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!

Randolph's Leap and Guests

The Bowler's Bar, Glasgow - Sunday 27 July

I've got a wee bit behind with the whole gig review thang, so this is a week or so overdue. This was part of the East End Social project ....

"The East End Social is an ambitious new music project bringing a host of concerts, events and workshops to the east side of Glasgow. Running from April to August 2014, The East End Social promises an eclectic music programme across a range of venues, appealing to visitors and east end residents of all ages."

This particular whole-day-gig was organised by Randolph's Leap and Olive Grove Records under the banner "I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore" (click to view promo video recorded prior to the gig at the Bowler's Bar)

Randolph's Leap - Hosts for the day

The line-up for I Can't Dance To This Music: 

Randolph's Leap

State Broadcasters

Skinny Dipper

...plus stripped back sets from:

The BMX Bandits

Meursault 

Kid Canaveral
Adam Ross

... with Vic Galloway on DJ and compère duties

I was particularly looking forward to the Leap and Kid C as always, but also keen to see Meursault before he metamorphoses into a new entity, and of course the BMX Bandits. I knew little about Skinny Dipper or State Broadcasters, but if they were friends of the Leap they were bound to be good I reckoned.

Vic Galloway was playing some tunes, old and new - Blue Nile, Cocteau Twins, Pictish Trail etc. to keep the crowd happy, but at the appointed hour (13:00) Adam Ross of Randolph's Leap stepped up onto the tiny stage and did a few introductions before launching into the first solo acoustic set.

Adam solo acoustic set

He started with Cassie O’Tone "I sit here in the bath and pretend i’m doing the luge. I keep misjudging corners and break my skull in two" and followed with 3 new songs which all sounded pretty good - no idea of the titles, but something like Under The Sun, Regret, Place That I Linger. He finished his set with Psychic from the Real Anymore album. Lovely stripped back set and Adam's voice never fails to impress.

BMX Bandits were up next - well four of the seven Bandits with a guest appearance from none other than Adam Ross on drums (first of several guest appearances by Adam).

We were treated to a fine selection of Duglas T. Stewart's whimsical stories between songs, with the Bandits trademark humorous/sad lyrics during the set. Rachel Allison's lovely voice adding a real depth to the songs - which included:

Fireworks, And It's You, Do You Really Love Me  (Daniel Johnston cover), Students Of Life, Listen To Some Music and Disco Girl.

BMX Bandits, well some of them

Kid Canaveral's David MacGregor was next on the bill. Without his band members to reign him, he probably spent as much time chatting with the crowd as he did playing songs, but it was all good fun, and even funnier was his attempt to curtail his language (which can be colourful on occasion) as there were young kids in the audience :-)

David MacGregor representing Kid Canaveral

Despite the extensive banter, David manage to play: Her Hair Hangs Down, What We Don't Talk About, You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night (with well orchestrated audience participation and harmonies), Low winter Sun & And Another Thing. Really enjoyable set from David on great form.

Neil Pennycook was making one of his last appearances under the name Meursault.

This was the first time I'd seen Neil live, despite owning several of his albums. The first thing that struck me was the power of his voice. In the small Bowler's Bar venue, he didn't really need the microphone for the louder vocal sections, and indeed stood well back. 

Meursault - Neil Pennycook

The set consisted of a mixture of Meursault tunes and some interesting covers. Set list was roughly: Flittin' (great version - Adam on Drums again!), Death to Meursault, Lioness  (Jason Molina cover), Memoirs of a Stockbroker? (Mungo Jerry cover), Lament For a Teenage Millionaire, Day Drinker (Adam Faucett cover) and a couple more. This was a compelling performance by Neil and well received by the audience.

After a considerable amount of sound engineering, Skinny Dipper ("almost a girl band") took the stage - all 9 of them!

Skinny Dipper stage crowding

No need for Adam's presence this time, they brought their own drummer :-) Skinny Dipper are a new band with three members of Randolph’s Leap in them. They’ve got a new EP coming out towards the end of the year or the start of next year.

Skinny Dipper have been described as "sunshine-pop harmonists" and they did just that - bright, mostly happy tunes well performed with big strings, brass and keyboards backing. This was a lovely set in a (by this time) well packed Bowler's Bar.


Press labelled as "Caledonian alt-country charmers", State Broadcasters were on next.
Completely unknown to me me prior to this gig, the Broadcasters line-up unusually included a harp, a cello and two trombones, as well as the more usual guitar and keys. 

