Nicola Meighan

Summer Festivals 2012: Music

T in the Park, Wickerman and Belladrum among the music fests pleasing your ears this summer

25 May 2012

T in the Park Basics: Balado by Kinross, Fri 6–Sun 8 Jul, tinthepark.com Price: Weekend: £179 (campsite tickets available separately). Day: £70–£77.50. Line-up: The Stone Roses, Snow Patrol, Kasabian, New Order, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds…

Summer Festivals 2012: Nile Rodgers - interview

The disco legend talks to us ahead of his set at RockNess with Chic

25 May 2012

Disco and pop icon Nile Rodgers is recalling the first time his band Chic played Atlantic Records their biggest hit. ‘We emptied the boardroom,’ he says of multi-million selling 70s wig-out, ‘Le Freak’. ‘We started it – “One, two, awwww Freak Out!” And…

Summer Festivals 2012: Ones to watch

A selection of industry experts and List writers choose their musical highlights for this summer

25 May 2012

Lanterns on the Lake Chosen by Jonny Ensall, Editor, The List What does that name bring to mind? Boats on the water? A night to remember? An ethereal choir of knitting together a sense of the magical past and the optimistic future? You’re spot on with…

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

A wise yet not world-weary record from the soul legend

22 May 2012

‘As a singer grows older, his conception goes a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he’s trying to say a little more...’ So said Sam Cooke back in the day, and so opens electro-soul hymn ‘Dayglo Reflection’, the fourth track…

Mary Epworth - Dream Life

A lavish and eclectic debut album from the folk-rock singer

22 May 2012

Where shall we begin? With the banjo twang, Black Sabbath fuzz and Goldfrapping blues-stomp of ‘Black Doe’? With the brass-toting folk-rock euphoria of ‘Long Gone’? With the swirling psych-pop of ‘Come Back to the Bough’? Or perhaps we should start…

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Eye o’ the Dug - St Andrews, Sat 14 & Sun 15 Apr 2012

Fantastic bill featuring Django Django, Malcolm Middleton and more

27 Apr 2012

They may have quadrupled the size of their show, and conscripted beefcakes to man the doors, but the spirit of Fence chiefly prevailed at the inaugural Eye O’ The Dug – a musical hoopla which (kind of) filled a Homegame-shaped hole in the calendar (and…

Holy Mountain - Earth Measures

A cacophonous, riff-driven release imbued with savage axe-mastery and vintage spirit

26 Apr 2012

What we are basically dealing with here is a delirious, hirsute rawk mob – a cacophonous, riff-driven Glasgow trio who’re as heavy as Led and thrice as cool. Notorious for combustible live shows (they once blared out the back of a van, with a cigarette…

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

A timeless album from the Americana heartbreakers

23 Apr 2012

Bonnie Prince Billy is not the only alt-country bard to have dibs on Glen Lyon. Americana heartbreakers Star Wheel Press are based in Aberfeldy (BPB’s erstwhile stomping ground), and have quietly amassed a dedicated following since their lovely debut…

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Celestial drones, mesmeric synths, ambient noise and unearthly vocals

18 Apr 2012

(Night School) Perhaps you read that album title and started hollering the Bee Gees song or god forbid, Steps. Thank the stars, then, for LA composer and minimalist pop diviner Julia Holter, who will banish your garish disco horrors with celestial…

Hanna Tuulikki talks about Two Wings

The group is a collaboration between the singer and co-songwriter Ben Renolds

28 Mar 2012

Hanna Tuulikki is musing on deficiencies in the human form. ‘I’d much rather have a syrinx [bird’s vocal organ] and wings than a larynx and arms,’ reflects the singer-songwriter, visual artist and multi-instrumentalist. ‘Birds are masters of the two…

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Django Django, Kate Bush and Lightships also reviewed

28 Mar 2012

TS Eliot got it wrong. April is not the cruellest month. Not where our ear canals are concerned, anyway. April is killing us with its pop kindness. Take ‘Storm’ (●●●●, Because), a sojourn into sun-dappled collage-rock, courtesy of vintage exoticists…

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…

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…

Profile: Cass McCombs

Californian alt-country nomad set for UK tour

28 Feb 2012

Name McCombs. Cass McCombs. Or ‘Combs’, as his close friends call him (we like to think). He’s that Californian alt-country nomad, right? Correct. The harmonious, folk-rocking ‘Combs’ has spent most of his adulthood travelling America, writing…

