This Saturday (continuing until the morning hours of Sunday), Inner City Electronic is set to take some of the city\u2019s finest venues firmly under its well-seasoned wings, filling locations across the city with some of the best Producers and DJs the world of electronic music has to offer. Alongside internationally renowned names such as Peggy Gou and Orbital, Saturday will also see some brilliant local artists descend upon the ten stages dotted aroun the city, including the likes of SIMBA and Dokkodo Sounds who play BBC Introducing stage, new for 2020. By day, Inner City continues to skate above and beyond the realms of your usual metropolitan Inner-City festival by providing a comprehensive programme of talks, workshops and music masterclasses at Leeds College of Music. This guide aims to steer you through the must-see performances of the festival, including an interview with Emily Pilbeam to discuss the new arrival of BBC Introducing West Yorkshire\u2019s Stage to Old Red Bus Station this year.<\/p>\n

Get yourself out of bed for the conference talks at Leeds College of Music.<\/h2>\n

As glorious as a lazy Saturday afternoon lie in sounds, sleeping\/ binge watching Netflix in your pjs till 4 in the afternoon and consequently missing the conference talks taking place this year would definitely be a mistake, no matter how good rewatching blue planet 2 for the fifth time may be.
\nThe stomping ground of many fledgling acts performing at Inner City, from 1pm onwards Leeds College of Music plays host to all the workshops and talks covered under this year\u2019s conference programme (bar DJ Mag present: Crate Digging with Alienata, which takes place at Tribe Records from 5-6.) Here are a few of the highlights<\/p>\n

Music: Leeds – How to Start a Record Label with Ralph Lawson (20\/20 Vision) Bobby (Needs Not for Profit) Kirsti Weir (Null + Void) A-Future (Eon), Hosted by Dr Sally Rodgers.<\/strong>
\n13:00- 13:45, Leeds College Of Music – Room 219<\/strong>
\nA non- profit organisation established as a centralised point of contact which coordinates activity to support, promote and develop music based activity within Leeds and across the wider region, Music: Leeds has helped to forge a pathway into the music industry for many emerging artists and music organisations. A man to keep your ears open for during to talk will be Ralph Lawson of 20\/20 vision who founded the label 25 years ago when the current decade must have felt like the very distant future. \u201c25 years later and the future is not exactly as we imagined it with spaceships, hover cars and light sabres but we\u2019re really proud to have made it this far.\u201d Writes Lawson in a status update about the label\u2019s progress over the past quarter of a century on Facebook. “We\u2019ve managed to survive the hardest years in the history of record labels to get here. I liked the name 20\/20 Vision because it means \u2018perfect sight\u2019. At the time we started the label, house music was starting to split into different scenes which seemed alien to me. Early rave culture attracted me because it was all inclusive and broke down the walls of division. I also just happen to like lots of different styles and types of music. By naming the label 20\/20 Vision we wanted to let people continue to have a perfect vision of music in all it\u2019s wonderful forms.\u201d
\nNow the home of Crazy P, Greg Lawson and Motor City Drum Ensemble, hearing Lawson\u2019s take on how to start up and successfully run a record label is definitely going to provide a good ol\u2019 motivational start to the day; hopefully we\u2019ll see some new labels popping up over the city this year as a result.<\/p>\n

Bluedot- Protecting our Pale Blue Dot with Ben Robinson (Bluedot) Dr Drew Hemment (Future Everything) and Teresa Moorse (A Greener Festival)<\/strong>
\n16:00- 16:45, Leeds College of Music \u2013 Room 219<\/strong><\/p>\n

Named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth popularised by Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot Festival is a music, science and cultural event held annually since 2016. When talking to Emily Pilbeam on BBC Introducing ahead of the Festival last Saturday, Ben Thompson (one of Inner City\u2019s directors) explained that the talks Bluedot were initiating outside of Music back in 2016 actually influenced Inner City\u2019s decision to make the Conference talks and Workshops such an integral part of the Festival. Given Bluedot\u2019s history of putting on such popular and successful \u2018Dottalks\u2019 programmes, we can expect this talk -which focuses on what positive change is needed within the music industry to reduce negative effects on the environment- to be a masterclass in speech- giving.<\/p>\n

Resident Advisor Exchange featuring Orbital , Hosted by Matt Annis.<\/strong>
\n15:00- 15:45, The Venue LCOM<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA Exchange, a weekly podcast featuring conversations with artists, labels and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape has featured some huge names from the world of electronic music, and now it can add Orbital to its ever-growing list. This special live edition is set to be hosted by Matt Annis, author of the brilliant \u2018Join the Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music\u2019 is sure to be one of the highlights of the conference, providing a chance for fans to get up close and personal with Festival favourites Orbital before catching them at the Refectory later in the day.<\/p>\n

A Tribute to Andrew Weatherall (Fail We May, Sail We Must)<\/strong>
\nLeeds College of Music, 6pm.<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n

