Shooglenifty
Shooglenifty is one of Scotland's most unique musical exports. This six-man band is credited being the originators of 'acid-croft,' a fiery and infectious blend of Celtic traditional music and dance grooves that band members describe as "hypno-folkadelic ambient trad." The Chicago Tribune described their dizzying, trance-inducing blend as "a bit like a jam between the Tannahill Weavers, Phish, and the Chemical Brothers." While the sound is difficult to put into words, audiences from around the world have fallen under Shooglenifty’s musical spell.

Many people think the name Shooglenifty has deep Scottish meaning but it was in fact a random flash of inspiration that hit guitarist Malcolm Crosbie in a Madrid tapas bar during one of the band's early busking periods. 'Shoogle' is a Scottish word for shake, agitate, move around, and 'nifty' means dexterous.

Shooglenifty released their first album, Venus in Tweeds, in 1994; since then, the band has gone from strength to strength, breaking down musical boundaries between the mainstream and folk music. The band's past recording credits include 3 highly acclaimed albums, including a live record released on Peter Gabriel's Real World label. They have also been joined onstage by Prime Minister Tony Blair who was seen in a photo in papers around the world holding up the Shoogles’ studio release A Whisky Kiss and delightedly proclaiming, "Buy this CD!" They've performed in front of HRH The Prince of Wales, who was seen clapping along to their infectious beat, alongside Robin Cook and Nelson Mandela. The band also appeared at The Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle USA in '97, as part of a line up that included Cornershop and Beck.

Their first U.S. release, 2001’s Solar Shears, brought their undefinable sound to a new and receptive audience. Liberal use of distortion pedals and effects boxes – in addition to pillaging DJ techniques of looped beats, scratching, electro-atmospherics and samples – introduced a new sonic landscape for their traditionally-inspired compositions.

The rhythmic realignment introduced on Solar Shears greatly influenced their new album, the intriguingly-titled The Arms Dealer’s Daughter. The album peals away some of the layers of studio-manipulation heard on the earlier project, revealing a supremely dexterous and witty live band. Close in sound and spirit to their much-lauded live performances, the album draws from a rich palette of influences, from Scotch-Irish to African, Arabic, funk, and Latin sounds. Guitarist Malcolm Crosbie, fiddler Angus R. Grant, banjoist Garry Finlayson, and drummer James MacKintosh are joined by new member Quee MacArthur on bass, coming together in a sublimely loose-limbed brand of Brit-folk-funk that represents Shooglenifty at its most immediate, raw, and inventive.