Boards of Canada Machinedrum, Eskmo, Dels, Kwes, Seams etc

►ESKMO- Brendan Angelides is a San Francisco based electronic music producer who records and performs live as Eskmo. His multi-genre compositions have been featured on influential labels like Warp Records and Planet Mu (most recently having been signed to the mighty Ninja Tune). While Angelides’ tracks encompass a wide range of electronic styles, he avoids classifications. Bleep.com described his tracks as “Masterfully produced… sophisticated, post-Dilla hip-hop funk“. His last single of 2009 entitled “Let Them Sing” on Mu was met with equal praise and described by sites like Boomkat as “[Putting] Eskmo on his own electronic plateau.”

In the past five years he’s released over a dozen singles and EPs while touring throughout North America and Europe. He’s also remixed works by diverse artists such as Bibio, Spor, STS9, Amon Tobin and Bar9, to name a few.

Ninja Tune recording artist and film composer Amon Tobin hailed his work as “some of the best production I’ve heard in recent times.”

►DELS- A young MC and graphic designer from Ipswich who grew up with a serious Wiley and Outkast habit, Kieren Dickins aka DELS has been making a bit of a stir for a couple of years now. Will Ashon, in charge of A&R at Big Dada, says, "He's the perfect Big Dada artist really - a very talented MC who pushes what he can say with words as hard as he can and combines it with a really adventurous attitude towards music. Oh, and he does his own artwork and videos, too, which makes things much easier!"

Dickins himself says, "I am so happy to be joining a record label with such a rich musical heritage. I have always felt it was important that I signed to a label that wouldn't attempt to compromise my vision. I think that my music has finally found the perfect home in Big Dada. The likes of Joe Hot Chip, Kwes and Micachu are all artists/producers that I loved before I began working on my debut album. So I feel incredibly lucky to be working with such a talented group. DELS' debut album will be released early in 2011.

►KWES- initially performing wurlitzer piano on Jack Penate’s debut LP, he then went on to do a UK and European tour with him playing the laptop, snare and melodica. He then co-produced a mixtape entitled Kwesachu Vol.1, with Micachu (as "Kwesachu"), alongside MCs Dels & Ghostpoet, with appearances from London pop-bands Golden Silvers, Hot Chip and Man Like Me to name a few. Matthew Herbert touted him as a musician and producer to watch, admiring his "really unusual, experimental approach"

Kwes has also reworked several artists including Damon Albarn’s opera ‘Monkey’, Portico Quartet, Keane, Zero 7 amongst many others. He is currently producing Big Dada signing DELS' forthcoming album due for release in early 2011.

►MACHINEDRUM- has produced and composed several albums and various aliases since his first independent release in 1999. Covering an astonishing variety of styles with ease he has always been a trailblazer- bridging the gap between genres that would otherwise never have met before. His debut now you know gained international recognition and was heralded as “the standard to which the next wave of imitators aspires”- PITCHFORK

►ANXST- It was a small town mundanity and endless sparse countryside which lead to ANXST’s genre transcending dexterity and takes in the experimental Dubstep trip of Vex’d, Industrial Techno of Surgeon, the future glitch of Flying Lotus and the scattered experimental drum and bass of Amon Tobin which results in the vast textured styling of this talented artist.

►BLANK DISCO- is primarily the musical persona of London / Home Counties based electronica artist Dan Seville. Although Dan’s musical activities have their roots in experiments going back to the mid ‘90s, his Blank Disco project only started to take full shape in 2009, since when he has embarked on a concentrated process of developing and refining his sound aesthetic, combining elements of techno, ambient and field recordings to effect his skewed vision of the contemporary landscape. The recording process for From Zero involved much consideration of approaches to sound, and traced a shift from heavily sample-based manipulations to a stronger focus on the use of synthesised instruments, while attempting to retain a visceral feel to the music. Many tracks were reworked or rejected during a ruthless process of weeding out any hint of “filler”, and the result is a set that grips from start to finish. The album was mastered by Noel Summerville at Metropolis, whose CV includes work with the likes of Autechre, Boards of Canada and Mira Calix.

“I wanted the music to feel like there was a bunch of strange, slightly disintegrating, machines playing music in a concrete bunker somewhere in the future, and I’ve just turned up with a reel-to-reel tape machine and recorded it.”

►SEAMS- Touring with Gold Panda and Dam Mantle whilst selling out a run of “Nightcycles” pressed by Tough Love set Seams off to a very strong start. Always a musician, James Welch went through school playing guitar in bands, often taking the role of producer. Starting out on four track tape he moved onto Logic then Ableton Live and most recently stepped back to tape incorporating a cassette dictaphone into his production setup.

Most electronic music fans will recognise in Seams’ organic sound a reference to traditional songwriting and structure. I’m sure for a new generation of listeners Seams will be the gateway drug to electronica for those kids that grew up listening to guitar music.