Radar recommends: 28 Nov - 4 Dec

[There Will Be Fireworks at The Caves on Tuesday. Not the deathtrap it sounds.]

Let's face it. We're rapidly heading into festive season, so you might want to give your wallet (and your liver) a rest this week in preparation for the month of parties, work nights out and gigs ahead.

But we're not letting you off the hook that easily. Gig temptations coming your way...

Aberdeen
Frightened Rabbit
Tuesday @ The Warehouse / 7.30pm / £12
The popular Fat Cat signed band tour new material ahead of the release of their third album in the new year.
Also playing The Ironworks, Inverness on Sunday and Fat Sam's, Dundee on Wednesday.

Dundee
Saint Jude's Infirmary, Kid Canaveral, Panda Su, Hookers for Jesus
Sunday @ West Port Bar / 7.30pm / £5
Scottish music blog Manic Pop Thrills puts on another fine billing of up and coming talent.

Edinburgh
The Little Kicks, The Void, He Slept on 57, Salute Mary
Sunday @ The GRV / 7pm / £5
The hard-gigging Kicks return to Auld Reekie to showcase their polished indie-pop to the Sunday night crowd.

Johnny Foreigner
Sunday @ Cabaret Voltaire / 7pm / £7.50
Brummie's most mental noise-pop three-piece, much loved by the kids over on DiS.

Ringo Deathstarr, The Manikees, The Debuts
Thursday @ Sneaky Pete's / 7pm / £6
Not Ringo Starr, not the Deathstar, rather a disturbing combination of the two in musical form. The Austin Texas nu-gaze quartet's first UK tour hits the Wee Red Bar on Thursday.
Ringo Deathstarr also play the Captain's Rest, Glasgow on Friday.

**UtR's gig of the week**
There Will Be Fireworks, Broken Records (solo acoustic), Saint Jude's Infirmary, Meursault (solo acoustic)
Thursday @ The Caves / 8pm / £5 (£3 in advance from Avalanche)
Back in July There Will Be Fireworks burst on to the scene with an impressive, impassioned debut LP that had us scrabbling for adjectives. And we're not the only ones. Avalanche record shop has selected the Glasgow band for their next Album Club, and this launch party looks like a great night of music. More info here

Ten Tracks: Found, Meursault, Panda Su
Friday @ Roxy Art House / 7.30pm / £7-£10
The Scottish music download service is offering free entry to this gig if you buy a £10 annual subscription. That's mightily tempting when they've pulled together three of the east coast's most promising acts, including our recent blog guest Panda Su. More info here.

Glasgow
Woodlands Creatures
Sunday @ The Halt Bar / 7pm / Free
Either stay in and try and name as many woodland animals as possible, or go to this event. I suggest the latter.

We Were Promised Jetpacks, Dupec, Jesus H Foxx
Sunday @ King Tut's / 8.30pm / £7
Feeling patriotic? The part of Homecoming Live that isn't wallowing in 80s nostalgia.

Regina Spektor
Tuesday @ o2 Academy / 8pm / £22
Get your 'crispy, crispy Benjamin Franklins' out and buy yourself a ticket to see this quirky songstress.

Neon Indian, Zhyrlings, Tangles
Tuesday @ Captains Rest / 8.30pm / £6
With recently remixers Grizzly Bear, this promises to be an audio/visual delight you shouldn't miss.

Casino Brag, Foxgang, Satellite Underground
Wednesday @ Nice'n'Sleazy / TBC / £TBC
Have a punt on these post-punk players and support.

Lords, Holy Mountain, Citizens
Wednesday @ Captains Rest / 8pm / £6
Yes all round, have a look at Citizens' UtR profile here....

The Pain Of Being Pure At Heart
Thursday @ Stereo / 7.30pm / £12
Melancholy pop from this New York band, who've kind of made Glasgow their second home.

Lightning Dust, Early Day Miners
Thursday @ Captains Rest / 8pm / £9
Black Mountain side project comes to rest at the Captains.

Titus Gein, Black Sun
Friday @ 13th Note / 9pm / £TBC
Any band citing Trans Am and Lightning Bolt as influences deserve a gander.

Ringo Deathstarr, Silvermash
Friday @ Captain's Rest /8pm / £TBC
The aforementioned Deathstarr, this time with support from Fife shoegazers Silvermash, playing their first Glasgow gig.

Words: Aimi Gold, Nick Mitchell, Craig Dickson

What have we missed? Tell us below, or add it to our gig guide by emailing utr.scotsman@gmail.com

On the radar: Casino Brag

Play: A Fair Escape


Play: Stop Go Stop (You Could Be Out There)


Having existed for a mere 12 months, Casino Brag are relative newbies when compared to longer-toothed west-coast luminaries.

But the foursome of Paul Mclean, John Paul Dunne, Graeme Ellis and David Richards have already made a significant dent in the Glasgow scene.

Citing early 80s chromatic post punk and Britpop's glitterati sheen as influences, the quartet have set about creating one of Glasgow's most unique sounds: pounding drum and bass reel-in disco funk grooves. Richards' chanting drawl recalls The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell at his most acrid; while a squall of FX-riddled guitar emits, as Richards puts it, "quite a spacey sound”.

“When the band first started we had a different guitarist and he quite liked a flutter,” says Richards of the band's punt-friendly moniker. “[We] would often go up to the casino and he even went over to Las Vegas a couple of times. On his last visit he told me about a card game called Casino Brag and the both of us said that would make a great band name.”

This year the band played the Box’s 'The Next Big Thing' at Glasgow's O2 Academy, their biggest gig to date, and have built on this with a haul of shows up and down the Sauchiehall Street scene, building up a feverous band of followers along the way.

Like most of the artists we've spoken to recently, Richards is impressed by the current Scottish music scene: “I love it. I’m from England originally and I love how many bands here sing with their own accent…most of what I listen to at present are local bands, " he excites. "I wrote a blog on MySpace just the other day about all the music that’s interesting me in and around Glasgow just now…we’re so often impressed with the bands we play alongside at shows.”

Having made a name for themselves in Glasgow, the lads have set their sights on broaching a wider audience: “We believe we can build a bigger fan base outside of the Glasgow area and maybe further," Richards says. "A single release is definitely coming up in Autumn. After that, hopefully work with a label to put an album out.”

And let’s not forget the blueprint for every new band: "Oh yeah, and of course world domination is always good."

Words: Clare Sinclair

Catch Casino Brag at the following shows:
19 Sep @ Dirty Martini's, Kilmarnock
23 Sep @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
22 Oct @ Capitol, Glasgow