Young Fathers. Barrowlands, Glasgow. March 2018

Young Fathers. Barrowlands, Glasgow. March 2018. Live gig review

I have said it before, but it is worth saying again, Young Fathers are by far the best live act on the go just now. They are growing their following whilst barely changing the formula that they started out with: three Edinburgh men singing, contorting, crooning and shouting over a droning electronic background and vigorous live drumming. Live they give the impression of barely contained rage, and building pressure with little more than a dour Scottish sneer on show, the only visible release onstage is when Kayus Bankole convulses in an intermittent blur of flailing arms and legs. 

Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers

With the release of their latest album, Cocoa Sugar, they continue to produce a string of strong songs, which are uniquely "Young Fathers" when you hear them. Their very presence is a statement, but they don't beat you around the head with it, it's the nusic that assaults you. 

When it was announced that they were playing the Glasgow Barrowlands, tickets sold out within days. The question was whether their intense stage persona, which doesn't usually involve crowd pleasing "HALLO GLASGOOOOOW" shout-outs, would manage to lift the ballroom crowd. 

Support act WWWater were appropriately uplifting, with hints of Grace Jones and analogue synths among the increasingly abstract singing of Belgian Charlotte Adigéry. The crowd were showing signs of being in the mood for tonight's gig with the enthusiastic response she garnered. 

Young Fathers, Glasgow Barrowlands

Young Fathers when they came on stage could not get started until a cheering, stamping, expectant crowd had quietened down sufficiently to let them get going. Any doubts that they would not manage to take this whole room with them blown away in the first few seconds. With Graham 'G' Hastings, Kayus Bankole and Alloysious Massaquoi out front, largely silhouetted for the night against a white screen, they came together and drifted apart through all the songs, their voices merging and splitting from years of playing together. Tracks from the new album dominated the setlist (Tremolo, Toy and In My View stand out tracks tonight) but there were outings for plenty of stuff from their earlier output merged seamlessly into it. 

'G' almost broke into a smile at a couple of points as he tried to give us a few words, but ultimately stuck to the music. Loud, angry, energetic and something worth listening to. 

The crowd were grinning, cheering, singing along and baying for more - a reminder of how good it can feel to be part of a big Glasgow crowd when they are in the mood, whether at a football match or a concert. Best gig I've been to in a long time? Probably. 

Something old, something new. Weekend Glasgow concert reviews

Live gig review -

• Lee 'Scratch' Perry. St Lukes, Glasgow 10th March 2018
• Superorganism. CCA, Glasgow, 11th March 2018

Saturday night's gig was my choice, Sunday night was my brother's. Our musical tastes have some overlap, and some differences. Luckily in Glasgow there is always a variety of musical options and if we had wanted something different again we could have alternatively joined the thousands of people at The Hydro for the "Country To Country" shows. As it was I settled for veteran Jamaican dub reggae musician Lee 'Scratch' Perry on one night, and "BBC Sound of 2018" nominees Superorganism on the other. One night it's all ginger wine and marijuana, the next it's Diet Irn Bru.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry and the Upsetters, St Lukes, Glasgow

Lee 'Scratch' Perry

After the life he has led, first let me say hats off to Lee 'Scratch' Perry for still being here. The 81 year old Jamaican producer largely created the dub style in the 1970s, taking existing reggae tracks, remixing and looping them in the studio to make new tracks. Emphasising the drum and bass, the instrumentals, he was constantly innovating and a whole new musical genre was born. His behaviour can probably be best described as eccentric over the years, from burning down recording studios, communing with aliens and wearing his hat that represents connections to elemental gods. A lifelong belief in the powers of ganja may have a part to play in his personality (his letter to the Japanese Minister of Justice in 1980 in support of Paul McCartney, who had been arrested for allegedly carrying cannabis, maybe best sums up his views on the matter).  

His tight four-piece band introduce themselves as The Upsetters, the name of Lee Perry's old house band, and they kick things off until the man himself wanders on stage after a couple of tracks. Bedecked in an old braided military coat, wearing his trademark hat and dyed red beard he laughs and sings away, treading a fine line between improvisation and rambling gibberish - not always successfully. The setting of St Lukes as a former church seemed to appeal to him, the old church organ behind him on stage, and the words turn to god and Zion at times. 

Lee Scratch Perry and band at St Lukes, Glasgow

When a fan at the front hands him a large bag of a herbal substance early on, he happily sequesters it away with his suitcase on the stage and throughout the night blithely puffs away on his pipe between songs. There will be no smoking ban at a Lee 'Scratch' Perry event. Breaking off for a few sips of the ginger wine that he has brought on stage, he mumbles on for an hour and a half, loosening up as the night goes on and seeming to be enjoying himself as much as the collection of Glaswegians in the audience. As has to be noted that the audience have been providing some of the worst excuses for dancing that I may have ever seen. As he wanders off stage during a riff on Bob Marley's 'Exodus' we realise that is exactly what he has done. Long may he reign.

Lee Scratch Perry in a fug of smoke

Superorganism, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow

Superoganism

Superorganism are an international collective of eight musicians, fronted by 17 year old Orono Noguchi. Their self-titled debut album has just been released last week. They roll into Glasgow on the back of a lot of hype, but don't appear over-awed by it all. A lot of effort has gone into creating a lo-fi, homemade, psychedelic, indie pop sound that gives the album a happy, upbeat vibe full of technological references and hints of dozens of musical influences. 

Superorganism at the CCA

On stage everything has been carefully put together too, from the co-ordinated raincoats and video backdrops to the dance moves of backing singers Ruby, Soul and B. It's all a stark contrast to Lee Scratch Perry's shambolic fun the previous night. Orono's insouciant demeanour lets them get away with the contrived wackiness. As proper pop bands should, they batter through a set of 3 minute tunes, smile, wave and look happy. Orono tries to curry favour with the local crowd by glugging down a bottle of Irn Bru throughout the show. Where she got it right in choosing a glass bottle, she made the mistake of going for the sugar-free version, greeted by boos from the audience, much to her bewilderment (in one of the few countries in the world where the local fizzy drink outsells Coca-Cola, nobody seems to have pointed out to her that this teeth-coating, caffeine and sugar concoction is best known as a hangover cure, rather than as a late night thirst quencher). She saves the day by somehow finding a bottle of the full-fat Irn Bru to help with the encore.

Back on the Irn Bru

It is hard to tell how much of the music and backing vocals is played live, with various pre-recorded voices and electronic beeps going off left, right and centre, but it doesn't really matter. They look like they are having fun, and we don't want to put a dampener on it. 

Everybody Wants To Be Famous and Something For Your M.I.N.D. are the most memorable songs, but there are plenty of others that show there is variety across the album. The overall sound here is of Bis doing Kandy Pop, filtered through The Monkees whilst somebody nearby plays an 80s video game. As I quite like all of these things, that isn't a criticism.

Their album lasts little over 30 minutes, as does the concert. A couple more tunes wouldn't have hurt, but they don't seem like they are going to release anything upon the world until it has been finely honed and polished. I hope they have the stamina to keep that going.

Celtic Connections 2018. Marnie. Peter Broderick

Marnie. The Hug and Pint, Glasgow. Celtic Connections. 28th January, 2018. Live Review. 

Helen Marnie, once of Ladytron, has been performing solo for a couple of years now as Marnie, and played a hometown gig in Glasgow tonight under the Celtic Connections umbrella. Despite The Guardian guide describing her as folk-pop, this is a decidedly synth-pop affair.

Kelora

Support act Kelora gave us a surprisingly original warm-up, the best medieval futurist, nu-celtic folk band I have ever listened to. Marnie came on to a sold out crowd dressed like a Gothic Victorian doll, all staring eyes and attitude. The music however is breezy, with catchy pop riffs throughout, with G.I.R.L.S. a stand out track. Basically just F.U.N.

Marnie

Peter Broderick. The Hug and Pint, Glasgow. Celtic Connections. 2nd February, 2018. Live Review. 

Looking like the love child of Nick Cave and Mackenzie Crook, Peter Broderick is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist from Oregon. Whether it is the fact the gig is advertised through Celtic Connections or not, he was happy to see a full house tonight in The Hug and Pint after telling us the same venue made a loss on his gig in the same venue a few months ago.

Playing keyboards, violin and guitar, with and without loop pedals he mixed up some of his own tunes, with covers of several artists, including a few songs by Arthur Russell. This has come about through a project he is involved in with Russell's former partner, to re-master and release some unreleased music by the musician, clearly a project he is relishing. Some of the most moving music of the night however were the instrumental pieces he played, either at keyboard or violin, and it would be nice to have heard more of this stuff tonight.

Good company throughout he was a cheery and energetic performer. Don't be put off by the austere pictures on his posters.

Peter Broderick

Celtic Connections 2018. Live review

Julie Fowlis, Live Review. City Halls, Glasgow.
Max Richter, Live Review. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. 

Celtic Connectios 2018. The 25th anniversary edition.

Julie Fowlis, City Halls, Glasgow. Celtic Connections. January 20th 2018

Of all the stand out shows at this year's Celtic Connections music festival in Glasgow, a big pile of them were all on the same night. Julie Fowlis's sold out solo show at Glasgow City Halls was the one I plumped for, and it was a good choice. On stage she was accompanied by fiddlers Duncan Chisolm and Patsy Reid, bass, two guitarists (including husband Eamon Doorley) and various harmonium and keyboards from Celtic Connections director Donald Shaw. Much of the set drew from the new album, Alternum, from opening piece Òran an Ròin (Seal's Song) to Cearcall mun Ghealaich in the encore, and was a mixture of old, old songs and new. 

With no percussion, the singing provided much of the rhythm, the back and forth that often creates a connection to the world of the singer in Gaelic songs. Bright and breezy throughout Julie Fowlis led from the front, introducing us to the story of one song with a cautionary "because it is happening in a Gaelic song, we know it won't end well."

Going out of her comfort zone, one song was given to us in English (or "the other language"), a version of "Go Your Way", whilst another was taken into Gaelic ("Blackbird" by The Beatles.) When I have seen Julie Fowlis before, it is when she gets out the whistle that the audience are getting ready to tap their feet, and it was the same again here, and I had completely forgotten that she is an excellent bagpipe player too, until the pipes appear as a finale. There were several young children in the audience, I thought drawn there in the hope of hearing the soundtrack songs from the Disney movie "Brave". I was wrong, the wee super-fan sitting behind me sang along in perfect Gaelic to every song in the set. A warm and smile filled evening's entertainment.

Max Richter Ensemble : Three Worlds. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Celtic Connections. January 23rd 2018.

With his increasing involvement in soundtracks, modern classical composer Max Richter seems busier than ever. The concert he performed at Celtic Connections harked back to a ballet score he produced for Royal Ballet's Woolf Works, a triptych of works choreographed by Wayne MacGregor in 2015. The recently released recording based on this music was brought to the Glasgow Concert Hall by Max Richter and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra tonight, though much of the orchestra were hidden behind the banks of keyboards, pianos and celesta that Richter played at front of stage. 

Virginia Woolf's books, Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves were the inspiration for the three pieces of music performed here. I am not a great fan of her books, but the recording of her voice that introduced the first piece was electrifying. The music that followed was melodic, with the violins and piano ebbing and flowing, but ultimately going nowhere, so pretty much like the book. Orlando was introduced as an other-worldly tale and the music representing it was more dynamic, with pizzicato strings and synthesizers leading to an impressive cello solo. The music felt quite cinematic, like a Philip Glass piece from 40 years ago, but was no poorer for that. The unimpressive flashing LED light show was a pointless distraction. Gillian Anderson's recorded voice reading Virginia Woolf's poignant suicide note led us into the final piece, where solo soprano voice of Grace Davidson made the whole thing more like a requiem.

The music was not quite muscular enough to fill the venue, but pleasant and graceful none the less. An encore of On The Nature of Daylight was enough to please the screaming super-fans at the front in a congenial, rather than barn-storming, evening of music.

Shabazz Palaces - Glasgow. Live review

Shabazz Palaces, Art School, Glasgow. 8th Nov 2017

American experimental hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces create albums that can appear opaque and intriguing, but performing live present a surprisingly dynamic sound. Ishmael Butler raps and works the electronic gadgetry whilst multi-instrumentalist Tendai "Baba" Maraire brings the energy with his live percussion. Last time I saw them in Glasgow was in a basement bar at the western end of Sauchiehall Street (can't remember which), but now they draw a bigger crowd on a Wednesday night at the Art School. 

The films projected onto the screen behind them hint at some of their influences; downtown streets, domestic scenes, Fela Kuti and Sun Ra all featuring. If you can imagine a shiny 1970s American car with Fela Kuti and Sun Ra blasting out from the 8 track, that gets you the flavour of Shabazz Palaces. Their latest albums featuring the character Quazarz comes closest to echoing Sun Ra's otherworldly ideas. You listen to the lyrics, feeling you have grasped the meaning, before it wanders away from you again. Their stories are of a black experience, but definitely at the prog-rock end of the hip-hop spectrum.

Shabazz Palaces at the Art School, Glasgow

The live show is tightly done, with one track sweeping into the next, the two performers in a constant dialogue of sound, and the live percussion just lifts it above the usual. The crowd were drawn in by the gripping show.

Energetic, confusing and intriguing. 

Brian Wilson - Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour

Brian Wilson - Pet Sounds. Summer Nights, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow. 3rd August 2017. Live review

The Beach Boys were surely one of the most recognisable and influential bands around. As they evoke a bright, breezy awakening of youth culture in the 1960s, their songs still pop up again and again in film and television. Even people like me born after the Beach Boys had faded away can adopt a cheery falsetto and sing along to "Surfin' USA", "I Get Around", "Barbara Ann," "Fun Fun Fun", "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations". When I was 8 or 9 years old I got a tape recorder as a present and "The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats" tape, with the blue cover and the surfer on the front was the first, and for a long time, only album that I possessed. Apart from that I had a collection of music recorded off of the radio chart show. 

The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats

The original Beach Boys line up was brothers Brian, Denis and Carl Wilson, their friend Al Jardine and cousin Mike Love. Brian Wilson was the main songwriter and often producer, along with performing lead and backing vocals, bass and keyboards. However the life of Brian was far more complicated than the sunny music would have you believe and that leaked into the music of their 1966 album Pet Sounds, which when you listen to it is far more complex and self-doubting than you would expect from a 24 year old leading one of the most successful bands on the planet at the time. Although receiving disappointing sales at the time, it has stood the test of time and was rated number 2 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 greatest albums of all time" list (behind Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). 

I was not really aware of how complicated and bizarre Brian Wilson's life became over the years as he dealt with health problems, exploitation and over-medication until I watched the 2014 biopic Love & Mercy, which seems to have been greeted by those in the know as a fairly accurate portrayal of events in his life. With Paul Dano as the young Brian Wilson and John Cusack as an older version it is hard not to warm to him as the character portrayed on screen, then when you read about what has happened in his life it is hard not to shake your head in disbelief. 

However seeing him live, it is the music that you are coming to hear. The fear is that you will be seeing a mere shadow of Brian Wilson's former self. However the younger man is such a musical giant, that any crumb of that is worth buying a ticket for. 

