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

Album Review: Comply or Die - Depths

We love a bit of noise here at Aye Tunes, so today we are taking the short hop across the Irish Sea for some. Comply or Die are a three piece hailing from Belfast, Depths is their second album, and I'm going to try and get through this without an obvious horse joke.

Depths kicks off with an all out assault in the form of Official Secrets. Loud, frantic and frenetic, it sets out the stall nicely for the rest of the album. The first few tracks on the album keep up the million miles a minute approach, ferocious riffs bludgeoning the ears and rushing the adrenaline, and that's just how I like it.

After the short sharp shock of the opening three songs comes the sprawling 11 minute long Vermin, which breaks away from the formula set down so far. More doom than thrash in pacing, Vermin uses every bit of its lengthy running time wisely, retaining the skull pounding riffs, but giving them more time to build and breathe. It takes a turn to the dark and sinister, before building up to an aggressive conclusion, and sounds excellent.

After that I'm Sick (of This) and Motives resume the frantic pace, with buzzsaw riffs, filthy bass and pounding drums back to the fore.Viscera rounds off this little trilogy with enough power to rattle teeth, and comes out as my favourite of the albums 6 shorter tracks.

Final track DMT follows the lead of Vermin, not least in run time, clocking in at an epic 12 minutes. At times it is almost dreamy, somewhat apt given the psychedelic it presumably takes its name from, then bursting into a wave of distortion followed by even more juddering riffs, DMT has more hooks than a cloakroom, and brings the album to a glorious close.

All in all Depths is a pretty mighty album. One that will leave you gasping for breath, ears ringing, and in my case grinning in approval. The short tracks that make up the bulk of the album provide good, loud, entertainment, while Vermin and DMT that show off the full range of Comply or Die and make me want to come back for more.

All hurdles cleared and across the finish line, and Depths comes out as a winner. I knew I couldn't resist a horse reference.

Depth is out now, available from Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes.

Shanghaied by Comply Or Die

Comply or Die: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp

Keeping It Peel - The Delgados

In tribute to John Peel the 5pm post today, this one, has been written at the wrong speed. In other words, I didn't finish it quick enough to post it at the right time.

The Delgados would be my other favourite band ever if pushed. Them and Arab Strap would need to have some kind of Deathmatch to provide a clear winner, and that seems unlikely to happen.

The Delgados were, of course, Emma Pollock, Paul Savage, Alun Woodward and Stewart Henderson. Not only did The Delgados release five briliant studio albums, but they also formed Chemikal Underground Records together.

The band split in 2005, with each member happily going on to do their own things and they continue to run Chemikal together.

You are allowed to not like The Delgados (though you'll be wrong, I can prove it with graphs) but what this foursome have done for Scottish music both with their own releases and with Chemikal Underground is very deserving of your respect at least.

The Delgados feature 13 times in the Festive Fifty. Pull The Wires From The Wall placed at #27 in 1997 before being #1 in 1998, also making it in to the Millenium All Time Fifty at #26.

Again, all of The Delgados Peel Sessions have been released, so I'll just be cherry picking a couple of tracks. You can buy The Complete Peel Sessions on CD or (very cheap) download from Amazon, download from iTunes, direct from Chemikal or anywhere else that sells good records.

The Delgados - John Peel Session 12.05.1996

Under Canvas Under Wraps

The Delgados - John Peel Session 17.06.1998

The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger

The Delgados - John Peel Session 02.09.2004

Is That All That I Came For?

For more information on Keeping It Peel visit the website set up here.

Chemikal Underground: Website

The Douglas Firs - Haunting Through EP Review

The Douglas Firs hail from Aberdeen - giving me a nice chance to escape from the usual haunts, at least in my ears - and are Neil Insh, along with whatever friends he could round up to help out.

This EP opens in an unusual style, with the crunch of footsteps, drumming in the background gradually getting louder, along with chatter building up too, before bursting into folky accordian and violin. The effect makes you feel like you've wandered into a warm, welcoming pub somewhere, and for the next 20 minutes or so of the EP you are unlikely to want to leave. The song - The Quickening - goes through sporadic shifts, the folky part at the beginning dying out only to reappear later, vocal sing-alongs, bursts of applause, before wandering into soundscape territory with more footsteps, creaking gates, hooting owls and all sorts. It is a bold song that can make me think of both the best forgotten sequel to Highlander and the opening of Wham's Club Tropicana yet still be compelling listening, but The Quickening does so in fine style.

