Music, Issue 696

T Break 2012 line-up announced

Beerjacket, Randolph's Leap and Capitals among the unsigned acts to appear at T in the Park

The full line-up for T in the Park's unsigned talent stage has been announced. The T Break stage will host Scottish up-and-coming acts over Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 July at T in the Park. The tent has earned a reputation for highlighting the next big…

Lawrence of Belgravia

Intimate and touching documentary about the eccentric Felt frontman

Lawrence - surnameless former front man of the variably appreciated 80s-90s indie bands Felt and Denim, and current leader of the barely-appreciated-at-all Go Kart Mozart – is a bit like the picture in Jarvis Cocker’s attic, psychologically speaking.

Wide Days - Teviot Row House, Edinburgh, Wed 11-Thu 12 Apr 2012

Music seminar an invaluable asset for industry

Now in its third year, Wide Days is fast becoming something of a mainstay within the Scottish music scene. Due to the ambition of curator Olaf Furniss, and his close partnership with various initiatives within the local music community, the event has…

Eye o’ the Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr 2012

Fantastic bill featuring Django Django, Malcolm Middleton and more

They may have quadrupled the size of their show, and conscripted beefcakes to man the doors, but the spirit of Fence chiefly prevailed at the inaugural Eye O’ The Dug – a musical hoopla which (kind of) filled a Homegame-shaped hole in the calendar (and…

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

Also featuring Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny

What’s the consensus on imitation to the point that it rivals, perhaps even betters the source? Well, Glasgow’s Marvel Heights almost achieve such an accolade, kicking off this month’s singles run-down with their straight-outta-Paramore, angsty rock…

Interview with New Order drummer Stephen Morris and guitarist Phil Cunningham

The reunited music icons on playing live and the importance of arguing

New Order are back, and it’s as if they never went away. Are you enjoying it Stephen Morris, drummer and longest continuously-serving member alongside Bernard Sumner? ‘Yeah, it’s been great,’ he says from his house/studio just outside Macclesfield…

DIY music promoters Cry Parrot turn 5

Auntie Flo, Dam Mantle, Sacred Paw, Silk Cut and more are on the line-up their birthday party

In recent years, Cry Parrot has played a major role in nurturing Glasgow’s vibrant music scene. To celebrate the music promoter’s fifth birthday, the fervently eclectic independent promoters are holding a party at The Glue Factory, featuring Auntie Flo…

Major Lazer - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

A ballsy and daft neo-dancehall party that wasn't shared enough with the audience

‘Make some noise for all the asses!’ encouraged super-producer, and one half of Major Lazer, Diplo, midway through the band’s dancehall blitzkrieg of a live show. A dozen Glaswegian girls had been hoisted from the audience onto the O2 ABC stage to…

The Sunshine Underground - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 16 Apr

Energetic indie-electro-rock from the Leeds trio

There's something different about The Sunshine Underground. Maybe it's their strange mix of electronica, grimy bass and echoing vocals. Maybe it's their somewhat unorthodox recording methods (they once put drummer Matthew Gwilt in a tent to get a 'big…

The Waterboys - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Wed 3 Mar

Three hours of intense, lyrical rock music for grown-ups

Backstage after tonight’s show, Mike Scott, Waterboy-in-chief since the band’s inception in 1983, is disgruntled. His band have put in a considerable shift, knocking out not only a connoisseur’s best-of set but the bulk of its recent and remarkable…

Holy Mountain - Earth Measures

A cacophonous, riff-driven release imbued with savage axe-mastery and vintage spirit

What we are basically dealing with here is a delirious, hirsute rawk mob – a cacophonous, riff-driven Glasgow trio who’re as heavy as Led and thrice as cool. Notorious for combustible live shows (they once blared out the back of a van, with a cigarette…

The Leg - An Eagle to Saturn

Absurdist punk more confusing than worthwhile?

