So, after several weeks of half of us being there, or me being in bloody Aberdeen doing launch nights and so on, Ruth and I are finally reunited on the internetwaves of Edinburgh’s student radio station at long last.  Just in time, I believe, for the last show of the term.

I assume there will be plenty of catching up to do, and I have plenty of new music for Ruth to scoff at, so it should all be good, festive fun.  I may even bring in a couple of Christmas son… no, fuck that, that would be awful.  Just one, maybe.

Click here to listen – live from 8pm UK time.

If you have any trouble with the player on the Fresh Air site, just pause and un-pause it and that should do the trick.  Alternatively, you can stream it through iTunes, where it is listed in the college radio category.  We’ll be updating the tracklisting live as we go along, so feel free to jump into the comments and make smart-arsed remarks – like you ever need any encouragement anyway.

1. Au Revoir Simone – Fallen Snow (FOUND’s Broken Lock Refit)
2. Anthony & The Johnstons with Bjork – Fletta
3. Phosphorescent – A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise
4. The Maladies of Bella Fontaine – Longsocks
5. Dr.Dog – Shadow
6. John Lennon – Watching the Wheels
7. Jason Lytle – Liquid Hyper Tweeker Energy Drink
8. Leonard Cohen – Suzanne
9. Viking Moses – Folly of Man
10. Coco Rosie – Grey Oceans
11. Jason Lytle – Indie Rock Freestyle
12. Julie Doiron – Too Much

Ruth and I are back on Fresh Air this evening, no guests this time, but hopefully Ruth will remember to bring her music on a USB stick, so you might actually be afforded the privilege of hearing her musical choices, rather than simply having to listen to her sniping about mine.

We’re live from seven until half eight, so I better get my skates on if I’m to be on time, and as per usual we’ll be updating the playlist live as we go along, so feel free to chip in with heckling in the comments section.

Listen live here – from 7pm – 8:30pm UK time.

1. Jens Lekman – The End of The World Is Bigger Than Love
2. James Yorkston & The Athletes – St Patrick
3. Y La Bamba – Monster
4. The Humms – Jesus Lied
5. Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place (naive melody)
6. The Single Spy – OK Corral
7. Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil
8. Au Revoir Simone – Take Me As I Am
9. Kath Bloom – Is This Called Living?
10. Loch Awe – The Ocean in Me
11. Micachu – Turn Me Well
12. Bjork – Like Someone In Love
13. Arthur Russell – The Letter
14. Les Shelleys – The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise

Hello.  Sorry for the lack of preparation here, but Homegame rather fucked with my ability to get anything done in an orderly and organised fashion this week.

Listen Live Here

Listen to us! We’re super duper and we have the very very lovely Love. Stop.Repeat with us for some post Homegame fun….

1.  Matthew and The Atlas – Deadwood
2.  Trips and Falls – We Were Like Strangers Today
3.  Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
4.  Love.Stop.Repeat – Song For Mary (live in session)
5.  Mimicking Birds – Cabin Fever
6.  Love.Stop.Repeat – Tail Lights (live in session)
7.  Au Revoir Simone – We Are Here
8.  Love.Stop.Repeat – Storm Song (live in session)
9.  Jonnie Common – hand-to-hand
10.  Fanfarlo – Finish Line
11.  Sparklehorse – Maria’s Little Elbows
12.  Love.Stop.Repeat – Pillow (live in session)
13.  Cold Seeds – Perfume of Mexican Birds

Being a little bit of a Johnny-come-lately as far as steps of any sort are concerned I’m afraid I can’t tell you what Johnnie Common used to sound like when he was a ‘he’ rather than a ‘they’. I got into these lads by seeing the full band lineup play a superb set in support of Au Revoir Simone a couple of months back at Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s in Glasgow. This weekend at the Fence Homegame I think Johnnie will be playing a solo set, so I’ll get a better idea then.

The full Down the Tiny Steps band show was fantastic, and as I said back then, they are a band of small gestures. There’s something about their two early albums – 16 Bit Sparks and Two Little Ducks – that has a confidently sparing quality about it. Johnnie clearly doesn’t feel obliged to throw everything at a song like many lesser songwriters do, choosing instead to use just that chord change, that rhythm or that tangential theme that is needed to give the song its heart, and no more.

This may sound odd given they use everything in their performances, from electronic gizmos I don’t know the name of to indie guitars, and in doing so manage to go from indie to downbeat electronica to sensitive singer-songwritery in a matter of moments, but it’s true. At the gig I remember their guitarist Graham Norris often playing no more than the odd repeated strum every once in a while, but it had a much more powerful effect that way. Listening to the albums, Common does a fair bit of that himself a lot of the time. He seems to have a thought, or a bit of an idea, and thereby crafts a song. It can be no more than a couple of lines long, or based around a single chord change, but it works.

There’s a new album on the way apparently, one with the full band. If I bump into Johnnie this weekend I will beg and scrape with no thought for my own dignity and hopefully persuade him to grace me with an advance promo copy – and all for you, my wonderful brood of Toadlets. For now, the first single, Aye Spy, is out and can be bought from the website, along with some of the earlier solo stuff. If you want a listen try their myspace page, as it’s up there too. For non-Homegamers, they are playing Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s on the 26th May with another of my Fence favourites, Viva Stereo, in the first ever De-Fence gig – the electronic offshoot of recalcitrant folksters Fence Records.

Down the Tiny Steps – Revenge
Down the Tiny Steps – Set Menu The best song LemonJelly never wrote.
Down the Tiny Steps – Hold On From 16 Bit Sparks

Down the Tiny Steps – Papyrus
Down the Tiny Steps – Lighten Up From Two Little Ducks

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