Scottish Gig Highlights – September 2014

September doesn't have to be a bleak void that spans from post-festival comedowns though to premature Christmas shopping. Despair not – artists far and wide have been toiling to churn out new material like sweet melodic butter and are getting ready to celebrate with us in the flesh on our increasingly chilly shores. Get your jacket on and stop moaning, there's an auditory cornucopia waiting for you all over Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Abrasive, scratchy and a massively unapologetic fusion of rock and electro, krautrock duo Birdhead are our kind of mental. Their music is a thoughtful sort of chaos. Going to see them live is probably a bit like a night out with that pal who gets wasted too fast – a lot to take on but if you’re in the mood and have a couple of drinks in you, a highly entertaining evening awaits at Edinburgh’s Electric Circus (6 Sep). You can also catch them at our Pleasance Session in Edinburgh – supporting The Phantom Band and Remember Remember no less – on 18 Oct.

If your festival budget isn’t quite stretching to Tomorrowland this year, don’t fret. Kelburn Castle’s end of season Psychedelic Forest Carnival is back with a carnival twist. It’ll be almost as good as Tomorrowland too – they’re promising us “global sounds, dutty rhythms, drums, brass, colour, light and celebration.” Featuring The Busy Twist, Kakatsitsi Drummers and Samson Sounds, the night is set to be a mayhemic conglomerate of music, lighting and SFX, with a cross-section of a myriad different genres (13-14 Sep). 

Following the 2013 release of their ninth studio album Purgatory/Paradise, Throwing Muses have returned from the US and are ready to perform what will hopefully be their sulkiest live set yet at Òran Mór. If you’re already a fan, it’s probably quite a big deal because Tanya Donelly is rocking up along with the rest of the band as a special guest, so you’ll be treated to the vintage blend of her trademark backing vocals along with mainstay (and stepsister) Kristin Hersh (17 Sep).

We Were Promised Jetpacks are also back in town, and we’re all pretty stoked to have their rhotic vocals rouse our eardrums and hearts in equal parts once again. WWPJ have mastered the art of an uncluttered track which hits the listener with a heaving stomp of passion. Now a five-piece with the permanent addition of Stuart McGachan, their forthcoming album Unravelling is a bold foot foward. Although it’s not out until October, you’ll no doubt be treated to some of their spangly new tunes on 19 Sep at The Caves.

Rae Morris has had a busy year of collaborations with Clean Bandit, Bombay Bicycle Club and Fryars (featured on her new single Cold). She’s 21, she’s from Blackpool, and she’s the coolest slice of ambient indie about. With plunging drops and carefully textured melodies, there’s an air of CHVRCHES – but a little more gravel. Or perhaps like Daughter, just a little less losing the will to live. Get down to Nice 'n' Sleazy in Glasgow on the 20th to see her deliver a scintillating set following her highlight performances at Reading and Leeds last month.

It doesn’t matter that everyone beat him to writing a song about a wrecking ball. Let Ryan Adams pluck his guitar and leave you swaying like you’re at a campfire, goddamnit. Head to Edinburgh Royal Concert Hall on 25 Sep to have your heart stroked with folk and enjoy the comfiest harmonies this side of Nashville. C’mon, we can all stop pretending to be cool bastards for just one night, can't we?

Are we supposed to be over SBTRKT now? Because that’s just not happening. His new single New Dorp, New York is more addictive than 90s confectionary, and after teaser interim EP Transitions, it’s high time he gave us our next serving of twinkly tracks and lucid vocals from crooners like Jessie Ware, Sampha and Denai Moore. The producer’s second LP Wonder Where We Land is due for release on the 22nd of the month, which gives you a good five days to wrap your ears around it and get addicted all over again in time for his gig in O2 ABC Glasgow on 27 Sep.

Bipolar Sunshine’s got exactly the kind of tunes that remind us we’re all just little humans with big ol’ feelings. His discography is studded with the anthems you’ve been waiting for to scream joyfully through the dry-ice of a divey club, and then to croak groggily the next morning. It’s quite formulaic and the lyrics aren’t brain-breaking, but it’s a gorgeous guilty pleasure. Electric Circus, 29 Sep.

Coinciding with the release of their third full-length LP, The Vaselines will be filling the Caves with their rolling rhythms and chalky vocals on 29 Sep. Inspired by the punchy punk sounds of The Ramones, the duo filled their new album, V for Vaselines with shorter songs which “just get into people’s ear straight away then get out as quickly as possible.” The influence of producer Tony Doogan (Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai) makes for a selection of tunes which’ll hook onto your hunger for a bit of whimsy and nostalgia, but, dare we say it, this time with a satisfying measure of maturity. Guess that’s what happens when you’ve been around longer than Forrest Gump.

Do Not Miss:

Hauschka, Glasgow CCA, 26 September

Every so often a musician emerges who transcends the usual relationship between humans and instruments; demonstrating a symbiotic partnership which leaves onlookers swinging between bemused wrinkled brows and aghast open mouths. That’s Hauschka. In a musical climate where it feels like everything you hear is a shit version of Pachelbel's Canon or Jason Derulo, Hauschka is a blissful rose among boring thorns.

His chord progressions can stab you in the heart in all the right places then soothe you with their echoes; a divine balance of classical piano, surgically precise percussion, and trancey reverb. Oh, and it’s all done through the medium of ‘prepared piano’ – which involves attaching alien objects, hammers and dampers to the piano. Like a one-man band but not weird – only incredible. Get yourself to Glasgow CCA and discover something you’ve never heard before.