tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42658172685346438942024-02-19T13:01:28.608+00:00Have Fun at DinnerIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-39088033789746279612011-05-24T17:48:00.019+01:002011-05-24T20:44:04.001+01:00[Mix/MP3/Download] Alternative GenreMix # 1 - Slowcore<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C-aUGtEpzZsIRSePAWibswCpFXbDzOJrLUvuAnQMN_t4KlrRKnC4lUzz_3gyEGHEKGQTCkFwLA_85f8aix92S92rjVeRpvxcgiCOucnmgj3zjtAK5tXLNeXWwsW-gj9nbcnUFjE-vHDI/s1600/ian+-+vincent+price.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 439px; height: 439px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C-aUGtEpzZsIRSePAWibswCpFXbDzOJrLUvuAnQMN_t4KlrRKnC4lUzz_3gyEGHEKGQTCkFwLA_85f8aix92S92rjVeRpvxcgiCOucnmgj3zjtAK5tXLNeXWwsW-gj9nbcnUFjE-vHDI/s400/ian+-+vincent+price.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610327027682853298" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">[It can be disheartening being a music geek in this day and age. With the constant streams of blogs and 'Best New Music' everyone</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">thinks they are an</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">expert, yet music is becoming increasingly disposable to these types.</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">What is hot now, what is cool to like, not really giving an afterthought to anything that predates their beloved internet. Tastes used to be moulded by something other than the internet, and I see the irony of a music blogger stating this.</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">I take pride in the fact that I am sad enough to get so involved with wee obscure genres to help me figure out what has created the current landscape for alternative music, and put my curious mind at rest. Genre is largely redundant these days, but looking back and seeing how influential some obscure genres have become is pretty interesting. Well at least to this music geek. So I'll show you how certain genres have affected my listening tastes in certain ways. There will be shiny mixes to give you a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">rest bite</span></span> from putting up with my shite chat.]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Twitter can be a pain in the arse sometimes. Constant self-indulgent patter, the niggling fact in the back of your mind that Justin 'Nae Pubes' </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bieber</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> is more popular that you ever will be, everybody trying to out-funny everybody else. Sometimes though, it can give you a bit of inspiration to start writing your tumbleweed-ridden blog again.<br />This inspiration came from a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Twittersation</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> (groan) between Bart from </span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/eagleowlattack"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Eagleowl</span></span></a><span style="font-size:100%;"> and ardent music fan <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/funnyguytom">Tom </a></span><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/funnyguytom"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Youll</span></span></a><span style="font-size:100%;">.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQA1YH2h1hKaeQO4Y5lTwHJr6ftvPlxJ0DiLSd1bFQW2uvCKDOjvuYURM9gtZlqQUyGtOXAJFq1I2ZF1qG6CwGoJ-mjeB1J8km9d3N7cATJDpoGAsjDyaGOMo6Nu9QEDlRJmscGTH_ud4/s1600/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 345px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQA1YH2h1hKaeQO4Y5lTwHJr6ftvPlxJ0DiLSd1bFQW2uvCKDOjvuYURM9gtZlqQUyGtOXAJFq1I2ZF1qG6CwGoJ-mjeB1J8km9d3N7cATJDpoGAsjDyaGOMo6Nu9QEDlRJmscGTH_ud4/s400/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610332495846926434" border="0" /></a><br />As much as this made me chuckle, it also made me have a wee think. How many people know or actually care what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">slowcore</span></span> is?<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Slowcore's</span></span> roots come for the late 80's when bands such a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoH5MPIgM7c"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Slint</span></span></a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjEOJqN3wVY"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Galaxie</span></span> 500</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XLkm2OeApw">American Music Club</a> were creating down-tempo songs which didn't really sit comfortably beside anything else happening at that time. Then came, in the early 90's, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Low's</span></span> idea to play very quietly and slowly to a crowds full of hardcore or grunge fans. Essentially, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">slowcore</span></span> could be seen as a reaction to the grunge scene of that time, with the exception of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RWdL6J97s">Come</a> who kind of bridge the gap between the two genres. It wasn't really a scene in itself though, as each <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">slowcore</span></span> band was spread miles apart across America. The American press found <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">slowcore</span></span> far too boring at the time, as shown by Red House Painter's/Sun <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Kil</span></span> Moon's Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Kozelek</span></span>;<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"[We were] completely praised and hailed by the British press," Red House Painters/Sun <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Kil</span></span> Moon songwriter Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Kozelek</span></span> told me, in a 1998 interview, "having people say things like '</span><i style="font-style: italic;">Down Colorful Hill</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> is the best album since </span><i style="font-style: italic;">Astral Weeks</i><span style="font-style: italic;">'... but the American press just said 'it's too slow', 'bring a pillow', 'go to the show if you need some sleep.'"</span></span><br /><br />It's influence is still felt today with Low, Cat Power and Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Kozelek</span></span> becoming extremely successful in their own right. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Slowcore</span></span> has went on to influence numerous bands such as Arab Strap (who met and bonded over their love for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Slint</span></span> and Smog). '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGoz5oeXlgY">New Birds</a>' has a particular <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">slowcore</span></span> vibe about it.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Slowcore</span></span> is constantly called boring, yet it is a sound that went against the grain at the time and due to the lengthiness of the songs they <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">received</span> little or no radio play. If that isn't a punk ideology, I'm not sure what is.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15856116"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15856116" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Tracklisting</span></span> and Blurb;<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The New Year - End's Not Near</span><br /><br />Not strictly a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">slowcore</span></span> song in the purest sense, but it was my gateway into the genre. I bought The New Year's <span style="font-style: italic;">The End's Not Near</span> album back in 2004 when I was 15 on a whim and fell in love with it. I then discovered The New Year used to be Bedhead, one of the pioneers of a genre called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">slowcore</span></span>. Check out their song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPjwqTu3IDs">The Rest of the Day</a>, it's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">slowcore</span></span> to the, ahem, core.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Eagleowl</span></span> - Blanket</span><br /><br />A band who I know are heavily influenced by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">pre</span></span>-Great Destroyer Low and who are, essentially, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">slowcore</span></span>. Blanket shows how quiet and simple touches to a song can really make beautiful results.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Red House Painters - Mistress</span><br /><br />Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Kozelek</span></span>, along with Bill Callahan, is the elder statesman of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">slowcore</span></span>. Even his newer, more country orientated songs have <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">slowcore</span></span> elements.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Low - Words</span><br /><br />The band that essentially started it all. Hushed vocals, sparse-yet-intense drumming, post rock influences; the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">quintessential</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">slowcore</span></span> band.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Codeine - D</span><br /><br />Codeine show a slightly heavier side to the genre, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">harking</span> back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Slint</span></span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Frigid Stars</span> is an absolute must have. If you haven't already, seek it out.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Debutant - Yeah! <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Currahee</span></span>!</span><br /><br />I've added Scottish solo act and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Meursault</span></span> guitarist Philip <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Quirie</span></span> to the mix due to his love for bands such as Red House Painters. It <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">definitely</span> come across in his music as, like it or not, he is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">SLOWCORE</span></span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">ish</span></span>. I mean listen to the slow approach merging into post-rock influences. Nice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Smog - Four Hearts In A Can</span><br /><br />Smog show here how country music and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">slowcore</span></span> can be almost synonymous.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cat Power - Rockets</span><br /><br />Yes. Cat Power started off as largely a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">slowcore</span></span> act. Her 1996 album <span style="font-style: italic;">Myra Lee</span> demonstrates this and is a far cry away from her recent sound. She is also Bill Callahan's ex, so go figure.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Bluetile</span></span> Lounge - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Ambered</span></span></span><br /><br />This little known Aussie band released an absolute essential for all <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">slowcore</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">purists</span> in their 1995 album <span style="font-style: italic;">Lowercase</span>. This 12-minute long track's ending is worth the wait. If you haven't realised by now, you have to really be patient when it comes to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">slowcore</span></span> music.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Further listening</span>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQIowXjGGMI"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Stina</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">Nordenstam</span></span></a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmrsYPypQ2U">Ida</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHUSaMHPims"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Movietone</span></span></a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYZk0jOnnsI">For The Carnation</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Further reading</span>; Drowned in Sound's amazing <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136195-slowcore-week--an-introduction">'Introduction to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">Slowcore</span></span>'</a> . One of my favourite ever articles by them.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Next week's </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">GenreMix</span></span>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Underground">Paisley <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Underground</span></a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-20967910606837866282010-12-07T12:04:00.003+00:002010-12-07T12:32:54.230+00:00The Savings and Loan - Today I Need Light<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVK_Ah9UjFbnXXTzb2WGINvMGziPStDXPEnEYzKtqJaBQy21ejYcFRh5PHj3XNTKWvVRyjxURGiQsOMfb1HyhDjQ6rv8QSgvjVS84t5l9dfBwOIrITGwWCW33QN5cTeswuYOuY5SKPe90z/s1600/Today+I+Need+Light+1600.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVK_Ah9UjFbnXXTzb2WGINvMGziPStDXPEnEYzKtqJaBQy21ejYcFRh5PHj3XNTKWvVRyjxURGiQsOMfb1HyhDjQ6rv8QSgvjVS84t5l9dfBwOIrITGwWCW33QN5cTeswuYOuY5SKPe90z/s400/Today+I+Need+Light+1600.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547910346129204402" border="0" /></a><br />I don't really listen to many bloggers when it comes to what to listen to, but I have a few exceptions. Matthew from<a href="http://songbytoad.com/"> Song, By Toad </a>is usually someone who I find my tastes align with on most things (but not all things), so it was strange that despite him raving about The Savings and Loan for nearly two years my first introduction to them was only a few months ago at their house gig. It was certainly a case of preconceived notions being blown out the water as the Edinburgh/Glasgow duo are nothing like I anticipated. Whilst I was gripping myself for some dirty fuzzy rock (which was really based on nothing more than Matthew's token taste) I was greeted with some of the most delicate and beautifully constructed songs I've heard in a long time. This, thankfully, transfers amazingly well on their debut album 'Today I Need Light'.<br /><br />There is an amazing symbiosis between the duo as it seems that multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bush creates these wonderfully patient soundscapes as a back-drop for lead singer Martin Donnelly's world-weary and imaginative lyrics. From the very start 'Today I Need Light' seems to mix despair with beauty and 'Swallows' announces this emphatically; "<span style="font-style: italic;">time will pass/time will leave you all alone/with only swallows passing by"</span> . This is the one of the benefits you get from having a seasoned poet (Donnelly) teaming up with a seasoned musician (ex-De Rosa and professional sound engineer), another is that the record just oozes with effortless class. A tortured darkness spines all the way through each song but there is never a case of malaise from listening. Songs such as 'Catholic Boys in the Rain' and 'Pale Water' definitely show the bands Cohen-esque tendencies, combining both folk with a sense of dreamy apprehension. The highlight of the entire album is closer 'A Pleasing Companion'. It really sums up the whole album so well; a classy, dark and beautiful lullaby. That is basically what these songs are, adult versions of lullabies, in the sense that they lull you into a sense of comfort while actually having rather dark subject matter that I'm sure everyone can relate to. "<span style="font-style: italic;">I hope you find me a pleasing companion/and someone to waste an hour with in a bar".</span><br /><br />'Today I Need Light' is nothing like I anticipated, but the reality trumps my expectations as it is nothing short of wonderful.<br /><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7408438&secret_url=false"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7408438&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/the-savings-and-loan-swallows">The Savings and Loan - Swallows</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/songbytoad">Song, by Toad</a></span> <br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6654409&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6654409&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/the-savings-and-loan-pale-water">The Savings and Loan - Pale Water</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/songbytoad">Song, by Toad</a></span><br /><br />'Today I Need Light' is out not via <a href="http://songbytoadrecords.com/the-savings-and-loan/today-i-need-light/">Song, Toad Records</a>.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-22484307305011859332010-11-21T16:18:00.005+00:002010-11-21T16:52:39.864+00:00[MP3] Johnny Reb - Emile (Part One)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI94OtST4sbg90lfJ7gIm1-TxhusiGP0qHXYL7pr2_jylldmv33tuhBQ_DbFIoRBfrqOEMeChfmDgX17mhjK47wgUXU9IQn90xZV3P3nY8pgtXYeI1schz5Bfu1wLV_yLOdt6la_KJLUvf/s1600/Sullivanbrothers.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI94OtST4sbg90lfJ7gIm1-TxhusiGP0qHXYL7pr2_jylldmv33tuhBQ_DbFIoRBfrqOEMeChfmDgX17mhjK47wgUXU9IQn90xZV3P3nY8pgtXYeI1schz5Bfu1wLV_yLOdt6la_KJLUvf/s400/Sullivanbrothers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542039031421903362" border="0" /></a><br />In the past couple of years the exposure for so-called 'guitar bands' seems to have dramatically lessened. Now it seems many people are starting to claim that there is going to be a resurgence of this sound next year. While I do know or care much about that, I do know that Glasgow's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/johnnyrebsound">Johnny Reb</a> are a rock band with both the tunes and the talent to make a bit more noise in Scotland's predominantly folk laden landscape.<br /><br />'Emile (Part One)' is one of a number of songs the band recorded with Boz Boorer (of Morrissey fame) in Portugal. It is based on events concerning the boxer Emile Griffith who murdered his opponent in the ring in 1962 after he was allegedly called 'faggot'. Musically, it is a frantic affair with thunderous drums and a singalong chorus. In a genre that can often feel homogenised, Johnny Reb have made my ears prick up and take notice for bringing a bit of imagination and life to the fold. Their debut E.P should be with us Spring 2011.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/8158864_6SmN6_1aea/03%20Emile%20(part%20one).mp3">Johnny Reb - Emile (Part One)</a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-14450484043525424692010-11-15T12:55:00.010+00:002010-11-15T13:29:00.411+00:00Hooded Fang - Hooded Fang<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsA8daDXQOYzVUJpc01mMrHNS7iUmxCOiGxG_YT32859iJDuRFCYMWUeNxnCgiwEi3EuY7V_1TEsXBnAZhtO1Ze9CgX1t7lLHCmHMkr8SiCqFlvxax_94j1y2FzxJ-cG54kx8kFuQvhpY0/s1600/Hooded_Fang-thumb-367x363-60477.