Obligatory Alex Chilton Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Special Announcement

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

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

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

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

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

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

Burnt Island - Music and Maths - Album Review

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

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

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

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

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

Burnt Island - MySpace

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

This Week's Records

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miaoux Miaoux EP Launch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miss The Occupier - MySpace

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

beneath us, the waves

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

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

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

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

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

This Week's Thing

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

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

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

Miaoux Miaoux: Blooms - EP Review

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

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

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

MySpace - Bandcamp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Japanese War Effort - MySpace

The Twilight Sad: The Room - Single Review

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

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

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

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

Gig Review: Glasgow Podcart Birthday Bash

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

This Week's Thing

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


Records:

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

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

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

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

Friday Freebies

Since Peenko is off on holiday this week I'm picking up the Friday Freebies baton while he hurtles down snowy hills. He culd have gone skiing on my street, it's bloody covered in snow.
If it's great, you're welcome. If it's rubbish, blame him. If it doesn't appear at the right time, blame Blogger for seemingly ignoring me when i schedule something.

We Were Promised Jetpacks:
While they are swanning off around America, We Were Promised Jetpacks are also getting a new EP ready for release. Titled The Last Place You’ll Look , you can download lead track A Far Cry here (via Stereogum)

Aidan Moffat:
For no apparent reason, Aidan has covered an old Calypso song called Monkey Talk, which you can download for nowt here.

Chemikal Underground:
Subscribe to the Chemikal mailing list to pick up two new free tracks (and get access to a few older ones too). On offer at the moment are a remix of the Adrian Crowley song The Beekeeper's Wife, and an exclusive track by The Radar Brother from their forthcoming The Illustrated Garden album. Sign up to the mailing list here.

Radars:
Their new covers EP, Camp Rock, can be had for nothing from Bandcamp.

Conquering Animal Sound:
To celebrate their live podcast recording this afternoon, Glasgow podcart have made Conquering Animal Sound's complete live set from December's Trampoline All Day event available. You can stream it over at the PodcART website here, or download it from iTunes like you would the regular Podcast.

The Void:
From Friday 6pm til Sunday midnight The Void will be giving away their 'We'll Make Our History' EP for FREE on download along with some other B-Sides. Keep an eye on their MySpace for the link, since I might be offline most of the weekend. Update - here's the link for downloads - http://www.mediafire.com/thevoidband

Alex Gardner:
If you want something a bit more polished then you can get a free track from Alex Gardner. Pop along to his website and sign up to the mailing list for a free download of There Goes My Heart.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun: Home - EP Review

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - real name Colin Macleod - is already starting to make waves, with a publishing deal with Universal and a record deal with Geffen under his belt already. Not bad going for a youngster fro Lewis, admittedly.

How do the songs stand up to the buzz though? Well, that depends on what you come in expecting. If you trust the comparisons to Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Nick Drake or even Bon Iver you might find this EP a let down. If you ignore them, and try not to pay too much attention to the nu-folk tag The Boy has been picking up then there's some beautiful stuff.

Title track Home sound nothing like any of those artists above. If it sounds like anything, it's more like a really good song of an early Gomez album, right down to the distorted vocal break near the end. There's nothing wrong with that in my eyes (or ears), or with the song. Just, y'know, don't try to sell me a Gomez single in a Johnny Cash sleeve.
In the Dark has a bit of a Nick Drake feel to it in tone admittedly. Stripped back to vocals and acoustic guitar the song gives The Boy a chance to show off his talents with both to good effect.
The Fox is a warm, gentle ballad that floats along pleasantly, without really doing anything new or surprising. That's ok too, it's nice enough. Much the same can be said about the EP's closing track Change the Clocks. It's a well crafted and extremely well performed song, but it's in too much in danger of drifting off into background music rather than demanding "hey you, listen to me!".
Sandwiched between those two tracks is Lying To Get On Your Good Side, co-written with Ed Harcourt who shares vocal duties, which is much better. Combing across like a bunch of things thrown into a blender - a pinch of Radiohead, a dose of The Who's "Boris The Spider" - the results are quite wonderful. Playful and witty, with a off kilter, sinister undertone it, like Home, genuinely captures your interest for the entirety of the song.

There's wonderful songs on this EP, but I'm not so sure about the PR. An acoustic guitar doesn't turn you into a folk singer, Nu or otherwise. Acoustic rock might be a term that scares some people off, or makes Mojo magazine prick up it's ears, but it's a more apt description for what's going on here to me.
Leaving that aside though, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun is a gifted songwriter and an excellent musician, and Home is a fine taster for his upcoming album. Just try not to have any preconceptions of what you think the EP will sound like and you just might enjoy it that bit more.

