I should have been in Kendal right now visiting my cousin Lucy and her fella and generally enjoying the lovely Lake District scenery, but instead I'm sitting in bed typing this because I've got some kind of bug and felt too shit to make the journey down.
I don't want to become one of these sporadic bloggers whose only regular posts seem to be the ones which apologise for not posting often enough, but thought I'd better explain the lack of a weekly round-up post this week. I've applied for a couple of jobs recently and this week I had an interview for one of them which involved doing a 5 minute presentation on how to improve a Govt website, so I spent the whole of last weekend preparing for that - alas although I got a great response to the presentation I gave, the job went to a more experienced applicant. I also didn't get one of the other jobs I applied for, but they were both long-shots, and I've got a couple of good offers as a result so I should be able to expand my current job into something a bit more interesting. I do feel quite knackered though after all the effort involved.
Anyway, there's quite a few good links and stuff over on my Tumblr in the meantime, and I've got a few good things coming on this blog soon - I've been trying to clarify the purpose of the blog and my creative output in general and I'm part of the way through an explanation of what the name Products of a Gaseous Brain is all about. The title of this post is also relevant to that I guess. I think it's a sentiment that runs through some of the music I like, as well as my the music I make to some extent. If you're not feeling at your best, it's nice to know that other people sometimes feel the way you do too. Hey, we're all fucked up in our own way, right? I don't think we should have to hide the fact. I think a lot of society's ills come because we're not supposed to admit we're all deeply flawed in one way or another. Maybe it's just the fact I'm ill that my mind is focusing on such things!
Also coming soon as previously promised, I'm planning a wee video about the iPhone apps I use- I know that will fill a lot of you with either inertia or rage, but a few people have asked me about what apps I use, so I thought I'd do a wee video about the ones I like. And finally, maybe it's time to get back into writing about a few choice gigs and albums again!
So please stay tuned. I really appreciate those of you who've made the effort to subscribe to the blog either by RSS or email, it means a hell of a lot that I've got some regular readers at this early stage in the blog, and I hope I can bring you some good content to make it worth your while. As always, your feedback is a big part of why I'm doing this so please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future content!
I leave you with - Hitler finds out about Michael Jackson's death. Funny, though tails off a bit at the end
Picture by Le Vingtieme Siecle (click through to flickr)
In a change from our regular programming...
My IHANW podcast and Skinny column is currently on a hiatus (for various reasons which I'll not go into just now) so this time around I want to draw your attention to a bunch of other great podcasts and downloadable sessions featuring the best of new and innovative music from Scotland and beyond (some of which I have mentioned before on this blog).
Broadcasting in Brighton and recording stunning live sessions with all and sundry from the international modern folk scene, if you are in anyway acoustically-inclined you'll absolutely love what this lot are doing.
Featuring exclusive live session versions that are free to download by great artists like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear and Wire which sometimes even top the album versions.
With exclusive sessions featuring the cream, oo-er, of Scotland's best musicians plus excellent live footage from the likes of Broken Records, we featured Matthew Toad on our May podcast so you really have no excuse not to know about his excellent site already.
The Waiting Room is a brilliant show broadcast all the way from Wales every Saturday but rather subversively broadcasting a number of IHANW approved Scottish bands such as King Creosote, the Kazoo Funk Orchestra and Eagleowl via Ohio's highly acclaimed internet broadcasting site Woxy.com.
Their weekly podcast features so many braw new bands I have difficulty catching up, but among others they've brought my attention to the brilliant Cheesecake, Yahweh and Electric Fan Death whilst being great craic to listen to in the process. They also have exclusive live sessions of the likes of French Wives and Panda Su.
With gorgeous, high quality videos of Malcolm Middelton, Slow Club, Frightened Rabbit and more, taken in Scotland's strangest and most beautiful nooks and crannies, and downloadable on iTunes. Also well worth checking out is www.theblackcabsessions.com which they cite as inspiration.
HP, Tallah and co have been putting on shows in Edinburgh for 3 years now with great success as well as broadcasting via the city's student radio station Fresh Air. Now they're putting out a regular, ultra-professional podcast featuring tons of great tracks and interviews.
What began as a brilliant underground music fanzine has developed into a regular radio show on Glasgow's Sub City Radio, featuring a dizzying array of cutting edge and innovative music. Also worth checking out are their pals at Winning Sperm Party.
Billy and Nick are new to the podcast game but in their brand new second episode for the Scotsman's cracking music blog they've got a nice wee feature debating the future of music journalism vs blogging which is worth a listen - expect more highbrow high-jinks from these two in the future.
Will let you know soon what's happening with the usual podcast.
Some stuff from last week I thought you mind find interesting. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments..
iPlayer: Laughing Len/Psychoville
BBC4 had a Leonard Cohen night on last Friday, if you can access iPlayer (UK peeps only I believe) then you can still catch the ace 1973 documentary Songs From a Life in which he looks very much like the young Dustin Hoffman and smokes like a trooper, and which also features stunning live footage of the likes of Suzanne and Hallelujah. There's also a recording of one of the London shows from his 2008 "comeback" tour, where he is still in fine voice if a little less unpredictable than he was in the earlier footage. I think there was another programme too about his fans but I couldn't find that on the iPlayer.
