Electronica

Exposure: S-Type

Homegrown beat-maker launches EP at Mixed Bizness

24 Nov 2010

Bobby Perman’s new single on Scottish label Phuturelabs isn’t his first, but it does signal a change of musical direction under his production alias S-Type. The Edinburgh-raised, Glasgow-based brother of Dougal (who runs Radio Magnetic, where Bobby…

CocoRosie - Grey Oceans

21 Apr 2010

(PIAS) Remember trip-hop pantywaists Sneaker Pimps? Disconcerting swathes of this fourth long-player from CocoRosie will jog your memory if need be. Thankfully the US-born, Paris-based sisters’ foray into cry-baby drum’n’bass is bedimmed by a collage…

Autechre Oversteps tour includes Glasgow date - Sean Booth interview

25 Feb 2010

The new album just kind of made itself, really.’ That sounds like a pretty glib statement from Sean Booth, one half of Warp-signed electronic experimentalists Autechre, alongside Rob Brown, the kind of thing you hear from any band which plays the music…

Inspiration, stylings and getting bored - Hot Chip interview

1 Feb 2010

Back with an album packed with real instruments, hymns to male friendship and informed by increasingly grown-up personal lives, Hot Chip are maturing into a proper band. Rumour has it that the mighty Hot Chip have gone a bit soft. They’ve never been…

Why the Beats & Cubes show is the square root of live electronic music - Etienne de Crecy interview

Square Pusher

1 Feb 2010

Henry Northmore is spellbound by French producer Etienne de Crecy’s new ‘Beats & Cubes’ live show. Etienne de Crecy is an outstanding DJ and producer. Born in Lyon, it was a move to Versailles, where he attended Jules Ferry College with Air and…

Exposure: Laki Mera

30 Nov 2009

Laki Mera, are a Glasgow five piece with a singular take on cinematic trip hop atmospherics who don’t really fit into any particular corner of the Scottish music scene. Their album. Clutter, was released as a download in 2007. They’ve more recently…

Substance

Edinburgh electronica evening

2 Oct 2009

Techno night Substance has been importing and promoting cutting edge electronica in Edinburgh since its inception and now they take things to the next level for their third birthday. Appropriately featuring three guests: loud and abrasive beats with a…

The Orb

Ambient electronica legends in Glasgow

1 Oct 2009

The Orb brought ambient to the masses. The brainchild of Dr Alex Paterson the band emerged from the early house scene, manning the decks at Paul Oakenfold’s Land of Oz in 1988. ‘We split £90 between us when we did the six-hour chill out sessions. Our…

Calvin Harris

10 Sep 2009

The Dumfries born disk jockey and all round music maestro is riding high on the success of his latest album ‘Ready For The Weekend’ charting at number one in the UK, cementing his position as the premier recording DJ in Britain. His first album, the 80s…

Ballers Social Second Birthday Party

3 Sep 2009

Spend two days in the company of Ballers and LuckyMe as they celebrate their second birthday. And it’s a bumper line-up of warped hip hop, leftfield dubstep and wonky electronica featuring the likes of Jamie Vex’d (live), Darkstar, Rustie and The…

Fuck Buttons

Avant-garde, post-rock, sweary sorts come to Glasgow

3 Sep 2009

Experimental electronica meets squalling fuzzy post-punk in the hands of the wonderfully monikered Brighton duo Fuck Buttons. Signed to ATP Recordings expect discordant synths, freaked-out vocals, slabs of drone rock and crashing waves of blissful…

The Juan Maclean

A reminder of just how exhilarating live music can be

18 Aug 2009

This was always going to be good one. ‘Jesus, this place is small’ says production lynchpin John Maclean confronted by a wall of 100 bodies in a packed-out Sneaky’s. With four people, a drumkit and half a dozen synths crammed onto a tiny stage, and…

The Foundling Wheel

6 Aug 2009

Solo experimental electronica from Edinburgh as The Foundling Wheel lay down a set of abrasive beats, deep spooky vocals, ‘noise-saturated mountains of programmed polyrhythms and bit-crushed distortion’. Enfant Bastard and Asthmatic Astronaut join The…

