Bugger me it’s a busy week in gigs this week, starting this very evening, which is annoying in a sense as I’d rather hoped to have a relaxing week.  Fat chance, it seems.  Sorry for the lack of chat, but there’s a fuck of a lot to list here and I have to get this done before the end of my lunch break.  Consequently these previews are going to be the shortest I’ve ever written.  It might seem slightly insulting to the bands involved, but huge apologies if it is, but I am really, really rushed this morning.

Monday 23rd March 2009: The Ghost Bees at the Bowery as part of the Place Project.

Very delicate and, yes, ghostly female indie-folk from the Maritimes in Canada – Nova Scotia I think.
Ghost Bees – Vampires of the West Coast

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Monday 23rd March 2009: Joe Gideon & the Shark, Paul Vickers & the Leg & Enfant Bastard at Cabaret Voltaire.

Lots of growly guitars.
Joe Gideon & the Shark – Civilisation

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Wednesday 25th March 2009: Schwervon, Withered Hand & Come in Tokyo at the Bowery.

Schwervon are part of the New York anti-folk stuff I do believe, albeit rather more punky that you might expect from a tag like that.
Schwervon – Pretty Slow

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Thursday 26th March 2009: Leith Tape Club upstairs at the Isobar, with Rob St. John, Jennifer Concannon, Randan Discotheque & Ottersgear.

A really friendly DIY night down in Leith.  Highly recommended.

Friday 27th March 2009: Tentracks and Oxjam at the Bowery, with Punch & the Apostles, Jesus H. Foxx, The Byrons & the Black Diamond Express.

The new Jesus H. Foxx stuff sounds really good, I’ve never seen the sheer carnival mentalism that is Punch & the Apostles, the Byrons make a good fucking racket and so, in a different style, do the Black Diamond Express.
The Byrons – Good Man

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Friday 27th March 2009: Oxjam presents Vashti Bunyan & Lucky Jim at the Roxy Art House (i.e.: upstairs at the Bowery).

Lucky Jim is rather lovely, in the singer-songwriter style and Vashti Bunyan took one of the biggest hiatuses in music history between her first and second albums of folk prettiness.
Lucky Jim – You’re Lovely To Me

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Saturday 28th March 2009: Broken Records at the Bedlam Theatre.

Should be quite an interesting show, this, because it’s a small venue and apparently the usual mayhem will be tempered somewhat in favour of something more tailored to the environment – should be good.
Broken Records – Wolves (Toad Session)

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Saturday 28th March 2009: The Phantom Band at Cabaret Voltaire (more Oxjammery).

I’m not so keen on the Phantom Band but I know a lot of you are, so I thought this was worth pointing out as well.
The Phantom Band – The Howling

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The term ‘ghost’ in the name of this band is something of a clue.  This is a lovely little mini-album of ghostly, spectral folk tales, which twirls and wails just a little above where many of you may wish to go, but nevertheless I find myself rather enjoying it.

This is one of those instances where my disorganisation fails us all, because I have no idea who emailed their stuff through, and can’t tell you anything about the band, apart from the fact that they come from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I once spent some time in jail.  To find out how much I know, click on their MySpace page to read, erm, very little actually. If you want real information, complete with depth, research and knowledge then Obscure Sound is the place for you.

The music gets too close to the sort of high-pitched female arch-folkstress at times, but nevertheless I find myself liking this album.  Imagine a fleeting glimpse of two pale girls in white dresses as the grey Atlantic light seeps weakly from a pale sky.  Wind is blowing, curtains dance, and the paint is peeling from the front door.  It’s a house on a low hill facing the salt and the anger of the sea, yet at distance enough not to be threatened.  That house might be haunted by this album, leaping and flickering around it, the tin coffee pot, the worn floorboards, the damp walls.  It isn’t a malicious haunting really, just a vaguely threatening one; one that makes you nervous that should you upset it, then there is a dark and vengeful side to this album that as long as you don’t offend the girls, they need never turn loose on you.

I know that comes across as trying a bit too hard to be a proper writer, but that really is where Tasseomancy takes you.  I didn’t know they were from Nova Scotia when I first heard the album, but the bleak, isolated beauty of Canada’s Maritimes really does fit with the music.  It was an ‘oh yes, of course’ moment.  One that you will probably experience if you are kind enough to treat yourself to this album.

The Ghost Bees – Sinai

myspace | hype

The album comes out on 8th April, so the only purchase link I can find is on American Amazon here.