Not Unloved's (belated!) faves of 2016

In 2016 I bought a fair number of records but due to the amount of brilliant shows in Glasgow (Anxiety, Vital Idles, Mordwaffe, Sacred Paws, Happy Meals, Spinning Coin etc. etc.), watching football and being busy with life stuff, I didn't actually spend enough time with them. I've promised myself that this won't happen in 2017. We'll see! I've also scolded myself for not getting round to buying the lps by Chook Race and The Yearning as they're both worthy of any Not Unloved albums of the years list.

Albums

1. Ela Orleans "The Circles of Upper and Lower Hell" (Night School)
2. The Goon Sax "Up To Anything" (Chapter Music)
3. Anxiety "s/t" (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4. Whyte Horses "Pop Or Not" (CPC)
5. Lightning In A Twilight Hour "And All The Ships At Sea" (Elefant)
6. Real Numbers "Wordless Wonder" (Slumberland)
7. Helena Celle "If I Can't Handle Me At My Best, You Don't Deserve You At Your Worst" (Night School)
8. Vanishing Twin "Choose Your Own Adventure" (Soundway)
9. Pete Astor "Spilt Milk" (Fortuna Pop/Slumberland)
10. The Pooches "s/t" (Lame-O)
11. Carla dal Forno "You Know What It's Like" (Blackest Ever Black)

Singles (excludes Vital Idles!)

1. Spinning Coin "Albany" (Geographic)
2. Sacred Paws "Everyday" (Rock Action)
3. Primetime "Going Places" (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4. CC Dust "Shinkansen No. 1" (Night School) - "New Ways" on the flip was the song I played most in 2016!
5. Patience "The Church" (Night School)
6. Carla dal Forno "Fast Moving Cars" (Blackest Ever Black)
7. Lady Wray "Do It Again" (Big Crown)
8. El Michel's Affair feat. The Shacks "Strange Boy" (Big Crown)
9. Mercury Girls "Ariana" (Slumberland)
10. Boys Forever "Poisonous" (Amour Foo)
11. Shark Toys/UV-TV "split" (Emotional Response)
12. Omar S feat. Nite Jewel "Sidetrakx Vol. 5: Nite Train" (FXHE)
13. Peter Gordon & David Van Tieghem feat. Kathy Acker "Winter/Summer" (Foom) - possibly more of an archival issue but it sure earned a stack of turntable time at the end of the year!

Reissue

Gas "BOX" (Kompakt)

Also, the Bizarre "Cafe de Flor" (Seksound) reissue - first issued in Estonia in the mid-90s - was really intriguing and contained one of the very few songs that sounds without precedent to these ears:

Gigs

1. The Goon Sax, Boys Forever and Spinning Coin at Mono
2. Amor at Platform (I'll remember this for the rest of my days - truly stunning Arthur Russell meets English folk melancholia from Richard Youngs, Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand), Luke Fowler and Michael Duchs)
3. The Pastels, Cavern of Anti-Matter etc. at Pop Revo, Aarhus
4. Anxiety at The Old Hairdressers (supporting Guttersnipe)
5. Royal Headache and The #1s at Broadcast
6. The Raincoats and Sacred Paws at CCA