Indie

Interview: Friendly Fires plan to get the crowds dancing at RockNess 2012

Ed Macfarlane on festivals, pop music and dancing ‘like an idiot’

28 May 2012

Friendly Fires blur the lines between indie and dance music, so their brand of punk funk should fit in perfectly at RockNess. Hailing from St Albans in Hertfordshire they were nominated for the Mercury Music prize for their debut eponymous album, which…

Summer Festivals 2012: Here We Go Magic - interview

The band's Luke Temple gets ready for their slot at T in the Park

25 May 2012

‘I’m kind of a late bloomer, really,’ testifies Luke Temple, singer and songwriter in chief with Brooklynite indie-pop contenders Here We Go Magic. ‘I didn’t start writing songs until 2000, until I was about 25, and up ‘til then I’d only listened to…

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Interview: Ash get ready for RockNess 2012

Northern Irish rockers Ash get ready for their only Scottish festival of the year

24 May 2012

Famous for the instantly catchy pop rock of tracks like ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and ‘Girl From Mars’ Ash formed as teenagers in Northern Ireland back in 1992. Juggling homework with gigs and recording sessions they released the instant smash 1977 in…

Scotland The Great - Franz Ferdinand

22 Jan 2009

You’ve basically built an entire studio complex in the bowels of this beautiful old building in Govan? Bob Hardy, bass Yeah, its a great place. Nick [McCarthy, guitars and keyboards] found it. David MacKenzie the filmmaker has his office down here.

Colette Thurlow of 2:54 - interview

The indie singer/guitarist discusses sibling bandmates and significant influences

27 Mar 2012

Like a louchely worn black leather jacket, moody guitar music will never go out of fashion – see 2:54 for proof on both counts. Having toured with Warpaint and The Big Pink since emerging a year ago, the London four-piece based around sisters Colette…

Silver Jews - Early Times 1990-91

Reissue of early works by David Berman, Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich

22 May 2012

Disbanded in 2009, David Berman’s Silver Jews project was a tremendous portmanteau of country and US indie that acted as a vehicle for Berman’s lyrics, his voice, smooth and unsteady as stretched taffy, often simply speaking the words in tune, offering…

T in the Park 2010: Ten reasons to watch Muse

24 Jun 2010

How did this space age, prog rock three-piece become one of the most in-demand festival headliners in the UK? Henry Northmore explains all, with the top ten reasons why Muse are not to be missed at T in the Park

The Maccabees

14 May 2009

The new layout in independent record retailer Avalanche lends itself perfectly to an intimate instore gig. With young fans spilling onto Cockburn Street well before the music starts, by the time The Maccabees squeeze themselves onto the tiny stage the…

New Edinburgh venue The Third Door launches mini-festival Qabalala

26 Mar 2012

In the past month it’s seemed there’s been precious little to get excited about on Edinburgh’s clubbing and live scene, but let’s put the hand-wringing to one side for a few paragraphs and remember that people are still out there trying to get things…

Bamboo Season of Sound

28 Apr 2010

They’ve had indie stars and DJs aplenty, and now Bamboo’s Season of Sound welcomes Nick Grimshaw’s first Glasgow DJ appearance. Radio 1 host, T4 presenter and Annie Mac cohort on The Switch, expect future pop, indie rock and electro nuggets. Bamboo…

Passion Pit: Manners

28 May 2009

No need to rely on the erratic Scottish sunshine with Passion Pit around. The Massachusetts fivesome evoke dreamy summer days with this heavily-anticipated debut offering, which turns out to be everything the hype had us hoping for and more. A…

Official Secrets Act

14 May 2009

Jerky English indie quartet Official Secrets Act’s debut album Understanding Electricity is suggestive of a band with intelligence and melodies to burn – like The Futureheads or Bloc Party, or Razorlight with their brains in the right place rather than…

Port O’Brien

16 Oct 2008

Growing up in California's Bay Area, Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin couldn't help but be influenced by the sea. There's a definite maritime air to their debut album All We Could Do Was Sing, a lush and uplifting indie folk medley, tying together…

The Xcerts

24 Apr 2008

INDIE Barfly, Glasgow, Tue 6 May Indie rock is the musical opiate of the masses. Recapture that first hit ecstasy with The Xcerts, a fresh-faced three-piece from Aberdeen and Exeter. Get Cape Wear Cape Fly liked their fully-formed, captivatingly…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Bwani Junction

The Edinburgh indie-afrobeat group's frontman, Rory Fairweather, tells us of his touring habits

8 Mar 2012

What time is breakfast? Meal times become irrelevant, just food time. Tea or coffee? Always tea. Smoking or non-smoking? Absolutely no smoking, our bodies are temples. Sweet or savoury snacks? Jack ate soap last time... what does that…

Ever been to a silent disco with a Chinese dragon?

