This album was recorded at Lach’s Antihoot at the Fringe in 2011; this is a free show with the only rule being that there must be no heckling. Lach is of course widely admired as the king of the antifolk movement in New York and has launched the career of Beck among many others. When I first put the album on I was actually disappointed as I was hoping for a new Lach album as the last I had heard of his was ‘Today’ and there have been a couple more since then, but instead what we have here is a collection of songs and comedy from the acts involved in the show including include Depresstival, Seafieldroad, The Last Battle, Emily Scott, William Douglas, Mike MacFarlane and Nick Sun. To be honest I could have done without the last of these as comedy is a very personal thing and the only way I could find this guy funny would be to see him in person, and preferably be drunk as well, so that doesn’t transfer well to the album. But, generally the rest is a delight.
I haven’t heard of any of the guys involved, but some of them are just stunning and deserve much wider recognition. Lach’s idea for the album itself was to try and show what he does at the Fringe and what a launch pad it can be, and why it is so important. In addition, all proceeds from the sale of the album goes to benefit Maggie's Centre of Edinburgh who counsel cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones. If you want to discover some (mostly) acoustic acts on a recording that has not been over-produced then this is for you, and you’re donating to charity to boot so it’s a win win situation. To get this album from Bandcamp, where you can also get Lach’s brilliant ‘Kids Fly Free’ then visit http://lach.bandcamp.com/ And I dare you to buy this and not singalong to “Harbour Wall” which is just brilliant!
