Video-rama!!

What with  Mothers Day and the cup final earlier in the day I have almost managed to spend  a whole day without logging into blogger, but alas I just can't resist the temptation of going online. So I have decided that today is as good a day as any to post up some videos that I have been enjoying this week...

First off we have a dems new single Inner O, which is released on 2nd April 2012 on Bad Life Recordings...

Next up we have a the new single from Fife outfit, Ambulances, their double A side single Feeling Sick is out now on Bandcamp and they've made this rather nifty video to accompany it.

Where We Lay Our Heads new single, "Bury You", comes out tomorrow, to celebrate they're playing a headline show at the Captain's Rest on Wednesday night with support from Letters and Cafe Disco.

New Scottish DIY label, Comets & Cartwheels have announced something a bit a special to celebrate the the release of their first release with Quickbeam. Choosing to do something a bit different to the norm, the single launch is going to be held on a ship, yes a ship. The Tall Ship in Glasgow to be exact, support on the evening comes from their label mates Endor plus there will also be an acoustic set from Washington Irving. Further details on the gig can be found here. To get yourself in the mood check out the excellent new video for the single, Seven Hundred Birds below...

Lastly, rather than post up yet another music video I just wanted to point you in the direction of a new project that the State Broadcasters are involved in. For their forthcoming single, Trespassers, they've managed to rope in the award winning director, Jessica Ashman, but they need your help. All you need to know can be found here, or you can just watch the video below...

Trespassers - Indie Go Go Video Plea from Jessica Ashman on Vimeo.

Dems - House (video)

It feels like an age since we last heard anything from Dems, or Dan Moss as I used to know him better has. Having relocated from Edinburgh back to his native London, he's been busy working away on a new EP and has even recruited two new members, David Gardener and Duncan Mann to what is now a band. Their new EP, 'House' is out on November 14th through Bad Life, it will be available as digital download and on limited 7” vinyl. As a wee taster of what to expect from this more than welcome return you can check out the video for the lead track from the EP below...

Friday Freebies

I Build Collapsible Mountains
You might remember I posted a link to this mysterious band a month or so back, well now the secret is out of the bag (it's Luke from the Gothenburg Address's side project). He's back with a new song 'you shaped spaces' and once again it's up for free download, as always I urge you to check it out. There are also talks of the two of us possibly putting something out together in future, yep he's that good.

Bear Driver
They might not be Scottish, but there's a lot of Peenko love out there for the Leeds quartet. You hipster kids out there are going to lap this stuff up, the rest of you with ears should also love it.
If you sign up to their mailing list they'll send you their song, 'Thousand Samurais', also, while you're on there you can also do a wee jigsaw puzzle, if you complete it you get rewarded with some tunes to stream. Class idea, from a class wee band.

Cults
You might well remember me getting all excited about this duo a while back in Friday Freebies, well it looks like I'm not the only one who loves them too. Late on Tuesday night my good friend Ian from Have Fun At Dinner text me to announce that there was a new Cults song out there on the web. Thanks Acorn. Anyway, you'll find free download of their new song 'Oh My God' which is the final installment in Adult Swim’s amazing 8 Singles 8 Weeks feature.

q without u
The Glasgow pop-starlets have a new single in the offing, so what better way to get yourself acquainted by downloading their debut album, 'Shut up, I invented you', for free over on Lastfm.

The A Forest
The Dundee outfit have posted a free download of their song 'Polar White' (cracking wee tune it is too) and you can download it for absolutely zero pennies over on their Bandcamp page.

Royksopp
They're doing a 'Track of the Month' feature at the moment, there's a whole host of free songs up for your perusal here.

The Cinnamons
The Glasgow outfit have posted their song 'Welcome to the Business' up for free on their Bandcamp page. The song is the first of 5 singles which will be released through out summer 2010 as part of their 5 Songs of Summer E.P.

dems
Former 'Fresh Meat-er' dems has just uploaded a new track, 'Lioness' up on his Bandcamp page. You can get yourself a copy of this cracking wee tune by heading on over here.

