Music and Reviews

Singles & Downloads

15 Aug 2010

Is there just no stopping Robyn? What with her three albums in a year and her electro-pop victories, and her masquerade as an inferior fembot going by the name of Sky Ferreira, and – sorry, what’s that you say? Ferreira is in fact a Portuguese-American…

Animal Collective - ODDSAC

15 Aug 2010

(Plexi) Fair enough, the frenzied blur of kaleidoscopic digital fuzz, the morphing rainbow lights; that, we could probably have seen coming. Like their music, the first ‘visual album’ from Baltimore’s warped-poppers, Animal Collective was always…

Aberfeldy - Somewhere To Jump From

15 Aug 2010

(Tenement Records) At last, at long last, the ’Feldy are back. Edinburgh’s favourite MOR-pop sons (and daughters, although the band’s female membership has been changeable of late) have returned with their third album since 2006’s Do Whatever Turns…

The Ballad of Mable Wong - Is Worth Two In The A Tree

Epic math-pop

15 Aug 2010

(Self Released) Glasgow’s TBOMW make epic instrumental music condensed to a microcosmic level. Each song finds them working carefully through hyper-melodic permutations on a theme, the instruments constantly spinning around each other like a…

James Blackshaw - All Is Falling

15 Aug 2010

(Young God) This latest from London’s guitar virtuoso sees our 12-string acoustic hero go electric. But while the gorgeous resonance of Blackshaw’s acoustic tone is missed, the toothier tone of the electric 12-string suits this material well.

Camille O’Sullivan – Chameleon

More of a purr than a growl

13 Aug 2010

There’s a sense of great expectation with Irish charmer Camille. The sexy chanteuse has long wooed us with her brand of sultry, ballsy theatrics and whether rock, blues or ballads, Cave, Waits or Bowie, she can belt them out like the best of them. This…

Mr Protector - Pétrole

13 Aug 2010

Recently featured on Predestination Records latest Premeditation compilation, French Trio Mr Protector bring us their debut album Pétrole. Spanning three languages — English and German alongside their native tongue – Pétrole is loud, abrasive and…

D.O Misiani and Shirati Jazz - The King of History

Classic 1970s Benga Beats from Kenya

13 Aug 2010

This is the kind of mesmerising music that has you moving before you know it: undulating guitar rhythms flow like a brook over pebbles while sweet vocals chant stories over rubbery bass and the steady tickety-click of percussion. Daniel Owini Misiani…

Lach’s Antihoot

Open stage night from NYC

12 Aug 2010

On any given night you can expect a stage filled with anything from magicians (Victorian duo Morgan and West have been along) to comedians (Rich Fulcher too) to a very large array of musicians (Meursault, Broken Records, and Panda Su to name a few).

Movin' Melvin Brown

Tap dance and song homage to African American music

12 Aug 2010

Hitting last year’s Fringe as Ray Charles (and Sammy Davis Jr), the majestic Movin’ Melvin this time around takes us on a song and tap-dancing journey from African slavery to the American roots of soul music, through songs of gospel and R&B. Backed…

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Cabaret will never be the same

12 Aug 2010

The former star of La Clique, who counts David Bowie among her fans, strips away the mystique of cabaret in this riotous postmodern deconstruction of her art. That’s literally the case when during the first few minutes of the show she’s interrupted by…

Ali McGregor

A versatile diva, doing jazz this time

12 Aug 2010

As soon as Ali McGregor takes to the stage to sing she has the audience captivated for the rest of the evening. A seasoned performer (she has appeared in La Clique, and in The Opera Burlesque at previous Fringes) she commands the stage with her warm…

Call Mr Robeson

Inspirational story of legendary singer

12 Aug 2010

Having suffered a setback by losing his voice during the world premiere run of this show in Edinburgh three years ago, writer and star Tayo Aluko subsequently took it on tour around the world. This year the monodrama about the life of African-American…

Matthew Dear - Black City

A bewitching fourth album from the Texan DJ

12 Aug 2010

Ooh 2010, you are spoiling us with your variegated, melodic electro. First came Four Tet’s There Is Love in You, then Caribou’s Swim, and now Black City – the bewitching fourth album from Texan DJ and techno-pop lord Matthew Dear (you may also know him…

Red Cello Electrified

South African cellist plugs in

8 Aug 2010

When thinking of solo cello music, something like Bach’s ‘Six Suites For Unaccompanied Cello’ generally spring to mind. Perhaps something more conventional such as this should have been in South African soloist Carol Thorns' thoughts also, as her…

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Chicago fusion of jazz, hip hop and funk

8 Aug 2010

This nine-piece comprising eight horns and a drummer are not what you might expect at the Jazz & Blues Festival.

