Help Ma Boab, It's The 62 Word Review

Plastic Animals – Automaton EP

Plastic Animals may have a sparse, lo-fi aesthetic but they don't forget their sense of melody, as a result sounding like the filthy lovechild of The XX and Wilco. The band use ambient noise to great effect, creating a stunning textured sound. A very good EP all round, but the sprawling climaxes of Sundowning and opening track Yellowcraig make it a must-listen.

Yellowraig is available to listen to on their Soundcloud page. The rest of the EP will be available here on 2nd June

Madison – Armbands single

Cumbernauld's Madison sound something akin to The Xcerts circa 2009, and are to an extent similarly earnest lyrically. This earnestness however doesn't detract from the fact that they write fantastic pop tunes. Armbands is particularly well-crafted with an anthemic chorus that'll stick in your head and some excellent twin-guitar playing. I'll be keeping my eye on these guys, so should you.

Available now here

North American War – Ivory and / Geraniums 7''

This is mad, discordant genius. NAW have got that 80's Post-Punk/New-Wave thing going on, but have eschewed the weediness of those bands in favour of sounding UTTERLY MASSIVE. Geraniums On A Spit is a softer affair initially, but it's not long before those big, spiky guitars return. There's lots of 80s revival stuff going around, but these guys are doing it right. 

Limited release of 250 available from 30th May, presumably from here.

Fin.

Friday Freebies

Now if I had been super organised I would have had this post up much earlier today. Normally I write my Friday Freebies posts on a Thursday night whilst my good lady wife watches the soaps. Rather than sit in front of my computer all night (which funnily enough is what I have been doing this evening), I decided to head an see Behold, The Old Bear at Bloc. Bloody good it was too, even if I did I have to leave early to catch my train. Although I write a music blog I often feel that I am not out at enough gigs these days. Then again back in the day I was pretty much out every other night. Anyway, enough of my inane ramblings, on with this weeks belated Friday Freebies...

Randolph's Leap
As I already said I was out last night, normally during the week I tend not to drink, however, last night I decided to treat myself as I had a little bit of celebrating to do. In case you haven't already heard, the line up for this years T Break got announced today, featuring amongst others Capitals, Beerjacket and Randolph's Leap. I guess it's not much of a secret how much I love 'the Leap', so it's great to see all of the hard work that we've put in come to fruition. That and I can now tell my folks something that I have been involved in that they will a frame of reference for. Anyway, enough about me, you're only here for the free stuff so here we go... To celebrate the fact that they'll be playing at this years T in the Park,the band have made their double A-side single 'Counting Sheep / Deep Blue Sea' free to download on Bandcamp.



Plastic Animals
It's been a wee while since we heard anything from the Edinburgh outfit, Plastic Animals, so it's nice to have them back. The band release the follow up to their last EP, 'A Dark Spring' on the 2nd of June with another equally as good EP called Automaton. As a wee teaser, the band are releasing the lead track, 'Ghosts' as a free download on Bandcamp. You can also catch them playing live next month in Glasgow at the launch night for the Touch Sensitive album at the Old Hairdressers (across from Stereo) alongside our very own Adam Ross from Randolph's Leap.




PAWS
I don't know if it's just my Twitter feed, but it seems as if half of Scotland has relocated down to Brighton for this weekends Great Escape Festival and I can't help but be a little jealous. I mean where else are you going to get to see The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks and PAWS all on the same bill in an intimate venue. Certainly not in Glasgow that's for sure. On the plus side though, PAWS have a new EP coming out soon on cassette. I don't know about you, but I am really loving the rebirth of cassettes and just because they annoy Kev from Avalanche. For now though, all you need to know is that Misled Youth the lead track, is available for free download on SoundCloud.

  03 Misled Youth by Fat Cat Records


Sean Armstrong
Lo-fi expermintalist, Sean Armstrong has just released his new album Hippy Bullshit on Orange dayglo cassette. If you're not a fan of tapes or you just want to check out more, then you're in luck as the album is free to download on Bandcamp.



The Leg
Earlier tonight I found myself listening to the latest episode of Cloud Sounds, one of my favourite podcasts run by a guy called Ted from Manchester, who's patter cracks me up. In his latest episode he played a few Scottish tracks, our very own Son(s), Ambulances and The Leg. Which reminded me that I had fully intended to include The Leg in Friday Freebies fucking donkeys ago, but somehow forgot. So here they are, the Edinburgh outfit released their album 'An Eagle to Saturn' on Song, By Toad at the end of last month. I still haven't listened to it, mainly because I forgot I had it. I have heard the single from it, 'Bake Yourself Silly', which is pretty fucking damn good. Time to get my finger and give the album a listen I reckon.

Night Noise Team
Edinburgh outfit, Night Noise Team have a new EP coming out in June called Pieces, in anticipation of it's release their PR firm, the excellent, A Badge of Friendship have posted up Picking Up The Pieces as a free download on SoundCloud.

  Night Noise Team - Picking Up The Pieces by abadgeoffriendship

Eugene McGuinness
If you listen to 6Music on a regular basis then you're bound to have come across Eugene McGuinness at some point. If you don't listen to 6, then shame on you. Shame on you indeed. His last single 'Shotgun' was getting some pretty hefty airplay a month or so ago, you might recall it's the song that starts off like the theme to Batman before descending into a catchy wee bugger of a pop tune. If you have no idea what I am talking about or even if you do, all that you really need to know is that this song and his other single, Lions, are both up free download on his Facebook page.

Isobel Campbell
I will probably use this for a future 'We've Got It Covered' post, so I'll keep this brief, Isobel has released  a cover of  Franz Ferdinand's 'Walk Away', which she is giving away as a free download in exchange for your email address. Talking of 'We've Got It Covered' posts, tomorrow is my 100th cover post, so make sure yo check back in for a special wee cover that I had specially recorded for me from Monoganon.

Mike Nisbet
Last years album 'Vagrant' caused a bit of a commotion amongst the Scottish blogosphere towards the tail end of the year. So much so that he even appeared in the BAMS top ten for 2011. If you haven't already checked the Oban born singer-songwriter out, then you should start off by checking out his Coffee & Cigarettes EP, which is free to download on Bandcamp.



Luminous Monsters
If 12 minute psychedelic/progressive/drone/cosmick/freeform ecstasies/ersatz orientalism sounds like your kind of thing, then should check out Luminous Monsters EP 'Golden Scales, Blazing Plumage' which is free to download from Bandcamp.





Queen Jane
You might remember Queen Jane from a few weeks back as they were one of my Fresh Meat Monday starlets, well now that the Cumbernauld four piece have made their Denver EP free to download, you've got no excuse for not checking them out. You can catch them playing live at Scottish Fiction Presents at the Captain's Rest on Sunday, 17 June alongside Michael Cassidy, Spook School and Saint Death.



Scottish Fiction
Talking of Scottish Fiction, he's just posted up the latest in his series of free EP's, featuring The King Hats, aLCATRAZkIDz, Thula Borah and Father Sculptor. You can get yourself a copy simply by heading over to his Bandcamp page.



Bacchanal Party
Last, but not least we have Glasgow outfit, Bacchanal Party, who were also announced as being one of the bands playing on this years T Break stage. If like me, you've only just heard of them, then you get yourself acquainted by downloading their album for free here.

Friday Freebies

we're only afraid of NYC
It's been a pretty good few weeks in terms of news coming out of the NYC camp, first off they've managed to recruit themselves a shit hot new drummer (the last one ran away to France) and now even more excitingly they've just posted up their top notch new single We Lived Here as a free download. Get stuck in kids, it's a great wee tune.

Poor Things
Having released their debut single 'Innocence/18' through the French Wives imprint label, Red Hat Records back in May. Perthshire three piece, Poor Things have just made their new EP 'R U Sitting Comfortably?' free to download on Bandcamp.

Laki Mera
Glaswegian electronica quartet, Laki Mera have posted up the Mogwai remix of their song 'Crater' for free on their Facebook page.

Supermarionation
Edinburgh punk powerpop three-piece Supermarionation have made their new EP 'Amongst the Northern Lochs' free to download here.

Plastic Animals
Having released the excellent A Dark Spring EP back in July, Plastic Animals are now giving away even more free tunes. To celebrate their 5th anniversary since the release of their debut EP, they've made both“The Importance Of Fuzz” and it's follow-up “Forgetting This Is Killing Me” free to download on Bandcamp.

Scottish Fiction
Fellow blogger Scottish Fiction has posted up the next in his series of free EPs, this months offering features free tracks from Shambles Miller, Collar Up, Reverieme and Where We Lay Our Heads. You can download it for nowt here.

Stormy Seas
Edinburgh indie folksters, Stormy Seas have posted up two free tracks from their forthcoming album, Of Rust and Loss (due out in November). It reminds me of a lot of stuff that's coming out of Edinburgh at the moment, with perhaps a touch of the Levellers in there too. Make your own mind up by downloading the tracks here.

monster island.
My fellow blogger Song By Toad pointed me in the direction of this freebie, so if you love it or hate it you know who to blame. Mancunian alt-pop outfit a couple of free tracks from their forthcoming album 'cathedral steps' on their Bandcamp.

Rose Parade
Ayrshire whimsical pop outfit Rose Parade have made their song 'Midnight Wine' free to download on their SoundCloud page.

Fresh Meat Monday - Plastic Animals

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello! We are Mario, James and Dave, collectively known as Plastic Animals, Edinburgh's favourite Peruvian/Scottish/Northern Irish trio.

How would you describe the music you make?

Badly, but we'll try our best. We used to play very simple, noisy punk songs and we still have a bit of that in us, but now try to write more interesting and layered songs, with a bit more atmosphere. And a bit more melody. One of our fave bands, Deerhunter, describe themselves as "ambient punk", and we'd like to appropriate that for us, although feel very unworthy in doing so.

How did you start out making music?

Mario picked up a guitar to help avoid the lure of the street-gangs of Lima. James found the drums to be a healthy outlet for his insatiable and previously undirected rage. Dave learned bass in order to complete the line-up of a Blink-182 cover band. We first played together in 2006 through a combination of personal connections and want-ads, and the shared influence of bands like Pavement, Pixies and Grandaddy.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

Mario is the creative engine. He usually brings some song ideas to practice; we play around with them, settle on a structure and then add bits until we're happy. They usually change lots until we finally record them. Lyrical inspiration just comes from cheery things like loss and separation, or everyday experiences and current affairs. For example, we have a song called "Gold Medallists" which is either about heartache, or frustration at the recent ticketing process for the London 2012 Olympics. We're still not sure.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Awkward banter, stilted movement and technical difficulties. Also hopefully a few good tunes.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

Mario: A healthy dose of Ozzy Osbourne’s first album “Blizzard of Ozz”. Killing riffs and The Scottish Enlightenment and Guided by Voices, The Lonely Island, particularly “Jack Sparrow” and a little bit of Beyoncé on the side.

Dave: Yo La Tengo, after their incredible show at Queens Hall last month. The new album from Something Beginning With L, who we played with recently. And also indulging my folkier side with some Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver.

James: Low, King Creosote, The Magnetic Fields and a little bit of Deerhoof.

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

Our new EP "A Dark Spring" will be available from 1st July! Very excited about that, and over the following months we're planning to gig until you're all as sick of our songs as we are. There are lots of new songs in the pipeline, some of which will hopefully be recorded before the year is out. We'd like to play a wee tour, but we seem to be under a curse whereby any time we play outside Edinburgh it goes really badly. Hoping to break that soon!


Plastic Animals - It Fell Apart

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Friday Freebies

Pet
Right this isn't technically a freebie as it's one of those pay what you like type scenarios, whether you choose to donate any pennies is up to you. The one thing that you do need to do is download their EP as it's fucking awesome, it's been a long time since I listened to something this good that wasn't emailed to me. Hailing from Edinburgh, the band describe their music as being 'heavy feather pop', fuck knows what that means, but it's probably a much better description than I would have come up with. You can find their EP, 'What You Building?' on their Bandcamp page, the band are having a launch night next Friday (1st July) at Super Club in Edinburgh. So if you're in the vicinity with nothing to do, then get yourself along to this one.

Kowalskiy
His Korner might have disappeared a while ago, but my blogger friend Kowalskiy has been keeping himself a busy boy as he's now onto his 12th Free EP. This months release features free downloads from Andrew Lindsay & the Coat Hooks, Innocents Civilian, The Tea Offensive, Le Reno Amps and The Black Hand Gang. You can download the EP directly from Mr Kowalskiy's Bandcamp page.

Twin Brother
Jamie who runs the excellent podcast, Net Sounds, in Inverness put me onto these guys earlier in the week. He suggested that their album 'Best Frenzy', might go down pretty well with folk who like Fleet Foxes, Department of Eagles or Doves. A pretty apt description in my opinion and a rather ace album too. You can download it for free on their Bandcamp, also make sure you check out Jamie's podcast, as its fucking ace.