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 367px; height: 363px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsA8daDXQOYzVUJpc01mMrHNS7iUmxCOiGxG_YT32859iJDuRFCYMWUeNxnCgiwEi3EuY7V_1TEsXBnAZhtO1Ze9CgX1t7lLHCmHMkr8SiCqFlvxax_94j1y2FzxJ-cG54kx8kFuQvhpY0/s400/Hooded_Fang-thumb-367x363-60477.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539766956031950066" border="0" /></a><br />I have been listening to a lot of pop-leaning-indie at the moment. I suppose I am kind of the whole 'hipper than thou' rhetoric adopted by a whole load of blogs just now and it is refreshing just to put on a nice pop record. You might recall I did a <a href="http://havefunatdinner.blogspot.com/2010/03/interview-hooded-fang.html">wee interview with Hooded Fang </a>and they were saying the album was coming along nicely. That is has as the album has turned out to be a wonderful collection of perfect pop songs. The singer's voice reminds me of a happier Stephen Merritt which I feel really pulls me to the songs. It swerves away from being too twee that the songs become sickly and there is always substance and meat to each song. There is also a really nice feeling about the album as a whole as the ebb and flow of the songs seems to bode really well in juxtaposition to the cold Scottish weather outside my window.<br /><br />It's always nice when you have been waiting for an album from a band since their debut E.P and it really delivers. A perfect remedy for all those bands with a colour followed by an animal for their name adhering to some flash in the pan genre.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7945959_NIPz7_80fa/Hooded%20Fang_03_Laughing.mp3"> Hooded Fang - Laughing</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7945958_iQtwL_0458/Hooded%20Fang_08_Promise%20Land.mp3"> Hooded Fang - Promise Land</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://hoodedfang.bandcamp.com/">Buy Hooded Fang via Bandcamp</a>.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-18293892645003157942010-11-14T14:06:00.008+00:002010-11-14T16:02:00.847+00:00The Scottish Enlightenment - St. Thomas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEH7qrTCyvj9hPbyD6YxOOfInf86qNsorsO9pHSieo_nxkgWjq9_XSKuIkrelSCOV8FjXCh0YCPajkx6xryEAhbm5byQy-87Bd-JMsa-D_bo1Ukf5mOdE1aKyZNajRCgFyAhRAYJQ2jRku/s1600/ARM17+TSE+ST.THOMAS+COV.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 399px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEH7qrTCyvj9hPbyD6YxOOfInf86qNsorsO9pHSieo_nxkgWjq9_XSKuIkrelSCOV8FjXCh0YCPajkx6xryEAhbm5byQy-87Bd-JMsa-D_bo1Ukf5mOdE1aKyZNajRCgFyAhRAYJQ2jRku/s400/ARM17+TSE+ST.THOMAS+COV.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539426987158270802" border="0" /></a><br />I'm sure most you are the same as me in that you see complete strangers often enough that you end up feeling like you know them. My favourite couple are an elderly husband and wife who regularly get on my bus. The man is always impeccably turned out, often sporting a suit and a tie and the woman is equally well-dressed. I first started to notice something strange about the couple when the man was constantly getting flustered and confused about where he was and who he was. The woman would calm him down in a loving and patient manner, often holding him and speaking to him until the fear he was feeling subsided. It's been pretty obvious since that the man suffers from fairly advanced Alzheimer's. Now, to my point. I know a hundred reasons why I should or could adore this couple so much; the devoted love the woman has for her husband or the hope that one day someone would care about me enough to stick by me through something as terrible as Alzheimer's. However, none of these reasons seem adequate or fully sum up why I like them so much as there is just an endearing quality I can't seem to put my finger on. Maybe it is all the reasons combined, maybe it is not. I just can't say. This leads me to <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thescottishenlightenment">The Scottish Enlightenment's</a> 'St. Thomas', an album which has the exact same effect on me as that elderly couple.<br /><br />I could put my adoration of this album down to numerous things. It could be due to the faultless musicianship, the world-weary and existential lyrics, the variation and slow build of their wonderfully and carefully crafted songs or due to the immaculate production. However, just like how I can't explain the why I admire that elderly couple, none of these reasons seems to fit or fully justify why I love this album so much. There is something homely about 'St. Thomas', while simultaneously crushingly sad. Songs meander and then build to create lush soundscapes that really catch you surprise as they often masquerade as unassuming. Unassuming they are not as they seep into your consciousness and really grab hold of your attention. They have built upon their two strong EPs from this year ('Pascal' and 'Little Sleep') and they have created an album that flows almost seamlessly from start to finish. The dip in pace near the end of the album doesn't really affect the quality of the album all too much as I particularly enjoy 'The Soft Place' which makes up for my less favoured 'My Bible Is'.<br /><br />In 'St. Thomas' The Scottish Enlightenment have created the one of the best albums to come out of Scotland this year. However, I am at a loss to why I find it so great or why I am so awestruck that I can't really write a proper review. To be honest I am perfectly okay with that.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7917318_jhe2l_c490/02%20Earth%20Angel%20-%20With%20Sticks%20In%20Crypt.mp3">The Scottish Enlightenment - Earth Angel (With Sticks In Crypt)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7917424_5Ax4e_a9bf/04%20Taxidermy%20Of%20Love.mp3">The Scottish Enlightenment - Taxidermy of Love</a><br /><br />St. Thomas is out tomorrow via <a href="http://www.armellodie.com/">Armellodie Records</a>.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-85532883445990825802010-11-10T15:12:00.004+00:002010-11-10T16:17:35.461+00:00Yusuf Azak - Turn On The Long Wire<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJNpoFL1awktEcvEqufffyj4HMQtDBd9PIGgm77gqGlCdpofuH_HSpGqJ4xajkjlAnn6MqEz5nITKT29AzFXrspRdRYUs7bQDmH25iN7LASBMDG1h0N96QjJ8i6MTWMSt-VYwyxb39_SQ/s1600/Turn-on_the_long_wire.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 398px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJNpoFL1awktEcvEqufffyj4HMQtDBd9PIGgm77gqGlCdpofuH_HSpGqJ4xajkjlAnn6MqEz5nITKT29AzFXrspRdRYUs7bQDmH25iN7LASBMDG1h0N96QjJ8i6MTWMSt-VYwyxb39_SQ/s400/Turn-on_the_long_wire.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537942818662832306" border="0" /></a><br />As a general rule I hate using cliches like 'he has a real Marmite sound'. However, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/yusufazak">Yusuf Azak</a> has a real Marmite sound. His rasping voice and perplexing guitar plucking is certainly an acquired taste, lucky it is a sound I more than take to and have been looking forward to his debut LP for quite some time. I actually halfheartedly tried to get Yusuf to release this album on my non-existent record label a while back, I am glad he decided not to as I reckon I would have royally fucked it up. Instead, he is releasing with the finest purveyor of good underground Scottish music, <a href="http://songbytoadrecords.com/yusuf-azak/turn-on-the-long-wire/">Song, By Toad Records</a>. I think he made the right choice. Sniff, sniff.<br /><br />From the opener 'Your Story' it is evident that Azak is hardly reinventing his sound from his first two eps. However, there is a real growth as there seems to be a new spritely exuberance and warmth about the song. What I always like about Azak's songs is that his lyrics are often semi-audiable due to his almost lisping accent, but when you listen closely his turn of phrase is as good as anyone else in Scotland at the moment. 'Time to Kill' ushers in an almost pre-war string sound to the fold which is both enchanting and rather haunting. 'Rosalie' uses two components of Azak's sound to great effect as the lush backing vocals sound best next to the juxtaposition of the sharp twang of his Spanish guitar. Now, I kind of hate myself for saying this but probably the closest thing Scotland has to a chillwave anthem (UGH!) is 'The Key Underground'. It definitely has the backbone of a dance song placed on a folky backdrop and is certainly my favourite song on the album. It sits oddly well in the tracklisting considering the difference in it's sound compared to the rest of the album and I would have been a little disappointed if it didn't feature. Next on the album is a trio of extremely strong tunes, 'Thin Air' 'Stepping Stone' and lead single 'Eastern Sun'. All are, again, so distinctive to Azak and even if I wanted to make the common blogger comparisons to other artists I really can't. I have heard Nick Drake banded about a lot when people are trying to grasp Azak's sound but I don't think that is accurate as Azak, I feel, is not as restrained as Drake and is certainly more inventive with fewer instruments.<br /><br />What Yusuf Azak has achieved with 'Turn On The Long Wire' is a solid and enchanting debut album. It is not a necessarily short album but it feels like a very short listen, which I suppose is a very good thing indeed. Time flies when you are having fun. Well I opened with a cliche, I may as well fucking close with one!<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7805949_w6CBr_717b/04.Yusuf%20Azak%20-%20The%20Key%20Underground.mp3">Yusuf Azak - The Key Underground</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7805948_Su3uC_8a1f/06.Yusuf%20Azak%20-%20Stepping%20Stone.mp3">Yusuf Azak - Stepping Stone</a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-24062132523406663962010-11-08T22:34:00.006+00:002010-11-09T13:23:58.526+00:00[Interview] Randan Discotheque<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhItOuFcvHlDbbp8QLAoShB44nKsSuKtapQjnO0Duzf37VR4cRAIyV0lbgNBbIBsDkim22zry6keHTi3k8cKKW6ngUSKmTD_MRGxrnzzfsyF-_IZqz_mAv5Nsq7xWcqu_Ni9cHGzVZOhM/s1600/cover.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhItOuFcvHlDbbp8QLAoShB44nKsSuKtapQjnO0Duzf37VR4cRAIyV0lbgNBbIBsDkim22zry6keHTi3k8cKKW6ngUSKmTD_MRGxrnzzfsyF-_IZqz_mAv5Nsq7xWcqu_Ni9cHGzVZOhM/s400/cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537312689467035922" border="0" /></a><br />When I get sent music to review I seldom react with great enthusiasm. After a couple of hundred trendy bands with haircuts you get a wee bit jaded so it is always nice when you get something as refreshing as <a href="http://www.myspace.com/randandisco">Randan Discotheque's</a> new single 'Heather the Weather/Duke & His Orderly'. The folky opening of the ode to Heather Reid, weather forecaster for Reporting Scotland, instantly brought a wee smile to my face. However, on closer inspection the song had shades of sadness and melancholy which made it all the more enchanting. B-side sees frontman Craig Coultard weave a tale about the Spanish Civil War and Armenian cannibals. It is another refreshing song with catchy hooks and just enough sincerity to not seem overly gimmicky. The single ushers in the band's second release after last years superb 'Daily Record May 18th 1993'. With an album release penciled in for next year I felt I better have a wee word with Craig. After all, he has made me not dread reading my emails anymore!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hi there, care to introduce yourself? Who make up Randan Discotheque?</span><br /><br />Randan Discotheque are:<br /><br />Myself, Craig Coulthard (Vocals, guitar, words)<br />Olly Ridgewell (bass, vocals, my brother in law)<br />Hugo Phillipe Laurent de Verteuil (guitar and keyboards)<br />and Owen Curtis Williams (drums, though the drums on the recordings are by our old comrade Doug Currier)<br /><br />Based in and around Edinburgh College of Art - formed in 2005 as a solo act, this line up for the last 18 months or so.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Your second single 'Heather the Weather' is out on 7" and digitally on the 6th December. What made you write a song about the celebrated weather-woman? I always rated Gail McGrane...</span><br /><br />'Heather the Weather' was written while I was feeling quite sorry for myself - a large group of my closest friends all left Edinburgh for London at the same time around 2005/2006, and I was struggling with the thought that maybe I had made a mistake staying in Edinburgh. I was watching Reporting Scotland, and the weather came on - I decided rather stubbornly that I was right to stay, and my friends were wrong to leave, and I started writing a song from the point of view of a regretful friend who missed home. Needless to say, they all still live in London. I feel that Heather represented a certain homeliness and familiarity, a humble attraction.<br />Gail is pretty sweet, but Heather had/has a certain gravitas, and a softness, a comforting look. I am glad I wrote the song when Heather was presenting - if I'd left it a couple of years it would have been about "Glamourous Gillian" Smart, and she's a little too saucy for the sentiments I wanted to express.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />The b-side is inspired by Armenian cannibals and a Spanish Civil War siege. Do you find it easy to switch between light-hearted topics (weather women) and somber topic such as war?</span><br /><br />I don't really think like that. All of these things are connected. I like to write songs that are not necessarily what they appear. To me, both Heather and The Duke & His Orderly have elements of humour and melancholy. I think music should be a reflection of the personalities who write/make it. Comedy and tragedy are pretty closely related. The other thing is that different songs aren't written at the same time, so it depends on how I'm feeling. I have always been a bit put off by music/art that suggests the same emotion time after time, song after song.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">You definitely flirt with the folk genre regarding your sound. What kind of bands influence you?</span><br /><br />When I began playing solo, I only played with an acoustic guitar, so there was an inevitable folk/country sound. Now we are a band the sound has expanded. As for influences, I always find that too big a question to answer with any logic. If you listen to our mixes on Mixcloud, that might give an idea of some of the things we like : <a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/randandiscotheque/">http://www.mixcloud.com/randandiscotheque/</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />You hail from Fife, do you feel that Fife is often overlooked in terms of music in comparison to Glasgow and Edinburgh bands?</span><br /><br />I'm the only member from Fife, and I haven't lived there for 10 years, though my parents still do. I think for the size of it, Fife has produced lots of great music, though I never really felt that the live scene was that healthy. The Skids for example - When I was at school there was The Beta Band, and The Skoubhie Dubh Orchestra - after that came Fence and everyone involved in that scene. I was at school with members of The Phantom Band, Django Django and Dogs Die in Hot Cars, so there's plenty of talent in Fife, I guess as is often the case, people need to leave to expand themselves a bit. I guess that's what makes Fence so special. There's no comparison with Glasgow and Edinburgh when it comes to venues and scale of musical community. However, like I say, I haven't lived and worked there for a while.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What does 2011 hold for Randan Discotheque?</span><br /><br />2011 is the year when we will release our first album as a band - hopefully we will be able to play some festivals and raise our profile a bit. I feel that we are very strong as a band now and it would be nice to connect with more people. It's also the year in which we hope to receive our custom made suits and start a dance. There's so few new dances nowadays. Maybe a couple more vinyl releases and help some other people release their music.<br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3850627274/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3850627274/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#b3b3b3"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3850627274/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" height="100" width="400"></object></object><br /><br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=317514485/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=317514485/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#b3b3b3"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=317514485/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" height="100" width="400"></object></object><br /><br />Single launch is at Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh on the 4th December.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-3443261973973331092010-10-29T16:02:00.004+01:002010-10-29T17:00:33.430+01:00HF@D Presents...Hallowe'en Mix<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28vEFirqc8Mo7qGDA3HZJ69xt6QZmOyep76-5JoqZZhMrX7qSkPEungAYZFHhiooCqbr-Qls6_ktaZikEAKXyLRWtLN7LVCVkD58o17595d7qIjkt1WIlJxguF_jIcWRQ7BEXKe2uzyxo/s1600/58-Vintage-Halloween-Group-Photo-779578.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 453px; height: 383px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28vEFirqc8Mo7qGDA3HZJ69xt6QZmOyep76-5JoqZZhMrX7qSkPEungAYZFHhiooCqbr-Qls6_ktaZikEAKXyLRWtLN7LVCVkD58o17595d7qIjkt1WIlJxguF_jIcWRQ7BEXKe2uzyxo/s400/58-Vintage-Halloween-Group-Photo-779578.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533483841889413874" border="0" /></a><br />For a wee bit of a laugh I've put together a Hallowe'en Mix for your enjoyment. Roky Erickson's 'The Evil One' is one of my favourite albums ever and songs such as 'I Walked With a Zombie' show how far his mental deterioration had came that he actually believed the subject matter of the songs. It adds a whole different layer and sadness to them, which is maybe why I love them so much. As Hallowe'en is a fun (and completely daft) holiday I've had some fun with this playlist with The Munsters Theme kicking it all off! Enjoy, and have a great Hallowe'en.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Tracklising<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><br />[Intro] - 'The Munsters' Theme<br />I Walked With a Zombie - Roky Erickson & The Aliens<br />Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep<br />Monster Mash - Misfits<br />The Witch - The Sonics<br />Casper The Friendly Ghost - Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair<br />Night of the Vampire - Roky Erickson & The Aliens<br />Walking With a Ghost - Tegan and Sara<br />Death at the Chapel - The Horrors<br />Enter Sandman - Boy or Bison<br />All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You - Crocodiles<br /><br />Download <a href="http://download552.mediafire.com/4p303vmn7d2g/kwezr1v701da3c6/HF%40D+Hallowe%27en+Mix.zip">here</a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-69154895476014023402010-10-29T13:47:00.004+01:002010-10-29T13:55:52.866+01:00Favourite Son Presents...Oxjam<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiVI12kVoZQ4wbaZ1Mbc6rAF1anLLzsbYqCWszdc28ahXWay7Tvea4sW56vM-kSwpRRtABcg3cha0AeYSutejmYKAcjoRJFFhsf7L06oLtIdj7P70aeruvmeAqqqNg1LcZUbKEDjihez3/s1600/oxjam-2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyiVI12kVoZQ4wbaZ1Mbc6rAF1anLLzsbYqCWszdc28ahXWay7Tvea4sW56vM-kSwpRRtABcg3cha0AeYSutejmYKAcjoRJFFhsf7L06oLtIdj7P70aeruvmeAqqqNg1LcZUbKEDjihez3/s400/oxjam-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533449586232685346" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I am not generally one to pimp gigs on this blog but when it is for the always important Oxjam events I make a wee bit of an exception. Oxjam is a month-long musical event aimed towards raising money for Oxfam. Bands chip in and give up their time so you can enjoy yourself and also feel good about yourself!