beetlejuice

Is it just me or is the standard of busker in Aberdeen generally very, very, very low? let's look at some examples:

• The old woman who sits and plays the guitar with a comb
  
• The man who flicks 2 bits of string and makes a puppets arms wave out of time with the dodgy accordion music pumping out of a hidden boombox
  
• The guy on Union Street who claims he plays requests, and plays Wonderwall regardless of what you ask for
  

It seems a shame, because I've seen some great buskers in other cities. Even bought a CD off a couple of them.

There is one guy I have seen in Aberdeen who is actually quite good. Not sure who he is - he may even be a forum member - but he is a young chap with a proper amp etc, stands between St Nicks and Bon Accord, and has actually bothered to learn to play the guitar. He always seems to have a crowd of excited young ladies crowded round him every time I see him, and from the snippets I've heard he has a good voice and a decent ear for picking the right songs to cover.

Why can't we have more decent buskers in Aberdeen?

I absolutely love The Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love. Streamed the new one earlier and again, The Decemberists have knocked it right out of the park. Sounds pretty damn amazing to me. Must go and buy a copy after my exam tomorrow.

Looking forward to the Glasgow gig even more now!

Yep, really enjoying this one. Have shared it with a few friends who are into this sort of thing, and put it on the HM facebook too

Is there any way to download the whole set as one, or do you have to get each track separately. I'm a bit of a SoundCloud noob...

an awesome local musician who is highly underrated

Totally agree, brilliant songwriter. And thanks for posting this download

This looks smashing! I hope I have enough money for all these gigs!

Sweet, better get myself some tickets for this!

Hoping to make it along

By all accounts, a band made up of members from Fall Out Boy, Anthrax and Every Time I Die should be crap... it just shouldn't work. But I rather like them...

The Damned Things on Myspace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Aye, this will happen later this month..

Looking forward to this!

Always been of the 'the more the merrier' view when it comes to folk doing stuff for the scene up here.

Couldn't agree more

I don't know if it's my place to say, but I believe Billy has decided to stop Aberdeen Events. Got a tweet from him at the start of December saying 'Och, that's a pity, I've decided to stop it. AberdeenEvents no more, dude! Think John is extending Kiosque to monthly'. Having recently spoken to him at a gig, I think I can reasonably confirm this. I'll leave him to explain his reasons, if he so wishes.

It's a shame; the website was my first port of call when finding out about new gigs in the city and it will surely be missed. Maybe someday this fantastic resource will return. Fingers (and toes) crossed...

Did you get my PM about covering this gig?

This, Steven Milne, is why I think you're awesome.

Seconded.

Really!?!? I thought they were f***ing awful when I seen em in Dundee last year. Behind the image it was a load of sh**e substance.

What is it about them that you rate? Genuine question...

I'm not entirely sure what it is about them. The two times I have seen them they were great fun, despite the audiences not knowing who the hell they were. I can see quite clearly, though, that they will not be everyone's cup of tea. They kinda remind me of spiky Futureheads/We Are The Physics poppy-rock stuff. And the album has some very catchy tunes on it.

I did the stereotypical bloggy-type thingy and made a list of my favourite 10 albums of 2010. And then realised a couple of days ago I'd forgotten to include Frightened Rabbit, so had to stick them in my 'honourable mentions'...

rather than copy and paste the lot, here's a link:

Hercules Moments: End of year list: Eoin

My Christmas haul...

Best Coast - Crazy for You - Very easy to listen to, inoffensive

Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses - Great fun album, gets the blood pumping

Arcade Fire - Funeral - Absolutely fantastic, but you don't need me to tell you that

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer - As yet unlistened

The Travelling Wilburys - Vol. 1 - A classic album from one of the best supergroups there is

Blur - Think Tank - Listening as I type, intrigued by it... not quite sure what to make of it yet

Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze - as yet unlistened

Gorillaz - Gorillaz (Jeep) - Remember listening to this when it first came out at my coursin's, only listened to a few tracks since I got my own copy but it's as good as I remember

Scott Pilgrim vs the World OST - One of my favourite albums of the year, reviewed it a while back but only got a stream to listen to so am glad to finally own a copy!

I've liked almost all the local bands I've heard in some way or another, so this is hard to narrow down. But here are a few that stand out for me in no order other than the one they came out of my head in...

Stanley - Join Hands

Min Diesel - Broad Street Blues

Gerry Jablonski and the Electric Band - Undercover

Brothers Reid - Put the old Dog Down

Steven Milne - Born in a Different Time

Captain Face - Mexican

Avoid the Morning - Stand and Fight Together

The Confidantes - Bright Ideas

The Lorelei - What Would You Do?

Estrella - Wet n Wild

Indian Red Lopez - KYS

A new We Were Promised Jetpacks album in 2011 would be spiffing as well.

Lucky you, I've just had an email from their PR person saying that there is one coming out next Spring

Albums that are being released in 2011...

The Decemberists

Mogwai

The Twilight Sad

Radiohead

Kilau Xmas CD #6

Stanley

Pearl & the Puppets

Gerry Jablonski & the Electric Band

The Lorelei

Brothers Reid

Bands I hope will release new albums in 2011...

Baddies

Hot Leg

We Are The Physics

Battles

Blur (Blur to record 'new album' in January - Daily Gossip | News | NME.COM)

Marmaduke Duke

To be fair, TiTP camping isn't that bad when you compare it to Leeds where fires are allowed in the campsites. God only knows why, it is a bloody awful idea! Took about a week to get the smell of burning tents out of my clothes...

Thanks guys, sorry for those who tuned in at 8... we actually went on about 7.30... ended up being very early due to overpreparedness and worries about the snow!

Played The Oxbow Lake and Ryan's Beach Boys cover

I'm heading into Northsound One tonight for the monthly Hercules Moments update on Michael Gordon's Sunday Session. We'll be on sometime around 8pm, and I'll be playing one or two of tracks from the CD depending on time

If I could stay in a hotel and get a bus in and out every day, that would be best.

That's what most of the journalists do, although they take cars rather than buses and stay in B&Bs rather than hotels. I know for some festivals they run daily shuttle buses too.

Also, the VIP camping is generally less shit, although that depends on the festival too. There's also the quuiet camping area, which should (in theory) have less drunken arseholes

Glad you guys liked the mention in the EE

Also played a couple of tracks on my ASR show but I can't for the life of me remember which ones!

Would be great if you could mail me a CD, I'll PM you my address. We might even be able to get a wee article up on Hercules Moments