Tarriers of Sweet Nobility,

Tomorrow sees the Glasgow North East by-election, it's all pots, pans and pieces. With an upcoming general elections, the winner of the by-election might only be in the seat for a short while. Candidates might see it as a short holiday in London. They're quite a bunch. SNP and Conservatives have put forward former TV news reporters as candidates, media presentation rather than substance seems to be key to their decision. Labour have selected a teacher. The Liberal Democrat campaign has been hindered by blunders. There are a bunch of smaller parties (Go Greens!), then the two former Big Brother housemates (Mikey Hughes and Tommy Sheridan) and John Smeaton. Tommy Sheridan doesn't seem to have been allowed much airtime on TV or radio, it might be nice to send him to London to ruffle a few feathers. The Sun newspaper seems to have been throwing its weight around on the national scale recently but I haven't noticed their opinion on this contest, mostly because I don't read (sometimes, its impossible to avoid what their headlines). They've declared support for Conservatives at the next election but in Scotland, where the Conservatives are weaker, they've had to remain quiet. Furthermore, John Smeaton, who appears less than competent in his campaigning, is a Sun columnist. It seems in this case that The Sun might just have to wait for the news to occur and then report it, what a novel idea!

Of course, The Sun have gone to town over Gordon Brown's error-strewn letter to a war widow. Poor Gordy tries to do what is right, and I agree more care should have been taken, but whatever he does it's never enough for people; once he leaves office, I think he ought to get his own TV programme so that people could warm to him and perhaps realise their misjudgement over a cup of tea on the sofa.

I visited the local supermarket to top up the office tea-making supplies. I found myself dawdling behind a woman and her young son; to amuse him, she would send him up each aisle for the required item on her list. 'Go get a loaf, backwards, forwards, there, just there, bring it to me.', she coaxed. I avoided them but we were to converge again, at the sugar, where I found the child lying flat on his belly atop the pile, the mother came scooting along to scold the child, 'Come on, Theodore, stop licking the sugar.' Sugar really is the answer to most of life's problems, except for when it's frosty, most people use salt then.

Bugs of Wizen Technologies,

Idlewild have continually changed, they’ve explored, consolidated new areas of sound but retained their expertise in the loudness which first brought them to the public’s attention. The new album, Post Electric Blues, probably relies more on the folk/solo work of Roddy Woomble than before, of course, the involvement of Heidi Talbot and John McCusker points towards this.

My favourite song is possibly the final track, Take Me Back In Time. I like the way it spins down with a sense of fatalism. My favourite lyric is ‘when you reach the end of the road, you still need somewhere to go’, it isn’t particularly meaty from a poetic viewpoint but is striking in its context.

Idlewild played Fat Sam’s, Dundee to promote the new album. The first band on the bill were Make Love but we arrived just as they were finishing up, they did not end with a climactic flourish, perhaps in the future, they will endear themselves to me.

Sparrow and the Workshop were next up. They are a three-piece who are based on Glasgow. Singer Jill has a really captivating voice; chillingly, it rings around the room. Devil’s Song is perhaps their signature tune but not all of their songs are so jaunty and energetic.

Idlewild put on a lively performance with a setlist that plucked the more raucous tracks from each of their now extensive back catalogue. Many of those earlier songs sound so much better now that Roddy’s voice has aged and I think there is a case for re-recording songs like Little Discourage, These Wooden Ideas and, especially, When I Argue I See Shapes.

This was the setlist:

City Hall

Younger Than America

Little Discourage

I Don't Have The Map

These Wooden Ideas

Roseability

Idea Track

No Emotion

A Ghost In The Arcade

Actually, It's Darkness

When I Argue I See Shapes

Post Electric

Annihilate Now!

You Held The World In Your Arms

Blame It On The Obvious Ways

Too Long Awake

***

Readers & Writers

A Modern Way Of Letting Go

I stood next to a man who used the ‘What song is this?’ application on his iPhone on every song. No titles matched every song, so he tried to work it out based on the Idlewild songs stored on his iPhone but he only had The Remote Part album. I was perhaps too nosy, I thought that his lack of success in naming the songs would have hampered his enjoyment but the wrote an SMS later which begun, ‘Idlewild are really very good…’ The most amusing part of this man’s confusion was the fact that he was stood by the mixing desk where the setlist was clearly visible.

Idlewild are one of Scotland’s treasures; like Belle & Sebastian and Teenage Fanclub, they’re prolific, they sit just outside the mainstream public’s consciousness but they’re still adored by those who know what’s right. They never disappoint.