Homegame report: King Creosote's Numerous Bits of Strange

If you had taken the trouble to scan this year's Homegame lineup, you may have sensed that someone or something was missing. That intangible lacking ingredient? None other than Fence co-founder Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote.

But the singer/songwriter wasn't away on any sabbatical. No, that would be preposterous - you couldn't stage a Homegame without its reigning monarch after all.

In reality he was busier than ever, performing a new album of material to a small room of fans seven times over the weekend - and that's when he wasn't springing surprise pub gigs, introducing The Bluebells, packing up PA systems and chatting to anyone who said hello. It's just that it wasn't publicised to all-comers, y'see.



UtR was lucky enough to find a space in one of his Sunday afternoon shows, also known as KC's 7th Bit of Strange. As Anderson explained to us (and to his mum and gran, this being Mother's Day) the idea is that the album is performed live and the audience members record it on whatever piece of gadgetry they have to hand (phones, cameras, etc, as long as it's unobtrusive).

Later in the day we catch up with Kenny in a brief moment of respite, and he tells us the concept arose through a growing sense of frustration with the regimented process of the industry. It was last year, watching his album sales decline while his press coverage grew, that he came up with the idea of a live album in the truest sense, and he sees Nth Bit of Strange as a means of giving his most dedicated fans something unique while bypassing the carefully dictated, somewhat artificial terms of an official album release.



We sat attentively through our session, and although the darkly humourous background visuals, delicious half-time oatcakes and one-off Homegame whisky blend certainly perked us up, it was the genuine quality of KC's songwriting and the impeccable musicianship of his band that really impressed. More than this, everyone in the room felt privileged to be part of it.



Our dictaphone, with battery rapidly failing, was switched on and off at the requested points, so in the spirit of the experiment, here are a couple of short snippets of what we managed to capture. (Be warned: the sound quality is truly dire - but maybe that's partly the point.)





A few hundred people recorded the sessions at the weekend, so expect more Bits of Strange to surface online in the coming days and weeks.

Newsflash: Your chance to record King Creosote

Santa may not have got round to pressing his gigantic red pantalons yet, but UtR’s mind is already getting giddy at the prospect of next year’s Homegame.

The annual Fence Records spectacular takes place in and around the quaint Fife seaside town of Anstruther on 12 – 14 March 2010.

Sure, it’s months away, but, with a roster that always guarantees an exquisite selection of tasty tunesters, tickets sell quicker than hot cakes on a frosty day in fat camp.

And, just to make sure you put Homegame tickets on your crimbo list, those relentless teases at Fence have dropped one humdinger of a pre-Xmas news nugget.

King Creosote, also known as fence luminary Kenny Anderson, will be playing his newest, as yet unreleased, album My Nth Bit Of Strange In Umpteen Years in its entirety at the Fence bash.

‘So what?’, we hear you holler. Well kids, Mister Anderson is allowing punters at Homegame 7 to record the entire show. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it PirateBay.

Anderson says: “Since the release of Flick The Vs in April I’ve written ten new songs for an album that, for various reasons, I’d rather not record and release in the usual way. Instead I’ve come up with this idea of a live album, and together with Fence drummer Captain Geeko, I performed My First Bit Of Strange In 13 Years in its entirety at the Fence Hallowe’en weekend in front of an invited audience. The members of this audience were asked to record the show for themselves on battery powered equipment, and at my behest these recordings have since been passed around in the hope that they present a poor substitute for the show itself.”



Apparently, Anderson will be playing the 'album' set a shattering seven times due to microscopic venue sizes. The shows will be the only King Creosote ‘gig’ over the weekend and ticket holders will be alloted a specific show to attend.

One interesting stipulation is that each person has to have a recording device of some sort on their personage to access the show. What constitutes a ‘recording device’ in this day and age is anyone’s guess, but if you’ve got one of those web-browsers that also masquerade as a mobile phone we reckon you’re okay.

“This new album will naturally evolve over time, and My Second/Third/Fourth ... Eighth Bits Of Strange In 14 Years will all be performed at Fence Homegame7 by King Creosote with various special guests.” Anderson explains. “That’s seven performances for 40 people at a time over the course of three days. And if recording the show for yourself scares you, we might well have a fortifying wee dram for you during the interval.”

We’re not quite sure how it’s going to work, but the concept of having fans (and, more interestingly perhaps, non-fans) record his album is certainly typical of Anderson’s songsmithery-for-all ethos. And for that, you really do have to admire the man.

Words: Billy Hamilton

Homegame runs from 12 – 14 March 2010. Weekend tickets are £75 and go on sale at Noon on Tuesday 1 December 1, 2009. The full line up will be announced nearer the time. For more news click here

UtR's Tigerfest five

Now in its sixth year, Tigerfest is an indie-kid’s wet dream. Sprawled across Edinburgh, Dunfermline and Aberdeen, the month long extravaganza oozes pleasure in every quarter; be it the cubby-hole intimacy of its venues, the obscure white label-like roster or the Credit Crunch busting door prices.

Yep, Tigerfest is a festival that truly shuns the modern era’s cash-money clutching, preferring craft and ingenuity to glitz and glamour. So in tribute to the sterling work by those in Tiger Towers, UtR has assembled its five ‘must see acts’ at this year’s Tigerfest.

