Each week we like to champion the music scene with ten songs in our playlist that all have a connection to the RaW (Reading and Wokingham) area and sometimes beyond. This week we have three new tracks for you from acts with connections to Reading and Wokingham. As always, we have a wide variety of musical styles, but we think they’re all worth a listen and we hope you find something new to enjoy as well as maybe getting out to experience the thrill of live music.
1. Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap –
We love outdoor shows like the recent series of On The Mount concerts at Wasing Estate and the unique style of introspective, but uplifting, melodic songwriting from indie pop stalwarts, Belle and Sebastian, fitted the location perfectly. Following an impressive rendition of the whole of their If You’re Feeling Sinister album, the band performed a selection of rare and classic songs. These tend to vary show by show as primary songwriter Stuart Murdoch (pictured) and the band often tweak the set depending on the vibe of the event. They certainly got the selection spot on at Wasing with crowd pleasing songs such as this one and with Stuart’s wonderful interactions with the crowd. That even included many being invited onto the stage during this song with one lucky audience member even playing an impromptu keyboard solo! The beaming smiles on everyone’s faces reflected the pleasure of this joyous and life-affirming event – https://www.belleandsebastian.com
2. The Outliers – Suzie –
Bracknell-based The Outliers, who we last saw on stage in the Fanzone at Reading FC, released this, their latest single, just over a month ago. It’s another in a sequence of great alt rock tracks from the four-piece band, and we look forward to seeing them on the Marquee stage at Wokingham Festival. https://www.instagram.com/theoutliers_band
3. Nothing Rhymes with Orange – Shearwater –
Nothing Rhymes with Orange are from Bristol, and we saw them back in March at the Purple Turtle on a bill with Cheap Suits (who will be at Wokingham Festival this August). This track has been on our personal playlist since then, and deserves a much wider hearing; a haunting ballad with a powerful finish. https://nothingrhymeswithorange.co.uk/
4. Hawkwind – Hurry On Sundown –
Those masters of the psychedelic universe, Hawkwind, landed in Reading recently at the Hexagon. They performed a powerful assault on the senses with their set of exceptionally strong performances from throughout their career combined with their always impressive video and lighting effects. We are featuring the classic that closed the set and shows that as well as psychedelic workouts the band have written some great songs too. This version of Hurry on Sundown is a previously unreleased recording that appears on the band’s recently released album, Psychedelic Selection – https:// www.hawkwind.com
5. Queen of Between – Smoke –
Queen of Between formed late last year in Reading, but have not hung about, with a number of live appearances locally and now this, their debut single. If you like a bit of grunge inflected goth metal, this brooding tale of a tangled relationship is for you. Catch Queen of Between headlining at the Face Bar on July 11th with support from Thrown Like Owls, Adders and Minus Human. -https://www.instagram.com/queenofbetweenband/
6. shallowdaze – Purple –
shallowdaze is another Reading band, who formed even more recently. We featured their debut single earlier in the year, and Purple is the follow-up, inspired by a meeting of souls at the Purple Turtle! That’s where we saw them play recently, and are enjoying watching them grow in confidence as they play more gigs. – https://www.tiktok.com/@shallowdaze
7. Edward Naysmith – Resent the Man (That I’ve Become) –
Edward is an impressive new talent who we spotted a few years ago at his live shows in the area including at Wokingham Music Club and Wokingham Festival. We have been lucky enough to get a sneak preview of that album and we can confirm that it has been well worth the wait. The album, entitled Dreams Beneath the Broken Sky, released on 17th July, is a breathtaking piece of work and the brilliant first single from the album, featured here, is out now. It’s a
wonderfully moving introspective song and performance with beautiful guitar playing, heartfelt vocals and atmospheric strings. Have a listen and if you like what you hear it’s well worth ordering that album. Watch out for future live shows too. We certainly will be – https://www.edwardnaysmith.co.uk
8. Scenius – Five Arm Crystal (Sixth Arm Mix) –
This English/French duo were a perfect support act for Midge Ure on his recent tour. We went along to the Reading Hexagon show and enjoyed their alternative electronic sound. It fit perfectly with the evening as their sound combined with Midge’s to give us two different generations of electronic music. Here’s their latest single with pulsating beats, a cool groove, dark synth lines and an infectious melody – https://scenius.bandcamp.com
9. Old Park Road – Peace & Quiet –
We’ve seen Graham Tabor perform many times at Wokingham Festival with talented covers band, Makeshifts, but he’s also been quietly working on a personal project for the last couple of years, and has now released an album, Peace & Quiet, under the name Old Park Road. He’s used the experience of half a century of listening to and playing music to produce a collection of tracks that are ideal for laid-back, late night listening, with the atmospheric vocals by Thai conjuring up images of a secluded jazz club in the wee small hours. Profits from the digital download go to Worldwide Cancer Research. https://oldparkroad.bandcamp.com/album/peace-quiet
10. Sparks – Do Things My Own Way –
A unique venue, Royal Hospital Chelsea, with a wonderful and special opening set in that setting from Chelsea Pensioner Singers, followed by an absolutely brilliant headlining set from those legends of quirky inventive pop and rock, Sparks. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael, who created and have led the band for nearly 60 years, were as fresh and entertaining as ever. The set showed that the band have continued to produce great music throughout their long career as some of the strongest songs in their set came from their most recent albums, including this one from last year’s Mad album – https://allsparks.com
You can listen to all the songs featured in our Spotify playlist at https://bit.ly/rawsoundstoday
