Elba Annual 2010 – Phil (Elba)

Kim — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:52:34 +0000

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.

Elba Annual 2009 – Chris ‘Knoxy’ Elba

Phil — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:59:58 +0000

After a couple of days of Christmas over-indulgence, Elba Sessions go self indulgent. We’ve saved a couple of annual posts until the end of the month about our ‘bests’ of the year. Up first, podcaster broadcaster Chris…

Album of The Year – Wilco – Wilco (The Album). I literally listened to one album for 2 months after I bought this album so it has to be. Honourable mention to Richmond Fontaine’s new album…brilliant.

Favourite New Band – The Low Anthem. Listening to 6music at work every so often a song pops in between a Reggae & Drum and Bass track that makes you turn up the radio…’Ohio’ was that track and I can’t wait to see The Low Anthem at Celtic Connections.

Best Gig (Elba) – Ok so i’m not in a band but my favourite gig that we put on had to be the October Elba Sessions. Calum MacDonald was a hidden gem, Paul McLinden is an artist I don’t understand how he isn’t huge and Le Reno Amps played as a two piece (it was like I was back in Aberdeen), their banter was brilliant and they showed that they are learning how to play their instruments…great night!!!

Best Gig – Bruce Springsteen – RDS Arena, Dublin (12/7/09). It was part 1 in a Bruce double header in 3 days and it was unforgetable. I claimed I had seen it all after Cardiff the year before but on this day I saw Steve Van Zandt in the street during the day, then Bruce & The E Street Band played for 3 hours + and included ‘Spirit In The Night’ & ‘Darkness On The Edge of Town’ from the request cards from the crowd.

Best Memories of 2009 – Richmond Fontaine – Stereo. The night Scotland played Holland in the decider for World Cup Qualifying I decided to go see Richmond Fontaine…what a decision…oh and they milked having no idea on Football excellently (At 10.30pm it was still 0-0 supposidly).

Hopes for 2010/Things You’re Looking Forward To -
Album – Lightspeed Champion.
Book – Willy Vlautin – ‘Lean On Pete.
TV – Final season of Lost can’t f%^king wait!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh and putting on more gigs…

Elba Sessions » willy vlautin

Elba Annual 2010 – Phil (Elba)

Elba Annual 2009 – Chris ‘Knoxy’ Elba