Saturday 16 April 2011

Kowalskiy's Free Monthly 5-track Scottish EP #10

This month, as far as the EPs go, we're into double figures!  As a thank you to all those out there who've been downloading these 5-tracked beauties over the last year, for EP #10, I've given you the chance to get involved.  A few weeks ago, I asked you to design the front cover in exchange for, well, not very much in return.  Personal pride maybe.  There's been a few cracking entries but the winner is... drumroll please... Ed 'Bear' Sellek for that brilliant piece above!  Take a bow Mr. Sellek.  One face in particular swung the decision in his favour.  Anyway, congratulations Ed, and to everyone else out there, you should all pay Ed a visit over here.

On to the music now.  Here's the five acts on EP #10 and what they had to say about their track...

1. Bottle Of Evil - I Can See Your Face (an exclusive new track from the Kowalskiy favourites!)

"It's the first completed track since we released our debut last summer, and will be on a new EP we're looking to put out in a couple of months. It's possibly a bit darker than most of the debut, with plenty of distorted bass, reverbed/delayed guitars, distorted xylophone, melodica and ambient screams. It also has our mate Dave playing some drums on it, moving away slightly from the sampled approach we've used before. A Glasgow based film-maker Benjamin Cottin from superB productions has also put together a video for the track which is available as an additional delight on this Bandcamp EP download." - Derek Bates (Bottle Of Evil)

That video is neatly packaged inside your Bandcamp download of the EP.  And it isn't half bad!  It's really good actually.  Prepare to be taken on a shoegazey tour of Glasgow...

2. The Last of Barrett's Privateers - Harbour Wall (a cracking demo from Edinburgh's folky four-piece.)

"Harbour Wall is a sea shanty telling the story of a man who is sent to work at sea, separated from his love back on shore. Although the song itself is a metaphor, the instruments and, especially, the vocals are played to reflect the physical imagery within the lyrics." - Toby Cooke (TLOBP)

3. Jump: Press A - Only The Brave Deserve The Fair (an 'angry pop' track from their debut EP.)

"Only The Brave is probably our most immediately accessible song as it is so overtly poppy. It's also our only really political song, but we've kept a healthy dose of Jump: Press A rage in there. 'Angry Pop!'   It is the opening track of our bedroom recorded 3-track EP 'In Case of Emergency.' It can be downloaded for free in full at www.jumppressa.com. We'll also be putting this one on our studio album that we will be recording towards the end of the year.   If you like it, catch up with us on Twitter and Facebook to find out about shows near you. We spend an unhealthy amount of time online between the 6 of us, so be sure to say Hello!" - Kelagh (Jump: Press A)

4. Loch Awe - Lips (a brand-spanking new demo recorded earlier this week!)

"A quick demo recording of a new song 'Lips'. Well, we say new, it's actually been around since before most of the songs on our mini-album, but still. Enjoy." - Matthew Healy (Loch Awe)

5. Pooch - Putsch (an electro 'beast' from Team Pooch)

"The idea of 'Putsch' basically grew from one single bassline that I had in my head to an almighty beast of an electro/techno track. It lasts over 6 minutes so perhaps a radio edit is needed as it doesn’t properly kick in until somewhere over the 4 minute threshold, but for those who stay until the end and like it dirty and filthy will be in for a treat. We had always wanted to use putsch as a song title (because of the obvious) and think the song represents the word quite well – at the end at least anyway!" - Team Pooch

The EP is now up for free download over on my bandcamp page, along with EPs #1-9 and a couple of extras.  Go, go, go!

Right, my mini-break continues now!  I'll be back soon though and in plenty of time for EP #11 on the 16th of May.  In the meantime, get your cover art entries in again.  You've got a full month this time, so no excuses!  All you need to do is email me your masterpiece before noon on the 15th of May.  Only requirements are that it's square, at least 350px wide, and better than the usual half-arsed attempts I've come up with in the past.  And as always, if any bands out there who fancy making my life that wee bit easier and want to volunteer a track for one of these EPs, then send me a wee email too.

2 comments:

  1. Yay Ed Bear! This is ace. As are the tunes.

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  2. Glad you like the EP Niki! Ed's cover art is pretty awesome. With Bottle of Evil's song title, Ed's entry was ideal.

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