The Other Woman

6 Music picks: Rebecca Pronsky and Mausi

2012-02-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Rebecca Pronsky - Hard Times

This Brooklyn native should be a household name as far as we’re concerned. Day time play list on Radio 2 at least. Sigh, but alas, we are not in charge! ‘Viewfinder’ is a superb record by an accomplished musician - it’s obvious she’s playing music since the year dot. Studying ethnomusicology and jazz singing at Brown University has set her on track to become one of America’s foremost modern folk songstresses.

Mausi - Sol

We here at TOW love this slice of Italian sunshine pop via Newcastle. Sibling duo Daisy and Thomas Finetto channel their love of pop, electro and dance into Newcastle’s thriving indie music scene and this is the result. You can almost smell the suntan lotion and feel the sand between your toes - but that’s the Tyne in the background!

Amazing Radio listen again with Dear Reader

2012-02-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Plenty to shout about in this week’s show - not least a chat with the South African born, Berlin based musician and singer-songwriter Dear Reader. We caught up with her about her new album Idealistic Animals out on City Slang, leaving her homeland behind and breaking up with Christianity - worse than any other kind of break up! Check out this lovely acoustic video of Monkey (Go Home Now)

We’re also playing Mary Epworth’s new single Black Doe which is a dark throbbing psych rock anthem, plus Oslo newbie’s Maribel, Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums remixed by Deerhoof no less, a match made in heaven! Also a new track from LA songstress Pisces:

6 Music picks: Abi Wade & Emma Russack

2012-02-01T04:31:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Abi Wade - Stability

Not only a remarkable voice, also a talented multi-instrumentalist to boot. The cello being her instrument of choice on the ‘And Blood And Air EP’ which came out on great little Brighton indie Love Thy Neighbour Records. A one-woman band and production house, she’s honed her craft and stands poised to take on the industry in a rather fetching onesie...

Emma Russack - He Was My Family

Another stand out voice to arrive in our inbox - this time from Down Under. Melbourne to be precise - Emma’s debut album Sounds of our City is released on New Zealand indie Spunk Records in February and if this taster is anything to go by it’s a strong introduction to this singer-songwriter. Emma made her name on YouTube covering classics such as A Day In The Life, Love Will Tear Us Apart and My My Hey Hey - something that would ordinarily set our teeth on edge, but she does a jaw dropping job of making them her own. Her PR says: “Lyrically, Sounds of Our City explores letting go and severing ties, finding one’s place in the world, and wishing you were lying on a beach, cocktail in hand, instead of working at an Italian restaurant during Melbourne’s coldest winter in 50 years.” We’ve all been there honey!

Amazing Radio catch up! Paper Dollhouse and Laura Gibson

2012-02-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

This week we kick off the show with this creepy as hell track from Brooklyn duo, er, Creep! Featuring the ethereal vocals of Holly Miranda - an excellent singer songwriter in her own right.

We feature an interview with Portland musician Laura Gibson whose album La Grande has just come on City Slang. She played an over-subscribed gig at The Social in London a few weeks back where we caught up with her - in the middle of the bar! Nowhere to go, so it’s a bit chaotic. We talk about writing the album, getting it out there and feeling bloody great about it all.

Then there’s new music from Canadian solo electro artist Grimes, Oslo’s Philco Fiction, soon-to-be-pop-sensation Natalie McCool, cooler-than-thou New Yorker with her finger in many musical pies Frankie Rose, the brilliant Class Actress and more...

Last week we were thrilled to welcome solo electronic and instrumentalist Paper Dollhouse to The Other Woman. Someone we know as Astrud, the lead singer of London trio Rayographs who had a successful debut release in 2011, she’s found herself now signed to Manchester indie and Finders Keepers off shoot Bird Records. Astrud sent TOW early recordings as Paper Dollhouse which she made literally using her computer input mic and sitting in her kitchen, that’s what you’ll hear on the show - proof that you don’t need to spend big money on studios and fancy shmancy producers these days!

Also chuffed that LA psych rockers Happy Hollows have created their profile at Amazing Tunes AND the solo project of their frontwoman the inimitable Sarah Nagehdari, Pisces - check out the video for Voodoo here, LOVE THIS TUNE! Tune in for both at the top of the show... Also, Severin, Emily Barker, Ghosts You Echo, Magpahi and Joana and the Wolf

6 Music picks: Strict Status and Joy Wellboy

2012-01-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Strict Status - Locked In

Scottish producer and musician Emma Welsby is one of a rare breed of female drum ‘n bass producers. As Strict Status she records, produces and provides the vocals on all her tracks, we like this one Locked In. A music degree at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and a successful professional session drumming career later she’s now teamed up with Neil Harvey to create Nova Code. Nova Code is a new collaborative project involving, er, well YOU if you like:
“This project incorporates live musicians, visual artists and anyone else we find along the way with insane abilities. The aim? To have everyone perform their contribution live in the form of a gig in August 2012.” Get in touch if that tickles your fancy!

Joy Wellboy - Within Another Dimension

It’s not often we here at TOW receive a missive from Brussels - Geert got in touch about a band on his label Doctor Vinyl Records called Joy Wellboy. Intrigued we took a listen and were immediately hooked by frontwoman Joy Adegoke and her producer/ musician partner Wim Janssens. The debut album Let’s Make Love Before We Die is, as they put it: “Not the gospel as we know it, and it's not quite the church as we know it…” Ok! Excellent. Either way it’s got us hooked and Joy is an eyeful, as you’ll see from their videos.

Amazing Radio listen again 15 Jan 2012

2012-01-16T07:37:00.000-08:00

So much to get excited about this week on The Other Woman, not the least the first play of new material from the frankly, awesome Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band. We kick off the show with Come Back to the Bough from her highly anticipated debut album Dream of Life which comes out in March. Mary is a multi-instrumentalist with a penchant for the auto harp and with a big beautiful voice, writes songs that as well as being steeped in folklore, are simultaneously very much a part of the twenty-first century.

We have an interview with the inimitable Piney Gir - she’s ditched the Country Roadshow and her latest album Geronimo has garnered rave reviews from all corners, catch up with all the news from the Kansas native. Check out the ridiculously cute sock-puppet video for Outta Sight:

We also have session tracks from producer and songwriter Laura Bettinson aka Dimbleby & Capper, plus new music from Welsh songstress Jodie Marie, dark pop duo The Unkindness of Ravens, Highland lass Racherl Sermanni and much more...

Dimbleby & Capper - Educated (The Amazing Sessions) from Amazing Radio on Vimeo.

6M Picks: Grimes and Pisces

2012-01-16T01:04:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Grimes - Genesis

Grimes - Genesis by factmag

This solo electronic musician has been busy - album number 4 since 2010 is due out in March and we cannot wait to hear the whole effort if this sneak preview is anything to go by. Lo-fi synth with strong confident beats and an ethereal vocal line ticks boxes for us, previously ticked by the likes of LA producer Nite Jewel and chill wave maestro’s Sleep Over... Thanks to The Girls Are for tipping her for major success in 2012 - noting that this album is due out on 4AD, remember what that did for Tune-Yards? Exciting.

Pisces - Voodoo

A UK exclusive from Sarah Negahdari’s new project Pisces. Remember her from Happy Hollows? The LA based psych rockers we tipped for Tom back in 2009. Sarah’s broken out on her own for this, a few members of HH do join her for recording sessions though so she’s keeping it in the family. The kitchen of an abandoned downtown LA studio apartment is the setting for what you hear and Voodoo is one of our tracks of 2012 already, catchy as hell with that infectious vocal line. More please Sarah!

Amazing Radio listen again 8 January 2012

2012-01-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

Every Sunday evening Amazing Radio is home to The Other Woman - two hours of the best in new music from female fronted bands and female artists as uploaded to Amazing Tunes.

This week we feature a wee chat with Emma from Standard Fare, as well as Sharon Van Etten's single Serpents which we cannot stop playing.

Piney Gir's new single Outta Sight which has this adorable video:

Amazing Session tracks from the jaw droppingly awesome Saint Saviour:

Saint Saviour - Ain't No Hymn (The Amazing Sessions) from Amazing Radio on Vimeo.

Also music from the likes of Bristolian noise merchants Thought Forms, 'the voice' Gabby Young, tipped for greatness Natalie McCool and Nat Johnson who promises new music soon. Enjoy!

6 Music Picks: Thought Forms and Beccy Owen

2012-01-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Thought Forms - Song For Junko

SONG FOR JUNKO by Thought Forms

Part of the ever evolving and interesting Bristol lo-fi rock scene, Thought Forms are Charlie, Guy and Deej and play wondrous, experimental, rock-infused soundscapes. Sky Pegs is their EP that we took Song For Junko from - released on Geoff Barrow's excellent local label Invada Records. Hats off to the Portishead producer and multi-instrumentalist for giving emerging talent from his Hood a chance - Thought Forms supported Portishead in the States in 2011, needless to say it was a highlight of the year: high five you guys!

Beccy Owen - You Are Gone

Already known to Tom and 6 Music Introducing as the frontwoman with joyful indie electro-rockers Sharks Took The Rest, we did some snooping and Beccy Owen has had a solo career well worth a mention. Based in Leeds but originally from Wales, she says she writes 'eccentric pop music with a big dark heart.' We took this song from her solo album released in 2008 Down With Gravity. Gorgeous stuff.

Amazing Radio: listen again to New Years Day show!

2012-01-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 to you and yours and may it be a fantastic year. No pressure. My husband always gives me a diary for Christmas. In it he writes: ‘Go Ruthy, it’s your year!’ and then not much happens… I’m wondering what would happen if he wrote: ‘Don’t worry Ruthy, chill, it’s MY year!’

There’s so much great music being added to amazingtunes.com all the time, I’m so pleased to be kicking off the year with some old TOW favourites: Italian singer-songwriter and woman-of-many-musical-projects Marta Collica, London based Lebanese singer-songwriter Nadine Khouri, electro chanteuse Paper Dollhouse, the latter’s label boss and one-woman-vintage-electro-producer Jane Weaver… the list goes on.

Already a great show – add to that Amazing Session tracks from Emmy The Great and you have a recipe for success. See Emmy in action belo:

Emmy The Great - Paper Forest (In The Afterglow of Rapture) (The Amazing Sessions) from Amazing Radio on Vimeo.

6Music Picks: Who should be big in 2012

2012-01-02T00:41:00.000-08:00

Tom Robinson has been so good to The Other Woman. We’re heading into our third year of being his Girl Music Guru and he’s always enthusiastic, warm, genuinely interested in what we’re jibbering on about and our biggest fan (we like to think...) TOW is privileged to have ten minutes of his 6 Music Introducing show every week to showcase two bands we’ve decided need some serious airplay. For the New Year’s show though, we got a whole half hour! Whoop! Thank you Tom, you are the best.

Here we go, in no particular order, the band’s that (if we ruled the world) would be number 1 in 2012:

Hysterical Injury - Maths

Yes we know we’ve banged on about this band, along with most of the other new music bloggers out there. Hysterical Injury are just one of those bands who you wish would go stratospheric, they are grungy, DIY and have one helluva front woman in Annie Gardiner, how can they go wrong? With a debut album on the horizon (Dead Wolf Situation/ Crystal Fuzz/ Feb 6th) we’re excited... This noisy Bath-based duo may just make 2012 their own.

The Lovely Eggs - Allergies

Holly and David are musical genius. Holly is one of our all time favourite in-your-face, brilliantly talented front women and these two do things completely on their own terms. With the mighty Gruff Rhys on production duties on this Too Pure Singles Club released single, could 2012 be their year? It’s like, sheesh, five years too late if it is!

Lady Leshurr - Lego

This quick fire MC from Birmingham has been on our radar since early 2010 and we’ve been watching closely as her reputation has spread. Culminating in a New Band A Day nod from The Guardian’s Paul Lester recently and the release of her Off The Leash EP. Formidable and above all, she’s have a good time which is always fantastic to see!

The Horn The Hunt - Animal Magic

Clare Carter is another of our front women of 2011. Catching The Horn The Hunt live a few months ago the tiny blond singer is mesmerising. Their second album Depressur Jolie is dark and gloriously synth laden, with Clare’s vocals keeping it all together. This Leeds band are surely a cert to play some of the rockier festivals this year? Oh wait that would take creative, adventurous programming...

Chapter 24 - Spindle

Another band we’re hoping will take 2012 by the horns are Corby band Chapter 24. We’re big fans at TOW and Tom’s hugely into them too. Forget all the Riot Grrrl/ Slits comparisons - yes, there’s a girl on vocals but frankly that’s where it ends. Their heavy blend of funky spiky guitars and reverb heavy vocals result in something entirely poppy and psychedelic. A True Gem.

Xmas Eve on Amazing Radio with Miranda Sawyer

2011-12-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Eves on Amazing Radio… the Eve’s took over!

With an outstanding proportion of women presenters on Amazing Radio – we took over Christmas Eve. To celebrate this on The Other Woman we featured an interview with writer and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer about the formation of Sound Women in 2011.

As a reaction to the outrageous disproportion of women to men on the radio, the website was set up to encourage women as presenters and programme makers, as a go-to list for those on the hunt for talented spokeswomen and also as a mentoring scheme to help people get on in the media. I met Miranda in her kitchen in south London, one year old Frankie May makes an appearance too…

Here’s the launch video that Sound Women put together featuring some of the biggest female names in broadcasting as a wee intro to what it’s all about:

Also on the show: new to amazingtunes.com, Moulettes play a fierce and thoroughly modern gypsy folk, they’ve performed and recorded with Seasick Steve and will hopefully break through in 2012. Also Madam makes an appearance with her hauntingly beautiful tune Marine Boy from Gone Before Morning, one of my albums of the year… with session tracks from Daughter and an Amazing Beats tip from Kate Wax, what more could I ask for?… pass the liqueur chocs!

6 Music picks: Death Rattle and Dominique Young Unique

2011-12-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

Death Rattle - The Dig

A while ago when chatting to Tom on his show he mentioned That Mouth, a London band who he was very excited about. Whilst mooching around for tracks to play on Amazing Radio last month we thought we'd find out what they're up too - turns out after releasing their debut album in October, TM is no more... welcome Death Rattle! Their first single The Dig is a dark and brooding track with a rather freaky split-face video to go with it. TOW reckons Death Rattle are plumbing some sort synth-laden depths and we can't wait to hear their debut, which they've been recording across the channel in Normandy.

Dominique Young Unique - Life Of A Party

Whilst perusing Guardian journalist Paul Lester's playlist on the Amazing Radio website we came across this young, quick fire rapper from Tampa, Florida. She's just released her third mixtape Stupid Pretty, the follow up toDomination and Glamorous Touch which respectively spread like wildfire across the net. The title track of the mixtape has a fantastic video of Dominique in a tiny pair of bright orange pants and a t-shirt wandering around London Underground, much to the embarrassment of the regular commuters. Surely it's a matter of time before this one cracks day time Radio 1...

Amazing Radio listen again 18 December 2011

2011-12-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

This week on The Other Woman we kick off the show with a festive treat from the fantastic Bubblewrap Collective out of Cardiff. Their 12 Days of Christmas compilation includes a fine ditty from Allo Darlin’: Silver Swans in New York City, ramming home just how fantastic Elizabeth Morris is as an indie pop frontwoman.

We also have a new track from 80’s mediums Hologram Heart Parade whose singer and writer Pauline Johnston has one of the finest pop caterwauls we’ve heard in yonks.

This week we feature west London MC and producer Dreama who we played on our inaugural show on Amazing Radio; everyone loved the track and so we thought to follow it up with a wee chat – in Starbucks. In Hammersmith. Oh, the glamour! Check out Dreama’s blog by the way, one of the more entertaining we’ve come across in a long time.

Dreama

We have session tracks from the young piano player from Blackpool with the huge voice, Rae Morris…and something nicked off Mark Ryan’s Amazing Beats playlist from Norwegian pop queen Karin Park.

Amazing Radio listen again 11 December 2011

2011-12-12T05:37:00.002-08:00

This week on The Other Woman I’m thrilled to be kicking off with a Mobilee Records staple. Maya Jane Coles has had an amazing year and was one of only five women DJ’s in Resident Advisor’s Top 100 DJ’s, the Londoner is in at number 9. So I thought what better way to start the show with one of the tracks she put out on the cooler-than-cool Berlin label.

It sets the tone really, I’ve got real treats for you. If you haven’t heard of Russian-born-Berlin-resident-via-Israel Mary Ocher than you’re in for a treat. Her track Address Yourself Entirely To Me is an excellent example of her unique style and uber-quirky take on electro pop. Her videos are always second to none, aided by her artist friends in Berlin they’re always brilliant:

I’m featuring Lady Leshurr in this show too, Lego is her new single and mighty fine. I had the pleasure of putting on this quick fire MC at Ladyfest 2010 and she was A-Mazing. She says she models herself on Wiley, I say she could out-spit him anyday. Here’s a video from the festival, which I made on my crappy digital camera but you get the idea – Lady Chann’s there too as well as Lady Lykez and Amazing Radio fave Patricia Panther. Leshurr’s on the end in the cute black tracksuit:

The show is all over the place again this week – in a very good way. We’re in Norway for some eclectic jazz stylings of Mari Kvien Brunvoll (the Nordic Tune-Yards) and then to London for the doom and gloom of Death Rattle… also a double play of woozey ‘chill-wave’ (whatever that is) from Sleep Over and Keep Shelley In Athens. There’s plenty more too, if you have any suggestions feel free to get in touch! @otherwomanradio or @amazingradio or leave us a comment here.

6 Music picks: No Cars and 2:54

2011-12-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

No Cars - Sellotape

How good is this video? Talk about capturing the vibe of a band and the atmosphere of a gig - pure joy in this case. No Cars are Haruna, Sachi and Kyoko who've released their debut album Yoko Eats Whales this year. Haruna tells TOW that 'we are gathered to save the earth, or kidnapped from Tokyo'... the truth though is that they met at her ex's gig. She goes on to say they're influences are: 'Vegetables. I don't listen to music much but the other girls in the band like juke box the ghost.(I don't know who they are)'. Officially they're 17, don't worry girls we won't spill the beans on how old you really are - not that it matters to us! But if Flo can do it so can you ;)

2:54 - Scarlet

London based sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow are 2:54, with the help of Alex Robins and Joel Porter. This gloomy but very polished pop group recently supported hipsters Bos Angeles in the UK and will be touring with The Big Pink in February. Someone's got them on the fast track as they've already worked with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey) and look set to make great waves. It's all a bit moody, don't bloody smile whatever you do... diggin' this track (Serious Face).

Sound Women: Call To Action

2011-12-06T03:31:00.001-08:00

This is a Call to Action from the excellent Sound Women website, after yesterday's depressing and worrying Guardian article about women's underrepresentation in the media:

You make have seen a big feature in the Guardian yesterday about the number of women in the media – the stats are quite shocking even for those of us who are quite hardened to this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/04/why-british-public-life-dominated-men

One of the figures is that a whopping 84% of reporters and guests on Radio 4’s Today programme are men. In fact, on 5 July you had to wait from 6.15am until 8.20am to hear the one female contributor who appeared alongside the 27 male contributors on the programme (Arts Correspondent Rebecca Jones talking about the Hampton Court flower show).

Today Editor Ceri Thomas’ response to this is that they are working on it, but also that, essentially, the audience don’t care:

“’I'm bound to say to you, it almost never comes up as an issue from the audience... I suppose it might be two letters a year, or something of that nature.’ He makes this last point, in different words, three times in our 10-minute conversation.”

Only two letters of complaint a year? We think this is something we should put right. If everyone on this mailing list writes to BBC Trust Chairman Chris Patten, that will be nearly 400 emails. If everyone asks a friend to write as well, that’ll be 800. And so on. And so on. Until Ceri and the BBC make a change.

Please write to BBC Trust Chairman Sir Chris Patten!
We have drafted a letter here, but please feel very free to adapt and change it, especially if you are a Today/Radio 4 listener and have additional points you’d like to make.

Dear Lord Patten

The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 has four male presenters and just one woman, Sarah Montague. In addition to this, today it’s been revealed that on average 84% of its guests and reporters are male, and just 16% female.

As a woman working in the radio industry, and an avid radio listener, I am deeply disappointed by these figures. If the Today audience is made up of 50-50 men and women, as Today Editor Ceri Thomas claims, then this means that the women in that audience are being under-represented and badly served.

Ceri Thomas also says he receives only two letters of complaint a year, and seems to think this means the audience don’t care about the issue. Well we do care. We don’t always write letters of complaint – sometimes we change to another station or shout at our radio instead – but if it will make a difference then please accept this as a letter of complaint, to which I would greatly appreciate a response.

I know the representation of women on air is an issue you feel strongly about, and have spoken about before. I hope you can encourage the BBC to bring about the change that is needed, and look forward to hearing a more balanced version of the Today programme, with many more female contributors, reporters and presenters very soon.

Thank you for reading this email.

