Beach House @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

Beach House @ Oran Mor, Glasgow, November 20 (****)
live review for the skinny

Dream pop duo Beach House are a band whose live reputation is always going to be closely tethered to that of their albums; they’re perfectionists in the studio, so there isn’t much space for reinterpretation, and they’re permanently bereft, so they’re not much in a mood for energy. But in the darkness of Òran Mór, with a golden light fading in and out with singer Victoria Legrand’s breathy intros, fairy lights behind them twinkling like stars, and the aural haze enveloping each lovelorn song, they create a dramatic and intimate atmosphere.

There’s a stream of highlights from 2008s Devotion and this year’s Teen Dream, but the biggest moments come towards the end of the set. Heart of Chambers allows Legrand to really open up, roaring the melancholic chorus like it still hurts two years later, and mighty kick drums lend encore pair Real Love and Ten Mile Stereo an explosive edge. At the end of an evening of melancholy, the mimicking of Alex Scally’s skyscraping guitar line by the shimmering stars behind him makes for a stunning finale.

Holy Fuck @ Oran Mor, 11 May

Holy Fuck @ Oran Mor, Glasgow, 11/5/08 (****)
live review for the skinny

With a drummer and a bassist, Holy Fuck are half an indie-rock band - but the other two members create such a spectral swirling racket with knobs, buttons and a vintage 35mm film synchronizer (as bloody usual) that it's impossible to reduce them to anything so straightforward. From the back of Òran Mór's hall, it's not hard to pick faults -- when you want them to go all-out Ulrich Schnauss and Can crossover, they lapse into a louche funk breakdown that loses the momentum -- but from near the stage, the gig experience is transformed. Lesson learned: proximity to the stage at a Holy Fuck gig is crucially important. At the front it's impossible not to become immersed in the maelstrom, transfixed by the lights and strange instruments, exhilarated by the visceral thrill of the coruscating textures of noise. Hence the liturgical profanities emanating from all around.

Diplo, Morrissey & Holy Fuck in Scotland this month

previews for The Skinny


Morrissey @ Barrowlands, 7 May

We've long given up hope of a Smiths reunion, but any chance to see Morrissey with his current band of choice is a chance worth taking. New album Years Of Refusal adds another few crackers to the Moz solo canon, such as the Latin-tinged When I Last Spoke To Carol, and first single I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris. Best of all could be album closer I'm OK By Myself, which builds to a raucous climax that promises to be exhilirating live. Oh, and he might do one or two old songs too.


Holy Fuck @ Oran Mor, 11 May

There's a reason they're called Holy Fuck, and it's not just to be nakedly controversial. When The Skinny saw these guys on the tiny Relentless stage at last year's T In The Park, those were the words grabbed from everyone's throats by the sheer force of the music. No-one quite knew what was going on, only that a bunch of Canadians were making some kind of transcendental, spectral racket, and that it was moving, in a very physical way. It was arm-raising, eye-watering stuff. If you're not one for drugs, try Holy Fuck instead.

Diplo @ Cabaret Voltaire, 21 May

The reason everyone compares M.I.A. and Santigold (nee Santogold) is Wesley Pentz, aka Diplo, producer and one-time beau of the former, producer and remixer of the latter. He's an unstoppable record collector, a musical anthropologist who knows everything worth knowing about dub, reggae, hip-hop and electro, and has no qualms about moving between the genres at pace. Even better than Santogold's debut album was Diplo's mixtape with her, Top Ranking, which you can and should download for free if you've any doubts about the prospective merits of this night - and check out that bargain ticket price too (£5).

where's my photo of Diplo? Here. All the photos.

Okkervil River @ Oran Mor, 9 Nov

Okkervil River live at Oran Mor, Glasgow, 9/11/08 (****)
live review for the skinny

Okkervil River's greatest moment yet is the seventh song of their fourth album, Black Sheep Boy. Halfway through tonight’s show, Will Sheff ushers his bandmates off-stage so he can perform "A Stone" almost-solo, so he can cultivate lumps in all our throats by explaining, through perfectly poised poetry, how baffling spurned affection can be; because love doesn’t behave as it should. Then, a trumpet heralds the arrival of something in my neck: so that’s what that expression means. But let’s not forget the overall quality of that album, nor the two since, and don’t mistake Okkervil’s smarts for rigidity: they’re more often flamboyant than reflective tonight. "Unless It‘s Kicks"’ riff is inspired by Bo Diddley‘s thrusting rhythms, and Sheff on-stage is a snaking hip and a swollen lip away from Mick Jagger; so they can rock, alright; but it’s "A Stone" which makes this show special.

Stephen Malkmus @ Oran Mor, 8 Jun

preview for the skinny

Stephen Malkmus' new Real Emotional Trash isn't the best LP to have his name attached - look to the first one, self-titled, for that - but any release from the ex-Pavement frontman deserves attention. While Nirvana and their followers proved to be more commercially popular, Pavement represented the other side of American alternative rock in the 90s, trading Cobain's self-seriousness for a laissez-faire attitude to stuff like rhythm, melody, and recording values. Pavement's five studio albums - and relative success on independent budgets - defined a huge part of modern indie-rock, and Malkmus' four solo records since have continued his experiments in the style to consistently engaging ends. In April, this particular Skinny scribe caught the tail end of Malkmus and the Jicks' set at Coachella, just in time to see them play the rollicking 10-minute new title track, and instantly regretted not having seen more of the show. Luckily they're coming to Glasgow; I for one won't get caught napping again.