Friday Freebies

Gargleblast Records
Back at Christmas time those nice folk over at Gargleblast Records got right into the festive spirit by giving away a series of freebies, now they've decided to do it all again under the guise of Springfest. So far they've posted up three free downloads, 'There's a Phantom Hiding in My Loft' by Martin John Henry, 'Black Albino' by Desert Hearts and 'It Helps to See You Hurt' (live) by De Rosa.



Seams
The award for this weeks hottest new Scottish band goes to Seams, or at least that's what the word on the street/Internet appears to be. The Dundee five piece seemed to have gotten a lot of people very excited with their recent appearance at King Tut's, Muslim the producer on Ally McCrae's Radio One show can't stop raving about them. For me the jury is still out, from what I have heard they've got some pretty catchy pop tunes, whether they justify all of the hype I am not sure. You can make your own mind up by grabbing a couple of free downloads from their SoundCloud page.

  8 by Seams

Father Figure Records Compilation  
As soon as I think I've finished writing these Freebie posts I tend to find someone posts up another cracking free download just as I have gone to bed. Thankfully though in the nick of time, one last Facebook check has alerted me to a cracking free download from Father Figure Records, which features none other than those fabulous Trapped In Kansas boys, plus some free tunes from the likes of Three Trapped Tigers and Tall Ships.




Penfold 
Naming yourself after Danger Mouse's bespectacled hamster sidekick automatically gets you bonus points in my eyes. As does posting stuff up for free download, which is exactly what Livingtson four piece, Pendfold have just done with their new self titled single which you can find on their Bandcamp page.



HelloVideo
Dundee trio, HelloVideo have just posted up their new EP 'Reset' for free download on their Bandcamp page. The band remind me of a more poppy version of Rival Schools, so if that sounds like it might be your cup of tea then check 'em out. The three piece will also be playing at the innaugural Brew At The Bog festival on the 5th of May in Inverness.




Mt. Judge
This freebie tip came courtesy of a Happy Particles post on Facebook, if you are fan of ambient or drone music, then Glasgow outfit Mt. Judge might just be for you. Their new EP, Not Always is free to download on Bandcamp, plus if you like what you hear then for juts £2 you can buy a copy on cassette.



Without Aeroplanes
If you're a connoseur of post rock, then you might want to check out Glasgow instrumental outfit, Without Aeroplanes. Fresh from recording their new EP at Lofi Studios, the 5 piece have posted up their new EP 'Tell Me Tales of Canada' on their Bandcamp page on a pay what you want basis.

Peenko's Albums of 2011

It's the moment you've really not been waiting for, yes folks, it's time for me to share with you all my favourite albums of the past twelve months. I fully appreciate that what I say doesn't really matter all that much and nor should it, but hey indulge me a little. This is now the fourth year that I have found myself compiling these lists. Back in 2008 and 2009 I came up with a Top 50 for each year which just seems insane to me these days. This year I have stuck with a top ten, mainly because I didn't want to bore you all to death. This of course means that I have missed out a lot of stuff, including King Creosote & John Hopkins, Come on Gang!, Metronomy, Indian Red Lopez and The Black Keys (which came in that bit too late). Also, I didn't really think it would be fair to include any Olive Grove releases in my choices, I wouldn't want any of them to think that they're not my favourite baby. Anyway without further a do, here's my top ten albums of 2011...

10. The Shivers - More

When it comes to releases from the Fence stable, it's usually a straight bet that you're going to be getting something fairly folky. However, with this release from New York duo, The Shivers, we got something quite different from the norm. What with the majority of Fence's back catalogue being made up of folk based music, The Shivers sixth album, but first for Fence, is a no holds barred rock n roll record. One minute you feel that you're listening to The Strokes, then The Velvet Underground and then Tom Waits. Every time I listen to this album it grows on me more and more. Full of vitality and raw emotion, I can see why Fence were so keen to add them to their ranks.

The Shivers - Love Is In The Air

9. John Knox Sex Club - Raise Ravens

Being a man who loves his catchy tunes, The John Knox Sex Club wouldn't usually be the kind of band that I would find myself listening to much, but listen I did. Raise Ravens is a dark unsettling album full of raw Scottish emotion, at no point does it ever let you settle into any kind of comfort zone. It's a record that will continue to challenge your emotions and I fucking love it.

John Knox Sex Club - Above Us The Waves

8. King Post Kitsch - The Party's Over

So how do you critique the work of someone you now consider to be a friend, well in King Post Kitsch's case I don't feel I have to as I loved his music well before we ever met. Much of his debut album, 'The Party's Over', is made up of older songs that featured in his earlier EPs, which I guess makes me love them even more as they're songs that I have treasured as my own (I am still taking unjustified credit rights for being the one to 'discover' his music). With the possibility of live shows in the new year, plus some other potential projects on the go, keep your eye on King Post Kitsch as he's got plenty more tricks up his sleeve.

King Post Kitsch - Fante's Last Stand

7. Martin John Henry - The Other Half Of Everything

Out of all of the albums that came out this year, this was the one that I had been most looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. The demise of Martin's old band De Rosa was a real kick in the teeth, their two albums Mend and Prevention rank in my eyes as being some of the finest records to have ever come out of Scotland. So with the release of The Other Half Of Everything, Martin had some pretty massive expectations to live up. Thankfully though he delivers the goods and then some. Scotland may well have lost one their greatest bands, but in turn we have gained one hell of a songwriter.

Martin John Henry - Span

6. Sparrow & The Workshop - Spitting Daggers

I remember reading a review in Uncut of Spitting Daggers shortly after it came out, in which the reviewer pretty much slated the whole album. Having just bought the album that day I knew what a load of old pish they were talking, as this is one hell of an amazing album. Their debut album Crystal Falls was impressive, but this really feels like a massive step up in them progressing as a band. Snakes In The Grass, the lead single from the album is by far and away the greatest song I have heard in 2011. If you don't believe me then check out this video then come back and apologise. Also, for the record I cancelled my Uncut subscription very shortly after that review.

Sparrow & The Workshop - Our Lady Of The Potatoes

5. The Antlers - Burst Apart

I bet you were starting to think that this list would completely taken over by Scottish bands, which kind of makes sense as I so rarely find the time to listen to anything that doesn't have a touch of 'Scot' about it. For The Antlers though I am always willing to make an exception to this rule. Having first gotten into the band through their last album, Hospice, which I liked a lot, I was genuinely surprised by just how good Burst Apart really is. Having heard them being played countless times on Marc Riley's 6Music show, I now have the album etched into my brain and I feel a lot better for it.

The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out

4. Emily Scott - I Write Letters I Never Send

One of the things that really stood out for me as I looked back over my previous albums of the years lists, was the lack of female singers. With Sparrow & The Workshop and Emily Scott featuring highly this year, hopefully this years choices will go some way to rectifying this oversight on my part. I think I have been pretty vocal about the albums that I felt disappointed by this year, Bon Iver being the main one, the other being St. Vincent's album. Thankfully though I had Emily Scott's 'I Write Letters I Never Send' which more than made up for it. It's an album that I happily find myself getting lost in, it's surprising just how enjoyable one woman and a ukulele can really be.

Emily Scott - I'd Hardly Know

3. Beerjacket - The White Feather Trail

I must admit that in comparison to my fellow Scottish bloggers I was a bit behind the game in getting into Beerjacket. In fact until we got him to record a Peenko session back in March, I'd never actually seen him live. Having witnessed the live experience in such intimate surroundings just added to the experience, which I guess in turn made me love The White Feather Trail all the more. Out of everything he's recorded to date,I think this stands way above it all.

Beerjacket - Eggshells

2. Monoganon - Songs To Swim To

The best things in life are free - try telling that to a ten year old kid who's asked for a new XBox for his Christmas. However, in the case of Monoganon's Songs To Swim To, the best things really are free. The album which is out on super sexy vinyl, is also free to download from Winning Sperm Party's website. I fucking love this record, so much so that I went and bought the bloody thing on vinyl and I still don't own a record player (I'm working on that though).

Monoganon- Eternal See You Soon

1. Adam Stafford - Build a Harbour Immediately

There can be only one, or so the bloke in Highlander said. In 2011 there really is no real debate as to what my favourite of this year would be, Adam Stafford's Build A Harbour Immediately won this race back in January. Since then nobody else has really had any sort of a look in. Putting on Adam's album launch alongside my partner in crime Jim 'Ayetunes' at our last AvP gig, was one of the highlights for me of this year, as I was honoured to be in anyway connected with something so good. It's an album that lures you in with promises of indie pop magic, before descending into full on fucking loop pedal craziness and somehow it all fits together perfectly. If you do one thing with your Christmas money this year, invest yer pennies in a copy. I promise you, it won't disappoint.

Adam Stafford - A Temple of The Holy Ghost

Martin John Henry - Vic Galloway Session (14/11/11)

Track Listing
1. Span
2. Ribbon On A Bough
3. Cody (Mogwai cover)

Download

Martin John Henry - The Other Half of Everything: Track by track

Out of all of the albums that have been released this year, this is the one that I have been looking forward to the most. The untimely split of De Rosa a couple of years back was a bit of a kick in the nuts for the Scottish music scene, so it's great to have Martin back making music. With the release of this debut album, 'The Other Half of Everything', Martin has picked up the baton where De Rosa left off and he's sprinted off into the distance with one of the finest albums you're likely to hear in 2011. In anticipation of the release of the album on the 10th of October I asked him do this wee track by track for me, so I guess I'll shut up now leave you with the wise words of Mr Henry and how this awesome wee album came to be...


