LISTEN: Little Brother Eli - 'Love Between Teens'

A couple of years after leaving the city, Little Brother Eli remain one of my favourite things about Oxford and it was lovely to see them a couple of months back when I dropped by to a Sofar Sounds show there. They played a new track at the show and the studio version is finally out in the world today. Love Between Teens is, if I recall correctly, a song the frontman Alex Grew wrote for his wife - adorable. With a strong bass line throughout it is a funky and catchy number which is sure to go down well in the band's annual Christmas show on 21st December at O2 Academy Oxford - event here for more info/tickets! Now, listen below...

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Rowing Club Bar & Cafe (24/9/19)

For the three years that I studied in Oxford from 2014 to 2017 one of my favourite things to do was helping out at Sofar Sounds shows in the city. I started volunteering as a photographer at the shows a couple of months after moving there and got to see lots of brilliant artists in various intimate (and often bizarre) venues around the city - a bicycle cafe, an independent cinema, a museum and an art gallery to name a few. I had some time off work last week and headed back to Oxford for the first time in a couple of years. It was really great to be back in the city and luckily my trip coincided with a Sofar - it was a treat to be back!

China Bears

If Sofar Sounds is new to you - they're an organisation run mostly by volunteers, curating live music events in over 400 cities around the world. Originally set up to combat the issue of people talking around you and using phones etc at gigs, they create an environment for people to sit and discover new artists away from distractions. As the line-up and venue aren't announced until close to the show, there is an element of mystery and the opportunity to discover something new - it's a real joy to be part of! 

Tuesday's show took place at the Rowing Club Bar & Cafe at the City of Oxford Rowing Club, overlooking the Thames. I took a beautiful walk along the river from the centre of town to get to it. It was great to be reunited with my friends on the Sofar crew, as well as to meet some of the new volunteers and we had four brilliant artists on the line-up.

Opening up the show, it was a real pleasure to catch local (ish) guys China Bears playing their first ever Oxford show. I blogged about a couple of their songs recently and I'm really enjoying their debut EP I've Never Met Anyone Like You which was released via Fierce Panda Records back in August. Giving us a stripped back set showcasing their honest songwriting and indie influences it was a really fun way to open the show, and really sweet to meet the guys after the show. They're fans of the blog so I may be a little biased towards them... here's a video of them performing the EP title track from a Sofar London show!

Next up and hailing from Vancouver were duo Momento. I'm a fan of a violin at a gig, but what's better than one violin on stage? Two violins! Though their live set is now more electric in nature, they offered us a stripped back set (because they couldn't carry all the extra kit on the train, I think) covering popular tracks. Their immense talent and stage presence was obvious immediately and they very quickly got the audience on side - it was a really typical Sofar set, something that you might not expect and might not have usually gone to see, but which everybody seemed to love. Watch a cover of The Killers' Mr Brightside below!

Having travelled down from a show in York the night before especially for the night, next up was Sofar veteran Kim Logan. She's played lots (upwards of 70, I think?) Sofar shows and helps curate Sofar Paris as she currently lives between New York and Paris. Also (do you sense a theme?!) delivering a stripped back set and promising that her usual show was a full band rock affair, Kim sang a set of country and blues infused acoustic tunes. There's a video from Sofar Long Island below, featuring live dancing. Very Sofar.

Last up and after a long day exploring the gorgeous museums that Oxford has to offer, the lively set I needed to wake me up - Oxford favourites of mine, Little Brother Eli. It was the third Sofar I've seen the guys at, and my ninth time seeing them in total. I'll never tire of the infectious energy of frontman Alex Grew and his impressively broad vocal range, while backing him up, Josh Rigal and Adam Stowe offered superb musicianship and lovely harmonies. They're a well oiled machine and a local favourite and you can catch them playing at the O2 Academy Oxford for their Christmas gig on 21st December (tickets.)

Overall it was a really lovely show and is one of my favourite ways to experience live music - a really calm and inclusive environment where you're likely to leave the show having seen something you didn't expect, and lots that you loved. Long may shows like Sofar Sounds continue - I think it is clear that fans and artists alike love these shows! Check out the Sofar website here to see if there are shows happening close to you and take a chance on an evening of music discovery - you won't regret it!

Follow China Bears - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Momento - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Kim Logan - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Follow Little Brother Eli - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Little Brother Eli - 'Oops'

Little Brother Eli have had a pretty busy year but they're not slowing down just yet... they've just shared their fifth single of the year - Oops. Following up Stop Pretending, Wait For You, Our Kind Of Love and Tooth the track is true to LBE form - it's full of catchy pop hooks, shows off lead singer Alex Grew's unique vocals and makes use of the band's incredibly tight harmonies, which have been sharpened over the past couple of years across tons of acoustic performances, including many Sofar Sounds shows! Following up a show at London's O2 Islington last week, they're launching the track with a hometown show at O2 Academy Oxford tonight - grab tickets for the show here.

