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Oban-born Colin Bailey is perhaps known better when doused in ample amounts of face paint and assuming the alias of Drums of Death. The past 18 months have seen him tour with Hot Chip and Peaches, remix Franz Ferdinand and Tricky whilst also fitting in the odd live show and managing to record an album. The album - "Generation Hexed" is set for release in September on .

Within its 10 tracks lie a unique sound that's been termed "sex beat soul noise" and pigeonholing it into a specific genre proves a tricky task. If I were to try and find a comparison, I'd say think along the lines of Depeche Mode meeting the Pet Shops Boys in a dark alley and then going for a night out with Altern 8.

To give you more of an idea what to expect - here's a couple of tracks filmed for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Introducing - including Science and Reason which features on the album.

Another gig report from Edinburgh as Vic Galloway takes in some more of the Edinburgh Festival fever. This time he's reporting on We Were Promised Jetpacks in action at The Liquid Room on Saturday 21st August.

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A gig report from Edinburgh last night as Vic Galloway is lucky enough to be in the presence of greatness. Michael Rother from legendary German band Neu! takes a reverent Picture House crowd to new heights of cosmic abandon, ably supported by the relentless beat pounding skills of Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley.

Over to Vic:

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Piping fans all over the globe have been getting up at unholy hours to watch our live stream of the World Pipe Band Championships.

Judging by the chat on , lots of people make an event of it, cook some food, invite their friends round and plug their laptops into a big screen. So we've been asking you to send us photographic evidence...here are a few of our favourites so far. Visit our for more or to add your own...

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The good people at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Four have a habit of filling up their Friday night schedule with a music lover's night in based on a theme. Just the ticket for a new dad like me who doesn't get out much - if I can find the energy to stay up past midnight that is.

On Friday 6th August, it's the turn of the city that never sleeps - with a selection of programmes looking at that most vibrant of musical melting pots, New York.

Kicking off at 9.30pm with the Scissor Sisters live set from this year's Glastonbury, there's also documentary on Blondie, a trawl through the ´óÏó´«Ã½ archives featuring The Ramones, Talking Heads and Lou Reed, and a general look at the seventies mean streets that spawned hip-hop, disco and punk.

Check it!

With memories of Silver Columns' debut gig at Homegame still fresh in our minds and our ears still ringing from listening to their debut album "Yes and Dance" at excessive volumes, this rather nice remix from Canadian producer Caribou arrives and breathes new life into one of the album's standout tracks - Always On.

Clocking in at just under nine minutes in length, it's a bit of an epic that showcases the split personality often present in Caribou's own work. One half of the track has a straightforward dancefloor agenda, while the second half wanders into more psychedelic territory.

Available to download for free at , and .

If you missed their gig at Homegame - watch "Brow Beaten" below - filmed in the cosy confines of Legends in Anstruther.

took place in Belfast on Saturday 31st July and members Stevie McQuillan & Jonathon Simpson were competing. They took time out to give us a quick run-down of the event and tell us about the band's preperation for The Worlds:

On Friday 31st July I had the journey familiar to many in the pipe band world, a bus journey down the west coast to catch a ferry across the Irish Sea. On an overcast and drizzly Friday this can seem a daunting thought, but when you travel with the one of the biggest pipe bands in the world with an all star cast of Europeans you can be assured of some excitement.

This trip was no exception with the pre-contest banter in full swing. First up was a timely reminder to our renowned piper, Donald Macleod, that it was his birthday. Being someone who is fond of all things Scottish, he was duly presented with a new friend - an inflatable ovine! This quickly followed by another of our characters giving us a superb rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Hey MacLeod Get Off My Ewe" in tribute to the new band mascot.

The French, German and Dutch players as usual added a strong continental flavour to our proceedings, with their ever-present international jibes ensuring the bus was rarely silent. Maik from Germany is well noted for his ability to be creative. Donning a sailor's hat he taunted Gleren from Brittany with many gestures which could only be described as dodgy!! Well, enough of that.

The European Pipe Band Championship was a significant contest for us. We played a blinder and retained our top three placing which is brilliant to follow our runners up success in both the and . Also, our drum corps, the current British Champions are now in first equal position for the Champion of Champions, so we are all in good spirit.

The post-contest phase can be a conundrum but, for us, it was fun and a chance to party before a return to a heavy practise schedule in preparation for the WORLDS.

There is a great sense of purpose in the band at the moment and the confidence is high, albeit, we are clear that we are all here to: compete, compete and compete.

If you fancy a preview of our new Worlds medley, we will be competing at on Saturday 7th August.

This year's World Pipe Band Championships takes place on Saturday 14th August and once again we'll be streaming the entire event worldwide via bbc.co.uk/worlds.

Producer of Radio Scotland's Pipeline programme, Iain MacInnes tells us more about the event:

This year's Worlds on Glasgow Green is shaping up to be the biggest - and quite possibly the best - in living memory. Ian Embleton of the tells us that 239 bands have entered, split over eight competitive grades, with a particularly strong entry from Canada and the United States.

We'll be streaming the action in the Grade One arena live from 9am. 26 bands are playing in Grade One, the first part of the competition being a qualifying round to determine which bands go through to the afternoon final.

from Burnaby in British Columbia are the reigning world champions, and they'll be going neck-to-neck with their old adversaries, the pipe band from Belfast. Add into the mix the band from Dublin, which won the recent European Championships, and some impressive early-season form from the Scottish contingent, especially from West Lothian, and a close-run final is assured.

At heart, the event is all about the music. The Grade One bands perform, firstly, a March, Strathspey and Reel, and then a medley selection which lasts between six and seven minutes and which gives a good deal of scope for imaginative arrangements and distinctive tune selection. The judges will be looking for the quality of the tuning, the precision of the fingerwork, and the integration between the pipe corps, the snare drums and the mid-section - and of course for that extra 'fizz' that gives the top bands their distinctive sound.

One noticeable development in recent years has been in the size and imaginative scope of the pipe band mid-sections, in other words the bass and tenor drums which provide the rhythmic pulse to the whole performance, but which also give an element of theatricality with their choreographed flourishing and variably tuned drums. As a long-time radio person I was particularly struck by seeing the high shots of the bands in the online coverage last year. These allowed me to get a good impression of the mid-section work, the complexity of the drum beatings, and the sheer skill involved in flourishing to such a high technical standard. An eye-opener to me! It's coming your way soon.