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Review: Lake Komo – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 26 October 2016

30/10/2016

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Lake Komo are one of the hottest indie-folk outfits to hit the mainstream scene recently, receiving radio play from Radio One on their latest single ‘Milkwaukee’.

The Manchester four-piece features Pete Bentley on bass, Liam Maxwell on drums, Jess Gould on keyboard and frontman Jay Nudd on vocals and guitar. We caught them live at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh to hear the back catalogue and they showed a lot of potential through their setlist.

Nudd’s vocals are comfortably strong enough to lead the group’s indie-rock numbers, though the frontman does make regular use of a vocoder and regularly, possibly too regularly, moves into falsetto. He’s best though when sticking to his rough rock range though – the higher pitch feels forced at times and disrupts the flow of certain songs.

Gould is strong on keyboard and backing vocals and gives the group a unique talking point with original synth work. Bentley and Maxwell are both slick and play with precision as well. The bulk of the set sounds inspired by the likes of Thom Yorke and Ben Howard, though there are some notable exceptions.


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Review: We Are Scientists - The Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, 24 October 2016

30/10/2016

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In 2005, We Are Scientists released an absolute classic. 'With Love and Squalor' was an album packed with punky energy, killer riffs and relatable lyrics. Since then, the Americans have released four more great albums. Therefore, limiting their back catalogue to 18 or so songs seems like a very difficult process, especially considering the popularity of their major label debut.

​At their gig at the Liquid Rooms, We Are Scientists started their set by assuring the audience that they are aware of With Love and Squalor's popularity. They started their set with its incredible album track,  'The Scene Is Dead'. This theme carried through the set with six songs being played from the album, outnumbering the songs  from this year's Helter Seltzer.

The band have really evolved since With Love and Squalor though. A lot of the raw simplicity of the album is no longer a part of their sound and replacing it is a much richer sound. This is not to say new songs are worse. 'Buckle' from Helter Seltzer and 'Dumb Luck' from 2014's  TV en Français are among the sets early highlights.

The later songs also display how proficient the band are. Keith Murray plays so many intricate guitar licks, even whilst singing. There's always a danger of a sounding of flat when, like We Are Scientists with their later albums, bands are strip back their music to be played by a three piece. Chris Kain's frenetic yet well rounded bass playing alongside Keith Carne's powerful drumming, however, more than makes up for the lack of instruments being played.


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Live Review: Warpaint - Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 23 October

24/10/2016

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Photo: Miles Welstead
There’s something serene about letting yourself get taken away by the music when you’re watching Warpaint jam – though ‘listening’ would probably be a more appropriate word than ‘watching’. It’s hard not to close your eyes and just leave the world behind when the LA four-piece hit full flow.

We caught the all-female line up touring third album ‘Heads Up’ at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh. It was a completely indulgent performance, and we mean that in the most satisfying way.

The group conjure up an incredible atmosphere the second they break the silence, simple yet carefully placed drum beats tying together dreamy guitar work, at times precise, at others entirely improvised.

They kick the set off slow and sensually, with ‘Heads Up’, ‘Bees’, ‘Hi’ and ‘No Way Out’. It’s hard to believe it’s just the four of them up there on stage. The sounds they produce are at times otherworldly; completely encapsulating the audience before bringing them back with toe-tapping loops much easier to track back to their LA roots.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: We Are Scientists

21/10/2016

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We Talk Rainbow 6, Rebecca Black and
​Throwing Pies With American Alt-Rockers
We Are Scientists

We Are Scientists are arguably the world's funniest band. They meet everything they do, including music videos, on-stage banter and TV appearances with a charmingly wacky enthusiasm. Aside from We Are Scientists, we'd struggle to name any other bands who have had their own comedy show on television. The Monkees?

As funny as the duo are, the brilliance of their music should not be overshadowed. We Are Scientists are one of most prolific bands originating from the mid noughties indie rock wave. This year, they released their 6th LP, Helter Seltzer and, like all of their previous albums, it's filled with catchy, exciting and lyrically honest alt-rock anthems.