Cruiser - Happy Robots:Programmed to Love You

23 Jul 2009

Despite a touring schedule which might fairly be described as minimal, Fife’s long-serving Cruiser are still criminally under-rated. So anything that gets the gospel out there – particularly a well-realised remix version of their last album Happy…

Various - Soma Coma Vol III

23 Jul 2009

Glowing ambient melodies here invite you to get horizontal, maybe stare at something moving in slow-motion, and zone out. A soft, melodic flip-side to the label’s techno and electro releases, it’s best enjoyed in one long spaced-out chunk, like an aural…

Profile: Mark Farina

9 Jul 2009

Occupation Chicago house master. Chicago you say? He’s certainly not the first quality DJ from that neck of the woods Very true – Chicago has a place in the hearts of anyone who loves real house music. Farina counts Derrick Carter among his friends…

Battant

9 Jul 2009

Signed to Paris’ Kill the DJ label, sometime home of Optimo’s own How to Kill the DJ (Part 2) mix, Battant are a class above most other bands of their ilk. Look to lead singer Chloe Raunet for the reason why, her jeans, plain white T-shirt and cropped…

Numbers

25 Jun 2009

The trailblazing stargazers from Glasgow’s Numbers are throwing a party to celebrate a milestone of significant arithmetical value. Six years ago they arrived on the scene, bright eyed and bushy tailed, unwittingly setting new standards in a clubland…

Labels of Love - Crystal Wish

11 Jun 2009

Based in Edinburgh Roster 7VWWVW, Kyon & Dyems, Albaross, Spells Tower, The Kittens Bosses Crystal Wish is an artist-run group, not ‘a typical company as such’; 7VWWVW’s (pronounced ‘Mammal’) Nick Munro is just one of the group involved in…

RBRBR, Yoshi and Supersonic Sims

14 May 2009

Another new night, another line up of new musical contenders and Edinburgh’s Supersonic Sims are clearly an eye and ear-catching new talent, although not quite the finished article. With bold images of the singer plastered across the video screen in the…

Prefuse 73: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian

14 May 2009

Guillermo Scott Heron, aka Prefuse 73, has got stick in the past for creating overly complicated glitch; tricksy beats and hip hop samples stitched tightly into one big, incoherent clump. This latest, 29 tracks on an album less than 50-minutes long, is…

Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA/ROCK The second album from the collision of chaos that is Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and JP Reid of Sucioperro is the next chapter in the life of the mysterious and magnificent Marmaduke Duke. And it seems to be that chapter where we find…

Jon Hopkins - Insides

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA You don’t expect an electronica album to start with two and a half minutes of mournful fiddle, but that’s the kind of expectation defying that sums up Londoner Hopkins. This moving, bittersweet instrumental record blends sweeping…

Fence Collective's Homegame: Homeward bound

16 Apr 2009

In the ever-growing Scottish music festival calendar, the Homegame remains something of a well-kept secret. Despite a steadily increasing profile since its inception six years ago, the weekend, run by Fence Collective head honchos Kenny Anderson (aka…

Basement Jaxx

16 Apr 2009

Ten years since they burst onto the music scene armed with hyperactively genre-hopping debut album Remedy and a carnival-like live act, are dusting down their turntables for a prolonged spell on the live scene this summer. DJs Felix Buxton and Simon…

Health

16 Apr 2009

Everyone’s favourite LA-based noiseniks Health are back, with a brand new record under their belts. More frenzied death riffs, beast-like shrieks and start-stop thundering drums then? Well, yes and no. We catch up with bassist John Famiglietti, fresh…

Calvin Harris

16 Apr 2009

Following successful dalliances with Dizzee Rascal, Kylie and, umm, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Calvin Harris is back with a brand new bunch of his own tunes. And by golly they’re sounding good. You may have heard ‘I’m Not Alone’ already – it’s the first…

Also released - Records

16 Apr 2009

Art Brut Art Brut Vs Satan (Cooking Vinyl) After being disposed of by major label EMI, Art Brut are back and seemingly fizzing in the face of the cynical music business. But it’s not all anger and Satan, there’s still classic Art Brut bop-ability here…

Introducing...

