Gigs

Com Truise set for UK tour

Live interpretations of Galaxy Melt album with synth and drums

23 May 2012

Okay, so imagine if Blade Runner was not set in a dark, dystopian, fetid, sweaty, neon shoe-box version of LA and instead was transposed to a glaring and perma-tanned Miami of the future, drowning in UV rays, Day-Glo colours; a city as one giant…

The Horrors - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Tue 15 May, 2012

Charming and mesmerising set that avoids sharp pop aesthetic

22 May 2012

For Essex boys The Horrors, surely redemption has arrived at last. Yes, there were those of us who enjoyed the spooky frightwig garage rock of their debut album Strange House, but it left the sense that here was a band who are overstylised and blessed…

Austra set for UK tour

Toronto electro-goth-pop six-piece take Feel It Break on the road

22 May 2012

Having rated spine-tingling coldwave-disco banger ‘Lose It’ as one of our favourite songs of 2011, The List are big fans of this Toronto electro-goth-pop six-piece based around one-of-a-kind Latvian-Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist…

Elvis Costello - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 11 May

Three-hour 30-song greatest hits show with patter aplenty

22 May 2012

‘She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake’ – has any songwriter anticipated the career ahead of them as clairvoyantly as Elvis Costello did on Watching the Detectives? The song appeared in 1977 but its writer has spent the decades since…

Lil B - Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, Sun 6 May

22-year-old Berkeley rapper describes himself as ‘an art history project’

22 May 2012

It must be the Californian in him, but the BASEDGOD, despite his lyrics about eating white booty, his VIP lifestyle, and his resemblance to Jesus/Michael Jordan/Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton, is basically a hippie. Top off, shades on, tiny muscled torso…

Friends & Aluna George - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 7 May

Disco-tinged set of dazzling pop music

22 May 2012

‘Come closer,’ beckons Friends’ enigmatic frontwoman Samantha Urbani, as the Brooklyn quintet make their Glasgow debut. She means it too: blink and next thing, she’s on the floor, shimmying up to an exhilarated crowd. If the intimate touch hints at a…

Sparks announce 2012 UK tour

US band perform stripped-down 'Two Hands, One Mouth' tour as duo

13 Apr 2012

Following their sell-out gig in London’s Bush Hall in June, the due forever to be referenced as 'quirky' will commence their 'Two Hands, One Mouth' UK tour UK in October, with further dates soon to be announced. Probably best known for their 1974 hit…

Bloc Party announce 2012 UK tour

UK dates include Glasgow, Manchester and London

13 Apr 2012

British band Bloc Party are set to play their first UK gigs in almost two years. In 2009 the band took some time out after their last tour – Bloctober – but came back onto the scene late 2011, and after signing with Frenchkiss Records in late March…

Simple Minds - Barrowlands, Glasgow Sat 25 Feb 2012

Revisit to first five albums a reminder of their potency

8 Mar 2012

In these recessionary times, it’s easy to suppose the manufacturers of dry ice are thanking their lucky stars for 1980s art-rock bands on the comeback and reunion trail. Clouds of the stuff create precisely the proper atmosphere in which men with…

Sepalcure - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Mon 12 Feb

28 Feb 2012

There’s a sparse few loitering outside Sneaky’s closed doors come ten o’clock this Sunday evening, wondering whether they’ve got it right. But they have, and before long the thickening crowd are being lulled into hazy motion with zoned out electronica…

Spector - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 15 Feb

Blending the anthemic and the generic to pleasing effect

28 Feb 2012

‘What a pleasure,’ notes Fred Macpherson. ‘I thought Newcastle on Tuesday was something, but this...’ Wearing his hair gelled to one side and a pair of thick-framed black glasses, the suited singer recalls Buddy Holly or Crispin Glover as Marty’s dad in…

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Thu 26 Jan 2012

Expanded line-up works well in large venue - once everyone relaxes

16 Feb 2012

The few gentle piano chords and overheard Fife chit-chat that form the start of ‘First Watch,’ the opener on King Creosote and Jon Hopkins’ Diamond Mine, are all it takes to bring a sold out crowd to what is, for this venue in particular, an uncannily…

Kelly Rowland has Bible rider

Music Gossip

11 Feb 2012

Kelly Rowland can never be without her Bible when she is on tour. The 'Down For Whatever' hitmaker doesn't have many backstage demands when she performs around the world, but she is always sure to have the religious text with her wherever she…

