The Welsh Music Prize (Gwobr Gerddoriaeth Gymreig) was set up last year by SWN Festival music gurus Huw Stephens and John Rostron.  As well as crowning an album of the year, it shines a light on the finest releases from Welsh artists in the previous 12 months.

With the Prize now entering its second year, we’re pleased to announced that Amazing Radio’s Bethan Elfyn has once again been chosen as a member of the judging panel for 2012. The news comes hot on the heels of her Welsh music special which aired last week, which you can still listen to via Amazing Rewind.

Far from concentrating solely on her native Wales though, Bethan is back on Amazing Radio tonight with a 2-hour special dedicated to Scandinavian music. She’ll be joined in the studio by regular It’s Amazing guest and Ja Ja Ja Nordic editor Rich Thane, who you may also know as the man behind The Line Of Best Fit.

Join them from 7pm tonight or catch the repeat on Friday 10th February from 1pm.

You can keep up to date with the latest goings on from The Bethan Elfyn Show here.

One of our Twelvex12 artists, Friends have announced a (proper) UK tour! Sure, they announced a 3-date UK tour not long ago, but 3 dates doesn’t really count now, does it? With those three February dates now completely sold out, a 9-date tour has been revealed for May, spanning the UK and taking in The Great Escape festival. Tickets go on sale Friday from here.

The announcement comes on the day of release for single, ‘Friend Crush,’ a shimmering R&B-infused track that has had us obsessed since the first note. Out now on Lucky Number.

February
06 – Deaf Institute, Manchester (sold out)
07 – The Lexington, London (sold out)
08 – XOYO, London (sold out)

May
05 – Live at Leeds, Leeds
06 – Digital, Newcastle
07 – King Tut’s, Glasgow
08 – Academy 3, Manchester
09 – Scala, London
10 – The Great Escape, Brighton
11 – The Great Escape, Brighton
12 – Academy 2, Birmingham
14 – Fleece, Bristol

The lovely boys of the band dropped in to Amazing Towers London ahead of the release of their fantastic new EP the Marley Banks to play us some tracks from it and have a chat with Georgie. Monday’s track was About Time – stream it below:

Amongst all the excitement we also have  a new Track of the Week getting a spin on the show every day – regular listeners may be familiar with it as we’ve played it before, but not in this guise as now it’s been polished and presented up as a single! Former Artist of the Week band Hooray For Earth are putting out No Love ahead of the UK release of their album. Massive synths and a chorus that won’t leave your head all day – what’s not to love?

Every Sunday evening, Charlie Ashcroft counts down the Amazing Chart across the UK’s national DAB network on Amazing Radio. Here he is to give us the very latest lowdown on the last week’s movers and shakers from amazingtunes.com…

Hello! Our first Amazing Chart round-up for February sees us reflecting on another week of success for Manchester band Swiss Lips, who’ve stayed on top of our rundown for a second consecutive Sunday with their uber-catchy hit U Got The Power.

They’ve managed to hold on to the top spot in the face of some stiff competition this time around, with New York’s Friends rocketing to Number 2 on the eve of the UK release of Friend Crush, proving to be the biggest climbers inside the Top 20 as well as the Mancunian chart toppers’ closest competitors in the past seven days.

Climbing up to Number 2 this week: Friends

Jethro Fox remains in contention in the leading pack after over a month in the rundown, while The Collectable Few and Sharon van Etten have both continued their upward momentum to move into the Top 5 for the very first time. Slightly further behind, Team Me, The Ghosts and We Have Band have carried on making inroads inside our Top 10.

In terms of brand new entries inside the Top 20, Southend band Hoodlums have the highest of the lot with recent single Dark Horses landing at Number 12, while we also welcome Amazing Radio favourites Devin and Howler to the fold, both looking likely to climb further up the chart as the UK snow begins to thaw.

Click here to see the Amazing Chart Top 40 in full. Then find out if Swiss Lips can make it three weeks at Number 1 by tuning in to Amazing Radio on Sunday from 5pm!

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

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Plenty to shout about in this week’s show – not least a chat with the South African born, Berlin based musician and singer-songwriter Dear Reader. We caught up with her about her new album Idealistic Animals out on City Slang, leaving her homeland behind and breaking up with Christianity – worse than any other kind of break up! Check out this lovely acoustic video of Monkey (Go Home Now).

We’re also playing Mary Epworth’s new single Black Doe which is a dark throbbing psych rock anthem, plus Oslo newbie’s Maribel, Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums remixed by Deerhoof no less, a match made in heaven! Also a new track from LA songstress Pisces.

Tune in from 7pm on Sunday evening!

