Festive Freebies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blah Blah Blah - Singles

If you are wondering what happened to this weeks Friday Freebies, to put it simply the Internet is royally fucked. For the past two days Blogger has been playing silly buggers and now that it's up and running again, Twitter has gone tits up. Which means that all of the Freebie tweets that I can't get access to all of the freebies that I had saved to my favourites. On the plus side though, this has meant that I can ramble pish about some stuff that has been exciting me lately.

First up, we have 'Snakes In The Grass', the new single from Sparrow and the Workshop. You might well have heard this a lot on 6Music and rightly so as it's arguably the best song I have heard all year. Don't believe me, well just stream it below and if you disagree then you should fuck off and never visit this site ever again. The single is officially due out on the 23rd of May, however, it's already up on iTunes. Actually this is the first song that I have downloaded from iTunes in years, normally I like to wait until an album comes out on CD before I buy anything. That should give you a good idea of how highly I rate this song.

Sparrow and the Workshop - Snakes in the Grass by rocketpr

The only song running the Sparra kids close for the race for my tune of the year would be the new Miaoux Miaoux, single 'Hey Sound!'. Which the press release described as being "a racing tropical dancefloor smash", which I guess sums it up far better than I ever could. By the reaction of Mrs Peenko who just described this song as elevator music, I am guessing that this might not be for everyone. For me it's a banging tune, yes, I did just use the word banging. Mind that I am old and should be excused this basis. Anyway, you can stream the song below, if it's for you then you can the single will be available from Monday 23rd May on iTunes and all the other digital download stores. The physical CD release will come backed with remixes from Dems and Dead Boy Robotics.

Miaoux Miaoux - Hey Sound! by miaouxmiaoux

To celebrate the release of the single Miaoux Miaoux is having a launch party on Tuesday 24th May in Mono in Glasgow. Support on the evening from The Japanese War Effort and Nevada Base, plus muggins here will be DJing. Tickets are only £5 on the door, it'd be good to see a few of your pretty little faces coming down for the evening.



I know I have mentioned this before, but as it's Olive Grove that are putting this out it would be rude of me not mention that Randolph's Leap's new double A-side single 'Counting Sheep/Deep Blue Sea' comes out on Monday. I might well be biased, but I reckon it's one of the best things they've recorded so far. To celebrate the singles release we're having a wee launch night at Mono on Tuesday night (17th), support on the evening comes from the Moth & The Mirror and Burnt Island. It's only £3 to get in, which also includes a code to download the single for free.

Randolph's Leap - Counting Sheep by OliveGrove

Those with good memories might remember me featuring, Midnight Lion as one of my Ones To Watch in 2010. Since then the band dropped off my radar, however, now a year and a half later they to release their debut single, 'All Greatness Stands Firm', on a 7" single release on June 20th, on their own Locks & Keys imprint. Yes, I know it's hardly a new song, but it's nice to have them back, I know for sure that Jim Ayetunes will be pleased to have them back, or perhaps not.

All Greatness Stands Firm by Midnight Lion

Seeing as it's a Friday night (and I'm writing blog posts - WTF?!), I thought I'd sign off with something a bit grimy, so here's a video for the new She's Hit single, 'Shimmer Shimmer' which is out on the 23rd of May...

We've Got It Covered #48

This weeks cover comes from a band who I featured as part of my Fresh Meat Monday posts a few weeks back. They were kind enough to share a cover they recorded a while ago of an old Italodisco song by Charlie called "Spacer Woman". If this tickles yer fancy then you can catch them live tomorrow night at the Get A Room Festival at the Brunswick Hotel in Glasgow alongside an array of local talent including Bad McNulty (formerly B-Line Movie Junkees), Fangs and Woodenbox with a fustful of fivers.


Nevada Base - Spacer Woman (Charlie cover)

Fresh Meat Monday - Nevada Base

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello. We are Nevada Base. Currently that's Albert, Andy, Gus and James.

James recently replaced Johannes who started the band but then promptly headed back to Germany. We figured since Johannes was called 'Jay' then 'James' is close enough that no one would really notice.

How would you describe the music you make?

It's electro-pop. Bringing in elements of disco, techno, house, trance but in the context of pop songs. Ideally, we want to make music you can enjoy on the dance floor and in your living room. For best results, install a dance floor in your living room.

How did you start out making music?

Albert, Andy and Gus basically met at university and were jamming together for a while. We found Johannes on a Gumtree.com advert and he brought the idea of programmed beats to our music. He was only here on a year abroad from Germany, so he's had to go back; replaced by James (another Gumtree find...)

We wrote some songs, played some gigs and finally got some recordings that we want to put out now.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

I think our current favourite process is to record jamming sessions then cut up the best bits into a song. Lyrics might emerge from jamming or by finding something afterwards that fits the feel of the music. Sometimes we do it the other way; start with a raw song, just chords and lyrics, then turn it into a full arrangement. We all put forward ideas for different parts - there are no set 'roles' for each of us. It's more like we all record different ideas then decide later who's going to do what when we play live.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Something like this...

But with more songs. And one more band member, of course.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

Albert: recently discovered Ewan Pearson's 'Piece Work' remix CDs

Gus: brought Jensen Sportag to our attention

James: is well into his disco re-edits

Andy: seems to be constantly playing basslines from Dr Dre's '2001'...

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

Our single 'Love In My Mind' is out April 2011. Make sure you get down to the launch party at Nice N Sleazy on April 14th.

One of our first recordings 'Electric Touch' was released on the new Saraseto Records compilation. Check it out...

We also did a remix for the b-side of Fiction Faction's last single, released on 17 Seconds Records - you can get that here...

Otherwise, we've just finished recording an album but not totally set on what's next release-wise. We're definitely gonna be doing some remixes and putting out some free downloads over the summer - get us on Facebook or Twitter for all the lowdown.

Love In My Mind by NevadaBase

Home
Soundcloud
Facebook
Twitter