Pop

Exposure: Alasdair Roberts

4 Dec 2008

Although he’s been recording for over a decade under first the alias Appendix Out and now his own name, Alasdair Roberts’ rich blend of traditional song and avant-garde thinking still remains an undiscovered pleasure to many. The Glasgow-based musician…

Exposure: Copy Haho

3 Dec 2008

Lord Reith, founder of the BBC, was born in Stonehaven, and so was Robert William Thomson, inventor of the pneumatic tyre and the fountain pen. And Lewis Grassic Gibbon went to school in the town. These are some pretty impressive names, but we can’t see…

Exposure - Vivian Girls

2 Dec 2008

Propelled into our lives on a wave of blog hysteria following a scuzzy masterpiece of a debut, Vivian Girls are possibly the most perfect outfit to come out of New York since The Strokes squeezed into those skinny jeans and stole our hearts all those…

Exposure: Unwed Sailor

1 Dec 2008

Avoiding easy categorisation since 1998, chameleonic American instrumental rock project Unwed Sailor – originally founded in Seattle, but since based everywhere from Chicago to Washington DC, Little Rock and Lawrence – have shared stages with Low…

Biffy Clyro to headline Rockness 2009, with festival stretching to three days

28 Nov 2008

Scottish band Biffy Clyro have announced that they will be headlining the final day of RockNess 2009. The festival, which takes place in Dores on the eastern banks of Loch Ness, is set for June 12th, 13th and 14th in 2009, growing from two days to three…

Exposure - Ten Kens

28 Nov 2008

Proving that there’s so much more to Toronto’s new music scene than two hip-ly-hooded synth terrorists, here comes the brilliant Ten Kens; and with this lot, you really couldn’t get further from Crystal Castles if you tried. The beardy and speccy…

Musicians' guide: How to make it in the music industry

27 Nov 2008

Want to make it in music? Fancy yourself as The Next Big Thing? Claire Sawers and Malcolm Jack track down nine very different people currently working in the industry and quiz them on just what they do and how they do it In addition, for detailed…

Trade secrets

27 Nov 2008

Five months before Margaret Thatcher’s landslide 1979 victory, and with Britain’s city streets still retaining the air of a depressed bombsite, highbrow arts programme The South Bank Show appeared to have been hi-jacked by a cell of musical terrorists.

Art Brut

27 Nov 2008

INDIE POP Jack Daniel’s keep rolling on the JD Set tour with Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers punk turned rock elder statesman) presiding over tonight’s picks. Anachronistic styles seem to be the theme of the evening, with supporters Rosie and the…

Britney Spears - Circus

27 Nov 2008

POP Tabloid hysteria aside, Britney Spears is shaping up to be one of pop’s most interesting stars, and if we’re lucky, she’ll endure more iconic chameleon-esque reinventions, Madge-style, for many years to come. Some will fail spectacularly and…

Exposure - Those Dancing Days

27 Nov 2008

Many bad things have come from Led Zeppelin; a whole plethora of ill-advised haircuts, for example, ridiculously wanky guitar solos – oh, and far too tight trousers… But if it wasn’t for their track ‘Dancing Days’, we might not have this compelling…

Human League, ABC and Heaven 17

27 Nov 2008

SYNTH-POP ELECTRONICA When David Bowie watched Human League play an early gig in 1979, he said he’d just seen ‘the future of pop music’ and their sci-fi, deadpan brand of electronica was ‘like listening to 1980’. Almost 30 years later, with synth-pop…

Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak

27 Nov 2008

POP Of the great break up albums in music lore – Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear, Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks or even Beck’s Sea Change – few have coincided with a musical watershed such as the Matt Damon of hip hop’s fourth album. More than just a…

Musicians' guide: Great music websites

27 Nov 2008

The List’s Daily Exposure. Nothing like kicking off with a bit of shameful self-promotion but The List recently launched an online initiative to showcase a different new band every day on our site. Read about the band, hear the band, watch a video, even…

Musicians' guide: Open mic nights

27 Nov 2008

Mondays Glasgow Nice 'n' Sleazy 421 Sauchiehall St, 333 0900. 8pm. The Monday Acoustic Jam, 8pm–midnight. Free to all performers. Bring your instrument and join in the fun. Open Mic NIght - Pivo Pivo 15 Waterloo Street, 564 8100. 6pm.

