mUsic
reviews
Singles round up
Autumn rs upon us, the season of mrsts and mellow fr‘urtfulness and gurte frankly, a whole shedload of mrncl numbrngly medrocre srngle releases The worst of whrc h rs undoubtedly 'The Game (RCA to by Nichola ~ the self-styled 'tough srster' of B/g Brother fame. Chrrst on a brke, rt’s bad enough we had to endure your egotrstrcal antrcs for weeks on end but to release thrs vaprcl trance-Irte on an unsuspectrng publrc as well? You’ve had yOur IS mrnutes of fame, now prSS off. Redemption of sorts comes courtesy of power poppers Crashland. 'Modern Anrmal' rlndependrente *ttr rs a three mrnute blast of crunchy rrffs and recalls the fr2/ bomb punch of Supergrass and the wrred neurotrcrsm of The Buxzcocks. Unlrke Erasure, however, who return to the fold wrth ‘Freedom’ (Mute *inlrr, a glrttery slrce of pop wrth rust a hrnt of camp on the srde
Meanwhrle, Elevator Suite's 'Man In A Towel' rlnfectrous *tr rs luke warm JdY/ funk that's eerrly remrnrscent of 80s horrors Currosrty Krlled The Cat, whereas Cousteau’s 'The Last Good Day' IPalm Prctures ****r trps rts hat rn the drrectron of Scott V‘Jalker and rs a magnrfrcent mrnr melodrama awash wrth mournful brass Qurte, gurte \'.ronclc->rful and srngle of the week, no contest
Is there no escaprng the ubrgurtous Robbie Williams? He's a gurnrng buffoon and whrle teamrng up wrth pop prxre Kylie Minogue mrght have been a marketrng man's wet dream, ‘Krds’ IEMI *tr rs strll rrredeernably brash, cynrcar and crass rn the extreme A sure-frre top ten hrt then Trme for some. hard roc krn' ac tron Sunna's ‘Power Struggie' Ilylelancholrc *tr rs packed t'ull of bludgeonrng power chords and apocalyptrc angst, but these thrngs are best left to the _r)rofessrona|s and who better than old school metal muthas, Iron Maiden Unfortunately, 'Out Of The Srlent Planet' :EMI *tr, h/larclen's heartfelt crrtrgue of a world gOne mad, does nothrng to drsgurse the fact that they've
always been gutte hysterrcalry crap
Local types Qualidada (Overhrll *irtr cornbrne furrowed
Snow Patrol are in a critical condition
52 THE LIST S 19 ()c'. 22-03
Crashland aim to please
brow srrrger/songwrrter rntrospec tron wrth some nrce
atmospherrcs and peculrar iolky t\~.rsts on therr self-trtled EP wwv..clealbhadharr co uk In stark cc)ntrast U2 rlsland *‘k‘ktr grve rt some welly rust Irke the old days on 'Beautrt’ul Day’, and are all the better for at Roundrng off a trro of gurrky entrres, Djinji Brown rPromo ***r knocks up a couple of attrac trve, but not overly-sparklrng hrp hop tracks wrth some great vocal touches
If Its good trme party tunes you're after, then look no further than Brassy whose 'Play Some D' lVVlle *ttr comes on Irke Daphne and Celeste's sassrer brg srsters Thrs rs clefrrrrtely a good thrng rn my book Frnally, and rn complete contrast, The Nectarine No.9 offer us ’Constellatrons Of A
Vanrty’ (Beggars Banquet *‘k‘k‘kr It's languorous, lazy and
POP/ROCK/HIP HOP Snow Patrol
Cut La Roc QMU, Glasgow, Wed 27 Sep.
