Jay Brown's #DreamSofar

“So, Jay, you had such a massive year last year. I think it’s not an understatement to say that.” Cue a slightly awkward snigger from Jay Brown in response to presenter of BBC Introducing in NorthamptonLal Muttock’s question that is seemingly more statement than it is inquisitive. Awkward because ‘massive’ is exactly the kind of year Jay had last year.

To name only a few achievements: picked for Radio 1’s playlist; featured on Radio 2 as part of Krissi Murison, the first female editor of the NME, hosting a spoken word session; recorded with and supported fellow up-and-coming Sofarians Bastille, culminating in playing to a packed out Koko. These are not your everyday achievements; sure you might have refrained from drinking alcohol for the whole month of January and lost a whole two pounds as a result of your admittedly dwindling ‘new year, new you’ fitness regime, but Jay’s are proper achievements that spawned from her creating proper music.

Or maybe the awkward snigger because Jay’s 2013 is set to be even bigger than her 2012? In response to Mr. Muttock querying about what is to come for the Northampton-bred, London-based composer of ‘silky indie pop with a twist’ in the new year, Brown responds with just one word: gigs. Upon elaboration, it is clear she isn’t lying. To start, there are her conventional gigs (details of which you can find on her Facebook Page). It says something about the quality of Jay’s music, inspired by her ‘love of rock, soul, ska, reggae and pop’, that, at time of writing, her next gig is a showcase; the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, aka ASCAP, are putting on all that is good in the music world at The Queen of Hoxton on February 5^th (details of which you can find here).

As if all that has been mentioned thus far is not enough reason to get her involved in both a Sofar (which you can read about here) and a #DreamSofar (which you can read about below), it is the second and third ways in which Jay Brown is all about gigs that make us, and should make you, further love her so. Not only does she host tiny gigs in the room of her humble abode from time to time, Jay is also the brains behind her very own festival. Asked about Greenstone, she describes it as an “Intimate music festival where I get loads of music I like and we just all get together in a field and have a good time. That’s it, really."

It is this DIY attitude, this idea that music should be presented as music and nothing more, that is so clearly present in the previous quotation, it virtually makes Greenstone an elongated (it runs over three days in the middle of August) Sofar session, just without a roof. Probably best you got yourself a ticket(and an umbrella, just in case) and we got her to tell us all about who would be at her dream Sofar, then.

Jay Brown’s dream Sofar would consist of:

Bob Marley

‘I'm going to start with my Jamaican roots as this is what I was brought up on and has definitely inspired me! Bob also reminds me of my uncles and every time I hear this song it reminds me of family parties and when I was a child.’

The Eels

‘Would you believe this was only introduced to me properly recently by my good friend?  I have always known of 'The Eels' but never really took the time to sit and listen - I know, mad! I love direct and matter of fact lyrics; The Eels are able to do this so well. I also love how when you hear them, you can picture things instantly and relate. They also mix a lot of genres within their music, which I also love to do.’

Incubus

‘Growing up, this was my favourite band so I have a soft spot for them. A five piece from the US of A. They were lyrical, had great melodies and a massive energy on stage. I wrote a lot of poetry when I was younger so I guess Brandons Boyd's - the lead singer -  love of it got me into their stuff. Morning View is still one of my favourite albums to this day. What's crazy is I have never seen them live.’

Radiohead

‘I love both their music and lyrics, but most of all I love the way their music makes me feel: relaxed, nostalgic and thoughtful.’

Peace

‘This is a recent band that I have got into. I have had this song on reeee- peat on my iPod lately and really want to see them live! They make you feel free. Picture this jumping around the room and spinning till your dizzy and laughing your head off. Yep!’

Jeff Buckley

‘I heard this and I fell in love. That is all.’

Metallica

‘Man, this song was amazing! I want to do this so bad! Sing and have a full orchestra behind me.’

Hed PE

‘I was a massive nu-metal fan when I  was younger so this would be my blast from the past.’

Pictures: James Houghton (from London) and Kiri Scully (from London)

Stamp The Wax's #DreamSofar

Brighton, Brighton, Brighton. Bristol, Bristol, Bristol. Two pretty cool cities, right? Sure the former has itsweird pavilion and its little pier, and the latter the claim that it gave birth to comedy duo Simon Pegg andNick Frost and a (literally) little known ‘artist’ called Banksy, but it cannot be denied that the exceptionally strong music scene in each has something to do with their ‘cool’ status. It made sense, then, for us to have a little look-see ourselves; the largest centre of culture of South West England played host to the likes of Indigo Earth, Laws of Motion, Forestears and Iko for us in November of last year, whilst all the fun we had in the city by the sea can be read about here. It made even more sense to find out which 5 acts would make up the dream Sofar of a music blog based in both cities. That’s where Stamp The Waxcomes in. A very Merry christmas and an even happier new year, we had struck lucky – Stamp The Waxis the music blog of Brighton and Bristol, and that’s saying something (you can see why we think Brighton’s so great here).

