James Milne, the driving force behind the genius that is  Lawrence Arabia, played Glasgow’s Stereo on Saturday night as part of the Green Man tour with Cate Le Bon . With Joanna Newsom, The Flaming Lips and Beirut already announced for the August festival, this evening’s taster acts as a precursor to what many regard as the best festival of late summer.

Back to tonight and a success story of the ‘DIY music’ of New Zealand’s small music industry, Lawrence Arabia is now amidst a world tour marking great milestones of what he calls ‘’a decade of New Zealand’’. Milne and his talented band of friends have combined what they cherish most about being ‘Kiwi’ with the work of influential figures and patriotic political views. The product of all this is; sound as pure as spring water.

On stage Lawrence Arabia, wearing ‘Gumboots’, or ‘Wellies’ as they are more commonly known in the UK, begins his musical expedition with ‘The Crew of the Commodore’. As the crowd is lead through this metaphoric journey of blissful melodies boasting an amalgamation of precise lyrics over cleverly composed instruments, Lawrence Arabia appears to have stripped back the genres of pop and folk rock to the point where it becomes simple again. ‘Apple Pie Bed’, which earned the Apra Silver Scroll award for the best New Zealand song of the year in 2009, seems an instant hit here too as the crowd push forward for a better view of these talented individuals.

Swerving the clichés of pop and rock bands today they have gone back to a stage when music was uncomplicated evident in titles like ‘The Kinds of Feeling’s that Happen on Summer Beaches‘ and while avoiding generic modulation and radio pop they have brought back the summer sounds of The Beach Boys and the brilliant harmonies of The Beatles with tracks like ‘The Beautiful Young Crew’.

The album, which has been produced on Milne’s own Honorary Bedouin Records (Bella Union in the UK), is a toast to what is loved most by this young man about his own country. As the set draws to a close with ‘Fine Old Friends’, a mixture of upbeat rock hooks between mellow verses with what sound like an improvised end, they were continuing to provide delicious tunes that is, well, music to everyone’s ears.

Sadly, however, all good things must come to an end but before wishing us fair well and good luck, before Milne and his friends leave to continue the tour in America for a serious of dates at SXSW, they have one song which they left to the flip of a coin – symbolic of the laid back attitude this group of boys share.

Full set list:

The Crew of the Commodore
Dream Teacher
The Beautiful Young Crew
Auckland CBD
Apple Pie Bed
Fine old Friends
The Kinds of Feelings that Happen on Summer Beaches

Ashten MacDonald

Friday nights in Glasgow are never dull but tonight is even more exciting than usual with Local Natives from Silver Lake LA playing their second Scottish show to a rammed out King Tuts.

Singer Taylor Rice reminded us that last time they played in Glasgow (coincidentally in Tuts) they spent most of the gig out in the street due to a fire alarm. Tonight though there are no such interruptions to a glorious set that showcased a band clearly on the ascendancy. Don’t take our word for it though, the numbers speak for themselves, this tour has included a sold out show at London’s 1000 capacity Heaven venue. Their next stop in London will be at the even bigger Shepards Bush Empire in June. Stateside, May’s pencilled date at New York’s Bowery Ballroom is already sold out! King Tuts calls it’s self the best small venue in the world, tonight it feels like it!

Support comes from local group Boycotts and London band Peggy Sue who release their debut album later this year and who we will be covering on their next headline date in Glasgow.

By the time Local Natives take the stage the energy is palpable. There are many highlight in tonight’s set, right from the off with stunning opener ‘Worlds News‘. The band create a fresh optimistic sound with luscious harmonies and tonight the audience are treated to the debut album Gorilla Manor almost in full. The Talking Heads cover ‘Warning Signs’ is a triumph and other notable highlights include Shape Shifter, Sun Hands and Airplanes. All are executed beautifully and have the tiny venue transfixed.

Ryan and Taylor met in Southern California and have been making music together since they were 13. There is a chemistry obvious with Local Natives you don’t get with bands who’ve known each other a relatively short time. Local Natives feel like a family affair, Taylor’s sister is even in town selling the t-shirts at the merch stall. But it goes deeper than that, they are all multi instrumentalist, constantly swapping instruments and vocal duties between songs, on ‘Cubism Dream‘, Ryan Hahn plays keys, drums and sings simultaneously, if that doesn’t sum up talent, I am at a loss to say what does!

After closer ‘Sticky Thread‘ Taylor announces they will be back in Glasgow later this year and also hitting the major UK festivals. On the strength of tonight don’t be surprised if they are one of the must see new bands at T in The Park.

