Category: Feature

Carol Hodge – EffortLess InSecurity – Album Review

December 20, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Ginger Quiff namesake Carol Hodge recently released her fifth studio album in the shape of the personally relatably titled EffortLess InSecurity. As I’ve now come to expect, this is another fine example of her elegant and empathetic wordsmithery. EffortlLess InSecurity is perhaps her heaviest album yet, and not just from a musical genre perspective, where she has shifted gear once again with the record having more of a stoner rock edge while in places taking on a soaring extravagance like an ostentatious Queen epic, but also in the deeply affecting and personal lyrical content. 

Whatever direction Carol takes with her music, the enduring core of her sound will always remain, with her incredible vocal and piano always sitting front and centre and carrying the bill of the emotion.… Read the rest

Johny and the Dead Girls – Need for Speed – Album Review

December 18, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Rockers England’s Mr. Vincent is back with his band of deceased dirty fuckin’ rock ‘n’ rolling girls for the follow up to last years fittingly titled Dirty Fuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll with a just as suitably named new album Need For Speed, it’s ten full throttle punk ‘n’ roll rattling by in just shy of 30 minutes…

Kicking of with the old Thames TV theme that only those of a certain vintage will remember, Sex and Drugs picks up, at an incendiary pace,  from where Dirty Fuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll left off and doesn’t let up for the duration, with barely time to catch a breath between songs.… Read the rest

The Tenementals – Glasgow: A History (Vol I of VI) – Album Review

December 16, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

The Tenementals are a band/a collective of academics and musicians that have intrigued me since I first heard of their inception. The bands musical journey since then has been nothing short of outstanding, their thought provoking lyrical take on various significant events from Glasgow’s radical history are often both empathetic towards the protagonists in the stories while being cutting about some of the dark events in Glasgow’s history themselves. And the brilliant wordplay is more than matched by the superb musicianship and sumptuous arrangements which perfectly soundtrack each mini epic. 

Die Moorsoldaten

My introduction to the band was their first single (not on the album), a departure from their own songs telling of the radical history of Glasgow, but a release which was firmly entrenched in the same ethos of sharing a slice of radical socialist history with a 21st Century audience.… Read the rest

November Singles Round Up – Pt 8 – Upturned Boats, Port Sulphur, Quad 90, The Braes, Soapbox, Dead Pioneers

December 4, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

The last part of Novembers singles is mainly a homegrown affair with the second song from Upturned Boats for this month, along with Port Sulphur and Quad 90 fresh from their Stereo gig, the latest offerings from The Braes and the mighty Soapbox. Last word goes to Dead Pioneers who have a few harsh words to say in the wake of the month of Thanksgiving in the US…

Upturned Boats – Please Don’t Go

As if one sweepingly majestic song in a month isn’t enough, Upturned Boats once again test my ability to keep my composure as the heart melting melancholy of Please Don’t Go hits hard.… Read the rest

November Singles – Pt 7 – V.C.O., Count the Days, Gallus, Kneecap, Brielle, Corrine…

December 3, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Loads of local talent in the last section of this months round up…alongside some celtic cousins with Kneecap joining some of Scotland’s best young talent, V.C.O., Count The Days, Gallus, Brielle, Corrine.

V.C.O. – Slow Dance

When you press play on V.C.O.s Slow Dance it is like being transported back to the 1980s, a decade of music that often gets a bad reputation with cheesey pop, leg warmers and day glo taking centre stage in misrememberings about what 80s music was all about. The utterly addictive Slow Dance has me yearning for the hedonistic highs of 80s music with its retro post punk alt-pop electronica feel.… Read the rest

November Singles – Pt 6 – Librarians With Hickeys, Split Dogs, Annie-Dog, The Gold Needles, Alba Fury, The Elf of Elfbrook Court…

December 2, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

In Part 6 there are a couple of singles from the Big Stir stable with Librarian With Hickeys, and Hull’s The Gold Needles a couple of furious songs, one by nature from Split Dogs and one by name from Alba Fury, the dog references continue with Dublin’s Annie-Dog and one from the Christmassy sounding Elf of Elfbrook Court.

Librarians With Hickeys – Listening

First up from the formidable Big Stir Record label is Librarians With Hickeys and their upbeat bright and breezy harmonious jangly guitars matching the glorious vocals on Listening bringing a slice of sunshine to a miserable winters day.… Read the rest

November Singles – Pt 5 – Horsegirl, Upturned Boats, Dead Pony, Ron Briskin, Sunturns, Tombstones in Their Eyes…

December 2, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Part 5 and some more belters here…

A taster for album number two from Horsegirl, an early Christmas treat from Sunturns, plus songs from Upturned Boats, Tombstones in Their Eyes, Ron Briskin and Dead Pony.

Horsegirl – 2468

Ahead of the release of their second album Phonetics On and On comes the single 2468, an uncomplicated laidback and sprawling folky slacker rock tune.

Horsegirl

Upturned Boats – Car Park Sadness

The first of two tunes in the November Round Up for Upturned Boats with this heart-rending ballad Car Park Sadness, an atmospheric slow burn of an intro unveiling an affecting vocal that will appeal to fans of King Creosote and wojtek the bear.… Read the rest

November Singles – Pt 2 – San Jose, Hurtsfall, Vigilanti, Peter Johnstone, Fistymuffs, Ditz, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs…

December 1, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

The second instalment of singles/tracks from November features some home grown talent in the shape of San Jose, Vigilanti, Peter Johnstone and Fistymuffs alongside songs from Hurstfall, Ditz and Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs coming from further afield.

San Jose – Dirty Linen

This sprawling epic song is one of my highlights for November, perhaps the year, it feels like a musical movement rather than just a song due to the several parts that make up the track, which musically sits somewhere between the thoughtful musings of Trampolene and the rakish charm of louche rockers Fat White Family.… Read the rest

November Singles – Part 1 – Guest Directors, Blueboy, Peter Murphy/Boy George, Keeley, Broken Chanter…

November 25, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

A new approach to Singles Round Ups for The Ginger Quiff… a small batch approach, a few songs at a tie making up the months playlist… then I’ll select my pick of the bunch at the end of the month. That’s the idea….anyway we’ll see how it goes.

The first five for November belong to Guest Directors from Seattle, the second single from 90s indie popsters Blueboy on the Precious Recordings of London label, the meeting of music legends Peter Murphy and Boy George, the latest single offering from the indefatigable Keeley and a musicale warning of global warming from Broken Chanter.… Read the rest

Singles, Singles, Singles – August to October 2024 (Part 2)

November 21, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

September…

September seemed to be a fruitful month for singles… nearly 80 songs on the playlist…

Pick of the bunch for September were The Courettes with their take on Northern Soul on Keep Dancing, the return of Jack Elfick and his latest band The Dead Shout with the rollicking Jump Your Bones, while Wax Head‘s offering was the equally rollicking Rusty Cutter. Specky Cult released their best single to date in SWISH, Katherine Aly shared the first of her songs from her excellent 222 EP, FREUD (for the mama’s boy) (what’s with the uppercase names this month?) (and also WHATYAGONDOBOUTIT (for the friends)) The Cure signalled the imminent arrival of their magnum opus in the shape of single Alone and Carol Hodge was The Queen of Fitting In and Amyl and the Sniffers had Big Dreams while Karen Dio couldnt sleep at 3am….… Read the rest