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  • New album: NOT A GAME

    New album: NOT A GAME

    The NOT A GAME album cover in all of it's c64 anti-AI glory

    Tiger Mendoza is proud to present our latest album NOT A GAME which will be coming out on Friday 24th October 2025. Coming in a tight 7 tracks, it’s our attempt to process what’s happening around us all touching on the unavoidable impact of AI, the increase in (mis)information, confusing fact with opinion and, obviously, a need to make beats.

    This is the first time that longtime TM member / ace guitarist Dan Clear has featured on all of the tracks of a TM release. Also we’re really happy to have our good friends Octavia Freud and Helen Pearson return to help out alongside Mark Restructure who you may remember from the TM remix of Restructure’s Antisocial Media which featured on TMSk8. The album also sees the return of original Tiger Mendoza singer Helena Markou for the first new track we’ve made together in over 10 years.

    Here’s the tracklist:

    1. The Puzzle Is The Point (feat. Digging The Greats)
    2. Conscious Of Time
    3. The Message Too (feat. Mark Restructure)
    4. Electric Blue (feat. Helena Markou)
    5. You’re Forgiven (feat. Octavia Freud)
    6. Stalagmite (feat. Helen Pearson)
    7. Anybody Can Make A Statement

    The deluxe Bandcamp edition also includes the following bonus tracks:

    1. Electric Blue (Instrumental)
    2. You’re Forgiven (Instrumental)
    3. Stalagmite (Instrumental)
    4. The Puzzle Is The Point (Pitchdrop Remix)

    The album is available to pre-order now on limited edition CD, Minidisc as well as standard digital download.

    Pre-order on Bandcamp

    Pre-save on streaming platforms

    (note: this album will NOT be coming to Spotify)

  • Why (most) Tiger Mendoza Music Won’t Be on Spotify soon

    Why (most) Tiger Mendoza Music Won’t Be on Spotify soon

    As you may have noticed, there’s a bit of trend of artists removing their music from Spotify, the well known music streaming service. After a lot of mulling it over, I’ve decided that the new Tiger Mendoza album Not A Game and the preceding single The Puzzle Is The Point will not be added to Spotify. I am also working on removing existing TM releases from Spotify as well.

    Spotify started out as a reasonable alternative to the booming music downloading scene that came out of the early 00s Napster and Bit Torrent scenes but pretty quickly their practices started becoming more and more dubious – from the minuscule payments they give to the majority of the artists that have music on their platform to just not playing musicians for tracks with less than 1000 plays (which would include us) to Spotify founder Daniel Ek using that money to fund research in to AI based war drones. With everything else going on I’m just not comfortable with Tiger Mendoza music being on the Spotify platform.

    To be clear I don’t necessarily have a problem with music streaming in and of itself. Streaming music from a shared music library is a reasonable thing to do and can have many in 2025 – shared playlists, discovering random b-sides and remixes that you didn’t know existed, diving in to a bit of the Spice Girls alongside some Deftones because you can, etc. Again, in comparison to the download everything for free generation it came from, music streaming which should actually pay something back to the artists and their labels is a reasonable alternative, IF it’s done properly. The whole streaming set up is far from perfect – generally artists don’t really get paid enough from streaming in my opinion and there are various other structural things that could be improved but expecting people to go back to buying £20 CDs from HMV for 1 track isn’t realistic. And I just don’t have my CD wallets any more. Minidiscs on the other hand…

    But streaming does not equal Spotify. Because Spotify got in there pretty early on, many people use Spotify to mean all music streaming in a similar way to people referring to vacuum cleaners as Hoovers but there are other streaming options. The obvious next question is “So what alternative to Spotify do you recommend Ian / Tiger / Whatever?” and the honest answer is, I don’t know. For music streaming I personally use YouTube Music because it comes with my YouTube subscription (yes I subscribe to YouTube but that’s a post for another day). People say that Qobuz and Tidal are better in terms of how much they pay to Artists and that’s good. Obviously there’s always Bandcamp which is great for purchases (which kind of goes against my HMV analogy from earlier but there you go) but less good for just streaming and random musical exploration. If anyone has any other suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments below.

