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2 Oct 2008
1 He’s a rockabilly punk trash country delta blues maniac. From Scotland Arcari is a one-man musical whirlwind, thrashing his metal-bodied National acoustic guitar and producing some seriously fucked up gravelly bottleneck blues mojo with gargantuan…
20 Sep 2007
FOLK In Our Nature (Peacefrog) For most people, Swedish-Argentine troubadour Gonzalez will always be known for his song ‘Heartbeats’ soundtracking that Sony Bravia ad with the bouncy balls in San Francisco, and that’s his main problem. What makes…
The likes of Dizzee Rascal and Mike Skinner might have higher profiles but there’s only one true king of British rap music and that’s Roots Manuva. London-based Rodney Smith has continued to amaze and delight with his idiosyncratic and original take on…
13 Dec 2007
ROCK (EMI) Released to loosely accompany the Icelandic outfit’s superb recent film, Heima, this two-CD album is a revelation. The Hvarf half contains outtakes and rarities from 12 years of full-band studio sessions and is full of the sumptuous epic…
8 May 2008
PSYCHEDELIC ROCK The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Fri 9 May A lot of bands take themselves too seriously, but not MGMT. For evidence, get yourself to YouTube and check out the video for fantastic recent single ‘Time to Pretend’, a song satirising the…
4 Oct 2007
‘It’s a total headfuck.’ Kate Nash is not playing it cool. The 20-year-old pop songstress has had such a sudden rise to fame, she’s still coming to terms with her newfound celebrity status. The paparazzi followed her all summer, while Prince has…
ROCK Darwin’s theory of convergent evolution states that disparate, unrelated organisms evolve similar traits when adapting to similar environments, and it’s clearly in evidence amongst stadium rock bands. Using the blustery, overblown U2 blueprint…
31 Jan 2008
When Mark Oliver Everett was nine years old and home alone, a plane crashed in his neighbourhood. Stumbling outside, he wandered through the carnage of burning wreckage and body parts before returning to his house. ‘Just another day in my weird life,…
22 May 2008
POP (Columbia) Salford duo The Ting Tings have been a buzz band recently, and this debut partially fulfils that potential. Conforming to today’s obligatory itunes-friendly frontloading of the album with hits, they blow their wad early, the insanely…
6 Sep 2007
POP With the Comic Relief single and a musical based on their songs, 2007 has already been a great year for The Proclaimers, and this consummately crafted and soulful album can only add to their wide grins. Title track ‘Life With You’ is as big…
18 Sep 2008
For gigs of a certain size Edinburgh has long had a gaping hole where a venue should be. Up-and-coming acts love Cabaret Voltaire, smaller touring bands play the 700 capacity Liquid Rooms and then … nothing until the Corn Exchange at almost 3000…
4 Sep 2008
Emiliana Torrini Me and Armini (Rough Trade) Torrini is frustrating. The Icelandic chanteuse is gifted both in terms of her gorgeous natural voice and her perceptive pop songwriting (she co-wrote ‘Slow’ for Kylie, for example). But she also likes…
3 Jul 2008
ART ROCK (Ecstatic Peace) It’s been eleven years since we last heard from this art rock supergroup of sorts, but on the evidence of this fourth album, it’s not been worth the wait. Featuring Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth alongside Pussy Galore’s Julie…
(Chemikal Underground) SPOKEN WORD Sometimes a relationship has run its course and all you can do is split up, something former Arab Strappers Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton know all too well. Since going their separate ways, Middleton has…
ROCK Rilo Kiley’s last album and singer Jenny Lewis’s subsequent solo debut both contained a handful of indie-country stonewall classics, but this lacklustre and scattershot offering shows none of the same spark, despite Lewis’ ever-wonderful and…
28 Feb 2008
The Cult might have a rather dubious legacy after more than a quarter of a century in the business, but they can lay claim to one of the finest rock’n’roll albums of the last 30 years, namely Electric, every inch of which is riff-drenched, wailing…
14 Feb 2008
POST ROCK (Kids) Post rockers tend to take themselves mighty seriously (our own lovable Mogwai aside), and the same goes for po-faced Leicestershire young guns Kyte. There is plenty of ambition here, and the band are unashamedly epic in an obviously…