Terrifyingly obscure and possibly dangerous are pretty much the only ways to describe this offering from Edinburgh's The Leg. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted or easily offended as tracks cover some pretty dark ideas. Shouted lyrics sound eerily…

Kim Edgar - The Ornate Lie

Folk rock from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar

The second album from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar raises the bar from where her acclaimed debut album left off, mixing delicate folk rock melodies with Kim’s uniquely Scottish and poignant lyrics. Edgar’s harmonious piano playing and a voice full of…

Scottish Opera revive Besch's celebrated Tosca adaptation

The new production stars Susannah Glanville and José Ferrero

Described as a ‘shabby little shocker’ by one of America’s leading musicologists, Puccini’s Tosca has been a success with audiences the world over since its premiere in Rome in 1900. From the countless productions of it, one which has had particularly…

Exposure: Friends

The Brooklyn hipster quintet make disgustingly cool indie post-punk-funk

The List makes two predictions with regards to this fresh Brooklyn indie post-punk-funk ensemble. 1) They’re going to be the sound of many people’s summer, and 2) they’re going to have music journos punning furiously on their sitcom namesake. They’re…

The Futureheads - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 9 Apr

Stripped down acoustic and a capella show from the indie-rock group

For a band who made one of their very earliest trips around the UK a tour of working men’s clubs, there was a certain sense of having come full circle here. Billed as an acoustic and a cappella tour, it was more than just a stripped-down version of…

Andrew WK - The Garage, Glasgow, Sat 14 Apr

The long-haired party-metaller plays debut album I Get Wet in full

Andrew WK is what he is: partier, lover of dirty jeans, motivational speaker. Whatever you thought of him when he arrived on the scene with tongue firmly in cheek on the back of last year’s debut album I Get Wet is irrelevant. As a live prospect, Andrew…

Health to provide Max Payne 3 soundtrack

The LA noise rockers follow the game-soundtracking example of Opeth, Trivium and others

Ever since the very earliest days of home gaming and the release of the Atari 2600 (1977), videogame music has become a part of cultural life. The lack of processing power meant it was necessarily tinny, bleepy and repetitive. Despite this, 8- and…

Mull Historical Society and Blood Red Shoes added to T in the Park line up

Hilltop Hoods, The Parlotones and Dog is Dead also to appear

T in the Park 2012 organisers have announced more acts to join the already impressive line up for this year's festival. Alongside headliners Snow Patrol, Kasabian and The Stone Roses, recently added artists include Hilltop Hoods, Blood Red Shoes, Mull…

Walter Scott Prize 2012 shortlist announced

Andrew Miller, Alan Hollinghurst, Barry Unsworth, Sebastian Barry, Patrick DeWitt and Esi Edugyan

The shortlist for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was revealed earlier this month at the programme launch for the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. The contenders for the £25,000 prize, the largest annual literary prize awarded…

Friendly Fires confirmed for Big Beach Ball 2012

Mercury Prize winners will headline the new Aberdeen event with DJ set

With only two weeks to go until the inaugural 11-hour Big Beach Ball festival, organisers have announced that Friendly Fires will headline at the Aberdeen Beach Ballroom on Sun 6 May. Fellow musicians Derrick Carter, Heartthrob, Slam, Tiger & Woods…

Five reasons to go and see Tim Hecker

The electronica artist is appearing at church venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow in May

1. Celebrate the death of rave At least according to Hecker’s new album: the wonderfully-titled Ravedeath, 1972, a lush assembly of droning, dream-like electronic soundscapes which builds upon the work he’s been creating for the last two decades, both…

Django Django's Tommy Grace looks forward to Stag & Dagger and RBS Museum Lates gigs

Glasgow city festival Stag & Dagger returns in a lower-key format than usual this May, but there’s abundant quality nevertheless, from Death Grips to White Denim, the Phantom Band and Bear in Heaven. And Django Django, whose uncategorisable distillation…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Cate le Bon

Cardiff’s answer to Nico shares her tour habits with us

What time is breakfast? I am yet to find out. Tea or coffee? It’s a delicate mix of coffee in the morning followed by the relentless drinking of tea until bed. Smoking or non-smoking? Non, unless I fancy it. Sweet or savoury snacks? Savoury will…

Comedy acts announced for Rockness 2012

Headliner Tim Minchin will be joined by Des Clarke, Daniel Sloss and Jamie Dalglish

The organisers behind RockNess have released the names of those confirmed for the 2012 festival's comedy line-up. Australian superstar Tim Minchin will be joined by Scotland's own comic prodigy Daniel Sloss and award-winning comic and presenter Des…