Frightened Rabbit - Live in San Francisco

Just because there's an embed code available and because I've not got anything else ready to post today beow you can watch a full live Frightened Rabbit gig. Enjoy.

Review: Carnivores/Pacific Theatre - Split Single

I don't know, you spend half your time complaining there's nothing decent in Paisley then two bands come at you at once. Carnivores and Pacific Theatre have both been around for a while now, steadily making names for themselves from regular gigging, now they have teamed up to release a split single together. Both bands hail from Paisley, and both have three members, but there the similarities end.

Carnivores contribute Five Go Mad On Mescaline, a vicious warning about abusing ketamine. It is a ferocious little number, all snarls and shouts, distorted guitars and pounding guitars, that rattles along at a fair old pace, like a three and a half minute adrenaline rush. Lurking amongst the noise is an excellent song too, with hooks and melodies forcing themselves to the forefront, demanding attention and worming their way into your head. If the title's nod to The Comic Strip didn't give it away already then the lyrics confirm that Carnivores have no shortage of wit about them either. Five Go Mad on Mescaline isn't terribly subtle, but it is fun and thrilling, and a far better use of your money than dodgy horse tranquilizers.

Pacific Theatre's half of the split single, Was There Distance? is much more restrained in comparison, providing a nice bit of variety. Pacific Theatre aim more for the anthemic, and Was There Distance? certainly comes close, while happily avoiding clichés or sounding too much like the band's influnces. Certain other bands ploughing the same furrows would kill for a song as catchy as Was There Distance? and certainly for its harmony laden sing along chorus. Lovely stuff.

Carnivores: MySpace
Pacific Theatre: MySpace

Five Go Mad On Mescaline/Was There Distance is released on September 20th on CD and download. There is a launch gig on Speterber 23rd at Bloc, with special guests Penguins Kill Polar Bears. Entry is free, so get down early!

The Year of Open Doors

The Year of Open Doors is a collection of short stories, edited by Rodge Glass and published by Cargo Publishing. If the name of the book sounds familiar that might be down to regular mentions of launch events in the weekly gig guide, usually followed by a promise of me doing a full post on it later.

I have a strange definition of later.

I've finally finished reading the book, but rather than carry on promising that post and failing to get it done, this will be a bit of a bare bones run down of The Year of Open Doors.

If it seems a bit odd that I'm posting about a book on what is generally a music blog, then firstly shut up, I can post what I like and a bit of culture won't hurt you. Secondly, there's a fair bit of crossover involved between the book and the music World.
Editor Rodge Glass is also the frontman in Burnt Island - who we really like around here - and other contributors include Doug Johnstone, a member of Fence Collective band Northern Alliance, Kevin MacNeil, who has recorded music with Willie Campbell of Astrid and The Reindeer Section as well as delivering the opening monologue on the open track of the debut album by There Will Be Fireworks. Then there's Aidan Moffat, who is, well, Aidan Moffat.

There's a couple of other familiar names to Aye Tunes readers on the list of contributors too, in the shape of Kirsten Innes and Anneliese Mackintosh, the minds behind Words Per Minute.

Anyway, back to the book itself. The Year of Open Doors collects new short stories from some of the best writer in Scotland, though not necessarily Scottish. Some of those writers are familiar, some are brand new, but refreshingly everyone gets the same treatment, there's no star billing or any of that nonsense going on. The mixture of races, nationality and gender of the contributors is nice to see too. More importantly than all of that, The Year of Open Doors is a cracking read too. Cargo are a fairly new publisher who have aimed high with this collection, to me at least they've hit the target too. Reward their enthusiasm and ambition by picking up the book!

There's one more musical crossover too, as Cargo Publishing have teamed up with Chemikal Underground to release an audiobook version, you can buy that here.

The audiobook is available now and there's a launch night for it on Monday, also the closing night of Unbound at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Performing on the night are Burnt Island, Adrian Crowley and a currently Top Secret musical mystery guess (it isn't Cher, or Rod Stewart, but beyond that I have no idea) as well as readings from a few of the authors of The Year of Open Doors. That all takes place Highland Park Spiegletent on August 30th, from 7 - 11pm, pick up tickets here.

Links: Cargo Publishing - Rodge Glass - Chemikal Underground

The Year of Open Doors is available from bookshops, funnily enough. It is also available online direct from Cargo, or from Amazon in hardback, or for the Kindle.

Retreat!

This weekend in Edinburgh there's a very swanky wee two day event on, which I highly advise checking out if you can.

Tickets for Saturday are sold out already, day tickets for Sunday are almost gone and there aren't an awful lot of weekend tickets left either, so pick yours up in advance. You can get them here: Weekend - Saturday SOLD OUT - Sunday

Below is pretty much all the info you'll need, but if you want any more you can find Retreat! on MySpace and Facebook too.

As a bonus there's a sampler album featuring pretty much all of the bands playing available to download for FREE here.

Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh

August 28-29 2010, 2.30pm-11pm.

GBP 7 (day); GBP 12 (weekend pass).

Venerable DIY gig-putteronners Tracer Trails and The Gentle Invasion are thrilled to announce the third edition of Retreat!, a micro-festival celebrating Edinburgh’s contribution to the international pop underground.

Following on from previous years which have seen the festival occupy spaces in St John’s Church and the Bristo Hall, this year’s Retreat! will be a two-day event taking place in Pilrig St Paul’s Church Hall, on the boundary between Edinburgh and the City of Leith.

