Music and Electronic

Gary Numan announces UK tour

The 'Cars' singer will pull over in Glasgow on Wed 23 May

9 Feb 2012

Electronica icon (and licensed aircraft pilot) Gary Numan has announced a full UK and Ireland tour to take place this summer, in celebration of his new album Machine Music: The Best Of Gary Numan. The tour features just one stop in Scotland, at the O2…

Hazy Recollections – O2 ABC2, Glasgow, Sun 22 Jan

Electro-folk and French lullabies bring weepie and comedy moments

3 Feb 2012

Celtic Connections’ Hazy Recollections sessions are great for two main reasons. Firstly, they provide a gathering place for the legion of those with beards and plaid shirts. Secondly, you get to see just how far the festival’s remit of ‘folk, roots and…

M83 - The Arches, Thu 19 Jan

Revered French electro act let down by bad sound

3 Feb 2012

The problem with eagerly anticipating a show for any great length of time is that you always leave yourself open to disappointment if things don’t live up to your expectations, such is the way with live music. Sold out weeks in advance, M83’s…

GFF 2012 - Italo-horror artist Umberto

The soundtrack specialist fits comfortably into the Glasgow Music and Film Festival strand

1 Feb 2012

Horror-score revivalist Matt Hill channels the creepyass compositions of Goblin, John Carpenter and Fabio Frizzi in his eerie synthjams, conjuring up a sonic witches brew. A member of drone-merchants Expo 70, Hill has, in his Umberto guise, explored the…

Steven Severin: Vampyr - Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh, Thu 12 Jan

Ex-Banshees bassist delivers brooding live score to 1930s horror classic

1 Feb 2012

The man with the flowing white hair walks towards a small table and chair to one side of the Cameo’s big screen. Sporting a long black winter coat and carrying a glass of red wine, the man looks as if he’s stepped in from another, altogether darker age…

Azari & III - Azari & III

Credit due delivering a straightforward house music manifesto with compelling four-to-the-floor forc

1 Feb 2012

(Island) This self-titled debut is actually a major label re-release of an album that, until recently, was widely available as an import – including on Spotify. It’s getting a reboot in the UK in CD form (you remember CDs right?) though really the…

GFF 2012 - Silver Apples set for Glasgow Music and Film Festival

Live set from the cult 60s space rock pioneers

27 Jan 2012

When Simeon Coxe III took a 1940s vintage oscillator onstage with him to liven up the psych-rock band he fronted, sparks flew to the extent that half the band left, and, with only drummer Danny Taylor in tow, Silver Apples were born. With their name…

The high energy, high concept dance-rock of Justice is French through-and-through

To these new gods of French electronic music, we say Salut!

27 Jan 2012

The hair; the crotch-hugging denim; the ‘tude - everything about Justice’s demeanour screams metal. And with good reason. The band, comprising Xavier de Rosnay (monobrow, flaired nostrils) and Gaspard Augé (hair of Robert Plant, moustache of a Deep…

Machinedrum - sXlnd

Inventive release taking in UK funky, smooth old-school house and sophisticated club tracks

27 Jan 2012

(LuckyMe) A five-track EP rather than a full-blown album, there’s nonetheless a long player’s worth of sonic invention on the latest from Travis Stewart, running the gamut from UK funky to smooth old-school house with an understated Balearic edge.

Biffy Clyro, Deadmau5 and Mumford & Sons announced for RockNess 2012

Justice, Metronomy, Noah & the Whale and Death in Vegas also confirmed

26 Jan 2012

Scottish rock titans Biffy Clyro and dance kingpins Justice and Deadmaus have been announced as acts set to play RockNess 2012. The festival which will take place at Dores on the banks of Loch Ness on Fri 8–Sun 10 Jun, will also feature performances…

Preview of 2012 - Errors

Rock Action's math-rock heroes return home

6 Jan 2012

The Glasgow band have been reduced from four to three as their guitarist has left to become a full-time dentist (leaving Steev Livingstone to get to grips with his six string again). Yet, despite this setback new album Have Some Faith in Magic (Rock…

Friendly Fires - Barrowland, Glasgow, Tue 20 Dec 2011

Triumphant end of year show from the St Albans indie-ravers

6 Jan 2012

2011 didn’t quite belong to Friendly Fires, as some had predicted it might, but they owned significant parts of it off the back of their euphoric second album Pala – not least the flying feet and skyward waving arms of a few summer festival crowds. The…

