Peenko Writers Albums of the Year 2012

It's that time of the year when blog's are pretty dominated by end of year lists, this blog is no different. I love a good end of year list so I do, more often than not it acts as a guide to albums that I might have overlooked. In past years I have discovered amazing albums by the likes of St. Vincent, Beach House and more recently Beth Jeans Houghton. As well as having my own selection of albums, I also run the Scottish BAMS, in which I ask all of Scotland's top music sites and DJ's what's been taking their fancy over the past 12 months. The results of which will all be revealed very shortly, I am just waiting to hear back from our winners.
I should hopefully have my favourite albums of 2012 up in the next few days, for now here's the choices from the Peenko team, Mike, Boab and Steve. There's some right corkers in here...

Mike's Top Five

5. French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween   

Its pretty fantastic to see a band you’ve championed, watched from the touchlines, laughed with and cried with, finally getting a debut album out. While some of the re-recorded versions of earlier songs here lack the edge and punch of their rougher cousins, this record is testament to the dizzying songwriting ability which French Wives have at their disposal. Its a proper pop album, in a year of improper pop.

4. State Broadcasters - Ghosts We Must Carry   

There are few records which have moved me more this year than this one. A wide-angle, beautifully written, luxuriously orchestrated sweep through the cold, autumn months in the company of this saw record saw me shifting uncomfortably in my bus seat to pretend there weren’t any stray tears. Some genuinely challenging lyrical themes to test the ducts here.

3. Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital   

Sometimes a record really doesn’t sound great when you first hear it. “Hmm, this sounds like a pastiche of early 80s Stiff Records releases” I thought when I first slipped this on. A week or two later I’d decided that was far from a bad thing, and this haunted me for weeks during the summer. Imagine Elvis Costello never met Jools Holland and didn’t calm down.

2. Meursault - Something for the Weakened   

It was evident as far back as Homegame in 2011 that Meursault were going to be getting louder and angrier on record sometime soon. This collection of sometimes mournful, sometimes angst-ridden, always strident tunes matches Neil Pennycook’s howl of despair with some snarling guitar lines, amid the more familiar folk overtones.

1. Randolph’s Leap - As Fast As A Man   

The rate at which Adam Ross generates miniature epics is matched only by the speed with which the size of the band multiplies. But here, its mostly just Adam and some songs which grew and changed during live outings during the year. I listened to this a lot, and I get the sense that even if big, brassy polished versions of these tracks appeared tomorrow, this simple, heartfelt songwriting would still be getting a spin.

Boab's Top Five

5. PAWS - Cokefloat 
Noisy bastards PAWS demonstrated with Cokefloat that they are so much more than just noisy bastards. Emotive, heartfelt lyrics combined with catchy, memorable riffs make this a thrilling, although not always easy, listen.

4. RM Hubbert - Thirteen Lost and Found 
I wondered where R.M Hubbert was going to take his music following his debut album. His brand of flamenco is all very lovely but I genuinely had no idea how he could develop on it. I needn't have worried. Thirteen Lost and Found took all those lovely elements and expanded a little, with some more instrumentation and collaboration with many other Scottish artists. Car Song, with Aidan Moffat and Alex Kapranos is one highlight among many. My favourite track however is one of only three entirely solo songs on the album, For Joe, which was written following the death of one of Hubbert's good friends. An album for headphones.

3. Killer Mike - R.A.P Music 
Killer Mike is one of the smartest rappers around just now. One track, Reagan, is a devastating and damning analysis of the long term societal effects of neo-liberal economics. I wouldn't necessarily agree with every word he says but he certainly puts his thoughts across rather adeptly. It's a classy album. Even when it looks for a second like he might be veering into 'money and hoes' territory on Southern Fried, he says - and I paraphrase - you can take all your strippers and easy sex but his wife comes first for him. Aww. As Mike says himself at the beginning of Untitled, 'you are witnessing elegance'. He's correct.

2. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

By the time I'd got into Godspeed they were on their long hiatus period (I'm only a wee young thing, see). So when I eventually did see them live, the albums I'd been listening to throughout that dormant period were suddenly brought to life, a stunning explosion of sound that physically as well as emotionally moves the listener. But Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! sort of turns things round the other way, as the bulk of the album is made up of two tracks which have featured regularly in live sets since the early 2000s. I was a little sceptical of how they'd do it, but all I can say is that they captured the intensity of the live versions superbly.

1. Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know

I remember interviewing The Twilight Sad over two years ago and discussing with them the direction they were heading in following their second album, Forget The Night Ahead. Thankfully the answer they gave me on that occasion ("it's sounding a bit...Jason Derulo") was not how things actually turned out. In fact, things turned out bleak as fuck, with tons of menacing keyboards and industrial drum beats - a bit like how the offspring of the Holy Bible-era Manics would sound when you mated them with the Pet Shop Boys. I'm glad this is how it turned out.

Steve's Top Five

 

5. The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know. 

Embracing a change in direction can sometimes kill a band and alienate their audience. When The Twilight Sad decided to bring on board Andrew Weatherall and go down the industrial, synth-led path, it was a bold move. It also paid off handsomely with No One Can Ever Know. A driving urgency lent James Graham’s vocals are more menacing edge. The essence of what makes them a great band is still there, it just has a new facet that takes them onto the next level.



4. Easter – Innocence Man. 

Short at six tracks, but lengthy with only two under six minutes. These songs bucked the trend of indie guitar bands and were epic, guitar led treks along dark paths. It’s intense at times and as much about instrumental passages as meaningful lyrics. It also has a nice feel on the production, letting the listener feel as though they are right there as this is being recorded.



3. Jonas Carping – All the Time in the World. 

Another album that was filled with hidden depths and a darkly beautiful quality. Carping’s voice manages to convey a lifetime of experience in a few short seconds. The arrangement if subtle and complex and the accompanying vocals of Sigrid Nilsson could melt the hardest heart. It seems a fairly straightforward singer-songwriter’s album at first glance, but peek beneath the surface and you’ll get a pleasant surprise.



