News and features
Jazz with added razzmatazz at Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival
THE Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival has unveiled a major expansion into one of the city’s biggest venues, as part of a long-term bid to raise its profile.
Hop along and listen to Kassidy
KASSIDY frontman Barrie-James O’Neill hadn’t quite finished regaling me with stories from the band’s time at the legendary Rockfield Studios when the tape-recorder came to a sudden halt. In hindsight, it’s probably just as well it did.
Gary Flockhart: Night at the museum proves a big musical hit
YOU get to see a lot of live music in this job. Sometimes they’re great gigs and other times they aren’t. Sometimes you come away feeling exhilarated and other times, well, the opposite applies.
MoFest: The ones to watch in Montrose this weekend
This year’s Montrose Music Festival opens on Friday and will see the coastal town over-run with musical types for the entire weekend.
Album reviews
CD of the Week: Paul Buchanan - Mid Air
THE Proclaimers recently told The Scotsman that they have always been attracted to writing the same kind of song, one which embodies a poetic and melodic simplicity, because that way lies honesty and integrity.
Album reviews: Tom Jones | Cold Specks | Gaz Coombes | Classical | Jazz | Folk
THE Scotsman gives its verdict on the pick of this week’s longplayer releases
CD reviews: Paul Buchanan | John Mayer | Admiral Fallow | Folk | Jazz | Classical video
The voice of the Blue Nile emerges with his first solo album, a selection of short but certain songs which sound like the soundtrack to a melancholy black and white Sunday afternoon.
Album reviews: Morten Harket | The Gossip | Tenacious D | Classical | Jazz | Folk | World
The Scotsman’s team of music critics lend their ears to the latest releases
Album review: Garbage; Not YOur Kind of People
For a band that’s supposedly about alienation and rawness, the return of Shirley Manson’s gang is as polished, accessible and overproduced as ever, writes Fiona Shepherd
Gig reviews
Gig review: Saint Etienne, Glasgow Oran Mor
For some, Saint Etienne are the quintessential London pop band, but their own pursuit of the perfect pop formula extends well beyond those city limits – the sounds, past and present, of New York, Ibiza and even Glasgow are evoked as much as swinging Camden or leafy Hampstead in their catalogue.
Gig review: Gary Numan, Glasgow ABC
Like the grinding machine music he makes, Gary Numan is as reliable as a German car or a Swiss watch. Beneath a surface that appears as synthetic and dehumanised as his finest contemporaries from the early years of mass-appeal electronica, however, beats a hot-blooded heart.
Gig review: Martin Taylor and Martin Simpson, Perth Theatre
One of a few select joint performances by these two English guitar greats, this well-attended Perth Festival of the Arts concert began and ended with them playing as a duo, between times individually showcasing Taylor’s jazz-based artistry and Simpson’s wide-ranging mastery of British and American folk styles.
Gig review: Admiral Fallow; Edinburgh Queen’s Hall
The release of Tree Bursts in Snow, the second record by Glasgow’s Admiral Fallow, on the very day of this show seems to have propelled the sextet to new heights of popularity.
Gig review: Admiral Fallow, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
THE release of Tree Bursts in Snow, the sophomore record by Glasgow’s Admiral Fallow, on the very day of this show seems to have propelled the sextet to new heights of popularity.
Classical reviews
Classical review: Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Perth Concert Hall
BEING a child of the former East Berlin, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra is a band we are perhaps less familiar with than its famous West German counterpart, the Berlin Philharmonic.
Classical review: English Touring Opera: The Barber of Seville
ENGLISH Touring Opera’s new production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville has been doing the rounds since it opened in London a couple of months ago.
Classical review: Idil Biret, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
IT’S over 65 years since Idil Biret first started playing.
1 commentClassical review: RSNO: Au Revoir Stephane, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
IT WAS inevitable that Stéphane Denève would make a lasting statement at his final Edinburgh concert as musical director of the RSNO. He did it with a kilt, which, together with his wild, tousled reddish hair, marked him out as the honorary Scot he has become during his seven years in charge of the orchestra.
Dance review: Trisha Brown Dance Company, Glasgow Tramway
When your career spans five decades, you’re allowed to change your mind a few times.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east