Pitch perfect

27 Nov 2008

Pitching itself as the ‘Scottish Brits,’ the Tartan Clef Music Awards rocked into town last week in suitable glam style, setting out its stall with some of Scotland’s most celebrated acts and championing the great and good of the country’s music scene.

Rosie and the Goldbug

27 Nov 2008

INDIE POP Jack Daniel’s keep rolling on the JD Set tour with Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers punk turned rock elder statesman) presiding over tonight’s picks. Anachronistic styles seem to be the theme of the evening, with supporters Rosie and the…

The Killers - Day & Age

27 Nov 2008

POP IN INDIE CLOTHING As much as they try to conceal it with dodgy facial fuzz and crunchy guitar riffs, The Killers are just a big brash pop band at heart. The clues are in Brandon Flowers’ penchant for outlandish outfits and, of course, his way…

Exposure: Winning Sperm Party

26 Nov 2008

A bit of vaguely queasy speculation on Winning Sperm Party’s MySpace blog about the amount of semen a man produces in his life and the number of sperm contained therein deduces that ‘there was only a 1 in 544,000,000,000 chance of you being born’. So…

Exposure: Micachu

25 Nov 2008

It’s iPop, but not as we know it. 21-year-old Mica Levi (lives in East London, grew up ‘in a large mansion in Surrey’ – her words) makes glitching, Nu Ravesque electronica, is mates with Jack Penate and Toddla T, and wears the highlighter-pen ensemble…

Exposure: Lykke Li

24 Nov 2008

It’s hard to get past the fact that Lykke Li has been responsible for one of the most incessantly catchy songs of the year in ‘Little Bit’, a teasing slice of strangely romantic Scandi-pop weirdness which features the frankly intriguing couplet ‘And for…

Exposure: White Denim

21 Nov 2008

Austin, Texas’s bluesy, psychedelic garage trio White Denim released one of the true noisy gems of 2008 in their riotous, twisted, brilliant and totally beguiling debut album Workout Holiday. Singer and guitarist James Petralli talks turkey ahead of the…

Exposure: Alestorm

20 Nov 2008

Excuse us while we sit down for a bit, because we’ve just had the shock of our lives. You might feel the same when you open up the MySpace page of four-piece Perth (Scotland, not Australia) rock outfit Alestorm, because nothing can quite prepare you for…

Guillemots: Picture House, Edinburgh, 13 November

19 Nov 2008

You’d probably have a better chance of looking cool wearing a pair of bowling shoes in a supermarket than dancing at a Guillemots gig. Tight, skilled musicians they may be, party starters they are not. Their following evidently accept this, why then…

Exposure: Tokyoblu

19 Nov 2008

Hail the Scottish Groove Armada! At least that’s how Edinburgh’s Tokyoblu style themselves, and it’s a comparison which most commentators seem happy to run with. Formed from their identically-named monthly club night – which has been held at the late…

Exposure: Youthmovies

18 Nov 2008

An Oxford-based quintet consisting of former Foals bandmember Andrew Mears and Al English (both of whom assume responsibility for guitar and vocals duties), as well as Stephen Hammond (bass), Graeme Murray (drums, vocals) and Sam Scott (trumpet…

Exposure: North Atlantic Oscillation

17 Nov 2008

Further confirming that the laptop is the discerning musician’s instrument of choice, Glasgow/Edinburgh duo North Atlantic Oscillation deploy portable personal computers – alongside a phalanx of boring old things like guitars and basses and drums and…

