Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s sixth studio album, released on the 8th (the 9th if you live in North America) on their own label.

The first time I heard of BRMC I was fifteen and patiently waiting for Metallica to do their thing. I don’t remember much of the concert except that one of the guitarists (he may even have been a singer) was continuously smoking while he was on stage. I didn’t pay much attention to them then, and haven’t really since. Then on a whim I decided to listen to this album.

It’s nothing new in the world of sonic experimentation, but it’s solid blues based rock with a mix in of country howl. The first song on the album – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo is definitely my favorite, and stands out as the most interesting song on the album.

The rest seem sunken into heavy strong guitar chords reminiscent of some of the softer Queens of the Stone Age songs. In fact, QoSA is a pretty good comparison for this music. I’d probably describe it as a mix between Josh Homme’s softer slower side and the White Stripes. Then mix in the vocals of the guy from the Verve (my god, I have spent the entire time writing this trying to think of who they sound like, but the Verve is pretty spot on – especially the new Verve)

The song I like least on the album is probably Bad Blood, the reason being that it sounds a bit too generic. I like the actual song, but I feel like I’ve heard it before, which is really putting me off for some reason. There’s also something about it that seems forced, pushed catchy hook attached to catchy hook. Does that even make sense?

I guess what I am saying my main beef with the album is that it sounds too familiar. Most songs on it make me think two things a) hey, this is alright rocky and b) but where have I heard it before? So if you like the Verve and Queens of the Stone age and probably some songs by the Jack White – go check this out.

Two weeks ago I got a hasty e-mail from our lovely head of music saying that she had signed me up to go interview this band called WHY? So two weeks ago I started digging into these guys their discography. Why? (hurr) cause, whilst I had heard of them and told on many occasions that I should listen to them (don’t doubt my indie cred), I never had quite gotten around to it. So I jammed my head with Elephant Eyelash and Eskimo Snow, and slowly started to really dig on this band. The music is catchy and, while not necessarily simple, easy to get into. Eskimo Snow is one of the more accessible albums I have heard in a while.

Come the day of the interview. Obviously I feel like a bit of a hack, cause I didn’t really know any of their songs two weeks ago, and here I am interviewing Yoni Wolf – the song-writer and kind of mastermind behind WHY? (at the moment at least) – in his hotel room. Now there’s a couple of things I left out: the band had arrived late at Stereo, which as a result meant that their sound check was really late, which means our interview got pushed back – which is why the interview took place in the hotel room.

We talked for fifteen minutes about the fact that Yoni never owned a pogo stick but his sister did (maybe?), and grew up to fairly religious parents, “a curse word hadn’t left my mouth until I was at least 17 or 18″, and his parents reactions to the content of his songs. “My parents do support my music, and they like it, but once in a while my dad will comment on a curse or a lyric and suggest removing them just for commercial reasons – claiming that I might be able to reach a wider audience.”

When asked how he would fake his own death the almost immediate response is “an egg slicer, a giant egg slicer”, followed quickly by an admittance that he had already sung about the concept, and does so quite often.

When I asked him whether he ever thought that his albums should be considered as a whole or that it was the songs on them individually that mattered, he talked about how recently (the 1960s) the concept of an album as an entity has come forward. “Before that it was singles, and now it’s turning into singles again. It just so happens that I like to write three minute songs and that those three minute songs happen to be on 45 minute long albums. I don’t really don’t know why, that’s just what I like.”

“When we write an album it’s not one process, I usually have a pre-conceived set of songs that I come up with casually, not casually, but you know what I mean. It used to be that the song writing was mainly me, but on Eskimo Snow there have definitely been some songs that were collaborations. For the last two albums at least, I’ve walked into the studio with the rest of the guys with these demos, and then at the end of the day we come out with a song we can record.”

On the topic of their future plans, it sounds like there are already some new tunes being thought of, but it looks like the band will be on the road for the majority of the summer. “We’re in Europe until the beginning of May, and then on the west coast and doing things around Sasquatch, and then maybe back in Europe for August and festivals here.”

Josiah Wolf, Yoni Wolf’s younger brother who’s also WHY?’s drummer, was the first opening act. He performed a series of singer-songwriting songs on his own while playing the guitar, drums and vocals at the same time, there was a very casual atmosphere about it, and the music was met by approval from the audience (and this writer).

The next band, I Might Be Wrong, from Berlin and opening for WHY? on this leg of the tour, produced a poppy rock sound that reminded me oddly of Tattoo – this can probably be attributed to the female vocalist’s range mixed with echoing vocals – but better and with a very healthy mix of post-rock tendencies. The set went by quickly, but was littered with head bopping tunes that made me want to go and check these guys out when I get home.

As I mentioned earlier the sound check for WHY? got pushed back. This meant that the band only got onto the stage at about 10.30. Now if you live in Edinburgh, and you’ve ever been to a show in Glasgow, you know that it being 10.25 and the main act still not being on, is really frustrating. You also know that you’re going to have to leave halfway through the set of a band you travelled to Glasgow for to see.

Once they got on stage there was a very large amount of energy emitting from not just Yoni (his first words on stage were “how do my teeth look”, followed by him giving us all a wide grin”, who had seemed a bit stressed during the interview, but the entire band. Throughout the set they made quips at each other, making sure to include the audience. The music itself was also full of energy, and this may have been the most sing-along-able performance I have been to in a long time (the last one was the Mountain Goats). And see, this is probably the reason I like this band, I’ve only known them for about two weeks, and already I have gotten so into their music that I could sing along to every song performed I saw. Cause here’s the sad part: I had to leave early because of the whole ‘last train home’ thing.

It is so easy to chant the lyrics along with Yoni, and I wasn’t the only one doing it. There was a lot of presence on stage – snake like dancing, mariachi shaking, and poking fun at Scotland’s green pastures. The songs were there, but the band wasn’t afraid to add a little extra distortion to the sound, sometimes supplying the audience with a minute of noise.

If you haven’t heard of these guys, I suggest that you give them two weeks of listening before you go and see them when they’re near you. It’s not an evening you’re going to regret.

I just realised I wrote 1000 words I should have probably put into my dissertation.

Precisely opposite: Imagine that. What if everything you see is simply a projection of your own mind? What if absolutely everything has equal value and meaning, from the dust in your clothing to an enlightened prophet’s latest insight? And what should you do if you see the exact opposite of a train?

Like a thunderstorm observed from a distance, this is something that you can very nearly ignore if you choose to, even though it is an indication of a capacity so powerful that if let loose, it would shatter your bones and your beliefs with the slightest glance.

ATC, Drum Theatre Plymouth and The Young Vic’s Eurydice is just such a thunderstorm; something that if taken lightly can be brushed off. However, if you become as absorbed as I did, you may be in for a beautifully turbulent ride.

Starting rather slowly with simple dialogue and a bare set, we’re not sure what to expect at all. At first, I thought Orpheus might be a mute deity, and that the two lovers, he and Eurydice, might be actually creating the world itself. (This is, after all, a re-interpretation of the ancient story.) However, we soon learn that the action is happening in sort-of-present-day America, and that Orpheus can talk too. Indeed, he can even sing! Orpheus, the mythical musician who charms Hades with his heart-wrenching melodies can sing. Unfortunately, I found this to be the least convincing element of the performance. For me, the story begins with the death of Eurydice, and, by consequence, the relegation of Orpheus to the periphery.

