• Bjork com Guomundar Ingolfssonar Trio – Litli Tonlistarmadurinn,
• Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros – All In A Day,
• Frank Black – White noise maker,
• Edwyn Collins – A girl like you,
• Galaxie 500 – Strange,
• The Glove – Looking Glass Girl,
• Royksopp – What else is there,
• Empire of the Sun – We are the people,
• Space com Cerys Matthews – The Ballad of Tom Jones,
• Itamar Assumpção com Tetê Espíndola – Adeus Pantanal,
• Pizzicato Five – Sweet Soul Revue,
• Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought the law,
• Emmanuel Jal com Abdel Gadir Sali – Blood Diamond.

The stupid title is due to the slight similarity to that big hit Edwyn Collins had. This is the first time in ages I’ve actually played the drums – using MIDI, I’ve no room for a real kit – and it makes such a difference to the feel of the track I’m going to have to do it every time from now on.

A new work-in-progress from Spookydirt – The stupid title is due to the slight similarity to that big hit Edwyn Collins had. This is the first time in ages I’ve actually played the drums – using MIDI, I’ve no room for a real kit – and it makes such a difference to the feel of the track I’m going to have to do it every time from now on.

i rarely find remixes that surpass it’s original

edwyn collins – A Girl Like You (Macrame remix by Youth)

-bv-

LCEN,  DADVSI, HADOPI, HADOPI2, toutes ces lois promulguées en France comme leurs équivalent dans le monde entier , soit disant ,en faveur exclusive des “Auteurs” , l’ont été en réalité qu’en faveur des majors qui ne sont qu’exceptionnellement  les proprietaires de ces fameux droits mais qui grâce a leurs contrats toujours défavorables aux artistes,  en sont souvent les bénéficiaires quasi exclusif.

En plus de ne pas respecter les artistes dans l’équilibre du contrat qui les lient, ils ne respectent pas non plus leur engagements contractuels quand ils ne sont pas en leur faveurs…

3 exemples internationaux  frappant et très différents qui montrent  l’engagement à  géométrie variable des multinationales du disque de faire respecter les lois en générale (selon si c’est en leur faveur ou non), mais surtout  la mansuétude et l’égard qu’ont ces même majors pour les artistes et la Création Artistique qu’ils veulent “a tout prix défendre” (c’est en tout cas ce que ne cesse de répéter les mass-médias à l’unisson grâce a un plan comm bien ficelé…).

1/ Au Mexique,

Sony bmg  n’as pas voulu, malgré les injonctions répété du juge  appliquer le droit des contrats concernant un de ses ex artiste star El Potrillo :

“La police a en effet récupéré près de 6000 CD que Sony refusait de rendre à l’artiste alors que son contrat avec la maison de disque est pourtant arrivé à échéance.
Prévu pour 7 albums, ce dernier a signé depuis avec Universal Music, mais Sony ne s’est pour autant pas privé de poursuivre l’exploitation des disques, photos et vidéos durant cette période, sans contrat aucun.
En l’occurrence, un album contenant des titres inédits a été lancé, sans l’accord du chanteur, qui fit alors intervenir son avocat. Mais Sony n’a pas tendu l’oreille à l’appel.
Bilan des courses, le recours à l’intervention policière fut inévitable. Sous couvert de lutter contre le piratage du disque, la police de Mexico a perquisitionné le bureau du label et récupéré le dû de l’artiste. Sony supposait qu’ils pouvaient vendre ces titres alors qu’ils n’appartenaient pas aux précédents albums et les diffuser comme un huitième album, comme si c’étaient des titres sur lesquels ils disposaient des droits.”

citation : PC INPACT

source : http://www.lemonde.fr/

2/  Aux USA,

Ben Jordan (aka The Flashbulb, un des pionnier de l’IDM), s’est rendu compte que iTunes vendaient ses propres morceaux parus sur un label aillant fait faillite (Sublight Records fermé en juin 2007), et que du coup Apple  ne reversait rien à personne comme droit d’auteur. Pour se faire entendre il a d’une part porter plainte contre Apple pour piratage et non respect de la propriété intellectuelle et d’autre par il a tout simplement mis a disposition les morceaux en questions sur plusieurs gros tracker de torrent et sur limewire accompagné d’un texte (.nfo) expliquant ses motivations et sa vision  de l’industrie musicale…. a lire absolument

sources :

numerama.com (dont la traduction du texte de Ben Jordan sur l’industrie du disque)

rlslog.net (en anglais)

3/ Au Royaume-Unis,
“Un artiste, anciennement sous contrat avec Warner Music, a souhaité mettre en ligne sur son MySpace un de ces plus fameux titres qui avait connu un petit succès au début des années 90. Or, en découvrant la diffusion du morceau sans contrepartie financière, la major a contacté MySpace pour lui demander de retirer le titre en question”. Le hic dans cette affaire c’est tous simplement que tous les contrats passés entre l’artiste et l’industrie musicale ont expiré depuis longtemps et que seul l’artiste a donc les droits d’auteur sur sa musique ( a l’exception peut être des droits voisin lié aux enregistrement eux même mais qui n’autorise pas non plus warner a vendre ces créations)

“Pire encore, malgré l’expiration des différentes licences d’exploitation, plusieurs labels sont toujours en train de vendre – illégalement – les morceaux d’Edwyn Collins. En clair, différentes sociétés réalisent des profits en piratant sa musique des années après la fin des contrats liant le chanteur”

Citations : numerama.com

source :  guardian.co.uk (en anglais)

Il existe des dizaines d’autres exemples dans tout les pays du monde montrant a quel points les droits d’auteurs ne sont pas respecter par ceux qui s’autoproclame comme leurs unique défendeurs dans ce monde “décadent” !!!

Sauf que la seule décadence c’est celle de l’industrie du support physique alors qu’il n’y a jamais eu autant d’offre et de création musicale disponible que depuis qu’internet existe… Ils essayent,avec l’appui de lois taillées  sur mesure grâce a leur lobbying forcené, de sauver une industrie basé sur la fabrication et la distribution du support physique qui n’as plus  de raison d’être et encore moins de légitimité que ce soit en terme de qualité ou de choix…

quelques liens intéressants pour aller s’informer :

Le suicide professionnel d’un musicien de l’industrie du Disque. (A lire)

bcommeboxsons.com ” L’industrie musicale: la musique, le fric et les gens autour”

numerama.com

Ceux qui télécharge le plus sont ceux qui achète le plus de musique selon un sondage (a lire en anglais)

En av de intressantaste nyheterna den senaste veckan är den om att Nestlé beslutat att sluta köpa mjölk av diktaturen i Zimbabwe. Varför, kan man fråga sig, har detta de senaste årtiondenas konsekvent obehagliga livsmedelskonglomerat bestämt sig för att sluta göra avskyvärda affärer? Jo, för att det har skrivits så mycket om det i media, vilket har lett till “hård internationell kritik”. Varför ett företag som indirekt mördat barn i decennier (för att inte tala om hur de porrchockat oskyldigt, gudfruktigt folk, låtit barnarbetare bygga deras Daim och stoppat glas i barnmaten eller förgiftat deras mjölk, för att bara nämna några illustra exempel) plötsligt bekymrar sig över sin image är sannerligen en gåta.

