Presented by Ruth Barnes, The Other Woman is the only radio show in the UK with an all-female playlist.

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It’s Christmas Eves on Amazing Radio… and that means the Christmas Eve’s have taken over!

With an outstanding proportion of women presenters on Amazing Radio – we’ve taken over Christmas Eve. Between 3 and 5 The Other Woman will be playing the best in new music from female artists on amazingtunes.com as always, but we also feature an interview with writer and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer about the formation of Sound Women in 2011. As a reaction to the outrageous disproportion of women to men on the radio, the website was set up to encourage women as presenters and programme makers, as a go-to list for those on the hunt for talented spokeswomen and also as a mentoring scheme to help people get on in the media. I met Miranda in her kitchen in south London, one year old Frankie May makes an appearance too…

Here’s the launch video that Sound Women put together featuring some of the biggest female names in broadcasting as a wee intro to what it’s all about:

Also on the show: new to amazingtunes.com, Moulettes play a fierce and thoroughly modern gypsy folk, they’ve performed and recorded with Seasick Steve and will hopefully break through in 2012. Also Madam makes an appearance with her hauntingly beautiful tune Marine Boy from Gone Before Morning, one of my albums of the year… with session tracks from Daughter and an Amazing Beats tip from Kate Wax, what more could I ask for? Join me on Christmas Eve… pass the liqueur chocs!

The Other Woman is our newest show on Amazing Radio, and indeed, the only one in the UK with an all-female playlist, presented by Ruth Barnes. On this Sunday’s show, Ruth will be featuring Maya Jane Coles and Lady Leshurr; ahead of the show, Ruth has penned some words on them both.

This week on The Other Woman I’m thrilled to be kicking off with a Mobilee Records staple. Maya Jane Coles has had an amazing year and was one of only five women DJ’s in Resident Advisor’s Top 100 DJ’s, the Londoner is in at number 9. So I thought what better way to start the show with one of the tracks she put out on the cooler-than-cool Berlin label.It sets the tone really, I’ve got real treats for you. If you haven’t heard of Russian-born-Berlin-resident-via-Israel Mary Ocher than you’re in for a treat. Her track Address Yourself Entirely To Me is an excellent example of her unique style and uber-quirky take on electro pop. Her videos are always second to none, aided by her artist friends in Berlin they’re always brilliant.

I’m featuring Lady Leshurr in this show too, Lego is her new single and mighty fine. I had the pleasure of putting on this quick fire MC at Ladyfest 2010 and she was A-Mazing. She says she models herself on Wiley, I say she could out-spit him anyday. Here’s a video from the festival, which I made on my crappy digital camera but you get the idea – Lady Chann’s there too as well as Lady Lykez and Amazing Radio fave Patricia Panther. Leshurr’s on the end in the cute black tracksuit:

The show is all over the place again this week – in a very good way. We’re in Norway for some eclectic jazz stylings of Mari Kvien Brunvoll (the Nordic Tune-Yards) and then to London for the doom and gloom of Death Rattle… also a double play of woozey ‘chill-wave’ (whatever that is) from Sleep Over and Keep Shelley In Athens. There’s plenty more too, if you have any suggestions feel free to get in touch! @otherwomanradio or @amazingradio or leave us a comment here.

Hear all of this by tuning in at 7pm on Sunday evening.

The Other Woman is our newest show on Amazing Radio, presented by Ruth Barnes. It’s the only radio show in the UK with an all female playlist. With most mainstream radio being dominated by the boys, or a certain type of female singer, The Other Woman aims to showcase a broader variety of female artists and bands fronted by women. On this Sunday’s show, Ruth will be speaking to Sharon Van Etten and, ahead of the show, has penned some words on the lush folkstress.

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This week we’re thrilled to have New Jersey singer songwriter Sharon Van Etten on the show. Her highly anticipated album Tramp is out in February on celebrated indie Jagjaguwar. The label is her new home since releasing her debut album Epic on Brooklyn indie Ba Da Bing last year. Epic hardly left our CD player when we got our mits on it, beautifully crafted, melancholy yet uplifting, sorrowful yet hopeful – we were smitten. Now she’s on a proper grown up label, with industry muscle behind her. All the blogs-in-the-know are posting her single Serpents and rowing about how great it is (well, it is).

Sharon Van Etten has worked with former touring buddy Aaron Dessner from The National at his home in a leafy suburb of Brooklyn – with buddys including Jenn Wasner from Wye Oak, Beirut’s Zach Condon and the Queen of etheral ambient Julianna Barwick. It’s a strikingly confident record, with SVE’s signature mark – big swirling powerful songs, some sparse, some pounding, all wondrous. Our favourite line is from Give Out: “You’re the reason why I’ll move to the city, you’re why I’ll need to leave…” she tells us it’s about allowing herself to fall in love again… and more.

