Music, Issue 655

Labels of Love: Say Dirty Records

Advancing the DIY credo and cultural fetishism of landmark indie empires like Cherry Red, Creation, Fast Product and – particularly – Postcard, Glasgow’s Say Dirty has celebrated the sound of young Scotland (and beyond) since 2006. It’s run by identical…

CocoRosie take Grey Oceans on the road with UK tour

Although it might be pushing it a bit to describe CocoRosie’s new album as sounding ‘grown-up’ (there’s a track called ‘RIP Bum Face’ for crying out loud) it’s undeniably more mature. The child-like operatics and wobbly, baby voices of Sierra (Rosie…

5 Reasons to go and see... Omar Souleyman

1.) He’s Syria’s biggest star In the cassette stalls of Damascus, Omar Souleyman is king, with over 500 releases to his name. He plays around 20 weddings and parties a month and is also popular in parts of Turkey and the Gulf. His biggest hit, the…

Exposure: Esben and the Witch

Those of a fragile disposition are advised to look away now. Brighton horror-folk sorcerers Esben and the Witch – Daniel (axe, electronics), Rachel (lungs, bass), Thomas (axe, synth) – are rapidly advancing. They’re coming to get you, Glasgow You…

Velvet re-launch party

PREVIEW CLUB Velvet Re-Launch Party The SpeakEasy, Edinburgh, Sat 8 May Velvet ladies have more than one reason to celebrate this fortnight. Not only is the much-missed club night for gay and bisexual women and their male LGBTI buddies returning…

Health

Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Tue 20 Apr

In such a tightly-packed venue with such a low stage, it’s impossible to see anything that’s going on up the front. Only bassist BJ Miller’s wildly flailing long dark hair is visible, and a wedge of people, slowly but determinedly butting their heads…

Woodpigeon, with Laura Gibson and Wounded Knee

This Canadian musical collective was originally named Woodpigeon Divided By Antelope Equals Squirrel. Now boasting less words, but eight members in all, this gig will be a homecoming of sorts, as frontman Mark Hamilton (pictured) started the band while…

Courtney Love tours UK as Hole

Love her or loathe her, Courtney Love is not one to shy away from media attention. The latest feud (eh, besides the one with daughter Frances Bean) concerned Love’s reforming of Hole last year amid a series of high-profile rows with ex-band members over…

Pavement set for 2010 UK reunion tour

The demise of the much-loved American lo-fi band Pavement in the 90s was well documented, so ten years after their drawn-out spilt, the announcement of a reform was a welcome surprise for fans worldwide. Yet the band have made it clear that this is just…

Cath & Phil Tyler, The One Ensemble and Neil Davidson

New Jersey natives Cath & Phil Tyler’s forthcoming second album, The Hind Wheels of Bad Luck, sees them heading direct to the source, mining traditional American seams such as the folky storytelling of Anne and Frank Warner, the husband and wife team…

Kiss embark on 2010 UK tour

Get your face paint at the ready, as KISS are back for their first UK arena shows in 11 years. It’s been almost 40 years since KISS first formed, yet the glam rockers have lost none of the bravado or wild stage antics that earned them all the notoriety…

Malcolm Middleton and Withered Hand among highlights of Tigerfest 2010

The three-week Scottish mini-festival returns for its seventh year, having featured Scottish heavyweights Idlewild, Frightened Rabbit and Danananananaykroyd in the past. The 2010 line up includes one-time Aereogramme members Iain Cook and Craig B’s new…

Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Retina

(Leaf) Undeniably beautiful, this Icelandic choral EP [a second EP, Iris is out in June, making up one LP, Rivers, out in August] lacks the necessary spark to transform it into something haunting or transcendent.

Lady Antebellum - Need You Now

(Parlophone) This trio is taking America by storm, with debut LP sales to compete with Beyoncé – but it’s the country equivalent of the Jonas Brothers; all polish and soullessness.

The Black Dog - Music For Real Airports

(Soma) Stirringly pretentious ambient riposte to Brian Eno’s 1978 album Music For Airports. It perfectly captures the ennui of volcano-linked airport-delay purgatory, but who wants to relive that right now?

The Pack A.D. - We Kill Computers

(Mint) At last, some good chugging rock riffs to get the teeth into. Drenched in sweat and beer, this sounds like The White Stripes fronted by Joan Jett.

The Sundancer - 5 Miles To Sunrise

(self-released) Kinks-inspired rock’n’roll with shades of The Monkees, there is a laid-back vibe to this album – unfortunately, it often ends up just sounding lazy and uninspired.

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed - Come And Get It

(Parlophone) A perfect facsimile of Motown soul – but unlike, say, Amy Winehouse, Reed refuses to innovate and sticks rigidly to the formula.

Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Erkki-Sven Tüür premiere

With a population of just over 1 million, Estonia, one of the EU’s newer small countries, is significantly smaller than Scotland. While new in terms of joining the EU, Estonia is, of course, like Scotland in that it is a much more ancient and historic…

Tiga's Planet Turbo Tour

It must be a good position, to be so on top of your own game that one of the only things left to achieve is helping others to success. That isn’t quite what Tiga’s doing here, but his own label Turbo Recordings is no vanity project, and he’s as hands on…

Krautrock pioneers Faust embark on 2010 UK tour

The story of Faust begins in 1970, when six dropout musicians convened in an old schoolhouse in rural Wümme, near Hamburg, to embark on a freewheeling musical project. Along the way they had run-ins with the Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang, and brought…

Cold Cave

‘I grew up in the wasteland of the American 80s,’ explains Cold Cave’s founder Wesley Eisold. ‘(Its) sound has been with me as long as I’ve been here. Otherwise, what influences me varies a lot. Music and film and books like everyone else, but more so…

Various Artists - Fabric 52: Optimo (Espacio)

(Fabric) Optimo (the club) will be over by the time you read this, but you can now own another slice of Optimo (the sound) to recreate the glory days in your own living room. Just close the blinds, paint the walls black and turn this on. Despite…

Holy Fuck - Latin

(Young Turks) Imagine the organic power of Explosions in the Sky married to the ultra-chic beats of Hot Chip. At their best, Toronto punk-dance outfit Holy Fuck blend the two threads brilliantly – crunching guitars, analogue synths and ferocious…

Laura Marling

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 14 Apr 2010

Everyone knows by now that Laura Marling (lest we forget, a 90s baby) is something of a prodigy, but even so, only a doting mother could have thought that the girl wonder had written ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ (Neil Young’s song about heroin…