Top tunes from DOLLYMAN, MOONRACER, SAVE THE RECKLESS, MINA’S GHOST, ALEXANDER TELLER, FAITALA, C-STAR, KATHRYN SAWERS, EMPTY POOLS, STE MCCABE, SIGLO 21, RAINER, POCKET GODS, SUPER FULL MOON, BLUE SUNDAY and DARK BLUE

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 the night of Sunday 22nd December (technically the morning of Monday, 23rd December) 2013:

DOLLYMAN – Silent Bleak Manger [starts 0.17]
http://www.facebook.com/DOLLYmanUK
“DOLLYman is a joyfully anarchic avant-jazz/classical/rock collective. The five members are
James Lindsay, Kerry Andrew, Lucy Mulgan, Matt Dibble and Pat Moore – all composer/performers whose music takes in jazz leanings, wild and free improvisation, adventurous classical and delicately weird pop. Time Out says: ‘Fractious Mingus-informed punky jazz quartet offers broken themes full of menace and mischief. Possibly what Tom Waits’ band might sound like after he’s popped out for a smoke. A compellingly odd stew of sounds…’ The band has 2 EPs available to download from all good online stores.”

MOONRACER – Drift [starts 03:25]
http://www.soundcloud.com/moonracer-1
“MoonRacer consists of two cousins, Thomas Tellefsen from Norway and Lewis West from England. Both of us have a passion for creating music and decided it was a good idea to join forces. We tend to land in the downtempo/chill/soundtrack genres. Our tracks have a world music feel mixed with electronic synths and various percussion intruments. Our time is usually split between attempting to promote ourselves and writing music, we are working with a youtube promoter on a chilled out compilation which we hope to be a part of!”

SAVE THE RECKLESS – That Nose Ring Doesn’t Make You Pretty [starts 08.22]
https://www.facebook.com/savethereckless
“We, here at Save The Reckless, are a group of young pizza enthusiasts from the City of Edinburgh who like to promote strong calcium diets, terrible haircuts, and fantastic music.” The formed in December 2012 and after a few months, released their debut track Dreaming. Since then they have been gigging heavily around Scotland promoting their sound. Their debut EP Sink Or Swim was released in October, with a DIY music video for the opening track What’re You Hiding From? “The Recky Boys” they tell us “will be supporting Dundee Pop-Punk band ‘Yeah Detroit!’ in their upcoming headlining show on the 27th December at Studio 24, Edinburgh. They are currently planning to release a follow up EP in the early months of 2014, and plan to continue gigging heavily around Scotland & England well in to the new year.”

MINA’S GHOST – The Werewolf & The Crescent Moon [starts 11:33]
https://www.facebook.com/minasghost
“Mina’s Ghost” writes band member Will Tyas “operates out of a back room in a South London flat above a criminal lawyer’s office. Since coming from the seaside town of Cleethorpes, the band has grown from a duo to a band of five or six. We are influenced by poetry as well as music and hope it comes across in our lyrics. We like to embrace a DIY ethic with regard to our music and also enjoy performing wherever and whenever we can. We write and record in our living room over tea with the cat and would love to come play music for you! Our forthcoming EP is called Goodnight & Love and will be available on 22nd March.”

ALEXANDER TELLER – The Clockface [starts 15:33]
http://alexanderteller.com
Alexander Teller is a 22 year old Brighton-born songwriter and producer. “I create all my music myself in my London home studio” he tells us. “Over the last year I have created an EPs worth of songs, which I am currently putting online for free. I will be gigging and touring in early 2014 as well as producing a new record which should be out sometime later in the year. All my music, as well as social media sites are listed on my website.”

FAITALA – Plush [starts 20:05]
http://www.facebook.com/wearefaitala
“We’re a band from Manchester and we play nice songs” say Manchester trio Faitala. Consisting of EV Houlton, Oli Hughes and the eponymous New Zealand-born songwriter David Faitala, they performed live in session on Marc Riley’s 6 Music show on 1st July 2013. Formed during the summer of 2012, they’ve had a busy year playing live shows at Dot to Dot Festival, Club Fandango, Hey! Manchester and Carefully Planned Festival as well as shows with Sweet Baboo and Jesca Hoop. This track Plush has also had plays on John Kennedy’s XFM X-Posure.

