Wednesday 30 November 2016

LISTEN: November 2016 playlist!

I've not been quite as busy as I was in October when it felt like at least every other day brought a gig, but I've been to a few shows this month and I've just reached my 70th gig of the year.. I think last year I went to 63 so I've outdone myself already, definitely down in part to all the Tigmus gigs I've been repping! Last night I caught Banfi playing a free show with Richard Walters and Waylor, and it never stops... I've at least four (possibly five) gigs lined up for the rest of the week! For now, here's a playlist with the music I've been listening to over November, a month which saw the return of my childhood favourites Busted, who I saw live in HMV and met. Consider my life made!



1. Martin Luke Brown Take Out Of Me - Martin played our Sofar Sounds show in Oxford this month (write-up of the show here) and was my highlight of the night... and I've heard a few others say the same! I've been meaning to check his music out for a while now as I kept hearing his name and I'm enjoying it a lot, only wish I'd got around to listening earlier.

2. Banfi Happy When You Go - these guys played their first proper headline show, and their first gig in a while, at Old Blue Last yesterday for Communion. I've said it a million times but anyone who is championed by Communion is bound to be pretty great and they're no exception! Wonderful show and felt very nostalgic in a venue with all of Dry The River hanging around - who'd believe it's over a year since they announced they were splitting? They've just announced a second (also free) show at the same venue on 8th Feb, sign up here!

3. Dawes Quitter - after waiting over a year to catch them live again, at the start of the month the show I'd been waiting for finally came around and Dawes played a total blinder at Islington Assembly Hall. Suddenly one show turned into three and I rushed back to London the day after to see them at Rough Trade and a Sofar Sounds show (write-up of the shows here.) This is one of my favourite tracks from the new record, which they recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel's show!

4. Busted Easy - I might lose all my music cred for saying it but Busted have always been and will always be one of my favourite bands... there's something inherently special about your first ever favourite band. I'd probably go so far as to say the passion I had for these guys when I was a kid helped shaped me into the huge music fan I am today. This month they released their first record in thirteen years (ahhhhh) and I met them at a HMV performance and signing, and they were as lovely as I could've possibly hoped for!

5. Jack Savoretti Sleep No More - the title track of Jack's new record, his set was opened with this on his recent UK tour. Really atmospheric with the whistling solo... I'm probably way more amazed than it warrants as I can't whistle myself (live video!)

6. Catgod Ready When You Are - Catgod are the recently renamed Roberto y Amigos from Oxford, who released one of my favourite EPs of the year, Monster Love. They've just released new record Ready When You Are online (go listen!) and they're launching it with a show at ODHHC on 17th December. 

7. Laurel Goodbye (demo) - Laurel played at our cinema Sofar Sounds Oxford show back in September, and she's released her Park EP this month - loving this demo which is the final track of the EP.

8. JONES Melt - JONES supported on Jack Savoretti's UK tour this month, and opened the nights with a really fun set showing off tracks from her debut album New Skin, of which this was probably my favourite.

9. Richard Walters Awards Night - Richard supported at the Banfi show last night, sadly we arrived too late to catch his set (but I can say with total confidence that it was probably brilliant.) Over the last few months I've been slowly working my way through putting his whole A.M. record on monthly playlists, so you might as well go and listen to the whole thing...

10. Dawes From a Window Seat - this is one of my favourite Dawes tracks but sadly it didn't make it into the set at the start of the month, although that's bound to happen when you've got five records worth of material to choose from! 

11. Lily & Madeleine Hotel Pool - this American duo of sisters supported Dawes on their UK tour and played a really beautiful set. This track is taken from their record Keep It Together which is worth checking out. I'll be keeping an eye out for when they return to the UK for their own tour!

12. Tom Odell Silhoutte - the latest single from Tom's Wrong Crowd record, the video for it was released last week, and a comment on the Youtube video summarises the track perfectly... "Seriously. Silhouette's melody sounds so Christmassy." How hadn't I noticed before?! 

13. Bruce O Yates Helen - Bruce (and his fairly big band) opened up the Sofar Sounds show I caught Dawes at and played a really lovely set. It was really interesting to finally catch a Sofar show in London... there's still a wonderful vibe but it's a different type of evening to our Oxford shows because of the scale, as in Oxford we've got mostly the same crew and many audience members coming along to each show, whereas London had something like 70/80 Sofar shows over November, so there are tons of people involved!

14. Martin Luke Brown Shadow & Light - Martin is one of my favourite discoveries of the month, loving this track which has a really lovely message and for which a really special lyric video was recently uploaded - go watch!

15. Jack Savoretti I'm Yours - the second single from Jack's record, this went down pretty well live in a set where Jack and his band played every single track from the new record. They released a video for the track this month!

16. Waylor (ft. Grace Lightman) Hungover - Waylor (Matt from Dry The River) also supported at the Banfi show last night, I saw him supporting Richard Walters last month but this time he brought along his band and it was a whole lot more lively, loved his set!

17. JONES Walk My Way - bringing the tempo of the playlist back up with another track from JONES! Really enjoyed her set at the two Jack Savoretti shows I caught her supporting this month, her record New Skin is definitely worth taking a listen to. 

18. Stornoway The Great Procrastinator - the oldest track on the playlist, I've been listening to Storno a lot since the news of their split and farewell tour, and none sum me up quite so well as this with deadlines looming and motivation declining rapidly... tickets flying out for the tour, grab them here.

19. Dawes Less Than Five Miles Away - seeing as my month became so heavily revolved around Dawes (for two days at least), it feels right to end on another of my favourite tracks from their latest record. The bass in this track is pretty insane but it takes a live performance to really appreciate it , hats off to Wylie Gelber! 

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