Archive for June, 2009
Weekend Anthem
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
4 LoveLikeFire - William
Hometown: San Francisco, America
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/lovelikefire
Pigeonhole: The Stills, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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Step Away From The Computer #7: Insider
Friday, June 26th, 2009
INSIDER was organised at very short notice to make up for the absence of the Outsider Festival, which had been due to take place in the Aviemore area this weekend before being cancelled due to the economic downturn.
Although booked-up Outsider acts such as Teenage Fanclub, King Creosote and Malcolm Middleton aren’t playing, Insider can congratulate itself for luring the next generation of Scottish talent to the Highlands for what should be a pretty fine weekend.
Location:
Inshriach House, near Aviemore.
Fascinating fact:
Insider is the only festival in the world that doesn’t charge a booking fee (OK, that probably isn’t true but it’s the first one we’ve come across anyway).
Date:
Friday, June 26 – Sunday, June 28
Weather forecast:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Festival history:
This is its first year.
Total number of acts:
25
Cost of a ticket:
£40
So each act is worth:
£1.60
Big-hitters:
Woodenbox, Over The Wall, Mitchell Museum, Ross Clark & The Scarfs Go Missing, Isoceles, Rags & Feathers
Organiser’s propaganda:
“A mouth-watering banquet of home-grown music, spectacular theatrics, spit-roasts, high-jinks and sensory delights.”
Must-hear:
4 Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers – Situations (Friday)
4 Over The Wall – Gimme Five (Saturday)
4 Washington Irving – The Magician (Saturday)
4 Rags & Feathers – No Tomorrow (Sunday)
** Bonus – Michael Jackson tribute:
4 Aereogramme – Thriller
4 KT Tunstall – I Want You Back
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Sound as a pound
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Surely a man in his position, with a loyal but local fanbase, would have more to gain by allowing his songs to reach the widest possible audience. After all, how many folk actually pay for music these days? And if record labels no longer know how to make money from records, what chance has he got?
But the Glasgow singer-songwriter was adamant that it wasn’t in his best interests and, you know what, he was dead right.
It soon dawned on me that Beerjacket is actually in a very envious position for an artist these days. He’s not famous enough for people to be uploading his albums (Animosity is his sixth) onto the usual filesharing forums yet his acoustic songs have a special quality – something that isn’t aligned to a misguided trend or a desperate quest for credibility – that ensures those who hear them are only too happy to part with cash to own them. Well, there isn’t exactly another option.
There are far more reckless ways to spend £4.99, which is all it costs to download Animosity on Amazon, or alternatively you can find it in Avalanche, Glasgow if you want a sleek black digipak version to hold in your hands.
If you’ve had your head turned to his charms by some recent Scottish blogging love on Song, By Toad, Rokbun and Aye Tunes, not to mention last Saturday’s Daily Record (“comparisons with Elliott Smith are unavoidable – no bad thing if you like your tunes”) and a full-page feature in The Herald Magazine, above – possibly unprecedented for an unsigned musician – then you’ll be keen to catch up on what you’ve missed.
So to that end we’ve provided a taster of each of his six albums, which should put you on the road to fully appreciating the man behind the Beerjacket.
4 Beerjacket – Oh My Head (Oh My Head, 2004)
4 Beerjacket – Joy For The Sad (Great Unhappiness, 2004)
4 Beerjacket – Please Be Kind (Accident History, 2006)
4 Beerjacket – Dance Dance Dance (The Slow Lane Is Faster, 2006)
4 Beerjacket – Belong In (A Boy Of Action, 2007)
4 Beerjacket – Tongue (Animosity, 2009)
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