News & Bits - July 4th

Happy Birthday America! Before I batter on with the news a big thank you to everyone who came along to Stereo on Friday for the Aye Tunes gig. Extra special thanks to The Last Battle, The Second Hand Marching Band and Loch Awe who were all excellent.

You've got a bit of a break from me harassing you about my own gigs for a little while now as I retreat to plan things for the autumn. Coming up in August though is, of course, the return of Aye Tunes Vs Peenko at Stereo on August 20th. Plenty of time to remind you about that though.

New releases:

Ed Muirhead - Cage for the Clouds. Available from Tattie Records, Bandcamp, iTunes.

The Japanese War Effort - Surrender to Summer EP. Available on very pretty 10" vinyl from Song, by Toad. Also available to download from Amazon and iTunes.

Le Reno Amps - Construction. First available as a bonus with early copies of recent, and excellent, album Appetite, Construction now gets a stand alone digital release. Available from Bandcamp.

Letters - Flash! Lights. New single available free from the website. Good too.

Lou Hickey - Minutes, hours, days EP. Available from iTunes and Amazon.

Mickey 9s - A Thing To Try and Dance To. Available from iTunes.

Mitchell Museum - What They Built. I picked up my copy at the launch gig on Saturday, on the not at all unusual format of miniature keyboard. the single is also available in the more standard digital format from iTunes and Amazon. A few keyboards are left, keep an eye on the Mitchell Museum website if you want to snag one.

Spaghetti Anywhere - Doolally. This slipped my mind last week. With the current sunny weather it seems fitting that Spaghetti Anywhere have something new to offer us. The 3 track Doolally EP is available free from Bandcamp.

Sucioperro - Land/Slide. Available from Bandcamp.

What's On?

I skipped the gig guide this week not because I'm lazy (although as you know by know, I most certainly am) but because there isn't an awful lot on. There's still a couple of gigs worth checking out though. Such as...

Sicknote, The Girobabies, Ghosts of Progress & more at Pivo Pivo on Wednesday. This is a warm up gig for the Free in the Park event taking place at a so far secret location at the weekend.

Lydia Lunch at Stereo on Thursday. Influential, individual and uncompromising, Lydia Lunch sweeps into Glasgow on Thursday for a one off performance,. Tickets are available here.

Plastic Animals, Trapped Mice and Yusuf Azak at The Wee Red Bar on Friday. Launch gig for Plastic Animals' debut EP, A Dark Spring. The EP is out now, available from Bandcamp, and very good. I'll try and elaborate on that a bit later this week.

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How Garbo Died, Tangles, Uzuruzu and Peter Cat at Stereo on Saturday. Launch gig for How Garbo Died's first "proper" EP, Muted Response. We like these guys, so will be heading down on Saturday to catch them and pick up a copy of the EP. I've not yet managed to see Tangles either, and this is the first outing for Uzuruzu - a new project featuring Guanoman, Noma and members of The Cosmic Dead and Ug! - which all adds up to a pretty decent night, and a nice change from jangly guitars.

How Garbo Died will be doing it all again on Sunday through in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete's, with Simon Herron and The Spook School joining Peter Cat in support. Entry for both gigs is a mere £3, which also gets you a copy of the Muted Response EP.

Spend, Spend, Spend:

Gizeh Records are celebrating the launch of their new online store by offering 20% off everything for one week only. If you haven't yet bought Conquering Animal Sound's Kammerspiel album, or the more recent remix album, now is your chance to save a few quid on doing so. The Gizeh shop is here.

Bits:

The Martial Arts have stuck their back catalogue on Bandcamp, all of it either free or available for you to name your price.

The Phantom Band have been playing with Bandcamp too. Go here to have a listen to both their albums, a couple of singles and some other stuff. Some free downloads are available too.

On The Telly:

Scotland Rocks at SXSW is on BBC Two at 9pm on Tuesday night. Filmed at SXSW, oddly enough, this summer, the show has Vic Galloway join the Scottish bands taking part to document their trip. I look forward to pointing out folk I know to my Mum and acting like being an unpopular Scottish music blogger isn't me wasting my life. I feel a little sorry for the band who dream of visiting Inverness though. Here's a trailer:

Tonight, Tonight

With just a few hours to go until we throw the doors open on the next Aye Tunes Presents gig, it is time for one last quick reminder, and some begging to get you to come along.

