Kochka - The Entropic Biopic of a Quixotic Psychotic

When you are a blogger and your pals release an album things get tricky. Kochka are one of the first bands I stalked followed when I started up this blog, they headlined my first Aye Tunes Presents gig back in January this year, and I've been politely bugging them to get this album finished for longer than I can remember. Well, now they have released their debut album, it is probably fair to say I can't really give an unbiased opinion.

I'm a fan of the band first and foremost though, I wouldn't have roped them in to the gig, reviewed their old records, and generally told people to listen to and go see them if I didn't like, so it was with mixed emotions I listened to The Entropic Biopic of a Quixotic Psychotic. What if it's rubbish? How do you politely tell folk you like that the album you'd been waiting eagerly on was a massive letdown?

Happily I didn't have to answer those questions, since the album is certainly not rubbish. Happily I get to dodge trying to properly reviewing it too, since frankly I don't know where to begin describing it. This is an excellent album, and a "proper" album, with songs flowing from one to another, a beginning, middle and end.
Listen for yourself at Bandcamp or down below.

Kochka play an album launch for The Entropic Biopic of a Quixotic Psychotic this Saturday at Stereo, where you can pick up a very limited CD copy of the album. Support comes from The Mademoiselle and Tragic O'Hara, and it'll only cost you £4 to get in. I'll be there.

But It's Only November!

This post comes with an apology. I know it is barely the middle of November, I know talking about Christmas now is evil and wrong. But...

Every year that I've been writing a blog (this is the third year on here, plus four years before that elsewhere) I've gone Christmas song crazy come December. At least one song a day every day from the 1st to the 24th, like a musical advent calendar. I'll be doing it again this year. This year there might also be a little something extra too. That's secret for now, but I'm rubbish with secrets, so if you ask about it I'll likely tell you.

I like to keep repeats to a minimum, but that all depends on me having new songs to include, which is the purpose of this post, as I start to beg for material. The sooner I get things, the more organised I can be, and the less I use something from the last few years again.

So, are you a band or artist and fancy donating something? Something I can post as a free downloads is best. but I can set things to stream instead of download if it is something you want to sell instead of giving away.
Bandcamp and Soundcloud embeds are fine too if you want to keep the song under your control, but want it included here too.
If you have something up your sleeve you don't mind sharing send a wee email to jim@ayetunes.org.uk and I'll be delighted to include you, but the earlier you get to me the better.
Covers, originals, I'm not fussy in the slightest. Neither does it have to be your most professional recording, demos, home recordings and decent sounding live tracks are great. Err, just songs though, no links to YouTube of you doing Slade at karaoke, please. I said that last year and still got two emails containing videos of the band drunk and singing something, this year if anyone does it I'll name and shame you.

Also, readers, suggestions are welcome too, just stick a comment on the post and I'll see what I can do.

Black Books - An Introduction To...

I'm pretty rubbish at this blogging lark, really. Case in point, this post is about an EP I got way back in July, and only now am I actually getting round to writing about it here.

Black Books come from Austin, Texas. How the heck they found me I don't know, but I'm really glad they did. It may have taken me five months to get round to posting about it, but in the time since first hearing it their An Introduction To Black Books EP has ended up on regular rotation round here, and been a go to recommendation every time someone has told me to give them something to listen to they haven't heard before. A lot of music hits my inbox, gets a listen, and goes no further, so I'll invoke the "better late than never" clause when it comes to this, since I'd rather be months late with it than let something I've fallen in love with a bit go entirely unmentioned on the blog.

Yeah, I'm making excuses for myself.

The four tracks on An Introduction To... fall pretty solidly into the dreamy pop territory, slow paced, a little bit psychedelic in places, but bit of a rock element bubbling just under the surface at time that pokes its head through the blissed out sounds here and there in the form of a jagged guitar line, or a thumping drum beat.
the whole EP is pretty much perfect for sticking on, putting your headphones in, and getting away from reality for 20 minutes, and let's face it, we all want to escape from time to time.

There's a full album on the way from Black Books sometime in the near future, but in the meantime An Introduction To provides exactly what it says, a quick taster of Black Books. Delicious, I say.

Black Books - The Big Idea


An Introduction To Black Books is available to download on Bandcamp, and also available as a limited edition 10" vinyl. UK/Europe readers, don't try and buy the vinyl from Bandcamp unless you want to have a heart attack when you see the shipping costs, instead we can order a 10" from Shifting Sounds.



Black Books: Blog - Bandcamp - Facebook

Rob St. John - Sargasso Sea [Free Download]

A few weeks back I babbled a wee bit about a Rob St. John and Ian Humberstone split 7" (short version, it's really blooming good) and now with the release of Weald, Rob St. John's new album, just around the corner there's a new, free single available to share with you.

Like Your Phantom Limb, the last single, I find myself incapable of doing much more than pointing at Sargasso Sea and shouting "THIS IS ACE!" so just a listen to it below and download it if you like it, it is free after all.

Rob St. John - Sargasso Sea by Song, by Toad

There's a lovely wee video to go with the song too, for those of you who want to engage your eyes as well as your ears.


Rob St.John 'Sargasso Sea' from rob st john on Vimeo.


Weald by Rob St.John is released on gatefold 12” vinyl and download by Song, by Toad Records on November 21st, but if you order a copy of the vinyl, which comes with a download code for the album, from Song, by Toad you'll likely get it early.

Bloggers Doing Gigs - Last Year's Girl

Not pictured - a crazed axe murderer.

I seem to have fought off the gremlins that killed my computer, fingers crossed on that score. Now I can get back to just having myself to blame for a lack of posts.

At the weekend I mentioned that one of my blogging pals is moving into gig putting on too, well, The Vinyl Villain isn't the only one.

My mate Lis - famous on the internet as Last Year's Girl - is also at it. I pretty much have to plug this gig as (a) she quoted my “Bloggers putting on gigs? It’ll never catch on…” line on her press release, (b) it looks pretty ace and (c) I'm pretty sure she could, and would, batter me if I don't.

Back in June Lis drew up a list of 30 things to do before she hits 30 - cheers Lis for making me feel old every time you mention that too - one of which was "put on a gig". Rather than take the easy option of hiring The 13th Note and getting some local pals to pitch in to play (stop looking at me like that, I've only hired The Note once), she's been a good bit more adventurous.

Since our Lisa-Marie is much better at writing things than I am, I'll just apologise for the cut & paste nature of the next bit and go over to her to tell you who is playing Last Year's Girl's Friday Night Speakeasy.

Franz Nicolay has the face of a villain, but the heart of a vaudevillian. He specialises in moustaches, raconteuring and the sort of antiquated instruments such as banjo, accordion and musical saw it’s pretty awkward to get through customs. He has played with a few bands you may have heard of (The Hold Steady, Against Me!, Guignol, The World/Inferno Friendship Society), and released two albums of solo material that are even better. If you want to see him make a third one, you could contribute to his Kickstarter pledge drive. He feels as weird about it as you do.

Brighton-based Chris T-T tried to be a political songwriter, but Billy Bragg said he didn’t exist so he went back to writing about bunny rabbits instead. Sorry, what? That was a song about communism, you say? You might have seen him set the works of AA Milne to music at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, or joined in one of his acts of civil disobedience through the use of social media (#IAmSpartacus). He is currently working on his eighth album of original material.

Dave Hughes plays folk music without the scarves, handclaps or tambourines. Before buying a car he pretty much invented the Megabus tour, which is the only explanation for that time he ended up playing to a hen party in Birmingham. He does not sound like Ed Sheeran, and does not get offended if you describe his performance as “ramshackle” with or without his Renegade Folk Punk Band. His latest release is the six-track Despite the Blackout EP, on Corporate Records.

Last Year's Girl's Friday Night Speakeasy takes place at The Old Hairdressers, right across from Stereo on Renfield Lane in Glasgow, on Friday (funny that) December 2nd.
You can buy tickets, and we all know you want to buy a ticket, here.

Now Lis, when do we get that podcast that's on your list too?

Technical Difficulties

This afternoon my computer contracted a nasty bit of malware, and is currently, in technical terms, fucked.

We'll be back when it works again.

Bloggers Doing Gigs - The Vinyl Villain

This time one year ago exactly I was in full of panic mode. Why? Well, one year ago tonight was Aye Tunes Vs Peenko 3, and I'm always a nervous wreck before a gig I'm putting on. That one, planned as the last AVP gig until we came back for one in August of this year, was particularly nerve wracking as we were leaving the lovely but pokey confines of the venues for 1 & 2, The Captain's Rest and The 13th Note, for the much larger Classic Grand, the fear that no one would turn up was magnified by having a venue twice the size of the previous ones. People did come along though, and I Build Collapsible Mountains, Come On Gang! and The Seventeenth Century all did us proud.
(Incidentally, The Seventeenth Century are playing at The 13th Note tonight, so if you are looking for something to do...)