The characters that convey the stark new reality of death and dying are, of course, those who are already dead. The residents of the Underworld have all embraced the quiet, dark, still and spacious, with time being the vaguest of memories. The finest display of this is the uncompromisingly silent construction of Eurydice’s room from a ball of yarn. This was magic.

This production maintains the tragic elements of the story, whilst providing a consistent stream of light-hearted comedic moments. The stones are hilarious, if somewhat morbid, and the richness of Eurydice’s Father’s laugh is absolutely captivating. But, being a tragedy, this all disappears forever with the ultimate resignation to total forgetfulness of everyone involved.

What ought we to expect from death? Or indeed from life? Should we expect to understand? Should we expect peace? Or to encounter spirits? Heaven? Oblivion? Stillness? Hell? Bliss? Water from above, and light from below? Head to the Traverse and find out.

Eurydice, Traverse Theatre 1, Wednesday 17 March – Saturday 20 March (7.30pm); Matinee Saturday 20 March (2.30pm)

http://www.traverse.co.uk/shows_eurydice.htm

http://www.atc-online.com/index.php?plid=91&show=info

Did I mention this is available as a podcast? Just copy this link into your nearest podcast reader.

To promote her forthcoming album, My Best Friend is You, (release date 19th of April) Kate Nash played a small, intimate gig at Glasgow’s Classic Grand on Saturday the 6th of March – the first of her pre-album mini-tour. The show was less a reminder of her hits from the Made of Bricks-era (she only played two of such songs) and simply a showcase of her new material. Despite being unfamiliar with the vast majority of the material the crowd got quite into the gig, but I can’t help but feel most were peeved not to hear Foundations et al.

That being said, this was a fantastic gig. The material was performed with passion and a sense of excitement to finally be showcasing it. Ms. Nash was surprisingly charismatic on stage and the audience were hanging on her every word – whether it be requesting them to be quiet for more emotional numbers (“Look, I’m drunk too but can we just be quiet for one second”) or teaching us lyrics to her new material to get a sing-along going (“We can make love, we can make love. You can get some, you can get some”).

The new material was, mostly, pretty different to her old stuff. I Just Love You More’s pop-punky simplicity being a case in point, but forthcoming single Do Wah Doo stuck to the familiar pop-gems that Nash-fans expect. The feeling from the audience as they left was that My Best Friend is You is set to make or break Nash by potentially alienating her from her old fans.

However, I have faith that the Nash-Master General will soar to even higher levels of success than Made of Bricks permitted and that, to many, her reputation as an annoying, useless artist will rightfully be dismissed. Nash held the audience in her hands (which was already pretty damn full with my heart, body and soul) and set the tidal wave of interest (and hopefully excitement) that is set to sweep the nation in motion, as the 19th of April quickly encroaches. Watch this space.

It’s exciting enough when you hear that Brooklyn based folk-rock band ‘Grizzly Bear’ have decided to play Edinburgh despite most remotely successful bands choosing to bypass the city and head straight to Glasgow where the music scene is more thriving, but when you learn that Baltimore dream-pop duo ‘Beach House’ are supporting as well, it’s like a dream come true.

‘Beach House’ who arrived to a very dimly lit stage set the motion for the evening, Victoria Legrand’s long curly hair hung over her keyboard and Alex Scally reclined on a chair, their atmospheric music entrancing the crowd. The combination of coloured lighting and smoke machines with the haunting vocals of Legrand was truly hypnotic. The highlight had to be ‘Norway’ off their latest album ‘Teen Dream’ with its wonky guitar and ethereal vocals and ‘Zebra’ with simple guitar sliding and a sweeping voice building up to an epic chorus complete with keyboards.

On to the main act, the set lit simply by a collection of glowing glass jars, few bands have been so successful in their captivation of the audience’s attention, with songs such as ‘Foreground’ with its modest keyboards from Daniel Rossen and chilling vocals from Edward Droste being simply beautiful, the crowd not daring to make a whimper. Often described as chamber pop, the constant switching of lead vocalists meaning no noticeable frontman and the multitude of instruments played especially from Chris Taylor who flits from bass guitar to flute to clarinet to saxophone is not only extremely impressive but adds an orchestral feel to the music. The only downside to this would have to be the addition of the omnichord played by Droste which (and I may just be ignorant) seemed to merely consist of single chord being played thus defeating the point of it being there and only adding as a spectacle and not to the musical content.

The set was very ‘Veckatimest’ heavy breaking straight away into ‘Southern Point’ and playing numerous songs from the album although they weren’t afraid of delivering older tracks with ‘Colorado’ and ‘Knife’ off ‘Yellow House’ being particularly good.

Perhaps the highlight of the set had to be when Victoria Legrend joined the stage to sing backing vocals on the much loved ‘Two Weeks’ which she appears on the album for as well as taking the lead for ‘Slow Life’ a track that Grizzly Bear produced for the film ‘New Moon’. Other excellent tracks were ‘While You Wait For Others’ where the crowd all seemed to join arms and revel in the happiness of the music and ‘On a Neck On A Spit’ with its phenomenal guitar and hoarse vocals from Rossen.

The encore which consisted of a single acoustic cover of ‘All We Ask’ was the perfect ending to a terrific set, the audience hanging on to every last note building up to a succession of clapping as they really got into the song and giving the band a huge showering of praise as they left the stage.

Nick Warren Interview

Alan Dobson interview

Boxing day 2009 saw Fresh Air’s, The Sound Spektrum catch up with one of Scotland’s finest DJs, Alan Dobson Rhumba Club) after warming up for Progressive House Legends Dave Seaman & Nick Warren. As part of the Dave Seaman Renaissance Masters Tour!
Alan talks about how it all started, playing at The Rhumba Club, Technology in his sets and what the future holds in 2010.

http://alandobson.net/index.html

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4461654573

http://www.renaissanceuk.com/

http://www.djdaveseaman.com/

http://www.djnickwarren.com/

Friday 5th March saw Victor Woronowicz, Head Promoter of Innuendub drop in for a chat to talk to The Sound Spektrum about the capital’s newest Dubstep Extraveganza and an exclusive competition where you could win 1 of 5 tickets to the night!

To be in with a chance on winning, answer this question :

What was voted best Dubstep track of 2009 by the Dubstep Forum Awards 2010?

Send your answer via email with the subject headed INNUENDUB to: edinburgh-dubstep@live.com

Winners will be chosen via a raffle at random by Victor and announced Live on The Sound Spektrum on Fresh Air 12th March @ 22.00 UK Time!

Innuendub Part 1

Innuendub Part 2

‘Broken Bells’ is the self-titled album from the American indie rock band consisting of artist and producer Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse and the lead vocalist and guitarist of The Shins James Mercer. Burton is no stranger to collaborations having produced for Damon Albarn’s side project Gorillaz , Beck, the Black Keys and being one half of funk-soul project Gnarls Barkley with singer Cee-Lo Green. Burton and Mercer have already worked together on the track ‘Insane Lullaby’ from the quintessential album ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ from Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse which when initially released in physical form contained only a blank cd-r but is set for a proper release in June. 

