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Welcome to the first issue of our digital magazine! We already try our best to keep you up-to-date on everything that’s good and great in the world of music on the website, so consider this little digital freebie a supplement to the good fight we’re already fighting. In it we’ve got a compendium of our favourite music from this year, and the best work we’ve had on the site - along with some brand new material, including our cover story on this year’s SAMAs and our review of the new David Bowie album.We’re hoping to make this a quarterly thing - but much like our fabled podcast, that could end up being somewhat of a pipe dream. Speaking of pipe dreams, we’re hoping to get something more in the way of interactive content on the go in the next few

issues, so while we’ve just gave you a page-turner here - and trust us, it’s a real page-turner - before the end of the year, hopefully we’ve got you an all-singing, all-dancing MiddleMusic digital magazine.If you enjoy what you read from us here, let us know - we are, as ever, on Twitter @MiddleMusicNet and on Facebook at ‘MiddleMusic.net’ (if you can make it past the LIKE FOR RESPECT PICS that is). This is far from just being a celebration of myself - MiddleMusic.net would be nothing without our UK-wide network of contributors, and a big thanks has to go out to them for the hard work they’ve put in over the past three months to enable us to have enough content to put out a magazine like this in the first place. And if you want a piece of the action, get in touch with us via the website and we might be able to work it out. Until next (three) month,

From the editor...

Mikey Reynolds

in this issue14

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2420

22

10 doe paorotom watts talks to the new york genre-

bending singer-songwriter about her up-coming studio debut

13 guide to gig etiquetteever wondered how to behave when going

to a gig? chris lockie shows you how!

14 cover story: SAMAsthe Scottish Alternative Music Awards are

now into their fourth year, and mikey reynolds was there to see it all unfold

20 fat gothphil wilson talks to the scottish alt-rock/

metal/punk behemoths shortly after their SAMA nomination

22 #beliebersmikey reynold looks at the online cult that

has developed around Justin Bieber and his fanatical followers

24 reviewswe round up our reviews including new albums from David Bowie & Frightened

Rabbit, and Foals live in Glasgow

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news

wickerman 2013 line-up revealedThis year’s Wickerman Festival is beginning to

take shape, with a host of acts revealed for this summer’s edition - including headliners Primal Scream and Amy McDonald.Taking place at East Kirkcarswell Farm, Dundrennan in Dumfries & Galloway in the South of Scotland on the 26th and 27th July, Wickerman Festival has one of the fastest growing reputations of all Scotland’s music festival.Along with the headliners, a host of acts have been announced for across the two days. KT Tunstall is making her return to live performance in her home country after a two year absence, whilst Dexy’s - formerly Dexy’s Midnight Runners - continue to bask in the success of last year’s Some Day I’m Going to Soar album.Coventry indie rockers The Enemy will also appear

at the festival, bringing their raucous indie anthems to the Dumfriesshire field.One of the more interesting performances at the festival will be Public Service Broadcasting, playing their first Scottish festival. The band blend guitar and drum instrumentation with classic BFI film samples. Their Scottish live debut, at Glasgow’s famous Nice N’ Sleazy back in October was an intriguing event - the duo introducing archive film clips as part of their stage show - and they will be certain to put on just as much of a show at The Wickerman Festival.We provided full coverage of The Wickerman Festival last year, and we’ll be back in Dumfries this year to bring you more interviews with the best artists at the festival. Keep an eye on the site for more announcements as we get them.

vukovi to headline solus tentAs well as the main stage

headliners, The Wickerman Festival has always placed importance on Scottish acts - and this year is no different, with Scots pop-punkers Vukovi and electro up-and-comers - and our cover stars - Roman Nose to headline the Solus Tent.On the announcement, Wickerman Solus Tent organiser Chay Woodman said: “It’s

fantastic to have Vukovi back and Roman Nose are the perfect band to close the stage - a very Solus-esque band.”They will be joined over the two days by some of the hottest names in Scottish music, including Fat Goth, TeKlo, Woodenbox, Siobhan Wilson and Vigo Thieves - nominated for Best Live Act at the SAMAs - along with bands still to be announced.

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black flag return...twice!?After over twenty-five years of near

silence, old school hardcore punk fans were given quite the treat when it was revealed that Black Flag were planning to reform and tour again - accompanied, later that day, by the news that another formation of Black Flag would be hitting the road, under the name FLAG.The group using the Black Flag name will, unsurprisingly, be headed up by Greg Ginn (pictured above) the man who owns the legal rights to the Black Flag name. Joining him will be vocalist Ron Reyes (originally of Black Flag between 1979 and 1980) drummer Greg Moore and the most recent addition, former Screeching Weasels bassist Dave Klein. According to Reyes himself, the new Black Flag lineup is set to record the band’s first studio albums since 1985’s My War.FLAG, on the other hand, sees a few more of the Black Flag alumni join forces, though this group seem to only be playing the classics. The lineup includes vocalist Keith Morris as well as former Black Flag originals Dez Cadena and Chuck Dukowski.Unfortunately, neither of the groups seems able to tempt Henry Rollins, undisputably the most iconic frontman of Black Flag, into playing shows with them. Greg Ginn’s Black Flag have been announced to headline Hevy Fest in Kent, while FLAG will play at the Monster Bash festival in Munich, Germany, with both to announce more dates soon.

art brut to release best-of cdArt Brut will release a celebratory best-of compilation - titled Top of the Pops - this April, to commemorate a decade since Argos, Future, Catskillin, Feedback and Bowers first Formed A Band.The title of the album takes its roots in the chant that frontman Eddie Argos leads crowds in during their live performances of: “Art Brut! Top of the Pops! Art Brut! Top of the Pops!”.The band first formed in 2003, and found mild fame with their debut album Bang Bang Rock & Roll upon its release in 2005. Argos became somewhat well known, particularly after he was

pictured on the cover of NME aping the famous naked pose of Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto.The compilation will be spread over two discs, the first collecting together the complete

single releases from the band, while the second will feature b-sides and rarities.To compliment the release of their best-of album, the band will also be heading back out on tour for the first time in almost two years with dates around frontman Eddie Argos’ now native Germany, along with a special show at Scala in London on May 29th. Full dates and information are available on MiddleMusic.net.

veronica falls vocalist on new franz ferdinand record

Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos confirmed via Twitter that Veronica Falls singer Roxanne Clifford will make a guest appearance on the band’s hotly anticipated new album.A fan asked Kapranos on Twitter if the cover model of 2005 single Do You Want To? was Veronica Falls frontwoman Clifford’ (pictured below), with Kapranos replying to confirm and also reveal her guest appearance on the Glasgow art rockers new album.Scant few details are known at the moment about the new Franz Ferdinand

album, with the band having previewed songs from the follow up to 2009’s Tonight at low-key performances in their hometown, playing a short set at record store Mono’s tenth birthday, followed by a gig at Nice N Sleazy in the city centre in early March.Roxanee Clifford’s band Veronica Falls recently finished a UK tour which included a show at

Glasgow’s CCA in early March. We’ll keep you updated on MiddleMusic.net with the latest information on the new Franz Ferdinand album as and when we get it.

