Tomorrow’s show (Saturday 12th November, midday to 1pm) features another great Hobnobbing interview, PLUS an extra special guest live in the studio, and a run down of all the gossip from Hott Loggzz last weekend.

What they said:

“Epic. I want to always know when this is on. Will it feature more Posh Oli? We love Posh Oli!”

“it’s not sodding working we can see you but can hear NOTHING!”

“Loving The Shivers! Can’t wait to see them today! We’re all crowded around the wireless here in Anster listening to ur silver tones!!!!”

“when are the proper DJs coming on?”

“It’s like my own personal radio show. Bit incestuous though”

“Yay, Made in Chelsea!”

“Can’t they fix it so these guys are on every day?”

Live From The Latin Quarter Listen Again week 2 by LiveFromTheLatinQuarter

Tracklisting:

1. Captain Beefheart – Gimme Dat Harp Boy
2. Breeders – Cannonball
3. The Shivers – Love Is In The Air
4. Malcolm Middleton – Red Travelling Socks
5. Jonnie Common – Summer Is For Going Places
6. R Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House
7. The Fall – Edinburgh Man
8. Eric “Monty” Morris – Sammy Dead
9. Meursault – Nothing Broke
10. The Strokes – Someday

To listen on iTunes go to Radio – College/University – Fresh Air, The Alternative

To listen via the Fresh Air website go to the Fresh Air website

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So, Homegame was bloody good. As is my wont, I took a bunch of amateurish footage (this time on the iPhone) and have compiled it into this video which hopefully gives a small taste of how good the performances and atmosphere were. Apologies for the general shiteness of the cameraman.

Here are some random (personal) photos taken from the weekend too. Below is also a video of some footage from last year that I’ve not posted on the blog yet (the nice footage was filmed by Aileen Robertson of Avian Learning Experiment).

Of course there are much greater talents than me documenting the whole thing – here’s a video of Slow Club doing an excellent (but rather unseasonal) acoustic number filmed by Blair from The Forest of Black, who’s proper Homegame film from last year I am still eagerly awaiting. You can see the trailer and stunning short films from last year’s Away Game and Fence’s 2009 Halloween Party on their website under “music promos and documentaries”.

There are some wonderful photos on the Fence Facebook page from Dylan of Blueback Hotrod and Nickie Divine, and there is more coverage over at the Beefboard.

I also failed to video Found’s set in Legends on Sunday night as I was in full on party mode by then. Well worth checking out instead is their new video filmed in the legendary Fisher & Donaldson’s bakery/confectioners and the chance to get hold of some edible chocolate vinyl of the single.. (warning: this page plays the single automatically)

Fence have announced there won’t be a Homegame next year, but they have an excellent gig coming up next Sunday in Glasgow, and you can see King Creosote play with The Last Battle at their new EP launch, 30th June in Edinburgh.

Yes, Adam and Joe have returned to BBC 6 Music. The best radio station in the world, that you and I saved. And although I appeared briefly in person on the station last year, I was possibly even more chuffed when a few weeks ago my chuffing leg got a mention on the bugger, by no less than.. Michael Legg. In fact, he said my leg was his favourite leg. So there!

Famous Leg by gaseousbrain

Famous Drunk

I’ve officially disbanded the short-lived Famous Drunk project. But I’m pleased to say that the song ‘threatening footsteps’ was in fact the winner of MuleIdol 2015! Ok, it wasn’t the winner but then there wasn’t a winner at all, and it was very nice of The Mule to include it (and you’ve got to love the MuleIdol jingle that Tallah Brash created):

What else? Oh yes. I’ve been unfaithful to my regular Gaseous Brain readers and spent a lot of time over at the Clear-Minded Creative. The reaction to the new blog has been pretty great so far, especially for the Four for Feb challenge (which has morphed into ‘Share Your Wares Sundays’). It was also mentioned on The Guardian’s Edinburgh blog, Creative Boom and The Friendly Anarchist.

I also wrote a mildly controversial piece for the Guardian Edinburgh suggesting we should celebrate the City’s creativity. It brought up quite a few comments about the difficulty in getting support for grassroots creativity and the lack of venues etc. The Scotsman’s Radar blog are currently running an interesting series which addresses why the music scene is not as strong as it could be: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Of course I started the Creative Types series of interviews over here with Bart, Dylan, Euan and Lloyd being the unwitting guinea-pigs for what has now become the Clear-Minded Creative Types series on the new blog. Stevie Kearney, aka The Mule whose podcast features above, is the 11th interview to feature so far this year. Not bad for me, given my previous record of keeping up blog series. And there’s more to come..

See all of the Clear-Minded Creative Types interviews so far

Stevie is also making his dissertation available to download for free, which will be of interest to anyone who likes music journalism or blogging.