New York Dolls reunite with Todd Rundgren for new album

14 Nov 2008

The New York Dolls and legendary record producer Todd Rundgren have been reunited for the first time in 36 years. Rundgren will produce the Dolls' new album at his studio on the island of Kauai. Production is scheduled to start in January 2009. This…

Art Brut, Rosie & The Goldbug: ABC2, Glasgow

14 Nov 2008

On a dreary Tuesday in Glasgow, Jack Daniel's keep the booze'n'bandwagon rolling on the JD Set tour. A subdued Hugh Cornwell, decked out in a black polo neck, and as far from The Stranglers’ image as you can imagine, presides over the penultimate night…

Exposure: Kid British

14 Nov 2008

I’m in the mood for some Specials-meets-Streets-meets-Madness-style pop hijinks. Let me just go and check if we have anything suitable in the back. Now then, how about Kid British, ‘a collection of four dudes with a broad musical mindset which all…

Will Young

13 Nov 2008

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Thu 20 & Fri 21 Nov It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly seven years since Will Young shot to fame as the first winner of ratings-grabbing TV talent search Pop Idol. What’s perhaps more surprising is that he still enjoys…

Celtic Connections add to line-up

13 Nov 2008

Celtic Connections have announced two more impressive additions to their line-up. Martha Wainwright and Teddy Thompson will perform a double-bill at the Old Fruitmarket on 27 January. A host of special guests have also been added to the bill for the…

Charity begins at home

13 Nov 2008

A treasure trove of stars are doing their bit for charity this month, with special gigs in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. OXJAM, the UK’s biggest music festival, will present its South East Scotland launch event at The Hive in Edinburgh on Thursday 27…

Chatham County Line

13 Nov 2008

CCL have been earning themselves some excellent word-of-mouth for their fun-loving live gigs, and we reckon this Scottish appearance could have the makings of a relaxed rock and bluegrass hoedown. The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 20 Nov.

Dumb Instrument - No-One Knows What It’s Like to Be Me

13 Nov 2008

Described in their local Ayrshire Post as like ‘Ivor Cutler on Irn Bru’, the youthful trio of singer-songwriter Tom Murray, pianist Mikey Grant and bassist Kieron Campbell, deliver their societally Scottish debut album. Augmented by fiddler Matt Harvey…

Five reasons to go and see: Death Cab For Cutie

13 Nov 2008

1 They toured with Neil Young Which gives Ben Gibbard and his fellow Washington makers of schmoopy, winsome guitar pop a more legit reason than any of the other army of young copyists to continue in his vein. 2 They’ve become a fixture on US TV…

Fucked Up

13 Nov 2008

This Toronto hardcore sextet have caused trouble in the past for their Nazi allusions. (Band members have names like Concentration Camp and Mustard Gas, so you could kinda see that one coming.) Recent LP The Chemistry of Common Life has been causing a…

Max Tundra

13 Nov 2008

Carling Academy, Glasgow, Sun 2 Nov The Max Tundra live experience is a million miles away from the home listening headphones one, as I discovered. Max was made to perform live, and perform he does, throughout a one-man, all-singing-all-dancing-show.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

13 Nov 2008

The alt.country singer-songwriter and founder of the now defunct band Whiskeytown has turned his back on the drugs and pronounced last month’s album Cardinology his most focused to date. Picture House, Edinburgh, Fri 14 Nov.

The Notwist

13 Nov 2008

There was a six-year hiatus before these German brothers and sometime Lali Puna collaborators returned with this year’s gloriously gentle electro-acoustic wash, The Devil, You + Me. Absolutely worth the wait we say. King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 19 Nov.

