King Creosote

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Django Django, The Twilight Sad and more also reviewed

3 Feb 2012

Come hither and let us imagine a world, a perfect world – a realm in which Kim Wilde is engaged in a goth-disco tryst with The Sisters of Mercy. Think about it. Harder. Got it? Congratulations, you are now playing ‘Lafaye’ (●●●●, Full Time Hobby), the…

Five picks from Celtic Connections 2012

Featuring Zoe Muth, Jack Bruce, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins and Vieux Farka Touré

6 Jan 2012

Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers The year in Americana 2011 belongs to Gillian Welch and the release of her album The Harrow & the Harvest, but amongst a promising field of young female country singers, Zoe Muth stands out. With her ear for an instant…

Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles II - Summerhall, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Dec 2011

Josie Long, eagleowl and more join in Kid Canaveral's annual shindig

6 Jan 2012

The combination of cheap tins and 12 hours of live entertainment could be an endurance test in the wrong hands, but the second annual Fence Records/Kid Canaveral Chirstmas Baubles all-dayer doesn’t exactly feel like a chore. A joyous turn by Fence…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

FOUND win the first ever List Award

Edinburgh arts collective claim prize, while Cargo Publishing collect Best Newcomer

16 Dec 2011

Edinburgh-based band and arts collective FOUND have won the first annual List Award. The Award, presented on Thursday 15 December at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery as part of The List's Hot 100 Party, recognises achievement in the arts over the…

Best of 2011: Songs

The best songs of 2011 featuring Austra, Lana Del Rey, Aidan Moffat

14 Dec 2011

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - ‘Bubble’ / Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – ‘The Copper Top’. It was a straight tie between these two underground power-duos. Showing off the cream of Scottish vocals (and one doesn’t even really sing); the emotions soar, the…

The List launches new cultural awards

The List Award 2011 shortlist includes David Greig, Karla Black, Aidan Moffat and David Mackenzie

12 Dec 2011

The List introduces its own end-of-year cultural award, plus a Best Newcomer award. The awards complement The List's annual creative talent list The Hot 100, the 2011 edition of which is published on 14 Dec The winners to be announced at a Hot 100…

Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz Anstruther Town Hall, Anstruther, Sat 5 Nov

The Shivers, Withered Hand and Serafina Steer join Bonfire Night party

15 Nov 2011

There were no fireworks at Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz pop ‘n’ Guy Fawkes hoopla. There was no need for pyrotechnics when there were songs that soared like gold dust – King Creosote’s rare variation of Dexy’s ‘Come on Eileen’ around a bonfire; Serafina…

King Creosote - Why I love Hallowe’en

The Mercury Prize nominee on how Hallowe'en has become a fixture in the Fence calendar

21 Oct 2011

In order to become a proper record label, the three of us working out of Fence HQ in the early days of the new millennium – Gummi Al, Johnny Pictish and myself, KC – decided we ought to adopt a few standard office practices. The first was to rent a PO…

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, Wed 7 Sep

The recent Mercury award nominees hit all the right notes

19 Sep 2011

Gig of the year if they win, they said. Not a dry eye in the house if they win, they said. Well, guess what. They didn’t win. You think that made their Glasgow performance any less enthralling? Two chords in – two of Hopkins’ hymnal, heart-stopping…

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins set for UK tour

Duo take Mercury-nominated Diamond Mine on the road

24 Aug 2011

The List must confess it has to stop taking cues from the John Motson school of interviewing. ‘So, Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote, Fence Records founder and self-made recording artist who’s been working away in relative obscurity for many years now…

Single of the Month: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins’ ‘Honest Words’

Also reviewed: Katy B, Ghostpoet, Anna Calvi, Airship and Ed Sheeran

24 Aug 2011

As Mercury Price fever ensues, there’s a last-minute dash to make the most of this extra attention, however, the resulting singles are admittedly a bit hit and miss. The latter is unfortunately the case for Katy B’s scatty, 90s dance rip-off…

Singles and downloads May/June 2011

Battles' ‘Ice Cream’ take Single of the Month title

31 May 2011

The phrase ‘singer-songwriter and professional footballer’ would have most reviewers frisbeeing a CD into the bin faster than you can say ‘super-injunction’, but fortunately enough for Kevin Rutkiewicz it’s a fan of his club, the mighty Dunfermline…

