2010's Top 10 Albums: #5 - Curators

Kicking off the top 5 is an album I've been meaning to review now for well over a month... with no success whatsoever!   In my opinion, this band are one of the revelations of the year.  They are no strangers to the Kowalskiy blog, having already bared all for one of my idiosyncratic K&A sessions earlier this year, and they were brave enough to be guinea-pigs on the first ever Free Monthly 5-track Kowalskiy EP.  They are of course, Edinburgh rockers, and the best new Scottish band to emerge this year, Curators.

Ever since becoming hooked on those early demos of State of Grace and Turn The Lights Down, I've been anxiously awaiting the release of their debut album Is This A Private Fight?   To say it's been well worth the wait is a massive understatement!  I absolutely love this album.   From start to finish, it's packed full of pulsating riffs and non-stop, balls-to-the-wall rock anthems.  In fact, it's only towards the end of the album that the band hit The Brakes so to speak, and slow things down a bit to give us a breather.  If there is any justice in the world, 2011 will be an amazing year for Curators.  And here's two reasons why (though to be fair, I could have chosen any two tracks from the album)...

If you missed their acoustic session for Fresh Air radio earlier in the week then you can download the session from edRock.net here!  Also on that show were Jump: Press A, who with Scrap Brain, will be joining Curators in playing a gig at Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh tonight.  Tickets are £5 on the door.  If you can't make it, then head over here, download Is This A Private Fight? and keep your eyes peeled for more in 2011.

UPDATE!  Is This A Private Fight? is now up on Curators' bandcamp to stream with a free download of State Of Grace.

Kowalskiy's Free Monthly 5-track Scottish EP #1

Mark your calendars folks! The 16^th of each month shall forever be known as Kowalskiy's Free 5-track Scottish EP Day. Catchy, eh? From now on, I'll endeavour to bring you a free EP featuring 5 cracking exclusive/rare tracks from some of Scotland's best up-and-coming bands. For the first in what will hopefully be a series of many, I asked 5 of my favourite artists at the moment to contribute. For some reason I'm still trying to suss out, they all said a very enthusiastic yes!

These kind, brave souls, and their tracks appearing on EP #1, are:

1. Curators - "Turn The Lights Down" (from their eagerly-anticipated, as-of-yet untitled, debut album)

"As far as Lights goes, it is relatively straight forward. I suppose you could say that it's about domestic disharmony being overcome by hearing a good song on the radio, but that sounds a bit wanky. Let's call it a love song to the art of the single." - Jon Dick (Curators)

2. Punch & The Apostles - "Wintertime Blues" (from their upcoming "Meat In Summerland" album)

"The song was written during the winter of 08/09 whilst three of the band were living in a small cottage in Ayrshire. We had no heating or hot water because we couldn't afford to buy oil, so would huddle round the fireplace as late as possible. Because of the lack of heating we started developing damp problems, with mould appearing on shoes, jackets and bedding. It was great in some ways to have that seclusion, but the conditions made it pretty unbearable at times. We lasted the winter out and then moved back to the city in April. That's the song." - Rory Haye (Punch & the Apostles)

3. Arran Arctic - "Ask For It" (opening track from his debut album)

"This track appeared on the first Arran Arctic record (By The Sea) way back in 2005. 'Ask For It' was one of my earliest songs, which I'd originally written because a friend of mine at school was quite a prolific songwriter, and I felt guilty because I thought I was somehow stealing his thunder. You can find videos of this track being performed live at www.arranarctic.com/videos. I may re-record it in order to perform it live alongside some of the new tracks from the forthcoming album 'In My Hands'." - Arran Southall (Arran Arctic)

4. The Martial Arts - "Empty Out Here (demo)" (which was only recorded and mastered this week.)

"This is the demo for new song 'Empty Out Here' as recorded in my kitchen by myself, though I got Gregor Barclay in to add some handclaps and Nicola West, also of How To Swim, in to play some 'Good Vibrations' cello on the outro - let's face it, you can't do that with Reason. Joe Kane kindly mastered it and I used Jeremy Mills' bass guitar after he left it at mine. The song itself has some Spector-like ambitions with the tiniest hint of Squeeze's 'Maidstone' thrown in for any Record Collector readers to spot." - Paul Kelly (The Martial Arts)

5. Cancel The Astronauts - "Could You Love Me? (live)" (rare live version of a previously unreleased track)

"The inspiration behind Could You Love Me? is, like every CTA song (sadly), an unrequited love song. Awkward boy meets gorgeous girl, chases her around the schoolyard, and years later hides her body in his fridgefreezer. We've all been there. Recorded live at Studio Kay in summer 2009, it will probably be a B-side one day. It has a delightful guitar riff, even if Kieran does say so himself." - Matt Riley (Cancel The Astronauts)

Thanks to each and every one of them for giving up their time, and song, to get this idea off the ground. I can't thank them enough!

