Battle Of The Bands: Round 6

A fortnight ago, this epic battle between myself and Neil from Scottish Fiction yo-yoed back into my blogging nemesis' favour. With a little help from The State Broadcasters, he levelled the score at two wins apiece. My lads Cancel The Astronauts ran them close though. You can read the full account of that round over here.  The ball is back in my court this week, so Neil better be ready for the backlash...

To help return Team Kowalskiy to winning ways, I've traveled all the way to the Outer Hebrides to recruit Skye's finest... The Dead Man's Waltz, who as luck may have it, are actually older than I though.  Result!  That 'Z' is a Godsend too.   Doing battle with my folk-noir foursome, turned out to be hip-hoppers Stanley Odd. 

Before we do battle, as always, let's have a quick recap of the rules.  You can read them in full over here.  This round, it's me to choose which three attributes we'll be dueling with.  For each of the three, the person with the highest value gets one point, with both of us getting a half-point in the event of a draw.  Losers... get hee-haw!  Rather predictably, I went for Band Name Scrabble Score hoping my chaps' impressive array of letters would out-do whoever Neil had chosen.  To complete the set, I plumped for the social media ones - SoundCloud Tracks and Twitter Follow Ratio.  We'll find out in a mo if those were wise choices or not, but first, here's the bandcards.  As ever, all stats were correct at the time of battle, except from Stanley Odd's average age... that was a complete guess, but in the end, it wasn't needed.

Ding ding, Round 6...

The winner of Round 6 is... Team Kowalskiy!  It got off to a great start with my choice of Band Name Scrabble Score.  Turned out I never needed that Z after all... or the W.  I suppose The Dead Man's Alt doesn't have the same ring to it.  So that was an early 1-0 lead to me.  A short-lived lead though when SoundCloud Tracks were compared.  With exactly twice the number of tracks, Stanley Odd drew the score back level, and with only the Twitter Follow Ratio to go, I was feeling a wee bit nervous.  It could've went either way.  I had no idea who Neil had up his sleeve, but in the end, by the slimmest of margins (a mere 0.18 for those without a calculator to hand), the boys did me proud and 2-1 it finished.

And with that, Team Kowalskiy takes a one point lead... again. 

My glorious victory aside, this is all about the bands, and first up are tonight's victors.  Aside from releasing one of my favourite singles of the year in Emmeline with a video which is a work of bloody art, The Dead Man's Waltz have released an album that oozes music of dark, Beirutty quality... which you can of course buy here.

As for Stanley Odd, well they're pretty great too.  As I mentioned at the weekend on my latest notcast, their new album Reject completely took this hiphopaphobe by surprise.  You can buy it over here on CD from the band or download it from Amazon MP3.  Careful now... it's "explicit".

With a fortnight to go until Neil tries to draw himself level in the series, I'm off to bask in my victory before sorting out my next band for Round 7.  Do your worst Neil!

Kowalskiy Singles Club #16

Who's ready for some more lonely-heart action?!  This time 'round I've sought out more singletons to try and woo you. If you like what they have to say for themselves, you know the drill by now... click on the artwork, have a listen, and get better acquainted. Here they are...

Carry On Suzie by SOS

"You boys can keep your virgins. Give me hot old women in high heels with asses that forgot to get old. Phoney bastards need not apply." - SOS

They know what they like these Glasgow boys.  I'll give 'em that!  This is the new FREE single from the artists formerly known as Strawberry Ocean Sea. It's the first to be taken from their new EP A Challenge To The Dark due out later in the year.

Choosing My Religion / How It Remains by Supermarionation

"Confirmed internet hobos WLTM equally lost souls for late night ear destruction hopefully leading to more meaningful encounters. No significant baggage but may occasionally hark back to a simpler time. GCH, DG, BALC and MEIK. GSOH essential but not required as in for the long haul. Percussive love-making a deal breaker, photos on request." - Steven Tonge (Supermarionation)

No idea what any of those mean, other than the GSOH one.  Still, if it's just some late night ear destruction you're after, then get clicking on the artwork and help yourself to this FREE download courtesy of the Supermarionation boys and Six Take No Records.   

I Am The Hottest Fire by The Mouse That Ate The Cat

"Pair of lonely, miserable sad-sacks seek comfort from sympathetic ears - you don't need to love us, you just need to listen." - TMTATC

Tugs at the heart strings doesn't it?!  Well, this is the latest from Glasgow's elesctro-indie-popsters The Mouse That Ate The Cat.  The single's not out until the 23^rd of July, but you can stream it over on their SoundCloud.  Once it's got 100 listens I'm assured they'll upload the 'explicit' version, the 200 listens gets you the B-side Ou Les Morts Est Sont Des Dieux which I'm also assured translates as something "borderline embarrassing".

Goran Ivanisevic by We Are The Physics

"Four visually impaired con-artists masquerading as musicians seek like-minded social lepers for shrine-building, tennis-watching and erratic leg movements. GSOH and an impeccable understanding of English broken must a. Willing to travel within radius of 11 parsecs. No Tim Henmans." - We Are The Physics

As a physicist, I've always been drawn to fellow Weegies We Are The Physics. This homage to the one-time Wimbledon champion is a taster from their second album due out later in the year.  Boy do these guys make one helluva racquet!  It is a belter though!  You can have a listen over here and click the artwork to go buy it!  There's also the brilliant video over here.  

Emmeline by The Dead Man's Waltz

"Corpses of four musicians, deceased early 20th century, seek spiritual/surgical shoulder to cry on over various past relationship catastrophes. Interests: historical novels, true crime, amateur chemistry. Necrophilia 'not off the table' ". - The Dead Man's Waltz

Hope they've cleaned that table!  This is Skye quartet The Dead Man's Waltz.  Intriguing to say the least.  Very much in the Beirut or early Decemberists mould if you ask me.  Sound just as good too.  This is a single from their eponymous album which you can buy here.   You can get Emmeline itself/herself here and the stunning video is over here for you to wonder at.  

Confessions by Shambles Miller

"Loquacious bearded idiot seeks good listener for long nights listening to stories about why he's actually a better beatboxer than everyone thinks and how Les Miserables isn't just an ordinary musical. Must appreciate really good David Bowie impressions and be willing to engage in in-depth conversations about time travel. An affinity for lyrical folky-pop and acoustic ballads with a GSOH: preferable but not essential. Must have own teeth." - Shambles Miller

Something of a Lothario these days is Mr. Miler, jdging my his recent dating exploits. This is his latest single which you can get your grubby hands on by clicking the artwork.