2. Linden – Bleached Highlights. 

Like a warm summer’s breeze, no matter the weather. The return of Joe McAlinden to the musical landscape was very welcome. Vocals that lift your heart to the heavens. Melodies gently caress your soul. An album of beauty from start to finish, this is one to reach for during those dark winter months when you just need some warmth and light. Joe McAlinden’s voice can deliver that in spades.   

 

1. PAWS – Cokefloat! 

Energetic, fresh, inventive and downright great fun. From the moment it starts you’re hooked by the great riffs, thumping bass guitar and driving drums. Lyrically complex and heart-breaking, it was easily one of the highlights of 2012. It manages to capture the energy of the lives shows, but polish it slightly and deliver it in a tighter package. 



Hopefully you'll find something new and exciting in these lists, tune back in a few days time and I'll let you know what's been floating my boat in 2012.

Live Review: Blogtoberfest - The Bad Books, Cancel The Astronauts, French Wives - Flying Duck 27/10/2012

One of the benefits of being part of the Peenko empire but not ultimately responsible for its strategic direction, is the opportunity to write about events and releases with which Mr Peenko gets himself dubiously involved with a degree of critical freedom. So, if Randolph's Leap ever do drop that much-threatened reggae EP, I'll certainly not feel bound by ties of brand loyalty! But in the meantime, this event - organised by an unholy blogging trinity comprised of Peenko, Ayetunes and Scottish Fiction - promised three bands at various points on the curve, playing together. From The Bad Books first forays here in the West to local types French Wives on the brink of album number two, tonight cut a swathe through Scottish pop music that perhaps only three blogs deeply versed in its dark arts could manage?

The Flying Duck is new to me. Squirrelled away in a forlorn tenement block between Buchanan Bus Station and the futuristic glassiness of the Herald Offices, even getting into the place isn't straightforward. Once I'd found the correct door and descended several staircases into the subterranean bar, I was ushered further into the bowels of the place to find the venue itself. This is in fact a confused mess of a club - a huge sunken oval dancefloor, surrounded by semi-circular booths of seating, with various sections of the room last decorated in each of the preceding three decades it seems. One of these awkward booths doubles as a makeshift stage - with a seriously solid supporting pillar squarely in the opening through which the band can be seen. In fairness, this is not a great place to see a band play - and it's perhaps testament to the draw of these three names that people have turned out and dealt with the limitations of the place at all. Remarkably enough too, the sound guy managed to make the acts sound great despite one of the most irregular, confusingly cluttered rooms I'd ever seen music performed in.

First up are The Bad Books, hailing from Edinburgh and playing their first Glasgow show. This can of course, be something of a baptism of fire - and playing out of your hometown comfort zone is never easy. But the special friction reserved for interactions between the cities which form the two pillars of the Scottish music scene means the stakes are perhaps even higher - especially considering the hype which has surrounded this act of late. It's a fact here that I'm writing about a band of which I know virtually nothing at all. But any sense this positive press is misplaced is blown away early in the set, which opens with a wall of noise and melody which provides a canvas for impassioned, heartfelt vocals. Such is the wash of noise that hidden squalls of gorgeous guitar are suddenly exposed before submerging again, pushing the songs forward and creating a sense of urgency and impatience. It's in these moments of overwhelming noise and prettiness that your ears begin to play tricks, with the sounds far exceeding the number of instruments on stage - or at least that can be seen in this curious space. It's no surprise to find that these guitar manipulations come courtesy of Mikey Morrison, lately of much missed Edinburgh outfit Come On Gang! Pondering reference points i'm moved to remember the pristine guitar-pop of Kitchens of Distinction way back from the early 1990s One Little Indian stable, however pressing this opinion quickly marks me out as "oldest blogger in the room" so I decide to keep my own counsel for now. As the set ramps up the energy, so the emotional pitch of the vocals increases to the point that The Bad Books' effortlessly charismatic frontman is away into the crowd barking into a megaphone while the band maintain the harmonies on stage. It's a fitting ending to a storm of a performance. This, remember is a band yet to record a single note - but already delivering performances which are smart, engaging and self-assured enough to tackle a dreadful venue and first-billing to a Glasgow crowd. I'll admit it - I'm convinced....and I don't give in easily. I can't wait to hear more.

Next up are another act who have made the journey through from Edinburgh, but on the back of a recent album release which has done a fair bit to advance their name locally. Cancel The Astronauts came to my attention a couple of years ago with brace of witty, edgy singles which had that rarest of things in music - a sense of humour. But the recent "Animal Love Match" album raised the stakes far beyond these tentative first steps, delivering a set of intelligent, effervescent guitar pop tunes which frankly blew away any preconceptions I had based on past hearings of the band.  That said I hadn't quite managed to make the album an essential listen yet, and I wondered if seeing the band perform might give me more of a sense of what they were aiming for? Squashed onto the tiny 'stage' it was clear that the space restrictions were not going to contain vocalist and frontman Matthew Riley who seems to be by turns possessed by Bryan Ferry and Ian Curtis as he jerks, shudders and gesticulates to the surprisingly poppy tunes being spun by the band. Of course I'm more careful with this observation given I've already betrayed my age with an idle comparison tonight! It's interesting to watch the audience response here too - with isolated outbursts of dancing occurring! That in itself is fairly compelling evidence that Cancel The Astronauts have grabbed the imagination of this strange little place and are now pretty much shaking the life from it. By closing tune and recent single "Intervention" any disconnection between audience and stage is purely physical, as the Flying Duck seems to be bouncing in time with the band. It's hard to reconcile those first, smart but funny, Pulp-influenced singles with the complex, nuanced pop music on display tonight - but the sense of occasion in the audience, and the steady trickle of punters to the merch stand, indicates that Cancel The Astronauts have an interesting time ahead.

