Under the Radar podcast #6

Christmas. It might be chilly outside but it's hardly the coolest time of the year is it? We over-indulge in party snacks, strange, once-yearly liqueurs (eggnog?!) and belt-busting meals, before battening down the hatches on our little cocoons of reliable family customs, TV drowse-athons and enough lighting effects to melt Greenland. In short, the carving knife is all that's cutting edge about Yule-tide.

So it pleases us at UtR to know that the young hipsters and hipstresses of the Scottish music scene are equally predictable at this time of the year. Don't believe us?

Well, Billy caught up with a quintet of his favourite music makers for some festive banter, and was treated along the way to a poorly executed version of The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping, a shameless plug for Terry's Chocolate Orange and the earth-shatteringly weird coincidence that two separate musos both long for one of those tiny screwdriver sets in their Christmas cracker.

Panda Su, French Wives, Conquering Animal Sound, Dead Boy Robotics and Cancel the Astronauts... we're looking at you.

We also asked a few more of our favourite acts of 2009 to contribute either Christmas-themed - or just plain new - songs, and eagleowl, The Last Battle, There Will Be Fireworks and Tokyo Knife Attack duly obliged.

Again, the sound quality isn't perfect, but rest assured that top of our list for Santa this year is some professional recording gear. Hope you enjoy it anyway...

Play: Podcast #6


Running order:
00:54: There Will Be Fireworks: In Excelius Deo
07:10: Interview: Panda Su
10:32: Panda Su - Eric Is Dead
15:44: Tokyo Knife Attack - Invisible Sister
20:15: Interview: French Wives
23:30: French Wives - Me vs Me
28:04: eagleowl - Sleep the Winter
34:09: Interview: Conquering Animal Sound
37:48: Conquering Animal Sound - Where The Wild Things Are
42:22: Interview: Dead Boy Robotics
44:31: Death Ohh Eff - Me and Fift (Dead Boy Robotics remix)
48:22: The Last Battle - Once Upon A Boxing Day
54:14: Interview: Cancel The Astronauts
57:27: Cancel the Astronauts - Funny For A Girl


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Podcast: Billy Hamilton, Nick Mitchell

Previous UtR podcasts

Under the Radar podcast #4

It may be old news now, but the ripples of record sales set in motion by the Mercury Music Prize are still being felt across the industry.

Following our editorial on the subject a couple of weeks ago, we discuss the outcome (or more accurately, Billy enters rant mode!), and we try to figure out whether the whole concept of music awards has any value at all.

As if that wasn't enough to tempt you to download/ press play/do whatever it is you do with a podcast, we also have a great selection of tuneage.

There's the new single from The Low Miffs' collaboration with former Orange Juice / Josef K legend Malcolm Ross, a fresh cut from Glasgow hardcore rockers Citizens, a taster of North Atlantic Oscillation's long-awaited debut album, as well as acts we've played host to on the blog in recent weeks: Tokyo Knife Attack, The Pineapple Chunks and The John Knox Sex Club.

Enjoy the show...

Play: Podcast #4


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Running order:
00:12: Malcolm Ross and the Low Miffs - Cressida
04:34: Tokyo Knife Attack - Another One Falls
09:43: The Pineapple Chunks - The Horror The Horror
13:44: Mercury Music Prize chat
19:17: Errors - Salut France
22:42: North Atlantic Oscillation - 77 Hours
27:46: Citizens - Shit Whistler
32:20: The John Knox Sex Club - John the Revelator

Words and blether: Nick Mitchell, Billy Hamilton

Previous UtR podcasts

On the radar: Tokyo Knife Attack

Confession time. I love Synthpop. Especially early Synthpop, and especially anything that Giorgio Moroder had a hand in, from the Donna Summer anthem 'I Feel Love' to the ridiculously decadent Scarface soundtrack.

In the intervening 30 years, the once revolutionary synthesizer has endured changing fads and fashions, but now Synthpop is firmly back in vogue, with hyped acts like M83, Passion Pit and Cut Copy turning back the clock on those days of primitive electronics.

Too young to enjoy the 1980s to its fullest, the young Craig Bell was nevertheless taking his first steps in music making: "I was about seven when I got my first tape recorder. I occasionally still find old tapes at my folks' house full of wonky noises, screaming and the kind of weird lyrics that only a kid could come up with."

That could be quite a listen, but now Bell, under the name Tokyo Knife Attack ("it's a syntax thing"), has honed his own take on Synthpop into a bold, beat-heavy barrage that will bring a smile to the faces of Moroder disciples and techno lovers alike.

Play: Another One Falls


"Making music is a compulsion for me," Bell says. "When I'm away from my lovely machines and instruments I start to get agitated and pine for them. I hate going on holiday."

That may be so, but TKA would make for the ideal holiday soundtrack; it's good time music, harking back to those pre-recession days of unchecked hedonism and shoulder-perched boomboxes.

"There was a period in the late 70s and 80s when pop acts seemed to be given space to experiment and grow by their labels, at a time when technology was changing the way music was made and recorded," Bell says of his influences. "I love so many acts from this era: Kraftwerk, OMD, Devo, Giorgio Moroder, Roxy, Phil Oakey to name but a few."

But Bell didn't always ride on the electro side of the pop tracks. "My first experience of the Scottish music scene was Glasgow in the mid 90s," he says. "I played sax in a band and would gig with and go to watch other bands like Urusei Yatsura, Mogwai, The Blisters/TheKarelia, Eska, The Yummy Fur, The Delgados, Appendix Out... the city seemed rich with talent, albeit mostly rock bands.

"Over the next ten years there wasn't that much live music that held my interest and I gravitated towards clubs and electronic music," Bell adds. "I'm glad to say that recently the music scene seems to have burst back to life with great bands from all over Scotland making all kinds of genre defying music with all sorts of instruments and machines. I don't know how it happened, but I'm glad it did."

With new tracks in the offing, autumn gigs booked and the search on for a new label, Tokyo Knife Attack is set to add his own sound to the "genre defying" Scottish scene. Bring on the Synthpop revival I say.

Words: Nick Mitchell

Play: Cool Kids


You can listen to a few more TKA tracks here

Like what you hear? Watch TKA at the following shows:
21 Nov @ Nice'n'Sleazy, Glasgow (with Findo Gask and Adult Emergency)
27 Nov @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen