Month: April 2011

News, Gigs & Bits - April 27th

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As you may have noticed, there’s been a lack of activity for the past week or so. There’s many reasons, but I won’t bore you.

Anyway, no gig guide this week, instead a couple of the better ones will get a wee mention here instead, in the belated and probably brief news round-up.
Gigs:
Most recent weeks have had a couple of launch gigs, and this week is no exception.
First off, on Thursday Pensioner continue their album launch tour at Bloc in Glasgow. Entry is free, support comes from Monegreen and The Darien Venture.

On the same night there’s another launch of sorts, as the Communion night comes to Glasgow. Communion started off as a club night with live music in London in 2006. Now it is a fully fledged record label and put on gigs across the UK. The Glasgow launch takes place on Thursday at Stereo, with Ben Howard, Washington Irving and Kitty the Lion playing live.
On Friday The Seventeenth Century launch their second EP, The Seventeenth Century (Part Two) with a gig in Glasgow’s Oran Mor. The EP, like Part One, is only available on 10″ vinyl, which includes a free download code. Support at the launch gig comes from Sunshine Social and The Scottish Enlightenment, which should please any Sesame Street fans who insist on gigs being brought to them by the letter S. Tickets are available here, and you can listen to Banks of Home from the new EP on Bandcamp.

Also taking place on Friday is the latest Pin Up Nights. Never ones to miss a trick they’ll be taking inspiration from a certain wedding on Friday to bring you Pin Up Nights: Royal Rumble. Along with the usual hijinxs and DJs playing live are Skinny Villains and I’m Sick.

Edinburgh people don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. Most of your needs can be taken care of with the Grassmarket Festival taking place from Friday until Sunday. Lots more details on Facebook.
Finally for this week Sunday has both Get A Room at The Brunswick Hotel - lots more details on Facebook - another album launch, this time by The Miss’s at Lost Souls on Sauchiehall St, and Aerials Up are launching their new EP with a gig at King Tut’s, tickets available here.
Normal gig guide service should be resumed next week.
News:
Err, hardly anything really, I’ve not really been paying attention… Frightened Rabbit are no longer playing Belladrum, choosing instead to go and tour the US for a month with Death Cab For Cutie. I’ll pay much more attention in time for next week, I promise.
New Releases:
Doug Johnstone, who has tended to feature here more in his capacity as a writer, has opted to follow up the recent release of his new novel Smokeheads with an EP. Titled Keep It Afloat you can listen to and buy it over on Bandcamp.
Dave Hughes has the second installment of his Something Old, Something New series available here.
Eureka Machines follow up their award winning* debut album with a new one, Champion The Underdog. You can buy that all over the place, including iTunes. Some of you might like these chaps, but likely won’t have heard them, so visit their website and have a listen to the stuff on Soundcloud. *Aye Tunes Best Debut Album That Isn’t Scottish 2008. A rubbish award, but an award nonetheless.
Washington Irving have released their new single. You can but Abbey Gallop on iTunes.
Thank you for staying with this half arsed effort all the way to the end. Unless you stopped reading before this bit, in which case sod you.

Album Review: You Already Know - Petrol Money

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What’s that, You Already Know’s second album - Petrol Money - is out today? That can’t be right, that would mean I’m incredibly late with a review. Oh, balls. Yes, once again I thought I had loads of time to write about an album before it was released, then got lazy. My apologies.

