Edinburgh Popfest

This weekend, Edinburgh’s ballboy, who also run Pony Proof Records, will launch the first ever Edinburgh Popfest, a three day festival of independent music at different venues across Edinburgh. Edinburgh Popfest is joining its other ‘Popfest cousins’ in San Francisco, New York, London, Athens, Copenhagen and Turin to showcase independent bands and musicians.

The bill for all three days is stunning, with a good number of Aye Tunes favourites playing. Edinburgh dwellers are highly advised to get themselves along and support this.

Weekend and Sunday tickets have sold out online, but Friday & Saturday day tickets are still available here. Tickets are also available from Avalanche Records.

Full line-up and stage times:

Friday: The Wee Red Bar

Randolph’s Leap 19:45
Withered Hand 20:30
ballboy 21:30
UNPOP! club till 3am
UNPOP are also celebrating their first birthday, so give them a pat on the back.

Saturday: The GRV

Bearsuit 15:20
Second Hand Marching Band 16:10
Red Shoe Diaries 17:00 (a band name I thought twice about Googling. Followers of David Duchovny's career will understand)
Be Like Pablo 18:10
Pocketbooks 19:15
Internet Forever 20:00
Kid Canaveral 21:00
The Just Joans 22:00
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names 23:00
Half My Heart Beats club till 3am

Sunday: The Lot

Gordon McIntyre (ballboy) 14:30
eagleowl 15:15
Bobby Baby 16:00
The Bobby McGee's 16:50
Darren Hayman 17:50

Gig Preview: Favourite Son & Oxjam Present...

Fed up with Oxjam gigs yet? No? Good, cause there's still a couple more worth mentioning before the month is out. Yes? You heartless bastard, I hope someone stabs you in the eye with a fork.

Our pals over at Favourite Son - I say that like we aren't both one man operations - have an event coming up at The Classic Grand on October 29th, with a rather tasty line up to boot.

Playing on the night (with quite shamelessly nicked bios) are:

The Winter Tradition

The Winter Tradition are a noisy pop-rock quartet from Scotland. Their energetic live performances are emphasized by various dynamics that excite and involve the audience and they have succeeded in creating their own sound that is instantly recognisable to any listener or follower. The Winter Tradition have used the combination of many artists from different backgrounds and traditions to create a blend of music that they could listen to and enjoy themselves.

Nevada Base

The songs are about noise-control officers, mental illness, robotics, geographical obstacles, mysterious women from space, electricity, love and the importance (or otherwise) of timeliness. The end result is about making heartfelt, thoughtful - danceable - pop; Or is it poppable-dance? Either way, if this leaves you confused as to whether you should dance or think, then just dance.

Kochka

Kochka make music that will make you dance your feet off or rip your heart out; Electro-Cabaret-Bolshevic-Folk-Trotskyite-Soul-Klezmer-Rock-HappyBluesPop-Post Surf-Circus Dance-Tribal Screaming-Yeah!? and whatever else may come to your mind.

The Clyde

The Clyde are a group of four musicians all hailing from the Glasgow area with a shared passion for playing, writing and performing good music. Formed in late 2009 and recording their first EP 'New Beginnings' in January 2010, The Clyde signed to Scotland's Delicate Records in July 2010.

Tickets are available here for £4 in advance, or you can pay £5 on the night. Doors are at 7pm, so get along early.

Find out more about Oxjam here, and visit the Favourite Son blog here.

This Week's Gigs: 18th - 24th October

We're a day late again, as Sunday was given over to recovering from Oxjam Takeover, watching football and attending the incredibly special Unwinding Hours gig at the Oran Mor. If you missed it you missed out big time. Anyway, onwards with this week.

Monday:

The Phantom Band. Fopp, Union St, Glasgow, 5pm.

The Phantom Band release their second album, The Wants, today and are doing an instore appearance in Fopp this afternoon to celebrate.

Marshall Chipped, Sugar Crisis. the Rio Cafe, Partick.

Tuesday:

Glasgow Slow Club: Amber Wilson, Debbie Kate. Bloc, free entry.

Laid back acoustic loveliness.

Wednesday:

Maple Leaves, The Hardy Boys, Dear Red. The Captain's Rest. (Tickets)

Launch gig for the rather splendid new Maple Leaves EP.

Thursday:

Dosh, Cheer, theapplesofenergy. Nice n Sleazy.

Don Bronco, Aspen Tide, Call Me Ishmael, The Darien Venture. Capitol.

I don't know a thing about Don Bronco, but that selection of support bands is worth a look alone.

Barn Owl, The Lucky Oatcake, Go Lucky. 13th Note, £1 entry.

At £1 to get in it is hard to go wrong. Plus, the flyer for the gig has a rabbit smoking and is my new favourite gig flyer ever. Oh, the bands are pretty good too.

Friday:

Oh bugger off Friday, you have too many good things on again.

Shambles Miller, Andrew Lindsay & The Coat Hooks, Reverie, Florynce & Lauryn. The Liquid Ship. Free entry.

Shambles Miller launches his new EP, Shambles Sails The Clockwork Sea, with the help of a few friends.

Emma Pollock, Julia and the Doogans. Paisley Arts Centre.

The List: 25 Years. The Arches. (Tickets)

The List celebrates its 25th birthday with one of the finest line ups in recent memory. For full details go here, but edited highlights include Errors, AVP3 co-stars Come On Gang! the always excellent RM Hubbert, Malcolm Middleton's new Human Don't Be Angry project and some spoken word stuff presented by the wonderful people of Cargo Publishing. Buy tickets from the link up above and use the discount code listemail to save a few quid.

Miss The Occupier. The Wise Monkey. Free entry.

Saturday:

Edinburgh Popfest actually kicks off on Friday and continues through to Sunday, but I'll slip it in here where it won't get lost. Visit the website for all the details, and I'll have a bit more to say about it a little later in the week too.

Your Loyal Subjects, Pensioner, Penguins Kill Polar Bears, Min Diesel. Hustler's, Dundee.

