Music, Issue 559

Jurassic 5 More of that proverbial classic rap, in spades. Carling Academy, Glasgow, 6 Oct.

Jurassic 5 More of that proverbial classic rap, in spades. Carling Academy, Glasgow, 6 Oct.

Rock follies

In the wake of Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys it seems that record companies have adjusted their tactics. Every year now sees a selection of hatchling bands being signed, tooled up and sent over the parapet to face the artillery of the Top 40.

Marilyn Manson and Dave Grohl love ‘em but they remain an enigma to many. Andrew Borthwick unearths the lurid legacy of original shock punks The Misfits.

Although Glenn Danzig couldn’t have imagined it when he formed the band 19 years ago, The Misfits have become the monster to his Dr Frankenstein: an awkward, lumbering being intent on survival, lurching slowly forward, irrespective of the fact its…

Hopes that Lil’ Chris’ ‘Checkin’ It Out’ (Sony/BMG) (*) was the new Chris Rock CD couldn’t have been further from the truth. Turns out this Chris is some pre-teen scrote from a Gene Simmons TV show and I only know that much from seeing the little runt…

Oran Mor, Glasgow, Sun 24 Sep

FOLK Lauded by Bert Jansch and Eric Clapton, Davey Graham is the guitar hero’s guitar hero. But despite his revolutionary impact on acoustic guitar playing and British folk music in the early 1960s, Graham has remained a relatively obscure figure. So…

The Dispatch

I do end up in some strange places with work these days. None stranger than the Balearic party isle of Ibiza. Long seen as a haven for bangin’ choons, the clubbing capital of the world is in transition right now as pop-culture swings once more towards…

Arches, Glasgow, Thu 5 Oct

INDIE RAVE It used to be a genre almost exclusively beloved by chavs, shitkickers and the odd ironic student, but the NME are leading the rave revival charge with a prefab movement succinctly titled New Rave. This debut Club NME tour sees a few of…

ABC, Glasgow, Tue 3 Oct

ALT.COUNTRY At 25 years old, Micah P Hinson seems a little young for the world-weary sorrow etched into his melancholic tones, but the Texan singer songwriter has experienced more than his fair share of heartbreak and misery. Hinson was a young…

Exposure

Although Peter (Moren), Bjorn (Yttling) and John (Eriksson) are recognised in their native Sweden and have been labouring away in comfortable obscurity everywhere else for some years now, it’s taken a collaboration with a more internationally noted…

The best pop, rock, jazz and folk

Jay Z Ignoring his own self-imposed retirement completely by appearing on everyone’s else’s records, the self-professed CEO of hip hop arrives for his first ever Scottish live date. See feature, page 20. SECC, Glasgow, Fri 22 Sep. (Rock & Pop) The…

ABC, Glasgow, Sat 2 Sep

FOLK The reasons you loved a live show don’t always match the reasons you went along in the first place. Those who dropped by to sample the artful folk of this Texan troubadour and his band (considering their bank of guitars and that woodland of…

The Violets

GOTH PUNK Go on The Violets’ Myspace site and you’ll find they describe themselves (possibly paraphrasing some grumpy reviewer or other) as a ‘cut-price Siouxsie and the Banshees covers band’. Well, if it’s good enough for the band it’s good enough…

King Tut’s, Glasgow, Sat 9 Sep

ROCK ‘Glasgow, you are the best audience we have had in years!’ So shouts Damon Gough, his bass player nodding in acquiescence. All in all, it’s been a successful gig for Badly Drawn Boy. Such is the popularity of the band that King Tut’s could have…

Colin Towns & NDR Big Band

JAZZ Recorded live at the Moers Jazz Festival and released simultaneously with Lend Me Your Ears, a fine studio album of Towns’ own compositions also featuring the NDR Big Band, this exuberant disc celebrates Zappa’s idiosyncratic music while…

James Yorkston

FOLKISH-COUNTRYISH-SINGER-SONGWRITER THING For this third long player, undefinable Fife troubadour Yorkston has created an eclectic collection of moody gems which exceeds his own already extremely high standards. There is huge variety here, from the…

Pete Clark

FOLK The Birnam-based fiddler has explored both the historical and contemporary music of Perthshire on a string of fine albums, and this is another worthy addition to that list. His own compositions are augmented by a selection of tunes by three…

The Bronx

ROCK Sick of a rock scene fronted by snivelling emo types? Then you need The Bronx in your life more now than ever. After roaring into existence in 2003, the Californian foursome show no signs of letting up with this second, brilliantly brutal…

The Black Keys

ROCK’N’ROLL When The White Stripes’ take on garage minimalism went global it fucked over a whole bunch of duos pushing their own bottled blues moonshine. With four long players under their snake belts now the Jack’n’Meg comparisons are like water off…