Also, the folks behind the legendary League of Gentlemen have a new show called Psychoville - which is pretty much the same,albeit not based in Royston Vasey - with lots of nasty characters and grimness, but with some nice original twists as you'd expect (cheers to Iain and Stu for the tip).
Journalism/Twitter/Iran
Though a seeming endless round of lay-offs would suggest otherwise, the gravitas-oozing patriarchal figure of Channel 4 News Jon Snow reckons now is the most exciting time to be a journalist. Turns out he never trained to be one originally, but is now all over that social media like it was Jeremy Paxman's wage slip - you can even follow the silver-haired old newshound on Twitter (if you're into that sort of thing).
Of course the newspapers have stopped deriding Twitter for a while due to the fact that it was used by Iranians to spread information about the protests there, and the website delayed scheduled maintenance work to allow for this at a crucial time. According to Tech Crunch a former Bush advisor has even called for the website's founders to be given the nobel peace prize.
But Tech Crunch say such blatant political bias has forced the founders to deny that they are in fact a "covert government agency". Scary to think that every time you are answering the seemingly innocent question "what you are doing?" into Twitter it could be a very clever, voluntary govt surveillance system.
Also, as a warning to corporate arsemonkeys everywhere, in an example of inexplicably dumb #marketingfail, Habitat got it badly wrong with their hashtags.
And that brief mention of marketing allows me to lead smoothly on to the above video that the undisputed blogging guru of that field Seth Godin posted, which is hilarious whether or not you agree with the point he's making (and it reminds me of the Found video I posted a wee while ago).
Coming next: Yes it's the bloody iPhone again, but could it be my last word on the subject?
Apple's flagship, open 24 hours Manhattan store = nerdgasm.
NYC Disillusionment Alert
Following other people's and my own comments here about our dreams of living in New York, Penelope Trunk, whose blog is an addictive combination of excruciatingly personal revelations and interesting career advice (mainly for slightly younger and more go-getting peeps than myself), suggests you ask yourself a few questions first.
Facebook vanity urls caused a bit of excitement on Twitter this past weekend as people raced to get theirs before someone else stole their very identity out from under their nose. The term Facesquatting was coined. Mine is www.facebook.com/milomclaughlin (but you'll have to add me as a friend to see my profile) In order to set yours, once you are logged in just go to www.facebook.com/username
I've been a reader of Wired US for some time, at least when I can find it in RS McColls - so was interested in buying Wired UK when it came out. I like it so far, but there seems to be some crossover of content from the US one to the UK one which leaves me a bit confused as to whether I'll now have to buy both to make sure I don't miss out on any decent articles.
Anyway this column by Warren Ellis is shaping up to be a must read he's right on the button when he speaks about the iPhone in the current, third issue- guilty as charged!
“Enter the iPhone, that vile, characterless slab of 1980s Star Trek plastic banality from the Bay Area Federation. Bad enough that everyone I know in tech/design circles swaggers around with one jammed in their pocket, like they’re getting cyber-frottage from a magic wand. “Look,” they whisper to me, holding it up as carefully as if it were some elf they’d found close to death in an enchanted forest and had nursed back to health. “It even makes phone calls!”
Speaking of which..
iPhone 3GS(TuPID?)
A whole bunch of disgruntled O2 customers here in the UK are not happy about having to either wait until their contract ends or buy it out at an extortionate cost to get their hands on the new, slightly improved iPhone 3GS. Not only that but the new tethering facility is also far too expensive. I think there are similar issues with AT&T in the US and they're not even offering tethering or MMS yet.
Of course if you enter into a contract you are getting a subsidised phone which you are then paying off with each monthly installment so it's only fair you should have to come to the end of your contract before that agreement comes to an end, however the misalignment of the contract period and Apple's annual upgrade cycle seems to be the real problem here. Jailbreaking the iPhone would allow for free tethering, but then you wouldn't be able to upgrade to the free 3.0 software out tomorrow.
And I for one am too excited by the possibility of (gasp) cut and paste and (swoon) MMS to wait even a second longer than I have to.. Seriously though, the thing I am most looking forward to in the 3.0 update is the finder like search ability so you can search for apps and also search within email at last.
Overall the new iPhone is only a minimal improvement so I'm happy to wait until the end of my contract by which time a new one will be imminent. I do think it's a pity though that the price cut for the 8GB model to $99 doesn't appear to have crossed the Atlantic - and would like to see some justification from 02 on that particular decision.
Music Watch
Have combined the two this week due to a lack of time. Perhaps I am trying to do too much having a geek watch and a music watch though.
Anyway, I'll try to keep it brief.
Mmmm Cheesecake!
Glasgow Podcart have discovered possibly the greatest band of all time - well they have a great name and one great song so far - I present to you Cheesecake, who kick off Glasgow Podcart's current podcast with 8 minutes of instrumental brilliance. They feature members of a few other well known local bands but I'm not sure if they want that to be public knowledge just yet..
Rob St. John who is a great musician who thinks I am purposely avoiding his live gigs (though I promise I am not going to any gigs right now, not just his!) has written a great post for Under The Radar in which he rightly credits Tracer Trails for re-invigorating the corpse of the Edinburgh music scene with a well-placed injection of decent music and clever choice of venues.
AND FINALLY - MORE MALCY!
Here's a brilliant wee documentary about Malcolm Middleton which makes me jealous in all kinds of ways - I love it. I like what he says about writing sad songs not meaning you're a lonely, sad person, it's just that he writes songs when he's in a certain mood. (via Andy Lobban & Fence Records)
At the weekend we went over to visit my dad and relatives over in Derry in Northern Ireland. We also visited the cottage where I lived for 3 years (between 11 and 14) in a very small village called Culoort or Killourt (depending on how you want to spell it) which is in Malin Head in Inishowen, Co. Donegal. This video shows what it's like - very picturesque but it wasn't always a great place to be a teenager, especially one who was used to living in the city and whose English accent made him stick out like a sore thumb!
As it's a traditional Irish thatched cottage it needs to be rethatched approx every 7 years - the one next door which I also filmed shows how quickly these 200+ old buildings can fall into disrepair.
I recorded the music on my dad's out of tune mandolin using the iTalk app on the iPhone. I also made a rough demo using the same recording which you can hear over at myspace (if you're brave).
Blur - This is a Low- because it mentions Malin Head - but only because it is one of the places mentioned in the shipping forecast..
Despite what seems to be a physical inability to get to gigs these days, and a feeling of general malaise as I ponder exactly what I'm doing with my life (once again), I have just about managed to pull together the latest podcast which also features an interview with Nick Mitchell on his trip to the Primavera Festival in Barcelona.
Nick is a friend of mine who writes for The Skinny and The Scotsman's Under The Radar Blog and who often comments on this blog (for which I am grateful!) Apologies to him and to you, dear listeners, for the awful sound quality of the telephone call, note to self MUST CHECK LEVELS IN FUTURE.
You can read his full review of Primavera over at The Skinny, and this podcast should also appear there soon.
Malcolm is back - and his latest solo album will be his last under his own name for a while. Here he alternates spoken word musings about lycra and 'superpowers in the post' with heart-tugging choruses about death and that. It's lifted to the heights of a gospel hymn to heartache with the aid of backing vocals from King Creosote and The Pictish Trail doing their best Pepsi & Shirley impression (in the words of Malcy himself). It's a cry for help that can't help but make you cry. I weep, and a single tear falls into my glass of Carlsberg, increasing the alcohol content by 100%. Don't leave us Malcolm.
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) and realise that retro-tinged isn't always a bad thing. Ambulances new album The Future That Was is pure joy from start to finish and How Could You Leave Me is a laid-back love-in that will make dreamers out of over-achievers. Is it really possible for another excellent band to come frae Fife? Apparently so.
Our own Billy Hamilton gave the Foundling Wheel's album a thumbs up last year. It took me this long to give it a listen. Once again, I need to slap myself on my big old forehead, and this is the perfect soundtrack for such self-flagellation. It's beepy, it's insane, it's shouty. It's angry but clever. It makes me want to drive a motorcycle the wrong way down the motorway. Naked.
It was falsely claimed that Bobby McFerrin took his own life because no-one believed he was quite as happy as he made out. But if you could record grammy award winning, multi-million dollar earning tracks merely by slapping your own body parts you'd be just as bloody ecstatic. The Glasgow-based popsters Zoey Van Goey attempt just that with this cheery number, which I have scientifically calculated using the 'don't worry be happy' algorithm to be the exact musical opposite of Malcolm Middleton. Thus balancing our audio chi for another monthly podcast extravaganza. See you next time!
So after yesterday's geek watch, onto the wonderfully incestuous Edinburgh music scene where the big controversy this week is the new Broken Records album. Fellow Skinny scribe Ally Brown has written a review which has generated a lot of anger, disbelief and dismay amongst the band's pals/fans, as you can see in the comments below the review.
Personally I think the two stars may be slightly harsh, I've never been quite as in thrall of them as other people seem to be, but they do put on a good live show. but Ally is a great writer who knows his stuff (check out his blog), and is of course fully entitled to express his opinion - after all he writes for The Skinny because he loves music and cares about it. Perhaps a lesson for music writers everywhere - forget honesty, it's diplomacy that's required. Or has he in fact helped raise the band's profile by causing such a storm in a teacup?
The album is available to stream online on Spotify so you can make up your own mind. Update: Sorry should have mentioned - you can also see a load of very high quality videos of the band over at Song, By Toad.
Here's what promoter Andy Lobban had to say about his experiences putting on Black Tape, which finished on Friday with a headlining set by My Latest Novel (whose new album is also on Spotify). I really loved the club (I wrote this ages ago) but couldn't make it as often as I'd have liked due to my stupid working hours. Andy is now very busy with Off The Beaten Tracks which we featured last week, and in the short time since has already been featured on the front page of Pitchfork and on The Scotman's Under The Radar blog.
