Catching Up: Black Books

It took me the best part of six months to get round to writing about Black Books. They've been up to some stuff since I babbled about their EP. Rather than wait another six months to get round to mentioning them again, here's a few new things from The Black Books.

I mentioned previously that there was an album on the way "in the near future". Well, now there's a date set for the album! The Black Books' self titled debut album will be released on February 14th, perfectly timed to buy for someone you love. Or for you to nag someone into buying you for Valentine's Day. Or to buy for yourself, really. Don't worry, I'll remind you about the album release nearer the time.
Out The Door is a new song taken from the album, and available to download free from Bandcamp. I rather like it.



In addition to teasing us with their own new stuff, the band found time to contribute a cover version to SYFFAL.com. You can listen to and download their version of The Cardigans' Lovefool below.


Black Books: Blog - Bandcamp - Facebook

Rumour Cubes Announce Debut Album

The Narrow State art by Lauren Mortimer 

Good news, everyone! The news falls outside the increasingly shaky grounds of the "Scottish bands" remit of Aye Tunes, but since I like the band you can just go sit in the corner quietly if you have a problem with that.

Rumour Cubes have released some details about their forthcoming debut album. Titled The Narrow State, the album will be released on 27th February 2012. I'm already looking forward to it.




Below you can get a little preview of what is in store, with the track The Gove Curve.

The Gove Curve by Rumour Cubes

The Rumour Cubes EP We Have Sound Houses - which I wrote a wee bit about previously here - is still available as a free download from Bandcamp, so if you don't have it already, go get it.

Rumour Cubes: Website - Bandcamp - Facebook

Black Books - An Introduction To...

I'm pretty rubbish at this blogging lark, really. Case in point, this post is about an EP I got way back in July, and only now am I actually getting round to writing about it here.

Black Books come from Austin, Texas. How the heck they found me I don't know, but I'm really glad they did. It may have taken me five months to get round to posting about it, but in the time since first hearing it their An Introduction To Black Books EP has ended up on regular rotation round here, and been a go to recommendation every time someone has told me to give them something to listen to they haven't heard before. A lot of music hits my inbox, gets a listen, and goes no further, so I'll invoke the "better late than never" clause when it comes to this, since I'd rather be months late with it than let something I've fallen in love with a bit go entirely unmentioned on the blog.

Yeah, I'm making excuses for myself.

The four tracks on An Introduction To... fall pretty solidly into the dreamy pop territory, slow paced, a little bit psychedelic in places, but bit of a rock element bubbling just under the surface at time that pokes its head through the blissed out sounds here and there in the form of a jagged guitar line, or a thumping drum beat.
the whole EP is pretty much perfect for sticking on, putting your headphones in, and getting away from reality for 20 minutes, and let's face it, we all want to escape from time to time.

There's a full album on the way from Black Books sometime in the near future, but in the meantime An Introduction To provides exactly what it says, a quick taster of Black Books. Delicious, I say.

Black Books - The Big Idea


An Introduction To Black Books is available to download on Bandcamp, and also available as a limited edition 10" vinyl. UK/Europe readers, don't try and buy the vinyl from Bandcamp unless you want to have a heart attack when you see the shipping costs, instead we can order a 10" from Shifting Sounds.



Black Books: Blog - Bandcamp - Facebook

Numbers and Letters - Scottish Tour

Every now and then someone from outside Scotland gets in touch with me about bands. Half the time the info is useless, what am I meant to do with a list of tour dates around southern California? Other times I end up being introduced to a record I like, and more rarely I get an intro to a band that I quickly like and some useful information about them to share.

Numbers and Letters frontlady Katie Hasty ticked the last two boxes a few days ago when she emailed me to let me know that her band would be making their first trip to Scotland this week. A quick visit to Bandcamp to listen to them later I was hastily drawing up plans to see which of their gigs I could get to.
Numbers and Letters do the dark, folky Americana thing that I always tend to like, and Katie has a gorgeous voice too. Sold.

Numbers and Letters will be playing with Seattle musician James Apollo, and Kitty The Lion/Admiral Fallow's Joe Rattay at the following places around Scotland in the coming week:

Oct. 11: House show, Stirling
Oct. 12: Cafe Continental, Gourock
Oct. 13: *Surprise Show*, Glasgow (Once they tell me where, I'll tell you)
Oct. 14: Hootenanny, Inverness
Oct. 15: The Newmarket Bar, Thurso
Oct. 16: Brel, Glasgow

Go along, have a drink, clap and cheers and make Katie feel welcome. She might even give you a free CD in a hand made cover if you ask nicely. Facebook users can find gig details here.