Skies Fell, Futuristic Retro Champions, Pareto. The Arches.

Skies Fell play their debut Glasgow gig, and they aren't messing about with it. Entry is free, but you need to apply for tickets here.

Sunday:

Mimas, Union Sound Set, Penguins Kill Polar Bears

Preview: Pin Up Frights

As October comes to a close you can be sure of two things - it is time for Pin Up Nights, and it is almost Hallowe'en. Never ones to miss a trick the Pin Up Nights crew have noticed this, and so their next night will be Pin Up Frights.

As usual they are likely to pull out all the stops to live up to their promise of "the full-on Halloween experience". I'm told there’s going to be a special spooky soundtrack, loads of decorations (including The Tunnel Of Terror), Halloween games, discounted entry if you’re dressed up, goody bags for the first 50 to arrive in fancy dress, prizes for the best costumes, a face painter, and free adult incontinence pads if things get just too exciting/terrifying! And if all that wasn’t enough, we will also be welcoming incredible special Guest DJs from beyond the grave - both Michael Jackson and Freddy Mercury shall be in attendance to share their record collections and meet their adoring public one last time!

In adition to those hijinxs there's the regular selection of cracking bands appearing.

Playing live this month (or "playing dead" rather, to fit the theme) are PopUp, Endor and The Social Services. We've caught both Endor and The Social Services recently and left pleased with what we've seen and heard, not to mention the excellent albums they've both released. It has been almost exactly two years since I last got to see PopUp though, back in the good old days when we had a pub in Paisley that put bands on, so it'll be very nice to see them again. You can get a sample of each of the bands down below.

Should be a frightfully good evening. Hey, if they can make bad puns, so can I.

PIN UP FRIGHTS.

FRIDAY 29^TH OCTOBER.

THE FLYING DUCK, 142 RENFIELD STREET

DOORS - 9PM – 3AM

PRICE - £5 (£4 FOR ANYONE IN HALLOWEEN COSTUME).

For more details visit the Pin Up Nights website.

PopUp

Love Triangle

Endor

The Social Services

Oxjam Takeover Glasgow Timetable - Updated

When they called Saturday's event Takeover they weren't kidding. With umpteen bands spread across six venues, The

Classic Grand, The Sub Club, Pivo Pivo, The Admiral, Sloans and Stereo here's the list of who will be on where, and when.

Note: As always, times might change, but this is what we have for now.

Edit: Times updated on Friday.

Thursday: The Apple Store, 7pm

Alan McKim

St Deluxe

Young Fathers

Saturday: Takeover

THE ADMIRAL
19:00 Doors
19:30-20:00 IONA BAIN
20:15-20:45 6IXTY PERSONS
21:00-21:30 MIKE NISBET
21:45-22:15 FICTION FACTION
22:30-23:00 VIGO THIEVES
23:00-03:00 DJS

CLASSIC GRAND
19:00 DOORS
19:30-20:00 THE LONELY BOY
20:15-20:45 SUSPIRE
21:00-21:30 ST DELUXE
21:45-22:15 THE BLACK HAND GANG

PIVO PIVO
18:30 DOORS
19:00-19:30 KEEP IT SECRET
19:45-20:15 CITIES & SKYLINES
20:30-21:00 TOY FIRES
21:15-21:45 THE LITTLE YELLOW UKULELES
22:00-22:30 THE WINTER TRADITION
22:45-23:15 PAWS

SLOANS
19:15 DOORS
19:45-20:15 THE ZIPS
20:30-21:00 JOHN RUSH
21:15-21:45 LOUISE MCVEY & THE CRACKS IN THE CONCRETE
22:00-22:30 TRAGIC OHARA
22:45-23:15 ISA & THE FILTHY TONGUES
23:30-00:00 SONNY MARVELLO

STEREO
18:00 DOORS
18:30-19:00 ALAN MCKIM
20:00-20:30 BWANI JUNCTION
20:45-21:15 MARCO POLO
21:30-22:00 JUMPERS KNEE
22:15-22:45 BLUE SKY ARCHIVES

SUB CLUB
19:15 DOORS
19:45-20:15 HOMEWORK
20:30-21:00 ANY COLOR BLACK
21:15-21:45 YOUNG FATHERS

Buy Tickets

Free Tommy Sheridan

As the perjury trial of Tommy and Gail Sheridan is entering its second week at the High Court in Glasgow, the fine folks at Armellodie thought they would soundtrack the affair and celebrate the release of Super Adventure Club’s ‘Chalk Horror’ (out on Monday 18th October) by giving away a free download of the rifftastic cut ‘Tommy Sheridan’.

Listen to and download Tommy Sheridan below, and buy Chalk Horror from Bandcamp.

Super Adventure Club - Armellodie Records

Mitchell Museum - Tiger Heartbeat

Yep, this is pretty much a blatant plug rather than a proper post, but since it is for one of our favourite bands I feel clean and guilt free.

Mitchell Museum have a new single out now.
Tiger Heartbeat was released first last summer and managed to be the first cassette I'd bought in around 10 years. The launch gig in King Tut's also happened to be one of the things that helped give me a boot up the backside with regards Aye Tunes and wasn't just my first time seeing Mitchell Museum live, but also We're Only Afraid of NYC.

The single isn't a straight re-release though, Tiger Heartbeat has been completely rerecorded and reworked a bit since the original release. Also, there's a splendid video, which you can watch below.

Mitchell Museum: 'Tiger Heartbeat' 8-bit Extended Directors Cut from mitchell museum on Vimeo.

Tiger Heartbeat is available now from pretty much everywhere, including eMusic iTunes and Amazon.

Also, you can download a couple of remixes for free!

This Week's Gigs: 11th - 17th October

Well after complaining a few weeks ago that I wasn't posting enough in between gig listings I've spectacularly failed to do anything at all in the last week. Poor show Jim. The "to be listened to/reviewed" pile is threatening to take over my life, so I will attempt to get laid into that this week. Wish me luck and in the meantime here's what is going on gig wise.

