Live Music Highlights – July 2010
Having made the leap from fascinating bedroom project to full-on psych-pop ensemble with excellent recent album Pigeons, Luke Temple and Here We Go Magic look set to deliver some driving, hypnotic melodies and trippy atmospheres when they roll into Glasgow King Tut's on 2 July. Dream-pop devotees take note.
Glasgow's Endor have been on The Skinny's radar since their early releases on Say Dirty Records and on 2 July this stirring four-piece will celebrate the completion of new LP Without the Help of Sparks with an album launch show at Glasgow King Tut's. What's more, the new material sounds epic – expect them to make waves with this one.
Unicorn Kid – aka Edinburgh based 8-bit urchin Oliver Sabin – plays Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire on 1 July, Dingwall Oscars on 2 July, Aberdeen Warehouse on 3 July and Glasgow King Tut's on 4 July. Anyone with a penchant for chiptune, glitch-pop or electronic bleeps in whatever form may want to step away from their C-64 emulator and check this out. This kid has already remixed Pet Shop Boys and Gorillaz and he's only 18! Should be hectic.
The Legendary Shack Shakers' combination of industrial chug, country/blues hollerin' and righteous punk riffs may sound a little hard to swallow but when you consider that Duane Denison (ex-Jesus Lizard/Tomahawk) is their guitarist it starts to fall into place. Combined with J.D. Wilkes' crazed Tom Waits-meets-Jello Biafra vocals it all stacks up to a hell of a cocktail. These boys are weird, wired and they know how to play. Ain't no way this will end up being anything other than a hell of a show. Glasgow King Tut's, 12 July is the place to be.
Medieval-tinged folk, like abortion rights, is often the great divider. You're either for it or against it, and fence-sitters be damned. The Skinny expects a healthy crowd then – and a vocal picket, natch – for Trembling Bells' gig at Glasgow Stereo on 16 July. This troupe have a solid critical pedigree and their lead singer can wail for sure – just don't expect any riffs.
Folktronica poster-people Tunng are a dab hand at conjuring gorgeous melodies and odd rhythms with their deceptively progressive tunes and anyone in attendance at their gigs at Glasgow Stereo on 22 July or Stirling Tolbooth on 23 July can also expect a nice warm sound and some intriguing narratives to boot. Kind of like a big mug of cocoa with a Poirot plot-summary cunningly etched into the handle.
Epithetically eccentric folk-pop posse Mammoeth (formerly Team Turnip) celebrate an album launch at Glasgow Classic Grand on 25 July and anyone who appreciates wordy, beautifully orchestrated pop songs would do well to check these cats out. Certainly not the most explosive band on the circuit, but they're got melodies to burn.
San Fransico based Moon Duo may be a Wooden Shjips side-project for all intents and purposes, but believe us when we tell you that these peeps have got some legit jams. Think endless Suicide-esque keyboard motifs being chased into oblivion by slow-burning motorik grooves and a blizzard of feedback. Glasgow Stereo 26 July.
Epic, yearning and filled with melancholy, Shearwater delivered one of 2010's highlights with The Golden Archipelago and their gig at Glasgow Stereo on July 28 is a justifiably anticiapted affair. Built around Jonathan Meiburg's extraordinary voice, their music is both beautiful and dramatic – in short, this is a hot ticket.
Currently the face of the much-derided yet pleasingly fertile chillwave scene, Toro Y Moi plays Glasgow Captain's Rest on 29 July. If the word chillwave makes you confused and angry then just know this: the boy writes brilliant, trippy pop songs with an undercurrent of lazy, hazy sun-bleached nostalgia. Good vibes for sure.