It was the last live show on 2013, a year that has been synonymous with live music on Scottish Fiction, and what a way to end the year. My guests for this week's show were Carla, Amanda and Debbie of sunshine pop girl band TeenCanteen. Fresh of the back of debut single 'Honey', released via Neu Reekie earlier this year, the band chatted about influences ranging from girl bands of the '60's to certain 2000's boybands (!), and their plans for next year. And speaking of those plans, there's a sneak peak of what may be the girls next single, as they kindly played three live songs for us in the studio. As usual you can also expect the best new Scottish music releases, a festival Cover Lover track, and your choice of music with #tweetatrack.
Another week, another stunning playlist choka full of new Scottish music. On this podcast we've got an exclusive first play of the new Campfires In Winter single, music from Brave Young Red, Mogwai, CHVRCHES, Zed Penguin, Randolph's Leap and more! All our usual features are here, including 'Cover Lover', a French Wives cover of 'Blue Boy' by Orange Juice, 'Re-Mixing It Up', a Evil Hand remix of How To Swim's 'Bacterium' and 'Aye Tunes Friday Freebie' which this comes from Machines In Heaven. On top of all this we unveil the three bands playing Scottish Fiction Presents: Aye Tunes vs. Peenko gig on Saturday 30th March. Get stuck in!
On the day of the impending Mayan apocalypse, let's all take a few moments to celebrate and reflect on just how bloody good a year it has been for Scottish music. Last year when compiling this same 'Best Of...' list there was always a clear winner in my mind, Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat's 'Everything's Getting Older'. That was vindicated by the same album taking the BAMS 2011 title, and more importantly the inagural SAY Award back in June.
This year however, I've chewed this list over and over. I've mulled on my favourite, re-jigged the order, and cried at the albums I had to leave out. It was a difficult list, but I've finally settled on this, the Scottish Fiction Best Of 2012. So enjoy, listen, disagree, engage however you please.
Presented in this post is numbers 20 to 11 in our countdown.
The Glasgow quintet released their much anticipated début album back on 7th May via Stow College label Electric Honey. It's a romp of an indie-pop effort, which holds real emotion beneath the catchy melodies, and features a number of their singles released already such as 'Younger' and 'Numbers'. The band were also rather kind to come and play the first Scottish Fiction Presents: Aye Tunes vs. Peenko gig back in October, which was lovely!
The first of four, yes count them four, albums released on 17th September to feature in our top 20. The Edinburgh band put out this very accomplished album which is full of well written love songs that actually convey real emotions,
landscape sounds at times rivalling those of more establish indie acts,
and full of awkward dance moves as those oh-so-cool indie kids try not
to dance. Another charming band who came and playing for us in October. Cheers!
Teenage Fanclub are an institution that can do no wrong. Luckily that also extents to their constituent parts, including bassist Gerard Love who, with the help of some other Glasgow musicians, released his début solo album under the guise of Lightships. The influence of the Fannies is clear, as is another Glasgow institution The Pastels, under whose label the album was released, yet there's plenty of originality and a breezy summer day feel throughout.
Back in 2011 I had the pleasure of seeing Olympic Swimmers support Admiral Fallow at The Arches, and shortly after 'Apples And Pears' became one of my favourite tracks. I'd kind off forgotten about the band until... BAM 'No Flags Will Fly' dropped on 4th June and propelled the band to greater things. The first four tracks contribute one of the strongest starts to an album all year, especially my favourite 'Knots'.
Over The Wall frontman Gav Prentice chose this year to 'go solo', something which he'd been toying with for a while and was encouraged to go for during a lull in OTW activities. And just as bloody well, because début 'The Invisible Hand' genuinely does stand alone from Prentice's previous band and serves
as a vehicle for the him musician to say something he couldn't have got
across as a collective. Full of small town angst, frustration and threats of violence, it's a stonker of an album well worth checking out. Peenko, Aye Tunes and I had the pleasure of 'launching' the album at our gig in November. Jolly good so it was.
