Elba Sessions

I sometimes find myself sceptical of a split single or EP. I find that on many occasions the bands don’t particularly compliment one another or they are completely different styles or just plainly that I like one band and not the other, probably with no real reason.

However, with the above release, I most definitely like the whole release. I’m familiar with Rob St.John by name and not a huge amount of his music and I’m not familiar with Ian Humberstone at all, although I get the feeling that shouldn’t be the case and it’s probably completely through fault of my own. There is a cohesion to the 7″ which kind of tallies up when I read the accompanying press release to find that the pair have collaborated together in the past and that both tracks were recorded in Humberstone’s kitchen on a Tascam reel to reel.

There’s something about Ian Humberstone’s voice which reminds me a bit of Bill Callahan but I’m not really one for making observations and comparisons so we’ll leave it at that. It is a subtle and gently crafted release, both songs different but very much alike. It meanders along beautifully and if truth be told, I get a bit disappointed when we reach the end, although, I can always go back to the start and listen again.

The 7″ is available now from Song, By Toad records and various other outlets. You can peruse and make your purchase here.

‘Your Phantom Limb’ is the first single from Rob St John’s album which is due for release on Song, By Toad Records in November. He takes off to London, Oxford and lands back in Edinburgh for a couple of release shows. We’d like to point out here that if you are in London, he’s playing with the fantastic Birdengine, so it should be quite a gig. Full dates are below;

14th Oct London – King’s Place with Viking Moses and Birdengine
15th Oct Oxford – Modern Art Oxford with Viking Moses and Petrels
22nd Oct Edinburgh – Pilrig St. Paul’s with Meursault, eagleowl & Viking Moses

Rob St. John & Ian Humberstone Split 7″ by Song, by Toad

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.

Our final annual comes from Elba Sessions’ constant and reasoned voice; Phil. You will be well acquainted with him by now I’m sure.  For those of you who are not: he is a man of great taste, intelligence, wit and charm.  As a great driving force behind everything Elba I’ve found him to be exceptionally motivated and particularly good at knowing what buttons to push to get the most out of everyone he works with.  It is holding all these elements together and only ever snapping when things have reached well passed boiling point which leads us to his alter ego.  With a quiet and calm demeanor, a patience like no other, an ability to maintain organization even whilst working under potentially incendiary conditions and the occasional (and very understandable) melt down, who else could we select?

All that sucking up needed balancing out with something ridiculous. Ironically he will, of course, love this comparison. Here is Phil’s account of 2010:

Album of The Year - This is a tough one. There have been quite a lot of albums I’ve really liked over the course of the year and the title of ‘favourite’ constantly seems to change. I think ‘Method’ by Thirty Pounds of Bone gets the win though. It is an honest album and really nicely put together and produced. For the first couple of months, Los Campesinos! and Field Music would also be in with a shout as well as notable mentions for Chris T-T, Meursault, Super Adventure Club and The National.

Best Gig - There have been several people I have really enjoyed seeing this year, RM Hubbert, King James, Super Adventure Club (possibly the most fun that can be had watching a band, as well as the most jealous at how ridiculously good individually they are). Best gigs are usually defined for me by notable things or songs that were played. In that sense, there have been two or three great gigs for me in 2010. The National, which seems to be on everyone’s lips really stands out just for the whole occasion. Mr November, including a tour of the crowd by singer Matt Berninger, was a biiig standout as well as the completely unplugged sing-along to Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks.

Also, on two occasions I’ve seen a band play a song this year that has just made the hairs on my neck stand up. When The Scottish Enlightenment bellowed into Little Sleep at the end of the set at their album launch in the 13th Note and when they played it at The Liquid Ship on one of our Elba gigs, i knew that there was something pretty special happening.

Favourite New Band(s) - Probably could make a lengthy list here but I’ll try to keep it short. Bella Ruse play the kind of sweet indie folk pop that I’m just a sucker for. I’ve also been digging Caitlin Rose, The Mariner’s Children and more locally Johnny Reb, She’s Hit, Yusuf Azak and The Douglas Firs.

