top 10

A delighted Laura Marling receiving the news that her album is my no. 1 of 2008

Pointless and hack I know, but I am currently compiling my top ten albums of 2008 for my show on Sunday.  So far I have a top 9 but am unsure which one should get my top 10 place.  Of course all this will change before Sunday.  Being the creepy obsessive I am Laura Marling will probably still be no 1.

1. Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
2. Cajun Dance Party – Colourful Life
3. Sigur Ros – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
4. Operator Please – Yes Yes Vindictive
5. Ida Maria – Fortress Around My Heart
6. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
7. Sons & Daughters – This Gift
8. White Denim – Workout Holiday
9. Randy Newman – Harps and Angels
10.

The others that are being considered are…

Band of Horses, Elbow, Oasis, Raconteurs, Sonny J, Bon Iver, Friendly Fires, Futureheads, Twilight Sad, James, Neil Diamond, Martha Wainwright, Seasick Steve, Noah And The Whale, Ladyhawke, Johnny Flynn, Frank Turner, The Aliens, Mystery Jets, Travis, Gnarls Barkley, MGMT, Born Ruffians, Rufus Does Judy, Vampire Weekend, Twilight Sad, Lightspeed Champion, Jim Jones Revue, Tapes N Tapes, Flight of the Conchords, Okkervil River, Jenny Lewis, Walkmen
I can’t include EPs and I’m fairly sure that there are some really obvious names that I’ve left out.  Any suggestions much appreciated.

Q have already done their top 50 here

Oasis Vs Sir Cliff

The technical genius that is Producer Dave has put together a wee video of part of last Sunday’s show.  Taken from the story on music news that fans of Sir Cliff have accused Oasis of thieving Devil Woman.

another week, another podcast

Podcast 27 is online right now.  I think it’s our biggest ever podcast, coming in at a whopping 53 minutes.  There’s a session from Sons & Daughters, where they play Gilt Complex and Iodine, Peterhead band the Resolutes play us a couple of songs, and as well as that there’s a humongous interview with the Futureheads.

 

 

 

 

 

http://original106.drlnet.co.uk/podcasts/sunday_showcase/250508_sunday_showcase_ep27.mp3

As promised here’s the acoustic version of Gilt Complex.

mild success to all out failure

What a strange week.  First off was my Comedy For Clan gig.  It went alright.  40 odd people turned up and the charity made money.  I ended up having to pay for a lot of the expenses out of my own pocket which I wouldn’t have done had 100 odd turned up.  I think it may have been the wrong night and maybe too expensive.  Those who did turn up were lovely and I think all had a good night,  My favourite audience member was the 82 year old Vincent who was having his latest night out in about 10 years.  An absolute gent who gave me the best heckle of the night.  I had a wee poke at his age and he just pretended he couldn’t hear me.  Simple, but made me look like an idiot and an arsehole.

My next gig was on Saturday at the Laughing Horse semi-final in London.  I died on my hole.  I died in a way I haven’t since the infamous ‘It’s Glasgow so I’ll start off with a joke about a child murderer – what you didn’t find that funny and now you want to kick my cunt in?’ night.  In fairness the other Scottish acts seemed to suffer unfairly by what I think was a partisan crowd.  I know the golden rule of stand up is to never blame the audience when you’ve had a shit gig but really I think they ought to take some responsibility.  Still, twas my first gig south of the border and it’s made me desperate to do a few more so that I can try and see if it was a one off or if I’m destined to being unfunny more than 300 miles away from home.

Then to top things off I didn’t turn up for a gig at the Stand on Sunday.  I had meant to pull out as I was on the radio but had forgot to tell the Stand.  Now they think I’m some sort of unreliable fuckwit.

Despite all this I thought yesterday’s Sunday Showcase was one of the best.  Dunno why, perhaps it was the sun or perhaps it was having been up for more hours than I’m used to on a Sunday, but yesterday the show seemed to go quite well.

Podcast is now up.  You can download it from itunes or listen to it on the Original website.  Had sessions from Slaves To Gravity, Mark McCabe and Tim Courteney.

