Man, this is gonna be good,  it does present a challenge in previewing the show however;  attempting not to overuse the word “scuzzy.”

All three bands do channel the scuzz though, and all three have a seam of late 80s/early 90s US stuff running through them, the good stuff that is…

Glasgow-based PAWS are one of the best live bands I’ve seen recently;  noisy, distorted, scuz..(damn), exciting…I could go on.  With more than a nod to Dinosaur Jr/The Pixies, their split single on Gerry Loves Records with Lady North last year was/is majestic.  If you pay any attention to those Scottish music scene “tips for 2012″ lists, you’ll have noticed their name popping up on a lot of them.  Here they are:

Frighteningly young Stonehaven two-piece DOLFiNZ have also been gaining the attention of people who spraff on about music on the internet, and with good reason.  Lo-fi, scuz..(f**k), garagey pop is what they do, and a single on Aberdeen’s Tuff Wax label (see below) lets us hear how they do it.  In my mind, if it actually was the early 90s and PAWS were on Sub Pop, DOLFiNZ would be on K Records.  It’s not and they’re not though, so you’ll have to make do with a new cassette they’ll have available at the show.  Yes, a cassette.

Oh, and as if that’s not enough, both bands will feature on a forthcoming split 12″ on Edinburgh’s excellent Song, By Toad Records…

Finally, Aberdeen’s Min Diesel are one of the city’s underground gems;  raw, ramshackle, grungy, and yes, scuzzy (I gave up), they don’t get as much coverage as they deserve.  Let’s put a stop to that.  Here’s a new song:

Love Disease by Min Diesel

See you there then…

DOLFiNZ

A quick heads-up about this:

“Temporary Art School is a one month live project happening throughout the city of Aberdeen in March 2012.  A group of people living and working in both Aberdeen and Glasgow have come together to put on classes and workshops which experiment with what an art school can be, and continue a long tradition of self-organised education.  The school is free and no previous experience of art education or training is required.”

You can sign up for some of the classes which have limited spaces now, although there will be open-to-all drop-in sessions every Friday during March.

Find out how to get involved and much more on the Temporary Art School Site.

The project will also be documented and shown at The Pipe Factory as part of  the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art in April/May.

I’d imagine we’ll be featuring this again nearer the time…

A lot of you will have been aware of the Save BBC Introducing in Scotland Campaign; set up by The PopCop and others in the face of proposed BBC cuts which threaten Ally McRae’s hugely important Radio 1 show, the resulting petition gained over 7000 signatures, one of whom was MSP Joan MacAlpine.

MacAlpine then took the campaign to Holyrood, leading the debate which can be seen below.  It’s great to see this kind of thing being talked about in the Scottish Parliament, and from a local point of view, utterly, utterly surreal to hear The Xcerts, Driveblind and Drummonds being mentioned.  That’s right, Drummonds got namechecked in parliament.  Amazing.

A new, regular, alcohol-fuelled section for 2012.  Adrian Gomes (that’s him in the photo) is your guide…   

Introduction

Welcome to the new virtual bar at The Kiosque.  We aim to keep you informed of the happenings within the local bar scene – who’s working where, what they’re drinking, what they think you should be drinking and which one of your exes they’re sleeping with.  Jealous rage aside, there’s been a positively dramatic shift in the bar and drinking culture within Aberdeen recently, and some of the venues on our doorstep are aiming high; fine spirits, innovative and gastronomy-inspired cocktails, bartenders in vintage garb and craft beers are just a few of the highlights on offer.  We’ll be starting off with a few of my favourite joints, as well as a little background on myself:

This just in from, erm, the internet:

Frightened Rabbit will play The Tunnels on Friday.  Ace.  They’ll be supported by The Little Kicks. Double ace.  No, there aren’t any advance tickets.  Yes, that means they’re available on the door only.  Yes, that means there’ll be a queue.  Yes, it’s just been announced, which is why you haven’t heard about it before.  Yes, I think that’s the whole point.  No, I don’t have any further information.  Cheers.

Well?  Did they?  Of course they didn’t.  Imagine if they did though, imagine if the wee twitter logo bird thing did invent it, and he’s tapping away at his wee smartphone with his wee beak, smugly tweeting artsy instagram photos of some boutique birdhouse he’s staying at during his winter flight south right now.  Mind-blowing.

“OK, what am I reading here?” you ask.  Right, “Did Animals Invent Twitter?” is the rather catchy title of a talk being given by Dr David Lusseau, from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences at the latest Cafe Scientifique event in Waterstone’s next week.  It even made the Daily Mail the other day (no link. I refuse), and they hate social media, they hate it so much that they spend all their time on social media looking for potential anti-social media stories.  Meta.

