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Music PREVIEW WORLD MUSIC OJOS DE BRUJO Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 30 Nov
PREVIEW INDIE ARCTIC MONKEYS SECC, Glasgow, Tue 24 Nov
On the title of a 2006 EP, these Sheffield boys asked the question Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys? They were being a bit ironical, we can only presume, considering you’d need to have been hiding in a subterranean bunker, wearing earmuffs and a thick blindfold, to have missed their hella-hyped single from the year before, ‘I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor’, a singalongy, heavily accented Northern tale of longing for a frozen shouldered girl. Four years on and they’re back, touring their third
album Humbug, a slightly less ‘down to earth’ take on their cheeky rock’n’roll formula, where they’re happy to trip out a bit and explore the proggier side of their sound. Recorded in producer Josh ‘Queens of the Stone Age’ Homme’s desert-based studio in the legendary
Joshua Tree, California, Humbug is a more complex and confident, noisier, garage rock update on the pally indie trademark guitar jangle they started out with. The lyrics on single ‘Fire and Thud’ come from the heart, and speak of 23-year-old Alex Turner’s painful reaction to the news that his girlfriend – the very delightful leggy telly girl Alexa Chung – was moving to New York for a big MTV gig. Yorkshire’s loss was Brooklyn’s gain, though, as a (now longer haired) Turner followed her out there.
For fans, who latched on to the band’s word-of-mouth
appeal after they did lots of small-scale secret gigs in pubs – and drew fans as diverse as Harmony Korine and Samantha Morton – the sight of Sheffield’s ‘anti- rock’ stars on stage at the SECC might confirm their worst fears; somewhere along the road from Northern England, the lads might just have morphed into actual rock stars. (Claire Sawers)
PREVIEW JAZZ BRASS JAW Drouthy Neebors, Dundee, Thu 19 Nov; City Halls (Recital Room), Glasgow, Mon 23 Nov
The saxophone quartet is not exactly a common beast in jazz circles, but it is a well-enough established combination to be recognised as a regular format in the music. Brass Jaw began life in that guise, with Martin Kershaw alongside Paul Towndrow (alto), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor) and Allon Beauvoisin (baritone).
They issued their debut album, Burn, in that guise in 2006. Baritone saxophonist Allon Beauvoisin was also a member of the Glasgow-based all-sax outfit Hung Drawn Quartet, and Brass Jaw broadly adopted a similar approach, with clever melodic hooks and attractive arrangements that exploited the tonal and timbral possibilities of the instruments, while allowing the distinctive musical personalities of the players to emerge.
The group then took an unusual step when trumpeter Ryan Quigley
stepped in to fill the gap left by Kershaw. Their imaginative interweaving of instrumental voices and rhythmic energy has continued unabated, but Quigley’s dynamic soloing and the different timbre of the trumpet have given the group an even more distinctive feel. They will officially launch their new album featuring that line-up, Deal
With It, at the Glasgow gig. Ryan Quigley, meanwhile, should have had his own gig at The Lot on 20 November, but BBC Children In Need made him an offer he couldn’t refuse for his big band that night, and the scheduled Sextet gig will be re-arranged in the New Year. (Kenny Mathieson)
Walking out the lift of an Edinburgh hotel, Marina Abad is pushing her baby son in a buggy. Pivotal singer, composer and the only woman in Europe’s most popular world music band – the Barcelona collective Ojos de Brujo. Renowned for their flamenco-hip hop and VJ shows, Marina’s addition to the Ojos family has changed the feel of their music. Their latest album Aocaná, an irresistible fusion of pleasure and politics, exudes serenity. ‘Yes, we’re all more relaxed. We went to a big country house near Girona for a month and worked together finishing songs, writing new ones – taking it easy as I had the baby. That suited everyone. Usually I work songs over and over but this time I didn’t worry as much and we liked the result. Slowing down lets more love and emotion in.’
Family is a key word for Ojos de
Brujo (meaning ‘Eyes of the Wizard’). They create and produce all their own material, manage themselves and work with a larger collective of designers for their artwork, shows and films.
On Aocaná they continue their
politics with ‘Una Verdad Incomóda’ (An Inconvenient Truth), exploring the impact of AIDS in South Africa, while ‘Baraka’ tells of the fears of immigrants without papers. Still, the overall mood is celebratory with ‘Nueva Vida’ (New Life) exploring unconditional love, and a series of rumbas including ‘Busca Lo Bueno’ (Search For The Good). ‘There’s not as much darkness because babies make you see things differently. They really radiate light. We didn’t do rumbas for a time as they were ubiquitous but now we’re back in the mood, doing them in contrasting styles. We’re focusing on what’s good about life, and enjoying what you value in it.’ (Jan Fairley)
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