This month’s playlist is a Mercury Prize special. The Mercury Prize is an annual event, celebrating the best of UK and Irish artists, with a final shortlist of 12 albums. This year, just three albums were by female artists – Everybody Down by Kate Tempest, LP1 by FKA twigs and One Breath by Anna Calvi. Although the winner of this year’s prize, Young Fathers, was announced yesterday evening, it’s definitely worth seeking out the aforementioned artists, who are original and incredible talents. You can watch them perform, along with the other shortlisted artists, at 11.40pm on Friday 31 October on Channel 4.
‘Blood I Bled’ is the new single by The Staves, a trio of sisters from Watford, making acoustic-folk music. Their harmonies are a revelation and judging by the popularity of their recent sell-out UK tour, they’re going to be big.
Purson are a psychedelic rock band from London. When I hear this track, I can’t help but think of Steeleye Span singing ‘Gaudete’. Go figure.
I also really wanted to include a Salt-N-Pepa track which wasn’t ‘Push It’. I absolutely love that tune and it’s probably their biggest hit, but they’ve also got an extensive back-catalogue of awesome rhymes with a fierce and feminist message. Growing up, I listened to a lot of Salt-N-Pepa. Playing their tracks now, I’m amazed and impressed at how pioneering and progressive they were, with their unapologetic anthems about female independence and sexual freedom. Infinite love and respect to the S to the P (and not forgetting Spinderella)!
Please click here for your October playlist. You can also view the track-list here.
Enjoy.
The image is a black and white upper body shot of Kate Tempest, in mid-flow. One hand holds a microphone close to her mouth, whilst her other hand points out from an extended arm. Image by The Queen’s Hall, shared under a Creative Commons licence.