Connect Festival

The Breeders - The freed seed

17 Jul 2008

Death to the Pixies (again) meant a new lease of life for The Breeders. Doug Johnstone traces the musical highs and chemical lows of Kim Deal. The Breeders are not what you'd call prolific. But that's OK, good things are worth waiting for. The on-off…

Dave Clarke - The eloquent rebel

17 Jul 2008

The last true generation of musical mavericks in Britain weren't indie kids or punks or rockers, but DJs. They blazed a trail, setting heads alight with a singular style and fevered musical vision. Among those deserving of such praise are Kirk…

Sparks - seminal finalists

17 Jul 2008

Sparks have been blowing minds for nearly three decades with their unique off-kilter magic. Hamish Brown gets down and worships With their foray into mainstream consciousness amounting to one song ('This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us'…

MIA

23 Aug 2007

Were we to try and describe the precise sound which London-born, Sri Lanka-raised MIA makes, we’d be here all day. While she can be very broadly described as an electro-grime act whose vocals are a combination of hip hop cajoling and reggae rhythm…

Glasvegas interview: Full transcript

21 Aug 2008

Henry Northmore talks to singer and songwriter James Allan and his cousin and guitarist Rab Allan from Glasvegas, the hottest band in Glasgow, as they get set to play Hydro Connect as well as their own headline dates How did Glasvegas first get…

The missing link

17 Jul 2008

Camilla Pia trawls the far reaches of the inter-web so you don't have to, and presents some digital delights from the stars of this year's Hydro Connect Trawling the internet for new music is something of a favourite past-time here at The List, so…

Vashti Bunyan

23 Aug 2007

From Stones protégée to modern folk icon, Stewart Smith counts down the four ages of effervescent folk singer Vashti Bunyan

Hydro Connect Festival - Glasvegas

City limits

21 Aug 2008

It’s hard to think of a band that sums up the Glasgow experience as succinctly as Glasvegas. Primal Scream and The Fratellis may have captured the hedonism, Biffy Clyro the anger and Franz Ferdinand the art, but Glasvegas are the streets of Glasgow writ…

Hydro Connect Festival - Spiritualized

Alivestock

21 Aug 2008

Technically dying twice is, needless to say, not an experience you want to relive too often. But because of its intrinsic link to Spiritualized’s sixth studio album Songs in A&E, Jason Pierce’s two times trip to the Pearly Gates and back (one for each…

Hydro Connect Festival - Eco-friendly

How green is my valley?

21 Aug 2008

Carbon neutral is a precise cocktail. It is a recipe that Geoff Ellis, director of T in the Park and creator of the Hydro Connect Festival, has learned by heart. He committed to making T in the Park carbon neutral in 2006, transforming it into the first…

Hydro Connect Festival - Acts you might not know

Fresh Connections

21 Aug 2008

Friendly Fires Their biggest influences are the Kompakt label, Carl Craig and Prince, and they’re named after a track by Blackpool post-punk confederacy Section 25. St Albans trio Friendly Fires (Ed MacFarlane, Jack Savidge and Edd Gibson) are one of…

Hydro Connect Festival 2008 - lineup in detail

17 Jul 2008

Oyster Stage Kasabian There’s a new album on the way from this swaggering fivesome so expect first plays of recently penned material alongside their by-now trademark electro-rock anthems. Manic Street Preachers Following the return to form of last…

Goldfrapp - Your lovely head

17 Jul 2008

Mildly obsessive fan Kirstin Innes pays a personal tribute to the ever-changing faces of Alison Goldfrapp A confession: I just don't see the point of Madonna or Kylie. Sorry. I don't see that anything they've done past 1990 has had the slightest bit…

Food & drink - Good & plenty

17 Jul 2008

Connect offers no end of culinary goodness, as Malcolm Jack discovers when he peruses the festival's extensive larder and speaks to the producers of every food delight you could possibly imagine, from oysters to sticky toffee pudding. Judging by…

Grinderman - Man alive!

17 Jul 2008

Less is always more. Inevitably, however, there are times where that worn analogy just won't stick. In the case of Grinderman, the rock band that includes Nick Cave in its line-up, more is most certainly more. Now, Cave has never been backward at…

Mercury Rev - Original soundtracks

17 Jul 2008

They've refused to stand still musically in their 20 year career, and with this latest chapter Mercury Rev are pushing their music farther out than ever. Doug Johnstone revels in their sonic adventures Describing what Mercury Rev sound like is a…

Home work - Tipis and pods

17 Jul 2008

Home work A festival that is boutique in all the right ways, Hydro Connect offers some truly original bespoke accommodation options, as Emma Newlands discovers Ideally, all camping experiences would take place in Jellystone Park with Yogi Bear, or…

More on the floor

17 Jul 2008

As if all that music and gorgeous food wasn’t enough, they go and put on a whole wealth of other delectable nuggets for your delectation, as Malcolm Jack discovers As that posh woman off the Ferrero Rocher ad might say: at this Hydro Connect…

Joan As Policewoman - Feel the force

17 Jul 2008

No, we don't understand the bizarre name either, but Joan As Policewoman's songs are truly breathtaking. Camilla Pia is bewitched Musically, there isn't much that Joan Wasser hasn't done. From violinist in the Boston University Symphony Orchestra…

Conor Oberst - The simple life

17 Jul 2008

From teen folk troubadour to big band instigator, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst has always been a musical force of nature. Camilla Pia finds the joy in his latest adventure: the Mystic Valley Band You may not consider there to be much difference between…

Camera Obscura - Field trippers

17 Jul 2008

Camera Obscura guitarist Kenny McKeeve gives Malcolm Jack some top tips for taking on a summer festival and winning. Usually we must bring salt and vinegar crisps – there never seems to be enough of them around. And a couple of extra bottles of wine…

The Roots - Hip hop's best live act

17 Jul 2008

Originally ignored by rap audiences in the US, the band gained notoriety on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour where the alt.rock crowd took to them with gusto. They have slowly broken through and carved a niche for themselves. The eclecticism On paper The…

Duffy - Souled out

17 Jul 2008

In an age of stack ‘em high, sell ‘em out record company profile maximalisation Aimee Anne Duffy is a true original. Instead of tumbling off the BRITs school production line, Duffy found a collaborator and mentor in former Suede guitarist Bernard…

Santogold - Hot metal

17 Jul 2008

This genre-bending 32-year-old ex-punk has been proving the pundits right this year, after bringing out her self-titled debut album in May. She was one of those lava-hot ‘ones to watch’ for 2008, and if the response to the Philadelphia-born lady’s…

Bloc Party - A weekend out of the city

17 Jul 2008

'Alluding to a stadium moment is not something to be ashamed of,' grins Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke, 'if it can be done well...' The band's 'agit-jitter guitar pop' not only led to their 2005 debut album Silent Alarm selling a million copies, it…