Elba Sessions

Kim mentioned a few weeks ago that in her advancing years (still a spring chicken really!) she is a bit of a fan of the city fest. However, with all this lovely weather we’ve been having (save for yesterday’s snow here in Glasgow), it would seem a shame not to consider getting some good, fresh, highland air in your lungs. Whilst we aren’t always blessed with great weather here in Scotland there certainly is no shortage of good festivals and every year, another attractive option seems to open up for the festival go-er.

In my opinion, I want a festival to have good music, good food and nice beer and not be too overcrowded. Brew at The Bog (Sat May 5th) is fortunate enough to cover all bases.

Brew at the Bog is the joint brainchild of Bogbain Farm and Brewdog which basically means stunning location + great beer = a topper of a festival. Oh yeah, the line up ain’t too shabby either. There’s quite a few Elba favourites in there including Washington Irving, The Little Kicks, Kitty the Lion and the excellent Mike Nisbet (do we mention him too much on these pages?) along with a whole host of bands from our fair country as well as quite a few from further afield.

The full line-up is below;

Tommy Reilly
Washington Irving
Endor
Stanley Odd
Kitty the Lion
Over the Wall
Three Blind Wolves
Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers
Fatherson
The Little Kicks
Open Swimmer
Jonathan Powell (WALES)
Laki Mera
Matt Norris & The Moon
Beerjacket
Megan Blyth
Bensh (WALES)
Sion Russell Jones (WALES)
KOBI
Little Fire
HelloVideo
Woody Pines (USA)
Mike Nisbet
Midnight Glory
Quickbeam
Open Day Rotation
Cafe Disco
Lost City Soul
Graham Brown
Cherri Fosphate
He Slept on 57

The guys at the farm are working in overdrive just now to get the festival site ready and you can see some snaps and an update on their progress over on the Brew at the Bog blog. I see that they have also confirmed that they will be stocking 77Lager, Punk IPA and my own current personal favourite 5am Saint. (although i may be biased as a Brewdog shareholder!).

Tickets are still on sale but are literally flying out the door so if you want in, you need to be quick. Ticket’s can be purchased here for a very reasonable £45. Camping is also available.

Recently, I have been considering the disparate activities of my flat-mate’s compared to my own. Were I to call upon my favourite bard of the central belt Aidan Moffat to set the scene; his life is the hedonistic romp of The First Big Weekend and he, no doubt, sees my own as the cyclical and serene Cages. My own interpretation of the latter is phrased a little kinder than the current misnomer I’ve been gifted: ‘old lady.’

Such teasing can be entirely attributed to the fact that I consume alcohol in much more reasonable measures than I did whilst at university. Therefore, I reject the implication that I am anything other than the excitable and immature creature that I have always been. That being said, I do have a new appreciation for certain comforts. For instance, the city based festival is something that I’ve always appreciated but now find myself increasingly excited about.

I guess the beauty of the city festival includes accessibility, advanced knowledge of the venue, a good meal being at hand and a warm bed not too far away.  You will not find yourself lacking in lubrication if we compare habits of a ‘major’ outdoor festival should my introduction be instilling this concern. My Triptych days eventually became a sleepless and overworked haze but originally as an attendee those three to five days the festival spanned were a dreamy, inebriated rapture. The talent, the sounds, the many, many drinks. The festival and the sum of its parts will of course dictate this sort of behaviour. For instance, the Glasgow Film Festival won’t lead to any liver damage, (un)suprisingly(?) Celtic Connections might.

My attention has been drawn once again this year to the Stag and Dagger festival.  It boasts over 50 bands and DJs, seven venues and one ticket. The first acts that have been announced have the Elba ‘we’ salivating; with White Denim, Phantom Band, Django Django, Willy Mason and Bear in Heaven all due on May 19th.

