Single Review: Over The Wall - Settle Down

Over The Wall are a bit of an unusual band. There's just the two of them, but unlike most two pieces both Gav and Ben can be found at the front of the stage. Rather than one lurking behind a laptop in the dark as you'd expect both men have equal claim to being the frontman. All of which doesn't really have anything to do with their new single, other than the chemistry between the pair being obvious throughout.

Settle Down is one of those songs that clicks for me instantly. Kicking off with a drum beat that forces involuntary head bobbing and shouty vocals, before more and more layers creep in. If you aren't moving by the time the guitar and trumpet come in around halfway, you might actually be dead. Add to that some eminently sing along lyrics - the Go break free, it’s not your responsibility refrain has been stuck in my head all week - and this is gorgeous.
B-Side A History of British Welfarism 1945-1984 has been around for a while - a version was included on last year's Limbo Live compilation - but familiarity doesn't hurt it. Less upbeat and poppy than Settle Down it shows off another side of Over The Wall. It too has a massive chorus.
All in this is a brilliant single. Buy it.

Over The Wall: MySpace

Settle Down is released by Motive Sounds and available now on 7" from some record shops, or directly from here. The single is also available to download. Go get hold of their debut EP The Rise and Fall of Over The Wall while you are at it.

A Gentle Reminder - Peenko Vs Aye Tunes Gig

Well, it's just under 3 weeks to go till the Peenko vs Aye Tunes gig, so it's probably about time for me to do another post encouraging you all to come along.

There's three brilliant bands on the bill - Campfires in Winter, Mitchell Museum and Kid Canaveral, for only four of your Earth pounds (if you buy a ticket that is, we'll charge you a fiver if you pay at the door).

It's at The Captain's Rest in Glasgow, with a kick off time of about 8pm, on Friday April 30th. Also, if you fancy, you can pop along to The Flying Duck after the gig as finished where Peenko will be DJing for Pinup Nights. Remember, go there after our gig.

Advance tickets can be bought from here, with no booking fee and free postage. Alternatively just send me an email and I can meet you at a pub or gig between now and then and exchange tickets for your cash.

Want to have a wee listen to the bands that are playing? Well you can do that below, and follow the links to Bandcamp to get your mitts on some free downloads too.

So, we'll see you there, aye?

Campfires In Winter - Mortigi Tempo (Live)


Mitchell Museum - Take The Tongue Out


Kid Canaveral - Good Morning

What's On At: The Arches

The first of an occasional round up post where I gather up a bunch of stuff about events happening somewhere and put them all together to stop me feeling guilty about not answering emails. Today it's the turn of The Arches.

Fresh from being the central hub for Hinterland, The Arches is rounding off April with another couple of noteworthy events.

First up is Death Disco on April 17th.
The line up for this one includes Annie Mac, Uffie (Live), Jaymo, Andy George, Boy 8-Bit, Doorly, Josh Jones, Fenech-Soler (Live) and Wavy Graves.

The following Saturday, April 24th, much praised Bristol two-piece Fuck Buttons are in town. I must confess I'm seemingly the only person around that didn't instantly fall in love with Tarot Sport upon it's release last year, but once I got into it, everything clicked into place.
Support comes from Factory Floor, and The Arches is likely to be rammed, so if you fancy it, get your tickets fast.

For more info on either and to get tickets visit The Arches Website

Schnapps: Crossdresser / More To Life Than Peach - Single Review

Hailing from Dornoch, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Castle Douglas, Schnapps have their debut double A-side single out this week, and it's not bad, particularly for a first release.

Crossdresser kicks off with a jangly guitar line, but soon descends into something far filthier sounding, with scuzzy guitar and snarling vocals. It rattles along at a fair old pace, crossing indie-pop with a more underground garage sound. Packed with attitude and wit Crossdresser is a fun little gem.
Other A-side More To Life Than Peach offers some more of the same, albeit in much less frantic style. The vocals on this one veer to close too older Kings of Leon songs for me to enjoy it, which is a shame. Musically is sounds good, I just can't get past the singing.

A very decent debut, just wish the singing on the second track didn't make me think of Kings of Leon.

Schnapps: MySpace

Crossdresser/More To Life than Peach is available to download now, will be released on numbered 7" vinyl on Monday 12th April.
Schnapps will play an in store show at the Apple Store on Buchanan Street, Glasgow on Thursday 8th April at 7pm.

Hinterland Review

Yeah, it's taken me a couple of days to get back round to Hinterland, but it was a busy weekend.
Sunday had a hangover that had to be shaken off, and an intimate gig by And So I Watch You From Afar to attend - curiously enough those noisy Northern Irish buggers were a better hangover cure than I ever expected - while Monday was taken up by Over The Wall's single lunch.

Due to the number of bands seen it'll be a quick run through, rather than anything in depth. Oh alright, it's more down to the number of beers consumed. Incidentally, if anyone had bombed Glasgow City Centre at about half eight, nine o'clock on Saturday night they could have wiped out almost the entire roster of Glasgow area bloggers, not to mention a large amount of band members. Let's be glad they didn't do that then.

My evening kicked off with The Kays Lavelle in The Sub Club, due to not finishing drinks quickly enough to make it to Ivory Blacks for Make Sparks. The Kays make dark, emotional music that manages to tug at the heartstrings without being obviously or overblown about it, and on Saturday were sounding the best I've heard them. They won't be everyone's cup of tea, but they do it for me, and Saturday's performance just moved my anticipation for their soon to be released album up another gear.

A quick dash round the corner and we caught the last half of Little Yellow Ukuleles. It was pretty much business as usual from them - songs that make me want to bounce around like mad and an increasingly confident performance. Always a pleasure, and they always put a smile on my face.

Another dash back round to The Sub Club and the first let down of the night. I really wanted to like Midnight Lion, but I just didn't. No worries, with so many bands on show there was bound to be one I was underwhelmed by, and on Saturday it was Midnight Lion that took that dubious glory. The forty billion people crammed in trying to take pictures might have enjoyed them, but for me it was an early exit and off to The Arches sooner than planned.

I'd really been looking forward to Ambulances, probably a bit too much. In the cavernous surroundings of The Arches their sound got a bit lost and muddled, and the band seemed a bit shaky. If my expectations hadn't been set so high they would have been fine though, and hopefully they'll come back to Glasgow and play somewhere that suits them better soon.

Making a change from running around we opted to stay in The Arches. Caught about two songs worth of British Sea Power without paying much attention to them - they've never been a band that have done much for me - before heading back into the other side of the venue.

French Wives also suffered a bit from the venue's sound, but managed to battle through it well enough to be my favourite band of the day. Every time I listen to this band I fall in love with them all over again. If anyone happened to be near the wee drunk guy in a parka that sang along for a few songs, I am truly sorry you had to witness that...

After a quick jaunt to catch the end of The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, who was fine and Home sounded good, my night was over.

All in all this year's Hinterland was a huge improvement on last year. Scaling down to just the one day might have reduced the number of bands playing, but it's a whole lot more sensible. As is making the venues a stones throw from each other, instead of being expected to get from The Art School to Stereo in under a minute to catch someone this year you just had to go round a corner. Last year I was in a couple of frankly pitiful crowds, I'm pretty sure staff outnumbered punters when I saw Fangs (and I still rather envy the people that weren't in the room for that one) while this year crowds seemed at least healthy, at least for the bands I saw. I'm sure not being nearly as pricey as last year helped a lot too.

