Top tunes from ADY JOHNSON, ALLYSON EZELL, BAT AND BALL, CHINA RATS, DOMINIC WOLF, FORESTEARS, RAEL JONES, ROSIE MAY, SHAKE TIGER SHAKE, SHAODOW, THE AMERICAN PILOT, THE WOODEN MACHINE, TIJUANA & STUART ROBIN, TOM HOLLINGWORTH, WILL DIXON and YELLOWIRE

The BBC Introducing Mixtape is a 60 minute radio show and podcast broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music from 2-3am every Sunday night/Monday morning. Each show is available as a podcast for 30 days at the BBC 6 Music downloads page. The full tracklists and start times are published here at Fresh On The Net with biog information supplied by the artists. Previous tracklists can be found via the MIXTAPE tab above or on the BBC website.

All tracks on the mixtape come from the BBC Introducing Uploader: some are recommended by BBC friends and colleagues – the rest are tunes I’ve discovered here while listening to our Fresh On The Net inbox. For more about how the process works see this post.

These are the listings for the episode broadcast at 2am on Monday, 28th October 2013:

TIJUANA/STUART ROBIN – My Dream Your Nightmare [Start 0.13]
https://soundcloud.com/tijuanalondon
Tijuana is a London-based writer and producer who collaborates with singer/songwriter Stuart Robin to work with a variety of acts including Mr. Miller, Nathan Parallel and blues singer Blair Dollery who is the guest vocalist on this track. We featured the duo’s portrait of nightclub woe that was Parties In Awful Places back in June and for their followup the boys have headed off on a Northern Soul weekender for tales of love gone wrong in My Dream, Your Nightmare. The Tijuana live band emerged over the Summer and will play more London dates towards Christmas, including The Dublin Castle this Weds (Oct 30th) and The Islington on Nov 17th.

TOM HOLLINGWORTH – All Roads From Penrose [Starts: 03:30]
http://soundcloud.com/tomhollingworthmusic
Suffolk born musician Tom Hollingworth (aka therunningchelsea) is currently based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He writes and performs songs – sometimes solo, with the use of loop pedals and effects – and sometimes with his band Lunar Bells. All Roads From Penrose comes from his recent album, In The Future, We Will Spinn which was released in January and is available via his Bandcamp. All profits from the album are being donated to the charity Papyrus which works to combat depression and suicide, particularly among young people. File under “experimental electronica folk freak-folk grunge hip-hop indie punk”

ROSIE MAY – The Rooks [Starts: 08:21]
http://soundcloud.com/rosie-may
“Located in the heart of Somerset and based in London, I am documenting my life and others’ through song.” says Rosie May, who is – according to her Twitter feed – currently on tour through Florence, Madrid and Seville. This is the opening track on her EP Roof Over Our Heads, on which the songs are inspired by old English folk songs – written in admiration of one’s local landscapes – with medieval influence in the melodies. The EP was also written with the acoustics of a church in mind – specifically with a view to raising money for St Peter’s in Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, near where Rosie grew up. It recently suggered lead theft from its roof and consequentially suffered water damage over the rainy winter. 100% of profits from the album go to St Peter’s – you can buy it from her Bandcamp.

CHINA RATS – N.O.M.O.N.E.Y. [Starts: 10:07]
http://facebook.com/chinarats
Leeds quartet China Rats consist of Graeme Thomson, Luke Smith, Jed Allcock and George Riley. N.O.M.O.N.E.Y. is the lead song on their newly released 5 track EP Don’t Play With Fire. They recorded it in Leeds at Cottage Road studios with Matt Peel who has also worked with Eagulls and Pulled Apart By Horses. “We are in the middle of a UK tour at the moment” they tell us “which includes six dates supporting Nashville band The Weeks. We have a London show at Cafe 1001 on 21st November and play in Paris on 22nd November before starting work on our debut album which will be released in the first half of 2014.”

FORESTEARS – Smoulder House [Starts: 12:15]
https://www.facebook.com/forestears
“I’m a sucker for a bit of brass in my music,” wrote Simon Poole here at FOTN last December. “I find it always adds that little bit extra something to a song as long as it’s not over done and thankfully Forestears have got it just right…. This six piece from Brighton certainly have a great laid back sound, and one I’ll be seeking out more of for sure. I don’t often say a band will go on to be bigger, because we all know of some great bands that simply just don’t make it, but I’ll take a punt here and say that Forestears will. Fingers crossed.” Forestears may also like to know FOTN also offers a handy guide on how to write a band biog and why it matters. https://freshonthenet.co.uk/biogs.

BAT AND BALL – We Prefer It In The Dark [Starts: 16:20]
http://soundcloud.com/bat-and-ball
This is the title track of a debut EP by newcomers Bat and Ball which was released the week before last via the Hospital Samples label. The band is based around West Coubtry-born siblings Abi and Chris Sinclair, who were writing and performing in various bands from their early teens, though never together. Paradoxically it wasn’t until they moved to London – and both began studying at the hothouse of musical talent and innovation that is Goldsmiths College – that it occurred to the duo to actually work together artistically. Thus in 2012 began their musical incarnation as Bat and Ball. They have since recruited fellow Goldsmiths students Ed Burton on drums, Jamie Coe on guitar and Harri Chambers on keyboards to complete the band’s lineup. Also, we’re told, to “bring a breadth of sound, subtle colours and explosive dynamics to the mix”. The lyrics meanwhile are “hidden behind imaginary, shadowy characters that reveal themselves in the dark dreaminess of the music. Intriguing and captivating in equal measure.” Gosh.

SHAODOW – Biggest Threat ft ZUBY [Starts: 20:19]
http://www.shaodowmusic.com
A musical rap manifesto from the admirably, defiantly DIY artist ShaoDow (pronounced Sha-ow-dough) who took his unique name after travelling to China at the age of 18 to learn the legendary art of Shaolin Kung Fu. His songwriting is informed not only by his early travels but by his frustration with the same regurgitated negative messages from many current hiphop artists. One of his earliest tracks “Look Out There’s A Black Man Coming” became something of a legend around the Oxfordshire music scene and was featured on my 6 Music show back in February 2012. He also appeared alongside Abiade, Ruckus, Swami Baracus and Genesis Elijah on Zaheer’s solo debut Assemble last October. He’s appeared on Tim Westwood’s show, headlined the O2 Academy Oxford, opened for the likes of Chase & Status, Skepta, Chipmunk, Devlin, Akala and Giggs – and been personally invited by Wiley to play a slot on the Manchester leg of his tour. Here, for once, an artist whose acievements more than live up to the hyperbole of his press release: Mr ShaoDow is indeed living proof of what you can achieve if you’re willing to get up, get out and Do It Yourself.

ADY JOHNSON – Thank You for the Good Things [Starts 24:33]
http://www.adyjohnson.co.uk
Suffolk born antique furniture restorer and musician Ady Johnson almost lost both his livelihoods after severing two tendons in his barre finger with a chisel. Having fortunately made a full recovery, Ady decided to abandon the restoration trade and focus on music – having already played in numerous bands and gained an honours degree in classical guitar performance. In 2011 his predominantly acoustic debut album Tell The Worry Dolls was rooted in folk, blues and soul through the filter of what he escribes as “an off-kilter pop sensibility”. Ady gigged the album relentlessly across the South East with shows that included opening slots for Ben Howard and Willy Mason. One of his more colourful appearances included busking outside 6Fest – the festival organised to celebrate the saving of BBC 6 Music – which resulted in him being invited indoors to play there as well. Thank You for the Good Things brings Ady back to his woodworking beginnings – with a tribute to his late Grandfather, who taught him the antique restoration trade in the first place. Now based in South East London he is currently recording an intimate, stripped back EP with our very own Johnno “Snippet” Casson in the producer’s chair.

YELLOWIRE – Peter [Starts: 29:06]
http://www.yellowire.co.uk
London four piece Yellowire were founded by frontman Ol Beach in 2010 and released their debut album Machines On Fire in mid-2011. Their unreleased track Tonight’s The Night somehow made it onto a YouTube advert for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories this summer – something that still perplexes the band to this day. Then they were asked to play alongside Kasabian at Hard Rock Calling, before The Rolling Stones invited them along to their Hyde Park extravaganza. And then they played recent shows in Nashville, Tennessee. Yellowire are now joining The Feeling on a major European tour, including a substantial tranche of UK dates and a forthcoming EP from which this track Peter is taken. The tour hits Leicester on Tuesday followed by Bristol on Wednesday, Bournemouth on Thursday (Halloween), Cambridge Junction on Saturday, cardiff on Sunday and a London show at the end of next month on Nov 28th.

RAEL JONES – Silflay [start 32:25]
http://raeljones.com
“Silflay” is “the time for coming above ground and grazing” in the rabbit language of the book Watership Down and this piece for string quartet and acoustic guitar is taken from Rael Jones‘s forthcoming album Mandrake. Often seen gigging around the UK as guitarist and keyboardist with Prog Rock band Thumpermonkey, Rael spends his days working on music for films – recently working on the BBC Sherlock series (additional composing) Alan Partridge Music (music editing) and Les Misérables (music editor, programmer, additional orchestrator) – for which he won an MPSE golden reel award. As a solo artist, Rael’s music is mainly influenced by Prog, Classical and Post Rock.

ALLYSON EZELL – Pick It Up [Starts: 37:31]
http://www.allysonezell.com
“While France may be Allyson Ezell’s home away from home, it is Iowa, her homeland, that seeps out of her songs. Born there to hippie parents, she soaked up an intense optimism and a curiosity for the world around her, both recurrent themes evoked in her writing. For Allyson Ezell, late 2012 was marked by a serendipitous encounter with British producer MaJiKer. They shared the same desire to experiment with unexpected sounds originating not just from machines but also found in daily life. The same idea of a sound that would be folk but not fragile, rather sensitive, and pop but not pretentious, rather solid and full of groove. The result is what Allyson cheekily calls “bling-folk” and thisdebut song Pick It Up is its first reflection.” Allyson was, of course, also the subject of last week’s Prick’n’Ding here at FOTN.

