TBreak 2011 Announced

As I mentioned, Blogger has been buggered all day, so chances are you know this already.

On the off chance you don't, here are the 16 bands picked to play this year's TBreak stage at T in the Park. I'll come back and add my thoughts later, maybe.

Aerials Up

Boycotts

Cancel the Astronauts

Carnivores

Church of When the Shit Hits the Fan

Conquering Animal Sound

Crayons

Discopolis

Fatherson

Lady North

Marrik Layden Deft With Scatabrainz

Otherpeople

PAWS

Reverieme

The LaFontaines

United Fruit

Go ahead and moan in the comments section if you must.

Who is Where at Stag and Dagger, and When!

Blogger has been misbehaving since last night, so a wee bit later than planned, here's updated Stag & Dagger details.

Buy Tickets

Ticket collection is at the ABC.
Stag & Dagger takes place next Saturday - the 21st - in Glasgow.

Here is what bands are playing where, and when.

02 ABC1
Clinic 19:15
Admiral Fallow 20:15
Warpaint 21:15

02 ABC2 – Presented by Communion Glasgow

Michael Kiwanuka 18:15
Ed Sheeran 19:00
Rachel Sermanni 19:45
Withered Hand 20:30
James Yorkston 21:30

The Art School

Ghostpoet 19:30
Toro Y Moi 20:15
Broken Records 21:30
Sons and Daughters 22:30
DELS 23:45
Numbers (DJ’s) 00:30

The Vic Bar

Conquering Animal Sound 19:00
Veronica Falls 20:00
Happy Particles 21:00
Three Trapped Tigers 22:00
Entrepreneurs 22:45
Chad Valley 23:30
Star Slinger 00:00
Walls 01:15

Stereo

Wake the President 17:15
Colourmusic 18:00
Laki Mera 18:45
Kid Canaveral 19:30
Rural Alberta Advantage 20:15
Allo Darlin’ 21:30

Nice N’ Sleazy

She’s Hit 18:00
Tall Ships 18:45
Thank You 19:30
Desalvo 20:20
Bo Ningen 21:15
Yuck 22:15

The Captains Rest

Zeus 14:45
Blue Sky Archives 15:45
Victorian English Gentlemans Club 16:45
French Wives 17:45
Our Mountain 18:45
Scottish Enlightenment 19:45
Mazes 20:45
Kurt Vile 21:45
Jack Townes 22:45

Who is Where at Stag and Dagger

Stag & Dagger takes place next Saturday - the 21st - in Glasgow.

Here is what bands are playing where, and I'll update it with what times when I know that myself.

ABC1:

Warpaint
Admiral Fallow
Clinic

ABC2 - Presented by Communion Glasgow:

James Yorkston

Withered Hand

Rachel Sermanni

Ed Sheeran

Michael Kiwanuka

Glasgow School of Art:

Sons & Daughters

Broken Records

Toro Y Moi

DELS

Ghostpoet

Numbers DJ's

The Vic Bar:

Walls

Star Slinger

Chad Valley

Three Trapped Tigers

Entrepreneurs

Veronica Falls

Happy Particles

Conquering Animal Sound

Laki Mera

Nice N Sleazy:

Yuck

Bo Ningen

Desalvo

Thank You

Tall Ships

She's Hit

Stereo:

Allo Darlin'

Rural Alberta Advantage

Kid Canaveral

Wake the President

Colourmusic

The Captains Rest:

Kurt Vile & the Violators

Jack Townes

Mazes

French Wives

The Scottish Enlightenment

Zeus

Blue Sky Archives

Victorian English Gentlemans Club

Our Mountain

Single Servings

Submissions are piling up again, so I'll attempt to batter through as many of the singles and demos as I can here. These will be quite short, but would most likely go without reviews if they weren't lumped together. More of these later, since it is 2am and that seems like a good time to stop writing.