I do have little complaints about it, like the lack of a big band or artist that caught my imagination, but that's just me. Given the number of people I've seen talking about Jeffrey Lewis and so on others obviously thought differently than me on that one. I didn't see everyone I'd have liked to see, but scheduling all the bands so I could get to everything would have been pretty much impossible.

Paul Haig Day II

First of all, why Paul Haig Day? Over to JC of The Vinyl Villain, the originator of the idea, to explain.

"For those of you who don't know why a number of us are doing all of this today, it has its genesis in some unhappy times back in Spring 2009 when this and many other blogs were being bombarded with all sorts of DMCA notices that led to postings and accompanying mp3s being removed without warning. One such incident on The Vinyl Villain involved a Paul Haig posting and a few days later, completely out of the blue, I received an email from Paul's manager saying that they were both bemused by the whole thing given they were the copyright holders of the track and hadn't made any demands for a takedown. Furthermore, Paul was in fact totally relaxed about bloggers promoting him and his work through making mp3s freely available.

As a way of saying thank you for these words of support, I asked if folk would be interested in designating April 6th as Paul Haig Day when we would collectively write about him and make some songs available. It proved to be a success, and so I thought it worth repeating the venture in 2010."

A lack of planning ahead and technical issues on the day stopped me from properly taking apart last year, happily no such issues have held me back this year.

Paul Haig is a Scottish composer, musician and singer. Originally a member of Josef K, a band whose influence can be heard all over the first Franz Ferdinand album, as well as in a number of other bands, Haig has since gone on to release a number of albums covering a wide range of styles and sounds.

Last year's Relive album is, for me, the best thing he's produced in years, and proves that there's still plenty of life in Paul Haig. You can download the title track below to get a taste for yourself.

Paul Haig - Relive

Pail Haig and his management have very kindly the blogs taking part this year an exclusive track to share, a remix of Trip Out The Rider, the opening track of Relive, Haig's most recent album.

Paul Haig - Trip Out The Rider (Remix)

A further remix by Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly, will be made available as a very exclusive 7" single later this year.

Paul Haig: Website - MySpace

Born To Be Wide Present - Wide Days

This Thursday in Edinburgh the Born To Be Wide team are putting on a series of seminars and showcase gigs, all under the title of Wide Days.
The seminars include HOW TO GET ONTO A FESTIVAL BILL, I AM THE LAW – ESSENTIAL LEGAL ADVICE, WHAT NEXT? PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE, SPEAK TO THE MANAGEMENT and a Q&A with Gavin Bain. Bain is infamous for being one half of Silibil 'n' Brains, two Dundonian rappers who after being mocked for using their own accents spent two years faking being American, earned a chunk of money and toured with the likes of D12.
There's a lengthy list of people involved in the speeches with a proven pedigree on the subjects, so they look to be interesting and informative.

Following the seminars there will be a few evening gigs taking place at the Electric Circus, Sneaky Pete's and Cabaret Voltaire. Confirmed to play are: Found, Meursault, Carrie Mac, Holden, Aaron Wright, Panda Su and Hopeless Heroic, Gavin Bain's new band.

Wide Days tickets are available here, where you can also find lots more information about who will be speaking at the seminars.

This Weeks Thing

Much later than usual, and with it being Easter Monday probably incomplete. Some records might have slipped to being released on Tuesday instead of today, if so I'll do an update tomorrow.
Also this week I'll make another bold attempt at getting some records reviewed, and report back on what I thought of Hinterland.

Records:
Pretty busy week for new releases really, including one excellent album and a cracking single.
The excellent album would be Avoid Zombies, the second album by Super Adventure Club. I've not got round to reviewing this yet, but it lives up to the promise of the single from a wee while ago that I loved. Great stuff.
As for the cracking single, that's the new one from Over The Wall, Settle Down. I attended the launch party for this at lunchtime today, which was quite splendid, and had some nice sandwiches. The record is good too.
Also out is These Old Traditions, a mini album by Stevie And The Moon, Home and the Wildhunt, the debut album from Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers and the gorgeous split single by Conquering Animal Sound & Debutant that I've talked about a few times before, and should be properly reviewing when my copy arrives in the post.
Remembering, the new album by Love.Stop.Repeat is also released this week.
Their full debut album is due shortly, but in the meantime Sparrow and the Workshop have a new single out, I Will Break You. Crystals Fall, the album, follows on April 19th.
Finally (that I can see from digging around) Schnapps release their double A side debut single Crossdresser/More To Life than Peach. It's out today on download, while the 7" will be released on April 14th. There's an instore gig at Glasgow's Apple store on Thursday (the 8th) and another in Avalanche in Glasgow next Monday, the 12th.

Gigs:
No one wanted the gig guide back, but here's a quick one for the week anyway.
On Wednesday, Glasgow explodes, again.
At Bloc there's the latest Detour Scotland podcast launch gig, with Oliver Stays, The Void and more. Over at Stereo there's a Ten Tracks gig, with Aye Tunes favourites Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete playing, along with Fur Hood and La Somnable, all for the super cheap price of £1.
Also on Wednesday there's the Glasgow leg of Meursault's album launch shows - the Edinburgh leg takes place on Saturday - at The Captain's Rest. These shows will be your first chance to pick up the new album before it gets a full release.

Tigerfest 2010 Line-up Announced (Updated)

Tigerfest has announced its lineup for May 2010.
The mini-festival, which runs for three weeks, takes in shows in Dunfermline, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, running in conjunction with its affiliates Baby Tiger, the Carnegie Hall, Interesting Music Promotions, and online/media partner is this music?
There’s also a clutch of co-promotions with partners such as Electric Circus and the Cabaret Voltaire, plus the Fence and 17seconds labels.

Tigerfest has run since 2004 as a regular independent festival of new music. Originated in Edinburgh by promoter Baby Tiger, it expanded to feature showpiece gigs in Dunfermline and take in towns and cities across Scotland. It has seen bands such as Idlewild, King Creosote, Emma Pollock, Malcolm Middleton, Half Man Half Biscuit, Nouvelle Vague and Camera Obscura perform as well as promoting early gigs by KT Tunstall and We Were Promised Jetpacks, and giving acts such as Frightened Rabbit and Dananananaykroyd headline shows.

What's on this year? Full listings are below.

