Christmas Baubles V

Portobello Town Hall - Sat 13th Dec 2014

Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles V

This was the fifth pre-Xmas music-fest organised by Kid Canaveral and the second involving Lost Map records. It was also the second time that the venue for this event was the lovely Portobello Town Hall.

Official Baubles-V poster

A truly eclectic lineup had been drafted in to perform - with Lost Map stalwarts (and hosts) Kid Canaveral, but also a heap of other musical styles and the surprise headline act, Ibibio Sound Machine.

As per last year's event the organisation and attention to detail was excellent, with local brewers William Brothers supplying the beer, the gig was due to last from 2:30 until midnight with a break for food from 5.40pm to 7pm. 

David Canaveral on kegs

Hosts, David and Kate Canaveral had already provided ticket-holders with a wealth of information and some do's and don'ts e.g. "Please do not bring any of your own booze into the venue, even if you think you've been terribly clever about concealing it. It's a condition of our licence and we'll only take it off you and drink it later whilst writing devastatingly witty, unkind things about you on the internet." :-)

This was definitely the "must go to" pre-Christmas bash for 2014.

Line-up and order of play was:

Kitchen Disco DJs
Throughout the night, while cunningly clothed in Christmas lights and offering plates of home made Christmas treats at the turntables, Kitchen Disco kept us entertained with a fine selection of toons. 

The Spook School
Nye Todd (guitar & vocals), Adam Todd (guitar), Anna Cory (bass and vocals), Niall McCamley (drums)
Spook School started the event with some loud, post-punk, indie songs. Drummer Niall did the between songs chat and at one point invited us all back to Adam's flat for some vegan cheese - "I've got so much vegan cheese" Adam told the crowd, but didn't give out his address. 

Adam, Nye Anna, and Niall before they took their clothes off

Adam was impressive on guitar, Nye provided most of the lead vocals in fine style, although Anna's voice was also great when she led. Drums and bass pretty prominent, but definitely guitar-led, they were slightly marred by echoey sound. Nonetheless Here We Go and Will You Always Be My Friend were particularly good, and despite Portobello Town Hall being less than half full, there was still some bouncy dancing going on. I would like to see them again with better sound.

Synaesthete 
Next up was Sarah Tanat-Jones aka Synaesthete. She was previously involved in a couple of groups (Radials and Come On Gang!) but recently embarked on a solo career with her debut album Array. Responsible for the Baubles V official poster above, Sarah regularly combines art and colours with sound as befitting someone who benefits from that rare gift synaesthesia. 

Sarah Tanat-Jones aka Synaesthete

As a solo performer, her set was heavily tape-loop and drum machine driven, but lovely vocals and very melodic. Sarah even got the Portbello crowd participating in some clap-along numbers in her Kate Bush meets the Burundi Drummers tracks. Really good set. One track entitled "You Only Call Me When You're Drunk" was an fine addition to a gig where Kid Canaveral performed their "You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night" :-)  My interest was piqued enough to subsequently purchase the Array CD and accompanying artwork.

Randolph’s Leap
The Leap were earlier in the proceedings than I had expected, but what a great set. 

Randolph's Leap

They were on top form, and all their recent gigging has helped to provide some light and shade in their performance. Weatherman and I Can't Dance To This Music were highlights, but an almost a cappella version of Natural was my favourite song of the set despite a wee glitch in the lyrics by Adam. 

I Can't Dance

This was a really professional and well performed set by the Leap. Songs were: Goodbye,
Microcosm, Natural, Foolishness of Youth, Weatherman, News, Hermit, I Can't Dance and Clumsy Knot. Definitely my favourite set of the afternoon, and I suspect that view was shared by much of the audience, shown by the fact that the crowd made a real clapping, chanting attempt to get them back for an encore. Unfortunately time was tight and there were many more bands to come, so no encore. 

PAWS 
David Canaveral introduced PAWS as "the band who had a stand-up fist fight with Morrissey". This is related to an event in May 2014, in Santa Ana in California where, through social media, they and another band (We Are Scientists) gained almost cult status when they ran foul of Morrisey's management. Read the background here.

This evening the band themselves, to their credit, were keen to play this down. 
They were formed from the ashes of a Glasgow-based band called “A Copenhagen Hope” 
After the departure of one of its founding members (Nick Anderson) the remaining three friends (Phillip Taylor, Josh Swinney and Matthew Scott) formed PAWS.  

In Porty Town Hall they were loud and rocking, possibly just too loud as the quality suffered a tad. However as the last set before tea-time, they really got the crowd jumping.

