Articles

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…

5 reasons to go and see OFWGKTA

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All set to play O2 ABC gig

27 Mar 2012

1. We might find out what they are Are they an ironic comedy hip hop troupe? Or are they a wilfully nasty, relentlessly violent, misogynistic and homophobic throwback whose goofy nonsense just happens to distil the finest styles of rap created in the…

SE Inversion – Travelling against time

The Scottish Ensembles latest show starts with 1960s modern classical music and works back to Bach

27 Mar 2012

Moving back in time is something more usually found in the world of science fiction than classical music performances. Putting its audience into a time machine where the concert hall takes on the role of tardis for the night, the Scottish Ensemble…

5 things you might not know about Jeff Dunham

The creator of Ahmed the Dead Terrorist is coming to the SECC

27 Mar 2012

1 Born in Dallas in 1962, Jeff Dunham got into the ventriloquist game at the age of eight having been given a dummy at Christmas, and later performed at birthday parties and Cub Scout banquets. 2 He first tasted serious fame when he appeared on Johnny…

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…

Exposure: Hannah Cohen

The NY model/photographer-turned-singer/songwriter is beloved by The National's Thomas Bartlett

27 Mar 2012

Two years ago New York-based model and photographer Hannah Cohen met Antony and the Johnsons and The National pianist Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, at a party. She shyly played him some songs she’d been secretly penning, and he immediately offered to…

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…

Visual artist Folkert de Jong on what art means to him

The sculptor shares his thoughts ahead of an exhibition at the GI

27 Mar 2012

For me, art is about life and the human condition. It’s a very efficient medium to communicate about life and our individual position in it. I see the art exhibition space as a podium on which I can communicate with an audience. The audience becomes a…

Mr Blue Sky

Second season of Andrew Collins' warmly cosy Radio 4 comedy

27 Mar 2012

When a recession hits, even optimists can feel the heat. In the opening episode of Mr Blue Sky’s second series lovable oaf Harvey Easter tries a few tricks to save the pennies. Such as walking to the newsagent rather than having his paper delivered…

Maggie O’Farrell to appear at World Book Night event

A talk with the author of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

27 Mar 2012

Maggie O’Farrell often retells the moment when the notion of authorship became embedded in her psyche. At the age of five, little Maggie was struggling with a story she was penning. On asking if her mother would write it instead, she was met with this…

Once Upon a Time is stylish but vapid TV

The contemporary American fairy tales from the makers of Lost lack substance

27 Mar 2012

Given that Stephen King pretty much owned the franchise on writing twisted tales set in Maine, it’s an act of errant folly that he’s not involved in Once Upon a Time (Five, Sun 1 Apr, 8pm). You can only imagine what fun the horror master would have had…

Blanck Mass - School of Art, Glasgow, Sun 18 Mar

Fuck Buttons' Benjamin John Power's intense ambient electronica

27 Mar 2012

In comparison to Fuck Buttons, his and Andrew Hung’s punishing drone-techno crucible, Benjamin John Power’s solo project Blanck Mass makes music that manages to recreate the elegia and emotional power of club-ready electronic music with none of the…

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…

Gavin Pretor-Pinney - Clouds that Look Like Things

Occasionally unconvincing gallery of cloudy lookalikes

27 Mar 2012

(Sceptre) As founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, Gavin Pretor-Pinney knows more than a thing or two about cirrus and cumulus. And all the other ones. The trouble with this collection is that some of the pictures are, frankly, not very…

Xiu Xiu - Captain’s Rest, Wed 14 Mar

Intense and delicate full band performance for Jamie Stewart's earnest pop project

27 Mar 2012

Those who have seen Xiu Xiu’s past Glasgow appearances may be expecting songwriter Jamie Stewart to be accompanied by just one other musician, but the tour for latest record Always sees him flanked by a full band. Opening on the gentle ‘Fabulous…

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…

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful

Debut from Hype Williams pair is striking and boundary-crashing

26 Mar 2012

(Hyperdub) Can Tupac and Kanye West-lensing promo director Hype Williams finally have gotten wise to the ridiculously inventive London duo using his name? Is that why the pair are using their own names for this debut album on Kode9’s Hyperdub? The…

