LISTEN: April 2016 playlist

April has been a super busy month for me musically with 12 gigs (and the first of those wasn't until the 9th), some great EP/album releases and announcements, and meeting a bunch of great artists/music fans. I've just created the third of my monthly playlists, which, in keeping with the personal nature of the blog, is a collection of eighteen of the artists I've been enjoying listening to this month. Take a listen on Spotify below...

A little explanation as to why I've chosen each artist/track: 

1. Water Pageant Overlaps - it only seems right to open the playlist with the last band I saw this month, at their hometown album launch last night. I had a great time running the door/selling CDs for them at the beautiful Art Jericho in Oxford (cue terrible photo.)
2. Matt Woods Impression - Matt played at the Communion New Faces tour, and was my highlight of the night for sure. A beautiful and heartfelt set, and this track was a highlight for me!
3. neverlnd We Don't Talk Like We Used To - I saw these guys play twice this month, first at a pretty busy Truck Store, and then at their headline relaunch gig. This is the second of their monthly free tracks (and you can download it here.)
4. The Vaccines Minimal Affection - a musical highlight of the month, I got to see these guys play at the Royal Albert Hall (my first visit to the venue!) as a friend won tickets. It was superb to finally see them live, playing tracks from all three records.
5. Bear's Den Magdalene - one of artists on the playlist I haven't seen live this month (but I did spot one of the guys on the underground last week..). They announced this month that their new album Red Earth & Pouring Rain is set to be released on July 22nd. This track is one of my favourites off of the first record!
6. Lewis & Leigh Devil's in the Detail - this duo supported Neverlnd at their launch show, and I saw them back in January too. I've been really impressed both times and (possibly because it has the same name as a track by one of my favourite bands) this track has stuck with me.
7. Rukhsana Merrise Money - Rukhsana was another of the artists on the Communion tour, this is her latest single, and there's a great Mahogany session of the track here that just got released.
8. Jack Garratt Surprise Yourself - over this last year at university I seem to have won a lot of things and the latest was tickets to see Jack playing up the road at the O2 in Oxford. After seeing him support Mumford & Sons last year it was great to see him play a sold out solo show. He's recently released a fantastic video for this track, with members of the public facing their fears, which you can watch here. 
9. Adam French More To Life - a catchy track from Adam, another of the four acts on the Communion New Faces tour.
10. James Walker Right Person, Wrong Time - I've seen James playing keys and singing backing vocals for Adam Barnes a few times, and he's decided to release some solo music, setting out on a solo tour a week ago. This track is from his new Modern Medicine EP. 
11. Jonny Payne Toronto - after running the door for his Oxford headline gig in Feb, I was glad to catch Jonny again this month, this time playing solo at the RSD celebrations at Truck Store. A great set (featuring this track) and he's also a really lovely dude too!
12. The Beach Thieves - the final act on the Communion tour, and while it wasn't very busy, everyone seemed to be pretty besotted... 
13. Tom Odell Wrong Crowd - the title track to the follow up to Tom's 2013 record Long Way Down, which is set to be released on June 10th.
14. Joseph & Maia I Know - I saw this New Zealand duo supporting Adam Barnes in London, and loved their story of escaping a record deal, quitting their jobs and essentially travelling from city to city playing shows every night for around a year, wherever they get the chance. Loving this track which is on their recently released album Sorrento.
15. Dizraeli It Won't Be Long - one of my favourite gigs of the month, it was great to run the door for Dizraeli and Jakaboski. I saw Dizraeli play a Sofar just over a year ago and loved this track at both shows! Would've included a track from his new EP but it isn't up on Spotify yet... but there's some cracking live sessions of some of the tracks from it on his Youtube here.
16. Mumford & Sons ft Baaba Maal There Will Be Time - following a number one in South Africa, Mumford released this collaboration on vinyl for RSD, and have just announced it'll be released as part of an EP entitled Johannesburg, out in June.
17. Everything Everything No Reptiles - having seen these guys live three times last year, I was just as excited to see them again supporting The Vaccines, and they played a superb set.
18. Adam Barnes Tennyson - Adam played a beautiful sold out show at Bethnal Green's Gallery Cafe a week ago, I love this track which closes his One Day We'll Be Fine EP and seems like a lovely way to finish off the playlist!

If you like what you hear... share the post/playlist!

LIVE: Record Store Day/Folk Weekend Oxford (16/17 April)

I've had a busy couple of days of music this weekend - which kicked off with queueing early at Truck Store in Oxford for Record Store Day 2016. Although someone pushed in front of me in the doorway and had the Public Service Broadcasting 7" that I wanted, all was good as after a frantic search I found a copy, and got that, as well as the Mumford & Sons and Foals 7"s, Hozier 12" EP and the Communion Music compilation. After a quick trip back to my flat, I popped into town for an early Count Drachma set in the peaceful confines of Blackwells Book Shop. A project fronted by Oli Steadman, bassist of Stornoway, it's a return to his South African roots, performing in Zulu and Xhosa (apart from a Paul Simon I Know What I Know cover) and I am really interested in the music - and loved the set, especially the high kicks!

Count Drachma in Blackwells

Once wasn't enough and I saw Count Drachma for a second time in the early evening, at the Oxford Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre. The sets were both part of Oxford's Folk Weekend (a weekend where lots of morris dancers and folk lovers descend upon the city) - and to get into the set for free I stewarded afterwards at a French dance. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and I met a lot of lovely people (apart from one random drunk guy who managed to cause trouble for a lot of people, but didn't manage to spoil the evening!)

French ball at Folk Weekend, with the band playing amongst the dancing to let the crew clear the stage as everyone wanted to carry on past the end time!

This afternoon, Truck Store carried on their RSD celebrations with a couple of great artists. The first of which was Jonny Payne, who I saw a couple of months ago with his band (Jonny Payne & The Thunder), so was cool to see his solo set. Second up were local legends Neverlnd, minus a full drum kit (but the keyboard 'impersonating' a drum kit sounded great), playing a few new tracks alongside popular track Cutout in a stripped back style.

Jonny Payne at Truck Store

Neverlnd at Truck Store

Both artists have Oxford shows coming up - Jonny Payne & The Thunder play The Library on the 28th April (details here), I sadly can't make it to that one but Jonny smashed his last show there when I was working on the door! Neverlnd play a show for Tigmus at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building this Friday, 22nd April, tickets available here. 

LISTEN: February 2016 playlist - my month in music!

After remembering how much I enjoyed creating a playlist at the end of last year with something like 60 tracks from various artists I'd seen live, new records I'd enjoyed and music I'd rediscovered over the year, I thought I'd create one entitled Feb 2016, a little musical insight into my month.

All the tracks but two (Jack Garratt and Little Brother Eli) are from bands and artists I've seen live this month and wanted to share with you all, and although I'm totally averse to Spotify and the tiny amount it pays artists, and would never use it a primary listening tool (someones got to buy physical music...) - it is pretty handy for a playlist! I didn't want to label it as a 'tracks of the month' playlist or anything, because I'm not being critical or comparing the tracks, simply sharing what I've enjoyed this month in a really personal way which I believe is in keeping with the nature of the blog itself!

A little note about why I've chosen each artist/track:

1. Leo Stannard 'My Friends Got Love' - having known about Leo for a while I finally caught him live this month at a Mahogany show and was taken aback by his talent. This track is my favourite track from his recently released EP Free Rein.
2. Roberto y Juan 'I Used To Relax' - I went to see the band's EP launch mostly to check out the support set from Count Drachma aka Oli Steadman, but have been struggling to stop listening to the EP since! 
3. King Charles 'Tomorrow's Fool' - one of my favourite artists, I saw Charles and his band live twice on his tour in February and this is one of my favourite tracks from the recent album, that guitar solo just before 2 minutes in...
4. Little Mammoths 'Waitresses & Barmaids' - it's only February and I've already seen these guys play three times this month, the first time for almost 3 hours acoustically in a booth at a Notting Hill pub, the second at Oxford Sofar Sounds, and the last, this week, the first gig I've ever organised.
5. Blossoms 'Blown Rose' - having not really listened to these guys until the day of the show I went along to their sold out gig at The Bullingdon in Oxford (I run the venue's Twitter so get free access). I've been hearing a lot about them and it was clear they're pretty well loved - and there was a lot of love in the room for Viola Beach too, who should've been supporting them on the tour. 
6. Sylva Kay 'The Bend' - Sylva supported at the Jonny Payne show I ran the door for in Oxford at the beginning of the month, and while I was busy with the door during her set, I caught some of her soundcheck and loved it!
7. homeplanetearth 'Phat Phil' saw these guys last night playing a support set for Bel Esprit, and was introduced to them through my placement with Tigmus, who they're playing a few shows for. Love this debut single!
8. Jack Garratt 'The Love You're Given' - you probably don't need me to tell you who Jack Garratt is as the man has become absolutely huge as of late with awards and nominations all over the place. This track from his debut album Phase which was out recently is the one that stuck with me after I saw him support Mumford & Sons in November.
9. Jonny Payne & The Thunder 'Across the Brooklyn Bridge' - before running the door for Jonny's show in Oxford earlier this month I took a listen to some of his session videos online and loved this track!
10. Roberto y Juan 'What's Your Favourite Colour?' - on the band's new Monster Love EP, this is probably my favourite track - loved hearing it live again when they supported at the Little Mammoths show I organised earlier this week.
11. Tom Figgins 'Giants Played In Woods Like These' - a couple of sessions Tom filmed with Mahogany have been uploaded this month, including this track. He played a superb set supporting Leo Stannard at his Mahogany show. 
12. Leo Stannard '19' - couldn't decide which track to share from Leo's EP and loved his show for Mahogany so much that I decided to just share two! Definitely felt like I was watching a star in the making at that show, can't wait to se where his music takes him this year.
13. Little Mammoths 'Keep The Rounds Coming' - this track features on LM's album which is out later in the year and I've been sent to review (brilliant stuff!), it's also pretty fitting as they're playing 20 shows in pubs around Ireland over 8 days in March (acoustic sets in the day, rock n roll at night). 
14. Ryan O'Reilly 'November - Live' - as a rule I'm usually pretty fond of the supports I've seen play with King Charles, and this months tour support was no exception (and also a very nice guy when we chatted backstage after the London show). Loved his set at both shows, particularly this track with its "you'll never change the world with your songs and your guitar, there are people half your age, and they're going twice as far" chorus, a fairly melancholic reflection on combining a relationship with a career in music.
15. Little Brother Eli 'Who Do You' - while setting up some Facebook posts for Tigmus about an upcoming LBE show later in the year, I listened to some of their tracks - particularly some acoustic videos from various Sofar Sounds performances, and had this track stuck in my head for a while after!
16. Eliza & The Bear 'It Gets Cold' - similarly to Blossoms (in the same weekend, in fact), I went to their gig at The Bullingdon having not really listened to them until the day - when I discovered I knew one track as it had been on an advert. Had a really fun night at the show and this track went down pretty well, as did the whole show! 
17. King Charles 'Animal Desires' - with his new album out in the last week of January ,and a tour in the middle of the month, much of my month has been spent listening to Charles so I had to finish up the playlist with him! When I saw the track listing for the record I was very happy to see this track included.

If you've made it this far - I'd love to hear (either as a comment on this post, or onto my blog Facebook page or my Twitter) if you enjoyed the playlist or a specific track. If the response is good I might carry on making monthly playlists! 

WATCH: Jonny Payne - 'Calling Out to the Sea'

Last week I ran the door for a small show at Oxford venue The Library, where Jonny Payne & the Thunder were headlining, with support from Sylva Kay and Dan Rawle. As it was an intimate show, I was able to create a rapport with the audience and had a really fun evening chatting to the people who came down to the show - it was interesting to see a show from this perspective! The artists were all lovely people too - I was new to Jonny's music but checked out some videos online before the show and really enjoyed his set (which I could just about see through the packed out room, see pic of my view here), I'm loving this video of him performing 'Calling Out to the Sea' at an abandoned greenhouse.

If you like what you hear, check out another video from these sessions here, with Jonny performing the track 'Across the Brooklyn Bridge at Night'.