2021 has proved to be another diverse and inspiring year for bands and artists from Scotland despite continued Covid lockdowns and restrictions.

We had an injection of the familiar with Glasgow synth-pop stars Chvrches releasing a new album complete with collaboration with Robert Smith from the Cure on one track, a number one album for indie-popsters The Snuts and after a long incubation period, finally a Scottish Album of the Year award for the deserving Mogwai with their superb tenth studio album.

Electronic dance music maestro Calvin Harris, without an album this year, made a return with a droplet under his Love Generator variant, while  Django Django's fourth album was the first not to reach the top 40 of the UK album charts.

There was tragedy when the hugely talented Scots glitch pop pioneer SOPHIE died following a sudden accident aged 34.

To mark the end of the year this is an eclectic annual journey of the best tracks from Scotland.  It began with a long list of some 200, distilled to this century... or so.

This Scots playlist of the most essential tunes of 2021, contains everything from alternative rock, dance, electronica, hip-hop, rap, indie choral, punk, post-grunge, folk and... well see for yourself.

It is a mix of the known, little known and the unknown, leftfield and mainstream,  immediate pop anthems and challenging (very) experimental projects.

The 100-or-so will be published over four days.

Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2021 Part 2 (75-51)

Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2021 Part 3 (50-26)

And we start with... Chapter 1... 100-76

=100 Nicky Murray - It Is So

An enticingly sparse electro throb, simple synth, and Glasgow's Zoe Graham on harmonies converts this alt-folk paen from the singer-songwriter/multi instrumentalist into a thing of bizarre beauty.

 =100 Jeshua - Esther

A sparkling, introspective slice of dream pop with an addictive guitar hook from the Glasgow-based songwriter written as a tribute to the artist's late grandmother and a single from his album Unreliable Narrator.

99 obviouslydan - Emily

The independent London-based music producer from the Scottish Highlands produces a captivating dance track which he said was supposed to be about ushering in a summer without Covid restriction.   It was originally called Your Summer Will Come. 

"But, I then called it Emily after my young niece as I realised it all related to how her summer will come," he says.  "My favourite part is probably when the vox synth comes in at about one minute. Think it’s a nice big sound that surprises you after the first drop."

98 Gallus - Perfect Ending

The five-piece Glasgow alt rockers who would give Green Day a run for their money create an assault to the sense with this raw rip-roaring melodic snarl of a tune which would rip through moshpits - if we were allowed to have them.  

97 C Duncan - The Wedding Song

It is goosebumps time as the classically influenced Glasgow art popster creates a lushly instrumented thing of sheer beauty. 

"The Wedding Song is a love song," says Duncan.  "It’s about contentment and being grateful for what we have, and what we share with one another. Unity is greater than any grand gesture."

96 Stock Manager - under ashes

The three-piece who say the are the "Linux operating system of the Glasgow music" redefine Nirvana-tinged grunge with a flavour of The Cure on shiny curiosity that ends too soon.

95 Constant Follower - I Can't Wake You

A delightfully melancholic track and the opener from the Scots dream-folk outfit's debut album Neither Is Nor Ever Was was the result of a gang attack on frontman Stuart McAll during his teens which left him with a traumatic head injury and the loss of his childhood memories.

"It is one of the first songs I wrote following my recovery. Like many of my songs, it began with a phrase I’d been trying to make sense of, ‘Moments last forever’."

94 yuma, Jewels and Magnus - Paralyzed

Over 4.5m streams on Spotify for this heady collaboration of the 23-year-old Orkney-born producer and singer-songwriter aka Euan Allison with producers yuma. and Jewels for this ambient house thumper.

=93 Pocket & Rohaan - idontwannabeafraid

The masterful new Glasgow/Edinburgh producer takes a future garage template but tampers with that with for a sonic adventure featuring erratic percussion, offbeat bass, bizarre audio manipulation, an other-worldly processed soul-vocal and layers of insatiable melody.

