[The second in the series about movie soundtracks comes from Nate Underkuffler who plays viola in the brilliant Young Republic. He's so into film music he used to record them on a tape player held up against the speakers on his television. Apparently the string arrangements for recent single Blue Skies were influenced by the soundtrack to Men in Black, so I thought I'd ask him to explain himself. For more on The Young Republic, here's a review of their new album 12 Tales From Winter City, and here's my recent interview with Julian and Chris from the band.]

How many people here periodically reflect on the breathless, exhilarating rush of creativity and manic sophistication of the 2002 Eddie Murphy film The Adventures of Pluto Nash? (The man on the moon.) How about marvel at the genre-transcending elegance and blossoming masterful skill which culminates in a sheer undeniable artistry that is found in the 1993 Wesley Snipes sci-fi film Demolition Man? Well, I certainly do. But alas, these traits cannot be found in all aspects of the films, but only in their music.

Wait, those movies had music in them? Oh they most certainly did, original music written by young artists who were riding the wave of their talents at their young and wild crest.

For some reason, people find it difficult to believe that a terrible film could have great music. Poor screenwriters and actors! It’s them who seem to be the one stop along a movie’s long assembly line that gets the brunt of audiences’ critical abuse. “The story didn’t go anywhere and was unrealistic.” “Some of that dialogue was so embarrassing!” “She was just terrible in that role!” are common complaints we all make when walking out of the movie theater. The more experienced of us may look to the direction or attention-grabbing special effects for sources of praise and disappointment, but few will venture to the more subtle crafts like lighting, sound effects, or apparently, original underscore.

Which has always been a mystery to me. If you’re reading this then chances are you have more than a passing interest in music, yet in the theater, the onrush of images seem to distract everyone from the virtually always-present distinctive and beautiful voices in contemporary music composition. Well, fair enough, I suppose the film-going experience is supposed to be a package deal.

People always find it odd when I sing the praises of scores to critically and popularly loathed films like The Musketeer or Legends of the Fall, but what they forget is that film composers are not inherently tied to the merits of the films they work on, but are in fact individual creative beings unto-themselves, who follow the same dynamics which govern any musical artist. Radiohead was the above-average 90s rock band that suddenly broke their way into exciting, creative ground in Ok Computer, and in turn developed these fruitful ideas to create the landmark and influential Kid A. In the same respect, John Powell is the above-average young film composer who suddenly found this tremendously exciting and unique side to his voice with his score to The Bourne Identity in 2002, and when he signed on to score the Ben Affleck sci-fi film Paycheck the next year, developed these ideas into a phenomenal piece of work. Little did it matter if Paycheck was a stupid movie or not. The notes Powell wrote were generated by his own head, not Affleck’s onscreen performance. A futuristic thriller gave him the guidelines to write great music, never mind if the film was actually a good futuristic thriller. After this undeniable talent was displayed, Powell’s films have since improved in quality. But a great score for a bad film is most likely to occur when the composer is young and really coming into their own, and the quality of the films they score haven’t caught up to the quality of their own talent.

But there is another situation where a great score can come from a bad film – the grand cinematic failure. The misguided Hollywood film that has all of the resources and technical talents money can buy, but is doomed by some fatal flaw(s). The first Pirates of the Caribbean film has, in my humble opinion, absolutely insipid, horrible music. But the two sequels –which I think we can all agree are inferior works to the original- are blessed with far more creative, accomplished music. This is because the schedule of the first film was such that a team of B-level composers had literally 2 weeks to write and record the music, but after that film’s success the filmmakers were able to hire the very accomplished, and undeniably talented (as well as more expensive) composer Hans Zimmer. Although the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies were hollow and a muddle of narrative carelessness, like any Hollywood sequels meant only to make money, they did still intend to be grand adventure films. And a film composer does not score a film’s failure, but the film’s intentions. The final sequence of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is supposed to be this cataclysmic, supremely epic pirate showdown, yet it mostly just ends up being really stupid. Zimmer, however, does his job, and writes this grand pirate cataclysmic showdown symphony, and it may not be Beethoven, but it kicks ass. Unfortunately music can’t save a picture that’s already dead.

Of course, to be able to distinguish a film’s score from the merits of the overall film, as well as the ability to understand what makes a great film score, takes time, and a genuine interest in the art form- for example your mother probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Pavement and her neighbor’s crappy garage band. But the next time you have to sit through “We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story” on a bus ride, try to ignore the animated dinosaurs and keep your ears open; it may not be as bad as it looks.