Musical Memories of 2010 - Putting on some great bands at The Liquid Ship as part of our Elba Sessions gigs…Chris’ boundless enthusiasm for Springsteen…Kim’s boundless enthusiasm for music and her awesome writing…Kim and Chris’ support and patience when I get ‘the rage’… The National at the Academy…Willy Vlautin at the Captains Rest (if indeed that was this year)…The return of Le Reno Amps…Making some new musical acquaintances…oh, and being thanked in the sleeve notes for the Thirty Pounds of Bone album was pretty sweet.

Hopes/Plans (music) for 2011 - To kick on with Elba a lot more. I really want to get a good focus going on the blog, going for a bit of a wider viewpoint on the music we all love here at Elba rather than the same old. We’ll also get the Elba Sessions gigs going again in a few months, peepers on the lookout for bands to play already. I’m also looking forward to Dj’ing at the first BARmellodie night at Bloc on January 21st. Also, I want to start getting along to a lot more gigs and seeing some bands to get excited over.

So that’s us for 2010. Have a grand old time this evening!  We wish you a bonne année and we will return before you have fully recovered fully from the celebrations.

We’ve had a couple of good nights with Yusuf at Elba this year, including an appearance at our birthday gig in October, and felt it was only right to include him in our Elba Annual for 2010. He released his debut album ‘Turn on The Long Wire‘ on Song, By Toad Records a couple of weeks ago and it’s an absolute gem. He’s also appearing live in session with Vic Galloway on the old wireless tonight (15th December).

I mentioned the other day that Matthew from Loch Awe was the fastest respondent in music. We’ll stick Yusuf at the other end of that scale, but it’s worth the wait!

Album Of The Year - ‘Dark Night Of The Soul’ – Dangermouse and Sparklehorse. I had already listened to this loads before its official release. There’s some stunning songs on here, ‘star eyes’ stands out for me. Also, ‘Have One On Me’ – Joanna Newsom

Best Gig (Band) - I supported Lou Barlow at Stereo in Febuary and the crowd was excellent. Also Lou gave me permission to dive into his Budvars and camembert.

Best Gig (Other) - The Versus night at the Voodoo room, Edinburgh with Japanese War Effort, Dupec & Miaoux Miaoux. what happens here is the bands cover each others songs and collobarate at different points. along with some other guest slots, what you get is a night of continuous music with almost each song having a different line-up. with the acts being excellent, this was a really fresh approach to putting on a gig and made it very enjoyable.

Meursault’s Glasgow launch was superb. i seen then a couple of years ago at the flying duck with only a few people in the crowd, to see the Captains Rest packed out was very pleasing, and for me it was almost like a celebratory atmosphere. it was my first exposure to their full line-up including cello and the sound was huge.

Favourite New Bands - The Japanese War Effort. Great songs and prolific. I suggest you get the EP and mini album he has made available free to dowload from his Bandcamp Page here http://thejapanesewareffort.bandcamp.com/

I was also on the bill with Inspector Tapehead last week who played a great set.

Musical Memories of 2010 - The entrance music of the snooker players at the world masters. Mark King had ‘You Can Do It By (Put Your Back Into It)’ by Ice Cube. Marcu Fu had ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by Black Eyed Peas and Jimmy White had a Dire Straits song of some description. Biggest disappointment was Ronnie O’Sullivan walking on to a tune by The Hours. Ronnie we know you’re a genius but sort it out.

Hopes/Plans for 2011 - To get my new album ready pronto. Other than that; get back into the dating game and ease off on the dairy.

You can visit Yusuf here on his myspace page and get your hands on a copy of his album through Song, By Toad here.

Following up our chat with Stephen at Elba Studios and Matthew from Loch Awe we are brought in a perfect circle with the second band who will be heading to Elba Studios in January to record as part of Creative Scotland’s YMI Demo Fund, Trapped Mice.

Brian took some time out from touring with The Last Battle to answer a few questions before their show at the Garage in London tonight. I think a couple of us here at Elba are in agreement with the memory of the year!!!

Album of The Year - I’ve been finding it hard to choose between Admiral Fallow and Meursault for best album of the year but I think the Meursault album gets it. Both albums are excellent but All
Creatures Will Make Merry has the dynamics and atmosphere which Boots Met My Face slightly lacks.

Best Gig (Band) - Trapped Mice at The Scottish Enlightenment’s album launch at the Wee Red Bar, great sound and I think we played better than any previous gig. I’m currently on tour with The Last Battle and will be playing at the Garage in London tomorrow night which could be my biggest gig yet.

Best Gig (by someone else…) - Alexisonfire at the o2 ABC in November was my gig of the year. An excellent performance all round and very much a change of pace from the gigs I usually go to. The Twilight Sad at The Liquid Rooms comes a close second though.

Favourite New Band(s) - A few of these might not be technically new this year but some of the best bands I’ve been turned onto in the last year include Loch Awe, Yahweh, I Build Collapsible Mountains and Admiral Fallow.

Musical Memories of 2010 - The National at the O2 Academy when vocalist Matt Berninger jumped into the crowd and went all the way to the back of the venue during Mr November, barely missing a note on the way then making his way back to the stage and going seamlessly into Fake Empire was pretty memorable.

Hopes/Plans (music) for 2011 - I’ll be heading to Elba studios in January to record a new EP with Trapped Mice and I’m hoping to be able to release a full album and go for a short tour with them by the end of 2011. There’s been mention of a new Last Battle EP and being the new member I’m looking forward to getting some of my own ideas down on record. I’m hoping to continue what has been a successful first few months of Found In Sound on FreshAir.org.uk and get even more of my favourite bands in for sessions.

You can find Trapped Mice and get a few free downloads here

Today’s Elba Annual post comes in the form of a band from Edinburgh who we featured on these very pages back in August after their release of their brilliant EP ‘Artificial Life From A Digital Sea’. Also, as we mentioned in Thursday’s annual post, Loch Awe will be heading west to record some tracks at Elba Studios early next year.

Matthew, the quickest replying musician in Scotland, gave us these answers on his 2010…

Album of The Year - This is a super hard question to answer as there’s been so much good music out this year. I actually came down to a shortlist of four, but one of them really stood out, and it was Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry. It’s just truly original – I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever heard anything else quite like it. It also helps that it perfectly suits the blizzard-like weather we’re currently experiencing. (In case you were wondering, the other three are Gil Scott-Heron, The Phantom Band and Kanye West)

Best Gig (Loch Awe) - Well we only played one gig this year, back in September. It was our very first show, and it was excellent fun. Hopefully we’ll be a bit more active next year!

Best Gig (by someone else…) - Can I pick a festival? If so then Retreat! Festival in Edinburgh really stood out (far better than Glastonbury, if only because the chance of me getting a blood infection in a church hall is almost nil, whereas it turns our Worthy Farm is bloody deadly). If not then Withered Hand & The Second Hand Marching Band at Stereo in June (I think) was absolutely brilliant. It was my first experience of SHMB’s music, and it totally blew me away. And, of course, Withered Hand were, as ever, great!

Favourite New Band(s) - There have been loads, so I’ll just do a wee list: So Many Animal Calls, Evenings, Yusuf Azak, Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers, Ute, Tangled Hair, The Scottish Enlightenment and Reverie.

Musical Memories of 2010 - Screaming along to Karma Police at the Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood secret show at Glastonbury was exactly as epic as it should be, and is the sort of thing I’ll remember for years to come.

Hopes/Plans (music) for 2011 - Loch Awe are recording some new songs literally within the first five days of the new year. They’re a little bit louder, not quite as folky and feature almost 300% more trumpet. We’re very excited! Apart from that we want to play many more gigs (including our first Glasgow show, and a few possible English shows) and to get our second album recorded over the summer.
I should be recording a collaborative EP in January with Glasgow songwriter Andrew Lindsay. He’s brilliant, and I can’t wait to yell all over his lovely songs, and allow him to do the same thing to mine.

You can still get you mitts on the afore mentioned Loch Awe EP on their bandcamp page here. We’d really suggest that you do.

Well, what a bloody lovely album this is.

If I were old fashioned and still used a typewriter, there is every chance I’d have an waste-paper basket by my side overflowing with attempts to review this album. It’s not that it’s a complicated album, or that I couldn’t get my head around it’s sound. It’s simply because I wanted to do it justice. I’ll more than likely turn into some bumbling idiot yelling the odd brilliant, superb or magnificent in there for good measure, but for now, I’ll try my best to stay coherent.

‘Payday’ opens the album with a drone and echo sound which sounds somehow like a call to sit up and listen to what’s coming next. ‘Crank Resolutions’ is a mesmerisingly beautiful song with frantic synths and loops. There’s something mad but at the same time very settling about it. It’s a song I’ve repeatedly listened to over the last month and the effect is always the same, a knowing smile that this is one of the reasons why I love music.

The albums keeps pace with the industrial soundscape and title track ‘All Creatures Will Make Merry’ and then almost effortlessly shifts pace to the acoustic ‘Weather’ followed by the stripped back, ukelele, song from a long time ago sounding ‘One Day This’ll All Be Fields’.

I could go on, describing each track individually and how it switches from fast to slow, frenetic to soothing, loud to soft, but it might make it sound like a jumbled up and incoherent album which is what it is not. It’s effortless and graceful, it takes you other places and makes you excited about where it will go next.

And whilst many ‘last tracks’ can be utterly forgettable or skippable because the six minute gap for the hidden track is just not built for the i-pod generation, ‘A Fair Exchange’ a beautiful 72 second piano driven song, with strings which is a reflective and comforting way to end one of the best albums I’ve heard all year.

The album is released on the brilliant Song, By Toad Records on May 24th but special limited handmade copies are available, subject to availability, here and at Meursault shows. Talking of Meursault shows, this poster was too good not to stick on the blog. Even better that it looks like an amazing line up!

It seems like the local music scene is beginning to hot up again after christmas and ‘The Big Freeze’ with plenty of good releases and gigs coming up. I felt like there was a real lack of decent gigs through January, however, couple this with post christmas debt and a busy day-job, it might just be me.

A band that have only recently caught my attention, thanks to Jim at Aye Tunes is Spaghetti Anywhere. They are based in London and play uncomplicated indie pop. A little bit in the vain of Belle and Sebastian or Camera Obscura although I am always very wary of comparing bands. Anyways, they are definitely worth checking out and their E.P. is released on Feb 22nd on Toy Soldier Records.

If you can’t wait until Feb 22nd for your fill of new music, I suggest you point your browsers in the direction of Glasgow based label/collective Wise Blood Industries from tomorrow where you will be able to download the new single ‘The Hours’ from The Kays Lavelle. I’ve given it a couple of listens now and the orchestration is fantastic and I just love the haunting vocals. Their album, recorded by Neil Pennycook of Meursault, is due out in the spring and no doubt when that comes around it will be very hotly anticipated.

There’s quite a few gigs this week to look out for in Glasgow this week. The aforementioned Meursault play next Sunday (21st) at Nice and Sleazys with Xiu Xiu and North Atlantic Oscillation. Working backwards, we may have mentioned at some point that King James, Maple Leaves, Craig Davidson and Cuddly Shark will be playing at The Liquid Ship on Friday night (19th), more details here. On Thursday a big Happy Birthday goes out to the Glasgow PodcART dudes. They will be having a bit of a shindig to celebrate with sets from St Deluxe, Little Yellow Ukeleles and Campfires in Winter. That all goes down at the 13th Note. Lastly (but also firstly this week), on Wednesday night at Brel the fantastic Julia and The Doogans, Panda Su and Sophie’s Pigeons will play some pretty acoustic songs.

Anyways, that’s about all my thoughts for now, we’re going to get this blog a bit more populated with features and reviews over the next few weeks so keep checking back and don’t be a stranger!