Edinburgh’s Limbo is in Glasgow this weekend

Edinburgh’s Limbo is one of the best sources for new music in the capital and this Sunday they will lauch their excellent live CD with performances from Zoey Van Goey, Punch and the Apostles and the wonderful Haight Ashbury in GLASGOW not Edinburgh so get down to Stereo for the Limbo tour also stopping in London.

if all thats not enough for you, this Thursday’s (June 25th) Edinburgh Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms has performances from the two of the hottest bands in Scotland Joe Gideon & The Shark and Paper Planes not to be missed.

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RockNess @ Loch Ness 12/13/14 June 2009

Festival Season kicked off last weekend with the first major outdoor Scottish festival of the summer RockNess on the north banks of beautiful Loch Ness in Dores near Inverness.

Having arrived at the pretty amazing looking campsite at a pitiful 9pm, despite a fairly traffic free journey, I erect my tent in a record time and fire off to the main stage. The backdrop is quite awe inspiring, behind the main stage, Loch Ness reaches to meet the sky and both mimic each others colour as best they can, either side hills yawn into the distance and on stage, Friday’s main stage headliner, The Flaming Lips, are playing to a puzzlingly diminished crowd. As I look around I swear I can see one of the Family Ness jump up to grab a note or two for lunch, then realise I’m being silly. However, literally nothing would seem to bizarre to believe possible, for a band who are flanked by an army of dancing tellytubbies and what looks like the very hungry caterpillar. Just before the encore, there’s enough time for the now seemingly obligatory American musician speech about what a dick Bush was and the fellatio for Obama. They wrap up with the stunning ‘Do you realise’ and as they do I conclude that it may have been questionable to put The Flaming Lips on as a Friday headliner, as epic and beautiful as it is, they would perhaps have been more suited to bring RockNess to a close.

Saturday starts with frankly implausibly stunning weather (this is Scotland after all) and I ponder how I’m going to choose between the stupendous Frightened Rabbit and The French Wives. But arriving at the desolate Fat Sam Tent, I make a snap decision and run back up the hill made all the more insurmountable by my newly acquired wellies and the sweltering heat. I arrive at the Black Isle Pub Stage in time to see the majority of a storming set by the newly reunited French Wives, all the richer for guitarist Scott’s presence.

I arrive back at the now packed Fat Sam Tent to witness a troubled set from Selkirk’s favourite sons Frightened Rabbit. Technical difficulties are probably to blame but in the short set is littered with time and tuning slips. Though towards the tail end during anthem’s ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ and ‘Head Rolls Off’ it seems to be forgotten and mass singalongs ensue. All with an iota of sense wait in Fat Sam’s for the downpour of Noah’s Arc proportions to finish and I bask in the warm glow of my own smug self-satisfaction at having already swapped my moth bitten 4-year-old trainers for a shiny new pair of wellies.

The weather stops almost on cue for Dizzee Rascal, who entertains a bumper crowd with a selection of hits ranging from recent collaborative effort ‘dance with me’ to the glorious first single ‘fix up, look sharp’. There’s just enough time to trek up the hill to catch half an hour of recently reformed dance giants Orbital who, I am pleased to report, still wear those glasses with lights on the side, making them look like the softest Dr. Who villains of all time.

Sadly headliner time must be split and it’s time for Basement Jaxx who play a super greatest hits set, which really ticks every box that you want in a festival headliner. The tracks are feel good pop songs considerably improved in the live arena, the warmth emanates from the stage and the atmosphere is as good as you experience at any other festival in the UK, ‘Romeo’ and ‘Bingo Bango‘ are particular highlights.

Sunday morning, the sun is in scorching form again and campers litter the ground as though war wounded.

