10 Reasons To Go To Define Pop 2

Still not sure if you should get out to Define Pop this weekend? Here's some reasons why you should.

1. Be the envy of children. Kyle Wood, AKA Lovers Turn To Monsters, sings the theme tune to Dennis and Gnasher, CBBC's new Dennis the Menace cartoon. Theme tune written by Iain Cook, formerly of Aereogramme for extra Scottish indie cred. See him on Sunday and tell your children/nieces & nephews/random kids at the swing park* Also, download that theme tune here.
2. Meet me. Alright, rubbish reason, but I'm a fairly nice guy really. Feel free to buy me a pint, I'll be your pal forever. Or you can just mock my bunny ears.
3. See Glasgow's biggest band. The Second Hand Marching Band play on Sunday. At last count there was about 500 of them. If bored you can play "spot the member of SHMB" and kill time between acts.
4. Meet the Glasgow PodcART crew. Ali, Sean, Halina, Nicola and Louise are significantly more awesome than me. Go say hi to them, you might even get on their next podcast.
5. The football will be rubbish. Wales Vs Scotland will be a terrible game of football, avoid the end of it by getting yourself into The Flying Duck in time for Little Yellow Ukuleles at 4.40.
6. Value for money. Seven quid a day for a whole bunch of bands (maybe cheaper if you ask the right people) is hard to argue with. The Flying Duck doesn't gouge you on drink prices either.
7. Great bands. Making that low price even more tempting is the line up. There's some really great bands playing over the weekend. If you can find a better selection of up and coming unsigned artists playing under one roof I'll be very surprised. In a few years time you'll be able to boast that you saw them in a tiny wee place in Glasgow. Define Pop's Wull Swales has done an excellent job putting this together, you should reward him by going along.
8. Pretty people. Shallow enough to only care about a band if they are attractive? Well you are in luck, there's some good looking folks playing. It's a better deal if you like boys admittedly, but there's some lovely ladies playing too.
9. Marvel at one man's noise. Sunday, 5.30pm. With apologies to Lad Lazarus who are on the other stage at the same time I advise everyone who can to see Esperi. After blowing me away the other week I can't stress enough how mesmerising it is to see esperi perform live. Especially if Chris plays Cats and Dogs.
10. Two stages, one place. No need to be out in the cold. Unless, like me, you smoke that is.

*Aye Tunes does not condone hanging round swing parks and talking to strange children. Apart from anything else they are likely to bottle you.

Frightened Rabbit News

First of all, the new Frightened Rabbit album The Winter of Mixed Drinks is set for release on March 1st 2010. That seems so far away...
The tracklisting goes like this :
1.Things
2. Swim Until You Can't See Land
3. The Loneliness & The Scream
4. The Wrestle
5. Skip The Youth
6. Nothing Like You
7. Man/ Bag Of Sand
8. Foot Shooter
9. Not Miserable
10. Living In Colour
11. Yes I Would

To make the wait a little bit easier there's a new single - Swim Until You Can’t See Land - out on Monday, November 16th.

Lead singer Scott Hutchison has this to say about the new album: ‘We've broadened our horizons sonically and it feels like a natural move forward. Most importantly, it’s better than the last one. That's all I wanted, really.’ Produced once again by Peter Katis, at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and engineered by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios in Scotland, ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’ boasts stunning string arrangments from labelmate, Teutonic ivory-botherer, Hauschka. ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ takes up where we left off - metaphorically (or otherwise) floating in the Forth - and is pivotal to the new record. ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ was the title I had in my mind before I even started writing the album’, says Scott ‘I was becoming more and more interested in the idea of a rejection of the habits and behaviour most people see as normal. It’s about losing your mind in order to reset the mind and the body. Forget what’s gone before and wash it out. It’s a good introduction to the record’s themes”

Frightened Rabbit have added an extra member to their line up too, former Make Model member Gordon Skene. Scott says "We want to do the recordings justice when we play them live. Gordon will be playing a bundle of instruments - we just bought a tasty wee mandolin for him to fiddle with today. We're really excited to have him involved."

Frightened Rabbit are off on a national tour at the moment, playing in support of both Gomez and Modest Mouse, as well as a handful of headline Scottish shows.