John O'Farrell - The Man Who Forgot His Wife

Mildly diverting rom-com novel from the Spitting Image writer

28 Feb 2012

(Doubleday) What would we make of our partners if our memories were wiped and we spied them anew? This question loiters, doe-eyed, at the heart of John O’Farrell’s retrograde amnesia rom-com, The Man Who Forgot His Wife. It’s a light-hearted…

Randolph’s Leap - The Curse of the Haunted Headphones

Homespun showcase from stripped-back Glasgow indie-folk rabble

28 Feb 2012

(Peenko Records) Do not be misled by this bedroom recording, or its cassette-hissing, lo-fi aesthetic. While Glasgow indie-folk rabble Randolph’s Leap are known and loved for their elaborate arrangements and philharmonic live shows, this homespun…

La Sera - Sees the Light

A zippier, sharper surf-pop punch on second album from Vivian Girls’ bassist

22 Feb 2012

(Hardly Art) This second album from La Sera, alias Vivian Girls’ bassist and harmonist ‘Kickball’ Katy Goodman, pulls a zippier, sharper surf-pop punch than its dreamy, self-titled predecessor, but it still has heartache, stirring guitars and…

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

The starlet's debut album outshines the blogocentric hype

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

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

There is No-one What Will Take Care Of You/ Days In The Wake/ Hope/ Viva Last Blues/ Lost Blues And

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raucous and thrilling indie ride from loveable power-pop trio

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of Wells’ most ambitious and enchanting records to date

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

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

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

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

A lovely and welcoming debut of choral shimmers and electro pulses

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

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

The recent Mercury award nominees hit all the right notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Glorious fourth appearance from the indie DIY pop fest

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

Affectionate, dynamic tale of mathematician child genius

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

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

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 Appointment With Mr Yeats

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

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

Exploration of pop-culture future-shock via acoustic ditty

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

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…

Jigsaw

Accomplished but light sketching

19 Aug 2011

There’s no doubting the talent on offer in Jigsaw. The rapid-fire sketch trio comprises stand-ups Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema and thus boasts a triple Perrier nominee, a Times Top Five 2010 winner and a Chortle best nominee…

Andrew Lawrence - The Best Kept Secret in Comedy Tour

Mirthful and delicious kamikaze comedy

18 Aug 2011

Coming on like a poetic auctioneer or a wayward racing commentator, Andrew Lawrence variously channels the guises of his grandmother, a fitness buff, a middle-aged man, a whining Scottish wean and a long-lost Trinidadian relation. All the while he…

Julie Myerson

The author's apocalyptic novel 'Then' delves into the heart of darkness

17 Aug 2011

‘Oh dear, I’m sorry!’ says Julie Myerson. She’s apologising for giving me nightmares with her latest novel, Then. ‘Well, I’m only half-sorry as I suppose I do want to have that effect.’ The London-based writer has never shirked from disconcerting…

Warpaint set for UK tour

Rock depths and pop heights are reached by the LA foursome

16 Aug 2011

Warpaint’s dream-warped modus operandi goes something like this: they lure you into an indie-rock reverie, nag at your heart-strings with gauzy nostalgia, interweave magic with silvery guitars – and then they haul your ass onto the dancefloor. Take…

Adam Stafford - Build a Harbour Immediately

Debut soloalbum from Y’All Is Fantasy Island frontman

16 Aug 2011

(Wise Blood Industries) Falkirk’s Adam Stafford is a youthful cult-pop polymath whose various endeavours embrace music (he fronted Y’All Is Fantasy Island and helms DIY imprint Wise Blood Industries), video directing (The Twilight Sad’s ‘Seven Years…

Seann Walsh: Ying and Young

A casual yet potent force

16 Aug 2011

Observational livewire Walsh is a casual yet potent force for laughs when he riffs on the generic habits and quirks that characterise our day-to-day - from experiencing déjà vu to losing the remote control - and his idea for a late-night pissed-up TV…

Biscuit and Brawn

Strong chemistry but weak laughs from the comedy duo

15 Aug 2011

Comedy duo Adele Cliff and Kate Cherrell have been performing respectively as Biscuit and Brawn for over two years and this works in their favour: the young duo’s chemistry goes some way to redeeming a mixed bag of sketches and monologues which work…

Joanna Neary: Youth Club

A period piece with confusing threads

14 Aug 2011

Have we finally wrung out the vestiges of 80s nostalgia? Joanna Neary’s latest show, Youth Club, suggests that this may be the case. Neary is a likeable comic actress, a former Perrier Best Newcomer nominee, and a familiar TV face to viewers of Armando…

