Help Ma Boab, It's The 62 Word Review

Aloha Tigers – Aloha Tigers LP

Can you imagine Wayne Coyne frolicking in a meadow wearing a flowery summer dress made of nothing but endless reverb? If that turns you on, you'll love Aloha Tigers. The whole album is excellent but Josh's Song and Cloud In The Water are particularly worthy of your attention. A very soothing listen, truly a late-night headphone album if ever there was one.

You can name your price for the Aloha TIgers LP here.

Satellite Dub – Velikovsky EP

You can see what Craig Brown (Satellite Dub) is trying to do on opening track Plans Of Smoke And Mirrors, but the problem is that the huge beats are lying under layers of busy distorted synths, lessening their impact considerably. Although still cluttered, Red Morning Tribute is the standout, its massive sound wouldn't feel out of place on a Chemical Brothers album.

You can buy the EP here.

My Tiny Robots – My Tiny Robots single

After double checking I wasn't listening to Idlewild's Little Discourage, I began to sort of enjoy this. There's a very nice Radiohead feel here, particularly around each crescendo. There's no new ground being broken, and it suffers a little from a lack of variation, but for taken for what it is – a dark and atmospheric pop song, it is fairly decent. 

Available from iTunes on 28th May.

Fin.

Introducing - Aloha Tigers

 Nowadays I really don't have the free time that I once did, I used to pride myself on being ahead of the game when it came to being in the know about the 'next big thing' amongst the indie hipster kids. With most of my time being spent solely focusing on the Scottish music scene, I am now a bit lost to anything that doesn't hail from this wee nation of ours. Thankfully though I have a wealth of fellow music friends who are on hand to point me in the right direction as to things that they've been enjoying. Which in a round about explains why I am featuring a duo who hail from Bloomington, Illinois in the US of A. Having recently released their self titled debut album on the newly formed Scottish DIY label, Kirkcudbright Tape Club, I caught up with Nick and Mike from the band to talk about their new found love for Irn Bru and whether they have any idea as to how to pronounce Kirkcudbright...


Aloha my feline friends, would you care to introduce yourself to the Peenko readers?  

Nick Aister: Aloha Peenko. 

Mike Wharfield: Sup. Nick: Thanks for having us.

Mike: So. Well, we are Aloha Tigers. We've been around for about two and a half years now and we'rereleasing our debut album through Kirkcudbright Tape-Club.

Nick: Mike and I have both been making music separately for a long time. He started out in hardcore bands and transitioned into sampling, writing beats and doing production. I pretty much sat alone in a room playing acoustic guitar for like the last ten years. Then we sort of met by accident and everything went from there.

Mike: At first, we were both kind of intimidated by each other as well. You can't really tell from the pictures, but Nick looks really mean. 

Nick: And Mike is like a trained cage fighter. But yeah, once we clicked and started working on shit, right from the get go we felt like we were on to something.


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

Nick: Pop music . . . with a twist! 

Mike: For the sake of simplicity if nothing else, I think it's pretty fair to call us dream-pop for the time being.

Nick: We basically try to write catchy, upbeat, melodic music. 

Mike: And then Nick shows me the lyrics and it's like, you need to up your anti-depressants, son.
 
Nick: I think a lot of the lyrics are fun. 

Mike: You would. 

Nick: Peenko readers, you're all intelligent, educated people. You can see that the world is literally ending before our eyes. Everything's gone pear-shaped, as they say. So maybe we get a little bleak from time to time. I think you'd agree that's a pretty natural reaction given the state of things. War. Famine. The Singularity. We're doomed. 

Mike: I don't think we've described our music at all. 

Nick: Can you ever really describe art, really? 

Mike: Oh my god, shut up. 


Having no musical talent to speak of I am always pretty intrigued as to how the whole creativity process works. What processes go into the way that you write songs?  

Nick: It's like a big pot of gumbo. I have hundreds of notebooks full of lyrics and hundreds of hours of tapes of me playing guitar and piano, so basically what happens is that Mike will bring me a beat and I'll either start improvising over it, or if that's not working, I'll delve into this dark musty well of ideas and start Frankenstiening them together. 

Mike: We do everything out of Nick's spare bedroom. 

Nick: Yeah, I met Mike and within two weeks he'd taken over half my house building a studio. And that's pretty much all either of us have been doing since. 

