Author Archives: Simon

avatar

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.

Get ready to be merry

Don’t forget the Christmas Countdown begins on Thursday!
We’ll be playing our annual chart of our favourite 20 tracks of the year throughout December.
Last week’s Bradford Beat featured an interview with Itch plus these tracks:

Polyphonic Spree – You’re Golden
Vessels – Myopic Biopic
I Was A Cub Scout – The Hunter’s Daughter
John Parkes – Cold
Itch – Best Shot
Junk Dealers – Government Leaders
Electric Soft Parade – The Sun Never Sets Around Here
The Seven Inches – To Boldly Go
Peace – Wraith
Rodina – There You’ll Be

You can listen again by clicking here

Get ready to scratch that Itch

Rising star Itch is a guest on next week’s Bradford Beat.
The show on Thursday 28 November (8pm – 9pm) will feature an exclusive interview with the hip-hop artist who was previously in the punk fusion band The King Blues,

Here’s the full list of tracks played on last night’s show (21 Nov):

Beaty Heart – Lekka Freakout
John Parkes – My Hit Song
The National – Graceless
Vessels – Elliptic
Beach Boys- Good Vibrations
Junk Dealers – Bad Vibrations
Billy Bragg – January Song
The Seven Inches – Our Gang of Friends
The 1975 – Girls
Chutzpah – Eyes
Status Quo – Down Down
Fossil Collective – How Was I To Know?
Marika Hackman – Cinnamon
Itch – Best Shot

You can listen again by clicking here

 

Chocolate and cats

You can listen again to the latest edition of Bradford Beat by clicking here.

Here’s the full list of tracks played:

Billy Bragg – No One Knows Nothing Any More
The Seven inches – Hannah Barbera
Nadine Shah – Aching Bones
Middle Wickets – Test Match Winner
Polyphonic Spree – You Don’t Know Me
Vessels – Come Out Of the Sky And Fight This
Oliver Wilde – Stomach Full of Cats
Embrace – Target
Electric Soft Parade – The Sun Never Set Around Here
Junk Dealers – Religion
Beady Eye – Iz Rite
Threshold Shift – Hang In There
The 1975 – Chocolate

Still remembering Lou Reed

Bradford Beat continued to pay tribute to Lou Reed this week.
Here’s the full list of tacks played on November 7:

Velvet Underground – Stephanie Says
Rodina – Mr Lee
Vessels – Blue Clouds
Anna Calvi – Carry Me Over
Eagulls – Nerve Endings
Supergrass – Richard III
John Parkes – Just For Now (Baby Song)
Chris T-T – The Bear
The Seven Inches – A Letter
Electric Soft Parade – The Sun Never Sets Around Here
EVerything But The Girl – Missing
Steve Mason – Fire
The 1975 – Heart Out

Click here to listen again

Skulls, skeletons, banshees and ghosts

We had some fun with Hallowe’en on the latest edition of Bradford Beat.
As well as playing some spooky tunes, we paid tribute to Lou Reed.
Here’s the full list of tracks played:

Velvet Underground – I Can’t Stand It
The Villagers – Earthly Pleasure
John Parkes – Sleep With Me
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Halloween
B-Movie – Scare Some Life Into Me
Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead
Vessels – Myopic Biopic
Frankie Laine – Ghost Riders in The Sky
TV Smith – Your Haunted Heart
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Skeleton Makes Good
Hoodoogurus – Death Ship
R Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House
Drenge – Face Like A Skull
Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The Man

You can listen again by clicking here

New, new, new

There was a deluge of brand new tracks on this week’s Bradford Beat, including local heroes Rodina, Vessels, John Parkes and Eagulls.

Here’s the full list of tracks and you can listen again by clicking here:

Beaty Heart – Lekka Freakout
John Parkes – What To Do (One True Love)
Heaven’s Basement – I Am Electric
To Kill A King – Rays
Suzi Quatro – Devil Drive Gate
Rodina – There You’ll Be
Steve Mason – Fire
Vessels – Elliptic
Larry and His Flask – The Battle For Clear Sight
The Seven Inches – Cash Back
In The Valley Below – Stand Up
Eagulls – Nerve Endings
Marika Hackman – Cinnamon
New Order – Blue Monday

Don’t miss our Hallowe’en special on, er, Hallowe’en…(8pm till 9pm)

(Who is) The Second Coolest Person In Town (After You)?

The Seven Inches think they have the answer.
They and other West Yorkshire acts including Sentimentalists, Eagulls, Rodina and John Parkes feature in the latest edition of Bradford Beat.
Here’s the full list of tracks:

Chris T-T – The Bear
Rodina – What Is It About Today?
Bill Haley and the Comets – Rock Around The Clock
The Seven Inches – (I Wanna Be) The Second Coolest Person In Town (After You)
Drenge – Nothing
John Parkes – A Strange Affair
Proclaimers – Make My Heart Fly
Sentimentalists – I’m Beat
Eagulls – Nerve Endings
Bastille – Pompeii
Negative Panda – She Is Right
Us3 – Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)
Nick Toczek – Head Came Off
New Order – Age of Consent

You can listen again by clicking here.

They’re back (soon)

This week’s Bradford Beat took time out to look forward to a couple of hotly-anticipated new albums.

Bradford’s own Embrace are supposedly on the verge of a new record and tour while Arcade Fire have also been teasing their next album.

You can listen again to the whole show by clicking here and this was the full tracklisting:

Fighting Fiction – Enabler
The Seven Inches – the Little Things
Editors – Formaldehyde
Rodina – Mr Lee
Steve Mason – Fire
Embrace – All You Good Good People
Polyphonic Spree – You Don’t Know Me
Fossil Collective – When Frank Became an Orb
Drenge – Face Like A Skull
John Parkes- Lincolnshire
Sentimentalists – The Take Out
Arcade Fire – The Sprawl II (Soulwax remix)

Mercury Rising

This week’s Bradford Beat took a closer look at the newly-announced shortlist for the 2013 Mercury Prize – as well as playing music from as far afield as Wakefield, Oregon and Barcelona.

Here’s the full track listing for the show:

Los Stompers – Watch You Watch You
Whiter Than – Note To Self
Foals – Late Night
Fossil Collective – Let It Go
Larry and his Flask – The Battle For Clear Sight
The Seven Inches – Cashback
Franz Ferdinand – Evil Eye
The Blueskins – Ellie Meadows
Nadine Shah – Runaway
Jed’s Blues Band – Dirty Water
Villagers – The Bell
Hobbes Fan Club – Your Doubting Heart
Billy Bragg – Ingrid Bergman
Chutzpah – Eyes
The 1975 – Talk!

You can listen again to the show by clicking here

Wash out

Bradford Beat tempted fate by playing a cricket-themed song to mark the One-Day International between England and Australia at Headingley.

It’s been tipping it down with rain ever since 🙁

Here’s the full tracklisting for this weeks’ show:

The Middle Wickets – Test Match Winner
Red Paintings – Wasps
Scaramanga Six – Trouble
Whiter Than – Planning A Journey
The Fratellis – Seven Nights Seven Days
The Seven Inches – The Seven inches Get Disorientated
The Editors – Formaldehyde
Radio 5 – True Colours
Babyshambles – Janie Jones
Buzzcocks – I Don’t Mind (live)
Sentimentalists – Have A Go Avacado
Wilful Missing – DIY
Polyphonic Spree – You Don’t Know Me
The Wind-Up Birds – Meet Me At The Depot
City and Colour – Harder Than Stone

You can listen again by clicking here