Downtime

It'll barely make a difference, considering that some weeks aren't exactly overflowing with posts, but I'm making my excuses in advance for once.

I'm getting close to the point where things are starting to pile up and threaten to drive me a bit nuts again, so I'm having a blog holiday. If all goes to plan I'll have gotten enough done before now that there might be a couple of scheduled posts appearing, but don't count on it. If anything time sensitive pops up then I'll deal with that too. Taking a week without having to think about blogging should let me get caught up on a few things, but even if not it'll preserve my sanity a bit.

I'm not going anywhere (unfortunately, I'd love to go somewhere, but I'm skint), so you'll still find me on Twitter, plus I'll be in King Tut's on both Monday and Thursday, plus there's a good chance I'll be around Waterstones on Tuesday for the launch of The Year Of Open Doors, so I'm pretty easy to track down.

Now you see why I want a holiday!

This Week's Gigs 26th July - 1st August

Another week, another bajillion good gigs. Also a couple of events which aren't really gigs, but will still be good.

Monday:

Admiral Fallow, Three Blind Wolves, Olympic Swimmers, The Social Services. King Tut's.
Summer Nights ends on Friday, but until then Tuts are still determined to have a fair chuck of my money. Admiral Fallow's debut album is already a strong contender for best of the year, and The Social Services tick many of my boxes. Olympic Swimmers are none too shabby either. Good deal all round then. If you hurry cheap tickets are available from The Social Services.

Tuesday:

Dum Dum Girls, Jesus H. Foxx and My Tiny Robots. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh.
I tend to leave Edinburgh off the gig guide a bit, mainly because I don't know as much about what is on over there, but this is one of a couple this week worth a look.

The Year of Open Doors book launch. Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street. 6.30pm.
Much more was meant to have been written round here about The Year of Open Doors by now, but since I've failed miserably at getting that done the least I can do is plug the launch of the book. On the evening there will be performances by Aidan Moffat, Jason Donald and Kirsten Innes. There's an audiobook coming out on Chemikal Underground too! More on this, er, eventually.

Tango In The Attic, Bwani Junction, Be Like Pablo, Night Noise Team. King Tut's.
Another tasty looking Summer Nights gig. My liver and bank balance say I'm not allowed to go.

Thursday:
Toro Y Moi, Point To C, theapplesofenergy. Captain's Rest.

Second Hand Marching Band, RM Hubbert, Sarah Banjo. The 13th Note.
Pals of the blog Hubby and SHMB are both always well worth seeing, and if nothing else it'll be fun watching all of the Second Hand Marching Band squished on to the wee stage at The Note.

French Wives, Washington Irving, The Seventeenth Century, Rachel Sermanni. King Tut's.

Tuts make one more assault on my organs with a line up that is hard to turn down.

Friday:

Trapped In Kansas, Yahweh. Nice N Sleazy.
Launch gig for the latest Gerry Loves Records split single, featuring two bands we really like round here.

Pinups Nights Festival. The Flying Duck.
It is the last Friday of the month, so it is PinUps time. As usual there's an excellent selection of bands playing, followed by indie disco fun till the wee hours. Playing live are Sonny Marvello, Futuristic Retro Champions, and Aye Tunes Vs Peenko alumni Campfires In Winter and Mitchell Museum.

Pacific Theatre, Carnivores, Dilectrics, White Leaf. SOHO, Paisley.

No one ever does gigs in Paisley, mainly because there's pretty much nowhere to do one, so when someone makes the effort, they get a plug here. Pacific Theatre and Carnivores are decent bands too.

Saturday:

We Sink Ships Present: Elements. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.

Our favourite art/photography/podcast people We Sink Ships have a special event in Edinburgh on Friday. Featuring a screening of the short film Elements, along with live sets from eagleowland Conquering Animal Sound, tickets are available here and include a free download.

Miss The Occupier, Performance, Paws. King Tuts.
Summer Nights might finish on Friday, but there's still plenty happening at King Tuts.

Endor, Randolph's Leap, Cherri Phosphate. Nice n Sleazy.
I keep missing Endor, so I'll see if I can still walk by Saturday and try and get along to this one. If you don't know how much I like Randolph's Leap by now you clearly haven't been paying attention.

Rock The Boat. Loch Lomond.

Taking place from 12pm till 2am on the Maid of the Loch on the shores of Loch Lomond, this all day event (and again on Sunday) features live bands, DJs and a host of other entertainment. For full details visit the Facebook page.