Future State follows on, a short burst of ambiance and atmosphere, before Grow Old And Go Home introduces layers of sounds including a more electronic feel, and some luscious horns. Grow Old And Go Home at times feels like it could be two or three songs fighting each other from prominence in the mix, but avoids sounding cluttered or messy in the process. Again, another soundscape ending to this song leads straight into the final track, Soporific.
Soporific much in common with the preceding songs, starting with a lengthy understated intro, building atmosphere before exploding into life with a squeal of feedback around halfway through for a big chorus full of melody and instrumentation, then slowly fading off back into nothingness.

Haunting Through is frequently very sparse and at other times bursting at the seams with things going on, but the entire EP feels very organic, each part growing naturally from the others. There's a great sense of atmosphere, and a wonderful feel of a little surprise lurking just round the corner throughout, all of which makes Haunting Through a delight to listen to.

The Douglas Firs: MySpace - Blog
The Douglas Firs - Haunting Through EP is available as a free download, visit the blog for details.

Deathpodal: Exu__Wow EP Review

Deathpodal is the moniker of Glasgow based multi-instrumentalist Alastair J. Chivers, and Exu__Wow is his debut release. Recorded in various locations across Scotland, as well as the streets of Prague it also features members of Copy Haho, PVH and cellist Rachel Lind.
The EP is, quite frankly, all over the place and a bit mental. In all the best possible ways.

Trying to describe it is a bit like trying to chase smoke. Just when you think you've got a handle on it, there's a swift change of gears, or a sudden change of direction, regularly all within the same song.
One minute things are fairly melodic and mellow, the next thing you know it's like a fistfight in the kitchen between Fugazi and Sonic Youth, with Frank Carter from Gallows on running commentary, then there's another shift and you are hiding in a cupboard in a David Lynch film.

With so much going on and with so many ideas being thrown around this could be a horrible mess, but there's just enough restraint shown that the EP is constantly interesting rather than annoying.

A bloody nightmare to describe, but fantastic to listen to. You can stream the EP on MySpace and last.fm, so go and have a listen for yourself. Me? I love it.

Deathpodal: MySpace

Deathpodal's Exu__Wow EP is available now on
Electropapknit Records. Buy the CD here, or download at Amazon or iTunes.

Live Review - Sophie's Pigeons, Julia and the Doogans & Panda Su

Sophie's Pigeons, Julia and the Doogans & Panda Su
Brel, Glasgow
17th February 2010

First of all, I hate buses. Two of the swines failed to turn up at the times they were meant to, leaving me running way late for this gig.
So it was that I turned up slightly harassed, in a bad mood, and having missed the start of Sophie's Pigeons. Not the best of starts then.
Thankfully it only took about a minute for Sophie's Pigeons to lift my mood. A three piece from around Manchester, aside from a quick listen on MySpace when I knew I was going to be seeing them they were totally unknown to me before tonight, Sophie plays piano and sings, Beckie plays saxophone and melodica, while Phillip hits things. Poppy and infectious as heck, any annoyance at mythical buses was soon blown away. There's a danger when there's a girl sat at a keyboard things can go all Tori Amos, but while I could certainly hear an element of Tori in Sophie's vocals the band's wit and apparent determination to have fun at all costs meant there was never any risk of things turning too po-faced or annoying. While attempts at audience participation had mixed results - only Ian from Have Fun At Dinner joined in with the singing, showing off an impressive falsetto in the process - nothing else fell flat. Frankly I find it hard to do anything but enjoy and admire a band that both pull of a cover version of Shakira's She Wolf, and end with a song called Boring Fucking Cunts. Sophie's Pigeons turned out to be one of those unexpected delights that make getting out to gigs worthwhile.

It is hardly a secret that I have much love for Julia and the Doogans, so it'll come as no surprise that they only let down from them was that Julia's oven wasn't working, so there were no cupcakes on the go. Luckily between stuffing myself with cakes when seeing the band on Sunday and filling myself with pancakes on Tuesday cake wasn't very high on my list of priorities.
Playing with a full band tonight - for a while at least, band members dropped off throughout the set until only Julia was left - Julia and the Doogans remain as good as they have been every time I've seen them. Warm, gentle, lovely songs, a great live band, and beautiful vocals, once again. It wasn't all plain sailing though, it almost went horribly, horribly wrong, when for the penultimate song Julia decided to do a cover version. Coldplay's The Scientist. I wasn't alone in getting a little worried at that point, clearly I wasn't the only person in the room with a dislike for Coldplay, the identity of the person behind me and her audible reaction shall remain secret. Thankfully, pleasantly, surprisingly, Julia didn't just get away with the cover but with just her and her guitar she - in the words of every judge on every TV talent show on the planet - made The Scientist her own, and rescued it from my hatred.

