Here’s the latest episode in our exclusive ‘Rehearsal Rooms’ series, presented by PinBoardBlog and filmed by our production house PinBoardFilm in collaboration with the world famous Red Bull Studios London.

Shot in Red Bull’s recording studio, these are intimate sessions with some of the most exciting artists and bands we champion.

Some may recall the tectonic shift that began occurring in 2007 and spread to the international ‘alt’ music scene when a new breed of uncategorizable acts emerged from the LA underground (amongst them Flying Lotus, Blu et al).

Fast forward a couple brilliant independent long-players, a couple appetite-wetting EPs and incessant touring/recording later – just when you thought it was all quiet on the western front Miss Jack Davey and Brook D’Leau’s long awaited and perhaps most realised full-length is nearly upon us.

New Designer Drug is set to be released on ILLAV8R in the coming months and to celebrate the New Wave duo flew in from the States to lay down a never-heard-before track, ‘Queen of Wonderland’ – a wild blend of Alternative Rock, Electronica and a myriad of other influences that signal an exciting evolution.

Be frank – few acts in the world today have a sound like J*Davey.

Many of our favourite artists have graced our ‘Rehearsal Room’ over the past 6 months, musicians we both admire and respect. As our exclusive show, produced in association with Red Bull Studios London, continues to grow we decided to create a mini-series within it designed solely to put focus on new talent emerging.

Our ethos has always been to concentrate on good music and an important undercurrent of that is discovering and exposing a new generation of music makers. Thus we have filmed a number of new episodes featuring fresh-faced musicians who you may or may not have heard of previously. They were selected for one reason and that reason is that we feel they are among some of tomorrow’s most promising acts.

Our first ‘introduces’ episode features Daley, a young R&B-Soul singer hailing from Manchester who recently signed a deal with Universal Music. In 2010 his vocals featured on ‘Doncamatic’ by Gorillaz which came off the animated bands Plastic Beach album, he was also nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll.

Daley’s beautifully complex voice effortlessly evokes emotion and his unique brand of ‘slow-jam’ Soul is as passionate as it is encapsulating. And as he readies the release of his much anticipated mixtape Those Who Wait, he performs an exclusive track called “Be” for us live at Red Bull Studios London.

Just watch. And listen.

Here’s the fourth episode in our exclusive ‘Rehearsal Rooms’ series, presented by PinBoardBlog.com and filmed by our production house PinBoardFilm in collaboration with the world famous Red Bull Studios London.

Shot in Red Bull’s recording studio, these are intimate sessions with some of the most exciting artists and bands we champion.

As it’s our birthday this month (yes, we turn 3 years old in a couple days!) we thought we’d drop two Rehearsal Room episodes, instead of one. Why not!

In this episode we feature the ever-charming performer known as Ghostpoet, who exclusively performs a special rendition of his debut single ‘Cash & Carry Me Home’ off his critically acclaimed album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. Signed to Giles Peterson’s Brownswood label, Ghostpoet is undoubtedly one of the most exciting artists to have emerged over the past year, his unique style, clever lyricism and artistic direction separates him from everyone else.

Grab a drink, press play – get smashed (in honour of the song, of course!).

P.s And biggup Danny Wood aka @Def_Danny on his directorial debut. Very proud, we are!

Here’s the third episode in our exclusive ‘Rehearsal Rooms’ series, presented by PinBoardBlog.com and filmed by our production house PinBoardFilm in collaboration with the world famous Red Bull Studios London.

Shot in Red Bull’s recording studio, these are intimate sessions with some of the most exciting artists and bands we champion.

Our last episodes featured the rising enigma that is Jamie Woon followed by number 1 recording artist Jessie J; this month we take you deep into the tender, personal balladry of Andreya Triana. Signed to cult British label Ninja Tune, Triana performed a heartbreaking rendition of her beautifully penned and performed ‘X’ taken from one of the best debut albums of 2010, Lost Where I Belong.

We hope you feel this.

As our readers are aware, PinBoard has been celebrating the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day 2011 in Brazil for the Bollocks To In Equality/Equals campaign. Our journey into exploring the gender issues of this land have pried open unfamiliar eyes to a social climate steeped in complexities.

With all of Action Aid’s work across international poverty stricken communities focused heavily on women’s rights to power, money, protection from violence, access to education and healthcare, our roles here as observers/thinkers/commentators (bloggers) have been to examine the amazing work highlighting and fortifying such fundamental liberties by AA’s partnership organizations.

