General Levy, Rodney P, Skitz and Dynamite MC Set To Perform at Nozstock The Hidden Valley

Noz­stock The Hid­den Val­ley, the fam­ily-run, fam­ily friendly and home-made fest­iv­al set across a work­ing farm in stun­ning rur­al Here­ford­shire, returns for its 19^th year in July 2017. Fath­er and daugh­ter Noz and Ella cur­ate one of the country’s most charm­ing and beguil­ing fest­ivals, sur­roun­ded by rolling hills and a world away from real­ity. It’s a week­end of escap­ism, inspir­a­tion and enchant­ment which encom­passes everything from pop, ska, folk, funk, hip-hop, drum and bass, house and a whole lot more. This year’s theme of Keep­in’ It Sur­real will see the farm trans­formed into a won­drous world of oddit­ies and mys­tery, with plenty of inspir­a­tion for fancy dress­ers across all ages.

 Sea­sick Steve has come a long way in ten years since he burst into the public’s con­scious­ness with amaz­ingly raw per­form­ances on TV. It’s his aston­ish­ing live per­form­ances that have turned him into such a power­ful force, and his latest album gave was his fifth con­sec­ut­ive top ten in the UK and cul­min­ated in a per­form­ance at Wemb­ley Arena. Next up are the Happy Mondays, one of the most icon­ic bands of their time, with their sound mix­ing the rhythms of house music, ’70s soul and ’60s psy­che­delia. With a hugely influ­en­tial leg­acy they are part of the UK’s music roy­alty, cap­tur­ing the spir­it of an era with infec­tious songs and wild per­form­ances.

Few people have con­trib­uted as much to UK urb­an music as Gen­er­al Levy. Strong influ­ences in reg­gae and black cul­ture have defined his sound, as has soul, ska, hip-hop and calypso, cre­at­ing a true totem of the scene. Young rap­per Ocean Wis­dom spent years per­fect­ing his craft, remain­ing rel­at­ively quiet even in his homet­own of Brighton. That was until a chance encounter with hip-hop pro­du­cer Dirty Dike; one take later and Walkin’ was born, and a new star with it. Mungo’s Hi Fi are a pro­duc­tion unit who pull off that rare trick of mak­ing reggae/dancehall that is ori­gin­al and of qual­ity. True to the scene’s DIY eth­os, they built their first sound sys­tem from speak­ers found in a skip and began pro­du­cing on an old Atari, and have nev­er looked back.

Beans on Toast has become some­thing of a cult fig­ure, singing simple songs that tackle big issues, with hon­est lyr­ics and quick wit. Rod­ney P and Skitz are two icon­ic names; Rod­ney has been widely regarded as the god­fath­er of Brit­ish hip-hop, inspir­ing a gen­er­a­tion of Brit­ish emcees and pro­du­cers, and fel­low luminary Skitz has been at the fore­front of the UK hip-hop scene for years, and is anoth­er revered found­ing fath­er. The Cor­res­pond­ents are sing­er Mr Bruce and pro­du­cer Chucks. They formed in 2007, and with­in two years had taken their hi-octane dance music from house parties to fest­iv­al main stages, cov­er­ing jazz and blues to the neth­er regions of elec­tro and drum’n’­bass. And to say Dabbla Illa­man and DJ Frosty is an elec­tric live per­former is an under­state­ment; his sig­na­ture fast-flow shows incite riot­ous dance floor beha­viour, whilst the fero­ciously fast-chat­ting Lady Chann is an imit­able female pres­ence in the world of dance­hall and bash­ment.

Next up are Land of the Giants, who have been get­ting crowds to groove until they sweat with foot-stomp­ing beats, toe-tap­ping bass­lines and Andy Quick’s soar­ing vocals. The Stiff Joints are a ten-piece ska army who segue across blues, folk and rock. Cha­in­ska Brassika are the mis­chiev­ous rabble who have been spread­ing their con­ta­gious horn-driv­en ska anthems across the UK. And labelled one of the break­through artists of the year by BBC 6Music, but already notch­ing up sold out shows, Han­nah Peel’s exper­i­ment­al pop sound is def­in­itely one to watch. Fur­ther live acts include Jeremi­ah Fer­rari, Sola Rosa, Jalen N’ Gonda, Death By Unga Bunga, Oh My God! It’s The Church, Haus, The Meow Meows, Jasper In The Com­pany of Oth­ers, Mic­all Parkn­sun, Natty Speaks, Desert Boots, Youth, Boy Azooga, Andy Jones, Lit FM, Mango Fact­ory and Nor­man­ton Street with many more to come.

Nozstock’s DJ billing intro­duces some clas­sic names along­side the new breed of tal­ent shin­ing through. Famed for his invent­ive com­bos and wily tech­nic­al abil­ity, Krafty Kuts’ sets smack of a man addicted to funk in all its forms and his tal­ents have won count­less awards. Delta Heavy are one of the most excit­ing duos to hit dance floors across the globe. Over the years they’ve stead­ily conquered club-lands from Eng­land to Ibiza, dom­in­ated charts in the US, and turned in a clas­sic Radio One Essen­tial Mix at the end of 2016. DJ Haz­ard has knocked out enough dance­floor bombs to be con­sidered a ser­i­ous son­ic ter­ror­ist; his incred­ible anthems ‘Bus­ted’ and ‘Mr Happy’ topped drum ‘n’ bass charts. He’s joined by award win­ning MC Eks­man.

