The Pictish Trail
A normal Thursday night for me will be spent sitting in front of my laptop cobbling together that weeks Friday Freebies, so quite often I find myself getting in a bit of a spin when I have plans for that night. Tonight is one of the those nights, as I am off to the CCA to catch The Pictish Trail and Kid Canaveral. Which in a roundabout way brings me to my first freebie which comes from the aforementioned Pictish Trail who is offering a free download of a remix of his new song 'Of Course You Exist' from FOUND, which you can download from SoundCloud
Seams
Having recently recorded a session for Radio One, it's safe to say that Dundee outfit Seams, are being touted as one of the most exciting unsigned bands out there at the moment. You can make your own mind up as to whether the hype is justified or not by downloading their song 'Gorilla' for free from their SoundCloud page.
Fatherson
Another band who are garnering a lot of support from Radio One are Scottish three piece, Fatherson. Having recently had their song "Gone Fission" aired on BBC Radio 1's Introducing Playlist, the band decided to celebrate their success by giving the song away as a free download on their Bandcamp page.
q without u
Glasgow four piece, q without u have just posted up their second album 'do no harm' as a free download on their Bandcamp page. I have only just had the one listen through, but I am definitely digging this, if you're old enough to remeber the band Seafood, then I guess that's the closest comparison that I could compare this lot to. As always, you don't have to listen to any of the rubbsh that I spout, all that you really need to know is that this is good and it's free to download from their Bandcamp page.
Collar Up
Edinburgh dream-pop trio from, Collar Up released their new single, The Fear of Love through Permwhale Recordings on the 23rd of April. It's catchy wee bugger and it's free to download here.
Milk Maid
Last years debut album from, Yucca, was a masterclass in fuzzy lo-fi excellence from Manchester's finest, Milk Maid. My expectations for their forthcoming album, 'Mostly No', is already pretty high. If 'Do Right' is anything to go by, then it looks like FatCat's rich vein of form is set to continue.
Urvanovic
If you haven't already checked out the video for Edinburgh outfit, Urvanovic's forthcoming single 'Bubblewrap', then I'd suggest you get that rectified asap. If you liked what you heard then you can download a fair few demo tracks for free over on their SoundCloud page. Their debut single officially comes out on the16th of June on Survivalist records.
Drunk Mule
It wouldn't be a proper Friday Freebies post if I didn't have something from the Drunk Mule boys, so to round up this weeks FFs here's their new tune Pterodactyl which is for grabs from their Bandcamp page.
It's been a wee while since I did a news round up, so I guess just now is as good a time as any to give you a heads up on a few wee bits and bobs in the Scottish music scene...
To kick this all off we have some good news, Mitchell Museum have ended their hiatus and have now been busy working away on new tunes.There's also been a wee bit of a line up change, with Dougie leaving the band, being replace Gavin Thomson, he of Findo Gask, grnr, Zoey Van Goey fame. The band have already started to recording demos for their 2nd album, as a wee teaser you can stream a new song called ‘Glasshouse’ over on their SoundCloud page. Nice to have you back boys, the world feels like a better place now that Mitchell Museum exist once more.
Secondly we have a wee bit more news regarding the Brew at the Bog Festival which takes place for the first time on Saturday 5 May 2012 at Bogbain Farm on the outskirts of Inverness. The big announcement is that goNORTH are going to be host the second stage at the the event which sees some of the most exciting emerging talent in Scotland relocating to the Highland capital for the weekend.
The second stage which is going to be compered by our friends at Net Sounds Unsigned, will feature an array of talent from the Highlands and Islands including KOBI, Megan Blyth, He Slept on 57, Mike Nisbet and Open Day Rotation. This is of course on top of the line up which had previously been announced which includes Three Blind Wolves, Washington Irving, Endor, The Seventeenth Century, Stanley Odd, Over The Wall, Beerjacket, Kitty The Lion and Fatherson among others.
Tickets for the day long extravaganza of new music and new beer are priced at just £45 and are available here. Limited camping is also available.