25 Oct 2011

Ever explored a museum at night? Ever had a cocktail surrounded by thousands of years of history? Ever been to a silent disco with a Chinese dragon? Thanks to the support of RBS and The List, the National Museum of Scotland is bringing you an exclusive…

Exposure: Joe Carnall and the Book Club

28 Sep 2009

It's nearly five years now since the music media's microscope focused in on Sheffield as acts like Bromhead's Jacket, Little Man Tate and Long Blondes were heralded to define the decade. And though only Arctic Monkeys may have made it into the big…

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

23 Jul 2009

Imagine Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons fronting vintage Talking Heads. It might just work, right? Wrong, at least in the hands of Kendal kids Wild Beasts, it is. Maybe it’s all in the execution, which is at best seriously underwhelming and…

The 10:04s and The OK Social Club - The Hive, Edinburgh, Sat 9 May

28 May 2009

Is Leith the new Dundee? The area has all-of-a-sudden hothoused a bunch of ragged, jangly indie kids seemingly hell-bent on finding their way into Alan McGee’s phone book. Admittedly, none of this trio carry quite the same air of menace as The View, The…

Ipso Facto

5 Mar 2009

INDIE Last time über-bobbed female quartet Ipso Facto were in Glasgow, two of their number were aloft the shoulders of their companions in the auditorium of the O2 Academy, going nuts to reformed post-punk fabulists Magazine’s encore of Captain…

Of Montreal

22 Jan 2009

INDIE POP Although Athens-based concept-poppers Of Montreal have been active for over a decade now, their ninth and latest album Skeletal Lamping has seen the group reach their highest watermark yet. The record was a top forty entry in America, and…

Those Dancing Days - In Our Space Hero Suits

13 Nov 2008

Appearances can be deceptive. And in our image-obsessed age it’s great to hear someone like Linnea Johnson, who looks a cherubic Swedish folk-singer, but has a voice like heavily polished mahogany. Coming off somewhere between Liz Frazer and Alison…

Popup - A Time and a Place

2 Oct 2008

INDIE If it has felt like a long time coming for Popup’s debut long player to land in our arms then maybe it’s because we’ve been aware of them being damn good from very early on. Furious early demos, bursting with barely contained energy, recorded…

Bat for Lashes - Exposure

Bat For Lashes

28 Feb 2007

Tomorrow’s music today. Brighton singer-songwriter Natasha Khan’s debut album, Fur and Gold, is a dreamy, fairytale world of wolves, wizards and facial glitter. Thom Yorke and Devendra Banhart are fans of her melancholy, mystical sound and her…

Tom McClung of Wu Lyf - interview

The Manchester epic indie rockers eschew traditional approaches to getting their music heard

28 Feb 2012

Manchester quartet Wu Lyf’s unwillingness to play the conventional pop game has been a breath of fresh air. Now they’re preparing to stop talking and start delivering. ‘At the start we didn’t want to be a band for the sake of it,’ says Tom McClung of…

Cabaret Voltaire venue launches Cab Vol Stars clubnight

New club helmed by Cab Vol employees from bar staff to cleaners

29 Jun 2011

Residents A rolling selection of Cabaret Voltaire employees from bar staff to cleaners Guests It will be a different line-up every month but as an example Prof, Dimi and Cunnie host this July date Music policy It really is a mixed bag, from…

Five reasons to see: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

19 Aug 2010

1. Three albums in and they’ve still got that spark. Hawk is arguably the duo’s best yet – a gritty, raw, rocker of a record. Campbell drafted in folk troubadour Willy Mason and James Iha from Smashing Pumpkins to mix things up musically, but it all…

Aberfeldy - Somewhere To Jump From

15 Aug 2010

(Tenement Records) At last, at long last, the ’Feldy are back. Edinburgh’s favourite MOR-pop sons (and daughters, although the band’s female membership has been changeable of late) have returned with their third album since 2006’s Do Whatever Turns…

Make Sparks and Three Blind Wolves among highlights of T in the Park’s T Break stage 2010