2 Apr 2009

Guests The headline slot goes to Dave Tarrida, a man who has helped shape Scottish techno with his seminal nights Test and Sativa (in Glasgow and Edinburgh, respectively). Current resident at Berlin’s legendary Tresor and with releases on the label of…

Royksopp - Junior

2 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA Royksopp are like good drugs: sweet, glistening, otherworldly and compellingly addictive. The initial headrush for their debut Melody A.M. remains that really great night out for all involved and 2005’s The Dreaming felt a little like…

Carl Craig

19 Mar 2009

It’s fair to say that Carl Craig helped shaped modern dance music. Without his input in the early days of electronica coupled with his expansive approach to music (especially with his Innerzone Orchestra and Paperclip People projects), house and techno…

Smoove and Turrell - Antique Soul

19 Mar 2009

ELECTRONIC SOUL Soul is one musical genre constant judged less by its actual quality and more by its supposed authenticity, which, as anyone with ears knows, is the surest way to find yourself down a musical blind alley. So when someone like this…

Dan Deacon - Bromst

19 Mar 2009

ELECTRO More complex, euphoric and chaotic than ever, Dan Deacon’s follow-up to Spiderman of the Rings is his showpony. From the home of weirdo electro-noise, Baltimore, the oversized specs wearer is worshipped like a demi-god at live performances…

Tunng and Tinariwen Trio

19 Mar 2009

A double bill of leftfield folk from separate traditions as the UK’s Tunng team up with Tuareg trio Tinariwen. Tunng are at the forefront of the folktronica movement melding machine made music with unusual instruments, traditional folk and occasional…

Exposure: Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

12 Mar 2009

Armed to the teeth with keyboards and electronics of various shapes and sizes, Owen Ashworth - AKA Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - has been spending his time since 1997, creating what he lovingly refers to as 'Sad Bastard music'. In anticipation of…

The Invisible - The Invisible

5 Mar 2009

ELECTRONICA The Invisible; a fusion of dark funk, pop and electronics are the latest act to rise out the London music scene. Being touted as the ‘next big thing’ by Radio 1’s Zane Lowe may aid their cause, but could also be the kiss of death.

RKGB/Wrong Island

19 Feb 2009

The debut of this monthly joint residency came about by complete accident, but sometimes that’s how the magic happens. ‘We were promised the last Friday of the month by the V Club,’ says RKGB’s Dema, ‘and Wrong Island were promised the fourth Friday of…

Yahweh - Tug of Love

19 Feb 2009

(Square Go Records) LAPTOP FOLK The tall, bespectacled shadow of Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow looms heavily over Scottish underground music. His truly special brand of homely introspection has fuelled more late night confessionals at the tape recorder…

Calamateur - Jesus is for Losers

19 Feb 2009

(self-release) LO-FI The world needs mavericks like Calamateur. Holed up somewhere outside Inverness, Andrew Howie has been making a find blend of folk, rock and electronica for almost a decade, with this latest offering typically brimming with…

Wounded Knee - Shimmering New Vistas

19 Feb 2009

(Benbecula) FOLKTRONICA A self-professed ‘future primitive’ diviner, Edinburgh’s Wounded Knee – aka electronic sorcerer and oral diabolist Drew Wright – has created and excavated myriad legacies for this, his first major full-length…

Flowers of Hell

19 Feb 2009

Instrumental in Scotland’s electronica scene, music showcases from forward thinking Edinburgh label Benbecula always promise plenty experimental, leftfield beauty. This night sees London space-rock orchestra Flowers of Hell, supported by innovative…

Beirut/Realpeople - March of the Zapotec/Holland

5 Feb 2009

FOLK/ELECTRONICA Ever since he quietly elbowed his way onto the 2006 end of year polls of several critical organs with debut Gulag Orkestra, there’s been intrigue surrounding Zack Condon and his peculiar combination of Eastern European party music…

Hint

5 Feb 2009

Mixed Bizness have yet another special guest this fortnight with a set from Ninja Tune’s Hint. Known for his downtempo, chilled out take on beats and breaks he’s ploughed his own furrow that’s been labelled ‘ruralbeat’. Of late he’s been upping the BPM…

Various - Somabeta 002

22 Jan 2009

ELECTRONICA Technophiles hold tight. Here come Soma with yet another mighty compilation of brand spanking new electronica talent. Right down to the artwork for this vanguard album, an innovative design plucked the Soma 2008 Artwork Competition…

Depeche Mode announce new album Sounds of the Universe

15 Jan 2009

Depeche Mode are to release new studio album, ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ on April 20, 2009 on Mute. Recorded in Santa Barbara and New York with Ben Hillier, the band returned to their pioneering electro roots, using a lot of vintage analogue synthesisers…

Sans Trauma - Rushing Your Dragon

11 Dec 2008

Electronica/Acoustic Rushing Your Dragon comes across a bit like the Delia Smith of the music world: largely inoffensive and pretty mundane. There's no harm in listening to the six track EP (Sans Trauma's debut effort) but there's also little gain.

Human League, ABC and Heaven 17

27 Nov 2008

SYNTH-POP ELECTRONICA When David Bowie watched Human League play an early gig in 1979, he said he’d just seen ‘the future of pop music’ and their sci-fi, deadpan brand of electronica was ‘like listening to 1980’. Almost 30 years later, with synth-pop…

Ivy Second Birthday

27 Nov 2008

Despite it’s size, the Ivy has big ambitions, and the sheer quality of DJs and events they put on has transcended from pre-club to genuine DJ destination. So it should come as no surprise that they have secured the talents of Tayo (pictured) for their…

Dialogues

13 Nov 2008

Informatics: it’s the future. This study of ‘the structure, algorithms, behaviour, and interactions of natural and artificial computational systems’ has been around since 1957, when German computer scientist Karl Steinbuch coined the word, ‘Informatik’.

Drums of Death

13 Nov 2008

Playdate at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 25 Oct If this is the future of music, then it’s loud and frightening, switching between grime, booty bass and a kind of sophisticated approximation of hardcore techno with a ferocious BPM which doesn’t…

Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna

13 Nov 2008

Gang Gang Dance hold a very special place in my heart. They reside – still – as the single most terrible live act I have ever seen. The most pretentious, ill-conceived, tragically hip display of musical arsery I have ever had the misfortune to witness.

Remember Remember - Remember Remember

13 Nov 2008

In an age when laptops ship with gigabytes of studio quality loops for users to shuffle round on a grid to make their own creations with, it’s never been easier to make loop-based music – and quickly end up with some sterile wallpaper music – just spend…

Circuit training

30 Oct 2008

‘Tangerine Dream,’ Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hutter said to Lester Bangs in a 1975 interview, ‘although they are German they have an English name, so they create onstage an Anglo-American identity, which we completely deny. We cannot deny we are from Germany…

Jeans Team

2 Oct 2008

German electronic with a nod to art school punk and experimental pop. Naming themselves after a neon sign they found at an abandoned jeans shop in Berlin, the band take the electro template as laid out by Kraftwerk but add a healthy dose of tongue in…

Tom Middleton

2 Oct 2008

It’s funny how guests at Headspin quickly become regulars, (names like The Psychonauts and DJ Yoda instantly spring to mind). Must be the attention to good music, a top crowd and an open mind. No wonder Tom Middleton feels so at home and is back for…

Born Ruffians

18 Sep 2008

First headline tour from Canada’s Born Ruffians as they promote their debut album Red, Yellow & Blue. A subtle mix of twinkling electronica and nu folk with an indie vibe that they modestly describe as ‘hootin’ and hollerin’ to create a sound we call…

Minotaur Shock - Amateur Dramatics

21 Aug 2008

There’s a pleasing, almost literary, conceit to this album. Bristol-based electronica artist Minotaur Shock – otherwise known as David Edwards – has given each downloadable track a pricing guideline corresponding to various criteria of his own choosing.