Sharp-suited sextet The Magnets a solid night out

Acappella group cover pop hits

8 Aug 2010

Their fifth year at the Fringe, The Magnets have once again pulled in a full house to witness their all-vocal/voxbox extravaganza. For more than a decade this London-based sharp-suited sextet have wowed audiences nationwide and toured supporting the…

The Tiger Lillies

Sideshow inspired death-gypsy tunes

8 Aug 2010

The Tiger Lillies are probably one of only a few proponents of the ‘Death Oompah’ genre. Frontman Martyn Jacques comes to the stage adorned with thick harlequin war paint and armed with songs of murderous circus freaks and decrepit prostitutes, sung in…

The Ukulele Project

Charming folk take on modern classics

8 Aug 2010

Festival newbies The Ukulele Project make their debut here, bringing their unique take on everything from Radiohead and The Beatles to Plan B and Gorillaz.

Brazil! Brazil!

Capeoira kicks, samba hips and footie tricks

8 Aug 2010

Brazil! Brazil! is like the fantasy beach party everyone wants invited to. Chilled-out Brazilian beats to rival Astrud Gilberto, buff bare-chested guys wheeling out jaw-dropping capoeira kicks and backflips, voluptuous feather-topped girls in bling…

Rhythms With Soul

Foot-stomping romp through flamenco history

8 Aug 2010

On posters Venezuelan-born flamenco dancer Miguel Vargas appears smouldering and bare-chested. But unlike paparazzi-friendly contemporaries such as Joaquin Cortes he is no peacock, all baby-oil and no substance. There is strut aplenty. There is simmer…

Nnenna Freelon's Homefree adds a contemporary twist to standards

A smoothly accomplished, comfortable sounding outing

5 Aug 2010

Classy jazz singing from the American vocalist that manages to give a contemporary twist to standards without getting too mannered or precious in the process. Freelon puts her stamp on such well established songs as ‘The Lamp Is Low’, ‘The Very Thought…

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Let It Sway

Little here to distinguish one chorus from the last

5 Aug 2010

With their third album, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are sticking to their tried-and-tested formula. Let It Sway offers little by way of innovation, ambling along the melodic indie pop trail blazed by The Shins. Opener ‘Back In The Saddle’ sets…

Inspector Tapehead - Duress Code

Cleverly made and head-scratchingly catchy debut

5 Aug 2010

(Song, By Toad Records) Inspector Tapehead are folkies; but not in the strictly traditional or rather cynical ‘I’m a Mumford, me’ sense. Yes, Duress Code boasts clattering rhythms, acoustic strumming and the raw delivery and lyrical romance you might…

Alasdair Roberts and Friends - Too Long in this Condition

Scottish guitarist re-animated murderous and bawdy Scottish ballads

5 Aug 2010

(Navigator) The List can think of no other artist who has dished out props to their manicurist within the immortal confines of their sleeve-notes. But that’s what Glasgow-based folk bard Alasdair Roberts does on his excellent sixth album, Too Long in…

Afro-Beat Airways: West African Shock Waves, Ghana & Togo 1972–1978

Analog Africa's latest compilation is a testament to 1970s Africa

5 Aug 2010

Drawing from the archives of Ghanian label Essiebons and PolyGram West Africa, Analog Africa’s latest compilation is testament to the cosmopolitan culture of 1970s Africa. Tracks by Ebo Taylor and Orchestre Abass offer intricate polyrhythmic grooves and…

Singles and downloads - July 2010

This month's batch of songs to look out for

30 Jul 2010

Mercury Prize nominee Corinne Bailey Rae takes a sassy new direction in ‘Closer’ (Parlophone) ●●●● – from her new album The Sea – a smoother, more soulful, more kick-ass effort than the sugary rom-com soundtrack stuff she seems to have, mercifully, left…

Sleigh Bells' Treats

30 Jul 2010

From the moment ‘Tell ‘Em’s machine-gun beats and bombastic guitars pummel your ears into stunned submission, Treats struts up and down before you like some aggressively flirtatious hipster girl, just daring you not to fall for its fuck-you…

Arcade Fire releases their all-important third album

The Suburbs is a rewarding and solid LP.