M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming combines ambient roots with pop sensibilities

We reassess the albumprior to Frenchman's upcoming UK tour

6 Jan 2012

The Associates’ Alan Rankine once opined that the best way to make an album is to ‘start with a climax, then go further.’ It’s a maxim that Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez – an Antibes-born, LA-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with an idiosyncratic…

Errors - Have Some Faith In Magic

Superb third album that should push the foursome out of Mogwai's shadow

6 Jan 2012

(Rock Action) Lazily regarded as Mogwai-lite for most of their seven year existence, Errors’ third offering finally sees the Glasgow foursome shrug off the shackles of their legendary label founders’ early patronage. Anyone with half a brain could…

Eat, sleep and breathe with Fránçois from Fránçois & the Atlas Mountains

A questionnaire about food and the touring musician

6 Jan 2012

Fránçois Marry is fuelled by a combination of herbal tea, techno, chocolate and Cognac – in varying quantities, depending on where the tour van is stopping that day... What time is breakfast? 7am at the hotel before a long drive. Tea or…

Exposure: Dead Boy Robotics

Edinburgh's avant synth-pop outfit, who released their self-titled debut album in November on Tape

6 Jan 2012

The name Dead Boy Robotics must be an obscenely cool reference to an obscure sci-fi tome, right? No, they came up with the name all by themselves. It fits pretty well as it happens; they describe their sound as an amalgam of ‘laptop bleeps, synth…

The Big Pink - Future This

Second electro-pop offering let down by over-egged desire to be anthemic

6 Jan 2012

(4AD) It’s easy to assume that London duo Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell’s oft-scrutinised industry connections have earned them their breaks while ignoring the fact that the dark, feedback and effects-swathed element of their music honours 4AD’s goth…

Single of the month: Trailer Trash Tracys ‘Candy Girl / Strangling Good Guys’

Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys and more also reviewed

5 Jan 2012

Music snobs love to flame Florence and the Machine these days. But as ‘No Light No Light’ (Island) ●●●● proves, Welch does epic, pagan pop pretty much perfectly. Her only crime is that lots of people now like it. They’d no doubt sneer at the recent…

Aeroc – R+B=?

Geoff White's minimal techno alterego saves his best material for last on new album

5 Jan 2012

(Ghostly International) Previously known for minimal techno releases on the likes of Traum, Force Inc and Psytrax, US producer Geoff White adopted the Aeroc moniker for more experimental offerings, resulting in 2004’s Viscous Solid album. Seven…

Best of 2011: Clubs

The best sets and gigs, including Plastikman, Ivan Smagghe and Bloody Beetroots

19 Dec 2011

Andrew Weatherall & Ivan Smagghe. Karnival’s fifth birthday featured vinyl vs computer hardware in a delicious back-to-back set that meshed in all the right places for a dynamic and unpredictable set that kept both DJs and clubbers guessing. Karnival…

The Hot 100 2011 - No. 32: Remember Remember interview

Graeme Ronald’s complex compositions get the full-band treatment

16 Dec 2011

‘Steve Reich on acid,’ is how one List critic described Graeme Ronald’s second album as Remember Remember, released this year. True, it has Reich’s trademark repetition – albeit combined with melodies that could only be Scottish – but Ronald is unsure…

Numbers discuss the club/brand's New Year plans

Hogmanay celebrations in both Edinburgh and Glasgow lie ahead

13 Dec 2011

It’s been another good year for Glasgow’s ever-growing clubbing export Numbers. So big, in fact, that they need a whole three cities to contain their send-off to 2011. First they’ll be warming up with a set at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s the night before…

Jonnie Common - Mono, Glasgow, Sun 27 Nov 2011

Triumphant show from the skilled electronica musician and friends

13 Dec 2011

In August Jonnie Common, founder of the now defunct trio Down the Tiny Steps, released his debut album Master of None. In real terms, the event passed without a great deal of fanfare and yet critical acclaim was heaped upon Common by those lucky and…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Discopolis

The Edinburgh electronic pop act on their eating habits

13 Dec 2011

What time is breakfast? Usually sometime after lunch... Fergus is an early bird though. Tea or coffee? Laurie can’t do without his green tea, Dave will have an occasional sip of a Darjeeling and Fergus can’t get enough builders’ brew. Smoking or…

