Music boss finds Source of success

Mark B and Blade: Brit-hop stars and Source signings

By BBC News Online's Ian Youngs

He is the boss of one of London's most highly-rated record labels, he discovered French mood maestros Air - and he is currently preparing a new roster of musicians to burst into the big time.

Philippe Ascoli, a 35-year-old Frenchman, has been described as the man with the best musical judgement in the business, and has recently relocated his highly respected Source label from Paris to London.

Ascoli: Signed Air and helped launch Daft Punk

The result is a new ark of artists from all ends of the musical spectrum - many of whom are currently creating a buzz among music fans and include Mark B & Blade, Turin Brakes and Simian.

After beginning his career as a producer, Ascoli moved into talent spotting and signed one of France's most successful hip-hop exports, MC Solaar, before introducing laid-back dance pioneers Air to the world through Source in Paris.

Both he and the artists he discovered in France won plaudits - but he decided that the British music scene is the real test.

So Source moved to London at the end of 1999, Ascoli peppered the offices with ultra-cool 70s furniture and began plotting his assault on the British charts.

Air's debut album became popular across the world

"I think that I've got popular ears," he says, meaning - after translation from his broken English - that he thinks he can tell which bands are going to be big.

The last two years have been spent looking for bands Ascoli thinks will be able to match the commercial and critical success of Air.

They include Kings of Convenience, a Norwegian acoustic duo who Ascoli describes as "Belle & Sebastian meets Peter Sellars", and who recently finished their UK tour in a London church, playing the encore from the pulpit.

Fragile London rockers Turin Brakes have already been seen on Top of the Pops with their single Underdog, while Brit hip-hop hopefuls Mark B and Blade have also enjoyed chart success.

Simian, a Manchester quartet whose bizarrely tuneful album Chemistry Is What We Are is currently winning fans, only won their record deal after "kidnapping" Ascoli in an elaborate stunt.

Simian: Debut album has just been released

While most unsigned bands send off a demo tape and wait expectantly for a reply, Simian got a mutual friend to play one tune to Ascoli.

The friend told him he would have to travel to meet the band to find out more, and Simian insisted that he be blindfolded and driven to their rehearsal room in Stockport.

They are "the Beach Boys meets Aphex Twin", Ascoli says.

Ascoli's aim, he says, is to emulate Chris Blackwell - the musical entrepreneur who founded Island Records in 1959 and, through artists as successful and diverse as U2 and Bob Marley, turned it into one of the biggest and most respected labels in the world.

Ascoli has been careful not to limit his quest to one particular musical style - but has hunted artists who are ground-breaking and who challenge accepted genre boundaries.

"I love every kind of music," he says. "What I love about music is that tomorrow you can sign a folk artist, and the next day you can sign a hip-hop artist."

Norwegian acoustic duo Kings of Convenience

Ascoli has set up a dedicated hip-hop spin-off label, Wordplay, which is banking on the accuracy of Ascoli's view that urban British music is the best it has been for 10 years.

Despite the variety of acts on his label, he says: "My first love is black music.

"For the first time, all these new sounds from London have got the right formula. And I think that is really exciting."

Other new material released through Source will come from Playgroup, the band formed by DJ and remixer Trevor Jackson ("It's the kind of album that changes the rules of club culture" - Ascoli) as well as vocalist Luca Santucci and French maverick Rob.

The only bands he will not be signing are those of the manufactured pop variety.

"Sometimes the media don't make the decision about a band based on the music, but about the look and the character," he says.

"The British scene is too much about gossip. So that means - be careful. Hype kills."

Source, meanwhile, is helping breathe life into the music scene.