A Certain Ratio are a band who, over their 42 years together (Yup – they formed in 1977) have been hugely influential, yet critically underrated. They have been cited as huge inspirations for everyone from Talking Heads, The Rapture and even comedians The Mighty Boosh.  

The music they create has well and truly stood the test of time with their own brand of multi-layered dub, funk and post-punk anthems gracing soundtracks, clubs and grungy basement dives alike. It would seem there is no forum unsuitable to the A Certain Ratio Sound.

Idling on stage just after 9pm the band launch into, ‘Winter Hill’ a thundering 10 minute marathon of scuzzy guitar and tumultuous drums, which see’s Donald Johnson and Martin Moscop swap over drums and guitar mid song – hinting at the kind of musicianship that can only be garnered over decades of practice.

1981 single ‘Do the Du’ is up next and it’s not hard to make reference to labels mates Joy Division, with Jezz Kerr’s detached and nonchalant echoing vocals interlaced with a funk laden guitar riffs. The band have been on stage for 12 minutes and the whole room is dancing.

The bands cover version of Talking Heads track ‘Houses in Motion’ is a glorious cacophony of funk and punk together. Adding to the mix of instruments, cowbells, bongo’s and referee whistles (don’t believe me? – check YouTube) which all seem to bounce around King Tut’s sweaty walls.

Followed next and to the motley crew of young mods and ageing hipsters delight is ‘Lucinda’ and ‘Milky Way’ which has everyone shuffling about in pure delight.

‘Won’t Stop Loving You’ is an upbeat ditty that perfectly encapsulates singer Denise Johnson’s vocal range perfectly. The band are well and truly into their groove and you can tell that even after all this time they still enjoy playing to a live crowd. As the song ends and seemingly brings with it the end of tonight’s show, frontman Jezz Kerr huffs, “Surely that’s not all we’ve got?”

After a short reprieve the band come back on stage and smash out ‘Good Together’. As soon as the first opening chords of 80’s dancefloor anthem ‘Shack Up’ are heard the audience erupt into rapturous applause and the wild dancing begins.

Closing noise beast ‘Si Firmo O Girdo’ is reminiscent of a football World Cup anthem and that’s not just because the referee’s whistle is frantically blown throughout… With a wild rhythmic section and drums being bounded at breakneck speed it’s the perfect set closer that leave the crowd happily dancing out into the frost bitten streets of Glasgow, with only the funk warming their bones.

It’s Sunday night in Glasgow, there is frost on the ground and everyone is working in the morning… yet that doesn’t stop those who have come to hear some big sounds from the West Yorkshire Upstarts.

Opening the show tonight and potentially your new favourite squeeze, are a band called PVA a post-punk, Balearic (yes, I did say that in the same sentence) noise making trio that based in the boroughs of London.

It’s hard to stand still whilst being assaulted by a barrage of synths and drum machines, the band are making serious danceable noise. You can imagine this band tearing it up had this been a good old Sunday night down at Optimo.

Singer and lead button pusher – Ella Harris is serving up cute surly skin head – Annie Lennox if she partied hard in Ibiza look while front man Josh Baxter presents more like an eccentric librarian – with just the right amount of cool a la Mac DeMarco.

Opening track, ‘Talks’ is a glorious mix of grinding techno and fuzzy distorted guitar riffs and is the perfect appetite whetter. The band race through a quick set including gems like, ‘Divine’ and ‘Exhaust’. Closing track ‘Individual’ is a toe tapping, cacophony of sound reminiscent of Depeche Mode partying hard at the Hacienda with Suicide. What’s not to love? Please keep your eyes open for these stalwarts making moves early next year.

The main act tonight, ooze confidence. Working Men’s Club are band that have formed just over a year ago, they possess a disposition that’s brooding and cantankerous.

If you haven’t wrapped your chops around the throbbing disco pulse of the single that is ‘Teeth’ this summer – then, seriously, where have you been?

Working Men’s Club have been the toast of the up and coming new wave scene for months now and have been receiving plaudits all across the country for leading the charge and breathing new life into a scene that has almost collapsed in on itself.

The quartet comprised of – Jake Bogacki (drums), Sydney Minsky-Sargeant (vocalist, guitar) and Mariade O’Connor (vocals, guitar, keys) have added an extra bassist and now permanent member to their live set-up Liam Ogburn. The band  squeeze onto the tiny stage at Broadcast climbing over the mountain of gear in the form of synthesisers, drum pedals, loop machines, cowbells and even a random copy of the autobiography of John G Paton that seems to have made its way into the pedal set up.

It doesn’t take long for Frontman Minksy-Sargent to grab the crowd’s attention, with the posturing of Iggy Pop and the boyish good looks of Iain Curtis he has the demeanour and swagger of someone well beyond his 18 years on this Earth.

Opening track ‘White Rooms and People’, is a magnificent stomp of jagged new wave synth punk, with elements of Devo and Parquet Courts. The room is packed and everyone is dancing.

Single ‘Bad Blood’ see’s Minksy-Sargent whip off his top to the general approval of the crowd (Tapp’s Aff is alive and well in Glasgow even on a frosty night like this). Seconds later he’s in the middle of the crowed swaggering up and down at the front of the stage.

The band hurtle through a set, that for a band still in their infancy is only six songs long, yet imbued with a devout passion and an almost feral agenda to reflect what they can see happening around them in society – but all the while make you dance.

The rest of the set is made up of ‘Cook a Coffee’, ‘Johnny Cooper Clarke’, ‘Be My Guest’ which are all set with the same frenetic energy.

Penultimate track ‘Angel’ however perfectly encapsulates the ‘Wall of Sound’, Mark E. Smith meets Protomartyr meets Gang of Four all down the local pub enjoy a packet of K.P. Nuts aesthetic that the band seem to have mastered.

There is a lot going on from fuzzy reverb to pounding drums and grinding guitars all interlaced with a beautiful disarray of synths.

‘Teeth’ is instantly discernible from the rest of the tracks with the opening grinding, synthed out riff on repeat it sends the tiny basement into a frenzy. Everyone is dancing and the band are playing loud and with that the night has came to an end. It will also no doubt be the only time they play on a stage this small in Glasgow again, let’s just hope it’s not too long before they are back.

Whenyoung are a band on the rise. The last time Side-F caught the Limerick trio, was way back in 2017, in a basement bar in Peckham. The band at the time where sporting colour coded boiler suits and had a very DIY feel to their set. Having just moved to London as friends, it didn’t take them long to gather their pop sensibilities and form a band.

Tonight playing in front of a packed out crowd the band present a much more polished set with twee undertones. Bolstered by an additional fourth touring member on guitar the band play a super slick set imbued with 80’s synth and electro pop undertones.

Aiofe Power (perhaps the best name in pop) is a captivating front woman. She’s serving up effortless cool with her cute, Swedish cherub aesthetic and is the embodiment of a fun Cyndi Lauper meets Christa Päffgan of The Velvet Underground.  

Her counterparts,’ guitarist Niall Burns – still sporting the art haus boiler suit with strategically placed zips and drummer Andrew Flood are very at ease on stage with one another and all three chime in with some friendly banter in-between songs such as “Me Mum was born in Paisley – I’m still Irish though, she moved there when she was five’.

It’s easy to get the sense that Whenyoung are a candid group of people that you would probably have a great time chatting to over a pint in the pub and in fact they seemed to have garnered a great deal of support from friends they have made in the Glasgow music scene, who have all turned out to show support such as; Walt Disco, False Friends and The 9^th Wave.

Set opener ‘Pretty Pure’ is a whimsical ditty with traditional melodies and Pavement-esque guitar riffs. It doesn’t take too long before a small gathering at the front of the stage begin to pogo along – and at one point I’m sure, maybe even the Macarena made an appearance?

At one point Power breaks away from her upbeat energy to pause for a more sombre moment to introduce ‘Future’, she said, “We have to make a future for each other, I don’t know what else you’re supposed to do. This song was written when we were all going through a tough time, our friend passed away by suicide. For him, he could see no future, but for us we all had to go on’. This was met with rapturous applause from the audience and even inspired a bit of a singalong.

‘In My Dreams’ see’s guitars Niall Burns amping up the energy while track ‘The Others’ proves that the band can mix perfectly elements of punk, with their upbeat new wave synth pop.

The Final track of the evening leaves the crowd with a poignant message about looking after your mental health. ‘Never Let Go’ showcases the band at their best. It’s a mammoth, uplifting wall of noise, with a catchy chorus and riffs crunchier than a granny smith apple that leaves the packed out King Tuts more than satisfied. Catch Whenyoung on tour throughout October before they start to fill up larger venues.

True Crime and murder documentaries are having a moment – it’s no big secret. Netflix have been streaming binge worthy series such as, Making a Murderer and When They See Us which has paved the way for serial killers, stalkers and all sorts of weirdo’s to become the topic of the day in staff rooms across the length and breadth of the nation.

What we didn’t account for was, what appears to be a new wave of feminism to appear on the scene – girls talking and almost obsessing on what lurks in the dark, the macabre and the just plain mean.

Maybe it’s a minor rebellion against the patriarchy or maybe it’s girls banding together to prepare for these nightmare scenarios and how to ‘Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered’ as per the My Favourite Murder tag line.

