Every year I listen to "Wish" by Bristol's blistering bliss merchants Flying Saucer Attack at worrying volume to see if it remains the most exhilarating piece of music ever to rub sandpaper on Not Unloved's gig tenderized eardrums. I'm happy to report that it does, indeed, retain its crown. There are so many great FSA tracks spread across the group's albums and singles but one of the prettiest doesn't appear on one of their main releases but on a compilation 45 included with the German Hayfever magazine in 1996:
Dave Pearce's voice has seldom been gentler and the acoustic guitar is so lightly played that it almost out-gentles some of the most adorably twee music of the 90s. Of course, being a Flying Saucer Attack song it eventually gets overwhelmed by the group's trademark hovering feedback and distortion. Copies of the 7" are very cheap on discogs so my advice is: get while the getting's good!
2022 was an incredible year for live music in Glasgow. So many of the acts that Not Unloved saw were absolutely at the top of their game. Some of the venues, too, had used the enforced time off due to the pandemic to make repairs/spruce up their spaces which enhanced things no end. Being a disorganized soul (also, I've never liked booking tickets 6 months in advance or being manipulated into being part of the 10am scramble for tickets), I didn't get it together to go to 'big' gigs by the likes of Pavement etc. so it was mainly smaller groups in smaller venues that I saw excelling night after night. The aforementioned disorganization meant that I didn't keep a list of what I saw but, from memory, it was something like this (N.B. most recent first):
NewDad / Cloth @ King Tut's
flinch. and pals @ The 13th Note
Plaid @ CCA
The Vaselines / Poster Paints @ CCA
Lung Leg (matinee show) @ Mono
Lung Leg / Bis @ Classic Grand
Gerard Love / Water Machine / Apostille (Monorail's 20th birthday) @ Mono
Dragged Up / Count Florida / Blue Kanues @ The 13th Note
Stereolab / Nina Savary @ SWG3
Ganger / J Mellis Hairweave / Subliminal Girls / Lugworm (The Inner Circle book launch) @ Mono
Tara Clerkin Trio / Noise Pocket @ The Glad Cafe
Lewsberg / Dragged Up @ Nice'n'Sleazy
Fake Fruit / Wild Cabin @ Broadcast
Francis Plagne / Warm Currency @ The Old Hairdresser's
Romero / Sister Madds @ Broadcast
Whitney K / Flew The Arrow @ Audio
The Lemonheads / Bass Drum of Death @ QMU (Glasgow University)
Special Interest / Container @ Stereo
Myriam Gendron / Quinie @ Broadcast
Chickfactor 30 (Birdie / The Umbrellas / Seablite / Artsick / Rachel Love / The Catenary Wires / Marlody / Sacred Paws) @ The Lexington & The Betsey Trotwood (London)
Prolapse / Comfort @ Mono
Artsick / Blue Kanues / Water Machine @ Stereo
The Umbrellas / Seablite / Paul's Martial Arts @ Mono
The Hanging Stars / Gerry Love & band @ Stereo
Romeo Poirier / Dip Friso @ The Glad Cafe
Lou Barlow (acoustic) @ Nice'n'Sleazy
Stuart Moxham / Pocket Knife @ Mono
Pan American / Kinbrae @ The Glad Cafe
Marissa Anderson / William Tyler @ The Glad Cafe
The Orchids / GNAC @ The Glad Cafe
Sapphire Slows / Dip Friso @ The Glad Cafe
Dali Muru and The Polyphonic Swarm / Susannah Stark @ The Glad Cafe
Ducks Ltd @ Broadcast
Gaming @ The Rum Shack
YL Hooi / Silzederek / An Gleann Dubh @ The Old Hairdresser's
Rose City Band / Japanese Television @ Broadcast
Swell Maps / The Thanes @ CCA
Glas-goes Pop! (The June Brides/Pete Astor/The Catenary Wires/Swansea Sound/Papernut Cambridge/The Orchids/Rachel Love/Jetstream Pony/Mozart Estate/Close Lobsters/David Christian & pals/Davey Woodward & The Winter Orphans + DJs) @ Glasgow University Union Debating Chamber
Oliver Coates @ Civic House
Dean Wareham / Ryder the Eagle @ The Liquid Room (Edinburgh)
Squarepusher / Konx-om Pax @ The Leith Theatre (Edinburgh)