Det här, och svårigheterna i att faktiskt försöka bojkotta ett företag som har hundra olika tentakler med olika namn, är något jag skulle vilja djupdyka ner i, men det är höst nu. Och med hösten en märklig känsla av att tiden liksom går mycket snabbare än under sommarhalvåret. Hur ska någon hinna med de stora frågorna efter att man har jobbat, sovit, skitit och kanske legat lite i farten när det är så, jag bara frågar.

Inte heller har jag tid att gotta mig i hur de, i sina “promotionkampanjer”, så moraliskt upphöjda musikbolagen (som jag buntar ihop dem som av ren lathet) själva har visat bättre än väntat på att bryta mot sina omhuldade lagar, att dryga mig över Texashålan som tyckte att det var alltför sataniskt att använda sig av uttryckt “hello” varför de per dekret övergick till det betydligt frommare “heaven-o” (jodå, det är tydligen ingen skröna), eller ens den skönaste skrönan av alla – den om den hemliga lesbiska byn i Norrland.

Lesbian wannabes?

Däremot har jag alltid tid över till att skicka min uppskattning till alla fans av dvärgar i badrum där ute. Yes, we’ve got ‘em!

Notera också att ingen har sökt på Gary Sundgren på två hela dagar! Jag är orolig!

Ich bin mir sicher, jeder kennt das unermüdlich vorgetragene Geschrei der (vor allem) großen Musikkonzerne wegen ach so böser Raubmorddownloader und Musikdiebe, und dass diese Kapitalverbrecher einzig und allein am Niedergang des Musikbusiness schuld sind. Und das Musiker durch dieses zahlungsunwillige Gesindel um ihren gerechten Lohn gebracht werden.

In den Chor derer, die diesen Behauptungen nicht ansatzweise zustimmen können, stimmt nun auch Grace Maxwell, Lebensgefährtin und Managerin von Edwyn Collins, ein. Und sie bringt eine Unsitte der Labels zur Sprache, die deren Barmen und Greinen doch gleich in einem ganz anderen Licht erscheinen lässt – nämlich dem der doppelzüngigen, widerwärtigen Verlogenheit, sind es doch die Labels, die Künstler richtig und ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken bescheißen.

Aber fangen wir doch von vorne an, genauer bei Edwyn Collins’ offizieller Myspace-Seite. Dort beschreibt Grace mit reichlich dickem Hals folgendes Erlebnis mit der ach so sehr um das Künstlerwohl besorgten Labelwelt:

At the beginning of this year I noticed that Edwyn’s myspace had gone bit wonky and I tried to upload the tracks back on to the music player. His most famous track, which he owns the copyright in, as he does for most of the music he’s recorded in his life (preferring to go it alone than have his music trapped “in perpetuity” to use the contract language of the major record company) is called A Girl Like You. It’s quite famous. Lo and behold, it would not upload, I was told Edwyn was attempting to breach a copyright and he was sent to the Orwellian myspace copyright re-education page. Quite chilling, actually. I naturally blew my stack and wrote to myspace on his behalf demanding to know who the hell was claiming copyright of Edwyn’s track? Which, incidentally, he always made freely available for download on myspace, something which amazed his followers. Eventually, after HUGE difficulty, I was told Warner Music Group were claiming it. I found a nice lawyer guy at Warners, very apologetic, promised to get it sorted, but all these months later it isn’t. That is because Myspace are not equipped to deal with the notion that anyone other than a major can claim a copyright. Warner’s were one of the lead petitioners in the attempt to put those three stoner lads in Sweden in prison recently, remember.

Das muss man sich mal auf der Zunge zergehen lassen… Edwyn Collins ist im Besitz der Urheberrechte für den größten Teil seiner Musik, inkl. seines größten Hits “A Girl Like You”, möchte diesen Hit zum freien Download anbieten, und Warner Music erfrecht sich in schamloser Dreistigkeit, das Copyright für sich zu beanspruchen und damit Profit zu machen. Ohne auch nur einen müden Cent dieses Profits an den Künstler weiterzugeben! Sie schreibt außerdem:

A Girl Like You is available FOR SALE all over the internet. Not by Edwyn, by all sorts of respectable major labels whose licence to sell it ran out years ago and who do not account to him. Attempting to make them cease and desist would use up the rest of my life. Because this is what they do and what they’ve always done. And it’s not just majors.

Das nenne ich echte kriminelle Energie, das nenne ich vorsätzlichen Betrug am Künstler – nur wo bleiben da die Forderungen nach harten, abschreckenden Strafen? Was? Gibt’s keine? War doch zu erwarten. Seit wann hacken Krähen sich gegenseitig die Augen aus…

Grace Maxwell hat für die Herrschaften der Musikkonzerne übrigens noch einen guten Tip parat:

The gig’s up. You might as well take a position about when you want the sun to come up in the morning. It’s over. Now let’s get on with working out a wonderful new way for music lovers to enjoy music for free or for a small subscription that makes it legal and easy to hear ANYTHING and allows the artist to reap the rewards of such freedom of access. Viva la revolucion!

.
Quellen:

• Edwyn Collin’s Myspace Blog
• The Guardian
• Techdirt
• NME
• Photo: Camden New Journal

.
Und wer “A Girl Like You”  nicht (mehr) im Ohr hat, kann das hier nachholen:

Edwyn Collins

You know it’s bad when an Indie Artist can’t stream is own song on Myspace due to the facts that “MySpace are not equipped to deal with the notion that anyone other than a major [label] can claim a copyright,”

(Quote from Edwyn Collins blog)