State Broadcasters

Their songs were ear-catching and sounded great in the tiny venue. Of course, they too needed a drummer for a couple of tracks and enlisted the help of Mr Ross. By this time Adam was beginning to get embarrassed at being described as the Jools Holland of the drums, but he worked his way across the stage, through the band, eventually found the drum stool and proceeded to drum through the next couple of numbers very ably. State Broadcasters are definitely worth further investigation on this evidence. 

Finally it was the turn of the hosts - Randolph's Leap, who on this occasion were a trombone player short of the full Leap ensemble. 

Adam glad not to be drumming

Exuberant and fun as always, there were a couple of songs I'd not heard the Leap do live before - namely Crisps and Undergod, but perhaps that was due to the missing trombone of Fraser Gibson. 

One of the highlights of their set was their cover of Camper Van Beethoven's "Take The Skinheads Bowling" where Adam insisted that Neil (Meursault), David (Canaveral) and Graeme (State Broadcasters) join him on stage for the vocals. A wild and crowd-backed version of Skinheads followed with wholehearted chants of "Got big lanes" and "All the same" etc.

Funnily enough, in the following song, Counting Sheep, Adam inadvertently swapped back into Camper Van Beethoven mode and mixed up the lyrics, to much crowd cheering. 

As always, Randolph's Leap live are something not to be missed and their set ended a very fine afternoon and evening of quality music, friendly banter and inter-band camaraderie.

Set-list was: Goodbye, Foolishness Of Youth, Nature, Isle of Love, Weatherman, Microcosm , Undergod, Hermit, Take The Skinheads Bowling (Camper Van Beethoven cover), Counting Sheep, I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore and Crisps

Broken Records with Kid Canaveral and Book Group

Queen's Hall  - Saturday 2nd August 2014

As the press office at the Queen's Hall put it "This is a homecoming show by Edinburgh's Broken Records to celebrate the recent release of their eagerly anticipated third album Weights & Pulleys. As well as a full performance featuring the new material and old favourites, the night opens with special musical guests Kid Canaveral and Book Group and will be the best way to kickstart your 2014 Fringe."

Broken Records release history:- 

Until the Earth Begins to Part (2009), Let Me Come Home (2010), Weights & Pulleys (May 2014)

I knew little of their first two albums (on 4AD records), but recently heard "Winterless Son" on BBC 6Music late one evening and more or less went straight out and bought Weights & Pulleys the next day. The new album was recorded in Edinburgh, and with the support of the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, it was released through their own newly created label, J Sharp Records. So I was looking forward to hearing not just the new album, but some of their back-catalogue too. Even better, as an added bonus, one of my favourite live acts, Kid Canaveral (full band) were supporting, along with another local band, Book Group.

Rory Sutherland fiddles up a storm

Broken Records has increased in numbers and it was a 9-strong band that entered the stage area accompanied by a single strobe light and rising excitement and cheers from the crowd. Two drummers (two!), horn section, strings, multiple guitars, keys and extra bass made a marvellous sound in the small Queens' Hall venue. 

Along with the massed instruments Jamie Sutherland's voice was strong and the opening song Ditty (We Weren't Ready) was a real show kick-starter. This was followed by Winterless Son. The crowd were dancing and the sound was great - not to mention the light show. This is the first "indie" band I've seen with such a slick setup, lights, instruments, sound equipment - even a "guitar roadie" constantly re-tuning the guitars. I guess this might hark back to their 4AD days?

The band have been tagged with various labels over the years, comparing them to Arcade Fire, The National and even Springsteen amongst others, but I think that the combination of good songwriting and their varied set of instruments (accordion, violin, trumpet and trombone) makes them unique, but they definitely should work on keeping that individuality. The new album is mostly glorious with several stand-out-on-first-hearing tracks. The others grow with more listening.

Set-list was:

BR Set-list

Kid Canveral

I'd just seen David Canaveral last weekend doing a lovely acoustic solo support for the Leap at the East End Social gig, but was looking forward to the full line-up and some of their more up-tempo and electric guitar driven tracks.

The Kids in full flow

They kicked off with the slightly unseasonal but rather fine Low Winter Sun, followed by Without A Backing Track, with Kate Canaveral on lead vocals and David, Rose and Scott doing the driving rhythm. The recent single Who Would Want To Be Loved was next, combining some lovely Kate and David guitar with the irresistible lyrics “You start to feel that you’re destined to drown in your kitchen sink, and nobody waits forever because everyone dies eventually.”

