Under the Radar - listen to our track of the month

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 20:00

Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon report from Scotland's underground music scene

DUNDEE band Luva Anna, who provide our track of the month (you can hear more at www.myspace.com/luvaanna) spent this summer impressing audiences at several festivals, including Go North, Rockness, Wickerman and Live At Loch Lomond. Their two EPs, released on the 2Thumbs label, display lyrical wit combined with a sound drawing on folk, punk, indie and rock. It's hardy a surprise then, that they made it onto the shortlist of ten bands, out of the 7,500 that entered the Orange unsigned competition. One of the judges, Alex James from Blur, described Luva Anna as "genius hippies from space", and for those who want to see as well as hear the band, they feature on T4 at 12.40pm this Sunday (30 November).

Dingwall-based promoters Robotone (www.myspace.com/robotonescotland) are taking their quest to bring electronica to the Highlands a stage further this Saturday (29 November) with a workshop dedicated to actually making the music. It will be hosted by Octogen's Marco Bernardi and Harvey McKay, who are both signed to Glasgow's Soma records. In the evening they will perform at Oscars, the local pub.

Tickets are also on sale for Robotone's Christmas bash, which is actually being held in Inverness Ironworks on 29 December, and is preceded by a special boat trip on Loch Ness.

The Kingdom of Fife continues to rise on the Scottish music map, thanks to promoter Raegan, who has nurtured local acts such as Sergeant, The Draymin and Root System. The epicentre of the scene is downtown Leslie at the Greenside Hotel, which after investing in new sound and lighting gear now aims to attract touring bands as well as featuring local talent. Former Inspiral Carpet Tom Hingley is already booked for 2 December, while Scotland's largest promoters, DF Concerts, are said to be showing interest in using the venue. Check out www.myspace.com/sundaylattepromotions for more info.

Across the Forth, Leith's fantastic Elvis Shakespeare record and book emporium is gearing up for its annual Christmas bash, with an impressive line up of free in-store performances and readings on 13 December (see www.elvisshakespeare.com). Among the highlights are singer/songwriter Chris Bradley, Eagle Owl, Fnords, writer Kevin Williamson and Rodney Relax, poet and frontman of the excellent Shellsuit Massacre. With many of the participants being followers of Hibernian Football club, who play at home that day, expect a last-minute bout of alcohol-fueled artistic activity between the game ending and the shop closing.

Meanwhile, up the road at Edinburgh's Picture House (www.myspace.com/edinburghpicturehouse), lovers of new talent are well catered for. On 6 December the venue hosts the Evening News Battle of The Bands, while on the 12th Napier University's Mega Bash music department hosts a packed line-up including one of Scotland's best hip-hop outfits, Solareye, as well as The Debuts, Sluts of Sub and Bryden Stillie. Both shows are open to over-16s.

Across Scotland's rich musical spectrum, it seems that it's been a bit quiet on the metal front recently, if that's not a contradiction in terms.

This is hopefully set to change with a new over-14s night at Glasgow's Barfly, called Dismembered In December (on the 4th), which includes Syth (www.myspace.com/sythrocks) and Komatoze (www.myspace.com/komatozeofficialmusic). If the night is a success, the organiser plans to continue dismembering in the new year.

Leeds-based label Art Goes Pop has supported talent in Scotland's largest city and the label is now living up to its name with a compilation titled The Glasgow School Of Art Goes Pop. Among the included acts are Popup, Isosceles, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Punch & The Apostles and the excellently named Yoko, Oh No! among others. A launch takes place at SWG3 Studio Warehouse on 29 November and the album is released on 1 December, with the first 200 coming with original artworks designed by students at the college.

Meanwhile a collection of work by artist Jenny Soep, who has drawn and painted many of Scotland's best bands, is to be auctioned off to raise funds for the city's East End Music Club (www.myspace.com/eastendmusicclub) which lost its instruments in a fire that destroyed Shettleston Halls a few months ago. For more information contact [e-mail]

And still on the subject of charity, last week's Tartan Clef Awards raised 93,000 for Nordoff Robbins music therapy. The big surprise on the night was unsigned band Beecake (www.myspace.com/beecakeband), fronted by Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd, winning the first-ever gong for Best Live Act. Incredibly, the award was not sponsored by a cooking lager brand and was actually paid for and conceived by Visit Scotland, which invited people from all over the world to vote. Other winners included The Fratellis, Texas's Sharleen Spiteri, Eddi Reader, Dougie Maclean and Orange Juice.

Finally, the annual Gimme Shelter event (www.myspace.com/gimmeshelter06), which raises money for homeless charity Shelter, takes place this weekend. The Edinburgh leg is at The Caves on Saturday and includes sets from Ballboy, Found, Broken Records, De Rosa, Meursault and Jesus H Foxx. On Sunday the event moves to Glasgow's Mono, where the bill features Frightened Rabbit (acoustic), Juno!, Manda Rin, Woodenbox and Ross Clark among others.