Darren Hayman live on New Year's Day

Scenario A: New Year's Day. You have a motherfucking hangover. You need the soothing salve of The Hangover Lounge, described by the Government's Chief Medical Officer as "the fourth emergency service".

Scenario B: New Year's Day. You didn't go out the night before because it would've been too expensive, too rowdy and a general pain in the arse. Have your fun with friends at the Hangover Lounge.

In both scenarios, Darren Hayman is playing a free gig. This is a win-win.

Kids (and dogs) welcome.

Name that tune: Brother Brother by The Isley Brothers

You can't go far wrong with any of The Isley Brothers' post-Motown output from 1969-1975 and you'll go no better than their 1972 album Brother Brother Brother.

Brother Brother is one of three Carole King songs on an album otherwise largely comprising Isley-penned material. Musically, the album isn't that far removed from Marvin Gaye's What's Going On; although the 'brother brother' refrain of Marvin's title track is coincidental, it may have struck a chord with some of the million-plus Americans who bought What's Going On the previous year.

Edwyn Collins, Robert Rotifer and Wide Sea live

It was the best - perhaps the best ever - of afternoons. Wide Sea had banks of acoustic guitars as if Teenage Fanclub were in LA's Gold Star Studios with Phil Spector. Immediately afterwards, a queue formed to buy their album.

Robert Rotifer told tales, cracked jokes and even played some songs, all of them great. Afterwards, he autographed many records.

The patron saint of indiepop crowned a wonderful bill. Many audience members, even the most battle-scarred hard men of rock among our number, seemed to have something in their eye.

Pete Astor and Let's Wrestle and Robert Rotifer live this Sunday

That's right. Are we spoiling you or what.

Pete Astor
Pete Astor, indiepop royalty thanks to his presence in Creation bands The Loft and the Weather Prophets, made a welcome return this summer with his sixth solo album, Songbox.

Literate and melodic, Songbox captures the mood of British folk music in the presence of 60s-influenced pop and is clearly one of Astor’s strongest albums yet.

Wesley Patrick Gonzalez
Wes from Let’s Wrestle makes it a family affair as the man we call Pete Astor, Wes knows as stepdad. After the joyously ramshackle debut album In The Court Of The Wrestling Let’s, this year’s Nursing Home album proved that debut single I Wish I Was In Husker Du was a self-fulfilling prophecy as they went harder and faster towards 80s hardcore heaven.

This acoustic solo show from Wes will show the fantastic Let’s Wrestle songs in a new light. Excited? Fuck yeah!

Robert Rotifer
Writer, musician and radio DJ Robert Rotifer’s sixth album, and first for Edwyn Collins’s new label, was produced by Stiff Records legend Wreckless Eric. The Hosting Couple is a selection of songs about likely subjects such as remote-controlled drones dropping bombs on your hometown, the deceased Austrian sound poet Ernst Jandl, childhood holidays in Essex, and the marine lab in Aberdeen.

The Raw Herbs

Possibly the greatest moment in The Hangover Lounge's history happened yesterday. While playing I'm Falling Down by The Raw Herbs, someone came up and asked, "is this The Raw Herbs?" There is probably no other club in the world where a Raw Herbs b-side from 1987 would be recognised. Or played even.

A shame, that, because The Raw Herbs really were a cut above the rest. The tear-in-a-beer Memphis melancholy of I'm Falling Down should be a staple of oldies stations, or at the very least the go-to song for film producers soundtracking moody shots of the guy at the bar.

Someone really should do a Raw Herbs compilation. There was very nearly a two-CD compilation of The Raw Herbs' label, Medium Cool, on Cherry Red four years ago, but the deal was, I understood at the time, not particularly favourable and so fell through.

It would've included The Raw Herbs' Janice Long session. Here's one track from that sesion, Syd's Late Night:


You can find another track from that session on former Medium Cool boss Andy Wake's blog, along with some very sad news about The Raw Herbs' drummer, Brian Alexis.

Harvey Williams, Rachael Dadd, Jack Cheshire: Live at the Lounge, October 9th

On October 9th, we'll be delighted to welcome some more live music to the Lounge! This time it's a triple-bill, and as ever it'll start early-ish. PLEASE be there by 3pm to catch the fun. Also as ever, it's all free and all hand-picked for YOU by US.

Here's who's playing:

HARVEY WILLIAMS

Harvey's been a favourite musician of mine for knocking on a quarter of a century now, and I'm delighted that he's agreed to a grace us with a rare live appearance. I remember someone once saying that he hits the perfect mid-point of Vic Godard and Victoria Wood. Looks like he'll be guitar-based for this show, so the chances are we won't get to hear this, one of my faves from his last LP:

RACHAEL DADD

Rachael's making her own path through the modern young people's folk world, I don't think anyone does it quite like her, and she's quietly made what amounts to a stack of brilliant records. I've seen her play many times and she's never failed to amaze. I can't wait to hear her off-mic.

JACK CHESHIRE

Jack's a relative new one on me, but I saw his amazing show to launch his recent LP "Copenhagen" at the Slaughtered Lamb a few months back, and immediately started nagging him to come and play. This should give you the idea:

See you there.

Withered Hand and Vatican Cellars footage

All this takeaway food is making me feel unwell
at my funeral have them play Highway To Hell



Isn't grey hair just the first light of a new dawn


Thanks to TheBoudicca3 who filmed those Withered Hand songs and also shot footage of Simon from The Vatican Cellars solo and acoustic: