How was it for you? According to a recent poll that we ran on MusicInOxford.co.uk, 85% of you thought that 2010 was a good year for Oxford music. 14% of you didn’t; 1% weren’t sure. Interpret statistics with care you must, but that seems to affirm what we’ve been thinking – it was a good year. Exciting things happened, bands formed, events were successful, the media’s gaze turned again on Oxford as it has done many times before.

We want to open a website… wiz you!

MusicInOxford.co.uk replaced OxfordBands.com in July 2010, with several aims – kick-starting the website back into life to provide an online hub for musicians and music lovers alike, being a resource of news and opinion, and helping to showcase and promote the best new talents in Oxford music. There are still many plans ahead for the website in 2011, but in its six months of life so far, it’s been our pleasure to work with all of you folks out there to keep bringing lots of good stuff to the website. Mutual back-patting all around!

News in brief

So… what happened in 2010? Well, you can dig through the news archive to see all of the things that we reported on, but here are some headlines…

• Things went very well for some Oxford bands: Foals continued to storm the world, with their Total Life Forever grabbing a Mercury Music Prize nomination for ‘Album of the year’. Stornoway signed to 4AD, Ute to Alcopop! Records, and Dive Dive to Xtra Mile. There were major tours and gigs around the world for Little Fish, Bellowhead, This Town Needs Guns, A Silent Film, Bitches and many more.
• Highs and lows for independent shops: The much-loved Videosyncratic – yes, a video shop, but very much a supporter of local music – was forced to close its doors. It will now forever be known as ‘the much-missed Videosyncratic’. Witney’s Rapture Records soldiered on as the county’s online independent music retailer, and snagged some outstanding in-store performances/signings from local luminaries like Little Fish and The Epstein as well as Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and, er, McFly!
• Hello new bands… a sad goodbye to others: All kinds of new talent popped up or ‘broke through’ in 2010 – a totally random list might include Spring Offensive, Fixers, Samuel Zasada, Coloureds and Alphabet Backwards. Such a list would (indeed, should) also include a hell of a lot more. We bade a tearful farewell to Dial F For Frankenstein, Witches and The Evenings – with our fingers crossed that ‘never say never’ will ring true for both. And let’s not forget the huge number of local bands that kept on keeping on throughout 2010: The Half Rabbits, Black Hats, Smilex, The Family Machine, The Rock Of Travolta, Secret Rivals, etc etc et-bleedin’-cetera.
• Blessing Force madness: An NME article and its associated barrage of online comments swung the Sauron’s Eye of the nation, nay the world, to fix squarely on Oxford. What did this all mean, in reality? Hugely popular gigs for the likes of Jonquil and Trophy Wife, a lot of column inches for them as well as Neon Pulse, Rhosyn, Solid Gold Dragons, Chad Valley and Fixers, and – perhaps most importantly – more exposure for all of the other bands in Oxford. (At least, once all of the bitchin’ and moanin’ had died down).

Your favourite releases of 2010

We asked y’all to vote on which releases from 2010 you favoured – typically, as you’re a bunch with a wide range of tastes and opinions, a lot of releases got votes! For completeness, though, here’s the whole list:

