Music and Stewart Smith

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the people from Scotland being interesting, successful and creative

16 Dec 2010

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Inventive and charismatic return from Cherry in this free jazz/post-punk collaboration

22 May 2012

Neneh Cherry’s first album in 16 years is perhaps closer in spirit to the jazzoid post-punk of Rip Rig & Panic than the glorious hip-pop of Raw Like Sushi, but hot damn, it’s good. The Thing are renowned for their wild takes on cult rock and free-jazz…

Divorce, Vom and Teenage Ricky - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 4 Jul

23 Jul 2009

Launching their Optimo Records debut EP – a satanic slab of red vinyl sleeved in a painting of ragged teeth and diseased gums – Divorce affirm their status as Glasgow’s most thrilling band. Their support acts are no slouches either. Teenage Ricky stage…

Two Wings - Love's Spring

A warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and English folk-rock

23 Apr 2012

(Tin Angel Records) The strident classicism of Two Wings may come as a surprise to those familiar with the avant-folk of Hanna Tuulikki’s other group Nalle. That project’s eerie soundworld is replaced by a warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and…

Counterflows Festival introduces some premier experimental and folk acts

27 Mar 2012

Held across Glasgow, London and Berlin, Counterflows is a glorious stramash of experimental songwriting, clamorous avant-rock, and absurdist improv. In bringing Japan’s great Kazuki Tomokawa to Europe, the organisers have pulled off a real coup. A…

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

New collaborator on band's eccentric psych-folk rock

26 Mar 2012

(Honest Jons) Over three albums in as many years, Trembling Bells have refined their heady mix of courtly psych-folk, Yorkshire country and colliery band jazz, losing some of their rickety charm, while gaining in dynamism and panache. For their…

Taraf De Haidouks & Mama Rosin - Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Sat 22 Jan 2010

Romanian gypsy troupe's Celtic Connections date

28 Jan 2011

Beloved of Johnny Depp and Mike Patton, Romanian gypsy troupe Taraf De Haidouks remain a thrilling live act in their third decade. A spirited set of amped up Cajun and Zydeco from Swiss trio Mama Rosin makes for a fine appetiser, all accordian, banjo…

Dam Mantle launches debut EP

29 Mar 2010

Dam Mantle is the alter-ego of musician and artist Tom Marshallsay, who releases debut EP, Grey, on new Glasgow label Halleluwah Hits this month. A kaleidoscopic mix of melodic samples, jittery beats and post-dubstep bass mutations, Dam Mantle’s tunes…

5 Reasons to Go See Toumani Diabaté

The Grammy-winning Malian musician has a rich history of collaboration

20 Oct 2011

1. His music is mesmerisingly beautiful Toumani Diabaté is a master of the kora, a traditional Malian harp-like instrument. His ability to weave a gorgeous tapestry of cascading melodies from the 21-string kora is magical. One thumb plays the tune and…

Music Is The Music Language

Festival of the experimental and esoteric

25 Aug 2011

Music Is The Music Language, a two day festival organised by DIY promoters Cry Parrot and Tracer Trails, is testament to the vibrancy of Scotland’s underground music scene. ‘Underground music is strongest and most exciting where and when the values…

Bert Jansch set for 2011 Edinburgh Festival date

Returning folk hero, pal of Neil Young and Devendra Banhart

16 Aug 2011

One of the great acoustic guitarists, Bert Jansch comes to Edinburgh fresh from an American tour with Neil Young and a London show with folk-jazz supergroup The Pentangle. Jansch has been doing an annual Festival show since the mid-90s, touching base…

Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang - Aestuarium

27 May 2011

(Ideologic Organ) Ideologic Organ, Edition Mego’s ‘old records’ wing, have given this 2005 recording by Sunn O))) and Mick Patton collaborators Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang the handsome reissue it deserves. A Stephen O’Malley sleeve graces this…

Trembling Bells - The Constant Pageant

Encompasses Renaissance filigree, coliery brass bands and wailing free jazz

1 Mar 2011

(Honest Jon’s) l Like an Iain Sinclair of the North, Trembling Bells songwriter Alex Neilson seeks to evoke the psychic landscapes of his native Yorkshire. And so we find him in Goathland, nursing a broken heart, or in Otley, reeling from a demonic…