We were introduced to the opening song ‘The High Road’ in December of last year and so anyone who has been avidly following updates from this band will be familiar with the track. The combination of Mercer’s sultry vocals and acoustic guitar against Burton’s downtempo hip-hop sweeping analog synths is superb. The following song ‘Vaporize’ beginning simply with the strum of an acoustic leading into some slightly reverbed vocals and then the addition of an electric organ and snares makes for another excellent track.

Other highlights on the album include the bouncy pop track ‘The Ghost Inside’ with a hugely catchy melody delivered in stunning falsetto from Mercer and the addition of a hand clap to the synthetic drumbeat with soaring synths and ‘Sailing to Nowhere’ with its sense of yearning and a complex mix of computer modulated tones and a switching from electronic to acoustic to piano ending with deeply moving strings.

Some critics have heralded the album as innovative and a prime matching of musical talents whereas others dismiss it as nothing particularly original in the line of soul infused trip-hop and similar in sound to Burton’s previous work. Personally, I think the album is excellent but perhaps peters out during the second half but only in contrast to the strength of the opening tracks, the latter still being good songs. It is definitely an album to check out, especially for fans of Danger Mouse or The Shins but not necessarily an album that will make history.

‘Broken Bells’ will be released on March 9th

The experiment seemed to show that our brains instigate action before we consciously decide to act. If this is right it seems to show that our concious decisions actually have no power, and therefore, we do not have free will. If that doesn’t sound right to you or it just confuses you listen to the show to find out more.

You can download the episode here or else subscribe to the podcast here, and for more information you can check out the Erratic Thinking Blog.

Interview with Ayo for The Grime Show, the flagship urban music show for Freshair.org.uk, Edinburgh’s student radio station. He tells us the truth about Ironik’s eyes, working with Wretch 32 and how he would fare in a X Factor audition!

The Grime Show airs every Tuesday 21:30 – 22:30 (GMT)

ayo

Mad about Alice?

Alice in Wonderland arrives this Friday on a wave of hype, controversy, and marketing. Foremost is the dispute over which cinemas would agree to show the film – Disney intends to release the DVD in a lightning-fast three months which will cut into movie audiences. Then there’s the impressive volume of press coverage, the promising trailer, the big names attached; from every angle, the expectation associated with Alice threatens to overwhelm the film itself.

Based on the children’s books by Lewis Carroll (the rather less snappily titled Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There) this version is directed by Tim Burton, the eccentric filmmaker responsible for The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sweeney Todd and several other classics of the beloved-by-teenage-girls-who-wear-too-much-eyeliner variety. This might make it sound as if Burton has gone down the American McGee route (knives, blood, schizophrenia) especially as the plot bears a superficial resemblance to his 2000 video game – a grown up Alice is tasked with freeing Wonderland from the dominion of the Red Queen via a battle with the fearsome Jabberwock. Thankfully, Burton is more restrained than McGee, mixing whimsy with menace and creating a balanced dreamscape. The world is faded but still glorious.  Alice corrects herself for having erroneously referred to it as Wonderland when younger – the inhabitants call it Under-land, a nice nod to the working title, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, and a good way of addressing that faintly cheesy name I’ve always found irritating.

The film begins with a quick scene of Alice age five, serving to establish her father as a stand-in Carroll figure (real name Reverend Charles Dodgson, the family friend who wrote the books for the real-life Alice Liddell). Then we see twenty-year old Alice taken to a garden party, organised solely to provide her suitor, the sanctimonious Lord Hamish, with an opportunity to propose. She flees the proposal without giving an answer, and falls through a rabbit hole, whereupon she is, of course, transported to the surreal landscape of Wonderland.

Unfortunately, the real-world segments which bookend the film are undoubtedly the weakest parts of the experience. They are terribly written (thank screenwriter Linda Woolverton) with clunky, ham-fisted dialogue and a bizarre view of Victorian society that could conceivably have been produced by a Wonderland resident. There are also efforts made to mirror characters and incidents between the real world and the fantasy in the style of The Wizard of Oz. Here the technique is so endlessly repeated and illogical (if Alice had already been to Wonderland as a child, why would she need all these prompts for characters already created?) that it only serves to bore.

Despite the rocky start, Alice gains momentum the minute she tumbles through the rabbit-hole and the audience are sent with her, watching her descent in full 3D. The use of 3D is sparing and powerful throughout the film; with films like Up, Avatar, and Alice, filmmakers are moving beyond this technique as a cheap gimmick. The glasses, however, do dull the screen somewhat; you’ll feel this if, like the projection I saw, the picture is already quite dark.

When the film arrives in Wonderland, there are frequent moments of delightful visual inventiveness, for which Burton and his art team deserve the highest praise; the frequent size transformations of Alice are handled very well, dresses falling over her head or rippling with her expanding height in true Wonderland non-logic that also serves to avoid, of course, any nudity. After Alice eats-me and drinks-me through the room at the bottom of the rabbit-hole and arrives in a garden full of talking flowers, the plot really starts to get up to speed. In fact, so many familiar characters are thrown at the viewer during the space of three minutes that I struggle to imagine what the very few viewers entirely unfamiliar with Alice would make of it. Thankfully, these CGI companions are voiced and/or mo-capped by a strong cast of veteran British actors. Professor Snape, sorry, Alan Rickman appears as the Caterpillar, Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit, and Barbara Windsor as the Dormouse (perkier than in the original, if I recall). An unlikely highlight is the presence of Matt Lucas as rotund identical twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee. If you thought one was annoying enough, then two of the Little Britain star will sound unbearable, but in actuality they’re weirdly cute.

After years away from Wonderland, the Red Queen has seized almost complete control and is capturing and enslaving the natives. Helena-Bonham Carter plays this character, a wilful conflation of the Red Queen from Looking Glass and the Queen of Hearts from Wonderland with impetuous glee, shouting “Off with his head!” at the slightest provocation. She’s also stuck in DK mode, a grossly inflated CGI head making her look all the more ridiculous and malevolent. To defeat the Queen, so says a prophecy, Alice must slay the Jabberwock with a Vorpal blade, restore balance to the kingdom, etc., etc. This assumed necessity, to shackle a piece of literary nonsense with an uninspired three-act movie structure is one of the most grating aspects of the film. Its repercussions are deeply felt – characters which started as neutral in the original are repurposed as “good guys”. The caterpillar, a pompous intellectual, becomes Gandalf with a hookah, dispatching inscrutable declarations only insomuch as basically pronouncing Alice The Chosen One. The Cheshire Cat, a downright sinister force, is now voiced by kindly old uncle Stephen Fry. The worst consequence is that the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp and given top billing, as the male lead in a female dominated movie, is given, thanks to the dictates of Hollywood, a Character Arc. What is essentially a great cameo is stretched into a full character. A central dilemma rests at the heart of the script and Depp’s performance; how can one make consistent sense of a character whose defining characteristic is dishing out non-sequiturs and nonsense logic? Depp has enough charisma to (almost) pull it off, but there’s a mercurial, wild quality that’s lost. Of course, his performance is only symptomatic of a larger change. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is nonsense. This film is fantasy. The distinction is important; Alice is, instead of being the only rational person in a logic-defying world, the hero in a conflict which brings to mind C.S. Lewis or Tolkien more than it does Carroll.

