I Hear a New World is back! Featuring My Latest Novel, King Creosote, Musée Mécanique, David Tattersall (The Wave Pictures), Paper Planes & Broken Social Scene

 So seeing as I'm trying to be as productive as possible as part of this whole '100 Days to Get My Shit Together' thing (no I hadn't forgotten about it!) I thought it was about time I brought the podcasts back.

This first, rather hurried one is mainly here to promote the Ten Tracks bundle and issue 1 of the zine, so apologies to those of you who'll be sick of my constant self-promotion, but I hope the choice of some BLOODY BRILLIANT tracks is enough to make up for it. And hopefully future podcasts will have a bit more structure to them and a bit more production polish - this was recorded live with no preparation so imagine what it could be like with a little forward planning! (and apologies for over modulation and varying sound levels in places..)

Tracklisting:

1. My Latest Novel - The Greatest Shakedown

2. King Creosote - No Cigarettes (written by Withered Hand)

3. Musée Mécanique - Like Home

4. David Tattersall (of The Wave Pictures) - Happy For a While

5. Paper Planes - Doris Day

6.  Broken Social Scene - Anthem for a 17 Year Old Girl

p.s. I'm delighted to report that there's a wee interview with me on Peenko's blog, which was just voted top music site in the ScotBlogs Awards.

It's the first in his new 'Community Service' series about people who are active in the Scottish music scene, and he asked me some very good questions about the motivations behind this blog and putting out a fanzine which took quite a lot of thought to answer.

Personally I reckon his original title 'Care in the Community' might be more appropriate in my case!

Zine Review!

My pal Nick has written a great post about the first issue of the Products of a Gaseous Brain zine which has provoked some interesting comments.

As well as writing for his own rather nifty looking blog, Nick is also joint editor of the Scotman's popular Under the Radar blog and contributes to a bunch of other web and print publications.

Cheers Nick!

(pic via This Isn't Happiness)

OH NO NOT ANOTHER BLOODY iPAD POST

 Christ. I have iPad fatigue already and they're not even in the shops. I have been debating whether to add to the ACRES of unending conjecture, speculation and in a select few cases, reasonably intelligent coverage but as I have talked about it a few times here I felt I owed you some amount of what American TV shows call 'closure'. So here it is, all you need to know about the iPants in one handy place which you may or may not choose to ignore.

 WHAT IS IT?

 A huge bloody big iPhone (well actually iPod Touch as it has no phone or camera). It looks a bit daft held up, but it looks pretty cool on your lap pretending to be the New York Times.

 WHAT'S IT FOR THOUGH? I ALREADY HAVE A BLOODY IPHONE.

 Good question. Nobody really knows. Some have said it's an upgrade of the portable TV. Some say it's useless cos you can't view porn.. I mean 'flash' on it.

I say, it's a portable storefront, a touchable shop window, for Apple to sell you crap. If the iPod was their way to sell music on iTunes, the iPhone their way to sell you widgets and games via the app store, then the iPad has been designed to sell you both of those plus reading material via the iBooks store.

 My favourite sci-fi blog io9 called the iPad  'Crap Futurism' and much of what they have to say rings scarily true. They quote sci-fi author Karl Schroeder who says "what Apple has done (again) is seize the moment with a combination of a device and a business model . ." and the writer of the piece agrees that "the iPad isn't so much new technology as it is a shiny, pretty doorway to a mall where you can buy everything from books to movies."

 Not only that but as the article also points out, the focus is very heavily on consumption, not creativity. Lots of people are worried that if this is the future, it's one controlled by Apple. The iPad will allow for very limited customisation and won't run any of the programmes used by creative professionals such as adobe creative suite, or even the iLife suite which, though basic, made my MacBook such an attractive purchase. Twitter programmer Alex Payne agrees, saying that he probably wouldn't have become a programmer if he had owned one as a kid.

 Let's face it though, Charlie Brooker is probably right as always. 

 "I don't want to hear how the iPad is going to make my life simpler. I want to hear how it'll amuse and distract me; how it plans to anaesthetise me into a numb, trancelike state. Call it the iDawdler and aggressively market it as the world's first utterly dedicated timewasting device: an electronic sedative to rival diazepam, alcohol or television. If Apple can convince us of that, it's got itself a hit."

NEVER MIND ALL THAT, HAS IT SAVED THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY OR WHATEVER IT WAS YOU WERE WITTERING ON ABOUT IN THAT REALLY LONG AND POINTLESS POST YOU PUBLISHED THE OTHER DAY?

 Not that I can tell. It doesn't seem, at first glance to offer anything new for the publishing industry, as in fact it makes web browsing so easy that it might even do away with the need for a lot of the paid apps necessary on the iPhone due to the small screen.

 According to Simon Jenkins in the Guardian, the death of printed reading materials has been greatly exaggerated, and Peter Preston for the same paper reckons the iPad is destined to be landfill, like so many 'revolutionary' gadgets before it.

 A PAD IS FOR WRITING

Clearly, this video by Peter Serafinowicz is a p*ss-take. But personally, I think the iPad might be quite good if you could write on it.

A decent handwriting conversion programme does not to my knowledge exist yet, but if I could write notes using a stylus that were cleverly converted to digital text (which could be used by multiple apps like iWork, Simplenote, Wordpress etc), I could really see the iPad being useful for writers & bloggers, freeing us from the tyranny of the RSI inducing keyboard and mouse (multitouchscreens are probably even worse for RSI) and thus being more than just another way of consuming the web.

However the fact that a keyboard dock has already been announced makes me think this is some way off.

FiNALLY

As for its other obvious fault, apparently the ability to use more than one app at once may be on the way in the next iPhone upgrade (and therefore the iPad as they use the same OS).

So, in conclusion, do I want one? Yes. Do I need one or can I come up with a justifiable reason to get one? Not really.

