abacuspost is a new music PR agency working with emerging talent grown in the North East of England and beyond.

R.I.P. Jamies Bea 2013-2015

As an in-house engineer for one of London's top underground studios, and a local favourite on dub DAB stations, J.B. has donned secret disguise and is bringing his unique blend of deep-electronica and indie-pop songwriting to the masses. His first track, the upbeat sizzler 'tw10' (named for his favorite postal area in the capitol) has innovation written all over it, from the stylistic sub-throb of the re-taped 909's and funk guitar, effortlessly melting into roomverb-drenched vocals and sonic squelches of abrupt, abstract bleeps, blips and blops. Then there's 'sound off surrey, a ballad-tastic slower groover, combines more of the experimental, surprising production elements into an even catchier, poppier, saxophone-laiden ambient masterpiece. More recently, he put out his take on r&b-meets-alternative-ambience in the shape of 'dreams', a full-on glitch-soul sound incorporating live drum sounds, his signature deep-tuned bass and an infection melody, a modern-day cult classic and this years answer to 'Jasmine'. When asked about his sound, he simply shrubs and, without a pause of though, simply utters, "Not sure, just what I hear, you know, before I make it appear". Recently, he added an upbeat, ear-piercing, percussive-drenched funk-hop-step blistering banger to his page, entitled 'right way', quite ironically on Christmas Eve. Fans felt he was offering them an evening present. Others felt he was merely trolling them. His thoughts? "When I fixed the phase issues on the multi-tracks, sorted the crest factor of the master and balanced the RMS levels, as things turned out, it wasn't that long 'till Santa was going to arrive. It seemed like it was time to let the track go." Just before Easter (one week to be precise) he uploaded what could be described as his most ambitious offering yet, a funk-tastic, downtempo, chilled-out bubbler of a hit, drowning in tape-like warmth, saturation and darkness, with tight, polished, minimal and modern edge. "That track came out quite quickly, but it took weeks to whittle the perfect mix down. I think I must have listened to it 30 or 40 times whilst walking around, just to make sure it was bang-on." And we are all very grateful he did.

info@twyaen.com

Coming straight from the welsh parts of England, and crash landing into London, come the super-secretive producers and performers of twyaen, fusing the best parts of celtic-jazz and electronic-r&b-poppiness with slick, modern, sophisticated beats and vintage synth-work. "We used to write sort of folky songs," says head-sound-designer, code-named ThutDragon, "but after Bon Iver took off, we were like, 'oh fuck, now what?!', so we decided to go into a more atmospheric-tronica area". Meanwhile, live instrumentation, co-production and vocals are handled by the equally skilled front-person, simply known as Moors Trekkah, who reflects on the simplicity of the duo's recent debut song, "It's not, like, a ginormous production at all. It's pretty simple and there's not too much to distract the listener. I like that. It just, kinda, keeps the focus on the song and the sounds we used to put it together." Can we expect more of this, I asked them a month ago when I first interviewed them. "Yeah, as soon as we've finished building the studio, we'll get more tracks out. Hoping for an album out soon, if there's enough interest." Now, two months on, I ask m.t. about the inspiration behind their latest track, 'on the pettibone tide' which was uploaded mid-way into October on their Soundcloud page initially. "It was inspired by the colloquial name for a river that meets the sea, just off the coast near a beach I used to go as a kid. It's about that first wave that takes you to a new life, away from what you know but want to leave behind," he offers, "and I imagine it's how you feel as your dying, on the way to your next living plane." Twyaen's depth grows, let's see just how far they'll go next time.

''Melodic dark tales of love and loss''

www.richardsmithmusic.bandcamp.com

Twitter @Richardsmithuk

underneaththeabjectwillow@hotmail.co.uk

Sunderland’s Richard Smith has given his songwriting skills a number of vehicles to test drive, from the early Interpol-shapes of Widows to the more recent Ryan Adams & the Cardinals-aping Chased By Wolves. Now writing and releasing music under his own name he may have just found his own sound to go with it. Richard continues with the pastoral shades of his last outfit but with much more bare and psychedelia-tinged instrumentation in the hypnotic rhythms and frequencies.


The first E.P 'Autumn is here, and i guess i'm still in love with you' was released on Halloween 2012. 

From night drives to mountain sides. It's all fate. 

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