The recent announcement that the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) was creating a Scottish Album of the Year Award has been met with mostly positive noises from the industry and bl*g*sph*re. With some big cash prizes backing up the prize, this does, in our eyes at least, look like the long-awaited, high profile means of recognising Scottish music that many of us have been looking for.
The longlist is now out with full details below. We’ll be honest, we’re not familiar with a fair few artists here, but that’s the beauty of a diverse judging panel (we’re not on it by the way, so please direct that roll of twenties elsewhere, thanks). There’s plenty of great stuff in there though, including no less than five albums that made Tidal Wave’s own top 25 last year, plus a rather nice surprise in the shape of Happy Particles.
There’s one band in there that if they win, we’ll probably leave the country in disgust, but we’ll let you work that one out. We’ll probably be going for King Creosote or Mogwai in the public vote, the winner of which will guarantee themselves a place on the shortlist, due for publication on May 17, to be followed by the winner’s announcement on June 19.
Interesting stuff and we hope you’ll support this initiative and its noble aim of supporting great Scottish music.
The longlist is as follows:
- 6th Borough Project “One Night In the Borough”
- Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat “Everything’s Getting Older”
- Bwani Junction “Fully Cocked”
- Chris Stout’s Brazilian Theory “Live In Concert”
- Conquering Animal Sound “Kammerspiel”
- FOUND “factorycraft”
- Fudge Fingas “Now About How”
- Happy Particles “Under Sleeping Waves”
- Jonny “Jonny”
- King Creosote & Jon Hopkins “Diamond Mine”
- Mogwai “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will”
- Mungo’s Hi Fi “Forward Ever”
- Muscles Of Joy “Muscles Of Joy”
- Remember Remember “The Quickening”
- Richard Craig “Inward”
- Rustie “Glass Swords”
- Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell “Ghosts Outside”
- Tommy Smith “Karma”
- Twin Atlantic “Free”
- We Were Promised Jetpacks “In The Pit Of the Stomach”
And that can mean only one thing – the BAMS (Blogs and Music Sites Scotland) are back. The unofficial guild/club/clique voted High Violet by the National as our album of the year in 2010 and I* was delighted to be a part of voting once again. The top ten – in reverse order – was as follows:
10= PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
10= The Moth and the Mirror – Honestly, This World
10= FOUND – factorycraft
7= The Son(s) – The Son(s)
7= Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel
5. King Creosote and John Hopkins – Diamond Mine
4= Mike Nisbet – Vagrant
4= Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2. Adam Stafford – Build a Harbour Immediately
1. Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older
Now then. Bearing in mind that each blogger only had three picks, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll note that my top three is nowhere to be seen. Metronomy is lurking just outside the top ten and Ringo Deathstarr are considerably further down – no great surprise to see a slightly obscure US fuzz-pop three-piece making little impact in a Scottish poll.
What is a surprises me is that it looks suspiciously like – from the breakdown of voting – is that the The Tidal Wave of Indifference is the only site to have voted for Mogwai’s superb latest. EH???
The winner’s something of a surprise too. I have the Wells/Moffat album but am less than blown away by it. It’s had a few listens and I’ll certainly come back to it but it’s not album of the year for me. But who are we to argue? Naebody, especially when it comes to actual factual science of a poll which has again been put together by blogging ledge Lloyd ‘Peenko‘ Meredith so big thanks to the friendly fella from the west for taking the time to do it all again.
Lloyd also managed to catch a word with this year’s winners and the full interview is below.
Congratulations Bill and Aidan, you are this years’ winners of the Scottish BAMS award, how do you feel? Does this rate as a career highlight then?
Aidan: I think it might be the first award I’ve ever been presented with, with the exception of the joint 4th Year English Prize at Falkirk High in 1989, so it’s very exciting indeed. Not sure about a career highlight – that accolade is always reserved for the work itself, and Everything’s Getting Older is certainly one of my favourites, yes.
Bill: Feels good – though when it dawned on me, obviously quite some time ago, that awards are only ever decided upon by other people, not by some almighty, all knowing, arbiter of taste and quality looking down from the clouds, I thought it always best to never get too excited about any of them coming my way, not that there’s been much occasion to, right enough.
How did you end up collaborating together in the first place?
Aidan: Bill says we found ourselves at the same table in a pub and I immediately asked him to play on some Arab Strap songs. I have no recollection of this at all, but at the time I was very much in love with his Also In White album so I’ve no reason to doubt him. After he played on the Monday At The Hug And Pint album, we did one song together and then took years to book a studio to do some more. We always seemed to have other things to do, but I’m glad we waited because I can’t imagine the album any other way. It would’ve had an entirely different theme and tone if we’d finished it in 2005, and I really don’t think it would have been as good from my side.
