Music, Miles Fielder

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat and Bone

First album in eight years is more of the same down-and-dirty punk-blues

It’s been eight years since the Blues Explosion’s last studio album. In that time the band members have pursued solo projects, with frontman Jon Spencer focusing on his boppin’ rockabilly venture Heavy Trash. Now they’re back 21 years after they first…

Theatre, dance and opera highlights in Scotland for autumn & winter 2012

2012 and 2013 programmes from Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera and National Theatre of Scotland

The National Theatre of Scotland is nowhere and everywhere. Envisioned as an institution with no bricks and mortar headquarters, the NTS has used its resources to support playwrights and performers and to work with a wide range of collaborators to bring…

Cécile McLorin Salvant leads Duke Ellington tribute at 2012 Edinburgh Jazz Festival

Showcase of legendary composer, bandleader and pianist's songbook

One of the absolute highlights of the 34th Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival is a performance of legendary jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Duke Ellington’s music. A selection from Ellington’s songbook, including his 1943 symphony ‘Black, Brown…

Madness frontman Suggs tells life story at 2012 Edinburgh Fringe

20 fascinating facts about the 80s superstar

1 His real name is Graham McPherson. 2 He was born on 13 January 1961 in Hastings (‘on a stormy night’, according to the man himself), the only child of William Rutherford McPherson, who left home shortly after his son was born and was never heard…

Lambchop - Mr M

Reassembled band present lovely low-key set recalling Sinatra, Bacharach and crooners

(City Slang) Having taken a break from the long-lasting alt.country outfit (to collaborate with singer Cortney Tidwell on 2010’s KORT project), Lambchop founder and frontman Kurt Wagner has reassembled the Nashville-based band to make its 11th…

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Area 52

Orchestral backing and lots of special guests leads to a fun if over-wrought latin-funk-rock record

(Rubyworks) For their fifth studio album the Mexican acoustic rock duo have teamed up with 13-piece orchestra C.U.B.A. to rework nine previous compositions. The radically increased personnel (which is also augmented by several guests including Cuban…

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

Dreamily insubstantial album that's very, very Lynch

(Double Six) Rightly or wrongly, a lot of bands find themselves being likened to the soundtrack of a David Lynch film. In the case of Trailer Trash Tracys’ debut the comparison is, in fact, justified. Mixing dark and disturbing soundscapes…

Dan Sartain – Too Tough To Live

Old School punk album from the raw rock'n'roller

(One Little Indian) The handsome Alabama rocker’s throwback blues and rockabilly sound has always been fuelled by a raw power reminiscent of punk. For his sixth album, the greasy-quiffed one has embraced the punk rock style as well as its spirit with…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Wilko Johnson - The Caves, Edinburgh, Thu 15 Sep 2011

A winner set from the ex Blockheads guitarist turned bluesman

Canvey Island rocking bluesman Wilko Johnson kicked off his nationwide tour from the other end of the UK with a stonking set that compared favourably to the Essex man’s glory days as lead guitarist for Dr Feelgood in the 1970s and Ian Dury and the…

Trombone Shorty profile - Edinburgh Jazz Festival 2011

Youthful jazz pioneer and composer set for Edinburgh date

'Oooooh! Trombone Shorty! My man!' This is how the 25-year-old jazz musician from New Orleans is greeted by fellow (and fictitious) horn player Antoine Batiste in David Simon's new HBO television show, Treme. Simon's follow-up to his hard-hitting cop…

White Denim - D

Further wildly adventurous tracks held together by old school psychedelic country vibe

(Downtown) The Austin, Texas outfit’s previous album, the fittingly titled Fits, was a brilliantly balmy rock-out that proved to be even more dazzlingly unpredictable than their debut. And when they played material from it on tour in Scotland, they…

EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints

Slow-burning alt.rock from the former Gowns and Amps for Christ noise-folker

(Souterrain Transmissions) Erika M Anderson (EMA), formerly of the folk-noise outfits Amps for Christ and Gowns, makes her solo debut with this ethereal collection of lo-fi grunge ballads. Hushed vocals set to low-key guitar strumming that builds to…

Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen

Lift to Experience frontman's sparse, pared-down solo effort

(Mute) Aside from a handful of low-key, off-the-map gigs, this Texas troubadour hasn’t been heard since releasing his one and only album as frontman to Lift to Experience ten years ago. The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads has since been elevated to cult…

Comanechi and Divorce

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Thu 23 Sep 2010

Glasgow all-girl (bar one bloke) punk outfit Divorce and London boy-girl garage duo Comanechi (pictured) are calling their musical ménage-a-deux a ‘marriage of filth’. That’s not a bad tag line for these increasingly inseparable bands that boast…

Kort - Invariable Heartache

(City Slang) Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner has made a career out of perfecting an alternative to his hometown Nashville’s commercial mainstream country sound. With this album of duets with Cortney Tidwell (the daughter of a Nashville dynasty)…

Frances Ruffelle: Beneath the Dress

Cheeky, sexy and surprising cabaret-esque show

Given Ruffelle’s showbiz background – she’s the daughter of London theatre school founder Sylvia Young and a Tony Award-winning star of West End and Broadway musicals such as Les Misérables and Chicago – it’s unsurprising that her cabaret-esque Fringe…

Feels Good To Be Live

Glee-ful young rock kids break out of Mumbai

This fresh-faced young seven-piece from Mumbai (who call themselves Something Relevant and have named their show after the title of their debut album) look and sound like they graduated from an Indian version of Glee. There’s an unmistakable air of…

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Cabaret will never be the same

The former star of La Clique, who counts David Bowie among her fans, strips away the mystique of cabaret in this riotous postmodern deconstruction of her art. That’s literally the case when during the first few minutes of the show she’s interrupted by…

Call Mr Robeson

Inspirational story of legendary singer

Having suffered a setback by losing his voice during the world premiere run of this show in Edinburgh three years ago, writer and star Tayo Aluko subsequently took it on tour around the world. This year the monodrama about the life of African-American…

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Chicago fusion of jazz, hip hop and funk

This nine-piece comprising eight horns and a drummer are not what you might expect at the Jazz & Blues Festival.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Sibling rock ‘n’ rollers with retro leanings

‘I’m really looking forward to it, because we haven’t done Scotland yet,’ 17-year-old Kitty Durham says about playing Edinburgh. Durham fronts the youthful retro three-piece, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, with her brother and sister. The north London trio have…

Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now

(Names) Only a few short years out of her teens, this Nashville singer-songwriter belies her youth. Rose’s debut album proper (following the ‘Dead Flowers’ EP) is loaded with songs about heartbreak, delivered with a wry drawl reminiscent of Patsy…

Susie Hug - Tucson Moonshine

(Vacilando ‘68) Having collaborated on previous ‘solo’ projects with, variously, Fatima Mansions, The Blue Aeroplanes and Travis, the former Katydids frontwoman has now flown across the Atlantic to team up with south-western alt.country outfit…