Last night a Mixtape saved my life

The state they’re in, one might say, paraphrasing the song that set the entire career of Belle And Sebastian in motion. And they're here — how could they not be? — in this playlist that tries to take stock of what the ever-simmering Scottish scene has been producing in recent years.

The "state of things", then, is a zig-zagging journey through names that are well-known but not too well-known (did someone say Franz Ferdinand? Yes, we've deliberately left them out) such as Arab Strap, the already-mentioned Belle And Sebastian and Mogwai, promising young acts known to a far smaller slice of the audience, and hidden gems just waiting to be "discovered".

We won't deny the satisfaction of putting on the (virtual) table old foxes such as Emma Pollock, who every so often puts out great albums under her own name after her time in Delgados, or Steve Mason, who in his second artistic life seems to have found himself more at ease than in the stormy days of Beta Band. And then yes, there's no point denying it, Arab Strap appear three times over in this playlist, since Aidan Moffat and Malcom Middleton are also counted in their solo guises.

But for anyone who loves the Scottish scene, or simply wants to wander the streets of Glasgow or the wind-swept Highlands, there's much more to discover here too. There's the psychedelic folk of King Creosote, the more "standard" kind from Rick Redbeard, and the metaphysical, almost ancestral variety of Modern Studies. There's the still-blossoming style of Laurie Cameron and the well-established one of James Yorkston and Alasdair Roberts.

There's the scratchy rock of Spinning Coin, the very recent experiments of Duncan Marquiss — The Phantom Band — and the sheer class expressed in different guises by the trio made up of C Duncan, Trembling Bells and Snowgoose. Finally, there's the supernatural magic of a purest talent like Andrew Wasylyk, ideally bringing the curtain down on a scene that never stops surprising.

Ride the wave of great music

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08/12/2025