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Interview: Friendly Fires plan to get the crowds dancing at RockNess 2012

Interview: Friendly Fires plan to get the crowds dancing at RockNess 2012

Ed Macfarlane on festivals, pop music and dancing ‘like an idiot’

28 May 2012

Friendly Fires blur the lines between indie and dance music, so their brand of punk funk should fit in perfectly at RockNess. Hailing from St Albans in Hertfordshire they were nominated for the Mercury Music prize for their debut eponymous album, which…

Summer Festivals 2012: Here We Go Magic - interview

Summer Festivals 2012: Here We Go Magic - interview

The band's Luke Temple gets ready for their slot at T in the Park

25 May 2012

‘I’m kind of a late bloomer, really,’ testifies Luke Temple, singer and songwriter in chief with Brooklynite indie-pop contenders Here We Go Magic. ‘I didn’t start writing songs until 2000, until I was about 25, and up ‘til then I’d only listened to…

Interview: Ash bring the rock to RockNess 2012

Interview: Ash get ready for RockNess 2012

Northern Irish rockers Ash get ready for their only Scottish festival of the year

24 May 2012

Famous for the instantly catchy pop rock of tracks like ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and ‘Girl From Mars’ Ash formed as teenagers in Northern Ireland back in 1992. Juggling homework with gigs and recording sessions they released the instant smash 1977 in…

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

Remarkable EP of lo-fi subtlety and intimacy from the mystery-shrouded artist(s)

(4 stars)24 May 2012

Having consulted an online resource to find a definition of the word 'leviathan' I was met with the task of trying to come to terms with how a mythological sea creature that is manifested as some kind of demon incarnate would find context in the lush…

Stag & Dagger, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 19 May

Stag & Dagger, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 19 May

Eleanor Friedberger and Miaoux Miaoux play as part of 13 hour gig crawl

(4 stars)22 May 2012

While its London sister seems to have died a death, presumably smothered by a surfeit of such hipster-friendly crawls and brawls in the English capital, the Glasgow leg of multi-venue one-dayer Stag and Dagger happily lives on, albeit with perhaps a…

Friends - Manifest!

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

(3 stars)22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Ultravox - Brilliant

Ultravox - Brilliant

Dull and pompous record from the no-longer-relevant Ure and co

(1 star)22 May 2012

Does the world really need another album, the first in 26 years, from the ‘classic’ Midge Ure-era Ultravox – a group of negligible lasting impact on music even at their mid-80s arena synth-pop zenith? The Trade Descriptions Act-violating Brilliant is…

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Gloriously melodic dance-pop in the vein of Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and the Avalanches

(5 stars)22 May 2012

This is a perfect example of how good pop music can be if it’s driven by a restless intelligence. Miaoux Miaoux, aka Julian Corrie, has been turning heads with his distinctive electro-pop sound for a while, but this first album for Chemikal Underground…

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

The elctro-pop masters' fifth album is their most smartly accessible effort to date

(4 stars)21 May 2012

Every self-appointed creative with a WTF haircut and a MacBook thinks they’re an ‘electronic artist’ these days. But there’s more to it than bedroom-recording cry wank vocals over presets and dropping them to Tuesday night cheek-chewers. Hot Chip’s…

Dan Mangan – Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Apr

Dan Mangan – Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Apr

The Canadian folk-pop tunesmith unleashes his experimental side

(4 stars)14 May 2012

Dan Mangan has previously mentioned that his band members ‘come from an experimental and free-jazz background’ – something that might not be immediately apparent on record but is plainly obvious at tonight’s performance. The brief squalls of noise that…

Scott McWatt – Jekyll and Hyde

Scott McWatt – Jekyll and Hyde

Lyrically shallow effort from the former Lost City Lights frontman

(2 stars)14 May 2012

Former Lost City Lights front man Scott McWatt seems to have gone from an amateur Nickelback-esque sound to one far more similar to amateur Idlewild. Though it is evident that dedication and passion have gone into the making of this album -- it was…

The specially chartered RockNess Express - train details

Ride the RockNess Express - train details

The Express will pick up festival goers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle

8 May 2012

As part of the Year of Creative Scotland, RockNess are offering a unique (and environmentally friendly) way to the festival site on the banks of Loch Ness. Picking up passengers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle before dropping them off…

DIY music promoters Cry Parrot celebrate fifth birthday

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

26 Apr 2012

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…

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

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

Energetic indie-electro-rock from the Leeds trio

(4 stars)26 Apr 2012

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…

Exposure: Friends

Exposure: Friends

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

25 Apr 2012

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…

Walter Scott Prize 2012 shortlist announced

Walter Scott Prize 2012 shortlist announced

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

23 Apr 2012

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…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Cate le Bon

Eat, sleep and breathe: Cate le Bon

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

23 Apr 2012

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…

Emeli Sande - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 10 Apr 2012

Emeli Sande - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 10 Apr 2012

Ballsy, multi-genre songwriting overcomes any X Factor endorsements

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

The fact that an artist has been given the stamp of approval by Simon Cowell would be a sign to many that we should run quickly in the other direction. Leave your valuables. Forget your loved ones. Put on your own oxygen mask first and get the heck out…

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

Underwhelming concept album from the indie-poppers

(2 stars)23 Apr 2012

(weePOP!) Naming themselves after a notoriously annoying tabloid columnist might be mistake number one, but it isn’t the worst of The Just Joans’ crimes. Claiming to have created an ‘audacious artistic undertaking’ of Bowie and Zappa-like proportions…

Wickerman festival 2012 line-up announced

Wickerman festival 2012 line-up announced

Scissor Sisters, Texas, The Levellers and Mike Skinner on Scottish festival bill

18 Apr 2012

The official line-up for the 2012 Wickerman Festival has been announced, with New Yorkers Scissor Sisters will headline the Summerisle stage on Fri 20 July, and Scottish favourites Texas headlining the same stage on Sat 21 July. Scissor Sisters are…

Madonna - MDNA

Madonna - MDNA

Album with producers Benny Benassi, Martin Solveig and William Orbit

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

Kudos to 53-year-old Auntie Madge not for delivering a classic album, but for having the sheer brass she-balls to turn out a record that’s as clubby, sexy and designed for the dancefloor after midnight as any she’s produced. A nod and a wink to naughty…

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Long-awaited debut admirable in perfectionism, but feels laboured

(2 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Song, by Toad) ‘I’ve waited two bloody years for these muppets to finish this album,’ writes Song, by Toad boss Matthew Young in an amusingly frank note accompanying Edinburgh seven-piece Jesus H. Foxx’s debut. We’ve shared his frustration in…

Cate Le Bon - Cyrk

Cate Le Bon - Cyrk

Brilliantly textured slice of Welsh psychedelic folk genius

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

For her latest outing Cate Le Bon takes her pick of the current crop of Wales’ finest musicians, with H. Hawkline providing hypnotically undulating synth goodness, while Y Niwl’s wünderkind Sion Glynn weaves beautifully meandering melodies, at times…

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Celestial drones, mesmeric synths, ambient noise and unearthly vocals

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Night School) Perhaps you read that album title and started hollering the Bee Gees song or god forbid, Steps. Thank the stars, then, for LA composer and minimalist pop diviner Julia Holter, who will banish your garish disco horrors with celestial…

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

An astute and highly promising opening salvo from Glasgow band

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Electric Honey) What a satisfying thing it is to hear a pop song that bypasses the tyranny of the chorus and sticks to its guns with a series of ear-warming verses. ‘Younger’, the shoulder-high stand-out track from the debut collection by French Wives…

Nik Kershaw to play entire 'Human Racing' album in 2012 tour

Nik Kershaw to play entire 'Human Racing' album in 2012 tour

His UK tour will also feature material from an upcoming new album

17 Apr 2012

Nik Kershaw is set to tour the UK with his band, beginning in September 2012. The Bristol-born singer/song-writer will be playing nine dates to celebrate this year's re-release of his iconic 1984 debut album Human Racing, which he will be performing…

