Armellodie Records

Delighted to say that 'No Ghosts', the new album from The Pure Conjecture is OUT NOW on 180g vinyl & download from all good record shops and digital service providers. This is the third album we've released by The Pure Conjecture here on Armellodie and we have no qualms in saying it's their masterwork, a proper bona-fide summer-pop classic.

"A splendid album" - Gideon Coe (6music) "For the many, not the few" - Jeremy Corbyn (Labour)

To celebrate the release the band kick off a short run of dates starting tonight in Brighton. Get yourselves along if you can, you will not regret it!  Monday 5th June - Brighton, Hope & Ruin Tuesday 6th June - Cardiff, Crafty Devil Brewery Wednesday 7th June - Stroud, The Prince Albert

It's been a mega braw year for Yip Man and the debut album, Braw Power, our one and only release on Armellodie this year.

This post is a sorta one-stop-shop incase-you-missed-it affair! The album has picked up a host of plaudits from the likes of The List, God is in the TV and Is This Music as well as The Scotsman and Scottish Daily Express (see below).

The album was also a big hit with BBC 6 Music with spins by Lauren Laverne, Gideon Coe, Radcliffe and Maconie, Tom Robinson and Steve Lamacq. Radio Scotland weren't sloppy on getting onboard either with Billy Sloan getting stuck in and dude-of-dudes, Vic Galloway including the record in his favourites of the year. There's also a super acoustic session which you can hear again courtesy of Is This Music on Regal Radio.

The album was not only stuffed full of winners but some seriously cool videos to boot. Massive thanks to Jason and Lynsey at Poppycock Films (dir: Barnburner, For Your Own Good) and Ian Tilling (dir: Not That Easy) for all the stellar efforts. There's a handy playlist here if you want to check them all out.  You can also see how the album was made in this sweet little 'Making Of' video below.

So what's next for our caped crusader? Well first off you can all set your wirelesses to the Vic Galloway Show on BBC Radio Scotland on Monday 9th January where you'll find Yip Man and his band of merry Yip Men in session. Following that there's a show at Celtic Connections taking place at the Hug and Pint, Glasgow (Get your tickets here) on Saturday 4th February 2017. Also on that bill are the mysterious Bloke Music, Armellodie's latest addition to the roster, who are readying their debut EP for next year. So there you have it. Join the Yip campaign if you haven't already and get the album! There's only one thing left to say... over to you Wagner!

As another Christmas come upon us so to does the annual Christmas freebie from the master of miser, Thirty Pounds of Bone aka Johny Lamb. 

If that's got you on a right Debbie downer from Christmas then you know keep going. Honestly Christmas tastes better off the Bone! Be drunk, be merry!

Well hello! I'm Yip Man. You probably know me as Al Nero if you know me at all. The former sorta-frontman of Le Reno Amps and co-founder of this here, Armellodie Records. You might be forgiven for thinking that I've been somewhat idle, or at least focussing on running Armellodie, since Le Reno Amps bowed out in 2011. But in truth I've been away. Al Nero went to China… Yip Man came back. 

Upon my return to Scotland I hooked up with my old sparring partner, Scott Maple and we began to work together on some songs that I had written while I was away courting The Red Dragon. We found a cosy little studio in Glasgow courtesy of Sean Pollock and Beatroute Arts and I roped in some other pals to flesh out my bones, Neil Warrack (Super Adventure Club) came and played some drums, Greg Barnes (who has previously provided generous organ donations to Le Reno Amps and Chris Devotion & The Expectations) came and played keyboards, Gordon Kyle joined us for a splash of trumpets and a dear friend, Clare Rajan came in and sang some sweet, sweet harmonies. Together we made a record, the debut record of Yip Man. It's called 'Braw Power' and it looks like it'll be out in November this year. That's the plan anyways, though plans change all the time don't they!?! Who really knows...

On 15 April 2015, Thirty Pounds of Bone (Johny Lamb) and Philip Reeder went to sea aboard the Girl Emily, a 1974 commercial line fishing boat sailing out of Custom House Quay in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Faced with an unlikely and challenging studio environment on deck, Thirty Pounds of Bone performed nine new arrangements of traditional fishing/maritime songs, as the skipper and his mate went about their business of fishing.

