Scottish bands

just to answer this four years late - i don't have a clue what i was on about.

x post.

Nae Ganger thread at all! That's pure shite! Awesome band. Can we start them a thread?

What's wrong with Big Country? They managed to sound archetypically Scottish like nobody before or since has ever come close to, and "The Crossing" is one of very few cases where Steve Lillywhite did actually do an excellent production job.

Can something be archetypal, while at the same time be something nobody before or since has done?

second the ganger love! 'hammock style' one of the greatest (not to mention sexiest) albums of all time. was lucky enough to see them once before they vanished. just gobsmackingly good...

Do you have 'Canopy', the last EP/album? If so, any good? I've always loved Hammock Style and just got Fore today finally, which has some awesomeness on it too so far.

Canopy is okayish, no way near as great as they were live though. Never heard Hammock, the only other one I have has a bike rider on the front.

The one with the bike rider is Fore, a collection of vinyl tracks and stuff.

Oh, that'd be it then! Remind me who Ganger had connections to?

fore is good, hammock unspeakably great, canopy...tbh I haven't heard it for ages, as I found it pretty disappointing when it came out. maybe my first impressions were unfair, coloured as they were by hammock love.

the bands who recorded fore and hammock style are very different from each other though - both in terms of lineup and sound. fore is perhaps stranger, wirier, more indebted to tago mago. hammock style is lush and muscular and groinally cosmic.

can't believe I just typed the words 'groinally cosmic'.

the original drummer was in bis; craig went on to be in aereogramme and then went solo; natasha formed fuck-off machete; saxophonist caroline kraabel has worked with a bunch of people and, most notably from my perspective, did some cool field improv shows on resonance FM.

Sci-Fi Steven from Bis was the original drummer/keyboardist in Ganger. He left after the first few vinyl EP/single releases. Craig B of Aereogramme joined on guitar/vocals after the 'Fore' era, when they went on to do 'Hammock Style'. They're the 'big name' connections I know of.

Great minds and that...

... at the dual posting I mean.

Oh yeah, Aereogramme, of course. Not totally my cup of tea, but there's a band that should have been a lot bigger than they were.

I could never be doing with Aereogramme.

On the Ganger front, how good a title is "the cat's in the bag ... the bag's in the river"? Answer, very.

i used to have that 12", wonder what happened to it? parts of canopy and fore are really great

James the drummer from Ganger worked in Missing. Last time i saw him was in tower records he was home for the summer from the states. must be 10 years ago, dunno what's happened to him. Dep in monorail will know, i'll ask him next time i see him.

xp indeed - I wonder where it's from though... it's also a tomahawk lyric, but I doubt they stole it from ganger. sounds like a film quote to me.

I realise I could google it, but y'know... that would involved opening another tab. it's a lot of effort.

Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051036/

its never worth it when someone else on ilx could answer it for you
xp

See!!

Said by Tony Curtis' character Sidney Falco.

I remember seeing Craig B do some solo stuff supporting De Salvo a while back. It sounded like a post-rock Coldplay. Minor chords and man emotion. Nae thanks.

Ganger are one of those Glasgow bands I've never really investigated, although I have several friends who love 'em. Two bassists and a major Tago Mago fetish? That should be right up my street. I was still at school when they were around. Always regret not going to see them, along with Squarepusher, at a gig in Stirling's Albert Hall (usually home to the likes of Embrace and Abba tribute bands) back in '96-97. Until Le Weekend started up, that was possibly the most far out gig in Stirling since can played the university in the early '70s.

Time to bring this thread up to date, cos a lot has happened in the past three years. The most successful current Scottish bands - Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad and Biffy Clyro - are all boring as hell. But I've got much love for Tattie Toes, Divorce, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Moon Unit/Nackt Insecten, Space Weather, Richard Youngs, Trembling Bells, Muscles of Joy, Triple School, Ali Roberts...

i am quite liking Remember Remember and Take a Worm for a Walk Week at the moment.

http://www.myspace.com/rememberremember

http://www.myspace.com/takeaworm

^^^^^
these are both great, as are most of those mentioned by stew. see also black sun, noma, vom and cheer.

Oh yes, Vom in particular. Mighty super-heavy space doom!

