April, 2010

When Fuck Buttons supported Mogwai a couple of years ago they were unashamedly loud and experimental even by Mogwai fans’ standards. Now encapsulate the room-bursting mood felt by a minority of that crowd, and place it into the hollow ambiance of a packed out headline show at The Arches, back last October for show at Stereo tonight is by far the biggest show they have played in Glasgow so far.

The Worcester duo stormed onto the stage with lead single ‘Surf Solar’ from recent second album ‘Tarot Sport’, merging the original version with even more Fuck Buttons-esque drone. What followed was an hour long orgy of dark yet euphoric noise music from only the best. Striking out tunes from the aforementioned ‘TS’ as well as 2008’s critical success of a debut ‘Street Horrrsing’, the duo fused their songs together in a craftsman-like yet almost messy way. ‘Rough Steez’ stood out as being one of the few songs where you could quite plainly tell what song it actually was, alongside the unforgettable rhythm in ‘Surf Solar’ and the opening fuzzy tuneage of ‘Bright Tomorrow’. The entire gig was just plain dreamlike, an ordinary room where you were literally breathing the euphoria. Even the most sober person in the room could fail to lose themselves inside the worldly trance-like features of ‘Olympians’ (a set highlight) or ‘The Lisbon Maru’.

The definite peak came at around three quarters of the way into the set, when subtley crawled its way into the set, we were treated to a delicacy in ‘Flight of the Feathered Serpent’, which at points nearly even reached the levels of conventional electro beats (if you don’t know FB’s music, trust me, conventional is not them).

This is a band which two years ago broke the boundaries of the already alternative-sounding ambient scene to create a drone-sound which ganged up on post-rock and dream-music to bully them into submission. I didn’t even notice how loud they were until I went into a shop after the gig, only to not be able to hear a word the shopkeepers were saying!

Words: Hamish Gibson
Pics: Alan Dunlop

It doesn’t take much to fill the Captain’s Rest. Of course, you would notice if it was empty, but so small are its confines that packing it to capacity takes little to no effort and consequently, often presents a challenge to one’s vision, comfort and occasionally even the ability to breathe. More often than not though, when pressed so close together under the relentless heat, conjoined in profuse sweating and battered by point-blank noise, the intensity and excitement is so overwhelming that, well, it’s worth it. Tonight in particular is one of those nights when the effort and struggle to even see the stage is rewarded with impassioned and - the latter two especially - unforgiving performances.

First off, making the most of the fashionably late tendencies of this evening’s crowd, local sonic travellers Prayer Rug confuse the dedicated early-birds with a mesmerizing psych-rock trip, completing the aesthetic by sporting bare feet and matching robes. Droning loops, heavily effected searing guitars and distorted synth textures are led by a rhythm section so smooth in its repetition and grooves, that it manages to keep a potentially bewildered crowd utterly fixated. Chilled out and engrossing, the good vibes continue to resonate post-performance, but it’s not long before the mood takes a much darker turn.

Enter Divorce. For those who don’t already know, Divorce - a five-piece from Glasgow - seem to have a penchant for testing your aural resilience, spending their half hour-or-so sets pumping out frantic, terrorizing noise. As awkward as it might be to take sometimes, their performance tonight is epic - a truly ball-busting, and - in this writer’s case, being pressed against the PA stack - stomach-churning bout of thrashy discordance, steered with confidence and unrepentant anger. With tracks like ‘Disciples’ and ‘Early Christianity’ injecting some raw grooves into the mix too, there is as much head-banging as there is wincing, but it’s all good.

Finally, the main reason everyone has made their pilgrimage to the ‘rest tonight, LA’s HEALTH modestly take to the stage. After briefly checking their levels in silence - prompting a wave of awkward laughs and coughs that are subsequently shushed - the band explode in an outbreak of crushing, maniacal noise. It’s pretty much seamless from here on in, with every member bar the drum frantically mashing pedals, pushing buttons, howling, battering drums and dancing uncontrollably for about an hour. Despite their friendly demeanour when addressing the crowd, the smile-less expressions on their faces reflect the band’s sheer focus.

‘Triceratops’ rips through the noise early on, followed closely by the clattering drum destruction of ‘Crimewave’ with the crowd being kept on their toes throughout the carnage with jaws wide open and bodies swaying casually in unison. New favourites such as ‘Die Slow’ and ‘We Are Water’ - from the exceptional ‘Get Color’ album - help bolster an already solid set which, when met with roaring gratitude from tonight’s attendees, only disappoints when it’s over. Even another hour wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the cramped masses, but the effects of this one will no doubt ring out through the rest of the night regardless.

