A Quick Plug For Oliver Stays

Today has rather turned in to a day of shilling stuff, so while I’m at it, here’s one more bit of pimping.
Oliver Stays are giving away a free track, The Unevolved. I wrote a wee bit about them a while ago, and rather like the band, so I’ll pass on their instructions on how to get it.

1 – Myspace users – Go to MySpace and click to download the
track in the box above our top friends list
2 – Twitter users – Go to http://www.twitter.com/oliverstays and RT our tweet about the
free download
3 – Facebook users – Go to http://www.facebook.com/oliverstays and leave us a comment
with your e-mail address and we’ll e-mail it to you.
4 – E-mail – Simply
send us an e-mail at [email protected] asking for the track!

Please note that all ways result in you surrendering a valid e-mail
address to us. This will automatically be added to our mailing list. If you’d
rather not be on the mailing list, e-mail us at [email protected] with
the subject UNSUBSCRIBE.

Oliver Stays have a few gigs coming up too, put on my the fab Detour Scotland people.

You can catch them on April 7th at Bar Bloc in Glasgow, April 9th at Madhatters Inverness and April 10th at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh.

What Are You Doing Sunday Baby?

As if the number of gigs coming up over the rest of the week wasn’t insane enough, Easter Sunday also pokes it’s head up, waves, and shouts “I’ve got good gigs too!” lie an attention seeking friend that is hard to say no to.

First of all the afternoon sees the second Hazy Recollections show. The line up features The Injuns, Rachel Sermanni and her fiddle Pixies, Aye Tunes favourites Julia and the Doogans and resident host, Findlay Napier, who will be playing with the Bar Room Mountaineers. Hop over here for more info.

On Sunday night you could do a lot worse than take your chocolate filled body along to Nice n Sleazy for Mount Eerie. Mount Eerie fell off my radar a bit when they stopped being The Microphones, aside from their appearance on David Shringley’s Worried Noodles, but knowing this gig was coming up I gave myself a quick crash course and it turns out I’ve missed tons of good stuff. That’ll teach me to stop paying attention.
Support comes from No Kids, who I don’t know much about, but they were on Worried Noodles too. Rounding out the bill are The Black and White Verse, and the fantastic Lava Experiments.

Hinterland Picks + Full Timetable - UPDATED

Our blog buddies over at The Pop Cop have managed to get hold of the running times for Saturday’s Hinterland Festival. Rather than rip off their scoop I’ll send you over there to have a look for yourself, then you can come back here and find out who I think is worth going to see.
[Update - The timetable has been officially released, you can find it at the bottom of the post]
[Update #2 - Some of the times for The Arches were incorrect, and have been changed. Also all the gigs at Rockers have moved to Ivory Blacks.]

Back? Lovely.
Make Sparks kick off the day, and are a great band to start with. It helps that they are just about the only band I want to see that don’t clash with anyone else right enough. It’s very tempting to stay in Rockers once Make Sparks are done for Little Yellow Ukuleles and The Darien Venture, both big favourites round these parts, but instead I’ll be sprinting round the corner to The Sub Club for The Kays Lavelle. I’ve only caught the Kays live once before, so I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

From then on, things get tricky, as all the bands I want to see start to overlap.
Kitty The Lion would have been high on my list of bands to see, but they start 15 minutes before The Kays Lavelle finish, at the venue furthest away, so I’ll need to wait and see them another time.
Midnight Lion follow The Kays Lavelle at The Sub Club, so chances are I’ll be sticking around for a bit of them. Skipping out early will be required though, as there’s another dash around another corner to catch one of the must see bands of the day, Ambulances.
This is Ambulances first Glasgow gig, if I’m not mistaken, and one I’m looking forward to a lot.

From there things rapidly start to resemble a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Do you stay at The Arches for the always excellent French Wives? Skip back to The Sub Club for Johnny Foreigner, the only one of the “big” bands on the line-up that interest me? Or leg it to Pivo Pivo and hope you can squeeze in in time for Panda Su? The last option is the most likely for me, I do love me some Panda Su.

After that options start to thin out drastically, so I’ll be staying in Pivo Pivo for The Boy Who Trapped The Sun I reckon. My recent review of his Home EP might have been cranky, but I do like his songs and I’m keen to catch him live.

After that? Well, nothing really. Maybe a pint in MacSorley’s while Silver Columns do their last DJ set of the day. Everyone I want to see is crammed on early, all in competition with each other, leaving everyone playing after 22:30 as the ones I have no interest in. A surprisingly early return home is on the cards.

Also, if anyone happens to fancy a drink or two before things kick off on Saturday, do give me a shout. Myself and a couple of the other Scottish bloggers are planning a wee meet up, and everyone is welcome to come along for a drink and a blether. Where and when is still to be decided, but let us know if you feel like joining us.
ALSO myself and Peenko will have tickets on us for our gig on April 30th, so if you want one of those without wanting to buy one from here then let us know, we’ll hook you up.

Hinterland Timetable: (Aye Tunes reccomended bands are in red)

The Arches Main Room (hosted by Radio Magnetic)
8.30 - 9.30 British Sea Power
10.00 - 11.00 Mystery Jets
11.00 - 11.30 Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
11.30 - 1.00 Friendly Fires DJ Set
1.00 - 2.00 Joe Goddard Hot Chip DJ Set
2.00 - 3.00 Grecoroman Soundsystem

The Arches Dance Arch (hosted by LuckyMe & Ballers Social Club)
8.30 - 9.00 Ambulances
9.20 - 9.50 French Wives
10.20 - 11.20 Jeffrey Lewis
11.20 - 12.20 Eclair FiFi
12.20 - 1.30 Marcus Nasty
1.30 - 3am Cooly G

Macsorleys (hosted by Moshi Moshi)
6.30 - 7.00 Mazes
7.00 - 7.45 Silver Columns DJ
7.45 - 8.15 Spectrals
8.15 - 8.30 Silver Columns DJ
8.30 - 9.15 Is Tropical
9.15 - 9.45 Silver Columns DJ
9.45 - 10.30 Hot Club de Paris
10.30 - 11 Silver Columns DJ

Sub Club
6.30 - 7.15 The Kays Lavelle
7.45 - 8.30 Midnight Lion
9.00 - 9.45 Johnny Foreigner

Pivo Pivo
7.00 - 7.30 Emmas Imagination
7.45 - 8.15 Alan McKim
8.45 - 9.30 Panda Su
9.45 - 10.30 The Boy Who Trapped The Sun

The Admiral (hosted by Gigwise)
7.00 - 7.30 Kitty The Lion
8.00 - 8.45 Bleech
9.00 - 10.00 Pulled Apart By Horses

~~Rockers~~ Ivory Blacks
6.00 - 6.30 Make Sparks
7.00 - 7.30 Little Yellow Ukuleles
8.00 - 8.30 The Darien Venture

For a handy cut out and keep picture timetable, click here.

Chris Bradley - At the Outpost Album Review

Sometimes Aberfedly member Chris Bradley releases his second solo album on Monday. While Aberfeldy tend towards slightly twee, chirpy indie pop on this album Bradley shows much more of a Country tinged Americana influence.

Chris Bradley knows his way around a catchy tune, and his always excellent voice has an effortless quality to it, but the album as a whole is a bit of a mixed bag. For the most part the songs are pleasant enough, but nothing really stands out and grabs my attention, only Not What It Was leaving any real impression on me.

At times the album is a little too laid back for my liking, and also can feel a little cold. Just my personal tastes being different, but I’d have liked a couple of gear changes and feel some of the songs could benefit from being a bit rougher round the edges.

At the Outpost is a perfectly competent album, it’s just not one that really strikes a chord with me.

Chris Bradley: MySpace - Website

At the Outpost is released on March 29, 2010 by 17 Seconds Records, on CD and download.

Music For Maggie’s - Here Comes The Sun

A collection of independent Glasgow bands and artists have come together for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, Love Maggie’s Day on an album entitled Here Comes The Sun. Maggie’s have been encouraging supporters new and old to do something they love, or something for someone they love, to raise funds and awareness for Maggie’s, on or around 26th March for their very first Love Maggie’s Day.

Artists contributing to the compilation are The Moth & The Mirror, Sonny Marvello, Mitchell Museum, Little Eskimos, Futuristic Retro Champions, Madaleine Pritchard, Roddy Hart, Julia & the Doogans, The Ray Summers, The Seventeenth Century, Pooch, The Second Hand Marching Band and more.

Here Comes The Sun will be launched at Maggie’s Glasgow, 10 Dumbarton Road on March 28 with acoustic sets from Pooch, Sonny Marvello, Little Eskimos and The Cinnamons. Doors open at 6pm with tickets costing £5. Bring your own drinks.

If you can’t make it along you can also buy the CD here.

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.

Pareto - Your Heart is Ready for Home EP Review

I should know better than to prejudge bands based on brief snippets of songs by now, but I must admit I’m occasionally guilty of it. Pareto are a band that have generally fallen in to the camp of bands that I’ve never particularly wanted to listen to. Not through any real fault of their own, more that most of the Scottish bands at the rockier end of the scale don’t really excite me all that much, so it’s an area I don’t spend much time investigating or listening to. It’s probably fair to say that I’m a bit older than the crowd these kind of bands appeal to as well, which is probably a factor.
As much as I like getting submissions for reviews, I wasn’t too fussed then when Pareto sent of their upcoming EP Your Heart is Ready for Home then, especially since the “to be reviewed” pile is already stacked pretty high.

All of which is a very long way of saying I’m sorry Pareto, I misjudged you.
There’s the crunching guitars, crashing cymbals and meaty chords I expected, along with shouty singalong choruses, start/stop dynamics and call and return vocals that go with them, particularly on the first two tracks, but carried out with enough technique and charisma that rather than hurrying to find the skip button I’m quite happy to go with it. The first two songs might use all the clichés I thought they would, but they manage to put them together better than most.
The second half EP stands out more for me as Pareto shift a gear for a more textured, melodic sound. While the first half was good, the second half is better, and a good bit more diverse.

