Scottish Gig Highlights – October 2015

While October may be the month for kissing any few remnant sunny days goodbye, burying heads in textbooks, and carving pumpkins in preparation for Halloween, this is also shaping up to be a rare season of musical revelry. Along with a whole host of superb upcoming gigs, there’s also a merry handful of festival one-dayers on offer this October, including (if we do say so ourselves) a rather special birthday celebration…

First up, it’s a chance to hear veteran Duluth, Minnesota trio Low bring their sombre ‘slowcore’ to The Art School (8 Oct). Recently released LP Ones and Sixes ‘weaves together the strongest elements of their 22-year career,’ according to our reviewer, and with support from talented Aussie troubadour Mike Noga, it’s a fine way to ease yourself into another leafy autumn. Taking it up a notch, Friday night gets a volume injection courtesy of surf rock gang The Parrots. The party-loving trio from Madrid blow through town with a free show at Broadcast (9 Oct).

If you’re after some midweek jollies, the roof will be raised at La Belle Angele when punk-spirited misfits Sleaford Mods take the stage (14 Oct). Work and studies be damned – with vocalist Jason Williamson spitting bellicose lyrics like broken teeth, the Nottingham duo’s furious blue-collar invective is sure to liven up this school night.

We promised there’d be birthday celebrations, and commemorating ten glorious years of The Skinny calls for some all-out carousing. We will be taking over Edinburgh’s Old Town and filling The Mash House with a birthday-eve extravaganza of live music, spoken word performances and stages curated by the likes of Detour, Neu Reekie, Substance, Lost Map and more. Come one, come all and join in the revelry – there will be pizza!

Head pounding following an over-indulgence of birthday shenanigans? There’s only one way to recover from a fall – get right back on that horse and take in The Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover. Spread over a number of Old Town venues, the festival (which we're proud to be partnering up with) will be brandishing some of Scotland’s brightest hopes, including reggae and blues mash-up masters Sea Bass Kid, ‘burgh psych garage sextet The Valkarys, and Dunfermline alt-rock lads Foreign Fox. And with the festival’s aim of uniting music lovers to raise money to fight poverty, any residual hangover will surely be erased by those altruistic feel-good vibes.

Still in the capital, Jane Weaver is fresh from a slot at Liverpool Psych Fest and ready to bring her psychedelia-laced folk to Electric Circus (17 Oct). Weaver has worn many musical hats throughout her career – the singer/songwriter and guitarist has performed with Britpop group Kill Laura and Noughties indie pop outfit Misty Dixon, and also founded the record label Bird Records which supports female folk musicians. Don’t miss out on her beautifully cosmic krautrock, illuminated by chiffon-light vocals. Two days later and it’s time for some vintage shoegaze courtesy of beloved 90s rockers Ride (Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 19 Oct). We caught the veteran group proving the endurance of their catalogue with a solid headline slot at London’s Field Day festival back in June, and the dreamy Vapour Trail is sure to be a firm crowd favourite, now 25 years on from its release.

All this frivolity in the capital is enough to make the toughest Weegie feel a bit neglected, but fear not, eclectic experimentalists Yo La Tengo are bringing the sweet, sweet guitar fuzz to Glasgow’s Garage (16 Oct). Their latest record Stuff Like That There sees the band re-working old material and having fun with covers – cross your fingers for a performance of their acoustic version of Friday I’m In Love. Also in Glasgow, The Tallest Man On Earth, aka charismatic Swede Kristian Mattson, will fill the O2 ABC with his trademark melodic indie folk, following the release of album number four, the shimmering Dark Bird Is Home, back in May (20 Oct). Continuing in the vein of ethereal vocals, but with the addition of wavering synths, woolly beats and intricate arrangements, three-piece Son Lux, the brainchild of musical NYC whizz-kid Ryan Lott, will be intriguing punters at Summerhall, Edinburgh (22 Oct).

They may evoke the grungy indie rock of old, but don’t write Speedy Ortiz off as just another 90s revival act. The Boston-based group, fronted by the sassy Sadie Dupuis, have been lauded for their clever lyrics and fucks-not-given attitude. They play Glasgow’s Stereo on 22 Oct, featuring able support from fellow indie-alt purveyors Trust Fund and local duo Pinact. Meanwhile, Sunday 25 Oct is coming up with the goods regardless of whether you’re in the west or the east – if it’s the former, you can catch the mind-warp gloriousness of Battles when the energetic, experimental art rockers bring their antics to Glasgow's O2 ABC. If you’re in the latter camp, head along for a dose of Canadian post-rock when Godspeed You! Black Emperor hit The Liquid Room. Known for incorporating film projections into their incendiary live performances, and with the release of the mammoth Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress earlier in the year, they’ve all the ingredients for a memorable show.

Hurtling towards the eve of Samhain, LA noise rockers HEALTH take to the stage at Stereo (26 Oct). Melding darkly industrial electronica with a drop of dance music, after a six-year gap between records the group are back with the ever-so-slightly pop tinged Death Magic. They’re inventive, intense, and a fittingly indefatigable end to a rather boisterous month of live music. Blackalicious cap our month on Halloween itself at Electric Circus on 31 Oct. If it's showmanship without showiness and clever, socially conscious lyricism rather than bullshit and bravado that you're after, Chief Excel and Gift of Gab are safe hands.

DO NOT MISS

The Pleasance Sessions Weekender: 9-11 Oct

New student in town and eager to discover the best of what the Scottish music scene has to offer? The annual Pleasance Sessions, masterminded by EUSA, are back and we're proud to once again bring you another quality bill as part of the weekend’s festivities.

Blanck Mass, aka Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons, will headline our Saturday night show – if you haven’t heard his caustic, colossal Dumb Flesh in, well, the flesh, be sure to put this at the top of your must-see list (and mind yer earplugs). In addition, there’s a raft of acts who in some way or another have been regulars in these pages over the years – RM Hubbert, better known as Hubby, will be exhibiting his unique brand of flamenco Scottish post-rock (that’s a musical hybrid you don’t see every day) – plus we’ve teamed up with consummate psych quintent Outblinker, and delightful duo BDY_PRTS, who recently impressed with their debut T in The Park slot. The preceding night is programmed by our good friend Vic Galloway, who brings rising Glasgow quartet Catholic Action, scuzz pop merchants PAWS and Jonnie Common along for the ride on 9 Oct, while EUSA sign off the 2015 edition with Blue Rose Code and Withered Hand on 11 Oct 

The event also just happens to coincide with an independent label and craft market, as well as the Pleasance's annual Och!Toberfest, so there’ll be plenty of opportunity to sample some of the best brews while taking in a healthy diet of the region's musical talent. And rest.