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news

record store day 2013releases announced

Christmas-for-record-collectors is almost upon us, with the release schedule for this year’s Record

Store Day recently making its way online.Now into its sixth year, Record Store Day aims to bring extra trade to local record shops - and it has proved a wild success, with record stores up and down the country making more on Record Store Day than they do in most business weeks.Shoppers are encouraged to visit local shops thanks to the one-day only special release of records from a variety of artists, designed to bring in new and lapsed record buyers as well as give something extra to those who support the stores all year round.Last year’s event saw special edition releases from The Clash, Sex Pistols, Belle & Sebastian and Django Django to name but a few, and this year looks set to be just as spectacular following the announcement of this year’s release schedule.Some of the biggest names in music have planned releases for this year, including Pulp who will release After You, the collaboration with LCD Soundsystem’s

James Murphy released towards the end of 2012, and David Bowie who has two releases in this year’s Record Store Day catalogue - a double a-side of The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and Where Are We Now?, the first two singles taken from his new album The Next Day, as well as a reissue of his debut EP release from 1965.As ever, Scottish bands are represented well in the Record Store Day catalogue, with plenty to please Caledonian record collectors like ourselves. Highlights include Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, the 2012 Scottish Album of the Year winners, teaming up with The Twilight Sad on a special split 7” which sees both groups covering a song from one another - Wells & Moffat take on Alphabet from The Twilight Sad’s 2012 album No-One Can Ever Know whilst The

Twilight Sad cover (If You) Keep Me In Your Heart from Wells & Moffat’s SAY Award winning Everything’s Getting Older, as well as Admiral Fallow releasing a limited vinyl run of last year’s Tree Bursts in Snow album.This year’s record store day takes place on Saturday April 17th, and the full list is available on MiddleMusic.net.

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the zeitgest: our quarterly round-up of the stories that have received the most hits over on middlemusic.net

mike watt to tour the ukThe news that punk rock legend Mike Watt was to return to the UK certainly hit a chord with most of you, the post becoming our second most popular of the month as we revealed that the former Minutemen and current Stooges bassist was coming back to our shores with his fratelli, Il Sogno Del Marinaio.

Our most popular

story of the past three

months - just nudging out the Mike Watt news

piece - was our Beginner’s Guide to Arab Strap, an introductory piece

that attracted a good bit of attention over on Twitter, including debate amongst fans of the bandabout what would be their choices to introduce new fans to one of the best Scottish independent bands of all time.

the beginner’s guide to arab strap

frightened rabbit - pedestrian verseOur first 10/10 album in almost a year - and with good reason. There may have been a few fears when

Frightened Rabbit signed to Warner, but those fears were proved unfounded

upon listening to Pedestrian Verse - the most mature

album the band have produced.

Turn to page 29 for our

review.

Thanks in part to a retweet from the band themselves, Robert Blair’s review of Syd tha Kid and Matt Martians of Odd Future’s soul influences side project’s first show in Glasgow was easily one of the most popular articles on the site in the early part of 2013.

the internet @ the arches 11/3/13

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new music

ones to watch: the lunar sessionsChristopher Macarthur-Boyd talks to Becky Sikasa and David Scobie, who played one gig per day

throughout February, as part of their Lunar Sessions project.

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: What was it that gave you the inspiration to play twenty-eight gigs in twen-ty-eight days?Becky: It just came to me in a dream one night.David: Liar.B: Yeah… I don’t know, I just one night said to David that there are so many open mic nights in Edinburgh that we could probably play one every night for a month and never have to visit the same place twice.D: And I thought ‘well, here’s an opportunity to do something really ridiculous’. Also, since Becky has just moved here she hasn’t had much experience of the Scottish music scene, and this is the perfect way for her to get a grasp of it.

CMB: Are you going to be playing the same set every night or are you going to mix it up?D: Definitely not.B: Definitely not what?D: Playing the same set, I’d probably kill myself. We’re kind of aiming to learn at least a new song every day, whether it be a cover or an original, to add to the repertoire, so we can chop and change as we please. Which is stupidly ambitious but I guess this whole venture is.

CMB: How did you two start playing music together?

B: I came to Scotland in September to study music at Napier and met David in Uni, where we started playing music together. He then asked me out for dinner and took me out for a froyo instead….which I had to pay for myself.D: You have to admit it was a really tasty froyo.

CMB: Are either of you involved in any other bands or projects?B: Kind of. I have this project, The River, I used to do a lot with back in Germany with my sister, with various other guest musicians playing string parts and stuff, but now that I live here it can only really happen occa-sionally, when I visit. Apart from that I usually perform solo. But David’s a little band slut.D: Well not any more, I’m only in two bands now. I’m the singer of a post-rock band called Spaceface, who’ve been playing for a year now. It’s kind of huge big reverb-y ethereal guitar spacey Sigur Ros-esque music. But I’m also in a band I formed late last sum-mer called Lieutenant Tango, which has since become the most impossible band to describe. Think maybe a bit like Vampire Weekend or The Cat Empire with a saxophone and some super latin rhythms. We some-times use the term ‘caribbean-indie’, and I think we’ll just stick with that ’cause otherwise it’s just too much effort.

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Photo: Jannica Honey

ones to watch: stanley oddMikey Reynolds chats to Solareye, frontman of Edinburgh hip-hop group Stanley Odd about their

headline Celtic Connections show and Scottish hip-hop in general.

Mikey Reynolds: You have a headline show coming up at The Old Fruitmarket in January, as part of Celtic Connections – how excited are you to be playing a show that big?Solareye: It is absolutely amazing to be playing the Celtic Connections show. Celtic Connections was one of our favourite events to be involved in in 2012 and to be able to come back in 2013 and do our own show at the Old Fruitmarket is fantastic. The fact that we’re getting to perform this along with the outstanding Electric String Orchestra takes it to a whole other level. It’s bananas to be looking at orchestrating an hour’s worth of Stanley Odd material.

MR: For those who maybe aren’t so familiar with Stanley Odd, can you try and put your sound into words?S: It’s live, alternative hip-hop from Scotland. Try finding that genre in a section of its own in your local record shop. I saw us described in a review before as ‘cerebral geek rap’ – that’s a pretty good title.

MR: Scottish hip-hop is a style that people sometimes look down their nose at – how well do you think bands like yourselves and Hector Bizerk have done to change that perception?S: I think that Scottish hop-hop is in very good health

at present. There is a very strong and diverse com-munity of people making hip-hop in Scotland and it feels like good music is being made consistently from a range of people in a variety of styles. It’s a good time to be involved.

MR: In terms of your solo stuff, Solareye, you re-corded and put it out all in a month – do you plan to continue to sporadically release solo stuff like this, just as it comes to you?S: The thing about Stanley Odd releases is we spend a lot of time on the process. It starts with writing an idea, jamming it at practice, recording it, then we chop it up and sample it and rearrange it into something new; trying to take that hip-hop sampling ethic to our own material. So with the Solareye EP is was good to set ourselves a deadline. Dunt and Harvey Kartel’s beats and production were outstanding so it was a nice experience to just concentrate on the words. There will definitely be more from us in the new year.

MR: Do you think it helps to keep you fresh, working on solo stuff as well as Stanley Odd material?S: Definitely. We’re already working on the new Stanley Odd material and the more time you spend writing the more you develop as a writer so any projects should hopefully teach you new things.

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our empyrean empress

Tom Watts talks to Doe Paoro about travelling to SXSW, her upcoming debut studio album and Fear of Missing Out - or FOMO, the New York disease...

It’s 9am on a cold Sunday morning when I talk to Sonia Kreitzer, better known by her stage name Doe

Paoro. I’m drinking a cup of tea in a dressing gown with clouds overhead, whilst Sonia sips her blueberry juice in the glare of the early morning sun. On one end of our Skype interview (I’m pushing for #skypeview to become a real thing) she’s taking a day off and combatting illness, and on the other I’m just a lazy git. I try to explain to her whereabouts I am but we end up both agreeing that I’m in England and she’s in Sweden. Easy.Kreitzer is currently in Stockholm writing and recording her new album, drawn there by a combination of factors: a publishing agreement with BMG Scandinavia, the producers who worked with Lykke Li are available, and, as she tells me excitedly, Stockholm is currently ‘at the centre’ of female led indie music, it’s an ‘indie female vocalist Motown’. She is finding the four hours of sunlight a day kind of ‘creepy’, but being in Sweden has afforded her the chance to work with Peter Morén (of Peter, Bjorn and John fame), who’s melodies are apparently ‘dangerously hooky!’ Hopefully these new songs aren’t as nighmarishly catchy as PB&J’s omnipotent advertising backing-track Young Folks, as, nothing against that song, I just don’t want to find myself with another default whistling tune. I ask whether she’s done the Young Folks whistle whilst around Peter, but Kreitzer simply giggles and

says that she managed to hold back, ‘I felt like maybe it wasn’t the best foot on which to start off on.’

The American singer-songwriter claims she’s a better listener than writer, and that song compositions

come via a combination of lyric writing on long bus journeys (debut release Slow To Love was mostly written on a 40 hour bus journey from Austen to New York) and improvisational piano playing by Adam, Doe Paoro’s pianist. It says something of her devotion to her music when Kreitzer describes how ‘I’ll bring in a lyric and chant it, almost mantra-esque, until we figure out the chords. We build thousands of ideas until we delete all but one.’ An arduous task, but one that sort of seems apt for the effervescent yet determined Kreitzer. It also adds another reason for citing Stockholm as a good place to work on her album: there are no distractions, or ‘FOMO’ as she refers to it. I ask what exactly FOMO is (I’m not sure if I’m naive or not…), and she tells me that it’s a ‘New York disease. It means Fear Of Missing Out’. Thankfully, she has no FOMO in Stockholm because she has no distractions; she’s totally isolated and doesn’t know anybody there.Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Doe Paoro rose to prominence last year with her critically acclaimed debut album Slow To Love, a skeletal masterpiece with echoes of Kate Bush fused with James Blake. Named after a Maori creation myth, in which Paoro (‘God of Echo’) creates the first woman. It is an apt name

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for someone whose music is so reliant on space and structure, and who’s voice is often a crisp falsetto echoing amongst space. Kreitzer describes her sound variously as ‘Ghost Soul’ and ‘Cosmic R’n’B’, the latter coined during a text conversation with a friend who enquired what her new record would sound like. I tell her it’s a novel way of making a press release, before asking if she had a choice of any artist, who would she text about a forthcoming release? Her response is ‘Lauryn Hill’ – former lead singer of The Fugees – before adding, ‘I’ve been waiting for her new album for since ‘99 [actually 1998]…I wanna know what she’s been doing for 14 years!’

It’s not the sort of answer you’d expect from the demure young woman, but you soon learn to

expect the unexpected with Sonia Kreitzer. Behind the almost stop-start style of speech, each word is carefully considered, Kreitzer comes across as a determined and capable person. After the break up of her old band, an ‘uninventive ten piece thing, kind of like Amy Winehouse’ that had achieved only ‘really minimal success,’ Kreitzer turned her back on music and headed to India for five months to become a Yoga teacher – as you do. But it was whilst traveling through the Himalayan foothills, in the midst of

coming to terms with ‘giving up on a dream [she’d] held for a long time,’ that she encountered Tibetan opera singing, or Lhamo. The seeds for Doe Paoro were sown.As Kreitzer describes it, she and a friend overhead some distant singing whilst walking through the woods, and immediately decided that she needed to ‘figure this out!’ Kreitzer and co followed the voice, only to emerge amongst a children’s choir in a Lhamo school. Entranced by the singing, sounds that she ‘couldn’t believe were coming from a body’, Sonia decided to stay and learn the ancient folk art. I suggest that her FOMO kicked in to which she erupts with laughter, managing a ‘yeah! That was some serious Lhamo FOMO right there! I’m not going to let these people sing without me!’ before collapsing back into laughter.Alongside her pursuit of Lhamo, Kreitzer is also a keen practitioner of Vipassana, an intense form of Buddhist meditation built around 10 day long silent meditations, ‘it’s like a process of going crazy, realizing how crazy you are, and then coming through that – for 10 straight days from 4am to 9pm.’ Whilst traveling

through Northern India, just prior to discovering Lhamo, Kreitzer was spending so much time alone that Vipassana became the perfect tool for her lonesome self reflections, a way to collect experiences and then reconnect them with herself, or in her words, ‘you just become like a child again man!’

Today Kreitzer credits studying Vipassana and Lhamo with ‘opening new channels’ within

her, and the influence it has had on Doe Paoro are obvious. The Lhamo influenced vocals soar between sparse, self-reflective synth arrangements and drums that thump like a beating heart; crisp and ethereal, Kreitzer’s voice teeters between melancholy and joyous, and it is on tracks such as Body Games and Born Whole that it becomes clear why Doe Paoro is winning over music critics around the world. She is creating transcendental soul music, an R’n’B for the James Blake and Lykke Li generation.Her currently unnamed full-length debut is due for release in late 2013, ‘sometime in winter or fall.’ There is a sense that dates don’t matter, that she’s just glad to be making music again. In the meantime, Sonia and her band are playing the ever-reliable-as-a-barometer-of-talent South By South-West festival later this year, as well as releasing a double A side single through White Iris Records on June 4th. Other than that we’ll have to sit tight, pray that FOMO doesn’t get the best of her and wait for updates in between her periods of extended meditation.

“It’s like a process of going crazy...for 10 straight

days from 4am to 9pm”

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The tallest bloke in the venue You’ll hear it in the pub before, in the queue, at every spot in the venue, from everyone you go with, every-one else and probably even yourself once or twice:“Why does the tallest bloke always stand in front of me?”He would have to be quite the replicant to be all around the room at once - arguably there would be no room for the rest of us. But no, there he is, right in front of you/him/her/me/all of us. The simple solution is to move a little yourself, but that involves untold perils due to the vexed issue of…

Getting AroundIt’s not really possible for a large group of people to stand together in one place without a certain de-gree of movement in the mass. As you try to get past someone, a simple ‘Scuse me mate’ generally suffices, although if you’re not heard a gentle hand on the shoulder – no wrenching – can also help.Note that if your obstacle is female, the rules are entirely different. You may be aiming for the moshpit, but why does that mean she should get out of the way? She will do everything in her power to prevent you being closer to the stage than you, as is her abso-lute right. This may obviously result in you performing a one-man moshpit directly behind her, but as she’s won the tussle over personal space she presumably won’t mind that so this stance is to be encouraged.

The MoshpitIf you manage to get past poor, unhappy Chloe and the gigantic holdall she has inexplicably brought with her, and actually make it to the moshpit, a separate set of rules apply to this small area of the room. In virtually all cases, whoever has just elbowed, kneed, shoved or gouged you was doing so in the spirit of anarchy that lives only in the moshpit – don’t take it personally, he’s doing it to everybody.If a man in front of you turns around and makes a cup-ping movement with his hands, he’s not offering you the unexpected but wholly welcome chance of a leak – he wants you to do that with your own hands so he can stand on them. This may sound like something to be avoided, but given it’ll cause him to shoot upwards over the heads of those in front it can only be to the benefit of everybody.

The camaraderie of the moshpit will be exemplified when someone goes down beneath the mass. Witness as a group of formerly delirious moshers immediately part the sea of leaping bodies to protect the fallen, while one is silently nominated to haul the stricken party to their feet before everyone once again swal-lows each other up. No man left behind.

The DilemmaEvery serious gig goer faces the constant dilemma: piss or pint? The band has hit a lull – oh Christ, a ballad – and the thirst suddenly hits you like a wave. Unfortunately the sound of that wave lapping against your throat reminds you you’re also bursting for a slash. If anyone ever comes up with a foolproof solution to this problem you will make many thousands of people happy for the rest of time if you would only share it with the class. Personally I go to the gents and then to the bar; not quite the cunning plan, I grant you.

Singing AlongA simple one this: at Brixton Academy watching Pulp play Common People, please, belt it out to your heart’s content. While watching Richard Hawley at the Old Blue Last, I’d honestly rather hear the man himself do it, much as I appreciate your just-off attempts to harmonise.

