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! :-)

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

New music from both sides of the globe!

So. I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks, really. I have been busy. Mainly writing and recording with The Urban Folk Crowd, and trying to get the various bits and pieces organised for the Edinburgh Unlimited monthly events. Next one of those is on Thursday 15th of November by the way, with Jo Hill, The Ferny Brackens, Gerrybhoy and Matt from Cancel The Astronauts. That's at The Meadow Bar at 8pm, and it's only £3 admission.

Now, again, i usually like to give you some exclusive music, but it takes me a lot of time to sift through the various music i've recorded out there in Musicland, and to contact the artistes before hand and to be honest i haven't a lot of faith that many people are downloading the music i put up, or even reading this blog, so it's kind of a disincentive to take time to do that, but never fear, i still have some excellent music for you, that you probably haven't heard of, even though it's not technically "exclusive".

By the way, send me an email, comment on this blog, or on the FB page, to let me know you're reading, and more importantly listening, and it'll spur me on to get some more properly exclusive music ready for your ears. I feel like i'm losing the war against apathy at the moment, and your comments will certainly help tip the scales.

Right, here's the new EP by Stephen Cope, he's one of my favourite singer-songwriters that i've heard on the web, and he's just bbrought out this EP "five songs written by the soul of the earth" - it's not free to download, but it is only $4, and it's free to listen, so check it out, i think it's really good and i hope you do too.

Next thing i was going to tell you about this awesome sort of psychedelic world/folk music album i just found out about, it's from 2007 and it's a self titled LP from Voice Of The Seven Woods but i can't find anywhere online where you can download it, and to be honest i don't really know how it got on my hard drive! But it's really good, so if you can find it anywhere then do get it if you can. And if you do find it, please post here in the comments saying where!

Tell you what, instead i'll give you the link to this EP by Blasfima Sinna and Conscious Route - it's a free download, but anyway check it out, you'll hear the goodness for yourself. Here's a review of the EP in case you need any more convincing.

And also, do get out of the house and go to some gigs. I know it's getting on for winter but seriously, you only live once. In fact come to my next gig this Saturday, it's free, i'm playing the featured act slot at "Out Of The Bedroom". Hope to see you there.

Anyway, i've got to get on, but yes, please let me know in the comments, FB page, whatever, if this blog is in any way improving your life, and i'll be back here next week, this time with some exclusive music you won't be able to get anywhere else.

See you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Lisa Rigby live at Out of the Bedroom! (free download)

Lisa Rigby, and David Bowie

Hi everybody. This week i've got some live songs by Lisa Rigby (from the band Townhouse) for you. Here they are check them out. Good Sunday listening, i would say, plus you get an additional song if you download. All this for free, how can you argue?

Those songs were recorded live at Out of the Bedroom, Edinburgh's longest running open mic night, which also has a strict no-covers policy. OOTB has been taking a two week break recently but it's having a grand re-launch on Saturday 6 October at The Kilderkin near the bottom of The Royal Mile, that's at 8pm and it's 7:15pm-7:45pm for songwriters to sign up for a slot. Come along, it'll be awesome. And it's free. 

Also, the Ale House are having another one of their four day music extravaganzas next weekend with a huge ton of fantastic performers all performing acoustically! Click the link, check out the list. Also, i'm playing! I'm playing at 6pm on Sunday (7 October) so please come along.I  don't play many gigs and this is the first one this year i'll be bringing the twelve string guitar along to, so don't miss it. And it's free.

In addition to that i just wanted to mention i had a great time at Lorraine McCauley and the Borderlands' launch event at Coda Music yesterday, and they are doing another event on Saturday 13 October to celebrate the release of the CD too. That's at 5pm til 7pm so you can also get along to the second relaunched Out of the Bedroom immediately afterwards at Kilderkin on the Royal Mile.

Our next Edinburgh Unlimited event is on Thursday 11 October of course, featuring Jamie & Shoony, Cera Impala, Dave Keir, and The Urban Folk Crowd, for only £3 you need to come along to that as well.

