Victoria park fiesta
Glastonbury fall out has finally blown over, and it's time we started looking forward, and you can't walk 5 feet in London, in July, without hearing a mention of Lovebox. Headlining the East London inner city festival are The Wombats, Scissor Sisters and Snoop Dogg, with a whole host of top names backing them up. Acts like Beardyman, Metronomy, Example, Beth Ditto, Ziggy Marley and Blondie make up just a small section of the confirmed Lovebox line up.
In the build-up to Lovebox, we'll be taking a closer look at the line-up with archive features, interviews and previews of the acts involved.
It's Here!
Video of the Day: Maverick Sabre - Let Me Go
"Maverick Sabre is the amazing contradiction between cultures and genres: Ireland and England, hip-hop, reggae and folk.
Now based in London, the eery-voiced nineteen-year-old spent most of his childhood in Ireland, although was born in Hackney. “Being a mixture of two different cultures kinda moulded me and then there was the travelling. Always flitting between cultures makes you see things from a different perspective.”"
Read a Ones To Watch interview with Maverick Sabre.
"There are few artists who can nail a sound so contemporary and individual after well over three decades in the game. Black Devil Disco Club, who supplies this week’s DJ podcast, is one of those artists.
In 1978, Bernard Fevre, aka Black Devil, produced his first album, ‘Disco Club’ – hugely ahead of its time, the record would come to be revered by the likes of Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert, who revelled in its dark, electronic groove, which Fevre has continued to develop over the course of his considerable career."
Download the Black Devil Disco Club DJ Mix.
1 Day To Go!
Video of the Day: Vetiver - The Errant Charm
"Making an example out of agoraphobic whizz kids everywhere is Georgia’s newest rising star, twenty-seven-year-old Ernest Greene. Currently working under the moniker Washed Out, Ernest is a musical chameleon of sorts, an open-minded experimentalist who has in the past flitted between both instrumental hip-hop and lo-fi indie projects with equal ease. But it would appear that he has his sights set for now on the electronic world."
Read a Ones To Watch interview with Washed Out.
"When I first met Katy B she was dead tired, her miniature frame marsupially sunk into a large hoodie in the basement of the Red Bull Music Academy. It was February 2010, I had no idea who she was - but she struck me firstly with her jaded level-headedness, in the face of a bunch of Flying Lotus-jocking teenage pupils, and secondly, the direct consequence of this, for being strangely hot, in her unconfectioned, make-up-free way. This style has endured; she still looks very JD Sports in her music vids, and when we speak it is clear that the hype has not spoilt her."
Read an interview with Katy B.
2 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: Blondie - Heart Of Glass
"Debbie Harry sits calm and composed in her London hotel room. Tonight she’ll be playing a charity gig in Hammersmith. When asked who she’ll be performing with, she coyly grins, “Oh, just a bunch of old farts.” Those old farts, it turned out, were The Who, Jeff Beck and Richard Ashcroft. The legendary front woman clearly holds her ground among the predominantly male rock ‘n’ roll scene and is no doubt recognised as one of the world’s greatest and most beautiful rock chicks."
Read an interview with Blondie's Debbie Harry about her fashion and style influences.
"Hands up who loves a singing drummer! We do, yet our latest discovery has moved past the ignominy of propping up a band from the back of the stage and is a neo-soul boy whose album on Island has just been produced by dancehall producers Major Lazer. Bye bye drumsticks then.
Alex Clare, a chef from North West London, can write a tune. But coupled with producers Diplo and Switch he’s now a deadly proposition in bass that peddles just as much soul."
Read an interview with Alex Clare
3 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: Beardyman at the Montreal Comedy Festival 2011
"The champion beatboxer’s first release proffers the expected eclectic electro soul mashups; from the approximation of full blown Senegalese band on ‘...Ankal’ to the lighthearted humour of ‘Vampire Skank’, an Eastern European folk song which metamorphoses into markedly mucky dubstep. "
Read our review of Beardyman's 'I Done A Album'.
"It’s easy to notice when things go BOOM! The Fresh Prince did it in our charts. Concorde did it in the skies. Zinedine Zidane did it on the pitch in the European Footie Final. The latest character to go BOOM! is Flying Lotus. He’s taken the world of experimental beats and exploded convention using the force to launch a trajectory that’s aimed firmly at the heavens. Clash caught up with Steven Ellison, AKA Flying Lotus, ahead of his second album for Warp."
Read an interview with Flying Lotus.
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4 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: The Wombats - 'Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)'
"When I was thirteen I had a friend in school whose dad used to play. We went to the local municipal ninehole course - I suppose I hit a few good shots and you just end up hooked. As I got older other friends played so I joined a golf club and slowly, completely fell in love with the game."
Read our interview with The Wombats on their Private Passion.
"Music can never really be separated from the place it was created. Case in point: as much as the Beach Boys might remind you of a wet summer in East Anglia the group will forever belong to California.
