Time for the annual and definitely prepared on time and rushed out end of the year look back at music after 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Here was where I was gonna post about barely getting through my music backlog and only managing a handful of gigs. I got through a small number of re-releases and then a few new releases.
Then I spent the last week in bed for Covid for the second time this year, and third time overall. Which sums up 2023, which can just fuck off frankly.
Time for the annual and definitely prepared on time and rushed out end of the year look back at music after 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Gigs
We were pretty much back into gigs being around again, woo. Everything is normal, no don’t ask any more questions or look behind the curtain.
Book Yer Ane Fest was back and it’s the final year for Derrick running it. Cheers to him from me and no doubt abody else for all the hard work he’s put in over the years to make this happen time and time again. He’s handed over the reigns to a new younger generation of people, woo. Good luck to them and hope it all goes well :). Guess we are all now officially OGs and can now moan about kids today and all that.
Also managed a smattering of shows in the basement but not much further than that. Tours being cancelled due to illness or the incompetent racist Brexit policies made it very difficult for most bands to tour here too. Thanks Tories. I bet you proved your ability to not shoot yourself in the foot this year though right. Right?
Music Shops
No major changes to Dundee but thankfully Thirteen, Assai and Le Freak are all still here.
New Releases
I had a season ticket for Specialist Subject again but as expected last year the release schedule was a trickle compared to previous ones. It’s fine though, RSD supplied us with for example 10,000 copies of Madonna – Everybody (discogs has 400+ of various versions starting at less than 2 bucks). Then prices, delays and, again, fucking Brexit all shat on getting stuff imported. Yay.
Seems like a perfect time to work through that music backlog and keep on top of it right? Ah fuck, I barely listened to much music at all this year never mind new music.
Albums
All Away Lou – Things Will Change – Pretty cool solo record, from Specialist. You know what to expect by now. Indie-ish, punk-ish, sparkly-ish. Alldeepends – Throwing A Pit To Nothing – Sorry to all the losers and haters. Album of the year. Stop the lists now. Chaotic punk nonsense from the friendliest folks you can be in a pit with. Alzo – Discoveries – Alan 2 finally released a second album in two years having been making music for 25 or so years and not releasing one before 2021. Atmospheric Ambient. Perfect to chill or read a book to. Bob Vylan – The Price Of Life – When a band you’ve been raving about self-release an album and it gets into the top 20. Absolutely incredible scenes by the band giving 2 big middle fingers to genres. lets go dig up Maggies grave and ask here where the milk went Cake – Fashion Nugget – Cake have started re-releasing stuff on vinyl! This is not a drill. Prolonging the Magic also coming out soon. This band I first heard through shitty mp3 rips and copied CDs. Justifiably given the only way to get CDs was imported copies at £25-£30 in the late 90s (Taking 1999 thats £43.92-£52.71 today!). But sure, copying killed the music industry and not some robbing distributor arseholes. Don’t Worry – Remorseless Swing – Shame it’s a pretty missable album. They had a strong start but haven’t really been into their last couple of releases. Eels – Extreme Witchcraft (See My Engine Gleam) – No particular stand outs from an album I spotted in a shop having not known it was coming out. If you like Eels it’s good, not missing out if you have the rest. Fresh – Raise Hell – not content with a live EP they also brought out album number 3. Doesn’t reach the hits of their masterpiece debut but still worth getting nonetheless. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse – The re-release finally made it possible to complete the LPs without spending stupid amounts of money. Sadly missed always. Guru – Jazzmatazz (Volume 1) – re-release of a classic. Always missed, never forgotten. Not my favourite of the series, but given the high quality of the series that is in no way criticism. Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat – 15th Anniversary Edition. Trying to pick up some random albums by him as I had one for years that I loved. Pillow Queens – Leave The Light On – How can this band be so consistently good. This is great but you can’t go wrong with literally anything they have put out. The Last Mile – Respect The Frequency – Pretty cool punk record getting a re-release from a bunch of labels around the world on CD including MTAT after previously coming out on vinyl. The Sewer Cats – Cute Aggression – Great live, even better recorded. Go buy it, shitebag if ye dinnae. Wrest – End All The Days – Second album by them came out and was great again. Most music I own by artist who lives this close who I haven’t seen live yet. Looks like they played here March and I hadn’t known :(. Yndi Halda – Enjoy Eternal Bliss – 15th Anniversary remaster. I rarely buy a second copy of something in the same media. The record sleeve has interchangable art and is pretty cool, love when bands do something more interesting than a plain sleeve. This album is incredible and the remaster brings out some stuff I had never noticed before. One of my favourite records of all time. Cannot recommend highly enough. Get the physical version if you like fiddling with stuff, or digital if you don’t care. Either way – get it.
Various – 00’s Cover Comp – Lonely Ghosts compilation of 68 covers of songs from the 00’s. Some absolute crackers on it, the opener by Britney Spears is a pretty banging start.
Starting this year was a great zine called Juty City Hard Core or JCHC. Three zines so far and some record releases. A facebook group to try and get people to dig out old photos, gig tickets and memories etc. Get supporting it!
I also finally dusted off a domain-name I got and haven’t done anything yet. Aimed to have a music related project to supplement discogs for shit I care about. I.e. Discogs only cares about published music. So a band you saw play 4 gigs and then split gets completely ignored by it. So far I’ve made some tentative steps to try and work out the type of data I want on it and then work on templates etc. Current status: a github project with some preliminary info from a couple of artists on MTAT. Next steps are to figure out the templates and types of data, point a real domain or subdomain at it and then fill out more info. Might get to the point where others want to contribute too. But probly no.
If nothing else, the huffy billionaire trying to kill twitter shows us all the need to go branch out and not centralise info on in the internet right? Go Start a blog or anything just get away from your entire online existence being on centralised social media sites that want you to stay doomscrolling on them all day and night long.
Time for the almost annual and almost end of the year look back at music after 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Gigs
I managed to get to 2 gigs! Not only that it was Kaddish and Book Yer Ane Fest so a pretty solid 2/2. Maybe next year our wholly incompetent governments will fix the fuck ups caused by Brexit and their handling of a global health crisis. Probably not eh?
Music Shops
Thirteen Records survived its first year and both Assai and Le Freak are still here so that’s a pretty good going given how the year has went.
New Releases
I had the season tickets for Make That a Take and Specialist Subject again, but obviously due to inability for many bands to get into recording studios not as much came out as recent years. (see last year).
Given the rumours I’m hearing of plants being fully booked for next year, then we might be a bit more fucked for that too. The transportation and shipping costs and delays, again caused by you guessed it – completely incompetent governments hasn’t helped.
Some hardcore bands are concerned their sole 7″ EP will be released long after they have broken up instead of the usual timing for their final show. This is a crisis :/.
25 Years of Idlewild Book: In The Beginning There Were Answers came out and was very good. Also gave some info on unreleased early Idlewild tracks which never came out. Some amazing photos and stories although it did lean towards the first couple of years and have sparse content past that.
CPRW Vinyl Challenge January 2021 was how I started the year and I think it burned out some enthusiasm for listening to new music daily. It was fun, but sorting everything out and planning it. Some days I kind of forced myself to listen to something after a hectic day etc. I definitely saw a tailing off of my music listening in the weeks afterwards.
I tend to avoid these thing a day events as I usually am not motivated by them. I’m conscious though that I spam pictures of records but generally before I’ve heard them so can’t really say much yet. Something to motivate me to look back at some music and write about it is probably good, as I normally just do 1 line at the end of the year if it fits. So, here’s a rundown of what I picked for the #cprwvinylchallenge2021 organised by Colin on Instagram who runs a great blog as well as other online stuff.
So I tried to set some groundrules for myself:
1. Try to stick to the letter of the rules as much as possible
2. Try to stick to the spirit of the rules as much as possible
3. Each artist once only
4. Well actually real punk is
5. Vinyl Only
6. Try to avoid records I have gushed about a lot (I break this once I think)
Ok, number 4 is a joke, based on gate-keeping arseholes. I would argue my pick for day 2 is very punk. I’m sure others would insist it has to be a band of musicians who conveniently look like them and play music they like. And music they dislike is what makes the not-punk list. But no-one cares about those losers opinions.
I listen to lot’s of types of music, it just so happens it’s mainly punk acts who I go to see live, and the challenge is run by a punk blog so that’s what’s gonna dominate but not be exclusive in the list.
The method of picking artists was steered by my discogs catalogue though, which forced me in some picks. I am trying to go through and re-listen to everything I own and grade it so I can then decide what to keep etc. They store an integer 1-5 rating so I use these as:
5: could listen to this any time
4: really good
3: ok and listenable
2: poor, unlikely to re-listen
1: garbage
So when a day asks for “best album of x year” I sort by rating and look for 5-star in that year etc. There are some complications though. I have a huge chunk of music on CD and not Vinyl including things I would have picked in this list. As I am re-listening there are things I haven’t got to yet. And worst of all, I have a bunch of re-issues and discogs is poor at showing you “your record is from 2020 but the original was 1991” etc. As my backlog is so large I also have music which came out last year which I haven’t listened to yet which then skips the yearly round-up post etc too.
Jan 1: Debut Album
Luniz – Operation Stackola.
So I decided to just completely break the rules on day 1. First the justification, and then the explanation.
The alternatives I had were chosen for days 8, 9 and one I posted about a lot very recently. I include I think 4 rap records and this is the first of them.
As a kid I didn’t really listen to music. The first stuff we listened to I think were a Best of Rap compilation, Snoop Dogg Doggystyle and then this. Next up was Method Man – Tical which was mind-blowing and if I had on vinyl would have immediately grabbed this spot. So I have always had a soft spot for this album.
On a re-listen there are parts which definitely have not aged well. Particularly Pimps, Playas & Hustlas, She’s Just A Freak etc. But when you listen to 900 Blame A N**** about harassment for racist cops in league with white supremicist. Fuck sake. After the 2020 we just had and this was 1995 and it could have just been written last year.
I struggled with this one as I don’t think I have many concept albums except Deltron3030 which I had re-posted a few days before the challenge began. Then I remembered this, and struggled to find where I had filed it. I mentioned in my 2020 In Music round-up that this was one of the first releases of last year coming out in January.
I had found Ivor Cutler through a workmate who was obsessed with the bizarre and surreal lyrics of the genius.
This is a collection of most of the big indie artists in Scotland covering or re-interpreting his work. It’s really really good, especially the cover of Women Of The World Take Over
Jan 3: Three Colour Vinyl
De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising.
Another I really struggled with. There’s categories for splatter vinyl coming up etc, but it’s the closest I could get with 3 colours. This is the Vinyl Me Please remastered reissue.
In the rap world at the end of the 90s there were 2 important movements. One towards the gangsta rap of NWA etc, and one towards the more conscious rap. This album was instrumental in birthing that era. Mostly written and recorded when the group were teenagers at school, it contains so many samples that it very rarely gets repressed due to the issues trying to clear them all. So as well as the beginning of an era it also really marked the end of that era of hip hop which took music from everywhere and reforged it into new art freely.
Probably no surprise to anyone who has heard me talk about this record. I don’t think it was even close and never even considered another candidate. I have a kind of weird interaction with new music/live acts. I try not to listen to music by a new band before I see them live due to a couple of poor experiences (one of which will come up later) where the recorded music was excellent but the live show poor. Similarly if I am sent a download code for a purchased record I don’t listen to it before the physical one arrives, which gets the first listen.
I had known there was a record coming out due to receiving the download code but hadn’t listened to it yet. Due to lockdown, Specialist Subject started a series of live-streaming events. I turned in just in time to catch the start of Charmpit. I quickly checked, yeah that’s the act I hadn’t heard anything by yet.
They then started doing covers of pop songs with costume changes during and between the songs just full of infectious energy. That carries over into their own music which was a breath of fresh air when it arrived.
Seriously, I can’t wait to get to a gig again. And I cannot wait to see this band live.
Step 1: Find a friend, JUST ONE, and they’ll have a friend
now that’s 3 of you, in a band
of course you can!
Part B: Pick a name, CUZ THAT’S FUN
have a vision and run with it
to open arms and ears.
First Time ya step on the stage
the right time, to make loads of mistakes
cuz that’s being a punk, and BEING A PUNK IS tons of FUN!
We couldn’t do it ourselves so we’re doing it together!
Dreams you’ve been holding onto forever and ever..
We couldn’t do it ourselves so we’re doing it together!
Oooooo if your first song smells it’ll just get better…
We couldn’t do it ourselves so we’re doing it together! (x2)
Weeeee!
Jan 5: 12th Album On Your Shelf
Paris – The Devil Made Me Do It.
Another hip hop act in the list, and here due to the spirit and letter of the law. “shelf” implies one. I currently have 5 shelves of records plus the boxes of 7s etc. When I checked 12 in on each shelf, there was an artist who I had to include later due to the few choices I had (although the pick for them would have been preferred). The other candidates were records I had very recently posted about or just singles which were meh.
Another conscious act, with political lyrics influenced by the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam.
The first single was banned from MTV, because of course it was.
I later realised this sadly counts for Hiatus too :(.
This category I struggled with for a bunch of reasons, I’m not gonna excuse that but will try to contextualise/explain it.
Firstly punk-rock is a total sausage-fest. I mean there’s no denying that, and it means most groups are 3 men. So yay for this category to try and promote others.
But the biggest is that I’m pretty ignorant of who is involved in music I listen to. One of the reasons I spend time on Discogs catalogueing stuff is to try and learn some info. But I have albums I love and I couldn’t tell you the names of the artists involved, or what they looked like. For this (and another later) I had to scour through albums I loved and then look at the names/photos and make a judgement over if they counted. For many there were no photos, or website links, or more importantly – statements from the band saying what their pronouns were etc. There are some albums I considered but when checking I saw that although it was a woman singer and guitarist it was a guy on drums etc, and I didn’t know beforehand. Other groups had large lists of members and some groupshots showed all women, but others had men, and I had no idea the line up on the record I had as it didn’t credit the performers.
If you also struggled with this category please go watch So, which band is your boyfriend in?. I’ll be honest that I started with some acts from it, but the ones I had music of had men involved.
I very briefly said at the time, but I was pretty underwhelmed when I saw the band live. I hinted at it earlier, partially because I saw some videos and heard the album first. And Fear Of Missing Out was very good, I considered for debuts. But the live show I saw them at really soured me on them a bit. It was about 50% music and 50% stage banter/talking about drinking. I know nothing about the band though so could be they were just super excited to be on a European tour and were thrilled at being able to drink under the US age or something? I would definitely go see them again to see if it was a one-off.
Another consideration for best debut. When this was released I had started to lose interest in hip hop. There were a few artists I still followed but others I later loved I hadn’t found yet (The Roots etc) and some I had loved had started releasing really poor records (thanks No Limit Records), and others were now dead (rip 2Pac).
Then this album came out and sounded like a fusion of conscious and old school hip hop opening with In The Flesh
Cause it’s the J-U-R-A
Capital S another S-I-C
5 MC’s in the flesh
And the absolutely genius Concrete Schoolyard
I live in America but fuck this Government
I have so many memories tied to this album, from constantly playing it in college and uni to tracks from it being played at Coalesce.
I really struggled for a pick here with only this category, only other candidates were 2 Miles Davis and a Deftones covers album making the grade.
I saw him live around the time the album came out with Esperi and was blown away by how great he was.
Earlier this year I re-listened to this, having forgotten how good it was and checked out the rest of his catalogue. The Juffage bandcamp had a bunch of stuff including some physical releases. I ordered everything and received a wee note from him thanking me and including a bonus copy of his earlier bands work. Shows the real human interactions you can have with musicians and how much they appreciate you supporting them.
Opens with amazing vocals from Iona who appears on some Great Cynics releases too. Some contenders had been Rungs – Rungs EP, Stöj Snak – ScreamerSongwriter, Milk Teeth – Vile Child and The Offspring – Self Esteem
Another category I struggled with, I ended up searching for albums with Live in the title which may have missed some with live tracks. I think most of the Live music I have is digital or CD only. Miles Davis has long been a favourite, and I’ve given out a fair few copies of Kind of Blue over the years to curious folks.
Jan 13: On Hiatus/Split-Up Band
Fugazi – 3 Songs. I think the 13 Songs compilation is my favourite of their releases but without it on vinyl, I’ll go for their next EP.
Again, I struggled to pick a band on hiatus, some haven’t released music for ages (including one later which I originally had here til I checked) but finding info about their status is hard.
Kevin and Gillian are geniuses and this EP is incredible. I still can’t believe they have only released 2 EPs, some of it being a rework of Kevins solo record. Incredible folk punk music. This record contains probably their 4 best songs. Hearing Playing On Repeat in a packed room, a week after the death of his friend it was written about and more of his friends in the room was heart-breaking. Track 1 Cabin Fever sums up the lockdown energy we’re all experiencing.
Isolated from the world,
Sitting here at home,
Vegging out all day
I have so many split records, but this had to win just because three artists were all covering each others music, not sure if that sneaks into the concept category too. What made it weird for me was I only knew 2 of the bands so the tracks were a band I don’t know covering two tracks I know, then 2 bands I know covering a track of each other and of the new to me bands. Great way to hear music by a new artist and appreciate some tracks by bands you like.
Jan 16: Favourite Album Artwork
Flying Lotus – Flamagra.
This had to win, no question. Pop up artwork – you don’t get that with your MP3 downloads. As much as I rave about how great vinyl is as a format, when it comes to art saying “it’s bigger” sounds a bit trite, so it’s amazing to see someone make full use of the format.
The Kamasi Washington – The Epic boxset might have been a contender if one of the LPs in it wasn’t sealed behind perforated cardboard and cutting it out hadn’t splattered the record and everything else with shards of cardboard. Still furious.
Jan 17: Collection From One Band
3 Colours Red.
This was a difficult choice, as there are a bunch of artists I try to collect the catalogue of. For some of them the vast majority of the stuff I have is CD, or is not available on vinyl. I also considered picking them for the “3 Colours” challenge, cos puns are good and clever.
Although they have 4 albums, only 2 are on vinyl and I have them both so that definitely counts enough, especially as the later 2 aren’t anywhere near as good as the first 2. I have all their singles bar one which was CD only.
I’m sure I’ve shared this story before, but when seeing them at T in the Park it was absolutely sweltering. Starting to dehydrate a bit levels of hot. Then as soon as they started the first notes of Beautiful Day a rain shower started. Ending just as the song did. It’s probably the closest I’ve ever come to understand when people talk about spiritual moments.
Age Of Madness is an incredible song, and I love it. But just due to the story above:
Another contender for debut. I have a massive pile of blue vinyl (it seems a common choice), but this album is really really good punk. Being colour blind, blue is one of the few colours I can identify many shades of, so I appreciate nice blue vinyl in a way those of you with good eyes probably view most other colour variants. It’s also why I like splatter, because it’s easy for me to tell what’s happening apart, even if what I think is a red bit is a green bit :).
Ok, I admit this one is a bit of a stretch. It’s in the spirit but not letter of the rules. It’s not an album, and is a split where I have it signed by one band. But look how many of them there are – I have three copies. And I could tag some members of the band and make them laugh. 500 were made, no idea how many are signed, but I have 0.6% of the total pressings.
Jan 20: Album That Turns 20 In 2021
Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me. To be honest I think I prefer the Dub remix album (but only have it on CD), and posted recently so felt bad but wow. Unless discogs data is lacking, 2001 was a poor one for music. I had some CDs which would count, some re-issues and some compilations but this one kind of stood alone in my collection. Musicians 20 years ago – get your fingers our and make better music I like please.
Jan 21: Record Received As Gift
Dunderfunk – Brick Cat EP.
Another category I struggle with. I’ve swapped tons of records. I’ve received tons of CDs as gifts. I’ve given away loads of records. But I couldn’t think of many I had received as gifts.
What else could it be other than the best record ever to come out of Dundee, and limited to 300 pressings. They released a self-titled before this otherwise it would have been a snap inclusion for debut.
Jan 23: Band With POC Member(s)
Bullyrag – Jump Up In A Fashion.
Another difficult one, I ended up scouring a bunch of artists profiles trying to see what they looked like. Another couple of contenders I queried friends as from photos it looked like they may count, but I wasn’t sure. Didn’t want to take the easy route and pick a hip hop group etc.
Jan 24: Picture Disc
Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Scooby Snacks
I really, really don’t like picture discs. So only had a couple of candidates. Given the choice of inclusion the band which bridged me from hip hop to rock it was a no-brainer.
100% Columbian (their best album) was 12 in on my shelf, but had to be dropped to include this here. I’ve seen this band 20+ times live and every time their show has been great. Probably embedded from the first time I saw them live – on my 18th birthday. From Dundee to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth I’ve followed them round seeing them on almost every tour.
Does their live show always contain this song, their one hit wonder? Yes. Is it their best song? Not by a mile that would be Southside. They always had bizarre, amazing and original warm-up acts. The best of which was a busker from New York they brought on their European tour.
I thought they were a contender for hiatus (they reformed and then released nothing since, so not sure on status), and their Look Now, Look Again album is probably my favourite but the lyrics in Artificial Light, this albums opener, and the delivery are incredible.
No one defies artificial light. Simultaneous sitting ‘til you atrophy. Maybe you try to be pretty instead of kind. Why is this technology an anathema to me? If I could just breathe it out… I could always breathe back in. I’ll cut all your wires. I never cared. Cut all your wires. What can be there? It’s dead. And all the invisible arcs are caught in my head.
Why is this technology an anathema to me?. Are you kidding me? Beautiful.
Whilst chatting about music at work, we had the topic of favourite live set. I chose this Rainer Maria one as it was what I found after they had been on hiatus and let me know they were back. Someone replied that they would be watching it because they had been at the gig! The lucky sod.
Seeing Franz solo is always amazing. His recorded music is the opposite of the issue I mentioned above. I never find it enraptures me as much, maybe it’s the random skits, or full band or something. I don’t know. This was the first splatter vinyl I ever got so it feels right to give it pride of place here.
Live or recorded, this band are just amazing. This is an album I will be playing for years to come.
Some contenders – Muncie Girls – Future Ideals (above), Kaddish – What World Was Still? (above), Poverty Bar – Vive La Bagatelle, Charmpit – Cause A Stir (above), Misfortune Cookie – Heavy Seas
Jan 28: Soundtrack
The Last Poets – Right On! (Original Soundtrack)
Again, a bit barren, and many of the soundtracks I have I bought recently so didn’t want to post again (Dune etc).
But given the inclusion of a bunch of hip hop and jazz it felt fine to include a group who were a huge influence on many rappers.
This skirts the rules a wee bit. She appears in another act picked – Muncie Girls, and also another parcel arrived today with 2 records. But this came out this month, the other 2 were a 20 year old repress of People Under The Stairs and the much delayed vinyl release of Eminems latest. And unlike Lande, Eminem didn’t write a note thanking me for the purchase, not even as his Stan alter ego.
It’s something I mentioned in the entry about Juffage before too, but I love the connection that loads of the artists I enjoy have with their fans. Sometimes it’s some stickers chucked in, or a note, or like Deeker of MTAT sometimes scribbled messages checking you’re doing well on the record stiffeners etc.
Other records in the new pile, waiting to see which arrived last were Hamburger, some Michael Marra 7s and a big pile of Senser singles.
Jan 30: Album That Turns 30 in 2021
Green Day – Kerplunk!.
Unlike some later years picks, this one was tough! This edged out over NWA – Efil4zaggin, Ice Cube – Death Certificate and The Jam – Greatest Hits. An amazing album, and is probably their second best. Behind Dookie. Obviously behind Insomniac
Jan 31: Band You’re Looking Forward To Releasing Music In 2021
Alldeepends.
I struggled with this just because I have no idea who is planning to or will release music this year. The first purchase of the year was Queequeg’s Coffin – Cú Beag about a minute after it went on sale but is not on vinyl.
But, I really anticipate another release by Alldeepends and hope one happens. Their Hello My Name Is is so so good, and if it wasn’t for the album part of the criteria on the 4th it might have slipped in. A 4 track EP they made videos for each track on. What the fuck. Cannae wait to be at one of their shows.
This is like how they make Star Wars now
This is Dundee
This is a park in Dundee (it’s a good park, go there)
This is the back of every show you’ve ever been to “we have merch thanks for coming, this is our last song”
Wait, how could you miss?
Due to the people who invented our terrible calendar that left me 31 artists to choose from (ok I broke that with the menagerie on the Cutler record) which meant a bunch are missing. Some I wanted to include, some people might expect me to include so I’ll mention a few here.
2Pac
So out of collection I considered 2Pac obviously. But at the time I collected most vinyl was disappearing from shops, and hip hop vinyl was even harder to find in the UK. So the massive collection I have is mainly CD, and I don’t have anywhere near as much on vinyl with some huge gaps. A physical collection doesn’t really do justice either given the various editions of the unreleased tracks, and the later re-edited tracks which came out etc.
His exclusion is one of the reason I included Paris though, to cover the same sort of genre of hip hop.
Jesus & His Judgemental Father
I really wanted to include these in the hiatus band, but Fugazi just won out due to the massive influence they had, and the impact their return would have.
Billie Holiday
If there was a category for best singer she would be a snap inclusion, I have maintained for almost 30 years that she’s the greatest singer to have ever lived. Even now, listening to Strange Fruit still sends shivers down my spine.
Time for the almost annual and almost end of the year look back at music after 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Gigs
So I probably went to some gigs but it was last about 9 months ago and I can’t even remember. Fuck 2020. Fuck our governments at every level. Watching some musicians play in their living room wasn’t the same. I just want to go to a gig. And after a year of music venues being left to die Brexit’s gonna fuck over most bands I would give a shit about seeing from touring. Fuck 2020. Fuck our governments.
Music Shops
Grouchos closed. Fuck 2020. Thankfully the former staff went ahead and opened up a great new shop, Thirteen Records, in the now pedestrianised Union Street.
New Releases
I had the season tickets for Make That a Take and Specialist Subject again, but obviously due to inability for many bands to get into recording studios not as much came out as recent years.
Music still in the ‘to listen’ pile/Other Music I discovered
My to listen pile is far far too big to even dig into. I finally managed to sort out my digital media library and am slowly working through listening to it. I still have a ridiculous pile of CDs to rip, and a massive pile of records to listen to and file. I also caught up with some of the backlog and listened to a bunch of stuff, but maintaining that list is just ridiculous so can’t be faffed. Near the heat death of the universe when I have listened to all the music I own I’ll do some “best music” type post to document stuff I love. Pinky promise.
Discogs
I submitted a massive amount of digital music to discogs over the year and was in the top 10 for the month for some months. This was a precursor to a project I kicked off but stalled with. It may become public next year but #effort.
Music goals for 2020
Started ripping more of collection as FLAC. Once I get through I will re-rip things I have as MP3. Also need to then sort and try to sell off the stuff I don’t like. That required actually listening to the music I own though…
Still have a massive pile of 12s to get through but the vast majority are sorted and I’ve made some passes through and sold off some stuff I disliked or had duplicates of.
Made some progress in my 7s. The awkwardness of listening to a track and flipping makes it difficult to do when reading a book etc so will probably get nowhere near completed until I’ve sorted through the 12s.
After around 44 years, we heard the news yesterday which had seemed inevitable that Grouchos was closing for good.
Sadly, last year Breeks – the owner died. The year before the shop had also been at risk when it was thought the building it is in was being sold.
So when lockdown ended and it became one of the few shops to not re-open or post updates on social media it was pretty obvious that it looked to be in trouble.
As may be obvious from the main content of this blog now, Grouchos was a regular haunt of mine going back to the mid 90s.
I was too young to have been in the older Perth Rd stores, but had been in the cramped one under the Angus Hotel a couple of times. This was just when I was just getting into music though so I don’t remember buying anything from there. When they moved into the Overgate though I was in around 3 times a week. This shop seemed massive and was a total treasure trove for a teenager digging into tons of different genres at the time.
Later they moved to the final location on the end of the Perth Rd which again seemed like a big increase in floor space.
The vast majority of what I bought from Grouchos was probably CDs, closely followed by Records. I went through a period of raiding their DVDs for cheapo horror flicks and probably some old cassettes way back too.
Tickets for the occasional gig or festival were bought from there too, although most gigs I go to are pay on the door.
And then of course I bought a stereo from there at one point and recently a stereo.
They covered other things too though, posters, t-shirts, badges and local fanzines and magazines. It’s pretty fair to say they were a Dundee institution and most people in Dundee have stepped through their door at one point or another.
The one good piece of news from it though is that some of the staff are opening a new record store soon. Given it was their knowledge and expertise that made Grouchos work it seems fair to say the spirit of it will live on under a different name.
So for people in Dundee looking for music, what options are there?
Assai opened a few years back in the Ferry and have now moved into the city centre and expanded into Edinburgh too. Only selling new records, they have a handful of local-ish releaases, run a label to release some music, put on some local gigs and also sell some decent turntables etc too. They have a loyalty scheme which takes a little burn out of the premium you pay for some of their releases.
Le Freak Records opened a few years ago in a small unit on the Perth Rd near the Hawkhill junction. Almost all second hand with a small selection of new releases, they also support a bunch of local releases too and have a decent selection of Hip Hop and Jazz on occasion too. Definitely worth keeping an eye on their social media where they frequently post new acquisitions so you can call dibs on them.
Thirteen Records are still being renovated so not sure what they will stock yet, but quite hopeful given it’s the former Grouchos staff opening it. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
HMV are the last major standing in the city. Virgin dying after putting all their eggs in the Woolworths distribution basket. Pretty large selection but definitely over-priced. Definitely one for impulse buys rather than bargains.
Oxfam is probably the best of the charity shops for music, also having a large selection of books. Definitely requires multiple visits to find the gems but sometimes you find some amazing stuff in there. The rest of the charity shops have a tiny selection, generally poor condition and you assume is what other second hand stores wouldn’t buy.
Record Fairs it’s unclear what’s going to happen with these, they have understandably been off for the past few months but it looks like one is scheduled for November. Some of the punters may need some education on social distancing though, as I grumble about the rude guy trying to dig into the same box I was already going through last time. Some stallholders only occassionally turn up, others have been regulars for decades. Definitely miss the pair from Aberdeen who used to have tons of imported hip hop, but recommend visiting Rob at 5050 who always has a great selection of Soul Jazz, alternative and Scottish releases.
Time for the almost annual and almost end of the year look back at music after 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Gigs
Book Yer Ane Fest 2019 happened in a much smaller venue due to Abertay Union continuing to be a joke. Can’t organise a student pub. There were a ton of local gigs, with far fewer I was able to attend than I hoped. Savage Mansion were pretty cool. Tim Loud was awesome as ever. Get It Together had their LP launch gig. Poverty Bar and Min Diesel played an amazing gig. Kaddish played at least 3 times in Dundee, somehow. Queequeg’s Coffin launched their EP alongside Rag n Bone Man. Missed Fresh play, again, which was a bit gutting.
This Way Up in Dundee were a source of a lot of new releases but they sadly closed the same month that Assai moved into the city centre. With a great range of weird and experimental music they are fast becoming a necessary visit when in the area. Grouchos is still the best second hand store in town although sadly Breeks died this year. Le Freak Records have been going through a massive collection from a DJ too which includes a huge amount of hip hop I’m working my way through.
It’s been tough keeping up with what I’ve got this year and tons still hasn’t been listened to yet. Gang Starr – One Of The Best Yet – gave this a quick listen when it was first online and it was great. On my second physical copy, neither of which plays right on my set up but do on others. Guess I need to spend some time figuring out what is wrong. Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert – Cut To Black
Other Music I discovered
I normally do a list of older stuff I found, but I got a wee bit more than usual including massive amounts of hip hop from Le Freak and a huge emo/hardcore collection from Grouchos. So lets skip that…
Discogs
Carried on submitting and editing tons on Discogs. I got copies of Great Scots Musicography and Rip It Up to help with sourcing info too.
Music goals for 2019
Sort out my CD singles. I need to rip as MP3, sort them out and then clear out the unwanted/duplicates. – barely scratched the surface.
Sort through CD Album collection. This is all ripped now but a large part is unsorted. I need to sort, sell off and pack up the bulk of it. – most packed up, but not sorted.
Finish listening to and sorting my 7″s. – made a slight dent in before I bought more 12s…
In 2018 I finished off a couple of artists collections so I will probably identify a couple more and try to find the missing pieces of their catalogue over the course of the year. – tried to finish off Motormark but one was hard to find, and one got lost in the French postal system for months.
Time for the almost annual and almost end of the year look back at music after 2017 and 2016.
Gigs
Gig wise the only large one I attended was Broken Social Scene in Glasgow. The show was phenomenal, and it was a great to see a band I never thought I would ever see. This tour was for Hug of Thunder, but they played some tracks from You Forgot It In People which is an absolute masterpiece and was my favourite album for a decent period of time.
Book Yer Ane Fest 2018 happened too but I haven’t had a chance to write about it yet. There were local gigs, with far fewer I was able to attend than I hoped.
This Way Up in Dundee were also a source of a lot of new releases. With a great range of weird and experimental music they are fast becoming a necessary visit when in the area. The Soul Jazz Records compilations they stock are great. I’ve not had a bad one yet, although I don’t buy all of them, obviously, so may be missing stuff I would dislike. Grouchos are still the go-to place for second hand music though, as well as Discogs. I also managed to buy someones hip hop/rnb collection which was mainly 12″s. Still working my way through it but there were some gems in it.
Albums
Art Ensemble Of Chicago – Les Stances À Sophie – Soul Jazz Records brought out a repress of this phenomenal jazz-funk album awakebutstillinbed – What People Call Low Self-Esteem Is Really Just Seeing Yourself The Way That Other People See You. Getting this was a total trek. Unfortunately in a foreshadowing of the Brexit shitheap we are heading headlong towards, postage from the US for vinyl is an absolute killer now, as well as import taxes etc. Eventually managed to get via Proper Music, just before SSJ got it in their distro. The Bombpops – Throw It Back great album by a band who make great music but were slightly underwhelming live with a stage presence which I would be kind in hoping it to be inauthentic. Capitalist Kids – Brand Damage – great political pop punk – go listen to Brute Farce if you haven’t already. And obviously Socialist Nightmare too. A Certain Ratio – acr:set great funk/pop influenced records. Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) – I hesitated on this for a few months as I had a feint recollection of the band but not enough to pick it up. Then I remembered about it and searched for it, and very quickly had a flash of hearing it years ago and loving it We be reading Marx where I’m from Don’t Worry – Who Cares Anyway? – Great punk/emo album from SSJ. MF Doom – MM..Food I remember seeing this back when it and the previous album were out and dismissing them as some comic related rubbish. I was an idiot. When Vinyl Me Please started their Hip Hop line I hoped for some gems to appear and I got this. It looks like it’s still available so I’d recommend grabbing it whilst you can. Eels – The Deconstruction Pretty weird release being on two 10″ Yellow records but standard fare you will expect. If you like Eels you will like it. If you don’t you won’t, but then, your opinion on music would be objectively wrong so whatever. ESG – Come Away With ESG another repress, this time of some disco/new wave. I got a couple of their releases this year and all had gubbed download codes. I believe it was some kind of contractual screw up about the digital rights etc, which sucks as end consumer going I’ll buy awkward bulky analogue format because I can get the benefits of digital at the same time. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight – repress for the 10th Anniversary which makes even more painful listening now than the period before where I couldn’t listen to it. Fun Lovin’ Criminals – 100% Colombian repress on white vinyl of the best album by one of the best live bands on the planet. Southside is probably my favourite track on it. Guru – Jazzmatazz Volume II (The New Reality) – another VMP pressing, the first one I got though, due to the album being utterly amazing. The first Jazzmatazz was good, and Streetsoul had probably the most crossover appeal but in the second one Guru knocked it out the park. Billie Holiday – At Jazz At The Philharmonic – can’t resist a super rare repress by the greatest singer to ever live. Kaddish – What World Was Still?. Long awaited album which defines the term long awaited. Third banger from the best band in Dundee. Probably my album of the year if I sat and worked it out. Lords Of The Underground – Here Come The Lords – another repress of a hard to find 90s debut album by hip hop trio. Lost Avenue – Fears The band name seemed totally familiar and it’s because I had missed them the year before at BYAF. Brilliant young band from Northern Ireland. Mastersystem – Dance Music – the final album Scott Hutchison worked on and was released. Muncie Girls – Fixed Ideals great punk album by a band with a fantastic singer Neurotic Fiction – Pulp Music – I don’t like publicly saying I don’t like someones music, and have missed some music from this list to avoid doing so. But I’m only doing so for context here to say it’s the only release from Specialist Subject that I have bought over the past 2+ years that I haven’t liked. Which shows the quality of the output they generally release. The Pharcyde – Labcabincalifornia – repress of one of the classic conscious hip hop albums. Please, Believe! – ...In Potential – pseudo placeholder as the vinyl release came out on Hogmanay, but the CD release much earlier in the year. I didn’t make it out to the show and haven’t received my vinyl copy yet. From the CD/mp3 release though it’s pretty great ecossemo as to be expected from anyone who has seen them live. Except with 100% music and 0% banter/tuning. Poverty Bar – Vive La Bagatelle, this got a physical release due to Western Freeway Rainer Maria – Past Worn Searching/Look Now Look Again/Long Knives Drawn/Catastrophe Keeps Us Together/A Better Version Of Me. When one of your favourite bands represses almost their entire catalogue in vinyl you must do two things – 1. Buy the ones you are missing and 2. Complain bitterly about US postage charges. Jeff Rosenstock – POST- – released out of nowhere on January 1st this blew people away immediately as to how good it is. Some people rate it very highly indeed. Slowlight – The Only Thing I Want Is To Know What I Want– fantastic album which I wrote about earlier. Spare Snare – ‘Sounds’ – they are the Snare (and Steve Albini). Tragical History Tour – Aphorisms – outstanding debut album which I previously reviewed.
EPs and other stuff
The Bombpops – Dear Beer – to stress again how good their music is, this is 4 fantastic tracks on a gorgeous gold splatter 7″. I rated it 5/5 on the discogs I’ve listened to this now tracking I’ve been doing. Would highly recommend getting a copy. Carson Wells – No Relic – great ecossemo as expected from the Aberdonians before they called a hiatus 🙁 Dogeyed – Throw The Bones really weird lofi and sludgy rock
I continued to submit and edit on discogs, reaching the status where I could vote on submissions too. Having my collection catalogued has helped when browsing to avoid duplicates. I also as part of working through that hip hop collection made a pile of items to sell off. I then ran through vinyl finding everything I had rated poorly or had no intention of listening to again. I worked my way though listening to all my 12″s, and was starting on the 7″s before getting that huge pile of singles and so now have a 12″ backlog again.
Music goals for 2019
Sort out my CD singles. I need to rip as MP3, sort them out and then clear out the unwanted/duplicates.
Sort through CD Album collection. This is all ripped now but a large part is unsorted. I need to sort, sell off and pack up the bulk of it.
Finish listening to and sorting my 7″s.
In 2018 I finished off a couple of artists collections so I will probably identify a couple more and try to find the missing pieces of their catalogue over the course of the year.
