Fresh Meat Monday - The Short Waves

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello I'm Keith Scott a.k.a The Short Waves.

How would you describe the music you make?

Catchy songs recorded in flats and houses using guitars, keyboards, bass, glockenspiel and a drumkit. I'm quite fond of self-deprecating lyrics as well.

How did you start out making music?

I started out writing and recording myself over the last six or seven years at home. I spent a lot of time playing guitar and bass in other bands and started recording my own stuff to contribute to the bands I was playing with. It became apparent that the songs I was writing often didn't fit in well with what was being written by the people I was playing with though.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

I have a horrible short term memory for songs. A lot of songs start with me listening back to sound files on my phone of things I've recorded after a shandy or two and trying to remember what I was on about. Most of my ideas begin with a good melody whether it's a vocal line or a guitar part. I really like the way lyrics are delivered so I tend to mess around with the rhythm and phrasing of the words after the song is nearly done.

What can people expect from your live shows?

I don't really intend to play live shows at the moment to be honest. I really love playing live but up until now it's just been myself and a good friend of mine named Kenny Miller who is an incredible drummer and played all the parts on the EP. I would definitely ask him if it were to ever happen. Playing along to backing from a laptop in front of a crowd doesn't really do it for me at all so I would need to ask some pals nicely and get some rehearsals booked if a good gig came along.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

Albums played this week: FOUND, Chad VanGaalen, Bruce Springsteen, The Jim Jones Revue, Errors, Low, Wilco.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?

I'm going to record more songs for an album and hopefully get some more friends to play with....



The Short Waves - Alarm Bells

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Friday Freebies

The Short Waves
This weeks freebies might be a bit short of bands that you might have heard of, that's not to say that the quality has dipped, far from it in fact. The Short Waves would be a good example of something that you've not heard of, but it's definitely worthy of your attention. Their Stutter EP was apparently recorded on a laptop in a house in Falkirk over the space of two weeks and it sounds fucking ace to me. Check it out for yourself on their Bandcamp where you can find it as one of those pay what you like type scenarios, so you can download it for free if you like.

Warp Records
Amazon have a free Warp Records Label Sampler featuring band like Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke and Jamie Lidell up for grabs. Download it for zero pennies here.

Fireproof Match
A few weeks after coming back from goNorth I fond myself messing about with the notes on my phone, where I came across a number of band names that folk must have suggested I check out. I guess in my drunken state I must have realised that I would never have remembered any of the bands names, which kind of proves that I am not as much of a drunken idiot as I was once thought. One of the first names that I came across in my phone was Fireproof Match, a three piece rock/pop band, now I have no idea who to credit for this tip, if it was you and you're reading this, ta! All you need to know is that they have a number of songs up for grabs on their homepage.

Seas, Starry
Another band who I got tipped off about were Seas, Starry, an Aberdonian shoegaze outfit. They have a mini album up for free download, it's called 'I woke up near the sea, sailing in my dreams', you can find it here.
Rollor
Glaswegian outfit Rollor have a new EP due out later in the summer, it features two songs which are both 8 minutes long. Unusually for me they managed to hold my attention for the full 16 minutes, so I guess they must be doing something right. The EP that I am talking about isn't actually out yet, so instead you can download their Cod Philosophy EP for nowt here.

Knitting Factory Records
Amazon have another free download up for grabs this week, this time it's Knitting Factory Records 2011 Spring Sampler featuring tracks from Femi Kuti, Patrolled By Radar and AgesandAges (hopefully that means something to some of you). You can download it here.

The Black Hand Gang
For quite a few months now I have been spotting posters for The Black Hand Gang all over Glasgow City Centre, until this week I had no idea who the band were. I now know that they're 4 piece alt country/americana band who hail from Glasgow and more importantly that they have some free tunes up for grabs. On their Soundcloud page you can grab yourself a free download of their songs Bricks & Mortar and Bloody Hands.

Adam Balbo
Haling from San Francisco, Adam Balbo has just release his new album, Refried Nostalgia, which he describes as being janky, garage rock. If you want to give him a listen then you can find some rather catchy wee tunes for download on his Bandcamp.

The Jinxes
Sugary indie folk pop outfit, The Jinxes, who hail from Monterey have made their debut single 'Migration' available for free download here. Imagine a non ramshackle Moldy Peaches and you're half way there.

Death Trap City
Damn my shitty memory, I have not got a clue where I came across Death Trap City. They might even have emailed me this link, but I'll be damned if I can remember. They're an alt-rock-pop band from Edinburgh, they have an EP called The Enemy up for free download on Bandcamp.