Live Music Highlights – September 2011

Music is the Music Language is a promising new festival dedicated to showcasing the diversity of Scotland's underground music scene. Taking place on 3/4 Sep at Glasgow's SWG3 Studio Warehouse, its line-up has us salivating already, featuring as it does the likes of Alasdair Roberts, Cut Hands, Moon Unit, Divorce, Wounded Knee, Richard Youngs and Withered Hand amongst many others. Get your (very reasonably priced) tickets from Monorail or visit cryparrot.co.uk for more details.

Combining the urgency of hardcore with baleful and suggestive post-punk atmospheres, youthful Scandinavian posse Iceage have hit upon a sound that's got the cognoscenti frothing at the mouth. Given their reputation for blitzkrieg live shows, we expect their gig at Glasgow's Captain's Rest on 4 Sep to go off like a firecracker in a child's hood.

Despite having been through countless creative ups and downs during their 25 year career, Public Enemy continue to bring the noise, and with a fan-funded album due to drop in 2012 it's clear they have no interest in becoming a nostalgia act. That sai d, we fully intend to lose our shit as soon as they drop Welcome to the Terrordome at Glasgow ABC on 6 Sep (as part of their 2011 Fear of a Black Planet tour). This show should be a lock, 'cause no one works a crowd harder than Chuck and Flav.

Psych-folk/drone rock standout Kurt Vile released one of this year's slow-burners in Smoke Ring for My Halo, and on 6 Sep he (along with his band, The Violators) will pitch up at Glasgow Stereo for an evening of energised introspection and brilliantly strung-out jams. He may not have the loudest personality on the circuit but this kid's well worth looking up. Modern folk mavericks Woods are in tow.

The Black Angels have always been a good band, but in 2011 you can make a pretty solid argument that they've evolved into the most compelling psych-rock outfit on the circuit. Sinister, sexy and possessing an uncanny ability to marry their natural songwriting ability with a penchant for hard-grooving drones, their show at Glasgow's SWG3 on 7 Sep comes with our highest recommendation.

African HiTech's 93 Million Miles is one of the standout albums of the year thus far; a captivating and visceral celebration of the history of club music from two heads who really know their shit. On 9 Sep Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek will take control of the sound system at Glasgow's Arches to deliver a once-in-a-blue-moon history lesson that promises to join the dots between soul, funk, jazz, jungle, juke and everything in between. Get ready to move.

With a sound that takes in electronica, folk, punk and traditional Basque percussion (not to mention the occasional terrifying excursion into early 90s Euro-trance) it's safe to say that Crystal Fighters possess supreme faith in their own musical vision. Whilst they frequently sound like a mess on record, the sheer hyper-energised what-the-fuck-ness of their live shows makes their gig at Glasgow's Stereo on 16 Sep an easy recommendation.

With their third album, The Loudest Engine, dropping this month, Howling Bells will play Glasgow Òran Mór on 19 Sep in the hopes of reminding us why they were once being touted as the next big thing. Cainophobics rest easy: there's no chance they'll be leaving favourites like Setting Sun or Blessed Night off their set list.

Twee-folk notables Slow Club head to Glasgow King Tut's on 18 Sep and Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire on 19 Sep. Their breathlessly wordy compositions clearly won't be to everyone's taste, but they do give it some welly, God bless 'em.

Having been galvanised into motion courtesy of another last-minute irrelevancy bypass procedure (check the new Battles single, My Machines), Gary Numan will play Glasgow's ABC on 20 Sep. If you can get over the fact that this simply isn't the same guy that wrote Replicas, chances are you'll have a grand old time screaming along to his steroid-enhanced versions of Down in the Park and Are Friends Electric?

Talented Edinburgh three-piece North Atlantic Oscillation deal in brooding, weighty riffs, saucy-but-powerful basslines and deftly marshalled loops and samples. In other words, they're ambitious buggers, and they're playing Glasgow King Tut's on 20 Sep plus the Limbo night at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms on 21 Sep. Stellar support from Miaoux Miaoux and Discopolis.

There's nothing quite like the sound of multiple electric guitars locked together in ecstatic harmonic discord, especially when they're being thunderously flagellated by a posse of angry Glaswegians. If you feel the same way then you'll probably want to treat yourself to a generous serving of United Fruit, who play Glasgow Captain's Rest on 23 Sep. Support comes from Reekie's lovable experimental noise-makers Lady North.

Trippy Sacramento psych-pop unit Ganglians have been known to lure the most wholesome of influences (surf, doo-wop, folk) into the back of their van, feed them bad drugs, then force them to participate in a cosmic road-trip through time and space. Sounds harsh on paper, but sometimes you gotta break a few eggs if you want to get shit done. Check them out at Glasgow's Nice N Sleazy, 23 Sep.

Male Bonding know almost everything there is to know about chugging riffola thanks to many grueling years spent working their way to the top of the competitive cheese-grating scene. These days they give their unfeta'd attention to writing perfectly crafted pop-punk and if their new album, Endless Now, is anything to go by, their gig at Glasgow's Admiral Bar on 29 Sep promises to be unforgettable.