It’s that time of year again, and if, like us you’re a fan of live comedy you’ll be itching to head north with all the funniest people from the UK and beyond to set up camp in one of our loveliest cities for some giggles and a good time. That’s right – it’s time for the Edinburgh Fringe once again!

As we’ve spoken to so many lovely comedians in the last year, Team Amazing Breakfast thought we’d give you a guide to what all our favourite funny people are up to in the festival this year. Not wanting to play favourites, we’ll do it in chronological order, naturally – so here, in the order we’ve spoken to them over the last year, is what some of our favourite folks are up to in Edinburgh this August.

Tony Jameson

Tony Jameson teams up with Dan Wright to bring you the Social Anxiety Network – an hour of stand up based on – you guessed it – social anxieties. Full details here.

Ben Van Der Velde & Matt Richardson

Ben Van Der Velde and Matt Richardson have teamed up to bring you Attention Deficit Let’s Go Ride Bikes! – ‘an hour of stand-up comedy involving good cheer, bad luck and inappropriate nosebleeds’. As you do. Full details here.

Jim Campbell & Luke Benson

We caught up with Jim Campbell just after his last performance at Edinburgh last year, see how he gets on this year at the Comedy Reserve alongside Luke Benson, Julian Dean and Joe Lycett. Full details here.

Naz Osmanoglu

The man we’ve spoken to with the most difficult to pronounce name has to be Naz Osmanoglu who’ll be doing not one but TWO shows – his own solo effort 1000% Awesome and one with his sketch group WitTank so go see both and make him a happy man.

Jeff Leach

We spoke to the very funny Jeff Leach ahead of his compering and curating comedy events at Oxjam Kilburn last year, his show A Leach On Society promises ‘an unrelenting and gratuitous insight into his sordid private life‘ – so don’t say we didn’t warn you. Full details here.

(more…)

Here at Amazing Radio we’re always looking to find you brand new and emerging talent to grace your ears and our airwaves.

Over the past couple of weeks the Amazing team have been revealing who they think you’ll be hearing more of throughout 2011. Today the new music tips come from Amazing Breakfast host Georgie Rogers.

Georgie’s first ‘thumbs up’ goes to rising dub artist Alice Amelia. Georgie says:

“‘Embedded‘, Alice Amelia’s tune featuring production from Cruso, is a track I am trying to bring to the masses in 2011. Dubstep has exploded onto the commercial dance music scene in such a big way and this would easily sit alongside tracks by Katy B, Jakwob’s re-working of Ellie Goulding’s track ‘Under The Sheets’, Magnetic Man and Rusko, as well as being blasted out at a rave, in a club or at a festival. If 21 year-old Alice Amelia continues collaborating with this fella and other dance producers, I reckon she could do really well. Her voice sounds awesome with some big beats under it so I hope to see her doing more of it this year.”

Ex Libras

Georgie’s second shout out is for experimental independents Ex Libras:

“London band Ex Libras were one of the first artists we played on Amazing Breakfast that instantly struck a chord with me.  In the song ‘Underachiever‘, there’s an atmosphere reminiscent of a Radiohead track, but also in parts, the space of a band like The XX. This all comes before the track  builds into an epic finish which floored me upon my first listen. Their performances for The Amazing Sessions confirmed their talents as a live outfit too.  Experimental, devastatingly beautiful and genius, I hope they get the recognition they deserve in 2011.”

Genius, eh Georgie? We’d better give them a listen!

Join Georgie Rogers for Amazing Breakfast, weekday mornings between 7 and 10am, on Amazing Radio.

Every week The Afternoon Show explore a different music scene. This week they’ve been exploring the historic region of Manchester, well renowned for rave and lad rock records.

Ey ‘up everyone, Producer Frankie here!

This week we’ve been making ourselves busy roaming around the Manchester musical landscape, and we could not have done it without our wonderful guides.

We kicked off Monday by chatting to Designer Mag‘s Alex McCann. Designer Mag reviews gigs at Manchester’s finest venues including Manchester Roadhouse, Night & Day, Moho Live, Satan’s Hollow and many more. We also chatted to brand new songwriter’s union Northern Song Collective on Wednesday.

Thursday saw us delve deeper into Manchester’s musical heritage as we spoke to Steve Jones of the Factory Club, a newly refurbished centre of cool that once played host to the infamous Factory Records label.

We also spoke to three fantastic Manchester based acts this week, who treated us to both their music and their Manchester knowledge.

On Tuesday we spoke to the fabulous Jane Parker, the enigmatic lady behind Ernest + Tom, an act that’s never failed to catch my ear when blasting out on the Amazing Radio airwaves. Check out her video for top track Non Stop Orbit below.

