The Aye Tunes Birthday Bash

As I've mentioned already, I'm putting on a wee birthday gig.

Aye Tunes, the blog you are currently looking at, started up three years ago this week on June 1st 2008. Admittedly it took around a year between starting up and me actually doing anything, but we'll gloss over that part.

It is also my birthday on June 18th. I'll be a good bit older than the blog.

On the 17th, two weeks today, the birthday gig takes place at The Flying Duck in Glasgow The Flying Duck is a wee bit hidden, but once you work out where it is it is a doddle to find. It is on Renfield Street, just across from the big Cineworld, there's a map and stuff on the website.

Playing at the gig are The Big Nowhere, Black International and Verse Metrics. On the off chance you don't know the bands don't worry, I'll be introducing them to you between now and the gig here. You can get a head start by reading the interview Black International did a with me last November, or indeed the track by track guide to their debut album In Debt.

If you are into that kind of thing you can let me know you are coming on Facebook.

Everyone is invite to come along and partake in some good music, some beverages, and watching me stress out. There's a catch though, I'm going to make you pay for the pleasure. Entry is £3, which isn't too shabby for three bands.

Sorry, but to try and minimise the chances of my head exploding I need to try and not make it both the most stressful and the most expensive birthday I've had!

FOUND - Anti Climb Paint

FOUND release the second single from their really quite awesome Factorycraft album next week, on June 6th.

Here's the video for Anti Climb Paint:

You may have noticed that the video depicts the making of some confectionery records. The reasoning behind this is that the single will be released on a playable, edible 7". I'm not sure yet if this is genius or insanity, so we'll just accept it, call it insane genius, and move on.

To celebrate the release of the single there's a pair of competitions running, one to win a copy of the 7", another to win tickets to a special gig at the Fisher & Donaldson bakery in Cupar, Fife, where the video was filmed. To enter scoot on over here, where you can also download a free remix of the single by S-Type.

Speaking of remixes, there are more of them too, handily embedded to listen to below.

Anti Climb Paint is released on June 6th by Chemikal Underground Records.

FOUND: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp

Chemikal Underground: Website - Facebook - Shop

News & Bits - 30th May

Hello, you are looking well. Thanks for stopping by.

Here's your usual slightly shambolic run down of new releases, and other stuff.

I may have gone a wee bit overboard with the buy links this week, let me know if they annoy you and I'll trim them back a bit next week. Until then I'm pretty broke, so could use the couple of pennies I earn if anyone buys stuff through them.

New Releases:

Laki Mera - The Proximity Effect (album). Buy from Amazon (CD/Download), HMV (CD/Download), iTunes.
The Lava Experiments - Love, Lust & Loss (EP). Buy from iTunes, CD from The Lava Experiments.

Mummy Short Arms - Cigarette Smuggling (single). Buy from iTunes.
Poor Things - Innocence/18 (single). Buy from Bandcamp. (Aye Tunes Review)

Spare Snare - I Am God (single). Buy from iTunes.

Sparrow and the Workshop - Spitting Daggers (album). Buy from Amazon (CD/Download), HMV (CD), iTunes.
United Fruit - Fault Lines (album). Buy from Amazon (CD/Download), HMV (CD), iTunes. The album isn't available just yet on Bandcamp/Bigcartel , but should be soon. (Aye Tunes Review)

Like Me:

You may or may not have noticed, but there's a wee clicky thing at the bottom of posts which allow you to like them on Facebook. Feel free to express your enjoyment of Aye Tunes in the laziest way possible and be the envy of all your friends with your cool hip reading choices all at once. You can also find at Aye Tunes Facebook page here, where I occasionally talk rubbish.

Buy Things From Me:

Tickets are available for all the upcoming Aye Tunes gigs right here. Or just send me an email saying you want a ticket and I'll sort you out.

What gigs are those, you say? I really hope you don't say that again in a few weeks, or it'll mean I haven't done a very good job of promoting them, but the gigs would be these:

Friday 17th June - Aye Tunes Birthday Bash.

Black International, The Big Nowhere and Verse Metrics at The Flying Duck.

Facebook Event

Friday July 1st - Aye Tunes Presents...

The Last Battle, The Second Hand Marching Band and Loch Awe at Stereo.

Facebook Event

Saturday August 20th - Aye Tunes Vs Peenko 4: The Revenge

Adam Stafford, PAWS, Miaoux Miaoux and Mondegreen at Stereo.

Facebook Event

Stuff!

Lots of stuff on Bandcamp from Asthmatic Astronaut, including the first Church of When the Shit Hits the Fan EP.

Ben TD, probably better known these days as the man behind Open Swimmer, has his old album Tiny Movements available quite cheap on Bandcamp.

Dalyrimple Goes Wrong recorded his first EP, For Shut Eyes, in five days in a flat in Edinburgh.You can get it for free on Bandcamp.

Dave Hughes hasn't been in our news round-up for a couple of weeks, but he's back aggain now with the latest in his Something Old Something New series. Grab #3 from Bandcamp.

Also elbowing his way back in to the news is Guanoman, with more free stuff from his archives going up on Bandcamp.

El Dog released debut album The Lamps of Terrahead way back in 2009. If you missed it before then you can get a free download or right cheap CD from Bandcamp. I suggest you do.

