[Dananananaykroyd: in the running for award. Photo: Su Anderson]
In an attempt to stave off the general ennui of the first few weeks of the year, when we're all coming to terms with the return to work/school/studies and the weather's still pelting us with sub-zero sleet, people make up awards.
Have a glitzy, booze-fuelled party and cheer up, the thinking goes.
Earlier this week we told you about the Scottish Alternative Music Awards (see below), and today we've got wind of a few more.
Radio station Xfm have launched their New Music Awards for 2010, which considers any bands who have released a debut album over the past year. You can vote for whoever you like here, but they have published a list of suggestions, which includes Scots acts Broken Records, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Wake the President and Dananananaykroyd.
But as long as La Roux doesn't win we'll be happy.
In other award-related news, Under the Radar is up for another gong, in the Scotblog Awards 2010. As anyone could nominate anyone, there's a massive longlist of 142 Scottish blogs, and you can vote for as many as you like. Other music sites in the running include The Pop Cop, Peenko and Aye Tunes.
And finally... Celtic Connections starts in Glasgow today, with over 200 artists set to take the stage over the next fortnight. There are opportunities aplenty to discover new talent, especially at the Danny Kyle Open Stage, and we'll pick a few of our favourites in Radar Recommends this week and next.
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 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.
With RockNess, T in the Park and Wickerman finally out of the way, the Tartan Heart Festival at the Belladrum Estate near Inverness this weekend is the last major open-air event on the Scottish summer festival calender.
Now in its sixth year, Tartan Heart is a family-friendly alternative to its beer-soaked cousins further south. Not that copious amounts of drinking are by any means ruled out, but segregated 'family' and 'quiet' camping areas and free admission for children under 12 hint at a more relaxed atmosphere.
The music's not half bad either. While big names like Ocean Colour Scene and Toploader might not exactly set pulses racing, there's more than enough Scottish talent across the festival's six stages to make Tartan Heart well worth a weekend jaunt into the Highlands.
Edinburgh's Broken Records are experiencing something of a second wind of late. An exuberant set at T in the Park last month revealed a band eager to let their scintillating live performances speak for themselves. Definitely one not to miss at the Garden Stage on Friday evening.
Two-man noise onslaught Bronto Skylift return to their northern homeland to appear on the HAIL Seedlings stage on Friday. What exactly Belladrum will make of their grungey racket remains to be seen but Bronto are indisputably one of the most visceral acts on the live scene at the moment.
Play: Bronto Skylift - Danny Glover Isn't Dead
Dananananaykroyd's legendary 'Wall of Cuddles' should prove a somewhat more enticing propect for those who like things a little less 'rawk' at the Hothouse Stage on Friday night. Despite their "fight pop" stylings, the undeniable feel-good factor surrounding the Glasgow outfit's anarchic live show will lend itself well to the laid-back vibes of Tartan Heart.
Sparrow and the Workshop have the unenviable task of opening the Hothouse Stage for business on Saturday afternoon but the Glasgow-based trio are well up to the task. Sparrow's ethereal, electrified folk rock is just the thing to soothe sore heads after the inevitable excesses of Friday night.
Also on Saturday, 17-year-old wunderkindUnicorn Kid, aka Oliver Sabin, brings his 8-bit electronica to the HAIL Seedlings stage. Sabin is something of an anomaly in a music scene dominated by guitar-driven acts of all shades but in a live setting his pulsating synth-pop crashes through genre boundaries in a frenzy of hyperactive euphoria.
Tartan Heart 2009 takes place on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 August at Beauly on the Belladrum Estate in Inverness-shire. Click here for ticket information.
Words: Jodi Mullen
Is this year's line-up good enough to tempt you to Belladrum?
Swine flu, golfing grannies, poolside cocktails and Refreshers all crop up in this week's Twitter round-up. It's enough to make you sick...
Errors catch a roadside virus... @weareerrors: At tebay services. If I didn't have swine flu already then I've just caught it at this granny festival
... while Bronto Skylift drummer has a bout of leprosy... @brontorawks: has anybody got a new pair of hands for our drummer?