Often this drive to change has to navigate the tricky terrain of long-standing cultural beliefs and practices: amplified during our visit to the remote rural town of  in the Northern Brazilian district of Para situated a stones throw from the Amazon. Often where poverty is rife and education scarce, moral interpretations (frequently stemming from faith culture’s strongholds) can serve up opposition to the progress of modern living. As one of the poorest communities in Brazil, social awareness in the past has been handicapped by a lack of accredited guidance. Abortion, itself, is outlawed throughout the country unless under the circumstance of rape, incest or risk to mother’s life- the result of which are felt worst in deprived zones where information about contraception is scarce and women submit their bodies to unsafe methods of resolve fearing severe stigmatization.

Local partner organization IPAS however have been working towards a change in attitude by realizing that their greatest instrument is the voices of the young. Their youth group GADA formed over a year ago and is comprised of some of the most dynamic and charismatic young people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting anywhere I’ve travelled or worked before. These volunteers received vital training by IPAS in key areas such as sexual health, access to abortion, freedom from gender violence and are now armed with the knowledge to revolutionize their community: fresh faces of change. Meeting 18 year old Lucas Gomes for example, one can instantly sense from his magnetism that he is one of a pending generation of leaders and the perfect intermediate champion needed to speak influentially to the younger and be heard credibly by the older.

It’s fair to say the continued success of International Womens Day will always be very much reliant on the younger age bracket of both men and women supporting forward thinking developments throughout the communities of the world. In Santarém, you find that hope.

Photos by Eduardo Martino / Documentography / ActionAid.

Three days and five flights into our Bollocks To Inequality mission here, London appears like a molecule in the mind. We are fish out of water and the culture’s as dense as the land it’s perched proudly upon. In trying to investigate poverty and gender equality, we’ve had to expose ourselves to seeing some difficult things. A welcomed challenge to the mentality of a Brit born and bred blogger; admittedly it’s also made me question the capacity of hardship we experience in the UK compared to what some of these people here are going through. I guess it’s all about context & circumstance with variable levels of coping dependent on where & what you’re born into.

The car ride from the tourism saturated Copacabana Beach to the raw reality of Maré Favela is a gradual descent: from palm trees lining pathways for the pretty, to parasitic grounds segregated for the poor. The seemingly rich and developed vibe that Rio de Janeiro wears as its bronzed face is a mask to conceal the hidden cities within the city. We’re all familiar with the fantasies of this glamorous town, leaving us in receipt of shock when discovering the favelas (slums) here are as ‘third-world’ as any politically incorrect term should rightfully suggest.

With 180,000 inhabitants spread out across 16 communities (8 government-built, 8 self-sprung), these long-time settlers survive in the most polluted district of all Rio. Warring factions divide the Maré complex territorially; drug gangs such as Red Command and Third Command aswell as bizarrely those known as militia (ex-officers of the law now operating as racketeering squads) have created their own dictatorships and fear-mongered inhabitants into abiding under their imaginary frontiers. How is this permissible in a democratic country? Somewhere in the political pyramid there is a bureaucratic stink.

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Best watched in 720p (HD) providing higher quality audio.

Here’s the second episode in our exclusive ‘Rehearsal Rooms’ series, presented by PinBoardBlog.com and filmed by our production house PinBoardFilm in collaboration with the world famous Red Bull Studios London.

Shot in Red Bull’s recording studio, these are intimate sessions with some of the most exciting artists and bands we champion.

Last month we brought you our first episode featuring the incredibly talented singer/songwriter Jamie Woon performing his haunting, beautiful single ‘Night Air’. Last week he went on to secure fourth place in the BBC Sound of 2011 (a massive look) and now this month we’ve the lady at number one in that list: the vocal powerhouse that is Jessie J giving a definitive acoustic performance of her biggest single to date.

Filmed before Christmas and caught live in one take, she gave us a glimpse of the magic windpipes with a dollop of attitude before her biggest gig at London’s XOYO, where later that evening she blew the remaining socks off industry wigs. She’s gone on top both the aforementioned list and win Critics Choice Award at Brit Awards 2011 so she’s at the top of her game and wholly ascending right now (we’ve been praising her register since the humble YouTube era, lol).

Jessie J’s debut album Who You Are is out this year whilst her second single drops in March. For now, enjoy this stripped down, swagged out rendition of her massive number ‘Do It Like A Dude’.