leisurerecs-blog

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Bristol festive supergroup Santa Christ have generously allowed us to gift you with their new Christmas EP 'Birthday Boy!' Full of cheer, riffs and ~vibes~, pour yourself a large mulled wine and get listening. Sprinkled on the tracks are:

Alfie Hay - guitar and synths on Feeling Cold

Caitlin Elliman -  Happiest Time of The Year and Feeling Cold, vocals, percussion, guitars, harmonica shred™️

Callum Hallet- bass (on happiest time of the year)

Giovvani Jr - It's Been a Long, Long Time and Festive Cheer

Jack Hitchins - production, guitars, lyrics, vocals and pure shred™️ on all tracks

Arya The Cat - various jingles

Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/leisurerecs/sets/birthday-boy

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Day 17 serves up something that nobody wanted: an overly long half-season report of our League of Losers fantasy football league. Read it here (if for some bizarre reason you want to read it)

Set deep in the icy cave of winter, last summer's England World Cup triumphs feel like some mad fever dream. The endless heat. Beers in the air. Waistcoats. Atomic Kitten.

The optimism and enthusiasm that was still so palpable when we opened the doors to the second ever Leisure Records League of Losers fantasy football league evaporated a long time ago, but with the congested Christmas period looming large, we’ve decided to give some sort of roundup of events.

We began proceedings with a larger league than the previous year (33 participants!), the promise of a prize, and in my case, a lot of misplaced trust in Southampton’s backline. The early August weeks saw us Leisure boys do reasonably well with me (Christian) clocking in at a very respectful 5th and Alex (whose team seemed to be made up mostly of players he’d liked at the World Cup) sitting a mere seven points outside the top ten. Matt Buckingham took an early lead thanks to an unbelievably good first two weeks, with Ross Jones and Richard Penn making up the top three. Our nemesis Andy Blanchfield of TRNS/Futile sat at a piteous 13th whilst Leeches bassist Jack Pearce made his intentions for the season clear by sitting rock bottom of the table.

September saw the emergence of current leader Rich Penn, whose early wildcard deployment saw Hazard, David Silva and Jamie Maddison come in and do the business. Our very own Alex also had a good month, his decision to pack the midfield and rely on the goals of Aguero paying off, as he got the fourth most points that month. Bearded Welshman Owain Jones also put in a solid performance, driving up to sixth, whilst Chris Anstey and Raoul Kumar found themselves making up the rest of the top three points earners. I had a terrible month (though worse was yet to come), whilst Failure By Design Records’ Connor Laws thoroughly embarrassed himself by picking up the least points.

October brought with it the revelation the Man City Were Quite Good Still, that England were still excellent (beating Spain 3-2! 3-2!!) and that Southampton were still utter shit. It also saw Leeches axe-wielder Ben Lowe’s seemingly undying love for Aubameyang and decision to bring in Bournemouth’s Wilson pay off as he took the most points for the month. Close behind him were Derv Chown and, yet again, Richard Penn. Down the bottom, things were still not looking great for Jack Pearce who languished at third from bottom whilst his own sister Lucy - with the brilliant team name ‘MMMbappé - Hanson’ - floated just outside the top ten. Joining Jack down the bottom was Art is Hard’s David West and Eksteen van Dewenter.

November. The month that really separates the serious Fantasy Football players from the players that only make subs when prompted in the pub. It also brought with it the stunning news that last year’s winner Griffin Pimlett had forgotten his log-in details. The lack of dedication showed as he found himself languishing down the bottom, with the seventh least amount of points. It was a good month for Tom Carter however who found himself racking up 254 points thanks to his attacking 3-4-3 formation. Matt Buckingham found himself back among the best again, but grabbed just one more point than surprise entry Angus Rudd. Despite being one of the highest scoring months for many in the league, I managed to only scrape together a measly 163 points (the fourth worst) whilst Jack Pearce returned to his safe space at the foot of the table.

As we ready ourselves for a barrage of food and football over the next few weeks, it is Richard Penn that sits pretty at the top of the league. His lead is a reasonably slim one however - Chris Anstey sits only 57 points behind in second. Raoul Kumar, Ross Jones and Rich Dent all round off the rest of the top five. Alex Hill - a man who by his own admission doesn’t care about football - sits nice and healthy in tenth whilst I seem to be mirroring Southampton’s awful form and are currently wallowing down in 22nd. Luckily I am only 29 points behind Andy Blanchfield, so the stage is set for another battle of mid-table dross between us. Finally, down the bottom of the table sits poor Jack Pearce, a huge 164 points off second from bottom David West.

Many questions remain for the rest of the season. Who will win? Will Griffin Pimlett remember his password? Will we remember to actually get a prize this time? Will I kick everyone else out the league on the last day who has more points than me?

I don’t know. I can’t predict the future. But if I was a betting man, I’d absolutely put money on Jack Pearce finishing last.

[leisurerecs-blog]

Our pals at Failure By Design have got your back on this freezing cold day, curating a sublime Winter Jams playlist to help melt that frozen heart. Wrap yourself in a blanket and put this on, it won’t disappoint. 

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5rUzamYOVkVxZDWZjZYZOr?fbclid=IwAR0pTXCpYnS4ux8sajtB5C9o_5gtQ4ufNJx06-k3xElb6TXquCRGt2A0Tjc&si=_shZUkfoTd-lsIlYgo9KCA

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We sent over a load of nonsense to one of our favourite rock‘n’riffers Lazy Day, and amazingly we got a response. Check out our chat with Tilly, in which she manages to mention her puppy an impressive amount (we’re very jealous tbh) Highlight of the year of our lord 2018?