As a fantasy film, however, it doesn’t do too badly. Aside from its opulent and inventive visuals, strong performances enhance a mediocre script. As well as the highlights already mentioned, Mia Wasikowska brings a certain otherworldly dreaminess to Alice and Anne Hathaway is a seductive, slightly odd White Queen.

The final battle approaches, staged on a giant chessboard, between an army of red playing cards and white chessmen. It’s a suitably epic spectacle but another odd conflation of the card motif ofWonderland with the chess structure of Through the Looking Glass. The Jabberwocky is finally unveiled, and for a creature defined by a lack of intelligible physical description, it’s rather well realised; something like the union between a dragon, a gorilla and Cthulhu; a huge scaly beast that walks on its wingtips and owes a debt to John Tenniel’s memorable illustration. The film’s resolution, however, mars itself with three damning strikes. Firstly, a dance routine, teased at throughout the film proves to be one of the most painful ten seconds of celluloid ever produced. Next, the real-world resolution is insultingly simplistic – a bit of daft girl-power hell-yeahing replete with a return of the terrible writing. And finally, the film concludes with a noxiously irritating credits song sung by the intolerable Avril Lavigne.

Where Alice succeeds, it is almost entirely on a visual level, with support from a solid cast and a quality score by Danny Elfman. Unfortunately, it is a “trailer film”; those little inspired snippets of beautiful costumes and spectacular effects are best experienced in the three minute trailer. The movie, as a whole, is rather pointless.

“Evenings with Dave” broadcasts every Thursday at 6.30pm

Featured this week is resident Lecturer of Philosophy at Edinburgh and the Open Universities Dr Stephen Watt.
Erratic Thinking – Virtue Ethics
As ever, you can listen to the episode here, or else subscribe to the podcast, or even check out the Erratic Thinking blog.

I think the main problem with this album is that it is trying to be too ambitious as a follow up to ‘Demon Days’ which was beautifully produced by Danger Mouse was always going to be difficult. Given the massively high status of Gorillaz they are pretty much able to pick and choose any artist they like to collaborate with as can be seen in ‘Plastic Beach’ with the huge array of guest artists from differing genres. There is a sense that this album is almost overproduced with Albarn trying to mix genres together where they don’t go. For example the song ‘White Flag’ which features Kano, Bashy & The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music rather than blending together in an original fashion it seems to be very much stop and start between the very different orchestral music which cuts off abruptly as the hip hop begins.

Very much a conceptual album it seems to point towards the direction that the music industry is currently heading towards where in the name of originality artists are attempting to mash together competing types of music as can be seen in the emergence of fusion genres such as folktronica and crunk. It seems unusual to combine hip hop artists and rock artists on the same record but this is exactly what Albarn has done making it appear more of a mixtape than an album.

Don’t get me wrong, although this may sound a very pessimistic review many of the songs taken on their own are really quite excellent, for example ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ featuring Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals and Gorillaz regular De La Soul is a very upbeat hip hop track with a melodious chorus from Albarn that works really well. ‘Some Kind of Nature’ featuring Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground with his gruff vocals, staccato piano and electronic drums and synths along with Albarns soothing tones in the chorus is exquisite and ‘Plastic Beach’ featuring the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon is another standout track.Not just that but some of the Albarn only tracks are brilliant as well such as ‘On Melancholy Hill’.

It seems difficult then to judge the album as it contains some truly exceptional tracks as would be expected from Gorillaz but personally I don’t feel it flows as an album. Perhaps it is something that grows on the listener with time and one becomes able to appreciate the links between the tracks and see what Albarn is trying to portray but there is a definite sense that in attempting to compile the best collection of superstar appearances something has been lost in the production of the music.

‘Plastic Beach’ is to be released on March 8th

I am unsure whether James Mathe played his own material or whether I just turned up too late to miss his performance as Anna Calvi was setting up just as I had purchased a beer from the bar. I find something intimidating about a woman who is excellent on a guitar as Anna’s slight frame seemed almost dwarfed by her telecaster which she put into expert use as she began her set with some beautiful solo guitar. The dark atmospheric romanticism of her music seemed fitting for the dim atmosphere of the Cabaret Voltaire. ‘Blackout’ seemed to be definitely popular amongst the crowd as red tainted lips uttered confident vocals and ‘Marionette’ was a personal favourite with the use of a vintage harmonium giving the song an enchanting Parisian feel. Definitely one of the better support acts I have seen for a band.

As the bare faced youngster descended the steps to the stage the crowd were met with a cheeky smile and a somewhat shy ‘hello’ before breaking into the first song of the evening, ‘Box’. It’s hard to imagine from looking at him that he’s twenty six although the maturity of his vocals warrants some form of justification. When the London-based performer descended on us with his 2008 album ‘A Larum’ we were introduced to his distinctive vocals and acoustic guitar which set him firmly in the London nu-folk scene along with ‘Laura Marling’ and ‘Noah and The Whale’. Now almost two years on with new material only being released as a short EP in the form of ‘Sweet William’ in November, it’s a treat as Johnny alternates his set between new and old songs the former set for a release as an album in May.

Merely listening to his records it’s hard to appreciate his talent as he constantly switches from guitar, to mandolin, to banjo, to violin, to trumpet playing each with equal precision and dexterity whilst at the same time delivering stunning vocals. The addition of his band ‘The Sussex Wit’ greatly added to the overall atmosphere with some fantastic cello from Joe Zeitlin and backing vocals from James Mathe. The alteration between noticeably upbeat songs such as ‘Tickle Me Pink’ and ‘Eyeless In Holloway’ where the crowd began to start bopping against more sombre numbers such as ‘Brown Trout Blues’ was particularly effective.

It seems easy to attribute Johnny’s popularity and the fact that he is selling out venues up and down the country due to his blond hair and public school boy good looks as could be suggested from the female heavy makeup of the audience although this is more probably just jealousy on my part as the combination of his poetic lyrics delivered with a stunning voice against a striking mix of folk and blues instrumentals is something really to be admired.

Eluvium’s newest album – Similes – is absolutely striking. I’ve been a fan of Matthew Cooper’s work for a while now, it’s ambient music that I can relate with. I can identify his songs while generally other artists just blend into one happy humming noise that I can blissfully ignore while I study away. Copia, for example, is filled with tracks that I can put on to listen to for themselves while also enjoying it and studying.

Similes is different in a way that I’m a little bit upset about. The songs on this album are almost poppy. Cooper sings – that was probably the most shocking development. I’m not sad in a way that I think the songs aren’t as good as usual, I’m sad to find that I won’t be able to happily add an album to my study-music collection. The album is still largely ambient, and still melancholy and emotionally quite intense. I couldn’t categorise it as anything else, and maybe it shouldn’t be. It’s a series of lullabies that will let your mind drift off steered occasionally by phrases of what could probably be considered deep thoughts.

The first song sets the mood for the rest of the album – one of thought and analysis. The lyrics fit snugly into the music and seem to be a mix of pensive and playful “writing to myself and later questioning the source..”, murmured musings that escape from the music. It almost feels like Cooper is giving more meaning to his songs, while not stepping away from the ambient soundscapes I have come to expect from his work.

The Motion Makes Me Last is definitely the standout song on the album – and the one that has been sent to people as an advance listen. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and might be the song to make someone listen to if you want to convince them that this man is onto something. Cooper almost whispers the words, but there is melody here and a chorus.

