Sound City Ipswich 2021 announces Apply to Play winners
One of the crucial aspects of Sound City Ipswich, the event that transforms the town centre into a two-day multi-venue music festival and conference on 1 and 2 October, is the discovery of new up and coming bands.
To that end, earlier this year the call went out to bands right across the country to submit music and information to ‘apply to play’ across the festivals 5 stages. Over 90 bands applied and now Sound City Ipswich organisers have announced the eight successful artists.
‘We were staggered at the response and the quality of the artists who applied’ said Co-Director and programmer Marcus Neal. ‘It was an incredibly difficult job to whittle them down to just the eight we have chosen and I wish we could accommodate more but our selection reflects the breath and depth of the applications.’
Ipswich raised Ayo is a rapper who released his debut single in 2019 and whose music sums up the diversity of the festival itself, pushing his musical boundaries to take in hip-hop, rap, Afro Swing and acoustic music. Bug Teeth is the stage name for Norwich singer-songwriter Poppy Johnson who is excited to bring her emotional ambient dream-pop to Ipswich. Also from Norwich are Huw Stevens endorsed psychedelic pop five-piece Floral Image whose mind-melting live shows are becoming the stuff of legend. Garage rock duo Fräulein originally hail from Northern Ireland and the Netherlands respectively, they formed in Bristol and are now based in London. Featuring the smoky vocals of Joni Samuels their sound has been likened to 'Dry' or 'Rid of Me' era PJ Harvey.
Despite only creating her own music for a couple of years, Ipswich singer Georgie has already lent her distinctive, warm vocals to tracks by DJ Fresh, Brookes Brothers and Polar Youth and is now recording her own alternative Rn’B/soul music and creating a stir. KYANOS hail from Bury St Edmunds and create experimental, psychedelic jazzy soundscapes that brought them to the attention of BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson.
Completing the Norwich contingent are Our Quiet Friends, a three-piece performing hypnotic, driving rhythms with kaleidoscopic melodies behind layered vocals. The line-up is completed by Colchester indie quintet She’s In Parties whose idiosyncratic amalgamation of shoegaze and dream -pop belies their relative youth.
Georgie said ‘I’m really excited to have been chosen for Sound City Ipswich. There’s a great music scene in Ipswich at the moment, but I don’t think people necessarily get to hear about it too much. The festival will hopefully shed some light on the talent we have here and help Ipswich artists to really expand their audience’.
‘Giving new up and coming bands the opportunity to play alongside established touring acts is an essential part of Sound City Ipswich’ added Marcus Neal. ‘We want to give them the experience of playing to new audiences – and to give those audiences the chance to discover new music they may not otherwise hear’.
Sound City Ipswich takes place in various venues around Ipswich town centre on Friday and Saturday October 1 and 2. It presents a hand-picked multicultural mix of upcoming and established bands and includes an industry conference on the Friday. Amongst the headline acts are US songwriter BC Camplight and his band; the Mercury Award nominated Porridge Radio; London rapper TrueMendous; Australian avant-popsters The Goon Squad, Ghanaian singer and percussionist Falle Nioke the stylistic restlessness of 6Music darlings Working Men’s Club; black feminist punks Big Joanie and Ipswich’s own rap star Parris Robbo.
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