So Many Animal Calls
The Glasgow indie pop outfit have just posted their new EP 'Your House Is A Hospice' which they are saying acts as a wee teaser for the upcoming So Many Animal Calls EP, which they promise will be coming soon. Get yourself a free copy over on their Bandcamp page.

Pensioner
The Dundee rock outfit have uploaded their self-titled EP up for free download on their Bandcamp page.

Chapel Club
Holy shit, the Smiths have reformed and recorded a new song, all it needs is for the lead singer to be swinging round a bunch of daffodils and you could imagine you're really listening to Mozza and co. or perhaps it's just NME favourites Chapel Club. Sign up to their mailing list and they'll send you a song for nowt (alternatively you could just click this link, which should hopefully bypass all the sign up bollocks).

The Bird And The Monkey (Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian)
Another fine release from the good folk over at Shark Batter, click the link and you'll find yourself a free download of their song 'If Love's a Cure'. Keep you eye out for their forthcoming "Ossie Dean" EP.

The Smashing Pumpkins
Mind when they were good and Billy Corgan hadn't disappeared up his own arse, me too. Those were good times. Want to see if he's managed to recoup any of that talent that he once used to have, well now you can by heading over to the 'Pumpkins homepage where there are a whole host of free songs for you to download. Personally I won't be bothering, I don't want to destroy any more of my youth.

Memphis Industries
It's home to Tokyo Police Club, the Go Team and The Ruby Suns and the like. Now they have a couple of new acts on their roster, so to promote them they're giving away some tunes. If you fancy checking out Frankie Rose and the Outs or Dreamend, then just right click the links.

Drums of Death
You can sign up for free MP3s of Lonely Days and Lonely Dub taken from Drums Of Death's debut album 'Generation Hexed'.

Kowalskiy's Komplimentary Korner

The Robocop Kraus
"I liked this band since their "They Think They Are..." album a few years back, though I only bought the album for the band name! Guess you could call them Germany's answer to Phoenix. Anyway, The Robocop Kraus have a new EP coming out and they're giving away the 1st track ("Sometimes I Wonder If You'd Been A Dog In A Previous Life") for free if you sign up to their newsletter" - another excellent find by the Doc!

Fresh Meat Monday - Dems

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Hello. I'm Dems, Dan to my mum. I'm 23 and I've lived in Edinburgh since 2008 though I'm originally from South East London.

How would you describe the music you make?

Synthetic and atmospheric. I use my MacBook Pro, an oversized Roland Groovebox, guitars and a microphone.

How did you start out making music?

I've only recently taken the opportunity to make my own solo material. I used to sing in a band at school, but a few years back, student radio got me more interested in audio production and I took time to familiarise myself with good software. Much more recently an interest in DJing got me thinking more about samples and mixing.

What process goes into the way you write songs?

I'll have an idea of the basis of a track, get as much as I can down, then play with combinations of samples and beats until I'm happy with it. I'll tend to have most of the components dotted around, and then it's a case of being ruthless with what you've got and not being closed off new ideas. Songs don't necessarily need verses and choruses, but I like them to build up to something.

What can people expect from your live shows?

More songs. And a plan. I haven't got anything lined up yet as I'm still putting touches to a few more tracks. Live performance will require a bit of thought too, I'm pretty sure it'll require more musicians than just myself; I like what Glasgow's Over The Wall do a lot, a good balance of analogue and laptop.

What are you all listening to at the moment?

The new Chemical Brothers track, 'Swoon'. It's amazing, it's bound to be a summer smash. Also a fair bit of Titus Andronicus and the latest Oneman set on Mixcloud. I'm enjoying waking up to 6Music and going to sleep to 1Xtra.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?

You'll be hearing more tracks and I'm going to do my best to take opportunities play them live. I wouldn't claim to know exactly what I'm doing, but people seem to like it.

Dems - Jarndyce vs Jarndyce

Bandcamp
Soundcloud

Friday Freebies

Martin John Henry
The ex-De Rosa front man has been working away on his first solo album since the split of his aforementioned band. As a wee taster he is giving away a free copy of his cover of the Beatles, 'Because', all you have to do is click the link.

