Music, Issue 673

Johnny Foreigner - You Thought You Saw a Shooting Star ...

(Alcopop!) JoFo’s new EP You Thought You Saw … is cleaner and more coherent than their earlier work. Usually this brand of noisy indie rock would avoid such change, but the trio have made the transition without sacrificing the faux-adolescent…

Ensemble - Excerpts

(FatCat) The work of Montreal-based composer Olivier Alary, who has worked with Björk, Cat Power and Lou Barlow, this album is the follow-up to his debut on Rephlex, *3Sketch Proposals*2. Flitting somewhere between measured ambience and bold pop…

Fruko & Joe Arroyo - The Very Best of Fruko & Joe Arroyo: Rebelión Tropical

(Nascente) A long shelf-life is the hallmark of great music and Rebelión Tropical maps how in the 1970s Julio Ernesto ‘Fruko’ Estrada and Alvaro José Arroyo González aka Mr Joe Arroyo pioneered the best Colombian tropical music ever. There’s nothing…

The top albums of 2010

LCD Soundsystem, Washed Out, Robyn, Errors, Arcade Fire

LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening (DFA/ EMI) James Murphy and co’s last album also features one of the year’s most tantalisingly misleading album intros. It’s over three (very mellow) minutes into ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ before the proper beats…

The best gigs of 2010 in Scotland

The xx, Hallogallo, Crystal Castles, Away Game, The Phantom Band

Weird theatrics from Fever Ray, blissful low-end synth-pop from Washed Out and Small Black, hushed guitars from RM Hubbert, Barrowland-shaking dance-punk from LCD Soundsystem… The List looks back on the year’s best live shows The xx Studio 24…

Blue Sky Archives - Melodic post-rock and harmonious pop from Glasgow

Exposure

From Glasgow they come with melodic post-rock and harmonious pop, like a shining light. Hello, Blue Skies. What are you up to? Paul: ‘I’m at my 9–5. The odour of coffee, commerce and coercion is palpable. I see a young, unshaven man in a cheap…

All Tomorrow's Parties: Bowlie 2 - Butlin’s Minehead, Somerset, Fri 10-Sun 12 Dec

Ten year anniversary of pioneering chalet-based holiday camp festival

Ten years after pioneering the chalet-based holiday camp festival with their Bowlie Weekender, Belle & Sebastian have returned to the scene (not literally, because it’s now in Somerset) of one of their greatest creations with this decade-on celebration…

Giant Sand songwriter Howe Gelb lines up for Celtic Connections date

Mapping alternative routes between seemingly disparate worlds of music is a longstanding aim of Celtic Connections. It’s a vision shared by Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, who for some 25 years has been a pathfinder and visionary, resulting in one of the most…

Glasvegas set for 2011 UK tour

Glasgow band record ten track as-yet-untitled second album with Flood

The last time this writer spoke to Glasvegas frontman James Allan, in advance of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay party last year, he sounded absolutely shattered after two years of touring and promoting on the back of the band’s hugely successful debut album.

Hercules and Love Affair - Blue Songs

(Moshi Moshi/Cooperative) Within the first few seconds of this sophomore album, Andy Butler’s New York-based disco-house collective have achieved Objective A: to lose the one-hit wonder tag after the deservedly monumental success of ‘Blind’ in 2008.

Yaron Herman Trio - Follow The White Rabbit

(ACT Records) Yaron Herman was a promising basketball player for the Israeli junior national team until a knee injury ended his serious sporting ambitions. He turned instead – at the relatively advanced age of 16 – to piano, and has made a…

Cesaria Evora - Cesaria Evora &

(Sony) When she burst onto the scene twenty-two years ago ‘the barefoot diva’ put Cape Verde on the map, blowing everyone away, even though live on stage she could be stiff and diffident. True, after her first irresistible albums her output became…

Emma’s Imagination - Stand Still

Dumfries singer and winner of Must Be The Music sets course for pop success

(Polydor) Emma Gillespie has been on a journey fit for any Hollywood narrative, from busking on the Glasgow streets to TV talent show victory (she won Sky’s Must Be The Music) and subsequent major label deal. Her debut album, under the guise of…

