Elba Sessions

Whilst i’m off in Paris munching on amazing pastries and lazing about here, there are some pretty good gigs going on in Glasgow.

First up, on Tuesday night is the A-T Society Fundraiser at Stereo. On the bill is former Elba Sessions guest, My Cousin I Bid You Farewell along with Ross Clark and Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit. It’s all for a great cause and you can read a bit more about the A-T Society here.

On Thursday (15th July), Elba favourites Cuddly Shark play the Captain’s Rest. Word on the street is that those sharklings have been holed up on the Moray-shire coast writing some new material so expect a mix of old an possibly new songs. Also on the bill are The Lava Experiments and The Red Show.

Thursday night also sees the start of ‘Summer Nights at King Tuts’ featuring a stellar line up over the next couple of weeks of local unsigned indie darlings and cool kids! There is quite a few cracking looking line-ups over the fortnight and it all kicks of with a headline set from Silver Columns including support from MOPP, Midnight Lion and Nevada Base. You can check the full line up here and suffice to say a few of the gigs look pretty appealing to us at Elba. Astral Planes w/ Cancel The Astronauts and Galleries, French Wives, and Kitty The Lion with Julia and The Doogans on the same bill (oh lordy!).

On Saturday night our June guests, in both the pod and at The Liquid Ship, Blue Sky Archives, play Nice n Sleazy along with We See Lights. However, if it’s a blogging mecca that you are after, get yourself down to the 13th Note for the second Peenko vs Aye Tunes gig. The line up includes we’re only afraid of NYC, Randolph’s Leap (who incidentally have supplied one of my favourite lyrics for a long time and have an EP titled ‘Eeerie Indie Adam’) and Little Yellow Ukuleles. It costs a fiver to get in and if the last gig was anything to go by, you’d be advised to get your tickets in advance. You can buy from Peenko here or the much more generous Aye Tunes here! I say more generous cos you get a couple of downloads of the bands that are playing. Great idea!

It is hump day again. We take it upon ourselves to be as moody as we wish until the end of the working day when we officially reach the latter part of the week. Then and only then shall we be in a place where we might communicate without a slight snarl. It is in this spirit that Phil and I address some of the goings on in music land this week. Please enjoy and feel free to join in.

6 Music
Phil: I have mixed feelings on this, well not mixed really, it seems sad for them to get rid of it. Not a George Lamb fan and although I don’t generally listen to the radio, it would probably be the first place I would turn the dial to. They certainly seem to be a high profile supporter of less well-known music.
Kim: I am also quite adamant that George Lamb is the devil. That aside, there is a whole host of programming and content here, not to mention the support for emerging and left-field talent that it would really be sad to lose.

Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
P: I’ll give it a go soon I’m sure but I’ve never got round to their first album. Controversial?
K: Well yes and I’m taking your delay on this one quite personally. Frightened Rabbit are the working band that got far thanks to some clever US TV drama syncs. I really got attached to The Midnight Organ Fight. I’m really liking the sound of the new album. Swim Until You Can’t See Land is sorta like a folkier version of Pete Townshend’s Let My Love Open the Door.
P: I’ll take your word on this. Come back to me in a couple of weeks.

Musicbox
P: http://elbasessions.co.uk/2010/02/musicbox-march-2010/ – Antimatter and our big brother Elba Studios showcase a unique night of music and photography at Universal this Thursday (4th March).
K: Any multi-art based event always intrigues me. I’m sad I’m not free to head along to this on Thursday.
P: Favourite multi arts event? Ballads of The Book at The Tramway in (07??) was pretty good! I miss Triptych.
K: It was 2007. I missed quite a bit of this due to all the effort and exhaustion of putting the festival together. It was a perfect pulling together of all of the elements from the album. Plus Jenny Soep was there doing some art in action. Me likey.

King James – Elba Podcast
P: King James podcast continues to sound beautiful. Listen/Download ‘here’.
K: Simple Folk Radio are also (and quite rightly) keen on this.
P: Indeed, Johny in retrospect finds the interview slightly Spinal Tap. Personally a walking tour of Devon and Cornwall sounds spectacular!

Macca at Hampden
P: I really feel like I should go and see him? I mean he’s a little questionable, if you believe what you read but he was a Beatle and it’s only a 20 minute walk. I’d imagine it won’t be cheap though. In fact, this could turn into a summer of geriatric shows, I’m planning Crosby, Stills and Nash too but tempted to pay the extra £40 on tickets for that one to see them when I’m in Paris rather than at the cow shed (sorry, SECC).
K: Ugh the price tag alone would put me off both of these. The problem is, once great performers still draw huge crowds and a lot of the time it just isn’t worth it. I’m definitely one who is against this revival spirit floating around right now. I get that the ‘I SAW THEM IN THE FLESH’ brag/closure is something that people strive for. However, the ‘I saw the wrinklier, 30 years after their heyday, not really all that talented anymore version’ is the less impressive reality.
P: Yeah, that’s the other half of my brain speaking. Although only with Macca. Crosby, Stills and Nash are fantastic. Stephen Stills probably never was always there anyway!

Other interesting gigs
P: Burnt Island (who I am quite digging at the moment) host their single launch on Sunday at Mono along with The Second Hand Marching Band, Benni Hemm Hemm and everyones favourite miserable storyteller Aidan Moffat.
K: Burnt Island are the sort of band that make me breath a little slower and steadier. Their music is that teetering on the edge of heartbreaking. Sorrowful and beautiful. This is a nice little line up for Mono. My heart as ever belongs to Arab Strap and all the bearded glory of Mr Moffat.

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!