We’ve become good friends with David’s Lyre since he featured on a session in the early stages of our channel and again at the Great Escape festival in Brighton as well as loads of editorial posts on the blog containing his unique blend of modern folky music that we’ve grown so fond of.

His album, Picture of our Youth, is due out at the end of this month and so, on an extremely (!!!) cold day on Hampstead Heath in London, we decided to meet up for a pre-album session…

‘This Time’ is track 2 on the album and one of our favourites and Paul Dixon aka David’s Lyre performed a fantastic version for us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6NaA8eC_U

The album will be available to buy/download on 20th February via his Bandcamp and find more info on a whole via his Facebook.

Our sessions are back after a much deserved January break and who better to kick start us into gear than the stunning Jess Mills.

Jess Mills has had an amazing couple of years – most notably becoming a pivotal voice in the underground (but now mainstream) dubstep and breaks scene, working alongside the likes of Breakage and others in defining the sound and releasing the massive Fighting Fire track last February.

We’ve already posted her beautiful rendition of Roy Davis Jr.’s Gabriel but we’ve been eager to get together for a session and earlier this week we met up and she laid down a beautiful stripped back version of Pixelated People.

We think the result is stunning…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6OsEwCe6pU

Now you can watch it below and it will go live to the YouTube universe on Friday!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQp8xhLuAA

I stumbled across this band back when MySpace was the primary means of discovery and communication and since then I’ve tried to get down to all their London dates. It’s not been a quick process for the band in terms of finding their feet however as there have already been two band name changes and some member shuffles – but now it feels complete and on track for a proper strategic assault to get their sound heard in 2012.

Thankfully, since the days of following the band, Mahogany was created and it was an honour to be able to present Wild Combination to you through our new Introducing series.

Wild Combination –  Stay In Sight Of These Shores // Mahogany Introducing

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkYhsBLExY

Kay came onto the shoot with confidence that blew us away and delivered a powerful performance alongside her band including a double bass and percussion.

Hype!

Kay Young – Save // Mahogany Introducing

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vroXJOLWd1E

We’ve been speaking with South London’s Josh Record on and off for a while now so this new series we’ve launched was the perfect platform for his beautiful acoustic music. Joined by his band, including Adele guitarist Ben Thomas, they played ‘The War’ and we can’t fault a single thing about it.

All the links to find out more about Josh are in the video description on YouTube and so go ahead and get yourself acquainted!

Josh Record – The War // Mahogany Introducing

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtIu5Kc4XLU

One such group is the 4-piece Courts – a band we’ve been huge fans of since hearing them in early 2011 and they’ve pushed out some great songs and videos alike with their rhythmic funk blended with witty rap-esque lyrics which contribute to a truly unique sound.

Their EP, ‘No Knowledge No Heart’ is available as a free download and Roll For The Sun Part II features as part of it, which they performed for their Introducing session below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpgHV21gW_A

Courts bandcamp

Facebook

#courtsmusic

Gabrielle Aplin is a self-taught, self-made star in her own right having made a name for herself on YouTube as a young teenager releasing numerous folky covers of the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, Mumford & Sons, Bon Iver and more but she’s much more than that and now she’s got a delectable selection of her own music gearing up to be released this year.

Home is the first single due for release of January 9th and she performed an absolutely breathtaking version of it for us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dru-DBklj88

Gabrielle Aplin website

Facebook

#gabrielleaplin

December certainly wasn’t a quiet month for us when it came to sessions. We managed to get together with some of the best talent around with the likes of The Staves, King Charles, Monument Valley and Josh Kumra all joining us for some acoustic loveliness.

We needed to end the year in a bang and Jamie N Commons was the act who closed the production year for us with a momentous session performing his song, The Preacher.

Observer describe the song as ”a rumbling, spit-furious punch of a song, all crucixes and wayward flocks. Very Grinderman.” and there’s no mistaking it’s gritty, ferocious American roots which can accredited to Jamie having spent his early life living in the US.

His debut EP ‘The Baron’ has been available since October and he’s got a handful of live shows in February and March quickly selling out so have a watch of our exclusive session with him below and keep your ears and eyes peeled for more Commons as the year rolls on…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_cFrfvx6U

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I grew up… in a town called Swindon. Not much to do there but there are a handful of cool little music venues.

Now you can find me… in the big city of London, spending most of my time in the studio working on my album!

It all started when… I got a tiny plastic guitar for my 7th birthday! When I reached 13 my dad bought me a proper guitar and I started writing some songs.

If I’m not in the studio or on stage, you’ll find me… taking my mates money at the poker table!

My most treasured piece of musical equipment… has to be my guitar, I don’t go anywhere without it! Maybe I should give it a name?

If there is one album that’s inspired me… it has to be the self titled album by Tracy Chapman. I first heard it when my voice was high pitched! I didn’t fully understand what she was singing about but I remember hearing her voice and feeling her emotion.

My favourite festival… is V festival! I played it with my friend Wretch 32 in the summer. We were number 1 at the time and to hear thousands of people singing it back at me felt amazing! It was emotional, some people say that they could see tears running down my face but I promise it was sweat!

My highlight of my career so far… has to be performing on Later with Jools holland. I used to watch it every week and I always said that it would be incredible to play amongst musical legends!

I can’t perform unless… I have a shot of whiskey to shake off the nerves! : )

I wish I hadn’t… bought these bright orange trousers! It’s not a good look.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s… that music can change everything.

If your new to my music then I suggest listening to Oak Tree first. It’s one the first songs I wrote and it will give you a idea of where I come from. You can download it for free from www.joshkumra.com.

My most recent release is a song called ‘Call off the Search’ which you can find right here! I hope you like it!

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uercc4R8Ig8