Thanks to all who got in touch during last night's show - a great response to the Wombats session - catch them at In the City Manchester on Sunday night, Oct 29 2pm at Blowout at the Bierkeller. So may gidd tracks on last nights show too - Stuart James is a real talent who I'm looking forward to seeing at ITC, more Duloks of course!, Snowfight in the City Centre will be on Lamcqs In New Music We Trust Show on Monday night - every tune last night was a corker. Listen again till next Wednesday.

Tonight it's the John Peel Night of the Electric Proms - can't wait to see Squarepusher. Live highlights will be on Colin Murray's show tonight from 10pm too.

Wanted to big up some music which might well make your life richer -

Mates of State - Like U Crazy on Moshi Moshi records. US husband and wife on Moshi Moshi - nice.

Tall Pony - I'm Your Boyfriend Now - amazing demo I played on the show last night - you need to hear this. Serious. Get there.

Damn Arms - Patterns album forthcoming on Something in Construction. Banging, skizophrenikz, ace...

Brakes album - Beatific Visitations - better than Give Blood? Is that possible. Yes, it seems it is.

Gruff Rhys new single is called Candylion, and it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

h

I can barely get a word in edgeways on this blog what with Huw and Rob posting every 5 mins...!!! Anyway, just popped in to tell you about Drift Records which is our DIY Label Of The Week on Huw Stephen's show.

R G .Morrison started Drift with Johny Lamb last October. The ethos of the label is “if it’s good, and it’s ready, then they’ll release it”

On the label are:

Birdengine, Ginger lee, Willis, Matt Eaton, R.G. Morisson, Thirty Pounds, Nada and Caruska.

They say:

“Ginger Lee and Birdengine are mad people, and watching them sit solo and unravel beautiful and utterly overpowering and truly captivating songs on stage is enough to just want to let everyone who about them”

“ We don’t feel bound by ‘genre’ in the way perhaps Warp might. When they released Maximo Park, there were some rumblings that it was a very conscious design to diversify the label. We want drifts output to be constancy surprising, veering form the folksy rumblings, through to the ruckus rockabiliy and piercing electronica”

They’ve just done their first 7” - “Lovebirds” by the Poppycocks, which will be followed by the Thirty Pounds of Bone album on the 27th November. January will see the Birdengine Album “I fed the Rabbit Water”, and February will mark the Re-release of R G Morisson’s Debut “Learning About Loathing”. Ginger Lee’s “songs fired in the forge” will be out in March, with Matt Eaton’s “Finnish your chips” in April.

They will be releasing EP’s from CottonMouth and Thirty Pounds of Bone, with full albums from Nada, Caruska and Willis before the Autumn.

https://www.driftrecords.net

Also check out the slide show on Bobby Mcgee's Myspace!

https://www.myspace.com/thebobbymcgees

ta ra

Happens hand in hand with In the City, the yearly new music conference in Manchester. This Saturday, as part of BITC - there's this ....

Saturday 28th October: Artist Academy

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester, M2 3WS 0161 950 0000 www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/

Artist Academy supported by Radio 1 is a FREE event, doors 11am to 6pm

Including the

· Music Business Education Seminar Series

· Demo Reviews

· Demo in a Limo : cruise the streets in style with A&R execs

· Open Mic Stage with Huw Stephens (Radio 1)

· Music Mart’s Musical Chairs (one on ones)

· Career guidance on hand for one on ones.

Hoorah!

Happens hand in hand with In the City, the yearly new music conference in Manchester. This Saturday, as part of BITC - there's this ....

Saturday 28th October: Artist Academy

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester, M2 3WS 0161 950 0000 www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/

Artist Academy supported by Radio 1 is a FREE event, doors 11am to 6pm

Including the

· Music Business Education Seminar Series

· Demo Reviews

· Demo in a Limo : cruise the streets in style with A&R execs

· Open Mic Stage with Huw Stephens (Radio 1)

· Music Mart’s Musical Chairs (one on ones)

· Career guidance on hand for one on ones.

Hoorah!

Have you heard the Wombats yet? they're on the show tonight in session, making a most pleasant racket.

the DIY label of the week is Tectonic, bringing dubstep to the masses, a personal favourite with Mary Anne Hobbs and sounding ace.

I've got so many other musical treats tonight, you'd have to tune in to believe it:)

It all kicks off tomorrow, and the line up is ace. I'm going to the Squarepusher, Raconteurs, Horrors gig on Thursday night - can't wait. Which other inner city, broadcasted festival can bring you..

