Leeds' finest talent to be showcased

Belgrave Hall, one of the city’s most popular music venues is working with music promoters ‘Super Friendz’ on the Collaborationz project.

It will see one collaboration launched each month with focus on a different partnership.

The Collaborationz team told City Buzz: “With the Collaborationz project, the ever forward thinking promoters wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the people and partnerships that make the North an exciting place to collaborate .

“The aim is to highlight the diverse range of talent being cultivated in the North at this moment in time.”

The first three months of 2017 will see Super Friendz and the venues partner up with the likes of Leeds label, Youth Club Sounds, Welcome Skate Store and Alphabet Brewing Co.

Details of each collaboration will be released quarterly and each will be produced on limited release and available for one month only.

And the first project features one of the most talked about new artists emerging at the moment - and he’s from Leeds.

Krumm has been talked about and played on Radio 1 by resident DJ Annie Mac and he leads the sounds on Youth Club Sounds’ mixtape.

Also on there is, Caro who have caught the attention of Huw Stephens; Denmarc Creary & Izzy Flynn; Harris Hameed who has received heavy rotation from the BBC Asian network, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Dulahli who’s chopped and screwed hip-hop has seen him added to this years Soundwave festival.

Youth Club Sounds were approached to become part of the Collaborationz project after catching the eyes and ears of Headrow House and Belgrave Music Hall Head Booker Ben Lewis.

He said: “Leeds has always had praise heaped on its guitar music, but right now there’s a really exciting scene coming up of producers, multi-instrumentalists and MC’s.

“What we’re doing with this mixtape is wanting to shine a light on some of these artists and the forward thinking, progressive music they’re making.

“We’ve teamed up with Youth Club Sounds to help curate the tape as they’ve been at the forefront of pushing Leeds’ nightlife in the last few months and have really nurtured a stable of artists, many of whom can be found on this mix.”

Youth Club sounds started around 18 months ago by a core group who admit they “wanted to hear the music we loved on big speakers”. But then they started introducing the city to new music such as Atlanta trap, New York hip hop, grime and dance music.

Robbie Russell said: “Having the opportunity to work with Super Friendz has been immense, as they’re always willing to commit to pushing the Leeds scene, facilitating shows with cutting-edge musicians and given local talent a stage to cut their teeth on. “This release is about showing the city off, condensing the best of Leeds new wave onto a nicely packaged cassette tape.” The Super Friendz / Youth Club Sounds Mixtape is available from Crash & Jumbo Records in Leeds and on Soundcloud from tomorrow.