By Chris Hillman
IT’S NOT just Old Macdonald who has some animals, but we’ve not got The Farm. Just 10 great tracks for you to listen to.
And the three new entries in our playlist all have links to the animal kingdom.
Catfish and Quantum Pig – well, that tenuous link is obvious. Squeeze? Well, they’re Cool For Cats. And all three will be performing over the coming days, so we can whet your appetite.
As ever, we’re on a mission to champion and showcase great music from acts that have a connection to Reading and Wokingham (that’s the RaW in our Sounds Today name).
It’s a mixture that will help you discover something new. All you have to do is find it on Spotify.
To hear this week’s selection, simply head to https://bit.ly/rawsoundstoday and enjoy the music.
There is also a Facebook page and group chat that bands and music fans can tap into. You can search for RaW Sounds Today and it will come up.
Catfish – Soulbreaker
Catfish is a band that brings blues music right up to date with an exciting sound that has brought them many well deserved nominations and awards at leading Blues organisations.
They perform throughout Europe and there’s an opportunity to see them live locally when they visit Wokingham Music Club on Friday February 17.
If you like your blues played by excellent musicians with powerful vocals, it’s well-worth getting along. This song is from their 2019 album, Burning Bridges – https://www.catfishband.com/
Quantum Pig – Keep the Nation Warm
This London-based duo have gone from strength to strength since the release of their debut album, ‘Songs of Industry and Sunshine’ on our White Star Records label and their first live show at Wokingham Festival.
Following a tour last year with Frost*, they will be supporting Lonely Robot at their February 8 Islington Assembly Hall show.
Lonely Robot’s Reading-based creator John Mitchell performs a brilliant guitar solo on this song from that debut album – https://quantumpig.live/
Squeeze – Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)
Wokingham Music Club has certainly brought some legendary songwriters to the area and next week on February 10, there’s another good one.
It’s Chris Difford who co-wrote and performed so many great songs with Squeeze and he will be performing his solo show for the club.
It’s at the Whitty Theatre and you can expect to hear some of those classic songs performed acoustically with chat from Chris about his fascinating career.
Here’s one of those classics – https://chrisdifford.com/
Gemma Rogers – The Great Escape
London-based Gemma came to Reading in November and performed a great show at the Facebar. This song is from her new four-track EP The Great Escape – https://www.gemmarogersmusic.com/
Lonely Robot – Lonely Robot
Reading producer John Mitchell’s Lonely Robot play a rare live show at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on February 8. This is from the Please Come Home album, the first of their five albums – https://www.facebook.com/LonelyRobotband/
Tom Webber – I’m Yours
Tom will be live in Reading this Saturday 4th to headline at the Rising Sun Arts Centre. It’s one of the Club Velocity promoted shows for Independent Venue Week – https://www.tomwebbermusic.com/
Flutatious – Spacechick (Mitchell Mix)
Flutatious recently performed a great show at Wokingham Music Club. This live fave from their Fluctuations EP was mixed by Lonely Robot’s John Mitchell – https://www.flutatious.co.uk/
Cities In Dust – Tornado Road
Guitar pop from the Reading band who are at one of Club Velocity’s Independent Venue Week shows this Friday 3 – https://linktr.ee/citiesindust
Adomania – I Always Seem to Break Something (At The Party)
They were No 6 in our best of 2022 and here’s their excellent new single – https://www.facebook.com/AdomaniaBand/
Darcy Hope – Landslide
Darcy, from Fleet, will be playing at the Tom Webber Rising Sun Arts Centre show this Saturday, Feb 4th – https://darceyhope.com/