The Richy & Jeff Show #26

ep-26-max-headroom-featured

Episode 26 – quite a jaunty, light affair.

We start with one of Jeff’s favourite 80’s electronic numbers, from THE avant-synth-pop experi-mentalists, and we play a snippet of a reworked (hit) version featuring a true pop culture icon. Richy kicks off his ‘Swedish Indie Pop Trilogy” with a perfectly sweet 3 minute guitar pop number.

The Randomizer poses a near impossible question to answer – not quite ‘Best. Song. Ever.’ But close.. – and gives us the chance to play a couple of well known tracks by a two of the UKs biggest acts – Jeff’s favourite act and our coolest export.

New tracks this week from a French soul singer / producer duo and a champion beat boxer (although thankfully none of that nonsense on this track) set a nice mellow, dancey tone to close the show

Richy reports back from 2 gigs – one good, one a bit ‘meh’. We talk about Pharrell vs The Gayes and Kanye for Glasto (controversial? Nah) and we wonder if there’s a point to co-headline gig and double A-sides. Jeff announces the first date of his Vinyl Frontier World Tour. And since this is our “kinda-St. Patrick’s day show” we don’t play any Irish music.

Thanks as always for listening (and for reading this far, if you have… I guess you must have… Haven’t you?)

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #25

ep-25-levitation-featured

 

This week’s episode was always going to be a challenge for Richy, after a day on which everything he listened to sounded awful and annoying. Luckily, Jeff was in a far better mood (as usual!).

Old tracks are a classic from a soul/pop innovator and legend (with a snippet of a more recent – and in Richy’s opinion, superior – rock cover version) and a forgotten but recently resurrected 90s indie/prog band.

The Randomizer is back and throws up some real obscurities – one of which cheers Richy up no end. (Polite notice: Richy’s track turns into two tracks, making for 8 minutes or so of challenging, dark alt-Americana).

New tracks from a German, reggae/funk/pop/dance/electronica act, courtesy of Jeff (of course) and a not-really-new-but-new-to-him bit of melancholy Grunge from Richy. We end with a crushing disappointment, an example of what an unchecked heroin addiction can do to a beautiful song.

Along the way we offend Clash fans everywhere, discuss the merits – or otherwise – of moving the charts to a Friday night (in summary: “Meh.”), Madge’s tumble at the Brits, Jeff’s pet subject of original vs cover version and lots of other, probably pointless, nonsense.

Richy mentions the Easter Egg that he hid in the description of the last episode – which is still unclaimed… Hint, hint…

Thanks as always for listening, we really do appreciate it.

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Richy & Jeff Show #24

Boxed In

Episode 24. We took a week off last week, so it’s been a while and we have a lot to talk about – and we deliver the longest (and possibly the most entertaining) episode yet.

Jeff goes proper old, old school for his first track – a quick, deeeep rendering of a true standard – but Richy only goes back a single decade for a concise slice of Brit-pop-mod-punk.

We revisit the Randomizer result that threw us a curveball last show – the tricky “Live Track”. Jeff chooses an absolute bona-fide ska classic, one of the very few live Number Ones. Richy goes for a bang up-to-date number from a Radio 1 session, by one of his current faves.

Then it’s back to new numbers with some anthemic Irish rock courtesy of Jeff and a piece of piano-led, 80’s post-punk influenced alt-rock from Richy (courtesy of Paul ‘Geezer’ Flower).

Richy reports back from the only gig of the year so far (a very slow start to 2015) and among other things we discuss: naughty band names, cancelled tours and excursions, Phil Collins, Jeff’s upcoming big Eurovision night out

We somehow manage to play some more obscure African guitar music, and end up spending waaay too much time discussing the bloody Black Eyed Peas (and Jeff gets far too excited!)

We had a great time recording this show, thanks for listening, hope you enjoy ot.

TESTING 1, 2… : if you’ve read this far, thanks. If you’re the first person to get in touch with either of us via Twitter – listen to the show for our @names – we’ll send you an iTunes gift card!!!

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Richy & Jeff Show #23

ep-23-happy-mondays

Episode 23 and it’s a much longer show this time. Despite neither of us having done much over the last couple of weeks (other than Jeff’s excellent, sellout, Vinyl Frontier Album Championship) we find quite a lot to talk about.

