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

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

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

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

Peter Michael Rowan, Baldruin, Least Carpet and The Leg.

Hi folks, okay so last night was a big shindig at Kilderkin to say cheerio to Peter Michael Rowan who's moving away to Cumbria, it was awesome and tons of great performers were there, and you can still download Peter's going away EPs, but do it now because it's only till the end of September they'll be available.

Now, life has been whooshing past me a bit recently but there are a couple of free downloads that caught my ear this week, here's a free song by The Leg, an Edinburgh band on Song, By Toad records, hope you enjoy it.

Next i think you should have a listen to this split tape where Balruin do one side and Least Carpet do the other side. You have to get the sides separately from each band's website:

Here's the Baldruin tape side
Here's the Least Carpet tape side

Really, go and get them, and i hope you enjoy.

I'm sorry i'm not really up to doing a lot of music discussion this week, but i will be back next week with a bit more, and i'm hoping to do a run down of my favourite open mics next week too, so stay tuned pop pickers!

Tallyho!

Calum Carlyle
Edinburgh Unlimited