Frightened Rabbit MySpace

Define Pop Fest 2 - Stage Times

For those planning on getting down to the Flying Duck this weekend for Define Pop 2, here's the stage times for both days:

Living Room Stage - Saturday
5.20 Miniature Dinosaurs
6.10 Louise Against The Elements
7.00 Mickey 9's
7.50 The Costapeens
8.40 Kochka
9.30 Vendor Defender
10.20 Kid Canaveral

Kitchen Stage - Saturday
4.40 Little Yellow Ukuleles
5.30 Make Sparks
6.20 Blessed Order Of Fallen Stars
7.10 The Morgue Party Candidate
8.00 Other People
8.50 Pacific Theatre
9.40 Gdansk
10.30 Young Aviators

Living Room Stage - Sunday
4.30 Lovers Turn To Monsters
5.20 Esperi
6.10 Incrediboy and The Forget Me Nots
7.00 Julia and the Doogans
7.50 Diamond Sea
8.40 The Lava Experiments
9.30 Second Hand Marching Band
10.20 Yahweh

Kitchen Stage - Sunday
4.40 Marshall Chipped
5.30 Lad Lazarus
7.10 Little Eskimos
8.00 Dead Boy Robotics
8.50 Stereo Grand
9.40 Nevada Base
10.30 Pooch

I'll be kicking about both days, come say hello.

Haven't had a chance to have a more in depth look at the acts playing unfortunately. I'll try to squeeze in a couple of features before the weekend, but don't count on it.
Sorry to the people I miss out. Sorry if I miss you playing too, it won't be anything personal (probably)

Manic Pop Thrills Presents:

Another gig to flag up, this time one away from Glasgow.

Presented by our friends over at Manic Pop Thrills, taking place on November 29th upstairs in the Westport Bar in Dundee.

Tickets are £5 from Groucho's and the first 50 advance purchasers will also get a free EP on arrival. Pop over to Manic Pop Thrills if you need any more details.

I must confess to knowing nothing about Hookers For Jesus, but Panda Su and Kid Canaveral re both big favourites round here. Haven't heard much of Saint Jude's Infirmary - their albums are patiently waiting for me to have money to buy them - but what I've heard sounds pretty lovely.

This Week's Happenings

Time for one of those weekly round up things I do when I feel i should write a post, but am too lazy to use my brain for anything special.

New records this week include an album from Roddy Hart, a digital release of Cast of the Capital's Rotten Kids and Haversacks EP, which I reviewed a few weeks ago here, and the debut album by Cuddly Shark, which I've been looking forward to hearing.
There's a new single out from Escape Act too, called Cabin Fever. They are from Northern Ireland rather than Scotland, but I like them, and it's out on 17 Seconds Records, a Scottish label.
Also releasing a single, Zagora Road, are The Ray Summers.
A more high profile release comes in the shape of the latest Biffy Clyro album. Haven't heard it myself, but I'm hearing encouraging things about it.
The latest EP by Go Away Birds s due to be available for free download here today, but as I write this isn't up yet.

Tons of gigs on this week. Meursalt play The 13th Note on Tuesday the 10th. Bronto Skylift and Lions.Chase.Tigers at the Detour Podcast launch I've mentioned already. On Friday night you can catch The Darien Venture at Capitol in Glasgow, and on Saturday the quite fantastic You Already Know play The 13th Note. I can't make it to the YAK show sadly, as I'll be at Define Pop in the Flying Duck, don't forget to come say hi to me if you are going there too.

There will be releases I've missed, and gigs I've not listed, there always is. If you want me to mention something, don't forget to tell me.

Detour Podcast Launch Night

As I've said before, I prefer to leave gig guides to other sites that can do it better than me, but some things I'll post up here, mostly things I'm going to.

This is one I might not get to, but if I don't I'll be kicking myself.
The occasion of the night is, as the poster suggests, to launch the new Detour Podcast. The podcast itself sounds like something worth keeping an ear out for.
Even if it turns out rubbish, which I really doubt it will, Bronto Skylift and Lions.Chase.Tigers are both excellent bands, well worth seeing.

Detour Scotland Website - MySpace - Facebook

Kochka - Dacha/Summer House EP Review

Kochka are a band I've been meaning to write about for ages, but for on reason or another I've never quite gotten round to it. Since they are one of the bands playing Define Pop 2, and since they really cheered me up on a bad day by sending me badges, it's about time I finally gave them the coverage I've been intending to.

Kochka (Czech for "cat" I believe) are a four piece, formed in Glasgow. Made up of two girls and two boys - Sheryll, Mhairi , Stewart and Markk - they make music, funnily enough. Since forming in 2008 they've kept themselves busy gigging extensively, both on their own and supporting the likes of The Phantom Band, and slipping out a couple of EPs and a single. Second EP, Dacha/Summer House was released way back in August. I picked it up from eMusic on release, loved it, and promptly forgot to review it.

The Dacha/Summer House EP holds the distinction for the release I've taken the longest to get round to reviewing then. I'll point out now that that is no reflection on the quality of it - as the review will show - but is all down to my good old fashioned forgetfulness and circumstances too boring to detail.
The first thing that struck me about the EP was that even though it hadn't been that long since I'd gotten their previous release, The Dead Room Party single, they'd improved quite a bit, and I say that as someone who loved that earlier single (Sadly I don't have debut EP Numbers. Wonder if the band have any left they could sell me?). Maybe improved is the wrong word. If so, take your pick from evolved or matured instead. Stop looking at me like that, I've always said I'm rubbish at writing reviews... The other thing that struck me was that I was struck with a sudden urge to dance around the room. Good work by the songs, but not pretty for anyone who may have the misfortune to see my shimmy.

Right from the off lead track Cowards and Kings grabs you with a jangling, Television-esque guitar line, before Markk's distinctive vocals kick in. Next thing you know you've been dragged along for the ride through a song while changes direction several times and remains infectious throughout.
So far so good then, but things get even better with the next track, Dacha (In The Summer). Outstanding bass and percussion threaten to steal the show for a while before falling back around half way through to allow Stewie to take centre stage with his guitar. It brings about 50 different songs to the back of my head, just enough for me to think "that sounds a bit like..." before shoving them away before I can think of what. The lesson I'm taking from this is that it might remind me a bit of something, but it just sounds like Kochka.
Memory Box / Personal Effects has a darker tone to it, and a lot going on in the background. I swear there's a typewriter in there somewhere. It's a bit sleazy, very funky, and an awful lot excellent.
Finally Black Cat closes proceedings and goodness, they've quite possibly saved the best for last. Quite a trick considering the previous three songs, as you can hopefully tell, left quite an impression. Distorted guitars, Markk's vioce threatening to venture into Pixies territory, percussion all over the place tapping out a beat straight into your urge, defying you not to move.

All the songs from Dacha/Summer House - and a few not from it - can be heard on the band's MySpace. I urge you to have a listen.
Kochka don't do indie by the numbers. There music might initially sound simple enough, but that's all part of their diabolical plan to make your body move before you've noticed you aren't listening to another plain, run of the mill band. There's some fantastic musicianship going on in there, and careful or repeated listen will make you notice that things are a lot more complex than you initially thought. These aren't disposable, sing-along 3 minute pop songs, they are smart, sexy, funky and oh-so-groovy.
If listening at home close the curtains, make sure the dog isn't watching, and dance your arse off to this fantastic little EP.

For the next few days you can snag a free download of Man Of Letters here.
Find Kochka on MySpace - Last.fm

Kochka's records are available at shows, in the usual independent shops, and to download from the like of eMusic and iTunes.
They play The Living Room stage of Define Pop 2 on Saturday Nov. 14, Sleazies in Glasgow on the 20th and in Stirling on Dec. 20th. Go see them.

Gig Review: Debutant, Esperi, Panda Su and Yahweh

Amidst the freezing cold winds, pouring rain and general miserableness on Sunday's weather there was one huge bright spot, the gig in The Classic Grand.
If you've been here at all in the last week you'll know all about it, but just in case you haven't, Glasgow PodcART put on a gig with four pretty swell acts. I went, rubbish weather and no money is a poor excuse for missing out on a line up like this -especially since I'd seen none of the acts before, and this is what I thought of it.

Taking the stage first was Debutant, AKA Phillip Quirie. Debutant's first song was marred by technicals issues. Fortunately that was sorted out quickly and the rest of the set, just one man, his guitar and his pedals, provided a fine start to the evening. Gentle and mellow but never becoming samey, up until King of Double Speak provides a surprisingly intense climax to the set. I think this might also have been the quietest gig audience I've ever come across too, as everyone stood (or sat) hushed, listening to Phillip go to work. One of the lyrics from one of the songs (sorry, the title escapes me, help very welcome!) was "You know I hang on every word you say", which pretty much summed up what I thought of Debutant.

