January, 2009

As Celtic Connections drew to a close this weekend, the Old Fruitmarket saw a performance of two diverse but fascinating bands on Friday. The much heralded Highlands and Islands group Blazin’ Fiddles, with their trademark showcasing of traditional Celtic music delivered with sucker-punch ferocity, headlined the evening, with the support from the Quebecoise all female a capella group Galant, tu perds ton temps - translated roughly as ‘Lover-boy, you’re wasting your time’.

After a delayed start to the proceedings, the Quebec quintet took some time to warm up and get the restless crowd on their side. But in full flow they were inspired. The group did justice to their name, reciting songs of female empowerment and female heritage. Without cliche, this truly was a real girl-power group worthy of the title. Some songs were no more than hums and beats, backed by syncopated percussion, and had an almost African world music edge to them. Unexpected, but worth stumbling across.

Blazin’ Fiddles came on stage around 11pm, and immediately set about getting the hands clapping. At first it all seemed a bit too much like a band going through the motions, and attempts at whipping up the crowd seemed slightly contrived. The music was relentless, but lacked a certain spark. It took a change of pace, to some slower, more heartfelt tunes, to really grab the audience’s attention. These pieces showed off a more multilayered arrangement than the sounds of 5 fiddles in unison.

That said, when the band picked up the pace again, the audience was more than happy to go with them, and this time the energy was really there. Apart from a short break to showcase a short country and western duet, this was exhilarating, raucous stuff from the band . A set of short ‘angry Highland’ reels was punctuated by cheers from the crowd, and the Old Fruitmarket was soon scene to a cascade of mini-ceilidhs, both on the floor and up on the balcony. Both performers and crowd had clearly shaken off their earlier sluggishness. The dancing continued right to the end of the extended encore and no doubt on to the late night Festival Club.

In short, Friday evening was exactly what Celtic Connections does so well. If Fiddles were the Celtic, then Galant were the connection. The pairing of these acts summed up the curious link between Scottish and world music that defines this vital festival.

Words: Graeme Jarvie

Set to play at SXSW this year, Come On Gang! have emerged from the Edinburgh music scene to claim due attention. Full of infectious energy, the Edinburgh trio shone in their home town last night at Cabaret Voltaire.

The material is guaranteed to get your head bopping and toes tapping. The delightful riffs over-laid with Sarah Banat Jones’ keening, lyrical voice became an instant hit with the audience, pulling them away from the bar and onto the floor.

The highlights of the set were ‘Out of Control’ and ‘Wheels’. ‘Out of Control’ had a harsher and rawer edge than the other material, giving a punk attitude to the sound that was otherwise quite commercial and accessible. ‘Wheels’ is a rollicking tune with a pervasive beat, the sheer enthusiasm of the players earning a few whoops from the crowd.

You can catch them at the same venue on the 9th of March and then post SXSW at the Hinterland Festival in Glasgow on April 30th.

Words: Claire Cameron
Pictures: Joanna Rozniak

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Casiokids from Bergen Norway came to our attention several weeks ago on a freezing Scottish winters day dreaming of sunshine and trawling the list of artists playing SXSW this year. The funky name was enough to lead us on a trip to their myspace to listen to the tunes. Luckilly the group happened to be playing Glasgow with Of Montreal the quirky highly rated Georgian group mid way through a global tour to promote their 2008 album Skeletal Lamping. As much as I enjoyed Of Montreal we were down to see the Casiokids. Their debut album ‘Fuck Midi’ is all sold out but there is a slew of singles slated for release this year with brand new material.

Tonight’s show had no signs of the stage theatrics and shadow puppet show the group are famous for in their homeland, nevertheless the short set of mostly new tunes included Grønt lys i alle ledd’, ‘Togens hule and ‘Verdens største land’ finishing with the excellent next single ‘Fot i hose’ (below). They departed to cries of ‘more’ from the suddenly packed downstairs venue at the top of Byres Road. Singer Ketil Kinden Endresen has a certain star quality and it goes further than his passing resemblance to Beck

“we go for coffee with Röyksopp in Bergen”

he casually drops into the chat after the show and one gets the impression fans of other Bergan bands and the likes of James Yuill, Errors and Fuck Buttons are really going to love these guys. 

Post show Of Montreal joined the kids for some ‘banter’ in the upstairs bar, before they shot off to catch their ferry to Ireland, the kids however disappeared into the mist that is Sauchiehall Street, only Belfast will know if they survived!

There are strong rumors of a headline Edinburgh show in early March so keep your eyes peeled!

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The debut album by Petit Mal, electropop offshoot of the cult London collective Antifamily, is a unique combination of time-travelling synth pop, leftfield intelligence and ice cold passion, Petit Mal, AKA Ben Seymour and Melanie Gilligan have created a whirlpool of complex emotions, beautifully austere vocals, and compelling electromechanical melodies that burn themselves into the memory.