Bill: Indeed this is what happened – I was very surprised and flattered actually because although I was a huge Arab Strap fan, and though we were all from Falkirk, or, more likely, because, it never occurred to me that we’d ever all be in a studio together, so it did, for me at least, even at the time, feel like quite an occasion, and looking back, even more so now.
"Yay! Go us!"
I am guessing that you’ve spent a lot of time in each others’ pockets this year; has this bonded your love for each other, or are you sick of the sight of each other?
Aidan: We haven’t really spent that much time together at all, to be honest. We haven’t done a lot of touring, although what we did do was quite hard work. There’s more gigs being planned for next year, so hopefully we’ll have more to do, but it’s not as though we’re a young rock band out on the road and in the NME every week, there’s not a lot of fuss or constant attention to deal with; there’s been a minimum of upheaval, thankfully.
Bill: Yeh, sorry, you’re guessing wrong.
If the love is still there, are there any plans to work together again in the future?
Aidan: We’ve just started talking about our second album now, so it will happen but we’re not sure when. Certainly not next year, we’ve both got a couple of albums each planned for 2012, so we might try and have it ready for 2013. There’s no rush though, it’ll be ready when it’s ready; the last thing i want to do is dive into it and force it out, that’s why a lot of second albums these days are a bit shit. Bands and labels are desperate to hold onto any momentum and profile a new band has, but we’re lucky in that respect because we’re not really a new, young band; we’ve both been making records for ages and there’s no pressure on us at all. So 2014 at the earliest!
Bill: Just to add that I’m really looking forward to this, the musical ideas for first album were pretty much all on one cdr I gave Aidan ages ago, then the EP happened pretty quickly this year so, personally, I’m more hopeful for the 2013 result but, whatever and whenever, it’ll be great to get working together in the studio again.
Seeing as we are on the subject of albums of the year, what have been your personal favourites of 2012?
Aidan: I would’ve said Slow Club’s Paradise a couple of weeks ago (which I still love) but it’s been pipped at the post by the last-minute release of Josh T. Pearson’s limited live LP, The King Is Dead, which I think is far superior to his studio album. There’s been a lot of very good music this year though, but my memory can never work when it’s put on the spot, sorry!
Bill: I look at these end of year lists and realize I haven’t heard so many of these records, so it feels like a very uninformed opinion. The last time I was asked I said the re – release of Annette Peacock’s ‘I’m The One’ which is truly one of the greatest records ever made. However after writing that I realized that “That’s Reality’ by Yumbo, which is Koji Shibuya’s (bass player in Maher Shalal Hash Baz) Pop masterpiece, came out in Japan in early 2011.
If the above list seems to be lacking in links, I’m writing this in a rush and don’t have the time to link everything just now but I’ll come back to it. Most are linked at the bottom of the page though!!
Finally, as Christmas is approaching I’d like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone that’s read the Tidal Wave of Indifference in 2011. There genuinely seems to be more and more each week, which is a lovely feeling on top of this being a big year generally. My first gig in September was a roaring success, I’ve done a stack more writing for Radar and my inane witterings have even popped up on scotsman.com and theskinny.co.uk and I’ve even done a bit of DJing and some radio presenting for Freshair (with hopefully a bit more to come in 2012).
The site will be back with more album reviews, band features and random bullshit in the middle of January. Stay tuned! In the meantime, here’s some Christmas cheer…
* Grammar pedants like Last Year’s Girl will note that I’m writing this in the first person as it’s a more personal post.
Much of our feelings about this album relate to a tear-stained performance at Homegame in Anstruther back in May, but even if we hadn’t been there, we’d still be saying this is a concise but impeccably realised piece of work that rightfully saw Kenny Anderson achieve long-deserved widespread recognition for his work.
4. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Rightly acclaimed as Peej’s finest work in ten years, she became the first artist to walk away with the Mercury a second time which, whatever you think about awards love-ins, is hugely impressive. This is every bit the rival to her first win (Stories From the City, Stories From Sea), or indeed anything else she’s done.
3. Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
They just get better and better don’t they? The Scottish lords of post rock don’t do bad albums but this may yet be their finest hour – and we’re sure we said that about 2008’s the Hawk is Howling. AND it includes a song called George Square Thatcher Death Party. ‘Nuff said.
