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

It really does feel strange posting an entire unreleased album by an artist on this blog as I’m usually pretty respectful about copyright and don’t post much that I don’t have prior permission (or at least implied permission) for. But this may be a new era of artist-authorised bootlegging, if Mr Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote has his way.

Because each version of this album that is recorded is completely unique, and certainly in the case of this recording, which comes to you via an old dictaphone of mine, far from perfect, it seems his aim is to create a buzz about this collection of songs without taking away from the official version, whenever that may be released (he’s hinted it may be the final ever KC album so let’s hope it’s not too soon).

Anyway have a listen if you wish – there will surely be versions out there with better sound quality, but you can still get an idea of how good the songs are, and also of what a great experience it was to sit and watch this being recorded from start to finish. In between the tracks are some strange sounds, which were in fact some interesting little video vignettes which announced each song. Also we were sat right at the front by the drums and bass, so KC’s vocal is a little quieter than you would wish.

This was in fact Mel’s recording, as I was recording it with the free iTalk app on my iPhone – that version would be substantially better sound quality but unfortunately it over-modulates quite a lot so I went for the dictaphone version. 

King Creosote’s 8th Bit of Strange in 14 Years – Side 1

King Creosote’s 8th Bit of Strange in 14 Years – Side 2

 Download zip file 

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other KC tunes on the album are the sprightly ‘Your Psycho Boyfriend’, and the more mournful ‘All I Ask’ and ‘Well Done’. Then we get some extremely lo-fi action from Mr Hand himself, with Panda Eyes, before No Cigarettes kicks in, and what an awesome version it is. 

Next we get Takeaway Food from the Religious Songs EP, a wee instrumental number and then three more KC tunes: ‘Only This Exam’, a demo version of Rims in which those DISGUSTING chorus lyrics are much more audible than on the album version, and ‘I Fall At the Last Hurdle’.

Oh and the last song will remain a secret because I’ve got the feeling KC would prefer it that way.. but I will tell you, it’s a lovely wee collection of songs by two of my favourite songwriters.

 So seeing as I’m trying to be as productive as possible as part of this whole ’100 Days to Get My Shit Together’ thing (no I hadn’t forgotten about it!) I thought it was about time I brought the podcasts back.

This first, rather hurried one is mainly here to promote the Ten Tracks bundle and issue 1 of the zine, so apologies to those of you who’ll be sick of my constant self-promotion, but I hope the choice of some BLOODY BRILLIANT tracks is enough to make up for it. And hopefully future podcasts will have a bit more structure to them and a bit more production polish – this was recorded live with no preparation so imagine what it could be like with a little forward planning! (and apologies for over modulation and varying sound levels in places..)

Tracklisting:

1. My Latest Novel – The Greatest Shakedown

2. King Creosote – No Cigarettes (written by Withered Hand)

3. Musée Mécanique – Like Home

4. David Tattersall (of The Wave Pictures) – Happy For a While

5. Paper Planes – Doris Day

6.  Broken Social Scene - Anthem for a 17 Year Old Girl

p.s. I’m delighted to report that there’s a wee interview with me on Peenko’s blog, which was just voted top music site in the ScotBlogs Awards.

It’s the first in his new ‘Community Service’ series about people who are active in the Scottish music scene, and he asked me some very good questions about the motivations behind this blog and putting out a fanzine which took quite a lot of thought to answer.

Personally I reckon his original title ‘Care in the Community’ might be more appropriate in my case!

I missed the impromptu set by The Three Craws at Homegame earlier this year, so I was delighted when my friends Iain and Aileen, who live in Aberdour, got Mel and I tickets to go see them at the Aberdour Festival.

As it turned out, we were already heading to Fife that weekend to visit my mum and her partner, who were renting a little holiday house in Lower Largo, so we were able to head to Aberdour on the way back and catch the set.

In case you’re not aware, the Three Craws are James Yorkston (James Yorkston), King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) and the Pictish Trail (Johnny Lynch). Now individually these are three of my favourite songwriters/performers, so to see them all together at the same time was a joy.

