Earlier this month you may recall I posted about the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, an event I’ve been involved in helping judge for the last few years. Alongside 39 other music writers, I whittle down the thousands of entries to a long list of 120 that are then put forward to another panel to decide the final short list of 8. And yes, to answer the question I get asked a lot, every single act that enters gets listened to. This year the long list was of exceptionally high quality and I’m sure that those involved on the second panel must have found it very difficult to choose who to put through. Today the 8 artists who have been selected for the live final are announced. They will all play at Pilton Working Men’s Club (from the outside it looks like the most non rock ‘n’ roll venue you can imagine – see the picture above) on April 9th to an invite only audience. The winner is guaranteed a slot on a main stage at the festival as well as a £5,000 PRS Music Foundation Talent Development prize to help take their music to the next level. The 8 finalists draw from a range of musical genres, styles and positions. There's the likes of Henry Green who after covering MGMT's Electric Feel found well known producer and chart hit maker Kygo remixing it in 2014, enabling Green to then get exposure for his songs Barcelona and Slow which went on to be Hype Machine blog hits. Barcelona currently has over 430,000 streams on Soundcloud. At the other end of the scale there's acoustic artist Hattie Whitehead who currently has less than 500 plays on her Soundcloud for her song Confused and Untied as does Birmingham MC Lady Sanity, who quotes the likes of Missy Elliot and Lauryn Hill as inspirations. I'm also really pleased to see She Drew The Gun on the list - an act that I wrote / raved about just the other day after their song Poem absolutely floored me. It's a diverse list - the question now is which one of these acts can deliver the best live performance? From attending the competition final in previous years I can confirm that every time there seems to be one or two or three acts that just nail their performance on the night over everyone else, and they are the ones who always end up either winning or being runners up. So far every year I've agreed with the choices of the judges on the night. The final 8 are listed below, together with a Soundcloud playlist for you to hear them all. They are Bossy Love, Early Ghost, Gillbanks, Hattie Whitehead, Henry Green, Lady Sanity, Marcus McCoan, She Drew The Gun. Playlist
For the last few years I’ve been asked by Glastonbury Festival to act as one of the judges for the first round of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. The judging panel consists of 40 music writers from across the UK and their job is to whittle the thousands of entries down to a manageable long list of 120 artists who are put forward to a further round of judging which is carried out by a different panel, including the festival organisers. From the 120, 8 acts are chosen to compete in a live final, the winning act getting a slot on a main stage at the festival and £5,000 from PRS to help develop their music and take it to the next level. Each of the 40 judges is sent a list of between 100 and 200 acts to listen to and watch a live performance video and has to choose 3 to put through to the next round. Every year I find that the 120 long list is of very high quality and there are usually a number of acts that I have already featured on the blog. This year current Breaking More Waves favourites Violet Skies and Glass have made the list as have previous Blog Sound of 2013 nominees Randolph’s Leap. You can listen to all nominated acts (apart from one who chose to enter a ‘private’ track) on a Soundcloud playlist on this link. (Here) The three acts I chose for the longlist were Ajimal, 4th Project and AK/DK who you can listen to below. Ajimal Breathtakingly beautiful, haunting and reflective, Ajimal produces piano based songs of the highest order. An absolute must choose for me.
4th Project A trio who produce elegant understated chilled pop with soulful vocals from the Bristol area.
Have you ever fancied the chance of playing one of the main stages of the greatest music festival in the world? Well now you can. For today Glastonbury has announced its 2016 Emerging Talent Competition. New UK and Irish based acts can enter the competition, the winner of which is guaranteed a slot on one of the main stages of Glastonbury as well as a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS for Music Foundation. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS for Music Foundation Talent Development prize. Entering is easy, acts will need to supply a link to one original song on Soundcloud, plus a link to a video of themselves performing live (even if it’s only recorded in a bedroom). Once the entries are in (last year there were about 6,000) a panel of music writers (which includes myself at Breaking More Waves) will help compile a longlist of 120 acts. The longlist is then whittled down to a shortlist of 8 by a further panel which includes organisers Michael and Emily Eavis, before live finals at Pilton Working Men’s Club in April decide the winning act. I’ve been involved in the judging process for a number of years now, and have attended the live final, which last year was won by Declan McKenna (one of Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch for 2016). Since the final Declan has signed a management deal with Q Prime, who also manage Metallica, Muse and Foals. It’s a process that I’m always incredibly excited to be involved in, new music being at the heart of what I do on Breaking More Waves. As Emily Eavis from the festival says “The Emerging Talent Competition has become an incredible way for us to discover - and help draw attention to - the very latest talent.” Other acts that have entered the competition include BBC Sound of 2016 longlister and Brits Critics Choice nominee Izzy Bizu, who was runner up in 2015, together with the likes of Slaves, Marika Hackman, Stornoway, Fickle Friends, Josef Salvat, Nadine Shah and Circa Waves who have all featured on previous long / short lists giving them increased exposure and recognition which can all help with developing their careers. The competition will be open to entries for a very limited time from next Monday morning (the 18th) at 9am and will close on the 25th January at 5pm. Keep an eye on Glastonbury Festival’s website for the entry form. I will also post a link on the Breaking More Waves Twitter next Monday once the competition is open.