Sunday Showcase Podcast

Also I’ve noticed the Frank Turner thing wasn’t working.  It hopefully should be now.

The first rule of book club…

As m’colleague David Heane said on air the other day, ‘it’s like Richard and Judy, only better’.  The Sunday Showcase has started it’s very own book club.  Mostly because it seems like the sort of clever dick thing that the Sunday Showcase should be doing.

Another upside is that in the same way that I get free CDs I now get free books.  On the downside and in the same way that I have to listen to some right pish I may now be forced to read some awful nonsense.

Thankfully this week’s books were both corkers.  They were Kill All Your Friends by John Niven and The Ossiansby Doug Johnstone.

The Ossians follows a band of the same name as they tour through the North of Scotland.  The author is in the Northern Alliance and so probably comes to the book with a fair amount of knowledge of what touring in an indie band is like.  I haven’t quite finished reading the book yet, and being the pro I am I won’t review it.

However, Kill All Your Friends I have read and enjoyed very much indeed.  The book follows a year in the life A&Rman Steven Stelfox.  Indeed, not just any year but 1997 – the height of Cool Britannia.  And what a year it is for Stelfox.  The man is scared to lose out and be the man who turned down the Beatles, and desperate to have a commercial hit in a world where failure means out on your arse with no way of paying off the maxed out credit cards and mortgages. 

Despite not having had much success recently Stelfox is pretty surprised not to be promoted and so takes matters into his own hands by killing his new boss.  He also blackmails a copper, goes through fairly huge amounts of booze, cocaine and prostitutes.  He’s a complete cunt, but he knows how to play the game.  The year sees him start off doing okay, then really bad and then brilliantly.  It’s a great story, with Stelfox a surprising sympathetic character.

The book is written so well and feels like it drips with authenticity.  This book should be handed out as a sort of manual to anyone interested in being in a band and being signed, as chances are it won’t happen and even if it does happen you probably won’t get to the point of getting anywhere near a single release.

I had an interview with the author on the show which you can now hear on the podcast here

Playlist for Sunday Showcase – 3rd February

Between 5 and 6 we playedHappy Mondays – Step On

Cardigans – My Favourite Game

Badly Drawn Boy – The Time Of Times

Oasis – Lord Dont Slow Me Down

Foals – Balloons

Babyshambles – Delivery

The Cribs – Mens Needs

Bloc Party – Flux

Jackie Wilson – Reet Petite

Palladium – High 5

Between 6 and 7 we played

Justice – D.a.n.c.e

Editors – Push Your Head Towards The Air

The Metros – Education Pt.2

Does It Offend You Yeah – We Are Rockstars

The Dykeenies – Waiting For Go

Beatles – Across The Universe

Sugarush Beat Company – Gunshots and Candyfloss

Mgmt – Time To Pretend

Bainbridge – Transgressor

Elbow – Grounds For Divorce

Between 7 and 8 we played

Pete and The Pirates – Mr Understanding

The Kills – Cheap And Cheerful

Ida Maria – Stella

Wallis Bird – Counting To Sleep

Hard Fi – I Shall Overcome

Adele Best – For Last

Nouvelle Vague – Just Cant Get Enough

Passenger – Table For One

Flyleaf – Im So Sick

Los Campensinos! – Death To Los Campensinos!

Safe 2 Say – Like It Or Not

Royworld – Elasticity

Right Hand Left – Johnny Ray

Between 8 and 9 we played

The Duke Spirit – A Wild Hope

Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor

Kashmir Red – Rolled In Gold (Showcase Live Session)

Guillemots – Get Over It

Kula Shaker – Hey Dude

Laura Marling – Ghosts

Beans On Toast – I Fancy Laura Marling

Jimmy Eats World – Always Be

Colin Mcintyre – Stalker

Lorelei – Drawn In (Showcase Live Session)

Gileah and The Ghost – Train The Emergency

You can now check our our last.fm page and see what we play as we play it.