Broken laptops, broken hearts, and broken dreams. All or none of these may have contributed to our brief absence from the land of podcasting and radio. No time to dwell on that though, as it's right back into the mix with another hour of tunes, tunes, tunes. On this episode there's music from Honeyblood, Prides, Kill The Waves, Insect Heroes and oh so much more. It's Scottish Fiction, your one stop shop for the best new Scottish music.
Steeeeeeeep right up and look at what we have here! Some of the finest visual delights from the Scottish music community released over the past few weeks! And you my friend are in luck, as today, they are all yours to watch!
There's been a spate of cracking music videos released over the recent month, and whilst we don't focus on music videos as much as we should do here at Scottish Fiction, these ones have been playing repeatedly in my house, by virtue of which they are worthy of sharing. Check 'em out!
The second single to be taken from Common Records duo Andrew Pearson and LLTM's forthcoming collab album Everything We Miss comes with a fantastic video. Unlike Juan Antonio, this track features Andrew Pearson on lead vocals and... eh... lead dance moves? If you though choreographed dance routines were the sole property of manufactured pop bands, well think again.
Gearing up for one of Lost Map's very special postcard releases, Randolph's Leap have giving the ol' video treatment to I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore, the last track on their album Clumsy Knot, which was released earlier this year. A joyous folk-pop song about self discovery, nightclubs and bizarre railway station names, the video tracks lead singer Adam Ross from Glasgow all the way up to Glenfinnan.
By virtue of its name Yes this single already sounds positive before a note is played. Once that triangle button is pressed, that feeling is multiplied a fuckton. The video is a good look into the frenzied minds of the band; colourful, full of dancing, random, and a shit load of fun. I'm told on good authority that this is actually what commercials are like in the old Soviet block.
A smokey, reverb drenched exercise in gloomy post-punk rock, Dreams by Kick To Kill broads with elements of Joy Division and Interpol mixed in. The video for their latest single massages those tendencies, and is truly a weirdly dark offering.
- Got a video you want us to feature? Get in touch via scottishfiction@mail.com.
Good to be back after last week's missed show. Did you miss me? I'll pretend you say yes. As I'm heading off to RockNess on Friday for my good friend's stag do, naturally I focus on homegrown artists playing Scotland's most scenic festival. There's also plently of new music from the likes of Olympic Swimmers, Capitals and Woodenbox. Our featured artist is Biffy Clyro and our Classic Scottish Album comes from post-punk legends Orange Juice.
We are nearing almost a year's worth of free EP on the Scottish Fiction blog. It's impressive given that I never thought the first one would get off the ground. I've got something very special in the pipeline to celebrate that milestone, but for the time being you can be content with four brand new free tracks all wrapped up in our May EP. Here's what you get for your lack of money:
Kick To Kill are a four piece from Glasgow, who are full of intent and have delivered two knock out tracks so far, 'Black Kisses' dropped late last year and 'Avalanche' followed this month. They have definitely been paying attention to The Twilight Sad, as their sound isn't too far away from Kilsyth's finest. Dark and addictive post-punk is the order of the day.
Hello, how are you?
Dave: Yeah pretty good.
Harris: Grand
Ewen: Nearly the weekend!
It's the question everyone hates, but could you tell us a little bit
about your music and your influences?
Dave: Our influences range from Velvet Underground to Nine Inch Nails. Our
music is quite hard, dark pop.
Harris: There are a few obvious influences like Joy Division and Jesus And
Mary Chain, but we have always felt strongly about not immitating other
bands and styles. Influences range across all genres but we hope we are
harder to categorise.
What's your song writing process like?
Dave: We write in rehearsals & normally start with a bass riff or drum beat
then we keep adding to it and altering it to suit, then I do the vocals last.
Quite back to front I know.
Harris: Pretty straight forward. We tend to all be on the same wavelength
so songs and ideas tend to come together pretty quickly. We will usually
find a hook or section to work around and play about with it until we are
happy.
