Newsflash: EMI losses, Japanese War Effort and Unwinding Hours album releases, TITP news...

If today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper, god knows what that makes our music news. Either way, we’ve been scraping our barrel of press releases to bring you the latest news, gossip and conjecture from the world of the music industry.

Blame it on the Moog, eh...
UtR’s favourite ambient-pop minimalist Japanese War Effort will release his second album ‘I Will Leave You Now, And Two Loudspeakers Will Take My Place’ on 8 March. The follow up to his 2008 debut 'Snowbird' contains, what the press release says are, “some of Martin Moog’s strongest and most interesting work to date”. On first impressions, ‘I Will Leave You’ is certainly more dense in texture than its predecessor while continuing Moog’s liking for complex, star-chasing slinks. No doubt you’ll hear a lot more of said record on these pages in the months to come.

‘Gramme pair to unwind...
Aerogramme fans rejoice, The Unwinding Hours album is scheduled to launch into your lugholes in less than two week, on 15 February to be precise. The debut LP of Ex-‘grammers Craig B and Iain Cook will be released through Chemikal Underground and, if early reviews are anything to go by, looks set to be one of the Scottish records of the year. Can’t wait to hear it? We’ll here’s the track listing for you...

Knut
Tightrope
Little One
There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone
Solstice
Peaceful Liquid Shell
Child
Traces
Annie Jane
The Final Hour

Frightened Rabbit pour another one...
To celebrate the impending release of their third studio album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, the next Snow Patrol, aka Frightened Rabbit, want you to make a diddy of yourself on the web. All their asking you to do is post a video of you making your favourite mixed beverage, no doubt in a particularly foolish manner, and you’ll be in with a shout of winning two tickets to an upcoming gig and have a drink with the band afterwards. If you fancy putting yourself up for undeletable, everlasting internet ignominy then click here. If you’d just prefer to watch the band’s latest video, press play on the video below:


Frightened Rabbit on MUZU

A £1.75 billion dEMIse...
Hands up if you know what £1.75 billion looks like? No-one. Okay, hands up if you know what minus £1.75 billion looks like? Come on EMI don't be bashful, raise those paws.

That’s right, one quarter of the ‘Big Four’ in the music industry announced a pre-tax loss of close to 2 billion smackers (what's £0.25bn?) for the financial year to the end of March 2009. Following the news that owners Terra Firma were asking financial backers for £100m to meet loan repayment commitments, you’d be forgiven for thinking the London-based major was spluttering its way to a long overdue box in the ground. Y’know, with the maggots, worms and other such icky stuff.

But there appears to be some semblance of hope for the fading giant. A billion of the losses were caused by Terra Firma’s accountants insisting on an 'impairment charge'. A what? Well, the perceived value of the EMI catalogues and the company's corporate reputation was cut which impacted on the firm's ‘bottom line’. Also, ongoing restructuring costs used up over £100 million and interest payments on the loan Terra Firma took out to buy EMI in 2007 cost the company several hundred million more.

All in all, it means that, although EMI’s record labels sunk lower than an ex-England football captain on a night out with his mates missus, a boost in music publishing revenues has made the company itself just about operational. But hey, that doesn’t mean they’re not drifting paddle-less up a creek of defacation. Rumours are abound that EMI is on the brink of collapse and that Terra Firma are looking to cut their losses. Some even talk of mergers with Warners *shudder*.

Desperate times, eh? Funny thing is, we can’t decide whether a collapsing big gun is a good or a bad thing.

Balado go for another three years...
Good news for those who prefer their camping trips on the more hedonistic side. Perth and Kinross Council has agreed to keep T In the Park in Balado for another three years.

Now in it’s twelfth year of holding Scotland’s biggest outdoor festival on the disused airfield, DF Concerts had its licence application approved by the Council’s licensing committee.

Capacity on the campsite was also bumped up to allow 5,000 more inebriated punters to spend the night, rather than attempting to stagger their way through a sea of plastic cups to the night bus home. The campsite will now cater for 25,000 people on the Thursday evening and 70,000 on both Friday and Saturday nights.

This year’s T in the Park runs from Friday 9 July through to Sunday 11 July at Balado. Kasabian are headalining but there’ll be many more worthy acts for you to get your lugs around, no doubt.

