Fatima hits the streets of London in the clip for ‘Mind’, a standout from her amazing ‘Follow You‘ EP. the Floating Points produced tune, with it’s 90′s infected swing, has been given a mellow, yet energetic treatment by none other than Sweet and Sound founder Shane Connolly. ‘Follow You’ is available now courtesy of the fine folks at Eglo Records.

At 9am on the morning of Monday the 4th of April NTS Radio streamed live for the first official time..  Born from the nutstosoup.com blog, NTS aims to fill a void in the community of musically minded progressive thinking people in London. Sweet and Sound spoke to NTS founder Femi Adeyemi 4 days after it launched to see how he felt things were going, and to see what lies ahead for his exciting new venture…

Fannie Schiavoni is a Swedish designer whose desire to design manifested from as early as the age of five, when she started building houses and designing interior with Lego. Schiavoni moved to London when she was 18 to study tailoring at London College of Fashion. Deciding to “try something new” shortly before graduation, her jewellery label was born. Browns Focus bought her first line the same year that she graduated, and she’s done anything but look back since. Schiavoni’s passion shines through – both in her designs, and the way that she speaks about them.

Her statement, chainmail accessories are distinctly recognisable, an aspect Schiavoni guesses is due to her training in clothing design as opposed to jewellery. “I approach my pieces as though they were garments, the lines are very important,” she says, and it’s true that her pieces are far more than just jewellery. The structured body harnesses and layered neckwear beg to be worn with little else, as though they were actual garments.

Schiavoni claims to “design every piece for myself” even though “I know I shouldn’t”, but who can blame her when they look this good? Pulling inspiration from designers such as Martin Margiela and Moritz Waldemeyer (“he always blows my mind”), she is open to expand the label to almost anything; “clothes, bags, shoes, hats, books, furniture, magazines…”

Schiavoni takes pleasure in knowing that London is the perfect place for her line. I think I speak for everyone when I say that London is glad (and lucky) to have her.

www.fannieschiavoni.com

In March art collective Off Modern collaborated with Tiger Beer to produce a one-night installation of music, video and sculpture. The hugely successful event, taking place at SON Gallery in Peckham, featured live performances from some of the UK’s most influential contemporary artists.

Sweet and Sound was there. We invited each act to be part of a filmed interview, telling us about the track or album that had the biggest impact on them creatively. We used the footage to craft our intimate video series, Essential Tracks, launching mid-April 2011.

Having already heard from Bullion and Henry Mackay-Bull, here we chat with a band we’ve been talking about for a long time, Hounds Of Hate.

Hounds of Hate is a two piece band  based in Dalston consisting of Stan Iordanov and Simon Mercer. Their sound is an amalgamative gathering of deep house, lo-fi electro, hip hop, p-funk and shame free, but not mindless, optimism. They spoke to us about about their favourite tracks entitled “Hypnotize” by Young Jeezy and “Untight” by Petter.

At 25 and 24, Agape Mdumulla and Sam Cotton are living proof that age and wisdom are not always in direct correlation. Their label and lovechild, Agi & Sam, is a menswear brand that focuses on bespoke prints and follows the thesis that, “fashion should never be taken too seriously”. Their Fall 2011 collection, featuring 3D prints and a Fresh Prince-inspired swagger, has gone down an absolute storm.

Both having worked placements when they first arrived in London, they eventually met at Alexander McQueen. Shortly after, the label was born, and the rest, as they say, is history. Having shown their third collection at Fashion East for fall 2011, their work is beginning to attract a hefty lot of attention. Describing the whole situation as “weird,” they admit that they’re extremely critical of their own work. “As soon as we‘ve completed a collection, we want to start the next one. We can already see how we can better it, but it’s not a bad thing. That’s what you’re supposed to do – every collection is supposed to better the last.” Considering how young they are, they appear to deal with the pressures of running a business with exceptional ease. “We wanted to do things our own way,” says Agi, speaking of the early days of the label. “McQueen was so creative, there was always this fear of going somewhere we would literally just sit behind a computer screen. We don’t really think about the pressure, though.” Agreeing, Sam continues, “We knew what we were doing, but we didn’t expect to be doing this well in such a short time.”

Photos by Ryan Connolly

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Other young designers provide huge inspiration for the pair. Sam speaks particularly highly of Carolyn Massey, who he worked for briefly when he first came to London. “What she’s doing at her age is a big influence for me – it’s a driving force to make me want to be able to replicate it.” Yet who Agi describes as his “overall inspiration” is Raf Simons. “I would have to agree,” nods Sam. “He’s just incredible. Everything he does seems to create taste, every season seems to be based around his collections.”