Tune in to The Other Woman at 7pm on Sunday to hear the interview in full.

Jensen Sportag have unveiled a track from the forthcoming 2012 album and we are very excited to be the first to bring it to you! At 1 minute, 30 seconds, it’s a teaser. And what a tease!

As a staple of the excellent Cascine roster, we’ve been enamoured by Jensen Sportag’s smooth R&B jams since they dropped their Pure Wet EP earlier this year. Dripping with late 80s groove, laced with funk bass, and glazed with a modern sheen production, the duo have been working on a debut album that will be available in the new year.

The album teaser, simply called ‘Untitled‘ features reverb-laden vocals sitting atop a swirling haze of their own echo. The inflections in the vocals hint at familiar territory for the electro duo but just as we expect it to drop sumptuously into the smooth nostalgic beat, it ends… I can almost touch the slap bass and mellow synths that I know are hidden around the corner!  I guess we’ll have to wait for the album.

Landing in the first half of next year, keep an eye out at Cascine’s amazingtunes.com profile for the debut full length.

Our resident Record Store geek, Ruth Kilpatrick, dives in to Record Store Day’s Black Friday. Avoid crowds of mental Christmas shoppers and chill with a special edition vinyl release or two instead.

We can’t avoid it any longer… The nights are now determinedly closed in, it’s cold enough to warrant day-long wearing of those ridiculous ’snoods’ (of which I have many) and the adverts are already getting old – all of which point to the fact that IT’S VERY NEARLY DECEMBER.

I don’t want to use ‘The C Word’ just yet though, in fact I’ve been trying to avoid it altogether until November is firmly behind us. But you can’t fail to have noticed the retail related news stories surfacing from our friends in the US overnight – or if, like me, you received an email from Apple this morning, you’ll have seen them announcing today as ‘The Day You’ve Waited 364 Days For.’ Really though?

Now that Thanksgiving is done, Black Friday and its related uber-sales have taken over; with the NRF (National Retailing Federation) estimating that 152 million Americans are spending the weekend bargain hunting en masse.

A quick Google search will bring up the more salacious of the stories, and there are plenty, but to get to the point – there’s a slightly more pleasant side effect to all of this increased focus mass consumerism and Wal-Mart culture: the independent stores are now shouting just as loudly.

Granted, it’s not with ‘PRICES SLASHED! SHOP HERE NOW OR SANTA WILL DIEEEEEEEE!’

But you will find the quiet confidence of honest retailers, with quality products that your loved ones might actually cherish, working its way into the non-highstreet stores across the world.

And moreover, the independent record stores are hijacking Black Friday for themselves. The organisers of the annual Record Store Day, usually on the 3^rd Saturday of every April, have today released some holiday friendly content as an auxiliary event to the annual celebration. Taken from their FAQ section at www.recodstoreday.com:

Q: Why are the organizers of Record Store Day celebrating Black Friday?

A: In the past Black Friday was an American event celebrated by large corporate retailers as a shopping day that promoted mass produced items at super low prices in hopes of driving customers into their stores. RSD’s Black Friday subverts the model and creates pieces of art in the form of limited special editions, often numbered, from some of the most revered artists of our time. RSD’s version of Black Friday is an excuse to celebrate the specialness of music in our lives by putting out these unique releases. In other words, cheapness is not a main goal. Celebrating art is.

There are many items on the list of special releases that any music fan would covet. Not only are they excellent collectable versions of your favourite records or albums, but you’re supporting your local record store, helping them to stay open, AND they make great presents! Far preferable to that gift voucher filled envelope for the high street…

Well… If you’re on iMobile that is. Apologies to Android users who will have a little wait. But, if you’ve got an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you can now take Amazing Radio with you everywhere!

So, here’s what you can do on this little app of awesome.

Listen to the radio…

Yeah, this was a no brainer really. But wait, we made it better!

Share What’s Playing…

We let you know what tracks we’re playing and you can share through Twitter and Facebook instantly!

The Amazing Sessions…

The Amazing Sessions all in one place! No more trawling through YouTube on your phone. Our full catalogue is there including Ghostpoet, Slow Club and our latest with Young Legionnaire. Just go get lost in it for a while.

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Keep up to date with what we’re loving, who’s top of the chart and all the latest news!

And That’s Not All…

In the not so distant future, you’ll be able to browse and stream the entire amazingtunes.com library (that’s 50,000 tracks) including your playlists and favourited tracks.

AND IT’S ALL FREE.

Because we’re that nice.

Help yourself now from the App Store and, if you’re enjoying it, do send the creator some love. He lives in Twitter under the guise of @kosso.