Kowalskiy Singles Club #19

Nobody wants to be single at Christmas... unless you're a miserable, Scroogey cheapskate!  Kowalskiy doesn't care much for them though.  So with those singletons in mind, it's time for the final meeting of the Singles Club this year.  It's your last chance of 2012 to have your world well-and-truly rocked and who knows, maybe even a wee bit of aural... who knows where one click could lead!  Without much further ado, here's my latest batch of harpless romantics...

Human Behaviour by Safe Houses

"New Glasgow duo seek open minded electronic music loving people, must have a computer and speakers and own opinions' Check out our bandcamp and facebook...." - Safe HOUSES

A late entry into our final Singles meet of the year.  This is a belter from new Glasgow duo Safe Houses.  Get it while it's hot.   

I Don't Know, You Don't Know, We All Don't Know The Spook School by The Spook School

"Are you sitting at home alone? Have you ever found yourself longing for a partner? How about four partners? If conventional one-on-one relationships seem too easy why not try juggling four lovers at the same time! Ever get angry that your partner only has two hands? We have eight! Imagine closing your eyes and pretending to be love-wrestling an octopus! Please call us...we're not allowed in the aquarium any more..." - The Spook School

Strictly speaking, this isn't a single... but it's my blog, so my rules!  It's in fact a 5-track cassette EP which is out on Soft Power Records on the 17^th December.   You can listen to all the tracks by clicking the artwork above, and you can pre-order it to... in fact you can't.  It's sold out!  So yeah... good luck getting a copy!

Battleships by Michael Cassidy

"Young/old singer songwriter looking for appreciative audience for good time. Audience must be willing to clap and have money to spend on lavish presents for singer songwriter. Like a wedding list for presents the young singer songwriter has attached a list of acceptable presents or treats. Singer songwriters new single battleships must also be listened to and a full critique written about all the qualities that single possesses. Mainly though said singer songwriter looking for love/somebody to phone for good quality time/30 mins a week and dates must be low cost /free. Chat topics include George Osborne s latest budget but no x factor." - Michael Cassidy

Hard to believe it, but this is SINGER SONGWRITER (in case it's not clear from his ad) Michael Cassidy's debut release.  And Paisley's finest hasn't disappointed!  As always, click the artwork to go download it.   

(So THAT'S Where I Left My) Self Respect/No Way Home by Middleton Hall

"Older and slightly overweight male WLTM lovely lady of similar age and waist size for well earned romantic break beginning 26th Dec. Fondness for mince pies and whisky would be an advantage. Must be keen on animals, flying and facial hair. Ho Ho Ho!" - Gordon Helm (Middleton Hall)

How very festive from the man at the... Helm... of Middleton Hall.  This is the second single from the Dunfermline lads, and once again it's a FREEBIE!  Talk about an early Christmas present!

Crimson by M A D I S O N

"Lonely quartet of lads in search of love. Must be able to cook crystal meth to a high quality like in Breaking Bad and must enjoy Instagram. We're not looking for women who're going to pull and snap our heartstrings, we're looking for someone to play them delicately. Think you can be of assistance? Then please don't hesitate to contact. Be quick, we're on the verge and running low on meth." - Russell Ferguson (M A D I S O N)

M A D I S O N are responsible for one of the finest singles of the year... Armbands.  This follow up's been a while in coming but I'm assured there's much more to come soon!  If that's half as good as Crimson, then 2013 could be off to a red hot start.

New Year by GUMS!

"Imaginary 4 piece WLTM delusional taxi driver type for Hogmanay shenanigans Must enjoy long freezing walks, lengthy attempts at lighting cigarettes in the rain and cramped nightclubs where attempts to relive your glory years end in the 9am realisation that you’re the only person awake in an unfamiliar flat where the CD player's been skipping since 2006. You try to leave but the pile of jackets on the bed is the size of an ASDA...and they all look like yours. GSOH inessential." - Martin Smith (GUMS!)

From the men that brought you The Plimptons, comes GUMS!  This FREE festive-ish single is taken from their upcoming release Antipathy.  So if you enjoy smoking in the rain and like your musicians 'imaginary' then what are you waiting for?!!

Tides and Telegrams by The Winter Tradition

"Shortarse seeks a warm towel and a better Director. Get in touch if you like picking seaweed out of places it should never be. The people at the bottle bank fucking hate me." - Stuart Breadner (not of The Winter Tradition, but of Shootback Productions)

Fresh from whoooooping Scottish Fiction's beeehind in Round 10 of Battle Of The Bands, The Winter Tradition have released this new single from debut album Gradients.  They're a shy bunch though, so they've let the director of the video write their ad.  Speaking of the video... you can watch that here.

Windom Earle by Napoleon's Dogs

"Easily excitable band looking for male or female companion. Must like walks in the park, be accurate at throwing sticks and not mind having to pick up poo in little black bags. Expertise in Napoleonic tactics not necessary, but an advantage." - Chris (Napoleon's Dogs)

Picking up poo... these boys are spoiling you lot!!  If you're into that kinda thing, then this may be right up your street.  Windom Earle is out NOW... go fetch boy! You can catch the dogs in the 13^th Note on the 17^th December too.

Lovesick by The Prison Library

"Unlucky in love Newcastle five-piece seek breathy vocaled soulmate to make us feel high and world-safe. Is your love often rejected or unrequited? We're sure to fall in love and waste poison forever more." - Joe Frankland (The Prison Library)

Newcastle!!  I know... they're not Scottish!  Imposters the lot of them.  I'm willing to turn a blind eye when it comes to Mr. Frankland and The Prison Library though. This is a great single featuring the lovely Sarah Hall on backing vocals.  It's from their upcoming debut EP so keep an eye out for that!  Oh, and there's a video for it here too.

Lights Out by The 10:04's

"Four desperate, lonely egomaniacs (musicians) seek someone, ANYONE!!! Personality not required, looks not essential. Questionable morals a must!!!! Must be interested in naive career paths, enjoy being skint and pretending to be everyone's good friend on gig nights. LOVE YOU XXXXXXXXXX" - The 10:04's

OK, is it just me that seems to always look at my phone at 10:04?!  Well, it's always been a reminder to feature this bunch on the blog.   If you've got questionable morals and fancy some fun with the 'lights out', then you're well in here!  The single is out now for FREE along with previous single SOS.

Battle Of The Bands: Round 10

Welcome to the blow-by-blow summary of last night's tenth round of Battle Of The Bands, the Scottish music contest with more staying power than Ricky Hatton.  Going into this latest duel, Neil from Scottish Fiction and I were once again neck and neck.  You can see the full, tweet-by-tweet slogging that went on using #battleofthebandsround10 on twitter.  

With Neil's victory in the last round courtesy of the lovely TeenCanteen the series was once again level at four wins apiece.  My lone wolf Arran Arctic can hold his head high though.  He fought hard... and has a superb new album called Like Lovers out now... here!    This time around, I went for strength in numbers and roped in The Winter Tradition.  I later found out that Neil had gone down the lone wolf route with his choice Shambles Miller.  Could the shambolic duo's alliance conjure up the first away win of the series? 

You'll find out soon enough, but first, here's a quick recap of the rules.  You can of course read them in full over here.  This round, I had home advantage and picked the three attributes we'd be using.  For each of the three, the person with the highest value gets one point.  Both get a half-point in the event of a draw and losers get a big, fat zero!   I chose SoundCloud Tracks, Twitter Follow Ratio and Band Name Scrabble Score.  As ever, all stats were correct at the commencement of battle.

Right, here's the all-important stats.  Seconds out, Round 10...

Home turf proves crucial again!  Despite the early slip-up with the SoundCloud Tracks, Team Kowalskiy ran out 2-1 victors thanks to The Winter Tradition's impressive Twitter Follow Ratio, and the fact that, much to Neil's disgust, an 'L' is only worth 1 point in Scrabble.  With that, the series I've opened up a one-point lead in the series once again.  And that was without me using the contentious fact that my guys have technically been together for 10 years albeit in their previous incarnation The Void. 