Emory Douglas - Creator of iconic imagery behind Black Panther Party

GI show from American Black Power movement linchpin

26 Mar 2012

‘In Revolution one wins, or one dies.’ When this slogan appeared aloft Emory Douglas’ image of a couple of beret-clad African-American guerrillas on a big-screen back-drop at major concert halls around the world, it was a far cry from the roots of…

Rendez-vous with French Cinema preview

The chance to see upcoming French films before they hit cinemas later this year

26 Mar 2012

Now that The Artist has cleaned up at the Oscars, attention can turn to other French films that will be released in the UK during 2012. The Rendez-vous with French Cinema event, which runs in London until Sat 24 Mar and at Edinburgh's Filmhouse from Fri…

Steak, Edinburgh's new meat-loving eaterie

The brash new restaurant makes no claims of subtlety with full-on flavours and pumping music

26 Mar 2012

‘Where beauty meats the beast’ is the strap-line for brash new arrival Steak, archly attached to publicity shots of ladies, puckering their lips in readiness under dangling raw t-bones – although ‘where beauties eat the beast’ might be just as apt.

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…

Electropop duo Uh Huh Her to play Arches

The band consists of ex-Mellowdroner Camila Grey and ex-The L Word star Leisha Hailey

26 Mar 2012

Let’s get it out the way: Leisha Hailey was in The L Word. For anyone unfamiliar with the Showtime series (presumably you have been living under a rock on the outskirts of the lez community? Welcome. And get a boxset.), Hailey played quirky…

Crate digging: Nick Curly of Kehakuma

The German house DJ shares his favourite tracks ahead of a set at Return to Mono

26 Mar 2012

I’ll start with ‘Easy’ Sante feat Daniel Wild (8Bit) for me it’s the best club record of the moment, people go crazy when I play it and there’s a great vibe on the vocal. I have two labels and sometimes you sign a track and you realise, ‘boom this is…

Trance act Above & Beyond to play set at Barrowland

Tony McGuinness sees trance music as a form of 'group therapy'

26 Mar 2012

Some dismiss trance as lowest common denominator dance music but for many it’s the epitome of club culture: the big build-ups, the huge breakdowns, glo-sticks, lasers and Gatecrasher kids. Whatever the critical reception, trance is wildly popular. Only…

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…

How Soon is Now - music books round-up

A round-up of music books from Richard King, Rob Young, Martin C Strong and Bernie Krause

26 Mar 2012

The next best thing to hearing a great record is then going on to read all about it. Unless you feel that analysing music in any way is akin to destroying the purity of the aural experience. If you’re of that opinion then best avoid this clutch of…

Bruadar presents well-stocked beer & burger options to Glasgow's West End

26 Mar 2012

Beer and a burger – Bruadar’s is a simple enough formula, but with so many quality variables it is one which delivers genuinely satisfying results. Twenty burgers include the expected beefy standards, a few chicken and five vegetarian choices – all…

Clubbers' Decktionary: Balkan Beats

A guide to the myriad genres of clubbing, from Trouble's DJ Hobbes

26 Mar 2012

Balkan Beats, proper noun: usually up-tempo (around 130 bpm), mixing gypsy/Balkan and other eastern European styles with traditionally more western dance music and electronica; most often little more than a two-bar loop of Balkan accordion, gypsy tuba…

Teaching kids French through puppetry

Bilingual puppetry company Le Petit Monde present their Easter show, Lapin Wants an Easter Carrot

26 Mar 2012

As any adult who has undertaken a language class will tell you, it goes in quicker when you’re younger. Learning French as a child, when that little sponge-like brain is firing on all cylinders, isn’t just easier, it’s a lot more fun since Tania Czajka…

Daniel Sloss on his comedy heroes, Ed Byrne and Tom Stade

The Fifer names his most influential comics

26 Mar 2012

I’d go for Ed Byrne. He did his own style of comedy which was a mixture of one-liners and stories and gags, a really beautiful mix which always had audiences in the palm of his hand. He could tell stories which might not have many gags in them but they…

