Fresh on the Net Listening Post picks 4th June 2012

Tom Robinson's Fresh on the Net show no longer goes out on 6music (which is a shame), but it lives on in the form of the Fresh on the Net website. Every week now Tom and his team are putting up a selection of tracks from those submitted to their Soundcloud group, and inviting the public to pick 5 favourites. The listening and voting happens over the weekend, then a smaller batch of "Fresh Faves" goes up on the page for the week. Personally I think the "Faves" list could do with being a little shorter so it's a bit more special for bands to get on it, and to give more chance of the casual passer-by stopping to listen to them all. But anyway there are some good finds to be had there.

I don't think all of my own picks this week are likely to make the cut, so I'm posting them all up here. The order is just that in which they appeared on the original Listening Post. My favourites of these are Shura and Mountain Folk. The publically voted favourites should go up at http://freshonthenet.co.uk later today.

Hysterical Injury - 'Cycle One' video

Out now, with a fantastic remix of 'Vex' by Antoni Maiovvi and Annie's solo track 'The Third Man', inspired by the film, here.

The video was shot at the Croft, by a bunch of us surrounding the band filming on mobile phones (including mine!) and the odd tablet... I'm the one in the Liftmen t-shirt:





The 'Vex' remix has already spawned its own unofficial video collage tribute:

Hysterical Injury headline the Kiss the Music weekender at London's Sebright Arms on Saturday 9th June, tickets here (only a fiver! bargain..)

The Heartbeat of a Rabbit Amazing Radio challenge

This blog is fully in support of the campaign that's sprung up in support of Amazing Radio, in the last few days, since the station announced it had to withdraw from broadcasting on DAB.

But I think that telling people how good a station is is no good: they have to find out for themselves.

In that spirit this is the Hearbeat of a Rabbit blog's 'Amazing Radio challenge'. It's for anyone who's not already on board with the campaign.

This is the whole challenge:

1. Go to http://www.amazingradio.co.uk.
2. Click to listen live, and check out what's playing right now.
3. Whatever you get, whatever time you tune in, ask yourself, do you think there should be more of this sort of thing on the radio?

If the answer's no, don't worry, forget it.

If it's yes, though, it's up to you to do these things:

1. Sign the petition to get Amazing back on its biggest public platform, DAB
2. 'Like' and 'follow' the campaign on Facebook and Twitter
3. Tell all your mates. I'm sure you know how to do that. A start would be linking them to this blogpost.

I'm confident that the vast majority of people who tune in are going to hear something they want to hear more of. It certainly won't be an advert, it will almost always be new music, and at that it will almost always be something interesting. If none of those things you'll usually find at least an engaged presenter and another new tune not far down the line. I reckon people will straight away realise this is something they want to support.

Hysterical Injury's 'Maths' video

First posted on Drunken Werewolf, Hysterical Injury's new video for 'Maths' is an homage to the Shangri Las, and in particular their performance of 'Out in the Streets' on 1960s tv show 'Shindig!'. Annie plays the part of all three Shangri La singers at once.



You can still download the track itself for free, courtesy of Strummerville, from http://bit.ly/himaths.

The album, Dead Wolf Situation, is finally out on Monday - read some suitably excited reviews here, here and here.

Tour dates confirmed, starting this Saturday!

UK
4th February - Olives, Norwich with The Broken Seas and DIY Hammer DJs
9th February - The Rolleston, Swindon
11th February - Official Album Launch - free entry at Green Park Tavern, Bath with Thought Forms, She Makes War, Klad Hest
14th February - Brixton Windmill, London with Lilies on Mars and She Makes War
16th February - 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff with The Joy Collective DJs
17th February - The Cube, Bristol with High Places and Hesomagari
18th February - The Bell by the Green, Devizes with I Am Designer, Crash and the Bandicoots

IRELAND
22nd February - Crane Lane Theatre, Cork
23rd February - Whelans, Dublin
24th February - Pine Lodge, Myrtleville
25th February - Roisin Dubh, Galway

Big Joan - The Long Slow Death of Big Joan

"There's no... there is no need... there is no need for alarm, alarm..." insists Annette Berlin on Noah's Farm, the second track on Big Joan's latest album, The Long Slow Death Of....

Those of us who've been following the Bristol fourpiece for any length of time are hoping the stress is on the "long, slow" part of that title rather than the "death". No-one who cares wants to see Big Joan set down any time soon.

