KEP#25 - ArmellodieP

Click the artwork to go to the EP page!

So... funny story!  For last months' EP, I sent Al over at Armellodie Records a wee email asking whether one of his roster would be up for contributing.  He only went and offered me a full EP's worth!  Not only has it spared me a few more grey hairs from last-minute track-hunting stress, but every track he's sent is brilliant.  So, a huge thanks to Al and the eight bands involved.  Now, I know what you're thinking... EIGHT!?  Well there's a very good reason for that.  At the start of August, all eight will be appearing in various combinations at a set of Armellodie On Tour gigs around Scotland.  All the details are below, but first, here's the bands on... ArmellodieP.   

1.  The Hazey Janes - Southern Lawns (Alternative Version)

"A considerably different rendition of the album version; an idea we’ve had in the drawer for while now but only just got round to finishing. It may just be the phased mellotron, but there’s something Chris Bell sounding about it. Featuring, amongst other things, accordion, glockenspiel, harmonica, lap steel and said mellotron." - Andrew Mitchell (The Hazey Janes)

2.  Le Reno Amps - Cottonmouth Rock (In Session)

"This live version of Cottonmouth Rock was recorded for the Big British Castle around Easter time 2011. Le Reno Amps have always been a real carefree live band which seems to resonate with those lucky few, and I mean few, that come to see us play. This one’s a vicious and raw holler through the drink addled thoughts of a man cuckolded. I think it’s as a good a break-up song as any in our bleeding heart cannon, it’s got beef, and as Frank Zappa once sang, broken hearts are for assholes." - Al Nero (Le Reno Amps)

3.  Super Adventure Club - Dog With Two Dicks (In Session)

"Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks This song is yet to be formally put to tape but has been a part of our live set for a good while. This version was recorded for Dumbstruck Studios and you can watch it here Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks Dog With Two Dicks." - Mandy Clarke (Super Adventure Club)

4.  The Douglas Firs - Frameworks

"This is a song from ‘ep1’, a collection of recordings we made over the past couple of years. I really hate describing songs, particularly when they are criticising humanity and exposing my ever increasing misanthropy but here goes! Frameworks is about the difficulty with thinking outside of everything we have ever learned (or, rather, been told). on a microscopic level, everything is mimetic - even these words, for instance." - Neil Insh (The Douglas Firs)

5.  Trapped Mice - Night Of Broken Glass

"I think this might count as a protest song, but I'm not sure. I'd been in Berlin on holiday, and was trying to sort through some of the stuff I'd seen at various historical monuments and memorials etc. I’m really happy with this recording; I put the synth part high in the mix, and hopefully it stops it sounding like too much of a folk country hoe-down. I also hope the bold deployment of a shaky egg doesn't detract too much from the mood of what is supposed to be a fairly emotional song or something. Night of Broken Glass is taken from our forthcoming debut album, ‘Winter Sun’ out this winter funnily enough." - Ian Tilling (Trapped Mice)

6.  The Scottish Enlightenment - Pascal (In Session)

"A song about gambling. We recorded this version for Tom Ravenscroft in the depths of winter 2010/11, when mucky snow was piled high along the roadsides and people slept in their wellies. Our perennial comrade Dan Lyth and I dragged guitars, accordions, drums and things on sledges from the bottom of Dunfermline (the wee Asda district) to the very top (by the hospital) to record at a friends house. Roads and bridges were shut and only two of the band could be there, so Dan joined in. Then we sledged a lot of the way home." - David Moyes (The Scottish Enlightenment)

7.  Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Dead Scene (Demo)

"This was one of the B Sides to our debut single and was only available on the CD, which could only be purchased direct from us, so this is the first time it has been available for people to download. We recorded it on the hoof with the guys from Small Scale Collisions as they had use of a few hours in a studio, so they snuck us in and we bashed it out. It's about privileged, close minded idiots, a type of person you meet a lot in the music scene." - Chris Devotion

8.  Cuddly Shark - Overpriced

"This is the first song to see the light of day from our forthcoming record. A couple of months ago we were 95% done with the album, recording and mixing, when the hard-drive containing the recordings caught fire, literally our tunes were smokin’! This was the only recording that was fully salvaged. We decided to get it out into the ether before anything else went wrong and made a little video to go with it." - Colin Reid (Cuddly Shark)

Talk about kicking off my third year of free EP is style.  Once again, a huge thanks to all at Armellodie.  It goes without saying I love this label!  Here's those seven dates, the venues and the bands taking the stage.  Facebook events pages too, if you click on the links...

Thursday 2^nd Aug - Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh (Super Adventure Club, The Douglas Firs and Trapped Mice)

Friday 3^rd Aug - Duke's Corner, Dundee (The Hazey Janes, Le Reno Amps and Cuddly Shark)

Saturday 4^th Aug - The Captain's, Glasgow (Le Reno Amps, Cuddly Shark, The Scottish Enlightenment and Trapped Mice)

Wednesday 8^th Aug - Art School, Glasgow (Super Adventure Club, The Hazey Janes and Chris Devotion & The Expectations)

Thursday 9^th Aug - Tunnels, Aberdeen (Le Reno Amps, The Hazey Janes, Chris Devotion & The Expectations and Cuddly Shark)

Friday 10^th Aug - The Steamboat, Lossiemouth (Chris Devotion & The Expectations, Le Reno Amps & Cuddly Sharks)

Saturday 11^th Aug - The Thunderton, Elgin (Cuddly Shark, Le Reno Amps and Chris Devotion & The Expectations)

The Dundee, Lossiemouth and Elgin dates are FREE entry too!

So that's that.  All that leaves me to do is remind you to download the EP (and the other 24 while you're there) and pay Armellodie a wee visit.  If you're in a band and wanna record a special version of something for me, or contribute something else to one of my future EPs you think might tickle my fancy, then you can send me a wee email (kowalskiy2@gmail.com). 

K&A with The Scottish Enlightenment

Fresh from the release of their Pascal and Little Sleep EPs, The Scottish Enlightenment are set to unveil their brilliant debut album St. Thomas later this month.  Unlike other bands before them have done, the album is not a mere lumping together of these two EPs with the odd new track thrown in to appease existing fans.  Instead, only the two title tracks have made the cut and are joined by 9 cracking newbies, of which, my favourite 2 can be heard below.

Via 'cool' Al over at Armellodie Records, I posed the band a few questions.  Here's what they had to say about, amongst other things, the mathematical definition of the band, who used to bunk up with who, and their ambitious plans to mark the Queen's 100^th birthday...

Kowalskiy:  Who are The Scottish Enlightenment?

TSE:  Well, mathematically speaking The Scottish Enlightenment = (2David + Angus + Michael) - gameplan / blown.

Kowalskiy:  How did the band come about, and what's the idea behind the name? 

TSE:   The name is supposed to make people think we are clever, and talented - a hotbed of genius would be nice, but no reviewer has said that yet so it may be that the smokescreenonym is not functioning as intended. The band came about in 2005 when David met Michael and hooked David in and then eventually Angus joined. Angus and David are brothers. David and David shared a bunkbed in Aberdeen for three years. In 1999 David, on the bottom bunk, syncopated with the marital relations going on in the flat upstairs, while David chuckled. It is well known that Michael works out drum parts on a calculator. David has intermittent self-indulgent depression. That's how the band started.

Kowalskiy:  How would you describe 'your sound'?

TSE:  Miserable. That's a contingent truth though, so the next record may be all afro beats and kazoos. The St Thomas record is supposed to sound like it takes place in a big old church. David and David use sessionette amplifiers, and they contribute a lot to the sound.  Crescendo Pop. Ecclesiastic Rock.

Kowalskiy:  After the release of your Pascal and Little Sleep EPs, you're about to bring out your debut album St. Thomas. What can we expect from the album, and why 'St. Thomas'?

TSE:  The record is about doubt, and in a way it celebrates doubt. Ask Rene Descartes - doubt was great for him, did his career a lot of good. We're basically just copying him. We want to be known as the fathers of Modern Music. But the album is also about loss. Doubt and loss go hand in hand. Doubt swaps conviction for integrity. And it is also a document of the beginning of depression. So its about Doubt, loss, mental health. And living donor kidney transplant. And the place of the religious (and ex-religious) person in society. Take the foregoing with pinch of salt. Its just pop music too.

Kowalskiy:  Was it a conscious decision not to flood the album with EP tracks?

TSE:  We recorded 18 songs for the album, and weren't going to put them all on so the EPs were a way of releasing all the songs. It wasn't a matter of putting the best ones on the album and all the guff on the EPs. It was about making records that make sense as a whole. And we wanted to release all the tracks so we just found a way to do it. Bingo! Three records.

Kowalskiy:  What's the plans to promote the album?

TSE:  There is a man called Al who is one of the coolest people in Scotland right now. He runs Armellodie Records, which the album is coming out on. He is our plan. In the not to distant future we will be celebrating the record's release with special ceremonies in Edinburgh on Friday 12th November at Wee Red Bar and in Glasgow on Thursday 18th November at 13th Note. Nice.

