Music, Issue 610

Future of the Left

Title contenders

You can’t beat a good song title, and Future of the Left have some of the best. The Cardiff based trio’s second single was the thrillingly angry rock of ‘adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood’, and the band’s debut album Curses was peppered with other gems such as…

Prokofiev - The Symphonies

Russian around with the tireless Valery Gergiev

In one of the most exciting orchestral weekends hosted by the Usher Hall, the London Symphony Orchestra appears with its principal conductor, Valery Gergiev, performing all of Prokofiev’s seven symphonies plus the two violin concertos with soloist…

5 Reasons To Go See - Alanis Morissette

She’s massively popular Before we get to any of the juicier reasons for re-igniting your mid-90s fervour for Ms Morissette, let’s lay out the bare statistics of her success. The angry songstress has sold over 55 million albums worldwide, and has scooped…

Various - Tighten Up! Deluxe Edition

REGGAE (Trojan/Sanctuary) The times around the birth of Trojan Records were turbulent ones: 1968 witnessed social unrest and uprising from Cuba to Belfast, London to Vietnam. Musically, the sound emanating from Jamaica, popularised by Britain’s West…

The Verve - Forth

PSYCH-ROCK (Parlophone) Even their most evangelical of fans – of which there are still plenty – might have doubted The Verve’s reformation. Much of the solo material of the previously unimpeachable Richard Ashcroft flattered to deceive, and none of it…

Painting Music Workshop

The art of sound

There are several enjoyable aspects to this imaginative workshop, but the best one is the gift that keeps on giving. In just 40 minutes, Rhuti Carr and her musical cohorts give you a new skill that will stay with you for life. Gathered around a giant…

5 Reasons To Go See - John Renbourn

1 He’s an axe hero OK, he’s not in the same mould as Slash, but the veteran English guitarist and songwriter delivers an exemplary, dextrous mix of blues, folk, classical and jazz to wow his audience. 2 He’s a Pentangle Renbourn was one of the…

Metropolitan Cathedral Organ Concerts

New organ put through its paces

Fringe statistics tend to be fairly staggering, but if all the organ pipes on the Fringe were added together, their total would beat the lot. The new organ at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral alone has almost 4000. Built in French style by Matthew…

The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire Et Romantique

Good grief as Gardiner tackles Brahms

After an absence of almost ten years, authentic performance pioneer John Eliot Gardiner returns to the Edinburgh Festival with his Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique. Performing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Begräbnisgesang…

Julian Lloyd Webber and the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra String Ensemble

Another unlikely Fringe debutante in the shape of cellist Lloyd Webber

Five firsts at the Fringe for Edinburgh Youth Orchestra which breaks fresh ground this year with its new string ensemble of leading players, both past and present. With cellist Julian Lloyd Webber as director and soloist, its Fringe debut also features…

The Bastard Children of Australian Folk: CWQ

Oddball eclecticism from down under

Melting together genres from Celtic to klezmer, the pioneering Australian folk band CWQ present the result of mixing musical traditions from across the world in The Bastard Children of Australian Folk. Exploring and moulding the entire gamut of…

InvAsian festival set to host Elvis Idol competition

Calling all Elvis wannabes. Auld Reekie will be transformed into a veritable Graceland during a two-day tribute to the king of rock'n'roll this month. Organisers of the InvAsian Festival, an event dedicated to promoting Asian arts and culture, have…

Chris Biscoe Quartet - Gone in The Air: The Music of Eric Dolphy

JAZZ (Trio Records) Eric Dolphy is a figure more often acknowledged than actually engaged with. As Brian Morton points out in his notes for this fine disc, the relative neglect of Dolphy’s compositions leaves them an open field for exploration - and…

Misterioso

Exploring Monk’s elusive mindscape

The often chaotic, always creative and ultimately silent life and times of one of the greatest of all modern jazz giants, pianist Thelonious Monk, is celebrated in this amalgam of music, theatre and video projection from the London-based Theatralia…

Travis & Fripp - Thread

JAZZ (Panegyric) The jazz strap-line on top of this review may prove misleading if you are coming at the recording from an acquaintance with Theo Travis’s more mainstream work with his various quartets over the years. The saxophonist also has a…

Skelpaig - …aye?

FOLK (Skelpaig Music) Skelpaig have been working on Highland time whilst putting this lively and accomplished debut album of purely instrumental tunes together, but their laid-back approach to deadlines is not reflected in the vibrancy of the music…

Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel

ELECTRO (Infected) The cover art sums them up nicely: Late of the Pier are a heady pastiche of their influences. They flip from the sticky rock-fuzz eccentricism of Muse to the nostalgic clunk of Gary Numan’s vampiric electro, and back again, without…

Jackie Leven - Lovers At The Gun Club

SINGER-SONGWRITER (Cooking Vinyl) Now something of a Celtic/Romany troubadour, the Kirkcaldy-born Leven returns with his umpteenth solo album. Opening with the gun-tottin’ title track, and featuring guest vox from his absinthe-guzzlin’ buddy, American…

The Automatic - This is a Fix

ALT.PUNK (B-Unique) What a difference one little personnel change can make. After ousting squawk-happy keyboardist Alex Pennie, The Automatic drafted in Paul Mullen of the criminally-underrated yourcodenameis:milo, and his influence has leant the…