Boycotts take a lead from Talking Heads and stop making sense... @Boycotts: We're back from tour and all i'm saying is there were no Dolphins with Jetpacks and no-one's arsehole was turned into a footprint x
Edwyn Collins spills the beans on his sporty ancestry... @EdwynCollins: watching the golf. My Granny won a ladies tournament at Turnberry in the twenties. Yes she did.
Glasvegas are happy to be a rock'n'roll cliché... @Glasvegas: watching four sexy spanish girls play beach volleyball is the perfect pick me up after a night of sinking cocktails and trashing hotel rooms
And Dananananaykroyd live it up with the oldies down under... @dananananaykroy: Relaxing morning in/by the pool. Same for The Specials. We saw them relaxing by the pool.
Cast of the Capital tweet from the playground... @castcapital: Love Hearts or Refreshers? I want a serious answer.
Yahweh get into the Pagan spirit at Wickerman... @Yahwehtheband: HEAAAAAATHENSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
And Epic 26 reveal their tasteful reading habits... @Epic26: @under_the_radar, great links to great bands and interesting reading. Follow follow...
Words: Nick Mitchell (and Twitter)
Spotted any other tweeting gems we've missed out on? Share your favourite weekly tweets with us below...
[Sunday in pictures, by Su Anderson; music by Findo Gask]
Saturday was a hard act to follow with great shows from Broken Records, Bronto Skylift and Young Fathers, but Sunday did not disappoint as UtR returned to an over-populated airfield in Balado. If only we could work the waterproof poncho look...
Sunday’s opening act on the BBC Introducing stage is a sight for sore eyes and a sound for cold ears. Led to the fore by luminously attired frontman Gerard Black, Findo Gask’s melody-stained motifs brilliantly shake away the day’s rain-sopped inception.
The zig-zagging splendour of Korg and percussion emanating from this nerdish quartet has a bulging crowd jigging from the off; with tracks like 'Go Faster Stripe' and 'Va Va Va' revisiting the gleeful slurps of jangle-friendly vanguards Orange Juice.
But where Edwyn and co glossed up a distinctly New Pop finish, Findo Gask fashion out demented sonic lightning bolts that sound equally at home on the moshpit of a muddy field as they do an indiekid’s darkened bedroom.
Pirouetting across the stage one final time, Black bows his head to a bluster of clapped hands. If they maintain this heady momentum, there’ll be much, much more to follow. [BH]
Barn Owl's shimmering, melancholic indie rock is the perfect accompaniment to a dreary and hungover Sunday afternoon at T in the Park. That said, with the heavens pouring down outside, it's not entirely clear which is the bigger draw: the band themselves or the sheltered confines of the T Break Tent.
Either way, Barn Owl take it in their stride, delivering a dreamy and gentle set to a chilled out crowd. Occasionally, the Glasgow five-piece meander into a soaring chorus, slightly reminiscent of latter-day Idlewild, but calm is soon restored and we return to emotive minor chord progressions, accompanied by rich and resonant percussion.
Indeed, Barn Owl's elaborate percussion ensemble is one the more intriguing aspects of the performance, a collection of bells, chimes and xylophones adding a wistful, ethereal dimension to their sound. As the set draws to a close, the clouds outside finally break, revealing a thin crack of blue sky.
But, even as the sun makes a fleeting appearance, still the punters try to push their way inside the packed tent. It seems Barn Owl don't need the Scottish weather's help to fill the canvas arena after all. [JM]
Every year there is one T Break band who do the pre-show legwork to ensure they're not playing to a wind-whipped, half-empty tent. Judging by the discarded flyers that litter the ground, the makeshift banners held aloft and the fans clad in branded t-shirts, this year that band is Tango in the Attic.
But at least the chirpy Fifers repay the sizeable crowd they have amassed with an energetic performance of their sun-flecked guitar pop grooves. Embellishing the standard garage rock set-up with an antique organ and sax, the smiling quintet belie their band-next-door image with tightly-coiled, sonically distinctive jams.
