It's too late for you, it's too late for me

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'No Dancing' featuring The Scottish Enlightenment / Miaoux Miaoux / Male Pattern Band, live @ The Admiral Bar, Glasgow, 09-04-11.

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Fuck. Too late. Again. Fuck. These gigs that are over by 10pm. You'd think I'd know the score by now. So, alas, I missed Male Pattern Band and thus can't comment (apologies to the band, and to you) but I did manage to hurriedly tap my size ten feet to Miaoux Miaoux (AKA Julian Corrie) and stare at my weathered shoes and nod my Morrissey-sized head to The Scottish Enlightenment. Truth be told, if I hadn't had my (pretty fancy for a total amateur) camera with me, or been so stupidly self-conscious, I would have danced my fucking arse off to Miaoux Miaoux (even though it was a 'No Dancing' night, officially, this music is very, very appropriate shaking your tailfeather stuff, I tell you). And where to begin? Well, comparisons have ranged from Mogwai (eh?) to Four Tet (bit more like it) but, funnily enough for me, I hear a slightly more pop-dancy and less indie bass-centric Tom Vek. But perhaps this is my long-standing frustration at the fact it has been, what, FIVE years now since 'We Have Sound' (Universal/Island) blew everyone away and, still, there is no follow-up. Sigh. Anyway, the Miaoux Miaoux set is astoundingly good, powered by whispery vocals, subtle guitar work and a table full of intricate bleep-bleep boxes and flashing-light gadgets that look as if they could probably assist a future NASA launch. Julian clearly has more than just one pair of hands to make it all look so annoyingly easy. A difficult act to follow. But someone had to. The Scottish Enlightenment, by comparison, slow things down. An awfy lot. And this is no bad thing and, further, it actually goes to show that this is a very interesting pairing, even though, on the face of it, the bands seem miles apart from one another in terms of approach, reach, sounds et al. The bulk of the Enlightenment set is taken from the wonderful long-player 'St . Thomas' (Armellodie Records), for many folks around and beyond the Central Belt one of the albums of last year. As ever, I am struggling to find better words than 'brooding', 'melancholy' or 'contemplative' to describe the types of glorious noise this band make. This is, doubtless, due to a serious lack of imagination on my part. The pace is slow whilst the lilting (or is that wafting?) vocals, from David Moyes, raises both spirits and hopes. 'Earth Angel / With Sticks in Crypts' sets the mood and tone perfectly whilst the closing few minutes of 'The First Will be Last', in its looped and repetitious way, sends you into a kind of hypnotic, swaying trance (not so great if you are trying to take pictures of shoes, faces or the neck of a guitar). 'Necromancer', a song so convincing and persuasive it needs a health-warning attached, is a highlight and one to hum on the way home. And home it is, just after 10pm, avoiding the lassies in short skirts, too much make-up and screeching like banshees, as well as the 'pumped-up' boys in short sleeves, who, as ever, just want to fight (or fuck) anything with a pulse and drink as much as they can through any available orifice. And then there is the Polis, desperately, trying to contain it all with a withering, emasculated look that is already admitting complete defeat. Glasgow on a Saturday night. You can't alcopop beat it, so they say.
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Miaoux Miaoux - 'Montefiore' (live mix) (5.10)
The Scottish Enlightenment - 'Necromancer' (5.14)
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Miaoux Miaoux is here and The Scottish Enlightenment are here. You should buy their records and go see them play. You can find Male Pattern Band, in true pirate fashion, where X marks the spot. With thanks, again, to Callum at KMR.
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