Trapped in Kansas
The Ayrshire rock sprites have posted covers of Darien Venture and Calvin Harris up on their Bandcamp page for free. Mon the 'Pumped in Venice'!

The Dirty Cuts
For those of you paying attention I featured these guys on Monday in the Fresh Meat feature, if you liked what you heard or you weren't paying attention then now's your chance to do some catching up as Ed from 17 Seconds has sent me over a wee link of a remix by Dino Bardot of their song 'Yummy Mummy'. He also sent me a link for a free download of the b-side to the first single '2 page Spread', it's called 'Lips', and all you have to do is click here. What a sweety that Ed is, sadly I didn't get to say hi to him at the bloggers DJ night. Probably for the best that night as I might have scared him with my hugs/kisses.
Oh and I can't be the only one the keeps wanting to add an 'n' to the band name, right?

Ghost Pants
Ghost Pants, aka Paul Carlin from Dananananannanananananananananananananannananannaaykroyd's, is giving away his Analogue Hearts EP for free on his Bandcamp. Ch-ch-check it.

Song of Return
You might remember them as Union of Knives, we'll things have all been a bit up in the air lately. Still it's good to have them back, there has been a bit of change in personnel but the tunes are still mighty fine. If you sign up to their mailing list they'll send you two MP3's, cracking deal in my eyes.

Deathpodal
Another member of the Fresh Meat club giving away stuff this week is Alastair J Chivers, aka Deathpodal. He recorded a new song at one his friends flat warming parties which he's decided to share with us all. It's called 'Flat Squash' and it's free to download on his Soundcloud page.

Michael Ashford
Our friends over at Sonic Reverie Records have posted a free download from Shrewsbury based Michael Ashford, if you like your ambinet piano based music then this is for you.

Invisible Elephant
As if one freebie wasn't enough, the Sonic boys and girls have also put up a free download of the new Invisible Elephant EP, 'The Lights Go Out'. If you like bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, then this should defo float your boat.

Yuck
Hotly tipped shoegazer London four piece have a few songs up for grabs on their blog, you hipster that want to have been into them first can get yourself some free downloads here.

Silver Columns
I know I had a freebie from this 'mysterious duo' last week, but hey I'm excited about hearing the album. An Astronomer remix of their forthcoming single 'Cavalier' is up for grabs over at RCRD LBL.

Firebrand Boy
The lo-fi electronica artist has songs about Queens Park and Albert Avenue (a street on which I once lived) has a posted his new 'Glasgow EP' up for free download.

Junip
Jose Gonsalez, mind him? aye the guy that had the song on that advert with all the bouncy balls/cover of the Knife's 'Heartbeats'. Wondered what he's been up to lately? Probably not, but I am going to give you a wee update. He's been off recording with his old band Junip, there should be an EP in the offing sometime soon. As a taster, "Rope and Summit" from it is being given away for on the bands homepage.

The Coral
Mind those cheeky scousers, they had a fair few catchy numbers, then they kind of disappeared up their own arses/were no longer deemed fashionable (you decide). I thought they were gone for good, oh how I was wrong, they're back and they are giving away the 'Butterfly House' from their new album for nowt.

dems
Edinburgh based, one-man lo-fi pop outfit outfit, 'dems' has posted new song 'Jarndyce vs Jarndyce' up on his Bandcamp. Catchy little number it is too, get in about it here.

The Unwinding Hours
In their monthly(?) email Chemikal Underground send you a wee link to some freebies that they've posted, if you haven't already signed up then I suggest you get that sorted straight away. The latest freebie on offer is a download from the Unwinding Hours tour EP which they have a few copies left for sale in the Chemikal shop. An acoustic version of their song 'Traces' is up for free download, along with a whole host of cracking tunes, get stuck in here.


The Doctor Will See You Now.......

Kowalskiys Komplimentary Korner

Dr Dog
As some of you out there might already know, our good friend David 'Kowalaskiy' became Doctor Dave this week. So once you've finished gorging yourself on all of these freebies make sure you hit his site and congratulate him. We're all 'very pwoud' of you you kidda!
Anyway, he's dug up a large number of Dr Dog freebies for us, the legend that he is!