Those Dancing Days - In Our Space Hero Suits

13 Nov 2008

Appearances can be deceptive. And in our image-obsessed age it’s great to hear someone like Linnea Johnson, who looks a cherubic Swedish folk-singer, but has a voice like heavily polished mahogany. Coming off somewhere between Liz Frazer and Alison…

Various - Sleepwalk: A Selection By Optimo (Espacio)

13 Nov 2008

Any album which takes a full ten minutes to actually develop any BPM at all – over Chris Watson’s found wavesound and the calming tone of Nurse With Wound’s ‘Funeral Music For Perez Prado’ isn’t your typical dance mix. But then, as should be obvious by…

Exposure: Super Adventure Club

12 Nov 2008

With possibly the most exciting band name ever, ever, Super Adventure Club could hardly be a bunch of stale dullards now could they? Nope, the Edinburgh trio’s very, um, special mixture of jazzy exploration, sonic GBH and facetious sarcasm is a wacky…

Jack Daniel's JD Set, Lynchburg, Tennessee

11 Nov 2008

The most surprising thing about Jack Daniel's isn't that it is distilled in the town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, in a dry state where the law decrees that alcohol can neither be bought nor sold. It isn't that it's the world's biggest selling single brand…

Exposure: Cage The Elephant

11 Nov 2008

Who are Cage The Elephant? They are ‘five blue-collar renegades’ - namely Matt Schultz (vocals), his brother Brad (guitar) and their friends Daniel Titchenor (bass), Lincoln Parish (guitar) and Jared Champion (drums). Matt, Brad and Daniel grew up on an…

Exposure: Rosie and the Goldbug

10 Nov 2008

Who are Rosie and the Goldbug? Singer Rosie Vanier, who gave her name to the band, explains: ‘We’re from Cornwall, have been together for a year and a half and are made up of me, Pixie the bass player who’s a real life pixie, and Plums the drummer who’s…

Exposure: The BossHoss

7 Nov 2008

‘The BossHoss are seven urban cowboys from the city of Berlin,’ says Hank Williamson, who takes charge of harp, mandolin, washboard and stylophone duties for the band. ‘We love country music, blues music and rock&roll. We love playing gigs and having a…

Todd Rundgren interview: Full transcript

6 Nov 2008

What follows is a transcript of an interview I did with the great American musician and record producer Todd Rundgren on Tuesday 21 October. He spoke to me down the line from his Hawaii home, it was 8.30pm UK time and 12.30pm Pacific Mean Time when we…

Snow Patrol - Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 27 Oct

4 Nov 2008

Surely one of the most vanilla musical experiences to currently stalk the face of histrionic British guitar music, Snow Patrol trade on the back of a simple metaphorical truth; vanilla actually tastes pretty good, as long as you aren’t going to stuff…

Oasis

30 Oct 2008

They may not be the kings of the world any more but its easy to forget that Oasis retain some serious clout live. While past (morning) glories remain a substantial part of the live experience, they’ve built up a substantial catalogue of songs…

Okkervil River

30 Oct 2008

If you thought Texas’ finest exports only come in cowboy boots, think again. Austin seven-piece Okkervil River are dropping some delicious indie-folk onto Glasgow this month, following the release of their fifth album The Stand Ins. With spectacular use…

Psapp - The Camel’s Back

30 Oct 2008

If the toys really did sneak out to play after lights out (and were into their Tunng and Stereolab), this is the sort of music they would make. The third album of experimental ‘toytronica’ from duo Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann shimmers with Hammond…

Rosie and the Goldbug

30 Oct 2008

A Cornish three-piece, Rosie, Pixie and Plums are bringing the 80s back by conjoining the three lady forces of the age – Bush, Harry and Lauper. Having already supported Cindi, they are now embarking on their own tour, dressing up in some fabulous…

Exposure: Esther O’Connor

28 Oct 2008

‘I was brought up in a musical and artistic family where to want to do music as a profession was perfectly normal,’ says singer-songwriter Esther O’Connor. Fusing her gorgeous vocals to instantly hummable folk and country-inspired melodies, her music’s…

Exposure: Desolation Yes!

27 Oct 2008

Cold, pissed off and poor? Dance the pain away with Desolation Yes! The four-piece, a collaboration of established Glasgow musicians, have made a name for themselves supporting Howling Bells, Simian, Clearlake and the Vessels, amongst others. Let’s hear…

Music Like A Vitamin: Vitamin A

23 Oct 2008

Praise should be heaped on Idlewild’s Rod Jones, the man behind Music Like a Vitamin, for organising the double-header of concerts on behalf of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Thursday’s show, Vitamin A, compered by the…

Exposure: The ID Parade

23 Oct 2008

This Glasgow sixsome haven’t had a lot of luck with the law. They took their moniker from one lairy night out, when frontman Doug annoyed a cabbie so much he ended up in the nick, only to be wrongly identified in a line-up due to a passing resemblance…

Exposure: Findo Gask

22 Oct 2008

Who are Findo Gask? They are Gerard Black, Gregory Williams and Michael Marshall who met at St Andrew’s High School, Kirkcaldy. Now based in Glasgow, legend states that they spent a year practicing in singer Gerard's bedroom above Nice n Sleazy's. But…

Exposure - Sluts & Bolts

21 Oct 2008

Glasgow comedy punk provocateurs Sluts & Bolts - aka guitarist and singer Beancopter Bolts and bassist and vocalist Mary J. Bilgepump (possibly not their real names by the way) - are probably the last band whose records you’ll find on the shelves at a…

Exposure - The King Blues

20 Oct 2008

It’s all going pretty well for the The King Blues. Having built up a devoted following on the live circuit after long weeks, months and years of touring, and having been championed by the likes of Zane Lowe and Mike Davies at BBC Radio One, their debut…

Maximum exposure

16 Oct 2008

The List are joining forces with Glasgow venue The Barfly in launching a new live music event this month. The List Exposure Night will be a regular monthly live music event showcasing the best new and emerging music from near and far. The line-up of the…

Last word: Chesney Hawkes

16 Oct 2008

The boyish pop charmer has come a long way since he topped the charts with ‘The One and Only’. Here, the Manilow-inspired father of three explains his love of raw fish and transatlantic upgrades.

TV on the Radio - Dear Science

2 Oct 2008

POP Since they first sneaked into view five years ago, throwing down doo-wop takes on Pixies tunes and post-MBV space funk, TV on the Radio have been, to say the least, awkward customers, their sonic tricksiness often being a barrier to the enjoyment…

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…

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun

18 Sep 2008

POP There’s no disputing Brian Wilson’s genius – Beach Boy’s classic Pet Sounds is proof alone – and it’s wonderful to have him back from his self-imposed exile; performing live (particularly his joyous set at T in the Park in 2007) and releasing…

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

18 Sep 2008

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…

Platinum Pied Pipers to play rescheduled Edinburgh date

5 Sep 2008

Detroit-based hip hop and R&B group the Palatinum Pied Pipers play at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms on Monday 15th September. Promoting their new album Abundance, PPP take a soul-based foundation and mash it up with their array of vintage & modern…

A Band Called Quinn - Sun Moon Stars

3 Jul 2008

INDIE POP (Tromolo) Boasting a guest guitarist spot from Echo and the Bunnymen’s Gordy Goudie, a chrome and polish from Parisian producer Kid Loco and delightful artwork care of Bruno Gallagher, this industrious Glasgow trio’s latest offering is an…

Beck - Modern Guilt

3 Jul 2008

POP (XL Recordings) Beck seems to have found his mojo over the last few albums, the self-conscious idea of him being an ‘artist’ is gone and he lets the ideas flow. Modern Guilt is as sharp, clean and crisp a record as you’ll find, a compact, focussed…

Leon Jean Marie - Bent Out of Shape

3 Jul 2008

POP (Island Records) This talented Londoner must collect up a helluva lot of artists inside his dreadlocked head to conjure up such interesting pop brilliance. Leon’s inspired opener forecasts the outrageously catchy hooks which lie ahead on his…

