Music and Rock

Cold Cave

22 Apr 2010

‘I grew up in the wasteland of the American 80s,’ explains Cold Cave’s founder Wesley Eisold. ‘(Its) sound has been with me as long as I’ve been here. Otherwise, what influences me varies a lot. Music and film and books like everyone else, but more so…

Holy Fuck - Latin

21 Apr 2010

(Young Turks) Imagine the organic power of Explosions in the Sky married to the ultra-chic beats of Hot Chip. At their best, Toronto punk-dance outfit Holy Fuck blend the two threads brilliantly – crunching guitars, analogue synths and ferocious…

Laura Marling

Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 14 Apr 2010

21 Apr 2010

Everyone knows by now that Laura Marling (lest we forget, a 90s baby) is something of a prodigy, but even so, only a doting mother could have thought that the girl wonder had written ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ (Neil Young’s song about heroin…

CocoRosie - Grey Oceans

21 Apr 2010

(PIAS) Remember trip-hop pantywaists Sneaker Pimps? Disconcerting swathes of this fourth long-player from CocoRosie will jog your memory if need be. Thankfully the US-born, Paris-based sisters’ foray into cry-baby drum’n’bass is bedimmed by a collage…

Shonen Knife

21 Apr 2010

‘When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert’ – the now immortal words of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain on Japanese punk-pop trio, Shonen Knife, who make their welcome return to the UK this…

Chuck Prophet - Dreaming Waylon’s Dreams

21 Apr 2010

(Decor) California-born Telecaster-master Chuck Prophet celebrates 25 years in the roots-rock business (the first eight with Green On Red) via this track-for-track tribute to hero Waylon Jennings’ outlaw-country LP of 1975, Dreaming My…

Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

21 Apr 2010

(Sub Pop) Sometimes nothing but a ferocious, flail-inducing racket will do. And in those darkest, riff-craving moments, Male Bonding are everything you need and more. Nothing Hurts is the debut effort from the London trio and it speeds along…

Jim Kroft - Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea

21 Apr 2010

(Sidewalk 7) Recorded in London via bohemian Berlin (where he now lives) and the Scottish Highlands (where he was raised), young Kroft has clearly procured his parents’ 80s pop-music collection: OMD, China Crisis, A Flock Of Seagulls, The Lightning…

Exposure: Esperi

20 Apr 2010

Dundee is famous for three things, they say; Jute, jam and journalism. But is it about to get a fourth? Juxtaposing acoustic guitar and a whole host of odd instruments and percussion, Esperi mainman Chris Lee-Marr seems to be making all the right waves.

These New Puritans

20 Apr 2010

What did those drums ever do to These New Puritans? Something pretty heinous, judging by the way not one, but two of the band spend most of the set whacking seven bells out of them. It’s the most arresting aspect of the show -- and the sight of the two…

Slash among latest additions to Download 2010 festival bill

16 Apr 2010

Former Guns’n’Rose/Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash (making his solo Donnington debut) leads the announcement of 30 new bands for this year’s Download festival. Also joining him on the metal and rock festival bill are As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, Breed 77…

LCD Soundsystem play Glasgow dates

15 Apr 2010

‘You wanted a hit,’ sings James Murphy on his new song of the same name, ‘but maybe we don’t do hits. I try / and try / it ends up feeling kind of wrong.’ Through the entirety of LCD Soundsystem’s much anticipated third record This is Happening, it’s…

Fuck Buttons lined up for Glasgow show

15 Apr 2010

Stripped back to its raw ingredients, the noise of Fuck Buttons seems as if it should sound a lot more violent and abrasive than it actually does. Screaming death metal vocals, battering drums, monkey howls and warped electronics battered around by…

Efterklang and Slaraffenland set for Edinburgh date

15 Apr 2010

In these cynical times of divas, drugs and *sigh* the reformed Libertines, it’s nice to see some bands who are happy just hanging out with their mates. Both Efterklang and Slaraffenland are made up of members who have known each other since childhood…