30 Jul 2010

History dictates that many rock greats affirm their credentials upon their third album: Radiohead’s OK Computer, U2’s War and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run all follow this pattern, and Montreal’s six-strong Arcade Fire aren’t so far from these ranks…

Cindy Blackman - Another Lifetime

29 Jul 2010

(Four Quarters) Although she has worked in many jazz contexts, American drummer Cindy Blackman’s widest exposure has come as a long-standing member of Lenny Kravitz’s band. Tony Williams was the first drummer she ever saw, and this outing is a…

Menomena - Mines

29 Jul 2010

(City Slang) Portland’s Menomena have always been the kind of band that reward repeated listens. Unfortunately, Mines, their fourth release, lacks the immediacy that drew listeners into the whirlpool ingenuity of 2007’s Friend And Foe. With three…

PVT - Church With No Magic

29 Jul 2010

(Warp) After threats of legal action from an American band of the same name, Australian trio Pivot eventually became simply ‘PVT’. Thankfully, however, their first release since the change, Church With No Magic, still demonstrates the kind of…

Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now

29 Jul 2010

(Names) Only a few short years out of her teens, this Nashville singer-songwriter belies her youth. Rose’s debut album proper (following the ‘Dead Flowers’ EP) is loaded with songs about heartbreak, delivered with a wry drawl reminiscent of Patsy…

Anywhere On This Road - Sound of the World

29 Jul 2010

(Warner Classic) Pioneer DJ Charlie Gillett became the world music guru. His wacky annual compilations are a veritable Who’s Who of contemporary music from all known parts. This selection of 34 artists from 36 countries is his last, as he died…

Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque)

23 Jul 2010

(15) 121min Great songs, beautiful girls, lovely costumes and an artist in a constant state of flux are emphasised in Joann Sfar’s imaginative, beautiful and suitably bizarre musing on the life of Serge Gainsbourg. Starting off in conventional…

No One Knows About Persian Cats

23 Jul 2010

(12) 106min (Network) Gifted and celebrated Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly) threw caution to the wind and hung his reputation on the line in the making of this freewheeling semi-documentary about…

Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes deliver the goods, even without the hits

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Fri 2 Jul

23 Jul 2010

It’s only after two hours and three encores that you start to appreciate the scale and import of Elvis Costello’s body of work. Despite an extended, Americana-nuanced set that embraced many of his best-loved songs – the dapper vitriol of ‘Oliver’s…

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp

Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Wed 14 Jul

23 Jul 2010

It’s a homecoming of sorts for the Geneva-based Afrodelic agit-skronk surrealist sextet, who now feature Wilf Plum, formerly of Edinburgh’s blartiest avant-punk combo Dog Faced Hermans, on drums. With Liz Moscarola’s urgent vocals fronting a reckless…

Nalle - Wilder Shores of Love

23 Jul 2010

(alt.vinyl) Inspired by the Greek myth of doomed lovers Hero and Leander, and named after a Cy Twombly painting, the third album by vocalist Hanna Tuulikki, viola player Aby Vulliamy and multi-instrumentalist Chris Hladowski fuses ancient and modern…

Grupo Fantasma - El Existential

23 Jul 2010

(Nat Geo Music) Riotous energy pulses through this exuberant set from Grupo Fantasma, who put a 21st-century twist into salsa and Latin sounds. Underpinned by heavy rock grooves and percussive layers, arrangements fizz with funky trumpet and trombone…

Raices en Viaje by Proyecto Evocacion is full of surprises

The Festival del Caribe gives birth to five-piece set.

23 Jul 2010

World Proyecto Evocación Raíces en Viaje – Roots en Route (Spherical Records) Just occasionally an unexpected recording captures a magical moment. So it happened when ex-Happy End trumpeter Loz Speyer got into a basement home-studio in Santiago de…

Snoop Dogg delivers a more intimate set at the Glasgow Academy

The rapper performed a series of newer and classic hits.