Monday:

Vendor Defender, Cancel the Astronauts. Electric Circus, Edinburgh

Tuesday:

Dan Mangan, Bear Bones. Captain's Rest

Don't want to watch the football? There aren't an awful lot of other options, but this one sticks out. Good luck getting fighting your way to the bar upstairs though.

Wednesday:

Detour. Bloc. Free.

As usual the Detour boys are keeping tight lipped on the line up for this gig, but their track history means they are trustworthy types, so it ought to be good.

Let's Buy Happiness!, Skibunny, Trapped In Kansas. Captain's Rest.

The Girobabies, Emma Foreman, Dead Stars, Sleepy Eyes Nelson, Matt Fortheringham. The Griffin.

More details on this one over on Facebook.

Thursday:

Vendor Defender, Peter Parker, Mammals. Nice N Sleazy.

Vendor Defender launch their new single Golden Shivers. Tickets and the single are available here.

Trapped Mice, Hiva Oa. Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh.

Friday:

Aspen Tide. Ceol-Mor, Inverness

Jonathan Sebastian Knight. Tchai-Ovna House of Tea.

Mr. Knight is playing a double header on Friday, with two 40 minute sets, one at 8pm the next at 9pm, and entry is free.

B-Movie Junkies. Classic Grand.

Andrew Lindsay & The Coat Hooks. City Halls.

Saturday:

Oxjam Takeover. Classic Grand, Sub Club, Pivo Pivo, The Admiral, Sloans, Stereo. Tickets

Dominating Saturday, this is a pretty mighty one. The line up so far includes Alan McKim, Any Color Black, Astral Planes, The Black Hand Gang, Blue Sky Archives, Cities and Skylines, Fiction Faction, Homework, Isa & the Filthy Tongues, John Rush, Keep It Secret, Little Yellow Ukuleles, The Lonely Boy, Louise McVey & The Cracks In The Concrete, Marco Polo, Mike Nisbet, Paws, Sonny Marvello, St. Deluxe, Toy Fires, Tragic O'Hara, The Vigo Thieves, We're Only Afraid of NYC, The Winter Tradition and Young Fathers, spread out over the six venues. For the sake of my sanity I'm skipping the usual links to the bands. Early bird tickets are currently available for £6, but the price goes up soon so get in quick. I'll see if I can get hold of who is on where and when and post that during the week.

Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers, SHe'S HiT, North American War. Captain's Rest

Launch gig for the excellent SHe'S HiT/Jacob Yates split single.

Apsen Tide. Hustler's, Dundee.

The Ballad of Alex K, Shambles Miller, Paul McGranaghan. the Hidden Lane Tea Room.

Honeytrap, Jesus H. Foxx, Sebastian Dangerfield. Medina, Edinburgh.

Sunday:

The Savings and Loan, The Last Battle. The Song, by Toad house, Edinburgh.

Since this takes place in the home of Song, by Toad numbers are limited, so if you fancy going buy a ticket.

The Unwinding Hours, The Twilight Sad, RM Hubbert. Oran Mor Auditorium.

I've already babbled about this one before, so go read my preview here.

This Week's Gigs: 4th - 10th October

Running a day behind again this week, so let's just get on with it.

Monday:
Sparrow and the Workshop, Kitty The Lion. King Tut's.
Good stuff all round.

Tuesday:
Yahweh, The Seventeenth Century. Bloc. Free.
Fresh from their album launch last week 45 A-Sides Records are invading Bloc's Slow Club this week, and bringing with them a pair of fantastic bands. This also gives me a chance to remind you that tickets are on sale now for AVP3, featuring The Seventeenth Century, links and details here.

Wednesday:

Kochka, Laurel Collective, The Dirty Demographic and I Like Where I Live. Captain's Rest.

Thursday:

Aspen Tide. BOX. Free.

Friday:

So far the week has been reasonably simple, so OF COURSE Friday just had to have a ton of gigs to throw a spanner in the works.

Zoey Van Goey, The Seventeenth Century. Paisley Arts Centre. £8/£6

Second in the Paisley Underground series of gigs, with the excellent Zoey Van Goey and the handsome and dashing Seventeenth Century. Did I mention AVP3? Oh, I did.

Elba Sessions Birthday. the Liquid Ship. Free.

Our pals over at Elba Sessions celebrate their first birthday with a cracking wee gig. Moving from the usual Thursday night slot to Friday this month they've roped in a host of excellent artists and bands to play, with Paul McLinden, Jonathan Sebastian Knight, Yusuf Azak, Julia and the Doogans and Cuddly Shark making sure it'll be a birthday to remember.

Panda Su, Rachel Sermanni. Bloc. Free.

Mice Parade, Silje Nes, Yahweh. Stereo. £8.50 advance, £10 on the door.

Saturday:

No Age, Male Bonding, Paws. Stereo.

Pretty Ugly. The Admiral.

This month the Pretty Ugly club night adopts a Mad Men theme, with guest DJ Lou Hickey.

Sunday:

Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers. Stereo

There are much, much worse ways to finish off your weekend than with a dose of Woodenbox. They are playing all sorts of other places this week and through October too, click the poster above to make it bigger and find out where.

Live Review - UWS Freshers Music Festival

UWS Freshers Music Festival

UWS Union, Paisley

30th September 2010

Haven't done a gig review in ages, so why not break myself back in gently, by reviewing around half a dozen bands at once? This could be messy.

First of all, ways to make me feel old: #1 put me in a room full of young, bright eyed, enthusiastic students. #2 make that room in a student union that didn't even exist when I was a student at that same University.

The first band I caught were Aspen Tide, opening the upstairs acoustic stage. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the band, but what I caught of their set did enough to encourage further investigation. Aspen Tide are a relatively new band and so far don't stray too far from anthemic pop/rock templates, but they do it well, particularly in a stripped back acoustic setting. More ones to keep an eye on than fully formed and ready, if Aspen Tide keep working on their songs and find a sound they are comfortable with that is a little more distinctive there's no reason they can't find themselves higher up the bill on gigs in future.

