Hey, feeling a lack of indiepop and socialism in your life? Well, lucky you cos there’s a new issue of Tasty zine out right now to fill that gap. This here issue is number 16 and is a Jubilee special which means a pull out interview with Billy Bragg and some moaning about how horrible old people are [oh, hang on, that’s actually not about the Queen, hoho!]. The Billy Bragg interview is particularly good as there’s very little of the ‘ahhhhh, Billy Bragg, socialist songsmith of the people’ and instead they take him to task over the slight dubiousness of the anti-Jubilee but pro-English sentiments of his new record. Left nationalism, hmmmm. That aside you also get good chats with Milky Wimpshake, Comet Gain, Chris T-T and The Icicles. They’re not convincing me that British Sea Power are good though. There’s also record reviews and a briefing on the Italian General Strike. And all wrapped up in a good old communist styled cover. Convinced enough to send em your cash? Well, you don’t have to because it’s FREE! That’s, er, socialism for you. So drop them an email, tell them you’re special friends of diskant and I’m sure they’ll sort you out. One way or the other. Or you can just read it online. So, no excuses, get on with it.

Wandered over to West 13th last night to see Enon. Firstly we got The Magnificents who are still crazily great. They were having some sound problems that only made scary eyed keyboard man all the funnier. One day he will have an onstage mental fit and rampage around killing people and we’ll all think it’s hilarious. Especially if he continues to shout into microphone while on killing spree [KIIILLLLL, AAARRRGHHH! RAAAAAAAARR! etc.].

Enon, however, did not gain anything from the dodgy sound (hey, mr rich person, give the venue money for a new PA) and it was only after a few songs that they started to sound like a vaguely good hardcore guitar band. Which is still not good because Enon are a wonky electronic band. There was too much emphasis on the guitar bits and not enough electronic fun or singer running around the place inspiring fun and amusement. This was mostly upsetting because they were ace last time they played Glasgow, upstaging Les Savy Fav no less (!). I didn’t know any of the songs they played until the last two but I could hear some ace tunes buried under the sludge so I’m betting on the new album being fantastic. Luckily the sound got ever so gradually better and they played a rather awesome version of Conjugate The Verbs to finish on so it didn’t end up a total disappointment. Ho hum etc.

I’m just back from the fine city of Edinburgh where I was amusing myself in the style of someone with no money. Firstly I took myself to The Art of Star Wars exhibition with unemployed person discount yay and spent a good couple of hours wandering about engrossed in the pictures and costumes and spaceships. More on this later but go if you get the chance.

After that and some nice dinner we watched television, sorry watched Television [ha ha HA! see what I did there?]. We arrived about 9pm only to discover much cheering as Television took to the stage. So no James Orr Complex for us, boo. The venue was utterly packed and we could not see a single thing. If I stood on tiptoe I could make out the lights at the top of the stage but that was it. Luckily we were tipped off to the back stairs and side stage views so got ourselves a prety great view. I spent most of the set just thinking ‘Loooook! It’s Tom Verlaine!’ which was almost exciting enough for me. When I got a copy of Marquee Moon back in 1990ish and named my pot plant after Tom Verlaine I never thought I’d get to see them live, even when they reformed a couple of years later. So, to be standing mere feet away and hear all the hits had me unable to remove the stupid grin from my face. I’m glad I didn’t listen to the records or anything before I went to the show as it was way better being reminded of everything as it happened, the guitar lines seemingly indelibly imprinted on my memory. Highlights were pretty much everything they played off Marquee Moon and a fantastic Little Johnny Jewel. I’m listening to a live tape of them from 1978 as I write this and apart from the sound quality you’d hardly notice those 24 years in between. The Strokes wish they were half as cool as 2002 Television in their dad clothes, let alone 1970s hipster Television.

Too much excitement lately! Most exciting thing was going to IKEA with David obviously. No, most exciting was walking into the venue past a queue of people waiting in the rain to get into the OXES show. WITH PIZZA. Maybe that was the meanest thing. Good to see the OXES boys again – they arrived with usual grace, demanding coffee and shoving homemade banana cake in their mouths and helpfully showing David how small his room would be if he decorated it with life size OXES statues. Gig was good too. Fighting Red Adair managed to hold their own in the face of the mighty rock talent that is I’m Being Good and OXES. Sams Hot Car Lot less so. I’m Being Good were everything I hoped they’d be – sparky, scritchy, shouty and sweet. I want them to move to Glasgow and play every week. They could live in our cupboard. OXES were fun as always, stalking every nook and cranny of the venue and never missing any of their perfectly timed dual guitar lines. Afterwards we all stood aimlessly for what seemed like hours. We attempted to carry the famous OXES BOXES but they are, or seemed, very heavy so I stood on one instead. Fear my tallness! etc. I got OXES hugs when they left the next morning. I was sorry to see them go.

A bill of Aereogramme, Eska and Degrassi was not to be missed so miss it I did not. My timekeeping has become worryingly good which meant I was able to see every second of Degrassi. I’d rather have missed the first song though as it was pretty dull and had me regretting my keenness. Luckily things perked up massively and the rest of the set was ace. Catchy melodic indie rock with enough rock power and weirdy keyboard bits to make things very interesting indeed. You’ll be hearing more of Degrassi I predict as they’re doing pretty well for themselves. They’ve got a record out tomorrow I hear which I shall consider purchasing.

Eska ruled. I love Eska. While watching Eska last night it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen them live in ages which is completely useless of me as they’ve played live in Glasgow more than ever lately. The other thing that struck me was that most of the people applauding with enthusiasm were not people I recognised. Yes, Eska finally have a proper fanbase, thanks no doubt to their high profile touring of late with the likes of Idlewild and Biffy Clyro. Hurrah! But enough of the musings. Eska were a super mighty rockout power force and worth the entrance fee on their own. Being a support slot it was a wee bit on the short side but we got all the tunes from the recentish EP, a dusted off still catchy as hell Goodby To Victories and then they nonchalantly finished off with one of their epic instrumentals. The quiet beginnings started the audience chattering but they were soon silenced by the thick cut riffs bludgeoning their eardrums. Eska have more riffs in one song than some bands make a career out of and they’re all a bit askew and ready to turn on a sixpence at a micro second’s notice. Eska used to be Scotland’s best kept secret but we’re starting to feel guilty of such hoarding. Be good to them though or we might take them back and barricade all roads in.

I was hoping to be impressed by Aereogramme as I’d kind of mislaid them since they overawed me at the Chemikal Underground birthday party gig a couple of years back. The recorded output never seemed to match my impressions of them live and now I’m beginning to think I hallucinated the ChemU gig as I couldn’t find anything to get excited about in their set last night. After four songs left me unmoved I gave up and went home. I still think I’m missing something with Aereogramme so I’m not ready to dismiss them completely. It’s just worryingly easy to picture them in a glossy sepia tinged video, playing in a crumbling gothic church with overplayed emotional imagery. Thankfully they’re in the good hands of Chemikal so I hope to prove myself wrong about Aerogramme sometime.

Well, I finally made it along to West 13th today seeing as I was in the area [buying a USB cable…geek]. Those of you keeping up will know it’s the new venture by the 13th Note people and I’m happy to say that it’s a fine replacement. Okay, so nowhere could truly replace the old 13th Note cafe but it’s about a million times better than nothing. It’s also good to know that the recipe for 13th Note atmosphere seems to be: paint the walls red, make sure the chairs are comfy, play jazz. I would have added ‘sell Irn Bru’ but they’d run out [!!] and yet it still managed to be the 13th Note so that can’t be essential. Anyway, if you’re living in or visiting Glasgow then make an effort to get along – there’s loads of free gigs on and you’ll always be sure of a pint and some good food. More info here. Best of luck to them.

SQA probe as exam papers go missing [and turn up at Stuart from Mogwai’s house!]

Here’s some excerpts but the whole thing is hilarious:

Three large parcels marked “Urgent: Scottish Qualifications Authority Documents Enclosed” arrived at the home of a well-known rock musician Stuart Braithwaite in the Leith Links area of the city by registered mail on Saturday.

Mr Braithwaite, frontman of top band Mogwai, was stunned when the parcels were delivered by a neighbour at the weekend. Today he claimed the incident raises serious concerns about the state of the SQA.

He said: “I’m not impressed. I think that given the bad job they’ve done of it recently they’d take more care. They didn’t even realise they were missing. I could’ve chucked them in the bin. I think it’s a farce.”

FREE reading material at that! First up the London listings guide Probemusic has had to give up the big newspaper style and is now an A3 folded glossy leaflet thing. It’s no bad thing though as now it’s easier to read and none of that inky fingers trauma. It’s still got the usual London gig listings, recent live and record reviews and unsigned artist spotlight and this issue here is even better than usual as it has excerpts of an interview with Mr Steve Albini [the full interview is here]. Well worth picking up if you’re out and about in London or send a cheque for £4 to Probe Magazine Ltd, 1st Floor, 94 Ermine Road, London, SE13 7JR and they’ll post you out the next twelve issues.

Also of some interest is IF e-zine. They’ll send it straight to your inbox every month so you barely have to lift a finger and you’ll get news, articles, interviews and reviews of gigs, records and demos. You can read past issues here and also sign up to receive the new issues.

I tried to make the effort and be anti-Jubilee today by wandering over to Glasgow Green for the Citizens, Not Subjects event. It was a perfect day for the park and I was looking forward to seeing James Kelman and just sitting about in a sunny park scowling at policemen. But we arrived to a small group of people half-listening to some other people babbling on about Scotland and how great it is to be scottish and reading excerpts of god knows what written in auld scots. I am scottish, I’m a member of the Scottish Socialist Party and I’m a long time socialist. However, I don’t think Scotland is a wondrous place and I don’t feel any greater affinity with other scottish people over my english friends. So get over it already. We decided to duck into the Winter Gardens for a while and see how things were later. I can’t believe I haven’t been to the Winter Gardens before, they were ace! Loads of cacti and banana plants and other tropical big-leafed fantastic plants with a clunky board path, tropical temperatures and some interesting wee exhibitions hidden in the back all about the history of Glasgow Green and the city itself. I sat for a while and immersed myself in leaf patterns and warmth. Mmmmm. When we returned outside it was to discover more excerpt reading and even worse some acapella singing of heavy duty protest songs. As we left we pondered the thought that pro-Jubilee street parties were probably more fun since at least they’d have music and cake. I’m not saying they should have got Le Tigre style outfits and dance routines but a summer park event aimed at families should have music and fun above all else.

You might have noticed the new issue of the diskant ZINE isn’t up yet so if you’re lacking something to read then I recommend you stop by The Morning News. Not only have they been putting up some great articles recently but they’ve also been involved in a collection of writing called Manual. You can download the whole thing as a PDF and I second their suggestion that you print it out and read it away from your computer [especially if you can use the printer and paper at work hoho]. You get seventeen little pieces of writing with a How To theme. A few do this as a semi serious advice giving article such as How To Organize Your Record Collection (I order mine almost exactly by the ‘Conveniently’ method described) and How To Start A Dialogue With A Complete Stranger (pretend to get hit by a car, good call!) and others in the form of short fiction. Favourites of these include the touching and subtly detailed How To Perform A Card Trick and the cutely sadly funny How To Unsuccessfully Woo Your Roommate’s Future Husband. Most if it is damn good stuff though so go get it and go read it.

LE TIGRE! They’re my new favourite band after seeing them play last week. All bands should be like Le Tigre. I want an end to bands with no stage presence. The difference it makes to everyone when the band is having fun onstage [or, even better, all over the venue]. Think Les Savy Fav, Trail of Dead, OXES, heck, even Kylie. And especially Le Tigre. They had matching uniforms, digital films for each song, dance routines and big grins on their faces. They played all the hits, they got everyone dancing, they swapped instruments and whispered in eachother’s ears. They were smart and cute and goofy. I loved them all. All bands should be like Le Tigre.