This week’s free downloadable BBC Introducing Mixtape features handpicked tunes from the BBC Introducing Uploader by KIDSMOKE, ZOE KONEZ, PLAYHEAD, THE AWFUL TRUTH, PALE FIRE, RACHEL TAYLOR-BEALES, SAN FELU, WINTERVAL, PLAUDITS, MIRI, TO BEAR SIR, FILTER DISTORTION, JONNY BOMBAY, GITTA DE RIDDER, K.O.G & THE ZONGO BRIGADE and JOE WHEELER.
The BBC Introducing Mixtape is a 60 minute radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music from 2-3am every Sunday night/Monday morning. Each programme is downloadable in podcast form at the BBC 6 Music downloads page for the next 30 days. Full tracklists and track start times are published here at Fresh On The Net – together with info about the music provided by the artists.
All tracks are sourced from the BBC Introducing Uploader – some recommended to me by BBC colleagues while the rest are chosen from submissions to our Fresh On The Net inbox. Click here for more info – artists please also see the request at the bottom of this page. These are the listings for the episode broadcast in the early morning of Monday, 18th April at 2am.
KIDSMOKE – Heartache [starts 00:17]
https://kidsmokemusic.wordpress.com
“Kidsmoke is a four piece band from Wrexham, North Wales. Formed in 2013, the band play indie-pop inspired by The Smiths, Joy Division and more contemporary bands like Wild Nothing, Real Estate and Deerhunter. The new single Heartache follows up the band’s most popular single to date, Cut Yourself Loose, which was featured on Spotify’s first edition of their Fresh Finds: Six Strings playlist. Heartache is due for release on 08/04/16 and with a string of live shows recently announced, including London, Manchester and Wales, the band are looking to build on the growing interest.
Live Shows: 30th April Soup Kitchen, Manchester w/ Mayflower; 9th May Gullivers, Manchester w/ CAMP STAG; 13th May Central Station, Wrexham (FOCUS Wales); 11th June The Finsbury, London; 18th June Alexander’s Live, Chester (Chester Live); 1st July Telford’s Warehouse, Chester.”
ZOE KONEZ – Between Darkness And Day [starts 04:59]
http://zoekonez.com/
“Zoe Konez – a singer, songwriter and guitarist, joined by Will Connor on drums, released the EP Between Darkness And Day on March 18th 2016, and debuted at number 23 in the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. The EP’s live launch show at the beautiful St Giles In The Fields Church in Central London featured a choir of friends including Minnie Birch, Miri, Kimberly Anne, Rhiannon Mair, PlayingHouse, Penniless Cove, Lauren Rich, Russell Swallow, Antonio Lulic and Adrian Roye.
Featuring Zoe’s solo-produced This Is The Only Way For Me To Speak, the EP was 3/4 produced by Rhiannon Mair, who also produced the recent EP from Zoe’s other musical project Cat Bear Tree. Recognisable on the new EP is Zoe’s astute and personal lyrics, and her assured, distinctly different guitar playing style. Following the minimal drums/guitar/vocals production of the album Fold The World In Two, Between Darkness And Day’s tender but hopeful songs build in luscious and euphoric layers of instruments and voices. Zoe’s next London show is at The Green Note in Camden on July 20th. Tickets onsale here. Other UK live dates: May 29 The Grey Lady, Tunbridge Wells; May 31 Global Cafe, Reading; June 3 Green Door Store, Brighton; June 4 Blue Lagoon, Bristol; June 5 Sunflower & I, Cardiff.”
PLAYHEAD – So Much So [starts 07:53]
http://www.playhead.org/
“Dynamic Bristol duo Playhead bring together something old and something new: tribal rhythms with edgy electronic sounds. So Much So is their latest release which is a collaboration with the remarkable MC Relly, ethno-percussionist Brendan Hockey, with the sax mastery of Sean McBride. Bristol is the place for amazing musical hybrids and this track really celebrates this. Testament to the re-emergence of Jungle; a souvenir from the city. Playhead will be DJing at Glastonbury and Boomtown this year but currently have a quiet live schedule as they work on new music! For more of their diverse creations checkout their website.”
