Friday Freebies

Steven Milne
I know I am about to lose a lot of credibility in a lot of eyes, by saying this, but I don't really care for Bob Dylan. There I have said it, I know that we're all supposed to bow down to his suppose genius, however, I really couldn't give less of a fuck about him or his music. So in the week when the world celebrated his 70th birthday, I shrugged my shoulders and moved on. God, that was a terrible introduction to this freebie, I'll stop rambling and get to the point. Singer song-writer and frontman of The Little Kicks, Steven Milne, has posted up a free download of his cover of the Bob Dylan song, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol for free download on his Bandcamp page. Hopefully my rantings won't put you off checking it out (sorry Steven).

White Denim
At the start of the year there were three albums that I was really looking forward to, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and White Denim. So far the Foxes and Bon Iver have been a bit of a disappointment, perhaps they'll grow on me more with repeated listens, I guess we'll see. White Denim however, haven't let me down with their new album 'D'. You can download a live version of their song 'At The Farm' for free now from RCRD LBL.

She's Hit
I am still undecided about She's Hit, I have been listening to their album a fair bit lately on my way home from work. It's a grimy scuzzy listen, it's not something I would normally find myself listening to, but I do keep going back to it so I guess must be seeping into my brain though. If you head over to NME.com you can download the album track Miriam Hollow for free for one week.

LightGuides
I don't think I have mentioned this on the blog yet, I so I guess this as good a time as any. Next month myself and my fellow bloggers, Matthew from Song By Toad and Jason from the Pop Cop have been asked to take part in this years goNorth festival. As part of our involvement we're going to be taking part in a panel all about surprisingly enough, blogging. In addition to this we're also putting on our own showcase night, featuring Kid Canaveral, PAWS, Indian Red Lopez and LightGuides (see there was tenuous link there). Funnily enough LightGuides are giving away their new single 'Old Bucket Seats' as a free download ahead of their debut album being unleashed this summer.

Frightened Rabbit
This week was the fifth anniversary of Frightened Rabbit's debut album, Sings The Greys, being released. To celebrate this the band have posted up old OLD demo of 'The Greys', which was recorded on one £35 microphone to cassette. Download it here.

Beerjacket
You've all checked out the Peenko Session we recorded with Beerjacket didn't you? If you haven't you should, as it's fucking awesome. If you liked it an you want to hear more you can download a fair few songs for nowt from Soundlift.

Piet Haag
How could I resist a press release which describes an artist as being like 'Jim Noir, Arab Strap, meeting vaudeville era Erik Satie and Kate Bush up a close in Govan'. I know I certainly couldn't! You can download some free tunes using this link, I'd suggest you start with Sign Me Up To Chemikal Underground.

Running on the Rooftops
Glasgow based folk-rock band, Running on the Rooftops got in touch with me a while back, but I only got round to listening back to them this week. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by their gentle folk lullabies. You can check them out for yourself by checking out their Soundcloud page where there are several songs up for free download.

White Heath
Stow College have released an array of local talent on their Electric Honey label over the past decade, their past roster boasts artists such as Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro. Now you can add White Heath to that impressive line up, this week they've released the bands new single '7:38AM' which you can download for free on Soundcloud.
Also as if that wasn't enough they've posted up a cover of Benjamin Britten's 'O Waly, Waly' for download, plus their debut single GG is still available to download for free on their Bandcamp page.

Blank Canvas
This weeks Fresh Meat starlets, have posted up a live recording of a live recording of their recent set at the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh, download it for free here.

Villagers
To celebrate Villagers' Becoming A Jackal winning an Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically, Domino Records are giving awat an acoustic rendition of the victorious song taken from the Live At Working Mans Club LP. Just sign up to the Villagers mailing list to get your download.

Stuart Newman
Fans of your more chilled out indie-folk music might well find something they like in Stuart Newman's songs. He's got a whole load of song available for free download on his homepage. 'The Temperature Rising' and 'Head Hurts' would probably be your best a starting point.

Dalyrimple Goes Wrong
There are two things I like about this freebie, the lo-fi sound and the obscure song titles. What you need to know is that this is the work of Edinburgh musician, Daniel Parry, and it's rather nifty. Then again I think I was also going to like songs with titles such as 'The Iceberg Melting Atop the Dinner Table Makes a Mess of the Meal' and 'It Stinks in Here Like Fetid Brains in a Hirst Gallery'. You can download his EP for free on his Bandcamp.

