Scottish Gig Highlights – April 2016

We start in Glasgow, where CHVRCHES kick off the month (2 Apr) by rocking up at the Hydro alongside the Twilight Sad boys for their biggest headline show to date. If glowsticks, novelty foam hands and all other associated norms of the arena experience don’t float your boat, then Detroit post-punkers Protomartyr are also in town that same night, gracing Broadcast with their altogether more arcane brand of existential doom-fuzz.

Project portmanteau, Modeselektor and Apparat – aka Moderat – are ready to drop a new LP and with it comes a tour and date (5 Apr) at the O2 ABC. There aren’t many out there who pack bigger loops, grooves and samples than the Teutonic trio, but Glasgow upstart and beat maker extraordinaire Wuh Oh has also been carving out a name for himself on that front, having lately received a co-sign from Éclair Fifi on her inaugural NTS show. Check out the hype and get turnt up when he headlines King Tuts on 13 Apr.

Does the mere mention of vernacular such as “turnt up” make your stomach turn? Do you ever want to just stop the world and get off? Then fear not, for Canadian folk crooner Basia Bulat’s music feels like escapism to another life; a magical realm sound tracked by gossamer keyboards and deft autoharp where idiots like us don’t exist. She plays Broadcast on 15 Apr, following former Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc guitar virtuoso Victor Villareal performing his bluegrass-meets-post-punk-and-classical fusion on 11 Apr (also playing Edinburgh's Sneaky Pete's, 12 Apr).

Staying aboard the astral plane, Explosions in the Sky’s symphonic catharsis is now the stuff of legend; experience for yourself at the mighty Barras on 19 Apr. If that isn’t enough to cleanse the proverbial palette, you can literally do so at Stereo’s Vegan Connections festival (23 Apr) where tempeh, tofu and seitan play second fiddle to sets from Machines in Heaven, The Mermaids and Heir of the Cursed.

One MC who would no doubt appreciate said jamboree is prolifically bizarre LA underground rapper Busdriver, who once famously freestyled bars like 'give me a person burger because eating a hamburger is worse than murder' at a McDonald’s drive-thru window – he plays ABC2 on 17 Apr. Following suit are local hip-hop crew Hector Bizerk, who launch The Second City of the Empire at the Art School (24 Apr). Expect Louie and co to be packing the usual live gesamtkunstwerk of attitude, breakdance and a shitload of drums. 

If rock'n’roll is your bag then April has it all. At the softer side of the spectrum lie Chicago scuzz-merchants Twin Peaks and their sanguine duuude rock: get your full charge of Vitamin D when they play Stereo on 16 Apr. Also purpose built for the $pring $unshine are psych-gazers Home$lice, launching their debut mixtape, the titularly understated Citizen Kane 2, at the Old Hairdressers on 29 Apr. Support comes from Sweet Creeps and dream pop triptych LYLO. 

Rounding up our Glasgow coverage is the battle of the big hitters. In gig promotion parlance, the premise of 'An evening with...' may seem a bit showbiz, but given Mark Lanegan's taciturn approach to audience interaction in the past, his appearance at the relatively intimate ABC (21 Apr) will not be the garrulous affair hinted at in the billing. Even if the stoic modern bluesman's patter is in short supply, his body of work and long list of collaborators through the years certainly isn’t. For example, it was 25 years ago that Chris Cornell produced Screaming Trees’ Uncle Anaesthesia, and the Soundgarden frontman returns to Glasgow with his epic songbook the week after his old mucker (29 Apr). Royal Concert Hall. Without Timbaland, please.

On the east coast, Edinburgh’s month might not be as heavyweight but there’s still plenty for the calendar. First off, 80s synthpop revivalists APRIL Towers head to Sneaky Pete's (5 Apr) days after entering the Kenyan iTunes charts at number one (seriously) with single Silent Fever. The venue also plays host to returning singer songwriter Eliza Shaddad on 21 Apr, while Benjamin John Power's teeth-rattling Blanck Mass project is booked for some paint-stripping digital distortion the following day.

South London grime collective Section Boyz made global headlines last month when they unveiled Drake and Skepta as special guests at their 15 quid Village Underground show. Who knows, maybe it will happen again when they play Electric Circus on 8 Apr (it most definitely won’t), but with or without Aubrey Graham, this still promises to be a mad one.

Last but not least we switch our attentions to Summerhall, who continue to knock it out the park. Denmark’s finest Efterklang went on indefinite hiatus in 2013, but have now regrouped under the guise of Liima; see their latest iteration showcase their majestic debut LP under the moniker on 13 Apr. And Tanjoubi Omedetou! Summerhall also house a special performance from pop-punk pioneers and Kurt Cobain favourites Shonen Knife, celebrating their 35^th anniversary on 28 Apr. 

Do Not Miss: Ought, Broadcast, Friday 22^nd April

From Leonard Cohen to Arcade Fire and Grimes to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Montreal’s status as one of the world’s preeminent music capitals has never been so sure. Ought can’t be considered natives of the City of Saints, but they did come together while studying at McGill University back in 2012. Since then they’ve pulled off a near-yearly hat-trick of critically acclaimed releases, with last year’s wonderful Sun Coming Down serving as a firm rebuke to the ridiculous notion that four dudes in a band with guitars can do no right nowadays.

Still, rather than create a live facsimile, Ought instead treat their albums as pliable guidelines (previously they have thought nothing of breaking into 40-minute noise freakouts on the basis that it felt right). Tim Beeler and his jittery lyrical unravellings have found him inevitably compared with the likes of Mark E. Smith and David Byrne, but the frontman carries himself with a conviction that insulates and stands above any accusations of pastiche. Ought may tread a well-worn path, but they're leaving their own trail of breadcrumbs.