Pink Lilies

One of the most sonically varied albums that Glasgow has produced in 2012. It may clang and loop and crush your inhibitions for nearly four hours straight, but this journey is highly recommended. Pink Lilies is drone. Sleep. Buzz. Weed. MDMA. Teetotal. Warm. Sticky beneath one's feet.

Free to download/stream from _ULTRA yonic presents...

TEXTURE - NEUROLEPTICA

Texture is 1/3 of Shallow Rave's current radio team, and the co-founder of boutique netlabel Black Lantern Music and spoken word noiseniks Chemical Poets. His three EPs, released on Black Lantern between 2009 and 2011, have been collected and lovingly remastered by fellow Black Lantern producer (and next Shallow Rave show's special guest!) Asthmatic Astronaut, along with two new tracks, and remixes by AA, hip-hop-blues fusionista Mild Maynyrd, THEFT//OBJECTIVE aka rapper/producer p.WRECKS, and dark electronic star I††. NEUROLEPTICA is available as a limited edition CDR with deluxe, foldout artwork by D. Miranda Pole, hand numbered and signed by Texture. 



Texture has not one but two launch gigs coming up in Glasgow - next week he plays the Black Lantern Showcase at New Life Glasgow, in Bar Bloc, from 11pm on June 30th. There are live performances from Texture, Asthmatic Asttronaut, and firebrand rapper Tickle, plus a DJ set from Monkeytribe.

The second is a soundclash between punk and hip-hop, as Texture plays live alongside Roscoe Variant & The Gantin' Schriechs, Giro Babies and Hordes of Unstoppable Skeletons. That's at The Art School on July 20th, from 8pm.

CUR$ES

A quick post about Glasgow synth trio CUR$ES, whose albums are all up for free download on their Bandcamp page. Three musicians, using a Prophet 08 synth, MIDI pads and a Yamaha drum pad station, the multi-instrumentalist band switch parts mid-song while playing live, creating a vibrant, musically capricious sound that evokes everything from Joker's purple-wow dubstep sounds to the ghost-garage of Burial or Ghostek, with detours through witch house, drag and classic synthpop. 

They're an absolutely incendiary live act, as was proved when we saw them deliver an outstanding live session in support of Com Truise at Captain's Rest last week. Have a listen to their latest album Hey, cool! I'm dead, and their recent split with ARM WTCHS FNGRS, and click through for yet more goodies from three rising stars of Scottish electronic music. We expect big things from CUR$ES as their career progresses!

Glasgow comic artists ruin their own career by giving away work for free.

Alternative Taking Flight cover by Garry Kelly

Well, it's free if you know where to find it. Otherwise you can actually buy Taking Flight by Garry McLaughlin and Stephen Sutherland in physical formats from the Laser Age Comics website. Here's their rationale behind seeidng the book on Demonoid:

Okay folks, here's an update on 'Taking Flight':

The coloured version is with UKomics for printing, and will be available to purchase at the QMU Comic Mart on April 7th. After that, it'll be available to purchase online, and we'll try to get it out there a bit further afield.

The comic is also currently being seeded on Demonoid. Recently fellow GLoW member and Glaswegian comics creator Gordon Maclean found his brand new comic 'No More Heroes' was being pirated on Demonoid. Rather than wail and gnash his teeth at this, Gordon decided to turn it to his advantage, and has received a lot of press from comic sites and blogs, interested in his take on this fairly new and emerging situation for indie comics creators.

This is something I've been thinking about for a while - is it better to clamp down on this and try to prevent piracy? Is it better to just allow it to happen and make the most of it? Or is it an idea to just put it out there yourself and see what happens?

Stephen and I aren't in this for the money, and from previous experience, I know that it's highly unlikely we'll make any profit from the comic - we're doing it because we love making comics, and because we want to get our stuff out there, increasing our skills and exposure in the hope of getting professional work at some point.

So 'Taking Flight' on Demonoid is *not* pirated, it is a genuine, free torrent, direct from the creators. Of course we'd love for those of you who know us to buy the comic if you can, but if you want to trial it, or if you have no intention of buying it, feel free to download it.

No, I'm not providing links. You'll have to go out there and discover it for yourself. This is an experiment that could backfire on us slightly, but so far, 95 people globally have read 'Taking Flight'. In two days. That's more than ever read any single issue of the Year of Fear titles. And we're already getting constructive comments and dialogue from those readers and it's significantly upped the traffic to the website, www.laseragecomics.co.uk, which is great.

