Chris Cope

Also released round-up: Gold Panda, Mount Kimbie and CocoRosie reviewed

Releases from Attic Lights, Scott Walker, Woodenbox, Gastric Band and Three Blind Wolves also rated

Gold Panda - Half Of Where You Live (NOTOWN/Ghostly International) ●●●● The Berlin-based Essex boy returns with the follow-up to 2010 critical smash Lucky Shiner. Still well in touch with his muse, he punches all the right buttons of distressed…

Dream Theater - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Fri 3 Feb 2012

American prog-metallers overcome venue with hooks and virtuosity

First things first: seated venues aren’t really best friends with metal music, are they. Tonight’s gig is at the Clyde Auditorium, complete with lukewarm pastel furnishings and besuited ushers, torch in hand. It’s more aligned with Britain’s Got Talent…

Every Time I Die - Ex Lives

Intense and hugely rewarding album of post-hardcore brilliance

(Epitaph) Every Time I Die just... don’t make bad records. Their last effort – the gregarious New Junk Aesthetic – was a blitzkrieg bombast of post-hardcore brilliance, and Ex Lives marks the next step in their evolutionary cycle. Opener ‘Underwater…

Every Time I Die - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 7 Dec 2011

Relentless stream of three-minute blitzkrieg salvos

King Tut’s is sold out tonight, and rightly so. US noiseniks Every Time I Die are one of the most engaging bands in the broad church of metal, preaching their inimitable brand of plunging rock ‘n’ roll since way back then in 1998. Trash Talk do a good…

The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Garage, Glasgow, Fri 5 Aug 2011

The Dillinger Escape Plan deserve every single penny they make out of tonight’s gig. Their onstage energy is so unrelenting that you ponder if they’ll collapse post-show and perish in a putrid pile of sweat. For the uninitiated, the band’s music will…

Penguin Prison - Penguin Prison

Crisp, revitalising debut album that is both retro and relevant

(Stranger) Penguin Prison have just gone and nailed that curious talent of producing music rooted in retro sound, whilst also making it utterly relevant. This self-titled debut album features swathes of synth flooded in 80s sheen, but there’s enough…

Death Cab for Cutie - Codes and Keys

Where usually notoriously dour, there’s traces of sunshine here

(Atlantic) There’s a tangible buzz for Codes and Keys, Death Cab for Cutie’s 7th studio album. It seems the cult US indie-ites are teetering on the edge of true mainstream triumph, and having hit No. 1 in their homeland in 2008, the time is nigh for…

Twin Atlantic - Free

Glasgow's indie-punk-rock upstarts continue their ascent with accomplished second album

(Red Bull) With Biffy Clyro now zapped up into mainstream consciousness in a sort of twisted alien abduction, there’s a vacuous hole now open for Scotland’s next alt-rock band to stake their claim in. Twin Atlantic however have been ploughing their…

Glasvegas: EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\

Below par return from the Glasgow miserabilists

(Columbia) Funny that Glasvegas used ‘Euphoric’ in the title of their sophomore album. This is euphoria’s most definite of antonyms, but did anyone expect otherwise? Euphoric///Heartbreak\\\ is a Glaswegian dirge, muddled in lucid synth and languid…

Kassidy - Hope St.

Deep production and sublime hooks perfect for the radio, TV and elsewhere

(Vertigo Records) Kassidy are an intriguing one, so they are. The blues-folk band are one of Scotland’s brightest prospects – spring-loaded by major label, ready to be launched – but their sound is a world away from their hometown Glasgow. The title…

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age

Reissued 1998 self-titled debut album is doused in swagger

(Rekords Rekords) Josh Homme is the king of cool. He has the rockstar wife (Brody Dalle, formerly of The Distillers), he makes smoking less fatality and more finesse, and, of course, he is the ginger Elvis. This reissue of Queens of the Stone Age’s…

DevilDriver - Beast

Enough gratifying moments here to see past the raw gristle of ‘rusty chainsaw’ music

(Roadrunner Records) DevilDriver are, for lack of a better phrase, purveyors of what could be called ‘rusty chainsaw’ music. It grinds and grunts at frenzied pace, and when it’s on a bit of downtime, it’s still pretty lethal. Beast may be a cringing…

Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip

(Club AC30) Place ‘death’ in your band name and you’ll always risk blood-stained metal connotations, but marry it with a dainty ‘ringo’ and you’ve immediately eschewed any notion of grinding guitars and guts. Ringo Deathstarr’s debut album Colour…

Emma’s Imagination - Stand Still

Dumfries singer and winner of Must Be The Music sets course for pop success

(Polydor) Emma Gillespie has been on a journey fit for any Hollywood narrative, from busking on the Glasgow streets to TV talent show victory (she won Sky’s Must Be The Music) and subsequent major label deal. Her debut album, under the guise of…

The Damned Things - Ironiclast

Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman meet members of Anthrax

(Mercury) Trapped in an emo-pop band that’s overrun with boyband looks and chirping teenage fans? Want something different? Why not join a metal band! That’s exactly what Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman have done. One thing – The Damned…

Exposure: Randolph's Leap

New Glasgow band are a melting pot of folk, indie, pop and traditional

With six members and six mouths, it’s a surprise that the arrival of Randolph’s Leap on the cultural horizon hasn’t been shouted about already. A melting pot of folk, indie, pop and traditional tunes, a rollcall of the Glasgow band and their respective…

Ray Davies - See My Friends

(Universal) Ray Davies must throw some pretty good parties, judging by the pretty esteemed list of friends he’s recruited to help out here. The latest endeavour from The Kinks mainman goes collaborative, revisiting his back catalogue with friends…

n_ilk is an eclectic mix of art and music at Dundee's Botanical Gardens

RM Hubbert, Inspector Tapehead, Esperi and Amber Wilson

n_ilk is one of the more outlandish event names you will come across this year but its ethos and message is one of the easiest to grab. It’s codeword for ‘nae ilk’, purporting a sense of uniqueness which runs against the grain, and the self-proclaimed…

Blink 182

SECC, Glasgow, Tue 17 Aug 2010

Tonight is the biggest family reunion Glasgow – nay, Scotland – has seen in years. The SECC is a jamboree of pop-punk fans, new and old, slanted baseball caps and alternative footwear as Blink-182 return from a five year ‘indefinite hiatus’, the crowd…

Kasper Rosa - EP2

(Field Records) A cocktail of post-rock and prog rock is a deadly combination – not just for the ears, but for the mind too. Instrumental interludes conjoining with off-time deviances is tough stuff – but Kasper Rosa have got it right. ‘EP2’ opens…

Coheed and Cambria

ABC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Jun

The bigger, the better they say. Coheed and Cambria embody this saying well. Tonight they’ve got rollercoaster riffs that loop and lurch, a expansive and dreamlike video display in the background, and yes, they’ve got the massive hair too. Frontman…

Silver Columns and Casiokids in Madonna tribute - JD set 2010

What happens when you put a bunch of labelmates together in one room and throw in some whisky for good measure? Madonna covers, apparently. The JD Set 2010 comes to Glasgow this year with a smorgasbord of artistry from the Moshi Moshi label, including…

Stag & Dagger Day Festival

Stag & Dagger is Glasgow’s other one-ticket, multi-venue festival, and it lands on what must be the hottest day of the year so far. Its rival Hinterland only took place in April, but this is a decidedly more underground effort, lacking the big names and…

We Are Scientists - Barbara

(Masterswan) Scientists are often not the most exciting of people, and on this showing, We Are Scientists live up to their name. When not playing music however, they’re hugely entertaining and endearing, but ‘Barbara’ fails to find their much…

Exposure: Esperi

Dundee is famous for three things, they say; Jute, jam and journalism. But is it about to get a fourth? Juxtaposing acoustic guitar and a whole host of odd instruments and percussion, Esperi mainman Chris Lee-Marr seems to be making all the right waves.