I have digressed slightly, anyway, Dr Lusseau spent ten years researching social conventions in the animal kingdom, and has concluded:  ”Social networks are the same across all species, and whilst details of their structure may differ, some properties remain the same whether we are looking at killer whales, spider monkeys or indeed humans…In my talk I will explain that the driver behind the formation of social networks in the animal kingdom is information gathering.  This information differs between species and populations – so it could be where food is, where predators are, or how strong you are in comparison to the other animals around you which would make you more of less likely to win in a fight.

Schools of dolphins provide an example of this.  As individuals, dolphins have their own daily needs to fulfil, such as resting and eating, but they are also concerned with what they should do next as a group.”

There you go then.

This just in from a dolphin:

@anotherdolphin: just spent all day swimming around with some dude hanging onto my fin. fml. beer?

Bonus points if you turn up dressed as your favourite animal and spend the entire talk chuckling at your phone…

Founder member and former bassist of punk legends Siouxsie and The Banshees Steven Severin has moved into the world of film scoring since the band’s final tour in 2002, and this Saturday he’ll be performing a new electronica-based soundtrack to accompany 1932 German film Vampyr  (I’m sure you can guess the subject matter) at Peacock Visual Arts.

Looking at the other dates on the tour, which are in much larger cinemas and galleries, this should be rather cool indeed given the intimate surroundings at Peacock.  It’ll also be about as far removed from the world of Twilight as is possible, which is a bonus…

Saturday 14 January | Peacock Visual Arts | 7.30pm | £11.10 (From One Up)
Steven Severin – Vampyr
Siouxsie & The Banshees’ founder member soundtracks a silent film. Info

Saturday 21 January | Cafe Drummonds | 8pm | £6  Tickets
The Xcerts, Flood of Red, Duke
“Xciled” (heh) Aberdonian indie band return home

Saturday 21 January | The Tunnels | 8pm | £12  Tickets 
The Black Daliah Murder, Skeletonwitch, Fleshgod Apocalypse
“Face-melting” death metal from Michigan 

Sunday 22 January | The Lemon Tree | 7.30pm | £15  Tickets
The Maccabees, Trailer Trash Tracys
London indie types tour their new album 

Monday 23 January | The Tunnels | 7.30pm | £5  Tickets
Tubelord, Olympians, Cameo Colours, You And What We Are
Synthy, poppy, mathy, rocky outfit from Kingston Upon Thames headline

Friday 27 January | Cafe Drummonds | 8pm | £4
Amy Sawers
Welcome headline show for local garage/country/rock/everything else-influenced singer & band

Saturday 28 January | The Tunnels | 9pm | £? (Tickets in One Up)
Skank
Nineties house night reunion with guest DJ/chef Michael Kilkie

Thursday 2 February | Cafe Drummonds | 8.30pm  | £5
Paws, DOLFiNZ, Min Diesel
Double header from two of Scotland’s most exciting new noisy indie bands

Friday 3 February | The Lemon Tree | 7.30pm | £8  Tickets
Rachel Sermanni
Hotly-tipped Scottish folkster/singer-songwriter (pictured below)

Thursday 9 February | The Tunnels | 7.30pm | £6  Tickets
Aerials Up, Stanley, Brown Bear & The Bandits, Margaret Finlayson
Melodic, string-laden Glasgow outfit & great support

Tuesday 14 February | The Tunnels | 8pm | £6  Tickets
Pulled Apart By Horses, The Computers
Raucous Leeds post-hardcore band headline

Tuesday 14 February | AECC | 7pm | £42.50 (!)  Tickets
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
That guy who used to be in that band tours his album 

Most of all, thanks to anyone who’s ever read this site and got something from it.

Happy New Year

Don’t let the bastards grind you down

Cheers

John

Okay, okay, truth be told, this should have been up sooner, I’m blaming festive lethargy, anyway, it’s tonight…

APB took a rather incongruous journey from Ellon, via the John Peel show, to cult status in early 80s New York, they reunited for a 25th anniversary show a few years ago, and their brand of angular funk still sounds as fresh as ever.  This lot are proper legends in Aberdeen and far, far beyond.  Support comes from everyone’s favourite  Scott Walker-esque pop weirdos Stanley and recently-returned energetic indie types Marionettes.  An excellent excuse to wake up with a hangover on Hogmanay…