Finally, French Wives arrived, crammed uneasily into the space, with Stuart Dougan's head dangerously close to the rafters. So cramped were they, that the ending guitar ensembles of several of the tracks saw them all turned to the centre of the stage in a weird approximation of Status Quo. However, this didn't affect the intensity or quality of a performance which, despite being a violinist down just now, exceeded my previous experiences of the band. Focusing a short set on tracks from the current and much vaunted "Dream of the Inbetween" album, and largely picking the more upbeat tracks to suit the occasion, they played to the strengths of a tiny place and made a lot of beautifully constructed noise, spun around their infectious choruses and hooks. The benefit of a hometown audience who knew these songs wasn't lost - evidenced in the collective bouncing along to the urgent pulse of "Me vs. Me" or the surprisingly respectful hush afforded to the lovely harmonies which opened the slightly-edited but still wonderfully epic "Halloween". While there is no doubt that I missed Siobahn's violin, not least during that track, the drafting in of keyboard player Frankie has ensured the sound remains full and rounded, and that the spacious orchestration and sparkling arrangements aren't lost despite the more straightforward rock band approach being employed tonight. Closing on a high with "Younger" was fitting given how I'd betrayed my own age earlier tonight - but whatever Stuart might sing, this is a band still at the start of something pretty special. It's going to be interesting to see how this develops into a second record next year.

Just before leaving I ventured into the gents to find one of the biggest open spaces in the entire confusion of a venue! A fellow gig-goer remarked that he "had better sightlines of the urinals in here than the bands out there", to which I had to agree. Extracting myself from the bowels of the Flying Duck into a damp Glasgow night, I was still humming the infectious melody of "Halloween" to myself as I negotiated packs of rampaging costume wearers wandering through the city. Who knew that the true message of this ancient celebration could be conveyed by dressing as a 'slutty cop'? That said, at least this increased the Police presence on Argyle Street, albeit in non-statutory and unenforcible ways. Despite the fairly impractical and fan-unfriendly venue, tonight was a triumph for three bands and three bloggers who are keeping things resolutely real, regardless how the rest of the music world dresses things up. Long may it continue.

It's been a while...

Hello stranger! After what feels like an age this is my first post on the blog in ages and I have to admit that I have missed my rambles (although I am sure that most of you haven't). It's been pretty strange having other folk write for me, good weird that is. My only fear is that by bringing in Steve, Boab and Mike to write for me just highlights what good writing should be like!

So although on the surface it might look like I haven't been up to much, but trust me I have been a busy boy as of late, there's always scheming going on in one way or another. Some of which I plan to share with you in this post, plus there are still other plans afoot that I am going to keep a lid in for now. Trust me though, it will be worth the wait.

First things first I'll start with the blog, my more frequent visitors might well have noticed a distinct lack of sessions being posted lately. The reason for this being that I got a polite email from someone at the BBC pointing out that the majority of their sessions are available on line and would I mind stopping recording them. I did cheekily ask if it was something that they could perhaps turn a blind eye too, but alas not. Fair play to them for being so nice about it all, I was pretty surprised that I hadn't been pulled up for it well before then. So from now I am afraid that there will be no more BBC sessions getting posted, I have been exploring other avenues to find sessions, so all is not lost, not yet at least.

You might also have noticed that I have revived my Fresh Meat Monday posts, what with Flutes and Siobhan Wilson, I think we are off to a bit of a flyer, plus the artists that I have lined up for the next few weeks are pretty damn brawsome too. It's nice to have the post back.

For those of you who are missing Friday Freebies, you should check out Aye Tunes who's now taken up the mantle of trawling the Internet for the weeks best free songs from that week. It has to be said that he's doing a mighty fine job of it too.

Also, form Saturday coming I'll be bringing back my weekly cover version posts, We've Got It Covered, which died away mainly due laziness on my part. That and it's pretty tricky writing something half readable whilst looking after a two year old (watching Peppa Pig marathons doesn't really help the old writers block!)

So that's us caught up a wee bit with what's going on with the blog, now for a wee bit of what else I have been up to and what I've got coming up in the next few months. When I posted a while back that I was taking a break from blogging to concentrate on running Olive Grove Records and manage Randolph's Leap, that's exactly what I have been up to. A couple of weeks back we released, Ghosts We Must Carry by the State Broadcasters which seems to have gone down pretty damn well. Having lived with the album for almost a year now, it's great to see that it going down so well with others. If you haven't heard the album then I'd urge you to check it out, not just because it's on my label, but mainly because it's a great fucking record.

If you come back here later in the week, I am going to be posting up a wee Track By Track that Graeme from the band has written for me, it's pretty damn ace. Although the album came out on the 17th of September, we've not actually had the the album launch yet, we've been building up to that in order to make it pretty special. On Sunday the 21st of October we're going to be taking over Wellington Church Hall (off University Avenue) in Glasgow for an evening of entertainment. We will of course have the State Broadcasters playing live with Edinburgh's finest, eagleowl supporting. Not only that but we're also going to have the premier of the bands video for their song Trespassers. It's only £4 to get in, plus it's BYOB, so it should be a pretty fun evening.

Another gig that I am going to be involved with is going to be in conjunction with my pals over at Fence Records. On Friday the 26th of February we're putting on a joint shindig at the Glad Cafe in the southside of Glasgow to celebrate the release of Randolph's Leap's new Hermit EP which comes out on Fence that same day. As I am sure you are aware my life has very much become entwined with the Leap and their adventures. So the fact that they've now signed up to Fence is a pretty big deal to me. Tickets for the gig are available in advance from the Fence Records website, we've got some pretty special guests lined up for the evening so it should be a cracking night.

Last, but most certainly not least, I have one last gig to tell you about. Myself, Jim from the Aye Tunes blog and Neil from newbie blog, Scottish Fiction, have teamed up to put a series of monthly gigs at the Flying Duck in Glasgow. Our first night is on Saturday the 27th of October and I reckon we've got a corking line up in store. We've got French Wives, Cancel the Astronauts and The Bad Books, all for the measly sum of £6. For fear of overloading you with information I will let you a bit more about the gig closer to the time. Just get it pencilled in your diaries for now!

And that as they say, is that. It's the blogs 4th birthday in less than two weeks time and I have something pretty damn special lined up, which I will of course tell you more about nearer to the time...

