No, not mine, that’s a secret for a little while longer.  Well, at least until I figure out which five they are at least, which might take another week or so.  No, this is yours.  For those of us sleeping off hangovers from Thursday’s drinking, and preparing to give ourselves whole new ones tonight, I think this might be the perfect diversion: simply list, in order, your five favourite albums of the year.

I am not sure how to score this, frankly.  I could either award five points for a number one, four for a two and so on, or just add up each mention as a single vote like I did with the songs of the year – what do you think? Perhaps when you add your answers you could give me a steer on how to score it – one mention, one vote or sliding scale.

As this week’s five songs, I have picked one from each of last year’s top five albums, but I feel obliged to point out that Timber Timbre was actually re-released this year on a UK label (the brilliant Full Time Hobby), so is very much eligible for this year’s vote.  And if I were to nudge you in any one direction that would probably be it.  It’s a fucking incredible album, and would be very highly placed in my own list this year had I not already included it last year.

Timber Timbre – Magic Arrow (from Timber Timbre)

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Navigator – Danger Dragon (from Bad Children)

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Withered Hand – Providence (from Good News)

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Samantha Crain – Get the Fever Out (from Songs in the Night)

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Trembling Bells – When I Was Young (from Carbeth)

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1.Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre
This record is ghostly and weird.  I hate to keep going back to the Bon Iver thing, but reading the Bon Iver press, including the superlatives, lead me to expect an album as good as this, only to be massively disappointed.

Then, months later, I took a chance on this record, which turned out to be the album which matched the breathless accolades – to my mind anyway.  The ghostliness, the creepy sense of the macabre, it just all works so incredibly well – almost like the tales of some lost animalistic religion from an isolated community out in the wilderness somewhere.

It is also perfectly judged in terms of when to stay quiet and bare, and when to drag the sound up from the grave to dance around the odd figures the song has conjured up out of the dark.  Brilliant.

Timber Timbre – Lay Down in the Tall Grass

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2.Navigator – Bad Children
For an album this high on my list to have been released as a free download from a micro-label based in Bone Valley, Utah.  Even more surprising, then, that other people in and around Edinburgh had already heard of him.

This record is astoundingly good though, a ferocious mess of overloaded channels and twisted distortion, delivering pain and anger and the occasional, fleeting glimpse of something a little more tender.  And somehow, underneath all this tangled mess, there are pop songs.  Braden McKenna actually writes amazing tunes – he may batter the living shit out of them afterwards, but he really does write cracking pop songs first and foremost, and that combination is what makes this such a great album.

Navigator – Work is Done

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3. Withered Hand – Good News
It’s hard for me to judge this album, given I knew pretty much all of the songs beforehand either from his superb Religious Songs EP or from live performances.  Somehow that just didn’t seem to matter, because Dan’s delivery, the superb performances of his band and the brilliant job Pete and Neil did of recording this have managed to capture one of the unlikeliest heroes of Scottish underground music you could imagine.  In a really odd way, Dan just oozes a kind of reticent charisma, and the album is a lovable as it is devastating.

A brilliant piece of work by a fellow not one person in the music press would ever have tipped to write one of the great Scottish albums of the last five years, and yet that’s exactly how I would describe Good News.

Withered Hand – Cornflake

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4. Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Songs in the Night
Instead of being the alt-folk record her Confiscation EP seemed to be preparing us for, Songs in the Night came out as more of a folked up rock ‘n’ roll album.  Instead of ruining the delicacy, this gave Sam Crain a really strong platform for her stunning voice, and the resulting record has energy, guts and pathos absolutely all over it.

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Long Division

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5.Trembling Bells – Carbeth
Carbeth, amazingly, has almost entirely retained its ‘What the fuck is this?’ impact ever since the first time Ruth from the Bowery passed me a CD-R of it way back in March.  It’s wild, preposterous and… well in all honesty it’s a completely mental psych-folk anachronism.  But it’s still utterly engrossing and giddily brilliant, and despite still being a bit baffled by it, I love this album.