Finally, Patrick Jordan of Just Another iPhone Blog, who I've written for in the past, was interviewed on ABC news before and after the announcement, alongside a couple of other Mac bloggers. I think he did a cracking job. And he's already set up a sister site called - yes you guessed it, Just Another iPad Blog - so I will be reading that with great interest in case they can come up with a decent excuse for buying one...

Music Video of the Week: Mia Doi Todd (Michel Gondry has done it again)

The trouble with having a 'music video of the week' is there's not always a music video of the week, if you get my drift. However this week is different because there's the new video from Mumford & Sons as featured below and then there's this.

Almost every music video that Michel Gondry has made has been amazing and this is no exception. The artist Mia Doi Todd is Latin Jazz with a shade of Bjork, with some brilliant colour choreography brightening up some grey laybys.

via twentyfourbit.com

2009: The Ones That Got Away #7: Mumford & Sons

I have a terrible habit of ignoring bands because of my innate prejudices. In the case of Mumford & Sons, I thought it was an awful name, reminiscent of a terrible prime time sitcom starring Dawn French. Plus they're apparently from London, but they do folky music, and frankly I wanted to keep that kind of thing to Scotland because London has too much good stuff already

Then there's the fact that everyone else knew about them before me. I don't like that either, frankly it puts me right off. Even listening to them, I want to hate it.  They seem to have mastered the ability to sound kind of like something else you might quite like but can't put your finger on.  In fact they sound like an Edinburgh band! How dare they.

But then again it's not bad either, I spose. Especially when the superfast banjos kick in and the singer emotes passionately and it all builds up into a crescendo. In fact, I've got to be honest, I like it quite a lot.

Video for The Cave which is the 3rd single from their 2009 debut album 'Sigh No More' and will be released on the 1st March 2010.

Little Lion Man (1st single)

www.mumfordandsons.com  

Products of a Gaseous Brain Spring 2010 Catalogue - Available Now!

The first issue of the Products of a Gaseous Brain zine is available now!

You can buy the STRICTLY LIMITED EDITION luxury B&W printed version, which has already been described on Twitter as "mindblowing" and "a snazzy catalogue", for the bargain price of £2 at Elvis Shakespeare, Deadhead Comics & Avalanche Records in Edinburgh, and at Monorail Music in Glasgow. Or you can buy it directly from this website using the handy buttons below. The prices are slightly higher than in the shops due to postage, especially for outside the UK, so I've made the pdf version available to download for £1 sterling (I think given the work that's gone into the zine this is a reasonable amount to charge).

Download zip file containing full colour PDF version:

£1 

Buy B&W print version (for UK delivery):

 £3 

Buy B&W print version (for International Delivery):

£5 

These prices are as low as I can possibly go to cover the costs of printing and postage etc. Note also that there will only be 50 printed versions available of the zine and that includes the ones that are already in the shops.

p.s. please spread the word!

Gaseous Brainstorm: What's the Future of Publishing and How Will We Pay for It?

 

Michael Caine: photographer unknown

Print newspapers, it seems, will soon be no more than a minority medium, and so owners of the big news brands are wondering just how they're going to make money once their main outlet is via the internet - whether it's accessed via a computer, a mobile device or one of the fancy new touchscreen thingys such as the Skiff or Apple's new tablet which is expected to be announced next Wednesday (27 January).

Skiff Reader

 Clearly most of the big name news organisations will survive in some form or other, and will either monetize their websites through advertising (which clearly is a difficult business model to sustain) or, like the New York Times have decided, and Rupert Murdoch's News International are reportedly planning, will charge a subscription fee for their content.

In the UK Murdoch's plans will also be difficult to sustain whilst the BBC make so much news content available for free online, but he may well persuade David Cameron to do something about that once the Tories get into power (probably).

 Take Your iTablets

 Although some sectors of the publishing industry are hoping that Apple's new device and others like it will give them a new multimedia platform which will enable them to charge a subscription for their content, it will need to be something special and not just a bigger shinier version of the current iPhone if it is to offer something extra than the current apps such as available from the Guardian, New York Times and Time Magazine.

Apple Tablet mock up

The Guardian's iPhone App

 The one UK newspaper I read regularly is the Guardian (despite its shameful lack of Scottish news, but then I am heavily involved with Scottish news all day at work). I mainly read the sections that interest me, such as its excellent coverage of culture, media and technology, which in my opinion is only rivalled here in the UK by the BBC.  And  I read it entirely online, either by RSS or on their impressive new iPhone app.

 The app costs a couple of quid, but then you have access to the latest and most popular content from the Guardian, and the ability to save certain sections and content as favourites which you can then access offline.

 There are some limitations - the share function is currently limited to Facebook and email as opposed to the app from the New York Times which has multiple sharing options including Twitter, and there is currently no way to access comments or make a new comment. However these could hopefully be added as time goes on.

Guardian iPhone app promo video (with annoying voice-over)

 What Was That About Print Media Being Dead?

 It is in this climate that I've perhaps foolishly decided to put together a pilot issue of a Products of a Gaseous Brain fanzine, something I have been meaning to do for a long time. It will be available both as a downloadable pdf and a print version - watch this space for more details!

 Related Reading:

This article by Jonathan Fields is an interesting take on the latest developments, and continues the ongoing debate around 'Free' which Chris Anderson's book recently sparked off. Whether you're talking about newspapers, music, or any kind of creative endeavour, it's a fascinating debate because no one really knows how things will develop yet.

Former Manchester Evening Times writer Ian Wylie, who was made redundant in October last year, has written a very thorough report from a recent conference called 'New Ways To Make Journalism Pay'. It's lengthy, but well worth a read if you have any interest in this topic. 

 However Martin Cloake argues over at The Media Blog that what we should be concentrating on is message rather than medium. 