Panda Su was up next and after the rotten job I did on her profile piece the other day (sorry again Su) her set was always going to be bombproof review-wise. Luckily for me I don't need to say nice things about it just to make up for being rubbish, since Panda Su were actually brilliant. Joining Su and her regular cohort Red was esperi's Chris on drums and later Jonnie Common, hopping up on stage at Su's invitation. Su promised to keep between song chatter was kept to a minimum, even though there was still more of than you'll get with many bands, due to Su being a bit under the weather, but any illness doesn't appear to have affected the performance. Panda Su's songs have an air of melancholy and fragility to them, but are delivered in a strong, confidence voice that can alternately put a smile on your face and a crack in your heart.
Also, you can't really complain about any band that has a front woman with panda face paint and a song about Prince Eric from the Littlest Mermaid, can you?
There's a little sample of Panda Su's set - Facts and Figures - recorded on the night by Glasgow Podcart here.

Tonight esperi was just Chris Lee-Marr and his selection of instruments, of which there were many. Beginning by inviting the audience in closer to the stage and assuring us he's "not that scary" Chris then abandoned the stage for his first song opting instead to quietly sing Home from atop a table, after which he admitted that maybe he is a bit scary after all. Having never seen esperi I didn't know what to expect from the set, but I think any expectations would have been blown anyway. It was incredibly engaging throughout, enchanting almost. On Cats And Dogs Chris went through God knows how many instruments, looping little bits as the song gradually builds. By my count Cats and Dogs clocked in at around 20 minutes long and throughout the full length never threatened to get stale or boring. It would be easy for this kind of thing to be performed too seriously, but thankfully Chris Lee-Marr isn't just a fantastic musician, he also has a sense of humour, so things never get too earnest. Tremendous stuff.

The final act was Yahweh, playing as a full band tonight, and elevating the noise levels in all the best ways. Main man Lewis Cook is probably sick and tired of people mentioning his youth, but I'm going to do it again anyway. For one so young not only do Cook's songs have incredible maturity, but he's comfortable on stage too. Add into that a tight live band and Yahweh are quite special live. I mentioned in my feature last week that I'm a big fan of the album, Tug of Love, I'm possibly an even bigger fan of the way the songs sound live now. Great songs, great band, great night!

Both Yahweh and esperi are performing at Define Pop 2, I can't wait to see them both at that.
Panda Su is back in Glasgow in December for the PodcART crew's Christmas Party, in a night that I won't be missing. Hopefully it won't be too long before Debutant pays Glasgow another visit too.

Lest I forget, Waves Below did a great job keeping the ambiance going between acts from the DJ booth.

Links: Glasgow PodcART - Oxjam - Debutant - Esperi - Panda Su - Waves Below - Yahweh

EP Review: Kid Canaveral - Left And Right

We've established that I'm not the best at keeping up on what I'm meant to be doing by now, so it should come as no surprise that I once again preface a review with an apology. Sorry to Kid Canaveral, who sent me over their new EP just before it's launch night weeks ago and it has taken me this long to get round to reviewing it.

There's something I knew already about Kid Canaveral from picking up their previous singles, and that is that they know their way around a catchy tune. The Left and Right EP reinforces this from the off, with the opening track after which the EP is named grabbing you instantly with it's killer hook, sweet harmonies, summery cheeriness and all round bouncy joy. Indie pop splendidness that reminds a bit of The Delgados (and being compared favourably to The Delgados is one of the highest compliments I can pay someone).

From there the songs change direction somewhat - no pigeonholing for this lot. Stretching the Line is still catchy as heck, but throws an electronic drum beat and some strings into the mix. Still cheery, still headboppy, but entirely different from Left and Right.

Finally Long in the Tooth closes the EP and is another shift in direction, leaving behind the bounciness for a more gentle, melancholic tone.

With just three tracks, the longest clocking in at three minutes long, the EP doesn't run any risk of outstaying it's welcome, but shifting the songs from out of your head will take considerably longer. Left and Right is a great little piece of work from a band who started off pretty damn good but continue to evolve and improve.