Gorilla Manor is out now on Infectious Records, you can STREAM IT HERE. The full King Tuts set is below:

Worlds news
Camera talk
Warning signs
Cards and Quarters
Wide eyes
Shape shifter
Cubism Dream
Stranger things
Airplanes
Who knows who cares
Sun hands

Sticky thread

Tonight’s show is opened by Y’all is Fantasy Island’s mesmerising Adam Stafford, who creates fascinating entire songs through a combination of vocal loops. The result is surprisingly full sounding and the small crowd who turned up early enough are duly impressed.

With the not so enviable task of following up the Y’all is frontman is Billy Vincent who bring their “dirty folk” to Scotland for the first time promoting their new EP, The Morden Shake. The band’s catchy tunes and foot-stomping beats suit the Captain’s Rest’s sociable feel and spark more activity in the crowd acting as a good warm-up for the headliners.

Glasgow locals Three Blind Wolves are well known within the scene and are the draw for most of tonight’s sizeable crowd. The feel in the Captain’s Rest great an atmosphere much like a great band was playing in your living room just for you and your friends (a phenomenon which Three Blind Wolves, formerly Ross Clark & the Scarf Go Missing, are not unfamiliar with). The band’s upbeat, country style fills the room getting the crowd dancing along from the very first song.

Upbeat tracks like ‘Black Bowl Park’, ‘Funky Town’ (which gets the whole room involved in a “bit of a shuffle”, as lead singer Ross Clark puts it) and “Captain of a Ship”, which gets by far the biggest round of applause from the crowd, fill the set. Even slower songs, like ‘Emily Rose’ keep the crowd bouncing and singing along.

Three Blind Wolves think the most important thing about live music is that crowd have fun and they definitely do not disappoint tonight. They finish the set with a brilliant cover of ‘The Weight’, made even better by the joy they get from performing to such a welcoming crowd. For a night of charismatic, honest music and banter there is no better band to see in Glasgow. Three Blind Wolves are touring later this month including dates in Glasgow and Edinburgh with the French Wives.

Katherine Haig

Mumford and Sons have come a long way since we covered them at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s just over a year ago; playing their self confessed “biggest headline show ever”, the London based indie-folk band successfully, and easily, wowed their audience in a sell-out show at the ABC.

In one of the most hyped gigs of the year so far, the ABC was packed out. The band came on to an anxious crowd with the title track from 2009 album ‘Sigh No More’, which teased itself into a strong opener, before breaking into the abrupt pace and energy of single ‘Winter Winds’. The beginning of the set was shown to be a carefully and well-planned one, with other songs such as ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ and ‘White Blank Page’ getting an outing. The band also played a new, as yet untitled, song which unfortunately sounded like the dregs from the album. Clever lighting however supported the band in highlighting the intended tones of the set, while contrasting the raw baroque-ness of their songs with conventional stage presence.

The concert was put into full swing with lead single from the album and fans’ favourite ‘Little Lion Man’, which along with ‘The Cave’ and ‘Awake My Soul’, was a certain highlight of the night. New song ‘Lend Me Your Eyes’ was also one of the stronger songs, although its anonymity with the public drew back from the intense atmosphere of more well-known songs. The beautifully crafted ‘Thistle and Weeds’, meanwhile completed its job perfectly in strongly contrasting the bluegrass leanings of other such fundamentally stunning songs. ‘Dust Bowl Dance’ was an explosive ending to the main set, where the densely packed pathos of the recorded version shone through just as strongly in a live setting. The encore wasn’t quite as powerful as its predecessor, but the new songs played were certainly effective in prophesising a good future for any upcoming work from Mumford & Sons.

There were moments where it seemed as if the band were relying too much on volume to communicate an emotionally stunning set, rather than their already powerful music. But thanks to a passionate crowd and genuine enjoyment from the band, these moments were easily forgotten as fans and band alike were immersed in a night of finely composed and strongly compelling indie-folk from one of the most promising bands of recent years.

Words: Hamish Gibson
Pic: Euan Anderson

With the clanging of church bells leading the tumultuous charge into the panoramic sensation of their new album “SLEEP MOUNTAIN”, The Kissaway Trail have returned with a renewed sense of purpose. “Sleep Mountain” is less a reinvention for the Danish quintet than a fabulous progression in the wake of its predecessor, 2007’s already grandstanding self-titled debut.

The overall theme of Sleep Mountain, says Thomas Fagerlund, is

“about being a dreamer and sticking to your dreams regardless of the efforts of people trying to wake us up… Sleep Mountain symbolises staying true to your opinions and beliefs.” The first album’s theme of, “love between boys and girls,” he says, has broadened out to, “a love of mankind and our generation – those who have the same passion for art, and the love we feel towards our family and friends.”

In turn, Søren Corneliussen pinpoints his predilection for, “grief, loss and love, but written from a bystander’s point of view… My new lyrics are about sentiments and pictures in my mind that seems to linger on indefinitely. They’re more of a collage than a story but they’re still thoughts and images from the real life.”

The 12 songs that make up Sleep Mountain came together at the second attempt. They started writing and recording in early 2008; “the only rule was to write as many songs as possible.”

Thus armed, they rehearsed in a desolate rented farm close to their home in Odense (Denmark’s third largest city, situated on the island of Funen) before shifting to the French mountains to narrow down their material. In late 2008, they began recording in Sweden and Denmark but two months later, “we discovered it did not sound the way we had intended and we were afraid that it never would!”

So they started again, from scratch, at Odense’s Lydkraft Studio where they’d recorded the first album. They had just two weeks to nail this one, “but as we laid down the first drum track, we knew we had made the right decision.”

Likewise, working with American producer Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, The Twilight Sad, Fanfarlo). He couldn’t work with them at the first attempt due to having a child on the way but he was free for the Lydkraft sessions. “We told him we simply could not imagine our record being the way we wanted it to without him on board. Fortunately he accepted.”

Sleep Mountain has that satisfyingly deep, rounded Katis sound, and none more so than that bell-clanging six-minute intro ‘SDP’. As Thomas says, it’s the perfect opener, “because it sounds like us, but still shows we have evolved.”

Evidence of evolution can also be found in the acute hooks of ‘New Year’ and the brilliant, euphoric ‘Beat Your Heartbeat’. Alongside ‘Philadelphia’ (Neil Young cover), ‘Painter’, ‘Friendly Fire’ and ‘Whirr Of Wings’ show a more restrained Kissaway Trail, while ‘Three Million Hours’ is a very poignant end to a tour de force 55 minutes. In the end, it’s a positive outcome. As the words of ‘Philadelphia’ has it, “Sometimes I think that I know / What love’s all about / And when I see the light / I know I’ll be all right.”

They play King Tuts this Sunday, tickets are here!

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ATOM Live, the student music network, has teamed up with Oui Love, the premier promoter of new French music, to offer two lucky UK student bands the chance to live the rock n roll dream.

Entering their music via the Oui Love MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/ouilovexchange, the winning bands will win the once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour the UK with France’s finest new bands this summer. Hurtling around the country in a super-cool tour bus in support of Europe’s best and brightest, what more could you want?

Hailing from the country that brought us the incomparable Serge Gainsbourg, Daft Punk, Air and Sebastien Tellier, Oui Love will be hosting a tour during May across the length and breadth of England and Scotland. The first tour, covering the Midlands and South, will feature the urban electro of The Shoes (pictured) and the kaleidoscopic vibes of The Bewitched Hands On Top of Our Heads. The second will take in Scotland and the North, this time showcasing the not inconsiderable talents of the frenetic Curry & Coco and the sophisticated chamber-pop of Revolver.

The competition will be fierce, and has several stages. The first round sees entrants subject to a public vote, with the most popular graduating to a series of auditions at Atom Live events in Manchester, Birmingham and London where a crack panel of music industry experts will whittle the bands down the final two. The deserving winners will each be taken on one leg of the Oui Love tour.

Hopefuls who want to hit the road with France’s finest should head here to show them what they’ve got.

TOUR DATES

Tour 1
The Shoes/Bewitched Hands on the Top of Our Heads
May 10th: Norwich, B2.
May 11th: Lincoln, Mezz Bar.
May 12th: Birmingham, O2 Acacdemy2.
May 13th: Bristol, O2 Academy3.
May 14th: London, French Revolution at The Macbeth.
May 15th: Brighton, The Great Escape.

Tour 2 :
Revolver/Curry and Coco
May 14th: London, French Revolution at The Macbeth.
May 15th: Brighton, The Great Escape.*
May 17th: Glasgow, O2 ABC2
May 18th: Dundee,venue Tbc
May 19th: Blackburn, 41.
May 20th York, The Duchess.
May 21st: Liverpool, Sound City Festival.*

Glasgow’s cherished 13th Note in the Trongate was waiting with open arms on Sunday for an evening oozing with Scottish talent. Originally scheduled for Saturday at The Research Club (which sadly went into administration this week) loyal fans weren’t thrown by the last minute change in venue and turned up eagerly with high expectations of the night’s line up.

We all know two’s company and three’s a crowd, so six? This must be the new four. With this many involved it’s no surprise Washington Irving were able to bang out their set loud enough for the rest of Scotland to get wind of what they were missing. With the stage overflowing with talent, literally, the band came together showing off a range of quirky instruments. Squeezed into the 13th Note there was nothing uncomfortable about the sound produced.

Starting off with ‘Sisi’, making you want to link arms with the person next to you and start dancing around, they played with real conviction. The moment Roslyn Potter’s flute kicks in you can’t help but smile. The Maracas in ‘In the Chill’ and the blow-organ in ‘The Magician’ are just two of a catalogue of musical versatility hidden within each member of this band, as they casually pick up and play all sorts of instruments as though found lying around on stage.