Meanwhile Under The Radar also showcase three great bands The Japanese War Effort, Eagleowl, and North Atlantic Oscillation (who I keep missing live despite being a big fan of Sam's other band Employee of the Month) check the blog out here.
Dylan over at Blueback Hotrod has some great photos of the King Creosote, Pictish Trail, Found and Player Piano gig at the GRV a couple of Saturdays ago (including the one pictured here). The gig was great, and served as a good post-Homegame celebration - though the Daily Record had a very strange review which seemed to be suggesting that PT was trying to steal KC's thunder. Hilariously wide of the mark as you'll know if you know anything about these two. Unfortunately on the night I made a bit of a tit of myself by volunteering to buy Gav from Found's microkorg and then realising the next day that I couldn't afford it (or probably work out how to use it). Sorry Gav :-(
Finally: Withered Hand Watch: This week the man Dan and his merry crew played a blinder on Marc Riley's BBC6 Music Show, listen again on BBC iPlayer if you're in the UK. You can also read my slightly gushing (but justifiably so I think) reviews of Withered Hand and Meursault's latest EPs - but please note some subediting has taken place - I have never knowingly typed the sentence "a must for modern folk fans"..
Hmmm. These weekly round-up posts take a bit of work, am I just telling people things they already know? Probably. Let me know your reaction...
In this second, slightly delayed weekly web-trawl we have a bit of a geeky focus with gadgets and sci-fi nudging music from centre stage - watch out for a more music-centric post tomorrow though..
So, Gordon Brown's political career and Susan Boyle's sanity are both hanging by a ragged thread, The most interesting, but still utterly unreal reality show The Apprentice is about to give way to the appalling Big Brother (and Sir Alan is now the saviour of the Labour Party or something), and swine flu has increased six fold in one week in Scotland prompting widespread panic and looting in the streets (or perhaps just mild concern everytime someone in the room sneezes).
Terminated
Speaking of fears of impending armageddon, Terminator Salvation has had terrible reviews pretty much across the board - it's even worse than the misogynistic, misanthropic and just plain shite third film according to some - so will not be seeing in the cinema - maybe on DVD.
It's a pity that the TV show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles got cancelled as although it did suffer from slow pacing and far too many filler episodes in its second season, it was taking the franchise in some interesting new directions and the characterisation was superb. TSCC's creator talks of the experience of his baby being cancelled on his blog and gives a bitter insight into working in US TV.
Fired-flied
US sci-fi shows are of course constantly under threat of cancellation, and though I like to think I'm a few notches above the sad obsessive sci-fi geek stereotype, I do have a soft spot for the genre. After becoming (ahem) quite a fan of the lovely Summer Glau through TSCC I recently ordered the one and only season of Firefly, (in which she also appears as a minor character) through Lovefilm, and it was absolutely great, much better than I'd thought - I can see why the 'Western in Space' concept would have put a lot of viewers off at first glance, but this was one very well written, well acted surprisingly dark and adult at times, and frequently laugh-out loud show and both Mel and I were genuinely sad when it prematurely ended. Ok maybe we are sad geeks...
iPhoned-in
On the tech blogs this week the iPhone rumour machine continues to generate priceless free coverage for Apple who are expected to announce new iPhone hardware on Monday as well as releasing the much anticipated iPhone 3.0 software to the general population (it's so far only been available to developers in various beta forms). Apple are no doubt hoping to decrease the impact of the much-praised but unproven Palm Pre. Here's a very scientific bit of guesswork from The Guardian to add to the acres of webspace taken up with this topic.
Are you a geek or do you consider them the equivalent of witches in medieval times and therefore should be driven from their homes and burned at the stake? Should these topics be left to the tech blogs and strange scifi forums where no pretty girls or well-adjusted boys dare to tread? Let me know in the comments..
"All of us had such a fine time wining and dining around the city that I have no recollection of any daytime hours, and even my recollections of nighttime are foggy."
Suze Rotolo, A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties
Okay maybe that isn't a completely accurate description of our New York trip, as we did get out and about during most days, and I do remember what we did (during the day at least). But my cousin Rory and his wife Michelle did make sure at least one full day was a write-off, as we drank and drank til the early hours on the Sunday night, but seeing as it was an amazing night we'll forgive them. In fact they were amazing hosts and we were treated like royalty by them and their friends the whole time we were there.
Central Park
The main thing I have to report is that on the first full day we were there I proposed to Mel on a rowing boat on 'The Lake' in Central Park and, perhaps overcome by the city fumes, she foolishly said yes. Despite nearly crashing into numerous other boaters, we made it safely back to the shore. As most people have said, after 11 years, it was about time!
