I’ve been meaning to blog this one for a while. I took a trip down to Oxford with my friend Sam (another kiwi) whose mate Andy used to pick the choons at XFM.

These days, among other things, Andy’s the manager of Joff Winks Band.

Joff’s a talented popsmith with one foot firmly in the jazzier end of Steely Dan’s repertoire, a fondness for time signatures, an appreciation of complex chords, an ear for a good pop tune, a great vocal register for this kind of material and a kick-ass tight band.

They were great live, and they’ve been working on their website (I took about half of the photos in their gallery).

Joff and Andy said it was okay to put Milo up on The Wireless for you to download. Not my favourite song on the album (though it’s my second favourite chorus) — but live, it blew the roof off.

The story goes that it’s about a young teenager flicking through the mass-produced pop trash on his mp3 player, and thinking ‘Hold on — there must be something else’… before (somehow) stumbling upon a Mahavishnu Orchestra track, thereby opening his eyes to a whole new world of musical possibility.

Download: Milo – Joff Winks Band

Have a read of the article in Nightshift magazine [pdf link], which is renowned for it’s cruelly and hilariously cutting reviews. Joff and co. come out pretty much unscathed.

It’s a really smart and good-sounding record — a bit of a grower too, which is a good sign — and you can get it on iTunes.

Just wish they’d come up with a better name for the group.