Mike: The nice thing about having a home recording studio and doing everything ourselves is that we could take as much time as we wanted on the album and try out as many things as we wanted to. A lot of times, I would start with a beat and Nick would play something over it, and then I'd basically take it apart and rebuild it into something different, adding ambiance and samples and shit. We spent over a year on the album and wrote about three times as many songs as we wound up using.

Nick: There's not really a formula or anything. Stuff just kind of winds up getting cobbled together. 

Mike: And then sometimes a complete song just comes together out of the blue. 

Nick: "Happy accidents" have been a recurring motif with this band.   


You've just released your self-titled debut album with Kirkcudbright Tape-Club, how on earth did a band from Bloomington, Illinois end up releasing their album on a Scottish tape label?  

Nick: It was kind of an "I left the South, I travelled North, I got confused, I killed a horse" type of thing. Just a series of odd random events. 

Mike: Everything basically fell into place when we met Ian Greenhill, who founded the label. 

Nick: He's our Colonel Tom. 

Mike: About a year ago, our song "Oh, The Glory of It All", was featured on The Line of Best Fit and the write up was done by Ian, so we sent him a message to say thanks and started corresponding back and forth. When we finished our album, he was one of the first people we sent it to and he really liked it. We had no idea he was planning to start up a label at that point, so we were really excited a few months later when he asked us to be the first Kirkcudbright Tape-Club release. 

Nick: I have to say though, Ian did seal the deal through a deft bit of international soda bribery. He sent us one bottle of IRN-BRU to share and said that if we signed with him he'd send more. We were literally incapable of resisting this deal. Fortunately, it's worked out really well, and he went on to send us three more bottles. 

Mike: Ian is basically a preturnaturally energetic and ambitious guy and he's had our back since the beginning. He's the kind of person you basically dream about having on your side. 

Nick: My prediction: Kirkcudbright Tape-Club is the new Rockafella.  


And more importantly, do you have any idea as to how you are supposed to pronounce 'Kirkcudbright'?

Nick: "Kir-coo-bree"! It think it sounds like something a little yellow bird would say. 

Mike: "Kir-coo-bree"! 

Nick:  "Kir-coo-bree"! 

Mike: "Kir-coo-bree"! 

Nick: It's a fun word to say.  


Aside from being on a Scottish label, do you have any Celtic roots that you'd care to share?  

Mike: I do not. Not biologically. 

Nick: I'm like a quarter Irish, I don't know if that counts. I like a lot of Scottish bands though. That Spearmint song "Scottish Pop" turned me on to a lot of bands that are legendary over there but that aren't necessarily that well known in America, like Teenage Fanclub or Orange Juice or Josef K. Aztec Camera, I love . . . 

Mike: I'd like to apologize for Nick's blatant name dropping right now. 

Nick: Billy Joel, Zwan, the Mighty Mighty Bostones, Ice Cube . . . they're all Scottish, right? All excelent, exemplary Scottish artists.


I know it's a big ask, but can we expect to see you playing any Scottish shows in the near future?  

Mike: That would be amazing. It's actually not that far out of the question. My girlfriend is from Stockton or Leamington Spa, so its not outside of the realm of reason that we might make it over there.

Nick: We'll crash at Ian's place. 

Mike: If we get the opportunity to tour Europe, we'll do it in a heartbeat.

Nick: Faster than a heartbeat. A fraction of a heartbeat. An increment of time not worth measuring. 

Mike: I pledge right now that Peenko will be the first to know when Aloha Tigers cross the pond.


Aloha Tigers - The Kind of Girl U Like

Aloha Tigers self titled debut album is out now on Kirkcudbright Tape Club on very limited edition cassette or on a pay what you want basis on Bandcamp.

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Friday Freebies

 

The Twilight Sad
Kilsyth's finest sons are all set to release their much anticipated third album (proper), No One Can Ever Know, next month. Having heard the album I reckon it's going to take a lot of folk by surprise with the new direction they've taken. As a wee teaser of what to expect, you can download Another Bed from it for free via both the Skinny and Spin.

Aloha Tigers!
My good friend Ian, who used to run the blog Have Fun At Dinner has set up his very own wee record label, Kircudbright Tape Club, and his first release is going to be with a band he's been championing for some time now, Bloomington-based dream-pop outfit, Aloa Tigers! Their debut album is due out later this year, but as a wee teaser of what to expect they've made their single, The Kind of Girl U Like, free to download on SoundCloud.

Mike Nisbet
Thanks to his placing in last years BAMS award, a lot of folk seem to now be taking notice of Oban's singer songwriter, Mike Nisbet. If you haven't already checked him out out, then now's your chance as he's made his song, Not Long, free to download here. It comes highly recommended kids.

