It was the last batch of folk who sparked my interest the most. Let’s be honest, as far as I can remember the NME has always been shit. Fickle pedaling of pretty-boys in Topman shirts merged with casual misogyny and laddish cuntishness. Loving The Strokes, hating The Strokes, loving The Strokes again, wishing The Strokes would fuck off, wishing The Strokes would come back, wishing The Strokes would fuck off again. Basically.

However, for the last year or so I’ve been retracing the steps of the magazine through the rather brilliant blog Press Play and Record. The site is home to all of the compilation cassettes the magazine released in the 80s and early 90s, including the famous C86 compilation which kicked-off a whole genre. What strikes me about the compilations is how eclectic and left-field some of them are. ‘The Latin Kick’ is a compilation of samba and latin music, ‘Holiday Romance’ is a Billie Holiday Compilation, one tape is hilariously named ‘Plinky Plonky There’s A Donkey’. The point I am trying to make is that the NME we know today would never do anything like this. The cassettes pushed the boundaries of new music and really challenged their readership, now all they do is try to serve up their readership with stuff they know they will already like (The Vaccines). Which is pretty fucking insulting. Perhaps pushing these boundaries is now the mantle music blogs and sites have taken up, and the NME simply knows it’s place and plods along, which is a shame as it could (and should) really mix things up and help change the face of British music as blogs and sites don’t have the influence over here as they do in the States.

Anyway, delve into some of the cassettes and remember them next time you try to recall if the NME has ever been good. It appears I’ve not learned how to stop whining yet, though.

The Freshies – I’m In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk (Indie City 1 (NME036). Fall 1988.)

Salif Keita – Sina (The World At One (NME035). Fall 1987)

Orange Juice – Blue Boy (NME/Rough Trade C81 1981)

The Rain – Hi There 1968 (My Favourite Sunday 1989. Boshi Label -roddy 004-)

To help address this particular omission Cogstar, one of my most enduring readers, has written this review from seeing the lads twice on their recent UK tour.  Thanks old chap!]

Meursault vs Meersalt

Before I turn into ‘Fanboy’ it’s only fair I declare my self interest. I’m a punter, pure and simple with no side projects and my only long term investment has been time and liver damage. The good thing about music unlike football is you can change your team at any time, I learned this lesson particularly early in life, having declared ‘Signing Off’ to be the best album ever written, definitely no long term investment there. Since then I’ve pretty much decided to live in the Northern Counties lower division of the music world, enjoying the outputs of everyone from Jesse Garon to God is an Astronaut.

Listening to recorded music is fine, but I much prefer to be at the front of a live gig, not knowing which way the nights going to go. For at least 25 years I must have averaged a gig a week and now having two teenage girls, one ‘pop punk’ and one ‘pop and folk’ I’m up to about 200 gigs a year if you include festivals. I’ve seen Girls Aloud four times ffs. A nod to the wise – it’s absolutely essential to be at the front for this type of gig.

Having read in many places the difficulties of earning a crust in the industry, I’m very pleased to have made the decision to live exclusively in Punterland. There have been weak moments where I’ve nearly jumped the fence, but fear of losing my enthusiasm by being on the inside has saved me.

And with scene setting complete, the point of this contribution

I’ve never seen a band play essentially the same set list on two different nights of a tour which was so fantastic and yet so completely different

I saw Meursault live for the first time at Glastonbury this year and despite ‘being absolutely fried’ after a nightmare journey, they were one of the few bands I saw over the weekend where everyone played at full tilt.

With typical over enthusiasm I’d convinced three pals that The Royal Park Cellars in Leeds was the only place to be on a wet Thursday night. For those that don’t know it, it’s an old local’s pub which now resides in the dead centre of student town central. I remembered it from the 80’s when Sunday lunch was £3.00, it’s gone up to £4.25 now. It was a bit of a dive in the old days and I couldn’t wait to see the state of the cellar. Just as advertised it was a cellar, painted black with customary silver pipe work and comfortably large enough to swing two cats but probably not safely.

There were plenty of seats and tables about and as everyone else was seated we took a pew 10 minutes before kick off. Quite why one individual decided it was appropriate to stand at the front, alone and two yards in front of everyone else I’m not sure, as my pal said, ‘he’d make a better door than a window’. From the first solo acoustic tune it was clear that the sound quality in the dodgy cellar was exceptional. Meursault played as a three piece with two lead guitarists and a drummer and an electric box of tricks. It was a unique combination.

Every song was tuneful, clear, well sang and to suit the environment had a laid back feel. My older non muso pal enthused about the fact you could here all the instruments and all the words, I should have brought my dad along. The set lasted about 40 minutes with one new tune and an amps off, ‘One Day This’ll All Be Fields’ to finish. We would have all been happy with another 40 minutes.