Home Game festival - Anstruther, Fri 6-Sun 8 May 2011

The Fence festival delivers another five-star musical weekend

18 May 2011

You may have thought your childhood summer holidays were gone for good. Then you discovered Home Game and times when people were nicer, and music was to be absorbed and adored rather than just worn like a badge, and the memories came flooding back. Home…

Bun Fight at the OK Karail #1 - Crail Community Hall, Sat 9 April

15 Apr 2011

Sometimes, with Fence Collective shows – with the strange, intangible magic they weave – it helps to unravel them in reverse. For example, it makes perfect sense for the night to end in a cosy pub, with a hoard of mildly sunburnt gig-goers rubbing…

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

Plaintive vocals and guitar meets atmospheric melancholic soundscapes

1 Mar 2011

This was apparently a labour of love between Fife folkster King Creosote and London electronica artist and producer Hopkins, recorded in fits and starts over the last seven years. It’s a beautifully complementary collaboration, Kenny Anderson’s…

Musician James Yorkston publishes tour diaries

Domino Records and Faber publish Scottish singer-songwriter's book It’s Lovely to Be Here

14 Jan 2011

Not content with forging a career as one of Scotland’s best loved singer-songwriters, James Yorkston has just foisted himself upon literature in a most alluring fashion. As befits a troubadour whose talent is rivalled only by his modesty, Yorkston’s…

The Burns Unit and Broken Records set for Celtic Connections date

‘Scottish-Canadian Supergroup’ peform at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket

23 Dec 2010

Kenny Anderson is setting the record straight. ‘Karine Polwart is not a folkie – she wants to try other stuff. And Emma Pollock is not just the indie queen that everyone thinks she is. And I’m not the … whatever.’ (Whatever he is, he is King…

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the people from Scotland being interesting, successful and creative

16 Dec 2010

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

The best Christmas gigs in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Burns, Zombie Nation, Ballboy and Broken Records among Christmas party gig highlights

10 Dec 2010

Stars In Their Eyes special/ Song, By Toad’s Christmas party/ Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles/ Death Disco’s XXXmas Party/ Radio Magnetic’s Winter Rave/ Mungo’s Hi-Fi/ Bill Wells’ Black Christmas In a bygone olden, golden era – circa 1995 BC…

Labels of Love: Chaffinch

Melodious Lanarkshire label releases Lucky Luke, Burnt Island, The Second Hand Marching Band

16 Nov 2010

About a year and a half ago, The List received a handmade box from Lanarkshire’s melodious Chaffinch records. It contained several excellent seven-inch singles, a handwritten note from label boss David Love, and a scattering of tiny shells and…

The best Hallowe'en music and club events in Edinburgh and Glasgow

29 Oct 2010

HALLOWEEN CLUBS There’s blood on the dancefloor as Hallowe’en takes over clubland. First up, Hung Up! host the annual Optimo (Espookio) as Glasgow’s weirdest Hallowe’en party rises from the grave (The Sub Club, Sun 31 Oct). And if there’s dressing up…

Fence Collective's Away Game takes the party to island of Eigg

Human Don’t Be Angry, Silver Columns and Withered Hand among highlights

6 Oct 2010

Miami sunsets, macaroni pies, tractors-as-transport. Live death metal at 6am, beach campfire concerts, and a bottomless hipflask of whisky doing the rounds long after the bar had been drunk dry. Away Game – the first Fence Records festival on the…

The List: 25 Years - A night at the Arches, Glasgow featuring Errors, King Creosote and Come on Gang!

Event celebrates 25th anniversary of The List Magazine

5 Oct 2010

After 25 years of writing about other people's events, we've decided to put on our own... and it's been worth the wait. We're taking over The Arches for one Friday night only, showcasing the best of Scottish culture, including many of favourite bands…

Autumn highlights: The best albums and gigs from Scottish bands

The Phantom Band, The Twilight Sad and Errors set for action

16 Sep 2010

The Phantom Band Chemikal Underground’s finest, most eclectic and most likely signings of recent years return with the follow-up to last year’s debut Checkmate Savage. The Wants is released on Chemikal Underground, Mon 18 Oct. The Scottish…