Whether you do decide to buy or download your copy, we'd be interested in hearing from you, and why you went for the decision you did.

Meantime, if you want to pre-order your colour copy, head over to the website now.

iFormat in La Cheetah Tonight

If you like techno, you probably already know who Joe McGeechan is. He's built a worthy reputation under his own name and as part of the BCR Boys crew, and he's now working under the name iFormat (his recent podcast for sleaze is wroth a swatch, if you're unfamiliar) .

Tonight he's playing in La Cheetah, one of Glasgow's most exciting venues for electronic music at the moment. He's being supported by forward thinking techno collective, Resurface Records. While his live set is gonna be well wroth catching, Those in the know will be getting down early to catch the residents in action.

Fiver in, 11 til 3.

WIld Combination birthday party

Hosted by Babs (David Barbarossa) with special guest Dissident/World Unknown's Andy Blake, this will be great fun. The flyer is awesome too:

Tangles "Somewhere Special" demo

For a demo this is pretty good:

SOMEWHERE SPECIAL?(no where else to put it demo) by tangles

Soundex Phonetic - Weegies Wobble But They Don't fall Down E.P.

This is good and it's very very free.

Grab grab grab grab grab:

Undex Test (Weegies Wobble But They Don't Fall Down E.P. - Free DL) by Soundex Phonetic Freetrax
No Mean City (Shotgun Edit) - (Weegies Wobble But They Don't Fall Down E.P. - Free DL) by Soundex Phonetic Freetrax
The G-Hill Blues (Weegies Wobble But They Don't Fall Down E.P. - Free DL) by Soundex Phonetic Freetrax
Last Man Standing (Weegies Wobble But They Don't Fall Down E.P. - Free DL) by Soundex Phonetic Freetrax
Haud On (Weegies Wobble But They Don't Fall Down E.P. - Free Download) by Soundex Phonetic Freetrax

Glasgow in 1971 (dreaming of 1980)

via Emma Shannon:

Glasgow 1980 (1971) from TheGMan1974 on Vimeo.

Limmy scratch vid

Kind of genius:

Save Otago Lane

From the Save Otago Lane group email:

"Today is the last opportunity we have to make a posted objection to the development proposals on Otago Lane. There are 349 responses registered by the council though they say there may be a backlog. The more we can send them, the stronger the message of public support. We have to get more in.

Please, if you have time, write a letter and send it today to Development and Regeneration Services, 229 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1QU or send an email to planning.representations@drs.glasgow.gov.uk (TODAY).

Make sure your letter has material considerations, meaning reasons for objection that the council will take into consideration:
- traffic generation (there has been no provision for parking, research into traffic impact and no alternative scheme proposed);
- destruction of the Wild Life Corridor (the blocks planned for the river bank will mean the removal of a large area of the officially recognised Wildlife corridor);
-Residential Principle 6 (RES 6) which specifically demands that large buildings cannot be built on back lanes with muse cottages. Proposals are for buildings rising to 6-8 storeys
- Out of keeping with Glasgow West Conservation Area in style and in use of materials and scale
- Over Development - there will be potentially 200 people moving into the lane.

There are many more points which can be made - check out the website for more info.

Thanks for your support

OLCA "

The Return of Croc v Croc!

It's been a while but they're back, tonight at the Art School. And what a line up they have! It's pretty much every good band in Glasgow right now:

Remember Remember
Ultimate Thrush
Divorce
Pro Life
North American War
BONG MONSTER
Holy Mountain
The Cosmic Dead
The John Knox Sex Club
Gropetown
Tangles

More info on the Facebook page.

