LCD Soundsystem – Glasgow Barrowlands

Music exists to move you. Sometimes your head, sometimes your feet, but always; that’s what it’s for. It is a rare act who can do both at the same time. But midway through a thunderous, epic ‘All My Friends’ – the sort of dark classic Ian Curtis may well have gone on to create if [...]

Brendan Benson- ABC2, Glasgow.

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.

Phoenix – The Arches, Glasgow

Ah, the French. Has there ever been a nationality so derided and admired at the same time? From the jokes about surrender and garlic to amusing ‘comedy’ accents, they are lampooned in every corner of the globe. However, secretly, we all aspire to that level of almost-terminal coolness that only they can affect. Even the [...]

The Tuesday Meh! – Paolo Nutini

The Monday Meh! Is a section where we look at a critically acclaimed artist who is, in fact, average. You may have noticed that we designated this section a specific day of the week. We aren’t going to lie, alliteration played a pretty big role in the scheduling, but still, the Monday Meh! it was [...]

Great Lake Swimmers – Twisted Wheel, Glasgow

While one can’t deny that there’s a wondrous spectacle about foot-on-the-monitor, balls-out, amps-turned-to-11 rock, it’s occasionally uplifting to hear music which comes from the other end of the spectrum. It’s probably, hand on heart, the more difficult skill; soft, gentle music lilting out, their fragility at once their biggest strength and most obvious weakness. You [...]

Stag and Dagger Festival – Reminder That It’s On Saturday!

Just a quick note to remind you all that Stag and Dagger takes place this Saturday, May 23rd. As well as ELM faves Cold War Kids, Black Lips, White Denim (pictured) The Aliens and the Phantom Band, there’s a whole host of interesting stuff on the bill underneath, the real joy of this festival being [...]

The View – o2, Glasgow

Like a defender after a series of fouls, The View were on the verge of a second yellow with ELM. Yes, we’d seen them in the first, euphoric rush of joy emanating from the early singles and triumphant debut album ‘Hats Off to the Buskers’. Yes, we’d been caught up in just how great their [...]

Hinterland Night 2 – Glasgow, Various

After doing a passable impression of Bunk and McNulty the night before, a tender ELM team have spent the day interviewing bands and now just want to hear some live music. We’ve heard good things about Y’all is Fantasy Island who open up at the Arches. Again, a strong post-rock theme emerges, with dandruff-displacing riffs [...]

The Vaselines, Malcolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat – Oran Mor, 24th April

Here at ELM we like to be fair. When we slap with one hand, we like to pat someone on the back with the other. In a recent article, (here) we got torn in about U2 for trumpeting their “great work for charidee” when in actual fact they were just pulling some elaborate ruse to [...]

Happy Birthday to Us! – Extreme Listening Mode is 1

Doesn’t time fly? The world was a very different place 12 months ago when what would soon be the recognisably scary orange and black colour scheme loaded up and Extreme Listening Mode came into being. Since then we’ve seen a lot of changes but what has been undeniable is that ELM has continued to exist. [...]