These recordings comprise the forthcoming album, Still Every Year They Went. For a sneak peak you can hear a track, Farewell to Grog, as aired on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction this week at 34 minutes. Do have a listen.

Despite the inherently risible endeavour, vocal performances accompanied by guitar, shruti-box and two Monotribe synthesizers were captured by a variety of microphones alongside guest performances by bow-waves, seagulls, coastguard helicopters and various sea creatures. The sound of the boat, her engines, her wake, the creaks of her hull and her propeller were a fundamental challenge but also provided a rich backdrop for the album.

The songs from or about the sea, and its associated practices, were taken back to the water—set amidst the environment of their origins. An unlikely collaboration emerges between Thirty Pounds of Bone’s dredger-paced lo-fi, and the phonographic studio methods employed by Reeder. The result is an album of material that speaks to older traditions, made relevant by a methodology that seeks new ways to render traditional song.

We're pleased to say that Trapped Mice's new album, Sacred to the Shades, is available as of today on CD and download. Fresh from a glowing review in yesterday's Sunday Herald, the band have revealed a lovely animated video for the album's  title track.

The band will be playing a hometown launch show on Friday (11th April) at the Wee Red Bar, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, 7PM - FB Event Page -  Support on the night comes from the excellent Zed Penguin and Now Wakes The Sea.

Sacred to the Shades is out now and available from all good record shops and direct from ArmHQ. Hit it!  

Trapped Mice release their new album, Sacred to the Shades, next Monday (6th April) and for those of you who've pre-ordered you should expect it through your letterbox imminently (if not already!). The band are celebrating with two launch shows, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh, both with guests, Zed Penguin and Now Wakes The Sea. Friday 3rd April - The Old Hairdressers, Renfield Lane, Glasgow, 8PM - FB Event Page Friday 11th April - Wee Red Bar, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, 7PM - FB Event Page Togas are optional. The album will be on sale at both shows and/or you can still pre-order online if you wanna.  As a special treat we're streaming it as of now, in all its glory, over at Soundcloud.

We're pleased to say that Thirty Pounds of Bone's new album, The Taxidermist, is available as of today on vinyl and download. The record has been garnering great praise from the likes of The Quietus and The Herald and has also picked up a few spins on BBC 6 Music courtesy of Lauren Laverne. Getting on the radio is always lovely so we're all dead chuffed here at ArmHQ. We'll be even more chuffed when you, the informed public, go and buy a copy. Honestly, you won't regret it. Do it, head HERE now!

'A brilliant LP - what you have here is a superb set of open-handed, ever so slightly bitter-sweet (maybe bitter) songs that with massive choruses and brilliant, classic alt-rock arrangements.' Incendiary Magazine 

'An early contender for album of the year. - the music here is as accessible as it is cleverly constructed, sometimes reaching for those sonic bursts of sunshine that, like Spiritualized and The Flaming Lips at their most glorious, genuinely make your scalp tingle.' The Herald (Scotland) 

'The arrangements are hazy, draped in gauze, although the songs themselves are rock solid: it is a testament to the quality of writing that they can withstand being submerged in indie scuzz almost worthy of Kevin Shields. Beneath the distorted guitar, the choruses are anthemic, soaring; these are songs that get stuck in your head. The overall effect is a kind of shoegaze folk, at moments reminiscent of Creation Records in their heyday. - I liked it a lot on first listen, and I like it more every time I hear it.' The Quietus 

'His journey has been like the move from black and white, to colour, to widescreen and transitioning into 3D, these songs are fully rounded expansive concentrated moments. - this is a fine record, emotionally direct and ranging musically from the complex to the simple, throughout you never lose sight of Lamb and his vision, excellent.' 8/10 Americana-UK 

'This is gorgeous, an odd record, not going to lie to you, bit strange in places but darkly beautiful. One to listen out for.' Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6 

'Thirty Pounds of Bone’s new album ‘The Taxidermist’ blends folk with a brooding indie edge. Johny Lamb plays everything on this record, particularly impressive given the wide range of instrumentation used. - an instantly arresting listen; its simple intensity draws the listener in. - a uniquely unsettling but compelling release.' The Strange Brew 

Another month and another album announcement, hail thee Armellodie. We're proud to announce the return of Trapped Mice with their new album, Sacred to the Shades, released on Monday 6th April 2015. Check out the video to 'When I Sleep' which you can bag as a freebie download on our Soundcloud.