You can buy the EP, on cassette no less, direct from the band here. They'll give you a free download with the tape, so there's no need to panic that you won't be able to listen to it. If you just want the download the EP is also available from eMusic, iTunes etc.
MySpace

Kid Canaveral play the upcoming Define Pop Festival II at The Flying Duck, so can we pretend I'm not horribly late with this review and I was just saving it to act as a Define pop preview? No? Oh ok then.

More on Define Pop Festival 2

I've mentioned the second Define Pop Festival a couple of times already, but now there's a wee poster to show you to go with it.
Some of the artists playing - Kid Canaveral, Esperi, The Morgue Party Candidate, Yahweh, Second Hand Marching Band - have featured on Aye Tunes before, others are scheduled to appear on here between now and the gig. I doubt I'll get round to everyone, but I'll try to do as many as I can.
Barring any hiccups I'll be attending both days, desperately trying not to drink too much so I can review it afterwards.

If you want any more details head on over to the Define Pop MySpace. If you ask nicely over there you might even be able to get tickets at a lower price than Tickets Scotland are asking.

Yahweh

It's the final day of the previews for Sunday night's big New Artists gig, presented by Glasgow Podcart. Surprisingly I've kept to my schedule with the posts, although the Panda Su one was written while exhausted after a pair of awful days and was incredibly half arsed. Sorry Su...

On record Yahweh is Lewis Cook, an 18 year old multi-instrumentalist from Moffat, now based on Glasgow. For one so young Lewis is disgustingly talented. His debut album, the bedroom recorded Tug of Love, was released earlier this year and is a fantastic piece of work. It's a proper record of two sides, the first half, Dear Green Place, dedicated to Cook's new base of Glasgow, the second, The Long Plain, to his home town of Moffat.

It's a little difficult to pin down the sound, Cook writes minimalist, alt-folky songs, then adds textures and layers of instruments, occasionally augmented with samples and electronica beats.
All together, it's like a bit of a clash between Arab Strap, especially their first album, slices of Mogwai, and Boards of Canada, without being derivative of any of them.

On stage Lewis is joined by a full band, with Stuart Anderson, Hugh Guthrie and Sadie Ryan helping out. Out of all the artists performing on Sunday Yahweh is the one I have most familiarity with, since I've got the album. However, like all the others I've not yet caught them live. Again just like the others I'm really looking forward to doing so on Sunday.

I didn't have time to ask permission to use this before I wrote the post, so hopefully Yahweh won't mind.
Download Yahweh - Glasgow Smiles Better

If you need any more convincing to get along on Sunday all four artists playing feature on this week's Glasgow PodcART podcast, so you can have a listen.

Yahweh MySpace
Buy Tug Of Love

Huge thanks to everyone that has visited Aye Tunes this week, or helped send people over here. My traffic this week has been higher than any week previously. You will all come back and visit me sometimes, won't you?

Now that I'm done writing about gigs for the week, I'm off out to go to some. I'll probably be taking the weekend off from the blog, but you can email me if you want to get in contact and catch me on Twitter if you have the urge to know what I'm drinking. I'll be back at the start of next week, there's a few EP reviews coming up, and there should be some gig reviews too.

Hallowe'en Special

Can't resist the temptation to knock out a quick post for Halloween.

First of all, what's more terrifying than Michael Jackson? Not much really, so here's Aereogramme covering Thriller, taken from their Livers & Lungs EP.

There's a whole bunch of Halloween themed gigs & club nights happening over the weekend. I won't be attending any of them though, since my weekend is already packed with gigs. Instead I'll stay in on Saturday, avoid answering the front door and watch a selection of scary films.

As far as films go, what is more perfect for Halloween than, well, Halloween? Just John Carpenter's original of course, stay away from sequels and remakes.

Aidan Moffat quite likes Halloween too, so much so that one of his many side products, Ben Tramer - named after a boy Laurie Strode mentions having a crush on - released an EP years ago reworking parts of the Halloween soundtrack. You can get a taste of that here: Ben Tramer - Laurie's Theme (Halloween 1978)

Finally, Glasgow's The Plimptons have a special single out, called 'I Hate Hallowe'en'. It sounds a bit like The Misfits version of Monster Mash, with a Scottish accent. Fantastic then. It's available as a free download here.