Riding this wave of nightmare fuel and highlighting the absurdity of these staggering and deplorable deeds is Hannah & Suruthi – two sassy Londoners who met at a party 2 years ago, drank wine and horrified some young kids when the openly dissected the tragic case of JonBenet Ramsey.

After some very low-fi recordings from – literally a cupboard and then beneath a duvet, the girls realised they had a winning formula, which quickly garnered them a loyal following and moved on (thankfully) to a proper recording space.

Since then the podcast has went from strength to strength and now the girls are hop-scotching around the country on a UK tour. Tonight Oran Mor has been set up conference style with seats crammed into the basement. Rows upon rows, predominantly made up of woman – and their partners who seem to have been coerced along for the evening, are intricate laid out and the room is full – and buzzing with excitement.

The girls are greeted on stage to rapturous applause and the girls ease in to a vivid recalling of notorious serial killer and necrophile Ed Kempur the ‘Co-Ed Killer’. It’s a meaty subject matter, dark, unsavoury and shocking to the core – it’s everything the audience want and what’s not to love?

The girls seamlessly breeze through a colourful retelling of Kempur’s childhood, flip-flopping between each narrator with gaudy tales of their own lives such as, university drinking games and references to 90’s TV hit Clarissa Explains it All, interwoven between the eerie tales of Kempur’s childhood entrenched with neglected.

Two and a half hours’ breeze by effortlessly as the audience are shaken and perplexed by the gruesome story. The night ends with the promise from Hannah and Suruthi to come and hang out at the bar and meet the eager audience. Hop on the murder bandwagon before it’s too late.

Angie Canavan

It’s 38° and London is melting. Shops are closing and offices are sending their staff home early from work in fear that the soaring temperatures will induce feinting spells across the city.

In Clapham however, in the small confines of Lion Coffee Records, a small but intimate crowd of students and promotors litter the street pavement, sipping on Aperol Sprits and rubbing shoulders and sharing banter with the bands that they have gathered here to see perform.

The small, independent record store and café-come-bar is beyond sweltering inside but that doesn’t stop the eager crowd from enjoying a lo-fi set.

SEX CELLS are a pagan, bubble-gum synth pop dream, hailing from Peckham in London. The duo have been playing a string of gigs across the city on the back of their recent release, ‘Are you Ready?’ on Pretty Ugly records.

Crammed into a tiny corner of the coffee shop and using only a small coffee table to precariously balance their Korg and Roland drum machines on, the pair played a seamless short set of glitchy pop music, featuring stand out tracks such as ‘Modern Witchcraft’, hello The Prodigy, circa Music for the Jilted Generation and ‘Hell is where the Heart Is’ which is more akin to Devo meets Suicide.

Matt Kilda – who resembles a much younger and slender Karl Barrat and Willow Vincent – a sexy woodland sprite witch, with blossom clad head gear and a chic, floor length nightdress are definitely ones to watch.

The main reason however why everyone has packed themselves into such a tiny venue this evening risking chronic dehydration, is to see Glaswegian stalwarts, Walt Disco. A band who ooze finesse, angular jawlines and haircuts that would make even Karl Lagerfeld go weak at the knees.

After some initial technical issues with getting a projector to work, the quintet, open the show by showcasing the music video for ‘Past Tense’. “Made by guys that are much cooler than me” croons front man James Potter, and although the video is streaming on the roof the crowed are instantaneously transfixed.

With the catchy summer imbued synth, starkly offset by the guttural, hollowed out haunting drawl of Potter, who’s voice is similar to Anohni (formerly of Anthony & the Johnsons) but with the tenacity and voracity of Bowie, the room is brought to a standstill.

As the track comes to a stop the boys emerge right on que, from a tiny backroom and delve right into ‘My Pop Sensibilities’ a song that instantly doffs its cap in equal measure to Madonna and Echo & the Bunnymen.

It’s in this weird art-house juxtaposition that Walt Disco seem to feel the most comfortable, somewhere in between, androgyny and outer space and it’s instantly infectious.

‘Strange to Know Nothing’ perfectly encapsulates the raucous baritone of Potter whilst fully allowing the rest of the band to swagger through the songs, moody synth changes and crunch of the debauched guitars.

The boys hurtle through the stripped back set at break neck speed and finish with ‘Dancing Shoes Won’t Fix My Mind’ a surly necromancers waltz through a graveyard disco. With heavy reverb and angular guitar riffs that would make Lux Interior quake in his boots, it’s a fine tune to literally watch the sweat drip from the walls.

Speaking kerbside afterwards Potter told Side-F that we should ‘Hear us plugged in’ and that us what we fully intend to do. Catch them at Edinburgh’s Mash House on October 17^th, Dundee Church 18^th October or Aberdeen’s Café Drummond on 19^th of October.