There’s more to Glasgow than sectarianism and heart attacks, you know. One of the best aspects is its slew of great bands, led by the splendid Vigo Thieves. Frontman Stevie Jukes gave us a listen to the band’s new EP Steal Your Heart, claiming that they’d ‘ditched The Strokes in favour of Big Country’.
There’s definitely a bit of truth in that statement, with the superb ‘Blood Red’ recalling Adamson and co at their often-forgotten tartan post-punk best. The band recall Glasvegas without the irritating affectations, with Jukes’ urbane detachment failing to mask the perennial working-class struggle between artistic freedom and football hooliganism, and bloody good thing too. Add to that a musical education far beyond that of most peers and you have the base metals for something quite golden.
Steal Your Heart is released on April 26th and the band will be on tour to support it. More info at their myspace http://www.myspace.com/vigothieves and we’ll have a full interview with them next month.
Bob Mould is a genius. Rock music does not contain many homosexual speedfreaks who re-defined hardcore before writing scripts for wrestling, but in this case, surely one is enough.
He’s also responsible for some of the greatest albums ever, including Sugar’s 1992 meisterwork Copper Blue. Here are the band performing at xfm’s 1993 Big Day Out show. This gig footage was from ITV’s late-night fondly remembered indie shitfest ‘The Beat’, hosted by Gary Crowley which, among the late night skullcrushing horror of foriegn soaps and travel show repeats, introduced a new generation to the delights of Molly Halfhead. The mere mention of it will set waves of opiate-like nostalgia washing over indie fans of a certain age and disposition.
Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous, who tragically took his own life last weekend, was a man who made simple, beautiful music which came from a painful place.
His family released a statement which read “It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.”
We’ll simply leave the last word to the man’s wonderful music.
For a venue that is happy to trade on how quirky and non-corporate it is, King Tut’s can be awfully cynical sometimes. It has a policy of putting acts on that bit later than most – approximately two hours later, in fact. Why? Well, the ever-thrusting spirit of rock’n’roll of course; anarchy and sticking it to the man. We won’t play by your rules. Because the night, as someone once suggested, belongs to lovers. Because the night belongs to us.
Absolutely nothing to do with getting people in longer and later and making more money in bar takings. Not that at all. Read more »
When it comes to music, the relationship between suppliers and customers is far different to that in the real world. There are responsibilities on each side to be adhered to; the transaction isn’t finished the second the fan hands over the money. Both sides invest a lot more in to this relationship than Tesco and it’s customers do. This is a nuanced, subtle partnership which has evolved over fifty years of popular music.
Simply put, both have a role to play and tasks to perform if this is going to work out the way it is intended to. You can argue about the definition of those roles, where they begin and end and what is and isn’t acceptable. But although tonight gives cause to re-assess who does what in the whole artist/fan question, most people would probably agree that it’s definitely a no-no for a fan to piss in an empty pint pot and chuck it at the band. Read more »
Most people who love music have a little bit of music snobbery in them. They like things small, exclusive, a little elitist and, most of all, things that no-one else knows about.
Without Luke Haines, there would have been no Britpop. He wouldn’t want your thanks for that. With The Auteurs debut album, he helped an angle-hungry UK Media find the British response to grunge which would eventually lead to Cool Britannia and all that. The ironic thing, of course, was that he bore absolutely no resemblence to the monster he helped create.
Scabrous, engaging and deeply funny, his 2009 autobiography Bad Vibes is a viciously comic stab through the heart of the British music industry in the 90s. He’s also released an excellent new album titled 21st Century Man. Ladies and gentlemen, the ever-engaging Luke Haines; Read more »
We’re getting to the medal stages of the criminal records run-down here on ELM. In the bronze position was a mid-90s blight which boomed from the windows of Mondeos everywhere.
Racism is a bad thing. This is an unarguable truth which anyone with an I.Q. in double digits holds dear. When Nick Griffin bangs on, in that particularly fetid way of his, about how ‘multiculturalism has failed’ what he actually means is that the world is moving on and people like him – cowardly, fearful and suspicious – are rightly being left behind and they don’t like it. Seeing people from different backgrounds working together on a common cause is a wonderful thing to behold.
Except with the Lighthouse Family. God, no. Read more »
Not a bad day today folks! Today if you stoll into your local record emporium you will find these new offerings:
Blood Red Shoes – Fire Like This
Brian Jonestown Massacre – Who Killed Sgt Pepper?
Ellie Goulding – Lights
Frightened Rabbit – Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Groove Armada – Black Light
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
A fairly eclectic lot. Joanna Newsom is as marmite an artist as you will find, though may found her album Y one of the definitive albums of the noughties. Frightened Rabbit have the potential to emulate Biffy Clyro’s Caledonian Rock success, similarly wibbly of vocal and soaring of guitar as they are. Ellie Goulding is neither as good as the hype suggested nor as bad as the more misanthropic of you may have hoped for. It’s worth a listen. Two Door Cinema Club have made a proper decent indie album. It’s like the Family Cat are back, God help us for saying it.
And finally, you have to love the Brian Jonestown Massacre. But if you don’t, here’s a track to start the process. It’s called ‘Tempo 116.7′ (audio only.) Enjoy.
There’s more to Glasgow than sectarianism and heart attacks, you know. One of the best aspects is its slew of great bands, led by the splendid Vigo Thieves. Frontman Stevie Jukes gave us a listen to the band’s new EP Steal Your Heart, claiming that they’d ‘ditched The Strokes in favour of Big Country’.
