Hey folks,
Pictish Trail here, with carefully hand-typed details on some new releases we've got lined-up. It's a bit of a long post, this one, so you might wanna grab a cuppa.
Y'right? Sooooo ... as you may be aware, it's Record Store Day this Saturday (18th April) - a day where music fans, and queueing enthusiasts, joyfully gather together in one big conga-line. You can purchase rare re-pressed records, new depressed records, scratch'n'sniff cassettes and talk to people directly in front of you, and directly behind you, in an orderly formation. It's a celebration of music and the people who like music.
Now, normally we don't partake in this sort o' thing. Not because we don't like music or the people who like music. No. We love all that. It's mainly because we're not very good at forward planning ... and also we try to encourage folk to purchase the records we've already made in the preceding 12 months, that are lovingly piled in boxes under our collective beds. HOWEVER, this year, the stars aligned, and we received some music that just HAD to be released on this special day. It was MADE for this special day.
Ladies and gents, for Record Store Day this year, Lost Map brings to you ... a split 7" single from Tuff Love and Lazy Day, and a 12" live LP from Randolph's Leap.
GRAT 00°5 - Tuff Love / Lazy Day 'Groucho' b/w 'Portrait', 7" single + download GRAT 00°6 - Randolph's Leap Most Clunky, 12" live LP + download
You won't find these items on the official RSD list. We would need a distributor for that to happen, and - at the moment - we distribute most of our music ourselves, directly to indie shops. We enjoy doing this. Gives us an excuse to go into the shop, stand in a queue, and buy other music. But, yeah, like I say, it means you won't find these records on the official RSD list. And that's fine. Just makes it more secret and special, eh?
Before I tell you more about these releases, here's where they are going to be available ...
Underground Solu'shn (Edinburgh) // Coda (Edinburgh) // VoxBox (Edinburgh) // Monorail (Glasgow) // Unknown Pleasures (Edinburgh) // Love Music (Glasgow) // Music's Not Dead (Bexhill-on-Sea) // Norman Records (Leeds) // Rough Trade (London)* // Reflex (Newcastle)*
If your local store isn't carrying these titles, or any of our stock, give 'em a nudge in our direction.
We've got Tuff Love and Randolph's Leap taking part in some instores too ...
Vox Box (Edinburgh)
1.30pm - Tuff Love
4.30pm - Randolph's Leap
Underground Solu'shn (Edinburgh)
3.00pm - Tuff Love
5.30pm - Randolph's Leap
Love Music (Glasgow)
2.30pm - Randolph's Leap
5.30pm - Tuff Love
The Randolph's Leap live album - Most Clunky - was recorded at Kid Canaveral's Christmas Baubles V in Portobello Town Hall, December 2014. And it is a pyurrr peach, likes. I'm not normally a big fan of live albums - they tend to sound a bit weird, never seeming to capture the energy of being there. But these recordings really blew me away. Randolph's Leap live is quite a different experience to the records; their 2014 album, Clumsy Knot, collected together lo-fi home recordings alongside some band numbers, showing the full range of front-man Adam Ross's songwriting talent. The live shows are more of a party, with the 8-piece band making their presence felt on every song. That's not to say it's non-stop brass/violins/drums/bass/keys from start to finish ... For example, listen to this live version of 'Unnatural', which is largely Adam on his own with guitar, delicately accompanied on harmonies at the chorus by the full band ... before every instrument triumphantly crashes in together (expertly mixed and mastered by our good pal, Robin Sutherland) ...
Nice eh? The live album has been pressed on 12" vinyl, in very limited number (only 250 copies) ... and with five different colour covers! Be sure and grab yours quick! After RSD, we'll have the LP available to purchase from our webshop and BandCamp. Before then, you can catch Randolph's Leap live in session on Marc Riley's BBC 6Music THIS THURSDAY (16th April). They are also on tour across the following locations ...
