Friday, 1st June 2018 in Glasgow

As the years advance, I've become less and less able to make decisions. For example, choosing which record(s) to buy on any given visit to a record shop (or website, for that matter) has become increasingly difficult. The same applies to gigs. In Glasgow, there are often a couple of options to choose from on any given night and I struggle to decide which one to go to right up to doors open time. Given this, choosing what to go to on Friday, 1st June 2018 will be pretty tricky. I mean, just how does a self-confessed ditherer with my musical loves choose between the following?

The Pastels + Modern Studies + Andrew Wasylyk @ The Mackintosh Church
The Shacks @ Broadcast
The Scientists @ Nice'n'Sleazy
Vital Idles (album launch!) + Irma Vep + Current Affairs + Order of the Toad @ Mono

Each of these shows will be special and on any normal evening would be my gig of choice. The Pastels are my favourite group ever so I've seen them many times before (though not enough for my liking!) and they're playing in a beautiful, non-standard venue. That's the obvious choice. The Shacks, however, are fabulous and I've never seen them before thanks to their gig with Khruangbin at the CCA earlier this year having sold out before I was even aware it was happening. It's at Broadcast, mind you, which is not the best venue in town. The Scientists, of course, are garage legends and, being Australian, are far less likely to roll through town again anytime soon. I suspect they'll be a riot in downstairs in Sleazy's, too. Ah, but Vital Idles have a truly special place in Not Unloved's heart and their Mono show is the launch party for their debut lp (out via the smart kids at Upset The Rhythm). They've assembled a great lineup, too. Argh! In terms of dilemmas, it's a nice one to have but it'll take some sorting. If I were deciding purely on the posters, The Pastels show would surely win out as Annabel Wright has created this gorgeous piece of art for it:

P.S. How fab is the latest Vital Idles song and video?

The History Of

As a born evangelist (ok, music bore), I totally embraced the self-compiled tape as a means for spreading the good word about whichever groups I was keen on for most of the 90s.  I really did churn them out!  I received some absolute belters, too.  Lots of those I received through the indiepoplist's (R.I.P) monthly tape swap were incredible.  Having said that, I seldom bought pre-recorded tapes - they never had the allure of vinyl or the convenience of cds - so for me tapes are almost entirely associated with active construction.  I'm sure that's a large part of the reason why I loved Good Press gallery's "The History Of" exhibition/installation so much.  Timed nicely to coincide with the recent Cassette Store Day*, it's a hands-on installation.  You can read about and listen to a selection of tapes "compiled and created by a selection of artists, musicians, record labels and other practitioners who have an invested interest in music" on deliciously antiquated tape recorders and then, if it takes your fancy, pay 2 quid per tape and duplicate you own copy of those which piqued your interest on a high-speed duplicating machine.  You get to fold the little (pre-scored - great attention to detail!) inlay cards, too.  I chose to duplicate cassettes compiled by Monorail's Dep Downie (a history of Mike Watt in 20 bands/projects), illustrator/lecturer/publisher Marc Baines (a history of the fabulous Vesuvius Records which he co-ran in the 90s and which, in its time, produced some beautifully packaged cassettes) and Portland, Oregon's excellent M'Lady's Records.  "The History Of" runs until October 6th and if you ever excitedly made a mixtape to change a friend's life, you'll love it. Who knows, you might find yourself rushing home, retrieving those dusty shoeboxes full of tapes from the loft and looking back fondly on your own history of making tapes.  Well done to the Good Press team for such a brilliantly conceived and wonderfully executed installation.

* Sure some folks scoffed about CSD but I had a great time at Monorail listening to Cheer's gentle guitar atmospherics with good friends and buying "Summer Rain" by The Pastels and a tape of album demos on Suplex Cassettes by The Proper Ornaments.

Slow Summits

When The Pastels released "Illumination" 16 years ago, I bought mine from the record department of John Smith & Son's bookshop on Byres Road.  It seemed like the right thing to do as Stephen Pastel worked there.  History repeated itself last Friday when I bought their new lp, "Slow Summits", from Monorail Music and Stephen once again handed me my lp and cd - both formats, I guess, because I am, as The Guardian recently put it, a "(gently) pathologically devoted fan".  Sure, I could have got it slightly cheaper online but in 2013, more than ever before, I'm choosy about where I spend my money.  Luckily, I live in Glasgow so can still choose to buy from an independent record shop.