 For a pretty comprehensive run down of news mobile apps see the Online Journalism Blog

And finally, a good overview of what's likely from Apple's new tablet from the Guardian (no, I'm not an employee, unfortunately!)

2009: The Ones That Got Away #6: François & The Atlas Mountains - Plaine Inondable

Though predominantly a Scottish label, Fence Records seem to have found a rich vein to mine in Bristol, with OLO Worms, Rozi Plain, and now François Marry all being signed to the label. Marry is, as his name suggests French, but came to the label’s attention through playing with Rozi Plain, and clearly has excellent credentials having also toured with Camera Obscura. 

Plaine Inondable (which translates as flood plains), is a rich, piano-based album with some shades of Herman Dune in the likes of the trumpet laden French language lament ‘Moitiée’, whereas the upbeat-to-the-point-of-daftness ‘Be Water (Je Suis De L'eau)’ is Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot frolicking in a ball pool after eating too many smarties. 

There is plenty of the expected French tweeness then, but this is offset nicely by some gorgeous instrumentation influenced strongly by 70’s African funkadelia. Marry’s own voice is a low gentle croon, accompanied beautifully by gorgeous harmonies courtesy of Bost Gehio who to quote the press release are “an all-female polyphonic voice group from the Basques country”. He is also joined on the album by a band called Unkle Jelly Fish, from his hometown of Saintes on France’s West Coast, where he recorded the album.

Tracks like 'Otage' have a more reflective mood, feeling like a summer afternoon spent writing a letter to a long-lost friend, and Years of Rain is full of archly epic anger and faded grandeur, like an episode of Poirot scored by John Barry. It’s an album with a massive breadth of musical and geographical influences, but which nevertheless feels absolutely natural and genuine - and well worth discovering.

François & The Atlas Mountains - Years of Rain

Buy on Amazon

Read Portis Wasp's interview with François Marry

2009: The Ones That Got Away #5: Girls

I knew nothing about Girls before I listened to their album. I knew I liked it but I hadn't listened enough to know how much in time for my top ten of the year.

They're simple songs really, Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, hell, Elvis-simple. Some of them do seem to be about girls, girls like Laura or Lauren Marie. Who wouldn't want to be their friends forever?

They're tunes written for prom queens by scuzzy drug dealer drop-outs.  Simple rock and roll with a fucked up, frazzled, but wide-eyed sensibility. 

According to Rolling Stone, songwriter Christopher Owens was "born into the extremist Children of God cult before escaping to live on the streets at 16". That explains the frazzled part then.  

Hellhole Ratrace

 This song is a soul mate sworn in blood with Suicide's Dream Baby Dream, one of the most vulnerably frazzled yet uplifting songs I know.

 Sean Michaels describes Hellhole Ratrace best: "Girls sing the song three times before you see what the song really is, there behind the wine-stained melody, the jingle-bells, that golden guitar. Then, at last, they lift up the sky and let the roaring starlight in."

Note: in the video there is the same Queen is Dead poster by the bed that I have by mine.

Lust For Life

I don't have so much to say about this one. But I like the video. In this earlier version(not as good) you see his Queen is Dead poster again.

 Listen to Girls - Album on Spotify

Girls on myspace

Read Nick Mitchell's Interview with Girls for The Skinny

2010: The Future Is Now

Detail from letterpress Aisle One calendar (click for link)

So here we are in the future. 2001 may have been a year that resonated with sci-fi fans everywhere for obvious reasons, but in terms of actual futuristic shit going down, it was pretty much a disappointment. But 2010 is a different story.

 Not only do graphic design geeks love the fact this year's digits look incredibly cool typographically (or written out in full as above), we are also living in a world which has changed dramatically from the one I grew up in. At the age of 32, it's weird to be part of the last generation that grew up entirely without the internet in a world where it's now so prevalent.

Poster by Paul Sizer (click for link)

 Ok, so we don't have the jetpacks and the flying cars, but technology has already completely transformed the way we live. It's hard to believe that YouTube only came into existence in 2005, and remember dial-up internet? How did we cope?

In the last couple of years with laptops, wifi and handheld computers (aka smartphones) becoming commonplace, if not de rigueur, the mainstream western world is now totally, totally wired (as Mark E Smith would say).

The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth

 I've been described as a geek on more than one occasion, and even have the badge to prove it. But really, in a world where almost everyone uses the likes of Facebook and most have a phone that surfs the web, the only distinction I have is that I actively seek out the new stuff earlier (if I can afford to) and having lived without this kind of cool stuff for so long, fully appreciate it for the massively exciting opportunities it brings.

 Everyone except the most stubborn luddite now knows that newspapers and books as we know them now are on the way out sooner rather than later, as new contraptions such as Amazon's Kindle and other ebook readers, the aforementioned smart phones (or superphones as Google would have it) and the new Apple Tablet, bendy Skiff and numerous other products make an early bid to becoming the new way of consuming content. Ok, these overpriced gadgets may only be adopted by the technological elite for now, but where they lead, everyone else quickly follows.

 The Web Is Not Enough

 But as excited as I get about developments in media and technology, there's no doubt that the world is changing in other, more fundamental and terrifying ways, specifically with the threat of climate change. All of our incredible scientific and technological progress may be for nothing, if we humans destroy the very world we have been lucky enough to inhabit. If we don't consider this seriously now, in 2010, it could well be too late.

Time Magazine: The New Age of Extinction

 Even our use of the web is contributing to this destruction, with every google search and every video uploaded to YouTube using up a lot more power than we assume - it's not limited to the minimal impact on our individual electricity bills - there are massive server farms full of computers that power our online adventuring, and it's ultimately as unsustainable as indiscriminate air travel and petrol-fuelled cars.

 Of course those who worship at the altar of progress believe we will find a technology to save us from the near-certain ecological doom of our own making, but too often their optimism is fuelled by personal/economic interest.