RANDOLPH'S LEAP - LIVE DATES
SAT, APR 25 – Mining Institute, Newcastle Upon Tyne
SAT MAY 2 – Brew at the Bog Festival, Inverness
THU, MAY 7 – Summerhall, Edinburgh
FRI MAY 22 – PJ Molloy’s, Dunfermline (with Tuff Love)
SAT AUG 22 – Hardwick Live Festival, Durham
SAT AUG 29 – Electric Fields Festival, Dumfries
SAT SEPT 5 – Bingley Music Live Festival, Bradford
Our other RSD release is a split 7" single by Tuff Love and our new pals, Lazy Day.
Julie and Suse are just back home from their first headline Tuff Love tour, in support of their sophomore release, the Dross E.P. ... and they have told me that they had an amaaazing time. So, aye, cheers to everyone who went to go see 'em. Now they are gearing up for some Scottish shows in May, ahead of a summer of festivals. They're also hard at work on their third EP, which we're scheduling for release later in the year ... but, to tide TL fans over in the meantime, they've recorded this löved-up, golden-sunshiney shoegaze pop treat, 'Groucho'. Garage-fuzz guitars herald in a swooning harmonised vocal mantra, which then strip down to Julie's raw vocal and Tuff Love at their most exposed. It's a really hypnotically beautiful song, that gets more addictive with every play ...
TUFF LOVE LIVE DATES
THU, MAY 14 @ TOM THUMB THEATRE, MARGATE [TICKETS]
SAT, MAY 16 @ ALTERNATIVE ESCAPE, BRIGHTON [FREE]
FRI, MAY 22 @ PJ MOLLOY'S, DUNFERMLINE (W/ RANDOLPH'S LEAP) [TICKETS]
WED, MAY 27 @ SUMMERHALL, EDINBURGH [TICKETS]
THUR, MAY 28 @ DROUTHY'S, DUNDEE [TICKETS]
FRI, MAY 29 @ SUCKERPUNCH, THE GLAD CAFE, GLASGOW [TICKETS]
SAT, MAY 30 @ LEMON TREE, ABERDEEN [TICKETS]
SAT, JUN 13 @ LONG DIVISION FESTIVAL, WAKEFIELD [TICKETS]
FRI, JUN 19 @ SOLAS FESTIAL, PERTH [TICKETS]
SUN, JUN 21 @ WEST END FESTIVAL, ORAN MOR, GLASGOW [TICKETS]
JUL 24-26 @ INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL, DERBYSHIRE [TICKETS]
THU, JUL 30 @ KENDAL CALLING FESTIVAL, KENDAL [TICKETS]
Lazy Day are on the flip-side of the 7", with their song 'Portrait'. Lazy Day is the work of the fantastically named Tilly Scantlebury, and her pals. It was Tuff Love that put me on to Tilly's music, at the end of last year - her SoundCloud had three songs on it that were on constant rotation through my headphones. When we were planning the release of 'Groucho', I asked TL who they'd like to do a split single with, and they suggested Lazy Day - and Tilly had a new song ready, SO IT WAS TOTALLY MEANT TO BE. 'Portrait' is the first Lazy Day recording to feature a full band, captured in the studio, and sounds suitably epic - but it loses none of the intimacy of Tilly's earlier recordings. The dreamy guitars take me back to Bends-era Radiohead, that mid-90's wash of effects pedals, which sounds so great. Love it. It matches TL's song so well, too, it's a great 7". If you want to get to know Tilly better, have a look at this interview she did a few days ago.
Lazy Day - 'Portrait' 7" - £4.99
There you are, then. Both the Randolph's Leap LP and the Tuff Love / Lazy Day 7" are up on the Lost Map webshop, and BandCamp, (as of Monday 20th April) ... but they will both be made available in the indie shops mentioned at the top, first. Plus, if you buy from your local indie shop, you save on postage!
right, back to work.
johnny pictish xx
* Rough Trade and Reflex Records are stocking the Tuff Love / Lazy Day 7" only