Elba Sessions

The other day we spoke about the Barmellodie gig this Friday night however, if you are looking for some pre-gig, um, gigging, we’d heartily recommend you have a wee visit to The Flying Duck where Jim from Aye Tunes will be celebrating a multitude of birthdays with Verse Metrics, The Big Nowhere and Black International (whose album we also like around here). It’s only 3 bucks to get in and the fun starts at 8pm.

They say all good things must come to an end at some point and with that sentiment so it is that we say farewell to Barmellodie at Bar Bloc (Friday June 17th). Whether or not the nights will resume at some point, who knows but it’s fair to say the last 6 months have provided us with some great live music and sketchy dj’ing by the resident disc jockeys. There have been too many highlights to pick only a few and I’m sure that list will grow with the final night’s action.

Heading the bill are Armellodie stalwarts Cuddly Shark fresh from writing and demo’ing new tracks, they played at our 1st birthday party and they really aren’t one to be missed. Joining Cuddly Shark will be Galoshins, Lady North and recent Armellodie signings Something Beginning With L (new album is quality, check it oot) who you will no doubt spot from afar as they will be travelling in this colourful creation.

As ever, the fun starts at around 10:30pm with bands and DJ’s, it’s Peenko playing Kid Canaveral this month, going on until around 3am. It’s free if you turn up early enough too!

Another month and another new presenter for the podcast. This month it was Kim’s turn to pose the questions and our guest down the Hidden Lane at Elba was Mike Nisbet.

It’s fair to say that we got a bit giddy when we heard the new tracks by Mike Nisbet a few months back, we’ve now wrapped our ears around the new album, titled ‘Vagrant’, and it doesn’t disappoint. Mike popped by Elba a few weeks back to chat about why it was so great to tour with Washington Irving, writing songs whilst not really having a fixed home, whether the East coast are a bit more melancholic than the West and his forthcoming album and the launch for it, which takes place at The Ivy on Argyle Street, Glasgow next week (Thurs 9th June).

More info on the launch can be found here at the Facebook event page and to stream/buy the album, just manoeuvre your mice or trackpads here.

Mike Nisbet (June 2011) by elbasessions

This Friday sees the penultimate Barmellodie night in it’s current run at Bloc.

The line up includes Kill The Captains from Sheffield, a pretty formidable act live, expect plenty noise and energy. We caught up with them about a year ago when they released their album and it’s good to see them heading back to Glasgow.

Joining KTC on the bill are Popcorn Fiend, fresh from their EP launch at the Captains Rest last month. They’ve got a song called ‘A Fucking Epiphany’, which is good enough for me!

Also playing on the night are Pensioner, Vendor Defender were due to play but have now decided to call it a day so excuse them from the attached poster. If that wasn’t enough, Jim from Aye Tunes will be spinning Skee Lo on the decks after the bands, it’s free before 11pm and only £2 thereafter which you really can’t argue with!!

11pm Popcorn Fiend
11.45pm Kill The Captains
12:30am Pensioner
1:15 til close Dancing/Fighting/Jim Ayetunes and ArmelloDJ’s.

Randolph’s Leap, after selling out their first EP ‘Battleships & Kettle Chips’, have now released a double A-side single titled ‘Counting Sheep’. It came out today on Olive Grove Records and can be bought from the usual download outlets, links are at the bottom of the page.

To go along with the single release they are having a wee party to celebrate at Mono tomorrow night (17th May). Joining them on the bill are Burnt Island and the brilliant Moth & The Mirror. I had just been thinking recently that I hadn’t seen the Moth & The Mirror’s name about recently so it was good to see them on the lineup!!

Bandcamp
iTunes
other quality emporiums of download

With a blog title like that, I’ve now got Super Furry Animals in my head. Anyway, if your Sunday afternoon is looking a little bare this weekend (I suspect football fans of a certain two clubs may have other plans this Sunday), you should pop in past Stereo for Hazy Recollections. We’ve mentioned HR lots in the past but this weekend’s show is a bit of a special one.

The show sees the launch of HR founder Findlay Napier’s new album ‘File Under Fiction’. I’ve had a wee listen and it’s definitely an album for the summer, lots of melodies and sing-a-long choruses. Joining Findlay on the bill will be Endor, The Hidden Lane Choir, James Mackenzie & The Aquascene and Little Fire along with house band and Findlay’s album cohorts The Bar Room Mountaineers.

Tickets are £5 and can be purchased in advance here or alternatively you can get on the door. I believe they are also doing a ticket and signed album deal for £15.

Hazy Recollections runs between 2pm and 5pm on Sunday 15th May at Stereo, Renfield Lane, Glasgow.

Johnny Reb have taken the title recently, along with a select few in my music collection, as one of my ‘Favourite New Bands’. They released their ‘debut exertions’ (first collection of songs resembling an album but preferably don’t call it a ‘debut album’) entitled ‘The Portugal Years’. A creative bunch this lot, the album being fittingly named after their time recording the tracks in Portugal with Morrisey’s axe-man Boz Boorer.

The Portugal Years rather kindly is available for free download over at Johnny Reb’s bandcamp page so point your clickers over here.

If seeing if bands can cut it in the flesh rather than on record is more your thing, then it’s a bit of a stroke of luck that Johnny Reb play Nice n’ Sleazy’s in Glasgow tomorrow night (13th May) along with Edinburgh School For The Deaf who are also brilliant, and The Amazing Snakeheads.

