Glasgow, Art and Pop – the 3 words are somehow synonymous! If there’s a city in the UK that better mixes those 2 premier forms of human expression, then let me know… Didn’t think so! London has long ceased to be the main creative hub in the UK, so now it’s up to the ‘nations’, the ‘regions’ and the ‘peripheries’ to do the damage, away from the media’s prying eyes. In my view, Glasgow leads the charge.
Never crassly lumped into a scene or a particular moment in time, Scottish music just keeps innovating, mutating and forging forward. At the centre of this is Glasgow, a city which has a pop history all of its own. From The Poets to Postcard; from Teenage Fanclub to Chemikal Underground; from Alex Harvey to Franz Ferdinand – Glasgow has spawned them all. But I’m forever asked why it is so prolific?
Maybe it’s because it has an incredible network of venues (Mono, Stereo, Nice’n’Sleazy, King Tuts, 13th Note, Captain’s Rest, ABC, Barrowlands etc) within a relatively small centre of town; maybe it’s the working class hunger and never-say-die mentality; the galleries and art happenings on so many corners; or is it simply down to the rain and downtrodden horizons that makes people strive for more? Who knows? One thing’s for certain though, there are literally hundreds of great musicians and artists kicking against the pricks right now! I started working for the BBC doing ‘new music’ programmes in Scotland almost 10 years ago, and things have never been better.
Bizarrely, it’s a Leeds label that brings you this compilation. Not that Scotland is stuck for labels; it’s just that A.G.P has taken the initiative to put this particular bunch together on 1 CD. Always paragons of taste, I’ve never actually met anyone involved in the label but have played pretty much all their releases thus far. I salute these risk-taking, visionary Yorkshire men! They have put together a tasty selection of tunes from bands causing trouble in and around Glasgow right now. From their stand-point a few hundred miles away, they can see what’s going on and how exciting it is. Hello lads, let’s get a pint sometime!
It may be the sublime pop from Isosceles, Popup, Zoey Van Goey or The Low Miffs that does it for you; or the raucous noise-attacks from Gummy Stumps, Triple School, Plaaydoh or Dirty Summer that make you shake in your boots. Perhaps it’s the retro twang of Hidden Masters; the twisted burlesque of Punch and the Apostles; the heart-felt yearning of Sparrow & the Workshop; the romantic nihilism of Clean George IV or one of many other diamonds herein, but you’re guaranteed to find something wonderfully subversive and satisfying.
Without being pedantic, many of the bands included aren’t actually from Glasgow. Maybe that will fuel the desire to search amongst the less creative cities for more sonic discoveries – they’re definitely out there. That aside, this is a 23-strong mix of some of the finest in the land, and the album-title is just too snappy not to use!
In these days of homogenisation, corporate sponsorship and dwindling sales within a crumbling music industry; it’s a joy to see such a label and collection of bands so in love with making music, ignoring fashion and blind commercialism. Scotland has that attitude, and hopefully always will.
Long live ‘The Glasgow School of Art Goes Pop’!
Vic Galloway, BBC Radio 1 and Radio Scotland – October 2008
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