Friday Freebies

Panda Su
It feels like ages since we've heard anything new from the awesome Panda Su, her last EP, ‘Sticks & Bricks’ was a particular favourite round these parts, and she is now set to release her follow-up EP 'I Begin' in late April. She kicks off a UK tour tonight in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete's, so if you're in that neck of the woods then get yourself down, oh and make sure you get down early as I Build Collapsible Mountains is supporting. As a prelude to what you can expect from her new EP she's posted up 'Alphabet Song' from it for free download on Soundcloud.

The Kabeedies
This indie-pop outfit are arguably the finest thing to come out of Norwich since Alan Partridge, and now they've very kindly made their new single 'Santiago' available for free download. The band have just embarked on a UK tour, sadly there are no dates planned for north of the border, so you'll have to console yourself with this little pop gem.

Conquering Animal Sound/Debutant
To celebrate the fact that their first release featuring Conquering Animal Sound and Debutant has just broke even, they're giving away all of digital tracks for free. What a nice bunch they are, you can still get your mucky paws on the lovely 7"; vinyl version, although there aren't too many left. Which reminds me, I bought this ages ago and I still haven't bought a record player. Anyone got any suggestions of somewhere I could pick one up for not a lot of pennies?
The label is also putting on a night at the Captians Rest in Glasgow this Saturday to celebrate the release of their new split EP which features The Japanese War Effort, Fox Gut Daata, Miaoux Miaoux and Wounded Knee. If you're not going to Come On Gang!s final show then I would urge you to get along to this one.

Bobby Womb
Next month see Falkirk's finest (excluding Arab Strap), Y'All Is Fantasy Island call it a day with a wee gig in Edinburgh. I don't have the date or venue to hand, sorry, although I am sure Jim 'Ayetunes' will comment with it. Anyway, it's going to be a pretty sad loss as they've been one of the most creative outfits that this wee nation of ours has ever produced. On the plus side it looks as if they're all going to be keep going with music in one way or another. Adam Stafford's album which isn't due out until some time in the summer, is already one of my favourite albums of 2011. But before then you can treat your earbuds to Jon McCall aka Bobby Womb, who used to play clarinet and drums in Yifi, as he's just released a solo EP which you can download for free here.

Airlines
I know I write a music blog, but I honestly don't myself having as much time as I used to in order to listen to new music, that's why I really appreciate getting recommendations from my mates, as it makes my job a lot fucking easier. This is my roundabout way of passing the credit for this freebie on to my friend Ian who writes Have Fun At Dinner. It was him that passed this little nugget on to me last week, it's an awesome wee find and I am chuffed to bits that he passed it on. All you need to know for now is the band are called Airlines and you can download a free mini album here.

French Wives
All good things must come to an end, sadly this week it's the last in the series of the French Wives 'Homefires' posts, which means no more weekly freebies. Going out on a bit of a high with their former single, 'Halloween', the band are now gearing up for their forthcoming new EP, 'Feel Safe Small' and a 17 date tour across the UK. Tickets for their Scottish dates appear to be close to selling out, so make sure you get your tickets well in advance.

Kasule
Technically not a freebie as it's one of those pay what you want scenarios, however, it's too good not to include. I first heard of Kasule after Campfires in Winter were likened to them in a review back last summer, I know the it made Boab very happy but I was none the wiser. That was until they posted up their new album 'demonstration' on their Bandcamp, then I soon realised why he was so chuffed as it's quite simply stunning. My advice would be stream the songs first as you're going to feel pretty guilty after listening to it if you downloaded it for free. Whatever you do, just make sure you check this out.

Josh T Pearson
The former Lift To Experience frontman has just released his new album 'Last of the Country Gentlemen', and the Independent have a free download of track "Woman when I've raised hell" from it for free here.

Lad Lazurus
I came across this freebie via the awesome PAWS, who I will be featuring pretty damn soon. Otherwise I am pretty sure it would have totally passed me by, I can't tell you much about Laz Lazarus, I think they're from up north somewhere. All I do know for certain is that they have some awesome scuzzed pop rocksongs and that a whole load of their tunes are up for grabs for free on their Bandcamp.