Oh, and finally here’s a compilation video I did for a recent talk at the Apple Store with Last Year’s Girl and Peenko. Regular readers will find most of it familiar…

This enchanting and atmospheric film by Matty Ross aka Sleepysoul is the perfect introduction to Debutant, the solo project of Edinburgh musician Philip Quirie, also a member of Meursault.

Zinester

The year got off to a strong start off the back of my pledge in December to ‘get my shit together’ in 100 days with the release of my first ever fanzine, something I’ve been meaning to do for years.

The initial idea was to do a quarterly zine but that was a bit ambitious, and in the interests of transparency I have to admit I didn’t sell many copies, which is fair enough as it was pretty much a vanity publication (with a few guest articles by friends), and I kind of knew it lacked a coherent theme that would attract new people to buy it.

But I enjoyed making it and even the few that I sold gave me a buzz as it was nice seeing a couple of quid appearing in my paypal account from time to time. As it’s nearly a year old and it’s the festive season and everything, I thought I’d make the digital version available here to read/download for free.

Catalogue of a Gaseous Brain

Writing Elsewhere

This was the first full year I haven’t written for The Skinny Magazine, Apart from a Kraftwerk review published in Jan but written the Dec before.

However I was still keen to keep writing and it was a pleasure to feature on my favourite local music websites like Song, By Toad and Off The Beaten Tracks (also contributing handclaps to one of the videos they made with Meursault!)

I also wrote about the future of journalism in the digital era for journalism.co.uk and took part in a debate on whether ‘Print is Dead’ or not at St Andrew’s University (with some real experts on the subject!)

And even though I have absolutely no interest or aptitude for sport of any kind, I ended up writing a guide to world cup stadiums for The Scotsman. Go figure..

In a move that perhaps is of little interest to my regular readers here, I also branched out into writing about personal development and productivity, featuring on The Connection Revolution (as part of a writing competition) and Pick The Brain.

Technology

I’ve typecast myself as a geek in recent years, and 2010 saw an intermittent series of ‘Gaseous Brainstorms’ asking questions like ‘What’s the Future of Publishing’, ‘Who Will Win the Tech Wars’, ‘Is Blogging Just for Old Buggers’ and something along the lines of ‘Can I Afford to Buy an iPad’. Alas the answer to the latter was no, but nearer the end of the year I did succumb and buy a Kindle so that I could at least get an idea of what using an ebook reader was all about. You can see my daft little video review here, though I have to admit I’m still undecided as to the value of the Kindle now that I’ve had it a while my usage of it has reduced quite a bit.

My iPhone 3G died, and I recorded a moving eulogy for it which appeared on iSource.com with a demand for me to stop singing in public forever. Fair enough (more on that topic below). So I shelled out for the iPhone 4, and I have to admit it’s an amazing bit of kit and far superior to the 3G. Having a pocket, decent quality video recorder alone has made it a worthwhile purchase.

Finally also as part of the Brainstorms series, I added my penny’s worth to the vast swell of support for BBC6Music, which thankfully was successful for the time being, and even found myself appearing on Shaun Keaveny’s breakfast show (mainly because he found my first name and the fact that I share it with a number of pet dogs amusing).

SERVICE INTERRUPTION

Frustrated by some of the platform’s limitiations in terms of plug-ins and design, and wanting to provide as professional an image as possible, I transferred the whole blog over from squarespace to a self-hosted wordpress account.

I under-estimated the work involved though as it turned out as a lot of photos and other content disappeared from the archives in the process and I’ve never got round to going back through and add them back in.

It was a learning experience and I’m glad I now know how to do it, but it took a big chunk of my precious free time away from actually being able to concentrate on producing new content for the blog.

Life is what happens when you’re meant to be blogging

Life has a habit of getting in the way. What with putting my flat on the market, arranging my wedding for May 2011, and trying to get a new job, blogging suddenly found itself at the bottom of my list of priorities.

I also managed to run a 10k though I’ve done very little exercise since, and I was off the booze for 3 months. Not quite the full year I’d hoped for, but a nice break from hangovers anyway.

I started a new job and also did some moonlighting at a national newspaper which meant I was busier than ever. For a few months I barely blogged at all, apart from a few ‘holding’ posts to apologise for not blogging (always a bad sign!).

Creative Pursuits: Famous Drunk & The Devil’s Buttermilk

Together with my friend Iain I played live twice this year under the name Famous Drunk, once at the Terrifying Ordeal event (when we were also joined by another pal, Chris) and once at Lach’s Antihoot during the festival.

