This week’s MP3 download is ‘Ninja Punks, 1′ by The Blitz Cartel - click just here to have a listen and go here to find out more about the band.

This week’s MP3 is ‘Modern Haste’ by Vixens, whose recent demo review on the site sparked off a degree of controversy. Have a listen for yourselves to the band right here.

Here’s a shot from last night’s Wheatsheaf Oxjam gig by Daniel Paxton. Photos of The Half Rabbits, Sennen, Sunnyvale and Cogwheel Dogs can be found over here.

The next OxfordBands.com live show is a special one, as we’re raising money for Oxfam’s Oxjam music festival. Headlining are The Half Rabbits, who appeared on MTV as a result of the video from their last OxfordBands Oxjam gig in October, and are back to support the cause again. In support, we’re pleased to bring Norwich’s finest shoegaze pop outfit Sennen back to town to promote their excellent second album. We’ve also got Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element and Cogwheel Dogs to complete a fine lineup. Tickets are on sale now here. The show is on Friday 25 April at The Wheatsheaf.

There’s always a cracking atmosphere at the wonderfully odd Oxford Improvisers gigs, gigs of the sort that make any guestlist-snapping reviewer rife with qualms for swooping in on their close-knit and cordial culture. But never mind.

Nostromo are a local improv quartet with the affable O.I. promoter Dominic Lash on double bass. Mighty blower Pete McPhail is a dazzling multi-instrumentalist, wielding a clackity, tongued flute, and three saxes: an all-out alto, a moody baritone and a chirping soprano. Drummer Roger Telford initiates a gentle meltdown, merging into a somnolent, rumbling daze, bowing the edges of his cymbals into a rich magnetic haze. As it seems with the improv music I’ve come across, Nostromo play their instruments rather than their notes, surging into a beautiful spontaneous cacophony, with slumbering earth rolls from Telford. Things really get interesting when the keys and bass unexpectedly work together, which resembles an interplay of musical Tourette’s; a sudden peal of intermittent ‘chucking’ or sporadic conversation, a nervous shiver or a spluttered, accidental sentence. Nostromi supply rich, exciting viewing, and they aren’t afraid to slip into coherent tonality – a wonderfully brooding Sun Ra riff signals a triumphant finale.

Paulo Angeli is a superb player of the Sardinian guitar; an oversized take on the Spanish variety which is played upright. His European axe has been rendered into a fantastic Frankenstein’s monster apparatus of added-on music boxes, springs, prepared pegs and 16 direct inputs, with different strings diverting into either of PA’s speakers, a bobbing stereo effect created. His set begins with a credit card wedged in between the strings, plucking sprightly, variegated flickers. Attached to the instrument are six foot pedals, each corresponding to a string. While Angeli taps a mic’d up plastic bag, the pedals cause a magnificent rhythmic reverberation. A hand-held radio feeds into the guitar’s pick-up, bordering on white noise. Things grow; barred harmonics abound with crunchy low-strung string noise resonating around our freshly painted Port. This is astonishing playing – the captivating performer that makes you forget you’ve enthusiastically foot-tapped someone else’s chair for ten minutes. Angeli bows, smacks, raps his guitar into a harshness that soon turns tuneful. Distortion fills the PA, that lovely crunchy type: a tender crispy noise. Hammered-on walking bass, jaunty bebop melodic lines – Angeli’s multitasking capabilities reach astonishing heights. After a particularly moving cover of Bjork’s ‘Unravel’ , Angeli ends with a round of plucking and droning, allowing one glorious chord to remain for a good ten seconds, stands up and thanks the cracking Oxford Imps regulars.

By Pascal Ansell.

This week’s MP3 download is ‘Won’t Say’ by The Black Hats - click here to download it  and here to find out more about the band.

Photo of The Winchell Riots at The Wheatsheaf, 12.04.08 courtesy of Daniel Paxton. More of the same can be found over here.

You can now see The Half Rabbits’ recent MTV short film by clicking here. The band recently made it through to the semi-finals of MTV’s Get Seen Get Heard competition, which is run alongside Oxfam’s Oxjam - we’ll be following the band’s progress further in the competition here on the site.

The Audioscope charity festival last November raised a total of £1,200 for national homelessness and bad housing charity Shelter, taking the total raised to well over £16,000. Last year’s show was headlined by Kraftwerk and Neu! legend Michael Rother (pictured), and previous Audioscope shows have brought performances from Four Tet, Explosions in the Sky, Damo Suzuki, Clinic, Luke Vibert, Deerhoof, Electrelane, Oxes and many more. The organisers will be announcing plans for Audioscope08 shortly.

In 2002, Audioscope released a compilation CD featuring tracks from Cat On Form, Nøught, Pram, eeebleee, Souvaris, Fighting Red Adair, Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element, Dustball, Appliance, and Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia… A few copies of this have been unearthed in a recent clearout, and they’re free to good homes on a first-come, first-served basis. Just email them if you’d like one - donations to Audioscope or Shelter in return are welcomed.

Here is a video of ‘February Snow’ from The Winchell Riots’ show at The Wheatsheaf on 12 April. Happy viewing.