Plastikman Live 1.5 - Barrowland, Glasgow, Sat 3 Dec

Spectacular live performance by the techno artist

9 Dec 2011

The abundance of older faces among the Barrowlands crowd suggests that many could well have been present for Richie Hawtin’s first appearance at the venue, a DJ set as part of Pure’s Hogmanay celebrations in 1994. How things have changed. Returning…

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…

Jonnie Common - Hair of the Dog

Common's debut Master of None yields a just-as-good set of muso-buddy remixes

8 Dec 2011

(Red Deer Club) Jonnie Common’s debut album Master of None: a record so good he actually got two albums out of it. This remix package is more of an appendix to the original than a cohesive new creation in its own right, but its roll call of some of…

Tunng - This is Tunng: Live from the BBC

Warped magic of eccentric east London glitch folk collective

7 Dec 2011

(Full Time Hobby) With a line-up alteration or two, eccentric east London collective Tunng have gone from glitchy cut and pasters to singalong folksters. Their This is Tunng compilation features bouncy numbers (‘Jenny Again’, ‘Bullets’) from 2010’s…

Korn – The Path of Totality

Blistering new dubstep direction from the nu metal overlords

25 Nov 2011

They’ll forever be known as ‘the godfathers of nu metal’, but on Path of Totality Korn have taken a massive side step. Sure the guitars are still heavy as hammers but they’ve gone dubstep. And we’re not talking the odd breakbeat this is a full on…

FareWell Poetry / Matthew Collings / Hiva Oa / Opul, The Third Door, Edinburgh, Mon 14 Nov

Carefully crafted multi-media, poetry-meets-noise and guitar assaults

18 Nov 2011

Salsa class is cancelled tonight, according to the blackboard outside what used to be after-hours hippy student dive Medina, but which now looks intent on filling the DIY boho gap that the Roxy Arthouse and The Forest once occupied so randomly. The…

David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time

The iconic director's latest foray into music has great moments but an overdependence on filler

16 Nov 2011

(Sunday Best) The dark cinema of David Lynch needs no introduction, nor does the music in his films – whether the work of composer Angelo Badalamenti or his use of older pop songs. Who could forget Dean Stockwell lipsyncing Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams…

Little Dragon on UK tour

Swedish electro-pop quartet and Gorillaz collaborators take third album Ritual Union on tour

16 Nov 2011

You’d expect a band to delight in having artists from Gorillaz to DJ Shadow and Big Boi beating their door down to work with them – especially if they’ve hitherto existed in relative obscurity. But while Little Dragon find it ‘super exciting’ to have…

Com Truise - profile

Seth Haley (under his synth-pop pseudonym) gears up to play Sneaky Pete's

16 Nov 2011

Who: No, not the one married to Hatie Kolmes. Com Truise is the alias of Seth Haley, the New Jersey based producer behind this summer’s sublime Galactic Melt; his debut album, and one of this year’s finest, most addictive electronic synth-pop…

Various artists - Songs For Dying

Vibrant collection of tunes exploring noise genres from techno to metal

16 Nov 2011

(Pjorn 72) The local Noiserati and associates’ recent reclaiming of their techno and/or metal roots helped their clan avoid a nihilistic dead end. As this bumper fifteen track compendium of clings, clangs, sci-fi slapstick, sepulchral drones…

Interview: Hudson Mohawke

The electronic producer on big name collaborators and doing his own thing

9 Nov 2011

At last, the world seems to be catching up with Hudson Mohawke. It’s been two years since the Glasgow-bred, London-based producer released his debut album Butter on the mighty Warp Records, largely to recognition only from listeners of a truly…

Richie Hawtin resurrects iconic Plastikman persona for world tour

DJ and producer on the makings of his audio-visual spectacular

9 Nov 2011

Richie Hawtin is one of the most high profile DJs and producers working today, with activities incorporating several record labels, software and hardware products and a globe-spanning tour schedule. Known for distinctive and intense DJ sets, it might…

Interview: Richie Hawtin - Plastikman Live 1.5 tour 2011

Full transcript of interview with minimal techno producer and DJ

8 Nov 2011

Live music concert seems inadequate term to describe your current live show. What exactly is this thing you do now? Well live music exists somewhere between music, theatre and circus right? You're there to entertain and grab the people. I think what…

Interview - Max Cooper

Respected electronica producer and DJ set for Kollektiv show

3 Nov 2011

Max Cooper first came to the attention of clubbers and electronic music fans with his ‘Serie’ trilogy on Traum Schallplatten in 2009, each track inspired by a different mathematical or scientific concept. Since then alongside his own productions he’s…

