Mildred's Dairy

Second of the Glasgow bands with new albums out featured by Ralph this week is Mildred's Dairy and their quirkily named offering The Helsinki Bus Station Theory. In keeping with the retro feel of the album's packaging (niftily designed by Alf Button) slightly 80's vibed tunes and faux record effect, it would be all the more impressive served up as a vinyl platter.




Mildred's Dairy have the feel of a grown-up Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and Deacon Blue throughout this release with well-crafted, well-written tracks immaculately played and produced. Then there's the relatively tongue-in-cheek nature of the sleeve notes and the band's ambiguously anonymous bio. Possibly self-explanatory when you think more about the album's title which is based on The Helsinki Bus Station Theory. 

First outlined in a 2004 graduation speech by Finnish-American photographer Arno Mikkinen, the theory claims that the secret to a creatively fulfilling career lies in understanding the operations of Helsinki's main bus station. With that in mind this offering may be a Mildred's Dairy Last Train To Glasgow Central.

This album is infectious to listen to, with some extremely radio friendly tracks. Ralph's already played Evergreen on his Radio KC Indie Show and they've featured on Tom Robinson's Fresh On The Net program recently. They will also lend themselves very well to live performances. 

It's on the cards that the band will be gigging with increasing frequency throughout 2016 and with tracks like Fools Rush In they'll quickly get the crowds on-side and grooving along.

Brownbear

With thanks to Murray McMillan Photography

Not so much a group, more a self-styled musical collective, Glasgow's Brownbear led by Matt Hickman have just released Wandering Eyes as a prelude to their much-awaited debut album. Matt, along with Andrew McAllister on lead guitar, Ruairidh MacDougall on bass and Sam Waller on drums are producing melodic, indie pop songs of the highest quality.

Wandering Eyes (accompanied by a nicely retro video) harks back to the heady days of Roddy Frame's Aztec Camera or Peter Coyle's Lotus Eaters when they were producing the perfect pop songs and Brownbear have picked up that baton and are running well ahead of the pack with it.







Brownbear released their debut single Dead or Alive in May 2014 which subsequently gained them national radio exposure and high profile gigs which included supporting The Libertines at their comeback show at the iconic Barrowland Balllroom in Glasgow.

They joined The Libertines again at their BST Summertime show at Hyde Park before playing at a number of festivals including T in The Park & Belladrum. An acoustic version of Dead or Alive recorded in the BBC Treehouse became the most viewed clip online for T in the Park 2014 ahead of the likes of Arctic Monkeys & Biffy Clyro.




The band's first London headline show was a sell-out and received a positive 7/10 review from the NME. Brownbear then embarked on a European tour before starting work on their debut album.

Earlier this year they supported The View on the Scottish dates of their UK tour. The band then returned to the studio to finish recording the album, produced by ex Superstar Joe McAlinden.

Wandering Eyes will be released digitally on 22nd January and Ralph's playing it on Radio KC soon.

Upcoming Live Dates:

Sat 6th Feb:      Bakers Nightclub, Kilmarnock

Wed 17th Feb:  The Treehouse, Ayr (Matt Hickman)

Fri 19th Feb:     The Vikingar, Largs

Sat 20th Feb:    Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

Sat 27th:           The Hug & Pint, Glasgow (Matt Hickman)

The Society

There's always an abundance of Manchester bands to listen to who tend to try and sound like the usual Manc suspects, however, shiny bright young things The Society are going some way to buck that trend with the release of their latest track Given Up. 

They've got a fresh sounding guitar driven sound and; (it's got a lighter, bouncier Editors feel to it in a Lottery Winners stylee) despite a relatively low on-line profile, The Society seem to be garnering a loyal following locally.

Comprised of Harry Beresford - Lead Vocal/Rhythm Guitar, Lew Whalley - Lead Guitar/Backing Vocal, Tayte Nickols - Bass and Jason Hanley - Drums The Society are slowly but surely creating a distinctive (and yet pleasingly retro, Aztec Camera or even Liverpool's The Pale Fountains) sound. 

Given Up is a well-crafted pop song (Ralph's got it playlisted on Radio KC) that would grace any radio stations rotation. 

If you get the chance, catch them live on 27th November in Manchester's Academy 3 or The Fallow Cafe on December 4th.