Next up were local boys Pacific Theatre, my second time seeing them in a week, having gone along to their split single launch the previous Thursday. On that occasion Fraser from Pacific Theatre was celebrating his birthday and had been introduced to the joys of Bloc's infamous Balkan shots, this time round he looked less likely to pass out at any moment, probably just as well since he was one of the ones organising things today.
Pacific Theatre already have more than a handful of quality songs and a couple of choruses that almost demand to be sung along to. They aren't half bad live either, with a bit more of a rough edge on stage than on record which suits them. Now if only I could stop thinking how much their singer reminds me of Kevin Bridges...

Make Sparks are a band that I'd somewhat fallen out of love with. Way back in January they went on my Tips for 2010 list, but for no reason in particular I've not paid much attention through the year, except to pick up their last single. Their set, the first time I've seen them in ages, was a timely reminder of why I fell in love with the band in the first place. Straight up guitar pop from an incredibly tight band with more hooks than a prize fight, Make Sparks are both a breath of fresh air and a little ray of sunshine, as well as showing that there's no substitute for hard work. Welcome back to that little place in my heart, it never realised how much it missed you.

Trapped In Kansas were cutting it fine, transport problems meaning they barely arrived in time for their set. Having seen trapped In Kansas plenty of times before, a bit of a clash meant that I only stuck around for the first couple of songs. The couple that I caught were newer material and sounded encouraging.

Ryan Bisland provided the aforementioned schedule clash, since I've been meaning to catch one of his gigs for ages, but keep missing them. As I join proceedings Ryan, joined on stage by another guitarist, breaks into a cover of Elbow's One Day Like This. A bold move really, considering the level of exposure that song has had, but one that works out. What helps is that there is no noticeable dip in quality between the cover and the originals, with Vultures in particular standing out. Battling against an increasing level of chatter in the main bar with just a couple of acoustic guitars is no easy task, but it is a challenge that Ryan and his band rise to. The style is one I don't normally go for, but the craft and quality of the songs is undeniable.

If I'm not careful Carnivores will think I'm stalking them. If I'm not careful Carnivores will deafen me. I really must stop standing next to the speakers when they play, throughout their set their bass drum made my clothes move, and my drink ripple like a scene from Jurassic Park. Carnivores make one Hell of a noise, and do it brilliantly. Not only that, but they have the song quality in that noise to save them ever becoming one dimensional. Absolutely a band you should see live, but the sensitive out there will want to pack ear plugs.

A minute of The LaFontaines proves to be a minute too long for me. The busy room suggests they have some appeal, just not to me. Let's just say it wasn't my thing and move on swiftly.

Kitty the Lion are playing upstairs where the chatter has steadily increased, making this an uphill battle. The band get a bit lost in the noise unfortunately, but do manage to shine through a few times. Songs like Lion In the Bed and Catalytic Converter emerge from the chat as strong and catchy, while Anna Meldrum's voice is generally hard not to love.

After that the lure of being able to get a bus home instead of walking miles overcame the desire to see the remaining bands, so like the old man I am I headed off, leaving the kids to enjoy Sucioperro.

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko III

No one ever stops at two, you need to have at least a trilogy, don't you?

With that in mind Peenko and myself have been working for a while on the third AVP gig which we can finally announce. We'll be the Back To The Future, Toy Story, Evil Dead and Friday series, not The Matrix, MVP: Most Valuable Primate, Beverly Hills Cop or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
We promise no Ewoks and no Sophia Coppola. All bands will be appearing in full definition 3D though, unless you only have one eye.

Never ones to outstay our welcome (shh) we've upped sticks again, shifting to downstairs at The Classic Grand this time round, so we are nice and handy for the train station and Pizza Hut. If you saw me before either of the previous gigs you might have noticed a lot of blind panic, well The Classic Grand is a much bigger venue than The Captain's Rest or The 13th Note were, so expect my look of panic to be significantly increased too. But enough about me shitting myself, and more about the fools bands we've somehow managed to get to play for us.

The Seventeenth Century are simply a band I can't see myself getting bored of watching. Not only do they have magnificent songs, but also a level of on stage energy and chemistry that has to be seen to be believed. Don't just take my word for it, listen to John Robb, who said "Their sound is utterly original and the band is pure genius"

Come On Gang! are an Edinburgh based three piece with a line of catchy melodies that embed themselves in your head and refuse to leave for some time. They also have a singing female drummer which not only makes them stand out from the crowd, but shows that at both Peenko and Aye Tunes we like both females and people from Edinburgh. Fair warning - they recently made a man dance so hard he tore his trousers.

I Build Collapsible Mountains is another Edinburgh dweller. This mysterious singer songwriter is on the verge of releasing his debut mini album A Month of Lost Memories (out on October 13th on Peenko Records. Hang on...) and will be revealing his true face for us. Well, IBCM is really Luke Joyce, formerly of The Gothenburg Address and gifted photographer. But shh, don't tell anyone.

We try to put together a line up that is a bit different from the usual, no booking support bands that sound a bit like the headliners but not quite as good, which we've hopefully accomplished. All three bring something different to the table, and your ears, all we ask is that you bring the ears.

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko 3 takes place on the Fifth of November - if only there was some little rhyme you could use to stop yourself from forgetting the date - at The Classic Grand in Glasgow.

Tickets cost £6 and are available from Tickets Scotland, TicketWeb, Peenko, or by harassing either me or Lloyd by email or in person. If either of us bump into you over the next month or so we will try and sell you a ticket, so be warned.

Also, Facebook users can go here for the event page.

Return of the YAK

Give me an excuse to reference Mark Morrison in a post title and I'll take it.

You Already Know released their debut album Stop Whispering last year to much acclaim, it also scored a spot in the Aye Tunes favourite albums of 2009. Since the end of last year they've been fairly quiet, slipping out a tour CD and a very limited - and excellent - collection of cover versions for Record Store Day earlier this year. The quiet time has been well spent, whipping second album Petrol Money into shape.

Now that Petrol Money is finished, it is time for You Already Know to make a bit of noise again, something they do very well. Starting in October the first fruits of the second album will be released, under a series of digital singles.