Keith Farnan: Money, Money, Money

Well-informed monologue about money

12 Aug 2011

Irish stand-up Keith Farnan has a lively stage presence and off-the-cuff style, with a congenial, raggedy appearance that is equal parts Bee Gee and Celtic Jesus. Such up-beat charisma serves Farnan well for his wandering, socially-conscious…

Kristin Hersh set for Edinburgh Festival show

Indie rock goddess brings new memoir, spoken word and live music

10 Aug 2011

Alternative rock idol Kristin Hersh is spoiling us. She’s playing four shows in the Edinburgh festival, although she doesn’t realise it. ‘Am I? I don’t know!’ she laughs. ‘I’ll do whatever you say...’ The List is tempted to exploit this congenial…

Wooden Shjips - West

Explorative and intoxicating but breaking little new ground

10 Aug 2011

(Thrill Jockey) Any fears that Wooden Shjips’ first trip into a recording studio would compromise the fug of their psych-rock are swiftly allayed by ‘Black Smoke Rise’, the opening track from the San Franciscans’ new long-player. It revokes their…

Julia Donaldson - Simon Puttock, Vivian French and Guy Bass on the new Children’s Laureate

Author events set for 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

9 Aug 2011

‘Julia Donaldson is unique in the nicest way,’ says former Book Festival Children’s Writer in Residence Vivian French. ‘She’s passionate about stories, whether in the form of books, songs or plays, and her enthusiasm is infectious.’ French is…

David Morgan: Triple Threat

Show taking in musical theatre, childhood bullying and homophobia

8 Aug 2011

Subverting a popular football reference (‘Running, Passing, Kicking’) for the amateur dramatic variant (‘Actor, Singer, Dancer’), Morgan goes heavy on musical theatre and high-camp tropes, which juxtapose with his accounts of childhood bullying and…

Colm O’Regan: Dislike! A Facebook Guide to Crisis

Funny and informative social networking guide to Irish history

8 Aug 2011

When it comes to Ireland, what O’Regan does not discuss is not worth knowing. His social networking guide to Irish history and economics embraces themes like sandwich culture, national identity, Mills and Boon, skyscraper sexuality, Rapunzel’s weight…

Fruit Tree Foundation - First Edition

Astounding group collaboration from some of Scotland's finest

3 Aug 2011

(Chemikal Underground) If you’re looking for proof that Scotland’s musical voices are far-reaching and brilliant, then we cordially direct you to First Edition. It’s a stellar, cohesive collaboration from Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison, The…

Beatbox and a capella artists at 2011 Edinburgh Festival debut

Shlomo, Beardyman Fork and Soweto Entsha cover many musical genres

28 Jul 2011

‘The dynamic of the voice fascinates me,’ says UK beatbox artist Shlomo. The London-based ‘World Loopstation’ champion, also known as Simon Khan, has collaborated with Jarvis Cocker and Björk, and his oral simulations of percussion, electro and…

The best Scottish websites

The top 30 websites made for and by Scots

21 Jul 2011

When putting together this list, we weren’t necessarily looking for the biggest or the best-known cultural websites in Scotland. We were looking for unique and interesting ideas, cleverly realised and lovingly maintained on the web. This might mean that…

Exposure: River of Slime

FOUND's Kev Sim on his sample-loving, genre-mixing alter-ego

21 Jul 2011

Hello, is that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency? We have a toxic aural sludge to report. It is known locally as River of Slime, as adulterated by one Kev Sim, the beat-seeking third of pop alchemists FOUND. That’s some heady slime alright.

Gardens & Villa – Gardens & Villa

Ambient hazy pop album with a disappointing penchant for filler

21 Jul 2011

(Secretly Canadian) Citing well-worn influences like Gary Numan, Blur, The Kinks and Spoon, Santa Barbara five-piece Gardens & Villa offer up an agreeable salve of electro-pop, chamber rock and psychedelic folk on their debut album. Recorded with…

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - A potted history

The post-rock deities set for 2011 UK tour

13 Jul 2011

One should never underestimate the power of the bagpipe. It played a key role, after all, in F# A# ∞ (F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity) – the official debut from Canadian post-rock deities Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The anarchic, enigmatic (not to…