 The Copenhagen Climate Summit of 2009 proved one thing- the politicians aren't going to save us. And it's been proven time after time again that they aren't going to 'Make Poverty History' or 'Give Peace a Chance' either. These are topics so overwhelming that to consider them fully leads to a feeling of deep powerlessness and despair. No wonder those of us who live in relative prosperity bury our collective heads in the sand, turning to the quick fix of entertainment and the heavily skewed/selective 24 hour news cycle. Or booze, or drugs, or sex & porn.

 Human nature can be massively positive, leading to amazing creativity, scientific and technological advancement. But our insatiable desires for more, more, more are also ultimately massively destructive. Trying to change the fundamentals of human nature may be a waste of energy, but those of us who have the luxury of free time, free choice and freedom of speech have to stop kidding ourselves  and face the reality of what's going on in the world head on. 

 Here, now, in 2010, as we rush headlong into the cutting edge of the future, would be the ideal time for a massive 'pattern interrupt' for the human species. Whilst that would take a miracle, it is surely at least possible to take a look at our own lives and ask,

"if this year was our last chance to do whatever we could to help save the world, what would we do about it?"

2009: The Ones That Got Away #4: Kraftwerk: The Catalogue

Self-styled “Man Machine” Milo McLaughlin delves into The Catalogue, a box set of 8 remastered versions of classic Kraftwerk albums from 1975's Autobahn to 2003's Tour De France Soundtracks.

Note: This was originally written in November previous to the release of the box set but was held back for the January 2010 issue of The Skinny Magazine to coincide with Kraftwerk's 40th anniversary.

 Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter, known for his perfectionism and ruthless revisionism, would no doubt consider The Catalogue to be the ultimate upgrade, with each track ‘reconstructed’ from scratch using the latest musical technology. But some fans and reviewers are already complaining that subtleties have been lost from the original recordings. 

 Other bones of contention are that the first three albums recorded by Hütter and original bandmate Florian Schneider (who left the band in November 2008) and the brilliant 2005 live double-album Minimum-Maximum are  absent and there is only a single bonus track (Techno Pop’s House Phone).

 What is contained here however is a stunning, pristinely produced collection of Kraftwerk’s most iconic albums. Even as a casual fan it’s impossible to discount the scale of their influence on  modern electronic music. With an unparalled insight into modern Europe and a stylish, uniquely German symplicity, Kraftwerk created the future sound of music - their mantra: progress. Whether it be technological or geographical, Kraftwerk's ethos from 1974 to 1981 was one of constantly moving forward.

 The collection begins with 1974‘s Autobahn and the rev of an engine and a motorcar speeding off into the distance. The 22 minute title track, which brought them their first international hit in its edited form, is as far-reaching as the vast German motorway itself. With its ambient gear shifts and hypnotic rhythm it’s a highly effective audio recreation of long distance driving, with a compelling sequence of instrumentals, each with a distinct mood, making up the rest of the album.

 1975’s Radio-Activity was the first to feature Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür, cementing the classic Kraftwerk line-up. The title track, with its memorable synth motif and funereal aura, is the most foreboding of their various odes to man-made technology. But the album also celebrates the transistor radio as a communication tool, with its music as elemental and alluring as the radio signals themselves.

 Trans-Europe Express two years later was the sound of Kraftwerk hitting their stride, bringing a more solid pop/dance sensibility to tracks like the tongue-in-cheek, malfunctioning rhythms of Showroom Dummies. Whilst the overarching themes were around transportation and communication, that track shares the theme of superficiality with the glacially minimalist Hall of Mirrors. Some of the albums’ lyrics were said to be partly inspired by conversations with Bowie and Iggy Pop, also name-checked in the title track.

 By 1978’s Man Machine, the showroom dummies had become fully blown Robots. Another key song was inspired by a different kind of mannequin, model Christa Becker, with whom Schneider and Hütter were reportedly obsessed. The more traditional subject matter of sexual attraction, plus a perfect pop melody combined to make The Model their most accessible and popular track, reaching number one when it was re-released as a single in the UK in 1982. Factor in the gleaming urban audioscapes of Metropolis and Neon Lights, and this album can probably be considered the pinnacle of the collection.

 Few concept albums have been as prescient as 1981‘s Computer World. In the title track,with its roll-call of organisations of international espionage and finance, Kraftwerk foresaw the blueprint for the world’s future communication network, with its “business, numbers, money, people”. Pocket Calculator displays a genuine fascination with what now seems an unspectacular and simplistic piece of gadgetry, accompanied by a sample-led groove. Even Coldplay’s pointless appropriation of the melody from Computer Love can’t ruin such a perfect collection of classic electro-pop.

 It took Kraftwerk five years to release another album and many would say they shouldn’t have bothered. Techno Pop, as it’s called here, which is a weak enough name in itself, was originally released under the cringeworthy title of Electric Cafe in 1986. Where the band once led, the likes of Detroit Techno and affordable samplers and drum machines meant they were now reduced to playing catch up, and they seemed to be lost when it came to an overarching theme too.  Musically it’s not appalling by any means, but the lack of conceptual inspiration seriously undermines its credibility. 

What followed are best seen as footnotes when judged against the albums that preceded, and for a new listener could stand in for that missing bonus material. 1991‘s The Mix does what it says on the tin, with some excellent modern remixes of their most accessible tracks, and would serve as an enjoyable greatest hits package or introduction for new listeners. The Tour de France Soundtracks emerged in 2003, reflecting Schneider and Hütter’s obsession with cycling (Bartos and Flür were now long gone). It’s an efficient, decent attempt to represent their sport of choice, but it’s merely a competent addition to the techno genre, from musicians who once defied such easy classification.

