trade hailed as “surely one of the most interesting and innovative debuts to be released this year.”. The following year, seeking a different approach, they left the basement studio and began working with producer and award winning remixer James Rutledge on a new album that pushed their songcraft to new heights.

Now gathering pace towards the album release next year, Post War Years are ready to let fly the first salvo – a great beast of a single called ‘All Eyes’, out on Labour of Love Records at the end of November.

Visions of Trees are Londoners Sara Atalar and Joni Juden. They met in the summer of 2009 and quickly formed a friendship over a love of Pop music, R&B, and 90′s dance. They also shared an aesthetic interest in the romantic wilderness and the solitude and escapism that it represents. It didn’t take long for them to forge these two things into a haunting and penetrating sound that takes advantage of the sonic freedom afforded by electronic music to simultaneously evoke the alienation of urban life and the serene austerity of nature.

Since forming, the duo have been honing their live skills alongside such acts as Mount Kimbie, Everything Everything, Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, Becoming Real, Actress, Bear In Heaven and Teeth, and many more. They also nailed slots at Glastonbury, Camp Bestival, Bestival, Truck Fest, Offset and SWN.

Their recorded output so far has mostly been remixes of Comanechi, oOoOO, Everything Everything, Alice Gold, Teeth, A Classic Education, Memory Tapes and D’eon; each one helping to spread their fame and refine their sound.

2011 will see them focus on their own material, with their first single ‘Sometimes it Kills/NoFlag’ (Moshi Moshi) set for release on 7th february and a full album to follow later this year (tbc). The band also have a busy live schedule planned, playing DJ sets and live shows across the country.

Since signing to Scruffy Bird Management in 2008, Manchester bred Everything Everything have gone from strength to strength. The band’s debut single, ‘Suffragette Suffragette’ (XL/Salvia) received heavy rotation at national radio and their self-made video debuted at number

5 on the MTV2 chart.

Touring the UK and releasing a second single in 2009, they made the longlist for the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2010′ poll, going on to sign a deal with legendary label Geffen (John Lennon/Joni Mitchell/Nirvana) that year.

Their debut album, entitled ‘Man Alive’, was released on the 30th of August 2010 and entered at number 17 on the album chart. The record immediately garnered fervent critical acclaim, with four and five star reviews across the board, picking up some unlikely fans along the way in the shape of fellow northerners Take That. There was also strong support from national radio with ‘My Kz Ur Bf’, ‘Photoshop Handsome’, and ‘Schoolin” all being playlisted across BBC Radio 1, 6Music, and XFM.

Everything Everything enter 2011 on the back of a successful debut and an ever growing reputation for spellbinding live performances.

“bow at the feet of Pop’s new Picassos.” – NME

“a band full of ideas and passion. A middle finger to a decade of mediocrity.” – The Fly

“A sonic boom of raw emotion, jittering keys and emotional discontent that will leave you wanting for everything and nothing” – NME

“eerily beautiful songs, like a pop tinged invasion from outer space.” – Wonderland

Everything Everything were Winners in the 2011 South Bank Sky Arts Awards

Previous winners of South bank Awards include Florence + the Machine (pop category), while The XX were shortlisted for this very same Breakthrough Award last year. Everything Everything beat an array of new talents within varying fields of arts & culture to win in 2011.

They are also nominated for their first NME award in the Best New Band category – to be announced on February 23 2011

At just 21 years of age, Lianne La Havas risks being labelled a “precocious” talent. However, there is a timeless maturity in her musicality that makes her youth seem less than relevant.

Blessed with a voice that it truly breathtaking, Lianne adorns her natural ability with the deft stylistic touches of a true master. The influence of modern legends like Erykah Badu is evident, but Lianne sings with a voice that is all her own, easily capable of the soaring ornamentation popular with so many of her vocal contemporaries, yet possessing a depth and subtlety that goes far beyond them.

Lianne’s captivating charisma is at its most potent on stage. Her powerful presence holds her audiences spellbound, often with a keyboard as her only accompaniment.

Since signing to Warner Brothers Records in late 2009, Lianne has been working with a selection of writers and producers including Dan Carey (Franz Ferdinand/Hot Chip/Lily Allen), Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio,and Matt Hales of Aqualung. She has also signed with mega-agency CAA, who’s roster literally stretches from AC/DC to ZZ Top.

2011 will see Lianne split her time between London, LA, and New York, working on material for her debut and playing shows on both sides of the pond.

Although no longer a client of Duncan Ellis’s, Foals and Scruffy Bird Management enjoyed 2 very successful years together. From having been unsigned in 2006, when SBMGMT started working with them, to becoming one of the most talked about band’s of 2008.

During the two years, the band’s debut album ‘Antidotes’ (produced by Dave Sitek of TV on The Radio) charted at number 3 in the UK charts and went on to sell over 120,000 records worldwide. With notable successes in France, Germany, Japan and America where the band were signed to legendary Seattle label ‘Sub Pop’. The band made numerous UK TV appearances including Jools Holland, Transmission and The Culture Show and were featured on the cover of NME. The band appeared at every UK and international major festival throughout 2008 and dazzled many thousands of people all over the world with their electrifying live performances. The band are currently writing music for their new album.