Music, Pop, Issue 682

A Midsummer Day's Dream brings Chris & Cosey to Glasgow Tramway

Bill also features Tut Vu Vu, Tristan Perich and Lucky Dragons

‘None of us went on to do anything remotely industrial,’ pointed out Chris Carter in a recent interview. ‘We’d burned ourselves out of it and we didn’t want it to sound like [Throbbing Gristle].’ The truth of that statement will be evident at this…

Lydia Lunch - Pivotal figure of New York’s No-Wave scene

UK tour from Sonic Youth and Michael Gira collaborator

She’s one of the most influential figures to come out of New York’s No-Wave scene. Founder of the inspirational Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lunch has collaborated with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Michael Gira, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party and Omar…

Eagleowl - Limbo at Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Wed 1 Jun 2011

Optimism and sadness in new set by elegiac Edinburgh ‘post-folk’ band

There was an equal sense of optimism and sadness fighting at the core of this almost entirely new set by elegiac Edinburgh ‘post-folk’ band Eagleowl. So quiet and deliberate was their music, so achingly hesitant about tipping over into full-blown…

Kitty Daisy & Lewis - Smoking in Heaven

Sibling trio release a ska and swing-flavoured second album

(Sunday Best Recordings) In the wake of their eponymous debut album, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have rightfully earned themselves a reputation for being a group of highly talented and original masters of transcendent rock 'n' roll. They return here with…

Morrissey - Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, Mon 20 June 2011

A spellbinding show from Mozza on his Scottish mini-tour

Dunfermline’s grand Alhambra Theatre oddly represented perhaps the most conventional of stop-offs in Scotland for Morrissey on his latest mini tour of typically out of the way destinations. Or at least the most central, on a sojourn that will have wound…

Bikini Machine compose a 'cinéconcert' score for Desperado

Each year, the French Institute for Scotland takes part in the Edinburgh International Film Festival and strives to bring the media of music and film together to form one piece of intercontinental art. This year, the Institute have invited five…

The Ringo Starr All-Starr Band, SECC: Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Thu 23 Jun

'Is Ringo the best drummer in the world?', a reporter once asked John Lennon. 'He’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles,' Lennon replied. And neither is he a natural frontman. Certainly Starr doles out small servings of the mandatory patter during…

tUnE-yArDs, Captain’s Rest – Glasgow, Wed 15 Jun 2011

Merrill Garbus is an offbeat, un-obvious, must-see pop act

Three years after she self-released homemade album BiRd-BrAiNs, recognition and even a degree of hype are finally starting to come the way of Merrill Garbus, aka tUnE-yArDs, and so it is that her Wednesday night show at the Captain’s Rest (a venue she…

Emmy the Great - Virtue

Haunting, twisted, and atmospheric follow-up to First Love

(Close Harbour Records) Inspired by heartbreak – as so many of the best albums are – this second collection of unusual and supernatural songs are the result of the breakdown of Emma-Lee Moss’ engagement. But rather than wallow in misery, Emmy…

Vivian Girls - Cassie Ramone interview

'We are weathered women.’

‘It kinda bums me out if a reviewer compares us to anything twee or C86,’ explains Cassie Ramone, frontwoman of Vivian Girls, taking a break from her laundry at home in Brooklyn to talk to The List. ‘Bands like that really weren’t an influence on us at…

Tom Vek - Classic Grand, Glasgow, Tue 14 Jun 2011

Return of multi-instrumentalist a muted success

After the critical acclaim and moderate commercial success of Tom Vek’s 2005 debut album, We Have Sound, it looked, on paper at least, like he was on to a winner. Instead, despite pursuing the potentially long and fruitful career ahead of him, he more…

Six Organs of Admittance - Captains Rest, Glasgow, Wed 8 Jun 2011

Ben Chasny's return to solo performance playful but unenthralling

Alec Cheer’s delicate acoustic loops and tape reel hiss has become a kitemark for lush DIY drone work within the Scottish underground scene, and despite some minor tech hitches, tonight was another strong example of him hitting his stride. Next, with a…

The Wild Swans - Captain's Rest, Glasgow, Tue 7 Jun, 2011

Reignited version of iconic Liverpool post-punk group

Heroism comes in many forms, but Paul Simpson's ongoing awfully big adventure fronting his reconstituted, reconfigured and on this showing on the first date of a short UK tour thoroughly reignited Wild Swans nom de plume is a sublime experience that…

