Getintothis profiles the 12 shortlisted artists for the GIT Award 2013.
The GIT Award celebrates and promotes the best of Merseyside music.
The shortlist provides a snapshot of the year in music, recognising artistic achievement across a range of genres. Here are the 12 artists that have made this year’s GIT Award shortlist.
Baltic Fleet
Baltic Fleet is the work of multi-instrumentalist Paul Fleming. Channelling motorik beats and dark instrumental hooks, Rough Trade have called his music ‘faultless pieces which capture the spirit of Brian Eno and NEU!‘ His 2012 critically-acclaimed second album, Towers, was the culmination of touring the world as keyboardist for Echo & The Bunnymen. Last year Fleming proved one of the highlights at the inaugural Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia.
Baltic Fleet
Barberos
Barberos are Joel Murray, Joshua Jones and Giacomos Fazi, an electronic noise band from Liverpool. Renowned for their visceral live performances, which combine duel poly-rhythmic assaults, synth roars and silver spandex full body suits, the trio have been endlessly touring Europe for the last four years while gaining a ferocious fanbase on Merseyside. They released their finest record to date ‘OOO‘ in September 2012.
Barberos
By The Sea
Joe Edwards, Mark Jackson, Daniel O’Connell, Liam Power and Andy Royden are Wirral quartet By The Sea. Melding dream pop rhythms with evocative textured guitar swells, By The Sea have become one of Liverpool’s most exciting new bands. Their 2012 eponymous debut LP, produced by former GIT Award nominee Bill Ryder-Jones, gained mass praise from the UK music press with the NME calling them ‘burgeoning kitchen-sink dramatists for the 4G generation.‘
By The Sea
Clinic
Ade Blackburn, Brian Campbell, Jonathan Hartley and Carl Turney make up legendary Liverpool alt-pop outfit Clinic. Formed in 1997, and signed to Domino Records, the band have toured the world with the likes of Radiohead, The Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire. Fusing post-punk grooves, Ade’s uniquely disquieting vocal and their surgical masks live visual motifs, they’re perhaps Liverpool’s most overlooked musical exponent in the last two decades. They released seventh studio album, Free Reign in 2012, once again to mass critical acclaim.
clinicvoot.org
Nadine Carina
Half Italian, half Croatian, born in Switzerland yet based in Liverpool, songwriter Nadine Carina is a magical box of delights. Mixing guitar, MIDI keyboards, piano and an assortment of folkish voodoo her music showcases a montage of found sounds, textured percussion and purring vocals which carefully weave deep into your being. Her prolific output culminated in 2012 EP Little Bits which garnered national blog buzz including the BBC’s Tom Robinson.
nadinecarina.webs.com
Conan
Jon Davies, Phil Coumbe and Paul O’Neil are Conan – Liverpool’s most celebrated heavy outfit in decades. Combining interplanetary guitar thunder, duel-warrior roaring vocals and psychedelic imagery, Conan are one of UK rock’s most respected bands. Their 2012 album Monnos, out via Burning World Records, was championed by heavy metal bible Metal Hammer as the definitive stoner doom album ‘guaranteed to rattle your teeth right out of your gums‘.
hailconan.com
Dan Croll
Despite his tender age, one man pop machine, Dan Croll, has been a key player on the Liverpool scene for several years. Emerging through LIPA‘s ranks as a talented songwriter, Dan has collaborated with a raft of Merseyside musician’s before embarking on his debut single From Nowhere which has garnered praise from 6Music, The Guardian and most recently scooping Amazing Radio‘s Best British Male Solo Artist. He has just embarked on his debut tour of the United States.
dancroll.com
John Heckle
Merseyside DJ and producer John Heckle has been playing established club nights since he was 15. Having DJ-ed at Liverpool’s Bugged Out and Voodoo he then went on to tour Europe and sign a deal with pioneering dance label Mathematics Recordings. A string of releases, including his seminal debut album Second Son, combined with his exceptional live shows, culminated with John collecting a 2012 Qwartz Electronic Music Award in Paris for his Life On Titan EP.
johnheckle.com
Jetta
Jetta is the moniker of one of Liverpool’s most exciting rising pop stars, Jetta John-Hartley. A former backing vocalist for Paloma Faith and Cee-Lo Green, this evocative young woman has invited comparisons to Solange and The xx. Her debut single Start A Riot released late last year, showcases her stunning vocal ability, and has already notched up nearly 100,000 plays on YouTube.
startariot.co.uk
Tyler Mensah
Fifteen-year-old Tyler Mensah is the youngest GIT Award nominee to date. Blending outrageous vocal ability with a confidence beyond his years, Tyler has already accrued a mass following. With UK industry showcases under his belt, Tyler, who cites Frank Ocean, Michael Jackson and Usher as influences, has recently supported ex-GIT Award nominee Esco Williams at Liverpool’s O2 Academy.
tylermensahmusic.com
Stealing Sheep
Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer met while working on Lark Lane and together formed Stealing Sheep. Through a combined love of krautrock, 70s psych, gypsy jazz and electronica, the trio have hypnotized audiences across the land with their sepulchral lo-fi sonics and lyrical alchemy. Their critically-acclaimed 2012 debut album Into The Diamond Sun out via Heavenly Records featured heavily in the national music press’ best albums lists leading to national tours with Mercury Prize winners Alt-J and US indie legends The Postal Service.
stealingsheep.co.uk
Wave Machines
Timothy Bruzon, Carl Brown, Vidar Norheim and James Walsh are electronic pop collective Wave Machines. Formed in 2007, the quartet released their stunning genre-straddling debut Wave If You’re Really There in 2009. Having toured the globe, playing alongside the likes of The Flaming Lips, they returned in 2013 with second album, Pollen, once again showcasing their electro-pop nous.
wavemachines.co.uk