Meursault and Happy Particles - Glasgow Science Centre, Sun 9 Oct 2011

Science meets creativity for a night beneath the stars

28 Oct 2011

Ever the fan of showcasing musical talent in the most unusual of circumstances, Detour teamed up with Glasgow Science Centre (GSC) for two shows during their Capture Space weekend. Held in the planetarium inside the centre, Detour selected two bands per…

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…

Azari & III - Don't call them house revivalists

Toronto-based act favour Roland drum machines, crisp piano loops and emotional lyrics

21 Oct 2011

Is it too soon for a house music revival? That’s the question The List is mulling over ahead of speaking to self-proclaimed ‘house music aficionados’ Azari & III. The Toronto-based band, comprising producers Dinamo Azari and Alixander III and vocalists…

Bjork - Biophilia / Dirty Projectors & Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca

Embracing innovative on niche experimental curio by a huge artist

20 Oct 2011

(One Little Indian/Domino) It’s clear that Iceland’s premier musical export has no interest in writing another ‘Big Time Sensuality’ or ‘Violently Happy’ to please the casual listener, but these almost simultaneously released new albums demonstrate…

Active Child - You Are All I See

A lovely and welcoming debut of choral shimmers and electro pulses

20 Oct 2011

(Vagrant) Linda Ronstadt; Jon and Vangelis; the Chariots of Fire soundtrack – all this and we’re less than a minute in to Active Child’s debut album (and title track) ‘You Are All I See’. The electro-dreamy conduit of bygone choirboy Patrick…

Rob Hall & Chick Lyall - Blithe Spirit

Melodic compositions combine jazz, classical and folk

20 Oct 2011

(FMR Records) Hall and Lyall are familiar figures on the Scottish jazz scene, and their third duo recording reveals an even greater refinement in their thoughtful, inventive music. Their melodic compositions combine jazz, classical music and a touch…

Music for Airports: An appreciation by John Foxx

The artist, electro pioneer and friend of Brian Eno the now classic work

19 Oct 2011

I first heard Music For Airports in [legendary krautrock producer] Conny Plank’s studio, as Brian was making it. Christa [Fast] and Inge [Zeininger] were assistants at the studio. Brian roped them in to sing. I thought it was a great idea. I thought…

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.

Summer Camp - Welcome To Condale

Seeped in nostalgia and one of the smartest synth pop romp of the year

19 Oct 2011

(Apricot Recording Company/Moshi Moshi) Summer Camp’s music is seeped in nostalgia, but the London duo pay homage to the past cleverly; their 1980s’ teen flicks-inspired debut thankfully free of the usual pitfalls of cynical pastiche and straight…

Koreless - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 9 Oct 2011

The youthful, bright-eyed dubstepper takes centre-stage at Sneaky's

19 Oct 2011

Lewis Roberts may only be just about old enough to attend a club, but judging by this appearance he certainly understands what’s required to keep the customers satisfied. Still in his teens, this Glasgow-based Welshman has patented a form of lazy…

Born to Be Wide - The musician's guide to music videos

Music seminar offers advice for making and promoting music videos

18 Oct 2011

Don’t know your PPL from your VPL? Couldn’t tell your ISRC code from your elbow? Born To Be Wide is here to help. For any musician looking to make the leap from local pub gig to, well, basically anything that will make you any money, a little bit of…

Justice - Audio Video Disco

Highly enjoyable electro-rock from the Parisian duo, if notably less serious than earlier efforts

17 Oct 2011

(Ed Banger/Because) Hip Parisian electro label Ed Banger’s leading lights aren’t the first dance artists to make like rock stars – see The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and fellow French duo Daft Punk among others. But between their wiggly synth…

John Foxx & The Maths - Interplay

Cold synth masterpiece from the electro-pop pioneer

12 Oct 2011

(Metamatic Records) Now a real-life silver Foxx, the pushing-60 electro-pop/clash pioneer and former vocalist with Ultravox before Midge Ure made them rubbish might just have found his time. This retro-future compendium of detached, dystopian…

Profile: Moritz Von Oswald

Rare live show from minimal techno pioneer in association with club night Animal Farm

6 Oct 2011

This Saturday sees one the most important and legendary figures in electronic music, Moritz Von Oswald, play a rare, pre-Subculture live set with Tikiman, organized jointly by Animal Farm and the Sub Club. An established percussionist for the likes of…