I call Vom 'speed goth'. Top five album of the year for me, is theirs.

I could never be doing with Aereogramme

;_;

Wonderful band. Although -- in an echo of Stew's comments about Craig's solo stuff -- I remember taking my uber-metal mate Jamie to see them and he walked out after two songs shouting: "Too much stadium emo."

I think you're wrong about Frightened Rabbit and the Twilight Sad, too, Stew (although I really don't get the adulation for Biffy Clyro either). It shames me to admit I don't know a lot of the others you mention -- I really am hopelessly out of touch with what's going on now. Hudson Mohawke I really, really like a lot.

My mate Chris (now with The Gothenburg Address) played with Ganger right at the very end: probably for no more than a couple of months. They were a fantastic band and I should dig out some of their stuff.

Heh, my thing is that while I quite like Mogwai and Slint, I find the strain of post-rock they spawned deeply dull and conservative, so I'm never going to be a fan of Aereogramme or indeed, Explosions In The Sky and their ilk. It seems that all you have to do is pick out some minor chords and then build to a distorted chorus for people to go, "whoah, that's deep!" I know that's rather superficial and unfair, but hey, this is ILM! ;)
I can see why people like FR and TS, but I have something of an aversion to stadium indie with earnest vocals. TS are more interesting in that they attempt some noisy textures, but FR are the epitome of "man emotion" (a great phrase my flatmate came up with), what with their achingly sincere vocals and, er, minor chord, Telecaster, beards and check shirts.
Obtained some Ganger last night, so I shall stick it on my ipod and give it a spin on the way into uni.

I curse myself for not going to Ganger's last gig despite being at the ATP it happened at and hearing a rumour going round half an hour beforehand that it would be, cz I'd got a single of theirs and not really liked it - shortly afterwards I got hold of one of their albums (can't remember which first) and fell for it, hard

just spotted that there's a recent limited reissue of unreleased stuff by the Scrotum Poles. always the chance of barrel scrapings with this type of deal, but I might pick it up on the possibility of there being something as good as Pick the Cat's Eyes Out

Oh yeah, that got a rave review on the Volcanic Tongue mailout this week:

"The group formed in 1978 in Dundee and were birthed in an attempt to survive one of the most miserable of Scottish cities by creating self-produced art that refused any of the niceties of consensual pop/rock. But despite their reputation as musical savants The Scrotum Poles have an emotional range and a variety of attack that goes well beyond a mere finger in your ear. This amazing collection compiles three unreleased cassette albums that include unheard versions of their ‘classic’ recordings as well as a ton of material that ranges from revelatory sub-“Louie Louie” style minimalism through gorgeous minor chord ballads that could almost pass for early Clean demos, scabrous single chord end-of-the-world fuck-off jams and even a cover of The Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner”, which at least provides some context for their own brand of daffy non."

Ooh, there's some stuff on Youtube. This is great. Has a naivety, but it doesn't descend into shambling indie pop. I totally get the Flying Nun comparisons. If I have any birthday money left after the Coltrane charity shop blow out, I might have to pick the comp up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB87tfSfKiI

So when does K33nan rediscover XS Discharge?

Ah, a Paisley punk band? Somebody really needs to write a history of all this stuff. Should really pick up Messthetics 105. A friend played it to me and I was surprised how great most of it was.

Yes, Paisley punk band pulled into all sorts of bizarre shapes as a result of John Lydon forming PiL

Sounds good. I shall have to investigate.

Also pulled into all sorts of bizarre shapes by inability to actually play!

Somebody really needs to write a history of all this stuff.

check the "kilt by death" 3 x cd.

Paisley punk is new to me, but there's some interesting stuff here:
http://www.shit-fi.com/Articles/GM/GM.html

lol at XS Discharge's - "Life's a Wank"

just spotted that there's a recent limited reissue of unreleased stuff by the Scrotum Poles. always the chance of barrel scrapings with this type of deal, but I might pick it up on the possibility of there being something as good as Pick the Cat's Eyes Out

it's pretty good, actually, just rough garage-y sound quality. i like it but not as much as the EP (which is pretty great).

My mate Chris (now with The Gothenburg Address)

I know Chris!

btw The Skinny is doing a Scottish Albums of the Decade countdown, gone 20-12 so far...

