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Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous

Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous

25 Jun 2009

The former Arab Strapper has had some wonderful moments in his seven year solo career, but this fifth album has a faint whiff of treading water about it. The wry, bittersweet lyrical observations are still present in the likes of ‘Don’t Want to Sleep…

Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West

Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West

25 Jun 2009

(Weathermaker) Clutch are one of those bands who constantly find themselves outside the circle of mainstream music, and unfortunately, it seems they’ll never transcend the fringes. This is their ninth studio effort and, rather unspectacularly, keeps…

Sara Tavares - Xinti

Sara Tavares - Xinti

25 Jun 2009

(World Connection) Portuguese singer Sara Tavares writes amazing songs, delivering them with one of the most shape-shifting voices around, a fusion of the gentle and wistful with subtly buoyant rhythm. Xinti which means ‘feel’, tells its own…

Ancient Astronauts - We Are To Answer

Ancient Astronauts - We Are To Answer

25 Jun 2009

(ESL) This is an album that is very much a sum of its parts as Cologne duo Dogu and Kabanjak lay down some expansive instrumental head nodders and invite a host of collaborators to come throw in some general good vibery. Whether its hip hop legends…

Spare Snare - I Love You, I Hate You

Spare Snare - I Love You, I Hate You

25 Jun 2009

(Chute) For the uninitiated, Spare Snare (voted 46th in The List’s all-time Top Scottish bands poll) have been on-the-go since leader Jan D Burnett set up his home studio in Dundee around the early 90s. An acquired taste, their blend of noisy/trippy…

The Proclaimers - Notes & Rhymes

The Proclaimers - Notes & Rhymes

25 Jun 2009

Hardly taking a breath from an award-winning theatre musical (Sunshine on Leith) and a triumphant global tour last year, the Hibee-supporting twins get all-emotional on their eighth set, Notes & Rhymes. Probably Scotland’s top export, and still cool…

The Gossip - Music for Men

The Gossip - Music for Men

11 Jun 2009

The Gossip’s extravagant firebrand Beth Ditto has bagged herself stardom in bountiful guises: disco-blues diva, brawling fashionista, feminist defender, media provocateur, political agitator — and, not least, the sexiest catsuit inhabitant since…

Fly - Sky & Country

Fly - Sky & Country

11 Jun 2009

Fly are three very well known contemporary jazz musicians, saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. That pedigree suggests something special and they pretty much serve up just that – an intelligent, intricate set of…

Siouxsie and the Banshees - At the BBC

Siouxsie and the Banshees - At the BBC

11 Jun 2009

This magnificent three-CD set doesn’t really unearth anything brand new but gathers together huge hunks of the quartet’s varied career via radio sessions and live sets, starting with their John Peel debut in November 1977, filled with the poisoned…

James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

11 Jun 2009

A supernatural 12-string axe-slinger, James Blackshaw’s extraordinary muse educes Philip Glass, John Fahey and Peter Walker: he is awesome. The Glass Bead Game, Blackshaw’s first album for Young God, (home to Devendra Banhart and Akron/Family)…

Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up

Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up

11 Jun 2009

For his second long playing effort Nutini has thrown in so much to the mix no one would fault you for trying to spot the kitchen sink in there. While These Streets showed he was equal parts pop tart, soul boy and apprentice folk troubadour, here we also…

2Duos - Until The Cows Come Home

2Duos - Until The Cows Come Home

11 Jun 2009

An unusual twist on the kind of Euro collaborations that have become familiar on the Scottish folk scene, often with Scandinavian musicians. 2Duos combines well-established pairings from Scotland and Germany as Aaron Jones and Claire Mann team up to…

If Destroyed Still True - Seven Dials

If Destroyed Still True - Seven Dials

11 Jun 2009

This Leeds-based sextet were winners of the Jazz Services Promoters Choice Award for 2008, although I don’t think Scottish audiences have yet had a chance to check them out. On the evidence of this debut CD, they were worthy winners of the accolade.

Simple Minds - Graffiti Soul

Simple Minds - Graffiti Soul

11 Jun 2009

A worthy attempt to reinstate the band as stadium-filling rock contenders (while also marking their glittering 30-year anniversary), studio set number 15 ticks most boxes for fifty-somethings, Simple Minds. Four years on from the fart that was…

If Destroyed Still True - Seven Dials

Lord Cut-Glass - Lord Cut-Glass

11 Jun 2009

It’s taken a while to get round to it, but five years since his sometime band The Delgados split, and following collaborations with Aidan Moffat, Alasdair Gray and David Shrigley, Alun Woodward is finally making his album debut under this new alias.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

11 Jun 2009

Having an otherworldly, ethereal hum and echo to their sound like fellow Americans Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear sound simultaneously baroque, distant, warm, sunny, introverted and emotive. This is a brave, beautiful record that takes a long…

Placebo - Battle For the Sun

Placebo - Battle For the Sun

11 Jun 2009

Yet another nail is plunged into Placebo’s coffin as this sixth studio album finds Brian Molko taking his lyrics to a whole new levels of cringe. ‘I tore the muscle from your chest, used it to stub out cigarettes’, he sneers ridiculously on ‘Ashtray…

Roberto Fonseca - Akokan

Roberto Fonseca - Akokan

11 Jun 2009

Thrillingly lyrical Afro-Cuban jazz set from the supremely talented Fonseca who came first to fame as the young pianist who replaced veteran Ruben González in the Buena Vista Social Club. Recorded in the sacred Egrem studios, Fonseca’s second album with…

Sonic Youth: The Eternal

Sonic Youth: The Eternal

28 May 2009

The whole ‘youth’ thing may raise a smile, but Hoboken’s finest have settled into a fairly consistent groove, much like their spiritual godfather Neil Young, determined to grow old disgracefully. The Eternal has the band beefed up to a fivesome (with…

Broken Records: Until the Earth Begins to Part

Broken Records: Until the Earth Begins to Part

28 May 2009

Positively brimming with ambition, confidence and diverse songsmithery, this debut album from the Edinburgh seven-piece folk rock outfit sees them leaving behind early comparisons to Arcade Fire and growing into their own skins beautifully. Opener…

Labels of Love - Flask Records

28 May 2009

Based in Dundee Roster Samoyed, Loops Haunt, sound artist Samuel Playford Greenwell, Mast (a collaboration between Samoyed and Greenwell), exponent of ‘quite Scottish’ techno DJ Shortbread, Bristolian MC Mr Mus. Bosses Although they’re a…

Also Released - Records

28 May 2009

Franz Ferdinand Blood (Domino) A hit-and-miss retooling of the band’s recent Tonight album. The real dubby moments are a sonorous joy among the modest reshuffles of others. Loop A Gilded Eternity (Reactor) A very welcome reissue of the immense final…

Eminem: Relapse

Eminem: Relapse

28 May 2009

Eminem’s sixth album, isn’t his jump the shark moment: it’s the continuation of a long leap that started with his previous album Encore. As a rapper, he remains an unstoppable force, but topically, he’s running on empty. Relapse is Marshall’s rehab…

Speech Debelle: Speech Therapy

Speech Debelle: Speech Therapy

28 May 2009

Sister label Ninja Tunes has recently diversified out beyond the stoner electronica it’s been famed for with quality acts like Yppah and Fink, and now hip hop heavyweights Big Dada are proving they’re no slouches either. First came the post-Basement…

Christy Moore: Listen

Christy Moore: Listen

28 May 2009

Pink Floyd’s ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ may be among the most unlikely songs Christy Moore has ever covered, but the success of his re-working of the band’s tribute to the late Syd Barrett is very precisely indicative of his ability to take over a…

Led Bib: Sensible Shoes

Led Bib: Sensible Shoes

28 May 2009

The iconoclastic free jazz-meets-punk-and-rock band and the equally experimental American label seem a good match up. The London-based quartet deliver another full-on blast of the formula that has brought them a lot of attention, and do not seem…

Archie Shepp: Phat Jam in Milano

Archie Shepp: Phat Jam in Milano

28 May 2009

Saxophonist Archie Shepp has a long history of issuing rather uneven albums, and this latest live set falls into that category. His previous disc featured contributions from Chuck D, and this time around he has rapper and human beat box Napoleon Maddox…

Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship

Tortoise: Beacons of Ancestorship

28 May 2009

Tortoise have always followed their own path, moving slowly, steadily and deliberately – much like their reptillian namesake. Their six albums in little under 20 years suggest a group at ease in their own skin, building records out of fragments of jazz…

Tony Allen: Secret Agent

Tony Allen: Secret Agent

28 May 2009

Nick Gold – producer of Buena Vista Social Club, Toumani Diabate and other special artists – works his alchemy for British-based Tony Allen, one time drummer with Fela Anikulapo Kuti (and latterly Damon Albarn) for a wild Nigerian Afrobeat…

Wavves: Wavvves

Wavves: Wavvves

28 May 2009

Nothing beats a bit of noisy weird-pop, and the world’s premier purveyor of it currently is 22 year-old San Diegan Nathan Williams aka Wavves. This second effort from the enigmatic chap takes the listener on a brilliantly unsettling journey through…

Passion Pit: Manners

Passion Pit: Manners

28 May 2009

No need to rely on the erratic Scottish sunshine with Passion Pit around. The Massachusetts fivesome evoke dreamy summer days with this heavily-anticipated debut offering, which turns out to be everything the hype had us hoping for and more. A…

Little Boots: Hands

Little Boots: Hands

28 May 2009

Much touted at the turn of the year, Little Boots has rather had her electro-pop fembot pixie thunder stolen by Lady Gaga, and this debut album doesn’t do anything to turn that around. Suitably retro of feel, with shadows of Yazoo, New Order and the…

Baaba Maal: Television

Baaba Maal: Television

28 May 2009

Why Baaba Maal is not on primetime radio is frustrating. Television, his first album for eight years, is so seductively sensual at times it’s almost chill out in style. It establishes him as a man with finger on the pulse of the musical times. Catchy…

Diplo

Mad Decent records

14 May 2009

‘We look for people who are trying different things,’ says Jasper Goggins, New York-based manager of the Mad Decent label, ‘and who aren’t afraid to be a bit experimental with their sound. But more than that everyone on the label is friends, there’s…

The Vaselines: Enter the Vaselines

The Vaselines: Enter the Vaselines

14 May 2009

Things those under the age of 30 should know about The Vaselines: They were formed in Glasgow by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee. They were in existence from 1986 to 1989, and more recently on an occasional live basis. They are best known outside of…

Lau: Arc Light

Lau: Arc Light

14 May 2009

Lau have established themselves as the hottest band out there on the Scottish folk scene over the last eighteen months on the basis of their gripping live performances, and if their recordings haven’t yet quite matched the on-stage excitement, Arc Light…

Sucioperro: Pain Agency

Sucioperro: Pain Agency

14 May 2009

Friends in high places can be a blessing and a curse. This Ayrshire power trio’s association with Ayrshire’s only other spectral rock gods Biffy Clyro – Sucioperro’s JP Reid is the other half of Marmaduke Duke – means the two bands will always suffer…

Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

14 May 2009

Phoenix are really rather brilliant, it’s just a shame more people don’t know it. Criminally underrated for most of their career, the French quartet return with this fourth effort; which, cringey title aside, is by far their most accomplished and…

Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing

Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing

14 May 2009

They’re not from Manchester and they’re not an orchestra. Instead this young indie five-piece from Atlanta tap into the blue-collar rock ethic that’s spawned the likes of The Hold Steady and Kings of Leon, while also displaying plenty weirdness to keep…

Jarvis Cocker

Singles and Downloads

14 May 2009

Take four kids from Northern Ireland and force feed them AC/DC from birth and you’d create The Answer, a scarily authentic gonzo rock outfit who create a fun fluster of riffage and shrieking on ‘ Tonight’ (Albert Productions) ●●● Brainless fun…

Isosceles

Various Artists: Limbo Live Volume 1

14 May 2009

Anyone fortunate enough to attend the live music night Limbo at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms on regular Thursdays will know that it’s run by people who know what’s best on the local musical landscape, and who have the luxury of applying some well-exercised…

Also Released - Records

14 May 2009

A Hawk and A Hacksaw Deliverance (The Leaf Label) Delivering a multitude of musical influences from the Czech Republic, England, France, Romania and their homeland of New Mexico while still managing to produce something coherent, compelling and…

Rachel Hair: The Lucky Smile

Rachel Hair: The Lucky Smile

14 May 2009

Harpist Rachel Hair builds on her promising solo debut release, Hubcaps & Potholes, with this more expansive and subtly jazz-inflected disc. It is built around a basic trio featuring her harp, Andy Sharkey’s double bass and Paul Tracey’s guitar, with…

Manic Street Preachers: Journal for Plague Lovers

Manic Street Preachers: Journal for Plague Lovers

14 May 2009

Richey Edwards was the creative driving force in Manic Street Preachers until his disappearance in 1995. He left behind screeds of notes, ideas and lyrics, now these rough outlines have been given new life. It’s the most incisive Manics album for years…

My Latest Novel: Deaths and Entrances

My Latest Novel: Deaths and Entrances

14 May 2009

Now with a title like Deaths And Entrances, the long-awaited second long player from this Greenock-based bunch was never going to be a barrel of laughs. And right enough, it makes for pretty weighty listening; as gritty riffs, swirling strings…

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

14 May 2009

Heaven & Hell are essentially Black Sabbath ‘Mark Two’. After Ozzy was kicked out, Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio stepped into the breach way back in 1979. Now, for legal reasons, they tour and record as Heaven & Hell but it’s still legendary…

Pumajaw: Favourites

Pumajaw: Favourites

14 May 2009

Sounding like the whole thing was recorded in some mist-shrouded graveyard by night, the eerie, atmospheric Favourites is a round-up of Pinkie Maclure and John Wills, aka Pumajaw’s, favourite songs from their own back catalogue. Tracks like ‘Buttons…

Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson

30 Apr 2009

Born in 1944, Storm Thorgerson’s childhood would not have been thought unusual were it not that he went to school with Roger Waters and Syd Barrett. ‘Roger and I had two connections, one of which was through our mothers, who happened to be pals, and…

Branford Marsalis Quartet - Metamorphosen

Branford Marsalis Quartet - Metamorphosen

30 Apr 2009

JAZZ While brother Wynton has garnered greater attention over the years with a string of ambitious large scale projects, the saxophonist has arguably produced the more consistently satisfying body of work on record. This quartet with pianist Joey…

Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium

Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA/ROCK The second album from the collision of chaos that is Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and JP Reid of Sucioperro is the next chapter in the life of the mysterious and magnificent Marmaduke Duke. And it seems to be that chapter where we find…

Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Gok

Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Gok

30 Apr 2009

JAZZ/FOLK Inhabiting the Cartesian co-ordinate that melodically aligns Tokyo with Falkirk, Gok is a sublime anthology of avant-garde lullabies and gentle jazz, from Scots outsider dignitary Bill Wells and Japanese folk-punks Maher Shalal Hash…

Labels of Love - Optimo Music

Labels of Love - Optimo Music

30 Apr 2009

Based in: Glasgow Roster: Big Ned, Den Haan, Dollskabeat (pictured), Divorce, Older Lover. Bosses: JD Twitch, one half of the DJ duo behind ever-uncategorisable Glasgow club night Optimo. Sounds like: See ‘ever-uncategoriseable’, above.

Also Released - Music

30 Apr 2009

The Maccabees - Wall of Arms (Fiction Records) Brighton’s biblically named five-piece are swiftly earning a reputation as one of Britain’s finest live bands. This new effort is full of sincere indie and provides a fresh expanse of melodic goodness and a…

Dave OâHiggins Quintet - Sketchbook

Dave O’Higgins Quintet - Sketchbook

30 Apr 2009

JAZZ Sessions featuring two tenor saxophones have been a staple of jazz at least since the heyday of Jazz At The Philharmonic, but can often turn into a rather overbearing display of athletic rather than musical abilities. No such worries here as…

Bob Log III - My Shit is Perfect

Bob Log III - My Shit is Perfect

30 Apr 2009

LEFTFIELD COUNTRY Supposedly based in both Arizona and Australia, Bob Log III is a one man band anomaly who gets his kicks through frenzied slide-guitar blues that deviates severely from tradition and is, as one might deduce from his fourth album’s…

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRO If Junior Boys’ first album, Last Exit was a colour, it would be icy blue. Cool, glassy art-electro with a sulky sexiness proved the Canadians to be a electro-pop force to be reckoned with. Five years later, third album Begone Dull Care has…

Tom Brosseau - Posthumous Success

Tom Brosseau - Posthumous Success

30 Apr 2009

FOLK BLUES Bobbins to the album title, Tommy B; this finger pickin’ North Dakota man won’t have to wait until his expiration date to enjoy basking in a little glory. His style has evolved from the basic one voice, one acoustic guitar set-up (as seen…

Silversun Pickups - Swoon

Silversun Pickups - Swoon

30 Apr 2009

ROCK With album number two California’s Silversun Pickups certainly won’t be shaking those Smashing Pumpkins comparisons. Especially in the higher registers Brian Aubert’s vocals take on a Billy Corgan whine. But is that necessarily a bad thing?

Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top

Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top

30 Apr 2009

INDIE It’s a busy old year for Mr Coxon, Blur are back together (and headlining T in the Park), he’s been playing with Peter Doherty (live and on recent album Grace/Wasteland) and now he’s got his own solo album to punt. And it obviously suits him…

Jon Hopkins - Insides

Jon Hopkins - Insides

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA You don’t expect an electronica album to start with two and a half minutes of mournful fiddle, but that’s the kind of expectation defying that sums up Londoner Hopkins. This moving, bittersweet instrumental record blends sweeping…

Esser - Braveface

Esser - Braveface

30 Apr 2009

ELECTRO POP Chiselled electro-pop boxer Ben Esser runs the risk of being eclipsed by his quiff, but on the evidence of Braveface, the swaggering Essex techno-dude may yet outshine his sleek coiffure. Addled with a fire-crack amalgam of digital…

The Horrors - Primary Colours

The Horrors - Primary Colours

30 Apr 2009

ROCK This second album is so wildly different from The Horrors’ schlocky, B-movie, overhyped garage debut that it’s hard to believe it’s the same band. Gone are the irritating punk rants and big hair, replaced by ghosts of The Cure, Joy Division and…

Andi Neate - Crows, Rooks and Ravens

Andi Neate - Crows, Rooks and Ravens

30 Apr 2009

FOLK Versatile Scottish singer-songwriter Andi Neate covers a lot of bases on this, her fifth album, inspired by her childhood on a remote west coast island, ancient myths and a cupboard full of characters including circus lion tamers, bearded ladies…

William Orbit - My Oracle Lives Upstairs

William Orbit - My Oracle Lives Upstairs

30 Apr 2009

DANCE The man best known as the studio button-pushing monkey for Madonna’s Ray of Light album has apparently given up production duties of late to concentrate on his own muse. On this evidence, it’s a big mistake, because Orbit is not an inspired…

Also released - Records

16 Apr 2009

Art Brut Art Brut Vs Satan (Cooking Vinyl) After being disposed of by major label EMI, Art Brut are back and seemingly fizzing in the face of the cynical music business. But it’s not all anger and Satan, there’s still classic Art Brut bop-ability here…

Tom Harrell - Prana Dance

Tom Harrell - Prana Dance

16 Apr 2009

(High Note Records) There is no shortage of high quality, progressive post-bop around, but Tom Harrell’s new disc stands out as a particularly noteworthy outing in that style. The trumpeter is a well-established name in contemporary jazz, and has…

Geoff Eales Trio - Master of the Game

Geoff Eales Trio - Master of the Game

16 Apr 2009

(Edition Records) Pianist Geoff Eales is highly regarded as a player of standards, but consciously chooses to push the envelope (as he puts it himself) on this disc for the Edition label, run by musician Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim…

Big Ned - Big Ned

Big Ned - Big Ned

16 Apr 2009

(Optimo Music) The third release and first album from this new label isn’t what anyone who still believes Optimo is just a club night will be expecting. The brainchild of D James Clark and John Murray (and band), Big Ned is a seedy, guitar-propelled…

The Xcerts - In the Cold Wind We Smile

The Xcerts - In the Cold Wind We Smile

16 Apr 2009

(Xtra Mile/King Tut’s Recordings) After relentless touring schedules, tremendous support appearances and several EPs, The Xcerts finally release their long awaited debut album. Filled with the most heart-wrenchingly catchy pop-rock melodies around…

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years

16 Apr 2009

INDIE (Rough Trade) As per comedian Steven Wright’s line about making his own water, ‘two parts H, one part O’, there is a tried and tested winning formula for Super Furries records, and this, their ninth studio album, is no exception. A handful of…

King Creosote - Flick the Vs

King Creosote - Flick the Vs

16 Apr 2009

(Domino) On this first album on Domino Fife legend Kenny Anderson has a whale of a time. Brimming with sonic invention and acerbic one-liners, Flick the Vs shows experimentation and ambition vastly beyond KC’s lazy folk tag, from the seven-minute…

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

16 Apr 2009

(4AD) My Maudlin Career reflects vocalist Tracyanne Campbell’s discovery of the sweet melancholy of love. Her gentle voice leads us through these songs about the search for self-acceptance during a personal clash of musical aspirations and a much…

The Enemy - Music for the People

The Enemy - Music for the People

16 Apr 2009

(Warner Bros) The Enemy so desperately wish they were Oasis. And while We’ll Live & Die in These Towns had a certain Jam-esque swagger and dole-queue poetry Music for the People is a worrying retread. There’s no doubt it will be sung loud and proud…

Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone!

Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone!

16 Apr 2009

(Best Before) Producing roughly as much energy as a Mentos mint dropped into a can of Diet Coke, the Glasgow sixsome follow last year’s Sissy Hits EP with a debut album Hey Everyone!. Twelve anti-lullabies of clattery, shouty, thrashy scream-pop are…

Loner - Western Sci-Fi

Loner - Western Sci-Fi

16 Apr 2009

ELECTRO-POP (Just Music) If Loner’s second album was a flower, which would it be? Probably one that wilted and split at the merest whiff of a breeze, so delicate are its components. Geoff Smith doesn’t so much sing his fragile numbers as emit…

Peter, Bjorn & John - Living Thing

Peter, Bjorn & John - Living Thing

16 Apr 2009

(Wichita) Best known for their whistly, catchier-than-the-cold hit ‘Young Folks’, the Swedish trio return here with their fifth album. It has all the ingredients for a twinkling pop gem – ice cold Human League synths, crashing drums straight out a…

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!

2 Apr 2009

Show Your Bones almost broke them, but if any band could survive their self-professed darkest period and come back all cylinders firing it’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Snooty types have always been quick to pooh-pooh the art rock trio’s muso credibility…

Alyth - People Like Me

Alyth - People Like Me

2 Apr 2009

FOLK Derby-based Navigator Records has established a significant presence on the Scottish folk scene in the past year or so, and now adds Alyth to a roster that also includes Lau, Kris Drever, John McCusker, Martin Green and rootsy singer-songwriter…

Enrico Rava - New York Days

Enrico Rava - New York Days

2 Apr 2009

JAZZ Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava presents a new line-up on this quintet outing, in which his protégé and regular collaborator, pianist Stefano Bollani, is joined by an American trio of saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer…

Paul Clarvis & Liam Noble - Starry Starry Night

Paul Clarvis & Liam Noble - Starry Starry Night

2 Apr 2009

JAZZ A delightful duet release from percussionist Paul Clarvis and pianist Liam Noble. The premise is simple – take a set of songs, ranging from established jazz standards to contemporary material like Don MacLean’s ‘Vincent’ (the Van Gogh link is…

Le Reno Amps - Tear It Open

Le Reno Amps - Tear It Open

2 Apr 2009

GUITAR POP This third offering from the Scottish popsters doesn’t fit in with any current trends, which is all the more reason to take them to your heart. From Aberdeen by way of Glasgow, the Amps here deliver an unashamedly upbeat and melody-strewn…

Crystal Antlers - Tentacles

Crystal Antlers - Tentacles

2 Apr 2009

PSYCH ROCK This debut long-player from Californian psych-rock hairballs Crystal Antlers is ablaze with acid-fried garage, solar free-jazz, lo-fi blare and scorchio freak-pop. Yet its escapist clamour is offset by an apocalyptic lyrical…

A Made Up Sound (2562) - Shortcuts

A Made Up Sound (2562) - Shortcuts

2 Apr 2009

DUBSTEP Known for his finely polished productions on Tectonic and Subsolo, Dave Huisman’s has cleverly crafted a name for himself, wedging himself nicely between the worlds of Techno Soul and Dubstep. This latest MP3 only offering was put together…

Labels of Love - Avalanche Records Album Club

Labels of Love - Avalanche Records Album Club

2 Apr 2009

Based in Edinburgh Roster Not a roster as such, but they dip into the finest indie music from around the globe, with a Scottish accent on things. The gaffer Kevin Buckle, owner of Avalanche Records for an impressive 25 years, ubiquitous…

Also Released - Records

Also Released - Records

2 Apr 2009

The Black Dog - Further Vexations (Soma Records) Techno-legends The Black Dog deliver an album of perfectly crafted soundscapes of glistening highs and the deepest bass. Further Vexations is a self-proclaimed ‘21st century response to the rat on your…

DOOM - Born Like This

DOOM - Born Like This

2 Apr 2009

HIP HOP So the MF is gone and underground hip hop’s most malcontent son insists on uppercase only for his moniker, but other than that it’s business as usual for DOOM who follows his 2005 Dangerdoom collaboration with Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkely…