Their own most recent collection is certainly turning heads for fall 2011. Aside from the obvious references to the nineties and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the inspiration for the collection runs far deeper. “It basically started off with us watching the Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” grins Sam. “We realised how amazingly dressed and styled he was, and started to get nostalgic; looking at people around that era that affected art and society. That, of course, led us to Jean-Michel Basquiat, and how the transition from being homeless to getting famous affected him – and how that transition was parallel with Will Smith’s life in Fresh Prince. Basquiat once said ‘Most Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off’, and that really stayed with us – it was the name of the collection.”

We can only hope Agi & Sam aren’t sealing their own fate in the titling of their most promising collection so far.

www.agiandsam.com

Fanny and Jessy are a female design duo that originate from Somerset and met at London College of Fashion, from which they both graduated in 2009. Though sharing a mutual passion for creativity through “art, drawing and painting”, they were both drawn to fashion orientated courses, which has resulted in the birth of the label.

Originally, it was the girls’ shared graduate collection, which was picked up by stockists, and the reception it received spurred them on to “have a go at doing it for real”. Taking inspiration from brands like Meadham Kirchhoff for their wild “colours and prints”, and Alexander Wang for their “cool wearability”, Fanny and Jessy have crafted themselves a unique edge that sets them apart from most other on-the-up designers.

Their most recent collection, entitled “The Dissection” is fit to bursting with this signature style, incorporating their usual leather and zips with longer lengths and a sinister undertone to create a line which feels more mature than their previous collections, and makes a definite stand of evolution for the brand. Originally inspired by anatomy, dissection and the Hunterian Museum for it’s “beautifully revolting” exhibitions, the collection veers away from the usual colour palette of black on black, and introduced burnt orange and navy to the mix. Combined with a light sprinkling of Arabian-esque coins to the edge of a cape, or bust of a dress, the tone of the collection was strangely exotic, a feel which was enhanced by the dark makeup and complex braiding which accented the line in the look book.

Directing their clothes at “sexed-up tomboys”, Fanny and Jessy aspire to inject as much “edge” into womenswear as they can, to appeal to a market of “girls like ourselves”. Considering their growing success and desirable garments, it’s safe to say that most would be proud to name themselves a Fanny and Jessy girl.

In March art collective Off Modern collaborated with Tiger Beer to produce a one-night installation of music, video and sculpture. The hugely successful event, taking place at SON Gallery in Peckham, featured live performances from some of the UK’s most influential contemporary artists.

Sweet and Sound was there. We invited each act to be part of a filmed interview, telling us about the track or album that had the biggest impact on them creatively. We used the footage to craft our intimate video series, Essential Tracks, launching mid-April 2011.

Having already heard from Bullion, next up, Henry Mackay-Bull, a significant new young London artist, primarily fascinated by materials and form, and investigating the most effective contexts in which to represent and explain them. He spoke about the track entitled “Hip Hop Bee Bop” by Man Parrish.

In March art collective Off Modern collaborated with Tiger Beer to produce a one-night installation of music, video and sculpture. The hugely successful event, taking place at SON Gallery in Peckham, featured live performances from some of the UK’s most influential contemporary artists.

Sweet and Sound was there. We invited each act to be part of a filmed interview, telling us about the track or album that had the biggest impact on them creatively. We used the footage to craft our intimate video series, Essential Tracks, launching mid-April 2011.

First in the series is the ever-modest and masterful Bullion. He spoke about his definitive musical inspiration, Pay It All Back Volume 1, a compilation series from On-U Sound.

]]> http://www.sweetandsound.co.uk/2011/04/essential-tracks-bullioness/feed/ 0 http://www.sweetandsound.co.uk/2010/08/interview-d-double-e/ http://www.sweetandsound.co.uk/2010/08/interview-d-double-e/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:43:36 +0000 Sweet and Sound http://www.sweetandsound.co.uk/?p=5110

Sweet and Sound Video 16 - We met up with one of the gurus of grime and one half of the Newham Generals D Double E to talk about his upcoming single Street Fighter, traveling and what the future of grime and D Double E has to offer.

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Sweet and Sound Video 17 - Footage from our recent event The Gainsbourg Catalogue @ The Curzon Soho

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