Ben Young - exclusive downloads, mmmmmm :-)

Oh it's been a while. I've had a lot of other things on my mind. I wrote ten new songs, started a new job, and i'm becoming a dad in a few months, and that's not even the half of it.

It's Ben Young!

Never mind, i'm here to tell you about some music. I won't rabbit on about the "scene" or the "industry". The less said about them the better i suspect. Maybe it's time we started treating music as an artform again, rather than as some commodity, like a liquid, not even as valuable as coffee or beer. Or water.

Some years ago, there was a really good singer songwriter in Edinburgh called Ben Young. I saw him a few times at Out of the Bedroom. He left Edinburgh, but before he did he made a few copies of a six song CD called "Englandland" and handed them out at his final Out of the Bedroom appearance. The only way you could really get a copy of this CD was if you were there on the night.

Ben Young is now part of the highly successful pop ensemble Reason Breeds Monsters, playing Ben's Atheist Advent songs, but you can get an exclusive glimpse into his roots right here on Edinburgh Unlimited by listening to, and downloading, Englandland. Hope you enjoy!

And tell all your music loving friends as well, please. Busy though i am, i still have some more unique musical tidbits to offer you in future weeks and months right here on Edinburgh Unlimited.

Keep the music alive,

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Free Music Download: Matthew Riley live at Edinburgh Unlimited!

Hi folks, and a belated happy new year to you, wherever you may be!

Okay, well this time, i've got some free and exclusive music for you, some "top tips" (music that may or may not be free, but it's very good imho), and some live stuff to mention too, particularly this Edinburgh Unlimited event as you can see advertised on this very page!

So yes, it's on Thu January the tenth at 8pm at the Meadow Bar on Buccleuch Street, Lindsay Sugden, Paul Gladwell and Kite And The Crane will be performing, and it's only £3 admission. Invite your friends, invite your enemies even, if they like live acoustic music of some quality at very affordable prices. And bring some money along to buy the performers' CDs as well, it's shameful to watch a roomful of people drinking overpriced drinks from the bar and not a single one of them will fork out a measly few quid for a genuine piece of musical art and a memento of their night out. Maybe that's just my opinion, perhaps alcohol IS worth more to you than someone's genuine heartfelt outpourings... you decide...

Anyway, on to the first FREE and EXCLUSIVE download for 2013, and it's Matthew Riley, (from Cancel The Astronauts) performing live at Edinburgh Unlimited in November! The same night as Gerrybhoy in fact! It was a great night, all of you who missed it, just so you know. Prove it to yourself by downloading and listening to some of the music, eh? And if you like, you can hear more of Matthew's stuff here as well, as part of his other project Jackson Hall.

I also need to tell you to go along to the following open mic nights. They're the best ones in Edinburgh, that i know of anyway, though there are probably some others i haven't been along to. But specifically:

Fridays - The Ale House, on Clerk Street, from 9:30pm. This is a good one, if informal. They have a decent PA and a stage now, so it's all systems go at the Ale House.

Saturdays - Kilderkin, near the foot of the Royal Mile, from 8pm (7:15pm for performers) - Out Of The Bedroom is Edinburgh's longest running open mic (and a featured performer every week), great atmosphere, and NO COVERS allowed.

Sundays - The Blue Blazer, on the corner of Bread and Spittal Streets, from 8pm. Open mic to begin with, and a featured performer in the second half, fully acoustic. Great fun, and finishes nice and early for if you've got work on Monday.

MISSION STATEMENT 2013

So i've been music blogging for half a year now. When i started i wanted to introduce as many people as possible to the excellent music that i hear from local and touring performers all the time. I contacted a few of the more well known Scottish music blogs in an effort to get a bit of cross promotion and widen the community a bit. In all cases i was either ignored or denied. One blogger helpfully told me he couldn't put a link to my blog on his blog because new blogs are always starting up and they rarely last very long. I have to say, having done this for half a year now, it's easy to see why. I mean what's the point in blogging about music if nobody cares to hear it?

I mean what are the sales of the new Labrinth song, or the new Jessie J song, whatever it is? Do you think those songs are better than the MANY performers i have recommended on Edinburgh Unlimited? The music industry has very little music of quality to offer you, but it has advertising dollars. Independent music does not, that's why YOU need to LOOK for the music you like. It will be in unexpected places. That's why i try to bring some of it together on this blog in one easy place, unlike some other "independent" or "underground" blogs where the same cool and trendy "underground" bands get mentioned week in and week out, giving a false sheen of coolness to those who simply want an alternative mainstream music industry, and have little or no interest in the music whatsoever.

Okay, back on topic, I don't have a penny for promotion, and i don't see the readership of this blog going up very much over the last few months. If anything, it's gone down, once the novelty wore off for some people.

So here's the deal. For the next six or seven months i'm going to be blogging once a week, or once a fortnight, and i'm going to continue putting up EXCLUSIVE (this means you CANNOT get them anywhere else) music for FREE (this means it costs you nothing to download them!) and i am going to HOPE that my existing readers will tell other people about the blog. This means you. Are you reading this? You are one of my few existing readers.

And if you're a new visitor to Edinburgh Unlimited, please subscribe. Don't pop in and spend two minutes here, i don't care about your charity, i am trying to give you GOOD MUSIC. Go through the older posts, click the links, spend some time listening to the music. ENRICH your life. Don't do it as a favour to me, do it as a favour to yourself.

This summer i'll look back over the visitor stats and make a decision on the future of this blog, but until then it's at least six months of exclusive free music, so don't waste your time and mine, listen and PASS THE WORD ALONG, please. I think that's more than fair, a one year trial period, that's more than you get with anything or anyone else in this century, i think.

Okay, rant over, you know what to do.
See you all on Thursday at the next Unlimited gig then! :-)
Take care,

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

The House That Gerry Built!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's christmas this month, i know because i attended a sumptuous and lovely christmas evening yesterday at the Voodoo Rooms. A lovely time was had by all, i am sure.

And on a similar subject, we've got our December Edinburgh Unlimited gig coming up tomorrow as well. It's on Thursday 13 December, it's upstairs in the Meadow Bar, it only costs £3 to get in and it features performances from Pol Arida, Caro Bridges, Andy Paul, and myself (Calum Carlyle) too.

Now, one other thing, here's the newest EXCLUSIVE download from Ed Unlimited, it's four songs from Gerrybhoy, recorded at last month's Unlimited gig. Click here to download for free, and i hope you enjoy Gerry's music as much as we all did on the night.

So while we're still on the subject of christmas, i have some christmas music for you. No wait! It's music you won't have heard, and that's the problem with all the christmas music you hate, it's because you're sick of it! Well, not so with this stuff, for example, here's this free EP by Fiction Family, i thought it was ace, see if you agree!


And here's a highly interesting christmas EP by Stephen Cope, check it out!

And you didn't hear it from me, but here's an 8 bit christmas album called Decembits by The Brothers Dizz. Put it on during christmas dinner with the relatives! :-)

Okay, see you at the gig (because who knows, the world might end later this month!), and hope you enjoy all the music.

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Hi there, whoever you are. I have a ton of music for you this week.

Hi there, whoever you are. I have a ton of music for you this week.

BUT before i start, you need to read this little article about yet another killing blow at live music from Edinburgh City Council. Okay, back to the scheduled programme...

Hardly anybody reads this blog so i see no need to flower it all up for you, i'll just give you the music.

There are plenty of cool trendy blogs that everybody reads, if you want to hang with the cool kids (and hear yet another singular track by someone you've already heard of). But no, you won't get that here. You'll get exclusive stuff you would never have heard otherwise, and tons of it too, and most people find that a huge turn off. Why? Because despite their protestations to the contrary most people (those who even listen to music) want more of the same old claptrap they've been listening to since they were teenagers. Whatever. I know that genuine new music is of outside interest, to a select few. My only hope is that one day (probably after i have long since become disillusioned and left this blog to its own devices, though hopefully not), some of those genuine music fans might find these little blog posts and enjoy the music i have linked to.

Okay here it comes:

The new single from Conscious Route is free to listen to and only a pound forty to download, for two songs. They're really good. There's a huge mix of styles, and yet the songs hang together really well. Check it out.

Matt Midgley's new EP is out too. He's a phenomenal and very unusual guitarist, i think you should listen to his stuff. Usually based in London he's got a gig in Edinburgh soon, you'll need to google a bit for the details though. This week, i am not doing gig listings since really, if hardly anybody's reading this actually this week, and most don't live in Edinburgh, the few that do will already know all the good gigs coming up. Okay, listen to Matt Midgley now. :-)

We had an incredibly good singer-songwriter performing at the last Edinburgh Unlimited gig called Gerrybhoy. He's really prolific and you can get over a hundred of his songs here! I hope to feature a recording of his live performance here soon as a featured download so watch this space, Gerry fans. This gives me the chance to say a quick thank you to the other performers from last month's Edinburgh Unlimited, Matt from Cancel The Astronauts, The Ferny Brackens, and Jo Hill. All were excellent, as i'm sure anyone who was in the audience will agree.

I wanted to mention End Of Neil to you as well, actually. He's this really good singer-songwriter from Clackmannanshire. Here's him doing a song and an interview for the Wee County Sessions, and he's got a soundcloud page as well. Well worth checking out. 

Now, i was just reading Pitchfork and they have some interesting articles, this one about monetising music in the 21st century for example. But mainly my attention was caught by this article about Holly Herndon, and in particular this song, check it out i think it's very original.


Okay, next thing is Noisetrade are giving away a 28 song sampler, all you have to do is "like" their facebook page to get it. I haven't listened to it yet, though i have heard a good few past releases on Noisetrade and in my view the sampler is likely to be mostly very good, with a few things i think are a bit mainstream. In short, probably worth the free download at the very least. Suck it and see.

I think that's about enough for now. I've got a ton more stuff on my list but i'll tell you about it next week i think. Off to have my breakfast now. Hope you enjoy listening to this music, and maybe one day one reader might finally post a comment on this blog. I've given up thinking readers might discuss stuff, but one comment might be nice.

Tallyho and hopefully i'll see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

PS - and i'll mention this properly next week, but put this in your diary will you, it's the next Unlimited showcase gig on Thursday the 13th of December, starring Peter Kasen, Turning Plates, Pol Arida and Calum Carlyle! :-)

Just a quick update, it's become more fortnightly than weekly at the moment, sorry! I DO have a ton of good music lined up to tell you about, exclusive stuff, live stuff, just good music, basically, but hardly have the time to type the blog posts! Still doing the Unlimited live gigs (last one was GREAT, thanks to everyone who was there as well as to Gerrybhoy, Matt from Cancel The Astronauts, Jo Hill and The Ferny Brackens!)

So yeah, next Unlimited blog post in a few days and i'll be giving you links to some properly great music from Edinburgh and further afield, as well as a gig guide of a few gigs in Edinburgh over the next few weeks with some CRACKING performers, you should probably get your diary out in time for that.

As i say, that'll be Friday or Saturday, in the meantime, keep your eyes on the FB page for intermittent updates, and check out this NEW single from Conscious Route as well, it's VERY good in my opinion.

Friendly Vibes and Lovely Times

Hi there, okay have you got your ears warmed up? I have some new music for you to try out. Here we go...

So i played a gig on Thursday just past, it was super fab fun. The other performers were Caro Bridges and The River, who were incredible as usual, and Euan from Little Love and the Friendly Vibes doing a solo acoustic set. So here, click the link and check out their EP, it's free/pay what you like. Enjoy!

Next, i wanted to tell you about this EP from Dave Robertson. Dave Robertson's very familiar with Edinburgh though he's actually from Western Australia, and he's just come from New York, all so he can play a gig in Edinburgh, ladies and gentlemen! Well, he'll be performing at Out of the Bedroom on Saturday (10 Nov) and that's at Jenny Ha's, free admission. There will be open slots (turn up by 7:15-7:30pm to sign up) and Dave Robertson'll be playing a full set as well. Also, click the link for a listen to his new EP, it's also free/pay what you like. Enjoy! :¬) And remember Out of the Bedroom is a weekly open mic night, so go along any Saturday, they always have a good selection of performers on.

I also want to remind you to listen to some of the songs from the 50/90 website. Over the summer literally thousands of new songs were written by various songwriters, and you can listen (and in many cases) download them for free on the site. Each songwriter has a song page with all their songs on, too, for example check out: the new songs by Kiwafruit, Mousebulb, Mr Blitz, Stephen Cope, Angel In A Powersuit, Chip Withrow, TC Elliott, Expendable Friend and Gerrybhoy, and many others!

And that reminds me, the next Edinburgh Unlimited gig is on Thursday 15th of November. It stars: Jo Hill, Gerrybhoy, The Ferny Brackens, and Matthew from Cancel The Astronauts. A Unique lineup for only £3, don't miss it, it's upstairs in the Meadow Bar on Buccleuch Street at 8pm.

Okay, so please spread the word about the gig, please share, link, re-tweet this blog post, there's a TON of good music here, most if not all of it is free, or by donation, and really the silence is deafening. I can see the page view stats so i know you're reading this, is tyhere any chance you could give me some feedback on what music you like, what sort of things you'd like to see covered in this blog? I'll just keep pushing free/good music and gig info at you otherwise.

Right, take care, and i'll see you out there in Musicland,

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Free music from Edinburgh, the Lothians and Beyond!

Hiya folks!

Calum Carlyle on your phone!

So i'm playing a gig tonight (Saturday 27 October) at The Kilderkin, courtesy of Out of the Bedroom. It's free, and it starts at 8pm, hope to see you there. And if you can't be there (or even if you can) then download the official Calum Carlyle Android mobile app! Do it now! And remember to play my music loudly on a bus, if you can, let's show those tasteless teens what real music sounds like! No, seriously, get the app, listen to my music on the go, and have a good one. And if you have got some other type of phone device, you should find that www.calumcarlyle.co.uk is optimised for 3G mobile viewing as well, so everyone's included!

What else? Well, i do have some free music for you as well, and it's really good quality sa polish your ears and point them this way.

First of all here's a song by Roisin Russell that i think is REALLY good, it's called Barriers. Check it out, and check out her other songs as well.

Next i want to mention this sumptuous six song collection from Gerrybhoy. He's playing live at the next Edinburgh Unlimited event (at The Meadow Bar at 8pm on Thursday 15th of November) but if you want to hear a bit of his music in advance, now's your chance, he's just released a FREE mini album of songs co-written with the excellent Tina M, one of my favourite lyricists, i must admit. Check it out and do your ears a favour.

Now, i have seen a couple of other great little blog posts this week, so rather than do a rant (which is what i was going to do) about the state of music today etc, i'll let you read these excellent little missives, first here's Claire from Glasgow PodcArt having her say about Industry Wankers.Succinct and to the point.

Next, Kim o' The Concrete Jungle told me about this article about how listeners' musical tastes have changed over the decades, it's a great fun read.

And that's it really, i could blah on about the best open mics, my suggested gig list etc but i have mentioned the open mics recently (scroll down the blog for that) and i am sure you have events in your Facebook just like i do so...

See you all next week in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited