Tomorrow's music today This issue: Chris Corsano
Chris Corsano is a drummer from New England, now resident in Edinburgh. He’s played extensively with sax player Paul Flaherty, Thurston Moore’s Dream/Aktion Unit and Evan Parker. He’s also played solo with Edinburgh noise doyens, Giant Tank, and on last year’s Resonant Spaces tour. Corsano appears on Bjork’s recently released Volta album, and takes time out from her world tour to play some Scottish shows.
You’re currently playing amphitheatres with BJOl’k, but are racing back to Edinburgh to play with Carla Bozulich, opening for Faust and playing Optimo. What energises you about these small shows? As either listener or musician. I prefer smaller shows. hands down. They feel more immediate. l iust try to react off of whoever I'm playing with. In a solo situation it's about developing something from the ground up that will hopefully have some
momentum.
What first attracted you to the drums? Thirteen-yearold monke I saw. thirteenyear old monkey (lid. l was emulating my brother who'd been playing since before I was born.
Who are your drum majors?
Muhammad Ali. lkue Mon. Adris Hoyos. George Hurley. Milford Oraves.
You play drums solo, but what about drum solos?
Potentially boring. potentially great. When music's driven by ego. as maybe some dram ior guitar or whateveri solos are. its weak. But when a person pours their heart out Without it being about showing off how technical or flashy they can be.
then tha 's some powerful moio.
Music is a better noise. Discuss.
Only when noise isn't busy being a better music. iNeil Cooper; I Chris Corsano plays with Mick Flower; supporting Faust. Bongo Club Edinburgh. Sat 9 Jun; solo. Opt/nio’G/Sub Club. Glasgow. Sun ll) Jun.
ROCK
BAND OF HORSES
King Tut’s, Glasgow, Wed 23 May 0...
‘Youse are way better than Modest Mouse.' shouted an au<lience—bound critic at this show by freshly-touted Seattle indie-rockers Band of Horses. and she had half a point. So maybe the facially hirsute sextet aren’t necessarily better. but they're still riding high enough on their post South By South West buzz to have a similar level of fame in sight. Marrying the same taste for epic guitar pop that Modest Mouse or perhaps Arcade Fire are famed for the homespun charm of Neil Young's less rocking years. At times. they barrel like a barroom country rock band Willi a bunch of tight. nuanced songs of their own. at others they're more relaxed a melodic. Willi singer Mat Brooke's gently wavering lyric offering a folksy charm. He acknowledges that many of their songs come from the unfamiliar. unrecorded and untitled second album. but enough of last year's Sub Pop debut Everything All the Time appeared to keep the crowd cheering their appreciation. iDavid Pollock)
POP
THE RUMBLE STRIPS PULL TIGER TAIL And THE LITTLE ONES Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Wed 23 May coo
‘We are the pirates of peace.' announce The Wee Yins. Translation: please don't throw stuff at us. even though you don't know who we are. But the unseasonabhy cheery Californians are at first met With unimpressed faces. Throughout the night goody bags. tiger masks and glitter are all employed in an effort to break the stoic stillness of the crowd.
Ironically. it's not these gimmicks but the music of the /eitgeisty bands on this. yet another NME New Music Tour. that turn the crowd's affections. The Little Ones play their enthusiastic chipper pop as if every audience member is their best friend. despite no one knownig the words. and a few smiles begin to crack.
Further exploiting the chinks in the audience's indifference. Pull Tiger Tail deliver an expansive. new ravey sonic deluge that gets a few braver souls dancing. By the time the trumper pop of The Rumble Strips gets going. lead singer Charlie Waller mishears ‘wanker' from a heckler who actually says ‘encore'. and the mood of the crowd has indubitany changed. lSu/anne Black)
E Pull Tiger Tail
[it ECI HO PROG
OPAL SKY 0000
MR GOODKAT oo Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Sat 12 May
Kicking off With Mr Goodkat was always going to make the next band look more professional. ‘Eh. this is our new song. um . . . I can't remember what its called.’ mumbles the singer. while outside the ladies toilets. Opal Sky are doing their vocal warm-ups.
Where Mr Goodkat sound metallic and disorganised. Opal Sky are focussed and fully charged — delivering their songs in a style that somehow manages to be alternativer turbulent and elegant. ‘Dead and Gone' stood out as a potential single. all fluttering keyboards and leasing guitars. but their sound is defined by the full-throated vocals of Karma Hay. purity and sensuality found in the voice of a dirty angel.
Clearly feeling in the company of friends. she removes a piece of chewnig gum from her mouth and wraps it in her set list. before chatting about what she's been watching on TV and her dentist appointment which iarred with the poignant beauty of the music. Sometimes it's best to let the songs do the talking. because in this case they had a tugging urgency that demands all our attention.
(Anna Dochertyi
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MASH UP
TRASH FASHION 000 586 0000
Spies in the Wires@Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 10 May
How smartypants London guintet 686's charming concoction of shouty. dancy poii-pummelling got itself hijacked by the smattering of glowsticks-to the-max Joke-New Rave trendies in evidence tonight is Scooby-gang mysterious. Six months back they'd have been hailed as post- punk pastichists extraordinaire. Then again. 586's sound is actually pre- punk. their reedy confection of mid- i‘Os dressiiig-up-box dramatics and fairground boy girl dub more resembling long-lost missing link between glam and new wave.
586's finest moment. “Saying My Name' may be the result of drug'n' cheese induced paranoia. but in terms of over~ripe Cheddar. Trash Fashion prove themselves as equally willing to embrace self-parody as they are in the YotiTube-available mockumentary highlighting their east London antics in a manner more resembling CBeebIes than CBGBs. Think a scrotey. monged-up alliance between EMF. Goldie Lookin' Chain. The Darkness and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Most of all. though. think a Spinal Tap-style scam. Did someone blink? That'll be another bandwagon missed then. I Neil Cooper)
1' -. h Fashion
7—?I Jun 9001' THE LIST 61