Scratch me with your Black Talon(s)...

So far we’ve brought you some new Edinburgh sounds in the form of pop, rock, electro, funk, acoustic and folk. 'Great' you might think, 'I LOVE ALL THESE THINGS'. But, some of you might be sitting and waiting, waiting in the shadows for some hardcore fun-times metal madness.  ‘OH how I wish they’d introduce me to some new thrash-metal beats’ you think to yourself, we bet you are and odds are you are also thinking ‘But where would I find such sounds? Surely you lot aren’t that well prepared?’ OH! Yes we effing are! Check out these bad boys...

Black Talon Looking FUCKING AMAZE.

Introducing the fantastic- Black Talon. Not only do they sound the part, they look the part. We like people who look the part and live it. They’re like the Edinburgh thrash-metal scenes answer to Lady Gaga; ‘they are their art’ etcetc. For all the people out there who enjoy a bio Black Talon consists of a five-man line-up, made up of members and ex-members of other Edinburgh bands such as Dirty Modern Hero, Cancerous Womb, Foetal Splatter and Arcane Corps. They formed in 2010 and have since released the Inevitable Fatality EP plus some live tracks available online. Coincidently, their live recordings are named Live as Fuck (Amazing.) In their own words they aim to:

“... help rekindle and support the UK Thrash Scene in the best way we know how - With a lot of Thrash Potato!”

Admittedly, thrash-metal won’t be to everyone’s tastes but it definitely has an important place in both the Edinburgh and general worldwide music scene. See Exodus, Death Angel, Megadeath and Anthrax if you need examples to back up that statement. Even if the music isn’t your thing, why not buy some merch. Yes, they have merchandise. Another plus-point of both the thrash-metal and metal scene in general, they always have great merchandise and we like a bit of effort in this area. Who wants a Rihanna’s face on a t-shirt for £30+ when you can get a metal bands tee for say, £5 + postage; let’s just use Black Talon as an example shall we?

WASTE OF FUCKING MONEY. 

BRILL PURCHASE. (Effort made to print ‘cheeky’ slogan on the back.) THUMBS UP.

Following all this excitement, you probably want to go and see them play live don’t you? Maybe even wear the t-shirt you bought? Maybe even sit on some guys shoulders and go topless? That’d be great eh lads, LADS?! Black Talon play Bannerman’s this Saturday – March 3^rd. More line-up info and times HERE. 

Hopefully just the beginning for... End of Neil

End Of Neil is the “stage-name” of er... a guy named Neil.  A mainly acoustic based singer-songwriter who specialises in lovingly created songs and performances. Why not have a little listen to his sound-cloud to get a feel for what we mean, and what’s about to be discussed – that way there’s no awkward moments and nobodies time is wasted. If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to read on etcetc...

This ^^^ is Neil by the way

We aren’t massive fans of musical agendas or artist aims in general, especially if it is the artist themselves writing them. End Of Neil is classic example and has fallen into this, what we like to call, ‘trap’:

“For me, singing is about spontaneous performance where the emotion, fear, energy and creativity of the moment and channelled, so when you see End of Neil performing, I am doing it just that once, for you.

My manifesto is 'change the way you think about your life.'”

SAD FACE :(

This musical avant-garde-esque explanation appears to only reside on the sound-cloud page though so just try and ignore it readers, thanks. ANYWAY back to the music, there’s a lot of tracks to get your ears round which is both good and bad depending on what mood you’re in; their all good for the most part though so don’t worry you’ll be fine. (The bottom playlist is the best one by the way) And, if you can excuse us for a moment whilst we get all musically pretentious – the tunes sound at their best when listened to through headphones plugged into your PC/LAPTOP/MAC/AMSTRAD device. Listening this way ensures you hear all the layers and parts that might be missed if you weren’t hearing it in a sort of ‘closed environment’. PRETENTIOUS TIP-TIME OVER.

Our current favourites are High Day, The Most Beautiful Thing in the World and Nobody Down at the Beach No More. End of Neil will more than likely sit well with fans of The Beta Band, Badly Drawn Boy, Pavement and Gomez. Looking at that lovely wee list, you can’t argue with those comparisons really can you? Plus, he's local! One can only hope that a future End of Neil EP ends up in a similar record shop sale situation to this...

End of Neil isn’t on Facebook pages yet, but does have Twitter, YouTube, Sound-cloud and Word-press. The Word-press blog actually includes posts on particular songs inspirations and is an interesting read for both fellow songwriters and nosy music bloggers such as us. Do support and give him a listen, you won't be disappointed! 

