Carla J Easton - The Ginger Quiff

Singles Round Up 2026 – April

May 19, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

I feel like I’m running to stand still in playing catch up, but there are so many great new singles out in the wild that I wanted to capture them all, for my own benefit more than anything else. April was another strong month for emerging Scottish talent, alongside more established Scottish bands, as well as singles from far and wide, including a rare appearance from Finland with a new Teksti TV 666 single from their new EP.

Pedalo continue to excel as one of Scotland’s finest purveyors of majestically soulful dream pop with the irresistible groove of Hate Me. Charlotte’s soaring gossamer smooth vocals belie the tale of a broken relationship where the desire to even receive negative emotions would be better than nothing at all.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2026 – March

May 12, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

The singles round up for March has more than it’s fair share of excellent singles from emerging Scottish talent from alt-rock right through to Gaelic rap (yes, you read it right), with debut singles from the likes of Honey, Close Control, Sports Frock and Quality Control and cracking singles from Tanzana, bottle rockets, Martha May and the Mondays, Stratus, Verse Metrics, Bandit Country, Dubinski, Doss, Subterranean, Brontes, Grow Up, Pearling. Arran Hopkins, Conscious Pilot, Limonead, Gichard, Mantel, Big Crunch, and braes, with some more established Scottish acts like Middle Class Guilt, Carla J Easton, The Countess of Fife, The Girobabies and Broken Chanter joining the party.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2026 – February – Part 2

May 9, 2026 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m not going to go into the reasons why this is so late, but I started this such a long time ago now, half of the bands have probably released more music or split up since but hey, as the saying goes, I’ve started, so I’ll finish…

February seems a long time ago and a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. And as you can see from this second part of the singles for the month, there was a lot to digest including a few new releases from bands who feature on the “You are Here – The New Sound of Scotland” CD (yes, I know… I’m awaiting delivery of said CD, once they are in my grubby mitts they’ll be unleashed on an unsuspecting public….)… Read the rest

Albums of the Year 2023

December 30, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Before I list my favourite “Albums of the Year 2023”, an apology.

I have been inundated this year with new music, new albums, requests for reviews and features. First, I’m happy that there is so much great music out there and that I’m party to being able to hear and share that new music, but secondly, a huge apology to many bands and artists whose music I’ve loved and planned to review/feature but it hasn’t happened. I’d love nothing more than to spend my life listening to and writing about music (and the book I keep meaning to finish), but that doesn’t pay the bills.… Read the rest

Singles of the Year 2023

December 28, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

I have no idea how John Peel narrowed songs down to a Festive 50 every year, he must have received 1000 times the number of songs I receive on a yearly basis. Maybe if I did a Singles of the Year 2023 blog again tomorrow or the next day, things would change slightly as I think of another song that needs to be included, as in the singles round-ups (links to all the round ups of the year at the foot of the blog) I must have listed between 400 and 500 songs this year, another bumper year for new music.… Read the rest

Carla J. Easton – Sugar Honey – album review

October 19, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Sugar Honey is the follow up to the last solo long player from Carla J. Easton from three years ago, Weirdo. With the interim period including an album release from her Poster Paints project with ex-Frightened Rabbit, Simon Liddell, time has been good to Carla in terms of creativity, Sugar Honey is a continuation of that seam of inspired creativity, the album a formidable statement of intent on several fronts.

Sugar Honey is a bit of a double-edged sword. The album title describes Carla’s music perfectly, a flawless blend of her sugary sweet synth/keys-based pop melodies, that never become mawkish and cloying, matched with her unique honey-coated voice, dripping with that feeling of familiar warming vocal hug, and the addition of a heavy measure of both melancholy and ire… Which is the other side of the double-edged sword. … Read the rest

Carla J Easton – The Hug and Pint (with Ruby Gaines & Kohla) & Brontes (George Square)

August 4, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

The Hug and Pint Endless Summer gig season is in full swing and what better way for me to go to my first of several nights in August than to see Carla J Easton play a selection of songs from her upcoming album Sugar Honey.

Before Carla we were treated to two very different, but equally impressive sets from Kohla and Ruby Gaines (as a massive Prince fan I keep wanting to type Rosie!).

Kohla’s album Romance is due to be released soon with an album launch gig in Sneaky Petes, The Hug and Pint served as a perfect warm up for her.… 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

The Ginger Quiff – 2020 review

December 23, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Albums of the year

2020 might have been a year to forget for uncountable reasons, a year many would rather forget. However, the amount, and quality, of new music that saw the light of day in 2020 was astounding. So much so, narrowing down my favourite albums of this year to a top ten was a nigh on impossible task.

Even now as I have committed to and published this list, I am still making changes in my head. To say that some of these albums were “better” than others would be to dismiss the quality of said albums. Just know that I appreciate and applaud the time and love that has gone into the recording of all of these albums.… Read the rest

Pick of the Pops – Xmas songs 2020

December 14, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m hoping many of you won’t have been in the same position as me, having had the misfortune to hear three monumental fuck ups of Christmas singles. The words-fail-me-how-bad-it-is cover of the greatest Christmas song of all, Fairytale of New York by Jon Bon Jovi, talent vacuum Gemma Collins (I’m hoping most of you don’t actually know who she is, your life will be better for not knowing) duetting with Darren Day. Finally, the cheeky chappie that I wouldn’t tire of smacking in the face with a shovel, Robbie fucking Williams, and his Christmas song, the lyrics of which seem to have been written by a chimpanzee who has an extremely limited vocabulary and has learned most of their words and phrases from watching a succession of idiots on daily COVID 19 briefings, cobbling them together clumsily in a vain attempt to create a song.… Read the rest