I listen to music all of the time and I listen to all sorts of music, new and old, from across almost every genre. My favourite artists include Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, David Byrne of the Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses and Swede Mason, who I believe should be knighted!
I also listen to a lot of new music, particularly from the North-East because it’s local to me. So what I’m gonna do is give you some recommendations of what to listen to, based on what I’m listening to these days. I’ll do my best to cater for different tastes, just because I’m nice like that.
What I’ll do is recommend a handful of acts you may or may not have yet heard of and prattle on a little bit about them. Then I’ll give you a ten track playlist that will include some of my favourite tracks as well as new stuff worth listening to and then I’ll stick the links to the acts that I have recommended at the bottom.
If you click on any of the highlighted track titles in this blog you will be forwarded to somewhere you can listen to that track online. Same with highlighted names, they’ll take you somewhere online relative to whatever you’re clicking on. It’s not rocket science.
To start off with, I highly recommend checking out The Mojags, a young Rock band from North Shields area.
The Mojags performed at The Telegraph for me on December 2nd. They have bags of talent and, being so young, have limitless potential. At my gig they did a brilliant cover of ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix. This is a band that’s going places so keep an eye out for them.
The Mojags at The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011
In 2010 they won the Teenage Kicks Battle of the Bands. They are also competing in a Battle of the Bands in Redcar next year. They are in Heat 2 on Friday 20th January 2012. The Battle of the Bands is held at Coatham Bowl in Redcar and entrance fee for any of the heats is £10. The event is in aid of charity. Get down for that and show some support for a great band and help raise some money for charity.
The Mojags can be found on Facebook, YouTube and Soundcloud. I would recommend listening to ‘Ojay‘ if you’re only gonna listen to one; it’s my favourite of the tracks currently available online.
Also check out this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhs_Dkdu2w . It’s The Mojags video of ‘Sychophant‘, shot as their prize for winning the Teenage Kicks competition.
Another band on the way up is Durham based Alternative Indie Rock band The Stroll, who are a new outfit only started in August. They’ve only got one track online at the minute ‘Different Tune, Different Mood‘ and you can listen to that on Soundcloud. It’s a catchy track like, and displays a small portion of the talent that these lads possess.
I saw them perform live at LYH the other week when I played there with Downtown Lester Brown. Being a brand new band they are still doing quite a few covers but their original stuff is quality. I particularly liked ‘Searching’, which is apparently about looking for magic mushrooms. Their choice of covers was a cool blend of things ranging from The Beatles to The Stone Roses.
The Stroll
It’s not just the music that makes The Stroll a great band in the making. The Stroll have a great vibe and energy and create an electric atmosphere at gigs. They’re a fun band and their crowd interaction is impressive. Their singer Josh Pringle has good crack and his patter on the microphone in between tracks is entertaining. This band has it all and I’m tipping The Stroll to become massive! They epitomise everything I was after when I set up Downtown Lester Brown. They are a fun, energetic band with a great vibe and attitude as well as plenty of talent and drive.
The Stroll are also performing in the Battle of the Bands, in Heat 1, on Friday 13th January 2012.
I also have them booked for Friday 3rd February 2012 at The Telegraph, behind Central Station in Newcastle. That’ll be £3 in and the wisest investment you’ll ever make.
Look up The Stroll on Facebook and Soundcloud and remember, you heard it heard first!
If Hip Hop’s your bag, here’s another act with a sense of fun. Hip Hop duo Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze are an audio-visual spectacle to behold, so I would recommend checking out their videos on YouTube to get the full effect. The Baron is an emcee time-lord from 1830 and sports a huge tashe, top hat and sunglasses, so you know he’s got a sense of humour, however, he’s also an excellent wordsmith and a born entertainer.
Baron Von Alias
I was put onto Baron Von Alias and MistaBreeze by old school mate Nathan Wood, who has his own radio show. He recommended I listen to ‘Get Wild, Gan Mental’, which is growing on me but I didn’t take kindly to it at first. I told Nathan on twitter that I wasn’t impressed and The Baron piped up. After a bit crack on, The Baron said I should give some of his other material a whirl. I did, and I was impressed. I blame Nathan for his poor choice in track selection whilst making recommendations.
There are plenty of quality tracks by The Baron and MistaBreeze so check out their YouTube channel. You’ll enjoy their official videos and their live stuff. I’m particularly keen on ‘White Noise’. The Baron and MistaBreeze do make fukkin awesome videos! I’d also recommend checking out the video of Baron Von Alias performing ‘Phoney’ on Amazing Beats, because I find it really fukkin impressive.
I saw Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze performing live at The Head of Steam in Newcastle the other week and they are an act well worth catching. For £5 you can see them live at The Riverside this Thursday (15th December) http://www.facebook.com/events/109965722442103/ .
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So that’s three acts for you to check out, now here’s a couple other things that you wanna check out.
The Local Music Show
The Local Music Show presented by Nathan Wood, on Spark Sunderland.
That’s 107FM local radio or can be listened to live online at sparksunderland.com every Sunday at 4pm til 7pm.
Nathan plays music from local bands from across all different kinds of music so give that a listen and you’re bound to hear something that tickles your fancy. Mix that with a little bit of low brow humour and smut and you’ve got yourself one canny Sunday afternoon’s listening.
As mentioned earlier, there’s a Battle of the Bands going on in Redcar in early 2012. The competition is being held at Coatham Bowl, in Redcar, every Friday from 13th January 2012, with the final being held on Friday 9th March 2012. The entry fee to these events is £10.
The Mojags and The Stroll are both competing in the Battle of the Bands so get down for their heats and show some support.
Heat 1 – The Stroll – Friday 13th January
Heat 2 – The Mojags – Friday 20th January
Battle of the Bands 2012
Now Here’s My Recommended Ten Track Playlist
Here’s a ten track playlist I recommend listening to. Click on the song title and you’ll be directed either to a YouTube video or somewhere else online that you can hear the track for free. Enjoy.
Happy Mondays – Yahoo
Mick Jagger – A Memo from Turner
The Mojags – Ojay (live)
The Stone Roses – Good Times
The Stroll – Different Tune, Different Mood
Swede Mason – Bill Wyman’s Metal Detector
Baron Von Alias & Mistabreeze – Its OK
Public Enemy – What You Need Is Jesus
Gorillaz ft Shaun Ryder – Dare
Flowered Up – Weekender
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed what you’ve listened to and if you’ve got any recommendations let me know because I’m always willing to listen to new things. Also please share this blog so that other people can hear the acts that I have mentioned and to get a little bit more publicity for the charity Battle of the Bands competition.
Thank you.
Links
The Mojags
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mojags/162283410463944
Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-mojags
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMojags
The Stroll
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stroll/152650318150277
Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/the-stroll
Baron Von Alias and Mistabreeze
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Baron-Von-Alias/28616761468
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/iamsteesh
Bandcamp – http://baronvonalias.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/burnblockbeats
Spark Sunderland 107FM
Battle of the Bands 2012
WHAT MALLAZ IS SAYING! 