The ticket is a very reasonable £17.50 or was £12.00 if you snatched an early bird price. The previous years’ line up promise another impressive selection of acts. I guess the greatest dilemma you will be faced with is what head line act you choose.  Ultimately you may have to sacrifice some mid evening bands to guarantee a spot for whichever finisher you have your eye on though it is a small complaint that exists at all festivals; indoor or out.  Perhaps there isn’t so much different about the two, as Aidan says:

A new life is just a new routine,
a new function for the old machine

I probably was more set for an over the top stadium rock gig when I moseyed into the Arches on for this gig, not because ‘cock-rock’ is my usual taste but because I’d just visited the excellent AC/DC exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery. The focal point was a full wall screen showing live footage of the band. I’m not anywhere close to being a huge AC/DC fan but they’ve got some pretty iconic songs so it was interesting reading about them and seeing some memorabilia. So, with Back in Black ringing in my ears, I nipped across the road to Brewdog Glasgow (i’m a punk now) for a quick pint before setting off to see Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks at the Arches.

It was the first time I’d seen him play with the Jicks and I was trying to forbid any thoughts that he might come out and do a Pavement classics encore. Alas, no such luck but to be fair i did come to see Malkmus and The Jicks, not Pavement.

Sauntering on to the stage, Malkmus is the epitome of effortless cool. You kind of hope that you’re as laid back and cool as him when you’re in your 40′s. Well I do anyway. He sauntered on to stage clutching a copy of The Sun and proceeded to read us the story of reality star, Frankie Cocozza’s, drug and women binges, reading the headline “My Six Nights on Coke”, labelling it the Stephen Malkmus story.

The band started with ‘Gorgeous Georgie’ and then ‘Tigers’, both from Mirror Traffic. The set was fairly heavy on the new album and the songs, I thought, sounded really good live. There were big cheers for lead single ‘Senator’ and we were also treated to an outing of a new song which I am not sure the name of but after doing a bit of digging, it may be called ‘Flowers’.

The main set ended with ‘classics’, ‘Jenny & The Ess Dog, a personal favourite of mine, and ‘Us’. A friend had told me before the gig that he’d seen him play three times in the past, and Jenny had never been part of the setlist, I felt justifiably proud that I could text him back with a smug, “ha ha”.

The encore included a great jam of Jimi Hendrix classic ‘Hey Joe’ and finished with a rendition of Surreal Teenager.

All in all, the Jicks sounded tight. The Mirror Traffic album is a lot more coherent and dare I say ‘poppy’ than previous Jicks albums and it came across well. There was the odd noodling musical interlude but the album works very well live. Add to that, Malkmus’ indie-grunge charm and the show was a bit of a winner.

When I heard that one of my favourite bloggers, Last Year’s Girl, was planning to put on a gig, I was pretty sure it was going to be a good line-up that she would put together. Having read her blog and followed her on Twitter for a while now I’ve got a fair idea of some of the music she likes and I’d started trying to put together in my head what kind of line-up she’d piece together.

The truth is, I wondered about Franz Nicolay and Chris TT but wasn’t sure she’d actually get either, so discounted them. It turns out I was foolish to cos’ by golly gosh she’s only gone and got both! Add to that, Dave Hughes and you’ve got yourself a great line-up.

If anyone isn’t familiar with the aforementioned names then i’ll try to enlighten you.

Franz Nicolay is a one-time member of The Hold Steady, he has a fantastically coiffed moustache and plays the accordion amongst other instruments.

Chris T-T is someone that we’re a big big fan of here at Elba. Having recently completed a run at the Edinburgh Fringe singing the poems of AA Milne, Chris T-T has a musical past spanning something around 7 studio albums. Don’t be surprised to hear shouts for him to sing the ‘one about Eminem’. You might not be that lucky but I’ll be content if we got ‘the acapella one about waiting for the RAC’ -that would be M1 Song. In keeping with us being up to the minute on the latest news, Chris has just released an album of the AA Milne songs which i’ve just finished listening to and it’s really beautiful. You can get it on his bandcamp.

Dave Hughes is a local folk musician who I’m pretty sure i’ve seen support Chris T-T on more than one occasion (i may be wrong). Dave has a wealth of music available on his site for you to hear and download. He’s also just released a 6 track EP on Corporate Records.

The gig takes place on Friday Dec 2nd at The Old Hairdressers, which is a fairly new venue across the lane from Stereo. Tickets are £7 in advance and you can get them on Brown Paper Tickets.

