This Week's Thing

After a few dead weeks there's actually some records out this week worth checking out.

Lava Experiments release Piecing Memories Together (Remixes). As the name suggests, it's a remix EP, with Dan le Sac, Betamax Warriors and Pumajaw remixing Piecing Memories Together. A Lava Experiments radio edit is also included, and the CD will have the full length original version - previously found on the Blackbody II EP - rounding out the package. You can order a CD direct from the band here and find it on all the usual download shops.
There's also a launch gig on Friday the 29th in The 13th Note in Glasgow. Support comes from Glider and Laki Mera. Looks like a good one, I might need to kick the backside out of my budget to get along.

Super Adventure Club have a new single scheduled for next week, and a launch gig to go with it, but have snuck the single out a week early over here. It's rather good.

Galleries release their self-titled debut EP. The band were kind enough to send me a copy way back at the start of December, which got all caught up in Christmas and New Year lazyness, so still hasn't been reviewed. It's a grower, and as a bonus it's also free. You can download it over here.

Also releasing their debut single are The Dirty Cuts. Titled 2 Page Spread it is released by our pals at 17 Seconds Records, you should be able to find it at the usual download places. You can also download the b-side - Lips - for free over at the 17 Seconds site.

Errors have a new single - A Rumour In Africa - out today on Rock Action. Their second album is pretty highly anticipated round here. The single is available as a download and a pretty coloured 7". (EDIT: No they don't, the single is out on February 22nd, I got the wrong date.)

The Seventeenth Century might release the Notes EP today. The Skinny says it is out today, but there's no mention of a release date or purchase details on the band's website, so I'll need to check this one out and edit here as applicable.

Panda Su's Sticks and Bricks EP isn't really new, but it just went up on eMusic today, giving you the perfect chance to check it out of you haven't picked up a CD yet.

Finally, at the risk of derailing Peenko's Friday Freebies this week, I'd like to draw your attention to the newly relaunched Too Many Fireworks record label, which is giving away a free sampler in return for signing up to their mailing list.

There's an absolute ton of gigs on this week too. The one I'm most looking forward to takes place on Sunday under the Celtic Connections banner, the Chemikal Underground 15th birthday bash.
As well as making me feel really old - a young Jim was at their 5th birthday gig - there's a briliant selection of bands playing. On the bill are Zoey Van Goey, Adrian Crowley, Lord Cut Glass, Emma Pollock, the first ever live show by ex-Aereogrammers Craig B and Iain Cook as The Unwinding Hours, a performance by Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells and The Phantom Band headlining. It should be a bit special. Moe info and tickets here.

Oh, and just a reminder there's a couple of days left to get your votes in for the Scotblogs Awards, voting for me would be brilliant.

Spaghetti Anywhere EP Review

One of the brilliant things about writing Aye Tunes is that every now and then I get sent something from nowhere, from a band I'm completely unaware of, that I completely fall in love with. This is one of those times.

Spaghetti Anywhere are Francis Cullen and Valerio Cerini, London based housemates. I think Valerio hails from Rome, while one listen to vocalist Francis betrays him away as a Scot. A longer listen shows that the Scottish influence is one that runs through the band. Rather than be seduced by whatever trendy haircuts and musical scene is currently the hip thing in London, Spaghetti Anywhere wouldn't be out of place on an old C86 compilation tape.

Calling to mind bands like The Pastels, Camera Obscura and Belle and Sebastian can be more of a blessing than a curse - you probably trip over half a dozen Belle and Sebastian copyists any time you walk down a street in Glasgow - but if you can pull it off it can sound delightful. Spaghetti Anywhere do more than just pull it off, they do it magnificently.

Reinforcing those Scottish 80s influences opening track Gregory's Girl not only lifts the title of John Gordon Sinclair's finest moment, but also a brief sample from the film. It's no exercise in nostalgia for the sake of it though, it - like the rest of the EP - is infectious, incredibly catching and as sweet and charming as a very sweet & charming thing. George Clooney perhaps. I've embedded Gregory's Girl below for the moment so you can have a wee listen for yourself.