C-STAR – Lisa-Marie [starts 24:04]
http://soundcloud.com/C-STAR-MUSIC
“I am a 22 year old rapper with multiple skills such as sound engineering, song writing, video producing and photography” says C-Star. “My EP Now & Forever will be available for free download in January. I have been creating music since age 12 and from a young age taught myself to use software such as Cubase, Logic, Reason, Sony Vegas pro and more. I firmly believe my music has what it takes to be successful if it is only heard on a big enough scale by a lot of people. I feel I have a lot to offer people who love my type of music and can see a gap in the market for not only my music, but my persona too. My belief and passion for making music is what drives me to keep improving with every single track I make.”

KATHRYN SAWERS – The Why What, Baby [starts 26:44]
http://www.kathrynjoseph.co.uk
Kathryn Sawers plays piano and writes and sings songs based in Glasgow. Her debut album, Bones You Have Thrown Me And Blood I’ve Spilled will be released on January 11th 2014 on iTunes and Bandcamp. There will be a gig in Glasgow on March 22nd 2014 at Govanhill Baths and other shows will be announced in the New Year, taking place in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London. Three songs from the album can be heard on Kathryn’s Soundcloud page.

EMPTY POOLS – Double Darkness [starts 31:25]
http://facebook.com/emptypoolsmusic
Empty Pools formed in the halcyon days of fading summer 2011. They artfully combine elements of noise rock with teen dream melodies, late ’70s CBGBs angularity and the jazzy, world pop sophistication of the Thrill Jockey set. They recently toured with Eleanor Friedberger and have also shared stages with Menomena, Sharon Van Etten, Destroyer, White Denim, The Dismemberment Plan and Tom Tom Club. Their debut album Saturn Reruns was released on November 4th by BATTLE (UK/AUS/NZ/EU) and Enclaves (worldwide). This track Double Darkness was recorded for a free Enclaves label sampler. The band’s next confirmed live show is Tues February 18th 2014 supporting Speedy Ortiz for the NME Awards at Birthdays, Dalston, London.

STE MCCABE – Bargains Galore! [starts 35:22]
(Cassette Donkeys Supermarket Sheep Mix)
http://www.ste-mccabe.co.uk
“Hi dears,” says everybody’s favourite DIY lo-fi queercore pop-punk one-man-band Ste McCabe on his website. “After a great year of gigs everywhere from Iceland to Croatia and a beautiful split single/vinyl release with Mayr on queer-feminist Austrian label Unrecords, I’m taking a rest in early 2014. I’ve played some really ace gigs this year, with some highlights being Queeristan festival in Amsterdam, Glastonbury with Billy Bragg and the Unrecords vinyl release party in Vienna, great times! Obviously some right shit gigs were played too, but having bad stories to tell is part of the fun. I’ve been gigging so much over the last few years that I’ve had no time to write anything new, and I’m incredibly bored of playing the same songs all the time. So, no gigs til Summer 2014 for me, just lots of tea, whisky, whippet walking in the Edinburgh hills and hopefully time to write new sparkly songs. Thanks to everyone who came to gigs in 2013 and all the ace promoters across Europe who have supported me! See you around somewhere in late 2014.”

SIGLO 21 – My Pink Constellation [starts 39:40]
http://www.reverbnation.com/siglo21
Siglo 21 (Spanish for 21st Century) may refer to the Siglo XXI Convention Centre (in Mérida, Yucatán); to Siglo Veintiuno (a Guatemalan newspaper); to Siglo Veintiuno Editores (a Spanish-language book publisher with business presences in Spain, Argentina, and Mexico); or it may refer to the South Coast band founded by core members, Simon Wood and Nick Flowers working in close collaboration with with Dean Jones of Oscillate Recordings. Recently the lineup has been supplemented by Simon Young on bass and guitarist Mark Richardson. They have released two EPs to date: Residents of Temporary Homes and Mango Among Yourself and a followup called The Territory is the World is edxpected shortly. Siglo 21’s seasonal single Christmas Time Again features Dean Jones on every instrument bar guitar, voice and brass and he also mixed, produced and mastered it all. Simon Wood was executive producer.