And so to the Saki Bar in Manchester 5 days later, this time I’m with a proper muso pal who’s been brought up on Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and a diet of Brixton Fridge techno. He’d never heard Meursault, but trusted my taste, I think he was sold on the box of tricks and stories of effects pedals. The Saki bar is a bit ‘rum’ as my Gran would say and Tuesday night is ‘Underachievers Night’ quite how Meursault had been switched to a full on indie bar on indie night when Broken Records were playing round the corner I’m not sure.

At about 11.20pm (on a school night), the band eventually took to the floor and after a 10 minute set up were ready to play. Crank Resolutions kicked in…. all except for the vocal microphone, the slightest eye contact between band members and it was clear that nothing was getting in the way tonight. For half the song Neil half sang half yelled the words, thankfully the soundman salvaged things with a double mic switch. It seemed like a Ramones style 2 second pause before going straight into the new tune, which sounded absolutely nothing like it had at the previous gig. Meursault had turned punk and the urgency of the hammered snare drove the tune along at a frightening pace. It was utterly brilliant, even the old blokes (me included) had started shuffle dancing and head banging….really.

I only recall one acoustic song in the main set tonight and even this was forced out with intent as Neils’ voice felt the strain from earlier. Back to electrics, the guitars clashed perfectly and the clamorous no bass rhythm section worked on every tune. I’ve no idea whether William Henry Miller was played acoustic or electric but it felt hard.

Respite came as Fields was sung amongst and with the audience, most of whom were sporting a stupid grin on their face. And just when the people were on the pitch it was back for another go at Crank Resolutions ‘make it really loud please soundman’ was the phrase. Best tune I’ve seen live in ages.

If you get a chance to see the stripped back punk threesome on this tour, then take it.

But as my feedback loving friend pointed out ‘bloody hell wait till they do that with the full band’.

Best £3 I’ve ever spent ….thanks

Ohhh what jolly fun it’s been this week.  Now I know why bands find it so hard to find booking agents: because it’s a shit job and no-one in their right mind would want to do it.

Then, just as I was hating promoters for all I was worth, I started into the organisation for all my own gigs that I had to book and suddenly developed a new-found sympathy for them too.  So WHO IS TO BLAME FOR MY SHIT WEEK, THEN?  I can’t think of anyone, it’s most frustrating.

Anyhow, I think I am now just about sorted for everything, so here are some announcements for you, so you can add all sorts of Toady nonsense to your calendars. Once again, I am putting all the label announcements into a Sunday Supplement so that the blog itself isn’t totally over-run with self-pimping during the week, which I am assuming would bore the shit out of everyone, myself included.

Inspector Tapehead Hooops Session was recorded by the lovely gentlemen from OLO Worms as part of their kind hospitality to our Tapeheady friends on their recent tour – thanks lads.

Cloud Sounds Song, by Toad Records Special seems, according to Ted, to have been purchased for the price of a pint when we were down in Manchester last weekend.  It’s one of my favourite podcasts, and if you want to be even nicer, you could buy the first and thus far only (I think) Cloud Sounds Split 7″ – the song by Onions is worth it all by itself.

Peenko’s Scottish DIY Labels series features Song, by Toad this week.  I am always impressed with quite how good I am at making myself sound like a total dickhead in so few words when it comes to these mini interview thingies.  Ah well, we all need a talent of some sort I suppose, I was just hoping mine might be martial arts or a snappy dress sense or something like that instead.

All those gigs in full (more or less):

Honeytrap launch their new album Petrushka (Toad review here, listen in full and buy here), this Saturday at Medina.  Jesus H. Foxx & Sebastian Dangerfield are also on the bill, and tickets can be purchased here. I was skeptical about Medina as a venue at first, but I was at an Acoustic Edinburgh show there during the Festival and really liked it – the atmosphere was ace, and I think this is going to be an excellent night.  Doors will be kinda early though, because there’s a club night on after us, so don’t be too late.

Savings and Loan House Gig will be pretty much everyone’s first chance to see Song, by Toad Records’ latest ‘signing’ (if you can really call it that, which you can’t, honestly) before their album Today I Need Light comes out on 6th December. As it’s at our house and tickets are going steadily I would ask you to buy one in advance just so we have a reasonable idea of numbers in advance.  You can get tickets here, and I have just confirmed a (very) stripped down set by The Last Battle will also be on the cards for the evening.

