Music, Previews

Festival of Museums set for nationwide celebration of Scotland’s culture in May 2011

Music, storytelling and period fashion among highlights of new festival

From the Groam House Museum in Ross-shire and Portsoy Bothy in Banffshire, to the Annan Museum in Dumfries and Galloway, the Festival of Museums features an eclectic and colourful range of concerts, talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions taking…

Red Note Ensemble's May tour to focus on Salvatore Sciarrino's Infinito Nero

While ecstasy may well mean different things to different people, in the context of Red Note Ensemble’s May tour it is all about Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino and his Infinito Nero. Based on the visions, or ecstasies, of early 17th century…

Theatre, music and dance highlights from the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Semiramide and King Lear among picks

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) has been a benchmark for quality and innovation in the performing arts since its inauguration nearly 65 years ago. This year artistic director Jonathan Mills builds his programme around the multi-faceted…

Eric 'Ripley' Johnson of psych/drone outfit Moon Duo on the benefits of losing your job

The Wooden Shjips guitarist now tours with his partner Sanae Yamada

Fans of their droney psych-rock should probably thank the boss who, two years back, told Eric ‘Ripley’ Johnson his services were no longer required. ‘It was one of those things where I didn’t like my job, but didn’t have the courage to just quit,…

Mount Kimbie interview

Dom Maker from Mount Kimbie chats dubstep and something called 'emo-step'

Mount Kimbie manage to sedate you whilst still making you want to move. Rather than having you hurtle head-on into the sweaty masses like any old ‘dubstep’ club night, the London-based duo of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos’ deliciously concocted rhythms…

Seven Angels opera tackles Paradise Lost

Composer Luke Bedford uses Milton’s epic to explore envorinmental themes

According to Wikipedia, there are over ten thousand individual lines of verse in Milton’s Paradise Lost. That’s a bit much for an opera. So, for his new Seven Angels, leading young British composer Luke Bedford uses Milton’s epic as the starting point…

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…

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo set for Glasgow Jazz festival date

West African afro-beat band tour their new album Cotonou Club

The influential West African band have set a series of tour dates circling the UK this summer, visiting Glasgow for the first time in the 30-plus years that they have been a band. Having formed in the late 60s, they have accumulated a collection of…

Interview: Katy B on bringing everything to RockNess - including the kitchen sink

The chart-friendly, female face of dubstep

‘When I was 13, listening to Choice FM, I would listen to a lot of R&B from America, and whenever a British person tried to do it, it didn’t really work, they just sounded like they were trying to copy that whole style. Now the music sounds British…

RockNess 2011: Bus times, line-up and stages

New stages, weekend highlights and travel times

RockNess have laid on three brand new arenas for 2011. Firstly, the Rock’n’Roll Circus will showcase cutting-edge music and comedy talent from the likes of Jamie Woon and The Cuban Brothers. Secondly, Glasgow clubbing institution Sub Club will present…

Interview: Glasvegas - Rab Allan on being older, wiser and stronger in 2011

Glasgow band talk to us ahead of their main stage slot at RockNess

‘My head wasn’t in a very good place either. My head was up my arse. I didn’t really know what was happening. I was just as bad as he was,’ explains Glasvegas guitarist Rab Allan with a nervous laugh. He’s referring to frontman (and Rab’s cousin) James…

RockNess veteran Rob da Bank gives us his tips for top acts across the weekend

DJ and bestival boss on why RockNess is such a unique festival

It’s one of the most beautiful sites for a festival probably anywhere in the world. Obviously you’ve got Loch Ness nestling at the bottom of the site but the whole drive out there from Inverness through rolling hills and valleys is totally stunning.

