The Plimptons are Cynical and Bloated

Today I want to introduce you to Glasgow band The Plimptons. Their latest album "The Plimptons are Cynical and Bloated" came out on 2nd April. It's their third album in total and they're brilliant.

If you want subtle, nuanced, delicately ambient music then this is not what you should buy. If however, you want fucking noisy, thrashy, brilliantly funny pop with comic dexterity and a feel good factor, then you'll find it here. There are some outstanding tracks on this album "Pride Comes Before A Fall" and "Never Going Back To Work" are good examples. There are moments on here that almost feel like punk never happened. In a way they're sort of like a melding of Half Man, Half Biscuit, Arab Strap and The Buzzcocks - which is a pretty nice combo.

If you buy from bandcamp it'll cost you £3. That's £3 well spent if you ask me. You can preview the record afore ye commit though. Check the link below.

theplimptons.bandcamp

STRANGE HANDS

So here's one to get Saturday night off to a flyer. Strange Hands are a brilliant French band - formed in 2008.
They're about to release their new album "Dead Flowers" in May and it's up for a four track preview at Bandcamp - have a listen and let me know what you think.
They're a really interesting band, not exactly anything groundbreaking or new, but just a really nice listen. I like the fact they produced their album in conjunction with an Italian record label called "SHIT MUSIC FOR SHIT PEOPLE" all capitalised. That's an added joy. Anyway, there you go. Give them a listen...

strangehands.bandcamp

Aggi Doom

Back again with a post to wave the weekend goodbye. Today I want to introduce you to a Glasgow group called Aggi Doom. They are Claudia Nova, Scott Caruth, Hillary Van Scoy and Joan Sweeney and are again as yet unsigned (cue my clarion call for some record label twats to pick them up - cos once again, they're fucking brilliant).
So far they've released a couple of singles and have a forthcoming release called "Bring Me The Head/Cakewalk" due out on May 21st. Recently they contributed a song called "The Loving Kind" to a Creeping Bent compilation "Fluxing Up The Aesthetic" (the whole album is definitely worth a listen if you can get your arses over to iTunes for a preview - but "The Loving Kind" is, in particular, outstanding)

If you like The Slits, if you like Siouxie And The Banshees then you'll like Aggi Doom. They're what Elastica should have been (but never were) all those years ago. Hop on over to their bandcamp link and have a listen.

Aggi Doom Bandcamp

Then wander on to their Soundcloud page.

Aggi Doom SoundCloud Page

Come on, how can you resist a band that look as good as this...? You can't can you? Admit it...

Discopolis

Discopolis are a three piece electronic band that hail from Edinburgh, comprising members Fergus Cook, Laurie Corlett-Donald and Dave Lloyd. They've got a really good sound going on and as yet remain unsigned (note to record labels - sign them you twats, they're brilliant!). Anyway, they describe themselves as sounding a bit like "digital fucking", which is...original...

If you like Boards of Canada, M83, Daft Punk and music of that ilk - chances are you'll like Discopolis.

This is one of their first singles "Lofty Ambitions", funny video - nicely shot, with a sweet nod to Kraftwerk at the beginning. It's really kind of infectious. You only need hear it once to have it stuck in your head, and I like the fact they sing with their Scottish accents intact. "You alwaes doot ma loove", or something :D. Anyway, seriously give them a go. They're worth a few moments of your time and I reckon they could go on to big big things in the coming year or two.

thegeneral

thegeneral is a brand new blog (because lets face it, what the world needs now is yet another page of random musings from some internet nobody)...

anyway, that's what it is - going to be a recepticle for music news, reviews, thoughts, random funny stuff and all sorts of other shizz. will be looking for guest contributors in the future so if you have anything music related you want to share, get in touch.

the honour of being the first band to feature on the first post is very random, just read today that Greg Ham from Men At Work has been found dead. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17767264 so with that in mind, here is their AWESOME hit single "Down Under"

RIP Greg.