Friday Freebies

Zoey Van Goey
Tomorrow night at Stereo, Zoey Van Goey are going to be celebrating the released of their very limited edition remix EP. The EP which is called ‘Sexy Rave Eye Zooming’, is limited to just 350 copies, features remixes from local luminaries such as We Were Promised Jetpacks, FOUND, Jonnie Common, Adam Stafford, GRNR, K-Projekt, Gareth Griffiths, On The Fly, and Miaoux Miaoux. The only way to get a physical copy of one of the CDs is by going to the gig, which also features special guests Kid Canaveral, live remixes from GRNR, plus visuals from Katy Wilson.
In anticipation of the gig/EP you can download We Were Promised Jetpacks remix of City Is Exploding for free on Bandcamp.

Stevie Jackson
Not one to rest on his laurels, Belle & Sebastian's Stevie Jackson has been busy working away on his debut album, (I Can't Get No) Stevie Jackson. As a wee taster of what you can expect he's made the track 'Man of God' available for a limited period as a free download. If this is anything to go by then this could be one cracking wee album, it certainly sounds a lot more enjoyable than his full time band have done in recent years.

I Build Collapsible Mountains
The older I get, the more time flies by, I could have sworn that the forthcoming I Build Collapsible Mountains album wasn't out for months yet. It is in fact out on the 11th of October, almost exactly a year to the day after I released his debut EP. I have heard the album and can vouch that it's a fucking great wee album, you don't have to take my word for it though as you can download the lead track from the album, Face Of Thunder Grin, for free here.

The True Gents
Perthshire musical collective, The True Gents' are giving away their new single as a free download here (right click save). Fans of folk like Washington Irving and the French Wives should really check these guys out.

Asian Dub Foundation
Bloody hell, who knew that Asian Dub Foundation were still going, obviously not fucking me that's who. It's always nice when something like this from your past comes along, it reminds me of fun times dancing like a loon ball to 'Free Satpal Ram', ah those were good times. Anyway, they band have released an exclusive free remix of their track “Where’s All The Money Done?” which you can find here.

Bird And The Monkey
Scottish left-field pop duo, Bird And The Monkey have their new Ossie Dean EP free to download on their homepage. I have only had a chance to listen to the EP once, but I will certainly be going back for a few more listens as this is rather lovely stuff.

Honey
The Glasgow dream poppers have just released their new single 'Nowhere Floating', as a free download on their Bandcamp page. If you like what you hear then you can catch the band live on the following dates: G2 - September 30th, The Captain's Rest - October 9th, Club 520 - October 21st and Stairway - November 4th.

Tanera Heights
Glasgow three piece, Tanera Heights have made their new E.P free to download, you can grab yourself a copy here.

Drunk Mule
Bloody hell, Drunk Mule aren't ones for sitting on their hands, having only just recently posted up an albums worth of free material, they've now just made new track 'Crash Test Y'self' free to download on Bandcamp.

Roy Moller - Marc Riley Session (27/09/11)

Track Listing
1. Downstate Update
2. Another Man's God
3. In A Meeting

Download

Scots Way-Hay #69 -Trapped In Kansas

I have been meaning to post about Trapped in Kansas for ages, but I kept waiting until I heard some of their new material before I stuck anything up. Having been impressed by their earlier releases, the Glasgow based four piece really have stepped up to the plate with their new EP, 'How to Go'. Having appeared at goNorth, T in the Park, Wickerman and Rockness, they certainly a band who are on the up. In anticipation of the release of their forthcoming EP, I caught up with the boys to get them to introduce themselves to you all...


Would you care to introduce yourself to the Peenko readers?

Hi we're Trapped in Kansas, we consist of Finn Le Marinel, Chris Ward, Colin O'Hara & Iain Symes.


It’s that question that all bands seem to hate answering, but how would you describe the music you make?

That's a tough question for us, we've never really sat down at any point and said let's make music like this or let's be indie or rock. We've always just done what comes to us, people seem happy to pigeon hole us as math rock and we're fine with that but I think there is certainly a wider variety of stuff going on with our music. I'd feel like we'd be cheating a math rock purist if we were solely billed as math rock, there is definitely elements of indie, rock, post-rock, emo wedged in there for good measure too!


How did the band come together then?

Well we all lived together at uni, we hung out and started a band, as you do, and we felt we had something good and a wee bit different. We got offered to play our first show at King Tut's and from then on we've just been working away hard to craft what we do.


So where does the band name come from then?

It comes from a bad travelling experience, we were talking about worst places you could imagine to be stuck in, Finn has actually been trapped in Kansas before and that's how the whole thing began.


Is there a certain process that goes into the way you write songs

Usually Finn or Colin will come to practise with a idea/riff and we'll build the rest up from there. Finn will normally have a few ideas kicking about in his head, we take song writing as organically as possible, if something doesn't work, we all have an idea to go in there, so invariably we end up trying loads of different parts to see what fits best. We kind of start with a core idea/riff and then weave everything else around it.


What artists would you say have had the biggest influence on the band?

I'd say people like this town needs guns, maps and atlases, Manchester Orchestra, Biffy Clyro...generally people who make interesting music.


What would you like someone who’s listening to your music for the first time to take away from your music?