Breathing Space

I originally thought this would be an interlude somewhere, hence the title. The lyrics were improvised at the point of singing the demo, and remained unchanged. I'm surprised at how good they turned out. When it came to track list the album, no other song could have been first. The opening words just seemed to evoke the landscape, a familiar but strange one. You're transported somewhere else. It also mentions brochs, which are referenced a couple of times on this album. Susan Appelbe played an amazing plucked cello part on this.

Span

This song came from a demo that was written around the time of the last De Rosa album, and it shares the electronic influence with 'Nocturne for an Absentee' from that album. The first verse is about going out for a night out in Gourock on the Firth of Clyde with James and Neil from De Rosa. The words at the big crescendo were inspired by a dream I had about bridges that were expansive and stretched across big vortexes of space-time. I felt that euphoric trance was the only genre of music that could sum up this image.

I Love Map

My wife and I went for a holiday in Skye a few years ago. At the time she lived in the south of England and we embarked on a long distance relationship maintained by phone calls, the M6 and low fare bus journeys. I wrote this song for her after the Skye holiday, just after she went back home to London. It's nice to have written a proper love song, I never thought I'd do that. It fits this album well with the references to places and maps. I had to make sure that it was really big and bold sounding so it didn't sound too soppy.

Ribbon on a Bough

The image of ribbons hung from trees is one that came from a walk I took in a cemetery in Lanarkshire. I had never seen this before, but at the infant part of the graveyard all the trees were decorated with ribbons and wind chimes. It was one of those windy but sunny days and it was just so full of movement, colour and sound. Anyway, I was moved by this image and I wanted to write something that was celebratory but aware of death. There are some religious references in the second verse. Also, I was listening to Robyn a lot and I wanted to see if I could write something really catchy. I don't know if it worked yet, is it catchy?

Seventh Song

This is the second song that references religion. It was written in the wee small hours at a time (of life and of day) that religious people might turn to prayer. I wanted to make a song that had the pensive and reflective quality of a prayer. It has a dual synthesiser/guitar solo. Wow.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Two people I love were fighting and one shouted in anger... “Choose your words carefully!”. I thought it was hilarious and I decided it would make a great title for a song like this. The intro is really different and came when I was playing around with plucked cello samples and a delay pedal. I had been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin and Colleen. The loud part is my first ever use of bar chords in a song. I love them now.

New Maps

My uncle John showed me how to make the best paper aeroplanes in the world EVER. They had wings, a cockpit and a tail, everything. You could make them out of one sheet of A4 paper. He died a while ago and it really affected me and my family. He was the kindest, most gentle person I have ever met. I don't remember how to make the planes any more and it makes me sad. The lyrics also reference another of my songs called Evelyn. That song is about my mother's sister who died at birth. There are loads of things going on in this song. It's quite personal to me and the most difficult to write about. There are a lot of family secrets swirling around in my words.

Only Colour

I wrote the bulk of this song when I was about eighteen or nineteen. It sat unfinished for about a decade then I came back to it and wrote the “under my roof...” section and rearranged the whole thing. It's about the realisation that we're all just energy condensed, but paradoxically we're very solid, and all the stuff that is going on around us – in this case in Scotland – is real, hard, and can knock hell out of you if you're not careful. I love the production on this, Andy Miller did an amazing job. Note the second broch reference. I'm fascinated by how the Scottish landscape has been used for millennia by countless different cultures. I read somewhere that people don't really know if brochs were military installations or religious sites.

First Light

I read a short story by Annie Dillard that really beautifully put across this idea that when we grow up, the child that we were dies. Our personality dies gradually and is replaced completely by our adult one. I don't know or care if this is true or not, the story was amazing and beautifully written. In the song I say that I knew I would die when I grew up. I also reference my hometown and my early adventures playing on railway lines. The song has one of my best lines, “Here's your colour temperature kids!”. James Woodside played some great mandolin on this one. Audio engineering fact: Every floor tom hit on this song has an exhaled breath triggered on top.

A Perfect Landing

On my 22^nd birthday I went to a pub in Motherwell with Chris Connick from De Rosa and my pal Allan Carroll. I drank about ten pints of lager and had a shot with every one. Leaving the pub I ran like a bullet into the metal shutter of a Chinese restaurant, badly damaging myself in the collision. Chris carried me home. I woke up with my whole family looking at me in disgust and my leg swollen like a football. I was in crutches for weeks. In the lyrics I suggest that the devil was talking to me, making me do these stupid things, I subconsciously stole the idea of taking the devil's advice from Malcolm Middleton's 'Devil and the Angel' and the television programme Jeremy Kyle.

There's a Phantom Hiding in My Loft

I was teaching in a small village in Lanarkshire when I wrote this song. I overheard an 11-year-old boy talking to his friend when he said “My pal's got a phantom hiding in his loft.” I kid you not. There was a real feeling of darkness about the countryside around there. Like it never really got completely lit by the sun. The personality in the song is based on someone real. I still worry about them.

Martin John Henry - The Other Half of Everything by gargleblastrecords

The Other Half of Everything is officially released on the 10th of October on Gargleblast Records, you can pre-order your copy now via Martin's Bandcamp page. While you're at it you can also pick yourself up a copy of his hand made limited edition single, 'Ribbon on a Bough b​/​w The Other Half of Everything'.

