Scotland will be banned from using the pound the pandas could be taken away… What!?

In light of MPs in Westminster and newspapers down south coming up with plenty of reasons for Scotland to remain in the UK, or for England to keep us, here’s some of them and why they are bullshit (mostly).

Beginning with a story The Mirror published detailing that we will be banned from using the pound and shockingly will loose our two very popular pandas currently unaware relaxing in Edinburgh Zoo. Okay, we will  be able to keep the pound because sterling can be used all over the world, never mind just in the UK. The pandas will also be safe as they were a gift to Edinburgh Zoo not the UK, this was just The Mirror clutching at Straws and trying to wind us up – nice try.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said that Scotland would have to spend billions on moving Trident nuclear weapons out of Scotland. Another scare tactic that is wrong, Scotland never asked for nuclear weapons to be house here in the first place, we simply send them back to England on a convoy.

Perhaps the biggest problem that we all know about is the massive debt Scotland will take on. The Daily Mail has decided that Scotland will have £140bn worth of debt to pay off. Coming up with this enormous figure by handing Scotland 10% of the UK wide debt which is £1.4 trillion (holy shit). Think of it this way The Herald says: “So, if Scotland is in the red, England would be even redder –  and Scotland at least has the oil.” In the end though the UK is in it together, forgetting Scotland’s potential independence.

Chancellor George Osborne has suggested that Scotland could face not being allowed to join the European Union – WRONG!! Almost as stupid as the panda situation, Scotland would remain in the EU because we are already  in the EU and follow EU Law.

Another thing to think about is what will happen to the banks if there is a split? Well Scotland looks in not too bad shape in that front, considering that two of England’s biggest banks RBS and HBOS are both based in Edinburgh. England could try break up these banks in Scotland out of spite, but would not dare as England, as well as Scotland’s, borrowing would increase significantly. They would pretty much be committing financial suicide, even though the banks are already in the shit, and perhaps leading to them loosing there already unsteady AAA credit and all its perks and respect that comes with it.

The Herald, Iain Macwhirther found some good irony in the popularity of the independence in Scotland and not so much in England. In the 1999 Scottish Parliamentery election, “when all the Scottish media seemed to gang up on the SNP at once. These arguments mostly date from then, even if the UK press has only discovered them. But, ask yourself: who got the last laugh?”.

Z.

Black Sabbath are to reunite to produce their first studio album since, yes thats right 1978. They hard rock legends will apparently  support this release with a huge 2012 tour.

The group surprinsly held a press conference today and released the news that they will be headlining Download Festival in Donington Park next year!

Z

Wake the President

An improvement from their first album You Can’t Change that boy in 2009, Wake the President have taken a more harder, mature approach to the way they wrote their new album Zumutung!

 Twin brothers hailing from Glasgow Erik and Bjorn Sandberg have reached a new level of emotional depth, taking them away from the stereotype of being a typical Indie-Pop band. Starting off the album shows-off the bands talent for creating bouncy melodies and catchy lyrics, but as you listen on the album takes a darker turn. ‘E.T’ has an infectious and slightly sinister style, showcasing more of the group’s talent. An insight to what they might produce in the future?

Z

Blochestra

Bar Bloc has became well known in the Central Belt of recent for many music related experiences; free gigs every night, the Detour lads (Ally McCrae and David Weaver) are based there and Bloc Jam, one of Glasgow’s best open mic nights. Not to mention the friendly staff, great environment to sit-in and the new menu.

 In May last year Blochestra was introduced by Louis Abbot and Craig Grant. The idea of this ever-evolving orchestra of people is to turn the conventional music experience on its head. Anyone that has and can play an instrument can come along and join this interesting orchestra, the more diverse the instrument the better it seems.

First that is apparent is the very relaxed, soothing atmosphere. Due to the lack of audience to begin with, luckily it soon picks up. 18 people cramped into a section of the bar all tuning different instruments not like a formal orchestra, but this isn’t your everyday orchestra. At the helm tonight is Louis who regularly cracks jokes or sarcastic comments and at one point has to run off and get his bass guitar, which was found “in the deepest darkest corner of Bloc”…prime example.

