Scottish Gig Highlights – December 2015

We made it! With 2015 all but done and dusted, everyone knows that December is basically a get out of jail free month, an excuse to eat, drink and be disorderly/raucous/pished or otherwise ‘merry’. In-between all of the festive shenanigans and general revelry, think of this month as a last chance to catch that band you’ve been meaning to see all year – and with the international acts winding up their global tours and heading home for Christmas, this is a particularly good opportunity to witness the skills of 2015’s brightest local stars.

Hold on, we tell a lie – not all of the international acts have retired for the year. In fact, one fourth of the group responsible for the album chosen by this very publication as the best in show last year will be gracing Glasgow. That’s right, Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Lindberg – AKA jennylee – plays Stereo on 7 Dec in support of debut solo LP right on! Catch a sneak peak of her dreamy new record before release on 11 December.

Meanwhile, fellow American Jeffrey Lewis, known for his complex, cultivated ‘anti-folk’, will strum up a storm at  Edinburgh's Mash House on 13 Dec. And it’s been quite the year for Antipodean singer songwriter Courtney Barnett, with her deadpan delivery infusing a droll and endearing humour through an acclaimed debut, the wonderfully oddball Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Hear the Aussie spin a yarn or two at O2 ABC Glasgow (2 Dec). Hailing from closer to home, twenty fifteen has also been a stellar year for everyone’s favourite art rock outfit, Django Django. Their sophomore record Born Under Saturn hit a glorious psych-pop home run – and with the fact that they’ll take to the hallowed Barrowlands stage with support duties by Stealing Sheep and RM Hubbert, this is not to be skipped for another screening of Die Hard (3 Dec).  

In the spirit of giving, December offers up a couple of slightly more out-of-the-way but nonetheless brilliant shows, for those not based between our two sparring cities. Beloved young guns and they of the brilliant ‘Barewood Aisles’ fame, Neon Waltz will shore up their ever-expanding fan base with a stint at Irvine’s Harbour Arts Centre (1 Dec), while this year’s SAY winner Kathryn Joseph will illuminate Stirling’s Tolbooth (5 Dec) with the beautifully lachrymose tracks from her stunningly unique Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled. Roadtrip, anyone?

Speaking of award winners (though with considerable more grunt and guitar noise), Divides are an upcoming heavy-rock five piece from Glasgow, fronted by the dynamic Tasha Cowie, and they’ve just bagged the SAMA award for Best Metal act. They’re bringing the racket to an end of year show at Edinburgh's La Belle Angele (11 Dec). In a similarly ferocious fashion, there’s a dose of hardcore in it for you when Djevara bring their punk with a twist to Glasgow’s Bloc on 2 Dec. The London trio embrace the DIY aesthetic of yore – think Fugazi or Refused (before the meet and greet packages) and you can’t go wrong.

There’s a powerful southern contingent descending upon Scottish turf this month too – Newcastle indie rock quartet Lanterns On The Lake play King Tut’s (with support from local lads Campfires In Winter) in support of this year’s haunting, eclectic Beings (4 Dec), forward thinking guitar rock comes courtesy of Notts up-and-comers Kagoule (who put on a killer show at London’s Field Day festival this summer) at Sneaky Pete’s on 9 Dec, and the same venue also hosts Manchester bad boys and Brit-rock revivalists Alias Kid, who are overseen by none other than Creation Records guru, the notorious Alan McGee (5 Dec).

A couple of veteran outfits also show us how it’s done this month. Essex singer-songwriter and left-leaning activist Billy Bragg, who was a vocal supporter of the Yes campaign during last year’s referendum, will engage with a new generation of fans via his distinctive folk-punk at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (1 Dec). Then on 14 Dec, baggy-era survivors The Charlatans (with Sunderland indie group Frankie & The Heartstrings in tow) bring a bit of cheer and swagger to the Usher Hall – we'll see you down the front for a bit of North Country Boy.

It’s been a hell of a year for Mr Benjamin John Power – known to the netherworld as Blanck Mass – who teamed with Jean Michel Jarre, remixed John Carpenter and even played two killer gigs to ring in our tenth anniversary. In support of May's distorted masterpiece Dumb Flesh and recent Great Confuso EP,  he'll be offering your eardrums a sonic overhaul when he owns Dundee's Beat Generator (10 Dec) and Glasgow’s Stereo (11 Dec). In fact, why not just keep the ball rolling and party on into Hudson Mohawke’s O2 ABC set the next day (12 Dec) – the Glaswegian prodigy and noted pal of Kanye is playing venues as lofty as Berlin’s Berghain at the moment, so this ought to be a treat.

And as for our regional craft, on 17 Dec young Edinburgh duo Man of Moon take on Sneaky Pete's (also Glasgow's Hug and Pint, 11 Dec) with a sound they claim was forged from a common bond over the likes of post-rock lords Mogwai and Russian Circles. They've been considered something of a whispered tip but with impressive sets at Electric Fields, T in the Park and much further afield this year, it looks like the secret’s out. On the other side of the coin, there's rising Glasgow punks WOMPS. Their guitar heavy sound has drawn inevitable Nirvana comparisons (don't they all, eh?), but they retain a point of difference with a distinctly indigenous charm (Nice N Sleazy, 21 Dec). Plus, the kind folk at CCA will host Auld Reekie label Stereogram’s cult-studded revue on 3 Dec. Boasting a line-up of James King & The Lonewolves, The Band Of Holy Joy, The Cathode Ray, Lola In Slacks and much more, it’s a brilliant opportunity to bring yourself up to speed with Scottish acts both vintage and emerging.

Speaking of which, Mercury nominated virtuoso C Duncan (there's always the SAY, pal) takes in Edinburgh’s Pleasance Theatre on 4 Dec (also 5 Dec at Glasgow Art School), bringing fully formed debut Architect to life; Edinburgh group The Spook School play their clever-kid’s pop at Nice 'n' Sleazy (6 Dec); Vladimir headline The Hug and Pint with their doomy post-punk (21 Dec); there’s Glaswegian neo-psychedelic rock n roll from Tijuana Bibles at Electric Circus (3 Dec) and The Cosmic Dead at Bloc (30 Dec); and finally, like the Pogues' old festive dates at the SECC each winter, we're fast getting used to Kilsyth's finest, The Twilight Sad, owning the Barrowlands every Christmas (returning on 12 Dec). There will be tears.

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DO NOT MISS:
Neu! Reekie! Xmas Kracker, featuring Irvine Welsh, Hector Bizerk, Liz Lochhead, WHITE and more
Central Hall Edinburgh, 17 Dec

If we had to choose just one festive hootenanny to attend this year, it would have to be the Xmas Kracker extravaganza by Edinburgh’s poetry svengalis Neu! Reekie! The creative collective take a critical approach to art, dismantling the structures that often render the art world restrictive and elitist, and in typical fashion, this end-of-year shindig promises to be over five hours of entertainment and good craic.

The full line-up is still to be finalised but already includes fabulously flamboyant indie-new wave from Glasgow group WHITE, poetry reading from the prolific Liz Lochhead, electrically experimental hip-hop from Hector Bizerk, and an appearance from none other than literary bad-boy Irvine Welsh. Brush up on your Leith tongue now.