Friday Freebies

Two Gallants
It's been about five years since the release of  Two Gallants eponymous album. Since then we haven't very much from the San Francisco oufti, but now they're back with a fourth album in the bag. As a wee a teaser they've made the first single, 'Broken Eyes', avaailable  as a free download at their website.



Aidan Moffat
To celebrate winning the innaugural SAY Award last week, Aidan Moffat is giving away a free download of  “(If You) Keep Me In Your Heart – Mix 5”, an alternative piano and strings mix which was recorded all the way back in 2003 from his first ever session with his partner in crime Bill Wells.

Beerjacket
Ahead of his appearance at T in the Park next weekend, Beerjacket is giving away a free download of his single, 'Cave' on his Bandcamp page. If you like what you hear then I'd thoroughly recommend that you check out his last album, 'The White Feather Trail', you can catch Beerjacket at 12pm on the T Break stage next Sunday. If you're not heading to T, then get yourself along to King Tut's on the 17th of July, where he will be playing alongside Quickbeam, Mike Nisbett and Julia & The Doogans.



Lost Ghosts
Up and coming Glasgow outfit, Lost Ghosts have a whole heap of free tunes available for download on their SoundCloud page. Citing influences as ranging as My Bloody Valentine, M83, Frightened Rabbit, Radiohead to There Will Be Fireworks, if that sounds like it might be your cup of tea, then catch the band playing love on the 17^th of July at the Art School in Glasgow supporting Man Without Country.


 







Vigo Thieves
If you visited the T in the Park website recently then you are sure to have come across Vigo Thieves track, Heartbeats. It's a catchy wee bugger of a pop tune and best of all, it's free to download here.




Ambulances
Fife's finest indie pop outfit have posted up a free download of Steve Mason remixing their track Feeling Sick on their Bandcamp page.

Video-rama!!

What with  Mothers Day and the cup final earlier in the day I have almost managed to spend  a whole day without logging into blogger, but alas I just can't resist the temptation of going online. So I have decided that today is as good a day as any to post up some videos that I have been enjoying this week...

First off we have a dems new single Inner O, which is released on 2nd April 2012 on Bad Life Recordings...

Next up we have a the new single from Fife outfit, Ambulances, their double A side single Feeling Sick is out now on Bandcamp and they've made this rather nifty video to accompany it.

Where We Lay Our Heads new single, "Bury You", comes out tomorrow, to celebrate they're playing a headline show at the Captain's Rest on Wednesday night with support from Letters and Cafe Disco.

New Scottish DIY label, Comets & Cartwheels have announced something a bit a special to celebrate the the release of their first release with Quickbeam. Choosing to do something a bit different to the norm, the single launch is going to be held on a ship, yes a ship. The Tall Ship in Glasgow to be exact, support on the evening comes from their label mates Endor plus there will also be an acoustic set from Washington Irving. Further details on the gig can be found here. To get yourself in the mood check out the excellent new video for the single, Seven Hundred Birds below...

Lastly, rather than post up yet another music video I just wanted to point you in the direction of a new project that the State Broadcasters are involved in. For their forthcoming single, Trespassers, they've managed to rope in the award winning director, Jessica Ashman, but they need your help. All you need to know can be found here, or you can just watch the video below...

Trespassers - Indie Go Go Video Plea from Jessica Ashman on Vimeo.

40 Festive Tunes For Y'all

Normally on a Saturday I like to post a cover version or two, but seeing as it's fast approaching Christmas Eve and I am sure most of you are starting to get into the festive spirit I thought it might be a fun idea to post up a few festive tunes. A couple of songs ended up turning into many many hours of searching through my music collection to bring you a whopping forty Christmas songs from an array of Scottish artists. I guess this is as good as a time as any to wish all of the folk that frequent this site a very Merry Christmas, it genuinely means a lot to me that you choose to put up with me and my ramblings. I hope Santa's good to you all, Lloyd x

