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The Gussets

Singles & Downloads

8 May 2008

Get ready, kids, it’s New Morrissey Single of the Fortnight time! And this one’s a stormer, all taut and driving, and laced with that familiar austerity which, you suspect, hides a well of uncertainty somewhere just below the surface. And it’s got these…

Also Released - Music

8 May 2008

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD) This was recorded in a remote cabin in the wilds of Wisconsin and it sounds like it. A gloriously minimal and spectral solo debut from Justin Vernon. Jack Marchment - Corydon and Manjrekar (Benbecula) Inspired…

Jay Haze - Love

Jay Haze - Love & Beyond

(3 stars)8 May 2008

TECHNO SOUL (TurningSpork Records) Jay Haze aka Fuckpony is one of few producers providing something unique in the minimal scene besides Ricardo Villalobos. Love focuses on the sci-fi house sound ‘of the now’. The standouts on the double vinyl version…

Madonna - Hard Candy

Madonna - Hard Candy

(4 stars)8 May 2008

POP (Warner Bros) While acts much younger than her construct entire careers around trading on former glories, Madonna clearly doesn’t give two figs for nostalgia. Eleven albums on and pop’s most famous magpie and queen of reinvention is as sonically…

Parka - Attack of the Hundred Yard Hardman

Parka - Attack of the Hundred Yard Hardman

(2 stars)8 May 2008

BAGGY (Jeepster) One day, that baggy comeback is going to arrive, and will a band like Parka be leading the charge? Probably not. For all their verve and enthusiasm, the Glaswegian group (now based in London) sound just like the times they emulate…

Session A9 - Bottlenecks and Arm-Breakers

Session A9 - Bottlenecks and Arm-Breakers

(5 stars)8 May 2008

FOLK (RAJ Records) Session A9 are not the only four-fiddle ‘supergroup’ on the Scottish folk scene, but like both Blazin’ Fiddles and Fiddlers’ Bid, they have evolved their own distinctive approach to the format. That sense of individuality is down to…

The Heavy Circles - The Heavy Circles

The Heavy Circles - The Heavy Circles

(3 stars)8 May 2008

ROCK/POP (Dynamite Child) Twenty years after the funky quirks of ‘What I Am’, Edie Brickell’s voice retains its girlish appeal: dreamy soaring, slacker tantrums and all. This time round, though, it’s her husband Paul Simon’s son Harper who is setting…

Also Released - Music

24 Apr 2008

The Ossians - The MacPherson Tapes (45b) Akin to Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, this long lost Edinburgh quartet ‘coulda been contenders’ had they not ended up imploding in a hail of rock’n’roll misfortune. This is the recently uncovered album that…

Capercaillie

Capercaillie - Roses and Tears

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

FOLK (Vertical Records) Capercaillie have done very nicely with their particular fusion of traditional music with more contemporary influences, and it is hardly likely that they are going to suddenly throw all that aside in pursuit of some radical new…

dEUS - Vantage Point

dEUS - Vantage Point

(4 stars)24 Apr 2008

ROCK (V2) Belgian artrockers dEUS have a large cult following, but this fifth album deserves a wider audience. Expansive and eclectic, Vantage Point sees the fivesome refining their mix of powerfully emotive themes with leftfield, intelligent rock…

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

(4 stars)24 Apr 2008

INDIE (FatCat Records) Graduating from underground heroes to a mainstream proposition often, unfortunately, requires a little softening around the edges. No signs of this where Frightened Rabbit are concerned, however. While the Glasgow-based foursome…

Isobel Campbell

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt

(2 stars)24 Apr 2008

COUNTRY/FOLK/BLUES (V2) Campbell and Lanegan’s Mercury-nominated debut was a one-trick pony, but it was a pretty cool trick. Campbell’s wispy whimper and Lanegan’s bourbon-soaked growl blended refreshingly over some old school folk and blues, but it…

Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey - Body Mandala

(4 stars)24 Apr 2008

CONTEMPORARY (NMC) Jonathan Harvey was Composer in Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2005-7, and was a central figure in the recent IRCAM weekend in Glasgow. This CD includes two compositions written in his Glasgow residency…

Miyagi - Lucky Face

Miyagi - Lucky Face

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

RETRO ROCK (Miyagi Music) Some of us demand originality in these days of ‘same-old, same-old’. Edinburgh’s Miyagi (a quartet with only one sold-out EP – Dragonfly – behind them) fall into many categories, none of them standardised pop. To pigeonhole…

