Weekly Round Up (11/04/2010)

Monday - saw another double header of Fresh Meat, two wee belter this week Foxgang and Deathpodal
Tuesday - as Vic didn't have anyone in session on his Monday night show I did start to wonder if I would have much stuff to post this week. Thankfully Ricky Ross had the wonderful Sparrow in the Workshop in session, they even played a Loretta Lynn cover.
Wednesday - Miss the Occupier became the tenth installment in my Scots Way-Hay feature
Thursday - Community Service was put on hold for yet another week, Walter in the unlikely event that you are reading this get yer finger oot son! Thankfully though I usually have a wee trick up my sleeve, i.e. I go and raid old Radio Scotland sessions. This time I went with the 'Scottish Nirvana', St Deluxe and an old session they did for Vic G's show.
Friday - you should know the drill by now, Friday is all about the freebies, which included tracks from Stars, My Kappa Roots and Kimya Dawson.



News, gigs and things going on this week......

The headliners for this years Belladrum Festival got announced this week , Feeder and Amy MacDonald headline this years event. Not the two headliners that some had hoped for, the TFC and B&S proved to be just rumours sadly. Also playing at the event are Bob Marley’s legendary Wailers, Candi Staton, the Levellers, Wolfstone, The Vatersay Boys, Stornoway, Erland and the the Carnival, Alex Gardner, Egyptian Hip Hop, Young Fathers, Unicorn Kid, The Woodentops, The Divine Comedy, Dick Gaughan, John Otway, Beth Jeans Houghton.
Further information on tickets and the like can be found here.

The Stag and Dagger festival which takes place on the 21st of May announced some more of their line up. WHich looks something like this now The Antlers, Blood Red Shoes, Chapel Club, Crocodiles, Divorce, Django Django, Egyptian Hip Hop, El Rancho Relaxo, Erland & the Carnival, Esben and the Witch, Frankie & the Heartstrings, Fun, Gold Panda, Hot Club Islet, Jesca Hoop, Joker, Kid Adrift, Kong, Male Bonding, Men and Machines, My Latest Novel, Olympic Swimmers, A Place to bury Strangers, Schnapps, She’s Hit, Silver Columns, Sky Larkin, Sleigh Bells, Sparrow and the Workshop, Tazz Buckfaster, Telegraphs, Titus Andronicus, Tripwires, Unwinding Hours, We were Promised Jetpacks, White Hinterland, Wild Beasts, Wilder and Wilson Tan. Personally I am really excited about that line up, my one tip out of that lot would have to be Sleigh Bells, trust me.

There's a couple of decent gigs the Monday, beneath us, the waves Maple Leaves and The Last Battle are at Stereo. Whilst over in the West End, there is a Concert for Chilean Earthquake Disaster Fund at Oran Mor. The line up includes Pauline Goldsmith (compere), Ballboy, Ken McCluskey, The Low Miffs, Kid Canaveral, The Boppin Heads, Bruce Morton (comedy), Susan Calman (comedy), “The Wee Man” (comedy), Carlos Arredondo & Galo Ceron, Tam Dean Burn (political theatre), Amy Duncan, Cora Bissett, Rustic City Fathers, Skye Lonegran, Drew Taylor (poetry), Brokeback Jockstrap, Ali Macrae and Mike Gonzalez (guest speaker)

If you are free next Saturday afternoon, then I'd recommend that you head down to the Tall Ship in Glasgow for the opening of 'Salt Water', an exhibition which is being put on as part of this years Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art. The reason this being, that you can catch theapplesofenergy playing live on board from 15:00 - 16:00, if you haven't seen Stephen Gribbin play live then you're in for a treat. His live shows are unique, in that they are always improvised in response to his surroundings, featuring tape recordings, mandolins, glockenspiels and guitars.



Next Saturday is also Record Store Day, and as part of celebrations, RM Hubbert, Moon Unit and Stuart Braithwaite (DJ set) will all be performing at Monorail Music in Glasgow. I think it all kicks off around two, but don't hold me to that

If you haven't had your fill of live music then why not along to the Studio Warehouse in Glasgow and see the excellent FOUND. The gig is part of the opening event for Cybraphon's exhibition in the GI (Glasgow International). It kicks off at 8pm, it's free and the support on the evening comes from OnTheFly. Sounds like a grand evening out to me.

On Wednesday night (that'll be the 14th), Washington Irving, The Seventeenth Century and Irish singer/songwriter Ultan Conlon are playing at Sleazy's. The first two bands come highly recommended, couldn't tell you anything else about Utlan Conlon though, tickets are a very reasonable £4, (cannae argue with that) with doors at half seven.


Glasgow City of Music is looking for bands to send them tracks a part of their new ‘Music City – Celebrating Glasgow’s Music’ project which launches this year.
The Music City stream aims to help promote music, events, concerts and shows to local and international listeners via their website. If you want to send them some of your songs (MP3’s of releases, live recordings, interviews etc.) then you can upload them here. Alternatively, you can send a physical copy to the following address Glasgow City of Music 20 Trongate Glasgow G1 5ES . You can get more information by emailing them at info@glasgowcityofmusic.com

Live Review - The Second Hand Marching Band, Benni Hemm Hemm, applesofenergy and Meursault at Stereo

Since I started this blog I have tended to veer away from doing reviews, I think the last time I did a live review was within the first week, and that was of a festival in San Francisco, I have always erred on the side of caution and passed the buck and get Boab to do my dirty work. Basically I am getting my excuses in early if this turns out as bad as I fear.

