1 Hector Bizerk The Tree That Never Grew (hectorbizerk.com)
Not only Scottish Album No 3 with The Waltz Of Modern Psychiatry but top of the Scottish EPs list courtesy of the final of four shorter but no less ambitious records released over a 13-month spread. The Glasgow hip hop band are at their most melodic – but also most socially cutting – on cautionary tale They Made A Porno On A Mobile Phone… and music industry invective Empty Jackets.
2 Tuff Love Dross (Lost Map)
November’s Dregs EP is a cleaner production that brims over with frothy brilliance, but it’s the grungy power pop of Febuary’s Dross EP, particularly the guitar pick ‘n’ fuzz combo of lead track Slammer, that really proves Suse Bear and Julie Eisenstein are accelerating up the ones-to-watch list.
3 Henry And Fleetwood On The Forest Floor (Olive Grove)
Contender for the single most gorgeous song of the year? Opening track On The Forest Floor (Rhiwddolion) is undoubtedly in with a chance, as the high, light voice of Martin John Henry (De Rosa) weaves inside the subtle harmonies and gentle harp of Gillian Fleetwood (State Broadcasters).
4 Tijuana Bibles Ghost/Dance/Movement (tijuanabibles.co.uk)
Glasgow got its rock’n’roll mojo back when this four-piece went from strength to strength in 2015. Launched with an Oran Mor gig in September, this is a four-track adrenaline boost, from the dirty psychedelic licks of Apogee to the swampy shiver of Sun Chaser.
5 Le Thug Place Is (Song, By Toad)
The sonic world of My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins placed slap-bang in the middle of contemporary Glasgow: Clio Alexandra MacLellan’s voice is almost a ghost of itself, buried among distorted guitars and clinical beats.
6 Finn LeMarinel Love Is Waves (Electric Honey)
One for fans of Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver, this four-track release on the student-run label is a perfect showcase for LeMarinel’s talents as singer and musician. Emotionally honest lyrics are delicately delivered in falsetto while some quite remarkable guitar-playing emerges on closing track Mess Made, giving RM Hubbert a run for his money.
7 Ded Rabbit Wake Up In A Dream (ded-rabbit.com)
There’s a lot of Arctic Monkeying around on both EPs released in 2015 by the four Edinburgh-based Gaine brothers, and a fair bit of Libertine behaviour when the sound gets tighter and the tunes get snappier. In a parallel universe (one with a better sense of pop justice) Better On The Day, lead track on their February EP, is the kind of guitar-indie song that’s always at the top of the charts.
8 Bella And The Bear A Girl Called Bella (bellaandthebear.bigcartel.com)
Actually, what we have here are a girl called Lauren and a boy called Stuart, both blessed with jaw-dropping voices that mesh together in sublime harmony. And just when you think you’re in Civil Wars territory, along comes a spoken word segment that’s so sharp and observant it lifts the songs to another realm entirely.
9 Declan Welsh Alright (declanwelsh.com)
The no-holds-barred sound of what it’s like being young in Glasgow in 2015 (with a short detour to a coffee shop in Amsterdam) – it’s all swagger, vulnerability, rough wit and rougher charm, packed into cracking stories and catchy tunes. She’s From Bearsden is Pulp’s Common People transported from the Thames to the Clyde.
10 Spring Break Departure Lounge (springbreakband.co.uk)
There’s a freer, funkier feel to the brand of hip hop fashioned by this Highland trio, an old-school warmth that grows from the rhythmic scratching beneath Degenerative Eloquence to the soulful horn samples on Dolphin Puncher. They’re eye-catching dressers, too.
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