Hog Chase Part 1
Meeting Cocteau

Posts in this series:
- Crash Calloway from Pretending Life is Like a Song writes about The Commitments.
- Nate, who plays viola in The Young Republic explains why some terrible films have excellent scores.
- My dearest darling Mrs. Toad sings the praises of the High School Movie.
- DC, presenter of The Waiting Room, goes on a truly interminable ramble about the great Tom Waits and One From the Heart.
- Brother of Toad talks about how the context of music can interfere with its use in a movie.
- John sums up Natural Born Killers in three sentences.
- I have a go myself by writing about the art of referencing films in your song lyrics and what it lets you do.
- Tim from The Daily Growl digs away at the sensual texture of In the Mood For Love.
- Matt from Draped in Velvet might never forgive the false start of the world of rap-rock.
- Ian from Broken Records delivers the rant that started this all off: why soundtracks just don’t work!

[At the End of the Road Festival I had the chance to interview Chris, the bass player, and Julian, the front man and main songwriter from The Young Republic. Recently signed to End of the Road Records, their first album 12 Tales From Winter City - review here - is being released in the next couple of weeks. It's taken ages to write this up after our three-month homeless period and Christmas, but with the imminent album release it seemed like a good time to post it. It's also a very long article, but they say a lot of very interesting things, so I reckon it's well worth your time.]

What kind of a group are The Young Republic? “When people ask us we don’t really know what to call ourselves. Our guitar player just says ‘tell them we’re rock ‘n’ roll’.” says Julian.

“Often we’ll say like we’ll play this song in this rhythm which is more like a Stones rhythm or a Beatles rhythm and we’ll say to MJ to play like a Band piano style that would be more honky-tonk. One of the things that we’re trying to do is meld it into one so you can’t tell that there are seams, but at the moment they’re still there. Nate, our viola player, is really into film scores and the original string parts from Blue Skies, I think it was influenced by Men in Black.

‘Really into’ doesn’t quite seem to do it justice: “He’d like record film scores right from the TV. He’d get the tape recorder and get it right up to the speaker. That’s like the most hard-core bootlegging – that puts any scenester kid to shame!” Read the rest of this entry »

My what a splendid festival. You’ve read what I had to say about the thing (overview, day one, day two & day three), now here’s the ‘downloadable in one easy to digest chunk’ version, with more tunes.

I had a splendid time at this, I really did. The line-up was spectacularly good and, despite being not much more than a well-executed variant on the standard festival format, I would highly recommend it to those of you sick of the exercise in cattle-herding and aggressively intrusive marketing that the modern festival has become.

Anyhow, I’ve gone through the festival in chronological order, playing songs from artists in the order in which I attended them over the weekend. Hopefully I give you a decent overview of the festival itself as well as a taster of the quality of the lineup, from the indie legends to the connoisseur’s selection of emerging acts that made this such a quality bill. No ranting in this one either, or at least, very little. What a relief for you all.

Toadcast #12 – The End of the Roadcast

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1. Midlake – Young Bride (02.08)
2. Yo La Tengo – By the Time it Gets Dark (07.43)
3. My Brightest Diamond – Dragonfly (14.17)
4. King Creosote – You’ve No Clue Do You (23.19)
5. Monkey Swallows the Universe – Sheffield Shanty (28.29)
6. David Thomas Broughton – Unmarked Grave (34.56)
7. British Sea Power – Remember Me (46.11)
8. Port O’Brien – Five & Dime (51.39)
9. The Young Republic – Excuses to See You (56.14)
10. The Wave Pictures – Long Island (63.28)
11. Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Tickle Me Pink (70.44)
12. Paris Motel – My Demeter (77.20)
13. Charlie Parr – Worried Blues (80.53)
14. Howe Gelb – Get to Leave (88.34)
15. Lambchop – Up With People (95.35)

On Sunday I awoke feeling rather less groggy than the previous day, presumably owing to the lack of that marvelous late-night tequila/pink champagne combo. To further cement their legendary status, my splendid tent neighbours provided both bacon sarnies and tea when I dragged my freezing arse out of my tent in the morning. I could have married them, and their friend Ian and their silly lavender coloured VW camper all at once for that act of charity. Lovely, lovely people.

I scarpered up to the main stage to start the day on the Sunday. On the back of the festival, Simon has formed End of the Road Records to champion some of the splendid groups he came across in setting the thing up, and on Sunday there was something of a showcase of the people he signed.