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

TRACK PREMIERE: Little Brother Eli - 'Stop Pretending'

I'm really excited to share this one! My first ever track premiere on the blog comes from my friends in Little Brother Eli. They're an Oxfordshire based band who have been making a name for themselves in the county and further afield, playing at various Sofar Sounds shows, festivals and running their own Eli Nights shows in London over the last few years. They've had a busy 2018 so far in the shape of three brilliant singles; Tooth, Our Kind Of Love and Wait For You, but they're not letting up! Stop Pretending, their brand new single, is being released tomorrow and I've secured a sneak preview... take a listen below! True to form, the track is completely catchy, and sees beautifully crafted harmonies surrounding the gloriously unique falsetto vocals of lead singer Alex Grew. One of my favourite tracks from the band yet!

They'll be playing the new single at two of their biggest headline shows yet this November - they're heading to London's O2 Academy2 Islington for a show on the 22nd, before heading back to Oxford for a hometown show on the 30th. Tickets for both shows, which are to launch their single Oops, are available here. They're an incredibly talented bunch and put on brilliant shows, with endless buckets of energy flowing from the stage, enticing the crowd to get up on their feet and dance - I really recommending getting along to one of the gigs!

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Little Brother Eli - 'Wait For You'

Following up 2018 singles Tooth and Our Kind Of Love, Oxford's Little Brother Eli are keeping up the tempo with their latest release, Wait For You. The track has been premiered live at recent shows, including a Sofar Sounds Oxford show in a primary school gym (honestly one of the coolest venues I've seen a gig in, with previous Sofars while I was in Oxford for university!) from which you can watch a video of the track here. Led by vocalist Alex Grew's powerful vocals, the track has everything you'd want from the group... gorgeous harmonies (particularly in the acoustic version for Sofar), infectious lyrics and, in a fairly wild departure from their waistcoat and tie early days, a rather lovely guitar solo towards the end!

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Little Brother Eli - 'Our Kind Of Love'

At the risk of repeating myself, it's worth mentioning again that Little Brother Eli are one of my favourite musical discoveries from the last few years, and one of the loveliest bands I've had the pleasure of making friends with through my time in Oxford for university. I've just had the most incredible few days at The Great Escape volunteering and seeing the likes of Superorganism, The Magic Gang, Gengahr and tons more - I'll write about it in a separate post soon - and the LBE chaps closed out the festival brilliantly (much like last year when they were headlining our Tigmus stage). They've just shared their new track Our Kind Of Love, check it out below, and check out my interview with the band about the track and their plans for the Summer here!

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

INTERVIEW: Little Brother Eli

Alongside the likes of Catgod who I interviewed recently (read that one here) Little Brother Eli are one of my favourite local musical discoveries to emerge from my time in Oxford over the past few years. They've got a new song coming out on the 18th May as well as a bunch of festivals this Summer so I interviewed them to catch up with everything LBE, check it out below and keep an ear out for the single!

First things first, introductions! Who are Little Brother Eli and how long has the band been going?

We are a 4 piece disco rock outfit originating from Oxford. We started the band wayyy back in 2013 (back when we all still had hair…)

You’ve got a brand new tune called Our Kind Of Love coming out on the 18th May. Tell us a little about the story behind the tune… was the writing and recording process any different to your previous releases?

We really just wanted to try something totally new this year. We’d done the blues rock thing to death and it was time for us to be more of ourselves in a recording. The song was originally a piano ballard, but Josh funked it up on the bass, Adam added the chorus harmonies and all of a sudden it turned into a real dance track. We went into the studio and recorded it just as we played it at rehearsal - we’re really excited about showing the world this one.

This is the second new single of 2018, following up Tooth which seemed to be received really well with a sold out hometown launch gig and lots of positive reviews from blogs and fans alike. Do you have an EP or album in the pipeline? I certainly hope so!

We don’t have any album plans yet, but we have recorded a heap of singles and deciding which ones to put out is hard. The reasoning behind why we don’t want to put out an album quite yet is purely creative - there is often a long gap between recording and releasing an album because it’s such a large body of work. We wanted to keep things fresh by recording the music we’re into right now and releasing it quickly (not what we were into 8 months ago).

I’m really enjoying the video of you performing the track live at a Sofar Sounds show in Bath earlier this year. (For those who don’t know, Sofar Sounds is a series of gigs in spaces you wouldn’t usually expect to hear live music, where the audience signs up without knowing which artists they’re going to see.) You guys seem to get around to lots of Sofar shows - what do you enjoy about playing them? Personally, I think that in comparison with a traditional gig the more relaxed environment really helps to highlight Alex’s incredible vocal range and the beautiful harmonies you guys have!

Why thank you! You’re not fighting the sound in the venue at a Sofar Sounds show and you get a intimate atmosphere with the audience - so yeah we love them! However, there’s nothing like having Benji on the drums at an electric gig driving us forward.

Talking of gigs - what festivals plans do you have for the next few months?

A fair few: Truck Festival. The Great Escape. Lechlade. Woodstock Live. Smithdown Festival. Greenbelt Festival. There are a few still in the pipeline as well.

I know just as well as you guys that Oxford is a wonderful place to be, for many reasons and perhaps especially for its fantastically rich music and art scene. Which are your favourite local artists at the moment?

