Next Friday is a going to be a busy wee evening in Glasgow for gigs, at Stereo my good mate Jim has gone solo and is putting on his first ever 'Ayetunes Presents' gig with Boygirlanimalcolour, Kochka and Trapped Mice. Tickets are only £3 in advance and £5 on the door.
After that's all finished it will be time to head up to Bloc for the first in the series of nights beng put on by Armellodie Records. Cleverly billed as 'Barmellodie', this 6-month residency sees the label putting on a series of gigs showcasing acts from their roster plus an array of local talent. The night will also feature guest DJ spots from local bloggers and tastemakers as well as resident ArmelloDJs spinning tunes right through to the wee hours on the third Friday of each month.
Kicking it all off they have Battery Face, Le Reno Amps and The Douglas Firs, plus they have Phil from Elba Sessions spinning some tunes too. If you're going along make sure you buy Phil a drink as he's just become a dad for the first time. The first band should be kicking off around 11pm, after which Al and Phil will be spinning tunes till about 3am. Entry is free until midnight, after which entry will rise to a whopping £2. It should be a pretty epic night considering everyone that they've got involved. Further details can be found here.
Monday - Amy Duncan kicked the week off with some Fresh Meat action Tuesday - Steve Mason and A Band Called Quinn sessions Wednesday - Inverness post-rockers, Shutter took on some Scots Way-Hay action and I also let you know about a couple of exciting new projects which I am involved in. Thursday - I had quite a few sessions up for download, Cancel the Astronauts, Isobel Campbell and the Twilight Sad all did there bit. The good folk from Off the Beaten Tracks also did some Community Service Friday - this weeks Freebies included tunes from Le Reno Amps, Tapes 'n Tapes, Remember Remember and FOUND Saturday - didn't get tickets to see Take That, then why not console yourself with the Seventeenth Century's cover of Patience, did I mention that they're also playing at AvP3 next Friday? Apparently tickets for that are a bit easier to get your hands on...
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
So the week of THE big gig has finally arrived, Ayetunes vs Peenko 3 is back and this time it's personal (no I have no idea where I'm going with that either). If you haven't already got yourself a ticket sorted what's been stopping you?! In the unlikely event that you don't know who we've got lined up, it's the Seventeenth Century, Come On Gang! and I Build Collapsible Mountains. It's going to be awesome sauce! It's this Friday night, it's only £6, it all kicks off at 7pm at the Classic Grand. We'd love to see some familiar and some unfamiliar faces coming down for the evening. There will of course be the usual free sweets on offer from this bearded twat - man that just sounds plain wrong. I should think these things through more in my head before I say them.....
On Thursday night, Elba Sessions are back with another cracking wee evening of intimate entertainment. Making his first live outing in Glasgow as I Build Collapsible Mountains, Luke Joyce warms up nicely for the following nights show at AvsP, by making an appearance. Joining him for the evening they also have Iglue and Now Wakes The Sea.
Also on Thursday (4th) night, Benni Hemm Hemm, Second Hand Marching Band & Tannahill hit Stereo in Glasgow for an evening of folk pop tinged fun. I won't be usual presumptuous self and expect you to have heard all of these bands, so here's a wee blurb (ie a copy n paste) about them all.... "Benni Hemm Hemm, the delightful pop troubador from Iceland, whose Scottish band features members of Eagleowl, SHMB, Withered Hand, The Occasional Flickers, How to Swim, The Trembling Bells, The Pineapple Chunks, Jesus H Foxx, Captain Slackship's Mezannine Allstars and more (and there's only 6 members). Benni has, in the past, collaborated with Alasdair Roberts and Jens Lekman and is currently recording a joint album with SHMB. The Second Hand Marching Band will be a 17-or-so piece indie folk funhouse who shall play to the crowd and in the crowd, with post-rock influenced buildups, quiet folk songs and dance party tunes. And the last group, Tannahill, are particularly special, made up of Alasdair Roberts, Wounded Knee, Sean from John Knox Sex Club and SHMB members Alistair, Pete, Ross and Rich. Their set will consist of reinterpretations of Robert Tannahill songs. Robert Tannahill is a Scottish poet from Paisley who died 200 years ago, but whose legacy is now coming to more people's attention after years of being overshadowed by his contemporary and inspiration, Robert Burns.This will be the first performance of the group, who will be releasing an album of Tannahill songs next year." Kick off is at 7pm and door charge will be £5.