Cry Parrot New Year Fest - Nice & Sleazy, Glasgow, Fri 13 Jan

Snapshot of Scotland’s restless underground featuring Sacred Paws

1 Feb 2012

Not so much a ‘hot tips for 2012’ shindig as a snapshot of Scotland’s restless underground, the second night of independent promoter Cry Parrot’s new bands residency is dominated by electronica, but there’s room for polyrhythmic guitar’n’drum jams too.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Sun 15 Jan 2012

Minimal classical configurations building a truly hypnotic form

27 Jan 2012

The collaboration of Stars of the Lid’s Adam Wiltzie and Devics’ Dustin O’Halloran might sound like a dream ticket for devotees of string-abetted US independent music, but this live performance was no occasion for ego or for taking individual bows.

Best of 2011: Gigs

The best gig of 2011, including Remember Remember, St Vincent, Arcade Fire and Group Inerane

13 Dec 2011

Remember Remember and Miaoux Miaoux The Planetarium, Glasgow, Sat 8 Oct We don’t tend to throw about words like ‘spellbinding’ and ‘mesmerising’. But for a gig that asked us to lie back and gaze at the stars, while laptop wizardry and shimmering…

Django Django - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Thu 24 Nov

Infectious fun from band with no agenda other than having a good time

13 Dec 2011

Django Django’s music could be described as folk-rave, or math-beat, or perhaps contemporary hoedown. It’s hard to explain, really, why the combination of American West, Merseyside and East London rhythms should sound so good, meaning that, joyously…

Josh T Pearson - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Tue 22 Nov 2011

Utterly entertaining hour of songs and charm from Texan singer

9 Dec 2011

With little fanfare, Texan son Josh T Pearson drifts onstage. The crowd erupts. Calmly, he takes his time before addressing them. ‘Whadd’ya think, jacket on or jacket off?’ An immature chuckle ripples through the dense pockets of punters. ‘You ladies…

DJ Shadow - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Mon 5 Dec

Stunning live show continues to break new ground

9 Dec 2011

For innovation and impact, genre-mashing LA turntablist DJ Shadow, aka Josh Davis, has never bettered his entirely samples-based 1996 debut Endtroducing... But his visually stunning live shows continue to break new ground, and prove DJ sets can be just…

The Fall - HMV Picturehouse, Edinburgh, Thu 3 Nov 2011

Band deliver fiery performance despite injured and semi-present Mark E Smith

15 Nov 2011

'Mark has a really bad bruise on his feet so he can’t stand, announces keyboardist and better half Eleni Poloui. Cue blasts of effing and blinding from the angry mob. The Fall are clearly back in town – but unlike their performance at Studio 24 last…

Twin Sister - Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, Thu 10 Nov 2011

Infectiously prettified melodies threaten to become dance-floor dream

15 Nov 2011

In her geek-girl specs and floppy Annie Hall hat, Twin Sister chanteuse Andrea Estella appears as quintessentially kooky a New Yorker as any afficionado of 1970s me-generation peak era Woody Allen movies could wish for. The check-shirted quartet of…

Remember Remember, Miaoux Miaoux - Glasgow Science Centre, Sat 8 Oct 2011

Fantastic electronica double-bill in impressively apt surroundings

19 Oct 2011

It’s a simple enough idea. Two nights of live music (Saturday and Sunday) inside the Glasgow Science Centre planetarium, with the performances broken up by lectures from Simon, the centre’s laser pen-wielding resident stargazer. Simple but brilliant.

The Stone Roses reform to play dates at Manchester's Heaton Park in summer 2012

19 Oct 2011

As you’ve no doubt heard, yet another cornerstone of the British music establishment has chosen to dust off its bucket hat and have it large with a reunion tour. This is no ordinary by-the-numbers reformation, though. This is The Stone Roses. Capable…

Wilko Johnson - The Caves, Edinburgh, Thu 15 Sep 2011

A winner set from the ex Blockheads guitarist turned bluesman

22 Sep 2011

Canvey Island rocking bluesman Wilko Johnson kicked off his nationwide tour from the other end of the UK with a stonking set that compared favourably to the Essex man’s glory days as lead guitarist for Dr Feelgood in the 1970s and Ian Dury and the…

Coldplay announce UK tour 2011

UK dates include Manchester, London and Glasgow

20 Sep 2011

Coldplay have announced live dates as part of a 2011 Winter tour. UK date include Manchester, London and Glasgow, while European cities include Paris, Rotterdam and Berlin. New album Mylo Xyloto is released 24th October and follows up 2008 album…