‘The Tourist’ - A Hip Hop Essay by Texture

Guest writer Bram E Gieben aka Texture (Host of the ‘Strange Exiles’ podcast) discusses the past, the present and the future of Hip Hop from his unique vantage point

I know nothing about hip-hop. Maybe I used to know a little, but watching Louis Theroux’s recent documentary Forbidden America: Rap’s new frontline, it became apparent to me how old and outdated my ideas about the culture have become. The story of LPB Poody struck me the most - in one sequence, Theorux visits the young rapper as he returns to his Florida neighborhood, wary and watching out for violent reprisals to his beef track Address It. The palpable threat of death hung about the scene in a way I found unsettling. The stakes for this young rapper were literally life or death, and he accepted that. It was about as far from whatever the fuck I think hip-hop is that I have ever felt.

I know nothing about hip-hop. As I watched the interview, I felt like Theroux. A tourist, a bystander, an observer of a life I could never hope to truly understand or appreciate. Like Theroux, I am a huge fan and devotee of hip-hop music and culture, but I had to ask myself the question. Can I ever be more than an observer or watcher of the pain and suffering and violence in the experiences hip-hop often portrays? These days, I’m not so sure. I try to be a good guest, like the song by Your Old Droog says. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. What I do know, I learned from study and observation. I’ve been lucky enough to be welcomed, as a rapper and a critic, into some hip-hop circles. I try to stay aware that I’m a guest in a culture I cannot and should never lay claim to. I have to try and respect that culture. In the song, YOD says it’s not about the colour of your skin, but how dope your rhymes are - and that’s a statement with which I am certain many hip-hop artists and fans would agree. But he prefaces it with a disclaimer in the sample - a white rapper is a guest in a culture that has black origins, and its history and aesthetic is defined and owned by black people. We have to acknowledge that to enter the house of hip-hop.

I know nothing about hip-hop. It was Kanye that tore it for me - a genius producer who became the biggest star in the world without really having much more than the occasional average, kinda-good-enough raps. Whose celebrity, ego and public scandals overtook his talent to the point of obscuring it. There’s a long history of bragging and living large in hip-hop’s history and imagery, but Kanye turned it all into an empty spectacle. Around the same time, I visited New York, and took a Hush tour focused on the history of rap. On the one hand, it was amazing to see the names of streets I’d heard about in verses by Nas and Rakim. It was amazing to be able to talk to our host and guide, Grandmaster Caz. He was an original member of the Cold Crush Brothers, a seminal golden age crew with roots going back to the 1970s. He was a brilliant guide to the historical roots of a genre I’d dedicated years of my own time and research to. Nonetheless, the tour was also the ultimate example of me as a tourist, a spectator. As a young artist I know would tell me years later, I would never truly understand what it’s like to live in the Marcy Houses in Bed Stuy. I would never be able to walk the streets of Harlem as anything but an outsider. I had to admit it, he was right - my passion for hip-hop, my knowledge about it, didn’t make me any less of a tourist. A person of colour shouldn’t have had to point this out to me. I should have understood it myself.

I know nothing about hip-hop. The hip-hop happening in the aughts, with the face tattoos and the autotune, didn’t just leave me cold. It left me actively repelled. What the fuck was this? Choruses that sound like Blink 182, cut to autotuned verses made up of mumbled syllables? I completely swerved Lil Peep, xxxTentacion, Mac Miller, and anything else with even a hint of vocoder and sung lyrics. I gave up listening to anything with a chorus. I thought the whole aesthetic, the lyrics and the style of this era of music was not “real” hip-hop, whatever that means. I was happy to spout the commonplace that xxxTentacion’s domestic abuse confession, or Peep’s overdose, was somehow proof that they were lesser artists, or in some way a threat to “real” rap. I see now how hopelessly out of my lane I was, to think that. It’s not up to me what’s real or what’s not in hip-hop, I don’t get to make that call.

I know nothing about hip-hop. I didn’t know anything then, and I didn’t care, because that was commercial rap, and it was dead to me. I was too busy running an underground label of my own, and listening to rappers nobody else in my orbit had really heard of, save for the musicians I collaborated with. My most beloved albums of the aughts were things my friends and I released, or fucked with, like All Urban Outfield’s classic Crypto, and Penpushers’ Void Engineers. We were releasing crazy stuff like CHURCH OF WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN and performing hour-long free-form acapella rap shows as Chemical Poets. We were rappers, and we didn’t really question it. Too busy making hip-hop.

I know nothing about hip-hop. That became clear to me as I saw the autotune style embraced by a lot of contemporaries and international artists who took the pioneering blueprint of Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak and broke it apart, reconfigured it, put it back together in weird shapes - from Arca to Fifty Grand to Scotland’s eyesluvsu. I saw how the approach to pop, and even nu metal by millennial artists was exactly what I did with 90s hip-hop, rave, and industrial music. They took it apart to see what made it tick, pieced it back together with bits in weird places. Without Kanye, would something this strange have come into being, could it have survived in the world? I’m not sure.

I know nothing about hip-hop. Like any music, what it sounds like at the time and how it hits you a few years later can be wildly different. I reserved particular contempt for Lil Peep, for me he was emblematic of the dilution of hip-hop, and the move away from lyrics towards a kind of spectatorial hyper-celebrity culture. Then one day I just… got it. I heard how the complexity in Peep’s writing was often in stating something simple that hid a whole complex world of pain and experience. That his genius lay as much in how he recorded and mixed his lyrics as what he said in them. I know nothing, and I was wrong, and this is brilliant.

I know nothing about hip-hop. These days I am slow on the uptake, behind the curve. I think I understood everything up to and including grime, but drill leaves me feeling very alienated. Perhaps in the way, old school rappers of the golden age felt alienated by gangster rap? The explicit focus on violence and money is something that makes me uncomfortable, and I wonder if the direction drill indicates for hip-hop is something wiser heads should speak up about. I think the truth is, I am just getting old. There’s nothing in drill lyrics that should alienate me any more than the violence in the lyrics of Mobb Deep or Schooly D. It just appeals to me less than it used to - or perhaps I’m a little more aware that to be a fan of it makes me a tourist, a voyeur, to music that describes very real societal problems with inequality, deprivation, and racism. Again, it just took me a while to catch up to London drill. In the end, it was the wordplay that drew me in - the strange codewords for drugs, stabbings, money, sex. I wanted to decode it all.

I know nothing about hip-hop. It’s 1994. I’m an indie kid, wearing a t-shirt with some 4AD band on it, for argument’s sake lets say it’s Belly. The kids in my registration period think this is some funny shit because I’m still packing puppy fat, and they know I’m sensitive about it. My friend Niall, who’s been an indie kid since I met him in first year and introduced me to the Throwing Muses, leans over and passes me a tape. The cassette is clear plastic, the insert is a blue card. Niall’s a talented artist and has carefully lettered the song titles for side A and side B in fat graffiti capitals. Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity is on one side, and The Pharcyde’s Bizarre Ride II is on the other. Niall would later go on to win the UK DMC turntablist finals in 1999, and join the Scratch Perverts.

I know nothing about hip-hop. Well, not exactly nothing - I had a similarly revelatory cassette-based experience in 1988. That was my sister, and the album was De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising. I am pretty sure you could give that record to anyone and they’d love it, but it did awaken something in me. But my love affair with hip-hop really started with Niall’s tape. The intricacy of the lyrics, the storytelling, and the beats were all hypnotic. I was hooked. It opened up a world for me which now, in hindsight, I see was an escapist one. As the 90s unfolded, I kept up with hip-hop even though I was busy being a weekend raver, or listening to the dying embers of grunge. It was an incredible time to be a hip-hop fan. I didn’t know I wanted to write raps until I spent an evening tripping on acid, rhyming along to Kool Keith’s entire Octagonecologyst album. Then I heard Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus, and it was all over.

I know nothing about hip-hop. But I knew that El-P’s dense, science fiction-derived raps and braggadocious swagger spoke to me like nothing else. A particular line of his got stuck in my brain like a splinter: “Even when I say nothing it’s a beautiful use of negative space.” The first line of rap lyrics I wrote was a response: “Constantly inspired to make negative space beautiful I put it to use.” Late 90s and early aughts rap, particularly the Def Jux, Rawkus and Stones Throw labels, were at their creative peak (lots of it powered by underground superproducers like J Dilla, Flying Lotus, Madlib, and El-P himself). That era of rap was incredibly lyrics-focused and experimental, and at the time, people who listened to it (myself included) would often be proud to reel off the mainstream rappers for whom they had contempt. So-called ‘backpack rap’ (nobody liked that term) was seen as socially conscious. Looking back now, even the wokest artists were egregious offenders when it comes to progressive politics - none of them immune to rap’s pervasive misogyny, or to spouting homophobic or transphobic opinions in a rhyme.

I know nothing about hip-hop. The idea of rap as a kind of egalitarian Bushido code, completely focused on lyrical excellence, was definitely something I swallowed whole. I studied, going back to the original golden age artists and finding incredible lyricism from the early pioneers. I got into Cold Crush, bought all the Sugar Hill 12s, and read everything I could find about hip-hop’s early days in the Bronx. I listened to cassettes, and later mp3s of the Stretch & Bobbito show, and scoured the nascent internet for mixtapes. I studied the 5 Percent Nation, tried to decode the references to supreme mathematics in Wu-Tang and Jeru The Damaja. I read all the hip-hop glossies, and even succumbed to some of the more commercial end of rap as the millennium dawned. I must have worn a groove in Forgot About Dre, I dropped the needle on it so much. Just as I’d come round to Lil Peep a decade or so later, I would also come around to the majority of the music that I deemed too commercial, and therefore “not hip-hop” in the silver age of the 1990s and early aughts. Stuff that sounded like fluff, with throwaway lyrics, now sounds like absolute gold to me. Perhaps we were spoiled for choice, perhaps I was just young and annoying and full of opinions back then. Perhaps I have never fully understood hip-hop - just a version of it, a subsection that existed for a short time at a point where I was open to certain influences. All I know is, as much as I was right that El-P is fucking dope, so is Ma$e. I’ve accepted it.

I know nothing about hip-hop. By 2005 I was writing about it for The Skinny Magazine, and over the next 8 years I’d spend as much time as I could interviewing my US heroes (yes, I got to talk to El-P - yes, I fanboyed the fuck out). I was also pushing new voices in Scottish hip-hop. While the genre pre-dated my involvement by a couple of decades, it was nonetheless a pretty new thing for many Scottish artists to see themselves covered in print, or interviewed at length. I championed Stanley Odd from the start, and even before that, when Solareye’s band was called Disciples of Panic Earth. I highlighted artists like Profisee of Great Ezcape, Livesciences, Yush2k, Penpushers and Hector Bizerk. It felt great to be promoting, making and championing Scottish rap. I was one of the first to cover Hector Bizerk in print, and pushed for wider recognition of artists like Darren ‘Loki’ McGarvey. But the sad truth of it is, the most read, most clicked article I wrote at The Skinny was a one-star takedown of Eminem’s dire Marshall Mathers LP 2. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. I clearly remember a 90s-era New York producer (who I won’t name) telling me at the time that hip-hop was only ‘real’ by definition if it was made in the Five Boroughs. To this producer, everything from Outkast to MC Solaar was just inauthentic, a hip-hop derivative. Essentially trash. To me, hip-hop, especially as a production method - the sample, the hook, the break, the rhyme - was an inevitability, a cultural form that could only have spread like a pandemic around the world, mutating into different variants. It was like punk rock - this is an 808, this is a sampler. Go make rap. Nevertheless, I also kind of respect the purism of his opinion, as someone who witnessed the birth of the genre within the culture of a single city, a single moment.

I left The Skinny for a bunch of reasons - one was that I wanted to focus on making music, not writing about it. Another was a growing sense that anybody who made it out of Scotland’s ultra-underground hip-hop or club culture didn’t really tend to look back. I had interviewed the likes of Rustie over the years and talked to label bosses, gig bookers and festival promoters. They all had a reason not to book, sign or promote Scottish rap. Reasons ranged from a pathetic middle-class suspicion that rappers meant fist-fights at your show, to a cringe-induced inability to listen to rap in a Scottish accent at all, to strong convictions that the work just wasn’t good enough. I kind of respect the last opinion if it’s deeply held, but at the time, it wasn’t Danny Brown I wanted to hear on a Rustie beat, as dope as that collaboration was. The rappers he was interested in did not come from Paisley or Govan. He found them on DatPiff and Hot New Hip-Hop.

I know nothing about hip-hop. No artist coming out of an underground scene owes anybody still down there a hand up. The idea that a rising tide lifts all boats is meritocratic bullshit. I don’t want to call anyone out for failing to platform, feature, or respect Scottish rap artists over the years. All I can say is that there are producers, bands and DJs who could have chosen to, and didn’t. That’s one hundred percent their prerogative. I’d just have been interested, as a critic, to see what music Rustie or Hudson Mohawke might have made with a talented Scottish rapper. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. Things have changed a little, perhaps even a lot for Scottish rap. Artists like Shogun, Oakzy B, Sean Focus, Chef and Bemz are not only doing big numbers on independent platforms like YouTube, they’re getting love from public radio in the form of the excellent BBC Introducing show hosted by Shereen Cutty and Phoebe IH. Producer Steg G has recently produced a live spectacular called Live Today, with orchestral backing, featuring the talents of older heads like Solareye, and championing young emerging rappers like CCTV. Solareye’s Stanley Odd are a touring band with festival pull and UK-wide (and beyond) recognition. The Girobabies / Jackal Trades are local heroes mixing rap with punk and rock, and taking their show to festivals and big venues across the country. In his other life, Dave Hook has become a respected academic in the emerging field of hip-hop studies. A recent book on the story of women in hip-hop by Arusa Qureshi has gathered worldwide acclaim. Kryptik of Delivery Room covers rap (including Scottish rap) for Wordplay Magazine. The knack for tapping commercial and cultural potential is here; the industry has arrived for Scottish rap. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. There are young artists making Scottish drill and trap now, and every other kind of hip-hop-related genre, from R&B and soul to Afrobeat and garage. Channels like Yona Mac, Scottie Media and up2stndrd have no real need to engage with the legacy of Scottish rap - there’s an endless tide of new talent, new voices, and new perspectives to cover. Scottish hip-hop is still taking on issues of class and inequality, whether lyrically, or in the form of activism and community engagement. Darren ‘Loki’ McGarvey’s book Poverty Safari was an international best-seller, and used his journey as a rapper to talk about inequality and oppression. Scottish rap remains an incredible way to highlight and platform marginalised voices. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. The media is finally looking for Scottish hip-hop to cover, and it’s even looking beyond the central belt. The debate over accents and authenticity is an actual debate now - it isn’t a topic that gets you laughed out of the room. There are underground outlets too, from Steg G’s much-missed Butter sessions in Glasgow, to Delaina Sepko’s show Beats and Breaks on Sunny Govan, to the newly-energised blog and podcast at Hip-Hop Scotland, not to mention this blog’s parent show, You Call That Radio, and the increasingly high-profile Scottish Alternative Music Awards, who have long had a ‘best hip-hop’ category. Female emcees are better represented than ever before - hip-hop is still a boys’ club in ways that need to be addressed, but artists like Empress, SAY Award-winner Nova Scotia The Truth, Empress, Sweet Rogue and others look set to eclipse their male counterparts in terms of broad appeal and star power.

I know nothing about hip-hop. But I know artists still feel under-represented, for a number of different reasons, even with the growth of independent shows and opportunities on commercial radio. There’s a sense that the coverage of Scottish hip-hop, and the opportunities for growth and development, are unfairly shared out. Even the videos of Scottish artists I’ve included here represent only a fraction of the country’s talent. Coverage, gigs and opportunities, representation - these things are all jealously coveted and fiercely pursued. Perhaps that’s inevitable when the money shows up. Any commercial attention given to an underground genre will attract A&Rs who tend towards the mountain-climbing, guitar-playing, suits-and-ties type. These are good conversations, but I don’t feel like I have much to offer to them any more. I’m wary of a hip-hop aesthetic where the rough edges get polished up, or pushed aside. I want the emotional honesty of a rapper like Spawn Zero or GLUCO, and the gallusness of Louie from Hector Bizerk. I want the uncompromising realness of MOG, and the boundary-pushing experimental pop and bruising lyrics of Miles Better. I’ll accept nothing less.

I know nothing about hip-hop. It’s not my job to say that I don’t like the more commercially-oriented sounds artists embrace. Not my job as a hip-hop fan, a critic, or a white rapper. My contribution on any count is surplus to requirements. What the fuck do I know? All I can say is that it feels like a huge waste of potential and opportunity to suddenly shine a light on Scottish rap but exclude certain people from the conversation - artists who are too problematic, too underground, too strange, or even too Scottish. I feel conflicted, because I want to see hip-hop from Scotland, and Scottish artists, succeed and get paid. But I feel uncomfortable if that success excludes some of the people who built Scottish rap from the ground up. If we didn’t have artists like Bohze, Physiks, Loki, Ashtronomik, Profisee and others, there’d be no chance for young emcees. There would be nothing to build upon. Scottish rap wasn’t suddenly born when the industry noticed its commercial potential. It’s been here all along.

I know nothing about hip-hop. I was born in England, I sound English to most Scottish people, so to all intents and purposes, to some I’ll always be an English cunt. I don’t feel and so can never be Scottish, even though I’ve lived here since 1991. My own identity and my raps have never been about Scottish cultural identity, which makes me an outlier, and I am both aware of and at peace with that. In terms of cultural appropriation, it would be utterly dishonest and disrespectful of me to try and represent myself as culturally Scottish in any particular way, let alone indulge in some burlesque of working-class Scottish culture. I did not endure poverty or deprivation growing up - and Scottish hip-hop is a working-class artform in just as vital a way as hip-hop as whole is a black artform. For me to pretend I’d lived a life or had experiences like Loki or McRoy or Shogun would be absurd. The suffering I write about is existential, speculative, symbolic, internal. Nonetheless, Scottish hip-hop has welcomed me, and embraced my weird take on it, even if I don’t feel like I am a part of it. I’m happy to continue to champion it. But is even that presumptuous on my part?