<br /><br />Fellow blogger Favourite Son is running an event in Glasgow tonight, so why not pop along to see his excellent line up for a good cause. Do it.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-39157062612765717402010-10-28T14:30:00.003+01:002010-10-28T15:32:15.441+01:00Y Niwl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEispmozCdo4oz4sS6zcX-Jy-unkd7uosVo8OLoHsB3MloeCpLdSjZqikfvvNCsgJ32t1eQKBySpmW1thDFiwkliYGf3DCU3sMM_PICQMp90UmDGqtwwoUUBqx70_Jc-S-QU4k97UDp_ABG9/s1600/Van.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEispmozCdo4oz4sS6zcX-Jy-unkd7uosVo8OLoHsB3MloeCpLdSjZqikfvvNCsgJ32t1eQKBySpmW1thDFiwkliYGf3DCU3sMM_PICQMp90UmDGqtwwoUUBqx70_Jc-S-QU4k97UDp_ABG9/s400/Van.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533104187490102578" border="0" /></a><br />Surfing is something I do not particularly associate with Wales and it was not until recently I found out that there is a large surfing scene on their beaches. With this in mind, surely it was only a matter of time before a band playing catchy Welsh surf music emerged. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/yniwl">Y Niwl</a> are one such band who tip their hat to 50's instrumental surf acts such as Dick Dale, The Ventures and Link Wray. Taking an old formula and making it sound fresh is a difficult task, but Y Niwl more than pull it off.<br /><br />Catchy guitar riffs featuring the token surf twang are guaranteed to make you smile, if not dance. Y Niwl dodge the bullet that often comes when revisiting a dated genre in that they don't sound conceited or purposefully hip. Every song sounds like it was fun to make, and is in turn a delight to listen to. Which is can only be a good thing, right?!<br /><br />Y Niwl first captured my attention when I heard them on the excellent <a href="http://www.cloudsounds.co.uk">Clound Sounds</a> podcast. I can often find the constant seriousness and trend-adherence of bloggers and music types a drag so it was delightful to hear something so amazingly fun. However, it seems that the fan base of Y Niwl has grown since a reportedly thunderous set at Swn Festival. With their playfully addictive 7" EP 'Adreryn Papur' released last year and a debut album set for next month, music has just got a lot more fun.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6489863&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6489863&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/saith">Saith</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill">Y Niwl</a></span><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6489814&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6489814&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/un">Un</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill">Y Niwl</a></span><br /><br />The next Y Niwl gig I am aware of is the aforementioned Cloud Sounds' Christmas Bash at Fuel, Manchester on 10th December. I am very tempted to make the wee trip down. SURFS UP! (ugh)Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-28949929706817917882010-10-25T13:35:00.004+01:002010-10-25T14:19:51.795+01:00Keeping It Peel Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHASrzL9TyWyj9AIllUdUUEL0EUcKlaH_IjFe0HQ6QKADX1-Pu1rf3gG6CYTwjud_rSdtdxcQzL6JWz2pY4TRWOEhn5BL5oYdxTNDCm1jFroIej3mf2mQeGAb3g8hZR7QTa7kxmLZtZ01/s1600/john-peel-uefa-cup.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHASrzL9TyWyj9AIllUdUUEL0EUcKlaH_IjFe0HQ6QKADX1-Pu1rf3gG6CYTwjud_rSdtdxcQzL6JWz2pY4TRWOEhn5BL5oYdxTNDCm1jFroIej3mf2mQeGAb3g8hZR7QTa7kxmLZtZ01/s400/john-peel-uefa-cup.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531961671014571394" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Unfortunately I am too young to have experienced John Peel as fully as other bloggers, having only enjoyed the tail-end of his broadcasting career. However, his influence has reverberated to all corners of the alternative music world. We must ask ourselves if we would have as many podcasters, bloggers and hardworking DJs if it was not for him. His passion, hard-work and diverse musical taste epitomised everything that is right about music and about broadcasting. It is six years today since he died but certainly no one will be forgetting the big man anytime soon.<br /><br />To show how important his later sessions were to me I have picked some ones I can remember being originally aired. I've chosen The Crimea as they were a band that I can particularly remember being tipped by John and a band I kind of fell in love with due to it. That kind of experience was so important to me when I was 15 and it is funny how I can still identify certain bands as 'Peel Bands'. I can't find their Peel Session anywhere so if someone has, email me. Oh, and a Wedding Present session thrown in. He would have wanted that I think.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7522014_aSei7_efef/03%20Mull%20Historical%20Society%20%28John%20Peel%20Session%29.mp3">Mull Historical Society - Mull Historical Society (Peel Session)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7522013_PoyWx_0db7/02%20So%20Here%20We%20Are%20%28Peel%20Session%29.mp3">Bloc Party - So Here We Are (Peel Session)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7522067_OQMwg_5517/02%20%20Lottery%20Winners%20On%20Acid.mp3">The Crimea - Lottery Winners on Acid</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7522068_yGFTs_2a76/03%20Flying%20Saucer.mp3">Wedding Present - Flying Saucer (Peel Session)</a><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6385633&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff0008"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6385633&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff0008" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/hung-over-as-the-queen-in-maida-vale">Hung Over as the Queen in Maida Vale</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill">Godspeed You! Black Emperor</a></span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-86343051162166446462010-10-23T17:30:00.012+01:002010-10-23T18:16:26.952+01:00How To Swim - Retina (or More Fun Than a Vat of Love)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIfjOj9pzf51EfDXlVNxgVhxYgG2eX_G4wba2BrcYzZoiQ3JtXpLZuj3PLFu7VCOD749iv1cWRpbat6DgA1e92_KEPBrWhu6HQEYBAIyf3eujiszloGzQpsciphsWWWRtlZMxkvIacC9e/s1600/RETINA_Cover.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIfjOj9pzf51EfDXlVNxgVhxYgG2eX_G4wba2BrcYzZoiQ3JtXpLZuj3PLFu7VCOD749iv1cWRpbat6DgA1e92_KEPBrWhu6HQEYBAIyf3eujiszloGzQpsciphsWWWRtlZMxkvIacC9e/s400/RETINA_Cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531280908227518194" border="0" /></a>Glasgow's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/howtoswim">How to Swim</a> are a band who have never shied away from the audacious. Their ambitious stream of orchestral rock is...well...batshit crazy. As soon as they sent over a track for my <a href="http://havefunatdinner.blogspot.com/2010/02/hfd-presents-scottish-compilation.html">Glass of Scotch Compilation</a> I knew 'Retina' would be anything but a boring affair. Said track happened to be opener 'Diego Whirlwind' which sets the album off on a dark and epic note. 'Inferiority' and lead single 'High School Apocalypse' have a happier tone to them (while having equally surreal/dark content matter) using strong guitar hooks to lull you into a false sense of the ordinary... and then comes the orchestra and they grab you by the scruff of the neck. 'Genesis P and Me' is a manic affair with a mish-mash of influences being fused into a wonderful, wonderful mess. This epitomizes what How to Swim do best, make crazy tunes that somehow you can relate to and enjoy. My favourite track on 'Retina' is 'From Here To Dundee Slash Eternity'. It is delicately constructed and patiently built up with lead singer Ink Wilson's voice so strong and earnest that it is hard not to sit up and think 'what the fuck, this is brilliant'. The female vocals of 'False' serve as a tranquil rest-bite and interval to the final half of the record which features the darkly humorous 'Ink Wilson's World of Fear' and the excellently croontastic closer 'It's Alright'.<br /><br />How to Swim always aim high but with 'Retina' they have really caught their stride. Combing ambitious and patience while always conscience of how big they can go before the listener becomes exhausted. The quieter moments set upon a backdrop of stadium sized tunes really makes 'Retina'. A completely crazy listen but a genuinely worthwhile one.<br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3388314474/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="400" height="100"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3388314474/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#b3b3b3" /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3388314474/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" width="400" height="100"></object></object><br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3675762430/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="400" height="100"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3675762430/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#b3b3b3" /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3675762430/size=venti/bgcol=b3b3b3/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" width="400" height="100"></object></object><br /><br /><br /><br />Retina is available now from their <a href="http://howtoswim.bandcamp.com/">bandcamp page</a>. Crackin' artwork too.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-79938635726045946282010-10-22T14:53:00.006+01:002010-10-22T15:31:57.873+01:00[Vinyl Fetish] Dreamend - So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j05F5CvPKEiSJR_Rzy59VXgP1EESPuru3jxmrP5Q9heHaz3tYLMutvXTuN89ylNk51wNlGu7eHPsaugRApNeUfVmIchqDw-ryd-JRBTtFSDgagGOX220VtHeSNrXf1k9xLsTZkd80E-L/s1600/grave051+hi+res.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 377px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j05F5CvPKEiSJR_Rzy59VXgP1EESPuru3jxmrP5Q9heHaz3tYLMutvXTuN89ylNk51wNlGu7eHPsaugRApNeUfVmIchqDw-ryd-JRBTtFSDgagGOX220VtHeSNrXf1k9xLsTZkd80E-L/s400/grave051+hi+res.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530869022200334594" border="0" /></a><br />Sometimes I buy an album on vinyl and it is just so lovingly and wonderfully crafted that it makes me feel good about music and record companies for a while. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/dreamend">Dreamend</a>'s 'So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite' is one such album. They are the output of Ryan Graveface, owner/sole employee of <a href="http://www.graveface.com/">Graveface Records</a>. Every vinyl Graveface puts out is something worth owning. Dreamend's previous record 'The Long Forgotten Friend' was a two vinyl LP with a pop-up picture in the middle of the sleeve. Albums by The Appleseed Cast and Monster Movie put a lot of record labels to shame. 'So I Ate Myself, Bite By Bite' has a lovely picture disk with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenakistoscope">phenakistoscope</a> so you can see the pictures moving whilst the record is playing (see below).<br /><br />Now that the vinyl geek in me has spoken, I shall let the music fan in me speak. This record is a complete surprise to me. My previous encounters with Dreamend have been ones filled with layered shoegaze music but this record features songs driven by soaring melodies and banjo laden hooks. Graveface may not be the most technically gifted singer but his songs are so wonderfully crafted and patient and his voice actually suits them perfectly. 'My Old Brittle Bones' on side two of the LP has a rapturous finish that never ceases to put a smile on my face. 'Magnesium Light' is banjo lead and psychedelic fusing together Sam Amidon and Mitchell Museum, if that doesn't sound completely absurd! 'Pieces' is a definite highlight and is perhaps the most straight forward pop song on the album. Graveface exposes his shoegaze roots with the ten minute closer 'An Admission' as it tops the album off in grand fashion with it ending in a wall of noise and fury.<br /><br />I love everything about this album. The way it looks, the innovation, and most importantly the music. This is something I cherish to own, which is what music should be and is sometimes lost in this age of MP3s.....being the hypocrite that I am there are mp3s below but I urge you to have a look at the wonderful vinyl on sale at <a href="http://www.graveface.com/catalog.html">Graveface Records</a>. It is well worth it.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7470756_NwoHg_b8e5/08%20My%20Old%20Brittle%20Bones.mp3">Dreamend - My Old Brittle Bones</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.opendrive.com/files/7471008_3GUUn_a07b/03%20Magnesium%20Light.mp3">Dreamend - Magnesium Light</a><br /><br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/og7KEkoobJs?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/og7KEkoobJs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-43467627461049511432010-10-22T14:17:00.005+01:002010-10-22T14:53:29.137+01:00The Last Battle - Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIhu_hs3ClDBMOS8fIge_XP1nFO4vtfuxUI6eYvBuUITG6vGlOAzdC6bkYakkIGiHuCJP9Wcf0cOFJ84ju6StzSCaru6ZFvwV_evUdGma2aVjNSG7NSr0gGB33rDnItTXQAev_Z3_BWRl/s1600/1335.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIhu_hs3ClDBMOS8fIge_XP1nFO4vtfuxUI6eYvBuUITG6vGlOAzdC6bkYakkIGiHuCJP9Wcf0cOFJ84ju6StzSCaru6ZFvwV_evUdGma2aVjNSG7NSr0gGB33rDnItTXQAev_Z3_BWRl/s400/1335.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530859467637528898" border="0" /></a>There is always a real danger with folk-leaning bands that their albums fall flat on their face due to a lack of variation. I feared this about <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thelastbattleuk">The Last Battle</a> for a while as I wasn't sure where they would take their sound and if they could diversify it enough to make an album that would grab me from start to finish. Then they released their single 'Ruins' and my worries and fears were put to rest. The dirty guitar lead number is just one of many tracks on 'Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea' that really makes the album a winner from start 'til finish. It is evident from the offset that we are in for something different than their demos when the crackling feedback and slow build up of opener 'Heart of the Land' whets my appetite for the rest of the album. The aforementioned 'Ruins' follows and the album is off to a rollicking start. Reverting back to a simple acoustic orientated formula we find 'Lifejackets', which is my favourite track on the album. Whenever I hear Scott Longmuir's vocals I always find them so sincere and honest and 'Lifejackets' extends this notion. In another change of pace there is the excellent spoken word piece 'Photographic Memory' which is equally sad as it is hopeful. Just when I felt this album hadn't kept me on my toes enough there is the Polka feel of 'Cutlass' which makes best use of the token male/female vocal harmonies. Old favourite 'Whisky!!' is as pleasing as ever. I was fairly sad to see 'Ward 119' not feature on the album but by the time 'Soul of the Sea' comes round you realise it would have seemed out of place on this almost perfect concept album.<br /><br />From start to finish The Last Battle take you on a wee journey without pretense and have achieved making an 'album' in the best sense of the word. It all flows so nicely together without ever seeming tired or uninspired, constantly adapting sound and keeping you interested. They have successfully side-stepped the pitfalls of making folk-tinged music, and in doing so have created a captivating listen.<br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2468742291/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2468742291/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2468742291/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" height="100" width="300"></object></object><br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3472978275/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3472978275/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3472978275/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" height="100" width="300"></object></object>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-15581756359201075672010-10-21T13:33:00.029+01:002010-10-27T11:34:58.451+01:00Shopping With...Neil Pennycook from Meursault<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK_WzuMVyj-T0SxH8ssFxgOMrPsGiKkuPBCqXjWpSglcjo8bmk0BkT9y_eF3ynxPx18lE0HUYW9OLk-8g5Cd5VrAf49IF9rnMI4Cl9nfkqkhj9R6xqSPPhAjZYtazQrqNje_KkFMbfIgaX/s1600/845_0351.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 147px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK_WzuMVyj-T0SxH8ssFxgOMrPsGiKkuPBCqXjWpSglcjo8bmk0BkT9y_eF3ynxPx18lE0HUYW9OLk-8g5Cd5VrAf49IF9rnMI4Cl9nfkqkhj9R6xqSPPhAjZYtazQrqNje_KkFMbfIgaX/s400/845_0351.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530477005294082690" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">[It often seems to me that music journalism and blogging can be all about 'the next big thing' and the newest and buzziest bands around. I feel this often breeds flash in the pan t</span><span style="font-size:85%;">rends and bands, which means the concept of a good album or back catalogue is lost on a lot of people nowadays. It is important to talk about bands and albums we adore and cherish and to exemplify this I have devised Shopping With...]</span><br /><br />If anyone asks me about the Scottish scene which bands I'd recommend there is immediately one band that comes to mind almost every time and that band is <a href="http://www.myspace.com/meursaulta701">Meursault</a>. Both their albums have been critically lauded. Debut <a href="http://songbytoadrecords.com/meursault/pissing-on-bonfires-kissing-with-tongues/">Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues</a> was voted as the 16th greatest Scottish album of last decade and their second album <a href="http://songbytoadrecords.com/meursault/all-creatures-will-make-merry/">All Creatures Will Make Merry</a>, released this year, saw a rise in their popularity with them playing Glastonbury, T in the Park, Rockness and End of the Road in the summer. They effortlessly mash together different influences and genres to create something truly unique so, to me, there was no one more interesting to speak about important and diverse albums than their songwriter, Neil Pennycook.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283592%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-05h14&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283592%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-05h14&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Meursault - Crank Resolutions</span><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283957%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-4monH&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283957%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-4monH&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/william-henry-miller-pt-1">Meursault - William Henry Miller Pt.1</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhm7M79z2iBaaG5x8FXs5sewvFmQXluy_0NkO8ZuATRHn1fKobGZLbvgclGgRphqmPJATVO6iL8MXggkg0odVIt2F9qWZEK55ANgXw-w3PztDvQ5LdCrtUR5RGYzl6DHKw_7Q7HfyGcs-/s1600/845_0352.