Words: Billy Hamilton

Got news you want to share? Let us know by emailing utr.scotsman@gmail.com

Radar recommends: 6 - 12 Feb

[The Low Miffs: appearing in Stereo-sound on Thursday]

Plan your gig-going with our pick of the week's finest live music nights...

The best...

Live at the Beach
Saturday @ The Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen / 7.30pm / £7.50
Some of Aberdeen's brightest bands play a rare live music night at the famous Beach Ballroom: The Little Kicks, Indian Red Lopez, Cast of the Capital and The Underkills.

Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete, Hitlist Youth, Skinny Villains
Saturday @ 13th Note / 9pm / £tbc
The gorgeous, gothic voice of Louise McVey has already turned our heads here at UtR, and Saturday night at the Note is definitely one to watch.

Sisqo
Tuesday @ Fat Sam's, Dundee / 10.30pm / £7-£10
Sorry, but the prospect of the man behind 'The Thong Song' coming to play Dundee just seemed too good to pass over.

Beach House, Lawrence Arabia, Washington Irving
Wednesday @ King Tut’s / £9 / 8.30pm
Baltimore duo Beach House are the new indie darlings, although their watercolour dream pop stylings won't appeal to everyone. Get there early for Washington Irving too.

The Low Miffs, Hidden Masters, Foxgang
Thursday @ Stereo / 7pm / £1
In troubled economic times, you’ll struggle to find a better-value line-up than Ten Tracks’ monthly night at Stereo. Three top-notch bands plus a ten-track download compilation (this month from Hijack), for the princely sum of £1 – bargain!

The Leith Tape Club
Thursday @ The ISO Lounge, Leith / 8.15pm / £tbc
Space is always limited at this low-key monthly night, but this instalment - with eagleowl, Hailey Beavis and The Stormy Seas - is the last until May, so it could well be packed to the rafters.

Limbo: Found, Three Blind Wolves, Over The Wall
Friday @ Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh / 8.30pm - 1.30am / £tbc
A three-pronged prognosis of the state of new music in Scotland, with local favourites Found and the Glasgow pairing of Three Blind Wolves and the infectious Over the Wall.

The Late Call, The Last Battle, Emily Scott
Friday @ Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh / 7pm / £5
The Late Call is Stockholm troubador Johannes Mayer, supported on this date by Edinburgh regulars The Last Battle and Emily Scott, who we profiled last year.


The rest...



Words: Lisa-Marie Ferla, Nick Mitchell

What have we missed? Tell us below, or add it to the calendar by emailing utr.scotsman@gmail.com

On the radar: Divorce

For the last half-century the numbers of married couples in Scotland separating has been on the increase. While the end of a marriage is not normally a cause for celebration, it can allow the partners a release to move on.

Similarly in the ascendant, but providing a release of a different kind (how's that for a link?), are Glaswegian five-piece Divorce.

With dates all over the UK under their belts since late 2008, they have earned a serious reputation for their blistering, cathartic live sets. In that time they have also released their debut EP to a warm reception from critics and fans alike, their ‘pop songs for burn victims’ finding many an appreciative ear.

Consisting of Hillary Van Scoy and Vickie McDonald on guitars, VSO on bass, Andy Browntown on drums and Sinead Youth on vocals, the band are currently putting the finishing touches to a couple of new releases for this year.

Although formed out of a frustration that there were precious few bands in Glasgow making a really filthy noise, nominated band spokesman Andy tells UtR there was no clear agenda in mind: “All we wanted to do was 'make a noise', not 'do a punk band' or 'do a metal band', if we had tried to make it that specific we probably would've sounded rubbish!”

Divorce - Early Christianity


Occupying territory between noise rock and no-wave (or 'nae wave', as they call it) with a nod to 80s punk, this is not music for the faint of heart. The tight rhythm section holds everything together while the guitars are manhandled into emitting all manner of pained shrieks. Over all this Sinead’s vocals are strident and angry with an underlying tunefulness.

Their debut self-titled 10” is out on Optimo Music in 2009, they have a split 7” with London art-noiseniks Comanechi coming out early this year on Merok Records, and they even have plans to go retro and release a split cassette with fellow Glaswegians and previous tourmates Ultimate Thrush later on. Why the antique format? “Cassettes are great, and it's gonna be fantastic to share one with probably our favourite band in Glasgow right now!”.