19 May 2010

The acts for this year’s T Break stage have been announced, and there’s quite a few names to get excited about. Glasgow guitar-pop purveyors Make Sparks have been garnering a lot of attention recently, not least from the authority on such subjects, the…

Born To Be Wide - Wide Days

1 Apr 2010

It's business time! Scottish music scene-nurturing organisation Born To Be Wide has another fantastic event planned, with a line up of acts equally as impressive as the industry figures sharing their music industry knowhow. Seminars and showcases have…

The Big Tent Festival

23 Jul 2009

‘There is a real sense of belonging and connection to something at the Big Tent Festival,’ explains the event’s programme director Mike Small. ‘The message is more “come join us” than “gimme your money”.’ Set up in July 2005, the…

Superfly

9 Jul 2009

Although the 100th month of a club night is a strange anniversary to be celebrating, it isn’t the only reason we’re recommending broad-minded soul, funk, classic rock and indie night Superfly this time round. This edition is also the last Superfly to be…

The Gossip - Music for Men

11 Jun 2009

The Gossip’s extravagant firebrand Beth Ditto has bagged herself stardom in bountiful guises: disco-blues diva, brawling fashionista, feminist defender, media provocateur, political agitator — and, not least, the sexiest catsuit inhabitant since…

Mad Decent records

14 May 2009

‘We look for people who are trying different things,’ says Jasper Goggins, New York-based manager of the Mad Decent label, ‘and who aren’t afraid to be a bit experimental with their sound. But more than that everyone on the label is friends, there’s…

Peter Doherty - Grace Wastelands

19 Feb 2009

(Parlophone) INDIE There’s no denying Peter Doherty has talent, The Libertines were a breath of fresh air that gave the indie scene a much needed kick up the arse back in 2002. It’s a story that’s been retold a thousand times from NME to the…

Dananananaykroyd

2 Oct 2008

Despite having one of the most infuriatingly difficult names to spell in indie rock Dananananaykroyd are busy making waves with their thundering guitar clatter. Just witness the addictive math rock punk mayhem of latest single ‘Pink Sabbath’. Catch them…

Student guide: Clubbing hitlist - Glasgow

15 Sep 2008

David Pollock selects the top ten club nights you cannot afford to miss. OPTIMO Riding the crest of a wave for the best part of a decade now, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes’ Optimo (Espacio), which borrows the aesthetic of early 80s New York nightlife and…

Student guide: Clubbing hitlist - Edinburgh

15 Sep 2008

David Pollock selects the top ten club nights you cannot afford to miss. Residents Hobbes and Erik D’Viking DJ all over town, but the eclectic party night Trouble is still their biggest deal. Diversity is key; since the start of 2007, Rob Da Bank…

Sexy Kids

18 Oct 2007

INDIE Mono, Glasgow, Mon 8 Oct Glasgow’s Sexy Kids are so brand new they don’t even have a Myspace yet. But trust us, we’d tell you if we knew it. After all, they’ve blessed themselves with just about the last name you want to go googling in good…

The Dykeenies

QMU, Glasgow, Fri 13 Apr

23 Apr 2007

INDIE Despite sporting a moniker which sounds like a cbeebies show involving two conversing plant pots, Cumbernauld quintet The Dykeenies have made quick business of vaulting themselves into contention. The now standard MySpace malarkey ensured their…

Reviews - Peepshow Launch

Peepshow Launch

13 Mar 2007

INDIE Already inundated most nights of the week, cynics might say that Glasgow needs a new band night like it does another rainy day. Peepshow, refreshingly, is a showcase with a difference, however. On the last Wednesday of every month at The…

Interview: Graham Coxon on his eighth solo album A+E

The guitarist also discusses Blur's headline gig at the 2012 Olympics

27 Mar 2012

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is releasing his eighth solo record as the band prepares to play the Olympics. He talks to Ryan Drever about having his cake and eating it So, you’ve reunited with your hugely successful former band, are playing some of…

The Twilight Sad to play final Pinup Nights

Malcolm Middleton, Miaoux Miaoux, Emma Pollock and Sonny Marvello also set to say farewell

21 Mar 2012

Has there ever been an indie night that’s worked as hard as Pinup Nights? Perhaps, but none have managed to alchemise the same mix of cannily chosen guest DJs, intelligently-curated young bands, painstaking theme nights and frankly dedicated gimmickry…