Best wishes

………………

Please send it to Chris Patten at chris.patten@bbc.co.uk and cc in his assistant june.prunty@bbc.co.uk.

Please also encourage as many people as possible to do the same. It would be great to have as many as possible sent by the end of the week. We will keep you posted of progress and please let us know if and when you get a reply!

Many thanks

Sound Women

Website: www.soundwomen.co.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/soundwomen
LinkedIn: linkd.in/soundwomen
Facebook: tiny.cc/soundwomen

6 Music picks: Dreama and We Spies

2011-12-05T06:34:00.001-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Dreama - Somethin Yesterday

Ah bliss, we finally get to play Dreama on BBC 6 Music! As we suspected, Tom R. is now a big fan and she's getting more play on his excellent show. Dreama is a young MC from west London who got in touch with TOW and pointed us towards her mixtape A Dreama's Reality which is available for free at her website. Dreama aka Martina Simon has written poetry since she was a young thing and says she naturally moved into rap and music. TOW loves this track for it's simple, hardcore electro back beat and her cheeky vocal. Check out her website too for her excellent and very informative blog!

We Spies - The Sea, You See

The Sea, You See by WeSpiesUK

Now to a young Brighton band who we can't stop listening too. Headed up by singer Lucy Elliot We Spies call themselves 'ambient indie' and that does them justice to some extent. But it's Lucy's frantic on-the-edge vocal style which sets them apart from their peers. Lucy is joined by Joel Frosh, Ed Davis and Joe Spencer.

TOW featuring Sharon Van Etten: listen again

2011-12-04T01:36:00.001-08:00

Happy Monday. To get you through the week how about a dose of The Other Woman on Amazing Radio from Sunday? Two hours of the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands as found on Amazing Tunes. This week the wonderful Sharon Van Etten graces us with her presence to talk about superb new single Serpents. Fresh from making her latest album with Aaron Dessner from The National in Brooklyn, she's preparing to launch it on the world via her new record label Jagjaguwar in February 2012. Also, there's new music from: indie super group Wild Flag, eeire Devonshire folksters Silvermoths, Bath rockers Hysterical Injury and their buddies hardcore garage noise outfit Big Joan... and plenty more:

PS - TOW sits in for Gill Mills all this week on Amazing Radio - listen live Tues-Thurs evenings from 7pm on DAB in the UK or round the world online.

Wears The Trousers 2011 Yearbook: Must Have!

2011-12-01T02:57:00.001-08:00

Wears the Trousers magazine is possibly THE most comprehensive guide to women making music around the world. Along with excellent community run minefield thegirlsare it is a go-to encyclopaedia here at TOW Towers for what's hot, who we should be listening too and an endless resource of free music! So what a lovely thing it was when editor Alan Pedder dropped us a line with a special offer for TOW fans to purchase their excellent Yearbook.

Including previously unpublished interviews AND chats with the likes of tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, Tori Amos, Ane Brun, Zola Jesus, My Brightest Diamond, Joan As Police Woman, Alela Diane, Emmy The Great, Dum Dum Girls, EMA, Eleanor Friedberger, La Sera, Lisa Hannigan, She Keeps Bees, Drugstore, Big Deal, Tennis, Sharon Van Etten, Gazelle Twin, Amy Klein, The Sandwitches, Jenny Wilson, THEEsatisfaction, Jennie Abrahamson and more it's a bargain at FOUR POUNDS!

It's actually going for a FIVER, but because WTT loves TOW we're getting ONE POUND off if you enter the discount code 'OTHERWOMAN'.

They also provide a run down of their top fifty albums of 2011 and peek into the future with a look at some of next year’s most promising artists and albums.

RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW

Available from December 19. Orders placed before December 19 for delivery to a UK address should arrive before Christmas.

The Other Woman on Amazing Radio: Listen again

2011-11-29T01:02:00.001-08:00

This week we play you London duo Death Rattle's debut single The Dig as well as bouncing electro-pop joy from the Brooklyn gal with a filthy mouth Azealia Banks... Electro duo Paper Crows gave us their new single for a spin too and in fact there's a bit of an electro theme with music from composer Tara Busch, Bristolian ambient artists Bambikill and Rio native Anna-Anna. There's much more to enjoy...

The Other Woman is on Amazing Radio every Sunday evening from 7-9pm. Playing the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands.

This week we sit in for Gill Mills Tues-Thurs evenings 7-8pm. Tune in on your digital radio in the UK or online.

Sharon Van Etten Interview: Tramp

2011-11-28T01:01:00.001-08:00

You might remember TOW catching up with Brooklyn’s Sharon Van Etten at the beginning of the year. She was on tour with The National and riding high on the critical acclaim of her first album proper Epic. Here us catch up with Sharon here.

Well now almost a year later, the singer songwriter has announced details of her forthcoming album, Tramp, which will be out on her new label home Jagjaguwar in the new year (February 6 2012).

Van Etten worked with Aaron Dessner from The National on this record, working from his home studio in a leafy part of Brooklyn. Guests on the record include Jenn Wasner from Baltimore duo Wye Oak and the wonderfully ethereal Julianna Barwick... TOW caught up with SVE in a pub near Hyde Park on her recent brief trip through London to talk about conquering this filthy great city, working with Aaron and finally finding a home.

LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD 'SERPENTS':

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents by Pretty Much Amazing

6 Music picks: Two Wings and Hollows

2011-11-28T00:58:00.001-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Two Wings - Eikon

<a href="http://twowings.bandcamp.com/track/eikon">Eikon by Two Wings</a>

A chance encounter with Two Wings supporting Essie Jain at Cafe Oto last year led TOW to fall head over heels. Hanna Tuulikki and Ben Reynolds and their merry band make such joyous music, it's hard not to grin stupidly whilst listening. Hanna is no stranger to us, having already got into her solo project Nalle - there's plenty more going on in her musical world too and the same can be said for Ben. But it seems they've found their true home together now, with Two Wings - channeling the greats like The Band, Richard Thompson and other seventies era folk Americana greats, but with Hanna's haunting, inimitable vocal setting this band stand leagues apart from their contemporaries of a similar ilk.

Catch them live at Cafe Oto on 9 December.

Hollows - Shapeshifter

Hollows are a five piece girl band from Chicago (well, there's an honorary boy on drums ;) who found each other through a Craigslist add that included the phrases "60s, funeral, girl group, Shangri-Las," - 'nuff said! The Chicago Tribune recently said of this band: "No band is currently making better use of the Farfisa-like Gibson G101 combo organ than Hollows." Agreed! We think... Either way we're smitten with this infectious, tight and flawless band. More please.

Hot Sand/ Shapeshifter is out now on Soft Power Records.

Ladies First panel at UnderWire Film Festival

2011-11-21T08:28:00.001-08:00

London’s UnderWire Festival showcases the best up-and-coming female filmmakers - running from Wednesday 23 November until Saturday 26th. As part of the various panel discussions and screenings taking place, TOW is chairing a panel discussing the representation of women in music videos.

Ladies First will take place at the Shortwave Cinema in Bermondsey from 4pm.

Joining yours truly is the editor of The Girls Are, Annette Barlow, music video director Ben Reed (Joan As Police Woman), Caroline Clayton from Ministry of Sound and Professor Maria Barrett from London's South Bank University.

As well as celebrating the kind of ground breaking videos by artists like JAPW and Peaches, we'll be puzzling over the get-your-kit-off-now-girls trend in mainstream pop culture and checking out some hot new talent doing things their own way.

Tickets for the panel are £5 and are available from the Underwire Festival’s website. The festival runs from November 23 to November 26, and also includes programmes of short films, discussions on performance video art and a film criticism workshop – the full programme can be viewed here.

Amazing Radio - The Other Woman - 20 November 2011

2011-11-21T08:17:00.001-08:00

Week three of the brand new show on Amazing Radio - Sunday evenings 7-9pm... we're in the swing of things now and can't wait to bring you the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands every week! You can listen again to this week's show here... or if you just wanna skip through the playlist you can head to The Other Woman Music's profile on Amazing Tunes - happy listening!

6 Music picks: Chapter 24 & Mari Kvien Brunvoll

2011-11-17T01:28:00.001-08:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

CHAPTER 24 - Spindle

Spindle is out on Odd Box Records on November 28 - and it's a stormer! This Corby four piece have come into their own and are currently on a Stateside tour, wowing the Yanks as only a Corby band could. Spindle is short and sweet but really sums up what this band are about: riotous, melodic, punk pop with Claire Smith's deep, layered and distorted vocal taking it stratospheric every time. TOW met the band at 6 Music last year and what a charming bunch they are, all set for success!

Marie Kvien Brunvoll - Everywhere You Go

What is it with jazz musicians and terrible online profiles? Norwegian artist Mari has a dodgy myspace and a Facebook profile - set up by a fan. Come on Mari, get it together! This Molde-born singer and multi-instrumentalist has already made her mark on the burgeoning Norwegian jazz scene and is threatening to do the same outside of her home country. Using loops, pedals, zithers (!) and that stunning voice of hers she makes haunting, beautiful music that captivates the listener. There's a blues sensibility in there too and her music boarders on folk and acoustic too, it's a shame she's been pigeon-holed as a jazz artist as this can put *some* people off. Not the open-minded readers of TOW though ;)

The Other Woman Podcast with Tom Robinson

2011-11-16T03:42:00.001-08:00

In this edition the gals snuck into a fancy studio with our guests - music legend, indie champ and all round DUDE Tom Robinson and Piney Gir's drummer and musician David Fisher. They were our choices as 'Menimists' which we thought we coined as a kind of fun way of saying they're Better Feminists Than We Are... only to have Dave knock that on the head during the interview, turns out Menimists exist and aren't very nice! Journalist Jude Rogers is at the table, along with musician Piney Gir and our vodka swigging showbiz expert Stef Schadenfreude... Our discussion with Tom and Dave looks at Feminism from a male perspective, oh and Tinkerbell gets it .

http://theotherwomanpodcast.podbean.com/

Amazing Radio - The Other Woman - 13 November 2011

2011-11-14T14:38:00.001-08:00

Week two of the brand new show on Amazing Radio - Sunday evenings 7-9pm... we're in the swing of things now and can't wait to bring you the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands every week! You can listen again to this week's show here... or if you just wanna skip through the playlist you can head to The Other Woman Music's profile on Amazing Tunes - happy listening!

Amazing Radio - The Other Woman - 6 November 2011

2011-11-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's with much excitement that The Other Woman is back on the radio airwaves on Amazing Radio... Two hours of the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands every Sunday evening 7-9pm. You can listen again to this week's show here... or if you just wanna skip through the playlist you can head to The Other Woman Music's profile on Amazing Tunes - happy listening!