PhonesAh yes, phones. Used for talking to people a distance away, no? Sending short text messages also, I under-stand. So why, pray, are you all HOLDING THEM IN THE AIR FOR THE DURATION OF THE GIG?I strongly recommend you use your eyes and ears to record this gig. The 45-second clip of one fifth of a song that you’ve just ruined for those around you will not really capture the essence of the night, I prom-ise you. Take one picture if you must but, I beg you, please don’t make me break that pretty screen with your forehead.

The EndThe gig is over, time to go home. To kebab or not to kebab? To kebab, clearly, everyone knows that.And by following the simple rules above, you have no reason to fear you may be bleeding into your chilli sauce.

MiddleMusic Guide To Gig EttiquetteGoing to a gig seems pretty easy - simply pay for a ticket, with fees that make it almost double face value, queue for 40 minutes in the pub nearest the venue to save 40p on a pint, then put up with a terrible support. Then the fun begins, as Chris Lockie finds out...

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The Scottish Alternative Music Awards have grown almost immeasurably from their humble beginnings as a university project (sort of like ourselves, but we haven’t quite gotten that big yet) to now selling out the Garage in Glasgow city centre in back-to-back years.

Previous years have seen awards lifted by the likes of We Were Promised Jetpacks and Fatherson, showing the pedigree of SAMA winners. The success achieved by past victors has led to a hotly contested field for success at the SAMAs - and 2013 was no different.

The awards fill their brief exactly - they celebrate the very best of alternative music here in Scotland. In the Best Electronic (or Best Electro, or Best Electronica, depending on where you read the title, as host Billy Kirkwood and DJ Jim Gellatly, who presented the award, found out) category, CHVRCHES, one of the most talked about bands from Scotland in recent years, stood alongside smaller - but no less deserving - acts like Plum and Discopolis, showing that this isn’t your standard award ceremony (here’s looking at you,

BRIT Awards) that celebrates only the press darlings.Another thing that helps make the SAMAs stand out is that this isn’t a strictly black-tie affair - though there were a few natty shirt-and-tie combinations on view throughout the crowd. The mix of gig and award show works perfectly for the SAMAs, and leads to a relaxed atmosphere and a night that is fast becoming one of the highlights of the Scottish music scene.

This year’s event took place on Friday 8th March at the aforementioned, sold out, Glasgow Garage. Though the crowd hadn’t quite filtered in as of yet, things got off in the biggest way possible, with MiddleMusic favourites (and fellow magazine stars, see p.20) Fat Goth taking to the stage, and blowing away the crowd, still filling up the 1000 capacity venue, with their unique blend of hardcore punk, thrash and straight-up rock. The set is, as is a common theme with the Scottish Alternative Music Awards, a short one. It’s long enough though, that had you came without an introduction to the band, you’d be left wanting more.

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this year brought the fourth annual edition of the Scottish Alternative Music Awards, and

we were in attendance. Mikey Reynolds reports.

The first of the night’s performances gives way to the first of the night’s awards. Best Acoustic is an award that is always hotly contested at the SAMAs, given the abundance of acoustic talent that calls Scotland their home. Little Fire, an Ayrshire troubador who has won legions of fans with his smart lyrics that breathe life into what can sometimes be a tired genre, wins the award ahead of stiff competition from the likes of Michael Cassidy and Cara Mitchell. Little Fire’s win means the award heads to Ayrshire for the second year in a row, the Ayr man’s victory following Largs trio Brown Bear & The Bandits’ triumph last year.

One of the things that the Scottish Alternative Music Awards does best is its diversity. Every type of music is recognised at the awards, with no room for snobbishness or preferential treatment - and that’s easy enough to see with the sheer range of awards on offer, highlighted best by the change of tack somewhat from the previous award to the next. Not many awards shows go straight from Best Acoustic to Best Metal.

Before the Best Metal award could be presented, the presenters of the award had to take the stage - and it’d be fair to say that the two men who took the stage weren’t exactly what the crowd was expecting at a music award show. Representing Insane Championship Wrestling, a wrestling organisation that runs shows in the same Garage where the SAMAs take place each year, promoter Mark Dallas took to the stage alongside the hulking Jack Jester, looking every inch the professional wrestler. Jester remarked that it was strange to be in the Garage without blood pouring from his forehead - and having attended ICW shows over the last year, he was far from joking.

With the two very suitable presenters - as well as host Billy Kirkwood, who performs much a similar duty for the hardcore ICW - in place, the prize for Best Metal was won by one of the finest metal bands in not just Scotland, but the whole UK. Bear Arms have carved out a fine reputation for themselves over the last few years as one of the hardest working bands in Scotland, and this latest award serves only to further

Photo: Daryn J Williamson

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Photo: Daryn J Williamson

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the roll of honour...the list of the winners (in bold), and those unfortunate enough to miss out at this year’s SAMAs

Best Acoustic:Little FireMichael Cassidy Cara Mitchell William Douglas Jemma Tweedle Alex Hynes

Best Metal:What The Blood Revealed Bear Arms Prelude to the Hunt Lords of Bastard Sectioned Trial & Error

Best Hip-Hop:Gasp

S-Type Werd (SOS) Solareye Team Kapowski Young Fathers

Best Rock/Alternative:Madison Fat Goth Culann Cleavers Duke

Best Electro:Plum Roman Nose Discopolis Fonik

Them & Us CHVRCHES

Best Live:United Fruit Vigo Thieves Stanley Meursault Roadway The OK Social Club

Best Newcomer:Honeyblood Miss Lucid The Holy Ghosts Ded Rabbits Miss Irenie Rose Model Jet Pilot

their reputation. The Glasgow four-piece fought off some very stiff competition in their category, including post-rock up-and-comers What The Blood Revealed.

Before the awards festivities could continue, we were treated to another live performance. Vigo Thieves came to the SAMAs nominated for best live award, and for good reason. The band became the first unsigned group to sell out the world-famous King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on consecutive nights back in February, giving those in attendance a chance to see one of the most in-demand live acts in Scotland today. The band play soaring pop-rock that defies its surroundings - with a sound akin to later Killers, or early 2000s U2, they sound like they’re shooting for the big arenas and stadiums. There’s no reason why they won’t manage it either, managing to whip the crowd into a fever, and perhaps loding doubts in a few people who hadn’t seen them before as to whether they had voted for the right band for Best Live Act.

WIth Vigo Thieves having departed, the awards resumed with the Best Hip-Hop prize next up for grabs. Another hotly contested field, with Young Fathers, straight from a support slot with CHVRCHES at The Arches, and Solareye of Stanley Odd, himself just coming off a massive Old Fruitmarket show as part of this year’s Celtic Connections festival, looking like hot favourites for the prize. Ultimately, the SAMAs served up their first surprise of the night, as Glasgow rapper Gasp took the award. A little known name beforehand,

it looks like this can propel Gasp to new heights.Best Hip-Hop was followed by what is often one of the most important - and with perhaps the most packed field - the Best Rock/Alternative award. History shows that the recipients of this award typically go on to rather great things, especially in the case of last year’s winners Fatherson, who look set to take the music world by storm with their forthcoming debut album. WIth that in mind, it comes as no surprise that it was almost too close to call for Best Rock/Alternative. Fat Goth, who opened proceedings, were our pick but Irvine’s Culann were a close second in our estimations - and so, much like most of our predictions, it came to pass that Fat Goth missed out to Culann, who were undoubtedly worthy recipients.

After these two awards, one of the night’s highlights followed. I came to this year’s SAMAs not knowing much about who or what Roman Nose were, and until they began their set, I still hadn’t formed much of an opinion. By the end though, it was clear to see what Roman Nose were. For someone who isn’t perhaps as well versed in Electronic music as they should be, Roman Nose sounded like a revolution. Mixing harsh drum beats with impressive samples and loops, the masked trio wowed the crowd. Those who came with a knowledge of Roman Nose would perhaps have known what to expect - the rest of us left knowing we’d seen something a little bit special. And though they may have come up short in Best Electro, it looks like they could have a massive future.