Now, this is going to be tricky. You see, I bloody love You Already Know. Debut album Stop Whispering was one of my top albums of 2009. I think I’ve been at every gig they’ve played in Glasgow since this time last year. The opening track from Petrol Money already made it into my favourite songs of last year. I put it on a mixtape (well, mix CD) and everything. Yeah, it would be fair to say I’m a fan. What’s more is that nearly exactly a year ago (Record Store Day 2010, fact fans) I was handed a CD with demo versions of around half this album, so now a year on they’ve been listened to over and over, giving me plenty of time to fall in love with a lot of the songs here. After all that, can I write a fair review of Petrol Money, or will this just turn into a mildly embarrassing love letter to a band from a fan with a blog?
Can I do both? Petrol Money is, quite simply put, excellent. From the preamble above you could probably guess I’d say that, but I’m not making it up.
The album kicks off with the family friendly Let’s Fuck, and instantly makes it’s intentions clear. There will be huge, meaty riffs. Drums will pound and cymbals will crash. Things will get loud, make no mistake. Let’s Fuck hardly seems like an offer, more like a demand. In case there was any doubt it is followed on the album by Goliath, which is every bit as massive as the name implies. For a moment things almost then get too literal, as The Stride comes along like a big swaggering beast, but that doesn’t last long.
Amber Lamps feels like a breather compared to the relentless riffs that precede it. It is still a beast of a song, but one that plays more with melodies, wandering more into post rock territory. There’s a return to the thrashier element on The Gush which in both name and song sounds filthy. The Gush probably describes this review too, doesn’t it?
Meatshield is probably the pick of the album for me. Clocking in at around twice the length of the rest of the album, Meatshield is less immediate than the full on tracks, and much gentler than you might expect from the name, it is something quite glorious. The extra length allows the song to start off almost stripped back to nothing and slows the pace right down, before building gradually through the most blissful melodies. You know it will explode at some point, and after a few teases it does. It explodes gloriously, retaining those melodies, but allying them a wall of noise and fury that gives me goosebumps. Another change of pace gives a moment to recover, another moment of bliss, as the song builds to a dreamy conclusion. If you only listen to one thing on Petrol Money make it Meatshield. But why would you only listen to one thing?
Into and Over You keeps things a bit more restrained, while It Comes In Waves ends up being almost hypnotic, acting as a bit of gentle foreplay before Business Class rounds out the album by bringing back the noise in riotous style, blending funk, metal, and everything else they can think of until it reaches a furious climax.
Difficult second album? How do you follow a great debut? YAK make it look easy, by simply making an album even better than Stop Whispering. Oh, and once again they do it without a word. By the time you are a song or two in the lack of lyrics is an afterthought. The songs themselves are attention grabbing and engaging, even for someone like me who has spent far too much time learning the words to their favourite songs.
Petrol Money is a loud, shameless instrumental rock album, but crucial YAK know that making this kind of music is no excuse for turning out something stupid. In amongst the bludgeoning riffs there’s a perfect understanding of rhythm and melody keeping things balanced and interesting. YAK know exactly what they are doing, and they do it oh so well.
I warned you I liked the album…
Petrol Money is available now, with a launch gig at the Cathouse on April 22nd.

You Already Know: Website - Facebook - Bandcamp
<a href=”http://yaktracks.bandcamp.com/album/petrol-money”>Petrol Money by You Already Know</a>

News & Bits - April 18th

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As well as being a busy week for gigs (see the Gig Guide) it is also a hefty week for new releases, so those of you who are a bit skint might want to look away now. I’m skint, but I have to write this thing, so looking away isn’t an option. The list of new releases also reminds me how far behind I’ve fallen with reviews. Oops.