Next Saturday, the 6th, promoters 45 A-Side Records have a cracking wee gig lined up at Stereo in Glasgow. For your evenings entertainment they have Meursault, Olympic Swimmers and Happy Particles for just £5. The evening kicks off at half seven, it should be quite a night.
I'll leave you this week with a video from a band who have been getting me pretty excited as of late, they're called Let's Talk About Trees, a side project from some of the members of John Knox Sex Club and Washington Irving. The band will be making their live debut at Stereo in Glasgow on the 20th of November, so get the date down in your diary...
Monday - Skies Fell took on some Fresh Meat action Tuesday - Sexual Objects Session for Vic, plus our good friends over at Gerry Loves told us a bit more themselves as my 8th DIY label Wednesday - Zoobizaretta became the 35th entry into the coveted Scots Way-Hay club Thursday - there was a wee announcement of a special gig in November (more of that below). There was also a wee interview with the lovely folk at Instinctive Racoon in my DIY series Friday - there was some of the finest freebies in ages, including tunes from FOUND, French Wives and The Phantom Band. There were also sessions from Edwyn Collins and Citizens. Saturday - my We've Got It Covered feature brought you Ballboy's unique take off Springsteen classic
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
In case you missed our big announcement earlier in the week, Ayetunes vs Peenko is back and what a line up we have in store for you this time. Joining us at the Classic Grand on Bonfire Night will be none other than the Seventeenth Century, Come On Gang! and I Build Collapsible Mountains. Tickets for the gig are on sale now for a very reasonable £6, you can get them through Ticket Scotland, Ticketweb and directly from my Big Cartel page, which has the added bonus of no booking fees and free postage.
As part of this years Oxjam Festival, I've managed to secure a pretty awesome lineup, gracing the stage in the name of charity will be none other than Super Adventure Club , Bronto Skylift , Carnivores and Campfires in Winter.All of this for a fiver, cannae complain. Since this is part of Oxjam all the proceeds from the gig will go directly to Oxfam. So come out, do your bit for charity and listen to a night of LOUD and AWESOME music. Tickets are £5 on the door, first come first served, so get down early!
Our good friends over at Elba Sessions celebrate their first birthday next Friday,the 8th of October. In true Elba style they've lined up an eclectic evening at their spiritual home, The Liquid Ship, featuring Cuddly Shark, Julia and The Doogans, Yusuf Azak, Jonathan Sebastian Knight (My Cousin I Bid You Farewell) and Paul McLinden (who was the first performer to grace the Elba stage). Elba blog-master Phil notes: 'Unfortunately we couldn’t ask everyone, there were quite simply too many people and we didn’t quite have it in us to organise a five day festival but we’re proud of the line up and hope that you will join us to celebrate a good year where we have met so many good people who have helped us out, whether it be a mention on their blog, sending us some music to listen to or even the odd follow friday on twitter!!' As it is a special occasion the night has moved from its usual Thursday night slot to Friday. The evening starts at 8.30pm sharp and it is free entry as always.
Tomorrow sees the relaunch of Too Many Fireworks, you might remember I featured them as part of my Scottish DIY Labels feature. The label returns with release of label owner, Neil Milton's 'Elements EP'. Recorded in Neil’s adopted home of Warsaw, the EP contains five short pieces of modern-classical music, each loosely inspired by one of the medieval elements. In August, the collection soundtracked the short film "We Sink Ships: Elements", by the now defunct art collaboration We Sink Ships, when shown at the Edinburgh Arts Festival. Check out the labels homepage for further details.
