Captains Rest, Glasgow The Depreciation Guild's synth-swathed dream pop blends reverb-drenched sensibilities (the Field Mice and the Jesus and Mary Chain offer good reference points here) with a touch of chiptunes-style instrumentation (i.e., a modified 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System). Frontman Kurt Feldman of Pains of Being Pure At Heart teamed up with twin brothers Christoph and Anton Hochheim to form the Depreciation Guild in 2005. These [three] gents' music is a wonderful collage of guitars, drums, fuzzy electronics, and heartfelt lyrics that, in this writer's opinion, places them a couple steps ahead of most post-rock acts. Makes me want to hop the L train and give these guys a hug.
Zola Jesus + Conquering Animal Sound + Midnight Lion
Captains Rest
Captains Rest, Glasgow Over 18s only
Zola Jesus is Nika Roza Danilova, an opera-trained caterwauler from Madison, Wisconsin who makes noise music that scrapes and glistens in equal measure. She loves Ian Curtis and Lydia Lunch, and their uncompromising tendencies can be heard throughout her bruising, beautiful recent album, The Spoils.
The ambitious 20-year-old is currently studying French and Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, but hopes to wrap up her studies "as soon as possible" so she can devote all of her time to creating more haunting atmospherics. Or maybe even some pop music, as her recent Auto-Tuned collaboration with band mate Rory Kane suggests. (She's also a member of Former Ghosts, the latest project from This Song Is a Mess But So Am I's Freddy Ruppert, which also involves Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart.) No matter what kind of music she makes, Danilova is blessed with a bellow that defies genre. Whether creaking or soaring, Danilova's voice transmits with a directness that easily cuts through the layers of lo-fi grime that usually surround it. You don't hear singers like this every day, or even every year.
ABC, Glasgow 14+ (under 16s must be with an adult)
A decade into her career, Karin Dreijer Andersson - former singer of 90's pop group Honey Is Cool and one-half of The Knife - needed to take some time off. She now returns as the solo artist Fever Ray. Fever Ray is the title, of both project and album, an evocation of the music's sound, intense and anxious, yet luminous. Unsure how to get them over the finishing line, she took half her newly formed songs to Christoffer Berg (who mixed The Knife's work), half to Stockholm production duo Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid for a final brush and tickle. The result is Fever Ray, an album that, while recognizably the work of the same artist, is dramatically different from The Knife. It's still constructed on electronic foundations and embellished with traditional instrumentation (guitar here, congas there), but Fever Ray is starker, moodier, in places quite somber - less an invasion, more a slow process of colonization.
Oran Mor, Glasgow Over 14s only, under 16s must be with an adult
Together is the fifth album by Canadian-US collective The New Pornographers, featuring Destroyer's Dan Bejar, in addition to bandleader and chief songwriter A.C. Newman, who All Music Guide says 'in a perfect world, would be our Elton, our McCartney.' Playing to all the New Pornographers strengths, Together combines the freewheeling, glammy spirit of their debut Mass Romantic with the very personal, emotional songwriting of their most recent material. As a result, it's an album that aims to please, as exciting for the New Pornographers obsessive as for casual new listeners. Stunning ballads like 'My Shepherd' and 'Valkyrie in the Roller Disco' are among the most beautiful melodies Newman has ever written, and singles 'Crash Years' and 'Your Hands (Together)' rank among faves like 'The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism' and 'The Laws Have Changed.' Vocalist keyboardist Kathryn Calder's voice has never integrated so well with Case's, and Bejar's three contributions are probably his catchiest and least disjointed. Newman says he's always had a dream of finding the middle ground between Led Zeppelin and The 5th Dimension, which isn't a bad way to describe Together's mix of deceptively complex songwriting with pop hooks and arena rock power. This is one of the great bands of the last decade at the top of their game.
Hype certainly didn't sink Wolf Parade's debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, and after 2008's At Mount Zoomer, as well as countless prominent side projects from Wolf Parade members (including the Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown), the Montreal band has proven to be more than a simple Isaac Brock find. Expo 86 is named after the world's fair in Vancouver, and the album was mostly recorded live in studio, and while it will maintain the band's self-described 'maximalist' sound, Dan Boeckner told Pitchfork the album will have more upbeat songs than Wolf Parade's earlier releases. And Dan Delivered on his promise; Expo 86 is a brilliant reinforcement of what occurs when true chemistry exists in a band.
Oran Mor, Glasgow Over 14s only, under 16s must be accompanied by an adult
Hailing from the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, the Felice Brothers blend folk, Americana, and revivalist roots rock into a uniquely earthy sound. Brothers Ian, Simone, and James Felice grew up in the Hudson River Valley, several miles away from the musical hamlet of Woodstock. Such icons as Bob Dylan and the Band once found inspiration in the region, and the Felice youngsters were driven by a similar muse, gathering every Sunday afternoon for jam sessions and cookouts at their father's house. As their skills improved, the brothers opted to leave the Catskills and relocate to New York City.
MOJO suggest "The Bros' songs mostly rollick on witrh the agreeably vaudevillian bonhomie of The Band, when not essaying gloom with swooningly lachrymose balladry."