2. Ringo Deathstarr – Color Trip
Best band name ever? Almost certainly, but they got the tunes to match too. With Color Trip, the Texan three-piece have created a fuzz-pop classic that doesn’t give anything on quality control over its eleven tracks.
1. Metronomy – The English Riviera
A wondrous piece of experimental pop that we had overlooked until its appearance in the Mercury nominations. Joe Mount and co hadn’t really done it for us previously, but this was an upbeat, funky paean to the south Devon coastline. We’re delighted to name this album of the year for 2011.
This seems to be happening with increasing regularity. Us getting sent lots of stuff that we want to tell you about, that just don’t fit with our Album of the Week/Bandcrush template.
- So what’s on our minds just now? Well, we’ve made no secret of our love for French Wives, even them roping them into our debut gig, which we promise to shut up about one of these days, but we’re now happy to say that their pre-album release promotion trail is now in full swing with a new single and live dates upcoming. The single’s called Numbers, and you can listen to it below and catch them at the following dates. Do go, etc…
Oct 19 Aberdeen Drummond’s Café
Oct 20 Glasgow Mono – single launch with Endor and Blochestra
Oct 22 Edinburgh Third Door
Oct 23 Newcastle Tyne Bar
Oct 24 London Bull and Gate
- And while we’re on the subject of plugging tours, Brooklyn’s Numbers and Letters are over for an unusual, and dare we say brave tour, taking in the following dates:
Oct 11 House show at 26 Peterswell Brae, Stirling
Oct 12 Gourock Cafe Continental
Oct 13 “Surprise Show” in Glasgow (nope, us neither)
Oct 14 Inverness Hootananny
Oct 15 Thurso Newmarket Bar
Oct 16 Glasgow Brel
God knows what dark folkie types from NYC will make of Gourock and Thurso, but good luck to them. We like how they sound anyway, so here’s hoping they find a willing audience in Scotland. You can have a listen to them covering Tom Waits below.
- And how about this… Laki Mera who we featured earlier in the year are in the final five in a competition to head to the Big Apple. They’ll perform two songs in front of a panel of, ahem, “industry experts” at the Garage in Glasgow for their chance to play at Scotland Week 2012 in New York and at the prestigious Scottish Music Awards – The Tartan Clefs in November 2011. Also up for the cup are Woodenbox and Song of Return so it sounds like an evening of quality music is in the offing. We like Laki Mera muchly so wish them the best of luck. They’ve also had album track Crater remixed by Mogwai. It’s rather splendid and available to download for nowt over on their Facebook page, where you can also win tickets for the above event.
- You can’t fail to have missed the latest announcement by the BBC on cuts to staff, services and so on to cope with the licence fee freeze, and in particular the imminent end to Ally McCrae’s BBC Introducing show on Radio 1. Now we found the midnight-2am Sunday night timeslot a little prohibitive, and often didn’t quite manage to go back on iPlayer, but that’s by the by. McCrae is an engaging presenter with maximum focus on up and coming young Scottish talent and the axing of this show removes an excellent chance for new bands to be heard from the airwaves. Let’s face it, a non-regionalised BBC Introducing show just won’t present the same opportunities. There’s a whiff of last year’s (successful) campaign to save 6 Music about this, but a petition to save Ally’s slot from the axe is now open. If you’re interested in Scottish music we suggest you sign it.
- More promisingly, entries for the 2011 Radar Prize are now open. Last year’s winners French Wives (yes, yes, them again) have gone from strength to strength and with 60+ entries already received for this year, we’re hoping for the same quality that 2010 presented. As a Radar contributor, we’ll be on the judging panel too. Details HERE.
- Finally. something a bit different. A friend of a friend has made a feature-length documentary about the Oxford music scene, not just looking at the biggies like Radiohead but mainly at other guys like Ride, Foals and the smaller fish from way back like Talulah Gosh and the Candyskins, called “Anyone Can Play Guitar”. You might have heard of it. Anyway, you can read more here, and director Jon Spira will be taking it to Edinburgh’s Cameo on November 29. There’s no distributor and he’s doing the whole thing independently, so come along and show your support for good music and fine film-making! Here’s the trailer. Guten nacht!
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have picked up that I was on Freshair at the weekend.
For the uninitiated, that’s Edinburgh Uni’s student radio station which has an annual Festival Fringe programme, involving hordes of performing comedians, live music and, most ominously, roping in bloggers to present shows.
And that’s where I come in.
This is my debut effort. Not too bad I think, although I was pretty damn nervous to start with.