They played a wide variety of stuff – at the beginning they took turns to play one of their own songs but they soon went off into what was obviously an improvised set of great folk songs and tracks by their friends including by Kenny’s brother Gordon, who has recorded so many great songs under the name of The Lone Pigeon and with the Aliens and the Beta Band. The highlight for me though was an absolutely storming version of Adrian Crowley‘s Walk-On Part.

I have to admit I didn’t know this song previously but on my return I immediately bought his album Long Distance Swimmer so I could listen to it on repeat whilst furiously knitting my brow and wringing my hands at the pointless absurdity of life, drinking whisky and smoking crack (er ok, whilst having a nice cup of tea).

What’s so great about the Three Craws, in addition to the silly banter and improvised nonsense, is their harmonies. Their voices complement each other so perfectly it was stunning to hear.

So, yes – I couldn’t resist making another wee video. I hope the Craws don’t mind me including some personal footage of my visit to Fife with clips from their performance – and I suppose this is a bit of a companion piece to my Homegame video seeing as I missed them at that. I have to admit, and this is coming from an avowed city lubber, I think I’m starting to fall in love with Fife a little bit. Hope you enjoy it.

Vimeo:

YouTube:

 At the beginning of the video James Yorkston is referring to a gift he was given of a crocheted tortoise, hare and fox – go the fence forums to get a closer look..

If you’re lucky enough to be heading to the Green Man festival this year in Wales, you’ll see the Three Craws there, along with various other Fence Collective peeps.

Also worth checking out are these live acoustic performances by King Creosote in Hyde Park for the website www.bandstandbusking.com especially if you want to find out what the actual words to ‘Rims’ are… hint: it’s not “let me remind you that you had a menu”

Yes I have finally experienced the Fence Homegame in Anstruther and it was well worth the wait. The above video diary shows a few of the bands we saw, a lot of which have already featured on the podcasts. I only had very limited space on my wee digital camera so didn’t manage to capture everything, e.g.Viking Moses leading us in a mass singalong of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Lover Lover Lover’, Pictish Trail doing a lovely cover of Hot Chip’s Boy From School, James Yorkston doing a great live version of ‘Woozy with Cider’ and numerous other perfect moments.

In fact, because so much was going on simultaneously in different venues, we totally missed loads of special events like the Three Craws (the hall was full by the time we got there), Ichi who many said was their highlight, any other secret shows that I didn’t have a ticket for like James Yorkston doing Daniel Johnston covers.. the list goes on. I have to say I would be gutted to miss those things if I didn’t have such an amazing time at the things I did go to. 

I can see now that Fence is all about the Homegame experience, and the rest of the year I will be just biding time for the next one – it has to be the friendliest, most laid back festival I’ve been to. But it looks likely that next year’s event will be a smaller one, so good luck getting tickets if you fancy going…

Kenny Anderson is never going to make the album people expect him to make and this is no exception. After a low-key album release on Fence (Flock Like Vulcans..) which was only available at gigs or via their website, he’s joined pal James Yorkston by signing to the excellent Domino Records for the follow-up proper to Bombshell. And on the suitably titled Flick the V’s the music speaks for itself – it’s much looser and more experimental, and perhaps the feeling of having nothing to lose has led to his lyrics being much more honest and open. This album sees a snarl added to those dulcet tones, and frequent bad language spells out the fact that Anderson has got a few things to be pissed off about. But its also an album that will make any KC fans very happy indeed, for it features a handful of his very best songs.

Opening track No-One Had it Better is a hypnotic, vocoder-laden fuck-you to anyone accusing him of selling out. It suggests that anything is possible with this album, and not to expect anything conventional. It’s a warning which is actually quite misleading as this is probably the most challenging track here, but it does set the tone nicely for the variation of musical styles to follow.

It’s ironic that first single Coast By Coast, written in collaboration with the Beta Band’s Steve Mason, ostensibly a rather grumpy declaration of his uneasy retreat to Anstruther following thwarted ambitions in the music biz, is the most perfect pop song Kenny Anderson has come up with yet. It’s got a huge glitter band style drumbeat and a chorus that kicks the arse of pretty much everything else ever. It’s so immediate, you’ll be singing along the very first time you hear it. And it isn’t really grumpy at all, as KC expresses a dawning satisfaction with his position in the greater scheme of things. Hey, having an army of devoted fans can’t be a bad thing.

