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Nicola Meighan

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Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

The starlet's debut album outshines the blogocentric hype

(4 stars)8 Feb 2012

(Polydor) Amid the conspiracy theories, the double-standards, the cosmetic surgery obsessions, the questions of authenticity (or lack thereof – like pop was ever without a scheme); amid the histrionic revelations (how dare she have tried before!…

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Django Django, The Twilight Sad and more also reviewed

3 Feb 2012

Come hither and let us imagine a world, a perfect world – a realm in which Kim Wilde is engaged in a goth-disco tryst with The Sisters of Mercy. Think about it. Harder. Got it? Congratulations, you are now playing ‘Lafaye’ (●●●●, Full Time Hobby), the…

Palace - Domino reissue several albums from Will Oldham project

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

(5 stars)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…

School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

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

(3 stars)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…

Happy Particles - Under Sleeping Waves

Happy Particles - Under Sleeping Waves

Ambient vistas to rival Sigur Ros from Remember Remember-affiliated musicians

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Self-release) This lovely debut from Glasgow slow-core melodists Happy Particles may be sneaking out as a self-release on December 25, but don’t be misled by their low-key approach: the ambient vistas conjured therein could rival those of Sigur…

Peaking Lights - 936

Peaking Lights - 936

Psychedelic dub-pop mesh of krautrock, afrobeat, soul and hand build synths

(3 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Weird World/Domino) This psychedelic dub-pop excursion from married couple Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis was originally released on LA DIY imprint Not Not Fun, and its woozy mesh of krautrock, afrobeat, reggae, soul and hand build synths is…

Standard Fare - Out of Sight, Out of Town

Standard Fare - Out of Sight, Out of Town

Raucous and thrilling indie ride from loveable power-pop trio

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Melodic) Sheffield’s Standard Fare are putting their childhood rehearsal sessions in their grandparent’s living rooms to fruitful use in adulthood. They have become a loveable power-pop trio whose second album, Out of Sight, Out of Town, is a…

Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore brings his fourth solo album to Glasgow

Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore brings his fourth solo album to Glasgow

We look back on the career of the legendary DIY music icon

15 Nov 2011

Once upon a time in Stirling, a counter-cultural icon walked among the people and played his guitar and snapped up their Scottish country dance records. The year was 2005, when Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore came to the central belt to perform at…

Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz Anstruther Town Hall, Anstruther, Sat 5 Nov

Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz Anstruther Town Hall, Anstruther, Sat 5 Nov

The Shivers, Withered Hand and Serafina Steer join Bonfire Night party

(5 stars)15 Nov 2011

There were no fireworks at Fence’s Flamin’ Hott Loggz pop ‘n’ Guy Fawkes hoopla. There was no need for pyrotechnics when there were songs that soared like gold dust – King Creosote’s rare variation of Dexy’s ‘Come on Eileen’ around a bonfire; Serafina…

Stephen King - 11.22.63

Stephen King - 11.22.63

The horror writer's time-travelling thriller fails to take full advantage of its premise

(3 stars)15 Nov 2011

(Hodder & Stoughton) There is no doubting Stephen King’s abiding knack for a gripping yarn, but the American author’s latest novel could be doing with a few more thrills. That’s not to say that the plot is lacklustre or lacking in scale, taking a…

Bill Wells - Lemondale

Bill Wells - Lemondale

One of Wells’ most ambitious and enchanting records to date

(4 stars)15 Nov 2011

(Double Six) You wonder if Bill Wells ever sleeps. The Glasgow indie / avant-jazz catalyst has already made one of the albums of this year in Everything’s Getting Older, his exquisite union with Aidan Moffat – not to mention his forthcoming National…

Experimental folk of Richard Youngs set for Edinburgh date

Experimental folk of Richard Youngs set for Edinburgh date

Prolific collaborator behind myriad works of understated wonder

9 Nov 2011

Next time you’re in a Glasgow library, look out. Is the man who is stamping your books singing quietly? Does he have the air of an underground pop star; the aura of a man with a penchant for rustic minimalism and improvised folk? Then you may be in the…

King’s Daughters & Sons - If Then Not When

King’s Daughters & Sons - If Then Not When

Glorious pastoral folk-rock debut from alt-rock super-group on Chemikal Underground

(4 stars)9 Nov 2011

(Chemikal Underground) Not many alt-rock super-groups would simultaneously align themselves with William Faulkner and Led Zeppelin, but then Louisville, Kentucky’s King’s Daughters & Sons are no ordinary band. Formed by members of post-rock…

