Music, David Pollock

The Fire and I

2 Oct 2008

POWER DUO Congratulations to Bathgate duo The Fire and I, who have managed to strip the whole concept of the rock ‘n’ roll band back down to its most basic elements. Essentially a four-legged rhythm section, they combine the drumming of Hooligan (we…

Travis - Ode To J Smith

2 Oct 2008

INDIE This, Travis’ fifth studio album, is both their finest since 1999’s The Man Who and just, y’know, alright. The fact is, after making a glistening splash with Good Feeling and then predictably repeating the winning formula hit on with The Man…

Autumn Music Preview 08 - Sam Sparro

18 Sep 2008

Oh dear. It’s not like the summer hasn’t been one long string of achievements for Sam Sparro, aka 25-year-old singer Sam Falson, whose ‘Black and Gold’ will be remembered as one of the sleekest dancefloor anthems of 2008, but more or less the first…

Friendly Fires

18 Sep 2008

ELECTRO SHOEGAZE It’s quite probable that pens and keyboard fingers across the land have been itching to write/type the phrase ‘new wave of new rave’ for at least a year now, so might The List endeavour to jump in before anyone else gets there.

Velcro Quartet

18 Sep 2008

GLAM POP Many fine young Scots bands are already lined-up to play The Mill, Miller beer’s new branding doohickey come weekly live gig in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and The List can report it’s actually a pretty good night out. The bands are well-chosen…

Heartbreak - Lies

18 Sep 2008

ITALO DISCO Heartbreak, where have you been all my life? It seems only fair to point out – before excessive scenester fawning turns the increasingly resurgent Italo disco sound into a mutated make-believe genre of new rave proportions – that this…

Manda Rin - My DNA

18 Sep 2008

ELECTRO POP After 14 years in bands like Data Panik, The Kitchen and most famously Bis, this is the first time Amanda McKinnon has stepped away from the collaborations and released under her own (stage) name – although listening to the album, it…

Pumajaw - Curiosity Box

18 Sep 2008

PSYCHEDELIC FOLK Is this thing on? That’s what you might be asking yourself as the first album for Fire by Fence Collective affiliates Pinkie Maclure and John Wills kicks in. Against the picking of a lone guitar, shimmering bells and whispered vocals…

The Fnords

18 Sep 2008

GARAGE ROCK Anyone familiar with Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s doorstep epic of conspiratorial speculative fiction The Illuminatus! Trilogy will know where the Fnords name comes from, and might well expect big things from a band who use it.

Twin Atlantic and The Xcerts

18 Sep 2008

ROCK Both bands here follow in the wake of Biffy Clyro, and evoke moments of their early racket-making with considerable style. While The Xcerts (who are from Aberdeen and Exeter, collectively) are the poppier proposition of the pair, and have been…

Pump up the volume - Music venues round up

15 Sep 2008

Glasgow and Edinburgh play host to some of the hottest hangouts in the UK. David Pollock explores the very best and handpicks the gigs you cannot afford to miss.

In the swing of it - Jazz, Blues and Folk venues

15 Sep 2008

Boasting some of the finest new names and most exciting stalwarts of the jazz, blues and folks scene, Edinburgh and Glasgow have long set an impressive stall with some of the most diverse festivals and year round line-ups.

Perfect pitch - Classical venue guide

15 Sep 2008

For those looking for something a little more civilised, Edinburgh and Glasgow have a host of classical venues on offers

Licence Pending

4 Sep 2008

Drew Taylor, compere and promoter of the Tron’s Licence Pending night, is outlining the ideas behind the event when he stops and checks himself. He’s just used the words ‘performance poetry industry’ and he feels the urge to add the caveat ‘if you can…

Parklife - Brand new dance

4 Sep 2008

This first-ever instalment of dance music festival Parklife should take attendees back to the mid-90s glory days when T in the Park was still young and finding its feet, and Strathclyde Country Park was big enough to contain it. It’s not like the Park…

Paul Vickers and The Leg

4 Sep 2008

‘You’ve all soaked up the reverb a bit,’ noted Paul Vickers a couple of songs in, ‘which is good’. He seemed a bit dazed by this whole experience, although that might just be down to the ex-Dawn of the Replicants singer’s Henry Rollins meets Daniel…

The Streets - Everything is Borrowed

4 Sep 2008

Mike Skinner might be one of the finest pop artists of our generation, but there’s no escaping the fact that his fourth album is a real disappointment. Certain passages of it might well grow over time, yet the suspicion is that it’s just too damn…

Underling - Underling

4 Sep 2008

Based in Dunfermline, Underling pull off the hitherto impossible trick of making the Kingdom of Fife sound like a district of Brooklyn. Their music is played live, a light but spirited bed of intently grooving jazz, through which Aron Moorhouse’s raps…

Hydro Connect Festival - Acts you might not know

Fresh Connections

21 Aug 2008

Friendly Fires Their biggest influences are the Kompakt label, Carl Craig and Prince, and they’re named after a track by Blackpool post-punk confederacy Section 25. St Albans trio Friendly Fires (Ed MacFarlane, Jack Savidge and Edd Gibson) are one of…

Root Manuva - Slime and Reason

21 Aug 2008

Almost a decade after his debut album Brand New Second Hand appeared, Rodney Smith’s no longer at the head of a field of one. The popularisation of UK hip hop which he ushered in has since given way to garage and then grime, and while he’s stepped back…

Superhero

God on their side

21 Aug 2008

Religion and rock music don’t usually mix, but they’ve always been on speaking terms. Elvis himself grew up a good, god-fearing boy, while Bob Dylan, possibly the most famous one-time born-again Christian in music, released two albums of Christian songs…

Broken records

14 Aug 2008

‘It’s never been part of our gameplan to be a cool band,’ says Broken Records’ singer and guitarist Jamie Sutherland. In that case, they better start redrawing the rules right now. Attracting Arcade Fire comparisons like iron filings to a magnet, the…

The Verve - Forth

14 Aug 2008

PSYCH-ROCK (Parlophone) Even their most evangelical of fans – of which there are still plenty – might have doubted The Verve’s reformation. Much of the solo material of the previously unimpeachable Richard Ashcroft flattered to deceive, and none of it…

Acoustic Edinburgh Festival

Phoenix nights from Cowgate ashes

7 Aug 2008

Although you won’t be seeing her here, KT Tunstall provides the inspiration for this high-quality acoustic night. Tunstall’s own 2001 Acoustic Extravaganza gigs at the Gilded Saloon on the Cowgate (which would go on to share a title with one of the…

Profile - Antonio Forcione

7 Aug 2008

Name Antonio Forcione Occupation ‘The Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar’. What does that involve? Being unutterably talented. The rags-to-riches tale of Forcione busking in Covent Garden while unable to speak English is romantic; it was…