“I am Edwyn Colllins manager. Let me tell you a story. At the beginning of this year I noticed that Edwyn’s myspace had gone bit wonky and I tried to upload the tracks back on to the music player. His most famous track, which he owns the copyright in, as he does for most of the music he’s recorded in his life (preferring to go it alone than have his music trapped “in perpetuity” to use the contract language of the major record company) is called A Girl Like You. It’s quite famous. Lo and behold, it would not upload, I was told Edwyn was attempting to breach a copyright and he was sent to the Orwellian myspace copyright re-education page. Quite chilling, actually. I naturally blew my stack and wrote to myspace on his behalf demanding to know who the hell was claiming copyright of Edwyn’s track? Which, incidentally, he always made freely available for download on myspace, something which amazed his followers. Eventually, after HUGE difficulty, I was told Warner Music Group were claiming it. I found a nice lawyer guy at Warners, very apologetic, promised to get it sorted, but all these months later it isn’t. That is because Myspace are not equipped to deal with the notion that anyone other than a major can claim a copyright. Warner’s were one of the lead petitioners in the attempt to put those three stoner lads in Sweden in prison recently, remember. A Girl Like You is available FOR SALE all over the internet. Not by Edwyn, by all sorts of respectable major labels whose licence to sell it ran out years ago and who do not account to him. Attempting to make them cease and desist would use up the rest of my life. Because this is what they do and what they’ve always done. And it’s not just majors. If I had a fiver for all the dodgy indie labels we’ve been involved with I’d have £35 or thereabouts. (Exceptions: Heavenly and Domino). Andrew Loog Oldham said that getting ripped off (by the industry) was your entrance fee to the music business of the sixties, so get over it. He’s right and things have not changed. We are very over it, but nonetheless aware of who the biggest bootleggers around are. It’s not the filesharers. Personally, we’ve always loved bootlegs. Even when Edwyn was really skint at the fag end of the eighties, I remember being in Camden market and seeing some tapes of a couple of his shows on sale. I tried to buy them but the stallholder somehow knew who I was and said “free to the management.” I failed to see how that guy selling tapes of Edwyn or even U2 or anybody on the list of signatories above could harm their career. But anyway, as an earlier post said, this is not really an argument worth having. The gig’s up. You might as well take a position about when you want the sun to come up in the morning. It’s over. Now let’s get on with working out a wonderful new way for music lovers to enjoy music for free or for a small subscription that makes it legal and easy to hear ANYTHING and allows the artist to reap the rewards of such freedom of access. Viva la revolucion!”

This is really sick cause Collins owns the copyright to his own music, and all licensing deals for the track have expired!

and the story gets better “Warner Music were claiming the song as their own and MySpace bought into it without even checking.”

I quote from the torrent freak article ” Several big shot labels are still selling Collins’ track today even though their license to do so expired several years ago. This basically means that the labels are pirating his music, and making profit from these activities.”

You can read more on it here and here

E: Sobran las contextualizaciones y los halagos cuando se habla de este hombre. Padre de una de las bandas de pop más frescas y seminales, Orange Juice (a la que Jarvis le debe taaanto) y compositor de innumerables perlas que todos hemos disfrutado alguna vez. Quizá la más conocida, A girl like you, es ahora mismo el centro de la polémica. Y polémica es algo que una jamás asociaría con el nombre de Edwyn Collins. Sin embargo poco importa la relevancia de un artista…cuando de derechos se trata, y ahora mismo Edwyn se encuentra con que no puede subir a su propio myspace una canción que, de hecho y por derecho, es suya. Así que si de momento quieres disfrutar de A girl like you, mejor que busques en tus estanterías Gorgeous George y le des al play. Porque de otra manera, lo llevas claro.
La historia comienza cuando Grace Maxwell, esposa y manáger del artista escocés quiso subir la canción de marras a su myspace. Lo normal, vaya. A ver si os pensais que los grandes artistas tampoco esperan los cinco minutos largos que tarda un mp3 en subirse a la red social. Y sin embargo se dio cuenta de que no podía hacerlo. Indagando descubrió que Warner le impedía hacerlo, aduciendo que Collins no tiene los derechos de la canción y que estos son propiedad del Toni Cruz mundial ejem, es decir, Rupert Murdoch. Grace alega que Edwyn Collins ha compuesto él mismo todas sus canciones y que, efectivamente, también está en propiedad de sus derechos, y así mismo lo ha relatado detalladamente en el blog del myspace de su marido. Califica la guerra legal con la discográfica de Kafkiana y se lamenta de que los fans de Edwyn no puedan disfrutar de su canción más popular en su  propio myspace, y sin embargo sí se esté vendiendo en otras webs de descarga “a precio de saldo”. Ha estado hablando con uno de los abogados de Warner que muy amablemente le ha prometido que se arreglará, pero parece ser que desde Myspace es imposible reclamar el copyright de una canción a no ser que no seas una major…¿nos hemos vuelto locos o qué?
Grace, además, dice que le parece fatal semejante forma tan prehistórica de manejar los derechos y la forma en que el público pueda acceder a la música, y apuesta por una nueva industria musical digital donde todo el mundo pueda escuchar la música gratis y poder comprarla directamente a los artistas mediante una pequeña suscripción. Ignoro si esta mujer viene de un viaje reciente de Marte o Los Mundos de Yuppi, pero comulgo bastante con lo que dice. Eso sí, como se entere Lily Allen de este pollo, sale de su reclusión musical y se pone a grabar discos otra vez del disgusto.

Der britische (schottische) Musiker Edwyn Collins und Frontman der Nu-Sonics, später Orange Juice, hat unter anderem den Chartserfolg “A Girl Like You ” (1994) geschrieben (Kennt ihr garantiert, siehe Video unten). Schlauerweise hat er das Copyright behalten und nur zeitlich begrenzte Distributionsverträge unterschrieben. Was ihm aber nichts nützt.

Ein Versuch, den Pophit auf seine Myspace Seite zum freien Download hochzuladen, scheiterte. Selbst nach langen Verhandlungen mit der Rechtsabteilung des Social Networks. Grund: Warner Music beansprucht das Copyright. Edwyns Lebensgefährtin und Managerin Grace Maxwell beschreibt ausführlich, dass der Song und andere Musik aus Edwyns Werk trotz ausgelaufener Verträge von verschiedenen Major Labels als CD und Download verkauft werden. Ohne Lizenzen an Edwyn, den Rechteinhaber, zu bezahlen. Aber wer möchte schon Warner Music verklagen?

In Vertretung des rekonvaleszenten Musikers (er hatte 2 Schlaganfälle, siehe pic oben) fordert sie die Einführung eine kleinen Gebühr auf Internet (a.k.a. Pauschalabgabe) und die Befreiung der Musik, damit die Künstler von der neuen Freiheit der Zugänglichkeit (via Internet) profitieren können. ( myspace via techdirt cc)   cc)

Following the piece from Emma Warren on the Edwyn Collins and Postcard documentaries here’s a quick post of a piece from The Face in November 1981 with interviews with Collins and Alan Horne of Postcard regarding the closure of Postcard as was.

[Apiento]

In music documentary terms, triumph over adversity usually refers to someone getting over a drink or drug problem of their own making. For Edwyn Collins, much loved for songs like ‘Falling And Laughing’ and ‘Rip It Up’ with Orange Juice and for his standalone 1994 hit ‘Girl Like You’, his triumph was a real one. This documentary, first screened last year by Artworks Scotland and voiced by Alex Kapranos follows Edwyn as he recovers from a brain hemorrahage and stroke in 2005, learning to read walk, and talk again – and incredibly to write new songs and eventually to make his way back onstage. The film culminates with his performance at the BBC Electric Proms in 2007 and if you can watch him perform ‘Home Again’ without welling up then you’re made of stone. But it’s the final shot that’s the real killer. Asked what he misses about his old life (which incidentally, he doesn’t really remember), Collins pauses for a long time. “Nothing,” he says eventually. “Nothing at all.”