Brian Wilson, Kelvingrove Bandstand

The show we saw was on a summer night in Glasgow, at the fantastic Kelvingrove Park bandstand, a repeat of last year's successful "Summer Nights" season of concerts. In Glasgow the potential summer issue here is obviously the weather, but tonight the rain held off and wee shards of blue sky meant that if you screwed your eyes up really tightly, you could pretend you were being transported to a Californian beach. Expecting a run through of the Pet Sounds album, then an encore of other hits, I was amazed that before we got there the first set was 19 songs long, going from opening number California Girls, to I Get Around and Surfer Girl and 1973's Sail On Sailor, by which time Blondie Chaplin was on stage to add to the vocals and guitar barrage. 

Brian Wilson at Kelvingrove Bandstand, August 2017

Brian Wilson sat centre stage behind keyboards, sharing singing duties with original Beach Boy Al Jardine, who was in fine voice, and Jardine's son Matt Jardine. Matt dealt brilliantly with the falsetto end of the scale, notes which are beyond the older vocal cords on stage, creating harmonies very evocative of the original recordings. Wilson is not a man in good health and was helped on stage, but after that seemed invigorated throughout the two and a half hour show. His flat affect and shuffling gait are the inevitable consequences of a lifetime on heavy medication, which makes it hard for any outside observer to say what his true feelings are, but my impression was of a man at ease in front of a receptive and lively crowd, and a smiling and supportive band of eleven fellow musicians. 

The second set of the gig, working through the Pet Sounds album from start to finish, including the two complex instrumental pieces, was the highlight of the show. Opener Wouldn't It Be Nice is possibly the most positive song on the album, after that the lyrics leave you pondering and raising an eyebrow. As Brian Wilson's gruff tones started singing You Still Believe In Me then Matt Jardine's stronger falsetto took over it gave a nice impression of the passage of time from the youthful voices that recorded the album half a century ago, until today. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times could be a summary of Wilson's life, a man out of time, dealing with low moods with lines like "no one wants to help me look for places where new things might be found". Was nobody listening to him?

Summer Nights, Glasgow

As darkness finally fell over this part of Glasgow, the show was finished off with a flurry of five classic Beach Boys songs that got everyone on their feet. The last song of the night was the 1988 tune Love and Mercy that gave the biopic film its title, a slower number which is about two things Wilson feels the world needs more of. Me? I had a big smile on my face all evening. 

Tony Allen - "Tribute To Art Blakey"

Review - Tony Allen - "Tribute To Art Blakey". Old Fruitmatrket. Glasgow Jazz Festival, June 2017

Tony Allen  and band, at Glasgow Jazz Festival 2017

Tony Allen's recently released first record for the Blue Note label looks back at the work of Art Blakey, with a four track EP. He expands this in a live performance at the Glasgow Jazz Festival 2017 at the Old Fruitmarket. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Tony Allen's drumming style mixed West African rhythms with jazz music, from the likes of Art Blakey and Max Roach, to create his own unique style and sound that drove forwards the music of Fela Kuti and others to create "Afro-beat". Since then he has been sought out for collaborations by many different musicians. I saw him perform with Keiran Hebden (Four Tet) at the Tramway in a eye-opening collision of improvisation and electronic squeaks and squwaks. He played a couple of albums with Damon Albarn (as The Good, The Bad and the Queen) and performed drums of one of my favourite ever songs "5:55" by Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

Tonight's performance with a jazz quartet is therefore, in some respects, a step back to his roots, to his own influences and teachers. Art Blakey was born in 1919 in Pittsburgh. He played drums with the likes of Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker before forming "Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers". In 1947 Art Blakey traveled to Africa and stayed there for 2 years. The influences he took away in his drumming, then came back to African music through Tony Allen.

The Old Fruitmarket looked pretty full as the four musicians came on stage. With a dread-locked Jean-Phillipe Dary at the grand piano and keyboards on his right, and on his left Matthias Allamane on double bass, Tony Allen sat centre stage behind his drum kit, directing proceedings. With a nod here and a raised eyebrow there from behind his sunglasses, he would set off the saxophone or bass on a solo, before bringing it all back together with a rap on the drums.

There was never any showboating or tedious noodling, but some classy playing from some classy musicians with the drums driving it all forwards. There were smiles on the faces of the musicians, clearly enjoying what they were creating, and certainly I sat with a wide grin on my face all night. The drums sounded like there was more than one percussionist on stage at times, the polyrhythms pressing onward. A lovely night of beautiful music, and a fantastic ensemble, led from behind the drum kit.

Kraftwerk 3-D, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Live review

Performance Art

Kraftwerk 3-D, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Concert review. June 2017

Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk released their album, Autobahn, over 4 decades ago now in 1974. Several more albums of repetitive rhythms, vocoder voices, synthesisers and drum machines that gave them their distinctive "robot pop" sound followed until 2003, when they released their final album, Tour de France Soundtracks. This year Stage 1 of the Tour de France cycle race, a time trial, will pass the old Kling-Klang studio in Dusseldorf where the cycling enthusiasts of Kraftwerk recorded their most famous music. Although no longer performing as the classic Kraftwerk line-up, most of the current band have been performing together for over twenty years now, with Falk Grieffenhagen the newest member. 

