Rock

Interview: Friendly Fires plan to get the crowds dancing at RockNess 2012

Ed Macfarlane on festivals, pop music and dancing ‘like an idiot’

28 May 2012

Friendly Fires blur the lines between indie and dance music, so their brand of punk funk should fit in perfectly at RockNess. Hailing from St Albans in Hertfordshire they were nominated for the Mercury Music prize for their debut eponymous album, which…

Summer Festivals 2012: Biffy Clyro - interview

The band's James Johnston discusses their headline slot at RockNess

25 May 2012

Despite the unusual time signatures, the uncompromising riffs, the bizarro lyrics and the beards, somehow Biffy Clyro have become one of the biggest rock bands in the UK. Even their hits – ‘That Golden Rule’, ‘Mountains’ and ‘Many of Horror…

Summer Festivals 2012: Death in Vegas - interview

A chat with Richard Fearless ahead of his RockNess performance

25 May 2012

As British music finally dragged itself out of a post-Britpop hangover around the turn of the century, Death in Vegas were among the most quintessential of festival bands. 1999’s The Contino Sessions and 2002’s Scorpio Rising were staples of any…

Summer Festivals 2012: Here We Go Magic - interview

The band's Luke Temple gets ready for their slot at T in the Park

25 May 2012

‘I’m kind of a late bloomer, really,’ testifies Luke Temple, singer and songwriter in chief with Brooklynite indie-pop contenders Here We Go Magic. ‘I didn’t start writing songs until 2000, until I was about 25, and up ‘til then I’d only listened to…

Interview: Ash get ready for RockNess 2012

Northern Irish rockers Ash get ready for their only Scottish festival of the year

24 May 2012

Famous for the instantly catchy pop rock of tracks like ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and ‘Girl From Mars’ Ash formed as teenagers in Northern Ireland back in 1992. Juggling homework with gigs and recording sessions they released the instant smash 1977 in…

The Son(s) – Leviathan EP

Remarkable EP of lo-fi subtlety and intimacy from the mystery-shrouded artist(s)

24 May 2012

Having consulted an online resource to find a definition of the word 'leviathan' I was met with the task of trying to come to terms with how a mythological sea creature that is manifested as some kind of demon incarnate would find context in the lush…

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

24 May 2012

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

Interview: Jakwob prepares for his live show at RockNess 2012

The dubstep producer talks remixes, Rocky and RockNess

23 May 2012

Young dubstep producer and DJ Jakwob (aka James Jacob) favours a jazzy take on bassy electronica. He first appeared on most people’s radar with his squelchy remix of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Under the Sheets’ and has since gone on to remix Lily Allen, MIA and…

Stag & Dagger, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 19 May

Eleanor Friedberger and Miaoux Miaoux play as part of 13 hour gig crawl

22 May 2012

While its London sister seems to have died a death, presumably smothered by a surfeit of such hipster-friendly crawls and brawls in the English capital, the Glasgow leg of multi-venue one-dayer Stag and Dagger happily lives on, albeit with perhaps a…

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Mary Epworth - Dream Life

A lavish and eclectic debut album from the folk-rock singer

22 May 2012

Where shall we begin? With the banjo twang, Black Sabbath fuzz and Goldfrapping blues-stomp of ‘Black Doe’? With the brass-toting folk-rock euphoria of ‘Long Gone’? With the swirling psych-pop of ‘Come Back to the Bough’? Or perhaps we should start…

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Sigur Rós - Valtari

A typically dazzling record from the Icelandic cosmic folk-pop outfit

22 May 2012

The rumours of an ‘indefinite hiatus’ might have left us thinking that was it for Sigur Rós, but the four years since their previous album have amounted to little more than a bit of creative refreshment time. Valtari (the infinitely less satisfying to…

Silver Jews - Early Times 1990-91

Reissue of early works by David Berman, Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich

22 May 2012

Disbanded in 2009, David Berman’s Silver Jews project was a tremendous portmanteau of country and US indie that acted as a vehicle for Berman’s lyrics, his voice, smooth and unsteady as stretched taffy, often simply speaking the words in tune, offering…