Jeff chooses a favourite album track from his college dorm days and Richy surprises with a not-like-him-at-all, bongo-heavy, pre-house-music classic, and then reverts to type, squeezing in a goth-tinged post-punk gem.

The Randomizer gives us some food for thought and then has us going all ‘baggy’, which gets Richy reminiscing about one of the worst weekends of his life.

New tracks from an unknown (at the moment) balladeer of the pastoral-folk variety and a great electronic-folk/Americana track, played as a preview to gig later in the year.

Some bad news from the dance music scene leads Richy to remember a criminally ignored music-related film, Jeff introduces us to a French singer, club-owner, artist’s muse and wartime collaborator, we discuss whether the Pixies are any good and the merits of The Beach Boys. Status Quo get a mention as does Ian Brown’s recent appearance in court (but only briefly!), and Jeff looks forward to meeting the legend that is Tony Blackburn!!

Thanks for listening

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

 

The Richy & Jeff Show #22

ep21-decameron-post

Episode 22 and we’re easing ourselves back into the swing of things with a short-but-sweet selection of “Easy Listening” and “Dad Rock”!

Jeff chooses a great, unsung piece of Folk Rock from the early 70’s that has a great story attached to it. Richy plays a forgotten 80’s number by a band who would mutate into something far more successful 10 years later.

The Randomizer lets us get all sentimental but throws up a bit of a dilemma for Richy.

The new tracks are much more “to form” with a couple of excellent electronic pieces – both of which owe a heavy debt to the past.

Not much to discuss in the way of musical highlights – always an issue in January – but despite that, as you’d expect there aren’t many awkward silences.

One imminent thing to look forward to, it’s Jeff’s “Vinyl Frontier – The Album Championship” this weekend, in which Richy – in a highly predictable move – will be singing (not literally) the praises of a Goth / not Goth masterpiece, which has little, to no hope of winning. We’ll undoubtedly report back next time!

Thanks for listening.

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #21

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - as featured in Episode 21

Episode 21, our first show of 2015 in which we ask look back at 2014 and ask ‘how was it for you?’

As is traditional at this time of year we take a minute (well, ok, 81) to look back at some of the great old, new and random music that we’ve played this year.

Somehow, from the list of almost 200 quality tracks that we’ve played since we started the show, we manage to choose 3 favourites each.

We own up to the few tracks that we played that seemed like good ideas at the time, but in retrospect were absolute stinkers. We’ll aim for fewer in 2015!

We also recall our favourite gigs of the year (both pretty predictable to be honest) and our other music-related highlights and look forward to what we’ve already got lined up for 2015.

What becomes obvious during this show is that we’ve both had a blast. In fact we may go as far as to say it’s been a vintage year. Let us know how it was for you?

Whether you’ve been with us since Ep 1 or you’re listening for the first time, we’re happy to have you onboard. Thanks so much for listening.

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #20

Smith And Burrows - as featured in episode 20

Episode 20!!! We made it! And, at Jeff’s insistence, it turns out to be our first Christmas show. Kind of inevitable really!

Of the 7 tracks we play this week, 5 are festive (or at least, somewhat Christmas related), but much to Richy’s surprise, not cheesily so. In fact there’s a couple of corkers and all, thankfully, a thousand miles away from Noddy and the boys.

We start with Jeff’s favourite ever Christmas track, a modern, but classic sounding track from a duo of musicians better know for other stuff. Richy delves into his distant past for an emotive Gothic / Hippy Rock track. Then it all gets a bit bizarre – a 70’s Prog cover of a classic Christmas Carol, a sort-of-soundtrack number from a sort-of-Christmas-related film and a Folk-Polka thrash about Santa from a total legend.

And then we’re back to normality (at least, normal for us!) for the new tracks – a torch song by Aussie twins (coincidentally born on Christmas Day!) and a final, fun and funky dance number to round things off.

We discuss what it is that makes a Christmas song and don’t really come up with anything concrete. Richy reports back from two underwhelming gigs and looks forward to a couple of hopefully better ones in 2015. Jeff plugs his new adventures in radio and trails his last Vinyl Frontier of the year, Band On The Run / Phil Spector’s Xmas Album.

Did we miss any cracking Christmas tunes? Our next episode will be our “2015 Review Of The Year” show – has it been a vintage year, or one to forget? What do you think?

Thanks as always for listening, we really appreciate it.

Richy & Jeff (and Mark!)

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #19

Sky Ferreira - as featured in Episode 19Episode 19 and we’re back on schedule – with no technical hitches!

We recap on a pretty uneventful week since Episode 18, no gigs to review this week but some tickets bought. We discuss the result of Jeff’s Vinyl Frontier 70s singer songwriter head-to-head and Jeff decides to ease us in to the show with one of the featured tracks for his Old Song. Richy picks a track that may well have been recorded in the 80s, but wasn’t.

The Randomizer is temporarily replaced with a “lucky dip” inspired by Q magazine’s Top 50 Albums Of 2014 – Jeff’s luck holds up but Richy picks two absolute (but short-lived) stinkers. Sorry for the naughty words…

For new songs this show, Jeff goes for an an electronic torch-song by one of the Twitterati, Carey Nokey (geddit?) and Richy plays what could possibly be his song of the year. And then sneaks in another by the same artist – because he can and because they’re worth it!

We belatedly discuss The Mercury awards, play a quick clip of one of Aphex Twin’s more bonkers but insanely clever tracks, talk songwriters and give a couple of shout-outs to good friends of ours.

Thanks as always listening!

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #18

Robert WyattEpisode 18 – TAKE TWO!!!

Richy screwed up when we tried to record this episode last week, so this is us trying again (and getting it right, thankfully!)

It’s been a busy few weeks, so loads to talk about – techno all-dayers, an unexpectedly great (but odd) gig, Richy ‘promoting’ the first UK gig by one of his favourite acts and a trip to the smoke for Richy’s birthday to see one of Jeff’s faves Heaven 17.

For this episode’s old tunes, Jeff celebrates his return by choosing a hit from one of his favourite acts (who he saw play live last week). Richy chooses a slice of dark electronica by one half of the odd act he saw last week (all gets a bit complicated this sometimes..)

The (not so) Randomizer round throws up a couple of classics, including a beautiful cover version by a much undervalued British great.

Jeff’s new tune comes from a great singer-songwriter that neither of us had heard of before, but who’s riding high in the US Charts and selling out world tours. Late to the party again! Richy plays an album track from a resurgent 80’s super-act.

One last thing to say – last episode was a smash hit, so hopefully we have some new listeners with us – hello to you! And thanks to DJ Mark Cooper for stepping in to fill Jeff’s shoes at last minute. Much appreciated mate.

We’ll be back on schedule so look out for Episode 19 next week – let us know what you think of this week’s shambles!

Thanks as always listening!

Richy & Jeff

(Pictured – Robert Wyatt “Shipbuilding” cover art)

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk

The Richy & Jeff Show #17

Big BlackStarts with a bang!

Episode 17 and no Jeff this week as he’s off on another holiday (!!?) – “Treats this podcast like a hotel, that one!” – so, our good friend DJ Mark Cooper steps in to fill the void.

We start the show with a right screeching racket – a track from a classic, influential album with a naughty name – and then get all funky, dancey, spacey, poppy and gothy with a few other flavours thrown in (listen out for the tracks by bands with really great names).

Co-incidentally two bands from Bristol (Richy’s home town) this week, one from ages ago and one from right now.

Jeff “phones in” a piece of melancholy pop for a kind-of randomiser round – it probably could have done with him being here to defend it.

Mark claims the crown for “Richy’s most hated song ever played on the show”. – displacing Laibach’s “The Whisperers” from the throne.

We talk about cover versions – come on UK, The Pet Shop Boys? Seriously!? – a great gig we went to, Krautrock and loads of other stuff.

* There’s some annoying interference from the laptop at points during the show. It’s not too bad, but apologies anyway. We’ll try and sort it for next time.

Thanks as always listening!

Richy & Jeff

To download subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1lVqSuL

Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest boards for more information about this, and other episode’s featured artists:
www.pinterest.com/headtohead

www.facebook.com/headtoheadpodacsts
www.twitter.com/richy1311
www.twitter.com/vinylyjeff
www.vinyl-frontier.co.uk