With banks going under every week, their track ‘Crisis in the Credit System’ is the soundtrack to these turbulent times and is also featured as the theme music to a 4-part fictional film of the same name that Gilligan has scripted and directed, released online in September 2008. Making the connections between ‘Northern Rock’ and ‘Das Kapital’, the film is a witty and brilliant take on the financial crisis and features an original soundtrack and extra dialogue from Seymour:

With lyrics of surrealist beauty and naked emotion, curious, romantic and caustic by turns, Petit Mal’s first album is a unique amalgam of intellect and passion. One finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist and another tugging out the best of ’80s electro and post-punk experimentalism.

It is released on Difficult Fun Records on Monday 2nd February 2009 and already has the Guardian and Zuckerkick in Germany all flustered!

The Rakes release their third album ‘KLANG’ on the 23rd of March, with the single ‘1989′ one week earlier (16 March) on 7″ and download. The album was recorded at Planet Roc Studios in Berlin and produced by Chris Zane (Les Savy Fav, The Walkmen, Passion Pit).

The Londoners decided they wanted to record in a fresh and exciting new environment, so they relocated to an industrial area in the old Communist part of Berlin.

“The London music scene is so dull - it’s like wading through a swamp of shit. We just wanted to be somewhere more inspiring,” said Rakes singer Alan Donohoe. “Someone suggested Berlin. It didn’t take long for everyone to agree, we packed our bags and moved here just like that. We love it.”

They lived and recorded in the grounds of a Bauhaus-designed, Soviet radio station that had been converted into a studio. On working with producer Chris Zane, Alan Donohoe adds: “The album is raw, playful, exciting, complex and schizophrenic - much like the personality of Berlin itself. It couldn’t be more of a fitting place to record it.”

The Rakes made their name singing about everyday events, 22 grand jobs, going to the pub, sleeping around, hangovers and their new song, “The Light from your Mac” sounds like a definite return to form, you can listen below.

They hit the Oran Mor in Glasgow on April 25th tickets are here.

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California’s Delta Spirit brought some west coast sunshine to Glasgow the other night with a captivating high energy performance at King Tuts. Less than a week after playing Jimmy Kimmel in LA the lads are in the UK for a brief stint of gigs that will hopefully land them some festival slots this summer. They then head back to US the for an extensive tour taking in over 20 cities from San Fransisco to New York.

They stomped through their set, complete with harmonicas and an actual dustbin lid to accompany the piano plonking honky tonk rhythms of the song ‘Trash Can’, B-Listed on bbc 6 music recently. Led by vocalist Matthew Vasquez, who sings with a conviction and an impact that can’t help but draw in the crowd, their toe-tapping blend of rock music has an very Americana feel to it, and the blues-rock rhythms and epic hooks revitalise any wavering attentions.

Supported by Glasgow’s French Wives, the evening certainly was a transatlantic affair. Guitarist Scott has gone away on a study exchange to America for the semester, so it was Chad from Paper Planes who did a fine job in his first outing with the band as temporary stand in guitarist.

If the man from T in The Park was in the audience tonight, its a safe bet to expect both these bands on the bill.

The complete Delta Spirit set list is below.

Bleeding Bells
Strange Vine
Please Come On
Streetwalker
Bushwick Blues
Parade
Children
Trashcan
Crippler King

Pics: Tomas Hermoso
Words: Emily Macintosh

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Old analogue and trashy keyboards, pop melodies and a digital & shadow puppet theatre make up the Norwegian electro-troupe that is CASIOKIDS. The band sprung out of an idea to make electronic music more visual, but have developed further into being a collective of theatre blended with pop melodies often sung in their native language and influenced by afro-beat, techno and out-and-out pop. The music draws similarities and takes inspiration from Paul Simon’s “Graceland”, Ivor Cutler, King Tubby, Bob Hund, Cornelius and Fela Kuti.

October 2008 saw the historic release of the FIRST EVER Norwegian language pop single in the UK. Refusing to accept the notion of b-sides, Casiokids released the Double A sided single ‘Grønt lys i alle ledd’/'Togens hule’ on Moshi Moshi Records. The band became the latest in a select group of artists to have released through Moshi’s Singles Club including the likes of Late of the Pier, Lykke Li, Florence and The Machine and Kate Nash. The success of the first single will now be followed up by the second ‘Verdens største land’/'Fot i hose’ in a series of 7”s the band plan to release in 2009.

With the release of their second single Casiokids seem poised to be the latest in a long line of artists from the celebrated Bergen scene to rattle the cages of jaded audiences and industry. Think Røyksöpp, Datarock, Annie, Kings of Convenience and The Whitest Boy Alive and you have some idea of the international potential contained in this rainy city on the west coast of Norway which Casiokids call home.

