Limbo 039 - Thursday 21st August 2008
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This week's Limbo is ANOTHER triple bill. Triple woop! Headlining are Glasgow's POPUP, who we have also been haranguing to play Limbo since last year, they're that good. After an intense two-year graft, they are now on the brink of a major crossover. Catch them while they're HOT! KARTTA make their Limbo debut at the end of a national tour which should see them break out of their native Aberdeen for good. They cite Canadian indie legends Broken Social Scene as a BIG influence and we're feeling it. TIE FOR JACK bring up the rearguard for Edinburgh, also at the tail end of a national tour, boasting as many fans, an equally current indie-rock sound and some infectious songs to boot.
 
'The Red Well are a band that play songs by a man called The Red Well. The band are signed to a small record label called Fence Records. The Red Well have based themselves in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.' (band's myspace)
 There's little scope to fault them in terms of rocking out. This band gives Edinburgh a good name."
(The Bluesbunny-Independent Music Reviews)
The Red Well took tradition and ripped it to pieces with a dirty grungey set which built to a climax that would have put many 'proper' rock bands to shame." (Is This Music? Live Review)
myspace.com/theredwell |
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ALSO COMING UP
Also coming up at Limbo: Popup, Sparrow & The Workshop, Meursault, The Red Well plus loads of other buzzing brand new acts.
CHEAP DRINKS! 
Don't forget you can take advantage of £2 bottles from any of the Voodoo Rooms' three bars by showing your Limbo wrist-band to the bartender. REHEARSAL SPACE? 
The Black Spring Rooms: competitive prices, friendly service, easy access and no fuss for as little as £7 / hour; free parking on site + six bus routes to service it in Leith. More info here VENUE INFO 
Limbo takes place at The Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street, Edinburgh.
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One of the finest bands on the Scottish circuit just now, Popup have been keeping a pretty low profile this year, having put the finishing touches to their debut album and then immediately started work on their sophmore output without pausing for breath. Bar a headline spot at the recent Dunstaffanage festival and a few foreign jaunts, it's been all (studio-bound) work work work with very few live outings.
The Kartta tour stops in Edinburgh, as they threaten to break out of their native Aberdeen for good. There's an over-riding sense of American indie-rock about this quintet who currently have a deal with a Japanese label (Hiramika Records). They cite Broken Social Scene as an influence. They have an ear for a good melody and use unlikely instruments such as glockenspiel, jingle bells, melodica, miniature accordian and a Korg keyboard to create a sound that's quite different from the generic indie-rock morass. They also have quite a fine lyrical style. Something with some substance then.
Tie For Jack are a young Edinburgh six-piece who write energetic, rocking indie-pop. Here's what they told us:
Dead Boy Robotics talk about acts such as Crystal Castles, Best Fwends and Xiu Xiu on their space but omit to mention their love of British dance/electronica acts such as James Holden and Nathan Fake (Border Community) and US experimental punks The Liars. While the myspace offers only a few, albeit teasing, hints as to this outfit's sound, these aforementioned influences really come to the fore when you see them play live. Facing one another, at right angles to the audience, with their synths in front of them and angular hair-cuts also forming a natty mirror image (with Gregor's fringe combed one way and Mike's the other), Dead Boy Robotics cut a fine dash on stage. They've just got back into playing live together after a year-long hiatus and their recent support for US aces Ratatat was their first gig in about a year, so we're not expecting the tightest performance. But there's a certain charm and naive honesty about Dead Boy Robotics which comes across when they play and, combined with their genre-crunching fusion of punk and dance sounds (such a fashionable style just now), suggests they've got what it takes to go all the way. We're looking forward to working with Dead Boy Robotics a lot more in the future and watching their progress. Keep your eyes peeled for an album forthcoming on Neil 'Meursault' Pennycook's Bear Scotland label.
Miss The Occupier plough a more traditional sonic furrow but they do so while usurping some of those traditions with aplomb, especially lead singer Roz, who embodies that classic juxtaposition of outward innocence and frailty with inner sassiness and strength as only a front-woman can. Roz is quite clearly the star of Miss The Occupier. Everything about her, from the shocking pink bob to the tattoo of a rose hovering delicately above her chest region to the way she plays her bass guitar, suggests Roz knows exactly what makes an audience tick. Having been unable to get a sound check at all, it takes a while for the band to find their stride and they're obviously having difficulty hearing themselves on stage. So it's as much a testament also to the skill of drummer Ione and guitarist Magnus as the quality of their songs that once they crack into stand-out tracks All Night and Girlfriend So Crazy the room temperature goes up and we remember the reason we booked them. As the late, great John Peel would have said: Excellent stuff!
Also, we were extremely shocked and saddened to hear the tragic news that Stephen Edgar (another regular photographer at Limbo) died very suddenly last week. Stephen managed the band My Electric Love Affair, who we put on at least a couple of times back in the day at Limbo's fore-runner night, Dfrnt Drum. He was always a very lively, colourful and cheery character, who helped us out on a number of occasions and whose work was recently the subject of an exhibition at Edinburgh City Library on George IV Bridge. RIP Stephen, you will be missed. Should anyone wish to pay their respects, we understand there is a funeral this week. Our thoughts our with his family and friends.
Far and away one of our favourite live acts to have emerged in Edinburgh in the last year, Meursault take their name from the work of French existentialist philosopher Albert Camus but the bleak images singer-songwriter Neil Pennycock conjures with his plaintive voice belie a much broader palette of emotions than Camus' eponymous monochrome protagonist ever exhibits in The Outsider. And with the genius addition of laptop electronica, accordion, mandolin and ukelele, the wealth of colour, light and joy he adds to his songs makes them each a thing of singular beauty. Imagine The Aphex Twin duelling with Thom Yorke (which actually ought to happen, given the debt owed to the former by the latter, post Ok Computer, but that's another yarn). The Drowned In Sound review of their Limbo debut in March was no less complimentary. Read it in full 
'Hi, we are Sparrow and the Workshop, and we've been going since about January 2008. We are three: Jill O'Sullivan from somewhere in the midwest of America, Gregor Donaldson from somewhere in the midwest of Scotland and Nicholas Packer from southwest Wales. Gregor once played drums to the Star Wars theme on the Blue Peter TV show! Blue Peter!!! Jill has also been on TV too. She was once interviewed by WGN Channel 9 on her sledding abilities. The hill was glorious and so was her sled. Nick has never had a TV, so he's unaware of any potential 10 seconds of fame.' (band's myspace)