After a run-over of the night and near future plans for the band from Louis. A warm-up began which originated as a simple drum beat and guitar riff, before the rest of the group thundered in with trumpet, flute and cello hammering away.

To my delight the first track to be played was a cover of Foals What Remains, not before a short lesson/guidance from the group to the two new recruits on the night, quite a “Foal-sy style intro” is one example of the ‘mentoring’. The result was a very impressive cover, a great song for Blochestra to give a go due to the original involving trumpets, trombones and cellos.

The next track performed was a nice cover of, former Bon Iver drummer, S Carey’s Into the Dirt. Involving an intro of clapping, which was hard to resist joining in with, some lovely harmonising rounded of a nice cover. After that was a punchy cover of Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher which received a smattering of applause.

The 4^th song to be played was a cover of Radiohead’s Letdown, its meaningful vocals and dense sound went down well.

What was next to be performed was the highlight of the night for me, a fantastic cover of Queens of the Stone Age make it wit chu. Sounding almost identical to the original, not a bad thing at all though. Looking around the bar there was not a motionless foot in the house. Due to the catchy drum beat and backing vocals from numerous members of the orchestra.

We were in for another treat with the next tune, a stripped back cover of Bon Iver’s For Emma. A lovely clap around the bar turned into a joint backing track, hums of ‘didada, didada, didada’ echoed round the venue before the lyrics come in with guitars and trumpets helping out. Almost impossible not to join in with, was a lovely few moments.

The night was rounded of with a brilliant performance of Sufjan Stevens Chicago. This tune showed of all elements of the orchestra with piano, trumpet, violin and more harmonising to great effect.

All in all, Blochestra is a very fascinating and enjoyable show and is a must see in my book. Blochestra are performing a Christmas special on the 12^th December with all your favourite Xmas songs being played in the most interesting ways. Go along its free and you can join in if you like.

Z

Ally McCrae is the co-creator of Glasgow based Detour Scotland. They podcast and promote unsigned artists, showing off the best musical talent in Scotland, with live events and their own audio and video online broadcast.

McCrae graduated from Stirling University in 2009. He and David Weaver, the other co-creator, managed the university’s student radio station, where they had a different live band playing every week. McCrae has just recently started a job at Radio 1, taking over the Introducing Scotland show from radio legend Vic Galloway.

“You need to do something that stands out, and that helps the band,” McCrae said. This is Detour’s main priority since they began in November 2009, to get behind unsigned bands in Scotland and promote them in their own special ways. An example of this is the ‘Kidnap’, where they take a band in a blacked out van to an unknown location and let them perform there, filming it professionally. These locations include under the Forth Rail Bridge, the Scottish Borders and up in the Science Centre’s revolving tower.  The kidnap was the brainchild of McCrae and Weaver, “just sitting about going, what can we do that’s mental”, McCrae laughingly states.

Another example is the ‘Wee Jaunt’ where they take 50-100 invited guests on a trip around the city to see artists playing in elaborate places, such as Rouken Glen Park, shops, in bars and pubs and even toilets of music venues. They also host free Live Nights in Bar Bloc, Detours unofficial home in the centre of Glasgow, where manager Crag Carrack has been “instrumental” in letting Detour grow and give them the “scope to do whatever they want”.

When asked how he overcame the obstacles they came up against to get Detour established, McCrae simply answered “a lot of favors”. Even though no money changes hands between the bands, venues and themselves, Detour always “make sure the bands are getting something out of it”. People will remember a band if they have played in strange places like under the Forth Rail Bridge.

McCrae  mentions throughout our conversation the voluntary help they get from friends, people that want to get involved and the venues, which let bands use them for free. McCrae says it’s been “unbelievable” the quality and amount of input they have been getting from people behind the scenes that have camera and sound engineering skills.