‘Verdens største land’/'Fot i hose’ will be released on Moshi Moshi on March 2nd and they will support Of Montreal at Oran Mor next Tuesday the 26th of January, a headlining UK tour in March will follow before they shoot off to play at SXSW.

Franz Ferdinand played their first Scottish date of 2009 the other night at Edinburgh’s new 1500 capacity Picture House. The sold out crowd were treated to several songs from their new Dan Carey-produced album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, recorded between Glasgow and London and due for release later this month.

The band looked sprightly and full of vigour. Recently released single ‘Ulysses’ the most recognisable of the new crop got the biggest reception but the instantly catchy ‘What She Came For’ may well turn out to be the live highlight of the new record. Opener ‘Bite Hard’ was warmly received but the crowd really went for it when ‘Do You Want To’ kicked in. Unsurprisingly the biggest cheer was for the ever fresh ‘Take Me Out‘.

The band looked relaxed and appreared to relish being back on the larger stage, they even found time for some banter with the crowd “its great to hear all the Edinburgh accents shouting back”, maybe having just toured Australia Alex was getting confused, it’s well documented fact that there are a lot of Auzzies in the Scottish capital!

Franz are famous for having excellent support bands, the likes of Arcade Fire, Editors and more recently upcoming American outfit, Airborne Toxic Event have all opened. For the Picture House it was the turn of fellow weegies We are the Physics, the Franz boys certainly approved as they could be seen shaking their hips in the shadows side of stage.

Tickets are sold out for the first of their two night Barrowland residency in March but you can still buy tickets for the night after, if you want one, better get clicking before the album drops!

The full set list is below,

Bite hard
Do You Want To
Matinee
Live alone
Fallen
No You Girls Never Know
Walk away
Take Me Out
Ulysees
40
What She Came For
Michael
Turn it on
Outsiders
This fire

Pics: Tomas Hermoso

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A Scottish Celebration not to be missed, Burns’ Night is an annual, extraordinary celebration of the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796).

Celebrated across the globe around the Bard’s birthday (January 25th), there are several interesting events going on over the weekend.

On Saturday night Oxjam are putting on a traditional Burns Supper in the Butterfly and Pig on Bath Street Glasgow, a Ceilidh will follow Scottish cuisine, speeches and poetry readings, there is also free entry to the the Buff Club included. Tickets here.

As part of the Celtic Connections festival there are also numerous Burns related events going down over the weekend, if you have some stamina then head over to Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on Saturday at 12.00pm for a midday-to-midnight performance of 250 Burns songs.

Perhaps the highlight though is the Jamaican Burns Night on Sunday 25th at the Old Fruitmarket with Sly & Robbie, Edward II and Orange Juice Dub Arkestra, guests also include Sharon Shannon, Edwyn Collins and Karine Polwart. An interesting take on Burns, the evening will explore the many themes his work shares with Jamaican music, the Bard himself would no doubt approve of this unique mini-carnival of Scottish and reggae sounds, sights and tastes, as if all that wasn’t enough, Jamaican food is also included.

‘Everybody’ is Gold Teeth’s debut single and coming from the suburbs it is the direct response to the callout laid down by ‘Township Funk’ or ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’. Scenes of mass adoration, early radio hype (winner of radio1 DJ Zane Loweʼs weekly ʻFresh Meatʼ competition) and a groove catchier than anything you could pick up down your local NHS hospital.

Gold Teeth are playing the Flying Duck (Smashed Hits-club night) on February 25th.

Talking of up and coming acts playing club nights, Little Boots is booked up for Optimo on March 1st, expect a line down the street for that then!

Hotly tipped London band Fanfarlo have just finished recording their debut album, ‘Reservoir’ in NY with Peter Katis (his wedding picture featured on the cover of the National’s awesome Boxer album he produced).

The young upstarts are confirmed to play SXSW this year and also happen to be one of Bowie’s favourite new bands. They have just announced some Scottish dates for February,

25 - SECC, Glasgow (w/ Snow Patrol)
26 - AECC, Aberdeen (w/ Snow Patrol)
27 - Captains Rest, Glasgow (headline)

Here you can watch their rather fancy new video for their tune Harold T. Wilkins.

On 22 January 2009, young folks in Aberdeen will get the chance to go to a free gig at The Tunnels, hosted by Platform2, an overseas volunteering scheme for 18-25 year olds. The event runs from 7-9pm and will feature a live set from up and coming Scottish indie band, Sergeant.

Platform2 offers young people who would not normally be able to afford it, the opportunity to volunteer in South Africa, Ghana, Peru or India for 10 weeks free of charge, that’s 10 weeks away from the cold wet Scottish winter!