These New Puritans and LoneLady line up Edinburgh show

15 Apr 2010

A solid double line-up of TNP – whose bleak, melodramatic post-punk anthems have an extra gut-punch when heard live – supported by the excellent LoneLady (aka Julie Campbell, above). Expect doom, big clanging chains and angry, growling goblin vocals…

Exposure: Factory Floor

15 Apr 2010

Fuck Buttons heard this London trio play once. Once was enough, and they asked them along as support on their UK tour. Factory Floor (who renamed themselves 'FF' for a brief heartbeat, before, enigmatically, becoming Factory Floor once more) are Gabe…

Gil Scott–Heron on UK tour in support of new album I'm New Here

15 Apr 2010

Polemicist, ex-prisoner, poet – Gil Scott–Heron’s spoken word diatribes are charged with political passion and fused with jazz, proto-rap and blues rhythms. As he arrives in Scotland, Paul Dale traces a life lived politically Between the moon and…

Q&A: Beardyman

15 Apr 2010

The London musician, Beardyman, aka Darren Foreman, is considerably less hirsute than the name might suggest, and also proud to have been the UK beatbox champion two years in a row. Here, he talks taxes, Batman and gold statues... First record you…

Wooden Shjips and Trembling Bells set for Glasgow date

15 Apr 2010

Formed in San Francisco, California in 2003 – once a Mecca of sorts for the chemical adventurers and free-spirited musicians of the 60s/70s – Wooden Shjips are purveyors of droning psychedelica, so mind-bending and caked in searing noise, it plays out…

Mark Lanegan lines up Glasgow Oran Mor date

15 Apr 2010

Occupation Whisky-soaked, gravel-throated singer for hire, arch rock’n’roll collaborator and all-round vocal misery guts. Where’s he from, then? Lanegan first came into the public eye in the late 80s and early 90s fronting the Screaming Trees…

The Drums

Classic Grand, Glasgow, Mon 29 Mar 2010

15 Apr 2010

Fresh from the recent NME Awards Tour, this bunch have clearly either bought themselves a one-way ticket to ignominious obscurity or they’ll be one of the biggest bands in the nation by this time next year. Whichever way it goes, though, plain old good…

The Twilight Sad

O2 ABC, Glasgow, Fri 2 Apr 2010

15 Apr 2010

The Twilight Sad occupy shadows and angles; space and darkness. They delineate a rare silhouette onstage, and on our musical landscape: for all their Scottish indie references, bleak local folklore and Lanarkshire diction, their live performances often…

7VWWVW with Wounded Knee

Whitehill School, Glasgow, Thu 25 Mar 2010

15 Apr 2010

Sometimes the ‘where’ is just as important as the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘why’. So the setting was a key player at this beautifully oddball one-off show; where a high school lecture hall in Dennistoun hosted Edinburgh analogue synthesiser collective, 7VWWVW…

TFTV music show launch night

15 Apr 2010

Get ready for your close up. Launching in Scotland this fortnight, a new live music night, which is also broadcast, not quite on the telly, but weekly on the internet at www.tfmusic.co.uk hopes to bring together the electric atmosphere of classic venues…

The Futureheads, with Lions.Chase.Tigers and Admiral Fallow

15 Apr 2010

Two years after The Futureheads’ guitarist Ross Millard supported the launch of The Mill as a platform for young bands, the circle is complete. The indie kingpins behind ‘The Beginning of the Twist’ and storming Kate Bush cover ‘Hounds of Love’ will be…

Pearl and the Puppets set for Edinburgh and Glasgow shows

15 Apr 2010

Pearl (or Katie Sutherland to her mum) and her particular brand of soft and sugary tune-smithery are homegrown, and have been kicking about the Scottish music scene for a few years now. Managing to raise her profile in several different areas of the…

Health, Divorce and Prayer Rug play Glasgow date

15 Apr 2010

Screechy, pounding, crunching noise and pulverising drums from La-La Land, when the heavily-hyped and yet actually genuinely good, Californian foursome, Health (above) play this one Scottish date. Local noiseniks, Divorce, can't really be relied on to…

