Benn Down (born Jan 27, 1982) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and composer. He is the founder, lead vocalist and principle songwriter in various bands including; Benn, Portraits, Two Down, Pressure Fashions Diamonds and Diplomat. His first release was the album ‘Origins?’ under the band Two Down, which he founded in 2007 with long time-collaborator Callum Richardson. He has since released a vast number of albums, EPs and singles. Benn Down was an independent recording artist until signing with Hurt Records in 2014. In previous years Down was involved with iTunes, Sony, Universal Music Group, Vevo and Tunecore and came to the conclusion that not only did these companies tie up their artists in uncompromising contracts, but their percentage share of the artist’s revenue was appalling. Benn decided to step down from these companies and invest his time in creating a ‘contract-less’ Record Label that focused purely on the integrity of the sound recordings and bringing the artist’s visions to life.

At the beginning of 2017 Down embarked on a ten-year-long ambition to release his anticipated ‘Z’ story in audio form. The story being widely received as cryptic, intriguing and dark. Down is recognised for making his listeners work to understand the form that the story takes. Down maintains that the Z series of albums isn’t made for everyone, instead limiting its comprehendible exposure to a few thousand listeners.

Down is the owner of Hurt Records, a UK based independent record label. Hurt Records’ primary focus is to create extremely high quality music for it’s listenership. Hurt Records is unique in the fact that all of the releases on the label pass through a single studio complex; ‘Hurt Studios’. Down maintains that “the purpose of the ‘single studio’ mindset is that complete control over the entire process of an album’s creation is attained and artistic integrity is maintained at a high standard.”

Down’s music is currently licensed through both Hurt Records, UK and Create Music Group, US.

Laranja play infectiously catchy, energetic indie, on the border of becoming rock – full of raw vocals, bass hooks and pop melodies. Created from the ashes of the Birmingham scene that created Peace, Swim Deep and JAWS, they bring a new aspect to the scene, keeping the shimmering guitar effects that shaped the sounds of their Birmingham peers then adding in endless hooks, powerful vocals and driving bass, they’re not genre defining but sound like nobody else. Led by vocalist and guitarist Luke Mendonça and supported by Dave Cartwright (Bass), their varied live set has been described as electric by the few people who’ve had chance to see them, playing just a handful of shows since they’ve been together, treating only midlands audiences to their performances as of yet. Alongside a new single and accompanying cinematic video, directed by Andrew Rutter, plans are being made to take their show around the UK later this year.

2013 saw the band release their debut single ‘Lose Faith’ receiving critical acclaim from BBC radio 1 DJ Ally McCrae, writing on his personal blog “Cut from the same Midlands cloth as Jaws, Peace and Swim Deep but with even more pop shout a long moments, there’s a fist in the air feel to it, which will always, always grab my attention”.  Their follow up single ‘Sweet’ saw further radio play from Goldierocks on The British Council show The Selector, as well as receiving airtime from numerous Amazing radio DJ’s.

Working with producer Dreamtrak (Foals / Swim Deep / JAWS) and recording with Gavin Monaghan (The Editors / The Twang) at his studio The Magic Garden. They’re latest offering ‘Capitol Hill’ due to be released this summer, features an infectiously catchy riff, driving bass and eerie guitar sounds, typical of their no-frills style. The song is under 3 minuets long, jumping straight into the hook, wasting no time going into the darker verses then building back up to the riff, continuing to build to the end of the track.

‘Capitol hill’ along with its accompanying cinematic video is due for release via iTunes this summer. Plans have also been made for a concept E.P. working in collaboration with Andrew Rutter to create a short film, to be released later in the year.

A complex distillation of classic punk rock, Celtic folk and American rock'n'roll, the albums put the band's diversity, intensity and sincerity on full display.

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