mighty meadow

Great shout. Saw him at Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine on Saturday night. Excellent live act although it was an acoustic show this time. St. Luke’s earlier this year with the full band was incredible. I think he’s playing a full band show in Edinburgh this Friday (?). The new Bluebells album is also a cracker, right up there with ‘Sisters’ despite the 40 year gap. Got a white label of the upcoming Gareth Sager (the Pop Group / Rip Rig & Panic) LP a few months ago and that’s another beauty. Not sure when it’s due for release but we’ll worth looking out for.

Wouldn’t say bad but some are definitely way better than others.

The Fall - The Light User Syndrome (1996). Not their best album by a long way but I’m going through all their studio albums again do got to take the good with the bad

Few gigs lined up in coming months. Bought tickets yesterday for HAMISH HAWK who for some reason is playing a gig in Irvine library later this month. MAKING WAVES FESTIVAL also in Irvine this month. Not fussed at all about headliners Del Amitri but looking forward to seeing BLUE ROSE CODE and FATHERSON. Twin Atlantic, JJ Gilmour, Nerina Pallot and Anna Sweeney also playing on the Saturday. SWEETHEART REVUE in Stereo next month. FRUIT BATS in Glad Cafe (moved from St. Luke’s) also next month. MONICA QUEEN in CCA in September. If I can get time off work LIZABETH RUSSO is playing the HAC in Irvine (November). Good wee mix to look forward to and I’m sure more will crop up.

Top 10 so far: 1 Pearl Charles - Magic Mirror 2 Dry Cleaning - New long Leg 3 the Gracious Losers - Six Road Ends 4 Hadda Be - Another Life 5 Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over ... 6 Godspeed YBE - G_d’s Pee ... 7 HAIM - Women in Music Part III 8 Maxwell Sterling- Turn of Phrase 9 Du Blonde - Homecoming 10 Veik - Surrounding Structures Pearl Charles is looking like album of the year even at this early stage. Last Night From Glasgow goes from strength to strength with 2 crackers from Gracious Losers and Hadda Be. Dry Cleaning has really grown on me after feeling a bit repetitive at first. Godspeed You! Black Emperor is amazing and should go higher in the list after a few more listens. Received the Squid album yesterday but not had a chance to play it yet. Rudimentary Peni new one also arrived yesterday. On first listen it doesn’t reach the heights of their earlier stuff but still great. Might get into the top 10 after a few more listens. A bit disappointed with the new Teenage Fanclub especially the vocals but will persevere. Arab Strap just missing out on top 10 for now.

Night shift. Listening to the Boss and eating spicy burritos. I’ve had worse jobs

I liked it on first listen but thought it got a bit repetitive towards the end. I’m expecting this to be the Rough Trade Club Album of The Month do will give it another listen when the vinyl arrives.

Listened to this last night for the first time in around 25 years. Very much of it’s time, UK grunge lite but actually a bit better than I remember it as a whole and a shame it seems to have been erased somewhat from the history of the band.

Today’s listening. Onto last one now before bed (nightshift ).

Chilling with a beer and music #NowPlaying

Next up ...

New one (Kitchen Sink?) is excellent. That was the first I heard so checking out her other stuff now before sending an order off to Rough Trade. Cramps is actually playing right now. Bit of nostalgia for me but it actually sounds pretty fresh considering how old it is now. Lockdown has been great for catching up with old favourites if nothing else

Today’s listening all lined up

First time I’ve played this in years. Still love Harriet Wheeler’s voice.

C Duncan H-E-A-L-T-H 2019 FatCat Records

Update : Filling up nicely ... 01 PEARL CHARLES - MAGIC MIRROR 02 BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD - FOR THE FIRST TIME 03 VIAGRA BOYS - WELFARE JAZZ 04 NERVOUS TWITCH - NERVOUS TWITCH 05 AARON LEE TASJAN - TASJAN! TASJAN! TASJAN! 06 SHAME - DRUNK TANK PINK 07 STEVEN WILSON - THE FUTURE BITES 08 POM POKO - CHEATER

I've made a conscious decision to listen to more albums and EPs this year rather than listening to playlists, favourite trackes etc. January was a good start where after listening to no music at all on the first day the rest of the month totalled exactly 100 albums and 2 EPs listened to, mostly to and from work via Spotify but also a few physical releases in the house. So far for 2021 my favourites are : 01 PEARL CHARLES - MAGIC MIRROR 02 VIAGRA BOYS - WELFARE JAZZ 03 SHAME - DRUNK TANK PINK 04 POM POKO - CHEATER I'm thinking at the moment Pearl Charles is the only one with any chance of being in my top 10 at the end of the year. Pretty much a limited release but I managed to get a copy on nice, blue vinyl from Rough Trade. Viagra Boys also came from Rough Trade, this time on white vinyl.

Just arrived from Juno Records. Pearl Charles - Magic Mirror. Beautiful. ABBA go country with Fleetwood Mac and Carole King lending some help.

So far today ... Journey home from work = Crass - Stations of The Crass Dog walk = Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman Now =

Absolute nonsense. There were some great releases on the Crass label. A few not so good to be fair but a real varied output.

Michael Rother - Dreaming. Possibly my favourite album of 2020.

Classic EP. I’ve got a box with all my old Crass label singles in it. Really need to dig them out for a wee listen.