Trembling Bells – I Took to You (Like Christ to Wood)

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So August is almost upon us. Traditionally –  or at least for as long as I’ve been living here – most bands and promoters in Edinburgh tend to just take the month off and make way for the festival. It’s a bit of a monolith. Every available venue (and most non-venue) space is booked up months in advance, and with so much happening every single day in August, it becomes rather difficult for smaller operations putting on shows. Of course there are exceptions – a lot of the bigger clubs just keep on trucking, and nights like Acoustic Edinburgh embrace the Fringe and put on shows as part of the official line-up.

This year, though – more so than any I can remember – seems to be bucking that trend. There’s a lot of activity going on outside of the festival – and lots of local bands and promoters putting on shows regardless. Which is great to see – another indication of the strength and confidence of the city’s musical community at the moment. I thought I’d give a run down of what’s caught my eye – as with so much on, it’s entirely possible for an amazing show to slip by un-noticed.

The Edge

Firstly, the musical leg of the Fringe – the Edge – has some really great shows this year. The Mum show may have been moved to Glasgow, but we still have David Byrne, Woodpigeon, Andrew Bird, Frightened Rabbit, Malcolm Middleton, and Jeffrey Lewis. And judging by the website, the festival seems to have just absorbed all the shows at Sneaky Pete’s – including Sleeping States (who I can’t recommend highly enough), Monotonix, Sparrow and the Workshop, the usual This is Music night and the mysteriously titled ‘Songs By Toad night’. It’s also great to see some Edinburgh bands forming part of the Edge line-up – with Broken Records at the Queens Hall, a double header from Unicorn Kid and Young Fathers at Cab Vol, and support slots from Meursault (at Frightened Rabbit), the Kays Lavelle (the Lost Brothers) and Withered Hand (Jeffrey Lewis). It’s something that I’ve felt was lacking in previous line-ups, and it’s a step in the right direction.

www.theedgefestival.com

Retreat!

Then, of course, there’s the ‘other’ festival. Retreat! is an all day event at the Bristo Hall on Sunday the 16th. 15 acts (Meursault, Withered Hand, Rob St. John, Tissø Lake, the Leg…), and DJs till 3am. Free entry. I can’t think of a better line-up. But then again, I did help pick it.

www.myspace.com/edinburghretreat

Trampoline

Trampoline are also putting on four shows over first two weekends, and really great line-ups including Adam Stafford (Y’all Is Fantasy Island), Jonnie Common (Down The Tiny Steps), Animal Magic Tricks, Conquering Animal Sound, Golden Ghost and Woodenbox.

www.myspace.com/trampolineuk

Bang Bang Club

Normally at the Speakeasy in Cabaret Voltaire, the Bang Bang Club is hosting a series of shows upstairs in the Teviot Hall. Highlights include Clinic, the Pineapple Chunks, Paul Vickers and the Leg, and a series of soundtrack events from Steven Severin.

www.myspace.com/bangbangclubedinburgh

Playing With The Past

There’s also an exclusive second screening of the Playing with the Past event from this year’s film festival on 22^nd August, with eagleowl, FOUND and Meursault performing live soundtracks to old Scottish films. Tickets are available now from the Filmhouse website or box office.

www.myspace.com/playingwiththepast

Cybraphon

FOUND – not willing to give up their ‘hardest working band in Edinburgh’ tag to Meursault just yet – also have a residency at InSpace (a gallery space – part of the new University building) with their Cybraphon project, including a live band performance on the 13^th (which is free but ticketed). It seems to be some kind of automated musical cupboard, containing a series of musical instruments, which reacts to online activity about the project in real time. Or something. For a more coherent explanation, try the Cybraphon site:

www.cybraphon.com

Leith Tape Club

Okay, strictly speaking not an Edinburgh show – but a nice trip out of the city is normally always welcome around the third week in August. Leith Tape Club at the Iso Bar continues in August on the 20^th, with a rather special all-star line-up including the Kays Lavelle and Meursault (solo, I think).

Leith Tape Club

National Portrait Gallery

There’s also a series of rather exclusive shows at the National Portrait Gallery, whilst the gallery is closed for a refurbishment. These include Rob St. John and Emily Scott on 8^th August, X-LionTamer on 21^st August, St Jude’s Infirmary and Zoey Van Goey on 22^nd August, and Withered Hand and Meursault on 29^th August.

