The Mouse That Ate The
Cat appear to be the masters of firing out cracking singles. Although
they'd normally be considered an electro-pop act, I Am The Hottest
Fire has a bigger, rather more conventional guitar pop sound than
usual, and at times are reminiscent of the wonderful Fanfarlo. The
anthemic chorus is guaranteed to be stuck in my head for days.
Available to download free on 23rd July
This Silent Forest –
The Lighter Side EP
Showcasing This Silent
Forest's...well, lighter side, The Lighter Side is a collection of
their gentler songs. There's some lovely stuff here: the nicely
created atmospheric soundscape on This Model Couple, the
well-utilised synth brass on the ending of He Drinks Alone. I'm bored
of Glasgow bands with violins these days but This Silent Forest
execute their brand of folk pop very well.
The Lighter Side is available now from iTunes or Bandcamp.
Hanetration (London) –
Tenth Oar EP
With its glitchy sample
manipulation, Tenth Oar is at times sinister and, in its own way, at
times beautiful. Opening work Rex sounds like Moon Unit being put
through a meat grinder, whilst the EP highlight Alarm begins with a
lighter, theapplesofenergy-esque ambience before being consumed by a
slow creeping, pulsing darkness. This isn't for everyone but try it,
you never know.
Aerials Up appear to be on a quest to write the World's Greatest Anthemic Pop Song. It has all the necessary parts: anthemic chorus, the quiet part leading to the huge crescendo, harmonised male and female vocals and a stadium guitar sound. And while this isn't quite All Your Mother's Daughters (the best thing they've ever released), it is very good indeed.
There are plenty of Scottish bands doing the heartfelt Twin Atlantic thing just now. What Marvel Heights have to their advantage over many of them is that they have a great singer, tight harmonies and catchy pop hooks. And it's not all big drum rolls and massive guitar riffs, as the atmospheric slow build of excellent closing track Make No Waves proves.
Like Lightbulbs, an electro-pop single in the New Order vein, begins with a simple repeated keyboard line and wailing guitar sample, and there's a laid-back feel about the whole thing. It's brilliant. B-side Life In A Fishtank doesn't quite work so well. It doesn't grip you like in the way Like Lightbulbs does, and it passes without much to remember it by.
Randolph's Leap
What would you do if a total stranger started slagging your band off on the internet, well if you're Adam Ross from Randolph's Leap, you'd write them a song. Obviously. You can download 'Brian' for free over on their SoundCloud page.
Robin Adams
The new single by Glasgow-based songwriter Robin Adamstruly is a joy to behold. Available on download only, ‘Sun Behind The Storm’, isn't technically a freebie as it's up as one of those ‘name your price’ deals on his Bandcamp page. Whether you want to pay anything is your call, give it a listen and make your own mind up.
Poor Things
Perthshire indie pop starlets, Poor Things have posted up their new single, 'Miss World Contemplates...' as a free download on their SoundCloud page. Fans of the French Wives take note, as this should be right up your street.
Homework
Ahead of the release of their forthcoming debut album, Edinburgh electro experimentalists, Homework are giving away their new single 'Thoughts' as a free download on Bandcamp.The band are also going to playing a showcase gig on Thursday the 12th of April at Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh as part of this years Wide Days. The gig is free, however, in order to gain entry you need to sign up in advance for tickets which you can do by the following this link
. The Mouse That Ate The Cat
Glasgow based electro-pop outift TMATC are out on tour this week in support of their free downloadable track 'Like Lightbulbs'. The duo which are comprised of Brian Henderson (former lead singer of The Dykeenies) and Colin Keenan (formerly of Drive-By Argument) are playing at King Tuts tomorrow night with support from Seed, Digital Jones and Farewell Singapore. Following that you can cath them on the 10th at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline, the 12th at Cafe Drummonds in Aberdeen, the 15th Mad Hatters in Inverness and then at the end of the month they're playing at the Rock The Broath two day festival in Arbroath on the 28th. Further details on all of these gigs and ticket links can be found here.
Rachel Sermanni
In
anticipation of the release of her new single, Eggshells, the very
talented Rachel Sermanni is giving away a free download of an acoustic
version of the song in exchange for your email address.