Beyoncé - A profile of the colossus of popular culture

There's great acts at 2011's music festivals, but there’s only one icon

28 Jun 2011

When The List first set eyes on Beyoncé in the flesh, it is fair to say that there were fireworks. You might well call them pyrotechnics – this was the Brit Awards, 2001, and she was onstage with Destiny’s Child – but as flames engulfed the rostrum and…

Helen Walsh - Go to Sleep

Melodramatic family drama about the stigma of post-natal depression

14 Jun 2011

(Canongate) Helen Walsh makes compelling reading of a complex issue in her third novel, Go to Sleep, which aims to explore, and explode, the taboos surrounding post-natal depression. Based on her own experience of PND – which is estimated to affect a…

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Follow-up to much-revered debut an warmer, bigger, more welcoming beast

13 Jun 2011

(4AD) Everyone is better-off with a little soft-rock in their lives. Alt-smooth indie supergroup Gayngs proved that assertion in 2010, when their nostalgic-pop album, Relayted, topped many end-of-year polls. One of that band’s most prominent members…

Jonnie Common - Master of None

Skewed-pop amble is a lo-fi electro-folk wonder

13 Jun 2011

(Red Deer Club) He’s an affiliate of Inspector Tapehead, a former member of Down the Tiny Steps, and the sorcerer behind the recent Deskjob compilation, but Glasgow’s Jonnie Common finally takes to the spotlight with Master of None, his debut album…

The Japanese War Effort - Surrender To Summer

Hazy, iridescent offering from Conquering Animal Sound's Jamie Scott

13 Jun 2011

(Song, By Toad) Portobello surf-pop; Meadows skate-rock; Leith Walk chill-wave; call it what you will: this hazy, iridescent offering from Jamie Scott, aka The Japanese War Effort and one half of Conquering Animal Sound, is gorgeous: a lo-fi…

Interview - Ducktails set for UK tour

Exotic pop augurer Matthew Mondanile

24 May 2011

With Julian Lynch, Big Troubles Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Fri 3 Jun; Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 5 Jun Exotic pop augurer Matthew Mondanile, alias New Jersey DIY buff Ducktails, has a hedonistic day ahead. ‘I just woke up,’ he says from his Brooklyn…

Low - Classic Grand, Glasgow, Tue 17 May

Tenderness and latent menace: that’s Low all over

24 May 2011

Half-way through this suitably intense and reverential set by Low, Alan Sparhawk responded to a loved-up heckler with a telling remark. ‘After 18 years we add a fourth person and he’s the first to get a compliment?’ he deadpanned. His comment served…

King Post Kitsch - The Party’s Over

Variegated yet cohesive; dreamy yet gripping psychedelic rock

24 May 2011

(Song, by Toad) To the regal ranks of Scots pop innovators King Biscuit Time and King Creosote, let us welcome Glasgow-via-London psychedelic rock tsar King Post Kitsch – alias sound engineer Charlie Ward. Ward kicks off his debut album in style…

Battles - Gloss Drop

Techno-rock propulsions and afro-cuban wig-outs featuring Gary Numan and Boredoms’ Yamantaka Eye

20 May 2011

(Warp) Battles feel so well-established in the innovative rock canon – so visionary, brawny and enduring – that it’s easy to forget they’ve only released one album, 2007’s thrilling Mirrored. Granted, their very formation bore the legacy of a…

Single of the month: Alphabet Song by Panda Su

Singles and downloads review, April 2011

18 May 2011

You join The List in a Central Belt end terrace on a Monday morning. And yes, it’s done up like a Dalston warehouse; yes those are over-active strobes: can we interest you in a whistling glow-stick emblazoned with Hello Kitty’s face? Correct, we are…

Alt-country/lo-fi rocker Bill Callahan, formerly known as Smog, discusses new record Apocalypse

17 May 2011

Bill Callahan is in his woodshed. Nature is tormenting him. ‘There are some annoying wind chimes, chiming in the wind,’ he grumbles. ‘Some birds are trying too hard.’ And how is our lusty troubadour, formerly known as Smog, on this glorious spring…

Julie Myerson - Then (review)

Apocalypse-set novel offers no respite from its bleak subject matter

17 May 2011

(Jonathan Cape) The apocalypse is cool right now. It’s everywhere in popular culture – as a theme, as a backdrop and in widespread adjectival form – and it’s all over Julie Myerson’s eighth novel, Then. Set in a desperate, ice-covered wasteland that…

Jonnie Common - Deskjob launch, Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Wed 6 Apr 2011