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

3 Jul 2008

EXPERIMENTAL POP (LL Recordings) Every now and again a new artist pops up that’s captivating, edgy and touching all at the same time; Lykke Li (pronounced Licky-Lee) is all of these things. The album, produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter, Björn and…

Sharleen Spiteri - Melody

3 Jul 2008

BLUE-EYED SOUL-POP (Mercury Records) What’s the difference between Glasgow act Texas and its frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri? If listening to the latter’s debut solo album is any clue: very little. Wearing her Dusty Springfield influences proudly on her…

Sergeant

19 Jun 2008

ROCK/POP King Tut’s, Glasgow, Fri 20 Jun ‘I wasn’t prepared for the sublime genius of Sergeant,’ says Alan McGee, who believes the Glenrothes band is carrying on a great tradition of perfectly-crafted sunny Scottish pop songs. ‘They have that slight…

Avril Lavigne

19 Jun 2008

POP Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 26 May It took a while for her to finally make her entrance (the audience was kept waiting outside for an hour) but the eventual return of Canada’s most clean living rock’n’roller to a Glasgow stage was well worth…

Leon Jean Marie - Bent Out of Shape

19 Jun 2008

POP (Island Records) This talented Londoner must listen to many an artist in his dreadlocked head to conjure up such interesting pop brilliance. Leon’s inspired opener forecasts the outrageously catchy hooks which lie ahead on his daring, eclectic…

Padded Cell & Cut Copy

19 Jun 2008

NO-WAVE ELECTRO/ELECTRONIC POP Optimo, Sub Club, Glasgow, Sun 22 & Sun 29 Jun If you like going out in Glasgow on a Sunday night and were born with any taste at all, you’ll know all about Optimo. Do we need to tell you yet again why we love it so?

Sheryl Crow

19 Jun 2008

Perhaps not the chart force she was back in 1994 with ‘All I Wanna Do’, but Sheryl Crow has grown, and now provides a more mature and considered take on American pop with a heavy country slant. Not surprising that her music has grown in scope and pathos…

Jens Lekman - live music review

5 Jun 2008

INDIE POP Oran Mor, Glasgow, Thu 15 May Modern pop is rarely as smart, affecting or plain funny as when it’s in the hands of Jens Lekman. Nor as succinct. ‘No encore, 11 songs, all hits,’ proclaimed the Swede at the start of his set, tongue lodged…

The Chap - live music review

5 Jun 2008

ART POP Limbo@The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 1 May ‘In case you didn’t realise,’ deadpans Chap bassist Panos Ghikas, ‘all our songs are about pleasure.’ Well, blow me down with a showroom dummy, who’da thunk it? Because this pan-global North…

Santogold

22 May 2008

‘I’m trying to fix pop,’ proclaims Santi White (aka Santogold) with an impish laugh. ‘It’s broken.’ If anyone is qualified to take their toolkit to the genre, it probably is White. A music industry veteran of over ten years, she’s seen the business…

Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

22 May 2008

COUNTRY POP (ATCO) To consider the pedigree of actors turned musicians is to consider a whole bunch of people walking the line between self-indulgence and inpsiration: David Soul, Richard Harris, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Robert Downey…

The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

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…

Ladytron

8 May 2008

Cool electronic pop as Ladytron once more stride into the live arena, testing the waters before the release of new album Velocifero in early June. Effortlessly crossing the club/live divide they’re in demand as DJs and musicians, even going on to remix…

Madonna - Hard Candy

8 May 2008

POP (Warner Bros) While acts much younger than her construct entire careers around trading on former glories, Madonna clearly doesn’t give two figs for nostalgia. Eleven albums on and pop’s most famous magpie and queen of reinvention is as sonically…

The Heavy Circles - The Heavy Circles

8 May 2008

ROCK/POP (Dynamite Child) Twenty years after the funky quirks of ‘What I Am’, Edie Brickell’s voice retains its girlish appeal: dreamy soaring, slacker tantrums and all. This time round, though, it’s her husband Paul Simon’s son Harper who is setting…

Adele

24 Apr 2008

POP Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sat 26 Apr Nineteen-year-old South Londoner Adele has some big shoes to fill. Already being hailed as ‘the New Queen of British Soul’ and ‘the New Amy Winehouse’, she bagged the Critics Choice prize at the Brit awards…

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.

