Kowalskiy's Top 10 Albums of 2011

Yup, it's that time of year again!  The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed I've dispensed with the usual, long drawn-out countdown this time 'round.  The main reason is I've found it harder than ever to narrow down the options in what has been, in my opinion, a great year for Scottish music.  I think I've just about managed it though, so with much further ado, here's my top 10 albums of 2011...

#1.  Happy Particles - Under Sleeping Waves
Very rarely, do I listen to an album and halfway through think to myself 'this album will not be bettered this year'.  That was the case with Glasgow sextet Happy Particles' debut album Under Sleeping Waves.  And the thing is, the second half is even better than the first!  "Uplifting... sublime... absolutely stunning!" was how I described it back in September.  Nothing's changed, it's an outstanding album and fitting of anyone's top spot.
HIGHLIGHT:  A.M. Sky (Bleary)

#2.  Will Hanson - Moving A Body
Yeah, you're right fellow bloggers!  This is a last-minute entry in my Top 10 having only bought it à la weekend.  I'd been meaning to for months on the back of his outstanding double A-side Deathbed Conversion / The View From Ebury Bridge, and sat listening to it whilst wrapping my presents.  Mr. Hanson and his friends have delivered something quite special indeed.  Beee-autiful!
HIGHLIGHT:  Our Basket

 #3.  The Little Kicks - The Little Kicks
I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to post Steven Milne's track-by-track commentary of The Little Kicks' eponymous follow-up to 2009's debut Boxing Clever.  Here's some Kowalskiy soundbites... "funky... insanely-catchy... pure songwriting perfection... Bravo!".  I think they sum it up just nicely, but don't take my word for it.  Go have a listen for yourself!
HIGHLIGHT:  Far Too Honest

#4.  Rob St. John - Weald
Another one that buggered up the tentative Top 5 I've been submitting to all these collective end-of-year lists.  I'd been sitting on the album for a while, not sure why though, given The Whites Of Our Eyes, Rob's charitable collaboration last year with Braindead Collective, is possibly one of the finest songs of recent years.  Having listened to Weald a fair few times now, it's filled with a lot more of the same.   Rob's given us a staggeringly good album which will quite rightly, and deservedly so, top many a list. 
HIGHLIGHT:  Domino

#5.  Come On Gang! - Strike A Match
At the start of the year, there was one album which completely blew me away... Strike A Match, which was simultaneously Come On Gang!'s exciting debut and tearful swansong. It's early-in-the-year release, combined with my short attention span and propensity to play my favourite new albums to within an inch of their lives, has inevitably put pay to a Top 3 finish, but don't let that take anything away from the sheer joy and unadulterated amazingness of this very special album.
HIGHLIGHT:  To The Morning

#6.  Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers - Luck
Now this was a wee welcome change from the norm in 2011.  Maryhill's Jacob Lovatt and his PGLPs unleashed their "Doom Wop" debut Luck on the unsuspecting Scottish public.  It's full of pitch black humour and really, quite grim imagery but it's a great album because of all that.  You'd be hard pushed to find a bolder album this year.  That's proper rock 'n' roll for you folks!
HIGHLIGHT:  Mark

#7.  IndianRedLopez - Empty Your Lungs And Breathe
Aberdeen's IndianRedLopez were one of my tips for 2011, and they did not disappoint in the slightest.   When I spoke to them back in May, they'd just released this, their superb debut album.   Full of emotion, these 10 songs were some of the best atmospheric indie-rock heard all year.  Judging by their recent single Prometheus (buy it here) we can expect even better things from these guys next year. 
HIGHLIGHT:  The New Black

#8.  Evil Hand - Huldra

STOP PRESS:  Huldra only makes 8^th place in self-confessed Evil Hand fanatic's Best of 2011 list.   

Allow me to explain.  I love everything about these 16 fantastic songs, after all, I went on record as saying it was a "breathtaking, seductive mixture of old and new".  And I suppose that's where I'm conflicted.  It's too much like a Best Of to place higher... sorry Derek!  Still, it's every bit as amazing as I've said before.
HIGHLIGHT:  Returned In Time

#9.  Make Sparks - Rewound
Again, this falls foul of the same 'is this an album, or is it more a collection of old, reworked recordings?' debate.  Either way, Rewound is a brilliant pop-rock dozen from Dundee trio Make Sparks. Fans of Jimmy Eat World, as I myself am, will lap this up and be left wanting more.  Just as well then that this bunch have released a few new tracks since.   The trouble is, now I'm wanting even more!
HIGHLIGHT:  Rewind

#10.  Prince Edward Island - This Day Is A Good Enough Day
But what if Arab Strap went all poppy on us, what if...  Wonder no more folks, 'cos that's exactly what you get with London-based Prince Edward Island.  I interviewed the Scottish half of the band, frontman Darren Bruce earlier in the year and I came to these conclusions.  It's bitter.  It's dark, but witty.  It's "about failed sex".  Yet somehow, it's so oddly delightful, you can't help but smile!
HIGHLIGHT:  You Look Like I Need A Drink

Well that's that for another year.  There were of course, a lot more albums that tickled my fancy this year, but the list has to stop somewhere!  If you fancy hearing any of these albums, you can click on the relevant artwork and see if you agree with me.  Hope so!
 