1. Monoganon - Torso In The Snow

2. Sugar Crisis - Unwrap Your Heart

3. The Second Hand Marching Band - My Gift Is Waiting

4. A Band Called Quinn - Snowblind

5. Ambulances - The True Meaning Of Christmas

6. Drunk Mule - Feels Like Christmas

7. The Stormy Seas - The Christmas Before Last

8. Neil Milton - Last Christmas

9. Snow Patrol - When I Get Home For Christmas

10. Washington Irving - Silent Night

11. De Rosa - Under The Stairs (Christmas Reverie)

12. Mitchell Museum - Stop the Cavalry

13. Camera Obscura - Little Donkey

14. Frightened Rabbit - It's Xmas So We'll Stop

15. The Last Battle - Once Upon A Boxing Day

16. Julia and the Doogans - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

17. Woodenbox - The Christmas Song

18. The Recovery Club - Silent Night

19. Frightened Rabbit - Cheap Gold

20. Arab Strap - Xmas Baby Please Come Home

21. Frightened Rabbit-Walking In The Air

22. Belle & Sebastian - O Come, All Ye Faithful

23. Campfires in Winter - Christmas Song

24. Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Christmas

25. How to Swim - Sleighbells (Christmas Makes Me Blue)

26. Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve

27. Mogwai - Christmas Song

28. The Plimptons - Christmas All Over This Town

29. El Dog - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

30. Esperi - Snowman

31. Miaoux Miaoux - Snow

32. Mike Nisbet - Snow Me In

33. Withered Hand - Its A Wonderful Lie

34. The Belle Hops - A Belle Hops Christmas Song

35. The Phantom Band - Silent Howling Night

36. Abagail Grey - Winter

37. Idlewild - Mistletoe and Wine

38. Malcolm Middleton - We're All Going To Die (Live at Homegame)

39. Rachel Sermanni - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

40. The Scottish Enlightenment - God Rest You Merry Gentlemen

Festive Freebies

PAWS
I fucking love PAWS, actually I htink the general consensus amongst the Scottish blogosphere, is that we all love PAWS. If you haven't already been converted then you're in luck as they've put up nearly all of their back catalogue on their SoundCloud page to download for nowt.

Ambulances
It feels like an age since we heard anything from the 'neenaws', actually I just checked it's been over three years. Thankfully now they're back with a bang (and a free tune), with their second album in the bag, they're giving us all a wee teaser of what to expect with a free christmas single called 'The True Meaning Of Christmas' which you can find on their Bandcamp page.

Errors
If you head over to Radio Magnetic's website you can find yourself a free download from the forthcoming third Errors LP, Have Some Faith in Magic, which comes out in January of next year.

Cut Ribbons
Welsh girl-fronted indie rocke outfit, Cut Ribbons, just so happen to be making their first ever appearance in Scotland tonight at the Captain's Rest. The gig which is being put on as a collaborative effort by local promoters, Instinctive Racoon and the Radio One DJ, Ally McCrae, also features Open Swimmer and Sunshine Social. So if you're looking for something to do with yourself tonight, then look no further. If you fancy getting acquainted with our Welsh cousins, then head on over to their Bandcamp and download yourself some free tunes.

Nevada Base
Ahead of their headline show at the The Captain's Rest next Saturday (10th December) with Crash Club andMachines In Heaven, Glasgow Synth-pop outfit Nevada Base are giving away their track 'An Avenue' as a free download in exchange for your email address.

Okkervil River
Will Sheff and his motley crue have just released their second Golden Opportunities EP as free download. This time round they're giving away an EP featuring five covers all of which were recorded live to a two-track in Austin. You can download Golden Opportunities 2 here for nowt.

Scottish Fiction
Although it's been going for a while now, I guess you could still consider Scottish Fiction to be relatively new to the blogging scene. That's not to say that it's not worth checking out, if you are free on a Monday and not already listening to Vic G's show, then you should check out his show on Pulse Community Radio. He's also been pretty busy in promoting local talent with his free EPs, this months offering features tunes from The Spook School, Wrongnote, If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now and The Lonely Boy, which you can find here.

Wavves
A collaboration between Wavves and Best Coast, sounds like a hipsters wet dream to me. But hey it happened (I am guessing most hipsters already knew about this), if you haven't heard their song Nodding Off, then head on over to KEXP where you can download it for free.

Cameo Colours
In case you missed their Fresh Meat post on Monday, now's the time to do some catching up with Edinburgh four piece, Cameo Colours who have made their self-titled EP free to download on their Bandcamp page.

Silvermash
Fife outit, Silvermash have a whole host of live recordings up for free download on their SoundCloud page. If you like what you hear then you should get yourself along to the Captain's Rest tomorrow night to catch them play with Mondegreen and St Deluxe.

Tom
In an age when solo artists have to dream up crazy name for themselves (step forward I Build Collapsible Mountains, King Post Kitsch, etc), it's a bit odd to find someone just going by the name Tom. Well that's what Aberdeen-born, Stonehaven-bred, Edinburgh-based musician, Tom (I've got no idea what his full name is), has gone and done. He's got a song called 'Subtle Lie' on his Bandcamp, it's pretty fucking ace, it's also free. You should download it. Go on, you know you want to.

Allan J Swan
The ex-You Already Know guitarist has posted up his new song, "Time Runs Out" for free download on his SoundCloud page. The song has already been causing a wee buzz in the blogosphere, having been chosen by The Pop Cop as his Song of the Week.

Craig_FS
My partner in crime at Olive Grove, Halina, has been creaming her pants over Craig_FS for a while now. Being the stubborn fucker that I am, I only just got round to listening to some of his music. Turns out that one making music in his bedroom is actually pretty fucking good. You can make your own mind up by visiting his SoundCloud and downloading loads of free songs.

