It’s a long time since October 2009, the last time a Playlist Mix podcast went to the web, and longer still going back to the 25th of March 2007 when the first podcast hit the web.

Over the two years, the podcast started, stopped, started, won awards, stopped, started and went silent. On March 25th gone, four years after the first podcast, I’m officially laying the Playlist Mix to rest and have begun the process of removing feeds, podcasts and winding the site down. Even after almost 18 months away from the podcast, the daily downloads are well in the double figures across the 59 episodes that were served up between 2007 and 2009 but it’s time to close up shop.

But, while the Playlist Mix goes to bed for an eternal snooze, the music must go on and so I introduce to you Indie Switch, the first podcast of which went live this weekend past.

There’s a few ways to pick up on the new podcast

• Visit IndieSwitch.com
• Follow Indie Switch on Facebook
• Follow Indie Switch on Twitter
• Send a track our way via SoundCloud.com

For the moment, the podcast borrows the format of old – six acts, six tracks over the course of a half hour or so. The day is different, the approach to bands is different and give it a week or two and the whole thing will be different.

The first podcast features tunes from Gold Panda, Metropolis America, The Evidence, The Attic Ends, The Counselors and The On Fires and is available to download via IndieSwitch.com

We’ll give it a few more weeks and then PlaylistMix.com will shut up shop altogether so get thee to IndieSwitch.com for the tunes instead!

Sitting here at the 2009 Irish Web Awards and The Persuaders have won this year’s Best Podcaster award, the category PLM was in the running for.

Personally, my money was on Nialler9 and Aoife for the Nialler9 podcast, another great blend of music, but The Persuaders topped the voting for 2009.

Bonus for Nialler9 who just walked off with Best Music Site ahead of last year’s winners, State Magazine.

Awards still ongoing here, you can follow the action by keeping an eye on the #iwa09 hashtag on Twitter.

Catch all y’all after the holidays…

The shortlists for the 2009 Realex Payments Irish Web Awards came out before the weekend and the Playlist Mix has found its way onto the shortlist, with judging currently underway of all entries. I’m delighted to see the podcast there again this year as we get back in the swing of things following the summer break (as every other year).

This year has been a year of change for the podcast, certainly bringing in a lot more Irish music, launching a new version of the site, delivering the podcasts via Blubrry, working around a legal hurdle or two, exploring options on syndication and a lot more besides.

Moving into the end of 2009 there’s a few more changes and developments to come the way of the Playlist Mix so if you’re not already subscribed to the podcast, now is the perfect opportunity to do so! PLM took home the award for Best Podcast last year so to be included in the running again is a great boost. The category itself is sponsored by 3 Ireland and joining the Playlist Mix on the shortlist are RTE Podcasts, Nialler9, The Persuaders, Michael Hanley, The Comic Cast, Hostelworld Podcasts, Chopshop FM, Devious Theatre, Mixtape.ie, Panic Dots and View From The Quad.

Have you noticed, we’re on Mondays? At least for this month anyway. The past two weeks shows have slipped online on Mondays and today shouldn’t really be any different as we move through September. You can thank the NFL for that as well. For the month of September we’re covering all of the NFL action (American Football that is) on Sundays from early in the morning through to last thing at night so we’ll be bringing you the Playlist Mix on Mondays for a few weeks.

Tonight’s playlist has been picked, yet again helped by the Soundcloud additions – if you’ve got a track you want to submit to the podcast, don’t hesitate to use the drop box to leave us an MP3.

I got to listening to Julie Feeney ahead of her appearance at the Kilkenny Arts Festival this past August. I was well aware of 13 songs and her Choice Music Prize award but the years inbeetween his first and current album, pages, seemed to pass me by.

On October 2nd (12th in the UK), the Galwegian releases Impossibly Beautiful, from pages, on single, accompanied by a brand new video as well shot by director Vittoria Colonna.

She’s also announced a few dates for late September / October in support of the release of the single.

• Thursday 24 September, Town Hall Theatre, Galway
• Thursday 15 October, The Sugar Club, Dublin
• Friday 16 October, The Dock, Carrick on Shannon
• Saturday 17 October, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
• Sunday 18 October, Oh Yeah Centre, Belfast
• Thursday 22 October, Spirit Store, Dundalk, Co. Louth
• Saturday 24 October, Glor, Ennis Co. Clare
• Friday 30 October, The Pavilion, Cork

Saving J, featured on the latest Playlist Mix with current single ABC are set to launch their debut album offering This City Street in Whelan’s in Dublin on Saturday September 12th, the CD itself available from the Friday. Support on the night will come from Rekoj and doors open at 8pm with tickets €10 available from the venue.

The album has been a long time in the making with the band already having released five singles – Bus Stop, Valentine, Kick Off, Indication Street and ABC – in advance of the album, with all singles included. Their next single, Everybody, is set for release shortly with artwork previews available on the band’s MySpace page.

I’ve had a copy of the album here for a few weeks and it’s nice to see how the band’s sound has shaped and evolved over the past two years. For an independent band, they’re certainly not afraid to get out, do the work, clock up the mileage in the tour van and make an investment in their musical careers. Hopefully the album, when it drops, will bring them some more deserved attention.

You can now submit your tracks to the Playlist Mix using SoundCloud.com and their dropbox feature. To upload a track, simply click on the dropbox button on the right of page, or use this link here.

Tip: When uploading an MP3, please name the track in the format of ARTIST NAME – TRACK NAME.mp3 e.g. Coldplay – Clocks.mp3.

Submissions for tracks are stacked up of May / June / July thanks to the break for touring and theatre and while you can still submit tracks via email we thought it nice to offer you the possibility of uploading tracks through the site. Plus we get to hold them all in the one spot online.

While SoundCloud.com will support a number of formats (AIFF / WAVE / FLAC / AAC / OGG / MP3), it’s only MP3 we’re looking for with a minimum quality of 128kpbs stereo. Uploading the track doesn’t guarantee that it will get played on the podcast but we can say that if and when the track does get an airing, you’ll be the first to know.

Have you been keeping up to date? If you’ve been following the Twitter stream you’ll have picked up (recently) that we’re in the throws of returning with the podcast following a prolonged summer break. Four months is a long time.

Taking time to arrange some licensing and syndication matters (as well as build up a wealth of new music), the PLM is set to return, next week, for the run to the end of the year.

I’ve been looking forward to this for too long…

Fear no, oh Playlist Mix listener, we’ve not gone away, merely having an extended afternoon nap. Truth is, we’ve been up the walls here since last night with a new project – My Music – that’s slowly but surely taking off. We’ve just finished working one tour, have two more lined up for the summer for artists that you would have heard on previous podcasts (like Jeff Lang, Clive Barnes, South, The Lions Mane, Empire Social etc.).

Normal programming will resume in June when the wheels on the bus slow down enough for us to catch up.

In the mean time, don’t forget you can still access any and all previous shows from this year right here on PlaylistMix.com and via iTunes.

It’s a Monday release for PLM55. After a weekend away in Belfast, there’s a lot to do yet in the studio so it’ll be tomorrow before you get to sample PLM55.

If you’ve never been to Belfast before, give it a shot. Had a great weekend up there and would most definitely go back again.