Glasgow Science Centre takes a Detour

Ally McRae and David Weaver organise a special event with Remember Remember, Meursault and more

29 Sep 2011

Ever think that science wasn’t cool (despite the well-mannered, be-jumpered protestations of Brian Cox)? Well, Detour Scotland beg to differ. The video makers/radio pesterers/off the wall gig organisers, set up by Radio 1’s Ally McCrae and long-term…

5 Reasons to go to EH1 LIVE

The capital's new one-dayer features The Dykeenies, Jakil, The 10:04s and more

21 Sep 2011

1. Welcome to Edinburgh It’s that time of year again. Students are back, a new bunch of freshers are unleashed upon the bright lights of the big city, and while this new one-day, one-ticket-accesses-everything festival doesn’t cover all of the city’s…

Clubbers' Decktionary: Chiptune

DJ Hobbes guides us through clubbing's myriad genres

19 Sep 2011

Chiptune proper noun. aka 8Bit, Bitpop, Bitcore, Nintendocore Any tempo but generally fast (ie 130-180bpm), the sound of 8-bit and 16-bit micr-chips from classic arcade games from the late 70s and early 80s, hand-held computer games from Nintendo and…

Cabaret Voltaire's Alternative Freshers' Week

A list of reasons to attend the week-long club extravaganza

19 Sep 2011

SBTRKT Welcome to Edinburgh, say Cab Vol, as they introduce nine big student specials in a row. Allow us to take you through who’s appearing, starting with Young Turks-signed London producer Aaron Jerome, aka SBTRKT, playing at Sugarbeat. The…

Eastern Promise brings live music and record fair to Platform, Glasgow

To Rococo Rot, Tarwater and Conquering Animal Sound

14 Sep 2011

The second Eastern Promise builds on the good work of last year’s festival by bringing an admirably eclectic bill of Scottish and international acts to Easterhouse. Underground pop legends The Pastels play their first show in over a year on the Sunday…

Remember Remember - The Quickening

A shimmering and optimistic tour de force from Scottish composer and pop genius

14 Sep 2011

(Rock Action) Once upon a time there was a super electro-prog combo called Multiplies. They came from Glasgow, made like rock miscreants and then they were gone, leaving memories of marvellous live shows and the sense they were always too good to be…

Interview: Gary Numan - First Word

The legendary electronica artist on sausages and ape-populated planets

25 Aug 2011

First record you ever bought A Hank Williams Jr. album for my mum. Last extravagant purchase you made I bought a dirt buggy a couple of years ago. First film you saw that really moved you The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston in it.

Electric Frog September Weekender 2011

Frankie Knuckles, The Fall, Jeff Mills, Mogwai, and Joe Claussell feature in stellar line-up

25 Aug 2011

Whoever chose to carry out some large-scale maintenance at their Eastvale Place business premises on the last weekend of July has inadvertently done Glasgow’s clubbing fraternity a favour. It might have meant the planned Electric Frog Summer Weekender…

Clubbers' Decktionary: Cosmic

DJ Hobbes guides us through clubbing's myriad genres

25 Aug 2011

Cosmic (disco) adj/proper noun. aka Afro Cosmic, also Space Disco. Originally an highly eclectic, mid-tempo (9-105 BPM) style, which nowadays generally exhibits a lot of space, reverb and echo/delay in the production, bubbling synths, delicate keys…

Crate digging: London Elektricity picks 5 top tracks

Hospital Records head returns to Xplicit

24 Aug 2011

From the 1976 Big Terror Movie Themes album, Geoff Love & His Orchestra ‘Three Days of the Condor’ (Music For Pleasure) is an amazing piece of lounge dirty funk. I was Geoff Love’s roadie on his tour of Gibraltar in 1986. Along with the orchestra’s horn…

Soma Records: 20 Years

Three CD celebration pack of hits and resurrections

24 Aug 2011

(Soma) As ‘the UK’s longest-running dance label’, so they tell us and we’re inclined to believe, Soma (the releasing arm of production duo Slam, the guys who pitch that pointy blue tent at T in the Park every year) continue to occupy a place…

Penguin Prison - Penguin Prison

Crisp, revitalising debut album that is both retro and relevant

24 Aug 2011

(Stranger) Penguin Prison have just gone and nailed that curious talent of producing music rooted in retro sound, whilst also making it utterly relevant. This self-titled debut album features swathes of synth flooded in 80s sheen, but there’s enough…