6 Music picks: The Van Allen Belt & Silvermoths

2011-10-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

*The Van Allen Belt - Out To Lunch

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://thevanallenbelt.bandcamp.com/album/superpowerfragilis-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-caring-and-love-the-drug"&amp;amp;gt;Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug by The Van Allen Belt&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;
Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this band have been described as making music that's: “soaringly epiphanic and euphoric post-everything meditations on 21st century America" by none other than Julian Cope! We kinda can't compete with that can we? But we LOVE this track... the soaring chorus of backing vocals, big cymbal crashes and strong vocals from frontwoman Tamar Kamin. It's a power ballad for the indie generation. The album Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug is out now and you can buy it at the Bandcamp above.

*Silvermoths - Superhero

Then we come to this beautiful wee ditty. Silvermoths are a west London band. That's Emma Churchly on the soft whispery vocals and various instruments partnered with guitarist and songwriter Kaziu Gill... both make up the flame around which the Silvermoths fly. Sorry that's super cheesey but we couldn't help ourselves! If you can't be cheesey on your own blog then when can you be?! Either way there's something seriously magical about this band, we look forward to more.

Video: Fiona Bevan 'A Broken Heart Can Heal'

2011-10-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

The gorgeous and super talented Fiona Bevan has made a brilliant video for A Broken Heart Can Heal from her EP "Us And The Darkness". Buy CD here or download here

Like Piney Gir's latest visual treat for Oh Lies it seems the girls have turned to blood and gore to make their point, nicely done ladies!

TOW launches on Amazing Radio!

2011-10-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

The Other Woman launches on Amazing Radio on 6 November 2011!

It's with much excitement that we announce the start of a weekly show on Amazing Radio. After a summer of presenting playlist shows on Xfm, Ruth Barnes has found her new home presenting two hours of the best in new music from female artists and female fronted bands every Sunday evening from 7-9pm.

Amazing Radio supports the best in new and emerging artists on DAB in the UK and around the world at www.amazingradio.co.uk. All tracks played are uploaded by the artists to www.amazingtunes.com where they are available for fans to listen too for free and buy direct, with 100% of the money going into the artists Paypal. Neat!

ARTISTS/ LABELS UPLOAD YOUR TRACKS NOW

Amazing Radio feels like the perfect fit for The Other Woman, joining the likes of BBC Introducing veteran Bethan Elfyn, The Guardian's New Band A Day guru Paul Lester and indie music champ Gill Mills.

6 Music picks: Bambikill & Novella

2011-10-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

*Bambikill - Forever Will Burn

Forever will burn by bambikill

Interesting soundscape noodlings from this Bristol lass have caught our attention this week. A solo artist who makes emotional soundscapes that are inspired by 'the unseen world, dreams and visions, feeling lost and lonely sometimes and trying to find some meaning in being a living human being and in death...' she tells us. Bambikill's next album will be dedicated to Joey Chainsaw, her ex collaborator and fiancee who passed away earlier this year. Influences come in the shape of Kurt Cobain, Fursaxa, Bardo Pond and Grouper. We're expecting soft, sad, melodic sounds...

*Novella - The Things You Do

Novella - The Things You Do from Novella Novella on Vimeo.

We announced our new show on Amazing Radio today and we're chuffed to be joining a fine stable of presenters... including Mark Ryan who helms the brilliant Amazing Beats show every Friday. Mark is also a good one for tips and he tipped us this little gem from London's lo-fi pop scene. Mark says: 'Really nice almost Riot girl with a dark dark grunge element. Guitars that never give up'. We say, hell yes!

Marissa Nadler interview: making music and performing strictly on her own terms

2011-10-12T02:34:00.000-07:00

TOW met Boston guitarist and singer songwriter Marissa Nadler ahead of a show at London's Bush Hall. Armed with guitars and a weighty transistor, she plays solo and after years of struggling with stage fright, she says: 'It's worth getting over it'.

We talk about breaking out on her own with this eponymous album on her Box of Cedar Records, the joy of 'getting' finger-picking right for the first time, her unique sound and, like everyone, having ups and downs along the way.

Unsure about continuing with touring after years of traipsing the globe, Marissa Nadler said she may consider this her last. But then in a tweet after the show at Bush Hall, she says, scrap that - the audience were so lovely, she'll definitely be back. Gotta love London audiences - you guys did good!

Oh, and check out this gorgeous version and free download of Leonard Cohen's Winter Lady which popped up on her soundcloud recently:

6 Music picks: Maria and the Gay & Liz Green

2011-10-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... This week, we sat in for the WHOLE SHOW - hurrah for Tom Robinson!

You can listen again here.

It was a Girl Music Special so we plugged into some of the latest favourites uploaded onto the Introducing Uploader for two hours of great tracks, aswell as our usual picks for the week below.

*Maria and the Gay - Daddy's Bulge

We are already in love with this DIY Manchester council flat duo (their tags, not ours!). Their debut record Greatest Hits Vol 1 is out on Big Print Records on October 18th, run by Robert from The Nightingales and home of other TOW faves Hotpants Romance. Maria Dada is from Lebanon and Amy Pennington is from 'The North', they make electro-pop and short kick ass indie tunes in their Manchester council flat and are poised to take over the world. With track titles like 'Motherfolkers', 'Pushy Mum' and 'I Wannabe In Democracy', how can you not love them?

LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD HERE:

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://mariaandthegay.bandcamp.com/album/greatest-hits-volume-i"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Greatest Hits Volume I by Maria and The Gay&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

*Liz Green - Hey Joe

Liz Green is offering up Hey Joe as a free download and we heartily encourage you to get your hands on it: http://soundcloud.com/lizgreenmusic/hey-joe/s-8lk7H

The Manchester singer songwriter's debut album O, Devotion is out on Play It Again Sam Records on the 14th November and we can't wait to give the whole thing a spin. News from the Liz Green camp seemed to die down after the hoo ha that surrounded her performance on the main stage at Glastonbury in 2007 (after winning their Emerging Talent comp). It's been 4 years and NOW we can sit back and enjoy a full, fully accomplished and very beautiful record. Hurray!

Here's Displacement Song to listen too while you download:

Juliana Barwick remixes with Diplo, Lunice, Bryan Doring and Prince Rama

2011-10-07T04:59:00.000-07:00

Ah we love Juliana Barwick. Feeling stressed? Life getting on top of you? In need of some Chill Time? It's weird how 'chill' was once such a popular genre, chill nights, chill out areas in clubs... whatever happened to Chill?? Well, Juliana Barwick makes the kind of groovy, choral, looped, ambient tunes that could possibly fall into that long lost category. And now she's gone and had them remixed!

Here's the 'who does what' bit on The Matrimony Remixes:

Diplo and Lunice having previously crossed paths with Julianna whilst working on Radiohead remixes, provide some deep sea beats to “Vow.” Whilst Barwick's Brooklyn neighbour and label-mate, Roberto Lange takes the same track and transports it into the inner space of clouds.

Long-time Barwick friend Bryan Doring of Alias Pail drumbreaks “Prizewinning.” and Brooklyn/Boston-based sisters of the cosmos Prince Rama close the EP by escorting the same song into an aural Eden.

LISTEN HERE:

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com/album/matrimony-remixes"&amp;amp;gt;Matrimony Remixes by Julianna Barwick&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

TOW meets Juliana Barwick when she played a few London shows around the release of The Magic Place:

Julianna Barwick The Magic Place interview by ruthbarnes

6 Music: Genius Collective & The Liminanas our picks for Introducing

2011-10-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Genius Collective - Future (Breaks)

We really like this lot, a bunch of uber talented musicians fronted by one fine singer Kezia Johnson equals something funky, fresh and entirely NOT derivative which is always refreshing. They're a seven piece from Birmingham with an EP due out later in the year, this track Future is a free download - here.

The Liminanas - I'm Dead

This band seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet since releasing this in May last year. We've just stumbled across it and really love what they - were? - doing. This French trio are everything you'd expect from a band like this: dark haired, black polo-neck bedecked skinny kids who you know will survive on nothing but nicotine and Vin Rouge...

Gabby Young HUGE Koko show announced!

2011-09-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Gabby Young has long been a favourite of TOW ever since she came and did an early solo and acoustic session on Resonance FM many moons ago. It was the mournful ballad We're All In This Together which had us smitten and she's gone from strength to strength ever since. Gabby plays a headline show at London's Koko on October 13th and it's something quite extraordinary as can only be expected: stalls, an illustrators' corner, dressing up areas and more - The Sunday Times style wrote a piece about it last year.

Gabby's style has always been completely one off, it makes sense that she's being filmed by The Independent's new fashion TV channel. Gabby and her stylist Katie Antoniou have been working with up and coming designers who just showed at LFW to create some amazing stage looks, you can read more about Gabby's style on her blog here.

See you there!

NEW VIDEO FROM PINEY GIR: OH LIES

2011-09-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, we thought we'd shout that title at you! It's big news and we love Piney Gir's new DIY super 8-tastic zombie vid with blood 'n guts 'n gore and all those lovely things. Also that it accompanies a track from her excellent new album Geronimo, Oh Lies, which has to be the loveliest on there - complete with castanets and everything. Gernonimo is out on Damaged Goods on 24 October, preceded by Oh Lies on October 10th. TOW is digging every track, sheer pop psych rock genius from our favourite country gal, who has since ditched the 'Country Roadshow' and gone all rawk. Nice.

6 Music: Silver Fox & Trogons our picks for Introducing

2011-09-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Silver Fox - Waves On In

Daniel Robson

We are utterly smitten with this four piece from Newcastle. From the woozey, lazy psychedelia of Waves On In to the short, sharp punk of Capital Kiss. We found them via Upset The Rhythm's excellent line up for the Yes Way festival last month, where we also spotted this lovely lot:

Trogons - Awakenings

Trogons release Awakenings very soon on X Ray Recordings, we love the urgency in the track and Gemma Fleet on vocals is ticking all our boxes.

Thanks to UTR for some ace tips!

Gaggle choir leader Deborah Coughlin spills the beans

2011-09-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

As anarchic all-woman choir Gaggle prepare for their performance of The Brilliant and The Dark at London's Royal Albert Hall on 27 September, TOW catches up with leader Deborah Coughlin about the who, what, when, where and why's and it's really not what you might think!

The opera, which is about the history of women from Middle Ages to World War II, was first performed in 1969 with a cast of 1,000 women volunteering at the same venue.

