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

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

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