Mar 
20

Elba Sessions Presents…(Five)

Filed under: live — Tags: , , — Phil @ 8:20 am  

In December, Conor Mason came over to Glasgow visit Elba from Derry in Northern Ireland. In February, Johny and Laurence from King James made the long journey north from Devon. However, April’s guest to Elba Sessions Presents makes those trips look like nipping out to get the papers. We are delighted to welcome all the way from Warsaw, Poland, beneath us, the waves aka Neil Milton for our night on April 1st. If you aren’t familiar with Neil’s work then it is well worth checking out. I believe the line-up may include a laptop and a string quartet and the basement of the Liquid Ship should prove an intimate setting to listen to the glacial soundscapes of beneath us, the waves.

Joining them on the bill are east coast star gazers The Scottish Enlightenment. Tipped by many as ones to watch in 2010 we’re looking forward to having them at Elba ahead of a busy year for them which will include a couple of EP’s, an album, all culminating in a christmas single! Now that’s good planning!

Completing the line up for April’s Elba Sessions is John Rush. John is no stranger to us at Elba as he’s been in the studio recently doing a bit of recording. He’ll open up the night with his brand of retro indie blues, along with his band The Love Hats.

We hope to see some of you there, come and say hello if you do come. It looks like it will be our most eclectic line up so far!

April 1st, The Liquid Ship, Great Western Road. Entry Free, Kick off 9pm.

2009
Dec 
31

Elba Annual 2009 – Phil Elba

Filed under: elba annual 2009 — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Phil @ 8:59 am  

My turn, let’s keep it snappy…

Album of The Year – Loads to choose from! Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Grievances probably tops the list though. Honourable mentions to Brakes, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Le Reno Amps, Cuddly Shark and The Cinematics, oh, and The Phantom Band! (I could go on…)

Favourite New Band – Again, several! I’ve heard loads of new stuff from doing the blog and going out to gigs. Top 3 in no order at all would have to be Maple Leaves, Julia and The Doogans and The Scottish Enlightenment.

Best Gig (Elba) – All of the gigs we’ve put on so far have been pretty memorable for various reasons. The first night at The Liquid Ship with Le Reno, Calum MacDonald, Paul McLinden and Only Living Boys was a total treat and I think we all felt a sense of achievement at the end of the night. However, all of the gigs have been great fun and we’ve had some very talented people at each night.

Best Gig – It would probably have to be Springsteen at Hampden. It was a great day all round and it was fantastic to finally see him live. Also really enjoyed Brakes at King Tuts early in the year and seeing Chris T-T as Sleazies was pretty sweet as well!

Best Memories of 2009 – Apart from getting married and going on honeymoon (photo above), probably getting involved with Elba and setting up the blog. It’s opened my eyes to loads more music and I’ve had a lot of fun putting on the gigs and meeting people as well as starting to just pop along to gigs as well with my Elba cohorts to listen to a new band. As a musical memory, I’ll not forget Le Reno Amps playing ‘Body’ at Tuts with Marc from Brakes playing pedal steel. It’s a beatiful song and was a nice moment.

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – Putting on more gigs, writing more for the blog (and getting better at it), seeing and hearing loads of new music, working with Armellodie records and seeing it evolve, Pavement at the Barrowlands (!!!!!!!) and putting some faces to email addresses!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OF US HERE AT ELBA!

SEE YOU IN 2010!

2009
Dec 
10

Elba Annual 2009 – The Scottish Enlightenment

Filed under: We Likes...,elba annual 2009 — Tags: , , , — Phil @ 9:10 am  

The last few months have been pretty good in the world of Elba Sessions. Writing blogs, putting on gigs and recording podcasts has put us in touch with loads of really good people who are so passionate about music. Today’s example being The Scottish Enlightenment. Now, chances are I’ve seen them play, but I think it was a very long time ago and my memory is a bit hazy but when I downloaded a couple of tracks from their forthcoming record ‘St Thomas’ there was no way I was going to forget about them this time. It seems this year they have been busy busy recording their album which should see the light of day sometime in 2010 which will also hopefully mean plenty of gigs. Sign me up!

