Music, Rock and Issue 650

Backbeat

18 Feb 2010

Iain Softley’s 1994 film Backbeat charted the pre-stardom career of The Beatles, focusing on the relationship between John Lennon, his best friend and fellow art student Stuart Sutcliffe, who succumbed to a brain tumour aged 22, and Sutcliffe’s lover…

Hot Chip

18 Feb 2010

You get the feeling that everyone who’s anyone in Edinburgh was out for this show. It wasn’t just a big gig, it was one by a band whose new album One Life Stand has set the benchmark for crossover electronic pop style in ‘10. Did it live up to its own…

Pere Ubu, Mogwai, Thomas Truax and Zombie Zombie set for The Glasgow Music and Film Festival

17 Feb 2010

The Music and Film Festival is a strange beast, full of contradictions and tangents that threaten to pull apart its coherence, but ultimately make it the most exciting strand of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. Co-curated by the Arches, and featuring…

Holly Miranda - The Magician’s Private Library

17 Feb 2010

(XL Recordings) Produced by Dave ‘TV On the Radio’ Sitek (hands up who’s still not been produced by Dave, please), this impressive, otherworldly debut is floaty, Cat-Power-esque and sprinkled with Au Revoir Simone Casiotone beats.

Cabaret Voltaire celebrates fifth birthday

Guests include DC Breaks, Slam, Fenech-Soler, Zane Lowe and Tom Middleton

17 Feb 2010

‘Cabaret Voltaire is one of the most atmospheric spaces you could ever find an underground club. It’s a very rare music-orientated team that work here. We’re a little family that are incredibly passionate about what we do, and I feel that really comes…

Exposure: So So Modern

17 Feb 2010

They’re hard men to pin down, are So So Modern. In the midst of a 28-date European tour over 31 days when The List tries and fails to collar them for a chat (somewhere over France, in fact), the quartet from Wellington, New Zealand are clearly adherents…

Girls set for Glasgow live date

17 Feb 2010

Bleary-eyed San Fran duo, Girls, follow up last October’s Scottish dates with another gig, as part of a frankly stomach-churning US/European tour. The pair, comprising of Chet ‘JR’ White and Christopher Owens, released their debut – simply titled, Album…

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

17 Feb 2010

(Fat Cat) Along with The Twilight Sad and The Phantom Band, Frightened Rabbit are at the vanguard of Scottish indie, building a fine reputation for powerful, plaintive rock shapes and brutally honest lyricism. Their two albums to date have shown…

Hidden Door

17 Feb 2010

An all-you-can-eat weekend-long festival of multi-disciplinary art designed to get Edinburgh’s cells of creative activity talking to each other. It was an admirable ethos, and certainly experiencing the unmistakeable I-am-at-a-festival sensation in…

These New Puritans - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Thu 4 Feb 2010

17 Feb 2010

Puritanical? Maybe. This Southend-On-Sea quartet certainly give the impression they aren’t here to compromise, play the game or do what they’re told in order to eke out a little more media coverage, and we can only appreciate them for it. Jack Barnett…

RM Hubbert - First & Last

17 Feb 2010

(Ubisano) Once a member of the now defunct Glasgow instrumentalists El Hombre Trajeado, guitarist RM Hubbert delivers his debut solo release and proves that there’s much to be said for working hard on your craft. Here, he flexes his post-rock…

The Courteeners - Falcon

17 Feb 2010

(A&M Records) The second album from The Courteeners proves that this Manchester band aren’t afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves. Openly describing themselves as a mix of Morrissey, Elbow and The Verve, these musical patrons clearly hold…

Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels

17 Feb 2010

679 The latest in a long line of new Kate Bushes, Greek/Welsh loony tune Marina Diamandis arrives in a fair blitz of hype, but this debut album is a charmless affair which mistakes self-aggrandising for personality and synth-pop rip-offs for musical…

Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool

17 Feb 2010

(Roadrunner) Rob Zombie is certainly one of the most enigmatic figures in modern metal. He’s evolved from rock star to a full-blown, gore-loving stage persona (a feat last pulled off by Marilyn Manson to increasingly lacklustre results). Taking a…

Cobra Starship - Hot Mess

17 Feb 2010

(Atlantic) This latest offering from New York electro boppers Cobra Starship features some pretty disposable tracks, like the lacklustre ‘Fold Your Hands Child’ (a nod to the album of the same name by Scots twee-heroes, Belle & Sebastian) but when…

Field Music set for Glasgow date

17 Feb 2010

Sunderland indie types Field Music have included members of The Futureheads and Maxïmo Park amongst their ranks at various times and while they share a certain quirkiness with said bands they are a more thoughtful proposition as showcased on their new…

Mastodon to showcase Crack the Skye at Barrowlands

17 Feb 2010

Huge, multifaceted progressive metal as the mighty Mastodon return. Rumour has it they are still playing their latest album, Crack the Skye (a complex masterpiece detailing the astral journeys of a paraplegic), in its entirety for the first half of…

Sharleen Spiteri - The Movie Songbook

17 Feb 2010

(Mercury) The Texas frontwoman has gone all camp and a bit ‘Liza Streisand’ on this platform-heeled tribute to her favourite soundtracks. Her retakes on ‘Xanadu’, ‘Take My Breath Away’ and ‘If I Can’t Have You’ just left us craving the originals…

Iain Shaw - May You Live All The Days of Your Life

17 Feb 2010

(Vow of Noise) Recorded and mixed over four hours, in Glasgow, Iain Shaw’s covers album includes gentle, intriguing, but over-tweedy and earnest folk versions of Motorhead (‘Motorhead’) and The Ramones (‘Blitzkreig Bop’).