Radar recommends: 27 Feb - 5 March

[Copy Haho: gigging across Scotland this week]

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

The best...

James Yorkston & the Athletes, The Phantom Band, Alasdair Roberts Trio, Remember Remember
Saturday @ Platform, Glasgow / 7.30pm / £5 (£3)
Forget those woolly jumper clad men with acoustic guitars. No, folk music's cool these days. Just look at this line-up, where Fence troubadour Yorkston shares a billing with Rock Action upstart Remember Remember.

Futuristic Retro Champions, Skitten, Ace City Racers
Saturday @ The 13th Note, Glasgow / 9pm / £tbc
The 'Champs, who also play Edinburgh this week (see below) launch their new EP at this gig. The CDs are apparently designed to look like coloured vinyl, so it's like retro does retro really. Curious? Read an interview with the band here.

White Noise: Dead Boy Robotics, Futuristic Retro Champions
Wednesday @ Electric Circus, Edinburgh / 8pm / £tbc
Chalk and cheese this one, but none the worse for it. Pulsating shards of electronics and drums from duo DBR, while FRC use synths for more poppy pursuits.

The Mill: Stanley Odd, S.Kay
Thursday @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh / 7pm / Free but ticketed
Just this week we lauded Stanley Odd's "thrilling blend of hip hop, indie and funk", and, as if on cue, they appear for a show at The Mill. Are we arbiters of taste or what? (Don't answer that.)

Copy Haho, eagleowl, Debutant
Friday @ Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh / 7pm / £5
Copy Haho also play The Tunnels, Aberdeen on Thursday
Surely the Holy Grail of gig quests this. Why? Not one, not two, but three UtR-featured bands on one bill. So if you don't enjoy at least one then you'd be well within your rights to advise the PCC to shut us down.

John Knox Sex Club
Thursday @ Nice'n'Sleazy, Glasgow / 9pm / £tbc
Thursday's a sexy day, get your best undies on and head to this party. Have a wee read about your saucy hosts here.

Tango in the Attic
Friday @ Harley's Bar, Bathgate / 8pm / £tbc
Tango and Cash + Cash in the Attic = Tango in the Attic. In reality, this Glenrothes band make fun, upbeat indie-pop.

Local Natives, Peggy Sue
Friday @ King Tut's, Glasgow / 8.30pm / £9
Folking rock again (yes, that is a sweary pun - the best sort). Think Fleet Foxes with ADHD, bright and poppy. With Peggy Sue minus the Pirates it seems.

The Unwinding Hours + Holy Mountain, Olympic Swimmers
Friday @ Stereo, Glasgow / 7pm / £7
Amazing Aereogramme offshoot who recently signed to the much admired Chemikal Underground label and featured here a few months ago. A couple of stellar supports including the brilliant Olympic Swimmers, also featured on UtR last year.


The rest...



Words: Aimi Gold, Nick Mitchell

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

On the radar: Stanley

Play: Flowers


Imagine, if you can, that you'd broken up with your partner. At the time the separation made perfect sense. There’d be no more arguments, no more uncertainty and you’d get back to the carefree life of singledom.

But then, imagine (stay with us on this) that you realised you’d messed up. The light of day had shown that you’d run away from someone you were madly in love with.

Most of us would have walked the obligatory post-breakup road of getting drunk and sending a couple of weird, slightly unhinged, text messages, before ending up in the arms of someone we didn’t really want to be with.

But for Stephen Podlesney, the frontman of Aberdonian quintet Stanley, that wasn’t going to be good enough, so he wrote Flowers, a song of utter sincerity. As you listen to Podlesney promising to change and begging his lover to “please come home” you understand exactly what she means to him. Even the Littlest Hobo would have settled down.

The song is testament to five of the most proficient musicians on the Aberdeen scene. Named after comedian Stan Laurel, Stanley couple a love of slapstick comedy with serious ambition. Podlesney claims, with scant regard for modesty, that they have "the intelligence of The Divine Comedy, the creativity of Radiohead circa The Bends and the soaring vocal talents of Scott Walker.”

Play: Join Hands


With the mixture of orchestral backing tracks, guitars and vibraphones, the live show would be disastrous if it weren't for the tightness and dedication that comes from a band made up of music teachers and guitar salesmen.

Add the powerful, almost operatic quality of Podlesney’s voice and you have something that could very easily tip into a Mike Flower’s Pop tribute band. Thankfully, the sincerity of the music ensures it’s a sound that’s far removed from kitsch.

It seems with every gig Stanley become more original, more willing to let loose and discover their own sound more. With an album nearing completion, you can expect more gigs throughout Scotland soon.

Words: Andrew Learmonth

Play: Made for TV