W♥M (Archive)

Great Scott! Primal Scream, Glasvegas, and Twilight Sad

Primal Scream: More Light Read More Primal Scream Primal Scream is one of the bands in a special list in my head. This list is of bands that I know if I don’t see them now, I will never get a chance to see them. Bands that were at their height in the 90s, that went all quiet .…

PRIMAL SCREAM
primalscream.net

Primal Scream just announced their 2014 U.S. tour; headling Austin Psych Fest & Play NYC.

Primal Scream at La Zona Rosa, Austin (03/20/09) photo from Bob

I saw the band at SXSW in 2009 at the annual Scottish Arts Council showcase. Primal Scream were the headliner for that show (even though I had no idea they were Scottish!), and opening up for them were other Scottish favorites: Glasvegas, The Proclaimers, Camera Obscura, Dananananakroyd, and We Were Promised Jetpacks. Cameras were disallowed, so I didn't actually have photos from this show, however a fan sent in his phone photo of Primal Scream for me to use at W♥M.

Anyway, expect Primal Scream to play tracks from their new album More Light, released earlier this year.

Tour dates:

04.30.13 - Fitzgerald's - Houston, TX
05.02.13 - Psych Fest - Austin, TX
05.03.13 - Granada Theatre - Dallas, TX
05.04.13 - Beale Street Festival - Memphis, TN
05.06.13 - Atlanta, GA - Centre Stage Theater
05.08.13 - Sixth & I - Washington, DC
05.09.13 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA
05.11.13 - Warsaw - Brooklyn, NY
05.12.13 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
05.13.13 - Royale - Boston, MA
05.15.13 - Corona Theater - Montreal, QC
05.16.13 - Danforth - Toronto, ON

Glasvegas: Later...When The TV Turns To Static Read More Glasvegas Glasvegas are a Scottish rock band with a new self-titled debut album coming out in January in the US (the well-received album was already released in Europe). In the US, at some record store, if you pre-order the album .…

GLASVEGAS
glasvegas.net

Speaking of Glasvegas, I did also catch them at the same Scottish Showcase at SXSW in Austin.

Glasvegas Setlist at La Zona Rosa, Austin (03/20/09) photo from Bob

As you can see from their setlist, they only had a 30-minute set (as well as all the million of bands at SXSW). At that point in time, they only had a debut album and a Christmas album (A Snowflake Fell (and It Felt Like a Kiss)), so it made sense that they stuck mostly to their self-titled album, including "Geraldine", "Lonesome Swan", "Daddy's Gone".

Anyway, Glasvegas is back in the U.S. in 2014 (their eight U.S. tour!), starting on February 16, 2014 in Washington DC at the Rock n Roll Hotel. It's been nearly three years since their last appearance in the United States, so Glasvegas will be playing some older classic songs, as well as new songs from their new album, "We are really looking forward to returning once again to North America in 2014. We've picked some cool venues this time and we hope to see some old friends again and make some new ones. Rest assured we will be playing the classics from 'Glasvegas' & 'Euphoric Heartbreak' and also playing you tracks from our brand new album 'Later...When The TV Turns To Static'. See you soon. GV x"

Later...When The TV Turns To Static is Glasvegas' third studio album, released in September.

Glasvegas 2014 North American Tour Dates:

February 16 Washington, DC Rock n Roll Hotel
February 17 Philadelphia, PA North Star Bar
February 18 Boston, MA Great Scott
February 19 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
February 20 Brooklyn, NY Rough Trade
February 22 Toronto, ON Mod Club
February 24 Chicago, IL Schubas
February 25 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
February 28 Seattle, WA Columbia City Theater
March 1 Vancouver, BC The Venue
March 2 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
March 4 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
March 6 San Francisco, CA Popscene / Rickshaw Stop

Tour Poster Read More Twilight Sad Instead of bringing their known ‘wall of sound’, The Twilight Sad was stripped down for this tour, into a more personal threesome of vocalist James Graham, guitarist Andy MacFarlane, and drummer .…

TWILIGHT SAD
thetwilightsad.com

The Twilight Sad are an indie rock band from Scotland, currently signed to Fat Cat Records.

