Help Ma Boab, It's The 62 Word Review

Wolves of Winter – The Thaw (single)

This delicate, piano-led ballad utilises some mellow ambient sounds, lovely cello parts and atmospheric guitar drones to create a beautiful soundscape. The band have used the post-production stage to great effect, with plenty of swooshing delays and noise swells, but the song itself is maybe a little unvaried to truly hold your attention for its duration. Still, it's definitely worth checking out.

The Thaw is available here.

Penfold – Hindsight & Regrets EP

The production on this hurts my ears but if you can see past that, there's potential here. While Echoes and After This Night work from an unappetising pop-punk blueprint, opener Just One Day is excellent. Closing track Before We Fall is very enjoyable too and, for some strange reason, reminds me of Gold Against The Soul-era Manics. As I said before, potential.

Penfold launch the EP in Bannermans, Edinburgh tonight (w/ So Many Animal Calls and Lionhall) 8pm, £5

Capitals – All These Years (single)

The Edinburgh lads are back with some more dancy electro-pop, and once again it's terrific. All These Years builds up very with some glitchy breakbeats before repeating its rather catchy chorus once again. B-side Ode To An End is wildly different. Sitting somewhere alongside The Son(s) and the quieter moments of The Spinto Band, it's the aural equivalent of a summer breeze. 

All These Years is released on Monday 4th June. 

Fin.

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.