Here are the 100 tunes to come out of Scotland that became my soundtrack for the year.
This Top 100 of 2015 playlist contains everything from the recognised, the little known to the downright obscure. All are treasures in their own way.
It's an eclectic journey through alternative rock, dance, electronica, indie, choral, punk, post-grunge, folk and... well see for yourself.
Part 4 - 25-1
25 The Animal Mothers - P*** On Your Dog.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 25 Glasgow's #TheAnimalMothers romp thro a wild garage surf rock gem https://t.co/anGnq9v8FR pic.twitter.com/1V7GbF730z
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) December 31, 2015
24 Le Thug - Basketball Land. A kaleidoscope of noise-electropop from the four-piece Glasgow art-pop four-piece,
23 Django Django - First Light. Infectious surf-pop from the Edinburgh combo that enters the brain & squats
22 Spinning Coin - Magdeline. Glasgow four-piece with a colossal psyche-swamp ingot #Magdeline
21 Hudson Mohawke - Scud Books. Glasgow producer creates a stunning acid-electro behemoth.
20 Django Django - Shake and Tremble. An ecstatic garage-surf beast from the Edinburgh College of Art students who became 2012 Mercury Prize nominees
19 Lional - This Isn't. The Inverness indie-noir four-piece are ones to watch in 2016.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 19 Watch out for Inverness's @Lionalband in 2016 + (no pressure) #ThisIsnt simply rocks https://t.co/b0r9zFwcGx
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) December 31, 2015
18 Rustie - First Mythz. Where the Glasgow producer creates spellbinding happy hardcore art from dolphins and power synth chords. Think Boards of Canada meets Calvin Harris. And yes, it is therefore dolphin-friendly tune.
17 The New Fabian Society - Eat Out Of Your Lungs. The Glasgow psyche-punk merchants produce a deliciously dark but insanely catchy guitar malestrom.
16 Art Of The Memory Palace - Waalhaven. An otherworldly hypno-electro treasure from the Dundee cosmic pop duo.
15 Watchfires - Let The Walls Speak Our Names. An anthem with a skyscraping crescendo from the Aberdeen indie-rockers.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 15 Breast-beatingly euphoric anthem fi Aberdeens' @Watchfiresband #LetTheWallsSpeakOurNames https://t.co/ewK82obmGh
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) December 31, 2015
14 Lional - Over and Over.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 14 Inverness's @ThisIsntLionel wi an exhilirating bullet of potent noise pop fi #OverAndOver https://t.co/dnXiMi1wIC
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) December 31, 2015
13 Best Girl Athlete - Talk. An enchanting piano & strings jewel (the recorded version) from 16-year-old prodigy Katie Buchan from Aberdeen.
12 Le Thug - Losing Song.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 12 Towering noise-fuzzpop heaven fi Glasgow's @LeThug #LosingSong https://t.co/mJPdmUv1UM
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) January 1, 2016
11 Lional - Season of Salt. Inverness indie-noir band + chiming guitars + irresistible melody = epic debut single.
10 Le Thug - FC. Hypnotic drone-pop from Clio Alexandra MacLellan, Dann McColgan and Michael Gilfedder.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 10 Unearthly & beguiling MBV vs Stereolab fuzz-pop fi @LeThug #FC https://t.co/F1ZJuHGHaw pic.twitter.com/aIpyUkiARD
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) January 1, 2016
9 Mairearad Green - Tanera Talisman. Could be the mother of This Mortal Coil's Song To The Siren.
Top100ScotsTunesOf2015 9 Breathless aural pearl fi Highlands multi-instrumentalist @MairearadG-reen #TaneraTalisman https://t.co/27G63IXRXL
— Martin Williams (@Martin1Williams) January 1, 2016
8 I Am David Laing - Hoover Boxes. Acoustic yet still a widescreen & seductive classic sounding song from the Gourock singer-songwriter.
7 The New Fabian Society - Chains. The Glasgow psyche-punk combo erupt on a charmingly corrosive mantra.
6 C Duncan - Novices. A heavenly harmonic incantation with nods to The Carpenters from the 2015 Mercury Music Prize nominee. The Glasgow bedroom musician should have won it.
5 Django Django - Reflections. A great thumping serene aural smile of a song. They even bring the saxophone back.
4 December 91 - Woman in a Man's Body. The Glasgow-based freak-folksters rip out the killer riffs to make alienation sound thrilling.
3 C Duncan - Say. A beautifully desolate dream-pop classic with nods (and only nods) to legendary art rockers Roxy Music and maybe even 80s synth-pop combo China Crisis.
2 Young Fathers - Rain Or Shine. 2014 Mercury winners YoungFathers are at their cross-cultural best on this soul-inflected tribal hip hop gem underpinned by an engaging keyboard loop sounding like a maniacal carousel ride sample.
1 C Duncan - Architect. The incomparable title track from what was very easily my album of the year. Parts appear to nod to classic pop - without the whole ever sounding like anything else on the planet right now. This was Mr Christopher Duncan's year.
Part 1 - 100-76... From Ela Orleans to C Duncan
Part 2 - 75-51... From The Bird and the Monkey to Auntie Flo
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here