Sunday nights for me can be pretty terrible, the combination of hangover and the dreaded fear of having to go back to work on the Monday morning can be a real killer as the blues start to kick in on a Sunday evening. Fortunately though this was no ordinary Sunday, I had been looking forward to this gig for a while now, I had seen apples and Meursault a couple of time before, but I was popping my proverbial cherry with the SHMB and Benni Hemm Hemm.

Having arrived at the venue fairly early I was unsurprised to find Jim Aye Tunes propping up the bar, so after grabbing a quick drink with him we sauntered downstairs for some aural pleasure. The gig was part of a series of gigs being put on by From a Stolen Sea to promote the release of the forthcoming applesofenergy album 'Mirror/Echo', they seem to be trying to a more personal touch back to gig going, as we have old school tickets with proper band logos, none of this pre-printed ticketbastard shite, no siree. As someone who keeps all of his tickets stubs, I think the term is sad bastard, these little touches mean a lot.


Anyway, I digress, the first band of the evening were The Second Hand Marching Band, Scotland's equivalent to say the Polyphonic Spree or I'm From Barcelona, except they have the tunes to back it up. If you have no idea who any of the bands are then I suppose I should explain, there's hundreds of folk up on stage, fifteen or sixteen I think, I can't be sure as there always seemed to be someone lurking in the shadows, and by the time I had spotted them, someone else had moved to play another instrument (talented buggers this lot).
Opening with 'A Dance To Half Death' the lead track to their EP (which you can freely download here), was a great way to kick the evening off. personally I fucking love that song, the build up to the chorus of voices is just epic. Although the rest of their set never quite lives up this blindingly good opening I must admit that I am a definite convert to the ways of the SHMB, with so many folk on stage I kept expecting it to descend into chaos, but fuck me for such a lrge band they're pretty damn tight, plus every single one of them seems to giving it laldy with a massive grin on everyone of their faces. When I grow up I want to be a Second Hand Marcher.


Next up is Benni Hemm Heem, to be perfectly honest I didn't know too much about these guys, Bob had been banging on about them for a while now, so being the stubborn twat that I am, the more he preached the less impetus I had to listen. To put it simply Bob was right.
Singing in half English and half in Icelandic, is quite a novel experience for me, and to be honest I actually preferred the songs sung in the native tongue. Backed by trio of SHMB
the horns, their anthemic songs really hit he spot for me, imagine an Icleandic Sufjan Stevens singing about ancient kings and you're half way there. They closed their set with a song called 'Retaliate', which for me was a highlight of the whole evening.



I think I have to be honest before I say anything about theapplesofenergy the solo project of Steven Gribbin, I consider him to be a friend, so it's difficult not to be seen to giving him a favourable review. What's even harder is trying to describe what he does, as the music he makes is not normally something that I would listen to and trying to find the words to describe it is even harder. Having seen him a number of times recently, you'd think that I would have managed to find some kind of way to convey to you what kind of music he produces, but each time I found myself very much outwith my comfort zone. His experimental ambient sound for me is a very personal experience, with each looped sound making it such an intimate experience for me. Each time I see him it's always different, almost as if you are being taken on a journey that mirrors the musical ride that fits your surroundings, Magical stuff, even if I do say so myself.


The last band of the evening are Edinburgh's Meursault, this was the third time I had seen them this year, my initial interest in the band came after someone compared them as a 'more electronic Frightened Rabbit'. I can understand why this association might be made, but then a lot of bands sing with a Scottish accent these days get lumped with that tag.
Singer Neil Pennycook's is one of the strongest bow in the Edinburgh bands sheaf, his voice is both booming and delicate at the same time. Tonight they were on good form, the new songs sound a lot more morose than those from their debut album, 'Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues', their second album is pencilled in for release in Arpil, it really could be a contender for the album of 2010.

Meursault - Crank Resolutions (6Music Session track)
applesofenergy - Summer Dreams
Benni Hemm Hemm - Beginning End
The Second Hand Marching Band - A Dance To Half Death

A massive thanks goes out to Wullie for the pics, check his flickr out.

Something For The Weekend....

First up, if you fancy a night on the tiles this Friday (the 27th), then why not head along to Pin Up Nights 6th Birthday Party at The Flying Duck. Where you can catch The Dirty Cuts, We're Only Afraid Of NYC, Mitchell Museum (really liking these guys) and Always, Me, Me, Me.
With the added bonus of a special birthday edition fanzine and badge for the first 100 to arrive, plus a birthday party wouldn't be the same without cake (and er free toast?!). For further details check the website (while you're there check out there 'leaked' BBC SOUND OF 2010, class).

As part of the series of gigs to launch the forthcoming theapplesofenergy album, from a stolen sea, a new Glasgow recording, publishing and promotions company (busy bee's that they are).
The third gig in series has one of the best line-up's I have seen in donkeys, it's this Sunday (the 29th Nov) at Stereo in Glasgow, featuring theapplesofenergy, Meursault, Second Hand Marching Band and Benni Hemm Hemm. In the words of Larry David, 'pretty, pretty good'. Tickets are £7 and are available to buy from Ticket Scotland.


If you fancy a night out in the City of Discovery, then check out this night being put on by Manic Pop Thrills at the Westport Bar in Dundee. The line-up he has organised is a belter, featuring Saint Jude's Infirmary, Panda Su, Kid Canaveral and Hookers For Jesus (is it just me or is this a cracking name for a band? Okay I guess it's just me). Tickets are only a fiver, a complete bargain in my eyes and are currently on sale at Groucho's Record Store. As an added incentive the first 50 people who purchase tickets in advance will get a free EP on arrival at the gig. For further details head on over over to Manic Pop Thrills, oh and while you're there mind bookmark his rather ace blog.

Super Furry Animals - Something for the Weekend