News

by Mike Garnett. At around lunchtime on 5th January 1998 a slightly nerdy, skinny, and very cliched nineteen year old rocker walked into a small independent record shop in the centre of Birmingham. Like many students of his kind before and since, he had recently discovered the joys of vinyl and was keen to spend more of his newly-received student loan on expanding his fledgling collection. After all, who cares about bills and food and boring things like that, right?  That day, the shop was having a New Year half-price sale on most of their stock. And there was A LOT...

Ned’s Atomic Dustbin once declared that “my childhood obsession was my record collection” and for many a person this is true. I’d love to be able to say that I was one of them, but no, my obsession was Airfix kits and not records - they came later….. You read many a story online or in the good old music magazines about some hipsters first record that is always inevitably cool beyond words: “Oh yeah, first record was bought from Our Price in Prestatyn when I was 6. First Pressing of God Save The Queen, on neon snot vinyl –...

by Matthew Coman The population of Scotland is around 5.5 million people: about a tenth of England’s. But the people of the most northerly nation of the United Kingdom have always seemed to punch above their weight when it comes to alternative bands. The reason for this can be speculated upon, but that is probably for another day. So, for today, in no order, these are the albums that I consider to be the best by artists hailing from Caledonia.   Primal Scream ‘Sonic Flower Groove’ (1987) Elevation Records This album was not revered at the time of release and...