National Portrait Gallery

Electric Circus

There’s been some great gigs in Electric Circus since it opened earlier this year, and they don’t seem to be losing any momentum in August, with shows from FOUND, Dent May, White Heath and Rob St. John (1st), Jesus H. Foxx (11th), The Phantom Band (19th), and Trembling Bells and Ben Reynolds (25th), amongst others.

Electric Circus

The Golden Hour

A blend of poetry, music and live visuals at the Forest Cafe on 19th August, with performances from Billy Liar and Withered Hand.

The Golden Hour

Shipping Forecast Garden Party

And I think there’s another shipping forecast garden party scheduled for 30^th August, with Come On Gang!

No details yet, but I’m sure Dave will keep us posted.

It is all pretty exciting. Please spam the comments with anything I’ve missed, as I’m sure there’s loads, and if any more are announced or come to light over the course of the month, it’ll no doubt make it’s way into the weekly listings.

Sleeping States – September, Maybe

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Woodpigeon – In Praise of the West Midlothian Bus Service

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Zoey Van Goey – City Is Exploding

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I mentioned these chaps ages ago, and now it is time to properly review the album, rather than simply acting all excited because something came from nowhere and blew up all over my inbox.  I’ve actually given the album a bit of a break since then, but sticking it on the stereo once more it is still a thundering bloody joy of an album.

There’s something, I certainly will confess, slightly preposterous about Carbeth.  It’s probably due to the exaggeratedly anachronistic sound, so strongly reminiscent of last 60s/early 70s psych folk.  It’s just so unashamed in placing itself in that era, my first thought was a somewhat incredulous ‘Are these guys serious?‘

Maybe that’s why I love this album so much, though.  It knows exactly what it is, and proceeds to cavort about the place and flaunt its eccentricity with such carefree abandon that I end up just giggling at its cheek and turning the stereo up really fucking loud, just to enjoy it all the more.

Seeing them live, the engine room of this band is Alex Neilson, the drummer.  I was at one of their first live shows, so they may well have evolved a little since then, but he seemed like the only really obvious performer of the group at the time – the one most likely to become the focal point which I felt their live show needed, just to hold things together.  Listen to the record, and Lavinia Blackwall’s gorgeous vocals (she’s also in the brilliant Pendulums), and the guitar of Ben Reynolds come more to the fore, helping to create that swirling euphoria as the songs build to climax.

I know it’s unlikely to ever be a fashionable album but, honestly, I think this is superb.  It actually makes me want to be a hippy, dress in Laura Ashley and take a shitload of mushrooms.  Alright, maybe only the latter, but it really is good.

Trembling Bells – The End is the Beginning Born Knowing

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Trembling Bells – Willows of Carbeth

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MySpace | More mp3s | Buy from Honest Jon’s (no, not a used car dealer, a record label)

If you’re going to everything that’s on this week, you might wish to consider drinking cups of tea at gigs or you’ll have a liver like a fucking cricket ball by the end of all this.  You could literally drink your way through the week, the finest of music dancing in your ears, and a great big beer-hoover emptying your wallet.

My absolute definites are Withered Hand, Sparrow & the Workshop, Trembling Bells, Findo Gask and, erm, Jesus H. Foxx.  Christ.  I am going to have to make sure I have a couple of orange juice gigs in that lot or I’ll be hungover for a week and possibly divorced as well by the time Sunday comes around.

Bad liver, naughty liver, must be punished.

Monday 16th February 2009: Emmy the Great at Cabaret Voltaire.

I am a little conflicted on Emmy the Great.  It’s far too tempting to call her Emmy the Perfectly Reasonable, but that is about where I stand.  She has some very sharp lyrics, and has written some really good tunes, but on listening to her debut album I found myself perhaps less able to enjoy her music in large chunks than I was when I was sampling it in small slices.
Emmy the Great – Where is My Mind

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Tuesday 17th February 2009: Chris Whittle & Simon Kempston at the Bowery.