Living in London plays into the band's songs too, most particularly on Love Again, where the casual references fit naturally into the lyrics, rather than feeling shoehorned in.

If you like your indie-pop get your ears round this, one of the best debuts I've heard in ages, there's not a bad song in the four. Being London based has kept Spaghetti Anywhere off my radar before now, but now they are on it I just might be in love with them. None of the EP tracks are on the band's MySpace so far, but don't let that stop you dropping by and listening to what they do have up.

All in the Spaghetti Anywhere EP is an unexpected delight, and well worth the 13 minutes of your time it'll take to listen to. Just don't blame me for all the additional time you lose on listening again, and again, and again...

The EP is released on February 22nd on Toy Soldiers Records. It'll be available as a digital download and 10" vinyl. You should be able to order it from either the band or label websites below.

Spaghetti Anywhere MySpace
Toy Soldiers Records MySpace

Blah Blah Blah

Between one thing and another I've not been posting as much as I'd like.
While I work on writing up something proper, here's a wee bit of filler.

Got myself down to The 13th Note last night for the Glasgow PodcART gig. The Seventeenth Century and French Wives were both on the bill, and both very good, as expected. I've gone from not having seen The Seventeenth Century in months to having seen them twice in a couple of weeks now. As if that's not enough, I'm off to see them again on Thursday when they play The Mill with the always excellent There Will Be Fireworks.

I didn't make it very far into the year before I broke my gig a week resolution, as last week was a failure. There were plenty gigs on too, I just never got to any of them. I'm pulling double duty this week and next though, so that evens up the missed week.

You wouldn't believe how much of a fight my computer puts up when I try to do, well, anything. I swear the thing has a vendetta against me. This has made listening to any music I've got recently quite a task, which goes some way to explaining the lack of reviews of late. Instead an inordinate amount of time has been spent getting shot to death by children on Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live. My life is so exciting! I might end up taking a crowbar to to the thing, but I'll find a way to write up some reviews over the next week or so, because I've been sent some excellent things recently.

So, what about you, been to any good gigs recently, got anything fun lined up? Any bands out there that I might not have heard worth checking out?

While I'm here, Mitchell Museum have put out an odd wee promo video, which you can watch below.

Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete - EP Review

It's really about time to try catching up on reviews while there's not much new coming out, so here's one I've been trying to get round to for the best part of a month.

Considering that by now I put Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete in my Tips for 2010 it should come as very little surprise that I really enjoyed this EP, but before I'd heard it I'd been really looking forward to it, hoping and praying it wouldn't disappoint, that the one time I'd seen the band live hadn't just been a flash in the pan. In fact, so eager was I to get my hands on it that I signed up with Juno Download just because they had it earlier than anyone else.
Needless to say, my anticipation wasn't wasted, and my hopes not for nothing.

The four songs on the EP have a similar undercurrent of menace and impending doom, yet enough variety to keep things interesting and show there's more than one trick up the bands sleeve.

From the opening assault of Ode, all spikey guitars and piano, and a refrain that oddly puts me in mind of something from a DJ Shadow or UNKLE album more than anything, to the more gentle sounding Love Lost Tales, on to the unsettling ghost stories of Night, ending with the downbeat and most Twin Peaks of the selection Maud all four songs are driping with atmosphere, musical menace and storytelling lyrics.

Cracks in the Concrete perform a perfectly formed backdrop, while Louise McVey's ice cold vocals guide the listener through like a siren leading you on to the rocks. Excellent stuff, now to impatiently wait for a follow up album...

Fans of the likes of The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, Angelo Badalamenti, and just anyone with a taste for something a little different could do a whole lot worse than seek this release out.

Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete's selft titled EP is out now on Optimo Music, available as a download from all the usual places. A 10" vinyl release will follow in late January.

MySpace

Vote for Me!

The folks over at Scottish Roundup are running an award thing for blogs, the 2010 Scotblog Awards.

Anyway, I'm nominated, so if you feel like it, please do go and vote for me over here.
You can vote for more than one blog, so as well as voting for Aye Tunes go ahead and vote for our pals too, like Peenko, Last Year’s Girl and Have Fun at Dinner.

Cheers!

Ten Tips for 2010

I'm later doing this than I really intended. Shaking off the post festive season "can't be bothered" feeling is still taking it's toll, so I'd better just get on with it.

I'm splitting this into two halfs, The Ones You Know are bands that have been around for a bit, and ones I've covered a bit previously. The Ones You Might Not are, as the name suggests, ones that aren't quite so familiar, and I've generally not covered them much so far.
Ideally I'll expand on this a bit later, but for now here's the list and a wee bit of rambling.

The Ones You Know
Kid Canaveral - If you don't know Kid Canaveral by now then you are really missing out. Already with a string of great single under their belt, an album is nearing completion. Unless something goes horribly wrong their track record suggests that's an album I'm going to enjoy.
Mitchell Museum - I do carry a bit of bias towards Mitchell Museum, since they are managed by my cousin. That aside though, they are a cracking band. A couple of impressive singles last year will be followed by an album soon. Again, that's one I'm looking forward to quite a lot.
Trapped In Kansas - I've taken stick for liking Trapped In Kansas before, but will that stop me enjoying them and writing about them? Of course not. Whether you like them or not, I do. I there's plans for an EP and hopefully an album this year.
Julia and The Doogans - Great songs, gorgeous voice, cracking band. That's more than enough for me.
The Kays Lavelle - Another band with an album almost ready for release, another album I'm eagerly awaiting.

The Ones You Might Not
We're Only Afraid of NYC - Sometimes you get one of those happy accidents when you go to see one band and the support act you'd never heard of before really catches your attention too. I managed to see them a few times last year and am eagerly awaiting their upcoming EP.
Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete - Another happy accident, as I knew next to nothing about them before catching them play at a Glasgow Podcart Live Session, but I was very impressed that night. Their recently released debut EP bodes well for the future.
Make Sparks - There's already a significant buzz around Make Sparks on the strength of their recent Rewind EP (which I still need to review, and will soon) and regular live shows. More recording and heaps of live shows are scheduled for the start of this year, try and get along to a gig, I will be.
Macabre Scene - First time I saw this band live I liked them, and could see a load of potential in them. Next time I saw them was only a few weeks later, but they'd already improved a ton. If they can keep that up it shouldn't be long before that potential is lived up to.
Esperi - I've written a fair bit about esperi here over the last couple of months, live shows are consistently impressive, and so are the recordings. I believe work has started on an album, I really can't wait to hear it.

Honourable Mentions
There's far more than ten bands worth watching this year. In no particular order, and no doubt missing loads out, mentions have to go to Lava Experiments, Kochka, Yahweh, Campfires In Winter, Zoobizaretta, French Wives, The Seventeenth Century, Mickey 9s, The Whisky Works, The Darien Venture, Bronto Skylift, Little Yellow Ukuleles, and so many many more.

Frightened Rabbit Announce New Single

Frightened Rabbit precede their 3rd full length studio album, ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’ with a brand new single ‘Nothing Like You’ on February 22nd, backed with another new song, ‘Learned Your Name’.
Furiously upbeat, ‘Nothing Like You’ s acoustic bustle is reminescent of The Cure classic, ‘Inbetween Days’ and mines the most uptempo aspects of Scott Hutchison's songwriting. The new album follows on 1st March.

Frightened Rabbit’s steady ascent is set to rise incrementally with the release of the new album, appetite for which has been whetted by the anthemic ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ teaser single which gave the band their first Zane Lowe plays and made a unaminous critcal impression at NME, Q (Track Of The Day), News Of The World (SotW), Record Of The Day (Track Of The Week), CMU Daily (Track Of The Day).

More tellingly they registered strongly in the albums of the decade polls everywhere from the blogs to NME and The Skinny

‘Nothing Like You’ typifies a more fully realised Frightened Rabbit sound, and like ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ boasts a stunning string arrangment from labelmate, Hauschka. Speaking to nme.com about the new album, lead singer Scott Hutchison explained ‘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."
Frightened Rabbit ended 2009 playing to huge crowds at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebration and 2010 will be a pivotal year for the band, as Scott acknowledges: “I’ve never been in a position of being aware of an audience of any size that was waiting for our music until now. You have to be aware of it or else it’s totally selfish. Pressure sounds like a negative thing but it’s quite positive actually. It feels earned. Everything we have achieved has been earned. It would be disappointing if we didn’t become more popular because that’s got to be the goal for every new record. If it comes I think we are actually ready for it now.’