I was thinking yesterday, it’s about time that we probably wrote about some music on here rather than just put up nice photos. A quick word on the photos though, in case you were wondering. There’s no big explanation for them, the thing is, we like taking photos (we’re learning how to be better at doing it) and the blog is a bit of a hobby for myself, Chris and Kim so we thought we’d try and incorporate a few photos that we feel represent us or where we are. It’s doubly (is that a word?) cool for us just now though, cos’ Chris is away seeing Europe and North America and it gives us an excuse to follow his progress. We’re hoping he picks up some good music on the way too, just so his trip isn’t a complete waste of time…

So, to business, or to a good gig and pretty poster…

Sometimes if I hear about a band, where they’re from and find out what label they are on, I’m more likely to prick up my ears and take interest, not always mind but sometimes. Anyway, so I keep hearing the name The Shivers and think, they sound like they’re from Brooklyn or Queens or something (which they are, Queens to be exact), there’s a chance I’ll like them, then when I hear about them again, it’s in a totally different context, The Shivers have signed to Fence Records. Now, I know that i like the sound of a band called The Shivers from Queens and I know I definitely like the output of Fence Records so I figure this is going to be good. And it is…

They are playing a pile of dates around the UK and more closer to Elba’s home they will be playing a gig run by our pal Peenko at Mono in Glasgow on November the 7th (pretty poster above). Support will come in the familiar form of Randolph’s Leap and less familiar to me, but becoming ever more familiar Where We Lay Our Heads. Tickets are £5.

Full UK dates and a video can be found here.

It’s a bit grim and bleak as I look out of our window today. I’m also listening to some melancholic music and I think it’s the weather that does it. However it must be said, these are sometimes some of my favourite days.

The Glasgow Americana Festival 2011 has been taking place over the last few days and ends tomorrow. Our friends over at Hazy Recollections will be spending tomorrow afternoon (Sun 9th October) in their usual environs at Stereo on Renfield Lane looking to bring a bit of sunshine to this Glasgow rain. Kicking off at 2pm, Hazy Recollections gives you the chance to laze away the afternoon listening to some great music and still giving you time to get home for a relaxing evening to iron your shirt or make your packed lunch before the daily grind starts again for another week.

The protagonists of said relaxing afternoon are as follows…The Doghouse Roses, Andrea Glass, The Dirt, Porch Song Anthology and Colin Train. The afternoon starts at 2pm and it’s £6 entry.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend y’all!

I mentioned earlier this week that we would be sharing some details of a gig we were helping to put on, so here it is!

We’re donning our Armellodie tin hats for this one, and doing our best not to get in the way, to help launch the new album from The Hazey Janes. The Dundee band are about to launch their new album and when Armellodie came a calling (whilst General Al is fighting the good fight in China), looking for an extra pair of hands to help out with the Glasgow leg of the album launch there was no way we’d refuse and what better way than to celebrate than have a wee party at the Captain’s Rest.

If a bit of ‘beefed up’ sunny power pop sounds like your bag, then this gig is more than up your street, and being that it’ll be mid-October, who wouldn’t want a bit of sunshine in the evening? As the label say ‘they’re like Big Star on steroids’. Nuff said…

The Hazey Janes will be joined on the night by local band The Brazen Cars and Loudon, who we featured at Elba Sessions Presents…probably around a year ago now.

The gig, as you’ll see from the lovely poster above, takes place on October 18th at the Captains Rest which precedes the release of the ‘The Winter That Was’ on October 24th.

You can download the lead single ‘Carmelite’ from The Winter That Was below.

Carmelite by The Hazey Janes by Armellodie

Over and out…

The title says it all, we’ve got a few things to mention and tell you about, so look sharp.

You may remember a few months back we talked about a couple of releases from South Coast based Lynched Recordings. We thoroughly enjoyed the Clowns 7″ and you can still pick up a free Masked Eldorados of the Americas track here. Anyhoo, the label has come up trumps with a lovely little EP by Birdengine. Turn your pointers here for a little listen and more importantly to buy the digital or 7″ version.

Closer to home, Olive Grove Records have released details of the forthcoming album by The Moth & The Mirror. ‘Honestly, This World’ will be released on October 10th through the usual good record buying channels.

It’s been a while since we dipped our toes in the promoting waters, nearly a year since our voluntary sabbatical, but news of a return to gigging is imminent, so keep your peepers open for that.