THE AWFUL TRUTH – Men And Women [starts 11:55]
https://www.facebook.com/mathewgraymusic
“The Awful Truth are a Manchester based four-piece who write songs with stories. This single, which also features violinist Dan Bridgwood-Hill (Kiran Leonard and dbh) and harpist Alice French (Calan), is the second single released from their debut album, Songs of Love and Lust, released in 2015. They are currently working on a second album, Songs Against Humanity which they hope to release later in 2016. You can catch them live at Sounds From The Other City festival on Sunday 1 May and Mossley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday 29 May. They are arranging a more extensive tour for September 2016. They also play and organise monthly classic album nights in South Manchester where local acts perform a set including songs from a classic album, as well as songwriter tribute nights. Next Up is Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come on 28 April and Pulp’s Different Class on 26 May. Links on their Facebook page.”
PALE FIRE – Times New Roman [starts 14:48]
https://www.facebook.com/palefireglasgow
“Based in Coatbridge, near Glasgow, we formed in 2011” say Pale Fire “as a way for old friends to keep in regular contact whilst juggling the demands of full time jobs and families. After a while we started to take things more seriously following feedback on our demos and live performances. We began work on our self-funded debut album in 2014. It was self-released in March 2015, with very little budget for promotion. The album was recorded, mixed and produced at Chem19 studios with Jamie Savage, brother of Paul Savage (Delgados). In December 2015, the album was placed in the Top 50 Scottish Albums of 2015 by the Sunday Herald. We’re currently writing the follow up to our debut and looking forward to some live dates and festival appearances in 2016.”
RACHEL TAYLOR-BEALES – Seaside [starts 18:20]
http://racheltaylor-beales.com
“Rachel Taylor-Beales is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music meets at a crossroads of folk, roots, blues and jazz. She has toured extensively both solo and with her collective of musicians. In May 2012 while five months pregnant and on tour in Italy, Rachel’s life took a dramatic change of direction when she fell from a stage onto marble flooring during a soundcheck, injuring her hip and back. Fortunately Rachel’s baby was unharmed, but she herself needed several years of physiotherapy before playing, singing, performing and touring again. The next three years Rachel began to work on her fourth album Stone’s Throw, Lament Of The Selkie – with songs inspired by the mythological Selkie (Seal-folk) stories from the Orkney Isles. The album was produced in its entirety by Rachel and her husband Bill. This song Seaside is the opening track and brings together a diverse range of musicians including Paul Gray on bass and Welsh folk musician Lucy Rivers on violin in addition to Rachel’s own vocal, guitar, piano and organ playing. She will be performing at The Goose Is Out folk club in London, April 29th / How The Light Gets In at Hay On Wye at 12pm in The Hat on June 2nd / Abby Mill Bar Stage at Folk On The Lawn in Tintern July 23rd.”
SAN FELU – Quantum Entanglement [starts 22:48]
https://www.facebook.com/San-Felu-608705622518324/
“In 2014 PJ Pearson started work on his personal outlet San Felu – primarily a studio based project, exploring his love for old sci-fi and folklore storytelling. Quantum Entanglement is the B-side to last month’s alt-rock narrative Sanctuary Blues, both of which follow San Felu’s debut Cape of Good Hope. PJ Pearson’s latest and third release as San Felu once again explores elaborate lyricism and a high production quality courtesy of James Bragg, but in a much earthier setting. ‘I started Quantum Entanglement while in a state of fragmented living, it was in fact one of the first pieces I wrote under the name San Felu. I loved someone at the time, but it was a tragic love, and we were both in a lot of pain. Still, that was along time ago, and we have since healed…’ Pearson is also one half of cinematic alt-rockers Liu Bei, co-writer and featured musician on Grace Lightman’s ethereal Vapour Trails, and live performer with Waylor (ex-Dry The River). As a soloist however, this project sees Pearson stepping out on his own as a musical sanctuarist.”
WINTERVAL – I Want To Be Wrong [starts 27:32]
https://soundcloud.com/wintervalmusic
“Winterval is one man, Duncan Baird, who makes fussily orchestrated pop music in his bedroom in Moseley, Birmingham. He has released one album, Propeller, which was mostly written and recorded during a period of time living in Winchester and is about the struggle to find happiness in a confusing world. Following criticism that Propeller was too gloomy, the next planned release for Winterval is a collection of songs about death which should be released in July, just in time to ruin your summer. At some point, Winterval may become more than one person and tackle the logistical nightmare of performing these songs live.”
PLAUDITS – Kindness [starts 30:06]
http://www.weareplaudits.com
“Plaudits was initially formed in September 2015 as part of a university study, initiated by Mature Music Technology student, Steven Green. Heavily influenced by all things electronic, their self-produced EP, Hinterland, is available to download from iTunes, or as a physical CD via their own website. Plaudits are constantly striving to explore the ways in which they can effectively self-produce, promote, and distribute their music. Following positive reviews and approaches from promoters, they continue to work on new material and aim to be gigging in the not too distant future.”