Kraftwerk

Usually performing as a uniformly clad, austere foursome, their appearance has always been as distinctive as their sound, with shop mannequins, robots and large projections being recurrent elements of their performances. Rarely giving interviews and performing with earnest personas, their aloofness has stood them in good stead, and matches the industrial, cold themes of a lot of their songs. Their influence on everything from hip hop to Coldplay (Computerlove is the basis of their song Talk). Since 2008, only Ralph Hütter of the original line up still drives the Kraftwerk brand onwards around the globe. They have remixed the back-catalogue and repackaged their look to tour over the past couple of years as a 3-D audio-visual extravaganza. 

One question that I had coming to their show tonight (I am struggling to call it a concert) was how much do they bring to the performance? How much do they add standing, staring at lecterns whilst electronic music and projected visuals bring the entertainment? The answer was a resounding "loads!".

The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow is a comfortable, seated space, more used to hosting classical concerts, but I have seen great shows here from musicians as diverse as Billy Bragg and Mogwai. On the way in we are all given our 3D glasses to enjoy the show's visuals, a wee problem for me and my bespectacled brother, particularly for him as he has poor 3D vision due to an eye problem. Due to our original seats being so far round to the side that the stage as it has been set up would have been unseen by us, we were moved to seats in the third row of the stalls, which was a wee, pleasant start to the night.

Kraftwerk 3D specs

The curtain pulls back to reveal the four performers at their pedestals, heads down, earnestly noodling away all night. Only as they walk off one at a time after a brief solo, does it become apparent what each musician is contributing to the mix. For about 90 minutes we are bombarded with a string of all their well known material, complimented by a dazzling variety of visuals on the screen behind them. Compuerlove (1981) predicts the world of Tinder and on line dating, other songs again play with ideas ahead of their time, with sounds nobody else was creating. The sincere way in which it is all performed creates a visual atmosphere of being in a modern art gallery at an exhibition. Their tight fitting bodysuits, with wire-frame model highlights look like we have entered a real life version of the 1982 film Tron. 

Kraftwerk on stage 2017

It is hard to pick out highlights in the setlist as so many fabulous tunes wash over us; Neon Lights, The Man-Machine, Spacelab (complete with a 3d spaceship which seemed to crash into the guy in front of me in my mind's eye before it is shown on screen flying over the River Clyde and landing outside the concert hall), Trans-Europe Express. 

The Robots, Kraftwerk

The first encore finds the stage taken over by the red-shirted robots, spooky and bonkers, like a mad 1970s episode of Doctor Who. 

Geiger Counter/ Radioactivity, in Partick Thistle colours

The mask doesn't slip, they play it straight right to the end, and leave the stage to thunderous applause to the fading sounds of Musique Non Stop. A fantastical and unique show. Not just four old blokes staring at computers after all, but a good old fashioned son et lumière, performed by Constructivists with some banging tunes.

Tectonics Glasgow 2017

Tectonics Glasgow, May 2017. Review

For the fifth Glasgow outing of the Tectonics music festival all its familiar elements of experimentation, improvisation and collaboration were on display. Female composers and performers were to the fore this year, with the ever reliable BBC Scotland Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ilan Volkov the glue holding the whole weekend together.

The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

Whilst most of Glasgow lay about in glorious sunshine, decent crowds were drawn into the cool darkness of the Old Fruitmarket to see jazz musician and composer Roscoe Mitchell, who would bookend the festival, kick things off. Resplendent in some fantastic green knitwear and sunglasses despite the gloom of the Fruitmarket he wheezed and parped his saxophone like some exuberant snake charmer to get us started. They were followed by artist Luke Fowler and musician and composer John Chantler squatting in the centre of the room over a jumble of cables and string instruments creating fantastic electronic drones and distorted sounds. 

Luke Fowler and John Chandler

Next up we were through to the City Halls where New York musicians Yarn/Wire, a quartet of two percussionists and two pianists who started on conventional instruments to perform a piece by Andrew MacIntosh, before gravitating to bowed wine glasses and cymbals. Twitchy samples, shaken foliage, kitchen utensils and coloured beads agitated on drums were required for Thomas Meadowcroft's "Walkman Antiquarian". Their playing throughout, and across the weekend was crisp, clear and precise. If you want four musicians to fit a kitchen for you I would go for them - neat, particular and perfectly measured.

Back into the main concert hall and members of the BBC SSO combined with Yarn/Wire to play François-Bernard Mâche's "Kassandra", a tight performance conducted by Volkov combining the musicians with recorded voices and natural sounds. A strident babble of diverse voices. The first piece of the weekend from composer Linda Caitlin Smith, "Wilderness", was sweetly mellifluous before cellist Lori Goldston's composition for amplified cello and orchestra. A darker, more forceful piece and a good contrast to what had gone before.