New Releases:
I’ll keep this brief, here’s what is out this week.
Johnny Reb - The Portugal Years. Free download from Bandcamp.
Le Reno Amps - Appetite. Buy from Bandcamp, iTunes, shops.
Nevada Base - Love In My Mind single. Buy from iTunes
Panda Su - I Begin EP. Buy from iTunes. Also, help yourself to a free download of Alphabet Song from the EP here.
Pareto - Paint The Silver EP. Buy from iTunes.
Popcorn Fiend - PF/EP. Buy from Bandcamp.
The Ray Summers - Russian Tearoom. Buy from iTunes
So Many Animal Calls - Eulogy EP. Buy from Bandcamp.
St Deluxe - 10″ Single. Buy in record shops, at gigs.
You Already Know - Petrol Money. Buy from Bandcamp, in shops.
Things About Words:
Valve is a new literary journal put together by a group of Strathclyde University honours students, mentored by Rodge Glass. Valve is a collection of fiction, poetry, journalism and art, and launches on June 16th. Ahead of the launch there is a showcase event taking place this Thursday at Mono in Glasgow, which promises reading, poetry, music and more. More info here.
You can find more details about Valve on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter.
Words Per Minute will shortly be celebrating their first birthday! I remember going along to that first one, propping myself up in a corner, still horribly hungover from the aftermath of the first Aye Tunes Vs Peenko gig days before, not really knowing what to expect. I could claim that I was literally blown away, but that would be bad use of the word literally, so I’ll leave such expressions to other blogs. I did however have a fantastic time at that, and many since. Any, to celebrate their first birthday the WPM team are inviting back some of their favourite performers of the first year, with the line up so far including Zorras, Adam Stafford, Kieran Hurley and Martin O’Connor. The birthday event takes place on May 8th at The Arches.
Bits:
Tonight’s Lykke Li gig at the Arches has been postponed due to a back injury. The gig will be rescheduled.
Guanoman continues to put his stuff on Bandcamp, all on a name your price basis.
Love, Susan released their new EP a few weeks ago, which is why it is down here and not up with the new releases. You can buy Look In The Mirror direct from the band here, or from the likes of eMusic and iTunes.
Tattie Records is a new Scottish DIY record label. Rather than wait until an entire album is ready, they will be releasing two track chunks in the build up. You can find more details on their website.
Plastic Animals release an EP in July. To tide you over until then they’ve put a new song, Maybe Tomorrow, on Bandcamp to download for free.
Raindeer has escaped from behind the Mitchell Museum drumkit. He has set himself the task of learning and recording a cover version every two weeks. You can watch/listen to/download his take on Roy Orbison here.
I have no idea who Phil the Skinny Pigeon is, but free download The Mice Will Pay was found on my regular Bandcamp trawls, and I quite like it. Download it here.
Colly Strings have released a new single, Take a Good Look, as a free download. You can find that, and more songs, here.
Blink 182 have rescheduled their summer tour dates. As a result they will no longer be playing at T in the Park. The Strokes, Slash and others have been added to the T line-up though.
Ah, visa issues, you rear your ugly head again. After messing up a few people’s plans for SXSW visa problems have now hit Mogwai, causing them to reschedule the first week of their US tour.
LightGuides have signed to Alcopop! Records. Good for them! They’ll be releasing a single in May and a mini-album in the summer.
Tom Vek will be playing The Classic Grand on June 14th. Tickets go on sale on Friday here. New single “A Chore” is also available right now from iTunes.
The Obligatory Dave Hughes News:
It is probably a good thing that I really enjoy Dave Hughses music, as he consistently gives me something to mention in this column, and it is always better to pimp tings I like. Anyway, this week’s Hughes News is his Something Old, Something New project. Rather than retype everything I’ll just send you to Dave’s site and let him explain it. The first installment is here, but not for long.

This Week’s Gigs: 18th - 24th April

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Ooh look, the sun is out. Instead I’m sat inside looking up gigs for you lot. You never say thanks, you never call, you never write. Not even a card in the post. Bunch of buggers.

Anyway, assuming you haven’t spent all your money on vinyl during Record Store Day yesterday, there’s a lot on this week worth going to. Also, don’t forget you are allowed to spend all your money in records shops every day, so don’t just do it the once then forget about them till next April.
Monday:
Lykke Li, Sarah Blasko. The Arches.
The Mummers, Kettle of Kites. King Tut’s. (Tickets)
Tuesday:
Kristina Cox, Raymond Elma, Bobby Deans. Pivo Pivo.
Wednesday:
Johnny Foreigner, The Whisky Works, The 10:04s. Nice N Sleazy. (Tickets)
Thursday:
Launch gig for the new Le Reno Amps album, Appetite. With that line up a good night is all but guaranteed.

That Fucking Tank, Battery Face, Mr Peppermint, Shield Your Eyes. Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh.
Friday:
Oh Friday, once again you are ripping the piss.