Former Fresh Meat starlets, Indian Red Lopez, continue their mini tour of Scotland this week. The Aberdeenshire 'guitars 'n' electronics outfit' are at The Greenside in Glenrothes tonight, followed by an appearance King Tuts on Tuesday (5th). In Glasgow the band will be supporting ever-rising Northamptonshire electro-popsters Fenech Soler. The band then had across to Holland for mini tour after that. Indian Red Lopez - 'My Eyes'
Tonight in Glasgow, Perth based rock outfit The Barent's Sea finish off the last night of their tour with a gig at the Captains Rest. The band have garnered a lot of attention recently, and their high energy live set is apparently quite a sight to behold. Support comes from local acts The Darien Venture, Alburn, and Jack The Wolf. Find out more details here.
Those lovely Fence folk also used this week to officially announce the line up for this years Halloween Party. They are moving from their spiritual home of Anstruther and showing us Weegies what a party should really be like. Funnily enough it'll take place on Sunday the 31st of October at Stereo and The Old Hairdressers (directly across from Stereo) in Glasgow. Running from 2pm right through till 2am, check this for a line up; King Creosote, James Yorkston, Silver Columns, James Yuill, Lord Cut Glass, Alasdair Roberts , John MacLean (DJ) , Jo Mango, Vladimir Lad, Randolph’s Leap, John B McKenna, Jonnie Common, Gummi Bako, Pictish Trail, plus many more acts still to be announced. Tickets for the gig are £25 and you can buy them here, be quick though as if last years anything to go by this will set out very quickly.
To round things off this week here's a little taster from Shambles Miller's forthcoming EP, 'Shambles Sails the Clockwork Sea'. The EP isn't out until the 22nd of October when he'll also be having the launch night, in the Liquid Ship in Glasgow. It's free entry, so make sure you make it in your diaries kids!
Monday - get yer teeth into some tasty Fresh Meat brought to you by B-Movie Junkies, plus I had Calamateur's Moray Firth Session Tuesday - Aberfeldy were in session for Vic G Wednesday - A Band Called Quinn were the 30th entry in the Scots Way-Hay club Thursday - a session from The Burns Unit on Marc Riley's show Friday - Freebies!!! including stuff from Randolph's Leap and Martin John Henry. Plus a sessions from Haight Ashbury and the Shutter on Vic Galloway's show Saturday - Washington Irving covered Hot Chip in We've Got It Covered
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
As I am going to be a bit preoccupied this next month, I have organised a series of posts featuring DIY Labels in Scotland. So over the next six weeks you can expect to see interviews with the folk that run Wiseblood Industries, Armellodie Records, 45 A-Side Records, Seventeen Second Records, RE:PEATER RECORDS, Too Many Fireworks, Chaffinch Records, Gerry Loves Records, Instinctive Racoon Records, SL Records and Song By Toad Records. Having edited them all, you can trust me when I say that you are in for a treat as you gain an incite into some of the most exciting labels in Scotland, plus there will definitely not be any 'King making' ;)
Former Scots Way-Hay starlet Julian Corrie, aka Miaoux Miaoux releases his new single, ‘Knitted’ this Wednesday (1st) on download and limited edition CD with knitted sleeve. It will be available from his homepage, it also features a remix from The Japanese War Effort and a special live track, which will be exclusive to the physical release. The whole thing is in aid of charity, as Julian explains: “A friend and I had the idea for knitted CD covers. We approached a knitting group at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres and they agreed to do it in return for a donation to the charity. I’ve recently lost someone very close to me to prostate cancer, so I’ll be donating some proceeds from the single to both Maggie’s and Cancer Research.” Miaoux Miaoux plays at the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow tonight, alongside Fox Gut Daata.
If you are in the capital tonight and looking for a good way to round off your festival experience, then Fiona Soe Paing is performing her "No Man's Land" score supporting the Hidden Orchestra's live re-working of Powaqqatsi at the Roxy Art House. Due to a weird timing issue, Hidden Orchestra are on at 11.30, and Fiona at 12.30 (I think).