Tonight in Stereo in Glasgow we've got The Last Battle, The Second Hand Marching Band and Loch Awe.

The Last Battle are launching their new release, The Springwell EP. With the EP they've moved off the nautical theme behind their debut album Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea, without moving away from any of the charm that record had. The Springwell EP also shows off that The Last Battle aren't afraid to get a bit noisier than you might expect.

Ward 119 by thelastbattlemusic

The Second Hand Marching Band are as well known for their large number of members as they are their songs, but focusing just of the novelty of watching them cram everyone on stage would be a mistake. Without good songs the gimmick would be useless, and these folk have good songs by the barrowload.

Loch Awe are making their full band Glasgow debut tonight, so come along early and make them feel welcome. They've been around less than a year and debut release Artificial Life from a Digital Sea was written, recorded and released in around a month, so they aren't a band that hang around.

The gig is at Stereo on Renfield Lane. Doors are at 7pm. Entry is £5. Do come along!

News & Bits - June 27th

Yay news and stuff! Onwards.

New Releases:

Departures - When Losing Everything Is Everything You Wanted. Available from Bandcamp.

Doctors & Dealers - Every Sinner Has a Future. Buy from Amazon, iTunes.

Something Beginning With L - Beautiful Ground. Buy from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon (CD/download).

This is the least Scottish the new releases section has ever been.

Check Your Head:

Deserving of a bit more of a mention than just being shoved into the new releases section, The Fruit Tree Foundation's First Edition was initially released in a limited edition last October this album has now been reissued by Chemikal Underground. First Edition is the result of a songwriting workshop involving James Graham (Twilight Sad), Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit), Rod Jones (Idlewild), Jill O’Sullivan (Sparrow and the Workshop), Emma Pollock, Karine Polwart, Jenny Reeve, Alasdair Roberts and James Yorkston, wil the album also featuring a host of other musicians pitching in. The flippant title I've given this bit relates to the album's origins as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. 50% of profits made from the album go to the Mental Health Foundation. CDs and downloads (with bonus videos!) can be bought from the Chemikal shop, with the album also available on Amazon and iTunes.

Obligatory Self Promotion:

Aye Tunes Presents: The Last Battle, The Second Hand Marching Band and Loch Awe. This Friday at Stereo. £4 advance, £5 on the door. Come along, it won't be rubbish.

Bits:

PET have made their debut single What You Building available as a name your price download on Bandcamp. They play a launch gig on Friday at Superclub in Edinburgh.

The latest release on the Phuturelabs label comes from Rivers of Slime. Also known as Kev Sim from FOUND, this is the first Rivers of Slime release. Volume One is available for free from Bandcamp, with remixes from S-Type, Paranoise and Scatabrainz.

FOUND's record for "most unusual release format" - their chocolate 7" - is under threat. Mitchell Museum release new single What They Built on July 4th in the normal digital style, but also via limited edition 16 note keyboard. Yes, keyboard. In their words "This is a small playable keyboard that comes with a hidden code in side that grants you access to an exclusive download of the song and an extra b-side bonus. To get the code you simply take the keyboard out of the packaging and smash it to pieces. Our love of destruction and crappy keyboards has finally been meshed into our music life and we couldn’t be happier." There's a launch gig for What The Built on Saturday at Stereo.

Negotiations. has a new album imminent, a collaboration with LA MORENA. In the meantime there's a host of songs recorded between 2008 and 2010 available for free download here.

Guns of Parlophone have a load of free stuff on Bandcamp, including new mini album Gold Cobra.

The line up has been announced for the BBC Introducing stage at T in the Park. Amongst those included are Kid Canaveral, Bronto Skylift, Wrongnote and GoGoBot. The full list can be found here.

On a T in the Park note, The Pop Cop wants that chant to stop. I heartily agree.

This Week's Gigs: 27th June - 3rd July

The gig guide this week it a bit haphazard, so chances are I've missed a few things.
As always, the best way to let me know about gigs is to sling a wee email with the details to gigs@ayetunes.org.uk

Monday:

Woodpigeon, eagleowl, Rob St John. Pilrig St Paul's.