Neil Cowley Trio

Neil Cowley Trio - Loud . . . Louder . . . Stop

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

JAZZ (Cake Music) Pianist Neil Cowley and his cohorts, bassist Richard Sadler and drummer Evan Jenkins, appear in Scotland this month as part of the last Triptych festival, and rate among the hipper items on the current UK jazz scene. Lauded for…

Phil Harding

Phil Harding - The Story of Beginners

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

SINGER-SONGWRITER (Wb Records) Over 30 years in the making, prolific pop producer Phil Harding finally marks the release of his debut solo album. From working with the likes of Stock, Aitken & Watercrap during the nauseating 80s, The Story of…

Portishead

Portishead - Third

(4 stars)24 Apr 2008

ELECTRONICA (Island) No one ever really expected Dummy MkII did they? For trip hop – the smoky sub-genre Portishead inadvertently helped create – is a distant, smouldering ember but Third is glorious, odd and timeless, a record of clanking, throbbing…

De Rosa

Singles & Downloads

24 Apr 2008

Independents, ie self-released records and downloads, are the current music industry trailblazers, but talk of ‘independence’ may account for the broad Scots accents on at least some of the current local releases. Comrade Down – 1/3 of former John Peel…

Tindersticks

Tindersticks - Hungry Saw

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

SOUL (Beggars Banquet) Tindersticks have always understood that the essence of great soul music was a tall (occasionally tragic) tale set to something grand sounding and have amassed a back catalogue of heartbreaking, often breathtaking…

Boys Noize

Various - Bugged Out presents Suck My Deck Mixed by Boys Noize

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

ELECTRONICA (New State Music) Boys Noize is the wholly apposite nom de plume of Berlin native Alex Ridha who, for his first ever mix CD has set ticking a whole crate of techno smart bombs for our delight. He mercilessly cuts up tracks by Kitsune…

Charles Webster

Various - Defected Presents Charles Webster

(3 stars)24 Apr 2008

ECLECTICA (Defected) If Charles Webster doesn’t sound like a typical superstar DJ, well that’s because he isn’t. He is a true cult hero of dance music and this triple CD package gives us a considered showcase of the breadth of work Webster programmes…

Ally Kerr

Ally Kerr - Off the Radar

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

SINGER-SONGWRITER (Much Obliged Records) Off the Radar is the second album from one of Scotland’s brightest rising stars, Ally Kerr, whose debut set Calling Out to You from 2005 was hailed by critics from as far afield as Tokyo; the Glaswegian can be…

Also Released - Music

10 Apr 2008

USSA - The Spoils (Fuzz Artists Inc) Jesus Lizard’s Duane Denison and Ministry’s Paul Barker join forces in a new four-piece which is reminiscent of their previous endeavours but throws in added Killing Joke-esque bombast. Damn fine. Quentin Harris…

Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles - Culture Castles

(5 stars)10 Apr 2008

INDIE/RAVE/GRIME/PUNK/ELECTRO The so-called new rave scene has been responsible for spewing out a load of old meaningless tosh since it was coined by desperate music journalists two years ago, but its latest wrong comes in the form of the debut album…

Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

POP (Warner Bros) The completely addictive nature of their debut single ‘Crazy’ set the bar just a tad high for Danger Mouse and Cee-lo Green (for they are Gnarls Barkley). The chances of lightning striking twice was remote but they’ve shown their…

Hadouken!

Hadouken! - Music for an Accelerated Culture

(1 star)10 Apr 2008

INDIE/RAVE/GRIME/PUNK/ELECTRO (Atlantic) The so-called new rave scene has been responsible for spewing out a load of old meaningless tosh since it was coined by desperate music journalists two years ago, but its latest wrong comes in the form of the…

Heidi Talbot

Heidi Talbot - In Love and Light

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

FOLK (Navigator Records) It seems folk singers just ain’t content with being plain old folk singers these days. Admittedly, the boundaries between folk and the singer-songwriter game have long been fairly blurred anyway, but more and more of the…

Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers

(4 stars)10 Apr 2008

COUNTRY/ROCK (Rounder) Like all the best Americans, Kathleen Edwards is actually Canadian, although you’d be hard pressed to tell on the basis of her third studio album. Her punchy-yet-tender, world-weary-yet-impassioned take on country and rock could…

