Musically there is a wealth of things to do around Glasgow this and next month, starting with FatCat Records signatories, Our Brother The Native. The US-based duo released their fourth album, the wonderful Sacred Psalms, earlier this year, and you would be a fool not to catch them on their up-coming UK tour, which includes a visit to The Captains’ Rest in Glasgow on October 28, which is next week! Another sure shot is an event being held at the Classic Grand on November 1, by our good friends Glasgow PodcART, which showcases four of “the best East Coast artists” our nation has to offer, including Debutant, Esperi, Panda Su and Yahweh. If you’ve been paying attention to Glasgow PodcART’s weekly podcasts you will know they are madly passionate about their music, and you can guarantee you will be witnessing the cutting-edge of Scottish music by attending, so go support that shit by visiting their website here. Other things well worth investigating include grime wonderkid Joker, who plays Glasgow School of Art on October 30, and alternative-rock legends Yo La Tengo, who hit the ABC on November 6. Also, if you fancy a bit of film in your life, you should go check out the much-talked-about All Tomorrows Partys music-umentary which screens at ABC on October 24. Finally, everyone should go and purchase Hudson Mohawke’s Butter LP (Warp Records) for one of Scotland’s (and hip-hop’s) greatest contemporary musical achievements. It is out on October 26. Rant over.

Saxophonist Abel Zénon (from Morne-à-l’eau in Guadeloupe) was a mainstay of the Aux Ondes label and leader of the house band, Les Amis Aux Ondes. He recorded several albums for the Aux Ondes label, but this one stands out with its Cuban-inspired piano and heavy percussion.

Tumbélé! “Biguine, afro & latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74”

As Autumn approaches there is probably no music more appropriate than The Sleeper, the debut album by Brighton folk collective The Leisure Society, which is out this month. With musical hints of their peers including Belle & Sebastian, Fleet Foxes, and — dare I say it — Simon & Garfunkel — scattered throughout their literate, well-crafted songs, the multi-instrumental effort of the group, who share members with the likes of Lightspeed Champion, Sons of Noel And Adrian and She Talks To Angels, is getting a re-release on Full Time Hobby (home to the likes of Malcolm Middleton and School of Seven Bells) alongside a bonus CD of new tracks, titled A Product Of The Ego Drain. It was originally released on The Willkommen Collective label in March 2009. On the eve of its release I caught up with the ensemble’s core members, founder Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy, to have a chat about the album, before they embark on a tour of Europe and the UK later this month.

For full details of their upcoming tour and album release to myspace.com/theleisuresociety.

What have you been up to lately, as individuals or as a group?

Nick Hemming: “We’ve had a really busy summer, playing festivals every weekend, I never want to sleep under canvas again! I used to think Ray Mears was cool but now I know he’s just a masochist. We’ve had a great time though & somehow managed to secure sunny skies at every single show. The chances of that happening in this country must be infinitesimal!”

I think everyone in The Leisure Society has either prior or current experience playing with other groups and bands. How does that affect what you do now with The Leisure Society? Is it a good or bad thing?

NH: “We met all the musicians as a result of playing in other bands so, to a certain extent, it defines our sound. It’s quite nice playing in other people’s bands too as there is less pressure. I personally can just enjoy being a banjo player & not have to deal with the constant, nagging self-doubt.”

Christian Hardy: “I think it’s a very useful thing. Playing in more than one band helps you keep your head together, it also helps you understand what is special about each individual act. In terms of experience, there’s no substitute for it really. Experience teaches you to play just enough and not too much in the song, not to lose your rag with rude soundmen and how to drive safely on no sleep.”

Is it difficult pulling everyone together as the one ensemble, for touring, recording and other purposes?

NH: “It can be a little difficult — that’s the downside of having a band that have lots of different projects — trying to co-ordinate everyone’s schedules. It’s also difficult trying to be a tour manager as I have no organisational skills or memory recall to speak of, luckily Helen has immense patience for my repeated inane questions, such as, ‘what town are we in?’”

CH: “It certainly isn’t the easiest thing in the world but with positivity and our best efforts at pragmatism, we seem to be getting along pretty well.”

What was the songwriting and recording process for The Sleeper like?

NH: “It was spread out over a period of about 3 years as we all had other bands & day-jobs. At times I never thought it would happen, but the stars aligned & we eventually completed it. Early on it never really felt like an album, just a collection of songs, but we went to Devon for a few days to concentrate on recording (at the end of 2007) & after that session it really felt like we had something to aim for, a cohesive piece of work.”