Deborah and Gaggle have brought the subject matter right up to the present day in their reworking of the piece. Amazed that such a historic event could have been lost from the history books Gaggle are looking to give it it's rightful place in cultural her-story.

The Brilliant and The Dark from Open Music Archive on Vimeo.

INBOX: Daughter, Laura Gibson, Love Inks, Lyna Galliara

2011-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Every week press releases ping into the TOW inbox, here's a selection of the recent highlights:

Daughter - Free download and The Wild Youth EP

DownloadElena Tonra's track Love for free now from the player above. We're superexcited about the imminent arrival of her The Wild Youth EP on 21 November.Look out for a Daughter & Friends show near you in December too... In'Love' Daughter channels her inner Sinead O'Connor - there's a plaintivesadness that builds and builds, bring on the rest of the EP!

Laura Gibson - Free download and signs to City Slang

Portlander Laura Gibson recently wowed crowds at Peggy Sue's album launch and found herself a home with the excellent City Slang. Fans of 2009's Beasts of Seasons will be please to know that follow up La Grande drops in January 2012... Help yourself to the rollicking, bar brawl of a title track for free.

Love Inks - 'Rock On' video

Married couple Sherry and Kevin make sun drenched Texas-pop. They're album was recorded on an 8-track in their bedroom and is making waves in all the right places, according to the band: 'the less digitized the better'. If this cover of David Essex's seventies classic Rock On is anything to go by, we love it.

Lyna Galliara - Summer Sun

TOW is pleased to meet this new singer-songwriter-producer-musician... she's had praise from music industry big whigs (according the press release - Jamie Cullum's management is a fan)... well all that aside, we like what we hear: fresh, confident and catchy as hell.

6 Music: Wild Flag & Elan Tamara our picks for Introducing

2011-09-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

Wild Flag - Glass Tambourine

Wild Flag performs Glass Tambourine at The Rock Shop, Brooklyn from BlearyEyedBrooklyn.com on Vimeo.

Bloomin' brilliant to have Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein back in the saddle with a fierce line up of Mary Timony (Helium), Janet Weiss (Quasi, Sleater-Kinney) and Rebecca Cole (The Minders). Takes TOW back to the mid-nineties, an indie disco night called Lipgloss and wishing to all hell we'd not given up playing guitar. Wild Flag rrrrrrock, a welcome relief from all the flimsy-hipster-electro trash knocking about.

Elan Tamara - Don't Know Why

Original songwriting and a talented musician, Elan Tamara has everything going for a young upstart. Especially when up and coming producer Kwes (DELS, The Invisible, The XX, and now of Warp Records) gets involved and Ninja Tune put out her Organ EP. The kind of artist that makes TOW's blood boil when watching the fawning praise over the numpties on X Factor who knock out pretty good rendition of a Christina Aguilera tune or two. Sigh. They look for clones, we look for uniqueness and Elan has that in spades.

TOW favourite 2diceproductionz made this EPK for Elan last year, in our hood - Walthamstow Marshes:

MADAM Someone In Love: new video

2011-09-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

Gosh darnit, she's done it again. Sukie Smith, fronting her ragged band of psychedelic folk rock troubadours, has released Someone In Love as the latest video from her second album Gone Before Morning. The video sees Sukie looking suitably glam in a fluffy cape and trademark sequined trousers... singing our favourite line: 'Aren't you big enough to know, when you don't fit your clothes...?' If this is your introduction to Madam then head here to listen to the whole glorious album and PURCHASE:

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://madamband.com/album/gone-before-morning"&amp;amp;gt;Gone Before Morning by Madam&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

Brigid Power-Ryce & Micropixie - BBC 6 Music Introducing

2011-09-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Brigid Power-Ryce - The Waves Were Wild



Brigid Power-Ryce is a TOW success story... back in May 2009 we played Wild Grin for Tom on the show and he loved it, we loved it and then it all went silent. Until we got an email a few months back from Brigid with new songs, a six month old son and a support slot with Tune-Yards and Beirut at Brixton Academy on September 16th - yeeeeha! The new stuff is as captivating as what we heard before - eerie, haunting and beautiful. See you on the 16th!

*Micropixie - Testosteronica



Micropixie sent us this little disco-funk gem a few weeks ago, from her album 'The Good, The Beige & The Ugly' (An Intergalactic Feminist Spy Thriller) on One Little Alien. Micropixie has made the track with UK-based, Grammy nominee Paul Horton and it's massively groovy. Micropixie says of herself: 'Made in Bombay, born & raised in the UK, and based in SF-Oh!, Micropixie aka MPX is the extra-terrestrial alter ego of writer, fillum-maker and fulltime human being, Single Beige Female.'

The song is about Micropixie's experiences in the music industry - 'Testosteronica', ah hem, a sentiment that's right up our street! Also, 10% of the sales from Testosteronica will go to Women's Audio Mission, a San Francisco based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. Here here!

Cambodian Space Project & Mary Ocher - BBC 6Music Introducing

2011-08-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

Every week we get to play two tracks for Tom Robinson on his excellent BBC 6 Music Introducing show... you can listen again here.

The Cambodian Space Project - Broken Flowers

Kak Channthy is the lead singer of Phnom Penh Band The Cambodian Space Project. She's been called the Rock MIA in Asia, with which we wholeheartedly take umbrage. MIA wishes she had an iota of Kak's edge. Not only is she now a rock diva in her homeland, but she's also a women's rights activist, enlisted by the UN to speak in her country. As a young woman Kak was kidnapped from her village and sold into sex slavery in Phnom Penh - but her escape and meeting with now co-pilot Australian guitarist Julien Poulsen, has turned her life around. Julien found his muse and his route into fulfilling his dream of revitalising Cambodia's psychedelic rock days, with echoes of 1960's Cambodian singing legend Ros Seretysothea. Broken Flowers is an original track, but do also check out their covers of Venus and House of the Rising Sun too, as Kak admits she sings rock music better than love songs... we say, rock on...

Mary Ocher - On The Streets Of Hard Labour

We've just spent half an hour watching Mary Ocher videos on youtube, mainly the ones from her War Songs album which is from 2008, but luckily for us who were late to catch on, she re-released in March of this year on Germany's fine Haute Areal Records. Describing her is tough. Born in Moscow and raised in Tel Aviv, now based in Berlin. Mary describes herself as a singer-songwriter, poet, and DJ, with a background in film. Excellent. You might remember her from Mary and The Baby Cheeses who were a 'highly noted band in the Israeli underground circles'. All we know is that On The Streets of Hard Labour is one of tracks of the year, we love her heavily accented singing in English, the sparseness of the music: electronic, contemporary and yet definite shades of a spooky Soviet past.

Alice & the Enemies and Rachael Dadd - BBC 6Music Introducing

2011-08-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

After a summer break, TOW is back with Tom Robinson on his brilliant BBC 6 Music Introducing show as his Girl Music Guru, bringing him two artists every week for his (and your) listening pleasure. You can tune in and listen again here. Last week it was Tiny Ruins and Emma Heartbeat, this week:

Alice & the Enemies - Touching Boys in Supermarkets

You know Alice Gun? The singer songwriter from north London who made her fantastic debut this year with Blood & Bone on Ambiguous Records? Well, guess what, she was in a rock band and Ambiguous have decided to re-release some old stuff - yeahhh! The frankly brilliant Touching Boys In Supermarkets... listen below. This is Alice pre-poised, almost regal, as she is now - it's all a bit raucous and sweaty, we love it. You can hear Alice talking about Blood & Bone on The Other Woman Podcast here.

Rachael Dadd - Tower Tower

Bristol's Rachael Dadd has travelled far and wide in her time, so far in fact that she made this record in Japan. Dedicees will know that she's married to Ichi - as in Ichi and the Hand, see them live on the same bill and you get a doubly awesome earful. Rachael's new album Bite The Mountain is the follow up to 2009's Moth in the Motor and, as described by Broken Sound Music on their website, she sounds 100% the wide eyed traveller and armed with banjo, uke and a multitude of other instruments she's the master of, she's created another quiet masterpiece.

Albums from Olivia Louvel and Botched Fairytale

2011-08-17T02:42:00.000-07:00

Olivia Louvel sent us a new track back in March 2009 - the spiky, moody, bass heavy Army Of Dolls... little did we know that it was just the beginning of a whole album, Doll Divider, from the French born composer and producer. We played the track for Tom Robinson on his 6 Music Introducing show, he loved it, we loved it and that was that. Or so we thought... we received a beautiful vinyl copy of Olivia's album in the post a month or so ago. Composed using synth loops and percussive rhythms on her laptop, the album is glitchy, mysterious, DIY, minimal... all those good things, if not simultaneously unnerving. You can listen and BUY at her Bandcamp here:

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://olivialouvel.bandcamp.com/album/doll-divider"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Doll Divider by Olivia Louvel&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Botched Fairytale

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://botchedfairytale.bandcamp.com/album/botched-fairytale"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Botched Fairytale by M. McCormack M. OHara&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Deejaying at the excellent John Peel Day at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes last year, we were approached only once during our set and it was when we played The '06 Census by Botched Fairytale. The young chap was saucer-eyed and almost frothing at the mouth about the track, which is exactly how we felt on first listen to this, their debut album. Marie O Hara and Mariel McCormack are from County Longford in Ireland and were inspired to make music back in 2008 when, they say:

"sick of sitting around complaining about the lack of lyrical content in the Irish music they heard on the radio, the duo formed because they wanted to do their bit for the situation.

They had a vision of an album that provoked, it would be blunt and unsafe and uncomfortable, full of ideas and energy that reflected the ugliness and beauty of everyday life, an album that was universally relevant but distinctly Irish."

The album is available FOR FREE at the Bandcamp player above, thanks for giving this away free girls - it's a real gift to the music world.

New music from Ellie Rumbold/ Suburban Mousewife/ Anna-Anna

2011-08-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

Ellie Rumbold

Latest tracks by Ellie Rumbold

*Sigh* Ellie Rumbold is only 16. Think back to what you were doing at 16... were you playing thoughtful, sweet and finger-pickingly beautiful folk tunes? Well, we sure weren't. Time was spent mainly watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice box set, eating huge piles of peanut butter and honey on toast and wondering mournfully where our Mr Darcy was. Ellie plays the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell on the 31 August and it's free... get down there!

Suburban Mousewife - Hack Attack

Latest tracks by Suburban Mousewife

Mums in a punk band... after having kids and now into their forties, these women decided to pick up their guitars again and rekindle their punk careers - cue some loud, thrashy noisy tunes. Also, Delia Sparrow, The Lexington booker and regular Girl About Town on The Other Woman Podcast is in this band, so thumbs up from us. Suburban Mousewife rock... songs about botox, getting hassled in the street and more... listen and download below, and check out the Woman's Hour (!) interview, which will tell you more here.

