Neofolk + more - free downloads...

Hi folks and welcome to the second episode of Edinburgh Unlimited online! Click the links, and please tell ALL your music loving friends to subscribe to the blog. I take time and effort to put a bunch of good music in the blog, and i want as many other people to get the enjoyment from this music that i have as well so spread the word!

Right, the first thing i want to mention this week is the next Edinburgh Unlimited gig. It's special for a number of reasons, firstly it will be the LAST one to be held at The Third Door. It has been good at The Third Door, and it's enabled us to put on some electric bands and suchlike, but we'll be moving on to the Meadow Bar in September, so keep your eyes open for that, on this blog or on our FB page.

So here are the details: It's at The Third Door (which is next door to Negociants), it's at 8pm (don't be late because the music's starting at 8:15pm) and it's on Wednesday 11 July. It only costs £3 to get in, and the performers this month are: Caro Bridges (doing a special solo acoustic set for us), Katie Forbes (from the excellent band The Dull Fudds), Calum Carlyle (yes it's me, and i'll be launching my new single Strange Skies, you can get a FREE copy if you come along in fact!, and Stevie B Good, he's a songwriter i've known for a while, and he's very good, but he rarely plays live. This is your chance to hear him performing.

I also wanted to mention that the excellent Dave Keir (i'm not kidding, if you like fingerstyle guitar playing and intelligent songwriting Dave Keir's your man) is playing the featured act set at The Montague Bar at 8pm this Saturday (7 July) AND launching his new CD too! AND he's also hosting the Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on Sunday 8 July too. And all this is free! Hard to believe i know.

Darcy DaSilva

So yeah, i'll see you at all of that, UNLESS you don't live anywhere near Edinburgh in which case let me just grab your attention back by presenting you with a downloadable set from Darcy DaSilva. She's a very good performer of original folk music, from Moniaive in SW Scotland. Here she is performing with her band last November at The Listening Room (click). Enjoy! Also, you can find Darcy on Facebook, Myspace and Soundcloud too.

Now i also wanted to just tell you about a few bands i recently heard of, because you might enjoy them too. First one is Sproatly Smith. Sproatly Smith's recently released third album "The Minstrel's Grave" is the best album i've heard so far this year. Have a listen, be warned, it's not a dip in and out type album, it's best enjoyed as a full album of music, i think, so stick it on when you have time to listen to it, sit back and enjoy.

Also, in a sort of similar vein, but totally different too (because they're American, part from anything else), it's Andrew Rose Gregory & The Color Red Band, with their 2011 album "Song Of Songs". Andrew Rose Gregory is most well known for his "Auto-Tune The News" videos, but let me assure you this album is nothing like that! I particularly enjoyed the second side of the album myself (yes, i still think of every album as side one and side two).

And finally i just heard a German (i think) artist on BBC 6Music, and he's called Fai Baba. I could only find two songs on the internet that you can listen to but here they are anyway, Peach Orchard Mama and Ocean's Child. Hope you enjoy!

I'm busy writing songs this week, now that 50/90 has started, if you're a songwriter and you need a bit of inspiration to write some songs, then 50/90 is for you, and this week is the best time to join up.

One other thing, this blog has a comment facility so please do comment, with additional links, your music recommendations, discussion, jokes, etc etc, but this isn't just me telling you about stuff, you can get involved too, communication's a valuable tool, let's make this a community rather than just a blog.

Okay, have a good week, come along on Wednesday 11th if you can, and i'll see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited