The Pictish Trail

Top music artists and events to look out for in 2013

New albums and tours from Atoms for Peace, Frightened Rabbit and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Conquering Animal Sound. Jamie Scott and Anneke Kampman return with the follow-up to the stunning debut, Kammerspiel. On Floating Bodies is out on Mon 18 Mar on Chemikal Underground – who will also be releasing albums from Holy Mountain, RM Hubbert and…

KT Tunstall and The Pictish Trail

ROCK Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, Thu 10 Jul This first proper gig for the newly-refurbished 1700-seater Alhambra is a fitting one, with returning Fifer Tunstall warming up for T in the Park. Opening is Johnny Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail…

Exposure: The Pictish Trail

By day, Johnny Lynch is one of the driving forces (alongside Kenny ‘King Creosote’ Anderson) behind Fife’s much-loved folk-pop label Fence. By night, the Cellardyke lad is building an ever-more-solid reputation as one of the imprint’s most recognisable…

Gaggle's ‘The Power of Money’ is single of the month

Singles and downloads December 2012

Nothing says ‘Christmas night out’ quite like Pissed Jeans’ ‘Bathroom Laughter’ (Sub Pop, ●●●●), wherein the noise insurgents spew forth amyl-wired scuzz that annihilates flashbacks to Mariah Carey’s wafting ballad ‘Christmas Time Is In the Air Again…

The Pictish Trail - Secret Soundz Vol 2

(Fence) Pity poor Johnny Lynch, who has to escape to the Isle of Eigg to be free of the long shadow which Fence and their multifarious festival activities cast over him. None of that’s true, of course, but it pays to be reminded of the label boss’s…

Singles and downloads - September 2012

Errors, Withered Hand and Miaoux Miaoux among highlights

We’re not just here for the nasty things in life, like reporting that vapid-folk yawn-patrol Mumford and Sons return with ‘I Will Wait’ (I wish they had) (●●, Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records). We’re here for the sexy pop goods too, such as RM…

The Fence Collective’s Away Game - Isle of Eigg Fri 20-Sun 22 Jul

Island festival including Meursault, Jon Hopkins and Nathan Fake

I miss the smell of the all-night toilets: like camping and school trips and warm wood and wet clothes. I miss the bagpipes on the pier. The polystyrene cups of tea. The cows and sheep and dogs and cats that milled round our tents and danced in the…

Eye o’ the Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr 2012

Fantastic bill featuring Django Django, Malcolm Middleton and more

They may have quadrupled the size of their show, and conscripted beefcakes to man the doors, but the spirit of Fence chiefly prevailed at the inaugural Eye O’ The Dug – a musical hoopla which (kind of) filled a Homegame-shaped hole in the calendar (and…

Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles II - Summerhall, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Dec 2011

Josie Long, eagleowl and more join in Kid Canaveral's annual shindig

The combination of cheap tins and 12 hours of live entertainment could be an endurance test in the wrong hands, but the second annual Fence Records/Kid Canaveral Chirstmas Baubles all-dayer doesn’t exactly feel like a chore. A joyous turn by Fence…

Music-themed Christmas parties round-up

Festive shindigs on offer from Song, By Toad, Phantom Band, James Yorkston, Fence and more

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in Scotland’s indie village without a bunch of our favourite bands getting together to chip in for mince pies and mulled wine and treat us to / inflict upon us some of their most diligently practiced seasonal covers. Yes…

Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz Anstruther Town Hall, Anstruther, Sat 5 Nov

The Shivers, Withered Hand and Serafina Steer join Bonfire Night party

There were no fireworks at Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz pop ‘n’ Guy Fawkes hoopla. There was no need for pyrotechnics when there were songs that soared like gold dust – King Creosote’s rare variation of Dexy’s ‘Come on Eileen’ around a bonfire; Serafina…

Retreat IV - Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh, Sat 27 & Sun 28 Aug 2011

Glorious fourth appearance from the indie DIY pop fest

All Sunday afternoons should be like the one at this year’s Retreat DIY pop festival: tea in our hands, bacon rolls in our bellies, and eagleowl gently blowing our minds. That was before a toddler joined them onstage and stole our hearts; before the…

Johnny Lynch of Fence Records talks exclusively to The List about Home Game 2011

Fence Records’ annual Anstruther-based shindig Home Game is approaching once again, offering three days of intimate musical adventures for anyone lucky enough to get their hands on one of the 400 highly-coveted tickets. ‘We’ve spent 8 years building…

The Pictish Trail - In Rooms

(Fence Records) The second long-player from local alt.pop prodigy The Pictish Trail boasts more songs than some artists chalk up over an entire career. Inspired by indie comedian Josie Long’s ‘100 Days To Make Me A Better Person’ endeavour…

Fence Collective's Away Game takes the party to island of Eigg

Human Don’t Be Angry, Silver Columns and Withered Hand among highlights

Miami sunsets, macaroni pies, tractors-as-transport. Live death metal at 6am, beach campfire concerts, and a bottomless hipflask of whisky doing the rounds long after the bar had been drunk dry. Away Game – the first Fence Records festival on the…

Silver Columns - Yes and Dance

(Moshi Moshi) Electro champions Silver Columns fair know how to pull a punch. Their debut long-player is loaded with bold, wholehearted dance-floor pop that embraces Kraftwerk, Hot Chip, Underworld, Bronski Beat, Erasure and Homework-era Daft…

Homegame

After the tragic own-goal of that ‘We’re For Fife’ tourist video, Homegame – micro-label Fence’s annual takeover of fishing town, Anstruther – was a triumph for the Kingdom. The skies were blue, the fish & chips, outstanding, and the music, well, with…

Fence Collective's Homegame: Homeward bound

In the ever-growing Scottish music festival calendar, the Homegame remains something of a well-kept secret. Despite a steadily increasing profile since its inception six years ago, the weekend, run by Fence Collective head honchos Kenny Anderson (aka…

Fence Collective

‘There was an article in the Sunday Times at the start of this year,’ says Johnny Lynch, head caretaker of Fife’s Fence label and also known as The Pictish Trail to his own musical fans. ‘They had an A to Z of musical genres in the world, all the…

The Pictish Trail

SINGER-SONGWRITER The Pictish Trail is coming out of the shadows. Johnny Lynch (for the Trail is he) has until now focussed on running the Fence Collective and playing guitar for head-honcho King Creosote (aka Kenny Anderson). But with the release of…