It’s not the whole thing sadly, as we only remembered to press record half way through the first of two session tracks from the Last September. You also miss my opening blurb and songs by Loch Awe, Ringo Deathstarr and the Son(s).
Shame. But I’m back on the air 9-10 this Sunday (August 21) - www.freshair.org.uk.
The amount of respect afforded to Mogwai, not just in Scotland, but globally is terrifying, so god knows what will happen if they ever screw up.
Thankfully that’s not likely any time soon. Straight off the back of an album that might just be their best yet, comes a lengthy tour that’s already taken in Japan and some of Scotland’s less obvious haunts.
In tow are doom-y Kilsyth noise-mongers the Twilight Sad, themselves gearing up to release new material, some of which gets an airing in this evening’s meaty support slot. One sounds particularly synth-y and suggests something of a change of tact, but the oldies still sound huge with Cold Days From the Birdhouse and And She Would Darken the Memory closing out an impressive set that’s dominated by their first album.
That it’s taken Mogwai fifteen years of releasing music to create a song called White Noise is something of surprise – it’s almost the perfect title for them and naturally the set opener is a hissing, fizzing crackle of, well… white noise.
It’s one of a number of tracks from Hardcore… that get blasted out and the likes of Rano Pano and You’re Lionel Richie are as good as anything they’ve got up their sleeve with the latter sounding particularly huge, all riffing and reverb.
The response to the new songs doesn’t go unnoticed with Stuart Braithwaite particularly animated and chatty – not exactly full of the banter but he takes the time to thank the crowd after almost every song.
Christmas Steps is strategically placed in the middle of the set and perfectly so – the slow build and huge sounding middle section (a girl is seen to visibly jump when the third guitar kicks in) is rounded out spectacularly by a slow, ebbing violin provided by tonight’s sixth member (Luke) who did the same on White Noise to striking effect.
A particularly vicious Batcat is marred by a few guitar problems for Barry Burns, but the encore of George Square Thatcher Death Party, Mogwai Fear Satan (of course) and Mexican Gran Prix- transformed into a Battles-esque dancefloor thump by a pounding beat and clear-sounding vocals from Luke – sends the Edinburgh crowd away with one hell of a ringing in their ears but conscious that they’ve seen an unforgettable band at their peak.
Everyone’s favourite muscially-challenged Dundonian (no, not Kyle Falconer) is back on the podcast beat with tunes from Tidal Wave faves Conquering Animal Sound and the Joy Formidable, unknowns (to us anyway) Holy Other and Yelle and a tear-stained tribute to the White Stripes, who are no more.
Album of the Week: Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will
I’m not sure how they do it. More than 15 years and seven albums into their career, Mogwai STILL haven’t delivered a duff record.
History will surely view them as one of the finest bands ever to come out of Scotland and the wonderfully-titled Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will can only enhance their reputation.
Where some post rock acts can struggle to break free of the loud/quiet/REALLY LOUD shackles of the genre, Mogwai have consistently added subtle but significant mutations to their sound to keep things interesting.
Hardcore Will Never Die… moves the band on yet again, this time into (whisper it) more accessible territory. That’s not to say that the album’s lacking in guitar power. Dear me, no.
The rippling guitar on Rano Pano and snarl of Death Rays and Too Raging to Cheers – best song title of the year so far, by the way – have a familiar feel and are classic Mogwai.
But Rano Pano has been getting radio airplay and it’s not a huge leap to see why – it’s a relatively simple arrangement and if you added a vocal it would be a twenty-first century rawk anthem.
Ah, but Mogwai don’t do vocals, I hear you say. Really? You clearly haven’t been listening closely enough. From Aiden Moffat’s guest spot on R U Still in 2 it, to the vocoder-flecked Happy Songs… album to the hugely conventional Travel is Dangerous from 2006, Mogwai are no strangers to words infiltrating their dense, heavy music.
The vocoder gets dusted off for the excellent George Square Thatcher Death Party (enough with the chortlesome names guys, you’re killing us!) and Mexican Gran Prix has distorted – but distinctive – vocals buried in the mix.
And hello… rounding off the album proper* is You’re Lionel Ritchie, the build-up and crescendo that you, the post-rock purist, have been looking for.
But it just doesn’t matter that this is a little different. Hardcore Will Never Die is a snapshot of one of Scotland’s best ever bands right at the top of their game. Again.
You can listen to San Pedro below.
*Limited editions have a second CD with a single 24 minute track that wasn’t available at the time of going to press.
Now that my Annual Xmas Album Countdown has been announced, this feels like a good time to reflect on what others have been saying.
Magazine-wise the unashamedly mainstream Q made a good choice with Arcade Fire while both Uncut and the Skinny plumped for Joanna Newsom’s latest opus, which I’m slightly ashamed to say I haven’t heard yet.
NME made a brave, surprising and very welcome choice by picking out These New Puritans and overall, their list wasn’t bad. I actually find the NME’s list to be usually pretty good, despite the guff they cover through the year and this Christmas was no different.
Of the big websites, Drowned in Sound made a very obscure choice with Emeralds and Pitchfork opted for Kanye West, a result which both baffles and fascinates me, not being a fan of the self-important jackass. But who am I to argue – muso scientists Metacritic also have his latest album sitting top of the pile for 2010.
But what of Scotland?
Well, I was privileged to take part in the second annual BAMS vote. That’s Bloggers and Music Sites to the likes of you. My top five albums post should be an obvious signpost to who I voted for – my choices didn’t win but a couple did rather well, with The National running out clear winners. Here’s the top 30 in full:
1. The National – High Violet
2. Admiral Fallow – Boots Met My Face
3. Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry
4. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
5. Kid Canaveral – Shouting at Wildlife
6. The Phantom Band – The Wants
7. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
8. The Last Battle – Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea
9. Broken Records – Let Me Come Home
10. Bronto Skylift – The White Crow
11. Beach House – Teen Dream
12. The Fire & I – Stampede Finale
13. Sufjan Stevens – Age Of Adz
14. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
15. Best Coast – Crazy For You
16. Mitchell Museum – The Peters Port Memorial Service
17. Teenage Fanclub – Shadows
18. The Scottish Enlightenment – St Thomas
19. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
20. Jonsi – Go
21. RM Hubbert – First & Last
22. Errors – Come Down With Me
23. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
24. Sleigh Bells – Treats
25. The Boy Who Trapped The Sun – Fireplace
26. Micah P Hinson and the Pioneer Saboteurs
27. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise
28. How To Swim – Retina (Or More Fun Than A Vat Of Love)
29. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
30. Silver Columns – Yes and Dance
The National were overcome with joy and told poll compiler and Scottish blogging demi-god Peenko: “That’s great news. Thanks for the support!” Ummm. Ok.
Alongside yours truly, the other sites that took part are as follows:
I hadn’t even heard of some of these sites but will be mounting a full investigation shortly – even some of the albums that figured weren’t on my radar, but that will also need to change.
Some – in fact probably most – of the sites listed above have drafted their own lists. I’ve not had a chance to look at them all but here’s a few links to those that I’ve been enjoying.
- Peenko doesn’t just co-ordinate the BAMS, he does his own list too
- Our man in Korea, Scrawls & Bawls continues to stalk a fast-rising American indie rock band but likes some other stuff too and has also evoked the spirit of Peel with a Festive Forty where you might recognise one of the guest contributors
- Kowalskiy was still counting down his list at the time of writing.
At the time of going to press, Last Year’s Girl hadn’t yet published her chart but if I were a betting man, I’d stick a few quid on the National figuring highly; and while Matthew from Song, By Toad dithers over his personal choices, he’s calling on readers to nominate their favourites.
On a different footing, my regular podcast contributor Slide Into My Hand has posted a Christmas special here. He’ll be talking about – and playing – his favourite tracks of the year and there’ll be tunes from Mogwai, Cee Lo Green, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Beach Boys, These New Puritans, PJ Harvey and loads more.
Finally, there won’t be a chart on Radar, but they’ll be publishing nominations from their contributors (including moi) for their bands and gigs of the year in the coming days.
Right that’s just about me. I’m about to go into hibernation with my ladies until the New Year – a period which will be sadly sullied by coming into the office. Before I pull the shutters down, here’s some festive cheer courtesy of my favourite Christmas movie of all time – Die Hard.
I’m very pleased to announce that my good friend ‘Big’ Steve Nicoll has agreed to have his regular podcast called Slide Into My Hand (it’s a Throwing Muses reference) appear on the Tidal Wave of Indifference.
Despite having a load of fun doing a guest spot on the I Hear A New World podcast, I’m not sure the world’s quite ready for repeated doses of my gravelly whine, so I’m more than happy to let Steve take the weight for the time being.
He’s currently based in Dundee and this is his second effort, themed around school, studying and so on. The episode caught me somewhat unawares, hence the belated link-up, but he’s hoping to do one roughly every month.
I hope you enjoy them – he’s got great taste in music. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he plays, but if we all had the same taste, who would I slag off??
