Reviews & features: Music
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Vive le Cabaret
22 Aug 2011
Fishnets, comedy and clowning share the bill
Made up like a goth-clown in a tail suit, the cabaret ringmaster bounds onto the stage accompanied by glitzy peacock-tailed dancers. There’s a desperate attempt to emphasise the sexiness of this show, with some forced audience interaction and calls for…
Evelyn Evelyn
19 Aug 2011
Adorable freakshow from Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley
Part comedy, part freak show, and part Americana folk, this act from Amanda Palmer (she of Dresden Dolls fame) and Jason Webley presents, as our host Thomas Truax claims, the world’s first conjoined-twin singer-songwriters. Born in 1985, the twins are…
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…
Le Gateau Chocolat
17 Aug 2011
Moreish cabaret feast
With his delicious charm and La Clique credentials, Le Gateau Chocolat’s solo debut is an evening treat that leaves you wanting more. Enter the fabulous Bosco tent, and the gentle strains of ‘The Way We Were’ are just audible, a feast of colour and…
Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at 2011 Edinburgh International Festival
16 Aug 2011
Programme of Messiaen, Tchaikovsky and Unsuk Chin
When it comes to Edinburgh’s festivals, most Koreans have an upside-down view. Thanks to enormous hit shows from Korea such as the Matrix-style circus spectacle Jump! and last year’s Chef!, the Fringe has a huge profile back in South Korea. What goes on…
Rich Hall’s Hoedown
16 Aug 2011
Country and bluegrass gig from the gravel-voiced comedian
There’s a reason Rich Hall has two shows at the Fringe – let’s get that out of the way first. His stand up show is his outlet for the majority of his jokes; his Hoedown set is an opportunity for him to flex his musical muscles, in the company of friends…
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, with live score by Minima
16 Aug 2011
Expressionist horror flick with live soundtrack performance
‘It’s a truly, truly amazing film,’ is the simple reason given by guitarist Alex Hogg as to why his band Minima chose to create a live score for Robert Wiene’s classic 1919 German expressionist silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. ‘Even more…
Sound installation the Ethometric Museum set for Edinburgh Festival
16 Aug 2011
A world of sound, where science meets music
Enter Ray Lee’s Ethometric Museum and be transported to a science fiction world of cosmic tones and esoteric technology. ‘Ethometric instruments represent the pinnacle of the little known – and some would say questionable – science of Ethometric…
Sebadoh set for UK tour
16 Aug 2011
London, Manchester and Edinburgh dates for alt-rock pioneers
When Lou Barlow was kicked out of serial noisemongers Dinosaur Jr. in the late 80s he was hardly going to sit idly by as they milked the burgeoning alt-rock cash cow without him. No, instead, Barlow, along with friends Eric Gaffney and Jason…
Bert Jansch set for 2011 Edinburgh Festival date
16 Aug 2011
Returning folk hero, pal of Neil Young and Devendra Banhart
One of the great acoustic guitarists, Bert Jansch comes to Edinburgh fresh from an American tour with Neil Young and a London show with folk-jazz supergroup The Pentangle. Jansch has been doing an annual Festival show since the mid-90s, touching base…
Interview: Henry Rollins on his eating habits
16 Aug 2011
Rollins set for Edinburgh Festival Fringe spoken word show
What time is breakfast? Even though I am not hungry when I get up, I try to eat to get me ready for the day. Within an hour of getting up. Tea or coffee? Both. Usually tea in the morning, coffee after that. Smoking or non-smoking? Non.
The Qatsi trilogy at the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival
15 Aug 2011
Godfrey Reggio's film trilogy with Philip Glass Ensemble live score is a masterpiece
It’s been twenty-eight years since I saw Koyaanisqatsi, twenty-odd since I saw Powaqqatsi, and almost a decade since Naqoyqatsi. The first two I saw in empty art house cinemas on wet afternoons, I watched the third in a somnambulistic state from my sofa…
Shlomo: Mouthtronica
14 Aug 2011
Incredible noise-making skill from a loveable entertainer
Shlomo has been practising his art since he was a child. Growing up in an Iraqi-Israeli family in London, he dreamed of playing the drums on Top Of The Pops but to avoid disturbing the neighbours, practised rhythms using only his mouth. It wasn’t until…
Imran Yusuf
14 Aug 2011
Religious perspectives on universal issues
This year Imran Yusuf seeks to Bring the Thunder, playing on the fact that one of the Western media’s biggest bogeymen is Muslims seeking to effect change through conflict. In a shiny suit and oozing charisma, he nudges up against political and…
How I Invented Hip Hop. . . And Other Faux Pas
14 Aug 2011
Overly styled idea taken too far
It’s hard to know what the joke in this act is – does it mock hip-hop, or the posh English accent? The two are combined in what Mr B, The Gentleman Rhythmer, has termed ‘Chap-hop’, but playing the ‘Straight outta Surrey’ card doesn’t work for longer…
Best of the Fest Cabaret
14 Aug 2011
The Noise Next Door, The Twoks and Briefs offer good package
Any festival ‘Best of’ lives or dies on the collection of acts and, suffice to say, it’s a mixed bag of delights, depending on your luck. And so it is here. Gloria, our host for the evening, struggles, her lacklustre attempts at humour flailing, for the…
Orkestra del Sol's Top Trumps
12 Aug 2011
Balkan, gypsy and polka sounds in a musical face-off
Orkestra del Sol’s Top Trumps show is an inspired concept for a live music performance. Flyers bearing each band member’s vital statistics are handed out prior to the gig, so that audience members can pick a favourite from the nine musicians. The…
Lounge Room Confabulators
11 Aug 2011
Aussie troubadours paying home visits
‘Hello! It’s the Lounge Room Confabulators.’ A voice chimes cheerily through the intercom. The Confabulators – a pair of bearded Australians in Del Monte suits who will be performing an hour-long storytelling show in my home – ascend the stairwell…
Ten Plagues
11 Aug 2011
Intense, moving Marc Almond-starring plague musical strikes a chord
A one-man musical based on eyewitness accounts of the London Plague of 1665 starring Marc Almond sounds on paper like the kind of parody you’d find on the website fakefringe.com. Indeed, the 80s pop icon seems nervous as he takes to the stage in black…
Insider's insight: Canada’s cabaret comedy diva Sharron Matthews
10 Aug 2011
The high – and low – notes of life on the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe
You know my fave place to take a nap in Edinburgh? The hill right beside the Half Price Hut on Princes Street: it is soft, it is shaded by trees and if you place yourself properly, no one can see you sobbing into your phone on a million dollar phone…
Fringe 2011 comedy blogs - Steve Pretty
10 Aug 2011
He of the Perfect Mixtape discusses music vs comedy and proper Fringe preparation
By 30th July, any sensible Fringe performer would either already be in Edinburgh getting some early promo done, or locked away in a rehearsal room, honing their show, perfecting that topical gag or getting that new set piece extra zingy. So why, last…
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…
Fringe show The Trains explores Holocaust
10 Aug 2011
Music and video with score by Steve Reich, Weill, Mahler, Puccini and Górecki
Songs from the Holocaust might seem too dark a subject to tackle. But Greek-born singer Marika Klambatsea is convinced that even music from this bleakest of periods can be life-affirming. ‘Music can help people overcome tragedy. From these songs, you…
Edinburgh Festival Fringe podcasts
10 Aug 2011
Shows at 2011 Edinburgh Festival available as podcasts
Richard 'King of Edinburgh' Herring celebrates his 20th Edinburgh Fringe with RHEFP a daily podcast of comedy and chat. His guests include well-known names from Dan Antopolski to Andy Zaltzman as well as up-and-coming comedy…
Interview - Mike Slott, Eclair Fifi and Machinedrum of LuckyMe
8 Aug 2011
Glasgow DIY label set for Edinburgh Festival clubnight
Mike Slott (producer) I met Dom [Flannigan] who runs LuckyMe in Borders Books. He was sneaking flyers into hip hop magazines. We got chatting, we liked similar music and in Glasgow if you’re into a certain kind of music, you bump into the same people…
