post punk - The Ginger Quiff

Brat Coven, Brenda & Dusk Amadeus – live in The Hug and Pint

August 7, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

My working week last week was bookended by two of the Endless Summer nights in the Hug and Pint, the latter featuring the darkly gothic shoegaze of Dusk Amadeus, the utter joy that is the experience of a Brenda show, and the first headline show for the angry riot grrrl punks, Brat Coven.

Dusk Amadeus

Events were conspiring to have me miss this gig, having firstly to turn for home realising I’d forgotten my wallet, then eventually getting to the station to discover my train was cancelled. Thankfully though, although I missed the start of Dusk Amadeus set, i did catch the second half.… Read the rest

2 Sevens – Back on Track – album review

June 17, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

No Guitars were Harmed in the Recording of this Album*

John Kenny is known for launching his guitar during a live performance… 2 Sevens launch their debut album Back on Track on an unsuspecting public today. I’ve witnessed pictures of his broken guitars and In a broken Britain (there is a slight irony on the album title given current circumstances) the album is a much needed tonic, its a lot of fun, one of these albums that you put on to blow the cobwebs away and just blast out some good old punk rock n roll.

With a name like they have, you can probably work out where their key influences come from, and without meaning any disrespect to the band, that is exactly what you get on Back on Track.… Read the rest

The CundeeZ – Geeez it! – album review

June 16, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

If you looked in as an outsider, The CundeeZ are one of these bands who are always labelled as “punk”, but when you peel away the layers there is much more than that. What does punk really mean anyway? Bring half a dozen old punks into a room and they’ll all have a different view of what it means to them… Never a band to conform to the norms (I mean, a punk band with bagpipes that wear kilts onstage?) the latest album, Geeez It!, like its predecessor, Teckle & Hide, while undeniably the sound of The CundeeZ, dips its toes into a variety of genres, this time taking in rockabilly territory, as well as other genres like new wave/post-punk and folk.… Read the rest

Cathal Coughlan – A Unique Talent

May 23, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m getting to that age now, many of the bands and artists I idolised as a young man are going the way of all flesh. Unfortunately many of them have been taken too young, Stuart Adamson, Bill MacKenzie, Joe Strummer, Prince…All of whom I’ve mourned in my own way, as many of us have. People that made music that had a massive impact on us, with songs that take us back to memorable times of our lives.

I’m not a young man anymore, so I was taken by surprise today just how hard I took the announcement of the death of the uniquely talented Cathal Coughlan, ex-frontman of Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, an artist who stood head and shoulders above his peers of the time, and one of those who you could say they broke the mould of when they made him.… Read the rest

James Domestic – Carrion Repeating – album review

April 20, 2022 By neilho27@sky.com

James Domestic (James Scott) isn’t one to rest on his laurels. The frontman of hardcore punk band, The Domestics, he has a list of other bands/side projects the length of your arm, Carrion Repeating is his first solo offering which he describes as “post-punk pop music for weirdos”.

Swagger

How would I describe this solo project? Let me try… To me the album lives in a place somewhere between the cockney geezer swagger of Ian Dury, living in a world of John Cooper Clarke observational poetry and all bundled up with a soundtrack like the coming together of The Fall and Sleaford Mods.… Read the rest

A Damaged Christmas Gift For You – Review

December 20, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

There are several Christmas albums that I would consider essential listening for this time of year. The 2000 compilation Its a Cool Cool Christmas for one, with a host of quality songs from the likes of Eels, El Vez, Drugstore no a personal family favourite, Christmas Boogaloo by Big Boss Man. Christmas by Low, whose Just Like Christmas appears on the aforementioned compilation, is another must listen at Christmas, while a modern classic, Ghost Stories fro Christmas (Aidan Moffat and RM Hubert) jumped straight into my all time favourite Christmas albums list on its release a few years ago.

Of course, one of the all time classics is A Christmas Gift for You, featuring the famous wall of sound in contributions from Darlene Love, The Ronettes, Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans and The Crystals.… Read the rest

The First Big Weekend…

September 13, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

My return to live music kicked off in style last weekend with Hugh Reed & the Velvet Underpants in the Bungalow Bar in Paisley. This weekend was what you could call the First Big Weekend (copyright: Arab Strap) of my 2021 gig calendar with not two but three consecutive nights of live music. Bring it on. (Not sure if I should be apologising to my family or whether they were just glad to see the back of me for three nights…)

I’m not going to deny, it wasn’t without some trepidation that I was returning to gigs, and not just due to COVID and everything that goes along with that, but also the being around people in general, and social anxiety aspect of it all.… Read the rest

Mickey 9s – Modern Kunst – album review

August 30, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

The delay in writing this review is very remiss of me, I’ve had the latest Mickey 9s album for what seems like aeons. Certainly at least a few months before it was actually released, I’m sure the residents of Simshill/Castlemilk/Kings Park and the surrounding Glasgow Southside environs are probably sick of it blasting out my car windows on repeat. Either that or they’re now all fully fledged Mickey 9s converts. I’d like to think the latter.

I mean how can you NOT like this album? Playing it in the car was probably a bad idea. You can’t really listen to this album without getting sucked in by the high octane addictive post punk-funk.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2021 – Pt 8

August 16, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

This is a singles round up of mammoth proportions. I spent some time scrolling through the wealth of e-mails I received over the last few months, and other singles I’ve been particularly enjoying. 2021 has been a treasure trove of new music across so many genres. Even though this is my biggest singles round up of the year so far, it still only scratches the surface of what is going on just now…

…and then there are all the albums, just recently, over and above the ones I’ve already featured/reviewed I’ve been enjoying the new albums from The Media Whores, monsterpop, The Hurricanes, Jackal Trades, Mickey 9s, Jeshua and The Strays to name but a few.… Read the rest

paul RESEARCH – skate THE ROYAL MILE

March 24, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Scars legendary guitarist returns following his adventures with Voicex for this arresting and eclectic collection of songs, collaborating across the miles (from Edinburgh to Barcelona, New York City to Rome and closer to home in England) none of the albums contributors met during the recording of the album during 2020 and ’21.

The songs and music are all written and played by the maestro himself while the vocals are shared between Leanne (LeeLoo) Greenman featuring on five of the nine songs, singing duties split equally on the remaining songs between Carrie Furniss and the enigmatically named James.

This album is clearly a labour of love from Paul.… Read the rest