However given the above fairly justified criticism of my singing ability I’ve come to realise that unless I actually sat down and practiced/learnt the guitar, these traumatic experiences were never going to improve for either me or the audience, so making music is on an indefinite hiatus at the moment. In the meantime here’s an inexpertly played, recorded and mixed demo I did this year just in case you cared:

All The Things I Thought I’d Never Be by gaseousbrain

More enjoyable was the short horror spoof that Iain and I and a group of friends filmed for the Aberdour Festival’s ASBO awards called ‘The Devil’s Buttermilk’. We came second in the public vote to a schoolgirl, but walked away with the Best Directed Short award. And had a great laugh in the process. You can also hear the theme tune used in the video (by Iain Radcliffe) over at myspace (link below)

p.s. apologies to Kate Bush who I didn’t get any decent footage of but she was fantastic.

p.p.s. The night before was the Song, By Toad Christmas Party which was also a superb night, with excellent performances by The Savings & Loan, Jesus H. Foxx, Yusuf Azak, Inspector Tapehead, Rob St. John & an incredible headline set by Meursault topping off an amazing year for them and the label. Unfortunately the Burgh Bootlegs cameraman was a little worse for wear so didn’t have much usable footage! Read The Scotsman’s 5 star review

Now I find myself at the end of the year and not having heard half as much of the year’s music as I’d like to, especially Scottish stuff. So instead I will succumb to the wisdom of the following crowd-sourced end of year lists (which I just happen to also have contributed to)

1. The Scottish BAMS

The second annual Scottish BAMS (blogs and music sites) awards was announced on Monday – it was an honour to be asked to contribute, even though I can hardly claim to be a proper music blogger these days and my tastes veer into pop and hip hop quite often as well as the alternative rock/indie/folk that this list mainly covers (which is obviously sacrilege).

But the bloggers/podcasters involved are a good bunch with a massive enthusiasm for music, and are incredibly supportive of the Scottish scene. Because of that it’s one of the few places you’ll see great Scottish music given a fair run against the better known alternative bands/artists, and I believe the high placings they’ve received here are well deserved.

Here’s the results:

1. The National – High Violet

2. Admiral Fallow – Boots Met My Face

3. Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry

4. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks

5. Kid Canaveral – Shouting at Wildlife

6. The Phantom Band – The Wants

7. The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

8. The Last Battle – Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea

9. Broken Records – Let Me Come Home

10. Bronto Skylift – The White Crow

11. Beach House – Teen Dream

12. The Fire & I – Stampede Finale

13. Sufjan Stevens – Age Of Adz

14. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest

15. Best Coast – Crazy For You

16. Mitchell Museum – The Peters Port Memorial Service

17. Teenage Fanclub – Shadows

18. The Scottish Enlightenment – St Thomas

19. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

20. jonsi – go do

21. RM Hubbert – First & Last

22. Errors – Come Down With Me

23. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can

24. Sleigh Bells – Treats

25. The Boy Who Trapped The Sun – Fireplace

26. Micah P Hinson and the Pioneer Saboteurs

27. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise

28. How To Swim – Retina (Or More Fun Than A Vat Of Love)

29. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

30. Silver Columns – Yes and Dance

Thanks to Peenko for organising this and all the other blogs involved who are listed below:

Timothy London, Jock N Roll, The Daily Dose, Resound Scotland, The Steinberg Principle, Dauphin, Hercules Moments, Argos Barks, The Web Is Not A Cold Dead Place, The Tidal Wave of Indifference, Ed Rock, Off the Beaten Tracks, Found In Sound, Elba Sessions, Kowalskiy, Have Fun At Dinner, Ayetunes, Edinburgh Man,17 Seconds, Scots Whay Hae, Open Till Midnight, Products of a Gaseous Brain,The Spill, Last Years Girl, Is This Music, JockRock, Dear Scotland, Manic Pop Thrills, Favourite Son, Peenko, Jim Gellatly, My Portis Wasp Says, Never Make Friends, Detour, Jenny Soep, Net Sounds Unsigned, Listen Before You Buy, Song By Toad, The Daily Growl, Earz Mag, Glasgow Podcart, Rokbun, The Pop Cop, Pin Up Nights, Traffic Cone Music, Radar & Blueback Hotrod

Listen to the Scottish BAMS playlist by Ian from Have Fun at Dinner

2. Said The Gramophone’s Best Songs of 2010

I also made a modest contribution to Said The Gramophone’s  best songs of 2010 list (only one of my five suggested songs – Spanish Sahara by Foals,  was included but it’s better than none, and I like quite a few of the ones others chose as well).

This is my favourite music blog post of the year because you can download them all at once and listen to them at your leisure. Last year I listened to it while I was eating my Christmas dinner and it was great to hear Withered Hand and Meursault popping up. This year I don’t think any of my fave Scottish stuff made the cut, but it’s still an essential treasure trove of lovely tunes.

