• Mixtape Preview: Teenage Superstars

    Running (independently) parallel with equally generation-shaping scenes in cities like Washington and Minnesota, Scotland was a singularly fertile ganglion of DIY and indie music throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. From Teenage Fanclub and The Vaselines to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream, towns like Bellshill and East Kilbride – as well much bigger scenes in Glasgow – gave rise to some of the most influential artists of a generation. Such a mottled and many-chaptered narrative can’t exactly be reeled off or pared down into a précis, which is perhaps why few books – and much fewer films…

  • Tour Journal: Vanilla Gloom

    A hotly-tipped “must see” act at the final ever Glasgowbury music festival this weekend, Belfast-based all-female post-punk band Vanilla Gloom have just returned from their first tour across the water – a brief but eventful little stint across Scotland beginning and ending in Glasgow. In the first installment of an occasional tour journal feature, Shannon O’Neill, vocalist and guitarist from the Derry three-piece details the band’s experiences on and off the stage via photos (courtesy of the very talented Ciara McMullan), doodles and day-to-day thoughts from on the road. ___