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…

Cirque du Soleil take Alegria on UK tour

Mix of acrobatics, dance and music explores carnival themes

26 Mar 2012

Expect a heady mix of high-energy acrobatics, dance and music when Cirque du Soleil return north of the border this month. Alegria, Spanish for ‘joy’, has been delighting audiences across the globe for 17 years, as artistic director Bruno Darmagnac…

Five alternative Easter activies

Bored of egg-hunting? Here’s how the rest of the world marks the occasion

26 Mar 2012

1 Hunky Jesus Contest The devout gather every year at San Francisco’s Dolores Park Easter Celebration to watch a pageant of men in loincloths carrying planks of wood. They are joined by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, ‘cross-dressing…

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…

Alexander Tucker - Third Mouth

English avant-pop artist's work is stirring, compelling and glorious

26 Mar 2012

(Thrill Jockey) Avant-pop druid Alexander Tucker has long ruled with his explorations of memory, mythology and landscape – from the experimental psalms and pastoral drones of Old Fog (2005), through the otherworldly psych folk of Furrowed Brow…

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…

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

Throbbing Gristle's Chris & Cosey collaborate with Factory Floor

26 Mar 2012

(Mute) Fans of doom-laden industrial machine music might find their clockwork hearts oiled slightly by the release of this most definitive of collaborations, as Carter Tutti (Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, nee Chris & Cosey…

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…

Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup

Yahweh's Lewis Cook release of Scottish-accented chillwave-pop

26 Mar 2012

(Instructional Media) Lewis Cook’s first release as Mother Ganga was made mostly round at his girlfriend’s flat, in her bedroom. The 21-year-old’s calling it ‘electronic haze-pop’, and the wonky, chillwavey results (on a limited run of 100 cassettes…

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…

Various artists - Songlines Music Awards 2012

Innovative magazine championing new and classic world music acts

26 Mar 2012

(Songlines/Proper Music) Despite difficult times for music business sales, with popular small independents reporting they are barely covering their costs, let’s hear it for this innovative magazine. Songlines champions new and classic acts, offering…

Gary Husband - Dirty & Beautiful, Volume 2

Features collaborations with range of the jazz-rock luminaries

26 Mar 2012

(Abstract Logix) Jazz-rock isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and tends to be sniffed at in critical circles, but when it’s done well, it remains an exciting facet of the contemporary jazz spectrum. Like its predecessor, this album features keyboard player…

StAnza International Poetry Festival 2012 - round-up

Events at St Andrews festival encourage debate across artforms

23 Mar 2012

One of the two themes for this year’s StAnza International Poetry Festival in St Andrews was The Image, and on the last day of the festival this theme was pushed in very different directions to explore poetry’s relationship with classic film…

Profile: Aksel Hennie - star of Jo Nesbo's Headhunters

Norwegian actor from Max Manus: Man of War and Age of Heroes

23 Mar 2012

Born 29 October, 1975, Oslo Background Aksel is a popular Norwegian actor, writer and director who was once arrested and sentenced for tagging during his late teens. The experience helped to inform one of his films, Uno, which he wrote, directed…

Tiny Furniture

Twentysomethings indie with charm and well-observed scenes

23 Mar 2012

(15) 99min If we believe what we are told in indie cinema (and why would we not?), you can’t move in the households of older affluent Americans for twentysomething offspring who’ve strayed back home to replay adolescent dramas and avoid the horror of…

Corpo Celeste

Emotionally complex and gloomy study of adolescence and Catholicism

23 Mar 2012

(U) 100min Writer/director Alice Rohrwacher makes her feature debut with this diligent, emotionally complex study of an adolescent girl attempting to square physical dislocation with incipient sexual awakening and the concurrent rituals of her…

Babycall

Noomi Rapace stars in creepy thriller that loses focus

23 Mar 2012

(15) 96min Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, whose fearless performance as Lisbeth Salander was the best thing about the original Millenium trilogy, gets a chance to stretch her acting muscles again in this creepy thriller. Rapace plays Anna, a young…