Anyway, for those who like the sound of it, the EP is now up for free download on my shiny new bandcamp site. Hope you enjoy it!

As a warning to all you bands out there, I have a shortlist for EP #2 and I'll be in touch soon! Although if you have a mouthwatering exclusive or rare track and fancy appearing on a future EP, feel free to send me a wee email.

Peenko's Friday Freebies feat. Kowalskiy! June Roundup

Now that Peenko has popped up his last Friday Freebies of the month, here's a recap from June's Korner!

Week #1 - Another cracker from Curators in the shape of their entire set from Stereo on the 22nd of April.

Week #2 - This weeks freebie came from Futuristic Retro Champions. Their 3-track "LaChunky EP" is up for free on their bandcamp.

Week #3 - Here's a free download of "Seize the Day" by Bottle of Evil. Stay tuned for a wee K&A session coming up.

Week #4 - Get well soon Beerjacket! For those of you waiting for his Oran Mor gig to be rescheduled, here's two live sets from Peter to tide you over.

Peenko's Friday Freebies feat. Kowalskiy! May Roundup

Now that Peenko has popped up his last Friday Freebies of the month, here's a recap from May's Korner!

Week #1 - A great wee taster from Curators debut album. Find out more about them in their K&A session.

Week #2 - Before the novelty of becoming Dr. Kowalskiy quickly wore off, this weeks freebies came from Philly's finest, Dr. Dog with a load of mp3s from their back catalogue.

Week #3 - One of the early frontrunners for album of 2010 is Get Well Soon and his album "Vexations". There's a free download of track "5 Steps/7 Swords" on his website.

Week #4 - And lastly, today's freebie is a belter from the best-named band around, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. If their previous two albums "Broom" and "Pershing" are anything to go by, their third offering is gonna be great! Here's a freebie to whet your appetite.

Better get hunting for June now....

K&A with Curators

Edinburgh four piece Curators first came to my attention back in February when Jon from the band sent me a wee email. Thank f**k he did! Having listened to a few live songs on their MySpace, I was instantly hooked by their no-nonsense, anthemic indie-rock!

Curators are Jon Dick, Gary Small, Pete Hopes and Mark Cameron. With this settled line-up, the guys have recorded their debut album and it's currently at the mixing stage. It's safe to say I'm quite excited about this one! From what I've heard so far, I have high hopes for it. To find out a bit more about them, I fired off a few questions to Jon. Here's what he had to say...

Kowalskiy: How did the band name come about?
Jon: I used to work as a Curator at the National War Museum of Scotland, and I'd always thought it'd be a cool band name. Originally, I was going to use it for my solo recordings, but when Gary and I started writing together, it seemed to make sense to use it. We were keen not to be a "the" band too, which is just as well as there's a German punk band called The Curators.

Kowalskiy: How would you describe your sound?
Jon: Argh! At a push, I'd say early Idlewild covering Weezer songs on Radiohead's old guitars, but I'm sure the other guys would disagree. Hopefully this album will show that we have our own sound, despite our influences!

Kowalskiy: Who are your musical influences?
Jon: Well, I suppose all three bands I just mentioned. Pete's into hardcore and punk, I like my rock, Gary likes his indie and Mark likes a bit of everything, so hopefully we take a wee bit of influence from a fairly broad range of stuff.

Kowalskiy: What bands do you tip for 2010?
Jon: Us! Hopefully The Xcerts new record will be as good as their first, and hopefully our buddies Taking Chase will make their album this year too. I'm not really into buzz bands as such, because the gimmick tends to wear thin pretty quickly. Give me lasting songs over throwaway contrivance any day of the week.

Kowalskiy: What are your desert island discs?
Jon: Pinkerton, 100 Broken Windows, Earth vs. The Wildhearts.

Kowalskiy: What would your dream gig be?
Jon: I can't speak for the other guys, but I'd love to play with Captain-era Idlewild, The Holy Bible-era Manics, old Radiohead (pre-bleeps), mid-nineties Weezer and a whole load of other bands that I can't even think of just now. As for venues, Pete and I would like to play Tannadice, but I reckon somewhere like King Tuts would be just grand. We're not fussy - just make sure there are monitors!

Kowalskiy: Sounds good! Who knows, might get a capacity crowd there for a change! Lastly, what can we expect from the band in the future?
Jon: There's a question! We'll get the album out in the next couple of months, and see were that takes us. We've had really positive reviews of State of Grace that we're using as a kind of album taster, so we'll see what happens. We're open to offers!

As Jon said, "State of Grace" is doing the rounds just now and is rightly sparking a bit of interest. Have a listen below. No gimmicks, just a belter of a tune!

State Of Grace (unmastered)

Curators have one gig lined up, next month on the 22nd June at Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh (with Taking Chase). Fingers crossed they arrange a few more in the run up to their album release. If this has gotten you curious, pay Peenko and today's Friday Freebies a wee visit for a free demo download of future album track "Turn The Lights Down".