Scottish Gig Highlights – May 2014

We begin with Fuck Buttons at The Liquid Room, Edinburgh on 4 May. The sheer sonic assault of their performance at Glasgow's SWG3 last year – Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power facing off like duelling mad scientists – was impressive, but it is the complex twists and turns of 2013's Slow Focus, The Skinny's Album of the Year, that demand your attendance.

Another enticing prospect on 4 May are experimental post-rockers Vasa, one of the most inventive bands to come out of Glasgow in recent years and a highlight of 2013's T Break stage at T in the Park. They play throughout the UK in May to support the release of latest single Not A Cop, including a stop at Glasgow's The Roxy 171 with Shrine and Shambles in a Husk in support (also at Non-Zero's, Dundee on 1 May, Opium in Edinburgh on 2 May, and The Basement Cafe in Ayr on 3 May).

On 7 May, Sub Pop signings Dum Dum Girls play Glasgow's SWG3. Formed in 2008 by Dee Dee Penny, they signed to Sub Pop in 2011, this year releasing the excellent Too True, on which Penny steered things towards even brighter, shinier realms of new wave pop – the songs will no doubt take on an infectious energy in a live setting. 

9 May sees garage rock legends The Sonics come to Glasgow for a very special gig at The Arches – formed in the early 60s in Tacoma, Washington, the band became a seminal touchstone for American rock and punk, with their adrenalised, choppy guitars, and uptempo takes on standards like Louie Louie. Two seminal albums, Here Are The Sonics and Boom, have influenced several generations of musicians, from The Fall and Mudhoney to LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, who referenced the band on the track Losing My Edge. This one's sure to be a draw for anyone who knows their rock histroy, so book nice and early.

Flame-haired songsmith Tori Amos is back, playing Glasgow's O2 Academy on 10 May. Her latest album, Unrepentent Geraldines, was something of a return to the dark pop confections of Little Earthquakes and Boys For Pele, after a more experimental phase. The following night, at Edinburgh's Electric Circus, you can catch Japanese pop-punk veterans Shonen Knife in concert, playing their immaculately-constructed, sub three-minute blasts of bubblegum punk, with support from Smallgang and The Spook School (also playing the CCA on 10 May). Their latest, Overdrive, received high praise in these pages last month.

On 14 May at the Classic Grand, a chance to catch one of the best bands of the 90s indie rock canon, the often under-appreciated Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Their lithe and lissome take on blues, swamp rock and funk, powered by gyrating eponymous frontman Spencer, is both powerfully familiar and completely unique. Over the years JSBX have collaborated with everyone from Beck to R.L. Burnside. The band's last outing, 2012's Meat and Bone, was appropriately stripped and raw, promising that Spencer is far from ready to hang up his brothel-creepers.

Canada's Trust, now a solo project for Robert Alfons, channels the best of synth-pop, darkwave, electro and goth music into productions that nod to rave, trance and classic synth music, but it's his vocals – alternating between a bassy graveyard croon and a diva-like falsetto – that really mark Trust out as unique, along with songwriting chops to die for. The highlights of this year's Joyland should take on shimmering, anthemic form at this live outing at Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh on 18 May (also at Broadcast, Glasgow on 17 May).

On 19 May, one of the revived stars of the summer festival circuit this year, Jeff Mangum's Neutral Milk Hotel, come to Glasgow for a gig at The Barrowland. Formed in the late 80s by Mangum, their trademark is a mercurial, relentlessly experimental approach to alternative rock. The current touring line-up features the band that backed Mangum during the recording of classic 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

The SSE Hydro in Glasgow gets another landmark road-test as a venue for touring bands rather than enormous tweeny-pop juggernauts like Gaga – it will be interesting to see how the usually spectacular affair that is the Nine Inch Nails live show translates in the city's biggest indoor concert venue. After 'retiring' Nails in 2009, this is the first opportunity to see the reactivated Reznor and co in these parts since a furious headline set at T in the Park's NME stage that same year. Whatever side of the fence you might fall on last year's Hesitation Marks, the prospect of a live shout-along to Head Like A Hole and Closer will no doubt tempt fans out of the wooodwork on 20 May – support comes from darkwave ambassador Cold Cave.

On 22 May, Austin, Texas experimental rockers par excellence White Denim come to Edinburgh's Liquid Room, while over in Glasgow the following night (23 May) at Stereo, you can catch Cleveland, Ohio psych-rockers Cloud Nothings doing their thing, with support from Cheetahs. If you wanted to pick just two bands to represent the cutting-edge of American alt.rock, you'd be hard-pressed to do better – and you can follow up that impressive double whammy with a session from Michael Gira's deafening, awe-inspiring Swans, returning to The Arches in Glasgow on 25 May replete with the expansive, ever-evolving fruits from imminent LP, To Be Kind.

On 25 May, there's an all-day music festival happening at The Art School in Glasgow – headed up by Carpenter lovin' zombie synth duo Ubre Blanca, and the menacing electro torch songs of Hausfrau. Check our listings for the rest of the bill, and get down early – there's a free mixtape for the first 100 through the door.

Edinburgh, on 26 May, will witness the always-welcome return of The Flaming Lips, who play The Usher Hall. You never know what to expect from the 'Lips when it comes to their live show, but the smart money is on it being psychedelic, whimsical and elaborate. Wayne Coyne and co. are on the form of their lives following 2013's ambitious The Terror, so expect an experience even more over-the-top than usual. 

The month finishes up with a gig at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh for East India Youth – young William Doyle deserves some sort of medal for the sheer number of festival dates he is playing this year, and hopefully his ubiquity on the summer circuit will mean his ravshing Total Strife Forever will earn some new fans. He's no slouch at the dancing either – catch his live show, by turns frenetic, soaring and exquisitely melodic, on 29 May. Alternatively, steamrollering Dundonian power trio Fat Goth bring their bad selves back to Edinburgh's Electric Circus on the same night, showing off their rather excellent third LP, One Hundred Percent Suave. 

DO NOT MISS: Tectonics, GLASGOW, 9-11 MAY

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Tectonics Festival, which runs from 9-11 May in Glasgow, and is twinned with a sister-festival in Rejkyavik, is more than just a celebration of neo-classical music. Curated by composer Ilan Volkov, Tectonics offers opportunities for collaboration and exploration as well as pure performance, and alongside the world premieres of new works from classical composers and avant garde ensembles, this second outing for Tectonics Glasgow will also welcome a wealth of international stars and local heroes from the worlds of alternative rock, modern jazz and experimental music.

The opening gala concert, on 9 May, will see a series of collaborations and special performances including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore working with Japan's Takehisa Kosugi; experimental pioneer Christian Wolff showcasing his latest work; iconoclastic jazz musician Bill Wells in collaboration with the SSO; and Conquering Animal Sound front-woman ANAKANAK, alongside a glittering array of globe-spanning players. 

For fans of classical music, there will be world premieres of new work by Georg Friedrich Haas, John Oswald, David Behrman, and Klaus Lang, and revised works by Michael Finnissy and James Clapperton, amongst others. On 10 May, catch Thurston Moore in concert at The Old Fruitmarket with Cindytalk and Dylan Nyoukis. Earlier in the evening, you can catch Muscles of Joy at the same venue. On Sunday 11 May, Icelandic composer collective S.L.Á.T.U.R. and Takehisa Kosugi play showcase sessions at the Old Fruitmarket and Grand Hall respectively. Exisiting at the bleeding-edge of contemporary experimental and neo-classical music, Tectonics has fast become a welcome addition to Glasgow's busy cultural calendar.