In no way does Similes slow down after this, The Motion Makes Me Last may be my personal favourite, but each song is individually good. The album maintains the new direction Cooper seems to have chosen, painting vivid images that might not necessarily mean anything.

Cease To Know – the album’s 11 minute closer is an absolutely beautiful song. Listen to this entire album with headphones, but do it for this song. A voice drifts in and out of the song with a melancholy murmur that slowly fades into one of the best left-to-right sounds I have heard on a stereo song. As I’m writing this I’m listening to it, and each time it passes it tugs at me.

This may be the right album for people to start listening to this one man experiment.

Is Tropical are still relatively unknown. Based in London and signed to Hit Club Records they seem a long way from home in Glasgow’s Captain’s Rest. Clad with bandannas across their faces; they look more prepared for an elaborately dressed bank heist than their UK tour. Their set starts convincingly with an instrumental comprised of electro backing tracks played over energetic guitar lines and bass heavy drums. They are a three piece clearly attempting to bring the electro influence into their alternative sound, as their setup sees the guitarist and bassist alternate between a Microkorg and a Yamaha synth.

Their set flows well without inciting too much excitement, with highlights including, “I Think We’re Alone”, and single, “When O When”, with its infectious build-up and quirky lyrics about the white cliffs of Dover. However, despite all their efforts to make a band they’ve described as The Strokes meets The Postal Service, they don’t appear to be doing anything too out of the ordinary that hasn’t been done before, or even in the last few years for that matter. And although they please the crowd tonight you can’t help but suspect that Glasgow will be about as tropical as it gets.

The headline act of the night were the much-hyped Egyptian Hip Hop. Named numerous times by magazines as ‘ones to watch for 2010’, including Clash and NME we expected great things. The first thing to note are Egyptian Hip Hop are young, and they are tiny. Their miniature heads are obscured by their heavy fringes and their skinny jeans hang off their skinnier legs. It’s hard to believe how much hype is brewing around these frighteningly young things, and as their front man, Alex Hewett, admits, it adds a certain amount of pressure. Not that you would ever be able to tell. They are painfully nonchalant. Confident would be an understatement. They are so effortlessly at ease on stage you would never guess they are out on a school night.

Their performance is another effortless affair, as they swing through catchy instrumentals, the haunting ‘Rad Pitt’, their dreamy B-side ‘Heavenly’ and their single, ‘Wild Human Child’. Any one of the band members can pick up any one of the instruments, and they often do casually swap round. Their songs are post-indie, genre defying numbers that evoke a sense of nostalgia greater than their age would seem to allow, and they have certainly benefited from production from the front-man from Late of the Pier. But, to quote NME “I’ve seen the future, and its Egyptian Hip Hop” seems to be putting alot of faith in a band who have only written a handful of songs, played a few live shows and don’t really seem to have a awful lot of direction at the moment. However, saying that, one thing that did stand out from their gig was the awesome amount of potential they have at the moment. Painfully young, trendy, talented and with all the right contacts looking out for them, this band definitely has the ability to become one of the next bright young things on the UK music scene. As Hewett proclaims before the show, if he had to give advice to other young bands starting up; work hard, keep trying, cos unless you’re a moron you’ll only get better with time. Well they didn’t seem like complete morons so I guess we can expect great things from them.

It’s been just shy of two years since Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip released their debut album Angles and now they’re back with the follow up – The Logic of Chance.

The major thing you notice about The Logic of Chance when you first listen to it is that it lacks the stand out tracks that grab you straight away, like Thou Shalt Always Kill, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Fixed and… well pretty much everything else on Angles did. However that is not to say that this new record is not any good. Quite the contrary in fact – aside from the bouncy, catchy Great Britain which does have that initial impact the other tracks grow on you and reward re-listening until pretty much every song gets stuck in your head.

Musically The Logic of Chance moves away from the indie angle and sampling of Angles and instead goes in a more electronic dance-based direction and in places even veers close to drum n bass and dub-step. Whether or not this is an improvement is really down to your personal tastes but the change isn’t really so fundamental as to alienate fans of the first album.

Lyrically it is exactly what is to be expected from spoken word artist Scroobius Pip – political, observational and searching for identity. Specifically, Pip reflects on British identity more than probably anyone else around at the moment – Great Britain, Cowboi, Last Train Home and Stake A Claim all address the nature of the ever elusive British identity as well as the social and political issues of the country in stark, uncompromising terms. Whilst there is nothing quite as harrowing as Magician’s Assistant on this new album Five Minutes certainly gets under your skin and makes you think. This is especially true of my favourite lyric from the whole album – “For the good times I wish you 5 minutes in heaven before the Devil knows you’re dead”.

For all of Scroobius Pip’s musings on the darker, less attractive side of life (rape, domestic violence, knife crime, that kind of thing…) there are some fun moments too – most notably Cauliflower and Snob the latter of which has had me bouncing around and singing along with more enthusiasm each time I hear it.

Overall The Logic of Chance is a more coherent album than Angles which threw a lot of different ideas together into a fantastic but fairly random record. Whilst it may lack the initial, first listen impact the band’s debut offered, this is an album packed with great songs and demonstrates that Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip are constantly developing greater synergy as a duo as time goes on.

Erratic Thinking – The Extended Mind

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The new album from the Scandinavian siblings is one that is definitely different. Rather than a standard release it is the soundtrack for an opera based on Charles Darwin’s seminal work ‘On the Origin of Species’ which they wrote for Danish performance group ‘Hotel Pro Forma’ and so cannot really be seen as a follow up to their 2006 album ‘Silent Shout’ but rather more of a side project. A collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, it really stretches the boundaries of modern music. It seems to be the popular thing in modern opera to recruit the aid of contemporary pop artists as was seen in the ‘Monkey Opera’ whose soundtrack was written by Blur frontman Damon Albarn.

An album that can’t really be put on as background music it has to be viewed as a performance piece and thus in conjunction with the opera that it is written for. The opening song (if you can call it that) is a collection of minimal clicks and droplet modulations reminiscent to the intro for ‘Like A Pen’ immediately leaving the listener questioning the intentions of the album. As the album progresses, the juxtaposition of beautiful classical vocals against the harsh and garish synthetic noises provides a truly original concept as can be seen in ‘Ebb Tide Explorer’ which offers a chilling combination of soothing masculine tones and very deep synthesizers with an ever present treble that is constantly fluctuating in intensity. The addition of outside singers Kristina Wahlin Momme, Danish actress Lærke Winther Andersen and Swedish pop artist Jonathan Johansson adds dimension to the album, the Scandinavian vocals perfect for the record.

It has to be taken with a fairly open mind as some of the intros for tracks, such as ‘Variation of Birds’ would seem more appropriate in a Merzbow or at the least one of Aphex Twin’s more out there records. It is only in combination with the vocal parts that the music becomes in anyway accessible unless for the overly pretentious. There is a definite underlying development which progresses through the album with ‘Letter to Henslow’ using human vocals with delay effects to simulate jungle animal noises and the following track ‘Schoal Swarm Orchestra’ where what I assume is the scratching of a microphone produces a similar feral sound.

