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
