Given that the chance of discovering old music is ever greater these days, the level of competition for new material is greatly increased. Add to that the fact that the scribbled list on my coffee table contained a mere four 2015 album releases and it’s clear I’ve not got a top ten this time around. Martin Courtney’s Many Moons has had multiple plays since coming out a couple of months ago though and I stand by the good, bad & indifferent reviews I’ve given over the past year. Individual songs seem to be making less impact on me year on year and titles are all but unknown due to the ease of just filling up a playlist and letting the PC or mp3 device take the strain. Personal 7” purchases have increased though whilst I’m also busy getting rid of the bulk of my CDs.

In the live sphere it’s been a very good year personally and for the site, however. New festivals (Franklin Fest, Rockaway Beach), first time attendance of established events (Incubate, Book Yer Ane Fest, Buckfest) and maintaining ties with others (Le Guess Who?, Y-Not). Consequently few individual gigs have been as memorable for me as performances at those events (or bear comparison to the entire event in a couple of cases) but Oh! Gunquit & The Black Needles deserve a mention as do Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, Martha, Eagulls, The Charlatans and The War On Drugs. The Spook School’s album launch and their later show in Dundee at BYAF IX, coupled with the quality of Try To Be Hopeful, put them in the position of most enjoyable act of my year.

For the site as a whole 2016 will see a new Managing Editor in place as well as the introduction of a new weekly column in conjunction with Scruff Of The Neck records and further profiles of those entities fighting the diy fight. We'll have our first coverage from Hamburg's Garageville festival and our aim remains to cover a wide range of music on record and live throughout the UK and beyond – should you feel you can regularly contribute to that aim then by all means get in touch at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

As per usual at this time of year, given the quiet release schedules and the fact most people have a lot of other stuff to do the site will be basically dormant for a couple of weeks. Songs that have been overlooked in the general crush throughout previous months could well though be getting tweeted so look out for those & have an enjoyable holiday period.  

Photograph : Debbie Sheringham

Despite storm Abigail drenching the city plenty of hardy souls made the effort to get along to Leith's Franklin Cricket Club tonight, in order to witness the live powerhouse that is Oh! Gunquit on stage.

Although slightly underlit their's was as electrifying and raucous a performance as expected. The likes of 'Bad Bad Milk', 'Sinkhole' and of course 'Lights Out' being raced through at a frenetic pace gave all present barely a chance to catch their collective breath. 

In Tina Swasey the group have a singularly engaging vocalist, happy to get in amongst the crowd, break out some Northern Soul dance moves and with the control enough to successfully hula hoop whilst playing the trumpet. Diaphram of steel!

Rawer than on debut album Eat Yuppies And Dance their party sound gave the crowd exactly what they wanted with its solid, rumbling rythym section, the provocative sax playing and Simon Wild's guitar lines tying it all together behind Tina's commanding frontage. Two encores followed the main set, including a race through 'Wooly Bully' that properly set the seal on another top notch headline act at the Franklin Rock 'N' Roll Club.

Not that tonight's support act was in any way inferior. Looking far fresher than you'd expect after two months of touring Sao Paolo's The Black Needles delivered up a stomping, raw set of stripped down garage. Slower, "romantic" numbers were annonced once or twice but never quite seemed to take on the form that description implies as the Brazilian trio rattled through a dozen or so songs including a well chosen cover of the Q65's 'I Got Nightmares'.

Singer Jonas Morbach regularly finished off songs by lending a hand on the drums, whacking away at a cymbal with his guitar head, an act emblematic of the exuberance of the band's overall performance and indicative of how caught up in the live situation they manage to get. Absorbing stuff from a thoroughly personable group.

Another successful show at the Franklin (and what other bar sports its own cricket jumper?) with The Bonnevilles being the next headliners there on November 28.

Cheers to Tina, Simon & Jonas for taking the time to have a blether on the night and to the Franklin Rock 'N' Roll Club team for yet again coming up with the goods.