TO MY shame, Saturday was the first time I'd ventured out to Leeman Road and this isolated backroom venue.

But what a virgin experience. There was something fitting about Glasvegas' unique brand of noise-drenched doo-wop being played-out a brisk 15-minute walk from the city centre.

Singer James Allen and Co seem at a certain remove from early 21st century pop. And that is no bad thing. Despite being unsigned - with the band currently taking their pick from a table covered with major label contracts - Glasvegas sold out the 250-capacity gig room well before show night.

Out of the murk, the four Glaswegians emerged into low red lighting, the feedback already starting to play around the edges of Rab Allan's guitar. Alan McGee, the man who discovered Oasis, has called them the most exciting Scottish band to emerge since the Reid brothers brought their Jesus And Mary Chain screaming and squealing out of Caledonia.

Like Glasvegas, the Chain come from Scotland's largest city and specialise in an enveloping wall of sound Phil Spector would have killed for.

The Creation Records creator is probably right - with the exception of the oft-overlooked Glaswegian post-rockers Mogwai. These souped-up surf rockers are the real deal. In less than an hour, they run through all their original material - including a rapturously received Daddy Gone and new single It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry - released on Valentine's Day.

They closed with the B-side to that, a heartrending cover of the Ronnettes' classic, Be My Baby, leaving the stage swathed in feedback.

Check them out now in the kind of small venues perfectly suited to their vintage otherworldliness.