Sunday:

People in Planes, The Undivided, The Darien Venture. Classic Grand.

WPM 4. Creation Studios, 3.30pm.
Much like the last Friday of the month means PinUps, the first Sunday means Words Per Minute. Words Per Minute this month has a Year Of Open Doors theme, with all the performers, including regular hosts Kirsten and Anneliese, contributing to the book. Expect the usual high quality, and get down early to grab a seat.

Album Review: Mammoeth - Nascent

Mammoeth, once known as Team Turnip, is mostly multi-instrumentalist Russell Kostulin. Given that I can barely get a "ting" out of a triangle I'm always filled with a mixture of awe and disgust at people like Russell who can seemingly turn their hand to anything, but I'll try to keep my bitterness in check.

I'd mentioned Nascent a wee while ago when I talked about opening track Lapdog in a Round Up Review and promised a full review nearer time of release. Since the album comes out on Monday and there's a couple of launch gigs at the weekend it is time I got round to keeping that promise.

On the surface Nascent is an album of mostly upbeat summery pop music, with a few more gentle songs mixed in, and if listened to just on that basis it would do its job very well indeed. There's a bright and breezy feel to much of the album, at times echoing Super Furry Animals at their poppiest and upbeat. There's even handclaps and whistling!

Pay a bit more attention to the lyrics on the album and it becomes clear that the sweet melodies and jaunty tunes are masking a darker side. Tales of war, car crashes and stalkers unfold, frequently over songs that should be far too happy sounding for the less than cheery subject matter. There's a certain playfulness and wit to the lyrics that means that even thought the music and subject matter at had should be at odds both mesh together very nicely.

Disengage your brain and Nascent is a lovely little summer pop album, pay a bit more attention and you'll find that, as fun as summer pop is, there's a lot more going on. Either way it is a debut album well worth a listen.

Mammoeth: Website

Nascent is released on July 26th and can be ordered on Bandcamp.
There's two album launch gigs this weekend, First on Saturday at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh, then on Sunday at The Classic Grand in Glasgow. Support on both nights comes from Randolph's Leap, with Georgina Seddon and Sunset Song also on the bill for Sunday.

Housekeeping

As you might have noticed I've been messing around with the layout of the blog again.

What do you think? So far reaction has been a mixture of positive, confused and being told it looks like a St Johnstone forum, anything else to add to the list?

Everything seems to display fine on my screen, using Chrome, but since many of you will be using a different browser and presumably none of you are using my screen let me know if anything looks weird or doesn't display right.

The old layout accidentally resulted it me breaking the site search, and screwing up comments. I think both of those are fixed now, if not then leave me a comment telling me so. Wait, that won't work...

You might also notice that I still can't design a half decent site logo, there's no need to make fun of me, I know already.

Ok, that's all, you can go back to what you were doing now. Well, except you, for Heavens sake don't you know that'll make you blind?

This Week's Gigs 19th - 25th July

Before I get on to the gig guide, a huge thank you to everyone that came along to The 13th Note last night, everyone that helped us get the word out through a blog post, a tweet, or by carving messages in the oldest cliff face in the World, and of course to our three fantastic bands. Our first act was a hard act to follow, but I think we just about got away with it.

Now, what's on this week? The King Tut's Summer Nights gigs dominate evenings in Glasgow this week, but there's a few other things going on too.

Monday:

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Lou Hickey, Crow Road, Bear Bones. King Tut's.
The first of this week's Summer Nights gig is quite a tempting one. Were I not skint till Tuesday I'd be heading along to this, but alas I am poor.

Tuesday:

Second Hand Marching Band, Julia and the Doogans, Martin James & Associates, Kitty The Lion. King Tut's.
Tut's again provides a cracking gig for Tuesday. I'm not familiar with Martin James, but he is from Paisley, so he is OK by me. Everyone else is well worth catching, and I'm long overdue seeing Kitty the Lion. For discount tickets hit up Julia and the Doogans or SHMB.

Wednesday:

Here Is Where 2: Wounded Knee & 7VWWVW. CCA.
Wounded Knee and 7VWWVW (pronounced Mammal, turn it upside down) combine to perform a specially composed score to the best bits of Weir's Way. Now there's a sentence I don't get to type often. More details on Facebook.
Dave Hughes, Gecko. 13th Note.
Trembling Bells, Hidden Masters. Stereo 

Thursday:

LightGuides, Make Sparks, Penguins Kill Polar Bears, Oliver Stays. King Tut's.