To the music, and having endured 10 minutes of the finest unredeemable slurry that The Wombats could offer, the members of our group with taste hit the Clash Arena for some breakbeat genius in the form of Soulwax, the crowd lap it up. Shapes are thrown. Biffy Clyro rounds off a musically chalk and cheese hour, with a perfectly balanced set mercifully ranging their entire career from the brutal ‘57′ to the heartbreaking ‘Machines’. This is something that is to be expected, though, of a band with enough experience to easily be labelled festival veterans, particularly in their homeland. Sadly I can only manage to watch the hero that is James Murphy spin some classic disco tunes for 10 minutes, before I have to hot foot it back to the main stage for festival closers, The Prodigy.

It’s a set that’s almost as brutal as Biffy Clyro’s, which has barely died on the air yet, and contrary to popular belief it’s the set of a band who still have the energy and the tunes to cut it at this level. Though sparsely scattered throughout, the new songs mark a return to the former glories of their early rave-influenced albums, an inspiration certainly less apparent on always outnumbered… Many of the tracks feel as fresh as the day I first heard them, and seem to have more life breathed into them with every pace Keith Flint makes on the spot, as though he’s jumping on a set of bellows. This is not a band merely going through the motions 20 years before bursting onto the scene to give Britpop a kick in the stones. This band still believe in these songs and the set is delivered with refreshing conviction. And why not? ‘Firestarter’, ‘Breathe’ and ‘Out of Space’ are all, from the crowd’s reaction, timeless classics and certainly tunes I’d rather define my generation than Live Forever!

All too briefly, the fireworks are blooming in the sky and again the loch does its best job at recreating the beauty that the sky is claiming. All pour into the last tent playing music for the last few tunes of Erol Alkan, and when calls of “wan mair tune!” go unheeded, with explosive remnants still hanging in the overcast sky, it’s all over.

Hopefully the withdrawals ofZane Lowe and Brodinski will have saved the organisers enough money to feasibly host this festival next year, despite turbulent economic conditions which have seen so many festivals cancelled this year. This was Rockness’ fourth year however, with this weekend as evidence, this festival appears to be well established enough to ride the storm.

Words: Christopher Panks
Pics: Euan Anderson

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We Were Promised Jetpacks @ King Tuts 15/06/09


We Were Promised Jetpacks
met at school and have come a long way since the days when they terrorised Robbie Williams fans on route to Murryfield. Adam confessed recently that back when they were just an unknown band playing covers in Darren Lackie’s parents attic (which happens to be very close to Murrayfield stadium) they would open the windows and play distorted versions of Angels to passers by. There fun came to an end though when the police were called.

Tonight’s show is an album launch for their debut, the critically acclaimed ‘These Four Walls’ and the second show of the day, having earlier played HMV on Buchanan St with Fat Cat label-mates and good friends The Twighlight Sad.

Previously we caught the cheeky Edinburgh lads supporting Port O’ Brien at the same venue last October and predicted their own headline show before too long. Tonight’s support comes from the fantastic Over The Wall and they are a sure candidate to follow hot on the Jetpacks tails.

Tuts is rammed to the raffters as the famous little venue awaits a performance of ‘These Four Walls’ in all it’s glory. Highlights tonight were of course the ridiculously catchy ‘Quiet Little Voices’. The second single of their debut ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’ begins with a driving guitar line, bristling and tense. Effortlessly combining the serenity and maturity of bands such as Sigur Rós with the impact and thunderous crash of the likes of Futureheads, on ‘Ships With Holes Will SInk’ the band’s youthful energy and furious playing is at once ambitious and bold; never over-impulsive, tonight would certainly terrorise any remaining Robbie Williams fans!

We Were Promised Jetpacks have already been featured in NME RADAR, an Independent ‘Ones To Watch’, Q Track of the Day, Daily Star ‘Profile‘, and have been played on Zane Lowe, Colin Murray and been playlisted on NME Radio.

They play T in The Park next month and acoustic in Edinburgh at Sneaky Petes on the 15th of August.

Pics: Heidi Kuisma

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Beerjacket @ Oran Mor Glasgow 17/06/09

The setting couldn’t be better for an album launch. Flickering candles light the tables and a single spotlight waits for Beerjacket to arrive. The setup is telling in its simplicity and it’s the toughest of musical challenges to face; alone with a guitar. All that you have to do to make it work is be wonderfully talented and Beerjacket happens to be just that.

‘Animosity’ is played in its entirety and enthrals the busy venue. At times it’s difficult to know where to focus, the deft guitar playing or the poised vocals, but the two are combined to perfection and present an impressive body of work.

‘Violent’ starts things off and evokes Elliott Smith at his most stripped back. There’s beautiful restraint, nothing fancy, nothing showy, just precisely what is required to let the soft vocals shine. Something in the lyrics feels heartfelt and lines like ‘What have I become these days’ rather set the tone.

It’s easy to fake melancholy, and insincerity always comes through in a song, thus the note of authenticity in songs like ‘Screaming Hallelujah’ is a joy to behold. A few stamps on the tambourine draw colour but there’s enough in the performance alone to make the song shine. Beerjacket teases light and shade from seemingly nowhere and can get toes tapping and heads nodding to something like ‘The Blues’ before carving out an air of sadness from Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ that I never knew existed.

The album sounds fantastic and the show ends with a run of old favourites which get the venue clapping along. A disarming display comes to a close with a rare encore and an audience reminded of this little known talent.

Words: Alastair Mitchell
Pic: Bart Photography

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The French Wives @ Captain’s Rest 18/06/09

The French Wives are back. They never went away of course, but guitarist Scott is back and the Wives are fully formed and writing once more. After some support slots and a successful jaunt to Rockness the band find themselves headlining in Glasgow again and a packed Captain’s Rest waits with bated breath.

Something is definitely added to the live sound in Scott’s return and seeing the band whole and with one of their main creative influences back is to see a band with a bit of a shot in the arm. Old favourites like ‘Your Friends and Mine’ have just a stab more conviction and there’s renewed vigour in the performance. Of course ‘Halloween’ and ‘Capilano’ are as entertaining as ever, but there’s something else afoot tonight.

At somewhere around the midpoint of the set there comes a moment which seasoned Wives-watchers have waited a long time for – a new song. ‘Dogfight’ fits right in. A stop start chorus and the usual glorious abundance of violin are more than enough to spark interest in more to come and the tune is well received.

We end the night in rather odd fashion with the Wives coming down into the audience and doing an acoustic rendition of Passion Pit’s ‘Sleepyhead’, a song first performed in a little caravan backstage at Rockness for the Vic Galloway BBC Radio 1 show only days earlier (listen to the full session here). Synths are replaced by the ensemble of voices, the striking motif over the chorus transposed to violin and the whole thing terribly ambitious. It works, performed with sufficient lightness of touch to let the venue go with it and provides a fine ending to the show. There are more songs on the way and, on tonight’s evidence, plenty of interested parties.

Words: Alastair Mitchell
Pic: Fraser McFadzean

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Hafdís Huld @ Brel Glasgow 18th June 09

For someone used to chart hits Brel seems a slightly odd choice of venue, but this is where former winner of best Icelandic pop album Hafdís Huld finds herself. Half her lifetime ago Hafdís had been part of GusGus, one of Iceland’s biggest ’90’s bands, along with notable member Emilíana Torrini (who can be seen at Òran Mór next week), now she is on the verge of releasing her second solo effort. Still despite Iceland hosting less than half of the population of Glasgow it must be a bizarrely quaint venue for a home country pop star on her third visit to the city.

Support comes from local favourite Jo Mango who graces us with a splendid set of sweet acoustic gems perfectly, and more chat than you would know what to do with. Jo informs the crowd of her attendance of speech therapy for talking too much learning she was in the top two percentile for talkativeness in the country, and more than backed this up with stories of exploding fish, baking disasters and murmuration.