Paul Weller

The Young Knives

Jamiroquai

Jamie T

John Lennon

The Good, The Bad and The Queen

The Magic Numbers

Fatboy Slim

Jet

An Evening with Nitin Sawnhey

James Brown The Godfather of Soul

Guillemots

Catch 22 ft Deadly Hunter

The Raconteurs

Donovan

Hugh Hopper

Kasabian

The View

The Zutons

Landscapers ft Benjamin Zephania

Basement Jaxx presents The Crazy Itch Club

The Who

Billy Bragg

Squarepusher

Scott Matthews

Aziz

Klaxons

and

Vashti Bunyan ?

on Sunday, the Next Stage gig happens at the Barfly in Camden, London.

These are bands who've gone through their local rounds to play and work with people of their choice, from composers to add strings to their tunes to video makers to produce a film for their music. Those performing are...



The All New Adventures of Us

Multi-talented seven-piece band working with BBC Radio Northampton.



Cashier No.9

Low-key, chilled beats with lo-fi roots. Cashier No. 9 are working with BBC Northern Ireland.



Enid Blitz

Uplifting, nostalgic pop outfit from Brighton working with Radio 1.



The Favours

The Favours impress with their polished live performances - working with Radio Humberside.



FOUND

Art college manipulators of all things sonic, FOUND are working with BBC Scotland.



Friends of the Bride

Excellent lyricists and Alan McGee likes them! FotB are working with BBC London.



Genod Droog

Prison cell roots and genuine eclecticism - Genod Droog are working with the C2 show on Radio Cymru.



Hijera

Bombastic funk, house beats and brit-pop - working with Southern Counties Radio.



Jont

Jont, working with Radio 2, is a charismatic artist with an innovative approach to gigging.



Kyra

Discovered by Musiq Soulchild when she was only 15, Kyra is working with 1Xtra.



Spencer McGarry Season

Genre-resisting Welsh new wave psychedelia - working with BBC Wales.



Tigerstyle

High-flying Scottish bhangra brothers are working with the BBC Asian Network for Electric Proms.

go HERE for detials of how to be at the gig for free. See you there!

h

I did indeed go to Iceland at the end of last week (no, not the shop old joke fans:) )

It was for the Airwaves festival, which was great, a sort of In the City with a whole heap of Icelandic bands (everyone in Iceland seems to be in a band - they're a talented lot), and there were loads of great new bands playing, as well as non Icelandic bands like Hot Club de Paris, Klaxons, We are Scientists and Tily and the Wall.

If you ever find yourself in Reyjkazik, get yourselves to the 12 Tonar record shop (also a brilliant label) and Smekkleysa, a label also who still release Bjork and Sigur Ros' records in Iceland. Everyone I met was friendly, cold and into good music. The venues every night were packed...

I saw some country pop from Mugsefun and one of the best things I witnssed was a gig by Red Stefjon, an eight piece young band with god tunes, bit of hip hop and lots of Icelandic lyrics, as you'd expect. I hope I come across them again sometime.

At a venue called Pradva, a band called Raychem are ace. Short n mental casio keyboard punk is played stopping and starting and going on computer game voyages round the Icelandic sea. They're

dressed as sea captains too, and seem to be about 12.

Saw American duo Mates of State in the art gallery at the Moshi Moshi night - technicolour pop and a

cover of Gnarls Barkley, so well done so that I didn't realise it was Crazy for a bit.

Over at Gaukurrin My Summer as a Salvation Solider were gloomy winter rock at it's best. they're on that 12 Tonar label too. And then Eberg, with his broken beat pop, doing Love your Bum, Inside your Head and Moving to

Wales was nice and warm.

it's a beautiful country, I saw Geysers and the most incredible waterfall I've ever seen, the Blue Lagoon and loads of great new music. Glad I took that scarf with me though..

hello ladies ... and any gents .. and you!

hope ur enjoyin the show - seem to be getting a suitable amount of random texts and emails so someones listenin..

as youve probably noticed still playing lots of unsigned music...last weeks highlights were Curses! - Hungry For Love (cant seem to find em again on myspace but hes on there - its actually another of drop the limes aliases!)

and

My Toys Like Me - Sick Couple (www.myspace.com/mytoyslikeme)

this week lyons and tigers gets another airing (myspace.com/lyonsandtigers)

and very excited to play Friendly Fires new stuff.. just dont call the boys fromst albans new rave..but do check out their wicked version of Frankie Knucklles 'Your Love' and their site (myspace.com/friendlyfires)

see ya sunday you non believers!