It's such a thrill to hold the new lp and gaze upon Annabel Wright's glorious artwork. A month or so ago, I was sent a link via which I could download "Slow Summits", I clicked on it immediately and greedily watched the zip archive transferring.  I flirted with the idea of not listening to it right away so that I could experience it for the first time on vinyl but the thought of a cache of new Pastels recordings gathering metaphorical dust on my laptop was too much so I unzipped it, burned it to cd and dug right in; I never was that freakish kid who somehow hadn't scoffed everything in their selection box by Queen's speech time on Christmas day.  Having witnessed many of The Pastels' more recent concerts, a few songs were familiar ("Secret Music", "Slow Summits", "Wrong Light" and "Come To The Dance") but enhanced by luminous little details in their arrangements; some contributed by collaborators such as Tenniscoats and members of To Rococo Rot.  Other tracks, like "Summer Rain" with its restrained freakout ending and the subtly orchestrated, disarmingly pretty "Kicking Leaves", were wholly new and rubber-stamped my developing belief that "Slow Summits" was something special.

So many groups who start out with energy and a spark get old and gravitate all too quickly towards making more conventional rock records.  The Pastels have always been too astute, too unconventional and too genuinely in love with music from less championed corners (as proved by their marvellous Insane Energy Drop mix which accompanied my copies) to wander down that cul-de-sac to mundanity.  Instead, as time's gone on, they've increasingly accentuated the elegant and the thoughtful over the trashy and the nonchalant.  I'm glad that the release of the new Pastels lp has felt like an event.  That it has been so well received and that it has prompted some really memorable writing - most notably Richard King's wonderful piece - has been heartening to see.  On a personal level, it's a much needed reminder that life in 2013 has so much more to offer than Personal Development Plans, shattered windows, failed MOTs and the like and that sometimes the people you admire don't let you down.  Recently, things have been hectic and the need to simplify and do less has become urgent.  Purposefully making the the time to listen to "Slow Summits" without the distractions of the television or the laptop logged-on to Twitter has provided some much needed calm.  I guess, it's just nice to have something truly beautiful on which to focus.  The Pastels are still the best group I've ever heard.

The Pastels discuss "Slow Summits" with Sushil K. Dade aka The Future Pilot.

The Pastels "Check My Heart"

Radiant, optimistic and youthful, "Check My Heart" just put a little love in my heart!

That The Pastels' return would ever be anything other than an unalloyed joy was never in doubt and it passed the danceability test with ease when, a little over a week ago, a group of us assembled in Hyndland Parish Church's Community Hall to pull shapes for the song's video.  It was great fun and good for the soul.  Not wanting to be prescriptive, Stephen said before filming started that dancing wasn't mandatory, that people need only do whatever they felt comfortable doing.  He (and, no doubt, Calvin Johnson had he been there!) would've been happy as there was 100% participation and certainly no parking on the dancefloor.  There was even a cute little dog getting on the goodfoot, lending the occasion a sweet community feel.  Great song, lovely memories!

A thing of beauty.

Gorgeous.

painting by Annabel Wright

typography by Edward Pickstone

according to The Pastels' Twitter

Happy New Year, you're my only vice!

2013 is gonna be a wonderful, wonderful year.  It's true:

Swoon.

Something's Gone

Recently, when it looked like redundancy might be a very real prospect, I did the immature, counter-intuitive thing and went on a bit of a trolley dash, snapping up a bunch of records that I figured I wouldn't be able to afford if I lost my job.  I knew at the time that it was probably a bit silly and that the smart thing would be to look after my money but, I guess, we all deal with uncertainty in different ways.  One of the (many - whoops!) 7"s I bought was an (allegedly) unplayed copy of this Seymour Stein produced masterwork from 1968:

"Something's Gone" was new to me when I heard it play over the closing credits of Paul Kelly's "Take Three Girls" nearly a year ago but its melody lived on way beyond the curtains closing in the cinema and I'd frequently catch myself singing it in the car or on lunchtime walks so finding a nice copy felt imperative.  It came, therefore, as a sweet and moving surprise to hear The Pastels quoting its plaintive "Something's gone from my heart" refrain in "Over My Shoulder", which closed their immensely beautiful Chickfactor: For The Love Of Pop set at London's Bush Hall on Saturday.  Special moments like that, the blistering, beercan slide enhanced rendition of "Baby Honey" and hearing a new song (yes!) - its title has gone already in a haze of return-to-work blues - sure justified the trip down from Glasgow .  Their new album is pencilled in for March, 2013.  If that thought doesn't see you through the winter, I fear nothing will.

Update: horsemeatpie's cool photo of The Pastels' setlist reveals that the new song was called "Come To The Dance".  Sweet.

XXOO "How Will I Know"

Jad Fair earned a place in my affections courtesy of his two dazzling collaborations with The Pastels.  Singing the entirety of "This Could Be The Night" loudly in my best approximation of Jad's voice was for years one of the simplest, most satisfying pleasures in my life.  By the early 90s Jad and his group Half Japanese had already amassed a sizeable catalogue of releases so I bought a few but suspected that I'd never have either the money or the opportunity to own too many more.  The good thing about only having bits and pieces is that there's still plenty of wonderful Jad records left to discover.  For example, I recently stumbled across "How Will I Know" by XXOO  (1982, Press Records) which, it turned out, was a pseudonym for Half Japanese.  It's quickly become one of my favourite of Jad's releases.  It has some of the most brilliantly naive lyrics about love:

"How will I know when I'm really in love?
 Will I hear bells rings?
 Will my heart pound hard?"

They really belong on, say, a pre-Beatles Shelley Fabares 45 but when put with a stumbling backing that is pure early K Records tape, the result is completely charming.

I love the way it winds down like a clockwork toy running out of energy.  I plan to play the copy that arrived today lots.  I don't know if XXOO meant kiss kiss hug hug in 1982 but the next time Jad comes to Glasgow, that's what he'll get as a thank you for this single.

Michael Clark

Just bought a ticket to see Michael Clark at Glasgow's Tramway in early October.  The last time I saw Clark and his dance troupe in Edinburgh was one of the most eye-opening, opinion altering nights of my life. I wrote this for an extremely limited circulation fanzine at the time:

“Kinetic Freedom”

Whenever I play Pastels/Tenniscoats’ sublime take on The Jesus and Mary Chain’s tender ‘About You’ I see shapes. Thankfully, it’s not a symptom of some kind of synesthesia but a remembrance of the lovely sequence in 12 Stars’ play ‘Do I Mean Anything To You Or Am I Just Passing By?’ in which the cast repeatedly adopted beautifully simple shapes in time to ‘About You’ to genuinely moving effect. Prior to that play, theatre and contemporary dance both seemed impenetrable to me. They just didn’t seem like the kind of worlds a pop obsessed football fan from Ayrshire should enter. Then The Pastels got involved in a play and I unexpectedly found myself in a theatre! And while I didn’t fully understand everything that went on, I knew conclusively that I could feel comfortable in a theatre.

Watching Michael Clark’s dancers twist and leap thrillingly to Bowie’s ‘Jean Genie’ from the heaving stalls of The Playhouse in Edinburgh last Sunday I was thankful that The Pastels had enticed me over the threshold of a theatre as without that first step I would’ve missed out on something special. As for ‘About You’, I hope those moves were captured on film as I’d love to see them again. J and I both reckon that they could’ve added up to a neat little dance video for the song. Maybe one day some shaky footage will find its way onto YouTube. After all in these digital days you never know who’s sitting there with their wee Fuji Finepix sneakily filming away do you?

There's a great little documentary on Michael Clark here.  The section to "Heroes" was incredible.

The ripples of that night in Edinburgh were felt recently when I attended the Juiliard Dance School's at times astounding show, again at The Playhouse.  I really will be forever grateful that The Pastels tempted me into a theatre and opened up whole areas of culture that, up to that point, I could never see myself embracing.

Chickfactor 2012: For the love of pop! London

With Indietracks and the London Olympics both now (warming, nourishing) memories, Not Unloved was in dire need of something to look forward to.  Chickfactor's recently announced November weekend of pure pop joy. therefore, couldn't be more welcome.  Saturday, 17th November is shaping up to be a day to remember: The Pastels are my favourite group ever, Amor de Dias made my favourite lp of 2012 and Bush Hall looks like a smashing venue. Phew!  The Sunday line-up, too, is a studded with diamonds:  Tender Trap's new lp has been receiving great notices, Would-be-goods were classy and lovely at the Hangover Lounge weekender earlier this year and there's a rare chance to catch Pipas live.  Tickets are sure to shift quickly so best head here and here before too long for tickets!

I Wanna Be Free

Despite owning and loving both Swell Maps lps and Munster's exquisite box of 5 7"s, you didn't need an abacus to count the number of solo records by the group's former members I'd heard. Then, yesterday, The Pastels tweeted a link to this piano piece by Epic Soundtracks. It was exactly as they said: "Heartbreakingly beautiful late night music".  Given the wonderful, propulsive scrappiness of a lot of Swell Maps' songs, it came as a bit of a surprise and got me digging around, keen to learn more, which led to hearing this (on which Soundtracks drums) for the first time:

I'll always gravitate towards sweet-voiced songs and if they also have that Velvet Underground chug and happen to be a version of one of the The Monkees' prettiest songs, I'm gonna be trebly sold.  Totally magical.  I can imagine that Dean & Britta might have done something similar with that song.

