Written by Michael MacLennan
The Phantom Band, Lord Cut-Glass, Sparrow and the Workshop
Arches, Glasgow, Saturday December 12, 7pm, £8 - buy tickets
What with this being the season of goodwill and all, what better than to start than with a gig cramming in three of Scotland’s most exciting new acts, all of which should be set for some stellar things come next year. (I could have put "next decade" in there instead, but that concept still seems too alien and too terrifying for mere written words to adequately convey.)
Headliners The Phantom Band combine enough disparate influences that it’s hard to lazily label them, though someone as indolent as I am might nevertheless do so and just label them as the “new Beta Band”. I would of course be a fool to do so, as the Glasgow sextet are a quite different proposition, a heavy emphasis on rhythmic percussion driving their murky shards of submerged pop melodies and affording them a bewitching momentum which makes them an intriguing live proposition.
It seems with The Phantom Band's debut Checkmate Savage and Lord Cut-Glass’s self-titled effort, famed Glasgow label Chemikal Underground has been building up nicely to their 15th anniversary in 2010. The solo incarnation of ex-Delgado Alun Woodward, Lord Cut-Glass imbues his carefully crafted indie-folk odes with a suitably regal and sweeping sense of intimate grandiosity, if that isn’t something of a contradiction in terms. (Perhaps something like the Queen getting bored while alone in her living room and knighting a corgi?)
First band on at this indietastic extravaganza are Sparrow and the Workshop, who’ve been building up quite the reputation over the course of this year, comparisons to Fleet Foxes and the work of Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell abounding. I believe it’s called folk-rock, or folk-pop, or folk-indie, or folk-grime, or something. Whatever you want to call it, given that they’re recording sessions for well-educated radio DJ types Marc Riley and Rob da Bank this month, the brooding trio are certainly worth half-an-hour of your time.
Remember Remember
CCA, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Saturday December 12, 7.45pm, £4
Whether or not songwriter Graeme Ronald is surrounded by a huddle of other musicians or onstage alone, while performing live as Remember Remember he is capable of producing some of the most beautiful instrumental songs you could ever imagine being created on a Saturday night on Sauchiehall Street. It’s a bit like Sigur Ros taking to the ring to play during a break in between a brutal UFC bout, and should be all the more amazing for it. One of the finest acts to come out of Mogwai’s frankly fantastic Rock Action label - now there's a place to visit for some present ideas... - this special Christmas one-off should be something to savour.
Depeche Mode
SECC, Glasgow, Saturday December 12, 7.30pm, £40 - buy tickets
To round off festivities, what better way to celebrate Christmas than with some stomping 80s arena electro-rock?
Let’s face it, if Jesus had been born in the 20th century he’d have been moping around in eyeliner listening to Depeche Mode, incense sticks burning in his bedroom as he moaned about how his dad didn’t understand him, Walking In My Shoes poignantly playing on hi-fi system in the background.
(This would be the point at which I describe Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher as the century's very own Three Wise Men, though unfortunately the middle-aged trio’s onstage attire - and in particular Gore’s hair “style” - prevents me from doing so without rolling on the ground in the sort of hysterics that would ultimately see me vomit up my very soul.)