POP (Polydor) If you’re tired of Abba, you’re tired of life, basically, so this deluxe re-issue of their most ambitious album is extremely welcome. Originally released in 1978 when the band were at their creative and commercial peak, The Album…
15 Nov 2007
Over the last couple of years, it has sometimes seemed like the end of an era for Scottish indie music. Starting with the amicable split of the seminal Delgados, and, more recently, the demise of Falkirk’s Arab Strap and underrated noiseniks…
The crossing of normally disparate musical boundaries is always to be applauded, although it’s not automatically the green light to genius that reviewers sometimes make out. This collaboration from two generations of folkies – Kris Drever and John…
27 Feb 2007
Projects like Ballads of the Book don’t come along very often. And, looking at the roll call of writers and musicians involved, it is easy to see why. It must have been a logistical nightmare getting 54 of Scotland’s finest writers and musicians…
POP Lewis is a sultry indie poster girl with Rilo Kiley and delivered a beautifully moving country record, backed by The Watson Twins, two years ago. This second solo album lacks the focus of those projects, but it’s still a cut above the average…
Locally-sourced produce is all the rage these days, so let’s have a cheeky wee Scottish round-up this issue, eh? Quality meat to kick off in the form of Frightened Rabbit , whose ‘I Feel Better’/’The Twist’ (Fat Cat) •••• is excellently jittery…
21 Aug 2008
Opposites attract, right? That certainly seems true for Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, the former being a short, stocky, shy beatmaster while the latter is a tall, skinny hyperactive wordsmith. ‘We both bring the best out of each other,’ says Pip, aka…
31 Jul 2008
‘No future, no future, no future for me.’ Those words, penned by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) back in 1976, expressed not only Lydon’s feelings, not only his band The Sex Pistols’ attitude to life, not only the stance of the fearsome punk movement…
1 He’s royalty Kenny Anderson (aka King Creosote) is a local legend responsible, along with his label Fence Records, for a renaissance of Scottish folk, lo-fi, electronica and rock. All done from a bolthole in the East Neuk of Fife. Clever, eh? 2…
24 Apr 2008
ROCK (V2) Belgian artrockers dEUS have a large cult following, but this fifth album deserves a wider audience. Expansive and eclectic, Vantage Point sees the fivesome refining their mix of powerfully emotive themes with leftfield, intelligent rock…
13 Mar 2008
He’s an Oxygenius - Sorry, terrible pun to start with. Jarre’s revolutionary album Oxygene changed the face of popular music (trust us, you’d know if you heard it) on its release three whole decades ago. To celebrate the 30-year anniversary, he’s gonna…
FOLK (Hegri Music) Karine Polwart is already established as Scotland’s premier purveyor of progressive folk, and this consummate and lush album consolidates that position. A flip side to last year’s traditional collection Fairest Floo’er, this album…
ROCK (Domino) Former Pavement man Malkmus has seemingly spent the last few years trying to alienate fans of his former band, as he’s crawled further and further up where the sun don’t shine. On this fourth solo album, that effort reaches a zenith…
1 Nov 2007
Imani Coppola is a lot of fun. This is the NYC lady’s eighth album, and it eschews much of her sample-heavy traditional hip hop for a kitchen sink approach, chucking every genre possible into the mix with highly entertaining results. So we get rattling…
21 Nov 2006
5 REASONS TO GO SEE 1 They’re horrible The zombie garage goth rock dafties (Faris ‘Rotter’ Badwan, Tomethy Furse, Joshua von Grimm, Coffin Joe and Spider Webb, apparently) hail from Southend, but look and sound as if they’ve just climbed out of…
ROCK The Rev are like an indie version of Madonna, constantly reinventing themselves and their sound with each album, and this seventh studio outing is another successful reincarnation for these dreamy loons. Their early drone-rock weirdness and even…
In this age of quick fixes and cheap thrills, there’s something deeply comforting about James Yorkston. This fourth studio album is the antithesis of the nasty fast food rush of most mainstream indie fare, more like a luxurious banquet in the company of…
14 Aug 2008
You can’t beat a good song title, and Future of the Left have some of the best. The Cardiff based trio’s second single was the thrillingly angry rock of ‘adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood’, and the band’s debut album Curses was peppered with other gems such as…
7 Aug 2008
It’s the stuff on your doorstep that always goes unnoticed. While we heap plaudits on underground legends from across the pond, Scotland’s own talented outsider Jackie Leven remains unheralded. ‘I can’t get arrested in this country,’ Leven laughs…
17 Jul 2008
They've refused to stand still musically in their 20 year career, and with this latest chapter Mercury Rev are pushing their music farther out than ever. Doug Johnstone revels in their sonic adventures Describing what Mercury Rev sound like is a…
Hüsker Dü - Mould was singer and guitarist with seminal American hardcore outfit Hüsker Dü. Throughout the 80s they released a string of hugely influential records including Zen Arcade and New Day Rising. Their unique blend of thrashy punk, melody and…
SINGER-SONGWRITER (Quietly Fantastic) Winning 2006’s Burnsong competition and being chucked into a house with established songwriters was a dream come true for Scottish singer Edgar, and she’s made that experience count on this accomplished and…
Less flamboyant than Rufus Wainwright, less earthy than Richard Hawley, Edinburgh singer-songwriter Cornish here provides a passable debut which suggests he might yet carve out a niche of his own. Orchestral, plaintive and melancholic, the downbeat pop…
Looking around the room gives a clear indication of the reason behind KT Tunstall’s remarkable success. Crammed into the boardroom at XFM Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow are two dozen competition winners being treated to an intimate acoustic show…
23 Aug 2007
‘We’ve always been the band of bad timing, haven’t we?’ laughs Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble. ‘We’re perennially called underachievers or underdogs, because we’ve always put out records that are out of sync with what’s being played on the radio. We’re…
16 Jul 2007
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS (Image: The Heavy) I declare it the Summer of Dross! Kicking off the half-arsed festival-promoting releases is Mika ’s ‘Big Girl’ (Casablanca, 1 STAR), which flaps along like Scissor Sisters devoid of the camp charm and…
13 Mar 2007
POETRY POP Of course, just because dozens of the county’s finest bands and authors have collaborated on this album, doesn’t guarantee it’s going to be any good. But thankfully it is, it’s really very good indeed. The end product is unsurprisingly…
18 Sep 2006
ALT.COUNTRY At 25 years old, Micah P Hinson seems a little young for the world-weary sorrow etched into his melancholic tones, but the Texan singer songwriter has experienced more than his fair share of heartbreak and misery. Hinson was a young…
SINGER-SONGWRITER The Pictish Trail is coming out of the shadows. Johnny Lynch (for the Trail is he) has until now focussed on running the Fence Collective and playing guitar for head-honcho King Creosote (aka Kenny Anderson). But with the release of…
1 He’s an axe hero OK, he’s not in the same mould as Slash, but the veteran English guitarist and songwriter delivers an exemplary, dextrous mix of blues, folk, classical and jazz to wow his audience. 2 He’s a Pentangle Renbourn was one of the…
Gin Goblins are Edinburgh punk legends, having delivered a unique brand of schlocky horror doom hardcore for the last 16 years. When The Horrors were still in short pants, Gin Goblins were getting victimised by Scottish tabloids and banned from…
They’re unclassifiable - to some they’re outsider pop, to others they’re hip hop played through a punk filter. Then again their recent debut album Angles could easily be called lo-fi electronica mixed with spoken word poetry. Whatever, the end result is…
INDIE ROCK Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, Glasgow, Tue 8 Jul It must be tiring, constantly being referred to as unsung heroes. Who wouldn’t rather be a sung hero than an unsung one? If Scottish outfit Stapleton feel any of that frustration they hide it well, but…
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