Dry the River - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Sun 22 Apr

Unbalanced mix of noisy rock and gospel from the London five-piece

14 May 2012

It’s hard to pigeonhole this band. Not only do the hairy, tattooed Londoners hammer their instruments into a mesh of roaring noise that causes each instrument to become almost unidentifiable from the next, they also sing like choir boys. Dry the River…

Scott McWatt – Jekyll and Hyde

Lyrically shallow effort from the former Lost City Lights frontman

14 May 2012

Former Lost City Lights front man Scott McWatt seems to have gone from an amateur Nickelback-esque sound to one far more similar to amateur Idlewild. Though it is evident that dedication and passion have gone into the making of this album -- it was…

Ride the RockNess Express - train details

The Express will pick up festival goers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle

8 May 2012

As part of the Year of Creative Scotland, RockNess are offering a unique (and environmentally friendly) way to the festival site on the banks of Loch Ness. Picking up passengers from London, Birmingham, Derby, York and Newcastle before dropping them off…

Eye o’ the Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr 2012

Fantastic bill featuring Django Django, Malcolm Middleton and more

27 Apr 2012

They may have quadrupled the size of their show, and conscripted beefcakes to man the doors, but the spirit of Fence chiefly prevailed at the inaugural Eye O’ The Dug – a musical hoopla which (kind of) filled a Homegame-shaped hole in the calendar (and…

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…

The Sunshine Underground - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, Mon 16 Apr

Energetic indie-electro-rock from the Leeds trio

26 Apr 2012

There's something different about The Sunshine Underground. Maybe it's their strange mix of electronica, grimy bass and echoing vocals. Maybe it's their somewhat unorthodox recording methods (they once put drummer Matthew Gwilt in a tent to get a 'big…

Holy Mountain - Earth Measures

A cacophonous, riff-driven release imbued with savage axe-mastery and vintage spirit

26 Apr 2012

What we are basically dealing with here is a delirious, hirsute rawk mob – a cacophonous, riff-driven Glasgow trio who’re as heavy as Led and thrice as cool. Notorious for combustible live shows (they once blared out the back of a van, with a cigarette…

The Leg - An Eagle to Saturn

Absurdist punk more confusing than worthwhile?

26 Apr 2012

Terrifyingly obscure and possibly dangerous are pretty much the only ways to describe this offering from Edinburgh's The Leg. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted or easily offended as tracks cover some pretty dark ideas. Shouted lyrics sound eerily…

Kim Edgar - The Ornate Lie

Folk rock from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar

26 Apr 2012

The second album from The Burns Unit member Kim Edgar raises the bar from where her acclaimed debut album left off, mixing delicate folk rock melodies with Kim’s uniquely Scottish and poignant lyrics. Edgar’s harmonious piano playing and a voice full of…

Exposure: Friends

The Brooklyn hipster quintet make disgustingly cool indie post-punk-funk

25 Apr 2012

The List makes two predictions with regards to this fresh Brooklyn indie post-punk-funk ensemble. 1) They’re going to be the sound of many people’s summer, and 2) they’re going to have music journos punning furiously on their sitcom namesake. They’re…

The Futureheads - Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 9 Apr

Stripped down acoustic and a capella show from the indie-rock group

25 Apr 2012

For a band who made one of their very earliest trips around the UK a tour of working men’s clubs, there was a certain sense of having come full circle here. Billed as an acoustic and a cappella tour, it was more than just a stripped-down version of…

Andrew WK - The Garage, Glasgow, Sat 14 Apr

The long-haired party-metaller plays debut album I Get Wet in full

25 Apr 2012

Andrew WK is what he is: partier, lover of dirty jeans, motivational speaker. Whatever you thought of him when he arrived on the scene with tongue firmly in cheek on the back of last year’s debut album I Get Wet is irrelevant. As a live prospect, Andrew…

Walter Scott Prize 2012 shortlist announced

Andrew Miller, Alan Hollinghurst, Barry Unsworth, Sebastian Barry, Patrick DeWitt and Esi Edugyan

23 Apr 2012

The shortlist for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was revealed earlier this month at the programme launch for the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. The contenders for the £25,000 prize, the largest annual literary prize awarded…