(Everybody Was) Kung Fu Academy.

We are about to present you with music which is a Hot Chip-Foo Fighters-Red Hot Chili Peppers -Paul Weller-Kasabian-Strokes hybrid. Oh yes, it’s party time and this party is funky as an, er... chicken? Anyway, please click HERE and listen to Kung Fu Academy whilst you continue reading.

They do a much better job than we ever could of describing who/what they hell they are: “Kung Fu Academy were formed through a fusion of tight rhythmic grooves and disgustingly tasty melodic sprinklings of a fantabulous nature - the band prides itself on their top-class musicianship, consummate professionalism and, above all else, fantastic songs.” Straight and to the point - well done boys. But basically, we like music that sounds like it should be on amazing film soundtracks and that’s exactly what Kung Fu Academy manage to do. Before you say it, we AREN’T easily pleased and it is actually pretty hard to create great soundtrack worthy music that’s actually memorable. For example - see Goodfellas soundtrack creator WELL DONE; Streetdance 3D soundtrack creator – not so well done.

THIS IS KUNG FU ACADEMY

“Yes this is all very well but what’s their ‘story’ ?”

Well the four member band formed not so long ago in end of 2010/early 2011 for a one off jaunt. After deciding: ‘Hey! This actually sounds pretty good’ they decided to make the band a permanent ‘hobby’ as it were. So throughout 2011 they’ve gigged, recorded and gigged. The result of which is numerous tour videos and the excellent Dirty Honey EP which should be gracing your ears as you read this if you’ve followed our earlier instructions clearly. You may even be so taken by what you are currently hearing that you would to BUY the EP. (You should buy the EP)

This is an example of a 'tour video' :

Kung Fu Academy play a headline slot on the monthly Napier Live showcase THIS Thursday (16^th Feb). On the bill alongside them is a lovely display of musical talent. We urge you to go along if you are in Edinburgh, we’ve seen them live and aside from being nice, normal people they are brilliant to watch. Click on the link for more info.

Always time for a hot Todd(y)

Here at Feed the Fish we have a slight soft spot for girls, guitars and keyboards. We think it stems from that Stacie Orrico/Vanessa Carlton period we went through a number of years ago but haven’t really looked into it to be honest. ANYWAY... this post has more important things to do, such as introduce the smoothly indulgent Erin Todd. Do try to ignore the slightly ‘chocolate bar description’ we’ve decided to go with here and look at a pretty picture of Ms.Todd instead...

Erin sporting a strictly 'clear drinks only' outfit.

Erin is born and bred in Edinburgh which is obviously part of the love here, and has been writing her own stuff since around 2007. However in was in 2009 that she really started making her mark on the city as a solo artist. The result of scurrying away into the studio was, the rather excellent In Limbo EP; the sounds of which can be bought and heard HERE. Our personal favourite is Pulling Me Away.  And before you could say: “What better way to round-off 2011 than with a UK-wide tour?!” Erin goes and bloody well does it! The Killer Heels tour was accompanied by a nice theme involving shoes. We like themes as they mean clever visuals: LOOK. Well done poster designers. 

Now, if you are reading this and thinking: ‘Hey I’m not as musically gifted as this lot,but I sure would like to learn’ then FEAR NOT as well as creating great music, Erin also teaches it. Oh yes, tutor ahoy-hoy by day and sexy songstress by night; the ladies got it all. What are you waiting for? BUY HER BLOODY MUSIC YOU FOOLS. She is an all together more likeable version of KT Tunstal (Remember her?) Yes, there is a slight similarity music-wise apart from Erin is sort of less ‘hippy and solar-panel inspired’ and more ‘ I eat carrot cake whilst leaving all my electrical items on stand-by’ kinda gal. If you still prefer the solar power over the cake then there is no way back for you, go sit on the naughty step made of recycled tyres and think about what you’ve done.

Erin eating an actual Carrot Cake. We're no liars - 'the proof's in the pudding' etcetc...

On top of being a talented musician and fellow cake lover, the lady is actually a NICE PERSON. Now, as much as we hate (not really) to harp on about how it is important to be sound of mind as well as er... sound of music, there really is no getting away from it. Her personality is as lovely as her voice. (which is pretty lovely isn't it?) 

P.S- For any Londoners out there reading Erin is playing with fellow singer-songwriter Rosie Bans at two of your infamous venues in the coming weeks:  Thursday Feb 16 @ The Troubadour and Monday March 5 @ The Bedford. However, if yer local  (I.E Scottish) then you can catch her at TUNE < click here for details.