SCOTTISH BANDS AND ARTISTS WANTED

As you may know, this blog and Scottish Fiction released a few e.p's last year called Almost Scottish Fiction. Our idea was to release a free monthly e.p. showcasing the best new Scottish music and the response we had was fantastic.

We're about to start the monthly release schedule again and so, if you are a Scottish band or artist, please feel free to submit tracks to us at almostpredictablealmost@gmail.com 

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that it has a specific interest in electronic music but please feel free to send music of all genres.

Every release comes out on the first Monday of each month,is free and is available to download from this blog and Scottish Fiction's own bandcamp pages. The next release is scheduled for 8 February and there are still a couple of spaces left.

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 5

Every month, I team up with Neil from Scottish Fiction to put together a six track e.p. showing off the best new Scottish music which we then make available to you lovely people to download entirely free of charge. You simply couldn't get better value. This month's e.p. is a cracker and can be obtained, once again at no cost to you at all here:

https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-5

This month's tracks are:

EARTHS - KANGERLUSSUAQ

Kangerlussuaq demonstrates a new, previously unseen side to Earths. Stripped away from the fuzz and lo-fi elements, we see uplifting guitars, crisp percussion and haunting vocals.

POOR FRISCO - WHAT'S LEFT OF IT

Taken from their forthcoming debut album, What's Left Of It showcases Poor Frisco at their best. With shades of The Shins and The Pixies at play, What's Left Of It is a great track from the East Kilbride five piece

THE MAYBES - WHAT YOU CAN REMEMBER

The Maybes are a Glagsow based duo whose recent e.p. Contra Todos features this track, What You Can Remember, which displays their melodic indiepop at its best.

GUS HARROWER - MYSTERY

Mystery is the lead and title track from the debut e.p. by Edinburgh's Gus Harrower. At only 17, Gus is already a talented singer/songwriter who brings to mind the likes of Bon Iver.

YuTaNi - MT. MINAKAMI

YuTaNi is the solo project of Machines In Heaven's Connor Reid. His album, At The End Of A Day, is a superb mix of downtempo and ambient eletronica. Mt. Minakami is the album's centrepiece - a beautiful slice of eletropop influenced electronica and one of this year's outstanding tracks.

NOTHING UNIVERSE - PYRE

With a track from the band's live e.p. recorded at King Tut's, this track showcases the direction Nothing Universe, previously known as Phases, have been taking with their music. Layered, dense and intriguing, Pyre builds things up only to tear it all down in a climatic frenzy.

Stream the whole album below and then go and help yourself to a download:

Thanks once again to all the artists for taking part and thanks to you for listening. Make sure you check out all the bands' various social media pages.

MT. DOUBT - MY PAST IS A QUIET BEAST

Mt. Doubt is a solo project by Edinburgh based musician Leo Bargery and his debut album My Past Is A Quiet Beast is something rather special. Mixing introspective lyrics with large scale sounds, think a mix of Radiohead, Arcade Fire and The National, My Past Is A Quiet Beast is a really impressive and confident debut with much promise.

Opener Beast is a slow building, brooding affair, with the phrase "My past is a quiet beast"  repeated throughout, building to a power ending that certainly sounds cathartic for Bargery. The next track Feathers is the opposite of Beast,  all pop and melody and really quite brilliant. It's my stand out track from the album and one you'll certainly want to hear (listen below). Slump displays the darker side of Mt Doubt again, before Bend Sinister lets some light back in albeit in the dark yet optimistic way The National handle their lighter moments. It's been said many times already by those who've heard Mt. Doubt, but there is definitely something of the Matt Berninger in the way Bergary delivers his vocals and that's of course no bad thing at all.

Fans of this blog and the Almost Scottish Fiction releases will already be familiar with the excellent Bend which featured on the third e.p. (here) and the track works beautifully when heard in its album setting. Dancing Phantoms and  I Break Spirit follow Bend and both are atmospheric slices of dark indie pop and they lead to the swirling, gripping Telmessos which, like many tracks here sounds like it would be comfortably at home in some pretty big venues. The influence of The National is again felt on another of the album's stand outs Soft Wrists, before we end on Asunder, a rousing, joyous finale to what has been a hugely enjoyable album.

My Past Is A Quiet Beast really is an intriguing and rather wonderful debut and it deserves as much attention as it can possibly get. Highly recommended.