Wesseltoft Schwarz - Duo

Norwegian ‘nu-jazz’ guru and techno producer make ambient jazz-meets-dance

24 Aug 2011

(Jazzland) The combination of piano and laptop computer would once have been pretty much the exclusive preserve of the free improv end of jazz, but Norwegian ‘nu-jazz’ guru Bugge Wesseltoft and techno producer Henrik Schwarz bring their collaboration…

Crate digging: Gary Beck picks 5 great tracks

Producer releasing on Soma, Drumcode, Minus and Bek Audio

16 Aug 2011

Gary Beck is one of the younger artists signed to Soma (he also has releases on Drumcode, Minus and his own Bek Audio) and he joins Slam and Animal Farm at the Edge Festival’s annual Soma Night as part of the Glasgow label’s 20th birthday celebrations.

A guide to the music genre Footwork

Clubbers Decktionary

16 Aug 2011

Footwork aka [Chicago] Juke (see also [Detroit] Jit, Shangaan electro) proper noun: so-called because of the associated dance crazes – essentially a contemporary form of break dance; wildly uptempo (140–170 BPM), characterised by syncopated beats…

New Glasgow club Oh My Days from team behind Killer Kitsch

French Fries and Oneman among upcoming guests

16 Aug 2011

‘I grew up going to nights like Numbers, Monox and Optimo, and more recently Stay Plastic and Fortified,’ says Martin Moffat. ‘All of whom have done or are still doing amazing things for Glasgow music. I’m just happy to get a chance to do something that…

M83 and Jens Lekman among highlights of August singles and downloads

Wynter Gordon, Toddla T and How To Swim also feature

10 Aug 2011

Music must mostly be on its holidays considering how light the singles bag is this month, but in the pursuit of assessing shortplayers The List does not rest, just don’t blame us if we’re grouchy. That means you, Hard-Fi. Why must you offend us so with…

Clubbers decktionary: Moombahton

A guide to the musical genre defined by midtempo shuffling rhythms

10 Aug 2011

Moombahton (moom-bar-tonn), also Moombahsoul, Moombahcore, Moombahstep, proper noun: midtempo style (105-115 BPM), characterised by the same shuffling rhythms (or ‘riddims’) of reggaeton, cumbia and dancehall with heavy bass and beats, plus…

Review - T in the Park 2011

All the rain, mud and rock action from Scotland's biggest music festival

8 Aug 2011

Saturday Ke$ha proves trashy entertainment with a set that refuses to take itself seriously. A party up glam stomp though a series of electro pop hits that while low on art is high on glitter and cheap thrills (and inexplicably includes a six-foot…

Interview - Mike Slott, Eclair Fifi and Machinedrum of LuckyMe

Glasgow DIY label set for Edinburgh Festival clubnight

8 Aug 2011

Mike Slott (producer) I met Dom [Flannigan] who runs LuckyMe in Borders Books. He was sneaking flyers into hip hop magazines. We got chatting, we liked similar music and in Glasgow if you’re into a certain kind of music, you bump into the same people…

Interview - Washed Out aka Ernest Greene

American synth-pop creator expands band line-up for UK dates

8 Aug 2011

The List catches up with Ernest Greene the night after a gig in Berlin. It was someone in the band’s birthday apparently, so a bit of partying had to be done afterwards. Now he’s in the awkward post-coffee, but pre-breakfast part of his hangover, and in…

How to Dress Well - Tom Krell interview

Tom Krell on of many reinventing solo songwriting

3 Aug 2011

This is getting to be a trend. Where young men with an indie sensibility used to express themselves by picking up an acoustic guitar and letting it all out, a new generation disguise their fragile falsettos with a wash of reverberating electronic…

Blood Orange - Coastal Grooves

Electronic soul project from Test-Icicle and Lightspeed Champ Devonte Hynes

3 Aug 2011

(Domino) Having left his guises as Test-Icicles and Lightspeed Champion behind, serial reinventor Devonte Hynes returns here with a new alias and what he accurately calls his ‘disco Chris Isaak oriental thing.’ While perhaps not perfect from start to…

Interview: Oneohtrix Point Never

Psychedelic synths and drones from experimental electronica-lord, Daniel Lopatin

2 Aug 2011

Name Daniel Lopatin Job title Musician, label owner Where are you just now? Brooklyn, NY. What are you doing/ going to do today? Finish the track arrangement for the upcoming OPN record. Do you enjoy touring? I do, I didn't always. It…

