James Blake confirmed for very special Thursday night performance at The Big Chill

 Deer Park Stage to open on Thursday in 2011Eastnor Castle Deer Park,Herefordshire 4th – 7th August 2011

The Big Chill is delighted to announce critically-acclaimed post-dubstep pioneer James Blake will perform on the Deer Park Stage at this year’s festival on Thursday night.

Uber-talented musician, DJ and producer James Blake, who ranked second in the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, willplay a set of his highly-acclaimed smooth, dubstep-peppered electronic tracks on Thursday night at The Big Chill onthe Deer Park Stage.

James Blake ventured to some of London’s cutting edge dubstep clubs; DMZ and FWD>> around 2007 and wastruly taken aback by the fresh sounds and atmosphere. Already studying popular music at Goldsmiths, the injectionof inspiration from DJs such as Mala, Coki and Digital Mystikz propelled Blake down a path that led to the creationthe now distinctive sound, which blended the electronic vibrancy of the emerging dubstep scene with the harmoniesfound in his teenage Motown-filled record collection.

Plays of his early singles on Rinse FM and feverous blogger attention sent Blake on a course which landed himseveral accolades. “CMYK” scored a Record of the Week from Nick Grimshaw and Single of the Year (2010) at GillesPeterson’s Worldwide Awards, Blake’s reworking of the Feist track “Limit to your Love” was the Hottest Record inthe World according to Zane Lowe. Following a year of concentrated recording Blake released his self-titled debut inFebruary 2011 and the record quickly went on to become a top 10 hit, whilst the same year also saw Blake pick up anomination for the Critics’ Choice category at the Brit Awards.

With contemporaries such as Jamie Woon, Digital Mystikz, Jamie xx and DJ Distance already confirmed for The BigChill, Blake is a perfect addition to the now expanded festival.Now a fully fledged member of the Festival Republic family The Big Chill is poised to build further on the successesof 2010. Last year saw an international line-up of some of the biggest selling names in electronic, indie and popmusic and 2011 sees another all-star cast taking to The Big Chill stages including an exclusive UK festivalappearance by Kanye West plus The Chemical Brothers and Rodrigo y Gabriela.

The Big Chill takes place from4th to 7th of August 2011 at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Ledbury, Herefordshire.
News on Big Chill Festival tickets: http://bit.ly/gUzG2P
Two-day tickets are now on sale in addition to Weekend and Day passes.