After 2010's self titled album from former Aerogramme lad's Craig B and Ian Cooke, a follow up was always expected. Thankfully it was delivered via Chemikal Underground in August, and it firmly delivered surpassing the standards the duo had set with their début. Ian Cooke has been a busy bee this year as well, popping up as part of CHVRCHES, who may, arguably, surpass TUH popularity. Time will tell. In the meantime enjoy 'Afterlives'.
Time for my favourite named album of the year, the wonderfully titled 'Something For The Weakened' from Meursault. Led by Neil Pennycook, Meursault returned with their third offer, displaying progression in their songwriting and a more 'human' and acoustic sound. Featuring tracks such as 'Flittin', 'Dull Spark' and personal favourite 'Lament For A Teenage Millionaire', this is a fine fine album worthy of your time.
The first of two appearances for DIY Glasgow label Olive Grove Records. Jo Mango's second album 'Murmuration' was a labour of love, taking six years to write and record. It's certainly worth the wait though as there's such beauty, craft, intricacy and emotion weaved throughout. Each track is a real labour of love, and for true, original songwriting you can't look further than 'Murmuration'.
And here's numero two for Olive Grove, which has nothing to do with our recent gig foray with Lloyd, and everything to do with the extraordinary collective feeling they have developed and used to entice The State Broadcasters to release their second album 'Ghosts We Must Carry' with them. The second album on the list to have been released on the magical date, 17th September, The State Broadcasters have crafted an album full of
folk/American/traditional musical influences which broads with real
human emotion.
Human Don't Be Angry, named after the literal translation of the German name for the board game Frustration, is of course Malcolm Middleton, who turns his hand to electronica and '80's influenced music on this album. Released via Chemikal Underground on 23rd April, it's an album that has intriuged me and stuck with me all year round. Sound truly landscaped sounds, tapping into the electro sound which is prevalent at the moment. Wonderful live as well. Chill out and have a listen.
Took a while to get this podcast up (apologies) but you can forgive me as on this show we have a plethora of new music from the likes of Gav Prentice, Salo, Vasa and Three Blind Wolves. There's also all four of the Peenko Postcard tracks scattered across the show.
Our Aye Tunes Friday Freebies track comes from op, our Re-Mixing It Up track is a Discopolis remix of a Miaoux Miaoux track, our Featured Artists is the wonderful Withered Hand and our Classic Scottish Album is Admiral Fallow's debut 'Boots Met My Face'.
In case you don't know, or you're sitting on the fence, on Saturday 27th October (this Saturday!) Scottish Fiction join forces with Jim from Aye Tunes and Lloyd from Peenko to bring you the first in what shall hopefully become a regular occurrence.
On this show we were joined by Lloyd Meredith and Halina Rifai of Glasgow DIY label Olive Grove Records. Lloyd and Halina were in good spirits and chatted about the label, their ethos, their rooster and Scottish music in general. They picked some new exclusive tracks to play as well!
In the second half of the show we had music from the likes of Stanley Odd, Cancel The Astronauts, Rachel Sermanni and French Wives. As always, check out the full playlist below and listen to the show again!
Cast your mind back to 17th June 2012. We had a jolly old time with our maiden gig, that we've been itching to do it again. But this time... Well this time we've kicked things up a notch!
What happens when three Glasgow bloggers meet up for a pint? They decide to put on gigs of course!
May we present to you the first Scottish Fiction Presents AyeTunes vs. Peenko, dubbed, 'Blogtoberfest'!
Together with Lloyd of Peenko and Jim of Aye Tunes it's our mission, and privilege, to bring you the finest Scottish live music
on the last Saturday of each month at The Flying Duck.
And to get us started we've bagged a indie-pop-tastic line up for our maiden gig on Saturday 27th October.
French Wives - With their debut album 'Dream Of The Inbetween' released to
much acclaim earlier this year, we are chuffed to bits to have French
Wives as our headliners. Guaranteed to get you singing, dancing and
clapping along. Fun times!
Cancel The Astronauts - The
Edinburgh five piece have just released their debut album 'Animal Love
Match', one of 2012's finest and full of great hooks, melodies and
rhythms. We can't wait to hear them and you don't want to miss their
feisty live performance.
The Bad Books - Another
Edinburgh lot, we're happy to welcome the four piece with open arms across
the M8. Their live sets are fantastic, although with no recorded
releases yet you'll have to take our word for it!