My personal highlight of the weekend was the collaboration between Australian trio The Necks and the complete BBC SSO being guided in an extended piece of improvised playing by the energy of conductor Ilan Volkov. With The Necks front of stage, performing away, Volkov looked to be composing live with the orchestra, as he waved his hands and sculpted sounds, much as Tony Stark does with his VR computer system in the Iron Man movies. It was phenomenally beautiful, and a reflection of the close working over many years between Volkov and the orchestra.

Triangulum brought the evening to a close in the Old Fruitmarket featuring Julia Holter, Catherine Lamb and Laura Steenberge. A gentle, and slightly anti-climactic end to the day.


Sunday started with many of the musicians from the festival performing on the floor of the Old Fruitmarket Eddie Prévost's 'Spirals'. With members of Yarn/Wire, The Necks, Triangulum and others playing whilst dressed in gold lamé tabbards, the tone for the second day was established.

Two more pieces by Linda Caitlin Smith were performed in the main concert hall. First the baroque and melancholic 'Ricercar' performed by solo cellist Alison Mcgillivaray, followed by Yarn/Wire on two marimba and two grand pianos playing the more halting, laconic, and haunting 'Morandi'.

Pierre Berthet and Rie Nakajima

Across the weekend Pierre Berthet and Rie Nakajima had an installation on display in the building's recital room, where they gave occasional performances, animating their assorted creations. Gently diverting but never amounting to more than the sum of its little parts.

James Saunders and Tim Parkinson gave us two entertaining pieces ('in which one thing depends on another' and 'songs') which played with word association, a variety of dropping, plopping and banging of everyday objects and tabletops, accompanied by vocal ejaculations.

After these carefully written and choreographed pieces Ash Reid's piece of agitprop theatre in the Old Fruitmarket felt a bit self-indulgent and shambolic. A tighter piece, 'Felt Events' by Ilana Halperin and Raymond MacDonald featuring further contributions from the musicians of The Necks, brought a jazz cafe feel to a piece reflecting on volcanoes and earthquakes. Tectonics, you might say. Tut Vu Vu were a noisy wake up call to the audience after all that, with distorted, fluorescent guitars and electronic beeps and sqwaks.

The closing concert squeezed in six more performances starting with Shiori Usui's 'from scratch', a piece of music based on her experiences of eczema (which was making me feel itchy). Lawrence Dunn's 'Ambling, waking' followed in the City Halls, with more from Linda Caitlin Smith, James Saunders and Roscoe Mitchell bringing the weekend to a close.

Always an enjoyable way to spend a weekend, the whole thing this year felt less fresh than in previous years. Much of the music was similarly toned 1960s and 1970s pieces, and with many of the same musicians playing across the weekend it ended up with a familiar tone over the two days. There just seemed to be less chaos - more chin stroking this year and less drama.

The Beat and The Selecter. ABC Glasgow, March 2017

The Beat and The Selecter . Co-headline tour 2017. 

ABC, Glasgow. 31.March 2017. Live review. 

The Selecter, fronted by the stylish Pauline Black I last saw play a couple of years ago in Oran Mor and The Beat with Ranking Roger, were in Glasgow 3 years ago at the ABC 2. Tonight playing a joint headline tour they have managed to sell out the bigger hall at the ABC on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street for a night of nostalgic 2-Tone ska. Originally a 6 date tour it has now grown arms and legs, including a return to Glasgow in November 2017, after the first dates sold out so quickly. I was surprised to see how easily they filled this place, the crowd ranging from 50 year old overweight men with shaved heads, to girls night out crowds and hipsters adorned with ginger beards and pork pie hats. 2-Tone was always a broad church.

First on stage for us in Glasgow on Friday night were The Beat. The indefatigable Ranking Roger runs the show, but accompanied on stage in recent years by his son, Ranking Junior (or Matthew Murphy). Ranking Junior's rapid MC rhyming style appeared on the Ordinary Boys song "Boys Will Be Boys" (1 min 50 secs in on this video) and he gives some of the Beat songs a bit of a shake up with this. But only a wee shake up, as there are so many tunes you want to hear entirely as they should be. It is also so refreshing to hear songs with a bit of a political bite to them, such a big part of the 2-Tone scene. When did music start living in this apolitical bubble that makes songs like "Stand Down Margaret" sound alien? The Beat are still writing new songs and fitted a couple seamlessly into the set without dropping the energy levels. There is no sign they are coming to a Ranking Full Stop (see what I did there?)

The Selecter, Glasgow March 2017

Each night they will swap over who plays first and second. Playing first The Beat had to step aside when it looked like they could happily carry on. The Selecter swept on stage next, with rude girl Pauline Black and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson looking as stylish as ever. They have a fantastic back catalogue of songs and this is a bigger band playing with them than I have seen for a while. Despite that a couple of my favourite Hammond organ and guitar riffs from the recordings were a bit subdued tonight, and the two sax players could have done with their volume being up a bit. That aside they had the hall bouncing when blasting out Three Minute Hero, Missing Words and On My Radio. Again politics is never far below the surface with The Selecter, was references to police shootings and Brexit thrown in amongst the dance tunes. 

The night came to an end with a nostalgic nod to the finale of the 2-Tone tour, with members of The Beat joining The Selecter on stage for a rendition of Prince Buster's Madness. 