=93 Poster Paints - Never Saw It Coming

The new Glasgow duo made up of Frightened Rabbit guitarist Simon Liddell and vocalist Carla J. Easton of TeenCanteen produced a shiny shoegaze-tinged anthem which reminds me of the Cocteau Twins.

92 Lift  - Zour

The first single from the exciting debut There Is Beauty In Everything album from the north east Scotland producer (aka Dan Stevenson), is a hypnotic ambient/electronic curio underpinned with disorienting drum work from Adam Betts - known for his collaborations with electronic artists such as Squarepusher and Pete Tong. 

“I think it represents most of what I was trying to achieve musically across the whole record. There are moments of minimalism, confusion, textures and groove, which are the areas I wanted to be the most expressive in. That compounded with Adam Betts adding some incredible uniqueness to the track meant I felt we captured something quite special with it," says Stevenson.

91 Goodnight Louisa -  Get Your Hands Off My Girlfriend

Two years ago the wonderfully dark Hollow God from the dream pop project created by Edinburgh's Louise Anna McCraw - who fronted the underrated Edinburgh band Skjør - was our tune of the year. 

Two years later she returned with a track that could not be more different and a taster of future debut album Human Danger. 

Set against an intertwining and enticing 80s electro-pop disco sheen, she explores the hidden abuse of gay women in what were thought to be safe spaces. 

“For so long this has annoyed me and there’s no songs about this,” she says. “It’s a thing not talked about but it’s still a big problem, if not for the gay community in general, certainly for people I know – and especially for women with other women.”

90 Swiss Portrait - Your Mind

The Edinburgh-based dream-popster aka Michael Kay Terence is enthral to the darkest places of 80s indie and this nugget from his debut album Familiar Patterns just sounds like a rediscovered alternative hit from then.  A compliment.

89 Mogwai - Midnight Flit

This 6m cinematic epic is the band's usual post-rock vibe alongside a sweeping string section which was recorded with Nine Inch Nails composer and synth wizard Atticus Ross in Los Angeles directing an orchestra in Budapest.

88 Kinbote ft Kiszes - GPA

Glasgow-based glitch pop creator Matt Gibb featured in last year's list and hits home in 2021 with this bleak and freaky epic set to fragmented beats and softly rousing synths and samples. Gibb was previously based in Aberdeen and a member of the now-defunct arts collective Re-Analogue. 

=87 Bow Anderson - New Wave

The Scots singer-songwriter creates a soaring pop-soul gem from heartbreak blending hip-hop, R&B and Motown.

“New Wave is about letting go and moving onto bigger and better things,” she says. “It’s about learning to love yourself and knowing your worth. Sometimes you have to learn to let go of people who bring negativity to your life because it’s not worth your happiness suffering. I hope it uplifts people and makes them wanna dance!”.

=87 Frazzle - Bundes Liga

Spotify's algorithm laughably links this up-and-coming R-Rated Glasgow rapper to Sesame Street soundtracks.   Frazzle (the puppet) is a growling monster on the children's show.  

86 DJ Prospect, Shogun, Ransom FA, Sherlock, Oakzy B, McRoy & Melroze - Scotland Cypher Pt 1

A who's who of Scots spitting drill, trap and grime's finest team up with producers Show N Prove and DJ Prospect on this vicious bass-heavy verbal onslaught punctuated by a cutting instrumental.

85 Magnus & Whats Gud - Sanity

This electrifying bass house stomper with cut up keyboards, throbbing beats , scratches and insane drops is the results of a collaboration between the 23-year-old Orkney-born producer and singer-songwriter and the Dutch producer duo Whats Gud

84 Blue Violet - White Beaches

This hypnotic gem of a tune from the Anglo-Scots duo is a rallying cry to protect our precious surroundings.

"The idea with the song was to draw attention to the beauty of nature and to say that yes, the world is ours to enjoy, but also ours to protect," they say. "We hoped it would open up a dialogue and that listeners of the song would share their experiences of what they are doing to help save the planet and how they feel about what can be such an overwhelming subject at times. We’re very happy with how the song has resonated with people."

83 TNGHT - Tums

Scots maverick producer Hudson Mohawke and Lunice made a welcome return with this fabulously trippy electro gem with signature punchy 808s, laughing background vox and exhilirating chord progressions.

"Tums was made from that collective feeling of 'omg maybe there actually ARE going to be parties again,"Mohawke said. "That feeling seemed to inspire the first principles of the TNGHT project: Keep it really fun. Dumb. Hard-hitting. Don't overwork it."

=82 Permo - Bloodlust

This excitingly brutal underground punk trio from Falkirk produced a first single that is two-minutes of full-on weirdo hardcore that is shambolic and tight as a fist.

=82 Kami-O - Jayanta

The Glasgow-based DJ & grime producer with a prime atmospheric, delicately glitchy and cleverly layered electronic and acoustic guitar epic with accentuated nods to his Indian heritage from his stunning debut album Biren which was dedicated to his late grandfather Birendra Nath Bose.

81 Louis Seivwright ft: Ama Jane + Chef - Wonderland 

This is the hard-hitting  title track and second single from the new album from the 23-year-old producer originally from Aberdeen, due for release in 2021. It mashes grime beats, trap, drill and hip-hop in a masterful way. He has teamed up with Greenock singer AMA Jane, and long-standing collaborator, rapper Chef.

Seivwright says: “The process of making Wonderland was very organic. Myself and AMA Jane were in Glasgow for a photoshoot and Chef was also in Glasgow for a video shoot, and after both shoots, we decided to go to the studio. I was going through different beats and that one just clicked with everyone immediately. AMA had the hook down in about 10 minutes. Ideas just kept flowing throughout the room, different concepts, and ideas.  The song was written in about 30 minutes, and we recorded it a month later in Aberdeen. Everyone really shines on the song. We knew it was very special when we made it.” 

80 Aiitee - Let Go

The young rising artist from Scotland and originally from Nigeria with an intoxicating slice of R&B, soul and Afro-beat from the Better Days EP.

79  Proc Fiskal - Leith Tornn Canal

A delightfully disorientating  and ethereal glitch-hop highlight built around fragments of song and spoken language that comes over like a hyped up Boards of Canada from the second album from Edinburgh-based Joe Powers.  He has family connections to Archie Fisher - who was active in the Scottish folk revival of the 60s -  and The Singing Kettle.

78 Sherps - It Is What It Is

From the streets of the Fintry housing scheme of Dundee, is this biliously sharp and fast 18-Rated drill rap with a haunting funereal backing track from an artist who keeps his identity hidden behind a skull mask. “I’ve lost friends, I’ve been homeless, my past has been chequered but I have moved on, I’ve grown up," he says.  

77 Arab Strap - The Turning Of Our Bones

"I don't give a f*** about the past, or glory days gone by,” spits Aidan Moffat in that signature monotone at the start of this gripping, twisted 5m featuring drum machines, synth slivers and faintly angular guitar that starts As Days Get Dark, the duo's first outing since their 2005 album The Last Romance.

"It's an incantation, a voodoo spell to raise the dead,” says Aidan Moffat of the tune.  “Inspired by the Famadihana ritual of the Malagasy people of Madagascar, in which they dance with the corpses of loved ones; it’s all about resurrection and shagging.”

76 Callum Easter - What You Think

Edinburgh soul punk Callum Easter dabbles in a riotously scuzzy glam rock stomp while children, or rather, the Leith Congregational Choir, sing on backing vocal. It sees him urge the listener via his steely growl  to focus on living and the positive changes we can make as individuals and collectively.  "There’s no point crying, what’s the use? No more hiding, what’s the use?”

 

Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2021 Part 2 (75-51)

Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2021 Part 3 (50-26)