;)

Hello

Its my first blog...how exciting...

I produce Huw Stephen's new show on Radio 1 so I'm gonna use this to add links to bands and labels that I'm into at the moment.

Our session guest this week Rory McVicar is an all round top bloke. He came down to Maida Vale last year for a live set and we've been counting the days till we could get him back in the studio..this time he's got a full band

https://www.myspace.com/rorymcvicar

And you have to check out our DIY label Stressed Records from Derby

https://www.stressedrecords.co.uk

Also my pal Lisa from Bearsuit sent me some photos of them dressed up as space boys and gals at their John Peel Day gig last week - just had to share them :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29523492@N00/

Check them out on utube as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBYp8GHfm8M

Ok that's it for now or I'll be here all day! I've got shows to produce...

I've been getting loads of emails about Scouting For Girls who were in session on the show last week (and still up to listen to till Wednesday night). Their Wolf Cub Club are a keen lot, and don't worry, I'll carry on to play them on the show too, and I chose them for a spin on Steve Lamacqs In New Music We Trust Show last night too.

Also, on Saturday morning I chose The Holloways' Generator single on Reggie Yates' breakfast show on his New Music Generator. Any other Radio 1 DJs want me to pick tracks to spin? I'd be more than happy to oblige!

Been to loads of gigs since dubstepping to Pinch and Digital Mystikz last week on Peel Day. Saw the ace Ffyrc and Zabrinski in Cardiff last Friday. Ffyrc are Mark and Paul (ex-Catatonia members) new band, and are eally good. Zabrinski are a young band from Carmarthen, who are always ace live, with their psychedelic grooves.

Saturday in Belgium (where the missus currently lives) I saw the Pipettes play their perfect pop tunes, not in polka dots but new distinguished outfits, and Sunday a three piece avant-garde multi-instrument improvised performance featuring Welshman Rhodri Davies.

And last night, as a treat, I went to see Divine Comedy. Neil Hannon's band were one of the first I got into through their Casanova album (still their best I reckon), and his superb songwriting and beautiful tunes from the album tracks (there's been 9 albums to date) to hit singles are always a pleasure to hear.

Getting ready for tomorrow nights show now. More on that later....

It's a chance, as if we need one, to remember the greatest Dj of all time, who kept radio interesting through the years, opened doors for bands and opened us, the listeners, ears. He was a lovely man who I felt totally priviliged to know a little bit. There are loads of gigs happening tonight of course, and Radio 1 pays tribute to him tonight.

On the Radio1 Wales show tonight we'll be playing some of the Welsh bands he championed, and talking to artists playing gigs round Wales.

I'm off to enjoy some dubstep after the show - Digital Mystikz and Pinch at Clwb Ifor in Cardiff. Have a good oen if you're out, enjoy the music ont he raido if you're staying in with Colin or Mary Anne Hobbs.

Friends of Peel Underoworld are doing a live webshow at 9.30 tonight from the Cocoon Club with Sven Vath. Click here for more info

And of course, Keep it Peel:)

>https://www.underworldlive.com/index/live-events/cocoon.html

Tonights show is looking ship shape with a brill session from Scouting For Girls. If you're not familiar with their happy go lucky world wise sparkling pop, then you should make a point of checking them out tonight. They make brilliant music, but also have a whole club thing going on too for fans to join, a perfect example of a band buliding a following themselves instead of just sitting round waiting for a deal.

Also tonight, more ace new music that has yet to be discovered by the world at large, but bursting to get into your earholes.

Laterz

H

I don't remember the last time I went on holiday with my parents, and so this weekend we went to visit my girlfriend in Belgium. She lives in Brussels, it was really nice, and we ate a lot of steak.

We also saw two films - The Wind That Shakes the Barley about the troubles in Ireland in the 1920's which is directed by Ken Loach, and is a brilliant film which shows the horrible realities of war and how it affects everything in life, and made me wish I knew my history better.

The other film was about the Moroccans and Algerians who fought for France in the second world war, and the prejudices and strife that came with it. Again, a superb film, great acting and in French. Which meant I didn't understand all the details, but enjoyed it all the same.



What's that? This is a music blog and not a film one? Well, in that case...

...is nothing sexy sadly, but a Modern Day Gig - Promoting Sevice For YOU to use! So if you're playing one date or a string of dates, putting on a one off gig, club night, festival or other music related event, you can leave all the details in your bestest, clearest voice on 08700 100 100, Option 7.

and the page with all the John Peel dates is up and running now - here...

hoorah!

