Happy Easter! Here's some news...

The Seventeenth Century return with a their second EP, cunningly entitled 'EP2', on the 2nd May. The release will be available exclusively on Limited Edition 10” vinyl, which includes a free digital download code. The band celebrate the release with a gig at Oran Mor this coming Friday (29th), with support from The Scottish Enlightenment and Sunshine Social. Now that's one cracking line up if I do say so myself. Having caught 17C at the same venue just a few weeks back, I can vouch that they were in top form. The Scottish Enlightenment have been favourites of mine for a while now, it's been ages since I saw them live, so I am really looking forward to seeing them again. As for Sunshine Social, I will admit that until I got told about this gig I'd never heard of them, however, now that I have I will be making sure that I get myself along to this one nice and early -I might well be lying to myself here as nowadays with Erin on the scene I feel like I am continuously running late, I will try and get there on time though!
Tickets for the gig are on sale now on Ticketweb and on Ticket Scotland for just £5.

Seeing as most of us are all off work tomorrow, there's not really an excuse for you not be venturing out this evening (not unless of course you want to avoid the war zone cause by Old Firm chaos). If you're looking for something cheap, yet utterly brilliant to do, then look no further. As part of their 3rd birthday celebrations, The Captains Rest have Kid Canaveral, Mitchell Museum, How to Swim, Heart Beats, Apples of Energy and Dear Mountaineer all playing and tickets for the gig are just £3. Plus as if that wasn't a bargain already, pizzas and burgers are also only £3. Which means you can get yourself a drink, get some scran and get into a gig for under a tenner. Nae bad, nae bad at all...
Also, Kid Canaveral and Mitchell Museum on the same bill at the Captains Rest, I wish we'd thought of that ;)



The third ‘Brain Storm’ event is set to take place on Saturday 7th May 2011 at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s and will help raise money for Edinburgh’s Sick Kids charity. The event will be headlined by Bathgate alt-rock duo The Fire and I, with support from Edinburgh trio Scrap Brain and female fronted Glasgow pop-rockers Acrylic iQon.

The event is also the first announced fringe event of the official launch party for No Colour Too Strong to Paint, a charity compilation album of Edinburgh bands organised by Youngteam Records to raise money for The Sick Kids Friends Foundation and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Scrap Brain have contributed their track ‘I Want You, You Want the Devil’ to the 21-track album.

ickets are available for low price of £3 in advance from TicketWeb, Great Junction Street Music Studios, or from Scrap Brain. Tickets will be £5 on the door.




I'll round up this random wee news post with a video I got sent by a band called Natalie Pryce. If you like folk such as Nick Cave or Tom Waits, then this should be right up your street...

Friday Freebies

The Music Alliance Pact
My good mate The Pop Cop had a special wee celebratory post earlier in the week, if you haven't come across his Music Alliance Posts before then now is the time to do some catching up. I'll leave PC to explain what it's all about, all you need to know from is that he's posted up a cracking wee compilation of songs for you to download for free. You can get your hands on some exclusive and rare tracks from some of the following, We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Seventeenth Century, The Unwinding Hours and Kid Canaveral to name just a few. Download it here.

FOUND
Last week they gave us a free download of OnTheFly's Remix of 'Let Fidelity Break', what this weeks freebie is a mystery to me. If last weeks tune is anything to go by then once again boys n girls you're in for a treat, plus we're also one week closer to the release of their new album. Double Bonus.

Quiet Lights
Here's a great wee freebie that you should be checking out this dream pop outfit Brooklyn who have just recently released a 3-track pre-release, which they're giving away as a wee taster of things to come to from their forthcoming full release. Their album which is currently being mixed by John Congleton (St Vincent, Explosions in the Sky) then mastered by Alan Douches (Frightened Rabbit, Sufjan Stevens) should be out early next year. If that sounds like your kind of thing then just click the link.

Bella Union
One of my favourite labels are giving away a whole host of freebies this week, first up they have a wee free album sampler up for grabs, it features tracks from Beach House, Lawrence Arabia, The Acorn and Department of Eagles, you can get your hands on it here. They are also giving away a whole host of MP3's on Soundcloud, including tracks from The Walkmen, Abe Vigoda, Our Broken Garden and The Kissaway Trail.

Kori Pop
Her real name really is Kori Pop, or at least that's what she tells me, she even has as the birth certificate to prove it. Not long ago she released her first record From The Outskirts, which was made in a barn located in rural Ontario, I think that's about all that you need to know. Oh and there is also the small matter of her giving away her first single Nowhere Near My Heart for free on her Bandcamp page.

The Japanese War Effort
Gerry Loves have posted up the Fresh Air Session that The Japanese War Effort recorded for them. You can download it here.

The Twilight Singers
You can download a new song from the forthcoming Twilight Singers album due early next year on Sub Pop Records. "Blackbird and the Fox" features a duet between Greg Dulli and Ani DiFranco and you can get it here.

Hot Chip
Those funky Hot Chip kids have released a free track, 'Didn't Know What Love Was' through Converse, it features Bernard Sumner & Hot City, and you can get it here.

Scrap Brain
Edinburgh's Scrap Brain are giving away their track 'Caspian' for free all you have to is tweet about it, find out more here.

Neil Milton
This week saw the return of Scottish music label, Too Many Fireworks, although now it's based in Warsaw. Label owner and also musician Neil Milton relaunches his label with an new EP, you can get your hands on song air (Or The Dragonfly) from it for free in exchange for one tweet.

Selebrities
The Brooklyn outfit have been compared to a 'downstroke Beach House', if that sounds good to you then you can download their Ladies Man Effect EP for free.

Mopp
You can download a remix of Dream About You by former Fresh Meat-er 'Dems' here for absolutely nothing. I think this falls under the category of tune!

Spokes
You can get a free download of their song 'Torn Up In Praise' here, be quick as it's only available for the next few days.

Club Seat
Yep the car maker, it's amazing how many want to use music to promote their product these days. Mots of it being bland shit music, not that I am saying that the free music being offered for free doesn't fall into that category, I'm sure that some of you guys must like Foals and Bombay Bicycle Club. Hence the reason for me posting this link, however, if you find yourself getting all excited about the prospect of a free Ellie Goulding session, then I really have failed you all.

The Van Doos!
The nice folk over at 'Young & Lost Club' are giving away an“essential first offering from London based threesome The Van Doos” which you can get for free here.

Three Blind Wolves
Ross Clarke and his band have a wee freebie up for grabs on his Myspace, you can download 'The Maybe Forest' simply by clicking the link.