In an attempt to brrng you word on Snow Patrol, Glasgow's frnest adopted Irrsh band, The Lrst clarnberecl over the trenches to sneak rnto Glasgow Unrversrty's Freshers' Week, tryrng our best to pass as your typrcal, sexually- frustrated lrrst year student 'Apparently, someone from The L/st rs here,’ announces frontman Clary Lrghtbody mrd-set Damn rtl Looks Irke we've been rumbled But rn some twrstecl News Of The '/‘»/or/c/-type scenarro, the usually carefree Snow Patrol gurtarrst wants to 'narne and shame', (falselyr accusing The list of rnakrng reference to hrs guote/unguote ’ropey Irrsh cr'aclt' rn a prevrous grg revrew Not gurlty, me Iorcl Mrsgurcled attacks asrcle, Patrol's classes for the masses are a good lesson rn channellrng paranora and ragrng hormones to clevastatrng effect 'Absolute Gravrty' and 'NYC' clefrnrtely borrow more of therr
Snow
(lownrrght lovely rNeIl Fergusonr
Influence from the sound made by a partrcularly vrolent thunderstorm than anythrng else, whrlst the dependany vrrtuoso 'Starfrghter Prlot' wrth rts pacey srren calls and ’beam me up, Scottre' rnentalrty, rs a cue for Gary to do some \*.'hrplashecl self-propulsron manoeuvres last seen performed by a buoy III a trdalwave somewhere off the coast of South Amerrca
Followrng a wrlcl frnale of rnstrurnent brursrng whrch rnclucled chharcl Colburn (percussron: ancl Mrck Cooke rtrumpetl on loan from labelrnates Belle & Sebastran, the ever-present DJ- rng artrstry of Skrnt's Cut La Roc went on to drvert throughout the nrght wrth c‘hunkybeats, darrng and rmprc-‘ssrng rn equal measure
The day after the grg, a phone call to myself revealed that rt was actually a Glasgow fan/me, sorry maga/rne whrch puports to berng an events gurcle and rrval of The [.rst who had made the slrghtrng comments on Snow Patrol The call came from Gary from Snow Patrol, who had phoned to apologrse for the outburst, bless llason Cranwellr
LOCAL LIVE Eska Nice 'n’ Sleazy, Glasgow, Thu 21 Sep. From the :ntoxrcatrng opener, 'Crrte'z'cmn 75', through to guasr-anthem 'Tne Unbelrevable Snow 0‘ I999', Eska gallop tl‘rough a mere srx songs aznrle leavzng the rmpress:on of hawng performed at least twrce as many Therr central and key force rentarns Colrn Kearney and Cltrrs Mack's be JulEng gurta" arrangements, thong." .n truth the endlessly rnventrve nature of these songs can onlybe there bit of cc)|,ec;tr\.'c‘« effort ‘ESP Does Work' stands up as a prreie example of The Eska Approach To Songwrrtrng: patterns and rhythms take utterly unforeseea'ole routes, condensed rrf'fs lead to sprawlrng chords and the concept of a chorus :s, gurte correctly, drsregardecr from the off Thrs rs musrc basted 'n the furnace of rmagrnatror‘, refreshrngly creatrve and, rn places, sadly beautrful lSean Guthrre'
Lowgold, Jensen and Nibushi Shang Hong King Tut's, Glasgow, Sat 23 Sep. N!l)LiSl‘.l Shang Hong's SI'I‘IO.“ Alexander srngs about not knomng \.'-."t‘rere a cvrc re 'oegrns or ends Yet r." the Huddle of teezr sphere r? Influence li(.‘S the pocket fireworks of Supergrass, most notably .n the saloon-bar-frg'Wt-souvtdtrac k potent a' of set close', 'Song In 3 Parts
Jensen oesc nbe the'rtselxes as ‘the sanrours of Betrsn rock n' rol' \“r'e'l, :t' you ant your saxuoars to p ay de" sory mou boloc ks that men: out of fashron as long ago as their lxarrc trts drci, thee step ugh: Zhes way
Shreds of v-rooo are searng throung the arr, larger splrnters begu‘ drstetegratsng rnto preces, yet stril, sorrfe'iotn, Lo'l.'.go:ct's (Iran‘rmer keeps bangrng away nerorcazly at what .Ittre be can rrghtfury cal a cirun‘strck I," an attempt to make -t to the eecr \X’nat (arr-e before more a'rtner'rs of Iron. tless beauty and parnful s.r‘cerrt';.r It's the type of ewdence and (()'l\.‘v( IrO'l that offer Lowgoid an optrmrsttc ‘uture llason Crant'verl
Scott MacDonald Blackfrrars, Glasgow, Thu 28 Sep.
Scott lvlac'Dobalcl rnakes some astute observattons tonrght "oi-c mus.c just means gettrng pastzecl', and ‘yot. car‘. be old \‘.'Ii."- a beer-belly and a oearcl and st l be cool' Thrs, "e muses, s cm; Joen Martyn wer‘t fc) me
If anytnng, "Us take on the ‘our: IS based more -n the realms of coar‘tr‘v, and c)\.'.'es f“t.‘( n to tr‘e irkes of lo'v‘”; C as" and er. en lorr‘. Petty, ‘\.'.'l“o.se "Woe-"c e is partrcaiar'y strong r."- ‘(Lav‘ t 8,». Yo. in fact, one could even orav. co'noar sons between MacDonald's crt. .erng tones and those of Ric hard As”; 'of't
Although tery tracrrtrorta, nrs songs we .nstrilecl wrth a gem. “e a'crou' that certttves that, \.'.l‘:l(‘ there or g"t be "o\.‘.' as gueer as i()lr\, there s a ‘o’. worse out
tl‘ere Peter Kc" f.’