Domino Records host Edinburgh International Film Festival event

Event aims to showcase effective combination of music and film

A good advert can, sometimes, sell more than jeans, or alcohol, or cars. Think of the 1999 number one song, 'Flat Beat', which gained enormous popularity after a puppet called Flat Eric danced to it in a Levi’s advert. Levi’s shifted their jeans, the…

Hebrides Ensemble: Kurtag - Kafka Fragments

Work based on Kafka’s diaries and letters with Soprano Elizabeth Watts

One of Britain’s hottest new singing talents, whether in opera or on the concert platform, 31-year-old soprano Elizabeth Watts (pictured) joins leading chamber music group Hebrides Ensemble for Kafka Fragmente by György Kurtág, an extraordinary…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 - sneak preview

Liberace, Finnish a capella groups and iPad fairy tales just some of the coming attractions

Whether it’s origami genitalia, homosexual deities or political commentary on the Lockerbie bombing, Edinburgh’s Fringe seldom arrives with a whimper but rather a ruddy great roar. June sees the official launch of 2011’s line-up, but we thought we…

Wee Jaunt features musicians performing in the most unlikely places in Edinburgh

Detour's one-day festival from David Weaver and Ally McCrae

We at List HQ take great pride in our ability to give you all the details you could possibly need to pack your lives chock-full of top-notch, culturally-fulfilling activities every month. So imagine our confusion when we tried to write about something…

Interview - Munaf Rayani of Explosions in the Sky

Guitarist talks about band's last few years and where they're going next

If you’re wondering what intervened and caused the long gap before Explosions in the Sky issued a follow-up to their remarkable 2007 album All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, life is the short answer. The Texan instrumental post-rock quartet’s fifth…

Kronos Quartet's David Harrington on Glasgow concerts – full interview transcript

Ensemble's artistic director on curating a mini-festival

The List: Could you tell me first of all when it was that you decided to put together this programme and how long you’ve been working on it? David Harrington: You know it seems to me we’ve been thinking about this for at least a year, probably more.

Kronos in Glasgow - Kronos Quartet and Matmos interview

Glasgow festival features Alim Qasimov and Steve Reich's WTC 9/11

You don’t need to have a vinyl collection full of minimalist composers’ masterworks to have heard the music of Kronos Quartet. You could be a hardened electronic enthusiast, or a pure pop believer; your ears will not have escaped their string…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Summer Camp

Summer-poppers Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey enjoy sushi and Earl Grey. No sugar, though

What time is breakfast? Jeremy: Whenever we have to leave the Travelodge and drive to the next city. Normally about 12 we’ll stop at a service station - thank god for M&S Simply Foods and Starbucks. You can usually only get one or the other, but there…

Electro-rock outfit Three Trapped Tigers gear up for their slot at Glasgow's Stag and Dagger festival

Tune-packed annual stumble around Glasgow’s streets and venues Stag & Dagger is back, and with it come some of the most voguish local and national bands of the moment. The List will be looking forward to seeing Clinic, Warpaint, Yuck, Sons & Daughters…

5 Reasons to Go See. . . Khaira Arby

She’s Mali’s biggest star Arby is known in Mali as ‘The Nightingale of the North’, and her music reflects the cultural diversity of the Sahara region. ‘Timbuktu is a multicultural city and has been for many hundreds of years. I sing in several…

Robbie Thomson on Cryptic Nights project Inducer

Collaboration with Sarah Milne and Jack Wrigley

What was the inspiration for your new project ‘Inducer’ with Sarah Milne and Jack Wrigley? ‘Inducer’ is an extension of our interest in experimental musical instrument design and an attempt to create a crude, mechanical form of electronic music.

Electronica/drone trio Emeralds return to Glasgow

The krautrock-influenced noisemongers play The Arches on Mon 23 May

The American underground has fallen in love with the crystalline textures of vintage synthesisers. Like their friend James Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds drink deep from the kosmische fountain – the DNA of Ashra, Popol Vuh and Tangerine…

Johnny Lynch of Fence Records talks exclusively to The List about Home Game 2011

Fence Records’ annual Anstruther-based shindig Home Game is approaching once again, offering three days of intimate musical adventures for anyone lucky enough to get their hands on one of the 400 highly-coveted tickets. ‘We’ve spent 8 years building…