Bear Arms
According to the the Chinese zodiac, 2012 is The Year of the Dragon. I guess Scotland didn't get the memo, as our bands are coming out in force to show their love for the Bear. Off the top of my head we have Behold The Old Bear, Brown Bear & The Bandits, As In Bear (RIP) and Bear Bones, and now we have another addition to our grizzly sloth we can add Glasgow alt-rock outfit Bear Arms. The four piece are currently giving away their single 'Towers' as a free download on their Bandcamp page.
Thula Borah
If you like your post-rock, then you might want to check out the recent Live Secretly EP from Glasgow outfit, Thula Borah. The EP which was recorded by Andy Miller (Mogwai, Arab Strap, De Rosa ) at Gargleblast Studios is free to download from their Bandcamp page.
CS Buchan
If you're looking for something a little less 'rocky', then CS Buchan might just be for you. The Aberdeen based singer-songwriter has posted up a couple of songs from a split EP that he released with Kitchen Cynics, on a pay what you want basis on his Bandcamp page. Fans of Nick Drake and things of a gentler persuasion take note this might just be the gentle soundtrack you were looking for the start of you Easter weekend.
Esperi
Scottish multi-instrumentalist Chris Lee-Marr, aka Esperi is out on tour around Scotland at the moment, calling at Aberdeen on Saturday night, then he'll be through in Glasgow next Sunday (15th) at Pivo Pivo. As wee gift to the world he's posted up his new song 'the countryside, no city dust here' as a free download on his SoundCloud page.
Dogs Got A Bone Compilation
The second compilation from the Dogs Got A Bone radio show has been posted up on Bandcamp as a free download. Featuring Dead Star Sonics, My Electric Love Affair, The Murlocs, Mummy Short Arms, Confusion, Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5, Frantic Chant, Shambles Miller, Kick To Kill, The Girobabies, Spaceface, Missing Cat, Blasfima Sinna, Delta Mainline, The Cat That Walks Alone and Un.Real. Download it for free here.
I Am Home Alone
Another free-to-download compilation that's up for grabs comes from Aberdonian promoters, Home Alone who care giving away a series of free downloads from some of the best bands that the the north-east of Scotland has to offer including, The Little Kicks, Marionettes and JJ Bull.
Drunk Mule
To finish off this week freebies we have yet another free tune from those prolific Drunk Mule boys, I don't know how these boys keep churning out cracking wee songs like this, but they do. Get your hands on their latest offering Love That Sound for free on Bandcamp.
Anyone who was unfortunate enough to listen to my stint on Fresh Air last summer might remember I managed to seriously balls up my plug for their charity download album. I vaguely recall comparing folk who downloaded a charity for free as being the equivalent of kicking a blind death and dumb kid, or something along those lines. Whatever I said it caused a bit of bother, not that I was all that fussed. This year I am going to do my best to avoid fucking up, so I'll just let you know that Fresh Air have compiled another charity album featuring tracks from bands such as Edinburgh School For The Deaf, The Scottish Enlightenment and French Wives. It's a minimum £2 purchase, which is a cracking deal for some ace tunes, plus you get to do your bit for charity.
The Mouse That Ate The Cat, a nw Glasgow based electro-pop duo made up of Brian Henderson (lead singer of The Dykeenies) and Colin Keenan (ex-Drive-By Argument) released their debut single 'Falling Down' this week. It's only £1 to buy which includes the single, q video and a B-side
The boys are off on tour this month calling at 5 - Cape, Stirlng
7 - Gig In The Car Park @ Greenside Hotel, Fife
11 - Bannermans, Edinburgh
12 - Dexters, Dundee
13 - The Tunnels, Aberdeen
14 - Mad Hatters, Inverness
Our friends at Pelmet Nites have decided to do something a wee bit different with their next night, as they're putting on what I think must be their first ever hip hop night featuring Kobi Onyame and Stanley Odd. Having caught Kobi when I was at Wickerman a few weeks I can see why they've snapped him up for a gig. Also, I have been listening to Stanley Odd's mini album a fair wee bit recently. Me liking hip-hop, who'd have thunk it. You can buy tickets for the gig here
If you're still at a loose end for something to do this evening then you might want to head along to see the Red Show at Maggie Mays in Glasgow where they are celebrating the release of their new EP, Hard To Shake It Hard To Love.
On Sunday coming I am going to be posting a whole load of stuff from the T Break stage at this years T in the Park, don't say I didn't warn you. Anyway, I best finish this rambling post off, so here's a wee video that the nice MILK folk filmed with Yaya Club on a nice sunny day in Glasgow...nice...