Food Break
Next was a break for dinner and we dashed off to get a table in the nearby Bonoful (Bangladeshi & Indian Restaurant). The food was excellent, service was pretty quick and the Bangla Beer (new to me) was delicious!

The Pictish Trail and Sweet Baboo
Johnny Lynch along with his new Moshi Moshi labelmate Stephen Black were in the post dinner slot, and their's was a gentle, hugely enjoyable and very humorous set with each taking turns to perform songs backed by the other. 

Sweet Baboo

Pictish Trail - Little Donkey

You what?

Their recent tour has obviously resulted a well rehearsed and fun set. If you get a chance to see 'em both live - just go - you won't regret it.

Hector Bizerk 
After releasing the SAY Award-nominated ‘Nobody Seen Nothing’ Louie and Audrey have been touring for some time. The time on tour has resulted in a pretty slick performance. Louie is the rapping wordsmith and Audrey is his guitarist and drummer. Not sure who the bassist was, but he was good, we were also treated to some live art on a large canvas at the back of the stage, and a break-dancer-cum-flag-waver.

I'd seen Louie once before as a guest in a gig in Easterhouse to raise cash for the Cairn String Quartet's trip to Austin Texas (for the South by Southwest SxSW festival), and was impressed with his brief appearance then. This was a much more extensive set, backed by a band, and when David Canaveral introduced them as "hypnotic" he was spot on. Despite not always making out the lyrics, it was a really good set and far more fun than I had expected. They certainly warmed the crowd up for the next act.......

Kid Canaveral
Our hosts for the afternoon then to took the stage, armed not only with their usual Buckfast refreshments but also David's "Most fabulous Xmas decoration ever" - an illuminated Buckfast bottle.

Glowing blue Buckfast bottle to the fore (left of monitor)

Unfortunately, the "Most fabulous Xmas decoration ever" which was plugged into David's guitar pedals for power, caused the pedals to fail, much to the delight of the crowd and the mock exasperation of the other Canaverals. David scrabbled around for an alternative power source and we were off.
Despite this initial glitch, the Canaveral's set was particularly good, starting with the seasonal Low Winter Sun and rolling through their best known numbers, pulling out all the stops. In particular Kate's guitar playing was excellent, and their new keyboard player, Michael Craig, added extra depth on several tracks. 

David MacGregor's Fabulous Christmas shirt

Setlist - Low Winter Sun, And Another Thing!, Skeletons, Good Morning, Without A Backing Track, Her Hair Hangs Down, Who Would Want To Be Loved, The Wrench, You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night and Compromise. 
This was one of the best KC performances I had seen, and probably my favourite set of the evening session.

Ibibio Sound Machine
ISM were the surprise headliners for Baubles V, though perhaps the fact that they share an agent with Johnny Lynch meant that it should not have been such a surprise :-)
Fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams, Ibibio Sound Machine is a mash-up of African and electronic elements of West-African funk mixed with post-punk and electro. Weird and wonderful folk stories, recounted to a young Eno, in her mother's Ibibio tongue, by her family form the basis from which the band's unique musical sound is generated.

Hello Edinborough!

They were dance music through and through. The Ibibio lyrics were well beyond my limited linguistic skills, but the band were excellent and Williams, sounding great, was an eye-catching centrepiece in her impressive shoulder-pad and hips dress.

I can only bend over this far in this dress!

Portobello Town Hall came alive with some exceptional dad-dancing among a simmering dance-club crowd, and as things warmed up, hats and jackets were abandoned. A fine finish to a really good afternoon and evening.

The evening session in particular was a glorious mix of Scottish Indie, hip-hop and Afro-electric funk. Well done Kid Canaveral and friends for this fifth installment of Xmas Baubles. Just remember to order more beer next time - bar was drunk dry by 11:00pm!

Cairn String Quartet and guests

Platform in Easterhouse, Glasgow on February 21st 2014

In early March, the city of Austin Texas hosts the 28th "South by South West" Music festival [http://sxsw.com/ and history: http://sxsw.com/about/sxsw-history] 

The Cairn String Quartet will be there! 

"To my knowledge there's no record of a Scottish classical act being chosen to play at South by South West, so it's very exciting," said Annemarie McGahon, founder and violist of the Cairn String Quartet.