Ginger, quite possibly my favourite songwriter in recent memory, is giving away a free download of his Potatoes And You live album. Go get it from Bandcamp.

If, like me, you hadn't really heard of Discopolis until they were announced for the TBreak stage this year then head over to their Soundcloud page to have a listen to them. I was pleasantly surprised, and kicking myself I didn't know about them already.

After what feels like a long time away old friends We're Only Away From NYC have popped up with a new song and video, which you can watch and hear here.

Cities and Skylines are giving away their new single for free in exchange for your email address here.

LightGuides have a free single too. Download Old Bucket Seats from their website, but be quick, it won't be available for long.

Win Win Win:

Just a reminder about the Ladytron competition I'm currently running to win a pair of tickets to see them in Glasgow. Find the competition here.

This Week's Gigs: 30th May - 5th June

Well, that was a busy weekend. Over Friday and Saturday I saw eight bands, did a bit of DJing, got a bit (for bit read far) too drunk, spent too much money, was slapped by a random drunk lassie (it wasn't my fault, she thought I was someone else) and had two trips back to Paisley on the N9 that were both awful. So, what do we have to look forward to this week? Lots. Saturday in particular seems to have been designed to force tough choices.

Monday:

Christine Collister, Supermarionation. Sneaky Pete's.

Tuesday:

Aspen Tide, MakeThisRelate, Remember Paris, Art of Privilege. Sneaky Pete's.

KAN, The Sanna, Kristan Harvey. Stereo. (Tickets - enter discount code glow_arts2011 to save a few quid)

Laki Mera, GRNR. The Admiral. Free.

Beerjacket, Reverieme. Bloc. Free.

Tangles. Mono. Free.

Good news for the Glaswegian freeloaders.

Wednesday:

Aspen Tide, Remember Paris, Forgotten Sunday, Always Read The Label. Captain's Rest.

Limbo: Eagleowl, The Scottish Enlightenment, Silver Fox. Voodoo Rooms.

Trapped In Kansas, JKLMNO. Bloc. Free.

The Subways, Young Aviators. Stereo.

Thursday:

Trapped In Kansas, Letters, Plastic Animals. Sneaky Pete's.

Trapped In Kansas are also playing Inverness, Falkirk and Aberdeen over the rest of the week. Swing by their website for all the details.

Randolph's Leap, I Build Collapsible Mountains, Daniel G. Harmann. Hidden Lane Cafe.

This is one of Peenko's Tea Party gigs/sessions. Spaces are strictly limited, so if you want to go you'll probably want to buy a ticket.

Take A Worm For A Walk Week, The Gummy Stumps, No Comet. Captain's Rest.

Friday:

The Indelicates, Anna Madeline, Dave Hughes and the Renegade Folk Punk Band. (Tickets)

This is very close to selling out, so act fast if you want a ticket.

Over The Wall, John Knox Sex Club. Nice N Sleazy.

Tonight and tomorrow Over The Wall bring their exhausting sounding 80 day gig adventure to a close. They have nice posters.

Carnivores, Black International, Kraul. Sneaky Pete's. (Tickets)

Julian Lynch, Ducktails, Big Trouble. Captain's Rest.

Saturday:

Electric Honey Showcase: White Heath, French Wives, Miniature Dinosaurs, Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers. Oran Mor. (Tickets)

Over The Wall, Washington Irving, Cancel The Astronauts. Cabaret Voltaire.

See, I told you the posters are nice.

Detour: FOUND + guests. Electric Circus. (Tickets)

Detour are taking their Wee Jaunt through to Edinburgh for the day. Spaces on the jaunt are all gone, but you can still go to the gig afterwards.

For Abel, Tragic City Thieves, How Garbo Died, Brendan Campbell. 13th Note.

The Lava Experiments, Organs of Love, Ursula Minor. Captain's Rest.

Launch gig for the new Lava Experiments EP, Love Lust and Loss.

Song of Return, Quickbeam. The Arches. (Tickets)

Song of Return album launch.

Strawberry Ocean Sea, Death By Misadventure, Tijuana Bibles. The Arches. (Tickets)

Sunday:

Julian Lynch, Ducktails, Big Trouble. Sneaky Pete's. (Tickets)

Fence Collective: Dan Lyth, Withered Hand (solo), Rob St John, Rozi Plain, The Pictish Trail + King Creosote, Kid Canaveral, OnTheFly (DJ). Oran Mor. (Tickets)

Album Review: United Fruit - Fault Lines

Almost two years to the day since the release of United Fruit's debut EP Mistress, Reptile Mistress! comes the time to unleash their debut album, Fault Lines. Unleash is the right word for it, as Fault Lines is a rampaging monster of a record.

Opener Kamikaze sets the tone for a thirty something minute thrill ride, all distorted guitar, snarled vocal and pounding rhythm section. Once it has been set at frenetic the pace doesn't dip until Three, half way through. Three offers a bit of a breather, slowing things down a tad, although it is still far from gentle. From there on in the album rockets off again with Confuse Her Now, which manages to be even more ferocious than what preceded it.

The album ends with the fittingly titled Wrecking Ball, which pretty accurately sums up the destructive, take no prisoners approach of Fault Lines. Sometimes you hear a song and immediately picture yourself sweat drenched, leaping around in a packed room as the band play it live. Fault Lines has a couple of those, but none more so than Wrecking Ball.

