Bandcrush: Shooting Stansfield

Luc Besson’s 1994 hitman tour de force Léon made such an impression round these parts that the band name ‘Shooting Stansfield’ needed absolutely zero consideration of its origin. Stansfield, played by the virtually peerless Gary Oldman, is the vicious, corrupt DEA agent that the titular anti-hero works towards helping his young charge bump off. Although we’re pretty sure that he *spoiler alert* got blown up rather than shot.

Semantics. So, back to that band, before we pop the Léon DVD on for the gazillionth time? Edinburgh-based and cut from the same profoundly Scottish cloth that’s given us Frightened Rabbit and god knows how other bands in the last five years, these guys have just released debut mini album, We Know Not What We Do.

It’s hugely listenable, fun and has tunes galore, so let’s find out what guitarist Stephen Whipp has to say about the band and a certain iconic movie villain…

So who the hell are you?

We’re Stewart, Stephen, Craig and Dave, originally three parts Dumfriesian to one part Falkirkian now based in Edinburgh.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Melodic, guitar driven tunes offering emotive sentiments and colourful noises.

How did you guys come together to make music?

We got together through an open mic night on Lothian Road. Many cover versions later, we formed a band.

Who’s Stansfield? Any why would you gun him down?

Stansfield is the darkest aspects of the human psyche. He’s also a snappy dresser and a Beethoven aficionado. On balance though, he probably deserves it.

What inspired the music on We Know Not What We Do??

It was inspired by ideas of change and reinvention. In essence we wanted to offer something which is observant and indirect, wrapped up in sing-a-long choruses, heartfelt imagery and stomping rhythms. There’s a circular feel to We Know Not What We Do which encapsulates themes of loss, reflection and the unknown. Regular outings to one particular chicken restaurant and many late nights play their part also.

Would you say you had any particular influences?

Coldplay. Bright Eyes. The National. Frightened Rabbit. Tunes to make you move and make you think.

Are you planning any more live shows?

After our launch gig at Sneaky’s in June, we’re hitting the road around England and Scotland. Maybe Northern Ireland too? If they play their cards right.

What’s next for the band?

We’re recording an album at the moment and hopefully there’ll be another EP in support of that. Recently, we’ve also had a dabble with making videos. We’re keen to explore this further in the next few months.

Bandcrush: The Deep Red Sky

The Deep Red Sky have been known to us for a while after supporting The Last September at their album launch a few years back, and also through a chance encounter with one of them in one of Edinburgh’s fine Swedish bars.

Now with an album out, the time was right for a proper look at them. Our memory of their live sound just about chimes with the recorded version; anthemic guitar rock with tight arrangements and quirky percussion. Hugely accessible, we reckon if someone put their shoulder into the right door for them, it could fly open and they could really take off.

There’s both mature songwriting and ambition at work here, a vital combination when it comes to progressing a musical career, however serious. So let’s hear from the band, shall we?

So who the hell are you?

We’re The Deep Red Sky and we’re Jamie, John, Jos, Jesse and Scott. Scott feel’s left out a lot because his name doesn’t start with a J! We’re all living in Edinburgh just now but come from all over Scotland except Jesse who’s from Buffalo in NY. Jamie’s lead vocals and plays guitar, Scott plays bass, John is on drums, Jos plays guitar, glockenspiel and backing vocals and Jesse plays keys and provides backing vocals.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

‘Angry Snow Patrol’ meets ‘Arcade Fire on fire’.

How did you guys come together to make music?

Jamie and Scott have known each other since high school and started playing music together when they met John at Uni. Jos filled in on bass for Scott while he was away in America for 6 months back in 2011 and we couldn’t let him go when Scott got back he was that damn good so he started playing guitar and throwing in glock here there and everywhere. Last but not least we found Jesse playing in a club one night and thought she was amazing so we quickly pinched her!

Deep red sky sounds faintly apocalyptic… Discuss!

Some say apocalyptic others say Shepard’s delight, it all depends on your philosophical bent… or whether its morning or night.

What inspired the music on the album??

The usual things, break ups, heartbreaks, coping with the daily grind… oh and a Zombie apocalypse! Haha, not really. Our track Zombies (Things Don’t Stay The Same) has nothing to do with zombies…

Would you say you had any particular influences?

We are definitely influenced by other Scottish bands like Frightened Rabbit and Biffy Clyro but we take inspiration from all music and hopefully in doing so creating something that’s unique to us and that people enjoy and can connect with.

Are you planning any more live shows?

We have a date in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year following our sell out show last year and we’re in the process of lining up some more dates so keep track of us on the social networkings so you don’t miss us.

What’s next for the band?

We are currently in the process of recording an EP which we’re looking to release later this year and a second album to follow shortly after. It’s a busy time for us right now.

Latitude 2013: Reviewed

FRIDAY

‘Phwoar, what a scorcher’ goes the usual tabloid headline, but today it’s allowed. Suffolk temperatures are almost hitting thirty degrees and obviously creating delirium as we rather enjoyed the summery sounds of The Leisure Society in the sunshine despite being told by everyone else that they were ‘rubbish’. Ah well. No one could dispute the quality of London’s Luke Sital-Singh on the Lake Stage, however. A talented young man with a stunning voice, it’s a simple guitar and voice set up, but he’s definitely one to watch.

Willy Mason has done it all before, he’s just looking a bit older and a bit fatter. Still a fine troubadour, Oxygen and We Can Be Strong are the first big singalongs of the weekend and he turns out to be a genuine highlight, despite looking like an uninspiring booking at first. It turns out to be an afternoon of singer-songwriters as old Caledonian favourite Malcolm Middleton is over at the iArena. We’re All Going To Die was – and probably will remain – the peak of his nationwide profile but he’s well received with A Brighter Beat and Blue Plastic Bags greeted like old friends. There’s a strong wit to new songs, albeit of an increasingly self deprecating manner – there’s a few mutters of “miserable bastard” as we troop away, but that’s probably exactly what he wants.

Something’s eating at John Grant. The audience can’t really tell the difference, but the frustrated gestures offered by Grant and his band shows dissatisfaction with the sound set up, the same problem which led to a ten minute delay. While the beats on the likes of Black Belt sound huge and Marz holds the same beauty as on record, there’s an abrupt finish and Grant’s demeanour detracts from the performance.

There are no such hassles back on the main stage as US alternative legends Yo La Tengo slouch through a full hour of music. As with their records, there’s a schizophrenic feel to the set, veering from light near-balladry to big wig outs, with Fade’s opener Ohm standing out. But nothing can prepare the crowd for the kraut-y Pass the Hatchet, I’m Think I’m Godkind from 2006’s excellent I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass. It’s outrageously heavy with Ira Kaplan mauling his guitar throughout. Many in the crowd are left somewhat terrified, or at least yearning for some earplugs.

In the same spot, Cat Power‘s looking ready for action with a beached blonde barnet, but a re-arranged version of The Greatest (it’s almost unrecognisable) isn’t the best start. The charm of the original has been sucked right out of it, and it’s as close as we get to its classic parent album. Older material more generally is in short supply as the most recent Sun album becomes the focus. It’s a really decent album but leaning on it so heavily is a misjudgement. A closing Ruin providing the set with one of its few rousing moments.

Playing it a little more canny are Villagers in the 6 Music Arena. This year’s {Awayland} provides most of the material but monster single Becoming A Jackal offers a wonderful moment for the healthy crowd. As Conor O’Brien notes it feels like they’ve been here every year, but in truth, the songs from the new album have taken them forward. If they can keep producing numbers on a level with The Bell and Judgement Call they’ll always be welcome.

The Maccabees have drawn an enormous crowd, and to our ears they sound not too shabby with Pelican getting some big singalong action. But it’s Bloc Party who are tonight’s biggest draw. Rumours have been circling that this could be ‘it’ for them (again). It’s certainly their last show for some time and drummer Matt Tonge has stepped aside to be replaced by Sarah Jones of New Young Pony Club who does a hell of a lot more than just keep time. It’s a fine performance and Kele Okereke is skilled in dealing with a crowd of this size – hits old and new are thundered out accompanied by some tremendous lights.

Banquet and Positive Tension are massive nostalgia trips and Octopus from the most recent Four comfortably shows they’ve still got it. Adapting some godawful Rihanna (apparently) song to roll into Flux is best forgotten, but new single Ratchet is a stormy, funk-laden number that should help give them the impetus to keep going.

SATURDAY

There’s a frustrating amount of drizzle in the air and it’s a darn sight colder too. Typically, Henham Park seems to be the only corner of the UK not still baking in a heatwave. Still, Friday was so oppressive, rain is almost a relief. It just about stays dry for Steve Mason on the Main Stage. With a late start, his promise to rein in the political rants isn’t kept and he’s on angry form. After a mix of new and old songs, Fight Them Back is a powerful statement to end a set of jaunty indie funk with strong anarchistic leanings. We don’t manage to catch all of Joanna Gruesome on the Lake Stage but the young five-piece set ears ringing with an upturned lip of a set – guitars were set to ‘vicious’.

Our last visit to the iArena of the weekend (we practically camped at the place last year) comes in the familiar guise of King Creosote, this time with a mere three-piece backing band compared to the usual 10+. There’s a braw crowd too, and Kenny’s grinning from ear to ear. Those expecting to hear Diamond Mine may have been surprised by the original arrangement for John Taylor’s Month Away, let alone the footstomping “wha-oh, wha-oh, wha-oh” refrain of Doubles Underneath. Here’s hoping they were pleasantly surprised, too. Before KC we had Wave Machines – a good band to sit and read a magazine to, as it turned out.