Interview: Ben Sims gets ready for RockNess 2012

Interview: Ben Sims gets ready for RockNess 2012

The techno DJ/producer among names added to festival bill

13 Apr 2012

DJ Ben Sims has been announced for 2012’s RockNess festival, where he joins Soma Records on the Arcadia UFO stage. With over 20 years of DJ experience, running his own Theory label (among others), he’s renowned for his DJ skills using vinyl, CD and…

Feist, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 27 Mar 2012

Feist, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 27 Mar 2012

Stunning concert from the Canadian alt.folkie

(5 stars)11 Apr 2012

‘Wan, two, freee, fourr’, some gentleman gargles towards the end of Feist’s second encore. Without thinking, she laughs it off before ending on a heartbreakingly beautiful solo run of ‘Intuition’ from 2007’s The Reminder. It’s pin-drop silence…

Elle Fanning to star in film adaptation of Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl

Elle Fanning to star in film adaptation of Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl

Glasgow-set musical to commence filming in June

11 Apr 2012

When Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch created God Help the Girl back in 2009, he knew that he was writing a 60s girl-group soundtrack for a film that didn't yet exist. Now, after years of fund-raising and producing, a film adaptation of the album…

Quantic & Alice Russell with Combo Barbado - Look around the Corner

Quantic & Alice Russell with Combo Barbado - Look around the Corner

Latin-infused soul-jazz collaboration

(4 stars)11 Apr 2012

(Tru Thoughts) They've collaborated in the past, and belong to the same soul-jazzy label (Brighton's Tru Thoughts), so it wasn't such a giant leap of imagination for a full-length Latin/blues/folk collaboration between soul songstress Alice Russell…

Want advice on how your band can 'make it' and score a gig abroad?

Want advice on how your band can 'make it' and score a gig abroad?

Third Annual Wide Days Seminar

3 Apr 2012

Following on from successes in 2010 and 2011, the informal music conference, slash industry showcase that is Wide Days returns – with seminars for those wanting to get in to the music business during the day, followed by live performances and showcases…

Spiritualized, 02 ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Mar

Spiritualized, 02 ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Mar

Uplifting psychedelic set from the 90s acid-indie icons

(4 stars)3 Apr 2012

The sonic delights of indie starlets, Spiritualized receive a heroes welcome tonight, showcasing tracks from their new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light. The band also delve into their extensive back-catalogue, providing life affirming moments from their…

Loch Lomond, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 10 Mar 2012

Loch Lomond, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 10 Mar 2012

Bewitching chamber folk from Portland

(4 stars)3 Apr 2012

For those of you wondering how the vaguely surreal, harmonic and orchestral notes of Portland’s Loch Lomond might translate to a live setting, the first minutes of their Sneaky Pete’s show would give you a fairly accurate answer: with a bold and…

RockNess announces Hudson Mohawke at Sub Club 25 year celebration

RockNess 2012 hosts Hudson Mohawke at Sub Club 25 year celebration

Dave Clarke, James Holden and Andrew Weatherall among dance picks

30 Mar 2012

RockNess today confirmed not only a plethora of new acts for this June’s festival, but a whole new stage designed for hard partying aficionado’s of dancefloor devastation, all in celebration of Sub Club Sound System’s 25 year anniversary. The Arcadia…

Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O'Connor

Powerfully autobiographical live show from the suede-headed nutter

(4 stars)28 Mar 2012

One of the funniest tales in music concerns an Irish hack sent to doorstep Sinead O’Connor. The scribbler promptly vanishes then days later is tracked down to O’Connor’s Paris hotel suite: ‘Sinead and I,’ he informs his former colleagues loftily…

Florence and The Machine - SECC, Glasgow, Mon 12 Mar

Florence and The Machine - SECC, Glasgow, Mon 12 Mar

Stunning show from the 21st century diva

(4 stars)27 Mar 2012

Has Florence Welch ever told you about the time she flew up to Glasgow on a whim to visit a friend who lives in a castle in the Highlands? The four-hour bus journey that followed – still in her pyjamas – took her through Lochgilphead, where her Scottish…

