Join Trevor Dann this afternoon at 1pm for It’s Amazing – Amazing Radio’s no-holds-barred panel show. What better way to celebrate the halfway point of the week?

Trevor’s esteemed guests on the panel this week are the Deputy Showbiz Editor of The Sun, Sean Hamilton, and Amazing Radio’s chief music scout, John Williams.

John Williams, Trevor Dann and Sean Hamilton

They’ll be discussing the work of Leeds singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell, the powerful stomp of Citizens and the indie-punk chaos of Norwich troupe We Can’t Dance amongst other things, so you can expect plenty of lively music debate and lucid discussion over the course of the programme.

Click here to see the full list of songs up for examination on this week’s episode of It’s Amazing. Listen through them and pick your favourite!

Make sure you catch It’s Amazing with Trevor Dann, John Williams and Sean Hamilton, this afternoon from 1pm on Amazing Radio.

Wednesdays are rock and roll on Amazing Radio, as The Afternoon Show brings you Are You More Rock and Roll than Kevin Read?

This week we’ve got a professional in to take on the K-Train, in the shape of Amazing Rock Show host Aaron Phillips.

Aaron Phillips: Definitely not a baby face

Aaron isn’t just a national radio presenter, but also an experienced drummer in hardcore a rock band. He’s confident that his story is one of the toughest yet, but will it be enough to floor our K-Train?

Kevin, despite Aaron’s rock man status, isn’t too concerned. Having fought off previous competitors with a mere metaphorical flick of his story telling fingers, he’s ready and raring for the forthcoming showdown.

To find out who wins the rock and roll battle this week tune into The Afternoon Show, today from 3pm, on Amazing Radio.

Here at Amazing Radio we’ve made it our mission to help you find the new music of your dreams!

One of the ways that we like to do this is Matchmaker, every Tuesday on The Afternoon Show. This is where we like to ask a listener to tell us three of their favourite artists so that we can find them a new amazingtunes.com act that we think they’ll like just as much!

This week’s Matchmaker candidate is @Amazing Radio Twitter follower @icandyrose. Although she contacted us through the medium of micro blogging, @icandyrose can also be found on amazingtunes.com with a few tracks of her own that you can check out here.

Candy Rose: Looking for a new music love

In order to Matchmake our subject effectively we needed details of her record buying background. When questioned, @icandyrose told us that her current three music loves are Michael Jackson, Patrick Stump and Madonna.

We asked Dani Charlton, aka Producer Dani of Amazing Breakfast to assist with our Matchmaking challenge this week and she was more than happy to suggest something completely new for @icandyrose to sink her musical teeth into. The artist she decided to pick was not only chosen because of @icandyrose’s three loves, but also because of her own musical influences, such as Everything But the Girl and Alicia Keys.

The act that Dani thinks that @icandyrose should hook her ears up with is Seb, a fellow Everything But the Girl fan. His track, News for You is a soulful dance floor filler, complete with thudding bass line and smooth vocals.

We hope you heart it @icandyrose!

Hear @icandyrose receive the Matchmaker treatment on The Afternoon Show, today from 3pm, on Amazing Radio.

Every Sunday, Charlie Ashcroft counts down the Amazing Radio Chart. Here he gives us the lowdown on this week’s movers and shakers from amazingtunes.com.

Having been crowned as a Guardian New Band of The Day last week, London 4-piece Films of Colour have now seen their stock rise even further, thanks to an impressive surge up the Amazing Radio Chart.

With the band’s online popularity shooting up in the closing stages of last week, their anthem Actions has climbed four places to reach Number 1, replacing Hummingbird by Glaswegian folk troupe Julia & The Doogans at the top of the pile.

Congratulations must also go to Tantrums, who are up to Number 2 with If I Don’t Try, ahead of their return to the live circuit this coming Friday at Birmingham’s Sound Bar.

Other notable arrivals in the Top 10 come in the form of Stratford-upon-Avon collective Zell Am See, whose disco-ready number Thin On Top rises to Number 5, Donk Azure, whose shiny pop song Have I Told You is up to Number 6 and Call Me Ishmael, who’ve climbed four places to Number 9.

In New-Entry-Ville, we welcome Chesterfield punks All At Stake at Number 16, North Carolina’s power-poppers Hammer No More The Fingers at 19, and Russian beatniks KOOQLA at Number 20.