When they kick into the double-speed, Vampire Weekend-esque beat of 'Blunderground', their branded fans go wild with the kind of enthusiasm that no exhaustive marketing could inspire. [NM]
It's slightly ironic that the sun breaks out over Balado and the rain finally stops as The Twilight Sad begin their show at the BBC's Introducing stage. The hyped Kilsyth band make the kind of brooding rock that's more apt to soundtrack rolling thunderclouds than blazing sunrays.
But any contextual niggles are soon rendered irrelevant as the band launch into one of their best, albeit briefest, live shows in recent memory.
In a half-hour set it seems daft to select highlights, but 'I Became a Prostitute', the disturbingly primal new single from their upcoming album, is undoubtedly it, closely followed by traditional set-closer 'And She Would Darken the Memory'.
Before they leave singer James Graham jokes, "What the f*** are ye daein' here? The Saturdays are on!" Evidently some T in the Parkers still value good music over good looks. [NM]
It can be a challenge for bands in the T Break tent to do anything more than give the audience a taster of their burgeoning opus in the alloted 30 minute slot. But when fast-rising Edinburgh-via-Glasgow band We Were Promised Jetpacks inspire a mass of sweaty kineticism and unprovoked clapping, it feels like an occasion.
It's not that the cherub-faced four-piece do anything special to rouse the 1,000-odd folk in attendance. But then they don't need to, because their rough-edged, propulsive indie-rock is performed with such effortless gusto and untamed aggression that you can't help but be taken along for the ride.
Like most of the tracks from recent debut album These Four Walls, 'Thunder and Lightning' has added drama today, and when they launch into 'Quiet Little Voices', it really does feel like a T in the Park moment that will live long in the memory. [NM]
Scotland's most ridiculously named band need little introduction to native audiences after blazing a path across the country with their anarchic gigs over the past few years. But to anyone stumbling across them for the first time, this was a fitting first encounter.
Boasting two drummers, two guitarists and two singers at various points in their set, the now all-male Glasgow group (having dropped bassist Laura) are an assault on the senses, albeit a non-threatening one.
Because when they ask two halves of the audience to part and run towards each other, the goal is not a 'Wall of Death' but a 'Wall of Cuddles'. Perhaps unaccustomed to trying this out on such a tightly packed crowd, this time it results in half the onlookers falling like dominos before laughingly helping each other up.
While their debut album Hey Everyone can be a trying listen, Dananana... are designed to be experienced up, close and personal, and with their endless crowdsurfing and cuddling, it doesn't get much more personal than this. [NM]
Tweet nothings, feat. Camera Obscura, Dananananaykroyd, The Twilight Sad
With the world living in a nutshell of 140 character statements, getting to the good stuff can be a laborious chore - particularly if, like us, your mum has posted her 1000th account of the cat's bowel movements. But never fear dear reader, we here at UtR have sifted through the Twitter tripe to bring to you an essential weekly round-up of your favourite musical miscreants' idle-thumbed tweets....
Camera Obscura get narcissistic regret... @camera_obscura: "so. watching yourself on telly is like watching yourself on youtube or looking in the mirror. but worse."
The mighty Cancel The Astronauts get some overdue media lovin'... @canceltheastros: "Tom Robinson's playing us on BBC Introducing tonight! And Steve Lamacq's playing a clip of Fanclub on his show. On Radio 1. That's mental."
Debutant slowly fathoms Twitter and all its meaningless glory... @debutantmusic: "Twitter confuses me. I wish I was more technology savvy. How do I direct a tweet at a particular person? Technology really is wasted on me".
Best web 2.0-speak ramble of the week comes from FindoGask... @wearefindogask: "Hey internetppz, practice today was an "EPIC FAIL". Hilariously graceless reworks of popular rock songs then sausages".
Edinburgh's The Banana Sessions look for some fee-less PR... @bananasessions: "We need some snappy way to describe what we sound like... Any suggestions? Multi genre hybrids allowed. Answers on a tweet...".
Pooch give us a fascinating insight into to the culinary habits of a disco-punk band: @poochtheband: "Having pizza before playinsleazys...roddy + steve have used 'my dad rocks' half price vouchers. Not enjoying being a wife!"
We Are The Physics take the tone down... @wearethephysics:"We're all going round to Michaelguitar's house tonight to record a song about dildonics. We'll let you know the euphoric results".
While The Twilight Sad find themselves pigeonholed in the UK's biggest weekly music rag... @thetwilightsad: "the nme describe us as "awe-metal" and say our epic angst comes from "the fear of cocktail parties or of group oral sex."
to which the Twilight boys retort... @thetwilightsad: "we're big fans of both "cocktail parties" and "group oral sex."
And finally...
To fuzz, or not to fuzz? That was RBRBR'sdilemma of the week... @RBRBR: "Sorry, in a band of 5, would a fourth beard be a beard too many?"
Words: Billy Hamilton (and Twitter)
Spotted any other tweeting gems we've missed out on? Share your favourite weekly tweets with us below...
One of our favourite new(ish) bands from Scotland (or anywhere for that matter), the massively monikered Dananananaykroyd, drop their highly anticipated debut album today.
For a band with the combined energy of Douneray and Sellafield (without the poisonous side-effects) and a prankster attitude that extends to their online forays, it's quite fitting that they've called it Hey Everyone!
So if you're feeling like a blast of fight pop, or thrash punk, or whatever you want to call their frenetic sound, you can buy the album here. As a tribute, here's the video to recent single Pink Sabbath:
Their official album launch is tonight at The Arches in Glasgow, and they play Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh tomorrow night.
Before we're accused of acting as Dananana's PR agent, we'd better inform you of what else is hitting shops as we type.
Well, keep your eyes peeled and your ears alert for a new single from Jesus H Foxx, an EP from Copy Haho, an album from Big Ned and, looking ahead, a single from Broken Records on May 11th - the title track from their upcoming album Until the Earth Begins to Part. We can hardly wait either.
In the second instalment of our weekly gigs round-up we've broadened our scope beyond Auld Reekie to take in the best gigs wherever they are in the country. You'll notice that when we say 'country' we mean Edinburgh and Glasgow, but we did look for noteworthy gigs elsewhere without much success. Care to prove us wrong? Leave a comment below.
Fangs, Boycotts, Unicorn Kid and Findo Gask Sun 5 Apr, King Tut's, Glasgow. Doors 8pm, £tbc Since their ill-fated attempt to win the praise of Alex James and the rest of the 'expert' judges on a certain TV 'talent' show, Fangs are back doing what they do best: strutting their flamboyant electro-punk stuff. And there's plenty more on offer: the urgent energy of Boycotts, teenage electro whizz Unicorn Kid and the toybox 'tronica of Findo Gask. [NM]
Remember Remember and Matt Elliott Mon 6 Apr, Cassette, Glasgow. Doors 9pm, £3 Whoever said sellotape couldn't be a musical instrument (and someone must have) never heard Remember Remember. Graeme Ronald crafts his delicate songs from whatever comes to hand, and does it live, in front of your eyes, with loop pedals! At this gig he's playing with cosmopolitan troubadour Matt Elliott. [NM] Dananananaykroyd Tues 7 Apr, Cabaret Volitaire, Edinburgh. Doors 7pm, £7 In all honesty, Dananana’s epileptic thrash-rock should only appeal to a niche fitting few. But so infectious are the Glasgow ensemble’s lives shows, not to mention last year’s brilliant Sissy Hits EP, that the buzz around their debut long-player Hey Everyone! has reverberated like a beehive in a megaphone. So, the day after the record drops UtR advises you get your derrière down to Cabaret Voltaire to find out just what all the fuss is about – you won’t be disappointed. [BH]
