Scottish Gig Highlights – June 2014

This June sees the live return of The Phantom Band, Television playing Marquee Moon, indie rock rude boys Parquet Courts, Eden Festival, and a double-header of bleeding-edge electronica with Son Lux and Sun Glitters

Preview by Illya Kuryakin | 30 May 2014

Returning from a stint of showcasing his damn fine solo work as Rick Redbeard, Rick Anthony recalls the troops for a live outing with his much-loved alma mater, The Phantom Band, at The Art School in Glasgow, on 3 Jun. The robofolk outlaws have been hard at work on their long-awaited follow-up to The Wants, and glorious third record Strange Friend will have dropped by the time the Glasgow sextet hit the stage, so expect a set of super-polished new material, with a few classics thrown in for measure. Crooocooodile!

After causing a global Twitter-storm with his frenetic and heartfelt dancing on the David Letterman show earlier in the year, Samuel T. Herring's Future Islands have found themselves faced with the kind of celebrity usually reserved for scantily-clad jailbait like Miley Cyrus. The synth-enhanced Baltimore indie rockers have plenty of damn fine material to draw on, trading on the highlights of their 4AD-released album Singles, and showcasing frontman Herring's unique vocal style and electric stage presence at SWG3 on 4 Jun.

On 5 Jun, Howling Bells play Glasgow's King Tut's – the Sydney-born, London-based four-piece are preparing to release their new album Heartstrings in June, marking a decade in the music business for the band, who trade in the kind of lush, understated dream-pop and indie rock that will appeal to fans of Mazzy Star and Beach House.  

PAWS return to their native Scotland to play Glasgow Art School (6 Jun) and the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh (7 Jun) after trading blows with Morrissey in a rather public fashion over a US concert last month – the trio claimed Mozza's management tried to cancel their show, and they hit back publicly at the be-coiffed former gladioli enthusiast-turned-boxing apologist, then watched the whole thing turn into a media shit-storm. They've a new record titled Youth Culture Forever to promote too, which is littered with some of the finest, brattiest, off-kilter, lo-fi garage rock anthems you'll hear this year. Requests for Big Mouth Strikes Again may be met with total bemusement.

At Stereo in Glasgow on 7 Jun, the frontman of one of the most political and angry punk bands of the 70s and 80s comes to town to play a show with his latest band – Steve Ignorant's Slice of Life are the Crass founder's latest touring incarnation, and no doubt they will rattle through a wide selection of the Crass back catalogue, as well as perhaps touching on some tracks from Ignorant's many side projects, such as Stratford Merceneries and Current 93. One thing's certain – in these politically apathetic and corporate-controlled times, Steve Ignorant's confrontational politics are as relevant as they have ever been.

On 12 Jun, get out of the city and head for the sunny Raehills Meadows near Dumfries for the Eden Festival. The biggest draw on the bill are without a doubt 80s hip-hop legends De La Soul, playing a headline set, one of ony a few UK appearances this year. Hip-hop fans will also thrill to a set from classic UK hip-hop outfit The Nextmen; there's reggae and dub from Mungo's Hi-Fi, folk-rock fusion from the magnificent Black Diamond Express, UK garage from Artful Dodger and, really weirdly, a morning exercise class with TV's Mister Motivator, which must qualify as the most unlikely festival booking of 2014 (if not ever).

On 13 Jun, Electric Honey Records celebrate their 21st anniversary with a very special showcase at Glasgow's Òran Mór. The student-run label was home to early releases from world-straddling rock colossi Biffy Clyro and Snow Patrol, as well as early Belle & Sebastian. This showcase celebrates the label's thriving current roster, with appearances from Young Aviators, Alex Hynes, Harry and the Hendersons and Albert Shakespeare, not to mention the return of Wake The President. Indie kids, you'll kick yourself if you miss this one. 

Also on 13 June, at King Tut's in Glasgow, rising gothic folk-pop duo Wye Oak will be playing highlights from their well-received 2014 album Shriek. Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner incorporate subtle shoegaze and dream-pop influences into their melodic, largely acoustic indie-folk songs, elevating them above the growing crop of boy-girl folk duos currently so in vogue – they're a cut above.

Over in Edinburgh on 14 Jun, Conquering Animal Sound front-woman ANAK-ANAK headlines a special gig at Out of the Blue (coincidentally, The Skinny's former Edinburgh home). The event is curated by SCREE Magazine, and features the staggeringly talented Anneke Kampman's solo project (recently featured in the Glasgow Tectonics Festival) alongside Sarah Hayden, Robert Kiely, Richard Taylor and iliop.

Back at Òran Mór, Orange Juice front-man Edwyn Collins is in session on 15 Jun, playing a selection of classics from his storied back catalogue and newer songs from last year's Understated, which is nominated for this year's coveted Scottish Album of the Year Award. The next night, back in Edinburgh at the Electric Circus, you can catch a solo set from last year's winner, RM Hubbert, playing highlights from Breaks and Bone (also nominated this year for the SAY Award). Support comes from Meursault's Neil Pennycook.

A veteran rocker and original member of Kyuss, not to mention Queens of the Stone Age, Dwarves, Mondo Generator and the immortal Kyuss, Nick Oliveri comes to Glasgow's Stereo for a solo set on 17 Jun. On the same evening, returning to Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, king of the American miserablists, Mark Oliver Everett's Eels hit town for what is sure to be an unmissable show, coming off the back of 2013's Wonderful, Glorious and Everett's latest solo outing, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett

Rapper Loki debuts his new live band The Cartoon Cartel at Nice 'N' Seazy's on 19 Jun. It's a trifle disingenuous to describe the MC as 'emerging' given he has more than a decade at the forefront of the burgeoning Scottish hip-hop scene under his belt, but as the Scottish rap world edges closer to mainstream recognition, and in the wake of a new-found sobriety and purpose, Loki's star is once more on the rise. 

On 21 Jun at SWG3 in Glasgow, Parquet Courts come to town – the Brooklyn-based punk rockers released the searing Tally All The Things That Broke in 2013, but a follow-up, Sunbathing Animal, is already waiting to drop. Noisy, full of attitude, and moving faster than a scalded dug, they are an imposing prospect live. The same night, at Nice 'N' Sleazy's, catch Two Wings, aka Hanna Tuulikki and guitarist Ben Reynolds, doing their psych-rock/folk thang, with Tangles and WOLF in support. And finally, on 27 Jun, catch Scottish indie rock royalty We Were Promised Jetpacks playing a sure-to be barnstorming set at Òran Mór; they'll be showing off material from their as-yet unreleased third LP before they bugger off to America again later in the year. 

DO NOT MISS: SON LUX / SUN GLITTERS @ BROADCAST, GLASGOW, 3 JUNE

This month's Do Not Miss recommendation features a visit from two ground-breaking electronic producers who are as adept with their deep, textured beat-work as they are at handling gorgeous singers and complex vocal arrangements. New York's Son Lux, still touring his magnificent 2013 album Lanterns, first began releasing on Anticon in 2008 –- last year's LP, which matched his stirring arrangements and fragile singing voice with massed choral performances and a searing lyrical intensity, was a breath of fresh air. A recent re-working of that album's centre-piece, Easy, with New Zealand pop scamp Lorde will have helped bring his work to the wider audience it deserves. Support comes from Luxembourg's Sun Glitters, signed to Mush for his astonishing debut Scattered Into Light, which melded post-dubstep, electronic shoegaze and broken beat with the vocals of Sara Cappai. Catch both of these mercurial talents at Glasgow's Broadcast on the first Tuesday of this month.