Fruitbats Live @ Tunnels, Aberdoom

What to do on a cold, wet Tuesday a week before Christmas? Well a little know band called Fruitbats played their first ever Scottish gig. I wouldn't have taken much notice myself except for the bit on the poster saying featuring members of The Shins, one of my favourite new old bands and members of Vetiver. They formed in 2001 and have released 4 full length albums, most recently 2009's The Ruminant Band, released on Sub Pop.

Well based on my love for The Shins we went on down to see what it was all about. Steve Milne (Dirty Hearts Club / The Little Kicks) was first on the bill performing some new solo material he's recorded & releasing through Bedford Records, a local label hoping to establish some of Aberdeen's up and coming musos. Steve started his set with a nice little acoustic piece with no lyrics just some sweet harmonising which I thought was pretty brave but also caugtht everyones attention. He was joined later by Indian Red Lopez's Mike Chang, another very talented local lad. With Mike on acoustic guitar & Steve on the Synth with some old skool drum machine beats, a perfect indie soundtrack was formed. A highlight was definately their cover of Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear, awesomes. Expecting good things for them over the coming year.

Next up was Puzzle Muteson, consisting of two chaps, a keyboard & an acoustic guitar they wevaed together some nice melodies and vocals, a shame the bar was so noisy but they played a real nice set and didn't seemed to fazed.

Finally the various members of FRUITBATS took to the stage and everyone quickly descended down to the front. Having only heard brief clips from friends I was quite excited to see what the band would sound like live. Their music is (based on the Ruminant Band) has an old country blues feel to it yet its fresh and fun at the same time. The guys ripped into straight off the bat and had a captivated audience with hips shaking and feet tapping. When they finished the set they were a bit suprised to find their escape route back stage didn't actually exist so instead had a quick drink on stage and then picked up their instruments and ripped into a few more tunes. They played a brilliant set and despite a few technical problems with mic's not working they played on and even redid the end parts to two of the songs, I guess they didn't want us to feel cheated being Aberdeen and all. But it was a great gig with good friend's and the band were nice enough to sign my 12" which has been on heavy rotation at the flat and is making its way into my top 5 records of 2009!

To find out more click the links above for reviews, band pages & check out some videos from the gig below!

STEVEN MILNE (Ft Mike Chang IRL)

PUZZLE MUTESON

FRUITBATS

DO IT! 12 ft Put Your Hands Up For Neo-Tokyo

Friday saw the last DO IT! night of 2009 down at Cellar 35, our preffered venue of choice. With it being Christmas an all we decided to go all out with the decoration i.e. we hung plastic dust sheets from the rafters like glittering icicles and bought a shit load of fairy lights. For the first time we had a band from outside of our fair country, Bergen's Put Your Hands Up For Neo-Tokyo!

Joining us for the second session was Glasgow's purveyor of deep space beats Clinical. I think despite a few sound hitches and spending some of the night standing in the cold it was a great night and people had fun. The Neo-Tokyo dudes created a special one off set for DO IT! and didn't get the feet moving good time they expected but I think hanging out the day after and the fun we all had getting pissed helped make the trip a worth while experience for all of us.

The guys have been nominated for some awards this year, all with out having actually released a record so check out their video below, I think these guys will be one to watch over the coming year and we were really chuffed that they made the trip over for DO IT! Also a massive thanks to all the friends who made it down on the night aswell. x

So_Whyte @ Beautiful Mountain Cafe

Siobhan Ogg is a local lass who draws lovely pictures of small birds, mountains, trees, horned animals and also happens to design the posters for DO IT! She's currently studying at Grays School of Art and is getting ready for her 4th Year in Graphic Design. You can purchase Giclée prints, hand made cards and original paintings. Her work is familiar in subject matter but unique enough to hold its own on the lovely green walls in Beautiful Mountain Cafe.

Showing his work for the first time along side Sio is Thom Whyte. A recent graduate of the art school in an altogether different area, Thom is showcasing his photographic skills along side Sio's illustration based work. Thom's work seems to be concentrated on snow scenes & tree's which compliment Sio's work nicely. I was impressed with Thom's selecion of prints, one particular snow scene looks so grainy I would have sworn it was a 35mm print as apposed to a digital print, but this doesn't take anything away from the creepy snowscape, this one in particular makes me think of the Shining, something sinister just slightly out of shot on the billowing snow drift ahead!

The show is on right now at Beautiful Mountain where you can buy the framed prints & pictures but may also be able to secure extra prints if the piece you wan't is sold, that's the good thing about design pieces and the lower production costs, I think it's really good to offer quality work at good prices without being to precious but also maintaining a high standard end print. See more of Sio's work HERE!

DO IT! Norwegian Special

******NORWAY special********

For one year we have been scouring the coasts of the UK for new unheralded talents while promoting local acts who we feel deserve a part in the future music/retro mash up and visual spectacle that is DO IT! While residents M.O.C., SIO, BEN and dj WHITE CHOCOLATE have held down the monthly cellar bar sessions, dj URAKI RIDDIM has been spreading his granite wings to the familiar yet relatively unknown land that is Norway. Reports have come back that our Norsk brothers really diggit - none more so than the current wave of talented indie/electronica/house producers and djs coming out of Bergen on the west coast of the country. So please raise your glasses and put your hands up for one of this years most exciting Norwegian acts...

PUT YOUR HANDS UP FOR NEO-TOKYO live (Nabovarsel, Bergen)From one of Europe's coldest countries comes a warm fluoro duo who live to make sweet, society-saving electronic pop. Within the space of just a few months of airplay the duo (Njaal and Eirik) have featured in the #1 spot for charts such as NRK (a hefty media force in No) and have heard ringing endorsements from amongst others, DJ Skatebard of Kompakt and Detroit legends Underground Resistance. With influences that range from aphex twin, Dimlite, Jeru the Damaja Gary Numan and Devo it would not be presumptious to say that if you like good music you will inevitably like these guys. Throw in a bit of a Madchester band with machine influence with those previous esteemed linked names and you can get an idea of what they are like in headphones and live. Check this and remember the moment you saw them in Aberdeen at DO IT!
http://www.myspace.com/putyourhandsupforneotokyo
http://nabovarsel.info/

DJ CLINICAL (Cosmic Microwave, Glasgow)In support, Glasgow's motor city disco/house don Clinical will be returning to DO IT! for his second show. In a direct head nod toward the direction of Bergen's burgeoning house scene, with the Nabovarsel night at the forefront, Clinical will be laying down a set of deep, driving and occasionally jackin' sounds that would be at home in the days of Glasgow Underground or modern day Bergen.
http://www.clinic82.com/
http://www.reforecordings.co.uk/

RESIDENTSOur resident lover of 80s and funk wax, DJ WHITE CHOCOLATE, will be in attendance to pump up the room in between this months special guests. On Visuals, VJ BEN will be joined by a freshly reinvigorated M.O.C beast of a show also featuring guest visualisations from BOLESKINE. Look out for artsy bits from CC and SIO inside cellar bar.

Text by Alexander Horne (Uraki Riddim)
http://www.myspace.com/ethicsofaristotle
http://www.myspace.com/mood_of_collapse
http://www.myspace.com/boleskinevj

Get down early to pick up a special BERGEN mixtape by Nabovarsel's dj SANHUEZA

£3 door tax.

DO IT!


So weve just spent 4 hours setting up some stuff for the DO IT Christmas party and were pretty happy with it all, a few sounds things to sort out tomorrow and then were ready to rock the party. See you there hopefully!

Oh Aye @ Project Slogan

If you like knitting then you should head on down to Project Slogan tonight (and then to DO IT!) as they are having an open knitting evening for knitters of all abilities. I wen't down for a scan on Tuesday to see the Oh Aye opening and was blown away by the quality of the knitted objects adorning the table, mugs, cakes & a Christmas pud! ACES!

The spooky eye balls lurking in every corner were pretty spooky but the old ladies gathered round the tables dispelled any worry. They were enjoying a cup of tea and have some banter as we looked around their knitted bingo card and callers microphone. It was a shame more people couldnt make it down really. They had created their own patters which were put together in a free zine and also displayed along the wall with a proper knitted version above it in red.

Anyway if your bored tonight there's loads going on but why not pop down to Project Slogan and then pop down to DO IT! @ Cellar 35 with DJ Clinical & Put Your Hands up For Neo Tokyo!

Chris Henderson @ Kilauh

Well as usual the internet has had a rabbits warren effect where I couldn't find anything to begin with and now I have heaps of info. Chris Henderson is a local photographer who takes a lot of very nice pictures. He kinda stood out at his opening at Aberdeen's cultural crossroads, Kilauh Coffee, he was the only person wearing a bow tie, nice!

I did mean to tell him how much I liked his work but I slunk off home early. There's some nice shots of old beat up cars, some gloomy looking trees, two nice big scale landscapes, some lovely medium format polaroid negatives, especially liked the of Union Terrace Gardens with lots of people in it but my favourite piece's were the 35mm slide viewers with the slides lit up inside, the sheer quality of slides is still unbeatable.

I've just been having a look around the Kilauh wordpress site and there's some interesting thing's but I came across little Rae, she used to wear those super baggs jeans and blade, now shes a 4th year illustration student and steals cup cakes. I think it was worth it though! Check her blog HERE!

Tea Cosy Too Fair @ The Academy

It doesn't seem like it but its been ages since the first Tea Cosy Contemporary Craft Fair so it was about time for another one. Opening it's doors to the public for the first time in nearly two years I think, the old Pier shop in the Academy played host to all the wonderful local crafters from ceramicists, jewellery designers, print makers, nick nack paddy wacks & Peacock Visual Activists!

I offered to get some snaps for the lovely organisers again and was paid in cake, not just any cakes though, were talking cup cakes like the kind you see in Sophia Coppola's Marie Anntoinette, cakes fit for a queen indeed. It was great to see so many people coming in for a look around and great to see so many enthusiastic & creative people brought together in one space. Music to Watch Girls By was provided by the lovely Fraser.

Word on the street is the next fair will be planned for February 2010 at the Pier again so if you didn't make it down to make some Christmas purchases then fear not as when you see the quality of the products on sale at Tea Cosy you won't need and excuse to part with your money!