Was delighted to be part of a most interesting and excellent documentary series called Notes From a Musical Island by music writer Laura Barton for BBC Radio 4 looking at music from the four corners of our Isles. The episode also features our own Katie Buchan of Best Girl Athlete, Alan Davidson of Kitchen Cynics along with Scottish Album of the Year winner Kathryn Joseph and will focus on Aberdeen. The episode is scheduled to air on 11th July. Will post this up once it goes live.

Like your music with intense musicianship, edge and creativity oozing from it? The very cool vinyl edition of Tryptamines brilliant 2nd album is now available and comes with an ace graphic comic book of illustrations and words which mirrors the album themes. Its a truly engaging vinyl experience that I cannot recommend enough. Get it.  You can buy from here.

Sooooooo, the date is 25th May and you can pre-order vinyl, cd and digital copies here. If I may say, it’s rather good, but I would say that. BUT IT IS! Did I mention it’s good? There are guest vocalists on each track to spare you the pain of listening to the droning pap you usually get from CS Horsesass, AND there is a wonderfully written foreword from Byres Road Jazz Club, which is worth the purchase alone. Buy it or die a sad and lonely life. Probably.

Couple of nifty, remixes from Autumn Hang, bloody love them….and so should you, go check them out here.

Exciting update on the April release, ‘The Way Which Can Be Named Is Not The Nameless Way’ by Tryptamines. They have only gone and been nominated for an Independent Music Award again, this time for Best Instrumental EP. This is Tryptamines second nomination for the prestigious New York based awards, having scooped Best Eclectic EP last year. This time around also sees producer Morphamish up for Best Producer category. These lads work damn hard for their art, good luck fellas, very well deserved!

Those of you who are familiar with Tryptamines will know the classical inspired playing of Chemical Callum and the tripped-out beats of Tom the Noisemonger is unique and beautiful in such an original and often unsettling way that leaves an air of mystery and intrigue around the outfit. Settle down, switch off and tune in to the Tryptamines Experience. Album available here – https://fitlikerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-which-can-be-named-is-not-the-nameless-way

“alluring vocals and striking lyrics that shape each track on this exceptionally well shaped album”

The lovely Ravechild have included the self-titled Best Girl Athlete album and track Cigarette Dreams on their end of year, best albums and tracks list. So grateful for this. If you haven’t come across either yet, check out what Ravechild say…

Okay, so the cover of this has caused a bit of a stir. As a homage to June Imray – The Torry Quine, we found the exact same spot at the Torry Battery and (at great personal embarrassment) secured a pretty similar outfit to recreate her iconic LP Cover of 1976. The album itself is not in any way a musical nod to the legendary North-East entertainer and for those seeking a bit of the saucy ‘The Quine who does the strip at Inverurie’, you may be disappointed. However, it is a typically excellent collection of songs where Buchan has utilised a host of musically talented friends to create something very unique. There are guest vocalist on every track bar one, including Steven Milne (Little Kicks), Iona Fyfe (nominee for Scots Singer of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards and finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2017), Guy Capecelatro III (Burst & Bloom Records) and Brendon Massei (Viking Moses) and Chemical Callum (Tryptamines – winner of Independent Music Award (IMAs) in New York, 2016). It’s a cracker! The album will be released on all digital platforms, CD and vinyl with a release date being announced soon.