And to think i was worried i wouldn't have enough stuff to tell you this week! Right, please put all that in your diary while you're listening to Lisa Rigby and i'll see you all out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Live gig coming up! Free music! and a NOT-NECESSARILY-ALCOHOLIC open mic night!

Darren Thornberry - On The Blog

Hi everybody! First of all let me say i am frustrated by the Edinburgh Council's decision to close Sneaky Pete's with no notice on the basis of noise complaints. I wonder why the Council has shown repeatedly that thousands of music fans mean nothing to them, while one complaining resident can pretty much close down a live venue. What sort of world do they want us to live in? This is a capital city! Why aren't the council supporting indigenous art such as live music? It's pathetic. And i am greatly sorry to see Sneaky Pete's closed down. It'll be missed. In response to this, Daniel Davis has started a FB group for those of like mind, you might consider joining.

Okay, well here's this week's featured download, it's a free four track EP from Thorn's Musical Journey. For those who don't know Darren Thornberry was a great mover and shaker on Edinburgh's acoustic scene, and was much loved by all. He moved to the US a couple of years ago and has been greatly missed, but here's his first ever band recording "Newtongrange", yours for free if you so choose.

Next i want to mention the upcoming Edinburgh Unlimited event, it's on Thursday the 13th of September at 8pm in the upstairs room of The Meadow Bar.

It's STILL ONLY £3 and for that you get to hear live performances from:

* KITE AND THE CRANE
* ECHO BOOMER
* THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC
* DARREN HENDRIE

So yeah, tell everybody you know, and i'll see you there.

There are a ton of other things on in Edinburgh, as you all know. Facebook has the details. :-) I just found out about an open mic night at "I heart cafe" near the top of Leith Walk on Wednesdays from 7pm to 10pm as well, it's a lovely venue and it's a CAFE which means you DON'T have to buy alcoholic drinks to take part. See you there on Wednesday and at Edinburgh Unlimited on Thursday, then.

Wait! one more thing, i heard this band called Lindby recently from the states. check them out, i like their stuff, it's quite upvibe. Hope you enjoy it too. Please consider buying their album as well, in the grand scheme of things that's a very fair price and you've probably spent a lot more than that on electricity, bus fares or food this week so get your wallet out for music as well. And while you've got that wallet out, please buy some of my music as well! ;-) (cheeky!)

Okay, see you all out there in Musicland! 

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Live gigs coming up! Cancel The Astronauts review! And more free downloads!

Hi there again. Tons of free downloadable music for you this week but TONS of info as well, so please read to the bottom. Thank you! :-)

The Legendary Graeme Mearns

This week's free and exclusive download is by The Legendary Graeme Mearns Band, captured digitally for posterity as they performed in front of an audience of millions at the scenic Ross Bandstand in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens this August.

Click here to listen and download this live bootleg recording, and remember, it is very much a bootleg, but don't despair, those of you who prefer more polished recordings. The band's album "Into The Hollows" is available as well on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and eMusic.

Let me just mention again Peter Michael Rowan's three excellent compilation albums, of songs on which he appears! You can buy the three collections singly for £4 each, or for £1 a song, and every purchase will go towards the helping-Peter-to-move fund, so do your ears a favour and get your wallet out for some good music.

I also wanted to say thanks to the Labelled Independent podcast for including one of my songs in their latest episode. Check it out, there are eleven bands on that show as well, all of them very good. Hope you enjoy!

---

I've got a couple of LIVE GIGS to tell you about this time actually, please stick these in your diary and come along for some awesome music

First i want to tell you about a gig that's happening on Tuesday 4 September at The Voodoo Rooms. It's Matt Norris and The Moon, Collar Up, Al Shields, and Three Little Birds, it's £10 admission, and it's part of STV's appeal to raise money for children living in poverty.  And that's at 7pm on Tuesday 4 September in The Voodoo Rooms ballroom.

Slightly unfortunately on the same night (Tuesday 4 September) at 7pm, a new Edinburgh open mic is being trialed upstairs at the recently refurbished Artisan Bar at 35-36 London Rd., EH7 5BQ, in Abbeyhill, corner of Montrose Terrace between Easter Rd and Meadowbank Stadium. PA and three mics supplied. Bring your own instruments. If successful, it could become a regular gig and a valuable addition to the Edinburgh open mic scene. Please turn up and help to get it off to a good start!