I know nothing about hip-hop. I’m uncomfortable being a gatekeeper - I’m not sure I could (or should) still write for The Skinny, or decide who gets a menchy and who gets a dingy. Those questions are even more loaded now - as a society we’re having conversations about race, class, gender and culture that would have been unimaginable as recently as the aughts. The representation of culture, and the respect for its boundaries, is a live issue now, and arguably you cannot engage with hip-hop culture unless you address it. It’s not about who’s the best rapper anymore, and that’s difficult for me to accept on some level. Maybe it never was. But back when I did believe in it, that philosophy felt egalitarian to me. Sadly, some artists of colour I speak to in the Scottish scene have not always felt that this was anything except another meritocratic illusion. Within a very Scottish, very white hip-hop context, they felt marginalised at times. I hope that’s changing for them now.

I know nothing about hip-hop. Was the era where ‘best rap wins’ more or less egalitarian? Which voices did it platform and which did it exclude? I can’t answer that comprehensively. These were my blind spots too. Perhaps the contempt for Scottish rap outside of Scotland, and its complete sidelining for years by all media, left it free to become a hotbed of talent and innovation. Maybe that drove us to the point we’re at now, where the potential is finally being seen amidst what constitutes an artistic renaissance in the genre. Free from cultural cringe, actually liberated by its exclusion to accelerate artistically and aesthetically, the Scottish rap scene may have long seemed impenetrable. It was, as Hector Bizerk’s Louie once said, “the illegitimate artform.” Is that still true? If not, what has it become?

I know nothing about hip-hop. My aesthetic and approach are abstract. I have no ‘real’ to draw on, my experiences have been mostly prosaic, and I have no ambition to live a life of yachts, money, and plastic surgery. I rap about things I find lying around in my imagination, and in my anxieties. I make raps that are confabulations of speculation and abstraction. I am unhealthily obsessed with vocabulary in a way that is probably intellectually pretentious as fuck to most people. I don’t make backpack rap, I make science fiction theory rap. I am not an emcee, I cannot freestyle. I have never battled anyone in my life. I can tell you all about the five elements of hip-hop, but this is just me repeating back to you the things I have read. 

I know nothing about hip-hop. The culture I grew up in knew even less. I wanted to write my own academic paper on hip-hop lyrics back in 1999 at Bristol University, a uni famously founded on the profits of the slave trade. They had no black lecturers in the English Literature department. I insisted and wrote my dissertation on the roots of hip-hop culture in the crime novels of Chester Himes. In 2019, the uni hosted a caucus on hip-hop and literature, which Scotland’s own Doctor Dave Hook attended. Times change. The hip-hop I would begin to make 10 years later would be anti-capitalist, anti-commercial, anti-authority. I believed the whole idea of marketing hip-hop should be anathema to someone who is a lyrical purist. I wanted to fucking represent - not just my own artistic instincts, but the history and values of hip-hop, with respect and love. But in 1999, back in Bristol, I was still the drunk idiot who rapped the ‘n word’ aloud along with my Wu-Tang cassettes as I walked about the city - and perhaps inevitably, got a richly-deserved punch in the face for it. I learned something that day, about being a good guest. About who gets to say what, and why it matters. I think about that punch a lot. It taught me more than the books I read. Years later, it makes me feel uncomfortable that perhaps my whole interaction with hip-hop has been one of appropriation. That I’ll always be a tourist in it, or worse, a colonist.

I know nothing about hip-hop. I still listen to Scottish rap - you can check my playlists. But I am no longer comfortable being any kind of gatekeeper. That’s why this year, I want to open my radio show Auld Alliance on French station Radio KC up to anyone making hip-hop in Scotland. I want artists and label-heads and promoters to take the wheel and play whatever they want. The show was always meant to be a showcase, always meant to represent the Scottish scene. But it strikes me that it doesn’t really need me, or anyone, to represent it any more. It’s strong enough to speak for itself, and the voices it speaks in are more diverse than ever. I hope anyone who’s ever felt excluded or slept on gets in touch and takes over for a show. I want to know more. I still want to study and learn. Plus, my mates still make some really wild, weird shit. You’ll see a few of them on Radio KC too, I’m sure.

I love hip-hop. But I know nothing about it. It’s not up to me to define it, to say what it is or it isn’t, or what direction it should go in. That conversation, like many others, is now in the hands of people younger than me; people with different needs, opinions, tastes and expectations. I can’t pretend to represent them, because hip-hop will always mean certain things to me. It will always be about lyrics before it’s about image, or polish, or even representation. Call me old fashioned. The greatest moment in my personal hip-hop history took place in 1994, on the final episode of the Arsenio Hall show. 

There was a freestyle session featuring nearly two dozen rappers from nearly every one of the dopest hip-hop crews of the era. It was a moment when the underground touched the mainstream, perhaps even drove it - but this was also the final episode of Arsenio’s show. This was a cypher to mourn the death of opportunity for underground artists in the mainstream, rather than to celebrate it. Watch the clip now, and it seems almost impossible - the story behind the cypher confirms it. It’s full of rage, as well as lyrical brilliance - it isn’t a party, it’s a wake. There are no lights, dancers, or explosions. Just Pete Rock spinning breaks while a whole room full of luminous, fierce, raw talent waits for their turn to destroy the mic. They’re dressed in baggy jeans, sagging tees and huge hoodies. There are very few chains around necks. There’s just a sense of lyrics hanging in the air like thunder, just out of earshot, about to burst into the world with mesmerising intensity. I’ve been chasing moments like that since I first saw the clip.

I know nothing about hip-hop. But I know I love this. 

Texture hosts the podcast Strange Exiles and writes raps for This Is Not Pop.

You can also see him perform live at The Lost Launch Festival in Glasgow on May 28th alongside a bunch of other artists mentioned above.

Limited tickets are available over here: skiddle.com/e/36080699

Thank you to everyone who supports YCTR to make this website possible over at:

http://patreon.com/youcallthatradio and http://ko-fi.com/youcallthatradio

How to Get a Festival Slot in 2022…

for many, the simple answer is You Don`t

But today, I would like to pass on my own experience of the current festival climate plus offer an opportunity to play Doune the Rabbit Hole 2022



I am writing this both as an artist and as a booker who has organised my own festivals and curated stages for many others.

This year, I have never seen so many artists champing at the bit to play their music to a festival crowd.

A festival crowd that tabloids call ‘Revellers’ but nobody ever uses that word in the real world like ever.

With the pandemic, many people could not socialise, perform live or go on holiday.

They also had extra spare time due to working from home or sadly being made unemployed.

So many brilliant minds started making great music and the sad thing is that unless you were booked back in 2019 then the chances are , without major label backing or close contacts, this summer will come and go without you getting a chance to strut your stuff.

It`s frustrating but the music industry is mostly a series of disappointments and rejection so embrace the shite feeling and get your applications in early for 2023 or if you think you fit the bill then please apply below for a new stage called The Tum Tum Tree at Doune 2022 below.

This will be a stage off the beaten track of the main festival. We are looking for mainly acoustic acts, rappers, poets, Electro acts. And smaller bands of the two-piece and three-piece variety as it will not be a huge stage but for what it lacks in size it will make up for in character.

I want to see the unique, the weird, and original sounding acts perform on this one.

Something special for the wanderers who actually explore the festival in search of fresh sounds and new adventures. We want to soundtrack those moments in style.

Even if your application is unsuccessful this time we are turning the stage into a jam night at the end of each programme so there will be a chance to do a couple of tunes right into the wee hours on Friday , Saturday and Sunday of DTRH 2022..

As an artist, I am passionate to make sure I find and book some gems I have never heard before because I know how it feels to never play a festival and have a burning desire to do so.

I know festivals can seem cliquey but if you really want to play a festival, then go to a festival whether you get picked or not. Pay for a ticket if you can or become a volunteer if you can’t.

It took my band a couple of years of doing everything from litter-collecting to playing campfire jams before people started to take notice. . We would always be ready at the side of stages in case someone was a no-show , and we always had stickers / flyers at the ready to help promote our band.

I realise how frustrating it can be to get your foot in the door but once you play one , it tends to open up lots of opportunities to play others as bookers start to see you live and recognise your name on the poster.

It is especially tough right now because you have all the acts who were ready to tour new albums in 2020 , 20221 and 2022 all vying for a few coveted slots. I could have easily filled the slots for this stage from acts I already know but I am opening up submissions to everyone and hoping to find some new hidden gems . Just email youcallthatradio(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Why I Should Play Doune’ in the subject header with a short paragraph and some links to your work.

If you aren’t successful this year please remember that there is an unprecedented amount of acts all looking at the same opportunities right now. Please do not get disheartened and try and get involved in the festival scene somehow , someway if you can. I will also keep a tab of all acts for a few smaller festivals taking place this summer where we might be able to fit you in.

Good luck! and I hope to see you at Doune the Rabbit Hole 2022 as a performer, as a punter or as a volunteer .

YouCallThat.com is a website on behalf of You Call That Radio which hosts live events, podcasts, video streams and articles from the Scottish music scene and beyond .

Check us out on youtube here

LIVE REVIEW: Warmduscher @ SWG3 and BC Camplight @ St. Luke’s

Warmduscher - Live at SWG3, Glasgow (April 2022)

I was sprawled out lazily on the couch wrapped in a quilt as the youtube algorithm fed me reactions to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. I don’t normally chill out but a mixture of bereavement and burnout had left me languishing in an enforced hibernation. Suddenly, I get a message at 7 pm from Kirsten and Jennifer saying ‘Do you want a free ticket to Warmduscher?’ . I initially declined, as these are the messages my subconscious warned me about. One hour later she still had not gotten rid of the ticket so I changed my mind and made my way to the SWG3 just in time for halfway through the first song and was instantly delighted I had ignored sensible advice from my brain and enjoyed the ‘kitchen - twitchin’ of a crazed SWG3 being turned into a sleazy, gutter-funk party.

A surreal disco carnival with boiler suits and sharp-witted lyrics that demand you dance along as the embers of a self-imploding planet light up like an apocalyptic campfire behind in the distance. The venue was packed and loving every moment of it. I still have no idea how or why Hip Hop legend Kool Keith appears on a track with them, or Iggy Pop for that matter. But they are part of a certain London underground scene where nothing, yet everything, makes sense.

A superb live band that will return to Scotland in July for Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival.

And you can check out their incredible, brand new album ‘Live at The Hotspot ‘ over here

After Warmduscher made me feel alive again, I went for ‘one pint’ and ended up at a new Glasgow retro gaming nightclub called NQ64 . Ignore the shite name, they have turned a dingy techno club into a whole new, psychedelic world of arcades and swally that was busy , spacious and open until 3am every night of the week.

I don’t personally play computer games, I have been clean from a troublesome football manager addiction for 15 years but when in rome… I got beat at Outrun 2 by my pal (although it was close) then made up for it by beating him at Mortal Combat . 14 year old me must have saved some sort of subconscious muscle memory because I won … easily.

It ended up being a late one but I knew I had to dust myself down and get back up again to Saint Lukes for the one and only BC Camplight brought to us by the legends at 432 Promotions.

BC Camplight - Live at Saint Lukes, Glasgow (April 2022 )

I had heard bits and bobs that I had liked but a former band member of mine and old friend Martyn was really, really into them and told me to do some digging . That guy knows his onions so I went through the back catalogue and was blown away by the variations in the structures , the passion, the musicality, the self-deprecating humour . Well, it was right up my street.

Above you can see a sold-out Saint Lukes. They sang, they clapped and hung off every word. He has mastered the rare art of introducing songs banter. Telling tales that make the audience laugh and feel every note they are about to hear and see.

Their Kool Keith moment was thinking ‘Why does this American guy know so much about Buckfast?’ but from what I gather he is based in Manchester now and has toured relentlessly over the years and doing that as an independent artist usually means sleeping on a floor for free , and being offered Scotland’s third national drink. It featured on the well-received opener and brilliantly named ‘I only Drink When I`m drunk’ as the crowd jumped around and the main man even spilt Buckie on his keyboard. The music would not be affected though and this was the beginning of a genius set full of emotion and hilarity.

The band are so tight they are like an energy company wanting a 50% wage rise when the rest of the world gets something between 1% and - 20%. That`s how tight they were. For the international reader, tight means stingy. Stingy means tight-fisted with money , like a bad Scottish stereotype that may have begun because cunts were against giving all the oil away for free. I don’t know. I digress.

Tonight BC Camplight played everything from disco to funk to grunge to mellow to ballads to rock n roll. Sometimes fun, sometimes poignant, like all my favourite bands. I am gonna link below to one of the highlights but they need to be seen live in the flesh for the full experience and you can also see these guys yourself live at Doune the Rabbit Hole in July.

To recap, a world class frontman, that got deported by Theresa May. And he is not a fan of her. And neither are we. So that was a good bit.

The whole band were exceptional especially , the lassie who did backing vocals, sax, keys, percussion and everything else. It was more dramatic than Meatloaf but without taking themselves too seriously. I genuinely love that about both these bands, Being able to play as good as anyone else on the planet , and still have fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed Warmduscher, BC Camplight and that new computer game nightclub.

It felt like life can be fun again.

Roll on festival season and before that, I look forward to playing that very same venue Saint Lukes with my own band The Girobabies on April 23rd. Tickets for that can be gotten here

and you can see BC Camplight, Warmduscher, Girobabies and much, much more by getting your tickets here for Doune the Rabbit Hole 2022.

It`s been a tough month, a tough year, a tough life but right now it feels that ….

I`m alright in the world

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The Memeing of Joris Bohnson

You Call That Radio welcomes a special guest writer Bram Gieben aka Texture to present an article to you about the memeing of Boris Johnson. Bram is a poet and rapper under the name Texture and also hosts an insightful podcast called Strange Exiles.

Joris Bohnson Got Memes 

You have to know a little bit about memes, and the history of memes, to understand the power wielded by Joris Bohnson. Throughout this article, I will refer to the sitting prime minister by this spoonerism to avoid his elevation in the algorithm via keyword analysis of the text. As I hope to demonstrate, mocking and sharing right-wing memes, images and content only serve to elevate them in the algorithm - and this is one of the biggest challenges that currently face online activists on the left-wing and in the liberal centre.  

Memes have defined Bohnson’s tenure as prime minister and London mayor, his career as a journalist, and the enduring image of him in the public eye. This studied but shambolic image has been cultivated through photo ops, planned leaks of images and documents and ‘scandals’ via his media team, and appearances on ‘Have I Got News For You’. It is a carefully curated performance. The last example is a good one - while the HIGNFY team may have hoped to use his appearance as an opportunity to ridicule Bohnson, it instead served to propel him to the dizzy heights of the Conservative Party, and the corridors of power. His incompetence, his shabbiness and his cavalier approach have made him more popular, not less. How did we allow this to happen? 

A brief history of memes 

The term ‘meme’ was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book ’The Selfish Gene’. He defined a meme as a unit of transmissible cultural information, from a memorable tune or catchphrase, all the way up to a religion. According to Dawkins’ theory, all human cultural information is both memetic, and transmissible. Religions provide the best example because they illustrate how memes can cluster together to increase their chances of survival. In Catholicism for example, the vertical transmission of christian memes such as ‘hell’ and ‘original sin’ or even ‘go forth and procreate (but only when married)’ become a form of evolutionary armour, ensuring the religion continues. Like a disease or a virus, religious ideas can be transmitted vertically (parent to child), or horizontally (christian to heathen, heretic, apostate or infidel).  

The theory of memes is considered by many philosophers and scientists to be both unworkable and unscientific - it may be a useful analogy for how ideas are transmitted in human culture, but there is scant scientific evidence that can offer proof that ‘memes’, as such, really exist. Despite the work of theorists like Susan Blackmore, whose 1999 book ‘The Meme Machine’ built on and expanded Dawkins definition, the theory was somewhat dead in the water until the term began to gain currency on the internet in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

Of course on the internet, we are all familiar with memes - not in the strict Dawkinsian sense, but as captioned pictures, usually satirical, expressing a cultural idea in the form of a joke, an image or a juxtaposition of an image with text. There is an internet meme database, sites that collect moving image memes or GIFs (often with an API added to allow the sharing of GIFs via sites like Twitter, or platforms like WhatsApp). There are custom meme-making sites, where users can generate their own memes using popular or common templates, or create their own new memes using their own or stolen imagery.  

In our visually-oriented, extremely online culture, communication via memes is all but accepted as standard. The sharing of cool (or ‘dank’) memes with our friends is one of our favourite time-wasting activities. ‘Meme culture’ has given us LOLcats, our favourite subreddits, and the wild west of the internet - the ‘chan’ message boards where memes are created, traded and debated. On these boards you can also find every other transmissible meme, as Dawkins and Blackmore would see them - from misogyny and transphobia to racism and facism; to fandoms of various kinds; religious or medical quackery of every shade, and the real-time emergence of micro-trends in fashion and music.  

As Dawkins and Blackmore presciently anticipated, in our weightless, data-driven culture, the fact you cannot physically touch a meme, or observe it in laboratory conditions does not mean that memes do not exist - and furthermore, that they shape us and our cultural attitudes in ways that are sometimes conscious, and sometimes subconscious. 

The human meme 

Online memes are a visual language, so first, let’s consider Joris Bohnson visually. From the tousled, buffoonish clown’s hair to the overlong tie and flapping shirt tails, he presents a rumpled, disorganised image in public. He’s able to quote ancient wisdom in Greek or Latin, and speaks a great many languages, but is nonetheless able to communicate an air of shabby disinterest in the trappings of public image. His image is an anti-public image, and that is carefully calculated. In an era where nobody trusts politicians, it is best to look as little like one as possible. This anti-public image ties into an anti-public discourse that mocks and disdains both tradition and accepted moralities - but rather than making this connection on the surface, the image of the clown serves to conceal the malignancy of the politics behind the mask.  

This is a calculated visual performance, designed for its ‘memeability’ and nothing more. Bohnson is an ideological piranha, steeped in the vicious codes of public school and the elite. There is nothing careless about this figure, nothing out of place that is not planned to be there. He is a perfect product of Britain’s highest institutions. The visual performance of shabbiness or slack is just that - a performance. 

Picture one of the most sustained and enduring images of Joris in the public eye. The first shows him dangling on a zipline, legs and shirt tails akimbo, giving a hapless thumbs up. Taken at an event promoting the 2012 Olympics, his shambolic failure to slide down a wire was roundly mocked and covered extensively throughout the news media, from the nightly bulletins right on through to the comedy panel shows. This is the key to the memeability of Joris Bohnson - his carefully stage-managed ‘failures’ and ‘errors’ are a pantomime, an effort to portray this piranha as relatable. Hapless, silly, maybe even unreliable - but crucially, a normal, fallible human being. Just like you and me. This is a lie. Joris Bohnson is not like you or me. He is far more calculating. 

This gift for creating fake moments of failure, silliness and shambolic appearance serves to mask the places where Conservative policies are actively harmful to the voters they claim to serve, from the long march of austerity to the nakedly fascistic approach to border control. The Joris Bohnson show is a spectacle. It is intentionally designed to conceal the worst excesses of a government peopled by crony and disaster capitalists seeking to asset-strip the country of all of its goods, services, infrastructure and human feeling.  

Joris Bohnson and his cabinet and advisers have long cultivated the idea of themselves as shambolic everyman, prone to the odd gaffe. Sometimes the mask slips, and something patently obvious can show you the memetic play they are attempting here. This tweet from their 2019 Brexit campaign demonstrates the premise. The tweet is ‘Make no mistake.’ The graphic says ‘Get Berxit Done’. The mistake is intentional. What is more, the left fell for it in droves, subtweeting this until it had surely been seen by voters of all persuasion.  

This was the strategic genius of Cominic Dummings (although it’s no great revelation to anyone who understands social media algorithms). He recognised that it didn’t matter who amplified the signal, or what they thought about it. All that counted was the amplification. The right create the tweets and memes, but the left, with their outrage clicks and responses, arguably cause it to go viral. As it stands, the activist and party political left are just Joris Bohnson’s useful idiots. 

Even Bohnson’s roots as a journalist show what should be a completely unsurprising level of sophistication in terms of his approach to memetic warfare. In his original Telegraph columns, he delighted in making up untrue but very meme-able stories, such as the myth about straight bananas mandated by EU policy wonks. The untruth did not matter - once these memorable images stuck in voters’ minds as Dawkinsian memes, they became unquestioned motivations for voting for Brexit. The comparatively boring, dry, complicated business of EU politics was a much harder sell than the simplistic idea of ‘taking back control’, but Bohnson had also seeded the memetic landscape with lies and farcical imagery about the EU over the course of decades. His columns were a form of click-bait, designed to draw you in and stick in the mind. The ‘facts’ become immaterial when the meme is presented cleverly enough. Brexit was a memetic campaign decades in the making, and a lot of its myths and memes originated in Bohnson’s flights of fancy. 

In light of the recent ‘partygate’ scandal it’s worth mentioning that the pint-drinking, ‘laddish’ image cultivated by right-wing politicians from Bohnson to Figel Narage is another memetic mask. Bohnson’s drink-addled associates at number ten won’t be held to account because their bad behaviour is in itself relatable to millions of people in the UK. Every time Gove is pictured larging it up on the dance floor, or Joris is seen necking chardonnay on the terrace, a slew of memes are generated to mock them or express outrage. The opposite effect is achieved - Bohnson and co. are suddenly like us, just wanting to “large it” and “get on one.” Anyone criticising them comes to seem like a churl by comparison. A disregard for facts, institutions, and norms of behaviour may not be the hallmark, traditionally, of the conservative. In some ways, it is the opposite. What it does tell us is that while the left weren’t looking, the right learned to meme. 

Radical Resistance 

How do we fight back? Not just leftists, but people of any kind who want to protest against or fight the rhetoric and substance of Tory policies, without unwittingly contributing to their ascendance and triumph at the ballot box? This is a question to which the left and liberal sections of the internet desperately need to find an answer.  

In America, whose fever-dream, post-truth politics undoubtedly influence and inspire Bohnson and his grim crew, the right have entirely captured the meme-o-sphere. From Covid denialism, to the Trumpist ‘big lie’ about the 2016 election, to the elaborate meta-conspiracy-meets-massively-multiplayer-online-augmented-reality-game known as Q-Anon, the right and its champions are consistently able to draw on, invoke and create new myths, images and narratives that fuel their cause and entice new recruits. They can rely on simple messages like ‘Make America Great Again’ or ‘Get Brexit Done’ to stick in the public mind, not despite but because of the factual distortions which they conceal. 

What the left has to offer in terms of resistance to these memes is a combination of outrage, satire and sarcasm, or earnest activism - all of which play into the self-serious, condescending, over-educated caricature of the leftist on which right-wing propaganda plays. There is no amount of politically correct interaction with right-wing memes that can do anything but prove the point and boost the signal of those memes - the whole point of most right-wing meme culture is to “trigger the libtards.”  

Any argument these days which appeals to facts, history, statistics or mainstream institutions is similarly doomed to fail - the populist right wing, which drives this facet of meme culture, has a million tools to dismantle, disregard or simply mock a serious argument. The reasons for the decline of trust in politicians, official data and state narratives is explored in the excellent book ‘Nervous States’ by William Davies: ”Under the industrial capitalism of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were those people who got rich, and there were those who claimed to know things. Today, however, the privilege of knowledge and that of wealth reinforce each other: highly educated consultants, lawyers and investment analysts are the main beneficiaries of capitalism.” (p.86).   

The right appeals to people on the level of emotion, not objectivity. It appeals to the feeling that the experts, the scientists and those in charge are ripping us off and lying to us - that they cannot be trusted. Right-wing memes have become adept at tapping into the currents of anti-public and anti-mainstream feeling. They present themselves as insurgent, despite the right being the main stakeholders in crony capitalism, and in power in the majority of democratic countries in the west. This is why their memes are superior. Joris Bohnson is a highly educated member of the expert class - but he role plays a relatable rogue. 

On Episode 11 of my podcast Strange Exiles, I interviewed cultural critic and theorist Mike Watson, author of ‘The Memeing of Mark Fisher’ and ‘Can the Left Learn to Meme?’. Using the work of Mark Fisher, Walter Benjamin and others, Mike attempts to map out why the right’s memetic approach is more successful, where the left fails, and what it can do to produce more compelling narratives than Q-Anon, or Joris Bohnson’s aggressive brand of faux-libertarian populism. In his latest book, he offers some hope for the left, in terms of approaches that could drive a new and popular series of left narratives, imagery and aesthetics.  

Better than any other writer I have encountered, Watson diagnoses the problem: “Internet corporations don’t care what you do, so long as you give them data - and the online left is simply one niche identity that achieves this. For young women producing selfies, the internet plays on their insecurity at their own appearance. For young leftist meme-producers of a certain age, social media companies play on threats to their identity by right-wing imagery, or by leftists of other factions. None of this builds a coherent left-of-center movement, even if there is a growing communist, socialist and anarchist presence online.” (Zero Books, 2021, p13)  

The worst thing leftists can do online, besides amplifying Joris Bohnson, is to fight each other. As Watson writes: “The very grievances which lead so many people to express themselves politically online - which amounts in short to a lack of agency felt on the part of internet users in their daily life - in turn lead leftists to attack each other instead of the capitalist system.” (p51) 

The algorithm thrives on our conflict, it feeds it, because ultimately the corporations gain, and we all lose. Our atomisation further drives that conflict, which drives atomisation, all of which drives the easy categorisation of human beings into identities that can be targeted, marketed to, and ultimately manipulated. This is the goal of algorithmic data collection, and the left starts from a disadvantage. The left has no coherent response to the divisions that social media, and the effects upon psychology it produces, has sown among its ranks and within society at large.  

Watson is also able to offer some possible routes out of the memetic trap, whereby the response and resistance to right-wing memes can transcend outrage and sarcasm - he believes that the left can learn to meme, and that the dominance of right-wing narratives can be challenged with collective effort and creativity. In particular, Watson suggests that activists and protestors on the left could build on Fisher’s legacy, working with some of the ideas in his unfinished work ‘Acid Communism’ (printed in the anthology ‘k-punk: The Collected Works’ by Repeater Books). Seeing promising currents in hedonistic movements of the past such as the hippies, the punks, and free party ravers, and in the creative potential unleashed by altered mental states, with Acid Communism Fisher sought to offer a way out of the dilemma he posed in his seminal work ‘Capitalist Realism’ - that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. 

Memes as magic(k) 

Another writer who understood the power of memes, and the way that creative, free-thinking, empowered and confident activists and culture-producers could use them, is the Scottish comics creator Grant Morrison. In the 1990s, they wrote The Invisibles, a sprawling conspiracy adventure involving malign covert government agencies, anarchist sleeper cells, ancient gods and arcane rituals. In the back pages, Morrison answered letters from their readers, and would discuss everything from the occult to politics and psychology. It was through these letter pages that I found ‘The Meme Machine’ and countless other books. This was also where I began to understand the power of memes as a kind of ‘magic’ - a way of presenting information and ideas in a form that could be both powerful and persuasive, and perhaps even shape reality. 

The basics of sigil magic, as set out by Austin Osman Spare, offer a way to symbolise, articulate and thereby influence the world with ideas and desires, much in the same way a meme can seek to do. Morrison was a great believer in this process, and the refinements to it that were developed by magic(k)al practitioners like Phil Hine and others. To Morrison, sigils and memes were similar concepts - ways of articulating ideas and influencing reality. As he said in his famous (and very memetic) Disinfocon speech from 1999: “Magick is accessible to everyone. The means of altering reality are accessible to everyone.” The question is simply, how do you learn the technique? How do you apply it? To understand the similarity between a story, a meme and a sigil, you might want to start by exploring the so-called ‘occult’. 

In Episode 3 of Strange Exiles, occult expert Cat Vincent discussed chaos magic(k) and ritual, and how he uses narrative, imagery, cultural patterns and other ‘memetic’ aspects of reality in his practice to shape the world around him. This may sound far-fetched to you, but consider this - using symbols, images, and narratives, Joris Bohnson and his gang of rabid vultures, and the legions of Tories before him, have held sway over the English electorate’s imaginary for the better part of the past half century. To have any chance of defeating their toxic ideology at the ballot box and in the public’s mind, we must learn to tell better stories, and to use more powerful symbols, sigils and memes. Cat and his friends The Indelicates did just that in 2019 with their ‘Hexit’ ritual, fusing art, performance and magick in a co-ordinated effort to sabotage Joris Bohnson and the Brexit memeplex. Perhaps the effects of that spell are now being seen in his fall from public grace, and perhaps not - but by bringing symbols and patterns of resistance into culture via live participation in a magical ritual, they claimed back a measure of their own identity, independence and joy from the mundane reality of life under Bohnson’s punitive, authoritarian regime. 

Morrison tells us what will happen if we don’t learn to tell our own stories, and make our own cultural narratives: “Coca-Cola have got the secret. What you do is you create a sigil. Coca-Cola is a sigil. The McDonalds ‘M’ is a sigil. These people are basically turning the world into themselves, using sigils. And if we don’t reverse that process, and turn the world into us using sigils, we’re going to be living in fucking McDonalds.” The same is true of memes. Tweet by tweet, scandal by scandal, Joris Bohnson and his coterie of memetic advisers are turning ‘us’ into ‘them’. The evidence is at the ballot box, and in the analytics. How long until we come up with a better story?  

@t3xtur3

@youcallthatrad1

 If you enjoyed this then you will enjoy Bram’s Podcast ‘Strange Exiles’ over here : 'Strange Exiles'

If you would like to support more independent journalism on You Call That’s website then please share this article, leave a comment or become a patreon at http://patreon.com/youcallthatradio

You may also enjoy our ‘Bam Up Boris’ phone-in on our youtube channel

The Best Songs of 2021 (Part Four: 10-1) #YCTR

Welcome to the final part of this Top 40 list which has been an uphill, impractical and impossible battle attempting to quantify a numeric value to things that got me singing out loud on public transport this year. On a different day, it could be different songs, in different orders but I hope by writing these blogs out it perhaps makes someone check out a new song they will love as much as me or maybe this can help sooth an artist with a wee bit of much-needed validation.

The unscientific method behind making this list was adding all the good new stuff I heard throughout the year to a spotify playlist called YCTR Recommends you can check out here . Then last month I began to narrow it down from 300 songs to 40 of my favourites. This means there are songs I forgot to add to the list or songs that ain’t on spotify which means an honourable mentions list will have to follow next week.

I`m going to delete all the songs soon so I can make way for a 2022 playlist but please like/ follow it to keep up to date with what I find in the months ahead . I have also made a new playlist of the top 40 of the best of 2021 here so you can listen at your leisure but made sense to update the old playlist as it’s starting to get a a small following who check it out already. As always, this website, the podcast and all the events by You Call That Radio would not be possible without our patreons at http://patreon.com/youcallthatradio so thank you for supporting.

Anyway, science bit over here is the best tunes of 2021 from 10-1 according to me.

10. Steg G feat. Solareye, Freestyle Master, Empress & CCTV - ‘Funeral For A Friend’

2021 had way too many funerals, many of which were attended via zoom as the pandemic descended into a particularly dark episode of Black Mirror. The Scottish way of dealing with grief is for better or worse, gathering together and sharing stories over vast quantities of alcohol. That was not possible so epic songs like this helped us grieve in a different way. Steg G compiled a stunning album called ‘Live Today’ and this grande finale was chilling and poignant, especially when it blared out the speakers at our dearly departed friend Kyle’s funeral. It also held an aura of hope when seen it performed live at Drygate with The Glasgow Barons orchestral hauners. Lyrically, all emcees bring their A-games as they bring Steg G’s most ambitious and spiralling production to a sudden and poetic hault.

9. Minerva Wakes- ‘Redefine’
Lockdown turned Jo D’arc from punk icon of The Twistettes into a glitchy witch called Minerva Wakes who dropped a stunning trip hop /electro album called ‘Mirrored Moon’ . The highlight for me was this magnificent music video by Martin Windebank which captures the essence of the jittery , space out, banging beats and the lush, ethereal vocals perfectly. The album dropped in spring 2021 which meant no live audience but we managed to stream the full show into everyone’s living rooms via the magic of Captureworks studios which you can watch back over here . Jo gets a lot of deserved credit for songwriting but nowhere near enough for the production on this. Was marvelous to see this live with an audience at Hug n Pint and at The Messy festival and hopefully much more live shows on the way in 2022 as it needs to be heard to be believed through a banging sound system.

8. She Drew the Gun- ‘Class War’

Another bit of science I forgot to mention at the start of the blog is that I tried to not pick more than one song from each artist in order to shine a spotlight on 40 different acts which was somtimes presented a challenge especially in the shape of She Drew the Gun who easily could have had 3/4 in the top 40. In the end , I decided on ‘Class War’ as that song echoed in my head for days after their Cop26 Coalition gig at The Landing Hub which you can watch back here . Building on the rich heritage of Liverpool’s thriving music scene SDTG are everything I look for in a band. Political, melodic and noisy with a lyrical scouse wit. Catchy hooks that deliver a purposeful, societal message directly to your soul. Catch them in Glasgow at Drygate on February 12th by getting your ticket here.

7. Darren McGarvey- ‘Run to It’

When it comes to purposeful, societal messages then Mr. McGarvey is always at the forefront whether it’s through TV, Books or his music as well his influential tweets . Most people in Glasgow will be aware of his music through his Loki alias but this year he has rebranded himself under his real name which has a bigger international reach and dropped his first single on Spotify under it. ‘Run To It’ initially appeared last year as part of the hard-hitting short film/ music video  ‘I W!$H ! W^$ D£AD’ (Gasp/ Tommy Slack) which deals with subjects many of us , mainly governments, would rather sweep under the carpet. It`s raw depiction of mental health and suicidal ideation are nestled atop a rich bed of production from Jim Sutherland evoking a canvas for Darren to battle with his demons on the track as he realises fame and fortune is no solution to trauma. Despite the tortured nature of the themes here , Darren provides a chorus of hope and a battle cry to keep going . He explores complex darkness but has just enough well-timed use of ‘jakeball’ and ‘bevy o clock’ plus a host of clever writing that requires repeated , enjoyable listens . I hope we will be hearing a lot more music from Darren in 2022 but you can definitely expect a new book and a host of TV appearances.

You can see this song live as part of the set he did for You Call That Radio over here

6. Billy No Mates- ‘Heels’

BNM made my favourite album of 2020 then returned in 2021 with the superb ‘Emergency Telephone’ E.P with ‘Heels’ being my highlight. It would be lazy of me to draw comparisons with any other artists as there simply isn’t anything comparable now or ever. She is in her own lane of making anthemic, electro bangers with serious social commentary and enough sprinkles of humour to make the frightening truths all the more bareable , and very danceable. The pandemic postponed many opportunities to see this music live but luckily, got to see it for myself at Mono which you can read all about it here  . What else is there to say apart from she makes unique masterpieces, she is the most exciting solo acts in the country and she will not do heels,

5. Morphamish -’Spark’

I know what your going to say ‘But you made a song with Morphamish, that’s no fair’ and yes I did (you can hear that one ‘On It Again’ over here ) but this is my list and no song brought me any greater joy this year than hearing his ‘Spark’ played live at a festival post-lockdown.  Yes, he is a mate and yes, he has helped me with tech issues for my podcast but listen to this tune and tell me it’s not a banger deserving of Top 10 status. It invokes joy, happiness and makes you want to dance around like an idiot. It is everything that has been missing for the last two years and it slots into my list easily. Very underrated producer and DJ such is his humility. He is sitting on a sea of bangers that I hope will be released into the world in 2022.

4. Aesop Rock - ‘Long Legged Larry’

As an Aesop Rock fan, you think you know what your gonna get when you click play. That is usually a masterclass in vocabulary, clinical storytelling and esoteric concepts over dark, phat beats. This song is not what I was expecting. Maybe I am missing some hidden meaning, feel free to correct me in the comments if I am, but to my ear- it is a song about a frog. A frog called Long-Legged Larry’ who to be quite frank, is a bit of a legend. A local hero who can jump very high indeed and routinely saves the day. Firemen, princesses and cats alike love him and many would even like him to be mayor (here! here!) . It was the song we never knew we needed far less deserved. Even Aesop’s nursery rhymes blow most rappers out the water. A happy tale that will go down in Hip Hop folklore, delivered with poker face precision over a chirpy, endearing beat. What’s not to love? Go Larry! Go Larry! Go! Go! Go!

3. Mickey 9s- ‘Kids’

There are a few gems on their new album ‘Modern Kunst’ but since ‘Rang Wi Me’ technically dropped in 2020 then this one is most deserving of a mention although ‘Full American’ , ‘Raw’ & ‘Music’ all could have effortlessly slotted into the Top 10. ‘Yer grans in the slam tent, yer maw’s in the snake pit… yer kids are on e’s and ye lost yer fucking keys’ . A bizarre festival anthem that was brought to ferocious life during their Garage gig in October as the world seemed to return back to normal (for a week or two) .

The whole album is a masterpiece go and check it out here

See their You Call That Radio interview here

See them perform ‘Rang wi’ Mi’ Live at Doune the Rabbit Hole here

and watch them perform in front of your eyes at Doune the Rabbit Hole 2022 here

2. Wet Leg- Chaise Longue

This is not number 2 but joint number 1 on the list. The true anthem of 2021 , that came out of nowhere and has been rinsed on jukeboxes, DJ sets and house parties all across the planet. I am sure even 10 Downing Street must have blared it loud at one of their many, many, MANY cheese n wine work event gathering things. An equally good follow up single ‘Wet Dream’ proved they are no mere one-hit wonders either and having seen them play their forthcoming album live at McChuills (A small Glasgow pub) I can confirm that these guys are the real deal. They have proper catchy songs, clever lyrics and they seemed very humble, down to earth and surprised at their viral success when we spoke to them after the show. I doubt we will ever see them play such a small venue ever again as the world embraces a band from the Isle of Wight who seem intent on bringing some actual fun into the indie guitar world that has been missing for some time. They are also bringing some cracking riffs and proper songwriting into the mainstream. A great live band and their album will likely be one of the top sellers of 2022. They are getting so big that there is even a small backlash starting from grumpy old men who don’t get it. That’s how you know you have made it .

You can pre-order their forthcoming classic album on vinyl over here

1. Alabama 3- ‘Tranquilize Brittania’
When deciding on my favourite song of the year, I played a playlist back LOUD alongside my fellow Girobabies members as we shared a few drinks and enjoyed a long overdue catch-up. This song was definitely the one. Alabama 3 has always been one of our favourite bands. One of the few bands we could actually ever all agree on and this song just ticks all the boxes. The return of the Reverend D Wayne Love from beyond the grave to bam up the British state is inspired and the song as a whole instantly becomes one of the greatest Alabama 3 songs ever made. It could not have been easy for the band making a post-jake album, especially with pandemic conditions and restrictions, but ‘Step 13’ is a triumph of an LP and their Lindisfarne set in September will stay with me forever. The music for ‘Tranquilize Brittania’ is epic and Larry Love’s trademark dulcet tones builds on the Reverend’s poetic verses. It ends in a crescendo of gang vocals ‘Blaze, blaze away the pain, from empire to opium, from cradle to the grave’ . It makes you sad, it makes you smile and it makes you think. It`s a 10/10 song. A classic. An anthem. A belter. A cracker. The best song I heard in 2021.

See Alabama 3 on tour by going here

 Watch the Reverend D Wayne Love interview on You Call That Radio here

Watch Mark Sams interview on You Call That Radio here where he talks about the tribute album he made to the Reverend  

Watch Nick Reynolds interview on You Call That Radio here

AND FINALLY….

Did I get it right? Who would be in your top 5 songs of 2021? please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Listen to all Top 40 of my favourite songs of 2021 on this spotify playlist over here  

Like/ Follow the YCTR Recommends playlist here for weekly updated tunes I stumble upon in 2022

You can support this website, the podcasts and all our events by becoming a patreon from only £3 per month over here . Thank you if you already do support, you saved me over lockdown. Hopefully we can party together a bit more in 2022 . Our live streams will return to our youtube channel next week.

Much love and all the best for 2022,

Mark

Best Songs of 2021 (Part 3… 20- 10 #YCTR )

You Call That Radio does podcasts, blogs, live events, and shares memes all thanks to our patreons at http://patreon.com/YouCallThatRadio

How are you supposed to make a list of anything? on a different day I would choose different songs in a different order but today is the day where I looked back at the YCTR Recommends playlist of 300 songs and tried to narrow it down to 40. So this is far from definitive counting down from 20-10 . Lists mean very little in the grand scheme of things but I thought it would be nice to reflect on my favourite tunes and give a wee shout-out to artists who brought a little bit of joy to my ears during this bin fire of a year.

20. Anton Newcombe & Dot Allsion - ‘Bringing Murder to the Land’

An oasis of calm in a desert of frustration, This lush piece of genius is what you would expect when two all-time greats get together. I have not seen yet seen the TV series ‘Annika’ that the song is taken from but it`s been on regular rotation when I get on an occasional walk in nature away from the doom and glooom headlines and the never-ending arguments and point scoring on social media. A magical piece of work from one of my favorite singers Dot Allison who made her name with One Dove before releasing one of my favourite solo albums ‘We Are Science’ . And as always, Anton of Brian Jonestown Massacre has that effortless Midas touch of producing epic , heartfelt productions that sprawl and draw you in only to improve on repeated listens. I hope to hear these two work together again in the future.

19. Brian Destiny- ‘Is It Gonna Be Love?’

After a decade on the keys, and co-songwriting, with Fat White Family - Nathan Saoudi finally steps out of the shadows with a new project under the Brian Destiny moniker. The lead single ‘Is It Gonna Be Love?’ is an instant classic asking that relevant, million-dollar question while dipping into an edgy sytnth-pop alternative universe somewhere between joy and heartbreak. It`s out now on Dash the Henge records who are dropping some brilliant stuff right now alongside SKUD FM which features a recent guest on YCTR Zsa Zsa Sapien of Meatraffle fame.

18. Josephine Sillars- ‘Enemy’

Josephine kicked off 2021 with a whole new sound on the ‘Desperate Characters’ EP where she plunged into a darker, electro sound while keeping those remarkable pop sensibilities and making innovative use of vocal samples that tie the concept together perfectly. ‘It it comforting to know that I’m not on your mind because your mind is pre-occupied’ she repeats over soaring harmonic vocals. It was a close call between this one or the sun-kissed , mellow ‘California’ but I think ‘Enemy’ one best describes the new music journey she is on for her solo material as well as her new Leeds-based rock band Rubber Rose and her occasional stints on keys with Girobabies.

17. Mogwai- ‘Richie Sacramento’

The undoubted highlight of 2021 Lockdown was Mogwai at Tramway where they rattled through a powerful set to promote their new album ‘As The Love Continues’ which would later go on and deservedly clinch ‘Scottish Album of the Year’ . This song is a highlight among many highlights and watching that Tramway gig I was transported back to the time when they played in the pishing rain at Connect Festival which was one of the most important shows I ever saw personally. They were already legends back then and they have continued to repeatedly set standards ever since. This song is also a dedication to musicians lost so after another year of too much death it feels even more apt and potent.

16. Beak- ‘Oh Know’

Featuring Portishead legend Geoff Barrow, Experimental-Electro-Rock has never sounded so good, fun, and/or danceable. I remember going to see them play Doune the Rabbit Hole in 2019, minutes before I went on stage at a different tent, and felt inspired and terrified at the same time after seeing true masters of their craft raise the frequency of the entire audience. Their latest single ‘Oh Know’ is arguably their best , building and swaying and demanding your attention.

15. Sleaford Mods feat. Amy Taylor

I could have easily picked ‘Mork & Mindy' feat. Billy Nomates instead as they are both on an equal pegging of best tunes of 2021 but since ‘Mork & Mindy’ technically dropped initially in 2020, and the fact Billy Nomates will appear in the Top 10 I have gone for this cracker featuring Amy Taylor from Amyl & The Sniffers. Both were highlights on the ‘Spare Ribs’ album and this is an example of Andrew’s evolution as a beatmaker and Jason’s chops as a writer. The album is as angry and poetic as ever with razor-sharp social commentary that you would expect but more melodic vocals anda unique, progression in beats is taking Sleaford Mods into a whole new territory. Amy’s feature raises it up yet another notch with a bouncy swagger and creates a cut that gets better with every listen. Forget 2021, this is a song that will still be listened to in 2031. Watch Jason talk about the album on You Call That Radio over here and watch Sleaford Mods live at Doune the Rabbit Hole next July by getting your tickets here

14. Franky’s Evil Party- ‘One Big Family’

An evil Scotsman vocal with shades of The Amazing Snakeheads and Mickey 9s intercept with a spoken word/ Hip Hop style delivery for the verses before it builds up into an all-out onslaught of pure therapeutic and unadulterated noise. I saw these guys destroy Broadcast in the before times and it`s bands like this I feel most sorry for during the pandemic as they are on the cusp of greatness, they just need a decent run of live gigs to share their talent with the world.

13. Sa-Roc feat. MF DOOM- ‘The Rebirth’

It was during our Hogmanay show that I heard MF DOOM had passed away which was as much of a shock to me , as it was to any fan of underground Hip Hop such was impact and influence. Only the supervillain could pass away on Halloween 2020, and it not be announced until new years eve, and yet still release a bunch of quality music in 2021 . The highlight for me was ‘The Re-Birth’ with Sa-Roc which appeared on the deluxe version of her ‘The Sharecroppers Daughter’ L.P. The track finds Sa-Roc in fine form as she smoothly flows over the Evidence beat ‘From the cradle of the civilized to a grave situation’ . That she can hold her own with one of the all-time greats is yet another example of how Sa-Roc is one of the best emcees on the planet right now. It is a brilliant track from start to finish and hopefully, there is more than where that came from the vault of DOOM as the thought of no more DOOM verses is a tough concept to deal with. One thing we can be sure of though, is plenty more material from Sa-Roc as she continues to rise to new heights. Here is an interview we had with her last year when she stopped by You Call That Radio for a chat last year.

12. Stanley Odd- ‘Undo Redo’

It was a close decision of whether to include this or ‘The Invisible Woman’, ‘She’s A Wee Witch’ or a few others as my favourite Stanley Odd song of the year such is the quality of the recent ‘Stay Odd: The Magic of Everyday Things’ Could have gone either way but I have went for ‘Undo Redo’ for being both a party banger and a cautious ode to the hangover. The odd squad had a massive year with a SAY Award nomination, a live stream show from Leith Theatre, and a banger of real-life gig from Room 2 . ‘The Gateway to Scottish Hip Hop’ continues to garner more attention and improve on each and every release. For more about Stanley Odd’s 2021 click here for the YCTR interview .

11. Arab Strap - ‘Here Comes Comus!’

I remember first hearing Arab Strap on a CD that came free with NME as a young person. It blew me away that someone could speak so frankly about shagging and the likes in a Scottish accent over some new-sounding music that sounded like nothing I had heard before. Fast forward to 2021 and it`s now more common to use your own accent than not but nobody does it quite like Arab Strap. Poetic, sharp, angry, clever, funny storytelling that is structured to a tee with glorious guitars and a slowcore post-rock backdrop. This tune stuck with me most out of the brilliant ‘As Days Get Dark’ album probably due to a memorable music video. It tells the tale of Comus who sounds like a bit of a prick but it is Arab Strap back to their best and you should check out the album immediately if you haven’t already.

The Top 40 YCTR Countdown with 10-1 is coming very soon. In the meantime please consider subscribing to our youtube channel here

or supporting our patreon here

or following our spotify playlist here that is updated weekly with new music

And thank you to everyone who has helped us build a hing this year.

Best Songs of 2021 (Part Two …. 30- 20)#YCTR

You Call That Radio does podcasts, blogs, live events, and shares memes all thanks to our patreons at http://patreon.com/YouCallThatRadio

How are you supposed to make a list of anything? on a different day I would choose different songs in a different order but today is the day where I looked back at the YCTR Recommends playlist of 300 songs and tried to narrow it down to 40. So this is far from definitive counting down from 30-20 . Lists mean very little in the grand scheme of things but I thought it would be nice to reflect on my favourite tunes and give a wee shout-out to artists who brought a little bit of joy to my ears during this bin fire of a year.

30. Ember Quine - ‘Babe’

Some of you may recognize Ember Quine as the grungey rock star of Woodwife but during the cocoon of lockdown she emerged as an electro goth butterfly. Her production on the only single so far ‘Babe’ may be a bit slower and sparser-sounding than the rest of her live set but it gives her pitch-perfect and dramatic vocals more space to shine. ‘Babe, it`s gonna get better’ she reassuringly sings and we all hope she is correct. I am very much looking forward to seeing more releases from this alias in 2022 and you can get a sneaky peak of what to expect from this live session she did for us earlier in the year here .

29. Gallus - ‘What Do I Know’

The only thing holding Gallus back from world domination is that the planet is obviously on fire. When normality returns I expect these guys to tour extensively and people everywhere to love it. A great band on record, even better in the flesh. Perfect indie-pop bangers with a post-punk edge perfectly poised over the listener and a timely release when needed to be administered. You will hopefully see them at South by South West in Texas as stage 1 of breaking America comes into fruition.

28. Poolhaus feat. Rowetta - ‘Feel the Rush’

One of the highlights of the year for You Call That Radio was Rowetta of Happy Mondays fame stopping by for a chat on our audio podcast which you can listen to here . was a great honour to get the craic with her and it coincided with this banger being released into the wild. A classic slice of rave culture that could get any dance floor bouncing with the trademark vocals of Rowetta sounding as powerful as ever, raising it up and literally making the listener feel the rush.

37. Grove- ‘Fuck Ur Landlord’

I played a set at Hidden Door festival earlier this year and was advised by the legend that is Roberta Pia (Grrl Crush/ Banana Sessions) that I HAD BETTER GO SEE GROVE . And boy was she right. I was absolutely blown away by the energy of the Bristolian-based duo. The crowd was in a dancey trance by a next-level performance and the variety of influences throughout their beats. Gritty, dark, LOUD! with an uncompromising vocal style and lyrical content. The crowd was blasted by bottled-up rage exploding alongside a therapeutic blast of endorphins. This was the standout track as the set came to a grand finale as the accent east coast audience combined with the southern cry of ‘off!off!off! off with their heads!’ . The Queer + Black EP is an instant classic. Go check it out and expect huge things from Grove in 2022.

36. Capitol 1212 feat. Earl 16- ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’

Probably The first and likely the last ever cover version that makes an end of year list. I like to focus on original music but that is exactly what this is. They have taken a Joy Division classic and created a new universe around it with crisp production, perfect structure, with a haunting vocal. It takes on a whole new life of its own with a dub backdrop and I have played it on vinyl a good few times this year as a happy alternative to watching the news.

35. Rubber Rose- ‘Worship the Crone’

Leeds-based Rubber Rose burst onto the scene this year wowing audiences up and down the country with their unique grungey indie-rock complemented by a pop sensibility of excellent songwriting. Mixing youthful energy with mature concepts, They also boast Scottish singer/ songwriter Josephine Sillars on keys. I would expect them to take the festival season by storm next year.

34. Declan Welsh & The Decadent West - ‘Talking to Myself’

The rise of these guys has been a sight to behold from my early meetings with them at open mic nights to a famous Deoch an Dorus festial performance, they certainly put the work in for years. However, it seems like by not playing gigs their stock grew in the absence of live shows. Before lockdown- playing the intimate poetry club at SWG3 to a game-changing performance at TRSMT this July which helped spearhead a sold-out SWG3 Galvinsers show later in 2021, there seems to be no stopping this meteoric rise. Declan is a master songwriter taking influences from all the greats and bringing it up to the modern-day. I can hear Arctic Monkeys, The View, and Pulp in the mix, and the occasional glimpse of Amazing Snakeheads in there too when they really got for it. One of Scotland’s great Indie-rock hopes which are also underlined by a razor-sharp ear for a great lyric, whilst being unafraid to tackle societal issues which sets them apart from many of their contemporaries.

33. Dry Cleaning- ‘Strong Feelings’

Florence Shaw has quickly become the narrator of 2021. Calm & composed spoken-word delivery while the rest of the world loses its head, she holds a mirror up to the unexpected, the ludicrous, and the frustrations of post-modern life. The whole band build on her words of wisdom and keep thing ever-changing and interesting. They have had a very succesful year and you can be sure it will just get wilder and stranger and louder from here on in.

32. VLURE- ‘Show Me How to Love Again’

I think the last gig I went to before last year’s lockdown was VLURE supporting the Murder Capital . I had big expectations after hearing about their infamous live shows and they delivered big time. A proper explosion of noise and a truly great frontman. They are post-punk at it`s most frantic, frightening, and loud. Underneath the anger you can hear the emotion, passion and poetry rippling underneath. 6 Music already loves them so hopefully they can get a good string of uninterrupted live dates behind them next year as they will blow pwople’s minds at home and abroad.

31. Little Simz feat. Obongjayar - ‘Point & Kill’

Little Simz has been killing it for a long time now and is finally get that mainstream international recognition she deserves. I am in awe of her wordplay, her depth of storytelling, and her live execution vocally. So many classics to choose from the ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ album that dropped earlier this year but there is something about ‘Point & Kill’ that just transcends almost anything I have heard for a long time. Obongjayar is the perfect foil for this absolute grade A banger of a track. The beat is on another level and the music video is a short film of much greatness. Check it out here if you haven’t already seen it for yourself.

30. Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5- ‘Ted Dancin’

The stand-out track from ‘The Difficult Number 2’ and one of the biggest earworms of the year. We had the guys play our YCTR live stream gig at Captureworks in the spring time at the height of lockdown. No audience was permitted that night but they still brought the usual fun and energy that entertained the sound crew, myself and hundreds of people tuned in on their internet. The next day, I woke up hungover with the song stuck in my head and Tam the Van took me back to the venue to return our backline and the song appeared on Sunny Govan FM . The song has followed me ever since. It now lives inside my head. For better or worse. Normally, for the better though and especially if it`s times like Lindisfarne Festival where they performed it to a packed tent of ted dancers. Love the horns especially on this track. The production is on point and John’s snarl of ‘I'm uncontrollably dancing now’ is iconic in a live setting. Watch a bit of their Captureworks gig here.

The Top 40 YCTR Countdown with 20-11 very soon. In the meantime please consider subscribing to our youtube channel here

or supporting our patreon here

or following our spotify playlist here that is updated weekly with new music

And thank you to everyone who has helped us build a hing this year.

The Best Songs of 2021 (40- 30) #YCTR

You Call That Radio does podcasts, blogs, live events and memes all thanks to our patreons at http://patreon.com/YouCallThatRadio

How are you supposed to make a list of anything? on a different day I would choose different songs in a different order but today is the day where I looked back at the YCTR Recommends playlist of 300 songs and tried to narrow it down to 40. So this is far from definitive and lists mean very little in the grand scheme of things but I thought it would be nice to reflect on my favourite tunes and give a wee shout-out to artists who brought a little bit of joy to my ears during this bin fire of a year.

40. The Moods feat. Yoko Pwno - ‘Blessings’

A collaboration between Manchester and Edinburgh as two of my favourite live acts came together to create a surprisingly retro , old skool rave vibe for ‘Blessings’. Technically the video dropped in the final days of December 2020 but it was cemented with a proper album release in 2021 when it appeared on The Moods seminal album ‘Somebody’s Hero, Nobody’s Soldier’ . The Moods came to Scotland in August to play the cancelled Doune the Rabbit Hole to an empty field that we live-streamed on our youtube channel . They still kept that energy they are renowned for and you can watch that back here

39. T3xtur3- ‘Origins’

It`s hard to pick a favourite from Bram’s stunning dystopian, sci-fi hip hop epic ‘ILLVMINATE’ but this one jumped out at me as I listened back today. The whole album saw him level up over Asthmatic Astronauts production and become more melodic and angrier than ever before. Nobody else can hold a torch to his vocabulary where he paints well thought out depictions of a planet on fire. Some of the flows breeze from spoken word to boom bap to grime and even drill while the beat s remain layered and consistent throughout.

38. Spiritualised- ‘Always Together With You’

During a particularly stressful day in 2021 (and there was a few of those) , I heard that distinctive voice of Jason Pierce beam out a taxi driver’s radio like a beacon of hope as the opening lyrics ‘If you want a radio I would be a radio for you’ set out their stall. It is everything I would hope and dreamed of a new Spiritualised song to sound like . I immediately went home and blared the back catalogue at full volume which was a much-needed trip into simpler times. It`s a textured, heartfelt ray of positivity with enough of an edge to sum up a good day in a bad year. Outstanding!

37. Midnight Ambulance - ‘Black Gloves’

They seemingly came out of nowhere during lockdown and have made a big splash since live gigs returned earlier this year. I have no idea what kind of witchcraft is involved to play the drums so ferociously whilst singing so sweetly but she somehow does it as distorted guitars blaze over the top. This duo seemed to have been making big moves the last few weeks by touring with the likes of Fatherson and Pigeon Detectives plus getting critical acclaim and big radio plays. Defo ones to watch for 2022.

36. Calum Easter- ‘System’

It has been a joy to see Calum Easter evolve over the years. I am never really sure what to expect when I click that play button and that’s what sets him apart from most. ‘We want a system that looks you in the eye‘ he exclaims over a musical backdrop of what sounds like a hybrid between a bluesy jazz bar and the best circus you never went to. Both his and the backing vocals take it to some kind of Screamadelica heights while maintaining a unique presence, jaunty keys, and an on-point message.

35. Mog - ‘Keep North’

Mog has long been considered one of Scotland’s best emcees and underrated writers around. With an unbelievable, neverending back catalogue and zero social media presence, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep up with all the records he makes. This year he made a cracking collab album with Y.B (Young Brido) , a sharp concept album in ‘Pot of Frogs’ and various other stand-alone releases. I picked this one due to the beat by Nity Gritz and lyrically Mog is on fire as ever. He also is currently touring with a live rock band called The Ducks . You Can watch a full set they did for our youtube channel over here .

34. Bronze Nazareth- ‘The Precipice’

One of the most legendary Hip Hop producers on the planet Bronze Nazareth has made albums with the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Kxng Crooked, and Canibus but on the new ‘Ekphrasis ‘ L.P he has left the beats to Roc Marciano and focussed on his pen game and flows. Spitting fire from start to finish. I chose this track because it`s the one I have played most. Effortless on the mic , and fitting complex rhymes together perfectly like a jigsaw The album gets better with each listen as well thought out wordplay reveals itself. We also has the pleasure of chatting to Bronze on our podcast which you can watch here

33. Memes- ‘Heavy Night’

One of Scotland’s most exciting, new bands right now Memes takes us on a journey through their ‘Heavy Night’ which involves leaving ‘Their heart in San Fransico, Left my nose in some shit disco’ . But you will be glad to know they are alright, alright, alright. Fun, frantic and demands your attention. I still haven’t managed to see them live yet but hope to put that right in 2022 because this sounds like a good night out. They have the songs and the buzz so expect big things.

32. Steve Duffield- ‘Blood Flows’

You are probably most familiar with Steve’s phenomenal work from The Beta Band’s seminal ‘The Three E.Ps’ which is probably the greatest piece of music I have ever heard. In recent years, Steve has been reunited with Steve Mason for tours and recordings while also playing in numerous other projects including Janitors, Rems , Knave, Milton Underground Resistance & much more. So it was a pleasant surprise when I woke up one-day scrolling through my phone and saw that he had begun a new solo project. It`s a beautifully crafted song that transports you to somewhere peaceful and otherworldly for the full 3 minutes and 16 seconds. Defo one for Beta Band fans but I can hear a host of influences (perhaps Mercury Rev? Pink Floyd? ) combining to create something truly unique.

32. Post Coal Prom Queen feat. Conscious Route- Dragon’s Jaw

The band formerly known as L Space made a lot of waves this year with big live shows and a host of new releases. This song features Conscious Route spitting some of his best lyrics yet, which is no small feat bearing in mind how much he has released over the years. It`s my favourite track from the ‘Music for Hyper-Capitalists’ L.P which is set in the year 2050 or thereabouts and featured a host of vocalists telling a tale of futuristic dystopia over lush, weird synth-based compositions interspersed with an unsettling yet sometimes hilarious narrative of a job interview. I did one called ‘Familiar Foreword’ on there too . It was an honour to play a tiny part in such a brilliant project. You can hear the song I featured on over here .

31. W.H Lung - ‘Someone Like’

They dropped one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year in ‘Vanities’ and this is the song I keep coming back to. An instant anthem from an album of anthems that combines synth-pop, post-punk, and a wee bit of repetitive krautrock. They are making something interesting whilst still retaining an accessibility that should stand them in good stead over the coming years. I had a brief chat with them during their soundcheck at the Hug and Pint which you can watch here

The Top 40 YCTR Countdown will continue later in the week. In the meantime please consider subscribing to our youtube channel here or supporting our patreon here

Billy Nomates/ Meatraffle/ Minerva Wakes Live Reviews 21.10.21

Billy Nomates at Mono

crash landing into Mono under a wave of expectation and anticipation as Glasgow can barely believe that a real, actual gig is about to occur. For many I spoke to it had been over 18 months since they witnessed the rush of live music and the atmosphere is heightened by the fact it is Billy Nomates who is taking to the stage. An artist who gave us the greatest album of the shittest year and lit up the mundane drudgery of lockdown life. The question is how does it , and how can it, transfer to a live performance ?

Within a few minutes we are left in no doubt that this is the real deal, a ball of pure energy dancing to her own beat and flamethrowing concepts at the crowd with heartfelt honesty , razorsharp wit and note perfect delivery. The songs from the album have been brought to life and animated as an awestruck Glasgow crowd laps it up and cheers it on in this recently renovated Mono backdrop. I say recent but it`s been a few years since I witnessed a gig there so how recent I am not sure but tonight it is looking and sounding fantastic as BNM rattles through the best tracks from the album and treats us to tracks from the new 2021 E.P ‘Emergency Telephone’ with the stand out track ‘Heels’ feeling a fire alarm going off on a rocket ship that is escaping an apocalyptic earth.

I was already a huge fan of the electro-trip- pop- country tinged- punk banger uniquness of it all but this captivating live performance cements it not just for me but the sold out audience who give her a standing ovation which you can see for yourself here.

I feel lucky to have seen it unfold in such an intimate venue. ln actual fact, BNM returns to Glasgow on November 17th, 18th, 19th to play the best venue in the world , The Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom to support Sleaford Mods* and it will be good to see this stagecraft move onto a far larger stage where it belongs and should ultimately stay.

* I actually spoke to Jason of Sleaford Mods earlier in the year on You Call That Radio TV where we both spoke highly of Billy Nomates as well as their new album, lockdown living and much more which you can watch here

Meatraffle at The Flying Duck

On a similar theme from the BNM gig, this was my first foray into this venue for a long time . Much praise must go to The Flying Duck for showing the venue part of the space some TLC from the lights to the space and most importantly the sound . The couches at the back and the well placed bar seemed to improve it tenfold since I was last here and it was a perfect backdrop to seeing teh mighty Meatraffle live for the first time.

I have been listening to them for a few years now and we even had the honour of frontman Zsa Zsa’s company for some chat and live tunes on a recent episode of You Call That Radio TV which you can watch here but aye this was my live, in real life introduction. They create massive sounding psychadelic dub masterpieces with a dash of bastard doom jazz. There is always a nod to social commentary and political subjects as they scan the landscape that surrounds them but without ever going down a preachy sort of route. In fact , for most of the gig the music is allowed to do the talking with vast instrumentals that build and reverborate around the room with every vocal performance from each of them well placed and crucial to telling their story.

The crowd is having a blast , especially one particular lady at the front, and there is a feeling that we are witnessing something fresh and stubborn that is demanding our full attention. We can’t look away, nor would we want to . The hour seems to pass by in a flash and we climb out the basement stronger and wiser for what we have witnessed. A true band in all the senses capturing the very essence of rock n roll, bottling it and boomeranging it around a soundtrack of sleaze with their own unique sense of space and time.

Minerva Wakes at Hug n Pint

Pic credit: Becci Wallace

Ever since MInerva Wakes dropped her stunning debut album ‘Mirrored Moon’ in the spring of this year, the Scottish music scene has been beset by rumours of where it all came from. So the story goes is that Minerva is the goddess of war and chaos who returned to this dimension after thousands of years of hibernation while others say it is a new project from Jo D’arc of The Twistettes & Girobabies fame, a rumour which Jo has firmly denied. There was no press interviews and no live shows with one exception - a full album livestream performance which you can watch here but this was in a packed Hug n Pint where a real life audience would finally meet this witchy, glitchy, curious creature.

The visuals , lights and speakers combine to make a pulsating entrance as Minerva starts slow with almost accapella style poetry before some sort of Tricky meets Leftfield beat kicks in for the introduction of ‘Tell Me’ . The room shakes and the vocals dip and soar. The tension and release whirl round in circular seasons for the remainder as Minerva moves through a psychadelic yoga-like forcefield and bangs a full moon-like drum. This is not like anything anyone has seen before. The crowd are confused yet entranced as glitchy, witch-step beats calm then frustrate with occasional jagged dubstep jilts.

The lights shimmer then vanish into the darkness as the music grinds to a halt.

Minerva is gone but hopefully we don't need to wait thousands of years for the second gig.

Remember you can find songs from all these artists and many, many more at the YCTR recommends playlist below which is updated with the best new music in the world we can get our ears on including that new Jackal Trades x Morphamish joint below and please check out our youtube channel for almost daily new content .

Jo Call That Radio: New Music Alert by Jo D’arc 16.07.21

Jo D’arc is an artist who performs with The Twistettes, Minerva Wakes and The Girobabies plus various DJ alteregos . Today she takes over YouCallThat.Com to write about some of her favourite new music of the week including Amyl & The Sniffers, Mickey 9s, Josephine Sillars, L1 & Toni Smoke, Fontaines DC vs Dave Clarke, Victor Pope Band and Cede . All artists mentioned can be found in the YCTR Recommends playlist which you can follow here : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/176xiIFR0O964I6t2IV7ba?si=cf4ff8d4524d4627

Amyl and the sniffers – Guided by Angels (single)

As you would expect, the new track from Amyl and the Sniffers is a pure banger and I'm pretty keen for the forthcoming album which is out in September. A number of different people that saw this lots when they were touring in Scotland contacted me to say I had to hear them. I full heartedly agree - yas!

Known for frenzied, wild live shows the singer Amy Taylor is spectacular. She’s like Iggy Pop when he was heading up The Stoogies – full of blistering, enigmatic energy. The relentless drive of the band encompasses this energy and projects it forward in a spray of jagged sounds and edgy riffs. This track is talking about energy and being guided by ‘angels’ and the repetitive grind of the lyric really makes me think about the drive and flow of creating and performing music and how it's something that bubbles up almost of its own accord and could even appear to come from outside you – but it's not – it's you doing it (or is it?!). I'm not sure if that’s what she’s talking about – it could as easily be talking about drugs or actual freakin angels!

I love that this band genuinely don’t seem to give a fuck. I love that they challenge the ideas about what a rock band should look like and be. I love that they seriously ‘bring it’ to every show. And I am so buzzing to see them smashing it out live sometime. So up my street this jazz is.

Fontaines DC – ‘Televised Mind (Dave Clarke Remix) ‘

Techno legend Dave Clarke has remixed one of my favorite Fontaines DC songs and I love it. Expect this in a DJ set from me imminently! This track tickles me in the exactly right spot mixing two of my big musical love affairs – punk and techno. The singer in Fontaines DC is a poet disparately punctuating relentless guitars with beautifully sparse social commentary.

Dave starts with a pounding disco-vibe that slowly gets darker and punkier as the track unfolds. Edgy crashes and clangs lead us to the introduction of the vocal where the words are given space while the production gently continues to build the tune. Some cool acidic sounds bounce around mid-way which I'm always a sucker for. I really enjoy dance music that changes and moves, keeping things interesting. My ADHD brain can’t cope with too much repetition, though sometimes the subtlest change is enough. A little acid leads the way for the rugged guitar sound injecting some rawness from the original track. It brings the vocal a new dimension when combined with the jagged over-driven strumming, as do the live drums that come pounding in toward the end of the track. In fact, by the last few bars of the tune has pretty much merged from tech to punk. So very cool.

Josephine Sillars – ‘Desperate Characters’

The latest from Josephine Sillars really takes her artistry to a new level. It’s stylistically eclectic with content thats impactful and bold. I'm loving the move to embrace more electronic beats. The tracks on this EP sound experimental yet accessible. There is something almost spoken word/rap-like about some of the vocals interspersed by moments of juxtaposition like a soaring choir or sample of someone telling a story. Moving from the clean fresh vocals in one moment to a heavily produced and layered vocal sound builds contrast that’s pretty lush.

Theres something of Kae Tempest, Katy B, Bjork and Kate Bush coming through here. Its really cool and I'm very much looking forward to what comes next.

https://open.spotify.com/album/42HNeouAPnDArRpsfCf9fX

The Victor Pope Band - ‘Smoke and Mirrors’

The latest track from Victor Pope Band is asking ALL the questions. Quite likely at least a few of these contemplation have passed through your mind at some point or other. Some topical, some political, some silly but all relevant and there is something comforting about hearing someone else ask these questions. A sense of belonging and identity is created in our identification with the questions which, is something I feel this band are particularly good at. The music is mostly upbeat, fun and danceable while lyrically it can be simple, witty and poignant all at once which is not easy to achieve.

This track is from the new album ‘The Theory of Being Nice’ which is full of great tunes that range from funny to touching to silly to astute. Check it out!

Cede – ‘Pain Sells’

Cede is a brand-new project from the musical power-house that is Becci Wallace. Always with an intriguing lyric or expertly crafted hook Becci’s music is always a joy to listen to. This project see her collaborate with the very talented Alan Kerr and the pair dally down a folky path combining beautifully crafted guitar pieces and captivating vocal hooks.

As the voices dance between male and female they create images and tell stories as all good folk music does. The EP has an uplifting energy mixed with that necessary hint of melancholy needed to make music interesting. For me the stand out track is 'Call of the Void' with its simple melodic movements bouncing from guitar to vocals and back again. Quite captivating. The whole EP is pretty damn good though – go listen. Fantastic.