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After the masked musicians had left the stage, we moved into the final portion of the overall awards show. As we mentioned, Roman Nose came up short in the Best Electro category - and it wasn’t to the act you would have expected. Best Electro was, without a doubt, the most stacked category at this year’s SAMAs. The all-conquering CHVRCHES - who would go on to win the inaugural Grulke Prize at this year’s SXSW festival - were also nominated for the award, but much like Roman Nose, they too came up short. Somewhat surprisingly, the award went to Edinburgh electro-producer Plum - an award so surprising that Plum herself took quite some time to make her way towards the stage to receive it (reportedly, she was telling people in the crowd how much Roman Nose deserved to win) and could manage a brief splutter of expletives upon finally making it to stage. Couldn’t have put it better ourselves, Plum.

Following Plum’s surprise win in the Best Electro category came the penultimate award (though, had you been following our live updates on Twitter, we MAY have erroneously reported it as the last award), Best Live Act. Another ridiculously packed category, this was entirely too close to call. Literally every nominee was a worthy recipient - The OK Social Club play the sort of indie rock that could, given the chance, capture the hearts of the nation a la The View, United Fruit are dumb-fun punk rock that doesn’t dress itself up as anything fancier, Vigo Thieves proved their live credentials earlier in the night, Meursault are one of the most thought-provoking bands our country has produced in recent times, Roadway come down from the vast Northern expanse of Scotland playing classic rock in a 70s vein and finally, Stanley have drawn comparisons to various artists including The Divine Comedy, Radiohead and Scott Walker. With such a list on show, how could it be possible to choose a winner?

As it was, the crowd was able to choose a winner, and plumped for Edinburgh’s The OK Social Club. Deserved winners of course, after a year that saw a string of

infectious singles with shoutalong choruses, raucous live performances including a set at their hometown’s prestigious Hogmanay performance and finally, the impending release of their debut album, it would be hard to argue with their selection as winners - especially as the crowd was to be treated to a set from The OK Social Club to bring the curtain down on the night. Before that though, we had one more award to dish out...

Best Newcomer, much like Best Rock/Alternative, is an award that beckons much for the victors. Last year’s winners Bwani Junction went on to play on top of the Forth Rail Bridge - and it doesn’t really get much bigger than that, does it? With that in mind, the SAMAs Best Newcomer can propel the victors onto some quite great heights, and this year’s recipient of the award was another Edinburgh band, finishing the night with an east coast one-two as The Holy Ghosts scooped the award ahead of contenders including Honeyblood

and Miss Irenie Rose. Even in the immediate aftermath of the awards, it’s looking like a bright future for The Holy Ghosts after picking up best newcomer.

With all the awards having been dished

out, there was only one thing left to do - for Best Live Act winners The OK Social Club to bring this year’s edition of the Scottish Alternative Music Awards to a close. A typically triumphant set from Raff Eragona and co. brought down the curtain on another year of what is one of the few truly alternative award shows in the UK.

The SAMAs have been going four years strong now, and it’s a collective hope from everyone in the Scottish music scene that it can keep it up for another four (and more). To think that an awards show that has become so vital to Scottish alternative music started out as a university project is astounding when you see the size it’s grown to. People might be tiring of dishwater bland award shows like the BRITs or Grammy’s, but out there are shows that can whet your appetite for reocgnising what really are the best bands, and not just the bands that look good in magazines or sell the most albums.

“the SAMAs have been going four years strong

now, and it’s the collective hope that it can keep up for

another four (and more).”

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19middlemusic.netPhoto: Daryn J Williamson

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‘treating the band as a profession is ultimately up to others to decide...’

Phil Wilson catches up with Fraser Stewart of Dundee rock behemoths Fat Goth following their rather succesful album release in January and SAMA nomination...

Given their recent album release and subsequent SAMA nomination I ventured forth, over-excited

as I was, to share a few words with one of MiddleMu-sic’s newest favourite acts – Fat Goth. I launched forth with some bad journalism, hastily written and poorly structured questions. Fortunately, band vocalist and guitarist – Fraser – was much more alert.Fat Goth are, undoubtedly, a group destined to flour-ish; whether it be within a hard rock, alternative or metal community (or, perhaps, something completely unfounded). Their latest release, Stud, held droves of impressive instrumental work – the likes of which contemporary music desperately demands. With standout, riff based tracks such as Creepy Lounge and Surf’s Down, it’s monumentally difficult to avoid being caught in a grappling under-current of praise.Yet, Fraser holds a degree of nonchalance when questioned about the effect the band could have. “The whole idea of Fat Goth becoming a big, successful band that we can treat as a profes-sional career is ultimate-ly up to other people to decide.”

To jump back, momentarily, to an earlier point: not only does current day music subconsciously lust

after a fresh kick to the cranium, but also an injection of genuine respect for music-making as its own ele-ment, “Regardless of whether the world embraces us and showers us with all its treasures, or shuns us and gives us a snide look as it walks off in the opposite direction, Fat Goth will continue for however long we see fit.”I wonder; how does a band such as this find its way into the shortlist for a music award? “We didn’t enter. The SAMA organisers select the nominees them-selves.” An impressive feat, on its own, let alone for an inaugural awards appearance. “Normally we com-pletely avoid getting involved with any musical com-petitions such as battle of the bands, and so forth. They’re usually just a scam, not to mention the fact that trying to make your way in the music industry is competitive enough as it is!”When the genuine article has been sourced: the

awards ceremony with no ulterior agenda, and only a respect for tremendous music serving as its mo-tive – can it be constructive to use it as a goal to work towards? “Yeah, it’s certainly nice to be nominated. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy about Fat Goth being involved with this year’s SAMA. Regardless of whoever wins, it’s just cool to get a bit of acknowl-edgement for your efforts.”

Still, we can’t escape that prevailing affirmation of enjoyment being the real motivation for the band.

“We don’t make music for any other reason than just having fun and experimenting with our favourite creative medium. Getting preoccupied with any of the external stuff like how your band is perceived by oth-ers or how much of an accolade you’re receiving isn’t something we really concern ourselves with.”Don’t mistake this for flippancy, however. The unpre-

tentious realism, as with the best of us, can only melt away when presented with the prospect of success – particularly when that pros-pect can be found in female form.Fraser, prophetically, on the

subject of winning the award: “It would be great to go around and remind everyone I am an award-winning musician and that they should show me some re-spect. I imagine there would be tonnes of perks. I’d like to think I would attract attention from beautiful women and get offered loads of free stuff from cool places.”

Better yet; (‘better than beautiful women and free stuff?’ I hear you cry) “Hopefully I wouldn’t have

to work anymore and could do whatever the hell I want and never have to answer to anyone ever again, including the law!”Disclaimer: Crime doesn’t pay. MiddleMusic.net would never advocate criminal activity… Unless you cut us in.Finally, before I bid adieu to Fraser, and all things Fat Goth until the SAMAs themselves, I inquire – When the guys make it big, they’ll be shamelessly strutting MiddleMusic.net T-shirts on stage, of course?“I will pretty much do anything for cash. ANYTHING!”This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

“Regardless of whether the world embraces us...Fat Goth will continue for

however long we see fit.”

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Mikey Reynolds examines the cult of personality surrounding the world’s biggest pop star, Justin Bieber...

middlemusic.net

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Few things

in life can be as terrifying as teenage girls when they get their heckles

up – and Courtney Barrasford, a 15-year-old from Hampshire who innocently expressed somewhat of a liking for Justin Bieber’s acoustic album found that out, to her peril, earlier this month.After Bieber, idol to millions of teenage fans worldwide, retweeted her statement – a perfectly plausible one, and one that Mr. Bieber surely enjoyed more than the sycophantic pleading of the millions of ‘Beliebers’ – the English teenager was subjected to a veritable barrage of abuse from the ‘Beliebers’. Make no mistake – Justin Bieber is THE 21st century cult of personality.It isn’t by his hand though. Lest we forget, amongst his sell-out concerts and quintuple-platinum records, that Justin Bieber was simply a young Canadian guy who put some videos up of himself singing on YouTube. It’s snowballed from there, and it seems like everything is out of his control now. He’s on the front page of tabloid rags nationwide for daring to smoke marijuana, or for having to cancel a concert due to health issues.Bieber has been built into a golden god by his fans – almost 37million followers on Twitter, and over 52million likes on Facebook – and is now held on such a pedestal that it’s almost impossible not to see him come crashing off it. It was embarrassing to witness the reactions of his fans as he broadcast the innocuous tweet from Courtney Barrasford to them – ranging from fans threatening all sorts of biblical plagues upon the original tweeter, to fans despairing and threatening to take their own lives if Justin Bieber didn’t shine his spotlight on them.We followed some of them on Twitter to try and gain an insight into the minds of the #beliebers, and even the bio’s make for scary reading. ‘Being a Belieber isn’t easy, but it’s sure the hell worth it. I met Justin Drew Bieber for the first time on the January 23rd. It was the best day of my life.’ read the bio of @thebieberswaggg, whilst @biebasdiary is slightly more creepy, their bio reading: “Canada, London, Ontario, hospital St.. Judes 2nd floor, room 126 1st march 1994 12:56 pm tursday”.It must be some life being Justin Bieber. Ignoring

the worldwide fame and copious amounts of money pouring into the young Canadian’s bank account, the poor fella can’t even check his phone without millions of sycophantic messages from these young girls coming. Trivial as that may sound, Justin Bieber seems to be on his way to becoming one of the first real casualties of the internet era – be it those who love him, or those who inexplicably take the time out their day to post about their hatred of the young man everywhere on the internet.The backlash which met Coutney Barrasford at the beginning of March was almost terrifying in its voracity, an example of the fanatacism which follows modern celebrity. It came not long after the #CutForBieber phenomenon which grasped the internet, the most terrifying example of the terrifying lenghts that some fans go to in order to try and get the attention of their idols.It’s maybe a bit incorrect to call it a cult of personality, after all, Justin Bieber himself didn’t go out of his way to make people behave like this for him. There’s something about a good-looking young man, thrust into the spotlight, that grabs the teenage denizens of the internet - look at One Direction as well, now elevated to almost Bieber like status by adoring crowds in the USA.The vultures are already circling for young Mr. Bieber - looking at a photos on the frontpage of the infamous Sun newspaper here in the UK of Bieber and his ‘pet monkey’, it’s almost impossible to not draw comparisons between him and the last pop star who developed as big a following, the King of Pop Michael Jackson. It would be a dream for the tabloid media if Justin Bieber was to experience the same fall from grace, but it doesn’t seem likely. A young man who has achieved so much fame from the internet has a network built around him to ensure that such falls should be almost impossible.Whatever happens to Justin Bieber in the long-term, the nature of the fandom beast dictates that they will eventually move on to someone else - and we’ll go through this all over again. Teenage girls, be it through some fucked-up genetic code or just a hivemind existence, always need to have something or someone to channel their wild desires through - the internet has just given them a new way to hassle their favourite celebrities. Justin Bieber isn’t the alpha, or the omega - he’s just a guy.

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album reviews

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so where are we now?the internet was set alight when David Bowie announced he was

returning - but is it really a return to form? by Mikey Reynolds

There was considerable doubt over whether we would ever

see David Bowie release another studio album. It had, after all, been ten years since we had saw The Thin White Duke produce anything remotely related to music. But Bowie’s return was enough to alight the online music world - or, for the most part, the world - for the first time in a long time.When Where Are We Now? first saw the light of the day back in January, it was met with a somewhat lukewarm response. Admittedly, it was tamer than what we’re used to from Bowie, especially since the last official release of any Bowie material was the 40th anniversary edition of The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, meaning its raucous rock ‘n’ roll sound still lingered in the memory.When the track is heard within the context of the full album though, there can be little doubt that it works - and the cynics amongst the online music community seem to claim that the release of Where Are We Now? as the first track could have been a very clever ploy by Mr. Bowie.The Next Day is the latest cunning reinvention for the true chameleon of pop music. From Ziggy to Aladdin Sane, through Major Tom and on to his early 2000’s elder statesman of pop reinvention (before he disappeared entirely) Bowie has always been the master of escaping into his creative cocoon in between recordings and emerging with something new and exciting.This time, Bowie is taking a look back over his career for the first time. The aforementioned Where Are We Now? was written about a walk through pre reunification West Germany in the 1970s - but for all it looks back, he doesn’t simply rest on his laurels and make the music you’d expect him to. Which, in a roundabout way, is probably exactly what you expect from Bowie.The lyrics aren’t the glitz and glamour that most of the casual Bowie fans would expect, those who are more familiar with Let’s Dance (the single) than Low. The Next Day sees Bowie dance with death, war and his unease with the celebrity culture. Some

of the lyrics take a second listen to believe, but most forget that Bowie can be rather visceral in his writing - he didn’t make it where he is by writing about sex on the beach.The album clocks in at a somewhat meaty fourteen tracks and almost an hour’s running time - meaty by today’s standards, anyway - but it at no point feels laboured. And, refreshingly, it doesn’t sound like

Bowie has laboured to make the album. At times, it sounds almost as fresh as anything he produced in his heyday; opener The Next Day and second side standout How Does The Grass Grow? serve as notable examples of Bowie sounding like he’s having the time of his life as he makes the album.He’s has said a million times that he won’t tour this album, but it’s hard to stop your mind from drifting to just how great these songs would sit in amongst a set of the big Bowie hitters. There’s enough reference to the old songs for them to sound familiar - you know, from start to finish that this is a David Bowie record, make no mistake - but there’s also that crucial progression that has marked him out from his contemporaries right from the start. Maybe one day we’ll see him on stage - he has said he won’t tour this album, but hasn’t said anything about never touring again - and hopefully on that day he decides to play some of these tracks. They deserve it.The album isn’t without its imperfections. You Set The World On Fire is enjoyable enough, but upon re-listening the choruses seem to fall somewhat flat, and the overall production of the album feels a little too slick for Bowie - it surely wouldn’t have killed to have something as unpredictably brilliant as the mystifying flute on Moonage Daydream pop up.These feel like nitpicks though. From the pomp of opening track The Next Day to the slowed down, almost comedown-esque closer Heat, this is a very accomplished album. It takes a certain type of musician to virtually disappear for ten years and sound like he hasn’t been away at all. Bowie is that type of musician.

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mogwai - les revenants

album reviews

It isn’t what you’d expect from Stuart Braithwaite and co., but Les Revenants is a thouroughly enjoyable change of gear for Mogwai.The guitars take a back seat as the band try their hand at a soundtrack for the second time with synths and pianos taking centre stage throughout most of the moody and melodic compositions.Each track is as measured as anything on a Mogwai album, leaving this sitting comfortably amongst their studio output and making Les Revenants an essential purchase for Mogwai fans.

