Elba Sessions

We’ve been lucky enough to see loads of local bands this year and one of the ones that we keep coming back to are Super Adventure Club. If you haven’t had the chance to see Super Adventure Club, where have you been?!?!? Not many a month goes by without Super Adventure Club unleashing a sonic assault on the ears of anyone who will listen at various venues around Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as further afield. We’re also SUPER excited as a little birdie tells us there will be a single and an album out next year on Armellodie Records. Quite simply, we love SAC and can’t get enough of them. Here’s our daily fix…

Album of the Year – Sports by Rodent Emporium

Hopes for 2010/Things you’re looking forward to – We’d like to have a real hip-hop-hot-pot-pot noodle and we’re looking forward to finally releasing the new album! We’d also like to be featured on the front cover of anything with the title ‘SAC’s bomb’ or ‘Anglo Sacsons’ etc etc, more puns please.

You can catch your SAC fix on the following dates;
17th Dec with Bronto Skylift, Lyons and DJ Vic Galloway @ Stereo, Glasgow 7:30pm £3
19th Dec with Pummel and Rage @ The Bongo Club, Edinburgh 7pm, £6

www.myspace.com/superadventuremusic

Today’s featured band on the Elba Annual are Glasgow’s self proclamed finest hillbilly rockers, Cuddly Shark. After the release of their eponymous debut album in November (Elba review here), things have gone rather well for the two guys, one girl band. A slew of fine reviews for the album has been backed up by being named album of the month on Vic Galloway’s Radio 1 Session in Scotland. They are also doing a live session this week on Vic’s Radio Scotland show, not to be missed. Colin, Jason and Ruth took some time out to tell us what made their year…

Album of The Year

Colin: Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years

Jason: Future Of The Left’s Travels With Myself And Others. Didnt do that much for me to begin with but found i’ve been playing the heck out of it recently! We call that a grower in the industry. Waiting with bated breath for a shotty of the new Heavy Trash LP fae Scott Maple!

Favourite New Band

Colin: Super Adventure Club

Jason: We recently played with Sleepy Vole in Edinburgh. Really enjoyed his Lo-Fi distorted carry on.

Best Gig (Cuddly Shark)

Colin: Aberdeen, Moorings, Nov 09

Jason: had a few fun ones this year but guess it would be the album launch at Captains Rest. It was ace to have it finally out and was a fun night.

Best Gig (Other)

Colin: Faith No More, Peace & Love Festival, Sweden

Jason: Faith No More at The Corn Exchange on the 25th of August. Was amazing!

Best Memories of 2009

Colin: Releasing our debut album. Watching Faith No More with my fellow Swedes

Jason: Releasing two albums this year (Shark’s debut and Le Reno Amps Tear It Open). It’s been a mental busy year. But roll on mental 2010!

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To

Colin: Touring the album and playing places i’ve never been to before.

Jason: A busy mental 2010!

Cuddly Shark do a live session for Vic Galloway this evening on Radio Scotland from 8pm. Their album is out now on Armellodie and can be purchased from the Armellodie Record Store, from all your usual download providers and from Avalanche Glasgow.

They will be embarking on a tour early next year and all the dates can be found on their myspace page here…

Judging by the scene outside my flat this morning, the mist makes it look like Silent Hill, winter has arrived in Glasgow. There has been loads of wee things going around this week that I have meant to blog about but haven’t had the time to. So I guess this is just a wee round up.

I’ve noticed there is a lot of free christmas songs going about the internet and they have all been covered in different blogs but my personal favourite so far has been Merry X-Mas 2009 by Jason Lytle, ex-Grandaddy. It’s the perfect listen on a winters morning, 35 minutes of improvised piano music and something a bit different to listen to. If you download this and enjoy it, I’d definitely recommend the album ‘Solo Piano’ by Gonzales. I’ve dusted that off this week along with other music perfect for winter including Joanna Newsome and Sufjan Stevens. I believe Sister Winter hasn’t been off Chris Elba’s i-pod all December! I could post links to other good free downloads but the truth is, I haven’t kept links for them all and they have probably been covered elsewhere. Peenko’s Friday Freebies is usually has a pretty comprehensive collection of free downloads. I have also been enjoying these advent calendars, plenty good freebies here…

Banquet Records Advent Calendar

Maps Magazine Advent Calendar

On the gig front there have been loads this month which I have wanted to go to but have just not had the time or money to go to all of them. Im disappointed to have missed The Phantom Band at The Arches last night, looks like it would have been a good night. This week, Thursday poses a bit of a problem with Sparrow and The Workshop playing at The Mill and Super Adventure Club, Lyons and Bronto Skylift playing at Stereo. I think it will be Stereo for me, but who knows! Glasgow PodcArt also have their Christmas party at the 13th Note on Thursday with Panda Su, Kid Canaveral, The Darien Venture and Tokyo Knife Attack. The week after, i’ll definitely be in attendance at King Tuts to see The Cinematics on the 23rd. Really looking forward to that!

Right, off to dig out the Christmas DVD’s!

There was a period where everytime I looked at gig listings, Andrea Marini seemed to have a gig! We were lucky enough to have Andrea to Elba Sessions Presents at The Liquid Ship in November. A cracking evening where previous Elba Annual contributors Julia and the Doogans also played. At the time I said that Andrea’s music was effortless and having now had a chance to really listen to his back catalogue, it’s still as soothing as before.

A short and sweet entry today, here’s Andrea’s answers. We’d like to think favourite gig that he played was at The Liquid Ship but far be it from us to put words in his mouth!!!

Album of The Year – Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle, Bill Callahan

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To -Looking forward to finishing my record and hearing the new Vampire Weekend record

All of Andrea’s previous material can be downloaded for absolutely nowt on his bandcamp page.

The last few months have been pretty good in the world of Elba Sessions. Writing blogs, putting on gigs and recording podcasts has put us in touch with loads of really good people who are so passionate about music. Today’s example being The Scottish Enlightenment. Now, chances are I’ve seen them play, but I think it was a very long time ago and my memory is a bit hazy but when I downloaded a couple of tracks from their forthcoming record ‘St Thomas’ there was no way I was going to forget about them this time. It seems this year they have been busy busy recording their album which should see the light of day sometime in 2010 which will also hopefully mean plenty of gigs. Sign me up!

David has been kind enough to let us in on his 2009…

Album of The Year – Everything is Simple by Dan Lyth. He’s a friend, and mixed our album for us, so maybe I’m biased, but the record is incredible. Its like a set of small bright pictures, and I doesn’t sound like anyone else really. He’s probably one of the most under-exposed music makers in Scotland – like proper talented and that.

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – Finally getting our album released. Playing a lot of gigs and getting good at it. Recording a Halloween EP.

The Scottish Enlightenment play the Trampoline all-dayer this Saturday (12/12/09) at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh. Details here…

Also, do your mp3 player a favour and give it an early Christmas gift by downloading a couple of free tracks from their album St Thomas. They can be found here…

Now, I usually like to get the gig reviews/post match up pretty sharpish on the Elba Sessions site so please excuse me for being a bit lax this month! A mixture of putting on two gigs in two nights, organising Elba Annual posts, starting a new project, work and a few beers at the shows, have pushed back what will be (mostly) a photographic memory of the evening! This is what happens when you man the door! (Apologies, for the size of the photos, I just couldn’t get them to fit right this evening but there’s a link at the end to a gallery!)

Up first, for his first of three Elba engagements, was Conor Mason. Just off the boat from Derry, Conor started with a set of songs from his debut LP ‘When It’s Over’.

Next up, one of my new favourite bands, Rags and Feathers. It was the first time I’d seen them and already I can’t wait to go and see them again. They are well worth checking out and a lovely bunch. Julian and Andrea even had an impromptu DJ set on the Opry Wheels of Steel. All I can say is that they are just a huge slice of folky goodness!

The third band of the evening were The Moth and The Mirror. Fresh from a couple of dates with Frightened Rabbit (they also support them at their Dec 22nd ABC show) they were on top form and went down well with everyone. They were the perfect build up to the last band of the night, Le Reno Amps.

This was to be Lindsey’s last show with the Amps and the rest of the band ‘suited’ up for the occasion. After a country heavy opening set, the Amps fired on all cylinders with tracks from all three of their albums, with a couple of extras added in. There was even time for an onstage plea for a new bass player which I am to believe has still not proved successful. Finishing with a rendition of Johnny Cash’s ‘Daddy Sang Bass’, it was a fitting send off for Wolfie.

If anyone knows a bass player…???? (There is a strict criteria!)

Thanks to Steph Mulligan for the pictures, some can be viewed at a better size here…(more to come). Also, a huuuuuuuuuuuge thanks to Mags and her staff at the venue, you are unlikely to find more welcoming venue staff anywhere!

Today sees the fifth installment of our Elba Sessions Annual and our guest today is Julia of Julia and the Doogans. I first came across Julia earlier this year and still play her EP several times a week on the old i-pod. We had Julia and her band along to November’s Elba Sessions Presents…at The Liquid Ship and it was definitely one of my highlights of the year. Here are Julia’s…

Album of The Year – Sea Sew – Lisa Hannigan.

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – Continue to meet really nice people as we go on as a band. Writing and recording new stuff. Releasing some stuff. Being creative and taking each step as it comes. Not rushing and just enjoying what we do and hopefully others will continue to do so too. And getting out and doing more gigs and giving away free fridge magnets!

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a fridge magnet but if you fancy a wee Christmas gift from the band, sign up to their mailing list here. You also get a nice letter from Julia every so often!

Well, we’ve had a busy few days and had no time to post another chapter of the Elba Sessions annual so it’s about time to put that right. Today’s edition features the thoughts of Lynnie Carson. Lynnie has previously recorded at Elba Studios and will release her debut album next year.

Album – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (ed – 2008 but we’ll let you off!)
Favourite New Band – Florence & The Machine
Best Gigs – Fleetwood Mac and Bon Iver
Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – Releasing my first album with my band Hammond’s Folly and gigging it across Scotland. Also seeing Midlake at ABC in Feb.