Kyon

Kyon & Dyems - Overnight

(4 stars)10 Apr 2008

HIP HOP ELECTRONICA (Crystal Wish) Kyon & Dyems are enigmatic Edinburgh-based brothers who, on this quality showing, would put most major label hip hop acts to shame. This debut album, recorded on a budget, is nevertheless brimming with ideas…

London & Glasgow Improvisers Orchestras

London & Glasgow Improvisers Orchestras - Separately & Together

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

JAZZ (Emanem Records) For reasons both practical and aesthetic large ensembles have been the exception rather than the rule in the world of free improvisation. Both the London and the rather younger Glasgow Improvisers Orchestras have happily flown in…

REM - Accelerate

REM - Accelerate

(4 stars)10 Apr 2008

ROCK (Warners) Returns to form don’t come much better or more surprising. Written off as an increasingly irrelevant force this millennium (particularly following 2004’s mediocre Around the Sun), REM now breeze in with a startlingly youthful record.

Attic Lights

Singles & Downloads

10 Apr 2008

Life’s shit enough, so this issue we’re only gonna review good stuff. So, no Libertines-influenced jangle monkeys, no dodgy hip hop, no execrable manufactured pop or R&B, no po-faced nu-metal (you have no idea). Only quality, original tunes will make it…

The Dirtbombs

The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

ROCK’N’ROLL (In The Red) Pity The Dirtbombs. While frontman Mick Collins (with his former outfit The Gories) can claim to have been a formative influence on The White Stripes, they may always be known to the wider public as second wave garage…

The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

(4 stars)10 Apr 2008

ROCK (XL Recordings) When Jack White and best bud Brendan Benson teamed up for their debut it was very much a meeting of minds: pop craftsman meets blues rebel, uptown. The results were explosive, both players breaking from familiar constraints to…

The Teak Project

The Teak Project

(3 stars)10 Apr 2008

JAZZ (First Hand Records) The Teak Project is a collaboration between sitar player Jonathan Mayer (son of Indo-jazz fusion pioneer John Mayer), guitarist Justin Quinn and tabla player Neil Craig. They describe the project as a collaboration of…

The Gossip

The Gossip - Live In Liverpool

(5 stars)27 Mar 2008

LIVE ALBUM (Columbia) The Gossip may have been catapulted to fame on the back of an advert for E4 teen-soap Skins, but they’ve been playing spine-tingling gigs on the underground for years, and this live performance, recorded in Liverpool’s Carling…

Also Released - Music

27 Mar 2008

Clinic - Do It! ( Domino ) It’s nice to think that the cash made by Arctic Monkeys records goes into something positive for the world like Clinic albums. More slightly erratic, vibrating genius from a band who evoke the spirit of The Residents and Soft…

Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie - Explications

Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie - Explications

(3 stars)27 Mar 2008

JAZZ (Not Applicable) The Ritchie in this triumvirate is Scottish drummer Stu, and his work with the likes of Colin Steele and the excellent Trianglehead will mean he needs no further introduction in these parts. Anyone who has followed the more…

Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior

Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior

(3 stars)27 Mar 2008

DUBSTEP (Tempa) Despite the rise of dubstep’s profile recently you still have to sift around to find the good stuff. One gold nugget is Beni Uthman aka Benga, the old skool kid on the block who, since age 16, has been showing many how it’s…

Box Club

Box Club - Box Club

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

FOLK (BoxClubRecords) The accordion is an instrument that still has an image problem in some quarters. Box Club are out to counter that perception by presenting the venerable instrument in much more contemporary trappings, including a slick visual…

Cavelera Conspiracy - Inflikted

Cavelera Conspiracy - Inflikted

27 Mar 2008

VERY HEAVY METAL (Roadrunner) Brazillian metallers Sepultura are pretty much untouchable in the world of thrash. Their Chaos AD and Roots are classics of the genre. However, frontman Max Cavalera split from the band in 1996, going on to form Soulfly…

Counting Crows

Counting Crows - Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

ROCK (Polydor) After hitting an impasse after their insanely popular but creatively redundant cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, it looked like Counting Crows were on a one-way trip to rom-com soundtrackville. For this, their fifth record…

Estelle - Shine

Estelle - Shine

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

R&B POP (Atlantic/Homeschool) Estelle has paid her dues on the UK R&B circles before departing stateside. A meeting with US R&B star John Legend led to her signing to his Homeschool stable and this, her second album is executive produced by…

