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Written by Tom Lovett Edited by Hamish Duff Designed by Sam Walton

current trends

key new trend: the 90s revival


This crop of new acts and subgenres reflect both the increasing genreadventurousness and metatendencies of the post-millennial generation. Ripping apart and reconstructing classic soundscapes into a series of micro-niches which sit outside of typical genres of reference. In essence, everything is becoming a mash-up (see: Captain Murphy, Duality Mixtape). 1. Future Garage As ever dance music continues to lead the way in new forms of genre development. A host of emerging acts have begun to enjoy crossover success under the wonderfully journo moniker of Future Garage a mixture of the iconic sounds and textures of 90s Garage, mixed with the minimalist post-dub inflections of James Blake et al. Acts such as Disclosure, Julio Bashmore (who worked on Jessie Wares Devotion), Gorgon City and Bondax have all made skirmishes into the popular consciousness, whilst major label acts AlunaGeorge and soon-to-break Clean Bandit continue to put their own collaborative pop twist on this burgeoning mainstream trend. Labels such as Black Butter and PMR have sustained this sound on record relentlessly releasing sold out, big bass, intelligent dance music to industrywide acclaim. Microsoft: take note. The influence of 90s dance has continued deeper still, through the (literally) underground clubs of Dalston and Hackney for over a year now with hip DJs such as Oneman and Brackles bringing their blend of RnB, hip house, house to dubstep, post dubstep, future dubstep, aqua crunk to the midnight masses. Elsewhere, acts like south London producer Ofei represent the cutting edge of this movement mixing soul throwback with early 90s electronic production in a truly crossover style. 2. The Return of Grunge (and back to Britpop?) The Grunge Revival has been threatening mainstream impact for a couple of years now remember Yuck? However it has been the musical ascendance of the UKs second city Birmingham (sorry Manchester) that has really brought

Sofar is a movement of secret pop-up gigs taking place in living rooms every day around the world. These carefully curated nights showcase the best emerging talent from over 40 cities in an intimate and spellbinding environment like no other standing at the forefront of what The Times has called a global phenomenon. Sofar Creative is the Sync Representation and Artist Development division of Sofar Sounds. Sofar Creative utilises Sofars incredible and unique global A&R network of fans, artists and music industry professionals to both discover new emerging talent and monitor developing industry trends locally and worldwide. This report is the first in a new series designed to provide insight and advice into the current UK trends in licensing music for advertising.

Epic music has for several months dominated popular culture, as reflected in many recent significant ad campaigns. Weve had the huge, unforeseen success of acts like Woodkid (used recently by O2, Ubisoft & Peugeot) as well as Bastille (pictured) whom seemingly everyone is now cueing up to license. Both acts emerged swiftly and from relative obscurity to find huge mainstream success within their individual styles of epic euphoric pop. Weve also seen the meteoric rise of The Lumineers who have built on the groundwork laid by Mumford & Sons and their

increasingly epic stadium folk. Guitar music has continued to see the steady reemergence previously predicted by head of Radio 1 George Ergatoudis, and will continue to grow beyond the landfill indie (The Vaccines), pop-folk (Ben Howard) and punk influenced poprock acts such as the (objectionable) Palma Violets. It is however increasingly difficult for the guitar alone to sound fresh. Despite these worries Blackberry have showed the way by licensing arguably the big breakthrough success of 2012 Tame Impala for the recent Z10 Keep Moving campaign.

this movement to the brink of widespread public recognition. The wrylypostmodern attitude of B-Town luminaries such as Peace, Swim Deep and Jaws, demonstrates that its not just in the music that the similarities to early 90s Seattle is found. The B-town (as it will forevermore be known) scene, as well as other UK acts such as Splashh, Drenge and The Wytches have all seen growing popular support amongst both press and fans, leading to several recent major label deals its surely just a matter of time before we have a breakthrough moment. Furthermore, we are now seeing an emergence of the more celebratory end of the Grunge spectrum in the shape of Nu-Britpop (you heard it here first?). High-energy acts such as Blackeye and Superfood (the latest B-Town buzz band) are developing the 90s grunge sound into a more advertiser-friendly pop subgenre mirroring the mid-90s Britpop sound. Its seems all too perfect timing for Britpop legends Suede to release their 6th studio album.

Sofar Creative 35-47 Bethnal Green Road London E1 6LA T: +44 (0)203 417 6539 E: info@sofarcreative.com www.sofarcreative.com

SC TREND REPORT #001

key names to watch


1. James Bay performing Stealing Cars at Sofar #259 2. 9Mary performing Hope Theres Someone at Sofar #221 3. Josh Record performing The Dead Tree at Sofar #226 4. Wolf Alice performing White Leather at Sofar #221

And also keep an eye open for: Half Moon Run, Flume, London Grammar, Jamie N Commons, Fyfe, Parquet Courts, Syron and The 1975 (who appear to be rising so rapidly in the North that we could be witnessing an Oasis moment)

Heterogeneity in Cultural Tribes: Online Diversification & Authenticity Our access to music is now both unlimited, and on-demand with consumption ever moving into a more active and less passive pursuit. This is an important development with as-yet-unrealised implications. Services such as Spotify, Grooveshark, Pandora, Last.fm and most importantly YouTube are fragmenting the customer base into virtual genre ghettos. These spaces exist within wider closed tribal spaces on FB, Twitter and various other social media platforms. To create a trend in this relatively inaccessible ecosystem, you need an authentic following, you need to be social, engaged and on point. A brand needs to speak the groups language visually and musically understanding its eccentricities in an authentic fashion. In a digital age, inauthenticity will always be exposed and is to be avoided at all costs. Brands should use music to identify themselves as relevant participants in existing cultural communities working closely with artists during and past the initial music licensing stage wherever possible. Artists in turn are now much more willing to engage with creative branding campaigns to create genuinely interesting experiences for both their own fans, and a brands customers (who could even be one and the same). Of course though, not all brand partnerships are strictly advisable.

a last thought

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