When Hafdís takes the stage there is an odd feeling that this just might not work. A fully seated audience in a daylight filled venue does not seem the ideal setting for a chirpy blond and a sown pink hippo in a leotard. This sentiment continues throughout her first track ‘Ski Jumper’ a moderately cheesy yet delightful pop track that does not translate perfectly onto one acoustic guitar. Only guitarist Alasdair Wright joins Hafdís today, her usual three-piece band would struggle to fit onto the Brel stage. However this feeling of uncertainty is thrown out the window when Hafdís begins to talk, the singer knows how to charm a crowd coming across both endearing and funny to hilarious extremes, justifying why Phil Jupitus considers her ‘the maddest person I’ve ever interviewed’.

It is not just the onstage banter that wins over the audience, as the set continues her lovingly crafted songs enhance her credit even further. Songs about silly topics which could bewilder anyone’s imagination while simultaneously dragging them into her story book world of treasure hunting in pawn shops and old folk thinking she’s a vampire. When closer, new single ‘Kongulo’ (possibly number one in Iceland by the time this review is published) about human spider Alain Robert finishes it leaves a highly satisfied crowd who keep the girl chatting way past the music has stopped. Hafdís may not be known well in this country but she has all the qualities that could see her equal her home country success abroad. She played:

Ski Jumper
Homemade Lemonade
Tomoko
Boys and Perfume
Who Loves the Sun?
Synchronised Swimmers
Happily Ever After
Stop
Vampires
Kongulo

Words: Iain Dawson
Pics: Takeshi Suga

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Tickets onsale today

After a storming performance at Rock Ness (above) earlier this week Biffy have just announced a load of Scottish dates including two nights at the Barrowlands, tickets will be here at 9am.

Edinburgh’s EDGE festival is shaping up nicely with Frightened Rabbit already announced, Andrew Bird playing Studio 24 and Faith No More at the Corn Exchange, tickets for that show will be here at 9am; probably not for long though.

Finally as you know Brooklyn has been providing the world with some of the best alternative music over the last few years, 2009 is no different. That band this year, back with their new album Veckatimest are Grizzly Bear. Already being touted as record of the year in some circles, their show at the ABC is not to be missed, tickets here from 9am.

Pic: Euan Anderson full Rock Ness review and loads more pics to follow!

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TITP WARM UP SHOW ANNOUNCED…T BREAK STAGE LINE-UP FINALISED

The Dykeenies will be getting the good citizens of Glasgow in the mood for T in the Park early this year with a special warm-up show on Thursday 9th July at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. The Cumbernauld boys who follow the warm-up show with their T in the Park slot on Sunday 12th July on the Radio 1/NME Stage.

Tickets are £9 and available here.

The line-up for teh T-Break stage is now finalised for 2009 with the following up and coming talent joining the previously announced acts:

General Fiasco * Pearl & The Puppets * The Phantom Band * Sucioperro

Jill Jackson * Priscilla Ahn * Healthy Minds Collapse * Hip Parade * Wallis Bird

1990s * Bronto Skylift * Paper Planes * Pulled Apart By Horses * Cassidy

The Big Pink * Iain Archer * We Were Promised Jetpacks * Tommy Reilly

In other less serious news Fancy Dress Friday is also back for the second year after T in the Park was over-run last July with superheroes, giant handmade Tennent’s cans and cartoon characters. This year there will be a party in the Silent Disco in the campsite from 1pm to 5pm for all those getting involved - and a photographer based at the party plus one roaming the campsite looking for the most outlandish outfits with a winner chosen post-event for the chance to win four VIP tickets for T in the Park 2010.