It isn’t until cd two that the album becomes properly accessible to someone who is only listening and not watching and one is able to relate to a more ‘Knife’ like sound. ‘Annie’s Box’ offers a gorgeous combination of violin and soprano whilst the transition from ‘Tumult’ into the breath taking odyssey that is ‘Colouring of Pigeons’ is superb.

I would like to give the album a better rating and perhaps I am not doing the album justice but its initial inaccessibility which would only be more suitable for the opera it is written for makes this hard to do so. Nevertheless it is an extremely engrossing album and one definitely worth a listen.

‘Tomorrow, In a Year’ is out on digital release and will be released on cd on March 1st.

‘what’s with the name?’

FA: haha, no, it’s a bit cheesier.

‘if you could be an animal what animal would it be?’

FA: close. if you could be any cheese what cheese would be?

‘St. Andre.’

FA: any reason?

It’s the most buttery, my father in law attributes his heart attack to St. Andre. It’s incredible.

FA: You’ve gotten a series of positive reviews for odd blood..

‘except for pitchfork’

FA: pitchfork wasn’t positive?

‘Pretty middle of the road, they gave us a 6.2, but they’ve never given us good reviews. They’ve always talked about us, but never given us good reviews. people say ‘you get a lot of love from pitchfork’ but we don’t really. (laughs) We try to transcend any one blog.’

FA: How much does it matter to you to get good reviews?

‘Honestly I don’t really care that much, I mean, I obviously care because it’s indicative of being able to sustain a career, and as long as people are psyched on it and come to shows that matters more to me than what some guy in the new york times says. and there’s a handful of reviewers that if they’re well written and exciting that’s cool, but i don’t care about a review that much. If you start taking the good ones seriously you have to start taking the bad ones seriously…’

FA: How much do you think the internet has helped you?

‘I think it has probably helped a lot. it’s a new way …’

One of the sound guys came into the back of the bus asking for the mix cd to play before the show. Chris offered his iPod instead, which explained the mix of classic 80s and 90s songs and hip hop being played before the gig.

FA: how do you feel about your album’s leak nearly two months before it was meant to come out?

‘I feel that it’s lame, in a way that it can only really hurt you know? But at the same time I feel like we were embraced by that culture of blogs and the internet and file sharing and I’m totally cool with that, and as long as they are psyched on the record it’s a good thing. ‘

FA: As long as they buy it in the end…

‘Whatever, it’s not even that. I think that society has deemed that music is not worth paying for in digital format. Some people have anyway, and they’ve decided that, and that’s fine. I mean, I download stuff illegally, but I also buy stuff, like vinyl and CDs – that’s how outdated I am. I buy them at random, I would never buy something I had heard of. I buy random stuff that’s recommended in the store or that I look through and would have never thought to look at. ‘

FA: Ever shop in a giant Virgin Mega store or something like that?

‘Yeah usually not, I don’t think there are any of those left in New York. I’ll go to Other Music and Kim’s and look through their weird bins with stuff like ambient shit. But you know, whatever, [the illegal downloading] is bigger than my judgement. As long as there are people that are excited about music and still going to shows and being supportive of creative endeavours it’s a good thing. Record sales don’t pay for our bus, the fact that more people come out to the shows. That’s why we don’t take tour support from any label – we want our own entity on the road. That’s what you’re going to see in the future. if we can play to 500 to 1500 people every night so we can have a more comfortable touring lifestyle which is ultimately what you want so you don’t break-up as a band. ‘

FA: If a major label asked to sign you would you consciously say no?

‘They did. I don’t need to be particularly punk rock in saying fuck you to major labels, but really there were people who were excited about us from day and those people were like Mute or Secretly Canadian, they showed up to see us when there were like 20 people at our shows. And we met them and kinda became friends, wether they had ulterior motives to sign us one day, we were still friendly. And major labels kinda came out of nowhere after you got written up in the New York Times, or Spin, and they show up, and you say ‘this is what we wanna do’ and they say ‘yeah yeah yeah, of course’ but then ultimately when you look at the contract and it’s this fucking thick compared to mute and Secretly Canadian and that says something. a ten page contract is reasonable – an 80 page contract is ‘what is in there, hold on this is actually the opposite of what you say’. so that’s what it was, I don’t like the way they do business. I like the model of rough trade or mute and I like handshake deals, or straightforward this is how it’s going to be. ‘We’re not going to demand who you tour with or who your opening band is, we’re not going to demand percentages of your shows or merch that you make and sell’.

FA: You guys have said that Rihanna and Lady Gaga is a sort of competition ‘(laughs) not really’, but you do you guys ever take inspiration from this kind of music?

‘Totally. Definitely. not super into Lady Gaga’s music. but I dig a lot of Rihanna’s shit, I was super into that umbrella song, I think Tricky wrote that, and I’m really into Tricky. We say that in terms of the way we’re thinking of making the new record. We were originally like ‘we want ten songs that should all be under three minutes’ and want to have dance music inspired production, try to acknowledge that that is a world and filter that through our lands and make our own version of what that could be. Not that we could ever compete with that, it’s not going to happen. We’re kinda weird scuzzy dudes, sorta ambient psychedelic dance, whatever mash-up genre of dance. It’s not gonna hit big with 14 year old girls. ‘

FA: Do you guys put a lot of thought into art and that kind of stuff?

‘It’s weird that people say it looks really 80s. I always associate it with 90s aesthetic. There’s a computer that can do 3D-models, it’s 1994 Wow! (laughs). Yeah we put a lot of effort into this. I went to school of design and arts and was a film major, and my friend who does our light show was my old roommate from college, an industrial designer and he did all the art work. I took some of his stuff, and turned it into our imagery. He created the stuff and we talked back and forth, it was us combining heads. He builds these custom light shows, and we’re kind of obsessed with that and the videos. We try to be really involved with that kind of thing.’

FA: You went to design school, is that what you thought you would be doing now?

I thought I would be an artist or whatever that means, i thought maybe graphic design but I’m not that into doing graphic design for other people, I like doing it for myself. If there is a client that is like ‘do this, we wont tell you to do anything else’ I have this real chip on my shoulder about ‘that’s not good enough can you make it a little bit more funky … urban’. I tried some of those jobs and they weren’t for me. I was a film major, I thought I would be working in film. I didn’t think I would be doing music. I’m good at some of the song writing and production side, but I don’t play any instruments. I never plaid the guitar or anything. I can kind of play the keyboard badly, but I never thought I’d end up playing music. ‘

FA: Did you just lock yourself up in a studio upstate and record your album?

‘We knew we wanted to record close to Brooklyn, we found a place upstate – Woodstock – not for the relevance to the festival: it’s a good community and close enough to New York. There are a lot of houses up for rent there. We found a house that belonged to the drummer of Peter Gabriel’s solo stuff. He had a lot of equipment and a house, and we asked ‘how much’. He wanted to sell it, and we offered to rent it for three months and the market was bad at the time so he agreed and just disappeared and let us use all of his drums and old synthesisers. We just lived there and locked ourselves in five to six days a week. And came down to Brooklyn for a couple of days to chill out and escape from that world.’

FA: what did you do when you escaped? Do any of you have family lives?