Panda Su is another that I've hardly shied away from admiring in the past either, but this set was without doubt the best I've seen from Su and her band. The songs were always good, and past gigs were great, but there was something about the band tonight that really just clicked perfectly. Jonnie Common was in attendance for his now customary banjo playing cameo on Eric Is Dead, a song which does genuinely send a pleasant tingle up my spine, and the band showed of a bit of a reworking of Moviegoer on the night. I always seem to struggle to get across how good Panda Su is, how much I like the songs, and how bloody good Su & her band sound live, so just take it from me that they are a fantastic band, with beautiful songs delivered from the heart. There wasn't a dull moment, nor a lull, in the set just a great girl with her guitar, her two backing men hitting or blowing into various things, and a whole lot of greatness.
Su teased us that one of her songs might soon be used in a television program - a dirty one in her words, go ahead and make your own guesses - and Panda Su is more than worthy of the exposure something like that would bring. I must admit when Su said they'd supported Lost Prophets I thought she was joking, but she wasn't. I'm not sure what Lost Prophets fans would make of her, but if they had any sense they embraced that rather strange line up, and took our favourite Panda into their hearts.

Christmas Songs - Day 24

Phew, it's the last day of this, so I don't have to keep digging for more songs. Got any suggestions for anything else I can do to force me to make a post every day? There probably won't be anything too exciting posted here over the next day or two, so don't feel bad if you don't visit.

Today's Christmas song is a last minute entry from The Cinematics. They had a new album out a couple of months ago. I wasn't in love with it, but it's not bad.

The Cinematics - Japanese Snow Queen
Cinematics website

Ah heck, it's Christmas, so have another song too:
De Rosa: Under The Stairs (Christmas Reverie) Demo Version

If you are after another freebie song, Kid Canaveral are giving away Good Morning, a taster of the album they'll be releasing next year. It isn't Christmassy, but it is fab, so go get it.

I'll be wandering the streets and pubs of Glasgow later today, so if anyone is at a loose end from about 2pm for a while, give me a shout.

Christmas Songs - Day 20

Did you know that the number of posts this month is higher than the number of posts I made here in the whole first year Aye Tunes was around? Now you do.
Did you care? Probably not.

We're in to the home stretch with the Christmas songs, so if there's anything you desperatly want to hear, or if there's a song you want to contribute, get it in quickly.
Today's song comes from the still much missed Dogs Die in Hot Cars.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Christmas

Christmas Songs - Day 14

We make our final festive visit to Paul Vickers territory today, as we finally get back round to Dawn of the Replicants.
As I mentioned before, I was really into this band a while back, round about the time of their debut album One Head, Two Arms, Two Legs. Also, fun fact, I used to talk a bit with co-founder Roger Simian in, of all places, a 2000AD newsgroup, many years ago.
The band did four sessions for the late, great John Peel, and you can (and should) listen to all of them here.

As for today's song... Well, this is a song which actually had the ability to make me violent. Years of working in retail, and therefore years of hearing it about a dozen times a day for all of November and December, will do that to you. Oddly enough, all other Christmas songs I'm fine with, even though I've similarly heard them a million times, it's just this one that makes me want to punch people in the throat.
Fortunately, the Dawn of the Replicants version doesn't make me want to punch folk, though it can't quite redeem the song entirely.

Dawn of the Replicants - Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Dawn of the Replicants - Website - MySpace

Remember, you can easily find all the previous Christmas songs by clicking on the cunningly named "Christmas" label at the bottom of the posts.
There'll be a big list of all the songs once I'm finished too.

Gig Review: Debutant, Esperi, Panda Su and Yahweh

Amidst the freezing cold winds, pouring rain and general miserableness on Sunday's weather there was one huge bright spot, the gig in The Classic Grand.
If you've been here at all in the last week you'll know all about it, but just in case you haven't, Glasgow PodcART put on a gig with four pretty swell acts. I went, rubbish weather and no money is a poor excuse for missing out on a line up like this -especially since I'd seen none of the acts before, and this is what I thought of it.

Taking the stage first was Debutant, AKA Phillip Quirie. Debutant's first song was marred by technicals issues. Fortunately that was sorted out quickly and the rest of the set, just one man, his guitar and his pedals, provided a fine start to the evening. Gentle and mellow but never becoming samey, up until King of Double Speak provides a surprisingly intense climax to the set. I think this might also have been the quietest gig audience I've ever come across too, as everyone stood (or sat) hushed, listening to Phillip go to work. One of the lyrics from one of the songs (sorry, the title escapes me, help very welcome!) was "You know I hang on every word you say", which pretty much summed up what I thought of Debutant.

