Music, Folk

Seafieldroad - There Are No Maps For This Part of the City

(Biphonic) Seafieldroad is the solo guise of Andrew Eaton, vocalist with noirish Edinburgh electro-pop trio Swimmer One, whose latest album Dead Orchestras is one of this year’s shimmering successes. Recorded in tandem with said LP, There Are No Maps…

Family weekend: Rebels with a Cause – The Jacobites and the Global Imagination

Traditional music, egg decorating and quiz among highlights of weekend of free children's events

Rebels with a Cause – The Jacobites and the Global Imagination Wednesday 27 October to Saturday 8 January (closed Sundays except Sunday 28 November and 24 - 28, 31 December and 1 - 3 January) Monday and Friday 10:00 - 16.00 (last entry 15:30)…

Mark Olson - Many Colored Kite

Combining the vocal fragility of Daniel Johnston with heartfelt sound of Gram Parsons

(Rykodisc) Not counting several sets with The Creekdippers (formed after Olson left the Jayhawks) and a one-off reunion/collaboration with his former Jayhawks cohort Gary Louris, this is only Olson’s second proper solo album, the previous being his…

11 for 2011: The new music from Scotland to watch in 2011

Emeli Sandé, Emma’s Imagination, RM Hubbert and Clouds among those destined for a good year ahead

Emeli Sandé The Aberdeen soul-popper was studying medicine at Glasgow Uni whilst also penning hits for Cheryl Cole, Chipmunk and Tinie Tempah. Her recent solo tour proved she’s no slouch when it comes to performing either – and her gutsy…

Giant Sand songwriter Howe Gelb lines up for Celtic Connections date

Mapping alternative routes between seemingly disparate worlds of music is a longstanding aim of Celtic Connections. It’s a vision shared by Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, who for some 25 years has been a pathfinder and visionary, resulting in one of the most…

Trembling Bells, Rachel Sermanni and John Grant among Celtic Connections highlights

Mavis Staples and Tribute to Bob Dylan also on diverse programme

Chicago’s music scene is the first stop in this very international round up, specifically the music of distinguished gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples. In the 60s Staples released a string of hits on the Stax-affiliated Valt label. Last year, aged…

The Burns Unit and Broken Records set for Celtic Connections date

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

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 Walkmen set for Celtic Connections 2011

New York quintet's impassioned tales of dejection and desperation

New York quintet The Walkmen conjure a sound that spans the pastoral to the outright raucous. Though they are not perhaps one of the most obvious additions to any Celtic Connections bill, their material has been known to incorporate more ‘traditional…

Exposure: Dylan LeBlanc

20-year-old US songwriter's debut Paupers Fields released by Rough Trade

The son of a session musician and country songwriter, 20-year-old Dylan LeBlanc spent a lot of his childhood hanging around Fame studios, Alabama, where the likes of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Percy Sledge have all recorded. Already drawing…

Exposure: Chloe Matharu

Traditional ballads with a hint of the exotic akin to Vashti Bunyan and Joni Mitchell

Keep your eyes peeled for Chloe Matharu, an Edinburgh lass born and bred, with Welsh-Indian heritage. She's breaking into the Scottish folk scene with her debut album Next Market Day. Her voice is remarkably pure and tender; think ethereal treble with…

Labels of Love: Chaffinch

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

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…

Robert Plant - Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 18 Oct 2010

Singer's 'other band' create intimate experience mixing Americana with Led Zep

It’s impossible to ignore Robert Plant’s illustrious past with his ‘other band’ but tonight belongs to The Band of Joy. He may have reprised the name of his 1966 folk rock group but the current incarnation is very much an Americana outfit.

2010 Le Weekend bows out with Faust, Murcof and Tarwater

Pioneering Stirling experimental music festival also hosts Ben Frost, Bill Wells and John Butcher

Since its inception in 1997, Le Weekend has brought a remarkable range of beautiful and challenging music to Scotland. ‘The idea of an experimental music festival, and also the idea of a festival in Stirling, was quite unique,’ says Alastair Campbell…

Tim Kliphuis - Acoustic Voyage

Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis is best known as a highly skilled exponent of the Hot Club swing style associated with Grappelli and Reinhardt, but this album attempts to focus instead on world acoustic music, including the unusual amalgamation of a…

Kort - Invariable Heartache

(City Slang) Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner has made a career out of perfecting an alternative to his hometown Nashville’s commercial mainstream country sound. With this album of duets with Cortney Tidwell (the daughter of a Nashville dynasty)…

Grupo Lokito - Esengo Ya Ko Bina

(Cavendish Music) Esengo Ya Ko Bina, which in Lingala means ‘the Joy of Dancing’, is a nine track heady, feel-good mix of Congolese and Cuban music. A band of UK based African and Latin musicians led by singer José Hendrix Ndelo and salsa pianist…

Hole In My Pocket mark Pope's Scottish visit by starting their own church

Eilidh MacAskill and the Parsonage choir appear at Arches event

Inspired by the papal visit, Allistair Burt, more usually known as an architect and the brains behind Glasgow blog Southside Happenings, has just started his own religion. ‘With the Pope being in town, it just seemed like the perfect time,’ says the…

Wounded Knee - House Music

(Krapp Tapes) With cassettes and CDRs being churned out by below-radar experimentalists and available online and at gigs, Edinburgh’s premier progenitor of looped vocal rounds Drew Wright is joining in. Here, he serves up a bumper-sized C-60ish…

Afro Celt Sound System - Capture 1995-2010

(Real World Records) Cherry picked from the collective’s five acclaimed studio albums, these twenty-five songs divide into instrumentals (on a disc titled Chorus) and songs (Verse). Emerging from cross-cultural collaborations at WOMAD involving…

Joanna Newsom embarks on UK tour

Artist tours sprawling achievement of Have One On Me

When she was first brought to the attention of UK audiences by that most reliable eccentric, Jools Holland, Joanna Newsom seemed like just another obligatory obscure artist plucked from the ceiling-high stacks of specialist music magazines no doubt…

James Blackshaw - All Is Falling

Virtuoso guitarist's ninth album sees him move to electric twelve-string

(Young God) He’s banished the acoustic twelve-string! Fear thee not, however. London’s virtuosic James Blackshaw may have (temporarily) hung up his signature instrument, but he remains a spellbinding figure throughout his ninth…

James Blackshaw - All Is Falling

(Young God) This latest from London’s guitar virtuoso sees our 12-string acoustic hero go electric. But while the gorgeous resonance of Blackshaw’s acoustic tone is missed, the toothier tone of the electric 12-string suits this material well.

Mr McFall’s Chamber

Tribute to Scottish techno-folk composer

In a concert featuring the music from their latest album, Mr McFall’s Chamber present a programme of the same name, ‘Birds and Beasts’, celebrating the musical legacy of ‘folk meets techno’ composer Martyn Bennett, and including a couple of pieces by…

World Pipe Band Championships

Highland games, taste of Scotland, and dancing on the Glasgow Green

Look at this happy bunch of pipers. Would you believe they’re actually Canadian? Simon Fraser University’s bagpipe squad won last year’s world championship title: teams from as far afield as New Zealand, Pakistan and, er, Paisley keep their eyes (and…

Withered Hand set for Edge Festival show

Key player in Edinburgh alt.folk scene hits the Fringe

This likeable oddball is a key player in Edinburgh’s alt.folk scene. Singer Dan Willson is a regular performer at Fence Record nights (and also pops up at this week’s Haarfest festival, see page 129) and counts Neil Pennycook (of Meursault) Bart Owl…