But, by now you know it's not about who wins... it's all about the two artists taking part and the lovely music that they make!  So let's kick off the gratuitous plugging with my boys, The Winter Tradition. Earlier this year they released their debut album Gradients (which you can buy here!), and they've just released the video for one of the album standouts Tides and Telegrams.

There's two more chances to catch them live this year.  On the 29^th and 30^th of December they'll be playing with Flood of Red at The Third Door, Edinburgh and Broadcast, Glasgow respectively.  Tickets for both can be bought here.

Shambles Miller-time now!  He's long been a friend of the blog, and will continue to do so (even though he's in league with the enemy) if he keeps producing songs like his new topical gem, entitled Chris Brown is a **** (and Mike has some issues).  Which you can of course download for free.  As well as that, you should all go and buy his most recent single Confessions.  It's well good!

In two weeks time, prepare yourselves to witness the first away win. That includes you Neil!!

Dancercise Paint Frost Wimps

There are surprisingly few 'wimps' images on Google!

Hello there, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Boab, and I sing and play guitar in band called Campfires In Winter. Mr Kowalskiy has very kindly invited me into his domain as a guest host for his wonderful weekly notcast (a podcast without all the talking bits) to give you a little insight into what I've been enjoying over the last few weeks and months. So sit back and enjoy...

Pronto Mama – Love You
I reviewed their new EP for Peenko earlier this week, and said that this track was the best I've heard all year. I need say no more about it, it's just perfect.

Cherri Fosphate – Passion
We met the guys from Cherri Fosphate at goNORTH in Inverness the other week. I hadn't listened to them at all before but decided to go and see them at their showcase. They blew me away with their Jetpacks-esque guitar pop.

Passion by Cherri Fosphate

The Winter Tradition – San Diego
Another band I caught at GoNORTH this year. A strange one this because I'm not normally into this kinda stuff at all but this is a great tune.

San Diego by The Winter Tradition

So Many Animal Calls – Traps
Good friends of ours, but if I didn't like them I'd tell them they were shite. They're not and, as a result, played the main stage at Rock Ness last week. Then they killed it all over Scotland and in the Catty in Glasgow through the week there. This is their excellent latest single.

Traps by So Many Animal Calls

Profisee – Magikal (We Were Promised Jetpacks remix)
There's some pretty decent Scottish hip-hop around at the moment and Profisee is among my favourites. Magikal was already a cracking track but this remix has brought it into its own. Have a listen for yourself.

Magikal (WWPJ Remix) by Profisee

Ghost Lake – Late Spring Morning
The list so far has been pretty Glasgow-centric (with a wee dash of Edinburgh thrown in). That's only because I chose the songs by making a longlist of tracks from all over Scotland and eenie-meenie-ing it all down to the final five above. However, this track is one I had picked out at the start as a definite for inclusion, and is our only offering here from outside of Scotland. It comes from a Swede named Henric Wallmark (aka Ghost Lake). I've chosen this not only because he's a Swede with an absolutely fantastic first name which brings back many childhood memories, but because it's a very beautiful and delicate piece of music, and is a lovely way to end our wee podcast-without-all-the-talking-bits. Thanks very much for listening, and many thanks to Mr Kowalskiy for asking me to pick a few tracks for him this week. Boab. xx

Late Spring Morning by Ghost Lake (courtesy of Them Records)

Coastal Skid Spy Wok v11.0

'Tis a wee bit sunny outside, with not a cloud in the sky, so I'll make this week's not-strictly-a-podcast-but-not-far-off-it a quickie.  Here's six more Scottish tracks from everyone's favourite German-based Swedish music-hosting site...

It's been 5 years since NYPD's John McClane, fought off fire-selling cyber-terrorists.  Well, apparently he's back, this time with a debut album out on Halleluwah Hits.  Strangely, he's developed something of a Glaswegian accent.  Weird...

   Nailed To The Cross by Die Hard (courtesy of Halleluwah Hits)

I'm of course joking!  This is the debut album by Glasgow's Die Hard.  Scotland's answer to the Animal Collective... except with an album you can actually listen to and enjoy without thinking "what the fuck is this pish!?"... I think that's fair.  Right, onto one of my favourite bands in Scotland at the moment, PET.  They're due to release their fourth single TOGETHER APART at the start of next month.  It's up streaming on Bandcamp just now, but sadly, not SoundCloud.  So you'll have to make do with their previous offering, the equally-great WEAR BLACK.  Those guys and gal love their CAPITALS.

   WEAR BLACK by PET

Which nicely leads us onto Capitals themselves.  Smooooth!  Their new single All These Years is out on June 4^th.  Is it any good I hear you cry?  Yes.  Yes, it is.  But don't take my word for it.  Have a listen below.

   All These Years by Capitals

Now we move onto a track from Café Disco which tips the scales at a whopping 9-and-a-half Awesomes... an Awesome being a unit I just came up with having had a bit too much sun and coffee.  The scale is however, analogous to the standard 'out of 10' scale.  Time to stop typing...

Persona by Cafe Disco

Next one is from The Winter Tradition... slightly unseasonable choice maybe given the searing ball of heat in the sky at the moment.  But, it's a great track.  It's out now, so if you like it, get buying!  Incidentally, I was in San Diego a few years back.  Pished it down!  In June as well.  What a shitehole!  And what's with people calling each other 'homes' all the time!? 

   San Diego by The Winter Tradition

I feel now like I should have been picking nice summery songs.  Maybe something like this, or this.  But no.  I'll end with this from Dundee's An Echo because I like it.  Not that I don't like those others mind you.  I do.  I'm just drawn to this one that wee bit more today.  Plus, it's free!  Right, factor 30 on.  I'm offski...

   Six Alive by An Echo

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

Kowalskiy's Free Monthly 5-track Scottish EP #5 is out now. Yes, that one above that kinda looks like a goldfish! Once again, I owe a great deal of thanks to the five great Scottish bands who were kind enough to contribute one of their cracking tracks. They are....

1. The Winter Tradition - Firelight (their brilliant recent single!)

"Firelight' was the first track unleashed by newly named 'The Winter Tradition'. The track is to be featured on the bands debut album due to be released summer of 2011." - The Winter Tradition

2. Miaoux Miaoux - Ausable Chasm (track from the 'Rainbow Bubbles'-era)

"This track was made shortly after the release of my first record 'Rainbow Bubbles'. I've never been to Ausable Chasm (it's in America) but if I did, I imagine this is what it would sound like, big and deep. For more noises like this, come see me play live" - Julian Corrie (Miaoux Miaoux)

3. JJ Bull - Duck Soup (acoustic version of his album opener)

"The song is a simple one about not being able to get something you want, no matter what you do; which in this case was a particular girl. This song kind of kick-started the whole of 'Ou Sont Les Elephants' and I'm very fond of it. It also highlights why writing about personal things can lead to awkward conversations but if lyrics aren't honest and are about something I can't relate to then I don't really care" - Joseph 'JJ' Bull

4. Dead Boy Robotics - Symmetry Of The Elusive Wolves (demo) (unmastered track from their upcoming debut album)

"The song is from our as-yet-untitled 10 track album, which was recorded at Chamber Studios, Edinburgh, in September. It is currently being mixed at Tape Studio, Edinburgh by Stephen Watkins. We plan to release it in the 1st half of 2011..." - Gregor McMillan (Dead Boy Robotics)

5. The Last Battle - Song From The Last Battle (was going to be the hidden track on their debut album)

"A song that was meant to make it onto the album as a hidden track but never did. The boys in the band wanted it in there but the girls didn't so they won. No one outside the band has ever heard it. Its a nice wee 2 minute long thing. " - Scott Longmuir (The Last Battle)

Thanks a lot to everyone who contributed. If you like the sound of it, the EP is now up for free download over on my bandcamp page along with the first 4 EP's and the special Foxgang and Define Pop Festival EPs. Enjoy!

EP #6 will be out on 16^th December.  Consider it my early Christmas pressie to one and all.   That EP is already under way.  If there's any bands out there who fancy following in The Winter Tradition's footsteps and volunteer a track for one of these EPs, then send me a wee email.