A few months ago Detour and Bloc+Music created an event called ‘A Wee Jaunt’ which took place around various venues and in-betweens in Glasgow. The day was a raging success and proved to everyone what you can do with some good ideas, an open mind and absolutely no money.
This time round expect bigger, better and more unusual than the last. Once again you will witness the best up and coming talent that Scotland has to offer and many, many other acts and surprises along the way.
If you wish to attend & have not yet RSVP’d, you must do so asap to
givemeabelterofadayout@hotmail.com
The event starts at 3pm this Sunday 22nd August in ST Enoch’s Square Glasgow!
Despite initial sound issues this year’s Electric Frog micro-festival offers Glasgow the opportunity to mix the old with the new, the well established with fresh local talent and more prominently forced half of Glasgow to wake up on a Monday with more than just a fuzzy head.
Handpicked local darlings such as Billy Woods (Supermax), Craig Moogrooves (Kitty Kat Klub) and Simon Cordiner (Melting Pot) who have established themselves with their respective club nights play a great mix of 80’s disco in the Street Party Room, managing to keep the damp weather at bay.
Leave it to Glasgow’s loved purveyors of punk disco Optimo then to convince 80’s seminal post punk operatives Liquid Liquid out of retirement and back on stage. Optimo who took their name from Liquid Liquid’s eponymous song and EP of the same name, warm the crowd with their infectious brand of electro tricks before the seminal New York punks take the stage. Tearing through a crowd-pleasing back catalogue of hits such as ‘Bellhead’ and ‘Dig We Must’ showcase the groups funk, dub and reggae inspired disco at its best. A short interruption to the set, due to issues with the monitors, prompts lead singer Sal Principato to promise the crowd he would continue to sing, even if he didn’t know what he was singing. The band then lurch into the xylophone and bass laden ‘Optimo’ and ‘Cavern’ which have the crowd foaming at the mouth.
The next live set comes from German duo Alter Ego who, after a minor glitch, launch into ‘Jolly Joker’ forcing the Optimo tent to raise their hands in the air and dance until their feet bleed. Roman and Jorn who have dedicated themselves to techno, electro and pop over the years are alluring to watch, twisting and turning a dazzling display of knobs and buttons in what seems to be a frugal manner to produce some catchy techno hooks. Tracks such as ‘Why Not’, ‘Tubeaction’ and ‘Beat the Bush’ produce such an almighty clang that the whole tent reverberates with every simulated electronic beat. However, it was the duo’s hit ‘Joker’ that literally has people running towards the stage to dance.
Felix da Housecat, who plays his set to a somewhat sweaty crowd in the Sensu Warehouse, normally reserved for raves and art exhibitions, proves to be a crowd pleaser. The legendary Chicago producer plays an upbeat set full of classic house gems.
Headliners Simian Mobile Disco closes proceedings to a packed out Optimo Marque. The production and remix team comprised of James Ford and Jas Shaw, originally of indie outfit Simian, play a blistering live set of electro-house hits. Playing with a mountain of technical gear that saw the pair switched from playing laptops to keyboards with a fair amount of switches being fondled in between. Taking a diverse mix of tracks from albums Attack Decay Sustain Release and Temporary Pleasure the pair manage to reduce the Glasgow crowd to a sweaty pulp. Sing along tracks such as ‘Hustler’, ‘It’s the Beat’ and ‘I Believe’ have the crowd crooning the lyrics at a deafening roar. While electro-house fuelled hits such as ‘Tits and Acid’ and ‘Audicity of Huge’ prove the London duo as one of the most interesting acts of the moment.
Shaw says he feels tracks from upcoming album Delicacies & Delicatessen gained a popular reaction from the Glasgow crowd. The album sees the pair leaning towards their more techno-based influences is to feature tracks named after popular food dishes from around the globe.
Graffiti art, face painting and space reserved for installations prove the Electric Frog, in it’s more popular second year, has more to offer than just sizzling beats. It can be difficult to get a good few hundred Glaswegian punters dancing, especially outside in the drizzle on a Sunday afternoon, but the Frog succeeds in a grand fashion. Spectacular.
Calling all artists, bands, managers, agents and record labels interested in showcasing at SXSW or MIDEM
Creative Scotland, in partnership with SxSW, MIDEM and UKTI and the Cultural Enterprise Office are hosting an information session for artists, bands, managers, agents, record labels interested in showcasing at SXSW or MIDEM.
The session, which takes place on 31 August 2010 in Glasgow at the Glasgow ABC2 at 7pm, will cover WHY you’d want to showcase, WHEN the best time to do this is and HOW you go about planning and executing a successful showcasing campaign. We’ll cover how much it’ll cost, funding available, PR, visas, on the ground support and everything you’ll need to know about these events before deciding whether or when to apply.
Scottish artists and managers who have showcased in the past will talk about their experiences and there will be an opportunity to meet representatives from both events. Details of speakers will be announced shortly. The event is presented by Creative Scotland with SXSW, MIDEM and UKTI in partnership with Cultural Enterprise Office.
How to book: This event is free of charge but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email events@culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk or call 0844 544 999
To finish their yearlong celebrations of 10 Years of ATP, the event that started it all is back. In 1999 Belle & Sebastian curated The Bowlie Weekender, the event that became All Tomorrow’s Parties, and this December they will return to headline and curate Bowlie 2.
All Tomorrow’s Parties has been promoting festivals and concerts throughout the world for the last ten years. It was founded in the wake of Belle and Sebastian’s Bowlie Weekender, with Mogwai curating in the unusual setting of Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands. Since then the festival has appeared every year and has expanded across the globe continuing to set itself apart from large scale corporate festivals by staying intimate and fan-friendly. The line-ups are chosen by significant bands or artists which results in eclectic events that combine performances by legendary and influential acts with appearances by the latest crop of experimental artists from any (and every) musical genre. The festival has become more successful with every passing year, and ATP events have taken place in the UK, USA, Europe and Australia, with past curators including Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mike Patton, My Bloody Valentine, Portishead, Sonic Youth, Slint, and Tortoise.
For ten years ATP has set itself apart from other festivals by embracing seemingly disparate artistic genres, with events featuring art exhibitions, cinema programmes, spoken word performances and stand up comedy. It’s been called ‘Unforgettable’ by Spin and ‘the most enjoyable festival experience of our reporter’s life’ by Pitchfork. It has spawned an acclaimed concert series (Don’t Look Back), a record label (ATP Recordings), and the release of a feature length documentary about the festivals from Warp X, titled All Tomorrow’s Parties, out now on DVD. For more information and the trailer go here.
The festival weekend will run from the 10th - 12th December at Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead featuring around 40 bands picked by Belle & Sebastian. The first exciting set of line-up additions will be confirmed on Monday at the general on-sale.
This will be the second of two festival weekends from ATP this December. The curators for the first weekend (3rd - 5th Dec) will be announced on the 9th April.
Tickets for BOWLIE 2 are priced at £165.00pp for room only and £175.00pp for self catering and go on sale this coming Monday 29th March from www.atpfestival.com Limited pre-sale tickets are available now to ATP priority members and the Belle & Sebastian fanclub/mailing list. Go here to buy tickets.
Scotland’s leading music business night, Born To Be Wide, is to host a series of seminars and showcases, to take place in Edinburgh on Thursday 8 April. The Wide Days event will see key music industry figures participate in a series of daytime panels at the Voodoo Rooms, as well as being treated to some of the hottest local talent in the evening. If you are in a band, or manage a band and want to play one of the major Scottish festivals this year, this evening is essential for you!
Veteran music managers Keith Harris [Stevie Wonder], Rab Andrew [Texas, Primal Scream, Paper Planes , Kassidy] and Bruce Findlay [Abefeldy, Simple Minds] are confirmed for a seminar about music management. And organisers of Scotland’s largest music events T In The Park,Rockness, Wickerman and The Edge, will explain how to get on to a festival bill in a discussion chaired by the BBC’s Vic Galloway.
