Find all my music on Spotify:
http://sptfy.com/kidnap

For all enquires: sophia@tinysaturnmusic.com

Kidnap is an artist whose music overflows with emotion - rich and powerfully evocative.

Recording in London, Kidnap (real name Matthew Relton) likens his process to that of a sculptor, starting with a block of sound and chopping away until a shape emerges. As such, each song exists ornately carved with a handcrafted subtly.

Still just 33, Relton is already something of an industry veteran. Releasing his first single in 2012 kicked off an eight-year stretch of global touring that came to a grinding halt when the pandemic put the world on pause.

2024 marks a new chapter for Kidnap, with his next body of work on the horizon. Set against the backdrop of a changing world and the arrival of a baby daughter, Relton offers a bittersweet reflection on the passing of time. ‘It’s about looking back on the last 12 years — the touring and the friends and the sleeplessness,” says Relton, “and realising that in order to embrace the life I have now, I need to let it all go.’ The music shimmers with nostalgia. Signature sad melodies dance deftly around commanding synth lines, altogether sounding like an artist with a new found sense of purpose.

Noisia comprise Dutch producers Thijs, Nik and Martijn. Largely regarded as one of the most distinctive, powerful acts to emerge in bass music, their production techniques are referenced and praised across the entire electronic music scene. Their extensive body of work also includes the game Devil May Cry and the Foreign Beggars collaboration I Am Legion.

Damian Robert Nesta Marley, also known around the world as “Junior Gong” and more recently as “Gongzilla” was born in 1978 to parents Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976.  As a young adult, he developed a passion and a gift to speak for those who cannot always speak for themselves. A self-proclaimed ‘Spiritual Revolutionary’, Damian has worked assiduously to carve his own niche in music history and to add a new perspective to the Marley legacy for the 21st century. 

At the age of 13, Damian began performing in a group called “The Shepherds” which comprised of Shiah Coore (son of Third World guitarist Cat Coore) and currently a member of his band, and Yashema Beth McGreggor, daughter of reggae singers Freddie Mcgreggor and Judy Mowatt and then began touring with his brothers, Stephen, Ky-mani, Julian and Ziggy. 

By 1996, Damian had already made his stamp as a different kind of Marley when he released his first solo album “Mr. Marley”, a heavily dancehall-influenced album produced by his brother Stephen Marley.  His second album “Halfway Tree” was released in 2001 by a major record label and showcased Damian’s unique gift for blending dancehall, reggae and hip-hop styles.  This album won Damian much recognition and remained on the Billboard Top Reggae Album Charts for 158 weeks and earned him his first Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2002. 
While honored by this recognition by the global music fraternity, Damian continued to work in the studio, laying the groundwork for the tracks that would become his highly anticipated album, “Welcome To Jamrock”. The lyrics in this album presented Marley as a true spiritual revolutionary, as he used his talent to evoke a spiritual change while trying to enforce a better way of thinking.  He is described as “rhyming with the conviction of a street preacher with the intellect of a university economist”.  

Damian’s hit single “Welcome to Jamrock” was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Decade by Rolling Stone, and at the 2006 Grammy Awards, he won Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome to Jamrock. Damian is the only Jamaican reggae artist in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night. He is also the only reggae artist to win in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the Grammy Awards. The New York Times called Welcome to Jamrock the “best reggae song of the decade.” 
Welcome to Jamrock led the pathway to Damian’s critically acclaimed collaboration with Nas for 2010’s much lauded album “Distant Relatives” – a project which explored the relationships between reggae, hip-hop and Africa. The album title refers not only to the bond between the artists, but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically and lyrically. USA Today referred to the album as a “potent and often provocative collaboration” and by Rolling Stone as “an Afrocentric winner.” The album debuted at Number 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and Number 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Rap Albums and Reggae Albums charts, with Billboard heralding the album as “a dynamic hybrid.”    

The Distant Relatives Tour kicked off in 2011 and saw Damian traveling and performing for thousands of fans all over the world, including South America, Europe, The United Kingdom, The Caribbean and North America.  

Damian continued to cross musical boundaries in 2012, as he went on to partner with Skrillex for their groundbreaking track “Make It Bun Dem”, which Rolling Stone called “a monster mash up of dubstep and dancehall” and has led to several remixes of the original version.  Damian recently released two other singles; “Set Up Shop” and  “Affairs of the Heart” which both received widespread airplay. 

