Music
EXPOSURE
BEAR IN HEAVEN Our Bear, who art in Heaven: hallowed be thy epic space-pop, thy divine psychedelia, thy dense electro, thy mammoth kraut-rock. Fortified with a reverent live persuasion and an excellent second album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes), it is little wonder that this Brooklyn three-piece amass disciples wherever they roam. Can you please introduce the band?
‘I’m Jon, I spend a lot of time at a synth or computer [or singing], and making sure our stuff doesn’t get stolen. Joe’s our drummer: he has an insane memory. Adam’s our guitarist: he knows 25 percent of America’s population, and has an endless power to rally against the odds.’ (Keyboardist Sadek Bazaraa (pictured left) also played on the album but won’t join them on tour).
What’s that racket – are you in a wind tunnel? ‘I’m in the back of a van, driving through west Texas [they’re great hopes at this year’s SXSW]. It’s dark.’
What cultural and edible diversions will you pack for your imminent UK tour? ‘Vladimir Nabokov’s The Gift. We’ll bring a camera along and make our own videos. Also, corn chips, fruit and tequila.’
Is it fair to say Faust rule your record collection?
‘Obviously, but so does [minimalist pioneer] Bernhard Günter: that might be more surprising.’
If Bear in Heaven was a painting, what would it look like? ‘It would look like a Magic Eye poster. When you stared at it long enough you’d see an image of yourself staring at a Magic Eye poster, with a wizard in it.’(Nicola Meighan)
REVIEW ALT.ROCK THE RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, Fri Mar 12 ●●●●●
‘FEAR NOT FOR THE FUTURE, WEEP NOT FOR THE PAST’ reads the legend on the wall above this Minnesota-born offshoot of slow-core somnambulists Low. It’s an all too appropriate backdrop for vocalist/guitarist Alan Sparhawk, bass player Steve Garrington and drummer Eric Pollard’s whistlestop Friday afternoon appearance as part of Peter Liversidge’s The Thrill Of It All exhibition in the bright’n’boomy former home of the Venue. Make- believe trees perch on the floor, and the band’s funereal lounge-bar black attire is a louche counterpoint to the first sun of Spring shining through the windows.
Anyone expecting discreet meditations may wish to take note of TRGC’s tenure on Sub Pop records, however, because what bursts out of the teeny PA may start out as two- minute garage band power pop, but extends itself into a series of effortlessly low-slung guitar wig-outs. Over 40 minutes, Sparhawk and co rip through a condensed primer of rock’s back pages, with only some ill- advised cod reggae interrupting its lolloping gait. The thrill of it all, indeed. (Neil Cooper)
REVIEW FOLK-POP KITTY THE LION The Goat, Glasgow, Thu 18 Mar ●●●●● REVIEW ELECTRONIC ROCK ERRORS Tolbooth, Stirling, Fri 19 Mar ●●●●●
What’s with the animal theme tonight? Kittens, lions and goats? Still, at least the archetypal gruffness of the latter is absent tonight, in favour of more delicate and delectable sensibilities, as Kitty the Lion – aka Glasgow singer Anna Meldrum and co – are here on solely acoustic duties, minus two members and drums. Candles flicker behind them as they shuffle through their folk-pop repertoire, including a jaunty ‘Lion In the Bed’ and ‘Birdseed’ (animals again), but it’s the marriage of the masterfully melodic tunes and self- confessed awkward unfamiliarness of this stripped-down setting that makes this set really begin to tug at the heartstrings. Barriers are broken down as
Meldrum coyly quips between songs – and nearly cracks up during them too. As deathly silence falls before set closer ‘Catalytic Converter’, it’s not pained boredom making the West End pub ghostly quiet, but a mix of fevered admiration, and a crowd that’s found itself captivated and charmed. Even without the full band, this was still big on smiles and dainty panache. Gruff? Not a chance. (Chris Cope) ■ Kitty the Lion play CCA, Glasgow, Fri 1 Apr; GRV, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Apr.
‘What’s that? You want us to play Oasis’ “I Am the Walrus”?’ Oh dear. And so, some mouthy Stirlingite did confirm the preconceptions of those from the Central Belt’s other cities regarding what constitutes modern music here. Okay, that’s harsh. But the feeling was that Errors faced an uphill battle to win the crowd over before their party bangers came out later in the set.
Still, you can hardly blame them for being eclectic. The quartet (Simon Ward, Stephen Livingstone, Greg Paterson and James Hamilton) have won increased recognition for their new album, Come Down With Me, but it’s refreshingly hard to pigeonhole them. Here they looked like twee Glaswegian indie boys but played like Can, their brusque, clattering rhythms smoothed down into something more melodic (‘Beards’), or like LCD Soundsystem gone rave (‘Salut France’), or an electro version of their Rock Action paymasters, Mogwai (‘Mr Milk’). The guy up the front didn’t get his Oasis, but after a dancefloor-ready closing double of ‘A Rumour in Africa’ and ‘Pump’ he was trying to make his way onstage for a kiss from the band. Approval achieved, in other words. (David Pollock)
REVIEW MINI FESTIVAL HOMEGAME Various venues, Anstruther, Fri 12–Sun 14 Mar ●●●●●
After the tragic own-goal of ‘We’re For Fife’s’ tourist video, Homegame – microlabel Fence’s annual Fife take- over – was a triumph for the Kingdom. The skies were blue, the fish & chips, outstanding, and the music, well, with so much goodness squeezed into three days, let’s whittle it down to a ‘greatest hits’, shall we?
King Creosote’s intimate gigs (see p66) were a reminder of the pink-raw talent that first got the Fence ball rolling, while Johnny Lynch acted as jovial man-of-the-match. Label-runner Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail, had queues almost to Pittenweem as he played in gentle folk-troubadour guise, charming the crowd with stand-up patter. At night (below) a spine-tingling unveiling of he and Adem’s secret duo – Silver Columns – was a spectacular jolt of whispery Jimmy Somerville technopop. FOUND gave a crowd- pleasing, rockier set of quirky electro- folk-pop, and joined eagleowl for a playful set, topped by a showstopping cover of R-Kelly’s ‘Ignition’. Fourtet and Pantha du Prince gave colourful laptoppery and minimal techno; with excellently itchy beats from Django Django and Findo Gask. Homegame; the festival that makes you never want to go home. (Claire Sawers)
64 THE LIST 1–15 Apr 2010