Stamp The Wax claims it is ‘student-run’, though you wouldn’t know it. Students are meant to be lazy, misinformed and out of date. With its ‘regular gig guides, unsigned exposure and features on important musical institutions’, as well as its TV section working ‘tirelessly to create original and sonically-satisfying interviews and sessions’, it seems that those running the Stamp The Wax operation don’t quite ‘get’ the typical student stereotype. Lucky for us.

Stamp The Wax’s #DreamSofar would consist of:

Annie Eve

‘Studying music at Goldsmiths, University of London (home to other notable musicians James Blake, Damian Albarn and Katy B), singer-songwriter Annie Eve does not show her young age one bit with painfully candid words and intimately infectious melodies, crafted to perfection. A real talent, Annie's music would be perfect in a Sofar setting.’

George The Poet

‘The unbelievable flair and creativity of North London lyricist George the Poet is quickly starting to take root worldwide. The Cambridge University student has already nabbed face-time on the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky Sports, as well as featuring in a video with Emeli Sande, Tinie Tempah and Professor Green, plus collab’ing with The Herbaliser. It would be good to see Sofar representing this incredible urban talent.’

Hiatus Kaiyote

‘Fronted by 23-year-old songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Nai Palm, Hiatus Kaiyote are a Melbourne-based 4-piece sitting snugly between the sounds of Zero 7 and Jamiroquai – fusing elements of Jazz, Experimental Soul and Ambience. They're known for using rocks, sticks and deer antlers when playing acoustic sessions, what more could you ask for?’

Fatoumata Diawara

‘This French-Malian singer is such a unique talent, spearheading the West African movement of Folk Wassoulou. Her songs are so colourful and vibrant, and always contain a strong message within them. Even more, she brings with her an unmatchable vibe live that would be amazing for Sofar to capture on camera.’

Nick Drake

‘Unfortunately passing away before ever being fully recognised during his time, Nick Drake is now heralded as the most influential artist in British folk history. The dark themes of melancholy, failed romance, mortality, and depression that haunt every one of his songs would have been breathtaking to witness within a small room of people. It's such a shame Sofar wasn't around in the 70s!’

Will Knox's #DreamSofar

Having played the likes of London, New York and Los Angeles a number of times for us already, Will Knox is somewhat of a Sofar veteran. This is unsurprising, though, for he could not be more ‘Sofar’. Whilst it is obvious, for example, that his honest acoustic musings could not be better suited to our typically intimate settings, it is also his mindset that makes us such a perfect match. He, too, likes to do things a little differently – curry is listed as the sole ‘band interest’ on his Facebook Page (and rightly so), and his video for Cog in the Machine, involving scissors which grow your hair and singing lyrics back to front, can only be described as near-on creative and technical genius. The resulting nomination for an Independent Music Award in the ‘Short Video’ category being justified, then. More importantly, so too does Will Knox believe that, despite all its flaws, the music industry still has much to give, and that it’s simply a matter of having a root around in the right places to find the diamonds in the rough. Like he kindly said at a London Sofar he recently played (if you haven’t already, take a look at the above video), “It’s funny that people say the music industry’s in trouble but then you have nights like this, so it’s obviously not.”

As if doing his bit to help the music industry grow to better times wasn’t enough, Knox has also recently turned his efforts to doing the same for the Horn of Africa; he penned the lyrics for Sami Yusuf’s singleForgotten Promises, a collaboration with the World Food Programme, created and sold in the hope that they can scale-up their operations in that part of the world.

Somehow in between helping to save all sorts of worlds, Knox has had the time to figure out how he can go about releasing his material in a new novel way. Whilst he wisely stuck with tradition for his debut, The Matador & The Acrobat (Shred News voted it to be one of the ‘Top Ten Albums of 2009’), he presented his follow-up EP, Lexicon, in a way that was novel in more ways than one – as a comic book (with a download code inside), which is now available as a free iPad and iPhone app.

Innovative. Alternative. Creativity.

