20 MusicWeek 01.06.12 GONORTHCD THE NORTH STARS
To celebrate another music-packed gathering at the GoNorth festival in Inverness, Music Week and the event organisers combine to showcase yet another bevy of the fresh talent on display
01 VIGO THIEVES HEARTBEATS
Formed in Wishaw in 2008, Vigo Thieves have been writing furiously since the release of their Love Is Dead EP last year. Now with ambitious two part EP Heart & Soul
ready to go, the young fourpiece are setting up for an assault on the year ahead. Having already sold out the King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut New Year’s Revolution show in January, and with backing from the likes of BBC Radio 1 Scotland’s Vic Galloway and Ally McCrae as well as the voice of new music in Scotland, Jim Gellatly, 2012 looks set to be their breakthrough year.
02
CHRIS DEVOTION & THE EXPECTATIONS A MODEST REFUSAL
Fond of a little savage rock‘n’roll and a pert frolic with the classic pop song, Chris Devotion & The Expectations formed in Glasgow in 2010. Rapidly garnering praise
across a host of respected media, and described by BBC Scotland’s Vic Galloway as “The Ramones, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements having a punchup", they dropped their debut, Amalgamation and Capital, to critical acclaim earlier this year.
03 IAIN MCLAUGHLIN & THE OUTSIDERS THE LIGHT
From Inverness come the aptly named The Outsiders
spearheading a burgeoning musical scene in the UK’s most northerly city. Iain McLaughlin has lived in Inverness most of his life and established himself as an integral and dynamic part of the city’s musical environment. Often compared to a cross between Kings Of Leon and Queens Of The Stone Age or like Neil Young brawling with The Stooges, the music he writes combines layers of sound and catchy melodies with something darker, something dirtier. It’s a sound that also draws on the big skies and wide horizons of the north of Scotland, music that could only come where it was made.
Nelson Can are an allfemale trio from Denmark, influenced by the likes of The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dead Weather and The Gossip. They released their debut EP to critical acclaim in January this year and have recently confirmed an appearance at Roskilde Festival. The band will make their UK debut at goNORTH 2012.
05 STANLEY ODD THE DAY I WENT DEAF
Stanley Odd are an Edinburgh based alternative hiphop band suffusing live instrumentation with samples and
loops. Formed in 2009, they released debut album Oddio the following year to critical acclaim across a host of respected media. Continuing to develop this early artistic drive, the band found a stronger, more coherent voice with 2011 EPs Pure Antihero Material and The Day I Went Deaf. The sixpiece have shared billing with the likes of Arrested Development, Sage Francis and Goldie Looking Chain and appeared at festivals including T In The Park and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party.
06 THEM & US ME AND MY FRIEND
Them & Us are teenagers Mark Mackenzie and Liam
Macleod, a producer duo that came together at the end of 2011. Rapidly developing as artists, they have built a strong fanbase across the north of Scotland sharing billing with the likes of Annie Mac and Simian Mobile Disco. They released their debut offering The Bomb earlier this year, with followup Life’s Too Short set to drop this summer on Dave Spoon’s highly respected Televizion label.
04 NELSON CAN APPLE PIE 07 OLYMPIC SWIMMERS Mt NOAH
Olympic Swimmers formed in 2009, having all previously played together in various other projects. The positive experiences
of these collaborations, their friendships, some shared genetics and a marriage certificate brought them together, and they use a strange concoction of Low, Broken Social Scene and the Cocteau Twins as reference points for their music. Olympic Swimmers selfreleased two recordings in 2009 and 2010, and in 2011 entered the studio with acclaimed producer Iain Cook (Aereogramme/ The Unwinding Hours) with their debut scheduled for release on June 4.
08 ESPERI PROVERB
Esperi is a project fronted by singersongwriter Chris James Marr, a skilled multiinstrumentalist whose material ranges from acoustic storytelling to expansive, looped
electronica, skillfully remaining both thought provoking and incredibly uplifting. Live he uses a host of instruments from the conventional to the unusual, including his signature rainbowcoloured bells which he plays with his feet! Esperi has supported the likes of KT Tunstall, The Pictish Trail, Gomez, Andy Mckee and many more.
09 RED KITES BEAT IN TIME
Recruiting a selection of likeminded musicians at Guilford Academy of Contemporary Music, young
Highland artist Moteh Parrot formed Red Kites in September 2011. Driven by a shared love of intense folk and contemporary rock, the collective vision was clear from their first rehearsal – to write exciting, honest music and to go as far as possible whilst retaining a fierce DIY approach. Delivering their debut offering Beat in Time in April this year, the fourpiece are currently touring the UK.
10 HONNINGBARNA BORGERSKAPETS UTAKKNEMLIGE SONNER
Described by
Clash.com as “Norway’s most exciting new band”, Honningbarna won the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy this year and were also nominated for
Best Newcomer. A ferociously uncompromising live prospect, the young fivepiece released their debut album La Alarmane Gå in March 2011 to a strong critical response, before going on to land over 20 festival slots across Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Iceland.
11 LADY NORTH RUB N SCRUB
During the past 12 months, Edinburghbased Lady North have emerged as one Scotland’s most exciting live prospects. Having released their debut offering on Gerry
Loves Records last summer, 2011 saw the band garner praise across a host of respected media for their pneumatic mathrock. Eschewing standard musical structures, they tear convention apart, incorporating wider strains of funk, reggae and prog to create a blisteringly original sound. Highlighted as one of the standout acts on last year’s T Break Stage at T In The Park, and named as one of Vic Galloway’s Scottish Artists to Watch in 2012, this year promises big things for one of the country’s most inventive new bands.
12 CLEAVERS SPEAK! SPEAK!
In the past year Cleavers have toured the UK from basements and wood panelled pubs to mid sized venues, played in Scandinavia, sold a small mountain of Tshirts,
printed several trees’ worth of stickers, self released their own vinyl, been played on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, Radio Scotland, Clyde 1, Northsound and have even been tipped as one of BBC Radio Scotland’s Top 35 Scottish Artists to watch 2012. Their incredibly energetic live shows include iPod synths, cake giveaways, stage invasions, erratic jamming and pop melodies in between bursts of ferocious garage punk rock.
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