Bon Iver
I am starting to think I might have to go back and give Mr Vernon's album another few listens, as it really does feel like I am very much in the minority of folk who didn't think much of his new self titled album. I think my friend Karl summed it up pretty well, when he suggested that it might be a good idea if Justin Vernon stopped taking so much fucking coke. Then again it did get a 9.5 review on Pitchfork, so perhaps that shows how much I know. Anyway, if you haven't already heard the album and am wondering what the fuck I am on about, RCRD LBL have a free download of the track 'Calgary' up for free download here.

Plastic Animals
For a Weegie I don't half talk about Edinburgh bands a lot on here, I am not sure whether it's just because I enjoy their scene more, or if just that Edinburgh bands just tend to email me more stuff. Whatever the fuck it is, I am not complaining. Plastic Animals have an EP out next month, I like it, I plan to feature them soon hopefully. Rather than making an attempt at describing them I am going to point you in the direction of a couple of free downloads that they have on their Bandcamp, then let them do all of the hard work in a few weeks time.

Cheesecake
I won't bullshit you, I had no idea who this lot where until just the other day when I emailed Halina from the Podcart. Seeing as she's the goddess of indie knowledge she soon put me right, apparently they're one them there supergroups made up members of Frightened Rabbit, Galchen and Union of Knives. If song titles such as 'Pure massive pubes' and 'Get Tae Fuck Ya Artists Cunt' sound like your cup of tea, then get download them from here.

Capitals
Having just played at goNorth and the Insider Festival, Edinburgh outfit Capitals, stock definitely seems to be on the up. Next month they're playing at King Tuts Summer Nights with Meursault and Over The Wall, then they have dates lined up in Berlin plus they've just been announced to appear at this years Edge Festival in August. With a mini album hopefully in the offing later in the year, the band are hinting on what lies in store by giving away their track 'Running and Hello World' for free in exchange for your email address.

Portishead
I never really got the excitement surrounding Portishead, it's just not for me. It might be for you though, so you might be interested that ATP have posted up a 2 Hour mixtape curated by the band, featuring tracks from the likes of Doom, Caribou and Beach House. You can download the mix for nowt using the following link.

Peace
Having just rambled about how I don't like Portishead, I am now about to tell you about something that's a bit Trip Hop-esque that I do like. It's by a guy who goes under the guise of Peace who's from Glasgow and has made his new Hungry EP available to download for free, and that's pretty much all that I can tell you about him. You can listen to his songs on Soundcloud, then if you like them, there's a link on the right hand side of the page to download the EP for free.

Dan Wilde
Exciting new indie label, Littlest Mojo Music, who promote Roddy Woomble among others, have recently taken on a fella by the name of Dan Wilde. You can download his rather enchanting song 'Nowhere' for free on his Soundcloud page.

Moddi
One of the things that I missed most at this goNorth was the chance to go and see a tonne of new bands, seeing as we were hosting our own night it would have been pretty rude if we'd have fucked off to another venue. Then again, we did have some a great line up, so there wasn't any real need for me to go anywhere else. So the next day when I was catching up with a few folk to find out what they'd enjoyed the previous day, the same name cropped up numerous times. 'Moddi, who the fuck is Moddi?', now I think I must have uttered this a few times, but it eventually seeped in as by the time I got home I was hunting some of his stuff down. It left me feeling two things, one I was happy that folk had told me about him and two, I was gutted that I had missed him. Hailing from Norway, Moddi's sweet acoustic have the power to be uplifting whilst also breaking your heart. You can find out yourself by heading over to his website where you will find a whole host of freebies.

Air Cav
On the odd occasion that I do listen to things that aren't Scottish, one of the main folk that I trust a lot is Ted who runs the excellent Cloud Sounds podcast. The boy knows his stuff, plus his rambling podcasts amuse the fuck out of me. One band that he has been banging on about recently are a Mancunian outfit by the name of Air Cav. Having checked out their Bandcamp page I can see why, see for yourself by downloading a couple of old singles for free.

Finding Fiction
Up and coming power pop outfit, Finding Fiction, who hail from Brooklyn, NYC, are currently giving away their new single 'Migraines & Sheep' for free download on their Bandcamp, catchy as fuck it is too.

Washed Out
Stereogum have a free download of new Washed Out song 'Amor Fati' taken from forthcoming post-chillwave album which is due out on Sub Pop next month.

Mazes
Fat Cat's very own Mazes have posted up new demo track 'Brunswick Stack' for free download on their Souncloud.