Edinburgh:
Wed 5th - Blueflint / Andi Neate / Andy Tucker & The Scattered Family, @ Electric Circus (White Noise night). 7pm, £3
Thu 6th - Phoebe Kreutz / Casey / Emily Scott / The Stantons, @ Wee Red Bar. 7pm, £6 [CANCELLED]
Sun 9th - 17 Seconds night: X-Lion Tamer / The Wildhouse / White Heath, @ Roxy Art House. 7pm, £6
Tue 11th - TV21 / Boycotts / Midas Fall, @ Cabaret Voltaire. 7pm, £7
Wed 12th - is this music? presents: Jesus H. Foxx / There Will Be Fireworks, @ Electric Circus (White Noise night). 7pm, £3
Thu 13th - Chris Bradley / Dirty Cuts / Last Battle, @ Roxy Art House. 7pm, £6
Fri 14th - Martin Stephenson / Fourteenhours / The Blind Assassins, @ Wee Red Bar. 7pm, £11

Dunfermline:
Thu 20th May - Ambulances / Vertis / Crayons. 7.30pm, £5
Fri 21th - Fence Records night: King Creosote / Withered Hand / Rozi Plain. 7.30pm, £10
Sat 22nd - Malcolm Middleton / Spare Snare. 7.30pm, £10

Aberdeen:
Thu 21st May - The Unwinding Hours / Katerwaul, @ Tunnels (Interesting Music Promotions). 8pm, £8 / £6

For more details and ticket info, visit the Tigerfest website.

A Quick Plug For Oliver Stays

Today has rather turned in to a day of shilling stuff, so while I'm at it, here's one more bit of pimping.
Oliver Stays are giving away a free track, The Unevolved. I wrote a wee bit about them a while ago, and rather like the band, so I'll pass on their instructions on how to get it.

1 – Myspace users – Go to MySpace and click to download the
track in the box above our top friends list
2 – Twitter users – Go to http://www.twitter.com/oliverstays and RT our tweet about the
free download
3 – Facebook users – Go to http://www.facebook.com/oliverstays and leave us a comment
with your e-mail address and we’ll e-mail it to you.
4 – E-mail – Simply
send us an e-mail at oliverstays@googlemail.com asking for the track!

Please note that all ways result in you surrendering a valid e-mail
address to us. This will automatically be added to our mailing list. If you’d
rather not be on the mailing list, e-mail us at oliverstays@googlemail.com with
the subject UNSUBSCRIBE.

Oliver Stays have a few gigs coming up too, put on my the fab Detour Scotland people.

You can catch them on April 7th at Bar Bloc in Glasgow, April 9th at Madhatters Inverness and April 10th at Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh.

What Are You Doing Sunday Baby?

As if the number of gigs coming up over the rest of the week wasn't insane enough, Easter Sunday also pokes it's head up, waves, and shouts "I've got good gigs too!" lie an attention seeking friend that is hard to say no to.

First of all the afternoon sees the second Hazy Recollections show. The line up features The Injuns, Rachel Sermanni and her fiddle Pixies, Aye Tunes favourites Julia and the Doogans and resident host, Findlay Napier, who will be playing with the Bar Room Mountaineers. Hop over here for more info.

On Sunday night you could do a lot worse than take your chocolate filled body along to Nice n Sleazy for Mount Eerie. Mount Eerie fell off my radar a bit when they stopped being The Microphones, aside from their appearance on David Shringley's Worried Noodles, but knowing this gig was coming up I gave myself a quick crash course and it turns out I've missed tons of good stuff. That'll teach me to stop paying attention.
Support comes from No Kids, who I don't know much about, but they were on Worried Noodles too. Rounding out the bill are The Black and White Verse, and the fantastic Lava Experiments.

Hinterland Picks + Full Timetable - UPDATED

Our blog buddies over at The Pop Cop have managed to get hold of the running times for Saturday's Hinterland Festival. Rather than rip off their scoop I'll send you over there to have a look for yourself, then you can come back here and find out who I think is worth going to see.
[Update - The timetable has been officially released, you can find it at the bottom of the post]
[Update #2 - Some of the times for The Arches were incorrect, and have been changed. Also all the gigs at Rockers have moved to Ivory Blacks.]

Back? Lovely.
Make Sparks kick off the day, and are a great band to start with. It helps that they are just about the only band I want to see that don't clash with anyone else right enough. It's very tempting to stay in Rockers once Make Sparks are done for Little Yellow Ukuleles and The Darien Venture, both big favourites round these parts, but instead I'll be sprinting round the corner to The Sub Club for The Kays Lavelle. I've only caught the Kays live once before, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

From then on, things get tricky, as all the bands I want to see start to overlap.
Kitty The Lion would have been high on my list of bands to see, but they start 15 minutes before The Kays Lavelle finish, at the venue furthest away, so I'll need to wait and see them another time.
Midnight Lion follow The Kays Lavelle at The Sub Club, so chances are I'll be sticking around for a bit of them. Skipping out early will be required though, as there's another dash around another corner to catch one of the must see bands of the day, Ambulances.
This is Ambulances first Glasgow gig, if I'm not mistaken, and one I'm looking forward to a lot.

From there things rapidly start to resemble a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Do you stay at The Arches for the always excellent French Wives? Skip back to The Sub Club for Johnny Foreigner, the only one of the "big" bands on the line-up that interest me? Or leg it to Pivo Pivo and hope you can squeeze in in time for Panda Su? The last option is the most likely for me, I do love me some Panda Su.

After that options start to thin out drastically, so I'll be staying in Pivo Pivo for The Boy Who Trapped The Sun I reckon. My recent review of his Home EP might have been cranky, but I do like his songs and I'm keen to catch him live.

After that? Well, nothing really. Maybe a pint in MacSorley's while Silver Columns do their last DJ set of the day. Everyone I want to see is crammed on early, all in competition with each other, leaving everyone playing after 22:30 as the ones I have no interest in. A surprisingly early return home is on the cards.

Also, if anyone happens to fancy a drink or two before things kick off on Saturday, do give me a shout. Myself and a couple of the other Scottish bloggers are planning a wee meet up, and everyone is welcome to come along for a drink and a blether. Where and when is still to be decided, but let us know if you feel like joining us.
ALSO myself and Peenko will have tickets on us for our gig on April 30th, so if you want one of those without wanting to buy one from here then let us know, we'll hook you up.

Hinterland Timetable: (Aye Tunes reccomended bands are in red)

The Arches Main Room (hosted by Radio Magnetic)
8.30 - 9.30 British Sea Power
10.00 - 11.00 Mystery Jets
11.00 - 11.30 Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
11.30 - 1.00 Friendly Fires DJ Set
1.00 - 2.00 Joe Goddard Hot Chip DJ Set
2.00 - 3.00 Grecoroman Soundsystem

The Arches Dance Arch (hosted by LuckyMe & Ballers Social Club)
8.30 - 9.00 Ambulances
9.20 - 9.50 French Wives
10.20 - 11.20 Jeffrey Lewis
11.20 - 12.20 Eclair FiFi
12.20 - 1.30 Marcus Nasty
1.30 - 3am Cooly G

Macsorleys (hosted by Moshi Moshi)
6.30 - 7.00 Mazes
7.00 - 7.45 Silver Columns DJ
7.45 - 8.15 Spectrals
8.15 - 8.30 Silver Columns DJ
8.30 - 9.15 Is Tropical
9.15 - 9.45 Silver Columns DJ
9.45 - 10.30 Hot Club de Paris
10.30 - 11 Silver Columns DJ

Sub Club
6.30 - 7.15 The Kays Lavelle
7.45 - 8.30 Midnight Lion
9.00 - 9.45 Johnny Foreigner

Pivo Pivo
7.00 - 7.30 Emmas Imagination
7.45 - 8.15 Alan McKim
8.45 - 9.30 Panda Su
9.45 - 10.30 The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

The Admiral (hosted by Gigwise)
7.00 - 7.30 Kitty The Lion
8.00 - 8.45 Bleech
9.00 - 10.00 Pulled Apart By Horses

Rockers Ivory Blacks
6.00 - 6.30 Make Sparks
7.00 - 7.30 Little Yellow Ukuleles
8.00 - 8.30 The Darien Venture

For a handy cut out and keep picture timetable, click here.