None of that has anything to do with this post really, but today does seem like a fitting time to get in a plug for something I would be doing a bit of blethering about anyway.

You see, another of my blogging buddies is turning his hand to gig promotion. Along with Song, by Toad and 17 Seconds, both of which have long since gone beyond being just blogs, The Vinyl Villain is one of the blogs that I've been reading for what seems like forever. Fun trivia, JC from The Vinyl Villain and I not only share initials, but our birthdays fall on the same day too. Turns out it has been around 5 years, as the blog celebrated its birthday at the end of September. To celebrate JC is throwing a pretty special birthday party in a couple of weeks, which looks well worth attending.

The gig takes place on Saturday November 19th, at Langside Hall on the southside of Glasgow.
Playing on the night are Butcher Boy, a band I was first introduced to through reading The Vinyl Villain, with support from Adam Stafford, who of course we got the AVP gang back together for back in August.
Tickets are £8, and available now here.

Butcher Boy - Imperial

Adam Stafford - Fire & Theft

And We're Done #keepingitpeel

Well there we go, that's my contribution to Keeping It peel for this year.
12 hours, 13 sessions, and my most productive day of blogging since, well, last year's John Peel Day.

We had sessions from Boards of Canada, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Prolapse, World of Twist, The Sultans of Ping, The Afghan Whigs, Teenage Fanclub, Biffy Clyro, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Dawn of the Replicants, Lungleg, The Olivia Tremor Control, Spiritualized and ac acoustics, along with some ramblings from me.

You can find all the sessions from this year and last by clicking the keepingitpeel tag, hopefully you'll find and old favourite in there, or something you might have missed first time round.

Remember to visit the Keeping It Peel website to find out what other blogs, podcasts and the like have been doing today.

Now, go and listen to something new.

Keeping It Peel - a.c. acoustics #keepingitpeel

This will now go back in the cupboard for another year

Right then, last session, I think I've assaulted you enough for one day.
Back to Scotland for our final session, with a.c. acoustics. I'm never sure if that should be uppercase or lowercase, all one word, or with punctuation, so I've made a guess. They were a band that always threatened to bother the mainstream, but in the end never did. What they did do before splitting in 2003 was leave behind a quartet of cracking albums in the shape of Able Treasury, Victory Parts, Understanding Music and O.

Both Stunt Girl and I Messiah Am Jailer made it into the Festive Fifty in 1996 and 97 respectively. Both are ace songs.

a.c. acoustics - John Peel Session 03.03.2003
1. A Bell Of Love Rings Out For You
2. Hold
3. Clone Of Al Capone
4. 16.4.2010

Other than a quick round-up post to follow that's me done with the Keeping It Peel Posts for this year. Remember to swing by the Keeping It Peel website to see what others have been up to.

Keeping It Peel - Spiritualized #keepingitpeel

Nearly time to put away the wee Peel Session image for another year, only one more session to go after this one.

For this one I am once again kicking all pretense of being a Scottish music blog out the window to pick another of my favourite bands ever.
I was a latecomer to Spiritualized. Up until Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space I knew the name, but not much else. That album though was released a mere two days before my 18th birthday, and was promptly bought with birthday money, and listened to on repeat on the new stereo that my parents got me as a present for much of the summer, when I wasn't off enjoying the gap between school and university, and enjoying the novelty of legal being allowed to buy booze and 18 rated videos. A bit of working backwards whenever I had some spare cash filled in the gaps, going as far back as some of the Spacemen 3 stuff.

I've said it about a couple of albums today, but Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space is another one of those records that if you have ears, you should probably own. The irony of me becoming near addicted to a heavily drug themed album has never been lost on me either.

Spiritualized - Peel Session 07.01.1992
1. Angel Sigh
2. Feel So Sad
3. Smiles

Keeping It Peel - The Olivia Tremor Control #keepingitpeel

I'll likely not get an excuse to shoehorn The Olivia Tremor Control into the blog until this time next year, so what the heck, let's squeeze them in.

The Olivia Tremor Control are another one of those bands I hadn't thought about in ages, until a few months ago when I heard there was new material on the way. That sent me scurrying to listen to their back catalogue again for the first time in a long time, and wonder why I'd let them slip my mind so much. Dusk At Cubist Castle and Black Foliage are both cracking albums. The first new material from them, recent single The Game You Play Is In Your Head, Parts 1, 2 & 3 suggests that the band's return is no bad thing either.