Numbers and Letters: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp

Album Review: Comply or Die - Depths

We love a bit of noise here at Aye Tunes, so today we are taking the short hop across the Irish Sea for some. Comply or Die are a three piece hailing from Belfast, Depths is their second album, and I'm going to try and get through this without an obvious horse joke.

Depths kicks off with an all out assault in the form of Official Secrets. Loud, frantic and frenetic, it sets out the stall nicely for the rest of the album. The first few tracks on the album keep up the million miles a minute approach, ferocious riffs bludgeoning the ears and rushing the adrenaline, and that's just how I like it.

After the short sharp shock of the opening three songs comes the sprawling 11 minute long Vermin, which breaks away from the formula set down so far. More doom than thrash in pacing, Vermin uses every bit of its lengthy running time wisely, retaining the skull pounding riffs, but giving them more time to build and breathe. It takes a turn to the dark and sinister, before building up to an aggressive conclusion, and sounds excellent.

After that I'm Sick (of This) and Motives resume the frantic pace, with buzzsaw riffs, filthy bass and pounding drums back to the fore.Viscera rounds off this little trilogy with enough power to rattle teeth, and comes out as my favourite of the albums 6 shorter tracks.

Final track DMT follows the lead of Vermin, not least in run time, clocking in at an epic 12 minutes. At times it is almost dreamy, somewhat apt given the psychedelic it presumably takes its name from, then bursting into a wave of distortion followed by even more juddering riffs, DMT has more hooks than a cloakroom, and brings the album to a glorious close.

All in all Depths is a pretty mighty album. One that will leave you gasping for breath, ears ringing, and in my case grinning in approval. The short tracks that make up the bulk of the album provide good, loud, entertainment, while Vermin and DMT that show off the full range of Comply or Die and make me want to come back for more.

All hurdles cleared and across the finish line, and Depths comes out as a winner. I knew I couldn't resist a horse reference.

Depth is out now, available from Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes.

Shanghaied by Comply Or Die

Comply or Die: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp

Wandering Off...

(I don't know where this is)

Not everything I listen to comes from Scotland. I'm not that insular, believe it or not. It is rather the point of the blog to focus on the Scottish stuff, but today we are going off on a wee wander to talk briefly about some stuff that comes from elsewhere that I've been enjoying recently.

Monster Island

Quite messy sounding, occasionally shouty, Mancunians, meaning by law I have to reference The Fall. I've never really liked The Fall that much though, so we'll move on quickly. I do like Monster Island though. Most recent release The Green Room EP is as lo-fi as Hell, thumping drums, guitars alternating between jangling and buzzsaw, and vocals that are spoken or shouted than sang. Albums Sunken, Public, Squares and The Anchor have a bit more variety in the songs and are probably better starting points than The Green Door. Loads of fun if you like things chaotic and noisy. I do.

You can get quite a lot of Monster Island from their Bandcamp page for free.

Baaneex

London based, and a bit strange. Weird Dance 2 from their debut EP Weird Dance is essentially garage rock, but draped in as many odd noises as seemingly possible to come out with a less than straightforward result. Other songs on their Soundcloud page go through as many styles as Baaneex could think of, it seems. Picnic Swan is quite gorgeous, a bit post-rock, a bit shoegaze and just really good, while Sandwich Song is shouty fun and Coool Count is just gloriously daft. I've still not quite decided what to make of this lot, but what I've heard has certainly left me interested, and entertained.

Debut EP Weird Dance is available from Odd Box Records.

Colonics

Colonics are a three piece hailing from Brighton, with a fine line in instrumental post-rock, with a bit of shoegaze slung in for good measure. Debut album 1.0 is available as a name your price download from Bandcamp, and well worth a listen. The songs are mainly short and sharp, lots of noise, with good hooks and melodies mixed in, with Hessian 2.4 a particularly ferocious example. In between there are a couple of ten minute plus epics that play around with being a bit more experimental, building up sounds as they go, with the odd dash of weirdness added on top. For me the first long song Learning To Speak Microbe does this better than the second, Peresphone. Learning To Speak Microbe feels like it builds a bit more organically and sounds more interesting, while Peresphone wouldn't have suffered from being half as long, more in line with the other punchier tracks on the album. Final track Meateor is presented as a live version and shows promise, though I'm not sure the live recording does it much favours. I'd like to hear it properly recorded, so it has done it's job in getting me interested at least. Plenty good things going on on 1.0, and worth a listen if you like things loud.

