Friday Freebies

Sharon Van Etten
I think I might well be one of the last music bloggers to have jumped on the Sharon Van Etten bandwagon. The Brooklyn based singer-songwriter seems to be the current darling of hipster sites such as Stereogum and Pitchfork, having been listening to her new album, Tramp, a hell of a lot this week I can see why folk have been getting their knickers in such a twist. If you haven't picked up on her yet or you just to see what all the fuss is about then just head on over to Amazon where you can download her song Leonard for free.

Two Wings
If you frequent other Scottish music blogs other than this one then I think it's a safe bet to warn you all that the blogosphere may well start getting a wee bit over excited about the forthcoming album from  Glasgow-based band Two Wings. Featuring Hanna Tuulikki who features on the latest RM Hubbert album and Ben Reynolds who has played with the likes of Alisdair Roberts and Trembling Bells. The duo are set to cause a bit of a stir with the release of their excellent debut album, "Love's Spring"  which comes out on Tin Angel Records at the end of April. As a wee teaser they're giving away the opening track from the album, 'Eikon' as a free download in exchange for your email address.

Marionettes
The Aberdeen based label, Bedford Records continue to impress with their ability to unearth little hidden gems from the North East of Scotland. Boasting an impressive repertoire which includes the likes of IndianRedLopez, Steven Milne and you can now add frantic indie pop outfit, Marionettes to that list. With their their debut single, "The Rightness Of Blindless" due out on the 9th of April, the band are giving away a free download of "De Ja When?" as a wee introduction to the band. If oyu like what you hear then you can catch the band playing live at The Doghouse in Dundee on the 12th April, then The Lemon Tree in  Aberdeen on the 13th, then on the14th April they'll be at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow, on the15th they're at Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh, before finishing up on the16th at Madhatters in Inverness.



Bobby Womb
It was only last week that I was raving about the latest release from Wiseblood Industries, now I find myself in the situation where once again I am raving about their output. This weeks offering is a wee bit different mind, if you like ambient instrumental tunes then the new Bobby Womb EP should tickle yer fancy.



Blank Canvas
Keeping up with all of the goings on in the Scottish music scene really is a job in itself, every week it feels as if there is a new record label or blog cropping up. Not that I am complaining mind, the more folk that are out there promoting what's going on in our backyard the better. The latest addition to the family are COME Records, who have just put out their first release with Edinburgh outfit, Blank Canvas, which is free to download here.

Be Like Pablo
Morayshire indie popsters, Be Like Pablo have announced that their new album, "The New Adventures".will be available for free in August from their fancy new website interactive website As if that wasn't enough on the first weekend of every month, they will be releasing free material as well as album artwork, b-sides, covers and a lot more to boot. If you register your details just now on the bands site then they'll send you 2 free new tunes which should whet your appetite for what's to come over the next few months.


Lovers Turn to Monsters
Prolific lo-fi music maestro, Kyle Wood, aka Lovers Turn to Monsters is back after what must be all of a month's absence with another slice of alt-pop goodness. His new album 'Mumblecore' (top name for an album) is out now on limited edition cassette or an a pay what you want basis from Bandcamp.




Schwervon!
The only bad thing that's come from listening to the Edinburgh Man podcast is that it usually ends up with my bank balance taking a bit of a battering as he continually seems to unearth little hidden gems that I would never have stumbled across. A few months back he turned me on to the New York duo, Schwervon!, yet another ace find on his part. Until the end of this month they're going to be giving away a new free tune every Friday, last weeks offering Cougar Pride might still be up for grabs if you're quick.If not then just check out their Bandcamp page for this weeks freebie.



Vasquez
Naming yourself after a character from Aliens gets you brownie points in my book, having the tunes to back them up is another matter all together. Thankfully Edinburgh's noise-wielding trio do that and then some, they've just released EP2 for nowt on their Bandcamp page, fans of Lady North and Bronto Skylift should really check this out.




Shooting Stansfield
Edinburgh outfit, Shooting Stansfield have posted up a series of songs that they recorded at The Cottage on the beautiful setting of the banks of Loch Fyne. Billed as The Cottage Sessions, there are 3 songs up for grabs on their SoundCloud page, you can also read more about how the songs came to be on their blog. Fans of Frightened Rabbit and Admiral Fallow would be urged to check this up and coming act out.

  The Cottage Sessions by Shooting Stansfield 




The Melvins
Legenadry gruneg outfit, the Melvins have made their latest release, The Bulls & The Bees, available for free in exchange for your email address. If you've never heard of the Melvins before then now's your chance to acquaint yourself with one of the bands that helped to start the whole grunge movement.

The Kays Lavelle
Bloody hell, The Kays Lavelle are back, I guess I must have missed that memo. Having apparently disappeared off the face of this earth shortly after the release of their debut album, Be Still This Gentle Morning, the Edinburgh outfit are back and they've got a new song called Hiding in Ditches available on a pay what you want basis on Bandcamp.



Conor Mason
If you missed Conor Mason's session that I posted earlier in the week, I'd urge you to scroll down a bit and check it out. If you can't be arsed with all of that effort, then you could always jut follow this link and download his new single, Misunderstood, for nowt. His new album, Standstill, comes out on Monday on Armellodie Records and it's well worth investing yer pennies on. Hopefully we should have an interview with him up fairly shortly too.

  Misunderstood by Conor Mason by Armellodie 

Fresh Meat Monday - Lovers Turn To Monsters

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello, my names Kyle Wood. I’m from a failed miners village in West Lothian called Whitburn. and in my spare time I make music as the one man band Lovers Turn to Monsters; I’ve been doing it for some time now.


How would you describe the music that you make?
The most difficult question a musician can be asked… I guess the best way to describe it is just; me in music form. As possibly idiotic as that sounds, and as much of a cop out it sounds its true. It’s not really folk, or rock , or country, or pop. It’s just a variety of instruments in an arrangement I think sounds Nice… Does that constitute as an answer? I sure hope so. (I'd say that it did - Peenko)

How did you start out making music?

I started off as an after thought for a band who needed a bass player, they weren’t getting along with their current bass player and I was always at their practices so they just asked me to buy a bass and teach myself. Which I did and then after years of standing at the back with a couple of different bands I decided to have a go myself… Like most musicians I was greedy for the spotlight hah. Lovers Turn to Monsters basically just sprouted from there; me sitting about in my room, writing and recording songs then realising I only enjoyed them when I did everything in them.


What process goes into the way you write songs?

There’s nothing really exciting involved in my song writing, I’m no Brian Wilson or that. I don’t lock myself in a room for weeks in the darkness and sing one note for hours on end. Usually just something exciting or reasonably interesting happens; it sticks in my mind and I turn it into lyrics, or I turn the clever things my friends say around till they sound like lyrics and then the music swiftly follows. I suppose I’d point out I usually write lyrics first, I feel they’re the most important part of my music, but at the same time I don’t want to point that out in fear of being tagged a singer-songwriter ewwww.


What can people expect from your live shows?

I’d like to think some sort of honesty, but that‘s probably just an excuse for me buggering up all the time. It’s mostly just me and my drum machine so some mad beatzzz are always in order as well. I’ve always hoped Lovers would evolve into some epic Broken Social Scene typed collective but I can hardly organise me and my drum machine so I think that’s probably out of the question for now.


What are you listening to at the moment?

There’s never usually a pattern in my play lists but today I had a wee listen to Alex Turners solo EP and Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells album has not been off my I-pod. Oh I’ve also been listening to James Yorkston! Cause I’m reading his book, Lovely chap. Lovely music. I’m easily pleased.

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

I’m always writing and recording so there’ll probably be my usual overly prolific output. But after releasing “Beyond Glasgow Howls” I’ll probably just be doing my usual gigging trying to make some money back from all that I put in. And I guess I’ll probably be trying to get back to playing with my band Boygirlanimalcolour cause they’ve been slightly side tracked with all my album excitement. And that’s about it, my usual juxtaposition; jumping between laziness and too much work. I’m certainly a confusing entity to deal with…



Lovers Turn To Monsters - Come with Me


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I should never have scrapped the weekly roundup...

At the start of the year I decided to stop posting 7 days a week as to be honest I thought I needed to at least take one day off a week from blogging, plus I thought it only fair to save you all from my ramblings for one day. Which now leaves me with a load of gigs and bits of news and nowhere to post them, hence the randomness of these kind of posts, I am still sticking to my guns though, I'll manage one day off one week if it kills me.
As I am heading up to Inverness this week, things might be pretty quiet round these parts as I plan to actually be out seeing some bands instead of sitting in front of my laptop. So there will be no Friday Freebies as I quite fancy enjoying myself instead of scouring about for free downloads. If I get the chance though I might try and type up a daily diary of what I've been getting up to. Although that might be wishful thinking as I doubt my hungover ramblings will be of much interest to any of you and trying to write posts whilst intoxicated just leads to massive regrets, much as in the same way that you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near eBay when drunk. Anyway here are some gigs and bits of news that I think are worth sharing with you all...

I must admit I do like it when folk I know and respect suggest I check a band or an artist out, as it does make my job a lot easier. Earlier this week, Phil from Elba Sessions got in touch to suggest that I check out an artist called Mike Nisbet, who they had recently recorded a podcast with. What with being out most nights this week, I only got round to listening to the session yesterday but even after only a handful of listens I must I am mightily impressed and plan to try and find out more. You can make your own mind by listening to one of the session tracks below, if that tickles your fancy then get yourself along to the Ivy Bar in Glasgow on Thursday night (9th June) where Mike is having his official album launch with support from Jill Leighton. Further details can be found here.

Mike Nisbet - Funny Little Windows (Elba Session)


Lovers Turn To Monsters, aka Kyle Wood, launches his new album, 'Beyond Glasgow Howls' on the 16th of June at Slouch in Glasgow. Support on the evening comes from Where we Lay our Heads and So Many Animal Calls, also the gig itself is free. Lovers Turn To Monsters will be back in a few weeks time to take on some Fresh Meat action.



Another band having a wee launch night are the fabulously named, Mummy Short Arms, who release their debut single 'Cigarette Smuggling' through Flowers In The Dustbin. The launch night is this coming Friday (10th) Stereo in Glasgow. Support on the evening comes from Louise McVey & Cracks In The Concrete and Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5, tickets can be purchased in advance using the following link.
I know I am always banging on about wanting to hearing something original, well I guess it's safe to say that this like nothing else that's going on in Scotland at the moment. So if you're looking for something that little bit different then look no further.

MUMMY SHORT ARMS - Cigarette Smuggling by Flowers In The Dustbin

If you're looking for more of a fix of Scottish music and indie/alternative tunes then you're in luck as up and coming Edinburgh's internet based radio station, Prestongrange Radio have a new weekly show called The New Scottish Gentry. The show which is on every Tuesday from 8-10pm aims to promote the best in Scottish alternative music. You can find out more about the show on their Facebook page.


I am going to round this post off with a video from Peenko favourites, we're only afraid of NYC, who seem to have been away for ages. It's great to have them back, and it's even greater that they've come back with an awesome new tune and a video to go with it too. Nice to have you back boys, don't go disappearing off like that again though...

We've Got It Covered #4

I really wasn't sure which song to go with this weeks selection from Kyle 'aka' Lovers Turn To Monsters, as there were so many cracking covers to choose from his covers album, 'A Collection of Lo-Fi Covers'. It was a toss up between this one, and his Panda Su and Withered Hand covers. In the end I went with this Elliot Smith cover as it fits my current mood pretty well, it remains pretty true to the original version, I really like it, and I hope you do too. If you like this version then might I suggest you check out his covers album, which is available to download for free over on his Bandcamp page.

Lovers Turn To Monsters - Needle in the Hay (Elliot Smith cover)

Friday Freebies

Miaoux Miaoux
Electronica artist, Miaoux Miaoux (or Julian Victor Corrie as he's known in real life), has put up a free download of a new track called "Hrvatski". Miaoux Miaoux is playing a launch night for his new EP 'Blooms', at the 13th Note this coming Tuesday (16th). He'll also being answering a few questions for me very soon, so watch this space.

Cancel The Astronauts
I saw these guys play Kid Canaverals EP launch last year, and I must admit they completely caught me off guard as they were superb. I guess you know a good song when you sing it for the rest of the night (with the wrong words I might add) having only heard it once. Well that's what the lead track of their EP, the 'I Am The President Of Your Fanclub (And Last Night I Followed You Home)'. That evening I bought the EP, corker it is too and now it is available on free download Simply go the bands bandcamp page and get downloading.

Smoosh
Mind them? What you don't? That technically makes you not a hipster, or at least not a hipster back in 2004 when they were all fashionable. Back then they were 12 and 1o, yes my kiddie fiddling readers, 10 and 12. I must admit that I bought into it all, their debut album 'She Like Electric' is fucking superb. I have probably lost any credibility that I once had for saying that, some of you might be thinking about reporting me to the relevant authorities. Trust me it's good. Anyway, they are now all 'grown up' and they have a free download up for grabs. Get there new song ' We are our own lies' for free on their Bandcamp page.
I will put my neck on the line and say that it's good, in fact it's very very fucking good.

Clash Magazine
In exchange for your email address, the magazine will give you a free download of compilation entitled, 'Cross Section' which features tracks from Los Campesinos!, Field Music, Errors, Yeasayer and Midlake. Download it here.

