Author Archives: Blimpy

by

Readers Recommend: Random Musical Associations

Mogwai

So, what do the two things have in common? The first thing is Mogwai*, my useless former tortie sulker. The second is “I See You Baby (Shakin’ That Ass)” by Groove Armada & Fatboy Slim.

The answer is….nothing! Apart from the fact that the two things are irretrievably, utterly linked in my mind. Mrs McFlah & I used to sing the song towards Mogwai because of the way her furry rump swung when she walked, waaay back when it came out (the song, not the cat’s bum) in ’99. Whenever I hear the song, I can think of nothing else but the feline booty sway.

So then, I would like you please to recommend songs that are solidly bonded by association in your minds – the winner will be the one that has the most convoluted & bizarre or ridiculous & mundane explanation to it!

Cheers!

*yes, named after the band.

by

Happy beach day vibes

Sorry I’ve not been around much lately, I’ve been on the beach. Well, today anyway. So in the spirit of sacking work off mid afternoon and bolting for some sunny sandy fun, here’s a super up happy vibes tune from someone I just stumbled over online. I know nothing else of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down at all, apart from this song. If you have a passing interest in Feist, you may like it, if not, you may like it anyway if you like being happy. Cheers!

by

‘Spill Housekeeping

manray

Hallo fellow ‘Spillers. Just a quick post to see if anyone’s interested in a wee visual update to the old ‘Spill. Pretty much the same as things are now, but maybe…..a bit wider??!

It would maybe help if you told me how you view The ‘Spill (I’m on huge screened macs which may give me a different view on thing, y’see?) and what could make it better.

Cheery cheers, and here’s the new Laura Marling song:

by

EOTWQ…is woozily romantic

I’m trapped in an abandoned building

Come find me now

We’ll hide out

We’ll speak in our secret tongues

Will you come back to my corner

Spent too long alone tonight

Would you come brighten my corner

A lit torch to the woodpile high

My current earworm is the Frightened Rabbit song, above, I love the you-and-me-against-the world lyrics, a bit soppy maybe but it’s the certain romance that appeals to me, I’ve always believed companionship to be the most important thing – so here are the woozy romantic questions:

1. What’s the sweetest, or most romantic thing you’ve ever done? 

2. What’s the sweetest, or most romantic thing that’s been done in your direction? 

3. What’s your favourite thing to take the edge off? 

4. Did you ever run away anywhere? Where did you go, how far did you get, were you with anyone? 

5. I know I banned music questions from EOTWQ, but what’s your favourite romantic lyric? 

kisses xx

by

New Black Angels – “Don’t Play With Guns”

The Black Angels: I dig their droney psyche doom pop the most, ya know?

This song is the first inkling of their fourth album, “Indigo Meadow”, which is agonisingly not out ’til April.

The Black Angels’ first album was also my 3rd favourite of the noughties, list fans.

Unrelated, but we are now only 9 posts off the 2,000 mark, so if anyone has any ideas about how to mark this, um, landmark – please say so in the comments. Cheers. 

by

‘Spillover: The Lemonheads

 

Due to popular demand, we are going to ‘Spillover….The Lemonheads!

For the most part (The) Lemonheads became in later years Evan Dando, and whoever he was hanging out with at the time, so we can also take Evan Dando solo songs too.

There are nine Lemonheads albums to choose from, plus singles, EPs, and lots of good covers to boot.

So, to perfect the perfect Lemonheads playlist, please nominate one or two tunes in the comments with a youtube or spotify link, please. I’m allowing more than one nomination, as possibly they may not be as well known as other bands we’ve ‘Spilt-over like the Stones, or Elbow.

So, do you like early noisy Lemonheads? Mid period strummy grungey Lemonheads? Quiet countryish Lemonheads? Acoustic gentle Lemonheads? Funny, romantic Lemonheads? Or the one about the gas man taking Evan’s old stove away?

Please also share any Lemonheads memories, ephemera, anecdotes, trivia, or nonsense.