I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City
I've not got around to writing this until now because 1. I wanted to install iMovie 09 before I edited the video to try and stabilise some of the shakier shots, and 2. it really is difficult to put into words how much I loved the place. Even if you discount the religious aspect of the song, I think Harry Nilsson put it best with 'I Guess The Lord Must Be in New York City' and that's why I've used it in my wee video diary. As you'll see, the vid is very much a personal account but hopefully there's enough general footage of NYC there for people who aren't in the least interested in my personal life to get something out of it. If you are interested in my more personal photos of the trip, I'll be putting them up on Facebook shortly.
The Strand Bookstore and other sights
We tried to take the advice of the people who'd commented here and on Facebook, and we managed to do most things we wanted to do, but there's so much left to do that I'm desperate to get back. The first picture above is of the wonderful Strand bookstore, thanks for the tip Tart! I think both of us could have spent hours and many many dollars in there. We were too far away to grab breakfast at the Tick Tock diner as suggested by Nick, and we just didn't have time for Ellis Island unfortunately but we did go on the Staten Island Ferry and had a wonderful walk over the bridge to Brooklyn, where we ate lunch, drank Brooklyn Lager and walked along the promenade with it's awesome views of Manhattan. Great place for wedding photos:
The things we missed out on are a great reason to go back as soon as possible! Anyway, Lis and Andy were right - we were soooo not disappointed. The city is so exciting, so fast-moving, with something happening on every corner. The people are friendly, helpful and very welcoming, plus there are so many characters, interesting people to look at and listen to snippets of their conversations, and so many beautiful women! (I know, I know, I shouldn't be looking). Frankly if I could get a visa and afford the rents, I'd move there right away.
The Sidewalk Open Mic
I could go on and on about everything we did, but I will spare you. Lastly though I must speak of my open mic experience on our final night. It followed the night we got absolutely hammered (witness the singing on the video if you want to hear just how drunk we were). Neither of us felt our best and in the end Mel wasn't able to make it along to the Sidewalk, home of antifolk, in the East Village, so I grabbed a cab there myself. I hadn't managed to meet up with Mr Antifolk Chameleon due to some type of text message failure, so I was incredibly nervous - here I was in New York, on my own, with the hangover from hell, ready to take to the stage.
When I get nervous I clam up and become even more socially awkward than normal (if that's possible) and so I sat in the corner quietly sipping my water. When the time came to queue I was delighted to be picked ninth, especially as the queue was out the door and the signing up process took over three-quarters of an hour! So after some amazing acts it was my turn. I had managed to borrow a guitar off a very generous lady who had announced on stage that she was moving from New York to Toronto - (my nerves prevented me from remembering her name even though she told me it twice) and just before I went onstage, the lovely Nan from Schwervon appeared, who I had chatted to when the band stopped in Edinburgh a couple of months ago as part of their UK tour promoting their excellent new album Low Blow. She was also playing the open mic that night (she rocked!) and was very supportive. It was great to have someone who I knew there gunning for me, and it helped my confidence a lot as I fumbled with the guitar strap etc.
So I sang I Ain't Your Mailman, and Disassemble Me, the two songs I did at the Song, By Toad Christmas Party. I really threw myself into it and when the whole room started clapping along to Mailman I knew I had the crowd behind me. I think it went pretty well, and I had fulfilled one of my ambitions, to play at the Sidewalk in NYC.
We spent the next day checking out Greenwich Village and a few of Bob Dylan's old haunts and I felt I'd got a great taste of the city and it's cultural history. Before I left I put It's Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs on my iPhone really load and wandered about near where we were staying around Fifth Avenue (and popped into the 24 hour Apple Store and a cool toy shop with lego Darth Vaders and Chewbaccas). Sad to be leaving and still in awe, Karen O's expansive melancholy hit me hard as the towering buildings spun round me, and I bid NYC a reluctant farewell.
Note on video: This was my first time using iMovie 09, so I used pretty much every effect there was going. The stabilisation feature was really handy, though some of what I filmed on my wee digital camera was too shaky to be fixed. Hope you enjoy - you might also want to check out my footage from Peaches at the Webster Hall.
Here's some music stuff I've come across in the last week or so that I think deserve a bit of attention, and rather than expecting people to keep up with my posts on Facebook, Twitter and the like, I thought I'd try and pull them together here. It's also an opportunity to give a shout-out to some people who are doing great stuff for the local and wider music community.
Whether this will actually be the first of regular weekly round-up post is really dependent on any feedback I get - let me know in the comments if you think it's going to be useful or if you think I should stick to sporadically posting about the usual "random bollocks" as Matthew Toad would (accurately) have it. Future ones probably won't be nearly as long as this but having been out of the loop for a while what with being away I'm playing catch up.
You're Not Alone
Withered Hand's new King Creosote produced EP is out this month and predictably, it's FANTASTIC. I've written a wee review for next month's Skinny which will be up here in a week or two, but in the meantime you can stream it in full over at the SL Records website which also has details about about the official launch on 9th June which has a very fine line-up indeed.
Kudos also to my good pal Sean Michaels at Said The Gramophone who thankfully hasn't given up on Scottish music since moving back to Montreal (though these days he is mostly found travelling off to some other part of the world, the jammy git) and managed to get hold of a copy of the EP before me - like I said before, what a jammy git.