‘Home Again’ is available on the BBC iPlayer until Friday 25th September 2009. Watch it. Also available is the Caledonia Dreamin’ documentary covering the history of Scottish pop music and in particular Postcard Records.

[Emma Warren]

FC Ukelele on stage at the Guilford Arms, Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is primarily known for its comedy and theatre, but the city is also host to a load of fine music throughout the month of August and, I’m sure, the rest of the year. My previous visits to the city have mostly focused on the comedy, but this time my friend, John, and I found ourselves attending more music gigs than before. Our first port of call was a folk pub called the Royal Oak, situated near the Royal Mile. Two years ago, we decided to check out the place as we had heard good things about it. We decided to pop in for a quiet pint a few hours before midnight and were quite surprised to find ourselves still there sometime around four or five in the morning. We were having such good craic listening to great music and chatting to some interesting characters that we didn’t notice the time creeping up on us. We met a guy from Northern Ireland who spoke passionately and repetitively about his political views; we spoke at length to a supporter of Sunderland AFC who went by the name of Geordie; and towards the end of the night we met a nice Scotsman who was enjoying his first week of freedom since being released from prison. Good times

The pub itself is situated in the city and is quite small. Throughout the night, musicians sit in the corner singing and playing as half the pub listen and sing along while the other half chat loudly to each other, completely oblivious to the fine music around them. On this occasion we decided to take it easy and went home at half three. We were lucky enough to hear some great music yet again. We got to see a young English fiddle play and singer who looked like Rick Danko from The Band and played and sang just as well. At one point a guy in a kilt appeared and accompanied himself on piano to, well, Piano Man by Billy Joel. I jokingly asked if he knew how to play Crocodile Rock. He did. We also got to hear loads of songs from a local musician named Rossco Galloway and later from his brother as well. Rosco sang his own songs and I was quite impressed by the lyrics and his delivery. I got chatting to him later and he told me that he also works in a bar in town. The quality of his songs and performance suggest that it may not be too long before he’s able to give up the day job. Here is one of his songs:

She Takes My Hand On Dry Land – Rossco Galloway

The next night we went to see Women in Harmony at the Queen’s Hall. The harmonious women in question are three Scottish folk singers and musicians: Annie Grace, Corrina Hewat and Karine Polwart. Each of them performs solo, but have played a few gigs together and have not decided on a group name yet. They’re called Grace, Hewat and Polwart on their MySpace page, but this makes them sound like a firm of accountants. I’d already seen Karine Polwart at the Folk by the Oak festival in July and I was looking forward to seeing her with the other two girlies. The Queen’s Hall is a fine venue with great acoustics and we had also been here two years ago to see Barb Jungr put on a whole show devoted to the music of Bob Dylan. The three ladies also included a Dylan song along with a set of traditional songs and their versions of more contemporary tunes. I would have preferred if they had played less lullabies as it was quite warm in there and I was a bit shagged out from walking the streets all day. They also played a load of songs by Robbie Burns and these didn’t do a lot for me. Nevertheless, the rest of the show was brilliant and their banter in between songs was quite amusing, particularly from Annie Grace. At one stage they did a medley of about a half dozen songs based on the theme of walking. It was a clever idea and they pulled it off with aplomb. They also did a medley of songs about children and one of these was a moving version of Mothers of the Disappeared by some band from Ireland whose name I didn’t catch. I coudn’t find any songs by the trio, but here’s a similar version of that song:

Mothers of the Disappeared (U2 cover) – Childsplay

An hour later we found ourselves at the Caledonian Folk and Blues festival at another packed pub called the Guildford Arms. Up on the raised stage were a local duo named Bedford Falls who played a fantastic set of covers that was as notable for the excellent quality of the singing and guitar-playing as for the interesting selection of songs that they chose to perform. Rather than playing the usual suspects they played a range of lesser-known tracks from such famous acts as The Beatles and Neil Young to some lesser-known ones from groups that I had never heard covered before. Some of the highlights included their unique takes on Love’s Alone Again Or, Prefab Sprout’s When Love Breaks Down and a rousing rendition of Nick Lowe’s What’s So Funny About Peace Love & Understanding? that finished their set on a high note. The two lads complemented each other quite well as one was more proficient at singing and the other was more skilled on the guitar. They also covered the songs in their own style and avoided slavishly copying the originals, a mistake that many covers bands constantly make. They finished up just after eleven which gave us plenty of time to make our next gig at midnight. Before I tell you about that here’s an acoustic version of When Love Breaks Down by its composer:

When Love Breaks Down (live acoustic) – Paddy McAloon

A short walk around the streets of Edinburgh set us up nicely for Edwyn Collins‘ midnight gig at the Assembly Hall. Edwyn is native of Edinburgh and was lead singer of Orange Juice, one of my favourite Scottish bands. He turned 50 the day after this gig, so a belated happy birthday to you, sir. Edwyn has been going it alone since 1985 and last year he released his sixth solo album, Home Again. He’s extremely lucky to be still making music. Four years ago he suffered not one, but two, brain haemorrhages. Fortunately, the subsequent surgery proved successful and he has underwent a process of rehabilitation since. This has affected his movement on the right side of his body and is noticeable in his speech and movement. It also means that he cannot play the guitar. In addition, he had to learn his songs all over again and used a lecturn as he kept an eye on the lyrics during the gig. However, it has not affected his singing voice as he played for over an hour to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. His set ranged from Orange Juice favourites to songs from his solo albums. He was accompanied on stage by three fine guitarists and a percussionist as well as guest appearances from Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and the lead singer from the Cribs. Edwyn received great support from the young fellas behind him and they gave us lovely versions of Blue Boy and Rip It Up. Two of my highlights of the night came from his 1994 solo album, Gorgeous George. The lyrics of Low Expectations and, in particular, Make Me Feel Again took on new meaning in light of recent events. It must have been an emotional occasion for Edwyn and for many of the audience and this was certainly the case for the lady sitting beside me. Her companion had to console her throughout the gig as she wept openly during many of the songs. Fortunately, I’m a tough bastard and I only wept once. One of the many CDs that I picked up the following day was Edwyn’s album from last year. Here is the title track:

Home Again – Edwyn Collins

The next night we went to see the North American singer and pianist, Amanda Palmer at the HMV Picture House. Palmer has been half of the duo, the Dresden Dolls, along with Brian Viglione throughout this decade. Last year, she released a solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, which included the singles Oasis and Leeds United. I must admit that these were the only two songs of hers that I knew about before the gig. I went out of curiousity and because an Austrian friend of mine has often enthused about her songs and live performances. Well, you weren’t wrong, Stefan. She was fuckin’ brilliant. She played for two hours and wanted to play for longer, but the venue’s curfew was 11.00pm. For most of the gig she sat alone at her keyboard and treated us to a lively and thought-provoking set. Her melodic songs feature some great lyrics and she uses the piano-keyboard very well to accompany her singing

