EYES OF OTHERS - NIGHTWALKING EP

I've already highlighted Eyes Of Others as one to watch both on here and on one of my other homes, Scottish Fiction. Proving that Edinburgh is as fertile a ground for electronic music as Glasgow is, Eyes Of Others produce striking synthpop mixed with a dancier feel and it just works. Their new e.p. Nightwalking is released today (6 November) and from beginning to end, it's a joy.

Opener When It Suits moves from 80's influenced synths to the type of soaring, slightly melancholic pop the Pet Shop Boys once specialised in and it sets the e.p. off on the right tack immediately. Rugged Bunch Of Hunks, which is the most Pet Shop Boys title the Pet Shop Boys have never used, is another superb track. Again, there's an 80's feel to the synth sounds but there are also distinct New Order like vibes, almost sounding like a lost Power, Corruption & Lies track in places which is ace. It's followed by the laid back synthpop meets dreampop Vibrates Inside You which is in one moment all floaty atmosphere and then in the next a powerful, guitar led wall of melody that is quite magnificent. We then end on Middles Meet which has a definite feel of early Depeche Mode to it both musically and lyrically, and, from this blog, that is nothing more than a high recommendation.

Nightwalking is an impressive addition to what is already an impressive back catalogue and it highlights the talent Eyes Of Others have for atmospheric, thoughtful synthpop. Definitely one you want to hear

Nightwalking e.p. by Eyes Of Others is out now on Club Fandango/INgrooves and is available from all the usual digital retailers including ITunes

Eyes Of Others Facebook https://www.facebook.com/myeyesofothers/?fref=ts
Eyes Of Others Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/eyesofothers

TUFF LOVE - DREGS EP

Glasgow duo Tuff Love really are quickly becoming a favourite of mine. I still regularly play their previous two e.p's Junk and Dross and Dregs has already joined them on heavy rotation. All three are released through the excellent Lost Map label by the way - it's a label you should all check out. Anyway, to Dregs itself.

The opening track Duke is a wonderful start to the e.p, perfectly displaying the band's ability to merge laid back, summery, lo-fi vibes with fuzzed up noise that brings to mind The Pixies somewhere between Doolittle and Bossanova. The vocals and harmonies are, as ever, spot on too and the change of pace around 2 minutes 20 seconds in a beautiful thing. Crocodile focuses more the harder side of Tuff Love's sound, balancing the louder approach with the pop like vocal melody and then Threads increases the pace more and sounding like a track you know will be superb live. Amphibian and Carbon round off the e.p. with both tracks more reflective in sound and tone than their predecessors, yet they still fit the e.p. perfectly. 

With Dregs, Tuff Love have once again shown that they are band who really are up to something special. It will be a welcome addition to any music collection and, given that their stock is bound to rise sooner rather than later, I'd recommend you investigate Tuff Love right now. You'll want to be able to tell your friends that you knew them first

Dregs is available now on Lost Map Records download and 10" yellow vinyl

Tuff Love http://www.reallytufflove.com/
Lost Map Records http://lostmap.com/products/tuff-love-dregs-ep

GUS HARROWER - GIRL I DIDN'T KNOW

Edinburgh singer/songwriter Gus Harrower releases his debut single Girl I Didn't Know today, following up his well received Mystery e.p. which popped up on Soundcloud earlier in the year. The song is a full on pop cracker that has many layers to it, with Paul McCartney in his Wings pop phase like guitar lines and melodies running throughout the song. It's as catchy as anything you'll have heard in a while and it's certainly worth checking out.

The single is available on ITunes and Spotify (links below) and it's accompanies by Stuck On You which you can hear below. 

Girl I Didn't Know is a remarkably confident debut single and it's testament to the talent Gus clearly has as you can hear for yourself at the launch show at The Mash House in Edinburgh tomorrow night (7 November). On the evidence of this single, it's safe to say we'll be hearing a lot more about Gus in the very near future.

Girl I Didn't Know by Gus Harrower is available now on ITunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id1055385188?app=itunes), Spotify and other digital retailers.

