MUSIC PREVIEYV Semlsonic Feeling strangely vocal

It’s difficult not to like Semisonic; their uplifting brand of laid-back rock and moving lyrics blasts from trannies everywhere, and their second album, Feeling Strangely Fine is still lingering in the charts two years after its release. Singer Dan Wilson is taken aback by their success, ’l’m just amazed how generally appealing the last album turned out to be. I really thought it was just us doing something to please ourselves.’

So how does their polished studio sound translate to the live stage? ’lt's more chaotic and the emotions are a lot more on edge. When you put that on an album it usually ends up sounding raggedy and messy.’

Dan was impressed by the ’awesome sounding voices’ of the Garage audience in November, and the paradox of crowds singing his very personal lyrics. 'lt’s a wonderful experience but it’s very strange. I think the more personal the song is, the more the group thing is likely to be a good experience.’ Be sure to tune those vocal chords before the gig. (Maureen Ellis)

Ea Semisonic (T On The Fringe) Corn Exchange (Venue 77) 074 7 339 8383, 27 Aug, 7.30pm, £72.50.

25TH //

WITH GAIL SELLAPS S SIMONE BLACK

MUSIC PREVIEW Planet Pop

More poptastic variety

Two weeks in and Planet Pop has already witnessed a tasty share of premier gigs from the likes of John Otway, Angelica, Eska, Life Without Buildings and The Silver Pill. And still they keep on comin’.

Underrated Glasgow punksters Urusei Yatsura (18 Aug) hove into view with a performance at the Attic that’ll doubtless remind you of the shoulda’-been-hits in their corrosive oeuvre. Support comes from Edinburgh rockers Huckleberry. A clattering fusion of dirty hammond squall and garage-punk thrash, the ’berry are a must for fans of fuzzed- up 60's schlock’n'roll.

Following last year’s sell-out Planet Pop performance, Snow Patrol (1 9 Aug) are back at the Venue with their enigmatic stramash of frazzled, bite- sized lo-fi pop. Support comes from Dundee slo-fi instrumentalists Laeto and speaker-bothering Edinburghers Houdini, who’ll doubtless be unleashing their explosive hive of Mudhoney-pallored rawk. Finally, US alt-country troubador Ben Vaughn (20 Aug) stars in a not-to-be-missed performance at the Attic.

(Paul Whitelaw) i Venues and times vary See Rock Listings for details.

HEADSPIN

1ST SEPT // STEVE AUSTIN

W

1 9TH // atnmi: DEDH

WITH STUART DUNCAN SCOTT BPOVVN

26TH // PERCEPTION

WITH DEREK MARTIN 8. GAV [BRANT id

2ND SEPT // FESTIVAL CLOSING PARTY

40 TIIE lIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 17-24 Aug 2000

otic: Semisonic

MUSIC PREVIEW Doves Mercury nominated epic rock

Alright, let's get this out the way first. Epic Mancunian rockers Doves used to be Sub Sub, the people that brought us the goofy dance anthem ’Ain't No Love’. As musical reinventions go, it's quite a corker. Doves, three scraggy looking blokes in beards and big coats, now deal in big themes, big guitars and bigger tunes, a bit like a less preposterous version of The Verve. For evidence of this, look no further than their debut album Lost Souls which was released to universal acclaim in April, and has been nominated for this year’s Mercury Music Prize.

On stage, Doves are pretty convincing too as was seen at their recent appearance at T in the Park. With singing duties shared between Jimi Goodwin and Andy Williams, and instruments swapped with alarming regularity, the band show a flexibility so lacking in a lot of their contemporaries. Catch them now before they become huge. (Doug Johnstone)

Doves (Fringe) The Liquid Room (Venue 773) 0747 339 8383, 27 Aug 7.30pm, £8.

MUSIC PREVIEW

Sigur Ros

Other-worldly Icelandic guitar heroes

’We are not a band, we are music,’ says Sigur Ros Singer and guitarist Jon Por Birgisson in typically cryptic style. The band hail from Iceland and sing in a combination of their native tongue and their own made up language, Hopelandish. They played Iceland’s Opera House With a full orchestra on the release of their third album, Agaetis Byrjun (soon to be released in this country). They play guitars with bows and sing Into guitar pick-ups. And they create some of the most beautIful atmospheric music around. As guitar bands go, Sigur Ros do not have much In common with Ocean Colour Scene, let's put it that way. Their music sounds a bit like Mogwai meeting the Cocteau Twins while angels ride blue whales In space in the

background. Probably. And they’re not

exactly unambitious. ‘We are simply going to change music forever, and the way people think about music,’ says Birgisson. ’And don’t think we can’t do it, we will.’ (Doug Johnstone) n Sigur Ros (Fringe) The Liquid Room (Venue 773) 0747 339 8383, 22 Aug, 7-30pm, £8COMEDY REVIEW

THEATRE

A Lump In My Throat **** No smoke without drama

Performed with wry, laid-back charm by writer and journalist Robert Katz, this self-portrait of journalist John Diamond is poignant, funny and, well, almost enough to put you off smoking for life. Centred around Diamond's tragic struggle against throat cancer, the performance never becomes preachy or depressing, thanks to a combination of Diamond’s honest, self-deprecating style and Katz‘s understated but confident acting. Consisting of excerpts from Diamond’s various columns, A Lump In My Throat is an intimate, but curiously unsentimental performance that will leave you deeply moved, but, perhaps more importantly, might ensure you never look at that pack of fags in quite the same way again. (Olly Lassman)

l A Lump In My Throat (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 28 Aug, 6pm, £9/£ 70 (f8/f9).

THEATRE Barbaric Comedies * Loud, long and empty One sees many acts of mindless and selfish cruelty in life, and for this reason it will always be a legitimate subject of art. But this production labours the point beyond endurance. This story of a Spanish patriarch’s struggle to keep his land from his avaricious sons pillages the museum of theatrical history from Jacobean tragedy, through Marat/Sade, finally resolving itself into a kind of King Lear for the hard of thinking. The cast shout as if they are under the impression that the audience is seated in Glasgow, and so long and arduous is the central character's journey to hIs end, that I began to wonder which of us would expire first. (Steve Cramer) Barbaric Comedies (International) Abbey Theatre, Dub/in, King’s Theatre, 473 2000, until 28 Aug (not 2 7—22)