Track of the week: BE GOOD - 'It's Cool But It Ain't You'

We loved their debut single Not Waking Up when it was released a couple of months back and we're really digging this smooth new jam from BE GOOD. They're a young Oxford quartet (and your new favourite band) who recorded this new tune It's Cool But It Ain't You in singer Ash Cooke's bedroom, and released it recently through Kitsuné Hot Stream. In the tune's premiere on Crack in the Road, we learn that Cooke "initially met drummer Charles Clark at a ceramics evening class" - very rock n roll! You can catch BE GOOD supporting The Big Moon alongside Get Inuit at The Bullingdon in Oxford on 18th October - a dream line-up if you ask us!

Follow BE GOOD online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Gig of the week: Slate Hearts acoustic at Truck Store, Oxford (28th Sep)

Our gig of the week this week is a freebie at Truck Store in Oxford - because who doesn't love a bit of free entertainment with some record browsing and great tea & coffee thrown in! Cracking local band Slate Hearts just released their new EP Honey Roasted Henry, with a slot on the local BBC Introducing show on Saturday to chat about it, and they'll be performing tracks from it acoustically this Thursday, 28th September. As a notoriously heavy, loud and energetic band and a live favourite for many in the local scene it'll be really interesting to see the guys playing a stripped back set and we hugely recommend you head along and fill up the store for their set! Take a listen to the new EP below (which you'll be able to grab a copy of at the instore) and find more about the event on Facebook here.

Follow Slate Hearts online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Track of the week: Banfi - 'June'

Our track of the week comes from the lovely chaps of Banfi, who released the video for their charming new track June last week. The video was directed by Jake Dypka, who along with his cinematographer Nick, had to "sit by the camera as it spun around a circular track for 14 hours straight, so they've both probably come away with permanent vertigo" - in the same vein as the recent Glass Animals video we shared this alone surely makes it worth a watch! They've just finished up a UK tour upon which they played a sold out show at London's The Lexington which we lovely - be sure to keep an eye out for new tunes and live dates, we reckon that they're certainly ones to watch!

Follow Banfi online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Gig of the week: BBC Introducing Uprising at O2 Academy Oxford (22nd Sep)

Our gig of the week this week is a regular fixture in the Oxford music scene, with BBC Introducing bringing their night of new bands, Uprising, to the O2 Academy Oxford this Friday. With sets from Zaia, Lowws, Laura Theis, Catgod and Wandering Wires and a Zaia DJ set after the show all for £8 in advance it's a bargain and always worth heading along to catch budding talent in the city, including our faves Catgod who you should definitely catch live if you haven't yet (check a video from their performance at Sofar Sounds Winchester below!)

Here's the Facebook Event for the show which is this Friday (22nd September)!

Tour shout out: Solo Collective (Anne Müller, Alex Stolze, Sebastian Reynolds)

We love sharing news about great gigs happening in London and beyond, and we're excited to shoutout a little tour with the collaborative trio Solo Collective, featuring German classical/experimental musicians and composers Anne Müller (cello) and Alex Stolze (violin) and British pianist and producer Sebastian Reynolds. Performing in Oxford, London, Manchester and Birmingham, the shows will feature solo performances from Anne and Alex, followed by a trio performance of Sebastian's music. References for the music include the electro-acoustic piano music of Brian Eno, the counterpoint music of Steve Reich, and the influence of modern classical electronica innovators such as Murcof and the experimental composition of Arvo Pärt. Take a listen below...

A little more bio... Anne Müller is well known for her work with various artists from the Erased Tapes label, including Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds. Alex Stolze rose to fame via his place in German pop trio Bodhi Bill and experimental collective Dictaphone. Sebastian Reynolds has guested with stars such as The War On Drugs and Viv Albertine (The Slits), and formed stalwarts of the UK experimental scene Braindead Collective and Keyboard Choir.

Solo Collective start their tour with a show at the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building in Oxford (17th Sep), followed by Servant Jazz Quarters in London (19th) and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester (20th).

Eight questions with Bare Traps

This Saturday (16th Sep) in London we've got Bare Traps, Parachute For Gordo and Meyou playing at The George Tavern, with a Flash in the Dark DJ set til late. We loved Bare Traps set in Brighton when they played for us at The Alternative Escape and their tunes have been in our headphones since the show - can't wait to have them play for us again! We caught up to learn a little more about the band, get reading the interview below and check out the Facebook event here for more info and tickets for the show!

(c) Tom Halliday Photography

1. First up, who are Bare Traps?!

In descending order of beardedness: Luke - guitar and delinquency, Sam - vocals and smoulder, Liam - bass and beer, then last and by all means least bearded, Scott - drums, token Essex blonde.

2. How long have you been making music together? What are the band’s biggest musical influences and favourite artists?

In our current incarnation, we've been making music together for ten months. Bare Traps has been knocking around a little bit longer than that, but with two other waste-men that quit the band last year. We mean 'waste-men' in the most affectionate way possible. Now we have two new waste-men. 

