Fresh Meat Monday - Quickbeam

Would you care to introduce yourself? 

Hi, its Drew and Monika from Quickbeam.

How would you describe the music you make? 

The music we make has a certain vulnerability to it. Its not intentional, but its the way it seems to come out.  Also lot of it is quite exposed, even though the band has grown in numbers recently there is still hopefully a sense of the sparse sound we had when we had only two or three members. The only difference now is that we can begin to achieve the sound we had started out to achieve. Somebody once described our sound as 'glacial' maybe that is a more accurate description.

How did you start out making music?

I think after learning a few songs on the guitar, or whatever instrument you pick up, the next natural step is to start writing your own.

What process goes into the way you write songs? 

Generally our songs start as an individual/solitary process, usually myself or Monika. We go through countless ideas and recordings before we're really happy. When we play them as a band each individual has their own take on it, and notices different details they can add/develop. 

 

What can people expect from your live shows? 

Our next gig is on the Tall Ship on the Clyde, so maybe something a bit unusual. A relaxing experience with a few uplifting moments thrown in. Thats the idea anyway!

What are you all listening to at the moment? 

(Drew) I've heard the new Sigur Ros track from their forthcoming album 'Valtari', so I've had that on repeat for days!

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

Well our debut single is out on the 9th of April. We've been working on a load of new stuff recently. We'll be planning a realease with the guys from our label Comets and Cartwheels in the coming weeks, possibly an EP to follow up.

Quickbeam - Tide

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Quickbeam - Seven Hundred Birds from Quickbeam on Vimeo.

Video-rama!!

What with  Mothers Day and the cup final earlier in the day I have almost managed to spend  a whole day without logging into blogger, but alas I just can't resist the temptation of going online. So I have decided that today is as good a day as any to post up some videos that I have been enjoying this week...

First off we have a dems new single Inner O, which is released on 2nd April 2012 on Bad Life Recordings...

Next up we have a the new single from Fife outfit, Ambulances, their double A side single Feeling Sick is out now on Bandcamp and they've made this rather nifty video to accompany it.

Where We Lay Our Heads new single, "Bury You", comes out tomorrow, to celebrate they're playing a headline show at the Captain's Rest on Wednesday night with support from Letters and Cafe Disco.

New Scottish DIY label, Comets & Cartwheels have announced something a bit a special to celebrate the the release of their first release with Quickbeam. Choosing to do something a bit different to the norm, the single launch is going to be held on a ship, yes a ship. The Tall Ship in Glasgow to be exact, support on the evening comes from their label mates Endor plus there will also be an acoustic set from Washington Irving. Further details on the gig can be found here. To get yourself in the mood check out the excellent new video for the single, Seven Hundred Birds below...

Lastly, rather than post up yet another music video I just wanted to point you in the direction of a new project that the State Broadcasters are involved in. For their forthcoming single, Trespassers, they've managed to rope in the award winning director, Jessica Ashman, but they need your help. All you need to know can be found here, or you can just watch the video below...

Trespassers - Indie Go Go Video Plea from Jessica Ashman on Vimeo.

Friday Freebies

PET
Back in July of last year I ended up getting myself a bit over excited by Edinburgh outfit, PET (another band who seem to love their Caps Lock button). Their debut EP, What You Building? was one of my surprise finds of the whole of 2011. Their follow up, Middle Child Syndrome was pretty decent, however, for me it didn't really live up the promise of their debut release. With the release of their new single/EP, Wear Black, the jury's still out on this one. Having shyed away from their more poppy side, this new release might just take a bit more time to grow on me. You can make your own mind up though by downloading Wear Black from their Bandcamp page.

Quickbeam
It used to be that every other week their would be a new Scottish music blog cropping up, this year it feels like their is a new Scottish label starting up. Not bad thing in my eyes, not bad at all. The most recent label to crop up are Comets And Cartwheels, formed by the promoter, Paul Downie who runs Pelmet Nites and and our very own Vicki Cole from Randolph's Leap. Not being ones to hang about they've already announced their initial roster, which consists Peenko favourites, Endor, up and coming Glasgow based outfit, PartWindPartWolf and the minimalist folk outfit, Quickbeam. As a wee introduction to the label, Quickbeam are giving away their track Tide as a free download on Bandcamp.

Carnivores
With their debut  album due out later this year, Paisley rock trio, Carnivores are offering up a teaser of what to expect by giving away their beast of a track, Lion Tamer, for nowt on Bandcamp.


Black Mountain
Canadian stoner-rock oufit, Black Mountain have recorded the soundtrack to an apocalyptic surfing movie, which is going to be out later in the year. You can download a free track from the Soundtrack from Stereogum.

SXSW
If you're one of the lucky ones who's going to be out in Austin for this year SXSW Festival, then you might fancy doing some home work on what bands to check out while you're out there. As a wee handy tool the organisers have posted up a torrent featuring a whopping 771 songs (coming in at over 4GB!). If you feel up to the task of hunting down those hidden gems, then get downloading here.

Torche
Miami/Atlanta quartet are all set to release their third album, Harmonicraft, in April. As a wee teaser they've made their song 'Kicking' available as a free download.

The Darkness
I very much doubt that there is much of a demand out there for The Darkness to get back together, but reform they have. They've also been recording some new material, if you're in anyway curious as to hear what the new songs sound like then you can download new song Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us for nowt here.

Aidan John Moffat
Saving the best to last we have Aidan Moffat's retort to Donald Trump's announcement that he's going to be bankrolling the Scottish anti-wind farm group. I'm sure this sentiment will resonate with many of my fellow Scots. Check it out on SoundCloud.