Butcher Boy - Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, Fri 10 Feb, part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival

Profound and nostalgic home movie soundtrack session

29 Feb 2012

The intimate basement bar that constitutes the Berkeley Suite, with its original 60s dancehall décor and faded ‘groovy’ vibes, mirrors the classy, nostalgic theme offered by this evening of film and music. Local eight-piece Butcher Boy frame a screen…

The View - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Mon 19 Dec

Raucous, lager-soaked rock'n'roll show

6 Jan 2012

Being partial to the occasional shandy, it pained The List to witness the mass lager sacrifice that occurred at the ABC this night – nary a punter was spared a shower of the gods’ amber nectar as high-spirited young souls sent pint after pint looping…

Bon Iver set for 2011 UK tour

The collaboration-friendly indie-folk icon is still strongest on his own two feet

21 Oct 2011

‘Profit, profit, nigga I got it, everybody know I’m a motherfucking monster.’ Of all that Justin ‘Bon Iver’ Vernon might have done next following the huge critical acclaim and popular devotion for his exquisite 2008 debut album For Emma, Forever Ago…

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…

Twin Atlantic - Free

Glasgow's indie-punk-rock upstarts continue their ascent with accomplished second album

25 Apr 2011

(Red Bull) With Biffy Clyro now zapped up into mainstream consciousness in a sort of twisted alien abduction, there’s a vacuous hole now open for Scotland’s next alt-rock band to stake their claim in. Twin Atlantic however have been ploughing their…

Wild Beasts - Smother

Hayden Thorpe and co deliver sleazily brilliant third album

20 Apr 2011

(Domino) Having covered back alley frottaging and the pleasures of ‘girls from Whitby’ on their 2009 release Two Dancers, the four-piece from Kendal have peeled back the net curtains even further for Smother, casting a pale light on the kinks of…

Exposure: Glasgow indie trio PAWS

14 Apr 2011

Over the past 12 months, Glasgow trio PAWS have gone from ambitious bedroom jams to supporting damn near every cult US indie export to grace our fair shores (Dum Dum Girls, Wavves, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti etc). Combining Dinosaur Jr-esque melodic…

Laidback Luke, Derrick Carter, Andrew Weatherall, Beardyman, Nero and many more join 2011’s RockNess line-up

7 Apr 2011

Tons and tons of new names have been announced for this year’s RockNess. Laidback Luke, The Japanese Popstars, The Boxer Rebellion, Morning Parade, Twilight Sad, Nero, Skrillex, Beardyman, Sub Focus (live), Sons & Daughters, Broken Records, Chapel Club…

Glasvegas: EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\

Below par return from the Glasgow miserabilists

24 Mar 2011

(Columbia) Funny that Glasvegas used ‘Euphoric’ in the title of their sophomore album. This is euphoria’s most definite of antonyms, but did anyone expect otherwise? Euphoric///Heartbreak\\\ is a Glaswegian dirge, muddled in lucid synth and languid…

Eux Autres - The Flying Duck, Glasgow, Sat 5 Mar

Indie-poppers with cult connections deliver pleasingly unpolished set

21 Mar 2011

Janglesome San Franciscans Eux Autres (pronounced ‘ooz-oh-tra’, so explains their website) boast considerable pedigree by association: frontwoman and keys player Heather Larimer – one half of the band’s founding sibling duo together with her brother…

Eat, sleep, breathe: Iron and Wine

The eating habits of Sam Beam, better known as Iron and Wine

3 Mar 2011

What time is breakfast? Depends on the day and if I’m at home or on tour. Tea or coffee? Espresso Smoking or non-smoking? No smoking, these days. Sweet or savoury snacks? Depends on the time of day, but chocolate is always a nice…

Glasgow club institution Divine reaches 20th birthday

The Retro perspective from Glasgow’s longest running club night

17 Feb 2011

‘Twenty years ago I was a student at the Art School,’ recalls Andrew ‘Divine’ Symington. ‘One day a newsletter went round all the departments saying that the students’ union was looking for a DJ. I’d run a few clubs and I could design posters, so I…

Luxury Car - When I Was Good

Unique and inventive brilliance of second album is striking from the off

11 Feb 2011

Biphonic Records is known predominantly for introducing us to some of the most inventive Scottish pop around – namely works by Swimmer One and Seafieldroad over the years. Makes sense then that John Robertson, aka Luxury Car, should join forces with the…

The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh

Quartet's latest album full of poignant intimacy and warm, earthy tone throughout

11 Feb 2011

Following 2008’s Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, reviewers in their droves compared The Low Anthem to Tom Waits and labelmates Fleet Foxes. Yet, writing the quartet off as a cheap copy would be to do them a disservice. Mixed by Saddle Creek warlock Mike…

Glasgow psych-rock night Eyes Wide Open set for successful 2011

Sixth year strong for freakbeat night at Blackfriars

11 Jan 2011

‘This night will be our New Year celebration take two,’ says Holly Calder, promoter of Glasgow psych-rock-freakbeat night Eyes Wide Open. ‘Our friends are going to be scattered around all over at Hogmanay, so this will be a nice way to bring everyone…

Vintage Violence - new Edinburgh club from the makers of FAST

Glam Rock with a twist

30 Nov 2010

‘It’s pretty rock’n’roll,’ says promoter Chris FAST, discussing the spirit of his semi-regular club night at Edinburgh College of Art’s Wee Red Bar. That should come as no surprise – Chris’ old club FAST was among the very best nights in Edinburgh for a…

A Splash One Happening resurrects influential Glasgow indie club

How cult Glasgow indie club Splash One hosted Sonic Youth, Primal Scream and Wire

6 Oct 2010

Track back over the last decade or so, and the Scottish clubs which have truly captured their times are still familiar names to most: Optimo, Manga, Pure, etc. Yet head back two and a half decades, and the scene is like a foreign country. Still, anyone…

Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love

29 Sep 2010

(Rough Trade) Belle and Sebastian return, following a four-and-a-half year break. And having re-grouped in February this year, they recorded this eighth studio offering with Tony Hoffer in LA – which perhaps explains the collaborations with Hollywood…

Everything Everything - Man Alive

19 Aug 2010

(Geffen) Manchester pop boffins Everything Everything are the most aptly-named rock troupe since The Band. They cram pretty much every hipster device into their ebullient, chock-a-block debut, and then fire in the tenets of electro and classical.

The return of The Zephyrs

Edinburgh band back after five years away

15 Aug 2010

Starting a family tends to get in the way of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. For Edinburgh five-piece, The Zephyrs, whose last album Bright Yellow Flowers on a Dark Double Bed was released in 2005, it was a couple of kids and a desire to take a break from…

Arcade Fire releases their all-important third album

The Suburbs is a rewarding and solid LP.

30 Jul 2010

History dictates that many rock greats affirm their credentials upon their third album: Radiohead’s OK Computer, U2’s War and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run all follow this pattern, and Montreal’s six-strong Arcade Fire aren’t so far from these ranks…

T in the Park 2010: Delphic interview

24 Jun 2010

‘A dance aesthetic with proper songs’ is how Delphic’s Matt Cocksedge describes his band’s musical outlook. Given that the Stockport-formed quartet Delphic (founders Cocksedge, Richard Boardman and James Cook, plus recently recruited drummer Dan Hadley…

The Phantom Band, 1990s and Astral Planes set for Commercial Alternative festival

24 Jun 2010

This debut festival outing takes place at the lovely Mono Café Bar, and has a cracking line-up for £20. This gets you a full day of performances, including a great Scottish contingent of The Phantom Band, 1990s, Astral Planes, Remember Remember, Golden…

Super Furry Animals' Bunf set for Modern Lovers

24 Jun 2010

If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Such is the philosophy of Modern Lovers, which continues to offer funk, northern soul and 60s beat at the GRV in Edinburgh and the Flying Duck in Glasgow with unabashed enthusiasm for the music of the good ol’ days. Every…

American Men set for Cry Parrot night

23 Jun 2010

Claude Speeed, guitarist and synth player in Scots ‘Miami-laser-rockers’ American Men is back where it all started for his band: on the beach in Barcelona, trying to decide if he’s fit for the Numbers party at Sonar that evening. ‘It’s lovely here,’ he…

Kid Canaveral - Shouting at Wildlife

16 Jun 2010

Indie guitar pop is out of favour with music industry fashionistas at the moment, but Scottish boy-girl quartet Kid Canaveral could be the band to bring it back with a bang. This debut is packed with singalong melodies, frisky jangles and a real sense…

Wolf Parade - Expo 86

16 Jun 2010

Montreal’s indie rock’n’roll deviants Wolf Parade have likened the making of this, their third album, to puking songs straight out of their heads and into their instruments. It comes as a considerable relief to report that the outcome is a whole lot…

Schnapps, Jakil and Little Eskimos among highlights Leith Festival's Batter of the Bands

10 Jun 2010

David Pollock takes a look at some Leith Festival highlights, including Leith Records’ chip shop-based music competition, Batter of the Bands

Teenage Fanclub mark 20 years since first release with new album Shadows

20 May 2010

It’s been twenty years since Teenage Fanclub released their first album. Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite looks back on the Scottish indie pop group that Kurt Cobain called ‘the best band in the world’ ‘I was only about 14 when A Catholic…

Teenage Fanclub - Shadows

19 May 2010

(PeMa) The Fannies’ 20-year career has been a gradual progression from joyously stomping Doc boots to comfy, worn-in slippers, and this eighth studio album is a further refinement of their jangly, harmony-laden craft. The fire in their bellies is…

Killer Kitch Street Party

18 May 2010

Although not exactly over-endowed with good quality, alternative midweek club nights, Glasgow has at least one star operating on Tuesdays, the Buff Club’s Killer Kitsch. ‘When we started,’ says co-founder, promoter and resident DJ Euan Neilson, ‘the…

Pavement set for 2010 UK reunion tour

29 Apr 2010

The demise of the much-loved American lo-fi band Pavement in the 90s was well documented, so ten years after their drawn-out spilt, the announcement of a reform was a welcome surprise for fans worldwide. Yet the band have made it clear that this is just…

Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

25 Feb 2010

During the 90s Pavement were cult kingpins of the burgeoning US indie-rock scene, and leader Stephen Malkmus was an idol for the brainy post-Cobain brigade. Several excellent albums garnished the era (from Slanted and Enchanted to Terror Twilight), and…

Frightened Rabbit

17 Dec 2009

It’s a very smug and pleased-with-himself Rabbit that should be performing at this ABC date; the Borders’ indie-folkers’ largest venue to date. After their biggest year so far, where they built on the success of album The Midnight Organ Fight, this gig…

ballboy

17 Dec 2009

Back as a full band for their latest album, I Worked on the Ships (ballboy’s 2003 melancholy masterpiece The Sash My Father Wore was virtually a solo album from frontman Gordon McIntyre) expect insightful, sharp yet beautiful and fragile indie at this…

Sons & Daughters

17 Dec 2009

Sons & Daughters What better way to see in the bells this New Year than in the company of Sons & Daughters for a shimmering slice of indie pop. Joined by Sparkling Shadazz and Errors (with a DJ set) for a proper Hogmanay hoolie. Mono, Glasgow, Thu…

Fit The Paradigm - Jack Butler

9 Dec 2009

(Whimsical) Starting with 20th Century Fox-esque snare drums, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re about to be hit by something dramatic and cinematic, grandiose even. Instead, you’re nodding your head before you realise it, thinking how unlikely it…

High Tease & Vegas!

4 Dec 2009

Another classy team-up from two of Scotland’s most glamorous events, which offers something for boys, girls and all of Glasgow’s most stylish performers. First, High Tease presents a host of burlesque performers, including Des O’Connor, Jonny Woo, Gypsy…

All Tomorrow's Parties: The Film

An onscreen celebration of the alternative music institution

15 Oct 2009

A young man, at the head of a throng of people, kneels in front of a performing drummer, his hands either side of the drummer’s floor tom. The man is shouting, nay pleading with the drummer through a variety of emphatic hand gestures. Growing more…

Hitlist: Clubs

The best nights out this fortnight

15 Oct 2009

Definition, Soul Weekender, Men & Machines, Fortified, Pinup Nights, Come and Playdate, Kreep vs Bleep, Spectrum, Vegas

Grizzly Bear

Modern American indie heroes show off their brilliant new record, Veckatimest

15 Oct 2009

If the latest album from Grizzly Bear was a photo album, it would be full of those bleached-out, soft focus pictures of sunny beach holidays in the 70s, with good-looking hippies lounging around, grinning into the camera. Named after an uninhabited…

Invasion and Jackie Treehorn - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 13 Oct

15 Oct 2009

The power of the press is something that can be overstated. Evidence of this is the glowing notices given to Invasion by both NME and Kerrang! of late which state them to be the finest new rock ensemble anywhere. Such fawning hasn’t made it out here in…

Modern Lovers

Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite performs the DJing honours at this psych-rock night

15 Oct 2009

If you are looking for a mix of psych-rock, garage funk, sonic rock’n’roll and Motown classics that has a retro soundtrack but isn’t stuck in the past Modern Lovers is the perfect prescription. This fortnight expect an even heavier, darker version of…

Hitlist: Clubs

2 Oct 2009

Devil Disco Club, Mudhoney, Pulse, Telefunken, Sensu is 5, The B^stard Dancehall, Pest Control Records, Mount Heart Attack, Death Disco, Numbers, Ultragroove

Fanfarlo - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 30 Sep

Fantasticfarlo more like

2 Oct 2009

Bowie loves them. And so should you. Or you would if you ever caught Fanfarlo’s awesome folk punch live. Relocated to King Tut’s from the ABC, the smaller stage is ideal for a band so positive about the communal experience, especially when the crowd…

Miss The Occupier - Bar Bloc, Glasgow, Wed 30 Sep

Small crowd, big entertainment

2 Oct 2009

‘We are Miss the Occupier, but most of you already know that,’ says the enchanting Roz Davies, the band’s pink haired front-woman, and unfortunately, this is probably true. It’s a sparse crowd indeed, but the music certainly isn’t lacking from this…

Girls

The band, not the ones from those 'Gone Wild' videos

2 Oct 2009

Already proclaimed by NME as one of the bands ‘set to smash 2010’ Girls are actually a male quartet (centring around the songwriting of Christopher Owens and the DIY production of Chet JR Whit) from California who are wonderfully out of time with their…

The Big Pink interview

Getting dreamy with the indie fuzz debutantes

1 Oct 2009

We’re told The Big Pink’s Robbie Furze is something of a charmer. Quite apt, then, that his band’s debut is all about love, as we imagine, the singer has had a hell of a lot of experience. Furze is on rare downtime and in the middle of dog walking on a…

Adventures in Sound and Beat Control

Exploring the best new nights in town

1 Oct 2009

Residents Andy Wilson takes charge at Adventures in Sound while the Evol DJs (Keiron Mellotte and DJ Skoda) take care of Beat Control. Guests None confirmed as yet with the residents on hand every week, but don’t be surprised by the odd DJ set from…

The Fiery Furnaces

Looking forward to the dynamic indie sorts

1 Oct 2009

Don’t second-guess Brooklyn-based sibling duo The Fiery Furnaces. Since forming nine years ago, the Friedbergers have set forth a flurry of wildly divergent records, including a collaboration with their choir-singing gran. The coming months will see the…

Exposure: The Kabeedies

29 Sep 2009

A cute girl and a carefree attitude can take a band a long way. The Kabeedies might just like to think they have a little more than that though. Even if the girl is very cute and the attitude is very carefree. For underneath such welcome attributes a…

Hitlist: Clubs

17 Sep 2009

Cabaret Voltaire’s Alternative Freshers Week, Kinky Afro, Motherfunk, Pinup Nights, Weak at the Knees, Numbers & Fortified, Huntleys and Palmers Audio Club, Compact Disco, Streetrave 20th Birthday Party

Codeine Velvet Club

Him from the Fratellis teams up with local singer/songwriter Lou Hickey

17 Sep 2009

Doesn’t Jon Fratelli scrub up well? Where the Glaswegian rocker’s other band were on a three-man crusade to reinstate denim as the rock’n’roll fabric of choice, he’s adopted a classier look for this new project with local singer-songwriter Lou Hickey.

Cabaret Voltaire’s Alternative Freshers Week

17 Sep 2009

So you’re a new student in the fair town of Edinburgh and not quite sure what club nights are worth going to. Well fear not young fresher, Cabaret Voltaire has assembled all their best nights for a full week of house, drum & bass, indie, electro and…

Fresher's week club nights

An evening's entertainment for student sorts

3 Sep 2009

Although Edinburghers might not notice it quite so much thanks to their fancy festival throughout the month of August, the clubbing scene does tend to go into a state of semi-hibernation over the summer. And there’s one over-riding reason you just can’t…

The Psychedelic Ballroom

Introducing the best new club nights in town.

3 Sep 2009

Residents: Glasgow band The Balladeers: Jackson Scott (guitar and vocals), Gav Troon (bass), Ruaraidh Macleod (drums) and Sean Fitzharris (keyboards, violin). They’ll be playing a set and DJing afterwards. Guests: For this debut night it’s…