Radar recommends: 23 - 29 January

[North Atlantic Oscillation: limbering up for Limbo on Friday]

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

The best...

John Knox Sex Club, Baby Boyz
Saturday @ The Ferry, Glasgow / 8pm / £6
Not your typical wide-eyed indie-pop band, The JKSC inflict moody, clanging blues riffs and deranged vocals on anyone who'll listen. Will you?

Burns Night Celebration: Broken Records, Woodenbox With A Firstful of Fivers, Whisky Kiss
Sunday @ King Tuts, Glasgow / 8.30pm / £12
More Scottish than a ginger man in a kilt shouting 'freedom', drinking whisky and killing a haggis with his bare hands. What a lovely patriotic way to celebrate the Bard.

Marble Valley
Tuesday @ Nice'n'Sleazys, Glasgow / 7.30pm / £TBC
In advance of their much-anticipated return, Pavement drummer Steve West shows his vocal worth.

The Foundling Wheel, Smack Van, Ian Ryan
Wednesday @ Electric Circus, Edinburgh / 8pm / £3
The Foundling Wheel is a solo project with a difference: a one-man, bass guitar-wielding, beat-programming, noise-fuelled rammy. And then some.

The Mill: The Seventeenth Century, There Will be Fireworks
Thursday @ Oran Mor / 7.30pm / Free but ticketed
Gilt-edged, mellifluous folk-rock from the highly rated Seventeenth Century. There Will Be Fireworks? Apparently a few folk rate them too.

The Low Anthem
Thursday @ The Old Fruitmarket / 9pm / £16
Lovely Celtic Connections ditty. Beautiful pop in a beautiful building. It’s gonna be special guys.

Limbo: North Atlantic Oscillation, Simon Doherty and Louise McVey & The Cracks In the Concrete
Friday @ The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh / £5 / 8pm
Limbo had a healthy effect on the Edinburgh scene over the past two years, so locals will be happy about its imminent return. The night may have gone from weekly Thursdays to monthly Fridays, but their band booking policy looks as infallible as ever.

Adam Green
Friday @ Stereo / 7pm / £10
Get your skinny jeans and white plimsoles on and boost your indie credentials with a trip to see the manly half of The Mouldy Peaches solo. Sweet.

The Lava Experiments
Friday @ The 13th Note, Glasgow / £5 / 8.30pm
To quote ourselves, The Lava Experiments make "gorgeously cinematic electronica, reminiscent in places of Kraftwerk or a heavier Explosions in the Sky". They launch a new EP of remixes at this gig, for which they enlisted the help of Dans Le Sac, Pumajaw and Betamax Warriors.

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

Billy Hamilton: My gig of 2009

Versus, The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh
10 September

To put forward the inaugural Voodoo Rooms-based Versus as my gig of 2009 is doing the night little justice.

You see, this wasn’t just your bog-standard three band soirée that underpins gigs the length and breadth of this country. No, this was a spectacle – a loud one at that.

With Dead Boy Robotics, Foundling Wheel and Meursault taking up the leading roles, the three-pronged stage invasion had melody mingling with discord and folk frolicking with noise.

A pre-show natter with the man behind the concept, Ted Koterwas, revealed a desire to engage the polarized factions of Edinburgh’s music scene in a battle royale of sound that would open up doors and knock down walls.

But it wasn’t about indulging in a spot of musical peacekeeping, it was much, much more. Sounds blasted from the stage as if igniting from a Kennedy Space Center launch pad, while a roll-call of Auld Reekie luminaries took turns in complementing the starring trio’s kaleidoscopic mash up.

Bulging instrumentation frothed with all the frenzy of a rabid dog chasing its tail, leaving the senses of the punters ragged, frayed and, most of all, alive.

By the time the finale of tumbling percussion and electrified synth crushed solar plexuses, you knew what had unravelled was something very special indeed.

A night to remember? Perhaps. A night not to be forgotten. Definitely.

The next Versus night features eagleowl, Found and Oates Field, and takes place at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh on 21 January.

What was your gig of 2009? Let us know below...

