Formed in London in 1992 TINDERSTICKS three founder members Stuart A. Staples, David Boulter, and Neil Fraser were joined and rejuvenated in the late 2000’s by Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin Jr. After ten studio albums and eight film soundtracks for the renowned director Claire Denis, TINDERSTICKS continue to push at the boundaries and explore the textures and emotion of their music.
Their music has been used variously in art installations, dance and theatre projects, fashion shows, numerous films and TV productions. In 2014 TINDERSTICKS were commissioned to create the evolving orchestral soundscapes for the In Flanders Fields, WW1 museum in Ypres, Belgium. Their last album ‘ The waiting room’ (2016) was also a collaboration with the Clermont-Ferrand international Short Film festival where the band curated and were involved in creating a collection of films made specifically for the music. In 2017 Staples directed his first film – ‘Minute bodies : The intimate world of F. Percy Smith’ and in 2018 released the experimental solo album ‘Arrhythmia’ Early 2019 saw the release of the score of Claire Denis latest film ‘High life’ featuring the single ‘Willow’ sung by the lead actor Robert Pattinson.
MEDUZA have spent the year leading the charge in returning house music to daytime radio, and succeeding. Their debut release, ‘Piece Of Your Heart’ featuring Goodboys, has now seen 600 million streams globally, selling a million units in the UK alone to date and peaking at #2 on the Official UK Charts. These incredible sales have given the Milan natives multi Diamond, Platinum and Gold certifications around the world.
The follow up track ‘Lose Control’ with Goodboys and UK songwriter Becky Hill, has already made an unprecedented impact, reaching the UK Top40 in its first week, now notching upward of 50 million streams with 25 million YouTube views in just a month, and all the signs of matching or surpassing its predecessor. These headline successes are also bolstered by an impressive catalogue of hand picked remixes for the likes of MK, R+, Friendly Fires and Ritual, displaying not only MEDUZA’s signature sound and energy to the record, but also the raw ability to create a stand out release whenever called upon.
BLACK PUMAS – Sometimes, a mystical, life-changing connection can be closer than you think. In 2017, Grammy Award-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada had recorded some instrumentals in his Austin studio, and he started looking around for a vocalist—he knew a lot of singers, but he wanted something different. He reached out to friends in Los Angeles, in London, but nothing seemed right.
Meantime, Eric Burton had recently made his way to Texas. Born in the San Fernando Valley, he grew up in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He started busking at the Santa Monica pier, where he brought in a few hundred dollars a day and developed his performance skills. Burton traveled through the Western states before deciding to settle down in Austin—setting up his busking spot on a downtown street corner, at 6th Street and Congress, for maximum exposure.
A mutual friend mentioned Burton to Quesada, saying that he was the best singer he had ever heard. The two musicians connected, but Burton took a while to respond (“My friends were like ‘Dude, you’re a mad man, you need to hit that guy back!’ “) Finally, he called Quesada, and started singing to one of the tracks over the phone. “I loved his energy, his vibe, and I knew it would be incredible on record,” he says. “From the moment I heard him on the phone, I was all about it.”
The results of that inauspicious beginning can now be heard on the self-titled debut album from BLACK PUMAS, the group that Quesada and Burton assembled, which has become one of the year’s most anticipated projects. Described as “Wu-Tang Clan meets James Brown” by KCRW, Black Pumas were the winner of Best New Band at the 2019 Austin Music Awards.