The title says it all really, or maybe it doesn’t actually. If you scroll your mouse down you will see that the last time we posted, it was still the month of March, and there was over a week left of that month. It’s not the case that we’ve been up to nothing mind you, life gets busy and sadly the things you love get pushed to the side a little bit. After all, it’s more important to be able to put sneakers on your kids’ feet right?!

When I say drought we’re talking strictly in a writing sense, getting the words into my keyboard so that they appear in wordpress and end up on the Elba blog. You see, this is a time issue, pure and simple. It’s not because there is a lack of things to write about, if I could pay myself a lovely salary I’d do it all day but needs must and off to work I go each day.

So here I am, finding time in my complete lack of time, to moan about not having the time to write. Kind of ironic, maybe I’ve just wasted a precious 200 words that could have been better spent giving a lot more attention to some of the things I’m sure I’ll go on to mention.

As I have said, there’s no lack at all of good things to write about. I’ve found an abundance of new things to listen to recently and I’ve also filled in a few gaps with old albums I’ve not ever had the chance or even inclination to listen to at the time. I found that I’m really liking the lo-fi/west coast (USA) type bands at the moment, y’know some of the bands who sounded like the kind of band my brother listened to in the early to mid nineties. Smith Westerns, Ringo Deathstarr, Girls (okay so this ones not just out but I’ve been listening to it for the last year), Lower Dens and have I rekindled my interest with Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Best Coast in anticipation of the former’s new album and latter’s gig at The Arches on the 27th of this month.

Talking of things I’m liking at the moment, I’ve received a couple of really great records in my emails recently that I really must mention.

The first EP in question here is The Whittling EP from Andrew Lindsay and The Coat Hooks. Chock full of jangly guitars and sing-a-long melodies it’s been the perfect listen for me on my way to the office in the morning. The Coat Hooks include, amongst others, Shambles Miller and Matthew of Elba favourites Loch Awe. If you fancy giving it a go, you can head over to their bandcamp where you can purchase either a digital copy of the album for £3 or a nicer wee package including badges, a note and some demos for a couple of quid more.

Knowing of my slight penchant for their music, Johnny Reb have sent me over their first album, or ‘debut exertions’ as they have put it. It was recorded in Portugal with Boz Boorer, him being Morrisey’s guitarist and that, and it will be released through their Bandcamp on April 18th. It really is rather excellent.

Also, if you’ve not yet picked up the Song, By Toad label sampler yet, you really should. It can be downloaded for free over here. My personal favourite is the Lach track. I’m looking forward to hearing that album when it comes out in July.

I’ve not just been hiding away listening to records though, I’ve been to a couple of cracking gigs by Deerhunter and Josh T.Pearson (Skinny Review Here) in the last couple of weeks and rather looking forward to seeing Marina Celeste and Best Coast over the next weeks.

Also coming up on the 21st this month, three days after the official release date, is the Le Reno Amps album launch at The Captain’s Rest. Not only are LRA playing, obviously, it’s a monstrous line-up completed by The Douglas Firs, Super Adventure Club and Galoshins. It will be awesomes!!!! You can stream or buy the album over here!

Anyways, we’ll be back again shortly with more stuff, hopefully in a more timeous manner giving a bit more focus to stuff.

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I’m sure we’ve all seen the awful pictures and devastation that the earthquake and subsequent tsunami has caused over the last few weeks in Japan. We just wanted to highlight a couple of the many worthwhile fundraising efforts that are being made to help send a bit more aid to the region.

The good people over at Audio Antihero have released a compilation with a staggering 34 (THIRTY FOUR) tracks featuring the likes of Meursault, Nosferatu D2, Darren Hayman and Le Reno Amps. The donation for this album is as follows, straight from the horses mouth;

“It’s priced at £3.99 to those of you who can’t afford much and the ‘pay what you want’ option invites those of you with a little extra to dig a little deeper. Thank you”

The proceeds will be split between the following, Japan Society, Shelterbox, Red Cross, Save The Children and The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. You can buy the album, titled ‘Bob Hope Would…’ here

Meanwhile, on the live front here in Glasgow, there will be a fundraising gig for the Red Cross taking place at Stereo next Wednesday 30th March. The line up includes a Sparrow and The Workshop/Strike The Colours mash up with a Jill O’Sullivan and Jenny Reeve collaborative effort, Haight Ashbury and Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit. Tickets are a fiver in and are likely to shift fast. You can buy in advance here.

It’s that time of the month again where we give a wee nod to our buddies over at Armellodie and mention this months Barmellodie residency at Bloc in Glasgow.

This months musical shenanigans come in the shape of jazz/rock/pop adventurers ‘Super Adventure Club’. If you haven’t seen SAC play, prepare to be dazzled and wonder just how the three of them could actually be that darn good! They are going to be playing their debut album ‘Chalk Horror!’ in it’s entirety.

Musical interludes on the evening will also come in the shape of The Brazen Cars, Hagana and From Paris to Prison.

Also, there’s usually a guest DJ but it seems the guys at Armellodie were either a bit worried about Aye Tunes playing Skee Lo or they knew that nothing was going to better our effort from January along with the choices of Crash Test Dummies and Dire Straits from last months post-gig resident.

Barmellodie takes over Bar Bloc this Friday (18th March). It’s Free until 11pm and then £2 thereafter.

Dee it!