We've Got It Covered #96

I am sure that most of you are already aware that the inaugural longlist for the Scottish Album of the Year Award was announced this week and I think it's safe to say that the list took quite a few people by surprise. To be honest with you I don't really know what I was expecting, but from the 20 albums that made the long list there are a few that I was genuinely surprise to see on there and a whole lot more that I had plain old never heard of. I guess it's the eclectic nature of the list that makes it seem genuinely interesting. In case you've not already seen the list, it looks something like this:

6th Borough Project - "One Night In the Borough" 
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - "Everything's Getting Older" 
Bwani Junction - "Fully Cocked" 
Chris Stout's Brazilian Theory - "Live In Concert" 
Conquering Animal Sound - "Kammerspiel" 
FOUND - "factorycraft" 
Fudge Fingas - "Now About How" 
Happy Particles - "Under Sleeping Waves" 
Jonny - "Jonny" 
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - "Diamond Mine" 
Mogwai - "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will" 
Mungo's Hi Fi - "Forward Ever" 
Muscles Of Joy - "Muscles Of Joy" 
Remember Remember - "The Quickening" 
Richard Craig - "Inward" 
Rustie - "Glass Swords" 
Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell - "Ghosts Outside" 
Tommy Smith - "Karma"     Twin Atlantic - "Free" 
We Were Promised Jetpacks - "In The Pit Of the Stomach"

 As with all of these kind of awards it's inevitable that folk will gripe about what did and didn't make the final list. But having seen first hand how much hard work Stewart Henderson (Chemikal Underground/The SMIA and the driving force behind the awards) has put in behind the scenes in trying to encompass all of the various factions of the Scottish music scene, I reckon he's done a cracking job in pulling all of this together.
If you compare the final 20 choices with the top 20 albums chosen in last years BAMS Award, there are four albums in there that were in the BAMS top twenty: "Everything's Getting Older" , "Diamond Mine", "Kammerspiel"  and "In The Pit Of the Stomach". Which I guess only goes to prove that the Scottish blogosphere has a pretty different viewpoint compared to the rest of Scotland's taste makers. Personally I would have loved to have seen Adam Stafford and Monoganon in the list, but I guess they might still edge towards being a bit too obscure for some folk (still fucking great albums mind). Personally I would love to see either King Creosote & John Hopkins or Happy Particles win it. Hopefully well see both of them making the final list of ten, which will be revealed  on the 17th of May, if you want vote for your favourite album then you can do so on the 14th of May when the voting goes open the general public, with the  general public’s   choice  guaranteed a slot on the shortlist. The winning  album  will be announced on the 19th of June at a ceremony in Glasgow, with the winner receiving a cheque for a whopping £20,000 and the nine runners-up receiving £1,000. Not bad, not bad at all.

Right I best rush off, as I am heading through to Fife with Randolph's Leap for The Eye O' The Dug Festival (that's my excuse for the rushed nature of this post). Before I go here are some covers from some of the artists that I wouldn't mind winning the innaugural SAY Award.


Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells - Cruel Summer (Bananarama cover)

Conquering Animal Sound - Dancing On My Own (Robyn cover)

FOUND - Eyes So Bright (Cate Le Bon cover) 

Happy Particles - Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake cover)

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - I Have Been Losing You (A-ha cover) 

Remember Remember - Twin Peaks theme tune (Angelo Badalamenti cover) 

Steve Mason - Borderline (Madonna cover)

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Blindsided (Bon Iver cover)

We've Got It Covered #56

It's Saturday which means that it's time for me to ramble some pish then make up for it by sharing a cover version with you all. So as I sit here writing this post, Erin is currently doing her level best to trash our living room, that's what my wife gets for leaving me in charge I guess. Once I have tidied up all of the carnage the plan of action today is to head over to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as the awesome RM Hubbert and a few other artists are playing a free gig their this afternoon. It's been ages since I have seen Hubby, so I am really looking forward to it. It's also pretty exciting in that it's a family friend event so at 10 months old Erin will be going to her first ever 'gig', not that she'll ever remember it though. I think tonight will be a bit of a quiet one as I need to keep my head down after the past few weeks of craziness. If I was going out I'd be heading along to Nice 'n Sleazys for the Strike The Colours album fundraiser which also features Sparrow and the Workshop and Craig B from The Unwinding Hours. It's only £6 and you'd be doing your bit to ensure that we get another Strike The Colours album.
I know I have just said that I am going to be keeping my head down this weekend, technically I am as I am not going out drinking, but that doesn't mean I have stay in. Tomorrow I am planning on heading over to Oran Mor for 'The Big BBQ show' for a few hours to catch a bit of Washington Irving and PAWS. You can find out more details on the gig and the running order over on Ayetunes, personally I am most looking for to having some of the pig on a spit. Anyway, I think that's enough of me for one week, I better get this place tidied up before my wife gets home, so here's this weeks cover version which comes from former Beta Band frontman, Steve Mason and his take on Madonna's 'Borderline'. Which I ripped from a session that he did for Radio 2 back in May of last year.