Martin celebrates the release of his debut solo album with a headline show at Stereo in Glasgow on Saturday the 8th of October. Support on the evening comes from two of my favourite artists, The Seventeenth Century and Adam Stafford. The gig is is part of a series of 'Live in Stereo' gigs from Threads of Sound, which are being recorded with tracks from each band being released on iTunes. Tickets for the gig are available in advance from Monorail Records in Glasgow.

Friday Freebies

The Moth and The Mirror
In case you missed our wee announcement at the start of the week, our label Olive Grove Records have added another band to the family. They're called The Moth & The Mirror and they're fucking great, we wouldn't have worked with them if they weren't. To celebrate the joining Team Olive Grove they're giving away a free download of their track 'Lights in the Sky' via their Bandcamp, I hope you'll agree it's great wee tune.

Martin John Henry
In a few months time the former De Rosa frontman is set to release his debut album, something I have been pretty excited about for a while now. In fact I bumped into Martin backstage at the Wickerman Festival were he was down helping his former band mate Chris, run the Solus Tent. I spent the majority of the weekend pestering Martin to play me some songs, then at the last minute he had to step in to play some songs as Rachel Sermanni was running late. I of course missed this performance as I was busy fannying about elsewhere, I then spent the remainder of the weekend moaning at Martin, for which I should really apologise. I am just a bit of an over excited kid some times, thankfully though he's going to be playing some shows soon and hopefully we'll get him in to record a Peenko Session at some point. Anyway, enough of my inane ramblings, on with the freebie, you can download his new 'First Light' which is taken from his forthcoming album "The Other Half of Eveything", for free on his Bandcamp page. It's a great fucking song, if this is the standard of the album then boy are we in for a treat.

Adam Stafford (remixed by Miaoux Miaoux)
I haven't done any shameless plugging for the forthcoming Ayetunes vs Peenko gig (two weeks tomorrow), so it's pretty fucking ace when two of the artists playing decide to work together. I have been banging on for ages how fucking great Adam's forthcoming album, Build a Harbour Immediately, is. That's because it is fucking great, trust me kids would I lie to you (I probably would, but not in this instance). Anyway in anticipation of the albums release Miaoux Miaoux
has done a wee remix of Adam Stafford's Shot-down You Summer Wannabes , which you can find on the b-side of his new single Fire & Theft, which you can download for free from Wise Blood Industries.

Seafieldroad
I really meant to mention this in my last freebies, but due to an overload of links I stupidly over looked it. As you might already know, I really liked the Edinburgh outfit, Seafieldroad's first album, There Are No Maps For This Part Of The City. With their sophomore album due out in November, they really could come up with the last great album of 2011, if their new single 'Cramond Island Causeway' is anything to go by, then we should be in for a treat. The single is available to download for free on their Bandcamp page, plus it also includes a cover of Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun which you might remember I posted a few weeks back.

Rod Jones
Seeing as Idlewild are taking a bit of a hiatus, the two Rod's are both off following their own solo projects, Roddy is off doing his folky stuff and Rod Jones is continuing to rock out with his backing band 'the Birthday Suit'. If you head over to The Skinny magazine's website you will find their first single free to download, ain't that nice of them.

T Break
I didn't just forget to post about Seafieldroad last week, I also completely forgot to mention that there are a whole load of free downloads up for grabs from the bands that played on this years T Break stage at T in the Park. You can stream the full sets and download one live track from each of the bands that played, including songs from Aerials Up, Cancel the Astronauts, Lady North and PAWS. Get downloading here.

Shambles Miller
My favourite Scottish troubadour, Shambles Miller has been busy writing great wee pop tunes again, this time round he's written a song about how the the end of the world, might be a good excuse to tell a girl you like how you feel. Appropriately enough the song's called Rapture and you can nab it for free on his Soundcloud.

Scottish Fiction
It honestly feels as if at the the moment a new Scottish music blog crops up every week, most of them soon lose interest when nobody pays attention to them (much is the way of the blogger). One of the more interesting sites to have started up is by a guy who goes under the guise of Scottish Fiction (an Idlewild pun I presume), he also runs a weekly radio show, so he does seem to know his stuff. Anyway, following in the footsteps of wur pal Kowalskiy, he too has taken up the challenge of posting a free monthly EP. To start him off he's roped in Michael Cassidy, Campfires in Winter, Night Noise Team and Adam Holmes And The Embers. You can download the EP for free here.

Good Weather For An Airstrike
Scottish experimental/post-classical outfit, Good Weather For An Airstrike, released their new album 'A Summer' just last month. As a wee taster of what to expect you can download their track The Beginning Of The Rest Of Our Lives (Revisited) for free on their Bandcamp.

