Elba Sessions

I’m very excited about this month’s line up. In truth, I’m excited with every month’s line up but this month it’s gonna be a good un! Headlining for us this month is RM Hubbert. A stalwart of cult Glasgow band, El Hombre Trajeado, he has recently released his debut album ‘First & Last’ which is a gorgeous collection of, if you want a description in a very flowery kind of way, ‘instrumental acoustic sketches’. It also has the perfect amount of flamenco in there so what better music to listen to in the summer.

Joining ‘Hubby’ on the bill are Croy’s finest, Campfires in Winter. These lads are currently a drummer down so they are going to treat us to an acoustic set. I’ve not seen them live before but some respected, and some less respected bloggers (i.e Peenko (wink!!)) tell me very good things!!

Finally, a late but very welcome addition to the bill is Yusuf Azak. I downloaded the two EP’s from his myspace page and have listened to them regularly since. I find it hard to describe Yusuf’s music but the best way to put it in layman’s terms would be hushed vocals with some nice guitar playing. In fact, I quite liked Matthew at Song, By Toad’s description from a while back. “like a ghostly set of old bellows, wheezing in and out and managing to rather surprisingly generate some fantastic songs whilst doing so“. And mentioning Song, By Toad, Yusuf may have a release out on the label later this year.

Gig Info:

Where: The Liquid Ship, Great Western Road, Glasgow
When: Thursday July 1st 2010 at 9pm
Tax: Free

Just when we’d got the podcasts up on the Elba Sessions website, all shiny and available for download…they went silent. We hadn’t given up on doing them, simply, life gets busy and more importantly, Elba Studios got busy. Indeed, a mixture of work, life and a little bit of play restricted us to blog posting and putting on the Elba Sessions gigs. Thankfully, we cleared space in our diary for one of our favourite new acquaintances.

Not content with just having them along to headline June’s Elba Sessions gig, we thought we’d also drag them into the studio and ask those really probing questions…well, within reason!

So without further ado, here we go, June’s podcast with the fabulous Blue Sky Archives…

Blue Sky Archives June 2010 podcast by elbasessions

Blue Sky Archives EP is available for purchase here

When it comes to liking music, I have many many weaknesses. It’s fair to say if one or several of the following things are present in any music that I listen to, there’s a chance I’m going to like it. These weaknesses may include, but are not restricted to, banjos, ukelele’s, pianos with strings and male/female duo’s. Bella Ruse falls into the latter.

I’d come across one of their songs a few months ago and their myspace page has sat in my browser’s ‘To Check Out’ folder ever since. I noticed that Peenko had a link to download an EP by them in his Friday Freebies last month and this was just the kick up the backside I needed to give them a proper listen, and I’m glad I did!

The Bella Ruse EP is a lovely collection of songs. The vocals are endearing and intimate and the acoustic guitar understated. Push On, the EP’s opener is probably the stand out track but every track is a winner. I’ve seen them described as folk jazz and whilst that description generally doesn’t grab me, it probably sums them up quite well. The folk comes through in the songwriting and the voice is very soulful and reminiscent of great jazz/soul singers like Ella Fitzgerald. There’s even a track in French, another one of my weaknesses!

If you’re curious, you can check them out at the below places!

Official Website
Bandcamp
MySpace

A friend commented to me before this gig, that going to see Teenage Fanclub was “just like catching up with old friends”. He’s not wrong. The room is filled with couples and groups of men who clearly have been acquainted with Teenage Fanclub from the early days, probably even before the release of their first album ‘A Catholic Education’. Nobody appears to be able to get around the room without seeing a face they haven’t seen since, well, probably the last Glasgow TFC gig! It’s a nice atmosphere and an atmosphere which I’ve experienced every time i’ve seen TFC.

Indeed, I feel that in my mid-twenties that I’m a youngster in the room, something that doesn’t happen often at gigs these days but despite my age, I remember Bandwagonesque as my earliest TFC memory. Growing up with a brother eight years my elder, I always wanted to listen to whatever music he was listening to. (Incidentally, just done some research and I would have been around 8 when Bandwagonesque was out. Are kids these days listening to The Phantom Band or even the new Teenage Fanclub album. I kinda hope so!)

The sun was shining again on Wednesday evening and really, there is no better weather to get you in the mood for a bit of Teenage Fanclub action. Veronica Falls kicked off the evening as support and it took me a while to decide on them. I think a few sound issues and the slowly filling up venue took it’s toll but the songs sounded good and I’ll definitely be trying to check them out again, maybe in a smaller venue.

The TFC set was mainly made up with songs from the new album ‘Shadows’ as well as a collection of classics from Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain with a few others added for good measure. New songs Shock and Awe, The Past and recent single Baby Lee sounded just as good as you would have expected all the old classics to sound. Personal favourites for me on the night were the tracks from the ‘…Northern Britain’ album. Perfect for an early summers eve. Possibly a surprise for me as I regard Grand Prix as my favourite TFC album.

The main set ended with fan favourite Sparky’s Dream but the encore was a real treat. ‘Howdy!’ opener I Need Direction and Everything Flows from first album, ‘A Catholic Education’ finished off proceedings…or so we thought. After the house lights began to come back up we were treated to a rendition of Star Sign. A perfect end to a perfect evening!

Setlist:

Start Again
Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
The Past
It’s All In My Mind
Don’t Look Back
Baby Lee
Can’t Feel My Soul
Shock and Awe
I Don’t Want Control Of You
About You
Sweet Days Waiting
Your Love Is The Place I Come From
The Concept
Ain’t That Enough
When I Still Have Thee
Sparky’s Dream

Today Never Ends
I Need Direction
Everything Flows

Starsign

The new album ‘Shadows is out now from all good retailers!