Gig Highlights – Scotland, August 2013

Festival madness descends once more on Edinburgh as the city's streets swell to bursting with hungry young theatre performers, legions of jugglers and fire breathers, and rogue troupes of burlesque artists all hungrily vying for your attention. But in the few gig spaces and basements not occupied by piss-poor "comedians" and avant-garde mime practitioners, there are some choice gigs to be found – and for those giving Edinburgh a swerve, Glasgow's August calendar is chock full of delights and surprises.

On 2 Aug, Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band brings his The Circle Is Unbroken tour to Glasgow's Òran Mór – a legend of the 60s psychedelic folk scene, Heron is 70 this year, and is celebrating with a string of gigs backed by fellow psych-folk travellers, Trembling Bells. Alex Neilson and Lavinnia Blackwell's Glasgow-based band, whose last LP in 2012 was a co-release with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, are well-used to collaborations – expect a celebration of Heron's Incredible String Band, with a few Trembling Bells numbers thrown in for good measure.

Although the founder of the marvellous Fence Records announced his own departure from the label, Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote has remained prolific with other projects, re-recording his album That Might Be It, Darling this year with a full band, and Sure & Steadfast as a benefit CD for Scottish Fisheries Museum Boat Club in Anstruther. His former Fence co-pilot, Johnny Lynch aka The Pictish Trail, told us what he admires so much about Anderson back in 2011: "No one writes like him. No one. He doesn't write songs for the football terraces, or for the indie disco, or even for other people. Kenny writes songs for Kenny." He plays The Queen's Hall on 3 Aug.

Gin-loving blogger Matthew Young's Song, By Toad record label has a solid reputation for releasing some of the absolute cream of the crop from the local contemporary folk scene, most recently counting Adam Stafford and Sparrow & The Workshop on his roster. Throughout August, Song, By Toad is curating a series of gigs in one of Edinburgh's most intimate venues, Henry's Cellar Bar, and the line-up is a who's who of innovative Scottish indie, with the headliners picking the support. On 3 Aug, The Pale Imitation Festival welcomes FOUND, the aforementioned Adam Stafford, and Mike MacFarlane. 8 Aug proves a little more in-your-face, with sets from Plastic Animals, Death Cats and Mad Nurse. On 10 Aug, Sparrow and the Workshop are joined by Siobhan Wilson and The Rosy Crucifixion. Recent SAY Award winner RM Hubbert comes to town on 17 Aug, with support from Wounded Knee and Lidh. That's just the tip of the iceberg – there are more great gigs throughout the month, and with door tax a mere fiver in most cases (£25 'season tickets' are available too), this is a great opportunity to retreat from Fringe madness and encounter some of Scotland's finest music in its nartural, wild habitat.

Speaking of the Fringe, on 4 Aug a very special collaboration created specially for the Edinburgh glitterati makes its debut – Decagram, a one-off performance at The Queen's Hall. Part of the ongoing Tinderbox Orchestra project, regulars will collaborate with ten experimental musicians and sound artists to create a new orchestral soundscape-cum-symphony, melding electronic beats, noise and traditional composition. The full line-up is yet to be announced, but the list of contributors already includes Edinburgh's sublime Lipsync for a Lullaby, electronic shoegazers Hiva Oa, art-rockers Tokamak and Black Lantern Music beatsmith Asthmatic Astronaut. The ingredients for a unique night. 

On 12 Aug, punk's high priestess and premiere poet Patti Smith comes to Òran Mór. Always an inspiring and imposing performer, she has been widely acknowledged as one of the founders of the punk movement since her 1975 album Horses, and over the years has collaborated with everyone from R.E.M. to Bruce Springsteen, to Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. For her Glasgow show, expect a run through some of her biggest hits and a healthy does of more obscure material. For Smith's diehard fans, there is also a short poetry reading and film screening at the Jim Lambie-designed Poetry Club, earlier in the evening. 

The last time Michael Gira's Swans came through Scotland, gig-goers at the Arches spoke of a shimmering, shuddering wall of post-rock noise, culled from their hugely-admired last album, The Seer. Gira returns to Scotland to play The Liquid Room on 13 Aug – pack some earplugs, and prepare for sonic devastation. 

On 16 Aug one of Glasgow's most exciting new venues celebrates a year of intimate gigs. The Glad Cafe 1st Birthday is headed up by Carbs, an experimental 'supergroup' comprised of Jonnie Common and Conquering Animal Sound's beatsmith Jamie Scott, with hip-hop vocals from Jay Kural, aka Field Mouse. Given that it's a birthday party, and in a cafe known for its healthy, appealing food as much as for its growing live reputation, revellers can reasonably expect cake.

Kevin Parker's magnificently faded surf-pop / psych-rock gang Tame Impala, whose Lonerism dominated more than a few end-of-year lists in 2012, come to The Picture House on 20 Aug. Production genius Parker also masterminded last year's fantastic debut by Melody's Echo Chamber, and his way with a breezeblock beat and a winning melody is even more apparent when reunited with his Tame Impala bandmates. Australia's finest, this could be their last Scottish outing for a while – move fast if you want a ticket.

On 21 Aug, The Twilight Sad promise a fully-amped set taking in the finest moments from their (quite rightly) SAY-nominated No One Can Ever Know. They've told us that this will be their last full band show before they sequester themselves to record a new LP, which according to frontman James Graham, who speaks to us this month as part of our Paradigm Shift series, will be "the most important album of our career." If we're lucky, they might even play a few songs from it.

If you want to get out of town for a few days between 22 and 25 Aug, the destination of choice is the Doune The Rabbit Hole festival. A boutique affair with a strong lineup of local bands including punk-pop noiseniks PAWS, brooding songsmiths Meursault, superlative Phantom Band side-project Rick Redbeard, indie classicists The Pastels, folk phenomenons Washington Irving and Randolph's Leap, and disco/punk-funk party-starters Nevada Base among others, they also have a formidable electronic headliner in the form of Canada's Aaron Funk, better known as Venetian Snares. 

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DO NOT MISS: DAVID BYRNE & ST. VINCENT, ROYAL CONCERT HALL, GLASGOW, 29 AUG

Closing the month in fine style, legendary Talking Heads frontman, Brian Eno collaborator and, more recently, respected musical theorist and author David Byrne joins Annie Erin Clark, aka St. Vincent, for a live performance of some of their greatest hits, augmented by a full brass and woodwind section. The main thrust of the show will be their collaborative work, as showcased on the delightfully oddball Love This Giant album, and recent EP Brass Tactics.

When we interviewed the duo this month, as well as telling us about Byrne's newly-found love of cycling, they promised versions of Burning Down The House and other Byrne-penned classics, and a smattering of hits from Clark's back catalogue. Byrne ranks as one of the most respected and enduring living songwriters, with a career so mercurial and wide-ranging he puts David Bowie to shame – and he's technically Scottish, having been born in Dumbarton, which practically makes this a homecoming show. Clark meanwhile is an accomplished musican and performer whose CV includes work with Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree. With the creepy masterpiece Strange Mercy, she also recorded our album of 2011. Expect fireworks.