The Scottish BAMS Award 2012 (The Scottish Blogger And Music Sites Award)

Regular visitors to this site will more than likely already know all about the BAMS, but for any newbies out there I'll you a quick intro. For the past 4 years I have been running an annual poll entitled the Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites Award or Scottish BAMS for short, in which I ask an array of bloggers, DJs and folk who run music web sites to vote for their albums of the year. I then take all these votes and tally them up to see what the most popular of the last 12 months has been. Past winners of the BAMS have included The Phantom Band, The National and Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, who later went on to win the inaugural SAY Awards.

This year we had a whopping 41 entries, which included votes from the following bloggers, music sites and DJs:
Scots Whay Hae!,  Jim Gellatly, Detour, Jock N Roll, Houdidontblog, Rave Child, Fusion New Music, Fish In A Sub, Manic Pop Thrills, Kowalskiy, 17 Seconds, Net Sounds, The Steinberg Principle, Songs Heard On Fast Trains, Peenko, Hercules Moments, Dauphin Mag, JockRock, Play That Song For Me, The Spill, The Tidal Wave of Indifference, HP, Inverness Gigs, Elba Sessions, Fresh Air, Scottish Fiction, Tenement TV, Marion Scott MFR, Last Years Girl, Dear Scotland, Blues Bunny, The Pop Cop, Vic Galloway, Ally McCrae, Glasgow PodcART, I Hate Fun, Avalanche, Edinburgh Man, Everything Flows, Nicola Meighan, Aye Tunes and Song, by Toad.

Anyway, without further ado here's a selection of the top Scottish BAMS albums of 2012...

Joint 9-12th

Chris Devotion and The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital 

Paul Buchanan - Mid Air 

The Twilight Sad - No One Can Ever Know

 

We Are The Physics - Your Friend, The Atom

8th

Admiral Fallow - Tree Bursts In Snow

7th 

 

Sharon Van Etten – Tramp

6th 

Miaoux Miaoux - Light Of The North

5th

Errors - Have Some Faith In Magic

4th

RM Hubbert - Thirteen Lost & Found

3rd

PAWS - Cokefloat!

2nd

Django Django - Django Django

And the winner is...

1st Place

Meursault - Something for the Weakened

I managed to catch up with Neil from Meursault at Kid Canaveral's Baubles III event yesterday, where I also got to present him with the much coveted BAMS Buckie!

Pic by Mike from MPT

Congratulations Neil, you are this years' winners of the Scottish BAMS award, how do you feel?        

I feel like the chubby lad at school after being picked first for the football team. I fear that any minute now I'm going to be told it's all a joke and you're going to burn my shoes and flush my head down the toilet.        

It seems to have been a pretty exciting year for the band, what with European tours supporting Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to headlining the Queen's Hall back in July, aside from winning this years BAMS, what's been your personal highlight of 2012?   

My highlight is probably the QH gig. I've wanted to play that venue since I was 18. Feels nice to have ticked that one off.             

Last years the BAMS was won by Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells, who later went on to win the SAY Awards. Have you allowed yourself the thought that you might potentially be in with a shout at next years SAY Awards?   

What? I thought this was the SAY awards? You ARE still giving me £10000 though right?  (whip round anyone? - Peenko)          

I noted that once again you've decided not to head over to Austin for next years SXSW, is not something that interests you or are you just keeping our friends on the other side of the pond waiting?   

It's not something that appeals to me to be honest. I get really tired of the competitive aspect of playing music and do my best to avoid it. I've no interest in travelling halfway round the world (at great expense) to peddle my music to pissed up strangers in laminates  . Playing in the states is something that I'm keen to pursue but not that way.      

       

How important do you feel that the support of music blogs has been to the band?   

It's been hugely important for us. After all it was a blogger (song, by toad) who put out our first 3 records.              

Seeing as we are on the subject of albums of the year, what have been your personal favourites of the last 12 months?        

I've not sure if all of these came out this year but I'm going with them anyway...  

Chad Vangaalen- Diaper Island 

Youth Lagoon- The Year of Hibernation 

Charles Latham- Fast Loans 

Grouper- alien observer 

Paws- Cokefloat   

Cheers!

Pic by Mike from MPT

Thanks to Neil for taking the time to do that for me and for producing my favourite album of 2012. 

"Something For The Weakened" is out now on Song By Toad Records

Thanks to all of the music sites, blogs and DJs who took part in this years BAMS, I don't know about you guys but I am already pretty damn excited about what 2013 has in store for us.

Friday Freebies

Sharon Van Etten
I think I might well be one of the last music bloggers to have jumped on the Sharon Van Etten bandwagon. The Brooklyn based singer-songwriter seems to be the current darling of hipster sites such as Stereogum and Pitchfork, having been listening to her new album, Tramp, a hell of a lot this week I can see why folk have been getting their knickers in such a twist. If you haven't picked up on her yet or you just to see what all the fuss is about then just head on over to Amazon where you can download her song Leonard for free.

Two Wings
If you frequent other Scottish music blogs other than this one then I think it's a safe bet to warn you all that the blogosphere may well start getting a wee bit over excited about the forthcoming album from  Glasgow-based band Two Wings. Featuring Hanna Tuulikki who features on the latest RM Hubbert album and Ben Reynolds who has played with the likes of Alisdair Roberts and Trembling Bells. The duo are set to cause a bit of a stir with the release of their excellent debut album, "Love's Spring"  which comes out on Tin Angel Records at the end of April. As a wee teaser they're giving away the opening track from the album, 'Eikon' as a free download in exchange for your email address.

Marionettes
The Aberdeen based label, Bedford Records continue to impress with their ability to unearth little hidden gems from the North East of Scotland. Boasting an impressive repertoire which includes the likes of IndianRedLopez, Steven Milne and you can now add frantic indie pop outfit, Marionettes to that list. With their their debut single, "The Rightness Of Blindless" due out on the 9th of April, the band are giving away a free download of "De Ja When?" as a wee introduction to the band. If oyu like what you hear then you can catch the band playing live at The Doghouse in Dundee on the 12th April, then The Lemon Tree in  Aberdeen on the 13th, then on the14th April they'll be at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow, on the15th they're at Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh, before finishing up on the16th at Madhatters in Inverness.



Bobby Womb
It was only last week that I was raving about the latest release from Wiseblood Industries, now I find myself in the situation where once again I am raving about their output. This weeks offering is a wee bit different mind, if you like ambient instrumental tunes then the new Bobby Womb EP should tickle yer fancy.



Blank Canvas
Keeping up with all of the goings on in the Scottish music scene really is a job in itself, every week it feels as if there is a new record label or blog cropping up. Not that I am complaining mind, the more folk that are out there promoting what's going on in our backyard the better. The latest addition to the family are COME Records, who have just put out their first release with Edinburgh outfit, Blank Canvas, which is free to download here.

Be Like Pablo
Morayshire indie popsters, Be Like Pablo have announced that their new album, "The New Adventures".will be available for free in August from their fancy new website interactive website As if that wasn't enough on the first weekend of every month, they will be releasing free material as well as album artwork, b-sides, covers and a lot more to boot. If you register your details just now on the bands site then they'll send you 2 free new tunes which should whet your appetite for what's to come over the next few months.


Lovers Turn to Monsters
Prolific lo-fi music maestro, Kyle Wood, aka Lovers Turn to Monsters is back after what must be all of a month's absence with another slice of alt-pop goodness. His new album 'Mumblecore' (top name for an album) is out now on limited edition cassette or an a pay what you want basis from Bandcamp.




Schwervon!
The only bad thing that's come from listening to the Edinburgh Man podcast is that it usually ends up with my bank balance taking a bit of a battering as he continually seems to unearth little hidden gems that I would never have stumbled across. A few months back he turned me on to the New York duo, Schwervon!, yet another ace find on his part. Until the end of this month they're going to be giving away a new free tune every Friday, last weeks offering Cougar Pride might still be up for grabs if you're quick.If not then just check out their Bandcamp page for this weeks freebie.



Vasquez
Naming yourself after a character from Aliens gets you brownie points in my book, having the tunes to back them up is another matter all together. Thankfully Edinburgh's noise-wielding trio do that and then some, they've just released EP2 for nowt on their Bandcamp page, fans of Lady North and Bronto Skylift should really check this out.




Shooting Stansfield
Edinburgh outfit, Shooting Stansfield have posted up a series of songs that they recorded at The Cottage on the beautiful setting of the banks of Loch Fyne. Billed as The Cottage Sessions, there are 3 songs up for grabs on their SoundCloud page, you can also read more about how the songs came to be on their blog. Fans of Frightened Rabbit and Admiral Fallow would be urged to check this up and coming act out.

  The Cottage Sessions by Shooting Stansfield 




The Melvins
Legenadry gruneg outfit, the Melvins have made their latest release, The Bulls & The Bees, available for free in exchange for your email address. If you've never heard of the Melvins before then now's your chance to acquaint yourself with one of the bands that helped to start the whole grunge movement.

The Kays Lavelle
Bloody hell, The Kays Lavelle are back, I guess I must have missed that memo. Having apparently disappeared off the face of this earth shortly after the release of their debut album, Be Still This Gentle Morning, the Edinburgh outfit are back and they've got a new song called Hiding in Ditches available on a pay what you want basis on Bandcamp.



Conor Mason
If you missed Conor Mason's session that I posted earlier in the week, I'd urge you to scroll down a bit and check it out. If you can't be arsed with all of that effort, then you could always jut follow this link and download his new single, Misunderstood, for nowt. His new album, Standstill, comes out on Monday on Armellodie Records and it's well worth investing yer pennies on. Hopefully we should have an interview with him up fairly shortly too.

  Misunderstood by Conor Mason by Armellodie