Will Knox’s #DreamSofar would be comprised of:

Nick Drake

‘There's not a lot I wouldn't give to see Nick Drake play one show. What a beautiful Sofar show that might have been.’

Serge Gainsbourg

‘Just started getting in to Serge Gainsbourg. Fortunately there's loads of great videos of him on YouTube, but seeing him live must have been fascinating.’

Tom Waits

‘Enough said, really.’

Ron Sexsmith

‘Big admirer of his songwriting. Amazing lyricist. Hoping to see him play in March.’

Tiny Ruins

‘My favourite new find; lovely voice and songs.’

Memotone's #DreamSofar

A man hardly famed for his friendly, bubbly personality, even by his standards Calvin Harris was not a happy chap approximately one month ago. It all started when a video which appeared to show one-third of DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia, Steve Angello, doing nothing more than pressing play on a pre-mixed segment of a festival set cropped up online. Even despite Mr. Harris selling unthinkable amounts of records himself, you wouldn’t have thought he would particularly object to being compared (albeit inadvertently) to such a global superstar and legend in the game as Steve Angello. Wrong, and unfortunately BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat had to find out the hard way and very, very publicly. See, the mentioning of merely ‘pressing play’ and CDJs (the equipment Angello is alleged to be using in the aforementioned video) is considered near-on blasphemy in the EDM world. And what did Greg Cochrane of Newsbeat go and do? Cut his interview with the Scot DJ in such a way that suggests theWe Found Love man not only is okay with the use of CDJs and the like, but actively endorses it! Cue Calvin talking himself into such a rage in full view of his almost 2 million Followers he ends up Tweeting ‘Looking into taking action on @BBCNewsbeat for that libellous broadcast’. Amazingly, you can still see the naughty Newsbeat article online.

So on one side you’ve got the likes of Steven Angello taking the art out of ‘artist’ in the EDM scene, and then on the other you’ve got William Yates, aka Memotone, who promises he’s never even used a laptop on stage and vows to keep it that way.

When I play live I try and make it so every sound you hear you can see me create or trigger (when samples are involved.) I never use a laptop on stage and want to keep it that way. I think it’s much more interesting for the crowd and as a performer.

Impressive. Even more so when it is considered just how many sounds Yates puts to good use. Of course there’s the expected piano, keyboard, bass and drums. Not so expected are the clarinet, trumpet, zither, glockenspiel, organ, conversation and toy instruments (to name a few). Consequently, it was always expected that Memotone would come up with an interesting #DreamSofar and he certainly doesn’t disappoint (see below).

Curious as to how one can mesh together so many diverse sounds and do so successfully? There’s plenty to be found on Memotone’s website, including links which take you to places where you can buy his various records, as well as a whole host of free downloads.

Leafcutter John:

'This fellow not only plays instruments beautifully and sings, he is also a genius when it comes to audio manipulation using computers and customised hardware. He writes his own programmes to make sounds do as he pleases and can do it all in a live environment. I have never actually seen him live, only videos, but I imagine it would be totally engrossing. Also - having worked with him myself, I can confidently say he is also a really nice chap!'

Puma:

'Surely one of my favourite bands. A three piece from Norway packing enough punch to shake a standard living room to pieces. I think it would be an utterly invigorating and uplifting experience to see this band live. On Half Nelson Courtship (released by Rune Grammofon) each track holds it's own majesty and driving power, rising up from sometimes unfathomable depths to finally crescendo high above the atmosphere, notes falling from the sky and creating pools of multicoloured liquid where they land. Imagine that!?'

Joanna Newsom:

'There is some music which seems to have been designed for the living room environment. Even though Joanna Newsom transcends any living room, I think her live performance would be perfect for a Sofar event. Her music is intimate, peaceful, poetic and tangible. If you found a place large enough to get her harp through the door and wheel a grand piano in after it, I think you would have the set up for an incredibly moving and memorable evening.'

Max Richter:

'Max Richter has the capability to transform any environment into one of beauty. So I could imagine seeing him perform live from the comfort of a living room would be almost ultimate bliss. I have seen him live once before and it was one of the best live musical experiences I have ever had. So reliving that if possible would be a chance I could not pass up. Truly a great composer and musician.'

Talk Talk:

'Laughing Stock by Talk Talk is one of my favourite albums of all time. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it sounds and feels as if it's being performed live right in front of you. If it were actually being performed live right in front of me I would probably be overwhelmed. It's the perfect balance of quiet, thoughtful composition and profound elation. It's patient refrain keeps the ear hanging to every note. Beautiful.'