The crowd for Daughter in the 6 Music Arena is such that two minutes in, no one’s getting near it. Hundreds are left outside, some with a glimpse of the screens, to simply listen to highlights from If You Leave. The band seem genuinely overwhelmed by the response. It’s a bit quieter for Everything Everything (perhaps surprisingly so) but they’re on splendid form adding weight to the songs on Arc which were a little lightweight compared to debut Man Alive.

Three stark Ys on the background signal the arrival of Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the main stage, and perhaps the first real superstar of the weekend. The throb of Zero builds things to fever pitch before O thrashes round the stage to a crushing Gold Lion. New material off the decidedly iffy Mosquito is dispensed with fairly early on, before Maps and Pin pull back the mood to 2003; true oldie Miles Away slays the crowd before a particularly raucous Date With the Night brings things to a close all too soon. One of the bands of the weekend.

Hot Chip have always struggled to produce a truly coherent album, but there’s no doubting their worth as a festival act, stuffing their hour with singles, including recent addition Dark and Stormy. We also get Over and Over, Ready for the Floor and One Life Stand, all powered by a live drummer, last seen pounding the skins for Bloc Party last night – “no big deal” as Joe Goddard cheerily mutters. Always fun, and still relevant after ten years of fine songs.

It always felt like the were the starter for Kraftwerk though. Visible across a number of festival bills this year, their live shows are still a novelty experience, especially when billed as being in 3D. A field full of people all wearing white card glasses must have been quite a sight, and at times – like a robot arm sweeping across the crowd during the opening We Are The Robots or multiple cycle wheels on Tour de France – the effects were well worth the effort.

Not everything works as well though, but while hardcore fans at Latitude were probably at a minimum, there’s enough familiar songs to keep everyone – the tweens that troop off to see Alt-J aside – happy. The Model unsurprisingly gets a fantastic reception, Autobahn was awesome and Trans Europe Express was just huge. Some moans at their stage demeanour – yes, they really were just four men behind desks – were probably missing the point, but we kind of got what they meant. All Ralf Hutter offered at the end was an “Auf Weidersehen” but it’s a sight we’re unlikely to see again, so no complaints from these quarters.

SUNDAY

Sunday brings a rare event for the Tidal Wave of Indifference – a day camped out by the main stage. Sunday afternoon always brings a supposed special guest to the lunchtime revellers and this year Latitude got it right with the booking of soul legend Bobby Womack, whose career has taken a massive turn for the better with the Damon Albarn-produced The Bravest Man in the Universe.

So Latitude got it right, but did Bobby? After an uplifting Across 110th Street, what could have been a weekend highlight slips into tepid indulgence as the red leather-clad Womack breaks down just about every song to ensure every member (bar the bongo player, strangely) of his enormous, professional band get a moment to shine through a solo or belting out a few lines of vocal. The nadir is the title track from the otherwise sadly neglected Bravest Man, stretched out over nearly 15 minutes.

Things pick up towards the end – it’s almost as if someone has pointed out to Womack that he only has an hour to play – with a few classics rapidly belted out, getting the crowd on their feet, but it’s not the ‘moment’ it could otherwise have been.

The crowd disperses for Junip, José González’ current vehicle. There’s no sign of the Swede’s solo output; instead a full band adds texture to his lush vocals. It’s a bit of a struggle to engage the crowd though, and the lack of chat doesn’t help much. Far better with the gab is fellow Swede Kristian Matsson, a.k.a. The Tallest Man On Earth. Armed only with his guitar and striking, yet laconic, voice, he charms the swelling masses with a beautiful set, even sprinkling over some of Paul Simon’s Graceland.

The main stage seemed to be the place to be for strong male vocalists – next up was blubstep king James Blake. The man has taken the bass-y wobble of dubstep and made it palatable for more casual music fans and here, accompanied by a live drummer and additional synth player, he managed to not only add volume to the quieter numbers he kept the more traditional numbers listenable. Latest single Retrograde wrapped things up but ubiquitous Feist cover Limit to Your Love got the biggest cheer. Older numbers also showed that there’s a lot more to the man than his wet blanket persona.

Plonking Local Natives so high on the main stage was always a gamble for a band still building their profile but they pulled a respectable crowd for their multi-layered harmonies and battering percussion. First album Gorilla Manor figured just as highly as their latest, the gorgeous Hummingbird, but their were no lines drawn in the quality. Having played just about every festival going, next year should bring bigger crowds, if not even higher slots on the bill.

Similar but different, Grizzly Bear deal in such fare without the same lightness of touch. Shields may not be as good as Veckatimest, but it’s a more aggressive affair, dealing in bombast where their 2009 classic relied on subtle menace. Suitably, Sleeping Ute and Yet Again are powered out with all four members adding vocals throughout; Veckatimest fans can also walk away happy with an airing of While You Wait for the Others and a Victoria Legrand-assisted Two Weeks. Anyone expecting older material didn’t get it, though.