Bottle of Steven
Take one half of the duo, Bottle of Evil and hey presto you get Bottle of Steven. He has a free download of his track 'No More Tears' up on his SoundCloud, a cracking wee tune it is too.

Weekly Round Up (07/11/10)

Monday - Fresh Meat Monday came from the fabulous Marthas and Arthurs
Tuesday - I had a couple of sessions from the Twilight Sad and Broken Records
Wednesday - the plant pot-tastic Ghost Pants were my 40th entry into the Scots Way Hay club
Thursday - again more sessions, one from Frightened Rabbit and a classic session from the Delgados
Friday - as always there was a vast array of Freebies to be found, including a whole host of stuff from our very own Olive Grove starlets, Randolph's Leap. Plus there was also a wee session from the Burns Unit
Saturday - more Frabbit, with a live recording of them in New Orleans, plus Swimmer One took on a Kate Bush classic in We've Got It Covered


News, gigs and any other gubbins......


So the dust has barely settled after Friday's AvP gig and already I'm back pestering you to get off the sofa and join me for another wee gig. Taking place at the Hidden Lane Cafe in Glasgow, the evenings entertainment comes from two cracking bands, Burnt Island and Ghots Pants (who will be making their debut live performance). If you are planning on coming along then make sure you either let us know on Facebook or send me a wee email to peenkoblog@gmail.com to confirm your attendance. The place is tiny, so make sure you let me know you're coming in order to guarantee entry.




Technically this isn't until next week, but it's getting a wee mention to give you all plenty of heads up. Next Sunday, No Dancing takes place in Stereo and they have a cracking we line up in store for you all. Check this beast out, Withered Hand, Ambulances, Bronto Skylift and Galoshins. I know that the poster above says Q without U are playing but they had had to cancel but in their place they got Bronto Skylift. It's an eclectic line up to say the least, Bronto on the same bill as Withered Hand, now there's a bill I never imagined seeing. Fair play to the organisers for having the balls to do something a bit different.

Glasgow Hinterland Festival 2010 - Line Up Takes Shape

NB - this post originally went up last week and was subsequently removed as the line up hadn't been officially confirmed, so here we go go again, take 2......

I'm still pretty surprised to see that it's coming back for a second outing, but hey I'm not complaining any excuse for a party is fine by me. The multi-venue event takes place on Saturday the 3rd of April, details of the line up are starting to emerge, so far we have The mystery Jets, British Sea Power, Jeffrey Lewis (didn't he play last year? or was that at Stag & Dagger), Hot Club De Paris, Pulled About By Horses, Wave Pictures, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Fenech Soler, Johnny Foreigner, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Midnight Lion, Ambulances, Bleech, Kitty the Lion, Mazes, Spectrals, Veronica Falls, Fair Ohs, French Wives, The Kays Lavelle, Silver Coulmns, Panda Su, Little Yellow Ukuleles, plus DJ sets from Joe from Hot Chip and Friendly Fires (I'm sure there are others that I have missed here, so go and check the site for more detailed information).

In my original post I had stated that I thought there were only a few major standouts out for me personally. They were Ambulances who are going to be playing their first ever live show in Glasgow, that's got to be worth a tenner alone. With the other two being Midnight Lion and the Boy Who Trapped The Sun that genuinely got me excited. Thankfully though since the official launch, there are plenty more acts in there that get the old juices, Silver Columns playing their first Glasgow show and the lovely Panda Su, who has possibly one the the most beautiful live voices that I've heard in years. As they're two of the acts that I suggested as being one's to watch this year has got to be a good sign.
Hopefully this is just the start of things to come, as otherwise I could see things being even worse than last year which would be a real shame. Possibly the addition of one more big name band and a splattering of local talent should set Hinterland well on it's way.

Early bird tickets are on sale now for £10, certainly an improvement on the ridiculous price for last years tickets, they are on sale now here. For more up to date information one what's going on you might be better following them on twitter.

Hinterland

Peenko's Albums of 2009 #8 - Ambulances - The Future That Was

For me one of the most enjoyable things about recording session is discovering something new that new that would probably have passed me by. Out of all of the bands that I stumbled across Fife 6 piece, The Ambulances were by far and away the ones who stood out for me. Recorded in just 8 days in a cottage in Fife with legendary underground producer Kramer, 'The Future That Was' is more West Coast American Dream Pop than East Coast, Scotland. If I have one quibble it would be the lack of liver performances, as I'm itching to catch them in the flesh, hopefully 2010 will see that rectified.