I’m a massive fan, and have kicked off noms with an acoustic version of a song from their 4th album. The acoustic version was a b-side, but ended up on their greatest hits too. My favourite version of “Ride With Me” is a live acoustic one I taped off the radio back in 1992, but I’m not sure where the cassette is.

by

Which Cut Is The Bestest?

true love Waits



It may be a song much used & abused by karaoke maniacs, bedroom youtubers, & egotistical pop stars but let us not forget what a phenomenal tune it really is. Cat may have sold it to PP for £30 back in the day – but which version of the three do you prefer? Or do you know of a better one (I have looked for a noisy indie rock version, and failed, but would love it if there was one in existence)?

‘Spill points are available, and there are bonus ‘Spill points if you can explain why Tom Waits is holding a bunny. caption the Tom Waits & bunny photo.

by

Scots indie goes…..POP!

Chvrches

 

As we’ve not had a post for today, I thought I’d sneak one in before bedtime. “The Mother We Share” by Chvrches has snuck up on me, catching it on the radio, then finding out that there’s some ‘Spill Scots indie faves in the band, specifically one former Twilight Sad member, and one from DsD’s besties list, the mighty Aereogramme. There may well be a glut of bad 80s influenced electropop kicking about at the moment, but this is simply a fab song, with a wee hint of the old Scots melancholic beauty to boot.

by

New Steve Mason – “Fight Them Back”

Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason’s 2010 album was voted best of the year in the ‘Spill album of the year awards, and now he’s back with a follow up. In revolutionary mode, “Fight Them Back” is primo Mason, with the signature dual vocal melody outro in place and a scathing Tony Blair sample to finish with. I bloody love it, goosebumps time, and yeah it’s about time the corrupt capitalist system got a boot in the face.

by

Blimpy’s Top 5 albums of 2012

b5575298f9a311e1adda22000a1e869b_7

Earlier today, at a hastily assembled United Nations summit, Blimpy’s nether regions announced their favourite albums of the year. Which are as follows:

1. “Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose” Beth Jeans Houghton & the Hooves Of Destiny

2. “Secret Soundz Vol.2″ The Pictish Trail

3. “Lonerism” Tame Impala

4. “Tramp” Sharon Von Etten

5. “Pop EP” Carousels

In summary; a good year overall for skewed psychedelic wonk-pop, noise, & yearning. Cheers!

by

Scottish BAMS Album of the Year Award 2012

neil_bams2012_3

The ‘Spill is a member of the Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites network, and like the last three years, were invited to vote in this years best record poll, run by the always excellent Peenko blog. Previous winners were The National, Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, The Phantom Band. It’s an interesting poll, as it’s taking the views of 40 odd Scottish music sites, it often times throws up some interesting, otherwise obscured, albums.

Joint 12-9th
- Chris Devotion & The Expectations – Amalgamation & Capital
- Paul Buchanan – Mid Air
- The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know
- We Are The Physics – Your Friend, The Atom

8th – Admiral Fallow – Tree Bursts In Snow

7th – Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

6th – Miaoux Miaoux – Light Of The North

5th – Errors – Have Some Faith In Magic

4th – RM Hubbert – Thirteen Lost & Found

3rd – PAWS – Cokefloat!

2nd – Django Django – Django Django

1st – Meursault – Something for the Weakened

You can hear music from all the artists over on Peenko as well as read an interview with Neil from Meursault accepting the award (yes, it is BAMS Buckie…)

Continue reading →

by

A Fence Post

the-pictish-trail-new-album-tour

I think my love of Fence Records is shared by a good few ‘Spillers, so let’s draw some festive attention to a new release from them. It’s a split 7″ with previews from two of Fence’s top artists of their forthcoming LPs. The Pictish Trail has moved to the Isle of Eigg and has finally managed to follow up his amazing Secret Sounds Vol 1 in his Eigg caravan. That’s him there with his new flock. “The Handstand Crowd” is a slow burn beauty with King Creosote on the accordion. It’s not as immediate as the sublime “Michael Rocket”, a contender for tune of the year (if it’s not in Saneshane’s Festive ‘Spill I will be very surprised) from a few months back, but it is lovely. I saw Pictish play live last, backed by Eigg’s own metal band Massacre Cave (not bad considering Eigg has a population of just over 100), and it was stupendous. They really were his (metal) Crazy Horse.