Ewen: Interesting, the finished product rarely sounds like the idea or riff
we started with so it involves a lot of feedback and refining between the
group. However, we do seem to manage it relatively quickly.
What could we expect to see from a live show?
Dave: 25 minutes of noise
Ewen: A grinding, thumping, melodic, sinister, catchy, purple, yellow and
blue refined sound.
If it were all to end tomorrow, what would you say has been your
greatest achievement?
Dave: Writing our last batch of songs.
Harris: We have played some great gigs. The Damned was very memorable.
The album is something we are all very excited about, perhaps our greatest
achievement will be when it’s finally released!
Ewen: Kissing Dave on the lips.
What have you got planned for 2012?
Harris: Our single is out shortly and the album will be out by the turn of
the year. We should be playing all over to promote it. Look out!
At Scottish Fiction we focus on new Scottish music, how do you as a
band view the Scottish music 'scene'?
Dave: A lot of really good bands come from Scotland and clearly we can
produce good music.
Harris: I think Scotland has a strong music scene. But this can be split
into different groups. The music we play doesn’t fit everywhere but there is
lots of support for bands in Glasgow and venues are usually pretty busy.
What other Scottish artists would you recommend to the Scottish
Fiction readers?
Dave: Twilight Sad, Mogwai - I'm sure everyone has heard of them before but
they are definitely two of the best at the moment.
Harris: I’m sure you would know them all. Mummy Short Arms are super (label
plug).
Thanks for speaking with us, would you care to share a joke with us?
On this week's show we feature another five artists long listed for The SAY Awards. Our featured artist is Kilsyth's The Twilight Sad, and our classic album track comes from The Beta Band. All that and music from Aerials Up, Craig_FS, The King Hats, Kick To Kill and more!
This isn't the sort of endeavour one should undertake with a mild sore head brought on by one too many Peroni's but I like to live on the wild side. I get a good few submissions each week into my inbox, and I always feel slightly guilty about not doing more with them. So the plan is to replace the Friday Frolics post, which never really happened too often anyway, with a round up of tracks that I've stumbled across that week. Let's do this!
This track dropped into my inbox yesterday with the best promotion bumf I've ever read. My favourite line was "we're not keen on the whole buzzwhoring 'announcements of announcements', 'RT if you're shitting yourself' mentality."
The track is a taster from the band's 'almost-finished-not-quite-yet' EP and has plenty of energy and a baws oot RAWK feel. Fans of The Queens Of The Stone Age will enjoy.
Released as a 7" limited to 300 copies on independent label Soft Power Recordings this track is quirky, bouncy and like the piped piper leading you down an addictive path. It's a great serving of post-punk for a Friday afternoon.
Fresh from their jaunt to Canada Aerials Up have a brand spanking new single which came out on Monday 2nd April. The single was released on Kittiwake Records and is taken from the forthcoming album 'Breach'.
If you like your music with an uplifting spirit akin to The Arcade Fire, then 'The Old And The Innocent' will be right up your street.
Time for some folk singer songwriter material in your life. 'More Than Just An Hour Between Us' is an EP from Colin James Murphy which he mixed, mastered and produced himself. 'Hurricane' is the opening track from the EP and gives a good account of the overall sound.
Julia And The Doogans - Diamonds The new EP from Julia And The Doogans is out on Monday 16th April. The lead track from it 'Diamonds' crept out on Soundcloud this week and it's magnificent. Check out our full review of the EP here.
There's a buzz around Mummy Short Arms, that I am late to notice. All has been resolved however as this new track 'Silicone Dream' has hooked me in with it's scuzzy alt-rock charm. The single is released on 14th May and an album follows on 21st May entitled 'Old Jack's Windowless Playhouse'.
Another track from Flowers In The Dustbin Records, this time from Glasgow band Kick To Kill. This track is released as a single on May 14th. There's an seedy underbelly hiding beneath the glorious layers of sound, which has the addictive yet elusive quality that forces you to listen again, and again. And again.
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