Radar recommends: 6 - 12 Feb

[The Low Miffs: appearing in Stereo-sound on Thursday]

Plan your gig-going with our pick of the week's finest live music nights...

The best...

Live at the Beach
Saturday @ The Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen / 7.30pm / £7.50
Some of Aberdeen's brightest bands play a rare live music night at the famous Beach Ballroom: The Little Kicks, Indian Red Lopez, Cast of the Capital and The Underkills.

Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete, Hitlist Youth, Skinny Villains
Saturday @ 13th Note / 9pm / £tbc
The gorgeous, gothic voice of Louise McVey has already turned our heads here at UtR, and Saturday night at the Note is definitely one to watch.

Sisqo
Tuesday @ Fat Sam's, Dundee / 10.30pm / £7-£10
Sorry, but the prospect of the man behind 'The Thong Song' coming to play Dundee just seemed too good to pass over.

Beach House, Lawrence Arabia, Washington Irving
Wednesday @ King Tut’s / £9 / 8.30pm
Baltimore duo Beach House are the new indie darlings, although their watercolour dream pop stylings won't appeal to everyone. Get there early for Washington Irving too.

The Low Miffs, Hidden Masters, Foxgang
Thursday @ Stereo / 7pm / £1
In troubled economic times, you’ll struggle to find a better-value line-up than Ten Tracks’ monthly night at Stereo. Three top-notch bands plus a ten-track download compilation (this month from Hijack), for the princely sum of £1 – bargain!

The Leith Tape Club
Thursday @ The ISO Lounge, Leith / 8.15pm / £tbc
Space is always limited at this low-key monthly night, but this instalment - with eagleowl, Hailey Beavis and The Stormy Seas - is the last until May, so it could well be packed to the rafters.

Limbo: Found, Three Blind Wolves, Over The Wall
Friday @ Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh / 8.30pm - 1.30am / £tbc
A three-pronged prognosis of the state of new music in Scotland, with local favourites Found and the Glasgow pairing of Three Blind Wolves and the infectious Over the Wall.

The Late Call, The Last Battle, Emily Scott
Friday @ Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh / 7pm / £5
The Late Call is Stockholm troubador Johannes Mayer, supported on this date by Edinburgh regulars The Last Battle and Emily Scott, who we profiled last year.


The rest...



Words: Lisa-Marie Ferla, Nick Mitchell

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

On the radar: Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete

Play: Night


The first time I heard Louise McVey’s rich, gothic voice, like crushed purple velvet and poisoned honey, I was spellbound. Dressed like some kind of burlesque Victorian governess with her prim hair and wide sleeves, and with Cracks in the Concrete’s spine-tingling accompaniment providing the perfect backdrop, the 13th Note’s stuffy basement felt almost enchanted. Not for nothing has the act been compared more than once to the perfect soundtrack for a David Lynch movie.

Named after a line in a Frank Black song, Cracks in the Concrete was originally the solo project of Graeme Miller and set up to cover collaborations with other writers and musicians. He teamed up with singer McVey, recently returned to her native Scotland, to play a short-notice set at the Dunstaffnage Festival last year but soon discovered a shared creative vision and love of dark tunes.

“We haven’t been able to get rid of each other since,” McVey jokes. Joined by Gordon Macpherson on drums, Jimmy O’Donnell on piano and Garry Freckleton on bass guitar, they now perform as part of a 5-piece band.

“We don’t want to give the listener too much of an easy ride,” McVey says of the collaboration. “At the same time though, we are interested in meeting them through expression – a sort of melodic and musical contradiction.”

This involves everything from changing time signatures, unorthodox use of instruments, FM radio looping and a live show involving the band’s “spirit guides”. The result “suggests an underlying foreboding or unease,” says McVey of the band’s combination of melody, expressive dynamics and dark, unsettling lyrics.

Play: Ode


As if to prove their offbeat nature, McVey and Miller list their influences as “creaky old horror movies, dusty old books, sleep deprivation, the wind…” and such artists and authors as Arvo Part, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mervyn Peake, The Birthday Party, Haruki Murakami, Erik Satie, Serge Gainsbourg, Thomas Hardy, The Cramps and MC5. But they are also big fans of their hometown scene: “It’s a very supportive and encouraging environment for bands to develop,” says McVey.

Optimo Music release Louise McVey and Cracks in the Concrete’s debut self-titled EP digitally in early December and on 10” in late January. Catch them live at Glasgow’s Captain’s Rest on 28 December.

Words: Lisa-Marie Ferla

Hear more on their joint MySpace page