Month: June 2010

Kid Canaveral: Shouting At Wildlife - Album Review

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I’ve talked enough about Kid Canaveral enough round here that they probably don’t need any introduction by now, but just in case, Kid Canaveral are David, Kate, Rose and Scott. After half a dozen singles and EPs, their debut album Shouting At Wildlife is ready for release. After four 7″ singles and a couple of releases on cassette this on is, happily, available on CD rather than, say, 8 Track.
Scottish indie pop isn’t the trendiest thing in the World at the moment, but that doesn’t prevent it from always having a large place in my heart. Besides, when executed well, who cares if it is trendy? I lack the hairstyle to be a hipster anyway.
How well is the execution then? Well, pretty close to flawless really. The album is a mix between the familiar and the new, most of the previous singles put in an appearance but in new forms, while the majority of the songs are new. A fresh lick of paint takes nothing away from the charm of the older songs, and does save from getting a feeling of “I own this already” that might put some off.
If the opening four tracks of this album don’t make you feel happy you were either already delighted when you started listening, or you have a heart of stone. Upbeat, uplifting, occasionally raucous but always melodic doesn’t just sum up the opening salvo, but it true for most of the album.
Five tracks in the first old favourite pops up, in the shape of debut single Smash Hits. I’ve listened to Smash Hits more times than I’d care to count, but its wit, storytelling lyrics and melody never, ever gets old. Also; handclaps. Oh how I love those handclaps.
What would be the end of side 1 and the beginning of side 2 slows things down a bit with Quiet Things Are Quiet Now and And Another Thing!! The slower, less cheery songs provide a nice breather halfway through, and leave no doubt that while Kid Canaveral do upbeat and happy brilliantly, they don’t just do that.
From there on the rest of the album does a fine job mixing the unlifting and the melancholy, with Couldn’t Dance - the title of which I live up to whenever it is played live and I’m there - popping up amongst the less familiar songs like an old friend, before the tender and reflective Her Hair Hangs Down and a reprise of Good Morning round things off on a beautiful, gentle note.
My hopes for this album were high, and happily they weren’t just met, but exceeded.
Kid Canaveral serve up more aces than that really long tennis match did in a fraction of the time, and with far more smiles. Or if you want a different tortured metaphor, Shouting At Wildlife doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does remind you why you liked the wheel in the first place.

Need more convincing? Have a little listen to Smash Hits below.

05 Smash Hits by StraightToVideoRecords

Kid Canaveral: Website - Bandcamp - MySpace
Shouting At Wildlife is released on CD and download by Straight To Video Records on July 5th. However, if you pre-order the album you’ll get some extra goodies. Get it direct from the band here. Kid Canaveral play an album launch gig at The Roxy Art House on July 3rd, tickets for that can be bought from the same place as the album pre-order. I’m even making a rare Edinburgh trip for it and everything, so I can annoy folk in a whole different city than usual.

Cancel The Astronauts: Funny For A Girl - EP Review

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A bit over a year since I babbled incoherently (seriously, you think I’m bad now? Go read posts from a year ago, I made no sense) about their first EP Cancel The Astronauts have finally gone and released another one. What’s it like? I’m glad you asked, I’ll try and babble a bit more coherently about this one.
Title track Funny For A Girl bubbles along nicely enough, but has its upbeat indie pop rump shaking thunder stolen a bit by the track that follows it, She Said She Loves Somebody Else. Where Funny For A Girl inspires head bobbing She Said… notches things up to full on arm flailing and shape throwing.
So far so good, although the neighbours might confuse the dodgy dancing with some kind of fit, so draw the curtains first. I like a Korg as much as the next man, but there is only so much I can take, so it is no bad thing that it mostly slips into the background for Things I Shouldn’t Tell You. The song itself goes through a few changes of pace too, with fast bits, slower bits, and a bit of tenderness all taking turns at the forefront.

Standing Still keeps things slow and tender for the most part, right up until everything kicks off briefly towards the end. Probably my favourite thing on here. What it lacks in sing along and catchiness value it more than makes up for in heart, and goes a long way to showing that Cancel The Astronauts don’t just do bubbly indie pop.
Listen rounds out the package by bringing back the catchy melodies and inspiring more shoogling of body parts in a vague impression of dancing, and finishes off the EP nicely.

All good stuff, hopefully we don’t have another year for more new material either!
Cancel The Astronauts: Website - MySpace - Facebook - Bandcamp
Cancel The Astronauts - Funny For A Girl is available on CD and download now from Bandcamp.

Storm The Charts

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From the people behind Rage Against The Machine for Christmas Number 1 comes Storm The Charts, another Facebook campaign to get certain songs in the charts.
Now, if anyone has ever heard me on the subject they’ll know that I can rant for hours about my dislike of these stunts, and of Facebook campaigns in general. Why am I bothering to mention this one then? Well, there’s bands I like involved this time round, so I’ve flipped the hypocrite switch.

All the details can be found here, but what it all boils down to is that 40 independent artists have been picked, 20 by a panel, 20 by public voting, and the plan is to get as many as possible into the charts on Sunday, July 4th, what with it being Independence Day and all.
You can find the full 40 artists selected here, I’ll just be concentrating on the Scots.
The ones that interest me, along with a link to buy the relevant song, are:

This Week’s Records (and some from last week)

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I half forgot to do one of these last week. I saw half forgot, because by the time I got round to checking I couldn’t find much to mention, so I didn’t bother.
There’s a bit more this week though, so lets have a look.

Any Color Black - Answer EP. Available from all the usual download stores, and Bandcamp.
Ghost Pants - Static Heart. One I should have mentioned last week. Ghost Pants is Paul Carlin, this is his second Ghost Pants EP, and it is available for free, as is the first one, from Bandcamp.
Super Adventure Club - Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle. Another that never got a mention last week, though I did plug the launch gig for the single. Available at all good records shops, download sites and, you guessed it, Bandcamp.
Paws - Violent Vicky Violet. This came out in the middle of last week, is lovely, and can be had for free from Wiseblood Industries. The Wiseblood site might set off Malware alarms in your browser, it does in mine, but don’t worry, it is safe.
Penguins Kill Polar Bears - Dawn EP. CDs available here, downloads from Bandcamp once again. I should get paid to advertise Bandcamp.
Cancel The Astronauts - Funny For A Girl. Long awaited new release from the first band that ever sent me something to review. Obviously, Bandcamp is the place to go to get the new EP.
Julia and the Doogans - Come Home EP. This came out a few weeks ago, I think I gave it a little mention at the time. Anyway, it is now available from iTunes, eMusic et al, in addition to that bloody Bandcamp.
The A Forest - Polar White. And finally, a new single from The A Forest. Available free, from guess where.
Kid Canaveral don’t release Shouting At Wildlife, their debut album, until next week, but if you pre-order it from their website you get a bunch of extra swag that you won’t get elsewhere. So, y’know, go do that.
Mitchell Museum are a couple of weeks away from releasing their debut album, The Peters Port Memorial Service, but you can get a pre-order in for that too. The album is released on vinyl, the gatefold sleeve looks very pretty, and you’ll get a code to download it too.
I think that covers about everything from the last week or two that should have been mentioned. Plenty of stuff around for you to spend your pocket money on then, and I’ve had to type Bandcamp more times than is strictly healthy.

This Week’s Gigs 28th June - 4th July

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There seems to be hardly anything on this week, so as well as being a bit later than usual the gig guide will be pretty short this week too. If you’ve got a gig on this week that you think I should have mentioned but I haven’t then you should have told me, I’m not telepathic.