Zulu Winter - Language

The indie rockers' debut is disappointingly unadventurous

23 Apr 2012

(Play It Again Sam) With their unabashed love of Czech new wave cinema, Steve Reich, TS Eliot, Ayn Rand and modern dance troupes The List won’t even pretend to have heard of, we expected something a little more adventurous from Zulu Winter’s debut…

PAWS - Misled Youth

A pacey, frantic and melancholy EP from the Glasgow garage pop-rock trio

23 Apr 2012

(Fat Cat) Grrr, Paws are good. Be it gigging in weird places (the Glasgow trio have played in bathrooms, skate shops and on top of double decker buses) or the bedroom recordings released on painstakingly put-together, hand-numbered limited edition…

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…

Wickerman festival 2012 line-up announced

Scissor Sisters, Texas, The Levellers and Mike Skinner on Scottish festival bill

18 Apr 2012

The official line-up for the 2012 Wickerman Festival has been announced, with New Yorkers Scissor Sisters will headline the Summerisle stage on Fri 20 July, and Scottish favourites Texas headlining the same stage on Sat 21 July. Scissor Sisters are…

Madonna - MDNA

Album with producers Benny Benassi, Martin Solveig and William Orbit

18 Apr 2012

Kudos to 53-year-old Auntie Madge not for delivering a classic album, but for having the sheer brass she-balls to turn out a record that’s as clubby, sexy and designed for the dancefloor after midnight as any she’s produced. A nod and a wink to naughty…

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Long-awaited debut admirable in perfectionism, but feels laboured

18 Apr 2012

(Song, by Toad) ‘I’ve waited two bloody years for these muppets to finish this album,’ writes Song, by Toad boss Matthew Young in an amusingly frank note accompanying Edinburgh seven-piece Jesus H. Foxx’s debut. We’ve shared his frustration in…

Cate Le Bon - Cyrk

Brilliantly textured slice of Welsh psychedelic folk genius

18 Apr 2012

For her latest outing Cate Le Bon takes her pick of the current crop of Wales’ finest musicians, with H. Hawkline providing hypnotically undulating synth goodness, while Y Niwl’s wünderkind Sion Glynn weaves beautifully meandering melodies, at times…

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Celestial drones, mesmeric synths, ambient noise and unearthly vocals

18 Apr 2012

(Night School) Perhaps you read that album title and started hollering the Bee Gees song or god forbid, Steps. Thank the stars, then, for LA composer and minimalist pop diviner Julia Holter, who will banish your garish disco horrors with celestial…

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

An astute and highly promising opening salvo from Glasgow band

18 Apr 2012

(Electric Honey) What a satisfying thing it is to hear a pop song that bypasses the tyranny of the chorus and sticks to its guns with a series of ear-warming verses. ‘Younger’, the shoulder-high stand-out track from the debut collection by French Wives…

Interview: Ben Sims gets ready for RockNess 2012

The techno DJ/producer among names added to festival bill

13 Apr 2012

DJ Ben Sims has been announced for 2012’s RockNess festival, where he joins Soma Records on the Arcadia UFO stage. With over 20 years of DJ experience, running his own Theory label (among others), he’s renowned for his DJ skills using vinyl, CD and…

Feist, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Tue 27 Mar 2012

Stunning concert from the Canadian alt.folkie

11 Apr 2012

‘Wan, two, freee, fourr’, some gentleman gargles towards the end of Feist’s second encore. Without thinking, she laughs it off before ending on a heartbreakingly beautiful solo run of ‘Intuition’ from 2007’s The Reminder. It’s pin-drop silence…

Elle Fanning to star in film adaptation of Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl

Glasgow-set musical to commence filming in June

11 Apr 2012

When Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch created God Help the Girl back in 2009, he knew that he was writing a 60s girl-group soundtrack for a film that didn't yet exist. Now, after years of fund-raising and producing, a film adaptation of the album…

Incubus announce one-off 2012 UK show

The Californian rock group to play London's O2 Academy Brixton in July

11 Apr 2012

After their highly successful sell out If Not Now, When? world tour last year, fans will be pleased to hear that Incubus have now confirmed a one-off UK headline show for 2012. This performance will be highly anticipated by fans as the band were…

Want advice on how your band can 'make it' and score a gig abroad?