With a penchant for chaos and a love of inciting circle pits and human pyramids, Divorce must be witnessed in the flesh. Having notched up gigs with bands like Part Chimp, Deerhoof, HEALTH and Lovvers, they're keen to keep preaching their twisted gospel to everyone who’ll listen and will be taking their violent noise to as many new locales as possible. Having spent 2009 making friends and blowing minds, they plan to keep on doing just that in 2010.

Words: Craig Dickson

Divorce - Juice Of Youth


Divorce play The 13th Note, Glasgow on 13 Feb, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh on 14 Feb and Glasgow School of Art at midnight on the same date.

Newsbits: Ballroom, blogs, Biffy and Berliners

[The Little Kicks - strictly ballroom this weekend. Photo: Nick Mailer]

• We'll be the first to admit that Aberdeen doesn't always get the recognition it deserves from the central belt music meeja. But three bands who graced this blog in 2009 are about to play a special show called Live at the Ballroom - so allow us to take this opportunity to give them a wee plug.

Following in the footsteps of The Beatles and Pink Floyd, local acts The Little Kicks, Indian Red Lopez and Cast of the Capital (along with The Underkills) will grace the stage of the city's Beach Ballroom this Saturday. It's a must for anyone involved in the Granite City scene, and more information can be found here.

• This week Under the Radar came 6th in a vote for the best so-called 'mainstream' blogs. We're quite happy to rub shoulders with political pundits like Brian Taylor and Iain MacWhirter, even if we'd have probably been more at home in the music category. Musn't grumble though, and thanks if you voted for us.

• In other X Factor-esque news, Ayrshire trio Biffy Clyro came out on top in scotsman.com's readers' poll of the best Scottish bands of the Noughties. A result sure to raise a few eyebrows, even if it does reveal a lot about how more adept some bands are at organising their online marketing than others. Good showings for Frightened Rabbit (3rd) and The Twilight Sad (9th) too.

• Teutonic tunage will be the order of the day when Born to Be Wide celebrates its sixth birthday tomorrow (Thursday) at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms. With a promise of "All you need to know about the German music scene", the event boasts a seminar with bookers, journalists and agents, a German music quiz, DJ sets (including Mark Chung of Einstürzende Neubauten) and a performance from Berlin band Jeans Team. More information here.

Got any other Scottish music news tips? Send them to utr.scotsman@gmail.com or get in touch via Twitter

Live review: The Lava Experiments

Friday 29 January
The 13th Note, Glasgow

“Has everyone got that Friday feeling?” A cry that usually accompanies some upbeat guitar pop. But tonight at the launch of The Lava Experiments’ new EP the focus is instead on three bands who put a new spin on shoegaze.

Glider open with a pounding drum, droning chords and Katherine MacLeod’s sweet voice. The effect is not at all unpleasant – soothing, almost. They follow this with a song that replaces the pounding with a more understated beat and a haunting vocal which sets it apart. The song ends on some jazzy, uptempo flute before drums crescendo to fill the Note’s basement.



While Glider’s music is heavy, it never descends into muddy or maudlin. You hear Sonic Youth at their most melodic, you hear My Bloody Valentine, although it does mean that the shorter songs take you aback. A sweet cover of Low’s 'Sunflowers' catches the ear and 'Star and Chain' carries on the theme, wringing guitars through some kind of effects pedal before the world comes crashing in. There is beauty in these downtempto pieces, but the band’s strength lies in those moments when frontman Colin Hamilton strums at his guitar so hard you’d think the strings – and his fingers – might break.

Laki Mera are tonight’s unknown quantity, mixing heady electronica with gorgeous pop star vocals from singer/synth queen Laura Donnelly. Their set mixes instrumental portions like the all-night bass beats in some sleazy underground club and dark, whispered passages that hint of unspeakable things. If Saint Etienne was Satan, perhaps.



And they’re not above the odd spot of guitar too, whether warped into a five-minute piece of thrashy live electronica or played acoustically, in set closer 'Reverberation'. Angelic vocals and understated keyboards make the contrast with what has gone before incredible – a range so breathtaking it’s like a mix CD in minor key.

