Hybrid Who?

Are you a musician interested in widening your fan base, or hankering after your own career in media? HybridLab is a unique social enterprise set up by charity IEA (www.ieaction.com). We profile unsigned artists for free.

Check out www.hybridlab.org/about for more info, and get in touch!

Luminaire Review

To celebrate the summer solstice, this fortnight’s featured venue is dedicated to light. The Luminaire blazes white bulbs in the dark night of Kilburn, it’s name tattooed across the entrance like the equally engraved giant who guards the door. A gold tooth flash of a smile and a wink reveals the warmth and spirit of a place that is testing the forefront of London music, and it’s baptism by fire. Voted ‘UK Venue of the Year’ by Music Week Magazine in March – they’ve kept their fingers hot on the pulse of the music scene. But it’s the dark yet good-humoured atmosphere that has really sealed Luminaire’s reputation.

Visit www.theluminaire.co.uk for upcoming gig listings.

www.mysace.com/julianhinton

Julian Hinton is a musical magus. His fingers and thumbs are blessed with a green sound that rolls with a beat rising straight from the earth. Acoustic strums flow in and out of each other in what Julian explains is “a musical stream of consciousness”. To give you an idea, in his song ‘Lean Backwards’ he invites you to “feel your feet all the way down to the ground” as voice, saxophone, bongo and maracas dance from your toes to your eardrums. In ‘People on a Mission’ Julian blends the natural rhythms and noises rattling in his world outside into a jazz-funk brew.

His organic approach is spilling into his debut album “My precious life” available from www.julianhinton.com. Julian spent a dangerous amount of time alone“getting down and sweaty in a dingy rehearsal studio” He dissected musical phrases from collaborations with other musicians and explored each part individually. From the depths of his hothouse of sound grows produce with a distinctly tropical twist, blossoming with a richness that is almost tactile. Mr Hinton is also a teacher of music, and a fond gardener - both aspects of his personality that shine in the music that nourishes his whole world. One particularly striking example of his style exists in his video “A little piano on the side”. The sideways camera angle captures agile fingers connected to black and white keys engaged in pentatonic ramblings. The background noises of people clapping, singing and talking are always moving in and out of the music like the ebb and flow of nature.

In comparison to the average venue that we review, this is at a slightly larger scale. Over 350-acres of green land for thousands of fans to inhabit, and nature’s light to brighten up the mosh-pit (not including the hundreds of suspended lights to illuminate the stage), it is no wonder why there were so many happy faces.

From rampant rock, unwinding indie and thumping dance, the five stages could keep you entirely entertained from two in the afternoon until ten at night, over a period of four days. The best bit were the unsigned bands with their own stage- showing that there is a chance for new talent to be showcased for keen Hybridlab bands. With his haunting voice radiating through the meadows, this year’s ‘O2 Undiscovered’ winner was Welsh artist Eoghan Colgan. Lets hope we will be seeing lots more new faces this summer! –We look forward to discovering even more unsigned gems this summer.