Oli Isaacs, This Is Music LTD

💭 Thoughts on Vedic meditation, working in an industry full of innovators, and the brilliant simplicity of Cindy Lee.

Oli Isaacs is founder of music management company This Is Music LTD. This Is Music LTD represents a diverse family of artists and producers working in the space between the cutting edge of underground electronic music and crossover. Oli is a former criminal defence barrister and music lawyer who also worked as an agent at Windish Agency and festival booker/curator at Moogfest.

🎯 Current focus

I listen to a lot of music of all genres and types, but more than anything my absolute favourite music to listen to is the unreleased recordings our artists send us. Witnessing the creative process unfold has always been a massive kick for me. For this reason the most excitement I have had recently, at least at work, has been hearing the musical development of many of This Is Music’s artists. There are too many to mention them all but for example, Bicep’s Chroma series of singles which will be released between album cycles allows them to be playful and experiment, as the output does not need to fit a specific format. It takes in club music, collaborations, aliases and a special visual pairing with creative director David Rudnick. Their accompanying short film ChromaVision debuted in LA after their Coachella performance. 

In terms of live music there is nothing more exciting at This Is Music than 4am Kru right now. Their shows literally rip up the rule book on live jungle. The crowd reactions speak for themselves and I can’t wait to see them closing the Temple stage at Glastonbury this summer. I’ve been listening to their forthcoming, rave-celebrating debut album whenever I am in the need of extra energy. 

🧘‍♂️ Vedic meditation

I’m loving Vedic meditation. I have practiced some form of meditation for many years, pretty much since I was a teenager but could never develop a truly consistent practice. Friends told me about their journey to Vedic meditation but I never tried it until I read Light Watkins book “Bliss More” and started to practice for myself. I’m now on a streak of about 200+ days and am booked to attend my first training/course at the London Meditation Centre in May which I am massively looking forward to. The premise is very simple: two twenty minute meditations per day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon using a specific mantra to concentrate or focus the mind. It’s easy to practice and the benefits are well documented by research. Anecdotally I entirely agree. I hate to come across all evangelical but it is something I think anyone can and should do. 

🕉️ Mantra of the moment

I began reading the stoics widely during covid and have really adopted a lot of that thinking because it is so useful especially in business. I spent a lot of time studying both the original ideas that can be found in Marcus Aurelius and Seneca for example but also some of the modern adherents who have compiled and updated the classical philosophy such as Ryan Holiday. I was also very taken by Robert Wright’s book Why Buddhism Is True. I heard him on Sam Harris’s podcast and read the book which I found enlightening although clearly I haven’t yet reached enlightenment as a result ;-) 

💡 Working in an industry full of innovators

I think we’re lucky as there are so many visionaries to look up to across the music industry, it’s an incredibly eclectic place crammed full of innovators. But I can’t talk about this without mentioning my friend and mentor (as well as the early investor in This Is Music Ltd), Tim Clark. Tim worked for Chris Blackwell at Island Records in the 1960s and founded UK management company IE Music with fellow pioneer David Enthoeven (another great inspiration to me). When I left my law firm after starting managing I turned to Tim and David for advice. They were always happy to help me initially just giving their time to talk to me which led to them eventually investing in our company and I have never forgotten their kindness. They had a very strong artist first ethos and built their business around principles of collaboration which have been a huge foundation for the values we hold dear at This Is Music. I can safely say that without Tim and David I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today. David passed away in 2016 and is dearly missed – I would love for him to see some of the things we achieved and hear the music we’re working with now. Tim and I speak about once a fortnight even though he is supposed to be retired and he’s one of the busiest, most energetic people I know in the business. 

🏃 Hackney Half Marathon

For things I’m looking forward to, I should have said Bicep’s show at Coachella but as that just happened last weekend I’m now most looking forward to running in the Hackney Half Marathon in May, this year more than any other, simply because I missed it last time after being randomly assaulted about three weeks before the race. My jaw and cheekbone were broken in the attack and as a result I was not allowed to run which was a really difficult thing for me. I enjoy the training for the race as much as the race itself and possibly the best thing about this year is that I don’t feel any pressure to run a certain time because I already got the time I wanted in some other races. I’m really looking forward to a fun day out, Hackney has a carnival atmosphere around the race, and to closing the loop on the bad experience last year. 

📚 Moscow Stations by Yerofeev

I just read Moscow Stations by Yerofeev after a recommendation from a friend who studied Russian Literature (a subject I know next to nothing about) but suffice to say it is one of the best books I have ever read and I’m already looking forward to reading it again. It’s supposed to be the story of the alcoholic narrator’s train journey from Moscow to the suburbs to see his girlfriend and son but it’s far more than just this. Written during the Brezhnev era but only published far later it’s an insightful allegory for the breakdown of Soviet Russia’s grand vision of progress and full of pithily comical musings on drinking, philosophy and religion. 

🤳 Substack in place of buying magazines

I mainly look at Twitter, just for football nonsense (I’m a slightly obsessive Leeds United Fan) and YouTube, especially for running and mobility tips (shout out Julia Reppel). Otherwise I’m using Spotify to stream music, podcasts and audio books, Bandcamp to buy a lot of music and I have been loving Substack in place of the old world of buying magazines. I’m particularly enjoying Philip Sherburne, Darren Hemings and Piotr Orlov to name a few. 

☕️ Aeropress coffee on the go

I’m a massive coffee enthusiast so I can’t live without my aeropress and comandante trailmaster hand grinder which allow me to brew coffee the way I like whenever and wherever. I brew coffee lots of ways and can go deep into the recipes and techniques but the biggest factor for me in enjoying coffee is often the place of drinking. 

🎶 The brilliant simplicity of Cindy Lee

Cindy Lee is a brilliant example of how the right record can be set up differently. Only when an artist makes an album as good as this can they forgo the more conventional route to market, side stepping DSPs and rely on word of mouth. It’s so simple but effective, full album stream on YouTube, a Geocities website with a couple of links to download the files and instructions on where to send the money should you want to pay for it. I don’t know how many downloads they have done with this but I really hope it’s a lot and I hope people sent them money too. It will be interesting to see whether things unfold further after the tour and subsequent physical release but I really like to see artists succeeding in doing something different and Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee certainly cuts through the noise, as much as anything because the record is stunning.

Follow Oli on Linkedin & check out his company here and here.

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