A seminar titled What Next? includes the founder of the world’s largest independent digital music company, The Orchard, and an expert in online promotion. It will provide suggestions for how musicians, managers and labels can best use technology and highlight how they should respond to existing trends.
“To get to see such an amazing line up of speakers would normally involve paying hundreds of pounds to attend a conference, or at the very least taking a three hour train journey to Inverness for Go North,” says Wide Days co-organiser Olaf Furniss. “Our aim is to make this accessible to people by keeping the price low and hosting it on their doorstep.”
Tickets are £30, but for members of the Musicians’ Union or anybody ordering before March 21, they will be available for £20, tickets are here.
Furniss adds that the advice given out on the legal panel, which includes former Sex Pistols and Bryan Ferry lawyer Steven Fisher, is likely to be worth several hundred pounds alone! The panel is supported by the Musicians’ Union and Fisher will also host a presentation about partnership law, a legal area which bands ignore at their peril.
In the evening the seminar guests will be taken on a tour of Edinburgh and its venues, where they will be treated to a selection of emerging Scottish acts, before being invited to play their favourite records at the closing party. Free tickets will be made available for the gigs and closing party from Friday 19 March.
SEMINARS
-HOW TO GET ONTO A FESTIVAL BILL
Helen Chalmers [Wickerman], Dave Corbett [T In The Park, The Edge], Rob Hicks [Rockness, Belladrum], Stuart Nisbet [Hogmanay Edinburgh], P.C Rae [Slottsfjell, Norway], Moderator, Vic Galloway [BBC]
-I AM THE LAW – ESSENTIAL LEGAL ADVICE
Dawn Barraclough, Steven Fisher, Murray Buchanan
- WHAT NEXT? PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Scott Cohen [The Orchard], Ruth Daniel [Un-Convention], Andrew Dubber [Birmingham University], Will Page [Chief Economist, PRS]
- SPEAK TO THE MANAGEMENT
Rab Andrew [Texas, Primal Scream], Mark Bailey [Woodenbox], Keith Harris [Stevie Wonder], Bruce Findlay [Aberfeldy, The Silencers, Simple Minds]. Moderator, Vic Galloway [BBC Scotland]
Glasgow quintet French Wives released their debut single Halloween/Dogfight on 26th October. Bursting with melody, the band creates a luscious marriage of sound that translates into vibrant, energetic songs reminiscent of classic Postcard Records era pop.
A year of incessant gigging has whet the appetite of audiences across Scotland and seen the band both mature in their song writing and hone their live sound. Recent festival performances at Stag and Dagger, Rockness and Loopallu, along with a debut Scottish tour have deservedly earned the band the reputation of one to watch amongst peers and press alike.
The exciting double a-side reflects the bands many and varied talents. Halloween is a perfectly crafted, atmospheric infusion of vocal harmonies and soaring violin that builds to a beautiful crescendo, whilst Dogfight is an energetic, biting number, embedding itself in the listener.
Produced by Gavin Thomson of the uniquely talented Findo Gask and released on Glasgow label Instinctive Racoon Records this is a record with the simmering energy of the Scottish music scene at its very heart.
To celebrate this Saturday (Halloween) they are having a Halloween party at Glasgow’s Research Club. Support will come from Ross Clark’s new band (well new name) Three Blind Wolves
Doors will open at 8.30 with Three Blind Wolves on about 10. The main event, the Wives will be on stage at 11pm surely in costume!!? We strongly advise getting there early as this is sure to be a sell out.
‘Halloween/Dogfight’ is now available in store in Avalanche Glasgow and will shortly be made available throughout independent record stores in Scotland. There is also an in-store performance in Avalanche at 1pm on the 28th of October.
You’ll be able buy copies of the single on Saturday so remember to bring some extra pennies and pick one up!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