In the past, The Liquid Ship has been our home and hopefully we’ll return one day but alas, The Ship has closed and is undergoing a bit of a refurb. We hear it will open again soon under the name The Roxy 171. You can keep up to date with happenings on their facebook page.

We’ve got a theme going here, so, even closer to home, Elba Studio’s have let us know about a wee autumn deal they are running, should you be looking to get some stuff recorded. I’ll leave it to Stephen, heid honcho at the studio, to tell all…

“Hey folks, we are running an Autumn recording deal of 3 days in The Tracking Room at Elba Studios for £450 (usual price £540) or 2 days in The Tracking Room at Elba Studios and 1 day mixing at Underworld Mixing & Production for £480.”

Sounds like a good deal and it’s a cosy wee studio to work in. We record our podcast s there which brings us on to the final piece of housekeeping.

You can hear September’s podcast with Andrea Marini on the mixcloud player below and look out for October’s podcast with Sparrow & The Workshop who are popping down to Elba tomorrow before their jaunt to Europe.

There’s always plenty to tell but that’ll do us for now. Look out in the next few days though, for a post about the aforementioned gig we’re helping to put on with one of our favourite bands and labels. It’s exciting stuff!

We’re a bit down in the dumps here at Elba, and it’s all because of the poster above. Yeah, sure were pretty excited at the line up, all of the bands have played at our Elba Sessions gigs and if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, then I really don’t know what is! No, we’re a bit glum because it will be the last appearance for the foreseeable future of Le Reno Amps. They’re all off to explore pastures new. Al’s off to China to teach kids doric, Jase is in Elgin, Mandy’s going to France (on Holiday) and Scott will be conquering Castlemilk Chateau Lait (well so their facebook brags anyway).

We’ve had some good times with the amps so we’ll sorely miss them (like a hole in the head hurts) but the gig should be the perfect send off.

Joining Le Reno Amps on the night will be label-mates Chris Devotion & The Expectations and Cuddly Shark along with bad ass cowboys Bad Bad Men.

All the fun kicks of around 7pm on Friday 5th August and it’s a mere £5 to get in. The facebook event page can be found here

I quite liked that it was appropriate for me to use the title of a Public Enemy track for this post, y’know the song that Anthrax featured on?

Anyway, the title of the post isn’t about rap music, it’s about noisy stuff.

Firstly, we were delighted to see that our friends at Brain Burner, after a brief hiatus, have returned to The Liquid Ship for some more experimental noise gigs. The first in the current run will take place on Aug 14th with a 9pm start. On the bill are Now Wakes The Sea whose ‘lush ambient folk drones’ we gave a live debut to at one of our Elba gigs last year. There’s some free NWTS downloads here if you wish to have a listen. Also in the line-up is Boom Edan, Neil A.Simpson, Falconry and Uzuruzu. These nights are always ‘a little different’ and they’re free so get yourself along to it if you’re stuck for something to do on the 14th! The event page is here.

Keeping on the same lines, we picked up this free download by The Masked Eldorados of the Americas recorded at the School of Noise in Falmouth. Now, that’s the second mention of Falmouth on this blog in the past few weeks, which is a bit strange for a blog based in Glasgow, but we came by this download after a recommendation from Lynch(ed) Records who are based down there. It turns out now that Lynch(ed) have ‘signed’ them up and they’ve got an EP out called If You Are Prepared To Eat It You Can Kill It.

The members of the band have been kept under lock and key with their live performance being performed by two men behind animal masks. Their numbers have now swelled to four and the EP sounds rather different to the live drone improvisation mentioned earlier. What we have on the E.P. is four instrumental ‘pop’ tracks lasting around 3-5 minutes each. It was absolutely not what I expected to sound like but it’s enjoyable listening with riffs and hooks abound. The tracks were all recorded remotely with each member retreating to their own home studio to bash out their parts of the record. It’s a worthy listen from a label who seem to really be putting out a really varying selection of music.

As a footnote, after going on to Lynch(ed) bandcamp I notice that they have the new single from Birdengine coming out at the end of this month. If you aren’t already familiar with Birdengine, we’d recommend you right that wrong.