We spoke to lead singer and guitarist Keith Murray ahead of their UK tour and asked whether it was hard whittling such a strong back catalogue into an hour and a half long setlist.

“When it comes to making a setlist, I'm a real slave to the single. When it's left up to me, I just go through our albums and say “Well, these are the three singles from this one, these are the three singles from this one and then that's a 15 song setlist right there. Then, I just toss in a couple of other album favourites. Now, there are some who would argue that that doesn't make for the most dynamic setlist. Chris, for example likes when we do B sides and stuff on our EPs that people don't hear all the time. I think it makes life more difficult for Chris who has a more nuanced setlist creation. I just want to go in there like a blunt hammer and just play all the hits so, for me, it makes life very easy.”

We enquire whether there were any of their most popular songs he would be quite happy to never play again. Whether We Are Scientists had a 'Creep' or 'Stairway To Heaven' taking the place of songs that the band would rather play.

“We switch out the singles sometimes. Even if I don't really care for a song, audience enthusiasm goes a long way towards making me enjoy playing it so even the crappiest song: if the audience likes it, I'll be excited for it.”

Since third LP, Brain Thrust Mastery, We Are Scientists have added a much richer production to their songs. We asked Keith how difficult it is relearning the songs given the band's minimal live set up (a guitar, a bass and a drum kit.)

“Yeah, it is pretty difficult when there are three guitar parts on the recording to try to distil it down to one guitar. Even on the albums where the production is a little more extravagant, they were all written just on a bass guitar with vocals recorded over it as a demo so they can all be translated. Sometimes the audience has to be willing for the version of the song to be slightly different. We tend to play our songs live with a little more frenetic energy than on the album anyway so I think once you've established that the live version of the song is a little different in its tone and vibe, you can sort of get away with treating it as if you're playing kind of a cover of your own song.

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Review: Nimmo - O2 ABC Glasgow, 14 October 2016

15/10/2016

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We’ve been fans of London electro-pop five-piece Nimmo ever since we caught them at the Hidden Door festival in Edinburgh in late May 2016.

They’ve been up to a lot since then. Not only have they released a bunch of singles, Nimmo have got themselves a headline tour of the UK coming up in November, done a whole load of festival gigs and received some pretty substantial endorsements from Annie Mac, who we trust indefinitely.

We caught Nimmo as they took to the stage at the O2 ABC in Glasgow in support of Danish singer MØ, and just as at Hidden Door, they impressed again.

The five-piece opened with their new single ‘Dancing Makes Us Brave’, named Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World on 5 October. What we love about Nimmo is the disco ambience that floats from the stage as soon as they get going. It’s all performed completely live and they generate energy with seemingly effortless effervescence.

Nimmo have a double front-woman set up with Sarah Nimmo and Reva Gauntlett leading the group. Their vigour matches the vitality of their unique sound; something along the lines of La Roux meets Jamie XX meets Hot Chip. Strong, confident vocals carry over melodic electro-pop keyboard loops it’s impossible not to move to.

The drumming is the perfect metronome, delivered with precision and sitting almost subtly under the more prominent parts of the soundtrack while still commanding the pace of the sidestepping in the audience. The minimalistic drum beat on ‘UnYoung’ combined with playful keyboard loops is irresistible.

‘Dilute This’ is somewhat of a synth-pop power ballad, ‘My Only Friend’ a simple yet perfectly measured dance banger and Nimmo’s cover of DJ Rui da Silva’s ‘Touch Me’ is absolutely spot on.

As with any supporting performance, the big ABC venue wasn’t as busy as Nimmo probably deserved for their set, but it’s not hard to imagine the London outfit delivering their dynamic dance tunes to packed-out crowds in the very near future. They’re back in Glasgow to headline The Rum Shack on 20 November, and we’d recommend you get along.

Stuart Kenny - 4/5 stars
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