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Gearing up for the Folk Awards

2013-01-23T11:53:12+00:00

This week on my new �� Radio 2 Folk Show, I’ve got some undisputed legends in session: electric folk pioneers Fairport Convention. A band who, despite their fair share of troubles, have continued to be a welcome presence on the folk scene for more than 45 years.

Folk audiences hold their elders in particularly high regard and aren’t easily distracted by fashions or fads. This was writ large at last year’s �� Radio 2 Folk Awards, when the fruitful collaboration between June Tabor and Oysterband – two acts who first collaborated 20 years ago – swept the board. This was mostly considered good news by folk fans. It was a fine album, and the prizes were well deserved. But there was an element who, understandably, wondered aloud why younger acts hadn’t been better represented by the results.

June Tabor & Oysterband at the 2012 Folk Awards

The 2013 Folk Awards take place in Glasgow next week, and the landscape has subtly, but significantly, changed. Sam Lee, that remarkable young promoter, singer, dancer and song-collector from Kentish Town, released his highly original debut album in 2012 and it’s already been recognised by a Mercury Prize nomination and by winning fRoots magazine’s Critic’s Poll. Sam has two nominations. Karine Polwart, Lau, Bellowhead, Jim Moray, Sam Sweeney and Duncan Chisholm are other acts receiving multiple nominations this year. Serial nominees some of them may be, but the music they are making is, pretty much without exception, fresh, inspired, modern and challenging. The scope and quality of the five records in this year’s ‘Best Album’ category is astounding.

Of course, shiny awards are by no means the be-all and end-all, least of all in the folk world, with its assorted traditions stretching back hundreds of years. But, in the year that Bellowhead sailed up the charts and found themselves on Radio 2’s daytime playlist, the 2013 Folk Awards should offer further evidence that British folk music is enjoying another of its purple patches. Fans and critics who have yet to discover its delights are looking over and wondering once again what the fuss is about, and I sincerely hope that, after the Folk Awards open the door to the folk world, they’ll step inside and bide a while, for the music and the company is among the best they will ever find. I for one am thrilled to be getting more closely involved at this time.

- Mark Radcliffe hosts the �� Radio 2 Folk Awards at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday 30 January. Listen live on Radio 2 from 7.30pm, or watch all the presentations and performances on the ��’s Red Button TV service or the Radio 2 website.

- The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe

- Mark Radcliffe’s Music Club on �� Radio 2

- Radcliffe and Maconie on �� Radio 6 Music

The Best Albums of 2012... So Far

2012-06-26T12:50:04+00:00

Six months down, six to go. �� Music asked a selection of its own DJs and reviewers, plus a handful of friends from across the industry, to name their favourite albums of the year so far. And below are the results. Enjoy!

Please note that these lists are not ranked - they're just five albums that the DJ or writer in question has really enjoyed. That said, the amount of love evident for the Alt-J, Death Grips, Poliça and Grimes albums marks them as true standouts of 2012 so far.

- - -

Sean Adams - founder/editor, Drowned in Sound (external link)

Chromatics - Kill for Love (�� review)
Blondes - Blondes
Poliça - Give You the Ghost (�� review)
Blood Red Shoes - In Time to Voices (�� review)
School of Seven Bells - Ghostory (�� review)

On YouTube: Poliça - Lay Your Cards Out (external link)

- - -

Matthew Bennett - deputy editor, Clash (external link); �� reviewer

Death Grips - The Money Store (�� review)
Gang Colours - The Keychain Collection (�� review)
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave (�� review)
Grimes - Visions (�� review)
Lazer Sword - Memory

On YouTube: Gang Colours - Fancy Restaurant (external link)

- - -

Mike Diver - �� album reviews editor

John Talabot - ƒin (�� review)
El-P - Cancer4Cure (�� review)
Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music (�� review)
The Invisible - Rispah (�� review)
Death Grips - The Money Store

On YouTube: El-P - The Full Retard (external link; contains strong language and scenes of violence, nudity and drug use which may offend... not to mention puppet abuse)

