Music
PREVIEW ELECTRO ROCK THE PRODIGY Carling Academy, Glasgow, Mon 8 Dec
Fierce – a horrific word for ‘cool’, that’s for sure, but totally accurate if you’re describing a new Prodigy album. When The List catches up with Liam Howlett in a New York hotel room, days before the completion of the long- awaited new offering, the band leader is eager to tell us all about it. ‘We’re loving the record, loving it! Musically I was really inspired by our first two albums,’ he adds, ‘and wanted to combine that old school equipment with cutting edge production. This record is about protecting what’s yours. It’s really fast-paced, full of big riffs and much more melodic than our last two, while keeping that nasty edge.’ Invaders Must Die – the band’s first studio work since
2004’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned – is described by Howlett as a return to his DIY roots, featuring recording methods and sounds not used since Music for the Jilted Generation, and only two guest contributions. Track titles revealed so far include ‘Invaders Must Die’ (featuring Does It Offend You, Yeah?’s James Rushent), ‘Warriors Dance’, ‘Run With Wolves’ (with Dave Grohl on drums), ‘Take Me to the Hospital’ and ‘Colours’, which Howlett says is ‘half rave, half punk’.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the legendary electro-
punk pioneers. ‘When we did Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, the band was at an all-time low – it felt like we were being infiltrated. So when we started writing again I wanted it to be all about us. We spent six months fucking around in a West London studio getting pissed and hanging out, but it wasn’t until we moved to somewhere smaller and started writing the way we used to that we nailed it. It ended up being very intense.’ The album is out in March, but before then we can look
forward to a sneak preview of new tracks at this forthcoming Scottish date, followed by a full arena tour next year. ‘We love playing live, we never want to stop,’ adds Howlett. Glasgow’s in for a treat. (Camilla Pia)
PREVIEW JAZZ ANDERSEN, SMITH, VINACCIA The Lot, Edinburgh, Wed 3 Dec; RSAMD, Glasgow, Sat 6 Dec; Greyfriars Church, Lanark, Mon 7 Dec
Norwegian bass maestro Arild Andersen teams up with our own Tommy Smith and Italian drummer Paulo Vinaccia in a superbly creative trio that has its immediate origins in the rather unlikely location of Islay. Andersen was invited to write some material to play in a duet with Smith at the Islay Jazz Festival in 2005, and the present trio grew out of that very successful meeting.
The pair first played together back in the late 1980s, and the bassist
acknowledges that a further collaboration with Tommy has long been in his mind. When the opportunity presented itself, he was quick to take the chance. ‘Tommy is a remarkable player, and he is very easy to communicate with, both
on stage and off it. He has been high on my list of musicians I wanted to work with for many years, and the invitation to play with him in Islay was the start of this trio.’ Needless to say, that admiration is mutual, and the Italian drummer adds his own highly potent contribution to the mix. Anyone who caught the trio with Alyn Cosker deputising for Vinaccia at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival will not want to miss this return visit, and their superb Live At Belleville album – just out on ECM, and my jazz album of the year – only confirms that this is a must-see band. They also play at The Blue Lamp in Aberdeen (4 December). (Kenny Mathieson)
62 THE LIST 27 Nov–11 Dec 2008
PREVIEW SYNTH-POP ELECTRONICA HUMAN LEAGUE, ABC AND HEAVEN 17 Carling Academy, Glasgow, Sunday 30 Nov
When David Bowie watched Human League play an early gig in 1979, he said he’d just seen ‘the future of pop music’ and their sci-fi, deadpan brand of electronica was ‘like listening to 1980’. Almost 30 years later, with synth-pop bleeping its way through another revival, his forecasting seems pretty accurate. ‘Back then we were on an evangelical mission,’ says Phil Oakey, Human
League’s lead singer. ‘We wanted to make pop records, where the only element recorded with a microphone was the human voice. We didn’t want anything that made physical vibrations in the air. The first time anyone heard anything was when it came out the speakers; not when it came out the guitar or the drum.’ Their avant-garde aspirations were perfectly timed, and in the wake of krautrock, glam-rock and disco, crowds were ready to lap up Human League’s robotic, theatrical take on dance music, made by machines. Although Oakey and the band have written fresh material recently, he says this
tour, with fellow Sheffield acts, Heaven 17 and ABC, will be strictly old hits. ‘Luckily nature made my hair fall out, so I can’t make a fool of myself, pretending that I’m 22,’ he laughs, a sideways dig at the asymmetric bob that used to be his trademark. ‘I’d always wanted to be a glam pop star. We were just very lucky the right technology arrived at just the right time. Otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I’d probably be driving a taxi or something.’ (Claire Sawers)