Okay, it’s not London or Liverpool – in fact, it’s not even Sheffield – but for a fairly small city Oxford has a lot to offer to any music fans willing to keep their ears open. As [2010]’s documentary Anyone Can Play Guitar showed by tracing the city’s recent musical history, Oxford has given the world some pretty major names in contemporary music. But the city has recently been home, too, to a new and thriving music scene, an Oxford Movement for the 2010s, which has started to attract media attention from around the world. This week Mixer presents some of the best bands to come out of Oxford in the last twenty years, and the local acts you should be keeping an eye on for the future.
Ride – OX4
It’s a seven-minute shoegaze masterpiece, and it’s named after the postcode for East Oxford – what more could you possibly want from a local band? Ride may very well be the archetypal ‘dreaming spires’ group, and if you want to know why, climb up your nearest bell-tower, listen to this sublime, soaring track off 1992’s Going Blank Again, and look at the Oxford skyline of an evening. You’re welcome.
Radiohead – You
Radiohead are probably Oxford’s most famous musical export, and still call the city home – keep an eye out for Thom Yorke in the Botanical Gardens. This standout track from Radiohead’s 1993 debut Pablo Honey – back when Radiohead still, y’know, wrote songs – anticipates their later taste for rhythmic deviancy and unusual time signatures, but first and foremost it’s a straight-up alt-rock anthem. Better than ‘Creep’? Quite possibly.
Fixers – Crystals
Ecstatically mingling indie, electronica, and surf-pop, Fixers are a fast-rising pivot of the current Oxford scene, and ‘Crystals’ (from the intriguingly titled Here Comes 2001 So Let’s All Head For The Sun EP) is a pitch-perfect slab of psychedelic pop with a dancing beat – Oxford’s answer to Animal Collective.
Jonquil – It Never Rains
Another gorgeous Afrobeat track from Jonquil, founded by the rather prolific Hugo Manuel (alias Chad Valley). Cherwell called their recent single ‘Mexico’ ‘a sparkling mix of jangling guitars, horns and keyboards’, but Jonquil themselves prefer ‘Paul Simon’s take on The Smiths’.
Spring Offensive – A Stutter and A Start
Okay, Spring Offensive may sound a little dated, stuck in the mid-2000s indie rock vein of The Maccabees or early Bombay Bicycle Club. But ‘A Stutter and A Start’ is redeemed both by the innovatively jittery percussion underpinning the whole thing, and by the occasional burst of beautiful Midlake-style vocal harmony. More of this sort of thing, and they could turn into something very impressive indeed.
We Aeronauts – Chalon Valley House Band
This track has its origin in a band holiday to the French countryside, and it shows: indie-folk boy-girl melodies and retro organs jostle against lyrics about ‘blue sky, burnt shoulders, and bicycle rides’. It’s beautiful, downbeat, and (we imagine) very, very good for road trips. Go and see the eight-piece We Aeronauts at the Oxjam Oxford Takeover this weekend – you won’t be disappointed.
Pet Moon – Ganger
Pet Moon is the new project from Andrew Mears, formerly of Youthmovies (and, briefly, Foals). Even without that Oxford indie-cred to back him up, ‘Ganger’ would be impressive: minimalist, downbeat, but oddly funky, it sounds at times almost like Prince (yes, really). Insidious synths and loops slowly creep into what starts out as a lonely folk song. Chilling and brilliant.
Trophy Wife – Canopy Shade
The menacing, dub-inflected ‘Wolf’ crept onto our September Mixer, but this jittering electronic track – also off the recent Bruxism EP – shows further promise for Trophy Wife. The band also to be found collaborating with a number of other local artists in the Oxford supergroup Blessing Force, and drinking in The Star on Rectory Road, East Oxford. (The garden makes it worth a visit even if you’re not trying to spot obscure musicians.)
Youthmovies – Magic Diamond
The truly one-of-a-kind Youthmovies formed in 2002, and ‘Magic Diamond’ shows the difficulty of pinning their sound down, shifting as it does from indie-folk to noise-rock to prog to post-rock with consummate ease. Last year saw their final tour, but new material from various former members points to a bright future.
Chad Valley – Now That I’m Real (How Does It Feel?) feat. Rose Dagul
Chad Valley is trying, as Cherwell recently discovered, to back away from the American chillwave scene. You’d think that would be fairly easy for Hugo Manuel, because he’s Oxford born and bred (his parents run a paint shop on Cowley Road), but his Equatorial Ultravox EP showed clear affinities with the likes of Washed Out. This track off the EP, however, shows that the real difference between Chad Valley and his American counterparts is Manuel’s talent for pop composition.
Talulah Gosh – Steaming Train
Talulah Gosh are the twee-est of the twee, the band who were just too C86 for C86. They later evolved into the more sophisticated Heavenly, but their earlier frenetic jumble is best delivered in small doses. Conveniently, this particular track comes in at under two minutes of shambolic joy. Listen loud.
Foals – Two Steps, Twice
Fact: Two of Foals’ founder members dropped out of St. John’s College to devote themselves to Foals full-time. On this track off 2008’s Antidotes, indie rock gets acquainted with classical minimalism as layer joins layer of simple guitar riffs (Foals were famous early on for rarely straying below the twelfth fret), pounding drums and mantric lyrics.
Swervedriver – Never Lose That Feeling
Oxford’s answer to The Smashing Pumpkins started making an agreeable racket in the early ‘90s as part of what was then called ‘The Thames Valley Scene’, and are still at it twenty years later. Ignore the fact that they looked rubbish: ‘Never Lose That Feeling’ is up there with the best that shoegaze has to offer.
An abridged version of Mixer: Oxford Blues is also available on Spotify – click here to load the playlist. For more information on Anyone Can Play Guitar and Oxford music 1980-2010, visit www.acpgthemovie.com.