‘I’m married, everyone has a girlfriend. We just went back and hung out in Brooklyn. we didn’t go out in Woodstock, we recorded all of the time. when we weren’t recording we were cooking or watching a movie, we joined the YMCA but went like three times, we got snowed in a lot. we didn’t do anything. It was snowy, cold, isolated down a dirt road type of house. It was really cool, new experience because I grew up in a city. Every night we were cooking and went to the fishmarket or meat market or something. Really cool. ‘

FA: You guys went to school in Baltimore, the same school as Animal Collective, and they came out with Merriweather Post Pavilion which was fairly poppy, do you guys know each other?

‘We totally know each other. I just went to Brian – what’s his fake name… Geologist – his wedding. we knew those guys, they were four or five years older than us, we went to school with three of the dudes. Josh used to be in it, and then Dave and Brian. They were four, five years older than us so I didn’t know them to well, you know in a way that you could know a senior as a younger kid, and our school was really small, so there were some relationships in weird ways. We got really friendly, I am really close friends with Brian’s wife, but we don’t really talk about music with them. I don’t think we would hang out.’

FA: Yeah, I associate, especially now, Odd Blood’s and Merriweather Post Pavilion poppiness together, and both albums have caught a lot of attention.

‘Yeah, I also went to school with ‘The Entrance Band’ do you know them? Check these guys out, they are really… fucking awesome. The main dude, Guy, in the band was in-between us and Animal Collective and he does this really crazy band. They’re on Sonic Youth’s label I think, what’s that called? I don’t know whether that record is out in Europe, it’s dope I want them to really blow up. Cause then it would be a real high-school contingent.

FA. Baltimore take over.

‘Yeah baltimore has been big lately.

FA. Dan Deacon is from there as well.

‘He’s not actually from there. I didn’t know him, he moved to Baltimore because a friend of mine in high school, who met Dan in college in New York and Dan ended up moving to Baltimore with this friend, he moved there in his twenties, so I never lived there at the same time as him. Yeah, he’s fun, he’s crazy.

FA: Where do you see yourself in the future?

‘no idea.. how far in the future?

FA: the tour is over… new album?

‘More touring, festivals’

Yeah you’ll be playing at primavera. Broken Social Scene, Spoon, you guys, Pavement.

‘Yeah, there’s a lot of good bands playing there. Pavement… Pavement were like the sound track of my teenage years. We played with Broken Social Scene before. I’m not really into them, there’s too many people on stage. But Pavement, Guided by Voices (well, some of Guided by Voices), Sonic Youth, and a lot of hip hop stuff – that’s what I feel like really influenced our aesthetic. That world of 90s music and trip hop and ambient, DJ Shadow and Portishead.

We chatted a bit about spotify, and then to record labels and distribution. Canada popped up.

‘I would move to canada, every time we go to vancouver I love it.

FA. I would move to montreal I think

‘Montreal is a great city, but a weird music scene. Cause they have their whole fucking quebecois bullshit, fake version of french music. Even bands that are really big tell me, Montreal is not that great that crowd. There was a hockey game going on or a Celine Dion which they are mandated by law to attend.

Q: I think in Quebec, and all of Canada. you have to play 1/4 Canadian music.

‘A quarter? That is a lot. You’re going to hear a crap load of Nickelback. US radio can be horrible, because of those kind of rules, same goes for Canada. It really limits you.

Q: One final personal question. What is ‘Rome’ about?

I dunno, nothing really, I was reading a book about Rome, it was about Sulla, first guy before Ceasar who wanted to turn rome into an empire as opposed to a republic, and i just thought of Rome as a parable to New York or conquest was kinda interesting. Writing in this vague way fit into the concept of the whole album of relationship songs and it’s this revenge song. There are multiple levels of metaphor. It was a good book. I got pretty into that whole era of Roman history, and the whole shift to Christianity and Constantinople. Pretty crazy – all of a sudden everyone is Christian. 100 years earlier it was illegal, and now we’re going to kill you if your not (laughs).

Q: that’s basically it, thanks very much…

‘Great I’ll head to the venue with you guys, watch Javelin, they came over from brooklyn with us. They’re super groovy, definitely check them out.’

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of creative borrowing. Robert Plant borrowed many a lyric from Howlin’ Wolf and the phrase “Folsom Prison Blues” wasn’t even written by Johnny Cash. There is, however, something wrong with lifting the core of your main single from a hit song by the co-founders of your chosen genre.

London-based Indie five-piece ‘Chapel Club’ thought it apt to hide the main guitar riff from Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ under a Morrisey-tinged vocal melody and reverberated trem picking, both fairly major elements of the band’s sound. Prior to this derivative homage at their set at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut was “Machine Music”, featuring interlocking, reverb-drenched guitar lines atop a rhythm section reminiscent of the Chameleons. Instantly noticeable were both guitarists’ commanding stage presence in comparison to that of the singer’s, whose static and hesitant delivery made me wonder if the “stars shining above you” really did “whisper I love you”.

All questions of mine regarding the singer’s authenticity were forgotten, however, when I noticed the guitarist to his right was attempting to ape Johnny Marr’s equipment, hair and even stage posturing, leading me to believe that he’d perhaps watched the video to “What Difference Does It Make?” one time too many. Their chequered shirts and 80s haircuts didn’t so much impress me as make me wonder how they managed to avoid drowning in the bargain bin at Topman.

Midway through the set came “Surfacing”, the track of their’s I most enjoyed on their Myspace, with muted guitars and a constant drumbeat. Still waiting for the singer to look like he was enjoying himself even a little onstage, I waited through another 2 or 3 less distinctive numbers, seemingly there only to allow for the inclusion of long extinct synth patches now in demand thanks to La Poux. The set closed with the aptly titled “Paper thin”, a song with an intro somewhat less reminiscent of “This Charming Man” and more of a hyper-cheesy Cliff Richard single covered by Sonic Youth. What this band needs isn’t a summer holiday but a time machine.

On Sunday, my flatmate, Rosie, and I spent the evening being pushed and squished by screaming 14 and 15 year-old girls. Perhaps not the most romantic way to spend Valentine’s day, but the gig was far too good for me to care about that.

Due to being a general mess, I’m sorry to say I missed most of the support act. But from what I heard towards the end of their set, Fan Death, were really good.

It took a while for Vampire Weekend to get on stage after Fan Death finished their set. The crowd started chanting “Vampire Weekend” for a bit, but like most chanting, that awkwardly died down after people started getting a bit tired and realised the band still wasn’t coming on stage yet. But then the lights dimmed, people started cheering, the band members took their position, and the black back drop fell away to reveal a giant print of the cover image of “Contra”, with the pupil’s of the girls eyes eerily cut out – they glowed red during a line in “Walcott” (“the lobster’s claws is as sharp as knives/evil feasts on human lives/the Holy Roman Empire roots for you”). So it was fairly dramatic, but understandably: Vampire Weekend are good, very good.

I don’t remember much of the set-list, but I do remember a healthy mix between songs from Contra and songs from their debut album Vampire Weekend. A testament to this is how the stage was set. As already mentioned the back drop was the cover art to the Contra “album”, but on top of that three chandeliers were hung from the ceiling – a reference to the cover art of their first album. The sound was also absolutely perfect, the band sounded like they do on their albums. Since most, if not all, of their songs are upbeat, there was a lot of jumping up and down, hence being pushed and squished by teenage girls.