Aspen Tide: From The Strong Came Forth/Quiver

Got quite a lot of time for Aspen Tide, even though they make music that I usual feel is aimed at people a good ten years or so younger than me. Happy to report that their new single is a good one then. From The Strong Came Forth mixes things up a bit, changing direction a few times as it goes, inspiring bouncing around one second, then slipping into something more gentle and restrained the next, with a good old bit of screaming to round things off. B-side Quiver is a bit poppier and more melodic, and hits the spot too. Aspen Tide are still a wee bit rough around the edges, but that's fine with me, there's a risk that with too much polish to the songs they'd lose their character.

The single is out now, available from iTunes.

Poor Things: Innocence/18

Hm, time for me to eat my words it would seem. My only previous experience of Poor Things was seeing them support French Wives a while back. I was so disinterested that I wandered off halfway through their set for a fag/pee/beer without feeling that I was missing anything good. This single though, well it isn't half bad. Not particularly revolutionary maybe, but well crafted, with good hooks and melodies and roughly a million times more engaging than I found them live. there's more than enough on show over two tracks to make me revisit the band, and look forward to catching them again soon. I'll be the guilty looking guy in the corner.

Innocence/18 is released by Red Hat Records on May 30th, with a launch gig at Bloc on May 26th.

Plastic Animals: Maybe Tomorrow/Test

These are a pair of free downloads on the band's Bandcamp page, an EP follows in July. Two tracks isn't enough to get too worked up about, but they are both rather promising ones. If the point of putting out a couple of freebies was to stir up a bit of interest in the upcoming EP it has worked on me at least. Maybe Tomorrow is very dreamy and hazy, with delicate wee bits of vocals and melody poking their heads out from behind a wall of sound just long enough to make themselves known. Test is even more dreamy, trotting along at a pace the average snail might consider leisurely, and is a wee bit lovely. Ones to keep an eye on, I reckon.

Salute Mary: Pacifying Hungry Ghosts/Rubella Rubatta

Promising until the fella starts singing, then it feels like Eddie Vedder has escaped the time stream and somehow found himself in an Edinburgh post-rock band. Please, someone set him free. Minus the vocals it might not be so bad, but with them I just want to never hear this again.

The single will be available as a free download from May 23rd.

PRIS: Soundcloud Stuff

I had no idea we were due a Shampoo revival. Surprisingly to some of you, I'm completely fine with it if we are. That is who PRIS immediately remind me of, along with a bit of the swagger and snarl of Kenickie, and they've got all the self awareness Powder and Pearl Lowe were lacking. So far none of this makes sense to many of you, to which I say - stop making me feel old. Normally when Londoners email me out of the blue it is to tell me about a gig I've no chance of making it to, and little interest in, but PRIS's shouty email didn't ask me to go to anything, and warranted further investigation, partly because it came with a picture. Probably not in the slightest bit cool for a 30 something Scottish indie snob to be listening to, but this is ridiculously fun and catchy. God help them when the NME chews them up and spits them out, but until then enjoy the band and know that the World is a little less boring and po faced with them in it.

Nothing out, but have a listen on Soundcloud.

News & Bits - May 10th

News time! Excited? Fine, be like that.

Actually did a gig guide this week, which you can find here, so we are back to the usual round up of new releases and whatever else I can find today. Golly, there are a lot of new releases too.

New Releases (Or: I clicked through 200 pages on eMusic so you don't have to)

Aspen Tide - From the Strong Came Forth (single). Available from iTunes.

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older (album). Should have a review of this some time this week, but the short version is that it is a tremendous album. My favourite thing Aidan has done since Arab Strap. Buy digital from iTunes, CD from Amazon, or straight from Chemikal Underground, where the vinyl version looks very tempting, even to me who doesn't have a record player. Also, download The Copper Top from the album for free here.

the douglas firs - Happy As A Windless Flag (album). Ace debut album by the douglas firs. Stream the whole thing on Bandcamp and buy it there too on CD or cassette. Download a free single, The Shadow Line, here. Details of this week's launch gig can be found, funnily enough, in this week's gig guide.

Edinburgh School For the Deaf - Orpheus Descending (single). Debut single from the quite ace ESFTD, available from Bubblegum Records.

The Girobabies - Countdown To Tinnitus (single). A taster of the upcoming Girobabies album, Bus Stop Apocalypse, available from Bandcamp.

I Build Collapsible Mountains - I Build Collapsible Mountains EP. IBCM go USA. Available from Bandcamp for $1. Get your Robocop quotes at the ready.

Jonnie Common - Photosynth (EP). Two tracks are available to download free from Bandcamp, the full 4 track EP will be available on CD soon from Jonnie Common's website.

Loon Choir - Bricks (single). Available on Bandcamp.

Night Noise Team - Slow Release. Oops, didn't realise this was out this week till I was looking, I need to review this soon too. Good album though, available from Bandcamp and iTunes.

North Atlantic Oscillation - Grappling Hooks (album). I don't much like it when a band reissues an album with extra tracks, but maybe you do. If so you can buy it from iTunes and Amazon.

Porch Song Anthology - The Late Mornings (EP). Very lovely this. Video for the title track here. Buy the EP from iTunes, hop over to the gig guide for details of the launch night on Thursday.

Something Beginning With L - Piano (EP). A splendid wee EP of acoustic versions of tracks from their upcoming album, available from Bandcamp.

Trapped In Kansas - I Was Born (single). Available from Bandcamp.

Viva Stereo - Endure the Dark to See the Stars (album). Yet another right good album out this week. You can buy this one from the De-Fence shop.

Where We Lay Our Heads - WWLOH (EP). Acoustic demo EP, available on Bandcamp, name your price.

News:

Song of Return will be launching their long awaited debut album with a gig at The Arches on the 4th of June. Tickets are a super cheap £4 and available here.

Also at The Arches on the same night Strawberry Ocean Sea launch their new double A side single, with support from Death By Misadventure and Tijuana Bibles. More details and ticket info here.

The list of Scottish bands showcasing at goNORTH this year has been revealed. You can find that here.

IndianredLopez, one of those showcase bands, release their debut album on June 6th. You can pre-order Empty Your Lungs and Breathe here.

The Second Hand Marching Band are another one of the showcase bands, so this seems like a good time to slip in a plug that they, along with Loch Awe, will be supporting The Last Battle at Stereo in July.

dems has remixed the new Miaoux Miaoux single Hey Sound. You can have a listen here. There's a launch gig for the single at Mono on May 24th. Support comes from The Japanese War Effort and Nevada Base, with some guy called Peenko DJing too.

The second release by Red Hat Records will be a double A side single by Poor Things. The single is out on May 30th, with a launch gig on May 26th at Bloc, with support from Cancel The Astronauts and Happy Vandals.

Advance warning of a very tasty gig next week, as the UWS Union in Paisley will be putting on a little something for the end of term. Announced already for the gig are Admiral Fallow, Aerials Up, Michael Cassidy, Kitty The Lion, Alan McKim, Johnny Barr, Carnivores and Marvel Heights with more TBA. The gig takes place at the union in Paisley on Thursday May 19th, £3 entry, and you don't have to be a student to go.

Miniature Dinosaurs are hosting their own 5-a-side tournament on the 28th of May at Stirling Albion's Doubletree Dunblane Stadium. Following the football some of the bands involved will be playing a gig on the pitch.

iglue has a selection of demo tracks up for free download on Bandcamp.

Shields Up have a load of stuff on Bandcamp too.

Wrongnote are heading off to that London on Wednesday to record an interview with Tom Robinson for 6music, which you should be able to hear in the early hours on Monday morning.

Positions Vacant:

Trapped Mice are in the market for a new violinist, so if you are one then get in touch with them.

The aforementioned Where We Lay Our Heads are seeking a new drummer, so bother them if you like to hit things with sticks.

goNORTH Showcase List Announced

I usually try to avoid just copy/pasting a press release, but I don't have much to add of my own right now, so here's the details.

goNORTH is delighted to announce the Scottish showcasing list for 2011. The event has grown over the last ten years to become Scotland’s premier showcase festival for emerging artists, and over 50 acts from around the world are set to showcase at this year’s event.

‘We are thrilled with this year’s Scottish showcasing list, said Festival DirectorShaun Arnold. The calibre of emerging artists in Scotland is particularly strong right now, a fact which was explicitly highlighted during this year’s submission window.’

