love music magazine - issue 18

Issue 18 (Online) - July 2015

Interviews Peggy SeegerEL GhanaAnthony Strong Mi’das

MUSIC AND HOW CHANGE ROCKS

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EDITORS LETTERHELLO and welcome to Love Music Magazine’s eighteenth online edition.

I have three exciting developments for you this month. Firstly, we now have the very talented Mthulisi Patrick working with Love Music Magazine as Content Director. I am still here, editing away, but Mthulisi is taking charge of the vast amount of emails that come in to the magazine each month. We will be catching up with him in a future issue, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Secondly, we have a brand new INSTAGRAM account @LOVEMUSICMAG. Please follow us for updates and pictures-a-plenty. Thirdly, we now have a Love Music Playlist on Soundcloud. This is on our newly revamped website www.lovemusicmagazine.com. We will be playlisting some of our features so you can now hear as well as see what is going on.

We have the amazing Yewande Austin on the cover ths month. Yewande is doing some fantasic work through her Change Rocks Foundation and she has recently returned from a visit to Nigeria with the Foundation. We hear about how she is using her music to help people in need.

As always,, we are for ANY music genre, so, please let me know if you would like a feature. Email your YouTube or Soundclound to [email protected]

Emma x @cherryb1983


Contributions Editor – Emma Walker

Content Director Mthulisi Patrick

Journalists Emma Walker

Mthulisi Patrick

ReviewersKevin Mann

Patrick Morgan Michael

Emma Walker

Thank you to all the artists, we feature, for making this magazine possible. Without

you, real music would be lost. #LoveMusic

All images are used with the kind permission of the bands/

artists/people concerned. Please do not reproduce the images without permission.

© Love Music Magazine, All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

The Absolute 6Review - Project 5ive 11Anthony Stong 12Review Jessie Ballard 16Review - End of Ever 17EL Ghana 18Preview The Whinachi Tribe 22Review - Jet Noir 24Mi’das 26Ten Ways Guide Part 1 of 3 30Review - The Jonathan Curtis Electic Band 32Peggy Seeger 34Review - Myroslav Levytsky 38Review - Years of the Canine 40Yewande Austin 42Review Beatenberg 50The Whereabouts 51Young Tipzey 52Preview - Royal Blood 53Paramount Music presents The Hangout 54Henna 56Weezy Jefferson 58Dialect 60Review- Monique Bingham 62Review- Stacy Jones 63


The A

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The A

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te BY EMMA WALKER

Can you tell the readers a bit more about you? What has been the high-light of your career so far?The Absolute has just started gaining some traction so our highlight reel is just getting started. Recently we got the opportunity to follow John Oates from legendary Hall and Oates. I wouldn’t normally consider our two sounds as complimentary but the man is a true gentleman and professional. Good music always sounds great with other good music.

If you could give any words of advice to other musicians what would it be?Be honest with yourself and trust

your gut. Today’s music scene can be overwhelming because the scene is so oversaturated but the cream will always rise to the top. If you know that what you are doing is special then don’t stop! Spend all of your energy on writing the best material you pos-sibly can. A lot of artists focus their time and energy on having an online presence but let the art fall by the wayside. A lot of Facebook likes might look cool to show your friends, but it won’t do anything for you in the long run. Keep Writing!!!


Have you got any releases coming up that you would like to tell us about?We released our Album “Grow” not that long ago, so our focus has been on playing it around as much as possible to get the songs stuck in everyone’s ear drums. We are always writing so we have the next albums worth of material ready, just have to decide if we want to release another album or an EP next. In the imme-diate future keep your eyes peeled for live performance videos the band will be posting on our website www.theabsolutemusic.com

If you could collaborate with anyone in the industry, who would it be and why?

Wow I could give you the laundry list, but instead I will give you the abridged version. Our dream collab-orations would be between a mix of artists as well as producers. We have always looked up to artists such as David Bowie, Noel Gallagher, Frank Black, Thom Yorke, and Johnny Greenwood (just to name a few) for their brilliant ways of writing outside the box. Of course legendary gui-tarist Jimmy Page would be a treat as well. Mike (our guitarist) might have a heart attack but it would be hilar-ious to see him nervous for once. I am a huge fan of producers from the 90’s so producers such as Butch Vig, Stephen Street, Steve Albini, and Brian Eno would be spectacular. I would love to hear our tunes realized through the minds of their genius. Also being born in the 80’s and growing up in the 90’s I have always been a fan of the music video medi-um. I would love to see what story Michel Gondry would tell using our songs.

http://www.theabsolutemusic.com/https://www.facebook.com/theabso-lutemusic?fref=ts


By My Side is the second single from Nick’s up and coming debut EP ‘Passion’ and is a testament to his style of melding Hip Hop, pop and alternative genres. By My Side combines a light-hearted groove with a deeply moving hook to express Nick’s affliction with music as a source of both passion and expression. Nick has also just released a music video to ‘By My Side’, which is already garnering significant interest across social Media platforms. You Can watch the Official Video to ‘By My Side’ HERE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L0QR1M-Be_g


Review By Patrick Morgan

Project 5ive – Eclipse

Following their first release Short En-counters, Project 5ive are back with what is certainly an Eclipse of their previous project. Keeping true to their unique ap-proach to House music from South Africa, which has synonymously been branded to sound the same, the opening track Booty, depending your mind set, is a celebration of women who don’t use their Booty to achieve or could be considered a dig at Booty shaking women, all in all the song is an educative take encouraging women that the brain is mightier than the booty. The follow up tracks on the EP, Branded, Eclipse and Njabulo are all led by what can be best

described as led by dark sultry seductive vocals fused with unique drum patterns, story-telling horns and an array of well-played strings. While House music is con-sidered mainly for the dancefloor, Eclipse is certainly for the chilled, mature House loving fans.

Release date TBC

https://soundcloud.com/marubinimusiq/project-5-eclipse-ep-promohttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Projec-t5ive/651595684871183


Anth

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BY MTHULISI PATRICK

Thanks for being in this issue of Love Music Maga-zine. Please tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a jazz singer and pianist from London signed to French record label Naïve and I’ve just released my third album “On A Clear Day”. What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Well it’s a little bittersweet, but I opened for BB King at La Grand Rex in Paris a couple of years ago and it was incredible. It’s a huge auditorium and so it was a lot of fun, but his recent passing made me think recently how lucky I was to have played for him. He said some very nice words about my music… It also led to me signing with Naïve which has changed the course of my career. The digital world is one that has grown over the years and seems you have somewhat conquered it by reaching #1 on the iTunes Jazz chart, how much of an achievement is that for you personally and has that given you more recognition amongst your peers?

It happens every now and again when I do a big radio show or a TV spot…it’s a great feeling for me but I’m not sure how many jazz musicians really care about that side of things. It’s definitely opened doors for me and it looks great on a tour poster though! In all seriousness, I’m a bit overwhelmed when it hap-pens and am very grateful. Please tell us about your new album “On A Clear Day”, what can your fans and general Jazz lovers expect from the album? Who have you featured on the album?

It’s a big band album with lots of energy and good vibes! I’ve done more than a few big band shows over the last two years and really wanted to record a big band album. If features some top London musicians, and my usual mix of classic jazz standards, Motown and pop covers, and some of my own songs.

If you could give any words of advice to other musi-

cians what would it be?

Practice lots and work hard. Find the thing that makes you unique and run with it… And get an awe-some manager/agent!

You have recently performed in London, Milan and Munich, how have those experiences been for you? To date which would you say is your favourite place to have performed at?

In both Germany and Italy we’ve had some amazing nights, I couldn’t compare any of them. Each and every gig has something different and special about it - whether it’s a great sound on stage, or a crazy excit-able audience, or a stay in China’s best hotel (!) - It’s also quite hard to remember them all in detail..! We recently launched the new album at Ronnie Scott’s, and as a Londoner and a jazz lover, it felt really spe-cial playing there. If you could collaborate with anyone in the industry, who would it be and why?

I’d love to work with Marc Shaiman. He’s a songwrit-er/composer/arranger from The States. He’s arranged for Harry Connick Jnr (my biggest influence), writ-ten songs for The Oscars, orchestrated South Park The Musical; MD/pianist to many huge stars … The guy is a genius.

Thank you for granting us the interview, where can people see you perform next?

