“I think 2020 showed us how important radio is. It’s that human connection and companionship,” says Jaguar Bingham, who sounds just as warm and friendly as she does when presenting for the BBC. “We’ve all felt disconnected for nearly 12 months now, and knowing there’s someone out there broadcasting to you, sharing music or knowledge with you, is extremely comforting.”
For almost a year now, the effervescent Jaguar has been one of those people beaming musical positivity, escapism and good vibes down the airwaves and into people’s homes. Her BBC Introducing Dance show has a specific focus on new music, and she’s managed to make a real mark in the last 12 months, despite difficult circumstances. “I’ve recorded every show from my bedroom, with my producer down the line on Zoom, with a Radio 1 mic muff I had from my time as an intern when I was 19 back in 2014!” she tells DJ Mag.
Ross Giblin/Stuff
The Homegrown 2021 stages are taking shape across the Wellington waterfront as 190 container loads of equipment is unloaded.
Wellington’s Homegrown festival has 50 acts across six stages, making it the largest collection of New Zealand music on one ticket. Here are five of
Stuff’s picks from this year’s line-up, which will be on show on Saturday, March 20.
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Stu Kora (guitar, keys, backing vocals), Ara Adams-Tamatea (bass), Joel Shadbolt (lead guitar, lead vocals), Miharo Gregory (keys, backing vocals), Brad Kora (drums, backing vocals) from L.A.B. New Zealand’s best live band?
L.A.B, known for their epic musicianship and powerful live shows, mix their reggae heart with electronic colour and blues rock fire.
YouTube production tutorials are a wild west. Thousands of channels with tens of thousands of videos, ranging wildly in quality, opinion, style and delivery. While YouTube’s algorithms often lead you in the right direction, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can end up in a rabbit hole of bro-step Serum tutorials (which might be what you’re looking for), while the more nuanced and wide-ranging channels could pass you by.
Given the number of new producers, musicians and DJs who’ve turned their interest into a hobby in lockdown, we thought it was a good time to spotlight 10 of the best YouTube channels for learning how to make music. Below are invaluable resources for learning and inspiration, be it sound design, mixing, production, composition, gear reviews, live performances, beat making, track breakdowns and much more. Shout out to a few others we couldn’t fit in like Exquisite Beats, ADSR, Sonic State and Red Means Recording.
It’s an uncomfortable fact of the situation that some people have had a good pandemic. The rhythm of our daily lives has been disturbed, maybe forever, but for a lucky few that disturbance has been a boon. The type of person this applies to has: a steady job, the ability to work from home, an optimistic mindset and most importantly the kind of work ethic that was already pushing them to exhaustion, until the virus cancelled all plans. Cut to Jamz Supernova: the BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ whose Tuesday night show has been a lifeline during this year of remote listening and BYO vibes.