David has been kind enough to let us in on his 2009…

The Scottish Enlightenment

Album of The Year – Everything is Simple by Dan Lyth. He’s a friend, and mixed our album for us, so maybe I’m biased, but the record is incredible. Its like a set of small bright pictures, and I doesn’t sound like anyone else really. He’s probably one of the most under-exposed music makers in Scotland – like proper talented and that.

Favourite New Band – Mitchell Museum. Got to admit i thought the name was duff, until we played a gig with them at Electric Circus in Edinburgh – they’re utterly jaw dropping. Like a very excited Grandaddy. Love them very much.

Best Gig (your band) – We’ve only played 2 this year because we’ve been recording, but there have been some moments recently at rehearsal that have been pretty excellent. So I’d say our gig on 12th December in Edinburgh is going to be the best. That right there was a clever answer.

Best Gig – De Rosa at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh. So sad that they’re gone. We are all fans, but our bassist Angus was verging on groupie status a while back. I think that’s why they split. (ed -I don’t know, a couple of people in the Elba community could give him a run for his money!!)

Best Memories of 2009 – Recording the album in Glasgow with Jamie Grier – I’ve just realised how close his name is to Germaine Greer. But he’s much cooler.

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To – Finally getting our album released. Playing a lot of gigs and getting good at it. Recording a Halloween EP.

The Scottish Enlightenment play the Trampoline all-dayer this Saturday (12/12/09) at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh. Details here…

Also, do your mp3 player a favour and give it an early Christmas gift by downloading a couple of free tracks from their album St Thomas. They can be found here…

2009
Oct 
25

News and Stuff

Filed under: Podcasts,Studio,We Likes...,live,stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Phil @ 9:27 pm  

Evenin’ ladies and gents,

There’s been a whole load of stuff happening here at Elba Towers as well as happening everywhere else so I just thought I’d post a wee update…

We’ve been in the studio recording next months podcast with Martin John Henry (ex-De Rosa) and it’s gonna be a goodie. The double bill of October podcasts featuring Andrea Marini and Salon Society are still up on the myspace page for those who haven’t listened yet (note to self; do something about making them downloadable!).

Elba Studios‘ Stephen has been fairly busy in the studio recently whilst also masquerading as a keyboard virtuoso. He’s been practicing with the afore mentioned Salon Society for their album launch this coming FRIDAY (30/10) at Arta. We’ve been told rehearsals are coming on well and it should be a great show!

Andrea MariniThe second Elba Sessions Presents…evening on November 5th is all sorted and ready to go. We’re feeling super organised this time and still buzzing slightly after the last one! We’ve got a great line-up on the night featuring Julia and The Doogans, John Hinshelwood & Sandra Gellatly and Andrea Marini. It would be great to see some of you down at The Liquid Ship, after all it is a recession busting £0 to get in!

Myself and Chris Elba are off to see Chris T-T at Sleazies this week, really looking forward to it, some good local supports playing as well. Other notable gigs in the next 7 days are Camera Obscura + Emma Pollock at Barrowlands (29/10), Los Campesinos + Copy Haho + Sparky Deathcap at King Tuts and Glasgow PodcART’s big gig at The Classic Grand featuring Esperi, Debutant, Panda Su and Yahweh, who we caught at Sloans last night and were mightily impressed with!

Also, for everyone who likes a good freebie and hasn’t done so already, go here to download some tracks which The Scottish Enlightenment are just giving away!!!

Our Christmas album debate has now had a couple of responses, all bigging up LOW and in Al’s case, posting us a youtube video which is still chilling us to our very core…all very HO HO HO! Join in here…

Night! x

P.S. We have just set up a facebook, if you have one too, just search facebook for Elba Sessions, be a fan!

P.P.S Muller Little Stars Jelly Pots are dynamite!