I’m back in London in July 22/23 at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Dean Street - but I have a whole host of gigs abroad before then. AnthonyStrong.com has all my dates/videos/music. Thank you! you can tweet Anthony: @AnthonyStrong_


Anthony Strong


Review By MichaelMusic [email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/MusicReviewsbyMichael

Jesse Ballard - Cut It All Loose

With a heart full of soul Jesse Ballard opens his heart on this release and lets you into his world. Smooth sounds that sooth the broken heart and calm mind roll from the vocal approach of Mr. Ballard. Whether it’s the driving tone on the title track or the gentle key and flute work on “Every Time I See You”, Jesse creates textures that will appeal to a variety of tastes. In a plea for peace JB sarcastically phrases “Just Another War” in an effort to show the senseless waste of human life that is never truly appreciated. Soundscapes on this record are strong in Pop, Rock and R&B. The mix is well balanced. Guitars shine like a golden sun reflecting off a clear pure shoreline. Percussion work is tight and right in the pocket. Bass guitar work brings a deft amount of groove and under-tones the sour feelings, but washes away the pain. With a nod to Folk tones the opening of “Constantly In View” Jesse sings raw and from the heart wishing for and even-handed day. Cranking up the Rock n’ Roll swing JB throws down on “I Just Can’t Wait” for a long lost love and the longing to have them back in his arms. You can almost taste the

sweat in the air as he hurries to the airport. Many of the tracks here would be great for a movie soundtrack for the depth of passion and imagery conveyed is poetic and thick. Rounding out the set with “Once Upon A Time” you hear a man dedicated to passing on knowledge through the notes of musical scales. One thing is for certain, and that is Jesse is a tried and true storyteller. With a life lived full of experiences Mr. B isn’t just a love song hack. He is the real deal with a real heart for music. I would highly recommend this album to those that like Rock, Blues, Folk, R&B, Pop and Americana genres. With Cut It All Loose you will definitely cut yourself in on a good time.

Website: www.jesseballard.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/JesseBallardMusic


Jesse Ballard - Cut It All Loose

Review By Patrick Morgan

End of Ever

END OF EVER are five young artists from Los Angeles with a shared passion for creat-ing inspired, approachable music. Infusing elements of jazz, rock, and pop, their songs are the vibrant product of the collaboration of musicians influenced by a multitude of music genres; which is heard in their cover of Four Five Seconds by Kanye West, Rihan-na, & Paul McCartney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4NPoW5q7dE, this brought the group to Love Music Magazine’s atten-tion. The band is currently recording new original songs for their upcoming release.EOE, are definitely for those with an open ear to good music across any genre.

Official Website - www.endofever.com

YouTube - www.youtube.com/eoeofficial

Faceboook - www.facebook.com/endofever

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-inside-out/id655690575


EL Ghana


BY MTHULISI PATRICK

Thank you for being in this issue of Love Music Magazine. Can you tell the readers a bit more about yourself?

Thanks for having me on Love Music Magazine. My name is Elom Adab-lah, stage name E.LRapper, Singer, Producer, Sound Engineer. I am a very eclectic artiste who doesn’t like to categorize his music into genres. I record based purely on inspiration.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlight of my career has to be every time a fan walks up to me and tells me how much he/she loves my music and how it helped them go through something

Over the last few years we have seen genres such Afro-Beat and Hip-Life gain global recognition, what would you attribute this to?

The love for Afrobeats and hiplife has gained global recognition, in my opinion, because people are travelling far and wide and taking the music with them. The market is growing and the music is readily available via the internet and social media.

Since you started your music career you have been nominated for various awards, which of these would you say you are most proud of and why?

I am very proud of all my nominations and awards won. Can’t single one out.

If you could give any words of advice to other musicians upcoming or es-tablished what would it be?

Only word of advice I can offer any upcoming or established artiste is to stay true to yourself and what you believe in. Work extra hard to come up and even harder to stay up.

If you could collaborate with anyone in the industry, who would it be and why?

I have already done a lot of collabos but 1 that I am really looking forward to happening is to work with Kendrick. (That would be amazing).

https://soundcloud.com/elrepgh/all-black-prod-drumroll-ft-pappy-kojo-joey-b-elhttps://youtu.be/x-g_Hp20Zm4Preview YouTube video E.L- All Black ft. Pappy Kojo & Joey B (Official Video)E.L- All Black ft. Pappy Kojo & Joey B (Official Video)King without a Crown MP3https://soundcloud.com/elrepgh/all-black-prod-drumroll-ft-pappy-kojo-joey-b-el


EL Ghana


The Winachi TribeTime For Love

The psychedelic funk of George Clinton, the

brooding menace of Massive Attack, the roll-

ing hypnotic beats of Happy Mondays and the

vision and flow of Grandmaster Flash and The

Furious Five are all essential ingredients to the

sound and style of The Winachi Tribe, a sonic

soul, electro funk collective who are uncon-

strained by boundaries or formulas, musically

or culturally.

Although 'Time For Love' is The Winachi

Tribe's debut release, individual band members

are already well established on the music scene.

Percussion legend Inder Goldfinger was a

member of Ian Brown's band for thirteen years,

and vocalist Liam and keys player Antony

collaborated with Keith Allen in the studio and

also toured with him as vocalists in his band

'Fit Les' as part of his Olympic opera 'Will Cliff

Be There?'

'Time For Love' b-side 'Plant The Seed', which

features Julie Gordon (Happy Mondays /

S.W.R), has been chosen to feature in an up-

coming feature length documentary about

legendary night club The Hacienda. Titled 'Do

You Own The Dancefloor?' the film premieres

at Glastonbury Festival's Groovy Movie Cinema

Tent on Saturday 27th June at 6pm.

The Winachi Tribe's influences are as diverse as

their own musical output. Parliament/Funkade-

lic and Sly & The Family Stone sit alongside The

Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, The Rolling

Stones and The Beatles, creating a melting

pot of references that create a truly individual

sound.

Vocalist Liam says "You can hear different influ-


ences in our music and maybe take a guess as

to what we were listening to when we wrote a

certain song, but you can't really pin us down

into any specific genre. One thing that ties all

our music together though is us. Our stamp is

all over it. Wether it's an electro-funk track, an

acid house inspired track or a stripped down

acoustic song you know it's us by the feel and

the attitude of what you're hearing."

The video to accompany 'Time For Love' stars

Keith Allen playing an older version of vocalist

Liam. Also making a cameo is lead singer of

Alabama 3, The Reverend D Wayne Love as the

DJ at the club. "We had a lot of fun making the

video" Liam says . "I hope that comes across

when people watch it. I think it captures the feel

of the song perfectly."

Horns come courtesy of Tim Hutton (Ian

Brown / The Prodigy). The tracks were mixed

by LC Coleman, produced by The Winachi

Tribe and mastered at Abbey Road by Geoff

Pesche.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewinachitribeVideo Teaser: https://youtu.be/OiY6w92JO9I

Pre-Order Link: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1006725913

Live Dates:18th July - Single launch at Water Rats, London with 'Alabama 3' DJ set and support from Italian Band La Strange http://www.wegottickets.com/event/31958327th August - Vinyl launch, The Ruby Lounge, supports TBC29th August - Victorious Festival, Portsmouth, opening for Primal Scream & The Flaming Lips5th September - Manchester Met Uni, 'The Second Com-ing' with Aziz Ibrahim, The Clone Roses, Cressa (DJ Set)7th November - Shiiine On Weekender, Minehead Arena, Somerset with Happy Mondays, Stereo MCs, 808 State Released through 'A1M Records' - http://www.a1mre-cords.com The Winachi Tribe are:Liam Croker - VocalsAntony Egerton - KeyboardsInder Goldfinger - PercussionRichie Rich - BassJamie Fingers Mcgregor - GuitarSam Tushingham - Drums


Review By Kevin Man

Jet Noir


Jet Noir

Well this is one very interesting and multi-talented artist indeed who has recently gone solo for the first time having previously been a part of the hugely successful Naked Lunch group who hold a lot of respect within the realms of the Essex and London elec-tronica scene for a number of years and have produced some amazing records in of themselves, they also have one amazing reputation for their astounding live performances in and across Essex and London music venues. In fact one record is one of my favourites from them called Alone which featured on the Cultural Differ-ences compilation and I have played that a fair few times on The Spread I must admit. I have always wanted to know the reason behind the name Na-ked Lunch as well – Always wondered if it was because they ate their lunch in the nude or got the idea of the name after forgetting to put butter in their sandwiches. I have always wanted to ask them personally but never plucked up the courage.

But alas Jet Noir has recently been working on solo projects in her music pursuits within 2015 and I must say she has a unique style not just in her clothes and make-up as she is also an alternative model; but this extremely talented woman also has a unique style when it comes to music as well. Her latest offering is The Scarlett Woman which I must admit is a mix of amazing storytelling with gothic undertones that really does appeal to me in this offering in par-ticularly in both the title track and in the track Inhale / Exhale. These are some serious electronica and dance tracks and I can usually envision it being used in a movie of some sort. I

then found out much later on that it actually was used in the soundtrack of a movie. A movie called Dark Realm to be precise.

I must admit this is extremely seri-ous stuff in the realm of techno and I must admit that it gets my blood pumping just listening to the tracks and there is a slight retro feel to the tracks although with a twist. There is some serious bass in this but saying that the tracks in themselves are rather complex with layers of sound and a delicious darkness binding those layers together. The other big point to note is that these tracks just oozes sex appeal and drips with lustful desire mainly down to Jet Noir’s fantastic sinful vocals that are so sensual and enticing drawing you in the dark vortex of the tracks of The Scarlett Woman in of itself. Hypnotising you and drawing you in to its irresistible web of trance.

There are small flourishes that re-mind me of Japanese dance act Aural Vampire on rare occasions however this is no bad thing as they are one of my favourite artists!

Her other two offerings are Emotion-al Chess and Like A Circle are slightly more mainstream and I am surprised that these tracks haven’t featured more frequently in nightclubs as these are two amazing tracks. Emotional Chess in particular sounds extremely modern and am somewhat surprised it hasn’t found itself in the mainstream charts. This record real-ly does have some extremely catchy lyrics and there is an extremely fantastic mix behind those vocals as well. Almost like a late night city at

the weekend vibe which has a brilliant party feel to it that I really do enjoy.

Like A Circle shows a much softer side to Jet and this starts to almost enter EDM territory in way of sound but this gives a beautiful more delicate vocal that really has a very strong keyboard pedigree in fact the keyboard is the most amazing part the tracks across all the records in particular. There are some amazing vocal effects that has also been in-cluded in this particular track but not only that this also has some amazing beautiful lyrics that really do tug at the heart but this truly is a prime piece of dance.

Overall this really would be mana to the gods for Techno, Dance and Electronica fans; however there is something for everyone here, deli-cate yet sensual, dark yet sexy and some amazing pieces of music here where her personality and stunning vocal talent really do shine through.

https://jetnoir.bandcamp.comhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Jet-Noir/135385613147282?fref=tshttps://www.reverbnation.com/jetnoirhttps://twitter.com/thejetnoirhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Gc9q4uzAFVcj4KJXcbgTQ


Mi’D

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Mi’DasBY MTHULISI PATRICK

Thanks for being in this issue of Love Music Magazine. Please tell our readers about yourself?Hi! Im a singer-songwriter / guitarist with a love of all things soulful, i also eat porridge with just water in the morning and go for runs in the rain. Its not all rough and tough stuff though, i couldnt function without my slippers!

What has been the highlight of your career so far?I’d have to say playing my own songs at Shepherds Bush Empire, its one of my favou-rite venues in London.

How did the name Mi’das come about?I was bored of my own name and was muck-ing around with ways of using the same letters so ended up shortening ‘Mike Davies’ to ‘Mi’das’.

Please tell us about your EP “Stronger”, what can people expect from it.Stronger EP is a collection of songs ive been working on for years and it brings across my love of songwriting. The focus is on story-telling and the human experience of life and the challenges it brings. Specifically, how hard it is to follow your own path, how to now not have regrets and how to let some-one go. It has some soulful elements but also borrows from my folk and pop influences.

Which would you say is your favourite song from the EP.? I’d have to say ‘Too Little Too Late’ as i think it best captures my soul / gospel elements and songwriting. Its also the next single :)

Over the years you have worked as a session musician for the likes of Jessie J, Rita Ora, Labrinth and others, has that experience helped your career? Yes, 100%! Working these people and many more gave me an insight into the industry at every level and helped me to appreciate the work ethic and dedication it can take to be succesfull. When you start out though, Its like having your own little startup business, if you view it like that you dont mind the work it takes to make things happen as much.

Please tell us about the EP series “The Story So Far”, what is the concept about?The collection of songs that made up the se-

ries of 3 EPs were initially intended to form an album but i decided that without wanting commit at that time to one sound that it may be better to release the tracks on three EPs each with thier own theme. The aim was also to tell a story through time so the first one was really stripped back, the second one was live with a band and the last one ‘Stronger EP’ had everything thrown at it ie strings, choir etc.

Which do you prefer, being a solo artist or being part of a band?I like the format of both, being in a band the music gets exposed to all the different influences of the various members, and if i had the idea for the song i love seeing the journey it can take to something i would never imagine. With the solo thing it gives a chance for your sole vision to be excuted which has a different sometimes personal feel to it.

If you could give any words of advice to other musicians what would it be?Work hard and be respectful. Run your own race! It so easy to look at others and think ‘they did that so i should do that’ or ‘how come i didnt get asked to perform?’ etc but ultimately from my perspective music is an art and that dictates you have your own ‘voice’ and are influenced but never the less independant from others.

Tell us about your experience of working with soul legend Betty Wright, I believe this was when you were part of Bassment Project? That was just an amazing opportunity, with her she IS the music i love, its not second hand or learned by rote, shes lived it. It was a bit daunting since shes coached vocalists as good as Beyonce!

If you could collaborate with anyone in the industry, who would it be and why?Right now Paul Epworth or Labrinth, they are two of the most talented producers in the UK for the type of album i’d like to make.

Thank you for granting us the interview, where can people see you perform next?All the dates are up on the website offi-cialmidas.com and more being added all the time, the next one will be ‘Unsigned Festival’ in Shoreditch Park on the 4th of July then Cardiff (10/07), Reading (11/07), Water Rats (12/07), Exeter (15/07) and many more after that.


The A

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Part 1 of 3

Every day I get 50 e-mails from Producers that are taking baby steps in their music ca-reer asking me if I can get them into the Top 10 on Beatport or booked at Tomorrowland. Because we live in a fast moving world that occasionally comes up with artists that come

through with six figure marketing invest-ment and ghost producers, people of-ten think

that bypassing the whole “up and coming” process is a realistic move. Unless your dad’s an oil baron or you’ve got a seriously influen-tial contact list in the industry – you’re going

to have to do it the old fashioned way. Below are a few pointers that should help both new and well-practiced minds make informed decisions. This is not a bible – just a series of tips that I find myself offering on a daily basis.

Make yourself easy to find and contact

The one thing that that puts me off an artist or label is not being able to easily track them down. Let’s be realistic here – Universal is not going to send you a Facebook message asking you for a deal. If you have a social media page or website, make sure it has an e-mail address there and it doesn’t cost much at all to setup your own [email protected] e-mail address. This will help you look pro-fessional and most serious labels aren’t going to be impressed with [email protected]. Look at your online

“Don’t be afraid to get your points across if you see an interesting article”


presentation like you would do at someone else’s. Do they look serious? Do they look like someone you’d like to have an involvement with? I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve decided against making an offer to a potential client because they’ve failed to make themselves visible online. This is 2015 guys – come up – keep up now.

Work on your product before your promotion

If you’re a casual producer just making music for you and your friends, then fine. If you’re trying to get the attention of bigger DJs, Labels, Managers, Promoters, and Producers – please don’t upload “New track I started 07” on Soundcloud. It looks terrible, it usually sounds terrible and as soon as one person leaves neg-ative feedback, you’ll probably decide you don’t like it any more. Treat your new releases like Apple treat an iPhone launch – build, improve, tweak, perfect, pack-age and then BAM – hit the world with a complete package.

Engage with relevant sites, blogs and social media channels

Read your favourite music sites, leave comments both on the site and social media. For some reason people seem to think that successful music industry folk don’t get involved in discussions online. Un-less you’re Aphex Twin – don’t be afraid to get your points across if you see an interesting article. Leave feedback on Soundcloud – after all you should know how to talk about music. Talk to artists and fans on Facebook – you’re not Barack Obama – people will appreciate the fact you’re getting involved in the con-versation. I can tell you for a fact that 90% of the top musicians, producers and DJs regularly follow the leading music sites. They spend 30 hours a week in airports – there are only so many arcades and walks around duty free that a man can handle.

Words by Matt Caldwell.

About the writer

Matt Caldwell is the founder of Matt Caldwell PR – one of the world’s leading PR agencies for all things electronic music. Having come through just about every role in the industry from street promoter for back-end bars, DJ, Producer, Journalist, Blogger, Editor & PR Specialist – he’s seen how the industry works and how it changes. From promoting nights

for Ministry of Sound, producing music that’s re-ceived airplay from BBC Radio, Kiss 100 and global club support, managing promotions at the world’s biggest club Privilege in Ibiza, writing for some of the world leading electronic music medias and starting one of the largest PR agencies in electronic music with no investment and just a laptop on start-up – he’s seen how the industry has evolved in the last ten years.

For more information on the writer visit www.mattcaldwell.co.uk or e-mail [email protected] - he’s always willing to offer free advice to upcoming music industry enthusiasts that need some tips and questions.

10 W

ays To Improve Y

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Out In The Music Industry W

ithout Breaking The Bank


Review By Kevin Man

The Jonathan Curtis Eclectic Band


This one is really quite unique and sometimes I will get a submission on The Spread of which you never know exactly quite what to expect and this particular album is one of those type of submissions. What lay in front of me is a series of instrumentals in an album called Carousel of which is available via download or CD.

I must admit this artist really does live up to their name in many re-spects as there are hints of many different genres here in the music with a bit of two tone here, traditional keyboard / piano there, jazz over there and possibly a bit of futuristic thrown in for good measure these tracks however are extremely solid tracks admittedly there is a rather modern twist to the whole shebang as well. This particular artists music style is a whole lot more active and vibrant and energetic than other instrumental pieces I have reviewed in the past.

The drums in particular are particu-larly draw my attention to the more frantic and upbeat nature of these tracks and particularly impress me with these records as they seem very precise and lead the rest of the music very well. It does lend itself very heavily on the freestyle kind of Jazz in places with crisp saxophone and some really good keyboard playing here. Saying that it seems like the Jazz of the 1920’s and 1930’s is a rather major influence in this artists work in particular as this seeps through quite heavily compared to all the other genres that encompass this body of work; in fact you could argue that this is an out an out Jazz album if you listen to the full body of

work but there are some amazing jazz pieces in this album that are extremely noteworthy indeed.

Admittedly the one track I did pick from the Carousel album for radio air-play from the album was called “Neon Skyline” which believe it or not starts off as a rather mellow affair but gets slowly more involved as it goes along and becoming more alive as the keyboard / piano and the saxophone becomes more active and alive, if I am completely honest was a very radio worthy track of music as I was drawn to that particular track straight away, sometimes you just get a feel for a piece of music re-gardless of genre and it just spoke to me personally on a number of levels.

This album in particular is a fully im-mersive experience for the listener that really does envelope you in some amazing sound, which is extremely uplifting for the listener involved and not only that the Carousel album does seem to have one mighty big finish in the form of the beautifully named “Indigo Child” which is one amazing record in its own right but does leave a brilliant long lasting final impression of this amazing album and artist no less.

This is one to look out for in the Jazz world as there is plenty more to come and the genre infusions of this artist are extremely imaginative and brilliant!

http://jonathancurtis.co.ukhttps://www.facebook.com/JCurtis-Drumshttps://soundcloud.com/JCurtis-Drums

http://jceb.bandcamp.com/releaseshttps://twitter.com/JCurtisDrumshttps://www.youtube.com/user/JCurtisDrumshttps://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/carousel/id929126254


Peg

gy S

eeger


BY MTHULISI PATRICK

Thank you for being in this issue of Love Music Magazine. Earlier this year you were awarded the Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award 2015, please tell us about this and how it feels to be given such an accolade?Well when people clap for you after a concert, that is lovely, you can take it two ways. They have clapped that you have finished and that they can go home but praise is always welcome. You don’t always feel that you deserve it, but I am beginning to feel, as I verge on eighty years old, that I have done a lot in my life time and its things, some of which seem to be seminal, some of them seem to be passing things on and some of them seem to be things that come out of my own head. An awful lot of it is what I have learned from other people. So somehow the lifetime achievement award if it makes me feel anything, that I can explain to you, it’s a thankfulness for all that I have received and a chance to be able to give it back.

If you could give any words of advice to upcoming musicians what would it be?First of all I would ask them why they are in the business, what is it they want? Because a lot of younger people, and everyone is younger than me these days, a lot of younger people just want to be famous, they want that spotlight. If you want the spotlight, sometimes I think you have to sell your sole and your life. You have to be prepared and really strong for that. I think you have to be aware of going on stage too soon because if you do, you will crystallise at that stage and might not move on unless you are very strong. So really I think you have to figure, why you are there? What is it that you are after? I have never been famous in my life and I do not want to be famous. That would be miserable. I have gotten a lot of attention and a lot of it because I have lasted so long, still singing and people think it is amazing that I am still vertical. My reason for singing is that I absolutely love the songs, the traditional songs, so I wasn’t just singing for the audience, I was singing for myself and I was bringing music forth, from times before me. People who don’t do that can bring songs out of themselves or out from the experience of other people, more of a reason than just getting up and being a performing monkey. Unless of course that is what you want to do and you do it well. There’s nothing wrong with monkeys.

Some of our readers may not know about Peggy Seeger, however will know the song First Time written about you by your late husband Ewan MacColl. The song is such an iconic song covered across different genres and by some of the biggest names in music, how does it make you feel hearing the different interpretations of the song?When we first heard Roberta Flack’s version, we were, I must say, horrified, because it was so very different from the way the song had been written. We hadn’t learned the lesson yet, and I’m talking

about 1971/72, we hadn’t learned that it is an hon-our when other people sing your songs and you have to get used to the fact that they will do them differently, from you, the same you have with a song from another songwriter, differently, so, I am more tolerant now than Ewan and I were back in 1972 but I really like a number of the versions.

Its like letting your children go out in to the world isn’t it? You don’t have to approve of everything they do?Well you try and you have your own interpretation of what they do but some of them, I really like them. Once you get used to the idea that some-one is going to change the tune and the pace and sometimes change the chord and occasionally change the words.

Congratulations on winning the Best Original Song at the Radio 2 Folk Awards for ‘Swim To The Star’, from your album ‘Everything Chang-es’, Please tell us about the song and how it came about?It isn’t just my song, it’s our song. My son Calum and I put it together with a bit of help from my partner who lives in New Zealand, Irene Pyper-Scott. I got the original idea as I was commis-sioned to do it. Then I restarted it, then Irene restarted on my restart. We came back to England with it half written and Calum put it in to order and provided information and more of the tune so it really is his and mine. I am honoured. The competition was fearce and it is the first time I have won an award like that so it was big for me and it especially nice as it is a song that I am proud of. Sometimes you get accolades for songs that you could have done a bit better or you’ve not quite tidied them up but Calum and I worked very hard on this song so I think we are both proud of getting the award.

You currently have a sixteen date tour planned for the UK which will feature your sons Calum and Neill, what can your fans expect as you will be also celebrating your 80th birthday? Happy Birthday from us at Love Music MagazineWell for one thing, they must expect that I will look older than I was at my seventieth birthday, which is being held in the same hall and I am wearing the same clothes. They will expect more instrumentals; they will expect quite a lot of va-riety. They will expect solo songs from me, songs accompanying myself. There will be songs that are traditional, songs that are contemporary. They’ll have songs that are sung by Calum by himself, Neil by himself and all three of us. Take all the possible combinations and you will get them all. I am also doing something that I have never done before which is appearing as a special guest for another singer, who sings very different music from mine, well not very different, Patty Griffin, has invited me to be a special guest on her autumn tour. This is happening at the end of September, beginning of October in the United States. It will

take us from Louisville to Knoxville, to Ashville, Austin, Fairfax, Virginia, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Portland. Quite a number of places. It will be interesting to be with someone else and I can watch them work, see how they run their show and see what their whole backstage routine is because everybody does it differently and we all have our ways so I am really looking forward to that.

Have you got any planned projects for the future that you would like to tell us about?I am writing a memoire, that’s practically it right now. I would like to do another CD but that’s probably for a year or two from now. I haven’t got anything much more than that. I was ill for a year and I am still tidying up a lot of the business from that year. That seems to be a project all on its own. I have a biography coming out written by Jean Freeman who is a folklorist and historian who lives in Washington DC. That should be out in Septem-ber/October. It’s a very interesting thing because the biography will talk about who, what, where, when, not why. It will give the nuts and bolts of 79/80 years of living. The memoire will skip here and there and just say how I feel about this, that, the other. Some of it will be narrative, probably taking me up to the age of twenty because that is what most memoires do. They’re a narrative up until your early twenties and the they turn in to episodes because life gets a bit samey after that and it is hard to keep it as a story. What I would love to have is an apprentice who would love to travel with me and learn what I have learned be-cause there are certain things I am good at. I was brought up with classical music and I was brought up with folk music. I had some theatrical training with Ewan MacColl so I have an approach to an evening, which is probably quite different to a lot of other people. Everybody is different. I would like to teach what I have learned to somebody who wants to learn. Also, I’m not very strong right now so they can help me lift the instruments.

If you could collaborate with anyone in the indus-try who would it be any why?Paul Simon. I’m writing a song about Paul Simon, “Fifty Ways to meet Paul Simon”. So I’d really like to, not collaborate with him but find out how his mind works. Collaborations, I would really like to co-write songs with other people. I’d like to co-write with Diana Jones. I would like to co-write, in a sense, with people who’s music is very different from mine. Of course, the ones I would most like to collaborate with are my sons, Neil and Calum. I would love to work with them comfortably, but, that is not possible, not for them. They have dif-ferent lives and they play much more complicated music than mine. If they could give me a tour a year, I would sing till I was a hundred.


Peggy Seeger

take us from Louisville to Knoxville, to Ashville, Austin, Fairfax, Virginia, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Portland. Quite a number of places. It will be interesting to be with someone else and I can watch them work, see how they run their show and see what their whole backstage routine is because everybody does it differently and we all have our ways so I am really looking forward to that.

Have you got any planned projects for the future that you would like to tell us about?I am writing a memoire, that’s practically it right now. I would like to do another CD but that’s probably for a year or two from now. I haven’t got anything much more than that. I was ill for a year and I am still tidying up a lot of the business from that year. That seems to be a project all on its own. I have a biography coming out written by Jean Freeman who is a folklorist and historian who lives in Washington DC. That should be out in Septem-ber/October. It’s a very interesting thing because the biography will talk about who, what, where, when, not why. It will give the nuts and bolts of 79/80 years of living. The memoire will skip here and there and just say how I feel about this, that, the other. Some of it will be narrative, probably taking me up to the age of twenty because that is what most memoires do. They’re a narrative up until your early twenties and the they turn in to episodes because life gets a bit samey after that and it is hard to keep it as a story. What I would love to have is an apprentice who would love to travel with me and learn what I have learned be-cause there are certain things I am good at. I was brought up with classical music and I was brought up with folk music. I had some theatrical training with Ewan MacColl so I have an approach to an evening, which is probably quite different to a lot of other people. Everybody is different. I would like to teach what I have learned to somebody who wants to learn. Also, I’m not very strong right now so they can help me lift the instruments.

If you could collaborate with anyone in the indus-try who would it be any why?Paul Simon. I’m writing a song about Paul Simon, “Fifty Ways to meet Paul Simon”. So I’d really like to, not collaborate with him but find out how his mind works. Collaborations, I would really like to co-write songs with other people. I’d like to co-write with Diana Jones. I would like to co-write, in a sense, with people who’s music is very different from mine. Of course, the ones I would most like to collaborate with are my sons, Neil and Calum. I would love to work with them comfortably, but, that is not possible, not for them. They have dif-ferent lives and they play much more complicated music than mine. If they could give me a tour a year, I would sing till I was a hundred.


Review By Kevin Man

Myroslav Levytsky


Believe it or not is is not everyday you get an out and out composer to actually ask for radio air-play much to the point not one that has already released a number of CD’s and albums. I will be completely honest and say that this artists records and music of this professional magnitude especially from composers. You tend to get the image of the olden days of Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven. Saying that it is true what the Internet says these days that Classical composed music was the heavy metal or the progressive rock of its day and who can blame them, in honesty their logic is rather sound. Although that is certainly not always the case in practice especially not with this jazz infused composer. this artists isn’t the only instrumentalist that I have played on The Spread they are certainly one of the most profound.

Believe it or not there is one thing of note is that all of these pieces are using either keyboard or piano and there is a massive variety of styles in their work from more atmospheric chill-out modern day pieces to almost Kenny G style dinner jazz. There is quite a body of work in the jazz style and you can almost imagine a relax-ing late night in the city kind of sce-nario. In fact there is a very delicate and intricate relationship between the piano, guitars and saxophones on display in some of this composers’ work. Even though most of the time he isn’t the artist playing the com-poser himself in this case is one of the unsung heroes of music which makes this body of work so unique.

I must admit I find this composers style of music extremely relaxing

and find myself loosening up as I play each track one by one as I write this. Some of the piano in his body of work is sometimes truly exceptional although extremely understated. The track “Please... Just A Moment” which was a live piano piece was particu-larly beautiful in nature. One of the beauties of the nature of the music is the simple musicality of the pieces involved. In fact these pieces are in fact perfect to unwind to after a hard day at work and fantastic relaxing during the summer

The actual music within itself is very intricate, subtle and complex and I could see some pieces of his work being perfect for some types of films and perhaps TV. More to the point there are some amazing long pieces from this composer as well as the shorter 4 to 5 minute pieces. These are however very traditional pieces in many respects as I can usually imagine waves crashing on a beach on a sunny day or an intimate restau-rant at night in my minds eye at least. A lot of his work under Braty Bluzu is particularly well received

But lets not forget that these truly are amazing musical pieces that truly are not to be missed and there is potentially over a decades worth of which you can buy via download or even via CD this composer also has quite a dedicated following as well. There are some fantastic videos on YouTube as well and if you love Jazz or if you love soft silky instrumental music then please do check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/myro-slav.levytskyhttp://www.cdbaby.com/cd/levytsky

http://sincere.ly/myroslavlevytsky/https://www.youtube.com/results?-search_query=braty+bluzu

Myroslav Levytsky


Review

After much anticipation on my part (as I kind of had something to do with this release), the release date is nigh for this amazing super group’s first single. Firstly, I have to tell you about this super group, which will only serve as a taster of what is to come. If I mention the names The Orb, Pink Floyd, Parliament-Funkadelic, Afrika Bambaataa, Dynamax, Headcount, Donald D, Kris Needs, Guy Pratt and Dom Beken all the in same sentence, you would think I have been listening to a few to many tracks and having some kind of ‘track merge’ syndrome. But no, I am not ‘Losing My Mind’ (one of the tracks on the album- see how I did that?); I am in fact letting my ears get on to some serious rock/Hip Hop collaborations. This single “Resurrected Angel”, a haunting track with an equally haunting video, directed by Aaron Gum, explores the grief stricken woman taking her own life to be beside her angel, Dynamax. The music equally adds to this dark story and no doubt having Dom Beken with his years of film and television music produc-tion, involved, makes sense as to why I am so atmospher-ically drawn in. Dynamax (ICE-T’s Rhyme Syndicate) is

vocally superb and is on point with his delivery of this fine masterpiece, both audibly and visually. Dynamax proves there is no genre that he is afraid to get involved with, although he is no stranger to rock, he is taking this Canine by the lead and driving forwards to achieve what can only be described as a true creative meeting of the minds. This single is released on July 3rd and what an opening line to precede an equally ferocious album.

https://myspace.com/yearsofthecaninehttps://twitter.com/yearsofthek9https://youtube.com/yearsofthecaninehttps://facebook.com/yearsofthecaninehttps://reverbnation.com/yearsofthecaninehttps://yearsofthecanine.webs.com

By Emma Walker

Years of the Canine


Years of the Canine Resurrected Angel

Coming July 3rd!!!

Years of the Canine


Yewande A

ustin


Yew

ande

Aus

tin


By MTHULISI PATRICK and EMMA WALKER

Thank you so much for being on our cover this issue, Yewande. It is our pleasure and privilege. Please could you tell our readers about yourself and the origins of your name Yewande, is this your birth name?

No matter where I travel around the world, my name is often one of the very first things that people ask me about. Yewande is indeed my birth name. Interestingly enough, my Egyptian Godfather suggested it to my African-American parents before I was born (figure that one out…LOL)! It’s indigenous to Nigeria so most people assume that one of my parents is Nigerian, but they’re not. I’ve actually traced my ancestry to the Congo through literature written by descendants of the slave owners that “bought” my ancestors nearly 400 years ago, but I’m proud of my Yoruba name either way. It means “reincarnation of mother” and is traditionally given to the first-born female after the death of a female elder. In many ways, my name has shaped who I am as a person. I feel like I’ve been here before - back to finish a mis-sion that was started a long time ago – so it suits me just fine.Little known fact: I’m facebook friends with about 300 Yewan-de’s. We have a very special sisterhood because of the name that we shareJ.

You have done so much to help so many people through your music and work as an award-winning lecturer, activist and cultural Ambassador. What keeps you motivated to do this work?

Most people that are familiar with my work find it dif-ficult to comprehend why I would willingly choose to work in circumstances that most people would rather pretend didn’t exist. Somehow, I’ve always gravitated to things that exist in the dark. I just addressed this very same issue in my TEDx Talk called “Running Into the Dark” ( http://www.tedxrva.com/speaker/yewande-austin/). I can recall my mother taking me to Washington, DC to march against South African Apartheid when I was just a child. At that time I only knew a little about the Civil Rights Movement, but it was enough to be aware of the dangers that existed

when people protested against social injustice. I was scared that day and quite frankly didn’t want to go, but it ended up becoming a pivotal moment in my life. By facing my fears, I discovered something powerful - one person could make a difference.

This principle has been a recurring theme in the youth empowerment work that I’ve produced in 12 countries around the world now. Even in the midst of what appears to be perpetual darkness – poverty, abuse, trafficking, child marriage – I’ve seen how just a glimmer of light can completely change the course of a child’s life. I’ve worked with orphaned children that go on to high school and pursue their college educa-tion. I’ve taught college students how to build busi-nesses that create solutions to socio-economic issues that plague society and they now have youth empow-

erment organizations that have reached thousands of other “invisible” chil-dren. I’ve even designed a program that teaches STEM (Science, Tech-nology, Engineering and Math) subjects through music and arts. During the pilot launch of this initiative with Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versity, our participants increased their Math test scores in upwards of 30% and in upwards of 20% in Science. We achieved all of this by simply changing a child’s perspective about themselves and the world around them. I find the greatest joy and fulfill-ment in helping We know you have overcome diffi-culties in your own life, such as your heart attack

in 2012. What would you say is the one thing that has made your own struggles worthwhile?

For 10 years now, I’ve been teaching vulnerable children around the world that they don’t have to be defined by their circumstances. I was blessed to be raised by a single mother that taught me this lesson as a little girl and that message has stayed with me all of my life. But that concept was really put to the test in 2012 when I had a heart attack. As if having the heart attack wasn’t bad enough, just 5 months later I had surgery to repair my congenital heart defect. That led to a pulmonary embolism that collapsed my lung – a condition that I still live with today. others discover their true voice. It’s just my calling.

“Little known fact: I’m facebook friends with about 300 Yewande’s. We have a very special sisterhood because of the name that we share.”


[Above left and right ] - “The group shot was taken before we trekked through the slums (some areas 3-5 feet deep of standing sewage and trash) to the lagoon surrounding Makoko. At the lagoon, they were told that they could only let the balloons loose if they were willing to do everything required to keep it afloat. When they let the balloons go, all of the children on the other side of the lagoon spontaneously jumped into the murky black water filled with sewage to catch the balloons that my students had just let go. The boy in the boat holding one balloon, was one of the lucky ones that had access to a boat that he used to chase down the balloon. He was so proud of his accomplishment. You would've thought that those balloons were worth gold, but to children that have nothing....they were.The lesson - dreams are contagious. The dreams of my participants became the dreams of the children that swam after the bal-loons i.e. "dreams". My foundation's goal is to give every child the critical tools they need to pursue those dreams.”

As it happens to most people deal-ing with a prolonged illness, I lost everything! Between stays in and out of hospitals for a year and all of the doctors appointments (I once counted as many as 30 in a span of 6 months), I couldn’t support myself financially, lost my home, my independence was non-existent and in my darkest moments I honestly considered giving up on my dream. But something really miraculous happened. The teacher became the student. Following a Facebook post about my condition, messages and prayers poured in from hundreds of children (many were orphans, domestic abuse and sex trafficking survivors) that I had taught around the world. They told me that I had to get better so that I could come back to their country and see their progress. I read one testimony after the other about how much my work had meant to them in their darkest moments. So who was I to give up so easily? I had to fight to get back to the person that I knew before the heart attack. I had to show these courageous children that the lessons that I’d taught them were real. As a leader, at some point you will in-variably fall down, but how you get back up will define your true legacy.