The Ballad of Alice & Kitty
I honestly can't remember who tipped me off about this freebie, I must have bookmarked it earlier in the week, but my goldfish like memory fails me. If you're reading this and thinking that was me what tweeted about this, thank you as it's a great wee freebie that deserved to be shared. It's ramshackle country folk at it's very best and you can download it for nowt here.

Entire Cities
Canadian outfit Entire Cities have just released their new album 'I Hope You Never Come Home', of which they've made 'Gimme A Ride' and 'Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear' available for free download on their Bandcamp, fans of the Old Steady take note this should be right up your street.

Evil Hand
Derek Bates, one half of Bottle of Evil, has lunched his own solo project Evil Hand, he's recorded a whole abums worth of material and he's very kindly posted it all up for free download on his Bandcamp.

Gigantic Music Sampler
There is a free compilation album on Amazong featuring tracks from The Walkmen, The Rumble Strips and Harlem Shakes, download it here.

Sea of Bees
Head on over to Soundcloud where you will find a free download of Conquering Animal Sound Remixing Wizbot.

J Mascis
Stereogum have a free download of new J Mascis tune 'Is It Done'

Akron/Family
KEXP have a free download of new song 'So It Goes'

Sound of Guns
Download their song 'Breakwater' for free here.

Weekly Round Up (15/08/10)

Monday - Calamateur brought some Fresh Meat to the Peenko BBQ
Tuesday - esteemed author Rodge Glass did some Community Service as he introduced as to the Year of Open Doors. Plus some Boab revived his 62-Word Review, fuck me that's 4 posts in under a year.
Wednesday - the fabulous The Social Services took the time out to answer some questions for me, making them the 28th entry into the Scots Way-Hay club
Thursday - the first stream of my antics on Fresh Air alongside David from Kid Canaveral, the Son(s) compared it to a Scottish version of Loose Women, a pretty apt description I reckon.
There was also a session from Louise McVey and the Cracks in the Concrete
Friday - Freebies, Freebies, loads of fucking Freebies!!!!
Saturday - Franz Ferdinand's took on Britney Spears 'Womanizer' in We've Got It Covered


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

The Scottish Enlightenment return to live action this week with a cracking wee gig in the capital, on Thursday (19th August) night they play at Henry's Cellar Bar. They're playing as a three piece, with an emphasis on the old acoustic guitar. Fair do's you might well think, but you'd be wrong, oh so wrong, keep reading kids. On the night they will be joined by their good friend Dan Lyth who will be helping us them out on stage and also playing his own set. In addition to this they have Debutant joining them to play an acoustic set (apparently his loop pedal is broken), and to top it all off they have also roped in former De Rosa front man, Martin John Henry, to come along and 'busk some songs'. So to recap you have The Scottish Enlightenment, Dan Lyth, Debutant and Martin John Henry all for the bargain sum of £5. It all kick off at 8pm, and it's arguably one of the finest line ups you'll see in August.


If you are looking for something to do on Tuesday (17th) night and you live in Glasgow, then the place to be seems to be Mono in Glasgow, as Steve Mason formerly of the Beta Band, is doing a free show. It all kicks off at 7pm, it's an acoustic performance and you're advised to get down nice and early as it will probably be pretty busy.

Friday Freebies

Campfires in Winter
I couldn't not mention this, in fact I have been dying to share this with you all for a while now. Monday there saw the release of the Campfires debut EP, 'Cardboard Ships', they just finished a wee tour of folks flats this week, which was a hell of a lot of fun. They're playing this evening at the Pin Up Nights festival, it should be a cracking evening. Anyway, enough of my ramblings get downloading their EP over on their Bandcamp now.

Adam Stafford & The Death Bridge Convention
He runs one of the most innovative labels in Scotland, Wise Blood Industries, he is the front man of cult Falkirk band Y'All in Fantasy Island and now he's gone and released a covers album with his backing The Death Bridge Convention, there really is no stopping Adam Stafford. You might remember that I posted his cover of the Twilight Sad in the first ever 'We've Got It Covered' post, well now you can download the album in full. Check out his takes on various artist including Daniel Johnston, Sting and Devo, here.