And so to close the festival in dusk, came Foals. Any debate on whether they were ready to headline an event of this stature was promptly swept away as the ominous chords of Holy Fire’s instrumental intro built up to a blistering Total Life Forever. Radio hits My Number and Bad Habit were lobbed out nice and early and as darkness fell, Spanish Sahara and the introduction of some well timed lights upped the sense that this was a true ‘event’ we were watching.

As Yannis struggling to keep out of the crowd, the main set was wrapped by a ferocious Providence with an enormous extended, guitar outro – more false endings than The Return of the King, but thankfully not as painful. Inhaler brought things back up before Two Steps Twice pretty much annihilated everyone who wasn’t already floored. Latitude has a strong record of rewarding band that they keep close their hearts, Foals – and the sizeable crowd – are the latest beneficiaries.

Bandcrush: Delta Mainline

Gloriously out of step with the rest of Scottish music, Delta Mainline’s off-kilter psychedelic pop would be more at home in LA. Specifically late ’60s LA.

Or indeed the southern states, as it’s presumably the Mississippi Delta that they’re referring to rather than the US airline or the Greek letter.

There’s a dreamlike sunshininess to their take on blues stomping. Part Spiritualized, part Dennis Wilson. There’s also a bit of a feeling that they could break through to a wider audience, something which is pretty rare in this crowded landscape, but if they do so it will be without pandering to populism.

This is awkward music, at times utterly glorious and well worth a look. New album Oh Enlightened is out now and we caught up with the band.

So who the hell are you?

Delta Mainline are a Scottish alternative band formed in Edinburgh consisting of William Walker, George Gunn, David McLachlan, Verity Blanchard, Shaun McLachlan, Gavin King and Greg Walker.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Rich with texture and tinged with healthy doses of psychedelia.

How did you guys come together to make music?

David, Gavin and Greg have been friends since nursery so most of the band grew up together. We would play around with guitars and other instruments and record demos for fun. Around this time we persuaded Shaun to join on drums as we looked towards recording something worthwhile. Verity was asked along to one of these recording sessions to play cello on a track we had been working on. She decided to stay and put up with us all ever since. After we recorded our EP In A World Full Of Madness, The Simple Joy of Melody Can Pull You Through we agreed to expand the band. This enabled us to perform the songs live in the way we wanted. Delta Mainline were then lucky enough to be joined by our friends William Walker and George Gunn. After playing live throughout the U.K we recorded our debut album Oh! Enlightened.

Delta Mainline makes us think of Louisiana, but we’ll wager there’s no Cajuns in the band??

No Cajuns I’m afraid but Dr John is welcome to join us anytime.

What inspired the music on Oh! Enlightened??

Each member of the band has their own element that comes out in the music. We are total music obsessives and listen to everything from country, jazz, blues, early rock and roll and Gospel to shoegaze, soul, experimental, 60’s beat, punk and classical composers. This diversity of tastes, personalities and playing styles has helped the band create our own sound. Also growing up and living in Edinburgh has inspired the textures and sounds we like to make.

Would you say you had any particular influences?

Because there are seven members of the band there isn’t really an influence that we all have in common although we do like the same bands. We all have a shared love for Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Suicide, The Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons, Nick Cave…………….

Are you planning any more live shows?

Yeah, we have……. Friday Sep 6th at This Feeling, Voodoo Rooms. Edinburgh

Saturday Sep 28th. Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia

Saturday Oct 5th Windsor, Kirkcaldy

Saturday October 26th Mad Hatters, Inverness

More dates are to be announced.

What’s next for the band?

We would like to travel and play more. Become a better band/musicians and record the second album over a shorter period. The material and ideas are flowing so we’re looking forward to getting into that process again.

Bandcrush: Ghost Pines

It seems like literally days since we heard from Seattle grungey types Land of Pines, so how do  Ghost Pines compare, eh?

Rather well it seems. And also a smidge on the similar side, but that’s no bad thing. These guys hail from California and appropriately play sounds of a more sunshine-y bent, closely aligned with the Posies’ brand of melodic rock.

Their debut, self-titled, EP has just been released and it’s six tracks of guitar-y goodness. Let catch up with frontman Robbie Landsburg, shall we?

So who the hell are you?

My name’s Robbie Landsburg, I play guitar and sing in Ghost Pines, and also am the primary songwriter in the band. My bandmates are Andrew Collins-Anderson (bass), and Jacob Bradford (drums). We are all in our mid-20’s and live in a small (former) gold-rush town in the foothills of northern California called Nevada City.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Perspectives of light and dark presented in shifting rock patterns.

How did you guys come together to make music?

I taught myself to play guitar when I was 18, mostly so I could begin writing the songs I had bouncing around in my head. This was when I was attending college at UC Santa Cruz. I eventually changed course from a degree in computer science and returned home to pursue music. I began working on my material with a drummer, and we soon recruited a mutual friend with whom we had grown up, Andrew, to play bass for us. At the time, Andrew was working on a farm with Jacob, who had moved to Nevada City from Vermont a few years prior. Jacob initially joined us as a second guitarist, but when it became clear that the guy who was drumming for us wasn’t going to work out, Jacob stepped up to fill that role. This was Jacob’s first time seriously playing the drums, and my first serious attempt at a band, so it has been quite the learning experience, though in a way it has helped us to approach our sound from the ground up.

How did the band get its name?

The California Foothill Pine is a type of pine tree indigenous to California that grows throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range where we live. It’s also known as a gray pine or a “ghost pine”. Jacob came up with the name and we instantly took to it because it speaks to our fondness for our roots here in Northern California, as well as the wilderness that encompasses our town. It evokes an ethereal, hollow vibe. The tree is awkward and tall, kind of like the three of us, haha. We range from 6’3″-6’5″ in height (~195cm?). It also produces this vicious looking pine cone (we use one for our logo) which is rad because there is definitely a dark, pointed edge to a lot of our material, most of which is yet to be released, but the EP track “Dissolving” is a good example of such.

What inspired the music on the EP??

I wrote a lot of the material for this EP before the band came together, and the rest in our very early stages as a band. It is largely a commentary on my transition from the incredibly self-destructive path on which I found myself to…something different. I didn’t really know where I was going, but I knew if I kept doing what I was doing, I was likely to die very soon. So the songs are largely self-referential, and sort of a tool I used to help me sort out where the hell I fit in the world. They have this interesting quality as the embodiment of the first glimpses of color I had seen after living in a very bleak, grayscale world. The track “Golden” is a good example of this lyrically. Since these are my first songs realized by a band, there is occasionally a clumsiness to their structures, but I actually kind of appreciate that element because it gives us a snapshot of where we were as a band at conception, and it gives us so much room to grow.

Would you say you had any particular influences?

As a band, we all have a deep appreciation for bands like Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr., guitar music that can traverse all sorts of rock territory and remain accessible, yet unique. Andrew is a huge fan of Low, and Jacob seems to be gravitating towards a lot of psychedelic dark metal acts lately, which definitely shows up in the jam room and is shaping some of our upcoming material. Personally, my vocal approach is heavily influenced by Elliott Smith, while my guitar work is influenced by early Modest Mouse records, and math-rock bands from our area like Hella, Dilute and Tera Melos. Sort of an odd combination.

Are you planning any more live shows? How about Scotland?

Live shows are the reason we all do this, I think. Making records is a very interesting, exciting process, but it’s all to bring the music to a wider audience so we can extend our live show to other cities…perhaps someday other countries, and someday Scotland! It’s definitely a long-term goal, though at this point we are working on getting a tour together to traverse some of the near-800 miles of California. Once we’ve got that under our belt, then we can discuss crossing the pond, ha ha!

Any plans for a full length record?

Absolutely. We have so much material, it’s kind of overwhelming. If we had the time and money, we could probably make a triple-album at this point, and that’s without filler. Unfortunately, we are completely self-funded and work day jobs, so our goal is to release a vinyl of 40+ minutes of solid music next. The beauty of having so many songs to work with is that we can really pick and choose songs that work best together on an album, and focus on fully realizing their potential. We have a dark, psychedelic side we could bring out, a heavy/technical/math-y side, or a refinement of the more upbeat, indie sounds you hear throughout the EP. Or, we could meld all three into one multifaceted approach. Who knows! But we plan to get started very soon, and will certainly keep you informed!

Latitude 2013 – Previewed

So the Tidal Wave of Indifference is uprooting to Suffolk for the fourth year in a row for what we fully expect to be a fun weekend of scorching weather, great bands and top flight comedy.

The bill this year has some clear weaknesses. The hapless booking of the risible Texas is a poor substitute for Modest Mouse who pulled out to finish their album and the Lake Stage and iArena are littered with indifferent hipster fodder.

BUT… there’s a hell of a lot of musical goodness well worth checking out. Let’s have a look at some of the top acts. And we make no apology for focusing on the Scots!

1. Bobby Womack

Kudos for this, by some measure the best ‘midday special guest’ Latitude have pulled out since we started going. Latest album The Bravest Man in the Universe is a belter and don’t rule out an appearance from its producer Damon Albarn either.

Where? Obelisk Arena, Sunday afternoon.

2. King Creosote

Scots reading this will need no introduction to Fife’s favourite son, but the greater recognition hinted at by his Mercury nomination for the Jon Hopkins collaboration Diamond Mine hasn’t quite materialised as yet. And who knows what kind of band he’ll bring along for the ride?

Where? iArena, Saturday evening.

