Fiona Shepherd

6 days ago | scotsman.com | Fiona Shepherd

The Kooks: Never/Know (Virgin) ★★★Billy Nomates: Metalhorse (Invada Records) ★★★★Louise Connell: Clients of Suddenness (Last Night From Glasgow) ★★★My Glass World: Stranded Assets (Luxury Noise Records) ★★★★Like many bands who rode in on the coattails of Britpop, the appeal of Brighton outfit The Kooks has proved durable. Twenty years and seven albums in, two founding members remain – frontman Luke Pritchard and guitarist Hugh Harris – and it’s time for something of a musical reset.

1 week ago | scotsman.com | Fiona Shepherd

Twenty One Pilots, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★ Ohio duo Twenty One Pilots started out playing shows across the hardcore metal and hip-hop scenes but have now, thanks to frontman Tyler Joseph’s commercial songwriting chops, become a band who can do a bit of everything fairly well. The only hardcore element of this smart arena show was the band’s bottomless appetite for playing with the space and the pumped-up physicality with which they pulled off their stunts.

1 week ago | scotsman.com | Fiona Shepherd

Peter Doherty: Felt Better Alive (Strap Originals) ★★★Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke: Tall Tales (Warp) ★★★★Rebecca Vasmant: Who We Are, Becoming (New Soil) ★★★★ Whether Camden Town or Clerkenwell, Margate Pier or coastal Normandy, Libertines/Babyshambles frontman Peter Doherty hoovers up influences from his ’hood and imports them straight into song in gonzo reportage style.

1 week ago | scotsman.com | Fiona Shepherd

The Flaming Lips, Usher Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★Every Flaming Lips gig is an occasion but this show was a particular celebration of the Oklahoma alchemists’ 2002 quasi-concept album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. This joyful, thoughtful collection has inspired a stage musical, though it was hard to imagine a more vivid theatrical performance than the one delivered by the band themselves. “Three minutes until showtime,” announced a disembodied voice which sounded a lot like frontman Wayne Coyne.

2 weeks ago | scotsman.com | Fiona Shepherd

Chase & Status, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★ A full 20 years into their career, Chase & Status, aka electronica duo Saul Milton and Will Kennard, finally hit the top of the charts last year with their Stormzy collaboration Backbone. That merited some serious pyrotechnics, launched onstage and above the crowd to open their latest arena tour and herald the arrival of a group who are never knowingly understated. Pumping party tunes, particularly with a rumbling jungle or hip-hop base, are their signature.