YAK's Allan J Swan says "We have 3 tracks from the album we will be releasing as singles, each in the old 7" vinyl style of A-side + exclusive B-side. For £1 a month from October to December, we'll be offering up the finest instrumental riff-based music Scotland has ever offered up. And with all this being digital, you won't even have to brave the weather to get your fix. It just makes so much sense, i could cry."

The first single Boomstick will be backed with Into and Over You (Naked), an exclusive acoustic version of another album track. The single is set for release by ineedmusik.com in October and will be available exclusively on youalreadyknow.net. You can hear Boomstick below.

You Already Know are also set to make a return to gigging, with a show at The 13th Note on November 12th. Support comes from DeadOtter and Circle of Tyrants. Go.

This Week's Gigs: 27th September - 3rd October

There seems to be very few posts in between the gig listings recently, I need to work on that. Particularly since there's a large pile of CDs to be reviewed which fall on me occasionally, not to mention digital stuff, which obviously doesn't fall on me. Ooh look, I'm babbling again, that's a sure sign I should get on with things.

Tuesday:

Martin Docherty. The Liquid Ship. Free

Thursday:

The Glad Cafe/45 A-side Records Present: Dam Mantle, Song Of Return, Conquering Animal Sound, Barn Owl, Detour DJs. Stereo. Tickets.

he Glad Cafe is a new venture being set up in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow, which will host both a restraunt and and arts venue. To raise funds and awareness 45 A-Side Records are releasing a compilation album, with this gig being the launch, which features a ton of great bands, including those playing the gig. The record can be bought in advance here.

UWS Freshers Music Festival. Paisley Student Union. £4

As I've said before, Paisley gigs get plugs. As it happens that has a pretty good looking line up too, with the likes of Aspen Tide, Ryan Bisland, Kitty The Lion and Aeriels Up on the acoustic stage, while Carnivores, Pacific Theatre, LightGuides, Trapped In Kansas, Make Sparks and headliners Sucioperro gracing the main stage. Everything kicks off at 4.30pm, £4 entry, and non students can get in too, which is good news for me. Download a free sampler compilation of some of the bands taking part here.

Friday:

How To Swim, Over The Wall, The Low Miffs. Stereo.

How To Swim launch their debut album Retina (or More Fun Than A Vat of Love) with this wee gig. As well as quality supports there has been cake promised. Entry will cost you £5, but for £10 you can get in AND get a copy of the album, so do that.

Music Like a Vitamin. HMV Picture House, Edinburgh.

Featuring solo sets from Karine Polwart and Scott Hutchison, along with a whole host of collaborative efforts.

Saturday:

Music Like a Vitamin. O2 ABC, Glasgow.

Like Edinburgh the night before expect a bunch of collaborations, plus solo sets from James Yorkston and Alasdair Roberts.

French Wives, Male Pattern Band, Foxgang. Stereo.

First Glasgow headline gig from French Wives since their ace performance at King Tut's a wee while ago. If you missed it then you can have a listen to a new French Wives song here, and get it as a free download on Monday.

Max Raptor, Deserters Deserve Death, The Hundred Metre Club. Sneaky Pete's. Edinburgh.

Be a Familiar, Endor, Gdansk. Classic Grand.

Aberfedly, Second Hand Marching Band. Aberfeldy Town Hall.

Fancy seeing Aberfeldy in the place they take their name from? Now would be your chance.

Sunday:

The Barents Sea, The Darien Venture, Jack The Wolf, Alburn. Captain's Rest.

Oxjam - Campfires in Winter, Carnivores, Bronto Skylift, Super Adventure Club. Nice n Sleazy.

As we hit October we also hit Oxjam season. Other Oxjam gigs will have to go some to beat the line up for this one though. The sensitive out there might want to bring earplugs.

French WIves - Welcome, in the light

Oh look, Saturday night, The X Factor is on. Would you rather here something decent instead of some squealing harpies doing karaoke? You would? You are as big a snob as I am then, well done you. But I digress...

On Monday one of our favourites bands, French Wives, will be giving a new, previously unavailable song away for absolutely nothing, but before that they are giving Aye Tunes readers a chance to get a little preview. Welcome, in the light is available to stream below, then on Monday swing by the French Wives MySpace to find out how you can get your free download.

French Wives play Stereo in Glasgow on October 2nd. If the gig is anywhere near as good as the last time I saw them, back in July at King Tut's, it'll be pretty special, so try and get yourself along. Tickets are available here.

French Wives: MySpace - Shop

Hazy Recollections 4 - This Sunday

Looking for something to fill your Sunday afternoon? Something gig shaped? Well, why not have a look at the next Hazy Recollections gig then?

Hazy 4 takes place in Stereo on September 26th, which is tomorrow, unless you read this later in which case you've maybe missed it already, from 2pm until 6.

Joining the regular host Findlay Napier and The Bar Room Mountaineers are Damon Valentine, Calum MacCrimmon and the excellent Jo Mango, all of which adds up to a cracking wee afternoon of music.

But that's not all! There's a top secret special guest lined up too. I'm not allowed to say who it is, if I did I'd be making a Rod for my own back, but I hear it is a gentleman with a lot of Hart.

If you hurry you can pick up an advance ticket here, otherwise it'll be £6 on the door.

Gig Preview: The Unwinding Hours - The Twilight Sad - RM Hubbert

Coming up in October is a gig that looks to be a little bit special.

Back in February The Unwinding Hours released their debut album, and with it made sure that the bar for the end of year "Best of 2010" lists would be set high. Now they are planning a bit of a break to work on a follow up, but not before playing a few gigs.

The Unwinding Hours - Knut

Joining The Unwinding Hours on their last Glasgow show for a while is the wonderful RM Hubbert. Not to be outdone Hubby released a pretty excellent album himself this year in First & Last. More recently both joined forces to record a cover version of Sparklehorse's Spirit Ditch. You can hear the gorgeous results below.