Retreat! was founded in 2008 to create space for Edinburgh acts amid the bustle of the festivals, and has evolved into a riotous A.G.M. for the capital’s independent pop scene.

In its inaugural year Retreat! encompassed nine events over three weeks; in 2009 it took the form of a giant celebratory all-dayer as part of the Forest Fringe. Retreat! 2010 is different again, a lost weekend when Edinburgh’s first XVI will perform in a deranged gala-day environment in which anything might happen and some things probably will.

Hosted by the incomparable Owen Curtis Williams (The Pineapple Chunks / drummer-about-town), and with stage design by Tessa Lynch, the only common thread in this vibrant melange is the organisers’ overwhelming respect for each act’s inimitable contribution to the international pop underground.

Retreat! stands for: -

• cheap cheap tickets

• all-ages admission

• the most extravagant staging and costumery no money can buy

• film screenings, record stalls, book stalls, and food!

This year Retreat! is supported by the Scottish Arts Council Young Scot Action Fund.

Line Up:

Saturday 28th August
2.30pm-11pm

eagleowl
7VWWVW
Wounded Knee
Skeleton Bob
FOUND
Jesus h. Foxx
Withered Hand
Enfant Bastard

Sunday 29th August
2.30pm-11pm

Benni Hemm Hemm
Conquering Animal Sound
The Wee Rogue
The Douglas Firs
Milk
Meursault
The Leg

This Week's Gigs: 23rd - 29th August

Sunday afternoon, time for me to lose several hours of my day to scouring social networks to find out what gigs are on this week as usual.

It's a bit of a lopsided week this week, every bugger in Glasgow seems to have decided to put a gig on on Friday.

To make life a bit simpler for me there's a new email address you can send gig details to if you want them included in the weekly guide, I'll stick the details in at the end.

Tuesday:

Foxgang Presents: Festival Special. Bristo Hall, above The Forest Cafe, Edinburgh. Free.
Foxgang take matters in to their own hands by putting on a special little gig. As well as Foxgang themselves playing live are French Wives, Washington Irving, White Heath, Fiction Faction and Sebastian Dangerfield. All for free. Even better, there's a compilation album featuring a track from each band available, courtesy of the Kowalskiy blog, here.

Wednesday:

A Band Called Quinn, May68, Epic26. King Tut's.
I'm sure there's more numbers in that line up than is really needed. A Band Called Quinn are really, really good though.

Thursday:

Sonny Marvello, Ace City Racers. Captain's Rest.
The Lava Experiments, Shutter. The 13th Note

The Red Show. Pivo Pivo.

Friday:

Ah Friday, you swine. This is an insane amount of gigs to have on in the one night.

No Dancing: Adam Stafford, RM Hubbert, Deathpodal, PAWS. Stereo.
This one looks excellent, so much so I gave it a preview of its very own previously. You can find that here, it has songs to listen to and stuff.

Pin Up Nights - Helicon, How Garbo Died & More TBA. The Flying Duck.
In addition to the two bands announced there'll be others, and all the usual Pin Ups DJs and hijinx. There's a free download of Helicon's 2009 EP Take The Ride available here at the moment too.

We Are Jawbone, The Underdog Theory. Classic Grand

Mix Up Mayhem 3: Pooch, Nevada Base, Any Color Black. Creation Studios. £5 (BYOB)

If I can somehow split myself in half I'll be along to this as well as No Dancing, as it too should be excellent. Three cracking bands, who will play their own songs, a cover of each other's songs and another cover too. If the last one is anything to go buy Creation Studios also gets to around the same heat as the Sun. You need to bring your own booze, but you might get free sweets.

Sons & Daughters, She'S HiT. Captain's Rest.

It has been quite a while since I've seen Sons & Daughters, but I'm already committed to being elsewhere, so it'll need to be even longer before I see them. S&D's Scott Patterson will be pulling double duty on the night, as he is also in She'S HiT, who have a new single out at the start of October. More on that single a bit later.

Call Me Ishmael, Sondura, Hercules Mandarin, The Scruffs. King Tut's.

Saturday:

Retreat! Pilrig St Paul's Church Hall, Leith Walk.Pilrig Street, Edinburgh.
Taking place over Saturday & Sunday, I'll be going in to a wee bit more detail on this during the week. You can find out pretty much everything you need to know on the website, and pick up a free sampler of some of the bands playing here.

Kitty The Lion, Tango in the Attic, more TBA. Stereo. £5

Sunday:

Mogwai, Moon Unit. Stereo. £10.

Pretty much announced just as I'm writing the gig guide, tickets are available here and from Monorail from Monday. Don't expect any to be available on the door. Proceeds from the gig go to Lanarkshire Cancer Trust, and to aid flood victims in Pakistan.

Fiona Soe Pang, Hidden Orchestra. Roxy Art House, Edinburgh.

Live music, film and probably some other stuff too. More details on this flyer.

Her Name Is Calla, Analogue of the Sun, Laura Carswell. Captain's Rest.

Gig Submissions:

As mentioned at the start, there's now a dedicated email to send gig details to. The gig guide takes a surprisingly long time to put together every week and involves me trawling through venue websites, band websites, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc. To try and make my life a wee bit easier, if you have something you want included send an email to gigs@ayetunes.org.uk including at least the date, the venue and the bands playing (along with a link to their website, MySpace or whatever). If you can tell me how much it'll cost to get in that's good too.