Mark Edmundson

Rob Scott - 15 Miles

24 Aug 2010

(Gollancz) In this highly-strung debut, Virginian author Rob Scott takes the customary jaded-cop-with-a-drink-problem, and cranks him up a few notches. Samuel ‘Sailor’ Doyle has a supplementary mistress and dependency on powerful prescription drugs…

The Love of a Clown

Clever combination of sentimental storytelling and traditional clown

23 Aug 2010

A clever combination of sentimental storytelling and traditional clown performance makes this show, overall, a very pleasant experience. The love struck star of the show is Jacques Raouso, am ageing clown who is reaching the end of his career on the…

Louise Stern - Chattering: Stories

19 May 2010

(Granta) Those of us in the hearing world ponder rarely on the everyday lives of our neighbours in the deaf community, where an ease in communication that we take for granted has a profound, stunting effect in its absence on the social lives of the…

Blake Morrison - The Last Weekend

28 Apr 2010

(Chatto & Windus) Blake Morrison is not one to shy away from the dark places, the unspoken or acutely personal, as his study of the James Bulger trial or bestselling confessional And When Did You Last See Your Father? will testify. In this, his third…

Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence

2 Oct 2009

A band’s submission in the ‘Sounds Like’ column of their myspace page is often telling, and in the case of Kings of Convenience their self-effacing ‘music your parents like too’ hints at the quiet Norwegian duo’s fond acceptance of where two albums of…

The Law - A Measure of Wealth

2 Oct 2009

Galling as it must be, comparisons with fellow Dundonian upstarts The View are hard to resist when taking on The Law. Both are undeniably cut from the same cloth as youthful champions of raucous, anthemic, singalong indie-rock with celebrated live…

The house that Jaxx built - Basement Jaxx interview

10 Sep 2009

From the home front, Basement Jaxx have been uncharacteristically quiet for the last three years. They’ve kept out of view, retiring into studious production mode and, while they say they never went away, they can’t deny they have, at least, been…

Sarah Bennetto

Rarely sparks hilarity

24 Aug 2009

An early show and intimate venue work against confessional tales that cry out for a little hubbub to soak up the fluctuations in pitch and smooth over some of the timing. Aussie Bennetto's golden ticket endeavours thus often ring true but rarely spark…

Daniel Rigby

Frenzied and wilfully bizarre one-man character sketch show

24 Aug 2009

Despite the musical pieces proving fresh and genuinely funny, there is something classically British about Rigby's frenzied and wilfully bizarre character sketch show. The forceful pace brings a certain shambolic charm to proceedings; indeed we could…

Fredrik Lloyd

Blessed with neither presence nor charisma

24 Aug 2009

You can see what Lloyd was aiming for with this unlikely account of bionic boy turned super featherweight cage fighter. He's meant to represent, rather than actually embody, a deluded waif holding court with tall tales and a YouTube fixation, but the…

Sammy J: 1999

Swapping puppets for pubescence

20 Aug 2009

Melbourne’s smutty answer to Andrew Lloyd Webber returns with a tongue-in-cheek one-man musical set in the run-up to the millennium. With explicit references to the Y2K bug, Tamagotchis and Toy Story 2, he’s swapped puppeteer partner Heath McIvor (with…

Sam Simmons

Lacking in spontaneity but his methods are inventive

19 Aug 2009

For his Fringe debut, the Australian puts his all into a song-and-goof show about the things you find down the back of the sofa. His absurdist observations may be lacking in spontaneity but his methods are inventive and being from the ‘if in doubt…

Rosie Wilby

Wry and naughty

18 Aug 2009

Like a cool, knowing family friend or easy-on-the-eye Claire Rayner, the affable Wilby leads this homely class in love, sex and relationships. Wry and naughty, Wilby’s wont is rapport over bluster, as she kindly takes the audience into her bosom…

Ava Vidal

A refreshingly laidback, conversational style

18 Aug 2009

Having made brief forays onto the goggle box, it is a surprise to find Vidal tucked away in front of a modest audience. Race and gender material delivered in a refreshingly laidback, conversational style makes for a cosy but hardly memorable set and…

Charlie Chuck

A rare audience with original comedy nutjob

16 Aug 2009

Did anyone else bury deep the memory of Charlie Chuck’s shambolic, barking contributions to the careers of Reeves and Mortimer? As the familiar hangdog horror drifts stage-wards, one is struck by the realisation that you’re all paying to spend an hour…

Horace Andy

9 Jul 2009

After giving us The Congo’s first ever Scottish show, the Summer Reggae Sunsplash season turns up a more familiar talent in the distinctive vibrato of Horace ‘Sleepy’ Andy. Hardly warranting introduction, Andy’s career as first guitarist, then singer…

The Congos

11 Jun 2009

REGGAE As mournful tenor trembles above falsetto and baritone amid a bubbling cacophony of bass and effect, the statuesque and trance-inducing ‘Fisherman’ ushers in a cult reggae masterpiece. It is tempting if unfair to say that The Congos have…

De La Soul

28 May 2009

De La Soul got stung. For much of the two decades since the release of seminal hip hopera 3 Feet High And Rising, Plugs One, Two and Three have been at pains to put a significant margin between themselves and the care-free, cartoon mishmash of crunchy…

Amadou & Miriam

19 Feb 2009

When asked to define Jazz, Duke Ellington declared that there were only two kinds of music: good music and bad. Nevertheless, pigeonholes have proved a necessary evil in the pursuit and commoditisation of music, and rarely have the categories been as…

Novalima - Coba Coba

5 Feb 2009

WORLD FUSION This third release for the Lima-London collective Novalima furthers the adventures in Latin form, Afro-Peruvian percussion and electronic tweaks that spawned 2005’s award-winning Afro. Coba Coba, however, bears all the hallmarks of a…

The View - Witch Bitch?

22 Jan 2009

INDIE ROCK Packing indie festival anthems, bar room garage, cheeky backstage ditties, stadium rock and orchestral grandiosity The View’s follow-up to 2007’s Hats off to the Buskers has it all – all besides a coherent identity that is. As an album…

Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Darkest Light: The Best Of . . . Remastered Edition

22 Jan 2009

JAZZ FUNK There’s nothing overtly African or rocky about Lafayette Afro Rock Band, an American funk outfit who relocated to Paris in the 1970s and acted as session band for Pierre ‘Berjot’ Jaubert, a one-time Motown artistic director. Their cult…

Welcome Wagon - Welcome to the Welcome Wagon

8 Jan 2009

SACRED INDIE FOLK Taking a break from the absurdly ambitious ‘Fifty States Project’ Sufjan Stevens acts as producer, A&R and spokesperson for this collection of gentle-to-symphonic gospel-folk ditties. The trademark sound and song structure of…

The Skatalites

11 Dec 2008

SKA Well, you could hardly propose a less festive gig, but ska pioneers The Skatalites make their triumphant return to Scottish shores this month for another round of spot-the-founding-member. There ought to be three, namely Lloyd Knibb, whose…

Findlay Napier and The Bar Room Mountaineers - Out All Night

11 Dec 2008

SCOTTISH AMERICANA This debut from the Back of the Moon, Croft No. Five and Celtic Connections stalwarts is a peculiarly natural Scottish Americana that weaves traditional Scots instrumentation with an altogether wider influence, exemplified by the…