Negotiations. & LA MORENA
I have joked in the past about Matthew from Loch Awe pretty much being featured every week in Friday Freebies, I actually was only jesting, however, he seems to have taken me up on this challenge as once again he's been off recording yet another new project. His latest outfit go under the name of Negotiations and you can download their free EP here.

Scrap Brain
Edinburgh glitzs-grungers, Scrap Brain have not only made a cracking wee video for their song Take It, they're also very kindly giving away the song for free on their Bandcamp page.

Radio Trees
I actually meant to include this last week, but there was a bit of an overload of free tunes to catch up with so I managed to over look it. Zoey Van Goey frontman and sometime accordion player for Aidan Moffat, The Trembling Bells and Lord Cutglass, Michael John McCarthy has posted up a free download of his one-man project Radio Trees.

Friday Freebies

Apologies for the lateness of this weeks freebies, I have up north all week visiting my folks and I didn't get back until late this evening. Rather than relax and put my feet up I am going to batter through a very full inbox, but before I do that I managed to knock together this weeks Friday Freebies. Don't say I am not good to you!

Pensioner
Have I mentioned that our label Olive Grove have another album coming out very soon and that it's completely different to anything we've done before? If not, then we have a new album coming out very soon and it's with Dundee's finest Pensioner. The album genuinely took me by surprise, I fully expect it do the same to a lot of you. In anticipation of their album, Yearlings, the band have posted a free download of their song Gadgie Weddin' on their Bandcamp page. Get stuck in kids.

Martin John Henry
After a barn storming set at the recent Kid Canaveral SXSW fund raiser gig, the former De Rosa front man announced this week that he will be playing at this years Home Game festival in May. To celebrate this, he's made all of the songs on his Bandcamp free to download, I would suggest you check out 'I Love Map' which has been a personal favourite of mine for a while now.

The Head and the Heart
Mind I was banging on about this lot at the start of the year, possibly not, but you really should check this Seattle band out as they're a cracking band. You can download yourself some tunes here in exchange for your email address.

Verse Metrics
Edinburgh outfit, Verse Metrics have posted their song 'Horoscopes' from the E.P 'VM1' for free download on their homepage in exchange for a tweet/facebook post or you can get it direct on their Soundcloud page.

Panda Bear
Noah Lennox, he of Animal Collective fame is back with a new album, Tomboy. Following on form the success of Person Pitch, you can download new track Last At The Jetty here.

Silver Caves
On the 30th of April the good folk from the Glad Cafe will be putting on another gig in the southside, this time round they're returning to the Pandora Bar on Victoria Road for another evening of quality music. This time round they've got Fox Gut Daata, Silver Caves (formely Barn Owl) and Field Mouse providing the entertainment for the evening. You can check out Silver Caves by downloading a couple of free tunes from their Bandcamp page.

My Morning Jacket
I can't say that I have been a massive fan of My Morning Jacket, I did try and buy into the hype when everyone was creaming their pants over It Still Moves, way back in 2003 (fuck, that makes me feel very old). Since then I haven't really bothered with them, some of you might still like them though, so you'll be interested to know that new song "Circuital" is free here.

And So I Watch You From Afar
Belfast pot-rockers return with new album, 'Gangs' at the end of this month. You can download new song 'BeautifulUniverseMasterChampion' from it, for free on Soundcloud.

Sputniks Down
Ever wondered what RM Hubbert's singing voice sounds like, well wonder no more by downloading this free tune from Sputniks Down here.

Mitchell Museum
Ever wanted to hear Raindeer from Mitchell Museum covering Roy Orbison's 'Crying'? No me neither, but you can download it for nowt here, there is also a video to go with it too. He's also promised to post a cover version every two weeks, so prepare yourself for more of this nonsense in the weeks to come.

Peenko Presents: Kid Canaveral SXSW Fundraiser

Last night saw my former partner in crime Jim 'Ayetunes' putting on his first gig on his own and by all accounts it sounds like it was a resounding success, well done that man. Sadly I couldn't make it along as I was on babysitting duties, as much fun as it was sitting in watching mindless television I would have much preferred to have been down at Stereo seeing some find bands and gorging myself on free biscuits.

For my first 'solo gig' I have decided to start off with some familiar faces. For those of you who don't already know, our good friends Kid Canaveral have been chosen as one of the bands to go out and represent Scotland at this years SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. As I am sure you are all aware, getting there isn't exactly cheap. So when they approached me about putting on a fund-raising show in Glasgow, it pretty much felt like a no brainer.

On Thursday the 24th of February we'll be hitting up Stereo in Glasgow, we've even manage to rope in former De-Rosa front man, Martin John Henry and Randolph’s Leap for the evening. As always it would be great if you could make it along to send Kid Canaveral off in style. In the unlikely event that you need some more persuading here's a few words from the band that'll twist yer arm...

"Kid Canaveral need some pennies to get to South By SouthWest. They tried battering Pudsey, but he only had small change. And no pockets. Come along and help get the Kids to the New World. Go on. Bring your friends for a top night of music. It won’t be like a telethon. Honest."

By now you are probably thinking that sounds awesome, where do I get tickets. Well help is at hand as tickets are on sale now, you can buy them directly from the band over on their Homepage or you can also get them from Tickets Scotland, both online and instore at the Glasgow store.

If you're into your Facebook malarkey, then you can also let us know that you're coming along by noting your attendance here. Last, but certainly not least thanks to the amazing Vicki Cole for designing that there pretty poster, yer a wee star!


Kid Canaveral-Left and Right (Vic Galloway Session)

Ones to watch in 2011 - Some familiar faces

I know it's a bit of a cliché to run end of year lists in December, followed by your tips for the year in January. But then again I never said I was one for breaking the mould, so I will be making a few suggestions of artists you might want to keep your eye out for in 2011. I have decided to split these into different posts. First up we have some artists that I have previously featured and who I have high hopes for this year, then tomorrow I will introduce four artists who I haven't really featured much before and who you really should be checking out in the next 12 months.


Martin John Henry

I have to be honest and admit that I was a bit of a late comer to Martin's former band, De Rosa, so when they broke up in June of 2009 I was a bit gutted that I hadn't had the chance to see them play live a bit more. That being said I did get to see their last ever live show at Fence's Homegame, although my memories of that are somewhat hazy due to a few too many shandies.
I remember thinking they were amazing, although my more sober wife has somewhat different memories (Edited by Mrs Peenko to say that I loved seeing De Rosa, they just took a while to come on and play at Homegame!). Either way, it was still pretty gutting to lose such an exciting Scottish band.
Thank

The Head & The Heart

One of the best things about writing this blog is the number of tips that I get from all around the world. Through a shared love of Frightened Rabbit, I have established a pretty good friendship with a cracking fella called Ryan, who not only shares various bootlegs of gigs for me to post, but also sends me tips of bands to check out from his home town of Seattle. A lot of the stuff that he has sent my way has been pretty fucking amazing, but The Head & The Heart, stood out of the crowd for me. Their self-titled album came too late to be featured in my albums of 2010, but needless to say it would have ranked pretty high up if I had heard it before I started drafting the list. If you liked the Local Natives and Hey Marseilles (more from them very soon), then I would urge you to check them out.

The Son(s)

When trying to describe the Son(s), the word mysterious doesn't even come close. I have been a massive fan of this Scottish 3-piece for quite a while now, without even playing any gigs they've managed to create a a massive buzz about themselves. With the List already touting them as one of their acts to watch in 2011, plus debut single, 'Radar' which is coming out on Jen Anderson's new label, Eli and Oz, later this month, big things are expected of this lot. Details of their debut album, which will be out in March, should be getting announced pretty soon.

King Post Kitsch

I have always tried my best not to become one of those people that starts to brag about who 'discovered' an artist first. Mainly because it makes you sound as if you're taking credit for their work, seriously it's not that hard to decided if you like something or not. It's the artists who put the hard work and effort into creating music, all I have to do is click play and decide if I like it or not. That being said, I do like to think that I was pretty lucky in that I was one of the very few people that he first sent his songs to. That's where my bragging rights pretty much end, as it took me months to actually get round to listening to his tunes. You've no idea what a cock I felt when I first heard his tunes, as they completely blew me away.
In the end I think I suggested he get in touch with Matthew from Song By Toad, purely because I thought that it'd be right up his street. Turns out it was and in March Mr Kitsch will be releasing his debut album on Song By Toad Records. Personally I can't fucking wait to hear it!

Fante's Last Stand from King Post Kitsch on Vimeo.

The Seventeenth Century

Yes I know One To Watch lists are all supposed to be about artists who are pretty new to you all, and yes, we did put the Seventeenth Century on at the last ever Ayetunes vs Peenko gig, but fuck it, this is my site and I can do what I like. In a world where Radio One cream their pants over Mumford & Sons, there has to be a place for the fabulous Seventeenth Century. Their forthcoming EP is a belter of a record, plus live they're tighter than lead singer, Mark Farmer's trousers, which leave little to the imagination according my friend Colette.

The Seventeenth Century - Roses In The Park - Radio Amsterdam FM from Onder Invloed on Vimeo.

So that's my first four acts to watch in 2011, starting tomorrow I'll hopefully be introducing you to some more artists who should hopefully tickle your fancy.

We've Got It Covered #26

I must apologise for the lateness of my posts in the couple of days, it's been a busy old week and the Tea Party on Thursday night disrupted my normal schedule some what. Boy was it worth it though, if you haven't been to the Hidden Lane Cafe before I'd urge you to make the effort to hunt it down. You have no idea how nice it was to have the smell of freshly baked cakes wafting around a venue as opposed to the normal smelly BO and farts. It went so well that we plan to do another one in the new year, provided that Kirsty who owns the place, lets us back. I think we were all pretty well behaved, apart from Boab who knocked a shed load of pretty cup cakes over.