9Mikey Reynolds

doldrums - lesser evilLesser Evil‘s artwork finds Airick Woodhead, a.ka. Doldrums, reflected in a broken-beyond-repair laptop screen.In all honesty, that image of his identity obscured by a wrote-off

laptop screen pretty much says it all – the 22 year-old’s debut LP uses a mish-mash of experimental electro-pop and droning psychadelic noise to invoke the terrible death of modern youth culture at the hands of commercialism and social media.As carefully crafted as Lesser Evil is, Doldrums lacks the same force of personality that made the less palatable sections of Grimes’ Visions a joy to listen to. The washes of reverband decay sometimes feel a little bit too washed out, demanding a patience that its pay-off doesn’t quite deserve. 7

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd

iceage - you’re nothingIn 2011, Danish punks Iceage put out their debut album, New Brigade, and I loved it. Then towards the end of 2012 I saw the band play the worst gig I’ve ever seen - so I approach the new material from Iceage with mixed feelings, wanting it to be as good as their debut but knowing I’ll never allow myself to hear it live.As they lay into Ecstasy, the feeling of actually liking this band returns. The chaotic energy is still there, the angry desperation of the vocals demanding attention. I strongly recommend both albums. Just think twice before hitting Confirm on buying that ticket. 7

Chris Lockie

eels - wonderful, gloriousEels frontman Mark Oliver Everett may be nearing his fifties but he shows no sign of decline as the band’s tenth album marks a worthy milestone in their history.At times forlorn and at others hopeful, Wonderful, Glorious revisits familiar themes of loss, love, despair and desire with a gentleness that derails into outbreaks of rage throughout.While Wonderful, Glorious may sound comfortingly characteristic to avid Eels fans, its musicianship lets it stand alone among previous albums as a rich assortment of original compositions. 7

Salwa Benaissa

johnny marr - the messenger53 years old is a strange time to hit out with your début solo album, but it’s not like Johnny Marr hasn’t been busy over the last twenty-five years.The elephant in the corner

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kate nash -girl talk

Kate Nash has been fighting her corner alone for years. She exploded onto the scene with fellow English females like Lily Allen, now Nash is the last women standing.The problem is Nash’s fan base have grown up. 2010’s album My Best Friend Is You seemed desperate to claw on to her style but still reinvent herself as a modern day riot grrrl. This acts as a bridge to her latest offering Girl Talk.The album opens brightly with a swaying bass line mixed with venomous Part Heart. The track offers a clear glimpse into the mind-set of every broody teenager as Nash sings. The problem with a track like this is it has been done better for countless years - how many songs have we heard about teenagers desperate to break away?It then swaggers into Libertines styled Fri-end? which is overly reliant on three basic chords. While the song is catchy, the delivery seems hollow as it is bogged down by frustratingly repetitive lyrics.The album’s high point comes with 3AM, as the former Brit Award winner finds her comfort zone on the jangling guitar track. If all Kate Nash’s young fans have grown up, they will all relate to this bouncing track about hitting the gutter after a loveless and alcohol fuelled night.Despite its title, Nash continually focuses on the male role in a crumbling relationship, particularly on Rap For Rejection. However, it’s all just a little bit late to recover the album, which offers an uncomfortable listen as tracks seem like they could be good, but are sang by the wrong artist.

5Mark Pirie

throughout The Messenger is that there isn’t a song here that wouldn’t be improved tenfold by the sullen witticisms of a certain anti-monarchist vegetarian.The Messenger finds Johnny Marr on his own, without a charismatic frontman to play second fiddle to. It’s a bit like in Space Jam when Michael Jordan quits being a basketball player to pursue a career in baseball. Dogs shouldn’t walk on their hind legs, and some old dogs should know better. 4

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd

l. pierre - the island come trueL. Pierre is, as most of you know, the found-sound and electro side project of former Arab Strap frontman Aidan Moffat. The Island Come True is the third album he has released under the moniker, the first since 2005, and sees him drop the electro part of the description to produce an intriguing album of experimental found sound production.It’s always been brave of Moffat to leave the sound he’s typically known for in favour of his L. Pierre work but he’s always pulled it off, and never better than here.Though Moffat features more as a curator of sounds, the found sound/samples mix blends well, and makes this one of the more intriguing records this year – and we’re only a few months in. 9

Mikey Reynolds

dutch uncles - out of touch in the wildA couple of years ago, publications began hyping a lot of bands from Manchester and the surrounding, bands that didn’t resemble the archetypal Mancunian figures we have grown accustomed to. One band who have survived after all the hype and are still looking as intriguing as ever are Dutch Uncles, who have returned with their third release Out Of Touch In The Wild.This album marks a distinct maturity in their sound, swapping the piano driven art-rock of their previous releases for a marimba laden experiment into more electronic territory. There are still elements of the sound they have became known for present on the album, yet these aspects have taken a backseat to more percussive and synth tinged textures.This is a very ambitious release by the band, with some outstanding tracks, attempting to create something more substantial than their previous collections of melodic art rock. While the use of marimba, strings and xylophones adds to many tracks on the album, as a general rule of thumb these elements are most effective when used sparingly, as opposed to finding a place for them on every track of a release. It will be very interesting to see where this Mancunian five piece go from here. 7

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bastille - bad bloodBastille are one of the bands I feel like I’ve been hearing about for a long time and have finally made a breakthrough. For a band to reach #2 in the charts without a record being released is pretty unheard of in recent times, unless a major label funded pop act. In fact the only name that springs to mind is Arctic Monkeys. Whilst Dan Smith may lack Alex Turner’s sharp eye and lyrical wryness, Bastille’s Bad Blood manages to capture that sense of astuteness and modesty that made Whatever People Say I Am so engaging and accessible.The one time solo project of Dan Smith turned full-fledged band seem determined to showcase how wide their grasp of indie-pop is throughout Bad Blood. Tracks like the eponymous Bad Blood allow a grittier side of Bastille to emerge; sparse drums drive the song forward whilst moody, guttural guitars throb like some kind of growling animal. Smith’s lyrics are heartfelt and honest as he level-headedly laments “as the friendship goes / resentment grows / we go our separate ways’. The chorus is also brutally honest, yet retains the sort of balanced composure that makes Bastille songs so engaging. Smith tenderly, and pointedly, asks ‘all this bad blood / won’t you let it dry? It’s been cold for years / won’t you let it lie?’ With some synths floating in the distance added to Dan Smith’s penchant for a well-

timed ‘woah-oh’, well, you’ve got one of the record’s stand out tracks.The live drumming is one of the greatest features of Bad Blood as the crisp, meaty drums boom relentlessly, creating a real heart beating in amongst the other instruments. The drums in Icarus are almost tribal and work wonderfully when juxtaposed to the piercingly delicate keys.This transition into the slower second half of Bad Blood is truly lovely; I think I just fucking love Dan Smith’s voice. Beefy marching

drums pump like bellows, breathing life into the layers of synth riffs that trickle through Flaws, before giving way entirely to a piano driven track entitled Daniel in the Den. A sombre track, it swells into a rousing refrain that mark an ‘arms swaying in the air’ live track.Overall, Bad Blood is a great offering from Bastille. It doesn’t break any major new ground, but Dan Smith & Co. are so competent and confident that it doesn’t really matter. The band has produced a record that focuses on showcasing what they are best at: huge drums, ethereal synths, rousing pop choruses, and Dan Smith’s wonderful vocals. It is a record that is very easy to consume, yet there is enough variation and experimentation in the twelve tracks to satisfy those looking for that little something extra also.

Bastille released their long-awaited debut album this month, but can it live up to the hype surrounding them? By Tom Watts

8Tom Watts

album reviews

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RUNGS - i don’t wanna hug! i just wanna cum!Anybody still in mourning over the untimely passing of Take A Worm For A Walk Week will undoubtedly find something to smile about upon listening to I Don’t Wanna Hug! I Just Wanna Cum!The album/EP consists of four slices of Glaswegian spazcore, with track times that would make only the most violently powerful of power-violence bands grimace.Catchy and clearly deranged, RUNGS’ debut release is everything you could possibly want from three-quarters of TAWFAWW. But judge them not on what they’ve done before, because this is more than deserving of praise entirely divorced from TAWFAWW’s prestigious pedigree.