Time for Plan C?
Sean used to write for Plan B which is how I discovered it, and when he moved he gave away his entire collection of back issues, so I picked up quite a few. It took me a while to get into the writing style, but once I did I found it the best music magazine out there and I've subscribed ever since, so am very sad to see that the magazine has folded, which I discovered from heartfelt posts by contributor Stewart over at Beard and Lis/[last year's girl]. Co-founder of the mag and self-promoter extraordinaire Everett True is rarely short of words and he shares his thoughts over at his own blog.
Tart's Tunes
Tart, who gave me an extraordinary amount of good advice about my trip to New York (don't worry I'll tell you about how it went soon) has a great post about how her music taste has changed over the years, inspired by a discussion over at Song By Toad. I have already scribbled something akin to this about my own developing tastes on several scraps of paper a while back so I will work on moulding it into something readable and share it with you soon.
(Join the) Slow Club
This is a wonderful video from Off The Beaten Tracks of the wonderful Slow Club. I agree with everything Matthew says about their Homegame gig, they were great, and have very endearing personalities as well as being rather attractive to look at in the case of drummer/vocalist/guitarist Rebecca (which is why I'm letting them away with playing a Christmas song in the middle of May).
OTBT even have another new session up already by Frightened Rabbit, making for a very impressive choice of bands for their first five sessions - and I really like the format of the site, with their 'Off The Beaten Facts' about each band - very nicely done.
Speaking of slow, I am ridiculously slow on the uptake sometimes, and hadn't been aware of Euan's club Trampoline or his band The Kays Lavelle until very recently, but it has slowly dawned on me after subscribing to his very readable blog. Anyway, there's a great interview with him over on the Scotsman's Under The Radar blog - and it's clear from this and his line-ups the man has good taste (ok, quite similar to mine) - he likes the Japanese War Effort for a start...
..and Jamie from JWE plays with his latest project Conquering Animal Sound this Saturday at an all-too-rare Gentle Invasion night also featuring the brilliantly named 'Moustache of Insanity'. To whet your appetite you can download a rather splendid mixtape by CAS free over at Last.fm.
Here's a supremely silly (and disgustingly suggestive) wee video I cobbled together from the Peaches gig we went to when we were in New York last Saturday at the excellent Webster Hall. The tune is of course her 'remix' of Gay Bar by Electric Six.
I'll be posting more on the trip soon once I beat this blasted jetlag/hangover combination - I currently feel like my head is buried deep in a mineshaft constructed out of alcohol-sodden cotton wool.
On Thursday Mel and I are heading New York City for the first time ever for five days. To say we're excited is something of an understatement. We've both discussed going there many times since the day we got together - and we'll be celebrating 11 years since that fateful day while we're there (yes I am bloody old)- so I'm hoping some of the romance from the above picture will rub off on us (after all I don't need to be in Manhattan for the Woody-esque morbid neuroses and unintentional slapstick comedy to commence).
I also have a personal link to NYC as my grandparents on my Dad's side emigrated there from Ireland many years ago, and went through the whole Ellis Island process when they arrived. My cousin Rory lives there now and I'm hoping we can hook up with him when we get there.
I guess the trip could be a let-down given the expectations built up over the years through the iconic imagery of countless classic films, and through reading about all the amazing musical history that's taken place there, not least the emergence of Bob Dylan, one of my all-time heroes. Of course, things aren't the same as they were in the 60's but I'm guessing that there's so much going on there I won't have time to be disappointed.
I've also managed to get myself into another fine mess by declaring that I am going to take part in the notorious open mic night at the Sidewalk Cafe on Monday night, which the likes of Beck, Jeffrey Lewis, The Moldy Peaches and Regina Spektor have previously performed at. It could be a tough crowd, but I have one friend there, a man who calls himself Antifolk Chameleon (after the venue that Lach used before the Sidewalk) who has already offered me the loan of his guitar. And as he has been very supportive in the past of both my Tantrum Man and Swivel Chair musical projects, I can't very well let the man down.
So please wish us luck, let me know if you've been and if so what you recommend doing. Oh, and send me good vibes on Monday night!
Yep, it's podcast time again and this month is jam-packed full of damn fine music kicking off with a golden oldie from The Vaselines. Seeing as I've got a bit of man flu (nothing to do with swine, honest), I've spared you my nasal delivery and have instead been replaced by a hot killer robot, partly because I had just watched the season finale to The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and partly because of my mounting excitement for the new Terminator Salvation film which may or may not be any good..
But don't worry the humans haven't completely lost (yet) as we also have an entertaining wee interview from Matthew aka Mr Toad of Song By Toad Records which has just released an excellent acoustic EP by Meursault from which we've included the track William Henry Miller Part 1.
Matthew, who must never sleep given the amount he seems to get done, has just written a damn fine interview with Jason Lytle for this month's issue of The Skinny, and the issue also has interviews with The Vaselines and Grizzly Bear (a UK exclusive, apparently). So make sure you check it out, either online or in various locations around Scotland (once you've listened to the podcast obviously).