Following the tragic news of Andrew Weatherall\u2019s passing, a tribute to the much loved and\u00a0respected DJ and Producer has been announced after he was booked to play and speak at the festival. It brings together friends and musical partners for a talk which explores the significant cultural impact he has left behind, featuring Justin Robertson, Sean Johnston and Joe Muggs, joined by moderator Chris Madden.<\/p>\n

Notable mentions:<\/strong>
\nIf you\u2019ve ever fancied becoming the next Peggy Gou, the 2020 conference programme features a selection of hands on DJ workshops presented by Bop DJ, featuring Tristan Da Cunha (Dungeon Meat), Bonar Bradberry (PBR Streetgang) & Bobby. (Fabric \/ Needs \/ Pleasure Club) with workshops running in the LCOM Music DJ studio from 2-7.
\nThe programme also features what\u2019s set up to be a super exciting talk from Weirdcore, the visual artist behind Aphex Twin, Radiohead and MIA about how important visual work is to music. This takes place at The Venue 17:00-17:45, hosted by Rob Chadwick.<\/p>\n

DJ Mag Present: A Future of Clubbing will explore how venues and parties could become spaces that are inclusive of disability by removing the barriers that currently restrict them. This talk takes place at Tribe Records, 4-5 with Mike Greenwell.<\/p>\n

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Support your Local!<\/h2>\n

BBC Introducing West Yorkshire Stage<\/em>
\n14:00-15:00 Kloyd<\/em>
\n15:00-16:00 Dokkodo Sounds<\/em>
\n16:00-17:00 Alfred<\/em>
\n17:00-18:00 S I M B A<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to catch the sets of some homegrown talent, look no further than Old Red Bus Station, host of the BBC Music Introducing West Yorkshire stage which is a new addition to the festival for 2020. We caught up with BBC Introducing host Emily Pilbeam ahead of Inner City to get the lowdown on which artists are going to be playing the stage this year.<\/p>\n

First of all- congratulations on your new job presenting BBC Introducing West Yorkshire! You\u2019ve been in the new role for around two months now, how\u2019s it been going?<\/strong>
\nHello! Thanks so much! I think it\u2019s been going well?! It\u2019s been a real honour taking over the show. I\u2019d worked behind the scenes on the show for four years before I started presenting and it\u2019s just been a bit of a dream come true really. Being able to shout about all of the incredible artists that we have in our region is just amazing. We\u2019ve got loads of really exciting things coming up over the next few months that I\u2019m looking forward to working on. Lots of fun stuff to announce!<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s Inner City Electronic, Old Red Bus Station is hosting the BBC Introducing stage- talk us through who\u2019s playing!<\/strong>
\nOur line-up is ace. All of the acts we\u2019ve got playing are the ones we\u2019ve picked are artists we\u2019ve been championing on the show for a while. Kloyd is a downtempo electronic producer whose been sending some really ace stuff our way. We had her in for a live mix last year and we loved her. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing Dokkodo Sounds! We\u2019ve supported him in his previous project Laminate Pet Animal so I\u2019m interested to see his solo stuff come alive. Then there\u2019s Alfred, his style of music is really interesting. He did a mix for us earlier this year that sounded awesome so seeing it in a live setting will be ace. Really looking forward to seeing SIMBA too, I have a feeling his set is going to be really fun.<\/p>\n

Which other Leeds based DJs\/ Producers have been catching your eye recently?<\/strong>
\nThere are so many incredible DJ\u2019s & producers in our area. Like, SO MANY. A producer we\u2019ve been supporting on the show for years that I desperately need to see is a guy called Limpit. The stuff he sends our way is always pushing the boundary of electronic music, I love it. We did a special on our show last week that was dedicated to promoting the best DJ\u2019s & producers in our area in celebration of our stage at Old Red Bus Station this week and we came across a brand new act to us called Picklejam. The tune \u2018Apollo\u2019s Groove\u2019 was our Record of the Week. It\u2019s a really funky track and I cannot wait to hear more from him.<\/p>\n

This is the first time BBC Introducing West Yorkshire has had a stage at the festival, when did planning for it begin? How much work goes into putting together something like this?<\/strong>
\nProducer Shell got cracking on building the relationship last year. We had Ben Thompson in for an interview last year and it all kind of built from there. The way we put the line-ups together is the same as how we do it at all the other local festivals that we have a BBC Introducing in West Yorkshire stage at. We work with the promoters to come with the best line-ups we possibly can. It\u2019s a lot of work but it\u2019s ALWAYS worth it in the end. We get to push the artists we love to audiences we wouldn\u2019t necessarily get to usually, we enjoy insane live performances and the artists always love it. Doing stuff like this is the highlight of my job.<\/p>\n

Which performances are you going to be running off to catch after SIMBA finishes at Old Red Bus?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m going to stick around at Old Red Bus Station and check our SETH. He\u2019s another brand new act to us and we\u2019ve loved what we\u2019ve heard so far. He did a mix for us on our electronic special last week and it sounded siiiiiick. Then obvs gonna try and catch Peggy Gou and Orbital! Cannot wait.<\/p>\n

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