For the encore, Vampire Weekend did a cover of “Stand By Me” to commemorate Valentine’s day, which first consisted of lead singer Ezra Koening talking for a few minutes about the different ways we could find love (at the gig itself was one of the suggestions). But what was really special was that they ended the show with my favourite song from their first album, “Mansard Roof” (“being from Edinburgh, and having such lovely buildings, you should appreciate a song about architecture” – Ezra Koening).

So if you’re ever considering watching Vampire Weekend and you think you’re okay to put up with hoards of young teenagers (the perks: they’re short, so it’s not hard to see over their heads), then you definitely should.

It’s been a while since Peter Gabriel has given us something to really sink our teeth into with his last solo album ‘Up’ being released in 2002 almost a decade ago. His latest album ‘Scratch My Back’ which came out today features a selection of covers of various new and old artists encompassing a diverse range of styles. Unlike the standard cover, Gabriel offers an insight into his own creativity by giving us his own interpretations of the songs aided only by various orchestral instruments arranged by John Metcalfe and none of the standard rock band set up. His husky voice gives a sense of raw emotion to each of the songs which conveys new meaning to them and allows the listener to approach them from a different perspective.

The title of the album is so for a reason as Gabriel plans to release another record later on in the year aptly named ‘I’ll Scratch Yours’ where the artists involved in Gabriel’s project will return the favour by covering one of Gabriel’s tracks with The Magnetic Fields’ cover of the Gabriel song ‘Not One of Us’ already available to download.

The result of Gabriel’s interpretation of each of these songs is ambivalent as for some songs it seems to work really well whilst others seem to detract from the poignancy and success of the originals. For example his cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Flume’ which is already a highly emotional song becomes rather exorbitant, however, tracks such as ‘Mirrorball’ originally by Elbow are made beautiful with the addition of strings and his deep, hoarse voice.

There are a few classics in there such as a cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ and Paul Simon’s ‘The Boy in the Bubble’ which are insightful whereas the addition of newer artists such as Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire and Radiohead gives a fresher more modern feel to the album.

An album that could potentially reinstate Gabriel’s musical creativity or see him as ‘past his best’ it is one that will see a thorough analysis from critics. Personally I feel that in ‘Scratch My Back’ Gabriel has presented us with a discernment of his own feelings of today’s music, hand picking tracks which although may not be the most loved or appreciated of songs truly encompass the spirit of decent song writing reflecting true creativity and emotion. ‘Scratch My Back’ shows a Gabriel back on form in a society that is constantly changing its opinion of what constitutes ‘decent’ music and managing to slot itself amongst the contemporary artists of today.

‘Scratch My Back’ was released on February 15th on Virgin

Norwegian band Casiokids bravely opened for Hot Chip at the HMV Picture house last Saturday. A relatively new band they did well to please the fans of one of the UK’s most popular electropop acts. The vocals which are entirely in Norwegian didn’t seem to put people off as their exuberant stage presence made for an enjoyable set. Despite this however, their focus on an array of eclectic electronic sounds seemed to deviate from the coherence of the music as a whole and as a result there were moments where the music sounded a bit sloppy and confused with too many contradictory sounds. A band definitely to look out for in the future and to do them justice they are still in their early stages and have already come a huge way in such a short time although I feel that they need to focus on the basic structure of their song writing before experimenting with different sounds/instruments.

As a warm blue light filled the stage Hot Chip emerged to hungry fans, their array of synthesizer’s, guitars and the latest addition of steel drums made for quite a spectacle. The thump of the kick drum announced the start of the set as they broke into the opening song ‘Thieves in the Night’ from their latest effort ‘One Life Stand’. The perfect start to a Saturday night the crowd were ecstatic from the get go with the impeccable blend of dancey and affable numbers appealing to everyone. Having just released a new album the set list as would be expected reflected this with highlights including ‘Brothers’ which they claimed was the first time they had played live and was beautiful with the gentle trumpet from Al Doyle. ‘Alley Cats’ another personal favourite from the latest album provided a mellow contrast to the more disco-house orientated songs such as ‘One Life Stand’ and ‘Take It In’.

Perhaps the highlight of the show was the alteration of some of their more classic songs which gave the audience a pleasant surprise. It’s always a bit depressing when a band reproduces their songs sound for sound when played live and the best live acts are those that add something different to the songs to satisfy the fans. In this case the addition of steel drums to the intro of ‘And there was a Boy from School’ was a refreshing change whilst in the case of ‘Ready For the Floor there was a completely different intro altogether and it was only when Alexis Taylor broke in with ‘Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it do it now’ that the audience acknowledged what song it was. Other songs which the crowd loved include ‘I Feel Better’ from the latest album which really got them going and ‘Hold On’ from ‘Made in the Dark’ where a sea of people filling the 1,500 person capacity of the picture house bopping along was quite a sight.

A terrific show to mark an excellent album although their choice of ordering of songs was a bit confusing. As they left the stage before the encore one was left wondering what they would play having already given us the likes of their most popular records and thus it seemed a strange choice to be playing tracks such as ’Slush’ which I really don’t rate very highly in what should have been the pinnacle of their set. Apart from this their actual playing cannot really be faulted and so it is not something that should really be questioned in relation to their overall performance which was far above par.

Erratic Functions – Episode 1: Dr Alasdair Richmond – Time Travel

For more information, check out the Erratic Thinking blog.

Catch the show live every Friday at 12.30 only on FreshAir.org.uk

For more on these guys, check out -

http://www.myspace.com/nedshepard

http://www.myspace.com/djsultan

http://www.globalunderground.co.uk/sultan/

http://www.myspace.com/haremrecords

http://twitter.com/haremrecords

http://twitter.com/djsultan

http://twitter.com/Nedshepard

Track Used: Sultan & Ned Shepard – Block Party

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Their latest effort, arguably less get up and go then their previous releases seems to be more of a relaxed and sentimental affair. Love seems to be a recurring theme throughout this album as can be seen simply from the title’s of some of the tracks: ‘Hand me down your love’, ‘We have love’ and the title track whereas ‘Brothers’ offers Joe Goddard’s insight into brotherly love. The opening song ‘Thieves in the Night’ sets up the standard for the rest of the album with atmospheric synths leading into a thrusting drum beat and soaring vocals. They still have the catchy dance tune similar to the likes of ‘Ready for the Floor’ on ‘Made in the Dark and ‘Over and Over’ in ‘The Warning’ in the form of the title track where the combination of Taylor’s euphonious singing and the floaty vocals of Joe Goddard with a stable backing and the addition of steel drums make for a track to remember. ‘Take it In’ offers another more upbeat track with evil backing synths in the verse leading to a much more ethereal chorus.

However, there are a couple of down points in the album most notably tracks such as ‘I Feel Better’ where the effects put on the vocals in the verse make it sound more akin to a popular house tune found in a commercial club and the track ‘Slush’ doesn’t seem to have enough substance leaving you wondering where the song is going apart from a cheesy exclamation of love. Finally, arguably the best track on the album is ‘Alley Cats’ whose chilled out guitars and mellow vocals can be paralleled to the likes of ‘And I was a boy from School’. Despite these minor setbacks ‘One Life Stand’ is a very good album overall album and one that definitely warrants a listen.
4/5

Hot Chip play Edinburgh’s HMV Picture House on Saturday 13th February