You Already Know, Bloodlunch, What The Blood Revealed. The Cathouse. Free.
YAK launch their brilliant second album with a free gig in the Catty. Oh God, i have to go to the Cathouse. I also need to run away early for the next gig…
So many Animal Calls release their first proper EP on Monday, with a launch gig on Friday. Good.
Ghosts of Progress, The Girobabies, Filthy Little Secret, The Retrofets. Captain’s Rest.
The Ghosties. Classic Grand.
Bad McNulty. Maggie Mays.
Roads To Siam, Verse Metrics, New Town Triptych. Stereo. (Tickets)
RM Hubbert, Adam Stearns Band, Galoshins. Forest Cafe, Edinburgh.
Kitty the Lion. Electric Circus, Edinburgh
Sebastian Dangerfield, We See Lights, Adam Thompson (We Were Promised Jetpacks). Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.
In case Edinburgh felt left out when it comes to launch gigs, here’s one for the rather fab Sebastian Dangerfield EP.
The Bad Books. Nobles Bar.
There will be other bands playing, but I don’t know who. Also, no link for The Bad Books as yet. This is their first gig, and one of the people in the band is the superbly awesome Mikey Morrison, formerly of Come on Gang!
Saturday:
You might think you’d get a break over the Easter weekend especially after that lengthly list of gigs on Friday. You’d be wrong.
Kid Canaveral, Thee Single Spy, Monster Island. Henry’s Cellar Bar.
Another Ides of Toad gig, and once again Matthew has a fine line-up.
Edinburgh School For The Deaf, Black Heart Generator, Verse Metrics. The Wee Red Bar.
Captain’s Rest 3rd birthday Weekend. The Captain’s Rest. 4pm - 1am.
The first day of the 3rd birthday of The Captain’s Rest being under PCL’s control. Line up includes: How Garbo Died, Mondegreen, Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete, Happy Vandals, Julia and the Doogans, Ben Butler and Mousepad, Wake the President.
St Deluxe, Bronto Skylift, PAWS. King Tut’s. (Tickets)
Outstanding. St Deluxe have a new single out on 10″ while Bronto will also be releasing their new 7″ on the night too. Hello to me buying records I can’t actually play then.
Fiction Faction. 13th Note.
Sunday:
Captain’s Rest Birthday.
2nd day of the birthday weekend, with Kid Canaveral, Mitchell Museum (y’know it is almost a year since Peenko and I put those two on in this venue, doesn’t time fly?), How To Swim, Heart Beats, theapplesofenergy, Dear Mountaineer.
S.A.V.I. Fundraiser: Kris Tennant, Mocker, SevenCaves, Matt Johnston. Apollo 23.
This gig is being put together to raise funds and awareness for the Sexual Assault Victims Initiative, which you can find out more about at the link above.
Eddy & the T-Bolts, Bloodlunch, Southpaw, Buzzbomb. Nice n Sleazy.

Gig Review: Wide Days - Letters, PAWS, Rachel Sermanni, Withered Hand, Capitals, GoGoBot

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I never made it along to Wide Days the other week. However, Fraser Doig did, and kindly sent over his report on the showcase gigs that took place in the evening to share. You can find more of Fraser’s writing here.
In the wake of an informative, yet exhausting day at the seminar-laden Wide Days festival in Edinburgh, I donned my notebook and pen and set off into the throng, the smell of anticipation filling the air to the start of what promises to be a thoroughly canorous evening in the heart of Scotland’s capital city.

The first port of call is the amorously secluded Sneaky Pete’s. Snuggled in between the glowering, dark appendages of the Cowgate, the venue, despite it’s tiny 100 (barely) capacity, manages to mop up a swab of endless Scottish talent on a regular basis, and has bags of character. Tonight, it plays host to festival openers LETTERS, and the behemoth-driven scuzz trio, PAWS.

After a bit of a futz around LETTERS shuffle on to the stage (if you can call it that), eyes filled with the sight of a packed crowd, off-duty and ready to let loose. The quintet certainly didn’t digress from the task, providing punchy pop tunes and feisty summer jangles, soaked with clamorings that were resonant with inclinations of veteran Scottish indie maestros We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Next on the bill were Scotland’s answer to Dinosaur Jr. PAWS, who have been making (very loud) noises in the underground grunge movement of late, with impressive slots supporting heroes of the genus Yuck, Ty Segall and Wavves. From the moment Phillip Taylor’s fingers touched the strings of his cherry red “pussy-strat”, full on carnage was released, resulting in a barrage of sonic buzz that literally shook the walls and had my heart pumping. They hit the crowd for sixes by producing a scrummy torrent of fuzzy distortion out of their living,
breathing instruments. Powering through an electric body of some melodic tasters such as “Salem” off their ‘Mermaid’ EP, augmented by some visceral, face-numbing angst-y riffs, their feedback nourished set was a resounding success, leaving everyone exiting the club looking as though they’d just had the best sex of their lives.