The Olivia Tremor Control - John Peel Session 18.03.1997
1. I'm Not Feeling Human
2. Suite One
3. Suite Two
4. Untitled

Keeping It Peel - Lung Leg #keepingitpeel

Before I carry on, just a quick mention that Fresh Air Radio are having a Keeping It Peel celebration of their own. Assuming this posts at 8pm as scheduled they are just kicking off, and you can listen live here. Don't worry, you can go listen to that and come back here later, I won't mind.

It has mostly been white boys with guitars up till now, so before I get shouted at here's some, err, Scottish girls with guitars. They make an almighty noise, enjoy. As my pal Last Year's Girl might say "shouty girls FTW".

Lung Leg - John Peel Session 29.01.1995
1. Palmolive
2. Small Screen Queen
3. Lungleg
4. Edith Massey
5. Kung Fu On The Internet
6. Blah Blah Blah

Keeping It Peel - Dawn of the Replicants #keepingitpeel

Miss a chance to post a load of Dawn of the Replicants songs? Not a bloody chance!
Along with Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Dawn of the Replicants are one of my favourite Scottish bands starting with the letter D. Oh, and Deacon Blue obviously. Wait, De Rosa and Dananananaykroyd. There's more bands beginning with D than I thought there were when I wrote that sentence. Never mind, let's carry on.

Stealing a quote from elsewhere: "Swamp rock, pop, glam-rock, electro-girlie, jazz, doo-wop, nasty ass blues, hip hop, redneck and experimentalism,' is how Dawn of ... describe their music. But then their founder members used to be music journalists, so their love of genre-checking is forgivable. They're also right."

These days Paul Vickers can be found doing all sorts of stuff, on his own and sometimes with The Leg. Roger Simian is one half of The Bird and the Monkey. I've had them penciled in for a blog post for a while, which I will get to eventually, but in the meantime consider this a quick plug for them, visit their website for loads of stuff.

Four Peel Sessions, and one entry in the 1999 Festive Fifty. All the sessions, and one from Pluto Monkey, are available to download for free from the DotR website here, so I'll just pick a couple of songs from each to stick below.

Dawn of the Replicants - John Peel Session 12.08.1997
Diggin' Bear
Fatal Firework

Dawn of the Replicants - John Peel Session 28.04.1998
Skullcrusher
Windy Millar

Dawn of the Replicants - John Peel Session 25.04.1999
Candlefire
Fearless Vampire Hunters

Dawn of the Replicants - John Peel Session 17.10.2002
Rhinestone Cowboy
Rockefeller Center 1932

Keeping It Peel - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead #keepingitpeel

We had a couple of Scots in a row there, so time to check in on some friends from across the pond again.
I've sort of lost track of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead as time has gone on. I'll always pick up a new album they release, but often they get listened to a couple of times and forgotten about a bit. I do regularly go back to their first few though.
I have a weirdly vivid memory of buying the debut album, on vinyl, in the record shop that used to be downstairs in Flip in Glasgow, many years ago. I'd only heard Richter Scale Madness, and vaguely knew the name, but that song and that album cover were enough to inspire an impulse purchase. Not one I've regretted.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - John Peel Session 05.02.2002
1. Invocation
2. Another Morning Stoner
3. Baudelaire
4. Richter Scale Madness
5. Homage

Keeping It Peel - Biffy Clyro #keepingitpeel

How about something nice and quiet for you to have your dinner to? How about no.
I can generally take or leave Biffy, but the stuff at the start of their career is the more takeable, and Jaggy Snake is good stuff any way you dress it up. Suppose the second session track might fall into "topical" territory, but I didn't notice that till I was about hit hit "post" on the session. Fun cover version too.

Biffy Clyro - John Peel Session 22.01.2004
1. There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake
2.Liberate The Illiterate (A Mong Among Mingers)
3. You Can Go Your Own Way
4. With Aplomb

Keeping It Peel - Teenage Fanclub #keepingitpeel

Best way to follow that last post, featuring one of my favourite bands? Do one with another of my favourite bands.

If you don't know who Teenage Fanclub are then get yourself to Google and/or a record shop right now. We'll wait for you to come back.

Bellshill's finest can do no wrong by me. The alarming part is that I was only 11 when this session happened. Goodness I feel old now.

Teenage Fanclub appeared twice in the 1990 Festive Fifty, and three times is the 1991 one.