Guests include Panda Su, Meursault and Conquering Animal Sound

25 Apr 2011

Honing his multifarious craft as curator, producer and alt-pop svengali, bespectacled tech-wizard Jonnie Common has pulled a sonorous blinder with Deskjob. It’s a compilation that showcases and rewires many of Scotland’s pre-eminent independent acts…

The Feelies - Here Before

The post-punk pioneers return with a much mellower sound

25 Apr 2011

(Bar None) Encircling the laid-back parameters of Tom Petty and REM, this comeback album from US alt-rockers The Feelies – once the toast of 70s New York – finds the years have mellowed the post-punk trailblazers, but they have not drained the band’s…

Adele - ABC, Glasgow, Fri 15 Apr

The UK's much beloved popstar sings with warmth and camaraderie

20 Apr 2011

ABC, Glasgow, Fri 15 Apr It’s hard not to fall for Adele. The 22-year-old Londoner may have recently trounced Madonna in the record books – her current album, 21, is now the longest-running UK No 1 album by a female artist – but she’s an entirely…

Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact

Porgressive alt.pop from the hipster-makers

20 Apr 2011

(4AD) When Brooklyn pop sorcerers Gang Gang Dance released their brilliant 2008 album, Saint Dymphna, it had a huge indirect force on the hit parade. One of the record’s guest performers – then-underground MC Tinchy Stryder – has since become a…

Bun Fight at the OK Karail #1 - Crail Community Hall, Sat 9 April

15 Apr 2011

Sometimes, with Fence Collective shows – with the strange, intangible magic they weave – it helps to unravel them in reverse. For example, it makes perfect sense for the night to end in a cosy pub, with a hoard of mildly sunburnt gig-goers rubbing…

Record Store Day 2011: Saturday 16 April

Monorail, Rubadub, Avalanche, Underground Solu'shn and Coda join the celebrations

24 Mar 2011

We’re not going to argue with Ozzy Osbourne. ‘As official ambassador for Record Store Day 2011, I now have the power to command you to attend record stores on April 16th. Be there!’ he orders. The List does not need telling twice. Far be it from us…

Vivian Girls: Share the Joy

The third long-player from the Brookylinite garage rockers is fun, if a little too self-aware

24 Mar 2011

(Polyvinyl) This third long-player from Brooklyn’s trash-pop girl-group revivalists Vivian Girls bounds with all the reference points we’ve come to expect from the garage-rock trio: nostalgic melodies, cordial harmonies and heavenly dissonance. But…

Best Coast: How Bethany Cosetino became key figure of US wistful beach rock

Embracing of DIY culture after formative years of baby modelling

21 Mar 2011

Generally speaking, The List is not a fan of infant beauty pageants. In the case of Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino however, we are happy to make an exception. Were it not for her formative years doing baby modelling and TV advertising (for Little…

Moon Duo - Mazes

Psych-rock romance from Sanae Yamada and Wooden Shjipper Ripley Johnson

21 Mar 2011

(Souterrain Transmissions) It transpires that psychedelic rock and romance make for intoxicating bedfellows. This mesmeric debut full-length album from Wooden Shjips axe-master Ripley Johnson and his inamorata, Sanae Yamada, is heady with cosmic…

Kevin Brockmeier - The Illumination

Kevin Brockmeier's allegorical tale is an enlightening experience

4 Mar 2011

Shining a light on the wounds we bear as human beings, The Illumination is an intriguing third novel from Little Rock, Arkansas writer Kevin Brockmeier. Shot through with chilling and fantastical nuances, this enlightened rumination by Brockmeier…

Label of Love: We Can Still Picnic

Creeping Bent impresario Douglas McIntyre discusses his new label collective

3 Mar 2011

‘We Can Still Picnic is a brand new trick in town – a loose collective of artists, musicians, writers, provocateurs, poets, aesthetes and facilitators,’ proclaims DIY maverick Douglas McIntyre, who also runs indie record label Creeping Bent. The List…

Kylie 2011 UK tour takes in Glasgow SECC date

Much beloved Aussie pop royalty

3 Mar 2011

Perhaps you have heard of Kylie Minogue. She is a pop star first and foremost – you might say The Pop Star: an Australian singer, dancer and actor who has sold nearly 70 million records and reaped scores of global hits since her brilliant debut ‘I…

Deerhunter out on UK tour

Alt.rock foursome beloved by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Battles and Nine Inch Nails