Active Child - You Are All I See

Active Child - You Are All I See

A lovely and welcoming debut of choral shimmers and electro pulses

(3 stars)20 Oct 2011

(Vagrant) Linda Ronstadt; Jon and Vangelis; the Chariots of Fire soundtrack – all this and we’re less than a minute in to Active Child’s debut album (and title track) ‘You Are All I See’. The electro-dreamy conduit of bygone choirboy Patrick…

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

Blurring synthesisers and disembodied vocals into cohesive, if disorientating, whole

19 Oct 2011

(Software/Mexican Summer) Oneohtrix Point Never, aka US composer Daniel Lopatin, became a torchbearer for the hypnagogic pop movement thanks to his audio-visual 80s synth reverie (particularly the ‘Nobody Here’ YouTube clip, which rewired Chris de…

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, Wed 7 Sep

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, Wed 7 Sep

The recent Mercury award nominees hit all the right notes

(4 stars)19 Sep 2011

Gig of the year if they win, they said. Not a dry eye in the house if they win, they said. Well, guess what. They didn’t win. You think that made their Glasgow performance any less enthralling? Two chords in – two of Hopkins’ hymnal, heart-stopping…

Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells and Malcolm Middleton are pick of September singles

Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells and Malcolm Middleton are pick of September singles

Jens Lekman, Josh T Pearson and Django Django also among highlights

16 Sep 2011

The humble lyric is oft-overlooked in the quick-fix rush of the singles market. Come hither, then, as we salute the month’s most loquacious quality popsters. No such discourse would be complete without a nod to Swedish indie-bard Jens Lekman, whose…

Remember Remember - The Quickening

Remember Remember - The Quickening

A shimmering and optimistic tour de force from Scottish composer and pop genius

(4 stars)14 Sep 2011

(Rock Action) Once upon a time there was a super electro-prog combo called Multiplies. They came from Glasgow, made like rock miscreants and then they were gone, leaving memories of marvellous live shows and the sense they were always too good to be…

Muscles of Joy - Muscles of Joy

Muscles of Joy - Muscles of Joy

Remarkable debut fuses styles with melodic instinct, sensitivity, and coherence

(4 stars)14 Sep 2011

(Watts of Goodwill) For the past three years, Glasgow’s Muscles of Joy have honed a singular body of work that spans myriad divergent forms – from post-punk to Bulgarian a cappella; from Gaelic psalm singing to New Pop. The vocal-led, all-female…

Retreat IV - Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh, Sat 27 & Sun 28 Aug 2011

Retreat IV - Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh, Sat 27 & Sun 28 Aug 2011

Glorious fourth appearance from the indie DIY pop fest

(4 stars)1 Sep 2011

All Sunday afternoons should be like the one at this year’s Retreat DIY pop festival: tea in our hands, bacon rolls in our bellies, and eagleowl gently blowing our minds. That was before a toddler joined them onstage and stole our hearts; before the…

Alexander Masters - The Genius in My Basement

Alexander Masters - The Genius in My Basement

Affectionate, dynamic tale of mathematician child genius

(4 stars)24 Aug 2011

(Fourth Estate) Our bookshelves have groaned with populist tomes on maths over the past few years – from the excellent likes of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Music of the Primes to myriad facsimiles – but it is well worth making room for The Genius…

Slow Club - Paradise

Slow Club - Paradise

Celestial landscape of indie doo-wop, camp-fire folk and glimmering soul

(4 stars)24 Aug 2011

(Moshi Moshi) If there is a more enjoyable example this year of buoyant tap dancing than on the video for ‘Two Cousins’, then I will eat my hand-made Slow Club hat. The video’s startling choreography and the song’s nostalgic, glorious swoon-pop are…

The Waterboys - An Audience With Mr Yeats

The Waterboys - An Appointment With Mr Yeats

Scott’s music and Yeats’ words make for work of social resonance and artistic wonder

(4 stars)24 Aug 2011

(Proper) There is such a vivid sense of chemistry between Waterboys frontman Mike Scott and literary icon WB Yeats it is hard to believe that the twain never met. This would have been some feat, of course, what with the legendary Irish poet having…

Jay Foreman: We're Living in the Future

Jay Foreman: We're Living in the Future

Exploration of pop-culture future-shock via acoustic ditty

(3 stars)23 Aug 2011

London stand-up bard Foreman uses the medium of acoustic ditty to explore pop-culture future-shock and his prevailing quarter-life crisis. His observations on technological progress and modern times are agreeable, but he’s better when contrasting his…

James Yorkston

James Yorkston

A droll and heartfelt memoir from the Fife bard

19 Aug 2011

Earlier this year, James Yorkston seduced a full-house in Glasgow, clad with a well-thumbed touring diary. It was not the first time, and it won’t be the last. While the Fife-based singer-songwriter and commended Fence Collective affiliate has long…

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