French Wives - goNORTH Rockhopper Sessions

Track Listing

1. Halloween

2. Me vs Me

Download

Watch the Videos

We've Got It Covered #103

Morning folks, it's Saturday and once again I'm hungover. No surprise there then I guess, I spent last night in the company of some fine individuals at King Tut's catching The Grand Gestures and Behold The Old Bear, A top night was had, but boy am I paying for it today. If I think that I feel bad now, god only knows how sorry I will be feeling for myself on Friday. As next week I will be heading up to Inverness for my third goNorth,  Scotland's biggest music industry event/piss up. For the second year running, myself, Song, By Toad and The Pop Cop are putting on a showcase gig at the event. So if you're going to be Inverness on Thursday it would be great to see some of your pretty little faces. Anyway, here's a selection of cover versions from the some of the bands that I am looking forward to seeing in Inverness next week...

French Wives-Blue Boy (Orange Juice cover)

Chris Devotion & The Expectations-I Aint Got No Home (Woody Guthrie cover)

Where We Lay Our Heads - New Dawn (Withered Hand cover)

Washington Irving - Boy From School (Hot Chip cover)

The Machine Room - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)

The Machine Room - Small Town Boy (Bronski Beat Cover)

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween: Track By Track

It's been a long time coming, but today sees the release of the much anticipated (well at least it has been by me), debut album, 'Dream of the Inbetween' from French Wives. If you frequent this blog then you'll know that 1) I don't do reviews and 2) that I fucking love this band. So rather than cobble together some half arsed attempt at a review,  I asked Scott from the band to write up this little Track By Track for me. He's a funny wee bugger is our Scott, or at least he thinks he is. All that you really need to know is that it's a cracking wee album that gets the Peenko seal of approval. Anyway, enough about me here's what Scott had to say about the Dream of the Inbetween,

Modern Columns

I feel like I should say early on that I’m perhaps not the best person to provide insight on lyrical content/themes. This is largely because I’m a moron. Thankfully, for those of you who want to know what the words n that are all about, Stuart has done a similar track by track elsewhere. For those of you who wish to endure my chat, I’m mainly going to offer rubbish stories and tales of our of tune guitars. Still here? Good. This was actually one of the first songs we wrote for the album, the initial musical idea starting to take place towards the end of 2010. I particularly like the backing vocals in the pre-chorus, especially since the way Tony* has recorded them makes them sound all synthy and cool. In between (see what I did there?) the sessions with Tony we recorded some shouty bits during the loud parts of the instrumental section- trying to be The Young Knives, basically. They were rubbish, and that’s why you can’t hear them, but we had a lot of fun shouting. Particularly Siobhan. A lot of rage.

Numbers

This was the first single to be released way back last October and most of it was recorded during a stand-alone session. It was our first time working with a string quartet and Siobhan did a cracking job with the arrangement. It also features my debut as a percussionist, slamming that tambourine during the chorus. This, like Modern Columns, also came into fruition quite early during the writing sessions. I’m really pleased that we went for it with the big chorus. Initially we had the verse and I played the chorus the way it is as a bit of a pisstake, but Stuart thankfully talked me round into putting it in with the reasoning that if others can get away with big choruses like that, why can’t we? I think we just about pull it off, or I hope so anyway!

 

Back Breaker

This song forms the basis of a lot of the lyrical themes on the album, but you’ve been warned about reading them here! This was, embarrassingly, the first song I’d ever written in open tuning so the chords were a bit of an experiment at first but it made the hook really easy to come up with. It was also the first time I’d recorded with an e-bow. Tony likes e-bows. I became similarly obsessed very quickly.

The Inbetween

We were all really keen on having something in the middle of the album that could tie themes together both lyrically and musically. It’s something that can be quite hit and miss on records, especially with the nature of skipping tracks from the iPod generation. However, we were quite passionate about the album flowing like an album so we decided to just go for it. A fun fact is that the delayed guitar towards the end of the track (yes, the one that sounds like The Edge) is actually taken from the demo we made of it very rustically at our studio before we started working with Tony. Chris thinks that this entitles him to a production credit on the album now! 

Me vs. Me

This is literally the oldest song in the history of French Wives. What started out as a 15 minute opus complete with melancholic keyboard intro has been stripped down time and time again to the incarnation we have now. The backing vocals, thankfully for me, are forgivingly low in the mix as they were done in a bit of a rush due to lack of time at the end of the sessions, but I really like the 60s style guitars in the bridges, which was something I did for a bit of a laugh during recording that stuck. Most of the things I do, it seems, are initially for a bit of a laugh.

Sleep Tight

This song was borne out of frustration that we were taking so long writing songs. To combat this we set ourselves a challenge of sorts to write a song in half an hour and this is basically the result. As such it’s very repetitive and hooky but I see them as entirely good things. The first recording takes of it were very clean and seemed to be missing something, so the decision was made to make it really quite dirty which is unlike anything else on the record. I was sent into the live room with an overdrive pedal and an analog delay pedal and told to make noise. Red rag to a bull there. The distorted vocals are really cool too. We did a gig last night where Stuart’s mic was fucked and all the songs had distorted vocals of sorts. Best Sleep Tight has ever sounded.

Halloween

When we play this live Stuart (with his tongue firmly inserted in his cheek) sometimes announces it as “our big hit.” As such it was quite nerve-wracking changing the arrangement quite so much from the one that, for the majority of people who know our band, is how we’d been identified sonically. As much as people cling to the old version, I hope that people can see the same improvement in the new one that we can. The chorus is a lot smoother and poppy, and the production is generally a bit more ambient which I think in the context of the album as a whole is a bit more suitable than an attempt to go all out and be anthemic.

Month of Sundays

I WAS ALLOWED TO USE A WAH WAH PEDAL ON A FRENCH WIVES RECORD. I never thought that day would come. Years ago the band banned me from using one, with my pedal suspiciously disappearing shortly after. This song is really poppy, again borne from a riff that was created just for a laugh. I should really start taking things more seriously!

Younger

This was our attempt to throw everything into a big production in order to create a big tune, if you will. Obviously the brass part was created through me having a laugh at a midi keyboard, but you probably could have guessed that by now. I think this song might largely replace Halloween as our kind of calling card, but that’s no bad thing. The motif from The Inbetween is repeated here with the key a tone up. If I was a total wank I’d say that the moving it up a tone is meant to show the increased hopefulness through the songs of the album, but I’m fairly sure it was just an accident. In the studio we used to joke that Tony had a pop machete that he used to cut down songs to make them 3 and a half minutes long. We had to really beg to keep the end bit as long, but I think that it works with all the different parts being introduced what with more guitars, the strings and then the brass.

The Sickness

Siobhan, Stuart and I came up with the basic progression and melody for this one day years ago in Jordanhill and we always loved the violin moving in harmony with the guitar melody, but we could never really come up with a suitable arrangement for it, which got to the point where Stuart started harvesting a lot of the lyrics for other songs. The problem was that we were trying to make it too grand and too big, always crescendoing into something. We solved that problem by stripping it back and focusing on the things that we loved about it in the first place- the melodies. Because of this and the way the synth part dies at the end it was an obvious choice for the album closer. 

'Dream of the Inbetween' is out now today on Electric Honey Records, all of the details that you need in termsn of how to get hold of a copy can be found on the bands homepage. Also, to celebrate it's release they're playing a free show at The Captain's Rest tonight  (Monday 7th May). Doors are at 7.30pm and seeing as entry is on a first come first served matter, youd' be best to get down nice and early.

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* Tony Doogan who produced the album

We've Got It Covered #97

Unlike my fellow blogger, The Pop Cop, I am stupidly excited about today. Not since about 1997 when I queued to get tickets to see Blur at the Barrowlands, has there been an event that I have been happy to haul myself out of bed at an ungodly hour to get down and in line. But this morning I will be leaving the house just after half seven to go an stand outside my favourite record store, Love Music to pick up some of the exclusive 'goodies' which are being released as part of this years Record Store Day celebrations.
Having always been a bit of kleptomaniac when it comes to buying tangible music products, I have to admit that I only just recently caught the vinyl bug. So this morning I will queuing up with all of my fellow vinyl junkies in order to get my grubby little paws on copies of the Admiral Fallow, Snowgoose and Human Don't Be Angry albums on vinyl, the limited edition Bronto Skylift tape and possibly a few limited edition 7"s. Anyway, that's enough about me and my wish lists, if you're passionate about your music then get out and support your local record store today. Should you need anymore convincing then here's a list of some in store gigs that are taking place in Edinburgh and Glasgow today, interspersed with a few cover versions from some of the bands that will be playing live.


Edinburgh

Avalanche Records

2:00pm Withered Hand
3:00pm Gordon McIntyre (Ballboy)
In the evening there is also going to be an after show of sorts at the Electric Circus featuring Star Wheel Press, The Last Battle (who I stupdily said yesterday that they'd be doing an instore, that's what I get for not paying attention) and the fabulous Ms Emily Scott. The gig is being put on by my fellow blogger friend Stuart from Tidal Wave of Indifference. The stage times should go something like this 7.20-7.40pm - The Last Battle, 8.15-8.45pm - Emily Scott and 9.10-10.00pm - Star Wheel Press

Withered Hand - Into the Fold (eagleowl cover)

Ballboy - Tell Me (Galaxie 500 cover)

VoxBox Music

This gig/instore is being compered by my friend Ian from Song, By Toad and those pesky Gerry Loves boys, hence the awesomeness of it all.

3:00pm PAWS
3:30pm Neil Pennycook (Meursault)

PAWS - I Live My Broken Dreams (Daniel Johnston cover)

Meursault - Hey Joe (Daniel Johnston cover)


Coda

3:00pm Lorraine McCauley



Glasgow

Love Music
1.30pm Dolalay
2:00pm Cathode Ray
2:30pm White Heath 
3:00pm French Wives
4:00pm Woodenbox 
4:30pm The Murderburgers
5:00pm Admiral Fallow

French Wives - Sleepy Head (Passion Pit cover)

Woodenbox - Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover)

Admiral Fallow - Party Fears 2 (Associates cover)

Monorail 

3:00pm JD Twitch (DJ)
4:00pm Organs Of Love
4:30pm Gerard Love (DJ)
5:30pm Human Don’t Be Angry
6:00pm Stuart Braithwaite (DJ)
7:00pm Snowgoose
7:30pm The Brogues (DJ)
8:30pm Edwyn Collins & the Dead Flamingo
10:00pm Adele Bethel (DJ)

Malcolm Middleton - Issues (The Saturdays cover)

Nice N Sleazy's/ Insularis Records

2:00pm Call To Mind
3:00pm Any Colour Black
5:00pm Withered Hand
8:00pm Insularis gig (ticketed) featuring Holy Mountain, What The Blood Revealed, Adam Stafford and a DJ set from The Phantom Band.

Call To Mind - Cherry Coloured Funk (Cocteau Twins Cover)

Adam Stafford - Invisible Sun (Police cover)

French Wives - SXSW Tour Diary (Part Two)

Day 5: More Texas 

I haven’t really mentioned this yet, and I assume you’ll have taken it as a given, but Austin is really hot. Really, really hot. You’d think therefore that I would have packed accordingly for this really, really hot climate. I haven’t. Let me explain my excuses in two phases. Firstly, about a week before we left my mother insisted to me that Austin was not to be hot whilst we were there and it would get colder as we progressed north. Thanks mum- that was nonsense. Secondly, two nights before we left we played a big show in Glasgow after which I was led astray by our friend/photographer/merch-man/general charlatan Phillip Sword and I stayed out all night. This meant getting a morning train to Irvine in a state of extreme disarray and attempting to pack for a 3 week long trip. Essentially in my disgraceful state I packed pretty much nothing, and certainly not any shorts or summer shoes (brogues only). So I’ve cut about for a few days with my legs pure roasting and I’m growing fairly tired of it. Time to take matters into my own hands. Some of you may know that I’m a left-handed man. I’m not one of these pretend left-handed folk that plays guitar right-handed and stuff. I’m left-handed. I do things with my left hand. Yes, everything. Including the use of scissors. Now then, left-handed scissors are quite hard to come by at the best of times and as wonderful as our host is, she only has the right-handed version. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and I attempt to use the upside down scissors to decimate my black jeans in order to make an airy pair of shorts. I’m aiming for a modest above the knee cut, but I can only get the scissors into the fabric, I can’t make them cut. Again, desperate times call for desperate measures so I attempt to rip said fabric in order to create the shorts I so desire. Disaster strikes. As I rip the rip goes up the way. No longer are these shorts a modest above the knee, but they now resemble hot pants that leave extremely little to the imagination. However, they will keep me cool in the hot Texan sun. 

