Music and Issue 605

Fitter Happier - Radiohead interview

19 Jun 2008

They’re one of the biggest bands in the world despite refusing to play the music industry’s game. Mark Robertson talks to Radiohead about success, self-indulgence and their reputation as the most miserable men in rock

Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Steven Sebring, USA) 109min Patti Smith, the singer-poet and one-time ‘godmother of punk’, bares her soul in this intimate self-portrait, culled from over 11 years of filming with her friend, the photographer Steve Sebring. Beginning in 1995, the film…

RSNO: Video Games Live

19 Jun 2008

Last year in the UK, videogames overtook the music industry in terms of money made and it looks like the film industry could be next. But today’s gaming technology is working in tandem with these industries in interesting new ways, making cut-scenes…

Errors @ Duty Free

19 Jun 2008

ACID POP Sick Note @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Jun Sunlight, oxygen, small blue pens from Argos... it’s true that all the very best things in life are gratis. Add to that list the selection of no cost delights that is Duty Free, Cabaret…

My Bloody Valentine

19 Jun 2008

SHOEGAZE COMEBACK Barrowlands, Glasgow, Wed 2 & Thu 3 Jul There are some musical reunions the whole world wants to happen, and others that start out and then fall away without the populace paying the slightest bit of attention. Then there are…

Sergeant

19 Jun 2008

ROCK/POP King Tut’s, Glasgow, Fri 20 Jun ‘I wasn’t prepared for the sublime genius of Sergeant,’ says Alan McGee, who believes the Glenrothes band is carrying on a great tradition of perfectly-crafted sunny Scottish pop songs. ‘They have that slight…

Exposure - Fête de la Musique

19 Jun 2008

Our friends the French want us to join in their national festival of music, where streets and concert halls across France get taken over for a day of free gigs. L’Institut Français d’Ecosse has hosted its annual mini-fête for over 20 years now, and this…

The Undersea World of Bubble McBea

19 Jun 2008

CHILDREN’S OPERA Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 20-Sun 22 Jun The words ‘children’ and ‘opera’ aren’t often found in the same sentence. But over the past few years, Scottish Opera has managed to make the artform not just accessible, but great fun.

Hey You Get Off My Pavement!

19 Jun 2008

‘You know how you learn from bad experiences?’ muses Paul Ranter in relation to Hey You Get Off My Pavement!, café/bar/record store Mono’s sun-drenched inaugural festival of 2006. ‘Well everything went perfectly that year, so we didn’t learn anything.

Harry Smith Anthology Remixed

19 Jun 2008

When American song-collector, artist, ethno-musicologist and experimental filmmaker Harry Smith released The Anthology Of American Folk Music in 1952, it was a labour of love which had a huge influence on the 1950s so-called Folk revival. Without this…

Singles & Downloads

19 Jun 2008

It’s definitely a good fortnight for bizarre and beautiful sounds. For those who like their tunes a little out of leftfield, there are some ear-bending audio treats in store. For those who don’t, there’s always Nickelback ’s soft-rock mush on…

SNJO plays Steely Dan

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 24 Jun The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra have always covered a wide-ranging repertoire, from swing era staples such as Ellington, Basie and Goodman through to newly commissioned…

The Hebrides Ensemble

19 Jun 2008

CHAMBER OPERA Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 21 Jun Based on George Mackay Brown’s prose and re-imagined by Scottish composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, The Martyrdom of St Magnus was always going to leave an extraordinary legacy. Uniting the talents…

Bobby Watson

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Sat 28 Jun There was a time when Bobby Watson was a regular visitor to these parts, both in his own right and with the great 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, but it has been a while now since we had the…

Homegrown - Glasgow International Jazz Festival

19 Jun 2008

GLASGOW JAZZ FESTIVAL Various venues, Glasgow, Fri 27–Sun 29 Jun The annual Homegrown showcase at the Glasgow Jazz Festival has expanded considerably since the inaugural event in 2005, which featured a single concert with four bands at the Ramshorn…

