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. We’ve got a massive seven (7!) new entries this week, as there’s so much good new music around! 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. Arthur Brown – Nature –
Arthur certainly showed that he is a force of nature as he stunned the Wokingham Festival crowd last week with an incredible set! It certainly was a spectacle with costume changes after every song and what songs they were! They covered the whole of his impressive career including classics like ‘Time Captives’ and of course, from the god of hell fire, there had to be he huge hit ‘Fire’ as Arthur donned his flaming helmet. Backed by incredible musicians, this really was a performance to savour. What a lovely man he is too! He took the time to speak to fans afterwards and the huge smiles on the faces of those who met him was heartwarming to see. Ok, we know we’ve included this song before but it’s from his new album of the same name and he performed a brilliant version of it at the festival and it’s a great track – so here it is again – https://www.thegodofhellfire.com
2. Emerson – Daisy Chain –
We do like this band. Every song they release has an infectious uplifting feel with melody and a perfect indie pop rock sound. This new single is no exception. It grabs you straight way with its jangly guitar intro. Wonderful! They are playing in Guildford at The Boileroom on 9th October. That’s not too far away so is worth a visit – https://linktr.ee/emerson.band99?
3. The Amazons – One Hot July –
The Amazons are a Reading band who have made it big, but who, like Only The Poets who we’ve also featured, have not forgotten their roots. They headlined the Readipop Fiesta last year, and just last week had a free show at the Purple Turtle to mark the release of the deluxe version of the 21st Century Fiction album. One Hot July is one of the additional tracks – enjoy! https:// www.theamazons.co.uk/
4. Dikajee, Avandra, Vikram Shanka – Home of the Wind –
There’s not many musicians that have played on both stages of Wokingham Festival two years running but Dikajee has. Last year she performed with her own band on the second stage before joining legendary musician John Hackett on the main stage for one of the most beautiful festival performances ever on the King Crimson classic, ‘I Talk to the Wind’. This year Dikajee was with the band Eclipse Machine on the second stage as they performed a powerful set that certainly went down well with the crowd. She then surprised everyone as The Paradox Twin hit the main stage and unveiled an impressive new line up. Dikajee was on keyboards and vocals! Wow! It was a stunning set! Here’s her new single – a beautifully haunting piece of cinematic piano based progressive rock taken from her forthcoming new album, ‘The Frame’. This extremely talented artist will be touring very soon – solo, with her band and with The Paradox Twin – https://dikajee.bandcamp.com
5. Antony Szmierek – The Heron –
The festival season is nearly over, but not quite yet. This weekend sees Down at the Abbey, organised by Heavy Pop, in the unique setting of the ruins of Reading Abbey. Antony Szmierek is one of the performers on the Friday night; this track was inspired by a heron he saw nesting along the banks of the Mersey, and comes from his Decoding Birdsong album. https:// www.facebook.com/antonyszmierek
6. TRASHCAT – DRIVER –
A slightly different feel to the latest single from Charlie Stokes, aka Trashcat, this is a lovely slice of electronica, softer than some of her recent output which had a metalcore edge to it. https://www.instagram.com/trashcatmusic_/
7. Neil Wighton – Lonely Waters –
Neil is the guitarist with Spriggan Mist, but this is the latest single from his solo album The Muse. It starts as an emotional ballad, but then develops with an interplay between guitar and synths, with some fine shredding from Neil. https://neilwighton.bandcamp.com/
8. Hoopy Frood – The River –
One of the many highlights of Wokingham Festival was this Wokingham based band. They just seem to get better and better and they performed an impressive set encompassing tracks from throughout their career. They ended the set with an inspired choice of covers as Hotel California segued into Comfortably Numb in inimitable Hoopy style. It was absolutely stunning! Great chance to remind ourselves of one of our fave tracks of recent years which opened the set and comes from their most recent excellent ‘Mostly Harmless’ album – https://www.hoopyfrood.co.uk
9. John Mitchell/Lonely Robot – Show the Way –
Exciting news and sad news! The exciting part is that John Mitchell is releasing a new Lonely Robot album on 11th September. The sad news is that it’s going to be the last! John has decided to lay the astronaut to rest but what a way to go out! The album, aptly entitled ‘An Ending’, is, as you’d expect, a brilliant collection of quality songs, expertly played and produced, overlayed with John’s wonderfully emotive vocals. It may be the end for Lonely Robot but there’s a legacy of six incredible albums and we are sure there’s lots more to come from the multi talented John Mitchell. This track is the lead single from the new album – https://linktr.ee/LonelyRobot2026
10. Puma Theory – Telephone Man –
Jacob and Cameron performed as a duo rather than a full band recently at the Readipop Yard Party, going back to their beginnings, and it was a pleasure to hear their songs in a stripped down form; some even said they preferred the intimacy of those arrangements, with the vocals to the fore. This track is from their recent Live at Farm Road EP. https://www.facebook.com/pumatheory
You can listen to all the songs featured in our Spotify playlist at https://bit.ly/rawsoundstoday
