Friday 30 September 2011

Another Plug - Supermarionation


It has been a bit of a hectic week, so I've forgotten to mention half the things I'd meant to. Sneaking this one in just under the wire then, as it takes place tomorrow.

Edinburgh noise mongers Supermarionation have a new EP to launch, and they are doing so with a gig on Saturday. I say noisemongers, but the new EP is actually an acoustic one, so it isn't that noisy. It is good though, so I'll forgive them being quiet.

Hastily assembled to replace what they had planned to release, Amongst the Northern Lochs doesn't sound like it was thrown together. Had I not known that it was put together at short notice I wouldn't have even noticed. The EP will be available to download for free from here.

A limited number of CDs will be available at the launch gig on October 1st. The gig takes place at The Wee Red Bar.Supermarionation will be playing two sets, one acoustic, one with electricity and stuff. Support comes from Lee Patterson and Andrew Mill. Kicking off at 7pm the gig, like the download, is free, so if you are around you can go along at no cost, woo!


Tuesday 27 September 2011

Sunday Is Mocking Me


Sunday, the traditional day of rest. Staying in bed till lunchtime, filling up on fried food, reading papers, and watching around 10 hours of football. Sunday also tends to be the day I ignore gigs, until they are particularly tempting. Have you ever tried using public transport on a Sunday? It's rubbish. This week has decided to mess my my plans though, by throwing three very tempting gigs at me.
I also have to get up early to help a friend move house, but that part presumably doesn't apply to the rest of you.

At MacSorelys on Sunday we have Dave Hughes and Rob Moir playing. Regular readers should be familiar with Dave's name at the very least, since there was a while he'd pop up in my news round up every week without fail, to the point I started giving him his own section. Dave Hughes is, like Shambles Miller (playing at tomorrow's Aye Tunes gig - you didn't think I'd miss a chance for a plug did you), one of the exemptions from my recent "I'm sick of acoustic guitar playing singers!" rants, since he is so very good at being one of them.
Despite The Blackout by Dave Hughes
Rob Moir is likely to be a much less familiar name. Hailing from Canada Rob is currently on a European tour, with a gig at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh on Wednesday ahead of this Glasgow one on Sunday. Rob actually got in touch with me in an attempt to put together a gig. That didn't come off, and I ended up putting together tomorrow's Aye Tunes gig (I'll stop with the plugs soon, honest) instead. The little bit of Rob  I've heard is very good indeed. This double bill, combining the fact that I keep missing Dave Hughes gigs and am unlikely to get a chance to catch Rob Moir very often, plus free entry, means I'm off to MacSoreleys on Sunday night, albeit probably with sore arms from carrying furniture.
This Is The Lie by rob moir

UPDATE: This gig has been cancelled. A wee bit further up the road at Stairway there's a launch gig for the new Trapped In Kansas EP.Trapped In Kansas took less than 24 hours to shift all copies of How To Go in a presale on Saturday, which is always good to hear. The EP gets its full release on Monday October 3rd, having heard a copy I can tell you it is the best work the band have done yet, and I doubt I'll be alone in saying so. Support at the launch gig comes from The Darian Venture, Aspen Tide and Hello Mexico, and tickets cost £5.
How To Go EP Sampler by Trapped in Kansas

Meanwhile, a little further to the west of the city, there's a blooming awesome gig on at The Captain's Rest.
Poor Things are about to give away a wee free download bundle called R U Sitting Comfortably, and are celebrating it with an eardrum bothering gig. Poor Things have taken my initial doubts about them and rammed them back down throat recently. After winning me round a good bit with their Innocence/18 single a while back I recently saw them twice in the space of a week, and am now fully converted. They are a far better band than I first though, and I'm happy to have been proven wrong. The sneak preview of Festival from R U Sitting Comfortably has me eager to hear the other tracks too.
Joining Poor Things for the gig are the raw but very promising As In Bear, my favourite junkyard popsters Male Pattern Band and Robin Dunne.
Festival by POOR THINGS


Monday 26 September 2011

Eastern Promise, This Weekend at Platform

As well as being a busy week for new records, there's a blooming ton of stuff on too. Almost makes me wish I had some kind of guide to what's on in any given week...

Friday and Saturday of this week sees the second Eastern Promise event take place at Platform in Easterhouse, with a rather excellent line up.

On Friday you can catch:
Tarwater
The Thing
7VWWVW
Withered Hand (Solo)
Nancy Elizabeth

The bill for Saturday looks like this: To Rococo Rot
The Pastels
Silje Nes
Conquering Animal Sound
Animal Magic Tricks

Told you it was rather excellent. In addition Saturday will host the Scottish Independent Record Fair, making it's second appearance after what was by all accounts a successful first run in Edinburgh in August.

Tickets cost £10 per night or £15 for the weekend, with under 16's going for £3 per night or £5 for the weekend. Doors are at 7pm, and return buses leave Mono at 6:30pm and cost £4 return.
Tickets are available from Monorail, Tickets Scotland and See Tickets.

You can find out more about Platform, including how to get there if you are clueless like me, at the website.


New Release: We Were Promised Jetpacks - Medicine


This week sees the release of the first new material from We Were Promised Jetpacks in a good seventeen months, with the single Medicine.

Medicine is taken from the band's second album, In The Pit Of The Stomach, which is released next Monday, backed with a new b-side, Building Buildings.

Medicine is available on 7" and download from Fat Cat, and download from iTunes.

We Were Promised Jetpacks: Website - Facebook


New Release: Remember Remember - The Quickening


It is a busy wee week for new records, one of those ones that my wallet usually hates. Lucky for me I've been saving up my eMusic credits in anticipation of a few of these releases, so could go on a shopping spree without also going bankrupt. Less helpfully it means I'm writing some of the new release posts before I've actually listened to the record properly, so I can't comment on them very much.

The Quickening is the second album from Remember Remember, and the first with a full band rather than Graeme Ronald handling everything on his own. I've been looking forward to new Remember Remember music since catching the band support Mogwai back in January, and everything I've heard from or about The Quickening since then has just built anticipation. The album is playing in the background as I write this, and so far I'm not disappointed, it sounds gorgeous.

The Quickening is out now on Rock Action Records. Available on CD and LP from HMV, Amazon on CD or Download, and download from iTunes.


Zoey Van Goey - Sexy Rave Eye Zooming


Zoey Van Goey are no strangers to a remix. The flip side of first single Foxtrot Vandals gave me my first taste of Miaoux Miaoux, while the Sweethearts In Disguise single boasted a remix from Chris "Beans" Geddes on the B-side.

Now they are at it again, with a new special remix EP, Sexy Rave Eye Zooming. Anagram fans, get to work.
Getting their paws on some Zoey Van Gooey songs for the release are: We Were Promised Jetpacks, FOUND, Jonnie Common, GRNR, K-Projekt, Gareth Griffiths, OnTheFly, and Miaoux Miaoux.

How can you get your hands on a copy? Well, the CD will ONLY be available at their gig at Stereo in Glasgow this Saturday, so you'll have to go along to get one. As if the lure of seeing Zoey Van Goey and getting a free CD wasn't enough to get you out of the house on Saturday night, support on the night comes from Kid Canaveral, and Zoey Van Goey's set will feature live remixing from GRNR.

If all of that sounds as good to you as it does to me then head down to Stereo on Saturday night. Doors are at half seven, with the first band on at 8pm. Tickets are available from Tickets Scotland here.

More encouragement? Grab a free download of the We Were Promised Jetpacks remix of City Is Exploding.



Zoey Van Goey: Website - Facebook
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