Rounding out the bill are special guests The Twilight Sad, who will be performing an acoustic set. Last year's Forget The Night Ahead album showed that the brilliance of their debut album was no fluke, with The Room in particular, released as a single earlier this year, standing out to me as my favourite thing they've done so far. Despite losing the services of bassist Craig Orzel in February The Twilight Sad have continued to travel the World rattling eardrums and going from strength to strength. New material is forthcoming too, with The Wrong Car EP set for release on September 27th.

The Twilight Sad - The Room (Live & Acoustic)

So yeah, like I said, a little bit special.

The gig takes places on October 17th in the Oran Mor Auditorium, with tickets available here.

The Unwinding Hours - RM Hubbert - The Twilight Sad

This Week's Gigs: 20th - 26th September

There's either less on this week than there has been recently, or no one has been telling me about their gigs. Since some weeks recently have been quite ridiculous with the number of good gigs this isn't so bad. Either way what the week lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality.

Tuesday:

Y'all Is Fantasy Island, Burnt Island, Jamie Sturrock. Captain's Rest.

A little Wiseblood Industries night. Yifi have been quiet for a while, so much so that this is their first Glasgow gig in over a year. We love Burnt Island round here, so their place is on the bill adds even more reason to get along to this one. Jamie Sturrock released a new EP on Wiseblood just recently, which you can get your hands on for free right here.

Wednesday:

Widows In Paradise: An Evening Celebrating The Songs Of Sufjan Stevens. Stereo. Tickets

I'm not personally much of a Sufjan Stevens fan, but the line up of artists playing at this make it worth a good look. There will be performances and collaborations from Open Swimmer, Washington Irving, Julia & The Doogans, The Last Battle, Randolph's Leap, Endor, Esperi, Quickbeam and more. I hear there will be cakes too.

Thursday:

Carnivores, Pacific Theatre, Penguins Kill Polar Bears. Bloc. Free.

Carnivores and Pacific Theatre launch their pretty excellent split single with a free gig in Bloc, joined by the brilliantly named Penguins Kill Polar Bears. Get down early, this should be a good one.

Darren Hayman, Gordon McIntyre (ballboy), Withered Hand. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

I've got much less of a clue what is happening through in Edinburgh this week, but I do know that former Hefner frontman Darren Hayman is in town to play songs from his new album, with some excellent local support lending a hand. No hand pun intended.

Oh You Dancer launch night. The Admiral.

New club night Oh You Dancer kicks off, promising "an electro/ glitch/ 8-bit/ techno night of audio visual mayhem" with residents Daisuke joined by guests Data Rape and DJ Rambunctious. It all takes place between 11pm and 2am, and typing all that made me feel really quite old.

Friday:

Zoobiezaretta, White Heath. Captain's Rest. £2.

Zoobiezaretta finally have their album finished, and are playing a launch gig to celebrate. The album is, from the quick listen I've had to it, very good. For the Edinburgh launch gig see Saturday.

Pin Up Nights - Geek Night. The Flying Duck.

Once again it is Pin Ups time. This month's party has a geek theme, with Angelos Epithemiou from Shooting Stars as the guest DJ, and live sets from the ace BMovie Junkies, PAWS and Heart Beats.

Saturday:

Trapped In Kansas, Cryoverbillionaires, Your Neighbour The Liar. Classic Grand.

Don't know much about Cryoverbillionaires to be honest, but we like Trapped In Kansas and Your Neighbour The Liar.

Zoobiezaretta, White Heath, Loch Awe, Sebastian Dangerfield. Sneaky Pete's.

Sunday:

Slow Club Mini Fest. The Flying Duck.

Loads of good folk playing at this, visit the Facebook page linked above for all the details.

Campfires In Winter, Little Doses, Dante. Captain's Rest.

This one time, at Bandcamp...

Shameless, I know.

Last week music site Bandcamp announced a few changes to the way it would be working with free downloads. Reaction was mixed.

Basically instead of bands being able to offer unlimited free downloads of their music Bandcamp are going to set a cap, and beyond that bands and artists will have to buy a "Power Up" to offer more freebies. The packages offered were 300 downloads for $9 USD, 1000 downloads for $20 USD and 5000 downloads for $75 USD. In addition when a band makes $500 in sales their account will be topped up with another 1000 free downloads.

I get more music from Bandcamp that from anywhere else these days, and think it is a fantastic site. Obviously since I'm getting all that music there must be bands providing it, so I asked if anyone had any comments, here's what some had to say...

(Note: this post was delayed by the great computer meltdown of last weekend. In the meantime some changes have been made by Bandcamp, but I got comments before those changes)

Matthew Gilliland, Mondegreen

I'm a bit disappointed with bandcamp's new free download limitations. We haven't had that many downloads yet, but if we ever did get beyond 500, we would in effect have to pay for people to download our music for free. Which is obviously going to effect how we do things in the future.

Paul Carlin, Ghost Pants, American Men, Dananananaykroyd

My initial feeling on reading Bandcamp's latest news was, 'Oh you scallywags. You've blown it.' However, on reflection, these developments aren't really all that bad. Those of us who have been able to use Bandcamp completely free of charge up 'til now are lucky bastards.

Think about it. Bandcamp's whole interface is perfect. I can't think of another way to tart up what is effectively A BUNCH OF MP3s and somehow turn it into a cohesive, pretty... well... PRODUCT (sorry).

I currently give all my music away for free and have had about 300 downloads in six months. Smalltime Bandcamp users who, by the way, make up about 80% of Bandcamp's population, aren't really missing out. Existing users get a whole 500 free downloads.

It will cost you $20 to give away another 1000 downloads. Hardly breaking the bank. That's three pints in real money. Everybody cheer up. Streaming costs nothing, remember!

Better still, use this news as impetus to make better music, take more care over the packaging and, gasp, maybe charge £1 for an album or something (OMG)? It's made me really think about my music and whether giving it away for free is really a result of undervaluing the music we write. (I wouldn't hesitate in paying for great music on Bandcamp so why shouldn't other people?)