The March headline dates run as follows, tickets available via www.crowdsurge.com/frightenedrabbit

04/03/10 York Duchess
05/03/10 Manchester Club Academy
06/03/10 Aldershot West End Centre
08/03/10 Bristol Thekla
09/03/10 Oxford Academy 2
10/03/10 London Koko
12/03/10 Birmingham Academy 2
13/03/10 Sheffield Leadmill 2
14/03/10 Norwich Arts Centre

I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb to presume that there's Scottish dates to follow those.
You can have a wee listen to Nothing Like You (formerly known to some of you as Steve) now over at the Frightened Rabbit MySpace.
The single will be available as a 7" and download from Fat Cat.

What's Happening on Aye Tunes in 2010?

It's that time of the year when we move on from lists of stuff that was good last year to lists of stuff we won't do this year. I'm crap at giving things up (I'm typing this with a ciggie in my hand and a half drunk bottle of beer on my desk, so those two clearly aren't happening), so instead my only real resolution for 2010 is to find myself a job, since being out of work really puts a dent in your ability to buy things.

Anyway, here's what you can expect from the blog over the coming year.

Asides from Christmas week I managed to get myself along to at least one gig a week for the last five months of 2009 - and since the first couple of weeks of December had me at two gigs a week I think I'm allowed that one week off - despite being regularly skint. I'm planning on keeping that rate up as far as possible, so you regular gig goers can probably expect to see a lot of the wee ginger guy lurking around various venues in Glasgow over the course of the year. On thing I'd like to do is get over to Edinburgh more often, it's been ages since I got to a gig over there. That needs money though, so it'll have to be something quite spectacular to get me through at the moment I think.

Aye Tunes is a year and a half old this week. Only I'm not counting that whole first year, since it wasn't until a full year after launching I actually did anything of note round here. So in June we'll be celebrating the first birthday of Aye Tunes properly. There might even be a party or something.

At some point soon I'll try and do some kind of 10 tips for 2010 list, along with the rest of the music bloggers on the planet. It'll likely be quite familiar, as I think most of the ones I think are worth watching are bands that came to my attention in the last half of 2009 and have already had a wee bit of coverage here.

Record and gig reviews are likely to continue, and I do have a desire to add interviews into the mix too. Any volunteers?
I've fallen away from doing band profiles a bit, so I'll try and get more of those done this year too.

For better or worse I'm still going to try and focus on positives not negatives, so still no reviews slating things, unless I can be constructive about it. I will try and stop calling albums I like brilliant though, and attempt to balanced.

Thanks a lot to everyone that has visited over the past year. My stats show that most of you started coming round in September and October, I'm glad you got here and hope you keep coming back.

Oh, I did think of one resolution - keep up with my email. If you sent me something in December especially it pretty much hit my inbox and go stuck there. Feel free to give me a reminder if I've missed something.

Rambling over, for now.

We Sink Ships Radio Launch Gig

Still trying to drag myself out of the Christmas and New Year slump with regards to getting back to regular postings at the moment, bear with me.

Until I force myself to write something more, here's a plug for the gig I'm heading to on Friday.
The line up is The Second Hand Marching Band, Benni Hemm Hemm and Euan McMeeken (of The Kays Lavelle, but promising to play non-Kays material). Also beneath us, the waves DJing. If you click the poster above it should be more readable, but if you can't be bothered then the gig is at The 13th Note on Friday, kicks off at 9pm, and costs £4 to get in.

The gig is to celebrate the launch of the new We Sink Ships podcast on Radio Magnetic. The first podcast should be available some time today update, it's available now here, but in the meantime you can hear a teaser for it here. Head over to Radio Magnetic for full details on what you can expect from WSS Radio.