The dying April sun finally making its bed behind the captivating architecture of Edinburgh city as I made my way along to our second venue in the twilight, eager to arrive at the penultimate Wide Days haunt, Cabaret Voltaire.

First to grace the stage in this 450 capacity stronghold was Highland-based songstress RACHEL SERMANNI. The 19 year old has already racked up a scorching resume; travelling the States at SXSW, supporting slots with KT Tunstall and Newton Faulkner, and peaking the interest of contemporaries Mumford and Sons to name a few of her accolades. It’s almost impossible not to
fall completely in love with Rachel, her sharp collection of lyrical, folk-infused ballads lay bare the soul of a genuine performer, who’s intricate finger-plucking radiates around the room creating a warm glow in everyone present.

Buzzed from his return from America and finally at liberty to put all that “visa crap” behind him, the tumultuous congregation greet Dan Willson, better known under the moniker Withered Hand on to the stage for his first post-SXSW appearance. Rather than opting for the more familiar lone performer guise, he is accompanied by several of his friends and colleagues, providing a grumbling bass line, adventurous bluegrass influences and subtle classical flavours to his euphonious endeavours. Those accustomed to his more weathered appearance may have been confused as to his newly groomed, clean shaven look, but these questions were soon buried as he unearths a story explaining that his former-self was “the spitting-image” of his US manager’s ex-wife. Withered Hand proved to be a strong favourite with the baying audience,
his quivering, spritely vocals turning heads from the back of the room, his whispered, clandestine lyrics delivered with all the intensity of a raging bonfire, cementing claims that this man’s songwriting abilities can be regarded in the same esteem as some of the other great enigmatic lyricists such as Daniel Johnston, who’s shadowy stylings have had more than a marginal influence on Mr. Willson.

Third stop off of the night was Electric Circus, a grimy looking bizarre-o club that was perfect for closing acts CAPITALS and GOGOBOT and a suitable finishing line to the evening’s palpable good-natured festivities.

A surprisingly minimal set-up commandeered by electro-pop group CAPITALS comprised of synths, guitar and vocals, that defied the dynamic and enriched sound they produced. Taut drum loops churned in with clobbering bass lines paved the way for Angus Carbarn’s ethereal vocals to gleam through, with a little touch of the Brandon Flowers inflection to it.

Now, if Glasgow-based GOGOBOTS know much about anything, the one thing they can do beyond a shadow of a doubt, is party. Taking their cues from the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Pendulum, they deliver a bombastic, emotionally driven wave of pure energy that floods the dark confines of the club inviting even the cynical naysayers to allow themselves a cheeky nod of the head.

The Wide Days festival is a great way for musicians and friends to share their knowledge and create a community of talent, a noble cause if ever there was one. Definitely pencilled in for next year.

Review by Fraser Doig.
PAWS photo by Tiffany Barber
More Info:
Letters
PAWS
Capitals
GoGoBot

News & Bits - April 12th

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Time for a wee round up of new releases and other goings on. All the news about Record Store Day this Saturday can be found off in a post of its own here.