The Yusuf Azak Album Release Tour is being booked up slowly but surely.  Turn on the Long Wire is every bit as good as I would have expected from Yusuf, and is out on the 15th November.  There are album launch nights booked as part of a joint tour with Ethan Ash on the following nights:

Thursday November 25th, Cellar 35 in Aberdeen.
Friday November 26th, Gambetta in Glasgow, with Jonnie Common.
Saturday November 27th, The Roxy in Edinburgh, awaiting confirmation.

The first single from his album, Eastern Sun, will be out as a free download in a week’s time or so.

AND FINALLY, the Song, by Toad Records Christmas Party has been confirmed for Thursday 16th December at the Queen Charlotte Rooms in Leith.  We’re going to have an electric stage downstairs headlined by the Savings and Loan, for whom this will also be their album launch, and an acoustic stage upstairs.  I am working on the full lineup at the moment, so there will be more announcements to come about this soon enough.

Welcome to “12 Songs For A Girl”.  Somewhere between 2009 and 2010, against every cynical bone in my body, i fell head over heels for a girl who shall remain nameless.  We used to hang out a lot, doing this or that, and i was bowled over by how inspired and happy i felt whilst in her presence.  I recorded some songs for her birthday, and that’s where i probably got the idea to write and record an album in tribute to her.  The songs i recorded, didn’t do the minx justice.  Although it must have been blatently obvious that this nervous, dishevelled dreamer was chasing her, i thought that, through the vessel of song i could explain how i felt without relying on the power of speech, which has proved lethal whenever it comes to anything important.

I put my plan to action in January 2010.  The snow and cold made travelling impossible, so i found i had four days with nothing to do at home.  I wrote all the songs in three days, on the only guitar i had with me (which had four strings – i found an open tuning that worked and went from there), and then set aside that fourth day to record them on my four track.  I made the album, with a sleeve made out of a hardback book cover and pasted the photograph of a pig on it.  I tore some Polish song from A.L. Lloyd’s volume on folk song. and pasted that for the inner sleeve.  The girl was polish, you see – and it somehow fitted.

A lot of the lyrics referenced either stuff that we did together or stuff i’d learned or thought about her.  It’s full of very personal references to people, places and things.  The snow, like sand, found into almost everything.  Despite all the references, i think some of the songs are as direct as anything  i’ve ever done;   Listening now, i’ve worked out (obvious i know, but i’m slow) that the album is as much about me as it is the muse.  There’s a lot of opening up that would seem slightly unnerving to share with you all.

I finally gave her the copy of the album on the fourth night.  She said she loved it.  You are all aching to know whether she fell into my arms and we lived happily ever after?  The answer is no (sob).  We are still friends and see each other time to time, and that’s cool when it happens. I have played some of these songs live, and played and copies the album to various friends.  Some people said i should release it.  Some people said i shouldn’t.  I’ve thought about rerecording the thing, but i decided i wouldn’t have the time when i’ve already got two albums to finish this year.

There’s two major reasons why i want this amongst the public.  Firstly, i like it – and generally what i like, i like to share with others.  It’s very messy as one would expect for an unrehearsed collection of songs recorded in a day, but some of my favourite recordings come when the chord changes and lyrics are not even dry on the page..I think it holds together well, like a bag of street urchins does in a victorian photograph.  I don’t think they should be seperated.

Secondly, i need closure.  I’m not greatly a person concerned with my own past and in resurrecting it.  I don’t want to have a backlog of songs in the can for future projects right now – I have to keep writing anew.  There so much to be done.  Since i wrote and recorded this(only months), i feel i’ve changed imeasurably as a person.  I’m not sure for better or for worse, but i doubt i’ll write songs like these again.  A part of me in this record has left the building.  My future writing from today onwards goes the other way. At present,  I can still enjoy listening to this record though, and i’m sure i’ll always be proud i made it during that unforgettably cold winter.. That girl deserved an album.  If you know who she is, you know it’s true.  I truly hope this half hour proves a pleasant diversion for you.

Out you go,

Men Diamler, September 2010.

Men Diamler – Waiting For The Snow To Thaw

Men Diamler – It Takes One To Know One Better

The reason is simply that there is a lot of label news happening at the moment, and I really don’t want to overwhelm the blog with label chat if I can avoid it.  I am sure lots of you come here for reasons other than me trying to sell you things to pay for that yacht in the Caribbean we record labels generally aim for.

So, the news this week, in bullet point form for the lazy, is this:
1. Inspector Tapehead to play in-store at Avalanche Records on Thursday 30th September.
2. Meursault UK and European tour booked for October/November, with showcase gig at the Caves on the 25th.
3. The Stormy Seas added to the bill for the Inspector Tapehead album launch on the 30th.