While on the subject of We Sink Ships I should really point out that their new (and quite gorgeous looking) website is now online at http://www.wesinkships.co.uk/, with two new exhibitions available for viewing.

I'm risking turning into a Second Hand Marching Band stalker, I've seen them quite a lot recently, but since they have been threatening to take a break from gigging for a while I may as well pack in as many as I can before they take a time out from playing live. Benni Hemm Hemm impressed me quite a bit last time round, and I'm interested to see what Euan gets up to on his own. See you at the bar then?

EP Review - second hand marching band: grit and determination

As I mentioned last week, there's a new Second Hand Marching Band EP out. Since there's very little new around, and since you don't have much longer to get your mitts on a copy and since I've done nothing since Christmas and don't want to fall back into my lazy ways, here's a wee review of it.



The EP has four winter themed songs, and kicks off with Bonbon, a cheery wee upbeat number. Lots going on, as is to be expected, without sounding busy. Good start, it's the ever so slightly chaotic, raucous kind of fun I like. You can have a listen to that below.
From there, things take a shift in tone, with more gentle and melancholic sounding songs rounding out the EP.
Second song, title track Grit and Determination, manages to be incredibly sweet without being sugary. It's more sparse sounding - conjuring up images of leafless trees covered in snow, although that could be just because that's what I saw out my window earlier - gradually adding layers to reach a crescendo. Very charming, sweet and uplifting.
My Gift is Waiting makes good use of boy/girl duelling vocals and harmonies to build mood over a barely there backdrop of piano and horns.
Next Year brings in layers of instrumentals and vocals again for another song of love and new beginnings.

All in it's a great little EP, and at a mere three quid well worth getting your hands on a copy before New Year. It's also a nice reminder that there's more to the band than the novelty of cramming as many bodies as possible on a stage. When I've written about the Second Hand Marching Band before I tend to focus on that myself, and the mildly chaotic air that comes with them playing the more upbeat songs live. That's a bit unfair as there's really solid, well crafted songs in their repertoire, played by excellent musicians. I'll try to be more balanced next time they crop up in my live reviews.

The Second hand Marching Band play King Tut's on December 30th (which because I kept getting distracted writing this is now today, rather than tomorrow as planned) along with The Seventeenth Century and We're Only Afraid of NYC. It'll be really good, you should go.
If you can't, then you can catch them again on January 8th at The 13th Note for the launch of the We Sink Ships radio show on Radio Magnetic. That'll be good too.

Happy Christmas!

Want all the Christmas songs collected together in one post? Well ok then, consider this your present. There's even an extra song.

1st - Miss The Occupier - Christmas Wrapping
2nd - Campfires in Winter - Christmas Song
3rd - Arab Strap - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
4th - Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve
5th - There Will Be Fireworks - In Excelsis Deo
6th - Frightened Rabbit - It's Christmas So We'll Stop (2007)
7th - El Dog - Let It Snow
8th - Mitchell Museum - Stop The Cavalry
9th - Cocteau Twins - Winter Wonderland
10th - Paul Vickers and The Leg - I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
11th - Withered Hand - It's A Wonderful Lie
12th - Recording The Impossible - Silent Night
13th - Synonym - Festiv’ Biznis (Santa’s Goin’ Crazy)
14th - Dawn of the Replicants - Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time
15th - Camera Obscura - Little Donkey
16th - Belle & Sebastian - Are You Coming Over For Christmas?
17th - Dan Lyth - She Spent Thirty
18th - Idlewild - Mistletoe And Wine
19th - Macabre Scene - Last Christmas
20th - Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Christmas
21st - Cancel the Astronauts - Dead By Christmas
22nd - A Band Called Quinn - Snowbus
23rd - The Morgue Party Candidate - I Seen Mummy Kissing Santa Claus
24th - The Cinematics - Japanese Snow Queen
24h Bonus - De Rosa - Under The Stairs (Christmas Reverie) Demo Version
25th - Camera Obscura - The Blizzard

Happy Christmas (or other holiday of your choice) everyone. Please remember, Aye Tunes isn't just for Christmas, so keep coming back. Unless you dislike me, then you are excused.

