It is with a notable sadness that I’ve chosen to put an end to the blog as it stands. We’ve been at this a year, and it feels necessary to take a step back, re-assess and come back next year with a new game plan and some new stuff in the locker. We’re working on some stuff right now, and I’ll be blunt with you and let you know what we’re working on…

• Overwrite Magazine – an online publication that will be geared mainly towards music-related goings-on. Expect that to rear its fresh-faced head around about Summer.
• Continuation of Soundhall Records – got the next 3/4 releases basically locked down, which will be dropping – one a month – in the new year. Hopefully you can expect tunes to come in a variety of formats (yes physical), once we’ve raised the funds, along with a few free downloads sprinkled here and there. ALSO watch out for our collaborative free compilation with Aliasizm that’s dropping on Christmas Eve.
• Very early planning stage of a next-gen music blog/streaming service that will, if we can get everything all sorted, be ready at some point next year.

On a personal level, while the Soundhall blog gets its bus pass and spends its afternoons watching Countdown, you’ll be able to catch me blogging over at the following places…

• The House of Coxhead – a fantastic site that I’ve written for the in the past, going to resume my service over there
• The Urban Playlist – I’ll be head honcho of the Introducing section of the newly-founded site, which is run meticulously by the lovely Tiffany Calver
• Details Of My Life – Notorious leader of the rip game, Mark runs a tight ship (stupid fucking ships) over there, and again, I plan on resuming blogging over there. He’s got a pretty badass redesign almost ready to go out, which is gonna change the game.

We’ll probably still be sharing tunes over on our Facebook from time to time, so head over HERE for that. Also, the reason we’re doing this is so that we can create the best content for you guys, so if there’s anything you think we’ve missed or want us to implement, please do let us know via the comments below/Facebook/Twitter/email (ryankellingray1@gmail.com).

Thanks for your support over the past year or so, and we’ll see you guys soon!

After a strange health and safety talk first – strange in that we were all told to drink, yet be aware of fire escapes, Rascals opened up. With complete natural stage presence and bursting with confidence, Shizz, Tempz, Merkz and Kay Willz powered through their set, with tracks like “What’s Going Down” and “Fire Blaze” proving more than enough for a support act! Full of energy and showing an ease of live performance, you can easily see why people like Wiley, Mistajam and Professor Green have bigged them up before.

Following was K Koke. With a few more drinks down (we were told to, to be fair) the crowd responded well, and you could tell it was a big performance for him, and Rascals too. Speaking on the nomination, K Koke said, “”It’s a great honour to be going forward with MTV in 2013. UK hip hop on the rise,” and it really is isn’t it – a great sight to see. My highlight was his new track featuring Maverick Sabre, “Turn Back“. A track full of hurt, yet without being purely depressing. It’s just such a good single, and the inclusion of Mav on the hook was a genius combination. Pro Green, Angel, Wretch, and nearly every UK artist has seemingly promoted this track this week, and for good reason.

Now came the headliner, DJ Fresh - and you kind of know what to expect here with the Fresh Live outfit, don’t you? It sounds odd, but you can shamefully forget how many hits DJ Fresh has put out. But after opening with “The Feeling” and secondly, ”Gold Dust” you pinch yourself to see if you really did forget. After that, the rowdy crowd were treated to track after track of quality, including refixed covers of “Paradise“, “Levels“, and “Seven Nation Army” – which was definitely a highlight! The set and event ended on the Lucozade advert… sorry, I mean, amazing single, “Louder“. Beginning acoustically, before jumping right back in at the deep end with bass levels that could only be described in a YouTube comment – it was a fitting close.

Last years Unsigned winner, Context was around last night, as well as Clement Marfo - a nominee for Brand New last year too. And in terms of the poll itself, the Brand New Unsigned winner was chosen last night – and it was indeed one of the 3 Soundhall mentioned yesterday, Ebony Day. With her seriously staggering vocal ability  it’s pretty clear why she’s been considered so highly – she’s also got over 19 million views on her channel. Just have a listen to this sublime cover of Rihanna’s new album track, “Stay”.

Speaking on winning the Unsigned section of the poll, Ebony Day said, “Winning MTV’s Brand New Unsigned 2013 competition is a dream come true! I’m so thankful to my fans for getting me here and I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings.“ She rightly joins a list full of extremely brilliant artists, groups and musicians, such as Disclosure, Angel Haze and Gabrielle Aplin – here’s a full run down of the nominees.

Angel Haze// Disclosure// Ebony Day// Gabrielle Aplin// Haim//

K Koke// Kodaline// Little Nikki// Rascals// Tom Odell

Some names in there are more recognisable than others, so do yourself a favour and go check them all out at MTV ‘HERE‘. Really do though. A nomination in this poll matters, you only have to look at some other names who’ve excelled themselves since being scouted onto this list – artists like Tinie Tempah, Lady Gaga, Wretch 32, oh, and Adele. It’s a big deal, and it obviously means a lot for the artists included, so guess we all have to thank MTV UK then? Definitely!

The whole process of MTV’s Brand New Unsigned kicked off back on September 6th, with Labrinth playing up at an Armani store on Bond Street. Since then over 500 unsigned groups and artists alike, were cut down to 309 and a public vote was opened. Coming from that, it’s been further whittled down to just 20.  The unsigned winner will eventually be placed into the shortlist of MTV’s overall hot tip poll for the next year – in Brand New For 2013. A poll which has already highlighted artists like Tinie, Wretch, Ellie Goulding, and and some nobody called Adele… So, as Ron Burgundy would say, it’s kind of a big deal.

The winner of the Unsigned section of the Brand New campaign will be announced tomorrow night – at the HMV Forum! Up in contention are a bunch of talented artists such as Danny Shah, Ebony Day and Shakka – who we’ve featured a few times here! You’ll be able to find out how the night went, along with who won sometime tomorrow here at Soundhall - with a review going up for The Unsigned Guide and MTV. It’s kind of a big deal for us too.

Dropped very recently, this is a further sign of the new direction Chip is taking. With verses on a couple of terrific New Machine remixes, his own new material had a lot to live up to.  Well, I’m pretty sure “Londoner” does just that. On face value, this track should be incredible. Wretch and Pro with a verse each along with Chip, plus a hook from Loick, almost makes it a given that it’s gonna work, and after a few listens I think it does – and it’s still growing on me. Each verse is tight and brilliantly put together, cushioned by Loick’s supreme vocals on the chorus, making the track feel perfected and complete.

Obviously with it being YouTube, there’s a lot of negativity on the comments right now, but who really cares? If you like it, enjoy it – have a listen here!

It’s around this time of year that us music sites put out their top 3s, 10s, 20s, 100s… you get the idea, of the year just passed, and 2012 has seen some unbelievably good music released – some not so much I guess. Daytime radio can get stick for repeating Maroon 5 and Katy Perry through the year, but get to the evenings, and Radio 1 and 1xtra come into their prime. Zane Lowe and Mistajam premiers are frequently blogged up here at Soundhall, so it feels right that we should show some support back.

Over at Zane Lowe’s blog, he’s selected a shortlist of 100 ‘Hottest Records In The World‘, and it’s left up to us – the general, yet informed public, to choose what track should top the other 99. For me (Will, not Ryan I’ll point out) it was between Disclousre, Rudimental and Plan B, and in the end I opted for “ill Manors” – purely for it being, in my eyes, the rawest, most provoking and meaningful track put out this year, whilst still maintaining incredible production, from the spine-tingling start to the angered end.

There’s so many tracks to pick from (100, funnily enough) but I guarantee it will not be a easy choice to make. But it really does show how good 2012 has been. Stay tuned for Soundhall’s ’Top However Many Tracks’ – which will presumably come next month sometime.

You can vote here!

When you hear tracks with such lyrical emotion it’s seriously hard to not result in writing about it by spraying multiple clichés over a web page. Which is why writing about Ryan Keen’s newest EP instalment, ‘Back To The Ocean‘, is a tough task. Despite that, it truly is an absolutely amazing listen. With such power in the lyrics and their careful delivery, matched equally by the exquisite, expansive guitar playing Ryan has become known for, you seriously can’t help but be taken back by it all.

“Know About Me” gets us going, and in this 5:21 you’re sold on Ryan’s obvious talents. ‘Wanna know what I’m thinking, why I can’t sleep at night, wanna know what I’m drinking, a double of anything’s fine…‘ As an EP opener, you couldn’t really ask for more. Openers are always important, and you have to say Ryan’s nailed the lyrics incredibly on this one!

Moving on next to “All This Time“, and another very strong, emotional track. It’s hard to actually write about it whilst listening to it, as you become instantly under its spell, unable to do anything, apart from bring appropriate memories up with fit like a jigsaw into your head. The video to the song is also fittingly brilliant, have a look. Only cost £20!

“Reflections In The Water” arrives now, a compelling duet with Newton Faulkner – who Ryan recently supported on tour. There’s been comparisons drawn between the two of them, but as much as I dislike comparing artists, both have sublime song-writing and guitar playing ability, and being together on one track only heightens this. Stunning.

Now for an unfortunate end, “Old Scars“. ‘We might move slow, but we’ll go far,’ is perfectly describing the best way to grow as artist while maintaining your credibility, and Ryan’s showing that this method does work. If you put work in to build upon your base of talent, you’ve built the foundations thoroughly. His previous work has been at this same high standard, and he’s remained humble, and thoroughly likeable as a person – which is what you want from a musician really. The track itself, is 4th and final, beautiful showcase on elegant song-writing and magnificent guitar work.

Soundhall were lucky enough to grab a quick chat with Ryan recently, and you can read what’s in store in terms of his debut album, touring with Newton and who he thinks will have a big 2013!

2012 has been pretty crazy but really awesome! Yeah 2013 is set to be bigger than this year, already got a lot planned….!

It’s awesome, its so inspiring and exciting to see friends do well, and when you’ve seen the build it makes the whole thing feel more achievable.

Gabrielle Aplin, Fiona Bevan, Sam Brookes to name a few!

Its hard for me to say, I’m always most excited about my newest songs! But I’m really happy with the EP.

Absolutely amazing. He’s been an inspiration for years, so it’s a real pleasure to be able to write, record and gig with him.

Exactly, the track is really ambient and I felt a slower, more atmospheric video would set a mood to listen the lyrics rather than tell a story.

It really varies, often I doodle around with ideas for months and slowly start to write, other times I’ll write a song in an afternoon.

I hope not! I love gigging!

The albums going to get a lot more publicity (hopefully!) and will be exposed to lots of new people so I want to have my best songs so far as well as new ones….so I’ve taken a track or two off each EP (I’m re-recording some of them) and then there’s lots of new ones too! You can expect more of my normal style but on a slightly bigger level – I’m going to go a bit bigger with production on a couple of the tracks (eg strings/double bass etc) as well as keeping some raw and acoustic. I’m really excited about it!

So, big things to add to the already big things coming from Ryan Keen in the upcoming new year. Make sure you do yourself a favour and go grab a copy of ‘Back To The Ocean‘ if you haven’t already, seriously, just get it. Now.

This week, Swedish duo Cazzette, the young protégés of Ash Pournouri’s label ‘At Night Management’ (home to Avicii), launched the first part of their debut album ‘Eject‘ on Spotify, with the downloadable version to follow.

A 6 track effort, part 1 is an full on onslaught of the Dub-House sound the duo have become instantly recognisable for. It is however, lead track ‘Beam Me Up‘ that is the stand out effort.

The track kicks off with a euphoric and chilling vocal, before the first cry of “BEAM ME UP” is emitted and, their famous hoover sound kicks in, and the track drops straight into full throttle and unrelenting blast of high energy EDM gold.

Personally, I haven’t been more excited about a debut track all year, and this does not disappoint!

To sum the track up, it’s packed with heavy drops and hard hitting bass, it’s catchy, infectious, and if you enjoy it as much as me, will have you raving in your lounge!

The video is a brilliant effort too, seemingly taking inspiration 2009 film ‘District 9‘ featuring 2 floating ‘Cazzette flying saucers’ sending the world into a dancing trance, before leading them towards a music festival, where at the 2nd drop, the track really kicks off!

With the video recently being picked up by promotion service Vevo, and with the resources of At Night behind it, it seems this track is destined for big things!

You can listen to part of of ‘Eject’ on Spotify here.

Check out the video for ‘Beam Me Up‘ below!

Hi, I’m Will. (vague attempt at an Inbetweeneres reference, forgive me)

To anyone beginning to read this call for support, I’m one of the writers for Soundhall and have been since around June. I was doing my own similar thing, but Ryan was basically doing it better, so it could be seen as a bandwagon was hopped upon. With over 100,000 views in practically a year, and an associated record label, the Soundhall name is something special and will keep growing.

When I pitched the idea of setting up an online magazine under the Soundhall collective, we both agreed it was worth perusing - under a different name however (Too many ‘Soundhall‘ branches may confuse you all), so that’s what the title is about. Overwrite Magazine.

What this post is, is a call to anyone wanting to be involved in journalism, preferably music based, or just anyone who has a real passion for music, in view to become involved with Overwrite – I know there’s a lot of Soundhall visitors who are. Obviously it doesn’t need to be just writing and interviewing though! Production is something we’re going to definitely need help with, camera work also, you name it! Anything you feel you can bring to the mag just email us [below] and I’ll be more than happy to get back to you.

I thank you for allowing me to probably waste your time.

Cheers though, get involved!

[overwritemag@gmail.com]