We've Got It Covered #52

I am going to keep this post short as I am feeling very rough this morning, fun times were had at Pin Up Nights yesterday evening. Highlights of the evening included dancing (badly) to Aye Tunes DJ set with the Mondegreen boys, Endor (who were awesome),rambling pish to anyone that would listen to me and off course Greggs at 2am.
I am paying for today mind you, so I have decided to post something nice and soothing to ease my sore head. I posted a link in yesterdays Friday Freebies of Steven Milne covering Bob Dylan, today he's going one better with this cover of Sam Cooke's 'A Change is Gonna Come'. I reckon it's a pretty brave move to take on such a classic song, but I reckon he does it justice and then some. Anyway, I think that's enough rambling for one day, I'm going back for another lie down...

Steven Milne - A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke cover)

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.

Friday Freebies

Y’all is Fantasy Island
Under appreciated, is the phrase that springs to mind when anyone mentions now defunct Falkirk outfit, Y’all is Fantasy Island. I am not going to start kidding myself that I wasn't one of the folk that didn't fully appreciate what we had until they were gone. Thanks to Wiseblood Industries we can all do some much needed catching up as they've re-issued the whole of Y’all is Fantasy Island’s entire back catalogue digitally for free. This includes five LPs, totalling 55 tracks all in. So if you're not Home Game-ing this weekend, then this should pretty much be your weekend sorted.

State Broadcasters
It feels like ages ago since we last heard anything from the Glasgow's finest twee-Americana band. In fact it's been that long that I actually thought they'd called it a day, so it was good to hear that not only were they still going, but they've also been busy recording new material. They've just made new song 'Kittiwake', which comes from their forthcoming album due out in the summer, available for free download.

Steven Milne
At the tail end of last year I got sent a copy of Aberdeenshire singer songrwiter, Steven Milne's album Chasing Phantoms. Really good it was too, somehow I seem to have misplaced my copy of the album so it slipped out of my mind. Admittedly I do feel kind of guilty about that now, I am going to have to do some much needed hunting to find it. Anyway, what reminded me of all of this was that his label Bedford Records have made a remix of his song Best Of Times available for free download.

The Little Kicks
It's funny that I just mentioned Steven Milne, as he crops up twice in this weeks Friday Freebies. This little freebie comes courtesy of his other project, The Little Kicks, who are going to be out touring for a lot of this month. They've made their new single 'Call of Youth' available to download for free on their Bandcamp.

Fucked Up
I had forgotten quite how much I liked the last Fucked Up album, I must go and give my copy a a good airing. If you're already a fan then you might be chuffed to hear that Stereogum have a free download of their new song “Queen Of Hearts” for free.

Dropkick
One of the reasons I reckon a lot of folk like to search out new music is because it can be quite daunting when you find a band with a back ground as it requires a lot more effort to try and sift through a more established artists back catalogue. Knowing where to start can be pretty off putting when you have so much stuff to listen to. Which in a roundabout way brings me to Dropkick, as East Coast outfit whose music flirts between alt country and power pop. They've recently made 59 of their previously unreleased songs available to download for free on their website. Some of which I am assured are "reasonably good". Having already built up a bit of a cult following in Spain, the band are set to release their new album 'Time Cuts The Ties' on the 14th of May. If that sounds like your cup of tea then you can download a tonne of free songs from their website.

The Spinto Band
Mind the Spinto Band, whatever happened to them then? One great album, one stinker, then I never heard of them again until now. They've apparently been away recording a cover of theme music for Arthur. I am sure that makes perfect sense in Spinto-land, if you fancy hearing what it sounds like then you can by downloading the track for free in exchange for your email address.

Smack Wizards
The up and coming new Glasgow 3-piece , featuring members of Plaaydoh/Mr Peppermint, have made their debut album available for free download through Winning Sperm Party.

The Son(s)
In the midst of everything going on at Olive Grove HQ, it might seem as if we have overlooked some of our artists. I hope that isn't the case, as we love each and every one of our 'children' equally. It's been a while since we talked about the Son(s), so this feels like as good a time as any to be mentioning that they're giving away a free track in exchange for a tweet. So if you were wondering what all the fuss was about then you can find out for yourself here.

Jonathan Sebastian Knight
He of My Cousin I Bid You Farewell fame, has made a whole host of tracks available for free download on his Soundcloud page.

RM Hubbert
I am afraid that this freebie is only open to folk in the US, so if you're not from across the pond then you might want to look away now. He might well be currently be holed up in a studio with Alex Kapranos recording his new album, but we've not forgotten about wur pal Hubby. If you haven't already checked out his album 'First & Last', then you're missing a trick. Chemikal Underground were smart enough to reissue the album, so if you don't trust me, trust them. Our American friends are also in luck as they can download my personal favourite track 'For Maria' for nowt on Amazon. Everyone else, well you've been told enough times, by now you should've already bought the album.

The Dawn Fanfare
This freebie comes courtesy of our radio pal, Pop Goes The Revolution, who are planning on posting a free download every Monday for the next few weeks. So if you fancy a freebie on a Monday get following their Facebook page. This week they came up with The Dawn Fanfare, who are new to me, possibly because they're not Scottish.

Rock The Fort
The mini festival held up in Fort William, finishes up tonight with Bronto Skylift, Homework and James MacKenzie & the Aquscene. From what I have heard from folk who have played it at it, it's been a rather successful start to the festival. What does that have to do with free downloads you might be wondering, well there's a free mini album featuring Bronto, Mitchell Museum and Pareto among others. Get it here.

Bear Driver
Mind we like this lot, they make me smile. Their new demo Colours Run, works for me, see if it does for you by downloading it for free here.