The Icarus - Monologues

14 Aug 2008

ELECTRONICA (TuneTribe) Featuring male/female vocalist duo Toby Trueman and Tori Higham, and production guy Tommy Forrest, The Icarus are Edinburgh’s answer to Massive Attack, God is an Astronaut and The Prodigy. Unconventional in their fusion of…

Imps - Bring Out the Imps

14 Aug 2008

ELECTRONICA (Mule Electronic) Mule Electronic is cool and so is Imps, a project put together by two Swedish producers by the name of Minilogue and two Australian jazz musicians known as Decoy. The outcome is an absorbing collection of tracks, a mix of…

Various - Fabriclive 41: Simian Mobile Disco

7 Aug 2008

ELECTRONICA (Fabric) By rights Simian Mobile Disco ought to be detestable. The production and remix team are responsible, after all, for the post-’We Are Your Friends’ decree that every NME-reading first-year university student to start an indie disco…

UNKLE - End Titles . . . Stories for Film

7 Aug 2008

ELECTRONIA INDIE (Surrender All) James Lavelle has been joined by Pablo Clements (The Psychonauts) for the latest incarnation of UNKLE. Collecting music scores and soundtrack work End Titles... seamlessly drifts from grungy dance beats to almost…

DMX Krew

3 Jul 2008

Inner City Acid continues to forge new roads into cutting edge electronica with a guest slot from DMX Krew. This particular Krew is in fact one-man bass pioneer Ed DMX, who crafts synth grooves, techno and electro on vintage equipment. Releasing early…

Iglomat - Iglomat

19 Jun 2008

ELECTRONICA/POST-ROCK (KFM) Edinburgh-based laptop whiz David Jack has made three albums of atmospheric electronica on his own already, but spearheading this debut from a transatlantic four-way collaboration, he adds a more organic post-rocking vibe…

Bleep Live

5 Jun 2008

Alden Tyrell (real name Martijn Hoogendijk) is the guest at Bleep Live this month, and unlike many of his Rotterdam brethren he doesn’t deal in hardcore gabba beats but lush electronics. Signed to Clone Records, and releasing tracks like ‘Love…

Santogold

22 May 2008

‘I’m trying to fix pop,’ proclaims Santi White (aka Santogold) with an impish laugh. ‘It’s broken.’ If anyone is qualified to take their toolkit to the genre, it probably is White. A music industry veteran of over ten years, she’s seen the business…

Various - Sub Club: 20 Years Underground

22 May 2008

ELECTRONICA (Soma) To continue the Sub Club’s 20th birthday celebrations, Subculture’s Harri and Domenic and Optimo’s Twitch and Wilkes (the Subbie’s longest-serving residents) have been invited to compile an album which reflects the music policy that…

James Pants - Welcome

22 May 2008

ELECTRONICA (Stones Throw) First things first, this guy isn’t pants, anything but. He is, however, an artist with the ability to cross live and electronics in a very cool way. Welcome draws influence from the likes of Pharrell, Egyptian Lover and even…

Pressure

22 May 2008

It’s almost not worth pointing out that Pressure is one of the leading lights when it comes techno and house in Glasgow. As per usual Slam hosts an enviable line-up with Derrick Carter, Len Faki, Damian Lazarus (pictured), Tom Middleton, Marc Ashken…

Ulrich Schnauss

24 Apr 2008

ELECTRONICA Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sun 4 May Without British Forces radio, Ulrich Schnauss’ brand of transcendent electronica wouldn’t be quite so lovely. In early 90s small-town Germany, it was the only way quintessentially English bands such as…

Portishead - Third

24 Apr 2008

ELECTRONICA (Island) No one ever really expected Dummy MkII did they? For trip hop – the smoky sub-genre Portishead inadvertently helped create – is a distant, smouldering ember but Third is glorious, odd and timeless, a record of clanking, throbbing…