On Wednesday we spoke to guitarist Phil Higgins from Violet Youth and today we’ll be rounding up the week with Amazing Breakfast‘s Artist of the Week Luna Park Rescue.

Luna Park Rescue

We’ve had a cracking week in Manchester, so a huge thank you to everyone who’s joined us on our journey!

Hear Kyle Wilkinson and Producer Frankie round up their Region of the Week with Luna Park Rescue from 1pm today, on Amazing Radio.

They bring you the best uploads from amazingtunes.com each week, but who are the people behind the shows you hear on Amazing Radio? In a series of articles, we’ll be making it our mission to find out more about the owners of the infamous on air voices you know and love.

Read on for an exclusive chat with our brand new Amazing Breakfast presenter Georgie Rogers.

Georgie Rogers

Hello! Who are you?

I’m Georgie Rogers, presenter of the Amazing Breakfast show.

How did you find out about Amazing Radio?

Initially I spotted it on the old Facebook mini-feed ages ago when Greg (of Greg and Burtt) was plugging his show. Later I saw an advert on Media UK calling for new presenters so sent in my demo.

Before we plucked you from relative obscurity and plonked you on the Amazing airwaves, what did you do?

After a load of work experience and some presenting in Jersey on Channel 103 in the six months after graduating from the University of Birmingham with an English and Drama degree, I ended up working in the online team at Xfm, writing news articles and interviewing bands.

After XFM I got a lucky break and went to BBC 6 Music, where for the past two and a bit years I’ve developed skills as a music reporter. My work there has involved meeting some of my absolute heroes, covering more festivals and gigs than I can remember, including Glastonbury and Coachella in the US, writing and reading music news bulletins live on the 6 airwaves, making packages, podcasts and writing articles for the website and BBC Entertainment online. It was a blast and I still freelance there, but after doing the Breakfast Show on Brighton Festival Radio earlier this year, I decided I wanted to do more presenting.

Tell us about your show please!

It’s nice and early, between 7-10am, to accompany your tea and toast to in the morning. It’s all about the music with some light-hearted banter and music-related topical chat.  Any funny stories that I hear on my travels will no doubt make an appearance too.  Each week we feature an artist from amazingtunes.com get them on, as well as a comedian.  We also highlight a gig each day that we think you should go to and pick a track of the week, which we get to play five times in a row… Result.

Georgie Rogers: Making breakfast beautiful!

Why should we listen?

Simple; because it’s all new music and you’ll be surprised at how much is fabulous.

Aside from your own fabulous show, have you got any other favourite Amazing Radio shows?

Tough one as I’m the ‘new girl’ and I think they’re all great, so want to say everyone!

As you might tell from Amazing Breakfast and my glee at getting to play big tunes by Absorb Vs Sequel and Moscow Youth Cult at 8.30 in the morning every now and then, I’m a big fan of dance music, so Mark Ryan’s Amazing Beats Friday night marathon is right up my street.

Also, I totally dig the Are You More Rock and Roll than Kevin Read? feature on Kyle Wilkinson’s Afternoon Show with the lovely Producer Frankie, as Kevin Read is one of the funniest men in the north. Fact.

Finally, what makes Amazing so, well, amazing!?

There’s nothing else on the radio that is solely dedicated, 24 hours a day, to nurturing emerging talent.  The UK is blessed with a fruitful music scene and it’s up to showcase all the smashing acts before they get snapped up by the big boys.

You can hear the wonderful spoken words of Georgie Rogers between 7 and 10 every weekday morning on Amazing Breakfast.

After months of speculation we can finally confirm… There’s a new girl on the Amazing Radio block!

If you thought your breakfast was ever so slightly sweeter this morning, that’s probably because you were tuned into Amazing Breakfast, our brand new Amazing Radio show!

The show is presented by the ever-lovely Georgie Rogers, a Londoner with a voice like honey and a taste for unsigned music.

Georgie Rogers: Making breakfast beautiful!

Every day this week you can hear Georgie chatting to the show’s featured Artist of the Week, Tyneside’s Brilliant Mind. We loved their quirky indie-pop stylings so much that we simply had to get them on not just one show, but every show this week!

Singer Calum signs the Amazing Radio board of fame!

Yes, every day until the weekend dawns, we’ll be chatting to Brilliant Mind. So if you want to find out what singer Calum Lyn’s fascination with industrial estates is all about (yes you read that correctly - industrial estates!), as well as more top trivia from the weird and wonderful world of Brilliant Mind. Be sure to tune in!

You can hear Georgie Rogers presenting the all new Amazing Breakfast show every weekday morning from 7 ’til 10.