Five Things For Thursday

One of my aims for this year is to stop hearing something I like, thinking "yeah, I like this, must put it on the blog sometime" then completely forgetting to put it on the blog ever. With that in mind then, here's a handful of music for you with minimal chatter from me, all either free or "pay what you like" to download.

Fat Janitor - Lurk
You always knew the school janitor was up to no good, didn't you? Well, here's some proof. Lurk is available to download free from Bandcamp. Play loud.


Aloha Tigers - The Kind of Girl U Like
Ian that used to write Have Fun at Dinner has been talking about this band for as long as I can remember, and is now going one step further by making them the first release on his new tape label, Kirkcudbright Tape Club.
The Kind of Girl U Like is the first single released, free to download.
Aloha Tigers - The Kind of Girl U Like by kirkcudbrighttapeclub

Hipster Death Squad - Good Times Again
A band that I found through Peenko's Friday Freebies, Hipster Death Squad have been firing out a fair amount of new songs since I first started stalking following them. They've just released a new single as a free download from Bandcamp, and I really like this one, so here you go.


As In Bear - Mr Glued
Last night my readers voted them one of the best new bands in the poll, today a free download arrives in my inbox. That's what I call good timing.
Mr. Glued by As In Bear

mi mye - the time and the lonleyness
I had mi mye on the Advent Calendar last month, along with a mental note to myself to keep an eye out for more from them. Turns out I didn't have to wait very long. They say that the time and the lonleyness, their new album, isn't officially out until February, but you can download it right now from Bandcamp, so why don't you?

Readers' Poll Results

Is it too late to say happy new year? Happy thingamijig anyway.

Before I can move on to exciting (note: may not actually be exciting) 2012 things I'd better get the poll results out of the way, so here they are.

Best Album:
1. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
2. Conquering Animal Sound - Kammerspiel
3. Adam Stafford - Build a Harbour Immediately
=3. Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older
5. United Fruit - Fault Lines
=5. Pensioner - Yearlings

I'm sure that'll make up for King Creosote and Jon Hopkins missing out on the Mercury Prize.

Best Single/EP:
1. Rob St. John/Ian Humberstone - Split 7"
2. Japanese War Effort - Surrender To Summer EP
=2. PET - What You Building?
4. Song of Return - Trajectory EP
5. Mogwai - Earth Division EP
=5. The Spook School - History/Hallam

Yep, nothing for me to complain about there really.. Impressive showings from young upstarts PET and The Spook School.

Best Band:
1. Kid Canaveral
2. The Phantom Band
3. The Twilight Sad
4. PAWS
5. United Fruit

A reversal of last year's best band award, with Kid Canaveral narrowly overtaking The Phantom Band. PAWS and United Fruit come crashing in to the top five, probably with a wail of feedback.

Best Solo Artist:
1. Adam Stafford
2. Miaoux Miaoux
3. Withered Hand
4. Rob St. John
5. King Creosote
=5. PJ Harvey
=5. Jonnie Common

I swear I didn't rig this category. Only King Creosote makes the list again from last year, while somehow PJ Harvey manages to sneak in, somehow.

Best New Band/Artist:
1. The Spook School
2. Monoganon
3. PET
4. Friends In America
=4. As In Bear

Yaaaaaaaaas, g'wan yersel' Spook School! Once again, nothing thee to make me grumpy.

Best Live Band/Artist:
1. PAWS
2. Kid Canaveral
3. The Twilight Sad
4. United Fruit
5. Frightened Rabbit
=5. Remember Remember
=5. Mogwai

You will not get even the slightest hint of an argument out of me about PAWS topping this one. I also firmly believe it is near impossible to leave a Kid Canaveral gig without having had fun.

Best Music Website/Blog:
1. Song, by Toad
2. Peenko
3. The Tidal Wave of Indifference
4. Glasgow Podcart
5. Last Year's Girl
=5. The Pop Cop

Horrible human beings, every one of them.

Best Music Radio Show/Podcast:
1. Song, by Toad - The Toadcast
2. BBC Introducing in Scotland
3. Edinburgh Man
4. Glasgow Podcart
5. Vic Galloway on BBC Scotland

You lot really like that Toad guy, don't you? Curiously few votes for Uncle Vic after he won this category last year. Vic's replacement on BBC Introducing, Ally McCrae, narrowly misses out, with Song, by Toad taking the prize by a slender margin.
Several votes for Glasgow Podcart came with the qualifier "but they should do the podcast more often", so, yeah, get your finger out Podcart.

Best Venue:
1. Barrowlands, Glasgow
2. Stereo, Glasgow
3. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh
=3. Captains Rest, Glasgow
5. King Tuts, Glasgow
=5. Pilrig St Pauls, Edinburgh

The Barrowlands wins again. I can't remember the last time I was in it. Since Stereo was home to most of the Aye Tunes gigs last year I'm happy to see it take second spot. Sneaky's inclusion last year was a controversial one, we'll see if anyone has anything to say about it this time round. Personally I'd go for Pilrig St Pauls over King Tuts any day of the week.

Well there you go, that's the lot. For those interested, 42 people voted in the poll, but 3 of them got binned for breaking the blatant ballot stuffing rule.