Despite the mysterious looking tree up above, there's no mystery behind the music on this week's podcast. Featuring plenty of new Scottish music, including five tracks from artists nominated for The SAY Award. Listen back and enjoy!
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.
Download for free here and listen below. Also check out the '...We're Only Here For The Banter' sessions each artist did for the blog. And have a swatch at the excellent album art work. Thanks to Andrew Wilson for that.
Wrongnote are a four piece from Glasgow who having formed originally in 2008 released their debut album 'Reach Out, Disconnect' on 24th December 2010. Since then the band have taken their blend of spiky punk infused rock to the BBC Introducing Stage at T In The Park this summer. The band kindly took some time to answer a few questions.
Hello, how are you?
Sean: Totally awesome. Just been woken up, in Paris, by a friend bringing me coffee and a croissant.
Callum: On the verge of breakdown. I genuinely thought these mini pancakes might cheer me up but they turned out to be just three more of God’s cruel empty promises.
Tell us a little bit about your music and influences.
Callum: We make cathartic outsider-rock. In terms of influence, it’s difficult to say as we each have very different musical tastes. The only artist we tend to agree on is Prince but, as far as sounding like him is concerned, it’s fair to say that we’re an historically poor attempt.
Sean: A historically, for fuck's sake. Anyway; I like Queen.
Callum: An historically is perfect form unless we all turned American.
Sean: On this issue, I'm with the yanks.
Scotland has a thriving music scene. How do you find being a part of that?
Sean: I hear this a lot and never really understand it. There are a lot of bands around, for sure, some of which are quite good, but isn't that true of most places?
Callum: Scenes are so often a self-perpetuating ideal wherein the promise of being a part of one disguises the harsher reality. There are many independent labels, venues, journalists and promoters who have aligned themselves with the ideals of an independent music scene as opposed to the traditional model of a music industry. This is a very good thing but such an ideal can easily be tainted by a system in which some of these labels, venues, journalists and promoters become self-imposed arbiters of taste and, consciously or unconsciously, replicate the industry model. In such a system, status easily becomes the sole currency and bands are, once again, commodities. I’ve seen too many really good Scottish bands end prematurely to realise that, while it may be a great place to be part of a scene, the reality of being in a band is unaltered. Ultimately, if you enjoy what you do, scenes are irrelevant.
Which Scottish artists would you recommend to the Scottish Fiction readers?
Callum: Bronto Skylift, Woodenbox and Super Adventure Club. We've also had the pleasure of sharing a stage with the first two.
Sean: John MacFarlane/Sluts of Trust. Best thing in this town by a country mile.
Callum: The best thing in Paris?
What is your songwriting process like?
Callum: Terrifying. At first, there’s the rough idea for a song. Some chords and some basic vocals. From that moment, it’s a desperate war of contrition with hostage situations, Mexican stand offs and various other forms of brinksmanship, shouting, personal insults, violent outbursts and a sometimes desperate sense of inertia. Luckily, it tends to be worth the trouble.
Sean: Yeah, suffer for your art and all that.
What could we expect to see/hear from your live shows?
Callum: I’ve used these terms before but you can expect loud drums, fidgety bass, jazz chords and post-melody vocals.
Sean: Bit lazy, Callum.
Callum: Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot the topless drummer. And no refunds.
What does the rest of 2011 hold for you?
Callum: We’ve been working on new material and will be recording some of it at the tail end of this year. Until then, we’re still promoting the album we released at the very beginning of this year.
What's been your biggest achievement so far?
Callum: It’s a tie between releasing our debut album and playing the BBC Introducing stage at T in the Park. Of course, we’re still in poverty and relatively unknown, but that has so far proved incapable of make us see sense and sto
Sean: The album, for sure. Figuring out how to make a proper record and doing so, on our own, without killing each other or splitting up was bloody heroic if you ask me.
Thanks for speaking with us, would you care to share a joke with us?
Q: How many scenesters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: All of them.
Thanks guys!
Check out more of Wrongnote on their website, Facebook, and Twitter. Also you can buy the album 'Reach Out, Disconnect' here.
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