1. Instore! Yep, the Tapeheads are currently touring the UK in the Toad Van (the shit one which works, not the cool one which doesn’t), but in advance of their album launch show on Thursday 30th September they are playing an in-store gig at Avalanche Records on Cockburn Street.  This will start at around half five when the store closes, I guess, and I will bring a case of beer as an additional inducement.

2. Tour! Having had a hectic festival season, Meursault have been taking a bit of a breather for the last month or so.  And they’ll need it because their October/November schedule is going to be hellishly busy, with a UK and European tour booked in back to back. The whole thing is kicking off with a headline show at the Caves in Edinburgh on the 25th October, supported by Port Royal and Enfant Bastard – tickets here.

25 Oct 2010 – The Caves, Edinburgh
26 Oct 2010 – Head of Steam, Newcastle
27 Oct 2010 – The Harley, Sheffield
28 Oct 2010 – Royal Park Cellars, Leeds
30 Oct 2010 – The Luminaire, London
31 Oct 2010 – The Playhouse Bar [free entry show], Norwich
2 Nov 2010 – Star & Garter, Manchester
3 Nov 2010 – Stereo, York
4 Nov 2010 – Dexters, Dundee
5 Nov 2010 – Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen
6 Nov 2010 – Stereo, Glasgow

19 Nov 2010 – Oh Galery, Caen, FRANCE
20 Nov 2010 – International, Paris, FRANCE
21 Nov 2010 – Planet Claire Session, Paris, FRANCE
22 Nov 2010 – Dwaze Zaken, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS
23 Nov 2010 – Piala Libri, Brussels, BELGIUM
24 Nov 2010 – Musikbunker, Aachen, GERMANY
25 Nov 2010 – Schlachthof w/ Telekinesis [tbc], Wiesbaden, GERMANY
26 Nov 2010 – Spart 4, Saarbrucken, GERMANY
27 Nov 2010 – Cave du Bleu Lezard, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND
28 Nov 2010 – Le Lounge, Marseille, FRANCE
30 Nov 2010 – Stadtgarten, Erfurt, GERMANY
1 Dec 2010 – Morph Club, Bamberg, GERMANY
2 Dec 2010 – Feinkostlampe, Hannover, GERMANY
3 Dec 2010 – Gaengeviertel, Hamburg, GERMANY
4 Dec 2010 – Schlachthof, Aurich, GERMANY
5 Dec 2010 – [venue tba], Groningen, NETHERLANDS

3. Stormies! At the time I did the first posters for the Inspector Tapehead album launch we only had Humble Soul heroes The Miserable Rich and the Tapeheads themselves confirmed to play the show, but the Stormy Seas have since been confirmed as the final piece of the jigsaw.  The gig is taking place at the Edinburgh School of Art’s Wee Red Bar on Thursday 30th September, and tickets can be purchased here.

This is a co-promotion with my friends Tallah and Jim from This is Music, and Ali and Elaine from A&E Promotions.  The technical term for several promoters working together is is, I believe, a Clusterfuck, and the new flyer can be seen below:

[Following on from his previous Sunday Rant, Matthew's brother Ben returns with his musings on this so-called 'classical' music we've been hearing so much about.]

So a while back Toad mentioned in on of his posts that he did not like classical music.  Now it was clearly partial joke, partial exaggeration and partial truth.  Now, there are a few absurdities here.  Firstly, classical is used as a blanket term for all music that involves an orchestra, including but not limited to all music played in Europe before about 1900 not played with sticks on an upturned tree stump.  This is of course totally absurd.  Classical music is in fact a term that describes a style that was typified by the music or the classical era which fell roughly between Baroque and Romantic.  Obviously to assume Matthew  was making a specific criticism of this one period would also be absurd.  Although given that the classical period began with Hayden, sauntered through Mozart and died around the same time Beethoven did, it’s not a huge stretch say that half of all the music we think of as classical music actually is Classical music.  Anyway, that was not what Matthew was talking about so I will defend “all music written for an orchestra, including but not limited to all music written before 1900 not played on cows bladder stretched across a barrel” because Matthews assertion that he doesn’t like it is, of course, absurd.

If you wish to defend classical nowadays you really have to start with film, as an example of the scope .  This is probably where most people hear the most classical music.  It also provides the best look as to why it is so moving.  Films can tackles big stuff.  War, star-crossed lovers, cancer and the romantic life of Sandra Bullock.   And frankly when you are dealing with emotions that powerful it really is hard to imagine the indie song that really cuts it.  If Humphrey Bogart had walked away to the tune of Walk Away Renee people would have felt cathartically cheated.  This is one of the reasons that Classical and film have made such wonderful bedfellows.  Probably (let’s face it, unquestionably) the most famous classical composer around right now is John Williams.  The reason for this is that he can put a score that describes  ‘oh bugger, my Father is an intergalactic genocidal warlord, who just gave up everything, killed his mentor and sacrificed his life to save to free the galaxy of tyranny’ and it is absolutely appropriate.  There is no sound on earth, not a single one, besides the swell of an orchestra that can achieve that.