That we're interesting, a bit different and hopefully that we're good.


Do you feel that where you come from has had much of an impact on the music that you create?

Yes, very much so. We're all from different parts of the country and we all had very different lives growing up and I think that has really helped to expand our creative range in the band. Finn spent alto of his youth travelling round with his family. He spent time living in America, Cyprus and the UK, Iain is from Co. Claire in Ireland, Colin grew up in Clydebank and Chris is from Glenrothes on the east coast of Scotland.


What has been your most memorable gig to date, (be it good or bad)?

I'd probably say T in the Park as it was all a bit crazy and as a band the most exciting weekend of our lives.


Aside from world domination, what are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond?

Well we're releasing our EP on the 3rd of October, we've got a couple of launch shows coming on the 27th in Edinburgh and the 2nd in Glasgow, we've got Oxjam in October over in Edinburgh and we're planning a tour in December. We're probably going back to the studio early next year to record our follow up EP and then hopefully do some extensive touring and festivals next summer.


Trapped In Kansas - I Was Born

Sadly Trapped In Kansas have had to postpone their EP launch gig which was due to take place on Sunday coming. The boys have promised that they'll make up for it by playing a 'mega show' in Glasgow in the very near future. The EP will be available to buy in physical format and digital download via the bands website from Monday the 3rd of October, be quick mind as they sold out of the pre-release within a matter of hours.

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Discopolis - Ally McCrae Session (26/09/11)

Track Listing
1. Summer Nightmares
2. Zenithobia
3. Removed By Request
4. When Ghosts Get Angry

Download

Martin John Henry - The Other Half of Everything: Track by track

Out of all of the albums that have been released this year, this is the one that I have been looking forward to the most. The untimely split of De Rosa a couple of years back was a bit of a kick in the nuts for the Scottish music scene, so it's great to have Martin back making music. With the release of this debut album, 'The Other Half of Everything', Martin has picked up the baton where De Rosa left off and he's sprinted off into the distance with one of the finest albums you're likely to hear in 2011. In anticipation of the release of the album on the 10th of October I asked him do this wee track by track for me, so I guess I'll shut up now leave you with the wise words of Mr Henry and how this awesome wee album came to be...


Breathing Space

I originally thought this would be an interlude somewhere, hence the title. The lyrics were improvised at the point of singing the demo, and remained unchanged. I'm surprised at how good they turned out. When it came to track list the album, no other song could have been first. The opening words just seemed to evoke the landscape, a familiar but strange one. You're transported somewhere else. It also mentions brochs, which are referenced a couple of times on this album. Susan Appelbe played an amazing plucked cello part on this.

Span

This song came from a demo that was written around the time of the last De Rosa album, and it shares the electronic influence with 'Nocturne for an Absentee' from that album. The first verse is about going out for a night out in Gourock on the Firth of Clyde with James and Neil from De Rosa. The words at the big crescendo were inspired by a dream I had about bridges that were expansive and stretched across big vortexes of space-time. I felt that euphoric trance was the only genre of music that could sum up this image.

I Love Map

My wife and I went for a holiday in Skye a few years ago. At the time she lived in the south of England and we embarked on a long distance relationship maintained by phone calls, the M6 and low fare bus journeys. I wrote this song for her after the Skye holiday, just after she went back home to London. It's nice to have written a proper love song, I never thought I'd do that. It fits this album well with the references to places and maps. I had to make sure that it was really big and bold sounding so it didn't sound too soppy.

Ribbon on a Bough

The image of ribbons hung from trees is one that came from a walk I took in a cemetery in Lanarkshire. I had never seen this before, but at the infant part of the graveyard all the trees were decorated with ribbons and wind chimes. It was one of those windy but sunny days and it was just so full of movement, colour and sound. Anyway, I was moved by this image and I wanted to write something that was celebratory but aware of death. There are some religious references in the second verse. Also, I was listening to Robyn a lot and I wanted to see if I could write something really catchy. I don't know if it worked yet, is it catchy?

Seventh Song

This is the second song that references religion. It was written in the wee small hours at a time (of life and of day) that religious people might turn to prayer. I wanted to make a song that had the pensive and reflective quality of a prayer. It has a dual synthesiser/guitar solo. Wow.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Two people I love were fighting and one shouted in anger... “Choose your words carefully!”. I thought it was hilarious and I decided it would make a great title for a song like this. The intro is really different and came when I was playing around with plucked cello samples and a delay pedal. I had been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin and Colleen. The loud part is my first ever use of bar chords in a song. I love them now.

New Maps

My uncle John showed me how to make the best paper aeroplanes in the world EVER. They had wings, a cockpit and a tail, everything. You could make them out of one sheet of A4 paper. He died a while ago and it really affected me and my family. He was the kindest, most gentle person I have ever met. I don't remember how to make the planes any more and it makes me sad. The lyrics also reference another of my songs called Evelyn. That song is about my mother's sister who died at birth. There are loads of things going on in this song. It's quite personal to me and the most difficult to write about. There are a lot of family secrets swirling around in my words.

