10 Reasons To Go To Define Pop 2

Still not sure if you should get out to Define Pop this weekend? Here's some reasons why you should.

1. Be the envy of children. Kyle Wood, AKA Lovers Turn To Monsters, sings the theme tune to Dennis and Gnasher, CBBC's new Dennis the Menace cartoon. Theme tune written by Iain Cook, formerly of Aereogramme for extra Scottish indie cred. See him on Sunday and tell your children/nieces & nephews/random kids at the swing park* Also, download that theme tune here.
2. Meet me. Alright, rubbish reason, but I'm a fairly nice guy really. Feel free to buy me a pint, I'll be your pal forever. Or you can just mock my bunny ears.
3. See Glasgow's biggest band. The Second Hand Marching Band play on Sunday. At last count there was about 500 of them. If bored you can play "spot the member of SHMB" and kill time between acts.
4. Meet the Glasgow PodcART crew. Ali, Sean, Halina, Nicola and Louise are significantly more awesome than me. Go say hi to them, you might even get on their next podcast.
5. The football will be rubbish. Wales Vs Scotland will be a terrible game of football, avoid the end of it by getting yourself into The Flying Duck in time for Little Yellow Ukuleles at 4.40.
6. Value for money. Seven quid a day for a whole bunch of bands (maybe cheaper if you ask the right people) is hard to argue with. The Flying Duck doesn't gouge you on drink prices either.
7. Great bands. Making that low price even more tempting is the line up. There's some really great bands playing over the weekend. If you can find a better selection of up and coming unsigned artists playing under one roof I'll be very surprised. In a few years time you'll be able to boast that you saw them in a tiny wee place in Glasgow. Define Pop's Wull Swales has done an excellent job putting this together, you should reward him by going along.
8. Pretty people. Shallow enough to only care about a band if they are attractive? Well you are in luck, there's some good looking folks playing. It's a better deal if you like boys admittedly, but there's some lovely ladies playing too.
9. Marvel at one man's noise. Sunday, 5.30pm. With apologies to Lad Lazarus who are on the other stage at the same time I advise everyone who can to see Esperi. After blowing me away the other week I can't stress enough how mesmerising it is to see esperi perform live. Especially if Chris plays Cats and Dogs.
10. Two stages, one place. No need to be out in the cold. Unless, like me, you smoke that is.

*Aye Tunes does not condone hanging round swing parks and talking to strange children. Apart from anything else they are likely to bottle you.

Frightened Rabbit News

First of all, the new Frightened Rabbit album The Winter of Mixed Drinks is set for release on March 1st 2010. That seems so far away...
The tracklisting goes like this :
1.Things
2. Swim Until You Can't See Land
3. The Loneliness & The Scream
4. The Wrestle
5. Skip The Youth
6. Nothing Like You
7. Man/ Bag Of Sand
8. Foot Shooter
9. Not Miserable
10. Living In Colour
11. Yes I Would

To make the wait a little bit easier there's a new single - Swim Until You Can’t See Land - out on Monday, November 16th.

Lead singer Scott Hutchison has this to say about the new album: ‘We've broadened our horizons sonically and it feels like a natural move forward. Most importantly, it’s better than the last one. That's all I wanted, really.’ Produced once again by Peter Katis, at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and engineered by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios in Scotland, ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’ boasts stunning string arrangments from labelmate, Teutonic ivory-botherer, Hauschka. ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ takes up where we left off - metaphorically (or otherwise) floating in the Forth - and is pivotal to the new record. ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ was the title I had in my mind before I even started writing the album’, says Scott ‘I was becoming more and more interested in the idea of a rejection of the habits and behaviour most people see as normal. It’s about losing your mind in order to reset the mind and the body. Forget what’s gone before and wash it out. It’s a good introduction to the record’s themes”

Frightened Rabbit have added an extra member to their line up too, former Make Model member Gordon Skene. Scott says "We want to do the recordings justice when we play them live. Gordon will be playing a bundle of instruments - we just bought a tasty wee mandolin for him to fiddle with today. We're really excited to have him involved."