Panda Su was up next and after the rotten job I did on her profile piece the other day (sorry again Su) her set was always going to be bombproof review-wise. Luckily for me I don't need to say nice things about it just to make up for being rubbish, since Panda Su were actually brilliant. Joining Su and her regular cohort Red was esperi's Chris on drums and later Jonnie Common, hopping up on stage at Su's invitation. Su promised to keep between song chatter was kept to a minimum, even though there was still more of than you'll get with many bands, due to Su being a bit under the weather, but any illness doesn't appear to have affected the performance. Panda Su's songs have an air of melancholy and fragility to them, but are delivered in a strong, confidence voice that can alternately put a smile on your face and a crack in your heart.
Also, you can't really complain about any band that has a front woman with panda face paint and a song about Prince Eric from the Littlest Mermaid, can you?
There's a little sample of Panda Su's set - Facts and Figures - recorded on the night by Glasgow Podcart here.

Tonight esperi was just Chris Lee-Marr and his selection of instruments, of which there were many. Beginning by inviting the audience in closer to the stage and assuring us he's "not that scary" Chris then abandoned the stage for his first song opting instead to quietly sing Home from atop a table, after which he admitted that maybe he is a bit scary after all. Having never seen esperi I didn't know what to expect from the set, but I think any expectations would have been blown anyway. It was incredibly engaging throughout, enchanting almost. On Cats And Dogs Chris went through God knows how many instruments, looping little bits as the song gradually builds. By my count Cats and Dogs clocked in at around 20 minutes long and throughout the full length never threatened to get stale or boring. It would be easy for this kind of thing to be performed too seriously, but thankfully Chris Lee-Marr isn't just a fantastic musician, he also has a sense of humour, so things never get too earnest. Tremendous stuff.

The final act was Yahweh, playing as a full band tonight, and elevating the noise levels in all the best ways. Main man Lewis Cook is probably sick and tired of people mentioning his youth, but I'm going to do it again anyway. For one so young not only do Cook's songs have incredible maturity, but he's comfortable on stage too. Add into that a tight live band and Yahweh are quite special live. I mentioned in my feature last week that I'm a big fan of the album, Tug of Love, I'm possibly an even bigger fan of the way the songs sound live now. Great songs, great band, great night!

Both Yahweh and esperi are performing at Define Pop 2, I can't wait to see them both at that.
Panda Su is back in Glasgow in December for the PodcART crew's Christmas Party, in a night that I won't be missing. Hopefully it won't be too long before Debutant pays Glasgow another visit too.

Lest I forget, Waves Below did a great job keeping the ambiance going between acts from the DJ booth.

Links: Glasgow PodcART - Oxjam - Debutant - Esperi - Panda Su - Waves Below - Yahweh

Debutant

In the run up to Sunday's gig I'll be taking a quick look at each of the four acts performing, one each day.
Since I'm not all that familiar with any of them - Sunday will be the first time I've seen any of the four - this could be terrible, but I'll try my best!

Debutant is just one man, an Aberdonian gent by the name of Phillip Quirie, who has embraced the DIY music ethos for his work.
Starting off in his bedroom in 2007 and plugging away since he has more recently been juggling Debutant duties with being a member of Edinburgh's Meursault.
Debutant plays a mostly instrumental set with occasional vocals, just one man, his guitar and an assortment of pedals, but makes a very big sound.
I've only been able to listen to a couple of Debutant songs, but those few I've heard provoke instant reactions, the main one being massive anticipation to see and hear the set on Sunday.

What I've heard has been gorgeous, dreamy soundscapes, packed with atmosphere. For quick, lazy comparison look to My Bloody Valentine. Minus the ear bleeding volume and feedback that is.

Phillip is currently working on a debut album which will hopefully be out early next year. I for one can't wait to hear more.



Debutant MySpace

De Rosa Split

There were murmurs all weekend, but now it's official.

De Rosa announced on their Twitter page that they have indeed split up, giving the following statement : "To all who listened. De Rosa has come to an end. If you liked our music or came to see us play we'd like to thank you all. Goodbye, De Rosa."

Chemikal Underground added the following through their mailing list: "We hate these announcements but they have to be made nevertheless: De Rosa have decided to call it a day after several years, a legion of amazing live shows and two truly exceptional albums.

We count 'Mend' and 'Prevention' among some of the very best albums Chemikal Underground has ever released and it's genuinely sad to know there won't be a third. De Rosa were a uniquely gifted bunch of songwriters and musicians with songs that provided an object lesson in how to meld complex structures around irresistible melodies. Bands of De Rosa's quality are few and far between and they will be sorely missed.

We're very proud that their albums form part of our catalogue and wish them every conceivable success in all their future ventures (musical and otherwise)."

Best of luck to all involved for whatever they do in the future.

Here's a parting sample of their music - Swell and Under the Stairs from this year's fantastic second album, Prevention.