Anna-Anna - Last Night I Lit The Moon

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://anna-anna.bandcamp.com/album/last-night-i-lit-the-moon"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Last night I lit the moon by anna-anna&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;
Manuela Leal is from Rio de Janeiro and makes astonishingly weird and yet extraordinarily pleasing electronic music. Don't expect to be easily buoyed along by these songs tapping your footsies, you need to do some work and LISTEN. When you do you'll be delighted and also ever so slightly weirded out. In a good way. Thanks for emailing us Manuela...

New music: New Zealand's Tiny Ruins - fantastic

2011-08-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Tiny Ruins is New Zealand singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook. We've been sent her album Some Were Meant For The Sea and have been immediately captivated by her quiet, thoughtful, often sad songs. Hollie has a glorious voice too... one for when you're feeling a little sorry for yourself.

<a href="http://tinyruins.bandcamp.com/track/tiny-ruins-some-were-meant-for-sea-lp">Tiny Ruins "Some Were Meant For Sea" (LP) by Tiny Ruins</a>

We like this video of her playing live for Balcony TV - looks like a lovely evening in Auckland...

Emma Heartbeat feat Numbs - Wanderlust - free download

2011-08-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

Emma Heartbeat is an MC and producer from Essen in Germany, whose album is due out on 7 October. In the meantime you can satiate your appetite for big electronic tunes with catchy hooks by downloading the remixes of Wanderlust. She's one connected lady, seems the great and the good are queuing up to remix her! Emma Heartbeat plays Club Fandango in London tomorrow night (9 August - details here.)

spit. videos from the launch on London's Southbank

2011-08-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

Yup we somehow knew our spit. launch would be fantastic. When you've got fast-talking Manchester MC Envy on board, supported by the UK's number one beatboxer Bellatrix you really can't go wrong. the girls are... and The Other Woman were offered the spot to launch spit. in the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer as part of the Intelligent Movement hip hop festival on the Southbank... it was an early show, rest assured the follow up will be late night. Here's the evidence:

What's tickling our earbuds in July - part 2:

2011-07-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Kate Daisy Grant

Don't let the 'Daisy' in her name fool you - there's a dark underbelly to Kate Daisy Grant's writing which is compelling, intriguing and makes for a great listen.

Anna Madeleine - Milk and Water

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://annamadeleine.bandcamp.com/track/milk-and-water"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Milk and Water by Anna Madeleine&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Name your price for this little beauty from Hackney one woman electronic music making machine (and more) Anna Madeleine.

Citizen Helene - Citizen Helene EP

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://citizenhelene.com/album/citizen-helene"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Citizen Helene by Citizen Helene&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Thanks to the also-brilliant Mary Epworth for putting us in touch... what a glorious voice, fine turn of phrase and above all catchy tunes.

Annette Berlin - Remedy (Don't Pick Me Up)

Find more Annette Berlin songs at Myspace Music

Bristol's Annette Berlin popped us over this single recently... she's also the big voiced vocalist for Big Joan. Post the birth of her twins last year she's just started gigging again - happy days for us!

What's tickling our earbuds in July - part 1

2011-07-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Before TOW heads off on holiday on Saturday here's a run down of the aural delights that have got us hooked this passed month. Yes, it's lazy not to do individual postings but there's just TOO much good stuff out there! So wrap your ears around this very random list of newbies who've sent us a note in recent weeks... Then we'll be shutting up shop until The Other Woman Podcast goes to The Big Chill festival 5-7 August, for our show on Big Chill FM. Can't wait!

Shonen Knife - Perfect Freedom

New from these Osaka rockers from their album Osaka Ramones. Infectious, glorious pop-punk from these girls, they never let you down!

Mary Ocher - On The Streets Of Hard Labour

Thanks to Skopjemusic for the tip off on this one... she's like a Soviet Kate Bush with splashes of the brilliant Frida Hyvonen, this punk/folk poetess used to front Mary and the Baby Cheeses but is now solo.

Micropixie - Alice in Stevie Wonderland

Micropixie dropped us a line about her new cover of Sinead O'Connor's Sounds So Different, which you can hear and buy here, but we liked this little mini mix of her debut album Alice In Stevie Wonderland on Soundcloud too... She says of herself: 'Made in Bombay, born & raised in the UK, and based in SF-Oh!, Micropixie aka MPX is the extra-terrestrial alter ego of writer, fillum-maker and fulltime human being, Single Beige Female.'

Tanya Auclair interview - Origami EP

2011-07-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Tanya Auclair is a one woman music making machine. Using body percussion techniques, looping and her own lovely voice she has now self-released two EP's; Thrum and now Origami.

Thrum she gave away for free on Bandcamp: http://tanyaauclair.bandcamp.com/ - nice lady.

Tanya grew up in west London and has worked with jazz drummer Leon Parker and producer Yult to name drop a few others who've recognised her enormous talent. Listen in to hear us try not to sound too merry whilst quaffing cider at our local...

spit. reveals its secret weapon: Connie Bell

2011-07-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

We’re like kids on Christmas morning at the moment: not only is spit.’s inaugural show at Southbank’s Intelligent Movement Festival just over a week away, but we’re also ready to announce our amazing host – the inimitable Connie Bell.

Connie Bell is a Jamaican born songstress and poetess who fuses raw, roots reggae with echoes of dub poetry and classic soul harmonies.

An official member of Roots Manuva’s Banana Klan, Connie’s resumé reads like a who’s who of the international storytelling and reggae scenes: sessions with Lee Perry, Toots Hibbert, Congo Natty, Natty and Mad Professor sit alongside gigs with Britain’s leading poetry company Apples and Snakes.

As well as fronting her own outfit Di Man Dem (pictured), Connie is also a regular host at spoken word events across the capital.

We here at spit. cannot believe our luck that Connie Bell and her inimitable call to action will be the face of this new platform for women in music and the host of our launch event as part of the INTELLIGENT MOVEMENT festival on the SOUTHBANK on 15 July.

The Other Woman Podcast Episode 10 - Piney Gir and Tune-Yards

2011-06-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

In this bumper edition Ruth Barnes and Piney Gir come live and direct from a tiny flat in east London - bringing you an update on Piney Gir's new album which is out in October AND a sneak preview of new tracks.

Piney Gir went to LA to record with The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Rob Campanella which is why we've been outta action for a while - oh and also because Ruth got a proper job, sigh.

We also have our Bride To Be in the shape of the brilliant Psapp's Galia Durant....

...and a chat with awesome DIY muso Tune-Yards on her new album Who Kill out now on 4AD.

Action-packed! You'll next hear from us from The Big Chill Festival - woooo hoooo!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Bachelorette interview on quitting and new album

2011-06-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

Ha! That got your attention didn't it? Well, the New Zealander is not exactly quitting but this may be the end of the Bachelorette project... the world is Annabel Alpers' oyster!

Bachelorette is Annabel Alpers, a quiet New Zealander who has made a dreamy, other-worldy, electronic record filled with clever lyrics and melodies worthy of the pop greats. Bachelorette, her third album, is out now on Souterrain Transmissions and could be the end of the solo Bachelorette project, as she says, she may just find a band and start rocking out - who knows! We chatted backstage ahead of her show at Camp Basement in east London and - you lazy journo's who name check Bjork as her main influence - the Icelandic songstress had nothing to do with this!

spit. presents ENVY and BELLATRIX: 15 July: Southbank

2011-06-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Other Woman has joined forces with the formidable the girls are website to kickstart a series of nights called spit. We were inspired by the Beats Workin' night at Ladyfest 10 which saw goosebump-inducing performances by Lady Chann, Lykez, Lady Leshurr and more - which you can see here:

Here are the launch details - join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and more importantly, come down!

spit. presents ENVY and BELLATRIX

Friday 15 July 2011, 5:15pm
The Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall

spit. launches its inaugural show on 15 July at the Southbank Centre, with performances from Envy and Bellatrix.

As part of the Southbank Centre's Intelligent Movement festival (in association with Channel 4's Street Summer), spit. presents a free event showcasing some of the most exciting women on the hip-hop, grime and dub scenes.

At just 24, Manchester MC Envy is a force to be reckoned with. Since releasing her début album in 2010 to critical acclaim, she's gained a reputation for being one of the fastest, most formidable live MCs on the circuit - her bold lyrics matched by her unrivalled on-stage charisma.

Bellatrix is now the UK's leading female beatbox artist, and one of few performing beatbox women worldwide, who works with instrumentalists as well as live looping and playing bass whilst beatboxing. In 2007 she founded the UK's first all-girl beatbox crew The Boxettes (http://www.theboxettes.co.uk/), who have caused quite a stir on the London scene.

Joining these performances will be guest DJs, and spit.'s own inimitable host. More details to follow.

spit. was born out of a joint love for women making amazing music. Ruth Barnes (The Other Woman Radio) and Annette Barlow (the girls are) joined forces in 2010 to programme an all-women hip-hop show. Turning to each other in the midst of the swelling, baying crowd, the pair agreed that a regular platform supporting women beatmakers, lyricists, DJs and MCs was needed. spit. is unashamedly grassroots, with an emphasis on community and seeking out emerging talent. spit.'s next event will be taking place in September. Keep an eye out for details.

The Intelligent Movement festival is taking place at the Southbank Centre between 14 and 17 July 2011. Get your festival tickets here.
The spit. showcase will be taking place in Queen Elizabeth Hall from 5.15pm - 7pm. For more info visit here.
Entry to the showcase is free.

Robot's In Disguise on their 4th album Happiness V Sadness

2011-06-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Sue Denim and Dee Plume are the masterminds behind electro-pop duo Robot's In Disguise. They are sheer forces of natures: funny, opinionated and very proud of their fourth record Happiness V Sadness... they bloody well should be too. Have a listen for tracks from the album and their thoughts on life, love, tabloids and how to get yourself a £2000 date with the delectable Dee.

Happiness V Sadness is out on 11 July on President Records.

New music: Vuk aka Emily Cheeger - The Archaeologist

2011-06-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Back in January 2010 when we kick-started this blog in a little kitchen in Clapton, east London one of the first posts absolutely had to be about Vuk. Read about it here... and then move your ears onto a brand new track!

A studio demo from the Finnish-American solo artist, called The Archaeologist, has reached our inbox... taken from the album that has a working titles of Year of the Gourd (how very Game of Thrones, we love it!). It's all written, arranged, played and sung by Vuk aka Emily Cheeger.