Various - Bugged Out presents Suck My Deck Mixed by Boys Noize

24 Apr 2008

ELECTRONICA (New State Music) Boys Noize is the wholly apposite nom de plume of Berlin native Alex Ridha who, for his first ever mix CD has set ticking a whole crate of techno smart bombs for our delight. He mercilessly cuts up tracks by Kitsune…

Bebado

24 Apr 2008

Zero db (aka Chris Vogado) makes a guest appearance at Bebado for this bank holiday special. The Ninja Tune signing is known for his no-holds-barred mash up of Latin beats, global rhythms, electronica and jazz eclecticism as showcased on his album…

Portishead

10 Apr 2008

In today’s stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap, drop ‘em even quicker music industry where the write-record-release-tour hamster wheel is king, the return of Bristolian trio Portishead back into our lives is a cause for celebration for some and relief for…

Kyon & Dyems - Overnight

10 Apr 2008

HIP HOP ELECTRONICA (Crystal Wish) Kyon & Dyems are enigmatic Edinburgh-based brothers who, on this quality showing, would put most major label hip hop acts to shame. This debut album, recorded on a budget, is nevertheless brimming with ideas…

Exposure - Midnight Juggernauts

27 Mar 2008

Tomorrow’s music today. This issue: Midnight Juggernauts They’ve toured with Justice and Digitalism, and are already a well-known name in their native Melbourne. Yet now, with their debut album Dystopia due for a somewhat belated release on these…

5 Reasons To Go See - Jean Michel Jarre

13 Mar 2008

He’s an Oxygenius - Sorry, terrible pun to start with. Jarre’s revolutionary album Oxygene changed the face of popular music (trust us, you’d know if you heard it) on its release three whole decades ago. To celebrate the 30-year anniversary, he’s gonna…

Richard H Kirk

28 Feb 2008

Richard H Kirk is talking about how his old band inspired the names of not one, but two clubs. The fact that Cabaret Voltaire, the electronic pioneers formed by Kirk in 1970s Sheffield with Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson themselves took their name…

Frog Pocket

28 Feb 2008

ELECTRONICA 13th Note, Glasgow, Fri 8 Feb Frog Pocket’s get up tonight couldn’t be less timely. With the indie-embracing Celtic Connections just finished, John Charles Wilson is going back to his roots. Any artist tagged as ‘experimental’ must…

Various - A Weevil in a Biscuit

14 Feb 2008

ELECTRONICA (Bearsuit) Electronica is surely the most widespread genre possible, given that all it takes is a laptop and imagination. So it proves on this collection, which features 16 unsigned artists from around the world put together by an…

Talk - Reset Start Again

14 Feb 2008

ELECTRONICA (Fortune & Glory) You know that when a band are trying to create a ‘coherent mix of both digital and analogue without ever sounding disjointed’ that we may well all be in trouble. Whatever happened to writing a song from the heart rather…

Múm

13 Dec 2007

'Wait a moment, I have to spit,’ mumbles Örvar Póreyjarson Smárason down the phone, followed by a watery sound. ‘Sorry, I was brushing my teeth.’ It seems that no matter how strange and other-worldly your music sounds, there are always mundane…

Ivy First Birthday Weekender

29 Nov 2007

ELECTRONICA The Ivy, Glasgow, Fri 30 Nov–Sun 2 Dec Over the last 12 months the Ivy has been busy building itself a reputation as one of the best pubs in Glasgow to catch great music. To celebrate its first birthday, the venue is hosting a special…

Benbecula Records - Our friends electric

29 Nov 2007

The Scottish electronica scene is probably healthier now than it’s ever been, and that’s down in no small part to Benbecula Records. Formed eight years ago by artists Beluga and Phase 6, and currently run on a day-to-day basis by general manager Steven…

Isosceles

29 Nov 2007

Tomorrow’s music today. This Issue: Isosceles Band names don’t come much more angular than Isosceles, but math rockers this Glasgow quartet certainly aren’t. You’ll much sooner find them slaving over a hot cowbell or a full blooded Hammond organ than…

Mammal

18 Oct 2007

ELECTRONICA 7VWWVW (KFM) Elusive Edinburgh foursome Mammal have been brewing this tasty stew of retro electronica for ages, but it’s worth the wait. Like The Magnificents in a chill-out tent or Boards of Canada jamming with Bob Moog, this mostly…

