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.

Help Ma Boab, It's The 62 Word Review

We Are The Physics – Applied Robotics

They've been pretty quiet for a while, but what a way to come back! Blistering and frantic, it's like they've taken a bit of their favourite angular post-punk bands and injected the pop nous of the much-loved - but sadly now defunct - Flying Matchstick Men (latterly Matchsticks). If this is what's to be expected from their forthcoming second album then I cannot wait.

Available now from iTunes.

Adam Stafford – Vessels Shifted EP (part of split EP with Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo)

This is one of those EPs where headphones are essential. There's a post-rock feel, sort of Explosions In The Sky-like with chiming guitars over rhythmic pulses. It's all quite understated however, and Stafford's loops climb but always stop short of overblown grandeur. Working Hard To Breathe is pure Come On Die Young era Mogwai, the highlight among an EP full of highlights.

Available from Bandcamp. The other half of the EP will be reviewed in another edition of the 62 Word Review

Naked Strangers – Mystery Meat

Really enjoyed this laid back, bluesy stroll. Its trembling guitars and ringing chords interspersed with some tasteful wandering bass make for a huge sound. It's not particularly original, and certainly would have fit right in around the Britpop era, but I don't think originality is necessarily what Naked Strangers are seeking. I think they're updating what's gone before, and doing it well.

Fin. 

Friday Freebies

Randolph's Leap
First thing tomorrow morning I'll be hauling myself out of bed an ungodly hour to head up to my first T in the Park for five years. The last time I went, I came back engaged - I've always been classy. This time round I'll be on my best behaviour as I am acting as tour manager (ie driving the van) for Randolph's Leap, as they will be opening the T Break Stage at 12pm on the Saturday. If you're going to be be there for the gates opening, make sure you pop your head in - even if you're not a fan (how could you not be?!), it will be an ideal place to shelter from the rain. As a wee taster to encourage folk to come and see them play, the band have released a free download of a new unreleased song called 'Man, I Feel Rough'. Which I think is pretty damn ace, but then again I am just a little bit biased. You can make your own mind up by streaming the song below.



Chris Devotion and The Expectations
Another cracking band that will be appearing on this years T Break stage, are Chris Devotion and The Expectations. Having had the pleasure of putting them on at our Bloggers showcase gig at goNorth, I can vouch for how good they are live. Sadly I won't get to witness their set as they're playing on the Sunday and I'll long gone by then, if you are going to still be up then get yourself along at 13.40 for a tight ass rock 'n roll show. In the event that you need a wee bit of persuading, you should check out their song, 'The Girl Is Leaving', which they've made available as a free download. If you're not going to T, you can also catch them at Belladrum and the Wickerman Festival!



Chemikal Underground
Scotland's coolest and most influential label, Chemikal Underground, are currently giving away a free compilation featuring an array of talent, including, The Phantom Band, Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, RM Hubbert and a whole host of other goodies. You can download the compilation for free from Amazon



Scottish Fiction
My fellow blogger,  Scottish Fiction, is back with another one of his series of free EP's. This month he's got managed to gather in a whole host of  up and coming talent. If you want to get your grubby little mitts on free tracks from The Seven Deadly Sins, Mad Nurse, Make Sparks and Aaron Wright, then just head on over to his Bandcamp page.





Snow Patrol
I know, I know, if I had any street cred then I wouldn't be posting anything up by Snow Patrol, but fuck it, I don't care if you don't like them, as I do. So deal with it. If you do like Mr Lightbody & Co, then you might be interested to learn that they've made a new version of Lifening (Burst To Life Mix) available as a free download on their homepage.



PET
Okay so it's not quite free, it's one of those pay you want type deals, but you can opt to pay nowt if you like. It's the return of Edinburgh outfit, PET, who have just released their fourth single, 'Together Apart', which you can download from Bandcamp. 





We Are The Physics
Monday there saw the return of Gasgow's finest 'mutant science punks', We Are The Physics. They've come back with a bit of a bang, with their new single, 'GORAN IVANISEVIC' taken from their forthcoming album 'Album Details Not Ready Yet'. Did I mention it's free, I didn't need to, did I?!




Tilly & The Wall
It has been that long since I last heard anything from Tilly & The Wall, that I presumed they'd chucked it ages ago. Apparently I was wrong, as they have new album called Heavy Mood in the offing,  as a wee taster they've made the first single from it,  'Love Riot' available as a free download through Stereogum. By the sound of things I htink they have ditched he whole tap dancers as percussionists thing. I may well be wrong, and often am.

Drunk Mule
To finish off this weeks freebies, it's our old pals Drunk Mule, once again they've recorded a new tune which they're giving away as a free download. This one's called 'Fancy Pants' and it's free to download from their Bandcamp page.