22 Jul 2010

What is this, rap week in Scotland? A few days before Eminem and Jay-Z landed at T in the Park, another superstar of the genre played what must count as an intimate set by his standards here. Even those other icons would have trouble outdoing Snoop…

John Goldie's newest album Picked in The Past is a tribute to the artist's influences

The artist presents his musical roots in a series of 70s rock covers

22 Jul 2010

(Watercolour Music) John Goldie has earned a considerable reputation as a jazz guitarist, but his personal musical roots go back to 70s rock, and this is his tribute to that era, albeit played on acoustic guitar. It all started when he worked out a…

Predestination Records releases compilation of Glasgow acts

Premeditation Vol. 3 captures recent visits to the city on a double-disc collection

22 Jul 2010

Stirling-based Predestination Records (‘a small record label, set up by five people who like music’, as they describe it) have pulled together 23 of the finest acts to trawl Glasgow’s live circuit in recent months and years for the third volume of their…

The Euan Burton / Tom Gibbs Group release debut album Forgotten Things

Two familiar figures in the Scottish Jazz scene launch new album at Glasgow Jazz Festival

22 Jul 2010

Bass player Euan Burton and pianist Tom Gibbs are already familiar figures among the younger musicians making an impression on the current Scottish jazz scene, and their debut album, launched at the recent Glasgow Jazz Festival, is a pleasing affair.

Wavves new album King of the Beach steers band into new direction

New, studio-recorded album abandons distortion for keyboards and samples

22 Jul 2010

Wavves’ Glasgow show last November disappointed some of those charmed by the fuzzy, home-recorded pop thrum of their first two albums, Wavves and Wavvves. In sharp focus, the qualities that led some dizzy minds to lump them in with a new wave of…

LTM Records releases compilation Les Filles du Crépuscule

22 Jul 2010

(LTM) LTM Records chic and boutique catalogue exists like some raincoat-clad European republic that’s forever 1981. This 20-track collection sashays through the Belgian-based Les Disques du Crépuscule’s roster of chanteuses, many of whom set the…

Folk-pop collaboration The Burns Unit deliver new album Side Show

Burnsong project supergroup delivers folk-flecked pop album

22 Jul 2010

This is perfect evidence that locking musicians in a room and letting them get on with it is the best idea ever. That’s what happened when the eight members of this ‘supergroup’ were picked for the Burnsong project, and the result is this sumptuous…

Benni Hemm Hemm's newest album Retaliate

22 Jul 2010

(Kimi) Edinburgh via Iceland’s Benedikt H Hermannsson – that’s Benni Hemm Hemm to his many music-loving friends – has long enkindled our local stages with his gentle, warm acoustic pop. Retaliate, his first all-English language outing, is a rich…

The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness unites Tony Da Gatorra and Gryff Rhys

Brazillian counter-culture and Super Furry Animal create madcap album

22 Jul 2010

(Turnstile) The most striking thing about this clattering, madcap alliance between psychedelic Super Furry Animal Rhys and Brazilian counter-cultural vanguard Da Gatorra occurs on recent single (and standout track) ‘In A House With No Mirrors’: it sees…

Kelburn Garden Party 2010

Kelburn Castle, Largs, Sat 3-Sun 4 Jul

14 Jul 2010

It’s a garden party Jim, but not as we know it. Forget canapés on the lawn, straw hats and refined company – this weekend is all about waterproof trousers, bacon rolls, and neds and hippies coming together in shared appreciation of a good pounding bass…

Singles & downloads - 30th June 2010

7 Jul 2010

The great thing about Super Adventure Club is that they don’t take themselves too seriously – which is ideal as it’s impossible to take them seriously. ‘Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle’ (Armellodie Records) ●●● is a highly strung burst of weird psychedelic…

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul

7 Jul 2010

(EMI) The recent suicide of Mark Linkous, aka. Sparklehorse imbues this posthumous release with oppressive waves of melancholy, but this often-inspired record – heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure – rises above such considerations to stand…

Sonic Tapas: Al-Thawra, The Kominas and Gummy Stumps

13th Note, Glasgow, Fri 25 June

7 Jul 2010

The subjects of a documentary on the North American Islamic punk scene known as ‘Taqwacore’ bands Al-Thawra and The Kominas were fresh from playing Sufi folk-rocker Richard Thompson’s Meltdown festival at the South Bank Centre, a curiously civilised…

Richard Fairhurst's Triptych - Amusia

7 Jul 2010

(Babel Label) Richard Fairhurst won 1994 ‘Young Jazz Pianist of the Year’, and caught the ear with a series of albums with his group Hungry Ants, but has not really made the impact that his early emergence suggested. Nonetheless, he remains an…

RPA and the United Nations of Sound - United Nations of Sound

7 Jul 2010

(Parlophone) ‘I wanna put you in my arms,’ warns sometime Verve shaman Richard Ashcroft, for the RPA of the title is he, on ‘Are You Ready?’, ‘and give you a love embrace.’ Following his old band’s only modestly successful comeback, Ashcroft remains…

Land of Kush’s Egyptian Light Orchestra - Monogamy

7 Jul 2010

(Constellation) Following the lead of US novelist Thomas Pynchon’s Against The Day, Montreal’s Sam Shalabi reconvenes his psych-Arabic jazz orchestra for this exploration of shame, sexuality and society. With horns, strings, keyboards, percussion…

Kasper Rosa - EP2

7 Jul 2010

(Field Records) A cocktail of post-rock and prog rock is a deadly combination – not just for the ears, but for the mind too. Instrumental interludes conjoining with off-time deviances is tough stuff – but Kasper Rosa have got it right. ‘EP2’ opens…

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid

7 Jul 2010

(Bad Boy / Atlantic) The shoes, the cape, the quiff, the tuxedo; the vintage moves, the flow, the vocals; the mega-conceptual sci-fi pop: Janelle Monae has got the lot. The hype around the 24-year-old singer-songwriter is ardent, expectant, and…

Eminem - Recovery

7 Jul 2010

(Polydor) Originally intended as a sequel to last year’s Relapse, Recovery looks to re-establish Eminem as the strong, inescapably bratty voice of modern rap he once was. Fully embracing his struggles – drug addiction, loss and the mixed response to…

Miriam Makeba - South Africa’s Skylark

7 Jul 2010

(Nascente) Forget Shakira: the benchmark song of World Cup 2010 was a reworking of Miriam Makeba’s 1967 hit ‘Pata Pata’. Johannesburg-born Makeba, who died in 2008, was nicknamed Africa’s Skylark, evoking the beauty of her voice, but falling short of…

Newt - NeWt 2 feat. Silke Eberhard

2 Jul 2010

(F-IRE Presents) The unconventional Edinburgh-based trio of trombonist Chris Greive, guitarist Graeme Stephen and drummer Chris Wallace already embraces three nationalities (Australia, Scotland and America respectively), and are augmented here by…

Various Artists - Yes We Can: Songs About Leaving Africa

2 Jul 2010

(Out Here Records) Pulsing beats from hip hop to dance make up this stirring collection, telling contemporary stories of today’s Africa. Most compilations are an easy forage through label back-catalogues. All salutations to Rose Skelton then…

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun - Fireplace

2 Jul 2010

(Geffen) Fireplace is the debut album from Lewis-born Colin MacLeod, aka The Boy Who Trapped The Sun. Inspired by an obligatory dose of lost love, as well as his homeland, the album marks an incredible transition for MacLeod after years of…

Olympic Swimmers

Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Fri 25 Jun

30 Jun 2010

Twenty-five minutes in and Olympic Swimmers’ singer and keyboard player Susie Liddell nervously declares ‘We usually finish here.’ But this is a headline set, and you can almost feel the pressure of the very peak of the bill threatening to give the band…

Paul McCartney

Hampden Stadium, Glasgow, Sun 20 Jun

30 Jun 2010

Much anticipated by young and old alike, this show provided the altogether anticipated sight and sound of an ageing rock star going through the motions. Albeit an ageing rock star who also happens to be one of the greatest pop composers of all time…

Coheed and Cambria

ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Jun

30 Jun 2010

The bigger, the better they say. Coheed and Cambria embody this saying well. Tonight they’ve got rollercoaster riffs that loop and lurch, a expansive and dreamlike video display in the background, and yes, they’ve got the massive hair too. Frontman…

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

30 Jun 2010

(Full Time Hobby) They’re the best band to feature identical twins since Bros. They recall another great set of pop twins: The Cocteaus. They’re New York’s otherworldly School of Seven Bells, and Disconnect from Desire is their second…

Mitchell Museum - The Peters Port Memorial Service

30 Jun 2010

(Electra French) In spite of their bookish, nigh-on twee designate, Glasgow four-piece Mitchell Museum swerve any suspected B&S insinuations and instead deliver a loveable bluster of swaggering, jangly rock’n’roll. ‘Tiger Heartbeat’ and ‘No. 3’ are…