Ambulances - What I Thought Of
Home
Myspace
You can buy 'The Future That Was' for just £6 here

Ambulances - Cease to Exist (video)

Peenko vs Ambulances

Earlier in the year Marc Riley had Ambulances in the studio to do a session for him, although I hadn't heard of them before, I decided to record the session, mainly out of a sense of patriotism for a Scottish band. I am so glad that I did, as they recorded one of the best sessions that I had heard all year

Would you care to introduce yourselves?
yup, we're sara, scott, oz, graham, big al and chris.

What artists would you say have had the biggest influence on the band?
velvet underground, beatles, wu-tang, townes van zandt, avalanches, super furry animals, the whole nuggets garage thing, piles of reggae... the list is endless. check out our twitter page, we're always putting up tunes and videos of bands we love on there.

You hail from all over Fife, how does that work on a practical level for getting together to practice/record?
its not that bad really, maybe when someone has a shift change or some overtime but nothing different from any other band.

You don’t seem to play all that often, so where and when can people see you playing live? the greenside in leslie on the 27th of November is our next gig but apart from that i don't really know. sara is in her last year at art school so its a bit mad for her right now so we don't want it commit to more than we can manage. however, that should all change next year and hopefully we can play most places that will have us.

Both Marc Riley and Vic Galloway have had you in to do sessions recently, which made me wonder how this came about if you hadn’t done many gigs?
Both their producers just got in touch out of the blue and asked if we would do a session. we really don't know how they found out about us but they did and we're well chuffed that they did. super surreal things happen to you all the time when you're in a band. we were walking in to do the marc riley session and met mark radcliffe and stuart maconie. when we finished our session we looked through to the control room and hooky was checking us out, he even offered to produce our next album. we then went to our hotel and drank all night with shane mcgowan (with his dentist), marc bolan's girlfriend and the wee guy from auf wiedersehen, pet. we were all playing our songs on kitchen spoons till the small hours. mad!!

Your new album was recorded and mixed ‘legendary’ producer Kramer, how did that come about?
he also just got in touch with us out of the blue on our myspace site and said he'd do anything to work with us. we thought either he must be a lunatic or the whole thing was just some joker having us on. we started to skype each other and realised it was no joker nor was he mental, result! he was over within a few weeks with nothing more than a wee bag o clothes, a laptop, a 1930s ribbon microphone, a teapot and his genius. he left 10 days later with 15 songs in the bag and a big crazy smile on his boat. spooky thing was we had sean flynns image of the crucified mickey moose in mind for the cover of the album and the 1930s mic kramer had, belonged to walt disney at some point. apparently he (walt, not kramer) recorded the first utterings of donald duck on it.

On a similar not, you recently supported Damo Suzuki (of Can fame), how did that come about? And are you fans of Can?
again, it was some promoter dude sending us a message over Myspace. we were already booked in for marc riley the night before in Manchester so it was no problem to then just nip down to london and do the gig. and yes we love can - you really shouldn't get to play music until you've heard the first 3 can albums. you can't compare them to any other band apart from maybe the fall. everyone has a can element to their music now though haven't they? haha! think i'll put a liebezeitian paradiddle in the middle eight, just to give it an edge. hehe!

Is this something that you would like to make a living out of?
we'd all love to make a living out of music but we don't make music with the intention of making money unlike almost everyone.

As you the album was a self- release, how hard was it for you to go about dealing with all the various aspects such as costs, promotion, etc?
getting the money was the only problem but we worked and saved hard. we found out what everything would cost us and then we just went for it. we couldn't pay for any promotion or spend very much on the actual packaging but in a time when people say albums are dead we're doing okay. if record companies were fairer to their customers and their bands i don't think illegal downloading would be a problem at all. everyone likes a nice product not some cheap imitation with scant information. most sensible music lovers know now though it's best to buy straight from the band that way some coked-up mountain climber in london isn't profiting off of it.

Have you started to attract attention from any labels and is this something that you would welcome?
we've talked to publishing companies and a few record company bosses have said very nice things to us. however, they haven't taken us out to lunch yet.

Favourite venue (played/would like to play)?
would have to be the Barras.

Are there any bands you would recommend I check out?
found, withered hand, davy sausage, slacker, the junipers, dusty stray, flavor crystals

Lastly, what’s next for Ambulances?
waiting to hear from the scottish arts council to find out if they're going to fund our next album with steve mason and kramer. in the meantime just writing and recording.

Ambulances - Come With Us
(Vic Galloway Session)

Their debut album 'The Future That Was' is available here for only £6 (including P&P), or alternatively you can preview, then download the album here.
I strongly suggest you check it out, it's one my favourite albums this year.

Myspace
Twitter
Home

Ambulances - Marc Riley Session (29/09/09)

Track Listing
1. What I Thought Of
2. Hired Hands
3. Last Old Fiver

Download

Ambulances - Vic Galloway Session (20/08/09)

Track Listing
1. Come With Us
2. What I Thought Of
3. Nothing Can Touch Me
4. Last Old Fiver

Download
Myspace