A special mention to Ceylan Hay who had the gruelling task of warming the crowd - she sang like an angel. Out came a voice you could fall asleep to as it soared and wove together exquisitely with her guitar. Unfortunately she had to cut the set short due to a cold!

An appreciation for home grown talent always brings out a little something special at a gig like this and we were honoured Washington Irving decided to spend their second birthday (to the day) with us, whether intentional or not. The band is full of surprises – drummer, Chris McGarry, emerging without any shoes as he switched to keyboard for ‘Hard 2 Know‘. They left the up beat ‘Dancer’ til lucky last, finally releasing the crowd from their firm grip and with more reasons to love them.

A memorable second birthday it was and with nothing secondary about it. Washington Irving will head out across Scotland with Three Blind Wolves and the French Wives later in March and early April.

Words: Ashten MacDonald
Pics: Aimee NcNally

Tonight’s show at King Tut’s is jam-packed; Japandroids second visit to Glasgow is eagerly anticipated, the first a support slot for A Place to Bury Strangers that we covered last year. The crowd squeeze in front of the stage for support from Cuddly Shark and Other People, both act as brilliant warm-up acts for the Canadian duo.

Originally Japandroids were looking for a lead singer to accompany Brian King on guitar and David Prowse on drums but the decided it would be easiest just to sing the vocal between them, a decision that was certainly for the best. King starts the show with an eagerness that could be hard to match and from the very beginning the duo put their all into performing. King Tut’s is far too small to contain the noise coming from Japandroids (there would definitely be no room for a third member) and their energy just seems to increase as the show goes on, feeding off the adoration coming from the SOLD OUT crowd.

They open with “No Allegiance to the Queen” from 2008’s Lullaby Death Jams EP, which is met with excessive dancing and some out-of-tune attempts to sing along, just so the fans can prove how much they love it. After that, most of tonight’s songs come from their latest LP, Post-Nothing (released middle of last year), which is just what the fans came to hear. Definite crowd-pleasers include “The Boys Are Leaving Town” and the brilliantly catchy “Young Hearts Spark Fire” but some newer tunes go down a treat as well along with a cover of “Racer X” that Big Black would have been proud of. The power from the stage never falters and even a guitar solo of “Happy Birthday” for the tour manager (Andy!) is played with as much fervour as the loudest of their songs, with the crowd singing along as well.

Japandroids finish this incredible set by singing “To Hell with Good Intentions”, another of their older songs that goes down just as well as the opener. It’s just as well this song is the last as many of the crowd put their last remaining energy into leaping around cheering and even the band look like they’ve finally exhausted themselves. A brilliant finish to an incredible show, for sheer energy and excitement there’s not really anyone who can top these guys.

Words: Katherine Haig
Pics: Colin Clark

WHY? A group of handsome Cincinnati-born men who fiddle with skins, strings, bells and microphones will present their findings to the listening public at Stereo on the 18th of March.

Having previously toured – with Silver Jews, Yo La Tengo, and Islands and collaborated – with Danielson Family, Department Of Eagles. This tour is going to be a newly expanded line up. It will be the first time Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson from Fog join this vastly talented band. The group will be playing tracks from all three of their albums, Yoni Wolf’s first solo exploration “Elephant Eyelash,” the follow up “Alopecia,” where he was joined by both his brother Josiah Wolf and Doug McDiarmid and the latest “Eskimo Snow.”

Yoni Wolfs brother Josiah will be debuting his solo work as the bands support for the shows.

Fresh from playing at the NME Awards the other night New Young Pony Club might been away for a bit but next month they are back in Glasgow to play King Tuts on the 23rd of March.

They are also playing a show with the awesome Invisible as part of Topman CTRL. Unfortunately for us, that’s in Sheffield.

Fortunately though the lovely folks at Topman CTRL have given us a NYPC T-shirt to give away to whoever wants it!

Simply send your details to contact@rokbun.com, and winner will be chosen at random from a hat! don’t say we’re not good to you!

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We first seen Temper Trap @ Tuts last May and since then they have been pretty busy to say the least! After heading back home to keep their fans back in Australia happy, The Temper Trap return to take on the world and live up to the reputation of being one of the hardest working bands around.

Selling out 3 nights at Londons Shepherds Bush Empire it seems that the rest of the UK tour is swiftly following suit with their Glasgow date recently moved up to the Academy. There are still tickets available for the best tickets in the house, the Balcony Booths above the stage!

After storming performances at numerous festivals last year including - Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Summer Sonic and T in the Park - The Temper Trap have also announced they will be appearing at this year’s T in the Park.

To get you in the mood for the epic summer ahead check out a live video from the band sell out christmas show at Londons Koko.