VERSUS: Meursault vs The Foundling Wheel vs Dead Boy Robotics

Ground-breaking live music night Versus returns on Thursday 10 September with a trio of our favourite BEAR Scotland noise-mongers – Meursault, The Foundling Wheel and Dead Boy Robotics – gearing up to grapple track-to-track in the Voodoo Rooms’ shadowed cove.

Ted Koterwas, organiser of the first Versus event in March, has joined forces with Dave Cumings, co-creator of Edinburgh’s Limbo, to create a bi-monthly sound explosion that takes three bands and one stage and turns them into a lug-ringing racket.

“Versus capitalises on the notion of conflict, and then subverts it,” explains Koterwas. “It starts with a duelling concept, where bands go track for track, but then evolves. We are encouraging bands to collaborate on songs as well as alternate, so you can expect a number of songs to be played by new configurations of the bands involved."

This triangular tussle juxtaposes UtR’s favourte alt. folk heroes Meursault against the incessant bit-crushing of The Foundling Wheel and Dead Boy Robotics’ robotic discord. As a special treat for eager punters, rumour has it the triad will be joined by a number of esteemed local musical dignitaries throughout the night. That’s just between you and us though, right?

Aimed at appealing to both the competitive and collaborative spirits of bands, Versus is set to produce a bombastic throb of sound that’s a refreshing antidote to the folky whispers often emanating from Auld Reekie’s streets.

As Koterwas puts it: “We aim to curate some truly innovative combinations of bands from different genres and styles and really challenge them to either find common ground or revel in the ensuing conflict - hopefully a bit of both.”

A step into the unknown, Versus really could go either way. And you know what? That's what makes it so very special.

Words: Billy Hamilton

Versus is on at The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh at 8pm, Thursday 10 September. Tickets are £5 on the door.

Radar recommends: 9 - 15 August

[Dollskabeat: playing support to Telepathe on Wednesday]

The size of this column seems to ebb and flow from week to week. Last week there was little musical sustenance for Scotland's music lovers; this week there's enough out there to give you a dose of heartburn if they're not careful. If you happen to live in the 'big two' that is...


Edinburgh

The Lost Brothers, The Kays Lavelle
Sunday @ Sneaky Pete's £6 7pm
Melancholy folk from The Lost Brothers, with piano-led indie-rock from Edinburgh's Kays Lavelle.

Telepathe, Dollskabeat
Wednesday @ Sneaky Pete's £7 7pm
Trendier-than-thou Brooklyn electro dames roll into town, flanked by Edinburgh's own glitch queen, Dollskabeat.

This is Music: Dead Boy Robotics, The Foundling Wheel
Friday @ Sneaky Pete's 7pm £tbc
The August instalment of Auld Reekie's finest monthly gig night showcases the talents of two noise-inclined members of the Bear Scotland collective.

The GRV Fest: Ritalin Kids, Dupec, Boycotts, The Nature Boys
Friday @ The GRV £tbc 5pm onwards
The first night of The GRV's big bash is stuffed with local talent, including two of our favourites in Dupec and Boycotts.

The GRV Fest: The Debuts, Epic 26, OK Social Club, 10:04s, The Breech, Homework, The Steals
Saturday @ The GRV £tbc 3pm onwards
Day two of The GRV Fest is even bigger. Can you last the distance?

Young Fathers, Unicorn Kid
Saturday @ Cabaret Voltaire £7 8pm
Proving that Edinburgh's music scene is more diverse than first meets the eye, Young Fathers and Unicorn Kid bring bombastic hip hop and sugar-rich techno to the table respectively.


Glasgow

Stellar Sounds: Rio Callahan, Funksion, Federation of the Disco Pimp
Wednesday @ Glasgow Science Centre | £12 | 7pm
A gig with a difference this, given that it takes place in a planetarium. See Stevie's preview a few posts down the page.

The Mill: Maple Leaves, Panda Su
Thursday @ Òran Mór | Free but ticketed | 8pm
Delectable folk-flecked indie from two of Scotland's brightest acts.

Telepathe, RBRBR, Super Adventure Club
Thursday @ King Tut's | £7.50 | 8.30pm
The aforementioned Telepathe head west, bringing with them two of Edinburgh's best new bands as support.

