The current debates around gender bias in live music, specifically festival lineups, are important but I think people are focused too closely on big names and headliners. We’d learn a ton more by looking at smaller stages and events aimed at ’emerging artists’. I’ve done two quick bits of number crunching in that area, at The Great Escape and BBC Introducing, to see how they shape up…

Here’s the playlist for Midnight Campfire episode #44, first broadcast Wed 24 June 2015. The Campfire Songbook entry was the John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey version of  ‘Is That All There Is?’. I’ll throw up the ‘listen online’ link as soon as it’s ready – but for now, here’s what I played…

Here’s the playlist for Midnight Campfire episode #43, first broadcast Wed 17 June 2015 on Juice 107.2. The second hour was all songs about bicycles.

You can LISTEN ONLINE HERE. I don’t think this is a prime episode – equipment acted up, I made a bunch of mistakes, plus some songs I thought would be great sounded shonky (and there was no Campfire Songbook entry because it wouldn’t play). Still I really enjoyed the second hour. I loved sticking Katie Melua between Tom Waits and Half Man Half Biscuit. It was also lush that listeners picked so many of the themed songs. Thank you. Here’s the listen online link and here’s what I played…

Here’s the playlist for Chris T-T’s Midnight Campfire episode #42, first broadcast Wed 10 June 2015 on Juice 107.2. No theme this week but it felt like a great show. This week’s Campfire Songbook entry is by Phil Ochs. You can LISTEN ONLINE HERE.

Oh, and I’m looking for contributions to two new theme ideas: hunting and bicycles. If you’ve got songs ideas for those, please visit Midnight Campfire on Facebook and put your suggestions in the pot? Thankyou. Anyway, here’s what I played this week…

“Wait, you WATCH people play COMPUTER GAMES!?”

I’ve become badly obsessed with Twitch. It is replacing the vast bulk of my TV viewing right now and I’ve been thinking about it almost constantly – partly with an objective analytical head, attempting to place it in context with the rest of our artistic output and partly just, well, trying to figure out how it’s captured me. So this is the first of a short series of blog entries with Twitch as a starting point…

On Saturday night I did a (pretty rare I suppose) DJ set, to close Grace Petrie’s album launch at The Good Ship in Kilburn. The gig was fierce. Grace on phenomenal form, a rammed crowd throwing every chorus back loud. Also Grace’s lowkey trio lineup is terrific; broadens her sound, varies her arrangements without losing focus. Great stuff.

Then I had a super fun two hours drinking white wine and playing records – nothing subtle, just happy to keep people dancing (and they bloody did too). I played mostly (80%) off CD, with a few tracks from my laptop and a couple from Spotify. I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the set, though there are quite a few songs missing. And here’s what my notebook says I played…

Here’s the playlist for Midnight Campfire episode #41, first broadcast Wed 3 June 2015 on Juice 107.2. The first hour was entirely artists I’ve not played before on the show, not necessarily brand new music but fresh to the Campfire. The second hour was all songs themed around cuckoos, inspired by Kathryn Williams’ beautiful, disturbing new single ‘Cuckoo’. Listen online HERE and this is the list of songs I played…