Now Playing....

It's a pretty nice day today up here in the Highlands. It has been chilled out so far with some great music on play while I'm dottering about.

First up I've had the song Twisted Little Theatre by London based band Killing Fields of Ontario. The song is a bit of organised madness with pulsating drums while the main riff is being overshadowed by the untraditional sound of an organ.



King of the Opera have also been on today's playlist. The Italian band have just produced their debut album Nothing Outstanding. From listening to the album, there are a lot of influences coming from different directions. For a while, it could be Radiohead, other wise, there are definite hints of perhaps The Doors and also a post-rock sound that I more than welcomed. Here is the video for the brand new song, The Floating Song.




Lastly, for the rock fans out there, here is Super73- a Alt-rock band from central England. They have been making great strides the past wee while and have just secured a license for their music to be promoted in the USA. The future is looking bright for Super73 after they formed from the downfall of previous bands. They are now looking to break into the city scenes across the country to get their high energy music out to new fans.

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KOBI

We have featured Highlanders KOBI a couple of times on the blog now and it is clear to see that with each time, they have improved tenfold. Well they have done it again through the release of their brand new track All The Way. Produced by the Grammy award winning Steve Orchard (who has worked with British greats such as Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Travis), All The Way is a 3 minute, catchy pop song with an uplifting brass section, and a chorus you will be finding yourself singing to yourself over and over again. The band have developed their sound from the 'post-rock'  Sinister, and find themselves drawing influences from 80's bands as well as modern acts such as The Cars, Aztec Camera and Foals. The band are doing a two date promo tour for the single. They will be playing Inverness and Glasgow, as seen above with Cherri Fosphate and The Uptown Beat!

The Deep Red Sky

With a new album on the horizon, Scottish 5 piece The Deep Red Sky have unveiled the first single to be taken from the album due on the 13th of May. The album will be called Plans. The band have released the track Zombies, for which they also made a video (and is free to download from BandCamp). The song flows steadily as layer upon layer is added to the song until the crescendo is met with the powerful voice of singer Jamie- as the young boy manages to make the dreams of his fish come true (see video for that one!!).

But before the release of Plans, the band are managing their way through a tour spanning from London all the way north to Inverness. With the first date in Edinburgh just passed, the band will be playing the following shows:

• 23rd March - Edinburgh - Cabaret Voltaire

• 27th March - Biggar - Corn Exchange

• 28th March - Manchester - Retro Bar

• 30th March - Liverpool- Lomax

• 31st March - Nottingham - The Golden Fleece

• 2nd April - London - Nottinghill Arts Club

• 3rd April London - Slaughtered Lamb

• 5th April - London - Underbelly

• 12th April - Perth - The Corrina

• 14th April - Inverness - Madhatters

The band cite their influences as The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit, which is evident, but The Deep Red Sky manage to keep their unique layered sound which will be envied by many. 2013 is turning into a massive year for the band. They are following up the 2011 EP The Job. The Flat. The Girlfriend. with Zombies which will be followed by The Look On Your Face at the end of April before the full album on the 13th of May. 

The Olive Grove Records Mini 'Barn' Tour.

Randolph's Leap, State Broadcasters and Jo Mango, from the brilliant wee label Olive Grove Records, went on a two date tour of a couple of northern barns - that being Woodend Barn in Banchory and Bogbain Farm , Inverness. I was at the 'best unusual venue' of 2012 which is Bogbain's barn venue on Friday night to see two brilliant bands that I've been listening to for a year or so now and Jo Mango who I'd never actually listened to before.

Randolph's Leap are usually an 8 piece but for this show they were a duo. Frontman Adam Ross warmed the crowd and the crowd quickly warmed to him in the icy conditions with his witty lyrics of him being a telephone psychic and pretending to do the luge in the bath, before eventually finishing off with all 3 bands chanting a rousing rendition Going Home.  Randolph's Leap were my favourite act that night and I'm now awaiting their return to Bogbain for Brew at the Bog in May.

The State Broadcasters were next to grace the stage. They put on a brilliant performance playing songs mostly from Ghosts We Must Carry, and announcing the upcoming release (which is actually today) of a new single. There was a distinct theme of birds going through all of the acts' songs and this was continued when State Broadcasters played Kittiwake. Having a harp as a main instrument was also very interesting and unique. I think it works though, and credit to Gillian for being able to play the harp so well whilst singing.

Lastly, we were treated to Jo Mango. As I said, I'd never listened to her music before, but her bands' music reminded me of Esperi, with added French Accordian. Jo played a full set, spoke about her stalking people in Inverness and also continued the theme of birds, teaching us about bird calls in one of her songs.


It was a brilliant night, only ruined by a couple of guys (from MFR radio) who spoke throughout the gig. But when they were quiet for a couple of minutes, there was some truly lovely music on display, and there is a real sense of pure talent coming from the Olive Grove Record label. Long live indie music.

Katie O' Donnell

We are going back to the grass roots of music now; this is Katie O'Donnell, a 17 year old singer songwriter from Fife. Katie is classically trained on piano, plays guitar and can also sing incredibly well! She writes her own songs as well as doing covers, and aspires to make a career out of her musical talent. Katie has her own  YouTube channel as well as a SoundCloud link where all of her songs are available to listen to. For now though, Katie will be finishing her final year at school soon before heading off to university. I can definitely see Katie becoming a well established act in Scotland if she continues down the music path as her crazy piano skills alone are something to admire. Check her out now before she's too famous to even think about speaking to you!!

Campfires In Winter

They're a  hairy bunch, these guys.

4th of March 2013 will be a significant date for Glasgow based band Campfires In Winter, as it will mark the day of their debut single White Lights. The band have already released 1 EP called Cardboard Ships way back in 2010, and this kick-started their career, as they went on to support the likes of RM Hubbert, Kid Canaveral, So Many Animal Calls and Mitchell Museum. The band also appeared at Wickerman festival and GoNorth in 2012.

However, Campfires in Winter have been enjoying a great start to this year after selling out King Tut's with Kitty the Lion and Sunshine Social, and the plan is to continue to build on this success with the launch night on the 7th of March at Nice 'N' Sleazy in Glasgow, and a video for White Lights which is due out a week before the single.


The song itself is a brilliant example of alt-rock with the Scottish twang we all know and love. This comforting number heads down the post-rock route towards the end of the track with some well executed guitar, but the rousing chorus makes for an easy singalong. You can already hear the chant of "three parts liquid and two parts luck" and "these two white lights up above, they'll keep me alive" from the crowd at live gigs going down a treat. I'll post the video for the song as soon as it is available but check out some of their previous work to get a feel for this band. Definitely ones to watch.

Fake Major

Last week it was announced that Endor were no longer, but the news was sweetened with the arrival of Fake Major, the new band formed between Richard Ferguson and David McGinty. Fake Major then released this lovely video starring young Ruby Crawford called Little Researcher on Vimeo. After watching this I was no longer heartbroken at the end of Endor. Fake Major are embarking on a wee Scottish tour which can be seen here:

Dundee // Non Zeros // February 12th // Supporting Michael Cassidy

Glasgow // Bloc (Slow Club) // February 18th // Support from Jon Bishop

Edinbugh // Wee Red Bar // February 24th

Inverness // Ironworks // March 16th // Supporting So Many Animal Calls

Glasgow // (LAID) // March 27th

Brew at the Bog Festival // May 4th

I shall be off to see them at both Inverness and Brew at the Bog! Enjoy!

Lori McTear

First of all, thank you very much to everyone who voted in our wee poll over the last week. I wasn't sure how popular an idea it would be, but 230 votes says it all! The poll closed with Scottish singer/songwriter Lori McTear being the runaway winner with over 70 votes more than Nakota who finished second.

So anyway, Lori McTear enjoyed a great year in 2012, being chosen to support well loved acts like The View, Newton Faulkner, Ocean Colour Scene; playing at highly attended festivals such as The Big Stooshie and Troon Festival; and 2012 was also the year of Lori McTear's second single Freedom and Machine Guns. All that at on 18 years of age!

After playing her first show in Glasgow's George Square at the age of 15, Lori decided that playing music was exactly what she wanted to do- 3 years on and she hasn't looked back since. Her country/folk style of music has her drawing parallels to fellow country-women Amy McDonald and KT Tunstall and has proved popular with her many hundreds of fans. Lori is midway through her Scottish tour where she has so far played Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen, with two Dunfermline gigs, one in Ayr and MV Festival in Aviemore all yet to come.

If you fancy it, go over to http://www.lorimctear.co.uk/#/music-shop/4564526083 where you can buy Lori's single in CD form for only £3.00. From that link, there are also links to Lori's Facebook, Twitter, ReverbNation and her YouTube account and all the dates from her tour.

Have a listen to this brilliant upcoming artist and try to make it along to one of her gigs before she makes it big...then you can say you supported her before everyone else did!

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Vote for Your Favourite!!

Okay, so I'm going to try something different today. I'm not sure if this is done anywhere else (I'm sure it is) but here's how it will go: I'll put up songs from a few different submissions I have recently received and the bands with the most votes will get a full write up on the blog. It's a win-win really because you're band gets mentions anyway but full write ups always get more attention, so get your fans over to vote for you. To cast your vote, see the left side (that's <-- that way) and select the band you want to win.

First up, we have 80's Bad HairCut. Their song Cheese on Bread! is taken from their upcoming EP.

The second artist is Nakota who is an unsigned Atlanta based musician, branding himself as inter-genre-pop which is completely true given the broad range of instruments used, with synth being at the forefront. Listen to his new single Territories. 

Next up is Norwich based indie poppers Maglia Rosa Group. Their brand new single is call Nighthawks and features lead singer Daisy singing and dancing throughout.

Now onto Lori McTear, a Scottish singer/songwriter. After a successful year supporting the likes of Newton Faulkner and The View, Lori is looking to continue her success into 2013 with her single Freedom and Machine Guns.

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That's it for this edition and, if successful, I may try this again. So get voting for your favourite band/artist and share the page to help them get more votes! 

Hymnalaya

So I've only done a couple of 'Ones to Watch' sort of thing in the past - and I haven't done one for 2013 yet, - but one of the bands that would be on this list is Hymnalaya. They are an Icelandic band consisting of 3 main members, but are then accompanied by a whole host of others that play in the brass section, the rhythm section and strings and organ sections. Think of them as a modern orchestra. Currently, there is one single released called In My Early Years. A full album is due for release on the 8th of February which will be available to download completely free from their website http://www.hymnalayamusic.com/ where you can also download In My Early Years, again for nothing.

I don't know what it is about Iceland, but they seem to have a constant stream of musical talent- much like here is Scotland. From Sigur Rós to Múm, Ólafur Arnalds, Seabear and Of Monsters And Men, Hymnalaya have joined the ranks in Iceland in the hope of making it, and their quiet, yet passionate style of music is impressive and purely just lovely to listen to. They don't need to shout about their talent, the music speaks for itself.

Fluorescent Hearts

Fluorescent Hearts have only been around for a year, but the Glasgow band are already making great strides after the release of their debut album Anthem. They have quickly gathered a loyal following of fans who flock to see them at the various venues around Scotland to hear the powerful pop rock, which wouldn't be out of place the the United States. It's hard to place Fluorescent Hearts in one genre category however due to the array of music they cover. Below is the song Gasoline, which I first heard on the beloved Amazing radio. It's a great song; catchy and full of great riffs! If I was doing a 'Ones to watch in 2013' Fluorescent Hearts would definitely be there. Expect much more from these guys.

Chartburst- Helping bands connect to major labels

Chartburst is a brand new service that connects unsigned musicians with the worlds biggest records labels via their user-voted, genre-specific charts.

Chartburst was created as there is currently nowhere that unsigned musicians can get their music heard by the major labels. The service has been made to be user friendly, cheap and efficient for musicians to get their music to the ears of the people that matter when it comes to getting their 'big break'.

 There are ten charts (one for each genre) that cover the musical spectrum (from Hiphop to House). Users vote on their favourite tracks and twice a month the top 5 submissions from each chart are forwarded to A&R (talent scouts) at major record labels for guaranteed, structured review and deal consideration.

It's free to create an account if you are using Chartburst to vote for your favourite bands, but musicians pay £5 per month (£2.50 during beta) to upload to the charts where they can potentially be heard by the labels.

All the major labels are involved: Sony Music, Warner Bros, Atlantic Records, Columbia Records etc.

The beta is due to be launched today (January 14th).

This blog has been selected by the Chartburst creator so that my readers can have a free trial of the beta. This will operate on a first come first served basis. 200 free trials will be available out of 1000 overall so there will be a fair chance for you to get a code, but do be quick. And if you're a musician then obviously the quicker you sign up, the more chance you will have of getting the most votes and your music sent to the major record labels.
 To get one of these free trials, head over to http://www.chartburst.com/ and type in the following code: OTRIMEARLYBIRD

If you think this will interest friends or bands, please let them know and share the link to this page. You could help them strike a deal with a major label and expand the band as a whole. 

Brave Young Red

If you have a good memory (or an impeccable taste in music) you may recognise the name Folé. Well Folé is no more, but not to worry, it has evolved into a full band who go by the name Brave Young Red. The original member James Foley has joined forces with Angus, Erin and Michael to explore the potential these musicians hold. February 28th is a date marked in the bands diary, as this marks the release of their upcoming EP Roots. There will be a launch show on said date at 13th Note in Glasgow which will include music from rising star Anna Sweeney, and Matt Scott from Kilmarnock who holds the Doors and Bob Dylan as his influences.

Brave Young Red have released the song Roots ahead of their debut EP on BandCamp. Roots is a perfect example of the expansion from Folé, with added female vocals and piano harmonising  the voice of James- along with light bassline and percussion to create a whole new sound, but with Folé at the core. The song is available as a free download, so check it out and if you like it, why not give them a like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. 

Coming up.....

I have an exciting venture just round the corner- stay tuned.

Hollie Atkinson.

So I haven't been on for a while, but I return on a positive note with fellow Nairnite (that's people who live in Nairn) Hollie Atkinson. Hollie is 15 and is getting ready to sit her exams, but is spending a bit of time writing songs and playing guitar. She has also just opened up a YouTube account (finally!) and posted her song Tricks which is already at 650 views. Please do yourself a favour and have a listen to Hollie who has a great future ahead of her if she decides to go with her dream and become a musician. After looking through half the shite on YouTube that people post and get 100,000 views on, I can't recommend Hollie enough if you're looking for fresh new talent!

Tricks - Hollie Atkinson

(No embed code is available so you will have to follow the link above).