Friday Freebies - 22.02.2013

Everyone's band name is too long this week.

The Earth has revolved the sun enough times that freebies are due again, so here are some.

Lovers Turn To Monsters
Heaven forbid I miss the chance for a gig plug. Ahead of Saturday's gig, Lovers Turn To Monsters staged a takeover of Scottish Fiction. Included in that was a free EP of Lovers Turn Top Monsters covering songs by Paws, So Many Animal Calls, Honeyblood and Chvrches. Get that here.

Northern Alliance
With an entire discography shoved out for the price of your choice this week Northern Alliance could practically have filled the freebies column on their own. Four Northern Alliance albums, and one under the guise of The Ossians, can be yours here. I'd previously only heard little bits of the band before, so I was particularly happy to get my paws on all this, most of which has been listened to and thoroughly enjoyed this week.

Universal Disappointment Sponge
I had Fashoda Crisis on here a few weeks ago with an EP I really liked. The marvelously names Universal Disappointment Sponge are a side project of one of that band, and it's their turn to come along with a fab EP. Name your price for Time to Surrender Puny Earthlings here.

In Session
Edinburgh radio show In Session have stuck out their selection of - funnily enough - session tracks recorded for the show. Tons of good stuff on this. It's a pay what you want download, with any money raised going to charity, here.

DanDanDan
Noisy Edinburgh tykes DanDanDan have a new EP out, available for whatever you want to pay here. Excellent song titles.

Run/Lucky/Free
Indie-pop types Run/Lucky/Free have decided to split up. They are giving away a free download of a four track EP here as a parting gift.

The Girobabies
I always forget to include The Girobabies in the freebies when they have one, no idea why. My mind usually remembers they had something an hour after posting, then shuts down again if I go to do an edit. The freebie they passed on to me to include this week isn't actually available to download, though you can listen to it here, so instead I'll mention that you can still get Bus Stop Apocalypse album here for whatever price you want.

Gig Plug: Beerjacket, Shambles Miller, Lovers Turn To Monsters - This Saturday!

There's only a few days to go until the next Scottish Fiction/Aye Tunes/Peenko gig, so just in case you've missed me blabbing about it all month, here's a reminder of the details.

Venue wise we're on the move again. The final Aye Tunes solo gig took place at The Roxy 171 at the tail end of last year, and we're taking this gig back there.

We've roped in a trio of my favourite singing men with guitars for this.

Headlining affairs is the magnificent Beerjacket. I've never been short on praise for Beerjacket, having been a fan since before this blog even properly started up. Animosity was an Aye Tunes album of the year, although it was also one of my earliest attempts at reviewing something, the results of which I can't bear to read it was so badly written.
Beerjacket will be playing songs we know and love, but will also be playing some brand new songs that'll be on his next album. This gig will be your first chance to hear some of the new stuff, and a rare chance to see Beerjacket in a teeny tiny venue instead of somewhere much bigger.

Shambles Miller is another well known face round here, having popped up on the blog a ton of times, and having played at a previous Aye Tunes gig too. Shambles is never short of a witty remark, but in between those he'll make you think and perhaps even give the heartstrings a wee yank. Come and see, smile, and marvel at his trusty and long serving flyer introducing himself. I'd say don't start him talking about Mike Tyson and/or Chris Brown, but he's got a song about them now, so that's sorted.

Lovers Turn To Monsters round off both the line up for the night, and my wee list of favourite singer/songwriter types. West Lothian's answer to Robert Pollard, it seems you can barely go a month without Kyle, he of the lengthy stage name, firing out a new batch of songs. The scary thing is that there's almost never a duff one. When not knocking out hit after hit of his own he also has a fine knack for doing other people's songs. I've long wanted to have Lovers Turn To Monsters play at one of my gigs, so I'm happy that's happening at last (although I did have Boygirlanimalcolor play the first Aye Tunes gig). Hmm, I wonder if I can get him to play Batman Forever?

The gig takes place on Saturday 23rd February, at The Roxy 171 on Great Western Road. Things should kick off around 8pm. There's a Facebook event here, if you are into that kind of thing.

Now, when I see people saying things like "buy tickets quick, there's not many left!" I usually picture them sitting amidst a pile of unsold tickets. Not when I say it though. The small size of The Roxy, and me essentially being the box office for the gig, means I can honestly tell you we've got a single figure number of tickets remaining for this one. Should you want to come then, you should probably get one of those remaining tickets quickly, which you can do here.