RAINER – Satin [Starts 42:07]
http://www.thisisrainer.com
“Sex can be scary and exhilarating and terribly not allowed all at the same time” as Rebekah Raa says in the Rainer press release, emailed out to us radio types in media land. “Her new EP as one half of London avant pop duo Rainer braves the menagerie of emotions that come with bedroom trysts and a brand new relationship. Happiness. Melancholy. Neediness. Insanity. Tangling pop vocals with sleek cracked beats on a bed of cinematic synth swells, it’s a record with the burning night time feel of a Burial nocturne and seductive shimmer of a Chromatics slow dance but blockbuster hooks of a pop chart-topper: a love affair with your headphones waiting to happen.”

Blimey. But wait, there’s more. “Satin is ‘a song about telling your boy to come home from that party he shouldn’t be at because you’re pretty much naked and waiting for him’ driven by the most throbbing clubland pulse courtesy of producer band mate Casually Here.” There’s another 300 words of stuff  in the press release about “ghoulish hip-hop sounds” “unique blend of sounds and inspirations” “banging electro noises” “crashing grand operatic strings” “calypso vibes”, “melancholy, neediness and insanity”… And how many words about the band can be found on Rainer‘s own website and Facebook pages? Why, none at all.

POCKET GODS – Wish It Could Be Payday Every Day [starts 45:30]
https://www.facebook.com/thepocketgods
The Pocket Gods are a selfproclaimed “strange pop combo from St Albans who mix punk, pop and a love of the surreal writing songs about anything from Jumble Sales, UFOS and fine Asian cuisine.” This seasonal lofi offering I Wish It Could Be Payday Every Day is the latest in a staggering number of leftfield tunes to have emerged from the brain of founder and frontman Mark Christopher Lee – also the mastermind behind electro project This Is Ethmo. Mark’s memoir Weird – The Life And Times Of A Pocket God reflects the vagiaries of life in an unsigned band. These include playing a session for me at BBC 6 Music and being namechecked in John Peel’s biography Margrave of the Marshes – as you can read here on Google Books. Although the band can never now shout at him “Listen, you old twat. You were wrong about us”, a new  Best-Of album in March 2014 will offer a cross-section of The Pocket Gods’ phenomenally prolific output over the ten years that have followed the great man’s death in 2004.

SUPER FULL MOON – Super Full Moon [starts 47:28]
http://www.superfullmoon.com
“London composer and producer Michael Palmer has been making music professionally for many years in the worlds of television, film and advertising. His Super Full Moon project represents his truest sonic self with highly personal songs that represent a precious island called Home in a sea of musicmaking for the likes of BMW, Carlsberg, Channel 4, Eastenders E20, FHM and Kerrang! The great musicians playing with Michael on this project include bassist Josef Secnik (Terra Folk, Paprika Balkanicus) and respected London drummer Simon Lea (Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Seth Lakeman, Boy George). Together they produce a rich, surprising, melodic sound in which you can hear echoes of bands like The Police, Elliot Smith and The Cardigans. Often upbeat and downbeat at the same time, this is a band that enjoys playing with the emotions… much like the moon itself.” An EP is expected in February 2014

BLUE SUNDAY – Wicked Ways [starts 51:11]
http://bluesundaymusic.com
“Blue Sunday is the sound of a rising heart beat; a call to arms sung in harmonies on grunge-influenced guitar melodies with thumping drums and bass. Spearheaded by frontman and bassist Jeet (from Lancaster) with guitarist Valentino and drummer Marco (both from Venice) the band have not only played a smashing set of shows in London but were voted first out of 1,700 artists as ‘Y Notters’ Choice’ at this year’s Y Not Festival. ‘This is a band who know a thing or two about putting together stadium anthems’ say A Musical Priority.”

DARK BLUE – Hark The Herald Angels Sing [starts 55:04]
http://darkblue.bandcamp.com
Skipton-based songwriter and multi-intrumentalist Gavin Loughlin already featured on our BBC Introducing Mixtape in October 2012 under his own name and is a regular contributor of music to our Listening Post here at Fresh On The Net. “I started using the Dark Blue pseudonym many years ago” he says “when I first discovered MySpace. I had a few dodgy four-track songs and compositions on there which people seemed to like, and I received some really encouraging feedback. After a long break from music I decided to revive the Dark Blue name for a side solo project which incorporates guitars, vocals and electronic music. This track – words by Charles Wesley, music by Gavin Loughlin – can be downloaded from the Dark Blue Bandcamp page.

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.