Tuesday:

This Will Destroy You, The Lava Experiments, What the Blood Revealed. Ivory Blacks.

Wednesday:

Boycotts, Whigs and Rakes. Bloc.

Thursday:

The Last Battle, King Creosote, Loch Awe. The Wee Red Bar.

Darren Hayman, Gordon McIntyre (ballboy), Withered Hand (solo). Pilrig St Paul's. (Tickets)

Sneak: Mondegreen, Vasquez, Bloodlunch. Pivo Pivo

Kochka, Discopolis, The Toi, The Meatmen. Bloc.

Edinburgh School For The Deaf, Hookers For Jesus, The Shithawks, Man Without Machines. Dexter's, Dundee. (Tickets)

Friday:

The Last Battle, The Second Hand Marching Band, Loch Awe. Stereo. (Tickets)

Put on by me, so somewhat obviously I recommend going.

Verse Metrics, RM Hubbert, I Build Collapsible Mountains. Sneaky Pete's.

PET, Rhododendron. SUPERCLUB, Edinburgh.

Saturday:

The Second Hand Marching Band, RM Hubbert, The Last Battle. Cafe Drummond, Aberdeen.

Edinburgh School For The Deaf, The Spook School. Henry's Cellar Bar.

Steve Heron, Sebastian Dangerfield, The Gold Lions, Ded Rabbit. Sneaky Pete's.

Mitchell Museum, Fur Hood, Andrea Marini. Stereo.

Sunday:

Lou Hickey, Jonathan Carr, Scott Beaton. O2 ABC2. (Tickets)

The Big BBQ Show - Running Order

I only managed to fit in a quick mention of this in the gig guide this week, but now that the running order has been announced I should give it a bit of a better plug.

Taking place at the Oran Mor on Sunday as part of the West End Festival, the Big BBQ Show has been put together by the good folks at KMR Promotions. Along with a day full of music, there will be a (oddly enough) barbecue, a pig on a spit and lots more.

Everything kicks off around 1pm, with the line-up from then looking like this (subject to change):

1.15pm – 1.45pm - Gorman
2.00pm – 2.30pm – Kill Surrrf
2.45pm – 3.15pm – Male Pattern Band
3.30pm – 4.00pm – Ryan Bisland
4.15pm – 4.45pm - Galleries
5.15pm – 5.45pm – Washington Irving
6.15pm – 6.45pm - PAWS
7.15pm – 8.00pm – Wet Paint
8.30pm – 9.15pm - Galadrop
Curfew: 10.00pm

Tickets are £10 and available here.

News & Bits - June 20th

Not a massive amount to report this week, but I've started quite enjoying the news posts, so you are getting one anyway.

New Releases:

Conquering Animal Sound - Tracer. New single, backed with remixes from dems, Alex Tobin, FOUND and Voltage Black. Available from iTunes. Better off buying it from Bandcamp though, where you can name your price (minimum of £1).

Edinburgh School For The Deaf - New Youth Bible. Technically this came out last week, but it wasn't available anywhere yet when I did the release list then. Album available from Bubblegum Records.

Coming Up:

Less than two weeks to go till The Last Battle's EP launch gigs. The first one takes place at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh, with support from King Creosote who has a very special top secret backing band for the evening - they quite like Toto - and Loch Awe. There aren't many tickets left, try Avalanche Records on the Grassmarket if you want one.

The following night is the Glasgow gig, which you might well have noticed me mention before. It takes place in Stereo on July 1st. This is also the next Aye Tunes Presents gig, so get used to me mentioning it, I'll be doing it a lot.

Loch Awe will once again be joining The Last Battle for their first full band Glasgow gig. The Second Hand Marching Band will also be playing in Glasgow, all of which makes me happy. Tickets are available here. There should be some on the door too, though they'll cost you an extra quid.

The mini tour finishes up on July 2nd where The Last Battle and The Second Hand Marching Band will be joined by the wonderful RM Hubbert at Cafe Drummond in Aberdeen. Tickets are available here.

The Springwell EP is available to pre-order from Bandcamp now. It is rather good, which is fortunate. If it had been rubbish I'd have a couple of awkward weeks ahead of me.