Only Colour

I wrote the bulk of this song when I was about eighteen or nineteen. It sat unfinished for about a decade then I came back to it and wrote the “under my roof...” section and rearranged the whole thing. It's about the realisation that we're all just energy condensed, but paradoxically we're very solid, and all the stuff that is going on around us – in this case in Scotland – is real, hard, and can knock hell out of you if you're not careful. I love the production on this, Andy Miller did an amazing job. Note the second broch reference. I'm fascinated by how the Scottish landscape has been used for millennia by countless different cultures. I read somewhere that people don't really know if brochs were military installations or religious sites.

First Light

I read a short story by Annie Dillard that really beautifully put across this idea that when we grow up, the child that we were dies. Our personality dies gradually and is replaced completely by our adult one. I don't know or care if this is true or not, the story was amazing and beautifully written. In the song I say that I knew I would die when I grew up. I also reference my hometown and my early adventures playing on railway lines. The song has one of my best lines, “Here's your colour temperature kids!”. James Woodside played some great mandolin on this one. Audio engineering fact: Every floor tom hit on this song has an exhaled breath triggered on top.

A Perfect Landing

On my 22^nd birthday I went to a pub in Motherwell with Chris Connick from De Rosa and my pal Allan Carroll. I drank about ten pints of lager and had a shot with every one. Leaving the pub I ran like a bullet into the metal shutter of a Chinese restaurant, badly damaging myself in the collision. Chris carried me home. I woke up with my whole family looking at me in disgust and my leg swollen like a football. I was in crutches for weeks. In the lyrics I suggest that the devil was talking to me, making me do these stupid things, I subconsciously stole the idea of taking the devil's advice from Malcolm Middleton's 'Devil and the Angel' and the television programme Jeremy Kyle.

There's a Phantom Hiding in My Loft

I was teaching in a small village in Lanarkshire when I wrote this song. I overheard an 11-year-old boy talking to his friend when he said “My pal's got a phantom hiding in his loft.” I kid you not. There was a real feeling of darkness about the countryside around there. Like it never really got completely lit by the sun. The personality in the song is based on someone real. I still worry about them.

Martin John Henry - The Other Half of Everything by gargleblastrecords

The Other Half of Everything is officially released on the 10th of October on Gargleblast Records, you can pre-order your copy now via Martin's Bandcamp page. While you're at it you can also pick yourself up a copy of his hand made limited edition single, 'Ribbon on a Bough b​/​w The Other Half of Everything'.

Martin celebrates the release of his debut solo album with a headline show at Stereo in Glasgow on Saturday the 8th of October. Support on the evening comes from two of my favourite artists, The Seventeenth Century and Adam Stafford. The gig is is part of a series of 'Live in Stereo' gigs from Threads of Sound, which are being recorded with tracks from each band being released on iTunes. Tickets for the gig are available in advance from Monorail Records in Glasgow.

Fresh Meat Monday - Age of Consent

Would you care to introduce yourself?

I am Joe Reeves and I play guitar, sampler and sing in Age of Consent.

How would you describe the music you make?

Two-person gothic-pop.

How did you start out making music?

We began in a band called Shitdisco. that was fun for, like 5 years or so, then we decided to make a change. with Age of Consent, we like to emphasise the darker elements of pop music. songs such as Tainted Love by Gloria Jones / Soft Cell, A Forest by The Cure and We Share our Mother's Health by The Knife are the roots of where we get our influences.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

During the last 10 years I lost both my parents, so I feel as a natural way of dealing with this, I gravitate to universal feelings of loss, whether it be that of the unrequited love of an unworkable relationship or the death of someone you love. We then try and couple this with melodies and choruses you sing along to. Whether we do this well or not is for the audience to decide.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Hymns and sermons of loss & redemption that build in intensity towards the end.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

In terms of new music I've been listening to the new Twin Shadow album which is great. so is Jamie Smith (XX) / Rainbow Arabia / Ford & Lopitan and Joe Goddard's new stuff is great too. On top of that, as a band, we periodically go through periods of 'classic' bands such as, Jesus and Mary Chain, Suicide, The Cure to more recent stuff like The Knife and Animal Collective.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

We have just released our 1st single, 'The Beach' on limited edition 7" vinyl & download. We are just about to begin working on our second single and are booking in multiple European shows & some others further afield. Here's the video for The Beach and you can buy it here

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We've Got It Covered #68

The one thing that I never fully appreciated when I first started blogging was how forward looking I would be in terms of consuming music. Far too often you find yourself listening to something, then after two or three listens you're off to find you're next 'hit'. I guess it's that unhealthy drive amongst my peers to be the first person to unearth the next big thing. Then again it could be argued that is also one of the major driving forces which motivates music bloggers to write. As much as I enjoy the thrill of the chase in listening to new music, every so often I have to remind myself to go back and listen to things from even just last year. So this morning as I was stuck in work doing some much needed over time, I decided to go back and listen to Call To Mind's self titled EP which came out just last year. Now it's been a while since we last heard anything from the Highlands finest 'glacial pop' outfit, but I am sure a few of you will be pleased to learn that work is due to start on their debut album which should hopefully be out next year (or so their singer Jamie tells me). If you haven't heard the EP before then it's well worth checking out, you can download it for free on their Bandcamp. If the EP is anything to go by then we should be in for one massive fucking treat when the album lands.
Which brings us to this weeks cover which of course comes from Call To Mind and their take on the Cocteau Twins classic Cherry Coloured Funk, which was recorded as part of a session they did for Vic Galloway a while back. If you have a hunt about on this site you should be able to find the full session to download. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...