• Seabuckthorn: A Mantra Pulled Apart (20 votes)
• Alphabet Backwards: Superhero EP (13 votes)
• Dial F For Frankenstein: USA (9 votes)
• Black Hats: Tunnels (7 votes)
• Dead Jerichos: Mountains (7 votes)
• Desert Storm: Forked Tongues (7 votes)
• Seabuckthorn: Distant Summer Storm (7 votes)
• Dead Jerichos: Spaces And Sounds (6 votes)
• The Empty Vessels: EP (6 votes)
• Spring Offensive: Pull Us Apart (5 votes)
• The Winchell Riots: Red Square EP (5 votes)
• Samuel Zasada: Niesen EP (5 votes)
• Alphabet Backwards: Polar Bears (4 votes)
• Black Hats: Magnets (4 votes)
• Coloureds: Camelopardalis EP (4 votes)
• Fixers: Amsterdam (4 votes)
• Foals: Total Life Forever (4 votes)
• Foals: Spanish Sahara (4 votes)
• The Half Rabbits: From The Horizon To The Map (4 votes)
• Spring Offensive: The First of Many Dreams About Monsters (4 votes)
• Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill (4 votes)
• Various Artists: BBC Oxford – Round The Bends (4 votes)
• Alphabet Backwards: Primark (3 votes)
• Baby Gravy: Not Waiting / Hot Night (3 votes)
• Bellowhead: Hedonism (3 votes)
• The Evenings: Open Letters EP (3 votes)
• The Family Machine: See You / Sleep (3 votes)
• The Gullivers: All That Fall / In Orbit (3 votes)
• Little Fish: Am I Crazy? (3 votes)
• Little Fish: Baffled And Beat (3 votes)
• Phantom Theory / Gunning For Tamar: Split EP (3 votes)
• The Prohibition Smoker’s Club: A Clearing (3 votes)
• Secret Rivals: Start Fires (3 votes)
• Stornoway: I Saw You Blink (3 votes)
• Ute: The Gambler EP (3 votes)
• Borderville: Joy Through Work (2 votes)
• Dial F For Frankenstein: Wes Vega (2 votes)
• D Gwalia: In Puget Sound (2 votes)
• The Half Rabbits: Of This City (2 votes)
• Harry Angel: A Bad Business (2 votes)
• The Long Insiders: Midnight Man (2 votes)
• Mr Fogg: Moving Parts (2 votes)
• Phantom Theory: Shotguns And Sharks (2 votes)
• Samuel Zasada: Niesen EP (2 votes)
• Smilex: X (2 votes)
• Strawberry Nightmares: Confusion / Illusion (2 votes)
• Winnebago Deal: Career Suicide (2 votes)
• Chima Anya: New Day (1 vote)
• Confidential Collective: The Garden Project (1 vote)
• Cooling Pearls: Album (1 vote)
• Nick Cope: What Colour Is Your T-Shirt? (1 vote)
• The Delta Frequency: Wisdom Walks Hand In Hand With Idiocy (1 vote)
• Echo Boomer: You Are (1 vote)
• The Graceful Slicks: Demo (1 vote)
• The Inventions of Jerry Darge: Waking Hours (1 vote)
• Sharron Kraus: The Woody Nightshade (1 vote)
• Lee Riley: Guitar Works VII-XII (1 vote)
• Rise East Strike West: To The Lions (1 vote)
• The Rock of Travolta: Last March of The Acolytes (1 vote)
• Matt Sage: Let The Music Out (1 vote)
• Scarlett In The Wilderness: Edible But Suspicious (1 vote)
• Secret Rivals: It Would Be Colder Here Without You (1 vote)
• Serotonin: Siemprey Para Siempre (1 vote)
• South Parade: EP (1 vote)
• Space Heroes of The People: Dancing About Architecture EP (1 vote)
• Uneek: Scrabble Mixtape (1 vote)
• Very Nice Harry: Sugar Lounge EP (1 vote)
• Von Braun (1 vote)
• Witches: Expansion (1 vote)

Our favourite releases of 2010

All of the MusicInOxford.co.uk contributors voted on their fave releases of ’10, with the following results…

• Foals: Total Life Forever (4 votes)
• Spring Offensive: The First of Many Dreams About Monsters (4 votes)
• The Winchell Riots: Red Square EP (4 votes)
• Various Artists: BBC Oxford – Round The Bends (3 votes)
• Coloureds: Camelopardalis EP (3 votes)
• Dial F For Frankenstein: USA (3 votes)
• D Gwalia: In Puget Sound (3 votes)
• Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill (3 votes)
• Black Hats: Tunnels (2 votes)
• Dead Jerichos: Mountains (2 votes)
• Mr Fogg: Moving Parts (2 votes)
• Samuel Zasada: Niesen EP (2 votes)
• Alphabet Backwards: Primark (1 vote)
• Bellowhead: Hedonism (1 vote)
• Borderville: Joy Through Work (1 vote)
• Confidential Collective: The Garden Project (1 vote)
• Cowboy Racer: Album sampler (1 vote)
• The Empty Vessels: EP (1 vote)
• Fedeterra: Glass Shattered (1 vote)
• Fixers: Amsterdam (1 vote)
• The Gullivers: All That Fall / In Orbit (1 vote)
• The Half Rabbits: From The Horizon To The Map (1 vote)
• Sharron Kraus: The Woody Nightshade (1 vote)
• The Mountain Parade: Living Room Songs (1 vote)
• Phantom Theory: Shotguns And Sharks (1 vote)
• Lee Riley: Guitar Works VII-XII (1 vote)
• The Rock of Travolta: Last March Of The Acolytes (1 vote)
• Matt Sage: Let The Music Out (1 vote)
• Scarlett In The Wilderness: Edible But Suspicious (1 vote)
• Seabuckthorn: A Mantra Pulled Apart (1 vote)
• Space Heroes of The People: Dancing About Architecture EP (1 vote)
• Ute: The Gambler EP (1 vote)
• Vileswarm: The Shaman’s Last Waltz (1 vote)
• Xmas Lights: Treading The Fine Line (1 vote)

Tim Lovegrove’s tasty picks

• Spring Offensive: The First Of Many Dreams About Monsters… “The execution falls ever-so-fractionally short, but Spring Offensive make up the difference with the audacity and sheer balls of writing something so out of keeping with their normal fare”
• Samuel Zasada: Niesen EP… “What David says below, with added Gomez”
• Dial F For Frankenstein: USA… “Adding a bit of maturity and craftsmanship to their Weezer-ish pop rock pays off”
• Various Artists: BBC Oxford – Round The Bends… “In a vain effort to prove I’m not evil, I think this is great. Double thumbs up and winky smiley. Is that convincing enough?”
• Fedeterra: Glass Shattered… “I’m possibly one of the only people outside the band themselves to have actually heard this, but I honestly wish some of the more serious musos in town would take a quick glance in this direction and see how much fun it can be just to get on and do something even if you’re not that great at it! Tuning, chord progressions and structure are so passé”

Colin Mackinnon’s tasty picks

• D Gwalia: In Puget Sound… “Mournfully beautiful, authentically rickety folk music from a gifted Welsh troubadour”
• Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill… “A masterpiece of modern folk music, bursting with emotional intelligence and intelligent emotionalism. And the odd kazoo solo”
• Confidential Collective: The Garden Project… “They may sometimes sound cocky, but this large, hyper-funky ensemble have a lot of be confident about”
• Cowboy Racer: Album sampler… “Old school 90s indie, but mixed in with a cool Euro-pop detachment”
• The Empty Vessels: EP… “Sweaty, leather-lunged classic rock”
• Foals: Total Life Forever… “Bigger sound and bigger tunes than ‘Antidotes’. Long outgrown their math-rock stereotype”
• Scarlett In The Wilderness: Edible But Suspicious… “Delirious Eastern European party album from demure Oxford students”
• The Winchell Riots: Red Square EP… “Lonely, awe-inspiring skyscapes. Makes Sigur Ros sound like Chas and Dave”

Simon Minter’s tasty picks

• Black Hats: Tunnels… “For some reason, this band gets unfairly yet routinely overlooked – they’re solid, supremely talented and capable of banging out no end of excellently-crafted songs”
• Coloureds: Camelopardalis EP… “Although I haven’t heard this, I know it’s one of the best of 2010, based on the extraordinary brilliance of Coloureds’ live shows”
• Dead Jerichos: Mountains… “Thumbs up to the band for deciding to release something that is somewhat unexpected – and that hints at much more than we may have realised”
• Foals: Spanish Sahara… “An impressively suave and relaxed two fingers to all those expecting nothing but more and more complicated guitar post-rock from Foals
• The Half Rabbits: From The Horizon To The Map… “Surprising that this is their first album having been around for many years, but it was worth the wait – polished, dark, catchy songs from a band that are never afraid to stick to their guns”
• Lee Riley: Guitar Works VII-XII… “There’s not enough drone in Oxford, but Lee Riley/Euhedral keeps me furnished with regular swamps of noise in which to immerse myself”
• The Winchell Riots: Red Square EP… “They released it on vinyl as well as on CD and download – that alone makes it worthwhile; the superlative songs can only help further”