Bad News/Good News:

It is with a wee sad face that we pass on the news that Macabre Scene have split up. Drummer Ewan Denny has quickly been scooped up to join Campfires In Winter full time, having previously been on loan. Campfires in Winter also have some new demos available for free from their Bandcamp page.

Stuff:

Colonics, who we were talking about just the other week, have a new release. You can get 1.5 here for however much you want to pay for it.

The Japanese War Effort, also known as the taller half of Conquering Animal Sound, has stuck a couple of new tracks up on Bandcamp for free download. You can find them here. You can also here the upcoming Surrender To Summer EP here, and order a copy of the 10" from Song, by Toad Records.

New Town Triptych have a new single. Climb/Don't Want To Hear It is available here.

Lou Hickey has a new EP imminent, and is celebrating with a launch gig. The EP - Minutes, hours, days... - gets a digital release on July 4th, with the launch gig taking place on the 3rd at the O2 ABC2. Tickets for the gig are available here. You can watch the video for the EP's title track here.

The Next Train Arriving At Platform 5:

In the gig guide yesterday I mentioned that Platform in Easterhouse is celebrating its 5th birthday. In addition to the events on Tuesday they've got a few rather fine looking gigs lined up next week. Mulatu Astatke plays on 30th June, with the performance at Platform being his only Scottish show.
Roman three piece Zu have recorded and collaborated with Mike Patton, Steve Albini, Mats Gustafsson, The Melvins and lots of others. they play at Platform on 1st July.

Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells made one of the best albums of the year so far in Everything's Getting Older, and this is their first Scottish show since the album was released. The gig is on July 2nd, with support from The Bill Wells Trio featuring Gail Brand.

Find out more about Platform at the website.

The Big Man:

Absolutely nothing to do with Scottish music, unsigned music, or anything the blog really focuses on, but as a fan, we're pretty gutted about the death of Clarence Clemons.

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

Did you miss the gig guide? Well it is back this week anyway.

A quick thanks to everyone who came along to the birthday bash on Friday night, and extra special thanks to the three brilliant bands who did me a huge favour. Stress, fun and beer were all had in large doses. Less than two weeks until the next Aye Tunes gig now, so I'll still be annoying you with self promotion.

Monday:

Eras, Bear Arms, Aspen Tide, Obvious Outcome. Captain's Rest.

Tuesday:

If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now, Miss the Occupier, The Fnords. Captain's Rest.

Platform's 5 Year Celebration. Platform, Easterhouse.

Platform are having a wee party to celebrate their 5th year. It all kicks off at 4:30pm and features 5 minute theater performances, Gerry Love DJing, a set from Sparrow and the Workshop and more. Entry is by guest list only, to find out more about the event and how to get on the list visit here.

Aerials Up. The Liquid Ship.

Wednesday:

MILK: Cheesecake, John Knox Sex Club. Flat 0/1.

Need more calcium in your diet? This is for you then. Might want to be careful if you are lactose intolerant though. I can't find anything to link to for Cheesecake, but I can tell you that they are made up of members of Frightened Rabbit, Union of Knives and Galchen.

Laki Mera, Miaoux Miaoux, Kill the Waves. Captain's Rest. (Tickets)

Ballboy, My Tiny Robots. The Wee Red Bar. (Tickets)

Thursday:

Dave Arcari, Shambles Miller, Jim Byrne. Captain's Rest.

Kraul, Clock, Run From Red, Turbyne. Oran Mor. (Tickets)

Slow Motion Replay. Bloc.

Friday:

Mix_Up_Mayhem #2: So Many Animal Calls, Kill the Waves, The Dirty Beggars, All the Queen's Bovine (DJ). Bloc.

Wake the President, Casual Sex, Post. Captain's Rest. (Tickets)

Where's the links? Well, you try googling Casual Sex or Post and see how far you get (Edit: thanks ecstaticstatic for finding Post). Wonder how many disappointed people will find this gig guide in future?

Tellison, Sketches, Debutant, Esperi. Sneaky Pete's.

Male Pattern Band, Sick Kids, Moscow Olympics, Aeroplanes Under the Sea. 13th Note.

Slow Motion Replay, Black International, Bandit The Panther. The Store.

Slow Motion Replay launch their new single, Red Morning. £5 entry fee gets you a free CD.

Saturday:

Strike the Colours, Sparrow and the Workshop, Craig B (The Unwinding Hours). Nice N Sleazy.