Port O’Brien: Confident and entertaining, these lads play a kind of dusty West Coast Americana that can be sad and can be a full-on rock out. They went down so well they could barely dig up enough CDs after the gig to satisfy all the eager punters, which was brilliant to see.
website | hype | buy the album

Port O’Brien – Five & Dime
The Young Republic: This was a cracking set. I actually enjoyed it far more than their performance the day before because they pretty much played all my favourite songs. They clatter along when they get going, these fellas, with a brand of rock ‘n’ roll country music meets film score that takes them through the genres at a frightening pace. They adjusted seamlessly to playing the big stage, and if you can catch them supporting My Brightest Diamond on her current UK tour then I highly recommend it. I had the opportunity to interview them afterwards as well, which was excellent fun – had The Wave Pictures not been on at four then it could have gone on for hours.
website | hype | buy the album

The Young Republic – She’s Not Waiting Here This Time

The Wave Pictures: Brilliant – these guys are so relaxed and affable on stage they come across as a slapdash pub band who accidentally happened to be extraordinarily gifted. It’s about the most unpolished sound in indie at the moment, but they had a hardcore group of fans who knew ever single song, which they played on request basis. Just signed to a small label and with a new album release hopefully on the horizon, these lads truly are excellent. Difficult in some ways – Dave doesn’t exactly boast popular music’s most mellifluous voice – but excellent nevertheless.
website | hype | buy albums

The Wave Pictures – When I Leave You For Somebody Else

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit: Another superb performance. This is the new sound of English folk at its finest. Wistful and contemplative one minute, then foot-stampingly infectious the next. I knew a few of Mr. Flynn’s songs beforehand, but he played plenty more that I loved during the set which bodes very, very well for future album possibilities. Quite excellent.
myspace | hype | buy his vinyl singles

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Leftovers

Paris Motel: Everyone has an image in their heads of the band on the Titanic playing as the ship tragically sank (although when it took that prick Leonardo Di Crappio with it, it somehow seemed rather less tragic I thought). Well, this lot are a bit like the band on the Marie Celeste. Spooky, slightly magical tales that can come across as macabre old fairytales, mix with sea shanties and old-fashioned laments to create a truly amazing atmosphere. Their formal dress makes it even more so, with the gorgeous Amy May in her plain black evening dress leading proceedings, although any pomposity is instantly diffused by her self-deprecating and humorous manner. I loved this set, truly exceptional, and their album is out on Loose on the 1st of October I believe. Buy it, honestly do.
website | hype | amazon

Paris Motel – City of Ladies

Charlie Parr: A classic, bearded old bluesman, with rich deep voice, beard and scruffy demeanour. He plucked at his guitar, invited us all to visit him in Duluth, Minnesota and played half a dozen songs written whilst thinking about his dad. I know absolutely nil about this gentleman I’m afraid, so you’re on your own exploring his stuff. Let me know how you get on.
website | hype | buy albums

Charlie Parr – Worried Blues

Howe Gelb: One of my musical heroes and one I came within a whisker of being able to interview for Song, by Toad. Rats, bollocks. Anyhow, his set was just like his music: meandering, explorative and prone to following whatever train of thought kidnapped it at the time. Gelb is a serial collaborator with his records, and the show was much like that as well. He called all sorts of other musicians on to help him perform, bringing an ad hoc, friendly tone to the show. None of this veneer of ‘performance’, just a load of people sharing music together. Superb.
website | hype | amazon

Howe Gelb – Felonious

Lambchop: Not a natural headline act, one might think, with their hushed, delicate country music perhaps far too quiet for this kind of slot – traditionally a rowdy celebration of three days of hedonistic excess. Or so you’d think. Actually they played their set with much more vim than you’d generally hear on record, and they ended with the glorious crowd-pleaser, with absolutely everyone coming on stage to provide the fantastic choral climax. Brilliant.
website | hype | amazon

Lambchop – Let’s Go Bowling

Well Saturday started with a fair bit of confusion. I was supposed to be interviewing Howe Gelb at 11am but that fell through (in a tremendously tedious and long-winded game of telephone tag) and has now been downgraded to an email interview and the promise that I can have another go the next time Howe is in the UK which, given there is a new Giant Sand album relatively close to release, should hopefully not be all that long.