Anyway, enough of what I've been up to this week on with this weeks cover version, which comes from former De Rosa frontman, Martin John Henry. I am pretty sure that I have bored you before with how sad I was to see his old band call it a day, on the plus side though Martin has been busy working away on his debut album, which is due out some time next year. If the demos that he's been posting up are anything to go by then we should be in for a treat.
Until then you can wet your appetite with this cover of Tom Waits 'Rain Dogs'.


Martin John Henry - Rain Dogs (Tom Waits cover)

Friday Freebies

Amazon
For a limited time, the online retailer is giving away over 150 albums for free, a lot of is pish, but there are some cracking wee samplers to be found, including albums from Saddle Creek and tunes from The Morning Benders and Girls.

Define Pop EP
Our fellow blogger mate Kowalsikiy of Kompimentary Korner fame has knocked up a cracking free in celebration of tomorrow's Define Pop festival. If you want some free tracks from Tango in the Attic, Little Yellow Ukuleles, I Build Collapsible Mountains, Aspen Tide, So Many Animal Calls and Campfires in Winter, then look no further.

Esperi
On Wednesday I had Mr Esperi as my Scots Way-Hay starlet for the week, if you liked what you heard then check out this free download of his song 'Dialled'.

Ash
Mrs Peenko got to go and see these boys on Tuesday there, apparently it was amazing. I wouldn't know as I was on babysitting duties on my own for the first time. Thankfully we both lived to tell the tale. The band are set to play a big gig down in London Town, to celebrate they're giving away some tracks, one from them and one from each of their support acts, The Crimea and The Lines, get it here.

Telekenisis!
Their self titled debut album was one of my favourite releases of last year, a class find from the now defunct and sadly missed Planet Sound (the music page that was on Teletext). Anyway, the band are due to release their second album early next year, as a taster of what to expect you can download new track 'Car Crash' for free here.

Night Noise Team
The Edinburgh outfits new single, 'Burning' came out on Monday, keeping with the theme of continuing to surprise folk, the band seem to have shed their 'dance pop' sound and taken on a Joy Division-esq sound. It's up for download as one of those 'Name Your Price' deals, which you can download from their bandcamp. To celebrate it's release the band have made their two previous singles 'Menolick' and 'You Won' available to downloaded for free.

Martin John Henry
Our friend Mike up at Manic Pop Thrills celebrated his 500th blog post in style this week with a wee interview with former De Rosa front man, Martin John Henry. It's a cracking a wee read, which should check out (once you've finished on here that is). He also alerted me to a cracking free download of Martin's electro take on his former bands song ‘All Saints Day’, cleverly changed to 'All Saintz Dayz'.

Maxwell Panther
You might remember me posting about Maxwell Panther a while back, he's a Mackem and he's signed to Song By Toad Records. He was all celebrating a special occasion this week, I can't for the life of me remember what it was, birthday? Barmitzva? Whatever it was, he's decided to celebrate in style by putting all of his back catalogue up for free download.

Miss the Occupier
The female led punk trio and also Scots Way-Hay club members have already promised us that they'll be back with new tunes early next year, until then you can quench your thirst with this free download of new song 'All Day'

Zoobizaretta
Another Scots Way-Hay band that have posted up a free tune for your listening pleasure are the fabulous Zoobizaretta who have made their track 'Something New' available for free download.

Jonathan Sebastian Knight
The My Cousin I Bid You Farewell frontman has posted a couple of live recordings of him playing at Tchai-Ovna, get em here.

The Rock of Travolta
I hadn't heard of this band in years, I remember hearing a lot about them about 4 or 5 years ago, then nothing. That's possibly because I disappeared up my big Scottish arse. Anyway, they have a free tune up for grabs in exchange for your email address.

The Lost Generation
They kicked this week off as my Fresh Meat victims, if you liked what you heard or you missed the post then you can check them out now by downloading their tune 'Lose Your Love' for nowt here.

Darren Hayman
The former Hefner frontman has posted a free download of his song, 'When the King Enjoy's His Own Again ' which you can find here.

Cloud Nothings
There is a free download of their song 'Understand at All' over on the NME's website.

Murder Mystery
A very late addition to this weeks freebies comes from New York outfit, Murder Mystery, who have posted up their new single, 'Problems' up for free download. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but they describe it as'Aphex Twin meets Madonna', sounds fucking mental to me.

Nouveaunoise
They have an EP called 'Panaka' available for free download on their Bandcamp.

Wildlife
Here's another band that got in touch to let me know that they have a wee freebie up for grabs, this one comes from Toronto outfit, Wildlife, who have three free songs on their Bandcamp.

Derek Webb
You can download his 'What Matters More' EP here.

Black International
There are a couple of tracks up for free download on their Bandcamp.

Pherranda Knightes
Download 5 Track EP Pherranda Knightes for free here.

North Atlantic Oscillation
I am not normally one to miss sessions, but their last session on the Beeb completely passed me by, thankfully though the are giving it away as a free download.