David Murphy’s tasty picks

• Alphabet Backwards: Primark… “Sherbet-fuelled melodic nugget about the death of the High Street. As unashamed pure pop lovers, the Alphabets wear their hearts on their sleeves”
• Borderville: Joy Through Work… “Only Richard Ramage can come close to Borderville in terms of literate lyrics that sneak up on strong emotions whilst you’re not looking. If The Relationships are a mythical village school fete, Borderville are a baroque Hallowe’en masque at the end of civilisation”
• D Gwalia: In Puget Sound… “Like a creaky harmonium making a drunken hour long phone call to the Port Talbot Samaritans”
• Samuel Zasada: Nielsen… “Rich, full-bodied and peppery with unexpected subtleties. Or am I thinking of shiraz?”
• Space Heroes Of The People: Dancing About Architecture… “More totalitarian techpop from the now drummerless duo. One day there’ll be
  none of them left in the band, just an autonomous laptop. And it’ll be great”
• Spring Offensive: Pull Us Apart… “The cowbell rehabilitation starts here!”
• Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill… “There’s been a murder, Lewis: Stornoway have destroyed the opposition for best Oxford LP”
• Various Artists: BBC Oxford – Round The Bends… “Surprisingly coherent grab bag of Radiohead covers raises dosh for needy nippers. Therefore if you don’t like it you’re evil as well as stupid”
• Vileswarm: The Shaman’s Last Waltz… “Frampton comes undead! Euhedral reads the rites”
• Xmas Lights: Treading The Fine Line… “Posthumous release by much missed emperors of isolationist metal, a great ear-scouring sign off for Oxford’s original Cursing Force”

Mark Wilden’s tasty picks

• Bellowhead: Hedonism… “The folk-disco orchestra gets a little bit closer to capturing the live magic on record as their reputation grows and grows”
• Coloureds: Camelopardalis EP… “Laptop techno duo who emerged fully-formed almost out of nowhere this year to steal my heart (and feet)”
• Foals: Total Life Forever… “Exactly what you’d expect from Foals, in the best possible way; it’s the kind of assured development you hope to see in all bands you love but somehow few can manage it”
• Mr Fogg: Moving Parts… “A really strong, solid record from the electro-pop kid with Icelandic leanings whose restless tenacity paid dividends this year”
• Sharron Kraus: The Woody Nightshade… “Spooky anti-love songs from our very own folk legend”
• Matt Sage: Let The Music Out… “Probably the album I’ve listened to most this year; somehow I really fell for this. Beautiful songs played by a range of (probably) beautiful musicians”
• Spring Offensive: Pull Us Apart… “My choice of live band of the year, with a suite of great inventive songs performed and recorded to perfection”
• Stornoway: Beachcomber’s Windowsill… “Stornoway’s incremental four-year rise just keeps going and going; this record may be largely recycled from earlier EPs but still hangs together as a wonderful whole”
• Various Artists: BBC Oxford – Round The Bends… “A surprisingly coherent snapshot of some of the best acts around putting their own stamp on classic songs, with every track worth a listen”
• The Winchell Riots: Red Square EP… “It’s taken a long, long time for me to look past the memory of Fell City Girl and accept the Winchell Riots in their own right as a band of greater subtlety and no less power”

Want more 2010age?

MusicInOxford.co.uk’s 2010 in pictures
Hear some of our tasty picks in the MusicInOxford.co.uk end of 2010 podcast

What have we missed

This round-up will inevitably have missed out on some importants nuggets of Oxford music activity from 2010… So, readers, what did we miss? Let us know, with your comments…