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!

WATCH: Rukhsana Merrise 'Money' for Mahogany

Last night I went to the Oxford leg of the Communion New Faces tour, where the line-up comprised of Matt Woods, Rukhsana Merrise, Adam French and The Beach. I hadn't listened much to any of the artists, but have huge confidence in the line-ups championed by Communion, and although for some reason, the crowd was pretty tiny, all four artists played great sets and are surely destined for great things. On the tour around a year ago, I saw Frances, who yesterday played on Radio 1's Live Lounge and is doing very well for herself! 

Mahogany released this video yesterday of Rukhsana Merrise performing a session of her track Money, certainly worth a watch! Funnily, the session bassist who currently plays with The Hoosiers was on bass in her band last night, and once I'd got over that unexpected surprise, I really enjoyed the set! 

A quick mention has to go to Matt Woods who opened the night, and who I was pretty mesmerised by. His performance was really beautiful and emotional, his range is pretty insane, and (especially as I couldn't spot him to go and grab a CD) I hope I get chance to see him live again pretty soon! Here's his most recent track, Ain't No Use.


The New Faces tour finishes up in Brighton tonight, and Bristol tomorrow night, tickets and more info here.

LIVE: Dizraeli at Jericho Tavern 26/4/16

Today I submitted the portfolio (distant cheering!) for my placement module (for which I helped Tigmus out for a month.) I've got to give a poster presentation on my placement tomorrow and then the module will be finished. I'm still involved with Tigmus though, helping out online and at shows, and the latest of these was Dizraeli at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford earlier this week, a brilliant evening of hip-hop/spoken word/rap/folk! Support came from Jakaboski (watch a video of him performing a track about festival romances at a Sofar Sounds show here.) 

I saw Dizraeli at one of my favourite Sofar Sounds Oxford shows just over a year ago at The Hatch, which I think sadly closed recently, and was really looking forward to running the show, and for good reason - he smashed it! In a series of session videos for tracks from his Eat My Camera EP (click to watch Ariane and Dona Diaz) the latest to be released is below, Morning Light. 

Nearing the end of his tour to promote the new EP, Dizraeli plays a sold out London show tonight, with a Nottingham date next month (19th May). If you get the chance in the future to go and see Dizraeli live, I'd certainly recommend it. His stories between tracks, about, for instance, a recent trip to the refugee camps in the so called Calais Jungle, and about homophobia, are worth the ticket price by themselves. A very talented, clever guy who had the crowd (albeit small) yelling for more. 

WATCH: Mumford & Sons ft. Baaba Maal - 'There Will Be Time'

Mumford & Sons have this week announced that There Will Be Time, the track they released for Record Store Day, featuring Baaba Maal, will be released as part of an EP in June. The track reached number one in South Africa and was debuted live at the band's recent SA shows. The 5-track EP, Johannesburg is being released on the 17th June (just in time for my birthday on the 20th..), featuring Mumford on all the tracks, alongside Baaba Maal, The Very Best and Beatenberg. You can listen to the track on Spotify here.

EP artwork

The announcement is accompanied with a live video of There Will Be Time in South Africa, featuring Baaba Maal and The Very Best. Mumford are at their best when collaborating, and this is a stunning, powerful track and performance. Also, it's brilliant as ever to see Tom Hobden up there on stage with them on violin, killing it as always. Definitely worth a watch!

The Johannesburg EP is available to preorder on 10" vinyl, CD and cassette (an interesting resurgence is happening!) here.

LISTEN: Flyte - 'Sprawl II' (Arcade Fire)

As a fan of Arcade Fire and harmonies, I'm loving this video of Flyte covering the track Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) which I've just watched 4 or 5 times in a row. Seriously beautiful stuff, filmed by the talented Katie Craik under Westminster Bridge, very much worth a watch...

Flyte are starting up a club night, with the first coming up on May 4th at Moth Club, tickets available here. 

WATCH: King Charles 'Gamble For A Rose' for Sofar Sounds

Two of my favourite things in the world collide... King Charles and Sofar Sounds, as Charles recently played Sofar in London (if I'm not wrong, I think he actually played two nights in a row!) The only bad thing is that I wasn't there to watch, but this beautifully filmed video of Charles playing the title track of his January release Gamble For a Rose makes up for that a little!

If you're ever after some new music to listen to, a browse of the Sofar Sounds Youtube channel is a great place to start, with videos filmed at their shows, which take place in over 240 cities. 

LIVE: Adam Barnes at The Gallery Café (23/4/16)

To round off a great week of music (gutted I'm going home from uni soon and won't be able to keep this up...), my fifth gig of the week came last night with Adam Barnes playing Bethnal Green's The Gallery Café. 

Huge thanks to Adam for getting us in to his sold out gig - I'm very glad I travelled to London for it! I think the show was my fifth time seeing Adam (the last being in a primary school for Sofar), and I was as impressed as the first time. The set included a bunch of my favourite tracks of his from his album and the EP his released towards the end of last year, as well as a couple of tracks that were completely new. He has a brilliant skill of turning pop songs that few people would admit to liking (or knowing all the lyrics to) into huge singalong tracks, performed beautifully, which last night came in the form of Britney Spears' Baby One More Time (watch below) and Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

The venue was a great setting for Adam's music, and the evening was set up perfectly by the support set from Joseph & Maia, a duo from New Zealand who, after escaping from a record deal that, by the sound of it, didn't offer them much creative freedom, quit their jobs and have been travelling around playing music since, releasing a record through a crowd funding campaign. They had arrived in London the night before, and were flying back out today, and the passion they had was pretty obvious through their performance and their stories, and I really enjoyed the set, and look forward to hopefully crossing paths with them again in the future. Below is a Mokum Sessions performance of their track I Know, a highlight of their set.

They joined Adam onstage to sing backing vocals for  his track Come Undone, and at another point in the set, Joe Hicks, who is often seen playing guitar with Adam, lent his vocals to Darling, a track taken from the recent EP. For more info on Joseph and Maia (and tour dates) check their site here, and, I think his UK tour is over now, but you can check out Adam's music through Bandcamp here.

LIVE: Neverlnd launch gig at JDP Music Building (22/4/16)

I had a great time last night at my fourth gig of the week, seeing local lads Neverlnd play the stunning (and pretty well hidden) Jacqueline du Pré Music Building in the grounds of St Hilda's College. The show was to relaunch the band, who recently renamed themselves (they used to be Balloon Ascents) and the setlist was awash with their well loved tunes, their two recently released tracks Where Do I Start and We Don't Talk Like We Used To, and a few completely new tracks.

Neverlnd brought their new 'Dot Dot Dot' theme to JDP... 

Support for the show came from Lewis & Leigh, a duo I saw open for Dreaming Spires back in January (and thought that they stole the show, to be honest!) Their stunning harmonies had the crowd mesmerised, and a particular highlight for me was their track Devil's In The Detail, which you can listen to in their Missing Years EP below. 

After a short break, out came Neverlnd. Every time I see these guys play, they impress me more and more, and the experience always feels really communal, with a lot of the band's family, friends, and the Oxford Sofar crew attending the shows. The band continue to get more and more polished with each performance, and the new tracks match the calibre of the old stuff. Judging by what people were saying afterwards, everyone really enjoyed their performance of Aberration, and Cutout remains a favourite of mine (that bass!!) - and No was pretty beautiful, as always (check out a performance of the track at a Sofar Sounds in Reading here.) Also a special shoutout has to go to Ben, who joined the guys onstage playing keys, and did a pretty splendid job.

I took my camera along to the show but, rather amusingly, there was somewhat of a small crowd of photographers hovering in front of the stage, so after some lens issues, I gave in after a while and watched. While a big proportion of my photos are a blurry mess, I've salvaged some and put them in an album on my Flickr here.

Frontman Thomas right at home on the piano

If you're in Oxford, you can catch Neverlnd at the upcoming BBC Introducing 'Uprising' show at O2 Academy Oxford on 20th May (Jonny Payne & The Thunder are also on the line-up!). Information about that show and tickets for it here.

GIG NEWS: Neverlnd and Moulettes in Oxford (today!)

If you're in Oxford and short of something to do tonight... then I wholeheartedly recommend that you get down to one of two brilliant gigs put on by Tigmus in the city tonight.

First up.... Neverlnd (previously Balloon Ascents) play the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building (at the end of Cowley Road/Iffley Road, just off of the High St). The show is a relaunch for the new name and slightly new sound, and the band, with a very loyal local supporting are certainly not to be missed, and it'll hopefully be a sell out! Here's a stripped back video of the guys from a Sofar Sounds London gig at the beginning of 2015... 

Tickets for Neverlnd are £9 advance and will be £12 on the door, you can grab them here. 

Second up (and a gig I'm gutted to be missing!) is Moulettes at The Cellar. I recently posted a video of their track Behemooth filmed at Sofar Sounds Oxford, but below is an even livelier version which debuted online a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed their set at Sofar, and, describing their music as chamber/psychedelic/progressive/folk rock, I can only imagine that their electric show will be quite something to behold. Definitely recommend getting to the show and reporting back to me how it was! 

This one's £14 advance and £15 on the door, and you can grab tickets here. I hope you can get to one of the shows.... and if you do, enjoy!

LIVE: The Vaccines at Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust (20/4/16)

I was supposed to be going to a house gig put on by the lovely folk at Sofar Sounds Oxford last night, but when a friend offered me a free ticket (as she'd won a competition) to see The Vaccines and Everything Everything at the Royal Albert Hall, I couldn't really turn it down!

Tim Lovejoy was hosting the evening, and Pumarosa opened (watch the video for their track Priestess here), with The Horrors Tom Furse DJing between sets. It was my fourth time seeing Everything Everything and they continue to amaze me, filling the beautiful venue with their fantastic tunes, a lot of which were taken from latest (brilliant) record Get To Heaven. Recorded a snippet of the title track of that record, which is below...

It was my first time seeing The Vaccines live, but I've been a big fan of their music since the first record (What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?) and they've had great success since then, with 2012 release Come Of Age and last year's English Graffiti, and they played three nights at O2 Academy Brixton in November. The set was full of tracks from all three records, a tour of some superb tracks, with a particular highlight being a beautiful solo rendition of No Hope to open up the encore. Everyone seemed to be having such a great time, and the night was for a brilliant cause, making up one part of a week of shows for Teenage Cancer Trust (I wasn't aware, but they've been putting on shows for the charity for 16 years now, and it's their biggest fundraising event of the year), with John Bishop hosting a comedy show the night before, Simply Red tonight, and New Order, Bring Me The Horizon and David Gilmour still to come. There's always a great buzz at charity shows, particularly one of such a scale, and I love being involved in something so fun that's making a difference. Definitely a gig to remember, and it'll probably be one of my favourite shows of 2016! Here's a clip of them performing first album track Wetsuit.... 

More info about Teenage Cancer Trust here, and the upcoming TCT shows at the Royal Albert Hall here.