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhm7M79z2iBaaG5x8FXs5sewvFmQXluy_0NkO8ZuATRHn1fKobGZLbvgclGgRphqmPJATVO6iL8MXggkg0odVIt2F9qWZEK55ANgXw-w3PztDvQ5LdCrtUR5RGYzl6DHKw_7Q7HfyGcs-/s400/845_0352.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530558260389322946" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Neil was adamant upon which local record shop I would take him shopping, <a href="http://www.hogs-head.com/">The Hog's Head</a> in Newington, Edinburgh. Filled to the brim with second hand CD's and DVD's, Neil comments that it is exactly what a good record store should be as there is always something new and different in from the last time he was in. His point is proven when the shopkeeper informs him he has Songs of Pain by Daniel Johnston in stock and will keep it back for him. Unfortunately this is not on the shopping list for today but Neil quickly picks his five albums and we head off to the pub to discuss them.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfdMwqNLgZZ_rfj0l9l7bNPiFbaR8jjxCicUZPCUTtOznCimVV4zDiIhiTOhrUcVxWUGRleZlDy08dCzdbqWQ5UMvfVfRbNPe711rAefJ2pBENHoOEceES9Sugh4QMsTjJMvv7KpoMg5Y/s1600/925.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 280px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfdMwqNLgZZ_rfj0l9l7bNPiFbaR8jjxCicUZPCUTtOznCimVV4zDiIhiTOhrUcVxWUGRleZlDy08dCzdbqWQ5UMvfVfRbNPe711rAefJ2pBENHoOEceES9Sugh4QMsTjJMvv7KpoMg5Y/s400/925.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530483428273226226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been</span><br /><br /></span> <span>I first heard this record when I was about</span> 17 or 18 and I originally hated it but I forced myself to like it because a bunch of bands that I really like, you know, like Nirvana, would all wear Dinosaur Jr t-shirts so I thought that there must be something in it for me and I persevered with it and it turns out they are like one of my favourite bands ever. This might be my favourite album ever, ever, ever. Definitely my favourite album artwork, it is just awesome, you just don't...I know I sound like an old man.. get album artwork like this any more. The first song I heard off this was 'Start Choppin'', infact, I think I bought it as a single before I bought the album. It has a song called 'Pumpkin Farm' as a b-side which is really good aswell. They are just one of these weird bands. They are a proper fucking hardcore band but with solos. I just love everything about this album. I love the fact that it is the original three-piece, I love the fact that in terms of their sound they have never really...they aren't what I'd would call a progressive band. J Mascis clearly has this thing that he does really well and he's just spent the last couple of decades absolutely perfecting it. It's probably not the favourite among Dinosaur Jr purists just because it doesn't have the original line-up, but I suppose I didn't know any of that when I was a kid any way. I think the weird thing was that I had already been listening to Sebadoh before I had been listening to Dinosaur Jr. and I didn't realise that Lou Barlow had anything to do with the band or that he was even in the band until a few years later when I started listening to old Sebadoh stuff and you hear all these songs blatantly about being really, really cross with J Mascis.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6282594%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-wXlIc&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6282594%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-wXlIc&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/start-choppin">Dinosaur Jr. - Start Choppin'</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBGc7h__qYMl9ZyVuNC_N6FaOqXmjtPaJFHjG3MvlsMk-s6dpa84BD-cB79jcYfH2S6RZJInLM-vPLBkYUPFF2189TnVyQAAPX86MQQZX4KhBcgVjmkG_S5zZ5-1M4ArowKiwHhlQpybq/s1600/Distortion.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBGc7h__qYMl9ZyVuNC_N6FaOqXmjtPaJFHjG3MvlsMk-s6dpa84BD-cB79jcYfH2S6RZJInLM-vPLBkYUPFF2189TnVyQAAPX86MQQZX4KhBcgVjmkG_S5zZ5-1M4ArowKiwHhlQpybq/s320/Distortion.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530489765965303394" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Magnetic Fields - Distortion</span><br /><br />We were just talking just now about how the general consensus is that 69 Love Songs is Stephen Merritt's masterpiece and how many people think he is never going to better that, I think he has. Distortion and The Charm of The Highway Strip are better records than 69 Love Songs. Not by a lot, I still think 69 Love Songs is a great album, it's just that I think they are a little bit better. Again, the art work is fucking amazing. The artwork on all the records I've chosen is nice, just tasteful choices, I suppose..<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Is that something you find important?</span><br /><br />In artwork? Yeah. Hugely, in fact. To the point that if a band that I like or a band that I've been following releases an album and I feel the artwork doesn't particularly strike me I do find myself maybe not rushing out to get that record and it take me a little bit longer to want that album. I think it is a subconsious thing<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span>more than actually going "the artworks crap I'm not going to buy it."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Have you ever bought an album based purely on the artwork?</span><br /><br />Em...Mogwai. The first Mogwai album. When that came out I didn't really know who Mogwai were and I bought Young Team just because of the artwork which I thought was incredible, really weird. I've not really got a design background so I can't talk about why I like it but I've always been a fan that if you can get a really simple image that just absolutely compels you to buy a record and this [points to Distortion] is a really good example.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Well that whole theme is carried on to the next album..</span><br /><br />Yeah, which I don't know yet. That could be, like I was saying, because the artwork isn't as cool as this one.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It's not pink..</span><br /><br />It's not pink, exactly! There is no other album in your collection that is going to look like that.<br /><br />Back to the actual album itself, the music on it is just really, really great. It is essentially the idea that Stephen Merritt has really bad hyperacusis and wanted to make an album that would let other people experience music like he experienced music. Which I guess is a bit of a fool's errand as you are next going to really recreate that. How could you possible do that? But I think he actually gets pretty close and at the same time manages not to make it unlistenable. The last thing anyone who follows The Magnetic Fields would expect is for them to make a shoegaze album, which is kind of what this is. It's got that kind of blissed out feel and everything is just covered in layers and distortion. It reminds me more of stuff like My Bloody Valentine than it does other Magnetic Fields albums.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">With The Magnetic Fields, you can draw parallels between them and Meursault in how they go from folk-based music to electronic-based music seemlessly. Do you think that's fair?</span><br /><br />[sounding unsure] ..Okay. I think it's fair. They influenced me big time. Especially Charm of The Highway Strip was a really big influence, it was constantly getting played. Charm On The Highway Strip and On Avery Island, the first Neutral Milk Hotel album, that was what I was listening to on constant repetition over and over again. Just because everybody gets that thing when you hear a band that just doesn't sound like anything else and that was Magnetic Fields for me. You can draw parallels between other bands but...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Well I didn't mean you sounded like them...</span><br /><br />Yeah, yeah. But the thing I liked about them is that they used folk instruments but didn't play folk music. That has been a thing with me as well. I like acoustic guitars and I like banjos and whatever but the music I am playing on them isn't necessarily what you would call folk music. Particularly because folk music has just been ruined now. It is not that it has been done to death and there is still some really good folk coming out. In an ideal world I'd be quite happy to call the music I make folk. The kind of music people call folk music these days is just fucking garbage. It is absolute garbage. I could name names....and I will..[tells me off-record two very big folk acts who he despises]. It is just this sort of commercialisation of folk music has happened before, it is not the first time that has happened with that genre. It is just annoying that it is happening again every twenty years. It is depressing, I'm like. "we have been through this before!" Hey-ho, whatever. Magnetic Fields' Distortion...not a folk album.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283322%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-PJw8o&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283322%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-PJw8o&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill">The Magnetic Fields</a></span> - California Girls<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGzHjy9jhEFdDno548Nsc8DnrtZHnagOTQMJSIbeZErpFfLcJGZAjc5KEp4zpvhmtu5mZjXYQaJiRMNyIkSdXoYh0MOGe8fmd7DcEDaK6sdGcaSX9Wj8ZrfCgjYXioM1mbswfdzZpoWcu/s1600/neilyoungmirrorball.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGzHjy9jhEFdDno548Nsc8DnrtZHnagOTQMJSIbeZErpFfLcJGZAjc5KEp4zpvhmtu5mZjXYQaJiRMNyIkSdXoYh0MOGe8fmd7DcEDaK6sdGcaSX9Wj8ZrfCgjYXioM1mbswfdzZpoWcu/s320/neilyoungmirrorball.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530508850474335618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Neil Young - Mirror Ball</span><br /><br />This is by far of all the artists I picked the most commercial. Is that fair to say of Neil Young? He is one of these guys, isn't he? No matter how massively famous he gets you could never call him commercial, you know, like Tom Waits or Springsteen. They just are who they are. Mirror Ball...everyone fucking hates this album. Especially Neil Young fans...they just hate this album and I've never got why people don't like this album, it's amazing, everything about it. It's got tunes, the production is great, really nice and scrappy kind of like Ragged Glory...that sort of idea. I think the reason why there was such a backlash against it was because for this album his backing band, instead of Crazy Horse or The Stray Gators, he had Pearl Jam. Who, to be fair, at one point quite a good fucking band. I don't know what happened to Pearl Jam critically. They became really 'uncool' to like and I'm not sure why...<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Maybe because they were tagged with the 'grunge' label which became quite uncool?</span><br /><br />I suppose, but they were always more just rock rather than grunge. Then I can't really think of what a grunge band is...I can only think of Nirvana. You hear people saying Dinosaur Jr. is grunge and that Neil Young is the 'Godfather of Grunge' it is just fucking sweet guitar music, get over it! This album is incredible. It might not be my favourite Neil Young album but it has my favourite Neil Young song on it called 'I'm the Ocean'. He seems to write effortlessly these ten minute long sprawling narrative sorta songs. He has done it before in his career when he writes about getting older and settling down and having kids which you don't really connect with, but somehow on 'I'm the Ocean' I do totally get it. You don't necessarily have to take it as an age thing that he is talking about he is just feeling disconnected about these people around who he feels he should have a connection with. There is a line in the song, 'people my age they don't do the things I do', just the disassociation he has from his peers because of that. You should listen to that song. I'm not going to go into why that particular song means so much to me as that would be boring. I'd recommend this album as a whole to anyone...it's got everything there. The massive rocking song, he has the ones he does on organ like you see if when he does in things like Neil Young Unplugged. There is a reprise of I'm the Ocean at the end that just has the melody...Fallen Angel, that's the one, beautiful. It just sounds like he has had fun making it which is nice to hear someone of that age still enjoying making music. I can't remember the last time I listen to Bob Dylan and thought 'it sounds like he's having a hoot!' [laughs]<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">That Christmas song he wrote?</span><br /><br />[raises his eyebrow and gives me a look...laughs]<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6281824%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-x7tgq&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6281824%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-x7tgq&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/im-the-ocean">Neil Young - I'm the Ocean</a> </span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaS_af-NM242PbYxtd71eDL9ZFG8Fu5FNKklaGTgXEM8rB1WkYIktRhTm7ZIV2nv1XClj7hxD8iAet0LUoBo5aNPaGWrI579qiBXs4Wh2XrD0ojmuPn1PG81B1eV_e-qyDMR1a5TSoyVx/s1600/fugaziargument"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaS_af-NM242PbYxtd71eDL9ZFG8Fu5FNKklaGTgXEM8rB1WkYIktRhTm7ZIV2nv1XClj7hxD8iAet0LUoBo5aNPaGWrI579qiBXs4Wh2XrD0ojmuPn1PG81B1eV_e-qyDMR1a5TSoyVx/s320/fugaziargument" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530518300927620626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Fugazi - The Argument</span><br /><br />Now I have got a funny feeling that after we speak about Fugazi's The Argument that if there are any Fugazi purists at the next Meursault show they are going to fucking bottle me. I don't really like Fugazi, I just really like this album. I'm a little turned off by Fugazi and Minor Threat because of the Straight Edge politics which I don't agree with and I find that if music is overly politicised and I don't agree with the message...it's the biggest turn off in the world for me. Anyway, that is that said and done..this album is fucking amazing. To be fair, it was the first thing I had heard by them. When I listened to it I just thought if a band can make an album this good then surely the rest of it is going to be great to dig out and discover. Unfortunately it just wasn't a rewarding experience for me. This album is just a masterpiece, though. I can't imagine a band making a better record and it was there last album. Artwork again is gorgeous. [pulls album out] It has a lovely pull out gate fold and beautiful photography and pictures...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Do you find that important when you are putting out an album, the finished article, packaging, the artwork?</span><br /><br />Yeah it has to be sort of a finished piece. It has to be...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Worth buying?</span><br /><br />It doesn't have to be worth buying it just has to be worth making. If I was going to not give a fucking about the album artwork then I would just give away CDR's from a plastic bag. I got lectured by one record shop over that bands don't seem to care enough about album artwork these days and I think that it is the total opposite. Bands realise the importance of it more now than ever. If you want people to buy the album and not download it then you have got to make damn sure that it's something that you want, it is not just the music on the record, if you have images that go along with the music...it is just that thought process...you might never have to explain why you have chosen those particular images to any one else. It just shines through. A random image on a record cover and you can just tell. I thought I could talk about this album until the cows came home but I can't, I mean the main talking point is why I don't like Fugazi. There is not much to say about it...lyrically the themes aren't too overbearing which would possibly make it unlistenable but with this one it is more personal. I don't know what Ian Mackaye was particularly on about when he recorded it but it seems to be more from the heart than the head. That sounds corny as fuck but it's true.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6282962%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-CUZ1p&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6282962%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-CUZ1p&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/full-disclosure">Fugazi - Full Disclosure</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwkFkTTm9j_5klXZm5HNDfl7UMCvuBpS5ynPu-t6pKXazdoq_TSkva92oViHDfSbHfR1t9xt-_LX5f6cHPG1Z7WuxxmnSldZapPb8pm-hBZ3iaJ65OL1Du9fVEaCpg7psyR1CQvk975XJ/s1600/ACDC+-+If+You+Want+Blood+You%27ve+Got+It+-+cover.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwkFkTTm9j_5klXZm5HNDfl7UMCvuBpS5ynPu-t6pKXazdoq_TSkva92oViHDfSbHfR1t9xt-_LX5f6cHPG1Z7WuxxmnSldZapPb8pm-hBZ3iaJ65OL1Du9fVEaCpg7psyR1CQvk975XJ/s320/ACDC+-+If+You+Want+Blood+You%27ve+Got+It+-+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530529078243329522" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">AC/DC - If You Want Blood</span><br /><br />This is probably one of the bands that all the guys in Meursault and probably all my friends have in common. We all like-stroke-love AC/DC especially the Bon Scott stuff. I don't mind Back in Black, to be honest. I think after that everything kind of went down hill and their best stuff is definitely the Bon Scott stuff. If You Want Blood is my favourite recording by them, it's a live album but I don't care. I like live albums I think they get a lot of shit and obviously you do get a load of trash with stuff you feel like they have just thrown it in and it does happen. Albums like Live Seeds by Nick Cave are absolutely incredible. It's weird, you listen to AC/DC songs...have you ever heard What's Next To The Moon by Mark Kozelek?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Aye.</span><br /><br />Well that made me reevaluate AC/DC and really go back and listen to it. Instead of listening back and being all nostalgic about it and thinking, "oh yeah, I used to listen to this as a kid" and dance around the room, it made me sort of listen to it...I was a bit more open-minded about it. Instead of listening to it as a kid and thinking, "hahaha, this song is about rape and my mum will hate me listening to this"..it sounds really childish, well, it is childish as I was a child but you listen to it now and, this is going to get me in trouble from a lot of mates, I almost think Bon Scott wrote about what it was like to be young and lustful and a bit of a misfit a lot better than a lot of people, including people like Springsteen. I think he nailed it as he kept the fun and sort of danger aspect of it and, I shouldn't go on about it as I fucking love Springsteen, but I think with him it was always dramatised. It was like 'Teenager; The Musical', whereas AC/DC was more warts and all.