ELECTRONICA MISS KITTIN AND THE HACKER Art School, Glasgow, Fri 1 Mar
If one subset of dance music made its mark in 2000, it was electro-pop. At the vanguard of the scene, the Munich-based imprint International Deejay Gigolo Records hit upon a canny knack of combining healthy underground credibility with commercial dancefloor success. Miss Kittin and The Hacker, aka Caroline Herve and Michel Amato, typify the label’s approach. With their Intimates and Champagne EPs, the duo set the template for electro-success, drawing on 805 staples from Giorgio Moroder and Depeche Mode.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, who take an archivist’s approach to the decade they’ve chosen as a muse, Amato’s production work with Herve is infused with a sense of humour - best heard on the pair’s chilly, tongue-in-cheek cover of Eurythmics’ ‘1984’ - matched with a fan’s respect for the synth-pop being reworked. His first forays into electronic music in the early 90$ followed the course of the nascent French hardcore scene, but before long Amato began to find inspiration in classic techno and early electro, making his name outside France with the Detroit-infused solo debut Melodies En Sous-Sol.
Miss Kittin, too, is a mainstay of the French underground. She has successfully plied her trade as a DJ since the mid-90$, splicing minimal techno and classic house with electro. It is Herve’s vocals and production, however, that have garnered most acclaim, whether in collaboration with Amato or taking a starring
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role on the latest from Felix Da Housecat - who is set to DJ at this fortnight’s show — the well- received Kittenz And Thee Glitz.
In the live arena, Miss Kittin and The Hacker follow the template laid down by the 80$ pop acts that inform their sound, with the latter taking on the role of shadowy svengali and all eyes on Herve, more often than not decked out in a nurse’s uniform, adding improvised
Music
The cream of electro-pop
audience interaction to note-perfect recreations of Amato’s studio work.
In short, if you’ve leapt aboard the electro-pop bandwagon, Miss Kittin and The Hacker are an unmissable proposition, balancing as they do ironic appropriation with a healthy sense of fun and, best of all, intelligent production that cooks up something timeless out of distinctly retro ingredients. (Jack Mottram)
JAZZ
REID ANDERSON Henry’s Jazz Cellar, Edinburgh, Thu 28 Feb-Fri 1 Mar; CCA, Glasgow, Sat 2 Mar
Assembly Direct's deCision to Cultivate Henry's Jazz Cellar as a venue for international as well as local talent has brOught a series of less heralded but highly impresswe names from the New York jElZZ scene to Scotland. They include pianists George Colligan. DaVid Berkman and Ethan lverson. and trumpeter Cuong Vu. as well as Chicago reedrran Ken Vandermark.
It was always part of the plan that these muSicians xrrould not simply come here and play once. then disappear. Colligan and Berkrran have been back several times. building a following and a good rapport ‘with local ii’lLlSiClans. and the enigmatic lverson has also made a return trip.
The next chapter ll‘. this unfolding story COtl‘tES ‘.r'./l'.ll the arrival of bassist. band leader and con'rposer Beid Anderson for his Scottish debut. Anderson was raised in the Suburbs of Minneapolis. '.'./here
he hooked up with other n‘usic-n‘rinded kids like pianist Craig Taborn and drummer DaVlCl King. who is still part of his trio The Bad Plus 'with Ethan lverson on pianoi.
He eventually moved to New York in 1994. '-.v'.rhere he is now estat:)lishing a growing reputation as one of the Significant creative forces in the ongOing development of JEl/X. His three albums as a leader. Dirty Showtunes. Abolish Bad Architecture and The Vast/fess Of Space all on the Fresh Sotinds New Talent label. have revealed a pox'rerful conceptual thrust 'r)ehinr;l' the music.
Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have responded in laudatorxi fashion. and JEl/X fans here will now get the chance to check him out first hand. lt will be interesting to see how his ideas work in the hands of a home—based band rather than his usual New York cohorts.
That band will feature the three members of Trio AAB. Phil Bancroft lsaxesi. Kfi‘flll MacKen/ie 'gllllfll'l and Tom Bancroft ldrumsi. plus saxophonist Laura lVlacDonald. The Glasgow gig only will als< feature the first performance of Split. a new piece of music by Ton: Bancroft for live lllll)l'()‘\.’lfiélil()ll and electronic iilli:;i(:. in which the (ll'tlll‘tl‘C’l' .'./ill be Joined by saxophoiiisit .Jlilian Ai'giielles.
'Kenny lvlathieson.
FOLK MARTIN HAYES AND DENNIS CAHILL Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Fri 1 Mar
‘Tf‘e :: 2st ::" the trad '. on s ,e: to carve RS one of t.”- ; thought-proxok ng utterances of fati e" Mart " Hales. .-.l‘ose "tense duo perfomxn ,es ‘.'.’!ill Chicago guitarist Dennis Cart. naye "‘C)'.(3(l crit cs tc ooir‘carrsons with Miles Danis' Skefc’les OfSeair? band or C‘Ieue Be en's T'vo. Nos: tr‘at. as the; say. n‘ignt be Iakrng things a wee bit too far. but there's no flté'l’ ‘ the Seatt’e-don‘ioled lrishn‘an's asterisnlng eloquence on his "strove": "e's been a." a r-lrelano chairpion six tines. or his articulate ~ns:gl‘.t into his o.'.r* "XiSlCJ‘Y‘tKIllg.
He {ark erg, "'()ll‘ nrs Clare fari‘ii‘, home as the are prepare for their snort BTIIrSl‘. tour. 'I one the f'ritire. but es. it could b-corre poring i‘ m to..- doing was playing tne friole. The pen, sotm o‘ it htCthl get to ‘,Cu after at; these \, ears. But l'n‘ not really interested l‘. exolorir‘g the instruii‘em: it's the piece of mustc that's rrportant. It’s the "misc 'tsel" that's so aosorbng.’
And. of the." sin‘pLe. “basic acoustic frodie and guitar line-up. he says: ‘For gaite a fe ;.ea"s izoti‘ l} aged in a Chicago fuson band calred lvlidnrgi": Court. Electr c girtar and ‘ioole. It '.'.'as all ii‘uscaE exploration. but exentuallg.’ it became. or I started to ‘eei like a. §§"(7,.":(l.(388 OXIDiOl'E‘tllOl‘. So deeded to go another back to the Mid t one. "fuse. t"e .'.'a;. gone. To some peoele it seen‘s .m-ted. or the idea of iilfi()l‘ seeii‘s r‘<};}£l’.".(‘;. But I look upon the it'i-=a o‘ llélwtlg no 'Il“IlS. of have e\.er'j,".":iig or amt“. "g boss i: e. as "iCDC‘lC‘SS. ‘i".’l‘at l have is a co.!ai30ration with Denim. \‘J-th ". 'i‘ ts. Mainly. | c- a; "‘{-}|()(l".’. he pla;.s l'-’l‘,ilill‘ and barrier»). and cape three things to cont'o. But '.'."at it‘igl‘t see!“ |il<e a sc‘al'. nar‘i‘t tnir‘g becomes a past rai‘uscr‘ipe to explorth
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1-4 let‘ '-‘. Mm THE LIST 43