The Twilight Sad Announce Intimate Scottish Gigs

Headline says it all for this one really.
The Twilight Sad have lined up two Scottish gigs in December.

On December 15th they will play The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, on the 16th they cross country to play Nice N Sleazy in Glasgow.

Tickets are available now from Synergy Concerts

Panda Su

Day three of the New Artists Showcase gig previews. Are you as surprised as I am that these are appearing on a timely basis?

Panda Su is, mostly, Su Shaw, a young lass from St. Andrews who writes her own songs, sings, and plays guitar, as well as a host of other instruments. being able to play every instrument going is an advantage in the studio, where she can record songs of great beauty, but makes recreating the songs live a bit tricky. To help out she is frequently joined on stage by some helpers, like unofficial second member Adam Phillips - who allegedly can't play anything - and esperi's Chris Lee-Marr.

Panda Su makes songs that are mature, gorgeous, and at times melancholy. I can't wait to catch her on Sunday.

Oh, and she also paints her face to look like a panda.

Panda Su recently released a new EP, Sticks and Brick, produced by Steve Mason, formerly of The Beta Band. You can get copies through her MySpace, or at gigs.

Panda Su MySpace

Waves Below

Messing up my one feature a day plan since I wanted it finished the day before the gig, Waves Below will be joining the line up of Sunday's New Artists Showcase gig, so today there's a double dose of spotlights.


Neil Milton is a man with his fingers in a lot of pies. Along with Heidi Kuisma he is one half of We Sink Ships. We Sink Ships is a photographic and musical project between Heidi and Neil. I couldn't possibly describe their work and do it justice, instead I urge you to check it out for yourselves. Their latest project, Masquerade, can be found here.

Additionally Neil takes his musical side further as beneath us, the waves, making ambient soundscapes. Originally formed to provide music for We Sink Ships, the music started to gain as much attention as the photography did and was spun off into beneath us, the waves.

Waves Below is a spin off from beneath us, the waves set up to differentiate Neil's DJing and remixing work, with a more electro basis, from his own musical projects.

In addition to all that Neil was formerly a member of the band Troika, ran the too many fireworks record label, releasing singles by Troika, Findo Gask, Errors and more, and for two years ran the club night fire: works at Barfly.

You can get a taster of Waves Below's DJing at SoundCloud.

Esperi

Day two of my spotlight on artists play this Sunday's big Glasgow PodcART gig, the line up for which has grown with the addition of Waves Below DJing at the show. The gig is also now tieing into Oxjam, making it even more worthwhile!

esperi is mainly the work of Chris Lee-Marr, assisted at times by any combination of his wife Cat, Jon Adam, Kev Black , Craig Arnott and Eilidh Glynn.

Again, I've not yet caught esperi live and aside from hammering the songs on MySpace to prepare for this, haven't heard an awful lot of their stuff. What I've heard is great though. Similar to Debutant there's a lot of layering of vocals and different instrumentation - some very exotic and unconventional instruments at that - going on, combines to form gorgeous gentle, melodic storytelling songs

esperi are launching their new EP 21:21 at the show too. If I've got my copy/paste right there ought to be a wee widget down the bottom that will let you buy a copy. In addition to Sunday's gig there's a lot more esperi live dates coming up, including Define Pop II.

I don't have any mp3s I can post, but you can hear esperi songs at MySpace and Last.fm. You have to listen to Proverb Part 2. That isn't a suggestion, that's a demand.

Don't Forget!

Just because I'm focusing a lot on the gig I'm going to on Sunday this week doesn't mean you should forget about the one I'll be at on Friday!

All the details here.

Debutant

In the run up to Sunday's gig I'll be taking a quick look at each of the four acts performing, one each day.
Since I'm not all that familiar with any of them - Sunday will be the first time I've seen any of the four - this could be terrible, but I'll try my best!

Debutant is just one man, an Aberdonian gent by the name of Phillip Quirie, who has embraced the DIY music ethos for his work.
Starting off in his bedroom in 2007 and plugging away since he has more recently been juggling Debutant duties with being a member of Edinburgh's Meursault.
Debutant plays a mostly instrumental set with occasional vocals, just one man, his guitar and an assortment of pedals, but makes a very big sound.
I've only been able to listen to a couple of Debutant songs, but those few I've heard provoke instant reactions, the main one being massive anticipation to see and hear the set on Sunday.

