The Procast is so called because this week has been an awfy professional one. The third Meursault album is approaching, and because there are publishers, managers, bookers and all sorts involved in this one we had to have a Serious Meeting about it and make sure the planning was all being done properly. We did all the grown-up stuff like minute the meeting, assign people deliverables and all sorts of stuff. It was the closest to being back at my old job that I have experienced since I left, in all honesty - lists, management, timescales, budget discussions [...]
Yes it's that time of the year again when us bloggers look back over the past year and pick those tracks that have made us glad to be alive. It's been an incredible year and there were so many tracks on the shortlist that it could easily have been a festive fifty. So what started out as the Devil's Top 10 quickly turned into a Top 20 and I still couldn't find room for incredible tracks like The Bird & The Monkey's hymnal Lord Is Gracious , The Wind-Up [...]
11.David Thomas Broughton - Ain't Got No Sole The first song we heard from DTB's fantastic album, and perhaps the poppiest of the lot. Catchy, unusual and immensely hummable. 12.Kurt Vile - Baby's Arms Another album from which it is tricky to extricate just one song as a highlight, but for some reason I'm giving this the nod above Jesus Fever or Puppet to the Man . I think it's the most late night and glass of red winey song on the album, but it's close. 13.The [...]
Right, all the amateurs have had a go, and we've seen disturbing amounts of Bon Iver and PJ Harvey on lists from Bradford to Boston this year, but it's time for those of us who really know what's good and what isn't to step up and set the record straight. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the definitive list of what's been good this year, so you can all stop pretending to care what Drowned in Sound or Pitchfork think, and find out what you should really be thinking about music. That's all bollocks of [...]
It's the moment you've really not been waiting for, yes folks, it's time for me to share with you all my favourite albums of the past twelve months. I fully appreciate that what I say doesn't really matter all that much and nor should it, but hey indulge me a little. This is now the fourth year that I have found myself compiling these lists. Back in 2008 and 2009 I came up with a Top 50 for each year which just seems insane to me these days. This year I have stuck with a top ten, mainly because I [...]
And so it begins... I did warn you at the end of last week I did warn you that I would be starting on my numerous end of year polls. Following on from the success of last years series of posts I have decided to run my Artists Albums of the Year, which basically meant that I went back to any of the bands and artists that have featured in my Scots Way-Hay posts over the past couple of years. To kick us off here are the choices of Happy Particles, Discopolis, John Knox Sex Club, Come on Gang! , [...]
John Knox Sex Club For fear of repeating myself, I will say this just once more. You need John Knox Sex Club in your life, no really you do. If you don't believe me then you can see for yourself by downloading some free tracks using this link , once you've had a listen then you can invest yer pennies in their latest album ' Raise Ravens ' as its awfy good. You can catch the band in the flesh alongside Olympic Swimmers on the 19th of November at Nice n Sleazy in Glasgow, which [...]
Words by Will Wikipedia cannot tell a lie [citation needed] . After some Wikipedia-ing, I am able to ascertain the following: John Knox was a leader of the Protestant movement in Scotland a long ways back. He did not play in a Scottish post-punk band that specializes in re-imaginings of traditional folk songs. Nor did he listen to rowdy bar music that would most likely incite some shenanigans. His name, not necessarily his life and example, have inspired a band. And that band (in all its cheeky awesomeness) is called The John Knox Sex [...]
Words by Will Wikipedia cannot tell a lie [citation needed] . After some Wikipedia-ing, I am able to ascertain the following: John Knox was a leader of the Protestant movement in Scotland a long ways back. He did not play in a Scottish post-punk band that specializes in re-imaginings of traditional folk songs. Nor did he listen to rowdy bar music that would most likely incite some shenanigans. His name, not necessarily his life and example, have inspired a band. And that band (in all its cheeky awesomeness) is called The John Knox Sex [...]
The John Knox Sex Club do more or less everything music isn't really supposed to be doing at the moment, and they do it absolutely brilliantly. Firstly, it's strongly folk influenced, an attribute which was flushed clean out of the zeitgeist by the success of Mumford and Sons. There may still be money to be made in it, but the hipsters are staying well clear. Secondly, it's bombastic as fuck, not a hint of irony, not a hint of clever retroism, cool detachment, nothing. They absolutely go for it, with not a care for the sort [...]
