Author Archives: Simon

About Simon

Simon Ashberry has been playing the best of local music on Bradford Beat for almost a quarter of a century . He was music columnist for the Telegraph & Argus for several years, covering local acts such as Embrace, Terrorvision, Tasmin Archer and New Model Army, and has played bass in several bands himself. He was previously part of Bradford-based Loom with John Rigby from Trip and Stumble and currently plays with innovative blues trio West Yorkshire Noblemen's Society.

Is it too early to start playing Tour de France songs?

Too late – we already have done. Notably Monty Casino’s rather splendid track of that name (even though it’s quite old).

The full track listing for this week’s show was:

Maximo Park – Midnight on the Hill
Embrace – Follow You Home
St Vincent – Digital Witness
Chest – Jean Brodie
Pixies – Greens and Blues
Jed’s Blues Band – Dirty Water
Oasis – Supersonic (live)
Richard Marriott – Under Occupation
Paul Weller – Changing Man
Monty Casino – Tour de France
Superfood – TV
Boicas – Swarm
Bill Callahan – Expanding Dub

You can listen again by clicking here

Happy Record Store Day

If you’re at a loose end today, why not buy some vinyl from an independent record shop to support Record Store Day?

Talking of which, you could win the vinyl compilation album The Hare and The Bull which is being release by Bradford record label to mark the event. It features tracks by The Sentimentalists, Nick Toczek, Negative Panda and many more.

To enter the competition, just email me at simon.ashberry@bcbradio.co.uk with your answer to this question: What was the 13th track on Sound Shack’s first ever release “13 For 2013” (released in January 2013)?

The winner will be chosen on Thursday 24 April. You can listen again to our last show by clicking here

Competition: Win new Bradford album

We’ve extended the deadline for our competition to win the fantastic vinyl compilation album The Hare and The Bull.

Nagbea from Sound Shack was our studio guest on Bradford Beat this week talking about the great new release which features the likes of The Sentimentalists, Nick Toczek, Negative Pamda and Jed’s Blues Band.

To enter, just email me at simon.ashberry@bcbradio.co.uk with your answer to this question: What was the 13th track on Sound Shack’s first ever release “13 For 2013” (released in January 2013)?

We’ll now choose the winner on Thursday 24 April. There’s no Bradford Beat that night as BCB will have live coverage of Bradford Bulls v Leeds Rhinos.

But you can listen again to this week’s show by clicking here

Here are the tracks we played:

St Vincent – Prince Johnny
Gerard Bell-Fife – No Difference
Junk Dealers – Bad Vibrations
Tinfoil Sojourns – Cohort of a Martinet
The Word – Schoolboy Saint
Maximo Park – Midnight On The Hill

All you good good comebacks

This week’s show was an Embrace special devoted entirely to the career of the West Yorkshire band to mark their return in 2014.

With tracks spanning nearly two decades, here’s a full rundown of what we played:

Embrace – Butter Wouldn’t Melt
Embrace – Refugees
Embrace – Higher Sights
Embrace – All You Good Good People (orchestral mix)
Embrace – Save Me
Embrace – Fireworks
Embrace – Free Ride
Talk To Angels – Enemies Closer
Embrace – It’s Gonna Take Time
Embrace – How Come (live)
Embrace – Gravity
Embrace – Come Back To What You Know
Embrace – Follow You Home (instrumental)

You can listen again by clicking here

Embrace retrospective delayed

Apologies, but we’ve had to postpone the Embrace special until next week because of technical problems.

The show, featuring tracks from throughout the band’s career dating back almost two decades, will now go out on Thursday 3 April from 8pm to 9m.