- - -

John Doran - founder/editor, The Quietus; �� reviewer

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse (�� review)
Can - The Lost Tapes (�� review)
The Thing and Neneh Cherry - The Cherry Thing (�� review)
VCMG - SSSS (�� review)
Dope Body - Natural History

On YouTube: The Thing and Neneh Cherry - Accordion (external link; contains language which may offend)

- - -

JJ Dunning - editor, The Fly (external link)

A Place to Bury Strangers - Worship
Guided By Voices - Class Clown Spots a UFO
Grimes - Visions
Graham Coxon - A+E (�� review)
Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship (�� review)

On YouTube: Here We Go Magic - How Do I Know (external link)

- - -

Chris Hawkins - DJ, �� 6 Music

Pepe DeluxÃ© - Queen of the Wave (�� review)
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls (�� review)
Ren Harvieu - Through The Night (�� review)
Yeti Lane - The Echo Show (�� review)
Cornershop - Urban Turban (�� review)

On YouTube: Ren Harvieu - Open Up Your Arms (external link)

- - -

Tom Howard - reviews editor, NME (external link)

Hodgy Beats - Untitled EP
Actress - RIP (�� review)
Jack White - Blunderbuss (�� review)
Death Grips - The Money Store
Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim

On YouTube: Death Grips - The Fever (Aye Aye) (external link; contains strong language)

- - -

Paul Lester - Guardian (external link); �� reviewer

Death Grips - The Money Store
SpaceGhostPurrp - Mysterious Phonk (�� review)
Nite Jewel - One Second of Love (�� review)
Hodgy Beats - Untitled EP
Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne (�� review)

On YouTube: Saint Etienne, Tonight (external link)

- - -

Janice Long - DJ, �� Radio 2

The Maccabees - Given to the Wild (�� review)
Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge (�� review)
Django Django - Django Django (�� review)
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Jack Savoretti - Before the Storm (�� review)

On YouTube: Alt-J - Breezeblocks (external link)

- - -

Jen Long - DJ, �� Radio 1; �� reviewer

2:54 - 2:54 (�� review)
Poliça - Give You the Ghost
Bright Light Bright Light - Make Me Believe in Hope
Cadence Weapon - Hope in Dirt City (�� review)
TOPS - Tender Opposites

On YouTube: Cadence Weapon - Conditioning (external link)

- - -

Zane Lowe - DJ, �� Radio 1

The Invisible - Rispah
Poliça - Give You the Ghost
Jack White - Blunderbuss
Odd Future - The OF Tape Vol 2 (�� review)
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

On YouTube: The Invisible - Wings (external link)

- - -

Chris Martin - DJ, Amazing Radio (external link)

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Django Django - Django Django
Team Me - To the Treetops
The Maccabees - Given to the Wild
Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour (�� review)

On YouTube: Band of Skulls - Bruises (external link)

- - -

Ralph McLean - DJ, �� Radio Ulster

Dexys - One Day I'm Going to Soar (�� review)
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Americana (�� review)
Dr John - Locked Down (�� review)
Willie Nelson - Heroes (�� review)

On YouTube: Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Jesus' Chariot (She'll be Coming Round the Mountain) (external link)

- - -

Jez Nelson - DJ, Jazz on 3, �� Radio 3

Troyka - Moxxy (�� review)
The Thing and Neneh Cherry - The Cherry Thing
E.S.T. - 301 (�� review)
Asunder Trio - The Lamp
Steve Lehman - Dialect Fluorescent

On YouTube: Troyka - Moxxy (introduction) (external link)

- - -

Nemone - DJ, �� 6 Music

Poliça - Give You the Ghost
Blockhead - Interludes After Midnight
Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge
Hot Chip - In Our Heads (�� review)
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

On YouTube: Hot Chip - Night & Day (external link)

- - -

Rob da Bank - DJ, �� Radio 1

Grimes - Visions
Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
Holy Other - Held (bit of a cheat here, Rob - this isn't out until August)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble (�� review)

On YouTube: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Household Good (external link; contains strong language)