We'd love to see you on
Saturday 27th October from 7:30pm at The Flying Duck for all of this
and more! We'll be spinning some tunes in the bar beforehand from 7pm
AND entry to the gig gains you FREE entry to The Flying Duck's club
night 'Houndin The Streets'.
Tickets are £6 and are available online now here and also available on the door on the night.
Ding ding! After a few days of geeky trash talk our new joint feature with David from the excellent Kowalskiy blog got under way tonight. As you may recall David and myself will be sparring it up every two weeks in a Top Trump duel via the interweb world of Twitter. Instead of comparing 1970's Dutch footballers we shall be using the vital statistics of Scottish bands to try and outwit each other. For those who want a recap on the rules of this musical melee then take a peek here. For those who are all about the blood lust then keep reading!
Whilst I had confidence I knew I'd need to enlist help. And in our corner I had the help of none other than Dundee five piece Seams. I had the home advantage which means that I had control of the picks. Remember our categories are Number Of Members, Years Active, Soundcloud Tracks, Twitter Follow Ratio, Band Name Scrabble Score, Average Age and Total.
Playing the opening gambit I went with what would appear a respectable Twitter Follow Ratio. Following that we played the Number Of Members attribute before ending with a tactical decision to go for the Total attribute, where of course the lowest score wins. Backing up Kowalskiy were Glasgow's indie-popsters French Wives. Here's how they score up:
In case mathematics isn't you're strong suit, then the scoring went as such. Kowalskiy took the first point, French Wives boosting a higher Twitter Follow Ratio. The second point was split 50/50 with both bands comprised of five people. That meant it all rested on the final roll of the dice. Luckily, thanks to their sickeningly young Average Age and a pish poor Band Name Scrabble Score, my plucky band of Dundonians Seams rescued the point for Total score and ensured a draw of 1.5 points each.
I'll admit that I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't make more of the home advantage in this first round of the Battle Of The Bands. But, equally I'm sure that Kowalskiy now realises that he isn't going to get things his own way! Our next battle will be in a fortnight. You can keep up to date with all our baiting on Twitter.
Despite our juvenile banter, the real focus is of course on the bands. First up is our choice, Seams!
The gals and girls had this to say when we asked them how it felt to have drawn with French Wives in the opening heat of Battle Of The Bands. "It's pretty cool to be a part of this new feature! And to draw with French Wives is awesome! We've supported them a few times in the past and they are just amazing."
We've featured them on the radio show before, and they have had the honour of being played on BBC Introducing by Ally McCrae, showing that it's not just us that like them! Their debut EP 'Colours & Maps' is well worth investing in, which you can do here. Looking forward to more new material from them, hopefully sooner than later!
And to prove we will never be sore losers, French Wives released their debut album, 'Dream Of The Inbetween' earlier this year, which you can get right here. It's a cracking album and the band represent a stellar choice by Mr Kowalskiy.
It's a tad late this week, but here is our latest podcast all fresh and ready for your ears. In it you'll find such gems as Kid Canaveral and RM Hubbert snuggled neatly alongside new music from Holy Mountain, The Son(s) and Plastic Animals. There's also our usual features, Peenko Friday Freebie, Classic Scottish Album from The Delgado's and a very special artist of the week; Beastie Boys.
What can I say about the BBC's Sound of 2012 that hasn't already been said? Yes most of the artists are already signed to major labels, and yes the more cynical amongst us may believe that those labels are heavily influencing the list to get their act a foot ahead. But the bottom line is that no one, (not even dear old Auntie Beeb) can truly define what you or I will be listening to next year. Because if you truly love music, then you'll spend some time to discover it for yourself.
I doubt many people are looking at the 15 names thinking to themselves, "right that's my listening duties wrapped up for the next twelve months". However the more worrying thing is that a lot of people will happily accept this list as the 'best' new music, and will not delve further.
I shouldn't be self-righteous about it either. Afterall, I like the sound of 'Friends' and 'Dry The River', and there will probably be a lot of success for a few others on the list. And maybe that's what it serves to do. Provide a list of artists who will probably achieve commerical success next year. But we all know that's not always worth much, see: Adele.
So to the point. The Sound of 2012 will be whatever you decide it to be. All lists and tips are simply served up as suggestions for your listening pleasure. How much faith you place in those suggestions are purely down to the value you place on the person suggesting. And with that confidence shattering realisation, here's my picks for 2012:
Discopolis This is an easy one. The blazed their way through a headline slot on the BBC Introducing Stage at this years T In The Park, they've been tipped by many commentators including the NME with a vomit inducing comment about setting the heather ablaze (seriously? How much heather do you see in Edinburgh city centre?), and they have been giging like mad over the past 6 months. With a sound fused from the shoe-gazing wonder of The Cocteau Twins, the roar and urgency of M83 and the electro dance beats of LCD Soundsystem, and a debut album hopefully forthcoming in 2012, Discopolis should garner fans to them in a similar way that saw Japan warm to them earlier this year!
Bear Bones Bands just seem to be getting larger these days. Not content with the age old line up of drums, bass, lead and rhythm, Bear Bones are an 8 piece bethemoth lovingly whittled in the sounds of Admiral Fallow, Open Swimmer and Frightened Rabbit. There's a distinct Scottish warmth and melody behind their sound, and with an album out (hopefully) next year more people should get to appreciate that.
I first discovered Rachel Sermanni when she supported Admiral Fallow back in 2010. Even then it was clear she was extremely talented and special, if albeit a little shy. 2011 has seen her playing SXSW, Wickerman and a stand out set at this year's T In The Park. With a debut EP, Black Currents dropping in January 2012, Rachel's star will certainly be in the ascendency.
I make no secret about the fact I love Michael Cassidy's music. He has a fantastic and mesmerising voice, and having become very familiar with a lot of his tracks, I am really looking forward to hearing the final article which hopefully should come with a debut album release next year. The singer/songwriter niche is hard to successfully crack, but I'm sure Michael is up to the job.
These lucky buggers recently had their song 'History' named as the Scottish Fiction 'single of 2011'. They have sinced followed this gem of a track with another two songs, 'Are You Who You Think You Are?' and 'Devil Of Mine'. With a C86 twee sound, all the noises eminating from this quirky quartet point to further brilliance. I do hope I'm right!
I'm rather excited about Glasgow band French Wives debut album with will be out next year. They released 'Numbers' on 24th October and to say it has whetted the appetite would not even begin to describe it. The album itself has a lot of promise with Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai) on producing duties.
Open Swimmer are a diverse bunch. Hailing from Glasgow, Sweden and Australia where there debut album was recorded. That album should be released on the public in 2012, and you'd be wise to look out for it as single Sugar Bowl, released earlier this year, was bloody awesome! And the band are just off the back of a performance on Ally McCrae's BBC Introducting In Scotland
So there you have it. Seven artists who are worth your time in 2012. Why seven? Well let's just say me and the laptop had a little disagreement resulting in me punching it, so I had to finish this post on my iPhone.
French Wives are a five piece from Glasgow who have been notoriously good in the past. Of late they have been recording their long awaited debut LP, which will be called 'Dream Of The In Between' with producer Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle And Sebastian). The album is being released on the fantastic Electric Honey label, and is being preceeded by the release of a single, 'Numbers', on 24th October. The band are playing a small UK tour to promote the single, and play in Glasgow's Mono on Thursday 20th with support from Endor and Blochestra, so it's shaping up to be an awesome night.
Sounding like something which wouldn't be amiss on a Noah And The Whale album, the track kicks off with a chiming guitar riff which is quickly enhanced by swirling violin strings. Lead singer Stuart Dougan's vocals kick in sounding confident and assured. The strings are powerful, yet not overwhelming, indeed each instrument compliments and intertwines with each other, creating a sum of parts which is joyful to listen to. The track is peppered with little moments of uniqueness; a clap of drumsticks, soaring strings, and a chorus which is indefinitely catchy.
After an uplifting little violin solo, a volly of drums and bass create a finale which firmly whets the appetite for the rest of their forthcoming album.
You can listen to the full track below and will be available to purchase on 24th October. Also check out the band's website, Facebook, Bandcamp and Twitter.
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