3 Mar 2011

Any respectable profile piece on Atlanta, Georgia quartet Deerhunter would necessitate its author to offer a history and overview of the self-styled ghost rock and ambient punk band’s impressive ten-year career. It would thus require the writer to dig…

Kid Canaveral - Stereo, Glasgow, Thursday 24 February 2011

Melodious pop rock set for SXSW

3 Mar 2011

In the interests of journalistic transparency, I should declare that Kid Canaveral bribed me at their SXSW fundraiser show, and the bribe totally worked. Having recently expressed my love for a hurtling pop aria called ‘So Close to Beautiful’ – the…

Found - Factorycraft

Edinburgh trio come of age on third album

1 Mar 2011

(Chemikal Underground) There’s an advert on TV just now, it’s for some fancy car or other. Its slogan is ‘machines cannot make art’, or words to that effect. Clearly its boxy manufacturers have never encountered the organic mechano-pop of FOUND. For…

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

Break-up album of 60s and 80s influenced nostalgic yet visionary alt-pop

11 Feb 2011

For her hotly-anticipated second long-player, Swedish pop icon Lykke Li (in tandem with producer Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John fame) has excavated and allied various classic templates from the 60s and the 80s to create a break-up album of nostalgic yet…

Conquering Animal Sound - Kammerspiel

Compelling and gorgeous debut of eerie and astral electronica from Glasgow duo

11 Feb 2011

This gorgeous debut from Glasgow duo Conquering Animal Sound is draped in eerie, astral electronica, iridescent guitar ripples and heavenly, disembodied vocals. Evoking the pastoral machine music of Mice Parade and Múm, and fusing it with DIY pop and…

Michael Chapman - Trainsong: Guitar Compositions 1967–2010

11 Feb 2011

(Tompkins Square) Maverick guitarist and singer-songwriter Michael Chapman has attracted fans such as John Peel, Jack Rose and Thurston Moore through the years, and little wonder. From his roots in the 60s Cornish folk circuit to an unlikely revival…

Chilly Gonzales tours Boyz Noise collaboration Ivory Tower to UK

'Jools Holland should shut up – pianistically speaking. We are in the post-Boogie era.’

8 Feb 2011

Look out Muse and look out Jools: Chilly Gonzales is coming to get you. Following his infamous 2009 victory over Andrew WK in a New York piano battle, the man who is known as Chilly, Gonzales and Jason Charles Beck (he suggests we just call him…

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

8 Feb 2011

(Island) There she goes, marching forth, marking irretrievable distance between her military coat-tails and the rest of the contemporary rock battalion flagging in her wake. Again. A glance at the track-list and a cursory scan through PJ Harvey’s…

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light

Seattle languid-rock colossi is leaden, capacious and quite beautiful

8 Feb 2011

(Southern Lord) Citing such musical reference points as Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Saharan groove pioneers Tinariwen, the latest LP from Seattle languid-rock colossi Earth is – as ever – mesmerising. While not as doom-infused as, say, their…

Sea of Bees - Songs for the Ravens

Country-rock debut from Sacramento's Julie Ann Bee is haunting and compelling

8 Feb 2011

(Heavenly Recordings) This dreamy country-rock debut from Sacramento chanteuse Julie Ann Bee – or Julie Baenziger, or Sea of Bees – has attracted fans like Grandaddy deity Jason Lytle, and this comes as little surprise: its fusion of driving acoustic…

Orange Prize-winning author Linda Grant publishes We Had It So Good - interview

On writing her fifth novel and being part of a spoilt generation

19 Jan 2011

Orange Prize-winning author Linda Grant was glad to see the back of Christmas. ‘I’m delighted to have reached the end of the great annual close-down, when your toothache can’t be mended and your boiler can’t be fixed,’ she reflects from her North London…

Musician James Yorkston publishes tour diaries

Domino Records and Faber publish Scottish singer-songwriter's book It’s Lovely to Be Here

14 Jan 2011

Not content with forging a career as one of Scotland’s best loved singer-songwriters, James Yorkston has just foisted himself upon literature in a most alluring fashion. As befits a troubadour whose talent is rivalled only by his modesty, Yorkston’s…

Randan Discotheque's Heather the Weather - Single of the Month

Singles & downloads January 2011

14 Jan 2011

The humanoid is often wracked with existential angst at the turn of the year. This malady will be aggravated by the latest release from Sandi Thom. One is likely to suffer unyielding conundrums like: why has this single been released? And: why has Thom…