Our sound is a mash-up of influences from cool indie shit, like: The Smiths, Bloc Party, Foals; with funky stuff like: Prince, Friendly Fires, Chic; electronic stuff such as: SBTRKT, James Blake, Bonobo; and more obscure math-rock, like: The Fall Of Troy, And So I Watch You From Afar, and Tubelord.

3. We loved having you play a set for us at The Alternative Escape in Brighton back in May - what have you been up to since then? Lots of festivals we hope!

Errrrm, so yeah loads really. We played to an awesome crowd at Fieldview Festival in August. It's a really sick festival with some of our favourite acts of the moment: Clean Cut Kid, Palace, Fickle Friends, and Youngr. We ended up giving a second, impromptu performance in the campsite from the roof of our car in the pouring rain too, which was fun. And wet. The highlight was probably our steel pans player, Rahmel, having to repeatedly pour water out of his pan throughout. Then we played Sundown Festival at the beginning of this month. That was eventful. We snuck on the main stage with Craig David, then nearly got thrown off the site for dropping our trousers in front of security. True story. Headline news though, is that Scott has become a 'flexitarian', which is a poncey hipster way of saying he's a fussy tit.

4. You recently released ‘All In You’ which we think is an absolute tune - anything you can tell us about the writing or recording process for the track?

Ahhh thanks! It was one of those mythical moments where a song seemed to write itself. I (Luke) was just messing around on my guitar before band practice one Sunday morning, and happened to come up with the main riff. When we got to rehearsal, I began playing the riff while we were setting up. Scott asked what it was. I shrugged. We dicked about with it for half an hour, got excited like a bunch of little girls, then voila - All In You was born. The rest is history blah blah blah.

5. You’re playing at The George Tavern for us this Saturday (16th Sep) - what should we expect from the show?!

About thirty-five minutes of music, interspersed with awkward silences, technical difficulties, anxious tuning of guitars, terrible attempts to be funny, futile attempts at asking the audience to come closer to the stage, and bad dancing. 

The thirty-five minutes of music will be sick though. Honestly, our music's awesome. My mum said so and she likes Abba.

6. Who is your audience and how do you connect with fans - all the usual social media?! Any crazy, fun, exciting stories about your fans are very welcome!

Our "fans" are Sam and Liam's friends. That's why we asked them to join the band - so they'll bring people to our shows. Yeah, we use social media. Tinder mainly. At Sundown Festival this year, a fan of ours got me (Luke) to sign her forehead, then randomly, and quite unannounced, showed me her lady garden, which funnily enough had a flower tattooed on it. 

For the avoidance of any issues: the other members of the band, all of whom have girlfriends, were absolutely nowhere near this incident. Nowhere near at all. In fact, I think they'd already packed up and gone home. Honest. 

Liam, I'm still waiting for you to send me those photos.

7. Describe your dream gig to us! Any venues that you’re desperate to play in London or further afield? Any artists you’d love to collaborate with on a performance?

Dream gig has got to be headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glasto really hasn't it?! Errm, London venues? I think we're ready for Wembley Stadium actually. Maybe we could play in the foyer at half-time or something. Would be great to collaborate with Stormzy. He could spit a grimy verse on one of our songs like he did with Little Mix. We'd be worried about ruining his credibility though, so maybe not.

8. As Summer comes to a close and the cold weather sweeps in… what does the rest of the year hold for you… we hope that new music is in the pipeline!

Some new music and some old music actually. I mentioned earlier that we swapped the two old waste-men for the two new waste-men. Well, we thought it would be cool to re-record some of our older tunes with the new guys, which we've done. We've totally re-recorded them; changed the instrumentation in places, used different production techniques - it sounds the tits! We're going to be recording a new single too, so all being well, we'll be dropping a new record before the year is out. We've got some cool gigs coming up too, including our first international show, which will be in the south of France. Got to make the best of that shit before Brexit you know!

Track of the week: Low Island - 'The Lines'

They were our first track of the week once we started the feature on this blog back at the end of May, and Low Island are back again, this time with new track The Lines. The first to be taken from upcoming seven track EP, it's a corker, a tune to dance to - and you'll get the chance if you head to a live show later in the year across October and November. Alongside a performance at Oxford's inaugural Ritual Union all-dayer on 21st October and back to back headline shows at London's Corsica Studios for Parallel Lines on 8th and 9th November, Low Island play Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester. Grab your tickets here and dig out your dancing shoes!

Follow Low Island online - Twitter | Facebook | Instagram.

Gig of the week: Gøspel EP launch at Birthdays, London (14th Sep)

There are so many brilliant gigs coming up this week, with Banfi playing a sold out show at The Lexington  on Tuesday, a couple of Nick Mulvey instores at Banquet Records and Rough Trade East and Flyte playing Patterns in Brighton with our faves MarthaGunn supporting. Our gig of the week is a freebie from Gøspel, launching their first EP Bodies at Birthdays in Dalston, London. We worked with the duo on a busy show at Sebright Arms last year and really recommend you get along to this free show, with Volkova Sisters supporting - check the Facebook event here for more info and listen to new tune This Life now!