Lightships - Electric Cables

Lightships - Electric Cables

Teenage Fanclub's Gerry Love album of sun-soaked, blissed-out guitar pop

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Geographic) Gerry Love might have insisted on a band name for this new project, but the sound is all Gerry. Love’s contributions to Teenage Fanclub are invariably the understated gems, and so it is here with this sumptuous, trembling collection of…

WU LYF SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 17 Mar

WU LYF - SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 17 Mar

Mancunian 'kings of heavy pop' triumph over piffling technical difficulties

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

Since they first cropped up in the public consciousness, WU LYF have been intriguing due to the fact that no one really knew very much about them. The name (World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation); the image and the mystique surrounding them; was it…

Electropop duo Uh Huh Her to play the Arches

Electropop duo Uh Huh Her to play Arches

The band consists of ex-Mellowdroner Camila Grey and ex-The L Word star Leisha Hailey

26 Mar 2012

Let’s get it out the way: Leisha Hailey was in The L Word. For anyone unfamiliar with the Showtime series (presumably you have been living under a rock on the outskirts of the lez community? Welcome. And get a boxset.), Hailey played quirky…

The Cornshed Sisters - Tell Tales

The Cornshed Sisters - Tell Tales

Reminiscent of The Unthanks with extra dollops of pop sensibility

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Memphis Industries) A gentle debut with just enough edge and earthy Northern lilt to balance the sweetness of the bell-like vocal harmonies, Tell Tales is the work of four non-sisters from Tyne and Wear. The tales told stretch from the overtly…

Graham Coxon - A+E

Graham Coxon - A+E

Latest lo-fi gem from Blur guitarist delivers arch and ugly meditations

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Parlophone) What need for Blur these days? While their will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer…

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

Americana full of understated charm

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Bella Union) M Ward is probably best known these days for being one half of She & Him, his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, but long before that partnership he was dishing up dreamy slices of Americana like this. As the title hints at, this…

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Sixth album from flamboyant glam-pop weirdo

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Fire Records) Imagine if something really emotionally scarring happened to, say, Prince, something in his formative years that sent him down an altogether darker path. Now say hello to Bobby Conn, flamboyant glam-pop weirdo from Chicago with a…

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Mark Ronson-produced album's expanded instrumentation feels misplaced

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Polydor) Releasing career retrospective House of Rufus last year and now drafting in ubiquitous producer Mark Ronson, all signs point to reinvention for Wainwright. Never one to shy away from the idiosyncratic in his operatic and multi-genre-infused…

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Lo-fi pop trinkets and demos from chillwave pioneer

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Carpark) Chillwave pioneer and Carolina native Chazwick Bundick follows up last year’s second release Underneath the Pine with further lo-fi pop trinkets dating back to June 2009 (hence the title), which should be stacked alongside the likes of his…

Interview - US rockers 3 Doors Down head for the UK

Interview - US rockers 3 Doors Down head for the UK

Q&A with American rock group's bassist Todd Harrell

9 Mar 2012

Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down are massive in the States, their debut single ‘Kryptonite’ reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 and since then they’ve gone on to score multi-platinum albums. Now they are continuing to secure more fans across the…

Simple Minds - Barrowlands, Glasgow Sat 25 Feb 2012

Simple Minds - Barrowlands, Glasgow Sat 25 Feb 2012

Revisit to first five albums a reminder of their potency

(3 stars)8 Mar 2012

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…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Bwani Junction

Eat, sleep and breathe: Bwani Junction

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

8 Mar 2012

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…

Bowling for Soup's Jaret Reddick and Erik Chandler - interview

Pop punk titans Bowling for Soup - interview

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

7 Mar 2012

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

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

Successful performance from band on the cusp of greatness

(3 stars)7 Mar 2012

‘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…

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