Ross Wilson croons with the impassioned spirit of John Martyn with his own brand of 'Caledonia Soul'. Better known by the alias Blue Rose Code, Ross joined me in the Pulse Community Radio studio in late October of 2013 to chat about his acclaimed album 'North Ten', and the spirit of Scotland that inspired his writing. During this session he also played three tracks live in the studio.
Below are videos for session tracks, 'From Wester Ross To Nova Scotia',
'Acquainted With The Night / Silent Drums' and 'One Day At A Time'. Enjoy, and check out
YouTube page for all session video
Originally airing as a Christmas special on 25th December, this show is a Scottish Fiction round up of the year we have just enjoyed. 2013 has been a fantastic year for Scottish music, and we run through some of our favourite tracks and EP's, with a festive smattering of alternative classics.
Prides - Out Of The Blue Randolph's Leap - One More Sleep 'til Christmas Campfires In Winter - Picture of Health
Book Group - Victory Lap
Tom Waits - Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
Collar Up - Jam Jar Full of Wasps
Young Fathers - iHeard
Machines In Heaven - Mistletoe And Crime
There Will Be Fireworks - In Excelsis Deo
Atom Tree - Tide Of Thorns
Nevada Base - Foresight
Naked - Lie Follow Lie
Campfires In Winter - Christmas Song Giant Fang - Aqualung Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas Lovers Turn To Monsters - Skeletor
East Coast Defector - Xmas At Home
Fake Major - Little Researcher
Michael Cassidy - Everybody's Scared
ballboy - Merry Christmas To The Drunks, Merry Christmas To The Lovers
DEATHCATS!!! - I Wish It Was Summer
Honeyblood - Bud
Poor Things - Morgan
Pinact - Beauty Freak
Gone Wishing - Decoys
Lidh - Rockpool Hospital
Mast - Romance
Idlewild - In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction
It was the last live show on 2013, a year that has been synonymous with live music on Scottish Fiction, and what a way to end the year. My guests for this week's show were Carla, Amanda and Debbie of sunshine pop girl band TeenCanteen. Fresh of the back of debut single 'Honey', released via Neu Reekie earlier this year, the band chatted about influences ranging from girl bands of the '60's to certain 2000's boybands (!), and their plans for next year. And speaking of those plans, there's a sneak peak of what may be the girls next single, as they kindly played three live songs for us in the studio. As usual you can also expect the best new Scottish music releases, a festival Cover Lover track, and your choice of music with #tweetatrack.
Plum, or Shona Maguire as she doesn’t like to be called, has been a busy bee. During her studies at London’s Point Blank Music College, she was approached by Summer Rain Recordings. Subsequently, two EPs were released. Not too shabby.
She’s been on a roll ever since. Highlights include being the only female artist ever signed to Benbucula Records and self releasing critically acclaimed The Seed last year through ‘fan-funding’. The devil will find work for idle hands to do.
As 2013 is drawing to a close, Plum has decided to thrust another EP at us. Betsy Thunder is a beautifully synth heavy and thorough affair. A chilled out vibe is apparent throughout and is displayed through an ridiculous range of instruments. Almost all of which are played by Plum herself.
Of the tracks on display here Casting Shadows is euphoric and synth heavy. Precision is key here. Catapult is powerful and electronically haunting, utilising a creepy glockenspiel, quite possibly played by ghosts, towards the end of the track. Only Human has a tinge of Bjork whilst To Destroy Everything is what Grimes would sound like if she had gave the speed the miss whilst recording Visions.
Overall Betsy Thunder is a creative EP which proves quantity and quality is not a problem for Plum. A tasty stop-gap to keep fans happy on her way to album number two.
- Holly Callender
Plum - Betsy Thunder is out now and available to download here and other online retailers.