Some of the highlights included the songs I knew (Oasis and Leeds United) and I Google You, a modern-day torch song. It became quite obvious as the gig progressed that cabaret and the music of Bertholt Brecht has been an inspiration on her musical style while classic songwriters such as the Gershwins, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter have had a strong influence on her lyrics and the structure of her songs. However, I have a feeling that that wasn’t the reason why the majority of her (mostly young) audience was there. She seems to attract a fanbase that likes to dress in black, wearing flowing skirts, and lots of make-up. You should have seen what the women were wearing! Nevertheless, it was an intriguing event and it’s certainly made me want to check out more of her music. I have to admit that both John and I agreed that the sound could have been better and it was hard to make out the lyrics during the first hour. Still, this was made up for by her amazing performance and easy way with the crowd. The gig also featured the most unusual support act that I’ve ever seen. Zen Zen Zo is an Australian theatrical company and six of them treated us to a short performance that combined elements of dance and mime. Unlike the audience, the ladies and gentlemen from the troupe that we saw on stage had an approach to clothing that could only be described as minimalistic. In fact, you could say that they simply let it all hang out. John pointed out to me that they were the only support act he’s ever seen that had little support themselves. Here’s a live version of another musical highlight from Ms Palmer’s set:

Coin-Operated Boy (live) – The Dresden Dolls

Finally, on the Sunday we returned to the Guilford Arms to check out the wonderfully monikered FC Ukulele (pictured above). I’m a big fan of the ukulele and I actually own one myself even hough it’s been a while since I picked it up. Here’s what FC Ukulele have to say about themselves on their MySpace page: “Our repertoire consists of old favourites and contemporary classics arranged for our unique 5 piece set up of Baritone, Tenor and Solid Electric Ukuleles, close vocal harmonies, blues harmonica and drums”. As you can see from the photo their sound also includes an electric lead ukulele. They used this on a storming version of Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing and, to be frank, it sounded fantastic. And so did the rest of the show. The band takes turns singing lead and they also harmonise to great effect. Their harmonies were particularly evident during their fine take on their version of The Weight by the Band. Other highlights included their interpretations of Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty) and Runaway (Del Shannon). Like all the other acts I’ve mentioned on this post FC Ukulele combined excellent musicianship with an interesting and varied selection of songs along with a nice sense of humour that brought a smile to the crowd and had them singing along with the group. I don’t have any tunes by the band, but here’s the title track of an album that I picked up for a couple of quid in an Oxfam shop during my visit. The song seems to address the resurgence in the instrument’s popularity although its spelling of the word is not so conventional:

A Million Ukeleles – MJ Hibbert

To celebrate the fact Edwyn Collins is now following me on Twitter, and to celebrate the fact his partner Grace Maxwell has a new book out, and to celebrate the fact that Orange Juice released one of my favourite debut albums ever… ladies and gentlemen, may I present…

And yes, of course this is punk.

Orange Juice are a wonderful group that I wish more people realized that their songs are pure pop perfection. But then again maybe the fact that they are not that widely known makes them more endearen to the people who do discover them. Well for me is that case. I have long heard of this Scottish post punk band, mainly from their front man Edywn Collins (remember that great Iggy Pop inspired track “A Girl Like You”…yep, that’s him) and the work he did as a producer for the Crib’s second album and not to mention he’s unfortunate health condition that he was recently involved in. But a couple of months ago I was in the car and the song “Rip it Up” was played in Sirius radio. I loved the main riff right away but soon afterwards I forgot to look the song up, until about a month ago when I was bored and I typed Orange Juice in youtube and after that I been hooked. They have funk, disco, post punk with the right mix of campyness and style. But even though they weren’t entirely the biggest band, they only had a top 10 hit in the UK with “Rip it Up” they have had a big influence on bands. You can hear Orange Juice in alot of Franz Ferninand and alot of Edwyn Collins in Alex Kapranos.  I leave with a slighty different but still amazing version of “Rip it Up”  from the Old Grey Whistle Test and the song “Falling and Laughing”. Keep a ear for a nice Buzzcocks reference in “Rip it Up”.

_Bilo_:D

OK. Thought I’d shove up some random archive stuff, especially as my hard drive backup seems to be eating my old files, never to return. First, an interview from 2005 conducted for… where? I have no recollection, but I feel that perhaps I used some of this later in a Plan B feature. There’s already plenty of stuff about some of these bands elsewhere on my blogs (particularly here) and there’s a great article from Alistair Fitchett about it here, but I really can’t be arsed to link to it all. Sorry.

Alright, first the basic questions that I ask everyone:
Which were the most important earlier bands leading up to the C-86 wave?
Orange Juice, Josef K, Aztec Camera (the sound of Young Scotland): the ideology behind Creation Records but not the bands themselves (with the exception of the Mary Chain and The Pastels): anything on Rough Trade records post-1978 (except The Smiths who always were corporate sell-outs): The Fall (because they influences EVERY independent band from the UK post-1977): Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, Captain Beefheart (half the bands on that NME tape ripped the good Captain off), The Velvet Underground (and the other half ripped the Velvets off): Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike, Sophisticated Boom Boom and any of the girl-led pop groups that Peel used to play in the early Eighties: Captain Beefheart again: The Byrds and The Creation and The Kinks and all that white boy jangling guitar Sixties stuff: Television Personalities: plenty more, but that’ll do for now.

If I were to pick 10 bands from the C-86 era to write more about – which should I choose?
The Pastels
Talulah Gosh
Shop Assistants
The Wolfhounds
Jasmine Minks
The Membranes
Big Flame
The Wedding Present
June Brides
The Legend!

(This is a random list, drawn from the top of my head – and I’d be amazed if I haven’t forgotten a load of great bands.)

Are there are any bands that surfaced after the tape but are still considered to be C-86?
Not for me to say – but some people may consider what Matt and Claire put out on Sarah Records to fall firmly within the “C86 category”. Talulah Cosh were actually post-C86 if my memory serves me correctly. Comet Gain are totally C86 – as were many of the Riot Grrrl bands (especially the later ones that lost the politics but retained the cutie edge). Oh, and I guess BMX Bandits would’ve loved to have been.

What other musical events (gigs, record releases etc) except for the tape made the year 1986 stand out?
I remember standing at a Soup Dragons Hammersmith Clarendon (upstairs) concert with a basket full of new Legend! fanzines (Wolfhounds/Razorcuts flexi) and not moving all evening – people coming up to me in a constant stream, as I sold about 130 copies. Also, I’d travel up to Bedford Esquires (and other venues) a great deal for their fine triple bills starring folk like Talulah Gosh and Big Flame and Membranes – shows put on by Nigel Turner, who now runs Pickled Egg Records. I can’t recall events – was ’86 Live Aid? USA Against Warmongering By Capitalist Countries? C86 was actually a massive disappointment to me: for a compilation that so clearly had its roots in all the bands I would write about for NME at the time, it was incredible I hated so much of it (it’s cos the compilers were too arrogant to consult a “kid” like me). I still don’t like much of the tape – it’s unrepresentative of its times certainly (as opposed to the brilliant C81 comp, five years earlier) and even unrepresentative of the small narrow strata of music it thought it was representing. I recall a Troublefunk show that I danced my ass off at.