Friday:

The Ideal Crash, St Deluxe (acoustic), Lewis Wilson. Captain's Rest.
Little Yellow Ukuleles, The Void. Bloc. Free.
AvP co-stars the Yooks play a freebie, along with The Void. Chances of someone drowning in a sea of Balkan = high.

Saturday:

Astral Planes, Galleries, Cancel The Astronauts, Casino Brag. King Tut's.
Looks like I'm spending a significant amount of time in Tut's this week then? Astral Planes and Cancel The Astronauts are two bands that we like a lot round here, yet I've never managed to catch live before. About time I sorted that out. Contact Cancel the Astronauts for super cheap tickets and they'll throw in a free download of their new EP!

Sunday:

Mammoeth, Randolph's Leap. Classic Grand.
Launch gig for the Mammoeth debut album, Nascent, with support from AvPII co-stars Randolph's Leap you say? Sold, I say. My wallet and liver might hate me by the end of the week.

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II - The Final Plug

The second Aye Tunes Vs Peenko gig takes place tonight, so this is the last time I'll be trying to encourage you to come along (hey, you at the back, stop cheering. Yes, you) as it will be a bit pointless to continue promoting an event after it is finished.

A final reminder of the details then:

When - 8.30pm, Saturday July 17th.

Where - The 13th Note, King Street, Glasgow

Who - We're Only Afraid of NYC, Little Yellow Ukuleles, Randolph's Leap

How Much - Five quid.
Also might as well mention that me and Peenko don't get rich from this, we cover costs and all other money goes straight to the bands, so you aren't paying your £5 just for the pair of us to get drunk.

Hope to see some of you there!

We're Only Afraid of NYC - 0.3

We're Only Afraid of NYC's third EP, cunningly titled 0.3, is available right now, for free, from the band's Bandcamp page.

Now, given that We're Only Afraid of NYC are playing a gig for me on Saturday I've got a bit too much bias right now to write an objective review of the release, so I won't try at the moment.
What I will say is that just like 0.2 was a step up from the already good 0.1, 0.3 is another leap forward. Go get it then come along on Saturday, please?

Download 0.3 here.

Buy Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II tickets here.

Spaghetti Anywhere - Love Again

I don't make a habit out of posting every little thing that lands in my inbox, but I'm making an exception for this.

Remember Spaghetti Anywhere? I wrote about their EP a while ago, and really liked it. You can find that here. Their friend Marco Castrovinci has made a video for Love Again from the EP, and it has been the perfect thing to save me thinking about how I'm sitting at home on a miserable, dreary, wet afternoon in Paisley.

Spaghetti Anywhere: MySpace - Buy Vinyl - Download from iTunes

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.

Round Up Reviews #3

You might know the deal with these by now, but if not the point of the Round Up Reviews is to quickly cover short things - singles, lone tracks and the like - that I wouldn't otherwise get to.

So Many Animal Calls - Your House Is A Hospice
Described as a teaser for an upcoming EP, and knocked out in a week there's more than enough here to get me a bit excited about hearing that EP. There's some really good stuff here, much of which isn't what I'd usually listen to. Strong vocals and a couple of killer riffs get the blood pumping on the first two tracks, which also change the pace up throughout to keep things interesting. Final song Secrets is more sedate for the most part, hinting that there's more to So Many Animal Calls than you might originally think. As a statement of intent Your House Is A Hospice is a fine one, and one that is hard not to pay attention to.
I'm probably not going to make it along to their debut gig on Wednesday night at The Captain's Rest, so some of you should go in my place.
Your House Is A Hospice is available free from Bandcamp.

The Ray Summers - Heshka Rashka
Unashamedly retro indie fun. Maybe not credible or trendy, but The Ray Summers are a band I've long had a soft spot for. Heshka Rashka makes for a nice slice of summery, bouncy indie pop that'll no doubt be hated by the cool kids, but gets my head bobbing, that's more than good enough for me. It's ok to unclench and have some fun sometimes you know.
Heshka Rashka is released on August 2nd.

Beldina O - Chariots

A drastic change of pace and styles from everything else in this piece, Chariots is a gorgeous stripped back song. It's a bit of an unfair comparison to make, but this reminds me a little bit of Martha Wainwright. No particular reason, it just does. This is a very good thing. I know next to nothing about Beldina O to be honest, but you can bet I'll be doing my best to keep a look out for more from here. Lovely.
Chariots is available as a free download from Soundcloud.

q without u - Paper Cuts

I thought q without u had vanished, but happily not. This is the first I've heard of them in a while, and it is a welcome reminder that I'd really enjoyed Shut Up! I Invented You, the album they released. Paper Cuts is a teaser for an album coming later in the year, and is - again - plain fun. Heavily accented Scottish indie pop is always welcome round here, and Paper Cuts is a fine example of it. Bonus points for sounding like it is about to fall apart and come to a dead stop halfway through too.

