NEWNEWMUSICMUSICBy JIM GELLATLYBy JIM GELLATLY

PROFISEEWHERE: EdinburghFOR FANS OF: DizzeeRascal, Wu-Tang Clan, SwayJIM SAYS: Profisee’s beenmaking music for a whilenow, so is perhaps a strangeone to feature in a NewMusic column.He’s only just released his

debut album though, and ashe continues to push hissounds forward, it sounds asfresh as ever.Raised in the north-west of

England, Nike Oruh arrivedin Scotland as a student in1996.He first came to the fore as

part of Yard Emcees, theEdinburgh outfit that secureda record deal with One LittleIndian, home to Bjork.He said: “I came up to

Edinburgh to study at NapierUniversity. Then the musictook over, I graduated,worked, and then ended updoing a post-grad at QueenMargaret Uni. But the wholetime, the passion for musicnever stopped.”His mix of hip hop and

electronica has seen himappear across the world andplay festivals like The BigChill and T In The Park.The likable rapper has

been a vital part of theemerging hip hop scene inScotland.He told me: “Hip hop is so

mainstream now that it’shard to define the Scottishhip hop ‘scene’. There

appear to be far more artists,DJs and producers online,but in terms of actual eventsand exposure, I’m not sure ifthe development has beenparallel.“That said, you have

producers like HudsonMohawke working withKanye West, and RitchieRuftone was recentlycrowned UK DMC, so therehave been hugedevelopments.”With the album From All

Angles through his ownCloak x Dagger label, withsupport from CreativeScotland, he sets thestandard for others to follow.He said: “It took a while to

drop my own solo LP, and itwas a journey to completethe whole process ofindependently releasing analbum.“Excluding the producers

and album design, I dideverything myself.“To write, perform,

co-produce, promote anddistribute the whole thingwas a mammoth task.“I feel it’s quite a reflective

album.“The feedback has been

great, with many peoplesaying it wasn’t what theywere expecting.“I always want to offer the

listener something original,something unique, both insound and content.”MORE: profiseemusic.comQ Jim will be playing Profisee onIn:Demand Uncut this Sunday from7pm on Clyde 1, Forth One,Northsound 1, Radio Borders, TayFM, West FM & West Sound FM.See indemandscotland.co.uk

By TIM NIXON

SPRAWLED out on a chaiselongue wearing a racycorset, stockings andsuspenders, Diana Krall

looks scorching hot onthe sleeve of her newalbum.The image hints at thevaudeville inspirationbehind Glad Rag Doll.Having spent hoursaurally devouring herfather’s collection of78rpm jazz records —many of which outdateall but the most elderlycitizens of the world —

the Canadian star, 47, compiled alist of forgotten gems ripe forre-imagination.The singer-pianist says:“Instead of doing covers andreinterpreting them as a 1920sband, we’d take them to acompletely different place.”She rooted through her father’scloset and played the old recordson his gramophone.She says: “You find one tuneand then you need more.“You don’t find a lot of thesesongs on iTunes.”Diana teamed up with legend-ary musician/producer T-BoneBurnett, who assembled a cast ofplayers to help bring her shortlistof songs soaring into the present.She reveals: “We just listenedto the original songs and thenplayed them the way we heardthem. There was no plan at all.

Tempo“Just Like A Butterfly That’sCaught In The Rain was secondtake. No edits, nothing, just bang.“I’m not a very verbal personwhen it comes to talking aboutmusic. It’s easier for me to justplay and find the right tempoand the right feel, then it allclicks. These guys were similar.“Everybody would be inthought, then maybe T-Bonewould say, ‘Why don’t we try itthis way?’ It was very experimen-tal and natural.”The 13-track collection steersDiana away from the GreatAmerican Songbook standardsthat she has built her career on.T-Bone smoothed the terrainoutside the singer’s comfort zone,establishing a laid-back environ-ment in which to perform.She enthuses: “I couldn’t waitto get there every day because itwas so much fun.“He’s an amazing human being.The love gets deeper when youwork with someone you alreadylove.”T-Bone snubbed computers togive the sessions a resonantdepth by recording on analoguetape — and he applied minimaltweaks in post-production.As a result, the microphonesrigged up to capture Diana’ssmoky, silky vocals show off hervoice at its most authentic.She says: “T-Bone is all about,‘You sound like you and let usmove around you’.“Like in Lonely Avenue, I wasmore conscious to sing even moredeadpan and not try to affectsomething on my voice. I wanted

to sound as natural as possibleand be myself.”Diana’s husband Elvis Costellocouldn’t resist joining in theintoxicatingly creative process.The singer popped in and outof the studio to contributeukulele, guitar and vocals.Diana says the celebratory atmo-sphere that was palpable through-out the sessions proved particu-larly cathartic for Elvis, who wasstill grieving the death of hisfather Ross MacManus.She admits: “It’s been a very

tough time for him. So this wassomething we did that was veryjoyful. He came in with hisukulele case, sat down and wejust looked at each other andstarted laughing.“After we’d finished recording,we’d go down to the local restau-rant and hang out and laugh.“When we were done, I’d carryElvis’s ukulele and he’d carry mehome.”Aside from the startling songson Glad Rag Doll, the albumsleeve certainly grabs attention.The arresting cover image,which recalls the inter-warglamour girls of Broadway, wascreated with the help of costumedesigner Colleen Atwood.Diana says: “I brought inColleen. She’s an amazing womanthat I worked with on a coupleof movies. Her and (photogra-

pher) Mark Seliger came in andheard the music and I showedthem pictures of Alfred CheneyJohnston’s Ziegfeld Follies.“A lot of those girls perishedtragically. If you look at thosepictures, they’re very beautifulbut there’s something veryhaunting there.“This is my vaudeville ZiegfeldFollies record but this is prettytame compared to a lot of thepictures those girls were in at thetime.“Somebody said to me, ‘Whydon’t you just put a nice flapperdress on?’ and I said, ‘Becausethat’s not what Glad Rag Doll’sabout’.“So I was just playing dress-up.I felt like that was appropriatefor this.“It was a very personal thingfor me . . . and I got to have a lotof fun doing it.”

6 SFTW Friday, November 2, 2012