Daedelus

6 Sep 2007

ELECTRONICA ‘My background is in more orchestral music and cinematic stuff,’ says Los Angeles electronicist Alfred Darlington aka Daedelus. ‘So my recording for Ninja Tune is an attempt to marry their dance aesthetic to what I normally do; to…

Vector Lovers

6 Sep 2007

ELECTRONICA On the cover of the the Vector Lovers’ third long playing offering there is a picture of a group of kids in a field at sunset. It look like it was taken circa 1977. Martin Wheeler -- the man who is Vector Lovers -- seems to crave a bygone…

Various

New State

23 Aug 2007

Electronica

Joe Acheson Quartet

Mark Edmundson

16 Aug 2007

1 They’ve got the credentials All young multi-instrumentalists, three members of this quartet are classically trained while the fourth has been playing professionally since the age of 13. Joe himself also has a FourTet-like ear for intriguing vocal…

Asobi Seksu

Citrus

9 Aug 2007

ELECTRONIC POP In Asobi Seksu’s world dreamy vocals soar over turbulent guitars and delicate vocals switch between English and Japanese in sweeping psychedelic pop songs. But in the real world the result is somewhat toothless, and, despite its…

The Spirals

Without Control

9 Aug 2007

ELELCTRONICA The Spirals is yet another alias of Argentinian house duo Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza. Without Control starts off with all the sass and funk of a Prince backing track, but proceeds to go nowhere for 56 long minutes. There are…

Neil Landstrumm

Restaurant of Assassins

1 Aug 2007

Even for a techno artist, Neil Landstrumm has never travelled the easy path. Needless to say, even now as the airhorns and glo-sticks of acid house get dusted down and shaken back into life Landstrumm throws up the sounds of ‘89, ‘73 and the future in…

Various Artists

Neon Nights

1 Aug 2007

n these heady days of nu rave saturation, when it is once again acceptable to be seen gurning while clutching a glo-stick, it’s easy to forget that there were indie-dance bands long before the NME reached for its big book of genres.

Chungking

Album

16 Jul 2007

Electronica CHUNGKING Stay up Forever (Ecstatic Peace, Kill Rock Stars, -5RC, Three Lobed) Sean and Jessie have produced a slick, chic, dirty and danceable reason to stay up all night. It makes you think of Goldfrapp but with that…

Records - Bjørn Torske

3 Jul 2007

ELECTRONICA There was a time you knew where you stood with a term like techno. Back in the halcyon days of jackhammer beats and painfully minimal backing it meant the true definition of machine music. Now with folks like Torske around it can mean…

Records - Alex Tronic Records

3 Jul 2007

ELECTRONICA Rather than looking to Detroit or Paris, this compilation is a reminder that Edinburgh’s electronic music scene is alive and well. The first in a series of chill-out albums produced by Alex Tronic on his eponymous Leith label, showcasing…

Slam Album Launch

18 Jun 2007

Electronica Slam launch their fourth studio album, Human Response at the Arches this month. A melodic twist on their favoured techno style, it takes the listener on a hypnotic journey starting with the haunting electronica stirrings of Subject…

Ulrich Schnauss

Album

18 Jun 2007

ELECTRONICA When a creative force is raised in a boring little armpit such as Kiel, it’s perhaps inevitable that the only reaction is to try and make something gorgeous from the tedium. With his third album, both the banal and the beautiful are…

Paul Hartnoll

Album

18 Jun 2007

ELECTRONICA For those wondering what Paul Hartnoll has been up to since Orbital split in 2004, he has been hard at it in his Brighton studio, figuring out how to produce something far removed from his past output: ‘It just took time to discover what…

The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night

5 Jun 2007

ELECTRONICA There’s a feeling of things coming full circle when Klaxons are guesting on Chemical Brothers records; it’s the equivalent of Nick Cave guesting on Johnny Cash songs. The track, ‘All Rights Reversed’ is an exquisite, piano-driven…