Hip-hop Hereford style - in the legendary Maida Vale studios!

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It's Jonquil and Blanket in sesison tonight, both at home on try Harder Records a mighty fine label. Tim from BBC Oxford made this video when he was with the bands at Maida Vale recently....

We're gearing up for an exciting weekend.

12 new acts have been nominated from right across the country to come in and record a special session as part of our Maida Vale Weekender on March 29 and 30.

We'll be covering all the action on the BBC Introducing website and we'll switch you onto some great new music.

In the lead up, let's take a look at the the bands who've been nominated to come in and record.

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Two extremely good and noisy bands are on tour right now - Bilge Pump and Lords. Catch them from tonight -

Tuesday 25th Korova, Liverpool

Wednesday26th Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Thursday 27th The Ivy, Glasgow

Friday 28th The White Room, Sunderland

This week on Radio 1 - from 9pm it's In NEw Music We trust - the Best of BBC Introducing with Jonquil and Blanket in sesison and the hottest recommendations from 1Xtra's Crissy Criss, Ras Kwame, Steve Lamacq, beth Elfyn, Vic galloway and Rory McConnell and some wicked tunes from Birmingham..and from midnight I'll be Introducing in England with more Jonquil and Blanket from the Try Harder roster and the best new music I've heard recently, including th new Hush the Many single.

Check the video....

21.03.08 - An extra hour of the show, as it's Good Friday - and it's Festival Friday.

28.03.08 - A new music magazine launched in Hereford, Battle Of The Bands in Redditch, plus Lou Richardson live!

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A short drive out of Austin, is Lake Travis. I stumbled upon this colossal damned lake by following the Commanchi trail, down to Hippy Hollow (which turned out to be a 'clothing optional' recreational park), and down to Windy Point. It was absolutely stunning, a wide expanse of land, water, very little development, falcon's soaring overhead, and a refreshing change from the absolute chaos and bombardment of noise of 6th Street, and downtown Austin - especially in the heat of the day.

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Hereford singer to go national, Herefordshire school bands showcased & Evesham's Bruno Gallone LIVE!

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Woo Hoo! 33 degree heat and if you're not floored by that, then the fun just keeps coming. Today is a special day for me as I'm hosting and Djing the official Welsh party at the sxsw. Its the second year for the party and it seems like everything's really coming together for the British Music contingent here in Texas. Painting and renaming Latitude 30 in Union Jacks is one way to get our friendly neighbourghood Yanks' attention - but then, every thing has to be big in Texas! Scotland, N Ireland, and Liverpool have already forged well established links with the city, and Wales and the West of England are certainly making a small dent in the attention grabbing, music selling, cattle market out here.

More photos and blog this way...

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The sun is shining and a heatwave is on its way in Austin - that and the general fervour is making me sweat with anticipation.

The first day's afternoon though is a little frustrating - I cue for registration, I cue for the San Francisco's Noise Pop showcase featuring Die Die Die! from New Zeland and the Octapus Project, to no avail. I bump into Huw Stephens who'se standing in the most painfully loud Emo's Annex watching Scotish band Frightened Rabbit, who give it to the nachos eating fresh faced punters. I cue for the Levi's Fort, a rabbit warren of a buildings with various workshops, art installations and bands playing - only this cue also goes around the block and I make do with hearing the strains of the Kills booming around the neighbourhood's earthy walls. Last year's best kept secret is out obviously! So far so not so good on my Austin mission.

As a break, I decide to head up for lunch and a quick haircut for the hubby in a cool street of vintage clothes, boots and cafes called South Congress.

More from the day...

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This week's introducing show in Wales is a SXSW preview in anticipation of the monster of all music festivals, with Welsh solo artist, Cate Le Bon in Session, plus music from bands like Fleet Foxes, Apache Beat, and Neon Neon who are all playing at the festival.

Its a show I had to record before flying out in Monday's gales from Heathrow. I travelled for over 24hours, via an unscheduled stop overnight in Chicago in the end to arrive at my destination. Rather than opt for a corporate hotel next to a steaming highway, this year I've opted for some unlikely accomodation for this years festival - The Bed Rox Inn, a B&B on the outskirts of town, and now I feel like I've trully arrived in Texas!

Roadrunners in the garden, Coyote's howling behind the cactus trees and two lovely donkies called Juan and Santos to pet. So far so very Texas and not a party in sight.

More photos this way...

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Just to let you all know we're heading off to SXSW in Texas tommorrow. To keep up to speed make sure you visit the SXSW blog here. We'll be posting videos, pics and entries about the best bands we've seen and what we've been up to. Steve Lamacq will be commenting on there and Tom Robinson from 6music Introducing too...so don't miss out!

Congratulations to ...

Golden Silvers

Charlene Soraja

Boys In A Band

Young Runaways

Rod Thomas

28 Costumes

Myth of Unity

Andy Hickie and the merry maidens

The Franks

Revere

Swimming

Mankala

who are all playing the final of the Glastonbury unsigned Competition at the ned of March at Pilton's Working Men Club. The winners will play Glasto!

Tonight it's hip hop mash up king Riff Raff in session...you might have seen him on the Introdcuing Stage....

He was down at Maida Vale recently to do this new session for Introducing. Next week I'll be off at South By South West for hte new music festival with bands from around the world playing. Steve Lamacq will be hosting the Introducing stage for 6music and Radio 2, with MGMT and I Was a Cub Scout a few of the bands playing the stage. There's thousands of other bands playing too ok, including quite a lot of great new bands from the UK, including Johnny Foreigner, Emmy the Great and....dyou know what, the list is endless. You will be able to hear the highlights on Radio 1 and see the photos, videos and blogs on the BBC SXSW site........