Monday:
Folk The System - Julia Doogan, Shambles Miller, Andrew Lindsay, Martin Docherty and Linky Gray. 13th Note, £5.
The 13th Note plays host to a whole bunch of folkers.
Wednesday:
Pablo Eskimo, probably some others but I’ll be buggered if I can find details. Pivo Pivo.
Thursday:
Elba Sessions Presents - Campfires In Winter, Yusuf Azak and RM Hubbert. The Liquid Ship, free.
The Elba Sessions gigs do always tend to have good line ups, but this one is particularly eye catching. Campfires In Winter played Peenko Vs Aye Tunes for us, and are pals of the blog, so obviously I’m biased there, but they wouldn’t have been asked to do our gig if we didn’t also like their music. I’ve not had a proper listen to Yusuf Azak really, but hear lots of encouraging things about him. RM Hubbert is just plain excellent. I saw Hubby on Friday night, playing a gig in an incredibly warm flat, it was tons of fun. All that for the bargain price of free makes this one look very good indeed.
The Last Battle, Meursault (solo), Jonnie Common. The Wee Red Bar, £5.
One for the Edinburgh people, this is the launch gig for The Last Battle’s new single, Ruins. The single is out next Monday, but if you go to the launch gig you can pick one up early.
Friday:
Endor, Over The Wall and Washington Irving. Stereo.
Launch gig for Endor’s new album. A good album it is too, I really have to get round to doing a write up on it. Top notch support too.
Ace City Racers. Summer Pool Party, Gourock Outdoor Pool.
I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time that either Gourock or an outdoor pool have featured on Aye Tunes in any way. Anyway, Ace City Racers are playing live, the action kicks off at 6pm, and it is dead cheap.
Saturday:
Kid Canaveral, The Scottish Enlightenment and Come On Gang! plus DJs. The Roxy Room, £5.
It takes something a wee bit special to lure me out of my Glasgow comfort zone to make the road trip to Edinburgh, and this fits the bill. Kid Canaveral are launching their debut album, Shouting At Wildlife, on Saturday. To help they’ve called in some excellent support acts, and some special guest DJs in the form of Cancel The Astronauts and some guy called Peenko. All of which means I get to make an arse of myself in Edinburgh instead of Glasgow for a nice wee change.
Tickets can be bought in advance at the Kid Canaveral website. While you are there you can pre-order the album, and get all sorts of special extra stuff.
Night Noise Team, Patricia Panther, Digital Dinosaur, 30 Second Wank Line. Box, free.
I’ve been wanting to see Night Noise Team for a while, so typically they are playing in Glasgow the one time I’m in Edinburgh. If you are in Glasgow in Saturday you should go along though.
Sunday:
It is the first Sunday of the month, that means it is time for Words Per Minute! I’m likely to miss WPM this month, so if some of you can go along in my place for me that would be very nice of you. Performing this month are Simon Sylvester, Jane Flett and Gabriella Bennett, live beatboxing from Bigg Taj, performance poetry from Drew Taylor and his alter ego Markus Makavelian, and a live music from Swimmer One. As usual it takes place at Creation Studios, and all the details and other stuff can be found at the Words Per Minute website.

Round Up Reviews #2

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The inbox is starting to overflow again with the wealth of submissions I’ve had recently, coupled with me being a very bad blogger and not doing nearly enough writing of late, which means it must be time for another installment of Round Up Reviews.
Basically short write ups on stuff I can’t or won’t have a chance to write about in detail. The first one is here, should you want to read it.
The Recovery Club - Rest And Be Thankful (Single)
So tender and fragile you suspect a strong wind would take it off into the air, this is a pretty gorgeous wee single. Not one to get the blood pumping, but a lovely wee listen. Must stop calling songs lovely, but all three tracks on the single fit the word. Also, hop over to Kowalskiy’s blog to read a wee interview with them.
Rest And Be Thankful is released on July 5th by Antimatter Music.

Fiona Soe Paing - Deep Song:

Sort of ethereal electronica. Reminds me a wee bit of Portishead, helped out by Fiona’s striking, distinctive vocals. Quite lovely really.
Deep Song is included on Songs From No Man’s Land EP, available soon here.

