neilho27@sky.com - The Ginger Quiff

Bubbling Under – 2021 – the Rest of the Best…

December 19, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

2021, despite all the negatives, has been another great year for new music. I’ve already published my Review of the Year/Best of lists. But it would be unfair of me not to highlight several albums that I’ve been enjoying throughout 2021 that I didn’t feature in the top 25 or so in my blog,

As well as the albums I featured in the end of year post, I’ve reviewed and enjoyed albums by Jackal Trades, Mickey 9s, Natalie Pryce, Paul Research, CHVRCHES, Girl One and the Grease Guns, The Graveyard Tapes, Duncan Reid and the Big Heads (Live), Randolphs Leap, Maximo Park, The Telescopes, Edweena Banger, TV Priest, Teen Creeps, Brick Briscoe and Kiwi Jr

This blog is all about the other albums/EPs I’ve loved but never got around to reviewing,.… Read the rest

The Bluebells and Sister John – live in the CCA

December 13, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

My penultimate gig of 2021, and my final Last Night From Glasgow double header extravaganza of the year was a pretty special night that will live long in the memory featuring the first band to re-release a classic album on the Past Night From Glasgow offshoot, Glasgow legends, The Bluebells, and the band who released my favourite LNFG release of 2021, the quite simply magnificent Sister John.

With the year threatening to end as it began thanks to Omicron and rumours of coming restrictions, there was both an sense of foreboding mixed with a n element of relief that the gig was going ahead at all, albeit with a reduced capacity.… Read the rest

Review of the the Year – The Best of 2021

December 9, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Yet another bumper year for new releases by new artists, classic re-issues and comebacks from some old favourites.

Despite what the salivating broadcasters and media will have you believe, there was so much more to the year than a new album by A****e, the banality of which didn’t even register on the gingerquiff seismograph such was its insignificance in the shadow of so much in the way of superb and exciting music that moved me. (Yes, I know she has a great voice, but oh so dull).

Anyway, no more focussing on negatives, There were so many remarkable albums this year that, once again, I can’t narrow them down to my ten favourites, so before I run down my Top 10 albums of the year, here are those…

In 11th Place (in no particular order)…

It was so hard to leave anyone out this year, I have loved records by so many wonderful and diverse bands and artists.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2021 -Part 14

December 6, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Never say never, but I’m pretty sure this will be the last singles round up of 2021. Some fantastic songs have surfaced this year. And there are probably even more that have passed me by. Here’s a selection of some of the one’s that have hit my inbox recenty and caught my ear…

Billy Sinclair – The One For You

Billy Sinclair’s latest single is stonking romp of a tune, if there was such a genre as glam country then this would be it. Soulful backing vocals complement the riffing with a catchy singalong chorus which lays out the protagonists case to get the girl…

Stream on Spotify now

Dreamkids – Metamorphosis A/A

Dreamkids follow up the video for the powerfully affecting It Must Be Nice and its focus on mental health with the double A side of their single Metamorphosis We Are Young a compelling grunge tinged emo rock song with a hint of Dolores O’Riordan in the vocals.… Read the rest

Interview: 5 minutes with silken-voiced Katherine Aly

December 1, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Silken voiced Katherine Aly released her latest single, Rules, last week. The single is the follow up to her powerful and compelling previous single, and its equally powerful accompanying video, Pariah.

I interviewed Katherine last month following her thoroughly captivating gig in Glasgow’s intimate Hug & Pint venue.

Katherine Aly

The Ginger Quiff: For anyone who doesn’t know about Katherine Aly, tell me a bit about your background, how you first got into playing music, influences and so on.

Katherine Aly: I’m originally from Greece where I started playing and releasing music but I’ve been an Edinburgh-based artist for some time now.… Read the rest

VIDEO PREMIERE – The Scaramanga Six – Big Ideas

November 26, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

The Ginger Quiff is proud to present the exclusive premiere of the new video from The Scaramanga Six for their dark and majestic new single Big Ideas from their forthcoming tenth album, Worthless Music. You can pre-order the album now on their Bandcamp page (link below) with a release date of the 3rd of December.

The band have had an esteemed 26 year career to date, and Big Ideas, the fourth song to be released in anticipation of the album, continues to whet the appetite for what promises to be a huge new album.

Cementing what the band have become known for, Big Ideas is a behemoth of a track.… Read the rest

Middle Class Guilt – Perform the Songs of Middle Class Guilt EP review

November 25, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Coming at you from Glasgow, via that apparent hotbed of crime, Shetland (if the BBC series is to be believed) is the gloriously ramshackle chic of Middle Class Guilt who have decided we are ready for them to lay all that pent up guilt at our doors. We should all be truly grateful to be allowed the opportunity to let this into our lives.

The four songs that make up the the EP are an eclectic and somewhat eccentric mix – a bit like The Fall meets Fat White Family meets The Amazing Snakeheads, all thrown into a magimix, with the resultant new flavour delighting the taste buds while fucking a bit with your head as you wonder just what you have experienced, but desperate for some more…

The lead song, Part Evil, At Least has a sinister edge to it, as befits a song with such a title, but despite this underlying air of menace, it also has hints of a ska melody that will give you itchy feet.… Read the rest

Keeley – Echo Everywhere – EP review

November 24, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Earlier this year Dublin based Keeley released what is possibly one of my most listened to EPs of this year in Brave Warrior. The four songs on the EP were all utterly beautiful and had me transfixed from the off.

Keeley offers an unusual proposition in terms of songwriting in that all of her songs are written with one person in mind. All of her songwriting is written around the unsolved murder of Inga Maria Hauser, a German tourist who went missing in 1988 aged just 18. When she went missing, she was en route to Dublin, one of the destinations she had most been looking forward to visiting.… Read the rest

Thirteen – Ego Trap – EP review

November 23, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

“We are Thirteen, punk rock and roll” yell’s Dolly Robinson on the bands theme song and literally the closing number on their new Ego Trap EP, a full frontal assault on the senses, this is a mighty head rush of exactly what the band claim to be on heir eponymous song.

Dolly Robinson is the only remaining member of the original line up. The band formed in 2013 and have so far released two EPs and two full length albums. There was a bit of an enforced hiatus when Dolly was looking to recruit new band members following the departure of original members, but I’m glad to say, this search for new members has been a more than fruitful one.… Read the rest

Broken Chanter/wojtek the bear – Live – CCA Glasgow

November 21, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Friday finally arrived in a week when I felt entirely discombobulated. On a daily basis I had no clue what day of the week or what time of the day it was. All I did know was that was desperate for the weekend to arrive and for it to start with another Last Night From Glasgow launch night in the impressive surroundings of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts.

This time around it was a double whammy, with wojtek the bear’s album heaven by the back door released on the label’s Hive imprint earlier in the year (review here), and headliners, Broken Chanter new album Catastrophe Hits seeing the light of day just the the other week (review here).… Read the rest