We’re super lucky to be where we are. Check out Chris Barker & The Premium Leisure! They played one of our monthly Eli Nights at The Monarch in Camden and were fantastic. Willie J Healey was on bass too (another Oxford monster musician).

Finally - what’s in your headphones at the minute? If I could recommend you one record at the moment it would probably be Empty Handed from Christof van der Ven - it’s beautiful!

Last rehearsal we were digging Superorganism’s self titled album. There are some pretty huge songs on there.

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Little Brother Eli - 'Tooth'

Let me introduce Little Brother Eli to you - they're a four piece rock band from Oxford who deliver energetic performances and who have been impressing fans on the local scene and further afield for a couple of years now. Watching them grow as a band was one of the musical highlights of the three years I spent studying in Oxford, and I'm glad to say that they're back, following up their 2016 debut album Cold Tales with a brand new single. Tooth represents a slight change in direction for the band, experimenting with disco rhythms and electronic sounds to spruce up their sound, while maintaining what I've come to love them for - namely singer Alex's impressive vocal range.

Like what you're hearing? Catch the band at their single launch show on Feb 24th at The Wheatsheaf in Oxford - more details about the show, where Quartermelon and Lucy Vee are in support, here. Tickets are flying out so be quick!

Follow Little Brother Eli - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Handle Bar (27/3/17)

Last night kicked off a great week of gigs (Jack Savoretti in London tomorrow night, pretty excited about that one!) It was another brilliant Sofar Sounds concert at The Handle Bar (a cafe above a bike shop), an alumni show so no film crew and a really lovely relaxed atmosphere, a great crowd and a beautiful line-up with Boat To Row, Ags Connolly, Kyan and Little Brother Eli performing for us.

First up we had Boat To Row who are a band from Birmingham currently do a house show tour so Sofar fits in pretty well alongside those shows! I met the lead singer Michael a few months back when he played a solo support set for a Tigmus show in Oxford, and it was lovely to catch them playing as a band, perhaps next time I'll see them playing a full (less stripped back) set... slowly building up to that! They treat us to some tunes from their 2015 record I Found You Here including one of my favourites, Handsome Beats, which you can watch the video for below. 

Next up and from somewhere a little more local, country singer Ags Connolly played some sad songs for us - who doesn't love sad songs?! We were promised a happier song and you might be able to work out why the track in the video below got some laughs... 

Up next was Kyan, probably one of my favourite recent Sofar discoveries in the sense that I was pleasantly surprised by the set... particularly with the addition of violinist Jed, who he'd only known for a couple of weeks! He's recently smashed the target on his Kickstarter project for the recording of his latest set of songs, which you can read about here. He's no stranger to Sofar and is currently touring around playing loads of them, here's a video from a Sofar London show a year or so ago (no violin but there are halloween decorations!)

Last up and also no strangers to Sofar Sounds, counting this as their eighteenth show, locals Little Brother Eli played us a couple of tracks from their brilliant debut Cold Tales as well as some brand new tracks they've been working on. It's been a few months since I last saw them playing their superb headline gig for Tigmus (where I was in charge of merch from an ironing board) so it was lovely to see them again - they're back in Oxford on the 19th May to headline the O2 for BBC Introducing alongside a brilliant line-up with Lucy Leave, Harry Pane, Ghost in the Photographs and Sleepers' Dome (FB event here). There are naturally quite a few videos of them performing at past Sofar shows on Youtube, here's one of my favourites... 

I took care of the social media for the show last night, so if you fancy checking out some live videos of each of the acts you can head over to the Facebook page here! If you want to find out more about Sofar Sounds and sign up for a monthly email alert about upcoming gigs (there is very likely one near you, wherever you live worldwide) check out their website here... long may Sofar continue!

WATCH: Little Brother Eli release video for 'Oceans'

As my time at university in Oxford is drawing to a close (and nope, I've no idea what I'm doing after...) I'm feeling reflective over some of the great bands I've discovered through the incredible local  music scene. One of my favourite discoveries have been Little Brother Eli, who I've seen a few times over the last couple of years, in venues around the city and got to know through Sofar Sounds Oxford and my work with Tigmus. They released their new music video for the brilliant track Oceans today, and while it's a little odd to see lead singer Alex standing so still as he's a very energetic performer during their live performances, I'm loving the video! Check it below...

The band are playing in London on 17th March at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen and at the Reading festival Are You Listening? on 22nd April - get along to a show, they're certainly worth catching live!

WATCH: Little Brother Eli perform 'Carry You' for Sofar Sounds

As I write this, it's 11pm and I'm sat contemplating the early night I promised myself half hour ago which is slowly disappearing.... it's very rapidly nearing the end of semester, I've got two big deadlines coming up (but I have managed to get one of the essays mostly written!) - and I somehow thought it'd be a good idea to be out of the flat for six nights in a row last week for a bunch of gigs and the Tigmus christmas get-together. Essentially the next week will include lots of reading, hopefully lots of writing, and a general lack of sleep... and I'm struggling to find time to write blog posts, but I thought I'd write up a quick one before I get to sleep, as many of my favourite bands are continually putting out brilliant new music which needs to be shared! 

Hopefully as the semester finishes I'll get back to posting a lot more regularly, but for now, here's a new video from Sofar Sounds Nottingham with one of my favourite Oxford bands, Little Brother Eli performing Carry You. I've certainly heard the track live before but it isn't on their debut album Cold Tales which was released back in June, so I presume it's a fairly new track. When they play with a full set-up there are five members in the band, the vibe is energetic and the tracks are catchy, and in the handful of times I've seen them perform acoustically, they've played as a trio, with Alex on vocals and Adam and Josh on guitar and bass respectively - it's awesome to see them mixing it up here with Tom on lap steel, which certainly adds an extra level to this performance!

If you're based in London and looking for things to do around Christmas, and you're a live music fan then you're in luck as LBE are playing a show for Tigmus on 21st December at The Monarch in Camden. Support comes from Darla and the Blonde and another Tigmus favourite, James Beau Barclay, and it's totally FREE! I'll be heading home for Christmas before then (meaning trips to London become around three times the price...) so won't be able to make it myself but I know it'll be a great night!

LIVE: Three days in the life of a live music fan...

It seems that while going to lots of shows and having relatively little time to write blog posts, those things that I do get to write are a summary of a few shows at a time - so here's another of those... last Thursday I ran another show for Tigmus, this time back at The Jericho Tavern in Oxford, with Dublin's The Eskies headlining as one of the last shows on their UK tour. It wasn't as rammed as the show I did in the same venue a week before, but, being so far from home and playing in Oxford for the first time they pulled a decent crowd and put on a cracking show. The night was opened by Louis Barabbas (captain of The Bedlam Six) who played a highly enjoyable, energetic and theatrical set. When it was time for The Eskies' set, I was really glad I'd taken the time to check out their album After The Sherry Went Round before the show, as it meant a lot of the tracks were familiar to me. The tracks, like Jesus Don't Save Me (watch the entertaining video below) were great but probably stealing the show was the onstage chatter, with amusing stories and observations from the band, namely about how many grey squirrels there are in Oxford (good point!) It also helps that they were really lovely guys too, a great night in all!

Next up, a big show for Tigmus, with one of our/my favourite Oxford bands Little Brother Eli headlining upstairs at the O2 Academy. We had a brilliant line-up of local acts playing, with My Crooked Teeth opening the night with his new backing band, duo WOLFS who played such tunes as Mirror, and lastly the lovely Lucy Leave following their UK tour last month! By the time LBE came on stage the room was packed full of adoring local music fans, who enjoyed a set featuring much of their album Cold Tales as well as a few new tracks! A video I captured on the night of their great track Gold is here but watch below for a recent acoustic video! 

During the show, in between selling merch for the guys at the back of the room.... from an ironing board, I arranged (incredibly last minute) to volunteer at Oxjam Festival on Saturday, an all-day (ish) festival taking place in venues along Cowley Road with a bunch of the best bands playing sets to raise money for Oxfam. I volunteered back in 2014 a couple of months after first starting university, when the festival was in the city centre (no idea why I didn't go last year!) and was on the door of a night-club, turning away drunk Oxford Uni students... this year was a lot cooler! 

I started off volunteering around three o'clock at the East Oxford Community Centre (and aside from grabbing some food, didn't venture very far away at all.) I caught some brilliant bands but there were still so many more I didn't get chance to see, check the full line-up here. First up were Roberto y Amigos, my first time seeing them without Jonny as he's gone off to university (and as far as I know the first time they played without him, though I'm told they'll have a new guitarist, Robin's Neverlnd bandmate Henry, soon). Probably somewhat testament to Robin's skill as a bassist, I didn't feel the lack of a guitar was much of a problem, and didn't really register that it wasn't there for a few tracks! Robin's sister Cat also joined the guys to sing, and I really enjoyed the set! Next up, and no break for drummer George (drawback of being in lots of brilliant bands?) were homeplanetearth, whose set I mostly watched through the door but could hear pretty well and enjoyed - they're also fresh from a Tigmus UK tour. There were a couple more bands on in the room I was in the door for whose sets I didn't really catch, but I was able to squeeze in for Bright Works and what I could hear, squished up against a radiator, was pretty great.

Bright Works

Sadly Little Brother Eli, who had been announced as the festival's special guests only hours before, had to pull out because Alex had been feeling pretty ill the night before and wanted to rest up his voice for their show the next day, so we had a quiet hour in my venue, during which I heard the irresistible Take Me To The Green by Slate Hearts coming from the other stage in the venue. I think I knew they were playing but wasn't aware when and where so this was a pleasant surprise and I managed to go and catch their set before finishing up my shift and heading out for some food. When I came back, I stayed in the venue I'd been helping at, and caught folk trio Little Red, who I'd met at a show I did the door for but didn't catch their set at so it was really great to finally see them - they're headlining the O2 for Tigmus on 18th November. Next up was Jess Hall who I remember seeing in December 2014 opening for Adam Barnes, on the bill with Willie J Healey, and who has got a fairly beautiful voice.