Gus Harrower Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gusharrowermusic/?fref=ts

BELIEFS - LEAPER

Toronto's Beliefs release their second album Leaper on 13 November on the ever impressive Hand Drawn Dracula label. Leaper is an album of shoegaze influenced indiepop that pays homage to the likes of The Pixies, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and even The Wedding Present, who are a personal favourite of mine, so all the signs point to something very good. What you ultimately get is an album that is as fresh as a daisy, full of fuzzy guitars, great washes of noise and superb melodies, leading to an album that is surely bound to make Beliefs pop up on many people's radars.

Opener Tidal Wave is as good an example of what's to come as anything. An opening feedback squall leads to an MBV like drone of distorted guitar and your attention is grabbed from the off.  I don;t know if it was deliberate or not, but the Dinosaur Jr referencing lyrics ("You're living all over me") are a nice touch. It's a superb start, yet it's trumped by the simply outstanding 1992 which is one of the best things I've heard in ages. Part Pixies, part joyous guitar pop, 1992 is a track you HAVE to hear and you can so below - you can't fail to love it.  Colour Of Your Name comes next sounding like The Wedding Present circa Seamonsters but having fun. It's a summery feeling track albeit one masked in wonderfully fuzzy guitars. Drown and the title track take the pace down a notch, focussing more in atmosphere albeit with added feedback and aggression in the latter which compliments the mood nicely before the excellent pop like Ghosts arrives, wrapping you up in its loveliness.

The album is basically a succession of impressive tracks that doesn't relent at all. Morning Light is another noise encased pop gem and it's followed by Go Ahead And Sleep which reminds you of Ride at their most intense before they let Andy Bell have too much influence. The penultimate Leave With You perhaps suffers by comparison to the breathless opening nine tracks of the album but, that said, it still impresses. The record then ends on the brilliantly titled Swooner which starts off quieter than you might expect but builds to a booming, echo laden climax that ends the album perfectly.

As I said at the outset, Beliefs are band you are bound to hear a lot about soon given the quality of Leaper. There is no harm at all in making a record that pays homage to your influences, as long as there is enough of you in the record itself. Beliefs more than achieve that with Leaper and it is an album that you really have to get your hands on.

Leaper by Beliefs is released on 13 November on Hand Drawn Dracula. It's available on download an a limited edition of 300 translucent green vinyl. I've managed to get one.

Beliefs Facebook https://www.facebook.com/weareBeliefs/?fref=ts
Hand Drawn Dracula Beliefs Artist Page http://handdrawndracula.com/artists/beliefs/

ERASURE - ALWAYS: THE VERY BEST OF ERASURE

Erasure are 30 years old this year and to celebrate that the band have released a new Best of compilation called Always - The Very Best Of Erasure. Available through Mute, the album is available digitally and on single cd and 3 cd formats. If you're a fan of British pop music then most, if not all, of the songs on the standard release will be familiar to you and will immediately bring a smile to your face. I've been a fan of the band since The Circus and listening to the main cd over the last couple of days has been a joy. It is simply impossible to find fault with the likes of Oh L'Amour, Ship Of Fool, Blue Savannah, yet even songs that good cower in the shadows of A Little Respect, Drama!, Chorus and Love To Hate You which are simply four of the greatest songs ever recorded. Like many other songs I love, A Little Respect thrills me every time I hear it and that will never change. One pleasing aspect of this collection is the inclusion of latter day classics Breathe and Elevation, both of which shows that Erasure can still more than cut it when it comes to electronic pop.

If, for some inexplicable reason you haven't heard it, you need to change that and, if you don't know anything about Erasure, then you need to get the standard cd version of Always - The Very Best Of Erasure as it's as good an introduction to the band as you could get.

