Kris Drever is almost becoming ubiquitous on the folk circuit in one incarnation or another. He is one third of folk heavyweights Lau, and also one third of Drever, McCusker and Woomble – featuring Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble.
And somewhere in amongst all that he had time to record his second album – Mark the Hard Earth produced by John McCusker and featuring many of the artists Kris has been working with over the last few years. Even if folk music isn’t your normal staple Mark The Hard Earth is well worth a listen. It should challenge the ‘folkie’ stereotype of four old geezers in Aran Sweaters singing diddly dee.
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Hot Chip, of course, are probably most well known for that indie dance floor filler favourite. The monkey with the miniature cymbal, the repetition, it wasn’t exactly rocket science but by jove did it do the job. They arrived just at the right time when geek chic was becoming all the rage, had amazing videos and pushed all the right buttons.

Since then they’ve release two albums, but Hot Chip always seemed to have very much a singles of band. They show flashes of potential, but when it comes to listening to a whole album they’ve never quite managed to sustain, leaving people reaching for the skip button to jump to the track that reminded them of nights at New Slang. Continue Reading

Over the past few years, the female singer ranks have been piqued by the odd lady who harks back to a more simple, traditional version of one woman and her heartbreak. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, for example. Her solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat, told tales of old-fashioned adultery and a more humble way of life. Kimya Dawson, veteran of this genre, was recently exposed to a whole new audience thanks to the success of her cutesy home-grown ditties on the soundtrack to indie-flick smash Juno. And She and Him use Zooey Deschanel’s wholesome country twang to brilliant effect in anthems of heartbreak and bar brawls.

And so the latest recruit to the female-scorned resurgence is Caitlin Rose, although she owes more to artists like Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams than her contemporaries. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee (where else?), she’s got some heavy musical heritage behind her.
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James Yuill released Turning Down Water For Air a little over a year ago. It was a clever mix of  elements of electronica and acoustic sounds, with a cutesy love story running through it.  His live shows were rather excellently executed, flitting between knob-twiddling and out and out guitar-led singalongs.  He’s been all over the world since then, but there’s been little in the way of new material. Continue Reading

Upon arrival at the Luminaire, my ears are greeted by a man singing about Richard Madley. He later goes on to perform a delightful ditty about Susan from Neighbours being a real-life lesbian and Karl Kennedy being a midget. (If only). Not exactly your usual warm-up fodder, but when done well, comedy songs are always a crowd pleaser, and Matt Tiller certainly gets a warm reception from the handful or so that’ve gathered for the festivities early doors.
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Photo credit: Gavin McKenzie

Tucked away round the corner from the grandiose Christmas lights of Oxford Street is the equally grandiose St-Giles-in-the-Fields. A proper, functioning church, I’m surprised I’m not handed a hymn book on my way in, and my Catholic upbringing almost causes me to genuflect at the end of the pew. Almost. But the perfect setting for what has been a whirlwind year for The Leisure Society – 2009 saw their glorious ascent from playing to less than 100 people to the odd Radio 2 session and selling out venues left, right and centre. Continue Reading

Saint Etienne released Fox Base Alpha in 1991, when I was aged 5. And I’m sad to say, that for the rest of my life the album passed me by. However, this does, in a way, make me the prime target audience for Richard X’s remix of the album –updating a classic album with a new lease of knob-twiddling life.

So when it comes to what’s been added, taken away, nipped, tucked, surgically enhanced or simply desecrated, I really couldn’t tell you. Judging the calibre of the artists involved though, I can’t imagine that there’s any kind of defilement going on. Continue Reading

One of my biggest regrets is that I took up a woodwind instead of stringed instrument. At the time, of course, the demure, ‘put your lips together and blow’ flute seemed like the right choice, but years later I always wish I’d make my parents stick it out and listen to the sound of a thousand dying cats that is learning the violin. Continue Reading

We Were Promised Jetpacks, it could be said, have had some fairly lucky breaks recently. Signed to the brilliant FatCat label, they’re currently bumping along nicely on the coat tails of The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit, supporting both of them in a rather stellar US tour.

But this headline tour sees them back down to earth with a thud, playing teeny tiny sweatboxes to only a handful of people, three of whom are actually interested. And tonight’s venue is a particularly sweaty sweatbox (they weren’t joking with a name like Boileroom). Granted tonights crowd is probably larger than an average night here, and the band seemed genuinely chuffed with the turnout. No delusions of grandeur there. Continue Reading

After several false starts involving faulty alarms, work commitments, and me spewing my guts for the best part of 3 days, I finally got some time with Klara and Johanna, also known as First Aid Kit.

So where are you guys today?
We’re at home, finally!

When did your first start singing together?
Well being sisters, we’ve always sung together. But properly for about 2 years.

Where are you off to next?
We’re doing a Scandanavian tour. Then supporting Port O’Brian on a European tour. Continue Reading

Thank God for the Pretty Things is a strange title for a CD. And my extensive research (hello, Wikipedia), has revealed that The Pretty Things are in fact a band, who apparently won the ‘Heroes’ award at this year’s Mojos. But let’s face it, that probably has nothing to do with why Boo Hewerdine called his album that. He’s probably just thinking of flowers and his wife and kids and genuinely pretty things, not an ageing English rock and roll band. Continue Reading

Elbow’s powers-that-be have decided that, for whatever reason, it’s time for a reissue. Asleep in the Back was Elbow’s debut, not-so-way-back in 2001. It’s been repackaged in a ‘deluxe’ edition (and who can resist anything with the word ‘deluxe’ on it?), with a CD of that winning cash-cow buzz word ‘bonus’, and a DVD featuring, well, a lot of odds and ends. Continue Reading

Opening with one of the most annoying/brilliant/biggest tracks of the summer, ‘Bonkers’, Tongue N Cheek signals another shift for Dizzee Rascal away from the sublime and towards the ridiculous. Or to put it in more realistic terms, a shift away from the Mercury Prize List and towards the Radio1 Playlist. (Although after this years farce perhaps that should be the other way around.) Continue Reading

So bearing in mind I work in a theatre, you think I would have been a bit more on top of the situation. Getting into a sold-out theatre show is no mean feat – if there’s no seats, there’s no seats. After seriously considering it, I decided against showing up with my own seat though. Lucky, someone was just about on top of the situation – Lau band member and accordion wizard Martin Green in fact, who personally escorted us from the box office. And although I’m sure they weren’t, it did appear the band were actually waiting for us to arrive before they started- (again, bad planning on my part – I was aiming for an 8pm start, but it being Sunday, it was 7.45pm). And you kind of have to on time for these things – we’re not joking when we say ‘latecomers may not be admitted’.
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Post Electric Blues is the sixth release from the Scottish five piece, who’ve been putting out records for coming on fifteen years now. It’s been an interesting ride, from the shouty post-punk beginnings to the anthemic The Remote Part, and a return to their angry roots in last album Make Another World.

Before Make Another World, the band were definitely heading down the folk route. But with Roddy Woomble now a permanent fixture on the folk scene in his own right, it almost seemed like Make Another World was emphasising the separateness of the front man’s two musical ventures, and Idlewild reclaiming their identity. So where have the gone next? Further down the wayward path of rock and roll? Back down the folk nature trail? Or somewhere in-between. Continue Reading