The Wynntown Marshalls

15 Apr 2010

Good-time country rock ‘n’ roll from … uh, Kirkcaldy. The Wynntown Marshals are about as Scottish as Irn Bru and deep-fried Mars bars, but with glorious pedal steel and cowboy harmonies, you could be forgiven for thinking they were raised on root beer…

Shy Child set for Glasgow show

15 Apr 2010

Their promo photo really does make them look, well, like a pair of very shy children. Or perhaps timid IT workers? But, honestly, they're just frontin'. The New York duo make sublimely danceable, radio-friendly electronica, not unlike the dance-funk of…

Forever The Sickest Kids - The Weekend: Friday

15 Apr 2010

(Universal Motown) Mini-album fluff from FTSK, who blend with the rest of the emo horde with sporadic keyboard effects and some 3OH!3-lite krunk-pop. Less ‘catchy,’ more ‘grating.’

Music Go Music - Expressions

15 Apr 2010

(Mercury/Secretly Canadian) With Kate Bush and The Shadows as apparent influences, MGM could’ve been uber-cool Tarantino soundtrack material — yet a hipsterish desperation lurks within.

Malakai - Ugly Side Of Love

15 Apr 2010

(Double Six) A mixed bag. Movie-sampling ‘Warriors’ and Finlay Quaye-but-good ‘Moonsurfin’ are great, but break-beats and psych-edelica clash horribly elsewhere, lowering the tone.

Ash - A – Z Vol. 1

15 Apr 2010

(Atomic Heart) More perfectly-crafted pop rock from Ash, with added Muse-esque pianos and the odd 80s synth part.

Officer Kicks - Citywide Curfew

15 Apr 2010

(We Make Things) Throbbing bass and snarling Subways-style riffs differentiate these punky upstarts from the four-man-guitar-band crowd.

Sparrow and the Workshop - Crystals Fall

15 Apr 2010

(Distiller) Americana-tinged debut using powerful vocals, drums and stormy guitars to fantastic effect.

The Swellers - Ups and Downsizing

14 Apr 2010

(Fueled by Ramen) It’s rare when a band blows you away on first listen. The Swellers do just that. This album is back-to-basics pop punk, sitting at the same end of the spectrum as Over It/ No Use For A Name/ or Jimmy Eat World with more balls: a…

The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter

14 Apr 2010

(Domino Records) Love him or loathe him, Mancunian Mark E Smith is arguably punk music’s last ambassador since a certain butter-loving ‘Anchor-man’ was discovered in a certain celebrity jungle. Studio album number 30-something and their first since…

The Futureheads - The Chaos

14 Apr 2010

(Nul Recordings) When your average indie band reaches record number four, you can usually expect a slowing down of sorts (blame the sex and drugs) as they bloatedly lose the hunger for hot riffage and instead explore experimental noodling, epic…

Three Blind Wolves - The Sound of the Storm

14 Apr 2010

(Instinctive Raccoon) Three Blind Wolves, see how they run? That’s right, they run like lovesick delinquents through decades of vintage Scottish rock – by way of country, blues and folk – and come out sounding downright affable. The new and…

The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

14 Apr 2010

(Sony) The Avett brothers Scott and Seth have been making music since 2000, but this is their major label debut. Produced by Rick Rubin, whose input guarantees a certain level of success, it’s an excellent collection of songs – an example of…

Sweet Apple - Love & Desperation

14 Apr 2010

(Tee Pee) This doesn’t quite qualify for supergroup status, with Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis drumming away behind some guys from Cobra Verde and Witch (nah, me neither), but it’s refreshingly unreconstructed rock ‘n’ roll with enough originality to keep…

Gogol Bordello - Trans-Continental Hustle

14 Apr 2010

American Recordings/ Columbia What an apt album title. This latest effort from gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello, Trans-Continental Hustle, takes us on a meandering trip through Eastern Europe and back — via South America too. With lead-man and…

Meursault

Album launch, Cabaret Voltaire, Sat 10 Apr

13 Apr 2010

Tonight feels like a showcase of just how versatile Meursault are as a band. That and a big, fuzzy, congratulatory Edinburgh indie scene hug. After the hottest day in Edinburgh for a long time, as many people as the Cabaret Voltaire will hold have…

