1. Plurals - Clip Cloud (I heard this on a SoundCloud trawl a while back and just loved it. Keep an eye out for more from this former Sunshine Social-ist.)
"This super rough demo of the song was recorded in a bedroom in the space of an hour with me doing all of the instruments and recording. It's about idiots having arguments and trying to make the best of a shit situation. I am one of the idiots." - Ciaran a.k.a. Plurals
2. Thank You So Nice - Foucault (An exclusive track from the Edinburgh-based trio's upcoming debut album. If this and recent single Let's Make Money are anything to go by, it'll be great!)
"Lyrically it's pretending to know something about the philosopher Michel Foucault, who is an in house TYSN hero. Niall, who probably actually does know what Foucault is on about, suggested we do a song about him and this was what I came up with. Reverb is generally overrated but we've slapped it on a bit here. It's taken from our debut album Make Friends Not Money, which we're self releasing this October, on Foucault's birthday." - Alex Hendrikson (Thank You So Nice)
3. Saint Max - A Life Worth Living (Band version) (I featured Max's original version of this a while back. That I loved. This is a whole new kettle of fish entirely. Can't remember hearing a more fun song this year! Expect more like this from the good Saint when his EP is out later this month.)
"A Life Worth Living is the opening track to my upcoming EP "Saint Max and the Fanatics", which is released on the 22nd June. When I wrote it, I was trying to write something like the Buzzcocks, but I think it ended up sounding quite different, which is cool. Some of my favourite lyrics are in this song, because they're very sincere here. It's quite confessional, almost." - Max Syed-Tollan (Saint Max)
4. M A D I S O N - Armbands (Alternative version) (Here's an alternative version of their brilliant, recent single recorded only this week for lil ol' me. Hot off the press or what!?)
"Here's how 'Armbands' was meant to sound, sadly Mariah Carey pulled out on the duet & we had to rearrange it slightly." - Russell Ferguson (M A D I S O N)
"When we were trying to think of band names, Rescue Ceauşescu came out of nowhere and was briefly considered as a front runner, but we decided that being associated with a cruel Romanian dictator might not go down too well (particularly in Romania, our top target market). It was also pretty tricky to spell. However, we thought the name (and the rhyme) was too good to discard, and wrote and recorded this demo for the song on a Monday afternoon this spring. I suppose one interpretation of the lyric revolves around what it's like to be stabbed in the back, but there are other ways to take it. It's definitely not supposed to be pro-Ceauşescu though!" - Jamie Smith (Scary Shapes)
5. Naked Strangers - Mystery Meat (An exclusive track from their upcoming trilogy of singles. It's a cracking track!)
"Mystery Meat is the third or fourth or fifth incarnation of a song I wrote with a shaky concept and stolen structure. We'd almost abandoned the thing when we hammered out this version and now we're really happy with it (you can hear some earlier roughs on the matt-strange soundcloud). We recorded it at Strathsound studio with John Strachan alongside two other new singles: Knife Gang Shop Raid which is currently available on our webshites, and Three Tears which we'll release next. Mystery Meat is the final instalment so this is a sneaky wee taster for you." - Matt Stockl (Naked Strangers)
6. Scary Shapes - Rescue Ceauşescu (A belter of a track to finish us off this month. This Glasgow bunch have a load of free tracks up on their SoundCloud so get to it!)
"When we were trying to think of band names, Rescue Ceauşescu came out of nowhere and was briefly considered as a front runner, but we decided that being associated with a cruel Romanian dictator might not go down too well (particularly in Romania, our top target market). It was also pretty tricky to spell. However, we thought the name (and the rhyme) was too good to discard, and wrote and recorded this demo for the song on a Monday afternoon this spring. I suppose one interpretation of the lyric revolves around what it's like to be stabbed in the back, but there are other ways to take it. It's definitely not supposed to be pro-Ceauşescu though!" - Jamie Smith (Scary Shapes)
As always, I wanna say a massive thanks to all 6 bands for contributing this month. I really hope you all like it as much as I do. All you have to do to get your free copy is to click on the artwork above, or here. Whatever tickles your fancy more. While you're there, you may as well check out the other 23.
To kick off the third year of free EPs, next month I'll be taking a well-earned rest and handing the EP baton over to a very capable individual. You can still expect an EP chock-full of brilliant tracks from Scotland's finest. All of which means I now have 2 months to put together the one after that. I've already got one or two aces up my sleeve though. If you wanna record a special version of something for me, or contribute something else you think might tickle my fancy, then you can send me a wee email (kowalskiy2@gmail.com). I'm off to put my feet up now.
To kick off the third year of free EPs, next month I'll be taking a well-earned rest and handing the EP baton over to a very capable individual. You can still expect an EP chock-full of brilliant tracks from Scotland's finest. All of which means I now have 2 months to put together the one after that. I've already got one or two aces up my sleeve though. If you wanna record a special version of something for me, or contribute something else you think might tickle my fancy, then you can send me a wee email (kowalskiy2@gmail.com). I'm off to put my feet up now.
Posts