Enough of the standard version however as the deluxe 3cd version is far too intriguing a prospect to ignore. Over the additional two cds you'll find 23 remixes, some of them landmark classics and some of them brand new. Of the brand new mixes, two stand out. The Circus (Eternal Eraser Mix by Grumbling Fur) takes the original work theme of the original (the closest Erasure ever came to Industrial - think Depeche Mode's Construction Time Again without the metal) and turns it into a tense, rhythmic track which works splendidly. The second new mix to look out for is Chains Of Love (Vince Clarke Remix) in which Vince turns the original into a dancefloor friendly, electro remix that is quite marvelous. It's similar to the live version from The Violet Flame tour and also has echoes of Vince's outstanding Behind The Wheel remix for the last Depeche Mode remix project. 

ERASURE - The Circus (Grumbling Fur Eternal Eraser Mix) from erasureinfo on Vimeo.

It's likely that most Erasure fans will be familiar with the older remixes that feature here. The likes of Drama! (Krucial Mix), Chorus (Vegan Mix) and You Surround Me (Mark Saunders Remix) are all worth hearing again and again and it's a real treat to be reminded of classics like this. Like the songs on the main cd, hearing these remixes transports me back years and I can remember hearing for the first time. The remix of Chorus for example featured originally on the limited edition 12" and cd single for Am I Right? and I still recall seeing an advert for that in Melody Maker on a Saturday morning in Castle Douglas and going straight into Barnstorm in Dumfries to pick up the 12". 

Ultimately, Erasure have been with most of us for so long that the vast majority of this album will be familiar and will stir many memories. Some people may have lost touch with them over the years and some people might never have heard them. As a way of reacquainting or introducing yourself to one of the most important bands Britain has produced, Always - The Very Best Of Erasure is a great place to start.

Always - The Very Best Of Erasure is out now and is available through Mute Records on 1 cd, deluxe 3 cd and download

Erasure Official http://www.erasureinfo.com/

OKRAA - VULTUR E.P.

Hot Gem Tunes is one of the labels I keep banging on about ( see also Night School Records and Hand Drawn Dracula. Oh and Mute - always Mute) as each release on the label is a joy. Following on from releases by Machines In Heaven, Fiona Soe Paing and YuTaNi, Hot Gem has now released Vultur e.p.  by OKRAA a.k.a Colombian producer Juan Carlos Torres Alonso and it's a cracker. The combination of South American electronics and Glasgow based record label seems like a match made in heaven.

The e.p's four tracks are a glorious riot of beats, electronica and melody that is spot on from the off. The opener and title track starts proceedings off perfectly, combining 2 step with some big analogue sounds quite wonderfully and then the e.p's highlight, the sublime Utica lands, with vocals reminiscent of Jonsii from Sigur Ros over a shimmering, euphoric backing. It's brilliant. Aalasu follows, mellower in tone with beats and bleeps in all the right places, before we end on Trianae featuring Amilie which is the most dance orientated track here and it finishes the e.p. with a proper flourish. 

Vultur is a fascinating release and one that immediately grabs you. It sounds fresh, modern and keeps on eye on hooks throughout, meaning that you're extremely likely to find something you want here. Well worth checking out straightaway.

Vultur e.p. by OKRAA is available now on Hot Gem Tunes via Itunes, Amazon, Juno and Bookmat with physical formats available from Rough Trade and others.

Hot Gem Tunes http://www.hotgem.co.uk/OKRAA.html

Rough Trade http://www.roughtrade.com/albums/97975

MT. DOUBT - SOAK

Regular readers will know that Edinburgh's Mt. Doubt is something of a favourite of this blog's. My Past Is A Quiet Beast is one of this year's outstanding debut albums and Mt Doubt's live performances add new layers to the intricacies of the recorded versions of the tracks, giving them a Springsteen/Eddie Vedder/The National hybrid feel that doesn't fail to impress.

Showing that they're not resting on any laurels, the band have released a new single Soak which is free to download from the Soundcloud link below. Soak starts off sounding more confident that Mt Doubt have ever sounded, combining a chopping guitar riff with Leo Bargery's standout vocals before opening up and welcoming you into a delightful chorus which adds a superb harmony and vocal from Annie Booth. Like all Mt Doubt's music there are many layers to explore here and it's yet more proof that Mt Doubt are onto something special.

Soak by Mt Doubt is out now and is available as a free download.

Mt Doubt Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MtDoubt/?fref=ts