Tell us some more about the Change Rocks Foundation and the important work you are doing.

The Change Rocks Founda-tion is truly my life’s work. We use music to teach vulnerable children basic life skills that they need to pursue their dreams. We’ve only formally produced youth empower-ment programs since 2006, but I guess you could say that I’ve been developing the concept since I was a little girl. I was always fascinated by the stories I read about pioneers like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass - African-American pioneers that were born into slavery and yet had the audacity to free themselves and thousands of others. The premise that one could be born into servi-tude, yet have the courage to break loose the chains of socio-economic servitude sparked a flame. At a very early age, I knew that I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to change

the world. I just didn’t know how…

Then I stumbled on the Harlem Renaissance movement and I was DONE! Stories of artists like Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes and Josephine Baker clearly demonstrative that music and the arts could be formidable weapons in the fight against social injustice. Their works had literally integrated audiences, inspired marches and perhaps most importantly, ensured that messages about freedom and equality would be heard from voices that had once been silenced by Jim Crow laws. So I decided I could do the same thing for children that had been silenced by poverty.

That’s why we use music! Unfortu-nately factors such as gender, cul-ture and geography prevent millions of boys and girls from accessing ba-sic like skills that we take advantage of every day. Because music plays a central role in most indigenous cultures around the world, this ap-proach allows us to confront issues that fuel poverty without provoking social conflict. Without an educa-tion or vocational skills, vulnerable children are easy prey. They’re forced into early marriage, manual

labour and even sex trafficking. Our programs teach youth critical tools like education, leadership, personal and sustainable skills. This process simply gives children a chance to be who they were born to be. To date, we’ve produced programs in 12 countries from Africa and Europe to the Americas and are currently exploring partnerships in 13 more countries from the Democratic Re-public of the Congo to Pakistan. Whilst in Nigeria, you were filming

your documentary “Amazing Grace: Freedom’s Song” and you are to re-lease a soundtrack to coincide with the release of this. Can you explain the message behind the documen-tary and when we can expect to see it released, together with the soundtrack?

Human trafficking has become a modern form of slavery. But in spite of all of the humanitarian work that I’d done around the world, I had no idea how pervasive the issue had become in America. That is, until 2013 when I was asked to become the Artistic Director of a campaign called “Facing Sex Trafficking: Atlanta’s Dirty Little Secret”. Most people know Atlanta as the “Holly-wood of the South”, but beneath all of the glitz and glamor there’s a dark side. With nearly 500 girls under the age of 18 exploited by sex trafficking every month, Atlanta had become 1 of 10 cities with the highest rate of trafficking in America. In an effort to create more awareness about this growing issue, I paired local artists with survivors and advocates to tell the stories that no one wanted to hear.

During this time, I’d been devel-oping the documentary, “Amazing Grace: Freedom’s Song”, with the Horne Brothers – an incredible group of filmmakers in Atlanta. They had already worked with everyone from Tony Award-win-ning Director Kenny Leone to Oscar Award-winning Actor Denzel Washington. Our initial goal was to capture my music-based youth empowerment programs in Nigeria because I’d received so many re-quests from children to come there. But when I learned that Nigeria had 1 of the 8 highest rates of human trafficking in the world, the story took a different turn. Then in 2014, nearly 300 girls were kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria by Boko Haram and sold to militants as child brides. I had heard hundreds of stories about the victims in the news, but nothing about the fate of 57 girls that had the courage to escape that day. So I knew then that I had to tell their story.

“The Change Rocks Foundation is truly my life’s work. We use music to teach vulnerable children basic life skills that they need to pursue their dreams.”

Yew

ande

Aus

tin


[Above]-“These shots were taken during youth empowerment workshops that I conducted with participants (ages 12-21) about what it takes to protect their dreams. On this, the first day of pro-gram, I asked each student to stand and share their dream of who they want to be one day. Then, they were asked to write 1) their dream on one side, 2) the steps required to pursue their dream on another side and 3) the fears that keep them from pursuing their dreams on another.”

[Above left and right ] - “The group shot was taken before we trekked through the slums (some areas 3-5 feet deep of standing sewage and trash) to the lagoon surrounding Makoko. At the lagoon, they were told that they could only let the balloons loose if they were willing to do everything required to keep it afloat. When they let the balloons go, all of the children on the other side of the lagoon spontaneously jumped into the murky black water filled with sewage to catch the balloons that my students had just let go. The boy in the boat holding one balloon, was one of the lucky ones that had access to a boat that he used to chase down the balloon. He was so proud of his accomplishment. You would've thought that those balloons were worth gold, but to children that have nothing....they were.The lesson - dreams are contagious. The dreams of my participants became the dreams of the children that swam after the bal-loons i.e. "dreams". My foundation's goal is to give every child the critical tools they need to pursue those dreams.”


On the last day of the initiative, filmmaker Tyson Horne (who was also capturing all of my work for a documentary entitled "Amazing Grace: Free-dom's Song") shot a music video for my single, "One More Time". This single will appear on the soundtrack for the documentary (see attached overview for details). None of the images that you see were staged. All of the children in Makoko, including the Bale (or chief) of the village where I conducted most of my youth empowerment programming simply heard the music and jumped in. This is exactly why we use music as a tool to deliver our lessons. It's a language that needs no translation. Everyone knows the sound of joy, hope and love - that's what my music represents.

Yew

ande

Aus

tin


Earlier this month, I produced the first part of our ini-tiative with youth at the Hope Center School (founded by Dr. Eniabitobi Kuyinu) in Makoko – a slum in Lagos, Nigeria. In a community with over 500,000 peo-ple, this school currently can only afford to serve about 80 youth, which means that thousands of other chil-dren are easy prey for traffickers. The children told me stories of men that pulled up to the banks of Makoko in boats (the village is surrounded by water) and kid-napped their friends never to be seen again. But even in the midst of abject poverty, the children are clearly hopeful. During my initiative I taught the children how to create businesses that would create solutions to the real-world problems that they face every day in Makoko. They learned how to do everything from de-veloping a brand and mission statement to developing a staff and how to deliver services in their community. Their presentations were on a level that truly rivalled some of the greatest minds I’ve ever encountered. Ni-gerian children are talented and extremely smart. They just need the tools that will make them self-sufficient and productive members of our society.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to make contact with the Chibok survivors on this trip. So we’ll return later this summer in partnership with the Nigerian government to complete that part of our mission.

You have worked with some amazing artists in your ca-reer, Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, India Arie, to name a few. If you could work with any musician in the world, who would it be and why?

Oh that’s easy. Prince! I just think that he’s a genius. From his musicianship to his artistry, he has a magical way of transport-ing listeners to another place. Whenever I write a song, that’s my goal – to write songs that transcend superficial issues like race or class. I want to write music that creates a “human” expe-rience. One that leaves you feeling better than you did before.

What are your future plans as Yewande the artist, any planned tours?

Like most artists, music has flowed through my veins since I was a child, but the industry made it difficult to achieve what I originally set out to accomplish back in 2004. I became an in-dependent artist years ago because it seemed like labels weren’t ready to embrace my style. In a sea of Beyonce/Rihanna/Ciara wannabe’s, I guess it was a serious risk to sign a Black woman with an African name that writes Rock, Soul, Hip-Hop music…LOL! I could understand that and fortunately I had a business background so it was a natural evolution for me to start my own label. I just promoted it to fans that did love my music and there were thousands of them! As an indie artist, I still opened for the Black Eyes Peas, Enrique Iglesias, Maroon 5, headlined con-certs from the UK to Africa and even walked red carpets with the “who’s who” of the industry. That gave me plenty of time to focus on my humanitarian efforts. I had even built a national following as a public speaker and that was enough for me for a long time.

But then some of the “movers and shakers” started courting me with the interest of taking my career to the next level. It became obvious pretty quickly that I was expected to “play the game”. As

a woman this clearly meant that I was expected to accept their offers to get physically involved. I refused, but I was disgusted and ashamed. No one ever really talks about this ugly side of the industry, but it’s very real. I think what bothered me most wasn’t the “offers” as much as the “expectations” that I was supposed to be part of the deal. Unfortunately it’s not that different from what I now know about sex trafficking. The only thing that sep-arates me from thousands of children that are exploited by traf-fickers every day, however, is that I have an education. This has always meant that I had options and selling myself for a dream wasn’t one of them. Others aren’t as lucky. I was 50% pissed that “professionals” were so comfortable disrespecting me like that and 50% just completely broken-hearted. So I decided to regroup and walked away from the music industry….again.

5 years later, I signed to Phoenix Records and we created my dream album with music producer Marc Baldwin, but as luck would have it, I became gravely ill so we had to put the entire project on hold. We’re finally preparing to release a new project called “Better” (Winter 2016) which will be a collection of some songs from my 2012 album and new pieces from the soundtrack for my documentary, “Amazing Grace”.

