Music
EXPOSURE BURNT ISLAND Burnt Island are a richly melodic and understated folky five- piece from Glasgow. Singer Rodge Glass – a regular renaissance man who counts novelist, biographer, academic and occasional List contributor amongst his lengthy CV – spills the beans. How did the band come about? ‘I took a break of a few years after the noisy band I was in [experimental rockers Single Point of Light] came to an end. In that time my first novel got published and I gave up music, really. It wasn’t until I worked with Vashti Bunyan on the Ballads of the Book project that I started again. I really enjoyed that, and I thought maybe I could make quiet music.’ How is it, going from loud to quiet? ‘I love it, it’s really freeing. For years I tried to write quiet stuff, but it never suited the age I was or how angry I was. Before, I was too desperate and too agitated and you could hear that in the music. Now I’m a bit older and more secure, and could actually enjoy the process more, and that’s ironically led to more interest in this band in five minutes than there was in the old band in seven years.’ How has your novel writing informed the songwriting? ‘For starters the lyrics are a lot more thought out, and I tend to clip songs in the same way I clip stories. I try and keep things as tight and understated as possible, which is exactly the way I put stories together.’ (Doug Johnstone) ■ Burnt Island launch their debut single, ‘The Moments Before’ (Dead Light), at The Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Thu 26 Nov.
REVIEW INDIE ROCK THANK YOU 13th Note, Glasgow, Mon 2 Nov ●●●●● REVIEW INDIE HARDCORE SHIELDS UP Bar Bloc, Glasgow, Thu 29 Oct ●●●●●
REVIEW NEW MUSIC SHOWCASE GLASGOW PODCART Classic Grand, Glasgow, Sun 1 Nov ●●●●● REVIEW ELECTRO COLD CAVE Playdate at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 31 Oct ●●●●●
Ironically, Thank You seem pretty appreciative tonight. They thank the support bands multiple times and the assembled crowd too, who form an exclusive club of culture vulture meets prog nerds at the cosy, vegetarian café cum dingy basement that is the 13th Note.
The Baltimore band are relatively
recent recruits to the indie label phenomenom that is Thrill Jockey, whose roster includes the likes of the Fiery Furnaces and Tortoise. And tonight, their near-instrumental musings suitably impress. It’s a kinetic bomb blast of guitar, drums, organs and a lot in between, but to the uninitiated, it threatens to become a little overwhelming. With song titles lacking, and the experimental nature of Thank You’s music prevalent, it dangerously veers towards inward- looking, spaced out litany. But with some twisted Bloc Party-at-
Halloween jaggedness and prolapse inducing low end from the guitar, it transpires to be vitally engaging stuff. The absence of discernable melody however stops this trio from transcending normality and reaching unpalatable levels of music-making, but they don’t care and neither does this appreciative crowd. (Chris Cope)
Bloc has never seemed liked the most conventional setting for live music. Its close-knit tables and chairs obscure most of the floor, making it awkward to view – to say the least – and even more so to play we’d imagine. However, there’s an odd charm to being packed into such tight surroundings, especially here in Bloc tonight, where most of those in attendance, bar the unsuspecting diners, are all here specifically for the music (and, of course, cheap booze, never forget the lure of cheap booze) and waste no time packing themselves into any available crevice before Shields Up take to the floor. The term Edinburgh Hardcore may
also seem, at first, to defy convention, but the confidence and energy of these five fellas quickly serves to assert themselves as a brutal force in their own right; one that could easily stand tall alongside their many US counterparts. Tonight’s set, comprised largely of cuts from the band’s eponymous debut album, is delivered with biting precision, allowing every searing riff, blistering drumbeat and each scream, howl or chant to tear a hole in the small space they are afforded here this evening. (Ryan Drever)
On a rainy Sunday night in the west, a respectable crowd of open-minded Glaswegians have turned out for Glasgow PodcART’s showcase of musicians hailing from – gasp! – the exotic east. Of Scotland, that is. Panda Su (pictured) is a Fife lass who creates an aura of mystery by painting her face to resemble our bamboo- munching chums. Sounding at times like a folkier Suzanne Vega, she plays a succession of endearing and original wee numbers, the highlight of which is ‘Eric Is Dead’, a deliciously slow- building chunk of dark pop.
Panda Su’s improvised
instrumentation carries over into the next offering, one-man-band Esperi, whose homemade schtick wears rather thin as a disguise for ropey songs. Using a looper pedal (yup, another one of those) he builds lush, layered and rather twee soundscapes that sound pretty but lack substance and purpose. Headliners Yahweh come across like a scuzzier, edgier Broken Records, combining strings, electronics and a roaring, vitriolic guitar that occasionally threatens to drown the vocals. The highlight, promisingly, is a new song, full of angsty lyrics and finishing with a beautiful coda on violin and cello. (Laura Ennor)
Almost inevitably, the shout goes up in the block of dead air after Philadelphian trio Cold Cave wind up their final track: ‘One more tune!’ Apologetically, bandleader Wesley Eisold turns to the crowd before getting busy unplugging his bank of synths. ‘We don’t have any more tunes,’ he shrugs regretfully. Nonsense, man. New Order released eight albums, surely you could have found a few more in there.
OK, that’s a low blow. Cold Cave are actually pretty good, if we just acknowledge the fact that they’re wholly unoriginal. It’s not even the first time this century that a band have combined austere electronica with gloomy, post-Manc vocals, or used the initials ‘CC’ either. Cold Cave sound as much like Melbourne’s glorious Cut Copy as they do Factory’s early roster. Playing Sneaky Pete’s customarily packed Playdate night, Eisold, Caralee McElroy and Dominick Fernow don’t have to work hard to storm an onside crowd, and ‘Love Comes Close’ is an ice-cold anthem of the moment. Considered in isolation from the many bands they echo and in the absence of an impending New Order reunion, they even sound a little like the future. (David Pollock)
66 THE LIST 19 Nov–3 Dec 2009