musicwatch: Fight! Edinburgh music scene goes a bit mental over an album
Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 07:27PM 
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...
Reader Comments (9)
'A must for modern folk fans' - I bet you wish you'd written it!!
Milo! I think "storm in a teacup" is accurate really. Apart from Matthew Toad's immediate response, which was understandable because he's like an eighth member of the band, there wasn't much more fighting going on. Some folks totally disagreed - as any 2-star review is going to provoke - some people thought it a little harsh, some people broadly agreed. That'll do for me.
Billy, I do, I'm going to have to up my game in future!
Ally, that's true. The reaction it got shows there is a lot of passion about the band and the local scene in general, and that can only be a good thing. For myself I think it's made me listen a bit more attentively to the band's record so I can make my own mind up (which I haven't quite done yet!)
Just tell me that the picture isn't really of anyone you know! And the final comment that I read on the Skinny is really a perfect ending for my evening (and evening wherein I had the most ridiculous technical difficulties before doing an interview with An Horse and had to revert to mini cassette tape recording, only to return home and figure out the matter of what was wrong with my new and wonderful usb microphone in about 20 mins., grrrrrr) ... the final comment being "it's only a band." :) :) :)
xoxo,
Tart
Thankfully not, it's a google image search special!
Urgh I had a similar day of technical difficulties so I feel your pain, didn't check the levels properly for an interview I did and these things are not easily improved in Garageband - I miss soundforge.
Aye nothing wrong with a bit of perspective!
Well, everyone's entitled to an opinion but I rather like it despite the overall lukewarm sense of the reviews. To rail against a reviewer for expressing an opinion is pointless, but music magazine letters pages would be empty if people didn't do it!
Aye and as a writer it's good to get feedback otherwise it can feel like the equivalent of shouting into an empty cave.
I remember reviewing their first single ages ago and being struck by how much better they sounded live than on cd. I have yet to hear the album, but as I've said before, they will struggle to replicate their live shows, where you have more of a license for over-egging-the-puddin-ness-ary...
Seems I've skipped town just when things start hotting up!
Yes there's a very visual element to their appeal I think.