- - -

Laura Snapes - associate editor, Pitchfork (external link)

Sharon Van Etten - Tramp (�� review)
Field Music - Plumb (�� review)
Ramona Falls - Prophet
Niki and the Dove - Instinct (�� review)
Sophia Knapp - Into the Waves

On YouTube: Sharon Van Etten - Leonard (external link)

- - -

Huw Stephens - DJ, �� Radio 1

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (�� review)
The 2 Bears - Be Strong (�� review)
Niki and the Dove - Instinct
Tom Williams and The Boat - Teenage Blood (�� review)

On YouTube: First Aid Kit - Blue (external link)

- - -

Jo Whiley - DJ, �� Radio 2

Emeli SandÃ© - Our Version of Events (�� review)
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
The Maccabees - Given to the Wild
Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge
Jack White - Blunderbuss

On YouTube: Jack White, Love Interruption (external link)

The Best Albums of January 2012

2012-02-03T11:10:18+00:00

�� Album Reviews Editor Mike Diver casts an ear over the best of the bunch from January's raft of new record releases.

Album of the Month

Django Django - Django Django
(Because Music; released 30 January)
Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, Vic Galloway, Tom Robinson, Lauren Laverne

"Smart but not showy, clever but never at the expense of a catchy hook, this is 'indie' par excellence: guitars that ring through the mix like a clarion call from the inspired to take up arms against the dunderheaded legions of lad-rockers; buzzing synths that swirl around like a cloud of friendly wasps; lyrics delivered in mantras, summoning forth similar sermons to those once purveyed by the mighty Beta Band."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Waveforms on YouTube (external link)

- - -

The best of the rest...

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
(Polydor; released 30 January)
Recommended by: Jo Whiley, Janice Long, 6 Music Album of the Day

"Born to Die isn't perfect: it slumps slightly towards the end, and the glossy trip-hop production grows wearying on lesser gothic melodramas like Dark Paradise. But it's the most distinctive and assured debut since Glasvegas' eponymous disc in 2008, and makes you desperate to see where she goes from here. Del Rey's defenders can take a break: Born to Die does their job better than they could hope to."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Blue Jeans on YouTube (external link)

The 2 Bears - Be Strong
(Southern Fired; released 30 January)
Recommended by: Kissy Sell Out, 6 Music Album of the Day, Rob da Bank, Nick Grimshaw

"Be Strong, in short, is superb: a joyous amalgam of disco textures and dancefloor stylings which never fail to bring a big grin to your face. A love letter to the last 20-plus years of dance nation sensations which references the finest moments with a cheery and cheeky approach, this is far from a pastiche. In a just world, this set would sell by the bucket-load. So yeah, follow the bears. You know it makes sense."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Work on YouTube (external link)

The Maccabees - Given to the Wild
(Fiction; released 9 January)
Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley, Radio 1 Review Show, Victoria Derbyshire

"Whether Given to the Wild provides the hoped-for kick up the festival billings this summer remains to be seen - at times the obsessive shading masks a lack of melodic punch - but its makers are right to be proud of it. If only all bands had the guts and honesty of The Maccabees, maybe they'd get round to making third records as good as this."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Pelican on YouTube (external link)

Chairlift - Something
(Young Turks; released 23 January)
Recommended by: Rob da Bank, Nick Grimshaw

"Far from being the expected hook-shy mope, Something does what so many of us fail to do when romantic endeavours go arse-over-tit. It offers a confident, head-held-high reappraisal of the band's MO, with the newly-promoted Wimberly a more than capable foil for Polachek's songwriting smarts. In producing a focussed follow-up that completely transcends its litigious backstory, Chairlift have summoned a watertight case for the defence with their second LP."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Amanaemonesia on YouTube (external link)

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
(Columbia; released 30 January)
Recommended by: Jarvis Cocker, 6 Music Album of the Day, Bethan Elfyn

"As with any album to which Leonard Cohen puts his name, Old Ideas is a work which displays great finesse. The music presented is gentle, even fragile, with backing vocals and instrumentation similar to that heard during his brace of UK concerts four years ago. But as ever, it is the author's sense of poetic balance that renders this release as being a work of art."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Show Me the Place on YouTube (external link)

Portico Quartet - Portico Quartet
(Real World Records; released 30 January)
Recommended by: Jamie Cullum, Gilles Peterson, Late Junction

"Everything still sounds familiarly Portico Quartet, only fresh, forward-thinking and a little bit tougher. Their arrangements and wide-open ambience remain sparse, but, on InterRailing-inspired Window Seat, are paired with drifting synths; elsewhere, Ruins and Steepless carry the Radiohead gene always present in their improbably tuneful experiments. As journeys go, this one's endlessly absorbing."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Ruins on YouTube (external link)

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
(Wichita; released 23 January)
Recommended by: Another Country with Ricky Ross, Tom Robinson, 6 Music Album of the Day, Rob da Bank, Loose Ends

"Johanna and Klara Sodenberg's close harmonies charm unaffectedly, pitched in the mix like the faint voices of songbirds echoing through a woodland scene, and it's difficult to imagine anyone topping this collection in 2012. Sat neatly between Laura Marling's trauma, Alessi's Ark's florid scenes and Joni Mitchell's spot-lit thoughts, First Aid Kit's second album lines them up as the band most likely to cross over into the big time."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for The Lion's Roar on YouTube (external link)

Laura Gibson - La Grande
(City Slang; released 9 January)
Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, Another Country with Ricky Ross, Bethan Elfyn

"Her voice, which has always been pretty, in a vintage, timeless kind of way, reaches new levels here. On songs like The Rushing Dark, call-to-arms Time Is Not and measured, graceful closer Feather Lungs, they add to the record a wonderful old scratched-vinyl quality. This gem of a long-player - both sleepy and steely, mystical yet rooted in very real and universal themes - deserves all the plaudits that will hopefully meet its release."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for La Grande on YouTube (external link)

Errors - Have Some Faith in Magic
(Rock Action; released 30 January)
Recommended by: Marc Riley, Huw Stephens, Vic Galloway, Tom Robinson

"Have Some Faith in Magic is impressively characterised by its very organic design. It sounds as if it's the work of human trial and error, rather than a series of computer-coded phrases and melodies, and it's this fragility that really has it standing out as the work of a band hitting its peak. This is, easily, the Scottish 'post-electro' band's most composed, defined album to date."

Read the full �� review
Watch the official video for Pleasure Places on YouTube (external link)

Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe

2012-01-09T16:55:31+00:00

Words cannot really express the excitement I feel in being given a platform to express and play some of my favourite music on �� Radio 2. This is a "no-holds-barred" perspective on music from around the globe, looking at music for exactly what it is - a universal language. All my work over the last 25 years as a producer and composer, whether through my albums, with orchestras, through film, television, dance, as a club dj, through soundtracks for theatre or even videogames, has been focussed towards breaking down boundaries in musical exploration. I felt this strongly with my score for ��'s Human Planet series last year. I took that opportunity to create music inspired by emotional aspects of human resilience around the world rather than the location of respective cultures or groups.

When I was a kid I remember listening, by lamplight, to the pirate station - Radio Caroline - for the weekly "Personal Top 30" spots, which resonated like sonic chocolate boxes of sumptuous melody. I loved the freedom of how those playlists, selected by random listeners, would follow no particular pattern or rules other than the nuances of subjective taste. "Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe" is my take on that philosophy based on 25 years of experience and travels as a fulltime musician and Dj. I grew up with a wistful admiration for audacious explorers keen to share their intrepid tales of global adventure.

In 2001 I was lucky enough to travel around the world myself, meeting singers, street musicians and tribal elders from many different countries. This 4 part radio 2 series feels like another step on that same wonderful journey and brings together many of the elements and influences that have fuelled my obsession with global sounds. I hope listeners get the same buzz from this series that I did in presenting it.

Listen to Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe, Thursdays, 23.00 on Radio 2 or listen online.