On Thursday night at the Roxy, Edinburgh's Amy Duncan, a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Edinburgh, launches her new album 'Potential-Space'. The night will feature 3 sets, one from Scottish harpist and composer Fiona Rutherford will be playing her own compositions on clarsach, accompanied by Amy on doublebass . Followed by electronic artist Bradley Burns playing some of his tunes on laptop, then Fiona, Bradley and Amy will then together play songs from the album. You can listen, and if you like it, order 'Potential-Space' now from her Bandcamp.
On Thursday night, our good friends over at Elba Sessions are having their tenth (yes tenth!), Elba Sessions Presents evening. As always they've got a cracking line up in store for you, this months features Finn Lemrainel (of Trapped in Kansas fame), Shauna Joy and Lynne Louden, and as if that wasn't impressive enough, it's free entry.
Monday - Dems became the latest Fresh Meat in a Peenko sandwich Tuesday - Silver Columns session for Vic G's Radio Scotland show Wednesday - Washington Irving got the keys the door as they were our 21st entry into the Scots Way-Hay club Thursday - Kid Canaveral took the time out to talk us through their amazing debut album, 'Shouting At Wildlife'. Friday - Freebie time, make sure you check out the free download of the Pink Nasty album 'Mold the Gold', trust me it's a great wee album Saturday - King Creosote was our latest We've Got It Covered star, with his interpretation of some Tears For Fears
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
If you are free this afternoon and looking for an alternative to the footy and you live in sunny Glasgow, then you might want to check out Hazy Recollections over at Glasgow University Union (GU) as part of the West End Festival. Returning for it’s third outing, the bi-monthly event aims to showcase the finest in contemporary Indie/Folk acts from Glasgow and beyond. Taking place from 2pm-6pm, the line up includes Alex Cornish, French Wives, Aly Macrae, Kitty the Lion, The Cliftons, The Hidden Lane Choir House Band Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers.
Next Saturday (3rd) see Kid Canaveral launching their debut album, 'Shouting At Wildlife', with a gig at the Roxy in Edinburgh. Support for the evening comes from The Come On Gang and the Scottish Enlightenment. With DJ slots from Cancel The Astronauts and yours truly, it promises to be a beast of an evening, personally I can't wait.
Another gig which is really exciting me this week is the latest Elba Sessions presents gig on Thursday (1st), featuring 'good friend of the blog' RM 'Hubby' Hubbert , Yusuf Azak and my boys Campfires in Winter. Two amazing acts for free, sweet! It's at the Liquid Ship, it kicks off about 9-ish and it should be one hell of a good night.
Tonight you can catch, Milk, Schnapps and Wilson Tan as they take to the stage at the Captains Rest as part of the celebrations of this years West End Festival. Apparently we can also expect to witness a collaboration of around twenty people crammed on to stage equipped with anything close to hand. All gathered around a huge and beautiful organ for a short improvised set and stage tage invasions are welcome. Who knows how they'll manage to fit anyone else on stage though.
Meanwhile down in Gourock (yes Gourock), Glasgow indie pop outfit, Ace City Racers will be headlining a gig at the Summer Pool Party. Sounds like something they should be having in LA, not fucking Gourock. If you live in that neck of the woods and you fancy some top tunes whilst having to witness lots of half naked locals then the party kicks off at 6pm and it's only £1.40 to get in, cheap as chips!.
If you're not in Edinburgh next week for the KC album launch, then you'd be advise to head down to Box in Glasgow to catch previous Fresh Meaters 'Night Noise Team' who are playing a free T-Break warm-up gig, with support from Patricia Panther and Digital Dinosaur.
Monday -Peterhead's Indian Red Lopez provided us with some tasty Fresh Meat Tuesday - our love in with Meursault started this week with their Vic Galloway session, which came with the added bonus of a Daniel Johnston cover Wednesday - day two of the Meursault love in, and they became the latest Scots Way-Hay victims. There was also a wee Frabbit session in there too, we can't have a week without one these days. Thursday - the wonderful We're Only Afraid Of NYC were in session for Vic (we love these guys), also a week of Teenage Fanclub sessions started with their Radio 2 Session Friday - it's freebie time!! Oh and yet another Fannies session, this one was for Marc Riley's 6Music show (this might well have gone up on Saturday, but it was meant to have been posted on Friday)
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
Those pesky Detour kids are it again, man they're good. This Wednesday (2nd), they've only gone and got the following bands lined up to play for them Song of Return (formerly Union of Knives), There Will Be Fireworks and Meursault. Stick that in your pipe! It's at The Buff Club, tickets are only a fiver on the door, it all kicks off at 9pm, through until 3 in the morning. Man that's gone be one messy evening. it promises all the usual chaos of their Detour Live nights with hosts Ally and Weaver, who are also recording a pilot for their very own TV show. I'm going to be sunning it up in York when this is on, I might go the Viking Centre instead. That's 'rock 'n roll', right? Right? Fuck I'm old.....
Lost City Lights (more on them later) are out on tour this week in support of their new single “We Own the Night”, you can catch them on Wednesday (3rd) in Edinburgh at Whistlebinkies, followed by a gig on Sunday (6th) at the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow.
On Thursday (3rd), independent label and artist collective Antimatter are putting on their second installment of Musicbox, an evening of aural and visual delight.... The concept of Musicbox is pretty simple: 'Musically, each line up features four of the best new up and coming artists around. We operate an open mixed genre policy. Acoustic artists play side by side with electronic, folk bands play next to experimental musicians. Each artist has been specifically chosen to compliment the rest of the bill.'
Visually, they do things a little differently. The line up on the night also features four up and coming photographers. Each photographer is pre-assigned to a band. Which they are given a month to soak up the sound of their band and shoot a sequence of photographs as their interpretation of that band's music. Each sequence is then projected live on the night as a visual accompaniment to that band's performance. Performing Live on the night are Call to Mind (check their EP it's class!), Error Response, Cracks In The Concrete and Nomogram. Photographers: Ruan Suess, Awai David Wan, Erin Hardee and Parallax. Tickets are only £4, you can buy them in advance through the Antimatter homepage. Sounds like a cracking (do I use that word too much?) night.
Continuing on with what is proving to be a busy wee week in Glasgow, our friends from Radar (the music blog that's done through the Scotsman), are putting on their first ever gig. They're touting it as a showcase for the best and most exciting new music in Scotland, having seen the line up I can't help but agree. It's at Nice'n'Sleazy's on Friday (4th) featuring the following, My Cousin I Bid You Farewell, Miaoux Miaoux and Blue Sky Archives. Pretty, pretty good.
Tonight (30th) Ming Ming and the Ching Chings launch their new EP 'Not in Anyone's Gang' with a wee shindig at Nice n' Sleazys, 11pm - 3am. Shite name for a band, sorry fellas,thankfully though their music is cracking. If you've got the Monday off then this could be a grand way to spend your evening, the band will perform their new EP in their truly unforgettable hybrid, high-octave style. Expect a visual assault of projected artwork, VJ's and DJ'n and hot Brazilian dancing! Sounds like fun to me.
Washington Irving, are another band celebrating the launch of an EP this week. A wee corker it is too, hopefully we'll have more on them later in the month. Get yourself along to Mono on Thursday night (3rd), for their official EP launch, support on the evening comes from Randolphs Leap and Endor (Jarv Solo Set). Yet another great gig taking place this week while I'm away, I reckon there's some kind of conspiracy of bands not want me to come to their gigs. Cannae blame them, have you seen my dancing? Oh wait you probably have.....
Also on Thursday, are good friends over at Elba have a corker of a gig lined up at the Liquid Ship. The line up for the evening is a wee corker, featuring Blue Sky Archives (more from them soon, and by soon I mean July, there's a bit of a backlog of great new bands lined up), My Cousin I Bid You Farewell (I should really get my finger out and give them a listen) and last but not least, Peenko favourite Shambles Miller. Plus did I mention it's free, cannae beat free!
