Trip Hop - The Ginger Quiff

November Singles… the next batch

November 14, 2025 By neilho27@sky.com

With Brontës having laid down the gauntlet and got the challenge for single of the month off to a flier with their captivating new song San Francisco, it is down to all comers to try to snatch the title from their grasp. The next batch for November has revealed some strong contenders, with a huge showing from some rival Scottish acts…

The Treasury’s in Love is the new single from indie-folksters Elgin and the Marbles, and is a clever lyrical take on all things wrong with the current state of the finances of these shores, seemingly made worse with each new chancellor who wanders into 11 Downing Street.

… Read the rest

New Years Revolution 2025 – King Tuts ft. Tanzana, Naked Actress, Aldous and Save Face

January 10, 2025 By neilho27@sky.com

My first gig of 2025 was one of King Tuts January showcase gigs as part of their New Years Revolution series with a four band smorgasbord of styles headlined by one of my “25 for ‘25” tips for great things, Tanzana.

So, was it worth braving sub zero temperatures during a tiring and challenging first week back at work following the festive period when I could just have retreated under a warm blanket in front of The Traitors?

I knew from the first bars of Save Face’s first tune, the cunningly titled Intro, that they alone would have been worth the trip.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2023 – Part 4 – April

April 29, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Four months into 2023 and the new music keeps coming thick and fast, so much to listen to, so much to love. As usual, there is the evil Spotify playlist at the end, try then buy….

Lambrini Girls – Lads, Lads, Lads

Ahead of the release of their EP, You’re Welcome, comes single number three from feisty punks Lambrini Girls, this time tackling the subject of lad culture and toxic masculinity with great gusto, venting their spleen with impassioned fury. Be sure to catch them when they play The Hug and Pint in June, and if you’re going south for Iggy’s Dog Day Afternoon, get their early to see them.… Read the rest

Jackal Trades – At This Point – album review

September 1, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Mark McGhee never rests.

Does this man never sleep? He seems to be constantly spinning plates, managing to keep them all going and letting nothing slip, while keeping up high standards and levels of quality control on everything too …

Live shows with The Girobabies (whose Who Stole Utopia? album remains an absolute revelation), You Call That Radio podcasts, and of course Jackal Trades (and master of them all), whose album At This Point was released a couple of months ago…. Yes, I’m still playing catch up, but that s a good sign – hunner’s of brilliant new music out there…

At This Point is essentially McGhee’s (and a supporting cast of thousands) commentary on the state of the COVID era disunited kingdom.… Read the rest

Minerva Wakes – Mirrored Moon review

March 19, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Minerva/mɪˈnɜːrvə/ (Latin: [mɪˈnɛrwa]; Etruscan: Menrva) is the Roman Goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of defensive war only.

Utterly Hypnotic

The Twistettes take a break away from their grungy alt punk existence to appear on an altogether “D’arc”er plain with their enigmatic side project, the utterly hypnotic and engrossing trip hop of Minerva Wakes.

The album lands at an apposite time and space given events of recent months. Perhaps more pertinently, recent weeks. Minerva is waking to justified calls for justice in the shape of Black Lives Matter and even more befitting in recent weeks, in the wake of the righteous anger at the death of Sarah Everard and the wave of accounts of women who feel unsafe walking on their own in the streets of the UK.… Read the rest