As the countdown to the end of 2013 quickly approaches we take a personal look back on familiar names, features and musicians’ best releases of the past 12 months. Circuit Sweet will be featuring the featured artists of the site with their personal top 5 releases of the year.
The past 12 months truly has been an incredible year for releases, hard to follow last year in the records produced but this year has uncovered exceptional talent- most of which discovered, promoted and featured right here on this site.
In our end of year special we let our favorites take over the site to tell us the records that have made their end of year lists, their favorite events/gigs and what we can look forward to from them next year.
Continuing our Rad Releases is a guy who hosts the best radio show in the world. We welcome our good friend Ross Williams from The Eclectic Sessions to tell us his most loved records of the year. The Eclectic Sessions is a radio show illustrating the more bold and bizarre side of today’s music. The majority of gigs we cover we have the privilege in spending them with Ross whose great music taste led us together. In fact I can’t remember a show we were at where he wasn’t. This year Circuit Sweet planned to join forces with The Eclectic Sessions for a special show but unfortunately due to illness we are rescheduling for next year and we are excited about that.
So let’s try and sum up The Eclectic Sessions’ 2013 then…. Things started off quite well with the show being done on a weekly basis but then it all started to go downhill with new jobs completely removing the key element to doing stuff in your ‘free time’ by taking away any free time that we had so instead of being a weekly show we managed to keep things ticking over by at least doing a monthly slot but in recent months that’s now gone out the window and with Poob deciding to call it a day due to other commitments things aren’t looking to great at the moment but the intentions are there to get back into the swing of it in 2014.
Top 5 Releases of 2013
This was a tough one but finally settled for those listed below, which include a cheeky late entry. They are in no particular order just the albums and EP’s that I’ve enjoyed and listened to the most this year….
* Quadrupede – Quadrupede
* They Told Me You Were Dead! (Formerly Beasts) – Tanz der Teufel
* Wet Nuns – Broken Teeth & Wet Nuns (Album)
* Beard Of Wolves – Wolf Skulls
* Cold Crows Dead – I Fear A New World
Best Gigs Of 2013
Haven’t been to anywhere near the number of gigs id have like to have gone to this year but still managed to get some important ones in and the highlights would probably include Gallops’ gig in Buffalo Bar, Wet Nuns in Clwb and The Dillinger Escape Plan/Maybeshewill/Three Trapped Tigers one in Cardiff Uni.
Whilst the gig front was relatively quiet compared to last year heading back to 2000 Trees was a must and always on the cards and also on the back of how good 2000 trees was in 2012 getting to the very first ArcTangent was must. Far too many highlights from those to list them all but here are a few….
* Maybeshewill’s set in The Cave was possibly the best atmosphere I’ve felt in a giant tent, it was truly immense with both crowd and band feeding off each others energy and every song ended with a standing ovation that seemed to last along as the song did.
* Finally getting to see Adebisi Shank, And So I Watch You From Afar, You Slut! and Wet Nuns to name just a few.
* Discovering great bands like Axes, Wot Gorilla? and Cold Crows Dead that I haven’t stopped listening to since.
* The Silent Disco at ArcTangent, what can I say about it other than WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really was that good and based on that alone I shall be going back next year as its not often you are in a giant tent with a few thousand people ‘singing’ along to the theme music from Jurassic Park (By the way, who was it that played it as the Maybeshewill lads didn’t want to take the credit for it)
* “Tongue Deodorant” and “The Talking Tent”.
Plans for 2014
Hmmmm plans for 2014 are fairly simple, try and find time from somewhere to get the show back on track even if it means becoming a monthly broadcast at least doing it will be a start.
One key show is already some way along the planning stage, so Naomi best hurry up and get well soon so the Circuit Sweet/Aulos take over can happen. There will also be a few other live guests and bands that have been penciled in but just finding time has put paid to those shows.
Something else we shall be looking into for 2014 is the much mentioned “Eclectic Sessions Presents” gig which has had several false starts but hopefully we can get something going with that next year.
Some special thank you’s and shout outs need to go to the likes of Tim at Field Records/Karhide, Marty and the guys from Alright the Captain, Yourselves, those who run DapperFM studio and everyone else who has been supportive of the show. Thank you and see you all in 2014
Don’t forget you can get Ross’ chosen top 5 release Quadrupede from our online store- http://circuitsweet.bigcartel.com/
We can’t wait to team up with The Eclectic Sessions and we are looking forward to hearing more from them next year!
@EclecticSession
https://soundcloud.com/the-eclectic-sessions
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Eclectic-Sessions/296065337124914?fref=ts
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