Pic: David Forcier (Paper Planes @ Limbo Edinburgh)

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THE CRIBS

The Cribs have confirmed the release of their fourth album ‘Ignore The Ignorant’. Produced and mixed by Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Pil / Arcade Fire / Nick Cave) at Seedy Underbelly Studio, Laurel Canyon, LA and British Grove in London the album is the band’s first as a four –piece with the relatively new addition of guitarist Johnny Marr - and heralds a marked leap for the band on their continued upwards trajectory. Released on 7th September ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ will be available on limited edition CD / DVD, CD, download and vinyl along with other surprises tbc through Wichita Recordings . The full track listing is:

1. ‘We Were Aborted’
2. ‘Cheat On Me’
3. ‘We Share The Same Skies’
4. ‘City Of Bugs’
5. ‘Hari Kari’
6. ‘Last Year’s Snow’
7. ‘Emasculate Me’
8. ‘Ignore The Ignorant’
9. ‘Save Your Secrets’
10. ‘Nothing’
11. ‘Victim Of Mass Production’
12. ‘Stick To Yr Guns’

Preceding the album is a track that was road tested earlier this year on the band’s short run of UK dates and is called ‘Cheat On Me’. Last time I caught the guys was at the show above, Wakefields finest hit Glasgow’s Barrowlands on 29th September tickets are here!

Video: Filmed by Abbey Braden for ‘Sup Magazine’

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One for the diary

Melting Pot are delighted to hook up with their friends at Optimo to present a wee summer adventure and to be the first clubs ever to use the legendary Waverley Steamer for a party. This should be an unforgettable party and after selling 20% of ticket allocation on the first day of sale, will surely be a sell-out soon.

The Waverley River Boat Shuffle will take place on Friday 24th July and will be hosted by: JD Twitch, JG Wilkes, Simon Cordiner and Bill Brewster (DJ History / Lowlife).

Passengers must be at the Glasgow Science Centre by 7.45pm. The boat will sail at 8pm! The 3 hour sail on The Waverley will be followed by a secret location warehouse party till 3am with transport provided between venues. Tickets are a very reasonable £25 and are available from Aspecto or here.

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Temper Trap and TITP news

The amazing new single from The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition - 27th July is now accompanied by an equally spectacular video. Directed by visionary director Barnaby Roper and featuring a girl skating through space (sounds a bit cooky but watch it and you will understand) that was an idea of a close friend of the band. The Australian band who recently played a blinder at King Tuts will be back in Scotland for T in the Park next month, definitely a band to check out if you like cruising the smaller tents for upcoming talent.

In other good news regarding T in the Park, we heard today that Healthy T is back. Healthy T is a spot where festival goers can enjoy reasonably priced delicious and nutritious food while soaking up charming entertainment or taking the load off and indulging in a holistic treatment, perfect if hotdogs and donuts aren’t your bag.

Organisers have been working overtime to cram in even more tasty outlets including the award winning Food from Argyll, old favourites such as Stoats Porridge Oats, Mutley’s Crêpes and J’s Jackets and Stovies plus exotic and global fare from Japanese noodle bar Now and Zen and Johnny Baghdad’s Falafels. T in the Parkers can leave their shoes at the door and enjoy a sit-down slap-up three course meal in the sumptuous fresh sushi restaurant housed in a gorgeous yurt. Fire in the Hole will put fire in the belly with their wood-fired artisan pizzas and James Mackie Fruit and the Smoothie Shack are on hand to make sure punters are getting their fruit and veg 5-a-day…cant wait!!

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Fanfarlo Album for $1 til Independence Day

Fanfarlo’s highly acclaimed debut album, ‘Reservoir’, is being made available for just $1 from today until 4th July from the band’s website. Available to download worldwide, this amazing deal also includes four exclusive bonus tracks, not on the record.

‘Reservoir’ was Rough Trade’s Record of the Week last week where they sold all 500 copies of the special edition through the store in the first few days. Rough Trade’s take on the LP… ‘the best British album in years’ !

After the 4th July, there will be the opportunity to pre-order a new range of Fanfarlo offerings, including digipack CD, vinyl and a brand new, expanded special edition.

Keen to plough an independent furrow, Fanfarlo will make a slew of exclusive material available through the site beginning next week and leading up to the album’s release, including exclusive acoustic performances, covers, remixes and unreleased songs. Having listened to ‘Reservoir’ almost daily for the last three weeks we can’t recommend it highly enough. ‘Luna’ lifted from the album is below:

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