I'm pretty sure every time United Fruit are mentioned anywhere the names And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and At the Drive-In crop up too, but they are decent reference points. Considering how much I love some of the music made by those bands being compared to them is no bad thing either. Make no mistake either, United Fruit are no second rate copyists either. The influences aren't hidden away, but serve to add a bit of extra flavour to their sound, which is all their own.

The half hour and nine tracks of Fault Lines fly by, the album short enough to keep your attention throughout, but long enough to leave you wanting more, with an increased heart rate and sweat on your brow.
Noise and distortion is all well and good, but without bringing something else to the table it gets old fast. Thankfully then United Fruit don't just know how effects pedals work, they know how songs work too. Amongst the carnage is a fine ear for melody, with riffs and hooks that stick in the mind

We're always advised to include more fruit in our diets, on the strength of Fault Lines you'd be foolish not to make sure there's a healthy chunk of United Fruit in your diet too.

Fault Lines is released on May 30th. The album is available now from HMV.

United Fruit: Facebook - Bandcamp - Twitter

COMPETITION: Win tickets to Ladytron

Ladytron are coming to Glasgow in a couple of weeks, for a gig at The Arches on the 9th of June, and I have a pair of tickets to give away. But first, a bit of blurb.

Using vintage analogue equipment to create a whip-smart, digitally edited electronic pop sound, Ladytron are one of the most important acts of the last decade’s synth-pop revival.

Fronted by the iconic duelling vocals of Glaswegian Helen Marnie and Bulgarian Mira Aroyo, the quartet formed in the summer of 1999 when Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt bonded over a shared love of French electronica and Krautrock. Rebelling against the seemingly two-proonged choice of either indie-rock or house music at the time, their use of synths to create pop tracks set them apart immediately.

Having perfected the air of nonchalent art-house detachment way before it became the norm, and with a sound referencing everything from glam to disco to new wave, their underground hits Seventeen, Blue Jeans and Evil, from second album Light & Magic in 2002, saw them tacked with the trashy day-glo aesthetic of electroclash by an excited music press – a label they vehemently ignored.Third album Witching Hour in 2005 was perhaps proof of this. Adding a drummer and bassist to their (now sell-out) live shows, they focused their attention even more on sleek, sophisticated composition and a wider gamut of influences. The critics loved it; it received almost unanimous critical acclaim, and single Destroy Everything You Touch became their new trademark song.

Best of 00-10, released in March this year, is both a documentation of the evolution of both a truly pioneering quartet and a musical decade, with a companion compilation, Best Of Remixes, released digitally beforehand. Their fifth album, Gravity The Seducer, will be released at the end of the summer.

Support comes from Glasgow-based Let’s Talk About Trees. Tickets are available here.

Win Tickets: to be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets for The Arches gig email the answer to this simple question to competition@ayetunes.org.uk

Question: What is the name of the sequel to the film Tron?

Competition closes at 6pm on June 6th, when the winner will be picked at random from the correct entries and informed by email.

I won't keep your email address or spam you with anything, promise.

News & Bits - May 23rd

I almost got hit by a flying bin earlier today, and the wee plastic greenhouse in the garden has lost its cover. Now, on to the rest of the news.

New Releases:

Aviation For Kids - This Airplane... (EP). Available from Bandcamp.

Dead Boy Robotics/The Machine Room - Tape Singles Club #1 (Split Single). Buy from iTunes.

Mogwai - San Pedro (Single). Buy from iTunes.

Miaoux Miaoux - Hey Sound! (single). Buy from iTunes/Bandcamp. CDs available at tomorrow's launch gig, with extra tracks too.

Penguins Kill Polar Bears - Sapling (single). Buy from iTunes.

She's Hit/Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers - Shimmer Shimmer/Lemonade (split single). Buy from Bandcamp.

Zoey Van Goey - Mountain On Fire (Single). Buy from iTunes.

Aye Tunes (Wants) Presents:

Not content with an Aye Tunes Presents gig in July and the return of Aye Tunes Vs Peenko in August, I'm cramming in a gig in June too. We'll be having a special birthday bash on the 17th of June at The Flying Duck to mark the blog turning three (even though I did next to nothing in the first year) and me turning quite a bit older than that. I can't tell you who is playing just yet though, mainly due to not having finalised the line-up. So, if you want to volunteer...

Tickets for the upcoming gigs are available here.

Bits:

Blank Canvas have made a recording of their gig back in March at Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar available to download free here. They'll also be playing a free gig at The Wee Red Bar with Discopolis on June 18th, my actual birthday.

DanDanDan release an EP, Happy Happy Joy Joy, on June 10th, but you can pre-order it right now and get a couple of tracks straight away here. There's a few free downloads on their Bandcamp page too.

More pre-order goodness comes from Steven Flavahan with his Memories + Tragedies EP here, and Mike Nisbet with his album, Vagrant, here.

How Garbo Died will be launching their first proper EP in July with a couple of gigs around the place: 9th July - Stereo, Glasgow, with Tangles, Guanoman and Peter Cat, 10th July - Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh and 18th July - The Tunnels, Aberdeen. Have a listen to their home recorded batches on Bandcamp.

Golden Grrrls have a couple of things available on Bandcamp, choose your price.

Carnivores have made their Nights To Infinity EP available to buy from Bandcamp. CDs are still available from their BigCartel store.

The Spook School have CDs to sell you, which you can buy here for a measly £1. There's also free downloads there, which I think I mentioned before. If I didn't then I meant to.

This Week's Gigs: 23rd - 29th May

Trying to wrestle the gig guide back into its usual scheduled Sunday slot, let's see if I can succeed?

It is a busy old week, with something I want to go to every night, and a wee something on Friday that I'll be urging you to come along to.

Monday:

Exhibition Launch: Drawing Time and Attention - An Audience Member. The Arches. 6pm, free.

Just saying that Jenny Soep draws at gigs is selling her well short, so go have a look at her blog to see what I mean. This is the launch of an exhibit of her work at The Arches. If you can't make the launch make sure you drop in at some point later anyway, the exhibition runs until June 20th.

Sparrow and the Workshop, Haight-Ashbury, Le Reno Amps. King Tut's. (Tickets)

Album launch for Sparrow and the Workshop's second album. A fine album it is too. We love Le Reno Amps a wee bit more than appropriate also, so get along in time to catch them.

Tuesday:

Limbo: The Lovely Eggs, Kid Canaveral, Cancel the Astronauts, Zed Penguin. Voodoo Rooms.

Blooming heck, that's a good line up. Edinburgers, go! £8 on the door, but if you hurry you can pick up a cheaper ticket on the Limbo website.

Miaoux Miaoux, The Japanese War Effort, Nevada Base. Mono.

Launch gig for the new Miaoux Miaoux single. It is very good, as is the bill for the gig. Well, except for guest DJ Peenko, which lets it down a bit of course.

Sound of Guns, The King Hats, Run From Red. King Tut's. (Tickets)

Black Lips, PAWS. Stereo. (Tickets)

Wednesday:

LightGuides, Friends In America, The Darien Venture. Captain's Rest.

MILK: Open Swimmer, The Dirty Beggars, Every Genius Delivers (acoustic). Flat 0/1.

The Red Room Presents: Redwings, Wounded Knee, Blue Sabbath Black Fiji. Nice N Sleazy.

Thursday:

We See Lights, Tall Tales. Sneaky Pete's.

PGRT Live: Young Aviators, Kochka, Skeletons and the Empty Pockets, Shooting Stansfield. Captain's Rest.

Our friends at Pop Goes The Revolution carry on their series of fabby gigs with this one, with Young Aviators launching their new EP, False Education.

Poor Things, Cancel the Astronauts, Happy Vandals. Bloc.

Launch gig for Poor Things new single. The single took me by surprise a bit, you can read what I thought of it here.

Friday:

Pin Up Nights: Blogger's Delight. The Flying Duck.

The vested interest gig of the week. Along with the regular Pin Ups DJ's, I'll be playing some records, joined by Peenko, The Pop Cop, and members of Radar, Rokbun and Glasgow Podcart.
We've picked the bands for the night too. The Aye Tunes selection is Mondegreen, while Radar have chosen Tokamak and The Pop Cop has picked Endor. Sadly Peenko's choice, Michael Cassidy, is no longer playing.

Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers, Black Jash, Top Dollar. Nice N Sleazy.

Mitchell Museum, Fiction Faction, Friends Are Friends. Bloc. 10pm start, free before 11pm, £2 after.

Saturday:

Hurray For the Riff Raff, Night Noise Team, The Last Battle and David J Roch. King Tut's.

For £4 tickets get in touch with Night Noise Team's Sean at sean@permwhale.com and tell him I sent you.

United Fruit, Battery Face. Bloc. 10pm start, free before 11pm, £2 after.

United Fruit celebrate both the end of their tour and the launch of their debut album. I'll be dashing along to this after the gig at Tut's. If you like good loud music I suggest you pop along too.

Supermarionation, Velvet Audio, The Future Capital and The Puppet State. Box.

Sunday:

Benni Hemm Hemm, Withered Hand (solo), the second hand marching band, Emily Scott, The Pineapple Chunks, and special secret guests. Pilrig St Pauls. (Tickets)

Penguins Kill Polar Bears, Carnivores, So Many Animal Calls. Captain's Rest. (Tickets)

News & Bits - May 16th

Your regular selection of stuff, including a wee announcement of what we're up to in August.

New Releases:

The Dirty Cuts - Cut Struck (album). Buy from iTunes.

For Abel - Greater Inventions (album). Buy from iTunes.

King Post Kitsch - Don't You Touch My Fucking Honeytone (EP). Buy vinyl, with download code, from Song, by Toad Records.

Randolph's Leap - Counting Sheep/Deep Blue Sea (single). Buy from Bandcamp/iTunes.

I only had to go through 40 pages on eMusic this week. Much quieter than last week, which is handy since I'm skint.

Upcoming Gigs:

Night Noise Team, The Last Battle and David J Roch support Hurray For the Riff Raff at King Tut's next Saturday, the 28th. For £4 tickets get in touch with Night Noise Team's Sean at sean@permwhale.com and tell him I sent you.