Wintersleep + Curators *please not change of venue. Orginal tickets valid*
Captains Rest
Captains Rest, Glasgow Over 18s only
With a name that fits a Nova Scotia-based band rather well, Wintersleep formed in 2001. Initially, they were part of the Nova Scotia label and artists' collective Dependent Music, which released their first two albums, 2003's Wintersleep and 2005's untitled full-length, as the band was just getting rolling. The band graduated to the big time -- that is to say the major labels -- in 2006, when Wintersleep signed with Labwork, a subsidiary of EMI Canada. Members Paul Murphy (vocals and guitar), Tim D'Eon (guitar and keyboards), Jud Haynes (bass), Jon Samuel (keyboards), and Loel Campbell (drums) were able to see their first two releases get a second look on their new label, complete with bonus tracks, but in 2007 Haynes left the group. A quick replacement was found in Mike Bigelow, and Wintersleep soon returned to store shelves with their 2007 album, Welcome to the Night Sky. In 2008 the band was nominated for a Juno Award, Canada's highest honor in the national music scene.
After founding Jerk with a Bomb in the late '90s, Stephen McBean had by the mid-2000s transformed the Vancouver-area band into a group called Black Mountain. Drawing on blues, psychedelia, acid rock, and the Velvet Underground, Black Mountain's sound was a cross between the darkness and grit of the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre's trippiness. After debuting in October 2004 on Jagjaguwar with the 12" Druganaut, Black Mountain stayed with the label for an eponymous full-length, issued the following January. Joining McBean for the album were local players Matthew Camirand, Jeremy Schmidt, Joshua Wells, and Amber Webber, listed collectively to preserve the band's communal ethic. (Black Mountain ran concurrent to and intermingled with McBean's other band, lo-fi classic rockers Pink Mountaintops.) In January 2008, the group released their sophomore album, In the Future, and showed off their willingness to explore proggy (and druggy) territory with the 17-minute opus "Bright Lights".
PETE MOLINARI is a young country blues genius from the Medway Delta. He has just finished recording his second album with producer Liam Watson at Toe Rag Studios, and it showcases Pete’s remarkable falsetto: you’ll hear shades of Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Scott, Bob Dylan and Patsy Cline in a voice and a poetry that is entirely Molinari’s own. The first fruits of these sessions were released on acclaimed double A-side single ‘Virtual Landslide’ / ‘There She Still Remains’ on the Big Bertha label , which led to stacks of coverage in The Guardian, NME, The Sun, Time Out, The Observer etc , a set at Glastonbury Festival, the honour of closing the Spitz Festival Of Country and several support shows with James Hunter by special request.
’Molinari’s voice and haunting melodies left me feeling that the musical void in the British music scene will most definitely be filled. He can follow in the footsteps of Dylan and Guthrie’ – NME
“A singular talent….his distinctive voice and guitar establish him as a Medway Hank Williams. Worth investigating.” – UNCUT
’The soul of American music distilled into the voice of a Cuban-heeled greaser from the Medway Delta’ – THE GUARDIAN
PETE MOLINARI is a young country blues genius from the Medway Delta. He has just finished recording his second album with producer Liam Watson at Toe Rag Studios, and it showcases Pete’s remarkable falsetto: you’ll hear shades of Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Scott, Bob Dylan and Patsy Cline in a voice and a poetry that is entirely Molinari’s own. The first fruits of these sessions were released on acclaimed double A-side single ‘Virtual Landslide’ / ‘There She Still Remains’ on the Big Bertha label , which led to stacks of coverage in The Guardian, NME, The Sun, Time Out, The Observer etc , a set at Glastonbury Festival, the honour of closing the Spitz Festival Of Country and several support shows with James Hunter by special request.
’Molinari’s voice and haunting melodies left me feeling that the musical void in the British music scene will most definitely be filled. He can follow in the footsteps of Dylan and Guthrie’ – NME
“A singular talent….his distinctive voice and guitar establish him as a Medway Hank Williams. Worth investigating.” – UNCUT
’The soul of American music distilled into the voice of a Cuban-heeled greaser from the Medway Delta’ – THE GUARDIAN
Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow 14+ (under 16s must be with an adult)
With the release of their hotly-anticipated second album, Congratulations, out today (12th April) and with many critics already declaring it a masterpiece, these live shows are set to be some of the most in demand of the autumn. The band have recently played sell-out show in New York and across Europe, showcasing the new tracks, mixed with some old favourites to thrilling effect. These headline shows are set to see the band take things even further. Congratulations is a huge step forward from Oracular Spectacular, the band’s debut record. It’s a fully-formed, rich tapestry of sound that is much more than the sum of the band’s influences. Co-produced by Sonic Boom and the band, it’s the vital record of 2010.
Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow Over 14s only, under 16s must be accompanied by an adult (with a purchased ticket)
With the release of their hotly-anticipated second album, Congratulations, out today (12th April) and with many critics already declaring it a masterpiece, these live shows are set to be some of the most in demand of the autumn. The band have recently played sell-out show in New York and across Europe, showcasing the new tracks, mixed with some old favourites to thrilling effect. These headline shows are set to see the band take things even further. Congratulations is a huge step forward from Oracular Spectacular, the band’s debut record. It’s a fully-formed, rich tapestry of sound that is much more than the sum of the band’s influences. Co-produced by Sonic Boom and the band, it’s the vital record of 2010.
