If you wanna get ahead, get with Ed
INDIE POP ED HARCOURT La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, Thu 5 Dec
‘lt’s all a bit fabulous really,’ laughs Ed Harcourt on the phone from Heathrow Airport. ‘Hey, I’m jetting off to LA!’ Note that the man behind the melancholy and often-magical songs has a) a wicked sense of humour and b) a meticulous work ethic. At 23 he narrowed down a portfolio of 300 songs to six for his mini-LP debut, Maplewood which saw him foolishly lumped alongside indie whiners in 2000’s ‘new acoustic’ movement. The Mercury Prize-nominated Here Be Monsters followed a year later, building on the addictive songwriting and jazzy flair of his earlier work, while retaining that tinge of the unhinged.
We catch him on the eve of a UK tour and an imminent second album release, off to America to discuss a future film soundtrack and already planning the direction of his third album: ‘A raw lo-fi pop record.’ His second, From Every Sphere, has been produced by Chad Blake of Tom Waits fame and is due for release early next year.
Those who caught Harcourt supporting Beth Orton at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in October will have experienced a jazzy, laid-back facet to his performance but he swears that was due to the seated venue. ‘Some nights we did really heavy rock sets. That’s my character, just a thousand personalities. On this tour we’re going to be playing tracks from both albums and maybe some newer stuff. A lot of the time we improvise and mess things up. Perhaps we’ll have some dancing bears on stage and dress in spandex . . .’ An intriguing proposition. (Camilla Pia)
WEN TECKETS
We have two pairs of tickets for Ed Harcourt at La Belle Angele in Edinburgh on 5 December. To enter, just send an email to promotions@|ist.co.uk by 3 December 2002 and if your name is pulled out of the hat, you’re there! Please include a daytime telephone number. Usual List rules apply.
ELECTRONICA GROOVE ARMADA
Barrowland, Glasgow, 6 & 7
older. Yes. dance music was at a world. Core members Tom Findlay commerCial and creative zenith; the and Andy Cato saw their chill out scene was in rude health. classic. By the River. move into the
Dec To stay ahead of the game. realm of the ubiquitous radio
What does it mean to be a dance bands and DJs had to diversify. lt beasts. and their posnion as viable band nowadays? As the 20th couldn't just be abom house. dance gods was secured. A string century drew to a close we had techno or electro. however much of subsequent chart hits buttressed Leftfield. Chemical Brothers. the exponents of these genres that position. and now we are Orbital. Underworld. Basement enthused about their immortality. faced with the release of their new. Jaxx and Groove Armada all Survival meant looking behind the album. the rootsiest of their career. releasing albums and enjoying the beats. and this is where one band. Lovebox just isn't a dance music massive popularity and credibility. namely Groove Armada. always record in the conventional sense.
0 magazine lauded them for excelled. Their skewed style. a Findlay acknowledges the dearth of 'rocking more than the rock bands' crazy assnnilation of dub. ambient. recognisable dance on the new
of the day. oLiite a statement from a house and funk. took them to the work: ‘There are a few club tunes. publication best known for busmess end of the charts and but it goes off on quite a few championing guitar bands old and onto late night stereos across the tangents. If we're talking ab0ut
influences. then people like the Stones. Nick Drake. Captain Beefheart and Madness come to mind' And these influence bear out on record. Dubby disco. hard psychedelic funk, rock'n'roll and even some house music make up the stew held in the Lovehox.
Hence. the band are ‘proud to be a band on the festival Circuit” and ‘have never really been comfortable With being on first name terms with Tongy and Jules'. There's a certain pride about Findlay when he reveals that the new album was created in 'a tiny. sweaty room in Shoreditch'. That's Groove Armada: sweating out the future. keeping the spirit alive. getting the sound right for the people.
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Proud to be a square peg in a round hole (Johnny Regan)
Music
5 REASONS TO GO SEE . . .
LAMECHQW {QUARTET}
‘3. Support an ex-floorboards stripper. As recently as the album before last (Nixon) singer Kurt Wagner had to support his music income (split between the 14-plus band members) by stripping floorboards. That ain‘t a pleasant job (possibly what gave him his gravely voice). so cough up your cash. Don't send Wagner back to the boards.
Marvel at Kurt Wagner’s vocal range. When he talks he may sound like Tom Waits after smoking two packs of filterless Luckies. but when Wagner sings the angels. well they come out to play. He's got the kind of sweet. high-pitched voice that'd lift a buffalo off its hooves.
3. They’re playing for Scotland. Last time Lambchop came to Scotland it was just Wagner on his lonesome. solo testing songs for the last album Is A Woman in Glasgow before committing them to disc. Now, he's back to reinvent the songs all over again. Shows respect to Scottish audiences. huh?
4;. Let’s hear it for the band- ette. Joining Wagner as Lambchop-lite will be Matt Swanson on bass. Sam Baker on drums and Tony Crow on piano. Crow. those who have listened to the sublime Is A Woman will know, provided the signature ivory tinkling for that album. Gettin’ intimate with Lambchop. Lambchop aren‘t known for rocking Out. despite giving the Polyphonic Spree a run for their band members. Lambchop {Quartet}. however. are going to be playing the altcountry equivalent of chamber music. It‘ll be like slipping into a warm bubble bath with Kurt and his pals. Ahhhhh.
at Lambchop {Quartet} play at Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 5 Dec.
98 Nm l.) [)(ét: L/‘alOLr’ THE LIST 39