Born in Bosnia and now residing in Croatia, Beat Gates was schooled on a diet of J Dilla, Fruity Loops and crate digging. It’s now ten years since he made his first beat and he’s put out 7 beat tapes, 2 EPs and a whole host of collaborations to boot. Whilst his music is predominantly as a solo artist making sample-based hip hop of sorts, previous work has ranged from house/tech-house (with the groups Starlifters and Apollo Underground), hip hop with the group Akademija, and drum and bass (watch out for his upcoming Atom EP for that).

Below we have the brilliant Loopnuts, a 14-track beat tape which samples everything from retro TV to obscure rock. This will blow your socks off.

Welcome to the family Beat Gates.

Ont’ Sofa’s mission is to challenge the nation with real music for their eyes and ears, giving them an alternative to the ‘usual singing programmes ont’ tele’. They are certainly doing a great job showing the world what real talent is, and this performance from Thabo & The Real Deal illustrates just that.

Check out more from Ont’ Sofa by clicking on their Youtube Channel.

Original logo by Olivia Greaves // Graphic Designer
oliviagreavesdesign.com

WINNING DESIGN

by Aisling Barclay // Graphic Arts Student, Winchester
aislingbarclay.tumblr.com/

Well done to Aisling, who’s just won herself a lifetime of Boom Better releases free!  The 18 year old Graphic Arts student said about her design: “I wanted to do a pretty, swirly rose-garden design that was interesting to look at, with some extra details thrown in to make it more original… Swirly, complicated patterns are a bit of a favourite of mine.” We love the attention to detail that Aisling has applied to the logo, but manages to retain the essence of the original perfectly. Be sure to check out Aisling’s Tumblr - we know we’ll be following her career closely.

RUNNER UP

Stitched Version by Suzie B Cichy // Art Student, Leeds
flickr.com/suziecichy

We also loved Suzie Cichy’s hand stitched version, and will be sending her copies of the Yoruba, and Thabo & The Real Deal EPs as a runner up prize.

Our own in-house versions

Slanted Version by Dizar Zabalegui Angel // Creative
dizarzabaleguiangel.com

Sprayed Version by Alex J Watson // Label Founder
alexjwatson.com 

Here’s his solo rendition of the Coltrane classic ‘Giant Steps’.

Bare knuckle acoustic soul… Let us introduce Thabo & The Real Deal.

Fronted by the extraordinary soul vocals of Thabo Mkwananzi and backed by a trio of amazing live musicians, The Real Deal combines old-school soul sensibilities with positive messages, infectious grooves and fantastic musicianship. Featuring the talents of Aron Kyne on rhodes, Emmanuel Allert on acoustic guitar and Ali Mac on percussion, The Real Deal are an acoustic soul band that pack a punch; playing bare knuckle soul that will have you dancing-as well as thinking.

We are very happy to welcome Thabo & The Real Deal to the Boom Better family. You can expect to hear lots of new releases in the not so distant future, but for now you can listen to their debut EP available in the player below.

Live Shows

No shows booked at the moment.

United by their love for high-energy Afro-Cuban, Salsa and Jazz, Yoruba are a powerful young band intent on pushing Latin Jazz boundaries. Led by pianist/composer Aron Kyne and comprising of some of the hottest young talent from the North they have been turning heads everywhere they go. Drawing together a diverse mix of influences ‘Yoruba’ has it’s own take on Latin Jazz, blending beautiful harmonies with syncopated rhythms, fiery solos with a massive horn section sound, expect absorbing originals with unexpected covers.

You can check out Yoruba’s self-titled EP below. Watch out for an upcoming vinyl release on Boom Better Records coming soon.

Live Shows

Welcome to the spotlight, Leeds-based beat creator and musician Wonky Logic (aka Dwayne Kilvington). An upcoming force on the left-field hip-hop scene, Wonky Logic blends soulful electronics with crunk hip-hop beats.

“I guess my mum pumping reggae vinyls had a heavy influence the music I make. The intricate basslines got me; Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Steel Pulse plus all the rest got played daily… I recently DJ’d a party just using my mums vinyls, it went down pretty well. I started playing keys when my mum got me a Casio light up keyboard for my birthday when I was eight or nine and I learnt all the tunes on that, then started teaching myself. I got into making beats when I was in year seven at school on Fruityloops. I remember, I chopped up the Spongebob theme and sent it to a few friends and eventually a load of people had it!”

A long way on Spongebob remixes, Wonky Logic is putting the final touches on his first official EP, to be released on Boom Better Records this year. To give you a little taster of what’s to come he’s giving away free downloads of his track ‘Bubble Pan Scrubba’ (click the download button in the player). You can also stream the track below.

Already hotly tipped as one to watch this year by Jazzwise Editor Jon Newey (amongst others), young boss-saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan is certainly set to make a mark on the UK jazz scene in 2012. Born and bred in Ireland’s County Galway, the award winning saxophonist moved to England back in 2008 and has been a strong force on the northern Jazz scene ever since.

Stone-Lonergan’s track ‘Pedalo’ was recently featured on the Yamaha New Jazz Sessions CD and followed with a gig at London’s famous 606 club, after he was awarded the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Award in 2010. The band on the track included his staple backline of Steve ‘Chief’ Hanley on drums and Maxwell Sterling on double bass, with trumpeter Kim Macari joining him upfront. Playing tenor or soprano saxophone, Riley can also be seen playing as a sideman gigging regularly with bands such as Somethin’ Else (Cannonball Adderley Tribute) who have just finished their UK tour.

Riley is currently working on his debut album, to be released late this year on Boom Better Records.