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Springsteen has aged better don't you think?</span><br /><br />In that Springsteen didn't die?!! It is quite hard to age well as a corpse! [both laughing]<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I mean post-Bon Scott and AC/DC as a whole. Do you even listen to the newer ones?</span><br /><br />I mean Bon Scott was their lyricist and Angus Young's lyrics just aren't the same. I've just lost interest, I think. It is one of those things were it just doesn't capture my imagination any more. I think the albums that I did have as a kid were previous to Back in Black as well, and including, I don't think I realised as a kid that Back in Black wasn't Bon Scott but obviously now I do. I just think by the time I would have gotten round to listen to the rest I had reached a point in my life, late teens and early twenties, everything just became really earnest. Only the last four or five years I have sort of come around again. I find it really hard when music is overly earnest to engage with it. That might sound a bit weird coming from me giving that our last album, by all admission, was really quite earnest indeed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Do you think you are going to make an album of 'I am young and want to have fun songs', then?</span><br /><br />Maybe not 'I'm young and I want to have fun' but maybe 'I'm middle aged and I would like to have a bit of a better time'. I'm 29, man. I'm not that young. It's not that old, I know. Certainly when I look at what I am listening to since we made the last record...the stuff we've got here was maybe in the back of my mind. The stuff I am listening to now is sort of a regression into stuff that is a bit more....I don't know how to describe it...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Easier on yourself?</span><br /><br />Yeah. Fuck yeah. Music should be enjoyable and it doesn't have to be this thing that you have to purge yourself every time you want to write a song or listen to a record. I think that is a big thing for me at the moment.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Can you see yourself stepping away from making your music so personal?</span><br /><br />I think it will always be personal. It is just...life's a bit better now. I listen to the first record and I think there is a lot more range of emotion on that record.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You've said before you thought the first record was quite bitter...</span><br /><br />It's weird how your opinions change, isn't it? That is totally the reverse for me now. The bitterness I had on the first record seemed to be towards certain things. The bitterness on the second record...I think I gave myself a bit of a hard time. I'm still glad I made the record though. You realise a lot of shit when you made a record like that.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Was it quite cathartic then?</span><br /><br />That one was, aye. Unnecessarily so. Meursault have another tour and then after that there is going to be a break. After that we are going to have an album ready and for all intensive purposes it is going to be a new band, which is quite exciting for me. Same people and pretty much the same process to writing songs it is going to be a little bit different content wise. A different approach sonically and just...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Would you say it is going to be as different...to say...Nothing Broke compared to All Creature Will Make Merry?</span><br /><br />Yeah absolutely. Maybe not in that direction though. I won't say any more as it is still early days.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">So basically you want to be Bon Scott?</span><br /><br />I just want to get on a stage with my top off! [we both laugh]<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283815%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-jXf2b&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F6283815%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-jXf2b&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/hell-aint-a-bad-place-to-be">AC/DC - Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be</a></span><br /><br /><br />Meursault are playing The Caves, Edinburgh on the 25th (Monday) they are then extensively touring Britain and Europe. Go see them live, eh?<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" >25 OCT 2010 - THE CAVES : EDINBURGH : UK<br />26 OCT 2010 - HEAD OF STEAM : NEWCASTLE : UK<br />27 OCT 2010 - THE HARLEY : SHEFFIELD : UK<br />28 OCT 2010 - ROYAL PARK CELLARS : LEEDS : UK<br />30 OCT 2010 - THE LUMINAIRE : LONDON : UK<br />31 OCT 2010 - THE PLAYHOUSE BAR [free entry] : NORWICH : UK<br />02 NOV 2010 - SAKI BAR : MANCHESTER : UK<br />03 NOV 2010 - STEREO : YORK : UK<br />04 NOV 2010 - DEXTER'S : DUNDEE : UK<br />05 NOV 2010 - BEACH BALLROOM : ABERDEEN : UK<br />06 NOV 2010 - STEREO : GLASGOW : UK<br /><br /></span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-34733189704865176212010-10-21T12:55:00.003+01:002010-10-21T13:31:10.624+01:00I Build Collapsible Mountains - A Month Of Lost Memories<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXFDK08bh02Mf8Y8QExoifDs6JYJ3YStJthpCPg65LDMZgUEA4o08fa2x-yJmMlH2iI1f1hugtTZnLQDAI7AJKs-EyHM1WKz0t1VwqpFYXxNiPZs7tF_rwIiYyemZ2zLR-_wAdLadETEA/s1600/4818864789_6cf901e549_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEXFDK08bh02Mf8Y8QExoifDs6JYJ3YStJthpCPg65LDMZgUEA4o08fa2x-yJmMlH2iI1f1hugtTZnLQDAI7AJKs-EyHM1WKz0t1VwqpFYXxNiPZs7tF_rwIiYyemZ2zLR-_wAdLadETEA/s400/4818864789_6cf901e549_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530475031496578050" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />It is always interesting when a member of a band takes a step in a different direction, Luke Joyce former shoegazer guitarist in <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thegothenburgaddress">The Gothenburg Address</a> has done just that. His frankly ridiculously named folk project <a href="http://www.wix.com/ibcmountains/ibcmountains">I Build Collapsible Mountains</a> is obviously the music he felt he should have been making and A Month Of Lost Memories is an ocean away from his former band's sound. A voice and acoustic guitar is more is, perhaps, a little more daring than hiding behind a wall of reverb as Joyce certainly bares his soul on this record. 'Rails' is fairly paint-by-numbers Americana but there is something intriguing about how earnest Joyce's voice seems whilst singing it. 'To The Dark' is a drum lead affair which tumbles along in a nice juxtaposition to 'Rails'. The rest of the album reverts back to the simply guitar/voice combo. 'Slowapproacher', 'Switches' and closer 'And The City Sleeps' are clearly extremely personal songs and this comes across in everything about them; the singing, the playing, the lyrics.<br /><br />There may not be enough variation or digression in sound to hold the non-folk fans attention here, but if you do enjoy relaxing and simple folk then this is for you. You have to admire Joyce for clearly choosing to make a record he has wanted to. In doing so it never seems conceited or self-absorbed, yet feels extremely personal. I might not know what I Build Collapsible Mountains means but I certainly know what its purpose is.<br /><br /><br /><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3421297656/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3421297656/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><object data="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3421297656/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB//" type="text/html" height="100" width="300"></object></object>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-91499298593545328732010-10-01T13:22:00.007+01:002010-10-01T19:14:01.517+01:00Introducing - Aloha Tigers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXO5QN1LztgeSqAJF7OOPzx30VmQfYGTWA6L23dkZGQdbigYxzhVYwpNgHYl8QZjbK-7RY7G1060vgb83voFBL9ENGRxS7W7ZKlt7z6tKA6iLhpwl_cPcLhhzB2HsgCk1breLsiXz8f-T/s1600/promo03.jpg"><img style="text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 457px; display: block; height: 352px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523056588188454546" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXO5QN1LztgeSqAJF7OOPzx30VmQfYGTWA6L23dkZGQdbigYxzhVYwpNgHYl8QZjbK-7RY7G1060vgb83voFBL9ENGRxS7W7ZKlt7z6tKA6iLhpwl_cPcLhhzB2HsgCk1breLsiXz8f-T/s400/promo03.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />I first came across the Illnoise dream-pop duo <a href="http://www.myspace.com/alohatigers">Aloha Tigers</a> whilst writing the <a href="http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/tag/song-of-the-day/">The Line Of Best Fit 'Song of the Day' </a>column. Every track I've been sent regarding the feature has been good, however I was completely blown away and pleasantly surprised when I first heard <a href="http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/06/sotd-89-aloha-tigers/">'Oh, The Glory Of It All'</a>. Thus began my excitement about this up and coming band. I've heard some new songs from their forthcoming album and this has only amplified my child-like and giddy excitement. I caught up with them to have a wee chat.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Who are Aloha Tigers? Care to introduce yourself?<br /></strong><br />Mike is the dreamy one. I'm the bald one who scowls a lot, although not usually intentionally.<br /><br /><strong>How would you describe your sound?<br /></strong><br />Well, hopefully people find it catchy. We like big sounds, drony sounds, pretty sounds. Do you all have syzurp over there? It's like listening to top 40 radio after drinking a big cup of that.<br /><br /><strong>One of you is song writer and one of you is producer. Do you feel this balances out the band quite nicely?<br /></strong><br />We wouldn't have it any other way. We get along really well and are both on the same page about what we want to accomplish, so we kind of lucked out in that department. It's a 100% equal collaboration and has thus far been a really positive and enjoyable experience. Maybe a bit more wrestling than I'd prefer, but it goes with the territory.<br /><br /><strong>You hail from Bloomington, Illinois. Is there much of a scene there and how much does the area influence you?</strong><br /><br />Bloomington is like a great place to raise a family and a not so great place to start a band. Sometimes it feels like nothing is really going on here, but having said that, we've also met people from around here who are doing stuff that's as good as anything you can think of, so it's hard to say. It's like a town full of really creative shut-ins.<br /><br /><strong>Which bands do you look up to?</strong><br /><br />Tears for Fears are a big influence. George Michaels is getting to be a big influence. Lots of the bands we grew up with, people who treated pop music as a totally legit, adult form of expression. As far as contemporary people that I'm actually influenced by, I really dig Luke Steele and his two bands, the Sleepy Jackson and Empire of the Sun. We're both all over the map with what we like. With Mike, one day he'll be on about Nilsson, the next we'll be listening to Gucci Mane, and then like the expanded works of Phil Spector. Although we do not condone his murderings.<br /><br /><strong>Is everything you record home recorded? Do you find that more natural/easier?</strong><br /><br />It is. Home recording technology is amazing right now. You can work at your own leisure and slave over every detail. It's great.<br /><br /><strong>You are currently recording your debut album. Can you give us any more information about its release?</strong><br /><br />It's being released as part of the Way Slow series on Lefse Records, which is also featuring people like Houses, Teen Daze, Ganglians, Banjo or Freakout, and a bunch of other exceptionally good bands, so that's really exciting for us. When you start out, you dream about putting out a record under any circumstances, so to have the opportunity to be doing something associated with a label like Lefse, where literally every band on the roster are incredibly talented and forward thinking and skull-crushingly cool is both an honor and kind of humbling. We aren't sure exactly when it's coming out yet, but my guess would be sometime in the first half of 2011.<br /><strong><br />Where do you hope 'Aloha Tigers' to be this time next year?<br /></strong><br />Hopefully by that time we'll be out playing shows and working on another record. It would be incredibly cool if we could make it over there at some point. An equally plausible scenario is that we will be riding the rails and eating shoe leather like hobos, given the direction the U.S. is going in. And honestly, either would be acceptable. We'd make fine drifters.<br /><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F3114193%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-rVTCA&secret_url=false"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F3114193%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-rVTCA&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/alohatigers/cruisin-rick-and-alexs-theme">Aloha Tigers- Cruisin' (Rick and Alex's Theme)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/alohatigers">alohatigers</a></span> <br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px; visibility: hidden;" src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyODU5MzY2MTQwNjMmcHQ9MTI4NTkzNjYxOTgxNCZwPTI3MDgxJmQ9Jmc9MiZvPWMwMjRjZWFkMDExNTQwZDJhYjVh/OTAzNTU4MDJmM2U4Jm9mPTA=.gif" border="0" height="0" width="0" /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/40/pro_widget.swf" bgcolor="#ffffff" loop="false" wmode="opaque" quality="best" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" seamlesstabbing="false" flashvars="id=artist_765482&posted_by=artist_765482&skin_id=PWAS1003&background_color=EEEEEE&border_color=0D1161&gig_lt=1285936614063&gig_pt=1285936619814&gig_g=2" align="top" height="180" width="490"></embed><br /><br /><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px; visibility: hidden;" src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widgets/trk/40/artist_765482/artist_765482/t.gif" border="0" height="0" width="0" /><br /><br /><img src="http://a.triggit.com/px?u=reverbnation&rtv=765482wd,Alternative,Indie,Dream%20Pop" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> </div>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-60680225439779176922010-09-28T14:10:00.005+01:002010-09-28T14:53:30.355+01:00The Scottish Enlightenment - Little Sleep EP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CLLDK4J4_sqOH6938hmqktKT9NKb5sJ67niube-eP7MCTlMbIQopR35uf8Hre4OFTMOVI-Lapc4gM_yv3yez8IZt_JC2i95kTWbRYjOu-tt56iiRDqPuHWERlFXLH4uDg0ZOSw_WIvdE/s1600/ARM15+Little+Sleep+Cover.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-CLLDK4J4_sqOH6938hmqktKT9NKb5sJ67niube-eP7MCTlMbIQopR35uf8Hre4OFTMOVI-Lapc4gM_yv3yez8IZt_JC2i95kTWbRYjOu-tt56iiRDqPuHWERlFXLH4uDg0ZOSw_WIvdE/s400/ARM15+Little+Sleep+Cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521951552012821794" border="0" /></a><br />I have somewhat of a strange love affair with <a href="http://thescottishenlightenment.bandcamp.com/">The Scottish Enlightenment</a>. When they released their debut single 'Eyes' back in 2007, I was an impressionable young 18 year old. 'Eyes' grabbed me so much that I wanted to delve deeper into the treasure chest that is the Scottish music scene. Lo and behold, three years on, I have fully embraced Scottish music and this is partly due to that one The Scottish Enlightenment song. After 'Eyes' things kind of went a bit quiet for the band, but last year they released song free tasters and my appetite was whetted once again. Then came along 'Pascal EP' which has been one of my favourite releases of the year so far. So how does 'Little Sleep' weigh up?<br /><br />It is an EP you have to devote time to, that's for sure. The title track will grow on you in time as the unusually catchy chorus sinks into your consciousness while the thundering guitars have a certain dark warmth about them, which kind of lulls you into a sense of wanting more. 'Get My Limousine' is a patient affair, tumbling along slowly, with their token self-deprecating and insecure lyrics about the pitfalls of busting your gut in a criminally underrated indie band. The real turning point is 'Drip Feed'. It reminds me of when I first heard the Fugazi song 'I'm So Tired', due to it being so far from their token sound, yet it could never be by any other band. Built on a catchy piano hook and with superbly intriguing and haunting lyrics it is certainly the stand out track on 'Little Sleep'. 'When You Hate Me' returns back to the less immediate feel of 'Get My Limousine', while closer 'Saint Germain is Thick Tonight' is a fairly upbeat number for the band.<br /><br />Upon receiving this album I thought it was going to be cast-offs from 'St. Thomas' - their upcoming album - but how wrong I was. 'Little Sleep' stands on its own as a great EP with some of the bands strongest tracks yet in 'Drip Feed' and 'Get My Limousine'. Show this record patience and you are bound to be rewarded.<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="100" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/track=428047758/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=df0c0e/"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowNetworking" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><embed src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/track=428047758/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=df0c0e/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="always" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="100" width="300"></embed><noembed>&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://thescottishenlightenment.bandcamp.com/track/get-my-limousine"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Get My Limousine by The Scottish Enlightenment&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</noembed></object><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="300" height="100" ><param name="movie" value="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/track=4198578724/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=e20808/" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/track=4198578724/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=e20808/" width="300" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality=high allowScriptAccess=always allowNetworking=always wmode=transparent bgcolor=#FFFFFF ></embed><noembed><a href="http://thescottishenlightenment.bandcamp.com/track/drip-feed">Drip Feed by The Scottish Enlightenment</a></noembed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'Little Sleep' is out now via the brilliant <a href="http://www.armellodie.com/">Armellodie Records</a>. Please support the artist.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-12776549871045970002010-09-22T19:53:00.006+01:002010-09-22T20:26:54.406+01:00[MP3] Crocodiles - Mirrors<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZg4O-ho-sEEJj3PsrfmHztaoUb00PhPQ1DLz1ea4nFQrmTILv07caqL-GaVnDkg_WCmxBxdcOsE94Zy2rTVjBt40ovIQLFGBJjBW6Cz8pJOUhL4iTWBa-pA4HZFyqM3q7-S-wAN1ApD65/s1600/Crocodiles_Sleep_Forever_coverart_hi-res.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 399px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZg4O-ho-sEEJj3PsrfmHztaoUb00PhPQ1DLz1ea4nFQrmTILv07caqL-GaVnDkg_WCmxBxdcOsE94Zy2rTVjBt40ovIQLFGBJjBW6Cz8pJOUhL4iTWBa-pA4HZFyqM3q7-S-wAN1ApD65/s400/Crocodiles_Sleep_Forever_coverart_hi-res.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519813777281625378" border="0" /></a>I have listened to almost nothing else since purchasing Californian duo <a href="http://www.myspace.com/crocodilescrocodilescrocodiles">Crocodiles'</a> sophomore effort 'Sleep Forever' last week. The album takes a quieter, more restrained step back from their debut 'Summer of Hate' and it is all the better for it. With multiple Mercury Prize winning producer James Ford behind the desk they effortlessly change the gears between noise-rock, shoegaze and even a fairly upbeat organ and drum machine lead closer, 'All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You'. However, it is the opener 'Mirrors' that really steals the show here. Get this album now!<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5500321%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-o5ggp&secret_url=false"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5500321%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-o5ggp&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/igggreenhill/crocodiles-01-mirrors">Mirrors</a> by <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Crocodiles</span></span><br /><br />Crocodiles play Captain's Rest in Glasgow on the 2nd October.<br /><br />'Sleep Forever' is out now via <a href="http://www.fatpossum.com/">Fat Possum<br /></a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-81252144005517734142010-09-22T17:01:00.004+01:002010-09-22T18:07:51.982+01:00Introducing - Iglue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UAgAocD_yq5vAEb6_g0A0HbV7E6lg4eGGkSejBQSjtGPIXeFTiGG1lcUHUlmvG-vML5ugXFYxAhIecGPfrccTkSD3vNVXvNM4kZ6i3fVH4Ygl3YKI-2vqmk2k_OABMB70efJopjQZzjv/s1600/shedder-1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9UAgAocD_yq5vAEb6_g0A0HbV7E6lg4eGGkSejBQSjtGPIXeFTiGG1lcUHUlmvG-vML5ugXFYxAhIecGPfrccTkSD3vNVXvNM4kZ6i3fVH4Ygl3YKI-2vqmk2k_OABMB70efJopjQZzjv/s400/shedder-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519769530110332034" border="0" /></a>My first introduction to Iglue - real name Niaal Manson - was during my visit to Inverness for GoNorth. I remember fellow blogger <a href="http://peenko.blogspot.com">Peenko</a> remarking that he sounded like a mix between Bright Eyes and Bombay Bicycle Club and at the time I thought that description was as accurate as you could get. The 21 year-old's new batch of songs are a far cry from that initial reaction. Sparse and timid melodies replace the pop sensibilities of his older songs and youthful optimism is now traded for jaded cynicism. 'The Modern Youth' is a perfect example of this as Manson strives for answers via a sullen existential lament. Environment plays a massive hand in the foundations of his songs as he grew up on the small, ocean locked Island of Lewis. 'Afloat', 'Men Are Made At Sea' and 'Jump Into The Sea' evidently have a recurring theme, using the sea as a vehicle for many a metaphor. The lack of optimism can, at times, grate on you and a wee glimmer of hope would be nice but I suppose this is the whole charm of these songs. It also illustrates the bleakness of island life extremely accurately (as I found out during a stint in Shetland).<br /><br />Iglue is far from a finished product but these songs definitely show promise. Some variation in sound would certainly give the songs more longevity while bringing back the initial sound which caught my attention. However, what young Manson has achieved is show his diversity and maturity which makes him one to watch.<br /><br />If you want to find out more there is a lovely wee interview with Niaal at the aforementioned <a href="http://peenko.blogspot.com/2010/09/scots-way-hay-34-iglue.html">Peenko Blog</a>.<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F4981732%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-YG41j&secret_url=false"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F4981732%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-YG41j&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/iglue/the-modern-youth">The Modern Youth</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/iglue">iglue</a></span><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5308453%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-8ZmQ0&secret_url=false"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5308453%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-8ZmQ0&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/iglue/afloat">Afloat</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/iglue">iglue</a></span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/igluemusic">Myspace</a> / <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.soundcloud.com/iglue">Soundcloud</a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-42986925031983686972010-07-14T13:00:00.005+01:002010-07-14T13:37:01.415+01:00Introducing - The Son(s)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhWDGun0Gn25bnm3CVT_o1KnnP9Os5jpNbUegNwZUTj778w7D1SNmUiXuYZRdyoP87HLvykhIg4KCwVme6ORW6sB_9F44vyEXzp4bk2Jb1TfpgXvC8oJjKjof09F2gkE1vqxZiHvUgjzY/s1600/3222023606-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 350px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyhWDGun0Gn25bnm3CVT_o1KnnP9Os5jpNbUegNwZUTj778w7D1SNmUiXuYZRdyoP87HLvykhIg4KCwVme6ORW6sB_9F44vyEXzp4bk2Jb1TfpgXvC8oJjKjof09F2gkE1vqxZiHvUgjzY/s400/3222023606-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493738049096284082" border="0" /></a><br />I don't really write as much here as I would like. Partly laziness, partly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">drunkeness</span>, partly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">summerness</span>, partly writing for other places. Anyway, I've been sitting on a band I really think are head and shoulders above the rest in terms of Scottish folk-tinged laments for a long while and it would be a waste if I didn't write anything about them.<br /><br />The Son(s) are an Aberdeen based trio (although it is said that members are dotted all over the place). Their music is as haunting and elusive as their identity. Knowing very little about them other than they are fronted by a lovely chap called Karl. They don't gig, they don't have a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Myspace</span>, and stream their entire catalog via <a href="http://theson.bandcamp.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Bandcamp</span></a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-son-s"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Soundcloud</span></a>. It doesn't matter as they have created a collection of songs which are so beautiful and timid that they beg to be listened to.<br /><br />Their songs feature lush instrumentation is fused together with vocal harmonies reminiscent of the very best Americana chamber music. If you didn't know otherwise you would think that The Son(s) are an experienced American band releasing their fifth or sixth album. They seem that accomplished. 'You Belong To No One' gives <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">folky</span> troubadours such as Justin Vernon a close run for their money, while lead single 'Radar' takes a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">poppier</span> direction while still featuring the bands token harmonies and ebbing and flowing between tranquil guitar picking and electric guitar showmanship, a mixture of the restrained and the confident. 'Dogs, Boys and Men' is a more urgent affair, producing a rock track of the highest songwriting, production and execution.<br /><br />Whoever The Son(s) are is not important. What is important is that you listen to them. Now.<br /><br /><br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fthe-son-s%2Fyou-belong-to-no-one-master"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fthe-son-s%2Fyou-belong-to-no-one-master" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-son-s/you-belong-to-no-one-master">You Belong To No One (Master)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/the-son-s">The Son(s)</a></span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-12735615413006931022010-06-27T22:08:00.009+01:002010-06-27T22:54:13.378+01:00Meursault - Crank Resolutions (Live at Glastonbury)I have two reasons for posting this video. One being that it is fucking<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> brilliant</span></span></span> and the other being that I feel it is the perfect response to the <a href="http://radar.scotsman.com/viewpost.aspx?id=109">editorial piece written by Radar</a>.<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> The</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> article</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> asks</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> whether</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> or</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> not</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> friendly</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> close</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> knit</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> nature</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> of</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Scottish</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> music</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> scene</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> does</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> more</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> harm</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> than</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> good.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> I</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> feel</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/meursaulta701">Meursault</a></span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> are</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> a</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> band</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> who</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> prove</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> to</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> be</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> antithesis</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> </span></span></span>of<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> said</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> article.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Hard</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> work</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> by</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> themselves</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> their</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> record</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> label</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> lead</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> to</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> them</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> gaining</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> a</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> small</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> yet</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> loyal</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> fan base</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> in</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Edinburgh.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> The</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> momentum</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> from</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> this</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> combined</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> with</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> more</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> hard</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> work</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> support</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> from</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> local</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> press,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> bloggers</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> podcasters</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> lead</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> to</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> them</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> gaining</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> recognition</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> in</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> rest</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> of</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Scotland,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> then</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Britain</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Europe</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> now</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> world.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> They</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> prove</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> that</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> close</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> knit</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> community</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> in</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Scotland</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> can,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> infact,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> take</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> a</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> band</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> further</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> than</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> if</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> a</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> dog</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> eat</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> dog</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> type</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> attitude</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> or</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> overly</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> critical</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> attitude</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> was</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> adopted</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> The</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> community</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> surrounding</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> band</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> was</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> even</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> focus</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> point</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> in</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> an</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> extremely</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14298-all-creatures-will-make-merry/">favourable</a></span></span></span><a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14298-all-creatures-will-make-merry/"><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> review</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> from</span></span></span></a><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"><a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14298-all-creatures-will-make-merry/"> Pitchfork</a>.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Yes,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> we</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> need</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> to</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> be</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> honest</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> with</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> each</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> other</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">, but</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> amount</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> of</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> work</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> some</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> people</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> put</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> in</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> and</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> </span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">support</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> bands</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> get</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> from</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> such</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> a</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> vast</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> number</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> of</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> outlets</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> </span></span></span>in<span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> Scotland</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> is</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> something</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> I</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> feel</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> should</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> be</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> praised</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> not</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> criticised.</span></span></span><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"><br />The</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> intro</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> at</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> the</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> start</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> is</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> new</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> to</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> me,</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> but</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> sounds</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> absolutely</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> amazing.