Thomas Meek

Hannah Gadsby

Genuine warmth and heartbreak

23 Aug 2010

Inspired by Cliff Young, a legendary Australian who won an ultramarathon at the age of 61, Hannah Gadbsy sets off to walk across England, proving it’s never too late to achieve something. Her story is one of genuine warmth and heartbreak as she battles…

A Surprisingly Tasteful Show About Nudity

Well-intentioned schoolboy charm

23 Aug 2010

With that same well-intentioned schoolboy charm shared by Russell Howard, it’s easy to be drawn in by Alexis Dubus, even if you are of the more prudish nature. Expect nudity, but in a context that goes some way to educate and entertain, taking in Greek…

The Ballad of Backbone Joe

A noirish tale of murder and meat fruit

22 Aug 2010

Combining versatile talents with the easy-going charm that comes so naturally from an antipodean accent, Suitcase Royale’s self-penned, music-driven comedy noir provides effusive, varied entertainment. It’s pre-war Australia and Backbone Joe is a…

Sophie Black

A character show with little in the way of actual characters

18 Aug 2010

Stumbling onstage in the guise of an overly ambitious street sketch artist/ex-con, Sophie Black’s solo character-based show never quite finds its feet. The cartoonist offers the inevitable poor drawings and grandiose ideas of her own ‘art’, but the more…

Gareth Richards

Quaint, bumbling stand-up and surreal, amateurish songs

16 Aug 2010

Despite containing three separate anecdotes involving the deaths of relatives, Richards’ mix of quaint, bumbling stand-up and surreal, amateurish songs still lifts the spirits. The pointlessness of life may be the theme on offer, but it’s counteracted…

Maeve Higgins

She could talk all day and keep you smiling

12 Aug 2010

I’d love Maeve Higgins to be my best friend. And it’s not just due to the whimsical stories and wonderful asides, she’d knit you a nice scarf too. On stage though, she can stumble with silences not so much awkward as unnecessary. She could talk all day…

Bridget Christie

Dabbling around the unhinged fringes of stand-up

11 Aug 2010

Bridget Christie openly admits that her act may not be the most commercially viable around. But you can’t help but feel the Fringe would be a bit more interesting if other performers were willing to forsake financial security and the welfare of a…

Smith and Smith

Dry self-deprecation and an irreverent take on immortality

11 Aug 2010

Some flimsy premises provide the platform for two men named Smith to come together. James W Smith talks of life and its problems (mainly children) in dry self-deprecation, though the pathos rarely pays off. Daniel Smith does, however, seem more at ease…

Henning Wehn

German humour remains a joke in itself

10 Aug 2010

As long as German humour remains a joke in itself, Wehn’s enormously referential style is unlikely to change. It’s lucky he can still do it with the originality and talent it requires, with his outsider take on British culture spawning some…

Daniel Sloss - My Generation

Teen comic hits home with the personal

8 Aug 2010

It’s not news most in the audience can relate to, but 19-year-old Daniel Sloss is getting on a bit. Or so he thinks he is, in only his second solo show at the Fringe.

Exposure: Japanese Voyeurs

12 Nov 2009

All fast guitars and heightened yelps, Japanese Voyeurs create the sort of music that can really only be done by those still young enough to have that satisfying sense of havoc. Luckily, that’s exactly what these guys are, and they do it well, being an…

Exposure: First Aid Kit

4 Nov 2009

Recent tour partners with new indie folk favourites, Fanfarlo, this Swedish duo are known to write the odd acoustic pleasure too. And all the more remarkable considering they’d still be at high school in the UK. For First Aid Kit are sisters Klara, 16…

Exposure: Mickey Gang

3 Nov 2009

Cool, minimalist electronica and songs about menstruating horses – just what you’d expect from any bunch of 19-year-olds nowadays. Mickey Gang do it with a flair though, both beguilingly innocent yet with a knowing smile underneath, celebrating the…

Exposure: Civet

30 Oct 2009

A civet is a 'small, lithe-bodied, mostly arboreal mammals native to the tropics of Africa and Asia'. They are also a remarkably kick-ass all female punk-rock group from Los Angeles. We can only wonder who’d be more fun to go out drinking with.

Exposure: Portugal. The Man

29 Oct 2009

Portugal. The Man is not the most conventional name for a band. But it’s one that suits this Alaskan quartet of unrestricted imagination more than most. Now based in Portland, the group revel in an Animal Collective-inspired delirium of musical chaos…

5 of the Best: eReaders

Your guide to electronic books

2 Oct 2009

Kindle 2 Expect wireless download times of less than 60 seconds a book when the second incarnation of this machine finally hits UK shores. Amazon’s dreaded DRM means no chance of sharing the 1500 possible titles it can hold though. Currently only…

Fanfarlo - King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 30 Sep

Fantasticfarlo more like

2 Oct 2009

Bowie loves them. And so should you. Or you would if you ever caught Fanfarlo’s awesome folk punch live. Relocated to King Tut’s from the ABC, the smaller stage is ideal for a band so positive about the communal experience, especially when the crowd…

Be A Familiar - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 1 Oct

Twee to a tee, but lacking something new

2 Oct 2009

Go to enough gigs in Scotland, and soon you’ll know what to expect. And I don’t just mean the overexcited, teenage Topshop-clad girls and their male peers who are never exactly sure whether to join in the dancing; nor that older sort who’s given his…

Exposure: Julia and the Doogans

30 Sep 2009

All timid, lovely folk pop, Julia and the Doogans are as blissful and beautiful as a band can be. Ever evolving, and embracing new sounds and instruments, this collective is united by the voice of Julia Doogan - both hopeful and heartbreaking when the…

Exposure: The Kabeedies

29 Sep 2009

A cute girl and a carefree attitude can take a band a long way. The Kabeedies might just like to think they have a little more than that though. Even if the girl is very cute and the attitude is very carefree. For underneath such welcome attributes a…

Exposure: Joe Carnall and the Book Club

28 Sep 2009

It's nearly five years now since the music media's microscope focused in on Sheffield as acts like Bromhead's Jacket, Little Man Tate and Long Blondes were heralded to define the decade. And though only Arctic Monkeys may have made it into the big…

Jakil - Live at The Mill - Cabaret Voltaire, 17 Sep 2009

18 Sep 2009

Jakil seem purpose built to make it. Fey, faux Fall Out Boy tones compliment the mix of trendy haircuts and relevant commercial leanings that embrace Kings of Leon’s latest ventures into ubiquity, yet don’t quite get away from the homely pop of McFly…

Why Mercury win for Speech Debelle marks return to award's roots

Unlike other big-budget nominees, 2009's £20,000 may actually mean something

17 Sep 2009

The sales of Elbow's fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid, quadrupled after their Mercury Award in 2008. It's a safe bet that the winner of this year's accolade, Speech Debelle, will match at least that part of the Manchester's band's huge success: the…

Schuh presents The New Blood Tour - Bongo Club, Sun 13 Sep

16 Sep 2009

Even with the astonishingly reasonable free price tag, the prospect of Monday morning seems to have put many off the idea of heading to the Bongo Club for a night of what shoe companies think you should be listening to. The half empty floor does…

Exposure: Girls

15 Sep 2009

Embracing the full liberty of San Francisco lifestyle, Christopher Owens has come a long way since his childhood growing up as part of the Children of God. The religious community, previously home to River and Joaquin Phoenix keep pop music a restricted…