Give Me Money - Part 1:

Tickets are now on sale for July's Aye Tunes Presents gig. The gig is on July 1st at Stereo in Glasgow. The Last Battle will be launching their new EP, with support from the second hand marching band and Loch Awe. Advance tickets are £4 and available here.

Give Me Money - Part 2:

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko 4: The Revenge. 20th August, at Stereo. Tickets available from Tickets Scotland, or give me a shout.

Adam Stafford will be launching his new album, Build a Harbour Immediately, with help from PAWS, Miaoux Miaoux and Mondegreen. Well, there was no point in bringing AVP back if we were going to half arse it...

This Week's Gigs: 16th - 22nd May

Oops, it is Monday and I've forgotten to write the gig guide.

That means it will probably be quite half arsed again, but here we go anyway.

Tuesday:

Randolph's Leap, Burnt Island, The Moth and the Mirror. Mono, £3, which gets you a free download too..

Launch gig for the new Randolph's Leap single, which is out now.

Khaira Arby, RM Hubbert. Stereo. (Tickets)

Until I was emailed about this I had no clue who Khaira Arby was, now I've had a listen I'm a bit gutted I can't make it to this gig. Really good stuff.

Prince Rama, Galoshins, How Garbo Died. Nice n Sleazy. (Tickets)

Low, Sleepingdog. The Classic Grand.

Handsome Furs, Boycotts. Captain's Rest.

Wednesday:

Bear Arms, iglue, 3 Times Over, The Whisky Works. Captain's Rest.

Thursday:

Communion Glasgow: Bear Bones, In Flight Safety, The Little Kicks, The Echoes. 13th Note.

UWS End of Year Festival. Paisley Student Union.

Mentioned this in the news last week, but if you've forgotten or missed it, this has Admiral Fallow, Aerials Up, Michael Cassidy, Kitty The Lion, Alan McKim, Johnny Barr, Carnivores and Marvel Heights and more. 6pm start, £3 entry, and you don't have to be a student to go.

Dead Boy Robotics, The Machine Room. Nice N Sleazy.

Launch gig for the split single from the two bands, the first in the Tape Singles Club series.

Friday:

Barmellodie: Kill the Captains, Vendor Defender, Pensioner, Popcorn Fiend. Bloc.

Starts around 10, free entry before 11, carries on till 3am. This month's special guest DJ is *drum roll* me. Don't expect anything resembling DJ skills then, but do expect more 90s hip hop the drunker I get.

Dead Boy Robotics, The Machine Room, My Tiny Robots. The Store, Edinburgh.

Max Raptor, Skinny Villains, The Holidays, The Scruffs. King Tut's. (Tickets)

Chain and the Gang, The Gummy Stumps, Palms. Stereo. (Tickets)

Saturday:

Stag & Dagger. Various Venues. (Tickets)

All the details on Stag & Dagger can be found right here.

Sunday

Black International, The Fnords, Siamese Ghosts. 13th Note.

£3 entry, worth it.

TBreak 2011 Announced

As I mentioned, Blogger has been buggered all day, so chances are you know this already.

On the off chance you don't, here are the 16 bands picked to play this year's TBreak stage at T in the Park. I'll come back and add my thoughts later, maybe.

Aerials Up

Boycotts

Cancel the Astronauts

Carnivores

Church of When the Shit Hits the Fan

Conquering Animal Sound

Crayons

Discopolis

Fatherson

Lady North

Marrik Layden Deft With Scatabrainz

Otherpeople

PAWS

Reverieme

The LaFontaines

United Fruit

Go ahead and moan in the comments section if you must.

Who is Where at Stag and Dagger, and When!

Blogger has been misbehaving since last night, so a wee bit later than planned, here's updated Stag & Dagger details.

Buy Tickets

Ticket collection is at the ABC.
Stag & Dagger takes place next Saturday - the 21st - in Glasgow.

Here is what bands are playing where, and when.

02 ABC1
Clinic 19:15
Admiral Fallow 20:15
Warpaint 21:15

02 ABC2 – Presented by Communion Glasgow

Michael Kiwanuka 18:15
Ed Sheeran 19:00
Rachel Sermanni 19:45
Withered Hand 20:30
James Yorkston 21:30

The Art School

Ghostpoet 19:30
Toro Y Moi 20:15
Broken Records 21:30
Sons and Daughters 22:30
DELS 23:45
Numbers (DJ’s) 00:30

The Vic Bar

Conquering Animal Sound 19:00
Veronica Falls 20:00
Happy Particles 21:00
Three Trapped Tigers 22:00
Entrepreneurs 22:45
Chad Valley 23:30
Star Slinger 00:00
Walls 01:15

Stereo

Wake the President 17:15
Colourmusic 18:00
Laki Mera 18:45
Kid Canaveral 19:30
Rural Alberta Advantage 20:15
Allo Darlin’ 21:30

Nice N’ Sleazy

She’s Hit 18:00
Tall Ships 18:45
Thank You 19:30
Desalvo 20:20
Bo Ningen 21:15
Yuck 22:15

The Captains Rest

Zeus 14:45
Blue Sky Archives 15:45
Victorian English Gentlemans Club 16:45
French Wives 17:45
Our Mountain 18:45
Scottish Enlightenment 19:45
Mazes 20:45
Kurt Vile 21:45
Jack Townes 22:45

Who is Where at Stag and Dagger

Stag & Dagger takes place next Saturday - the 21st - in Glasgow.