What I've heard has been gorgeous, dreamy soundscapes, packed with atmosphere. For quick, lazy comparison look to My Bloody Valentine. Minus the ear bleeding volume and feedback that is.

Phillip is currently working on a debut album which will hopefully be out early next year. I for one can't wait to hear more.



Debutant MySpace

What's Happening This Week?

My list of things to listen to keeps getting longer despite my attempts to stay on top of it, so why not fall a little further behind by taking a break to run through a few things happening this week? If nothing else it'll save me from messing about with templates any more, I've already broke the blog 3 times today.

Cassidy and Roddy Hart both have singles out. As do French Wives, which I reviewed last week. Those French Wives songs are still wedged in my head incidentally, I've found myself humming Halloween on countless occasions over the last few days. The band were also in good form when I caught them in Bloc last week. It was a shame about the pain in the arse drunk bloke that caused quite a few people to leave early though. I'm a non violent kind of guy, but that twat deserved a sound thrashing.

Luke Haines - who isn't at all Scottish, but is a big favourite of mine - has a new album out today.

eagleowl have sold out of physical copies of their debut EP, so they've made it available for download on one of those pay what you want, even nothing type deals. I've not yet had a listen to this, but they are on Song, by Toad so chances are high that it'll be good.

Staying with the freebies, The Mill have added some songs by The Darien Venture gig that I was at a few weeks ago.

In case you haven't heard, there's a pair of good gigs coming up this weekend which I'll be attending. Say hi if you see me (if you want to know what I look like, which admittedly helps when saying hi to strangers, there's a photo on my neglected and rubbish MySpace. No laughing!), drink offers are also welcome.

Also on the gig front, the Stirling and Glasgow dates of Frightened Rabbit's Scottish tour have sold out, leaving me ticketless...

No doubt there's a bunch of other records out this week, there's certainly other gigs on, but I can't cover everything, can I? Better people than me run gig guides, so I'm sure you can find something to keep you occupied. You can always leave a comment if there's something you want to plug.

As always if you want to help make that list of things to listen to and cover longer, do please get in touch. Best way to get something to me is good old email, if you want to send me anything non electronic ask and you can have my address, so long as you promise not to rob me when I'm out.

Finally on a personal note I'd just like to say a massive, massive thank you to Glasgow PodcART who said some really nice things about Aye Tunes at the weekend, Halina made me blush in her piece about blogs.

EP Review: Cast of the Capital - Rotten Kids and Haversacks

Still trying to get caught up on listening to records. This one has been sitting on the to do list for a few weeks, so time to get to it.

Cast of the Capital are a four piece, formed in Aberdeen by brothers Steve and Matthew Morris, joined by Alastair Naylor and Jamie Watt. Since forming in 2006 they've done some intensive gigging, supporting the likes of Xcerts and Trapped In Kansas, playing Rock Ness and Belladrum and catching the ear of Steve Lamacq, Vic Galloway and Jim Gellatly.

The Rotten Kids and Haversacks EP is the band's first full release. It came out on CD in September and will be available through iTunes in November.

The first song, Comiston Springs, is pretty enough, poppy and jangly, with a bit of a Teenage Fanclub feel to it. Catchy, decent stuff so far then. For me the EP really comes to life with the second track, The Witching Hour, slowing things down and stripping it back a bit. This song actually reminds me a good bit of Mitchell Museum, but without making me think I'm listening to a different band than the rest of the songs.
From there we get Passing The Horse, again a jangly sparkly wee thing, which is just fine, once again catchy and danceable before slowing things down again for Crematory Blues. Like The Witching Hour, its the slower more acoustic sounding Crematory Blues that really catches my ear, before we switch back to something more cheery sounding in Tree Sleep to finish off.

A wee bit of a mixed bag then you might think, but it's a good mix. I preferred the quieter, slower songs to the indie-pop ones, but they do their job just fine and the quality never dips below "good". Were it not near the end of October I'd probably enjoyed the poppy songs more, they've got a nice summery feel to them, but since it's dark and freezing my brain isn't quite appreciating them as much as it would when the sun comes out. The EP as a whole is certainly well worth a listen.

Cast of the Capital MySpace
Buy Rotten Kids & Haversacks