The Scottish Album Of The Year Award

I meant to do a post on this a while ago but never to round to it, however it’s still relevant. Also I didn’t want to get dragged into this pay to play debate that’s flying around…

Tomorrow the public vote for The Scottish Album of the Year Award starts, giving you the public the chance to choose your own shortlist from the longlist to go to the judges vote to choose the winner. This is coordinated by the Scottish Music Industry Association and  Creative Scotland, and  is the first time it has ran. Now this is no “Mickey Mouse well done son award” the winner gets £20,000 – that’s equal to the Mercury Prize, and is dedicated exclusively to Scottish artists.

Now there has of recent been some excellent Scottish albums come out, but the criteria for this award was that it had to have been released between the 1st January and 31st December 2011. The longlist that went public last month 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

As you can see there is obviously a very mixed bag in there, some of whom I’ve never even heard of. Not only showcasing how diverse music coming out of Scotland is just now but appearing fair, since it isn’t being too genre specific. There are some albums I would have liked to have seen included that have been omitted, such as Beerjacket’s White Feather Trail, United Fruit’s Fault Lines, The Xcert’s Scatterbrain, Lightguides’ Samba Samba and perhaps Star Wheel Press’ Life Cycle of a Falling Bird amongst others, but hey you can have them all.

So if you have enjoyed some of the albums in this list then vote your own shortlist from tomorrow, you have until May 17th when it goes to the judges vote for the winner which will be announced on the 19th June. My shortlist (in no particular order) is as follows:

We Were Promised Jetpacks – In The Pt Of The Stomach
FOUND – Factorycraft
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Bwani Junction – Fully Cocked
Bill Wells & Aiden Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older
Happy Particles – Under Sleeping Waves
Jonny – Jonny

Also check out the SAY Award on Facebook and Twitter.

Review: The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know

In terms of being a Twilight Sad fan I was late comer to the party. After initially listening back to their 2007 debut I wasn’t a fan, I think it wasn’t what I was expecting. Although I eventually warmed to their brand of noise rock with heavy Scottish accented lyrics after the songs started to stick in my head. Five years and another album later The Twilight Sad have changed quite a bit in terms of both a band and sounds.

Loosing a member can always be a problem for a band no matter what style, both in terms of creativity and practicability. Since the release of 2009’s Forget The Night Ahead and 2012’s No One Can Ever Know the band went from being a four-piece to a three-piece. The new album is a definite departure in sound from their previous two releases. Gone is the wall of feedback, guitars and folk instruments (although not completely) and in its place is synth’s and electronic drum beats. Now before you read on, (providing you’ve already not listened to the album) The Twilight Sad have not turned into Kreftwerk…

Produced by Andrew Weatherall, (who produced the likes of Sceamadelica and Vanishing Point by Primal Scream) you can hear an influence on the sound of the album. In particular there are points where the way that the synth and bass are chromatically climbing  that reminded me of Vanishing Point in particular. Before the release the band were citing new wave band such as PIL and Cabert Voltaire, one definite influence I heard was on Sick, the riff sounds distinctly like Radiohead during their Kid A/Amnesiac phase.

Lyrically in true Twilight Sad fashion the lyrics keep to quite bleak imagery and darkness, which suits them! Stand out tracks for me include Another Bed and Dead City, but the album as a whole is a worth a listen to see a and who have made an effort to not change their sound completely but evolve and keep to their original sound.

Album in 5 words: Less noisy folk, more sythns.

No One Will Ever Know is available now on FatCat records.

Review: Frank Turner @ Glasgow Barrowlands 25/11/11

On a pouring wet evening in Glasgow its obvious the weather hasn’t stopped people coming out tonight. Glasgow’s legendary Barrowlands was already busy when I arrived just as the first support act Emily Clay & The Red Halo (who I actually wanted to see) had come off the stage. Managing to sell out the 2000 (or so) capacity venue is a feat in itself for an artist these days, showing that Frank Turner really has become an established artist in his own right. Now touring to promote album number four he’s come a long way.

The next support act came in the shape of punk band Against Me! who seemed to have quite the following as it was, and also pleasantly surpised me. When they burst on the stage their combined vocal style instantly reminded me of The Clash, along with folk elements to fast punk music, so in a sense they were a perfect support for Frank Turner. They played a great, relentless set not taking much time to stop for breath. Whipping the crowd into shape they had people singing and jumping along, a mosh pit even formed! Politicly charged lyrics paired with themes of alienation (see “I Was Born A Teenage Anarchist”) they reminded me of The Gaslight Anthem. After all that we were ready for more!

As the house lights dimmed Frank Turner took to the stage to a rapturous applause. With the orchestrated wind band opening of his newest album Eulogy the whole crowd knew about every word and was an excellent start to the evening. Bursting into Try This At Home I was surprised just how his fans knew all the words to his very wordy songs. Another thing I noticed about the crowd was the wide appeal from both younger and older to men and women all of different social standings and groups. Again showing how Frank Turner has become an established artist with a wide appeal.

Rubbish picture taken on my phone but you get the idea.

Playing an older song Wisdom Teeth he described how he’d played The Barrowlands with his previous band The Million Dead and it was dream of his to do a sell out headline show there, to yet more applause. One thing I noticed the first time I saw Turner is that he can hold an audience even when talking and is a charismatic front man with passion for his music. After being joined on stage my support band Emily Clay & The Red Clay Turner blasted into more hits including I Knew Prufrock Before He got Famous and Long Live The Queen, Turner gave a tribute of his own to the late Queen frontman Feddie Mercury who on that date had passed away twenty years ago that day by playing Somebody To Love.

Not a professional picture I stole from facebook...

Coming out to do an encore by himself again he thanked the audience and thanked Scotland and explained how he loved playing in our country,even name checking local bar and venue Bar Bloc since its obviously somewhere he played a lot. Cowboy Chords was a new song he then played called that because he said it “uses all the easy chords”, followed by fan favourite sing-a-long The Ballad of Me And My Friends. Then to finish he played Photosynthesis encouraging the whole crowd to sing-a-long (the hardcore fans, the plus ones, the not sures, the bar staff, the security guards), in what he described as music helping to being people together in these times. Over-all it was a great performance by an artist who I’m sure will still be around for years to come!

4.5/5 A brilliant night!

Review: Rose Parade @ King Tut’s 11/11/11

If your in a band from Scotland playing at the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut is always considered to be a big deal, so this is a big one for Ayrshire favourites Rose Parade. The trio consisting of Ari on vocals, guitar and bass drum, Ed on Banjo and glockenspiel and Stuart on electric guitar have managed to build up quite a fan base by combining genres to create something quite individual.

Coming up the stairs as the first act indie band Black Canvas were half way through their set there was already a number of people there. A four piece combo hailing from Edinburgh they combined a range of modern and older indie and alternative sounds making for an interesting sound that was current but yet not too run of the mill. After finishing their set to a warm reception Rose Parade were next to take the stage.

Opening with an instrumental piece the audience really get to see a showcase of Rose Parade’s talents and how they cover different genres. With Ari’s guitar strums coupled with Ed’s delicate banjo picking, alongside Stuart’s harsh yet melodic electric guitar and the thump of that bass drum helped to really portray Rose Parade’s indie-folk vibe. Then heading straight into Midnight Wine, a song with a good strong structure marriged with a great backing from the band. With some thankful banter after a very warm reception they kept the pace up and didn’t stop till the end of their show. All in all a great show by a band who are definitely going places!

Rose Parade’s debut album will be released next year!

3/5 A great night by an upcoming band!