Oh and if you're looking for something to fill your Sunday afternoon with, then I'd suggest you head on over to the Tramway to check out the John Cage Musicircus. All the information and the like can be found here...
Monday - Fresh Meat Monday - David Hughes & The Renegade folk punk band Tuesday - Copy Haho's session for Mr Galloway Wednesday - The mind boggling Super Adventure Club were the thirteenth entry into the Scots Wa-Hay club. Plsu Meursault's rather brilliant session for Andrew Collins 6Music show. Thursday - the legendary Pop Cop became Community Service victim #8 and the mighty Admiral Fallow's Radio One Session. I also managed to record a frabbit session, hopefully I should have a few more posted in the coming weeks. Friday -as always it's all about Freebies!!!!!!
News, gigs and any other gubbins......
Tonight in Glasgow, see the return of Get A Room. here's the blurb (yes I'm being lazy, and no I don't care if you look down on me for it) -"I'm a charity night held in Glasgow once a year. The date for 2010 is Sunday the 2nd of May which is a bank holiday weekend. As usual we'll have around 15 live acts and 15 or so DJs playing over six floors of the Brunswick Hotel in Glasgow's Merchant City. If you haven't been before then here's a short rundown of the evening: Doors open at 7pm and the live music starts promptly at 8pm. We have the whole hotel for the night (all six floors) with live music in the basement, the ground floor bar and the split level penthouse. We'll keep on keeping on 'till 2am. Let us know if you're planning to come along and we'll reserve tickets for you in advance. If you're planning to stay in the Hotel on the night there are some rooms available. Please call the Hotel on 0141 552 0001 or email enquiry@thebrunswickhotel.co.uk to book. "
On Thursday (the 6th) Elba Sessions are going head to head wiht the General Election with their sixth Elba Sessions Presents… at the Liquid Ship in Glasgow once again for the sixth evening on May 6th. This month, they've decided to treat us all to some acoustic goodness with sets from Bad Bad Men, David Bova and marky:boyofdestiny.
Alternatively you could head along to Fear The Fives EP launch night at Bar Bloc, which see the band playing live with support from John McFarlane (Sluts of Trust) and a DJ set from the Glasgow PodcART crew.
Here's a roundup of things that I had up this week, and yup there was still no return of Boabs reviews, tut fucking tut. I'll need to have a word with him about that...
Monday - I finally got that Sleigh Bells recording from SXSW that I'd fucked up posted, with a working link this time. Plus Julia and the Doogans were my Fresh Meat and we had even more Frabbit. Fuck it if they're going to record sessions I am going to keep posting em. Tuesday - I posted heehaw, I was supposed to have a Teenage Fanclub recording up, but due to too much shit to deal with in work and general laziness not a lot happened. Wednesday - We had Mitchell Museum's Marc Riley session, have we mentioned that they have a gig at the end of April?! Enough of that, more whoring will be done soon. The fabulous MiaouxMiaoux were my next installment in 'Scots Way-Hay'. Plus by special request Olo Worms session was posted for Mooki Thursday - Saw the lovely Jenny Soep give one of the most interesting set of answers that I have ever had the good fortune to post on here. North Atlantic Oscillation's Marc Riley session went up too, blooming great it was too Friday - Had 'the greatest' Friday Freebies ever, honestly at the start of the week I was shiting it that I wouldn't have anything. Then along came the National, Phoenix, etal. Saturday - was all about sessions, RM Hubbert wowed me with his appearance on Celtic Music Radio, while Paul Carlin had me whooping like one of the morons oyu used to get in the crowd on early 90's tv show 'The Word', when he plugged our gig. Oh and he also had a session with the new to me, Okker, great find that man.
Things going on this week, news, other stuff that I have no idea where to put, but want to share
If you are free on Thursday night then you you be getting yourself down to the Liquid Ship on Great Western Road in Glasgow for the Fifth 'Elba Session Present'. The line up is a bit of a corker boasting 'beneath us the waves, The Scottish Enlightenment and John Rush, all playing and to top it all off it's free. Further details can be found here.