It’s clear that through the course of Autobahn to Computer World Kraftwerk were at the top of their game and well ahead of everybody else on the musical autobahn.  But eventually, and perhaps inevitably, they were overtaken by the very thing they appeared to worship - progress.  Then again, perhaps it was simply because Kraftwerk had so succinctly predicted the future that there was little else left to say once it became a reality.

And if that didn't sell you, this cool unboxing video ought to do the trick..

Buy The Catalogue on Amazon

Listen to Kraftwerk on Spotify

2009: The Ones That Got Away #3: Paper Planes - Doris Day

Can't believe I didn't listen to this one until now. This Glasgow band has all the ingredients that are likely to excite me: they count the likes of the Cramps, the Velvet Underground and Uncle John & Whitelock as their influences; they're working with Lucky Number Nine and Say Dirty Records who have an excellent track record, and they've got a hot female vocalist with attitude. And yes, that last one is pretty superficial of me. But luckily they also sound fantastic.

What's crazy is that they've only been together a year this month, and yet their first single Doris Day has a swagger and confidence most bands would kill for, and they've already got acclaim from pretty much every publication in Scotland and of course those reliable Glasgow Podcarters. Though the rest of the band are Scots, frontwoman Jennifer Paley is from New Jersey and as others have noted, sounds a lot like Karen O, but luckily they are far from being just an homage to the YYYs, preferring sleazy rockabilly riffs and punky pop tunes. I'm hoping to check them out live as soon as I can, and slapping myself forcibly on the forehead for missing the gigs they did last year in Edinburgh.. 

Paper Planes on myspace

Buy the single Doris Day at the Lucky Number Nine Records shop

Interview with Chris Buckle for The Skinny (with nice photo by Heidi Kuisma)

2009: The Ones That Got Away #2: Yusuf Azak - Light Procession EP

I met Yusuf Azak in 2009 and he gave me a sampler of his most recent EP so I feel perfectly justified in adding it to this series, even though the EP actually came out in 2008.

Having heard Yusuf Azak play acoustically at a Song By Toad event at The Bowery last year, I didn't expect his recordings to sound like they do. You've got to love this part of the Daily Record review of his recent Light Procession EP: "Opening two-minute track 19.19 sounds like a wheezy old tramp listening to backwards Beatles and singing what I think is 'crawling on my knees, I got pissed today'".

 Though Yusuf's influences are more the likes of Elliot Smith and Nick Drake -  I can understand the Beatles reference as there's quite a bit of eastern mysticism in this EP with Sitars and loops and weird shit, and his voice is an unusual breathy thing indeed which has been quite distorted by the effects on the CD.

 There are definite comparisons to David Thomas Broughton, who also has a distinctive vocal style and veers from the sublime to the downright bizarre, though when I asked Yusuf if he was also an influence he told me he'd never heard of him. 

Personally I'd love to hear a more pared down acoustic collection of Azak's songs, as I think his vocals and guitar playing were excellent live, and unique enough without the added dirge. I wouldn't be surprised though if his production improves and he eventually makes some kind of psychedelic masterpiece that showcases his natural talent as well as his penchant for outlandish and otherworldly noises.

Yusuf Azak - Where the Backroads Look Divine

Yusuf Azak on myspace

2009: The Ones That Got Away #1: Emily Scott - "abcdefg.. etc..."

I was a bit crap in 2009 and spent a lot of time pointlessly soul-searching instead of writing. This year I intend to make up for it and catch up on a few things I should have written about ages ago. This is the first. 

Emily Scott - abcdefg.. etc..

 This little gem arrived in a beautiful hand-made package, and the feeling of meticulous care and attention carries through to the music inside, which although it fits in with the folky feel that’s prevalent right now around Edinburgh, also has a definite 1930‘s Cole Porter vibe which has me picturing gentle trips down a country lane in a horse-drawn carriage, picnics in meadows and romantic liaisons in rowing boats.  

 Though it does have a jazzy jauntiness, Emily’s gorgeous voice also has a melancholy feel, and is beautifully accompanied by her own delicately plucked guitar, piano and double-bass as well as  banjo and harp. There’s also a similar feel to some of James Yorkston’s songs, and it just happens that the album is mastered by his long-time accomplice Reuben Taylor. 

 “I’m so tired of moving on” she sings, taking on the role of a restless soul who’s had enough of searching for something that might not even exist.  The track ‘Don’t You Tease Me’ is bursting with metaphors about an irresistible, incorrigible flirt, but we’re none the wiser to whether these are based on her own experience or merely literary creations. I think it’s best not to know and just go along for the blissful boat ride. 

Emily Scott on myspace

Interview with Emily at www.scotsman.com

You can get the album from AVALANCHE and ELVIS SHAKESPEARE in edinburgh, MONORAIL in glasgow, ROUGH TRADE in london, and many more... also from www.aufgeladenundbereit.com

The Best of 2009 on Products of a Gaseous Brain

Whew! Quite an eventful year. I'm not going to try and provide an exhaustive summary of world events here, instead I thought it would be a good opportunity to give a brief rundown of my favourite posts of 2009 on this blog, whilst also including those events that were most important to me personally.

Whilst this is still a tiny blog in the larger scheme of things, it's been exciting to gain readers each month and to have more people commenting, and I really appreciate every single person who subscribes or visits regularly, and who has emailed or commented or took part in my daft poll earlier on in the year - every single bit of feedback is appreciated. 

Also an apology to those whose gigs I didn't make it to, or whose emails I haven't yet replied to. I'm still finding it difficult to juggle a busy day job with this blogging lark, and deal with all my own bad habits, procrastination, laziness/bouts of depression/agorophobia and general disorganisation. I'm working on it, promise!

So Happy New Year folks, and I hope it's the best yet.

I Hear a New World

Though the column and podcast went on an extended hiatus this year, I still managed to squeeze in an interview with Will Oldham aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, as well as with Sean Michaels of the ever-popular mp3 blog Said The Gramophone, and a couple of friends who contribute massively to the local music scene, Matthew from Song By Toad and Dave Kerr from The Skinny.