The Bohman Brothers / Lori Goldston @ The Old Hairdresser's
Cucina Povera / Mark Vernon / Otherworld @ The Old Hairdresser's
Perila (deep listening) @ The Old Hairdresser's
Young Guv / The Wife Guys of Reddit @ The Rum Shack
CS + Kreme / Joanne Robertson @ The Old Hairdresser's
Green Door Studios birthday w/ Alliyah Enyo / Jacob Yates and The Pearly Gate Lock-pickers / Pleasure Pool @ The Old Hairdresser's
Margo Cilker @ The Poetry Club
Spiritualized @ SWG3
Ashley Paul / Max Syedtollan @ The Glad Cafe
The Stroppies / Dinner Night / Yung KP @ The Hug & Pint
Erasers / EO / Karl D'Silva @ The Glad Cafe
Jon Spencer & The HITmakers @ Broadcast
The Shivas / Las Acuarelas / Water Machine @ The Flying Duck
Tirzah / Still House Plants @ SWG3
The Bevis Frond / Gerry Love @ Stereo
flinch. / Frances McKee @ The Glad Cafe
Molly Nilsson / Apostille @ Stereo
US Highball / Lloyd's House / Joyce Delaney @ Mono
Lemon Drink / flinch. / Sacred Noise / Miss the Occupier @ The Hug & Pint
Kit Sebastian @ Broadcast
Kim Gordon @ Classic Grand
Hiro Kone / Hyppia / Grim Lusk @ Stereo
Melenas / US Highball / Las Acuarelas @ The Flying Duck
The Cool Greenhouse / Bikini Body @ The Flying Duck
Okkyung Lee + 3 @ The Old Hairdresser's
Molly Linen / Clementine March @ The Old Hairdresser's
Nika Son @ The Old Hairdresser's
Good Sad Happy Bad / Tara Clerkin Trio / Comfort @ Broadcast
Special mentions must go to Young Guv for being unspeakably great and delivering banger after banger to an increasingly excited crowd, Alliyah Enyo for delivering something more akin to a religious experience than a gig and the sound of San Francisco (The Umbrellas, Seablite and Artsick) for pitching up in Glasgow (thanks in no small part to Chickfactor 30 enticing them over - cheers, Gail!) and being all that ever mattered. Here's to more of the same in 2023!
P.S. It was a genuine and unexpected thrill to witness Birdie singing this tender 60s teen gem at Chickfactor 30:
Sifting through 2022's physical media purchases earlier, trying to contextualize it all, it was apparent that 2022 has been yet another superb year for new music. Without doubt, Lightning In A Twilight Hour's incredibly pretty "Overwintering" took the garland for Not Unloved's most listened-to record of the year. It was a sweet surprise, therefore, to read that BBC 6Music's Mark Radcliffe had selected it as his album of the year in late November - smart man! "Varandra" by Klara Livets was one of the (many - see also the recent lps by Jeff Parker, Oren Ambarchi etc.) lps that got away when the few copies that were available in the UK seemed to disappear in minutes but it's such a lovely piece of work that the lack of a copy stung so discogs was visited repeatedly until a vaguely sensibly priced copy was found. As stated previously, Sylvie's "Falls On Me" was and is something of an obsession but it didn't come out on a physical format so doesn't make the list, below. Same goes for Yea-Ming and The Rumours' majestic trip through the Paisley Underground, "Back To The Days of I Don't Knows". "Write It In The Sky" by The Umbrellas on the other hand was most certainly released on 45 and is such an effervescent pure pop JOY that it is sure to be Not Unloved's most played single of the year to date. Not Unloved's resolve to buy fewer reissues in 2022 went right outta the window when much-loved 90s groups such as Hydroplane, The Cat's Miaow and Movietone were, deservedly, given another moment in the sun courtesy of lovingly produced vinyl reissues and it was a real a treat to be reminded of Arovane's majestic "Tides" album, the CD of which hasn't yet been relocated. Oh, and it was lovely to hear Kerry Polwart's gorgeous voice again on the first vinyl issue of 2006's "Young America" by Glasgow's The Poems.
