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Matthew’s Thoughts on the Coming Year
This is just a brief list of some stuff I’m looking forward to in the Edinburgh music scene over the coming year. I don’t intend to be parochial about this, or too narrow, but I am not as close to the precise ins and outs of what’s happening in the rest of the country so […]
Matthew Young
January 9, 2010
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Withered Hand (and Charity) Win at Christmas
Dan Willson is a clever fucker, really he is. I always think indie Christmas music fails somewhat, primarily because all the pain and unhappiness which I tend to like in music clashes with what tiny of fragment of Christmas spirit may still survive within me.
Matthew Young
December 19, 2009
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Sparrow and the Workshop – ‘Into the Wild’ Reviewed
Once again with bands who are my personal friends I find myself getting the criticisms out of the way early. In this case it is that I have seen pretty much all of these songs performed live, and one or two don’t quite retain that zip in their recorded form. Maybe I just have to […]
Matthew Young
December 12, 2009
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The Sea is Salt – Reviewed
This is the second of my introductions to other projects by people in Song, by Toad Records bands. Nightjar’s The Moth Trap, Toad Records’ first full release, was the work primarily of Andy McKay of the now sadly deceased Celebrity Chimp, and an Edinburgh gentleman by the name of Jack Richold. Nightjar itself was just […]
Matthew Young
November 28, 2009
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The Douglas Firs – Reviewed
This Saturday and next, I’m going to introduce you to a couple of under the radar projects which are both related to Song, by Toad Records bands. In both cases I don’t really know what the future of the respective projects might be, because I don’t know how far either is going to be pushed, […]
Matthew Young
November 21, 2009
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The [Future] King of Scotland – ‘The Complicated Honest Truth’ Reviewed
This record has sort of dropped into my lap out of nowhere, and I’ve spent a long time listening to it before writing this review. It has a somewhat sprawling feel, despite being only three-quarters of an hour long, but that’s because it’s composed of twenty-one snippets of ideas, sprinkled through with digressions and interludes, […]
Matthew Young
October 31, 2009
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Kid Canaveral – ‘Left & Right EP’ Reviewed
Certain bands make very difficult things look very easy. One of the hardest and most elusive things in music is on the face of it pretty straightforward: write memorable tunes. It seems simple enough, but I’ve lost count of the number of faceless, unremarkable indie bands I’ve heard in the last few years who all […]
Matthew Young
October 17, 2009
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X Lion Tamer – ‘Neon Hearts EP’ Reviewed
There really is no better way to describe X Lion Tamer than in Tony’s own words: “Sounds like the ending credits of low budget 80s teen movies – played on your mate’s Amiga.”
Matthew Young
October 10, 2009
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Money Can’t Buy Music – ‘The Universe for Beginners’ Reviewed
I was fascinated to hear this record, an electronic spoken-word collaboration between Ballboy’s Gordon MacIntyre and Maja Mångård, (who is Swedish, and might just be his wife, but I’m not certain) but I would say that it is really only partially successful. Some of it really is good, and some just doesn’t quite click for […]
Matthew Young
October 3, 2009