Now Mr. Toad once implied that classical music is, in these circumstances, little more than decoration or a side dish.  This of course is not true, however, because most people are only exposed to classical music through film I can certainly see why he would think that.  Let us cast our mind back however to the Deathcast.  Mozart’s Requiem expresses a grandeur that I have never found matched in any form of music other than classical.  Without the ability to add and subtract sounds and build layers there just doesn’t to me seem to be a  way to really establish the depth and range of feelings that a man goes through as he approaches his own end.  The fear, the desire to leave a legacy, the anger and the confusion.  Nick Cave, in the Mercy Seat can express one small facet, in one specific circumstance.  If you go back and search the Deathcast Toad put together you will see that each of these song has a a very narrow scope.  Not so Mozart’s Requiem.  This is a piece of music that Mozart wrote specifically because he felt no one could express how he felt as he approached death, and because he is Mozart he is able to write a piece that without ever getting bogged down in telling a story is able to directly address the emotion of a man in the last days of life.

Even music which falls broadly into the already broadly accepted definition of classical does this.  If you YouTube the ballet ‘In The Upper Room’, you will find a ballet scored by Phillip Glass that is about the joy of dancing.  When asked what the ballet is about the choreographer, Twyla Tharp refuses to be more specific that.  And the music complements that beautifully.  It is just joyful  Nothing more, nothing less.  Movement 9 of this ballet is the culmination of a 45 minute build to a massive crescendo that in the twenty odd times I’ve done this ballet has never failed to draw a standing ovation.  It really is a lot of fun.  I’m fairly sure Phillip Glass would flip his lid if he found it on YouTube but I do strongly recommend finding this music somewhere and listening to it.

So, the question then remains why do people not listen to more classical music.  I can only speculate, but here are some thoughts.

First, classical has a huge dynamic range.  The loud bits are really loud and the quite bits really subtle.  This is wonderful for tugging the heart strings but less good for the office, or other background music venues.

Secondly a pop song lasts three minutes; the average symphony is about ten times that. So we are left listening to our classical while watching Jeff Goldblum gets chased by a tyrannosaurus rex, which at least ties into the the whole Mozart fear of death thing.  However, I really defy anyone to sit and listen to any of the great symphonies in a room for 45 minutes and not be bowled over.  I know most people reading this blog make time to sit and listen.  Listen to film stuff, be it Star Wars, or the Star Trek music (surprisingly good.  The Theme for the Common Man which starts Deep Space 9 is amazing when you sit a listen to the whole thing), or a something everyone knows like Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Mozart’s Requiem or Beethoven’s anything.  But listen to a whole work rather than those best of CDs from Woolworths.

Let me get something out of the way quickly:  Digital audio is better than analogue, by some considerable distance.  When discussing how good a recording is, I think it is important to define two terms.  The first term I need define is ‘good’, and it’s cousin ‘quality’.  The second is ‘pleasing’, which only makes sense once I have defined ‘good’ and ‘quality’.  A ‘good’ recording happens when you put a high quality microphone in front of a musician, run that mic through a quality pre-amp and then send that to a capture device at a level that is clearly audible,  but does not degrade the signal.  What this provides is clear and honest recreation of someones art that you, and they can work with, and manipulate in the best possible way.  Now, unfortunately, a pure ‘good’ recording of high quality is rather uninteresting.  While a poor recording in a gym, into a banged up eight track recorder (which the Beatles used) is far more musical and hence ‘pleasing’.

Now let us come to a huge problem that music has in the modern world.  As all music is now distributed in a digital format that grime is gone.   And frankly, given that most people own a laptop, or home computer, the extra investment to being able to come up with a basic recording set-up is still fairly minimal.  You can pick up a second hand 8 channel interface which records from at 192khz/24bit for about 300 quid, and good mics retail at about $100.  For those of you who don’t know anything about sample rates and bit rates wikipedia describes them  better than I can but, briefly it is a the number of times a computer divides up a waveform.  The more times it chops it up, the more accurately it can recreate it in your computer.  Now a CD is more accurate than tape, and can store more information.  A CD samples at 44.1KHz/16bit, so for three hundred quid you have a device that can take a wave and recreate it four times more accurately than a CD.   So what is the down side to this, and if there is no downside why does so much music sound dreadful and, why do old records sound so much more pleasing?

Well, there are a number of reasons.  Firstly digital recording is brutally unforgiving.  If you overload an analogue signal it goes warm and fuzzy, if you overload a digital signal is becomes grainy and brittle sounding.  This means that the over exuberance of musicians and the desire to make everything more powerful manifested itself in a warm pleasing noise and lets everyone know that the musician was really putting his back into it.  It draws you in.  The same behaviour with digital will cause the computer to fragmet the signal which will grate on the ears and instantly make the listener detach themselves from the music.  Which means the rock and roll attitude to recording has been replaced by a much more scientific approach.  However, should you need ‘tape’ sound the digital realm offers you far more choices.  You can run your signal through a tape machine on the way to your computer.  You can run it through a tape machine afterwards and use both signals, deciding how much ‘tape’ distortion to use.  You can use a digital ‘tape’ emulator.  You can in fact do any number of things with any number of effects.  Which gives you infinite ability to find your sound and infinite ability to destroy your record if you don’t know when to stop distorting things.

Now with effects like reverb we see a different problem.  For all we can all afford a laptop, how many of us can afford to rent a barn, cathedral or brick walled attic.  A nice live space with character that adds depth and character to our music.  Let me give you an example of this.  Bruce Sprringsteen, who was famously involved in the recording process,  hated the sound of the drums in one session.  He told his engineer that he had seen two ‘room mics’ capturing the sound of the echo and reverb around the drums.  The engineer pointed to two faders on the board which Springsteen proceeded to push them up really high, and thus the sound of Max Weinberg was born.  What Bruce Springsteen was doing was giving the listener the experience of listening to the drums as he heard them, from a distance.  But this muddying of the sound was a choice, but a choice made using the one and only tool available to him, rather than the infinite number of effects, reverb units, reverb plug-ins and room mics available to the modern engineer.

In my profession clean clear and pristine is the goal.  Most orchestral recording should not be distorted, and certainly not compressed as it robs the composer and conductor of the depth of sound needed to use the layering of sound in most classical music.  In this environment reverb is much more vital as it suggests the grandeur of the space which one associates with listening to classical music.  You want as much detail captured and accurately relayed to the listener as you can because the wonder of classical music is the vast amount of detail and so recreating this detail, in an environment that suits the music is more important than what you do once you have captured It.  So here the detail, and the clarity available only in the digital realm is a massive advantage.  In fact it makes me quite sad that no one but me ever hears the full effect of the 92khz recording master that I get to hear before I compress it down to CD.

All this clarifies that the character of a recording has become an applied aesthetic.  There is no reason that even low cost home records should need to sound anything but clean and clear.  Thus, the effects can be applied like another instrument, but in this case to give character, context and depth to the music.  And because of the power of digital technology, you have the ability to do this with more accuracy, and versatility than ever before.  This new control and power is going to have be wielded by a new breed of artist.  It will require musicians versed in technology, and engineers aesthetically sensitive enough to wield their arsenal with artistry to aid and accentuation the music.  We will also need producers with enough power tell them both to stop playing around put down their toys and let the music speak for itself sometimes. This site discusses how we appreciate and even distribute music at great length but, if music is going to progress we need to understand how to create it better as well, and to do this we should all be constantly educating ourselves as to the tools at our disposal.

Hello boys and girls!

I’m not exactly sure just how to start this transmission off, so forgive me if it seems poorly structured, but I owe a lot of people some serious gratitude, appreciation, and thanks.

Why? Well, as a fair amount of you may know, there was an appeal launched recently called Let’s Buy Phil’s Guitar, which was an effort to raise enough funds to save my guitar from a very lucky ebay bidder. I guess I should write a brief background and overview as to how this situation arose.

I have been friends with Neil Pennycook and Meursault for a number of years – probably since around 2005. I was introduced to Neil via a mutual friend who Neil had met at art college (the living legend that is “Party Marty”). I was aware of Neil’s music, but had never listened. Then, a few months later, our mutual friend instigated a gathering of souls for his birthday celebrations, with the venue to be Edinburgh. That night, a two-piece Meursault consisting of Neil and Fraser played a show in Bannermans. I was utterly gob-smacked with what I saw and heard, and from then on became a proper fanboy, snapping up the debut EP, and frequently putting on shows in Aberdeen and inviting them up to play. My friendship with the band grew until I was invited to join the band, about two years ago. Initially, although hugely flattered (and confused – why me!?), I resisted because I was in a steady job in Aberdeen, along with great friends and family. Due to liquidation, I lost said job, and Neil then asked me to join the band again. This time, I couldn’t resist and I upped sticks to Edinburgh and officially joined Meursault. That was almost one year ago.