Randan Discotheque
You might remember this lot from last years single 'Daily Record May 18th 1993' which pretty much did as it says on the tin, it was them singing about all the headline that they found in the paper from that date. Class wee tune it was too. Now they're back and this time they're jumping on the freebie wagon, what kind souls they are. They have posted “U/18’s”, a collection of songs recorded between 1996 and 2001 up for free on their Bandcamp.

Retreat Festival
You might have picked up on this in my last Weekly Roundup, basically it's a wee festival that's taking place in Edinburgh in the last weekend of August. To entice you in they have posted free downloads from all of the bands, it's quite a compilation that they have for you. Make sure you check out Benni Hemm Hemm's song 'Retaliate', one of the finest songs to have come out in 2010. There are also tracks from folk like Meursault, eagleowl, Wounded Knee and The Douglas Firs. Download yourself a copy here.

The Miniature Tigers
I know I featured them a few weeks back, but as they never got the full attention that their debut deserved I am going to try and make sure a few more folk pay attention to their second offering. Stereogum have another song taken from it, 'Bull Fighter Jacket' is up for grabs here.

Debutant
He's a member of Meursault, he also does his own solo ambient stuff, he's one talented bugger and he has also posted three songs for free download over on his Bandcamp page. Get stuck in.

The Cinnamons
You might remember that the I posted the Cinnamons first single from their '5 Songs of Summer' project. If liked what you heard or you missed out the first time round then it's time to do some catching up as they have posted up two more songs, 'Where We're Going' and 'Leave If You Want To', for free on their Bandcamp.

Merge Records
Have posted a free sampler, featuring tracks from Radar Bros, Superchunk, Spoon and She & Him amongst others. To get get yourself a copy you have to register your details, if that sounds like a fair deal to you, then get in about it here.

Marnie Stern
She has a new album coming in October, as a wee teaser she's given The 405 a free download of one of the tracks, 'For Ash', which is taken from her self titled album.

Sonny Marvello
The Glasgow outfit are currently working on an EP, which is due out some time in October. They are such a nice bunch though, so they've posted up a free high quality demo of their song 'Love Ain't Sweet' on their Bandcamp. They're also playing at tonights Pin Up Nights Festival at the Flying Duck, which promises to be an amazing evening.

Macabre Scene
The Glasgow band are just about to go on a short hiatus as one of their members is disappearing off to Denmark for six months. Fear not though as they tweeted a couple of demos for your listening pleasure, right click save the following 'Planks' and 'Garage Band'.

Les Savy Fav
Pitchfork have a free download of their new song 'Let's Get Out of Here' up for free download in exchange for your email address.

J.Tilman
The Fleet Foxes drummer continues to hammer out cracking tunes of his own, his new album 'Singing Ax' is due pretty soon. As a teaser you can download 'Three Sisters' from it for free here.

Sean Carey
This week really is all about the drummers, this time it's Bon Iver's man at the back Sean Carey, who has a solo album coming out on the 24th of August through Jagjaguwar. If his song, 'In the Dirt' is anything to go by, then Justin 'Bon Iver' Vernon might just need to watch his back.

Song of Return
Who you might remember as Union of Knives, have posted a whole load of songs up on their Soundcloud which are available to download completely gratis. Thanks to Jim Ayetunes for the tip off.

Dinosaur Pile-Up
They have posted a free download of their B-side 'Birds & Planes' over on their homepage.

Space Ghost
The Oakland outfit have posted a free download of their 'Ghostly EP', you get yourself a copy here.

T Break
There are a whole host of MP3's up for you to download over on their website.

Kowalskiy's Komplimentary Korner

Dios
The much missed Planet Sound once raved about the LA band's single, "Some Alcohol", and after coming across the single again in a drawer, the good Doctor go googling to see what they were up to. Turned out that they had a new album out last month on iTunes plus a live gig there too. If you go here, there's a link to download a track from the live gig, all you have to do is sacrifice your email address.

Weekly Round Up (13/06/10)

Monday - Blue Sky Archives were the meat in this weeks Peenko sandwich
Tuesday - Teenage Fanclub's session for 6Music and Rachel Sermanni's session for Vic
Wednesday - the rather delicious eagleowl took the plunge into the great big Scots Way-Hay pool, plus Glasgow folksters Trembling Bells session for Marc Riley
Thursday - nowt happened as I was up in Inverness, I am planning to write a wee post about my adventures, that probably won't be until tomorrow as today I feel liked death warmed up.
Friday - there were some corking freebies, if you haven't done so already check out the fabulous Son(s)
Saturday -We had Jetpacks covering Bon Iver's 'Blindsided'.