So that one didn’t happen but I did end up, at about one-ish, having a lovely chat with Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond which I shall be writing up over the weekend some time, I hope. I am not sure what these rock star types make of my interview technique, to be honest. Instead of trying to come up with questions I tend to just try and talk to them about music for a bit and see what sort of stuff makes them tick and what kind of people they are and find out how they approach their music. It probably comes across as a bit unstructured, which it is, but lists of questions don’t really interest me at all, so until I get blacklisted this is what they’ll get.

Anyhow, after talking to Shara (please note: first name terms there – ooh yeah!) I pottered about a bit, caught the tail end of Slow Club at the Bimble Inn, and found some salad and a smoothie to help ameliorate my hangover. My tent neighbours led me astray with – not a word of a lie – tequila and pink champagne on Friday night so I was still a little tender by the time the gigs started on Saturday.

Alessi: She is painfully, painfully shy and with a really rather odd voice. She hated the mic and the amp, casting it off and playing unplugged for a song, and throughout the show looked a little like one mean spirited heckle could have reduced her to tears on the spot. That said, I actually thought she was ace: engaging, charming and a talented songwriter. I can’t exactly foresee fame and fortune, but if she’s playing I’d say she is certainly worth going along to see. Gentle, personal acoustic songwriting, and a genuinely lovely lass to boot.
MySpace

Alessi – My Bedroom

My Brightest Diamond: Christ on a bicycle this woman rocks. A wee slip of a lass, knee high to a dragonfly, metes out some serious guitar punishment in-between bouts of alternate vocal gymnastics and vocal loveliness. It’s quite dazzling to see, and she really plays and sings with quite genuine ferocity. If you are even a casual fan, honestly go and see her live if you get the chance. She’s touring the UK with the Young Republic at the moment and I can’t suggest a better way to spend your money.
website | hype | buy

My Brightest Diamond – Magic Rabbit

The Young Republic: This was my first chance to see these guys live, and I’ve been excited about them for ages and indeed *clears superior indie-snob throat* writing about them since before they were signed, so I feel I have paid my dues in terms of patient waiting. They had three different shows pencilled in for EotR so they started the set with Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You by Dylan, which came from a set of Dylan songs they were working on for the following day. It was the Rolling Thunder Revue version as well, not the Nashville Skyline one, which I actually found shed some light on them as a band because they did seem just like the Rolling Thunder Revue at that point. Still, an excellent set, and they came across as very confident and entirely comfortable on stage, which impressed me for a band on their first international tour.
website | hype | buy

The Young Republic – That Won’t Change the Sight (Of Your Heart Rolling By)

King Creosote: On the back of his new album of splendid indie pop album Bombshell, the King is touring with a genuine spring in his step. Uncle Beesly on Bass was arsing about with a sheep mask (I have no idea, don’t ask), The Pictish Trail was forever interjecting with smart-arsed banter and Kenny himself was bouncing around like a man having the time of his life. They just look like they’re having so much fun at the moment, it’s brilliant. So boo sucks to Tim and his mates for not liking the new amped-up sound – I think it’s a fucking blast.
website | hype | buy

King Creosote – Twin Tub Twin It may sound hushed, but this was an absolute riot live.

Monkey Swallows the Universe: Apart from being mildly threatened by a not very intimidating looking fellow as I tried to squeeze into a packed gig, this was just gorgeous. These guys may be largely unheard of but they had a big, big crowd and when they played Jimmy Down the Well there was a polite acoustic folk uproar. Everyone knew the words, everyone knew the songs. These guys play a rather lovely kind of music – personal storytelling and charming delivery. And in the most pastoral, lovely way imaginable, they kind of seem to rock. Amazing!
website | hype | buy

Monkey Swallows the Universe – The Chicken Fat Waltz

Danielson: In their matching uniforms they looked a bit weird and, although I like some of the tracks’ I wasn’t that taken. The performance was good though, so if you’re even slightly a fan, get stuck in and see them live. I keep expecting to like this lot more though.
website | hype | buy

Danielson – Ship the Majestic Suffix

David Thomas Broughton: A genuine revelation. One of the few people I saw this weekend that I knew absolutely not one tiny thing about, and he was bloody incredible. He is classic Fence Collective actually, sort of a cross between Art Pedro and The Magic Arm, and spends time setting up his loops and samples at the start of each track before letting it all loose and following the rabbit down the hole. His music is a kind of low-fi folky electronica, quite atmospheric and rather abstract as well. It’s rarely clear where the songs start and finish, and we ended up just clapping in the quiet bits because there had to be some way to show this chap some appreciation – he was completely and utterly mesmerising. I have ordered albums and there will be reviews approaching.
website | hype | buy

David Thomas Broughton – Ambiguity

British Sea Power: They were bloody late but they were worth it. I heard a lot of criticism, mostly valid, of this set including accusations of self indulgence and and needless fannying around. Both are undoubtedly accurate. They ended with a completely insane twenty-minute wig-out that left my ears ringing until the following morning. But what they did do, which very few groups do these days, was blow my socks off with a blazing onslaught of indie fucking rock. They played well, and with passion and with rage and bile and spite. And they fucking blew us all to shit. And that was all I could take for the evening – just brilliant.
website | hype | buy

British Sea Power – Carrion

I’ve been fans of this lot for quite a while, and this is their debut album, a record I’ve been looking forward to for ages. Unfortunately, as something of a ‘greatest hits’ compiled from all their previous self-released material there’s nothing on here I haven’t heard before, which is a shame for those of us who have kept a very close eye on their progress up to this point. For all the rest of you however, this is twelve tracks of splendid indie gorgeousness from the first signings to the new label End of the Road Records.

Comparisons are often made to Belle & Sebastian, but with the exception of a couple of tracks, I don’t really buy this. For the most part they are too country for this comparison to hold, although tracks like the superb Girl From the Northern States could easily have issued from the pen of Stuart Murdoch. I saw them play a couple of tracks from Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue at the End of the Road Festival, and that kind of heavily instrumental clatter-along rock ‘n’ roll fits their sound very neatly. The band have obsessions with The Beatles, classic rock and classical, which might give you an idea what to expect.

This album is surprisingly coherent actually, for one that veers all over the place stylistically. There’s some pastoral indie-pop, full-on rock ‘n’ roll, a little bit of rag time and some pure country in amongst the various styles in this record. All eight of the band studied music, and this interest in any and all styles shows through in the music they themselves produce, which is unrestrained by any one category. Nonetheless it all holds very well together. They have put a lot of work into their orchestration, making sure that all eight instruments aren’t fighting one another for attention, with the lovely She’s Not Waiting Here This Time testament to this hard work. It starts out all sparse and lovely, with no more than a little dash of piano and guitar underpinned with a little brush work on the drums. Half way through however, a drum roll heralds the arrival of a choir of angels and swelling cinematic orchestration. It’s superb, and this kind of surprising and unselfconscious genre-hopping is what is best about this album.

I’ve a really interesting interview with Chris & Julian from the Young Republic which I’ll be writing up in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, have a go at this or buy one of their singles from Rough Trade.

The Young Republic – She’s Not Waiting Here This Time
The Young Republic – Goodbye Town

website | hype | buy from rough trade

Mrs Toad and myself went to Bestival on the Isle of Wight last year and, although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, I must admit that this year I was after something a little smaller. There’s something rather uninspiring about bald fields covered in a sea of broken plastic cups and a two hour queue for warm beer. Once the truly abysmal Bestival lineup for 2007 was announced – Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream? Have I gone back in time by ten years or something? – I decided that was it, I was looking for something smaller and far more friendly. Sod the bands, I just want a nice weekend.

Well I’d exchanged a few emails with Simon from End of the Road Records about The Young Republic, who are superb and recently signed to the label. I knew the label had formed from the End of the Road Festival so I thought it might be a good one to take a chance on. There wasn’t much in the lineup that I recognised, but what the hell – a festival full of smaller, less well known bands would be quite fun. And besides, Howe Gelb was on there, so that did it for me and I bought a couple of tickets.

That was something in the region of a month ago. Since then that lineup has just got better and better, as Simon has dropped one gem after another into the mix. This morning they announced Midlake and Yo La Tengo. I can’t believe it! Suddenly instead of just looking forward to this, I am excited as little boy.

Full line-up thus far (I’ve highlighted the ones I think are interesting and provided a few samples – although I haven’t used the little player this time as the javascript would slow the whole page down too much with this many links, sorry):

Alessi (music)
Archie Bronson Outfit
Architecture In Helsinki - Heart it Races
The Bees
Besnard Lakes – Cedric’s War
Brakes
The Broken Family Band
C. W. Stoneking
Charlie Parr
The Congregation
Dan Sartain
Darren Hayman
David Thomas Broughton
David Vandervelde
Devastations
Euros Childs
Findlay Brown
Fionn Regan
Herman Dune
Howe Gelb – Pontiac Slipstream
Hush the Many
Hyacinth House
Indigo Moss
James Yorkston – Someplace Simple
Jeffrey Lewis
Jim White
Joan As Police Woman
Johnny Flynn – Brown Trout Blues
Josh T Pearson
King Creosote – Missionary
Micah P Hinson – I Still Remember
Midlake – Van Occupanther
Misty’s Big Adventure
Monkey Swallows the Universe
My Brightest Diamond
Paris Motel - Entrez Dans la Salpetriere
Pete and the Pirates
Port O’Brien
Reigns
Richard Swift
Seasick Steve
Slow Club
Sons of Noel and Adrian
Stephanie Dosen – Vinalhaven Harbour
Sunny Day Sets Fire
Super Furry Animals
Telegrams
The Twilight Sad – And She Would Darken the Memory
Viking Moses
Woodpigeon – Home
Yo La Tengo – Tom Courtenay
The Young Republic – Your Heart Belongs in Tennessee

Now all Simon has to do is pull off some miracle of scheduling that allows me to see absolutely all these bands, as well as leaving some space for me to check out some of the new ones. Good luck, mate!

Afternoon internetters, I trust you are all well and have been popping your pennies in the piggy bank, because once again I am here to make free with your dough and pressurise you into spending it all on good things which I shall choose for you. Why should it be my choice? Because if the masses are allowed to make their own decisions, then we get fucking Coldplay, that’s why.

There are a few good singles knocking around at the moment, and I thought I’d pop them all together in a post, so you can go out and 7-inch yourselves all to pieces.

For the brooding and misunderstood amongst you I’ve already mentioned Spencer Perceval by iLiKETRAiNS (i DO NOT LiKE TYPiNG iLiKETRAiNS, I really fucking wish bands wouldn’t do this – it irritates the living shIt out of me) which is a great single despite the typography. Kid Canaveral’s excellent Smash Hits is a fine choice for the bouncy indie-poppers out there as well. There are some other top ‘uns around at the moment, however, such as the following:

The Young Republic – Blue Skies Lovely, lush, orchestrated indie-pop. One of my favourite new bands, recently signed to End of the Road Records, and appearing at The End of the Road Festival later in the year, due to be graced by the presence of my exalted self. These guys go from swoonsome to playful to tragic in no time at all. Anyone wishing to sample their stuff will find plenty of mp3s on their website and a few to play on their MySpace player. To save you the trouble though, I’ve uploaded a couple of previews myself:

[Edit: What a buffoon. I forgot to add purchasing links. It's available either in shops, or online from Rough Trade.]

The Young Republic – Girl From the Northern States
The Young Republic – She’s Not Waiting Here This Time

The Scottish Enlightenment – Eyes When I first reviewed The Scottish Enlightenment I went on about their dark, Cure-like guitar work. This single is far more upbeat than that – a nicely sharp indie-pop tune with a simple, memorable guitar riff – and finishes with Ambulance, a rather excellently morose lament. Definitely ones to keep an eye on, I’d say. Preview the single on their MySpace, buy it on Amazon or eMusic. For any fellow Edinburghers, they’re playing at Henry’s Cellar Bar tomorrow night. I’ve got a footie game before hand and my back is killing me, so I’ll probably be the one walking like a penguin with a broomstick up its arse.

The Scottish Enlightenment – The Universe is Drifting Apart

Dead! Dead! Dead! – A List of Things Not to Forget Tough Love Records are releasing a new download-only Dead! Dead! Dead! single to coincide with their UK tour supporting the teeth-grindingly awful Mumm-Ra. To download it, you’ll have to attend a gig, watch Dead! Dead! Dead!, clap and holler with wild abandon, collect a special postcard with a download code on it, flee as fast as your legs will possibly carry you before Mumm-Ra commence their ungodly festival of aural torture, and rush back to your computer to download the single from the Tough Love website. For those of us with no intention whatsoever of going anywhere near a Mumm-Ra gig (they aren’t playing in Edinburgh anyway, so I can’t even go just for the support slot) this seems as good a time as any to remind you of their existing single George Lassoes the Moon, which can be bought from eMusic. Try their MySpace player for a couple more previews, as their website is still very much under construction.

Dead! Dead! Dead! – Monocle Fallout (Christ their name’s sore on the Shift finger.)