It really does feel strange posting an entire unreleased album by an artist on this blog as I’m usually pretty respectful about copyright and don’t post much that I don’t have prior permission (or at least implied permission) for. But this may be a new era of artist-authorised bootlegging, if Mr Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote has his way.

Because each version of this album that is recorded is completely unique, and certainly in the case of this recording, which comes to you via an old dictaphone of mine, far from perfect, it seems his aim is to create a buzz about this collection of songs without taking away from the official version, whenever that may be released (he’s hinted it may be the final ever KC album so let’s hope it’s not too soon).

Anyway have a listen if you wish – there will surely be versions out there with better sound quality, but you can still get an idea of how good the songs are, and also of what a great experience it was to sit and watch this being recorded from start to finish. In between the tracks are some strange sounds, which were in fact some interesting little video vignettes which announced each song. Also we were sat right at the front by the drums and bass, so KC’s vocal is a little quieter than you would wish.

This was in fact Mel’s recording, as I was recording it with the free iTalk app on my iPhone – that version would be substantially better sound quality but unfortunately it over-modulates quite a lot so I went for the dictaphone version. 

King Creosote’s 8th Bit of Strange in 14 Years – Side 1

King Creosote’s 8th Bit of Strange in 14 Years – Side 2

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I talked about the latest Fencezine on this month’s podcast and included King Creosote’s lovely version of Withered Hand’s No Cigarettes from the accompanying CD ‘On Behalf of My Wife and I’. Unfortunately it seems this issue has now sold out, so it seems rather cruel to be writing more about it, but at least one person (ok, one person) has asked for more info on the tracklisting so here goes (and get yourself over to the Beefboard on fencerecords.com to make sure you find out about the next issue before they sell out again).

other KC tunes on the album are the sprightly ‘Your Psycho Boyfriend’, and the more mournful ‘All I Ask’ and ‘Well Done’. Then we get some extremely lo-fi action from Mr Hand himself, with Panda Eyes, before No Cigarettes kicks in, and what an awesome version it is. 

Next we get Takeaway Food from the Religious Songs EP, a wee instrumental number and then three more KC tunes: ‘Only This Exam’, a demo version of Rims in which those DISGUSTING chorus lyrics are much more audible than on the album version, and ‘I Fall At the Last Hurdle’.

Oh and the last song will remain a secret because I’ve got the feeling KC would prefer it that way.. but I will tell you, it’s a lovely wee collection of songs by two of my favourite songwriters.

 So seeing as I’m trying to be as productive as possible as part of this whole ’100 Days to Get My Shit Together’ thing (no I hadn’t forgotten about it!) I thought it was about time I brought the podcasts back.

This first, rather hurried one is mainly here to promote the Ten Tracks bundle and issue 1 of the zine, so apologies to those of you who’ll be sick of my constant self-promotion, but I hope the choice of some BLOODY BRILLIANT tracks is enough to make up for it. And hopefully future podcasts will have a bit more structure to them and a bit more production polish – this was recorded live with no preparation so imagine what it could be like with a little forward planning! (and apologies for over modulation and varying sound levels in places..)

Tracklisting:

1. My Latest Novel – The Greatest Shakedown

2. King Creosote – No Cigarettes (written by Withered Hand)

3. Musée Mécanique – Like Home

4. David Tattersall (of The Wave Pictures) – Happy For a While

5. Paper Planes – Doris Day

6.  Broken Social Scene - Anthem for a 17 Year Old Girl

p.s. I’m delighted to report that there’s a wee interview with me on Peenko’s blog, which was just voted top music site in the ScotBlogs Awards.

It’s the first in his new ‘Community Service’ series about people who are active in the Scottish music scene, and he asked me some very good questions about the motivations behind this blog and putting out a fanzine which took quite a lot of thought to answer.

Personally I reckon his original title ‘Care in the Community’ might be more appropriate in my case!

I missed the impromptu set by The Three Craws at Homegame earlier this year, so I was delighted when my friends Iain and Aileen, who live in Aberdour, got Mel and I tickets to go see them at the Aberdour Festival.

As it turned out, we were already heading to Fife that weekend to visit my mum and her partner, who were renting a little holiday house in Lower Largo, so we were able to head to Aberdour on the way back and catch the set.

In case you’re not aware, the Three Craws are James Yorkston (James Yorkston), King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) and the Pictish Trail (Johnny Lynch). Now individually these are three of my favourite songwriters/performers, so to see them all together at the same time was a joy.

They played a wide variety of stuff – at the beginning they took turns to play one of their own songs but they soon went off into what was obviously an improvised set of great folk songs and tracks by their friends including by Kenny’s brother Gordon, who has recorded so many great songs under the name of The Lone Pigeon and with the Aliens and the Beta Band. The highlight for me though was an absolutely storming version of Adrian Crowley‘s Walk-On Part.

I have to admit I didn’t know this song previously but on my return I immediately bought his album Long Distance Swimmer so I could listen to it on repeat whilst furiously knitting my brow and wringing my hands at the pointless absurdity of life, drinking whisky and smoking crack (er ok, whilst having a nice cup of tea).

What’s so great about the Three Craws, in addition to the silly banter and improvised nonsense, is their harmonies. Their voices complement each other so perfectly it was stunning to hear.

So, yes – I couldn’t resist making another wee video. I hope the Craws don’t mind me including some personal footage of my visit to Fife with clips from their performance – and I suppose this is a bit of a companion piece to my Homegame video seeing as I missed them at that. I have to admit, and this is coming from an avowed city lubber, I think I’m starting to fall in love with Fife a little bit. Hope you enjoy it.

Vimeo:

YouTube:

 At the beginning of the video James Yorkston is referring to a gift he was given of a crocheted tortoise, hare and fox – go the fence forums to get a closer look..

If you’re lucky enough to be heading to the Green Man festival this year in Wales, you’ll see the Three Craws there, along with various other Fence Collective peeps.

Also worth checking out are these live acoustic performances by King Creosote in Hyde Park for the website www.bandstandbusking.com especially if you want to find out what the actual words to ‘Rims’ are… hint: it’s not “let me remind you that you had a menu”