14 Scottish Bands – Live!

Thanks to Matthew of Song, By Toad, my attention was drawn to Limbo Live Volume 1, a record of 14 bands which have played the Limbo Club night at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh over the last couple of years.

Now I’ve not actually managed to make it to a Limbo night yet (although I nearly went to the Isa gig last February) but there were sufficient bands that I’ve either seen live or own records by to give this more than a curious glance.

The 14 tracks were all recorded live at Limbo and feature bands like Kid Canaveral, Meursault, Sparrow and the Workshop and Zoey van Goey. That list alone gives you an indication of the breadth of styles captured on the record and it’s interesting that on the first couple of plays that it’s the electronic stuff by the likes of Found and A-Lix that perhaps grabs my interest first. Other good stuff includes Come on Gang! and Cancel the Astronauts.

So that’s all well and good – but it gets better. At only £7.99 (or even cheaper if you act REALLY quickly) you not only get 14 tracks but also a free download and a pass into a future Limbo night. Can you afford to ignore this?

Here’s one of the bands on the record performing live:

Over The Wall

and another band:

Buy the CD

TV21 Album Launch Update

A further plug for the TV21 album launch on Sunday 24th March at the Voodoo Rooms.

The support acts have been announced and they will consist of solo sets from Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit and Adam Thompson from We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Which is all rather exciting. Tickets are just £5 (plus booking fee) from Tickets Scotland.

Proper post tomorrow.

Forthcoming Events

A mention for a couple of proper events coming up in the next few weeks. First up is the Echo Festival of Sound and Light which takes place in Drouthy;s in Dundee on Saturday 9th May from 3.30 until midnight. As well as the mighty Wildhouse, the show features the Bum Clocks (featuring Malcolm Ross) and Tayside Mental Health, Ultimate Thrush, The Wrong Boyfriends, Box, Tear Down The Lies!, My Electric Love Affair as well as various poems and readings! And all for £3!

Later in the month is the launch of the new TV21 album ‘Forever 22′ at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on Sunday 24th May. The LP launch has been slightly delayed from this month to ensure that the vinyl copies of  record are available and very special guests are promised. Tickets are £5 from here. Look out for an LP review and interview with TV21 in the next couple of weeks.

And it would be remiss of me not to mention Tigerfest which features a number of shows in the Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline. Highlight for me will be the first full band show from ex-Delgado Alun Woodward under the Lord Cutglass moniker with support from De Rosa and Angil and the Hiddentracks. Other artists playing in Dunfermline include James Yorkston, Cruiser, Found, Swimmer One, Saint Jude’s Infirmary and Ballboy. Tickets here. Meursault are also playing in Edinburgh on 7th May.

Random Homegame

Good

Saturday – Saturday was amazing.

How easy it proved to be to get into the shows I wanted to see.

Martin Henry’s and Malcolm Middleton’s aversion to disco lights.

Things running behind schedule so much that I see most of the Burns Unit’s set.

Martin Henry annexing another estuarial river (the Forth this time) on behalf of De Rosa during ‘Pest’.

Numerous references to hangovers during band sets, outnumbered only by “can I have a little more/less XXXXX in my monitor”

Finding out that 3 musicians have read my son’s blog!! (scroll down a bit and you’ll see why)

Finally identifying which “tall guy with a beard” was Matthew from Song, By Toad.

Finally finding out the Rovers score on Saturday afternoon.

Bad

Not being able to drink at all.

Being too knackered to stay for Kid Canaveral on Friday.

Not knowing whether or not the ‘nae luck’ comment with the Ayr score was good or bad!

Not having sorted out the photos yet.

My Brain Is Hurting (2)

I do this blog with the best of intentions – I hope that every now and again my various ramblings will convince someone of the merits of some of the artists that I write about. And it seems that my contribution to Paul Haig Day may have helped stir up interest in the Cathode Ray, mainly because I seem to have been the only blog to feature TCR.

Now normally I would regard that as a result but, as with lots of best intentions, it seems that this one has mis-fired – witness the following statement from Paul Haig:

“It has been reported in places that the Cathode Ray is a new band formed that I’ve formed. This is definitely not the case.

I’ve been very busy and wasn’t fully made aware at all of the developing situation. For reasons of factual accuracy and to save people a lot of wasted energy it is now necessary to set the record straight.

It has been erroneously reported as a new band venture. There has never been any intention of starting, or for that matter joining a new band since the end of Josef K – I’m perfectly happy writing and recording as a solo artist. This particular collection of co-written songs (circa 2005/06) started as an experiment to see if there would be any interest from publishers with a view to placing them. Involvement ceased after that and it was made clear at the time it had been a song writing project.”

When JC came up with the idea of Paul Haig Day, the Cathode Ray seemed a natural route for me to follow because, a) it was a little off the beaten track, and b) most importantly, I liked the songs a lot.

The little information I featured in the post came from the Cathode Ray Myspace and I had no reason to doubt that it was accurate.

Given that Paul is an established solo artist it never occurred to me that the Cathode Ray was anything other than a side project. I am sorry therefore  if my piece has,  in any way, contributed to a different perception of this project. So it seems appropriate to help set the record straight by putting out Paul’s statement.

Do The Disco Lights Make Me Sound Better? – Homegame 6, Day 3

As expected, Sunday proved to be the calm after the storm. My day started in the Hew Scott Hall with 2 acts who had performed with full bands the previous evening.

All four Meursault members were in fact present but this was an acoustic set with the volume turned right down. The five song set was completely different from the previous evening and based on their imminent EP. The only disappointment is that there’s no ‘A Small Stretch of Land’.

Next upwas Martin John Henry who repeats just one song, ‘It Helps To See You Hurt’ from the previous evening’s scorching De Rosa set. It’s great to hear the song the way that I first heard it, stripped back from the epic LP version. Otherwise we get 2 covers (Kate Bush and Sophia), 3 songs from ‘Mend’ as well as 2 unreleased songs, the wonderful ‘I Love Map’ and ‘Book Binding’.

For once I don’t jinx Strike The Colours. Jenny Reeve hasn’ t enjoyed the best of luck when I’ve previously been in  her audience but this time things work out fine. Most of the songs are taken from the next STC LP but there’s a wee bonus in hearing her contribution to the ‘Ballads of the Book’ LP, ‘Message In A Bottle’. A good set.

With nothing specific on the wish list I tried to check out Alistair Roberts, only to arrive just as he said, goodbye! Back down to the Town Hall for the first few songs of Rozi Plain. I enjoyed her more than I expected but I moved on to check out the last few songs of Marina and the Diamonds. She’s perhaps best described as a Lena Lovich for the Noughties. It was quite good fun.

Finally it’s Malcolm Middleton and, other than this in-store, the first time I’ve seen him perform a full solo set without band (although Jenny joins him to provide backing vocals and tambourine on a few songs).

The set’s a mixture of Middleton classics and songs from his forthcoming LP. Interestingly a couple of the new songs seem to be heading towards dance territory – one even features a rap, although that he seems to bottle it half way through. There’s a bigger dip than normal into ‘Sleight of Heart’ with ‘Follow Robin Down’ a particular highlight. Otherwise (not) the single ‘Red Travellin’ Socks’, ‘Loneliness Shines’ and ‘Devil and Angel’ are every bit as good as you would expect.

It’s a perfect end to what’s pretty much been a perfect musical weekend. More random thoughts to follow.