Music LIVE REVIEWS
ROCK/SOUNDTRACK GOBLIN The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 25 Feb ●●●●●
The Glasgow Music and Film Festival has scored a real coup with Goblin, arch-horror instrumentalists usually found supplying the music to Dario Argento’s Giallo masterpieces through the 70s and 80s. Alongside Ennio Morricone they have provided some of the most startling soundtracks in cinema history, their propulsive electro funk heightening the tension, creating music that taps a nerve, sets you on edge; the perfect accompaniment to Argento’s spiralling visions of violence. They hadn’t played live for over 30 years, then arranged a few festival dates in 2009, collapsed again and split halfway through their tour, meaning they didn’t make it to last year’s GFF. Now they are back (in a slightly different line-up, currently featuring key original members Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante and Maurizio Guarini) for their first ever Scottish show and the wait has been more than worthwhile.
Unlike a lot of film scores, Goblin’s music is
powerful and psychologically complex even when removed from context. Live, you soon realise what a fantastic band Goblin are in their own right. Master musicians, their psych-prog-rock is instantly evocative of screens drenched in blood, and their demonic instrumentals are a stark contrast to the huge grins plastered across their faces.
Screens flicker into life showcasing clips from some of horror’s most shocking films as they launch into music from their illustrious history. Highlights include the unnerving theme from Suspiria, the haunting refrain and heartbeat of ‘L’Alba Dei Morti Viventi’ (from Dawn of the Dead) and the creepy nursery rhyme that is ‘School at Night’ (from Profondo Rosso, aka Deep Red). They even find time for some of their later work, touching on their 2000 score for Sleepless, a cacophony of glorious terror. Not everything played tonight is from a film, though, with tracks from Roller and Back to Goblin all getting an airing, their own prog-rock reminiscent of Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Yes.
It’s a faultless performance from Goblin themselves but there is a slightly distracting moment towards the end when the wrong footage is played on the screens, as images from Sleepless accompany music from Phenomena and the ominous title track from Profondo Rosso (both masterpieces that encapsulate a feeling of impending dread and fear). Their music is so wonderfully constructed, their manic vision so pure in its aim at your emotions, to unsettle, confuse and disturb. Goblin are true masters of their art. (Henry Northmore)
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INDIE POP KID CANAVERAL Stereo, Glasgow, Thu 24 Feb ●●●●●
Kid Canaveral bribed me at their SXSW fundraiser show, and the bribe totally worked. After recently expressing my love for a hurtling pop aria called ‘So Close to Beautiful’ – the B-side to KC’s debut single, ‘Smash Hits’ – the harmonious Edinburgh four-piece rolled it out especially. It was brilliant. For the record, however, the power-pop
champions’ Stereo appearance was a blinder even without the inclusion of ‘SCTB’. KC are rightly loved for their ebullient melodies, and upbeat favourites ‘Couldn’t Dance’ and ‘Good Morning’ enjoyed a celebratory resonance in the week when they announced a record deal with Fence.
Fence will no doubt be equally jubilant: they’ve bagged a major talent in David MacGregor. His soaring vocals and knack for a ballad would give any number of independent stadium rockers a run for their money: jaw-dropping opener ‘Her Hair Hangs Down’ was beautiful; and ‘Stretching the Line’ provided an equally hair-raising chorale.
KC are set for this year’s SXSW Scottish pop exodus, alongside Withered Hand, King Creosote and Rachel Sermanni. I believe that’s what they call an embarrassment of riches. (Nicola Meighan)
EXPERIMENTAL ALL-DAY EVENT NON-STICK ERRATIC CARVERY Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Sun 13 Feb ●●●●●
Lazy Sundays in the Botanics will never be the same again after this all-day extravaganza of nine acts from Edinburgh’s fecund experimental hiss- and-mist scene, set in the ornate upstairs gallery of Inverleith House. Headlined by out-of-town guests Jazzfinger, collaborations between members of Scrim, Muscletusk, Fordell Research Unit and Hockyfrilla came with natural light and an eerie silence outside once darkness fell. Cartoon sound-art double-act Usurper added a
meta-narrative to their usual japes by recreating the noise of their kindergarten junkyard kit using vocal noises rather than manufactured ones. ‘Deadhestcess’ (pictured) was a loose alignment of Helhesten’s theatrical sound poetics and Dead Labour Process/ Muscletusk’s vocal deconstruct- ion of counter-cultural guru RD Laing’s word-game dialogues, ‘Knots.’ As dusk turned to black night, Duncan Harrison presented a triptych of contrasting sonic bursts. Jazzfinger played in darkness, conjuring up a sublime elemental brew of rolling electronic thunder that became oddly meditative. (Neil Cooper)
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HIP-POP TINIE TEMPAH O2 ABC, Glasgow, Tue 23 Feb ●●●●●
A decade ago the notion of a British MC storming the charts was as good as laughable. Now Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder, Example, Chipmunk, N- Dubz and the rest shift hundreds of thousands of records, and the future of UK hip pop is so assured that Mike Skinner can afford to take early retirement. Dapperly bespectacled Londoner Tinie Tempah is the latest rapper to turn grime scene credibility into commercial triumph. His massively successful year in pop – which has seen him score three number ones and shift half-a-million albums – was capped with a double win at the BRITs, a triumph he celebrated here by getting a young female fan to victoriously wave his two statuettes aloft while he sang ‘Invincible’. Tempah’s young, studenty, heavily Topshop-attired fan base couldn’t have cared less that there’s barely a thin sliver of difference between the 22-year-old and his above- mentioned contemporaries, as they partied to the cheesy house beats of ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’, the watered-down drum & bass of ‘Frisky’ and dub- inflected Best British Single winner ‘Pass Out’. But as the hip pop field becomes ever more crowded, will they still love him tomorrow? (Malcolm Jack)
DRONE/ NOISE OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, Sat 19 Feb ●●●●●
Under his Birchville Cat Motel moniker, Campbell Kneale made some of the most beautiful noise and drone of the last decade, being as much about tranced-out organ rituals as ear-bleeding brutality. Re-emerging as Our Love Will Destroy The World, the New Zealander has opened up his sound to a wider range of influences. Kneeling before a flight case tightly packed with samplers, mini-synths and FX pedals, he writhes on his knees and flails his arms as invisble demons dance around him. Reflecting the current vogue in experimental circles for horror movie sonics, Kneale’s set initially recalls recent work by Ensemble Economique, all voodoo drums and Giallo synths.
But Kneale is no modish imitator, and he is less concerned with creating an unsettling atmosphere than building a mass of textured noise. Despite all the synth tones, mangled guitars and spectral feedback Kneale lays over that unrelenting rhythmic base, he retains a sense of space, so the listener can find their way into the maelstrom and float freely around: at least until a sudden barrage of noise leaves us reeling in ecstasy. (Stewart Smith)