Big Country. A nostalgic gig reviewed.

Big Country. Live gig review. Cottiers, Glasgow, 17th December 2016

Big Country - The Seer album. 30th Anniversary Tour

On Saturday night I donned my tartan shirt and joined a decent crowd in Cottiers for a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s with Big Country performing there on their current tour. Only two of the original four members were playing in the current five-piece band. With the death 15 years ago of charismatic singer, guitarist and songwriter Stuart Adamson and the retirement of Tony Butler, that leaves Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki to carry the torch for the anthemic Scottish rock band. It may sound a bit like going to see Ringo and George Harrison playing as The Beatles, but a week before Christmas the chance of singing along with one of the favourite albums of my 16 year old self was too good to miss.

Formed in Dumfermline in 1981 by former Skids guitarist and songwriter Stuart Adamson and fellow Fifer, guitarist Bruce Watson. One version of the band briefly featured Peter Wishart on keyboards, later of Runrig and now an SNP MP, but Big Country settled their four-piece line up with bass player Tony Butler and drummer Mark Brzezicki. Their first single was released in 1983, Fields of Fire, from the Steve Lilywhite produced album, The Crossing, which also had their hit In A Big Country on it. The Crossing was available in a red, blue or green cover and in textured or smooth finish. As a complete sucker for that kind of fly, marketing gimmick I bought it in all the variations that I could find in the 1980s, despite the album inside being identical each time.

My tatty copies of Steeltown and The Crossing

The single Wonderland followed The Crossing and then the album Steeltown came next, in October 1984, with the singles East of Eden and Where The Rose Is Sown on it. Their success continued with the album The Seer in June 1986. Produced by Robin Miller, the title track features guest vocals from Kate Bush and the album was a return to the more Scottish, bagpipe-guitar sound of The Crossing. It has the hits The Teacher, Look Away and One Great Thing on it. The last of those it is hard to think of without seeing the old Tennents Lager advert that featured it. 

This album was one that I played endlessly and have a 12 inch single version of One Great Thing that has a strange "almanac and discography" booklet in the middle of it. You don't get any of that when you buy a download, do you? This has some photographs of the band in it that I was flicking through today, which are very much of their time. It is 30 years since The Seer was released, and the album is being played in full on the current tour. 

Mark Brzezicjki and Bruce Watson in the One Great Thing "almanac"

Peace In Our Time followed The Seer in September 1988, which marked the beginning of me falling out of love with Big Country and was the last of their albums that I bought. Further albums followed, with diminishing chart success and Stuart Adamson had by the 1990s moved to America to live, where he continued to make music. In 2000 the band ended their "Final Fling" tour with a sell-out concert at the Glasgow Barrowlands. Adamson had a history of alcohol problems and sadly fifteen years ago, in 2001, he committed suicide.

Cheesy  gate-fold picture from the Peace In Our Time album

In 2007 the surviving founder members reformed for a brief 25 year anniversary tour and Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki have intermittently toured, playing the band's old material. The current tour marks the 30th anniversary of the release of their third album, The Seer.

Big Country line up 2016, photo from their website

The current line up in 2016 has Jamie Watson on guitar, alongside his father Bruce Watson, drummer Mark Brzezicki, singer Simon Hough and bass player Scott Whiteley. They came on stage to a warm welcome and battered through the tracks of The Seer with Bruce Watson, grinning from ear to ear, briefly chatting between songs. The sing-along mood was carried into a few tracks played after the album play-through. It was a breezy, cheery evening, no maudlin reminiscing allowed. Simon Hough has the toughest job, trying to fill Stuart Adamson's shoes, and vocally he sings in the same key as Adamson, but was otherwise happy to leave Bruce Watson to do all the chatting. In A Big Country, Wonderland and Fields of Fire gave us further chance to sing ourselves hoarse and a final encore followed, which I think was one of the songs from the film Restless Natives.  Though Bruce Watson looked like he was ready to carry on, the rest of the band dragged him off, still grinning away and clearly having a ball. A nostalgic evening that reminded me of how many great tunes Big Country produced, a distinctive and inventive soundtrack to my teenage years.

Big Country in Cottiers, December 2016

Reeves & Mortimer. 25 Years of the Poignant Moments Tour

Reeves & Mortimer. 25 Years of the Poignant Moments Tour - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow. 29 November 2016. Live review

I had originally expected to see Vic and Bob bring their silver jubilee tour to Glasgow 12 months ago, but the tour was cancelled when Bob Mortimer required emergency heart surgery just before the tour headed out on the road. Looking slimmer and fitter, they managed to keep their Glasgow date a year late. This gives me an excuse to recall the time a group of friends bumped into Vic Reeves in a bar in Glasgow about 20 years ago. A woman I worked with must have totally bamboozled him by telling him "You're no Jim Reeves, my mum has all his records and he died in a plane crash". 

It is 25 years (well 26 years now I suppose) since Vic Reeves Big Night Out started on Channel 4, bringing Vic and Bob to the nations attention and several other shows followed, including leftfield quiz show Shooting Stars. Their stage show isn't rammed with new material, except for the prolonged improvised sections which must change night to night, but is a nostalgic re-visiting of many of their characters from those shows. The characters they played out were always out-of-time so haven't dated, absurd versions of 1970s television staples from folk singers to talent shows and Crown Court.

