On April 25th 2013, nervy Korean troops practised landing drills in Ponhang, citizens in Boston continued to watch the emotional fall-out from the recent bombings in their city and the death toll from a Bangladeshi factory collapse reached 200.
Thus the announcement that day of the long list for the Scottish Album of the Year [...]

The purpose of the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) award is to bring the hot brilliance and astonishing diversity of Scotland’s musical output into serious consideration both at home and abroad.
There are very few things more worthwhile than proudly supporting the things that you love and I believe that the SAY award is good [...]

Hi! My name is Raine Usiak and I’m coming to you from the Midwestern United States – specifically west of Detroit in the university town of Lansing, Michigan.
Working with engineers and geologists by day, by night I’m hoping I can take my writing experience and my enthusiasm for live and recorded music to a [...]

We were at a gig in North London last week and I was thinking about how gigging has changed for me in the last few years. I made the move from Glasgow to London a little over ten years ago. Before I moved down, I would be at a gig at least three to four [...]

I’ve been building a mammoth playlist for a friend’s 30th birthday this weekend. We’re off to Wales to wander around in wellies, drink, eat and play board games. Bliss! Since it’s her 30th, I’ve kept the list strictly 1982-2012.
It’s been great hearing some of the best pop, rock, electro and alternative music of the last [...]

A couple of weeks back on Podcart Wee Claire wrote about music industry wankers, a term I’ve heard a lot and occasionally used myself, and it generated what can only be described as a little bit of fairly half-hearted criticism on Facebook.
Now, Claire and Halina seem to be a [...]

I’m a little late to the party, but since joining the Netflix brigade, I’ve been pretty hooked. After geeking out a bit watching motion comics, the 90s X-Men cartoon and Red Dwarf, I’ve settled down a little and I’m getting stuck into documentaries. I forgot how much I loved a good documentary.
One that stuck out [...]

I love music – it brings so much joy to so many people.

So why is this industry (and many other creative industries!) stacked to the brim with so many arseholes? I’ve met many levels of “music wanker” over the years. In fact, I find myself paranoid daily because I run a PR company and don’t [...]