New Releases:
Originally available as part of the deluxe pre-order version of their debut album, Conquering Animal Sound have now made Kammerspiel Remixed available to buy as a download. There’s some very pretty art prints available too. Both can be found at the Gizeh Records shop.
The Darien Venture‘s EP, Indications, is out now. Available from all the usual places and directly from Overlook Records. I’ve got a review of this needing finished off, but the short version amounts to “the EP is very good, buy a copy”.
Esperanza release their debut album, Permanent Ska. You can buy it on Bandcamp.
Something Beginning With L release their debut EP, The Listed Building EP. This is really good, and includes a cover of a Magoo song, which is highly approve of. Again, you can find it on Bandcamp.
Spring Offensive have a new single, A Stutter and a Start. All good download places, etc.
Verse Metrics have released the song Horoscopes, taken from their VM1 EP. You can get the track in exchange for some Twitter or Facebook clicking here.
All Change:
Seems to be the season for bands reinventing themselves. First it was The Social Services becoming Tall Tales, now another pair of bands have changed name.
Barn Owl are now Silver Caves, which will save me being very confused when the other Barn Owl are mentioned. They’ve also kindly put a couple of tracks up on Bandcamp to download for free.
After changing their line up a bit BMovie Junkies have also gone and changed their name. They are now Bad McNulty, and you can find them on Facebook and Soundcloud.
Japan Fundraisers:
As promised last week, some info on a few things to raise money for the relief effort in Japan.
Love Letter To Japan features 18 tracks from Scottish artists, some previously unavailable, some hard to find, including the first new song from Eugenius in 15 years. You can buy the album for a limited time from Bandcamp.
Songs For The Land of the Rising Sun is an album that first went on sale at the Endor gig in the Captain’s Rest the other week. The album was put together by Pelmet Nights and Gathering Whispers. A digital release is coming this week, I’ll update with links when I have them.
On May 3rd there’s another fundraising gig taking place. The gig is at The Thirteenth Note, with Mitchell Museum, Dave Hughes and the Renegade Folk Punk Band (making yet another appearance in one of my news posts) and Lady North on the bill.

Bits:
There isn’t a great deal else to report and Bandcamp trawling hasn’t thrown up much this week.
mini50 Records have a free to download Spring Sampler though, which is worth grabbing, here.
Over on Song, by Toad you can listen to and watch a brilliant Toad Session with Thirty Pounds of Bone. You should, it is really good. Find it here.
Looking ahead a bit, Aerials Up are planning the release of their first EP. They’ll be playing at King Tut’s on April 30th with the EP, Superglue, coming out the next day. Tickets for the Glasgow gig are available here, and I’ll have more about the EP nearer the time of release.

Gig Review: How Garbo Died

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How Garbo Died.

Pivo Pivo, Glasgow.
April 9th 2011.

I’d already been to a gig on Saturday night, but an early finish there offered me the chance to make the short walk from The Admiral to Pivo Pivo just in time to wrap my eyes and ears round How Garbo Died. This late arrival meant I missed Audiodeluxe and It Girl, so don’t read anything into the lack of comment on them, I just didn’t see them.
How Garbo Died are a pretty uncompromising pair of men at the best of times. When confronted with the two main things that blight almost every gig I attend in Pivo Pivo - ropey sound and endless chatter - they react with the kind of level headedness you’d expect. That is, none at all.
If there’s any kind of rules about treating an audience with the respect they deserve then the poor crowd in Pivo Pivo can’t complain about the contempt How Garbo Died dished out. They opt for a tactic something along the lines of if people won’t listen, deafen them.
When not lost in muddy sound, or when trying to leave lasting mental scars, How Garbo Died do get to show they have songs to back up the attitude though. Jagged guitars, occasionally beaten out of a seemingly failing instrument allied with loops and soaring vocals give things a certain post apocalyptic feel at times, and you get the idea they wouldn’t be all that bothered if a large slice of humanity was wiped off the face of the Earth either.
An attempt at silencing the talking hordes - a venomous holler unrepeatable on a family blog - backfires slightly, as it sends me into waves of laughter, adding to the crowd noise, but means this is a gig I’m not likely to forget in a while.
More chaos follows, with excursions off the stage taking place, perhaps an attempt to personally deafen the ignorant before How Garbo Died close things with My Life In Statistics. Imagine Arab Strap in a really bad mood and you are in the right ballpark.
This was one of those gigs that sounds nightmarish when written down, but was something quite thrilling and brilliant to witness. Uncompromising and brutal, but brilliant.
How Garbo Died certainly aren’t easy listening and may well scare off more people than they convert, but this is no bad thing. They certainly stand out a mile from the legions of jangly guitared matching shirts and haircuts crowd. I just hope when the apocalypse does come they let me stick around with them afterwards.
How Garbo Died: Facebook - Bandcamp

News & Bits - Record Store Day Special

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Record Store Day came into being in 2007 when over 700 independent stores in the USA came together to celebrate their unique culture. The UK followed suit and 2011 will see the third celebration of the UK’s unique independent sector. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, meet & greets with artists, DJ’s, in store quizzes and many other events.