Vuk is also currently looking for any interested labels to release her record, and if this track is anything to go by it's going to be amazing. Last year's The Plains was one of our albums of the year.

Mechanical Bride interview on debut album Living with Ants out on Transgressive Records

2011-06-16T02:13:00.000-07:00

The Other Woman meets Lauren Doss, she's a 25 year old singer, songwriter and pianist who goes under the moniker of Mechanical Bride. You may remember her haunting version of Rihanna's 'Umbrella' which got loads of airplay on Radio 1 a few years ago:

Mechanical Bride - "Umbrella" (Rihanna Cover) by CoopMusicFrance

Now she's released her official debut album Living With Ants on Transgressive Records and it's a collection of simple and beautifully crafted songs showcasing gentle piano melodies and her fabulous voice.

Inbox: Newcastle's Pale Man Made & Brighton's Bella Spinks

2011-06-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

Pale Man Made - Cabales

Christanne is one of two girls who make up half of Newcastle fuzzed up popsters Pale Man Made.

Christanne's email that popped into TOW's inbox says: 'we play music driven by discordant jangles, bittersweet lyrics, and, female and male vocals - inspired by the The Shop Assistants, Comet Gain, The Pastels, The Smiths and Sleater Kinney.'

Yup, the influences are worn on their collective sleeve, but there's nothing wrong with that when this is the result!

They've just just finished recording an album with Steve Whitfield (Cure, Pylons, Trash Can Sinatras, Buen Chico, Shed 7) and are looking to find a label to put it out...

Bella Spinks - Words

Yes, Brighton artist Bella Spinks is 18. And yes, she's already writing songs that some seasoned old muso's could be proud of. Her Dad Patrick runs Sublime Music, and emailed TOW about Bella and on listening to this track we reckon Poppa Spinks has every right to be puffed up and proud about his young offspring. Bella has already supported some impressive artists including Ellie Goulding - watch this space!

Experimental jazz: Carla Kihlstedt & Mattias Bossi new album Still You Lay Dreaming: Tales for the Stage II

2011-06-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://kihlstedtbossi.bandcamp.com/album/still-you-lay-dreaming-tales-for-the-stage-ii">Still You Lay Dreaming: Tales for the Stage, II by Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi</a>

Jazz By Association is an excellent programme on French Radio London, playing a mix of leftfield and experimental jazz, with an emphasis on French artists. Presenter and contemporary jazz boffin Jason Phipps recommends this album by Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi and we couldn't agree more. Carla's voice is huge and soulful and the music she makes with Matthias is at once filmic, dark, spacious, weird and above all - original and captivating.

Letters to Fiesta and Kissing Cousins this week's new discoveries

2011-06-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Letters To Fiesta - Drag The Fire

This Manchester band write fresh, catchy, uplifting pop tunes with layered lo-fi vocals, synthesisers a-plenty and some serious hooks... Anna Louise Etherington is who you hear on lead vocals and she pounds away at the synths too.

Kissing Cousins - Unfortunate End

From the cold, mean streets of Manchester to the hot, humid and definitely meaner streets of LA - Kissing Cousins are from Silver Lake and led by songwriter Heather Bray Heywood... she pumps out stark, dark rock tunes with an autoharp put through a delay pedal making most of the noise. Nice.

Unfortunate End the EP is out now on Velvet Blue Music.

'Wierder and wilder' DIVORCE new single Love Attack

2011-06-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

TOW has been shouting from the rooftops about noisy, Glasgow band Divorce for a few years now. Having undergone a line up change, the band launch their new single Love Attack on the world on the 27 June on Night School. Sinead Young as vocalist has been replaced by Jennie Fulk and as much as we loved Sinead's style (what's happened to her?) we are also loving Jennie's shrieking wails over the pounding rhythms and beats created by the rest of the band - Andy, Vickie and VSO.

The press released is sprinkled with descriptions like 'post-hardcore' and 'post-wave underground' which makes us slightly cross-eyed, we'd sum 'em up as a total and utter onslaught on the senses - bring it on!

Look out for the limited edition screen printed covers - there are only 300 of them!

DIVORCE ARE ON TOUR IN AUGUST:

FRI 5th: NEWCASTLE - Head Of Steam
SAT 6th: LIVERPOOL - Wolstenholme Creative Space (w/ ACTION BEAT
and STIG NOISE SOUNDSYSTEM)
SUN 7th: MANCHESTER - The Islington Mill (FAT OUT FEST w/ ACTION
BEAT, STIG NOISE SOUNDSYSTEM, BARBEROS and more)
MON 8th: MILTON KEYNES - The Buszy
TUE 9th: CARDIFF - The Undertone (w/ DRAINS)
WED 10th: LEMINGTON SPA - venue TBC (w/ T3ETH)
THU 11th: BRIGHTON - The Green Door Store
FRI 12th: LONDON - venue TBC (YES WAY 3 FESTIVAL)
SAT 13th: NORWICH - venue TBC
SUN 14th: NOTTINGHAM - StuckOnAName Recordings (w/ DIET PILLS)

Nightwave: (ex-8Bitch) live set preview of The Feel EP

2011-06-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Fact Magazine favourite and hotly tipped producer Maya Medvesek aka 8Bitch... now re-branded Nightwave has turned out a fantastic glitchy electronic live set ahead of the release of The Feel EP.

That's out on 27 June on Svetlana Industries.

There’s allsorts in the mix - techno, big bass, ambient, grime, hip hop…

Hyp 025: Nightwave by Hyponik

Check out the video to the EP's lead track Feel here - this track is an absolute stormer and we here at TOW humbly think it's her best yet, more please!

Hurray for the Riff Raff's Alynda Lee Segarra on new album and tour

2011-05-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

Hurray for the Riff Raff are the sound of New Orleans' 'new buskers' ie. the young generation of musicians who've come to the city and absorbed the age old musical traditions and added their own modern twist. If you read up about HFTRR online there are stories of frontwoman Alynda Lee Segarra leaving New York at the tender age of 17 and 'hopping freight trains'... not believing Wikipedia on this one we put it to her and fiddle player and drummer Josi and lo and behold - that's exactly what they did. Only in America, hey? Listen in for track snippets from the album and what life could be like in New Orleans... trust us, it sounds dreamy.

Buy the superb record here.

The Horn The Hunt new album hear exclusive live track The Valley

2011-05-27T01:50:00.000-07:00

The Horn The Hunt are a Leeds based pop duo, comprising of Clare Carter and Joseph Osborne. NOT White Label Music owners Ann Shenton and Marc Hunter, both of whom have NOT also appeared in the Human League. When TOW did our regular spot for Tom Robinson on his 6 Music show from In The City in Manchester last year... we may have been a little frazzled and said such things... all is forgiven. Phew!

We've since had the pleasure of having two tracks from the new album recorded exclusively for The Other Woman Podcast (with Piney Gir) with the fabulous Ann Shenton (from Add N to X fame) joining us for a chat. So, back to THTH... Depressur Jolie is released through White Label Music this week...

Clare explains the landscape of this record brilliantly: "It would be colourful and bouncy with lots of different forms and textures, but have this dark underbelly throughout. We wanted to make a big pop album – our ideal pop album – full of bold, aggressive songs that have no loyalty to any particular sound or style..”

Having written much of their material in Norway (via Greenland) and now based in Leeds, there's a certain Nordic darkness that runs through the music, which merges fantastically with whatever it is Leeds would bring to the table... they're also out on tour, check out where you can see them live here.

Listen to The Valley recorded exclusively for The Other Woman Podcast with an introduction from Clare:

Girls In Trouble 'Half You Half Me' new album: must listen

2011-05-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://jdubdigital.com/album/half-you-half-me">Half You Half Me by JDub Records</a>

Alicia Jo Rabins is one half of Girls In Trouble and makes upbeat, catchy indie-pop of a Biblical nature... seriously. And we love it - admittedly not a theme that would ordinarily hook us in, but Alica's joyous instrumentations (involving upright bass, drums, accordion and electric guitars) and sideways look at the life and times of the women of the Old Testament makes excellent listening.

Alicia is a Brooklyn based poet and multi-instrumentalist who is schooled in the ancient languages, texts and stories of the Torah and Kabbalah. The stories of the Biblical women rang most true to Alicia and so she found the subject of her music, and blended with a folk sensibility, you have Girls In Trouble (with bassist Aaron Hartman).

The record is out now on New York's JDub Records.

The Lovely Eggs 'Fuck It' new single and video

2011-05-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Lancaster two piece The Lovely Eggs are one of TOW's all time favourite bands. They're funny, charming and write wickedly funny and catchy tunes. Husband and wife duo Holly and David seem to have reached a peak with their latest offering... especially lead single Fuck It, which is obviously going to be problematic for radio play but do they care? Heck, no! They're urging radio stations to play the B Side, the equally good Watermelons. It's all released on Monday 30 May on Cherryade Records - go and buy it!

They challenge you to watch this video all the way through - it's tricky, see if you can do it!

They're on tour - dates below, please please please go and see them live, a better, funnier and more heart warming night you will not experience.

Hysterical Injury side project Excellent Birds - free download

2011-05-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

SCHEMATA HUMDRUM (by EXCELLENT BIRDS for Attack!!!! 14) by Attack!!!! magazine

Always a fan of The Hysterical Injury we were thrilled to see Annie Gardiner from the Bath duo post this little ditty... an 'electro-experiemental side-project' written by Ms Gardiner for Issue 14 of Wes White's brilliant zine ATTACK!!!! magazine. The mag 'is a series of themed collections of original writing, artwork and music'... look out for issue 15!

Asthmatic Kitty signee Julianna Barwick on her new album The Magic Place listen here

2011-05-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

The Other Woman meets Asthmatic Kitty signee Julianna Barwick as she tours the UK in support of her new album The Magic Place. We meet in Rough Trade East on Brick Lane in London's east end and talk choirs, being a techie geek and how her esoteric looped vocal is definitely pop music.

Shona Foster 'Love and War' from debut album The Moon & You

2011-05-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

Shona Foster - Love and War from Beach Hut on Vimeo.

Enjoying this very much... live dates are here and we're assured the show is quite a spectacle.

Filewile EP 'You Say I': Joy Frempong fronts Swiss pop outfit

2011-05-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

You Say I (Original Version) by Filewile

It's not often that TOW gets a missive from a Swiss pop band - thank goodness then that we've come across Filewile. Joy Frempong is the vocalist - she calls herself OY and has released her own very impressive debut material too. Joy is originally from Ghana but now lives in Switzerland where she met her Filewile bandmates - producers Dustbowl (Andreas Ryser), Dejot (Daniel Jakob) and bassist Mago Flueck. They've been around for ages with two other critically acclaimed albums under their belt - 2007's Nassau Massage and 2009's Blueskywell... always with a litany of excellent female vocalists. You Say I is a schizophrenic track - leaping from folk to funk in a matter of bars, it's massively catchy!

