Category: Album/Single Review

Junk Pups – Interview and Live Review (The Hug and Pint 17th August ’23)

August 25, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

(All Photos Courtesy of Chris Hogge Photography)

Last week, Junk Pups played their second headline gig, this time at The Hug and Pint as part of the Endless Summer series of gigs. Having been meaning to do so for a long time, I finally managed to catch up with the band (and Angel!) after they’d sound-checked ahead of the gig.

The Ginger Quiff: So, just a bit of background first and foremost, how did the four of you get together as a band.

Jack: During the first lockdown I messaged Dylan, I knew Dylan from a thing we did in school called Behind the Noise, I knew they played bass, and I was just like.

… Read the rest
The Bluebells Anyone Could Be a Buzzcock single

VIDEO PREMIERE – The Bluebells – Anyone Could Be a Buzzcock

August 17, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Anyone Could be a Buzzcock is the new single taken from The Bluebells latest album, In the 21st Century, their first for over twenty years. The absorbing album from the legendary Glasgow icons has received great plaudits both by critics and old and new fans alike. The band go back to their roots on this energetic single, a welcome slice of first-wave-of-punk influenced nostalgia, inspired by the late, great Pete Shelley. The song is both a whole lot of fun and a great tribute to the Buzzcocks frontman, one of punks finest songwriters, and is accompanied by a suitably vibrant and colourful video from Glasgow artist, Jim Lambie.… Read the rest

The Countess of Fife – Live Review, The Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose, Edinburgh Fringe

August 12, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Having released one of the standout albums of 2023 and 2024 in Star of the Sea (the album was available last year, but the vinyl launched earlier this year), The Countess of Fife aka Fay Fife of Rezillos fame has built a formidable live band around her in the shape of Willy Molleson on drums (Eliza Carthy), Al Gare on double bass (Imelda May, Jeff Beck), Laurie Cuffe on guitar (Cuban Heels, Vellininios). and on acoustic guitar and backing vox, Kirsten Adamson who has been picking up plaudits herself for her 2nd album Landing Place, including My Fathers Song’s a poignant tribute to her late father.… Read the rest

Savage Cut – Holes in the Mind – album review

July 20, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Holes in the Mind is the latest album from the creative hive mind of trio of Brian, John and Liam otherwise known as Savage Cut. I say trio, but more often than not, they bolster their number with a carefully chosen guest vocalist to perfectly match the sound and feel of their remarkable music. 

This latest selection of tunes is nothing short of genius, an inspired mix of styles, with some extraordinary adventures in sound here; ingenious samples, emotive instrumentals and a perceptive choice of guests all coming together to create what is both an eclectic but cohesive collection of songs, all unquestionably sealed with the indelible mark of Savage Cut.… Read the rest

Brenda – Brenda – debut album review

July 12, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Glasgow is awash with new music talent these days, at the forefront of the bands trading their wares comes the unique synth sounds of Brenda. To avoid any confusion, Brenda is a band, not a person, the coming together of the wonderfully unconventional trio of Litty, Apsi and Flore (also a member of another of the bands at the forefront of the current crop of extraordinary bands mined from this particularly giving seam – Water Machine). 

While not exactly shrinking violets or introverted wallflowers, the band are modest in their own descriptions of their talents and musicianship, but in the opinion of this listener, their debut album is up there amongst my favourites of the year to date.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2023 – Part 6 – June

July 1, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

June singles round up featuring some of the best new music around including joint “Singles of the Month” by the mighty Water Machine, Brenda, Bin Juice and KEELEY

I’m afraid time is not currently my friend, so like the May round up…. only just published in July…. There are no write ups of the songs featured.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t listened to all of them. After all, none of them would be here if I didn’t love them all …

Hopefully my time management will improve and normal service will be resumed in July

Water Machine – Water Machine Pt.

… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2023 – Part 5 – May

July 1, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

It’s taken me much longer than it should have to get May’s Singles Round Up done. I blame fatigue from the onset of unseasonably hot weather in Glasgow… as well as a general inability to fit everything I need to do into a seven day week.

Apologies to all the featured bands and artists this month for not getting an individual write up, suffice to say, every single song has been listened to and loved. Much kudos to the vast number of great new songs in May from Glasgow/Scottish based bands and artists here. I hate to choose favourites but special mention to “Singles of the Month” from Sacred Noise, Kohla, Pedalo, Parliamo, Quad 90 and Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something….you… Read the rest

KEELEY – Floating Above Everything Else – album review

June 29, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Following a series of unequivocally absorbing EPs and singles, KEELEY finally release their debut album, the all consuming Floating Above Everything Else, an album which manages to be both heartbreaking in its divine beauty and grace and gloriously uplifting as you bathe in the warm textures of the multi-layered soundscapes helping to tell the story of the tragic backpacker Inga Maria Hauser, and keep her memory alive 35 years after her life was cruelly taken from her, a murder for which there has still been no-one charged. This album’s title surely reflects where this album is destined to be in many album of the year lists towards the end of 2023.… Read the rest

Jacoby – Shamanic Ecstasy – album review

June 15, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Following in the footsteps of previous incarnation, The Rising, Tommy Overington continues to soar, riding the breeze and catching the thermals as new band Jacoby revel in Shamanic Ecstasy, their debut long player featuring singles Freedom Ain’t No Sin and Do the Right Thing. But just what is Shamanic Ecstasy?

“In Shamanism, the ecstatic experience connotes a state of bliss, transcendence, and communion with the sacred. Shamans utilize techniques such as journeying, trances, and altered states of consciousness to achieve ecstatic experiences” Bob Waxman (Ph.D.)

When you boil that down, it’s pretty much what I want from music. I want it to take me to a state of bliss, to transcend and alter my state of consciousness taking me on a journey to another place and time in my mind.… Read the rest

Teenage Waitress Your Cuckoo

Teenage Waitress – Your Cuckoo – album review

June 7, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Your Cuckoo is the Teenage Waitress follow up to stunning debut album Love & Chemicals, one of my albums of the year in 2020. Three years on and (the young) Daniel Ash has once again pulled out all the stops and created what is highly likely to be my album of the summer, as it is, it has already been an essential soundtrack to the last couple of weeks unseasonably good weather for Glasgow. Maybe this album was a conduit for that…

…if not, it has certainly been a conduit in playing a part in helping maintain my upbeat mood and general positivity, plugging in my headphones and listening to the songs on Your Cuckoo providing the musical background to my working day, not quite making problems disappear but giving me the right attitude to deal with them.… Read the rest