</span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"> </span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"></span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"></span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"></span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content"></span></span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Enjoy.</span></span></span><br /><br /><br /><object height="350" width="402"><param name="movie" value="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="FlashVars" value="config_settings_showUpdatedInFooter=true&config_settings_bitrateFloor=400&config_settings_showPopoutCta=false&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_plugin_autoResumePlugin_recentlyPlayed=false&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=silver&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Fconfig%2Exml&playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp008kgqg&config_settings_showFooter=true&"><embed src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="config_settings_showUpdatedInFooter=true&config_settings_bitrateFloor=400&config_settings_showPopoutCta=false&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_plugin_autoResumePlugin_recentlyPlayed=false&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=silver&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Fconfig%2Exml&playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp008kgqg&config_settings_showFooter=true&" height="400" width="512"></embed></object>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-24073706612570788142010-06-24T16:42:00.007+01:002010-06-24T18:17:51.938+01:00Interview - Ditto Music<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dittomusic.com"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpFdgUH8gSmkmkJCTZbDqb4nFPf1W4qBRdD17us6fpzevJOPhg1PqtvOTWxiV83OxVDVr0xW2F-KdeRsmKeYsciE8KWzijel5iVUP-O31H0reUe0VtDkJFCxTY7EbFXiza4ig5QR_KH8b/s400/dittoheader.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486369298871781266" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Getting your music out there seems, at times, to be pretty daunting and tricky. There are so many avenues you can go down and sadly new bands are often let down by poor distribution. I met </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Lee Parsons</b><span style="font-family:arial;"> from successful online distributor <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.dittomusic.com/">Ditto Music</a> at <span style="font-weight: bold;">GoNorth</span> and his passion for helping new bands struck me as something extremely refreshing for someone so rooted in the business side of the music industry.</span><br /><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Hi Lee. Can you explain what it is Ditto Music does exactly?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US">Primarily Ditto Music is a digital music distributor, specializing in unsigned artists but we see ourselves more as a record label. </span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">My brother and I originally started Ditto Music because we wanted to release music. Setting up a record label took us several months. Then, we could not get any distribution contracts because we did not have enough content. To sell music online or in a shop you need barcodes, ISRC codes, catalogue numbers etc, and it was all really hard to get our heads around. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">By the time we had the distribution and label structure in place, we thought we may as well release music for our friends. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">We started using tools like pre-release, SMS bundling and being really chart savvy, and eventually we released Koopa, who were the first ever unsigned artists to break the top 40 singles chart.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">As EMI, Warner Brothers and all of the major labels started to crumble we found that more artists were coming to release music with us, these included Prince, Suzi Quattro, Finch, Lil Wayne. They paid a small fee, kept all of their rights and profits and we helped them with promotion where we could.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">We can set up a record label for you. We then distribute you to hundreds of great stores like Spotify, iTunes and Amazon and you keep all of your rights. With our partners we then help you collect PRS, get sync and publishing deals and promote your music to the music industry. We offer unique services whereby you get in the charts across the world, go on pre-release, sell via SMS, launch and iPhone app and many more.<span> </span>There are companies like Tunecore and Reverbnaton who just throw your music on to the stores. We develop a relationship with you and act as your record label, helping you promote your music online.</span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">You were on the Born To Be Wide Sync Panel at GoNorth, how do unsigned bands go about getting their music synced?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> Well we can help you firstly. We work alongside Sentric Music which is totally free and non-exclusive for artists. Once you sign up you get info on sync opportunities as they come in, we have had artists in Lexus adverts, The Hills and shows like ‘Paris Hilton’s Best Friend’. You get daily sync opportunities sent straight to your Ditto account.</span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">There are loads of things you can do grass roots though.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Firstly, contact independent movie makers near you. There are so many now, especially around universities. Don’t worry too much about getting a massive fee at this stage. There have been some great examples of film makers and composers meeting at university and as the film maker becomes successful it has a knock on effect for the musician.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Get yourself to as many networking events as possible and start building up relationships with people. Go North had an amazing stable of talent that crossed the whole realm of music and film. Join AIM ( <a href="http://www.musicindie.com/" target="_blank">www.musicindie.com</a> ). Once you join AIM you get access and cheap passes to all of the networking events around the UK. And if you get in touch with the UKTI you may even get funded to travel to these abroad. Networking is always key.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><b><span lang="EN-US">I felt you had a lot to say to the representative from Microsoft (syncing music for Xbox games). Is it true that games often don't pay bands for syncage?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Yeah, I don’t think I made many friends on that panel but I didn’t want to hear them talk about how they sync signed artists, I wanted to know how they were helping <b>unsigned artists</b> gain promotion in music. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">He wasn’t going to give out any numbers but they clearly aren’t paying artists much. The games industry is a billion dollar industry that is making more revenue than the music industry at the moment. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">They seem to think that the promotion alone should be enough dividends for the artist. That kind of devalues music though in the same way that music piracy teaches you that your best hope for producing music is that someone will purchase it for free and then come to a show.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">And my other point to them was why do the games industry not pay music royalties for each game sold?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Every time you download music you pay PRS, every time a radio station or TV channel plays music you get paid a PRS rate. Even Youtube has to pay PRS. So if you distribute a piece of music to a computer game you should pay some kind of royalty rate to the artist, even if it’s a few pence. </span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">How big is the divide between the sync industry and the music industry and what can be done to solve this?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> There is always going to be more content that sync opportunities so I am sympathetic to the sync agents. </span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">There is a massive division between the games and music industries. I went to the GDC in San Fran Cisco a couple of years ago which is the largest worldwide conference for games developers. I was the only person from the music industry at the conference. There does not seem to be enough being done to build links between the two industries. I asked the developers where they get music from and they would generally ask friends at work or use sound library music. There is no excuse in this day and age to use sound library music, not when there is so many talented artists out there creating music that is going unheard. Seriously, Sound library music?<span> </span>It’s a joke!</span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US">On another panel you participated in there was mention of the benefits of PRS. Explain to anyone who might not know what PRS is and how it can benefit them?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> The PRS is the Performing Rights Agency. Each venue has to pay a PRS license to play music. That revenue then goes to the PRS agency. </span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">The PRS then dish out the revenue accordingly to the artists who play in the venues, gain radio airplay and so on.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">If you don’t claim for the gigs you play then it will get paid out to the major label artists. So make sure every gig you play you claim! Once you sign up with Ditto we help you with this free of charge through our partners at Sentric Music.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">PRS is also covered in things like radio airplay, TV, even online streaming. You can claim back for 6 months so do it.<span> </span>Now!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">I met so many bands at Go North who weren’t claiming their PRS. As an example, the band who won the competition to play with Bon Jovi will receive around £20,000. So do it now. Even if it is an open mic night you could be entitled to some serious pocket money</span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span><b><span lang="EN-US">With the sheer amount of music on the internet how can a small band 'stand out from the pack'?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> It sounds obvious but the first thing is to be brilliant. If every artist listened to the same amount of demos that we do here I think they would realize the severity of the competition out there. You are pitching yourselves against hundreds of thousands of artists. </span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Be up on the latest social trends. At the first panel I mentioned a few sites to check out</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.splitgigs.com/" target="_blank">www.splitgigs.com</a><span lang="EN-US"> is a great site where you can exchange gigs all over the world</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.mflow.com/" target="_blank">www.mflow.com</a><span lang="EN-US"> is a new site we distribute you to and can be a fantastic networking tool.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.mog.com/" target="_blank">www.mog.com</a><span lang="EN-US"> Start music blogging and then you can pitch your own music to other bloggers.</span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="im"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">How does a band go about getting distributed by Ditto Music?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US"> Ditto Music is the simplest way to handle digital distribution. </span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span lang="EN-US">Our platform allows you upload music and artwork online and receive free barcodes, ISRC codes as you sign up. You can specify your release date, set up a label and you have access to 24 hour sales analytics. You can choose to become chart eligible, make an iPhone app, sell on pre order, SMS, we have it all covered. And we have skilled people in the office every day to take your phone calls.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Just go to <a href="http://www.dittomusic.com/" target="_blank">www.dittomusic.com</a> and sign up for a free account. From there you can access the forums, receive news on sync opportunities and of course start uploading content to great sites like Spotify, iTunes , Amazon and more.<br /><br />//<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />[COMPETITION]</span><br /><br />Lee and Ditto Music have kindly given me 10 iTunes release vouchers to give away to Have Fun At Dinner readers. So if you are in a band or make music email me at <b>igg.greenhill@gmail.com</b> with a link to some of your music and I will pick my favourites.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Each voucher entitles an artist to a free release on iTunes (up to 3 tracks) with £0 signup, £0 subscription to Ditto Music and 100% royalties</span><span lang="EN-US">. No bad, eh?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Closing date 8th July</span></span><br /></span></p>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-28485664282913137052010-06-17T20:58:00.015+01:002010-06-18T00:12:41.975+01:00GoNorth; Thursday and Friday<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">[EDITOR'S NOTE; It has been brought to my attention that there has been a video of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">mangina</span> circulating on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">interwebnet</span>. It is in Have Fun At Dinner and affiliates interest to deny all <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">allegations</span> regarding this matter. However, in case you are wondering, ladies, I use the wee trimmer bit on the Panasonic ES8101 to keep 'down there' tamed. Available at </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4432540/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHealth+and+personal+care%7C14418350/c_2/3%7C15701134%7CMen%27s+shavers%7C14418367/c_3/4%7Ccat_14418367%7CFoil+shavers%7C14418370.htm?_$ja=tsid:11527%7Ccc:%7Cprd:4432540%7Ccat:health+%26+personal+care+%3E+men%26%23180%3Bs+shavers+%3E+foil+shavers">Argos</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> and all good stockists.]</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc07EWCdM9X8f86mlpb7zA2jHEpyArO1rh4PPgqBs-C_Q_wR8_kvR5PwYxIObRFcAaFPMW6p2kFmkrcWosZigVQyxJEsJy5E9Y6EdJDGI1gbF7UK3lc5dKufYmOs6Qgt05YGluJ23Ljlg_/s1600/4706616994_f2f38a4a2c.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc07EWCdM9X8f86mlpb7zA2jHEpyArO1rh4PPgqBs-C_Q_wR8_kvR5PwYxIObRFcAaFPMW6p2kFmkrcWosZigVQyxJEsJy5E9Y6EdJDGI1gbF7UK3lc5dKufYmOs6Qgt05YGluJ23Ljlg_/s400/4706616994_f2f38a4a2c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483852442423579234" border="0" /></a><br />The second day of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">GoNorth</span> all kicked off at The Ramada for seminars. The first of the day was the <b>'Do It Yourself'</b> panel organised by <a href="http://www.myspace.com/borntobewide">Born to Be Wide</a>. Olaf <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Furniss</span> conducted the panel, even adopting Jeremy Kyle tactics and coming into the audience to hear questions. On the panel was the legendary musician/journalist/TV panelist John Robb, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Meursault</span> front man Neil <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Pennycook</span>, Little Kicks singer Steven Milne, The Debuts singer Michael Lambert and soul singer Carrie Mac. The panel debated the ins and outs of managing a band by yourself. The major benefit was seen to be control and monetary. If you do everything yourself you are bound to make more money in the short-run. The biggest pitfall identified by the panel was dealing with dodgy promoters, however they also stressed that there are an equal amount of good promoters out there. As an impartial party, I took quite a lot from this panel as it gave me an insight to how much work being in a small, self-managed band is. At the end of the day a band is only to get what they put in. It is also essential for small bands to exhaust all possible resources before looking for third party management. If you have someone who can do artwork, use that resource. If you have someone who can book the gigs, use that resource. If you have someone who can do PR, use that resource. Overall, this panel would have been extremely fruitful for up and coming bands looking to make it on their own. A change of pace from the bloated, self-interested panels of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">GoNorth</span> Fringe.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXlHcUDDTShBEdaqnyfOuRX1OqQ0ltzn0mkrU8vpAzhzK3O0fYPpkmmXE8STCCAsN45kImPgMMNBNKlzylpc8GsNJWKEb5e-6UTGIOnyoAo0obZeGvyshnsR1q79v9ZSYNjUyQXD7vqYC/s1600/Scottish+arts+council+Credit+Logo+black.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXlHcUDDTShBEdaqnyfOuRX1OqQ0ltzn0mkrU8vpAzhzK3O0fYPpkmmXE8STCCAsN45kImPgMMNBNKlzylpc8GsNJWKEb5e-6UTGIOnyoAo0obZeGvyshnsR1q79v9ZSYNjUyQXD7vqYC/s400/Scottish+arts+council+Credit+Logo+black.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483853310754293858" border="0" /></a>After sitting in on what appeared to be a strange orgy on Second Life which I assume was supposed to be some kind of online conference? Whatever it was it was a total panel-libido killer. In stepped BBC Radio 1/Scotland DJ Vic Galloway to tell us to come next door for the <a href="http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/">Scottish Arts Council</a> run <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">SxSW</span> Panel</span>. So <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Peenko</span> and I did. The panelists included two reps from the Scottish Arts Council, Vic, Adam (who basically pimps bands to college radio in America) and Jamie (We Were Promised <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Jetpacks</span> co-manager). Going to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">SxSW</span> is a massive dream of mine and this panel <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">deterred</span> me slightly. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">sizable</span> costs of going over which were quoted were daunting and the Arts Council reps seemed to veer off subject a lot of the time. This was sorted by Vic who always put the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">focus</span> back on the interests of the audience. Admittedly, I did raise a rather redundant question (in terms of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">SxSW</span>) as I mentioned the closure of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">WOXY</span>, the American independent radio station and website. I was met with a very frank '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">WOXY</span> will be back'. In the ensuing hours I would learn that a company has stepped in and it is looking as though <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">WOXY</span> will be up and running sooner than expected. I don't know if that is a scoop or not. Fuck it. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">WOXY</span> is coming back, so I don't care if it is.<br /><br />The next seminar was a rather star-studded affair as Born to Be Wide had organised a panel consisting of; <strong>Keith Harris</strong> (Stevie Wonder's manager), <strong>Rab Andrew</strong> (Primal Scream, Texas) <strong>Dougie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Souness</span></strong> (Wet Wet Wet), <strong>Phil Ellis</strong> (Baby Boom Records) and <strong>Grant Dickson</strong> (The View, Broken <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Records</span>.) The managers shared stories and dispensed advice on how to manage bands effectively. One of the highlights of the seminar was Rab Andrew telling the story of how he had to bail Mani from Primal Scream out of jail so he could play a festival. Yet he identified that he found this to be fun. He appreciated that you don't get into management to have an easy ride and that he <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">lived for</span> the 'fuck ups' as they were fun. What a top bloke. An interesting point made by the panel is that they do not sign contracts with their acts. This seemed absolutely mental to me, yet it appeared to be the done thing as it shows a give/take relationship based on trust.<br /><br />Against my appeals, <a href="http://peenko.blogspot.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Peenko</span></a> dragged me to the 'Flash Forward' seminar. He should have listened to me as it was essentially music industry people rooted in an old-school mindset trying to grasp the various new avenues the industry is going down. The main part that got my goat was their view on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Spotify</span>, feeling that it should pay artists more, which I think is just wrong. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Spotify</span> is a promotional tool. Yet this seemed to be lost on these dinosaurs, so <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Peenko</span> and I left early to go see the <a href="http://www.myspace.com/brontoskylift"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Bronto</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Skylift</span></a> album launch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1MR2r19uaxDP2tYs-AF9Wsn1qAqca7zTSyV3qIsKzrT2Q9jyn75ZXK6MP74kxwqRwx2PIyT_XjTWjo9fdeg-WRLzKvGGqMo1OuanoQwA4nFZRZXb9iIYTMrSgGAa64DaA042XmF3grft/s1600/4708101812_1c23dfe1c0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1MR2r19uaxDP2tYs-AF9Wsn1qAqca7zTSyV3qIsKzrT2Q9jyn75ZXK6MP74kxwqRwx2PIyT_XjTWjo9fdeg-WRLzKvGGqMo1OuanoQwA4nFZRZXb9iIYTMrSgGAa64DaA042XmF3grft/s400/4708101812_1c23dfe1c0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483861105512059986" border="0" /></a>In typical <a href="http://www.detour-scotland.com/">Detour</a> fashion a group of us were lead to a small clearing in the middle of an island. After a quick introduction <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Bronto</span> were away. Anger, passion and humour combine into one with these boys culminating in lead singer Niall (who would later threaten to 'push me in the fucking face', but never mind) attacking his guitar with whatever he could find. Mostly branches. My appetite was whetted and this would not be the last time I'd watch them at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">GoNorth</span>.<br /><br />Next up were my favourite band of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">GoNorth</span>, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/theseventeenthcentury">The Seventeenth Century</a>. Having seen them a few times before I knew what to expect but I was no less blown away. Combining euphoria derived from Beirut songs and a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">sophistication</span> beyond their years, the Glasgow 5-piece delivered. Big time. New single 'Roses in the Park' was a highlight, as the band would find out later from my drunken rambles devoid of all superlatives.<br /><br />As <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Peenko</span> was my designated 'daddy' for the week he recommended <a href="http://www.colliderscope.com/">Fiona <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Soe</span> Pang</a>. A great curve ball as she combined ambient trip-hop with stunning visuals. I remarked that she sounded a bit like Lamb and she agreed she was a big fan. Lloyd didn't know who they were, even though they were around during his era...<br /><br />We stayed for the most hyped act of the week, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/rachelsermanni">Rachel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Sermanni</span></a>;<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VkrSUymQm7rQjrniM4DD8rXVmzbOWJz2YU7gYbcsbdOaO0XaTTLCl4bsIVAWwpNnhDK4qJhkAQJwLCvT7SinmbEHIYKdQgYhz9CDbcgEuMxxS3wOAv_1p_xUK7CKy0G9u7fzia55izY9/s1600/4706180113_7ceaee0c10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VkrSUymQm7rQjrniM4DD8rXVmzbOWJz2YU7gYbcsbdOaO0XaTTLCl4bsIVAWwpNnhDK4qJhkAQJwLCvT7SinmbEHIYKdQgYhz9CDbcgEuMxxS3wOAv_1p_xUK7CKy0G9u7fzia55izY9/s400/4706180113_7ceaee0c10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483865731446688962" border="0" /></a><br />I caught up with the very lovely Rachel after her set at both <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">GoNorth</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Rockness</span> to have a chat.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span>Rachel,</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span> are</span></span><span><span> just</span></span><span><span> back</span></span><span><span> from</span></span><span><span> playing</span></span><span><span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">GoNorth</span></span></span><span><span> and</span></span><span><span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Rockness</span>.</span></span><span><span> How</span></span><span><span> did</span></span><span><span> they</span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> go?</span><br /></span></span></span><div><br /></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">GoNorth</span> was lovely. I shook the hand of Stevie Wonder's manager! Playing solo is something I enjoy a lot as I have to attempt to create an atmosphere of the songs on my own and it disciplines you a bit, I think, to do things on your own sometimes. It teaches you not to become reliant on others. However, having the band at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Rockness</span> was so wonderful. The girls played <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">grrrreat</span>! I have two fiddlers, Laura <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Wilkie</span> and Siobhan Anderson and a pianist, Jennifer Austin. They're magnificent musicians and great friends. We had a full tent as it was raining, (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">thankyou</span> bad weather). With them there's a great power in the songs.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span>Is</span></span><span><span> it</span></span><span><span> daunting</span></span><span><span> for</span></span><span><span> a</span></span><span><span> young</span></span><span><span> (Rachel</span></span><span><span> is</span></span><span><span> eighteen)</span></span><span><span> solo</span></span><span><span> artist</span></span><span><span> to</span></span><span><span> play</span></span><span><span> in</span></span><span><span> front</span></span><span><span> of</span></span><span><span> a</span></span><span><span> festival</span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> crowd?</span><br /><br /></span></span></span>It wasn't too daunting. More exciting. We got a bit scared when we did our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">soundcheck</span> as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">Danananakaroyd</span> were playing just outside on the main stage and we couldn't hear them. They're great...by what we heard. But we were quite determined to have fun. I danced about on stage and everything. We just let loose and gave all we could give whether we could hear ourselves or not :) It was probably a little daunting as my old school friends were in the front row...and they'd only really seen me singing little cheesy numbers in the school hall...I was keen to let them hear what I've been skipping uni for and working proudly on for the past months!<br /><br /><span><span><span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">You</span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span> worked</span></span><span><span> with</span></span><span><span> Ben</span></span><span><span> from</span></span><span><span> Mumford</span></span><span><span> and</span></span><span><span> Sons,</span></span><span><span> how</span></span><span><span> did</span></span><span><span> that</span></span><span><span> come</span></span><span><span> about?<br /></span></span></span>I met Ben at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Loopallu</span> Festival when they played. We went and had a magical jam with them on a beach at 3am and after that he asked if I'd like to come record down in London. BIGGEST ADVENTURE! I learnt so much. And he showed me that not all my songs have to be sweet and quiet...i could potentially make louder sounds. Since then, I have.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span><br />In</span></span><span><span> one</span></span><span><span> song</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span> sing</span></span><span><span> about</span></span><span><span> the</span></span><span><span> childlike</span></span><span><span> notion</span></span><span><span> of</span></span><span><span> being</span></span><span><span> a</span></span><span><span> pirate</span></span><span><span> and</span></span><span><span> in</span></span><span><span> another</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span> sing</span></span><span><span> about</span></span><span><span> how</span></span><span><span> and</span></span><span><span> where</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span>r soul</span></span><span><span> meets</span></span><span><span> your</span></span><span><span> body.</span></span><span><span> How</span></span><span><span> do</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span> bridge</span></span><span><span> the</span></span><span><span> gap</span></span><span><span> between</span></span><span><span> quirky</span></span><span><span> and</span></span><span><span> existential?!<br /></span></span></span>I don't think I'm aware of the bridges between topics in my songs...all that I write about is very important to me. I love to explore strange things. And the pirate archetype is intriguing. I suppose that quite nicely links to the idea of the soul. Apparently, every person holds, within them, different archetypes. We all have inside us the 'princess awaiting a rescue' or the 'prince in search of the pathetic damsel'...and then there are the sort of parts of us that make us want to be the goodies...but the one that usually intrigues me the most is the darker sides...baddies and pirates. One of my most recent songs is so dark i have managed to complete lose myself on what it's about..and just get scared.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span><br />You</span></span><span><span> have</span></span><span><span> quite</span></span><span><span> a</span></span><span><span> bit</span></span><span><span> of</span></span><span><span> hype</span></span><span><span> surrounding</span></span><span><span> you,</span></span><span><span> is</span></span><span><span> it</span></span><span><span> hard</span></span><span><span> to</span></span><span><span> ignore</span></span><span><span> it</span></span><span><span> or</span></span><span><span> do</span></span><span><span> you</span></span><span><span> embrace</span></span><span><span> it?<br /></span></span></span>I really don't think there's that much hype. Is there? Ha!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span><span><br />What</span></span><span><span> is</span></span><span><span> in</span></span><span><span> store</span></span><span><span> in</span></span><span><span> 2010</span></span><span><span> for</span></span><span><span> Rachel</span></span><span><span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Sermanni</span>?!</span></span></span><br />2010 sees us doing lots of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Scottish</span> festivals: Insider, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Wickerman</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Belladrum</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Loopallu</span>..and I'm going on a solo adventure down to Wales for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">Greenman</span>! And lots more gigs too. I'm hoping to have some recordings to sell by the end of the year too. And the rest is a misty unknown even for me. Which is terribly exciting!<br /><br />//<br /><br />After Rachel's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">lullabyesqe</span> set, I was off, again, to catch the magnificent <a href="http://www.myspace.com/awoodenbox"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">Woodenbox</span> With A Fistful of Fivers</a>. I caught a few of their songs, including my favourite 'Draw a Line' and then I sprinted to see the best band in Scotland; <a href="http://www.myspace.com/meursaulta701"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Meursault</span></a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5dfa21nbCHRXBhbB4IXm_6brlGsJZUf9yoMC4VOfZfBDD0pCK4bpvbNjM9VHVzVd3Y2AR-bDfPMZcym3UcG_VyorntBxgprKUd9CVISpulwsaw6ikKsQuJ6M7VfS9iP7qixs2Y06gkN4/s1600/4706624138_e603460db9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5dfa21nbCHRXBhbB4IXm_6brlGsJZUf9yoMC4VOfZfBDD0pCK4bpvbNjM9VHVzVd3Y2AR-bDfPMZcym3UcG_VyorntBxgprKUd9CVISpulwsaw6ikKsQuJ6M7VfS9iP7qixs2Y06gkN4/s400/4706624138_e603460db9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483867521925771010" border="0" /></a>Tonight it was just two of them and the crowd was anything but kind. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">Pennycook</span> had to endure a drunken local whaling all through 'Weather' (one of their stand-outs from sophomore effort 'All Creatures Will Make Merry') and even with his foghorn voice he couldn't drown the guy out. I suppose this exposed some of the downsides to events such as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">GoNorth</span> as the venue was not ideal yet the sound equipment was top of the range. It seemed as if investment could have been spread about better to ensure optimum enjoyment for all those involved (bands <span style="font-style: italic;">and </span>crowd).<br /><br />Thursday night was a bit of a write-off. Copious amounts of alcohol were consumed and I offended pretty much everyone. Two things I learnt were 1) to not tell A&R people that no one likes them and 2) that Vic Galloway is an absolute champion who just lives for Scottish music. Really inspiring bloke.<br /><br />Due to my massive hangover I only made one worthwhile panel, Born To Be <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_64">Wide's</span> Sync Panel. I'm not going to say too much about it as I have interview Lee Parsons from Ditto Music who was on one of the panels and he will explain sync and distribution better than I am able to (it is pretty complicated.)<br /><br />In the afternoon Lloyd and I did the <a href="http://songbytoad.com/2010/06/toadcast-126-the-schmoozecast/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">Toadcast</span></a> with Matthew from Song, by Toad. We come across as very useless, maybe because I <span style="font-style: italic;">am </span>useless and Lloyd was hungover.<br /><br />I managed to catch the excellent <a href="http://www.myspace.com/randolphsleap">Randolph's Leap</a> in the evening. Combining humour and twee-folk via a stack of Ivor Cutler records, they brought a massive smile to my face. As did <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_66">Bronto</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_67">Skylift</span> who I caught after. 'A band is only as good as its drummer', if this was the case then <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_68">Bronto</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_69">Skylift</span> would be the best band in the world. Pounding away at the drums while Niall screams down the mic while playing angular hooks on his guitar. Great live band.<br /><br /><br />So that wraps up <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_70">GoNorth</span> for one year. Worth while, yet ultimately very, very messy.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Photos by Derick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_71">MacKinnon</span> and Dom Holt of </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.myspace.com/nfspromos">New Found Sound</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span></span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265817268534643894.post-89396529011298020222010-06-14T16:09:00.007+01:002010-06-14T16:42:37.307+01:00[MP3] Bottle of Evil - Conversation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoA-T5665VbvAgtcUGelFNkCqmPscROQXORBnD22XfQbOHOM89sHGPlBi4ci9gr46zNsCEocRXiEC_5fs4G58frKhSS-c7P1WeuPv1Q5ZftC3tinJDwEdYxbHnyawX8Yj9OT6U5ZI3DJ0c/s1600/BoE+album+cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 372px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoA-T5665VbvAgtcUGelFNkCqmPscROQXORBnD22XfQbOHOM89sHGPlBi4ci9gr46zNsCEocRXiEC_5fs4G58frKhSS-c7P1WeuPv1Q5ZftC3tinJDwEdYxbHnyawX8Yj9OT6U5ZI3DJ0c/s400/BoE+album+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482648560509719618" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/songsfromasmallroom">Bottle of Evil</a> is a collaboration between Derek Bates (Evil Hand, Genaro) and Steven <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">McGilvary</span> (Bottle of Steven). Hailing from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lanarkshire</span> the duo make <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">shoegaze</span> of the dream-pop variety. With delicate melodies often erupting into noise-fueled crescendos they are the perfect antithesis my folk-based <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bletherings</span>. A pleasant <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">surprise</span> from the initial fear of <i>another</i> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Biffy</span> sound-a-like or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Screamo</span> band which I garnered from their name.<br /><br />Their debut album is out now via <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">iTunes</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">eMusic</span> with a physical release due in 'a couple of weeks'.<br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://mediaplayer.yahoo.com/js"></script><br /><a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/15/2690550//Conversation.mp3">Bottle of Evil - Conversation</a>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02767116270063336213noreply@blogger.com0