The driving passion behind the two guys ideas is a burning principle for artistic freedom. “There’s no way we would let any of our bands be tampered with by a sponsor,” McCrae said. Clearly, the right to independent expression is what they both really care

Co-creaters David Weaver and Ally McCrae

about.

When asked what the future holds for Detour, McCrea answers excitdly, “The future is the most bonkers thing about it!”. Detour has grown so rapidly in the Scottish music scene thanks to the off-beat style in which they promote music. They know that there are many great websites and blogs that put bands forward and that they had to think of obscure and better ways to get noticed. McCrea and Weaver don’t know what direction to take…when I mentioned the possibility of a tour there was just a wry grin. McCrea begins to talk about how they may start to look at “helping people get into the music industry through this strange path we’ve created”.

McCrae and Weaver seem like two very driven people. They come up with very original ideas to get unsigned bands in the limelight and one way or  another accomplish these goals, with the help of many friends. “The idea is to expose Scottish music”, McCrea elaborates again.

“If you’ve got an idea, go for it, it might not work, but it might”.

Detour have just finished a trip to SXSW and have some really good footage on their site up now aswell as their own awesome kidnaps, wee jaunts, podcasts and much more crazy shit.

Detour Scotland

Z.

Indian Red Lopez

We’re just 5 lads from Aberdeenshire and one from the arse end of nowhere, who’ve come together to make music and art,  put it all together and present it as an all-round audio/visual experience.

Meet Indian Red Lopez, an electro rock group who are one of the brightest prospects around at this time. Their debut EP, last years ‘Castles Incomplete’ is without doubt one of the most exciting debut EP’s i’ve ever heard.

What i find so impressive from these lads is how original their material sounds, despite these two genres being applied together many times before.

I haven’t been able to catch them live yet but from what i’ve heard, visuals is a huge aspect to their live performance. That together with their beats, electronics and heavy guitar, has me itching to see them.

Indian Red Lopez

Fatherson

Fatherson are a three piece alternative rock band that grew up in Kilmarnock, but are now based in Glasgow. Having released two very impressive EPs under the name ‘Energy!’, they have following many changes of the name behind the scenes decided to go with ‘Fatherson’.

Now, kilmarnock/Glasgow has been a goldmine in recent years for rock bands. Biffy, Frightened Rabbit, Twin Atlantic to name a few so its no surprise that heres another one showing up for the ride. But, what these lads have, being 18/19, on their side is youth. In abundance!

The two EPs that they have released have been  very impressive, so clear and honest in sound and lyric. The songs make them out to be much more mature than they appear. Their debut EP, ‘The Princess and the Frog’, was pretty good for a first go but its obvious that their new to this. It definitely showed potential.

Second EP ‘Where the Water Meets the Land’ is a solid record, and has in turn gotten the boys a bit of a following. packing out the legendary King Tuts twice! and supporting bands like Feeder, Twin Atlantic and Idlewild.

If what they have done already is anything to go by, Fatherson are definitely going to be something to watch out for in the future

Fatherson on Myspace

Z

Artificial Life from a Digital Sea

Summers gone, the days are shorter, yeh its winter. This is about the time of year, especially the past couple, that i would be reaching for my Bon Iver masterpiece of a winter album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. Well not this time, folk band ‘Loch Awe’ have produced a beautiful debut album which has kept my ipod off shuffle whilst travelling in morning and whilst dozing at night. The trio hail from Edinburgh meeting each other at the University in late 2009, not starting work however on ‘Artificial Life from a Digital Sea’ until mid 2010.

This 7 track album was recorded in a matter  weeks in a flat in the centre of  Edinburgh, it has this awesome raw sound thats give you a sense of them being in the room with you – i love that. Male/female singing combo with beautiful lyrics and lovely use of insrtuments, such as ukelele, concertina and glockenspiel.

long story short, this album will warm up your winter, i cant really tell what why i love this album so much i just find it so compelling.