On the other side of the coin, however, I've no doubt that there are going to be Bandcamp-esque websites popping up all over the place. There will always be a way to give away your music for free. Thing is, will it be as goddamn awesome as Bandcamp's pretty revolutionary site? Hmmmm... I think I'll take the $20 a year hit. The Bandcamp pros FAR outweigh the cons. This was inevitable. Time to man up, folks.

Mark McG, The Girobabies

I think Bandcamp`s recent changes are slightly worrying for the long term. Bandcamp has been brilliant for us as a band up until now and at the moment we only sell our music exclusively online there . It gave us a chance to give away our `Jeremy Kyle` track for free to anyone in exchange for their e-mail address. Which helped us to build up a database of people who would potentially buy our CD ...and many of them did purchase when our `Social Not Working` E.P went up for sale on the bandcamp page. In the beginning we received 100% royalties. It all seemed a bit too good to be true, And of course it was.

Now they want to cap the amount of free material we give away (Or charge us for giving away free material) and take a 10% cut of royalties. That in itself is not enough to drive me away from Bandcamp. Its still an excellent service and has to make money somewhere but it does make me slightly concerned about their intention s for the future. Will the 200 cap be removed entirely? will the royaltys sneak up by 5% every couple of months? Fingers crossed this isn't the case as the last thing we need is another i-tunes.

There is two arguments here though. One is that artists should be entitled to give their music away for free. There is plenty other sites available to do that and there may be a couple due to pop up in the aftermath of Bandcamps free music cap. The other argument is that maybe Bandcamp will encourage more independent artists to sell their music rather than giving it away for free. If that was to become the norm again then maybe this would be a good thing for the music industry as a whole?

The Social Services

We loved it till the fee increase.. now we're just good friends. There was also potential to sidestep Ticketmaster for feeless local online ticket sales.. in combination with a pile of envelopes

Jim Connick, Aye Tunes

I've only ever used Bandcamp as a seller once, for tickets for the last Aye Tunes Vs Peenko gig. Like The Social Services I saw a lot of potential in using Bandcamp this way, sidestepping ridiculous booking, postage and mysterious service fees. Paypal takes a little slice of each payment, so by selling the tickets online I lost a little money, but only a little. Bandcamp now take a 15% share of sales, which means for the next AvsP gig I won't be repeating the experiment, since that 15% on top of the Paypal fees adds up to a decent slice of the ticket price, making it impractical for me to use. AvsP gigs don't make Peenko or I a profit, but neither of us can afford to take a financial hit from them either.

The more recent change was one I initially didn't like, but I could see the reasons for. I love my free music and I'm much more likely to take a chance on that new band I've stumbled across if there's no risk of feeling done, but at the same time Bandcamp lets me stream everything there too, if I have to pay for something I can listen to it first and make up my own mind if it is worth it. Bandcamp remains an excellent resource, for one thing it has let me stick songs in this post by all that contributed without having to bugger about with getting permission, uploading them myself and so on. I love how easy it is to integrate the Bandcamp player into a blog post, that's why if I can include it instead of an MP3, I will.

The Update

This is the part that Mark, Paul, Matthew and The Social Services didn't get a chance to comment on, as it was just announced yesterday.

As suggested by several of the commenters, we’re going to refresh everyone’s free download credits every month (so, if you have less than 200 downloads remaining, we’ll just bump you up to 200 again). This still accomplishes our goal of keeping the costs of large-scale free download campaigns where they should be (on the people actually doing them), while also giving early-stage artists room to comfortably get started.

Straight away this fixes the concerns the concerns that I'd had about the change. If your band is consistently pulling in more than those 200 free downloads a month you might still need to dip in to your pocket if you want to keep everything free, but if your band is clearing 200 a month then you are probably in a position where you can start asking for a little cash in return for your music. Turn five free downloads of your EP into 5 £2 sales of your EP and you should have made that $9 it'll cost for another 300 freebies. If you really want to make everything free without paying Bandcamp there's ways to do that too. There's plenty of file hosts around there that you can use for free. Hell, if you are that stuck I've got some hosting space, I'll give your music a home for a while. It won't have an interface as simple or pretty as Bandcamp does though.

This Week's Gigs: 14th - 19th September

Sometimes I really hate computers. If anyone has sent me anything in the last week or so it is going to take me a few days to find it again and do anything with it, but I'll get caught up eventually.
Anyway, we are running very late, so I'll just get on with the gig guide.

Tuesday:

Come On Gang! Here We Go Magic. Captain's Rest.
Come on Gang! reach Glasgow on their current tour, in support of the release of their new single Fortune Favours The Brave. If you haven't already done so, go download that, for free, over here. It is ace, and this gig is probably worth braving the abysmal weather for.

The Pattern Theory, Luz da Lua. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh.

Wednesday:

Detour Series 2 Launch. Bar Bloc+. Free.

Detour return to their spiritual home of Bloc to launch the second season of their podcasts and gig nights. The line up is a closely guarded secret, but the Detour gang can be counted on to never let you down.

No Rave Art School Freshers Party. The Vic Bar.

Featuring Ben Butler & Mousepad, Blood of the Bull and Holy Mountain live, with a Dam Mantle DJ set. Look, a flyer!

Thursday:

Some guy in a hat is in town, which may well make getting anywhere a bloody nightmare.

If you are in Glasgow then pop along to Waterstones on Sauchiehall St at 6.30 for the launch of Dougie's War, a new graphic novel by Rodge Glass and Dave Turbitt. Tickets for the launch are free, available from Waterstones.

Afterwards you could do worse than swing round the corner to Bloc where you'll find Galleries and Otherpeople doing a free gig.

Also on Thursday, Verse Metrics are playing Pivo Pivo.

Friday:

Oh Friday, once again you have too much on.

Aidan Moffat, Aidan Moffat and the Best Ofs, Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells. Paisley Arts Centre.

That's right, it is a rare good Paisley gig. Yes, Aidan Moffat really is supporting himself, supporting himself, as he'll be playing 3 different sets at the gig - one solo, one with The Best Ofs and one with Bill Wells.

