Music, Issue 694

Counterflows festival – Q&A with organiser Alasdair Campbell

An experimental music festival, with a focus on songwriting

Why should people come to Counterflows? It is hoped that by opening up the possibilities with a new festival and bringing together, under the festivals banner, new artists, that Counterflows can offer what all culture should, the idea that there are…

First Aid Kit - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 27 Feb

Young Swedish sisters' take on country hints at originality and potential

One of the things that really stands out on Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg’s recent second album, The Lion’s Roar, is the maturity of the songwriting. It’s striking how these two, with barely 40 years on this planet between them, have…

Dream Theater - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 3 Feb 2012

American prog-metallers overcome venue with hooks and virtuosity

First things first: seated venues aren’t really best friends with metal music, are they. Tonight’s gig is at the Clyde Auditorium, complete with lukewarm pastel furnishings and besuited ushers, torch in hand. It’s more aligned with Britain’s Got Talent…

Edinburgh International Festival 2012 programme launched

Highlights include Mariinsky Ballet, TEAM and Camille O'Sullivan

The Edinburgh International Festival has unveiled its extensive 2012 programme. With nearly 200 different performances to choose from, we’ve selected some dance, opera, classical music and theatre highlights you won't want to miss. NVA's Speed of…

Programme revealed for Sundance London Music and Film Festival

Robert Redford and Tricky scheduled for talks and performances

The programme has been revealed for the inaugural Sundance London Music and Film Festival, to be held at The O2 from Thu 26–Sun 29 Apr. The festival is centred around the screening of 14 films from Robert Redford's annual Sundance independent film…

Decembrists singer Colin Meloy writes children's book Wildwood

The novel is the product of collaboration with his wife Carson Ellis

Wildwood is the debut illustrated children's novel from husband-and-wife creative double act Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis. Meloy is probably best known as the lead singer of US indie-folk group The Decembrists (for whom Ellis supplies album artwork).

Simple Minds - Barrowlands, Glasgow Sat 25 Feb 2012

Revisit to first five albums a reminder of their potency

In these recessionary times, it’s easy to suppose the manufacturers of dry ice are thanking their lucky stars for 1980s art-rock bands on the comeback and reunion trail. Clouds of the stuff create precisely the proper atmosphere in which men with…

SMC to host Composition Marathon

Event at the Scottish Music Centre to feature performances from Daniel's Beard, Pure Brass and more

To commission ten composers at the same time to write a new work each is quite an undertaking. To ask them all to do it in the space of only twelve hours could be verging on insanity, especially as none of the ten will have an inkling of which…

Rob St John, Banshee Labyrinth, Sat 18 Feb

Intimate gig from a new breed of folk troubadour

The first thing to note about the venue for Rob St John’s sell-out gig is how dark, small and shivery it is – it's basically a subterranean cavern which fits perfectly with the haunted alt-folk to come. Support, marred slightly by sound issues, comes…

Travis and The Wombats set to headline Belladrum 2012

Frightened Rabbit and We Are Scientists also appearing

Travis and The Wombats have been announced as headliners for this year's Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival. The Wombats will headline on Fri 8 Aug while festival favourites Travis will close the show on Sat 4 Aug, in what will be their only Scottish…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Bwani Junction

The Edinburgh indie-afrobeat group's frontman, Rory Fairweather, tells us of his touring habits

What time is breakfast? Meal times become irrelevant, just food time. Tea or coffee? Always tea. Smoking or non-smoking? Absolutely no smoking, our bodies are temples. Sweet or savoury snacks? Jack ate soap last time... what does that…

Martyn Bennett - Aye

A collection of the best tracks from the late celtic fusion artist

(Long Tale Records) Seven years after his tragic early death, wunderkind Martyn Bennett’s legacy lives on. Anyone who never experienced the live or recorded version of his multi-instrumental music (whistles, fiddles, piano, bagpipes) will surely gasp…

Batida - Batida

African-inspired electronica record that probably works best in a club setting

(Soundway) Having carved out a reputation for unearthing rare tracks of touchstone Latin musics, Soundway now champions hot sounds heard today on the streets of Luanda. Angolan/Portuguese DJ Mpula (aka Pedro Coquenão) creates electronic dance music…

Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness, Tramway, Glasgow, Sun 26 Feb

A mixed bag exploration of pessimism, decay and banality

Genre: Experimental music, Theatre, Philosophy So, is everything just a bit fucked? Dissecting pessimism, decay and banality is the theme of the day on the Sunday of Arika’s Episode 2: A Special Form of Darkness, with opening talks by writer, theorist…

Pop punk titans Bowling for Soup - interview

Jaret Reddick and Erik Chandler discuss their career ahead of their gig at the Oran Mor

Believe it or not, pop-punk veterans Bowling for Soup are about to celebrate eighteen years in the business of show. Frontman Jaret Reddick and bassist Erik Chandler are set to mark the occasion with an acoustic tour of the UK, during which they will…

French Wives, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 28 Feb

Successful performance from band on the cusp of greatness

‘We’re kind of shitting it’, French Wives frontman Stuart Dougan declares with a semi self-conscious shrug, a statement referencing the thirty gigs his band will embark on over the next month (including a stint at SXSW) and succeeding ‘two great…

First raft of shows from 2012 Edinburgh Fringe programme

Stewart Lee, Jimmy Carr, Rhod Gilbert and more to appear at Fringe 2012

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has revealed around 60 shows to take place at this year's event in August. The announcement comes weeks before the full line-up announcement on Thu 31 May. Comedy shows form the bulk of the latest show announcements…

Submissions now being accepted for T Break 2012

T in the Park's unsigned bands stage looking for new applicants

Demos are now being accepted for T in the Park's T Break stage for 2012. The stage is one of the most valuable opportunities on the Scottish music scene for unsigned bands to be heard by a large audience. Acts to grace the stage in recent years include…

Creamfields 2012 line up announced

deadmau5, Avicii, Tiësto, David Guetta and Skrillex confirmed for dance music fesitval

deadmau5, Avicii, Tiësto, David Guetta and Skrillex have been announced as headliners at one of the UK’s biggest dance music festivals this year. Creamfields 2012 will take place at Daresbury in Cheshire from Fri 24–Sun 26 Aug, and will also feature…

Lionel Richie to perform at Glasgow's SECC in Sept 2012

Likelihoood of ceiling-dancing: high

Legendary soul singer Lionel Richie will perform at Glasgow's SECC on Thu 27 Sep as part of his Tuskegee 2012 European tour. The 'Hello' singer has not performed in Scotland since he played the same venue in April 2009. The extensive tour of…

The Drums, Friendly Fires, Mystery Jets and Tim Minchin announced for RockNess 2012

The Rapture, Admiral Fallow and Mylo also added to line-up

The Drums, Friendly Fires and Mystery Jets are among the latest batch of bands to be added to the 2012 RockNess line up. Other acts recently added to bill include The View, The Rapture, Mylo, Admiral Fallow, Kassidy, Zane Lowe, Dave Clarke and…

Sway, Studio 24, Edinburgh, Fri 27 Jan 2012

Crowd-pleasing night from the grime superstar

Although not completely absent from the music scene, Sway (real name Derek Safo) has not released an album since 2008. This perhaps explained the semi-low turnout at this Friday night gig, which seemed unusual for one of the UK’s most successful…

RM Hubbert, Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan

The launch RM Hubbert's second album, 13 Lost and Found, is both a celebratory and elegiac affair. A punk and post-rock veteran, Hubbert turned to the classical guitar as a way of dealing with bereavement and depression. To perform his latest album with…

RockNess named Best Small Festival at 2012 NME awards

Boutique festival wins award for second year running

RockNess has been named as the UK's Best Small Festival at the annual NME Awards. Organisers managed to beat off competition from other festivals including Latitude, Kendal Calling, Hop Farm and Field Day to win the award for the second year…

GZA/Genius - The Arches, Glasgow, Mon 13 Feb

Disappointingly sluggish set from the cerebral Wu Tang Clan member

There’s nothing more frustrating than ritual disappointment from someone you hold in high regard. First up there was GZA’s lazy, bonged-out mumble-athon at the ABC in 2008, then a ghost-like contribution to the Wu Tang Clan’s appearance in the Academy…