A fair few of the independent shops in Scotland have things going on on Saturday, such as:
Love Music Glasgow
1:30 The Hollows - new Glasgow band signed to ex-Primal Screamer Jim Beattie’s new label POP PILLS
2:00 Mr Kil - the former Grim Northern Social now signed to Neon Tetra
2:30
3:00 Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers
3:30 The Zips
4:00 Admiral Fallow
4:30 Pearl of Pearl & the Puppets
5:00 Ceilidh Time !! We will be popping open the fizz and drinking with our friends CLAMJAMFRIE for the last hour or so. Squeezebox, fiddle, guitars- a good laugh guaranteed from Joe Logue and the gang from this traditional ceilidh band from Lochwinnoch.
Live performances from:
Iain Shaw (from 2pm)
Frightened Rabbit (from 5pm, full band)
Palms (from 7pm)
The Membranes (from 9pm)
Plus homebaking, activities and floor fillers from djs Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub), Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand tbc) & Russell Elder (monorail music)

Frightened Rabbit, Penguins Kill Polar Bears and Gordon McIntyre of Ballboy all instore with The Last Battle playing next door at Red Dog.

There’s lots more going on across the country, so visit the Events page of the Record Store Day website for more details.
In addition there’s a whole host of RSD exclusive releases. Full info here, but from Scottish artists we have:
Frightened Rabbit/The Twilight Sad - Split Cassette
Possibly one of the most desired released, particularly by me. The Fat Cat Records team have been hard at work making these up up - see here and here for the evidence - and they are limited to 777 copies. Simply entitled ‘Demos’, the cassettes contain very early and previously unheard music from Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad. Also included in there is The Twilight Sad covering Frightened Rabbit’s Be Less Rude, and renaming it Ravishing Rick Rude for the occasion. Tapes come with a download code too.
Edwyn Collins & The Drums - In Your Eyes/To Die For 7″
Franz Ferdinand - Covers EP 12″
Contains cover versions of Franz Ferdinand songs by Debbie Harry, LCD Soundsystem, Peaches, ESG and Stephen Merritt.
James Yorkston - It’s Lovely To Be Heard 10″
Lone Pigeon - 28 Secret Tracks 12″
Primal Scream - Screamadelica Triple Vinyl.
The View - I Need That Record 7″
St Deluxe will also be releasing their new 3 track single, on a limited 10″

This Week’s Gigs: 11th - 17th April

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Gigs for the week, in a guide format. I’m quite short on witty banter this week. No change there then.

Monday:
As well as being half of Conquering Animal Sound, an Inverness fan and very tall, The Japanese War Effort is also ace. Free entry too, bonus.
UPDATE: This has been cancelled, so don’t go.
Tuesday:
The Seventeenth Century. Mono. Free.
If you don’t know what I think of the Seventeenth Century by now you just haven’t been paying attention. I think they’ll be playing a bit more stripped back than usual for this gig.
Wednesday:
Jeniferever, Where We Lay Our Heads. The Captain’s Rest. (Tickets)
Toy Horses, Luigi Strauss, Alkotron. King Tut’s. (Tickets)
Thursday:
Lone Pigeon, The Pictish Trail. Pilrig St Pauls, Edinburgh.
Pop Goes The Revolution Live: Skinny Villains, Napoleon In Rags, Male Pattern Band, Butterflies on Strings. Captain’s Rest.
Shambles Miller, Where We Lay Our Heads (acoustic). The Free Hetherington.
A wee bit of free acoustic fun at The Free Hetherington. I’ve said free too much now.
Nevada Base, Alpine Ski Champion. Nice n Sleazy.
Six Storeys High, People, Places, Maps. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh.
Literary Death Match. The Arches.
Not a gig, but likely to be good and I don’t just do music. Especially when it means I can sneak in a plug for Cargo Publishing. More details on Facebook.
Paul Vickers and The Leg, Zed Penguin. Sneaky Pete’s.
Friday:
The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, This Silent Forest, Little Fire. King Tut’s. (Tickets)
Pianos Become The Teeth, Your Neighbour The Liar, Departures, Suis La Lune, Notebooks. Nice N Sleazy.
First band on at 11, free before 12, carnage till 3.
Foxgang, Monsters on Movie Posters, Stu Goodall Band. The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh.
Saturday:
Record Store Day! Info on instores etc will be in a separate post on Monday.
Popcorn Fiend, Battery Face, Public Spaces. Captain’s Rest.
A very special one off full band reunion for Popcorn Fiend, to celebrate the launch of their new EP.
Verse Metrics, Black International, LightGuides, The Sailplanes. Relentless Garage, London.
Admittedly it is a bit unlikely I’ll have any Londoners looking at the blog for something to do on Saturday, but worth a try.
Wrongnote, Monstro. Nice N Sleazy.
Ryan Bisland, Brigade. Altnaharra Hotel, Altnaharra

News & Bits - April 5th

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Not a great deal to report this week, let’s have a look and see what is out and what’s generally going on.

Next week’s news will, hopefully, have a fair chunk devoted to Record Store Day, so any bands, record shops or anyone else out there reading this - if you have something planned, send me the details!
New Releases:
Futuristic Retro Champions play their final gigs this weekend, and release the retrospective album Love and Lemonade. the 25 track album is available from iTunes, with a limited number of CDs on sale at the gigs on Friday and Saturday.
Glasvegas release their second album, EUPHORIC ///HEARTBREAK\\\. Haven’t heard it, can I slag it just for the abuse of capital letters? Anyway, you can buy it from iTunes, Amazon
, HMV, yadda yadda yadda.
Member of the Wedding have a new double A-side single, Disorder/Rich Tapestry. Again, available from iTunes.
That seems to be it. There’s a fair few things out in the next few weeks, including excellent albums from Le Reno Amps, Take a Worm For a Walk Week and You Already Know, but we’ll get to them later.
A few of the charity things mentioned recently will be released fully next week, but I’ll save that for the appropriate news round-up.
News & Other Stuff:
The Insider Festival have started announcing their line up for this year. Bands announced so far include The Last Battle, Bronto Skylift, French Wives, How To Swim, Let’s Talk About Trees and loads more, along with bear baiting, cock fighting and badger wrestling, apparently. Tickets go on sale soon, full info on the website.
The Douglas Firs release their debut album Happy as a Windless Flag via our pals at Armellodie Records on May 16th, but you can order a copy now and get an immediate download here. Someone lend me a fiver to buy it? No? Sod you then.
The deadline for entering this year’s TBreak contest is close. Entries close on Monday 11th April.
A quick plug for the competition - Favourite Son has weighed in with a few thoughts on the Kassidy debate. You should still read my gig guide instead of his though.
Bandcamp trawling hasn’t thrown up much this week either, here’s a few things I’ve found or been pointed to:
The Deadly Winters have a free download single available here. An self titled album follows on the 8th, with a launch gig at the One Below in Edinburgh.
The Spook School, who I meant to mention last week, have a couple of songs here. I like these.
Lyon Reve are from further afield, but include an online pal of mine, so get a wee plug. The tunes are good though, you can find them here.
Thank goodness for Chemikal Underground for sending out their latest newsletter today, giving me a few things to pinch for myself. You can, and should, sign up to the newsletter yourself here, but here’s the basics…
FOUND‘s next single will be Anti Climb Paint. It will be released on a playable chocolate 7″. Yes, you read that correctly, chocolate. Also, I need to get round to writing a Factorycraft review, don’t I?
Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells release Everything’s Getting Older on May 9th. The limited edition triple vinyl with loads of extra stuff is tempting me, even though I don’t own a record player.
Finally, another wee plug for thing we like combining: Black International will be live in session on Ally McCrae’s BBC Introducing show on Radio 1 at midnight this Sunday night/Monday morning.
That’s about it for this week I reckon.