Saturday Night at the Howff with Texture and Kevin P Gilday

howff /haʊf/. A favourite meeting place or haunt, especially a pub.

Welcome to Saturday night at the Howff, Bella’s lounge for the lockdown. This week we feature Texture and his EP Forest Gods released on 30 August and the new album by Kevin P Gilday and the Glasgow Cross.

 BURNT TRAIL TEXTURE FEATURING ASHTONOMIK

Texture and Ashtronomik draw on elemental forces and ancient mysteries to tell a story of rage, recovery and revelation in the video for their new single BURNT TRAIL, produced by versatile beatsmith Hypnokid.

Both emcees have a deep connection to Scotland’s diverse, deeply underground hip-hop history, with Iranian-born Ashtronomik serving as beatmaker, producer and creative visionary for projects by some of its finest artists. This year has seen him drop a killer posse cut with Paque, Loki, McRoy, Mackenzie, Empress and Kid Robotik – the anthemic ABRUPTLY.

Edinburgh’s versatile wordsmith Texture is a staple of esoteric labels/collectives Black Lantern and This Is Not Pop, usually found grafting on cold, futuristic electronica with Asthmatic Astronaut. His latest EP FOREST GODS sees him explore more earthy, organic sounds and themes.

On BURNT TRAIL, Hypnokid leads Ashtronomik and Texture along forest paths deep into shaded woods, among the old gods, with a beat that bridges the sonic gap between dusty crates of boom bap and intricate trap rhythms.

you can find out more about Texture and support their work at https://texture.bandcamp.com/

PURE CONCRETE – KEVIN P GILDAY & THE GLASGOW CROSS

Kevin P. Gilday & The Glasgow Cross is a collaboration between award winning poet Kevin P. Gilday (Sonnet Youth, NTS, BBC) and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Hector (The Paperback Throne, Pelts, Iffy Folk Records). The Glaswegian two-piece have combined contemporary spoken word with a dynamic palette of aural textures to create a unique sound that has already led to support slots with the likes of Akala.

The music strides confidently between propulsive post-punk, off beat electro and epic arrangements – all oscillating on the singular delivery of Kevin P. Gilday’s spoken word compositions and powerful vocals. Lyrically inspired by the city of Glasgow, Gilday takes confessional sojourns into grief, toxic masculinity and the precarious nature of modern life – all imbued with his trademark dark wit.

Having released their first album, Experience Essential, in 2018 on Iffy Folk Records (Glasgow) and Nymphs & Thugs (London) the band has followed it up with an EP and limited edition single releases before embarking on the creation of their second album. Recorded between a remote cottage in the highlands and the famous Chem19 studios on the outskirts of Glasgow, Pure Concrete marks a massive leap forward for the band. What started as a one-off studio project to create music to accompany Gilday’s poems has turned into a fully-fledged live act who are building a formidable back catalogue of poetry-infused anthems.

You can find out more about Kevin P Gilday & The Glasgow Cross and support their work at https://kevinpgilday.bandcamp.com/