That Franz Ferdinand's an intellectual, innit.

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From the Press Association:

Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos is to follow in the footsteps of Mikhail Gorbachev and Stephen Hawking, it emerged today.

The singer will discuss Scotland's role in making music in the 21st century during The Edinburgh Lectures next month.

Kapranos will deliver his views on Scots music at the University of Edinburgh's Reid Hall on February 12.

The annual lectures were started in 1992 and have featured contributions from 130 speakers including former Soviet leader Mr Gorbachev, Brief History of Time author Professor Hawking, the Princess Royal, ex-racing driver Jackie Stewart and broadcaster John Simpson.

Lesley Hinds, the Lord Provost for Edinburgh, said: "I hope that the input from Alex, who is at the cutting edge of popular culture, will capture the imagination of Edinburgh's young people and introduce a new generation to The Edinburgh Lectures."

se3_uk
The Music Radar

― se3_uk (se3_uk), Thursday, 13 January 2005 11:53 (twenty years ago)

So? He's not going to stand up there and go "Um, I dunno really" is he?

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 13 January 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

i'd like to see more Scottish ladies making the technopop

also, Midlothian grime

― Stevem On X (blueski), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

"capture the imagination of Edinburgh's young people and introduce a new generation to The Edinburgh Lectures." - what a very edinburgh way of dealing with music. This is why we have almost no decent music here. This and the festival. And all the people with jobs at financial services companies. and that we're a tiny wee town.

xpost

"i'd like to see more Scottish ladies making the technopop" = bis

― hmmm (hmmm), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:03 (twenty years ago)

Dude, check out Motormark and Uter. Then there's Swimmer One's tune with Cora Bisset. That's bloody lovely. More electro than techno, but it's all good.
Bis are no more, but Manda Rin is managing the rather groovy electro-punk quartet Multiplies, and the blokes are making really sweet Optimo friendly electro stuff as Dirty Hospital.
Midlothian grime - now that is an idea.

― stew, Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

I like swimmer one. I don't know Motormark or Uter. Dirty hospital I am aware of but have not had the pleasure of as yet. I head Manda's band that she started after bis so do nit hold out much hope for the multiples. Do you know Moniak?

― hmmm (hmmm), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

have you heard swimmer one do "cloudbusting" with cora? it's jaw-droppingly immense. mind, andrew does a bloody good job of it himself when he sings it too.

glad to see some love for the swimmers here.

dirty hospital disappointed me hugely when i saw them at the swimmer one/hoboken electrofest thing in edinburgh in december. i grew to love bis, particularly their last album, but this stuff seemed to be devoid of any melodic impulses whatsoever. that said: i was very drunk, and might have missed a trick or two.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:18 (twenty years ago)

motormark ... the ones that dress in red and black? hmm. have they got better, then? :p

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:19 (twenty years ago)

I have only heard swimmer one do cloudbusting without cora. I don't know the original so I guess that lessens the impact somewhat.

― hmmm (hmmm), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:23 (twenty years ago)

i dunno. i think they've made it their own, to be honest. they've given it a synth sound not unlike someone beating sheet metal, and that's the way it should be.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:26 (twenty years ago)

The tune with Cora I've heard is How Could You Call This Thing Love. Not heard Cloudbusting unfortunately. I'm sure I'll catch a Swimmer One gig at some point.
I know Cora cos she writes for Ideas Factory. She's a hottie!

Saw Dirty Hospital play Mono with Motormark and the Magnificents the night before the Edinburgh gig.
Maybe I was drunk, but it sounded pretty groovy and very danceable.
Motormark were a bit samey, but they were fun to watch. They had the red and black thing going on, but the girl added a pink tutu to her outfit. Nice touch.
Magnificents were pretty kick ass.
The Kitchen was Manda Rin's post bis band. Only heard one song, but it wasn't very good. Multiplies don't have any screechy vocals, just wiggly synths backed by a tight live band. They've added some proper songs with vocals, which are a bit disappointing cos they just sound like The Faint or The Killers or whoever, but their instrumentals are fun. Plenty of instrument swapping and jumping around, so it's all good.

― stew, Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:33 (twenty years ago)

"how could something like that be love?", isn't it?

sorry. when you start getting pedantic about swimmer one song titles, you know something's gone wrong with your life.

i'm annoyed i didn't see multiplies at tut's last weekend. they sound to me like a junior trans am, which is no bad thing at all.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

That's it. A bit of a mouthful that. Lovely song though.

Uter admittedly only have one girl - Marceline who runs Diskant - as a member, but their ep on Oskaar is worth checking out. Kraftwerk meets JAMC. Nice.

The Tuts gig was good. I've still got to write my review for ITM? though. Saw Multiplies over a year ago at the Art School, which was more fun, but then I was right up front then. More things went wrong for them, which made for a more entertaining show. And they were showing Devo videos on a screen behind. None of that at Tuts unfortunately.
Trans Am are one of these bands I mean to check out. Electro-punk type stuff is not one of my areas of expertise, but there's lots of it about, so it pays to know the influences.

― stew, Thursday, 13 January 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

trans am are godlike on record, and skullfuckingly mindblowing live. i've only got three ... four? i can't remember ... of their records; there's a lot to choose from. everyone says red line is wonderful, but i don't have it. i must rectify that.

futureworld is probably as good a starting point as any. but you MUST see them live next time they play. they did tut's last year during triptych and it was immense.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 January 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Alex Kapranos is of Greek heritage and as such should teach.

― Stavros, Thursday, 13 January 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

Cheers Grimly. To slsk I shall go.
Maybe they'll come back for more Triptych. I have my contact on the inside (well, hardly, I'm just pals with one of the PRs), so I'll keep you posted. More of those mad Tramway rolling gigs please!

― stew, Thursday, 13 January 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

And here's me thinking he was really Alex Huntley, ex- of the Yummy Fur.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 13 January 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

And here's me thinking he was really Alex Huntley, ex- of the Yummy Fur.

Alex Kapranos really was Alex Huntley -- only for a short while. He temporarily adopted his mother's maiden name as his own last name because of anti-Greek sentiments he was experiencing at the time. Yes, his mother is from England and as such he is half-English, but his father is from Athens (IIRC) and Alex was partly raised in Greece so, well, he also has a right to claim Greek heritage.

― Samantha Baker (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 13 January 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

As he writes a song that doesn't rip of the Gang Of Four I'll listen Shopping for Blood my arse.

― si carter, Friday, 14 January 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

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