A little fundraiser gig to help Strike the Colours record a new album.

Tellison, Sketches, Pareto, JJ Bull. Captain's Rest. (Tickets)

Mark Morriss, The Girobabies, The Calibre, Colour Cells, The Speeches. Pivo Pivo.

Bad McNulty, Sugar Crisis. Bloc. Free before Midnight, £2 after.

Sunday:

The Big BBQ Show. Oran Mor. (Tickets)

Runniong from 1pm, this has a whole lot to offer. Playing are: Banjo or Freakout, Vessels, Wet Paint, Gala Drop, PAWS, Washington Irving, Top Dollar, Male Pattern Band, Ryan Bisland + more, plaus there will be a BBQ, pig on a spit, a mariachi band and margaritas galore.

Joan of Arc, Hot Club de Paris, The Whisky Works. Nice N Sleazy.

The Little Kicks, Alan McKim, Juan Pablo. Brel.

One Last Plug

You are almost certainly sick to death of me talking about the birthday gig, but after this you can rest easy, as the gig is tonight.

So yes. The Flying Duck. Tonight. Doors for the gig are at 8, but the pub is open before that, and I'll be running about like a headless chicken.

£3 to get in. That's cheaper than most gigs.

Running order should be roughly something like this:

The Big Nowhere: 8:30-9:05
Verse Metrics: 9:20- 9:55
Black International: 10:10-10:45

After that you can do what you wish. Like go to Bloc for the final Barmellodie gig?

News & Bits - June 13th

Monday! Monday! Gotta get down on Mon... Oh, never mind.

News, stuff, etc. Slow week this week, so don't brace yourself for too much excitement.

New Releases:

Dananananaykroyd - There Is a Way. Available in a baffling assortment of editions. Extra fancy version from the band's shop, regular CD from Amazon, and downloadtoo, 2 disc version from HMV, and download from iTunes.

King Post Kitsch - The Party's Over. Excellent debut album from King Post Kitsch. If anyone would like to get me one for my birthday that would be quite nice. Buy a CD from Song, by Toad, or download from iTunes.

Sons & Daughters - Mirror Mirror. Download from iTunes.

Are You Bored Of This Yet?

Rejoice, this is the last Monday newsround that I'll be plugging the Birthday Bash during.

Briefly - Friday, The Flying Duck, 8pm, £3. More here. Come along, say hello, tell me how much you hate the blog.

Also This Week:

Once again I didn't write a gig guide. Facebook was messing about with the events yesterday, so I gave up. Some quick live highlights then?

Lovers Turn To Monsters launch new album Beyond Glasgow Howls with a gig at Slouch on Thursday, with support from Where We Lay Our Heads and an acoustic turn from So Many Animal Calls. You can pre-order the album here.

Olympic Swimmers take a break from album recording to play at The Captain's Rest on Friday, with support from Rick Redbeard and Tesla Birds. I like Olympic Swimmers, so they can have a plug, even though they are my competition.

Friday also sees the final Barmellodie gig at Bloc, with Cuddly Shark, Galoshins, Something Beginning With L and Lady North. First band is on around 11, so you can come to my gig at The Flying Duck first...

Edinburgh School For the Deaf launch debut album New Youth Bible at Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh on Friday, with Young Spooks and Hot Rods providing support. More on that album once I get a copy, I suspect.

Stuff:

The Plimptons are selling their '00s Nostalgia With The Plimptons album really cheap this week. A mere £2.50 will get you a digital copy or CD here. It is so good you'll forget how to count.

How To Swim have a pair of new free tracks on offer - She Gets Around and Corpsing.

Member of the Wedding have a free download here.

DanDanDan have a new EP available, pay what you want for it here.

Wounded Knee is giving away a download of his cover of The Pogues song A Pair of Brown Eyes here.

Rounding off the free stuff are Napoleon In Rags, who have a couple on Bandcamp.

Birthday Guests: The Big Nowhere

If you have somehow managed to not hear about it yet, the Aye Tunes Birthday Bash takes place on Friday at The Flying Duck. All the details can be found here.

I've already done little introductions to two of the bands playing, you can read up on some facts about Black International here, and learn more about Verse Metrics - and get a sneak preview of their new single - here. That means it is time to round things off by telling you a bit about the third band playing the gig, The Big Nowhere.

