The Roolz

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.

08/07/2025

Midsummer sounds sorted.

There is no discount applied to time spent listening to a bunch of poor tunes, versus time which transports the soul to the summit of audio delight. Sadly, the former is the sum of this month’s listening. My mind wandered off to reasons why. Creative energy used to be split around 90% on the performer’s side of the glass and 10% on the producer/engineer’s. Now there is no glass. Anyone with a laptop and some free software can make a ‘record’. Musicianship is not necessary – AI will take care of that. Which piano would you like, Sir...? Steinway or Bösendorfer? And where would you like it positioned acoustically… La Scala, Milan or the Met, NYC? There are now 120,000 new tracks uploaded every day, which is more than the entirety of 1989’s. Does that represent struggle or conceit? I honestly don’t know. David Gray’s ‘White Ladder’ is an astonishingly good album. He recorded it in his bedroom in Stoke Newington on a nothing budget and released it on his own record label. But that was in 1998... have the ground rules changed? Probably not. Which makes sifting through the bedroom sand in search of the next golden nugget all the more rewarding.

So what’s new? Special mentions for the Cat Empire, an alternative 7-piece from Melbourne with ‘Going To Live’ and The Lumineers’ ‘Asshole’. Opinions are like as****es, everybody's got one and they all think everyone else's stinks.

‘And I know what you said to me was wrong. But kindness came and bit my tongue. I must admit, the taste of it is keepin' me awake’.

Two great tracks from a total of 20 added this month.

04/06/2025

My goodness! I’ve spent so much longer this month listening to new music... and I am astonished by the artistry and the commitment of these artists. It has to be a terrible way to make a living in the Spotify age, and the fact that these boys & girls are so driven, truly humbles me.

So where to start? You’ll know that we usually play one French tune in an hour, but roolz should be broken and there are some cracking French tunes out there at the moment. Anglophones must give way. Kendji Girac is joined by none other than Andrea Bocelli on ‘Je Vis Pour Elle’.

‘Marguerite’ is the French word for daisy. And Daisy has released her first single called ‘Les Filles, les Meufs’. Meufs sort of means girls as in the old fashioned sense of ‘chicks’. In the song, Daisy openly explores her own bisexuality. Variety is the spice of life, so they say.

There are many other French offerings, too – you are exhorted to listen.

And now to the Anglos, starting in Norn Iron. Voices date – think (without rancour) of McCartney, Dylan or Roderick. But Van Morrison’s instrument has defied aging altogether. He is now 79 and his new release ‘Cutting Corners’ might have been recorded 50 years ago. Truly remarkable. Pulp have released a new track called ‘Got To Have Love’. How true. I’ve edited out Jarvis’s talking bit in the middle, and the song really rocks.

Where would we be without Willie? The world will be a sad place when he’s gone. Lie back in the sun and enjoy ‘What a Beautiful World’. With hindsight, I now realise that I’ve so far mentioned artists who are best equipped to withstand the downturn in the music industry – but how about Harper Grace, Daniel Arison, Haven Madison or Zac Top? Not to mention Bonny Light Horseman or Caamp. There is some fantastic new Americana in the mix and overall I think we’ve struck the right summer vibe. See what you think, and don’t get burned.

By anyone.

06/05/2025

Humungous summertime changes at The Roolz. For once I’m not going to list them because it doesn’t really feel like summer here: it’s not often that the UK gets the better of the south of France on weather, but the last couple of weeks have demonstrated just that.

So let’s get topical. The whole trans rights thing has been a major issue on both sides of the Atlantic recently. In the UK a person’s gender is now defined as that of his/her birth. Apparently there is no longer any their (sorry Sam) and fist or handbag fights in public spaces have thus far remained unreported. In the U.S. Robert de Niro’s son Aaron is now a daughter named Airyn. Bob is apparently fully supportive.

Do you remember Ray Stevens? In the ‘70s he won two Grammies for ‘Everything Is Beautiful’ and ‘Misty’. He also plied a fair trade in novelty records: ‘The Streak’ was #1 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1974. Well – Ray is now 86 and still at it, with a release called ‘Since Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene’. Famously irreverent, I’ll give it a few weeks before it’s retired to the recycle bin.

I was saddened to read that Jill Sobule, composer of ‘I Kissed a Girl’ (a mega smash for Katy Perry) died in a house fire last week. Jill’s original version has been added.

That’s it for now. I haven’t scratched the surface of all the summer changes. You’ll just have to listen. And bring a friend.

08/04/2025

Spring cleaning at The Roolz: some great new sounds for you. As I write this, a piece of African gospel has just played: ‘We Will Be Many’ by Lawrence Oyor with the Sounds of Salem. Marvellous.

So let’s see what else God has granted to usher in the summer of 2025. The Stereophonics have a new single called ‘Seems Like You Don’t Know Me’. It’s up to their usual high standard. Who is Röyksopp? Answer: a Norwegian duo who seem to have been around forever – I was playing their stuff in Limassol way back in the noughties. On ‘Running To The Sea’ they’ve teamed up with vocalist Susanne Sundfør. It’s well worth the price of admission (which is nix). There’s some new Doobie Bros stuff out – they sound old & tired, which I guess they are, and I’ve taken a pass. I’ll bet they’d like to sound like Young Gun Silver Fox.This is a UK/US duo based in London who very much draw their inspiration from the likes of the Doobies and Steely Dan. ‘Stevie & Sly’ is brilliant.

I’ve added some excellent new Americana from Blake Shelton and Cody Johnson. There’s also some alternative listening from Jensen McRae and Yoshika Colwell.

We haven’t forgotten our host country – some fine new French tunes are in the mix, and I’ve mainstreamed ‘Ma Faute’ by Marine.

Because she’s worth it.

19/03/2025

All clear at The Roolz, but the job took longer than it should because of s**tty installation of air extraction - which was presumed to have evacuated to the exterior, but instead emptied into the roof space. I wonder if we still have listeners... 🤔

19/03/2025

The Roolz down for a short while for rewiring