Nicolas Jaar interview - Electronic pop artist on UK tour

NY-based experimental DJ and head of the Clown and Sunset label

27 Jul 2011

Trends bloom and wither fast in the fragmented landscape of modern music, and most die out without ever seeing the light of the popular consciousness. In the high-turnover world of electronic music this ephemeral air is accelerated, although it’s…

Exposure: River of Slime

FOUND's Kev Sim on his sample-loving, genre-mixing alter-ego

21 Jul 2011

Hello, is that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency? We have a toxic aural sludge to report. It is known locally as River of Slime, as adulterated by one Kev Sim, the beat-seeking third of pop alchemists FOUND. That’s some heady slime alright.

Memory Tapes - The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 8 Jul 2011

Blissed out set from the captains of chillwave

21 Jul 2011

Chillwave: an apt descriptor of an entire musical movement? Or a conveniently coined faux genre linked by a few bands with loosely similar influences? Whether you approve of such pigeonholing or not, Memory Tapes are regarded as one of the key purveyors…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Dam Mantle

The Glasgow-based electronic visionary is a non-smoking, well-hydrated avocado-lover, apparently

21 Jul 2011

What time is breakfast? Before and after going to sleep. Tea or coffee? Tea and coffee. Smoking or non-smoking? Non-smoking. Sweet or savoury snacks? Both. What food do you miss when you tour? It was hard to find salad in the States. I…

Singles of the month: Blood Orange - Sutphin Boulevard

Radiohead, Seafieldroad, Bright Eyes, and more also reviewed

18 Jul 2011

It’s a good month for Scots musicians, both electronic and otherwise. Probably the best ever, in fact, for 24-year-old Aberdonian Emeli Sandé with ‘Heaven’ (EMI) ●●●●, her instantly recognisable, ‘Unfinished Sympathy’-like major label debut after…

Richie Hawtin announces Plastikman live show for Glasgow Barrowlands

Sat 3 Dec date for Hawtin's live techno show

18 Jul 2011

One of the true innovators of techno, Richie Hawtin, will be bringing his live Plastikman 1.5 show to the Barrowland in Glasgow on Saturday 3 December 2011. One of only three UK dates, this hugely ambitious live electronica show was last seen in…

Fake Eyelashes - A Little Bit of Bread and No Cheese

Melancholic laidback affair fronted by Katy Lironi

13 Jul 2011

(Creeping Bent) Katy Lironi’s pedigree as a chanteuse dates back to C-86 swoonsters Fizzbombs followed by a stint fronting bubblegum stompers The Secret Goldfish. This latest vehicle for Ms L’s sublime cooing is an infinitely more laidback affair.

Hugh's Jukebox is Coming to Glasgow

30 Jun 2011

In the spirit of festival season, Tennent's is tomorrow rolling out some Friday fun as Hugh's Jukebox - named after the lager legend himself Hugh Tennent - will be touring various locations in Glasgow to mark the 1 week countdown to T in the Park 2011.

T in the Park: Slam pick their favourite acts from the 2011 bill

Mathew Jonson, Bloody Beetroots and Chris Leibing among highlights

28 Jun 2011

Stuart MacMillan First of all Leftfield, having them come back to play is a bit of a rarity and obviously something that was massive 10-15 years ago and still is. You think of their back catalogue – they have so many great tracks. They’re definitely…

Battles - The Arches, Glasgow, Tue 7 Jun 2011

No Tyondai, no old stuff, but Battles deliver powerful digital rock show

23 Jun 2011

It’s unfortunate with gigs as hotly-anticipated as tonight’s that nobody really cares about the support. Baltimore’s Thank You aren’t too far removed from their stage-mates this evening in terms of complex and angular rock, but still, they play to a…

A Midsummer Day's Dream brings Chris & Cosey to Glasgow Tramway

Bill also features Tut Vu Vu, Tristan Perich and Lucky Dragons

21 Jun 2011

‘None of us went on to do anything remotely industrial,’ pointed out Chris Carter in a recent interview. ‘We’d burned ourselves out of it and we didn’t want it to sound like [Throbbing Gristle].’ The truth of that statement will be evident at this…

TV on the Radio return to live show after death of bassist and geographical spread

New York group take 4th album Nine Types of Light on the road

13 Jun 2011

A little over two months ago this show had ‘cancelled’ written all over it, and nobody would have grudged TV On the Radio their right. On 20th April this year, the Brooklyn-formed quintet’s bassist, Gerard Smith, died of lung cancer. The sad news came…

Junior Boys - It’s All True

Elegant and modern-sounding collection unselfconscious in its soothing repetition

13 Jun 2011

It’s All True (Domino) This fourth album from Canadian production duo Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus is an elegant and modern-sounding collection, but it doesn’t make extensive efforts to disguise an array of less fashionable influences…

Brian Eno - Drums Between The Bells

Soundscapes accompanied by spoken-word passages from contemporary thinker Rick Holland

13 Jun 2011

(Warp) Featuring the words of poet and contemporary thinker Rick Holland, Drums Between The Bells isn’t so much a collection of songs as a series of soundscapes accompanied by spoken-word passages, here uttered by nine people, including actress…

Jonnie Common - Master of None

Skewed-pop amble is a lo-fi electro-folk wonder

13 Jun 2011

(Red Deer Club) He’s an affiliate of Inspector Tapehead, a former member of Down the Tiny Steps, and the sorcerer behind the recent Deskjob compilation, but Glasgow’s Jonnie Common finally takes to the spotlight with Master of None, his debut album…

The Japanese War Effort - Surrender To Summer

Hazy, iridescent offering from Conquering Animal Sound's Jamie Scott

13 Jun 2011

(Song, By Toad) Portobello surf-pop; Meadows skate-rock; Leith Walk chill-wave; call it what you will: this hazy, iridescent offering from Jamie Scott, aka The Japanese War Effort and one half of Conquering Animal Sound, is gorgeous: a lo-fi…

Ferry Corsten, Eddie Halliwell and Pete Tong among highlights of Coloursfest 2011

10th anniversary of Scotland’s only dance-focused festival

30 May 2011

This year is the tenth anniversary of Scotland’s only dance-focused festival, and they’re throwing a little party. Who’s got the cake? And the Buckie? And the poppers? A ten thousand-strong sell-out for six years running, Coloursfest isn’t for the faint…

Interview: Katy B on bringing everything to RockNess - including the kitchen sink

The chart-friendly, female face of dubstep

27 May 2011

‘When I was 13, listening to Choice FM, I would listen to a lot of R&B from America, and whenever a British person tried to do it, it didn’t really work, they just sounded like they were trying to copy that whole style. Now the music sounds British…

RockNess 2011: Bus times, line-up and stages

New stages, weekend highlights and travel times

27 May 2011

RockNess have laid on three brand new arenas for 2011. Firstly, the Rock’n’Roll Circus will showcase cutting-edge music and comedy talent from the likes of Jamie Woon and The Cuban Brothers. Secondly, Glasgow clubbing institution Sub Club will present…

RockNess veteran Rob da Bank gives us his tips for top acts across the weekend

DJ and bestival boss on why RockNess is such a unique festival

27 May 2011

It’s one of the most beautiful sites for a festival probably anywhere in the world. Obviously you’ve got Loch Ness nestling at the bottom of the site but the whole drive out there from Inverness through rolling hills and valleys is totally stunning.

Timeline - Summer music festivals 2011 from Scotland and beyond

A chronological list of the best festivals in Scotland and beyond

27 May 2011

A chronological list of the most significant festivals happening in Scotland this summer, along with the biggest and best from the rest of the UK and beyond.

Laurel Halo, Gatekeeper and Konx-Om-Pax - Knock Knock!

Glasgow weekly clubnight assembles great bill of synth nostalgists

27 May 2011

Among the current crop of hybrid synth nostalgists, the Dionysian headrush of rave is as much of an influence as obscure kosmische musik or brittle Nintendo bleeps, as exemplified at tonight’s weekly clubnight Knock Knock! by Michigan-born artist Laurel…

The Fall, Chrome Hoof and Dubfire set for Electric Frog 2011 summer weekender

Mount Kimbie and Optimo also on bill for Glasgow city centre festival

27 May 2011

The Electric Frog team – they who recently brought us a weekend of warehouse dance action in the shape of François K, Danny Krivit, Optimo and more over the Easter weekend – are back with a summer weekender. Taking place in the same venue – the…

Interview - Battles' Ian Williams on the story behind Gloss Drop

Ian Williams on life and making music after four members became three

24 May 2011

While deeply ensconced in the making of their second album, Battles singer/guitarist Tyondai Braxton announced his departure from the band last year. The news hit fans keenly anticipating the follow-up to 2007’s math rock masterpiece Mirrored hard; as…