Holy fuck my brain is still resisting any and all attempts to get it working again. I lived on a boat down in London, and I remember when I first bought the thing it was semi-submerged, and I had to pump out the engine compartment just to get the old Lister engine above water for the first time in about two years. Even after two years under the fucking Thames, all I had to do was crank it manually a couple of times to flush the water out, replace the battery, press start and boom, the ancient bastard [...]
Most live scenes tend to peter out a little from late June/early July onwards as the Festival season starts to cannibalise what remains of the audience after the students have gone home, and people tend to take what little chance they get to be outside in the sun, if it ever appears, rather than in a sweaty basement listening to pale young men complaining about their feelings. The Edinburgh live scene, on the other hand, tends not to be as dependent on students, not to have to fear too much from oft promised but never delivered good weather, [...]
"There's…too many of them!!" ―Lieutenant Telsij, Y-wing pilot from Return of the Jedi I should have featured this lot bloody ages ago, I have mentioned them on here often enough. For those of you who haven't heard of the Second Hand Marching Band they're an unconventional folk band comprising of multiple band members, in the same vein as say bands like the Polyphonic Spree or I'm From Barcelona. They don't necessarily sound like the aforementioned artists, you could say they're more [...]
You could be forgiven for thinking this is Sufjan and the general festive vibes don't help in any way to shake that impression. The song was recorded during a snowy spell in coldest Scotland and the collective probably felt inspired to reach for a sound that reminded them most of Christmas. Entirely odd that a song such as this should arrive in late May but then our isle has been so drenched in precipitation and howling air recently it feels all the world like the end of another year. And with half of the world's leader bedding down in the [...]
Bon Iver So the big question in indie circles at the start of the year was whether or not Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver could live up to the high standards he set up with his debut album 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. With his new self titled album due out soon, you can get a taster of what to expect by downloading new song Calgary , in exchange for your email address. Discopolis I briefly mentioned Edinburgh electro outfit, Discopolis in a post yesterday. If you read The Pop [...]
Mrs. Toad's Lettuce The above picture shows how our veggie patch is doing, for those of you who give a flying fuck, which admittedly might not be many of you. Sunday was spent lying about in the garden reading books, which was nice and relaxing after getting pished late into the night with Monster Island, These Single Spies and Kid Canaveral after the Henry's gig on Saturday night. This Saturday we will be collecting for the RNLI in Stockbridge, so if you want to help out please do get in touch as we will [...]
Anyone managed to avoid my relentless plugging of this weekend's Ides of Toad gig? No, thought not, there's nowhere to hide when I start riding the spam train down the middle of the information superhighway. Or er... something like that, anyway. Anyhow, the Ides of Toad gigs are now booked up all the way through to the Summer, at which point they will take a break over the Edinburgh Festival as I get a bit more involved in Lach's Antihoot , which will be returning to the Teviot (I think they call it the Gilded Balloon over [...]
Monday - Amy Duncan kicked the week off with some Fresh Meat action Tuesday - Steve Mason and A Band Called Quinn sessions Wednesday - Inverness post-rockers, Shutter took on some Scots Way-Hay action and I also let you know about a couple of exciting new projects which I am involved in. Thursday - I had quite a few sessions up for download, Cancel the Astronauts , Isobel Campbell and the Twilight Sad all did [...]
Ghost Pants Paul Carlin (aka the dude from Dananananaykroyd) is back with the third in his series of lo-fi EP's, and you know what, I reckon this might just be his best yet. Sticking with the 'heart's theme, this one is called 'Active Hearts' and although it's down as being free, I asked the man himself if it would be okay to say to folk that they can download it for free, he said 'yes'. What a nice man he is. You can get yourself a copy here . Ghost Pants make their live debut at the [...]
If you never come across the Second Hand Marching Band before, even if you have and you haven't heard this song before then you might be in for a shock. The SHMB are a large collection of musicians who play uplifting folky big band pop. At some point there can be upwards of around 20 of them playing at once. It really has to be seen live to be fully appreciated as to how to impressive it all is. When they recorded this cover as part of a Vic Galloway session last year it came as quite a surprise to [...]
'They Shoot Music Don't They' regularly film the world's best new bands on the streets of their hometown Vienna. Recently they visited Scotland to capture some of our finest musicians in unusual places. This week, The Second Hand Marching Band in Royal Exchange Square. They Shoot Music Don't They Goes to Scotland #8 -- The Second Hand [...]
Normally I would have stuck this in the Weekly Roundup, but seeing as I only found about it last night I thought I would give it a wee plug today. Plus I am afraid that I don't have any sessions to post today as last night Radio Scotland band aren't really my cup of tea. Anyway, if you are free on Thursday night and you're not going to Tuts for French Wives, Seventeenth Century, Washington Iriving and Rachel Sermanni (what a fucking line up that is) or The Captains Rest for theapplesofenergy and Toro Y Moi - I am going [...]
Son(s) They come from Aberdeenshire, they now reside in Edinburgh, they sound cracking. That's about all you need to know for now, don't believe me, then go and check out their Bandcamp where you will find a couple of free downloads. Mates of State The husband-and-wife indie pop duo have posted a free download of their cover of Daniel Johnston's "True Love Will Find You in the End", which features on their forthcoming album 'Covers' album. Also, in case you missed it last time round, their cover of Girls [...]
The Second Han d Marchi ng Band are a downright flurry of people as well as instruments. According to their official website they are "a mix of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Ayr, Kincardine, Cumbernauld, Neilston, Canada, Airdrie and elsewhere", and play "guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, triangles, accordions, trumpets, tenor horns, saxophones, trombones, glockenspiel, castanets, marching drums, melodicas, woodblocks, tambourines, bells, violins, flutes, clarinets and other stuff." So as you might have guessed, their music is richly layered in both talent and sound. Their brand of folk-rock reminds me of [...]
There's a fair few things going on in Glasgow this week, most of which I can't make, but seeing as there's so much happening I though it'd be a good idea to post them in one handy post. There's not much on this Monday, unless you fancy hanging out with all the neds at Stereo for the View. Actually how the fuck did the View end playing in Stereo, that just seems wrong to me. Yes, I know it's snobby as fuck, but it's just wrong, wrong, wrong. Thankfully things pick up on [...]
Launch nights, are they really like buses, na not really but alas we have two which have come up pretty quickly after one another. January is notoriously a pretty shitty month for gigs, everyone's skint and there's generally not much going on apart from Celtic Connections. This year might well buck this trend as there are not one but two cracking wee gigs lined up in the first couple of weeks of January. First up is the launch night for We Sink Ships Radio, at the 13th Note this Friday (08/01/10), which boasts a line up of [...]
Since I started this blog I have tended to veer away from doing reviews, I think the last time I did a live review was within the first week, and that was of a festival in San Francisco, I have always erred on the side of caution and passed the buck and get Boab to do my dirty work. Basically I am getting my excuses in early if this turns out as bad as I fear. Sunday nights for me can be pretty terrible, the combination of hangover and the dreaded fear of having to go back to [...]
So you've finished all of your Christmas shopping, or at least I fucking hope you have. It's time to chill out have a few beers and prepare yourself for having to spend the next 24 hours stuffing your face and drinking till you can longer speak (or is that just me?). You might already be preparing yourself for some pretty god awful presents that you'll have to pretend you REALLY like, so why not treat yourself to a wee handmade EP from the fabulous Second Hand Marching Band. For a measly £3.50 they will make you a CD and you'll [...]
First up, if you fancy a night on the tiles this Friday (the 27th), then why not head along to Pin Up Nights 6th Birthday Party at The Flying Duck. Where you can catch The Dirty Cuts , We're Only Afraid Of NYC , Mitchell Museum (really liking these guys) and Always, Me, Me, Me . With the added bonus of a special birthday edition fanzine and badge for the first 100 to arrive, plus a birthday party wouldn't be the same without cake (and er free toast?!). For further details [...]
Song, by Toad
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Dear Scotland
I Am The Crime
Some House Bangers for the Week.. (2/15)
But what does Slayer think that WE do?