Once the clutter of synths is removed, the stage looks almost empty for the three Lava Experiments. But they needn’t rely on much hardware to make some of the most beautiful and powerful noise to have ever graced the Note: guitar, bass, some samples and a drum kit battered to a membrane. Frontman Fraser Rowan doesn’t say much, but what he does almost doesn’t matter – his voice is another instrument to be bent to his will in the creation of his atmospheric soundscapes, echoing like a scream in a haunted crypt among the clatter of drums and guitars.

'Piecing Memories Together' is of course the reason we are here. The set pivots around its understated, haunting melody, and as the song builds itself into a powerful, desolate frenzy I swear my heart actually hurts. By the end of their allotted half hour, the audience are as emotionally battered as that snare.

Words and photos: Lisa-Marie Ferla



The Lava Experiments' 'Piecing Memories Together' EP - featuring remixes by Dan le Sac, Pumajaw and Betamax Warriors - is available now.

Radar recommends: 30 Jan - 5 Feb

[Call To Mind play Edinburgh and Glasgow this week. Picture: Neale Smith]

Plan your gig-going with our pick of the week's finest live music nights...

The best...

Call To Mind, Iain McLaughlin and the Outsiders
Saturday @ Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh / 7pm / £tbc
"Imagine the kind of cast-adrift melodies favoured by Grizzly Bear stretched out onto a vast panoramic canvass," we spraffed about Call To Mind last year. If this sounds like your tasse de thé, head down to Sneaky Pete's on Saturday.
Also playing Captain's Rest, Glasgow on Sunday

Hidden Door
Saturday / Sunday @ Roxy Art House, Edinburgh / 1pm - 12am / £9-£10
Leave your preconceptions at the door for this one. The first big event from the new team behind the Roxy, this multi-arts weekender will see the likes of Broken Records, Panda Su and Joseph Malik cosying up to a range of artists, poets and other such folk.

Celtic Connections: Chemikal Underground 15th Anniversary
Sunday @ ABC, Glasgow / 7pm / £15
We’ve written this one up before, but if there’s one show not to miss this weekend it’s this birthday bash for the legendary Glasgow label. With the hotly-tipped Zoey Van Goey and Phantom Band joining ex-Delgados Emma Pollock and Lord Cut-Glass, Aidan Moffat and the debut outing for The Unwinding Hours, it’s going to be one heck of a party.

Sick Kids Sunday 2
Sunday @ The GRV, Edinburgh / 1pm - 11pm / £8-£10
A great local cause and another fine array of native music-makers. Meursault? Check. James Yorkston playing the songs of Daniel Johnston? Check. Zoey Van Goey, Men Diamler, Martin John Henry, The Stormy Seas, eagleowl, Sparrow & The Workshop? Checkity check check.

David Bazan, Postdata
Tuesday @ Captain’s Rest, Glasgow / 8pm / £8
Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan releases his first album under his own name in the UK this month. Described as a “breakup album with God”, Curse Your Branches isn’t anything like as bleak as it sounds and this rare Scottish show should be a treat. Support from promising Canadian singer-songwriter Postdata.

The Seventeenth Century, Julia and the Doogans, Haight-Ashbury, Alan McKim
Thursday @ The Admiral Bar, Glasgow / 8pm / £6
Dreamy and delicious folk-rock featuring Under the Radar faves The Seventeenth Century and Julia and the Doogans.

Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers
Thursday @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen / 7.30pm / £tbc
When UtR spoke to this Glasgow band in November, they said: "We try to play a raucous live show to make our music different from how it is recorded." Aberdonians are advised to turn out and judge for themselves.
Also playing The Doghouse, Dundee on Wednesday

The rest...



Words: Lisa-Marie Ferla, Nick Mitchell

What have we missed? Tell us below, or add it to the calendar by emailing utr.scotsman@gmail.com

Festivals, mini-fests, multi-band spectacles...

It seems promoters in Scotland are becoming more ambitious. No longer satisfied with their monthly meat 'n' two veg nights of one/two/three bands, many are staging more imaginative formats and more expansive line-ups.

This weekend sees no less than four such events dominate Scotland's two big cities...