K&A with Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers

It was only last October that Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers first grabbed my attention with Can't Stop, their split single with labelmates She's Hit.  I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been itching since then for a swatch of their debut album.  As luck would have it, a few weeks ago, without warning, Luck dropped through my letterbox.  

It's a difficult one to describe since it's quite different to anything else out there just now.  Think of it as a dark, dirty, and sometimes demented, House of the Rising Sun with a whole load of Glasgow charm thrown in for good measure.   Particularly on tracks like Mark, Mary Hell and the brilliantly-raucous new single Lemonade.   The album's not without it's quieter moments though, and for me it's on one of these, the retrospective closing track When You Left Me, that Jacob's gravelly, almost pained vocals and dry, dark humour steal the show.   It's well-and-truly up there with the year's best albums so far. 

With it's release pencilled in for the 20^th of June, I thought I'd ask Jacob a few questions.  Here goes...

Kowalskiy: Who are Jacob Yates & The Pearly Gate Lock Pickers?

Jacob: Richard Holmes - guitars

Jamie Bolland - keys and guitars

Michael Bleazard - traps

Jacob Lovatt - vocals and guitars

Kowalskiy: How did the band get together and what's the story behind the name?

Jacob: I suppose it was my fault. I spoke to the guys and said I wanted a vehicle for my outpourings. They said yes and that made me happy as they're a rare bunch. The name came from nowhere as usual, I just took my mothers maiden name and the rest flowed out ma mouth.

Kowalskiy: For folk out there who may not be familiar with you, how would you describe your music?

Jacob: Doom Wop - that pretty much says it all.

Kowalskiy: Many may know you from now defunct Uncle John & Whitelock. Given the cult status and critical acclaim you achieved with them, do you feel under pressure to repeat the feat with The Pearly Gate Lock Pickers?

Jacob: No no pressure, I just want to make the music I like. Uncle John and Whitelock happened then, this is happening now. I deal with now.

Kowalskiy: After a few split singles with She's Hit, you're releasing your debut (and mightily impressive if you don't mind me saying) album Luck on RE:PEATER RECORDS. Is there a story behind it?

Jacob: I think with Stu and Emily from Green Door being an integral part of the recording and production process we distilled the album down to a succinct expression of what we do as a band. The lyrics move through observation, reportage, personal and metaphysical planes. The music backs that up.

Kowalskiy: You've painted quite a grim picture of Maryhill in your track Mary Hell. In fact, the album is a wee bit dark in places. Is that just what the place does to you?

Jacob: In that song I just despair at the human condition, I'm not poking fun at the people who live from tenner bag to tenner bag, I could have just have easily become addicted to heroin and downers. The sites you see in a city where a fifth of the population are treated for drug misuse break your heart. The song 'Dundee' sets a similar scene. That's one side of my songs the other is very black humour, it's the only way I cope. Glad you like the record.

Kowalskiy: The album's already picked up some really good reviews, something your live shows have always seemed to get. Can you describe for us what a typical Jacob Yates & The PGLPs gig is like?

Jacob: A typical show is the band under rehearsed, playing their hearts out trying to keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down. I might even give you a drink.

Kowalskiy: What would be your ideal gig?

Jacob: Junior Kimbrough's Juke Joint anytime before he died and it burnt down. I would have loved to have seen the man. I wouldn't have played jus got drunk and danced my skin off with all my friends. Then I would go home to my wonderful house, my beautiful wife and children, sit in my garden with me dog and think about how great all this wonder is.

Kowalskiy: Are there plans afoot to tour the album? Also, what can we expect from you in the future?

Jacob: No plans to tour, I'm 38, have a life that's outside my music. Album 2 is gonna be proper dark, no more humour jus the reality of man's inhumanity to man.

Kowalskiy: What other Scottish bands out there are you listening to?

Jacob: Adopted As Holograph, Tut Vu Vu, Matt Black and the Emulsions, Sleepy Jeff and the Bears, Slim Pickins and Shitty Sticks.

Kowalskiy: Anything you fancy adding??

Jacob: Please remember these are isolated incidents, things like murder, rape, torture and kidnap just don't happen every day, so don't let it keep you awake. Night night.

Sound advice that!

If you want my advice, you should get yourself a copy of Luck when it's out on the 20^th.  In the meantime, have a listen to Lemonade below to quench your musical thirst!

SHe'S HiT / Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers - Split 7" Single

Time now for yet another great split 7" single. Glasgow post-punk outfit SHe'S HiT have teamed up with Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers to release a split 7" single through their own label RE:PEATER RECORDS. In true independent label fashion, each item is numbered, be it their MySpace (RPR002) or the single itself (RPR004).

For RPR004, their first official release, they've delivered an absolute belter of a single. SHe'S HiT's RE:PEATER is dark, punchy and really f**cking good. The other offering, Can't Stop, is dirty, but melodic, and every bit as great. The Yates' know how rock 'n' roll should sound!

The single is out on 18^th October, but before that, tonight sees the official RE:PEATER RECORDS launch at The 13th Note in Glasgow with both bands joined by Fur Hood.