The mighty Bestival are announcing one band from its line-up each day over the coming weeks. We’ll have a full round-up for you soon but in the meantime start jumping around and getting excited because one of our Twelvex12 artists, Friends, have just been confirmed for the festival!

Rob da Bank’s Bestival has also added First Aid Kit and the legendary Orbital to its line-up as well as announcing a theme for the entire event: wildlife. Apparently this will include an Insect Museum… Erm, we’ll be at the Friends gig instead.

Tickets are on sale now and the event takes place between the 6th and 9th September on the Isle of White. More announcements to come!

The best electronic track of the year so far? Lucas Nord is a young Stockholm based producer  who has married his rich, swirling synths with a typically airy Swedish-accented vocal courtesy of Urban Cone. It’s this gorgeous vocal that brings the track to life as they penetrate Nord’s pulsating house beat and hypnotic electronica.

There seems to be little known about Lucas Nord and we are desperate to hear more. For now we’ll just bask in the deep synths of Let Us Stay Young a few more hundred times. Safe in the knowledge that Lucas Nord will be HUGE this year.

Check out more at over at his label, Hybris’, amazingtunes.com profile.

Following The Great Escape line-up announcement yesterday, here we are with more festival news! Today Liverpool Sound City reveals its headline and initial support acts.

Professor Green will fill the headline slot with White Denim, Death in Vegas, Cloud Nothings (pictured), Charlie XCX, Yukon Blonde and Fixers also announced.

The international music and arts festival takes place in Liverpool from 17th-19th May and will also host the UK Music Student Awards this year.

Early Bird tickets are on sale now! Catch them before they disappear on 6th February.

Sick of singer-songwriters? Already bored of moombahton? Need a massive wake up call?

Then trust us, Blacklisters are the band for you.

Be warned though, the four-piece from Leeds hit like a well-aimed punch to the metaphorical face of new music, with latest single Trickf**k standing as a lesson in how to perfectly channel your aggression into 2minutes 56 seconds, with surprisingly melodic results.

The first, and reportedly heaviest, track to be taken from their forthcoming debut album, Trickf**k isn’t your standard thrash-infused hardcore punk; the lyrics are tinged with humour, the mid-song breakdowns give you time to catch your breath, and we don’t know about you, but man, that riff just Makes. Us. Move.

After two successful EPs, plus support slots with the likes of Melt Banana, Rolo Tomassi and Amazing Radio favourites Pulled Apart By Horses, their blistering live set is fast becoming the stuff of legend amongst some of the best underground venues in the UK. Having been picked up by DIY superstars Brew Records, and with the album release set for April 2^nd, it looks like 2012 could well be their year.

Get past the first 10 seconds and they’ve got you hooked – go on, be brave – you can thank us later.

Check out more from the band at their amazingtunes.com profile.

The most exciting new music event of the year has unveiled its first wave of acts. As the heart of Brighton is transformed into a vibrant buzz, we’re very excited to see that amongst the artists playing the 30+ venues will be four of our Twelve x 12 artists, Dry The River, Spector, Friends and Alt-J as well as Amazing Radio mainstays Zulu Winter, Howler, Nils Frahm, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, DZ Deathrays and Bos Angeles.

The Great Escape will return to Brighton from 10th-12th May 2012, presenting festival-goers with over 300 new local and international artists across 30 different venues throughout the city. Alongside this is The Great Escape Convention programme which hosts a variety of industry talks, panel debates, targeted networking sessions and key note interviews for industry professionals and music business fans.

We’re celebrating this announcement on Amazing Radio today as Charlie Ashcroft plays a whole hour’s worth of The Great Escape line-up from 10am this morning. On the Afternoon Show from 3pm, Greg Porter will be speaking to one of the event’s organisers and at 7pm Gill Mills dedicates her show to the artists on the announcement.

Early-bird tickets are available now from The Great Escape website and the full line-up so-far can be seen below.

Africa Express Sound System, Dry The River, Spector, We Are the Ocean, Friends, Howler, Zulu Winter, Grimes, DZ Deathrays , Nils Frahm, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Jamie N Commons, Django Django, Eagulls, Perfume Genius, Com Truise, Δ (Alt-J), When Saints Go Machine, Sonic Boom Six, François And The Atlas Mountains, Bos Angeles, Young Dreams, Doldrums, Weird Dreams, Young Magic, The British Expeditionary Force, Max Cooper, Jinja Safari, College, Graphics, Slow Down, Molasses, Mojo Fury, Mallory Knox, Hawk Eyes , Peace , Yukon Blonde, Emma Louise, Juveniles, Binary, Sing Tank, The Soft, Karlmarx, Inland Sea, Half Moon Run , Owlle, Princess Chelsea, Mesparrow, Stranded Horse, Avalanche City, Trust, The Darcys, Jordan Cook and many more to be announced soon.