Were there any venues or clubs that were central to C-86?
Was McGee still putting on shows then? If so, then whatever he was behind would have been central. If not, then certainly Dan Treacy’s Room At The Top, upstairs at the Enterprise Chalk Farm, next to the excellent Marine Ices shop where everyone would hang out before bands, was vital. As were Leigh’s shows at Woolwich Polytechnic and Nigel’s shows in Bedford. They were the main three I’d go to.

Was C-86 in general political – lyrically or musically? Or was it just shaped by the politics of the time? And was it working-class or middle-class?
Depends which strata of C86 you’re talking about: the crap pop bands like The Bodines and Mighty Mighty or god-awful Close Lobsters certainly weren’t political. The more obviously Beefheart-influenced bands like Stump and The Shrubs and Big Flame and The MacKenzies seemed to be on the surface – although it’s arguable that was only because of the style of music (angular, awkward, challenging) they were aping. The Age of Chance seemed revolutionary, the way they matched guitar pop to dance rhythms, and were unfortunately (for them) 10 year ahead of their time. Half-Man Half-Morons (who should NEVER have been near the compilation) were an out-and-out joke band.

The temptation nowadays when faced with a crop of ‘indie’ bands is to automatically think of them as middle-class but looking down the list on C86 I’d have to say most of them are working-class (probably in some last echo of punk’s diverse roots that spread out to the working-class communities from its middle-class origins with Strummer and McClaren and that whole London thing). Most of those C86 would’ve played benefits for the miner’s strike and the like… again, I think this was probably part genuine outrage at the Thatcher years, and probably part follow-on from punk and post-punk’s obvious political leanings. Yes, of course the bands were shaped by their times, and among that section of society in the mid-Eighties, dissent was very much to the front.

Interesting that, out of 22 bands on the compilation, only three of them are female.

I’ve heard that there wasn’t a homogenous indiepop sub-culture before C-86. Is that true? And what were the identifying markers of anoraks, both on the surface and ideologically?
No, there wasn’t – not readily identifiable, at least. The most it amounted to was boys like Bobby Gillespie and Edwyn Collins who wore their hair like members of The Byrds: there was definitely a Mod and Sixties crossover with some of the more jangling elements of the independent sector (thanks a lot to the Creation Records aesthetic) but no… To be honest, I don’t think C86 was the main factor behind ‘indiepop’… that was more down to the law of diminishing returns and Sarah Records’ (in particular) sometimes inspirational but more often damn right annoying tunnel vision and insistence on sticking with ONE PARTICULAR SOUND, no messing (and certainly with no room for females, barring the ever-present Amelia Fletcher). Anoraks were NOT the norm in ’86 (Stephen Pastel wore one, but with leather trousers) not at all… it was the younger brothers of the C86 generation who decided that they were cool, not the people of the time.

Where did C-86 go? Did it merge with other genres or did it all turn into twee?
Let’s get this straight. C86 didn’t actually exist as a sound, or style. It was supposed to be a “state of the independents” compilation, similar to C81. The reason it wasn’t was down to the myopic vision of its compilers. The reason it wasn’t stronger was because major contributor behind the scenes, Neil Taylor – who only ever chose to write about bands I’d reviewed two weeks before – had no actual idea about music beyond reading other journalists. I loved soul and dance music at the time of C86. But the compilation didn’t reflect any of that. One half of C86 obviously turned twee – was already on the verge even as the tape was being put together. The other half continued existing merrily on its own terms thanks very much.

What’s your definition of C-86 today?
I don’t have one. See above. And I find it weird bordering on surreal that people are starting to use it again, specifically to sell seven-inch singles on eBay. No one used the term back then. They really didn’t.

And now the more important questions, especially tailored for you:
I assume you wrote the fanzine The Legend! – how would you describe it?
Impassioned, arrogant, self-obsessed, determined to strike its own path separate to the great morass of fanzines who all just seemed to be content with being third-rate copies of NME (I always knew I couldn’t do interviews, so I never ran a single one in any of the five issues of The Legend!)…naïve, futile, excitable, plenty of exclamation marks, instant, brutally honest, refused to take any ads whatsoever (and yes, I was offered some), very proud of what it did… almost entirely written by me, designed and published by me…

What other fanzines do you remember liking and what distinguished them?
Idiot Strength, Are You Scared To Get Happy?, Juniper Beri-Beri, Attack On Bzag, The Rox, that damn magazine Miki and Emma did years before they formed Lush (Alphabet Soup), Incendiary, Hungry Beat… for pretty much the same reasons as I’ve detailed in the description of The Legend! (None were as passionate or extreme as mine, of course.)

You were writing both for your own fanzine as well as for the NME – was that uncommon? And what did you think about the NME ca 1986?
There were several of us who wrote for both our own magazines and the music press – me, John Robb, James Brown, probably several more. It wasn’t that uncommon, there was a great tradition of writers coming to the music press from fanzines that started during the early punk days – and to the best of my knowledge has continued through even till today. I hated NME but of course I secretly loved it too. I didn’t exactly socialise with any of the other journalists there… I was routinely ridiculed and looked down upon by my fellow writers, especially the more august ones (and with some reason: I still couldn’t string a sentence together at that point). Danny Kelly supported me, and Steven Wells and David Quantick. Cheers mates.

Were you involved with compiling the C-86 tape? Why was it put out and what determined which bands were on it? (If possible, compare with C-81.)
I think I’ve already answered this question above: it was basically intended as a “state of the independents” round up – NME had a tradition of putting out tape compilations, like C81, but covering all forms of music (Rebellious Jukebox was my all-time favourite, introducing me as it did to the wonders of Southern Soul Music: there were several others also, covering jazz and hip hop). This was at least a decade before the idea of giving music away with a music magazine had become so thoroughly devalued that nowadays you don’t even bother buying Mojo or Uncut unless they have a free CD attached, and even the broadsheets get in on the act…

I wasn’t involved. I should have been, but I was a jumped-up fanzine kid (who just happened to be introducing most of these previously ignored bands to the music press and their readers). The standing joke at the time was that the tape comprised all the bands who’d slept on my floor when they played London – Shop Assistants, Wedding Present, Pastels, Bogshed, A Witness, Age of Chance, Soup Dragons….If I’d been involved there’s no way bands like Mighty Mighty or Half-Man Half-Biscuit (neither of whom had ANYTHING to do with anything) would have been allowed near the tape.

