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…

James Orr Complex - Com Favo

11 Dec 2008

BRAZILIAN MATH-FOLK BLUES Having relocated to São Paulo, Christopher Mack’s follow up to Chori’s Bundle doesn’t immediately suggest any discernable favella-sourced inspiration. Indeed, there is nothing immediate about what might be mistaken for…

Singles & Downloads

27 Nov 2008

What’s that Lassie? Name+Relucto are trapped down the well? ‘Spawnofspoon EP’ (Hum+Haw) ••• is a plinky-plonky kind of techno that is thankfully less like being punched hard in the face over and over, and more like the voices in your head have taken to…

Subculture

13 Nov 2008

PREVIEW TECHNO & HOUSE Studio 24, Edinburgh, Fri 14 Nov. This fortnight Subculture comes to Edinburgh after Studio 24’s manager, Gill McArthur, witnessed their programming of T in the Park’s Bacardi B-Bar by chance and felt she could make the night…

Armand Van Helden – New York: A Mix Odyssey Two

30 Oct 2008

Vanity project or something of merit from a DJ who, having found chart success, is taking a considered look at his inspirational roots? The packaging captures the African-influenced look of the late 80s we’re revisiting here while the mix itself serves…

Al Green

16 Oct 2008

It’s a sad fact that however unstoppable an ageing artist was at the top of their game, few can hope to make music that really matters in their golden years, save for reminding everyone they’re still alive. Al Green comes to Glasgow this fortnight and…

Sly & Robbie with Amp Fiddler - Inspiration Information 1

16 Oct 2008

SOUL Purveyors of fine music compilations, Strut have branched out into fresh studio recordings by pairing up acclaimed artists for exclusive five-day sessions. In this first instalment former Funkadelician and contemporary smooth soul rambler Amp…

Found Magazine

2 Oct 2008

We’re a curious bunch us humans. We seem compelled to concern ourselves with the business of others, be it people-watching in bars or gazing into strangers’ front rooms. Now, there is a quiet phenomenon coming to our shores from America, offering a…

Found Magazine - Tales from the unexpected

2 Oct 2008

What’s the best thing you’ve found? There’s a note I found in our hometown, I think I just found it next to my bike one day. It’s a pretty handsome looking flyer, and it says, ‘Please Lock This Door. It will prevent unauthorised people from entering…

The Foundation

2 Oct 2008

HIP HOP Random Aspekts are Scotland’s pre-eminent breakdance outfit having in seven short years forged a path from keen enthusiasts to career dancers, learning a thing or two about what their art owes to its aural inspiration along the way. So after…

Mungo's Hifi - Sound System Champions

2 Oct 2008

REGGAE ETC Sound system culture is surprisingly at home in a dreich Scotland and one has come of age here throughout the course of the last decade. Here Mungo’s self-congratulatory debut long-player champions the collective as no less proactive in…

Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation

2 Oct 2008

WORLD LOUNGE Leaders of the horizontal protest Thievery Corporation remain resolutely political in their approach and there is really no mistaking who programmed this set of sophisticate dub lounge. The breadth of styles treated to their signature…

Rodge Glass

Analysing icons of football and fiction

14 Aug 2008

‘Faith is something that preoccupies me, definitely, but it is usually the lack of it,’ says Rodge Glass, the Glasgow-based Jewish author of No Fireworks and Hope for Newborns who passed through a staggering range of variously religious, private and…

Various - RECON-naissance: The Live Sessions Vol 1

31 Jul 2008

LIVENESS (RECON-naissance) There’s an accomplished and impressive spread of talent on this lush live showcase from the Glasgow club night of the same name, from the sultry Gallic lounge of Irregular Slinky and the jazz-funk of Das Contras to ‘wegian…

Departure Lounge

17 Jul 2008

If one Edinburgh club has championed an intelligent party mix while pushing the envelope, recognising both the importance of live music within the club environment and how the right DJ can create an event – not to mention the impact of distinctive…

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…

Profile - Marco Bailey & Percy X

19 Jun 2008

Names Marco Bailey & Percy X Who that? Bailey is Belgium’s premier techno DJ/producer and CEO of record label MB Selektions. Percy X is Glasgow’s own Soma stalwart, also a DJ/producer, again fronting his own label edit-select. What’s the story?

Profile - Marco Bailey and Percy X

19 Jun 2008

Names Marco Bailey & Percy X Who that? Bailey is Belgium’s premier techno DJ/producer and CEO of record label MB Selektions. Percy X is Glasgow’s own Soma stalwart, also a DJ/producer, again fronting his own label edit-select. What’s the story?

5 Reasons To Go See - Reggae

19 Jun 2008

It’s hot - Nothing says summer like sweet reggae music. That enviable Caribbean climate seems to emanate from the speakers, giving all a feel-good, lazy day, sunshine quality. It’s just the weather, right? It’s heady - While great for kicking back and…

Damon Galgut - The Imposter

19 Jun 2008

LITERARY TALE (Atlantic) Damon Galgut is in possession of an astute grasp of human nature and a poetically brusque prose that affords him bleak leanings, coaxing the reader on, almost against their will. There is an underlying malice and tangible…

Y'all is Fantasy Island - Rescue Weekend

5 Jun 2008

ALT.FOLK (Wise Blood Industries) On stage this Falkirk four-piece may remain capricious in tone and temperament but by first impressions this follow-up to the stark In Faceless Towns Forever could easily be dismissed as more of the same. The…

Rodge Glass - Hope For Newborns

22 May 2008

SOCIAL DRAMA (Faber) After the success of debut No Fireworks, Rodge Glass returns to themes of lapsing Judaism, focusing on what it means to be British in an age where homeland pride is a misty-eyed memory, and an anomaly to third generation…

Jae P - Unsigned & Hungry Vol. 1

22 May 2008

HIP HOP (Souljawn) Perhaps it’s the clamour to be heard or a yearning to be taken seriously, a hangover from the UK’s self-conscious beginnings, but British rappers frequently sound exasperated, predisposed to moan. Ghanian-born, London bred Glasgow…

Triptych - Jamie Lidell

10 Apr 2008

Jamie Lidell ‘I was awakened by Matthew Herbert really, in a magic kind of moment.’ Just how much credit Herbert can take is open to debate, but only a quirk of fate could have led to the doggedly leftfield technocrat Jamie Lidell’s staggering…

Mary Ann Winkowski - When Ghosts Speak

10 Apr 2008

SPIRITUAL MEMOIR (Hodder Mobius) Mary Ann Winkowski has spent the last 50 years assisting earthbound spirits in their passing into The Light, and has more recently acted as a paranormal consultant for popular TV show Ghost Whisperer. In this book she…

Various - Channel U: Vol 2

27 Mar 2008

GRIME (Gut) The newest, street-level incarnation of London’s underground R&B fixation is widely acknowledged as bassline. Thus the plucky pups at Gut are either lagging behind the pack or mopping up the last smears of grime on this compilation of…