Given that Meursault were my favourite ever band, I was willing to take a lot of risks and work really hard touring with them and recording the second album. With this, came the realisation that I wouldn’t be able to hold down a full-time job and commit to touring. But I was still willing to put my heart, soul and money into Meursault. So I tried to strike a balance between temporary agency jobs and the band. This balance is very difficult to calibrate, as any musician will testify, and it eventually came to a head: in order to survive, I had to sell off any assets I may own. It just so happens that the only material possession of any value was my music gear, so the decision was made to sell my Fender Jaguar guitar. This decision did not come lightly, but heck, I have rent and tax to pay, as well as a stomach that seems to want food from time to time. So I put the guitar on ebay, and I received a call that night from Neil, claiming that “he and friends would raise the money”, so long as I agreed to take the guitar off ebay. As an overly proud individual, I tried to resist, but he was adamant that, as a friend, he could do this for me and that others are willing to help out and that “you’d do the same for me, Phil.” And he was correct. Thus, Let’s Buy Phil’s Guitar was created.

Now, I don’t know just who all were involved in the creation of this, but I owe Neil, Dylan and Matthew some serious handshakes and manly embraces for their part in this astounding example of community spirit and friendship. But most of all, I owe every single donor (regardless of amount donated) a large amount of thanks and gratitude. The fact that the guitar has been saved is, frankly, nothing short of completely overwhelming. Friends, Meursault fans, Debutant fans, and anyone else who contributed: I thank you with all my heart. You’ve not only saved me, but a part of Meursault, too.

As a thank you, I will record a digital EP consisting of a couple of acoustic Debutant tracks, a Meursault cover (would it be considered a ‘cover’?), and a cover of Red House Painters’ Song for a Blue Guitar, and every donor will receive the EP. This will only be available to those who donated. Expect it within a month or so.

Whilst I’m here, I would also like to thank all the guys in Meursault, who have welcomed me into the band like a brother and supported me. And, despite the heartache and struggle, it’s been 110% worth it to be in the privileged position of being able to play music with them.

Again, thank you.

The Luyas are good, but a little hard to describe.

They don’t really remind me of anything else, but if I had to pick a point of reference I guess it would be Animal Magic Tricks, not so much in terms of the sound but in terms of the overall “feel” of the music. It can be challenging at times, but all the more rewarding for that. Owen Pallett is also in the same ballpark, and apparently the Luyas are associated with him in some vague way.

Like Pallett, the Luyas are stunning instrumentalists and expert knob-twiddlers from Montréal. Their music is inventive, dreamy and atmospheric, but also angular and brittle, like icicles. I imagine them rehearsing and performing by candlelight.

The Luyas are fronted by Jessie Stein, who sings (or perhaps “vocalises” is a better word) and plays a peculiar instrument called a Moodswinger, which its Dutch inventor describes as “an electric 12-string 3rd bridge overtone zither,” whatever the hell that means. She’s playing it in the video embedded above, so if you’re interested in cool gear you should check it out. It looks vaguely guitar-ish but sounds more like a piano or a harp.

To be honest, Jessie Stein has a pretty limited vocal range. She’s no Benatar. But her hushed singing has a crackly fragility that suits this music very well once you get used to it. The other Luyas are Pietro Amato on French Horn, Stefan Schneider on percussion, Mathieu Charbonneau on Wurlitzer organ and otherkeys, and sometimes Sarah Neufeld (from the Arcade Fire) on violin.

Unfortunately I don’t really have a proper Luyas record to review here. They released a full-length album back in 2007 called Faker Death, but in my opinion it doesn’t hold a candle to the music they make today, which is much more ambitious. They have an excellent 7” single out,and according to their MySpace a new album is scheduled for release in the autumn, which is good news indeed.

The video is from last March, and it shows them performing my favorite of their songs, called Canary. I really like what I’m hearing. Keep your ears open for this lot.

Hello there. A Sunday Supplement, written on the Sunday. I’m not best known for my regard for deadlines and always live on a last minute shoestring. I was once described as having ‘a somewhat elastic sense of time’. It’s true. I live on my own little planet which runs on Jenny Time. But it is never boring and a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences. Which apparently is great for artists. Which I might be. But it’s also how I draw live music.

I feel very privileged to be writing something for this blog. It’s a fantastic blog and I’m crap because I don’t read it enough, much as I don’t religiously follow anything in particular. But I’ve seen enough of it, and know enough of the taste of its writer to know that he gives an intelligent and considered fuck about music and it’s creators. It’s also refreshingly honest.