Out now on Bandcamp and Spotify

Cede play there debut live gig at Room 2 on Saturday 25th August. Get tickets here - http://room-2.co.uk/events/room-2-summer-sessions-2/

Micky 9’s - ‘Modern Kunst’

The latest album from Glasgow’s epic dance-punk-indie-electro hybrid. This album reminds me of a lot of my favourite electro producers who bridge the gap between rock and dance music. Feels of acts like ‘Daft Punk’, ‘Justice’, ‘Soulwax’, LCD Soundsystem, MGMT and ‘Hot Chip’ are strong here. Though you can still hear the indie-rock influence – in fact, some bits in this album sound more furiously punky than ever before. The production is brilliant and really enhances the drive and flow of the album. It really does sound cracking.

Having not bounced about at a sweaty live gig for toooooo long, this album is almost difficult to listen to cause it incites that feeling of wild abandonee us gig-goers have been missing. On the plus side the first Mickey 9’s gig post-lock-down might literally blow the roof of the place with this as its sound-track. I honestly can’t pick stand out tracks as I love it all. The lyrics in kids ‘your grans in the slam tent, your maws in the snake pit, your da’s in the polis van’ are freakin brilliant. The nod to Ol dirty bastard is cool in ‘Raw’ as is the chant ‘turn up the bass I like it’ as the bass rips up the track. The edgy techno sounds juxtaposed with Pixies like guitar in ‘Black Hole Soul’ is excellent. I could go on and on cause its just really good but I'll not. Go play this loud. Close your eyes. Dance. Dance. Dance.

Check it out on Spotify here

And check out the exclusive interview that the boys did on You Call That Radio TV here

L1 & Toni Smoke- ‘I Swear I`m Not Crazy’

L1 is an Australian rapper based in Melbourne and today she launches her long awaited debut album with Scottish producer Toni Smoke. And it’s a banger.

Thoughtful lyrically, the album is seeped in self reflection. It talks about politics, relationship, self improvement, partying and other relatable topics. Her flow is on form.

The production is beautifully done managing to sound pretty diverse while maintaining continuity within the album which isn't always easy to achieve. Lots of piano loops and nice samples alongside some edgy bass make it a pretty cool sounding record.

Check out the album on Spotify or buy it on Bandcamp

L1 and Toni Smoke also joined us on You Call That Radio TV to chat about the process of making an album over lockdown from the other side of the planet as each other here:

YouCallThat.com is a blog, a podcast and an internet TV show that also specialises in live events . We do it all with no funding, sponsors or adverts and are powered purely by our patreons so if you want to help us create more content then please consider donating the price of a pint or a coffee over here http://patreon.com/youcallthatradio

The Last Night In : Stanley Odd Bring the Leith Theatre to your Living Room.

It seems like shreds of normality are returning to the oddest times in living history. Yesterday, I felt immense gratitude that I managed to go for a meal in a restaurant with some family I hadn’t seen in a very long time and last weekend I managed to drink a cold draught pint, in the pishing rain, alone, coz my pal stood me up. Just like the good old days eh? I even got a haircut and very thankful for it. That`s how low the expectations bar is for stuff and hings these days. I appreciate all of that , especially getting back into the studio to record the forthcoming Jackal Trades album ‘At This Point’ that covers my thoughts on the craziness of the last year or so. Added to that, bookers are booking again and the music scene is showing glimmers of mild, cautious optimism for the return of nights out…. Which brings us to ‘The Last Night In’

Like all bands, Stanley Odd will have felt the financial pinch of lost revenue and more importantly the loss of identity that all live performers are speaking of at the moment. I remember Stanley Odd already making moves shortly before I made my first foray into live music with The Girobabies . This is a band who I have seen grow and transform into one of Scotland’s most important live bands . They are fun to watch , they have political and emotional messages that resonates and what seals their importance for me is their self-styled ‘Gateway to Scottish Hip Hop’ vibes that have turned thousands on to a scene that is often ignored. They make music that is accessible to enjoy at all levels , and complex and clever the further you peel the layers. They somehow managed to create what may very well go down as album of the year with all the challenges that lockdown provided. You can hear some of the odd squad speak about the process on this recent interview they did on You Call That Radio TV here

You could also hear the excitement in their voice as they described performing the new album from start to finish at Leith Theatre in what they have delightfully titled ‘The Last Night In’ . That Last Night in is tonight with the virtual doors opening at 8.30pm over here . I have seen some clips and photos and it looks like it is going to be a masterclass of an audio - visual experience. The pubs might be open but only outdoors and there is too many rules to have a propetr night out yet so I will be choosing the last night in and really hope the first proper night out is not too far away. With the advances in technology , and live streaming, we have witnessed I suspect that we may have many more nights in to enjoy to compliment the nights out. We have done our best to bring live music to the living room whether it has been our Live from Captureworks nights or the recent Jackal Trades set from Immersive TV. I have been blown away by the determination and skills that certain artists and tech people have managed to build over the most challenging blow to the music scene in the history of forever .

Tonight, I will get to see one of my favourite bands on the big tele with the good speakers . Cheap beer , no masks and no ques for the toilet. I will saviour the last night in and dream of the first night out. Join me by getting a ticket over here: smarturl.it/LastNightInTix

Tickets are fairly priced at £10 if you can , £5 if your skint, Free if you have no money and £20 if yer feeling flush. Please put some pennies in the kitty if you can afford it but really appreciate them going that extra mile and making this historic show available for everyone regardless of income.

You can also check out their new album from bandcamp here: https://stanleyodd.bandcamp.com

and finally to add to your weekend, James Price is launching his world premiere collab with Sopranos Superstar 'Chris Moltisanti' aka Michael Imperioli shortly beforehand at 7pm over here:
solidagoproductions.com 

And if you need a last night in curer tomorrow then check out Jo D’arc and her publishing labels Wordville poetry readings from 6pm. I have secret links for all You Call That Radio punters. Just send me a message on here, or any of our social medias and I will sort you out.

You Call That Radio TV returns to your screens on Tuesday with the icredible tale of Marianne Mandy who came from Kenya to Ayrshire to share her musical talent with Scotland and then lockdown happened . Set your reminders here and see you then

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Jo Call That Radio …. Music Reviews by Jo D’arc feat. LOUD WOMEN, She Drew The Gun, Ember Quine, Jackal Trades, Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 (07.05.21)

Jo D’arc playing bass for Girobabies at Kelburn 2019. Pic by Martin Windebank

Jo Call That Radio?

So as you may have deduced from the smooth title, I'm going to do a 'Jo D'arc' guest blog once a month for 'You Call That Radio?'. It'll be a little snapshot of what's going into my ears and on in my mind. I am also hoping to host a monthly show on You Call That Radio TV too so stay tuned for an announcement soon on that.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a musician, writer, producer/DJ and artist currently based in Glasgow where I'm also a passionate community worker and activist. I sing and play bass guitar in alternative art-punk band The Twistettes and social commentary fuelled dystopian gutter rock act Girobabies as well as DJ’ing a variety of music - from techno to doo-wop. My latest musical incarnation is experimental electronic project Minerva Wakes which sits somewhere between lush trip-hop and gritty dubstep. The Minerva Wakes project also includes an art collection and pamphlet containing a short story and poetry all telling the tale of the Goddess Minerva awakening.

This month I've got some chat about some new releases that are out over the next couple of weeks starting with ….

She Drew The Gun - ‘Cut Me Down’

One of my favourite acts, She Drew the Gun is limbering up to release new album 'Behave Myself'. Louisa Roach describes herself as ''Working class, socialist, feminist, mother of one. Writes the songs, shreds the solos.” Yasss!!

She is a powerhouse, always with a poignant lyric that may incite bursts of angst fuelled motion in the listener as readily as a tear shed at the sheer beauty of the simple eloquence of her delivery.

New single 'Cut Me Down' continues in this vein. A call to action. For the future. For all our daughters. Articulated by the fuzzed out guitar and driving bass, somehow the track remains gritty and raw while incorporating some seriously lush production. The snare sounds like a gunshot forcing home the point made by the powerful yet dreamy layered vocal. I love it.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1RSuVtLwwTu8Q9poiMIfL6

This song and all Jo’s Picks also appears on the You Call That Radio 2021 playlist that you can like and follow here which features all the best tunes we have found so far. this year and is constantly updated every Friday

You Can also see the exclusive You Call That Radio interview with She Drew the Gun below. A fascinating interview to her background, her song writing and influences.

Ember Quine - ‘Babe’

I'm pretty excited about the first release from Ember Quine. This very cool project see's Woodwife's enigmatic badass front woman play with an electronic sound that is pretty freakin great!

Her vocal range both musically and emotionally is captivating. An operatic goth afterparty leaning towards the edgier side of the likes of Kate Bush and Tori Amos but sounding only like Ember Quine. The beat and glitchy backing vocal is beautifully crafted experimental electro goth with vibes of Tentmoller, Royksopp and The Knife. There is an 'almost-pop' element to the vocal hook that adds contrast and listenability.

The video is also a great piece of art and adds a depth of meaning that we can all identify with right now. I sense there will be lots more to come from Ember Quine and I can't wait to hear it!

The single is out now so go get your ears around it!

The song is also available on Spotify here
And you can see Ember Quine doing a live set from her living room on You Call That Radio here

LOUD WOMEN - ‘Reclaim These Streets’

If you like alternative, powerful, political music with a point to make AND loads of amazing womxn (and those who identify) then this is going to blow your mind!

Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama, Shakespears Sister), Brix Smith (The Fall) and Patsy Stevenson (the woman pictured forced to the ground at the Clapham Common vigil) join more than 60 female vocalists for a “feminist Band Aid” charity single released by the UK collective LOUD WOMEN in aid of UK charity Women’s Aid.

This is a driving alt-rock banger with a soaring catchy chorus that demands the listener will be singing 'Reclaim These Street's' on loop for days to come - which is exactly what we want. The song was written by LOUD WOMEN’s founder and musician Cassie Fox and features a spoken word/rap section written and performed by Brix Smith which, I must confess, is pretty epic. The lyrics will ring true for most womxn and it's beautiful to see the underground (and not so underground) music scene lend its collective voice to echo and amplify what has been said by so many over the past couple of months regarding womxn's safety on the streets.

Instrumentation is provide by a female and non-binary supergroup with members of My Bloody Valentine, Salad and punk band T-Bitch. The contributing vocalists form a who’s who of women in the alternative music scene who have played with bands like Curve, Echobelly, Big Joanie, Dream Nails, The Tuts, Petrol Girls and many many more.

The single is out on 14th May and you can buy it here -

Jackal Trades- ‘March to March’

This is the 3rd single from Jackal Trades who are getting ready to launch their forthcoming 3rd album titled ‘At This Point’. All the 3's. Magic Mark takes us through a wormhole reflecting the past year in his signature accessible eloquence. Lyrically cerebral and gritty in equal measures, we're taken on a journey that moves back and forward between different opinions and frustrations through the pandemic.

The beat, produced by Konchis aka Jet$am (with a few extra touches by Morphamish and Gordy Duncan JR) has a menacing texture while still holding an uplifting element woven into the deep grooves. its quite easy to lose yourself in the loop. this is the perfect accompaniment to the lyrical content.

The take-away message from this song brings some light from the darkness. My idealist mind would love to think that regardless of how people got there, questioning is good. The ideal that we will march together one day united is a bit of light reprieve from the beautiful darkness of the track.

the song can be downloaded now as part of the album pre-order on bandcamp here

or you can pre-save the song on Spotify here

The full album will be released on all platforms on June 1st

Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 - ‘This is Your House’

Harking back to the hay-day of rave culture, this track requires everyone to create a make-shift dance floor wherever they are and get their wiggle on. Featuring a cameo by the one and only Mary Kiani of TTF fame (legend!) injecting some authentic old skool vibes. Antz (DopeSickFly) adds some soulful style as the track reminds us 'this is your house'. The track is obviously a nod to house music and dance culture but there are so many take-aways from that simple line - 'you are welcome here', 'we are all in this together', 'look after the planet', 'look after each other'. I can't wait to sing this at the top of my lungs.

This is the single that launches the Mustards second album 'The DiffiCULT Number 2' which is a classic. One of the most fun live bands in the world, the new album does a great job of capturing the energy of a live show and though nothing compares to 'Crossing the Road' on mass and the hilarity that creates, the album is a danceable joy from start to finish.

Watch Mary Kiani’s amazing interview on You Call That Radio TV here

Watch Colonel Mustard discuss the Difficult Number Two on You Call That Radio TV here  

New Music Alert 09.04.21 featuring Beak>, Mog, Jen Athan, GSYBE, Louise DaCosta, Rudebeard, Slippery Trashmouf

Another week of fantastic new music , You can fuind all these songs and much more on our YCTR 2021 playlist here that you should follow or even share if your feeling generous. The more that follow , the more people hear the great music that we discover on YouCallThat.Com and You Call That Radio TV . We update it every week and 2021 has produced some gems already but here is a few below I had to write about .

‘I Love Me, I Love Me Not’ EP by Jen Athan

The queen of ‘Sad Girl Pop‘ is back with a new E.P and sounding better than ever. Some keen eyed viewers of You Call That Radio TV may recognise her from the ‘That’s What She Said: Unviable’ special hosted by Becci Wallace where she joined in the panel discussion and played a stunning live session. The EP is unashamedly pop and probably a bit more pop than you are used to on the show or on this website but the point is I don’t have anything against good pop music and this is certainly top notch. She also writes it all, plays all the instruments and produces it herself whilst also self-releasing it so it fits into a more DIY punk ethos in my book. There is Authentic emotion in this despite self-aware words to the contrary on one of the songs.

I hear similarities to some of Beck’s more electro-pop stuff in there whom I love. The song structures and arrangements are flawless and the heartfelt delivery of the lyrics get the big thumbs up from me. There is three songs to enjoy right now on Spotify , Bandcamp and all the usual places.

"Once daily or as perscribed." - Trashmouf's meds packetFind Slippery Trashmouf:https://linktr.ee/slipperytrashmouf​​Merch:https://goonmob.bigcartel.com​​Fil...

‘Stashbox’ by Slippery Trashmouf

One of Scotland’s best new wave rappers returns with a short but sweet track that shows his impressive rhyming schemes and understanding of the craft. It also makes you want to buy psychedelic threads and roll big fat joints. His clothing brand is available from here , you will need to sort the joints out for yourself. So much potential from this guy and he seems to have the skill sets and be hungry enough to make some big moves when normal service resumes. In the memetime, he also has a plethora of self-serving and hilarious memes if you follow his facebook over here . His back catalogue is best listened to on Spotify and best watched on his SpeakSleazy youtube channel here .

Beak〉- 'Oh Know'Beak〉made a new song during lockdown last year called, 'Oh Know'. It's not being released as a single, they just wanted you to know that they...

‘Oh Know ‘ by Beak〉

I have started making a playlist called ‘First Party after Lockdown’ and this is exactly the kind of thing that I will be needing to play at high volumes to a room full of people. They blew me when I saw them at Doune the Rabbit Hole in 2019 and I can’t get enough of them right now especially this new video / single that appeared on their new youtube channel. Beak> often get the experimental tag thrown at them and I get that because they are doing something so unique and fresh with electronic music that it is hard to explain what they do without use of the word ‘experimental’ . Don’t let that tag fool you. These songs , to my ears at least, are 100% accessible and the structures weave like if this is an experiment then it is obviously an experiment that these mad professors have conducted in secret alchemy, a million times , for thousands of years in a remote mountain cave with huge speakers , In Bristol. Absolute banger. 10/10 from me. If you enjoy this then add yourself to the Beak> fan club over here and check out more of their weird, massive, danceable tunes on Spotify here

We've waited so long for this, twenty years and more...Scotland's men finally return to the finals of a major football tournament, inspiring the musicians of...

‘The Big Yes EP’ by Rudebeard

Frantic, high energy ska mixed with down n dirty rock n Roll , topped off with a razor sharp Scottish wit, The track I added to the playlist is ‘Better Than A Smack in the Puss (Better than a Kick in the Baws)’ but it could easily have been any of the others . Lyrics such is ‘I never used to look after my body but last night I eat a bit of fruit’ on ‘Things are Getting Better’ to the official Scotland Euros theme song ‘Toe-pokes and Tragedies’ lamenting the highs and lows of being a Scottish football fan. Mostly lows lets be honest. I am old enough to remember us going 1-0 up against Brazil for a short while, That McFadden goal and our recent qualification but it’s usually SHITE BEING SCOTTISH. Hopefully the players listen to Rudebeard before they take to the pitch in June. It will certainly hype them up and definitely put them in a good mood. Check the full 5-track EP out now on Spotify here

All credit and monetization is to go to Godspeed You! Black Emperor and any associated acts/labels.▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Full Album (BandCamp): https://godspeedy...

 G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! (FULL ALBUM) by Godspeed You Black Emperor

Continuing on from that happy , high energy humorous theme we have the new album from Godspeed You Black Emperor. Joyous , 2 minute pop classics that bring everyone together in perpetual harmony is the name of the game here. Big hooks, catchy choruses and rhyme-tastic verses. The perfect music to play when your getting ready to go out for your first lockdown-pint . Cheezey, formulaic and radio friendly , you can expect to hear them all over Radio 1 and Clyde FM every day as the sound of the summer.                                        None of the above is true at all . I think I am using sarcasm the way what NME writers used to. To be fair to NME it is how I discovered these guys another lifetime ago. They make the strangest soundscapes perfect for a horror film or high intensity movie soundtrack. There is no rules here. They do what they want and thank fuck for that . It's unflinching, terrifying but somehow reassuring. You can check it out on the youtube video above or on Spotify here or on bandcamp here

‘All For The Disco’ by Louise DaCosta

Someone who is most definitely bringing those high energy danceable vibes is Irish DJ/ Producer Louise DaCosta with her brand new summery anthem ‘All For the Disco’ . This time last year , my band were still expecting to go on a European tour, I was looking forward to festival season and normal life resuming. fast forward 12 months and my expectations have lowered so much that I only dream about getting one pint of draught lager , and a haircut. But today listening to this tune in a semi-sunny day in Glasgow , I imagine an all night nightclub on a Spanish balcony overlooking the beach as this funky house gem blares out the speakers. Let us dare to dream. I was recently introduced to Louise during our St. Patrick’s Day special on You Call That Radio TV where she joined us for a chat and a tune. Check out Louise DaCosta on Spotify and Instagram.

Off the back of his ‘Pot of Frogs’ L.P he recently released made with Konchis, Mog returns with what seems to be a standalone track recorded at S.O.S studios. There is always an element of mystery to a guy who shuns social media but this is one of his most biblical scriptures yet. One of Scotland’s greatest poets who has been criminally overlooked over the last decade or so. Effortless delivery with top tier penmanship means that he has the ability to simplify the most complex philosophies or emotions of the human condition with one killer line. You can download the song on Bandcamp here or check it on Spotify here . Rumour has it he is working on an album with his newest incarnation The Ducks who You Call That Radio was lucky to welcome onto our Halloween Captureworks show which you can watch below .

To celebrate the release of Mog & Konchis' new album 'Pot of Frogs' we are streaming a live set where Mog and his band The Ducks play a greatest hits set . G...

And finally as always this blog, this website and You Call That Radio TV has no sponsors, funding or adverts . we are powered purely by our patreons. If you would like to support what we do then consider joining the Mince n Tatties crew for only £3 per month and get yourself some access to bonus content and giveaways as well supporting the hing that we are building . I will leave you with the updated YCTR playlist for 2021. Stay safe and see you tonight for our INTERACTIVE PUB QUIZ and some of the shows lined up for April

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Doghouse Will Ruin Your Brain

When Doghouse was the frontman of Sicknote , he toured Europe rocking , confusing and wowing crowds. Since Sicknote departed this green earth, it seems nothing has changed. Pre-Covid Doghouse ticked all those boxes. Watching his new One hour film, I had to write something as I doubt it will appear in The Guardian. Doghouse makes art for the underground’s underground. It’s not for everyone, it is for the weirdos, the party goers and those who are simply sick of the never-ending tripe we are fed through generic television and radio sets. But it if you who is reading this want to find it where you fit in that imaginary scale I just created then watch this below…. but first read my description before that underneath that please… or just fuck off and watch Doghouse right away. Or simply fuck off coz you have already realised you are a big feartie

One hour DOGHOUSE special for Clownfest 5Spring has sprung so let's take this thing outside.

Dunno where to begin. Rabbits shagging? Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas nods over mental psychedelic green screens? The infamous ‘Bavarian Beer Garden’? Sheeps giving birth? romance ? Michael Fish and Dominic Cummings enjoying Spring? performing at Stonehenge with broken vocal chords? The Pope making small talk? But I think the best part of watching this is remembering that someone on facebook who went down a Qanon wormhole recently referred to him as ‘a mainstream sheeple’?

I mean , really?

A sheeple he ain’t . This has a whole DIY DMT Disney musical vibe to it, with lyrics such as ‘reject the crown, embrace the clown’ . So many electro bangers delivered with that familiar growl he takes into new and interesting territories. A sharp wit , attention for detail and he deserves all the praise in the world for managing to make an hour worth of new visual and musical art during the space of a few weeks while many fretted over banana bread recipes . This is definitely made on zero budget but by using clever editing and bringing his imagination to the forefront, the thread of the narrative bubbles along nicely as hooks are sang and words are spoken in a way that you can’t take your eyes or ears off it.

Check it out now and then run over to his Bandcamp to support his music

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A Spring in the Step Up

The sun is shining in Scotland so we thought we would share with you an ultimate playlist for sunny days to play in the park, the garden, your headphones, your balcony or your even in your bedroom with the curtains closed if you overdid hings yesterday. If you have any suggestions for songs to add to the list please leave them below. Yes you can spam yourself . That`s what the YCT is all aboot

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New Music Alert 02.04.21 w/ Becci Wallace, Stanley Odd, Minerva Wakes & More

Some of this weeks new releases , reviewed by You Call That Radio on YouCallThat.com

This is meant to be my week off and it’s sunny outside so this week’s round up will be briefer than the last couple of weeks . I couldn’t not write a hing though because there is too many dope releases dropping today and it’s Bandcamp Friday which means this is the best day of the month to support your favourite artists as Bandcamp takes no fee for any purchases for the next 24 hours, meaning more £ for the artists who created the music. So please download an album buy a t shirt if you can. If you can’t then you can hear all of the best new releases over on the YCTR Spotify playlist here which is updated weekly so remember to give that a like or a follow but as the next song clearly states ‘time waits for no man ‘ so let us begin

Written and Performed by Becci WallaceProduced by NovasoundVideo by Stephen Dewar VisualsVideo Featuring:Lily McGarveyMayah HerlihyJennifer DouglassShelltoe ...

‘Focus’ by Becci Wallace

First up we have this exceptional piece of work by Becci Wallace , produced by NovaSound Studios, that is the new single taken off the stunning ‘Present-Tense’ album which earned her the people’s vote for You Call That Radio’s solo-artist of the year. This is my favourite off the album and we have been lucky to hear it performed live a few times on YCTR as Becci made the odd appearance on our live video stream show throughout the last year of lockdown. The song itself is a fantastic introduction to all the many things Becci does so well. It is sheer poetry from a lyrical point of view with a catchy emotive hook that will earworm you into multiple listens,. Rhythmically, the verse bounces between spoken word and Hip Hop as the soundscapes into an epic piece of music. Visually Stephen Dewar captures the mood perfectly as Becci brings the song to life in Glasgow’s famous Barras Market and surrounding areas. First and foremost , Becci is a live performer and you can see that for yourself in the recent live session she recorded for us at Captureworks.

Taken from the brand new 'Present-Tense' album out now on :Bandcamp: becciwallace.bandcamp.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2kIviSnoGPyJ0mSG8sZaIWR...

It’s also worth mentioning that as well as creating one of the best albums of 2020 , Becci has managed to juggle parenthood , full time work while also finding time to host a weekly Sunday Songwriters group while also doing a few takeovers for You Call That Radio called That’s What She Said where she gives a platform for those who identify as females to showcase their music and opinions. You Can watch those back here, here and here .

The album is out now on Bandcamp here or Spotify here

Get STAY ODD + 56 page book now: http://stanleyodd.bandcamp.comProd by Dunt. Video by Gareth @ Danger Kill Productions.Lyrics:Ma head is a messTurned inside ...

‘Undo Redo’ by Stanley Odd

Dr Dave Hook aka Solareye returns with his Stanley Odd crew. What a year they have had . Constantly dropping new visuals ahead of their new album which is dropping soon as a digital download and lyric/ picture book called ‘Stay Odd: The Magic of Everyday Things’ . It`s another surprising twist from the odd squad. Your never really sure what you will get when you click that play button and this one starts off sombre before turning into a party banger with a nod to something along the lines of Calvin Harris era Dizzee Rascal. Absolute banger that would get constant commercial radio play rotation in any rational planet that wasn’t feart of a Scottish accent over electronic and/or hip hop beats. The song is a reflection of the highs of party time with the dark realties of what goes up must come down. Hook is as sharp lyrically as you would expect with Veronica Electronica being the perfect counter-vocal to his raps as the soundtrack takes you on many twists and turns. Great song, great video. Go and support the album and book for Bandcamp Friday over here

‘W.L’ by The Snuts
The Snuts have today dropped their much anticipated album and they really do seem to be like Scotland’s great hope for indie rock world domination. Listening to this as the sun shines through the window, it makes me want to go to a beach or a park and listen to it full blast on my headphones. I was lucky enough to see their historic gig at TRSMT in 2019 and it was clear to see then they were on the cusp of something special. And all the acclaim has been hard earned and well deserved. Perfect slices of pop and indie rock bangers combine to make something that is guaranteed to make a big splash in festivals and arenas across the planet. The song above I selected is ‘Somebody to Love’ where they used their music video budget to make a donation to the Scottish Refugee Council and instead just filmed it on mobile phones.

The album is out now on Spotify here and available on physical copies on their website here

Provided to YouTube by Emubands LtdDark Between Stars (feat. Sam West) (CHECK MASSES Remix) · Dunt · Sam WestDark Between Stars (feat. Sam West) (CHECK MASSE...

Nothing gets me much more hyped than an email from Glasgow record label Southside Deluxe . They choose their releases wisely so you know it’s bound to be something good before you even know which genre they are pulling you into . whether it’s the underground Hip Hop of Mistah Bohze n NC Epik, the future funk of Grace Clones or their newest offering Dunt , you know to expect the unexpected.

In the lead up to Dunt’s ‘Starter Pact’ L.P they have just released a Check Masses remix of ‘Dark Between Stars’ feat. Sam West. This is the first time that the supergroup have done a remix but am sure they won’t be short of further offers and requests after people hear this. Blissed out pop music that weaves a slightly unsettling backdrop as Sam West ‘s powerful vocals shine throughout.

I am excited to see what Dunt is cooking up for the next release as he has such a varied back catalogue one of my favourite’s being his production all over Solareye’s ‘All these People Are Me’ L.P and the dark electro pop of SHEARS . Go and check out more of Dunt on Southside Deluxe right now.

'Redefine' is the lead track from debut album 'Mirrored Moon' which just dropped at: https://minervawakes.bandcamp.comThe Minerva Wakes album part of a mult...

‘Redefine’ by Minerva Wakes

Another brand new vide that just dropped as I was writing this is this trippy introduction to Minerva Wakes who just dropped her debut L.P ‘Mirrored Moon’ on our sister record label Traffic Cone Records. I was actually assistant camera man for this one but can take no credit for how this turned out as it is an absolute masterclass in editing wizadry by the genius that is Martin Windebank.

The song itself is one of the highlights of a weird withcy glitchy trip step journey that is available on CD / digital and also comes with optional art print and short novel. It’s like nothing else you will hear this year, or ever. Give it a spin on Spotify here or celebrate Bandcamp Friday by treating yourself to something physical over here .

Provided to YouTube by Believe SASBorealis · Shogun · Britizen Kane · Turkish Dcypha · Tumay Salih · Joseph Heron · Andrew Preston · Turkish DcyphaBorealis℗ ...

‘Borealis’ by Britizen Kane & Shogun

There was so much more music that I would like to have reviewed today but the sunshine is calling me so I am away However, I just seen this pop up on my Spotify release radar and had to have a listen and couldn’t not give this a shout out. Most of you on here will already by familiar with Shogun who appeared on the YCTR Audio podcast last year which you can listen to here . The short back story is he went viral as a teenager with the impeccably written and delivered Vulcan, was arrested just before he went onstage to support Nas and after a wee bit of prison time bounced back and appeared on BBC’ s Rap Game TV show where he was clearly the best rapper on the show. Sticking to rules and his obvious disdain for authority were the only things that came between him and the win but I think it helped raise his profile , and that of Hip Hop from Scotland in general. A proper writer and exceptional live emcee. It’s only a matter of time and his recent collabs with Britizen Kane are certainly cementing that position. Tis track goes hard and the Mancunian tones of rapper Kane compliments him perfectly with Turkish Dcypha ‘s darkly outrageous backbeat giving them both the perfect canvas to unleash those sick rhymes. Britizen Kane is a rapper who has really impressed me over the last few years. His work rate has seen him improve with every release and there seems to be no stopping him now since the drop of his recent self titled album . We are promised a full concept EP dropping from these guys soon which I am really looking forward to checking out.

Check the song out on Spotify here and you can check all the songs above and more on the You Call That radio 2021 playlist here which is updated weekly. Please give it a LOVE/ Follow to stay up to date more new releases.

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And finally as always this blog, this website and You Call That Radio TV has no sponsors, funding or adverts . we are powered purely by our patreons. If you would like to support what we do then consider joining the Mince n Tatties crew for only £3 per month and get yourself some access to bonus content and giveaways as well supporting the hing that we are building . And since it’s Bandcamp Friday here is a plug for my own project Jackal Trades. Currently finishing the new album ‘At This Point’ so now would be a great time to support the previous catalogue. 3 albums and an EP for £9.45 over here

Cheers

Mark

Download on Bandcamp with bonus remixes: http://bit.ly/38bvvAhStream on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/37m0RUeOr you can find Jackal Trades on most digital platfor...

New Music Alert 26.03 w/ Arab Strap, Glasvegas, Vlure, T3xtur3 & More

By the time you read this then all of the releases below should have been added to our 2021 recommendations playlist on spotify which you can follow/ like here

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Its another week of high quality releases, so many in fact that I might need to do another blog in a few days to keep up with all the brilliant stuff being born into this strange world. It seems that the mix of musicians being locked down for so long and the fact many are sick of sitting on their art has created a perfect storm for an endless supply of ground-breaking sounds. Speaking of which,  let's start with experimental Hip Hop genius T3xtur3 who drops a taster called 'Black Ink Kings' of his forthcoming album ' ILLVMINATE ' he has created with Asthmatic Astronaut 

NO SAVIOURS HAVE ARISEN... Pre-order the new album 'ILLVMINATE' at http://thisisnotpop.co.ukMusic: Asthmatic AstronautLyrics, camera ops & edit: TextureThank...

‘Black Ink Kings’ by T3xTur3

I have been lucky enough to hear an advanced copy of the album which is his best work yet. It feels like there is an added personal touch to the mysterious shield that T3xtur3 has always ranted behind. You would be hard pushed to find anyone with a stronger vocabulary in Hip Hop , poetry or any art form you care to mention. The vocals are more melodic while still keeping that trademark edge we are all used to. when he played our Christmas special from Captureworks , I was blown away by the fact he seems to have taken inspiration from new school grime in his delivery while retaining his articulate , nihilistic and cyberpunk lyrics that we know and love. Asthmatic Astronaut has also levelled up alongside him to provide his best soundtrack yet . They have worked together many times before and it shows . Feels like there is an almost telepathic partnership in place that seems to have strived them both onto new levels of excellence.

You can pre-order the album now from This Is Not Pop records here

‘Shattered Faith' by Vlure

the headfuck of time has never been more complex than it is now , so I can not be 100% sure, but I believe the last proper gig I went to as a punter was seeing these guys supporting Dublin post-punk rockers The Murder Capitol at the QMU. I had heard good things about Vlure from local camera hero 'Scats’ aka John McKinlay and seen a couple of his videos on his always entertaining grassroots front row channel so my hopes were high and they exceeded all expectations. A proper live band in every sense of the word , they won over the crowd easily and had the place rocking. During lockdown they seem to have been making the most of a bad situation by performing live streams and making new material. They were on the cusp of great things when covid hit, and based on this new single , they still are. Punk growls of ‘I’m nobody’s son’ entwined with fuzzy guitars and melodic synths. Good to hear the scottish accent present with a nod to Joy Division but with a menace of Jesus & Mary Chain who are definitely taking things onto their own direction and I can’t wait to see them live again. They look and sound like the real deal. Bring back gigs soon please.

‘Shattered Faith’ is out now via Permanent Creeps Records. Purchase the limited 7" vinyl here -

​ @Arab Strap @RockActionRecords Taken from the album "As Days Get Dark" out now!Rock Action Records

‘Tears on Tour’ By Arab Strap

I have picked this one as a stand out from the new and very welcome ‘As Days Get Dark’ album. One of the few joys of recent months has been seeing and hearing new material being unveiled from the Arab Strap camp. I will try do a proper album review soon once I have had time to absorb it fully but this song hit me hard. It`s Aidan Moffat at his most honest and vulnerable , taking us on a journey of dementia , love and live music . ‘I don’t feel a thing , I’m just exhausted and numb, I need some release I need to make it all real’ he pines during the finale after revealing all the many things that did make him feel in days gone by. The structure of this song is perfect and I have been well impressed with Malcolm Middleton’s skills throughout this release. Arab Strap are one of the most important bands ever. On a personal level, I don’t know if I ever would have got into performing music had I not heard this accent on a NME compilation one dreich day as a wee yin. It was as inspiring then as it is now. Their solo projects have all been of extremely high quality but when they get back together something extra magical happens. I was lucky enough to see the comeback gig at the Barras. The memory of those balloons flying around during ‘First Big Weekend’ will stay with me forever. Long live Arab Strap. Full Album review coming soon but you can treat yourself to a vinyl over here right now on Rock Action records

‘Desperate Characters’ by Josephine Sillars out now on Spotify here

'Desperate Characters' EP by Josephine Sillars

Josephine Sillars returns with a new sound, mixing her trademark piano playing and powerful pop vocals with added electronic menace and political grit. The E.P is glued together with various samples of people talking about their opinions on world affairs and current news stories . Highlights include 'Enemy' which would sound amazing on a nightclub dancefloor and ‘California’ which sounds like a 5am tripped out campfire jam with Ben Folds Five and Laura St. Jude . The EP also comes with a lyric book which is available from the relentless Speculative Books project here or you can simply stream it on Spotify here

Pre-Order The Forthcoming New Album 'Godspeed': glasvegas.tmstor.es'Shake The Cage (für Theo)' out now on Go Wow Records: glasvegas.plctrmm.to/stcFollow Glas...

