Reading like a dream of a weekend (and a sight test you wanna pass with full marks) the latest line-up for Alfresco Festival 2019 has just been announced and we are disco thrilled to announce we’ll be there, doing our disco thing in the late May sunshine. With a stellar line-up of DJs, live performers, family entertainment and late night wonders including Joey Negro, 2ManyDJs, … Continue reading Alfresco Festival 2019
Club Barbra is back! Yep the gig where we get to share our never guilty pleasures, dancefloor delights and kooked up korkers is back this February for another session of dancing on the tables down at The West Hill Tavern. Yes expect nothing but good time vibes as we deliver the perfect Friday night soundtrack of loved-up funk, soul, pop, disco, divas, 80s electro, house and … Continue reading Babs is Back Baby!
Day 26 and I could cross the finish line of my #50tunesfor50years venture with nothing but Bowie. Sound & Vision, Low, Hunky Dory, Young Americans, Station To Station, The Next Day, Blackstar – each masterpieces that hourly rotate at the top of my favourite Bowie albums. Ask me to choose one track and I would be equally reticent to declare, feeling a sense of unfaithfulness as … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: David Bowie Sweet Thing
It was 1977 and I had finally got my hands on my very own piece of vinyl. ABBA’s Arrival had, erm, arrived, its shiny-helicoptered pop stars starring out at me as I held a gatefold I would paw over for years. It would be a while before a Dare from Sheffield would supersede the Swedish superstars but until then I was devoted to Björn & … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: ABBA
Alongside the Garrad deck and Wharfedale speakers in the lounge, our dining room also had its stereophonic installation. And what an installation. A sideboard come radio come record player piece of furniture, its valves took an age to “warm” up. But once it finally burst in radio static filled life it provided our dining room and kitchen (thanks to its hatch, an ever-present 70s addition to … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Minnie Riperton
This one is for my little sister Joanne. The lass I rarely see, the lass life has kept from me but the lass who will always be. Chalk and cheese, we never saw eye to eye on much, mine an awkward life not suited to her confident Essex ways. She was the sweet, I the sour, she the popular, me the acquired, her 70s brash, … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Average White Band
We’re back, baby! 1BTN’s annual all-day female takeover returns Friday 8th March for sixteen hours of femme-focused music and entertainment to soundtrack your International Women’s Day celebrations. The 1BTN International Women’s Day Takeover will feature a phenomenal line-up of female presenters and special guests. The IWD19 campaign theme #BalanceForBetter will be at the heart of the day, highlighting women’s achievements in the music industry, campaigning … Continue reading 1BTN International Women’s Day Takeover
So much glittering goodness coming your way this spring as we head towards the warmer days with a dazzling array of gigs and radio action. It’s all about feeling the love this winter as we get down with the glittering grooves and the sequined parties. But then with wonders including our shows on 1BTN,Club Barbra at The West Hill Tavern, 1BTN International Women’s Day Takeover 2019, Patterns with Honey … Continue reading A gaggle of gigs to make you giggle and wiggle
All it takes for my heart to fall in love with a tune is a diva who knows her way to my soul. A tad of a tall order but something Lady Bird does within the first bar of this essential house track by Soldiers of Twilight. More uplifting than a crane driver on MDMA, this house beauty has accompanied some of the finest dancefloor … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Soldiers Of Twilight
Like most people I know I grew up with the immortal words “turn that bleeding racket down”, my mum continuously shouting up the stairs as she failed miserably to end my addiction to the Cocteau Twins, the glorious “racket” that soundtracked my teenage years. On a mid-80s Binatone cassette player obviously. And yet regardless of the misery their effects-driven guitars appeared to infer, they were … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Cocteau Twins
Wildblood and Queenie 