5 Reasons To Go See - Reggae

19 Jun 2008

It’s hot - Nothing says summer like sweet reggae music. That enviable Caribbean climate seems to emanate from the speakers, giving all a feel-good, lazy day, sunshine quality. It’s just the weather, right? It’s heady - While great for kicking back and…

The Sauchiehall Crawl

19 Jun 2008

INDIE Various venues, Glasgow, Sun 1 Jun One night, 11 bands, three venues in one street. Two options. One: settle down with a pint at the venue of your choice and given that the ABC has How to Swim (pictured), Broken Records and The Twilight Sad this…

Scottish Opera: Falstaff

19 Jun 2008

OPERA Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 21, Thu 26, Sat 28 Jun If you go to only one opera this year, you could do a lot worse than choosing Scottish Opera’s current production, Falstaff. Composed when he was approaching 80, this was Verdi’s last…

The Sexual Objects

19 Jun 2008

ROCK New Breed @ The Vic Café, Glasgow School of Art, Sat 7 Jun ‘Play it a bit more Todd Rungren, baby.’ Not words you hear at every art school hop, but it’s what Fire Engines/Heartbeat/Win/The Nectarine No 9 guitarist and guiding light Davy Henderson…

Avril Lavigne

19 Jun 2008

POP Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 26 May It took a while for her to finally make her entrance (the audience was kept waiting outside for an hour) but the eventual return of Canada’s most clean living rock’n’roller to a Glasgow stage was well worth…

Various - Miles from India

19 Jun 2008

JAZZ (Times Square Records) Bob Belden is the producer of the comprehensive Columbia box sets of Miles Davis’ music, an immersion that has given him an authoritative grasp of the trumpeter’s work. Indian music was an area that Miles hardly explored…

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

19 Jun 2008

COMFORT ROCK (Parlophone) Or Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, to give the ‘Play’s new album its full and entirely unpretentious title. Make no mistake, this is the soundtrack of sitting about the house with Gwyneth and the kids, fretting…

The Presets - Apocalypso

19 Jun 2008

ELECTRO (Modular) ‘When I was young,’ declares the first verse of the very first song on this album, ‘I was a star amongst zeroes’. That’s a good start. With their sophomore record, Sydney’s Presets once again declare themselves as something like the…

Leon Jean Marie - Bent Out of Shape

19 Jun 2008

POP (Island Records) This talented Londoner must listen to many an artist in his dreadlocked head to conjure up such interesting pop brilliance. Leon’s inspired opener forecasts the outrageously catchy hooks which lie ahead on his daring, eclectic…

Freshly squeezed - support for Edwyn Collins

19 Jun 2008

The great and good of the music glitterati have come out in force to support former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins' new single, Home Again, which hits the shelves on Monday 23 June. Franz Ferdinand, Jarvis Cocker, Bernard Butler, Graham Coxon and…

Iglomat - Iglomat

19 Jun 2008

ELECTRONICA/POST-ROCK (KFM) Edinburgh-based laptop whiz David Jack has made three albums of atmospheric electronica on his own already, but spearheading this debut from a transatlantic four-way collaboration, he adds a more organic post-rocking vibe…

Sheryl Crow

19 Jun 2008

Perhaps not the chart force she was back in 1994 with ‘All I Wanna Do’, but Sheryl Crow has grown, and now provides a more mature and considered take on American pop with a heavy country slant. Not surprising that her music has grown in scope and pathos…

Chris Bradley

19 Jun 2008

Expect a subtle mix of alternative rock and classical elements as Chris Bradley launches his new album Voices in his native Edinburgh. He started as a child singing with the prestigious St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, then joined a jazz band before finally…

Tomasz Stanko’s Nordic Quartet

19 Jun 2008

Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has been a leading light in the European jazz scene for over three decades and continues to develop his own distinctive take on a European jazz aesthetic, accompanied by a young band that includes sensational Swedish…

Polar Bear

19 Jun 2008

Aberdonian drummer Sebastian Rochford and saxophonist Pete Wareham have stormed Glasgow with Acoustic Ladyland, and now bring this rather different take on jazz-meets-punk-meets-electronics fusion to the city for the first time, with Mark Lockheart…