Call To Mind-Cherry Coloured Funk (Cocteau Twins Cover)

Friday Freebies

The Twilight Sad
It really feel likes ages since we last heard anything from Kilsyth's finest, fear not though as they are set to release their third full-length album, ‘No One Can Ever Know’, ‘Kill It In The Morning’ in February next year. As a taster of what to expect they've made new song ‘Kill It In The Morning’ free to download from the band’s website alongside a wee trailer. Personally I think if this is the direction that the new album is going to take then it's quite a bold step, there's still a lot of noise going on. It still sounds dark and atmospheric, but with bits of electronic in there, personally I am looking forward to hearing more.

Sparrow & the Workshop
The clothes brand Penguin seem to be the latest fashion brand to have decided to jump on board with bands. All you really to know is that you can download ''You don't trust anyone' from Sparrow & the Workshop for free here. There are also tracks from folk like Young Legionnaire and Bad Bad Lazarus, plus an array of other stuff that I have never heard of.

Sigur Rós
In November Sigur Rós are set to release their first ever live album, 'Inni', which is also being released as a live documentary film. Released on an array of different formats, ranging from Blue-Ray to vinyl, the whole thing was recorded over two nights at the Ally Pally in London. In anticipation of its release they've made the track 'festival' free to download.

Odd Box Records
If you haven't come across Odd Box Records before, then now's a good time for you to do some much need catching up. The London based DIY label have made a 32 song compilation available for free download, it's a great way to get yourself acquainted with some awesome new music that you probably won't have heard before.

Luke Leighfield and Jose Vanders
If you missed it earlier in the week, The Pop Cop posted up a blog about Jose Vanders which is well worth checking out. All you really need to know from me is that Jose duetted with Luke Leighfield to record a this beautiful cover of Bon Iver's Blindsided which is free to download on Bandcamp.

Pronto Mama
If you like your indie pop to be catchy with a touch quirkiness, then Glasgow 5 piece, Pronto Mama should be right up your street. What I presume must be there debut self titled single is free to download on their Bandcamp, do yourself a favour and get it downloaded.

Chin Yi
It used to be that I was pretty clued up on music from all over the world, however, since I started this blog almost 3 years ago, my knowledge of anything that isn't Scottish is now pretty piss poor. Every so often though I dare to step out of my comfort zone to see what else is out there, after a tip off from a friend I somehow found myself listening to Chin Yi, a dark psychedelic band who hail from Granada in Spain. Surprisingly I found myself actually getting quite into their new EP which is free to download on their Bandcamp page. Fans of Nick Cave should hopefully find this is right up their street.

The Ugly Club
Talking of bands outwith these shores, New Jersey outfit The Ugly Club have just made their new Visions of Tall Girl EP free to download on their Bandcamp. Fans of Broken Bells and My Morning Jacket might want to check this one out.

The Mademoiselle
Glasgow trio, The Mademoiselle, have made their self titled EP free to download on their Bandcamp.

Mata Macdonald
If you like your Americana/Country then Mata Macdonald might be the man for you, hailing from Stornoway, the singer songwriter has just released his debut EP. You can get a taster of it by downloading his song '3 Men' for nowt via his Soundcloud.

Flying MaN sHARK
The Edinburgh alt-pop rockers have made their self titled debut album free to download on their Bandcamp page.

Lovers Turn to Monsters
Not one to rest on his laurels, Kyle Wood aka Lovers Turn to Monsters is one prolific fella, having released his last album 'Beyond Glasgow Howls' back in June of this year. He's now recorded a new album, 'Pandas, Hearts, Blankets & Birds' which he's posted up for free download on Bandcamp.

Wild Beasts
Fresh from playing at The Electric Frog festival in Glasgow a couple of weeks back, Stereogum have posted up new track 'Thankless Thing' from Wild Beasts here.

Scots Way-Hay #68 - Sojourner

I can be a bit of a broken record at times, I like to think of it less as me just repeating myself and more as me reiterating my opinion. For me the best way to discover new music is by listening to the recommendations of bands and what they've been listening to, seeing as they're the ones making music it makes sense that they'd know what they're talking about. So a few weeks back when I sat in on Pensioner's appearance on the Glasgow Podcart, they played a song by an Edinburgh outfit by the name of Sojourner. At the time I remember thinking 'what the fuck is this?' and 'how the hell have I never heard of this band before?!'. So when I got home that night I made it my mission to make sure that I checked out their Bandcamp to hear more. Their songs don't immediately jump out at you, but given a few listens they'll slowly weasel their way into your brain. Personally I can hear bits of Will Oldham, Steve Mason and Bon Iver in there, which makes for quite a melting pot. Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings for one week, here's Grant from the band for some more sensible words of wisdom...


Would you care to introduce yourself to the Peenko readers?

Hello, my name is Grant and I started writing and recording songs under the name Sojourner in January. In June Sojourner began to practice as a band. We consist of Scott McCrimmon, Kirsty Lingard, Robb McAulay, Michael Lennie and I.


It’s that question that all bands seem to hate answering, but how would you describe the music you make?