Christmas Songs - Day 24

Phew, it's the last day of this, so I don't have to keep digging for more songs. Got any suggestions for anything else I can do to force me to make a post every day? There probably won't be anything too exciting posted here over the next day or two, so don't feel bad if you don't visit.

Today's Christmas song is a last minute entry from The Cinematics. They had a new album out a couple of months ago. I wasn't in love with it, but it's not bad.

The Cinematics - Japanese Snow Queen
Cinematics website

Ah heck, it's Christmas, so have another song too:
De Rosa: Under The Stairs (Christmas Reverie) Demo Version

If you are after another freebie song, Kid Canaveral are giving away Good Morning, a taster of the album they'll be releasing next year. It isn't Christmassy, but it is fab, so go get it.

I'll be wandering the streets and pubs of Glasgow later today, so if anyone is at a loose end from about 2pm for a while, give me a shout.

Second Hand Marching Band release new single

Only available between 23rd of December and 1st of January 2010. We'll make you a CD and you'll get your own numbered hand made copy. There will probably only be a few dozen made so it might be pure special.

It's a quiet time for new releases, obviously, so might as well flag up good ones as they happen.
We here at Aye Tunes (well, me, no one else works here) love The Second Hand Marching Band, so new material from them is smashing.
As stated in their description above, this new CD is only available for about a week, so get your skates on if you want a copy.
See below to have a wee listen and to get your hands on a copy. Your £3 gets you a CD and a download too.

Christmas Songs - Day 23

Nearly finished. I'm quite chuffed and surprised that I've got a post up ever day as planned.

Today's song is a home demo that I pestered Ross from The Morgue Party Candidate into sending over. If you haven't heard of the band before, I'll direct you to a wee bit I wrote about them earlier in the year here.

The Morgue Party Candidate - I Seen Mummy Kissing Santa Claus

The Morgue Party Candidate MySpace
You can also grab their Good Morning, Good Night EP for nothing here.

Christmas Songs - Day 22

Getting close to the end of the Christmas songs series now, obviously.
I'm going to need something to replace it by next week, any suggestions?

Today's song was was supposed to be It's Christmas Time by A Band Called Quinn, until I found out that after being available free last year it's been reissued as a single this week, which scuppered that plan. Instead you can have another equally festive track from that free EP.

A Band Called Quinn - Snowbus

A Band Called Quinn - MySpace

Best of 2009: Glasgow PodcART

Taking a wee break from the albums I've loved this year to talk about something else that's been a massive influence on both me and the blog. This time you can actually accuse me of writing nice stuff about my pals, but they deserve it.

In case you haven't heard of them, Glasgow PodcART are a team of Glasgow based music fanatics, who put together a weekly podcast laying music from both signed and unsigned artists and lots, lots more. So far, so simple. What makes the weekly podcasts must listens for me isn't just the music, but the people involved.

I was a bit of a late comer to the PodcART, only starting to listen at around episode 20 after seeing the name in Hinterland brochures. Within my first few weeks of listening I was introduced to the concept of Pooching the band, had Trapped in Kansas become forever known to me as Pumped in Venice, listened in on a conversation about porno boots for transvestites and heard something which - no matter how hard I try - I'll never be able to forget involving a glass Irn Bru bottle. Oh, and I heard an absolute ton of cracking music.

To say that listening to Glasgow PodcART has introduced me to new bands would be a massive understatement. Not every song or band is a winner with me, I'd be a bit worried if they were - but the good to bad ratio is heavily weighted in favour of the good. Without them I'd probably not have caught on to half the bands that have featured on Aye Tunes over the past six months, at least not nearly as quickly. I treat it as a good sign that I've upped my game when more of the bands featured now are ones I'm familiar with, but pretty much every week there's still something new to me, and for that I can't thank them PodcART team enough.

Aside from the music there's another thing I love about the PodcART, and that's the banter between whatever team members are taking part in any given week. I've had to stop listening when I'm on public transport, as there's almost always at least one moment every week where I'll uncontrollably laugh out loud. Often while thinking "that's just wrong" at the same time.
Listening to the team in conversation their enthusiasm for music and what they are doing is obvious, and infectious.