However to get there, the girls needed some travel cash, and enlisted the help of some friends for a spectacular SxSW fundraiser at at Platform (http://www.platform-online.co.uk/) in Easterhouse, Glasgow on February 21st

Cairn String Quartet were joined by members of:

• Errors - a three piece "post-electro" band from Glasgow. They are signed to Rock Action Records, the label founded and managed by the band Mogwai.
• The Twilight Sad - are an indie rock band from Kilsyth, comprising James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar), and Mark Devine (drums). The band are currently signed to Fat Cat Records 
• Aidan Moffat - best known for his work with Malcolm Middleton in Arab Strap. 
• Emma Pollock - Emma Pollock is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and a founding member of The Delgados 
• Aaron Wright - A singer songwriter from Edinburgh. Following the success of his first EP ‘Behold A Pale Horse’ Aaron released his debut album on 7th March 2013. 
• Call to Mind - from the Scottish Highlands, near Inverness (Ardersier), but spend most of their time in Glasgow. Debut LP, 'The Winter Is White', due out on 14 April 2014 through Olive Grove Records 
• Francis Macdonald - the drummer and sometime member of British alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub. He has also played with BMX Bandits and Eugenius 
• Kid Canaveral - see previous Blog posts 
• Lou Hickey - Lou Hickey is a singer-songwriter from Neilston near Glasgow, Scotland. Debut album ‘True Love Ways’ released May 2013
• RM Hubbert - commonly known as Hubby, is a Scottish guitarist and singer. Best known for his solo work as RM Hubbert and as a member of Scottish post rock band El Hombre Trajeado 
• Gasp - is a Glaswegian Hip Hop MC/wordsmith 
• Hector Bizerk - is an experimental hip-hop group from Scotland comprising drummer Audrey Tait and rapper John Louie. Louie was the man in attendance on this occasion. 
• Stanley Odd - is an alternative hip-hop group based in Scotland combining live instrumentation with samples and loops - Solareye was the man for this gig.

So it all kicked off a little later than advertised, but the venue was good - a place called Platform. Part of a community resource in Easterhouse with a library, exhibition space, leisure centre and theatre. The theatre itself was like a plush lecture hall and we got comfy seats right down the front. 

First up, the Cairn Quartet eased us into the evening with some of their own compositions, and a couple of arrangements of popular tunes.
Next they were joined by Emma Pollock (ex of the Delgados) who performed a couple of her own recent compositions backed by the CSQ - fine voice.

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

Next RM Hubbert joined them and added his excellent acoustic guitar to a couple of tracks he and Emma had composed.

Next up was Aidan Moffat, his voice instantly recognisable as that on many of an Arab Strap track. Mostly spoken rather than sung, but very atmospheric.

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

Then it was the turn of late line-up addition Aaron Wright. He played just one track - "Middle Ground" with the CSQ backing and sounded really good. If you get a chance to see this guy - do it!

Listen here https://soundcloud.com/aaron-wright-uk/middle-ground 

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

Short interval, beer and toilet visits, and next to take the stage were Call to Mind, full band, mostly acoustic set - just did a couple of numbers unfortunately, as they were good too. Check out their EP HERE

Next we had David MacGregor of Kid Canaveral, strolled in, plugged in his guitar and performed a beautiful version of So Sad, So Young with CSQ backing - really excellent, but that was it - just one song.

Next was Francis Macdonald, who has been composing film scores recently, since his days drumming for Teenage Fanclub. He treated us to a couple of beautiful ambient film-score tracks with CSQ string accompanying.

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

Next was Lou Hicky, who was on a fleeting visit between two other gigs. She performed a lovely version of Minutes Hours Days, especially good with the CSQ backing. Then she was off to her next gig. Will definitely try to see her again soon - she's got another CSQ gig soon apparently.

Next up - Simon Ward of the Glasgow band Errors. Juggling guitar and keyboards, he played a couple of tracks, with string backing of course, and just made you wish the whole Errors ensemble were there. Need to investigate - sound good.

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

The next act on was a collaborative hip-hop number by Gasp, John Louie (Hector Bizerk) and Solareye. I have to admit that I did not expect to enjoy this section much, but they had each penned separate verses to a new number "Phantom of the Awkward" specially for the CSQ gig. First ever performance. I was very pleasantly surprised - they were really good - and the CSQ string backing worked well.

Picture courtesy of 7aheadmusic

The Cairn String Quartet then treated us to a number of contemporary chart hits on strings - my favourite was Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. 

Last but definitely not least was James Graham of Twilight Sad. 

He sang a very fine version of Alphabet from the Twilight Sad album No One Can Ever Know. His voice was great and the band should definitely do an official string backing version some day - this sounded fantastic.

Anyway - it was all over except for the raffle prizes (well it was a fund raiser) - lots of good prizes and they even raffled the chance to have the Quartet play in your venue of choice - your front room if you wanted!

All in all, a very varied evening, but hugely enjoyable, and a few bands (new to me) to investigate further.

Good luck in Austin, Cairn String Quartet