CH: “Elation, catatonia, spiritual Renaissance, godless terror. Something like that. At times it was hugely frustrating having so many ideas and limited time/energy to realise them, then we’d have intensive bursts of activity and we’d calm down again. I never doubted for a second that if we got it made it would connect with people. Nick sometimes lost confidence and doubts crept in which was very tough, at the same time I think that self-doubt is the key to the level of obsessive detail and fine tuning on the record. The 11 songs and 8 bonus recordings are really only the tip of the iceberg of everything we attempted during that period.”

Live performance of ‘Save It For Someone Who Cares’ from Bandstand Busking.

It’s had some great reception in the UK press so far. Are you finding it’s getting more attention second time around with this re-release?

NH: “Hmmm, not sure yet, ask me in a couple of weeks. It’s a strange position to be in re-releasing an album so soon after it was initially released. We were keen to work with Full Time Hobby though & we’re really excited about the album being released in Europe for the first time. I’ve never been to Germany or Belgium & we get to go and tour over there in a few weeks.”

Which song(s) are your favourite on the album and for what reason(s)? ‘The Last Of The Melting Snow’ is probably your most cited track.

NH: “I think ‘We Were Wasted’ is possibly my favourite, it’s really evocative of a time of my life in the mid 90’s, I don’t know why it suddenly popped out in 2008 (when I wrote it). The Last Of The Melting Snow is very special as well as it’s the song that really launched the band, plus the Ivor Novello nomination was quite a bonus!”

CH: “My favourite recording is also ‘We Were Wasted’ - Nick went down into our kitchen to capture the guitar and vocal together live. I mixed everything else underneath it quite low down really and I think the result sounds as good or better than anything else on the record. Melting Snow still means as much to me personally as the first day Nick played it to me, except now we not only associate that dark period of his with it but also the incredible amount of doors that the song opened.”

Do you feel there is a renaissance of interest at the moment in folk/acoustic/songwriter music? Are you happy to be a part of it?

NH: “As long as people are listening to our music I will be very happy. We never really had a grand design we just made sounds that we liked with the instruments at our disposal, it was a happy accident that we ended up getting a few good reviews & some radio play.”

CH: “I think bands like Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver have struck a chord with a large audience because they have wonderful songs and they play well live, not because they play acoustic instruments per se. Similarly I think our songs are good and we can handle live perfomance. If we keep the songs and the good shows I think we could survive a shift away from all things acoustic. Cue disaster.”

What can people expect from you on your upcoming tour dates?

NH: “We seem to attract an incredibly warm audience - it’s made me quite emotional at times seeing people singing along to the songs. We’ve started working a few new songs into the set which is always fun & we’ve finally got around to introducing our cover of the ‘Beatles - Something’. I never would have thought it’d be a good idea to cover a Beatles track but I think/hope we do it justice.”

CH “Yeah these new songs are creeping in like mischievous aliens, we’re challenging ourselves to shake up the instrumentation we all play on them too, possibly inspired by Brian Eno recently saying we were his favourite new band. There are some plans for a few surprises at our last London show in November too at St Giles In The Field church.”

Promo video for ‘The Last Of The Melting Snow’

What is happening with the Willkommen Collective at the moment. Will you be less involved with the collective now are signed to Full Time Hobby?

NH: “We’re still involved heavily with the Willkommeners; Me, Will, Mike & Helen still play in Sons Of Noel & Adrian & we’re also about to do a few shows with Shoreline which will be nice as that is where it all really started; A project, called ‘The Climbers’, that Christian & I have been working on with a friend is being released on Willkommen; There are also rumors of a big Willkommen theater tour next year… watch this space.”

CH: “The Climbers project is a very Willkommen focused thing, involving many of the members of the collective playing our friend Tim’s songs. It took over 5 years of ad hoc sessions to get it done - bonkers.”

What have you got planned for the remainder of 2009 / 2010?

NH: “We’re touring Europe, followed by three dates in the U.K., after which we’re going to take a few months off to record album two. It’s really exciting to be starting the whole process over again, we’ve learned a lot about producing & arranging & we’ve bought some new recording ‘toys’. I think there will be a definite progression with the next album. It’ll also be great to do a proper tour to support it, there are so many places we haven’t had chance to get to yet.”

CH: “New single ‘Save It For Someone Who Cares’ is out at the end of September with a lovely animated video too. European jaunt in October, plus SWN and Canterbury festivals. Some final UK dates in November to promote the re-released 2-disc album then maybe a special limited release of some kind at the end of the year. 2010 will be all about LP 2 - we’ve been working up more and more new songs and mine and nick’s mind ls are racing right now with recording ideas.”

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

NH: “If you’ve never watched Arrested Development you should do so at the earliest possible opportunity. It may not change your life but it will definitely make you laugh.”