Eight questions with Benjamin Yellowitz

Check out our interview with Benjamin Yellowitz, a singer-songwriter from London who is heading on a UK tour next week taking in shows around the country to support the release of his new single Erase You. He's kicking off the tour a week today (15th Sep) playing for us at The Mad Hatter in Oxford for our 'Friday Night Live' residency alongside Antony Elvin and Lisa Doscher - info and tickets here!

1. First up, who is Benjamin Yellowitz?! How long have you been making music?

Benjamin Yellowitz is me! It's a strange and somewhat pretentious story actually! I was born Ben Williams, but changed my artist name a few years ago to my family's original name - Yellowitz. It was an excuse to go in a new musical direction and experiment with a new stage persona, strangely I was much more comfortable being 'him', and realised I was holding myself back in 'real life' too. Told you it was pretentious! I've been making music since I was really young, grew up surrounded by it!

2. Tell us your biggest musical influences!

Ahh a real mixture! From thoughtful songwriters like Tracy Chapman, Ben Howard, to awesome producers like Bon Iver, James Blake. I have a lot of pop interests too, like The Weeknd's old stuff, my current listen's are NAO and RAY BLK. There's always this distinction between 'interesting/complex/off the radar' and 'pop/catchy/addictive'. Any music that can join the two together - I will have on repeat!

3. Your new single ‘Erase You’ is being released soon - anything you can tell us about the writing or recording process for the track?

It's a raw one! Haha! But I guess it was needed. Kind of a 'look its a new me!' break-up song... Only kinda the opposite as well. I must give a shout out to recording and mixing engineer - Jonny Breakwell, who did an awesome job on this track!

4. You’re going on tour to celebrate the single release - what do you enjoy most about playing live?

I love performing live, every night is a completely different story. The beauty of performing on my own is that I get to change the songs slightly every time. People say its a really big sound for one person - lots of FX, guitar percussion, a nice subby drum sampler etc. I don't want to be a guy and his acoustic guitar, but I don't want it to be tricky gadgetry either, so it's somewhere between the two.

5. We’re excited to be hosting the opening night of the tour with you performing at our ‘Friday Night Live’ residency at The Mad Hatter alongside Lisa Doscher and Antony Elvin - what should we expect from the show, and have you caught either of them live before?

All live, no looping and dare I say... pretty emotional too! This will be my first time to catch Lisa and Antony live, I'm excited!



5. There are a couple of Sofar Sounds shows in amongst your tour dates. We love Sofar - how do you find that the shows differ to a regular gig in terms of how your music is received by the audience?

I love playing Sofar shows. They're a strange combination between a 'promo performance' and a full-on headline gig, you only play for 20 minutes but to a silent crowd ready to soak it all up. They're always full of interesting people ready to see/hear new things. There's a lot more importance on the first song at regular gigs, it's your moment to prove yourself, break through whatever barriers and whatnot, but once you've captured the audience, you have them for much longer to create a more dynamic performance that tells several stories.

7. Describe your dream gig to us! Any venues that you’re desperate to play or further afield? Perhaps there’s a local artist you’d love to collaborate with?

Actually, I am super-stoked to be playing in the UK more. After touring abroad so much, I am happy to be exploring closer to home. As I said, every gig is different, and thats all I wish for. I don't really have a desire to play huge venues. See more great cities, meet more interesting people, end up in more bizarre situations... And obviously play more gigs!

8. As we approach the end of Summer and festival season, what does the rest of the year hold for you… is more new music in the pipeline, perhaps an EP? We certainly hope so!

Haha thanks, I hope so too! I have SO many songs in production right now, I'm so keen to get them right though. I also need to be home a bit more to actually get them finished! So yeah, I'll probably be sitting with Jonny at the studio more than I'll be on stage.

Track of the week: Little Red - 'Siren Song'

Our track of the week this week comes from Oxford indie-folk trio Little Red, who have recently released Siren Song, the first track from their upcoming album Draw Blood, to be released on All Will Be Well Records in January. Recorded and produced by Tom Hodges (of LR and Club Soda fame), the track was written by the band's Ian Mitchell, performing alongside Ben Gosling and Hayley Bell, whose elegant vocals take the forefront on this track! You can grab the new track on Bandcamp with the beautiful B-side Mr Wolf - both go down a treat when the band perform live, particularly those cracking harmonies in the first track!

Follow Little Red online - Facebook | Twitter and catch them live alongside Tig fave Tom Williams and Old Swing at The Jericho Tavern on 16th September (tickets here!)

Gig of the week: Flatlands at The Cellar (7th Sep)

Our gig of the week is the last Flatlands show of the summer, as they play a hometown headline show for us at The Cellar in Oxford. After a superb set for us at our Yan Tan Tethera all-dayer at Tap Social Movement a few weeks ago we can't wait for this show, with the brilliant Slate Hearts and Who's Alice in the support slots! Ample opportunity to tell you all to sign the petition to help save The Cellar from threat of closure (12,000 supporters in a week!) and join the Facebook Event to be kept up to date with the fight to save the beloved Oxford venue! Check out Flatlands interview in The Oxford Mail talking about the show and The Cellar, and the importance the venue has for young bands in the city.

Grab advance tickets for a bargain £4 (+fees) through Eventbrite here for what is sure to be a brilliant show!