RockNess - Dores, Loch Ness, 10-12 Jun 2011

Chemical Brothers, Paulo Nutini and Erol Alkan among highlights of festival

As T in the Park’s younger, ravey-er and arguably more affable sibling, the first 'biggie' of the Scottish music festival season kicked into gear on Friday under a cloudless cobalt sky. Situated near sleepy Dores on the banks of Loch Ness - the…

White Heath - Take No Thought For Tomorrow

Edinburgh five-piece pop-rock collection latest fruits from Stow College

(Electric Honey) The latest graduate of Stow College’s music industry course’s in-house record label is this Edinburgh five-piece’s collection of epic soundtracks to vocalist Sean Watson’s heartfelt lyrical concerns. Delivered in an opaque vocal…

TV on the Radio return to live show after death of bassist and geographical spread

New York group take 4th album Nine Types of Light on the road

A little over two months ago this show had ‘cancelled’ written all over it, and nobody would have grudged TV On the Radio their right. On 20th April this year, the Brooklyn-formed quintet’s bassist, Gerard Smith, died of lung cancer. The sad news came…

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Follow-up to much-revered debut an warmer, bigger, more welcoming beast

(4AD) Everyone is better-off with a little soft-rock in their lives. Alt-smooth indie supergroup Gayngs proved that assertion in 2010, when their nostalgic-pop album, Relayted, topped many end-of-year polls. One of that band’s most prominent members…

Lach - Ramshackle Heart

New York anti-folk overlord's sixth album a rash of styles, but with distinctive voice

(Song, By Toad) Amid news that New York anti-folk overlord Lach will be bringing his anti-hootenanny open-mic session to Edinburgh again this August and tempting hints that he might be setting up home here, the release of only his sixth album in…

Junior Boys - It’s All True

Elegant and modern-sounding collection unselfconscious in its soothing repetition

It’s All True (Domino) This fourth album from Canadian production duo Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus is an elegant and modern-sounding collection, but it doesn’t make extensive efforts to disguise an array of less fashionable influences…

Paul McCartney - McCartney II

1980 album a work of bonged-out pop genius

(Commercial Marketing) A relative flop in 1980, McCartney II is a work of bonged-out pop genius. The ‘hits’ – the dork disco gem ‘Coming Up’ and the beautiful ‘Waterfalls’ – although wonderful, only hint at the oddness within. ‘Temporary Secretary…

Woods - Sun and Shade

Lo-fi alt-folky tunes from Brooklyn cottage industry derailed by cosmic jams

(Woodsist) Brooklynites Woods are a cottage industry of sorts who release their own lo-fi alt-folky tunes through a label run by their frontman, Jeremy Earl. Their sixth album highlights both the ups and downs of a band not having anyone to answer…

Wu Lyf - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain

epic, cascading musical backdrops from the joyous and triumphant to rough and urgent

(LYF recordings) WU LYF, aka World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation, further refine their self-sufficient musical approach with their self-released debut, Go Tell Fire To The Mountain. Recorded in a church in Manchester, each song plays out with an…

Shonen Knife - Free Time

Winning daftness of Japanese all-girl punk-pop

(Damnably) Despite this 30-year veteran Japanese all-girl punk-pop trio being down to just a solitary remaining founder member in guitarist and singer Naoko Yamano these days, their reserves of winning daftness remain plentiful. Yamano’s lyrics…

Brian Eno - Drums Between The Bells

Soundscapes accompanied by spoken-word passages from contemporary thinker Rick Holland

(Warp) Featuring the words of poet and contemporary thinker Rick Holland, Drums Between The Bells isn’t so much a collection of songs as a series of soundscapes accompanied by spoken-word passages, here uttered by nine people, including actress…

Richard Youngs - Amplifying Host

Resolutely avant-garde workings of simple folk songs

(Jagjaguwar) A Glasgow-based librarian with a cracked choirboy voice, Richard Youngs alternates between experimental releases on tiny labels, and more ‘songwriterly’ albums on US indie Jagjaguwar. This is one of the latter, but it’s resolutely…