Finally, please Subscribe in iTunes and if you like what you hear please leave a review, we picked up another nice one from the lovely GangreenOwl recently :-)
Yes I have finally experienced the Fence Homegame in Anstruther and it was well worth the wait. The above video diary shows a few of the bands we saw, a lot of which have already featured on the podcasts. I only had very limited space on my wee digital camera so didn't manage to capture everything, e.g.Viking Moses leading us in a mass singalong of Leonard Cohen's 'Lover Lover Lover', Pictish Trail doing a lovely cover of Hot Chip's Boy From School, James Yorkston doing a great live version of 'Woozy with Cider' and numerous other perfect moments.
In fact, because so much was going on simultaneously in different venues, we totally missed loads of special events like the Three Craws (the hall was full by the time we got there), Ichi who many said was their highlight, any other secret shows that I didn't have a ticket for like James Yorkston doing Daniel Johnston covers.. the list goes on. I have to say I would be gutted to miss those things if I didn't have such an amazing time at the things I did go to.
I can see now that Fence is all about the Homegame experience, and the rest of the year I will be just biding time for the next one - it has to be the friendliest, most laid back festival I've been to. But it looks likely that next year's event will be a smaller one, so good luck getting tickets if you fancy going...
This month's podcast is a kind of "twee special" mainly because we've got the title track from Camera Obscura's new album, plus excellent, marginally twee tunes from Je Suis Animal, Men Diamler, Animal Magic Tricks and Panda Su.
This is the 12th podcast I've done which means I've been doing this for a year, and in that time we've featured loads of brilliant bands so please check out previous podcasts too if you haven't already, and don't forget you can find us on iTunes too if you want to download them all straight to your computer. In fact I was very chuffed to get the following review on iTunes which I've only just noticed, many thanks to Bishop Berkeley, whoever you are!
"brilliant - best way of staying in touch with new music coming from Scotland and interesting music from further afield. Eclectic selections coupled with informed personal opinion are what makes it. Glad it's there - only bad thing is it makes me wish I still lived in the burgh."
The latter three bands featured this month are all playing the Fence Homegame Festival in Anstruther this weekend, as in fact are a number of the bands previously featured on the podcast and before that on the radio show. In fact the line-up is like a list of my favourite Scottish bands.
I've written a preview of Homegame for The Scotsman's Under The Radar Blog which should be online sometime this evening (Thursday). I'll be posting a link on Twitter once it's up.
The blog is being run by my pals Nick and Billy and is shaping up to be an excellent read. Another contributor is Halina from the Glasgow Podcart which is also well worth checking out for all the gossip from Weegieland - they're doing a great job of covering the upcoming Hinterland Festival being held there later this month.
If you're going to Homegame yourself please do say hello, and if you have any feedback/suggestions for the podcast let me know. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen, and hope it inspires you to check out the featured bands.
Image of abandoned Wire soundstage by Hoodwatch (warning:clicking through may lead to spoilers)
I have now watched all 5 series of The Wire. If you haven't seen it yet, you've probably heard someone banging on about how great it is by now, and with good reason - it is, in my humble opinion, the best TV drama of all time.
When I was told about it last year by my friends Bernie and Cat, I was intrigued, and when Bernie declared that it was possibly better than The Sopranos, of which I was a huge fan from Day One, I knew I had to watch it and judge for myself.
So on their recommendation I purchased the first series and myself and my better half Mel have religiously watched the entire thing over the last 6 months or so - making sure to take our time and savour every episode and season, knowing that eventually it would all be over - and alas, that day has come.
Now in my opinion the first series of The Sopranos is close to perfection, with its scenario of a powerful matriarch, Tony's mother, subtly undermining her own son's efforts to run a major New Jersey crime family, based on creator David Chase's own relationship with his mother. But later series, though still excellently written, acted and filmed, never quite lived up to its potential (partly due to the death of the actress who played the mother Livia Soprano, and thus removing the crux of the idea).
Too many opportunities for exciting conflict were dodged, seemingly in the name of being unpredictable, but in retrospect many of them seemed a cowardly way of extending the lives of the main characters. And that last episode whilst it wasn't as awful as some made out - well it was more a whimpering dog going off to die under a car than an explosive finale.
But whilst it was obvious from the very start that The Sopranos had an original concept and style, on first viewing The Wire Episode 1, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was just another bland TV cop show. In fact if you tuned into a random episode of it on the FX channel, a tiny cable channel which hardly anyone watches that is the only UK channel to show the series so far, you'd be forgiven for asking 'what's the fuss all about?'
That's because The Wire is all about the details and the subtleties that are only apparent to the most attentive viewers. So much so that creator David Simon explained to thingy on the Culture Show that his approach was "fuck the casual viewer". I can't remember another show where it was quite so vitally important to watch it with your full attention. The sheer breadth of characters over the course of the 5 series, most of whom reappear each series, led to a complexity rarely seen on TV. And though each season deals in part with different characters and topics, and not all of the five seasons were equally great, these were masterfully crafted plots that never gave you that 'making it up as they go along' feel of most TV dramas, or the 'predictably formulaic' nature of most cop shows. Far from it..