Here is what bands are playing where, and I'll update it with what times when I know that myself.

ABC1:

Warpaint
Admiral Fallow
Clinic

ABC2 - Presented by Communion Glasgow:

James Yorkston

Withered Hand

Rachel Sermanni

Ed Sheeran

Michael Kiwanuka

Glasgow School of Art:

Sons & Daughters

Broken Records

Toro Y Moi

DELS

Ghostpoet

Numbers DJ's

The Vic Bar:

Walls

Star Slinger

Chad Valley

Three Trapped Tigers

Entrepreneurs

Veronica Falls

Happy Particles

Conquering Animal Sound

Laki Mera

Nice N Sleazy:

Yuck

Bo Ningen

Desalvo

Thank You

Tall Ships

She's Hit

Stereo:

Allo Darlin'

Rural Alberta Advantage

Kid Canaveral

Wake the President

Colourmusic

The Captains Rest:

Kurt Vile & the Violators

Jack Townes

Mazes

French Wives

The Scottish Enlightenment

Zeus

Blue Sky Archives

Victorian English Gentlemans Club

Our Mountain

Single Servings

Submissions are piling up again, so I'll attempt to batter through as many of the singles and demos as I can here. These will be quite short, but would most likely go without reviews if they weren't lumped together. More of these later, since it is 2am and that seems like a good time to stop writing.

Aspen Tide: From The Strong Came Forth/Quiver

Got quite a lot of time for Aspen Tide, even though they make music that I usual feel is aimed at people a good ten years or so younger than me. Happy to report that their new single is a good one then. From The Strong Came Forth mixes things up a bit, changing direction a few times as it goes, inspiring bouncing around one second, then slipping into something more gentle and restrained the next, with a good old bit of screaming to round things off. B-side Quiver is a bit poppier and more melodic, and hits the spot too. Aspen Tide are still a wee bit rough around the edges, but that's fine with me, there's a risk that with too much polish to the songs they'd lose their character.

The single is out now, available from iTunes.

Poor Things: Innocence/18

Hm, time for me to eat my words it would seem. My only previous experience of Poor Things was seeing them support French Wives a while back. I was so disinterested that I wandered off halfway through their set for a fag/pee/beer without feeling that I was missing anything good. This single though, well it isn't half bad. Not particularly revolutionary maybe, but well crafted, with good hooks and melodies and roughly a million times more engaging than I found them live. there's more than enough on show over two tracks to make me revisit the band, and look forward to catching them again soon. I'll be the guilty looking guy in the corner.

Innocence/18 is released by Red Hat Records on May 30th, with a launch gig at Bloc on May 26th.

Plastic Animals: Maybe Tomorrow/Test

These are a pair of free downloads on the band's Bandcamp page, an EP follows in July. Two tracks isn't enough to get too worked up about, but they are both rather promising ones. If the point of putting out a couple of freebies was to stir up a bit of interest in the upcoming EP it has worked on me at least. Maybe Tomorrow is very dreamy and hazy, with delicate wee bits of vocals and melody poking their heads out from behind a wall of sound just long enough to make themselves known. Test is even more dreamy, trotting along at a pace the average snail might consider leisurely, and is a wee bit lovely. Ones to keep an eye on, I reckon.

Salute Mary: Pacifying Hungry Ghosts/Rubella Rubatta

Promising until the fella starts singing, then it feels like Eddie Vedder has escaped the time stream and somehow found himself in an Edinburgh post-rock band. Please, someone set him free. Minus the vocals it might not be so bad, but with them I just want to never hear this again.

The single will be available as a free download from May 23rd.

PRIS: Soundcloud Stuff

I had no idea we were due a Shampoo revival. Surprisingly to some of you, I'm completely fine with it if we are. That is who PRIS immediately remind me of, along with a bit of the swagger and snarl of Kenickie, and they've got all the self awareness Powder and Pearl Lowe were lacking. So far none of this makes sense to many of you, to which I say - stop making me feel old. Normally when Londoners email me out of the blue it is to tell me about a gig I've no chance of making it to, and little interest in, but PRIS's shouty email didn't ask me to go to anything, and warranted further investigation, partly because it came with a picture. Probably not in the slightest bit cool for a 30 something Scottish indie snob to be listening to, but this is ridiculously fun and catchy. God help them when the NME chews them up and spits them out, but until then enjoy the band and know that the World is a little less boring and po faced with them in it.

Nothing out, but have a listen on Soundcloud.

News & Bits - May 10th

News time! Excited? Fine, be like that.

Actually did a gig guide this week, which you can find here, so we are back to the usual round up of new releases and whatever else I can find today. Golly, there are a lot of new releases too.

New Releases (Or: I clicked through 200 pages on eMusic so you don't have to)

Aspen Tide - From the Strong Came Forth (single). Available from iTunes.

