Playlists of 2024

In 2024, I started a new semi-regular column, Playlist, picking out tracks that caught my ear. It quickly turned into a way to try and promote the work of artists from around the Northeast of England and formed a natural counterpoint to my Talking Northeast project.

Now, with the first playlist of 2025 on the way, it makes sense to put the first year’s material in one handy place. As well as the regular playlists, I’ve added links to other music writing, including a few items from Talking Northeast itself (those links might invite you to subscribe – that’s not essential, but would always be welcome; there’s no paywall, but more subscribers means a higher profile for the site).

Playlists

• Folksy Flavours (featuring Amelia Coburn, Brick and Maius Mollis)
• Politics (featuring Jen Dixon, Benefits and Pointy Features – a Vocal top story)
• Stockton Calling (featuring Cortney Dixon, Hannah Robinson and Hector Gannett)
• Russia (featuring Gnoomes, Barto and Glasnost)
• Aelius (featuring Jenny Lascelles, Polyvinyl and Amateur Ornithologist)
• #6 (featuring the Girl with the Replaceable Head, Kathryn Williams and Gone Tomorrow)
• Border crossings (featuring Bubamara, Kinaara and Driven Serious)
• #8 (featuring Kathryn Williams &Withered Hand, Labyrinthine Oceans and Borealis)
• Safe hands, throwing stones (featuring Jodie Nicholson, Bled and Isabel Maria)
• More than a stone's throw (featuring Vice Killer, Georgina Gale and Brick)
• Fusion (featuring Me Lost Me, Re:Vulva and The Hemp Queens)
• Pigs, Parties and Portuguese (featuring Pigsx7, Amelia Coburn and House of the Black Gardenia)
• From Bronte to Black Metal (featuring Jodie Nicholson, The Unthanks and the Young Property Developers)
• Punk Princesses (featuring Hannah Robinson, Labyrinthine Oceans and Celadore)
• Mackem Magic and a mystical remix (featuring Martha, Field Music and the Woven Project)
• Narc.Fest (featuring Irked, Cortney Dixon and Warm Digits)
• Fringe Benefits (featuring Isabel Maria, Jam Tub and Binaries)
• Peterlee Psalms (featuring Fawns, Vice Killer and Shannon Pearl)
• Winds of Change (featuring The Peevie Wonders, HMRC and Pit Pony)
• Punk Nostalgia, Twisted Psychedelia (featuring Rubber Oh, Red London and Elaine Palmer)
• Remembrance of Times Past (featuring Field Music, Me Lost Me and Cri du Canard)
• Ghosts, Labyrinths and Brutalism (featuring Isabel Maria, Labyrinthine Oceans and Fast Blood)
• If the Pixies came from Peterlee (featuring Marginal Gains, Jodie Nicholson and Benefits)
• Waves Festival (featuring Dead Wet Things, Benefits and Palma Louca)
• New Releases (featuring Binaries, the Unthanks and Rye)

Gig reviews

• Boundaries Festival, Sunderland (a Vocal top story)
• Benefits @ Playbrew, Middlesbrough
• Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand, Holy Grale, Durham

Talking Northeast interviews

• A new golden age? - chatting about the future of the local music scene with author and musician Ian Fawdon
• Keep the music alive - grassroots venues and the struggle for survival
• Jodie Nicholson - Sad Songs tour
• Binaries - Meet the band
• Benefits - Missiles
• Lionel Tertis and the Hartlepool Connection - a giant of classical musical honoured in his hometown

Vocal interviews

• Isabel Maria
• Amelia Coburn (story from 2020)
• Cruel Nature records (story from 2020)
• Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham (story from 2020)

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