Paper Cuts is available from Bandcamp, where you can also pick up their debut album for free.

This Week's Records

Lets see, what is out this week for you to spend all your pennies on? Actually, don't spend all your pennies, remember to save a fiver for Saturday night.

Mitchell Museum - The Peters Port Memorial Service
The Mitchell Museum is out! Yay! Vinyl available direct from the band, in Avalanche, Mono, Fopp, HMV in Glasgow and Rough Trade in London. Also available to download from iTunes, Amazon, and most likely other places too.

So Many Animal Calls - Your House Is A Hospice
So this came out at the tail end of last week, but I've not had a chance to mention it yet. Grab the free download from Bandcamp.

Dems - Lioness
Another freebie download that popped up last week, also available from Bandcamp. Think I need to do another Round Up Review to cover all this stuff...

Burnt Island - Hiding Out/Gamblers Dream
I talked a bit about this the other day, and now you can have it - for free at that - from Wiseblood Industries.

Tired Pony - The Place We Ran From
Debut album from Gary Lightbody and friends. No idea if it is any good or not, I've not heard it.

Tango In The Attic - Bank Place Locomotive Society
Another debut album, this time from Glenrothes five piece Tango In The Attic. Haven't heard this either yet, but I've liked some of their previous stuff. It is a penny under four quid at Amazon, which isn't half bad.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - Fireplace
Rounding off the debuts for the week is this, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun's first album. You can get a free download of the title track in return for your email address here.

We're Only Afraid of NYC - 0.3 EP
Not released until Friday, so consider this an advance tip. Get the (really, really good) EP from Bandcamp for free on Friday, then come see them at Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II on Saturday.

The BAMS World Cup - Final Standings

Since the last post on the BAMS World Cup was the most read post on Aye Tunes in the past month, here's another now that the competition is all done and dusted.

Team Aye Tunes held steady to claim a credible third place, while there was late drama as Dear Scotland overtook A Tidal Wave of Indifference following Saturday's Third/Forth place play off, and just about hung on to top spot to win the whole shebang.
Dear Scotland also collect the Golden Boot, with their higher number of assists being used to break the tie on goals scored.

Further down, Elba Sessions clearly paid the price for having greedy players, as they racked up 20 goals, but a mere 6 assists. Phil Elba takes the bragging rights from the two Elba Sessions teams, placing a few points above Chris.

Down in 12th spot The Vinyl Villain is claiming a moral victory for not making any changes to his squad since the competition started.

Jockrock ended up stranded at the bottom of the table, but we'll be nice to them, they were unable to access their team throughout the entire World Cup, so ended up with a bit of a duff line up. They still managed to pick up some goals though.

Most shot shy was Jim Gellatly, who will have delighted most of us mean bloggers with his poor showing. With a mere 7 goals and 7 assists Gellatly's Goal Getters failed to live up to their name.

This Week's Gigs 12th - 18th July

Last week was quiet, this week is insane. Typical. Do try not to wear yourself out early in the week please, we need as many of you as possible alive and in The 13th Note on Saturday.

Monday:

Comma. Pivo Pivo.
These gents impressed a few weeks ago with their new EP, which we covered in the Round Up Reviews, so I'm looking forward to checking them out live.

Tuesday:

Scott Hutchison, Ross Clark, My Cousin I Bid You Farewell. Stereo.
Acoustic shenanigans from people in bands you might have heard of, with proceeds going to the A-T Society.

Wednesday:

So Many Animal Calls, Queen Jane, 100 Paper Boats. Captain's Rest
Go get our mitts on a free download from So Many Animal Calls here, it is really rather good.

Mitchell Museum. Album launch, Secret Location.
See the Mitchell Museum blog for more details on this one. There's also an instore gig at Fopp on Union Street on Wednesday too.

Thursday:

Silver Columns, Midnight Lion, Nevada Base, MOPP. King Tut's.
Tut's is attempting to dominate the Glasgow gigs for the next few weeks, starting with this, the first of their Summer Nights series. Some are good, some are a bit ropey, and their website has a good handful of spelling errors. Tonight's gig features two bands I like and two I don't much care for, you can work out who is who yourself if you want to.

Cuddly Shark, The Lava Experiments, The Red Show. Captain's Rest.

A line up where I don't have to go out for fag breaks to avoid the dross means this is a much better choice of gig for the evening. Cuddly Shark had one of my favourite albums last year, The Red Show have been entertaining when I've seen them previously, and I've blethered at length before about my enjoyment of The Lava Experiments, so this looks to be a winner all round.

Saturday:

Saturday is, of course, all about Aye Tunes vs Peenko II. Advance tickets available here, where you can also listen to a song from each of the bands. Buy a ticket and get a free three song download. Go on go on go on go on.

In case you have forgotten, or can't read the poster above, playing live are:
We're Only Afraid of NYC who Lauren Laverne said "I've heard some amazing Scottish bands and one that stands out is an unsigned Glasgow band called We're Only Afraid Of NYC" about.
Randolph's Leap who The Scotsman called "nonsense of the best kind"
Little Yellow Ukuleles, about whom Tom Robinson said "even in a city reknowned for fresh and original guitar pop, you'd have to say that is a remarkably assured debut record"
See, it isn't just us that loves these bands! Do come along to The 13th Note on Saturday, you'll make me and Peenko ever so happy. We might even give you sweets, and a hug.

Single Review: Burnt Island - Hiding Out

Last time I checked in on Burnt Island properly they'd just released debut mini album Music and Maths, which I really quite liked. A new single means it is time to check in again.

Hiding Out comes from Music and Maths and is every bit as gorgeous as it was back in March. What starts out as a very gentle, quiet and stripped back song gains pace around half way through, before exploding in to a fuller sound towards the end. It is one of those moments that catches you off guard and makes for a wonderful, spine tingling little surprise.

B-Side Gambler's Dream doesn't appear on the album, but wouldn't have been out of place. Based entirely around vocals and acoustic guitar it is a soft, laid back, storytelling song, which works to beautiful effect.

Stay tuned for a catch up interview with Burnt Island's Rodge Glass sometime soon too, just as soon as I get my act together.

Burnt Island - MySpace

Hiding Out is available as a free download from Wiseblood Industries on July 12th. Music and Maths is available online and in shops, released by Chaffinch Records. Also, do check out Burnt Island's cover of Elliott Smith's Between the Bars here. It is a great version of a wonderful song, with proceeds going to Depression Alliance UK.

Burnt Island play the Spiegletent at the Edinburgh Book Festival with Adrian Crowley, Alan Bissett, Doug Johnstone, Ryan Van Winkle and a top secret special guest on August 30th.

We Have a Winner

If you missed it, last week I had a wee competion to win the new Cancel The Astronauts EP.
Closing date was last night, and I've now picked a winner.

The original plan was to make a video of me drawing names out of a hat to avoid any accusations of contest rigging, but this plan was scuppered somewhat by my Poundland microphone not working, and my webcam being a bit rubbish. Also, my bedroom is a pure state, so it is probably as well I didn't do that.

Instead, a random number generator was used - twice actually, since he first time I quite brilliantly failed to assign numbers to the names, I'm not very good at this - and the winner was number 6.

After checking the numbers our winner of the CD was Rachel Sermanni.
Thanks to the handful of folk that entered, sorry I couldn't give all of you a CD but I only had one spare.

Funny For A Girl is available to buy from Bandcamp.

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II Update

A week and a half to go until AVPII, so it is probably time for a wee update on things.

Advance tickets for the gig are now available. As with last time we won't try and charge you any add ons, no booking fees and free postage too (unless you order too late for me to safely post them, then we'll keep one for you to collect). This time we are even throwing in a little download pack, with a song from each of the bands playing on the night.

Tickets are available here. At least they are if I haven't messed up Bandcamp along the line.

So that's We're Only Afraid of NYC, Randolph's Leap and Little Yellow Ukuleles, at The 13th Note, on Saturday July 17th. Doors at 8:30.
See you there? There's a Facebook event page too, for those that like to click things.

Single Review: Skies Fell - Statues

Glasgow four piece Skies Fell came to my attention a little while ago when they made their first single available for free download, which was good enough to make sure I kept an eye out for them.
Now their follow up single is ready for release, and it too is pretty good.

Skies Fell do the same kind of melodic alternative rock that many bands in Glasgow do, which often isn't really up my street. Some bands do it well enough that they stand out from the pack and make music that I enjoy, even when I don't expect to.
Obviously since I'm writing about Skies Fell, they manage to fall into the small bunch that I enjoy. Statues is punchy and short, with a big anthemic chorus and staccato guitar riffs, and does it's job well. I prefer b-side Sharky and George though. It doesn't seem to be related to the crime busters of the sea, but does have a bit of a water theme to the lyrics. It is a wee bit overblown, but entertaining rather than annoyingly so.

Good stuff from a band that have raised the bar for themselves rather high already, fingers crossed they keep living up to the standards they've set themselves.

Skies Fell: Website - MySpace - Bandcamp

Statues is available August 9th from Bandcamp.

The BAMS World Cup

You might have noticed there's been some football on recently, but what you might not have noticed is some of the Scottish Blogs and Music Sites (the BAMS for short) showing a higher than normal desire for a North Korean full back to pick up a clean sheet, a Uruguay striker to net a brace, along with howls of outrage at an unjust booking or an injury time goal.

The reason for all this is simple, we've got a World Cup Fantasy League. With the semi finals a day away now seems a good time to check in, see who has been doing well, and mock those that have underachieved.

The Aye Tunes team has suffered from mixed fortunes. Stays at the top of the table have been sighted, but only briefly. Accidentaly using half of the allotted transfers while drunk one night did us no favours, neither did rash decisions made after a poor afternoon game, inspiring points chasing changes for the evening game which almost never worked well. That being said, team Aye Tunes has for the most part lurked around the higher parts of the table, and with four games to go sits n third place. The final games of the tournament will decide whether I can hold on to that spot, or plummet down the table. With all my transfers used up half my team will only have one meaningful game left, but I will be more interested in Saturday's Third/Forth Place Playoff match than I normally would.

Currently, the league looks a bit like this:

If by the end of the week you find that myself, Dear Scotland, The Tidal Wave of Indifference, Jocknroll, Elba Sessions and Favourite Son aren't talking to each other, or one of us is laughing at all the others, you'll know why.
Additionally Jockrock has an excuse for being bottom, Stuart hasn't been able to access his team since before the World Cup started. Jim Gellatly has no excuse though..

This Week's Records

A few good records out this week.

The Last Battle release their debut single Ruins on 17 Seconds Records.
Endor self release their debut album. To celebrate they are doing a couple of instore gigs, which I forgot to mention on the gig guide. On Monday they'll be in Avalanche in Edinburgh, before heading to LOVEmusic in Glasgow on Thursday. Predictably enough you can get the album on Bandcamp, as well as the usual record & download shops.

Kid Canaveral have their debut out today too. Keen eyed readers will be aware of that already, but there's no harm in reminding you. You can pick up a download here, or buy a CD here. Also, you can read my review of it here.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun has a new single, called Katy.

The Recovery Club have their debut single out too. Rest And Be Thankful is released today by Antimatter Music. It is quite lovely, as I mentioned during the last Round Up Reviews. You can get hold of it direct from the label, on Bandcamp, or from all the usual download shops.

American Men get in on the debut act too, with the Cool World EP.

droy is a later entry, just coming to my attention on Tuesday afternoon. Probably better know as David Roy from Dananananaykroyd, droy has made an instrumental summery indie pop record called Bird Drums. It is available on Bandcamp, and well worth the £4 asking price.

This Week's Gigs 5th - 11th July

I made it Edinburgh and back alive, you'll be pleased to know. My lighter didn't though, as soon as I arrived in Edinburgh the cheap lighter died on me, thankfully that wasn't some kind of omen.
Not much in the way of gigs this week, presumably most promoters reckon that punters will be saving up their money to stand in mud at the weekend. What's on is good though, so think of it more as a quality over quantity week.

Monday:

Scunner, Glasgow Glam Bangers and Creative Martyrs. Spangled Cabaret, Rio Cafe, Partick. Free.
A wee freebie to kick off the week.
The Corleones, A Day Overdue. Classic Grand. £6.

Tuesday:

French Wives and Rachel Sermanni. Brel.
Even though the West End Festival is finished it still manages to get in to the gig guide, with this gig rescheduled from a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday:

Kid Canaveral, Standard Fare and Water Wolves. The Flying Duck. £5.
I'd rather stab myself in the face than go to T In The Park, but happily Half My Heartbeats are providing an alternative for Saturday night. The Kid Canaveral album launch gig was a ton of fun, and this likely will be too.
Also on Saturday, in the Kitchen bit of The Flying Duck is the second Blog Rocking Beats night, where The Vinyl Villain and A North Country Bhoy will be playing some records, so long as they can remember how to work the DJ gear.