Music, Issue 562

Alasdair Roberts, Pumajaw and My Kappa Boots

Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Oct

30 Oct 2006

FOLK Among a particular breed of Scots folkie, Alasdair Roberts holds somewhat legendary status. His music is more precisely traditional than the updated styles of the Fence Collective-affiliated alt.folkers, yet - under his own name and as the…

Hitlist

30 Oct 2006

The best rock, pop, jazz and folk CSS, 1990s and The Rogers Sisters Wild, electro-charged Brazilians. ABC, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov. (Rock & Pop) Read feature The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The great unsung 60s comic-pop madrigals return led by urban…

Mary Gauthier

30 Oct 2006

That her name is pronounced Go-Shay is only the first of many things wonderfully peculiar about this Louisana-born country singer. She was the definition of late starter in some senses, only recorded her first album at 35 but by then she had collected…

Northern Alliance

30 Oct 2006

Some bands can turn doing nowt into an art form. While their pal and (sorta) label mate King Creosote churns albums out like a Nike sweat shop spews forth Air Jordans, this Edinburgh trio have been decidedly snail-like in their work rate. Good things do…

Tim Richards' Great Spirit

30 Oct 2006

Pianist Tim Richards originally launched the nine-piece Great Spirit as a one-off project following the break-up of the long-running Spirit Level quintet, but the band was so well received that he has managed to keep it periodically active, both in the…

TV on the Radio

30 Oct 2006

Realistically, just how feasible is it to make music that sounds like a big odd looking dude who sounds like a gospel singer, jamming and chanting over beats that buzz like wasps and riffs culled from scratched up My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk…

Veils, The

The Veils

30 Oct 2006

Their new album Nux Vomica is pretty tremendous, the kind of record that calls to mind Nick Cave, Neil Hannon and Antony and the Johnsons - all possible influences, if truth be told, on this rakish fivesome. Theirs is a dark, dramatic indie wrapped in…

Art Brut

26 Oct 2006

5 REASONS TO GO SEE 1 They formed a band Formed a band! They formed a band! Look at them! They formed a band! Well, of course they did, but the point is that English art-terrorist punk-popsters also wrote a song about it, called ‘Formed a Band’, in…

Brakes - album review

Brakes

26 Oct 2006

INDIE What started as a Brighton scene side-project has become a serious proposition and on this showing, they’ve risen to the challenge. While Brakes’ debut was a spat-out country-punk fuck-you of a record, this more considered and diverse follow-up…

Classical hitlist

The best classical music and opera

26 Oct 2006

Classical hitlist Hebrides Ensemble and Scottish Dance Theatre: The Soldier’s Tale As part of the Scottish Arts Council’s Tune Up programme, Scotland’s foremost chamber group has joined with its dance equivalent to create an exciting tour of venues…

Count Basie Orchestra

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 6 Nov; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 7 Nov

26 Oct 2006

JAZZ Ken Ramage pulled off something of a coup when he secured an exclusive date for the Count Basie Orchestra at the Nairn Jazz Festival last year, but fans in the central belt now get their chance to catch up with one of the most famous groups in…

CSS

The party line

26 Oct 2006

Regular gig goers tend to think they’ve pretty much seen it all . . . but not where this hip, electro-punk sixsome are concerned. Their recent visit to the UK saw hysterical crowds in sold-out venues, face flying underwear, dress theft and excitable…

Dananananaykroyd

Tomorrow’s music today. This issue: Dananananaykro

26 Oct 2006

Exposure When you hear a song by most good new bands, it makes you keen to find out their name. In the case of Glasgow’s latest art-punk avengers, however, hearing their name only makes you desperate to find out whether they live up to it. Like an…

Dispatch

The Dispatch

26 Oct 2006

Apparently it’s a television-commissioner’s nightmare fitting music programmes into a busy schedule, provoking the age-old quandary of whether music actually works on the box or not. Is it just an excuse for twitchy, channel hoppers to search out…

Hawk and a Hacksaw, A - album review

A Hawk and a Hacksaw

26 Oct 2006

AVANT GARDE FOLK Jeremy Barnes, late of Leicestershire and recently relocated back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, former drummer in the influential American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel, is a weirdo. And possibly a genius. His third album of…

Music Show Demo Competition Playoff

The Music Show Demo Competition Playoff

26 Oct 2006

BATTLE OF THE BANDS Call it a low rent X-Factor, or a high end Battle of the Bands, this showdown event offered entrants a unique opportunity. Of over 100 bands that submitted demos to BBC1 Scotland’s The Music Show, five were selected to play a…

Pharcyde, The

The Pharcyde

26 Oct 2006

HIP HOP For many, the golden age of hip hop came and went in the early 1990s when the pioneering East Coast Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul) eschewed the Gangsta rap of macho posturing and opted instead to emphasize messages of unity…

Rosenkavalier, der

A boy’s own story

26 Oct 2006

She’s in her early 30s, a married aristocrat, and he’s a fairly posh 17-year-old. They are in love, and as the curtain opens to a sumptuous bedroom scene, they are clearly having a passionate affair. So far, so dramatic. But, this is opera, so the…

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

City Halls, Glasgow, Fri 10 Nov; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 11 Nov

26 Oct 2006

LITERARY ADAPTATION Not normally thought of as a writer, the fourth Doctor Who’s somewhat grotesque short novel The Boy Who Kicked Pigs is the basis of the SCO’s commission from Irish-born composer Brian Irvine. While Tom Baker’s tale is not for the…

Skygreen Leopards - album review

Skygreen Leopards

26 Oct 2006

FOLK-COUNTRY Ever heard a record which somehow seemed less than the sum of its parts? That’s the inescapable feeling when listening to Skygreen Leopards. Across this record are spread gently strummy country melancholy, whispering psychedelic folk and…

Tapes'n'Tapes

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Mon 6 Nov

26 Oct 2006

INDIE On hearing the words ‘eclectic’, ‘experimental’ and ‘intelligent’ to describe a US indie act, one would generally imagine their CDs more likely to be tucked away on a dusty import shelf rather than David Letterman demanding they make their…

Various - Butchering the Beatles - album review

VARIOUS

26 Oct 2006

METAL UP YOUR ASS If you’re the kind of sick fuck who’s always wondered what a heavy metal Beatles would’ve sounded like, wonder no more. Here, a host of metal luminaries massacre the fab foursome’s back-catalogue, with surprisingly entertaining…