Archive for October, 2011

Live review: Kyla La Grange @ The Captain’s Rest, Glasgow

Monday, October 17th, 2011

I’ve always secretly admired the solitary dancing fan you occasionally see when guitar acts play live. You know the type: completely lost not just in the music but in their own world, weirding out the rest of the audience by responding to songs with actual bodily movements that are not the ubiquitous Indie Head Nod.

For these individuals, watching their heroes on stage is a golden ticket to dance as though no-one’s watching. In reality, not only is every other person in the crowd desperately trying to avoid making eye contact, they have the decency to create an invisible perimeter around them.

At Kyla La Grange’s gig at The Captain’s Rest, I estimate the Freak Zone to be approximately 4.5ft in diameter. At the centre of the no-go area is a shaggy-haired studenty chap, rocking back and forth indiscriminantly, jabbing the air at choruses, roaring “YEAH!” like he’s not British.

Unlike him, I went along to this gig on the strength of one Kyla La Grange song, Walk Through Walls, which I can literally stick on repeat for half-an-hour and not get sick of. It reminds me of the good bits of Drugstore and PJ Harvey.

Walk Through Walls makes its appearance two songs in and hearing it live for the first time is only marginally inferior to the ballsy studio version, its slight lack of punch probably more to do with the sound limitations of a venue and stage this small (decorated with foliage by our headliners) than any inadequacy on the band’s part.

The band, in fact, are excellent. Kyla’s husky vocals are faultless, both in range and emotion, and the barefooted Watford girl’s four backing musicians provide memorable melodies and effective harmonies.

Despite my favourite song coming so early, the second half of the set contains the strongest material overall. Heavy Stone and Vampire Smile are particularly great, the latter sounding like a female-fronted Okkervil River. The encore of As If is another highlight, even though there are only a couple of persistent shouts for it. I’m guessing the dancing fan was one of them – good on him.

Kyla La Grange – Walk Through Walls by Stayloose

Kyla La Grange – Vampire Smile

Photos © The Pop Cop

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Music Alliance Pact – October 2011

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

This is the third anniversary edition of the Music Alliance Pact, the inter-blogging project I started in October 2008 to showcase the best of the globe’s music on the 15th of every month and tell the world about some of the finest up-and-coming artists Scotland has to offer. You can investigate the previous 36 selections via the MAP Archive on the right-hand sidebar – most of the free mp3s are still downloadable either individually or collectively.

This month’s pick is Panda Su. Raised in the Highlands but now living in St Andrews, the 24-year-old is a talent to cherish. Both Panda Su and I Begin were recently featured in an STV profile (from which the photo above is taken) – watch the 60-second clip here and be sure to buy some Panda Su merch.

Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a .zip file of the whole 34-track compilation via MediaFire.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Panda Su – I Begin
The title track of Panda Su’s second EP illustrates her appeal: dark, intelligent pop with all sense of vulnerability left intact. Apart from her occasional on-stage face paint, the Panda Su package is never black and white. Her music often draws on experimental sounds, but never at the expense of melody. Her lyrics, both fragile and cryptic, demand attention – I Begin finds Su repeating the poignant lines, “I should try to remember/I should try to forget”. It’s apt that Su Shaw named the outlet for her music after an endangered creature – songs of this quality really are rather rare.

November 13, The Tunnels, Aberdeen (tickets)

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Opportunity Ox

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

We all know that donating to charity is A Good Thing, but there’s no denying that getting ambushed by head-tilting, backwards-walking, clipboard-waving fundraising freaks on pedestrianised city streets makes you want to remove their fake smiles with a collection tin to the chin. Just Giving.

Thankfully, there are ways you can be charitable that are less stressful than running a gauntlet of self-righteous do-gooders. Oxjam is an October-long music festival with hundreds of events around the UK, all organised by volunteers. Here’s what’s going down in Scotland.

OXJAM PAISLEY
WHERE
Paisley Arts Centre
WHEN
October 15 (1pm-1am)
LINE-UP
Alan McKim, Stonesthrow, Dirtyface, Squishy Lemon, The Giddy Things, Turning Plates, Diane Jardine, The Regiment, Terry King, The Toi, Jamie Reid, Marie Collins, Daniel Docherty, Stephen Henry, Alan McKim, Joanne Summer, Steven Hillcoat, Stevie Dunlop, Dannii Yelo, Stephen Henry, Enigami, Adriann Blom, Ross Hanney, Scott Beaton.
TICKETS
Via Paisley Arts Centre café and bar – £5 before Saturday, £7 on door

OXJAM BIG DAY OUT (AYR)
WHERE
Harley’s Bar
WHEN
October 16 (1pm-11pm)
LINE-UP
17:00 Cherri Fosphate
18:00 The Tenemants
19:00 The Mode
20:00 Melisa Kelly & The Harmless Thieves
21:00 MakethisRelate
22:00 LightGuides
TICKETS
Via WeGotTickets, £5 on door

OXJAM INVERARAY
WHERE
The George Hotel
WHEN
October 16 (2pm-midnight)
LINE-UP
The Camans, Starsky, Dr Hip, The Lush Puppies, Marianne Fraser, The Inveraray Pipe Band, John Graceland Burnett (Elvis impersonator)
TICKETS
Free entry

OXJAM EDINBURGH TAKEOVER
WHERE
The City Cafe, Sneaky Pete’s, Medina, Cabaret Voltaire, The Wee Red Bar, Electric Circus, The Banshee Labyrinth
WHEN
October 21 (6pm-3am)
LINE-UP
The City Cafe
18:00-18:30 I Build Collapsible Mountains
18:45 Smithsonian
22:15 DJ sets
Electric Circus
18:30-19:00 Loch Awe
19:15-19:45 Letters
20:00-20:30 Verse Metrics
20:45-21:15 Sebastian Dangerfield
21:30-22:00 Endor
Sneaky Pete’s
19:15-19:45 The Spook School
20:00-20:30 Dead Boy Robotics
20:45-21:15 FOUND
21:30-22:00 Black International
Medina
19:15-19:45 Trapped Mice
20:00-20:30 Esperi
20:45-21:15 Broken Records (solo)
Cabaret Voltaire
19:45-20:15 Trapped In Kansas
20:30-21:00 PAWS
21:15-21:45 Meursault
The Wee Red Bar
20:00-20:30 The Last Battle
20:45-21:15 French Wives
21:30-22:00 The Machine Room
The Banshee Labyrinth
20:30-21:00 Vasquez
21:15-21:45 As In Bear
22:00-22:30 Citizens
TICKETS
Wristbands £10 from Avalanche Records or via WeGotTickets with wristband exchange at The City Cafe

OXJAM DUNDEE
WHERE
Chamber East
WHEN
October 21 (7pm-11.30pm)
LINE-UP
The Trade
Cha Cha Heels
Silent Nothing
That Girl Gail
Inveiglei
Vanaishing People
Ed Muirhead
The Ovarian Cysters
TICKETS
£5 on door

OXJAM GLASGOW TAKEOVER
WHERE
Bloc, Box, Buff Club, Flat 0/1, G2, The Griffin, Nice ‘n’ Sleazy
WHEN
October 22 (6pm-1am)
LINE-UP
Bloc
21:15-21:45 Café Disco
22:00-22:30 Baldego
22:45-23:15 Verse Metrics
23:30-00:00 Adopted As Holograph
00:15-00:45 Suspire
Box
18:00-18:30 Holly Ogilvie
18:45-19:15 Acrylic Iqon
19:30-20:00 Luca
20:15-20:45 Echofela
21:00-21:30 The Windows
21:45-22:15 Dirty Keys
22:30-23:00 Kiss To Kill
23:15-23:45 Herculean
Buff Club
19:05-19:35 Will Hanson
19:50-20:20 The NK Jays
20:35-21:05 Lonely & Lola
21:20-21:50 Rose Parade
Flat 0/1
19:45-20:15 Plum
20:30-21:00 Voltergeist
21:15-21:45 Miss Baudelaire
22:00-22:30 Lizzie Nightingale
22:45-23:15 Integra TV
23:30-00:00 Jumpers Knee
00:15-00:45 Binary Zero
G2
18:45-19:15 Kevin Young
19:30-20:00 I’m Sick
20:15-20:45 Sean Vs The Robots
21:00-21:30 Fiction Faction
21:45-22:15 Vigo Thieves
The Griffin
18:45-19:15 Callum Baird
19:30-20:00 Two Rivers
20:15-20:45 Shambles Miller
21:00-21:30 Laura Healy
21:45-22:15 Gillian Christie
22:30-23:00 Tragic O’Hara
23:15-23:45 Hector Bizerk
Nice ‘n’ Sleazy
19:45-20:15 Sonic Hearts Foundation
20:30-21:00 Skippy Dyes
21:15-21:45 The Black Hand Gang
22:00-23:00 How To Swim
TICKETS
Via TicketSoup, with wristband exchange at Bloc

OXJAM ABERDEEN TAKEOVER
WHERE
The Blue Lamp, Cafe Drummond, Snafu, The Tunnels 2, Kilau
WHEN
October 22 (2pm-4pm and 7pm-10pm)
LINE-UP
The Blue Lamp
Jerry Gablonski
The Lorelei
Deerstalker
Cafe Drummond
The Little Kicks
Stanley
Leighann & Jan
The Blitz
Snafu
Katerwaul
Carson Wells
Min Diesel
The Tunnels 2
Taco & The Sharpies
Stanley Odd
Craig John Davidson
Broken Alphas
Always Obvious
Kilau (2pm-4pm, free)
Tim Courtney
Steven Milne
Craig Henderson
Lauren Hart & Paul
TICKETS
Via WeGotTickets