Fopp Award for New Music 2006: The Winners

Share This

WINNERS EPs RELEASE - 19 FEBRUARY 2007

Fopp, PRS Foundation And Clear Sound & Vision Present Finished CDs And A Showcase From The Winners Of This Year’S Unsigned Awards

The winners of this year’s Fopp Award for New Music have emerged from the studio with EPs containing brand new material, which they will perform live at a London Showcase at Dingwalls on Thursday 22nd February.

The competition has brought together four exciting and varied acts: Singer/songwriter Conrad Vingoe; eclectic, electronic pop seven-piece Morton Valence; three piece indie band Olympus Mons and mould-breaking Brighton-based five-piece The Dials. The artists spent the Autumn recording professionally in KORE studios and working with designers from CSV on the artwork for their new EPs. A compilation of all these bands, along with their EPs, will be released and on sale in Fopp stores nationwide from Monday 19th February. This will coincide with the London showcase performance to an audience of key music industry players, alongside fans of new music, at Dingwalls on Thursday 22nd February. Last year’s showcase was an unprecedented success, with new music-lovers queuing around the block for entry.

Read about the winners by following the links below
Olympus Mons

Morton Valence

Conrad Vingoe

The Dials

Unsigned bands from all over London and the South East were invited to send in their original material to enter the Fopp Award 2006, with the winners Conrad Vingoe and The Dials both from Brighton and the Olympus Mons and Morton Valence based in London. This initiative, which is a partnership between Fopp, PRS Foundation and Clear Sound & Vision, will give these acts a great opportunity to raise their profile and expose their music to new audiences.

The winners were chosen from many entries by a panel including: Dougie Bruce from Universal Publishing, the man responsible for signing Kaiser Chiefs and Maximo Park, Jimmy Smith A & R at Parlophone, home of Coldplay and Radiohead, and James Jam, New Band Editor at the NME, along with representatives from each of the partners.

As the scheme goes from strength to strength, the winners’ development will be closely watched. Look out for news on the showcase and other future gigs as well as tracks from the bands available to download from Fopp’s website www.fopp.co.uk

Fopp was founded by current Company Chairman Gordon Montgomery in 1981. Over the past 25 years the company has become one of the fastest growing and most successful independent music, film and book retailers in the UK with a chain of stores from Aberdeen to London.

Extremely competitive prices, excellent service and a huge product range have consolidated Fopp’s popularity with its customers.

PRS Foundation

http://www.prsfoundation.co.uk

The PRS Foundation for New Music (PRSF) is the UK’s largest independent funder purely for new music of any genre. Its main aims are to stimulate and support the creation and performance of new music in the UK, and to help this reach a wide audience. The Foundation provides essential core support for creators, performers and producers of new music and underpins exciting musical developments. This is achieved through its own funding schemes and partnerships with other organisations.

Since March 2000 PRSF has supported over 2045 new music initiatives with a total of £8.5 million. The Foundation is widely respected as an approachable and adventurous organisation. It is known for funding a broad range of activity, from unsigned band showcases to composer residencies, and from commissions for new music to experimental live electronica.

Clear Sound and Vision

http://www.c-s-v.co.uk

Established in 1997 Clear Sound and Vision provides a clear and personal style of design and manufacturing service for record companies, publishers and all users of audio and dvd formats. Their portfolio of customers ranges from one-off customers looking to manufacture a first release to small independent companies and corporate organisations.

CSV are able to supply an excellent, complete, one-stop manufacturing service including all aspects of design, reprographics, printing, manufacturing and total fulfilment. CSV have project managed releases by a diverse range of leading artists and organisations including: The Strokes, The Libertines, Belle and Sebastian, Radiohead, Bjork and several Premiership football clubs.