Guilty Simpson - Ode to The Ghetto

Guilty Simpson - Ode to The Ghetto

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

HIP HOP (Stones Throw Records) Byron Simpson aka Guilty Simpson is the real deal. He’s done his time within Detroit’s hip hop scene, mastering his art and waiting for his moment. Ode to the Ghetto is his first full-length project and what you have…

MGMT

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

ROCK (Columbia) After first encountering this New York outfit making their TV debut on The Letterman Show wearing long black capes and romping though their breakthrough tune ‘Time to Pretend’, MGMT have only gone up even further in our estimation with…

The Breeders

The Breeders - Mountain Battles

(2 stars)27 Mar 2008

ROCK (4AD) It’s been six years since The Breeders released the raw, loose and intimate Title TK, which makes you wonder what the hell Kim Deal and co have been doing in that time? Maybe she’s been distracted by the Pixies reformation, but Mountain…

The Long Blondes - Couples

The Long Blondes - Couples

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

INDIE (Rough Trade) This Sheffield fivesome have always seemed rather clinical, their debut Someone to Drive You Home sounding a little too self-aware and over-thought at times. However, with this Erol Alkan-produced second effort they have got the…

Channel U: Vol 2

Various - Channel U: Vol 2

(1 star)27 Mar 2008

GRIME (Gut) The newest, street-level incarnation of London’s underground R&B fixation is widely acknowledged as bassline. Thus the plucky pups at Gut are either lagging behind the pack or mopping up the last smears of grime on this compilation of…

Various - Messthetics

Various - Messthetics #105

(4 stars)27 Mar 2008

INDIE PUNK (Hyped 2 Death Records) This is a surprisingly worthwhile US import representing a wide range of – as the subtitle suggests – Scottish DIY and (very) indie post-punk from 1977-1981. There are 24 tracks (in 69 glorious minutes) to wade…

A Toys Orchestra - Technicolor Dreams

A Toys Orchestra - Technicolor Dreams

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

ROCK POP (Urtovox) Written rule in music number 14: Europeans of the continental type make horrible, horrible pop music. Of course, there are a few examples which dilute this tenet (ABBA and, um, A-ha?). And when it comes to Italians and pop, you can…

Adam Green - Sixes and Sevens

Adam Green - Sixes and Sevens

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

INDIE (Rough Trade) This quirky troubadour’s fifth offering should carry a health warning, because it’s ridiculously addictive. When you first stick on Sixes and Sevens, the golden vocals and smooth production complete with horn sections, Brooklyn…

Also Released - Music

13 Mar 2008

Grand Archives - The Grand Archives (Sub Pop) The debut album for this band of sunshiny Seattle-ites who celebrate the non-ironic joys of The Beach Boys, Bee Gees and the Mamas and the Papas and come out somewhere between Belle and Sebastian and The…

Amplifico - See Heart, See Muscle

Amplifico - See Heart, See Muscle

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

POP ROCK (MDM Creations) A triumph in genuinely independent music, savvy Scots Amplifico, following voiceful label interest but seeking commitment, have fashioned a self-released debut of assured distinction and depth. Boasting ballsy rather than more…

Bitcrush - Epilogue in Waves

Bitcrush - Epilogue in Waves

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

ATMOSPHERICS (n5MD) In conclusion to a kind of Bitcrush triptych, Gridlock’s Mike Cadoo has made the bold but logical step away from twittering electronics altogether, here moulding pensive soundscapes with nowt but the traditional guitar, bass, drums…

Cadence Weapon

Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

HIP HOP (Big Dada) It’s not entirely fair to say we need another smartass boy shooting his mouth off over gristly beats but here’s another, who, despite initial impressions has dealt us a hand of oddly affecting, raw and human stories. Cadence…

Duffy - Rockferry

Duffy - Rockferry

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

POP (Polydor) This young Welsh songbird is certainly no Dusty Springfield, nor does she have the grit and sass of Amy Winehouse, but while she may struggle to live up to recent hysterical media comparisons, Rockferry proves that Duffy is still a…

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

ROCK (Fiction) Mancunian troubadours Elbow have always been at the more inventive end of the indie spectrum. Their restless musical experimentalism has garnered a mountain of critical acclaim, but their refusal to take the easy route has seen them…