Juno!

24 Apr 2008

BAGGY POP Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 10 Apr The MySpace of this buoyant Caledonian quartet has them listed as originating in Glasgow, Fife and Tokyo – the first two are true – but the jokey addition at the end would be better changed to…

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

10 Apr 2008

POP (Warner Bros) The completely addictive nature of their debut single ‘Crazy’ set the bar just a tad high for Danger Mouse and Cee-lo Green (for they are Gnarls Barkley). The chances of lightning striking twice was remote but they’ve shown their…

Estelle - Shine

27 Mar 2008

R&B POP (Atlantic/Homeschool) Estelle has paid her dues on the UK R&B circles before departing stateside. A meeting with US R&B star John Legend led to her signing to his Homeschool stable and this, her second album is executive produced by…

A Toys Orchestra - Technicolor Dreams

13 Mar 2008

ROCK POP (Urtovox) Written rule in music number 14: Europeans of the continental type make horrible, horrible pop music. Of course, there are a few examples which dilute this tenet (ABBA and, um, A-ha?). And when it comes to Italians and pop, you can…

Duffy - Rockferry

13 Mar 2008

POP (Polydor) This young Welsh songbird is certainly no Dusty Springfield, nor does she have the grit and sass of Amy Winehouse, but while she may struggle to live up to recent hysterical media comparisons, Rockferry proves that Duffy is still a…

Ivor Cutler - The Flat Man

13 Mar 2008

POP (Hoorgi House) When Ivor Cutler died in 2006 aged 83 a little piece of British culture died too, never to return. Celebrated by many as Scotland’s alternative poet laureate, his talents as a writer, poet, songsmith, humorist were like no other…

The B-52s - Funplex

13 Mar 2008

SURF POST-PUNK POP (EMI) ‘I look at you and I’m ready to pump,’ declares the very first lyric of Funplex. Smutty, puerile, silly or all of the above, it makes at least one thing instantly clear: The B-52s are back. It’s 16 years since Athens…

Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

28 Feb 2008

POP (Mute) For a woman who has done so much unashamed musical thievery in her time that she would put a gang of Pollock shoplifters to shame, Alison Goldfrapp has always been a bewitching character. In her efforts to distinguish herself from the…

Kate Nash

28 Feb 2008

One of the massive success stories of 2007, Kate Nash crowned off the year picking up a Best Female Solo Artist BRIT just the other week. And while it’s easy to deride her heavy mockney delivery you can’t dismiss the catchy nature of ‘Foundations’ or…

Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

28 Feb 2008

FOLK POP (4AD) While it might be cruel to say that John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats might be trying for a kind of Sufjan Stevens vibe but end up a bit too Jasper Carrott for comfort, that’s still the overriding impression given by Heretic Pride.

Surrounded - The Nautilus Years

28 Feb 2008

POP (One Little Indian) Surrounded, we are told, are ‘Sweden’s answer to The Flaming Lips.’ It’s a distinct possible that never a truer statement has been typed onto a music press release and while this is fine up to a point, that point arrives rather…

Adele - 19

14 Feb 2008

POP (XL) Much is made these days of the ‘voice’. Joss Stone, if you remember, had one; Corinne Bailey Rae still has hers; why, wasn’t even the bland and affected Katie Mellua touted as being in the possession of such a thing? The newest voice on the…

Pop survivor Kylie Minogue

Celebrity Gossip

30 Jan 2008

Kylie Minogue never considered retiring after being diagnosed with breast cancer.