The whole album shrieks, wails and punches against that phrase, "there's no need for alarm" (a shrill noise in the middle of 888 even sounds like a siren). It's a thrill ride. The overriding image I have listening to it is of a musical tank, rolling destructively down tight urban streets, in some apocalyptic future war film. A tank ridden by the band, with Annette atop it as a kind of visionary tank girl, of course. Her voice sometimes echoing off metal sheets; sometimes raving like a late night evangelist on a transistor radio the caterpillar tracks will drive into the ground. Noah's Farm is explicitly inspired by the book of Genesis, but the album is all Revelation.

Sorry, I can get carried away with imaginary visuals (though I challenge anyone not to think of a battering ram when listening to Morel's Sleep). The point is it's exciting. And threatening, and portentous, and above all confident. I've been trying to work out what this confidence is, because you feel when you first hear the songs as if they belong to a band used to playing them to huge crowds, and in (unjust) reality, Big Joan are relatively unknown outside of the Bristol rock scene. Of course the key to that sense of assurance and assertiveness is that they're not doing it for the sake of untold masses at all; they know exactly what they want the music to be regardless of whether very many other people are going to be shelling out for tickets to see them play it or not. The result is a sound which embodies an aggressive rejection of compromise, and it's a joy to listen in on if you're sick of bands making music the way they think you want to hear it. Paradoxically there surely is a crowd out there hungry for this, listening in on the last working radio sets in the world from behind metal sheets in zombie shelters, if only they can get the right point on the dial and hear Big Joan's call out to those still living.

Closing track Bin 1, a highly dramatic version of an instrumental long-term live favourite involving an actual bin, says everything I'm trying to say here about the album and the band, for itself, in no words at all.



Buy the album and a limited edition copy of the CD can be yours, while stocks last:

Madvent Chokalendar 2011

Every year, the denizens of Bristol music forum Choke produce an mp3 advent calendar, with a new track up for free download every day. It goes by the name of Madvent Chokalendar.

Visit the calendar page once a day to claim your free mp3. To find out who each track is by, you'll want to right click on the day in question on the page, choose 'save link as', and open it in your music player (they might remain a mystery if you're using a phone!)

You can also join in and chat about the tracks on the forum or the Facebook event .

Here's what's come up so far on December 3rd 4th 8th. They're all well worth downloading, but day one in particular, apparently inspired by the 1914 Christmas Truce, is quite unmissable -

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8

Long may the Madvent Chokalendar last - a seasonal gift from the musicians of Bristol.

Megan Wright reviews Hysterical Injury

Telling you how awesome I think Hysterical Injury's debut album is would be fairly meaningless, being as I am their manager.

So instead I sat my octogenarian grandmother down with a pen and paper and put it on, and this is what we got. The album was released on 6th February 2012 and was one of the first people to hear it. A typed transcription follows the notepad scans.

Hysterical Injury - Dead Wolf Situation

"Hysterical Injury!!

1.) Halo Alkanes

Rhythm - very good start!!
Voice clear & musical
Foot tapping, encouraging one to find someone to partner, dance & hum along with.
Heavy, - then too heavy for most folks' pleasure but excellent for carnival parades.

Ice Break

If they are hoping to break ice with this one, they will find themselves knee deep in water!!

Patrolling, singing along!

Good voice good tempo
Guitar sound good

It keeps the drum movement swinging along!

Cycle One!!

Diction on music, non understandable, trilling good: improves as music swings along.

Vex!!

Very good rhythm.
Voice with music super!!
It makes one swing along with it.
In a small part it feels as if the needle has got stuck - only for a short while.

Track 5 Rosetta's Waves
A slightly rough sea!
PLEASE DO NOT DROWN!!
Trying to swim through the sea AND SING! Very difficult but well activated.

It sounds a bit like someone wanting to go back to save folk from THE TITANIC.

The Works Track 6

They seem to be working against the clock so as to have no overtime to work!

Very swingy!! Electrifying

Track 7 Visions of Trees

The wind is blowing the trees in an interesting fashion
One wants to dance along with friends who will hold one.

These musicians will go far, because they are super."

We don't yet have my gran's views on the remaining 5 tracks of the album, but if I get a chance to sit her down to listen to them, I'll share those with you too.

You now can hear the whole thing for yourself below. (and buy. Buy! BUY!!!)