When seemingly everyone on Not Unloved'svarious social media timelines was posting the big data analysis of their digital listening in 2022, it got me speculating as to what our most listened to song of the year might be. I'm pretty certain it's "Falls On Me" by LA supergroup Sylvie which technically emerged in August 2021 but only appeared on vinyl in the UK in autumn this year. It's an exquisitely played, recorded and, above all, sung (by the excellent Marina Allen) slice of heartfelt Laurel Canyon-rooted grown-up (shiver) pop:
Music so indebted to Joni Mitchell, The Carpenters and their ilk isn't often heard round these parts so it has come as a bit of a surprise just how often I've craved hearing it. It was a small feature on the group in Shindig! magazinethat brought them into Not Unloved's orbit and the involvement of Sam Burton, in particular, that ensured that their music earned a curious listen. In late 2021 Sam Burton's "I Am No Moon" was something of a constant companion as there haven't been too many songs in recent years that have managed to evoke the twin spirits of Fred Neil and Nick Drake quite so successfully.
Coincidentally, a recent cheap 60s 7" buy was "Hurray Pour Sylvie" by Canadian singer and actor Richard Cazes. It's a ridiculously catchy slice of bubblegum fuzzbeat with absurdly clattering drums - the intro is almost demented! - and manic energy throughout. Richard's voice isn't my favourite from that era but I still dig it enough to blast it frequently.
There's gold in them there CDs! From a few social media posts, it would seem that it was the wonderful Barbara Manning's birthday earlier this week. Coincidentally, Not Unloved has been going through something of a Barbara Manning obsessional phase in recent weeks following a Twitter post about a new Glands of External Secretion album(the project she's a part of with Seymour Glass) on the always intriguing Siltbreeze. Discovering and rediscovering her music has been such an uplifting experience. The "Barbara Manning Sings With The Original Artists" CD (Normal Records, Germany) she released in 1993 has so many moments of real class on it but "Optimism Is It's Own Reward" is the real jewel for Not Unloved's money:
It's like a heavenly amalgam of some of the music I hold dearest, namely The Pastels, Jonathan Richman and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Barbara's voice is hushed and intimate throughout but whenever she sings the word 'smiling' (e.g. "Look at the sky. See it smiling") it's so soft and positive sounding that it's almost unbearably beautiful. There's also real soul in the trumpet playing. I guess my New Year's Resolution for 2023 has to be to buy much more of Barbara's music on whatever format it was released.
One of the good/bad things about bandcamp is that you can dig around in trusted individuals' collections and tempt yourself into parting with yet more of that hard-earned cash. Last bandcamp Friday Not Unloved drew a blank on what to buy (after picking up the essential new Leaf Library singles and whatever comp, that is) until I stumbled on "Pioneer" by Lynchburg, Tennessee's identical twin brothers, The Jangles(thanks JM!). The Jangles are well acquainted with the best of The Monkees and are all the more lovable for it. The CD's artwork is delightfully naive in an illustration-doodled-on-the-cover-of-a-jotter way and the glorious black and white band photo could've graced the back cover of any number of semi-remembered private press lp's of the 70s:
The Jangles have good ears and sure know their way around a catchy melody and have the good sense to cherry-pick and adapt their faves from the past. Like their lite-pysch forebears, they have the requisite quota of whimsical songs about animals (monkeys, octopuses) but manage to pull them off with enough charm and restraint that the results are never too sickly sweet. After the first couple of listens, the romantic "Passing Glance" was the song that lingered longest:
A pleasing by-product of listening to The Jangles was being nudged to dig out those dazzling Bus Stop Label 45s by The Sneetches. Now there's a group that's ripe for a classy reissue campaign...
Without doubt one of the most jaw-dropping performances Not Unloved has witnessed this year was Alliyah Enyo's performance at The Green Door Studio's birthday party at The Old Hairdresser's (Glasgow). Seated on the floor with her equipment arrayed around her (including some actual physical tape loops stretched round mic stands), Enyo's set unfolded and enfolded with devotional intensity. It was genuinely captivating in a way that very few performances are genuinely captivating. A similarly smitten friend likened the impact of it to finally seeing 4AD's legendary Dead Can Dance at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall a few months earlier. There's some live footage from when she supported Erika de Casier (keeping the 4AD theme going) at Broadcast earlier in 2022 here. For once, however, I'd advise not watching any of the live footage before experiencing her brilliance at close quarters. Plans are afoot for a tape release of Enyo's music (early November 2022, I think) via the new Glasgow Somewhere Between Tapesimprint. Not Unloved, for one, is counting down the days but till then will continue to play "Ether" - her gently emotional collaboration with guitarist Gabriel Levine Brislin - on repeat. Such softness is much appreciated amidst the harshness of 2022, that's for sure.
