DEALS
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Kobalt has signed songwriter and producer Jake Torrey to a worldwide publishing agreement. “Jake is an exceptional young talent”, says Jamie Kinelski, Head Of West Coast Creative. “Over the last few years through his tireless work ethic and stellar songwriting ability, he has become one of the leading writer/producers in Los Angeles. The entire Kobalt team is honoured to be working alongside Jake and his team as he enters this exciting new stage of his career”.
APPOINTMENTS
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The pan-European organisation for the independent music sector, IMPALA, has elected its new board, on which Francesca Trainini of Italian national association PMI will sit as President, while Dario Draštata of Balkan association RUNDA is its new Chair.
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Ronnie Gurr - who recently stood down as CEO of the Scottish Music Industry Association - has joined Scotland’s first vinyl pressing plant Seabass Vinyl as Industry Engagement Advisor. “Seabass Vinyl will be one of the greenest pressing plants in the world, with sustainability and efficiency built in from the start”, he says. “These core values and principles make the company a real pioneer and a welcome new addition to Scotland’s music businesses. I’m delighted to have been asked to come on board to assist at the very beginning of an incredibly exciting and innovative venture”.
RELEASES
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BTS’s V has released his debut solo album ‘Layover’. From it, this is new single ‘Slow Dancing’.
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Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have teamed up once again for new track ‘Bongos’.
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Busted have released brand new song ‘Good One’, which will appear on their upcoming ‘Greatest Hits 2.0’ album. “’Good One’ is all about the nostalgia of friends not seeing each other for a long time and making the most of the moments you get with each other”, says Charlie Simpson. “It seemed particularly appropriate for us to release around our greatest hits tour, when we are seeing so many faces that we haven’t seen for such a long time”.
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Old nu metal and nu nu metal have collided on new Wargasm single ‘Bang Ya Head’, which features Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. “When I was working in bars it always drove me insane how much it costs us to live and how little money we make”, says the duo’s Sam Matlock. “Like banging your head against a brick wall over and over and over – you bang your head until you break your fucking neck. We took that energy and put it onto a guitar at our friend’s house in LA, then we asked the one and only Fred Durst if he wanted to join in and he did – now we have this monstrosity”. The band’s debut album ‘Venom’ is out on 27 Oct.
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Overmono have released new single ‘Blow Out’. The track was “the first thing we made after finishing the album”, they say. “After that process of being quite methodical, we had an urge to write something that was really out and out lairy and wanted the bass to sound like it was playing out of a blown-out speaker”.
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Baby Queen has released new single ‘Quarter Life Crisis’. She’s also announced UK tour dates starting next month.
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Ellur has released new single ‘Free’. The song, she says, “is about a character who visited me in a dream and caused me to question my sense of free will and my entire life situation. At the time, I’d been working part-time as a bartender and the song became a metaphor for working for people who don’t respect you and how that has put me in some of the worst mental states of my life. It actually inspired me to take the leap into full time music and quit my day job”.
GIGS & TOURS
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Ed Sheeran will play two nights at the Royal Albert Hall on 18 and 19 Nov, performing his new album ‘Autumn Variations’ in its entirety with a full live band and string section. Tickets go on general sale on 15 Sep.
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Keane have announced UK tour dates in May next year to mark the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Hopes & Fears’. Tickets go on general sale on 15 Sep.