Last year Lloyd from Peenko set up what he rather amusingly called the Scottish BAMS, a collection of people who write Blogs And Music websiteS which are kinda Scottishy – in the sense that these sites must either be based in Scotland, or written by Scots abroad, such as Tim from the Daily Growl or Peej from Dear Scotland.

As with many excellent ideas, it’s not so much the originality which deserves praise, more the fact that he just got on and bloody well did something which presumably loads of us had been talking about in pubs for ages.  That’s music for you: so much chat, so little action.

Anyhow, the results of this year’s poll are now in, and it is highly unsurprising to see The National atop the pile.  Admiral Fallow, I have to confess, genuinely did surprise me with such a high placing, so congratulations to them as well.  For their part the National were so utterly overwhelmed with joy at such a prestigious award that they almost managed as many words as the title of this post in response.  Awesome.

“That’s great news. Thanks for the support!”

Gosh yes, you too.

1. The National – High Violet
2. Admiral Fallow – Boots Met My Face
3. Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry
4. Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
5. Kid Canaveral – Shouting at Wildlife

6. The Phantom Band – The Wants
7. The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
8. The Last Battle – Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea
9. Broken Records – Let Me Come Home
10. Bronto Skylift – The White Crow

11. Beach House – Teen Dream
12. The Fire & I – Stampede Finale
13. Sufjan Stevens – Age Of Adz
14. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
15. Best Coast – Crazy For You
16. Mitchell Museum – The Peters Port Memorial Service
17. Teenage Fanclub – Shadows
18. The Scottish Enlightenment – St Thomas
19. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
20. Jonsi – go do

21. RM Hubbert – First & Last
22. Errors – Come Down With Me
23. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
24. Sleigh Bells – Treats
25. The Boy Who Trapped The Sun – Fireplace
26. Micah P Hinson and the Pioneer Saboteurs
27. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise
28. How To Swim – Retina (Or More Fun Than A Vat Of Love)
29. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
30. Silver Columns – Yes and Dance

It’s funny.  I know this is just a bunch of amateurs who fanny about on the internet in their spare time, but I would bet an awful lot of money that we collectively command a much larger, more loyal and more financially generous audience than any music magazine out there, although I very much doubt we’d have the same capacity to get you on Jools Holland.

It’s obvious from even a cursory glance at the final standings that it is a highly parochial selection; Bronto Skylift and the Last Battle have barely made a scratch outside of Scotland as yet, and both are in the top ten here.  For my part, only one Scottish band made my personal top five, although that would have been very different if I had allowed myself to vote for Song, by Toad Records bands, but nevertheless I think this strong Scottish bias makes it more interesting rather than less so.  Do we really need another identikit list of hipster staples?  Because if that’s all this is going to be then there’s really no point, is there, so I actually applaud the Scottishness.

Either way, an interesting wee exercise, this, I think.  If Lloyd has the determination to keep it together I reckon it’s something which deserves to grow in significance, as there isn’t really a unified Scottish voice in alternative music anywhere.  Mind you, the idea of a unified voice in music at all is a bit silly, I suppose.  If you wish to investigate a little further, then Ian from Have Fun at Dinner has compiled a Spotify playlist, which can be found here.  And many thanks to Struan Teague for the excellent logo.  A full list of participating sites can be found below:

Timothy London, Jock N Roll, The Daily Dose,Resound Scotland, The Steinberg Principle,Dauphin, Hercules Moments, Argos Barks, The Web Is Not A Cold Dead Place, The Tidal Wave Indifference, Ed Rock, Off the Beaten Tracks, Found In Sound, Elba Sessions, Kowalskiy, Have Fun At Dinner, Ayetunes, Edinburgh Man, 17 Seconds,Scots Whay Hae, Open Till Midnight, Products of a Gaseous Brain, The Spill, Last Years Girl, Is This Music, JockRock, Dear Scotland, Manic Pop Thrills,Favourite Son, Peenko, Jim Gellatly, My Portis Wasp says, Never Make Friends, Detour, Jenny Soep, Net Sounds Unsigned, Listen Before You Buy, Song By Toad, The Daily Growl, Earz Mag, Glasgow Podcart,Rokbun, The Pop Cop, Pin Up Nights, Traffic Cone Music, Radar and Blueback Hotrod.