ROCK
BROKEN RECORDS Capitol, Glasgow, Thu 31 May 0...
The audience at Capitol may have been somewhat thin on the ground but the stage was bulging at the seams as Edinburgh septet Broken Records struggled to fit a music shop of instruments onto its dinky frame.
At first sight it almost appeared that their vast array of tools. including accordions. mandolins. guitars. and a violin would collapse around them. but as they launched into their first tune. any thoughts of a spectacular instrumental implosion passed to the back of the mind.
Out of such an arsenal Broken Records fashion a deft, soaring sound. at points recalling the Klezmer-tinges of Beruit and scale of Godspeed! You Black Emperor. Some moments reveal the inevitable looseness expected from a relatively new band but songs like 'Lies' burn with enough feverish urgency to survive such minor glitches. Embryonic they may be. but on the quality of their songs alone they could well develop into an exciting prospect. (Miles Johnson)
ELECTRO
BLACK AFFAIR Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sun 3 Jun 0000
In an aside from his post-Beta Band project King Biscuit Time. Steve Mason has concocted a fresh sound with Black Affair. being profiled on the band's MySpace as ‘probably the best known and most discussed modern songwriters and thinkers'. Yet here such lOllgttO-lll‘ChOOk notoriety at first fail to titillate a somewhat comatose crowd.
In a support slot to New Young Pony Club of Intel advert fame. sections of the audience react slightly (:onfusedly. with Mason imploring people to move forward towards the stage and dance. Soon. though. a combination of his swagger and the minimal electro of his tunes Succeed where his instructions fail. The Miami bass kicks. sleazy lyrics and vocoder vocals of the excellent ‘Sweet' are fierce. building into a hypnotic layer of synths but the set best moment comes in the fOrm of ‘Japanese Happening. a song that COlljtlfOS tip the atmosphere of an eerie 80s computer game theme tune complete With the twang of Casio oriental strings. It may have taken them a while to ZldjtlSl. but after Mason eXits. the crowd seem to miss him when he's gone. (Miles Johnson)
NEW WAVE FRANZ FERDINAND
Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, Mon 4 Jun oooo
At the first of this intimate. exciting two-night warm-up residency for their continental summer festival dates. Franz Ferdinand served notice of a dramatic change in style to compensate for the rather undenNhelming fare which made up most of their second album. They have — wait for it — gone New Rave.
Okay. not entirely. But with Nick McCarthy playing keyboards instead of gUitar for most of the five new tracks. there was the definite feeling that they've been listening to a lot of electro and house recently. ‘English Goodbye' was one case in pOint. although its rather elegantly-told tale of modern romance was not as suited to the dancefloor as 'Favourite Lie'. a poignant gtiitar epic which breaks down into a massive euro-house Outro. and the monumental electro— funk of the brilliant 'Turn It On'.
The other two new tracks played. ‘Anyone in Love' and ‘A New Thrill'. sat more comfortably alongside ierky- guitar Franz classics like 'Take Me Out' and ‘Michael'. and the very fact that all of the new songs managed to hold their own in the company of such acknowledged classics should mean that the third album will be reason to get excited. (David Pollock)
Aron Moorhouse
Out for the forces.
why is that?
POST ROCK
GALCHEN
13th Note, Glasgow, Fri 25 May 0...
It's near imposSible for Scottish bands to do instrumental post- rock Without being labelled Mogwai copyists in some shape or form. Perhaps realising that when they first started experimenting With discordant. swelling gtiitar noise. and drums that can be heard from space. Glasgow feur—piece Galchen have cut the genre with a potent dose of something a little different » and made a trippy cocktail all of their own in the process.
On the surface they trade in familiar stuff: dense. heart—wrenching soundscapes. the trusty guiet loud dichotomy etc. However. it's the fast beating core of this band that's really speCIal: melodic. churning bass lines that turn the rhythm over with almost SCientific precision. and those drums — the violently relentless guiding force in each of their five minute extraterrestrial operas.
Factor in the various whooshes. beeps. samples and all else that the big haired fellow on the synths contributes. and Galchen make for a hell of a thrilling experience — one you can cry and dance to at the same time. should you feel so inclined. There aren't many bands you can say that about are there? (Malcolm Jack)
Tomorrow's nit/Sic today. This issue: Under/mg
Homegrown hip hop is a growing phenomenon and Underling find themselves at the front of the pack. Splitting their time between Dunfermline and Edinburgh, the fivesome are renowned for eclectic live shows, and are currently putting the finishing touches to a debut album, due out this summer. We caught up with rapper
Your shows are hardly conventional decks-and-an-Mc
hip hop rallies, are they?
We used to put on community Jam seSSions and gig nights. and the guys in the band come from a Jazz background. Three of the guys are multi instrumentalists. which is great for improvismg. it means you're not tied to a strict setind. One minute it can be upright bass and harmonica. then it‘s trumpet and guitar or keyboards and dOuble bass. there's a lot ( f variety Your rap style brings to mind the likes of Roots Manuva
and Dizzy Rascal. What got you started?
Six years ago I started rapping along with other songs. then began writing my own stuff. I was in the forces. and | used to do it to relax and pass the time. but then gradually the writing took over and I realised I wasn‘t cut
Scottish hip hop is really getting its shit together now,
It's great. People are starting to support each other more. which is the most important thing. that's what's driven the success of the Scottish indie scene. When artists get behind each other. that's vxher‘ good things start to happen, and people are catching on to that. (Doug Johnstonei
I Under/i'ng p/av the JHZ/ Bar, Edinburgh, Sat 30 Jun.
'21 Jun 5) Jul 90th THE LIST 61