8Christopher Macarthur-Boyd

villagers - awaylandThere is a certain type of album that seems to get a certain type of critic in all of a lather. In many ways, these albums could be considered

the ultimate victory of style over substance In a world of sleep-inducing easy listening and heinous reality-pop, the musician who can demonstrate just how clever they are will have to do little more than brandish a French horn before the five-star reviews from left-wing newspapers come pouring in faster than rainwater invading a Tewkesbury bungalow. And so it is with Awayland, the second from Irish folk rockers Villagers, the follow-up to their highly promising debut.Ultimately, nothing here offends, but perhaps that is Awayland’s biggest problem. 5

Chris Lockie

frightened rabbit - pedestrian verseLet’s set the scene: your favourite band signs to a major label. Though happy that they are finally achieving the acclaim they deserve, your mind is quickly clouded by fears that they might tone down their frank, honest lyrical content. That they might rest on their laurels now they’ve hit the big time. That the progressive growth, of which you feel you’ve been a part may be stunted. We know, it happens all the time.Did you feel that way about Frightened Rabbit? If you did, then you’ll have breathed a sigh of relief when you listened to this album.There really isn’t much to dislike about Pedestrian Verse. All major label worries and doubts are cast asunder, leaving only the fact: we all knew Frightened Rabbit were

Mikey Reynolds

misfits - de.A.D. aliveLess than two years on from the release of 2011’s The Devil’s Rain, Jerry Only-fronted-Misfits burst from the grave again with their live album, DEA.D. ALIVE, filled with recordings from past Hallowe’en shows.From the off, the record showcases Only’s over theatrical vocal style, which long ago transformed the unstylish-style of the Misfits into a parody.Naturally, the only stand out moments from the album are two nostalgic nods – Helena and Science Fiction Double Feature – if for nothing more than a change from the wall of uniform sound.Latter day Misfits feel like a tattered and frequently patched clock. Having dropped and replaced wheels and cogs over the years, left with only one hour hand, steadfastly ticking away at a reduced pace, determined to prove it can keep up.The unhappy truth is that Only should have respected the midnight hour tick the better half of a decade ago.A poetic demise, really, for a band made famous by songs about zombies.

a brilliant band, and now, with the major label machine behind them, it’s time them to stop being Scotland’s best-kept secret, and busy themselves with being one of Scotland’s best bands.10

4Phil Wilson

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live reviews

christopher owens @ broadcast 26/2/13 the former Girls frontman brought his solo live show to Glasgow

for the first time in February. How would a long time Girls devotee find it though? by Christopher Macarthur-Boyd

Would I be lying if I said I wouldn’t have walked out of Broadcast a tiny bit cheerier if Christopher

Owens had played a handful of Girls’ tunes? Yes. But that wasn’t what was advertised on the poster, that’s not what was expected, and that’s not what happened.What did happen was an incredibly well-performed and faithful run-through of Owens’ début solo record, Lysandre, followed by a few covers of songs by the same singer-songwriters that he so clearly desires to be mentioned in the same breath as: artists such as Cat Stevens (Wild World) and Bob Dylan (Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright).As sad as certain sects of the crowd might have been that Owens didn’t play any of his crowdpleasers – “’Lust For Life!’” came one fruitless plea from the front row –

his band was actually comprised of some of the same members as when Girls played Stereo in 2011; Evan Weiss still plays guitar for him, Matt Kallman is still on keys.J.R.’s absence was quite noticeable, but his fatherly presence (must be something to do with his Reed Richards-esque salt and pepper hair) is replaced by the older gentleman who played saxophone and flute. The two girls on back-up vocals, one of which I’m roughly sure is Owens’ current girlfriend, did a swell job.Much like Lysandre itself, seeing Christopher Owens live post-Girls is most likely to frustrate anybody who just wants to lose themselves in Hellhole Ratrace, or break their heart all over again to Laura. But for those willing to accept it for what it was – an exhibition of immaculate songcraft – it had a quiet thrill of its own.

Mikey Reynolds

bouncing souls @ stereo 17/3/13Few bands inspire a support as fervrent as that of New Jersey punk legends the Bouncing Souls. The band played their first Glasgow show in over three years in March, with the passionate fanbase showing out in force to enjoy a runthrough of high energy punk songs both new and old from Greg Attonito and crew.The band’s most recent studio outing, Comet, might have been more disappointing than most of their studio output, but you would have been hard pressed to find anyone in the sell-out crowd who left the underground venue disappointed.

The set struck a perfect balance between the Bouncing Souls classics and the material from their more recent albums. The largest cheers and spurts of activity were, of course, reserved for the classics from the Souls 25 year back catalogue, with the crowd bunched at the front fast becoming one notted mass, punctuated occasionally by the odd flying body or crowd surfer.Though their studio albums might not pack the same punch that their earlier work did, there can be no denying of the potency of the Bouncing Souls as a live act, even after 25 years.

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foals @ barrowlands 5/3/13foals came to the barrowlands hot on the heels of the success of

holy fire. how did their live show compare? by Mark Pirie

Photo by Bill Ebsen (Creative Commons)

There’s a moment about half way through Foals set at the infamous Glasgow Barrowlands where you realise what kind of band they have become.Pint-sized frontman Yannis Phillipakis suddenly decides the best course of action during Providence will be to calmly strut through the crowd still playing the jangling riff. The surreal moment where hordes of fans try to chase after the tiny frontman, moments after letting him past as if he was a casual crowd member acts as a metaphor for Foals.They’re something brilliant, but people overlook them.This tour offers a chance for the five piece to show the depth in their material, with delicate classic Spanish Sahara getting a makeover – the song now features even more vibrating synths, leaving fans to marvel over

the beauty of the track.Inhaler offers a chance for the crowd to really let themselves go. A band who are lyrically rooted in the repression of feelings, offers itself more to swaying side to side in typical art student fashion. The crunching riffs of Inhaler offer a rare chance for the crowd to yelp along and fist pump the air.The band’s live presence centres around Yannis, who seems to get his kicks out of throwing his tiny frame around the stage and watching roadies flounder after him. This is showcased on closing track Two Steps, Twice, as unsteadily he mounts the speakers and towers over the crowd.Another great live outing for one of Britain most consistently brilliant alternative acts.

Dropkick Murphys represent a dimension of live music often glazed over in the haze of travelling from stage to stage, crowd to crowd and town to town – authenticity.Or at least some background research. This much became abundantly clear as your trusty MiddleMusic reviewer (me) and Mein Führer (editor) stood in Glasgow’s Barrowlands, listening to a Celtic-devoted rendition of The Fields of Athenry.Stoically entering the stage following a three minute, pitch black haunting Irish folk song, the boys launched directly into new material, with The Boys Are Back, determinedly beginning the non-stop set-list.Momentum was carried through with discography defining classics, Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya, Bastards On Parade, Your Spirit’s Alive alongside a surprisingly thorough selection of new tracks, Prisoner’s Song, Out of Our Heads and The Battle Rages On.

As a band, Dropkick Murphys are notorious for their strong, driven and anthemic tracks, usually backed by a powerful attack from the bagpipes and quick, inspirational lyricism. Which is all well and fine while slumbering at a desk listening through cheap headphones. Experienced live and in action is something else entirely.The show exploded towards its concluding tracks, which overflowed the anthemic quota: Jimmy Collins’ Wake, Boys On The Docks and I’m Shipping Up To Boston – each providing a solid strut on which to build the vitriolic, rabble-rousing Worker’s Song.Naturally, a band as big as this with such a devoted network of fans, was inevitably going to constitute an encore. One which satiated the incessant thirsts of the crowd for just long enough to end on Signed and Sealed in Blood‘s closing track, End Of The Night. Phil Wilson

dropkick murphys @ barrowlands 16/1/13

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