What's On Scotland 3-10 Dec: Mr Ties
This week we recommend you party hearty with Mr Ties at the Refuge fundraiser, indulge in the gorgeously inventive pop of Glasgow's remarkable C Duncan, expand your consciousness with Blanck Mass (just don't forget your earplugs), and much more besides
Each week The Skinny team hand pick a selection of the best events from the Scottish cultural calendar to provide you with this here top ten guide to the most exciting goings on for the week ahead. From gigs, plays, and exhibitions, to spoken word, pop-up foodie events, and one-off film screenings, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee every Thursday morning.
Refuge: Mr Ties
Sub Club, Glasgow. 3 Dec, 11pm
Following their Berlin fundraiser back in September, Sub Club and Bigfoot's Tea Party team up for the second in their refugee fundraiser series – this time staying on home soil for a special party in the Subby, joined by Berlin Homopatik resident Mr Ties. Profits will be shared between Scottish Refugee Council, Positive Action In Housing, and Save The Children. Read our full preview here.
Nothing Ever Happens Here: Randolph's Leap
Summerhall, Edinburgh. 4 Dec, 8pm
Having been one of the bands that helped kick off Summerhall's Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series back when it launched, Glasgow folk-pop melody merchants Randolph’s Leap return to help end a triumphant year of giggage, with support from Lost Map-signed fuzz pop Irish singer/songwriter Martha Ffion.
Free Instruments for Teenagers
Collective Gallery Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. 5 Dec, 5pm
One-off record launch event in Collective’s City Dome, continuing the themes of Ross Sinclair's exhibition 20 Years of Real Life, which gave away instruments to people born in the last two decades in order to form new bands. This very special celebration stars teenage acts Appear Invisible, Bedroom Athlete, and Enemy Fire, who all appear on the record. Go marvel. (Image: Tom Nolan).
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C Duncan
The Art School, Glasgow. 5 Dec, 7pm
Glasgow-based muso, composing e'er beautiful choral harmonies and acoustic instrumentation in his bedroom-studio set-up. Drawing from influences as diverse as Fleet Foxes and Mozart, C Duncan's live performances are all about self-reinvention, suggesting there's much more to come from his arsenal: catch him before he explodes. Also playing Edinburgh's The Pleasance the following evening.
Limbo: Numbers Are Futile, Hiva Oa + Delighted Peoples
Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh. 5 Dec, 8pm
Following a duo of birthday bashes last month to celebrate its 8th, Edinburgh gig-in-a-club night Limbo makes merry for its final outing of the year – headlined by genre-busting, synth-heavy locals Numbers Are Futile, signed to Auld Reekie's Song, By Toad Records, with support from dream pop Edinburgh trio Hiva Oa and fledgling ones-to-watch Delighted Peoples.
Cock and Bull
CCA, Glasgow. 6 Dec, 3pm
Female scratch performers Nic Green, Laura Bradshaw, and Rosana Cade return Cock and Bull to the stage for another airing (following its debut outing at Behaviour Festival in May, in the much-missed The Arches) – using words garnered from Conservative Party conference speeches, this time in response to issues of climate change. Part of climate change arts season, ArtCOP Scotland.
Scrooged
Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. 7 Dec, 9pm
For the first in a flurry of festive films calendered in December, Edinburgh's Cameo dig out Richard Donner's modern take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol – Scrooged – for an evening airing, with Bill Murray on fine form (aka as a total bastard of a modern-day, foul-spirited Scrooge) as TV network president Frank Cross.
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Tracks of the Winter Bear
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. 9-23 Dec (previews 5 & 8 Dec)
A world away from Grant Stott making a tit of himself in panto, the Traverse present their festive theatre offering – Tracks of the Winter Bear – a double bill of wintery short plays by two of its most successful alumni: Rona Munro and Stephen Greenhorn (of recent hit Sunshine on Leith), backed by a specially-composed musical score.
Kagoule
Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh. 9 Dec, 7pm
Nottingham young pups Kagoule bring their fierce brand of indie-pop and attitude to the capital, still riding the wave of their debut LP Urth – picking the bones out of the early 90s US alternative scene and creating something distinctly their own. It also helps that they're ridiculously good live. Also playing Glasgow's Broadcast the following evening. (Image: Mark Leary).
Blanck Mass
Beat Generator Live!, Dundee. 10 Dec, 8pm
Having garnered a fair bit of praise in The Skinny's pages – not to mention sets on our stages at both Electric Fields and The Pleasance Sessions earlier this year – Benjamin Power (also of Fuck Buttons) brings towering electronic project Blanck Mass to Dundee, raising hell/playing tracks from latest LP Dumb Flesh, a stone-cold rager from our top ten albums of 2015. (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic).