Hard Left at The 13th Note (27/11/2016)

Glaswegians!  There's a rare chance to witness Hard Left's oppositional '77 punk barrage downstairs in The 13th Note a week on Sunday.  Come along and pay your respects to Mike Schulman and Stewart Anderson and thank them profusely for all those incredible Slumberland Records and 555 Recordings/Emotional Response releases that have illuminated the last quarter century.  Two of Glasgow's most abrasive and exhilarating groups will be sharing the bill with them: Kaspar Hauser and Anxiety.  Between the mayhem, I'll be playing some records and endeavouring not to kill the vibe.  It'll be ferocious but that seems like a suitable response to how 2016 has panned out.

There are Facebook events for the Glasgow gig as well as the Demand The Impossible tour.

Michael Head in Glasgow this Wednesday (24/02 @ Oran Mor)

Michael Head and his group The Strands were responsible for Not Unloved's favourite reissue of last year.  "The Magical World of The Strands" still sounds every bit as timeless and as romantic as it did on its first release in the late 90s when I bought it on CD and played it an absurd number of times.

The reissue was beautifully realised: accurately mastered, crisply pressed (I bought the vinyl this time) and nicely packaged.  Michael and his latest group, The Red Elastic Band, appear at Oran Mor this Wednesday and, all being well, Not Unloved will be playing some records between bands with Bobby Bluebell (yes, one of the folks behind this chart topper and this sublime pop moment).  It's a real honour to be asked to contribute in a small way to such a cool event.  I'll mostly be playing recent-ish purchases such as this fine cover of one of the greatest garage groovers of all time by France's The Missing Souls:

Playing records @ Mono on 9th May

Remember that How Soon Is Now? book reading at Mono I posted about the other day?  Well, I'm excited to say that I'll be loading up my little Buba Box (that's it in the picture) with a much deliberated over selection of 7" singles, bringing it along and playing a bunch of them at it.  Also doing time behind the decks will be my pal Robbie (part of the International Airport association) whose taste in music is impeccable.  As the book is about the mavericks who shaped independent music, expect to hear records on Creation, Mute, Postcard, Factory etc.. It's almost certain that Factory's contribution to culture will be represented this slab of funky doom*:

If that doesn't get you pulling awkward shapes like an anglepoise lamp doing interpretive dance, then you're a lost cause!  Thanks again to S for extending the invitation.  It was lovely to be asked.

* - surely the only song I will ever own with lines about flaying flesh with thoughts...shudder...