Scott 'Tobias' Macpherson in his never nude shorts

Unfortunately we’re off to San Antonio today and I’m advised that it is significantly more reserved/conservative than Austin, so perhaps cutting about in a pair of grotesque hot pant ensemble paired with brogues and pink socks isn’t the best idea for cutting about greater Texas. The reason we’re off to San Antonio is to play at a fringe festival. It might seem like a bit of a weird decision to leave Austin and all the hubbub to go play elsewhere, but it had been pretty well sold to us as a big venue with big SXSW bands playing. The opening night had had Best Coast headlining and 900 through the door, so we were pretty optimistic about it. Tonight it was The Wedding Present headlining, but when we went on there was precisely 0-4 people through the door and even all the other bands had left to go see the Alamo- literally the only thing I wanted to see in San Antonio. However, it was the festival’s first year and I reckon after a few more years and some exposure it could be really good/busy as the venue was pretty cool with three different playing areas, if very few people saw us! Plus, the drive gives us our first proper experience of Sirius XM satellite radio (which we’ll get VERY tired of over the coming week). We have an excellent glowstick party blasting The Wanted, Glad You Came (tune), go mental when One Direction (amazing) comes on and then disgust Siobhan by listening to Playboy radio for far too long. 

I’ve realised that I’ve rambled on a lot about Thursday now (mainly about shorts, yes) so I shall keep this bit brief. After we got back from San Antonio we all split up and went to different gigs. Jonny and I went to see Andrew WK. All the songs sounded like Party Hard. It was fucking brilliant. 

Day 6: Last shows in Austin 

It’s Friday, and it’s our last full day in Austin. I wake up with a hangover made worse with the realisation that we’ll have to cart our stuff about largely on foot between two venues pretty far apart over the course of the day. This is a fairly amusing sight as, in order to avoid horrendous baggage fees, both Stuart and I’s pedals and leads are being held in a plastic Marks & Spencer bag, and have been since we arrived in Austin (it lasts until Buffalo where it explodes wire absolutely everywhere). We’ve got a show in the afternoon at a cool place that looks like Stavka in Glasgow if anyone remembers that and then an unofficial Scottish show at a cool Mexican place a bit out of the city centre. They both go pretty well, with one woman at the first show saying we were her highlight of the festival (obviously didn’t go to Andrew WK). Because our second show was a bit further out of town and quite far into the evening we learn a very valuable lesson should we ever be lucky enough to go to SXSW again. On the Friday night it’s hoachin, so if you want to see something, even with a hallowed wristband/badge, get in as early as possible. We got back into town around half past nine and then spent hours upon hours walking around failing to get into pubs to see bands we really wanted to see. In the end it gets a bit too much and Stuart, Jonny and I go back to the Mexican restaurant we played our first gig in because we remembered it had excellent toilets. We also have the world’s largest margarita and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel at least a bit steamin’ after it. After the wandering, our spirits broken we agree to go and see The Drums, who are playing a big outdoor show. Jonny likes The Drums, the rest of us don’t. We remind him of this a lot. Disappointingly the Ting Tings are meant to be on next but have cancelled. We’re all gutted. Not really.  

Day 7: French Wives migrate north 

And so ends our time at SXSW, which exceeded all expectations I ever hoped to have of it, and begins our lengthy drive to Canada. The route we’re taking, which takes in 3 gigs, 10 states, and lots of service station food all before we cross the border, is 1,907 miles long. We’ve got 5 days to do it and 3 drivers. Thankfully I am not one of these drivers. Leg one of the journey takes us from Austin to Oklahoma City, where we’re playing a gig in a brewery. On a Saturday night. On a Saturday night that happens to be St Patrick’s Day. Lots of drinking ensues. But first- the journey itself. Texas is flat. Oklahoma is flat. There’s very little to see out the window. The highlight is when we purchase Oklahoma’s version of The Digger. As with all things American it is way more extreme, and goes to the lengths of publishing the home addresses of people who have committed certain crimes. As morally opposed as we obviously are to a lot of its editorial and journalistic decisions we still play a fun game of guess the crime, and try and work out which of the mugshots look like our mates. 

The promoter/sound guy at the brewery we play at is truly a man of honour. Free beer brewed on site all night and a free meal? Yes please. Puts four cans of warm Tennent’s/the nothing we’re normally given truly into perspective. Add to the fact that he is a lovely man and we’re in for a good night! However, to say the lineup of the event is eclectic would be a massive understatement. On before us is some girl playing violin with her dad and his mates as her backing band. It’s weird. It’s all instrumental- she calls it gypsy/Irish folk but in reality it sounds like really really rubbish prog rock. She proper girates about with her violin as well and kind of ambles ominously from one side of the stage to the other whilst playing solos. Incredibly weird. Then we go on. A quick glance at the crowd reveals that we have quite a lot of work to do- they’re either drunk or look like stereotypical rednecks who may or may not kill us. Oh, also, Chris was playing sitting down because he didn’t feel well. It looked ridiculous! Anyway, surprisingly the gig is actually really good, and the supposedly scary rednecks actually buy most of the merch. The funniest moment is when a massive guy in a Stetson turns to me during the last band (a ramshackle Irish-punk band) and keeps insisting “y’all were better” as if I didn’t believe him first time. The true story of the night, however, is our journey back to the motel. Chris, the invalid, had to be taken home early, so Siobhan and Stuart went back with him leaving Jonny and I being completely hustled by Stevie at pool. When we leave the brewery at closing time we’re somehow surprised that we can’t get a taxi. On a Saturday night. On a Saturday night that happens to be St Patrick’s Day. Our motel is miles away, so we’re pretty short of options until Stevie brass necks it with a car leaving the pub. Thankfully, the girl driving offers us a lift. However, there are only 2 free seats, and 3 of us. We’re big guys and it’s a small car, so squeezing in is out of the question. There’s only one option left- Scott in the boot, like the dog I clearly am. This short 10 minute drive, over some 3 lane roads really opens our eyes as to the slightly more lackadaisical attitude some people in America tend to adopt in relation to taking their car to the pub. Scary stuff, especially from my unique viewing post. Banging tunes, though.

