Music, Suzanne Black

The Xcerts

24 Apr 2008

INDIE Barfly, Glasgow, Tue 6 May Indie rock is the musical opiate of the masses. Recapture that first hit ecstasy with The Xcerts, a fresh-faced three-piece from Aberdeen and Exeter. Get Cape Wear Cape Fly liked their fully-formed, captivatingly…

IAMX

24 Apr 2008

ELECTRO-GOTHIC POP King Tut’s, Glasgow, Mon 31 Mar ‘Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!’ The Deutsch kitsch musical number from Cabaret is the perfect aural backdrop for IAMX (the demonic brainchild of ex-Sneaker Pimp Chris Corner) to take to the stage.

Singles & Downloads

13 Mar 2008

Hurrying past James Blunt and Bryan’s Adams’ new singles, let’s start at the only logical place, the ‘Start Beginning’ (FDM Records) ••• with Nizlopi (of ‘JCB Song’ notoriety) and their relentlessly optimistic, acoustic pop rainbow of a song that could…

Plain White T's

17 Jan 2008

ALT.ROCK Barrowland, Glasgow, Fri 25 Jan Dave Tirio is asleep. Fifteen minutes after the interview is scheduled to start he’s probably dreaming about number ones and sell-out tours. But these things are fast becoming more than dreams for the…

Various - Now That’s what We Call Music Vol 1

13 Dec 2007

INDIE (Fantastic Plastic) To celebrate their 100th release the music bods at Fantastic Plastic have cast a nostalgic ear over their back catalogue and corralled a bunch of past rarities and new offerings. It’s a sampler of accessibly alternative…

Annie Christian and :Cryoverbillionaires

4 Oct 2007

Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 13 Oct Every face in the crowd waits expectantly for the one song from the back catalogue of Annie Christian that means the most to them, whether from their electro-infused, gloomy and melodic indie origins in the…

The Dykeenies

6 Sep 2007

INDIE ROCK After a year of sell-out gigs and internet hype the Cumbernauld brotherly trio plus two mates release their debut album. The opener (‘The Panic’, about STD fear) is prophetic: a great, stompy, bang of the fists and wail of the klaxons with…

Robyn

Robyn

16 Aug 2007

POP Robyn leaps out of the gate looking like your typical kooky Scandinavian popstar with her first track, ‘Curriculum Vitae’, hyping and bigging her up in time honoured boxer/rap fashion. The lyrics boast of her triumphs – curing AIDS, scoring ‘two…

Records - Torche

3 Jul 2007

ROCK Imagine a being rising from the primordial quagmire, shaking its thunderous fists in a display of brute strength, conjuring a whirlwind of frothy guitars and emitting an uncomprehending, enraged bellow. This is what Miami sludge rockers Torche…

Singles & Downloads

Singles & Downloads

7 May 2007

(Picture: Asobi Seksu) Yob poseurs the Kaiser Chiefs turn soothsayer this fortnight with ‘Everything is Average Nowadays’ (B-Unique, 3 Stars) forecasting a slew of unoriginality in singledom. They have, however, stepped it up from the workaday…

Injuns

Records

26 Apr 2007

POP Skye boys Leighton Jones (keyboard and vocals) and Hector MacInnes (drums) and the four other Injuns lads know their stuff and aren’t afraid to prove it. This debut is a densely influenced, multi-genre-encapsulating smorgasbord swerving from the…

Dirty Wee Middens

Dirty Wee Middens, Lycanthrope and Billy Liar

23 Apr 2007

HORROR PUNK Dundee is spewing forth all kinds of interesting bands lately and Dirty Wee Middens are no exception. Despite slatherings of ghoulish make-up (as far away from The View as you can imagine), the Middens definitely have a pulse and it is…

Injuns

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, Sat 31 Mar

9 Apr 2007

POP It’s tough when even the music critics can’t categorise your band. Having been called everything from country, jazz, folk, rock, punk, funk, disco, bluegrass to reggae the Injuns myspace coyly asserts pop/indie/ other, where the ‘other’ can only…

Records - Unkle Bob

Unkle Bob

13 Mar 2007

INDIE Like the newest member of an inbred family, Unkle Bob’s debut album has numerous musical baby daddies. Like Snow Patrol they formed in Scotland; like Keane they are prone to stirring emotional anthems and singer Rick Webster’s voice performs…

Records - Unkle Bob

Unkle Bob

13 Mar 2007

INDIE Like the newest member of an inbred family, Unkle Bob’s debut album has numerous musical baby daddies. Like Snow Patrol they formed in Scotland; like Keane they are prone to stirring emotional anthems and singer Rick Webster’s voice performs…

View, The - live review

The View

28 Feb 2007

INDIE A mere year ago The View were playing pub gigs to 50 people in their home town of Dundee. A few months later and a T-Mobile Street Gig in Edinburgh Castle for 100 lucky winners from their newly expanded fanbase is deemed incredibly…