Music, Folk

Fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee Glasgow and Edinburgh dates

Virtuoso guitar plucker who made his name on YouTube

In 2006 American ‘fingerstyle’ guitarist Andy Mckee joined the YouTube sensation club when he posted a video of himself performing his song ‘Drifting’. It has to be seen and heard to be believed – nearly 78,000,000 hits and climbing – but McKee is…

Lach's Antihoot music showcase returns to 2011 Edinburgh Festival

Antifolk set and nightly showcase from Edinburgh-based New Yorker

Having brought his Antihoot night to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time last year, New York’s antifolk originator Lach (it’s pronounced ‘latch’, which Scots might find counter-intuitive) has found himself a new home. The man whose seminal open mic…

tUnE-yArDs, Captain’s Rest – Glasgow, Wed 15 Jun 2011

Merrill Garbus is an offbeat, un-obvious, must-see pop act

Three years after she self-released homemade album BiRd-BrAiNs, recognition and even a degree of hype are finally starting to come the way of Merrill Garbus, aka tUnE-yArDs, and so it is that her Wednesday night show at the Captain’s Rest (a venue she…

Wounded Knee - Anicca

Drew Wright’s ongoing adventure in ethno-celtic vocal loops

(Krapp Tapes) This latest excursion in Drew Wright’s ongoing adventure in ethno-celtic vocal loops marries two extended pieces back-to-back on a cassette that comes in a plain brown, hand-stamped envelope and wrapped in an offcut of Harris…

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

The Fence festival delivers another five-star musical weekend

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…

David Thomas Broughton, Cate Le Bon and Nathan Fake among best of Home Game 2011

Highlights from Fence Collective’s annual Fife festival

The List’s music editor picks her highlights from Fence Collective’s annual Fife festival, Home Game 2011. David Thomas Broughton dances a thin line between very soulful clowning, and a mesmerising, uncomfortable-to-watch musical performance. Within the…

Bon Iver announces UK tour and releases free download single

Download 'Calgary' from forthcoming second album

Justin Vernon returns to the UK for his first live dates since 2009. His eponymously titled second album is release on 4AD on June 20th 2011 Tickets for the Edinburgh date go on sale from 9am Fri 20 May.

Lau release Silver Columns remix of Adem collaboration

Second EP further showcases Edinburgh trio's diversity

Edinburgh-based folk trio Lau are set to release part two in a series of three EPs that showcase the different influences upon their sound. ‘Ghosts’ draws attention to their more electronic and experimental leanings, and was the result of a…

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Wistful second album from the Seattle indie-folkers

(Bella Union) ‘So now I am older / than my mother and father when they had their daughter / now what does that say about me?’ is the first line of this second album from everyone’s favourite Seattle-based indie-folkers, and it sets the scene…

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat - Everything’s Getting Older

A great jazz, folk and spoken word collaboration

(Chemikal Underground) Lovers of a collaboration both – Bill Wells with The Pastels and Isobel Campbell among others, Aidan Moffat with the likes of Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and FOUND – it was really only a matter of time before this pair got it…

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

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…

Robin Adams' 'Be Gone' contains some worthwhile tracks, but ultimately lacks the depth of its forebears

(Eye Dog Eye) It’s a bold move for Be Gone to kick off with a protest song called ‘Investment Graveyard’ which is so reminiscent of Bruce Dylan (or is it mid-period Bob Springsteen?) to be almost parodic. Fortunately, Robin Adams swiftly gets into…

Bombay Bicycle Club, FOUND and The Seventeenth Century - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Wed 20 Mar

The basement venue was already near capacity as The Seventeenth Century opened the night; an energetic folk-rock outfit fronted by fiddle-wielding vocalist, Mark Brendan Farmer – who displays a tinge of Marcus Mumford in his singing style but perhaps…

Alela Diane: Alela Diane & Wild Divine

Family-made folk album from Diane

(Rough Trade) Something of a family affair this for Alela Diane’s third album, with husband Tom Bevitori and daddy Tom Menig helping out on, respectively, co-writing and guitar duties. In this patchy yet occasionally uplifting collection, a downbeat…

Lone Pigeon - Time Capsule 001-010: A Selection

A collection of the Fife musician's finest tracks from the last decade

(Domino) You don’t see him for years and then he pops up with this. Get ready to (re)introduce yourself to Gordon Anderson, aka Fife’s maverick songwriting talent Lone Pigeon, a man who counts The Beta Band, the Aliens and the Fence Collective among…

Spotify playlist: Young guns

The best tracks by young artists, featuring Prince, Depeche Mode, Laura Marling and more

Spotify playlist: Young Guns Many artists spend years honing their craft, slowly carving out a reputation though relentless touring, learning as much as they can from serial failure and rejection. There are some however that just hit their stride…

GFF blog: You Instead premiere creates perfect T in the Park vibe

Featured musician Jo Mango talked to us at the after-party

Sigma Films – the Glasgow-based company behind the likes of Red Road, Hallam Foe and Young Adam – celebrated its 15th birthday with the premiere of You Instead on Friday night. The film tells the tale of two bickering rockstars – played by Luke…

Trembling Bells - The Constant Pageant

Encompasses Renaissance filigree, coliery brass bands and wailing free jazz

(Honest Jon’s) l Like an Iain Sinclair of the North, Trembling Bells songwriter Alex Neilson seeks to evoke the psychic landscapes of his native Yorkshire. And so we find him in Goathland, nursing a broken heart, or in Otley, reeling from a demonic…

Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen

Lift to Experience frontman's sparse, pared-down solo effort

(Mute) Aside from a handful of low-key, off-the-map gigs, this Texas troubadour hasn’t been heard since releasing his one and only album as frontman to Lift to Experience ten years ago. The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads has since been elevated to cult…

Where to find traditional music nights in Edinburgh

The venues full of traditional live Scottish music every night of the week

Every night of the week, the walls of the Royal Oak bar reverberate to the sound of live music, most of it with a Scottish, folk and traditional flavour. Long a focal point for folk music in the city, this cosy little bar also attracts other acoustic…

The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh

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

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…

Cahalen Morrison and Eli West - The Holy Coming of the Storm

Lap slide guitar, mandolin and clawhammer banjo from Seattle-based duo

A good midwinter blues antidote, the serenading sounds and dynamic rhythms captured here ably showcase the thrilling musicianship and deep messages conjured up by Seattle-based duo, Cahalen and Eli. Twelve original compositions and two traditional…

Ian Green - Fuzz to Folk

Autobiography from founder of folk record label Greentrax

(Luath) The life of Ian Green is certainly a packed one. Speedway champ, Korean veteran, grower of prize-winning chrysanthemums, police inspector and folk music entrepreneur are among the entries on his CV, but whether he can add ‘accomplished writer…

Trembling Bells' haunting folk-rock lined up for Celtic Connections date - interview

Glasgow date for band ahead of third album The Constant Pageant

Last year was a golden year for visionary folk-rockers Trembling Bells, beginning with the release of their second album Abandoned Love in the spring and culminating in songwriter Alex Neilson’s nomination for the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Folk…

Musician James Yorkston publishes tour diaries

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

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…