Finally, finishing up the day for me and for many others as the room got pretty full, was The Fusion Project, who I caught at Sofar recently with a four-piece band, so it was cool to see them with seven members this time. I'm beginning to get really excited for their huge (enormous, no less) show this Friday at the Sheldonian Theatre for Tigmus where I reckon they'll have ten members, live dancers and some incredible tunes - if you're interested in coming (and why wouldn't you be), grab your ticket here as they're selling quickly!

The Fusion Project

Another cracking weekend of music, and it was such a great day at Oxjam, being reminded of just how many lovely people I actually know in Oxford, seeing several bands, music industry peeps and fans who I knew. The perfect celebration of our beautiful and diverse local music scene, raising a heck of a lot of money for an incredible cause. Here's to more gigs! 

GIG NEWS: Little Brother Eli in Oxford (14/10/16)

The first time I saw Little Brother Eli play was at the first Tigmus show I attended back in October 2015, the Neverlnd (then Balloon Ascents) EP launch upstairs at the O2 Academy. It was a line-up that sounded pretty crazy on paper, those two, and two more local acts Esther Joy Lane and Loud Mountains, but it worked amazingly and local music writers Ocelot celebrated it as their gig of the year, and I was really impressed by the guys' set as I hadn't listened to them properly before the show. It's pretty exciting then that now, working for Tigmus, I can say that LBE are headlining the same venue on the 14th October! 

When I decided to post about this show (which you'll gather I'm pretty excited for) I searched for a video, and was going to attach an acoustic performance... Little Brother Eli are pretty superb in a stripped back setting but this recent music video really captures their boundless energy which you'll most definitely see at this gig. 

The show is part of the Tigmus season upstairs at the O2 Academy Oxford, which started up with a show I'm devastated to have missed on Friday night, with the lovely homeplanetearth kicking off their debut UK tour with a hometown headline, with a cracking support line-up from Little Red, Roberto y Amigos (local fave!) and Swindon's Polar Front. In November Little Red headline the venue, finishing up with Peerless Pirates in December but now it's Little Brother Eli's turn and I'm really excited about that!

The four band line-up is completed by a bunch of local talent: My Crooked Teeth, WOLFS and Lucy Leave (who also headline The Cellar this Friday 23rd Sep as part of their debut UK tour - come see me as I'll be on the door!!) and while it's probably best to expect the unexpected, I can promise some brilliant music and a very dapper band (although I can't shift the idea of thinking that LBE look like a band of Geography teachers...) 

Tickets for the show are available through Tigmus with no booking fees here, and check out the rest of the site for loads more artists of various genres playing shows in Oxford over the next couple of months!

LISTEN: June 2016 playlist

Among all the excitement/drama of the EU referendum, the Euros and my twentieth birthday I just about forgot to make a playlist for the month so it's a couple of days late, but it's a pretty brilliant one! I only got to Bushstock this month but caught seven fantastic acts that day, so the playlist is made up of tracks from those artists as well as a flurry of new tracks from some of my favourite artists including Twin Atlantic, Two Door Cinema Club and Neverlnd. Take a listen below and look down the post for a little explanation of why each track is in the playlist!

1. Bear's Den Auld Wives - much of my month has revolved around these guys musically, from listening to this first single from their upcoming new record, to entering countless competitions to win tickets to see them headlining Bushstock (which I did!) 
2. Two Door Cinema Club Are We Ready? (Wreck) - after what seems like many many years, Two Door are back with a track from their new record Gameshow, which is released this October.
3. Little Brother Eli Gold - one of my favourite band's from Oxford, I'm really happy for them to have released their debut album this month! This is one of my favourite tracks from the record, I love this Sofar Sounds session video of the track.
4. Harry Pane Changing - Harry's just played two sold out shows for Tigmus, and I reviewed his new EP, of which this is the title track, for the Tigmus blog. It's a brilliant EP and well worth a listen!
5. MarthaGunn Heaven - I keep hearing about these guys (but at first I mistook them for a solo singer I knew of a few years ago) and they supported at recent Toothless and Bear's Den shows, so I caught their set at Bushstock and really enjoyed it, they're certainly ones to watch for the rest of the year. 
6. Neverlnd Neighbours - alongside LBE, these are another of my favourite Oxford-based bands, and this is their latest (brilliant) free monthly track!
7. Jake Bugg Gimme The Love - Jake released his third studio record On My One in June, and this was the first single from the record, and a very catchy one!
8. Billie Marten La Lune - I'd heard of Billie before but hadn't really listened to her (although I think I may have caught some of her set at Festifeel last year) until her new video for this track found its way into my inbox, but this track is too beautiful not to share (and she's only seventeen!!)
9. Mumford & Sons ft. Baaba Maal, The Very Best & Beatenberg Wona - Mumford's Johannesburg EP, in collaboration with these three artists, was released this month. The collection of five tracks were created from scratch over a couple of days between shows in South Africa and this was the second track to be released at the start of this month. Very uplifting!
10. Charlie Cunningham Telling It Wrong - I saw Charlie last November supporting the wonderful Stornoway guys in a beautiful church in Oxford. Who knew that in just about 7 months time I'd recreate the experience in a church in London... glad I could catch most of Charlie's set while at Bushstock!
11. Tom Odell Concrete - there's been so much great new music this month and Tom's new album Wrong Crowd is no exception. I've already shared the brilliant title track and Magnetised in previous playlists but I'm loving the record and this is another favourite from it. 
12. Lucy Leave Carry - these guys played a really successful Tigmus show recently and while their recent EP which the show was the launch for isn't on Spotify (listen here instead) I'm digging this track from another EP of theirs!
13. Luke Sital-Singh Nothing Stays The Same - Luke's was the first set I caught at Bushstock, a secret set in a wine bar. I was having some food in Westfield up the road and saw the announcement, very glad I managed to go and get my ticket and get back to the venue and grab a spot. Hadn't listened to his music before and I was really impressed, I've since grabbed his CD and I will keep an eye out for the new music he played in the set!
14. Matthew & The Atlas Temple - on just before Bear's Den at Bushstock, I was at the very back of the church for their set, and (as always!) stood behind some very tall guys, but from what I could hear, the set was pretty beautiful. 
15. Bastille Good Grief - even more brilliant new music! After a year or two away, the guys finally released a new track from their upcoming record, released in September. 
16. Amber Run Haze - considering the pretty long queue outside the bar, I felt very lucky to be in the right place just as they announced these guys as one of the secret acts at Bushstock. I hadn't listened to this track before, which they released a couple of months ago, but it really stuck with me after the set. A highlight of the day was a guy who hadn't got into the set, but who stayed outside the venue practically a pane of glass away from the band, singing along to every single word of their set. I saw him at some other sets later in the day and it was pretty sweet to see how much it all meant to him and how passionate he was about the music. 
17. Dan Croll From Nowhere - the final Bushstock track in the playlist and the way in which I won tickets for the festival - as I won tickets to see Dan (who was headlining one of the biggest venues) in someone's back garden, a secret stage organised by TOMS shoes. He played a beautiful set and I felt pretty honoured to witness it!
18. Little Brother Eli Beautiful People - I'm that excited about these guys releasing their debut record that I have to put two tracks from it into the playlist. Wholeheartedly encourage you to go and take a listen to the full album and to catch them live if you get the chance, they're a brilliant live band!
19. Twin Atlantic No Sleep - not only for the reason that I'm writing this at 1am, this track is perfect to round off the playlist as the first new music I got pretty excited about in June. It's on their upcoming album GLA which is also out in September, and I'm very excited to hear more tracks from the album in a couple of weeks when (provided it isn't cancelled for health reasons as a few recent shows have been) I see the guys live in London for the first time! 

PREVIEW: Little Brother Eli release album 'Cold Tales'

One of my favourite music discoveries over the couple of years I've been studying in Oxford is Little Brother Eli, who release their debut album, Cold Tales, this weekend. The album is out on Friday and you can hear it live on Saturday at The Bullingdon, with support from Neverlnd (another of my favourite Oxford bands!) and Nine Miles South. They're also playing an acoustic set before the show over the road at Truck - having seen them play acoustic at Sofar Sounds Oxford I'd definitely recommend getting along to that!

Performing live, the band's tracks are bluesy, loud and catchy, drawing recommendations to the likes of The Black Keys, and the album manages to replicate this wonderfully. Lead vocalist Alex Grew's range always manages to surprise me, as well as his contagious energy onstage. The album features tracks such as Beautiful, Who Do You, Dreams and Gold (below) which go down pretty well at live shows.

Forming in early 2013 with Grew and bassist Josh Rigal, the band were joined by guitarist Adam Stowe and drummer Benji Page, sharing their wide mix of musical influences along with lap steel specialist Tom Williams. Jamming together they created their own blend of bluesy garage rock, a combination of Grew's soulful vocals and growling guitars. Over the past couple of years, as well as playing in over 100 different venues around the country, the band have started to acquire a loyal local following, so the show on Saturday should have a really fun atmosphere - wish I was in town for it!

To pre-order the album, head to the band's site here. Tickets for this Saturday's show are available here - if you can't make it, come along to their Tigmus headline show upstairs at the O2 in October, more info here.

TOUR NEWS: Little Brother Eli (June 2016)

With the release of their album coming up next month, looks like Oxford's Little Brother Eli are going to be pretty busy with this list of gigs coming up in June, with a lot of festivals in Oxfordshire (including Common People Festival in Oxford this weekend!) Anyone that's seen them live will know I'm not lying when I say their shows are pretty infectious, with lead singer Alex Grew's energy bursting from the stage. The upcoming debut record Cold Tales is released 24th June and features many of the tracks that have stuck in my head following the three shows I've seen them play, including Who Do You, Dreams, and Gold, and you can pre-order it on iTunes here. I'll hopefully get something written up about the album a little closer to the time! 

Probably the show most worth mentioning among these is the band's album launch show at the Bullingdon in Oxford on 25th June, where Neverlnd are supporting if I'm not mistaken! Info on all the upcoming shows on the band's site here.

WATCH: Little Brother Eli perform 'Gold' for Sofar Sounds

After moving back to Oxford on Friday, last night I went to my first gig for just over two weeks (the longest gap between gigs since my first of the year, I think!) - and caught Little Brother Eli playing an acoustic set at The Bullingdon for Oxfam. I owe discovering them partly to Oxford Sofar Sounds and partly to Tigmus, and in my opinion, they're one of the best local bands at the minute - and certainly one of my favourites. Their unique musical style and the energy that lead singer, Alex, puts into performances, makes their sets really enjoyable - and he puts as much into acoustic sets (such as last night, and when I saw them playing at Sofar Sounds Oxford last year) as full band electric sets. Loving this new video of the band from Sofar in London, which has gained over 1000 views in just a few days!

Go here to read my post about the recent album announcement - it's called Cold Tales and is out on 24th June, and they'll be back at The Bullingdon on 25th June to launch it. Gutted I didn't take cash to the show last night as they actually had copies of the album for sale... love grabbing records at shows before their release date, especially over 2 months before!

LISTEN: March 2016 playlist - my month in music!

At the end of February, I posted a Spotify playlist which encapsulated my month in music, and thought that, if the response was good, I could try to keep it up as a monthly feature on the blog. The response was in fact pretty staggering, so I've made a playlist for March which you can listen to below. With particular highlights including Jack Savoretti, Neverlnd and Biffy Clyro, the playlist is a mix of artists I've seen live during the month, and those who I've been listening to and writing about. If you find something new that you enjoy - feel free to comment below!

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

1. Neverlnd Where Do I Start - this month came the news that the newly re-named Oxford band (previously Balloon Ascents) are heading in a new direction and planning to release a free track monthly, stepping away from the album format. This is the first of those free tracks and I can't wait to hear it at their Oxford gig in April!
2. Benedict Benjamin Thin Skin - Ben played the Sofar Sounds Oxford show I went to at the start of the month, where I bought the first physical copy of his debut album Night Songs which has just been released, and I love this track from it!
3. Biffy Clyro Wolves Of Winter - this one needs little explaining - Biffy are back and they're releasing an album in July. A completely triumphant return and a sprinkle of rock onto the playlist!
4. Jack Savoretti Catapult - the highlight of my live music experiences over the month was probably Jack's London Cadogan Hall show generally, and particularly his performance of this track with a string trio, with whom he performed the track on The Graham Norton Show at the beginning of the year.
5. Martin Harley & Daniel Kimbro Money Don't Matter - following the end of my placement with the lovely guys at Tigmus, I've kept in touch and I ran the door for a show with these guys headlining in Oxford in the middle of the month. It was a lovely Sunday evening blues show as part of a tour promoting a recent live album that they recorded together, and this track was a stand out for me on the evening! 
6. Black Honey Corrine - I went along to see Black Honey at The Bullingdon without having listened to them beforehand. Watching from a distance to avoid the moshing at the front of the crowd, I enjoyed the set - if you're Oxford based and off to Truck Festival over Summer, I'd recommend checking them out as they've just been announced in the second wave of acts!
7. King Charles Lady Of The River - would it be a playlist of mine without King Charles? This is one of my favourite tracks of Charles' second record and a music video for the track was released this month.
8. Lucy Rose Nebraska - likewise, this beautiful track from Lucy Rose had a video released this month, with Danny Dyer in drag. Beat that, Charles...
9. Roo Panes Stay With Me - I've known of Roo for a while after seeing a couple of videos he recorded with Burberry Acoustic a few years ago. This is the opening track from his new record Paperweights which was released earlier this month. I slightly regret not going to his show in the same venue that I saw Jack Savoretti at last week, because I was being sensible and staying in to write an essay!
10. Bel Esprit Island - these guys are releasing their single Leave Me Here on 8th April and they are currently on a mini Easter tour to promote the track, playing Southampton tomorrow (1st) and London on Saturday (2nd). I loved this track when I caught their Oxford show at the end of February. 
11. Little Brother Eli Dreams - one of my favourite discoveries through Sofar Sounds Oxford, where I saw them back in November. They announced this month that their debut album, Cold Tales, is being released in June, and it will feature this track...
12. Jack Savoretti Breaking The Rules - when I saw Jack play in London, his performance of this track made me cry - happy tears, considering how well he is doing at the moment!
13. Laish Song For Everything - another Sofar Sounds Oxford artist, Laish (aka Daniel Green) is releasing a record, funded through a crowdfunding campaign which just finished. This is the title track of the EP being offered to pledgers, a video for which was released during the campaign.
14. Roberto y Juan Monster Love - these guys featured a couple of times in the February playlist, but as I saw them twice in March, I couldn't leave them out this time around! This is the title track of their second EP, which I described back in Feb as "some of the best new music I've heard so far this year."
15. Bloom Twins Blue - another of the acts from the Sofar Sounds Oxford show I attended this month, these twins are based in London but originally from Ukraine, and are currently on tour with Duran Duran, so our intimate Sofar show was probably quite a change for them! 
16. Martin Harley & Daniel Kimbro Nobody's Fault But Mine - when watching the set a couple of weeks ago, this track stayed with me (probably because the lyrics focus upon reading - and I'm doing a joint English Literature degree!)
17. Benedict Benjamin Coward - having listened to the new record quite a few times, I struggled to choose two tracks to include in the playlist as I'm really enjoying it as a full record. If you like what you're hearing... I definitely recommend checking the whole thing out!
18. Stornoway The Only Way Is Up (acoustic) - this beautiful cover seems like a great way to wrap up the playlist, taken from the Bonxie Unplucked EP. Stornoway announced this month that they are playing a show at the RSC theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon in July, which guarantees to be a special evening in wonderful surroundings! 

ALBUM NEWS: Little Brother Eli to release debut album 'Cold Tales'

Following from my post about the new Laish album, comes another album announcement from Sofar Sounds Oxford alumni Little Brother Eli. The more I listen, the more I'm enjoying their music,   which has been compared by some to the likes of The Black Keys, all surrounding the powerful vocal range of frontman Alex. They're a superb, energetic live band, both in a full band set-up and acoustic shows, and I'm intrigued to hear how much of this comes across on the record. They'll be playing a show at The Bullingdon in Oxford (their hometown) to promote the release, more details at the bottom of the post. The album, Cold Tales, is due for release on 24th June (pre-order on iTunes here) and you can get a taster of the music through a variety of videos of the band on Youtube, including this of them performing the brilliant track 'Shake Me' at Sofar Sounds Nottingham. 

My photo of Little Brother Eli playing Sofar Sounds Oxford back in November

The track listing for Cold Tales is as follows:

Oceans
Who Do You
This Girl
Dreams
Roll Away
Gold
Hanging
Shake Me
Beautiful People
Cold Tales

Album artwork, sketches by Merlin Porter

Little Brother Eli play an album launch show on 25th June at Oxford's The Bullingdon with support from Nine Miles South and Neverlnd (I'm gutted I won't be in Oxford for the show - sounds like it'll be a great evening!) You can grab tickets here.

LIVE: Balloon Ascents at O2 Academy Oxford (24/10/15)

Though I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself for the past few days (probably due to being out in the cold at a few gigs last week, and lack of sleep), I decided to pop down the road to the O2 Academy Oxford on Friday night to see local guys Balloon Ascents play their single launch for Don't Look Down, with local supports Loud Mountains, Little Brother Eli, and Esther Joy Lane - turned out to be a pretty good decision!

Artwork for the new Balloon Ascents release.

Arriving a little late I missed some of Loud Mountains set, but I was intrigued to see them play as they'd pulled out of a show I went to a few weeks ago. Looking back at the notes on my phone that I made to remember what I'd thought of the set, I find simply 'nice harmonies' and 'folky', which is a pretty concise but decent (?) review. They set the precedent for the night, with all four acts being local bands and artists, friends and linked in various ways, with different musical styles but fitting together quite well - testament to the brilliant organisation of Tigmus.

Second to play were Little Brother Eli, whose music started to form a little more of a crowd than the scattering of people found up to that point. Another local band which I get the impression are fairly well loved, they entered the stage dressed to impress. The five piece band, who describe their genre as 'bluesy garage rock' put on a fun set with superb guitar solos and an enthusiastic and powerful performance from frontman Alex. 

Esther Joy Lane was up next - perhaps the most surprising act of the night and the only soloist on the bill, playing electronic music (with a hint of guitar in one track until it disconnected - a glitch which she very smoothly dealt with!) With her soft voice she made the electronic music fit well into the night, where in theory it seemed a confusing addition - and a crowd, cheering on the local talent started to form, awaiting the arrival of the headliners. A particular highlight of her set was the closing track, Poets, an ode to the late Robin Williams. The night was special for Esther too in that she released an EP yesterday, and had play on BBC Radio 6 Music as 'Recommendation of the day' a couple of days ago. Definitely one to watch on the local scene.

Having seen Balloon Ascents a couple of times before including in the same venue a few months ago - I thought I knew what to expect, but the band felt like it had been invigorated. Frontman Thomas had gained another level of charisma (I'd be interested to see if he's been taking tips from other performers), jumping around the stage and belting out the lyrics to some of the band's well known tracks - for a relatively small local band this seems a strange thing to say, but the crowd, who loved every minute, were hanging on each word and recognising tracks from their opening chords. The band seemed to be having an equally great time, feeding off of one another's energy and excitement for the show.

The newly released tracks went down well, as well as a completely new track which Thomas invited the audience to "listen for the mistakes" in as it hadn't been played live before - but the band were tight as ever, having played together for around 5 years - no mean feat when they're all around 18 years old now. Showcasing their diversity as a band they took it down a notch to play the slightly more stripped back No - see a performance of the track from a Sofar Sounds show in Reading earlier in the year here. Another highlight of the set for me was the opening track, their take on William Blake's poem London which they created for a Sofar Sounds Oxford show earlier in the year. Take a watch below to see a snippet of Cutout, another recent single from the band. 

Overall a fun night (if spent mostly coughing at the back of the room) seeing four fairly different but each credible and talented local acts who are all doing well, and have great things ahead of them. You can stream and buy Don't Look Down/Someone on the Balloon Ascents bandcamp here, and see them live at The Bullingdon in Oxford on 29th November as part of Oxford City Festival.