Full of the joys of spring, eh? I don’t know if that cliche completely fits, to be honest, says Vic Galloway. it! It's a strange time of year. when I feel sin’iultanerxisly inspired and deflated. My flat looks dull. cluttered and in need of a serious overhaul; my chin has developed an identical twin; my waist increased by another we and any vain attempts to head to the gym between hogmanay and now have all failed miserably. I’m agitated. With a desire to change for myself for the better. but knoWingly resigned to stay the same. Although summer is approaching With its (unlikely) promise of blue skies and good times. it's only my musrcal and artistic calendar that's injecting that necessary ray of sunshine. Triptych WI” keep me going for an extended weekend With another amazing line—up. Radio 1's One Big Weekend in Dundee looks like it's geing to be a lot of fun wrth a great. varied line-up; and there are all sorts of unsigned events happening over Scotland over the next few weeks. Forget the marketing campaigns: it‘s at these events that you truly find the best new muSic around. I‘ve also ltlSl had the pleasure of reading a brilliant new author's debut novel. Check out Doug Johnstone's Tombstoni’ng for a rollicking tale of mystery. set in Auld Reekie and the east-coast town of Arbroath . . . but. it's a lot better than it sounds! The Beastie Boys film. Awesome: / F "kin' Shot That! is fast-approaching these shores. and a new band. :( (Or colonopenbracket to y0u and me!) has appeared, wrth a bizarre 'gameboy-emo' sound that I'm IOVing just now! In fact. with an amazing array of new Scottish releases and a bucket of CD's brought back from SXSW. l have weeks of listening ahead of me. OK. OK. I give in! The more I think of it. the more I realise I'm excited by what '3 about to happen next weekend never mind next month! The sap is rising once again. I Vic Ga/Ioway presents on BBC Radio Scotland. 8. 05- 70pm. Mondays, and BBC Radio 7. 7.30-9pm. Thursdays.
66 THE LIST .‘ 7 Apnl t Mai. 3030
HIP HOP Al [RIPIYCIH EDAN Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Sat 29 Apr; Tramway, Sun 30 Apr
‘To ask something of your audience is to respect them. If you don’t ask them to use their brains you’re saying they don’t have one.’
Edan’s outlook is refreshingly philosophical. A practising student of music and hip hop history, his albums offer one man’s complete vision, from the rhymes and cuts to the sleeve artwork collage.
‘I guess I'm fairly controlling, but that’s just what happens when you feel strongly about your music. And that's a good thing if you’re a positive, righteous dude. I think people gravitate towards experiencing an artist’s complete expression.’
Self-proclaimed ‘Humble Magnificent’ and pseudo old- school smart-arse, Boston-based Edan Portnoy was crowned Don Dada of indie hip hop last year with the release of his second album Beauty And The Beat, a swirling, hallucinatory lo-fi trip galvanised by his
SUN RA ARKESTRA Liquid Room. Edinburgh, Fri 28 Apr: Tramway. Glasgow. Sat 29 Apr
trademark gritty rhymes. Having earned the plaudits, he‘s now finally getting the opportunity to push his opus with a live show that will see him accompanying himself on the steels - a skill he claims was born out of necessity. In fact, ever since inheriting his first set of haunted turntables Edan has done things his own way and to his own ends.
“Really everyone’s keeping it real, but maybe in a more negative way.‘ He feels mainstream hip hoppers are entrenched in a dollar system. ‘To appeal to the masses they have to keep it more conservative. That’s just not my cup of meat.’ Like the wider hip hop community Edan is not shy to acknowledge his talents but nevertheless holds aloft the debt owed to past and future luminaries, happy to accept his small plot in the annals of music history. ‘Essentially I’m just another grain of sand along the coastline, trying to reach the ocean. I just want to make music that continues to make people feel good, that someone in the future might be happy that they found.’ (Mark Edmundson)