Festival MUSIC
I
T T O C S D V A D © O T O H P
PALE IMITATION DIY music festival showing off local bands M any music promoters have tried – and failed – to go toe-to-toe with Edinburgh’s August festivals, but if Pale Imitation lives up to its poster’s claims of being ‘Cheap! Cheerful! Local!’, it could have a fighting chance.
Aug) and it’s a lineup that should encourage those interested in the state of Scotland’s live, DIY music scene to dive in and get involved.
Matthew Young, festival organiser and Song, by Toad label boss, says: ‘During the festival, it’s hard it to effectively publicise anything to the incoming audience, or persuade your own domestic audience to stick with local stuff when all this new excitement is in town. But to just admit defeat and walk away felt wrong, so I decided to dig my heels in a bit.’ ‘I tend to release and promote my own favourite music and that’s what we have here – a series of gigs I really, really want to go and see. I just hope enough other people agree, and come along too.’ (Colin Robertson) Henry’s Cellar Bar, 629 4101, various dates, 7pm, £5 (£25 season ticket, excludes Meursault gig at Queen’s Hall). See songbytoad.com for more info.
In its second year, the festival consists of ten shows. The centerpiece is folk existentialists Meursault’s last-ever show (Queen’s Hall, 13 Aug), supported by alt-punks Plastic Animals. The rest happens for a bargain fiver entry – a price to make DIY luminaries like Ian Mackaye and Steve Albini proud.
We’re most excited about the happy, hummable guitar tunes of Glasgow’s PAWS, supported by noisy garage jammers Halfrican (30 Aug); the fuzz-and-reverb-laced surf of Deathcats (14 Aug); Edinburgh’s industrial- soulstress LAW (23 Aug, pictured) and spartan singer-songwriter Rick Redbeard (21 Aug). Add in eagleowl’s intimate kraut-folk (28
For more info go to LIST.CO.UK /FESTIVAL
HITLIST THE BEST ROCK, POP, JAZZ & FOLK
✽ Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Inala A concert from the South African choir that sang on Paul Simon’s Graceland, who also perform a live score to Inala, a ‘celebration of the Rainbow Nation’, with performers from Rambert and the Royal Ballet. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Playhouse, 473 2000, 9 Aug, 8pm, £10–£30; Inala, Playhouse, 473 2000, 10–12 Aug, 8pm, £10–£32.
✽ 8.30pm Music Series Folk, psych and hillbilly gigs at 8.30pm in the Spiegeltent,
including Norman ‘Teenage Fanclub’ Blake’s band, the New Mendicants (7 Aug) and Australia’s Perch Creek Family Jugband (14–17 Aug). The Famous Spiegeltent, 0844 693 3008, until 25 Aug, 8.30pm, £10–15 (£10–12).
✽ Art Late The List hooks up with Edinburgh Art Festival for a series of
late openings with live music, tours and artist talks. Craig Coulthard and Chris Devotion & the Expectations perform on the 7 Aug, then Woven Tents and the Little Kicks in the subsequent weeks. City Art Centre, 7, 14 & 21 Aug, 6pm, free.
✽ Rise Kagona Kagona, of excellent 80s afro-pop band the Bhundu Boys, now
lives in Scotland. He performs three gigs with new band, the Jit Jive Trio, and also appears with Senegalese singer, Samba Sene, for two nights. The Jazz Bar, 226 0000, 9, 10 & 13 Aug, 10pm, £10 (£8); Africa Live! with Samba Sene, New Town Theatre, 220 0143, 15 & 22 Aug, 10.15pm, £12 (£8).
✽ Aidan Moffat The ex-Arab Strap member (pictured, top) brings his rhyming kids book to the Book Festival. See page 23 for more musicial talents taking part in the EIBF. Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 10 Aug, 3.30pm, £4.50.
✽ Song Noir – the Director’s Cut Pinkie Maclure and John Wills, aka Pumajaw, present their dark A/V blend of lounge songs for film buffs, including cult TV soundtracks and Twin Peaks excerpts. Summerhall, 560 1581, 12–18 Aug, 10.35pm, £10 (£7).
7–14 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 69