Next, let me mention The Return of Edinburgh Unlimited at The Meadow Bar on Thursday 13th of September. The acts will be: Echo Boomer (listen here), Kite And The Crane (listen here), The Sunday Republic (listen here), and Darren Hendrie (listen here). All this for only £3 ladies and gentlemen! tell everyone you know please, and here's the FB invite to forward round to everybody as well, please, if you could. Please note our new venue! It's in the upstairs room at The Meadow Bar on Buccleuch Street in Edinburgh, and that's on Thursday the 13th of September at 8pm.

I might also mention that Out Of The Bedroom (Edinburgh's longest running open mic night and songwriter community at large) is going through a lot of changes at the moment, in terms of a change of personnel running the nights, and a possible change of time and day as well. I would recommend those of you who are interested in the future of OOTB to get back in touch with them and keep your finger on the pulse for future developments. For the immediate future though, OOTB is still on Saturday nights at The Maltings/Montague Bar at 8pm (7:15pm for performers to sign up). 

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Cancel The Astronauts - Animal Love Match (2012)

Cancel The Astronauts are an Edinburgh (and Markinch!) band with a few very notable songs behind them, and they're releasing their new album "Animal Love Match" on 17 September. I had a listen to it and here's what i thought:

Cancel The Astronauts, finishing first.

This is quite a diverse album, and yet there are a lot of stylistic elements that hold it all together. I imagine this band would be great live because they've got a certain youthful energy, and their songs all sound different to each other! It would be easy for me to namedrop all the bands i think they might sound a bit like but, no, you may as well just judge these guys' music on it's own merit. They're doing their own thing, and that thing is a very human sounding kind of music (pop music? rock music? who knows?).  I mean i could say "Explosions In The Sky invite James and Arcade Fire round for tea" but what that would tell you very little about the actual music.
The album includes the singles Seven Vices and Intervention, and those songs both work well on the album, though i did feel like the other songs maybe stretched a bit further creatively and experimentally, and were more like a cohesive whole. It's not unusual for single tracks to stand out on an album but i think in this case the album stands out from the single tracks in some ways. As i said the album has quite a lot going for it, it has an eclectic selection of songs on it, it has that energetic undercurrent, it has good songwriting and song arrangements, every element's been thought about on this album, as with every good album. It's a great journey. It's nice that this is an album, rather than just a collection of songs.

I actually thought this album got more fun to listen to as i got further through it, and i suspect it'll get more enjoyable with repeated listens too.  All in all, this album was a pleasure to listen to, and i'll certainly be listening to it again. I heartily recommend you buy this album, and keep your eyes peeled in case Cancel The Astronauts are playing a gig near you soon.

Preorder "Animal Love Match" and you can also get some mysterious "goodies" from the band, album out 17 September 2012, and the album launch is at Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh on 15 September. 

---

So yeah, there's more music, and TONS of gigs big and small just go out and find them! More music stuff from me next week, see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Shedloads of Top Quality New Music - download it now!

This week's featured download is by the incredible Northern Poetry aka Emily Ward. Here she is performing live at Out of the Bedroom two weeks ago. Seriously, put it on now while you're reading. it's good stuff.

The new album by Conscious Route is also very good and it's just out now, so check that out too, please, and buy the album as well. And spread the word too, don't keep all this good music to yourself. Here's some excellent stuff from Sons of Scotland/Werd as well, while we're in that vein.

This guy looks interesting!

Now, for the acoustic enthusiasts, i really want to recommend these three exclusive collections by Peter Michael Rowan who is sadly leaving our shores for pastures new. You can help him to move by buying these three collections of his music, click the link, see those three album covers in the right hand sidebar there? You should get each of them. They all feature Peter Michael Rowan but in addition they are all great little collections of music, featuring as well: The Legendary Graeme Mearns Band, Lindsay And The Storm, Lisa Rigby, The Wandering Swallows, The Houdini Box, Holly Tomas, and of course the incredible Fanattica.