Mondo Morricone live performance of classic film scores

David Scott, Duglas T Stewart & friends pay homage to soundtrack hero

11 Feb 2011

Ennio Morricone is an undisputed colossus of the movie soundtrack. For Mondo Morricone, David Scott and Duglas T Stewart, of Pearlfishers and BMX Bandits fame, have rounded up a crack team of Scottish pop and jazz players to pay homage to their…

Trembling Bells' haunting folk-rock lined up for Celtic Connections date - interview

Glasgow date for band ahead of third album The Constant Pageant

14 Jan 2011

Last year was a golden year for visionary folk-rockers Trembling Bells, beginning with the release of their second album Abandoned Love in the spring and culminating in songwriter Alex Neilson’s nomination for the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Folk…

2010 Le Weekend bows out with Faust, Murcof and Tarwater

Pioneering Stirling experimental music festival also hosts Ben Frost, Bill Wells and John Butcher

6 Oct 2010

Since its inception in 1997, Le Weekend has brought a remarkable range of beautiful and challenging music to Scotland. ‘The idea of an experimental music festival, and also the idea of a festival in Stirling, was quite unique,’ says Alastair Campbell…

The Ex & Brass Unbound

13 Jan 2010

In their 30 year existence, Dutch underground legends The Ex have made connections between post-punk, Eastern European folk, free-improvisation and Ethiopian jazz, yet they’re still widely referred to as anarcho-punks. A misrepresentation? ‘Yes – in…

Glasgow DIY Festival

The city shows off its talented underground arts scene

17 Sep 2009

Without wishing to play down the significance of Franz Ferdinand’s commercial breakthrough, arguably the real story of Glasgow rock in the ’00s has been the rise of the DIY gig scene. Nuts & Seeds got the ball rolling by booking weird, noisy and fun…

A Hawk and a Hacksaw

11 Jun 2009

FOLK The boisterous yet melancholy sounds of Eastern European folk music have long entranced Western musicians, from avant-jazzer John Zorn to indie-pop cosmopolitan Beirut. But few have gone as far as A Hawk and a Hacksaw in their exploration of…

Instal 09

19 Mar 2009

PREVIEW A church organ sounding the course of the stars, a cello being turned to dust, a sound poet voicing typewriter symbols, long stretches of almost nothing … Instal has been expanding the way we listen since its inception in 2002, building a…

Burt MacDonald with Lol Coxhill

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

22 Jul 2008

A reunion with free jazz, lyrical flourishes and popcorn machines. One of Scotland’s most adventurous jazz groups, the Burt MacDonald Quintet are reuniting with Lol Coxhill. A legend of the soprano saxophone, Coxhill has worked with the band on five…

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Vibrant and inventive Malian Afro-beat, occasionally let down by naff blues guitar

22 May 2012

Described as Malian Afro-Beat, Ben Zabo’s music expands its scope well beyond the Fela Kuti-inspired sounds of 1970s Bamako to incorporate the bwa rhythms and melodies of his own Bo region, alongside elements of funk and rock. Slick production has…

DIY music promoters Cry Parrot turn 5

Auntie Flo, Dam Mantle, Sacred Paw, Silk Cut and more are on the line-up their birthday party

26 Apr 2012

In recent years, Cry Parrot has played a major role in nurturing Glasgow’s vibrant music scene. To celebrate the music promoter’s fifth birthday, the fervently eclectic independent promoters are holding a party at The Glue Factory, featuring Auntie Flo…

Counterflows festival – Q&A with organiser Alasdair Campbell

An experimental music festival, with a focus on songwriting

19 Mar 2012

Why should people come to Counterflows? It is hoped that by opening up the possibilities with a new festival and bringing together, under the festivals banner, new artists, that Counterflows can offer what all culture should, the idea that there are…

RM Hubbert, Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan

1 Mar 2012

The launch RM Hubbert's second album, 13 Lost and Found, is both a celebratory and elegiac affair. A punk and post-rock veteran, Hubbert turned to the classical guitar as a way of dealing with bereavement and depression. To perform his latest album with…