That’s true. How would you describe it?


How did the band come together then?

Well, I was asked if I wanted to play a gig and although and I was looking to make Sojourner a band it seemed like the perfect time to do so. Scott, Robb and I had been looking to play music for a while and Mike recommended Kirsty to me.


So where does the band name come from then?

A sojourner is the name given to someone who temporarily resides in the one place.


Is there a certain process that goes into the way you write songs?

I don’t write songs too often. A song usually happens after a fortnight of tinkering about for a few minutes every night, then one afternoon or evening I’ll sit down in my room and make a song that sounds nothing like my original intentions. Once it’s recorded we drink a lot of tea and play it in my room as a band with everybody’s own wee tweaks. It makes the live performance different from the recording.


What artists would you say have had the biggest influence on Sojourner?

I was very pleased with Peenko referencing Sojourner for listeners of Will Oldham.


What would you like someone who’s listening to your music for the first time to take away from your music?

My preference would be that they really enjoyed it. It’s been good to hear people have downloaded the music and carry it on them, moreover to hear they have been listening to it. It’s nice to have people interested.


Do you feel that where you come from has had much of an impact on the music that you create?

Perhaps, I originally come from Kingskettle in Fife where the Singing Kettle are from…


What has been your most memorable gig to date, (be it good or bad)?

Well, we have only played two gigs since Sojourner played as a group. It’s something we intend to do more often.


Aside from world domination, what are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond?

I am working on part three to hopefully be listenable by late October. After that we will be gig searching and just generally trying to get people to hear us. Hopefully being on Peenko will help!


Sojourner - The Devil Makes

If this sounds like it's your cup of tea , then you should check out Sojourner's Bandcamp where you can find a whole host of freebies that are well worth checking out.

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PAWS - Lekker (video)

Andrea Marini - We Had An Agreement (video)

Fresh Meat Monday - Chris Devotion And The Expectations

Would you care to introduce yourself?

My name is Chris Devotion, I sing and play guitar in Chris Devotion and The Expectations. I am a man of wealth and taste. Well, maybe just taste

Alongside me in CD/EX I have Colin Reid (Guitar) Michael Wright (Bass) and Graham Christie (Drums).


How would you describe the music you make?

I would describe it as “good”. I have heard other people describe us as a bunch of things: Punk, Indie Rock, Art-Punk, New Wave, Garage Rock, Power-Pop and Alt Rock. I just prefer to call it Rock and Roll, I like short, sharp hook filled songs, so that is what I make.


How did you start out making music?

Like a lot of people music hit me hard when I was a young teenager, I became obsessed (I still am, in fact) and like the egotistical monster I am, once I learned the chords to songs I liked I thought well, if I put my mind to it, I could write songs I like.

From then on I kissed a lot frogs until I found the princes that are The Expectations.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

I'll take the fifth on that one if you don’t mind. Answering that sort of question can leave me sounding like a pretentious arsehole (and I am a pretentious arsehole, I just don’t like sounding like one)


What can people expect from your live shows?

Super-awesome heart-breaking, soul-shaking, name-taking rock and roll. Or if you prefer a numbers based answer, usually 14 songs in 30 minutes


What are you all listening to at the moment?

Recent stuff? The new Fucked Up record, David Comes To Life is brilliant; I am also enjoying the new Arctic Monkeys record.

I was just checking out a guy called Jim Ford five minutes ago and he sounds pretty good on first listen so I’ll be buying something by him to investigate further. Then we have the old stand-by bands that we listen to all the time, The Clash, Pixies, Ramones, Wilco, Reigning Sound, Springsteen and Weezer (early stuff obviously).


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

We are about to release a double A-side single on Armellodie records (A Modest Refusal/Tell The Girl) We launch it Fri 16th Sept at the13th Note, Glasgow with support from Ace City Racers and Filthy Little Secret.

The CD will be available for order/digital download Mon 19th Sept from our bandcamp page After that we will be gearing up for our debut album, which will be released early 2012.

A Modest Refusal by Chris Devotion & The Expectations by Armellodie

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We've Got It Covered #67

What a nice start to the weekend Ireland beating Australia was, I really didn't see that one coming. Then I guess that very few folk would have predicted that result, hopefully we can finally see a northern hemisphere team going on to do something at this World Cup, although I am not sure I could quite stomach a victory for our neighbours south of the border.
As I am currently battling to write this post while my daughter attacks my laptop here's this weeks covers from Aidan Moffat and his take on some classic pop songs...

Aidan John Moffat-I Got You Babe (Sonny & Cher cover)

Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells-Cruel Summer (Bananarama cover)

Friday Freebies

Laki Mera
I have to admit that Laki Mera had until recently completely passed me by, however, have to hearing them record a number of session they've somewhat turned my head with their electronic folk-pop. If you haven't already checked them out and you want to give them a chance, you can download a remix of their song How Dare You by signing up to their mailing list here.

DJ Shadow
Californian hip-hop artist, DJ Shadow has just released his new single 'Warning Cell' which is taken from his forthcoming album 'The Less You Know The Better'. It features the elusive Tom Vek and you can download it for free by clicking 'like' on Facebook.

Lisa Hannigan
In the run up to her much-anticipated second album, ‘Passenger’ next month, Folk Radio have posted up new song 'A Sail' for free download on their website.

Ghost Pants
Not content with his duties as the drummer in Dananananaykroyd, Paul Carlin has been busy working away on his solo project Ghost Pants. Having already released a series of cracking EPs and singles which he gave away for free, now he's just posted up his first ever Ghost Pant's album 'In Ochre'. I guess it's not much of a secret that I am big fan of this lo-fi side project, so it should come as no surprise that I have been enjoying this album a lot this week (well since yesterday at least. You can download it now via Bandcamp, it's one of those pay what you want deals, so it's up to you if you want to part any cash.

Pioneers Of Anaesthetic
One thing that I am really open to is recommendations of artists that I should check out, in the past few months a couple of folk have suggested that I check out Steven Cossar aka Pioneers Of Anaesthetic. Having listened to a shed load of stuff on his SoundCloud page, I have pretty much been listening to his stuff none stop this week. You can make your own mind up whether his music is for you by downloading his 27 track album (they're very short songs) 'Freak Past​-​Tense Despatch Hatch (Ocula)' for free on his Bandcamp page.

Pearl Jam
Next week sees the release of Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam documentary which marks the bands 20th anniversary (fuck that makes me feel very fucking old). In the run up to it's release the band have made their song 'Ole' free to download here.

Run Lucky Free
At the start of next month Edinburgh indie four piece, Run Lucky Free release their new single 'The Factory', as a wee pre-cursor of what you can expect you can download a free acoustic EP from their SoundCloud page.

Kowalskiy
Bloody hell time really does fly by, I can't fully believe that Mr Kowalskiy is now up to his 15th EP. This month he's got another cracking wee line up (no surprise there then), this time roudn he's got free tracks from Will Hanson, Adopted As Holograph, Capitals, Hold The Suspect and Trapped Mice. You can download all of these tracks for free via his Bandcamp.

Where We Lay Our Heads
It feels like ages since i have posted anything from Glagsow outfit, Where We Lay Our Heads, not that they haven't been up to much, it's just that I am a bit rubbish at keeping on top of things these days. If you're out and about tomorrow they're supporting I Am From Barcelona at the Arches in Glasgow. In anticipation of the gig they're giving away their track 'A Collapsed Lung' for free in exchange for a tweet/facebook post.

Laurence Made Me Cry
It's not very often that I pay attention to up and coming music that isn't Scottish, pretty much because I just don't have the time to anymore. However, occasionally I do pick up on bits and bobs that trickle through. This week I have been listening to a lot to Cardiff folk singer, Laurence Made Me Cry, aka Jo Whitby, her The Rain Song EP is up for free download on her Bandcamp and it's well worth checking out.

Drunk Mule
I had meant to post this up last week, but that's not to say that it's not worth checking out. I am not 100% certain where Drunk Mule are from, I somehow have the idea they're from Fife, but then again I might well be talking pish. One thing I can say for certain is that there's a whole host of stuff up for grabs on their Bandcamp, if you like good time bluesy rock, then this should be right up your street.

Scots Way-Hay #67 - The John Knox Sex Club

photo by Claire Thomson

After taking a wee bit of hiatus for a couple of months to recharge my batteries, it's time to get back into the swing of things with my Scots Way-Hay posts. To start the ball rolling again we have the Glasgow quintet, The John Knox Sex Club. Having just released their second album 'Raise Ravens', I thought it was about time that I posed some questions to this normally quite mysterious band. So here's Rory from the band to tell us a bit more about the band, they're influences and the joys of playing 2p slot machines...

Would you care to introduce yourself to the Peenko readers?

Rory from the John Knox Sex Club, the others (Sean, Liam, Emer, Chris, & Iain) have lives and are doing something on this Friday eve.


It’s that question that all bands seem to hate answering, but how would you describe the music you make?

I wouldn't know how to accurately to be honest. Some folk have said Lift to Experience which, I will humbly take, I've heard And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Mogwai-eqsue music and few others. I get why people have made those comparisons but again I wouldn't know how to describe it, aren't you lucky I answered this email!

In my eyes we have a strong element of folk arrangements added with much noise and dynamics, which I suppose give it that post-rock sound. The closet comparison I would say is in between Lift To Experience and Birthday Party....maybe, next question. Two questions in and you've stumped me!


How did you come together as a band?

The original incarnation consisted of myself, Sean, Liam, Chris, and our friend Bob on bass. We all lived in a small mining, fishing village near Stirling called Glen Curney. There is nothing to do there apart from mine and fish, or go to the Hollywood which, is a arcade place that had games from generations gone past (my favourite was still the slot machine that you put 2p's into it where, they would be pushed forward by a metal step going back and forth and sometimes you would win loads of 2p's....aye grim). Anyway, we have known each other for many years, although there is a wee age gap between us (Sean 22, Chris 25, Liam 26 and myself 28) we ended up hanging out cause there is like 30 family or something there.

We drafted in Iain and Emer to the band last year who have added so much to us, we have changed dramatically since they have join and we're infinitely better for it.


How did you start out making music?

I don't if you mean me or the band?!

None of us were playing gigs much and we had all been working in the ABC, listening to the MC5 live record a lot, Sean and I thought it would be fun to start a band that didn't record or do press or Myspace, but just play live. We decided to the GCYT on the go again and start a fucking rock'n'roll band!

I presume that is the answer you're looking for, but I started guitar when I was 14. Sean used to sing in a choir, Chris was raised by a folk band, Iain used to (possibly still does) make hip hop beats and Liam used to be in a metal band. Emers a different story, not only being a protege violinist who ended up in Vienna playing in a orchestra for a summer, she is an incredible artist.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

Usually someone will have a riff or some chords and will either play about in the flat with them then take it to practice or someone will just play something in practice and we'll see where it goes, usually somewhere pretty obscene before we arrange the whole thing. The traditional songs (John The Rev & Katie Cruel) we have rearranged, Sean brought in the idea to do so. We've also done a cover of the Jute Mill Song, which I would like to record again.

No so long ago I got some recording stuff so have been able to 'put some stuff down' in the flat and make some demos. We have few numbers that sound pretty good already.


What artists would you say have had the biggest influence on the band?

Christ, there are too many. Everyone has a mass of different influences, but I'd say that there are a few records that we go back to; 'Astral Weeks' by Van Morrison, there's a few Tom Waits records, '3' and 'Tilt' by Scott Walker, all of the Silver Mt Zion records, 'Texas Jerusalem Crossroads' by Lift To Experience, 'Spiderland' by Slint, 'Radioactivity' by Kraftwerk, 'We Insist' by Max Power recently, 'In On The Kill Taker' by Fugazi. There are loads they're the ones that come to mind at the moment though, I'm trying to answer for everyone so I'll stop. I think different bands we have became friends with have influenced us in a way, maybe not musically, but spiritually. Mad props tae TBW, WI, SATW, OVTW, FR, Le Marder.

Personally, I am big Sonic Youth fan, the period from Confusion is Sex to Dirty are amazing records. Various bands from that came out in the Krautrock era, Tago Mago by Can is one of my favourite records, the best album for drums. Been listening to a lot of Crass 'Feeding of the 5000' recently, the guitars sounds horrendous but lovely, the track Women & Securicor are particularly special. Really into hip hop actually, most of the Def Jux stuff; Aesop Rock, Mr Lif, Cannibal Ox especially. Nas's 'Illmatic' has been pretty instrumental in my daily routine for many years, na'mean. (I'm watching the Notorious B.I.G biopic as I write this)


Do you feel that where you come from has had much of an impact on the music that you create?

In The Ditch is direct reference to the village actually. There is a massive ditch on the road out of Glen Curney which people keep driving into, don't know if it's still there. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a punk band wrote a song about it as well. There is a definite sense of community in our music, particularly live, that's pretty evident, but in Sean's lyrics too. They have a unique familiarity to them, not as in plagiarism, more of a relation to colloquial life.


Your live shows are now something of legend, do you enjoy playing live or are you happier being in the studio?

It's two different things to me. In the studio you get to try loads of things, adding layers of guitars, violins and harmonies, so it's a different experience. Playing live is more fun definitely, and people can tell we really enjoy it. We probably could be a pretty static and moody on stage but we are fairly animated, and again the interaction between Sean and the crowd is pretty good to watch. It's incomparable, on one hand you get to mess about and embellish areas, on the other hand, you get to pull off some face meltin'!


Carrying on a similar theme, what has been your most memorable gig to date, (be it good or bad)?

Bad gig would definitely a gig where everyone ended up pretty drunk at Sleazy's, it was all over the place and I was jazzin' up bits for some reason. We've had loads of amazing shows, it would be hard to pick out certain ones. A Wee Tasty was a great gig, Barras for obvious reasons, got to play in front of a massive graffiti Jesus with stigmata at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh for Rough Cut Nation exhibition. Loads of fun gigs.


Your first album came in a pretty special handmade packaging, do you have something similar lined up for your new album?

Yeah Liam and Emer have made some amazing art work and packaging. It takes a while to make but its worth it in the end, it looks brilliant. I would like to add that the main utensils for making the albums were a tiny spoon, a chopping board, a bit of wood with some skirting board attached and a cheap home printer. We have some hand printed T-shirts as well that Emer has put together, again look brilliant.


Aside from world domination, what are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond?

Don't have any, don't plan to have any, obviously we'd love to go on tour and hit Europe but it's not really in our hands, all we can do is send out emails. People have said we should be pushing to get a record deal, but we're pretty happy at the moment. Probably do another album next year and do more shows down south, would love to get back to Sowerby Bridge.

The John Knox Sex Club -Katie Cruel

Raise Ravens the second album from The John Knox Sex Club is available to buy now as a limited edition CD or as download via their Bandcamp page. You can catch the band live at Oran Mor in Glasgow on the 21st of September, followed be an appearance at Henry's Cellar Bar in Edinburgh on the 1st of October.

Bandcamp
Soundcloud
Facebook

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Vic Galloway Session (12/09/11)

Track Listing
1. Medicine
2. Picture Of Health
3. Human Error

Download

Laki Mera - 5Live Acoustic Session (08/09/11)

Track Listing
1. Winter
2. Fool

Download

Full of Eastern Promise

After the success of last years innaugural Eastern Promise music event, Platform in Glasgow have just announced that the event is set to return on Friday the 30th of September and Saturday the 1st of October. In it's first outing the event featured an array of local talent including King Creosote and Malcolm Middleton's alter ego, Human Don’t be Angry playing alongside international artists such as Rachel Grimes and Josephine Foster.This year is no different, with the event being run over 2 rooms featuring performances from To Rococo Rot, Tarwater, The Pastels, The Thing, Silje Nes, Withered Hand (solo), 7WVWWV, Conquering Animal Sound, Nancy Elizabeth and Animal Magic Tricks.

In addition to this on the Saturday night they will also be hosting the Scottish Independent Record Fair, which will also be the first time that the event has been held in Glasgow. Hopefully we'll have a wee Olive Grove stall set up at the event too.

Details of the line up are as follows:
Friday 30th September
Tarwater
The Thing
7VWWVW
Withered Hand (Solo)
Nancy Elizabeth

Saturday 1st October
To Rococo Rot
The Pastels
Silje Nes
Conquering Animal Sound
Animal Magic Tricks

Tickets for the gig are £10 per night or £15 for the weekend, for under 16's it's only £3 per night or £5 for the weekend. Doors are at 7pm with buses leaving Mono at 630pm (it's only £4 return). Tickets for the event can be bought in advance from Monorail, Tickets Scotland and See Tickets. Further information on the event can be found using the following link.

Conquering Animal Sound - Wildthings

Withered Hand - Hard On

Fresh Meat Monday - Andrea Marini

Would you care to introduce yourself?

My name is Andrea Marini. I am a songwriter from Glasgow. I have been writing and performing my own material for about 5 years.


How would you describe the music you make?

The music on the album is, in my opinion, arranged to be visual. It is also a record that definitely comes from a place. If I was to describe it more explicitly I’d say it is guitar led and lyrically driven.


How did you start out making music?

I felt I had something valid to say and music was the best way to say it.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

Generally, I write a song and then I collaborate with other instrumentalists to build up an arrangement that is subsequently edited to suit the needs of the song.


What can people expect from your live shows?

A sound which hopefully does justice to the record. A show with great musicianship and terrible chat to say the least.


What are you all listening to at the moment?

Cass McCombs - Catacombs Steely Dan - Aja


What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

A lot more shows, some videos and a release.


Home
Bandcamp

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Live at The Bongo Club, Edinburgh (04/09/11)

Track Listing
1. Boy In The Backseat
2. Medicine
3. Human Error
4. Pear Tree

Download

We've Got It Covered #66

Seeing as I am starting work at an ungodly hour this morning I'll spare you from my ramblings and just get on with introducing this weeks cover version. It comes from Edinburgh folk-rockers Broken Records and their take on Mercury Rev's classic Goddess On A Highway, enjoy...

Broken Records-Goddess On A Highway (Mercury Rev cover)

Friday Freebies

Los Campesinos!
If you didn't chekc out the PopCop yesterday, then you might missed this little twitter argument between LC! and Kev from Avalanche, which from an outsiders point of view was one of the funniest things I have read on twitter in ages. Anyway, the one good thing that came from all of this was that it alerted me to a free download of the new LC! tune By Your Hand, which you can find for free here.

Trips and Falls
Wur good pal Matthew at Song By Toad has just released the new album by Montreal outfit, Trips and Falls, I have to admit that due to my 'only listen to Scottish music' policy, their first album somewhat passed me by. Although after listening to this free download I am going to have to make exceptions to that (stupid) rule.

The Rest
It's been a whole since I last listened to anything from Canadian outfit, The Rest. Having bought their debut album, 'Everyone All At Once' on a bit whim a few years back from Rough Trade (it was mega cheap), in a post-Funeral-world they were one of the bands that got me really excited about he Canadian music scene, so it's good to have them back. You can download their new double A-side single 'Always on my mind/The Last Day' for free on their Bandcamp, fucking ace it is too.

Amber Wilson
I was going to save this for a future We've Got It Covered post, but it's too good not to share now. Having charmed the pants of pretty much everyone at the Captain's Rest last Friday, the lovely Ms Amber Wilson has made her live cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart free to download on her Soundcloud page.

Blink182
Now before you start berating me for posting Blink182, just wait until you have checked out the link. In order to download their single for free you need to stop the timer dead on '182', having spent the past five minutes attempting to do it I have to admit that this was a lot of fun. So even if you're not a big fan of the band, this is sure to help kill some of your time this afternoon until it's time to hit the pub at 5.

Scottish Fiction
The latest addition to the Scottish blogger fraternity, Scottish Ficiton, has just made his latest monthly EP available to download for free. So if you want free tracks from Black International, The Celestians, velcroBrother and Lou Hickey, then get tucked in here.

Collar Up
Not content with releasing some of the most innovative music to come out of Scotland in recent times, now Sean and Fabien from Night Noise Team have decided to set up their own label together called PermWhale Recordings. Their first release is going to be with a trio from Edinburgh called Collar Up, who's song 'Short Term Memories' is free to download on their Bandcamp.

Dave Hughes
Resident folk-punk Weegie, Dave Hughes has made his track Mirrors, free to download using this link. If you like what you hear then make sure you check out his album Despite the Blackout.