• Firstly, a daring one-off live music and arts event will take up residence in the capital, when Hidden Door marks the start of a new era at the Roxy Art House (formerly home to The Bowery). It will play host to around 40 bands, 50 artists, as well as a programme of short films and poetry.

The event was the subject of a feature in today's Scotsman, in which new Roxy artistic director Rupert Thomson (pictured) said his ambition is "to create an internationally recognised arts centre in Edinburgh". So why not pay a visit this weekend to see if the venture lives up to the hype?

• The second Sick Kids Sunday also takes place this weekend in the capital. The GRV will play host to a superb array of talent, including Meursault, James Yorkston (playing the songs of Daniel Johnson) and Sparrow and the Workshop. It's all for a vital and local cause, and with tickets at just £8 in advance, it should be a satisfying way to spend your Sunday.

• Hold on you Glasgow folks, don't leave yet. Would you really not want to know about the Chemikal Underground 15th anniversary event at Celtic Connections on Sunday at the ABC? Celebrate your city's finest record label with music from The Phantom Band, Aidan Moffat, Emma Pollock, Zoey Van Goey, Bill Wells and the debut outing of ex-Aereogramme duo The Unwinding Hours.

• On Saturday afternoon, the more folk-inclined among you can sit back, relax, sip a green tea or whatever beverage comes to hand, and listen to the mellow sounds of Pearl and the Puppets, Findlay Napier, Brother Louis Collective and Kitty the Lion at Hazy Recollections. It's at Stereo from 2.30pm.

• Last but not least, have you seen the line-up for the Fence Homegame yet? It looks amazing, but if you haven't got your ticket you'll need to rely on returns - they sold out in a matter of hours. Full line-up here.

So plenty of ambition from Scotland's music programmers. If only the bulk of it wasn't happening on one weekend...

Words: Nick Mitchell

On the radar: Incrediboy and the Forget-Me-Nots

Incrediboy and the Forget-Me-Nots - Cinderella


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Glasgow's own musical superhero - Incrediboy, and his group of instrument-slinging sidekicks, The Forget-Me-Nots.

"The name came from a woman I saw singing one night in a tiny bar in Glasgow" explains Incrediboy himself - or rather his Clark Kent alter-ego, Christopher Pranks.

"She was singing a song about "indestructaboy" and I thought something better as a name would be incrediboy, and at that point I thought, 'I will be Incrediboy'."

One swift change in a phonebox later, the band which had been Remarkable Rocket and the Jealous Moon Band became Incrediboy and the Forget-Me-Nots.

Their adventures first began a couple of years ago when Christopher, then a frustrated bassist "sick of waiting for guitarists to start writing songs", learned to play guitar and bought an eight-track.

Influenced by Bright Eyes, Elliot Smith, and other such talented wordsmiths, he began writing and recording dreamy, wistful folk pop in his bedroom. "I've always had more of a kinship with words rather than music, and these artist have such an unbelievable grasp of language," Christopher says. "Elliot Smith, in my eyes, is the best musician of our generation. To me he's all four Beatles in one body."

The band is now happily heading in a slightly different direction - with more input from the other members.

"Writing songs is much more of a collaborative experience these days", Christopher says. "Normally I have something in my head for each instrument, but the others are normally on the same page and if not, then the parts they introduce are better than what I've devised.

"We've been described as a folk-pop band with post-rock tendencies before, and I think that's pretty accurate. Recently there's a lot more energy to the songs, they are much more upbeat."

Plans are in place to record an EP in February which Christopher promises will include "a new song, untitled at present but probably the best we've every written."

Incrediboy and the Forget-Me-Nots - Tender is the Night


Their next challenge will be to top their first ever gig - at the Carling Academy with French Wives. "It's yet to be surpassed", says Christopher. "The Wives are a fantastic band, and we've been friends since the start. The success they're enjoying is nothing more than deserved."

Meanwhile, if you've every fancied being a superhero, the band is still on the lookout for a second guitarist. Those without big red flashing telephones or giant searchlights can get in touch via incrediboymusic@hotmail.co.uk.

Words: Elaine Liddle

Incrediboy and the Forget-Me-Nots play the Captain's Rest on Friday (29 Jan) with Laura Healy and Digital Dinosaur, from 8pm.

What do you think of this comic book collective? Let us know below...