Lovers Turn To Monsters
Kyel Wood, aka Lovers To Monsters, is a busy little bee, he's gone and made another new Wp 'Tiny Bones', and once again it's available to download for free on his Bandcamp page. Nice work that man.

Boygirlanimalcolour
The West Lothian trio have put their new EP, 'Let's Get Forgotten', which is made up of home recordings 'mixed with guns', for free download on their Bandcamp page.

Paper Cuts
I think I have mentioned on here a couple of times how much I used to love a band from the 90's called Symposium, THE GREATEST LIVE BAND EVER fact. Sadly they went their separate ways a number of years ago. Their lead singer Ross Cummins went on to front a band called PaperCuts, who have also sadly split. On the plus side their eponymous album is out there for free download, treat yourself here.

NME
The NME have a few MP3's available for free download from Band Of Skulls, Future Islands, Dum Dum Girls, Mumford & Sons Cover Vampire Weekend download them here.

Fanfarlo
Another week goes by, and once again my fellow Scottish blogger Kowalskiy comes up with yet another cracking freebie. This time it's a free download of a free 3 track live EP from Fanfarlo. It was recorded at various college radio stations and it's available for free download if you sign up to their mailing list. Once you've signed up, head back to Kowalskiy and get him bookmarked/followed.

Swound
They're made up with four brothers (Joe, Lloyd-great name, Rowan and Tom), they're from Nottingham and they're giving away their album for free. But, yes there's always a but, this time you have to earn it, "in order to get this most savoury collection of songs you need to first submit a challenge for them to try and complete. It can be literally anything you can think of." Go set send them a 'wacky' challenge and reap your rewards here.

Free iTunes download
Heart FM are giving away a free iTunes download (not sure what that entails exactly), to get it you need to register your details with them (then unsubscribe after you've got your code) and you’ll be emailed a free download code within four working days. The double bonus is that you’ll also be entered into a competition to win a Sharleen Spiteri related prize. Now I bet that got you all excited didn't it.

Good Shoes
Yet again, it's another one of those ones whereby if you sign up to their mailing list, they'll send you some songs. in this case they'll give you You'll get The Way My Heart Beats (acoustic), Easier, Easier and a video of the band performing Despair Came Knocking. Sign up here.

MGMT
I don't think I need to make any sort of introductions here, all that you need to know is that you can download a new track, "Flash Delirium" from here

Her Royal Highness
Her Royal Highness (formerly Heatherette, or 'H') has a free download of her song 'A1' on her Bandcamp. If you like what you hear then you might be interested to know that she will be playing live at Electric Circus in Edinburgh tomorrow (13th), supporting Paul Vickers & The Leg at their album launch.

Friday Freebies

Midlake
Last weekend the Guardian gave away an exclusive free five track download entitled The 'Denton Session', if it passed you by then you'll be happy to learn that it's freely available here.

French Horn Rebellion
Sign up to their mailing list and in exchange they'll send you a special mini EP for nowt. If you like what you hear then it might be worth noting that they're playing their first ever Glasgow show at the Flying Duck on the 26th of this month.

your neighbour the liar
Edinburgh band 'your neighbour the liar' have put up their album (actually it's 3 tracks, but hey who's complaining. Actually I'm complaining wtf?! 3 tracks is not an album, it's barely an EP), 'the michael cera type' up on their Bandcamp to download for free.

Factory Kids
Ed from 17Seconds just released an EP by this duo, bloody good it is too, check it out. If you want a wee taster of what to expect then you can download one of their old singles, 'Not Enough', over at Odd Box Records and yep it's free.

Ooberman
The former sugar-pop band have put up ten years worth of recordings, that's one hundred tracks for free download, all you have to do is sign up their newsletter. Lovely stuff.

Lovers Turn To Monsters
Lovers Turn To Monsters, or Kyle Wood has he's known to hfriends and family, has put a couple of albums up for free download. 'Cars, Bars and Shooting Stars' and cover album 'A Collection of Lo​-​Fi Covers' are both up for free download over on his Bandcamp page.

Mitchell Museum
I'm afraid this isn't some free mitchell museum tracks, it's a mix album called 'Chicken Dinner Mix' which up for free download. It's rather nifty, get it here.

Peter Gabriel
Now this is something I never thought I'd post, but really you have to hear this to believe quite how good this is. Mr Gabriel has covered Bon Iver's 'Flume' and it is quite simply stunning. Get yourself a copy here.

Owen Pallett
The artist fromerly known as Final Fantasy has put a remix of the song Keep The Dog Quiet which you can download for free here.