The flip is new material from Kid Canaveral, which I am so glad to hear. I love them, I really do. A long time coming, but well worth the wait. Yearning, anthemic, fab, and gets better with each listen. It tackles the current drawing in of the light hours up here in Scotland as we descend into another dark season of the soul.

by

Blimpy’s Top 5 Ukelele Covers

 

elvis-ukulele-corbis-660-80

 

Hey ‘Spillers! Here’s a wee photo of the fun I had once I took up the ukelele! Just kidding, that’s obviously Elvis (I’m on the right, in the blue cossie). Some of you may know that I have ditched a lifetime’s worth of pain via guitar for something simpler, more fun, the people’s instrument, if you will. I’ve had my uke for a few weeks now, and it’s so jolly that I don’t get shouted at any more, like I did whenever I picked up my guitar. We’ve even had singalongs in the house to Noah & The Whale and the Adventure Time theme song.

I’ve become kinda fascinated with the youtube clips that folks record in their bedrooms, there’s some remarkable talent out there, not to mention a weird voyeuristic peeks into people’s homes and lives across the world. So, here’s my top 5 favourite youtube uke covers.

1. “The First Of The Gang To Die” – originally by Morrissey, covered by Mandy Nikko. I think a big pop star in Malaysia may have covered this, which then led to other people covering her cover. Regardless, I really like this rendition (the chorus is to die for), it takes it back to days of old a wee bit, and shows up the amazing Moz songwriting really rather well. My children call this “The Hector song”, as this is where the family dog got his name from.

2. “Kids” – orig. MGMT covered by Ooks Of Hazzard. Not a bedroom clip at all, but I just love the way they’re all sat in a row with their ukes, all having a wee shot on the vocals, their version really brings out the pathos & yearning that was kinda hidden in the original.

Three more after the jump….

Continue reading →

by

And now; it’s time for an ‘Intermission’

 

As promised here’s the video I made of Emma Pollock backed by my pals in the 12 piece Electric String Orchestra. The song’s called “Intermission” (maybe) and during the soundcheck me & the camera guys were trying to google the lyrics because it sounded so mighty and familiar, but we couldn’t put our finger on the song. Turns out it was an original, hence the lack of googlable lyrics, which makes this kind of an instant classic really. Like a James Bond theme for the best Bond film that never got made, I think.

by

Chilly EOTWQ needs a cardigan

It probably isn’t so bad where you may be in the world, but the new heating system at the collective where I have my workspace isn’t functioning yet, and I’m an ice block. This has led me to think up an EOTWQ with a couple of wintery questions in. Here goes…

  1. Which film scared you as a child? Why? And does it still?
  2. A colleague of my wife asked another colleague on a date recently….via a note in her bag…!!! Tell us about your worst romantic disaster?
  3. Off the back of all the literary questions, here’s another. Which literary character would you swap lives with?
  4. Winter’s coming, is there anything in particular that marks the start of winter in your eyes?
  5. What’s your favourite winter food?

I’m off to the Aberfeldy Festival to see some bands, I look forward to reading your answers on my return!

by

Your literary questions…..answered!

As you may remember I asked for your questions for a literary podcast I was producing, fab responses from the Spilliverse, which I printed off and took with me to the recording. There wasn’t time as part of the actual podcast to get the presenter to pitch them in, but I took a quick few minutes to road-test them afterwards (hence the background crowd noise)  with the author Russel D McLean, who is a Dundee based crime writer, who has had four successful books out, and is working on the fifth. Russel only had a scant few minutes before he had to rush off to the next engagement so we nipped through ‘em sharpish, skipping any questions that may have warranted a long answer (time constraints, soz if I skipped your question). So, here are your literary questions…..answered!!

This was lots of fun, thanks guys, hopefully it will evolve further, with your help.

 

by

Literary Help Needed!

Good day to you fair ‘Spillers – I’m hoping to pick your gigantic communal brain on literary matters. I am about to start producing literary podcasts for a client, and need your help please. The podcasts will have a basic format where an author reads and is interviewed and takes questions from an audience. All well and good and quite straight forward. What I quite like the idea of is the same five awesome/bizarre/funny/deep questions being asked of the different authors, kinda like an EOTWQ with a literary bent, which I think would add up to an interesting feature – and this is where I need your help please!

If you can put your amazing questions in the comments I will be most incredibly grateful – no such thing as a bad question! Thank you so much!

by

The idle, lazy EOTWQ

At about 1 o clock this afternoon, I pondered on how I could get another cup of tea without getting out of the bath I was enjoying. I didn’t manage to solve this problem, but decided to be thankful that I had one nice cup of tea in the bath, and went back to reading my book. The dog came in and licked my knees; it was at this point I decided to set the End Of The Week Quintet of lazy, idling questions for the lovely inhabitants of The ‘Spilliverse.

1. What’s your favourite idle moment, and do you have to be clever to achieve it? Of late I make sure I have a decent book to hand in all rooms in the house, so if the children deem to leave me alone for a minute, I can pick up the book

2. I have been reading a lot of Tom Hodgkinson lately, and his theories on being free from the Puritanical notions of hard work, which leads me to ask – what’s the most awful, soul-crushing job you’ve ever had? I once worked for one of those companies who may phone you up and ask you questions about current events, or other banalities. Every second lasted a minute, every minute lasted an hour, the clock was watched and watched again.

3. Technology is meant to help us, make our lives easier, but anyone who’s wrestled with a spreadsheet on one of those awful windows microsoft computers, will know that it’s quite often not the case. But have you come up with any clever use of technology that actually helps you ease through life? A good number of months back I created the Peppa Pig randomizer, which played endless random episodes of the show to save me from having to put a new one on the telly every five minutes for the demanding toddler.

4. When I cook, I really hate following recipes and having to endlessly measure out stuff, drives me round the bend. So I have invented my own style of cooking, where i vaguely remember a dish I like, and try and cook it – no measuring, no complicated stuff, lots of shortcuts. The end result is always different, never the same dinner twice, and the kids usually like it. One of my fave shortcuts is garlic puree in a tube, when I discovered that this existed I was exceptionally happy as it meant no more fiddling around, or cleaning, the bloody garlic press ever again. What’s your best kitchen shortcut or secret? 

5. Due to this being the lazy EOTQW, I  can’t really be bothered thinking of a last question, so please think of your own question and write the answer only as your answer to number 5.

Time for a cup of tea now I think and maybe a wee nap…

by

Mystery Beats

Mired knee deep in the televisual episodic meth cooking swamp, a tune sprang forth that got to me. Got to me because it sounds so familiar, but I’m damned if I can give it any context – is the the flow, the rhyme scheme, the riddim? Is it just a throwback to some golden age rap track that’s somewhere in my subconscious? I hadn’t heard of Ana Tijoux or her Chilean Hip-Hop til today, so I’m throwing it open to the expert hive-mind of The ‘Spill for help, please. Killer tune though, with the rolling of the rs and the rolling of the snare.

by

Strings Attached

My friends in The Electric String Orchestra put on a big show in Glasgow a few months back, which I was lucky enough to catch on camera. They do rock n roll & popular covers with a 12 piece orchestra (Bowie, Muse, Lady GaGa, GnR, King Creosote etc) and have guest singers also (Emma Pollock, Twilight Sad still to come, I will post when they’re ready!).

This clip is of fine Highlands folk singer Rachel Sermanni performing one of her songs, Rachel has gone down well on The ‘Spill previously, so I thought you may like to see this.

And after the jump, Britney Spears gets tackled.  Continue reading →

by

Hardcore, hardcore, listen to the crowd roar

Withered Hand: ‘spill favourites usually pedalling atheist hymns hit the button marked Ramones with help from Rozi Plain and the Hefner chap , hardcore hardcore listen to the crowd roar – this ain’t no mindless mediocrity Mr Wilson. -insert smiley happy face icon here to denote maximum enjoyment-.

by

12 for 2012 No.11: Lower Dens

Lower Dens don’t only have a band name that’s lovely to say, they also have excellent song titles like “Two Cocks Waving Wildly At Each Other Across A Vast Open Space A Dark Icy Tundra” and a fine line in hypnotic vague-gaze.

**Edit** The 12 for 2012 is now available in a mostly complete Spotify playlist, including the mythical number 12 and bonus number 13!