Ian Wade is a writer, PR, copywriter, TV caption writer, occasional DJ and musician. Over the years he’s worked for The Quietus, Sunday Times, BBC, The Official Charts Company, NME, Smash Hits and The Face. As a PR he works primarily for the television show ‘Later… with Jools Holland’. He was the co-owner of the My Band T-Shirt blog, knocks up playlists at Wadey’s Disco Kitchen and makes sensational pop music as Blood Everywhere.

Ian contributed his story ahead of Harkive 2014. Here is his listening day.

It’s the early hours of Wednesday and so I thought I’d do my Harkive thing to cover as much of 24 hours of listening to pop music as possible. I therefore go on a bit. Anyway…

I’d been up late tinkering with some new Blood Everywhere tunes, and finishing one to donate to The Dark Outside, which is an event each August/September where a mad bloke goes out into the forest and broadcasts 24 hours of music. I love the idea of it, and I’ve donated bespoke tunes to it for the last two years.

I then did a post on Facebook about Purple Rain being 30, and popped up the Spotify link to it, and played a couple of tracks just to check that it wasn’t one of the wonky “tribute” albums that are occasional options. Went to bed.

Get up. Do stuff and faff. Check Facebook for chum Mark Wood’s Song of The Day in his fantastic rundown of the 00ze called I Heard Wonders. Today, at No.172, is The Sleepy Jackson’s Good Dancers, which I don’t need to play as I knew it well already.

As I head out and make my way to London Bridge, I read an interview with Jennifer Herrema and her new project Black Bananas on The Quietus, and make a mental note to “check them out” when I get home. Switch on my iPod and head to a playlist made up of stuff I’ve liked best in the last few months, and find myself ever more liking Kasabian’s Ee-Zeh.

I volunteer at a homeless centre and each Wednesday they have a table sale type thing. Today I buy Country Love (a compilation of Country love songs) and Bob Marley’s Exodus on CD at table sale for £1.50 (a snip). Weren’t sure if I actually had got Exodus, but turns out I hadn’t, as I’d only gone on the nursery slopes of Legend, so that was jolly. Country Love features all the likes of Jolene, Witchita Lineman, Brown Eyes Blue etc – basically DadCountry. Bonus for containing Dr Hook’s Sylvia’s Mother, which for some reason becomes an occasional earworm at random moments (“And the operator says forty cents more for the next. Three. Minutes. Pleeeeeease MRS AVERY etc”). It’s quite dramatic and needy given the eye-patch. Less rapey than their later fare anyway.

After my stint at the centre, I head up to meet a friend up in Stoke Newington, so pop my headphones on again, and enjoy tunes from Sleaford Mods (Air Conditioning), Fat White Family (Touch The Leather), Caustic Window (Cunt), Tove Lo (Habits), Kiesza (Hideaway), Pink Floyd (Lucifer Sam – which I play three times as it’s hitting some kind of spot), The Breeders (When I Was A Painter) and La Roux (Let Me Down Gently – Prins Thomas mix).

A bit later on I peer into Flashback on Essex Road, and rifle through a few key areas to see if there’s anything good about. Notice that Cocteau Twins’ Four Calendar Cafe is £60(!) on vinyl. While I’m in that neck of the woods, I go into the Upper Street branch of Oxfam. They have a merry selection of vinyl. Someone clearly had recently rejected Cliff Richard’s 80s period from their life, judging by the sheer amount of his singles, including such classics as Wired For Sound and Some People in the racks. I settle on a seven inch of Edison Lighthouse’s Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) as it’s completely amazing.

As I head back to the flat via the Northern Line and changing at London Bridge, I stick the shuffle on to soundtrack such exciting pursuits as getting a coffee and a 30 second eye through the Standard, and am greeted with Underworld (Dark & Long from the Isles of Wonder Olympics album), Mahavishnu Orchestra (Celestial Terrestrial Commuters), John Cale (Hanky Panky Nohow), The Cure (The Funeral Party), Saint Etienne (People Get Real), Blanck Mass (Hellion Earth), David Bowie (Kingdom Come), Denim (Job Centre) and Julie London (Nice Girls Don’t Stay For Breakfast).

Back home, I have a look at the midweeks on the Official Charts, and click on the No.1 tune, which is something called Gecko (Overdrive) by Oliver Heldens & Becky Hill, and I deem it “alright”. I then flick on to YouTube to see/ hear Black Bananas, and decide that their tune Physical Emotions is utterly fantastic. While there, I flick on Vic Mensa’s Down On My Luck which I hope is going to be massive, as the instrumental sounds like Inner City underwater.

Martin Carr has also put a bit of a song on his Facebook, called Santa Fe Skyway, which sounds terrific. Oh and find a new Sia tune on Popjustice, which is understandably really very good, as well as the news that The Juan Maclean are back. Back. BACK with their A Place Called Space affair which sounds like Dark Side Of The Moon down the rave-up.

Anyway. With that, I sign off my Harkive wittering, and leave it with one final number that Laura Snapes tweeted called Nautilus by Anna Meredith, which I thought was a bit wonkily splendid. Night.