Gig & Music Festival Highlights – August 2015

As The Great Pseudo-Summer of 2015 continues, take solace in the fact that rain, hail or (unlikely) shine, August’s gig offerings kindly accommodate all weather spectrums. Whether you fancy a festival frolic or a panoply in the park, there’s plenty of outdoor action in store should the sun choose to emerge – plus there’s an exciting spread of local and international, and old and new, across Scotland’s reassuringly cosy pub and bar venues, in the event that Mother Nature continues her current turn as a rather moody ol’ witch.

What better way to conjure up a summer soundtrack than with some sun-soaked, woozy pop? The little-known but critically revered Luna have got Halcyon sounds down pat. Reunited after a decade-long hiatus, don’t miss this rare occasion to experience the 90s dream pop outfit’s Velvet Underground tinged-tunes at the CCA on 2 Aug. While we’re going down the retro route, another blast from the past comes in the form of eclectic San Fran rockers The Tubes. From US Top Ten hits to support slots for David Bowie on his 1983 Serious Moonlight tour, The Tubes know how to put on a show – in their heyday they wheeled out acrobats, tap dancers, and choreographed stage productions for your viewing pleasure. Weegies can hop along to their 9 Aug Sunday session at the Art School, whilst Edinburghers can catch them at The Liquid Room on 12 Aug.

The Summer Nights series returns to the alfresco masses in Glasgow and Edinburgh this August; Kenny Anderson dons his crown as King Creosote and christens the Kelvingrove Bandstand with his lyrical, patriotic folk soundscapes on 6 Aug. Be sure to tear yourself away from the cider garden and lend your ears to piano-pop maestro Ben Folds (14 Aug). With album So There set for release in September, this is a prime chance to hear Folds’ new tracks, illuminated by chamber rock orchestra yMusic. Save some energy for the next day though; you’ll not want to miss inimitable iconoclasts Echo & The Bunnymen (15 Aug). The influential Scouse rockers released new material last year but it’s the oldies the crowds will be hankering for – we predict the singalong 'Say we can / Say we will / Not just another drop in the oooocean' will be ringing out over the West End rooftops.

If Summer Nights seems a little skewed in Glasgow’s favour, don’t despair if you’ve an east coast lair, for there’s plenty on offer courtesy of The Hub Sessions, as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. The delightfully diverse line-up provides a solid injection of cultural edification, including an encore of the aforementioned King Creosote's From Scotland With Love score (14-15 Aug); plus Oneohtrix Point Never, the alias of American contemporary composer Daniel Lopatin, who will be showcasing a new live soundtrack for Manga classic Magnetic Rose on 22 Aug; and the dynamic pairing of The National’s Bryce Dessner and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, accompanied by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (28 Aug).

For those who prefer their summer with a little more screamo, Touché Amoré ramp up the volume will their post-hardcore stylings on 11 Aug. The Californian quintet impressed Glasgow audiences with their anthemic turn at Stereo in late 2013; this time, it’s Edinburgh’s turn to get dark and down at Studio 24.

Slightly more sedate but nonetheless spectacular are local folk rock darlings Trembling Bells. After mesmerising Sneaky Pete’s last month, they’re back to shine the light on their five-star record The Sovereign Self on 14 Aug at Glasgow’s Glad Café. There’s plenty more homegrown talent to be had this month too, when our recent cover stars Idlewild and electro folk up-and-comer C Duncan team up at the Assembly Rooms on 17 Aug.

Fresh from a supporting slot at Mogwai’s recent Barrowlands anniversary show are local indie-pop veterans The Vaselines. Founding members Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee were once described by Kurt Cobain as his "favorite songwriters in the whole world" – expect more winsome folk than gloomy grunge though when the Glasgow stalwarts take to Edinburgh’s Summerhall stage on 21 Aug.

Those who are more inclined to make a weekend of it could do a lot worse than the excellently assembled Doune The Rabbit Hole Festival (21-23 Aug). The verdant Cardross Estate in Stirlingshire plays intimate, laid-back host to a distinctly indie line-up and astutely eschews ubiquitous mainstream headliners. Deerhoof’s schizophrenic babble of sound takes pole position, though with the likes of Dutch punk-jazz mixologists The Ex and Glasgow-based aural astronauts Cosmic Dead also on the bill, there’ll be no shortage of weird and wonderful sounds to accompany the festival bacchanalia.

Horoscope predictions suggest a conundrum is in store for 27 Aug – who to choose, RATKING at Broadcast, or The Flaming Lips at Edinburgh’s Ross Bandstand? If hip-hop’s on your radar, better plump for the former, as the trio of rappers barely out of their teens bust out left-field beats equally inspired by punk rock as by Wu-Tang Clan and Eminem. If you’re a fan of the flamboyant, go with the luxurious psychedelic rock of the latter – it ain’t a party without Wayne Coyne crowd-walking inside a giant plastic ball.

With such a diversified array of gig goodness on offer this month, who better to draw August to a close than Sufjan Stevens, the multifarious master himself. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who earlier this year added the autobiographical, starkly beautiful Carrie & Lowell to his sonically and thematically variegated back catalogue, will weave this summer’s swansong at Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre (30 Aug). 

Do Not Miss: Electric Fields, Drumlanrig castle, dumfries, 29 August 

Before you hang up your mud-encrusted wellies for another summer, consider this: what if there was a festival where you could enjoy the sylvan surrounds of rural Scotland, yet save yourself the hassle of tents, sleeping bags and 5am dashes to the port-a-loo; where the fun and frivolity takes place over a Bank Holiday weekend, giving you a whole extra day to indulge that hangover; and where a ticket costs a mere fraction (one sixth to one seventh, if we're really going to get into it) of the price of the UK's more mainstream festivals? Friends, behold the wonder that is Electric Fields.

The minds behind the event (oh, and yer favourite neighbourhood Skinny, 'cos we have a stage there too) have mustered a fairly unique bill, bringing together the best from the north and south. This one day delight gathers together the moody synth-rock fusion of double drum-outfitted Vessels, the ominous, layered soundscapes of Fuck Buttons offshoot Blanck Mass, and London-based East India Youth's Eno-inspired electronica. Add to that a raft of Scottish up-and-comers including Catholic Action, Monogram, Man Of Moon, plus familiar faces like The Phantom Band, King Creosote, Fat Goth and United Fruit, and in Electric Fields you've got the true connoisseur's festival, the kind of event ripe with those 'I-saw-them-before-they-were-massive' moments. Och bugger it, you can camp too if you like.