Click here to see the Amazing Radio Chart Top 20 in full. Find out if Films of Colour can make it two weeks at Number 1 by tuning in to Amazing Radio this coming Sunday from 5pm.

Every Monday, The Afternoon Show salutes a new Website of the Week, a culture website pushing new music to the forefront of the internet.

This week’s Website of the Week is is this music?, an independent,  Scotland based music magazine. Site founder Stuart McHugh tells us more…

is this music? started as a ‘paper’ publication at the tail end of 2002 – I’d been working as a freelance journalist for a while but as work was drying up a bit I found I had some spare time, so I decided to take the ill-advised move of starting a magazine. I’d produced a few zines before (I also edit the Scottish indie website jockrock.org) but wanted to do something bigger and more widely available. I felt that at this stage the internet wasn’t that big, and there wasn’t a great amount of coverage for Scottish indie acts in the press up here, and certainly not across the UK or worldwide. So, is this music? was  set up as a UK (and worldwide) magazine, with a subtle bias towards Scottish-based acts.

The first issue had a nice exclusive with Bob Fairfoull on having just left Idlewild, and continued in this vein for 4 years and 25 issues, which included the first ever Franz Ferdinand interview, debut cover features for Snow Patrol, Mull Historical Society and Camera Obscura, as well as chats with everyone from Robert Wyatt and The Go-Betweens to Michael Franti and Half Man Half Biscuit. We even had a regular column from [Amazing Radio presenter] Jim Gellatly who combined diaries of his jetsetting with interviews with REM and Oasis. And, of course, there were the free cover CDs – which pushed over 200 bands ‘out there’ and provided a first introduction to the likes of North Atlantic Oscillation, Frightened Rabbit, and the odd exclusive from the likes of our good chums Franz.

Sadly all good things must come to an end, so after a final bumper issue which once again put Idlewild on the cover, we moved to the now-accessible world of the internet. With a good pool of writers – all doing their features and reviews, like myself,  unpaid and in their spare time – it’s been possible for me to combine a full-time job with keeping the site going.

Conversely we’ve started doing some things more since the magazine went online – I must have more spare time, somehow! So, regular podcasts (hosted on radiomagnetic.com and available via iTunes), showcase gigs that have seen the likes of Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Belle and Sebastian‘s Stevie Jackson, King Creosote and Emma Pollock play some of Scotland’s intimate venues, as well as a regular involvement with Tigerfest.

Hear Kyle congratulating our Website of the Week winner Stuart from 3pm today, on The Afternoon Show.

Every weekday, The Afternoon Show brings you interviews and news about a reputable music scene in the UK, or from around the world. This week the team visited the Nottingham music scene.

Howdy y’all, Producer Frankie here!

We’ve had an action packed week in Nottingham so far and today we’ll be rounding up things by chatting with mud wrestling fan Will Robinson, the founder of I’m Not From London promotions.

On Monday we spoke to Paul Klotschkow, the Music Editor of LeftLion Magazine. The magazine is seen as a crucial part of Nottingham’s cultural scene, having received accolades from multiple media outlets such as the NME, Musicians’ Union Magazine and BBC Nottingham.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we spoke to Nottingham based bands Captain Dangerous and Rebel Soul Collective. Both bands told us about the best venues to play, the sound of Nottingham as well as the other Nottingham acts you simply have to check out.

Yesterday we were given the lowdown on Nottingham’s emerging talent by Jaye Harrison, Fly FM‘s Head of Music. Aside from helping run Nottingham Trent University’s award winning student radio station, Jaye is involved with Trent FM‘s new music podcast Nottingham’s Unsigned.

As I hope you’ll agree, it’s been a fantastic week in Nottingham and it’s all down to our wonderful contributors. Please join me in saying a massive HIP HIP HOORAY! for them.

Altogether now…

HIP HIP HOORAY!

Tune into Amazing Radio from 3pm today to hear The Afternoon Show say farewell to Nottingham, and don’t forget to tune in again on Monday to find out where Kyle and Producer Frankie will be heading to next.

Every Thursday The Afternoon Show rewards the new music loving public with a fantastic free download courtesy of amazingtunes.com.

This week Kyle Wilkinson and Producer Frankie will be talking to David, front man of Aussie act The Book of Ships.It’s Amazing Radio‘s first interview with a band from Down Under and, putting it lightly, we’re quite excited about it!

