Farewell to Triptych

Triptych, from the beginning, set its stall by appealing to the more discerning music fan and the highlights over the years have been many. Speaking to The Skinny, Triptych co-programmer Paul Fegan cited a time when reggae legend Jimmy Cliff "broke into a verse of Johnny Too Bad in the post-screening Q&A of The Harder They Fall" as his personal highlight, exemplary of the hard-to-find moments it has offered over an eight season lifespan.

Identifying a taste range to which the mainstream summer festival would not appeal, Triptych has fulfilled its promise to showcase the highlights of musical endeavour operating outwith standard corporate focus and mainstream media attention. Alumni from the past were a joy to behold. Maverick artists such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Einstürzende Neubauten and Grace Jones were afforded the opportunity to display their wares. In this regard, Scotland, with a rich history of appreciation for a wide variety of musical tastes, was a fertile playground for such a groundbreaking forum.

So it is with a heavy heart we bid Triptych adieu. Unfortunately, this is a line-up that smacks of a fin de siecle as Tennent's readies itself to get behind a new initiative called Tennents Mutual. Details at the moment are sketchy at best but check www.tennentsmutual.com after 15 April when all will be revealed. In the meantime, it goes without saying that this year's festival still has much to offer across the three city showpiece, many of the acts featured are sufficiently high-calibre and musically innovative enough to warrant serious interest. There's no doubt that there's many a good night out to be had at this year's events, so get your tickets fast.

American soul legend Candi Staton has been pencilled in as the 'headline' act. The 55 year old songstress is best known for her 1976 hit Young Hearts Run Free and 1990's collaboration with The Source on the track You've Got the Love. As far as gospel and R&B are concerned, Candi's where it's at this year. And if it's folk you're after, then highlight of the weekend is probably the Edinburgh and Glasgow sets of Michael Hurley, Alela Diane and alt-country singer Grant Campbell. Diane, with banjo in hand and ethereal vocal delivery, is likely to be most appetite whetting of the three. It would also be remiss of you not to give Aberdeen's Alan Davidson, aka Kitchen Cynics a whirl, edging as he does to the psychedelic side of folk, all on his own-io.

Lo-fi slacker-rock overlords Sebadoh also loll into town this year. Fronted by Dinosaur Jr progenitor Lou Barlow, the psychedelic outfit are playing just one gig, in the Classic Grand. If you can't get tickets to that, check out the sonically profound Dirty Projectors instead. The Brooklyn-based rock experimentalists have been polite enough to play all three cities for this year's festival, and we should return the favour by catching their thoughtful set of reconstructed Black Flag numbers at least once. And though the line-up is forged away from the mainstream, there are always going to be curios even among the curios. Human Bell, "a Baltimore dyad whose bewitching guitar patterns are further enriched by vibraphones, marimbas, and space" are as much an art installation as a music act.

Triptych has always endeavoured to give local talent its head when organising this festival. Sometimes it's felt that this was an act of unnecessary charity when the locals looked out of place against the calibre of international talent on display. Not so this year, when we have possibly the strongest home-grown line up of the festival's recent history. Romantic philosopher Aidan Moffat (he of Arab Strap) has teamed up with another member of the Falkirk massive, avante-garde jazz groover Bill Wells, to sound like a match made in heaven. Meantime, not to be outdone, Malcolm Middleton (he, also, of Arab Strap) performs his pensive pop on the same billing as Glasgow's own post-rocking godfathers Mogwai.

Throw the Beck/Beta Band-friendly weird pop of FOUND plus their Fence Collective brethren into that mix, as well as the 'new soul' might of Jamie Lidell, prodigious Chicagoan troubadour Andrew Bird and the emotive power of Selkirk's Frightened Rabbit and we've got many a reason to get hell out the house and give this fine festival one last salute come the end of April.