No mobile phones, no BK

I've long been drawn to the character that is King Creosote (nee Kenny Anderson).

He has a rather unique approach to his craft (songs more important than style; performance over recording quality), and is wildly ambitious (he's at over two dozen albums now and counting). He extends a big middle finger to fame: "I don’t want to be cool," he said in this interview. "I hate that winning thing -– people that enjoy winning, that’s just a total farce, isn’t it?" He enjoys the relative isolation that comes with living in Fife: "Mobile phones don’t work there," he said, "and there are no chain shops, no Burger King or Costa Coffee -- it’s great!" And, possibly most important of all, he hates the idiot box.

Anderson is known for his involvement with the Fence Collective, a group of folk artists affiliated with Fife's Fence Records and headquartered in the seacoast town of Anstruther. That collective included The Beta Band, though more typically, features those artists of the obscure variety such as James Yorkston and Lone Pigeon.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "So Forlorn" and "My Favourite Girl In All The World" by King Creosote. Both songs beautifully capture Anderson's knack for poetic, lo-fi, quirky folk music.

Let good pop smother you

If it feels like I keep coming back to Egg Records, it's because, well, I do. The tiny, Glasgow record label has given pop fans quite a few glittering gems -- both during its short, three-year run from 1988 to 1991 and today, as part of its restoration program.

The Hardy Boys, who hail from Greenock, are one of a handful of acts getting the re-issue treatment. According to the band's rather terse biography on Egg's web site, the mainstays of The Hardy Boys' lineup were two lads named Johnny White and Mike. The group did some gigs around the UK and once recorded at Shabby Road Studios in Kilmarnock, the former recording haunt -- and living quarters -- for Trashcan Sinatras.

The Hardy Boys had just four official releases: 1987's "Wonderful Lie," a four-song EP on Stella Five Records; the track "15" on a cassette compilation known as Red Roses For Me (a comp I've unearthed nothing about, though I have managed to track down the song itself); a 2004 "Wonderful Lie" re-release on Japan's Excellent Records; and 2005's "Let The World Smother You," which was initially set to be an EP on Egg in '91, but the label going belly-up prevented this from happening.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "Let The World Smother You" by The Hardy Boys.

Black mood . . . lifted

Ah, so that was lovely, now wasn't it?

We won't get into further details -- you need only know the loveliness I speak of can be found here. And Wednesday? The outcome of that battle indeed looks grim; The Boys In Green will likely be without the services of 14 lads. Here's all one needs to hear about our starting XI: The goalie last saw action against the likes of Crewe, Yeovil, and Chesterfield!

I decided I shall avoid Landsdowne Road entirely and passed off my ticket to a relative. And yes, he's a masochist. (Of course he is; he's related to the wife.)

Anyway, I returned home Sunday in absolute tatters. My black mood was lifted, however, after a nicely prepared sup from the little woman, post-meal tea in front of a comfy turf fire, and a smidge of Altan. This group has long occupied a special place in my heart, both for their lovely music and their inner strength, as they endured the terrible illness and death of one of their own: the genius Frankie Kennedy (I taped the funeral services which were broadcast on Radio Na Gaeltachta; will have to track that cassette down). They are survivors, and survivors are folks I ardently admire.

And getting back to the trivial matter of football: We'll soon see if Staunton is of the same make-up.

Two songs from Altan: "Slainte Theilinn (A Health To Teelin)" and "The Pretty Young Girl."