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead

(Rough Trade) The sixth album from The Decemberists is everything you would expect. Full of country-based stylings, the Portland five-piece present a coherent, well thought-out set of storytelling songs, with Colin Meloy’s knack for a lyrical…

Fujiya & Miyagi - Ventriloquizzing

(Full Time Hobby) Brighton’s Fujiya & Miyagi return here with their fourth album, Ventriloquizzing and, as one might guess from the title, this particular collection of songs is inspired by the idea of ventriloquism or more broadly, the idea of…

Trembling Bells, Rachel Sermanni and John Grant among Celtic Connections highlights

Mavis Staples and Tribute to Bob Dylan also on diverse programme

Chicago’s music scene is the first stop in this very international round up, specifically the music of distinguished gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples. In the 60s Staples released a string of hits on the Stax-affiliated Valt label. Last year, aged…

Labels of Love: Gerry Loves Records

Edinburgh DIY imprint home to Yahweh, Conquering Animal Sound, Miaoux Miaoux and Wounded Knee

We bet Gerry Love loves Gerry Loves Records. Launched in April 2010 by childhood friends Paddy Berry and Andy Lobban (of alt-pop webfest Off the Beaten Tracks), the Edinburgh DIY imprint specialises in gorgeous vinyl products – as inspired by Motown…

Artisan Piano Trio's Edinburgh concert targets post-work slot

Young, imaginative and ambitious trio present first season of concerts, Cascades

Bringing an exciting new dimension to Scottish chamber music, the Artisan Piano Trio are young, imaginative and ambitious. Formed by cellist Clea Friend, with SCO violinist Aisling O’Dea and much in demand freelance pianist Simon Smith, they are now…

The Burns Unit and Broken Records set for Celtic Connections date

‘Scottish-Canadian Supergroup’ peform at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket

Kenny Anderson is setting the record straight. ‘Karine Polwart is not a folkie – she wants to try other stuff. And Emma Pollock is not just the indie queen that everyone thinks she is. And I’m not the … whatever.’ (Whatever he is, he is King…

Metronomy to release second album 'The English Riviera' and play UK tour

Joseph Mount and revitalised Brighton-based electro-pop band on 2011 tour

‘I wanted to work with Girls Aloud’, says Metronomy’s electro-sage Joseph Mount. ‘I mentioned it a lot in interviews. One fifth of my dream came true.’ Mount has recently written and recorded with GA’s Nicola Roberts (‘she’s a well-seasoned…

Ten Tracks presents 10-band bill at Stereo, Glasgow

The Blessings, Frog Pocket, GRNR, Not Squares, Tokamak, Logik Party, Foxgang, Fur Hood and Blood Blo

Scottish music download portal Ten Tracks is renowned for offering ten bundled tracks for a pound, so it makes sense that this live special should offer ten high quality acts on one lengthy and great value bill. ‘We’ve got The Blessings (left), who run…

Thin Lizzy 2011 UK tour

2011 incanation counts The Almighty's Ricky Warwick and Def Leppard's Vivian Campbell among line-up

1. The Boys Are Back In Town... Well, sort of. Since the tragic passing of frontman Phil Lynott in 1986, many different incarnations of the band have existed, purely as a live tribute of sorts. Now, armed with Dio/Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell…

The Walkmen set for Celtic Connections 2011

New York quintet's impassioned tales of dejection and desperation

New York quintet The Walkmen conjure a sound that spans the pastoral to the outright raucous. Though they are not perhaps one of the most obvious additions to any Celtic Connections bill, their material has been known to incorporate more ‘traditional…

Idlewild perform 100 Broken Windows album live

Tenth anniversary of band's breakthrough second album

If it’s true that Idlewild will be on sabbatical for the whole of 2011 while singer Roddy Woomble releases and tours his new solo album, this tour is a perfect way to say goodbye to their fans for now. It celebrates the tenth anniversary of their…

Paul Weller combines faithful version of back catalogue with moments of self-indulgence

SECC, Glasgow, Sat 4 Dec 2010

After the success of his new album Wake Up the Nation earning a Mercury nomination, it seems The Modfather Paul Weller has enjoyed a bit of a critical revival. Still, many at this packed-out, large-scale show would no doubt have been here if he was…