Also just wanted to remind you that tonight (Sunday 26 August) the featured act at The Listening Room (at The Blue Blazer on Spittal Street at 8pm, and it's free) will be Kite And The Crane, who are also one of the featured acts at the next Edinburgh Unlimited gig which is on Thursday 13 September at The Meadow Bar, more details of that on our facebook page very shortly.

Take care out there, and see you all somewhere in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Free Music Downloads! (good ones!)

Hiya,
It's a sunny day and the Edinburgh Festival (and fringe(s)) have started.

But! You can still benefit from some good music to listen to in your down time. This week, i'm sort of cheating. I usually like to give you totally exclusive music that you can't get anywhere else, but i heard a few choice things this week, and i want to share those with you. You probably wouldn't have heard these otherwise, so it's still kind of okay! :-) Here we go!

Kite And The Crane are a band from Edinburgh who sent me a link to this song. It's really nice! Maybe we can get them to play at Edinburgh Unlimited someday.  Anyway, go and listen to the song, and "like" them on FB.

The Anaesthetics are a band from Manchester, here's their FB page, but more importantly here's their music. The acoustic stuff is quite imaginative sort of anti-folk but then they do electric stuff too. Hope you enjoy anyway.

Miriam Crespo is a Switzerland based performer, and here she is playing a half hour set live in Switzerland! I heard of this set from a link on the Spanish Rock Shot FB page. Check it out!

Now i know you're all busy but please if you have any friends that like hearing good new music, then tell them about this blog. Do two at least, tell at least two friends this week, and the same next week etc. Let's get a sort of pyramid scheme (but in a good way!) of new music listeners on board. and if you're new to the blog, do two things:

1) check out the older posts, every one of them has free downloads in it
2) subscribe! Every future post will have free downloads in it too! :-)

Now, if you are in Edinburgh there are a few things on. Well, there are a ton of things on but there are a couple i want to mention. First of all at Henry's Cellar Bar on Thursday (9th of August) it's the LP launch for Conscious Route! Also featuring The Kennel Wages, Werd (SOS), Deeko (SOS), Combo Combo and DJ Miro. All this for only £4! And that starts at 8pm. Check out older posts on this blog for links to hear Conscious Route if you're not familar with his stuff.

I also wanted to mention Peter Michael Rowan's Acoustic Underground. It's on every night from 2345 onwards during the festival starting tonight. click the link and see who all's playing. This is all in the Kilderkin down the Holyrood end of the Royal Mile, and it's free too!

Oh yes, i also wanted to say a big thanks (or do we call it a shout out these days?) to Jason from Popcop for featuring my song Strange Skies in the jukebox on his site. Thanks! :-)

And you should check out his site anyway because it has a ton of good music on it too.
And thanks too to Scottish Fiction for playing Strange Skies this week on their radio show as well. :-)

Right, go and TELL PEOPLE about this blog, people who like music anyway.
And take care out there in Musicland! It's a fast and furious place!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Neofolk + more - free downloads...

Hi folks and welcome to the second episode of Edinburgh Unlimited online! Click the links, and please tell ALL your music loving friends to subscribe to the blog. I take time and effort to put a bunch of good music in the blog, and i want as many other people to get the enjoyment from this music that i have as well so spread the word!

Right, the first thing i want to mention this week is the next Edinburgh Unlimited gig. It's special for a number of reasons, firstly it will be the LAST one to be held at The Third Door. It has been good at The Third Door, and it's enabled us to put on some electric bands and suchlike, but we'll be moving on to the Meadow Bar in September, so keep your eyes open for that, on this blog or on our FB page.

So here are the details: It's at The Third Door (which is next door to Negociants), it's at 8pm (don't be late because the music's starting at 8:15pm) and it's on Wednesday 11 July. It only costs £3 to get in, and the performers this month are: Caro Bridges (doing a special solo acoustic set for us), Katie Forbes (from the excellent band The Dull Fudds), Calum Carlyle (yes it's me, and i'll be launching my new single Strange Skies, you can get a FREE copy if you come along in fact!, and Stevie B Good, he's a songwriter i've known for a while, and he's very good, but he rarely plays live. This is your chance to hear him performing.

I also wanted to mention that the excellent Dave Keir (i'm not kidding, if you like fingerstyle guitar playing and intelligent songwriting Dave Keir's your man) is playing the featured act set at The Montague Bar at 8pm this Saturday (7 July) AND launching his new CD too! AND he's also hosting the Listening Room at The Blue Blazer on Sunday 8 July too. And all this is free! Hard to believe i know.

Darcy DaSilva

So yeah, i'll see you at all of that, UNLESS you don't live anywhere near Edinburgh in which case let me just grab your attention back by presenting you with a downloadable set from Darcy DaSilva. She's a very good performer of original folk music, from Moniaive in SW Scotland. Here she is performing with her band last November at The Listening Room (click). Enjoy! Also, you can find Darcy on Facebook, Myspace and Soundcloud too.

Now i also wanted to just tell you about a few bands i recently heard of, because you might enjoy them too. First one is Sproatly Smith. Sproatly Smith's recently released third album "The Minstrel's Grave" is the best album i've heard so far this year. Have a listen, be warned, it's not a dip in and out type album, it's best enjoyed as a full album of music, i think, so stick it on when you have time to listen to it, sit back and enjoy.

Also, in a sort of similar vein, but totally different too (because they're American, part from anything else), it's Andrew Rose Gregory & The Color Red Band, with their 2011 album "Song Of Songs". Andrew Rose Gregory is most well known for his "Auto-Tune The News" videos, but let me assure you this album is nothing like that! I particularly enjoyed the second side of the album myself (yes, i still think of every album as side one and side two).

And finally i just heard a German (i think) artist on BBC 6Music, and he's called Fai Baba. I could only find two songs on the internet that you can listen to but here they are anyway, Peach Orchard Mama and Ocean's Child. Hope you enjoy!

I'm busy writing songs this week, now that 50/90 has started, if you're a songwriter and you need a bit of inspiration to write some songs, then 50/90 is for you, and this week is the best time to join up.

One other thing, this blog has a comment facility so please do comment, with additional links, your music recommendations, discussion, jokes, etc etc, but this isn't just me telling you about stuff, you can get involved too, communication's a valuable tool, let's make this a community rather than just a blog.

Okay, have a good week, come along on Wednesday 11th if you can, and i'll see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited

Caro Bridges - live downloadable mp3s!

Hello there everybody, how's it going?

Welcome to the first of my Edinburgh Unlimited blog posts. I'll be blogging about good music that comes my way. A lot of it will be from Edinburgh, but not all. Similarly this blog is for ANYONE in the WORLD who likes good music, so please tell all your friends to subscribe to this blog, if they like music. That should add up to a lot of people i'm thinking.

Caro Bridges

So why should you come back every week and check out the blog? Well because every week i'm going to be GIVING AWAY some free music, usually EXCLUSIVE to Edinburgh Unlimited (ie: unavailable anywhere else online or otherwise!). This week i've got two tracks for you by Caro Bridges, with Matt Norris on mandolin, recorded live at The Listening Room. Click here to download. I *strongly* recommend you check out Caro Bridges' officially released EP as well, it's very good.

Speaking of The Listening Room, it's an open mic night plus featured performer that happens every week at The Blue Blazer on Bread and Spittal Streets in Edinburgh. It's free, and it's on Sundays at 8pm. More information available here (click).

Now the other thing i wanted to mention to you is 5090, it's an online songwriting challenge. Anybody that wants to can challenge themselves to write up to (or more than!) 50 songs in 90 days, and the best part is there's a web hub where the participants give each other comments on their songs and co-write songs together etc etc. Honestly if you're a songwriter it is VERY fulfilling, and it's a great kick up the bum to get some songs written as well. I do know a lot of songwriters who would really benefit from this challenge, but sadly they are the ones most scared of actually getting involved. Overcome your inhibitions! More info about 5090 here (click). 

Hmm, yes. Well, i'll be back next week with some more exclusive downloads, and more info for people who love music. Till then, take care and i'll see you out there in Musicland!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited