The Roolz

13/11/2025

The Roolz back to full service at last - I hate to imagine how many listeners we've lost. Keep on keeping on... and recruit a few friends.

13/11/2025

Server trouble at The Roolz. Trying desperately to contact the operator ☹️

31/10/2025

Been listening to new music. I screwed up while loading it and listeners were treated to about 15 minutes of faff. Sorry about that.
Having owned up, there are some exceptional new tracks for November.

I have to start with a track that has blown me away - the most remarkable recording I have heard in ages. I can't find any background information on Urban Choir other than they didn't release their first song until July of this year. The format is lead male vocal with gospel choir and chugging strings. I hope 'I'm a Mess' will amaze you as much as it does me. Why is the BBC not on it?

I've added another track from Brandi Carlile's excellent new album Returning to Myself' - this one is 'Human'.

Will Brown is a soul singer from Kansas, and a very good one too. Check out 'Golden'. It has a bass line which pushes the song along at a cracking pace. 'They say don't call when you′re drunk in love. But I don′t think that I'm drunk enough.'

From London hails Sienna Spiro. She is but 20 years old and she vaunts a rare talent. Two of her songs make the cut: 'Die On This Hill' is A-rated while 'You Stole the Show' goes into the chill category.

There are other new songs, too. There are always others...
..but Urban Choir stole the show.

10/10/2025

Following my musings on radio listening habits, I'm now pleased to resolve all your difficulties. Well, perhaps not all of them - but at least those concerned with shouting at a smartspeaker.

If you have a smartspeaker that answers to the name Alexa, she should obey willingly if...

You go to your territory's Amazon site and search for “roolz” in Alexa Skills

That should take you to a page with our logo and an option to 'enable' on your smart speaker. Click on it. This is free and instant.
Now say “Alexa, play The Roolz, France”.

The music will play and once enabled the voice command should work forever.

You can also use the Alexa app on your phone. Search for Roolz and select from the list to enable on all your devices.

If you have problems finding us in the search, depending on where you are in the world and which Amazon your account is with, go to one of these pages:

UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
USA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
Australia https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
India https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
Canada (English) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
Canada (French) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FQ5QL3SL
France https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0FQ5QL3S

06/10/2025

It’s been a long, hot summer - but as the sun sinks gracefully into a lower trajectory the time has come to greet the new season. The Stereophonics acknowledge its arrival with a song called ‘Colours of October’. Halloween beckons; at The Roolz we’ve anticipated that with ‘Soul for the Taking’, a song from J-Pop artist Olivia Millin. It’s fun. J-Pop has now superseded K-Pop (do keep up – Ed).

There’s actually a bunch of great new stuff out this month. Special mentions for The Last Dinner Party and ‘Scythe’, ‘Old Tape’ from Lucius (an American four-piece relocated to Los Angeles from New York) and ‘Through My Soul’ by Enlly Blue. This track gives a glimpse of things to come. There is no such person as Enlly Blue. The vocals are entirely AI generated. But the song is worthy of airplay just because it’s so bloody good. Frightening, really.

Lastly, Ozzy remembered with an Earth song...
.. I’m just a dreamer who dreams of better days.

05/10/2025

When I were a lad t'radio were a box which sat in corner of room: bakelite for kitchen and posh wood for sitting room. Two k***s for kitchen :– 1) on/off/volume, 2) tuning; and three polished k***s for sitting room :– 1) on/off/volume, 2) tuning and 3) treble & bass.

Each set was generously marked with romantic sounding names like Athlone, Luxembourg and Kalundborg. My granddad used to listen all day. So did I when I was in bed with flu: Heinz tomato soup, Smith's crisps and t'radio. Bliss.

Times have ineluctably changed. The radio is still a box (although usually spherical in shape) which sits in the corner. It doesn't have k***s; instead you shout at it when its services are required. A lot of people do this, I'm told. So we at The Roolz, never wishing to be thought of as laggards, have followed suit. Wherever you are in the world, just shout at your spherical friend ''Alexa – play The Roolz, France''.

It works. Or, if it doesn't, the only k**b in the room is you.

04/09/2025

While midsummer listening was a mite disappointing, late summer has mined a rich seam of new artists and tunes. Kid Kapichi is a punk band from Hastings. I normally stay away from that half-spoken stuff, but for every rool there is an exception and ‘Stainless Steel’ proves just that.

Björk is not the only girl from Iceland to melt our musical hearts. Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir is another. For obvious reasons she has chosen the handle Laufey. There’s a really lovely retro feel about ‘Tough Luck’. Laufey will be laufing all the way to the bank.

My favourite new add is Mavis Staples’ ‘Beautiful Strangers’. It’s from her new album ‘Sad and Beautiful World’, which will be released in November. Mavis, the only surviving member of the Staple Singers, is incredibly still singing at the age of 86. Her voice sounds like it’s been soaked in a vat of Kentucky bourbon for at least half of them.

Lastly, a mention for Brògeal and ‘Go Home Tae Yer Bed’. Their name is pronounced Brogale. The band is a Scottish 5-piece from Falkirk, unashamedly inspired by Ireland’s Pogues. They are already making big waves. Watch this space. Lots more new stuff too: listen with love.

Lastly, I have A-listed Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’...
..just because.

04/09/2025

20/08/2025

The Roolz is temporarily off air and won't be restored until tomorrow evening (Thursday). Many apologies.

06/08/2025

Bloody hell! I’ve spent the first week of August listening to new music and I’ve only been able to add 10 new songs this month. It’s become increasingly difficult to find musicians playing real instruments instead of control room technicians getting off on cheap ego trips.

There’s a sort of post-Swift brand of American girls eager to grab a few of Taylor’s billions. Leading the charge (to my ear) is Chappell Roan. Her new single, The Subway, is totally brilliant

Circa Waves have an American Indie sound about them, but they actually hail from Liverpool. Cherry Bomb is catchy & summery. Speaking of summer, anyone for tennis? Sophie Royer carries an exotic mix of Austrian & Iranian blood and she’s taken this cocktail to California. There she has teamed up with someone called Rebounder (of whom I know nowt) and his is obviously the male voice on a track called Tennis Bracelet. A tennis bracelet is supposedly a symbol of eternal love. Scotty McCreery also conjures images of summer on Santa Monica beach in a song called Bottle Rockets. The choruses are beefed up by contributions from Hootie & the Blowfish. Listen, too, for a new song from Franz Ferdinand, some s**t kicking stuff by Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs, and a remarkably restrained OneRepublic with Beautiful Colors.

So that’s Summer 2025 sorted. How did it end? With Taylor Swift, of course.

03/08/2025

I've received a notification from Orange that they will be carrying out maintenance in our area on Tuesday afternoon (05/08). It may knock out The Roolz. Shame it won't also account for Agent Orange himself.