Scotland’s annual music conference and showcase event, Wide Days have just announced that the first seminars for this year’s daytime programme. Taking place on Wednesday the 11th and Thursday the12th of April, the seminars will once again be held in Edinburgh’s Teviot House, with the showcase gigs being held in various venues across the city (provided that there's any venues left by April). Having attended this last year, I only have good things to say about it, much like goNorth it's a great way for you to learn and more importantly to give you the opportunity to go and speak to people within the industry that you might not normally have the chance to speak to. That and in the evenings they put on some pretty amazing bands, last year they had Rachel Sermanni, Withered Hand and PAWS to name just a few. If you're quick off the mark then you can pick up tickets at the special early bird rate of £29 until March 12, after which they'll go up to the full price of £45. If you want further information on the event or you fancy picking up some tickets then just head here.
Talking of festivals, Doune The Rabbit Hole have announced the line up for this years event, which will take place at Duncarron Fort, near Kilsyth, on the weekend of August 24-26th. So far they've announced a whole host of local talent including The Phantom Band and Withered Hand. Weekend camping tickets are available now priced £78 if purchased before April 1st, £88 there after, day tickets are also available. For further information on the event check out their website.
I guess that most of you are already fully aware that submissions for this years T Break opened on Monday there. If you fancy applying to be one of 16 bands that are hand-picked from over a thousand entries by a panel made up of industry experts to play T in the Park, then you can do so here.
Local promoters, Pelmet Nites have just announced that they plan to thrown Glasgow's Biggest St Paddy's Day Party. On Saturday the 17th March they'll be taking over the QMU for a night of debauchery featuring am array of Scottish talent, including live performances from Aerials Up, Discopolis, Kobi Onyame, PartWindPartWolf and A Plastic Rose, plus DJ sets from Detour and MILK. Early tickets are on sale now for only £5 for non students via TicketScotland. Check out their Facebook for further details.
Wur pals, Kid Canaveral have just announced a series of dates, which includes a couple of Scottish shows. on Sunday the 15th of April they'll be playing Fence's Eye O' The Dug of the festival in St Andrews. Then on the 3rd of May they'll be through in sunny Glasgow at the CCA supporting the Pictish Trail, after which they'll be heading down south for a series of dates. I've heard a couple of new tunes which see the band retaining that distinctive Kid C vibe, whilst sounding that bit more mature. Excited?! You should be!
If you don't follow Aidan Moffat on twitter, then you're really missing a trick. If you don't believe me then check out this compilation of some of his most amusing tweets that the Pop Cop turned into a whole post. His tweets are now the thing of legend, I often find myself trawling through a whole host of his semi-inebriated reviews of what he's been watching on MTV in the middle of the night. Funny as fuck they are too. After a few too many shandies one night, Aidan mentioned how much he loved all three 80’s megahits entitled 'The Power of Love'. Upon hearing this confession, none other than the deputy editor of MOJO, a Mr Andrew Male, then posed the following innocuous question: "Has anyone ever managed a medley of all three?" Not being one to turn down a challenge, Aidan roped in his current co-hort, Bill Wells to take this challenge on. Not only did they manage to craft all three songs into one, but they were also able to squeeze in Peter Cetera's 'Glory of Love' for the sheer thrill of it, soliciting some backing vocals from, amongst others, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake. You can have a listen to the results below, which will also be available on limited 7" vinyl just in time for Bill and Aidan's UK tour which kicks off at the end of this month.
Mini music festival promoters, A Quiet Night In have announced a couple of shows in Stereo this March. On the 20th they have Finding Albert appearing alongside It Girl, Kill The Waves, One Last Secret and Colour-Coded. Then on the 28th they're putting on the recent winners of the Best Acoustic act at this years Scottish Alternative Music Awards, Brown Bear & The Bandits, which is also their debut headline show. Alongside them there will be our very own Randolph's Leap, one of my favourite singer songwriters, Michael Cassidy, plus Fole Music and Every Genius Delivers. Tickets for both nights are only £5, you can find out more information here.