John Knox Sex Club By Steve McGillivray October 1, 2011 If there's one thing I like it's a good gig in a crumby venue. You can keep your arena's and flash auditoriums - I like my venues on the other side of shabby. The place I'm heading for tonight fits the bill nicely. Henry's may sit in the financial district of Edinburgh, but there's nothing flash about it. After driving around for ten minutes to find a space, I reacquainted myself with the venue and found it to [...]
One of the shite things about being self-employed is the lack of sickies. My back is giving my right fucking grief today, but I have too much to do to be able to pull a sickie and spend the day lying on the living room floor watching movies. Whinge whinge fucking whinge. I don't normally mention Glasgow gigs, but there is actually another Independent Record Fair being held through that way this week, as part of the Eastern Promise event, which is being held in Easterhouse, with busses leaving from Mono and a ticket setting you [...]
This week's round up of the tracks that I haven't had the space to post... The Electroscopes From: Northampton, United Kingdom The Electroscopes (or just simply Electroscopes depending who you ask) are a one man band from Northampton [...]
photo by Claire Thomson After taking a wee bit of hiatus for a couple of months to recharge my batteries, it's time to get back into the swing of things with my Scots Way-Hay posts. To start the ball rolling again we have the Glasgow quintet, The John Knox Sex Club. Having just released their second album 'Raise Ravens', I thought it was about time that I posed some questions to this normally quite mysterious band. So here's Rory from the band to tell us a bit more about the band, [...]
So, after the chaos of the Festival, we are back to normal service here in Ides of Toad HQ (which looks suspiciously similar to Song, by Toad HQ and bears a more than passing resemblance to Song, by Toad Records HQ). Actually, I thought I managed to get myself horribly waylaid by the Festival, but it turns out I have most of the Autumn's lineups already filled and ready to go, with only a few gaps here and there. This level of organisation rather shocks me, I have to confess, but I am sure I will find some [...]
Snooze! Yes, a genuine, proper weekend snooze was had this morning and it was fucking amaaaaazing! I haven't actually had the chance to lazily sleep in for fucking months and it was an enormous pleasure. And not even a guilty one, because I genuinely don't have to rush about being efficient today. Awesome! This week's podcast contains a fair bit of plugging, I have to confess. Not all for myself though. I plug the Kurt Vile tour, Jonnie Common's Deskjob as well as his new album, the new Oates Field album and the new album by [...]
Every so often I get something that pops into my inbox that pricks up my attention and almost demands my attention. So last week when I got sent a copy of the new The John Knox Sex Club album, 'Raise Ravens'. Their last album 'Blud Rins Cauld' was a bit of a revelation to me as it was so different to anything going on in the Scottish music scene at that time. Even now they stand alone as truly unique band that could only hail from our wee nation. If you're looking for a comfortable sing along pop record, [...]
This week we welcomed back one of our favourite local bands, we're only afraid of NYC, if you missed this weeks Friday Freebies then make sure you download their new single 'Walls'. The band are playing at King Tuts tonight as part of this years RocknRoll Damnation 2011 along with Lightguides and Pareto. &a mp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp ;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=" http://wereonlyafraidofnyc.ban dcamp.com/album/walls"& ;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;a mp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp ;amp;gt;Walls by we're only afraid of NYC&am p;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a& amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;am p;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; amp;gt; The ferocious beings that are The John Knox Sex Club return with their second album, Raise [...]
John Knox Sex Club From: Glasgow, Scotland With a name that conjures up images of puritanical clergymen indulging in illicit and nefarious practices in a dingy back street basement Scottish contrarians John Knox Sex Club are nothing if not daring. This risk taking extends to their music, they're not your average, run of the mill, rock troupe regurgitating the sounds from the bottom of the indie landfill. William is a well crafted tune that [...]
Having already written the live listings for this week , I got a couple of emails about really interesting things happening as part of the Leith Festival and I think I should add a quick update here, because I reckon it's stuff people will (or should) be interested in. Leith is by some distance my favourite part of Edinburgh. It has a reputation for being scummy - it is the old docks after all - but for all there are still some pretty ropey parts, that is a long, long way from being the truth these days. [...]
Song, by Toad
The Devil Has The Best Tuna
Peenko
Draw Us Lines
Muso's Guide
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
K-Holes - "Frozen Stiff"
Angger Dimas – Ribon Dooh (Preview)