After the heart-achingly beautiful Her Hair Hangs Down, David turned to the audience and looking at the possibly slightly inebriated guy in the cowboy hat who was dancing to every single song, he said with a big grin "D'you know, I think that's the first time anyone has danced to that song at a gig"

Medicated?

This was a really smooth but uplifting set from Kid Canaveral, and as they finished up with a great full on version of A Compromise, and despite considerable audience appeals for "More!" they exited the stage and the lights came up - no encore. The price of being a support act I guess.

KC Set-list: Low Winter Sun, Without A Backing Track, Who Would Want To Be Loved, Her Hair Hangs Down, Skeletons, Sometimes and A Compromise.

Book Group

Previously know as Bad Books, but were forced to change to Book Group due to an existing Manchester group of the same name.

Book Group

Described as "thunder drums + pop fuzz hooks. Prone to use of megaphone", this was my first hearing of Book Group. They were entertaining. The songs were pretty catchy and seemed well written, but the sound was not always great, particularly on the vocals.

Listen to Some of the tracks from their recent EP "Tantrums" here 

Hidden Door Festival

Pictish Trail, Kid Canaveral, Tuff Love and Randolph's Leap

For 9 days and nights 28th March to 5th April, the previously derelict vaults in East Market Street, Edinburgh, were transformed into:

Market Street Vaults in full flow

• Two 200 capacity live music venues with state of the art sound and light, plus a third ‘secret’ live music venue for more intimate music events, with over 40 bands and musicians performing over the 9 days
• A series of 18 vaults filled with immersive art installations including light-reactive robots, mazes and labyrinths, stunning video projections, as well as more conventional paintings and sculpture
• A performance Theatre Space with over 40 contributors
• A cinema space screening 9 nights of film and animation programmes
• Not to mention two bars selling locally produced beers and other fruity drinks, and a café space selling food and hot drinks

Hidden Door seized the opportunity to occupy these iconic vaults before they were stripped bare again, and ultimately handed over to property developers Artisan Real Estate and turned into part of the controversial Caltongate project.

Our visit to this one-off extravaganza was Monday night, March 31st 2014.

On the bill were Pictish Trail, Kid Canaveral, Tuff Love and Randolph's Leap.
Arrived late (due to a flat tyre on the long drive back from London) and the order of play had changed a little. Because Scott McMaster, the Kid Canaveral drummer had a "family issue" and could not be there, Kate Lazda and David MacGregor did separate acoustic sets. Rose, the bass player manned the merchandise stand. Due to the late arrival, only caught the last three tunes from Kate's performance. Great guitar as always, and her wistful voice adds a certain sadness to the tracks - it was a beautiful performance. David kicked off with Low Winter Sun, a tough track with very high chorus notes to begin the set. By the end of this song, his voice was right up there and he went from strength to strength through the rest of the set. He even got the crowd split into two harmonic groups and accompanying him on You Only Went Out to Get Drunk Last Night. A really good solo performance from both, and an indication of how good they are and how impressive the song-writing is when stripped back like that.

David MacGregor

Johnny Lynch (Mr Pictish Trail) filled in the gaps with some esoteric DJ sets and some interesting compère work :-)

Next on were Tuff Love. A three piece: Suse Bear on bass, Julie Eisenstein on guitar and Michael O’Hara on drums from Glasgow. They have had rave reviews from many quarters and this is the second time I've seen them live. Sweet Discontent was the stand out track from their set, and although the whole set was hugely enjoyable, they still suffer from a slightly muddy sound mix, particularly on the guitar and vocals. Their recorded stuff is really great (have a listen), but the sound quality of the lyrics and guitar playing didn't transfer to this live set too well. Still, as I said, very enjoyable/danceable set.

Tuff Love

During the next break, took the chance to stroll around some of the other "vaults" and saw some art and video displays. Sorry that time was tight - would have liked to see more. Venison "stag" burger, local ales and some fine Havana rum were also sampled and enjoyed....then back to the "big Vault" for Randolph's Leap.

Randolph's Leap climbed onto the stage (no artists' entrance in this venue, just rummage through the crowd and use a bass monitor with an old guitar case on top to clamber up.
The band is made up of the following folk – Adam Ross (guitar/vocals), Iain Taylor (drums), Vicki Cole (bass), Andrew MacLellan (electric guitar/cello), Heather Thikey (violin), Ali Hendry (trumpet), Fraser Gibson (trombone) and Pete MacDonald (keyboards) though Pete wasn't at this gig.