Rumour Cubes

Londoners, and a bit more in the instrumental post-rock style. Debut EP We Have Sound Houses Also is a bit more restrained and less messy than the other bands mentioned here so far, with the three tracks within having a more lush, cinematic feel. Opener The University Is A Factory sets the tone nicely, with strings adding flavour as the song goes for a slow build before exploding into a burst of noise, then fading away to nothing just as gradually. Exactly the kind of thing that I like, really. The rest of the EP follows a similar formula, but with plenty variety in the execution. So much so that three songs really doesn't feel like enough by the end, but being left wanting more is hardly a complaint, is it? Really quite glorious in places, and deserving of a listen.

We Have Sound Houses Also is available as a free download from Bandcamp.

Tiny Birds

Debut album Hymns For the Careless was recommended on Twitter a while back by DC of The Waiting Room, and by the swell A Sweet Unrest blog, which was more than enough to get me to listen. I gave the album a wee mention then, but since I'm venturing out of Scotland for this post it is worth bringing the band and album up again. Tiny Birds are a London five piece and on a quick listen Hymns For the Careless is a collection of short and sweet, bright and breezy folk-pop songs. A better listen reveals that the sweet jaunty pop tunes are allied with less than cheery lyrics. Folk tinged happy pop songs with sad lyrics is a wee bit of a lazy round up, but not that far off I think. The album is really quite lovely, and available as a free download from Bandcamp.

PRIS

Wrote about this lot just a couple of weeks ago, but the novelty hasn't worn on yet, so all I said there still applies. In between causing trouble with Guillemots and Ellie Goulding fans on Twitter Pris are gearing up to release a single, The Bret Easton Ellis quoting "The Better You Look The More You See". The single is due out soon, and is a whole heap of fun. Half shouty, half sweet, their inspirations and references are all fairly blatant, but since the song left me with a big daft smile I'm completely ok with that. Fun punky pop that doesn't need to be analysed deeply, it just breezes by and sticks in your head. Check out the video for The Better You Look The More You See here.

Guest Blog: Have You Ever Heard Of The Sycamores?

Have You Ever Heard Of The Sycamores?

I have. They were awesome. They’ve split up now. You’ll never see them. Sorry. Your loss. The truth is that of course you haven’t heard of The Sycamores - despite being a band of immense talent and skill they touched only a thin wedge of humanity. I think they played maybe one or two gigs outside of their native Cornwall, and that was it.

There was some great music in Cornwall, still is. Much of it you will never get a chance to hear. There are some other great musical hubs as well, look at Liverpool, Bristol, Brighton, Nottingham - all of which have a wealth of brilliant unsigned bands, just as many as Glasgow. However just like Glasgow, most of these bands will never make it big and will split up before anyone outside their local scene knows their name.

Overall the message of this is pretty pessimistic. Outside of this city there is another world of musical talent, most of which you will never hear of or see.

However the truth of the matter is you have only yourself to blame - at least in part. Most bands worth their salt (what does that phrase even mean?) will at some point pass by our way, and most of them are ignored. Largely it’s down to how the Glasgow music scene works - a system of bands promoting their own gigs - but that’s another rant. More often than not touring acts are placed early on and find themselves playing to nearly empty rooms. I have seen the likes of I Say Marvin, Pause.Break.Riot! and even the soon to be epic Max Raptor play in Glasgow to quiet rooms. (Two of these bands have subsequently split up so you’ve missed out there as well).

Being a band - especially a touring one is shit. I travelled with one a few years back. It’s crap. You spend a fortune, sleep in a freezing van in December in Arbroath (actually happened), risk your van being broken into and your stuff going missing (actually happened), and you find yourself travelling 200 miles to a city you don’t know to find an empty room. It makes you wonder what the point is.

Most of the time promoters put these bands on first as they know they won’t bring many people, which only adds to the punishment for something which isn’t really their fault. So what is the point on going on tour? To visit Kelvingrove Museum?

Febuary 25th sees Popical Island, the Irish record label play a one off gig in the 13th Note - you should go. On the 1st March the superb Let’s Buy Happiness play at Captain’s Rest - you should go there too. Or at very least check them out, go listen on their Bandcamps and see whether you like what you hear. It is a dear hope that these up coming events don’t pass like so many good touring bands, with Glasgow ignoring it in favour of seeing a local act they’ve seen a million times play once more.

This is nothing against the Glasgow music scene. Glasgow has a superb talent to populous ratio, possibly finer than any other city. But like it or not, most unsigned bands in Glasgow you will have a few chances to see before they split up after a few years and all get real jobs. These touring acts may only ever play here once.

This is one of the things we’ve often sort to address at PGTR. We set out especially to have no geographical bias. It’s not where you’re from, it’s what you play. We try wherever possible to play bands that are completely unheard of from across the UK. You can appreciate good music no matter where it’s from.