Limbo featuring Paul Vickers & The Leg, Electronicat, Dead Boy Robotics Thurs 9 Apr, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh. Doors 8pm, £4 As ever, Limbo pulls out all the stops with this exceptionally coined line-up. Headlined by abstract proto-punk yelpers Paul Vickers (last seen by UtR dressed in full panda bear attire) & the Leg, the undercard juxtaposes renowned Berliner Electronicat’s effects-skewered swathes against the throttling two-pronged synth assault of local lads Dead Boy Robotics. In short, this is going to be one hell of an evening. [BH]
[Dead Boy Robotics - Cloud Sequence Animals]
**UtR's gig of the week** This Is Music: Chutes, The French Quarter Fri 10th Apr, Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh. Doors 8pm , £3 A mainstay on the Edinburgh circuit for over two years, promoters This Is Music have put together a couple of Scotland’s finest young bands for this show. Teetering on the verge of a breakthrough for what’s seemed like aeons, Edinburgh five-piece Chutes are a maelstrom of taut melody and doom-saying lyrics that ignites the dancefloor like a guitar-slewing Molotov cocktail. More sombre but no less incessant, Tillicoultry quartet The French Quarter melt post-rock compositions with sloping, brush struck refrains to create a sound that, although innately Scottish, is utterly unique. [BH] Glasgow PodcART presents Burning Codes, Robyn G Shiels and Yahweh Sat 11 Apr, Stereo, Glasgow. Doors 7.30pm, £6 Like UtR, the people at Glasgow PodcART know a good thing when they hear it, and their podcast is an essential (and funny-as-hell) listen. Here they stage a showcase that spans the Irish sea, bringing you the best of Belfast (wistful one-time Snow Patrol cohort Burning Codes and the distinctive drawl of Robyn G Shiels) and Glasgow (one of the discoveries of the year in Yahweh, who we recently featured). [NM]
[Yahweh: The Wee Ending]
Aerials Presents: Great Eskimo Hoax, San Sebastian and Nacional Sat 11 April, Cassette, Glasgow, £tbc Combining Foals-y guitar interplay with winning harmonies, Great Eskimo Hoax are a pleasure to behold, and for this gig they are supported by two quality Scottish bands. San Sebastian make brooding, magnetic post-rock soundscapes, while Nacional bring their grandstanding indie home from SXSW. [NM]
Paper Planes, Foundling Wheel, Kung Fu, The Planes Sat 11 Apr, Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh. Doors 7pm, £4 Sneaky Pete’s has become the place to be seen in Edinburgh these days and this ear-bleeding evening of noise mongers is no exception. Glasgow outfit Paper Planes are the big draw; spanking out a splurge of party hard art-punk a la Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But, before that, the Foundling Wheel’s Ted Koterwas will penetrate nervous systems with an agitated clash of electronica that besieges like a category five hurricane. Supported by The Planes and Kung Fu, this is a night to be heard and not scene. [BH]
Edinburgh's 
Two-man noise onslaught 
Also on Saturday, 17-year-old 
Swine flu, golfing grannies, poolside cocktails and Refreshers all crop up in this week's Twitter round-up. It's enough to make you sick...
Sunday’s opening act on the BBC Introducing stage is a sight for sore eyes and a sound for cold ears. Led to the fore by luminously attired frontman Gerard Black, Findo Gask’s melody-stained motifs brilliantly shake away the day’s rain-sopped inception.
Every year there is one T Break band who do the pre-show legwork to ensure they're not playing to a wind-whipped, half-empty tent. Judging by the discarded flyers that litter the ground, the makeshift banners held aloft and the fans clad in branded t-shirts, this year that band is Tango in the Attic.
It's slightly ironic that the sun breaks out over Balado and the rain finally stops as The Twilight Sad begin their show at the BBC's Introducing stage. The hyped Kilsyth band make the kind of brooding rock that's more apt to soundtrack rolling thunderclouds than blazing sunrays.
Scotland's most ridiculously named band need little introduction to native audiences after blazing a path across the country with their anarchic gigs over the past few years. But to anyone stumbling across them for the first time, this was a fitting first encounter.