Words: Ryan Drever
Pics: Sam Fenn

Tonight saw Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven take up Scottish soil for the first time in their seven years together opening to warm reception from an eager yet not entirely packed Captain’s Rest. The band’s first European tour had been struck by the volcanic ash scenario, which has restricted all travel in northern Europe, effectively leaving the guys stranded in Spain just last week. However, they have made it here tonight and after successful shows London and Manchester the band are buzzing as the UK leg of the tour runs without problem.

The moustachioed three-piece certainly do not disappoint as they break into the set and build and build without ever dropping pace. There are times in the set when you are drawn to thinking when is this momentum going to go off the rails but all credit the band as they cruise comfortably from track to track mostly taken from only recently UK released latest album ‘Beast Rest Forth Mouth’.

‘Ultimate Satisfaction’ builds slowly but Jon Philpot and co eventually brings the track to a superb crescendo as the crowd lap up every note. ‘Wholehearted Mess’ also proves a high point of the set as Philpot sways on spot in an assured almost camp manner powering out ‘dig out, dig out, dig out…’ while the rhythm section look cool and confident taking on the adoration from the crowd. Ending the set with crowd favourite ‘Lovesick Teenagers’ proves a fitting end to a nonstop set which certainly stepped up to anything anyone was asking for them to terms of unbounded quality.

If you’re lucky enough to be hitting the Green Man Festival this summer be sure to pop along and catch them at so far their only announced UK festival appearance.

Words: Iain Dawson
Pics: Ingrid Mur

With the release of Frightened Rabbit’s 3rd album ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’ and their March UK tour – their biggest yet - a complete sell out, 2010 has seen the band’s star continue it’s steady ascendance. There were fevered scenes at SXSW shows (their 3rd consequitive visit to the festival), followed by a sold out European tour, but the momentum has been brought to an abrupt halt by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, forcing the band to cancel their Coachella appearance at the weekend (17th April) and postponing the start of their US tour which was due to start today (19th April). However the band are in the process of confirming their summer festival schedule and release a new single ‘Living In Colour’ through FatCat on 14th June. So far their schedule looks like:

12th June – Bellahouston Park, Glasgow (with Snow Patrol, Band Of Horses)
27h June – Glastonbury Festival (Other Stage)
10th July – T In The Park
15th Aug – Summer Sundae, Leicester

Pic: Euan Anderson

Glasgow based outfit Three Blind Wolves have been kicking around for sometime and after a couple of releases and a name change they have produced a mini-album that fully displays their talents. The band, formerly known as Ross Clark and the Scarfs Go Missing, produce music that on the surface sounds light hearted and tuneful but under closer inspection the lyrics speak a very different story.

Album opener “Hotel” showcases the band’s blue grassy-Mumford and Sons-esque reputation, with their Muddy Waters style guitars and the ability to make heart-rending lyrics sound heart-warming with vast use of climbing and climaxes. After a few listens, singer Ross Clark’s crooning makes you feel sorry for him but the tune changes so vastly in just over five minutes that it could be a soundtrack to a Scottish four-season day.

“Black Bowl Park” launches straight into the main riff with a James Brown-style scream forming an opening to a true feel-good ballad. The tune’s gutsy guitars and euphoric harmonies create a vivid picture of 50’s America driving Cadillac’s down Sunset Boulevard but since it’s Glasgow, we’ll say driving down to Ayr in a Skoda. Gorgeous.

A number of the tracks on the album begin very slowly and build into something more hopeful showing the band’s capability to keep you listening and entertained. “Emily Rose” has a constant drum beat and bass riff layered beautifully with desperate harmonies wailing for a lost love. “Hopeless Romantic” again sounds like being from a 50’s American diner, sipping on a milkshake listening to Chuck Berry or The Beach Boys. Just when you think that’s all it’s got, Clark chants about finding porn magazines and you instantly know you’re is heading for the abyss when he whales “someone take this heart away, I’m going to break it!” over strong, defined drum beats.

“Captain of the Ship” conjures-up a nautical theme with a very slow chorus, like the Wolves are tired of sailing or the ship is sinking. Lyrics like “smoking weed like there’s no tomorrow” and “broken teardrops” disguise the subject matter well until the end when Clark sings “I’m the Captain of a ship that’s going down”.

Final track, the self-titled “Three Blind Wolves”, begins with a monotonous synthesizer with the paramount feature being what is being sung. The song is the most raw on Sound of the Storm and sounds as if it is documenting a heartbreak with “don’t leave I need you more” being chanted in the band’s wonderful harmonic style. It’s almost like a desperate plea for a lover to come back singing “I had no dreams last night” and “a dream, what does that feel like to you?”

All in all the Wolves, all four of them, have created a detailed record of melancholy that easily holds its ground against some of Glasgow’s more widely recognised artists.

Words: Chloe Sinclair

Glasgow’s hardcore scene has never been thriving, yet Stereo is packed wall to wall for Rolo Tomassi.

Throats are first to hit the stage and within seconds of beginning are flying kicking, stomping and guitar throwing their way around the stage. Opening with ‘Comedown’, the energy onstage doesn’t seem to rub off on the crowd, bar the few nodding heads down the front. As Hardcore as you’ll find, Throats manage to blast through their entire set in just over 10 minutes, before scampering offstage timidly without hardly a word spoken throughout the whole set.

Next up is California’s Trash Talk, who open their set with bassist Lee screaming into the mic alone, with the other band members setting up their gear onstage. Bar a handful of diehard fans pitting in the centre of the room the crowd are fairly static, until the new single ‘Explode’ is played, which is exactly what happened to Stereo. The front row spilling onto the stage, the majority of the people in the room are now ferociously hunting down lead singer Spencer’s mic to scream the words back to him, circle pitting towards the back of the room or ‘hardcore dancing’ at the stages edge. The next song, ‘Walking Disease’, leading into the final parts of their set, send the room into overdrive. Bassist Lee climbs onto the fire exit mid song whilst guitarist Sam swings from the roof. Meanwhile the lead singer is being crowd surfed all over the room using every last ounce of energy to squeeze out the words. The average song played throughout their set barely even lasted a minute long, but that seemed to make no difference as the band dragged themselves offstage with just enough energy to thank the crowd for being ‘such good sports’. It seems Rolo Tomassi have a lot of work to do to keep up with the pace of the night so far.

Rolo Tomassi enter the stage to strobe lights and a long, mellow intro. They seem to float through the first two songs without much crowd movement at all; it seems as if they were waiting for something. That something was song three, crowd favourite ‘I Love Turbulence’ that lights up the room. The hooky guitar intro sends the crowd into turmoil not a single person in the room isn’t involved in the chaos. The first minute showcases crowd surfing, kids head jogging over each other to reach the stage, a massive pit in the centre of the room: Stereo is alive. The breakdown in middle of the song provides some breathing time until everything reverts back to the anarchy when singer Eva Spence begins roaring down the microphone once more. This was the pace for the rest of the set, ‘Jealous Bones’ being another crowd favourite.

Words: Callum Ayers

Edinburgh’s top Indie night LIMBO are giving away five pairs of tickets to Limbo this Saturday night (17th April) with headliners Zoey Van Goey (plus Chris Bradley, X-Lion Tamer and DJ Ed Jupp from 17 Seconds). Winners will also get copies of CDs from all the acts involved, more swag from the 17 Seconds label (including Aberfeldy and The Dirty Cuts) plus a copy of the Limbo Live CD.

Over in Glasgow The Dirty Cuts will also be playing for free on Otago Lane on Saturday afternoon at 3pm as part of Record Shop Day and then at Sleazy’s later that evening

All you have to do is re-subscribe to the new and improved Limbo mailing list in order to be entered into the draw.

Pic: Tomas Hermoso

Having just finished an intimate sold out three-date UK tour (where they were watched by Morrissey, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke of The Smiths), The Drums are delighted to announce the release of debut album “The Drums” on June 7th. It’s preceded by new single “Forever and Ever Amen” on May 31st.

The Drums’ two June headline shows @ the 900 capacity venue, Heaven are now SOLD OUT, but the band will headline the Junction Cambridge on June 29th as a warm up for their support slot with Kings of Leon at Hyde Park, London the following night. If that wasnt enough they have been confirmed for Glastonbury and T in The Park!

Album tracklisting: 1. Best Friend 2. Me and the Moon 3. Let’s Go Surfing 4. Book of Stories 5. Skippin’ Town 6. Forever and Ever Amen 7. Down By The Water 8. It Will All End in Tears 9. We Tried 10. I Need Fun in my Life 11. I’ll Never Drop My Sword 12. The Future

Pic: Bart Photography @ Classic Grand Glasgow

To time with the release of Marina and the Diamond’s new single “I Am Not A Robot” through 679 on April 26th, a competition has been launched for the best video interpretation of the song.

The brilliant official video by Rankin and Chris (above) was very much a creative experiment and Marina would like to see what budding music video directors have to offer. It can be as high-tech or as web-can sing-a-long as you like.

The winner of the competition will receive a £250 cash prize and a flip cam. Two runners up will also receive flip cams.