Since I generally attend gigs on my own, none of my pals are really into the same things as me and I don't want to be responsible for them having a lousy night out seeing bands that only I want to see, the Podcart team have been handy there too, since they often provide someone for me to talk to when I'm out and about on my own. They really are a lovely bunch of people.

More recently they've been responsible for some of my favourite gigs of the year, from the New Artists Showcase gig in November to their monthly live session gigs in The 13th Note. I know I'm not the only one who counts last week's Christmas party as a highlight of my year either.

All in all, if you have ears I highly recommend listening to the PodcART. Thanks Ally, Halina, Louise, Nicola and Sean for excellent entertainment, long may it continue.

Glasgow PodcART Website

Christmas Songs - Day 21

Just a few days to go. I really should have planned something special for Christmas Day, but as yet I haven't.

Or have I, and just want it to be a surprise?

Today's song comes from Cancel The Astronauts, just because I like them and haven't found an excuse to feature them for ages.

Cancel the Astronauts - Dead By Christmas

Cancel The Astronauts - Blog - MySpace

Best of 2009: Beerjacket - Animosity

It seems somewhat fitting to me that the first album I reviewed over here ends up being my favourite album of the year. Even if I did and still do hate the review I wrote.

As I mentioned in the Top 10 post, Animosity took the top spot for more than just musical reasons. The release of Animosity was another thing that coincided with my birthday this year, and was an album that helped me get my act together round here and attempt to do more writing.
The Beerjacket gig I went to back at the start of August is pretty significant too, it was the first of my "at least one gig every week" quest, which I've kept up until now. I'm having a break this week, incidentally. Basically, if you don't like my writing, blame Beerjacket!

Even without the personal stuff the musical reasons for Animosity topping my list are pretty compelling on their own.
Over the course of the year Animosity is probably the album I've come back and listened to in it's entirety the most. It's hard just pick one song from it that stands out - Drum maybe peeks it's head above the others as a favourite - as the entire album is consistently solid.

Deceptively simple, with for the most part just one man and his guitar, Beerjacket songs are beautifully crafted and performed, with lyrics that are never trite or forced. From that point of view it's a little disappointing that a lot of the exposure Peter got this year came from his Dancing in the Dark cover. On the other hand, here's hoping that hearing that will have sent people to check out original Beerjacket songs.

Now to address the elephant in the room from that old review of mine: Elliott Smith. I got a bit stuck on that last time round, so this time I'll just say that Beerjacket songs remind me quite a lot of sitting and listening to my old Elliott Smith albums. To me that's great, Smith is one of my favourite songwriters. Beerjacket does have a stronger voice though.

Now, why not head on over to Peenko's Blog where you'll find a Beerjacket interview and as a Christmas bonus, all the demos for Animosity available for download?

Christmas Songs - Day 20

Did you know that the number of posts this month is higher than the number of posts I made here in the whole first year Aye Tunes was around? Now you do.
Did you care? Probably not.

We're in to the home stretch with the Christmas songs, so if there's anything you desperatly want to hear, or if there's a song you want to contribute, get it in quickly.
Today's song comes from the still much missed Dogs Die in Hot Cars.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Christmas

Christmas Songs - Day 19

Day 19, seriously? Jeepers, December is flying past.

Once again a song came to my attention after a couple of these posts and promptly kicked it's way in to the front of the queue today. Not only is it cracking, but, well, if you watch the video (it's after the jump if you are reading the blog front page. Actually, you might need to view the whole post to get the embedded music player too, sorry.) you'll see why I got all excited.
I've missed Macabre Scene the last few times they've played, but the twice I saw them before I was dead impressed (I said so on the blog too, do a wee search if you want to read for yourself) so hopefully it won't be too long before I can catch them again.

I must confess to having a bit of a liking for this song anyway, being of a certain ages and apparently a bit of a sentimental girl. Go ahead and mock me, you know it is a Christmas Classic.



Macabre Scene MySpace


And the video: