Would you care to introduce yourself? No bother, hello, I'm Derek and I record music under the name Evil Hand. I'm originally from Carluke out in the depths of Lanarkshire, but I've been living on the west coast of Ireland in Galway for the last couple of years. How would you describe the music you make? I don't really know to be honest, usually it's pretty heavily effected with melodic [...]
Evil Hand - Wulver One of the surprise highlights of last year came early with the February release of "Rain Check" by Evil Hand, essentially a solo vehicle for Derek Bates – variously of Genaro and Bottle of Evil. Like all early-in-the-year releases, it's all too easy to find it eclipsed by later events but it was good to see some fulsome praise surfacing at year-end for this release, hinting at the insistently memorable nature of the material. So as autumn descended, Bates retreated to work on the follow-up to "Rain Check", emerging with a churning, [...]
Tweet Derek Bates, currently based in Galway but Lanarkshire of birth, has a thing for evil. Or at least he does when it comes to giving names to his musical pursuits. Evil Hand appeared here early last year and now with his new incarnation Bottle of Evil it seems that Bates is setting up shop (or should that be Motel) on this site. This Spirtualized sounding, circa 'Lazer Guided Melodies', effort is taken from an EP called 'Inside Looking Out' released in [...]
Can you see where this is going? The last couple of posts in the 33 series have been more labour intensive than they might look, meaning I briefly had to use my brain. Now, I don't want to have to do that too often. It's a small small brain, it gets used up quite quickly, and I might need it at some point later. With that in mind while trying to think of what I wanted to do today I looked out the window, typed "sun" into search on my [...]
Can you see where this is going? The last couple of posts in the 33 series have been more labour intensive than they might look, meaning I briefly had to use my brain. Now, I don't want to have to do that too often. It's a small small brain, it gets used up quite quickly, and I might need it at some point later. With that in mind while trying to think of what I wanted to do today I looked out the window, typed "sun" into search on my [...]
Butcher Boy If you sign up to Damaged Goods mailing list then they'll send you 11 free tracks, which includes a song from Glasgow outfit Butcher Boy's recent album Helping Hands. Field Music Arguably the most under-rated band in the UK at the moment, Field Music are a abnd who continue to just get better and better. They're soon going to release their new album Plumb, as a wee teaser they've posted up the track “A New Town” for free download on Stereogum . [...]
I am not doing predictions, mostly because I can't. I have no idea what is going to be big this year and what isn't, and even if I think a band is going to release something amazing that probably doesn't matter, because bands I love rarely ever get all that famous anyway. But in any case, and in no particular order, here are some things I liked about last year, and some things I didn't. Some stuff I'd like to see more of and some things I am looking forward to, and some things I am not. "Something [...]
Here's the first installment of the Song, by Toad Festive Fifty for 2011 - a collection of the fifty songs I have been enjoying the most this year. The fifty themselves and the precise order can hardly be described as definitive of course, because you know how fluid things like 'favourite' songs can be, but roughly speaking this is the stuff I have been enjoying the most in 2011. Just as a note, in order to make it a broader representation of the bands I've liked the most, I have made it harder and harder for bands to [...]
One thing you realise as the end of the year approaches and "best of" lists from everywhere start appearing is - despite every effort to the contrary - just how much you've missed out on during 2011. Evil Hand is a case in point - the comments on Song By Toad's post of Friday led me to search out his album Huldra ( free download here ) and in particular a track called Returned In Time . Great stuff. That in turn led me to his track Around [...]
My my, this has been a long time coming, this particular review. I put a song from this album on a podcast months ago, and have somehow never quite managed to write a review so umm… apologies for keeping you all waiting. Whilst this is was presented to me as an album, I get a [...]
My my, this has been a long time coming, this particular review. I put a song from this album on a podcast months ago, and have somehow never quite managed to write a review so umm... apologies for keeping you all waiting. Whilst this is was presented to me as an album, I get a slightly different impression (which may be entirely wrong). Derek from Evil Hand, who I first wrote about when I reviewed his Bottle of Evil collaboration last year, has recently moved to Ireland and this feels as much like a clearing of [...]
It is a very, very fine Spring day indeed, this morning in Edinburgh, and so needless to say I am going to spend it in my office talking to imaginary people on the internet. This week we are simply going to have a bit of a trawl through my inbox. As I mention halfway through the podcast, I now have unlistened albums totalling a mighty one day, eighteen hours and thirty-four minutes worth of music. So if you are wondering why I haven't reviewed this that or the other, then that probably has something to do with it. [...]
It's always good to sign off of an evening with an oddity, a kind of wtf effort that leaves readers scratching their heads as to the strangeness doing the rounds in their cavity. Not that Evil Hand's 'The Kelpie' should be dismissed because it's Death In Vegas' machinations are a peculiar joy. Maybe it's the tip off in the moniker Derek Bates (his surname alone...) chose to brand his music but behind the innocent shuffle lurks something sinister, like a ghoul that you know is there but fails to make itself known at any point. Spooky theories aside most of [...]
Panda Su It feels like ages since we've heard anything new from the awesome Panda Su, her last EP, ‘Sticks & Bricks’ was a particular favourite round these parts, and she is now set to release her follow-up EP 'I Begin' in late April. She kicks off a UK tour tonight in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete's, so if you're in that neck of the woods then get yourself down, oh and make sure you get down early as I Build Collapsible Mountains is supporting. As a prelude to what you can expect from her new EP she's posted [...]
This freebie comes courtesy of my fellow blogger, Kowalskiy , he suggested I use this cover of the Beach Boys classic 'There's Forever' by Evil Hand after he sent it over to him alongside his contribution to his second Free Monthly EP series. It's a cracking wee cover, perfect for a lazy Saturday morning... Evil Hand - There's Forever (The Beach Boys cover)
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