Growing up in a sleepy Devon village, Joseph Mount felt isolated, remote. Surrounded by cream teas, cricket scores and commercial radio the button-down environment led to him escaping to Brighton. Forming Metronomy, the group’s second album ‘Nights Out’ was a blistering mixture of dance beats and irresistible pop."
Read an interview with Metronomy.
In the build-up to Lovebox, we'll be taking a closer look at the line-up with archive features, interviews and previews of the acts involved.
It's Here!
Video of the Day: Maverick Sabre - Let Me Go
"Maverick Sabre is the amazing contradiction between cultures and genres: Ireland and England, hip-hop, reggae and folk.
Now based in London, the eery-voiced nineteen-year-old spent most of his childhood in Ireland, although was born in Hackney. “Being a mixture of two different cultures kinda moulded me and then there was the travelling. Always flitting between cultures makes you see things from a different perspective.”"
Read a Ones To Watch interview with Maverick Sabre.
"There are few artists who can nail a sound so contemporary and individual after well over three decades in the game. Black Devil Disco Club, who supplies this week’s DJ podcast, is one of those artists.
In 1978, Bernard Fevre, aka Black Devil, produced his first album, ‘Disco Club’ – hugely ahead of its time, the record would come to be revered by the likes of Aphex Twin and Luke Vibert, who revelled in its dark, electronic groove, which Fevre has continued to develop over the course of his considerable career."
Download the Black Devil Disco Club DJ Mix.
1 Day To Go!
Video of the Day: Vetiver - The Errant Charm
"Making an example out of agoraphobic whizz kids everywhere is Georgia’s newest rising star, twenty-seven-year-old Ernest Greene. Currently working under the moniker Washed Out, Ernest is a musical chameleon of sorts, an open-minded experimentalist who has in the past flitted between both instrumental hip-hop and lo-fi indie projects with equal ease. But it would appear that he has his sights set for now on the electronic world."
Read a Ones To Watch interview with Washed Out.
"When I first met Katy B she was dead tired, her miniature frame marsupially sunk into a large hoodie in the basement of the Red Bull Music Academy. It was February 2010, I had no idea who she was - but she struck me firstly with her jaded level-headedness, in the face of a bunch of Flying Lotus-jocking teenage pupils, and secondly, the direct consequence of this, for being strangely hot, in her unconfectioned, make-up-free way. This style has endured; she still looks very JD Sports in her music vids, and when we speak it is clear that the hype has not spoilt her."
Read an interview with Katy B.
2 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: Blondie - Heart Of Glass
"Debbie Harry sits calm and composed in her London hotel room. Tonight she’ll be playing a charity gig in Hammersmith. When asked who she’ll be performing with, she coyly grins, “Oh, just a bunch of old farts.” Those old farts, it turned out, were The Who, Jeff Beck and Richard Ashcroft. The legendary front woman clearly holds her ground among the predominantly male rock ‘n’ roll scene and is no doubt recognised as one of the world’s greatest and most beautiful rock chicks."
Read an interview with Blondie's Debbie Harry about her fashion and style influences.
"Hands up who loves a singing drummer! We do, yet our latest discovery has moved past the ignominy of propping up a band from the back of the stage and is a neo-soul boy whose album on Island has just been produced by dancehall producers Major Lazer. Bye bye drumsticks then.
Alex Clare, a chef from North West London, can write a tune. But coupled with producers Diplo and Switch he’s now a deadly proposition in bass that peddles just as much soul."
Read an interview with Alex Clare
3 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: Beardyman at the Montreal Comedy Festival 2011
"The champion beatboxer’s first release proffers the expected eclectic electro soul mashups; from the approximation of full blown Senegalese band on ‘...Ankal’ to the lighthearted humour of ‘Vampire Skank’, an Eastern European folk song which metamorphoses into markedly mucky dubstep. "
Read our review of Beardyman's 'I Done A Album'.
"It’s easy to notice when things go BOOM! The Fresh Prince did it in our charts. Concorde did it in the skies. Zinedine Zidane did it on the pitch in the European Footie Final. The latest character to go BOOM! is Flying Lotus. He’s taken the world of experimental beats and exploded convention using the force to launch a trajectory that’s aimed firmly at the heavens. Clash caught up with Steven Ellison, AKA Flying Lotus, ahead of his second album for Warp."
Read an interview with Flying Lotus.
-
4 Days To Go!
Video of the Day: The Wombats - 'Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)'
"When I was thirteen I had a friend in school whose dad used to play. We went to the local municipal ninehole course - I suppose I hit a few good shots and you just end up hooked. As I got older other friends played so I joined a golf club and slowly, completely fell in love with the game."
Read our interview with The Wombats on their Private Passion.
"Music can never really be separated from the place it was created. Case in point: as much as the Beach Boys might remind you of a wet summer in East Anglia the group will forever belong to California.
Growing up in a sleepy Devon village, Joseph Mount felt isolated, remote. Surrounded by cream teas, cricket scores and commercial radio the button-down environment led to him escaping to Brighton. Forming Metronomy, the group’s second album ‘Nights Out’ was a blistering mixture of dance beats and irresistible pop."
Read an interview with Metronomy.