If you haven't seen The Wire all 5 seasons are coming to BBC2 soon.
Next: What makes The Wire so frigging great anyway?
The Fence Homegame Pre-season Friendly on Saturday at Old St. Paul's Church in Edinburgh was a great way to spend Saturday afternoon/evening. We got there just in time to catch the end of Pictish Trail's set, for some reason he didn't seem to have turned the mic on and it was already pretty rammed so we didn't get the full experience but we did get a front row seat for the lovely Animal Magic Tricks and the hilariously insane Men Diamler (whose CDs I bought), and a storming solo performance by Neil from Meursault (which convinced my cousin Lucy to buy their album) all of whom are pictured below.
The highlight for me though was finally seeing Found, who I've managed to miss seeing live despite buying their first album back when it first came out a couple of years back. They were superb and the below scenes demonstrate their ability to get people up dancing and have a bloody good time. That was only topped by the next song, a performance of Let Fidelity Break from their new EP (as featured on this month's podcast).
By that time though I, my friends and a whole load of other people had given in to the irresistible urge to join in the crazy dancing so so no video footage exists. Still, you can buy the record here.
The documentary Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson about the is an enjoyable, if uneven take on the life of the much-loved gonzo figurehead and "walking monument to misbehaviour" and is both an inspirational and cautionary tale.
Disclaimer: What follows is less a review than the thoughts it provoked about the life and work of one of my writing heroes.
This film persuaded me/reminded me that being a writer can be very worthwhile and have a positive impact, and fired me up to try to make more of my own writing talent, even if I will never come close to Hunter at his best. But it also showed, once again, that drink and drugs and the whole rock n roll myth can be very destructive. Thompson invented a persona which made him famous, but he became a slave to that one dimensional image and the fame that went with it.
He struggled with demons as do a lot of creative people, in particular an anger and rage that was at times uncontrollable - which no doubt drove him to write in the first place but was ultimately self-destructive in nature. What really stood out for me was his bravery in the early days - riding with the hell's angels must have took some guts, and he certainly wasn't scared of being blacklisted by the Washington big-wigs when he covered the 72 US election campaign.
What he showed was that truly great writing isn't just about being able to string a few sentences together, it's about taking a stand, taking a risk, going out on the edge, and being a visionary.
He was, of course, renowned for his ability to ingest truckloads of booze and drugs with barely noticeable effects - and as with his sometimes wholly fictional Gonzo journalism, he exaggerated the extent of this for effect, particularly in order to appall "the squares". But when he failed to cover the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, opting instead to drink whisky in his hotel swimming pool (he fully expected Mohammad Ali to lose), it marked the turning point where he was no longer in control of his 'medicine' because it was now in charge of him.
The film had a lot of interesting footage from Hunter's attempt to run for sheriff of Aspen and how what started out as a prank became a real possibility, though ultimately ended in (genuine) disappointment. Also his backing of the underdog democrat candidate McGovern (Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72) may have helped him get nominated - though a very bad choice (with eerie echoes of Sarah Palin) of unnaturally sweaty man Thomas Eagleton as vice-presidential candidate, who was forced to resign after it was revealed he had undergone shock therapy 3 times, would put paid to his bid. Instead of electing a man who would have ended the Vietnam War immediately and brought through other social reforms, the US public elected the morally vacuous and bizarrely-faced Richard Nixon, and the iconic plastic mask of him that has almost replaced his real face in popular iconography is used in the film as a recurring motif to represent Hunter's own dark side.
Again, parallels were drawn with recent events, with Nixon and Bush shown as interchangeable figures. Thompson was devastated by the result then of course, and later when George W was elected he sunk into a depression which can only have strengthened his long-standing decision to take his own life. In fact the film opens with Hunter's reaction to 9/11, one of the few events that got him fired up enough to summon his old talent in his later years. It's an extraordinarily lucid and prescient piece of writing. Though to many his shotgun suicide was a heroic way to go befitting of the way he lived life, the film's message, through the words of his closest friends and his own family, was that this was in fact a cop-out by a man whose talent could have continued to have a positive impact on the world - but then as he himself was aware, he had ceased being a great writer many years earlier when the drugs and drink took their hold.
Good news all round - King Creosote has joined his mate James Yorkston on Domino Records, a perfect home for him as they'll be able to give his music a much bigger push than he'd be able to do with his own wee label Fence Records (though it is of course a superb label!).
To celebrate, Domino are giving away a track from his new album if you sign up to their website - see llnk below.
His last album proper Bombshell is one of my favourites of the last couple of years and this track, called Rims, bodes well for the new one. It features the usual woozy seaside accordion, banjos and gorgeous harmonies along with suprisingly fast beats, all intermingled with subtle electronica - and an amusing sample near the end.
His new album, Flick the Vs, comes out on 20th April 2009, directly after this year's Fence Homegame festival in Anstruther, which I am very very excited about indeed.
Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 05:34PM 