Attic Lights, The Seers, Invisible Republic
Friday @ Stereo | £9 | 7pm
Fundraiser for the Scottish Epilepsy Initiative, headed up by the winsome indie-pop of Attic Lights.

Boycotts, French Wives, Kalla Heartshake

Saturday @ ABC2 | £5 | 7pm

Boycotts launch their eagerly anticipated EP at this gig, with excellent support from French Wives and Kalla Heartshake.

Múm, My Latest Novel
Saturday @ Òran Mór | £15 | 7pm
Exquisite electronica-tinged indie from Icelanders Múm, not to mention the forward thinking sounds of Greenock-based My Latest Novel.

The Second Hand Marching Band, Over the Wall
Saturday @ The 13th Note | £tbc | 9pm
We can't get enough of SHMB's heartfelt shanties - or Over the Wall's textured pop for that matter.

Words: Nick Mitchell

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

Radar recommends: Non-TitP gigs

[Sparrow & the Workshop: sneaking into Edinburgh tonight]

Sick of all this T in the Park talk? Well don't despair, it's not the only live music event this weekend. Here are our tips for those of you who are not off to Balado...

The place to be in Edinburgh tonight is Sneaky Pete's. Fresh from a refurbishment this week, the venue welcomes back monthly promoters This is Music with another great billing. Sparrow & the Workshop weave ambitious indie-pop dreamscapes, while Randan Discotheque's art-folk-tronica always hits the spot. As usual, it's £3 for the bands before 11pm, and free entry after for the DJs.

If you prefer hardcore riffage to 'dreamscapes', you'd be advised to make the descent to Henry's Cellar Bar from 7pm for a night of furious death metal throbbing with a quartet of gruesomely monikered local bands, featuring Threshold Sicks, Nerrus Kor, Cancerous Womb and Foetal Splatter. Nice.

Meanwhile Edinburgh-based American noise-monger Ted Koterwas, aka The Foundling Wheel, launches his new single at the Confusion is Sex night at the Bongo Club.

Tomorrow night the hipster hangout that is The Bowery plays host to ebullient polska-pop from experimentalists Foxgang and it's a mere fiver entry, from 7.30pm.

Fans of an older generation might also like to know that Crosby Stills & Nash (Saturday @ Edinburgh Castle) and Ry Cooder (Friday @ Festival Theatre) are both in the capital this weekend.

In Aberdeen, what appears to be a humble effort to upstage T takes place, with Bands in the Park at Duthie Park and Hazlehead Park. We've been reliably informed the bands in question are of the brass/pipe variety though, so it may not have a festival vibe!

I'm afraid nothing really takes our fancy elsewhere. We can only assume that all the best bands in Glasgow are either playing T in the Park or are at home watching it on TV. Feel free to prove us wrong in the comments below...

Versus: A night to prove that 3 really is the magic number

[From left: Enfant Bastard, Dead Boy Robotics, The Foundling Wheel]

There's something depressingly formulaic about gigs these days: you pay your money, the band turns up, plays the standard setlist, follows this with a rehearsed encore (whether they've earned it or not) and then leave for their next port of call.

It poses a question for even the most devoted fan: Why didn't I just listen to the album at home without the £3 pints and that tall bloke standing directly in my line of vision?

A group of Edinburgh artists may just have the answer, by devising a thoroughly different approach to the live music format: three bands, one stage. The trio of like-minded acts behind this unique night, which has been combatively titled 'Versus', are sonic pioneer The Foundling Wheel, synth-punk wizards Dead Boy Robotics and anti-folk master Enfant Bastard.

All three acts are members of the Bear Scotland collective, a prominent strand of Edinburgh's burgeoning music scene which also includes Meursault and Withered Hand.

'Versus' is being billed as "a night where innovative exploration converges with mind-blistering instrumentation."

So if you want to witness a bit of local history in the making, and perhaps even the live formation of Edinburgh's first superband, head along to the Wee Red Bar (at the Edinburgh College of Art) this Saturday, 7th March, from 7.30pm.

Meanwhile, have a listen to some tracks from each act...

Enfant Bastard - Vincent Van Gogh


Dead Boy Robotics - Cloud Sequence Animals


The Foundling Wheel - Out To See