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

DISCO HOUSE (EMI/DFA) We can only hope that Hercules and Love Affair’s stunning debut single ‘Blind’ doesn’t soak all the attention away from this great record, because otherwise the new last days of disco start here. Neglecting the affecting…

Ivor Cutler - The Flat Man

Ivor Cutler - The Flat Man

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

POP (Hoorgi House) When Ivor Cutler died in 2006 aged 83 a little piece of British culture died too, never to return. Celebrated by many as Scotland’s alternative poet laureate, his talents as a writer, poet, songsmith, humorist were like no other…

Kronos Quartet & Wu Man - The Cusp of Magic

Kronos Quartet & Wu Man - The Cusp of Magic

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

CONTEMPORARY (Nonesuch) The music of Terry Riley has run through the repertoire of the acclaimed contemporary music specialists the Kronos Quartet like a thread. No surprise, then, that they should have chosen to mark the composer’s 70th birthday with…

Led Bib - Live

Led Bib - Live

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

JAZZ (Babel) This brief, limited edition four-tracker catches drummer Mark Holub’s quintet storming through four cuts at Pizza Express in Soho last year. Led Bib have all the bluster and fury of the band who trailblazed the unholy fusing of be-bop and…

Mit - Coda

Mit - Coda

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

ELECTRO PUNK (Half Machine) If you thought Krautrock had moved to New York and taken up permanent residence in James Murphy’s basement, you’re (almost) entirely mistaken. Defending German incumbency over lengthy electronic tripouts, ritual synth abuse…

Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Neon Neon - Stainless Style

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

ELECTRO (Lex) A concept album about John DeLorean (inventor of Marty McFly’s motor and acquitted drug trafficker) by Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and hip hop innovator Boom Bip sounds like a dream ticket, although the finished product is low on…

Radar Bros. - Auditorium

Radar Bros. - Auditorium

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

SLOWCORE (Chemikal Underground) The West Coast of Scotland meets the West Coast of America here, as Glasgow’s Chemikal Underground provide a UK release for the latest album by this LA psych-balladeering outfit. It’s really quite lovely too. Jim…

Ron Blake - Shayari

Ron Blake - Shayari

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

JAZZ (Mack Avenue Records) American saxophonist Ron Blake is most likely to be familiar to UK-based listeners through his work with trumpeter Roy Hargrove and bassist Christian McBride. His third album as a leader finds him in generally pensive mood…

Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson - Partners In Crime

Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson - Partners In Crime

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

FOLK (Vertical Records) While many piping recordings are primarily of interest to the piping community, this disc follows the lead of Ross Ainslie’s late teacher, Gordon Duncan, in aiming at a more diverse audience. The players are two of the…

The Xcerts

Singles & Downloads

13 Mar 2008

Hurrying past James Blunt and Bryan’s Adams’ new singles, let’s start at the only logical place, the ‘Start Beginning’ (FDM Records) ••• with Nizlopi (of ‘JCB Song’ notoriety) and their relentlessly optimistic, acoustic pop rainbow of a song that could…

The B-52s - Funplex

The B-52s - Funplex

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

SURF POST-PUNK POP (EMI) ‘I look at you and I’m ready to pump,’ declares the very first lyric of Funplex. Smutty, puerile, silly or all of the above, it makes at least one thing instantly clear: The B-52s are back. It’s 16 years since Athens…

The Black Crowes - Warpaint

The Black Crowes - Warpaint

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

ROCK (Silver Arrow) The Black Crowes’ initial explosion here in the early 90s was intense but short-lived. They’re now, like those other American stalwarts Pearl Jam, a huge cult band here not to mention legends in their homeland. This, their first…

The Superimposers - Harpsichord Treacle

The Superimposers - Harpsichord Treacle

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

INDIE (Wonderful Sound) Doctors should really start thinking about prescribing The Superimposers for stress. This third effort from the much underrated act finds them reaching new levels of dreaminess with their whimsical take on indie pop, opening…

The Teenagers - Reality Check

The Teenagers - Reality Check

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

INDIE (Merok/XL) From Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Do You Want To’ to ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ via ‘Dirrty’, savvy pop stars have always known that the best music is utterly filthy. On this basis, Parisian trio The Teenagers have made a masterpiece with…

The Whip - X Marks Destination

The Whip - X Marks Destination

(4 stars)13 Mar 2008

DANCE ROCK (Southern Fried) Manchester has been staging a musical revival recently, and at the forefront of this uprising stand The Whip. They’re certainly a band who exemplify much of the north’s finest music: like the Mondays they’re rock and dance…

