Location: set your location

Music and Reviews

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

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

(4 stars)24 May 2012

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

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

(3 stars)24 May 2012

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

DZ Deathrays – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 22 May 2012

DZ Deathrays – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 22 May 2012

Raw and intense show from the Brisbane duo

(4 stars)24 May 2012

2012 should be a landmark year for DZ Deathrays. The Aussie duo were included in NME’s Top 20 Most Exciting Bands of 2012, and their debut album Bloodstreams has met with generally favourable reviews. In the meantime though, it’s pleasing to see them…

Tim Hecker / Wounded Knee / Matthew Collings, Pilrig, St Paul's Church, Edinburgh, Sat 19 May 2012

Tim Hecker / Wounded Knee / Matthew Collings

Pilrig St Paul's Church, Edinburgh - Sat 19 May 2012

(5 stars)23 May 2012

Anyone au fait with Sacred Music, BBC 4's two-series trawl through the history of choral worship, from plainchant to polyphony and beyond, will be as versed in the integral relationship between music and church architecture as they are with presenter…

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

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

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

(4 stars)22 May 2012

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

The Horrors - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Tue 15 May, 2012

The Horrors - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Tue 15 May, 2012

Charming and mesmerising set that avoids sharp pop aesthetic

(4 stars)22 May 2012

For Essex boys The Horrors, surely redemption has arrived at last. Yes, there were those of us who enjoyed the spooky frightwig garage rock of their debut album Strange House, but it left the sense that here was a band who are overstylised and blessed…

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

A wise yet not world-weary record from the soul legend

(3 stars)22 May 2012

‘As a singer grows older, his conception goes a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he’s trying to say a little more...’ So said Sam Cooke back in the day, and so opens electro-soul hymn ‘Dayglo Reflection’, the fourth track…

Elvis Costello - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 11 May

Elvis Costello - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 11 May

Three-hour 30-song greatest hits show with patter aplenty

(4 stars)22 May 2012

‘She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake’ – has any songwriter anticipated the career ahead of them as clairvoyantly as Elvis Costello did on Watching the Detectives? The song appeared in 1977 but its writer has spent the decades since…

Lil B - Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, Sun 6 May

Lil B - Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, Sun 6 May

22-year-old Berkeley rapper describes himself as ‘an art history project’

(4 stars)22 May 2012

It must be the Californian in him, but the BASEDGOD, despite his lyrics about eating white booty, his VIP lifestyle, and his resemblance to Jesus/Michael Jordan/Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton, is basically a hippie. Top off, shades on, tiny muscled torso…

Friends & AlunaGeorge - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 7 May

Friends & Aluna George - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 7 May

Disco-tinged set of dazzling pop music

(4 stars)22 May 2012

‘Come closer,’ beckons Friends’ enigmatic frontwoman Samantha Urbani, as the Brooklyn quintet make their Glasgow debut. She means it too: blink and next thing, she’s on the floor, shimmying up to an exhilarated crowd. If the intimate touch hints at a…

Auntie Flo - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 13 May

Auntie Flo - Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 13 May

Club-friendly house beats with a world music undercurrent

(4 stars)22 May 2012

It’s a foul Sunday night and getting late, with the hour moving near to midnight when Glasgow duo Auntie Flo take their place behind a pod of trestle tables loaded down with kit and cables. The flickering projection behind them bears the legend ‘Night…

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Minimalist experimental reissue from the regular Arthur Russell collaborator

(4 stars)22 May 2012

An excellent reissue of the out-of-print debut from Peter Zummo dating back to 1981, a long time session musician and collaborator of Arthur Russell’s – who also lends his distinctive cello and baritone stylings throughout. With its feet firmly set in…

Friends - Manifest!

Friends - Manifest!

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

(3 stars)22 May 2012

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

Ultravox - Brilliant

Ultravox - Brilliant

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

(1 star)22 May 2012

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

Paul Buchanan - Mid Air

Paul Buchanan - Mid Air

Poor solo effort from the former Blue Nile member

(2 stars)22 May 2012

Written as a kind of pop requiem for a late friend, Mid Air is, quite fittingly, something of a musical flatline; a cycle of 14 barely-there doodles for voice and piano with all the punch and urgency of a ghost falling asleep. Virtually nothing remains…

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Inventive and charismatic return from Cherry in this free jazz/post-punk collaboration

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Neneh Cherry’s first album in 16 years is perhaps closer in spirit to the jazzoid post-punk of Rip Rig & Panic than the glorious hip-pop of Raw Like Sushi, but hot damn, it’s good. The Thing are renowned for their wild takes on cult rock and free-jazz…

Mary Epworth - Dream Life

Mary Epworth - Dream Life

A lavish and eclectic debut album from the folk-rock singer

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Where shall we begin? With the banjo twang, Black Sabbath fuzz and Goldfrapping blues-stomp of ‘Black Doe’? With the brass-toting folk-rock euphoria of ‘Long Gone’? With the swirling psych-pop of ‘Come Back to the Bough’? Or perhaps we should start…