How come the two in retrospect perhaps most classic C-86 bands, Razorcuts and Talulah Gosh, were not on the tape?
I’m fairly sure Talulah Gosh were only just emerging right about the time the tape came out, so you can hardly blame the NME for not including them. (Why no June Brides, though? That was a bigger scandal.) And same held true of Razorcuts (although I absolutely LOVED that band by the time C86 appeared)… as I say, I had nothing to do with that tape despite being part of the inspiration for it. If I had then of course the ‘cuts would’ve been on it.

What were the connections between C-86 and other related terms such as anorak, shambling, jangle or twee? What did they mean and in what order did they emerge?
Anorak was something Simon Reynolds invented a couple of years later, in Melody Maker (he wrote a big article in ’88 on the whole fanzine ‘scene’, which by that time had moved along to the Canterbury Arms in Brixton, I think, that included massive pictures of John Robb and me – much to NME’s disgust). I think he may have invented ‘twee’ at the same time. Both are horrible condescending words. Ugh! Jangle was probably around since ’81 or so, with Orange Juice and the bands that loved Sixties groups like The Byrds. Shambling (and the thankfully underused grebo) has been credited to John Peel circa ’85 – but I never listened to him so I wouldn’t know. I think it was taken to mean bands like The Fall, and the Beefheart-influenced lot, who didn’t care so much whether everything was perfectly produced or polished, but had a more ‘shambolic’ approach to recording and playing live. I used to think it meant any band that took more than three attempts to start a song… in which case Teenage Fanclub early on were the ultimate shambling band. But to me, Bogshed always were.

Why did the NME turn on a scene of their own creation and start using the term ‘C-86’ in a scornful manner?
That was because most of the writers never liked it in the first place – and also cos the description quickly codified into a certain sound. And that always sucks when that happens.

Some people seem to think the invention of ‘C-86’ killed off indiepop. What were the negative as well as the positive effects?
I can’t comment here; neither term actually means much to me as descriptions of a genre of music (the two are synonymous as far as I’m concerned) so the question is meaningless. Cheers, Everett

A Girl Like You 1994

Excerpt ~ Def 1000 songs: After spending much of the decade’s first half in the producer’s seat, overseeing sessions from artists including longtime pal Paul Quinn, the Rockingbirds, A House and the Frank & Walters, Collins finally earned another shot as a performer: after signing with the tiny U.K. indie Setanta, he recorded 1994’s Gorgeous George, a scathing, shimmering set of retro-pop highlighted by the single “A Girl Like You.” Slowly, the song became a massive hit throughout Europe as well as the U.S. and returned Collins to the charts for the first time since the 1983 Orange Juice smash “Rip It Up, …… more

Number 838 - Edwyn Collins – 1994 – SCO – Genre: Pop - Play Song – Vote 4 Edwyn!

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Parte 1

Parte 2

Parte 3

Parte 4

Collins vive con su esposa, Grace Maxwell, quien también es su representante. La pareja, que vive en Londres, tiene un hijo, el cual es el webmaster de la página web de su padre.

El 18 de febrero de 2005, durante una entrevista en la cadena de radio BBC 6 Music, Collins se sintió indispuesto, pero dijo haber sentido nauseas y vértigo debido a una intoxicación alimentaria. Dos días más tarde ingresó en la unidad de cuidados intensivos en un hospital de Londres, tras haber sufrido una hemorragia cerebral. El 25 de febrero fue operado tras sufrir una segunda hemorragia. La operación fue un éxito, y actualmente está en proceso de rehabilitación neurológica.

En junio de 2007 fue anunciando el lanzamiento del sexto álbum de Collins para septiembre de 2007, titulado Home Again. El álbum fue grabado antes de su ingreso hospitalario, siendo mezclado tras recibir el alta.

Edwyn Collins aún está en proceso de recuperación, pero ya ha vuelto a ofrecer actuaciones en vivo, como en el Festival de Glastonbury de 2008.

www.edwyncollins.com/

Stuart Maconie at Latitude 2009, with Little Boots and Edwyn Collins live and a chat to various performers including Simon Armitage.

16th July 2009 part 1

16th July 2009 part 2

Tracklisting:

Pet Shop Boys — What Have I Done To Deserve This?
Regina Spektor — The Calculation
Elbow — One Day Like This
Little Boots — Stuck On Repeat (Live)
Little Boots — Remedy (Live)
Patti Smith — Because The Night
Editors — An End Has A Start
6 Day Riot — Run For Your Life
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Breathless
Camera Obscura — Honey In The Sun
Grace Jones — Slave To The Rhythm
Edwyn Collins — A Girl Like You
Orange Juice — Falling And Laughing
Doves — Winter Hill
The Phenomenal Handclap Band — You’ll Disappear
The Scaremongers — Cardigan Girl
Tiny Masters of Today — Real Good
The Duckworth Lewis Method — Gentlemen & Players
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu — Bapa

Speeding through leafy trees and Paddock Woods to the far end of the sprawling Kentish countryside, the light at the end of the seemingly infinite tunnel is old Geoffrey Chaucer’s prime dormitory hangout, Canterbury. Promenading through tunnels and rolling fields of barley, the setting’s quintessentially British, the weather atypically sweltering. This year’s LOTF keeps it within the family, the line up composed almost universally of home-grown innovative indie, from Southend garage punksters-turned-shoegazers The Horrors, off-kilter Foals-approved groove mongers The Invisible and Archbishop of UK Hip-Hop Roots Manuva. That said, bar Sunday night home runner Edwyn Collins, it’s incontestable that Stevens and Lamacq would be a tad more acquainted with the goings on of The Sheep Dip and The Hoedown than Bowman and Whiley and so despite all that heritage, Lounge serves as something of a gaze into the crystal balls that may hold the future of our teeny iPods in its more than capable grasp.