Your Heart is Ready for Home might have sat on the submissions pile for a wee while, but I’m really glad it found it’s way out of there and into my head eventually.
The songs on the EP maybe aren’t mindblowing or revolutionary, but they are distinctive enough that they don’t come across as yet another copycat band. More importantly the EP is solid, thoroughly enjoyable, and had my old head bobbing along atop my creaky neck. I might have a couple of quibbles with the whole package, but they are very minor ones.

Pareto - MySpace

Pareto launch their Your Heart is Ready for Home EP with a gig at The Courtyard in Glasgow on the 16th of April in association with Detour Scotland where copies of the debut EP will be available for purchase.
The digital release will be shortly after, on the 19th of April via all major download sites.

Findo Gask Say Goodbye

Findo Gask have announced they are to split. That’s the band by the way, not the Perthshire village, it’s status remains the same.

Over on the band’s MySpace they say:

It has come to an end, or at least it will have done pretty soon. The tyres were shot out a while ago, the engine is kaput, and we’re slowly coasting to a stand still.
Before that happens, we will finish the album we should have finished ages ago.
Then we will do a show at a venue in Glasgow.
Then we’re going to have a holiday!

Before they go you can catch Findo Gask, along with members of Remember Remember, Divorce, Findo Gask, Guanoman, The Royal We, Bad Bad Men, Phat Trophies, Prayer Rug, The Paraffins, Splashy The Blame Shifter and more, covering songs by girl groups at The Flying Duck next Thursday - April 1st - for Way of the Womb.

We here at Aye Tunes would like to wish all the members of Findo Gask all the best in their future endeavours, and hope they have a nice holiday.

Shambles Miller: Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard EP Review

Shambles Miller got in touch with me a wee while ago to ask me to review this, his debut EP. Guess what? If you come to Aye Tunes often you’ll know the answer to that question is, of course, that it went into the pile of stuff and didn’t get dealt with very promptly. In the meantime Mr Miller has been all over the place, getting plays from Jim Gellatly and doing a wee session for Glasgow PodcART, so chances are you’ve heard of him by now.

Well, tough luck, because now I’m going to chip in with my thoughts on the EP.
First of all, a guy with a guitar is a pretty hard sell for me. Too many nights of sitting through open mics, not to mention the terrible busker who occasionally takes up residence on Paisley’s High Street means my ears have heard a lot of it, of wildy difficult quality, so I’m never really over eager to listen to another man bashing away at his acoustic guitar.

The EP kicks off with Pssst! a ramshackle affair that lives up to the Shambles name, but endearingly so. Simple enough melodies and tongue in cheeks storytelling lyrics, combined with a real sense of warmth make Pssst! a cute, enjoyable little song, which is good enough for me to give the rest of the EP a go and not just stop there.
Robots is a bit more polished, with a bit of a punky folk edge to it, but retains the warmth of Pssst! It’s possibly the best song about robots I’ve heard in ages. Even if it isn’t really about robots.
Nothing Unfolding is my least favourite of the bunch, but I’m not really sure why. It may be that being the longest of the songs on the EP it suffered a little from my attention wandering a smidge before the end. It’s still a perfectly good song though, I’m just as fond of it as the others.
My Best Friend Is An Outsider is punchy, with some double bass masquerading as cello giving things a bit of a melancholy air, before everything comes to a satisfyingly shouty end.

Shambles Vs. The Dragonwizard is a decent little debut, and there’s plenty about both Shambles and his songs to set him aside from the pack.

Shambles Miller: MySpace - Website
Buy Shambles Vs. the Dragonwizard on CD here, or download here.

Teenage Fanclub Return, Summer Gets Instantly Better

Just because half of the Internet has already beaten me to it is no reason to neglect something new from one of my favourite bands.

When tour dates and a new album from Teenage Fanclub were announced recently there was much excitement round here. The Fannies have been favourites since way back when I was working what my own taste in music was. As I mentioned a few days ago they are a massive reason that I went to see Alex Chilton many years ago.
After a long wait - it’s been five years since Man Made - there’s a new album almost ready to arrive. Just in time fr the summer too. Summer and Teenage Fanclub go hand in hand for me. When the sun is splitting the sky and temperatures are rising, admittedly not that common in Scotland, it’s hard to beat getting a bit of Grand Prix in your ears.

There’s a download of new track Baby Lee available at the Merge website here. It’s not a wild departure for the past, nor something revolutionary and groundbreaking. It is perfect Teenage Fanclub though, and it is as welcome as a warm hug from a much missed friend.

Shadows will be released on May 31st in the UK and Europe, and in North America on June 8th.
Around the same time the band head off on tour. Confirmed dates so far are:
May 1st – London Koko – Camden Crawl Headline
May 27th – Manchester Academy 2
May 28th – Sheffield Leadmill
May 30th – Dublin The Academy
June 1st – Aberdeen The Warehouse
June 2nd – Glasgow O2 ABC
June 3rd – Edinburgh The Picture House
June 4th – Leeds The Cockpit
June 6th – Bristol Academy
June 7th – Birmingham Academy 2

Teenage Fanclub Website

Aye Tunes

Breathing air since 1979

Month: March 2010