Mind I mentioned that I saw Fatherson a few weeks back supporting Frightened Rabbit, if I didn't say it on here then I must have said on Twitter. My shitty memory fails me once again, anyway, they've just released a new video featuring a boy and his adventures with a goldfish. It's pretty fucking ace and well worthy of three and a bit minutes of your time...
Last but not least, our friends over at Audio Antihero have just released a new charity compilation which features a whopping 36 tracks. The album which is entitled “Some.Alternate.Universe” is being released in order to raise money for The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths and it features exclusive tracks from the entire Audio Antihero roster, plus appearances from rather special guests including the likes of Jeffrey Lewis, and Johnny Foreigner. Plus most excitingly for me it includes a wealth of Scottish talent, including Jesus H. Foxx, PAWS, The Scottish Enlightenment and Debutant. You can buy it now from the Audio Antihero Bandcamp. Like their previous compilation, it only costs a tiny £3.99 with the option and encouragement to dig deeper if you can afford to. 36 tracks for less than 4 quid and you get to do your bit for charity, it's a no brainer really...
Bon Iver So the big question in indie circles at the start of the year was whether or not Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver could live up to the high standards he set up with his debut album 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. With his new self titled album due out soon, you can get a taster of what to expect by downloading new song Calgary, in exchange for your email address.
Discopolis I briefly mentioned Edinburgh electro outfit, Discopolis in a post yesterday. If you read The Pop Cop blog (you should), then you might already know what a stir they caused amongst the judges of this years T Break stage. I guess that technically makes them the hottest band in Scotland at the moment, or at leats it makes them the hottest band in Scotland this week. I have given them a good few listens now and begrudgingly I have to admit that the judges were spot on, I am just disappointed that I didn't pick up on them first. If you fancy giving them a chance then check out their Soundcloud page where they have a few songs up for free download, just scroll down towards the bottom of the page.
The Second Hand Marching Band A massive band with grand plans at least, I think that's the best way to describe the SHMB. I gave up counting how many of them are in the band a long time ago, not enough fingers you see. Last I heard the band were set to release 3 albums this year, plus they're also due to be playing at this goNorth (god knows how Inverness is going to find enough beds to put them all up), plus they're also playing at the Last Battle's EP launch in June, a gig which is being put on by Jim Ayetunes. They may wel have 3 albums worth of material, but they've still been working away on new songs. One of which is called 'Mull' and it's free to download here (just right click save).
Miaoux Miaoux I have mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating that Miaoux Miaoux's new single Hey Sound is a belter of a tune. If you head over to his Soundcloud page then you can download a promo mix of material that includes the afore mentioned single. If it floats yer boat then come down to Mono on Tuesday for the single launch, where I will be attempting to DJ.
Kowalskiy It's that time of the month again when my fellow blogger, Kowalskiy, puts out his new EP of local acts. This month he's got tracks from 4dayweekend, How Garbo Died, Matt Norris & the Moon, Laurence & the Slab Boys and Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers. Further details can be found here.
Foxgang Glasgow folk-rock outfit, Foxgang have made their song 'White Picket Fence' available for free download on their Bandcamp.
Fatherson Another freebie from a band who are also playing this years T Break stage. DF Concerts really seem to be bigging this powerpop outift up a fair bit, I am still sitting on the wall as I want to hear more before I make my mind up whether they're for me or not. You can decide for yourself by downloading Town For Tourists for now on their Bandcamp.
Haddowfest I appreciate that I have spent most of this post banging on about other bloggers, this is the last one I promise. Myke from edRock has posted up a whole load of sessions that they recorded at this years Haddowfest onto Bandcamp. You can find free acoustic tracks from Homework, Steve Heron and The Fire & I, among others, here.
Fionn Regan The Irish singer-songwriter has put a free download of new track '100 Acres of Sycamore' on his homepage.