Our Edinburgh friends 17 Seconds have a new release out tomorrow, Aberfeldy'sChris Bradley'sAt the Outpost . This is the follow-up to his 2008 solo debut Voices and will be the first full album release on 17 Seconds Records. Chris is doing a wee instore at Avalanche in Glasgow at 5pm on the 7th, if you can't till then to buy a copy then head on over to 17 Seconds and splash your cash.
Bis announced their return with a one off UK show in Glasgow this week, having already confirmed that they will play at this years Primavera. They are due to play at Stereo on the 23rd of May, ticket details can be found here.
Belle and Sebastian have been announced as curators at this years ATP festival, an event that they helped to establish 11 years ago with their Bowlie Weekender. The festival is being billed as Bowlie Part 2, and it will see the band curating all three nights, from the 10th-12th of December, with the band also headline at least one evening. Pre-sale tickets can be found here.
Ed from 17 Seconds announced on his blog (he must be feeling very special at getting two mentions) yesterday that Tigerfest runs between the 5-14th of May this year. So far only the line-up for Edinburgh leg has been announced, Dunfermline should be announced fairly soon. Artiststs that have been announced so far include; Martin Stephenson, There Will be Fireworks, Jesus H. Foxx, Emily Scott, Midas Fall, The Gothenburg Address, TV21, Alex Cornish, Andi Neate, Andy Tucker, Casey, the Stantons, the Boycotts and Phoebe Kreutz, X-Lion Tamer, The Last Battle, Chris Bradley, The Dirty Cuts and The Wildhouse.
There's a fair few things going on in Glasgow this week, most of which I can't make, but seeing as there's so much happening I though it'd be a good idea to post them in one handy post.
There's not much on this Monday, unless you fancy hanging out with all the neds at Stereo for the View. Actually how the fuck did the View end playing in Stereo, that just seems wrong to me. Yes, I know it's snobby as fuck, but it's just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Thankfully things pick up on Tuesday night at Sleazys, where you have dd/mm/yyyy, backed by an array of local talent which includes Galleries, Mice and the Macabre Scene (we like em a lot round these parts).
On Thursday, indie label and artist collective Antimatter debut their first Musicbox night at Universal. 'The concept of Musicbox is simple. Musically, each line up features four of the best new up and coming artists around. We operate an open mixed genre policy. Acoustic artists play side by side with electronic, folk musicians next to experimental. Each artist has been specifically chosen to compliment the rest.' Sounds like a good idea to me, the line looks like this The Recovery Club, Engine7, Paul McLinden and Lamplighter. Out of all of them I have only heard Engine7, who's album 'Me, But Perfect' rather impressed me last year. Tickets are only £3, the evening kicks off at 8pm, further details are available on the Anitmatter website.
Friday, you have one of two options The Unwinding Hours at Stereo (reminds self that I need to get me finger oot and get a ticket for this - anyone fancy it?) or alternatively there is always the Local Natives at Tuts, which I'd be surprised if it wasn't sold out already. Can't be arsed checking.
Saturday night at the 13th Note should be a good un, Flowers in the Dustbin have a showcase of local talent lined up, including The Fire And I, The 123’s, Hitlist Youth and Foxgang. That's going to be a beast of an evening.
Finally if you want to see the week off in style then you should head down to Mono next Sunday for Burnt Island's (more on them later in the week) mini-album launch. Support on the evening comes from Aidan Moffat and Benni HemmHemm backed by the Second Hand Marching Band (that reminds me where's my EP?????).
Week two of 'Community Service' and it gives me great pleasure to present to you with the multi-talented beast that is Elba Sessions. I first came across Elba after they launched their blog back in September of last year, to be honest I can't fully remember exactly how or what it was that lead me to stumbling across these guys. All that I know is that I am very glad I did. Now over to a lovely fella who goes by the name of Phil to introduce you to the wonderful world of Elba....