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

Next Saturday (19th) Glasgow Podcart are helping to put on a wee shindig at Stereo in Glasgow. with Pooch and Tokyo Knife Attack. Tickets are only a fiver, with all proceeds going to the Beatson Oncology Unit. So it's cheap, it's got great bands and you'd b e doing something good for charity, no brainer really.



In case you weren't already aware, Peter Kelly, aka 'Beerjacket' makes his long awaited come back with his first in show in almost 7 months this coming Friday (18th) at Oran Mor in Glasgow. The gig is being put on as part of the West End Festival, with a new album in the offing before the end of the year, Mr Kelly has promised to give some of his new songs their first first airing at the Oran Mor show. A limited number of tickets are on sale here, be quick boys n girls, don't say I didn't warn you.

This Thursday (17th) at The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, gig promoters The Llama Farm are putting on their second gig. It features El Mato a un Policia Motorizado, from Argentina, Debutant and Plastic Animals. It's only a fiver, and it all kicks off at 8pm, if you're in that neck of the woods and are looking for a night on the tiles, then look no further.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) are in Glasgow on Thursday at the Arches to do a gig for Sailor Jerry's. It's being billed as a free gig, although you have to pay a £3.50 booking fee, not quite sure how that works, although you do get a free shot with that. You can get tickets here.

As I have been away all week I guess I will hae missed out a fair few things, sorry kids.
I'm going back to the comfort of my sofa for now........

Friday Freebies

I Build Collapsible Mountains
Last week, the legend that is Luke Joyce designed that pretty new banner you see above, then he went and topped it all off by tipping me off about this band. At first he failed to mention that it's his own little side project, which was kind of embarrassing as I had gotten highly over excited and started gushing over it. God I sound like such a girl sometimes. Anyway, there are three songs available for free download on their Bandcamp page. I strongly suggest you check them out, then you can gush too (did I just make the word gush seem really rude?).

The Douglas Firs
Aberdeen/Edinburgh shoegazers, The Douglas Firs have put two unreleased songs up for free download, Acolyte Firelight Diorama and Whiteman's Tribal Diorama can both be downloaded for free over on their blog page.

Randolph's Leap
Their new EP, 'Eerie Indie Adam', is up for free download on their Bandcamp page.

Jack James
The Glasgow indie-folkster has just posted his new album, 'Quarter Life-Crisis' up for free download on his Bandcamp page.

Blackbird Blackbird
Let's Move On Together EP is free to download on his Bandcamp page.

How to Destroy Angels
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame has a new project entitled How to Destroy Angels, and they have put their first EP up for free, you can download it here.

Winning Sperm Party
The amazing Scottish indie label has put not one, but two of their new releases up for free download. Head on over to their homepage where you can find an EP from Rory McIntyre and an album from Eternal Fags.

Debutant
Having recently released an excellent split single with Conquering Animal Sound on Edinburgh label Gerry Loves Records. Now the one man Edinburgh dream pop outfit have posted two songs to download, 'Definition' and 'La Pucelle' can be had for free on his Bandcamp.

Hot Hot Heat
We had some Hot Hot Heat last week but there's another track from their forthcoming album, Future Breeds available here. I really like this, makes me want to listen to them again after the disaster that was Happiness LTD.

The Drums
Anyone like The Drums? Not too into them myself but there's a cracking remix of Forever And Ever, Amen by St Etienne. If you don't at least nod your head and tap your feet a wee bit then you're not human. Get it here.


Kowalskiys Komplimentary Korner

Curators

After doing some snooping about, our good friend 'The Doc', has come up with this little gem, a live recording (26 minute 26 second long MP3) of the Curators entire set from Stereo (22/04/10). Its posted on their Facebook but you don't have to be a member to access it. The direct mp3 link is here. "The sound quality is great, apart from the sound engineer burping twice! Better out than in though...."