6 Music: Silver Fox & Trogons our picks for Introducing

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

 

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.

Brigid Power-Ryce & Micropixie - BBC 6 Music Introducing

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!

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

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





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

Citizen Helene - Citizen Helene EP



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!

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

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 BBC 6 Music Introducing with Tom Robinson: new music from Kool Thing and Jude Cowan

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:  

Kool Thing - The Sign

Kool Thing were formed in Paris last year - they are Berlin based and consist of an Irish lass and an Australian gal, truly global, non?! Jon Dark is a classically trained musician and provides the at once soothing and harmonious, then pounding synthesised loveliness underpinning Julie Chance's gorgeous vocals. There's a darkness and moodiness which runs throughout their sound reminiscent of some of the great Skando-dance we've heard these passed years from the likes of The Knife and Fever Ray.

Jude Cowan - Post-Tsunami mix

Jude Cowan works in a dungeon. Well, sort of. She's based in the basement of the ITN building on Gray's Inn Road in London and her job is to archive all the reems of Reuters news footage sent in daily from around the world. As you can imagine, that's a mighty undertaking and not just a bit depressing to boot. Conflict, disaster, starvation - you name it. Jude has turned this into poetry and music. She's somehow managed to find some beauty in all the carnage, and her music pays homage to those who suffer. Impressive. (And Jon Snow thinks she's cool)

TOW on 6 Music - Seaming and Ana Silvera

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:  

Seaming - Dreaming

Seaming's debut solo album is out soon on Honalee Records and we await it's arrival with baited breath! You'll know this songstress' voice as she's been a staple vocalist for Ninja Tune's Homelife these passed few years, including being the stunning and, what we love about her the most, slightly weird voice on Mr Scruff's, Beyond. This track, Dreaming, is gorgeous... at once softly dark and mysterious and then operatic in it's scope.

Ana Silvera - Salome
TOW had the absolute pleasure of sharing a bottle of red wine with London born singer-songwriter Ana Silvera after Alice Gun's album launch a few week's ago. After giggling hysterically about dog's with underbites we discovered that Ana is a singer... well, she wasn't exactly forthcoming but our mutual friend Stuart wouldn't let us go home without yelling 'Ana Silvera! Salome!' at us several times. Ana is operatically trained and her songs are rooted in a classical sensibility and lyrics which seem better suited to a book of Rennaissance poems than 'modern' song lyrics. In Salome she breathe's new life into the figure from the New Testament... something about John the Baptist's head... Bible geeks will know what she's on about...

TOW on 6 Music - Clara Engel and Tamara Parsons-Baker

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:

Clara Engel - Lick My Fins

Ok, we realise this track is from her 2009 album Secret Beasts - for all you Clara Engel know-it-alls - but we've just discovered her. How? Well, she sent over an email introducing herself (we love our job) and the resulting listening session went on late into the night. Since this album the Canadian singer-songwriter has released the Bethlehem Tapes too and there's plenty more at her Bandcamp. What a voice, in the same vain as Sharon Van Etten her writing's clever, dark, brooding and often funny (check out her cover of Underworld's Born Slippy) too. 

Tamara Parsons-Baker - Hang My Picture

Tamara Parsons-Baker is a singer-songwriter based in Oxford. Again, her email pinged into our inbox and we really liked what we heard. Simple, beautifully rendered folk songs with an originality in the songwriting which is impressive. Look out for more from Tamara as she's made it to the finals of Channel 4's Live and Unsigned. Good luck, we'll be rootin' for ya!

Best place to listen to her music is at her Facebook page - here

TOW on 6 Music - Mittens and Marina Gallardo

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:


1) Mittens - Deer Park Mirage


This is the title track from Madrid-based Spanish indiepoppers Mittens' debut album released in May of last year. Gotta love that Spanish lilt when they sing in English - so so lovely. Thanks again to Francisco Javier (our portal into everything cool, indie and Spanish - he promises his own blog soon) who sent them over to TOW as a tip. For Spanish indie pop geeks Guillermo Farre is the man behind this project, also known as Wild Honey.


2) Marina Gallardo - Climbing The Walls


Again our thanks go out to Francisco. And then we had a look around saw that Wears The Trousers featured her a while back too. Sheesh, it's hard keeping up with the cool kids! Andalucian native Marina is two album's in and last year released Some Monsters Die And Others Return on Barcelona label Foehn Records. At only a minute and twenty seconds in length, Climbing The Walls is a gentle, mournful lament, which would send even the most tortured insomniac off to sleep.

Kyla La Grange - interview

The Other Woman's Ruth Barnes speaks to Watford singer-songwriter Kyla La Grange about her upcoming debut single Walk Through Walls/ Courage. From open mic nights at university to connecting with a generous producer through Myspace, it's a modern musical success story. However, the weight of the world hangs heavy on her shoulders: "My default mode is a bit sad, I think..." she says, but, "writing music has enabled me to cope with that."

  

Walk Through Walls/ Courage is out on Noir on March 1st.

TOW on 6 Music - Mrs Pilgrimm & Legends of Flight

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

Mrs Pilgrimm - Sheets

Just one woman and her cello, influenced by 'family, words and the heroine's journey'. Mrs Pilgrimm you are speaking TOW's language! The cellist, singer and poet has been quietly plotting her global takeover these passed few years, and it seems that Team Pilgrimm are gearing up for quite a year in 2011. Fresh from being selected to attend a BBC Introducing masterclass, an album is on the cards SOON. Mrs Pilgrimm would be a welcome addition to a quiet stage on a sleepy Sunday afternoon at a festival don't you think? Festival programmers take note!

Legends of Flights - How Long

 

TOW received an email from Laura Campbell, frontwoman of Legends of Flight, introducing the band and their monthly live music night in Liverpool. When this happens and the result is some fantastic music, it makes us quite smug as to the ease of our job! There are 3 in the band and they say 'we write songs about vampire shops, conker boys, being captured by seagulls, memories of lost days, lost love, lost birds and stolen shoes'. There should be an EP out in 2011 and if the songs on their myspace are anything to go by it's going to be a gem. The next Friend or Foe night is at the Gustaf Adolf Kyrka Swedish Church in Liverpool on the 28^th Jan, and Laura tells us they've booked Hannah Peel for one of their night's too. Good times! 

TOW on 6 Music - Glass Cake and Daughter

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


Glass Cake - Endless Summer:
Michelle Shofet is a Californian who makes dreamy, clever, bedroom pop - there's also a fantastic cover of Madonna's Like A Prayer. It's all a free download at her Bandcamp too - gotta love that...




Daughter - Tomorrow:
Thanks (as always) to the brilliant Wears The Trousers blog for tipping TOW onto Elena Tonra, or Daughter, as she is now known. She's been picked to play HMV's Next Big Thing in a few weeks which makes us think there's still hope! HMV have picked someone with a beautiful voice, a fine ear for melody and head for lyrics, bring on more Daughter. Head to her myspace page and you'll see how you can download a free EP.