Patti Smith - Banga

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

(3 stars)22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

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

(5 stars)22 May 2012

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

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Vibrant and inventive Malian Afro-beat, occasionally let down by naff blues guitar

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Described as Malian Afro-Beat, Ben Zabo’s music expands its scope well beyond the Fela Kuti-inspired sounds of 1970s Bamako to incorporate the bwa rhythms and melodies of his own Bo region, alongside elements of funk and rock. Slick production has…

Sigur Rós - Valtari

Sigur Rós - Valtari

A typically dazzling record from the Icelandic cosmic folk-pop outfit

(4 stars)22 May 2012

The rumours of an ‘indefinite hiatus’ might have left us thinking that was it for Sigur Rós, but the four years since their previous album have amounted to little more than a bit of creative refreshment time. Valtari (the infinitely less satisfying to…

Silver Jews - Early Times 1990-91

Silver Jews - Early Times 1990-91

Reissue of early works by David Berman, Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Disbanded in 2009, David Berman’s Silver Jews project was a tremendous portmanteau of country and US indie that acted as a vehicle for Berman’s lyrics, his voice, smooth and unsteady as stretched taffy, often simply speaking the words in tune, offering…

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Accomplished, crisp and cool recordings by Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Joey Baron

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Pianist Steve Kuhn has worked with both bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Joey Baron in many contexts over several decades, but they had never played together in a trio setting prior to recording this last year. You would never guess that, though – they…

Oriole - Every New Day

Oriole - Every New Day

Distinctly Latin-influenced sounds from the F-IRE collective

(3 stars)22 May 2012

The latest offering from the ranks of the London-based F-IRE collective features music written by Oriole’s founder, guitarist Johnny Phillips, during a six-year stay in Cadiz. The distinctly Spanish/Latin melodic and rhythmic feel has an appealing…

Can - The Lost Tapes

Can - The Lost Tapes

An essential Can album with unheard versions of familiar tracks and some never-heard-before material

(5 stars)21 May 2012

Not lost at all, but just forgotten about in Can’s cluttered studio until archived by the classic German psych-rock explorers’ Irmin Schmidt recently, this three-disc dump of material is unfeasibly good considering it managed to avoid the light of day…

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

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

(4 stars)21 May 2012

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

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Full of wit, panache, brutal self-examination and abundant tunefulness

(5 stars)21 May 2012

The title alone gives you a tingling feeling that something glorious and redemptive lies within: and so it proves on Dexys’ – formerly Dexys Midnight Runners – first new album in 27 years. Following the young soul rebels’ disastrous plunge in fortunes…

Dry the River - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

Dry the River - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

Unbalanced mix of noisy rock and gospel from the London five-piece

(2 stars)14 May 2012

It’s hard to pigeonhole this band. Not only do the hairy, tattooed Londoners hammer their instruments into a mesh of roaring noise that causes each instrument to become almost unidentifiable from the next, they also sing like choir boys. Dry the River…

Dan Mangan – Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Apr

Dan Mangan – Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Apr

The Canadian folk-pop tunesmith unleashes his experimental side

(4 stars)14 May 2012

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

Scott McWatt – Jekyll and Hyde

Scott McWatt – Jekyll and Hyde

Lyrically shallow effort from the former Lost City Lights frontman

(2 stars)14 May 2012

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

Lawrence of Belgravia

Lawrence of Belgravia

Intimate and touching documentary about the eccentric Felt frontman

(4 stars)10 May 2012

Lawrence - surnameless former front man of the variably appreciated 80s-90s indie bands Felt and Denim, and current leader of the barely-appreciated-at-all Go Kart Mozart – is a bit like the picture in Jarvis Cocker’s attic, psychologically speaking.

Eye O’ The Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr - PHOTO GALLERY?

Eye o’ the Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr 2012

Fantastic bill featuring Django Django, Malcolm Middleton and more

(4 stars)27 Apr 2012

They may have quadrupled the size of their show, and conscripted beefcakes to man the doors, but the spirit of Fence chiefly prevailed at the inaugural Eye O’ The Dug – a musical hoopla which (kind of) filled a Homegame-shaped hole in the calendar (and…

Major Lazer - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

Major Lazer - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

A ballsy and daft neo-dancehall party that wasn't shared enough with the audience

(3 stars)26 Apr 2012

‘Make some noise for all the asses!’ encouraged super-producer, and one half of Major Lazer, Diplo, midway through the band’s dancehall blitzkrieg of a live show. A dozen Glaswegian girls had been hoisted from the audience onto the O2 ABC stage to…

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

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

Energetic indie-electro-rock from the Leeds trio

(4 stars)26 Apr 2012

There's something different about The Sunshine Underground. Maybe it's their strange mix of electronica, grimy bass and echoing vocals. Maybe it's their somewhat unorthodox recording methods (they once put drummer Matthew Gwilt in a tent to get a 'big…

The Waterboys - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Wed 3 Mar

The Waterboys - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Wed 3 Mar

Three hours of intense, lyrical rock music for grown-ups

(4 stars)26 Apr 2012

Backstage after tonight’s show, Mike Scott, Waterboy-in-chief since the band’s inception in 1983, is disgruntled. His band have put in a considerable shift, knocking out not only a connoisseur’s best-of set but the bulk of its recent and remarkable…

Holy Mountain - Earth Measures

Holy Mountain - Earth Measures

A cacophonous, riff-driven release imbued with savage axe-mastery and vintage spirit

(4 stars)26 Apr 2012

What we are basically dealing with here is a delirious, hirsute rawk mob – a cacophonous, riff-driven Glasgow trio who’re as heavy as Led and thrice as cool. Notorious for combustible live shows (they once blared out the back of a van, with a cigarette…

The Leg - An Eagle to Saturn

The Leg - An Eagle to Saturn

Absurdist punk more confusing than worthwhile?

(2 stars)26 Apr 2012

Terrifyingly obscure and possibly dangerous are pretty much the only ways to describe this offering from Edinburgh's The Leg. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted or easily offended as tracks cover some pretty dark ideas. Shouted lyrics sound eerily…

Kim Edgar - The Ornate Lie

Kim Edgar - The Ornate Lie

Folk rock from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar

(3 stars)26 Apr 2012

The second album from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar raises the bar from where her acclaimed debut album left off, mixing delicate folk rock melodies with Kim’s uniquely Scottish and poignant lyrics. Edgar’s harmonious piano playing and a voice full of…

The Futureheads - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 9 Apr

The Futureheads - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 9 Apr

Stripped down acoustic and a capella show from the indie-rock group

(4 stars)25 Apr 2012

For a band who made one of their very earliest trips around the UK a tour of working men’s clubs, there was a certain sense of having come full circle here. Billed as an acoustic and a cappella tour, it was more than just a stripped-down version of…

Andrew WK - The Garage, Glasgow, Sat 14 Apr

Andrew WK - The Garage, Glasgow, Sat 14 Apr

The long-haired party-metaller plays debut album I Get Wet in full

(3 stars)25 Apr 2012

Andrew WK is what he is: partier, lover of dirty jeans, motivational speaker. Whatever you thought of him when he arrived on the scene with tongue firmly in cheek on the back of last year’s debut album I Get Wet is irrelevant. As a live prospect, Andrew…

Tinariwen - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Thu 5 Apr 2012

Tinariwen - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Thu 5 Apr 2012

An evocative but occasionally flat show from the Tuareg blues guitarists

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

A beguiling mix of blues guitar sounds, gently insistent but sometimes complex rhythms and desert sensibilities is what’s always made Tinariwen unique. Live, the blend is all the more compelling, which must be due, at least in part, to the sheer…

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

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

Ballsy, multi-genre songwriting overcomes any X Factor endorsements

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

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

Zulu Winter - Language

Zulu Winter - Language

The indie rockers' debut is disappointingly unadventurous

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Play It Again Sam) With their unabashed love of Czech new wave cinema, Steve Reich, TS Eliot, Ayn Rand and modern dance troupes The List won’t even pretend to have heard of, we expected something a little more adventurous from Zulu Winter’s debut…

PAWS - Misled Youth

PAWS - Misled Youth

A pacey, frantic and melancholy EP from the Glasgow garage pop-rock trio

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Fat Cat) Grrr, Paws are good. Be it gigging in weird places (the Glasgow trio have played in bathrooms, skate shops and on top of double decker buses) or the bedroom recordings released on painstakingly put-together, hand-numbered limited edition…

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

Underwhelming concept album from the indie-poppers

(2 stars)23 Apr 2012

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

Two Wings - Love's Spring

Two Wings - Love's Spring

A warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and English folk-rock

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Tin Angel Records) The strident classicism of Two Wings may come as a surprise to those familiar with the avant-folk of Hanna Tuulikki’s other group Nalle. That project’s eerie soundworld is replaced by a warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and…

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

A timeless album from the Americana heartbreakers

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

Bonnie Prince Billy is not the only alt-country bard to have dibs on Glen Lyon. Americana heartbreakers Star Wheel Press are based in Aberfeldy (BPB’s erstwhile stomping ground), and have quietly amassed a dedicated following since their lovely debut…

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

An album of light, buoyant jazz ballads, ideal in small servings

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Pumpkin Records) The airy combination of alto saxophone and guitar and a leaning toward ballad tempos gives the music on this duo outing a light, buoyant feel which does pale a little over the whole album, but works beautifully on any individual…

Madonna - MDNA

Madonna - MDNA

Album with producers Benny Benassi, Martin Solveig and William Orbit

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

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

Beach House - Bloom

Beach House - Bloom

Fourth album sticks to style favouring atmosphere over structure

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Bella Union) With 2010’s totally immersive Teen Dream, Baltimore two-piece Beach House – France-born vocalist/keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally – went from American indie try-hards to one of the most critically-acclaimed bands of…

2,752 articles.

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

RSS feed