Twilight Sad at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (03/21/13) photo from John

We've seen the band a few times live, including a recent appearance with fellow Scottish band Frightened Rabbits at the Varsity Theater. John described the show as more stripped down, compared to their usual "wall of sound", but their set was solid.

Anyway, on Record Store Day 2014 (April 19, 2014), Twilight Sad will be reissuing their debut album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters in a deluxe package. Why the reissue? Apparently, the band agreed to play the entire album in Glasgow recently and realized that no one can buy it on vinyl in over three years. So they've gone back to their vault and decided to put out some demos and oddities from that time period on a deluxe edition.

Tomorrow (Dec 14), Twilight Sad will be playing at The Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh. This is the final gig for their third album campaign, as they have a proper send off for their five-piece band for No One Can Ever Know. Be on the lookout for new material in 2014 when they band head back into the studios to write and record new Twilight Sad songs.

Twilight Sad will be performing Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters at these upcoming 2014 dates:

04/29/14 Leeds - Brudenell Social Club
04/30/14 London - Hoxton Square
05/01/14 London - Hoxton Square
05/02/14 Manchester - Deaf Institute
05/03/14 Briston - Exchange

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

The Fratellis: We Need Medicine

Read More The Fratellis The Fratellis are a 3-member band from Glasgow, Scotland that formed in 2005. The origin of their name is debatable. First, "fratelli" means "brothers" in Italian. Although the members …

The Fratellis are back! It's been a while since their debut 2006 Costello Music (which we wrote about nearly six years ago). After their second album Here We Stand, in 2008, the band went into "indefinite hiatus" to work on various side projects.

The band got back together last year to record We Need Medicine, which was released earlier in October via BMG.

The band will be landing in the U.S. in November to do a small tour in support of the album. Of course, they are not stopping in Minneapolis, so your next option will be an eight hour drive to Chicago on November 6th to see this Scottish band!

People still fondly remember the band, as evident by all these sold out shows!

The Fratellis US Tour Dates:

11/01: New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
11/02: Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall*
11/03: Boston, MA @ Paradise *
11/04: Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live*
11/06: Chicago, IL @ Metro
11/07: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop *
11/08: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/09: Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
11/12: Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre

Dates with (*) indicates sold out

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ thefratellis.com

If it's not Scottish, it's crap!

SCOTTISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR
sayaward.com

Did you vote for your Scottish Album of the Year (SAY)? You still have a chance. In just two days, a "shortlist" will be announced, so we'll see who cut it or not from the longlist of twenty albums:

Admiral Fallow's Tree Bursts in Snow	Auntie Flo's Future Rhythm Machine
Calvin Harris' 18 Months	Dam Mantle Brothers' Fowl
Django Django's self-titled	Duncan Chisholm's Affric
Emeli Sande Our Version of Events	Errors' Have Some Faith in Magic
Human Don't Be Angry's self-titled	Karine Polwart's Traces
Wiszniewski/Stevenson's New Focus	Lau Race's The Loser
Meursault's Something for the Weakened	Miaoux Miaoux's Light of the North
PAWS' Cokefloat	Paul Buchanan's Mid Air
Rm Hubbert's Thirteen Lost Found	Stanley Odd's Reject
Twilight Sad's No One Can Ever Know	The Unwinding's Hours Afterlives

Winner of the 2013 SAY Award will receive £20,000, the other nine runners-up will receive £1,000 each, plus other benefits. Either way, being on the shortlist has its perks.

Read More Franz Ferdinand For my second episode on favorite songs and breakdown, we take a look at Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. Named after Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the band first break-out single is "Take Me Out", debuting #3 on the UK Charts. …

FRANZ FERDINAND
franzferdinand.co.uk

One of my favorite band, Franz Ferdinand will be making their return with Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, coming out August 27th, 2013, via Domino Records. The only thing I have is the track listing:

1. Right Action
2. Evil Eye
3. Love Illumination
4. Stand On The Horizon
5. Fresh Strawberries
6. Bullet
7. Treason! Animals.
8. The Universe Expanded
9. Brief Encounters
10. Goodbye Lovers & Friends

That was a bit of a surprise because we haven't heard much from the band since their stint with Edwyn Collins. Apparently after a string of hit shows at their California gigs last month, the four-piece decided to record the new record. Their previous effort, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, which was not, in fact, a live album, came out in 2009.

Hopefully, the band will tour the U.S. in support of the new album (but please do not come to Minneapolis in the Winter). In the meantime, the band is playing some music festivals in Europe:

08/09/13 Coke Live Music Festival - Krakow, Poland
08/17/13 Pukkelpop Festival - Hasselt, Belgium
08/23/13 Rock En Seine Festival - Paris, France
08/30/13 Zurich Open Air - Zurich, Switzerland

THE PASTELS
thepastels.org

Also back, are the Pastels! Surprisingly, the 30+ band is still around. Their album Slow Summits can be heard on Pitchfork Advance (out today May 28th on Domino Records).

The Pastels are also doing a rare U.S. appearance at Chickfactor 21 Festival at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York on June 13th…. Wish I was in New York!

Tour dates:

06/01/13 Glasgow - CCA
06/13/13 Chickfactor 21 - Brooklyn, New York
07/27/13 Indietracks
08/16/13 The Green Man Festival
08/24/13 Doune the Rabbit Hole - Scotland

ALASDAIR ROBERTS
alasdairroberts.com

Scottish troubadour Alasdair Roberts (previously released music under the name 'Appendix Out') kicks off a North American tour in July, with Minneapolis on his list of stops. Given the highly collaborative nature of the vibrant Minneapolis music scene, locals should make a point of queuing up to see the man quoted as saying: "Collaboration is extremely important to me. I reiterate – extremely." With a tenor voice as smooth and clear and sweet as newly-harvested honey, flavored with a Scottish burr, Roberts will be sure to enchant his audience with the dark, blood-soaked ballads and traditional folk story-songs one might expect from one raised in the hamlet of Kilmahog, in central Scotland, where he first began strumming a guitar and making his voice do things that anyone—after hearing only a few bars—can tell it was meant to do. Don’t snooze and miss tickets for this one!

Alasdair Roberts' latest release, Wonder Working Stone, came out January 2013 via Drag City.

07/13: Louisville, KY @ Forecastle Festival
07/15: Chicago, IL @ Downtown Sound: New Music Monday Series
07/16: Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
07/17: Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
07/18: New Salem, MA @ 1794 Meetinghouse
07/19: Brooklyn, NY @ Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival
07/21: Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s 20 Lanes
07/22: Kalamazoo, MI @ The 411 Club
07/23: Cedar Rapids, IA @ CSPS
07/24: Minneapolis, MN @ Icehouse
07/26: Calgary, AB @ Calgary Folk Music Festival
07/27: Calgary, AB @ Calgary Folk Music Festival
07/28: Calgary, AB @ Calgary Folk Music Festival
07/29: Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
07/31: Washington, DC @ Millennium Stage - Kennedy Center
08/01: New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub

doug + vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com

SXSW 2011: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Bangles: Eternal Flame

South by Southwest, aka SXSW, is the annual film, interactive, and music festival that takes place in Austin, Texas. It would seem that this year (2011) is at its biggest, with reports coming at 17,000 registered visitors (grown from last year's 14,000).

The key word is registered, I suspect Austin draws at least three or four times that number. I have been listening to the "tech" part of the SXSW reports and it just sounds like it's become one giant party... and not so much the tech-thing. Some celebrities were spotted there, in particular, Felicia Day.

