Frightened Rabbit, James Murphy @ The Caves

Frightened Rabbit, then James Murphy, at The Caves, Edinburgh, 21 Sep (****)

live review for the skinny

The underlit crags of The Caves' interior make it a uniquely beautiful setting to watch live music in; a venue where gazing at the walls isn’t necessarily indicative of a pharmaceutical malfunction. Unfortunately, the height of the main chamber and all those rough edged surfaces seem to throw Frightened Rabbit’s sound around tonight: muddled within each other, each instrument is difficult to pick out. Still, Selkirk’s finest are in top form, particularly in the storming self-deprecation of The Modern Leper and Keep Yourself Warm’s massive, pounding finale. Half an hour’s just not enough.

We’re staring at the walls again as James Murphy gets his disco-not-disco DJ set underway, but only because we never knew a projected image of a smiling child could look so disturbing. Eventually Murphy gets into a groove with the crowd and we don’t let it go. The clattering beats and alien vocals of Liquid Liquid’s version of White Lines is an early highlight, showcasing the leftward bent of Murphy’s choices tonight; an extended but restrained mix of the Bee Gee’s You Should Be Dancing is by far the most mainstream it gets. We are, brothers Gibb, can’t you see? Nobody’s looking at the huge gurning faces now: we’re splaying our feet and arms, singing along with Ceronne, and wishing that this wasn’t a bloody school night.

The Tennent's Mutual kicks off this weekend

preview for the skinny

We've been pleasantly surprised by the way The Tennent's Mutual seems to be going so far. Perhaps it was the sheer chutzpah of the idea that led to scepticism in some quarters, but the Season One line-up is mightily impressive, and it's led by a really exciting brace of opening nights in our two major cities this weekend. James Murphy is the headliner on both nights, but he's not here with his own LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver to promote: instead he's promising a DJ set that'll explore the roots of New York disco.

As any fan will tell you, the casual dismissal of disco as high-camp cheesy pop is a mile away from the underground sound that emerged in NY clubs like The Loft and The Gallery, which was broadly based around driving psychedelic soul and funk, but was also capable of incorporating African, Latin or Rock rhythms. It's accessible, addictive, and versatile enough that Murphy's 'Special Disco Version' set could go in any direction from his starting point: don't miss it.

In Glasgow on Saturday night he'll be supported by Fife-based art-rockers Findo Gask, the ever-sunny indie-pop Kid Canaveral, and Belle & Sebastian's Chris "Beans" Geddes with a funk and soul set of his own. For our money, the Edinburgh gig the following night looks even better. Murphy's main support in the atmospheric Caves will be Frightened Rabbit, whose Midnight Organ Fight isn't just one of the best Scottish albums of the year, it's one of the best albums of the year period. They're pretty special live too. Also on hand are up-and-coming new wave quartet Isosceles, who we featured back in April.