This will be an evening of guitary singer-songwriters, so perhaps the right time to take it easy and just bask in the music, instead of getting pickled and dancing about the place.
Chris Whittle – Stay

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Wednesday 18th February 2009: Withered Hand, Sparrow & the Workshop & Jo Foster at the Bowery.

I haven’t seen Withered Hand’s twisted folk songs performed for a while now.  Nor, actually, have I seen Sparrow & the Workshop’s clattersome Americana.  There is no way on earth I’ll be missing this gig.
Withered Hand – Cornflake

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Thursday 19th February 2009: Findo Gask, Babygod & Night Noise Team play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

Findo Gask’s new single One Eight Zero is one of the best things I’ve heard in ages – part electronic pop, but far too lovelorn and plaintive for that.  I am really looking forward to seeing them play.  I know a lot less about the other two bands, but Limbo can generally be relied upon to produce the goods, so I’ll not be late!
Findo Gask – One Eight Zero

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Friday 20th February 2009: Trembling Bells at the Bowery.

I am fascinated to see how Trembling Bells’ theatrical folk music translates live.  Carbeth, their forthcoming album, is a fantastic record, albeit one with such a distinctive style I can’t imagine it will appeal to everyone.  But for myself, there’s no chance I’ll be missing this one.
Trembling Bells – I Took to You (Like Christ to Wood)

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Sunday 22nd February 2009: Crystal Stilts & Jesus H. Foxx at Sneaky Pete’s.

Any band who want to get anywhere this year have Crystal in their name.  I never realised when I reviewed their EP last September that they would go on to be quite so buzzy, especially given the low-fi sound, grumbling away with distant vocals and C86 guitars, but here they are.  And Jesus H. Foxx have been working on all sorts of new stuff as well, which I am very excited to hear.
Crystal Stilts – Crippled Croon

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Sunday 22nd February 2009: The Spinto Band at Cabaret Voltaire.

I don’t know the Spinto Band very well, although I’ve heard the name often enough.  Still, a quick listen to their MySpace page confirms that were it not for Sneaky Pete’s I would want to be at this gig as well.  Ah well.  In a week like this, something’s got to give.
The Spinto Band – Summer Grof

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Oops!  Sorry we’re late.  Thankfully, we’re not pregnant.

What a couple of tech-fart heavy days.  Firstly, the show we done prepared/recorded for Wednesday 29th done got killed dead by our glitch-ridden editing software (now retired & replaced) as we were transferring it from one format to another. Gone, it were, plain old gone. To compensate & salvage some professional pride we put the show back to Saturday 31st in order to allow room to breathe & re-record the entire thing (essentially a re-record of the pre-record).

Secondly, we took it as a given that the show was all uploaded & ready to air, via an auto-post for 10pm Saturday 31st, so we turned the computer off & took a much needed relax/sleep.   Imagine our aghastness, then, when today, late afternoon, Sunday 1st February, we discovered the damn auto-pilot had (again) failed to launch.  Buggeration.

Thirdly, we forgot to bloody write the post for this here site – jetlag, see. A contemporary middleclass disease, I’ll have you know.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark my words people, you’ve been warned.  When I first heard this album I pretty much brushed it off as somewhat over the top baroque folk.  The next time I listened I found myself thinking ‘What the fuck, really, is this?  What the fuck do they think they’re doing, this isn’t the seventies.’  And then I was hooked.

So, glib and derogatory remarks aside, I present the Trembling Bells.  I was passed their album by Ruth from The Bowery, who has booked an Edinburgh date for them for the 20th February.  And having listened to their album about a million fucking times now I just can’t shake that state of bewildered, joyous fascination.  It’s bizarre, it’s a little bit mental, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

It’s like a madly over the top version of the kind of psych-folk that was around in the sixties and seventies, like Liege & Lief (yes, I know I always mention this album) by Fairport Convention meets Frank Zappa.  It’ll be out on Honest Jon’s in April, I’ve heard the whole thing, I’m itching to leak it but I can’t, and I cannot emphasise how much you all need to hear this.  It’s nuts, it’s out of it’s tiny little mind, and it’s absolutely fucking amazing.  I cannot stop playing this album at the moment.

Trembling Bells – When I Was Young

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Trembling Bells – I Took to You

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