Con­ceived by drum and bass vis­ion­ary Kasra back in 2002, the Crit­ic­al Music name has since blos­somed into one of the most suc­cess­ful inde­pend­ent record labels in the UK. They are cel­eb­rat­ing their 15^th anniversary in 2017 with Break, Ivy Lab, Kasra and For­eign Concept in attend­ance at Noz­stock. Bass­line boom­ing Ram Records’ Load­star are an on-point music pro­duc­tion duo rooted in drum and bass, who also work in oth­er genres includ­ing dub­step and elec­tro. And fel­low Ram label artists Mind Vor­tex have enjoyed sup­port from Mis­ta­jam, Grooverider, DJ Hype and Drum­sound, con­tinu­ing to smash clubs and fest­ivals, whilst Fran­kee is part of a new wave of pro­du­cers to hit the scene – fast becom­ing one of its most essen­tial names. Then there’s Noz­stock reg­u­lar Uncle Dugs, cur­at­ing a drum and bass show­case fea­tur­ing Billy Bunter and more names to be announced. Fur­ther DJ sup­port comes from Octo Pi, Scope, Dex, Remidy MC, Trafic MC and the return of the psytrance- pound­ing expo­nents Tribe of Frog.

Over in the arts quarter are Phil Kaye, Jayde Adams, Vel­veteen Val­ley Cab­aret, Ban­tam of the Opera Theatre, Spare Room Arts’ Little Won­der­land, Clik Clik’s Cab­in­et of Lost Secrets, Mash Cinema present­ing Wrong Dir­ec­tions and inter­act­ive street arts, walk­about, cir­cus and crafts offer inspir­a­tion to fest­iv­al vis­it­ors look­ing for more than music, and the Little Won­der­land offers a vast range of enter­tain­ment for fam­il­ies and kids. Lots more will be revealed soon.

Set on a beau­ti­ful work­ing farm in the heart of Here­ford­shire, the reas­sur­ingly wel­com­ing and inde­pend­ent fest­iv­al has evolved from 50 friends at the inaug­ur­al gath­er­ing and flour­ished into an intim­ate music­al odys­sey. With inter­act­ive adven­ture and per­form­ance for all ages, Noz­stock is a play­ground for every­one, from seasoned fest­iv­al goers to new­bies set­ting out for the first time. The fest­iv­al fea­tures a huge range of enter­tain­ment and inspir­a­tion for fam­il­ies with games, pop-up per­form­ances, and work­shops at every turn.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Ir3uV7YX0Dc[/youtube]

Noz­stock The Hid­den Val­ley
Fri­day 21^st — Sunday 23^rd July
@ Rowden Pad­docks, Brom­yard, Here­ford­shire, HR7 4LS
Live line up so far: Sea­sick Steve, Happy Mondays, Gen­er­al Levy, Ocean Wis­dom, Mungo’s Hi-Fi, Beans on Toast, Rod­ney P & Skitz, The Cor­res­pond­ents, Lady Chann, Jeremi­ah Fer­rari, Sola Rosa, Dabbla Illa­man and DJ Frosty, Land of The Giants, Stiff Joints, Cha­in­ska Brassika, Han­nah Peel, Jeremi­ah Fer­rari, Sola Rosa, Jalen N’ Gonda, Death By Unga Bunga, Oh My God! It’s The Church, Haus, The Meow Meows, Jasper In The Com­pany of Oth­ers, Mic­all Parkn­sun, Natty Speaks, Desert Boots, Youth, Boy Azooga, Andy Jones, Lit FM, Mango Fact­ory and Nor­man­ton Street.
DJ line up so far: Krafty Kuts & Dynam­ite MC, Delta Heavy, Haz­ard & Eks­man, 15 Years of Crit­ic­al Records feat. Break, Ivy Lab, Kasra, For­eign Concept, Load­star, Mind Vor­tex, Fran­kee, Uncle Dugs show­case feat. Billy Bunter & more tbc, Carasel MC, Tribe of Frog, Remidy MC, Octo Pi, Trafic MC, Scope and Dex.
Com­edy, The­at­rics & Cinema so far:  Phil Kaye, Jayde Adams, Vel­veteen Val­ley Cab­aret; Ban­tam of the Opera Theatre; Spare Room Arts’ Little Won­der­land; Clik Clik’s Cab­in­et of Lost Secrets; Mash Cinema present Wrong Dir­ec­tions; Inter­act­ive street arts, walk­about, cir­cus and crafts.
Early bird and tier 1 tick­ets sold out / Tier 2 tick­ets from £115 for adults / from £85 for 13–17 year olds / 12 and under free / book­ing fees apply  / Pay­ment by instal­ments avail­able
www.nozstock.com / @Nozstock  / facebook.com/nozstockthehiddenvalley
youtube.com/nozstockfestival   /   instagram.com/nozstock

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds

Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

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