On the infrequent occasion I end up acquiring a new CD these days, the first thing I do is convert the tracks into mp3s. The second thing I do is find a new home for the CD.

However, there are a dozen or so physical products that I could never bring myself to part with, one of which is a handwritten CD-R that Scott Hutchison posted to me in 2007 containing rough demos of three songs called The Modern Leper, Head Rolls Off and Old Old Fashioned, all of which ended up being re-recorded for The Midnight Organ Fight. There was also a biscuit in the original envelope which was delicious.

When I hunted out the CD to photograph it for this article, the magic of owning a piece of music memorabilia that is rare or unique suddenly hit me, especially one created by a Scottish band whose ability to inspire is one the reasons I started this music blog in the first place and why only an absurdly jealous individual could begrudge Frightened Rabbit their sweatily-earned rise in popularity.

The forthcoming FatCat cassette release of demos from Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad to coincide with the fourth annual Record Store Day on April 16 – and the love and attention that clearly went into putting it together – serves as a fitting reminder of how precious physical music products can be.

The fact you probably don’t have the means of playing it in its intended format isn’t the point. Each of the tapes comes with a download code so, if you do buy it, in all likelihood you’re going to listen to the songs on your PC or iPod and file away the original for safekeeping. And in four years’ time maybe you’ll come across it again and just be glad it’s there.

TRACKLISTING
Side A (Frightened Rabbit)
- Be Less Rude
- I Feel Better
- Snake
- Keep Yourself Warm
- The Greys
Side B (The Twilight Sad)
- 2d
- 3iv
- 2c
- Ravishing Rick Rude (cover of Be Less Rude)

This is what Scott Hutchison had to say about the demos: “We recorded them all in my bedroom at the time; I think the address was 42 Woodlands Drive, top floor left, in Glasgow. We had one shit microphone and a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder, and we did our very best with those 2 pieces of equipment (plus a crap drumkit, Telecaster, Yamaha PSS 270 keyboard and a small 12W Park combo – no effects pedals). I think the limited means forced us to make simple, succinct songs that would have an impact, given that we couldn’t rely on fancy recording techniques. It’s always worth remembering this when you are layering the 175th track of sound on a big shiny album. Maybe 171 of those tracks are utterly pointless.”

Frightened Rabbit – The Modern Leper (demo)

Frightened Rabbit – Head Rolls Off (demo)

Frightened Rabbit – Old Old Fashioned (demo)

To mark Record Store Day, several independent music shops across Scotland are hosting free live music on Saturday, April 16. Here’s a round-up which will be updated with specific times as they become available:

EDINBURGH
Avalanche Records
Frightened Rabbit (1pm), Gordon McIntyre of Ballboy (2.30pm), Penguins Kill Polar Bears (5pm) plus Jenny Soep exhibition; The Last Battle (3pm) play at neighbouring music store Red Dog
(In addition, Avalanche host Broken Records (3pm) on April 17, Aberfeldy (2pm) on April 23 and Glasvegas meet ‘n’ greet on April 24; Red Dog will host Donna Maciocia (4pm) on April 17)
Coda
The Paul McKenna Band, Iain McLaughlin, Sharon King, Southern Tenant Folk Union and Corran Raa
Underground Solu’shn
DJ sets from FOUND, Fudge Fingas, Nasty P, Eclair Fifi, The Blessings, DJ G-Mac, EH1 and Spectrum

GLASGOW
Monorail
Iain Shaw (2pm), Frightened Rabbit (5pm), Palms (7pm) and The Membranes (9pm)
Love Music (today named Scotland’s best indie store in a public poll carried out by Indie Record Shop)
For Abel (1pm), The Hollows (1.30pm), Mr Kil (2pm), Aaron Wright (2.30pm), Stephen Flavahan (2.45pm), Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers (3pm), The Zips (3.30pm), Admiral Fallow (4pm), Pearl And The Puppets (4.30pm), Clamjamfrie (5pm)
Rubadub
Koreless plus DJ sets from The Blessings, Edit/Select and Instra:Mental

ABERDEEN
One Up
Craig John Davidson (2pm), Seas, Starry (3pm) and Indian Red Lopez (4pm)

DUNDEE
Groucho’s
Courtney Stuart (1pm) and The Twist (2pm)

STIRLING
Europa Music
Bad Boogaloo (12.30pm), Andrew Huggan (1pm), The Media Whores (1.30pm), Adam D Donaldson (2pm), The Sundancer (2.30pm), Craig Hughes (3pm), Debrasco (3.30pm) and Cry And The Blocks (4pm)

As well as the Frightened Rabbit/Twilight Sad split cassette, several exclusive products featuring Scottish artists will be released on Record Store Day:

Franz Ferdinand – Covers EP (Domino) on 12″ vinyl featuring cover versions of songs from the band’s Tonight: Franz Ferdinand album
TRACKLISTING
Side A
- Debbie Harry & Franz Ferdinand – Live Alone
- Stephen Merritt – Dream Again
Side B
- LCD Soundsystem – Live Alone
- ESG – What She Came For
- Peaches – Turn It On

Alex Kapranos told The Pop Cop: “I’m pretty chuffed that all these people got involved – they’ve all had a big impact on the way I listen to and enjoy music myself and have done great versions of the songs.”

The View – I Need That Record single (1967) on 7″ vinyl, cover of The Tweeds, official Record Store Day anthem
I Need That Record by The View

James Yorkston – It’s Lovely To Be Heard: The Talking Diaries Of A Scottish Gent (Domino) on 10″ vinyl contains excerpts from his book It’s Lovely To Be Here with music from Jon Hopkins & King Creosote amongst others

Edwyn Collins – In Your Eyes single (Heavenly) on 7″ vinyl b/w To Die For plus four-track Love EP mp3 download

Lone Pigeon – 28 Secret Tracks album (Domino) on 12″ vinyl

St Deluxe – After The Fire single (Dream Machine) on 10″ vinyl

Other Scottish independent music shops participating in Record Store Day not already mentioned above are:

DUMFRIES – Barnstorm Records
GREENOCK – Rhythmic
HAWICK – Spences Music Shop
INVERNESS – Imperial Music
KIRKWALL – Grooves Records
PAISLEY – Apollo Music

And finally, here’s a video to get you all misty-eyed: