CBS News Radio is a dynamic and compelling radio news network featuring CBS News-on-the-Hour, the CBS World News Roundup, Reporters Notebook, Tech Talk with Larry Magid, and much more.

France 24, the international news channel, broadcasts 24/7 to 315 million homes around the world in French, Arabic and English. The three channels have a combined weekly viewership of 50.9 million viewers (measured in 64 of the 180 countries where the channel is broadcast). From its newsroom in Paris, France 24 gives a French perspective on global affairs through a network of 142 correspondent bureaus located in nearly every country. It is available via cable, satellite, DTT, ADSL, on mobile phones, tablets and connected TVs, as well as on YouTube in three languages. Every month, France 24’s digital platforms attract 16.3 million visits, 36.5 million video views (2015 average) and 21.4million followers on Facebook and Twitter (December 2015). 



Weekly show delivering a unique outlook on the Premier League, Irish and European football and other big topics from around the football world.

Welcome to Deutsche Grammophon!

Recording great performances of classical music in the best audio quality has been Deutsche Grammophon's mission since it was founded in 1898. The list of artists who have collaborated with the label reads like a roll call of the greatest musicians of the past 100 years: Abbado, Argerich, Barenboim, Bernstein, Boulez, Domingo, Dudamel, Gilels, Horowitz, Karajan, Kleiber, Mutter, Netrebko, Salonen, Zimerman, and so on.

Benny Smiles is an Irish synthwave/retrowave producer based in London. Favouring electronic instruments, vintage synthesisers and drum machines, his most recent work nods to M83, Neon Indian, and Com Truise. Think Stranger Things / Drive / Hotline Miami soundtracks and you’re most of the way there.


“When We Touch” marks Benny’s fourth release, and is the first single from his forthcoming “Fearless Leadership” EP. It follows the “Hotline Miami 2 EP”, which is featured in the cult video game Hotline Miami 2 and in Spotify’s Retrowave / Outrun editorial playlist, both of which have helped to garner an international audience and around 5 million streams of the EP across various platforms.


Benny’s latest material follows a period of focus on his work in studio engineering, building his knowledge of old school recording techniques and equipment in some legendary recording studios, and learning first hand from some of the world’s most renowned record producers, songwriters, and artists. Having cultivated a collection of vintage analogue synthesisers and audio processors along the way, he now returns with a newfound appreciation for sonics, analogue imperfection, and the soul that lives in electronic instruments.


Prompted by the tongue-in-cheek artwork, the most pressing question about the Fearless Leadership EP thus far has been “is your face really that small?” And the answer is… it could be.


Benny Smiles has supported artists including London Grammar and Ghostpoet, and performed at festivals including Electric Picnic, Indiependence, Castlepalooza, and Ireland Music Week.



INDUBLIN.IE: “First [at Hard Working Class Heroes festival], to the Workman’s Club for one-man electro wonder machine Benny Smiles. Infectiously upbeat loops, guitar, and Bowie-esque vocals, with the occasional healthy dose of slap bass was warmly met by the crowd. Yet it was Smiles’ stage presence that really endeared him to those present. Informing us early in the set he had foolishly taken a valium to help fight off a flu; if he is this good when sick and under the influence you can only image how good he is when on top form. A definite highlight of the festival, how this guy isn’t already huge is a mystery.”

 
GOLDENPLEC: “[Somehow Yours Do] is a beauty of a track with hypnotising synths and a captivating video”

 
NIALLER9: “Benny Smiles has given me one of my favourite tracks of the last month already with ‘Sunday Morning’”

 
PUFFERFISH: “Playful, fun, fucking awesome… Benny Smiles is making funky electronic music that you can really enjoy. And we mean really enjoy.”

CHASSEUR MAGAZINE: “Benny is by far the most charming, energetic, addictive, unique and pleasurable acts of the [Hard Working Class Heroes] festival so far. He asks everyone to take “seven steps forward” and then proceeds to move and shake across the stage, never missing a note. The audience are in the palm of his hand throughout, truly captivated by his inescapable talent, showing many of the bands how it is done. Industry execs must be salivating at the prospects he presents.”