20. Malcolm Middleton - Into The Woods
19. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
18. Uncle John & Whitelock - There Is Nothing Else
17. King Creosote - Rocket DIY
16. Meursault - Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues
15. De Rosa - Prevention
14. Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People
13. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
12. Arab Strap - The Red Thread

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/articles/scottish+albums+of+the+decade

Geogaddi FTW, surely? Knowing the Skinny though, it'll probably be some boring indie rock like Frightened Rabbit.

Desalvo FTW!

or maybe Richard Youngs FTW! although it depends what they mean by 'scottish album' though. do english-born folks living here count?

Knowing the Skinny though, it'll probably be some boring indie rock like Frightened Rabbit.

the Skinny whose cover feature this month is Hudson Mohawke and Warp20?

(I'm blowing my cover here but yeah) I know the rest of the list and I'm keeping schtum!

Fair play to you on the Hudson Mohawke cover: most deserving. I'm not a FR fan, but I know they're popular, so I don't have a problem with them being on the cover.

x-post I don't see why not. These things should be done in the spirit of civic, rather than English, nationalism, especially when English born musicians like Youngs and Alex Neilson have contributed so much to Scottish music. Shame that Mount Vernon Arts Lab's fantastic Seance At Hobbs Lane misses out by a year, especially as it was pretty obscure until Ghost Box reissued it.

Let's see, off the top of my head, and in no particular order, the best Scottish albums this decade...

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Alastair Roberts - No Earthly Man/Spoils
Richard Youngs - Summer Wanderer/Naive Shaman/River Through a Howling Sky/Autumn Response
Kode 9 & Space Ape - Memories of the Future (well, Steve Goodman is from Glasgow after all!)
James Yorkston - Just Beyond The River (it's a shame his music has grown more mellow and contented, cos this album has a darkness and energy that he's not managed to tap into since. I've not listened to it for a couple of years, but I think it would still stand up)
Scatter - The Mountain Announces
Directing Hand - What Put The Blood?
De Salvo -S/T (Camp and sinister metal/hardocore from two ex-Stretchheads. "IT'S SO CREAMY!!!" Brilliant live band too. P6's pervy pig mask/PVC apron combo is terrifying and hilarious)
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made (not a *great* album, but some lovely songs, especially from Gerry Love)
Malcolm Middleton - Into The Woods (loved this when it came out. Not listened to it in years, but some hilariously mordant lyrics, and superior Glasgow indie supergroup backing)

New Pastels/Tenniscoats LP is very pretty, maybe a bit too pretty and unyielding to really grab my attention, but the Gerry Love/Katrina Song, Vivid Youth, is lovely, while the Eno-esque synth intro is rather fine.

My predictions for the Skinny's top ten: Geogaddi will surely be in there, if not at no.1. You're bound to get Dear Catastrophe Waitress (I've no desire to listen to B&S at the moment, but it's their last decent record) and the first Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan LP (which is just alright), maybe some Idlewild (zzzz) I could see the Yorkston in there too. Their number one may well be Life Without Buildings. I used to love it in my indier days, but I find it a wee bit precious now. A good record though and I wouldn't begrudge them a high placing. As long as Calvin Harris isn't in there I'll be happy enough! Looking forward to seeing the full list and comments in the mag.

Duh, daft typo in the previous post. Should read 'civic, not ETHNIC nationalism'.

Nae Young Team?

Came out in the 90s innit

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/popstar-barman-hipsway-frontman-grahame-6977329

Anyone see that BBC2 documentary last night about Scottish post-punk? Not bad but I barely know any of them.

I like Dr Cosmo's Tape Lab

Cannot recommend Michael Train's "Kilt By Death" compilation more strongly for a thorough overview of Scottish punk and post-punk esoterica.

Turkey Bones and the Wild Dogs innit?
Mad Bad Missouri Buffalo

I enjoyed 'Big Gold Dream', didn't mind that it concentrated on the Fast/Pop:Aural and Postcard associated scenes, plenty to find interesting. Can see that it's maybe a bit narrow for general viewing.

Not bad but I barely know any of them.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 16 April 2017 14:46

That made it sound like a criticism, I didn't mean it like that.