MIRI – Electric Vibes [starts 33:30]
http://www.miriofficial.com/
“British singer-songwriter Miri blends silky soft and gritty vocals with thought-provoking lyrics. Pop songs that speak indie. Miri co-promotes the monthly live music night Blue Monday at The Boogaloo, this year collaborating with Green Note on a sold out event called Girls To The Front on April 24th. Miri supported Laura Veirs at Bush Hall and sang at The 100 Club for The Official Bob Marley Birthday Celebration. Future gigs include L Fest Del Mar in Spain, a secret gig in Amsterdam and The Amersham Arms in London for Sing For CALAID with every penny going to the charity and movement CALAID meeting the needs of refugees & asylum seekers. Electric Vibes is taken from MIRI’s new EP Sound Vibrations.”
TO BEAR SIR – The Reckoning [starts 36:24]
https://www.facebook.com/To-Bear-Sir-1744851465750971
“My name is Russell and I’m from South Wales. I started To Bear Sir just 11 days ago at the time of writing. I’d written a load of songs for myself really for a therapeutic release. Decided to put a couple online and came up with the alias To Bear Sir to see if anyone liked them. Don’t have any plans unfortunately as I never thought of taking this out of my house until last week but I’m going to record the rest of my songs and post them online.”
FILTER DISTORTION – Pressure [starts 40:13]
http://filterdistortion.co.uk
“Filter Distortion are a band for electronic pop fans of all decades. The quartet spent the last year recording and producing debut LP Transition (Modulator Records). The result is an encounter which croons and seduces the senses as only eighties electronic music can, but with a modern twist bred by the electro pop innovations of today. Transition is out now on limited edition vinyl with CD and is also available digitally across all platforms.”
JONNY BOMBAY – Schizoid Personality [starts 43:16]
http://jonnybombay.com
“I’m not on Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. I don’t gig. I don’t tour. I’m not self-aggrandising. I’m not gonna announce a release date for my album as if more than 6 people care. I’m not an extrovert. I’m not happy-go-lucky. I’m not gonna write this in the third person and try to kid you it’s written by anyone but me. I’m not confident. I’m not gonna tell you about where I grew up. I’m not gonna upload a photo of myself trying to look quirky or intense or like I’m the kind of guy who’ll sell a million records for Sony. I’m not the kind of person who talks much.” [Thank goodness he does have a website and soundcloud!]
GITTA DE RIDDER – Lie With Me [starts 46:21]
http://gittaderidder.com
“Anglo-Dutch singer and songwriter Gitta de Ridder sings things as they are. The simplicity of her songwriting leaving the space for her heart-filled vocals to purvey the words in their purest form. Inspired by modern folk artists such as Anais Mitchell and Iron & Wine she has been playing and releasing her songs since early 2015. Lie With Me is the second single of her upcoming debut album expected this fall which she self-produced and recorded in her London based studio. You can find her on stage regularly in London and around the UK as well as in the Netherlands so be sure to check out her live-dates to hear the music the way it was meant; played to a room full of people, connecting over all they feel, live and are.”
K.O.G & THE ZONGO BRIGADE – Turn Up The Music [starts 50:14]
https://www.facebook.com/zongobrigade
“The 9-piece band K.O.G & The Zongo Brigade deliver infectious West African vibes from Ghana via Sheffield, with diverse origins conflating to whip up their signature heady brew of afrobeat, soul, funk and reggae otherwise dubbed Afro-fusion. With the leadership of K.O.G, the Ghanaian born force of nature, they are a whirlwind of energy, rhythm and hard hitting musical unity which has been taking the UK by storm. Last summer saw them come runners up in the Glastonbury emerging talent competiton and play the West Holts stage. This year theyll be venturing into europe and will be releasing their Baako-Baako collection, which is a collection of six singles that will be released at the end of every month from March to August 2016.”
JOE WHEELER – Out Of House [starts 53:34]
https://www.facebook.com/joewheelerfilms
“Joe Wheeler is a musician and award winning filmmaker from London. He is mainly known for the underground grindhouse horror Jengo Hooper. Joe decided to take a break from filmmaking to record new music which resulted in the album Visions of Grand Demeanor being recorded, which includes the tracks Out of House and It’s International (Feat, Mr Grimez Poet Warrior). The album is released 29/08/2016. The track is available in all good digital stores as a single.”
ARTISTS…
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