3. James Yorkston

Another utterly fabulous Scottish singer songwriter. Latest album I Was A Cat From A Book was a joy and his understated melancholy will be ideal for the Suffolk crowd.

Where? iArena, Sunday afternoon.

4. Malcolm Middleton

It’s almost as if the bookers had a roving eye on some Scottish mini-festivals for their bookings. Like Creosote and Yorkston, the ex-Arab Strap miserablist really ought to be better known south of the border. Who knows, maybe another solo album under his own name (due later this year) will help.

Where? iArena, Friday afternoon.

5. Young Fathers

A product of Scotland’s flourishing hip hop scene, the Edinburgh trio are signed to Anticon and will be well worthy of your time.

Where? The Alcove, Sunday evening.

6. Sweet Baboo

Sweet Baboo is the nom de plume of Wales’ Stephen Black who’s played with Pictish Trail, Gruff Rhys and more. Single Let’s Go Swimming Wild was all over 6 Music last year and his sunny disposition will be just splendid on the Lake Stage.

Where? The Lake Stage, Friday afternoon.

7. Akron/Family

The acceptable side of American country/psyche if you like? Hugely melodic, but off beam and menacing, this is probably something we could have used a little more of Latitude this year.

Where? 6 Music Stage, Friday afternoon.

8. Steve Mason

This is the ex-Beta Band man’s third appearance here is three years, but a main stage afternoon slot feels like the right place for him to be. His latest album might be deeply politically charged but there’s enough tunes on it to keep everyone interested, even those not fussed on current affairs.

Where? Obelisk Arena, Saturday afternoon.

9. Neon Neon

Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip will be joined by the National Theatre of Wales for what sounds like a very special performance detailing the life of crazy Italian communist Giangiacomo Feltrinello. Beautifully bonkers we think.

Where? Theatre Arena, Saturday evening.

10. Grizzly Bear

Last year’s Shields album didn’t quite match the incredible Veckatimest but they remain compelling, complex performers and an outstanding booking.

11. Kraftwerk

Get the 3D glasses ready folks, this could be really, really special. A wonderful audiovisual treat… we can’t claim to be connoisseurs at Tidal Wave Towers but only a fool wouldn’t be excited by this.

Where? Obelisk Arena, Saturday night.

12. Jeffrey Lewis and the Rain

The lo-fi US alt-pop hero pops up in the Film Arena. Slightly strange, but we don’t care where he is. Worth seeing if he was playing a wasps’ nest.

Where? Film and Music Arena, Saturday evening.

13. Local Natives

Perhaps not for everyone but the band’s huge multi-layered harmonies will sound just lovely on a Sunday night. Second album Hummingbird is simply stunning.

Where? Obelisk Arena, Sunday night.

14. Mark Lanegan Band

The man looks like he might drop dead during every performance, but he remains a music legend. Mean and moody, his snarl will complete Saturday night.

Where? 6 Music Arena, Saturday night.

15. Foals

One of the hottest bands around, the headline slot will be a step up, but a deserved one. Fabulously weird math rock with broad appeal.

Where? Obelisk Arena, Sunday night.

Bandcrush: The Paperback Throne

It’s always the quiet ones.

First, ahem, exposed to us through the ever-fragrant Edinburgh Man podcast, the two piece Paperback Throne are a hushed, at times whispy affair.

Debut album Halendi was released last year to – alas – virtually no fanfare, and the band have kept a low profile on the live front too.

But this is one of those cases where ‘more need to know’. The nine songs on Halendi are absolutely captivating and could easily hoover up fans from the worlds of both Laura Marling and Meursault – they’ve also supported the beautiful sounds of Ólafur Arnalds.

And they can crank it up too – the noisy guitar work on I Lost My Name, for one. You can buy Halendi here, but have a read of our interview with Sylvia and Ralph, the brains behind the band, first.

So who the hell are you?

We’re a duo from Glasgow. We both sing and play a few instruments, and then we get our friends to come and play more instruments when we’re recording or playing live. It’s a pretty fluid line-up, but we (Sylvia and Ralph) are the mainstays.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

An alternative folk music-box.

How did you guys come together to make music?

We started playing some music together when we were at university together. We played little bits of music here and there, but we were always playing with other bands too. Then, after a long time, we decided to make an album of our own songs, and that’s what we’ve slowly been doing over the last couple of years.

We feel any kind of paperback sitting apparatus may be a little flimsy. Discuss.

We accept no responsibility for the inevitable injuries that will follow anybody who is inappropriately influenced by our band name constructing a chair from the scrap paper and cardboard they have lying around.

What inspired the music on Halendi??

All the songs on the album were inspired by stories – there’s a newspaper cutting, a film or a book behind every tune. There’s always an acoustic guitar lying around the house, so all the songs took on a simple, folky feel at the start. Before we got carried away.

And what does its name mean?