The podcasts also featured a bunch of great tunes from the likes of Grizzly Bear, Jeffrey Lewis, Camera Obscura, the Japanese War Effort, Ish Marquez and many more. You can still hear them all over on the podcasts page.

And don't forget the  I Hear a New World Ten Tracks bundle is also available now for only £1!

 Travel/Personal

I fulfilled a lifetime ambition and went to New York where I played at the infamous Sidewalk Cafe antifolk open mic and also shocked myself and my long-suffering girlfriend by finally getting engaged: New York Travelogue

Technology

I bought an iPhone, and became a tiresome bore about it and my other favourite invention of the year, the new music streaming service Spotify:

The Gaseous Brain Guide to the iPhone (which was also featured on Just Another iPhone Blog's best iPhone laughs of 2009)

Why I'm a Paytard

Why you need Spotify's free music streaming service

Spotify for iPhone is here - bring on the cheese!

Gigs

I went to my first ever Fence Homegame festival, which was absolutely brilliant, and made a video about it: Fence Homegame 6 - Video Diary (some very selective personal highlights)

A few other gigs I enjoyed:

Found, Meursault & Panda Su @ Roxy Art House, Friday 4th December

The Cave Singers & Espers @ The Electric Circus, Edinburgh Nov 14th 2009

Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard @ Cabaret Voltaire, 31 Aug

Retreat! @ Bristo Hall, 16 Aug

Playing with the Past

A Weekend in Fife, featuring The Three Craws

Peaches @ Webster Hall, NYC

My friend Stu also contributed a couple of excellent gig reviews:

The Flaming Lips @ The Glasgow Academy, 15th November 2009

Review of Frightened Rabbit live in Edinburgh, 18th August 2009

Record reviews

As a recovering ex-music journalist just the thought of writing reviews and having to give them a star rating brings me out in a cold sweat, so this year saw a drop in my output when it comes to writing reviews.  But there were a few releases this year which had me relapsing due to their sheer quality: 

 King Creosote - Flick The V's

Daniel Johnston - Is and Always Was

James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players - Folk Songs

The Japanese War Effort - King of Poland

Withered Hand - You're Not Alone

Meursault - Nothing Broke EP

Sleep The Winter - eagleowl

Found Can Move

Edinburgh band Found deserve their own category this year simply for having made the most danceable song of the year with Let Fidelity Break:

Video: Edinburgh band 'Found' provoke outbreak of crazy dancing

Found Play Let Fidelity Break to the Kids in Central Park

as well as wowing us all with their Cybraphon creation: Robot Love in Edinburgh - Cybraphon & ASIMO

Scrobbling Off:

I probably listened to cheesy pop music this year more than obscure indie (again, you can blame Spotify). Here's where I 'came out':

Scrobbling Off: Where's Your Favourite Place to Find Party Mixtapes?

The obligatory Wacko Jacko post-mortem blog post

Scottish Blogs

Finally, this year really did see an explosion in the number of Scottish music blogs and other music sites. It's led to a great sense of community, culminating in the BAMS awards at the end of the year. I see this blog as a companion to all the others out there who also provide tons of great content, and recommend you check them out if you haven't already.

Sexy New Scottish Blogs

I Hear a New World July 2009 - Recommended pod/vod/webcasts

Tis The Season of The Lists - Best Albums of 2009 and The Decade

The Internet & the Age of Information Overload

The same goes for the other blogs I've linked to on this site over the year which aren't necessarily Scottish or about music.

I have to admit it, my internet addiction has shown no signs of abating in 2009. I started up a weekly web trawl of the best articles I found online, which then became the Random Reading List.

My attention was all over the place, including technology, music, eye candy (ahem) and just about everything else under the sun. If you're looking for a whole library's worth of interesting links, you can find them all here.

Phew! Here's looking forward to 2010 :D

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Get Ten Tracks For a Pound from I Hear a New World!

 

So this is Christmas, and I hope you have a very merry one indeed :)

If you're in need of a soundtrack to the festivities or for your iPod while you trek through the snow/sludge to pick up that last-minute gift, the Christmas Clanger is here (slightly later than originally planned) with the first ever I Hear a New World Ten Tracks bundle!

In case you don't know, Ten Tracks is a Scottish-based music download service where music fans can get ten tasty audio treats for the extraordinarily cheap price of a pound, whilst making sure the musicians involved get something back.

That's right, for the price of a box of Maltesers (admittedly also an excellent purchase), you get to download ten of the best tracks which have featured on previous I Hear a New World podcasts, a number of which aren't available anywhere else. See below for what I wrote about them in my column for The Skinny Magazine. 

Above: IHANW ten tracks bundle

Wounded Knee - Anthem for the Call-Centre Worker

Edinburgh’s Wounded Knee takes the corporate-speak of the robot voices that greet us on the other end of the line and reclaims them as a call to arms for all downtrodden customer service representatives. Using his sublime skills with repeating vocal loops, he transforms a common depression into a perversely uplifting anthem.

Employee of the Month - Brainwave - Corrupt

Call it jazz or post-rock if you like, and it’s true that Employee of the Month bear comparison to the likes of Boards of Canada and Tortoise, but their hyper-modern aesthetic is all their own.

Withered Hand - Religious Songs (early EP version)

“Not many religious songs contain the line “I beat myself off when I sleep on your futon” but the title track from Withered Hand’s new EP combines themes of faith, doubt, sex and inexplicably uncomfortable furniture without blinking an eye.

Kazoo Funk Orchestra - Robots in Your Eyes

All songs about robots are brilliant – FACT. This 1:12 minutes of mechanical mayhem is even better than that one from the Flight of the Conchords and will probably single-handedly hasten the onset of the singularity, when machine intelligence finally overtakes our own (if that hasn’t happened already).

Les Enfant Bastard - Michael Jackson

Lo-fi genius Les Enfant Bastard is trying to convince us that although he appears to be a skinny white bloke, he is in fact the facially-challenged post-black moonwalking nutjob who refers to himself as the King of Pop.

 Ambulances - Raasay

 Get your tie-die dress on and skip bare-foot down to the river, light up a giant spliff (if you like that sort of thing - or a nice cup of camomile tea if you don't). Raasaay is a laid-back love-in that will make dreamers out of over-achievers.

Gummi Bako - I'm Depressed

Here, Gummi seems to have the bakery-related blues (“too much hot-cross loving”), but then things take an abrupt turn for the positive and you realise he has the ability to free himself from adversity through sheer, glorious absurdity.

Men Diamler - Black as a Cat in the Morning

Men Diamler is pure mental, he sings about cats and suicide and screams "one of these days you'll feel much better". He gets up and runs about like his arse is on fire. He makes us all sing along. Thing is, we feel better right away.

Meursault - William Henry Miller Part 1 (acoustic version from the Nothing Broke EP)

Meursault are perhaps better known for their blistering electronica-based live sets but here they excel in the acoustic realm with impassioned vocals, banjo, handclaps and harmonies.

White Heath - When the Watchmen Leave Their Stations

You know you're in for a treat right away when a big feckin' tuba kicks in, but just wait for the chorus when it all comes together in a swinging, serenading New Orleans-march-through-the-streets-then-onto-a-boat-down-the Mississippi-river of lovestruck majesty.

 Grab these ten musical gems for the barely noticeable price of one single quid courtesy of www.tentracks.co.uk 

Related post:

I Hear a New Gramophone - an interview with Sean Michaels

Rage against Nothing

rage against nothing:unknown source

I find it funny that otherwise sane people are becoming 'enraged' by what was basically just a bit of fun and in my opinion a welcome interruption to the utterly predictable pattern of X Factor Christmas number ones. 

The record company is irrelevant, not many of us are as stupid as to think that this is sticking it to the man on a massive scale, it's simply about having a tune that isn't bland karaoke by numbers take the top spot and preventing Cowell from being even smugger than usual.

Some people have suggested that those who participated in this campaign are morons who would only consider giving to charity because someone on Facebook told them to. Does giving some extra pennies to Shelter on the back of this campaign mean I don't give to charity regularly by direct debit each month? Of course it fucking doesn't.  In that case I suppose Oxjam and every other charity event is an utterly pointless way to raise extra money too? Lighten up folks.

p.s. if you don't enjoy RATM's music because you think it is simplistic & misguided drivel, that's fair enough. I happen to disagree, having been a massive fan when I was 16 who still finds their debut album an exhilarating listen though I'm now twice that age. Can't you just let the people who do enjoy it have a bit of fun? Given your protestations that the chart doesn't matter why are you so pissed off about it?

RATM's debut on Spotify

p.p.s I do have to admit that this t-shirt is pretty amusing: Rage Against The Washing Machine

Must Be Santa? You Must Be Bloody Joking Bob!

Bob Dylan has never needed anybody's permission to do what he wants. And as he's got older, he's cared even less; appearing in lingerie adverts, selling his music in Starbucks, becoming a radio DJ, and now recording a Christmas Album.

 So has he, as a few people have suggested, completely lost the plot? It's not hard to draw that conclusion when you watch the 'Must Be Santa' video, which features a Bill Oddie lookalike on accordion and a bunch of what look like extras from the set of Friends celebrating in an overly exuberant manner, with Dylan himself appearing here and there wearing a bizarre blonde wig and looking like a gatecrashing miscreant.

The last Dylan album I really connected with was 1997's brilliant Time Out of Mind - not a return to form exactly, more a reinvention. His new persona was something he had long wished he was and now comfortably inhabited - a croaky, beaten-up old-time blues/standards singer.

 He has continued with this style to varying degrees in the albums which followed, in the same pattern as his interminable tours, going through the motions with the odd flash of inspiration here and there.

 He is undoubtedly a great artist, but one who is happy to live out his last years as a 'craftsman'.  What he's telling us is, "don't expect anything dazzling from me, because  I'm actually quite happy doing what I'm doing already. I don't need any more critical praise or hyperbolic bullshit". I kind of lost interest somewhere along the way though maybe when I'm older I'll get into those later albums (like if I became a born again Christian I might suddenly find myself enjoying his God phase. Unlikely..)

 Being accepted as an older statesman also allowed him to take on the role of DJ with his Theme Time Radio Hour. These were something special, each theme allowed him (and most likely a team of researchers) to unearth some incredible songs all pertaining to a particular theme.

You can download EVERY EPISODE of TTRH here

 I believe its this which led him to bringing out a Christmas album. After all, he did a Christmas and New Year's special in two of the three seasons that the show ran for, and must have figured that despite the vastness of his oeuvre, what was missing was some seasonal standards (unless he already recorded any Christmas songs? I can't think of any myself and have heard most of his back catalogue but I can't pretend to have heard every single song he ever recorded).

So now he has a Christmas album out, and who are we to suggest he shouldn't do anything he damn well likes? Personally I'm convinced he is taking the piss on a major scale here and loving every minute of it, but if he is serious then good luck to the old bugger. The video is actually bloody hilarious  and though at first I was quick to dismiss it, the song has stuck in my head. Maybe it will become a regular on the seasonal playlist..

I'm not sure how often I'll be posting over the festive season but expect a full review of 2009 at some point between now and New Year's Eve. Merry Christmas folks!

Tis The Season of The Lists - Best Albums of 2009 and The Decade

Last year I couldn't be bothered doing a best albums list, and in a way I was quite right because I discovered a few of my favourite albums of 2008 in the first part of this year, such as Devotion by Beach House and Deerhunter's Microcastle. I agree to a large extent with Jamie from Conquering Animal Sounds/The Japanese War Effort when he says, "music is not a competition".

 This year though I was asked to compile lists by a couple of fellow bloggers and felt it would be rude to refuse.

THE "SCOTTISH BAMS" ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 I was kindly invited by Peenko to contribute to The Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award 2009 top ten albums of the year. He asked a whole bunch of (mostly Scottish) music bloggers to take part and although it wasn't specifically Scottish albums he had in mind, in the end the crown was taken by Glasgow's The Phantom Band. Head over to Peenko's blog to find out the full list and also to read a very gracious quote from the Phantom Band's Andy.

Six of the albums from my own top ten made it in the top 20 - you can see my list below. I will be listening to the others, most of which I haven't heard yet, at the earliest opportunity.

 My Top Ten:

•  King Creosote - Flick The V's
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
• Withered Hand - Good News
• The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
• The xx - the one with the big X on front
• Ambulances - The Future That Was
• My Latest Novel - Deaths & Entrances
• Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous
• Grizzly Bear - Veckamist

No.10 I have disqualified as not only was it embarrassing I have just realised it came out in 2008!

The other "BAMS" who took part:17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby, Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Pop Cop, Song By Toad, The Blues Bunny, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.

 MY FIVE BEST ALBUMS OF THE DECADE

Secondly I was invited to contribute to Finbarr Bermingham's Five of the Best series on his Scrawls & Bawls blog (which also features his superb interviews with the likes of Johnny Rotten and Frightened Rabbit as well as Five of the Bests by my pals Nick and Ally amongst others).

 This is the five albums of the decade that are most important to me - I certainly don't claim that this is an objective choice, just those which I personally enjoyed most. I really enjoyed writing this too, mainly because of Finbarr's excellent questions which helped spark memories of the great gigs I've been to since the turn of the decade.

 My top 5:

 1. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP (formerly Country on the Click)

2. James Yorkston - The Year of the Leopard

3. Arcade Fire - Funeral

4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell

 Go here to read the full story...

The Rest of The Best 

And in no particular order, some other albums which meant a lot to me this decade (in some cases my tastes have changed a lot since then):

•  Arab Strap - Monday at the Hug and Pint
• King Creosote - Bombshell & KC Rules OK 
• Britney Spears - Blackout (and it's not just me, the Times has it as the fifth best pop album this decade!)
• Uncle John & Whitelock - There is Nothing Else
• The Strokes - This is It
• Herman Dune - Giant
• Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
• Out of Season - Beth Gibbons & Rustin’ Man
•  Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not - Arctic Monkeys
•  Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - P. J. Harvey
•  A Ghost Is Born - Wilco (for some weird reason I've not heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot yet)
•  Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
•  Original Pirate Material - The Streets (Locked On, 2002)
• The Pictish Trail - Secret Soundz Vol. 1
• 24 Hour Party People Soundtrack
• Thom Yorke - The Eraser
• Malcolm Middleton - Into the Woods & Fluxy.. the one with crappo the clown on the cover
• Bjork - Vespertine
• The White Stripes - White Blood Cells & Elephant
• M.I.A. - Arular
• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
•  Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (yeah, I know)

THE LIST OF OTHER LISTS TO END ALL LISTS

 Or perhaps not, but here's a few other excellent end of year/decade lists:

Said The Gramophone's Best Songs of 2009

Last Year's Girl - Best of the Noughties

The Steinberg Principle's Top 50 albums of the decade

Evil Stu (an occasional contributor to this blog) and  his not very evil music lists

Tommy from Found's excellent Christmas computerscheisse laptop mix

The Skinny's Scottish Albums of the Decade 

Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty (only part one is up so far)

 If you made a list and I didn't mention it here let me know in the comments. Or just say hello!

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Random Reading List - 15 December 2009 (with free Seth Godin e-book)

image via This Isn't Happiness

I'm at danger of adding to the internet echo chamber here but in case you don't know, Seth Godin is a bestselling author and highly respected blogger who writes about marketing and business, and this week he launched a new free e-book called 'What Matters Now'. It features 70 thought-provoking "mini-essays" by some of the most interesting writers around and he's made it freely available which means you can download it directly from here or head to his blog.

 I think the piece that hit home the hardest for me was Consequence by Saul Griffith, which is about the environmental impact of all of our actions - but all of them are worth reading. For a full list of the topics and authors included see Life Beyond Code, which also has an interesting A-Z of New Year Resolutions.

 If you're interested in getting hold of any of Seth Godin's other free e-books (there are quite a few) a blog called shuaism has created a handy list of them all.  

 I must be in a fairly reflective mood as a couple of pieces I read this week on mindfulness really caught my interest. Nate over at Fearless Endeavours (ok it's spelt the American way but I just had to change it to the English spelling!) has a thoughtful piece asking 'are you sleepwalking through life?'. It's a lovely piece of writing which a lot of people will relate to, especially if you've ever spent any time in London or New York - and I love this related cartoon which one of the commenters linked to:

Image courtesy of xkcd

As a way of working on this tendency towards autopilot, Lateral Action's post called Why Thinking is Overrated suggests an interesting Zen meditation in which you imagine you have no head (via @TimBrownson & @markmcguinness on Twitter) and Leo at Zen Habits suggests eating a piece of fruit. Amazing how different a banana tastes when you take time to notice how it actually tastes. Seriously, try it.

Okay now I admit that I'm becoming what the Japanese apparently describe as majime, or too serious (check out Why it's time to lighten up about weird Japan at Boing Boing) so here's your weekly dose of eye candy. Anyone who prefers ogling at men will have to submit their suggestions for next week if you want some equality)

See more, much more at Tumblr

WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? - Coming next on Products of a Gaseous Brain: The Big Elephant in the Room that is the End of Year/Decade Lists.

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What Matters Now e-book