Comma - Comma EP
Intricate math/post-rock that reminds me a bit of the parts of Tortoise that I like? Yeah, I’ll have some f that please. If you need vocals with your music then stay away, it is all instrumental. Otherwise, check the EP out, it’s a really strong debut.
Comma’s self titled debut EP is available as a free download from Black Lantern Music.
Super Adventure Club - Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle (Single)
Mental. Brilliant. I have almost no idea how to describe Super Adventure Club without using those two words. A-side Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle sounds like about five different songs stuck together, in a good way. There’s a pair of non album b-sides too, which are a bit less manic, but only a bit. Massively entertaining, and highly recommended.
Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle is out now on CD & download from Armellodie Records, you can buy it here.

The Son(s) - Radar

Light and airy, 60sish, folky pop. They’ve got a certain knack for luring you in to a song that starts off all nice and gentle before hitting you with something unexpected too, be it crashing drums, a squeal of electric guitar or something else. Cracking vocal harmonies too, I love a harmony. Really good, and also rather lovely.
The Radar EP is available as a free download from Bandcamp.
Dems - Jarndyce Vs Jarndyce
I’ve been meaning to give this a mention for ages, but as noted at the start, I’m not a very good blogger. Dems is a one man Edinburgh based but not really Scottish outfit. This is a cracking wee electro pop number, with more hooks than a prize fight. Ace wee song, go get it.
Jarndyce Vs Jarndyce can be downloaded free from Soundcloud or Bandcamp.
Mammoeth - LapDog
I’ll be getting back to Mammoeth more later, a little closer to the release date of the upcoming Nascent album, but for now here;s a little teaser for that record. Lapdog is the first track on the album, and sets the tone nicely. A slice of gorgeous sun-kissed pop, perfect for the nice sunny weather. Puts me in mind a bit of Super Furry Animals at their poppiest, which is no bad thing at all.
Nascent is released on Juy 26th, you can pre-order and stream the album on Bandcamp.
Xavier and the Bastard - Ask Us About Hip-Hop
Stumbled across this while trawling Bandcamp at 3am one night/morning while bored, something I do too often to really be healthy. First two tracks are alright, but not really my thing, thrashy rock. The closing track, a cover of MIA’s Born Free is dumb fun which put a smile on my face though, and so merits a wee mention here at least.
Ask Us About Hip-Hop is available as a free download from Bandcamp.
Nothing really awful seems to have found its way to me recently, or if it has I haven’t kept hold of it, so there’s nothing for me to slate this time round. That doesn’t do any good to my “he likes everything” reputation. Someone send me something rubbish I can rip into please. Preferably by a band who I’ll never meet, or who are incapable of giving me a sound beating at some point.

Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II

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I let the date slip on my birthday post on Friday, and haven’t exactly been secretive about goings on, but now everything has been confirmed I can finally let the whole cat out of the bag.

After the success of the first one Aye Tunes Vs Peenko is returning for another gig night.
It’ll be taking place at The Thirteenth Note in Glasgow this time, a venue which I often seem to spend more time in than I do at home, and as such a natural choice for somewhere I’d want to do a gig.
The gig is happening on Saturday July 17th, so you only have to listen to me go on about it for a little under a month. But go on about it I shall.

Playing live on the night will be We’re Only Afraid of NYC, Randolph’s Leap and Little Yellow Ukuleles. You can of course expect me to talk about those three bands a lot more in the coming days and weeks, but in the meantime have a listen to, and help yourself to a free download, a song from each of them.

Unfortunately I don’t think the giant from Twin Peaks will be on hand, you’ll have to settle for me and Peenko instead.

This Week’s Gigs 21st - 27th June

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Hello everyone, I’m back from the pub. I’ve got a massive amount of things to get caught up on this week, so let’s hurry up and get the gig guide out of the way first of all.