3. Song, By Toad Readers’ Top 5 Songs of 2010

Spanish Sahara pops up here again, as does the beautiful No Conjunction by eagleowl which thoroughly deserves its high placing (and featured on one of my few podcasts from this year). I can’t really argue with the other tunes either though I have other tunes which I prefer. And The National have never quite moved from ‘substantially satisfying’ to ‘awe-inspiring’ for me, a good band but a little over-rated in my opinion. Then again I’ve never seen them live and that might change my mind.

4. Scrawls and Bawls Festive Fifty - I’ve put my pennies worth in to this as well, which should be published soon. In the meantime Finbarr’s own top 20 albums list is well worth perusing.

THE REST.

Some other end of year lists worth checking out are listed below:

Peenko also has an excellent end of year list chosen by various Scottish musicians

Japanese War Effort’s favourite songs of the year (a mix)

The Year Is 2010, And These Are Some Songs: Mix by thejapanesewareffort

Ian Rankin’s Albums of the Year for The Spectator

Mr Douglas Anderson’s albums of the year

The Tidal Wave of Indifference albums of the year

Vic Galloway’s top 75 albums!

Sorry if I missed yours – this post could potentially have been endless. But please add a link in the comments below if I have, or if there’s another good list I’ve missed. Or if you just want to tell me your own favourite albums or songs.

An application has been put in to turn the building into a block of flats – and friends of The Forest are asking people to object – full details of how to do so are here. As you can see above there is also a fundraising concert on 3rd December.

The Guardian’s Edinburgh blog is running a series of guest posts by people who have been involved in The Forest Café over the years and the first two have been really interesting:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/nov/22/edinburgh-forest-cafe-eus-ericka-duffy-guest-blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/nov/25/edinburgh-forest-cafe-charity-firefly-dan-gorman

Billy Hamilton has also mentioned the issue on his most recent Scottish round-up for Drowned In Sound, which also does a great job of highlighting some upcoming gigs and releases:

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4141582-drowned-in-scotland–november-december-2010

As Billy points out there’s a lot of good gigs coming up in the next few weeks. A couple more:

THE LEITH TAPE CLUB SPECIAL on Cruz, The Shore, Leith. Saturday 27th of November, 2pm-10pm. Really looking forward to this one. Buy Tickets

2:30pm Withered Hand
3:30pm Special Surprise Guest band
4:30pm The Oates Field
5:30pm Iona Marshall
6:30pm eagleowl
7:30pm Dan Haywoods New Hawks
8:30pm Over The Wall
9:30pm FOUND

Update: Apparently the GRV is not connected to the other closures and though it has closed the venue is due to open under another name (and presumably new owners) soon. Thanks to @nonimage for the info.

Not only have  I played live in The Forest myself (and had the microphone I stole off Mark E Smith stolen from me in the process – karma I guess) but I’ve seen some great gigs, especially upstairs – such as Retreat! 2009 and Major Matt Mason. I even saw a riotous Box Wars there, which I wrote about for The List, as pictured.

I’m not sure how much hope there is that it’s possible, but The Forest are asking people to donate so that they can buy the building. I’ve donated something, and maybe you should too. Even if you think the place is just a dive bar full of hippies, you have to realise that this is the kind of venue where real underground talent can flourish, and one of Edinburgh’s finest acts Withered Hand swears by the place so that’s good enough for me.

Last night I took part in my first ever debate. I was honoured to be asked to speak by the University of St Andrews Debating Society, in support of the motion that Print is Dead.

Also supporting the proposition was Dr. Alistair Duff, Senior Lecturer and Reader in Information and Journalism and Edinburgh Napier University, and Farhan Samanani, a student at the university who stepped in with a brilliant speech at the last minute to cover a late cancellation.

Against were Prof Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism and Media Studies and director of the Journalism Programme at the University of Witwatersand, Johannesburg, Dr Malcolm Walsby, Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews and a specialist in the history of the book, and Michael Skapinsker, Assistant Editor of the Financial Times.

The debate took place in St. Andrew’s historic Lower Parliament Hall, so called because the Scottish Parliament met there in 1645 as it was a safe haven from the plague that was sweeping Edinburgh at the time. It was amazing to be seated at the speaker’s table, sipping port with such esteemed company, and absolutely fascinating to hear the arguments on both sides of the motion. It was also great to meet some of the students involved in the debating society who were really friendly and interesting to chat to. It was also great to see such a good turn-out and interest and enthusiasm in the audience.

And I think it’s fair to say that we lost horribly. Despite Dr Duff asking for a show of hands and proving that the majority of students present did not buy a newspaper that morning, the vast majority rejected the motion. As far as print goes, it seems there’s life in the old dog yet!

Having said that, no-one there could deny that things have changed irrevocably when it comes to our reading habits, and I still stand by my argument that we increasingly expect to be able to access information from all over the world in an instant and for that information to be personalised – and we can only do this digitally.  I’ll be posting a short summary of my speech and a few other thoughts on the subject here soon.