The stage features nothing more than a couple of chairs and a desk. Whilst the pair change costume brief sketches are projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage, such as adverts for "Geordie Jeans, so tight you can almost see your bowel movements". The audience was a mix of complete uber-fans who whoop along as they recognise every gag and song, those mildly tickled by the surreal nonsense evolving on stage and lanky teens brought along to observe their parents adulation of Vic and Bob's act.

Vic and Bob on stage at the Armadillo, Glasgow

In a two hour show few old characters are omitted. The Man With The Stick, complete with paper helmet, Graham Lister appearing on Novelty Island talent show, Davey and Donald Stott, Mulligan and O'Hare and Judge Nutmeg. Catchphrases zip about and pan pipes of shoes, blows from mighty frying pans and thigh rubbing all feature as you would hope. Listing what is in the show, now of it makes any sense, but that really is the whole point, their enthusiastic acceptance that everything they are saying and doing is perfectly logical bowls you along. Some characters, such as Dr Shakamoto's funny foreigner who can't say English words properly, maybe are past their best. Others, such as the Terry Gilliam-esque naked, flying Henry VIII should be given their own series.

A fabulous evening. Worth seeing just to see lard shoved through the nostrils of a photo of Benadict Cumberbatch and to be in the presence of the "dove from above". Here's to another 25 years of stuff from the surrealist's edition of Eric and Ernie.

Ela Orleans - Circles of Upper and Lower Hell

Ela Orleans - Circles of Upper and Lower Hell - Album launch. Stereo, Glasgow

Live gig review, Stereo Cafe Bar, Glasgow 1.9.2016

I can't say that I've ever before come away from a concert thinking "I really must make a point of reading that 14th century poem about Hell". However that was the situation I found myself in as I meandered back from Stereo in Renfield Lane last night, after watching Ela Orleans perform at the launch of her new album. It has obviously not been an easy process getting to the point where there was an album to be launched. An earlier incarnation of the album was released last year as Upper Hell, produced by Howie B. In the sadly familiar story of music industry machinations however, that led to the artist who made the work not getting paid and lawyers having to get involved. With that now behind her, and with the support of Night School Records, the music as envisaged by Ela herself has now seen the light of day. 

Ela Orleans album, Upper and Lower Circles of Hell

As the title of the album suggests it is inspired by Dante's Inferno, and many of the pieces on it play on Dante's journey down through Hell, led by ancient Roman poet Virgil. I have had it sitting on my wobbling pile of "to be read" books for a while, but after having the album playing for the past wee while in the house, my 16 year old son has picked it up and got right into it (he tells me that after the Inferno part, Purgatory and Paradise are a bit disappointing). Mixed in with the grand ideas of Dante, the music feels very personal and private. Ghostly vocals and echoes of other tunes bounce about in your head listening to it. There is the obvious spirit of the early electronic music of Daphne Oram and the sound collages of Delia Derbyshire here. Listening to the album I was also thinking back to one of my favourite LPs that I haven't listened to in years, The Eurythmics early nu-wave sound from In The Garden. 

Stephen Pastel, who features on Ela's album, was DJ-ing downstairs at Stereo throughout the evening. Head of Night School Records, Michael Kasparis (Apostille) started things off, with a fierce performance of his own one man industrial-electronic sound. John Lemke (Lost In Sounds) gave us a more soothing, cinematic set. If you judge a person by the company they keep, this augured well for the main event tonight.

DJ set from Stephen Pastel

Ela Orleans often uses the tagline "movies for ears" and the last two occasions that I have seen her perform she was accompanying the visuals of other artists. In 2014 she performed with Swedish artist, Maja Borg at Counterflows in Glasgow. Then earlier this year she provided a live score to the 1929 silent film Lucky Star at the Glasgow Film Festival. That performance was at the beautiful Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed Queens Cross Church in Maryhill. It seemed fitting that for music that engages more than just the ears we were tonight again housed in a Mackintosh designed building. The former Daily Record printworks on Renfield Lane, now Stereo Cafe Bar, may not be one of his most celebrated buildings but if you pay attention there is a feast of elegant features built into the structure. I won't labour the metaphor too much, but I liked descending into the stripped and bare basement of this elegant building to hear the music of a descent into Hell.

Mackintosh's former Daily Record building after dark. Now home to Stereo

On stage against a kaleidoscope of images projected behind her, Ela layered her gauzy soundscape together. It is an atmospheric and immersive sound, but has occasional pop sensibilities and catchy riffs breaking through. The haunting vocals of track Circle One was what I was trying to sing to myself on the way home last night. The influences from a Catholic upbringing in Eastern Bloc Poland, to working with noise artists in New York, to life among her current world of the Glasgow independent music scene have created a unique sound all her own. I hope now that she has signed up to do a PhD at the University of Glasgow, Ela Orleans has been snared by our city for the foreseeable future. She creates so much beautiful work for us that we are all richer for having her here.

Now if my son would finish off Dante's Inferno I could finally make a start on it...

Buy the album here