Re:Peater Records Launch with Fur Hood, SHe'S HiT and Jacob Yates and The Pearly Gate Lock Pickers. The 13th Note.

Good one this one. The first single on Re:Peater Records is due out soon, a splint single with SHe'S HiT & Jacob Yates. Having heard it I highly advise keeping an eye out for it. I'll talk a bit more about the single in a few days though.

Mono Six. Capitol.

Rock Chic. SWG3. Tickets

Rock Chic is a live fashion and music event aiming to raise funds for the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre at The Beatson, organised by the Poochetes from Pooch, who will also be playing on the night. Also playing live are Miaoux Miaoux, Attic Lights, The Soul Foundation, Figure 5 and a host of DJs. The night promises to be ‘one of the most fast-paced, edgy, glamorous events on the social calender’ with the music going hand in hand with fashion shows, cupcakes and lots more.

Trapped Mice, Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete, Pete Molinari. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh.

Saturday:

Aerials's Up, Blue Sky Archives, Randolph's Leap. King Tut's.

Hey Vampires, United Fruit, Cuss Words. Bloc. Free!

After a long hiatus Hey Vampires are back on the scene, which makes me a happy man.

The Paraffins riverside album launch. Glasgow.

No dull, boring album launch for The Paraffins, oh no. The Paraffins and a bunch of guests will be playing an open air gig next to the Clyde, round about where Barfly used to be (and if you don't know where Barfly used to be you've just made me feel very old). Unless it rains, then it;ll be under Central Station bridge. Everything kicks off at 2pm and promises to be done by 6. Should be a great way to spend your Saturday afternoon. Get all the details over on Facebook.

The Last Battle, Burnt Island, Matt Norris and the Moon. The Roxy Rooms, Edinburgh.

Another album launch, this one for The Last Battle's debut album Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea. I'd love to tell you how ace the album is, but it is one of the things I can't get at at the moment, so I've not managed to hear it myself yet. I expect it to be rather good though, and there's some great supports for the launch.

Kid Canaveral, Night Noise Team. Sneaky Pete's. Edinburgh.

We had them in Glasgow last week, now Edinburgh gets their shot.

Trapped In Kansas, Penguins Kill Polar Bears, Verse Metrics, I Build Collapsible Mountains. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Looks like Saturday night in Edinburgh is a busy one then?

Sunday:

Washington Irving, Rachel Sermanni. Captain's Rest

Probably not many better ways to finish off your weekend really.

That's your gig guide for the week, now cross your fingers that I can get my external hard drive to play nice again so I haven't lost six months worth of music...

COMPETITION - Win tickets to Kid Canaveral, Night Noise Team and The Cinnamons

Why run one competition at a time when you can do two?

I've got another pair of gig tickets to one lucky winner, this time for Friday's gig at The Captain's Rest with Kid Canaveral, Night Noise Team and The Cinnamons.

To enter just fill in the blank and email your answer to competition@ayetunes.org.uk

Question: The name of Kid Canaveral's last single was You Only Went Out To Get _____ Last Night.

Easy.

Competition closes at 5pm on Thursday when a winner will be drawn at random and informed they've won by email.

This Week's Gigs: 6th - 12th September

This week's gig guide should probably be sponsored by paracetamol, and is brought to you between bouts of being so, so cold, napping, and vomiting. In other words I'm ill, so this might be a bit shoddy this week. After writing the intro on Sunday I stopped being able to process information, so it is also late. I'm a wee bit better today, thanks for asking.

Monday:

Miaoux Miaoux, Wounded Knee. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh.

After an ace gig in Glasgow last week Edinburgh gets to have a wee shot of Miaoux Miaoux. His new single, Knitted, is out now and available at gigs or online. Buy an actual CD if you can, the hand knitted sleeves are lovely and proceeds go to charity. Wounded Knee is pretty splendid too, so this should be a good gig.

Tuesday:

Martin Docherty. Box, Glasgow.

Emily Jane White, Julia & The Doogans. 13th Note.

Iain Morrison. The Real Mary King's Close, Edinburgh.

Singer-songwriter Iain Morrison (formerly of Crash My Model Car), will be playing a small intimate gig in the historic underground passageways of Mary King's Close in aid of Oxjam, a month long national music festival organised by people who know and love their local music scene, with all proceeds going to Oxfam UK. (Actually, I think this is already sold out)

Wednesday:

Sing-Kill-Worth, Boygirlanimalcolour, Mechanical Smile, Inner City Magicians. Stereo.
We like Boygirlanimalcolour loads round here.

Suspire, Mr Kil, Juan Pablo, Anavris. The Buff Club.

Dave Hughes. MacSoreleys.

Launch gig for Dave's new EP, Seven Songs, which you can hear and buy here.

Sister Mantos, B-Movie Junkies, Fox Gut Daata. 13th Note.

Thursday:

Kochka, Blue Sky Archives, Campfires in Winter, Johnathan Sebastian Knight. The 13th Note.

Bands I like, put on by people I like. I've got a competition to win a pair of tickets to this gig, go here for details.

Friday:

Kid Canaveral, Night Noise Team, The Cinnamons. The Captain's Rest.

Much goodness on show here. I've got a pair of tickets to give away for this too, go here to enter.

Come On Gang!, FOUND, Jesus H. Foxx. The Caves, Edinburgh.

Launch gig for the fab new Come On Gang! single, Fortune Favours The Brave, which I gushed about a wee bit here.

Slaraffenland, The Social Services, How To Swim, Turning Plates. Stereo. (Cheap Tickets)

I know next to nothing about Slarffenland or Turning Plates to be honest, but The Social Services and How To Swim are both good.

Esperi, Noiserv, Finn Lemarinel, RM Hubbert. Secret Location, Glasgow. Buy tickets

The Remnant Kings, Tam's Railways, Black Riot Valves. The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Sunday:

The Year of Open Doors, with Alan Bissett, Tawona Sitholé and Allan Wilson. Platform.

Another Year of Open Doors event, and another good one from the look of it. Entry is free, you can find more details over on Facebook.