Edinburgh Festival Guide

Reviews & features: Edge Festival

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Profile: Best Coast

24 Aug 2011

Californian surf-pop duo set for Edinburgh date

That name rings a bell... Refresh my memory? Gladly. It’s a boy/girl duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, with Ali Koehler on drums. What does their music sound like? A sad look back at a really incredible, life-changing, but ultimately…

Eat sleep breathe: Joan as Police Woman

24 Aug 2011

The singer-songwriter divulges some of her eating habits

What time is breakfast? Depending on the night before, 9 or 11.30. Tea or coffee? Rooibos tea. The doctor swore me off coffee even though I die inside every time I smell it... Smoking or non-smoking? One after the show. Thankfully I don’t long…

Rod Jones & The Birthday Suit set for UK tour

24 Aug 2011

Idlewild guitarist learns drums for second solo album

When Idlewild took indefinite leave in 2010, it appeared guitarist Rod Jones would follow singer Roddy Woomble down the folk route. After all, 2009’s A Sentimental Education suggested a man at one with his acoustic guitar. When he sat down to write and…

Example

24 Aug 20114 stars

Picture House, Edinburgh, Mon 15 Aug 2011

As Mike Skinner’s sometime protégé it’s easy to pigeonhole London rapper Elliot Gleave as the new bearer of the crown soon to be abandoned by The Streets. Yet what he does is subtly different – where both men are outright crowd pleasers, Skinner’s…

Washed Out

23 Aug 20114 stars

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sun 14 Aug 2011

Okay, we might be calling it ‘chillwave’ up above, but that’s not actually what we were hearing at this, a set which lovers of below-ground music had been hotly anticipating at this year’s Edge festival. Where Atlanta, Georgia’s Ernest Greene makes…

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Interview: Chad VanGaalen

18 Aug 2011

Illustrator, musician and Sub Pop labelmate of J Mascis

Illustrator and musician Chad VanGaalen’s no frills lo fi approach is winning him fans, including his own grunge idol J.Mascis, finds Claire Sawers ‘Ever since I was about five, I was really into comic books. For years I’d been going to this comic…

Kristin Hersh set for Edinburgh Festival show

10 Aug 2011

Indie rock goddess brings new memoir, spoken word and live music

Alternative rock idol Kristin Hersh is spoiling us. She’s playing four shows in the Edinburgh festival, although she doesn’t realise it. ‘Am I? I don’t know!’ she laughs. ‘I’ll do whatever you say...’ The List is tempted to exploit this congenial…

Interview - Washed Out aka Ernest Greene

8 Aug 2011

American synth-pop creator expands band line-up for UK dates

The List catches up with Ernest Greene the night after a gig in Berlin. It was someone in the band’s birthday apparently, so a bit of partying had to be done afterwards. Now he’s in the awkward post-coffee, but pre-breakfast part of his hangover, and in…

Interview: Naoko Yamano - guitarist and lead vocalist of Shonen Knife

8 Aug 2011

The Japanese lo-fi punk girl group get ready to return to the UK

‘We have been to Edinburgh a few times but all of them were in the 90s. The first time was with the Nirvana tour, I think,’ says Naoko Yamano, guitarist and lead vocalist of Shonen Knife. Yamano, the only remaining member of the original 1981…

Interview: Oneohtrix Point Never

2 Aug 2011

Psychedelic synths and drones from experimental electronica-lord, Daniel Lopatin

Name Daniel Lopatin Job title Musician, label owner Where are you just now? Brooklyn, NY. What are you doing/ going to do today? Finish the track arrangement for the upcoming OPN record. Do you enjoy touring? I do, I didn't always. It…

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The National - Matt Berninger interview

20 Jul 2011

US band set for Edinburgh gig as part of 2011 UK tour

The National‘s Matt Berninger has a way with a tear-jerking lyric. However, as he tells David Pollock, the release of album High Violet has ushered in good times for the Ohioan band. That, and Obama getting elected.

