Malcolm Middleton gets into the Christmas spirit

Last week I had a quick chat with Malcolm Middleton for The Skinny magazine. The former Arab Strap man lamented the demise of the Christmas single, and explained why he has chosen to revitalise the tradition with the strangely upbeat We’re All Going to Die. Here’s what he had to say…
“We’re All Going to Die is my [...]

Hold the front page: football manager expresses original thought

The world of football is not noted for its eloquence, or its honesty. In interviews, players or managers – with the obvious exception of ‘the special one’ – resort to a well-drilled, endlessly recycled phrasebook, in thrall to club and/or country.
It relies on humdrum mantras like these: ‘I’m happy with the result but it was [...]

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (best of 2007 review)

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(DFA)
As renowned producer and DFA boss it was inevitable that James Murphy would emerge from behind the mixing desk as his reputation grew, and so LCD Soundsystem began life with 2005’s self-titled debut LP. But as much as that record sounded so infectiously hip, it lacked much in the way of emotional [...]

Beirut, The Arches, 7 Nov

Such is the discerning buzz surrounding a 21-year-old American exponent of old-world European folk music, and such are the narrow, flat-floored dimensions of one of The Arches, that it’s virtually impossible to catch a glimpse of Zach Condon’s Beirut without the use of a hand-held periscope (if only). So it’s just as well the music [...]

Idlewild + The Twilight Sad, Queen’s Hall, 3 Nov

Gigs at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh are usually seated, with the audience in rows of chairs within spitting distance (though they never do) of the performers, or in the original church pews around the outer flanks and up on the balcony. The venue is tailor-made for accomplished recitals of mature music, often playing host [...]

The Cribs - Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant? / Our Bovine Public

Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant? * * * *
Our Bovine Public * *
(Wichita)
It’s easy to dismiss The Cribs - as many have - as just another rehashed product of the Strokes-fired indie band factory. In short, not especially relevant. Then again, it’s far wiser to judge them for what they are: an uncomplicated but unobtrusively [...]

Radiohead – In Rainbows (another review)

 
(Self-released)
First impressions of a record are notoriously unreliable. It makes the whole practice of writing about music seem (even more) futile (than it actually is) when you dismiss an album outright and find it growing on you steadily in the following months. This doesn’t happen too often, fortunately, but it does happen.
So as one of [...]