The Big Nowhere have given me permission to make up some facts about them. I'll try to resist. I still enjoy bullet points, so here goes:

• The Big Nowhere are at various times Simon, Billy, Joe, Arvid, DP, Helen, John, Sandie and Malcolm.
• Fitting them on The Flying Duck's stage could be a challenge.
• One of them is a dragon.
• Simon wins the prize for "person I've known longest off the internet" I think. We used to talk to each other on Usenet, and I went to see his old band Brown Eye Superfly at the Barfly in Glasgow.
• Brown Eye Superfly and Barfly don't exist anymore, and no one still uses newsgroups except to download stuff. I now feel old.
• Debut album Pull Down The Moon was almost entirely recorded in Simon's living room. The album was released in 2009, and is available from all good download shops, like iTunes and Amazon.
• You can also have a listen to Pull Down The Moon on Spotify, or here.
• I've been promising to review that album for ages, but still haven't done it. It is good though. Bluesbunny gave it four carrots.
• On a bunny related note, they were promised a spot on a gig I was putting on after this picture. Well, that and me liking their music.
• A second album is set for release later this year. I'll review that one. Eventually.
• Musically there is a bit of rock, folk, country (regular and the alt. type) and Americana going on.
• This is by far the least helpful intro piece I've ever written.

You'd probably be better off not paying attention to me and just having a listen to them instead.

Things We Lost In The Flood by The Big Nowhere

The Big Nowhere: Website - Facebook

Aye Tunes Birthday Bash: Facebook

Birthday Guests: Verse Metrics

Another day, another bout of gig pimping. A week today at The Flying Duck (that's June 17th if you aren't reading this on the day it was posted) I'm having a wee birthday bash. I've already introduced Black International, so today it is the turn of Verse Metrics, with The Big Nowhere to follow over the weekend.

I can't steal facts from Twitter this time round, but I do like bullet points, so here is some thing about Verse Metrics in a list type fashion.

• There are four of them, Bob, Al, Dave and Martin.
• If Martin had one less letter in his name there'd be a nice escalation thing going on there. He doesn't though.
• Verse Metrics received an honourable mention from Nick Mitchell in last year's Scotsman Radar Prize.
• Vic Galloway made them one of his tips for 2011, and they've picked up radio play from the likes of Tom Robinson and Jim Gellatly.
• Although they fit into the stuffed alternative indie shelf, they do it (a) better than many and (b) with their own take on things, so they don't sound like a cookie cutter band.
• Last year's debut EP VM1 was right good, and sounded like a band who had been together for far longer than a year.
• You can snag a free download of Horoscopes from the EP here.
• Bassist Dave does accidental sex faces during gigs. [Source: Peenko]
• Verse Metrics have threatened a stage routine involving cock fencing [also: Peenko] but as people still book them for gigs this probably doesn't happen.

In a wee Aye Tunes exclusive (I think) I've got one half on the band's new double A-side single, Modern Sleep, to share with you. You can have a listen below, and the single is out on July 19th.

Stream: Verse Metrics - Modern Sleep

Verse Metrics also play King Tut's on the same day the single is released alongside FOUND, Cancel The Astronauts and Bermuda. You can buy tickets for the gig here, or from the Verse Metrics shop. Debut EP VM1 is also available from the shop, or digitally from Bandcamp and iTunes.

Verse Metrics: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp - Shop

Aye Tunes Birthday Bash: Facebook - Tickets

Birthday Guests: Black International

Nope, still not shutting up about the Aye Tunes birthday gig next week.

Time to tell you a wee bit about the bands involved, I think. First up, Black International. I could yammer on about how much I enjoyed the times I've caught them live, or how good debut album In Debt is, but since I invited them to play the birthday gig it should be pretty obvious I like the band, so I'll spare you the hard sell, but buy an album here.

I already interviewed the band last November, so you can read that here. Stewart from the band also gave us a track by track rundown on In Debt here. Instead of retreading what is in those two pieces, I'm shamelessly lifting some facts about the band as posted on their Twitter account. Well, they did say they were cut out and keep, which I'm choosing to reinterpret as copy/paste and steal.