Now being this ‘music illustrator’ – existing in this little niche I’ve been creating for myself – I’ve been asked to submit the Sunday Supplement with completely free reign on what I could write about. Last time I commented on the fact that I wasn’t going to write anything and was purely going to have a visual journal of Matt Groening’s fabulously put together ATP festival, which was wonderful to the point of my being a little hysterically radiant after witnessing so many quality bands I liked. I did however write a shite load more than was initially intended.

This time I am going to offer drawings of lesser known local bands from Scotland who I feel should get a mention. So I’ll supply images of the following musicians/bands I particularly think are destined for greatness, if not pretty much there already. They are all worth checking out.

Washington Irving, a folk pop group, young fresh and getting richer in sounds and words and self each time I see them. They’ve recently released an EP, with a great cover designed by Ryan Hays, called Little Wanderer, Head Thee Home.

The John Knox Sex Club who incidentally share the drummer with Washington Irving. They are so good live, front man Sean Cummings whipping himself into a frenzy with rantings and gnashings of teeth. I haven’t heard their recorded stuff yet, but they’ve got a very nice looking CD box which I quite fancy aquiring super soon.

Adam Stafford, Y’All is Fantasy Island and Size of Kansas band leader, film maker and creative collaborator. The film The Shutdown, directed by Adam and written by Alan Bissett, recently won the San Francisco International Film Festival award for Best Short Documentary. The soundtrack is of Alan’s unmistakeable Falkirkian voice augmented beautifully by Adam’s soundscapes. It’s great, I just saw it today at the marvellous Words Per Minute at Creative Studios in Glasgow which saw a top little solo headline performance from Adam.

John B McKenna is another great chap of experimental sounds and wordsmithery. I’ve drawn him playing by himself, and in collaborations. This picture was drawn live and projected on a big screen as interior decor for the Verden Whistle Test event in Edinburgh a teeny while ago. Great little project by the Ten Tracks initiative.

A girl, I need a girl. Well I’m going to include my little digital sketch of Lucy Cathcart Frödén from The Social Services which I drew on my new iPod Touch. It’s not the best drawing in the world, quite obviously. But I’m learning. And I really liked their music. Will draw them on paper and aim to get all of them next time. But this is when they were playing at Mono last Wednesday (2nd June).

Panda Su. She’s great. This is a digital drawing I did on my Nokia mobile phone. I’m sure you’ll have heard great reviews of her. I’m not known for my wordage of music. I’ll leave that up to the most excellent wordsmiths that exist already. The pictures I post online aim to be a stamp of great music and if it’s not really my sort of music, there’s definitely an intriguing story attached that’s worth looking up. The pictures serve as pointers for you to look them up, or as memory triggers for a gig you have attended.

So there you go, an element of a few technologies and styles of drawing, and a tiny smattering of those local bands in my immediate musical consciousness.

However, the real issue burning in my mind at the moment is one unrelated to any great bands I’ve drawn recently, and is also a reason for the tardiness in this posting.

Yesterday (Saturday 5th June) I attended the demonstration in Edinburgh to free Palestine, decry the killings aboard the aid flotilla, and request an international boycott of Israel.

My week started with an awareness of limited knowledge on the situation, and has since concluded with hopefully a much more educated understanding.

When the time came at the end of the march and demonstration – a massive turnout of 5,000 people – for significant speakers to say a few words, I had to agree with most of what was said. Certain valuable points were met with roars of approval from the crowd of demonstrators, however their lack of voice to support one impassioned speaker with his hope to retaliate to Israel’s recent act by returning in increased numbers of ships but with lethal intent. ‘We will kill you!’ was met with silence from the listeners which though still spoke measures, should have been peppered with disagreements.

I do not believe in ‘getting even’ which is what another speaker suggested, but the overall message rang true. Israel needs to accept talks with the democratically elected Hamas to heal the fractured state of Palestine and work on a solution of communal living in peace. South Africa managed it, Northern Ireland managed it, and as much as Britain and the USA have played their part in the mess in the first place, and though the atrocities committed by both sides must not be forgotten, they now need to assist in persuading Israel that it is a necessary action for the peace and well-being of these two states.

The aim behind the aid flotilla was to gain international attention and focus on the totally unjust situation Palestine is in, and work towards ending the blockade.

As Henning Mankell put it (the Swedish writer of Wallander and one of the peace protesters aboard the aid flotilla):

“So as not to lose sight of the goal, which is to lift the brutal blockade of Gaza. That will happen.
Beyond that goal, others are waiting. Demolishing a system of apartheid takes time. But not an eternity.”