Shake the Cage (fur Theo) by Glasvegas

With the imminent release of their new album Godspeed , Glasvegas have pulled a wild card and pulled something out the bag that nobody was expecting. James Allan ‘s poetry is pushed to the forefront as he delivers a spoken word piece with robotic soaked backing vocals and effects that strings together the best of humanity and machinery. It`s epic in every sense of the word and it builds towards a grand finale with all the band on inspired form. Could this be this century’s answer to Baz Lurhman’s Everyones Free to wear Suncream? it certainly has some of the life hacks and optimism of that track but has that isolated and dark vibe that most of us are feeling in 2021 before sprawling into a majestic instrumental for the end part. This is the best I have heard Glasvegas sound in years and it has me buzzing for the new album. We were lucky enough to have Rab Allan as a guest on You Call That Radio TV a few months back .

On the same week Glasvegas celebrate 12 years since their debut album became an international hit , Rab Allan joins us on YCTR . This is doubly special as w...

And one thing that makes the new sounds even more exciting is that it has all been produced in-house by James who has spent every ounce of energy bringing those sounds out of his head into our ears. From what we have heard so far, this could be there best release yet. Godspeed can be pre-ordered on CD/ Vinyl/ Digital Download here

’This Is Your House’ EP by Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 (feat. Mary Kiani & Ant Thomaz)

I am surprised this song has not been banned for the fact it may encourage mass gatherings and an abundance of kitchen parties. This seems to be DJ Five who is taking the lead on this one out of the dozen or so Dijon members who have taken their high energy yellow movement from Kirkintilloch to Korea. For this one they decided they needed even more members than usual by bringing in the voice of the rave generation herself Mary Kiani who we were delighted to have as a guest on You Call That Radio TV a few weeks ago.

The voice of the rave generation she scored hits with TTF The Time Frequency before embarking on a successful solo career that has seen her have hits from Sc...

Mary brings her inimitable style and soaring vocals that brings back the glory days of being a 14 year old downing Merrydown before getting flung out the school disco. No? just me then? Her singing has aged like a fine wine and brings this song to an extra level. Shout outs to Dopesick fly legend Ant Tomaz too who brings his welcome textures with a wee techno history. I collaborated with him on a Jackal Trades track with a similar name once called ‘the House That Jack’ . It seems you can’t do a ‘house pun’ and NOT invite the gaffer to the house party , quite rightly too. The EP is packed with multiple remixes from Mickey 9s, Micky Modelle, DJ 5ive and Steve Peach.

I-tunes Store Download

CD £5 including Postage

Stream on Spotify

“This is Your House” taken from new album “The Difficult Number 2” released 30th April.

Glasgow Barrrowland Ballroom 1st May album launch stream - http://bit.ly/barrowlandcmandtd5albumlaunch

Listen to Get U Off My Mind on Spotify. Jetsam · Song · 2021.

’Get U Off My Mind’ by Jet$am

I doubt there is many better beat makers/ Producers in the country . I never know what’s going to happen when I press that play button whether it’s a Jet$am release or one from his alter-ego Konchis. It’s a refreshing feeling that I always look forward to. Today his new single takes us on a wild futuristic voyage with a nod in the rear view to a nostalgic garage trip . Sometimes there is no words to properly explain what this guy does but ‘Yugen’ and ‘Realms’ on his bandcamp page are both excellent places to start .

"Super Solid Soul Vehicle" Out now on all platforms. The song tips it's hat generously to Bill Withers, and is inspired by the man himself, written shortly a...

‘Super Solid Soul Vehicle’ by Tom McGuire & The Brassholes

in another universe , a million years ago, there used to be a thing that the people called ‘festival season’ . Historians fondly refer to a year called 2019 where funky musicians used to dance around on top of a high platform as thousands gathered to throw caution to the wind and swap sweat, germs and pleasantries . One of the main bands of this era was Tom McGuire & The Brassholes who mixed Funk, Soul, Motown and Jazz sensibilities to drive the masses wild. It seems only right that that now there is a small bit of light peaking through the giant tunnel of shite that Tom and his army of musicians would return to spread the good word of the ‘Super Solid Soul Vehicle’ which is out now to stream and buy on their website here .

They will also be performing at You Call That Radio’s all day live stream tomorrow (Sat 27.03) around 4.15pm after the witchy glitchy trip-step of Minerva Wakes (3pm) . Live from Captureworks. You can tune in for free from your living room here and full line up is below as we make a good go at Building A Spring to mark a year of lockdown and the anniversary of You Call That Radio TV

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When The Sopranos Met Springburn

‘Diamonds into Dust’

I am feeling a strange bit of synchronicity and serendipity as I write this. Last month I finished binge- watching The Sopranos from start to finish. I had watched it before of course in the old fashioned way. Remember when you used to watch an episode once a week and if you missed it then you fucked it and would just need to catch the next one and hope you didn’t miss too many crucial plot twists? In effect, I grew up with The Sopranos . From watching Season 1 at school to watching the final season as a failing adult. We saw the characters age and grow in real time. It was one of the only shows that could keep my attention and interest throughout the years and ever since it`s been DVD binges and now streaming services.

I never normally watch a show or a film again. I barely have time to watch anything and with my low concentration span it feels like I am wasting valuable seconds on this earth watching something I have already seen. But after ‘asking facebook’ for suggestions I realised I was also wasting time trying to get into something that was , by all accounts, pure shite. So in my week off I picked a classic show to revisit and I wasn’t disappointed. It exceeded my expectations and confirmed for me that The Sopranos is the greatest bit of television ever created. Up there with Breaking Bad, The Wire and Boardwalk Empire but I think what gives The Sopranos the edge is the characters are so engrained into my psyche and there is much more genuine comedy than so called comedy shows. So much perfect dialogue and overlapping storylines plus intense depth and meaning behind everything , twisting the definitions of what is good and what is evil.

What is truth? that’s why a decade on people are still angrily debate the details, the messages and of course the controversial ending that caught me off guard but now find it as a perfect farewell to a show I have always loved . As a more , ahem, mature viewer I also related to many more of the situations and look forward to the prequel movie ‘The Mainy Saints of Newark’ which is slated for an autumn 2021 release..

Why Am I Telling You This?

An honour to welcome Nick Reynolds of Alabama 3 fame onto the show. He is also known as Harpo Strangelove and adds his unique harmonica, percussion & vocals ...

Then last week , I interviewed Alabama 3 legend Nick Reynolds on You Call That Radio TV who made the ‘Woke Up this Morning (Got Myself A Gun) ‘ anthem that began each episode that had been looping around my head for the last month. It was great to discuss the effects that the TV show had on one of my favourite all time bands and hear what it was like meeting the cast at the Bada Bing! nightclub during a recent convention (when I say recent I mean post-covid as the last year doesn’t count in my book)

Then yesterday, I was sent an advanced copy of a video that truly stopped me in my tracks. Springburn director James Price had somehow made a music video for Zopa which is the band of none other than Sopranos star and one of my favourite actors Michael Imperioli who played the role of Christopher Moltisanti .

Source: wikipedia

As well as The Sopranos (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He gained recognition in the early part of his career for his role as Spider in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas. Imperioli's other television work includes roles as Nick Falco in the drama series Law & Order, Ray Carling in the U.S. version of Life on Mars, and Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7. He has also had supporting roles in films such as Shark Tale (2004) and The Lovely Bones (2009).

Imperioli wrote and directed his first feature film, The Hungry Ghosts, in 2008. In 2015, he starred in Mad Dogs, a dark-comic thriller television series released on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform.

James Price is a self taught screenwriter and filmmaker from Springburn. His films have played festivals worldwide, been televised on the BBC and gained him ...

As for James Price, we had him as a guest on You Call That Radio last year (The first 60- 90 mins is the interview with some short films then the beer kicked in and I just started sharing music videos for a couple of hours) . He is without doubt one of Scotland’s leading screen-writers and film-makers creating epic short films such as ‘Boys Night’ , ‘Dropping Off Michael ’ and ‘Spiral’ to name a few . It’s rare to see working class Glasgow being framed in such an authentic but unique and interesting way and has even inspired me personally to do more with my scripts and ideas going forward.

How did this collab between a Sopranos star and ‘The Springburn Scorsese’ occur?

Sheer gallusness and a wee bit of luck. James hit up Hollywood star Michael after listening to his recent Talking Sopranos podcast and just asked the question ‘Can I make a music video for one of your songs? ‘

after he had enjoyed Zolpa’s music on Bandcamp . Michael was a wee bit hesitant at first after getting an unsolicited message from a random guy from across the pond but after watching some of his ground-breaking films he gave him the green light and the ‘Diamonds into Dust ‘ short film/ music video was born. James then roped in the likes of Amy Manson , Rian Gordon, Brian McCardie and others and even gave himself his first on - screen part as a bare- chested , hoosecoat- wearing, chib- wielding coke dealer.

The film itself is a frantic , fast paced tale of crime, romance and vengeance with Zolpo’s heartfelt soundtrack adding the perfect bed for all the chaos to reign . Sometimes contrasting with the on-screen action and sometimes encapsulating the mood and catapulting the viewer through a white knuckle ride of mixed emotions . It`s weirdly sweet, often violent and very Glasgow. A large bit of praise has also to be singled out to Tim Currie who did a fantastic job on the editing keeping each scene moving at the right pace at the right time.

How can you watch it?

UPDATE ! you can register for the world premiere tonight at 7pm over here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JFiFE03wS8-YTWrlHw1vlA

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My Hypocritical Spotify Playlist

It took me years to get on board the Spotify train . It was really only Bandcamp donations and physical orders that kept my bands barely afloat so forgive me for not clicking my heels together in a joyous dance at the thought of 0.00000004 per play. I think my main issue with Spotify was a feeling of unease that their reality and promises never added up. So the story goes that, allegedly, with exposure of your songs on Spotify , this will encourage people to buy your music. In reality, people who buy physical music tend not to be into corporate streaming monoliths and secondly, people who love the app very rarely stray from the site because it is very good at what it does.

The algorithm is scarily accurate at predicting what we are all going to enjoy so it has thrown up a few gems I had never heard of before and reacquainted me with some classics I had almost forgotten about.

Also when I follow an artist then it’s release radar tool will update me as soon as that happens unlike the Facebook tactic of making artists pay for ads in order to reach just some of their fans. I like thta when I follow an artist , I get updates. My follow or my like should mean that I get to hear about the music I love and Spotify does just that.

Another reason Spotify is doing so well is timing more than anything. As peoples internet habits moved from desktop and laptop to mobile phones then millions of companies were targeting people to download their apps. Most people don’t have the memory to save whole record collections so Spotify filled that gap perfectly. And they know it. So I do not believe that they expect people to buy the music , they expect, and hope, that people will just pay for Spotify premium and also delighted if artists just take it on the chin so they can make profits off other peoples art.

In short, it gives users an experience that leaves the rest of it’s competition in it’s wake. I dislike the disingenuous nature of their sales pitch and despise the pitiful royalty but it’s hear to stay and my one man boycott of not putting my music up there before recently definitely harmed me more than the company.

You can follow and listen to my music here and here but this post is not about me but about how You Call That Radio can help underground artists get heard while also supplying me with a banging playlist should long journeys to festivals ever become a thing again . I tried to do one last year but never promoted it which kind of defeated the point but I can assure you that every Friday I will add new acts to the YCTR recommends playlist . It could be a local hero, an unknown act from the north pole or a well known box office superstar. If I like it then it goes into the melting pot regardless of genre or level of fame.

Please follow the playlist here and also feel free to share it when appropriate.

I hope this will gain some new bands some new followers and for all it’s faults I do believe that Spotify has the power to encourage people to buy tickets for gigs. How long before they want a cut of that? maybe that question is for another time.

I hope you enjoy some of the excellent tunes I have discovered so far in 2021. You can expect a bit of everything there including Minerva Wakes, Billy NoMates, Nigel Clark, Truemendous, UNKLE, Glasvegas, Kool Keith, Mickey 9s, Josephine Sillars, Arab Strap, Stanley Odd, Steg G, Morphamish, Nick Cave, Bad Fractals, Blue Nicotine , The Vanities, Stereolab and much, much more.

Cheers

Mark

New Music Alert w/ Aesop Rock, Minerva Wakes, Mickey 9s, Tricky, Gruff Rhys & More 19.03.21

Minerva Wakes dropped her debut album today on Bandcamp, Spotify and all streaming sites

‘Selling Skin ‘ by Minerva Wakes

Is taken from the debut 'Mirrored Moon' album by Minerva Wakes which dropped today on YCTR's sister- label Traffic Cone Records. It`s hard to pick one song from this gem of an album which is spearheaded by The Twistettes/ Girobabies post-punk icon Jo D`arc but after a few repeated listens I have chosen ‘Selling Skin'. It’s a great appetiser of what to expect from this ethereal trip hoppy, dubsteppy, electronic yet poetic banger of an album. I enjoy the easter egg for fans of her previous work which shows an undeniable and almost recognisable transformation from the music that she made her name in. It starts frantic and takes you on a swirling adventure and a great starting point for this trip-step masterpiece which provides sprinkles of Leftfield, Prodigy, The Knife and Tricky while still remaining rooted firmly in it's own unique and otherworldly planet. The Goddess has finally awoken. Stream here on Spotify or treat yourself to a CD/ Art print/ Book bundle on Bandcamp. There is also a secret listening party that is available exclusively to all our patreon supporters by signing up here where Jo, Nicky and special guests shared some insight into the album, premiered new videos and spoke with some special guests who helped bring it all together.

'Fall Please' by Tricky feat. Marta (Kahn Remix)

the sparse drums and minimal instrumentation add to the menace of Tricky's despondent delivery and the eeriness of Marta's soaring yet serene cries for help. Kahn has done an exceptional job of reworking a modern classic. There can be no doubt that Tricky is one of the most influential producers and vocalists the UK has ever produced with an ever growing back catalogue of consistent and ground breaking work. Kahn has stayed true to the trademark sound but added his own edge. Perfect song to compliment Minerva Wakes at the beginning of our updated YCTR playlist.

'Long Legged Larry' by Aesop Rock

from one legend to another . Just last year Aesop Rock concreted his name as one of Hip Hop's greatest ever lyricists with 'Spirit Field Guide' and today he dropped a single that celebrates the mythical legend of 'Long Legged Larry' . He is famed for his complex double meaning and multi-syllabics which normally takes you down dark paths but every so often he treats us to a fun yarn or two and this falls into the latter category. I defy you to not jump into a ‘Go Larry ‘chant that even the man himself would be proud of. Sharp witted and cavalier as always. Aesop rock just continues to do what he wants and leave a trail of emcees who take themselves too seriously in his wake.

Mickey 9s with a warning about going ‘Full American‘

'Full American' by Mickey 9s

Another band who aren’t scared to have of a bit of fun on their records while also raising a mirror to the societal dysfunction that we are all living through is Mickey 9s . Here frontman Dougie tells us he is ‘surfing on my psychosis ‘ . At first it sounds like a pop at the American way of life until you realise most of the lyrics apply to Scotland and the UK in 2021 . Maybe we should avoid going FOOL American. Take note Boris & Co. I have had the honour of hearing an advanced copy of the album and it sounds like the guys have went back to a raw, rockier sound than the previous releases. Full of anthems and daftness with sharp observations throughout. Does make you want to go to a gig though. When lockdown is over we should all get a free Mickey 9s gig on our Universal Basic Income to remind us of the fun that has been lacking this last year.

'Loan your Loneliness' by Gruff Rhys

is a welcome antidote to the isolation of lockdown . A slice of spring and hope in a 5 minute instant indie pop classic. That familiar voice we know and love from Super Furry Animals always taking things into new and interesting directions. While many singers/ musicians I grew up with continue to walk down the same dull path, Gruff is one of the few who lights that path up with LED Lights, fireworks and his inimitable fuzzy logic before flying off into the sunset in a psychedelic helicopter. ‘The silicone strategy is in freefall’ it begins with that reassuring voice of nostalgia that actually promises , and delivers, a future I can truly believe in.

‘Invisible Lines’ by Mima Merrow

Mima Merrow has returned after the success of November’s ‘Good Grief’ EP which she launched on a You Call That Radio Live Stream and she is in reflective mood ‘Pretending they can control nature and we’ve carved up the sky with invisible lines that decide who is lost and who can fly’ with ever thoughtful lyrics that soar within her incredible vocal range . The Belfast-born and Glasgow-based music maker has worked really hard over lockdown building her reputation, and fanbase, and underlined many critics predictions as definitely one to watch when live music returns.

‘Stuttered’ by Scientific Support Dept

Brian Docherty returns with his SSD project which Spotify tells me is his first release since 2006? That can’t be right surely. I am not sure if he has been staying off Spotify or has been concentrating on his many other projects . I had the privilege of recording an old Girobabies song called ‘Elephant in the Room’ and was blown away by his attention to detail. ‘Stuttered’ is exactly what I had expected, and hoped for. Spacious yet layered, Vague yet poignant. Imagine Mogwai jamming on a piano in a jazz bar with an industrial construction site around the corner that always threatens to drown out the mellow vibes but thankfully never quite manages to.

’The Dunkin’ Dutchman’ by Your Old Droog & Tha God Yahim

This popped up on my Release radar this morningand is part of an album that dropped today. This is more of a note to self for me to listen to the full album as 'Packs’ by Your Old Droog was one of my favourite Hip Hop albums of 2017 so I look forward to examine this project in detail over the next week. I expect unflinching underground hip hop and some clever wordplay to boot. I will keep you posted if that is indeed the case.

‘The Wild Geese’ by Iona Fyfe

and finally we have the exceptional Iona Fyfe who recently defeated Spotify with her campaign for them to recognise Scots as a language on the platform. This is indeed the first ever ‘Scots’ song to be released on Spotify and we are definitely off to a great vocal. Heartfelt emotive vocals throughout with perfectly timed keys and strings. It was originally a poem by Violet Jacob, which was then set to music and popularised by Angus singer and songmaker Jim Reid. On this version Iona truly makes it her own . You can hear more from Iona about her career and her campaign by watching this recent interview we had with her on You Call That Radio TV

You can listen to all of these songs plus much more on the YCTR Playlist here

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Mark