Sav Remzi

Sav Remzi, born in 1964 in London, is a music producer and consultant. He is responsible for a number of imprints over the past two decades or more, including the music label Nuphonic Records, The Blue Note Club in Shoreditch, the London Xpress radio shows for Xfm, Tirk Records, the Lovebox Festival, and the championing of various hit artists including New Young Pony Club and Fujiya & Miyagi.

Whilst directing his Tirk Records label, Remzi also develops creative marketing campaigns for brands which have included Virgin Media, Harvey Goldsmith, The Guardian, Pernod Ricard, Intel, Mazda^[1], Perry Ellis and Bowers & Wilkins. In 2013, he was appointed Founding Member and Music Director at the not-for-profit members club, The House Of St Barnabas in London's Soho.

Most recently Remzi published Goldie's memoirs on Faber & Faber and consults creative concepts and audio installations for the Mint Group whilst producing various music projects.

Career

In 1989, Remzi began working with early musical pioneers such as Andrew Weatherall, Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay, hosting their residencies at his newly built Jazz club, the Red-Eye.

He went on to co-found the record label, Nuphonic Records in 1993. Nuphonic's first release was Faze Action's club classic, In The Trees. In the following years, the label went on to release a broad spectrum of dance music ranging from Afro rhythms to House music. Nuphonic ceased operations in 2002. Nuphonic titles included David Mancuso's Loft series, Norman Jay's Good Times, Andrew Weatherall, Faze Action and Ashley Beedle.^[2]

In 1994 Remzi took charge of the Blue Note club in London's Hoxton Square. By hosting residencies from the likes of DJ Harvey, Weatherall, James Lavelle, Gilles Peterson, Goldie's 'Metalheadz', Talvin Singh's 'Anokha' and Ninja Tune's 'Stealth', the club proved to become a platform from which audiences could sample the various new musical movements that were emerging at the time.^[3]

In 2000, Remzi secured the production of a new weekly radio show called London Xpress which launched, the then indie station, Xfm's drive towards dance audiences.

In September 2000, Remzi acquired and built his own venue, the Bridge & Tunnel, a two-floor 400 capacity venue in London's Shoreditch. Previously a bank, the site was converted into a club/restaurant/bar. The club closed in 2003.

Remzi now A&R's his own record label Tirk Records^[4] which was founded in 2003. The label's first signing, 2007 Mercury Award nominees New Young Pony Club attracted critical acclaim with their singles 'Ice Cream' and 'The Get Go'. Tirk subsequently unearthed Fujiya & Miyagi with their album (Transparent Things). The Tirk roster also include acts such as Richard Norris (Time & Space Machine Richard Norris (musician)), Architeq, Maurice Fulton, Tom Findley (Groove Armada Groove Armada), Idjut Boys, The Bees, Escort, Greg Wilson (DJ), Chaz Jankel Chaz Jankel, and Martin Rushent.

In 2005 Remzi secured founding partnership in London's Lovebox Festival, facilitating its move to East Londons' Victoria Park.

In 2008 Remzi was recruited as panel judge together with Carl Barat Carl Barat, The Charlatans, and other industry figures in Virgin Media's call for bands competition Road To V, where bands such as Bombay Bicycle Club and Young Knives were first aired. The show was an 8-part TV series aired on Channel 4. ^[5]

Remzi now acts as music strategy consultant to various brands including Virginmedia, Mazda, Bowers & Wilkins, John Lewis and Perry Ellis.^[6] Projects have included The Guardian and Intel for the creation of the world's first ever on-line festival, Secondfest,^[7] which was aired live in June 2007 within the virtual environment of Second Life. Secondfest was subsequently awarded the AOP (Association of Online Publishers) prize for the 'Innovation' category.^[8]

Since 2012, Remzi has been Music Director and founding member ^[9] of the not-for-profit social enterprise members club House of St Barnabas in London's Soho, which has a mission to break the cycle of homelessness. At HOSB he has programmed high profile events, forged partnerships with the likes of NTS Live and Boiler Room, as well as appointing founding members Jarvis Cocker, Rob da Bank, Gilles Peterson, Andrew Weatherall and many others.

From 2014 to 2016, Remzi joined Harvey Goldsmith ^[10] where he programmed various John Lewis sponsored festival events including Onblackheath Festival^[11] in SE London, and Onroundhay^[12] in Leeds. Onblackheath Remzi headlined the likes of Massive Attack, Elbow, Grace Jones, Madness, Gilles Peterson, Neneh Cherry, Jarvis Cocker and many more.

In 2016 Remzi was appointed music judge for Berwick Street Calling^[13], alongside Primal Scream's Simone Butler.

Most recently, Remzi published Goldie's memoirs, titled 'All Things Remembered, with Faber & Faber '^[14], which was released in November 2017 to wide critical acclaim. He is also consultant to the Mint Group for the development of concepts, audio installations and creative strategy for a brand new venue due to open in 2020 as part of Koko Camden.

References