Born To Be Wide - Wide Days

1 Apr 2010

It's business time! Scottish music scene-nurturing organisation Born To Be Wide has another fantastic event planned, with a line up of acts equally as impressive as the industry figures sharing their music industry knowhow. Seminars and showcases have…

Meursault launch second album All Creatures Will Make Merry with Edinburgh show

31 Mar 2010

After playing a storming set at Homegame recently, the Edinburgh-based band are having a launch party for their new album, All Creatures Will Make Merry. (Full release on 24 May on Song, By Toad.) Fronted by Neil Pennycook, Meursault are known for their…

Lali Puna - Our Inventions

31 Mar 2010

(Morr) The Weilheim quartet (sister group of The Notwist) return with their fourth LP of experimental electro-pop. Our Inventions is 37 minutes of sincere, sublime electronica exploring themes of our future with an air of enlightened elegance.

Errors

Tolbooth, Stirling, Fri 19 Mar 2010

31 Mar 2010

‘What’s that? You want us to play Oasis’ 'I Am the Walrus'?’ Oh dear. And so, some mouthy Stirlingite did confirm the preconceptions of those from the Central Belt’s other cities regarding what constitutes modern music here. Okay, that’s harsh. But the…

Rufus Wainwright's upcoming tour features set designed by Douglas Gordon

31 Mar 2010

The son of singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III and brother of kooky chanteuse Martha brings his baroque pop to town for these two Scottish dates, including one at the freshly spruced up and reopened Usher Hall. Rufus will be doing his thing in front…

Love.Stop. Repeat - Remembering

31 Mar 2010

(Make Your Own Adventure) Their first LP sounds like something you might expect to hear in an enchanted forest. Hauntingly pretty vocals from Lindsay West team with David Millar’s delicate strumming to create an intricate set of gentle folk songs to…

Scouting For Girls - Everybody Wants To Be On TV

31 Mar 2010

(Epic) The commercially successful British band return with their second vacuous offering. While catchy songs may be in abundance, substance is not with the songs, which still centre purely on crushes.

JJ Bull - Ou Sont Les Elephants

31 Mar 2010

(Unsigned) Acoustic indie self-funded debut from an Aberdeen lad where guitars, violins and vocals join together for a promising wholesome sound, only to be dampened by predictable lyrics.

John Butler Trio - April Uprising

31 Mar 2010

(On Because) Teamed with new bandmates and a new record label, dancehall, roots and rock all find their place in this musical voyage into Butler’s ancestry.

Five reasons to go see: Airbourne

29 Mar 2010

1: They supply the ultimate party soundtrack ‘Hard hitting, sweat soaked, fist-thumping rock’n’roll,’ explains guitarist David Roads, ‘just very loud and very hard, foot-stomping kind of music for a good time.’ 2: They sound a bit like AC/DC ‘It…

Homegame

29 Mar 2010

After the tragic own-goal of that ‘We’re For Fife’ tourist video, Homegame – micro-label Fence’s annual takeover of fishing town, Anstruther – was a triumph for the Kingdom. The skies were blue, the fish & chips, outstanding, and the music, well, with…

Kitty the Lion

29 Mar 2010

What’s with the animal theme tonight? Kittens, lions and goats? Still, at least the archetypal gruffness of the latter is absent tonight, in favour of more delicate and delectable sensibilities, as Kitty the Lion – aka Glasgow songstress Anna Meldrum…

The Retribution Gospel Choir

29 Mar 2010

‘WEEP NOT FOR THE PAST’ is the legend emblazoned on the wall above this Minnesota-born offshoot of slow-core somnambulists Low. It’s an all too appropriate backdrop for vocalist/guitarist Alan Sparhawk, bass player Steve Garrington and drummer Eric…

Travis & Fripp - Live At Coventry Cathedral

29 Mar 2010

(Panegyric) Guitar legend Robert Fripp and jazz saxophonist Theo Travis explore an intricate and atmospheric soundscape on this live set, the last of four UK dates they played in May 2009. The duo recorded a well received studio album, Thread, in…

MGMT - Congratulations

29 Mar 2010

(Columbia) Two years after their debut Oracular Spectacular, Brooklyn electro-psych duo MGMT’s eagerly anticipated follow-up resembles a different band at first. The opening ‘It’s Working’ sounds like Johnny Marr working with Syd Barrett, while ‘Song…

Woodenbox With a Fistful Of Fivers - Home And The Wild Hunt

29 Mar 2010

(Electric Honey) Is it me, or does every fresh-faced Scots act have to sound like patter-merchant, Paolo Nutini? Woodenbox (aka singer-songwriter, Ali Downer) and the Spaghetti Western-monikered Fistful of Fivers at least sound as if they’re having…

Woodpigeon - Die Stadt Muzikanten

29 Mar 2010

(End of the Road) An agrarian folk troupe with a penchant for alt-rock, Woodpigeon are a loose collective fronted by Calgary-via-Edinburgh harmonist Mark Hamilton. Their abundant third long-player is a complex, picturesque tapestry of pirate…

Elliott Smith - Roman Candle

29 Mar 2010

(Domino) In the same year that Kurt Cobain shot himself, leaving a suicide note with the lyric ‘It’s better to burn out than fade away’, Elliott Smith released his debut album, Roman Candle. Both were destined to burn fast and bright and die young…

She & Him - Volume 2

29 Mar 2010

(Double Six) Brimming with classic 60s girl-pop and California country-rock, the second instalment from improbable couple She (indie film icon Zooey Deschanel) & Him (alt-folk troubadour M Ward) is another worthy offering for fans of The Beach Boys…

Jónsi - Go

29 Mar 2010

Taking time out from the day job of creating epic soundscapes with Sigur Rós, lead singer Jónsi here creates, well, some pretty epic soundscapes on his debut solo release. There’s a more joyful exuberance to tracks like ‘Animal Arithmetic’ and ‘Boy…

The Twilight Sad bring quadrophonic live show to Glasgow O2

23 Mar 2010

Get ready to rediscover the singular sound of Scotland’s melancholy doom rockers The Twilight Sad – now coming at you from all angles, explains Ryan Drever

Greco-Roman Soundsystem set for Hinterland 2010

23 Mar 2010

Returning for its second annual installment, the Glasgow-based single ticket festival Hinterland has wisely scaled operations down a little this year. Focused around the Arches, the Sub Club and smaller venues like MacSorley’s and the Admiral, the…

Exposure: Bear in Heaven

23 Mar 2010

Our Bear, who art in Heaven: hallowed be thy epic space-pop, thy divine psychedelia, thy dense electro, thy mammoth kraut-rock. Fortified with a reverent live persuasion and an excellent second album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes), it is little…

Steel Panther, Saxon and Dilinger Escape Plan added to Download 2010 bill

23 Mar 2010

A further 22 names have been announced by rock and metal festival Download to perform on the 2010 bill. Steel Panther, HIM, Saxon, Airbourne, Coheed & Cambria, 36 Crazyfists, Dilinger Escape Plan, Dommin, Taking Dawn, Unearth, Cinderella, A Day To…

Exposure: Cast of the Capital

22 Mar 2010

Aberdeen lies beyond the outskirts of Scottish music’s epicentre, but Cast Of The Capital don’t really care. The band, named in renowned Scottish radio DJ Vic Galloway’s top 50 Scottish acts of 2010 list, may be based in the Granite City but regular…

Kate Nash

Classic Grand, Glasgow - Sat 6 Mar 2010

22 Mar 2010

Remember Kate Nash? Vague images of a quirkily poised MySpace nerd with cockney rhymes about dumping “bitt-a” boys for their “fitt-a” mates suggest that there was reason for her sometimes frosty reception by critics residing in Camp Lily Allen/Jamie T.

Burnt Island

Mono, Glasgow, Sun 7 Mar 2010

22 Mar 2010

This was the launch party for Music & Maths, the debut album from the group christened after Scotland’s most evocatively named place – but Burnt Island’s supporting cast wasn’t bad either. The Second Hand Marching Band and Benni Hemm Hemm, two youthful…

Amy MacDonald lines up Edinburgh date

22 Mar 2010

OK, stats time. Macdonald’s debut album This Is the Life topped the UK charts, and went platinum (oh, and multi-platinum) in a total of 12 countries. The bestselling single of the same name hit No 5 in the UK and was No 1 in various spots around Europe.

Trips and Falls - He Was Such A Quiet Boy

22 Mar 2010

(Song, By Toad) Guitar pop from Montreal, via pivotal Edinburgh blogger and label-runner Song, By Toad. Thoughtful, twinkling alt-country, where everything gets cloaked in a eerie cobweb of quirky keyboards and slowly-bowed cellos. Spookily charming.

Haddowfest Highlights

19 Mar 2010

1. Idlewild Old pros, compared to the majority of the rookie hot-shots on the bill at this Camden Crawl-style one-dayer festival, Roddy Woomble and the boys bring the angular jock-rock, as enjoyed by fans since 1995. 2. The 10:04s Entering the…

Corinne Bailey Rae set for Glasgow date - interview

10 Mar 2010

First record you ever bought? A 45 of Prince’s ‘Thieves in the Temple’. I got it from a ‘Boyes’ [bargain department store] in Scarborough. First film you saw that really moved you? E.T. First movie you ever went on a date to? The English…

The Unwinding Hours

Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 5 March 2010

10 Mar 2010

The pin-drop silence that fell on Stereo at points during this first ever headline show by The Unwinding Hours – the new venture from Craig B. and Iain Cook, formerly of the much-revered Aereogramme – reflected the stock of goodwill the pair amassed…

Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra play Glasgow

10 Mar 2010

Initially conceived as a side-project to Canadian post-rock heroes Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mount Zion has blossomed into a great band in its own right, evolving from a purely instrumental concern into an expansive rock group characterised…

The Besnard Lakes

10 Mar 2010

‘I think one of the most rock’n’roll things ever done was landing on the moon,’ muses vocalist Olga Goreas of celestial pop voyagers The Besnard Lakes. ‘It was the end to a great decade that produced more than just amazing music and art: it was a…

Withered Hand plays Edinburgh Limbo date

10 Mar 2010

Jarvis Cocker recently showed his love of this outstanding Edinburgh-based, quirky alt.folk singer-songwriter, when he played song ‘Providence’ on his BBC6 music show. We’ve been fans of Dan Willson’s flaky, one-liner-laden melodies ever since he…

New Young Pony Club and Is Tropical set for Glasgow King Tut's date

10 Mar 2010

Besides the appeal of a date with kinky-popsters, New Young Pony Club (they of ‘Ice Cream’ fame), the support, Is Tropical, promises an added dose of throbbing electropop. A new London three-piece, they play on whatever instruments they can scrounge off…

Cincinatti three-piece Why? set for Glasgow date

10 Mar 2010

Humorously blunt lyrics accompanied by sumptuous melodies, tender harmonies and the occasional hip-hop edge – sound like your cup of tea? Us too. You may care to check out this beardy three-piece from Cincinatti – whose interracial lovelorn rap ballad…

Isa & the Filthy Tongues - Dark Passenger

10 Mar 2010

(Neon Tetra) Bunnymen echoes from Isa (real name, Stacey Chavis, from Portland, Oregon) and those Filthy Tongues, including ‘New Town Killers’ used in the Richard Jobson film of the same name.

To Rococo Rot - Speculation

9 Mar 2010

(Domino) Palindromic triad To Rococo Rot have assembled animate machine music for over a decade. Speculation, however, heralds a somewhat raucous awakening, as the German impressionists venture out of the ‘measured’ post-rock dominion, into the…

Five reasons to: Save BBC 6Music

4 Mar 2010

First came a collective up-in-arms from indie fans across the land; then came the validation of their anguish by the BBC: its small but much-loved digital radio station, 6Music, is to close next year – alongside the Asian Network – pending a public…

Fence Homegame 2010

4 Mar 2010

You know you’re in safe hands when Fence Records are involved. And Fife’s weirdy, folky, lo-fi, indie, little bit electronic-y collective are once again taking over every gig space they can cram a stage into across Anstruther this year with a line-up…

