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

Radar Recommends: 7 - 13 Nov

[Japandroids: heating up Edinburgh on Friday]

Avid readers of this blog may be confused. Yes, this is Radar Recommends, but no, it isn't Sunday. Better than that, it's Friday evening, and you still have the whole weekend ahead of you. Hurrah.

To make things clear, we've moved the gig guide forward as a trial this week. We'll see if it likes its Friday slot enough to lay down a deposit and move in.

Aberdeen
sound festival
Until 22 Nov @ various venues
This festival aims to 'broaden your musical horizons'. A grand ambition, if it works.

Meursault, Holy Folks, Debutant
Monday @ The Tunnels / 8pm / £5
Edinburgh's Meursault mix up delicate banjos and searing beats to great effect. But you knew that.

Broken Records
Wednesday @ Café Drummonds / 8pm / £8.50
Earnest love songs and Balkan-folk gestures from these Edinburgh lads done good.
Also playing: Perth on Tuesday, Inverness on Thursday and Glasgow on Sunday.

Dananananaykroyd
Thursday @ The Tunnels / 8pm / £tbc
Are you man enough for the 'wall of cuddles'? Find out at one of Dana's typically anarchic shows.
Also playing The Ironworks, Inverness on Friday


Edinburgh
The Go Away Birds, Adam Stafford & Louise Hendry
Saturday @ Henry's Cellar Bar / 7.30pm / £tbc
Side projects ahoy! Catherine Ireton, also one half of God Help the Girl, joins up with Zoey Van Goey guitarist Michael John McCarthy. And you might know Adam Stafford from his YiFi exploits.
Also playing Brel, Glasgow on Sunday

Citizens, Hosemox, Munchkins
Sunday @ Henry's Cellar Bar / 8pm / £4
We bigged up Citizens last month, so check out their post-hardcore racket in this intimate, potentially deafening setting.

The Proclaimers
Tuesday & Wednesday @ Usher Hall / 7.30pm / £22.50-25
What kind of a Scottish music blog would we be if we didn't mention Fife's finest musical twins? I ask you.
Also playing Aberdeen on Saturday, Perth on Monday and Glasgow on Friday

The Specials
Thursday @ Corn Exchange / 7pm / £32.50
Another group of veterans that definitely ain't Scottish. Priced at, cough, £32 quid, this is probably one for the die-hards.

Cuddly Shark
Wednesday @ Henry's Cellar Bar / 8pm / £4
90s slacker rock from this Glasgow trio.

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble
Thursday @ The Queen's Hall / 7.30pm / £16.50
Blur guitarist goes all mellow on us, with help from Robyn Hitchcock and chums.

**UtR's gig of the week**
This is Music: Japandroids, Super Adventure Club, Bronto Skylift
Friday @ Sneaky Pete's / 8pm - 3am / £3 (members free after midnight)
The monthly gig/club regulars have pulled out a corker of a line-up this time, with Vancouver duo Japandroids leading the charge.

Glasgow
Take a Worm for a Walk Week, Hey Enemy, The Ballad of Mable Wong
Saturday @ Nice'n'Sleazy / 8.30pm / £tbc
Love metal riffs and don't mind having your personal space invaded? Take a Worm are the delicious noise you're looking for. And they have a great name.

Action Group
Sunday @ The 13th Note / 9pm / £4
Synth, keys and violin all thrown together - in a funky pop way, it works.

Meursault, Barn Owl, Brother Louis Collective, Olympic Swimmers
Tuesday @ The 13th Note / 9pm / £tbc
How nice! Not one nor two nor three but four bands who've been featured on UtR all playing together. And a chance to hear Meursault's new Nothing Broke EP live too.

Jay Reatard, Paper Planes
Wednesday @ King Tuts / 8.30pm / £8
UtR-tipped Paper Planes pick up a sweet support slot with the scruffy punk from Tennessee.