Without further ado then, some Black Facts about Stewart, Gavin and Craig:

• Stewart once woke up on a golf course at 6am wearing a cricket jersey that didn't belong to him.
• Craig used to own a replica Lion-O sword (from Thundercats) but it was destroyed in a fire.
• Gavin once went into a Japanese restaurant to ask if they had any free sushi. Tight bastard.
• Stewart own a complete set of Postcard records.
• Bassist Gavin has 4 or 5 tattoos.
• Drummer Craig can't grow a handlebar moustache to save himself.
• As a youngster, Stewart knew a kid who could vomit on command.
• Bassist Gavin is from the isle of Barra, where they don't even have a cinema!
• Drummer Craig once had a letter published in the Nintendo fan club magazine. They misspelt his surname as Beebles.

Black International: Website - Bandcamp - Facebook

Aye Tunes Birthday Bash: Facebook - Tickets

News & Bits - June 6th

Time for the weekly news round up, always an exciting time I'm sure you'll agree.

New Releases:

A Band Called Quinn - Wolf Cries Boy (single). Buy from iTunes. There's a free launch gig at The Buff Club on Tuesday, and a video here.

Dananananaykroyd - Muscle Memory (single). Buy from Amazon, iTunes.

FOUND - Anti Climb Paint (Single). Buy from Amazon, iTunes. Read more about the single here.

GoGoBot - Do You Remember? (single). Buy from Amazon, iTunes.

Roddy Hart & Gemma Hayes - The Dylan EP. Buy from Amazon, iTunes.

Hector Bizerk - Hector Bizerk EP. Buy from iTunes.

If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now - A Room Dim At Noon (album). Buy from iTunes. If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now play alongside Black Jash at Nice N Sleazy on Sunday, with an early kick off time of 1:30pm. There will be cassettes apparently.

IndianRedLopez - Empty Your Lungs and Breathe (album. Buy from Bandcamp.

Pose Victorious - Beneath the Lighthouse (EP). Buy from iTunes.

Scarlet Shift - Give Up the Ghost (EP). Buy from Bandcamp.

Song Of Return - Limits (album). Buy from Bandcamp.

On This Week:

No gig guide this week, so Favourite Son gets a one time plug for his here.

Between goNorth, Rockness, The West End Festival, The Leith Festival and Doune the Rabbit Hole on top of the usual selection of gigs there is plenty to keep you occupied this week, wherever you are.

There's also the second MILK gig at Flat 0/1 on Wednesday, with Otherpeople and Bwani Junction.

I'm mostly staying at home and saving money, since the Aye Tunes bills need to be paid this week. Donations welcome.

We Have a Winner:

Congratulations to Susie McNinch who won the Ladytron tickets competition. Thanks to everyone else who entered, there were loads of you.

(Almost) Party Time:

I'll shut up about the birthday gig soon - and immediately start annoying you with chat about another gig - but not quite yet. I mentioned last week there are a few free tickets on the go, but the list is now almost full, so if you want a freebie let me know quickly.

Battling:

That other gig I'll be pestering you about is The Last Battle's EP launch, more specifically the Glasgow leg of the launch tour. The launch takes place in Stereo on July 1st, with support from The Second Hand Marching Band and Loch Awe. Tickets are available in advance for £4 here.
The Springwell EP has five tracks and will be released fully on July 18th, with advance copies available at the launch gigs.

Bits:

Adam Stafford's new album Build a Harbour Immediately is available for pre-order now from Insularis Records. The album launch is at Stereo on August 20th, since me and Peenko decided we liked the album enough to badger Adam into letting is put together another AVP gig to celebrate the release. Holler for tickets.

The Party's Over, the debut album from King Post Kitsch, comes out next Monday. Ahead of the release you can grab a free download of Walking On Eggshells from the album here.

The Pineapple Chunks have made a new song available for free to tease their upcoming album. Look Back In Horror can be downloaded here, while the album A Dog Walked In follows in August.

Honey have made their debut EP available for free here.

Captain and the Kings round off the freebie selection with Restless, which you can grab here.

Wandering Off...

(I don't know where this is)

Not everything I listen to comes from Scotland. I'm not that insular, believe it or not. It is rather the point of the blog to focus on the Scottish stuff, but today we are going off on a wee wander to talk briefly about some stuff that comes from elsewhere that I've been enjoying recently.

Monster Island

Quite messy sounding, occasionally shouty, Mancunians, meaning by law I have to reference The Fall. I've never really liked The Fall that much though, so we'll move on quickly. I do like Monster Island though. Most recent release The Green Room EP is as lo-fi as Hell, thumping drums, guitars alternating between jangling and buzzsaw, and vocals that are spoken or shouted than sang. Albums Sunken, Public, Squares and The Anchor have a bit more variety in the songs and are probably better starting points than The Green Door. Loads of fun if you like things chaotic and noisy. I do.

You can get quite a lot of Monster Island from their Bandcamp page for free.

Baaneex

London based, and a bit strange. Weird Dance 2 from their debut EP Weird Dance is essentially garage rock, but draped in as many odd noises as seemingly possible to come out with a less than straightforward result. Other songs on their Soundcloud page go through as many styles as Baaneex could think of, it seems. Picnic Swan is quite gorgeous, a bit post-rock, a bit shoegaze and just really good, while Sandwich Song is shouty fun and Coool Count is just gloriously daft. I've still not quite decided what to make of this lot, but what I've heard has certainly left me interested, and entertained.

Debut EP Weird Dance is available from Odd Box Records.

Colonics

Colonics are a three piece hailing from Brighton, with a fine line in instrumental post-rock, with a bit of shoegaze slung in for good measure. Debut album 1.0 is available as a name your price download from Bandcamp, and well worth a listen. The songs are mainly short and sharp, lots of noise, with good hooks and melodies mixed in, with Hessian 2.4 a particularly ferocious example. In between there are a couple of ten minute plus epics that play around with being a bit more experimental, building up sounds as they go, with the odd dash of weirdness added on top. For me the first long song Learning To Speak Microbe does this better than the second, Peresphone. Learning To Speak Microbe feels like it builds a bit more organically and sounds more interesting, while Peresphone wouldn't have suffered from being half as long, more in line with the other punchier tracks on the album. Final track Meateor is presented as a live version and shows promise, though I'm not sure the live recording does it much favours. I'd like to hear it properly recorded, so it has done it's job in getting me interested at least. Plenty good things going on on 1.0, and worth a listen if you like things loud.

Rumour Cubes

Londoners, and a bit more in the instrumental post-rock style. Debut EP We Have Sound Houses Also is a bit more restrained and less messy than the other bands mentioned here so far, with the three tracks within having a more lush, cinematic feel. Opener The University Is A Factory sets the tone nicely, with strings adding flavour as the song goes for a slow build before exploding into a burst of noise, then fading away to nothing just as gradually. Exactly the kind of thing that I like, really. The rest of the EP follows a similar formula, but with plenty variety in the execution. So much so that three songs really doesn't feel like enough by the end, but being left wanting more is hardly a complaint, is it? Really quite glorious in places, and deserving of a listen.

We Have Sound Houses Also is available as a free download from Bandcamp.

Tiny Birds

Debut album Hymns For the Careless was recommended on Twitter a while back by DC of The Waiting Room, and by the swell A Sweet Unrest blog, which was more than enough to get me to listen. I gave the album a wee mention then, but since I'm venturing out of Scotland for this post it is worth bringing the band and album up again. Tiny Birds are a London five piece and on a quick listen Hymns For the Careless is a collection of short and sweet, bright and breezy folk-pop songs. A better listen reveals that the sweet jaunty pop tunes are allied with less than cheery lyrics. Folk tinged happy pop songs with sad lyrics is a wee bit of a lazy round up, but not that far off I think. The album is really quite lovely, and available as a free download from Bandcamp.

PRIS

Wrote about this lot just a couple of weeks ago, but the novelty hasn't worn on yet, so all I said there still applies. In between causing trouble with Guillemots and Ellie Goulding fans on Twitter Pris are gearing up to release a single, The Bret Easton Ellis quoting "The Better You Look The More You See". The single is due out soon, and is a whole heap of fun. Half shouty, half sweet, their inspirations and references are all fairly blatant, but since the song left me with a big daft smile I'm completely ok with that. Fun punky pop that doesn't need to be analysed deeply, it just breezes by and sticks in your head. Check out the video for The Better You Look The More You See here.

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)