Three years ago I decided that it might be fun to run a poll amongst my fellow bloggers and folk who run music sites in Scotland, to try and find out what the definitive album of that year really was. In its inaugural year The Phantom Band pipped Animal Collective to claim top spot, then last year I did it all again with The National topping that list. This year I managed to rope in a whopping 47 folk to take part in choosing their albums of the year. The following sites all contributed their favourite albums of 2011: The Pop Cop, Jim Gellatly, The Steinberg Principle, Blueback Hotrod, Scots Whay Hae, Dauphin, The Daily Dose, Blues Bunny, Rave Child, Glasgow PodcArt, 17 Seconds, Net Sounds, The Tidal Wave of Indifference, edRock.net, Dear Scotland, Vic Galloway, Manic Pop Thrills, Edinburgh Man, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Aye Tunes, Song, By Toad, Elba Sessions, Listen Before You Buy, Detour Scotland, Jock Rock, Found in Sound, Phuturelabs, The Daily Growl, Favourite Son, The 'Spill, Scottish Fiction, Nicola Meighan, Jenny Soep, Rokbun, Curious Joe, Radar Scotsman Music Blog and of course Peenko.
Initially it didn't look like there was any sort of clear leader, then as the votes started to trickle in our eventual winner(s) absolutely ran away with it. So without further ado here's The Scottish BAMS top ten albums of 2011...
8-10. The Moth & The Mirror - Honestly, This World /PJ Harvey - Let England Shake / FOUND - factorycraft
And the winner is...
Ahead of tonights show at the Arches in Glasgow, I caught up with Bill and Aidan to present them with their very own BAMS Buckie!
a couple of BAMS
Congratulations Bill and Aidan, you are this years' winners of the Scottish BAMS award, how do you feel? Does this rate as a career highlight then?
Aidan - I think it might be the first award I've ever been presented with, with the exception of the joint 4th Year English Prize at Falkirk High in 1989, so it's very exciting indeed. Not sure about a career highlight – that accolade is always reserved for the work itself, and Everything's Getting Older is certainly one of my favourites, yes.
Bill - Feels good - though when it dawned on me, obviously quite some time ago, that awards are only ever decided upon by other people, not by some almighty, all knowing, arbiter of taste and quality looking down from the clouds, I thought it always best to never get too excited about any of them coming my way, not that there's been much occasion to, right enough.
How did you end up collaborating together in the first place?
Aidan - Bill says we found ourselves at the same table in a pub and I immediately asked him to play on some Arab Strap songs. I have no recollection of this at all, but at the time I was very much in love with his Also In White album so I've no reason to doubt him. After he played on the Monday At The Hug And Pint album, we did one song together and then took years to book a studio to do some more. We always seemed to have other things to do, but I'm glad we waited because I can't imagine the album any other way. It would've had an entirely different theme and tone if we'd finished it in 2005, and I really don't think it would have been as good from my side.
Bill - Indeed this is what happened - I was very surprised and flattered actually because although I was a huge Arab Strap fan, and though we were all from Falkirk, or, more likely, because, it never occurred to me that we'd ever all be in a studio together, so it did, for me at least, even at the time, feel like quite an occasion, and looking back, even more so now.
I am guessing that you've spent a lot of time in each others' pockets this year; has this bonded your love for each other, or are you sick of the sight of each other?
Aidan - We haven't really spent that much time together at all, to be honest. We haven't done a lot of touring, although what we did do was quite hard work. There's more gigs being planned for next year, so hopefully we'll have more to do, but it's not as though we're a young rock band out on the road and in the NME every week, there's not a lot of fuss or constant attention to deal with; there's been a minimum of upheaval, thankfully.
Bill - Yeh, sorry, you're guessing wrong.
If the love is still there, are there any plans to work together again in the future?
Aidan - We've just started talking about our second album now, so it will happen but we're not sure when. Certainly not next year, we've both got a couple of albums each planned for 2012, so we might try and have it ready for 2013. There's no rush though, it'll be ready when it's ready; the last thing i want to do is dive into it and force it out, that's why a lot of second albums these days are a bit shit. Bands and labels are desperate to hold onto any momentum and profile a new band has, but we're lucky in that respect because we're not really a new, young band; we've both been making records for ages and there's no pressure on us at all. So 2014 at the earliest!
Bill - Just to add that I'm really looking forward to this, the musical ideas for first album were pretty much all on one cdr I gave Aidan ages ago, then the EP happened pretty quickly this year so, personally, I'm more hopeful for the 2013 result but, whatever and whenever, it'll be great to get working together in the studio again.
Seeing as we are on the subject of albums of the year, what have been your personal favourites of 2012?
Aidan - I would've said Slow Club's Paradise a couple of weeks ago (which I still love) but it's been pipped at the post by the last-minute release of Josh T. Pearson's limited live LP, The King Is Dead, which I think is far superior to his studio album. There's been a lot of very good music this year though, but my memory can never work when it's put on the spot, sorry!
Bill - I look at these end of year lists and realize I haven't heard so many of these records, so it feels like a very uninformed opinion. The last time I was asked I said the re - release of Annette Peacock's 'I'm The One' which is truly one of the greatest records ever made. However after writing that I realized that "That's Reality' by Yumbo, which is Koji Shibuya's (bass player in Maher Shalal Hash Baz) Pop masterpiece, came out in Japan in early 2011.
Bill - I look at these end of year lists and realize I haven't heard so many of these records, so it feels like a very uninformed opinion. The last time I was asked I said the re - release of Annette Peacock's 'I'm The One' which is truly one of the greatest records ever made. However after writing that I realized that "That's Reality' by Yumbo, which is Koji Shibuya's (bass player in Maher Shalal Hash Baz) Pop masterpiece, came out in Japan in early 2011.
'Everything’s Getting Older' is out now on Chemikal Underground and it comes with the Scottish BAMS seal of approval. You can order yourself a copy on CD, download or on triple vinyl (which also includes two Bonus 12" featuring 14 exclusive tracks of new material, remixes and demos/ a 12x12 16-page booklet featuring lyrics and sheet music for Bill's compositions/ a data disc with hi-spec audio files of all vinyl tracks plus a recording of Bill & Aidan's first ever concert at Glasgow's Triptych Festival in 2008, here.
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Copper Top
Yah! Very happy that my number one was also the BAMS number one!
ReplyDeleteSterling effort Peenko!
ReplyDeleteGood job, as ever Peenko - you won't get such a unique & tremendous compilation anywhere else in the world.
ReplyDeleteIts like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is great blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding blog!
ReplyDelete