Damian continues to tour with his band all over the world as a way of entertaining and healing as he continues to spread the message for those whose voices cannot be heard. He is working with his brothers Stephen and Julian under their Ghetto Youths International Label, to discover, develop and sign gifted artistes by applying their musical talent and vast experience to create new and different styles of music.  

Damian is currently in the studio working on his upcoming solo album.

Bookings & General Inquiries: Frontamusic@gmail.com
 https://linktr.ee/FrontaUK

Now Living in NZ!

DJ STIVS - Mashing up the dance with a badman blend of jungle, raggatek and breakcore. A true giant of the underground dance scene, Stivs is a founding member of the infamous Life4Land Sound as well as several independent record labels. As one third of bass-terrorist trio The D.S.C., Stivs has been steadily hacking away at the rave scene for over a decade, lumping speakers across muddy fields, inhabiting warehouses for one night and one night only, and playing dirty ragga-jungle, breakcore and raggatek to jumping party people across the globe, entertaining ravers at clubs, Teknivals, raves and festivals since the year 2000.

DJ Stivs, AKA Finn O’Rourke, started producing in 2003 and, having been raised on amens since his early teens, soon developed a particular talent for hardcore, ragga and dancehall-influenced jungle. Learning his way round Logic and Ableton alongside his Life4Land brethren, he followed closely in the footsteps of legends like Remarc, Lemon D and Ray Keith and was soon applying cutting-edge production techniques to the sounds of his youth, pioneering a brand-new breed of old school and staking his claim to a chapter in the Jungle book..

He brings these skills to the D.S.C’s table in abundance, creating soundclash-inspired dubstep, jungle and techno alongside fellow Life4Land founders Ed Cox and Scion. They regularly work with top ragga vocalists like Daddy Freddy, Murray Man, Demolition Man and Deadly Hunter, as well as collaborating with producers such as Freddy Frog, Ghost, M.D.S., Kelvine 373 and Scamp. On the back of his UK successes, Stivs has toured all over Europe, appearing in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania, as well as executing a quick sweep of the southern hemisphere taking in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Tokyo. In 2010 Stivs and Junglefever co-founded Bomba Cut Recordings, a label dedicated to extreme soundclash-based ragga-junglecore mashups where they can really flex some amen muscle, releasing the dirtiest rasclart beats they can possibly cut to vinyl. However, at the other end of the spectrum he is also heavily involved with Born On Road, a vocally-driven bass-music label unfettered by tempo or style restrictions, where artists are free to explore musical boundaries and span genres including dancehall, dubstep, bashment, breakbeat, reggae and Jungle. Established in 2013 Born On Road is intent on pushing raw emerging talent alongside industry heavyweights such as MC Navigator, David Boomah, Buggsy and Eva Lazarus. He has also programmed festival stages and dance arenas as well as starting his own internet radio station, Site B Radio, where he DJs alongside his Life4Land stablemates as well as an ever-expanding roster of guest DJs. Despite all this extra-curricular activity Stivs is still mashing up the dance week-in week-out in his hometown of Bristol and beyond, gigging regularly all over the UK and Europe. Whether it’s an all-vinyl journey through the jungle ages or an up to-the minute digital set trialling his freshest productions on a crowd, Stivs never fails to create a euphoric auditory journey through bass music and amen breaks. Stivs currently divides his time between his label-related obligations, smacking dancefloors across the UK and Europe, and pushing his production skills to the limit .

FREE 2GB Dubmatix Reggae/Dub Loop Pack
http://reggae-loops.com
Buy all releases http://www.dubmatix.bandcamp.com

Dubmatix is continually evolving his style, taking new influences on board on each new recording; by now it simply doesn’t do justice to the incredible breadth of his work to slap a ‘dub’ sticker on it. 

"...collaborations see him effortlessly incorporating all conceivable facets of reggae and dub with a striking self-assurance and combining them with an exceptional willingness to experiment and take new directions."

This kaleidoscope of variety is particularly in force of his upcoming brand new album. As well as working as a musician and producer, Jesse King is also a sought-after remixer and app designer, with recent remixes including tracks for the Easy Star All-Stars, John Brown's Body, Zion Train, Martha & The Muffins, Don Letts and Mungo’s HiFi. 

For his new album he spent 2 years in the past and a lot of time in tweaking the knobs on high class Roots Tunes inna crossover style…! 
SOUND CLOUD REVIEW DEC 2014

ellis16 is following