On the 20th April Genius Collective reformed to perform at a special gig in support of Parkinsons UK. John and Mara Leftlung joined the band to document the amazing night, you can check out the amazing pictures on Genius Collective’s facebook or John’s Flickr and his website.
For those of you who were there you know what a special night this was, and we hope that these images serves as a great visual memory.
Thank you to George, Parkinsons UK, The Leftlungs and Cantaloop
Genius Collective family member Kinnie Daley, a forward thinking lyricist from Birmingham has just released a super soulful EP on Street Soul Productions entitled #MelodiesOfANiceGuy. The project features an array of guests, including Carvalho of Versify Music, Fonzo, GC collaborator Kezia Soul and many more. Four of the six tracks were produced by Genius Collective’s MC and Producer Vice, alongside co-production on “A Love Story” featuring Fonzo & Kezia Soul.
Please head over to Kinnie’s Bandcamp page and support this very talented lyricist and help us spread the word: (click the graphics below to be redirected)
Over the last few months we’ve had lots of people asking where Genius Collective have gone, what have we been up to, and when will we return…well….THE WAIT IS OVER! Genius Collective have a powerful new line up featuring 3 vocalists, some incredibly talented musicians and an awesome DJ. Over the next few weeks we will begin to reveal our new line up, but for now please support this brilliant gig in aid of Parkinsons UK at the Hare and Hounds on the 20th April. Tickets are £6 in advance and £8 on the door. Thank you as ever for your support and we look forward to seeing you there!
The lyrical genius that is Ty returns with the awesome “Like You Never”, a true throwback era vibe in which Ty calls for action against the mediocrity accepted in the modern day music scene. With a beautiful backdrop created by a combination of derelict buildings and a halfpipe, this is the introduction to Ty’s signing to Tru Thoughts, and to his forthcoming project entitled “A Kick, Snare and An Idea” EP due for release later this year.
A vinyl release is due from Record Breakin.
The beautifully simple video is by Code Emphasis, who have a rather lovely selection of videos, which you can check here:
http://vimeo.com/codeemphasis
If that wasn’t enough, Ty is creating a T-shirt for the single release. It looks to be strictly limited, so go cop that soon by contacting Ty directly via Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TYMusicFanpage
Vice has been back in the studio the last few months, busy collaborating with a number of artists, including the mighty Great Scott (check out the video for the Vice produced single “Indie Rock & Jager Bombs”) alongside a wide range of other artists, working towards his debut production album (due early 2013) and his collaborative project Delegates Of Rhyme alongside London based MC Donnie Numeric (Check out their debut track from the release entitled “Spark”). Whilst all this has been taking place, Genius Colective have been expanding their musical pathways, with Kezia Soul currently gigging at various local venues.
Anyway! enough of the update, and on with the “Read All About It” section of the post! Vice, alongside long time collaborator Carvalho and Kinnie Daley will be supporting the absolutely awesome, Mercury Prize Winning, Speech Debelle! If you’re yet to check Speech, this is the time, her new single “Live For The Message”, and especially the UK MC remix, are absolutely bananas!:
Her wordplay, honesty and flow are always joined with beautiful soundscapes, with rpoduction credits including the likes of the Rhyming Monster that is Roots Manuva in addition to longtime producer Kwes.
This really is going to be an amazing show, so please be sure to come along adn support a truly special musican. For early bird tickets (£5) contact Vice directly – thegeniuscollective (at) gmail.com
Here’s the FB page for the info –
http://www.facebook.com/events/395559697193947/
We look forward to seeing you there!
Doors open – 6:30, performances from 7pm.
£12 on the door (£10 in advance)
HMV Institute – 78 Digbeth High Street, B5 6DY Birmingham
Morning all!
please help GC’s good friend, the humble, wonderfully talented dude MYKE FORTE!
He has entered the MPC competition in a bid to win an MPC Renaissance, and more importantly some well deserved recognition for the amazing work he’s been doing for years, slowly putting Birmingham’s beatmaking scene on the map, alongside the Louis Den and Soap Box camps.
All you need to do is go the link below and click the thumbs up button..thats it! It’s a really nice video, part interview, part beatmaking, its a good watch.
Please support a seriously talented independent musician.
THANKS!
gc
Birmingham based producer Vice (of Genius Collective) and London based MC Donnie Numeric (of League of Awkward Men & The Popables) reveal the first track from their collaborative project. Under the pseudonym of “The Delegates Of Rhyme”, the project creates a soulful blend of UK Hip Hop, with some incredible guest appearances, including Great Scott, Jimmy Davis, Seraphin and many more.
Due to be released early 2013, this exclusive cut makes up part of brand new clothing label Rhyme Square’s mixtape – Introductions. The project can be downloaded absolutely free from – http://rhymesquare.bandcamp.com/
Stay tuned for more sneak cuts from the Delegates of Rhyme debut project in the near future.
This weekend has seen an absolutely incredible festival hit Birmingham (UK) once again. Artsfest, which is heavily rooted in Birmingham’s modern creative culture, selects the best musicians, dancers, artists and general creative types and spreads them across the city in free events all weekend long.
