Music, Issue 591

M.I.A. interview

M.I.A. – Maya Arulpragasam to her friends – is a hard woman to pin down. After a week spent scheduling and rescheduling an interview, I finally caught up with her in Minneapolis, a brief pause before she went on to soundcheck for her gig that night.

Burnsong - Songhouse

When it comes to songwriting, only the brave or the stupid would be prepared to take him on. In just a couple of decades Robert Burns wrote over 360 songs that cover the whole gamut of human emotion from love and lust to loss and longing. Weighty issues…

Children’s Classic Concerts

CLASSICAL CONCERT Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sat 1 Dec; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 16 Dec He’s more at home behind the shop counter in Still Game, but this Christmas Sanjeev Kohli is branching out. Instead of hanging out with old boys Jack and…

Girls Aloud - Tangled Up

POP Tangled Up (Universal) First things first – there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. There is just good music and bad music, whether it be camp pop, pompous rock, electro-crunk, punk funk or the bizarre style now simply known as Rhydian.

Lou Hickey

Pop

‘I was brought up watching Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin movies, and when I was a little girl I wanted to be just like Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’. Lou Hickey is a bit of an anachronism – a classically-trained…

Benbecula Records - Our friends electric

The Scottish electronica scene is probably healthier now than it’s ever been, and that’s down in no small part to Benbecula Records. Formed eight years ago by artists Beluga and Phase 6, and currently run on a day-to-day basis by general manager Steven…

Singles & Downloads

As it’s all a bit gloomy outside at the moment, here’s a mellow selection of singles to wrap your freezing fingers round. Starting off the collection is the latest offering from Kate Walsh ‘Tonight’ (Mercury - 3 stars), with vocals so warm and lovely…

Nuts & Seeds Presents…

‘I like things to be inclusive and fun, I don’t enjoy elitism, and I think when the main concern is money it ruins everything,’ says Giles Bailey of independent promoters Nuts & Seeds. Their DIY ethos dictates that door prices are kept low, there are no…

Isosceles

Tomorrow’s music today. This Issue: Isosceles Band names don’t come much more angular than Isosceles, but math rockers this Glasgow quartet certainly aren’t. You’ll much sooner find them slaving over a hot cowbell or a full blooded Hammond organ than…

The Parsonage

Choral folk country blues

Choirs are not cool, right? Wrong. Glasgow 50-strong vocal ensemble The Parsonage have played at festivals including Indian Summer and Connect, contributed to Echo and the Bunnymen’s forthcoming new album and recorded an EP for release on Optimo’s…

5 Reasons To Go See - Ryan Adams

1 He’s Ryan Adams not Bryan Adams One specialises in alt.country/americana of the highest order, switching between heart-wrenching ballads and some of the catchiest rock tunes you’ll ever hear. The latter does not. 2 He’s focussed, man! Ol’ Ryan’s…

Brady Cole - review

SECC, Glasgow, Fri 9 Nov If you want to make Dave Grohl a happy man, listen to Brady Cole. Inexplicably, the Foo Fighters’ shouter-in-chief has heard tell of the Kinghorn quartet, and seems to be on a one-man crusade to make them famous. This was…

Luva Anna - review

Barfly, Glasgow, Fri 9 Nov Dundee may currently be famous musically for giving the world The View, but other than a similar capability for whipping the audience into a frenzy, it’s clear from their opening, perfectly harmonised sea shanty that Luva…

Chi Weapon - review

The Beat Club, Glasgow, Wed 7 Nov For every band breaking new territory by moving too fast to be pigeon-holed, there are plenty more who are spreading themselves too thinly. Chi Weapon, originally from Bute but now Glasgow-based, live up to their…

Correcto & The Gummy Stumps - review

Stereo, Glasgow, Tue 13 Nov Shiny new things galore at this gig: two (very different) Glasgow bands, both fresh out of the can, play in a venue so virginal it still resembles a building site in places. Post-punk noise-mongers The Gummy Stumps…

Jay-Z - American Gangster

HIP HOP American Gangster (Roc-a-Fella) Retirement plans seem like a long way off as the Jigga Man produces his second album in a little less than 12 months. If Kingdom Come was all bluster and no substance, then Jay-Z redeems himself with this…

Kylie – X

POP X (Parlophone) On listening to Kylie’s tenth long player it wouldn’t be completely unfair to assume that a substantial portion of her adult fan base (like many Oasis fans) are more in love with the idea of Kylie than with the musical reality.

Calum Martin - The Megantic Outlaw: A Gaelic Legend

FOLK The Megantic Outlaw: A Gaelic Legend (Ridge Records) Calum Martin is better known for leading the Lewis Gaelic Psalm Singers these days, but this CD goes back to 1983, when the original version of his Gaelic-rock opus was issued. The songs were…

Delta Saxophone Quartet - Dedicated to You . . . But You Weren’t Listening

CONTEMPORARY Dedicated to You... But You Weren’t Listening (Moonjune) The Delta Saxophone Quartet have been around since 1984, but this project involves the group engaging with the music of an even earlier band, Soft Machine. Their approach to the…

Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Anthony Marwood

Temperatures are dropping, fires are starting to burn in the grate and teeth are heard in rhythmic chattering. As the seasons change and winter makes its first appearance, that’s the picture painted by Vivaldi in his tribute to this time of year.

Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil

ROCK Good Bad Not Evil (Vice) OK, so it’s patently obvious that Black Lips forgot to bone up on any of the many thousands of records which came along after the day ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ was released. That’s probably unfair; they’ve obviously listened…

Foxface - This is What Makes Us

INDIE This is What Makes Us (Gargleblast Records) This Glasgow outfit’s three members have been kicking around the Scottish indie scene for years, two of them most famously as members of Peeps into Fairyland, but their decision to join forces as…

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Not many instrumental acts can step up and headline the Barras, but guitar duo Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero have proved sheer talent alone makes for a fascinating night of live music. Surprisingly the Mexican double act met while playing in…

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra

Glasgow’s large free improvisation ensemble has already racked up a number of significant collaborations with major figures on the international improv scene, and score another coup here with the premiere of a Scottish Arts Council-funded project to…

Dan Deacon

Starting off in grindcore improv act, Rated R, Dan Deacon is now perhaps best described as ‘an absurdist electronic music composer/performer’. Counting Talking Heads, Devo and They Might be Giants among his influences, Deacon imbues that quirky take on…