The Home EP is released through Chess Club on March 1st.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - MySpace

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks: Album Review

Following up an album as critically acclaimed as Midnight Organ Fight was always going to be a tall order, so who can blame Frightened Rabbit for taking their time in doing so. Doubly so given how critics do so love to break down the same darlings that they've built up. Now that the new album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, is imminent it's time to see how Scott Hutchison and crew have done.

Right from the off any fears that the band will have changed their sound or approach to appeal to a wider audience can be dismissed, there's as much here for long term fans as for newcomers. The songs might be a bit grander and a bit less sweary, but the songwriting and craft remains top notch.

Album opener Things is a bit of a low key beginning, and one of the songs that took me longest to warm to, possibly because it sounds pretty much like nothing I've heard from Frightened Rabbit. After that it's straight into first single Swim Until You Can't See Land. This wasn't a song that knocked my socks off when released as a single, but as part of the album as a whole it fares a lot better. Ironic then that the opposite applies to second single Nothing Like You. On it's own it's frantic, fast paced and catchy. In the context of the album though it feels out of place and less effective. Still a great single, mind you.

Sandwiched between the two singles is my favourite part of the album. The Loneliness and the Scream with it's handclaps and woah-oh-oh-oh's has "live favourite" stamped all over it, and is the first moment on the album that made me feel I was listening to something a bit special. It's followed up immediately by another belter in The Wrestle. Driven by a simple riff, it's an uplifting little moment that is just, for want of a better word, lovely. Skip The Youth follows and is a mini epic. Building from a lengthy instrumental to a rousing sing along ending, it's another highlight.

It's at this point that the album falters a little. As mentioned Nothing Like You feels out of place here, and it's followed by Man/Bag of Sand - something of a reprise of Swim Until You Can - which doesn't really do anything for me. It works as an album track, just leaves me cold.
Foot Shooter is another song I've not yet warmed to. It feels very anthemic and is very well executed, it just doesn't really do it for me.

From there on in though the album doesn't put a foot wrong. Not Miserable is possibly the albums best point lyrically, and sounds the most personal. Living In Colour is already becoming a live favourite and it's plain why - thumping drums that demand foot stomping, soaring strings, and a killer hook, before fading out with keyboards. Album closer Yes I Would is, again, one that grew on me after a few listens. It might pass you by at first, but after a few listens it's gentle beauty is impossible to resist. It's like ending the album with a hug.

The Winter of Mixed Drinks is an album that took me a few listens to really warm to, had I reviewed it after a single listen through I doubt I'd have been anywhere near as positive about it. It's an album that rewards repeated listens and it is also very much an album, not just a random selection of eleven songs. It isn't the Midnight Organ Fight II, but then it was never going to be.
Neither is The winter of Mixed Drinks a perfect album, but it's a very, very good one, and one deserving of pushing the band towards a newer, bigger audience.

Frightened Rabbit: Website - MySpace

The Winter of Mixed Drinks is released by Fat Cat Records on March 1st in the UK and Europe, March 9th in the US.

Single Review - The Paraffins: Something Good

Some things are just fun. This single by The Paraffins is one of those things.

Leading off with the electro-pop, low budget, super catchy Something Good, it takes mere seconds for a smile to cross my face.
By the time you get halfway through, just in time for the gloriously shout along chorus, you'll probably either be in love or have already decided this isn't your thing. It's my kind of thing though, and therefore brilliant. Backing vocals on that chorus - go on, yell along, you know you want to - are credited to The Petrochemical Arms, who have a few familiar Second Hand Marching Band members in their number.

B-side Little Crunchy Surprises is like an advertising jingle on acid. Clocking in a 1:15 long, it certainly can't be accused of outstaying it's welcome. You know all those adverts on TV at the moment that feel the need to be incredibly annoying to worm their way into your head? Every time one comes on listen to little Crunchy Surprises instead, it's a much more entertaining experience, and won't kill any enjoyment of opera forever either.

Rounding off the single is a remix of Something Good, by Ben Butler & Mousepad. Not much to say about this really, remixes are near impossible for me to review unless they are (a) awful or (b) drastic reworkings of the original song. The remix here certainly isn't awful, so it has that in it's favour. It doesn't do anything drastic either, beefing up the electro and being pleasantly bleepy.

All in, Something Good certainly lives up to it's title.

Officially, Something Good is released on March 22nd. However, it is available already on eMusic and iTunes, so you don't need to wait till then.





The Paraffins: MySpace - Website

This Week's Thing - Part 2

I ran out of time to cover the gigs and other goings on yesterday, so here it is today.

Art:
We Sink Ships have a new exhibit online. Launched yesterday Elements: Fire is available to view on their website from February 22nd until 11th April. Elements: Fire", combines 12 photographs from Heidi Kuisma and Neil Milton to create 12 ethereal interpretations of fire. These images are accompanied by a new piece of music by Milton's "beneath us, the waves" music project and by a poem by the duo's friend, Rhys Baker - also of the band Wild Dogs In Winter.

Gigs:
Busy busy busy. Usual disclaimer - there's loads more on than what I'm listing here.
Wednesday has the Scottish Alternative Music Awards Ceremony. It's on at The Classic Grand, with an early kick off - doors are at 6.30. Remember and dress nice. As well as the awards there will be live sets from Make Sparks, This Familiar Smile, The Lafontaines & Bronto Skylift.
Lions.Chase.Tigers have a few gigs this week. On Thursday they are performing live for Stirling's Air3 Radio, Friday they are in Inverness and on Saturday they play Aberdeen with There Will Be Fireworks.
Fresh from releasing their new single yesterday Errors head off on a UK tour this week, starting with Glasgow's Grand Ole Opry on Thursday.
On Friday Glasgow Podcart are doing a live recording of their podcast. Playing live are Make Sparks (busy boys) and Conquering Animal Sound. It takes place at Creation Studios on Trongate at 3pm.
On Saturday there's several gigs fighting for your attention. Zoobizaretta play the Oran Mor, while the Classic Grand has Oliver Stays (and Kochka, I think) supporting Doll And The Kicks. Elsewhere Pooch are taking over at Bloc. As if that wasn't enough We're Only Afraid of NYC are supporting Kong at The Captain's Rest.
Bringing February to a close on Sunday we have Oliver Stays again, playing at Hurleys in Bathgate.
Sunday night in Glasgow is possibly my gig of the week, as Nice N Sleazy plays host to the triple bill of Vendor Defender, Young Aviators and Mickey 9's.

This Week's Thing

More singles this week than ten minutes before kicking out time at the dancing, so let's just get to it.

Records:
Errors release their new single - A Rumour In Africa - 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". Unlike the last time I mentioned this, I've got the date right this time, and it really is out today.
Frightened Rabbit release the second single from the Winter of Mixed Drinks - Nothing Like You - on Fat Cat. I reviewed this a few weeks ago and rather enjoyed it. Album review coming up sometime this week. Again, it's available on 7" or to download.
Spaghetti Anywhere's self titled debut EP comes out today too. You might remember that I loved it. Released by Toy Soldier Records, it's available as a 10" (with a free CD, I believe) and a download. You can buy the vinyl here.
And So i Watch You From Afar might not be Scottish, but they are awesome. Their Letters EP has been available at shows for a while, but I just spotted it as a new addition to eMusic, so there's no excuse not to have a copy.
Kathryn Williams also isn't scottish, but her new album The Quickening is - once you get past horrible thoughts of Highlander sequels - very good. That's out on One Little Indian today too.
Chris Bradley has a new single, Waltzing, out. It's download only, released by 17 Seconds Records. They've been busy recently haven't they? A new album from Bradley follows at the end of march.

I'm running a bit short on time today, so the gigs and stuff will get a seperate post tomorrow.

King Post Kitsch - EP Review

This week might be quite review heavy, as I try and get caught up on everything I should have done but put off before we venture into a new month. So if you don't like my reviews, you might want to avoid me this week. I might fail to get anything done as usual though, we'll see.

First on the list of something I've been meaning to get posted for ages is the debut release from King Post Kitsch. It's been out for a while, but better late than never eh?
King Post Kitsch is a London based Scot, and due to my inability to write "Kitsch", he's giving my spellchecker a major workout.
The self titled EP has three tracks, and they all sound really different from each other, ruining any chance I have of blagging my way through the review.
Opener Alaska kicks off with a swirling organ sound and a vocal that's almost Beatles like. Psychedelic, catchy and with a fantastic sample about the presence of bears in Alaska, it makes for a fine start.
Modern Times is a real shift in gears, driven by discordant piano, with a bit of minimalist guitar and bass. It's a song with a great feeling of unease, completely different in both style and tone from the other two songs.
Closer Fante's Last Stand is a sweet, gentle little tune for the most part, shaken up a bit with electric guitar riffing that all at once sounds out of place and absolutely perfect. There's a bit of a Bon Iver feel about this one, and it's really quite gorgeous.

Since the EP can be had for free you'd won't be losing out on anything if you give it a try. And give it a try you should. I really liked it, I hope you do too.

King Post Kitsch: Bandcamp - Website - MySpace