The Last Battle
Around this time last year, Edinburgh folksters The Last Battle recorded recorded a New Years song called '365 days', and they're now very kindly giving it away as a free download on their Bandcamp. Look out for the follow up to their excellent debut album, Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea, later in the year.

Hey Marseilles
It's been a while since I mentioned anything about Seattle septet Hey Marseilles, a band that I first heard after my friend Luke, aka I Build Collapsible Mountains, played them on an episode of the Glasgow Podcart. I'd actually forgotten how much I liked this lot, so it came as a nice surprise to find out that the influential radio station, KEXP are giving away a free download of their song “Elegy” here. 2012 looks set to be a big year for this lot, look out for a follow up to their debut self release, To Travels & Trunks later in the year, just cross those fingers that they make it over to these shores.

Monoganon
Those who frequent these parts on a regular basis might recall that I was raving about Monoganon's last album, Songs To Swim To, so much so that I had it was my second favourite album of 2011. So you can imagine my excitement in finding out that John B McKenna & Co have just released a new mini album called Help through those nice folk at Winning Sperm Party. Although not as immediate as their last release, this might not be for everyone, but I promise you that if you stick with it, it improves with every listen.

Trapped in Kansas
Those lovely Trapped in Kansas boys have very kindly decided that it might be a nice to give away all of the music that they record prior to the release of their last EP 'How To Go'. Just head on over to their label, Overlook Records where you can find a link to a whole load of goodies.

The Give It Ups
There are a few different record labels that continue to impress me with the music that they put out, one label that continues to impress are London DIY label, Odd Box Records. Their most recent release comes from twee indie four piece, The Give It Ups, and their single 'Let's Be Frank / If Everything Ends' which is fucking ace and free to download here.

Conquering Animal Sound
Having spent much of last year touring round Europe, Conquering Animal Sound have decided that it would be a nice idea to give something back to everyone who came out to see them. As a wee treat they're giving away a free live EP, featuring a couple of album tracks and some works in progress. Download it for nowt here.

No Island
Do you love your hardcore! No seriously, do you love your hardcore? If you do, then Glasgow hardcore punks No Island might well end up being your new favourite band. Their self-titled debut EP is free to download on their Bandcamp page and I can't help but think that these guys would be fucking awesome love. I guess I'll have to find out for myself some time soon.


Niki And The Dove 
Earlier this week it was announced that Niki And The Dove came 5th in this years BBC's Sound of 2012 new music list, if you fancy finding out what this fuss is about this Swedish electronic duo then you can download their song 'The Fox'  for free right now by clicking on 'Free Download' under their Facebook profile photo.

As In Bear
For quite a while now, my partner in crime Halina from Glasgow Podcart has been banging on about an Ayrshire outfit by the name of As In Bear. It wasn't until they got voted in as one of the Best New Bands in the recent Ayetunes Readers' Poll that I finally took note (my bad). If you fancy finding out what all the fuss is about then head on over to their SoundCloud page where you will find a whole host of free tunes.

Matt Norris & the Moon
Having just supported Primal Scream at their Hogmanay show, Edinburgh outfit Matt Norris & the Moon are unsurprisingly on a bit of a high, so much so that they've posted up an improved version of  their song First Light of Day for free download on their SoundCloud page.

Fat Janitor
I still don't know too much about this noisy lot, the only thing that I can now tell you for certain is that they've posted up a mini album called Lurk for free. If you feel like giving your ears a healthy battering then getting downloading here.


Hipster Death Squad 
The best named band in the world with the tunes to back it up are back, yup those prolific young fellas have crafted yet another corking wee tunes. It's called Good Times Again, which you can download for free on their Bandcamp page.



Seafieldroad 
I would argue that the solo project from Andrew Eaton-Lewis from the band Swimmer One, is one of the most under rated Scottish acts out there at the moment. You don't have to take my word for it though, if you head over to their Bandcamp where you can find two new songs which are available on a pay what you want basis. Even if you don't fancy shelling out any pennies for them, I'd urge you to get them downloaded.

The Martial Arts
Glasgow indie power pop outfit, The Martial Arts are giving away their new album Your Sinclair for nowt over here.

coma emilio
Last, but certainly not least we have one man project 'coma emilio' who's been busy working away on new material. Fans of lo-fi experimental music should find themselves right at home with his new album, Not Songs Not Sung Not Sad, which you can download for free here.