Wednesday 12 December 2012

The House That Gerry Built!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's christmas this month, i know because i attended a sumptuous and lovely christmas evening yesterday at the Voodoo Rooms. A lovely time was had by all, i am sure.

And on a similar subject, we've got our December Edinburgh Unlimited gig coming up tomorrow as well. It's on Thursday 13 December, it's upstairs in the Meadow Bar, it only costs £3 to get in and it features performances from Pol Arida, Caro Bridges, Andy Paul, and myself (Calum Carlyle) too.

Now, one other thing, here's the newest EXCLUSIVE download from Ed Unlimited, it's four songs from Gerrybhoy, recorded at last month's Unlimited gig. Click here to download for free, and i hope you enjoy Gerry's music as much as we all did on the night.

So while we're still on the subject of christmas, i have some christmas music for you. No wait! It's music you won't have heard, and that's the problem with all the christmas music you hate, it's because you're sick of it! Well, not so with this stuff, for example, here's this free EP by Fiction Family, i thought it was ace, see if you agree!


And here's a highly interesting christmas EP by Stephen Cope, check it out!

And you didn't hear it from me, but here's an 8 bit christmas album called Decembits by The Brothers Dizz. Put it on during christmas dinner with the relatives! :-)

Okay, see you at the gig (because who knows, the world might end later this month!), and hope you enjoy all the music.

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Saturday 1 December 2012

Hi there, whoever you are. I have a ton of music for you this week.

Hi there, whoever you are. I have a ton of music for you this week.

BUT before i start, you need to read this little article about yet another killing blow at live music from Edinburgh City Council. Okay, back to the scheduled programme...

Hardly anybody reads this blog so i see no need to flower it all up for you, i'll just give you the music.

There are plenty of cool trendy blogs that everybody reads, if you want to hang with the cool kids (and hear yet another singular track by someone you've already heard of). But no, you won't get that here. You'll get exclusive stuff you would never have heard otherwise, and tons of it too, and most people find that a huge turn off. Why? Because despite their protestations to the contrary most people (those who even listen to music) want more of the same old claptrap they've been listening to since they were teenagers. Whatever. I know that genuine new music is of outside interest, to a select few. My only hope is that one day (probably after i have long since become disillusioned and left this blog to its own devices, though hopefully not), some of those genuine music fans might find these little blog posts and enjoy the music i have linked to.

Okay here it comes:

The new single from Conscious Route is free to listen to and only a pound forty to download, for two songs. They're really good. There's a huge mix of styles, and yet the songs hang together really well. Check it out.

Matt Midgley's new EP is out too. He's a phenomenal and very unusual guitarist, i think you should listen to his stuff. Usually based in London he's got a gig in Edinburgh soon, you'll need to google a bit for the details though. This week, i am not doing gig listings since really, if hardly anybody's reading this actually this week, and most don't live in Edinburgh, the few that do will already know all the good gigs coming up. Okay, listen to Matt Midgley now. :-)

We had an incredibly good singer-songwriter performing at the last Edinburgh Unlimited gig called Gerrybhoy. He's really prolific and you can get over a hundred of his songs here! I hope to feature a recording of his live performance here soon as a featured download so watch this space, Gerry fans. This gives me the chance to say a quick thank you to the other performers from last month's Edinburgh Unlimited, Matt from Cancel The Astronauts, The Ferny Brackens, and Jo Hill. All were excellent, as i'm sure anyone who was in the audience will agree.

I wanted to mention End Of Neil to you as well, actually. He's this really good singer-songwriter from Clackmannanshire. Here's him doing a song and an interview for the Wee County Sessions, and he's got a soundcloud page as well. Well worth checking out. 

Now, i was just reading Pitchfork and they have some interesting articles, this one about monetising music in the 21st century for example. But mainly my attention was caught by this article about Holly Herndon, and in particular this song, check it out i think it's very original.


Okay, next thing is Noisetrade are giving away a 28 song sampler, all you have to do is "like" their facebook page to get it. I haven't listened to it yet, though i have heard a good few past releases on Noisetrade and in my view the sampler is likely to be mostly very good, with a few things i think are a bit mainstream. In short, probably worth the free download at the very least. Suck it and see.

I think that's about enough for now. I've got a ton more stuff on my list but i'll tell you about it next week i think. Off to have my breakfast now. Hope you enjoy listening to this music, and maybe one day one reader might finally post a comment on this blog. I've given up thinking readers might discuss stuff, but one comment might be nice.

Tallyho and hopefully i'll see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

PS - and i'll mention this properly next week, but put this in your diary will you, it's the next Unlimited showcase gig on Thursday the 13th of December, starring Peter Kasen, Turning Plates, Pol Arida and Calum Carlyle! :-)