Third Annual Wide Days Seminar

3 Apr 2012

Following on from successes in 2010 and 2011, the informal music conference, slash industry showcase that is Wide Days returns – with seminars for those wanting to get in to the music business during the day, followed by live performances and showcases…

Spiritualized, 02 ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Mar

Uplifting psychedelic set from the 90s acid-indie icons

3 Apr 2012

The sonic delights of indie starlets, Spiritualized receive a heroes welcome tonight, showcasing tracks from their new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light. The band also delve into their extensive back-catalogue, providing life affirming moments from their…

Interview - Barney Greenway of Napalm Death

The grindcore pioneers talk about new their album, metal and Joy Division

2 Apr 2012

Napalm Death are musical pioneers, they invented grindcore, mixing death metal with hardcore punk and made music harder, faster and nastier than anyone that had gone before. Famed for their ferocious live shows, political edge and refusal to compromise…

Interview: Andrew Weatherall set for RockNess 2012

Esteemed DJ and producer on A Love From Outer Space and festivals

30 Mar 2012

Andrew Weatherall is just one of the new announcements for 2012’s RockNess line-up where he’ll be joining Soma Records who are taking control of the new Arcadia UFO. It’s a Scottish Festival exclusive as he’s joined by Sean Johnston as they present an…

RockNess 2012 hosts Hudson Mohawke at Sub Club 25 year celebration

Dave Clarke, James Holden and Andrew Weatherall among dance picks

30 Mar 2012

RockNess today confirmed not only a plethora of new acts for this June’s festival, but a whole new stage designed for hard partying aficionado’s of dancefloor devastation, all in celebration of Sub Club Sound System’s 25 year anniversary. The Arcadia…

Sinead O'Connor

Powerfully autobiographical live show from the suede-headed nutter

28 Mar 2012

One of the funniest tales in music concerns an Irish hack sent to doorstep Sinead O’Connor. The scribbler promptly vanishes then days later is tracked down to O’Connor’s Paris hotel suite: ‘Sinead and I,’ he informs his former colleagues loftily…

Florence and The Machine - SECC, Glasgow, Mon 12 Mar

Stunning show from the 21st century diva

27 Mar 2012

Has Florence Welch ever told you about the time she flew up to Glasgow on a whim to visit a friend who lives in a castle in the Highlands? The four-hour bus journey that followed – still in her pyjamas – took her through Lochgilphead, where her Scottish…

Bob Dylan to return to Hop Farm music festival

Peter Gabriel, Suede, Damien Rice and Primal Scream also announced

27 Mar 2012

This year's Hop Farm festival has again attracted huge acts to the fifth annual no branding, no sponsorship festival running from June 29th to July 1st.

Interview: Graham Coxon on his eighth solo album A+E

The guitarist also discusses Blur's headline gig at the 2012 Olympics

27 Mar 2012

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is releasing his eighth solo record as the band prepares to play the Olympics. He talks to Ryan Drever about having his cake and eating it So, you’ve reunited with your hugely successful former band, are playing some of…

Colette Thurlow of 2:54 - interview

The indie singer/guitarist discusses sibling bandmates and significant influences

27 Mar 2012

Like a louchely worn black leather jacket, moody guitar music will never go out of fashion – see 2:54 for proof on both counts. Having toured with Warpaint and The Big Pink since emerging a year ago, the London four-piece based around sisters Colette…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Alabama Shakes

The bluesy foursome's guitarist Heath Fogg talks us through his tour habits

27 Mar 2012

What time is breakfast? 1pm. Tea or coffee? Coffee, though [lead singer, pictured…

Lightships - Electric Cables

Teenage Fanclub's Gerry Love album of sun-soaked, blissed-out guitar pop

26 Mar 2012

(Geographic) Gerry Love might have insisted on a band name for this new project, but the sound is all Gerry. Love’s contributions to Teenage Fanclub are invariably the understated gems, and so it is here with this sumptuous, trembling collection of…

WU LYF - SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 17 Mar

Mancunian 'kings of heavy pop' triumph over piffling technical difficulties

26 Mar 2012

Since they first cropped up in the public consciousness, WU LYF have been intriguing due to the fact that no one really knew very much about them. The name (World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation); the image and the mystique surrounding them; was it…

New Edinburgh venue The Third Door launches mini-festival Qabalala

26 Mar 2012

In the past month it’s seemed there’s been precious little to get excited about on Edinburgh’s clubbing and live scene, but let’s put the hand-wringing to one side for a few paragraphs and remember that people are still out there trying to get things…

Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry

Komische-influenced instrumental masterpiece from Malcolm Middleton

26 Mar 2012

Scottische Pop (Chemikal Underground) In the bowels of a radioactive pop bunker somewhere between Glasgow and Falkirk, Malcolm Middleton has spent 18 months incubating a (super) heroic alter-ego. We all thought we knew the mild-mannered Middleton…

The Cornshed Sisters - Tell Tales

Reminiscent of The Unthanks with extra dollops of pop sensibility

26 Mar 2012

(Memphis Industries) A gentle debut with just enough edge and earthy Northern lilt to balance the sweetness of the bell-like vocal harmonies, Tell Tales is the work of four non-sisters from Tyne and Wear. The tales told stretch from the overtly…

Graham Coxon - A+E

Latest lo-fi gem from Blur guitarist delivers arch and ugly meditations

26 Mar 2012

(Parlophone) What need for Blur these days? While their will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer…

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

Americana full of understated charm

26 Mar 2012

(Bella Union) M Ward is probably best known these days for being one half of She & Him, his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, but long before that partnership he was dishing up dreamy slices of Americana like this. As the title hints at, this…

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Sixth album from flamboyant glam-pop weirdo

26 Mar 2012

(Fire Records) Imagine if something really emotionally scarring happened to, say, Prince, something in his formative years that sent him down an altogether darker path. Now say hello to Bobby Conn, flamboyant glam-pop weirdo from Chicago with a…

Review of Reviews - Human Don't Be Angry

What we said and what they said about the debut album from Malcolm Middleton's latest project

26 Mar 2012

What we said ‘While Malcolm Middleton’s solo lyrics are typified by self-deprecation, Human Don’t Be Angry’s vocalisms are more forthright, driven and loved-up.’ The List What they said ‘Middleton is a master when it comes to this and previous…

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Mark Ronson-produced album's expanded instrumentation feels misplaced

23 Mar 2012

(Polydor) Releasing career retrospective House of Rufus last year and now drafting in ubiquitous producer Mark Ronson, all signs point to reinvention for Wainwright. Never one to shy away from the idiosyncratic in his operatic and multi-genre-infused…

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Lo-fi pop trinkets and demos from chillwave pioneer

23 Mar 2012

(Carpark) Chillwave pioneer and Carolina native Chazwick Bundick follows up last year’s second release Underneath the Pine with further lo-fi pop trinkets dating back to June 2009 (hence the title), which should be stacked alongside the likes of his…

The Twilight Sad to play final Pinup Nights

Malcolm Middleton, Miaoux Miaoux, Emma Pollock and Sonny Marvello also set to say farewell

21 Mar 2012

Has there ever been an indie night that’s worked as hard as Pinup Nights? Perhaps, but none have managed to alchemise the same mix of cannily chosen guest DJs, intelligently-curated young bands, painstaking theme nights and frankly dedicated gimmickry…

Interview - US rockers 3 Doors Down head for the UK

Q&A with American rock group's bassist Todd Harrell

9 Mar 2012

Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down are massive in the States, their debut single ‘Kryptonite’ reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 and since then they’ve gone on to score multi-platinum albums. Now they are continuing to secure more fans across the…

Simple Minds - Barrowlands, Glasgow Sat 25 Feb 2012

Revisit to first five albums a reminder of their potency

8 Mar 2012

In these recessionary times, it’s easy to suppose the manufacturers of dry ice are thanking their lucky stars for 1980s art-rock bands on the comeback and reunion trail. Clouds of the stuff create precisely the proper atmosphere in which men with…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Bwani Junction

The Edinburgh indie-afrobeat group's frontman, Rory Fairweather, tells us of his touring habits

8 Mar 2012

What time is breakfast? Meal times become irrelevant, just food time. Tea or coffee? Always tea. Smoking or non-smoking? Absolutely no smoking, our bodies are temples. Sweet or savoury snacks? Jack ate soap last time... what does that…

French Wives, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Tue 28 Feb

Successful performance from band on the cusp of greatness

7 Mar 2012

‘We’re kind of shitting it’, French Wives frontman Stuart Dougan declares with a semi self-conscious shrug, a statement referencing the thirty gigs his band will embark on over the next month (including a stint at SXSW) and succeeding ‘two great…

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…

Butcher Boy - Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, Fri 10 Feb, part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival

Profound and nostalgic home movie soundtrack session

29 Feb 2012

The intimate basement bar that constitutes the Berkeley Suite, with its original 60s dancehall décor and faded ‘groovy’ vibes, mirrors the classy, nostalgic theme offered by this evening of film and music. Local eight-piece Butcher Boy frame a screen…

Human Don’t Be Angry - The Arches, Glasgow, Sat 25 Feb

Malcolm Middleton's side project gets a satisfying full-band outing

29 Feb 2012

For those who knew Malcolm Middleton only from his days as one half of the funniest band ever to be famous for misery, or even as the alt folk jangler behind ‘A Brighter Beat’ and one-time Christmas No 1 outsider ‘We’re All Going to Die’, this, the…

Tom McClung of Wu Lyf - interview

The Manchester epic indie rockers eschew traditional approaches to getting their music heard

28 Feb 2012

Manchester quartet Wu Lyf’s unwillingness to play the conventional pop game has been a breath of fresh air. Now they’re preparing to stop talking and start delivering. ‘At the start we didn’t want to be a band for the sake of it,’ says Tom McClung of…

Kindness - World, You Need A Change Of Mind

Superb spellbinding pop which pulls of a mulititude of hipsterism sins

28 Feb 2012

(Female Energy/Polydor) You could be forgiven for thinking Kindness is little more than hipster ‘lolz’. Tracks have trickled out sporadically accompanied by cryptic soundbites and moody black and white shots of a recording studio in Paris and New…

Summer Camp set for UK tour

Bitter-hearted take girl groups of 50s and 60s

28 Feb 2012

Summer Camp: a duo so in tune with one another they respond to The List’s email questions as one entity. ‘How did you get together’, we ask them. ‘We’d known each other for ages,’ Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey tell us in stereo. Then Elizabeth…

Profile: Cass McCombs

Californian alt-country nomad set for UK tour

28 Feb 2012

Name McCombs. Cass McCombs. Or ‘Combs’, as his close friends call him (we like to think). He’s that Californian alt-country nomad, right? Correct. The harmonious, folk-rocking ‘Combs’ has spent most of his adulthood travelling America, writing…

Dean Owens - New York Hummingbird

Release from Edinburgh-based tunesmith a mixed bag

28 Feb 2012

(Songboy Records) Could it be that Dean Owens suffers from Ron Sexsmith Syndrome? RSS is that little-publicised but extremely frustrating affliction which strikes talented singer-songwriters who are perfectly capable of crafting a gloriously melodic…

Randolph’s Leap - The Curse of the Haunted Headphones

Homespun showcase from stripped-back Glasgow indie-folk rabble

28 Feb 2012

(Peenko Records) Do not be misled by this bedroom recording, or its cassette-hissing, lo-fi aesthetic. While Glasgow indie-folk rabble Randolph’s Leap are known and loved for their elaborate arrangements and philharmonic live shows, this homespun…

The Wedding Present - Valentina

Well-worn template mixes with stabs at hummability

28 Feb 2012

(Scopitones) The last time this reviewer looked, which wasn’t yesterday admittedly, The Wedding Present were a bracing proposition, the musical equivalent of being dragged along a cobbled street in Halifax with one leg tied to a Raleigh Chopper. Flat…

Still Corners, Captain’s Rest, Sat 4 Feb

Dreamy shoegaze five-piece tour recent album

8 Feb 2012

Still Corners had one heck of a 2011, playing SXSW, touring Europe and the US and releasing their debut LP, Creatures of an Hour, and the little basement of the Captain’s is full of people wondering if they can be as lovely live as they are on record.

Hazy Recollections – O2 ABC2, Glasgow, Sun 22 Jan

Electro-folk and French lullabies bring weepie and comedy moments

3 Feb 2012

Celtic Connections’ Hazy Recollections sessions are great for two main reasons. Firstly, they provide a gathering place for the legion of those with beards and plaid shirts. Secondly, you get to see just how far the festival’s remit of ‘folk, roots and…

Explosions in The Sky - O2 Academy, Glasgow, Mon 23 Jan 2012

An elemental, foundation-shaking post-rock rollercoaster

3 Feb 2012

Explosions in The Sky’s music has always had very elemental feel to it. As the unforgiving Glasgow winter freezes the breath in every pair of lungs waiting to get into the Academy tonight, the Texan’s set, which could soundtrack the bleak, sparse cold…

Wild Flag, Oran Mor, Mon 30 Jan

Indie-rock supergroup prove more than the sum of their parts

3 Feb 2012

The word ‘supergroup’ often sets alarm bells ringing. What if the weight of previous successes is too much pressure? What if this new project isn’t as good? Hell, what if it’s downright rubbish (see exhibit A: Velvet Revolver)? Wild Flag are of…

Exposure: Still Corners

Cinematic dream-pop with a Lynchian vibe

1 Feb 2012

The whispery female vocal, the unsettling tone, the shoegazey guitars... There’s a very cinematic, 1990s David Lynch feel to the heavenly dream-pop of London-based Still Corners. The List finds singer Tessa Murray and songwriter Greg Hughes drinking…

Azari & III - Azari & III

Credit due delivering a straightforward house music manifesto with compelling four-to-the-floor forc

1 Feb 2012

(Island) This self-titled debut is actually a major label re-release of an album that, until recently, was widely available as an import – including on Spotify. It’s getting a reboot in the UK in CD form (you remember CDs right?) though really the…

Review of reviews: No One Can Ever Know

What we said and what they said about the new Twilight Sad album

1 Feb 2012

What we said: ‘This second album from The Twilight Sad is a surprising and substantial progression. It’s what you might call, we suspect, a definite grower – and perhaps a worthy Mercury contender nearer the time?’ The List What they said…

Palace - Domino reissue several albums from Will Oldham project

There is No-one What Will Take Care Of You/ Days In The Wake/ Hope/ Viva Last Blues/ Lost Blues And

1 Feb 2012

(Domino) Before he cast himself as Bonnie Prince Billy, Kentuckian alt-folk heartbreaker Will Oldham recorded several exquisite, distinguished long-players under the Palace moniker. After aeons in the hard-to-find wilderness, they will be…

GFF 2012 - Silver Apples set for Glasgow Music and Film Festival

Live set from the cult 60s space rock pioneers

27 Jan 2012

When Simeon Coxe III took a 1940s vintage oscillator onstage with him to liven up the psych-rock band he fronted, sparks flew to the extent that half the band left, and, with only drummer Danny Taylor in tow, Silver Apples were born. With their name…

Django Django - Django Django

Dense and often surprising debut spitting up bursts of bold, spaced-out texture

27 Jan 2012

(Because) Django Django’s debut has a lot of strings to its bow. It benefits from being the result of prolonged and measured tinkering by three Edinburgh art school grads over the space of a couple of years in a London bedroom. These efforts have…

The high energy, high concept dance-rock of Justice is French through-and-through

To these new gods of French electronic music, we say Salut!