To submit your video, it needs to be uploaded via your account to YouTube, and then submitted via the official group here.

For more details, visit the YouTube group or www.marinaandthediamonds.com

The link above is a clip from Marina’s forthcoming UK tour visuals, shot on Hollywood Boulevard, and is also Marina’s very own entry into the Robot Re-Make video competition! Marina plays a SOLD OUT show at Glasgow’s QMU on 29th of May and will also be making an appearance at T in The Park. If you cant wait until then you can check her out on Jules Holland last week!

In anticipation of the release of ‘ZEBRA’ as part of Record Store Day this forthcoming Saturday – 17th April – Beach House who we recently caught at King Tuts are offering the world a double whammy of treats. Firstly, ‘ZEBRA’ will be available forFREE DOWNLOAD. Secondly, you will be able to stream the new and exclusive jam ‘The Arrangement’ – which will also appear on this 12” release.

Along with ‘The Arrangement’ there will be another new song titled ‘Baby’, as well as a Cough Syrup Remix of ’10 Mile Stereo’, which has been recreated by the band themselves.

This will be a super limited release with only 500 copies pressed, and will be available at any good independent retailer.

Tracklisting…

1. Zebra
2. The Arrangement
3. Baby
4. 10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix)

Pic: Euan Anderson @ King Tuts Feb 2010

With the release of The Temper Trap ‘Science Of Fear’ only days away it seems fitting to release a video of new single being performed at the bands biggest headline show to date at Koko in December.

Cementing the band as an impressive live spectacle, the Koko show now seems like an intimate occasion considering the band are back to headline 3 sold out nights at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire in 2 weeks. We caught them at King Tuts last year and they will make a return to the much bigger O2 Academy on the 13th of May, tickets are here.

T in the Park has lined up three special “guests of honour” to headline the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Futures Stage this year. These much admired and accomplished acts have no doubt inspired many of the acts that share the bill with them this year.

Headlining the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Futures Stage on Friday 9th July is Echo & The Bunnymen. Lead by iconic and sharp-witted frontman Ian McCulloch, the band released their debut album three decades ago. Their last album, ‘The Fountain’, was released in 2009 and confirmed the genius edge so loved by critics and fans alike hasn’t diminished in the slightest. Headlining on Saturday 10th July is Julian Casablancas who returns to T in the Park on a solo mission this time. Expectation was high when Casablancas released his debut offering on his own but ‘Phrazes For The Young’ did not disappoint and proved yet again that this songwriter is one of the most influential of his generation. Currently at letter N in their ‘A-Z Series’ of songs when a single is released every fortnight for 12 months from October 2009, Ash will headline the stage on Sunday 11th July. This punk-pop trio began bombarding the charts when they were still at secondary school and have an enviable canon of work to draw on for their set in Balado this July.

Also announced are Aussie rebels Airbourne who are planning to rock the Radio 1/NME Stage crowd hard on the Sunday at T in the Park this year with their unadulterated and very loud straight-up rock and roll. Also gracing the same stage on the Sunday, fronted by the inimitable Peter Doherty, is Babyshambles who return to Balado for the second time.

Chapel Club spent most of March holed up in the studio alongside producer with the Midas touch, Paul Epworth. Releasing just their second single, and the first fruits of their work with Epworth, in May, Chapel Club make their T in the Park debut this July. British rap artist Example will release his second album this summer. Razor sharp raps still intact, but now with a strong stream of high-end pop running through it, this artist is intent in bringing massive tunes to Balado.

General Fiasco made their T in the Park debut on the T Break Stage in 2009 and return this year to play the King Tuts Wah Wah Tent on Saturday 10th July. The young indie rock outfit from Northern Ireland exude infectious adolescent rock brilliance. Enigmatic Manchester electro duo Hurts found their name scribbled on many tips for 2010 lists. About to take their stylish aesthetic and melancholic electro-indie-pop on the road for the NME Radar Tour 2010, they will make their T in the Park debut this summer.

The remarkable songwriting talent Laura Marling is currently on tour in the UK in support of her recently released second album ‘I Speak Because I Can’. Also making her T in the Park debut, the singer’s beautiful voice will no doubt ring clear and bright over the crowds of Balado. Such fans of Marling’s singing they invited her to guest on the outstanding single ‘Young Love’ from their second album ‘Twenty One’, Mystery Jets cut a quirky line in original, jangly indie-pop and join their peer on the T in the Park bill for the first time.

Finally NYC-based quartet The Drums are one of the most talked about new bands around and look set to make good on their promise and make 2010 their own. Crowned winners of the Philip Hall Radar Award at the NME Awards in February, their summer-infused debut album will be released this June.