Gravious - Junction City EP

Gravious - Junction City EP - Saigon Rec
Gravious, one of Glasgow's earliest exponents of dubstep (Kode9 doesn't count, he's from Wishaw) returns with a 3-track EP on Saigon recordings, who's debut 12" from Orphan101 was one of the more interesting releases I came across last year. Gravious' first release, Wormsign / Monolith was a brooding mass of almost imperceptible bass-frequencies, sparse percussion and Tubby-esque echochamber work, chewing up everything from grime and jungle, to dub and the sound emerging from London at the time. It was an absolute beast, and I remember a live set in the 13th Note (for Tronic, I think) totally blowing me away a couple of years back.
This 3-track EP, is frankly, great bass music from a producer who's grown massively over the years - the title track beasts in with syncopated percussion battling against a very techno synth on the 4/4, the hi-end being taken up by Joker-esque pixel melodies that rattle around with frustrated energy. Dynamic breakdowns and big filter sweeps make for a seriously beatiful experience, and Gravious manages to throw in a little bit of everything without turning schizophrenic, shifting time signature on the final 32 and moving into Autechre / Plaid territory. Nice.
Following this up, Lodestone begins as a much darker proposition, all skulking bassline and fractured breaks that sounds like 2562 minus the bongos, before a delicate plucked melody takes over, and it morphs into some kind of post-modern trance variant. Devolving the Ibiza big-room sound and scattering it over the brooding fragments of the intro to merge both the euphoric and the melancholic perfectly.
Final track, Lunar Module, is suitably cosmic, showing that Gravious has been keeping a keen ear on Rustie, Joker, Gemmy and the rest, and has really learnt how to craft rich sounds in his career. Junction City deserves to something as big as Bad Science or Brkn Clln, and it's a pretty special effort from a producer who's grown massively, but for those who were hoping for more of the shuddering darkness a la Martyn, Shackleton etc, this is much more of a 'pop' EP - a searing bag of dancefloor destroyers. Get it bought.

Lola Does David (again)

Lola Dupré goes from strength to strength:

Winning Sperm Party Xmas Downloads

WSP goes from strength to strength - as well as having a recent website overhaul, they've just put out a new batch of releases as a Christmas gift to the public. There are 5 releases by 6 bands, repping the best in underground art-rock from the Glasgow scene, including FUCKNO act Blue Sabbath Black Fiji. Also featured are Triple School, North American War, Phat Trophies, Gropetown and the amazingly named Pro Life. Here they are:



Blue Sabbath Black Fifi "French Cuisine" EP



North American War "Me And MY GI Joes" EP



Pro Life "Pro Life" EP




Triple School "Triple Sick" EP




Gropetown / Phat Trophies split tape

Glesga Nature

One of the funniest clips I've seen in a long time - and only 2800 views! C'mon peeps let's make this viral:

Browntown's 24 Top Noise Tracks of 2010

As chosen by Andy Brown, the drummer in Remember Remember and the mighty Divorce. So his noise-rock appreciation credentials are impeccable. And it looks like it's been a good twelve months for this kind of thing:

THE JOIZE OF NOIZE 2010 by Andy Browntown


Andy says:
"Here's a bunch of noisy songs that came out in 2010 that I really really fucking loved. It's not a best-of-the-year or anything (there was lots of not-noisy stuff I liked this year too, shocker!), and it's not any specific order either, it's just a bunch of awesome tunes that I am basically demanding you listen to. Sorry if it all seems a bit ego-centric, this isn't me going 'isn't my taste amazing, recognize' (not entirely), it's more me wanting to share the wealth. I've included any and all details I've got so you can maybe track down more shit by the bands featured, plus my personal opinions on them all too, cos I've got a big gob."

If you go to the Soundcloud page there's a bit of info and links for each band. Noice!

The New Divorce

Divorce are back!! Having dusted themselves off after the departure of Hillary and Sinead a few months ago, the gals have regrouped, got a new singer and just put a brand spanking new tune up on their blog. And bloody hell it's good!!


Divorce - Love Attack by Andy Browntown

MUNGO'S HI-FI Interview

Tonight sees the LAST EVER Mungo's Hi-FI at the Glasgow School of Art, before Scotland's number 1 reggae and dubstep sound system move on to pastures green(er). I caught up with Mungo's selectah Doug to ask about the move, and the future plans:

So why is Mungo's Hi Fi leaving the Art School?

Firstly, and most importantly, it's closing down in the summer for a 2 year refurbishment, so we needed to find a new venue in any case. The impetus to go was made stronger when 2 of the last 5 dates we had for 2011 were given away to other nights.

And where to after that?

So on to Stereo on Renfield Lane. We like the folks that run it, we like the other nights that are on there and we are allowed to use our sound system. It's a bit small, but that means the bass will be nuts and it will be rammed, making for what we love best - vibes.

What was the best night you had at the Arty?

That's a really hard question - I've written them all up in our blog so maybe we could have a vote on it? I guess if you waterboarded me for an answer I would say February with Kenny Knots. Check the recording and there's a wee video as well.




How did it compare to the venue before that, the Woodside Social Club?

The Woodside was beautifully intimate - it felt more like a house party. But we really wanted to bring some other acts to Glasgow, and we needed a bigger venue like the Artschool to make it viable. What we discovered though, was that people weren't too fussed about the guests, and just wanted to come out for a dance, so it didn't matter too much who we brought, we'd still get the same sort of numbers turning up. Which is why we are now re-focussing on bringing the acts we want to see, and not caring if they have a profile that will bring a crowd.

What have you got forthcoming on Scotch Bonnet?

Our next release on Scotch Bonnet is a 12" coming out at the beginning of January and is called Everyman Different. It's a reworking of Errol Dunkley's original, and Tom has made has made a rough riddim track for it. The vinyls are in the studio and ready to rock. Soon after that will come the massive Play Music Selector release featuring Little John and Jah Thomas, with mixes from Mungo's and RSD, and extra vocals from Lady Ann and Ranking Levy...Then a Japan exclusive Sound System Champions 2 to coincide with our tour there in February, followed by a Mexican exclusive, and a general release. We're working on an album with Soom T, and there is a shed load of other crackers waiting to bust out.

And how is Scrub A Dub going?

Scrub a Dub is going well, with a huge response to our last release called Vampayaa. The vocal is by PupaJim (coming to Glasgow in May) with Tayo and Acid Rockers on the riddim track, with massive remixes by Marcus Visionary, RSD and Starkey. Next up is our Refix of Eek a Mouse's Hire and Removal, then we hope Yellowman's Ram Dance Master.



Why did you decide to start another label exactly?

We started Scrub a Dub to be able to go a bit further with the electronic side to our music which our core Scotch Bonnet fans might not be able to stomach. But the two labels seem to be converging which I take to mean that we are managing to tread the middle path.

What has been your most popular record so far (of any genre)?

I think the most popular record we have released has been Belly Ska. It was on our first 10" on Scotch Bonnet but then we revisited it on two more 10"s and since then we get remixes and mashups coming in pretty much every month. General Levy and several other vocalists have included versions on their albums and it has been played live by many touring bands. Just this week I found a video with Luciano and Mikey General finishing off their set with it, and I got a new remix from Dubatak in Sao Paolo. See below to download

What new producers (from Jamaica or further afield) are you diggin right now?

Disrupt the Jahtari label boss has to come top of the list. Brand new album coming out with Soom T in January with the launch night at our first night in Stereo.
RSD - Rob Smith of Smith and Mighty fame has a lot of synergies with us, and he seems to have the knack of making truly excellent music time after time.
I could go on, but I'll stop there.

Has there been an anthem of 2010 for you?

I guess 'International Roots' featuring Earl 16 on the Bad From riddim has the ring of an anthem, and has also be doing the remix rounds with LD's release on Dub Police.



How was your summer - any gigs anywhere exciting?

Last summer was unforgettable cos we took the sound system all over Europe, through Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and finishing up in Croatia for the Outlook Festival, which was just the icing on the cake. We ran a stage all week in a squatted Austro-Hungarian Sea Fort on the Adriatic with an insane lineup. We are already signed up for 2011.

What's so special about Reggae anyway?

Reggae is one of the richest relatively untapped seams of musical heritage. And it has a future as well as a past, which many people fail to be able to visualise. It is a worldwide heritage fuelled by ganga and good vibes. But I'm not going to convince you by chatting about it - the only way is to experience it on a real sound system. Why not come down to the Artschool tonight to hear what all the fuss is about?



Doug mentioned above a remix of the Mungo's classic "Belly Ska" by Brazil's Dubatak - well he's been kind enough to let us give it away for free, bless 'im:


MUNGO'S HIFI Belly Ska (Dubatak Remix) by littlerockrecords

Ravers take to street for illegal party

From the Evening Times:

Hundreds of clubbers held a giant rave party in a city street over the weekend.
Midland Street became a dance floor in the early hours of Saturday morning when clubbers poured out of The Arches at 3am to be greeted by a Volkswagen Golf with speakers in the boot.
It pulled up and started blasting out music, blocking the street for one and a half hours.
The atmosphere was “frenetic”, according to one witness.
Despite the fact the city centre is busy with police on weekends, not a single officer saw the crowd or reported it.
Although the event was described as “good natured” and no complaints were made, a leading Glasgow MSP called for a police investigation.
Club promoter Chet Capkiner, 25, who organised the party, said: “We had a great time.

Read all about it.