Friday Freebies

Randolph's Leap
The former AvsP starlets have posted a free tune up on their Bandcamp page. 'Special', is a whole lot of twee indie pop fun, these guys (n girl) continue to impress, I can't wait to see what they come up with next. Also, while you're on there, make sure you have a hunt about as there are plenty more freebies to be had.

Martin John Henry
The former De Rosa front man posted a cover of Tom Waits, 'Rain Dogs' up for free on his twitter account earlier in the week. To download it, simply right click and save, hey presto, you have yourself some free tune-age.

Chemikal Underground
In this months newsletter the kind kids at Chemikal have given us not one, but three songs for nowt. A Glamour' by The Phantom Band (Excerpt), 'Reverberation Mambo' (Joakim Remix) by Panico and an abridged version of Aidan Moffat's 'Year of Open Doors' short story, 'The Donaldson Boy'. What a nice bunch they are.

Eagle Winged Palace
The second band to take me up on my suggestions of freebies are a 'weird little folk group' from LA by the name of Eagle Winged Palace. They've just released released their debut album, "Where We're Coming From" and they'd like to share a free MP3 'Movin' On To Avalon' with all of you lucky kids (it's one of those right click save freebies).

Blackbird Blackbird
I have featured these guys in Friday Freebies before, it really does feel as if the blogosphere has a lot of love for this lot. They have posted up an EP of Rarities which you can download for zero pennies on their Bandcamp.

The Second Hand Marching Band
They're playing at the Tunnels in Aberdeen next month with Eagleowl and Benni Hemm Hemm, in anticipation of the gig they're giving away a free EP featuring all of the bands. Download it for free here.

Fran Healy
The Travis-front man's debut solo album' Wreckorder' comes out pretty soon, as a taster you can download the song 'Holiday' taken from it, free in exchange for your email address.

Polly And The Billets Doux
The band are giving away free MP3, 'To Be A Fighter', taken from their current album, you can find it on their SoundCloud page.

Manic Street Preachers
They're not really my cup of tea, but I know a lot of folk love this lot. If you're excited about the forthcoming new album, then this is for you, it's a free download of new song 'I'm Leaving You For Solitude'.

Vincent Vincent & The Villains
Young and Lost Club's Digital Club have a free Download of Blue Boy, you can get it here. There are other free downloads from Semifinalists, Cheatahs , Othello Woolf and Gypsy And The Cat up for free here.

Amiina
The Icelandic quartet have posted up a free song from their forthcoming album, 'Puzzle', download 'Over and Again' here.

Spring Offensive
They have put up one track, it's thirteen minutes long and it sounds a bit like Death Cab For Cutie. 'The First of Many Dreams about Monsters' is free to download here, it has the extra added bonus of it being a direct download, none of this give your email address in exchange business.

Dance To The Radio
The uber cool Leeds label has posted a cracking wee compilation up for grabs on the NME's website. Featuring tracks from Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Spectrals and Bear In Heaven, you can download it here.

The Xcerts
New track, 'Let's Run' which was recorded during the album sessions for their forthcoming second album 'Scatterbrain' is available for free in exchange for your email address.

Hidden Orchestra
I picked up on this one through the BBC Introducing podcast, it's quite atmospheric, and it's fre or at least one of the tracks, 'Footsteps' is over on their Bandcamp.

Intercontinental Music Lab
This recommendation came courtesy of the fabulous Incredible Flight of Birdman, a cracking wee find it is too. Rather than waste your time with my waffling, here's something I copied and pasted earlier... "the Intercontinental Music Lab has produced five albums. They’ve all been produced in the same way. We came up with a concept or theme for an album, then asked people to choose subjects around that theme and compose some music. The theme for our first album was science. Our musicians composed instrumental pieces of music about scientists or aspects of science. Once the backing tracks were completed we swapped the tunes online and composed lyrics and recorded vocals over each others tracks, taking the subjects chosen by the musicians as inspiration. These techniques have led to some really successful collaborations." Sound good to you? then check it out here.

Fiveng
They're Pitchfork darlings and they have posted some free tunes up on their Bandcamp for free, gather round hipsters this sound like it might well be for you. Their debut single 'Give me a taste/Jonah' is up for download, fans of Panda Bear should lap this up.

Guanaco
Fans of drone/folk might like this, it's a free EP from Guanco, it's called 'Begging Your Pardon Miss Joan' and you can download it here.

The Vulcam Freedom Fighters
If moody rock ‘n’ roll with endless Star Trek samples, then this is for you. You can download loads of songs from Kentucky’s Vulcan Freedom Fighters here.

Kowalskiy's Komplimentary Korner

Matt Berry
This week the doc has gone with a freebie from Matt "Dr. Lucien Sanchez Berry (or if you ever even Watched Garth Marenghi's Darkplace), who has a new EP out. Mr K went to see him a few years ago at King Tuts and to this day it's still one of his most memorable gigs, both for the music and the comedy! Just click the link to download his 'Summer Sun' EP.