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite

24 Jun 2010

(Parlophone) There is so much goodwill aimed in the direction of the Antipodean pop princess, she is permitted to release an average album every so often. And All the Lovers is an extremely average album. It starts brightly enough with the title…

Scissor Sisters

Barrowlands, Glasgow, Wed 16 Jun

24 Jun 2010

This was the first night of the Scissor Sisters’ new tour and the first live performance of most of their new album Night Work anywhere. And contrary to the pretty but hardly ball-grabbing comeback single ‘Fire With Fire’, the majority of it’s quite…

Silver Columns and Casiokids in Madonna tribute - JD set 2010

24 Jun 2010

What happens when you put a bunch of labelmates together in one room and throw in some whisky for good measure? Madonna covers, apparently. The JD Set 2010 comes to Glasgow this year with a smorgasbord of artistry from the Moshi Moshi label, including…

Tim Richards Trio - Shapeshifting

24 Jun 2010

(33 Records) This is Tim Richards’ first trio recording since 2003, and marks a return to jazz activity after taking two years out to study for a Masters in Composition. The pianist may be best known for his work in Spirit Level and the subsequent…

Tim Thornton - Death of an Unsigned Band

24 Jun 2010

(Jonathan Cape) The internal wranglings of unsigned indie bands is fertile territory for dramatic tension, as well as self-aware comedy, and so it is with this second novel from Tim Thornton, a veteran of plenty contract-free groups himself…

Stephane Kerecki Trio - Houria

24 Jun 2010

(Zig-Zag Territories) French bassist Stephane Kerecki occasionally recalls his countryman Henri Texier in his approach to combining group improvisation with composition, but he is very much his own man, and brings an intriguing mixture of influences…

Colin Potter & Michael Begg - Fragile Pitches

24 Jun 2010

(Omnempathy) When this unholy alliance of Nurse With Wound associate Potter and Human Greed’s Begg saw out 2009 at Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral with an electronically manipulated 90-minute sound installation, the densely textured, extended rumbles…

Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness

24 Jun 2010

(Hydra Head) Welcome to the crawling, heavy, doom-laden and utterly convincing world of Harvey Milk, experimental noisemongers of gargantuan riffage, bowel-loosening bass and primal, apocalyptic howls. It’s elemental, monumental stuff, but if that…

Can't Stop The Music

21 Jun 2010

(PG) 118min (Optimum) This fictional Village People biopic/musical was released in 1980, and flopped dramatically at the box office, winning ‘Worst Picture’ at the first Golden Raspberry Awards. Blame it on America’s lack of tolerance at the…

Leftfield, Soulwax and Aphex Twin amongst highlights of Rock Ness 2010

16 Jun 2010

It speaks volumes for this fifth anniversary installment of Scotland’s second biggest festival that the weekend wasn’t one long wait to see The Strokes perform on Sunday night; the New York quintet having been ‘on hiatus’ for almost as long as this…

Smackvan

Roxy Art House, Edinburgh, Sun 6 Jun

16 Jun 2010

When Michael Feeney sings the lines ‘The world closed down / When we hid inside’ his opening gambit to the inaugural Edinburgh edition of Smackvan’s monthly Sunday Slow Club soirette, he might well be commenting on his band’s own shy nature. Having…

Eternal Fags - Eternal Fags

16 Jun 2010

If the inmates of Napa State Mental Hospital formed a band after The Cramps visited to play there in 1978, they might have sounded something like Eternal Fags. The tortured yowls and strange austerity of the melodies on songs like ‘Annie’ and ‘The Slug…

Kid Canaveral - Shouting at Wildlife

16 Jun 2010

Indie guitar pop is out of favour with music industry fashionistas at the moment, but Scottish boy-girl quartet Kid Canaveral could be the band to bring it back with a bang. This debut is packed with singalong melodies, frisky jangles and a real sense…

Scissor Sisters - Night Work

16 Jun 2010

The Scissor Sisters’ tireless (and tiresome) hyper-camp pantomime has often threatened to overbear their insatiable way with a pop song. Thankfully, the New York provocateurs’ command of disco, electro and slick MOR prevails on this third outing, the…

Wolf Parade - Expo 86

16 Jun 2010

Montreal’s indie rock’n’roll deviants Wolf Parade have likened the making of this, their third album, to puking songs straight out of their heads and into their instruments. It comes as a considerable relief to report that the outcome is a whole lot…