Mt. Doubt play live at The Hug & Pint, Glasgow on Tuesday 4 August headlining the Scottish Fiction Presents... gig. Tickets are £5 and are available from www.hugandpint.com

My Past Is A Quiet Beast is out now and is available on Mt. Doubt's Soundcloud page and on cd here http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ByLandCollective

NEW BANDS 2015 NO. 14 - BUNNY & THE INVALID SINGERS

Bunny and The Invalid Singers are a project of Edinburgh based singer/artist Bunny and their new release on Bearsuit Records, The Invalid Singers, is my first taste of Bunny's unique and rather enjoyable music. From what I can hear, there are elements of sixties style pop, electronic music, industrial music and even classical music contained within this album. The album itself may well be bewildering in places on first listen, but repeated plays reveal more and more and, ultimately, you end up with something rather special. There are certain bands who I think this record shows traces of like Pavement or Einsturzende Neubauten whose work has a similar effect on this listener and that's no bad thing at all. 

The opening track from the album Ask The Man Inside Your Head recently featured on Almost Scottish Fiction Vol 4 (here) and was a welcome addition to the e.p. It seems to swerve between around 6 styles over its 4 and a half minutes but don't for a second let that put you off. It's a superb track as you can hear below

Throughout the album there are moments that are so inventive you can't help but love it and tracks like the title track itself (with vocals by Japanese singer Asuka Tanaka), Hallucinating Felt Beasts and The Putty Legs of Dusty McGuire are definitely among the most unique things I have heard in a long, long time. The latter surely has Song Title of The Year 2015 sown up too.

Go and check out The Invalid Singers on the links below and let Bunny into your world. It's an adventure you don't want to miss out on

The Invalid Singers by Bunny & The Invalid Singers is out now on Bearsuit Records and is available on cd and the usual digital outlets

Bearsuit Records http://bearsuitrecords.bandcamp.com/

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 4

Another month, another new entirely free e.p. of great Scottish music for your listening pleasure from us and Scottish Fiction. This month we've got a superb mix of tracks for you which we know you're going to love. As ever, thanks to the artists for donating their tracks and thanks to you for listening. Remember to go and check out the bands' Facebook and Twitter pages once you've grabbed your free download from here:

https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-4

This month's tracks are:

AQUAFAUX - SEE THE RAIN

Edinburgh's Aquafaux produce driving synthpop and See The Rain from their recent e.p. Spellbound is a prime example of that. Combining the band's trademark electronics with a Garbage like chorus, See The Rain is a wonderful example of electropop.

UBRE BLANCA - TAXED

Every now and again there comes along music that your brain can't quite immediately process. Ubre Blanca are a band like that - with experimental electronica verging on out-of-this-world prog. Taxed is a track from their 2013 release Polygon Mountain and is an excellent introduction to the band.

SHONA BROWN - ALL I HAVE (ORIGINAL MIX)

Shona Brown's ambitious "10 in 10" project, which has seen her release a single a month since November 2014, has been one of the most interesting and enjoyable events in Scottish music this year. All I Have perfectly demonstrates all her skills, with looped electronics and flute combining to quite wonderful effect

BUNNY & THE INVALID SINGERS - ASK THE MAN INSIDE YOUR HEAD

Edinburgh based musician/artist Bunny has just released his second album The Invalid Singers and this track is one of the standouts on what is a superb album

DEC. '91 - WHEN YOU COME

Playing under the pseudonym of Dec. '91, Craig Ferries uses the simples of ingredients - a guitar and his voice - to craft encapsulating stories of melancholia. He's an artist who has been on our radar for a while, with a series of home releases and more recently hooking up with Gold Mold Records for the album Quebec. The track featured here is a brand new one.

WENDELL BORTON - ADJUSTING

Naming your band after an obscure character from The Simpsons is always a winner in our book. Luckily, Aberdeen's Wendell Borton have the music to back it up. Raw, loud and slightly slacker alt-rock - what's not to love?

Stream the e.p. below and go ahead and download it at https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-4

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 3

Today sees the release of Volume three of Almost Scottish Fiction e.p. which is a collaboration between us and fellow Scottish music blog, Scottish Fiction. Each month we bring you six tracks by six Scottish artists and this month we've lined up six cracking tracks for you.