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

2 Mar 2010

(Drag City) Revising and entwining the rites of folk, pop, blues, baroque, classical romanticism and nursery rhymes, California’s Joanna Newsom possesses an uncanny knack for arousing and confounding our cultural memory: for unfurling strangely…

Tamikrest - Adagh

2 Mar 2010

(Glitterhouse) Tinariwen first brought us the Tamashek music of the Toureg people of the Saharan desert. They blew everyone away, even the Rolling Stones, who a year or so later invited them to open their gig. Tamikrest are the next generation, and…

Delphic

2 Mar 2010

One of the ‘tips for 2010’ that have already proved the pop pundits right. Debut album Acolyte went top ten in the charts and was a lovely slice of electro-indie pop owing much to their musical forefathers New Order and Depeche Mode. Studio 24…

Lynyrd Skynyrd

2 Mar 2010

These Southern rockers named themselves after a particularly jobsworthy high-school PE teacher named Forby Leonard Skinner. Cool accents aside, they also gave the world ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, a song full of ‘dangalanga’ bits that are virtually impossible…

Grizzly Bear

2 Mar 2010

Woozy, sun-bleached, otherworldly, baroque pop from America, handily brought to Scotland for this sold-out live date, just in case you can’t make it out to see them play Coachella next month… Beach House will be supporting. Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh…

Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement

25 Feb 2010

During the 90s Pavement were cult kingpins of the burgeoning US indie-rock scene, and leader Stephen Malkmus was an idol for the brainy post-Cobain brigade. Several excellent albums garnished the era (from Slanted and Enchanted to Terror Twilight), and…

Polar Bear - Peepers

25 Feb 2010

(The Leaf Label) Polar Bear’s music has already been dubbed ‘post-jazz’ in some quarters, and it is easy to hear why a conventional jazz sensibility might struggle to allow them within the fold. Regard them as a freely improvising rock band, with…

T in the Park Line-up 2010

25 Feb 2010

T in the Park line-up announced Finally, the wait as over. TiTP have announced this year’s line-up, and very impressive it is too, with Muse, Eminem and Kasabian headlining the main stages and other major acts on the bill include Black Eyed Peas, The…

Liars - Sisterworld

25 Feb 2010

LA’s art-rock contortionists Liars are not short of admirers: Thom Yorke, Devendra Banhart and Suicide’s Alan Vega have all reconstructed songs from Sisterworld, the avant-garde trio’s fifth long-player. Yet Liars’ caliginous renditions eclipse its…

The xx lined up for Edinburgh Studio 24 gig

23 Feb 2010

Everybody loves The xx. The Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening loves them so much he asked them to play the upcoming edition of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival he’s curating. Rob Da Bank loves them too, so he’s booked them for Bestival this year. The…

Exposure: Dag för Dag

23 Feb 2010

They’re based in Stockholm, Sweden, but American brother and sister duo Sarah and Jacob Snavely (and their magnificently-named live drummer Chuck Bukowski) have no Swedish heritage. It shows: Dag för Dag’s (it means ‘day by day’) shouty, sky-scraping…

Zombie Zombie perform the music of John Carpenter

23 Feb 2010

Forming part of the Glasgow Film Festival’s Music and Film strand, the influence of one of American cinema’s most widely-respected cult auteurs hung over this event, so we shouldn’t be too picky that the band scrapped the idea of performing in front of…

Aerosmith and Rage Against the Machine join Download 2010 bill

23 Feb 2010

The final two headliners for this year’s Download festival have been confirmed with Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith joining the previously announced AC/DC to head the hard rock and metal festival. The organisers also state vocalist Steve Tyler…

Nazareth and The Deborah Bonham Band

ABC, Glasgow, Fri 19 Feb 2010

22 Feb 2010

More than forty years have passed since Nazareth left the comfort zone of the Dunfermline dance hall circuit to dive bravely into the snakepit of the London music scene but, despite the fact that the two remaining founder members of the band, vocalist…

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…