CH: “I think everyone should try a little harder. We’re not going to hell in a handcart just yet, so there’s still time.”

The powerful finale to what must be one of the 2009’s greatest musical achievements — The Snake album by Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums — has been given a well warranted release as a single with accompanying promo video. The epic My Heart is available on vinyl, CD and in assorted download formats over at the Leaf Label’s online store.

Glasgow-based hip-hop and dubstep producer Bryan McFarland, a.k.a Scatabrainz, has hooked us up with this exclusive mix of forward thinking electronic music, which comes just after the release of his new EP, Ellipsis, on Olde Boy Records. (Listen to EP in full and buy digital copies over here.) Scatabrainz has been honing his craft in the background of Scotland’s electronic music scene for years with his work as part of Glasgow’s hip-hop collective, The bEiNg, and his ambient, miminalist tracks have been championed by the likes of BBC Radio One’s Vic Galloway. This mix features some exclusive Scatabrainz music alongside tracks by fellow Glaswegian Rustie, Keaver & Brause and Harmonic 313. You can catch him performing live this weekend at the Bongo Club in Edinburgh and on September 30 at The Hub in Glasgow. Now go enjoy the mix and spread it around! Nice.

Scatabrainz’ Myspace page
Ellipsis EP stream & purchase at Bandcamp

Naim - On Your Own
Scatabrainz - DuMbDuMb
Rustie - Shadow Enter
MF Doom - Grinder (Four Tet remix)
Keaver & Brause - Airborn
Sa-Ra - Bitch Baby feat Eryka Badu
Scatabrainz - Munatayo
Danny Brown - Contra feat Elzhi
Harmonic 313 - Wobbz
Slumgullion - Favela
Scatabrainz - What You Gonna Do

Download Podcast: Scatabrainz Exclusive Mix (MP3, 57.3MB)

The World According To RZA

resindogs.com.au
More is out now on Hydrofunk.

Got this excellent video via Drowned in Sound:

When he’s not producing or touring with DiS faves Women, or concentrating on his Neil Young-gone-a-bit-chemically regular solo work, man about Calgary town Chad VanGaalen likes nothing more than than to muck about with some bright, glitchy electronics under his Black Mold alias. The first recorded fruits of this will be unleashed on our sceptred isle next month in the shape of debut album Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz (it really is, you know) and trust us, it’s goooood.

Black Mold @Myspace

With almost a decade of existence under their belt, the sound of Icelandic brooders múm has - like their line-up - evolved quite a bit since they released Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK back in 2002. And while moments from their current release, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know, might lack some of the ghostly charm of their earlier work, it is nonetheless lapped up by an appreciative Glasgow audience who turned out at the Oran Mor to witness their unique musical exchanges. The ensemble - currently operating as a septet, with a revolving combination of vocals, keyboards, trumpet, drums, melodica, and other instruments - are at their most effective when they work their material into a dense fog, a quality which at times seemed diffused by the presence of vocals. Set highlights come from material both old and new, with the group proving their seductiveness on tracks like Kostrzyn, Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know, and the the coy opener If I Were A Fish. With plenty of banter between songs and a generally laid-back atmosphere, it’s a given that múm will always be welcome here no matter what style of music the decide to play.

Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know is available now on Morr Music.

Thanks to the Subcity forumers for bringing to my attention this petition to save Otago Lane in Glasgow’s west end, that appears to be under threat from a planning proposal for “four flats of up to 8 storeys and 6 commercial units” which would “irrevocably change the look and feel of the area.” The lane is a culturally-significant area which would be sorely missed by residents and visitors alike, especially due to its housing of the bookshop Voltaire & Rousseau (a “silent, dusty, temple to the pleasures of reading”), the record shop Mixed Up Records, and the renowned tea house Tchai-Ovna. Full details of how to object to what I can only imagine would be an ill fitting blight and eyesore can be found at this Facebook page. Please note that August 27 September 9 is the closing date for official objections to Glasgow’s Development and Regeneration Services.

Links:

Save our Lane group on Facebook
Help save Otago Lane, online petition

UPDATE: A website dedicated to the save Otago Lane campaign is now live, at saveotagolane.co.uk. Thanks to Iain for the heads-up!

Discovered this great project which analysed hundreds of graffiti letters written around Paris and produced the results into some wicked interactive visual stuff on the web, as well as an exhibition, Born In The Streets, which is on display at Fondation Cartier in the city until November. I’m not sure exactly who the people behind the project were, but Evan Roth, Bobby Houlihan and Todd Vanderlin all get bigs-ups from this post summarising the project.

Found via hyb and fffff.at.