Make Love, The Ballad of Mabel Wong, Lyons, Monoganon, Mr Peppermint, Fox Gut Daata
Thursday @ Stereo / 8pm / £6
Monoganon is the fantastic John B McKenna playing tunes with some pals - and the rest of this night is a lovely mix of acousticy-to-noisy electro goodness.

A Place to Bury Strangers, Japandroids
Thursday @ Captain's Rest / 8pm / £6
Total sonic annihilation promised from New Yorkers APtBS, plus two-piece fuzz fun from Japandroids.

The Cave featuring: Black Rat Death Squad, Russell and the Wolves, Suicide Party
Friday @ The Flying Duck / 8.30pm / £5(£4)
Raucous riffs from the theatrical BRDS, kicking off a new garage/surf/punk club for the Duck.

The Fall
Friday and Saturday @ The Ferry / 8pm / £25 (for two nights)
Can you handle two whole nights of Mark E Smith and his latest incarnation of a backing band? Sounds like hell to me - but heaven to plenty.

Words: Elaine Liddle, Nick Mitchell


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

On the radar: Citizens

[Image: Takeshi Suga c/o The Skinny]

Play: Shit Whistler


Play: Don't Be Late


Play: Melted


In the pitfall-strewn realm of band nomenclature, Citizens is about as safe as it gets. It's on a par with Canada's Women, New York's Men and San Francisco's Girls in the non-descript stakes.

But then that's entirely the point.

"It's simple, unassuming, and gives people no preconceptions about us," explains singer/guitarist Craig McIntyre.

And it suits their music too. Citizens avoid things like subtlety, poetry and harmony; instead the Glasgow trio take a direct aim at your lugholes with maxed-out, clenched-fist post-hardcore rock. But before you indie fans go scurrying back to your Bon Iver LP, take heed: Citizens may rock hard, but they do so with inventiveness and guile.

Not convinced? Just listen to the disconnected interplay between guitar and bass on 'Shit Whistler', or the full-tilt, At the Drive-In style chopped-up rhythm of 'Melted'.

Craig maintains that the last thing they are is straight-forward - "we're not quite anything, it's hard to place us" - and says that their influences range from "hardcore, indie, jazz and folk" to "black metal, doom, grind and good films".

Since January, Citizens (completed by Owen Batchelor on bass/vocals and Iain Stewart on drums) have ingratiated themselves with their native city's rock scene by adopting a simple gameplan: "We all enjoy playing music that's interesting for us to play, and that we would listen to ourselves."

The eagle-eyed among you may have picked up on at least one of the above names. Newest recruit Iain has been enjoying hype a-plenty as the pummelling sticks man with Bronto Skylift, while Owen has played bass with Jackie Onassis (the band, not the one-time First Lady).

While they may be well-kent faces on the local live scene, they have already gigged around the UK and aren't setting their horizons too close to home: "It's cool here, there's good bands and some good promoters but we enjoy going down south to play a lot too," Craig says.

True to the DIY ethos we're keen to shout about here on UtR, Citizens have already released an EP called Try Smiling (pictured, right) on their own Wolf Among Wolves label (available here), and Craig reveals that there's more where that came from: "Citizens will release something else either at the end of this year or start of next."

Whether you remember the name or not, there should be ample opportunity to apply for Citizen-ship in the next few months.

Words: Nick Mitchell

Like what you hear? Catch Citizens live at the following dates:

4 Nov @ Cardigan Arms, Leeds (with Boanthrope)
5 Nov @ Retro Bar, Manchester (with Boanthrope)
9 Nov O’Henry's, Glasgow (with Boanthrope)
19 Nov Captain's Rest, Glasgow
2 Dec @ Captains Rest (with Lords)

Under the Radar podcast #4

It may be old news now, but the ripples of record sales set in motion by the Mercury Music Prize are still being felt across the industry.

Following our editorial on the subject a couple of weeks ago, we discuss the outcome (or more accurately, Billy enters rant mode!), and we try to figure out whether the whole concept of music awards has any value at all.

As if that wasn't enough to tempt you to download/ press play/do whatever it is you do with a podcast, we also have a great selection of tuneage.

There's the new single from The Low Miffs' collaboration with former Orange Juice / Josef K legend Malcolm Ross, a fresh cut from Glasgow hardcore rockers Citizens, a taster of North Atlantic Oscillation's long-awaited debut album, as well as acts we've played host to on the blog in recent weeks: Tokyo Knife Attack, The Pineapple Chunks and The John Knox Sex Club.

Enjoy the show...

Play: Podcast #4


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Running order:
00:12: Malcolm Ross and the Low Miffs - Cressida
04:34: Tokyo Knife Attack - Another One Falls
09:43: The Pineapple Chunks - The Horror The Horror
13:44: Mercury Music Prize chat
19:17: Errors - Salut France
22:42: North Atlantic Oscillation - 77 Hours
27:46: Citizens - Shit Whistler
32:20: The John Knox Sex Club - John the Revelator

Words and blether: Nick Mitchell, Billy Hamilton

Previous UtR podcasts

On the radar: Hey Vampires

Play: Heartbeats


Reports of punk's demise have been greatly exaggerated. While the genre’s never reclaimed the mainstream notoriety of the late 1970s, a succession of acts have kept the flame burning brightly in the underground. And with bands like Glasgow's Hey Vampires at the forefront of a thriving local scene, it's clear punk is, emphatically, not dead.

Since forming in early 2008, the band have lost no time in getting down to making a name for themselves through good, old fashioned hard work. Within the space of six months they'd established themselves as one of the most energetic acts on the Glasgow live circuit, managing to write and record enough material to release their eponymous debut EP.

Bassist and frontman Chris McGlynn explains the drive behind the band's formidable work ethic: "When we met up, the idea straight away was just to write some songs and get on stage as soon as we could. The whole playing live thing, meeting other people, new friends, finding new music; it's just really appealing to all of us, finding like-minded people who're interested in the same ideas that you are."

Though Hey Vampires label their eclectic brand of noise as 'dancepunk', in truth their sound lies closer to the legendary post-hardcore pioneers that McGlynn acknowledges as the band's main influences. From the mid-1980s, acts like These Arms Are Snakes and Fugazi began to build upon the foundation of hardcore punk, itself a refinement of late-1970s punk, adding extra layers of melody and technical precision to the genre's characteristic speed and fury.

And, while the complexity and creative expression of post-hardcore is all present and correct in Hey Vampires' output, the band loses none of the raw energy that made punk so compelling. Live shows are wonderfully chaotic cauldrons of noise and flailing limbs, as the foursome's enthusiasm inevitably spills over into the crowd.

For Hey Vampires, leading by example from the stage is what it's all about. McGlynn firmly believes the band can "make people realise that they can do it too - pick up an instrument, form a band, book a tour, get a CD out." He adds: "I think that to me is what punk music is all about, that DIY community spirit amongst bands. More than getting famous, getting on MTV Cribs, that's what I'd like to inspire."

And if Glasgow's thriving punk scene is any indication, he may just be on to something. Bronto Skylift, Citizens, United Fruit, Das Filth and Jackie Onassis all share Hey Vampires' DIY ethos, as do the hardened Glaswegian punk fans who brave hail, rain and stale beer to turn out to see these local acts play.

This year has already seen the release of the band's second EP, 'Problems, Solve Yourselves', on Two Tick Records and they recently recorded a live session on the Vic Galloway Show on BBC Radio 1. With a tour of the English east coast lined up in early June, a slew of Scottish shows throughout the summer and rumours of new material being just over the horizon, Hey Vampires look certain to be very busy for quite some time to come.

Words: Jodi Mullen

Play: Why So Forlorn


Did punk ever really die? Did it ever really live? Let us know what you think below...