This list is subject to change, more announcements coming soon:

Aerials Up
Always The Sixth
Be Like Pablo
Bwani Junction
Capitals
Charlie’s Ranch
Cities And Skylines
Crayons
French Wives
Finding Albert
Homework
I Build Collapsible Mountains
The Imagineers
Indian Red Lopez
Kid Canaveral
Kobi Onyame
LightGuides
Maple Leaves
Mitchell Museum
Pareto
Parma Violets
Panda Su
PAWS
Tango In The Attic
The Black Hand Gang
The Boomshank Redemption
The Boosts
The Frues
The LED
The Little Mill Of Happiness
The Leonard Jones Potential
The River 68’s
The Scottish Enlightenment
The Second Hand Marching Band
The Whisky River Band
Trapped In Kansas
Vukovi

This Week's Gigs: 9th - 15th May

Not done a proper gig guide for the past few weeks, still not doing a proper one this week really.

This is all a bit thrown together, so I've likely missed a lot.

Monday:

And So I Watch You From Afar, Mojo Fury, Trapped In Kansas, United Fruit. Oran Mor.

Doors are at 6:30, United Fruit on at 6:45. Ridiculously early if you ask me.

Tuesday:

The Fresh & Onlys, Milk Maid, Male Pattern Band. Nice N Sleazy.

Francois & the Atlas Mountains, This is the Kit, Babe. Bristo Hall, Edinburgh.

Wednesday:

Galleries, We See Lights, Letters. Captain's Rest.

Juliebee Showcase Launch. The Curlers Rest.

Not a gig, but it gets a plug anyway. This is a launch night for a photo exhibit upstairs in The Curlers Rest. If you don't make the launch then pop in, grab a pint, and check out the photos at some point anyway.

Thursday:

The Porch Song Anthology, The Changing Horses, The Miss's. Bloc. Free entry.

Launch gig for The Late Mornings, the new EP from The Porch Song Anthology. Having missed out on seeing The Porch Song Anthology up till now I'm really quite looking forward to this gig. There's a video for the EP's title track here.

MakeThisRelate, Aspen Tide, The Corleones, Page 44. ABC2.

Pinky Suavo, Vasquez, Aviation For Kids. The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Friday:

Johnny Reb, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, The Amazing Snakeheads. Nice N Sleazy.

Another gig I'm looking forward to, since I've not yet managed to see Johnny Reb or Edinburgh School for the Deaf yet.

The Douglas Firs, Le Reno Amps, The Scottish Enlightenment, Iliop. Old St Paul's Church, Edinburgh.

Launch night for the Douglas Firs album, Happy as a Windless Flag. The album is very good, as is the line up for this gig.

Saturday:

The Twee Jamboree: We See Lights, Kathryn Edwards, Very Well, RM Hubbert. Pilrig St Pauls, Edinburgh. 2-5:30pm.

We See Lights launch their new EP, Twee Love Pop, with music, games, and a craft fair. As you do.

The Ideal Crash, Dear Mountaineer. Nice N Sleazy.

For Abel. Stereo.

Album launch gig. No idea who the supports are.

Cry Parrot 4th Birthday. SWG3.

Cry Parrot is 4, happy birthday! Full details here.

Hairy Area. Stereo. 11pm (Tickets)

Hairy Area are a bit of a supergroup, containing 3 members of We Were Promised Jetpacks, along with members of Endor, Lady North and Sebastian Dangerfield, with pseudonyms and a search engine unfriendly name. This is their first gig. You can learn a bit more about them by visiting our pal The Pop Cop.

Sunday:

Hazy Recollection 8. Stereo. 2-5pm

Featuring Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers launching their debut album, an acoustic set from Endor, James MacKenzie and the Aquascene, The Hidden Lane Choir and Little Fire.

Kettle of Kites, Jo Mango. Stereo.

Supermarionation. Red Dog Music, Edinburgh.

Wee afternoon instore gig, kicks off around 3pm.

The Black Heart Procession, Adam Stafford, Ryan Bisland, The Dead Man's Waltz. The Arches.