Halendi is a desert in Iceland, and it’s also the name of the painting that takes pride of place on the front cover of the album. We bought the painting a few years ago on a trip to Reykjavik and when we were making the album it just always seemed like it would be the perfect front cover. We asked the artist, Thóra Einarsdóttir, if we could use it and she agreed. It was always destined to be a one-word album title, so everything fell into place.

Would you say you had any particular influences?

There were three albums that really influenced us when we were recording. We were already massive fans of Low, and the stranger sounds on ‘Drums And Guns’ started to push the simple acoustic sound of our album into some odder places. Then John Grant’s ‘Queen Of Denmark’, and the ‘Bon Iver’ album took over our stereo and heavily shaped the feel we were going for.

Are you planning any live shows?

We’re playing a free show at Mono on the 16th July with our friends Pelts and Edinburgh band Collar Up. We’ve been trying to play with Pelts for a while now so it’ll be good to get that together.

What’s next for the band?

Making the album was a long, slow process so we’re going to take the same approach to promoting it. We recently had our album launch night at Nice’n’Sleazy’s, and that was good fun, so we’ll try and play live a bit more over the course of the year. Our first single will be coming out in August, and that’ll be the album track ‘Amma’.

Bandcrush: Glassbooks

We’re not usually so quick off the mark that we’re onto bands before they’ve had little more than a song or two up on the interwebs, but that’s where we find ourselves with Edinburgh’s Glassbooks. The four-piece put out two-track ‘EP’ Disarm the Televison earlier this year to very little noise or fanfare, which is a shame.

Its a crisp, well produced little release that screams potential, particularly if you like your indie to have a doomy, post punk feel that evokes Interpol, Siouxsie and Magazine. Very much against the grain in terms of Edinburgh music, too.

It’s early days yet, but we like what we hear. Over to Canadian-born singer/guitarist David for more.

So who the hell are you?

We are the product of four separate uteri each suckling on the same musical teat; me, Adam (guitar), Stuart (bass), and Darren (drums).

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Socio-political Post Punk, schizo-frenetic ejaculate shows.

How did you guys come together to make music?

Internet, Uni, destiny…

Books made of glass don’t sound terribly practical. Discuss.

Na they don’t and that’s the point. The idea of a book made of glass came about when I was taking economics at uni and realized the overwhelming amount of unnecessary jargon that seemed to be squeezed into the material. Financial newspapers and other publications also display this in their rhetoric. When the economic system is designed to keep the wealthy in power (which it is), power holders want the average person to have minimal participation in economic decision-making. This is achieved by overcomplicating what could be very simply explained. In the words of economist Ha-Joon Chang; “95% of Economics is common sense deliberately made complicated.”

I imagined a “glass book” would claim to be transparent and yet, when opening to read, you would find that the words from different pages mesh together into nonsense. This became inspiration for a lyric, which became the name of the song and eventually the name of the band as well.

What would you say inspires your music?

Music itself, and contempt towards a corrupt, hierarchical method of social organization.

Would you say you had any particular influences?

Counter culture. Specifically opposition to the dishonest disposition of mainstream culture.

Are you planning any more live shows?

We will shortly all be taking time off to visit family, find day jobs and go on a volunteer trip. We have a gig booked on the 19^thof July at the Six Foot Gallery in Glasgow and we will be booking more gigs in August.

What’s next for the band?

EP recording during the summer, a music video and more gigging. Check us out on Facebook to keep updated.

Bandcrush: Siberian Traps

Confusingly, Siberian Traps are from Texas, not the cold, inhospitable Russian region, famous for its gulags and… well, very little else actually.

We can’t imagine anywhere more different to Siberia than the always toasty American state, but genial frontman Seth Reeves offers a short – and genuinely interesting explanation as to the link below.

His band play an identifiably American brand of melodic rock, which would probably be absolute manna for Uncut readers with its blend of tuneful, country-flecked psychedelia that sits not a million miles away from My Morning Jacket.

We’re fans too and reckon the band’s debut album Blackfoot (featuring stomping single Comanche Moon and the interestingly-named Drunk Fishes and Paper Tigers) could be doing with a bigger audience. We caught up with Seth a short time ago.

So who the hell are you??

Siberian Traps is a four-piece rock and roll band from Fort Worth, Texas. We formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009 when I moved from Fort Worth to Nashville to pursue musical ambitions. Lead guitarist Parker Donaldson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and drummer Peter Wierenga of Chicago, Illinois were also living in Nashville at the time and we started playing music together shortly after meeting through mutual friends. We recorded one EP in Nashville (A Strange Loop EP) and also finished our first full length record (Blackfoot) there shortly before I moved back to Fort Worth for family reasons. The rest of the band decided to follow, so we now all live and work in Fort Worth, including our bassist Mike Best, who joined Traps after we relocated.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Psychedelic Americana rock and roll played by twanged up mescaleros.

