Scotland's two most wanted

(Morning Star, Saturday 30 April 2005)

ALBUM: Jackie Leven and Ian Rankin - Jackie Leven Said
(Cooking Vinyl)

IAN Rankin and Jackie Leven are two of Scotland's best-known exports in their respective fields.

Sons of Fife, east Scotland, their work is a testament to their upbringings - both men were born and raised in a tough time and place.

Rankin, best known for his straight-talking Detective Rebus is, truth be told, the better known of the two, but a level pegging seems to have been afforded Leven due to the writer's extensive fan-base.

Tracks like Edinburgh Winter Blues betray the darker side of a Scotland that both men can legitimately lay claim to and there is a strident honesty which pervades all of the work, even when the subject matter strays into the fictional in The Haunting of John Rebus.

With two discs humorously titled Fifer Wan (studio tracks) and Fifer Twa (live recording), the album comes across like a souvenir from Fife-Land - the post-industrial working class theme park of hard lives and grizzled faces - but its gritty, complex characterisation and engaging atmosphere resonate long after the music's stopped.

Introducing...

(Morning Star, Saturday 30 April 2005)

IN PROFILE: Editors

IN 2005, it's easier than ever to be a jaded music fan.

The new Smiths, the new Joy Division, the new Oasis, the old Oasis - nothing seems fresh and new and it's hard to take.

But, looking past the music press hyperbole and the horror of music television, there actually are some diamonds in the dirt - a few genuinely soulful acts, boasting melodies of an indie fan's dreams and the talent of an epic superstar act in the making.

Editors are just such a band. Signed to traditionally dancier label Kitchenware and made up of Ed Lay, Chris Urbanowicz, Tom Smith and Russell Leach, these university friends are about to hit the big time - and with good reason.

Freakishly tall singer Smith is dismissive of their hailing as "the new Joy Division" by all neophiliacs, but there is a presence onstage - a gait, an expression - that seems even to the passing observer to be directly influenced by Ian Curtis.

Despite being hailed by rock luminary and New Order bassist Peter Hook as "the new Skids," the band are taking it all in their stride.

"People say that we're heavily influenced by bands like New Order and Joy Division," says guitarist Chris Urbanowicz.

"The truth is, we're too young to have known those bands when they were around. We're just hearing them now."

This could be seen as slightly disingenuous, but the music that Editors make sets them apart from the lazy comparisons which have been scatter-gunned at all new British music, from Bloc Party to the Futureheads.

Take the blissful Munich, all Smith's rumbling baritone and haunting guitars chiming through one of the singles of the year.

And then there's debut single Bullets, marking the band out as a different species from the shouty vocals and thrashy guitars of media darlings the Kaiser Chiefs, a great pop tune with brooding atmospheric overtones.

The as yet untitled album is due out later in the year and is sure to feature some intense Echo and the Bunnymen-styled moments, but so much more besides. Stop the presses.

The Life of Briers

(My Weekly magazine, 23 April 2005)

Bad connection

(Morning Star, Saturday 16 April 2005)

LIVE: Kaiser Chiefs, The Venue, Edinburgh

KIRSTIE MAY checks out the band of the moment, but is left feeling empty by their stand-offish live performance.

What a curious thing the British music press is. It spends its whole existence scrabbling round for the next big thing, for the next bunch of poor clueless indie heads to coo over and preen.

Then, once this honeymoon period is over, they lambast the said band publicly with searing wit and curt asides highlighting how lame their music, style or hair is. And the cycle begins again.

Leeds' Kaiser Chiefs have already been bitten once by the fame game - under the guise of early noughties also-rans Parva. Some of the band found out about the industry's fickle nature the not-so-easy way.

While not quite reaching the cover star stage then, their experience left them clued up enough to enjoy it all now without commitment, to lap up the praise but not be afraid to give two fingers to it all if need be - adamant, it seems, that they won't get fooled again.

Their Employment tour, in support of the debut album of the same name, is their biggest British tour to date. Like last night in Glasgow's Barrowlands, the boys seem to take it all in their stride at the Venue.

Any notion of substance here are pretty much forgotten. Style is paramount.

Both onstage and in the crowd, the de rigeur painfully cool sneer is prevalent as neighbours quietly covet each other's three-buttoned mod jackets.

Watching Ricky Wilson jerk around the stage like a loopy marionette, it's easy to see why the Kaisers are being touted as the band of "yoof."

Their own style belies a lively modernity, though the tuneful guitar-laden pop that they churn out is plainly modelled on everything that's come before, from 1960s mod and Merseybeat to 1970s and '80s alt-pop from the likes of The Jam - good clean-cut boys who can craft a fine song.

Tunes like twice-released single Oh My God are worthy of a mention - there's clearly a knack to writing singalong songs and this is one of the few bands around at the moment who have it.

Similarly, I Predict a Riot is a perfect gig tune, giving the perfect opportunity for affectedly cool pogoing, and future release Everyday I Love You Less and Less screams indie disco-friendly with a fantastic title refrain reminiscent of the open loathing displayed in songs like The Smiths' Unhappy Birthday.

The problem with the Chiefs and Wilson, in particular, is that their lack of commitment, their standoffishness and their "seen it all before" ethos makes it hard to connect to them as a music fan.

The Kaisers do have plenty going for them - their immense tunes stand tall among the very best in the genre, even when stripped of the passion that they should be showcasing.

This makes them the perfect album band, even if they do come up somewhat short on the live front.

But, at the end of the day, it's hard not to feel like the Kaisers' "other woman‚" - they're with you, but they're clearly thinking of something else the whole time.

Idle Warnings Wild Promises - Idlewild interview

(SFM, April 2005)