While in Nigeria you shot a music video for the remix of your track One More Time, what was this like; we noticed from your pictures you involved the locals?

That was a fascinating experience! But I didn’t involve the locals, the locals jumped into the video with ME! While I was producing my recent initiative with youth in Makoko, film-maker Tyson Horne and I decided that the village would be the perfect backdrop for “One More Time” (the theme song for “Amazing Grace”). My producer, Marc Baldwin had written the original track several years ago and when I heard it for the first time it inspired me to write a song dedicated to all of the children I’ve worked with around the world. I think that most people feel sorry for these children, but they’re some of the most courageous and brilliant human beings that I’ve ever met. Sometimes I feel like I’ve learned more from them than they may have learned from me. The biggest lesson that I’ve learned from doing this work is that every child just wants a chance. That’s really my foundation’s core mission – to give every child a chance to be who he/she was born to be. So I wrote a song about it and the children, even the chief of the village (you’ll see him in the video, too) loved it so much that they jumped into the mix. It was amazing!

Love Music Magazine’s primary focus is new musicians. Do you have any words of advice that you can offer to any upcoming musicians?

Know your worth and don’t be afraid to be true to what you believe is right. I think that often we as musicians/artists are focused on fame or success and overlook the importance of doing what truly makes us happy. The universe will ultimately line you up for success if you’re true to this principle. It’s really that simple.

www.changerocksfoundation.comwww.facebook.com/changerocksfoundationwww.igg.me/at/amazing-grace-film www.yewande.com www.facebook.com/yewandefanclub


Beatenberg

Review ByPatrick Morgan

Undoubtedly one of South Africa’s biggest acts to emerge from 2014, with 35 weeks spent with the most played songs on radio over the year and a strew of high profile awards, Beatenberg are set to take over the world with their African-inspired roots and undeniable global pop appeal.

The group are a fresh new face in pop music from South Africa. The faces of Matthew Field, Ross Dorkin, and Robin Brink make up the band.

Their collaboration, Pluto (Remember You) with renowned DJ and Producer DJ Clock from South Africa, spent 19 weeks as the most played song on radio in 2014. Their follow single Rafael has already made its mark also spend-ing 16 weeks on high rotation across the radio stations in South Africa. On the back of this the band have been nominated and have won an array of awards ranging from, winning 7 South African Music Awards to peaking at #2 on the iTunes singles charts, they have also been nominated

for an MTV Africa Award. Their path to global recognition has seen their track Pluto be commissioned by Universal Music Germany for a remix by FlicFlac.

After a noteworthy performance at the 2014 CMJ Music Marathon in New York, Beatenberg have been spreading their wings with numerous concerts planned around the African and European continents in 2015.Beatenberg Social MediaSoundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/beatenbergFacebook - www.facebook.com/Beatenberg Twitter - @beatenberg_band Instagram - @beatenberg_band

Pluto (Remember You) - http://youtu.be/FavE84Mmc7s




“I Don’t Care” - There is just something about a slinky guitar that puts a swagger in your step, and makes you strut like gigolo on a Friday night. With a dash of sneering attitude vocals come bouncing out of your speakers ready to corrupt your eardrums and then you mind. Wayne has a grit to his vocal approach that will make all the fathers lock up their daughters when this band comes to town. Crooning from behind the mic and rocking the guitar with lead guitarist Scott the two tear up the calm silence and rip chords in tandem that will make you want to dance till you’re raining sweat. Hopping up the back of the stage and the seat of your girls pants is Joseph on bass guitar. The infectious bounce he adds to this track will make your girl want to sway and bounce till you go mad. Countered by the searing feedback and slick leads from Scott you will find yourself coming back for more and cranking it up each time. Holding this band of madmen together is Dara on the drums. Holding the tempo and beat down solid he can still throw in snare rolls that make it sound like a humming bird is playing the kit. These guys are authentic Rock n’

Roll. I would highly recommend this to those that like Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative and Pop Rock. While the Where-abouts are screaming “I Don’t Care” at the top of their lungs you will l, and will not want to miss out.

Website: http://www.thewhereaboutsofficial.com/Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialWhere-abouts/videos

MichaelMusic Reviewshttps://www.facebook.com/MusicReviewsbyMichael

[email protected]:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKhJDzk-352oGnvJDt7KnFgReverbNation:http://www.reverbnation.com/stacyjones-band

Beatenberg The Whereabouts


Review

“Stoner” - An oriental soundscape sets the scene for this number from Young Tipzey, however if you think that this cut isn’t going to have any bounce you got another thing coming. The backing tracks are lush in nature and you almost feel the cherry blossoms raining from the trees and the cool breeze rolling over your skin. While some of the notes seem to fall of beat the track is interesting enough and creates a nice bed for YT to flow over. A tight kick holds the beat in check and provides concrete points to counter over. Young Tipzey either uses an uncommon mic placement or short delay effect on his vocals here. The result is a minor echo or short stutter effect that adds to the dream quality of the track. For a quick freestyle cut this serves a purpose, but for a longer composition I would recommend raising the level of the vocal track or cleaning it up some so that the lyrical delivery is unveiled better. Presentations such as these always makes you wish that they were longer, so inevitably you end up listening over and over again. Young Tipzey shows a talent for flair and thinking outside of the box producing with untraditional

sounds. I would recommend this cut to those that like Rap, Hip Hop or Alternative genres. While YT is getting Zen with “Stoner” he shares like a pal and takes you along for the ride.

Track: https://soundcloud.com/young_tipzey51/young-tipzey-stonerWebsite: http://coreylew.wix.com/stealthassassinz

Michael Music [email protected]


By MichaelMusic [email protected]


Young Tipzey


Royal Blood is 24 year-old vocalist/bassist Mike Kerr and 27 year-old drummer Ben Thatcher. The duo's sound is a result of a lineage that stretches from present day heroes Queens of the Stone Age to the influ-ential Led Zeppelin, and all the way back to early blues pioneers... yet this huge wall of sound emerges from just two men and two instruments. The band's ferocious approach to the drums and bass has led them to be hailed as one of the most exciting forces in live music. Entertainment Weekly praised the band's "mus-cle-car riffs and bluesy snarls", while Rolling Stone proclaimed "the band is surely well on its way to becoming a household name." Pitchfork noted the band's "crushing, contorted groove" and "telepathic sense of connectivity". USA Today declared them "the biggest breakouts in rock this year." http://royalbloodband.com/https://www.facebook.com/Royal-BloodUKhttps://twitter.com/royalbloodukhttp://www.youtube.com/royal-bloodukhttps://soundcloud.com/royal-blooduk

ROYAL BLOOD'S DEBUT ALBUM CLIMBS TO NO. 5 ON THE BILLBOARD ALBUMS CHART

Young Tipzey


Param

ount Music

Presents -The H

angout


Hennna

We called in to speak to the mastermind behind Paramount Music and ‘The Hangout’ Henna Angus and spoke to a couple of the artists involved, Dialect and Weezy Jefferson.

BY EMMA WALKER

So Henna, thanks for being in this interview.

Thanks for having me

Paramount Music, what can I say. Can you tell us a bit more about Paramount?

Yes definately. Paramount is, at the moment, all about enhancing Leeds’ musical culture and all the upcoming artists that we have here. We want to create a platform for them and to think outside the box and that there isn’t a box and to aim higher than they want to be.

How did the idea for ‘The Hangout” come about?

I’m a singer myself and I have always had a love for music and love organising events, so what a better way than to combine the two

and involve everyone who is around, singers, songwriters, rappers, musicians.

What is your ambition for The Hangout?

This will be the launch for Paramount Music so as the name is “Paramount presents The Hangout” it’s a handful of the Paramount artists from Leeds. My ambition is for people to hear about Paramount and see these artists on a Paramount platform.

Can you tell us a bit more about the artists involved?

Yes all of them are actively in the music scene at the moment and they are all independent artists. They have all done so much already, it is kind of an honor to have them at the show. We have Dialect headlining, Weezy Jeffer-son, Tila and Tavelah, Cherie Johnson and Dave-O. It’s a bit of everything; grime, RnB, Hip Hop.

www.facebook.com/paramountmusicUK?-fref=tswww.twitter.com/pmusicuk


Wee

zy J

effers

on


So Weezy Jefferson, how are you? Thanks for being in this interview for Love Music Mag-azine and also for The Hangout, Paramount Music. You have been on our cover last year for Love Music Magazine, what have you been up to since then?

Since then I have kind of just been pushing the music further, doing a few collaborations and things like that. I have been collabo-rating with a lot of Leeds artists. An artist named Recky who I have been working with. We have put together a few tunes and there should be a music video coming out soon with him and also I have done another col-laboration with the production team Deuce & Charger so I have another collaboration coming out with them soon. Aside from that I am pushing the mixtape, ‘Mr Nice Guy Vol 1’ and the singles will be landing really soon from that.

Can you tell us about any released you have coming up?

Yes as I was saying the next mixtape is go-ing to be ‘Mr Nice Guy Vol 1’. The lead sin-gle from that will be coming out very soon. I’d say that the video to look out for next is called Dog Tags. Won’t say too much about what it entails.

How did you get involved in The Hangout and what do you hope this event will do for you?