The music part of SXSW officially started late yesterday and will end this Sunday. Over 2,000 bands are officially registered to play, but obviously there are a ton of unofficial ones as well. If you walk down the street, some bands are playing in the streets.

Dan, man on the scene, was kind enough to send in his report:

So far we have seen Jamie Woon, Kid Canaveral, Withered Hand, OMD, Dry the Rivet, Bangles and I'm sitting at the new ACL Theater to see Bob Geldof.

Wednesday: Jamie Woon at the British Music Welcome Event. He is a techno soul singer. Not bad. Lacks in the melody.		Thursday: Bangles. Event name was Daisy Rock Maurice's Small Town Sound. One hour set with all the hits and a cover of the Nazz's "Open My Eyes" (Todd Rundgren's first band). They sounded great. The harmonies are still there.
Friday: Here is Yuck at the Pitchfork Show. Great indie sound for most songs. They had to ruin it with a 5 min feedback frenzy. Always lose interest in that type of song. Been done too many times already.		Friday: Edwyn Collins. Great set. I think it has to go down as most inspirational set I will see. I would know if I could do it myself. But played new, old, etc. Also let his son sing on one of the songs. Closed with "A Girl Like You".

Bricolage – Bricolage

Bricolage - Footsteps Bricolage See Also Pelle Carlberg http://weheartmus... Searching the blogs for a fix of Belle & Sebastian, I found reference to Pelle Carlberg. I instan...

“When we go walking outside,” Graham Wann of Bricolage moans on the second track of their eponymous album, “I find it hard to decide which car to jump in front of.” Ah, the joys of suicide-inducing romance. When mixed with catchy hooks and infectious melodies, it’s a theme that rarely gets old, as Jens Lekman, Moz, and Stephin Merritt have long demonstrated. Often maudlin and usually hilarious, Bricolage is a sterling reminder of why heartbroken saps make the best pop records.

On their debut album, they keep the tunes light and the subject matter amusingly heavy. It’s hardly a new concept, but Bricolage seems to be scholars in the art of the miserable pop song. It’s no easy feat passing off a song about bleeding ears as both an ode to dejection and a kicky dance gem, but Bricolage pull it off with an endless amount of sunny harmonies, handclaps, and sing-along choruses.

This contrast works especially well on a song like “Footsteps,” an upbeat track about paranoia, and (of course) rejection. Amid upbeat chanting and tropical percussion, Wann wails, “The more you reach out to grab her, the more the dream disintegrates” just as the song swirls into a breezy guitar solo. It’s the kind of melodramatic musing that can only be tolerable with a good sense of humor and beautifully intricate instrumentation. Luckily, these guys seem ready to tackle anything their neuroses throw their way.

Bricolage’s sound is oddly familiar, and the comparisons come easily: Pelle Carlberg and Ballboy’s wordy lyrics, the Beach Boys and early Weezer’s harmonies, and Jonathan Richman’s less-than-stellar luck with the ladies. At times, this can be distracting, especially on by-the-book sadsack songs like “Plots are for Cemeteries” and “Sleepwalk to Me” where technically, everything is perfect, but some distinction would be nice.

However, such criticism never lasts long, as almost every track on the album is infused with their self-deprecating humor. My favorite track, “On the Omnibuses,” is one synthesizer short of a cheesy soft rock hit, but as Wann repeatedly croons, “Tell me I’m the only one,” that extra touch of self-awareness only makes his desperation even more enjoyable. It’s a trick used throughout the album and a testament to the fact that putting a guitar in the hand of a lovesick fool is bound to produce favorable results. Especially if said fool is from Glasgow and happens to be oozing with charm.

 06/19/2009 11:35:46 ♥ kateg () ♥ myspace.com/bricolagetheband ♥ slumberlandrecords.com