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older (album). Should have a review of this some time this week, but the short version is that it is a tremendous album. My favourite thing Aidan has done since Arab Strap. Buy digital from iTunes, CD from Amazon, or straight from Chemikal Underground, where the vinyl version looks very tempting, even to me who doesn't have a record player. Also, download The Copper Top from the album for free here.

the douglas firs - Happy As A Windless Flag (album). Ace debut album by the douglas firs. Stream the whole thing on Bandcamp and buy it there too on CD or cassette. Download a free single, The Shadow Line, here. Details of this week's launch gig can be found, funnily enough, in this week's gig guide.

Edinburgh School For the Deaf - Orpheus Descending (single). Debut single from the quite ace ESFTD, available from Bubblegum Records.

The Girobabies - Countdown To Tinnitus (single). A taster of the upcoming Girobabies album, Bus Stop Apocalypse, available from Bandcamp.

I Build Collapsible Mountains - I Build Collapsible Mountains EP. IBCM go USA. Available from Bandcamp for $1. Get your Robocop quotes at the ready.

Jonnie Common - Photosynth (EP). Two tracks are available to download free from Bandcamp, the full 4 track EP will be available on CD soon from Jonnie Common's website.

Loon Choir - Bricks (single). Available on Bandcamp.

Night Noise Team - Slow Release. Oops, didn't realise this was out this week till I was looking, I need to review this soon too. Good album though, available from Bandcamp and iTunes.

North Atlantic Oscillation - Grappling Hooks (album). I don't much like it when a band reissues an album with extra tracks, but maybe you do. If so you can buy it from iTunes and Amazon.

Porch Song Anthology - The Late Mornings (EP). Very lovely this. Video for the title track here. Buy the EP from iTunes, hop over to the gig guide for details of the launch night on Thursday.

Something Beginning With L - Piano (EP). A splendid wee EP of acoustic versions of tracks from their upcoming album, available from Bandcamp.

Trapped In Kansas - I Was Born (single). Available from Bandcamp.

Viva Stereo - Endure the Dark to See the Stars (album). Yet another right good album out this week. You can buy this one from the De-Fence shop.

Where We Lay Our Heads - WWLOH (EP). Acoustic demo EP, available on Bandcamp, name your price.

News:

Song of Return will be launching their long awaited debut album with a gig at The Arches on the 4th of June. Tickets are a super cheap £4 and available here.

Also at The Arches on the same night Strawberry Ocean Sea launch their new double A side single, with support from Death By Misadventure and Tijuana Bibles. More details and ticket info here.

The list of Scottish bands showcasing at goNORTH this year has been revealed. You can find that here.

IndianredLopez, one of those showcase bands, release their debut album on June 6th. You can pre-order Empty Your Lungs and Breathe here.

The Second Hand Marching Band are another one of the showcase bands, so this seems like a good time to slip in a plug that they, along with Loch Awe, will be supporting The Last Battle at Stereo in July.

dems has remixed the new Miaoux Miaoux single Hey Sound. You can have a listen here. There's a launch gig for the single at Mono on May 24th. Support comes from The Japanese War Effort and Nevada Base, with some guy called Peenko DJing too.

The second release by Red Hat Records will be a double A side single by Poor Things. The single is out on May 30th, with a launch gig on May 26th at Bloc, with support from Cancel The Astronauts and Happy Vandals.

Advance warning of a very tasty gig next week, as the UWS Union in Paisley will be putting on a little something for the end of term. Announced already for the gig are Admiral Fallow, Aerials Up, Michael Cassidy, Kitty The Lion, Alan McKim, Johnny Barr, Carnivores and Marvel Heights with more TBA. The gig takes place at the union in Paisley on Thursday May 19th, £3 entry, and you don't have to be a student to go.

Miniature Dinosaurs are hosting their own 5-a-side tournament on the 28th of May at Stirling Albion's Doubletree Dunblane Stadium. Following the football some of the bands involved will be playing a gig on the pitch.

iglue has a selection of demo tracks up for free download on Bandcamp.

Shields Up have a load of stuff on Bandcamp too.

Wrongnote are heading off to that London on Wednesday to record an interview with Tom Robinson for 6music, which you should be able to hear in the early hours on Monday morning.

Positions Vacant:

Trapped Mice are in the market for a new violinist, so if you are one then get in touch with them.

The aforementioned Where We Lay Our Heads are seeking a new drummer, so bother them if you like to hit things with sticks.

goNORTH Showcase List Announced

I usually try to avoid just copy/pasting a press release, but I don't have much to add of my own right now, so here's the details.

goNORTH is delighted to announce the Scottish showcasing list for 2011. The event has grown over the last ten years to become Scotland’s premier showcase festival for emerging artists, and over 50 acts from around the world are set to showcase at this year’s event.

‘We are thrilled with this year’s Scottish showcasing list, said Festival DirectorShaun Arnold. The calibre of emerging artists in Scotland is particularly strong right now, a fact which was explicitly highlighted during this year’s submission window.’

This list is subject to change, more announcements coming soon:

Aerials Up
Always The Sixth
Be Like Pablo
Bwani Junction
Capitals
Charlie’s Ranch
Cities And Skylines
Crayons
French Wives
Finding Albert
Homework
I Build Collapsible Mountains
The Imagineers
Indian Red Lopez
Kid Canaveral
Kobi Onyame
LightGuides
Maple Leaves
Mitchell Museum
Pareto
Parma Violets
Panda Su
PAWS
Tango In The Attic
The Black Hand Gang
The Boomshank Redemption
The Boosts
The Frues
The LED
The Little Mill Of Happiness
The Leonard Jones Potential
The River 68’s
The Scottish Enlightenment
The Second Hand Marching Band
The Whisky River Band
Trapped In Kansas
Vukovi

This Week's Gigs: 9th - 15th May

Not done a proper gig guide for the past few weeks, still not doing a proper one this week really.

This is all a bit thrown together, so I've likely missed a lot.

Monday:

And So I Watch You From Afar, Mojo Fury, Trapped In Kansas, United Fruit. Oran Mor.

Doors are at 6:30, United Fruit on at 6:45. Ridiculously early if you ask me.

Tuesday:

The Fresh & Onlys, Milk Maid, Male Pattern Band. Nice N Sleazy.

Francois & the Atlas Mountains, This is the Kit, Babe. Bristo Hall, Edinburgh.

Wednesday:

Galleries, We See Lights, Letters. Captain's Rest.

Juliebee Showcase Launch. The Curlers Rest.

Not a gig, but it gets a plug anyway. This is a launch night for a photo exhibit upstairs in The Curlers Rest. If you don't make the launch then pop in, grab a pint, and check out the photos at some point anyway.

Thursday:

The Porch Song Anthology, The Changing Horses, The Miss's. Bloc. Free entry.

Launch gig for The Late Mornings, the new EP from The Porch Song Anthology. Having missed out on seeing The Porch Song Anthology up till now I'm really quite looking forward to this gig. There's a video for the EP's title track here.

MakeThisRelate, Aspen Tide, The Corleones, Page 44. ABC2.

Pinky Suavo, Vasquez, Aviation For Kids. The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Friday:

Johnny Reb, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, The Amazing Snakeheads. Nice N Sleazy.

Another gig I'm looking forward to, since I've not yet managed to see Johnny Reb or Edinburgh School for the Deaf yet.

The Douglas Firs, Le Reno Amps, The Scottish Enlightenment, Iliop. Old St Paul's Church, Edinburgh.

Launch night for the Douglas Firs album, Happy as a Windless Flag. The album is very good, as is the line up for this gig.

Saturday:

The Twee Jamboree: We See Lights, Kathryn Edwards, Very Well, RM Hubbert. Pilrig St Pauls, Edinburgh. 2-5:30pm.

We See Lights launch their new EP, Twee Love Pop, with music, games, and a craft fair. As you do.

The Ideal Crash, Dear Mountaineer. Nice N Sleazy.

For Abel. Stereo.

Album launch gig. No idea who the supports are.

Cry Parrot 4th Birthday. SWG3.

Cry Parrot is 4, happy birthday! Full details here.

Hairy Area. Stereo. 11pm (Tickets)

Hairy Area are a bit of a supergroup, containing 3 members of We Were Promised Jetpacks, along with members of Endor, Lady North and Sebastian Dangerfield, with pseudonyms and a search engine unfriendly name. This is their first gig. You can learn a bit more about them by visiting our pal The Pop Cop.

Sunday:

Hazy Recollection 8. Stereo. 2-5pm

Featuring Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers launching their debut album, an acoustic set from Endor, James MacKenzie and the Aquascene, The Hidden Lane Choir and Little Fire.

Kettle of Kites, Jo Mango. Stereo.

Supermarionation. Red Dog Music, Edinburgh.

Wee afternoon instore gig, kicks off around 3pm.

The Black Heart Procession, Adam Stafford, Ryan Bisland, The Dead Man's Waltz. The Arches.

What We're Up To

You might not think it from the irregularity of blog posts, but I've been working away setting up a few things, which mean I'll be a busy little bee over the coming months. Here's a little round up of upcoming Aye Tunes plans.

First up I'll be DJing the penultimate Barmellodie night at Bloc on May 20th. Don't let that put you off though, and instead come along to see Kill the Captains, Vendor Defender, Pensioner and Popcorn Fiend, who are all very fine bands indeed.

The week after that, Friday May 27th, I'll be DJing again for Pin Up Nights as part of their second Bloggers Delight night at The Flying Duck. As well as the usual Pin Ups DJs I'll be joined by Peenko, The Pop Cop, and members of Radar and Glasgow Podcart. Is now a good time to mention that I'm not actually any good at DJing? Randomly playing some records would be a better description.
We've picked the bands for the night too. The Aye Tunes selection is Mondegreen, while Radar have chosen Tokamak and The Pop Cop has picked Endor. Sadly Peenko's choice, Michael Cassidy, is no longer playing.

June, so far, is quiet. The final Barmellodie gig takes place on June 17th with Cuddly Shark, Galoshins, Something Beginning With L and Lady North playing, and Peenko on guest DJ duties. My birthday is June 18th, so I'll be at that, and I'll be very drunk.

July 1st sees the second Aye Tunes Presents gig take place after a longer gap than I'd intended since the first one. I'm chuffed to bits with the line-up for this, as The Last Battle will be launching their new EP, with support from the second hand marching band and - playing their first gig in Glasgow - Loch Awe. The gig is at Stereo, and I'll be mentioning it plenty over between now and then.

Just over a year since the first one, and six months since the last one, I'm happy to say that in August, something is coming back. Details are a closely guarded secret for now, but all will be revealed in good time.