Two years on from their excellent debut album Winter Sun, - an album steeped in the chilly themes of longing, confusion, and a creeping sense of dread at the slow march of “progress” - the band have conjured up Sacred to the Shades, an album that delves into historical allusions, stirred by the thought of living in the shadows of fallen empires, never quite learning from what has gone before.

Front-man Ian Tilling explains how the album came to be;

 “I read a sheet of translations from the inscriptions found on Roman funerary monuments. They spoke of loved ones who had passed on, now “sacred to the shades”, to the spirits of the dead, and these centuries-old stories struck a chord with me, and reminded me of themes I was already exploring in my song-writing. I've been fascinated by the idea of history repeating itself, and when I read the sad tales and warm-hearted manifestos in the various epitaphs, written so long ago, they seemed so rich and vital, like they could have been written yesterday”.

From the opening rumbles of ‘A Brief Introduction to Modern History’, with it’s pining guitar notes swooping above a rain-soaked serenade to some washed-up old circus performer down on his luck, Trapped Mice sound more assured than ever in their proclivity to all things atmospheric and mournful. 

On ‘The French Lieutenant's Woman’ - inspired by the novel of the same name – the band weaves textures and masterfully builds tension.  Lucie Miller’s violin winding beautifully about the vocal melody creates a sound that is suitably empathetic to Tilling’s words of abandonment, waiting and desperation.

The inscriptions that informed the writing surface throughout the album, but perhaps most prominently on the post-rock melancholy of ‘Slave Girl Song’ as Tilling explains;

“There was one inscription in particular, entitled “on the death of a young slave girl”, which moved me immensely, and it was clear to me that whatever the young girl Erotion had been through, there would be countless examples of people still alive today with similar experiences, without a stone epitaph to remember them by: "Let her now play and frolic with her old patrons, and lispingly chatter my name. Not hard be the turf that covers her soft bones, be not heavy on her, earth; she was not heavy on you.” Perhaps the intentions of her “old patrons” weren't as sinister as I imagine, but the parallels with modern sex-slavery, exploitation and people-trafficking were too obvious and too raw for me not to at least try and put some of how I was feeling into this song.”

Sacred to the Shades is arguably at its most striking on the two-part, ‘Shades’. Part one explores the idea of living in the shadows for a long time before eventually finding glory when you least expect it, and how that experience might make you feel about the person with whom you shared your life up to that point.  Part two takes the idea of being two people together, in love, destined for something greater, and contrasts these grand historical ambitions with the absurdity of the pissed-up sex-addled reality of modern life. 

Compelling, intelligent and poignant, Sacred to the Shades is available on CD and download from Monday 6th April 2015. You can pre-order it right here, right now.

Coming to a record player near you... (If you buy it that is, which you will!). We're super proud to present The Taxidermist, the fourth full-length album from Thirty Pounds of Bone - and completing an Armellodie-hat-trick - released on 12" heavy vinyl and super-lite download on Monday 23rd March 2015.

Where Johny Lamb’s first three albums - 2006’s The Homeless Children of Migrant Mothers, 2011’s Method, and 2013’s I Cannot Sing You Here But For Songs of Where - all relate heavily to place and itinerancy, rooting themselves (sometimes unconventionally), in folksong, The Taxidermist marks a partial departure from Johny’s previous works. Retaining all the hallmarks that made those other records so special, The Taxidermist is still unmistakably a Thirty Pounds of Bone record, but this time round the ratios have shifted somewhat. 

There are love songs and death songs, as Johny mixes acoustic folk-like songs with distortion smothered Shoegaze, analogue synth, and Salvation Army type brass. It’d be a push to say this is Thirty Pounds of Bone gone pop, but musically there’s a change of focus, and on The Taxidermist we find Johny at his most wistfully romantic.  

Lyrically, there’s an underbelly of the not-quite-right here throughout The Taxidermist.  Whilst never explicit, the themes, characters and contents of these songs seem to flirt with darkness. Whose eyelids are being filled with clay on ‘The Glass of an Iris’? Why is money being tied to thighs on ‘Ribbon’? There is robbery (‘Pasganger, Or The Wagon’), revenge (‘The Expelled’), and resentment (‘All Your Sons’), blood (‘Two Birds in the Brine’), death (‘Before I’m Done’), and regret (I’ll Go Too). But there is atonement, remorse and tenderness too. This is a sentimental record.

It's been five years since we last heard a peep out of them but The Scottish Enlightenment have returned with a neat little 7" treat snuck out on the lovely, Box Bedroom Rebels label. A limited edition (250) 4 track 7" complete with inserts and an envelope containing a download code, letter, fortune telling fish(!) & Confetti. Isn't it pretty...

It's that time of year again when we here at ArmHq toast to the coming year's sure-to-be-hits and the floppy discs of yore that we so proudly stand behind.  It's the Armellodie Records Sampler 2015. Free for all!

2014 was a fun one. The first 6 months were proper boppin' on the release front. We had our French compadres, Appletop, release 'Brave Mountains' in March. Followed by Super Adventure Club's 'Built-In Redundancy' live album for Record Store Day in April. We then released a hat-trick of belters in the shape of Dan Lyth & The Euphrates, 'Benthic Lines', Chris Devotion & The Expectations, 'Break Out', and The Hazey Janes, 'Language of Faint Theory'.

After summer there we put our feet up on the label-front, busying ourselves with real-shit for a change. There's been some tasty freebies from Gastric Band and The Douglas Firs to tide us over and we're very much looking forward to 2015. As you'll hear/see when you grab the sampler we have forthcoming albums on the way from Trapped Mice with 'Sacred To The Shades', and Thirty Pounds of Bone with 'The Taxidermist'. They'll both hit the streets in the Springtime and sounding beautiful so they are.

It’s just about Christmas so that can only mean one thing… Thirty Pounds of Bone’s annual crimbo-ditty. This year he’s tackled the bahrumpumpumpaa-epic ‘Little Drummer Boy’.

Have a listen and download for free below. 

…and if you enjoyed that why not reminisce and listen to last year’s sterling effort too. Knock yourself out! https://soundcloud.com/armellodie/thirty-pounds-of-bone-s-a-d

We're really pleased to offer up the new single from The Hazey Janes, ‘All Is Forgotten', as a pay-what-you-like download as of today.

Taken from the band's critically acclaimed blockbuster-of-a-fourth album, "Language of Faint Theory", 'All is Forgotten' is backed by an inspired reworking of ‘L.O.F.T’ album track ’The Fathom Line’ by 10-piece Brighton-based collective The Fiction Aisle, along with a recording of a mysterious 1/4" tape that was found wrapped in brown paper and stamped with the name 'Mouchettes', on the band's doorstep. All attempts to identify the remixer have proved fruitless… The band will be celebrating the release by popping into BBC Radio Scotland's Culture Studio to play for Janet Forsyth on Thursday (11th September). Be sure and tune in.

Our very own Gastric Band have unleashed a brand new 2-track EP today available as a pay-what-you-want download. The EP contains two new tracks, the epic ‘Nutbusters’, and the excellently named, ‘Generic Clapton’.

Recorded straight-to-tape by Graeme Young at Chamber Studios in Edinburgh last year, Gastric Bag contains the first new material from the band since their debut, mini-classic album, Party Feel.

The Hazey Janes have been enjoying some great support from BBC Radio Scotland of late. Incase you missed it you can listen to the band perform two songs from their new album, Language of Faint Theory, and cover a classic 80s smasher in amongst some natter for the Vic Galloway show. Check it on the embed below.

If you like the sound of that session the band performed another session track exclusively for Another Country with Ricky Ross which you can hear on the iPlayer for the next few days HERE. Furthermore, Language of Faint Theory, has had the notable honour of being awarded the ‘Record of Note’ on Roddy Hart’s Show. He span three songs from the record which you can listen again to on the iPlayer HERE.  As if that wasn’t enough glory, the album has also been named Album-of-the-week on BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal’s Rapal! You can listen again to that show HERE.