Head to the Almost Predictable Almost or Scottish Fiction bandcamp pages (links below) to grab your free e.p. and enjoy the music. Be sure to check out the six bands' various websites and social media pages too and keep supporting the Scottish music scene. Your tracks this month are:

Machines In Heaven - Taxpayers Compass

Machines In Heaven have provided us this exclusive track for this release. Combining the power of Aphex Twin and Radiohead circa Kid A, this is a masterclass in electronic pop music that still retains the band's experimental edge.

Mt. Doubt - Leap

Taken from Mt. Doubt's debut album My Past Is A Quiet Beast, this track is a driving number with shimmering guitars creating a War On Drugs style feel. Leo Bargary's vocals complete the package with a baritone quality reminiscent of Matt Berninger.

Shards - Just To Get Something Started

Shards debut release Just To Get Something Started perfectly shows off the band's brand of melancholic electronica, which the band have christened melancholitronica. It's part ambient, part experimental and really rather fantastic

WASHED - One To Five

WASHED is the new electronic project by David, previously of Fiction Faction. This track, One To Five, offers a tasty insight into what has been going on in the studio, with reverb vocals draped over rising and see-sawing synths.

In:Tides - Yours Is The Earth

Yours Is The Earth is the closing and title track from Glasgow post-rockers in:tides latest e.p. If you like your music layered, building and with arena filled atmosphere, then this will be right up your street.

Analog Angel - Your Breath

Your Breath is Analog Angel's most recent single, released ahead of their rather exciting support slot with former Kraftwerk man, Wolfgang Flur in Norwich on 20th June. The track is a much poppier affair than the band's previous releases, though no less powerful.

To download the e.p. head to our bandcamp page https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-3 or Scottish Fiction's https://scottishfiction.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-3

Thanks to all the bands for allowing us to use their music. Thanks too to Stuart Cowan (@kpdcowan ) for the photograph and to Finlay at Burnhouse Industries for additional artwork.

See you next month!

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 2

Following the success of Almost Scottish Fiction Volume 1, we and Scottish Fiction are delighted to announce the release of Almost Scottish Fiction Volume 2. For this release, we've increased the number of tracks from 4 to 6, giving you 50% more new Scottish music that is entirely free to download, listen to and fall in love with. Once you've grabbed this, go and check out the bands' websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, see them live and buy their music. This month's tracks are:

APACHE DARLING - MORE THAN ME

Apache Darling are a synthpop duo from Glagsow who produce some of the finest pop music the city has produced in ages. More Than Me was the first track they released and it rightly gained a lot of attention. Apache Darling are a genuinely thrilling prospect and More Than Me captures all that is great about this band

very very small inclusions - RAIN RAIN
With a band name taken from the grading scale used to judge the clarity of diamonds, you'd expect crystalline clear music from very very small inclusions. What you get is a dispersion of influences and ideas, with themes of introspection. This track, Rain Rain features heavy tom-toms, with pure and acoustic sounds, and airy vocals. This track is taken from the band's album Dispersions.

TONGUES - ANYMORE

Tongues is Tim Kwant from Kill The Waves solo project and Anymore was his first release. The song was a smash on Soundcloud and the buzz it created spread far and wide. A slice of laid back electro pop with a huge chorus, Anymore will grab you straight away and never let you go.

BEAM - HEX
BEAM is the glorious sounds of singer and songwriter Amy MacDougall, who has been in the past better known for contributing to other people's music; for example King Creosote. However, Hex is the sound of her own music, mysterious vocal loops, cello, piano and an overall dreamy feel.

THE INSOMNIAC PROJECT - BREAKAWAY

The Insomniac Project have kindly allowed us to use a brand new track, Breakaway and it is a cracker. Disco fused with LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, Breakaway is destined to get anyone grooving. The band play a headline show at Stereo in Glasgow on May 30 - go along and watch Breakaway work its disco magic

SEAS, STARRY - NEWARK
Coming from the Aberdeen four piece's album Tyto Alba, Newark is a perfect illustration of the effects laden ambient music that Seas, Starry produce so well. Taking influence from the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Errors, the band drag the listener's ear to the furthest edges of electronic instrumental music

To download the e.p. head to either our bandcamp page https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-2 or Scottish Fiction's https://scottishfiction.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-2

Thanks very much to the band's for allowing us to use their tracks and once again, thanks to Findlay at Burnhouse Industries for the artwork. 

Almost Predictable Almost Twitter - https://twitter.com/almostprdalmost

Scottish Fiction Twitter - https://twitter.com/scotfiction984