Not Unloved's favourite things of 2011

Albums of 2011

1. Amor de Dias "Street of the Love of Days" (Porcini Music)
2. Crystal Stilts "In Love With Oblivion" (Fortuna Pop/Slumberland)
3. Veronica Falls "s/t" (Bella Union/Slumberland)
4. Sea Lions "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask" (Slumberland)
5. The New Lines "All That We See and Seem" (Great Pop Supplement)
6. Motion Sickness of Time Travel "Luminaries and Synastry" (Type)
7. The Bats "Free All The Monsters" (Flying Nun)
8. Girls Names "Dead To Me" (Tough Love)
9. Sea Pinks "Dead Seas" (C/F) / Former Bullies "Golden Chains" (C/F)
10. Sweet Bulbs "s/t" (Blackburn)
11. Dum Dum Girls "Only In Dreams" (Sub Pop)
12. Comet Gain "The Howl of the Lonely Crowd" (Fortuna Pop)
13. Real Estate "Days" (Domino)
14. Still Corners "Creatures of an Hour" (Sub Pop)
15. Big Troubles "Romantic Comedy" (Slumberland)
16. The Garbage and The Flowers "Stoned Rehearsal" (Quemada)
17. PJ Harvey "Let England Shake" (Island)
18. Hong Kong in the 60s "My Fantoms" (Proper Songs)
19. The Babies "s/t" (Shrimper)
20. Chain and The Gang "Music's Not For Everyone" (K)

(There are a few lps on my Christmas list that I'm sure would've made the 20 but since I haven't heard them yet,they're not included!)

Singles of 2011

1. Veronica Falls "Bad Feeling" (Bella Union/Slumberland)
2. Golden Grrrls "New Pop" (Night School)
3. Terry Malts "Something About You" (Slumberland)
4. Real Estate "Green Aisles" (Domino)
5. On Fell "Untitled" (the first one!) (Moteer)
6. The Motifs / The Zebras "split" (Knock Yr Socks Off)
7. The New Lines "Please Fall In Love" (self-released)
8. Snails "She'd Like An Hour" (Great Pop Supplement)
9. Bleached "Carter" (Art Fag)
10. Wax Idols "All Too Human" (HoZac)

(e.p.s/12"s of the year may follow soon!)

Reissue of 2011

Penny and The Quarters "You and Me" (7", Numero)

Gigs of 2011

1. The Pastels at The Platform (Eastern Promise 2011)
2. Hollie Cook at Glasgow Afro Caribbean Centre
3. Korallreven at Nice'n'Sleazy
4. The Hobbes Fanclub at Heavenly (Glasgow Popfest 2011)
5. Tyvek/The Pheromoans at The Captain's Rest
6. Ducktails/Big Troubles/Julian Lynch at The Captain's Rest

The Pastels' performance at The Platform really was something incredibly special.  I tried to write a review of it for Not Unloved at the time but somehow the right words didn't come in the right order and I couldn't do it justice.  But then, how do you express in words that feeling in your heart when Stephen Pastel nonchalantly swigged his beer then used his bottle as a slide before casually turning his amp to blissful on "Baby Honey"?  The whole group was together and you could see from their smiles and the looks they exchanged afterwards that they, too, knew they'd been part of something memorable and way beyond the ordinary.

The Pastels @ Platform, Glasgow on October 1st

Boss: I've got an opportunity. <boring business details>  It'll mean working next weekend.
Not Unloved: Ah, I'd love to but I'm going to see the greatest group to walk the planet.
Boss (walking off): Ah, I won't ask.
Not Unloved (tailing off): It's The Pas....

Sigh.  Still, that little exchange brought home that it's little over a week till I see the group which has affected my life most significantly once more and that thought cheered-up a fairly dismal week no end.  This year's Eastern Promise - for people of my vintage, the mere mention of this phrase provokes the Pavlovian response of nipping out to a 24 hour shop to buy a Fry's Turkish Delight! - sure features some fine acts in addition to The Pastels.  It'll be a real treat to see To Rococo Rot again after what seems like eons and the Conquering Animal Sound songs I heard on BBC Radio Scotland earlier this year sounded intriguing and promising.  Next weekend can't come soon enough!

(this post was written while listening to "Boardwalkin'" - which sounds better than ever it did!)

The Pastels on Domino Radio!

The Pastels present "Thomson Colour" this Sunday (12th June) at 9:30am (British Summertime) for Domino Radio.  Sounds like a lovely thing to wake up to on Sunday morning, doesn't it?  Poor Andrew Marr'll be gutted that his viewing figures'll be taking a dive this week, though.

Update Monday 13/06: The show was, as expected, wonderful and is now archived here.