How did you guys come together to make music?

We met at a pretty wild Valentine’s Day house show in Nashville in 2009. I was a high school English teacher for several years, but I decided to move to Music City to see what might come of it in the way of musical opportunities. I was playing a solo set and drummer Pete Wierenga asked if he could hop on the drums and provide some simple accompaniment. I met Parker Donaldson the same night and within a few months, we were rehearsing full-band arrangements of my songs. We had a series of bass players in Nashville, mainly fellows who were pretty involved in other bands and projects, and we met our current bassist, Mike Best, when we relocated to Fort Worth in the Summer of 2012.

Siberian Traps? We’re pretty sure you’re not Russian??

Haha, no, though I was tempted to write that we’re diehard supporters of the Bolshevik Revolution or something. But to answer your question seriously, I’ve been fascinated with volcanism since I was a kid. The Siberian Traps were a massive, flood basalt eruption that occurred about 250 million years ago and lasted for around a million years. There’s evidence that the eruptions were the cause of the mass Permian-Triassic extinction. Mainly, I just liked the link to a childhood subject of fascination and the fact that it’s a fairly ambiguous name suggestive of other ideas such as Soviet Russia, gulags, or possibly animal trapping in the frozen wilds of the northlands. Not that we condone gulags or any such system of oppression.

What inspired the songs on Blackfoot?

I usually find I’m inspired by places. I think a lot about the way certain spaces feel, what emotions they invoke, what memories they call to mind. The landscapes of the American West occupy a pretty big spot in my mind, I’d say. I took a trip with a good friend in the Summer of 2011 to the Badlands of South Dakota and to the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation there. It got me thinking a great deal about the history and plight of the American Indians. And about the theme of dislocation in general. A lot of my writing is from personal experience, but I’m always casting about for how that experience fits into the grander scheme of things. History and places usually give me some sort of lodestar for that.

Are there more recording plans or are you happy to keep spreading the word about Blackfoot for now?

We have the aforementioned debut recording, A Strange Loop EP, which we released in March of 2011. We’re focusing now on spreading the word about Blackfoot, which we’re pretty proud of. We also anticipate that later this year we’ll release an A/B side 7 inch vinyl with a couple of newer recordings. And we’re working on writing new material for our second full-length release, some of which we’re already working into our live sets.

Drunk Fishes and Paper Tigers – really??

Haha, yes really. A whimsical title for a song about an old flame that’s long burnt out. But I still like the song pretty well.

Any plans to hit the UK??

That’d be tremendous, but we have a lot of work to do to get our name and our music out there. I love the UK and would jump at the chance to tour there.

Adam Stafford/RM Hubbert/Siobhan Wilson, Edinburgh Wee Red Bar, July 4, 2013

With Imaginary Walls Collapse receiving rapturous reviews all over the shop, Adam Stafford needed to give this fine, inventive record the launch it deserved.

The Wee Red Bar might have been a low key setting, but Stafford fair pulled out the stops in the guests department.

First up was Siobhan Wilson, whose tones grace almost half of Walls’ numbers, here armed only with a guitar and her cut glass voice. Opening with a Lau cover, her own songs show promise and we reckon a fuller band sound may truly do them justice.

RM Hubbert has seen his star ascend rapidly in the past few weeks; from becoming the discerning muso’s choice for the SAY Award, he only went and won the thing, beating Django Django and a host of other great acts with the wonderful Thirteen Lost and Found.

That’s where most of tonight’s set is drawn from (including a song from the new album “that no one’s supposed to know about”) and Hubby is fairly basking in the sunshine of his award win cracking jokes about a throne being part of his tech spec and a helicopter awaiting his departure.

Self-deprecating wit aside, the Thirteen songs still ooze power and emotion. Hubby takes the mic at a few points and while False Bride misses Alasdair Roberts classicism and Car Song, Aidan Moffat’s droll delivery, justice is done to both. The passing mention of another album just got a room full of people salivating.

An intimidating set of pedals are Stafford’s instruments as much as a guitar, and they get a massive workout over the next hour as the sinistral cut-ups of Walls’ title track opens the set in a furious fashion, much in the same way that it does the album.

The crowd isn’t quite a sellout, but big enough to just about fill the room and everyone’s attention is captured by the Falkirk man’s jerky dancing and flitting from pedal to pedal. Siobhan Wilson pops up at all the right moments, including a single line of vocals that are then looped all over His Acres. Long term collaborator Robbie Lesiuk adds bass parts, giving Stafford some on-stage foils, a rare sight for a performer so comfortable doing things by himself.

The Walls songs get added texture but band members are superfluous as Stafford goes it alone with Shot Down You Summer Wannabes, the bonkers a cappella doo wop centrepiece of Build a Harbour Immediately. By the end his immaculate black shirt is drenched in sweat, and the heat and energy of the set leaves the audience similarly sapped.