Chris Bradley - At the Outpost Album Review

Sometimes Aberfedly member Chris Bradley releases his second solo album on Monday. While Aberfeldy tend towards slightly twee, chirpy indie pop on this album Bradley shows much more of a Country tinged Americana influence.


Chris Bradley knows his way around a catchy tune, and his always excellent voice has an effortless quality to it, but the album as a whole is a bit of a mixed bag. For the most part the songs are pleasant enough, but nothing really stands out and grabs my attention, only Not What It Was leaving any real impression on me.


At times the album is a little too laid back for my liking, and also can feel a little cold. Just my personal tastes being different, but I'd have liked a couple of gear changes and feel some of the songs could benefit from being a bit rougher round the edges.


At the Outpost is a perfectly competent album, it's just not one that really strikes a chord with me.

Chris Bradley: MySpace - Website


At the Outpost is released on March 29, 2010 by 17 Seconds Records, on CD and download.

Music For Maggie's - Here Comes The Sun

A collection of independent Glasgow bands and artists have come together for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, Love Maggie’s Day on an album entitled Here Comes The Sun. Maggie’s have been encouraging supporters new and old to do something they love, or something for someone they love, to raise funds and awareness for Maggie’s, on or around 26th March for their very first Love Maggie’s Day.

Artists contributing to the compilation are The Moth & The Mirror, Sonny Marvello, Mitchell Museum, Little Eskimos, Futuristic Retro Champions, Madaleine Pritchard, Roddy Hart, Julia & the Doogans, The Ray Summers, The Seventeenth Century, Pooch, The Second Hand Marching Band and more.

Here Comes The Sun will be launched at Maggie's Glasgow, 10 Dumbarton Road on March 28 with acoustic sets from Pooch, Sonny Marvello, Little Eskimos and The Cinnamons. Doors open at 6pm with tickets costing £5. Bring your own drinks.

If you can't make it along you can also buy the CD here.

Deathpodal: Exu__Wow EP Review

Deathpodal is the moniker of Glasgow based multi-instrumentalist Alastair J. Chivers, and Exu__Wow is his debut release. Recorded in various locations across Scotland, as well as the streets of Prague it also features members of Copy Haho, PVH and cellist Rachel Lind.
The EP is, quite frankly, all over the place and a bit mental. In all the best possible ways.

Trying to describe it is a bit like trying to chase smoke. Just when you think you've got a handle on it, there's a swift change of gears, or a sudden change of direction, regularly all within the same song.
One minute things are fairly melodic and mellow, the next thing you know it's like a fistfight in the kitchen between Fugazi and Sonic Youth, with Frank Carter from Gallows on running commentary, then there's another shift and you are hiding in a cupboard in a David Lynch film.

With so much going on and with so many ideas being thrown around this could be a horrible mess, but there's just enough restraint shown that the EP is constantly interesting rather than annoying.

A bloody nightmare to describe, but fantastic to listen to. You can stream the EP on MySpace and last.fm, so go and have a listen for yourself. Me? I love it.

Deathpodal: MySpace

Deathpodal's Exu__Wow EP is available now on
Electropapknit Records. Buy the CD here, or download at Amazon or iTunes.

Pareto - Your Heart is Ready for Home EP Review

I should know better than to prejudge bands based on brief snippets of songs by now, but I must admit I'm occasionally guilty of it. Pareto are a band that have generally fallen in to the camp of bands that I've never particularly wanted to listen to. Not through any real fault of their own, more that most of the Scottish bands at the rockier end of the scale don't really excite me all that much, so it's an area I don't spend much time investigating or listening to. It's probably fair to say that I'm a bit older than the crowd these kind of bands appeal to as well, which is probably a factor.
As much as I like getting submissions for reviews, I wasn't too fussed then when Pareto sent of their upcoming EP Your Heart is Ready for Home then, especially since the "to be reviewed" pile is already stacked pretty high.

All of which is a very long way of saying I'm sorry Pareto, I misjudged you.
There's the crunching guitars, crashing cymbals and meaty chords I expected, along with shouty singalong choruses, start/stop dynamics and call and return vocals that go with them, particularly on the first two tracks, but carried out with enough technique and charisma that rather than hurrying to find the skip button I'm quite happy to go with it. The first two songs might use all the clichés I thought they would, but they manage to put them together better than most.
The second half EP stands out more for me as Pareto shift a gear for a more textured, melodic sound. While the first half was good, the second half is better, and a good bit more diverse.

Your Heart is Ready for Home might have sat on the submissions pile for a wee while, but I'm really glad it found it's way out of there and into my head eventually.
The songs on the EP maybe aren't mindblowing or revolutionary, but they are distinctive enough that they don't come across as yet another copycat band. More importantly the EP is solid, thoroughly enjoyable, and had my old head bobbing along atop my creaky neck. I might have a couple of quibbles with the whole package, but they are very minor ones.

Pareto - MySpace

Pareto launch their Your Heart is Ready for Home EP with a gig at The Courtyard in Glasgow on the 16th of April in association with Detour Scotland where copies of the debut EP will be available for purchase.
The digital release will be shortly after, on the 19th of April via all major download sites.

Findo Gask Say Goodbye

Findo Gask have announced they are to split. That's the band by the way, not the Perthshire village, it's status remains the same.

Over on the band's MySpace they say:

It has come to an end, or at least it will have done pretty soon. The tyres were shot out a while ago, the engine is kaput, and we're slowly coasting to a stand still.
Before that happens, we will finish the album we should have finished ages ago.
Then we will do a show at a venue in Glasgow.
Then we're going to have a holiday!

Before they go you can catch Findo Gask, along with members of Remember Remember, Divorce, Findo Gask, Guanoman, The Royal We, Bad Bad Men, Phat Trophies, Prayer Rug, The Paraffins, Splashy The Blame Shifter and more, covering songs by girl groups at The Flying Duck next Thursday - April 1st - for Way of the Womb.

We here at Aye Tunes would like to wish all the members of Findo Gask all the best in their future endeavours, and hope they have a nice holiday.

Shambles Miller: Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard EP Review

Shambles Miller got in touch with me a wee while ago to ask me to review this, his debut EP. Guess what? If you come to Aye Tunes often you'll know the answer to that question is, of course, that it went into the pile of stuff and didn't get dealt with very promptly. In the meantime Mr Miller has been all over the place, getting plays from Jim Gellatly and doing a wee session for Glasgow PodcART, so chances are you've heard of him by now.

Well, tough luck, because now I'm going to chip in with my thoughts on the EP.
First of all, a guy with a guitar is a pretty hard sell for me. Too many nights of sitting through open mics, not to mention the terrible busker who occasionally takes up residence on Paisley's High Street means my ears have heard a lot of it, of wildy difficult quality, so I'm never really over eager to listen to another man bashing away at his acoustic guitar.

The EP kicks off with Pssst! a ramshackle affair that lives up to the Shambles name, but endearingly so. Simple enough melodies and tongue in cheeks storytelling lyrics, combined with a real sense of warmth make Pssst! a cute, enjoyable little song, which is good enough for me to give the rest of the EP a go and not just stop there.
Robots is a bit more polished, with a bit of a punky folk edge to it, but retains the warmth of Pssst! It's possibly the best song about robots I've heard in ages. Even if it isn't really about robots.
Nothing Unfolding is my least favourite of the bunch, but I'm not really sure why. It may be that being the longest of the songs on the EP it suffered a little from my attention wandering a smidge before the end. It's still a perfectly good song though, I'm just as fond of it as the others.
My Best Friend Is An Outsider is punchy, with some double bass masquerading as cello giving things a bit of a melancholy air, before everything comes to a satisfyingly shouty end.

Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard is a decent little debut, and there's plenty about both Shambles and his songs to set him aside from the pack.

Shambles Miller: MySpace - Website
Buy Shambles Vs. the Dragonwizard on CD here, or download here.

Teenage Fanclub Return, Summer Gets Instantly Better

Just because half of the Internet has already beaten me to it is no reason to neglect something new from one of my favourite bands.

When tour dates and a new album from Teenage Fanclub were announced recently there was much excitement round here. The Fannies have been favourites since way back when I was working what my own taste in music was. As I mentioned a few days ago they are a massive reason that I went to see Alex Chilton many years ago.
After a long wait - it's been five years since Man Made - there's a new album almost ready to arrive. Just in time fr the summer too. Summer and Teenage Fanclub go hand in hand for me. When the sun is splitting the sky and temperatures are rising, admittedly not that common in Scotland, it's hard to beat getting a bit of Grand Prix in your ears.

There's a download of new track Baby Lee available at the Merge website here. It's not a wild departure for the past, nor something revolutionary and groundbreaking. It is perfect Teenage Fanclub though, and it is as welcome as a warm hug from a much missed friend.

Shadows will be released on May 31st in the UK and Europe, and in North America on June 8th.
Around the same time the band head off on tour. Confirmed dates so far are:
May 1st – London Koko – Camden Crawl Headline
May 27th – Manchester Academy 2
May 28th – Sheffield Leadmill
May 30th – Dublin The Academy
June 1st – Aberdeen The Warehouse
June 2nd – Glasgow O2 ABC
June 3rd – Edinburgh The Picture House
June 4th – Leeds The Cockpit
June 6th – Bristol Academy
June 7th – Birmingham Academy 2

Teenage Fanclub Website

Clearing My Head and Conquering Animal Sound

I'm having one of those weeks where I can't seem to get anything done. There are no less than 8 reviews sitting in draft form waiting for me to finish, and every time I look at that list of drafts I feel bad for the bands that sent me something, that I promised to listen to and write about. Then I try and write them and the words won't come. The self loathing increases a stage.

There's at least a dozen emails that I should really reply to. There's another few folders of music that I've not even touched yet. There's a bombsite of a bedroom to tidy. There's jobs to be hunted. Add to that the small matter of a gig to promote and tickets to sell and I can feel the walls closing in on me. Yet what do I find myself doing, instead of all those things? Anything but those! Pissing about on Facebook and Twitter. Making endless cups of tea. The slightest distraction is enough to throw me off.


Yes, I think it is one of those times that I need to stop for a little while, take a step back, and let my head clear a bit. Close the email for the night and don't even think about everything that needs done. Get a bit of perspective. I'm meant to be doing this because I enjoy it after all. It's either that or the next time I'm out the house everything could go a bit Falling Down.

So tonight I've been giving myself a bit of time off. I'm listening to music for enjoyment instead of critically. Yet, funnily enough it's an email I got on Tuesday that's helping me relax and stop the mad panic better than anything else.


The email was simple enough, it was from Euan McMeeken, giving me a heads up that Conquering Animal Sounds will be releasing their debut album in September through his label Mini50, teaming up with Gizeh Records. Great stuff, I thought. I've not heard much of them, but what I've heard I liked. I thanked Euan for letting me know and went back to staring in anger and despair at the stuff I wasn't getting done. Hearing Mogwai's Batcat on Hollyoaks was a fun digression though. I don't watch Hollyoaks, honest, I just hadn't changed the channel from The Simpsons.


Fast forward a few hours and Conquering Animal Sound are providing the music I'm losing myself in to save my sanity. They are Anneke Kampman and James Scott, and as it turns out I've heard more of them than I first though. Between their mix tape and a live set from last year's Trampoline all dayer there's a good hour worth of material to just switch off and drift off in. And boy, is it gorgeous.

James and Anneke use a variety of instruments, tools and toys that my non technical mind can't even begin to figure out to make beautiful, dreamy sounds. Loops and layers and beats and samples build up and wash over the listener, while Anneke's vocals evoke Bjork's without trying to copy them. Conquering Animal Sound make music that really is perfect for losing yourself in, Otherworldly even.
After clearing my mind of clutter and just letting myself listen to them I feel much better. Much happier and calmer. Clearly it helped shake off some of that writer's block too, even if they have mostly inspired a post about not writing.


While there won't be a Conquering Animal Sound album until September prior to that there's a split 7" release with Debutant. If you are the kind of person - like I usually am - that will sometimes be resistant to buying a 7" because you don't have a record player you should still consider going for it anyway. Your purchase includes a free download of both tracks, plus an exclusive extra track from each artist which are only available with a vinyl order. I felt particularly flush when ordering my copy and went for the deluxe package, since I'm a sucker for extra stuff.

There's a couple of launch gigs for the single at the start of April, followed by a tour in May, visit the band's MySpace for all the details.


Now for more downloads, streams and links than you'll probably need, but more than enough to keep you busy while I carry on trying to save myself from slipping into madness.

Download: Alice Shoes (Live) - Your Friends, Conquering Animal Sound (Mix Tape)





Conquering Animal Sound: MySpace - Facebook - Blog

Mini50 Records
Gerry Loves Records
Gizeh Records

The Conquering Animal Sound/Debutant split 7" single is released 5th April 2010 by Gerry Loves Records. A Conquering Animal Sound album will be jointly released by Mini50 and Gizeh later in the year.

This Week's Records

I've fallen so far behind on reviews it's not funny, so let's get through what's out this week quick. There's a few things that'll be getting more attention paid to them later in the week.

I keep forgetting to plug the free Download that The Girobabies have available, so I'll do that now. You can get Jeremy Kyle rom their Bandcamp page now, while their debut EP is released on May 1st.
The Paraffins single - Something Good - that I reviewed a few weeks ago is out officially from today. It's good.
North Atlantic Oscilation release their debut album, Grappling Hooks, this week.
RBRBR have a new EP out, titled The Bobby Masicks EP, released by Euphonios. It's been on the list of things for me to review for ages, but I've not gotten to it yet. It is good though.
Adam Stafford has a new album out, Miniature Porcelain Horse Emporium. It's available as a free download now from Wiseblood Industries.

I think that's it for the week. There was no popular demand for the gig guide to return, so I'm opting to be lazy and leave it in retirement. There's quite a lot on this week in Glasgow though. Especially on Thursday when there's four gigs on that I want to go to.
Speaking of gigs I do have to plug my own at every opportunity, so go here to catch up on the details.

Obligatory Alex Chilton Post

Yesterday was an odd day. Before I'd gone to bed news broke that Alex Chilton had died of heart complications, aged 59. Then when I woke up I announced the gig I'm putting on. Lows and highs abound then.

I won't pretend to be an Alex Chilton expert, nor will I write a comprehensive obituary to the man, I'm sure you can find plenty of that elsewhere, but to quote The Replacements I never travel far without a little Big Star. If it wasn't for Alex Chilton and Big Star half my music collection would probably sound very different, as I think he was a huge influence on countless bands I love.
While Chilton isn't the first, and almost certainly won't be the last, musicial to die this year he's the one that's had the greatest effect on me.

Way back when I was a young little thing I went to see Alex Chilton play a gig in Glasgow, with Teenage Fanclub as his backing band at The 13th Note. The old 13th Note, not the one where I spend so much time these days. That was April 1996, which makes me a few months shy of my 17th birthday, and it was one of the first gigs I managed to sneak my way into and manage to get served drink without much hassle. As a result, my memories of it are all very hazy. I do remember it as a gig that - having mostly gone along because of Teenage Fanclub - left me thinking "I must find out more about that Chilton fellow".You youngsters won't remember this, but way back in 1996 we didn't have Wikipedia to tell us everything we needed to know about someone. We couldn't obtain an artist's back catalogue - legally or illegally - with a few mouse clicks. A few months of digging around used record shops and talking to the staff got me pretty well clued up, and left me with armfuls of quite fantastic records.

This post hasn't been very coherent I know, but I elt like I had to do something to mark the passing of a man whose music I loved, and whose influence I respected so much. As a reward for making it through, there's a couple of songs below for you to listen to. This is the first time I'm using Dropbox links on the blog, so let me know how they work.

Big Star - Thirteen (Alternate Mix) (from Keep an Eye on the Sky)

Teenage Fanclub - Jesus Christ (from the Big Star, Small World tribute album)

Alex Chilton & Teenage Fanclub - At the Dark End Of The Street (recorded live at The 13th Note, Glasgow, April 1996)

A Special Announcement

If you visit Peenko's Blog today you'll find me answering some questions for him about myself, blogging and generally talking nonsense.
That isn't the special announcement though, that's down at the end of my Q&A.

Remember on Monday I said to keep April 30th free? Well now I can tell you why.
Myself and Lloyd from Peenko are teaming up for the first (and so far only, but if it goes well we hope to do more) Aye Tunes Vs Peenko gig.

It takes place at The Captain's Rest on April 30th, and we've somehow managed to get three of our favourites bands to play for us. On the bill are Campfires in Winter, Mitchell Museum and Kid Canaveral. It's incredible to me that they've all agreed to work with a pair of rank amateurs and we can only hope to do them justice.
We are really quite excited about it, and hope to see lots of you there!

Tickets are £4 in advance, or a fiver on the door if there's any left. You can buy a ticket here with free postage, no booking fee. Alternatively send me an email or catch me out and about and I'll hook you up.

If you use Facebook there's an event page set up over there, and there's one of last.fm too.

Oh, and other bloggers? You can expect me to be spamming you in the next couple of days about this too.

Burnt Island - Music and Maths - Album Review

Some weeks you just don't get very far on the "to do" list, last week was one of them. Last Sunday I popped along to Mono for the launch gig of this mini album and picked up a copy with the intention of giving the album a review. Typically for me, it's a bit later than planned. The launch gig was good, but unfortunately a heated argument between the DJs on duty midway through Burnt Island's set was quite a distraction that made it hard to give the band the attention they deserved. Fortunately no one is yelling at anyone during the CD, so listening properly is an awful lot easier, and very worthwhile.

Burnt Island's frontman Rodge Glass is one of those disgustingly talented people. Having gained attention as a novelist Rodge also has a critically acclaimed biography of Alasdair Gray under his belt. As if that wasn't enough he is currently Writer in Residence at Strathclyde University, where he also teaches Creative Writing. Then there's the song that Rodge wrote for Vashti Bunyan that appeared on Ballads of the Book, and now - after a few years of work - comes the Burnt Island mini-album.
Before I make Burnt Island sound like a one man show I should also mention that they are very much a band, with Andy Campbell, Amber Comerford, Rik Evans and Malcolm Jack all making contributions that are far from insignificant.

As for the album itself, as you might expect the lyrics are excellent, more short stories than disposable pop songs, and the music is frequently gorgeous. The songs are subtle and understated, with an air of melancholy. I'm a sucker for a harmony, which is why the stand out tracks for me are the ones where Glass and Amber Comerford share vocals - Man on Fire and the title track in particular- her voice and his work fantastically together. The other songs are every bit as well written, crafted and performed.

The only downside is that at 6 tracks long I'm eager for more, but that's far from a complaint.

I had a mad girlfriend once that came from Burntisland, but with music this fine I can't hold that against the band. Music and Maths is a beautiful little debut.

Burnt Island - MySpace

Burnt Island's Music and Maths mini album is out now. You can buy it directly from the Chaffinch Records website or from some record shops.
Last year's The Moments Before single can be downloaded free from Wiseblood Industries.

This Week's Records

There's half a dozen things I was meant to do last week that I still haven't finished, so I'll keep this short. No gig guide again, if you want it back then tell me.

Records out this week:
Burnt Island's debut mini-album Music and Maths is released by Chaffinch Records. You can buy it from here now. Reviewing this is one f the things I was meant to do last week but never finished, so look for that some time this week instead.

Miaoux Miaoux releases the Blooms EP. CDs and downloads available directly from Bandcamp. I liked it a lot. Don't forget about the launch gig tomorrow either.

Miss The Occupier have a new EP out, The Heart Is Deceitful (Above All Things). I loved that too.

I keep forgetting to include this one, so at this point it isn't new, but still worth a mention. Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers have a new single - Raise A Glass - which is available as a free download. Just go sign up to the mailing list at http://www.findlaynapier.com/ to get it.

I think that's it for the week. As usual, tell me if I missed anything.

As for gigs, there might be a special announcement later this week if all goes to plan. For now though, try to keep April 30th free.

Miaoux Miaoux EP Launch

Looking for something to do on Tuesday night?
Well, look no further. In fact, look back up to the top of the post at the poster.
Get yourself down to the 13th Note for this, it should be good. If you missed it, I thought the EP was great.
There, fairly shameless promotion done for the day.

EP Review: Miss the Occupier - The Heart Is Deceitful (Above All Things)

It's been a while since I've heard anything new from Miss The Occupier, so a month or two ago when we were promised a new EP I got terribly over excited. Happily upon getting my grubby paws on the release the excitement was worthwhile.

There's no gentle starts, no easing the listener in, instead opening track Glue Me To Thee goes off like a rocket. High velocity would be an understatement. I'm trying to write this review at 2.30am, and Glue Me To Thee was more effective at removing any chance of imminent sleep than half a dozen Red Bulls, and roughly 80 times more enjoyable. Two minutes of buzzsaw guitar, driving bass and drums and singer Roz's snarling vocals will do that to you.

After the incendiary start title track The Heart Is Deceitful (Above All Things) almost feels like a welcome respite, but it's hardly a slow paced, low key affair either. Roz Davies retains a bit of her snarl, but mixes it with sweet, seductive vocals. The song picks up pace as it goes, the band augmented by a bit of cello from Caroline Gardiner that manages to be both unobtrusive and essential sounding, before kicking up a gear to reach a frenzied, before finally, beautifully slowing and fading to nothing.

The final two EP tracks Punchdrunk and Shamefaced and You Know It's Vulgar don't deviate much from the scuzzy guitar, cracking melody formula, but when your formula is a winning one you wouldn't expect them to, or in my case want them to.

All in, all four tracks on the EP are fantastic, thrilling, high paced and just plain fun to listen to. Maybe avoid it if you were planning on sleeping right after it though...

Miss The Occupier - MySpace

The Heart Is Deceitful (Above All Things) is available on March 15th 2010 from all good download stores, and probably some bad ones too.

beneath us, the waves

beneath us, the waves is Warsaw-based, Scottish musician and composer, Neil Milton. Regular readers might recognise the name, as he is also one half of We Sink Ships who get fairly regular plugs round here due to me being a huge fan of their work, and I've nodded at his DJing before too, not to mention the occasional mention of Too Many Fireworks, Neil's record label. He's a busy man, is our Mr. Milton.

As mentioned, Neil is currently based in Warsaw, but he's heading back to Scotland soon for some gigs, so now is as good a time as any to get round to writing about the music he makes, instead of all the other stuff.
beneath us, the waves make music that is, and since I can't describe it any better myself I'll use Neil's own words, glacial, minimalist and classical. Since "classical" is usually a description that normally would have me either scurrying for cover or staring blankly in confusion I'll add another - accessible. Neil may not be classically trained, but he makes modern classical music, yet so accessible that even someone like me can listen to it without being frightened off. There's a lot of ambiance and soundscapes going on in the music, while with influences like Sigur rós, Jónsi & Alex, Ólafur Arnalds there's a very Icelandic feel at times.

Using acoustic instruments and samples of acoustic instruments alongside field recordings and found sounds instead of synthesis, Neil makes beautiful, organic, atmospheric music. Simple melodies and gorgeous compositions grab the attention and never give your mind a chance to wander. While Neil is back in Scotland he has a few live dates lined up, do try and catch one.

beneath us, the waves: MySpace - Facebook - Soundcloud - Reverb Nation

Beneath us, the waves are playing the Liquid Ship in Glasgow on the 1st April and at Stereo in Glasgow on the 12th April,as well as a couple of dates in Edinburgh. Check out one of the links above for more details.

This Week's Thing

I'm skint, so I'm ignoring the gigs this week, since I won't be going to any.
If you want a quick recommendation then you should go see Julia & The Doogans and Be A Familiar at The Mill on Thursday.

So, what records are out this week then?
North Atlantic Oscillation warm up for their album release in a few weeks with a new single, Drawing Maps From Memory.
I Will Leave You Now, And Two Loudspeakers Will Take My Place, the new album by The Japanese War Effort is out today. I liked it.
Quests are Steven Gribbin, Shaun Murawski and Steven Hill, and they have an EP out. You can get it from Bandcamp.
Oh, the new album by Trips and Falls just popped up on eMusic. It's called He Was Such a Quiet Boy and is released by Song, by Toad Records, which qualifies it for a mention here despite the band being Canadian. CDs can be ordered from here.
Lovers Turn To Monsters have a new EP, Tiny Bones, available for free on Bandcamp. It's a good way to spend 12 minutes, and it comes with some nice pictures and drawings too.
Not new, but good, Cancel The Astronauts have put their debut EP up on Bandcamp for free. They were one of the first ever bands to ask me to write them a review, incidentally.

I think that's about it for this week. As always let me know I've missed anything. If you have something out next week tell me that too. Also, I got bored today and made a Facebook Group for Aye Tunes. Join it if you want.

Miaoux Miaoux: Blooms - EP Review

Miaoux Miaoux is Julian Corrie, and although he already has an album, Rainbow Bubbles, to his name my exposure to him previous to this EP comes only from a Zoey Van Goey remix and being a member of Maple Leaves.
The upside to this is that it means I can approach the Blooms EP with no expectations or preconceptions. The downside is that I've clearly been missing out.

Even without knowing what to expect I didn't think I'd be quite so impressed. Put simply, this EP is fantastic stuff.

Some songs and albums seem to match up perfectly with the time of year and Blooms is one of them, it is perfectly fitting in both title and content for the dawning of spring.
The three songs on the EP sound bright, fresh and new, positively bursting with energy.
There's never a dull moment, but for me Snow particularly stands out, with a lengthy intro and a sweeping melody that grabs hold from the off, sweet, gentle vocals, before building to a crashing, beautiful climax, it's a song that just makes makes me smile like an idiot.
As I said already, fantastic stuff.

MySpace - Bandcamp

The Blooms EP will be launched on Tuesday 16th March with a gig at the 13th Note. It will be available on CD, and also as a download from miaouxmiaoux.com.

The Japanese War Effort - I Will Leave You Now, And Two Loudspeakers Will Take My Place: Album Review

"I shall leave you now, and two loudspeakers will take my place" announced conductor Leopold Stokowski, introducing his first performance of electronic tape music in October 1952. Or so the press release for the new Japanese War Effort album tells me, and why would it lie?

The Japanese War Effort is Martin Moog, a one man ambient pop band based in Edinburgh, who is also one half of Conquering Animals Sound. He is also rather tall. That should kill any rumours that I only listen to short, noisy Glaswegians then, shouldn't it?

Previous Japanese War Effort releases have been a little but hit and miss for me, to be honest, but happily Loudspeakers... fixes pretty much everything that niggled at me in some of the earlier songs. Normally pretty prolific, this album took a while to make and it shows. There's a greater focus to the songs for a start and the songs sound tighter.

Usually if I'm talking about an album and say there's parts of it that I've never heard in a song before I'm either exaggerating, lying or haven't been listening to enough stuff, but I can honestly say that on Ceremony Pt.2 there's something I've never heard in song before - a sample of Ian Crocker commentating on Ross Tokely's sending off in the SPL game against Falkirk that saw Inverness relegated last season. There's a few more football references in there too, just like there was on previous album Snowbird - Lanark touches upon the state of the Scottish national team, while Eilvese, Nov. 10 takes it's name from the place and date that German goalkeeper Robert Enke committed suicide.

The good parts of the older material remains, while some of the meandering and rough edges that irritated have been reigned in. There's often a lot going on in any one song, but with enough restrain and careful planning that the songs never feel busy, or like they've had extra layers thrown at them just for fun.
All in Loudspeakers... is a much more accomplished piece of work than it's predecessors, while retaining all of the originality, complexities and distinctiveness that they showed. It's an album that's far removed from my comfort zone compared to most that I review here, but it's a very welcome push to listen to something else, and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that.