This podcast was recorded smack bang in the middle of Shambles Miller's epic takeover of the Scottish Fiction blog, therefore it seemed only right and fair that we allowed him to invade our podcast too. Shambles chooses three tracks in the middle of this week's show. There's also new music from French Wives, Over The Wall, Black Balloons and Dirty Lies. Nestled in amongst all the music delights are our usual features 'Cover Lover', '#tweetatrack' and 'Re-Mixing It Up'. It's all good!
Over The Wall - Cast Your Stone
TeenCanteen - Honey
The Twilight Sad & Royal Scottish National Orchestra - The Wrong Car (Live from Paisley Abbey)
Sonic Templars - Lessons In My Life
Cover Lover Track - Travis - River
Wullie Mammoth - Factory (Part 1)
French Wives - Long Drawn Goodbye
Angus Munro - The Death Of Me
Jack James - Florence
#tweetatrack - Maple Leaves - Golden Ether - As chosen by @alantheclarke
Shambles Miller - Deadpool
Randolph's Leap - Psychic - As chosen by Shambles Miller
This Silent Forest - Root To The Seed - As chosen by Shambles Miller
James Mackenzie - Boat Song - As chosen by Shambles Miller
Dirty Lies - Shallow Grave
Black Balloons - Haunted
DEATHCATS!!! - Cowabunga Surf Jam
Kobi Onyame - Glory
The Boy With The Lion Head - I'll Hide All The Things That Remind Me Of You
Re-Mixing It Up - The Girobabies - What Could Go Wrong (Sicknote Remix)
A Fight You Can't Win - Jerusalem Crickets
Blood Relatives - Fowl Mouth
It’s been a little more than four years since There Will Be Fireworks critically well received debut; four years punctuated only by the release of the Because, Because EP at the end of 2011. Sophomore effort The Dark, Dark Bright by the Glasgow based 5-piece opens with a sonorous voice reciting lines from Two Singing Girls, a poem by Lewis born poet Iain Crichton Smith. It’s a curiously low key but nonetheless apt opening to an album full to bursting with emotive indie rock songs and often poetic lyrics that, during my first listen, sent more than a few shivers up my spine and caused me to get quite emotional during some of the more resoundingly heartfelt moments. Always a good sign when an album plants a lump in your throat at first blush.
Opening song And Our Hearts Did Beat is a subtle but persuasive opener. Strummed guitars and soaring vocals courtesy of front man Nicholas McManus usher the listener into a gentle post rock outro which seamlessly flows into second track River which is where the band’s moniker starts to makes sense. River begins subdued, building in intensity before, a little past the minute mark it bursts its banks and explodes with energy. Sky scraping guitars and synths are underpinned by hammering drums and above the fury McManus sings like the words are being ripped raw from his throat along with pieces of his heart. It’s quite brilliant but still not a real indication of the lofty heights the album will soar to before it’s done.
River is followed by Roots which turns the dial down some and reaches deep into the soul of the listener to plant a seed that blossoms into a fathomless melancholy as weeping strings tug gently at the heartstrings. Youngblood is up next, opening with a folksy jangle before delivering the album’s first anthem. It’s an upbeat gallop of a song that ignites in the home stretch to deliver an incendiary instrumental coda that arrives out of nowhere only to fall away as the album’s next song drifts in on a bed of hazy synths. Ash Wednesday is simply gorgeous. “Cold from December still lingers in March, all of the people that stay in these houses are falling apart,” sings McManus and the poignancy can’t fail to move even the most granite of heart. Live, this song will have the audience sobbing into their pints.
Next up is So Stay Close; emerging from the swirling sound-scape it slowly comes awake, roused from slumber by pounding drums and before too long it transforms into an intense post rock epic only for the noise to fade away leaving just acoustic guitar, pulsing bass and Nicholas McManus’ voice. Lay Me Down follows and is another touching, slow burn slice of mournfulness.