The Black Ships
You can download a free copy of The Black Ships EP, Kurofune for free here.

Three Trapped Tigers
Here's a late addition to this weeks freebies which comes from my blogger friend from the East, Stuart from the Tidal Wave of Indifference, who's just posted an MP3 and a review of Three Trapped Tigers, enjoy.

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...

Weekly Round Up (10/10/10)

Monday - We had some Fresh Meat from The Darien Venture and I also had wee Peenko Exclusive with The Last Battle talking us through their cracking debut album Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea

Tuesday - This was on of the finest days in Peenko history, s there was The Phantom Band's session for Vic G, an interview with Ed from SL Records and is if that wasn't enough I had a wee competition to win tickets to see The Unwinding Hours in Glasgow, I even managed to grab a few words with Iain from the band. If you are planning on entering this be quick as the closing date is tomorrow.
Wednesday - my Scots Way-Hay'ers for this week were none other than the truly amazing Woodenbox With A Fistful of Fivers
Thursday - The Twilight Sad's session for Marc Riley Session, plus the legendary Matthew Young told us a bit more about his inspirational Song By Toad label.
Friday - it's all about getting your hands on some Freebies
Saturday - Dananananaykroyd took on a Devo classic in We've Got It Covered


News, gigs and any other gubbins......

On Wednesday, Peenko Blog hits the grand old age of two. Yes I know it probably feels like I've been doing this for a lot longer or at least it feels as if I have. To celebrate hitting 'The Terrible Two's' (notice how I have already picked up on the parental lingo), I am going to be having a few special announcements. Some of which you might already know, others might be completely new to your ears and eyes. Let's just say that last years birthday badge give away will be somewhat over shadowed, you'll just have to wait until Wednesday for all to be revealed so to speak. Anyway onwards with the other gubbins....

The Phantom Band are having a wee shin dig this afternoon at Pollock Cricket Club, which is actually only about five minutes from my house so I think I will try and saunter along to this one. Kicking off at 2pm, it will feature DJ sets from the band, plus live music from TUT VU VU, just make sure you bring along a dish and dress neat and tidy.
PS - I know that it says that it's by invite only, but I am pretty sure that if you head along and ask nicely then they'll let you in.

If you're not brave enough to venture southside today, then there's another cracking wee gig taking place in Bloc tonight. Louis Abbott of Admiral Fallow fame is hosting and also kicking off his own night with a solo set, followed by a headlining set from Esperi. That's some line up, you have there and I haven't even told you that it's all free. Get yourself down early for an evening of some stunning intimate music.


On Wednesday night, Stanley Brinks hits Stereo in Glasgow for an evening of alt folk fun. If the name sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, it's the new identity of André Herman Düne, one of the original members of Herman Düne - who are also one of the finest live bands around. Having recorded and played shows in Europe, the UK and the US under various other names: Ben Dope, Ben Haschish, Klaus Bong, John Trawling, John Andreas, Lord Stanislas, to name just a few - man the must get pretty confusing, I wonder what his mum calls him. Tickets for the gig are on sale from monorail, tickets-scotland and ticketweb.

Also on Wednesday night, the fabulous kids of Detour return for another fun filled evening of surprises, carnage and amazing bands. As the line up is a secret I can't really give you any indication of what to expect, apart from that it will be a lot of fun and that you will most certainly need to take the next day off work. It takes place in their spiritual home of Bloc and it all kicks off at 9 through until the wee hours of the morning.


On Thursday night in Glasgow, the Variety Bar is hosting a special evening of fun and frolics in aid of charity. Featuring live sets from Holy Mountain, ProLife, Admiral Fallow, plus guest DJs: James & Johnny from the Twilight Sad and Craig from the Unwinding Hours. Tickets are only £5, which is a total bargain in my eyes.


Next Saturday the 16th, RE:PEATER RECORDS are having a wee shindig at The Captains Rest to celebrate the Split Single Launch with Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers and SHe'S HiT, plus very special guests, North American War. It's only£5, with doors at 8pm.