In your own words describe what Elba Sessions is:
It's evolved so much it's hard to describe! The Elba Sessions started as a monthly podcast showcasing a particular artist. We record them playing a couple of tracks and have a chat to them about their process behind writing songs and anything else that we think may be of interest. Now, the Elba Sessions incorporate a monthly residency at The Liquid Ship in Glasgow as well as having our own blog.
Please introduce the Elba team;
Three people make up the Elba team, Stephen, Chris (Knoxy) and myself, Phil. We all knew each other from uni. Chris and Stephen shared the same halls of residence (on Elba Street no less), and myself and Chris already knew each other from school in Aberdeen. Stephen runs Elba Studios in the West End so I suppose we'll call him our gaffer! Knoxy presents the podcasts and organises the gigs along with myself. I'm pretty hands on with the blog so it's me to blame for the content slump over New Year!! We also have a few extra bodies that we wheel in to help out. Steph Mulligan does photos for us and Kim Higgins will be starting to write for us on a more regular basis.
What was it that motivated you to start (1) doing the Elba Sessions (2) writing a blog (3) recording Podcasts?
Stephen started the Elba sessions as a podcast last July really as a supplement to the work he was doing in the studio. A lot of good bands/artists were recording in the studio and a podcast was a good bit of promo for both the musicians andthe studio. Chris was soon drafted in to present the podcasts and I followed soon after to help out translating the Elba Sessions to gig form.We all muck in and help out with the gigs now because there are so many good bands we want to put on! The blog came as an extra. It was something that I'd wanted to start up for a while and this gave me the perfect excuse to do it. We've got the design and all that in place, it's just starting to fill up with content now and like I said before, I've got a bit of help with some writing on it and we're planning to having much more regular reviews and features.
What would you say has been the best thing to happen since you started it?
I suppose we would all have different answers for that. Personally when we put on the first elba gig I felt pretty proud. It was a busy night and we had a really good line up. The podcasts getting more listens is also good and I know that my two colleagues would probably count the Martin John Henry podcast as a high point being massive De Rosa fans!
For you personally what artist/band has excited you most over the past 12 months?
Doing the Elba Sessions and reading other blogs there are loads of bands to get excited about! I could probably make a huge list but notable ones would be Julia and The Doogans, The Scottish Enlightenment and Maple Leaves. I'm looking forward to hearing a lot more from them all this year.
For all the folk out there that haven’t heard an Elba Sessions podcast, why should they give you a listen?
I think when you are really into music, you like hearing new things or you like to hear a bit more about a band or artist. The podcast gives a bit more background to how the musician works as well as having some nice acoustic versions of their tracks.
Lastly, what can we expect to see/hear from Elba this year?
A lot more of the same. We've had a bit of hibernation over the big freeze but we've got a few gigs coming up, we're starting to record the podcasts again and we're going to get quite busy on the blog. January was the first month we had put the podcast on the blog so it feels like its really moving forward! We've become good friends with a couple of local labels, Antimatter and Armellodie, and are looking forward to doing some things with them over the next few months. We have plans...let's just see if we can put them into practice!
'Elba Sessions Presents' #4 takes place at The Liquid Ship in Glasgow on Friday 19th February. Heading up the bill for their first gig of 2010 are King James, personally I've never heard of them, but they're made up of The Diamond Family Archive and Thirty Pounds of Bone (Phil swears by this guy, and he seems to have taste, so I'd trust him on this one). Support on the evening comes from Maple Leaves, Craig Davidson and Cuddly Shark who will be playing an acoustic set, something which really has to be seen to be believed! For further information head on over to their Homepage, where a plethora of interesting articles awaits you. Once you've finished having a snoop about on their head on over to their Myspace and listen to a stream of all of their Podcasts (the Martin John Henry one is my personal favourite in case you are interested. What do you mean you don't care. Fine then, be like that). Finally go and follow them on Twitter as that's what all the cool kids do.
