
[There Will Be Fireworks: lighting the fuse on their debut album this week]
So farewell then, Michael Jackson. The twinkle-toed king of pop, who played Scotland just once at Glasgow Green in 1992, is no more. The question is, will any of our nation's up and coming musicians have a go at a Jacko cover this week? You'll have to get out there and find out for yourself.
AberdeenThe Muscle Club, Get In Get Out, Come On Gang, :cryoverbillionairesWednesday @ Tunnels. Doors £Welsh quartet headline, with support from local act Get In Get Out and highly touted Scots bands Come on Gang and :cryoverbillionaires.
DundeeUnicorn Kid, I Wish I Was WeaverWednesday @ The Doghouse. Doors 6pm, £5Sugar-fuelled electro-trancey-pop from teenage sensation Oliver Sabin, plus support from Arbroath-based I Wish I Was Weaver.
The Boycotts, Ross Clark and the Scarves Go MissingFriday @ The Doghouse. Doors 8pm, £5.The Boycotts’ hook infused indie-pop is as moreish as candyfloss, while
UtR-touted RC&tSGM (nice acronym eh?) ply an eclectic brand of Americana.
EdinburghDuty Free: Lost Knives, DupecSunday @ Cabaret Voltaire. Doors 7pm, £freeMancunian pop from Lost Knives, plus talented Edinburgh indie-rockers Dupec, who we featured
on this here blog last month.
I Heart Hirsohima, The Pineapple ChunksTuesday @ The Bowery. Doors 7.30pm, £6Aussie slacker-rock from Hiroshima, with support from fruity Edinburghers The Pineapple Chunks.
We See LightsThursday @ Wee Red Bar. Doors 8pm, £4We See Lights are "connected by the Forth River" and make chiming, folky indie.
Brother Louis Collective, Little Kicks, Saint Jude's InfirmaryThursday @ Sneaky Pete's. Doors 7pm, £5.Brother Louis Collective do polished indie with a Scottish accent, flute and piano, and will play the T Break tent at a certain festival next month. What's more, you get to see a band we recommended
only last week, Aberdeen's Little Kicks, and perennial local favourites St Jude's.
The Skinny Dip: The Twilight Sad, Adam Stafford, The Foundling WheelThursday @ Bongo Club. Doors 7.30pm, £10We can hardly stop listening to the two new tracks that have appeared on The Twilight Sad's MySpace of late, and with a hugely anticipated album on the way, this is a real coup for The Skinny's fledgling gig night. As if that wasn't enough, you also get a solo set from Y'All is Fantasy Island's Adam Stafford and experimental sounds from The Foundling Wheel.
Dog TiredFriday @ Bannermans. Doors 9pm, £freeFor thrashing, shouty tattooed heavy metal, you can't beat Dog Tired. Screaming guitars, thrumming bass complimented by comprehensible lyrics - what more could a metalhead ask for? Well, a debut album due to be released this year is one thing, and a gig which promises a 'groove-ridden, train wreck of a sound' is another. An unrelenting, driving cacophony of pure noise should top that off nicely. Dog Tired are playing Bannerman's with Battle of the War Machines. Yes, you will want to start a pit, so get your metal groove on and check them out. [KS]
:cryoverbillionairesSaturday @ Sneaky Pete's. Doors 7pm, £5:cryoverbillionaires mix it up a bit; a psychedelic wall of sound battling with hints of dance, drum and bass and topped off with swooping choruses. Add to this their lyrical soundness and impressive skill when it comes to musical experimentation, and you have a band not to be ignored. [KS]
NeovioletSaturday @ The Ark Doors 7.30pm, £4Neoviolet are an indie rock three-piece with a lightly folky tinge. Slowly but surely making their mark across Edinburgh's pubs and clubs, they combine relaxing, jangling guitars with intense, angsty lyrics. If you're a fan of pitch-perfect harmonies and fancy blending this with a smooth undertone of cello, then catch the band at the Ark on 4th July for a reassuringly laid-back gig from a band who have very much found and filled their chilled-out niche. [KS]
GlasgowLimbo: Zoey Van Goey, Isosceles, Punch And The Apostles, Haight-Ashbury, A-lix, Cancel The Astronauts and Thieves In SuitsSunday @ Stereo. Doors 8pm, £5The lauded Edinburgh gig night moves west for a one-off special to give their recent live album an official launch in Glasgow, with a line-up that reads like a who's who of emergent Scottish indie-pop talent.
Jocasta SleepsSunday @ Nice'n'Sleazy. Doors 7.30pm, £tbcGlasgow alt-rockers launch their new single 'Crayfish'.
The Darien Venture, We Are Trapped In Kansas, We Hung Your Leader and City of StatuesSunday @ The Twisted Wheel. Doors 8pm, £freeThe Darien Venture are in the melodic indie-punk racket, and they are joined by the superb math-rock outfit Trapped in Kansas, blistering rockers WHYL and City of Statues.
**UtR's gig of the week**
There Will Be Fireworks, Lions.Chase.Tigers, We Hung Your LeaderWednesday @ Nice'n'Sleazy. Doors 7.30pm, £5The thrilling TWBF launch their jaw-droppingly good self-titled debut album, with support from one of our favourites, Lions.Chase.Tigers, and the aforementioned We Hung Your Leader.
*
Check the blog this week for an exclusive track-by-track album preview from Fireworks singer Nicholas McManus.Jocky Ventakaram and The Mickey 9sFriday @ Pivo Pivo. Doors 8pm, £3/2Album launch for the enigmatic, Malcolm Middleton-influenced Ventakaram.
Words: Nick Mitchell, Kirstyn SmithWhat have we missed? Tell us below, or add it to our gig guide by emailing utr.scotsman@gmail.com