They sound-checked with News (“has everybody heard the news I’m going insane”) a frantic, funny, sing-along 1' 20" track. The sound was excellent - brass, violin, guitars, drums and voices - the whole ensemble. Adam steps back to the microphone and announces that he's "off to the toilet", leaps off the stage and lopes off through the crowd.

Back a few minutes later, and no hanging around, they launch straight in to Goodbye (from the Fast As A Man mini album) and the crowd are already dancing.

Randoph's Leap

The rest of the set went like this...

Goodbye
Mutiny
Foolishness Of Youth
Black & Blue
Microcosm
Weatherman
Isle Of Love 
Real Anymore
Hermit
Light Of The Moon
and they finished the set with I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore

There were some brilliant moments of Adam thought between songs, in particular the fact that the vinyl and CD version of the new album were available to purchase. "That's CD not seedy" he said "the seedy version doesn't come out until July" 
The sound throughout was really excellent and what a sound they made. If you have never seen them live - just do it!

Of course I had to buy the new album "Clumsy Knot" vinyl and CD (seedy version) combo.

..which came with 
A TRACK-BY-TRACK GUIDE TO RANDOLPH’S LEAP’S DEBUT ALBUM
By Singer/Songwriter Adam Ross

1. UNNATURAL The most westerly song on the album. I wrote it in the Ardnamurchan peninsula to a captive audience of pine martens. A song about self-criticism and anxiety.

2. FOOLISHNESS OF YOUTH I spent ages trying to find a keyboard tone that sounded like Intuition by John Lennon. I didn’t find it. Not even on my £9.99 Casiotone MT-52. The song is kind of about worrying about stupid stuff we did/said in the past. I’m sad that “youth” isn’t really an excuse I can use anymore.

3. NEWS I’m proud of the amount of craziness we managed to fit in to 1 minute and 20 seconds. Hearing Fraser’s trombone part in isolation is an avant-garde joy to behold. It was recorded at Pete MacDonald’s house, which in its past lives has apparently been a Polish embassy, a W.I. dancehall and home to Teenage Fanclub.

4. HERMIT In October 2012 the lyric “hermit the frog” appeared on a Fence Records 7”. In August 2013 Fence Records ended. We recorded this song in the wonderful Chem 19 studios.

5. GINA Gina is in fact a very reasonable employer and I apologise for casting unfavourable aspersions. Someone told me the drums sound like the theme tune to ‘Scrubs’. I used a public domain drum loop so it’s possibly the same one.

6. LIGHT OF THE MOON A good example of a recording which is really different to the live version. I enjoy that aspect of the band. This song gave us the album title (“I’d tie a clumsy knot around a tender thought”). The chorus is about someone being a big fish in a small pond. Not me though. I’ve never been a big fish. At best I’m akin to average sized plankton.

7. WEATHERMAN Somebody once asked me sincerely if this song was based on the film The Weather Man starring Nicolas Cage. Ironically, this is one of the few Randolph’s Leap songs not inspired by Nicolas Cage. An acoustic version appeared on a mini-album called As Fast As A Man and it’s become a favourite to play live.

8. BLACK & BLUE Many things can be both black and blue. For example: the sky, clothing (e.g. trousers), paint, exotic fruit. An attempt to write a song that was really simple but affecting. Musically, it’s inspired by Kath Bloom, Sandy Denny and Karen Dalton. Lyrically, there’s hardly anything to it but I think that works in its favour and it’s my favourite recording on the album.

9. ISLE OF LOVE My girlfriend, Michelle, the person whom I trust and admire more than anyone else, once told me that this song made her feel sick. Oh well. I think I’d been listening to a lot of Jonathan Richman when I wrote this one.

10. MICROCOSM On that same day, Michelle told me that this one sounded Japanese(?!). This song made it onto the album just in the nick of time. Another fun one to play live.

11. SAXOPHONE The oldest song on the album. It’s been around for a while but I knew that when we finally came to record it we’d have to find a good sax player. We found a very good one (Bill Fleming). LISTEN TO THAT FLIPPIN’ SOLO! Thanks Bill.

12. COLD The delightful electric guitar tone on this song is actually an acoustic guitar sent through an effects box. Hard to believe but 100% true. One of the few songs I’ve managed to write without obsessing over rhyming couplets.

13. I CAN’T DANCE TO THIS MUSIC ANYMORE Kid Canaveral recently asked if they could record a version of this song. So by the time you read these words I might be rich as heck. It first appeared on a home-recorded album called The Curse of the Haunted Headphones and is, as far as I'm aware, the only song to reference Crossmyloof train station.

Randolph’s Leap http://randolphsleap.co.uk

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