Last night we played a repeat of our show highlighting music from the CD box set accompanying the book Bradford’s Noise of the Valleys Volume 2. The tracks played were:

Embrace – All You Good Good People
Old Joe Zydeco – Zydeco Gris Gris
Rootsman – Old Pan Killer
Hardware – What Race Are You?
Primate – Break My Fall
Summum Bonum – Exploding Raindrops
Psycho Surgeons – Panic On
Natural Rhythm – Bluebeat and Ska
The Headmen – Reach The Sky
Chest – Angels
Scarlet Heights – Scarcity Prayer
Sansaar – Bind Us Together

And you can listen again by clicking here

Embrace the now

Bradford Beat will mark the return of Embrace with a special episode next week looking back at the band’s career.

They release their new album on 28 April and will play at the Academy in Leeds on 14 May as part of their UK tour.

The hour-long show will also feature music by some of the other bands that the lads have been in other than Embrace. Tune in to hear it from 8pm to 9pm on Thursday 27 March on BCB 106.6FM.

This week’s show featured the following tracks:

Lisa Marie Glover – Cottage
The Bohicas – Swarm
Kaiser Chiefs – Coming Home
Wild Beasts – Nature Boy
Junk Dealers – The Chain of Command
The Selecter – On My Radio
Monty Casino – Gorbachev
Supergrass – Richard III
Shed Seven – Going For Gold
St Vincent – Digital Witness
Natural Rhythm – Bluebeat and Ska
The 1975 – Settle Down
Laura Groves – I Am Leaving

You can listen again by clicking here

Insert amusing headline here

Some great new tunes on this week’s show including tracks by St Vincent, Electric Soft Parade and Brody Dalle.

Here’s the full list of what we played:

Whiter Than – Planning A Journey
St Vincent – Birth in Reverse
Chest – Furious Temper
Superfood – TV
Junk Dealers – Reality TV
Anna Calvi – Carry Me Over
Sentimentalists – Apricots
Electric Soft Parade – One Of Those Days
Embrace – Refugees
Brody Dalle – Meet The Foetus/Oh The Joy
Psycho Surgeons – Panic On
Eagulls – Possessed
Franz Ferdinand – Bullet
Bohicas – Swarm

And you can listen again by clicking here

Surviving studio 4

Bradford Beat managed to keep its head above water this week – despite the idiosyncratic ways of BCB’s notorious studio 4.

Here’s a full list of the tracks new and old which we played:

The Bohicas – Swarm
Eagulls – Possessed
Wild Beasts – Wanderlust
Kaiser Chiefs – Coming Home
Marika Hackman – Deep Green
Embrace – Refugees
Franz Ferdinand – Fresh Strawberries
Tasmin Archer – Sleeping Satellite
Red Paintings – Streets Fell Into My Window
Junk Dealers – Hometown Blues
Anna Calvi – Piece By Piece
handmadehands – Daring Me Not To
Samantha Crain – Somewhere All The Time
Rootsman – Old Pan Killer

You can listen again by clicking here.

They’re the Eagulls not the Eagles…

2014 is already shaping up to be a decent year for new bands.
We’re loving the likes of Eagulls and Beaty Heart here at Bradford Beat – they both featured on our latest show, as did a couple of blasts of nostalgia from the Cajun Aces and Terrorvision.
Here’s a full list of what we played:

Chvrches – Recover
Eagulls – Possessed
Junk Dealers – Bad Vibrations
Chris T-T and the Hoodrats – Bury Me With A Scarab
Superfood – TV
Sentimentalists – Apricots
Warpaint – Love Is to Die
Terrorvision – Perseverance
Cate Le Bon – I Can’t Help You
Embrace – Refugees
Franz Ferdinand – Bullet
Cajun Aces – Chere Joues Roses
Whiter Than – Trying Hard To Be Myself
Beaty Heart – Kanoute’s Coming Round

And you can listen again by clicking here

More noise

There’s no live Bradford Beat next week (20 Feb) as BCB is covering the Bradford Bulls game.
But there will be a show available on our Listen Again service.
Meanwhile, last night was another chance to hear our special show dedicated to Bradford’s Noise of the Valleys volume 2 1988-1998.
Here was what we played:

And you can listen again by clicking here.