Clockwise from top left: Martin Rossiter, Tenniscoats, Cate Le Bon, Deerhoof

2012 was a good year for music as far as I’m concerned, not least because I rediscovered my love for it. Possibly as a result of moving to the culture-less UAE in 2009, I have spent a few years in a uninspired wilderness, neither creating anything of my own nor particularly enjoying anything by anybody else. Thankfully, 2012 brought with it a spark – thanks, no doubt, to having moved in next door to my fellow Grizzly Folk member, Jon Nice, and having fitted up my attic as a kind of rough and ready recording room. Together, we’ve explored the stringed limits of the mandola and the ukulele, and I imagine we’ll put them through various pedals and push it out even further in the New Year. I’m looking forward to it.

In tribute to that rediscovered spark, I’ve collected a few sounds that have had me humming over the last 12 months. They’re not necessarily new, but they’re notable for having pulled me from my slumber. May 2013 be a wide-eyed audio fest for all! No snoozing allowed! 

Tenniscoats at play. Photo by Jon Wilks

Earlier this year, I flew up to Tokyo to meet Saya, the mercurial vocalist with Tenniscoats. We initially made contact in conjunction with our 4th Tada Sampler, and – truth be told – I’d become something of a Tenniscoats junkie in the interim. Though she’d been delightful in our email correspondence, I found myself vaguely nervous about meeting her in person.

Tenniscoats have become one of the hippest bands on the underground scene, though their legion of international fans probably indicates that the word ‘underground’ is no longer applicable. In which case, it’s a triumph of the internet that a band as avant garde (‘avant pops’, to use their own expression) as this can inspire such a following, especially as they’re hardly household names in their home country. Such renown is helped, of course, by an ability to produce the kind of music that grabs your attention whatever you’re doing. When I first played their latest album to the staff at Tada, they sat in drooling silence. Even the usually unshakable Tada technician was rendered useless. I challenge you to listen to “Baibaba Bimba” (available on Tada Sampler Volume Four) and not fall head over heels in love. Many have tried, many have failed. 

Jon Wilks

Download a PDF of my CV by clicking here:
Jon Wilks CV, Oct 2012 

Award-winning online editor and content producer, based in Hampshire & London, UK

+44 7805 342391
wandering.jon.w@gmail.com

SUMMARY

As an award-winning and versatile online editor, I have a proven track record of vastly improving traffic statistics through a combination of eye-catching content, social media know-how and SEO techniques. Over six years of professional editorship, I’ve launched two new magazines, hired and mentored a number of highly productive editorial teams, written and edited an eating out guidebook, and broken a number of in-house sales and web traffic records along the way. I’ve also developed valuable experience as a public speaker, having notched up many hours in product demonstration and brand representation.

Having interviewed countless well-known celebrities and luminaries across several continents, from Yoko Ono to Marco Pierre White to the entire Manchester City FC first team (in three minutes flat), I have vast experience in lifestyle, travel and food journalism. I’ve also successfully moved into news reporting, specifically live-blogging; my work covering the earthquake and tsunami tragedy in Japan, 2011, won a Time Out International award for best online feature.

In recent years, I’ve developed a real interest in digital communication, the mechanics of SEO and the effects that social media and live journalism have had on the publishing world. I’m also a keen musician, proficient in songwriting, music production and performance, and a student of international popular culture, based on a decade of work in Japan and the Middle East.

"I'm eating yellow slop. What of it!?"

It’s not often I post personal photos, but since I was lucky enough to snap this one at London Zoo yesterday, I felt it only right that I share it with the world. I call it “Aardvark in Gloves and Butterscotch”, and it may be the best photo of an aardvark that I will ever take. 

The Hyperbole Beast, thrashed up to 11

Last night, just off Putney High Street, I came across a poignant sight. Walking ahead of me, her head hanging a little low, was a “games maker” – one of those generous people who volunteered help throughout London 2012. She was moving slowly, as if to savour this final journey in her Olympic regalia, and the purple of her branded tracksuit splashed vividly against the dazzling sunset. I can only assume she was returning from the heroes’ parade – the last hurrah for the London Olympics, 2012 – which meant that the comedown had already begun. Tomorrow she was moving back to reality.