Category Archives: Bradford Beat

Matters relating to Simon Ashberry’s Bradford Beat show on Thursdays at 8pm (UK time)

Gigs galore

After a typically quiet post-Christmas period on the live music scene, things are finally looking up.

And on this week’s Bradford Beat we’ve been looking ahead to some of the imminent West Yorkshire gig highlights.

One band I’m definitely going to see are Sunshine Underground at the Leeds Academy on Feb 19.

Before then is a gig by on Feb 6 at the Leeds Cockpit by Detroit Social Club who were on the bill at last year’s Bingley Music Live with TSU.

Other touring bands to watch out for include The Maccabees, Passion Pit, New Model Army, The XX and The Editors (the latter playing St George’s Hall in Bradford on March 8).

Looking back…still

While we’re still gazing back over the past decade (just), here’s a reminder of the previous four Christmas Countdowns – our pick of Bradford Beat’s favourite 20 tracks of the year – going back to 2005.

It’s nice to see some bands have become almost regulars – The Lodger, Roger Davies and The Futureheads among those appearing more than once.

But whatever happened to The Old House? Or AFS?

Continue reading →

Albums of the decade

It’s the last Bradford Beat of the decade – even though it doesn’t feel quite as momentous as moving from, say, the 70s to the 80s as we don’t really have a universally-agreed name for the decade just ending or the one beginning!

Either way, over the next two shows we’re playing tracks from our favourite albums from the last 10 years – there are so many I just couldn’t fit them into one show!

So expect the likes of Radiohead, The White Stripes, Just Sullivan, The Strokes, Cornershop, Embrace, Futureheads and lesser known bands such as Malibu Stacey, The Blueskins, Clearlake and Reindeer Section.

Bradford Beat is on air at 8pm every Thursday, repeated at 7pm on Sundays.

Christmas Countdown 2009

Here it is – the full list of Bradford Beat’s Christmas Countdown, our favourite 20 tracks of 2009:

1 Super Furry Animals – Inagural Trams
2 Depeche Mode – Peace
3 Rev Chunky/Jam Sponge – Wednesday Downers
4 Crystal Stilts – Shattered Shine
5 Ben and Steve (ex-The Turn) – Our Sounds (demo)
6 Tricky – Puppy Toy
7 Tiny Masters of Today – Pop Chart
8 Sky Larkin – Beeline
9 Lord Auch – Maredo
10 Secret Machines – Last Believer, Drop Dead
11 Grizzly Bear – While We Wait For The Others
12 Roger Davies – Brighouse On A Saturday Night
13 Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
14 Blue Roses – I Am Leaving
15 Benjy Ferree – Blown Out (Gold Doubloons and PCs of 8 )
16 The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
17 Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
18 Prom Knight – Counter Intelligence
19 Scaramanga Six – Misadventure
20 New Model Army – Autumn

To hear our choice of the best albums of the decade so far, tune in on New Year’s Eve!

Bradford Beat is on BCB 106.6FM on Thursdays from 8pm-9pm and repeated Sunday 7pm-8pm.

Christmas Countdown – part 3

And so we’ve broken into the top 10 of Bradford Beat’s run-down of the best 20 tracks of 2009 – here’s what’s been unveiled so far:

6 Tricky – Puppy Toy
7 Tiny Masters of Today – Pop Chart
8 Sky Larkin – Beeline
9 Lord Auch – Maredo
10 Secret Machines – Last Believer, Drop Dead
11 Grizzly Bear – While We Wait For The Others
12 Roger Davies – Brighouse On A Saturday Night
13 Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
14 Blue Roses – I Am Leaving
15 Benjy Ferree – Blown Out (Gold Doubloons and PCs of 8 )
16 The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
17 Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
18 Prom Knight – Counter Intelligence
19 Scaramanga Six – Misadventure
20 New Model Army – Autumn

To hear the top five, you’ll have listen on Christmas Eve!

Bradford Beat is on BCB 106.6FM on Thursdays from 8pm-9pm and repeated Sunday 7pm-8pm.

Christmas Countdown – part 2

Bradford Beat’s run-down of the best 20 tracks of 2009 is halfway through – here’s what we’ve revealed so far:

11 Grizzly Bear – While We Wait For The Others
12 Roger Davies – Brighouse On A Saturday Night
13 Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
14 Blue Roses – I Am Leaving
15 Benjy Ferree – Blown Out (Gold Doubloons and PCs of 8 )
16 The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
17 Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
18 Prom Knight – Counter Intelligence
19 Scaramanga Six – Misadventure
20 New Model Army – Autumn

Five further tracks will be played over each of the next two weeks, with the number one being unveiled on Christmas Eve.

Bradford Beat is on BCB 106.6FM on Thursdays from 8pm-9pm and repeated Sunday 7pm-8pm.

The Christmas Countdown begins!

The first five tracks of Bradford Beat’s annual Christmas Countdown have been revealed.

For several years the show has marked the festive season with a rundown of our favourite 20 tracks of the past 12 months.

So far, the 2009 Christmas Countdown reads as follows:

16 The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
17 Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
18 Prom Knight – Counter Intelligence
19 Scaramanga Six – Misadventure
20 New Model Army – Autumn

Five further tracks will be played over each of the next three weeks, with the number one being unveiled on Christmas Eve.

Bradford Beat is on BCB 106.6FM on Thursdays from 8pm-9pm and repeated Sunday 7pm-8pm.

This week’s Bradford Beat

Tracks for this week’s Bradford Beat on Thursday, 5 November and repeated from 7pm – 8pm on Sunday, 8 November include:

Blur – Bang
iLiKETRAiNS – Sea of Regrets
Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed
New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack – Guns and God
Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension
Chumbawamba – Anarchist (live)
Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For the Others
New Model Army – Bad Harvest
Morrissey – November Spawned A Monster
Ben and Steve – Sweet
Echo and the Bunnymen – Think I Need It Too
Roger Davies – The Ballad of Knockin’ Nelly
Eureka Machines – Being Good Is OK But Being Better’s Better

Live in session on Bradford Beat

Ben and Steve (formerly of The Turn) are live in the studio this week on Bradford Beat.

They are playing two session tracks and chatting about their new band project together – which still doesn’t even have a name!

This week’s show (Thurs 8pm – 9pm and repeated Sun 7pm – 8pm) also features tracks by the likes of Flowered Up, Falconetti, The Only Ones and Roger Davies.

Bradford Beat

Feeling nostalgic this week with the likes of Magazine, the Only Ones and Public Image Ltd all reformed and on telly or coming on tour to West Yorkshire shortly.

Chiming in with that theme, the latest edition of Bradford Beat (on air 8pm Oct 22 and 7pm Oct 25) features a classic Echo and the Bunnymen track plus music from iLiKETRAiNS, Roger Davies, New Model Army, Scaramanga Six, Julian Casablancas, New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack, Blues Roses and even Raging Slab…