Here's a taster of Joy's solo album, First Box Then Walk, which is out now on Creaked Records - and is 27 tracks long:

Minneapolis band Dark Dark Dark meets The Other Woman to talk about their new album Wild Go before heading out on tour with Low and The National

2011-05-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Dark Dark Dark are a phenomenal band from Minneapolis. Nona Marie Invie is the voice you'll hear on the songs and the interview is with her and songwriting partner Marshall LaCount. They've just released Wild Go on Melodic Records, the follow up to last year's much-blogged about EP Bright Bright Bright. Spell-binding and awe inspiring are the words that come to mind... We met at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill - and then the whiskey started flowing and Marshall showed us his 'coyote playing cats cradle' tattoo... a night out doesn't get better than that!

The Other Woman on BBC 6 Music with Tom Robinson: new music from Lilies on Mars 'Aquariums Key' & Roxy Rawson 'Fingers'

2011-05-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Lilies on Mars - Aquariums Key

We LOVE this band... that refrain about the 'keeeeeys' will get stuck in your head whether you like it or not. Then again how could you NOT like the almost perfect slice of indie-pop that this three piece dish up. They call themselves 'experimental shoegaze' and they're based in London. Lisa and Marina have known each other for years and have done some uber-cool projects with the likes of Italian film icon Franco Battiato (film nerds will be suitably impressed, philistines like us will have to click here). Lilies on Mars welcomed drummer Matthew last year and produced their second album Wish You Were A Pony... which is out on Monday, Aquarium's Key is the joyous first single - out now.

Roxy Rawson - Fingers

Roxy Rawson 'Fingers' (radio edit) by jenrobertsartistmgmt

Roxy Rawson's debut album is called Quenching the Kill, which she's self-releasing on her own label Polk Funk Records, try saying that quickly... Her biog is an impressive read Parisian conservatoires, classical piano training, African choirs and a passion for percussion - then there's what she's capable of on the violin too. All sickeningly brilliant. But vocally is where Roxy really does it for us, that voice - grabs you and commands attention. Check her out live if you can, you've never seen someone treat a violin like she does - it's beaten, rapped, plucked and allsorts.

One-woman electronic New Zealander Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette's new album out now...

2011-05-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette first came to our attention a year or so ago, when a friend who works at Radio New Zealand pinged some MP3's over our way. Since then we've embarrassed ourselves by approaching Annabel after a gig at Dalston's Cafe Oto, complete with red-wine-teeth, to babble on about how much we like her music and that we played Donkey on the radio once. Live, she's surrounded by CRT monitors which create a visual treat of waveforms as Annabel plays along on various instruments.

Now, and with a PR company behind her self-titled new album, the New Zealander finds herself living on the east coast of the US and facing a mini blog storm of reaction to the record. It's everything we love about Bachelorette - whirling, whizzing, thumping synthesisers and Annabel's quirky vocals lilting over the pounding soundscapes she single-handedly comes up with on every track. With a post-graduate in computer-based composition at the Universities of Canterbury and Auckland behind her... rest assured she does this all VERY well.

Stand outs include the ethereal loveliness of Blanket (above) and round the camp fire sing-a-long The Light Seekers, the wah-wah's and shoe-shoe's of The Last Boat Is Leaving and the casual whistling on Tui Tui. Souterrain Transmissions releases the album on Monday 16 May. Go and purchase!

UK TOUR DATES

MAY23/05/11    York (UK), The Duchess w/ The Phoenix Foundation
24/05/11    Newcastle (UK), The Cluny w/ The Phoenix Foundation
25/05/11    Edinburgh (UK), Cabaret Voltaire w/ The Phoenix Foundation
26/05/11    Glasgow (UK), Glasgow School of Art w/ The Phoenix Foundation

JUNE
06/06/11    London (UK), CAMP Basement

The Other Woman's best new videos: EMA, Boat Beam, Cool Fun, Thomas Tantrum

2011-05-16T01:01:00.000-07:00

EMA - Milkman

So it seems EVERYONE else was at the EMA gig this week in London - whilst we were laid up with a snotty nose... sheesh. Here's the rather marvellous new video from Erika M Anderson's rather marvellous new album Past Life Martyred Saints which is out now on Souterrain Transmissions.

Boat Beam - Sirens

Sirens | BOAT BEAM from ORIGAMI RECORDS on Vimeo.

Ah we love this band, Boat Beam are signed to Spanish indie Origami Records and make sweet sweet indie pop... this is their new single Sirens. The label is also home to hugely talented Maika Makovski.

Cool Fun - House

Thanks to band member Max Jung for posting this on our Facebook wall... we've been keeping a beady eye on this band's progress for a few years now - and LOVE this brand spanking new video.

Thomas Tantrum - Hot, Hot Summer

Guaranteed to get stuck in your head. After all the 'Lily Allen is a fan' fuss died down it seems that this Southampton trio have REALLY found their voice. A lovely lead vocal line from Megan Thomas supported by a neat guitar hook - what more can you ask for? Their new album Mad Moonlight is out on June 12th.

The Other Woman on BBC 6 Music Introducing with Tom Robinson: new music from Sound of Rum & Barbara Panther

2011-05-09T02:47:00.000-07:00

Sound of Rum - Icarus

Every week TOW plays two songs for the brilliant Tom Robinson on his BBC 6 Music Introducing show... here are our picks from this week's show:

Flipping heck. First of all it's not often you hear someone 'spittin' rhymes' about Icarus... but Kate Tempest does and it's bloody brilliant. Kate's the fast rapping frontwoman of this band, signed to Sunday Best (Rob da Bank knows a good thing when he sees one) their debut album Balance is a wholly excellent listen. There's a white vinyl edition too - how cool is that? Oh and we've not even begun to namecheck all the DUDES who think Kate rocks: Roots Manuva: 'her works are truly of upliftment and betterment' and Scroobius Pip: 'It astounds me. Her writing is epic, her delivery piercing, and with the addition of her band her potential is realised. Inspirational'...

Barbara Panther - Moonlight People

We here at TOW towers are absolutely mind-blown by Barbara Panther's self-titled debut album, which is out on May 16th on City Slang. Barbara was born in Rwanda and grew up in Brussels, Belgium, before making her home in Berlin five years ago - did we hear a German inflection in her voice? Thought so! Oh, and she's worked with Matthew Herbert on this record too. Turn your headphones up and feast on this, the new single Moonlight People...

The Other Woman on Brighton Festival Radio: new music playlist for 7/8 May 2011

2011-05-06T03:19:00.000-07:00

A special edition of The Other Woman recorded especially for Brighton Festival Radio will be running throughout the festival, if you catch it - here's the playlist!

We're also on the airwaves between 10-2pm on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 May with guests including festival Chair Polly Toynbee and author Derek Landy.

Kris Delmhorst - 1000 Reasons
Joanna Newsom - ‘81

Dear Winesburg - 19th June
Paper Dollhouse - Moon
Willis - 9-5

Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place

Julianna Barwick - "The Magic Place" from Jacob Corbin on Vimeo.

Roshi - Zeeba Kanaar (Gagarin remix)
Laura Victoria - Your Song Is Sweeter

Stealing Sheep - The Mountain Dogs

Daughter - Run
Hurray for the Riff Raff - Take Me

Nina Nastasia - Cry Cry Baby

Alice Gun - Not Made For This World
Agnes Obel - Close Watch
Carine Bonnefoy - Venus

Dark Dark Dark - Daydreaming

Our Broken Garden - Garden Grow (School of Seven Bells remix)
Karen O - Hideaway
Rachael Dadd - Caught In The Weight
The Slow Club - It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful
Sparrow and the Workshop - You Don’t Trust Anyone
Saint Saviour - The Other Woman
Lail Arad - Someone New
Madam - Ride The Waves

Rose Elinot Dougall - Stop/Start/Synchro

Emily Jane White - I Lay To Rest (California)
First Aid Kit - When I Grow Up
Sea of Bees - Wizbot
Arborea - Wolves

New videos from Aluna George 'We Are Chosen' & Mechanical Bride 'Colour of Fire'

2011-05-06T00:38:00.000-07:00

Mechanical Bride - Colour of Fire

There's not enough dance-mime action in music videos these days. Thank goodness, then, for Mechanical Bride who has released the video for Colour of Fire out on Transgressive Records. It's just as quietly beautiful, and slightly chilly, as the song. "Are you a believer?" 25 year old self-taught musician Lauren Doss asks... yes... yes we are! Recognise the set? No, we're not going to pretend we did either. Film geeks will know it as the building Roman Polanski used for The Pianist - it's in Berlin, obviously. The track is the first from Mechanical Bride's debut album 'Living With Ants' which is out in June. Gimme.

AlunaGeorge - We Are Chosen

Admittedly these two are the kind of beautiful kids that, if witnessed by TOW hanging around outside Dalston Superstore on a Saturday night, would make us roll our eyes and snottily say: 'The bloody trendies are taking over!'... That's because at the ripe old age of 32 we've realised we're over the hill and would rather go to the movies or stay in watching Game of Thrones or whatever new drama we're devouring on the weekend. Sheesh! Actually, Aluna Francis and George Reid make just the kind of music the Shoreditch set should be shakin' their booties too. They've only been together a year and have already garnered all the right praise from all the right corners... it's fresh, simple, with pretty vocals and damn funky. The single Analyser / We Are Chosen single is out now via Sweet Recordings.

Look out world, here comes Barbara Panther with her new single Moonlight People on City Slang

2011-05-05T02:16:00.000-07:00

Barbara Panther - Moonlight People from City Slang on Vimeo.

PS Props to the girls are... for sending this our way!

Women In Electronic Music - 'Her Beats' launch podcast

2011-05-05T01:51:00.000-07:00

TOW has received a missive from the gals behind the brilliant collective Women In Electronic Music and Concrete Cut recordings in Warsaw, Poland. Shoju's Dana Dramowicz has kicked off a podcast at HerBeats.com... the first one comes courtesy of Rachel Evans aka Motion Sickness of Time Travel. Two hours and 27 artists (female solo acts or bands with at least one female member) of music crossing the electronic spectrum from electro-pop to ambient music. Wrap your ears around this!

PS We're aware that there are many links in this posting - take twenty minutes and explore them all, it's well worth it...