For the Lazy Day gang there’s been a lot of stuff! We played our biggest and busiest headline shows, we did lots of support tours with bands that we really love (Jay Som! Alex Lahey! Woah!) and recorded new music that’s coming out next year (secrets!). We’ve been busy! We are tired! On a personal note, I got a new puppy called Stanley. That made 2018 real sweet.

You’ve applied for The Apprentice. What line are you going to wow Lord Alan Sugar with on your CV?

Money, profit, margins, gains.

What item of clothing goes in your bag first when you’re on tour?

Pyjamas: warm, cosy, comforting - everything that tour is not.

You’ve accidentally agreed to fight the baldest duo in Hollywood, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Vin Diesel. Who you bringing as your partner in the scrap?

Stanley the puppy-dog! He’d fuck them up.

You’re off to SXSW next year, what’s the most American thing you intend to do there?

Kris is weirdly excited about In-N-Out Burger and huge supermarkets like Target and Walmart. He’s a unique person with unique interests.

What have been your fave records of the year?

Mitski - Be The Cowboy, Soccer Mommy - Clean, Snail Mail - Lush, Robyn - Honey. Tune after tune after tune after tune.

What’s your weirdest Christmas tradition?

Me and my two brothers stay up on Christmas Eve and write a letter from Father Christmas and read it out to my parents on Christmas day. But our Father C is a real dick, he roasts us about all the rubbish stuff we've done over the year. 

Did you know that 10th August is officially ‘Lazy Day’? If you could create a national holiday what would it be for?

Lazy Day sounds great, but what about Lazy Day Day? Everyone takes a lazy day off work and listens to Lazy Day for the day.

What is top of your new year's resolution list for 2019?

Be more weird, be more cool. 

[leisurerecs-blog]

Good evening! Today’s Radvent find’s us strolling down memory lane, sharing with you some of our favourite unseen pictures from the last year. Peruse this treasure trove at your leisure (pun intended). 

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We opened our emails this morning to find this anonymous submission from a group calling themselves Father Riffmas and the Two Naughty Elves. It is a deeply worrying piece and we can only apologise. Anyway, enjoy Radvent 13

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The best fancy-dressers in Bristol right now Gork have been rattling around their dressing up box and pulled out this t-shirt which we’re going to be giving away as a Radvent treat. Watch the frankly unsettling video and like this post to be with a chance of winning!

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Day ten means top ten. Yes, yet again we’ve been unable to reach a peaceful agreement on our favourite albums, so here are both our lists! Please don’t @ us! 

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Indulge your inner scrooge with Picture of Belgrade's excellent 'Christmas' song that he has wrapped up and gifted to us - and now you - for Radvent day 7. Enjoy!

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Today’s treat involves your participation. Hanya, whose beautiful EP ‘I Used To Love You, Now I Don’t’ we had the pleasure of releasing last month, aer playing tonight at Hy-Brasil Music Club, with Gork and Kate Stapley in support. Everything kicks off at 8, but get down at 7.30 for a mince pie. See you there!

[leisurerecs-blog]

Today’s treat comes very the exquisite taste of one of Bristol’s best sound engineers/taste-makers/people, Fiona Riches. If you’ve been to a show in Bristol this year, chances are Fiona’s been the one making it sound great, so we got her to pick out her favourite shows of the year.

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Boy oh boy have we got a doozy for you today. One of our favourite blogs, the excellent Wax Music is putting on an all-dayer at Rough Trade Bristol for its 5th bday featuring the likes of Hotel Lux, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and more. Unfortunately, it’s completely sold out. Luckily, we have the final two tickets to give away. Give this post a big old like and we’ll enter your name into the draw to get the tickets. More event details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2183740111637357/

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The festive season has well and truly begun, and to really compound this fact, Norman And The Conquerors (fka Tropic) have written a brand-spanking new Christmas No 1 just for us.

Sit back, grab a mince pie and bask in the Christmas ~ v i b e s ~.

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To ease you through your Sunday after yesterday’s excitement, one of our favourite Bristol promoters and ~tastemakers~ Spinny Nights have selected their fave songs of the year and stuck them all into a playlist for you. Sit back and open up those ears. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4DkPeDxiJMZc79SSueLbxH

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Radvent 2018: Day 1

Jack Hitchins, everyone's favourite meme coordinator and guitar-slinger in Wych Elm, has #blessed us with the hottest viral content to open this year's Radvent. If you are new to Radvent, let Jack whisk you away on a voyage of discovery. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMvkNuw51go&feature=youtu.be

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Before we hang up our stockings and tuck ourselves into bed with our new pals Coco and Tumbles, we'd just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has journeyed with us on this whimsical content rollercoaster for the last 24 days, and an especially big thank you to all the artists who contributed to the calendar and made sure you never had to witness Christian's fidget spinner tricks video. HAVE A LARGE ONE ON US

[leisurerecs-blog]

We hope you can all agree that we’ve been pretty g o o d b o y e s this year, and we’ve heard some old dude gives you free stuff if you write to him. Our Christmas list is Radvent 23, hope we’ve given Old Man Nick or whatever he’s called enough time to sort all this stuff.