Track eight Here Is Where relates in stream of consciousness fashion a story full of memories and hurt and for my money it’s the beating heart of The Dark, Dark Bright. Like most of the songs here it seems to come from a very personal place and contains some of the most affecting lyrics on an album that’s full to bursting with words that make the listener feel. This is one of the songs I alluded to in my opening paragraph when I said this is an album that sent more than a few shivers up my spine. With every listen Here Is Where becomes something more; something greater than it already was and it was great to begin with.
Your House Was Aglow almost matches Here Is Where in its ability to tug insistently on the heart strings with McManus adopting a higher register than elsewhere. It’s lovely and leads perfectly into the most sonically uplifting song on the album. South Street is the sort of song that, upon hearing the recorded version, you just know it will rip the ceiling off any venue this band plays. It’s the sort of song that can simultaneously make you smile and bring tears to your eyes. A joyful sadness if you will.
The album ends with the gorgeous double whammy of Elder and Oak and The Good Days; the latter full of bittersweet yearning for a yesterday that is doomed to memory. It’s the perfect end to one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2013. Here is a band that demands to be mentioned in the same breath as Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad. A band who invests both their sound and lyrics with a passion that is consistent in its ability to move the listener. The Dark, Dark Bright can stand tall next to Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters or The Midnight Organ Fight instead of existing in their shadows. This, considering that I hold both those albums in the very greatest esteem, is the highest praise I can bestow. I just hope we don’t have to wait another four years for album number three.
- Steve Chandler
There Will Be Fireworks - The Dark, Dark Bright is out now on Comets & Cartwheels and is available online here and in all good record shops.
Well friends, it's day seven, meaning this is the last day of my brutally epic takeover of Scottish Fiction, and that I can use as many commas as I like, seriously, I, like, totally can. I was originally supposed to have the day off, but I thought I might finish with a look back at the week, a wee exclusive, and some stuff that I couldn't fit into other posts.
Like this. I felt it was important everyone see this.
At the beginning of the week I talked about the Proust Questionnaire from the TV show Inside the Actors Studio, and asked the ten questions of a number of Scottish musicians. But now you can take the quiz too, with this interactive Proust Questionnaire! The questions are different to the ones from the TV show, but in the same mould, and at the end you can compare your answers with those of, y'know, some famous folk. Just click here to take the quiz. Apparently my answers were very similar to the ones Johnny Cash gave. Yas.
As I mentioned in my first post of the week, I'm a big supporter of Scottish Independence. I actually played the National Collective Glasgow launch party back in October, and this week they put everyone's sets up on Soundcloud. You can listen to mine in the player below.
Another one of the performers at that gig was Eleanor Morton, one of my guests from earlier in the week, who I chatted to about music and comedy. You can hear her set here, as well as performances from Liz Lochead, Leo Condie, and more.
On Thursday I hosted a night of live music at Brechins Bar in Govan, during the after-party of a short film screening. That film is called Two More Than Most. It looks at the history of Govan and its significance to various peoples throughout the ages, as well as looking towards its future. It's a great film, and I recommend checking it out. In fact, I recommend it so much that I've embedded it below. The film features a couple of my songs (and my dad), but I'm not biased, honest.
This week I also spoke to Adam Ross from Randolph's Leap about humour and music. The band has just released a Christmas EP and although they appear to have sold out of physical copies, you can still download a digital one. Here's their rendition of One More Sleep 'til Christmas, from The Muppet Christmas Carol (which is the best version of a Christmas Carol as far as I'm concerned).
Well it's about time to wrap up, but here's a wee exclusive before I go: a music video for my single Deadpool is in the works! Here's a promo:
Well, that's about all I can cram into one post I reckon. It's been a really fun week, and I want to thank Neil for asking me to do this takeover. I'd also like to say a big thank-you to everyone who has contributed and helped me out. And last of all I'd like to thank all you guys for reading it! You're all brilliant people. I've fair enjoyed myself. I'll have some gig announcements soon, so keep an eye on my various social media hingmies for details. You want links? Oh ok then. You can find me at Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Vine, Supapass, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and at my website. Phew!