I actually know the organizer very well, personally. So, obviously I was contacted, jumped straight on board and it is going to be a good look. It’s a really good opportunity to promote a lot of the things I have been work-ing on recently. No one has actually heard any of the new tracks, except for a chosen few that are really close to me so it will be a really good opportunity to launch those and start sharing them with other people. The Hang-out is the best platform I could choose. Sur-rounded by all my favorites in the local scene to be honest. I think a lot of the most out of the box performance artists that you will come across, you will see under one roof on that night. It’s the perfect backdrop for some new music to drop.

Can you tell us about what you will be per-forming on the night?

There will be some exclusives. Some singles from my upcoming project ‘Mr Nice Guy Vol 1’ and you may get an exclusive that is from down the line.

www.twitter.com/weezyjefferson1www.weezyjefferson.bandcamp.comFacebook.com/weezyjefferson


Diale

ct

Hi Dialect, great to finally meet you in the flesh. Thanks for being in this interview with Love Music Magazine and The Hangout. Can you tell us a bit more about you?

I’m a music artist. I specialize in a style of music called grime. Overall I’ve been rapping for about ten years now. I started at the end of high school and everyone was rapping around that time. It was something I though maybe I could try out? I think since then, I have built up more of a love and a passion for it. I am one of the fastest growing names, under-ground, in the UK at the moment.

Like you said, you have been mak-ing an impact on the grime scene in Leeds and nationally. Can you tell us what you have been up to in the last twelve months?

2014 was my most productive year. It started with three years ago, doing a bit of battle rap in a battle called ‘Don’t Flop’ and I had always been rapping before then but this helped to increase my name because it gets a lot of views. I started off being one of the rookies to being top tier in that league. It basically opened up a win-dow of opportunity for me. Within 2014, I had a few successful battles, went to Canada to battle in a league called ‘King of the Dot’. I’ve battled

in one of the biggest grime platforms in the UK, ‘Lord of the Mics’ so I was part of the ‘Lord of the Mics Six Series’. I’ve been making a fair few power moves that not a lot of people have known about. - making a few collabs with some well known artists. The music is still to come out but I have been building up my CV, doing everything I possibly can. I made a lot of strong movements and this year, now, I am ready to make my next one.

What is coming up for you this year?

This year has been a bit of a slower start than last year. It was the build up of my name and everyone was eager to see me get somewhere. Id say this year, I am focusing heavily on my music. A lot of the battle rap stuff, I am still doing, if I want to make a little money here and there. I really want to show people why I was in this in the first place, which is to make good, authentic music that you can just listen to. I’ve got the link-up now with SBTV, and [he] is going to be helping me out with videos, they will put things out as much as they can. I think this year is – make a mixtape and make some music.


How did you get involved in The Hangout and what are you doing at this event?

I have got involved in it as I have known Henna for a while, through Weezy Jefferson, who is also going to be one of the artists performing on the night. I obvi-ously knew them through music and knew that Henna was putting on a night and out of nowhere, she just kind of asked me to be involved in it as a headliner.

Love Music Magazine is a magazine for new musicians from any genre. Can you offer any words of advice to aspiring musicians out there?

I’d say from a personal point of view, keep up with the music that is happening nowadays and also to be within fashion but still stand out and make a differ-ence. You have to constantly be updating yourself with what music is out there. Carefully listen to the music that is around you and what is influencing the scene to change. I think also if you can keep con-centration on what you need to do to get there, they are all strategic moves that you make to be honest, to get where you need to be. Sure footed movements, making the right moves, linking with the right people. Just, get out there. Don’t be afraid to travel. Make sure you can constantly be putting the money in to be out there cause it will come back to you if you work hard enough.

How did you become involved in music in the first place?

Funnily enough my father is a musician and quite a well known one at that. You can see him busking around Leeds sometimes but he has done music his whole life. It even goes back to when I would come up to church with him, being a reverend. I have always been around it and never took a massive interest in it myself until I was about fifteen. I have always enjoyed music but never thought I would get in to it. I used to have a really bad stutter when I was younger so I didn’t think I would be able to rap. I just took a chance and enjoyed what I was doing so I ended up coming through it like that.

What’s your Dad called?

Reverend Chunky. He’s got a good reputation and he is quite successful at what he does. I’m hoping I can look after my family one day with just working through my music. I want to be able to make money from that and enjoy everything I do.

Can you tell us about any releases you have got com-ing up?

At the moment I am working on a track that I record-ed with Weezy Jefferson at his studio and it is called ‘Imperfections’ and I wrote that at a time where there was a lot of stuff going on in my life personally and I just wanted to express it. I have been writing for battles for so long that I have not really had chance to get anything off my chest musically. That is going to be my next released and it will be going on SBTV and also feature on the mixtape that I will be bringing out later this year also called ‘Lost for Words’.

I have seen your recent music video on SBTV, ‘ P’s On My Mind’ can you tell us a bit about that and the thought process behind it?

It’s a track I’ve made from an older track that was on a mixtape that came out in 2010 called ‘The Black Rose’. Around that time I was struggling quite a bit finan-cially. I remember flicking through some tracks on YouTube, seeing an instrumental called ‘The Money Beat” and I was just like, ah well, I’ll just write about money on it. It all came together and I started writing about how I felt about it and put the track out. When it came out on the mixtape, a lot of people did like the track but I kind of felt, for the level of exposure I had back then, it wasn’t as much as the level that I have now. Even when I put it out, I still didn’t get as far I wanted to. I felt like, since I have a bigger platform now, on SBTV, why not re-record the video for it. The first one I did for it was proper bad quality so I thought let me vamp it up and show people I can still do grime with a concept behind it. Even though it might have material in there that not everyone will relate to, I just felt like it was a way to express myself and show this is what I can do.

www.facebook.com/dialectwywww.twitter.com/dialect1https://soundcloud.com/dialect-music


Review By Amplified Soul NYC

Monique Bingham

At long last Monique Bingham will soon be releasing an album on the House Afrika label. The album will combine the best of recent, and past hits along with new material. It is a reflection of over 20 years amazing songs that have become classics among the house music club patrons. The first single release from the album is titled “Bloody Lucky”. It’s a wonderfully smooth and funky kinda deep house groove. There is a nice acoustic feel to it that places you front and center for Monique’s amazingly soulful voice. You can definitely feel the South African influence in the deep, and soulful drums. The acoustic keys are sprinkled marvellously throughout the track. Monique’s voice takes the song to an intensity that any house music club patron will know well. That moment when everybody’s feeling the groove. Everyone is singing the lyrics, and shouting out loud.“Bloody Lucky” was written by Monique and Jonathon Maron in 1999. For the 2015 remix Monique enlisted the masterfully talented producer Chymamusique. Chymamu-sique started his music career as a jazz pianist in year

2000, These days Chymamusique is running his own label and works with Soulcandi Records, House Afrika Records and Mofunk Records as a producer/remixer and a Dj. He’s done an absolutely superb job with this track. Currently in play on South African radio, The tune will be included on Monique’s forth coming anthology, “The Best of The Last”-due out before the end of summer 2015. For now we have the single to enjoy, and we’re Bloody Lucky to have it.Get it here:

https://itunes.apple.com/…/bloody-lucky-chymam…/id1002520938http://www.traxsource.com/…/…/blood-lucky-chymamu-sique-remix

* Anyone want to take a turn singing Bloody Lucky? Check out the tune here, get the lyrics and upload a video!http://moniquebingham.com/


Monique Bingham



Whiskey Wine & Water - From behind the microphone Stacy Jones will kick you so hard you will fall backwards over your chair. This is truly a band that knows their craft and will have you swinging hard. With foot stomping attitude Stacy and the band will have dancing the floor afire with the track “Can’t Do Nothing Right”. From the snap in the snare, the pulse of the bass and the sizzle of guitars Stacy sets you up for a time of great fun. With the acoustic guitar swagger on “You and Me Tonight” you will feel like grabbing your love and holding them tight all night long. Fiddle work weaves like a true hard passion through this song that is so sweet you might just get a toothache. Over-all the production on this collection is top shelf and you can tell this is no band of hillbillies cutting in their daddy’s garage. This is a band of true, seasoned pros. With a bit of slide in your step you will sway to the cool breeze that blows through your soul on “Dreams”. Stacy has a classic voice that commands from the mic. She can weave tales with her voice that make you feel like you are there with her. A true artist with a soulful voice you will open your

eyes while listening and feel a bit sad that she is not right there in the room with you. The chicken pickin on, “Hole in My Sole” add extra flavor with the right dash of sass. The rhythm section of ensemble is undeniably one of the greats. Drum work is in perfect balance with the band and adds the right amount of kick and roll. Bass guitar work pulses the tunes along and courts your ears to dance like a sultry lover. With title track in ear, “Whiskey Wine & Water” resisting the urge to hit your local Honky Tonk and tear up the night is going to be hard to do. Stacy Jones delivers a soundtrack for great fun and trouble all night long just make sure you don’t get caught. I would highly recommend this album to those that like Country, Blues, Rock or a 5 star class of sass. You don’t need to wait till the weekend to have too much fun. Just slide over and press play for just the right dose of Whiskey, Wine & Water.

Website: http://www.stacyjonesband.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/stacyjonesband

Stacy Jones - Whiskey, WIne & Water

love music magazine - issue 18

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