Good listenin -

DJ Yoda's new album (check the Sway track)

Buffy Sainte Marie (old folk)

Vialka - an album called Kruzenshtern I Parohoad - amazing. like a bolt of lightning battering you round the face for an entire morning. In French.

and the Milanese album on Planet Mu - Extend its called, and its a stormer.

have a grrrrrreat weekend!

h

Thanks for all your responses to the first couple of shows. The feedback's been good I'm pleased to say, and of course, its downhill from here! Last night I managed to squeeze in a few dj slots in London town. The

first was at the ace monthly Tired and Lonesome night at the Social. They're multi-coloured nights these, with new dad Mike djing only the finest covers and the craziest lost oddities - it was brill fun, and I got to see THE DULOKS playing, which was entertaining to say the least. They left a big smile on my face, and tunes stuck in my head - my favourite being I'm Turning into Mick Jagger.

Then I djd in Eggham, just outside Staines. A man called Ross Copperman sang some of his own songs, and a few covers to get the students going, and kept talking about beer. Then I djd for ages, and took Royal Holloway University Students union on a musical trip, taking in the actual Holloways (Generator is ruddy great), Meic Stevens (a request!), Beastie Boys, Pulp, Blood Arm and that Monster song by there those Automatic. Thanks Royal Holloway uni!

Right now im off to have a cuppa tea with Beth Elfyn and have a chatabout tonights show on Radio 1 Wales - we got some great tunes on tonight! and The Take in session !

Just had a listen back to the show. That Los Campesinos session was superb. It

bounded along like an excited bunny rabbit that had drunk too much pop, and

dazed me out with its aceness. Thing is, it was their first time doing a radio

session, and so that's exciting in the first place. But it was also pretty much

their first time in a studio at all full stop, which is even more exciting. So many bands

around now are put on the road on endless support and headline slots, asked to

record endless hours of demos to be given the thumbs up or down by record

company folk, and only then given a chance to 'succeed' (sell lots of records)

or 'fail' (not sell lots of records).

With Los Campesinos, we're here with them at this early stage, loving the tunes

and getting into it now, just as they're getting into it.

I'm going for a lie-down.

So after finishing the onemusic show whose express purpose was to play a lot of unsigned music im actually playing more on my new sunday show! Loads of it in fact.

Check myspace.com/lyonsandtigers and www.myspace.com/plasticlittlerap for two of my fave new unsigned acts at the mo...

Anyway hope u enjoyed the new show and please do keep the unsigned music coming into Radio 1 towers.

Right i'm off to bed after drinking too much and DJing at the BT Digital Music Awards last night. Not only was I pipped to the post for my award of Best Electronic Act by a band called Lorraine, I mean i ask you! But then played for 3 hours at the after party to a crowd including Peter Gabriel, me Radio 1 pal Edith Bowman and Lil' Chris, the rock kid who's all over everything at the mo and was lovin' my nirvana/metric/clash mash up... Jumping up and down like a little bean. Shouldn't he have been in bed?

Tune in this sunday and email me [email protected] with any top tips.

Tonight's show is a rip roaring two hour feast of music, with more unsigned music than is healthy for a human to hear, with bands featuring Lyons & Tigers, Threatmantics & Rory McVicar, a feature on GoldenLab Records from Manchester, our tipster will be Monster Bobby giving us the lowdon on Brighton's best music, and a session from the ace LOS CAMPESINOS!!! That's right - three exclamtion marks my friends, because when you hear tonights sesison, you'll want to give em an extra exclamation mark too.

See you tonight, 12am...

Hope you're all well! Had a lovely weekend at my friend Baz's wedding to his now lovely bride Debs! I was best man, and all went smoothly thank goodness. i've never been so nervous in my life. It was a sort of constant, crazy nervousness, but all went well. Lovely day it was in Whitney on Wye, named after Whitney Houston of course. It was a musical wedding too - Baz got up to sing with the wedding band the Keys (who used to be Murry the Hump, and released records on Shifty Disco and Too Pure), and they played some of their own ace tunes., Then Akira the Don djd a wicked wedding set with added hip hop gun blasts, and the the brvaecaptain did a scratchy seven inch set while we did star jumps. Brilliant!

Thought id give you the heads up on an event at this years In the City in Manchester I'm doing - it's an open mic stage for any one who can play with limited resources! It was good fun last year (the highlight was Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, oh, and a digiridoo player!), and you're welcome to come along again this year. Here's the link- maybe see you there...