Album/Single Review - The Ginger Quiff

November Singles – Pt 4 – Jody & the Jerms, Lambrini Girls, Joshua Idehen, Dancer, two blinks, i love you, Essential Logic, Sade…

December 2, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Another eclectic mix for Part 4 of Novembers singles featuring the unmistakable vocal of Sade on a very personal song alongside Essential Logic, Jody and the Jerms, Lambrini Girls, the genus single from Joshua Idehen, two blinks, I love you and yet another release from the hard working Dancer.

Jody and the Jerms – Winter Heart

A swathe of strings from Erica Nockalls on the driving rhythm of Winter Hearts adds another layer to the bands sound creating a song which is both upbeat and vivacious and highly emotive.

Jody and the Jerms

Lambrini Girls – Love

From their forthcoming album Who Let the Dogs Out, Love is a song of two parts one part a seething riot of scathing railing against toxic relationships and one part fun of regret and sorrow as a direct result of being involved in said toxic relationships.… Read the rest

November Singles – Pt 3 – Throwing Muses, Nouvelle Vague, David Delinquent and the IOUs, Sister Madds, Jewel Scheme, F.O. Machete, Scorpio Leisure…

December 1, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Part three of November’s round up sees the return of Throwing Muses with their first single since 2020, Nouvelle Vague with a festive cover with the rest of part three made up of home grown talent including David Delinquent and the IOUs, Jewel Scheme, F.O.Machete, the band I may have seen live most in 2024, Sister MADDs, and GQ favourites Scorpio Leisure.

Throwing Muses – Drugstore Drastic

Kristin Hersh and co. make a welcome return with the understated Drugstore Drastic their first new music since 2020’s Sun Racket album and precedes a tour in Spring 2025 including a date in The Garage in Glasgow on May 20th.… 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

Singles, Singles, Singles…. August to October 2024 (Part 1)

November 21, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m admitting defeat, I can’t keep up the pace with what I’d really like to do with The Ginger Quiff. The Singles Round-Ups are an onerous task… what with adding all the links and videos and the like.

I’m going to have to re-think my approach, after all the reason I want to feature so many singles is because I like them… not because I feel I have to. But I do need to make the process more manageable, and to get the joy back into it, and not have that “oh fuck, I’ve still got another 30 songs to write about” feeling that I currently experience.… Read the rest

The Countess of Fife – Interview with Fay Fife

November 13, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

The Countess of Fife, the solo project from the iconic Fay Fife have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their second album, the follow up to their well-received and critically acclaimed debut the Star of the Sea. The current campaign, for the album A Woman of Certain Wisdom ends on November 22^nd, with plenty of tempting packages to attract the discerning music fan.

HELP FAY FIFE MAKE A NEW ALBUM : A WOMAN OF CERTAIN WISDOM by Fay Fife — Kickstarter

I met up with Fay recently in Coffee Saints in Edinburgh to catch up with her (and Harris – her beautiful Golden Retriever, who enjoyed his pup cup) on all things Countess of Fife and navigating the music industry in the 21st Century.… Read the rest

Corrupt Intentions – Time to Give Up – EP review

November 10, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Formerly part of the young punk quartet Minority Rule, whose flame burnt short but brightly leaving a lasting impression on many who saw them, Gregor Ritchie, together with Three n Eights bandmate Aaron Collins on bass along with drummer Liam Toner, is back with his new hardcore punk trio, Corrupt Intentions.

Ritchie, who is an instantly recognisable part of the West of Scotland music scene, especially at punk and psychobilly gigs with his impressive black and red Mohawk, has swapped the bass of Minority Rule for guitar and lead vocals with Corrupt Intentions, a band who owe more of a debt to the NYC hardcore scene and West Coast punk legends Rancid (and all their associated bands – Operation Ivy, Transplants, Old Firm Casuals and Lars Frederikson and the Bastards to name a few) than they do to the UK punk scene, with, of course, a smattering of psychobilly thrown in for good measure…

The six songs offered up on their first release are raw and ferocious, six straight down the barrel, no nonsense, no messing, visceral knockout punches. … Read the rest

Shrunken Head Promotions present Thee Scarecrows aka in Glasgow

November 4, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

It was a Saturday of highs and lows. The highs? Back to back plays of the stunning new album from The Cure, Songs From a Lost World, a record that is going to be top of so many end of year “Album of the Year” lists. The lows? My football team’s unbeaten run ended… well not so much ended as was ripped asunder with a humiliating annihilation at Hampden…

Nothing else for it, who cares about the football anyway? There is music to be enjoyed…

If you missed out because you didn’t heed the recommendations and low ticket warnings, more fool you as you missed a quite extraordinary experience.… Read the rest

Keeley – Beautiful Mysterious – Interview/Album Review

October 23, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

All photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge (@chrishoggephotography) • Instagram photos and videos

There is no artist I’ve come across in recent years quite like Keeley, her dedication and persistence to her cause is both remarkable and unwavering. When I say her cause, I don’t just mean the creation of her perfect and complex dream-pop/shoegaze masterpieces, it must be said that Keeley is no ordinary recording artist. Her raison d’etre, and what makes her tick, is the pursuit of justice for German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser who was cruelly murdered on a backpacking trip as she made her way to Ireland from Scotland.… Read the rest