Steve Mason-Borderline (Madonna cover)

Steve Mason - BBC Radio 2 Session (08/04/11)

Track Listing

1. Am I Just A Man
2. All Come Down
3. Dr Baker

Download

Steve Mason - Marc Riley Session (25/10/10)

Track Listing

1. The Letter
2. Am I Just A Man
3. All Come Down
4. Boys Outside

Download

Steve Mason - 5Live Session (14/08/10)

Track Listing
1. Am I Just A Man

Download

Weekly Round Up (15/08/10)

Monday - Calamateur brought some Fresh Meat to the Peenko BBQ
Tuesday - esteemed author Rodge Glass did some Community Service as he introduced as to the Year of Open Doors. Plus some Boab revived his 62-Word Review, fuck me that's 4 posts in under a year.
Wednesday - the fabulous The Social Services took the time out to answer some questions for me, making them the 28th entry into the Scots Way-Hay club
Thursday - the first stream of my antics on Fresh Air alongside David from Kid Canaveral, the Son(s) compared it to a Scottish version of Loose Women, a pretty apt description I reckon.
There was also a session from Louise McVey and the Cracks in the Concrete
Friday - Freebies, Freebies, loads of fucking Freebies!!!!
Saturday - Franz Ferdinand's took on Britney Spears 'Womanizer' in We've Got It Covered


News, gigs and any other gubbins......

The Scottish Enlightenment return to live action this week with a cracking wee gig in the capital, on Thursday (19th August) night they play at Henry's Cellar Bar. They're playing as a three piece, with an emphasis on the old acoustic guitar. Fair do's you might well think, but you'd be wrong, oh so wrong, keep reading kids. On the night they will be joined by their good friend Dan Lyth who will be helping us them out on stage and also playing his own set. In addition to this they have Debutant joining them to play an acoustic set (apparently his loop pedal is broken), and to top it all off they have also roped in former De Rosa front man, Martin John Henry, to come along and 'busk some songs'. So to recap you have The Scottish Enlightenment, Dan Lyth, Debutant and Martin John Henry all for the bargain sum of £5. It all kick off at 8pm, and it's arguably one of the finest line ups you'll see in August.


If you are looking for something to do on Tuesday (17th) night and you live in Glasgow, then the place to be seems to be Mono in Glasgow, as Steve Mason formerly of the Beta Band, is doing a free show. It all kicks off at 7pm, it's an acoustic performance and you're advised to get down nice and early as it will probably be pretty busy.

Steve Mason - Radio 2 Session (22/05/10)

Track Listing
1. Boys Outside
2. Borderline (Madonna cover)

Download

Steve Mason - 6Music Session (19/04/10)

Track Listing
1. Am I Just A Man
2. All Come Down

Download

Steve Mason - Mary Anne Hobbs Session (04/03/2010)

Photograph by Nick Wilson

Track Listing
1. All Come Down
2. Am I Just A Man
3. Boys Outside
4. I Let Her In

Download

Friday Freebies

This weeks Friday Freebies has a very distinct Fife/Fence Records feel to it, mainly cause all of those nice folk have something to share with you and it won't set you back a bean.

The English Bore
First up we have The English Bore, who is giving away the first version of his new album for free (there's 4 versions of it apparently) you can download it for free here.
"Its an experiment in tonality, stereo fields and disintegration, and an honest attempt to make something completely original. its not really succeeded, but it is what it is."

Steve Mason

Next up we have Steve Mason, the former lead singer with the Beta Band, he released his new single 'All Come Down' on Monday there, but curiously it is also available as a free download over at The Quietus. If you fancy having a listen/download then you can grab yourself a copy here. If you feel guilty and would like actually pay for the single then you can do that here.
Steve Mason's new album Boys Outside, will be out in March of next year.

King Creosote

You might have read about the never to be officially released King Creosote album “my first bit of strange in 13 years” on Under the Radar this week. The concept is basically that KC has an albums worth of material that he would "rather not record and release in the usual way". So he is encouraging folk to record the album from a handful of live shows that he will perform at this years Homegame Festival.
Sound like a really interesting concept to me, here's hoping that I make it to one of the HG shows. Anyway, as per usual I am rambling, the point of this entry was that during the Fence Halloween weekend, King Creosote invited various Beeflords along to record a special recording of said album, which has now been put out for everyone to share. Sweet!
For more detailed information on this and plenty of other Fence type things head on over to the Beefboards, where you can meet loads of great folk, they don't bite honest.
Oh and more importantly to download the recording go here, NB the recording is in FLAC and will take a bit longer to download. If that's a problem for anyone let me know as I am sure I could convert a copy into MP3 if anyone asks nicely.

Fránçois And The Atlas Mountains
And last but more certainly not least, a wee taster of the latest release from Fence's F&TM, a cheeky MP3 of 'Be Water' can be yours for free over at The List, along with an interview with Fránçois himself. Get it done.