Oh yeah its a FREE download also, so no excuses now people. Get it!!

Get your free download here – http://lochawe.bandcamp.com/

Breakage

I havent posted anything up for ages, i’m not counting that story about the transfer deadline day because it was for college and it is sooo shit an boring and had nothing about music on it.

So!, this is as Zane Lowe put it ” the remix of the year” after playing it THREE times in a row during his show which is just completely unheard off.

It’s by Breakage, who is a great dubstep producer, but really has torn the sky down with this sick remix. Now Clare Maguire is a great artist and the original is a really good song,  but this Breakage  remix has jus destroyed it with a killer beat which is slow but heavy as hell.

My advice to you: Put your speakers up as loud as feking possible and just play it over and over and over. It will not get old, just better!

Check it out here!

Z.

check out the video..

Avoid the Morning

‘Avoid The Morning’ are a great four piece based in Aberdeen, just another one of the strong acts coming through in the Scottish music scene. They have recently released a four track EP called “Things don’t always have to make sense”. Its a great start for them, they have a really good sound, with strong riffs and piercing vocals.

Going on a Scottish tour starting the 12th of Feb, performing in Aberdeen, Inverurie, Dundee and Glasgow with the likes of MexicoFallz and Gap Year Riot. Look out for these lads making a bit of an impact on the Scottish music scene in 2010.

http://www.myspace.com/avoidthemorning

The video really is great and the song is pretty damn good also.

check  it…

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The Band are at the moment in Europe and are heading to America, with the first show in New York on the 11th of February (My B-day).

Hears their first single  ’Quiet Little Voices’, its a bit of an anthem in my opinion.

cyaaaa

Pareto Live

Pareto are a fairly new group starting to make a name for themselves in the Scottish music scene. They are an unsigned band from Glasgow. I say fairly new, they formed in march this year so…Yeah pretty new. They got asked to play their first gig before they even had a chance to practice together, at King Tuts in Glasgow. It must have gone pretty well with them playing – not long after – alongside acts such as Attack! Attack! and People on Planes.

They released their first single on a limited edition disc and downloading on major music sites. The two tracks on it are called ‘This is where I draw the line’ and ‘The fireworks where short lived’. I got it and I think its really impressive, I think we might be hearing a lot more of these guys in 2010. You can hear loads of influences from them, such as good old Biffy Clyro , Idlewild and loads of other indie/Alternative bands.(cba listing them all)

I might be able to have the pleasure of interviewing these three guys in early 2010, so hopefully I can get a better idea of them after I get to have a good chat with them.

Anyway’s I am defo tipping these guys to make a but of a splash in 2010, certainly up here in Glasgow at the least.

http://www.myspace.com/paretomusic

It seems like whatever goes into these guys studio seems comes out better off like Plan B, Jay Z and kano to name a few. ‘Death’ from White Lies Debut  album – Too Lose My Life… – has been remastered amazingly by the duo, it has such warm beats to it and its just a really solid Dub Step remix. A real honour, I think, for White Lies to have one of their tracks remixed by such well respected producers. Listen.

2. Florence and the Machine – You got the Love (XX  Remix)

Two Artist who had a massive 2009 coming together making great music. The credit for this fantastic re-working goes to Jamie Smith, the man behind the beats in The XX really, hats off to him. When I say re-working I really mean it, its like they just took a sample of Florence’s vocals and then made a whole new song around it with a sick beat to it, and of course the back and forth singing combo of  Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim. Great Tune. Listen.

1. La Roux – In For The Kill (Skream lets get Ravey Remix)

I’m not the biggest fan of La Roux – or her hair, but Skream’s remix of this track is great. Simple changes have been made to it; with it being slowed, some more samples and a fucking good beat. But these small changes make such a difference. Skream is a really talented dubstep artist, this shows through in abundance in this remix. without a shadow of doubt this is one of the highlights of 2009′s music. And defo my number one remix of 2009. Listen.