What the Folk Volume 2

Various - What the Folk Volume 2

(3 stars)13 Mar 2008

FOLK (Butterfly Recordings) Following up Butterfly’s acoustic-only debut compilation of 2006, 15 funky folksters set about proving that it’s not just musty fiddling men and wizened warbling dames who can cut the folky mustard. At times, the jumpers…

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

POP (Mute) For a woman who has done so much unashamed musical thievery in her time that she would put a gang of Pollock shoplifters to shame, Alison Goldfrapp has always been a bewitching character. In her efforts to distinguish herself from the…

Also Released - Music

28 Feb 2008

Amp Live and Radiohead - Rainy Dayz (No label) In the spirit of free enterprise, US rap producer Amp Live took it upon himself to rework the finer points of Radiohead’s In Rainbows. After much wrangling and various cease and desists the two parties…

Bugge Wesseltoft - IM

Bugge Wesseltoft - IM

(3 stars)28 Feb 2008

JAZZ (Jazzland) The slow, minimal single notes shrouded in a delicate shimmering echo on ‘deIMAGER’ is an extreme example, but the general mood of the music on the Norwegian pianist’s latest outing is notably understated and reflective, with the…

Christian Scott - Anthem

Christian Scott - Anthem

(3 stars)28 Feb 2008

JAZZ (Concord Jazz) Under the direction of its founder, the late Carl Jefferson, the Concord Jazz label was a haven for straight-ahead mainstream swing. Its new corporate identity within the Universal group has seen the label branching out in more…

Karine Polwar

Karine Polwart - This Earthly Spell

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

FOLK (Hegri Music) Karine Polwart is already established as Scotland’s premier purveyor of progressive folk, and this consummate and lush album consolidates that position. A flip side to last year’s traditional collection Fairest Floo’er, this album…

Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart

Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

INDIE (Full Time Hobby) On the public face of it, ex-Arab Strapper Malcolm Middleton may not be getting any happier, but it’s difficult to come away from one of his collections without wiping a grin off your face while the inevitable tear dampens your…

Heretic Pride

Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

(2 stars)28 Feb 2008

FOLK POP (4AD) While it might be cruel to say that John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats might be trying for a kind of Sufjan Stevens vibe but end up a bit too Jasper Carrott for comfort, that’s still the overriding impression given by Heretic Pride.

Moving Hearts - Live in Dublin

Moving Hearts - Live in Dublin

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

FOLK (RubyWorks) Reunions can often be disappointing affairs, but the occasional return to action of this mighty Irish band have been notable exceptions. This album was recorded on home ground last year, and if their pioneering fusion of folk with…

Dig Lazarus Dig!

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

ROCK (Mute) Rather than retreating back to relative serene solitude after the Stooges-ish stramash of his tremendous side project Grinderman, Cave has rallied the troops and made his first distinctly ‘group’ record since 2004’s Nocturama. Dig…

The Moonshine Sessions

Philip Cohen Solal - The Moonshine Sessions

(2 stars)28 Feb 2008

COUNTRY (Ya Basta!) Solal is best known as the French DJ, composer and producer behind the electronica-tango fusion of Gotan Project, so this largely traditional country album comes as a surprise. Recorded in Nashville with a host of local…

Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Mozart Symphonies 38–41

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

CLASSCIAL (Linn Records) There are some partnerships that just work. The SCO’s collaboration with conductor Sir Charles Mackerras is one of them. Not that it doesn’t have to be worked at. Having done so over many years, their partnership has matured…

Stephen Malkmus

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

(2 stars)28 Feb 2008

ROCK (Domino) Former Pavement man Malkmus has seemingly spent the last few years trying to alienate fans of his former band, as he’s crawled further and further up where the sun don’t shine. On this fourth solo album, that effort reaches a zenith…

Surrounded - The Nautilus Years

Surrounded - The Nautilus Years

(3 stars)28 Feb 2008

POP (One Little Indian) Surrounded, we are told, are ‘Sweden’s answer to The Flaming Lips.’ It’s a distinct possible that never a truer statement has been typed onto a music press release and while this is fine up to a point, that point arrives rather…

The Gutter Twins

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia

(4 stars)28 Feb 2008

ROCK (Sub Pop) Two grunge legends for the price of one – bargain! The Gutter Twins are Greg Dulli (formerly of Afghan Whigs) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), and this joint project seamlessly blends the former’s love of soul with the latter’s…

Adele - 19

Adele - 19

(3 stars)14 Feb 2008

POP (XL) Much is made these days of the ‘voice’. Joss Stone, if you remember, had one; Corinne Bailey Rae still has hers; why, wasn’t even the bland and affected Katie Mellua touted as being in the possession of such a thing? The newest voice on the…

Also Released

Also Released - Music: Records

14 Feb 2008

Janet Jackson - Discipline (Mercury) The youngest of the Jackson brood is back with über-slick R&B pop. She’s already stated she’s covering no new ground, which will save us expecting some kind of jazz metal style reinvention then, eh? Pete and the…

Catriona Macdonald - Over the Moon

Catriona Macdonald - Over the Moon

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

FOLK (Peerie Angel) This is fiddler Catriona Macdonald’s first solo release since 2000, and allows us to hear her away from immediate juxtaposition with collaborators on the same instrument in her regular bands, Scotland’s Blazin’ Fiddles and String…

Health - Health

Health - Health

(2 stars)14 Feb 2008

NOISE (Lovepump Unlimited) With the back catalogues of bands like Liars, Boredoms and Lightning Bolt part of the alt.rock curriculum these days, it’s not wholly surprising that they should spawn self-conscious imitators. Los Angeles-based quartet…

Judith Weir - The Welcome Arrival of Rain

Judith Weir - The Welcome Arrival of Rain

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

CONTEMPORARY (NMC Records) Scottish composer Judith Weir has enjoyed a prominent profile recently, with the world premiere of a new work from the SCO in December, and a whole weekend devoted to her music at the Barbican last month, much of it…

Kim Edgar - Butterflies and Broken Glass

Kim Edgar - Butterflies and Broken Glass

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

SINGER-SONGWRITER (Quietly Fantastic) Winning 2006’s Burnsong competition and being chucked into a house with established songwriters was a dream come true for Scottish singer Edgar, and she’s made that experience count on this accomplished and…

Kyte - Kyte

Kyte - Kyte

(3 stars)14 Feb 2008

POST ROCK (Kids) Post rockers tend to take themselves mighty seriously (our own lovable Mogwai aside), and the same goes for po-faced Leicestershire young guns Kyte. There is plenty of ambition here, and the band are unashamedly epic in an obviously…

Nada Surf - Lucky

Nada Surf - Lucky

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

INDIE (City Slang) Some bands are so damn unassuming that you almost miss them in the rush for the next big thing. Nada Surf are part of a slightly wonky lineage in rock music that starts with Neil Young and stretches through Paul Simon and The Cars…

Pat Metheny - Day Trip

Pat Metheny - Day Trip

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

JAZZ (Nonesuch) Trio has been a recurring format in the work of guitarist Pat Metheny, and has invariably induced a creative response to the open textures and responsive interplay of his collaborators. Despite digressions into spikier and more…

Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin’ – Inspired by Dusty Springfield

Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin’ – Inspired by Dusty Springfield

(2 stars)14 Feb 2008

COUNTRY (Lost Highway) We may be waiting forever for that Whiteout tribute album: most artists prefer to wrestle with back catalogues far sturdier than their own in these situations. Dusty Springfield’s greatest hits are only a hair short of genius…

MGMT

Singles & Downloads

14 Feb 2008

The trouble with being trendy and much touted is that, at some point, you’ve got to produce the goods. Indie ugly mugs The Cribs singularly fail to do so with ‘I’m a Realist’ (Wichita) •, a tuneless, insipid, po-faced sub-Razorlight jangle. Ditto for…

Talk - Reset Start Again

Talk - Reset Start Again

(3 stars)14 Feb 2008

ELECTRONICA (Fortune & Glory) You know that when a band are trying to create a ‘coherent mix of both digital and analogue without ever sounding disjointed’ that we may well all be in trouble. Whatever happened to writing a song from the heart rather…

Toumani Diabate - The Mandé Variations

Toumani Diabate - The Mandé Variations

(4 stars)14 Feb 2008

WORLD (World Circuit) Toumani Diabate is one of those great Malian musicians that cannot be knocked. The album Kaira was his first: a beautifully melodic 40-minute kora solo, released in 1989. Since then he has been a collaborators dream, working with…

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