We’re about to start doing live events as well. We’ve gone through extra efforts to try and make life for touring bands better. Putting them on later on the bill even if they won’t bring that many people, covering their travel costs, giving them a floor to sleep on. I genuinely believe we can have a better life for touring acts without compromising on the rest of the gig.

As an extra guide to some of the acts I’m talking about, check out our first live event. We came across Natalie Holmes and Tom Clarke whilst sitting on bandcamp. They’re officially two separate acts, but they play a lot together. We stumbled across by sheer accident a song by Natalie Holmes called Shooting Zombies and were blown away - a superb mixture of wit and beauty all rolled into this youthful love affair. Listen to it. You’ll be in love.

So many bands have this idealised vision of the Glasgow music scene. Places like Tut’s and a history of bands from Franz Ferdinand to Belle & Sebastian make this an almost must stop place to play on your first UK tour, so let’s make it worth their while.

I am not encouraging you to totally break the mould and give up on your own scene - that’s important too. But every so often, instead of playing it safe and seeing which band you know is playing this week, go onto the listings for the 13th Note or Captain’s Rest and see what bands you don’t know - then google them and find a MySpace / Bandcamp / Soundcloud and then listen. If you don’t like it, don’t go. If you do, go, enjoy the music and say hi afterwards. It’ll make their day.

I don’t think Glasgow is an exception. I imagine similar things happen when we send our unsigned joys off to other cities around the UK. But let’s set our standards high, go the extra mile, and go see bands because we found this one song by them on MySpace that was totally awesome.

To finish off. Here are a few far away bands that I haven’t booked for a gig yet. (That way I can claim neutrality).

We Are The Grand - from Liverpool - a superb fast paced indie sound. Their music flies at the pace of lightning. Like driving as fast as you can down the motorway and trying to be caught by every speed camera on the way just because flashes are cool. Raucous, in your face, and yet sublime.

Max Raptor - from Birmingham - Sitting on the fence between indie and rock they attract an odd crowd. They make you want to jump, mosh and dance at the same time. It’s an odd combination. But despite the weird movements you’ll be pulling, the slick riffs, and precise lyrics will lead to you having a very good night.

Marble Fairy - from London - Superb little Electro act. Some of the catchiest hooks you’re ever likely to get a chance to hear, combined with powerful vocals, it creates an emotional party music. Their music hasn’t reinvented the wheel, they’ve just taken the classic wheel design - you know round - and made it work really really well.

The Purgatory Players - Sheffield - Whimsical dream like music, each song is like an emotion in a microscope. Analysed and then drawn out so that every painful element of their chosen feeling can be analysed and brought to life. This growth and multiplication of sentiment built up through some wonderfully well written lyrics and great musicianship creates an extreme depth for you to bury yourself into. Wonderful music to bring a smile to your face when there is a grey sky or the world is ending.

Happy googling. Enjoy music.

George Pearson is one of the presenters and curators of Pop Goes The Revolution on Subcity Radio. You can find out more about the show at www.popgoestherevolution.com

Since George took time to write a guest blog for me, it would be very rude not to include a plug for the upcoming Pop Goes The Revolution gig. It takes place on March 3rd at The Captain's Rest, with Natalie Holmes and Tom Clarke, White Heath, We See Lights and Mitchell Museum playing live. Go on, have a wee listen.

Beyond Scotland - On Volcano

I get as many emails about bands from outside Scotland as I do ones hailing from our wee country, which more often than not tend to get ignored as far as the blog goes. Some fairly, some a bit harshly.
Without losing focus on what I'm here for - Aye Tunes does sort of have a point, and that is dealing with bands in or from Scotland - one of the things I'd like to do this year is pay a bit more attention to some of the bands that get in touch with me, even if just quickly.

First up is On Volcano. The email they sent me was pretty much the exact opposite of the best way to get my attention, since it simply told me that On Volcano are from Tampere, Finland and gave a one line summing up of their sound. Short and to the point, I'll give them that.

They describe themselves as "embracing modern indie-pop with shoegaze and post-rock", which regardless of country of origin appeals to my tastes enough that they were worth a quick listen. What do you know, their new EP is actually pretty swell. That short, one line description does a pretty good job of summing up how it sounds too.

I say new, but New Blood came out way back in November of last year, but I'm only just hearing it now (which may get me kicked, since it was featured by our pals at Ride The Tempo, but I missed it...) and is available as a free download from the On Volcano website. Hop on over there to get it, or listen & download below.

01 On-Volcano-The Explorer by larsbogel

02 On-Volcano-Mission by larsbogel

03 On-Volcano-Acceleration of Heartbeat by larsbogel

04 On-Volcano-Ume Blossoms by larsbogel

On Volcano: Website - Facebook - MySpace