| Tru Thoughts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder |
|
| Genre | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | Brighton |
| Official website | tru-thoughts |
Tru Thoughts is a British independent record label founded in Brighton in 1999 by Robert Luis and Paul Jonas. [1] The label has put out over 200 LPs of electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, tropical, grime and other music.
In September 1999, after running club nights Phonic: hoop and Shake Yer Wig, Paul Jonas and Robert Luis, two music-obsessed friends, launched their own label. [1] [2] From Luis' home, Tru Thoughts began with its first 12" EP, Steady's Alarming Frequency. Bonobo's debut album Animal Magic followed in 2000 [1] and Quantic's debut The 5th Exotic in 2001.
In 2009, Tru Thoughts marked its 10th anniversary with a 3-disc compilation. [3] In 2017, Tru Thoughts marked its 18th birthday with an all-day event at London's Roundhouse, with appearances from Quantic, Alice Russell, the Hot 8 Brass Band, Anchorsong and Rodney P. [4]
Tru Thoughts has a publishing company called Full Thought Publishing. The music from the label has been used in adverts and appeared in films and TV programs.
Tru Thoughts organizes club nights in Brighton and London, and broadcasts on several radio stations. [5]
It has subsidiary labels Unfold Records, for compilation releases, and Zebra Traffic, for UK hip hop.
In 2005, the label was awarded Label Of The Year at the annual Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards. [6]
In 2009, it was described by Martin Longley, writing for the BBC, as "easily one of the UK's best independent labels, regardless of whether its audience is energetically twitching on the dancefloor or bobbing about in a chilled boudoir." [3]
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom. Established in 1942, it was one of the oldest literary awards in the UK.
Andrew Carthy, better known by his stage name Mr. Scruff, is an English record producer and DJ. He lives in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. Before he could make a living from his music alone, he worked as a shelf stocker in the Hazel Grove branch of Kwik Save.
The Big Chill was an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August. The 2011 line-up included The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Jessie J, Robert Plant, Calvin Harris, Neneh Cherry, Aloe Blacc, Chipmunk, Katy B & Example. The festival has not been staged since 2011.
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and reading in the United Kingdom, and sponsored by Nestlé, the manufacturer of Smarties candy. It was one of the most respected and prestigious prizes for children's literature.
Simon Green, known by his stage name Bonobo, is a British musician, producer, and DJ based in Los Angeles. He debuted with a trip hop aesthetic, and has since explored more upbeat approaches as well as jazz and world music influences. His electronic sound incorporates the use of organic instrumentation, and is recreated by a full band in live performances.
Hint is musician Jonathan James, hailing from Sussex in the UK. His music has been released on independent record labels and his catalogue includes work which has found favour amongst DJs and fans from various underground music scenes.
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are awarded each year: one each for a fiction and non-fiction book on politics, one for journalism and one for "Exposing Britain's Social Evils" ; between 2009 and 2012, a fifth prize was awarded for blogging. In each case, the winner is the short-listed entry which comes closest to George Orwell's own ambition to "make political writing into an art".
William Holland is an English musician, DJ and record producer. He is based in New York City, after spending seven years in Colombia. Holland records under various pseudonyms, including Quantic, the Quantic Soul Orchestra, The Limp Twins, Flowering Inferno, and Ondatrópica. His music features elements of tropical, cumbia, salsa, bossa nova, soul, funk and jazz. Holland plays guitars, bass, double bass, piano, organ, saxophone, accordion and percussion. Much of his sound is original composition, rather than sampling of other artists' material. In addition to his original compositions, he has also produced remixes of over 30 songs.
Alice Russell is a British soul singer.
Jon Kennedy is a drummer and electronic musician who was born in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, England. He was discovered in 2000 when he passed a demo CD to Ninja Tune artist Mr Scruff. Scruff played tracks from the CD soon after on his "Unfold" radio show on Brighton's Juice 107.2. Brighton-based Tru Thoughts independent record label contacted Kennedy on hearing the tracks and signed him. Having recorded in Mr Scruff's Stockport studio, Kennedy now lives and records in Bristol, and regularly plays in both Bristol and London.
The Bamboos are an Australian funk and soul band from Melbourne.
Ninja Tuna is the fourth studio album by British record producer Andrew "Mr. Scruff" Carthy, released on 6 October 2008 through Carthy's personal Ninja Tune imprint Ninja Tuna.
The UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart and the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart are music charts based on UK sales of singles and albums released on independent record labels by musical artists who have never made the UK top 40. It is compiled weekly by the Official Charts Company (OCC), and is first published on their official website on Friday evenings. The chart was first launched on 29 June 2009, and, according to Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, would have benefited acts such as Friendly Fires and Grizzly Bear.
Look Around the Corner is an album by Quantic and Alice Russell, recorded and produced by Holland in his studio in Cali, Colombia, and released in 2012 on Tru Thoughts. The production was granted by the PRS for Music Foundation. The title track "Look Around the Corner" was released up front as 10" single, and was added to the daily rotation play list of BBC 6Music. Louis Pattison entitled his review for the BBC "An exceptional collaboration – like manna from heaven for leftfield soul fans", characterising it as "mixing warm, brassy funk and soul grooves with Latin jazz and cumbia, it's a soft sort of fusion, mixing flavours with a lightness of touch."
Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom, known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer-songwriter based in the United States.
Alice Birch is a British playwright and screenwriter. Birch has written several plays, including Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. for which she was awarded the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright, and Anatomy of a Suicide for which she won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Birch was also the screenwriter for the film Lady Macbeth and has written for such television shows as Succession, Normal People, and Dead Ringers.
The Costa Book Award for Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971-2006), was an annual literary award for novels, as part of the Costa Book Awards.
The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971-2006), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards, which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
Benedic Lamdin is a British music producer, composer, songwriter and guitarist who releases music as Nostalgia 77. He has produced Nostalgia 77 albums since 2004, with a variety of other musicians, some of which are instrumental and some have guest vocalists. "His music encompasses everything from sample-based compositions to collaborations with real, live musicians". Lamdin has also written and produced for assorted singers, including Jamie Cullum, Alice Russell, and Jeb Loy Nichols. He also runs his own jazz record label, Impossible Ark.