Kowalskiy:  What's a typical Scottish Enlightenment gig like?

TSE:  David falls apart mentally and emotionally. Other David arrives late still in his school clothes. Michael and Angus mill around being the weird one and the normal one respectively. Then we take to the stage and all good things in the universe flow from every sound emitting device in the room.

Kowalskiy:  What would be your ideal gig?

TSE:  Playing on top of Buckingham palace at the Queens 100th birthday. We're all passionate royalists and it would just be a joy to see the old dear hit the ton. We could play happy birthday, but we'd probably actually play songs from the album. People would think it was a bit rum playing miserable songs on her birthday, but we think she would appreciate it. We think she listened to Smashing Pumpkins too when she was at school.

Kowalskiy:  What other Scottish bands out there are taking your fancy just now?

...there's a Scottish 'Musical' Enlightenment question in there somewhere. Can't quite word it though!

TSE:  Its best you don't, others have tried and not come off well. Everything related to Armellodie Records is the dogs. Everyone in the band would have different thoughts here. Angus is huge De Rosa fan and is regularly wetting himself at the thought of a Martin John Henry record. David likes eagleowl and The Second Hand Marching Band. David from up north has a wee baby, so probably just listens to nursery rhymes these days. Michael is quiet. There are a lot of good Scottish bands and artists just now. Kid Canaveral are amazing too. And Withered Hand.

Kowalskiy:  What does the future hold in store for The Scottish Enlightenment?

TSE:  Table Tennis. In about 5 minutes.

St. Thomas will be released on 15^th November through Armellodie Records and online from The Scottish Enlightenment's bandcamp page. Until then, the whole album can be streamed there along with their two EPs.  And just to repeat what they said above, they have two gigs coming up...

Upcoming Gigs

12^th Nov - The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh (w/ Jesus H. Foxx and Trapped Mice)

18^th Nov - The 13th Note, Glasgow

Kowalskiy Belated Review #3

Skibunny - Hugs
I'll be honest. Whenever I get an album from "promoters, remixers, DJs", it doesn't bode well for a review on Kowalskiy. That kinda music is just not usually my thing. Every-so-often though, the odd one comes along that does strike a chord with me. Hugs, the debut from Edinburgh/Belfast's Skibunny, is an album packed full of them. Kicking things off is the chilled-out electropop of recent single Aah Ooh which draws comparisons with The Postal Service, while edgier disco anthems Up Down, Walk Don't Walk and Stand Up are reminiscent of Sweden's finest, The Sounds. There's half a dozen or so choruses on this album that'll haunt your every, waking hour! Guest appearances from The Go! Team and Maps cap off a great album and show Skibunny have already made friends in high places. I'm sure they'll be making a few new friends off the back of this album too.

The Scottish Enlightenment - Little Sleep EP
I had every intention of featuring this on time, I really did! Sorry guys! Anyhoo, The Scottish Enlightenment's follow-up to their acclaimed Pascal EP is now out, and like its predecessor, it's turning quite a few heads. The opening, title track grabs your attention straight away from its anthemic White Lies-esque intro to its brooding, endless post-rock guitar close. Things are relaxed a notch or two with the cracking Get My Limousine, a sly dig at the seeming ease of fame these days which takes time to name-check two judges from a certain Saturday night talent show! It's the 7-minute atmospheric epic When You Hate Me though which stands out for me. All-in-all, this is how an EP should be. Each track contributes something a little bit different and all add up to create a cracking, understated post-rock EP! Plus, at 5-tracks it's the ideal size.... in my completely unbiased opinion!

The Last Battle - Heart Of The Land, Soul Of The Sea
Last, but by no means least, is something a wee bit special from Edinburgh's The Last Battle. Recently, just about every Scottish music blog and more than a few other sites have been heaping praise on the sextet's debut album Heart Of The Land, Soul Of The Sea. I'll be no different! The latest band to emerge from Scottish's incredible alt-folk 'scene' well-and-truly stand out from the pack. Tracks like Ruins and personal favourite Nature's Glorious Rage are up there with the best examples of what this all-encompassing genre has produced lately. The opening and closing title tracks paint the picture of two star-crossed lovers, a theme which is present throughout this stunning album. The heartbreaking Soul Of The Sea has to be the most perfect ending to any album this year. A gorgeous, gentle build up into dreamlike harmonies capped off by the unmistakable vocals of the wonderful Neil 'Meursault' Pennycook. Just stunning! With any luck, 2011, if not 2010, will be the year of The Last Battle.