 
HOTPRESS: “‘Moonlight’ featuring Ham Sandwich’s Niamh Farrell is radio-friendly whimsy at its finest. Known to his postman as Ross Fortune, this shapeshifting musicmaker has covered a whole lot of musical ground…barely stepping a foot wrong”

 
GOLDENPLEC: “With [Sunshine / Moonlight] Benny Smiles shows that he is a diverse and talented artist. His willingness to use different instrumentation and sounds results in tracks that are varied and unique and aurally tantalizing. It is solid proof that he doesn’t have to rely on novelty to grab an audience’s attention.”

 
AOIFE MC RTÉ 2XM: “[‘Sunday Morning’ is] definitely, definitely my favourite of the whole podcast [Nialler9 Podcast 39]…it’s so much fun!”


bennysmilesmusic[at]gmail[dot]com

Stream debut Album "No Hard feelings": https://lnk.to/SchwarzDontCrack_NoHardFeelings

https://www.facebook.com/schwarzdontcrack
https://twitter.com/schwarzdcrack
https://www.youtube.com/user/SchwarzDontCrack

Booking: assistant_mgmt_hh@nettwerk.com

Management: Neverland Music / Martin Schuhmacher
martin@nettwerk.com

Label:
Nettwerk Music

Biography:

“It starts with a sound…”

In Berlin’s ever-mutating musical landscape, musical pleasures emerge and dissolve like the effervescent love of a summer fling. Yet two men have found a synthesis of sound formed from the perpetual electronic obsession of the German capital and the rich tapestry of American R&B. These are the keywords of Schwarz Don’t Crack, the shared aural linguistics of Ahmad Larnes and Sebastian Kreis.

Following his move from New York City, Larnes soon met Kreis and found in him a kindred spirit who had also fled his own region of southern Germany in favor of Berlin’s more progressive dreamscape. The two debuted as Schwarz Don’t Crack in 2011—a year when the dividing lines between genres was beginning to blur more than ever—and they quickly found an audience eager to bask in the jeweled sweat of Larne’s soulful lyrics and Kreis’ liquid bass beats. After debuting their single “Charade” on Kitsuné Records in 2013, the two have since divided their time touring and working on a new EP and a full-length album. 

“…the things I feel the most…”

Simplicity is a cornerstone of Schwarz Don’t Crack’s ethos, a driving force that has shaped both their releases and live performances into something fierce and immediate. Their signature sound is rich with pop hooks and melodies that never skirt too far into mainstream territory, backed with luscious beats that combine the entrancing snare of a well-produced and intriguing sound palette without distracting from the thrust of club propulsion. 

The duo’s first self-titled EP balances this combination effortlessly. Dance floor-ready cut “Little Pieces” showcases Larne’s powerful vocals while Kreis works in elements of liquid bass over the wooden snap of dissected UK garage snares and a breathy, gasping kick that summons succubal desires into the feet and loins of anyone listening. Smooth red velvet audio comes in the form of “Lay You Down”, evocative of Hot 97-flavored summers gone by. While the subject matter behind their lyrics—tales of love, betrayal and pain—is universal, there’s an intimacy in their music as well a deft production hand that makes each piece feel as intimate as though it was being sung straight into your ear.

“…and it takes your breath away.”

With each new sonic exploration into inspirations new and old, Schwarz Don’t Crack flex their musical muscles to become something stronger—unmistakably classic on several levels, yet firmly in the Now and always beautifully surprising. If your musical world has become too predictable, let them take your hand and lead you to the chance floor.

Press contacts:
Patricia Nigiani / Nettwerk Music Group
ph: +49 40 431 900 18
f: +49 40 431 846 51
e-mail: patricia@nettwerk.com


darswagg is following