Producer Frankie 'robot dances' to The Book of Ships at Amazing Towers

The track that we’re choosing to throw freely your way is Aagh, a fantastic, fast-paced indie rock track that never fails to repeatedly lift bums off seats in the Amazing Radio office. It’s jaunty, dancetastic and rather easy to singalong to, especially as the chorus consists of a catchy string of ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah’s!’

If you enjoy your free download, then why not show your appreciation for The Book of Ships by choosing to buy their other amazingtunes.com track, Broken Glass in My Mouth (Words are lines that turn to)? It’s only a mere 79 pence out of your pocket!

Tune into The Afternoon Show from 3pm today to hear Kyle talking to The Book of Ships, and find your free download here!

Every Wednesday a new challenger tries to take on the K-Train’s status as the rock and roll king of national radio. This week’s Are You More Rock and Roll than Kevin Read competitor is Frankie Francis of Sunderland act Frankie & the Heartstrings.

This week sees Frankie Francis try to prove his rock and roll worth against the mighty Kevin Read and he’s certainly got a lot at stake. As a Glastonbury performer, a Wichita Records signing and a veteran of the Sunderland music scene, Frankie has little excuse to not pull out all the storytelling stops.

Frankie Francis

Even the K-Train himself is uncharacteristically nervous. He’s heard rumors that Frankie is rather nimble in the gymnastics department and has been following suit, implementing a punishing training regime such as lifting more pints (of water) and walking more often (to the complimentary crackers on the other side of the office.)

If Frankie cannot prove his rock mettle, then his band The Heartstrings might consider our K-Train as a more hardcore replacement…

Hear Frankie and Kevin fight it out on The Afternoon Show, from 3pm today, on Amazing Radio.

We like to think of ourselves as ‘people people’ at Amazing Radio – that’s why we wanted to tell you about who we are and how we operate. This is a democracy after all!

For the next of our Behind the scenes at Amazing Towers posts, we spoke to Operations Manager and all round hero Kevin ‘K-Train’ Read.

Hello! Who are you?

Hello, I’m Kevin Read.

If this were a dating ad I’d also write GSOH NS M. I’m an Aries. I play drums and guitar (not at the same time) and I’m fond of computers, music, movies and traveling.

(Since I’m married I should explain that this isn’t a dating ad. I have a wonderful wife called Karen who has put up with me for 10 years. She’s awesome and rocks way harder than me!)

What’s your ‘title’ and what do you do?
I’m Operations Manager for Amazing. This means I manage the operation, the team, the building and a lot more besides.

The K Train on his travels

What’s the best thing about your job?
I work with great people who are passionate about what they do. It just so happens that what they do is so unbelievably cool that it makes my day.

What’s the best thing about Amazing Radio?
The music. There’d be little point if it wasn’t great, but it’s amazing. I’m constantly surprised by what people can do with varying budgets and boundless talent. Just because you haven’t heard of the band, doesn’t mean they don’t make great music. I think that if more people discovered what they loved rather than wait to be fed it then the world would be a better, more musically diverse place. As it is, people still need help (even Columbus needed a chart and a compass). That’s where Amazing Radio fits in – it helps people discover music they’re about to love.

Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I see myself at awards ceremonies, making speeches for people who are too busy doing ground breaking work to attend.

Cheers Kevin! Keep an eye on our blog for future updates from more of the Amazing gang. You can also hear Kevin guest star on The Afternoon Show every Wednesday from 3pm.

Each week The Afternoon Show makes it their mission to find a new music love for one of their lovely listeners. This week’s Matchmaker candidate is hip hop fan Dominic Beswick.

When Dominic approached us recently with a plea to refresh his record collection, who were we to refuse? After having a rummage through the names on his ‘most wanted’ list we noticed that Dominic particularly liked British rapper Professor Green and US stars Eminem and B.o.B.

As our resident ‘New Music Cupid’, Tom was more than happy to take on Dominic’s task, shooting his fragrant arrows all over amazingtunes.com to find not one, but two fantastic emerging artists for his client to enjoy.

The first artist Tom has picked is British beats manipulator Temper. His track I’m Skint is a humorous observation on modern pop culture – perfect for lovers of the Professor Green sound.

Tom’s second find is Don’t Quit Your Day Job by Amazing Radio veteran Lerix. Tom chose the track because; “It’s got the same kind of downtempo vibe as B.o.B and Eminem’s latest efforts, but it’s still different enough to get Dominic listening to something new“.

Let us know if you fall in new music love Dominic!

Hear Dominic receive the Matchmaker treatment from 3pm today, on Amazing Radio.