Having performed twice at Artsfest in 2011, Genius Collective were honoured to be asked to return in 2012, but this time the opportunity was even bigger! We had the huge opportunity to be one of 10 bands to be hand picked for the BBC Introducing stage, which took place on the main stage on the 9th September (sunday). With the sun slowly setting, Genius Collective, accompanied by Kezia Soul (vocals), Carvalho (vocals), Matt “Drummer Matt” Spence and for the first time Saf Ali on Trombone instantly engaged the 200+ strong audience, offering a 25 minute set that promised to showcase Genius Collective’s diverse sound and range of influences to their full extent.
Beginning with a new, latin inspired, intro composed by Alto Smith (deriving from Sergio Mendes!), the band leapt into action with Grumpy Old Man, which although always being a crowd favourite, seemed funkier than ever with the horn section. The set flew by, ending with the mammoth Theory:
which, assisted by the super quick lighting engineer, saw the crowd get involved in a call and response that had everyone jumping around and having a good time.
This was most definitely one of Genius Collective’s defining musical moments, and for that we have to thank Louise Brierley and Brett Birks of BBC WM Introducing, who offered this unique opportunity.
If you missed it the first time, we have a few of our tracks from our live radio performance for BBC Introducing at the start of the year on our soundcloud, including Grumpy Old Man:
Look out for a photo diary of the event, courtesy of John and Mara Leftlung very soon!
Of course, we also have to thank the Yardbird for having us open the Yardbird stage on Saturday 8th, and the Artsfest team for making this such a special weekend.
Here’s to next year!!!!
It’s finally here! A few months ago we leaked Sam Redmore’s remix of Genius Collective’s summer soul joint “Future” featuring the beautiful vocals of Kezia Soul. Since then, London based ISM Records have been beavering away to create an absolutely brilliant (and somewhat humbling) compilation of remixes, alongside the original single release version of Future. Here’s what ISM Records had to say about the matter….
Ism Records present Birmingham’s multi talented Genius Collective, a live 7 piece hip hop, soul & jazz band offering an eclectic sound to get your body moving, your heads bopping and your brain thinking.
Genius Collective evolved from 7 musicians’ love of soulful, funky music. Effortlessly blending Hip Hop, Jazz and more, this Collective create good vibes and rock it live every time through down to earth lyrics, beautiful vocals and funky rhythms! Fronted by the sultry sounds of Zoe Green alongside a host of top-notch guest vocalists including Keiza Johnson and Carvalho, they’re complimented by MC and producer Vice, and have honed their live sound with a relentless performance schedule, these guys and girls are a modern day funk force to be reckoned with!
Already being championed by scene makers Norman Jay, Mr Scruff, Los Charly’s Orchestra, Femi Fem, Ashley Beedle as well as receiving radio support from Craig Charles (6 Music Funk & Soul Show) the band hooked up with Ism Records & Yam Who? in early 2012.
Sam Redmore the man behind the Freestyle club night at the Bullshead in Birmingham has played an integral part in promoting and booking the group. They regularly tear it up at his weekly parties and are often compared to bands from the early 90’s Hip Hop & Acid Jazz scene, think Brand New Heavies, The Roots and Young Disciples from a new era.
The live show and repertoire is a stunning balance between the past and present, both rich in depth history and culture. Ism has selected two fine tracks, the Genius original ‘Future’ and the sublime cover of the Amy Winehouse ‘Stronger Than Me’ which see’s the GC delivering a classic version of a legendary track.
Sam Redmore‘s interpretation of ‘Future’ is a stripped, heavy, beatdown classic, staying closely to the live arrangement whilst Yam Who? brings in the synths, 80’s B-Line and slams some beats working the song into a timeless party joint. The second Yam Who? remix is again a total workout, more laidback but still another finely tuned bonafide anthem for which he pulled in additional players from the NYC Odyssey disco band, Rob Aitken (Guitar) & Tiernan Godel (Bass).
Currently working on a number of collaborations with Great Scott, Why G? (Zulu Nation) and DME / Da Mighty Elementz to name but a few, GC are spreading the musical word across the country this summer, with gigs and festivals planned in Birmingham, London, Bristol, Norfolk, Harrogate and more.
You can grab your copy of this brilliant release from Juno Records NOW
Earlier this year we had the pleasure of meeting Great Scott whilst at Freestyle Birmingham. We began to plot and plan various collaborations, many of which will appear later this year. The first collab is in the form of a remix of Great Scott’s latest single release entitled “Everything I Do Goin’ Be Funky”. The rhyming duo consisting of Young Chris and Jaws, accompanied the uber talented Kid Keith on the ones and twos have rapidly garnered major support among the Hip Hop and mainstream fraternity, including gaining support and airplay from BBC 1xtra and BBC Radio 1! 1xtra went onto playlist the groups debut single “I Need Some Money”.
The trio capture that long lost dusty breaks vibe that has lacked in recent years. With entertaining lyrics and seriously nice beats, this lot are destined for big things in the near future! SO! To celebrate the collaboration of Vice x Genius Collective x Great Scott, this remix (among some other remix bangers!) is available absolutely free from here, aswell as Great Scott’s Bandcamp page…so…enjoy!
http://wearegreatscott.bandcamp.com/album/everything-i-do-goin-be-funky-ep
And here’s the video for the remix:
geniuscollective 