Sunday 31 July 2016

LISTEN: July 2016 playlist

Compared to the last couple of months, July has been pretty busy, with gigs from King Charles, Twin Atlantic, Jack Savoretti, Harry Pane, The Hoosiers, Bear's Den (as well as attending a TV recording and seeing a play a couple of times). The playlist reflects the music I've been listening to live at those shows, as well as some great new releases, and I've explained why I've added each track/artist below - check it out and let me know here or on Facebook if you enjoy the tracks! Spread the word... 


1. Viola Beach Swings And Waterslides - with their album released posthumously on Friday, it feels only right to start the playlist with this track. Back in February I went along to a Blossoms show on the tour where Viola Beach were due to be playing as support, and out of respect they played a live recording of their set from an earlier show of the tour. I can't wait to take a proper listen to the record once I get some time to sit and give it my full attention.

2. Bear's Den Emeralds - I'm loving Red Earth & Pouring Rain, the new record from these guys a lot, and apparently so are lots of people as it reached number 6 in the album chart on Friday (YES!). While it's difficult to pick a favourite track as the whole thing is pretty incredible, this is a stand out track for me!

3. Biffy Clyro Animal Style - these guys released their latest record Ellipsis this month, and I'm very excited to have grabbed a ticket to see them play an acoustic show for Banquet Records in October. 

4. Leo Stannard In My Blood - Leo's pretty close to announcing news of his debut album (I hope) and I was very excited to listen to the studio version of this track, released this month. I loved hearing the track when he played it live for the first time back in February.

5. Tempesst Broke Down Blues - this track was debuted online just before I saw these guys play at the Reach Out charity gig, and it went down really well with the crowd as did the rest of the set. They were really fun live, and they've got a headline London show coming up in September through Communion, tickets here.

6. Twin Atlantic Crash Land - this month I finally got to see these guys play live, in the pretty intimate Scala. While the rest of the show was loud and energetic, a highlight for me (probably as a big fan of acoustic music) was that they performed this track, accompanied by some pretty loud singing by the crowd.

7. Jack Savoretti Sweet Hurt - I was really lucky to get into Jack's sold out Somerset House show this month, and while all of his music is pretty special to me, there's something extra lovely about this non-album track. An added bonus for Bella Italia to play the track when I was grabbing some food there before heading to the show!

8. All Tvvins Darkest Ocean - these guys, a duo from Dublin, supported Twin Atlantic on their recent tour and their set was a whole lot of fun to kick the night off with. I was particularly fond of how much fun it seemed the guitarist was having (and the fact that the bassist was the lead vocalist - hooray for changing up the normal dynamic!) Their debut album IIVV is released in a couple of weeks (iTunes pre-order) and they're playing a UK tour in October (dates on their site here.)

9. The Hoosiers Up To No Good - a highlight of the month was definitely catching these guys (for the 11th time) headlining a new festival in Rescue Rooms in Nottingham where I first saw them live over 5 years ago. They play a huge London headline in September, tickets available here.

10. Geowulf Saltwater - a really lovely summer tune, this is the debut track from Geowulf, a new duo who opened up the Reach Out Charity gig this month. 

11. Tom Lowman Blue State - this pretty cynical and relevant track ("the country's going mad, perhaps it always was") is taken from Tom's debut album Tales from the Wrong Side of History (available on iTunes here.)

12. Harry Pane Cold Light of Day - this is from Harry's Changing EP, the title track of which featured in last month's playlist as I loved the EP so much. I was really glad to catch Harry playing a short set in Shoreditch this month as part of the Coffee House Tour.

13. Gizmo Varillas Give a Little Love - Gizmo played a fun support set when I saw Jack Savoretti this month - his debut album El Dorado is out later in the year!

14. Twin Atlantic Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator - while the other track by these guys in the playlist is from their 2012 record, this is a new track from their upcoming release GLA (a nod to their Glaswegian roots) which is out in September (pre-order on their site here and get three tracks  including this one instantly.)

15. Jack Savoretti The Proposal - while Jack's huge success over the last couple of years has coincided with the release of his latest record Written In Scars and its subsequent re-release, I'm a huge fan of his third record Before The Storm and it was great to hear tracks like this one in the Somerset House setlist! Check out a video of the track being performed at the show, filmed by Martin who I met in the queue with whom it turns out I have a few mutual friends and musical interests!

16. King Charles Love Lust - while I'd definitely have considered going along to the Reach Out charity gig if Charles hadn't been on the line-up (cake, charity, other great acts and a whole host of lovely people!), it was definitely a bonus. Playing as a stripped back 3-piece band, with a temperamental guitar and scheduled after the Euro 2016 final (meaning the set was cut short a little) the night was pretty fun and it was a pleasure to see Charles & co play as always! 

17. Tom Figgins Rain On Me - I'll stop rambling about the charity gig soon (did I mention it raised around £1650?!) but one last thing... it was great to see Tom play again, with a highlight of the night being an impromptu performance of his stunning track Crave (not on Spotify but a demo on Soundcloud) to 5 or 6 of us as he tested his guitar after it fell from his case as he tried to leave. 

18. Bear's Den Gabriel - to celebrate the release of their record, Bear's Den played a mini tour of record stores, including Rough Trade in Nottingham (read my post about the show here.) With the band finishing off their beautiful, full and fairly warm set with an unplugged performance of this track within the crowd (like this performance in The Netherlands), it feels like a nice place to finish the playlist at!

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