Frightened Rabbit are off on a national tour at the moment, playing in support of both Gomez and Modest Mouse, as well as a handful of headline Scottish shows.

Frightened Rabbit MySpace

Define Pop Fest 2 - Stage Times

For those planning on getting down to the Flying Duck this weekend for Define Pop 2, here's the stage times for both days:

Living Room Stage - Saturday
5.20 Miniature Dinosaurs
6.10 Louise Against The Elements
7.00 Mickey 9's
7.50 The Costapeens
8.40 Kochka
9.30 Vendor Defender
10.20 Kid Canaveral

Kitchen Stage - Saturday
4.40 Little Yellow Ukuleles
5.30 Make Sparks
6.20 Blessed Order Of Fallen Stars
7.10 The Morgue Party Candidate
8.00 Other People
8.50 Pacific Theatre
9.40 Gdansk
10.30 Young Aviators

Living Room Stage - Sunday
4.30 Lovers Turn To Monsters
5.20 Esperi
6.10 Incrediboy and The Forget Me Nots
7.00 Julia and the Doogans
7.50 Diamond Sea
8.40 The Lava Experiments
9.30 Second Hand Marching Band
10.20 Yahweh

Kitchen Stage - Sunday
4.40 Marshall Chipped
5.30 Lad Lazarus
7.10 Little Eskimos
8.00 Dead Boy Robotics
8.50 Stereo Grand
9.40 Nevada Base
10.30 Pooch

I'll be kicking about both days, come say hello.

Haven't had a chance to have a more in depth look at the acts playing unfortunately. I'll try to squeeze in a couple of features before the weekend, but don't count on it.
Sorry to the people I miss out. Sorry if I miss you playing too, it won't be anything personal (probably)

Manic Pop Thrills Presents:

Another gig to flag up, this time one away from Glasgow.

Presented by our friends over at Manic Pop Thrills, taking place on November 29th upstairs in the Westport Bar in Dundee.

Tickets are £5 from Groucho's and the first 50 advance purchasers will also get a free EP on arrival. Pop over to Manic Pop Thrills if you need any more details.

I must confess to knowing nothing about Hookers For Jesus, but Panda Su and Kid Canaveral re both big favourites round here. Haven't heard much of Saint Jude's Infirmary - their albums are patiently waiting for me to have money to buy them - but what I've heard sounds pretty lovely.

This Week's Happenings

Time for one of those weekly round up things I do when I feel i should write a post, but am too lazy to use my brain for anything special.

New records this week include an album from Roddy Hart, a digital release of Cast of the Capital's Rotten Kids and Haversacks EP, which I reviewed a few weeks ago here, and the debut album by Cuddly Shark, which I've been looking forward to hearing.
There's a new single out from Escape Act too, called Cabin Fever. They are from Northern Ireland rather than Scotland, but I like them, and it's out on 17 Seconds Records, a Scottish label.
Also releasing a single, Zagora Road, are The Ray Summers.
A more high profile release comes in the shape of the latest Biffy Clyro album. Haven't heard it myself, but I'm hearing encouraging things about it.
The latest EP by Go Away Birds s due to be available for free download here today, but as I write this isn't up yet.

Tons of gigs on this week. Meursalt play The 13th Note on Tuesday the 10th. Bronto Skylift and Lions.Chase.Tigers at the Detour Podcast launch I've mentioned already. On Friday night you can catch The Darien Venture at Capitol in Glasgow, and on Saturday the quite fantastic You Already Know play The 13th Note. I can't make it to the YAK show sadly, as I'll be at Define Pop in the Flying Duck, don't forget to come say hi to me if you are going there too.

There will be releases I've missed, and gigs I've not listed, there always is. If you want me to mention something, don't forget to tell me.