DOMINIC WOLF – Behind The Sun [Starts: 40:46]
http://www.facebook.com/dominicwolfmusic
Independent singer-songwriter Dominic Wolf grew up in Switzerland – where he began playing and writing music from the age of 10 and performed with various bands during his teens. When he turned 18, Dominic counted his money and moved to a tiny studio in London where he began promoting Anoesis – his first solo EP. While performing the songs live he quickly lost his taste for the folk/acoustic approach of that first record and in April 2012 leapt at the chance to record two new tracks at Play Studios – previously used by artists such David Bowie and The Chemical Brothers. Behind the Sun was one of those tracks and was released as a single last month, with an upcoming EP to follow in January 2014. More announcements are expected shortly via his Facebook page

THE AMERICAN PILOT – Spin Out [Starts: 44:31]
https://www.facebook.com/theamericanpilot
When Spin Out featured on our Listening Post mere weeks ago – credited to a band named Summer – I immediately chose it for this week’s mixtape. The group replied to my producer’s email of enquiry: “Thank you so much for choosing our song for a future Mixtape, but we have actually just changed our name to The American Pilot. Our previous name basically got us lost in the cavern of the internet: you can’t search for it, you cant register it with anything – and as for typing it in to Google forgettabowwwwtiiiiit. Anyway, we are an Alternative Pop band – made up of three musicians from Birmingham and one U.S. expat, We’ve been making music together in different groups since 2007 – and this particular configuaration dates from 2012. If the band didn’t exist, we’d all still be friends and the drummer and bassplayer would still be co-workers on the railroads. Spin Out features lyrics that were scribbled on 2 slightly apple-juice-stained airline napkins. They were then applied to music that came together after guitarist Liam had a particularly frustrating day working in the customer service centre of a home security company.

SHAKE TIGER SHAKE – Break These Chains [Starts: 46:41]
https://www.facebook.com/shaketigershake
“Combining beats, dirty bass-lines, synths & soulful vocals, Shake Tiger Shake are a British electronic duo, with a growing catalogue of hook laden pop songs. Given the thumbs up by XFM’s Dan O’Connell (“they got tunes”), STS have previously been featured as band of the day / week by The Guardian, Pop Justice & Notion Magazine. The duo are currently preparing for a single release and a string of live dates in early 2014.”

THE WOODEN MACHINE – Counter Attack [Starts: 51:21]
http://soundcloud.com/thewoodenmachine
The Wooden Machine formed around two years ago in Keighley from the ashes of various bands and projects and consist of consist of Joseph Arthur Atkinson, Antonio Serpe, David Podsiedzik, Luke Scott and Maya Parfett. This is Track Two from their recently released EP Antiquities Volume 1, which was recorded and produced by themselves mostly in a renovated former kitchen in an old textile mill. The band have spent much of 2013 promoting it, gigging whenever the opportunity has arisen. They primarily draw influence from their surroundings – crafting songs about days gone by and local characters. The Wooden Machine are now hard at work with their followup release, the second of a trilogy of EPs planned for release this year.

WILL DIXON – Graffiti [Starts: 54:51]
https://www.facebook.com/WillDixonMusic
Will Dixon is a singer-songwriter based in Suffolk and I reviewed this tune in our Fresh Faves at the beginning of September. “At blooming last…” I wrote “a gifted rock guitarist with a great sound, formidable riffing abilities AND serious songwriting chops. No fancy production tricks here, just a combination of tough, down to earth playing and thoughtful, intelligent songwriting. Interestingly, although Robert Markiewicz plays the bass parts no drummer is credited on Will Dixon‘s debut album These Aren’t the Songs You’re Looking For. Surely these monster drum parts can’t have been either programmed or made up of stock loops. Or can they?” The answer, Will tweeted back, was indeed yes – to the enormous credit of producer Jimmy Balch who also plays with the Ruislip band Big Casino. “In any case, this album is a great calling card” my review continued “though songwriting and skill are only two parts of the equation. If this material could now be gigged for a year with a permanent live band it would take Will’s work into a different league.” But Will and Jimmy – together with Robert Markiewicz and Sam Ferrara from Big Casino – were already in the process of forming a gigging band, with shows planned over the next 12 months.

ARTISTS: A Word Of Warning…
After appearing on The BBC Introducing Mixtape you may well receive unsolicited email from at least one plugger saying they heard your track on the show, thought it “sounded fantastic”, and are wondering if you’re looking for promotion for your releases.

Please check out The Pros And Cons Of Pluggers before responding to any unsolicited emails from anyone suggesting that YOU should pay THEM for services of any kind.