The other central track on the album, Camels Swapped For Wives, is one of his most personal songs by far, broaching the difficult subject of “the effects of mental illness on the whole family” as he puts it himself. The background to this has already been well documented and anyone who’s aware of it will realise just how direct and honest the lyrics are, not to mention heartbreakingly sad. So much so, that it’s a brave decision to actually release it – but thankfully he did as it’s up there with his best, and it ends on an amazingly uplifting coda that has the same shiver-down-the-spine effect as Dry The Rain.

Ok so there’s the odd unnecessary electro wig-out thrown in but that merely shows Anderson is relaxed and enjoying making music again – the backing music is varied and ambitious. Rims is a happy cross country road trip. KC gets the Earlies back on board for the slightly cruel No Way She Exists. Nothing Rings True is anything but “shit” though you can hear Anderson muttering that word to himself right at the beginning (a nice touch) In fact it’s got some of the nicest guitar-work on the album and lots of atmospheric background touches. Curtain Craft sees Kenny wiping a tear from his eye after the break up of a relationship and flicking the V’s at the nosy neighbours, and I defy anyone not to relate to it’s lyrics – and closer Saw Circular Prowess is his nod (stylistically) to Morrissey’s Teachers Are Afraid of The Pupils.  Rather than placating the mainstream, Kenny Anderson’s follow up proper to Bombshell (after the low key ‘Flock Like Vulcans..’) is full of ambitious instrumentation and arrangements that allow his songs more room to maneouvre, and I’ve not stopped playing it since I got it. 

A shorter version of this review appeared in this month’s Skinny magazine. 

Related links:

King Creosote on the Homegame Festival

Scotsman interview with King Creosote

The Pictish Trail Song by Toad Session

King Creosote – photo by Callum Gordon

Good news all round – King Creosote has joined his mate James Yorkston on Domino Records, a perfect home for him as they’ll be able to give his music a much bigger push than he’d be able to do with his own wee label Fence Records (though it is of course a superb label!).

To celebrate, Domino are giving away a track from his new album if you sign up to their website – see llnk below.

His last album proper Bombshell is one of my favourites of the last couple of years and this track, called Rims, bodes well for the new one. It features the usual woozy seaside accordion, banjos and gorgeous harmonies along with suprisingly fast beats, all intermingled with subtle electronica – and an amusing sample near the end.

His new album, Flick the Vs, comes out on 20th April 2009, directly after this year’s Fence Homegame festival in Anstruther, which I am very very excited about indeed.

» Download Exclusive Free MP3 from the album

Amazing how someone with a voice as stunning as HMS Ginafore could lack faith in their abilities. However, Ginafore – real name Jenny Gordon – is infamously reluctant to perform live despite collaborating with most of the Fence collective at some time or another.

Better late than never though, as Ginafore has one of the loveliest female voices to come out of Scotland in recent years. Her songwriting also stands up well beside new tracks by Creosote, and musically it’s all held together by slick production that’s equal parts electro sheen and shimmering banjos and guitars – lending a sunny, dreamy vibe to what is pretty much the perfect partnership. But don’t expect any I Got You Babe moments – this is a joint offering of individual tracks from both artists rather than an all for one collaboration, despite the sexy shenanigans suggested by the 70s style cover art.

Published in the November issue of The Skinny Magazine

 www.fencerecords.com

The second part of a two-part special on Scotland’s Fence Collective.

1. King Creosote – Don’t Ask Me How My Weekend Went 
2. King Creosote – Houston Tharoule 
3. Rozi Plain – Stolen Shark 
4. The Pictish Trail – Into the Smoke 
5. Rozi Plain – Roof Rook Crook Crow 
6. King Creosote – On Esther’s Planet

www.fencerecords.com

illustration by Leigh Pearson http://thunderheart.co.uk

Read the accompanying column in the October issue of The Skinny