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

2 Apr 2009

METAL Resisting any temptation to compromise their sound in pursuit of any continued commercial growth, Atlanta’s Mastodon run headlong down a dark path where giant nocturnal beasts ravage the land with the making of exploratory progressive metal as…

Royksopp - Junior

Royksopp - Junior

2 Apr 2009

ELECTRONICA Royksopp are like good drugs: sweet, glistening, otherworldly and compellingly addictive. The initial headrush for their debut Melody A.M. remains that really great night out for all involved and 2005’s The Dreaming felt a little like…

A Band Called Quinn - Sun Moon Stars

A Band Called Quinn - Sun Moon Stars

2 Apr 2009

POP Originally self-released last year, these sultry Glasgow-popstrels’ sophomore album gets a re-boot on local label Neon Tetra, with extra polish. Well, the cover art – featuring front lady Louise Quinn poised daringly on a Glasgow rooftop in a…

Lady Sovereign - Jigsaw

Lady Sovereign - Jigsaw

2 Apr 2009

GRIME POP Pony-tailed brat-camp rap star Lady Sovereign reaped copious props for her day-glo debut, Public Warning, in 2006 – not least in the States, where she was glorified by Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani and MTV. Now the UK emcee bounces back with a…

State Broadcasters - The Ship and the Iceberg

State Broadcasters - The Ship and the Iceberg

2 Apr 2009

INDIE State Broadcasters: a gentle swirl of strings, harp, banjo and Scottish accents are the latest band to release an album on Stow College’s student-run label, Electric Honey. The Glasgow six-piece’s debut is an innocent folk-pop swoon, with…

It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar

It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar

2 Apr 2009

INDIE Despite the terrible twee band name, there’s initially something endearing about this Kent foursome’s debut album, opener ‘Q’ leaning heavily on dreamy mid-period Wilco influences to create something eerie yet uplifting. But while Wilco’s…

Lady of the Sunshine - Smoking Gun

Lady of the Sunshine - Smoking Gun

25 Mar 2009

Flock Records Angus Stone has left his sister Julia behind, for this, his first solo album, that aims to reveal the side of Angus only seen when he stubs or toe or can't find his keys. For, yes, this is darker, more contemplative and brooding than…

The Hours - See The Light

The Hours - See The Light

25 Mar 2009

Is Good Records They're debut album threatened to establish Anthony Genn and Martin Slattery as stars in their right, after years as the nomads of British music, playing with everyone from Black Grape to Elastica, via Pulp and the legendary Joe…

Metric - Fantasies

Metric - Fantasies

25 Mar 2009

Four albums in and Canadian quartet Metric are finally maturing into the brilliant synth influenced indie they've only hinted at before. Where previous works have been scrappy affairs, lifted by one or two moments of fierce emotion from singer, Emily…

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

19 Mar 2009

FOLK ROCK When Anglophile Oregon native Colin Meloy bills his band’s fifth album as ‘an odd bond between the music of British folk revival and classic metal’ he’s only telling half the story. Sonically, The Hazards of Love rocks like Sabbath and…

PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By

PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By

19 Mar 2009

ROCK From topless indie pin-up to tormented folk mythologist, cult pop monarch Polly Jean Harvey has long exposed and scrutinised the predicaments of the human condition. She’s populated copious roles over her swaggering, nigh-on 20-year career…

Courtney Pine - Transition In Tradition

Courtney Pine - Transition In Tradition

19 Mar 2009

JAZZ The saxophonist sub-titles this powerful and eclectic outing ‘En homage à Sidney Bechet’, but admirers of that early jazz master may find that to be a bit of a red herring if they expect it to actually sound like the first great soprano…

Big Air - Big Air

Big Air - Big Air

19 Mar 2009

JAZZ An inspired debut from this Transatlantic aggregation, although one that has been a while in the making. Big Air features London-based trumpeter Chris Batchelor and saxophonist Steve Buckley with Americans Myra Melford on piano (and harmonium…

The Martin Green Machine - First Sighting

The Martin Green Machine - First Sighting

19 Mar 2009

FOLK Accordionist Martin Green unleashed the Green Machine as a New Voices commission at Celtic Connections in 2006, with guitarist Tom Cook as his principal co-collaborator, and a powerful band willing and able to take on his iconoclastic vision. I…

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