HI! Dear blog readers,
My posts are appearing to be more erratic, work and life is getting in the way i guess, but i promise to do better in 2019! My Tumblr is the go to for instant hits!
So what have I been doing in 2018?! I’ve joined XS Manchester to present weekend breakfast, I’ve joined BBC Radio Leeds as Producer of BBC Introducing West Yorkshire curating the playlist and guests alongside the team there. I’ve also had a full year of co- curating nights with the awesome Band On The Wall, I’m going to put a playlist together of all the artists who have played the night so far right here so add the playlist and i’ll update it in the next few days!
I’ve also been lecturing, interviewing and doing loads of other exciting music industry work with the likes of Soundcity, Off The Record Festival, Showstream and more! More of that planned in 2019 *excited face*
So before I dive into Ones To Watch For 2019, I thought i’d best tell you about what i adored in 2018. The Brexit Anti-Austerity feeling is resonating with the music makers and young creatives in the UK and thats exceptionally acute in the north of England where we have experienced incredibly high levels of deprivation, homelessness and where public services are really under pressure. The music i’ve heard and loved in 2018 seems to resonate with that, three strands coming to the fore to my ears,
- ANGER – Punk, post-punk, rock – people are ANGRY and they want us to know it.
- FEEL GOOD – The antidote to anger, people need an escape, they want a party, to have a good time. They might also want to get loaded, but who can tell.
- AVANTE GARDE JAZZ – Jazz is back and we are opening our minds!
With all that in mind my fave albums of 2018 was Shame – Songs Of Praise
I loved so many albums last year but this one I just kept coming back to.. I still remember seeing them live for the first time a few years ago with Charlie Ashcroft from Amazing Radio at a DICE all dayer at The Great Escape where Charlie likened their shambolic set to an Interns night out where they stripped off and broke a light. I got to interview them at OFF Festival in Poland last year and am yet to see another bass player with that much pogo.
It’s too hard to pick between the others but there are so many incredible ones that i’ve put a playlist together on spotify right here:
Here’s a list for those not on Spotify:
- Christine And The Queens – Chris
- Bodega – Endless Scroll
- The Blinders – Columbia
- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
- The Orielles – Silver Dollar Moment
- TVAM – Psychic Data
- Snail Mail – Lush
- Boy Azooga – 1,2, Kung Fu!
- Slow Readers Club – Build A Tower
- Anderson Paak – Oxnard
- Amyl & The Sniffers -Big Attraction & Giddy Up
- Black Honey – Black Honey
- Goat Girl – Goat Girl
- Pale Waves – My Mind Makes Noises
- BC Camplight – Deportation Blues
- Tom Grennan – Lighting Matches
- Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino
- Gaz Coombes – Worlds Strongest Man
- Jungle – For Ever
- Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
- Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance
- Olden Yolk – Olden Yolk
- Children Of Zeus – Travel Light
- Sunflower Bean – Twenty Two In Blue
For an additional bonus and a tease to my Tips for 2019, my EP of the year was by Sam Fender and is his Dead Boys EP. Big things await in 2019 for this talented guy!
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