The Fox Hunt - Nowhere Bound

16 Jun 2010

The Fox Hunt are a bluegrass/alt. country band from West Virginia who manage to stand out from the densely packed crowd, primarily down to the fact they write above average tunes. They have banjo, fiddle, mandolin and upright bass in their repertoire…

Richard James - We Went Riding

16 Jun 2010

This second solo album from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci co-founder James is a fairly infectious, ribald traipse across drowsy folk, garage-rock and pub R&B. It features his erstwhile bandmate Euros Childs and exalted singer-songwriter Cate le Bon (on the…

Tigertown showcase: Mayhew, Hannah Scott and Dale Radley

The Lot, Edinburgh, Wed 9 Jun 2010

15 Jun 2010

Tigertown Promotions’ second monthly showcase boasts a wealth of talent. Nicky Carder combines warm, funny anecdotage with soulful, full-bodied singing that fills the vaulted ceiling of the venue with nary a breath in between; jaunty jazz-pop vocalist…

The Herbaliser - Herbal Tonic

10 Jun 2010

(Ninja Tune) This ‘best of’ is undeniable funky fun, but often just serves as a reminder of acts (eg DJ Shadow, The Avalanches) who have done something similar but with more subtlety and panache.

Oasis - Time Flies

10 Jun 2010

(Big Brother) A roughly chronological greatest hits, with the earlier and latter days of Oasis’ career divided across two CDs. Throw away forgettable CD two and you can add another star.

Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’

10 Jun 2010

Magic Numbers-style summery pop put through the twee blender, but it’s got all the nutritional value of a bag of sugar – overly sweet, and it’ll rot your teeth.

Seth Lakeman - Hearts and Minds

10 Jun 2010

(Relentless/Virgin) In the wake of the folk modernism of Mumford and Marling, Lakeman’s latest is occasionally at risk of sounding a little too rustic and antiquated.

Matisyahu - Light

10 Jun 2010

(100%) Hasidic-Jewish electro-rap-reggae? It’s better than it sounds – you’ll be hard-pressed to keep your head from nodding. Loses a star for featuring Akon though.

King Creosote, Meursault & Animal Magic Tricks - Cold Seeds

10 Jun 2010

(Song, by Toad) Eerie and sumptuous as the participants list might suggest, this corker’s only let-down is its sporadic tendency to meander without direction.

Singles and Downloads - June 2010

9 Jun 2010

And so the hominids of this wretched earth confronted the perpetual question, as they had done oft since time immemorial, or at least since Charlene soared out of Neighbours and onto the pop throne 23 (23!) years ago: have you heard the new Kylie…

The Wee Chill

9 Jun 2010

Here’s a first: this is surely the only festival in the world that greets you upon entry with a glass case of shed tarantula skins, or comes with its own wishing pond and potting sheds as standard. This is The Wee Chill and, for the first time, this…

Cardboard

3 Jun 2010

The Magic Orifice is a temporary architectural intervention designed by the Roxy’s resident handyman Tom Clowney. What this amounts to is a hive-shaped pod made out of triangular panels that looks like a miniature festival stage squeezed inside the…

Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit - Been Listening

3 Jun 2010

Transgressive Alongside 27-year-old Flynn’s mature-beyond-his-years lyricism and songwriting ability, as demonstrated on 2008’s A Larum, Been Listening reveals a much broader musical palate, and a band on very fine form indeed. Blues influences are…

Robert Wyatt - Greatest Misses

1 Jun 2010

(Domino) Its title may be a wry acknowledgment of Robert Wyatt’s enduring cult status, but Greatest Misses stands as a fine introduction to a truly great artist. As the drummer in Soft Machine, Wyatt was at the forefront of English psychedelia, but…

Stag & Dagger Day Festival

1 Jun 2010

Stag & Dagger is Glasgow’s other one-ticket, multi-venue festival, and it lands on what must be the hottest day of the year so far. Its rival Hinterland only took place in April, but this is a decidedly more underground effort, lacking the big names and…

Ozzy Osbourne - Scream

1 Jun 2010

Rock/ Metal Ozzy Osbourne Scream (Columbia) ‘I’m a rock star,’ growls Ozzy at the start of this, his tenth solo album. Well, not really, Ozzy, you’re primarily a global reality television celebrity, something you’re actually better at these days.