    I guess what I’m trying to say is you do you but going forwards, don’t expect TM releases to be on Spotify going forwards. There may still be the odd Tiger Mendoza track on the platform uploaded by other people we’ve licensed our music to (like this one for example) or remixes I’ve done for other people for but any TM music released by TM will not be put on Spotify going forwards. We never really got much from Spotify plays anyway, partially due to the reasons mentioned above so it won’t be a massive dent in our finances. I’m sure the financial team from Spotify won’t even think to shrug it off – it would take an Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift level artist to jump ship for them to even notice but shout out to bands like King Gizzard and Deerhoof who have lead the way.

    Oh and that new album? Check this out

  • RIP PMT and why music shops matter

    RIP PMT and why music shops matter

    If you’ve seen TM live over the past few years, you’ve probably seen me play the guitar in the picture above. That guitar was bought for me by my then girlfriend, now wife, Emilie from PMT when PMT was among the other shops in the central part of Cowley Road in Oxford. Over the years I’ve bought many bits and pieces from PMT and in general, the team there have been really helpful at both the old mid Cowley Road location or further up the road when they moved. They weren’t perfect* but they were generally really helpful, happy to talk through various options and occasionally do the odd deal**.

    As you may have heard PMT as a chain has gone in to administration. Not just the Cowley branch but the whole chain. To me that’s a massive shame. Music shops are what skate shops are to skaters, record shops are to music lovers and book shops are to book lovers. They are cultural hubs where, yes, they will happily take your cash in return for something you may or may not need but also somewhere that like minded musicians can meet up, chat and exchange ideas. It’s difficult for any retailer with physical locations in this day and age but for something like an instrument shop, being able to physically see and ideally try the item is SO critical to making sure the item you are buying is what you actually want; whether that’s an instrument, effect, an amp, a case, etc. Having said that, it doesn’t stop people (including me) buying products from online retailers that don’t necessarily have to pay the overheads of a physical location but having a physical, real world shop where you can see and maybe touch the item you are looking to purchase makes a difference. On the whole music equipment doesn’t come cheap so you want to make sure that you are getting what you need.

    As I understand it from people that worked there, it all happened pretty suddenly. Administration and restructures are never fun and I sincerely wish all of the former PMT employees in Oxford and beyond all the best with whatever they do next.

    I guess the point of this post is that if you’re thinking of getting a musical widget, alongside or before checking online retailers, maybe try a near-ish physical shop if you can. I know it’s difficult in many places and in Oxford we’re lucky to still have The Music Box and even Smith and Low for various types of connectors and stuff. Yes we all want good deals but purchases in real shops do matter.

    *one time one of the members of staff drilled a hole in to the neck my resonator when I asked them if they could move the strap button. They couldn’t and it still has a hole in it.

    ** I got a pretty good deal when my old guitar amp stopped working on the day of a gig and I traded it in for the Boss Katana I still use today.

  • DJ Set: Live at the O2 Academy, Oxford 6th June 2025

    DJ Set: Live at the O2 Academy, Oxford 6th June 2025

    This was a bit of a last minute gig but it was a fun one to do. I have to admit I was a bit nervous so it’s a little rough around the edges. But people were dancing, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters, right? Also it was fun to try out some new stuff on the O2’s rig.

    Massive thanks to Daft Funk and Academy Events for having me!

    (more…)
  • Mancbeth – The DJ set (or how to crowdsource your playlist)

    Mancbeth – The DJ set (or how to crowdsource your playlist)

    I had the pleasure of DJ-ing the afterparty of Mancbeth at Modern Art Oxford. As you may be able to tell, Mancbeth is an updated retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in the 90s clubbing scene in Manchester. There’s more info below but if you just want to stream / download the set here you go:

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  • Live Well For Less (TM v KK)

    Live Well For Less (TM v KK)

    Live Well For Less cover art

    The response to our single Live Well for Less with our friends Killer Kowalski has been amazing! I may have got the dates wrong on the release and put it out 2 months early but honestly I think it worked out for the best. If you haven’t heard it yet here’s some links to stream or download it:

    Don’t forget if you want to create your own remix, you can download the stems from here

    We had an amazing night at the single’s official launch night at The Library in Oxford with our friends from All Will Be Well. LWFL got it’s live debut and Tom from KK joined us on lead vocals. A big shout out to Old Man May and Manners for joining us as well. Here’s some photos from the night by the amazing Ian Hanham.

    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham
    Taken by Ian Hanham

    In case you’re wondering, the cover art was made using a kind of janky mod I made of Streets of Rage Remake. I’m wondering whether or not I should make the mod available as a download. If you’re interested let me know.