Amusement Parks on Fire
An impenetrable swill of feedback and percussion, Nottingham’s Amusement Parks on Fire are the aural equivalent of a fist to the face. Their first two LPs were chiselled slabs of ice cold shoegaze, frothing with passion and, most importantly, decibels and the subsequent live shows were equally as lug-splintering. Back on the road in support of new EP ‘Young Fight’, the towering quintet are certain to pulverise solar plexuses with their battering-ram sonics - just remember to bring your ear-plugs.
Amusement Parks on Fire play Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire on Wed 6 May (7pm, £8)



FOUND
It’s strange to think that FOUND are only now on the cusp of a breakthrough. In fact, UtR was recently approached by a certain ‘taste-making’ webzine enquiring whether we’d heard of this “new” band. Oh how we chuckled. Now in their fifth year, the Edinburgh based ensemble are beginning to make ripples down south thanks to a stint at this year’s South By South West festival in Texas and the release of the majestic 'Fidelities EP'. The band's live show at Tigerfest will no doubt affirm their oddball eccentricities, but underneath that goofy exterior lies a truly remarkable group waiting to be FOUND
FOUND play Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall on Thu 14 May (7.30pm, £6)



King Creosote
Kenny Anderson doesn’t need much introduction. Head honcho of Scotland’s leading label Fence Records, he also creates sublime swathes of melody under the guise of King Creosote. Anderson’s early work was whimsical in vein, with linear folk strains blushing through rousing melodies, but new record Flick The Vs furrows more experimental pastures where shards of synth pulse like an eager tectonic plate. One thing, however, still remains: that astonishing falsetto crow soaring higher than Scotland’s towering topography.
King Creosote plays Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree on Sun 24 May (7.30pm, £14)



Meursault
If you haven’t heard of Edinburgh quartet Meursault by now you’re more than likely part of the myopic English media with eyes only for London. Quite simply, this is Scotland’s most spell-binding live band. Frontman Neil Pennycook has an inextinguishable vocal, the sort that excavates ear-canals with emotional piety; while the music is a vacuum of acoustic folk and jitterbug electronica. Almost too sublime for words, Meursault make a mesmerising live proposition that’s sure to hypnotise Tigerfest’s clued-up crowds.
Meursault play Edinburgh’s The Bowery on Thu 7 May (8pm, £5)



Swimmer One
With their sweeping, autumnal melodies and poetic verses, Swimmer One epitomise a modern Scottish band. Yet, there’s more to the Glaswegian duo than terse, melancholic laments. Theirs is a sound strewn with texture and punctuated with intensity; entangling itself in the heartstrings with a slew of 80s synth pop poignancy. Live, the brooding narratives succumb to an instrumental minefield that scuffles from bombast to brittleness with fluid aplomb. Certainly one to keep your ears peeled for at Tigerfest.
Swimmer One play Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall on Thu 14 May (7.30pm, £6)



Tigerfest runs from 6 - 26 May across venues in Aberdeen, Dunfermline and Edinburgh. The full line-up plus ticket details can be found at the Tigerfest website.

- Billy Hamilton

Who are you going to see at this grrreat festival? Let everybody know below....

Bringing it all back Home

As the Fence Collective's much-loved musical jamboree takes over Anstruther for a sixth year, dedicated fan Milo McLaughlin tells us what to expect



Anstruther is a tiny fishing village in Fife which is renowned both for the best fish suppers in Scotland and for being the unlikely HQ of Fence Records. Alternately described as a record label and a collective, Fence’s ‘forget the music industry, let’s just make great music and let people come to us’ ethos comes to a head this weekend when around 700 fans descend on the area for their annual Homegame Festival. In fact this will be the biggest year of the festival since it began in 2004, when it started off with the capacity for only 115 people (and has promptly sold out ever since).

The Fence community is headed up by King Creosote, The Pictish Trail and their pal James Yorkston, all of whom are outstanding songwriters and performers who will be amongst the must-see acts this weekend. But the wider collective includes bands on other labels and from wide and far, so expect a massive variety of musical styles on the line-up – it’s not all chin-stroking folk you know.

Play: The Pictish Trail - I Don't Know Where To Begin


As well as the Fence head honchos, some of the expected highlights of this year include sets by Found, David Thomas Broughton, Malcolm Middleton, Chemikal Underground’s latest signing the Phantom Band and a solo acoustic performance by Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. There will also be a special set of Daniel Johnston covers by James Yorkston and Adrian Crowley, who have recorded an EP together especially for the occasion. And of course let’s not forget the lesser known but no less essential Fence acts who include Rozi Plain, HMS Ginafore and Gummi Bako amongst their number.

Play: Rob St John - Like Alchemy


It’s also great to see UtR favourites Withered Hand, Meursault, Eagleowl and Rob St. John representing Edinburgh’s burgeoning music scene, and some brilliant musicians we’ve only just discovered like Men Diamler, Animal Magic Tricks and Panda Su. Phew!

It may be short notice, but we like to keep you on your toes – so if you’re a spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type person there are still last-minute tickets available (and details of the full line-up) over at www.fencerecords.com. Accommodation may be thin on the ground at this point but hey, surely a line-up this good is worth sleeping on the beach for? Your intrepid UtR correspondent hopes to see you there.

Play: Panda Su - Moviegoer


The Homegame takes place in Anstruther, Fife, 17 - 19 April.

Are you planning to go? Who are you looking forward to seeing?
Reading this after the event? Have fun?