The campsite’s crawling with prepubescent post-GCSE pandemonium and carpeted with empty Stella cans and discarded laughing gas pellets. Not quite the stuff of Chaucer’s tales then. In amongst towering crops only witnessed in Mel Gibson Hollywood flops set against a vacated cow shed (or the main stage for the weekend) labelling it surreal would be something of an understatement. Maintaining the bizarre tinge are bass-heavy trio The Invisible who secrete hallucinatory dream-pop last emitted from a downtown Brooklyn warehouse, OK and Passion could seamlessly squeeze onto any Sitek concoction, yet baritone vocal lines and unnervingly hollow reverberating guitars elevate these bearded laptop wizards beyond the realms of quirky for quirk’s sake pedantic pedal-board snobbery. Whilst Yannis may spew a load of misguided music-based bile from those pretentious lips of his, this endorsement seems about as calculated as a solar-powered Casio in the Sahara. Elsewhere, Brighton’s Ghost of a Thousand tear and shred their way through their brand of flattened fringes and two-thousand-and-late lightweight thrash in The Sheep Dip as if dying season commences imminently. Faves of Felix Maccabees, perhaps those NME-goaded guitar slingers aren’t always on the pulse… Far more exhilarating are reinvigorated (fairly) local band of gloomy glory-forgers, The Horrors. Following The King Blues’ recession-busting boredom, the teen waves have ebbed away in their wake, leaving a modest bunch lurking in the shadows, awaiting the essential technicolour rebirth of the new Millennium. An hour or two ago Faris strolled arm-in-arm with a kid in a cheap boiler suit. Had the star of sneery punk snobbery lost that razor-sharp edge?Of course, as soon as the opening synth swathes of Mirror’s Image seep into the cavernous Cow Shed, all is forgotten. Where once Faris & co tore through dirty garage arthouse punk, these days they cruise calmly through the likes of agro bass-heavy break-up belter Who Can Say and epic-as-ever set-closer Sea Within A Sea. Badwan lurches deviously over the monitors whilst his comrades in kaleidoscopic doom stare penetrably out from the instruments behind which they lurk and cower. In Primary Colours, they’ve become the band nobody ever expected them to be and away from the gimmickry of blacked out acrylic faces and strict dress codes (tonight preppy blazers are the order of the day), they’re as formidable a live force as any.However, if The Horrors cement worth in reinvention, Ed Larrikin of (very little) Larrikin Love fame has reversed back up the street down which the Southend scenesters crashed into colour and reincarnation, turning from torn jeans and trilbies to terrifying gothic orchestration amidst the raucous that is Pan I Am. Monochrome dominates, as regimental black boiler suits contrast starkly with pasty white faces in perhaps the most shocking set of the weekend, with Ed’s shock of red hair injecting a slight sense of hope into proceedings, if only on the aesthetic front. More successful are London trio Ipso Facto. Having traded in keyboardist Cherish Kaya for a MacBook and stalled on what was one of the most anticipated records in the pipeline this time last year, an evening billing above some stars of the near future seems ever so slightly odd. Often branded somewhere between a female Horrors, these feisty females owe more to Western soundtracks (Balderdash) and The Shangri-Las (Smoke and Mirrors), perhaps were they in mourning. Further darkly infused intervention is growled out from within storms of fog by hotly-tipped S.C.U.M yet trading in respectable repertoires for half-mast Victorian pressed trousers and strobes grabs about as much attention as a Hollyoaks video signing.

Far more inspiring are one-part musical, three-parts comic band of extremely merry gentlemen, The Wave Pictures. They’ve headed Kentwards without a single cymbal so their shambolic set is conducted by ramshackle drums and flat guitar tones. Not that it matters when I Love You Like A Madman, Kiss Me and Friday Night In Loughborough all from last year’s Instant Coffee Baby are reeled off at will. And if it all goes pear-shaped, frontman David Tattersall can always return to the stage in a dingy comedy club in Leicester Square. Ordained this weekend as the Archbishop of Banterbury. Highlights then glimmer thick and fast as the sun sets and the rain lashes. Ahead of headlining this year’s NME Radar Tour kicking off in September, tripped-out twee throw-backs Golden Silvers cause a greater storm inside the shed than the swirling summer monsoon that’s hit Merton Farm. Drawing heavily from debut barking barbershop beast True Romance, Gwilym Gold and his rhythm enhancers call at balladry (The Seed), lyrically impeccable soul show-stopper True Romance and chart-destroying polished pop (Arrows of Eros, Another Universe) before disappearing into the smoke, presumably back to 1972. Although maybe one day on the horizon every band will be as accomplished and enthralling as Golden Silvers. Amidst a thunder storm, drenched on a bandstand whilst swaying swiggers stumble on hay stacks may not be the ideal scenario for a Saturday night show yet fiddle maestro Fidgital copes sublimely. Backed solely by a DJ and a stack of CDs, he plucks and struts his way through inspired covers, from The Jackson 5’s I Want You Back to a Nirvana/ Calvin Harris mash-up, before trading in Ronson’s tired trumpets for sterling strings on Ooh Wee and rounding it all off with a take on Fools’ Gold orchestra fanatic Mr. Brown would go ape for. Majestic. On an entirely different note, awk-folk hero Jay Jay Pistolet is utterly enchanting before an adoring gathering of seated thirty-somethings. Justin Hayward-Young laments love lost and not having enough songs to play beyond what feels like three minutes but leave prejudices against whiney London folksters Noah & the Whale, Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons at the door, as Happy Birthday You is as heartfelt as a Hovis ad. Singling out a single star amongst the stellar sky that is this year’s line up is about as taxing as picking out the most tolerable Oasis song although despite the Brit invasion, it seems somewhat fitting what with cricket currently clogging up the airwaves that the stereotypical Australian pomp prevails, as The Temper Trap really are something spectacular. Acquiring a veritable arsenal of sure-fire hits all under the roof of imminent album Conditions released next month, everything from the melodramatic epic blasts of Science of Fear to the achingly subdued melancholy of Love Lost just works on every level. Down River shrieks with adrenaline-fuelled desperation, the crescendos of Rest clash harder than Glastonbury lightning and Fader may just be the biggest anthem in their waiting room. Lord Lounge on the Farm, don’t change a thing.

By Michael MacLeod

EDWYN Collins’ wife blames herself for the stroke that almost killed him.

The legendary Scots singer-songwriter suffered two brain haemorrhages and contracted MRSA while in hospital four years ago.

Another chapter in his amazing recovery will be written on Friday night, when the ‘A Girl Like You’ singer makes his first ever T in the Park appearance in the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent.

But the 49 year-old’s partner Grace Maxwell, who has held his hand every step of the way, says she was to blame for ignoring his addiction to painkillers.
The 51 year-old said in a weekend interview: “I put the blame for this entirely on myself.

“Edwyn was in such pain that he was self medicating and I missed that.

“I wasn’t paying enough attention.

“I should have dragged him to the doctor. Why didn’t I think about blood pressure and all those issues?

“I look at him sometimes and thin, if only I’d paid attention then we wouldn’t be here.”

Collins’ touring and drinking days with 1980s rockers Orange Juice took their toll on his body.

And his teenage son Will was paranoid that his rockstar dad would drunkenly burn down their Glasgow house by mistake.

Any time Collins returned home from a night out, his then 15 year-old son forced himself out of bed to check every room of their house to check nothing was on fire.

Collins admitted: “I liked brandy and beer. I liked alcohol a lot.”

Now 19, Will has vowed to never touch a drop of booze.

Maxwell added: “It’s one of the few good things to have come out of all this; Will is incredibly happy he never has to see his dad drunk again.

“I didn’t like going out with Edwyn socially because he got drunk and a bit nasty so quickly and easily, and always bringing loads of people home at the end of the night.

“It just wasn’t a pleasant experience to be around Edwyn.

“Eventually I said to him, ‘You’re not nice to be around and I’m not bothered one way or another.

“It’s just so strange now to think I could have said anything like that to him.