MUSIC | Reviews
BLUES ROCK JACK WHITE Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 8 Nov ●●●●●
Jack White’s come a long way since the days he could comfortably make a racket as part of a power duo with Meg in the White Stripes. A couple of regular bands have followed in between, and now for his first solo album, Blunderbuss, he’s touring with two individual sextets, the all-female Peacocks and all-male bar-room bluesers Los Buzzardos, who each supported him for alternate halves of the set here. At this rate, expect a philharmonic orchestra to be rolled out for the next record. In this context it was a show that was
both surprising and comfortably predictable. Musically, White’s never going to stray too far from the plot – chugging, blunt-instrument guitar riffs turned up so the floor vibrates, and a vocal performance that’s somewhere between a shriek and a yelp – but at least the format here is designed to mix that up as much as possible. The Peacocks set was certainly the most visually memorable, with the black-clad White standing in the middle of the stage while the elegantly white-dressed women fanned out in a semi-circle around him. This part of the show also represented a
musical change from the norm, if only a slight one, with a country edge coming over strongly in most of the tracks (that’s the genre most of the women make their day-to day living in). There was, for example, a fiddle-assisted take on the White Stripes’ ‘Hotel Yorba’ and a more mellow rootsiness to tracks from Blunderbuss including ‘Hypocritical Kiss’ and the title song. It was a nice and not unfamiliar change of pace from White’s usual style, although a certain meatiness returned with the Led Zeppelin crunch of Dead Weather’s ‘I Cut Like a Buffalo’ and the hard-to-resist singalong chorus of The Raconteurs’ ‘Steady as She Goes’, both examples of his mid-period career.
By contrast, Los Buzzardos were positively macho, taking the stage with a strut and a squeal of overdriven feedback for ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ and ‘Trash Tongue Talker’. Hank Williams’ ‘You Know That I Know’ was reborn as a blues holler and ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’ held a raw bluegrass element, but this section of the show was where White’s somewhat trad but eternally exciting instincts as an unreconstructed guitar-rocker were best exercised, as demonstrated by a terrifically raucous ‘Seven Nation Army’. Finally, inviting both bands on for a mournful version of country standard ‘Goodnight Irene’ was a touching way to end the last date of this tour. (David Pollock)
78 THE LIST 15 Nov–13 Dec 2012
ICY POP ROCK POLICA SWG3, Glasgow, Fri 2 Nov ●●●●● ROCK/ALT METZ The Art School, Glasgow, Mon 22 Oct ●●●●●
It’s Minneapolis outfit Poliça’s first time in Scotland, says singer Channy Leaneagh, and we can tell it'll be the last they’re in a modest-sized venue like SWG3. Disregarding approval they’ve already had from Jay-Z and Bon Iver, they’re a collection of carefully-sculpted features which point towards significant critical success, not least the willowy, stylishly-cropped brunette Leaneagh’s magazine- shifting good looks and a voice finely tuned for commercial success, a three-way split between Evanescence’s Amy Lee, The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan and Florence Welch.
Yet, for the very reason of their suitability for the chart’s upper reaches, Poliça are enjoyable without straining the imagination. Leaneagh marshals a wash of electronics and sings with a wholehearted holler on ‘Fist Teeth Money’ (‘it doesn’t make any sense, but it actually does if you think about it,’ she explains), while dubby basslines ring out. It’s the two-drumkit assault which really defines their sound, though, striking and definitive, yet somewhat gimmicky in the context of the pop fluff surrounding them. (David Pollock)
There are some in Glasgow, the majority you might say, who still see ‘Capitol’, where others see ‘The Art School’. But whatever the décor – or reputation – being holed up in a bunker just big enough to house the sweaty, loyal few who dare enter on a cold Monday seems fitting for tonight’s bill. After spluttering emotional leanings of local folks,
Great Cop, Dundee’s Fat Goth plant a firm foot with their all-you-can-eat riff chunk buffet. Despite their cartoon villain-esque bark where a gravel- throated, desert-roaming bluesman should be, Fat Goth’s set is iron-clad, but ultimately a sludged-out fluffer to Metz’s money shot. On their first visit to Scotland, Metz are hyped-up, drunk and painfully loud. But the glove fits. Their self-titled debut, out a few weeks back, was born to be heard in this environment; you’re so close to the speakers you feel it in your teeth and there’s little room to do much else but throw your body into unattractive spasms – band included. Tonight is a revision class on the power of minimalism or how to take guitar, bass and drums, and punish/pleasure a crowd in equal measure. (Ryan Drever)
EXPERIMENTAL/ELECTRONIC ISLAJA Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh, Wed 24 Oct ●●●●● ALL DAY CITY FESTIVAL HADDOWFEST Various venues, Edinburgh, Sun 28 Oct ●●●●●
‘It will all work out fine,’ murmurs Merja Kokkonen, aka Finnish chanteuse Islaja, standing before her keyboard. Kokkonen is sounding decidedly snuffly for her return trip to Edinburgh. Islaja’s appearance is a slightly downbeat climax to a quadruple bill of very different electronic imaginings. First up is Anak-Anak, solo guise of Conquering Animal Sound vocalist and knob twiddler Anneke Kampman, whose looped warbles sound like a strangely penetrating and appositely spartan chorale. ‘Raven ‘Shuns is a noise-scene supergroup of Rhian Thompson, aka CK Dexter Haven, Stuart Arnot and Susan Fitzpatrick, who record as Acrid Lactations for their own Total Vermin label. It’s a quiet riot of toytown scrapings that might just have discovered the true sound of string. Tomutonttu (pictured) is fellow Finn, Jan Anderzen and a table-top of FX pedals with which he conjures up an urgent sci-fi stew. Islaja herself opens with an analogue instrumental with nods to John Carpenter’s early, synth-based film soundtracks before an understated set of breathily classicist ditties. Like the woman said, it worked out fine. (Neil Cooper)
With an extra hour in bed on the Sunday, you'd have forgiven many Haddowfest goers for turning up late. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, as a packed Whistlebinkies saw Broken Records kick off the all-day music festival. The Edinburgh six-piece of drums, guitars, violin, trumpet and keys gave a powerful lunchtime performance, to blow away any lingering cobwebs from Hallowe’en parties. Rock duo Gold Lions gave a superb performance at The Caves; The Stagger Rats' uplifting set left the crowd shouting for more; Dundee’s finest Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher, brought a relaxed folk feel (enjoyed by The View's lead singer Kyle Falconer) and Meursault delivered emotionally charged indie folk.
Then it was onto The Picture House for the day’s main event; The Cribs at their blistering best. The Wakefield brothers kicked off with ‘Come on, Be a No-One’ before hits including ‘Our Bovine Public’ and ‘Men’s Needs’. With crowd surfing, pints hurled through the air and a mosh pit, they brought the curtain down on this year’s hugely successfully Haddowfest. (Matt Ward)