Monday:
Super Adventure Club, United Fruit and Rodent Emporium. Captain’s Rest.
Launch gig for the new SAC single, Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle. Good single, but the title is a bloody nightmare to say when drunk.
Tuesday:
Aerials Up, Captain’s Rest
The West End Festival continues to dominate the gig calendar this week, as you can see already.
Wednesday:
Paws, Adam Stafford and Bronto Skylift. Bloc, free.
Paws play a launch gig for new single Violent Vicky Violet, and rope in label boss Adam Stafford to support, along with the brilliant and noisy as Hell Bronto Skylift. Free entry makes it near impossible to say no to this one.
Washington Irving, Palace Ballet. Brel
Meanwhile, back in the West End…
Thursday:
Silver Shakes Presents: Vendor Defender, Nevada Base, Gdansk, The Cinnamons, White Heath and Little Fire. Captain’s Rest.
Blimey, that’s quite a line up.
Shambles Miller, Andrew Lindsay. La Cheetah Club, £5.
Lou Hickey, Sean G. ABC2, £6.
Scotland’s Most Eligible Woman 2010 (not, as we called her in the pub last night, Most Available Woman, which is a much less prestigious title) takes to the stage in a gig presented by Club Noir to show off her solo material.
Friday:
The Noise Abatement Society, with Yahweh, RM Hubbert, The Japanese War Effort and Field Mouse. Somewhere in the West End of Glasgow.
An intriguing one this. The line up is cracking, but the venue is currently being kept secret, the only hints given are that it will be at “a unique residential venue in the West End of Glasgow”, with the location being revealed to ticket holders before the gig (since telling them after the gig would obviously be a bit pointless). Cue me getting hopelessly lost on Friday night, I don’t know where anything is in the west end. Tickets are very limited and available here. You’ll also get a download of a song by each artist playing, which is arguably worth the £4 alone.
Pin Up Nights: Foxgang, Little Yellow Ukuleles, Casino Brag. Flying Duck.
It is the end of the month, so it is time for Pinup Nights. In addition to the three bands playing (including future Aye Tunes Vs Peenko co-stars Little Yellow Ukuleles) there’s the usual host of DJs too. Head along to the website for all the details, including how to get cut price entry.
Saturday:
PKPB launch their new EP, Dawn.
Sunday:
Final offering from the West End Festival for the week, and it is another tasty one.

Happy Birthday To Me

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Aye, 31 today. I don’t look a day over 40.

Also, a big happy birthday to the other JC, The Vinyl Villain, who shares the day with me.
I’ll be spending much of the day sat in Bloc drinking cheap lager I think, before possibly going to one of the many gigs that are on in Glasgow. Do feel free to send presents, or stop by to buy me a pint. It’s ok, I know no one will.
Normal service will be resumed when I sober up. Sunday maybe? After all, on Saturday I have to go back out to this:

So this post isn’t just me mentioning how I’m now official Thirty Something, here’s a little bit of news too…
Aye Tunes Vs Peenko II will be taking place at The 13th Note, Glasgow, on July 17th. That’s all I can say for now, there’s a few details still to be sorted out, but it should hopefully be another good one.

This Week’s Records

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What is there to spend your money on this week then?

Astral Planes (y’know, formerly Paper Planes) have a mini album out. Sit Still Child rounds up a couple of their previous singles, and four new songs. Cracking band, I’ll be getting hold of a copy of this ASAP.
Frightened Rabbit release the third single from The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Living in Colour is out today, backed with an alternative version and a remix.
Mitchell Museum warm up for the release of their debut album next month by releasing Warning Bells as a single. If like me you’ve bought this previously buy it again, it’s been rerecorded and sounds a bit different now. The single is available from iTunes, Amazon.co.uk, eMusic and all the other usual suspects. To encourage you to spend a little money there are six FREE remixes available, including ones by We Were Promised Jetpacks and Coach-a-cola, AKA band manager/ex-De Rosa/Aye Tunes cousin Chris Connick, you can find more details on how to get them here.
North Atlantic Oscillation have a new single, Ceiling Poem.
Tommy Reilly releases his second album. HELLO! I’m Tommy Reilly is out now, released by Euphonios.
Maple Leaves released a new single a few weeks ago, but this is the first time I’ve remembered to plug it. Tapestry is available on download and limited edition CD, the best place to buy it is Bandcamp.