French Wives - SXSW Tour Diary (Part One)

 If there's one thing that I have to do before I die, it's to get myself out to Austin for SXSW just once. I have been promising myself that I will manage it one day, but what with arrival of 'Peenko Jnr', I think that it might be a while of yet. In my quest to continue to torture msyelf by hearing other folk tell me just how amazing it is, I asked Scott from the French Wives to write a wee tour diary on what they got up to in Austin and on the rest of their jaunt around the US of A...

Ad to Regardless of your experience/level preparing to go on tour for any length of time is a difficult task. Prior to this month our longest single jaunt away had been ten days. This time around, give or take a couple of days it was basically a month. A month! In order for this to go off without a hitch a significant degree of work has to go on behind the scenes before you hit the road, especially if you don’t have an agent/TM/manager/driver etc. This administrative experience is intensified massively as soon as you decide to go to the United States, which is where we’ve headed for SXSW. However, rather than boring you with all the preparatory nonsense that went on, I thought I’d try to provide an insight of sorts into our American experience.

Day 1: Travellin’ Tales 

We’re up early (myself even earlier thanks to me living in Irvine) to get to Glasgow airport for a morning flight that will see us hit Amsterdam, Memphis and finally Austin; a refreshing total of nearly 18 hours’ travel. We get to Amsterdam with little fuss, but difficulties begin to show when we board the plane heading for Memphis. No wee TVs on the seat backs. Yeah, you read that right. I mean what is this, the 90s? I thought they were a given now, and we were all genuinely looking forward to 10 hours of personally selected entertainment from the 1000 hours that the airline boasted that it had. This, apparently, was not the case. Already the tour is a nightmare and frankly we all want to go home (not really... well, a wee bit). As such, we’re required to watch the airline’s choice of films for the flight. Out of the four sterling pictures shown, there is one film I’d quite like to draw your attention to. The Big Year. Heard of it? Basically, it’s got really famous actors (Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin) cutting about making an absolutely ridiculous film about bird watching. It’s so bad it is utterly compelling! I’d definitely recommend it as you can find out the true price Owen Wilson’s character has to pay to become the best birder (their word not mine) in the world. Anyway, after some walking in Memphis we’re on the plane to Austin where we get to witness a crazy lightning storm in the distance but arrive safely at our destination. We’ve had to travel really light thanks to crazy baggage fees, but with 6 people and a selection of instruments there is always going to be a big pile of stuff. Due to said pile of stuff, the wait at the car hire point where they bring our car round is genuinely like when the screen moves back in Blind Date. Will the boot be big enough? Should we have gone for number 2 instead?! When it comes round it looks promising, and after some tentative moving and some teasing all our stuff is in- result!

After a short drive we arrive at our host Robin’s house. She’s great, and also has a cracking dog (I like dogs a lot) called Beau. He’s a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle, a cock-a-poo if you will. The sleeping arrangements are made, and I’m sharing a blow-up mattress with Jonny “The Dream Riddler” Smith for the week. He’s called this because he sleeps in the shape of a question mark. Honestly. 

Day 2: Scoping out Austin 

 Everyone who hasn’t been to SXSW has heard the stories of how crazy busy it is and seen the pictures of a packed 6th st. However, because we arrived early we saw a slightly more tame 6th st than we had initially expected. Here we also learned a valuable life lesson- don’t go into the first bar that offers cheap drinks, and definitely don’t go into a bar where the barmaid is given a microphone, especially when the bar is empty. If you do both of these things at once- which we did- you’re in for an uncomfortable bottle of Bud Light. We also did an acoustic show in a Mexican restaurant tonight which was great because we were plied with nachos, tacos and margaritas. Chris later claims that this will be his favourite show of the tour as he didn’t do any work, but instead just sat and ate nachos. At the party outside the restaurant we encounter a DJ who I imagine will never be topped at SXSW or anywhere else- DJ TexasDude. He’ll DJ AND according to his business card he’ll also do your tax returns- what more do you need? Later we go to a bar (still haven’t really seen any bands) and get fleeced on drinks until we encounter a very drunk junior doctor who enjoys a lot of public affection with his girlfriend, but on the flipside spends a fortune on drinks. We beat them at beer pong for their trouble! Following this Siobhan has literally the best game of Jenga I’ve ever seen outside the bar. There were about 40 people watching and they were all cheering and filming it on their phones. A better reception than any of our shows will get, we imagine! 

Day 3: Austintatious 

 Firstly sorry about the pun title- couldn’t resist. Austin is lovely as well, and not ostentatious in the slightest! We started today slightly off 6th at an excellently named breakfast venue called Bacon where we’re playing the earliest show of our lives with a stage time of 10.15am. You’d be correct in thinking that in naming your business Bacon the pressure is on to rustle up a decent breakfast. Thankfully it doesn’t disappoint, providing me with a positive first experience of the breakfast taco- the first of many, many tacos with varying degrees of variety and quality. Pitchfork will later write that the Doritos Locos Taco, which was given out for free at another venue, was one of the worst things about SXSW. I respectfully disagree. Our show is outdoors in the glorious morning sunshine and we try to enhance everyone’s breakfast experience as best we can.

One of the main things we’ve noticed so far is that a lot of American bands cut about looking like the Doors but not necessarily sounding like them. Lots of tattoos and sunglasses and hair. We were meant to have another unofficial gig in the evening but unfortunately there are some crossed wires and it doesn’t happen. However, during this time we almost accidentally become the backing band for a bunch of rappers at a “vibe session” (their term, not mine). I wish it had happened as it probably would have been hilarious but alas it never takes off.  

Day 4: Showcase Day 

It’s the day of the Scottish Showcase, the biggest gig we’ll do in Austin and we’re really excited about it. The showcase itself is taking place at a venue called Easy Tiger on its patio, which sits by the river (was it a river?) on 6th st and is an excellent setting. First though we check out The Twilight Sad during the day, who were great. During this gig Chris does something you really wouldn’t expect during a Twilight Sad set and gets a massage, in the venue, during the gig. Literally in a massage chair just off the stage. Very strange. He claims it was excellent, though. In the afternoon Stuart, Siobhan and I go to an unfinished shop front to record a session. We have to leave pretty much as soon as we’ve recorded our track which is rubbish as they had some nice cider on the go. This is one of my favourite characteristics of SXSW- all the FREE stuff. Stick some Scottish people in about some free stuff and they’ll go wild for it. We spent quite a long time at the Introducing Oklahoma showcase the other day because we got wind of free booze and nice free food. Couldn’t tell you who was playing, though. Similarly, we spend a lot of time at the Hype Hotel due to their free tacos and free drink tokens policy. After the tokens run out you tip the bar staff. Even this is great value since there are no pesky restrictions on measures over here. Every drink seems like half a bottle of vodka in a glass. Another thing to get stereotypical Scots excited then. True to form, it does.

On to the Showcase then and it must be said, the chaps at the SMIA have done a stellar job getting it all organised. On the bill is Woodenbox, Tango in the Attic, ourselves, Three Blind Wolves, Django Django and We Were Promised Jetpacks. It’s busy throughout the night and everyone plays really well too, which is good. It was particularly rammed for Django Django as I believe was the case for all their shows and they did a great job. Tonight is also the drunkest we’ve all been so far. I think it was the pressure release of finishing the showcase that triggered it. I also wish I could print everything that happened, but I would be in a lot of trouble if I did. Sorry!

Friday Freebies

French Wives
Exciting times lay ahead for Glasgow folk-pop outfit, French Wives, in just a matter of weeks time the five piece will be heading stateside to represent Scotland at this years SXSW, after which they'll be venturing north for Canadian Music Week. As if that wasn't exciting enough the band also have the release of their forthcoming debut album, ‘Dream of the Inbetween’ to look forward to. If their new single, Younger, is anything to go by then we should be in for a bit of a treat. The song is the second single to be taken from the album and it's available for free download on their Bandcamp page, there's also a nifty wee video to accompany it. The band are playing a SXSW fundraising gig next Friday at Stereo in Glasgow, with support from Bwani Junction and Galleries.

Meow and A Mew
Not to be confused with the one man electro outfit Miaoux Miaoux, this new project in fact a collaboration between Phillip Taylor from PAWS and Christina Tweeddale from indie pop outfit, Boycotts and fuck me it's a bit good. They've just released an EP entitled 'Lasso The Moon' on the CATH RECORDS label, which sees Phil and Christina taking up the writing duties for a song each and the results are something pretty fucking spectacular. Find out for yourself by downloading Lasso The Moon for nowt here.

North Atlantic Oscillation
It's been a couple of years since we heard anything from Edinburgh trio, North Atlantic Oscillation. Having been a bit obsessed with their track, Cell Count, I have admit that I was a wee bit disappointed with their debut album Grappling Hooks. With their follow up album, Fog Electric, due out at the end of April the band are giving away a track from it for nowt on Bandcamp.

Queen Jane
It's not often that you see the words Cumbernauld and exciting in the same sentence, but here goes. Exciting new Cumbernauld outfit, Queen Jane released their debut EP, Denver a few of weeks back there. Their sounds not a million miles away from the likes of Vampire Weekend and Bombay Bicycle Club, but don't count that against them as they have some catchy as fuck pop tunes on the go. You can download the lead track from their EP for nowt on their Bandcamp page.

Scottish Fiction
It seems that the whole bloggers releasing free EPs thing has really taken off, first off we had Mr Kowalskiy and his excellent series of EPs featuring an array of Scottish talent and now we have Scottish Fiction jumping on the bandwagon. The more the merrier I say! This months EP sees him giving away free tunes from The Dirty Demographic, Maydays, Run/Lucky/Free and Wolves Of Winter. Further information can be found here.

Permwhale Recordings
The Edinburgh based label, Permwhale Recording, have posted up a whole host of free tunes from their roster, if you head on over to their Bandcamp page you'll find songs by an array of artists including Night Noise Team, Collar Up, Flooze and The Duke, Detroit.


Mad Nurse
There's one thing for sure, if you tag your music as Fucking Awesome on SoundCloud then it's going to grab folks attention. Whether you live up to that billing is another matter all together, in the case of  Edinburgh duo, Mad Nurse, I'd say that fucking awesome is quite fitting. If you head on over to the bands SoundCloud page you'll find yourself a whole host of cracking free tunes including an ace wee tune called Submissive, which I am told is more representative of the direction that the band are heading. Ones to keep an eye I reckon.

Nebyudelic
If you've emailed me in the past few months and I haven't replied to you please accept my apologies. To say that I am working through a bit of a backlog of stuff is a bit of an understatement. Nebyudelic would be a good example of my tardiness as they sent me their music way back in December and it's taken me until now to listen to it. I guess it would the lazy way to describe this would be to call it experimental, but hey I am a bit lazy and I really don't know how you would categorise it. All you need to know is that it's pretty damn good and that there are a host of free songs up for grabs on SoundCloud.

the douglas firs
Those Douglas Firs kids don't hang about, I am sure I was only just posting about one of their side projects a few weeks back, then the next thing I know they're putting out a new EP. Available on CD and cassette, the EP is also available as a free download on Bandcamp.

Stephen Harrison
If you're looking for some chilled out songs to ease you into the weekend, then Edinburgh singer-songwriter Stephen Harrison might well be the man for you. His new album Today Tomorrow is available on a pay what you want basis on Bandcamp.

Holobeams and Broken Machines
If you're a fan of artists like the Field, Boards of Canada, M83 and Orbital, then Holobeams and Broken Machines might be for you. Their latest EP, Holofractal is up for free download on SoundCloud. 

Bronto Skylift
Scotland's noisiest duo have been a bit quiet as of late, with plans afoot for future gigs they've posted up a whole host of free tunes from their debut album, The White Crow, up on their SoundCloud page.

Drunk Mule  
To finish off this weeks freebies we have a late entry from those lovely Drunk Mule boys, it must be all of a week since we last got a free tunes from the boys. This tune is called Upon Exit, Check For Signs Of Life and it's free to download on Bandcamp.