27 Jan 2012

The hair; the crotch-hugging denim; the ‘tude - everything about Justice’s demeanour screams metal. And with good reason. The band, comprising Xavier de Rosnay (monobrow, flaired nostrils) and Gaspard Augé (hair of Robert Plant, moustache of a Deep…

Trailer Trash Tracys - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sun 15 Jan 2012

Effects-laden shoegaze fog heavy on the exquisite melodrama

27 Jan 2012

Not, as you might have expected from the name, a clan of bad-mouthin’, whisky-swillin’ Midwestern girls battering badly-tuned guitars and trying to resurrect the lost souls of L7 or The Distillers, Trailer Trash Tracys are instead three guys and a girl…

Real Estate set for UK tour

New Jersey trio take one of the best albums of 2011 on the road

27 Jan 2012

Let England Shake may have topped most of the critics’ lists, but for many it was word-of-mouth, you have to hear this, slow-burner Days by Real Estate that became their hands down musical highlight of 2011. This much-lauded record was an Ariel Pink…

The Twilight Sad set for UK tour

Kilsyth trio take third album No One Can Ever Know on tour

27 Jan 2012

With their third album No One Can Ever Know, masters of the dark side anthem The Twilight Sad add impressively to a catalogue that includes one of the finest Scottish debuts of recent years. It’s a bit of a surprise then to discover that the Kilsyth…

Howler - America Give Up

The kind of easily-digestible festival fodder that could hit the spot live, but is dull on record

27 Jan 2012

(Rough Trade) You think we would all have learned by now that it is frankly unproductive to call anything the ‘new this’, the ‘next that’, or, god forbid, ‘the hottest thing you’ll hear all year’. Sadly, whether they’re aware of it or not, young US…

Pulp - It/Freaks/Separations

Reissue of first three albums from 1980s originally released on Fire

27 Jan 2012

(Fire) Testament to the 80s’capacity to incubate provincial bands until they’re ready for megastardom, Pulp’s first three albums on Fire were a career’s worth in themselves, although hardly anyone remembers. Containing, as all three of these reissues…

Partikel - Cohesion

Trio’s flexible, responsive interplay maintains interest in material a little samey at times

27 Jan 2012

(Whirlwind Recordings) From the same label, Partikel are a London-based saxophone trio led by Duncan Eagles, with Max Luthert on bass and Eric Ford on drums. Sonny Rollins probably remains the most famous exemplar of the challenges and rewards of the…

Biffy Clyro, Deadmau5 and Mumford & Sons announced for RockNess 2012

Justice, Metronomy, Noah & the Whale and Death in Vegas also confirmed

26 Jan 2012

Scottish rock titans Biffy Clyro and dance kingpins Justice and Deadmaus have been announced as acts set to play RockNess 2012. The festival which will take place at Dores on the banks of Loch Ness on Fri 8–Sun 10 Jun, will also feature performances…

Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events

Powerful, sophisticated and smart mix of stripped down, acoustic songs

24 Jan 2012

(Virgin) Just imagine it, Adele and Emeli Sandé down the pub, putting the world to rights over copious pints. Men? Screw ’em. Hype? Whatever. But the main reason they’d make great gal pals is because they’ve both worked out ways to channel their…

School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

Third album from New York electro-phantoms, now a duo

24 Jan 2012

(Full Time Hobby) Ghostory – geddit? It’s the way in which our histories are colonised by ghosts. It’s the way in which persons come to haunt our tales of yore. It’s the third album from New York electro-phantoms SVIIB. At best, it is euphoric – all…

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

Buoyant, but lacking dynamics that made last year’s album instantly spine chilling

23 Jan 2012

(Southern Lord) The follow up to last year’s Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I surveys the same improvised and stripped down hinterlands of its predecessor, reviving their string section in favour of the amplified nature of their previous…

Die Hard - Die Hard

Glasgow outfit's eponymous debut of magnificently off-kilter, avant pop tales

23 Jan 2012

(Halleluwah Hits) If this Glasgow outfit had named themselves after any other Bruce Willis film we’d have issues, but as it is we’re rather partial to a bit of John McClane action so we’re giving Die Hard a go. Stick their eponymous debut on and…

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

Second album a mixed bag containing glimpses of what makes them fun

23 Jan 2012

(Columbia) Pity the poor Ting Tings. After selling millions of records, the Mancunian electro-pop duo got stressed, scrapped a whole album and hid from their record label. Allegedly. You can see why the pair might worry about following We Started…