If you want a bit of a taster of The Japanese War Effort there's loads around to sample. A session for Song, By Toad has a couple of older songs as well as Lanark from this album, and there's a couple EPs available for free on Last.fm too.

I Will Leave You Now, And Two Loudspeakers Will Take My Place is released by Scozia Records on March 8th.

The Japanese War Effort - MySpace

The Twilight Sad: The Room - Single Review

I generally wait til a bit closer to release to review stuff, but since the video for The Room is doing the rounds and is very pretty I wanted to show it off, so this has been bumped up the review schedule a bit.
Early versions of The Room and b-side The Neighbours Can’t Breathe originally appeared as Untitled #27 and Untitled #28 respectively way back in 2008 on The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents And Hit The Road, before being spruced up for inclusion on last year's Forget The Night Ahead album, so both songs have been around for a while.

The Room previously grabbed me the standout track on an album full of excellent songs when listening to Forget The Night Ahead. Repeated listens and time haven't changed that.
Centred around thumping drums and piano, and gradually descneding into an aural assault as more layers of noise join in, including an appearance by My Latest Novel's Laura McFarlane. The Room is both beautiful and terrifying. James Graham doesn't do storytelling lyrics, leaving the listener to project their own meaning on to his words, and in the case of The Room the music and lyrics mesh perfectly to take me to dark, unsettling places, in part influenced by Hubert Selby Jr's novel of the same name.
Claustophobic, unsettling, but undeniably gorgeous at the same time, The Room is as far as you can get from a disposable four minute pop song.

The Neighbours Can’t Breathe back up The Room on the single, in a stripped back acoustic form.
With the volume dialed down and the distorted guitars stripped off the song is down to bare bones, just acoustic guitar and vocals. A million miles away from the album version, and from Untitled #28 for that matter, and none the worse for it. Like the A-side, it is gorgeous, but thankfully a whole lot less sinister.

The Room is out on 7" and download through FatCat on 15th April, you can pre-order the single here. Watch the video after the jump.

Gig Review: Glasgow Podcart Birthday Bash

Glasgow PodcART 1st Birthday
Campfires In Winter, Little Yellow Ukeleles, St Deluxe
The 13th Note, Glasgow. 18th February 2010

When you grow up in Paisley, you learn to expect certain things from a birthday party.

Some people you thought would be there don't turn up. Someone gets far too drunk, and vomits quite spectacularly. There's a fight. The cake is disappointing. And the music will be mostly rubbish.

How then did Glasgow Podcart's first birthday bash measure up to expectations then?

Well, there was someone that didn't turn up, as Campfires In Winter lost their drummer mere days before the gig. This didn't seem like the greatest of omens, especially as this would be the first time I'd see Campfires In Winter. Rather than letting the loss of a drummer derail them the three remaining members put together a short, stripped back, mostly acoustic set. They then proceeded to not just impress with their shortened set, but stun. When a perfect cover of The Twilight Sad's "The Room" isn't the best song in the set - that honour going to closing song Mortigi Tempo - you know you are in the hands of a band who are doing something very very right. I'm not so sure about their birthday gifts of decapitated cuddly toys though.

I don't think Litle Yellow Ukuleles will mind to much if I call them a noisy wee bunch, but there's also a lot more too them than just making a racket. Songs like Discopants burrow into your brain and stay there for hours later, while the likes of Elders Digsite shows that they can do quiet too. Seeming more confident, comfortable and tighter sounding than I last saw them what was already a good band have clearly been working hard and improving as they do so.


When you are knee deep in bands that are determined to sound like Biffy Clyro like so many in Glasgow do it's nice to have someone doing something completely different, which brings us to the night's headliners, St Deluxe. Gloriously and unashamedly St Deluxe draw influence from the likes of Mudhoney, Dinosaur Jr and Pavement, then throw them in a blender with Teenage Fanclub, Urusei Yatsura and Spacemen 3 until they come out something that has hallmarks of those bands, but is entirely it's own beast. St Deluxe might own a bunch of guitar pedals and have no fear of using them, but they also have a collection of fantastic songs to use them on. Amongst the fuzzy guitars and distorted vocals there are beautiful melodies that make standing still impossible.
By the time St Deluxe are done with their last track - an almost unrecognisable version of Johnny Cash's "Big River" my ears are ringing and there's a huge grin on my face. Both the grin and the deafness would take days to fade.

How did the night measure up to the birthday party expectations then? Well, there was no fighting. No puking all over the place. All the drinkers behaved themselves (at least I think I behaved myself). As for the threat of rubbish music? Not a chance, instead we got three great performances from three fantastic bands. Sometimes it is nice when you don't get what you expect. Oh, and the cake was awesome.

Happy Birthday Glasgow PodcART, here's to many more.

Glasgow PodcART were kind enough to publish this review on their website. You can find that here, and as a bonus listen to a few exclusive tracks recorded at the birthday bash featuring Campfires in Winter and Little Yellow Ukeleles.

Links: Campfires in Winter - Little Yellow Ukeleles - St Deluxe - Glasgow PodcART

This Week's Thing

It's Monday so it's time for the surprisingly time consuming quick guide to what's going on this week. I might stop doing these soon because, seriously, they take ages.


Records:

What is hitting record shop shelves - real and Internet ones - this week? This little lot. I think I just heard my wallet scream.

Frightened Rabbit's third album, the Winter of Mixed Drinks, which we reviewed last week here. The Boy Who Trapped The Sun has his Home EP out. We reviewed that too.
Miniature Dinosaurs have an EP out too. Titled Chatterbox, it should be available from all good download shops.
Pink Pills is unleashing his debut album. Concrete Heartbeat is available as a free download from his website. I've not yet had time to give it more than a very quick listen, but it sounded good.
The ridiculously good Paper Planes have a double A side single out today. Released by Lucky Number Nine, Disconnected/The Sway is available on 7" and download.
Emma Pollock returns to the Chemikal Underground fold to release her second album, The Law of Large Numbers.
Also doing the second album thing are Errors. Come Down With Me - not to be confused with Come Dine With Me - is out now on Rock Action.
Member of the Wedding have a new single, titled New Century. Download only, so look around the likes of iTunes and eMusic for it.

Gigs:
As if the slate of record releases wasn't taxing enough on the bank balance, there's a plethora of gigs on this week too.

On Monday, you could go see Lady Gaga, or you could go to Box and see Lovers Turn To Monsters.
Tuesday has Galleries and Aye Tunes favourites Macabre Scene playing Nice n Sleazy in support of DD/MM/YYYY.
On Wednesday you can go see Mondegreen at Bloc, or Shambles Miller at Pivo Pivo.
On Thursday, independent label and artist collective Antimatter debuts a new thing called Musicbox. Playing live are he Recovery Club, Engine7, Paul McLinden and Lamplighter. The line up on the night also features four up and coming photographers, whose work is projected live on the night as a visual accompaniment to the band's performance. More details and tickets can be found on the Antimatter website.
The Unwinding Hours play Stereo in Glasgow on Friday, and I really need to get myself a ticket for that one.
Also on Friday over in Edinburgh there's a launch gig for the new Japanese War Effort album. I've been trying to get that album reviewed for weeks, it will happen this week.