Mitchell Museum and White Heath

7 Sep 20104 stars

Edge Festival, Electric Circus, 11 Aug 2010

There some confusion early on tonight as to whether the five young guys occupying the stage are completing their soundcheck before the main act or or are the support act. As it turns out, it's the latter, and the youthful audience are treated to the…

Plan B

7 Sep 20104 stars

Rap and hip hop and deep heart-felt soul

There is no doubt that Plan B's Ben Drew is an accomplished rapper and singer, but it's not until you see him live that you can appreciate how immensely talented he is. Many artists work across several genres, but very few have successful attempted…

Phoenix

7 Sep 2010

HMV Picturehouse, Edinburgh, Sun 29 Aug

Despite a decade of history behind them, it’s 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix that has given French quartet Phoenix the ammunition to advance from special interest to mainstream concern. Now their delicate but euphoric pop – forging The Strokes…

The Low Anthem, Mountain Man and Avi Buffalo set for Edinburgh date

24 Aug 2010

Americana, borrowing from jazz, gospel and folk

With a relaxed, mellow sound steeped in the traditions of American folk and blues, the Low Anthem are a group of Ivy League music graduates from Providence, Rhode Island, currently touring Europe with their unique fusion of instruments, ranging from…

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Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

20 Aug 20104 stars

Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Fri 13 Aug 2010

Whilst the fast-expanding crowd assemble for the arrival of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, we are treated to energetic three-piece The Xcerts, a melodramatic rock/pop outfit from Scotland. With the charismatic bassist being an irregular pitchfork, this band…

Eels set for UK tour to promote new album Tomorrow Morning

15 Aug 2010

Off kilter American indie-rockers back after 4 years

They’ve been on a break for four years, but the American indie-rockers are back, to complete the trilogy of albums they began with Hombre Lobo and this January’s End Times. Part three, Tomorrow Morning comes out next week, and Mark Oliver Everett and…

Mark Lanegan solo show at Edge Festival

14 Aug 2010

Prolific collaborator plays Edinburgh

His third album with Isobel Campbell, the excellent Hawk, came out last week, proving the beauty and the beast coupling of grunge grump and indie lovely was one with plenty mileage in it. This is a solo show from the Queens of the Stone Age/ Gutter…

Beautifully heavy guitars of Sleepy Sun hit Edinburgh

14 Aug 2010

Spaced out Californian folk-rockers set for Edge Festival show

Beautifully heavy guitars from California. The band’s name does a fairly good job of describing the langour and Laurel Canyon-inspired sound of their big, spaced out folk-rock. Supported by Frankie & The Heartstrings and Sky Larkin. Capital, 08444…

Bear in Heaven bring psychedelic rock to Edge Festival

14 Aug 2010

Brooklyn's finest take Beast Rest Forth Mouth on the road

Putting a psychedelic spin on their brand of stoner rock, Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven, who were responsible for this spring’s Beast Rest Forth Mouth serenade the Fringe with their proggy, poppy sound. HMV Picture House, 08444 999 990, Thu 26 Aug…

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Dizzee Rascal plays Edinburgh show

14 Aug 2010

East London rapper set for Edge Festival show

Fix up, look sharp. The East London rapper that Jeremy Paxman once called ‘Mr Rascal’ (he was a slightly ill-advised guest commentator on Newsnight’s Obama special), is coming to town. Corn Exchange, 08444 999 990, Thu 26 Aug, 7.30pm, £20. Part of…

Professor Green

12 Aug 2010

Hackney rapper loves a Nando's

Professor Green knows how to party. When his debut album, Alive Till I’m Dead, charted at number two last month, the East-London rapper let it rip: ‘I was so over the moon that I celebrated with a full chicken platter, two large sides and a refillable…

Arlo Guthrie

12 Aug 2010

Folk runs in this family

Following the same career as a famous parent can be a double-edged sword – a name can open doors, but it can also be a lot to live up to. Arlo Guthrie, son of folk legend Woody Guthrie, has carved out his own successful niche over four decades, but also…

Withered Hand set for Edge Festival show

10 Aug 2010

Key player in Edinburgh alt.folk scene hits the Fringe

This likeable oddball is a key player in Edinburgh’s alt.folk scene. Singer Dan Willson is a regular performer at Fence Record nights (and also pops up at this week’s Haarfest festival, see page 129) and counts Neil Pennycook (of Meursault) Bart Owl…

The Besnard Lakes set for Edge Festival date

8 Aug 2010

Montreal psychedelic rockers play Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

This Montreal quartet’s third album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, has been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, which is Canada’s equivalent to the Mercury, and are up against the likes of Broken Social Scene, Caribou and Owen Pallett.