Teenage Fanclub - John Peel Session 28.08.1990
1. God Knows It's True
2. So Far Gone
3. Alcoholiday
4. Long Hair

Keeping It Peel - The Afghan Whigs #keepingitpeel

Bored of this image yet? Tough luck, I'm not done.

Aye, we've pretty much tossed sticking with Scots well out the window for Keeping It Peel, letting me instead post bands that I wouldn't normally. To say that the Afghan Whigs are a favourite of mine is a bit of an understatement. Greg Dulli is pretty much a musical hero. He was the driving force behind the Afghan Whigs, the only musician other than Dave Grohl to play on the debut Foo Fighters album, faked being a Beatle along with Grohl, Thurston Moore and Mike Mills for the soundtrack to Backbeat, teamed with Mark Lanegan as The Gutter Twins, stuck out a couple of solo records, and can now be found heading up The Twilight Singers. To my ears he has never released a bad record. You can disagree, but be warned it may end in a fistfight.

The Afghan Whigs would often through a cover version or two into their live sets, and stick them on the b-sides of singles, so it seems fitting that this session has a pair of covers, Revenge by Patti Smith and Easily Persuaded by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, along with two songs from Gentlemen, another one of those albums that anyone with ears should have a copy of. Actually, all girls should be issued with a copy of Gentlemen on their 13th birthday and sent to listen to it with the warning "this is men, stay away from them", teen pregnancy rates would plummet. I do personally like Black Love just a wee bit more though, it was my first Afghan Whigs album, so it claimed the spot in my heart before the others had a chance to.

Afghan Whigs - John Peel Session 22.02.1994
1. Revenge
2. Easily Persuaded
3. My Curse
4. What Jail Is Like

Keeping It Peel - Sultans of Ping F.C. #keepingitpeel

Another request this time, and one I can't refuse. Not only do I love the Sultans of Ping, but the request came from my big brother Ron, whose old copy of Casual Sex in the Ciniplex is pretty much the reason I was one of a handful of 14 years olds who knew all the words to Where's Me Jumper?
Every time an election comes around and people start talking about the party manifesto my mind stops paying attention, ignoring what anyone says, as everything is replaced by "I like a manifesto, put it to the test-o", and I'm gone for several minutes. I never know what is going on at elections, but I do enjoy myself.

Here you go then Ron, thanks for getting me into the Sultans and loads of other stuff, but I'm still delighted I dodged the Genesis bullet.

Sultans of Ping F.C. - John Peel Session 05.03.1992
1. He Thought I Was Your Best Friend
2. Give Him a Ball and a Yard of Grass
3. Karaoke Queen

Keeping It Peel - World of Twist #keepingitpeel

Time for a request. I don't really know much about World of Twist, but I stuck a call out on Twitter the other week asking if anyone had any sessions they'd like to see posted, and this was one of the ones asked for, so here it is. Service with a smile from Aye Tunes! Well, as close to a smile as you'll get out of my naturally grumpy looking face anyway.

World of Twist - Peel Session 25.06.1991
1.Untitled
2. St Bruno
3. Kick Out The Jams
4. Blackpool Tower

Keeping It Peel - Prolapse #keepingitpeel

Out of the two Peel Sessions recorded by Prolapse, and the two live broadcasts they did, do I have a full one to post? No.
Will this stop me rambling about Prolapse for a bit? No.

Prolapse came from Leicester, but had a member named "Scottish" Mick. Unlike Tiny Tim, or anyone who as ever called themselves "mad", this wasn't an ironic nickname. The second "Scottish" Mick Derrick opens his mouth it is obvious the name isn't a joke.

They are also a band I hadn't listened to in years until fairly recently, mainly due to having lost all the albums of theirs that I had. Some spare eMusic credits that had to be used up led to me buying debut album Pointless Walks To Dismal Places again to see if I still liked it. I did, a shopping spree followed, and I've been a wee bit obsessed with the band over the past few weeks as a result. A mixture of shoegaze, punk and Krautrock, there's a fair chance you'll find Prolapse either brilliant or almost unlistenable. I'm in the former camp, obviously.

Prolapse made the 1997 Festive Fifty with two songs, Autocade and Slash/Oblique. None of the Prolapse Peel Sessions are available, and I don't have copies of them, except for the Peel version of When Space Invaders Were Big, which was released as a single.

Prolapse - Peel Session 17.07.1994
When Space Invaders Were Big