Lynnie plays Nice and Sleazy’s, Glasgow, tonight with her band, £5 entry. For full details of up coming shows, check out her myspace.

When planning the Elba Sessions Annual, it was only right that the subject of the Grand Ole Opry gig, got a day all to herself. Tonight at the Opry Le Reno Amps will bid a fond farewell to bass player Lindsey. Stepping up to media duties one more time, she answered our questionnaire…

Album of The Year – The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – I’m going on holiday! A real holiday! To Kenya! To see a lion!

Lindsey has her final fling tonight at The Grand Ole Opry with support from The Moth and The Mirror, Rags and Feathers and Conor Mason. Doors are 8pm, £4 (that’s a pound per band!) and it would be amazing to see y’all there!

I don’t think it’s any secret that we here at Elba Sessions *heart* Le Reno Amps. Not only have they popped up on an Elba Podcast and an Elba Sessions Presents…at the Liquid Ship, we’re also helping them give a rousing send off to their bassist this Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry deep in Glasgow’s cowboy country! Indeed, Al and Scott almost single handedly changed the face of the Elba Sessions because for 30 worrying minutes at The Liquid Ship, being bombarded by their patter, we questioned whether the Elba Sessions were actually made for wannabe stand up comics. Thankfully a few months on, we’re still concentrating on bands, and the booking agents of northern England’s working mens clubs are not booking Le Reno Amps. Phew. We’d like to think last months appearance on the cover CD of WORD Magazine and this month’s review in MOJO is down to their appearances with Elba, but we can’t take all the credit…the four of them are affa hard workers!

Album of The Year

Scott: Heavy Trash – “Midnight Soul Serenade”

Al: Bloody Hell just one! I’d probably plump for… De Rosa – Prevention,

but worthy mentions…
St Vincent – Actor
Golden Silvers – True Romance
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Jason Lytle – Yours Truely, The Commuter

Favourite New Band

Scott: Last ‘new to me’ band I heard and keep returning to are Empire of the Sun, reckon that album’s going to be with me for years to come. How very populist of me! I’m also currently very taken with the Dirty Projectors – or possibly not! They did a brilliant track with David Byrne on ‘Dark was the Night’, investigating further I learned they did a concept album in 2007 called ‘Rise Above’, which is (Wiki quote) “…an attempt by band leader Dave Longstreth to remember and reinterpret the entire Black Flag album Damaged after not hearing it for almost 15 years”. Now, I learned to play guitar by listening to Black Flag and the Circle Jerks – unless Dave Longstreth heard Black Flag through a coma from his hospital bed, this album is short on remembering and heavy on re-interpretation! I think I may love it, but it’s too early to say, I may wake up one morning and realise I actually hate it and forever refer to them as fucking BAWC’S! (Brooklyn Art Wanker Cunt Students)

Al: I really love the Golden Silvers album so yeah Golden Silvers. I’ve been listening to Super Adventure Club’s “Chalk Horror!” album a lot of late too, so yeah they’d both be my favourite “new” bands!

Best Gig – Le Reno Amps

Scott: The Windmill in Brixton

Al: Ooh this year, eh, we had a couple of belting London shows at The Windmill in Brixton and The Sheep Walk in Leytonstone back in April, they were both really great. More recently we did a Merchant City Festival show with Super Adventure Club and The Elvis Suicide. It were a lot of fun too.

Best Gig – Other

Scott: Faith No More at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh

Al: I cannae mind what I did last week let alone all year but Morrissey at Barras in May was totally amazing. Wilco at Greenman was brilliant, I was very very merry on cheap red wine. Eh what else, Field Music very recently at Captains Rest in Glasgow was great too. There’s been too many. I should stay in more.

Best Memories of 2009

Scott: Touring and gigging to promote the album – i.e. playing with Brakes, spending time with our friends from Drift and Cottonmouth Rocks. OF COURSE – THE ELBA SESSION AND GIG! YAAY! (ed: clearly a man of taste)

Al: Being right up the front for Field Music, literally felt like I was invading Peter Brewis personal space it was so rammed in the Captains Rest. That band deserve a bigger stage for sure! I was grinning something awful.

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To

Scott: Hope I don’t drop the baby (ed: you’ve been in a band with Al for years. You’ll be just fine!). Looking forward to FINALLY finishing this next album, hoping it sounds as good as its current promise. Also, hoping my PC doesn’t pack in before I finish the bloody album.

Al: I’ve been working hard on setting up a record label with a collective spirit. It’s called Armellodie. I’ve been doing it for a while but having just released our first longplayer (Cuddly Shark’s eponymous debut) I’m getting my teeth into it now and am set to release some corking records next year. You can check out Armellodie at www.armellodie.com. The website is launched in December 09.

I also cannae wait for Spoon at Tuts on Valentines Night. My better half’s not bothered about Spoon but I love them. So much so I persuaded her to get us tickets cos I’m skinto, of course I’ll buy her a drink at it, I’m romantic like that!

Le Reno Amps play ‘The Wolf’s Last Stand‘ at the Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, this Thursday 3rd December with The Moth and The Mirror, Rags and Feathers and Conor Mason.