Cherry Red [Release Date : 24.04.26]

Compiled by Scottish film director, cinematographer and writer, Grant McPhee, Something For The Longing is a deep dive into “Scottish Independent Pop”. A 15 year, widescreen snapshot taken as the 20th Century was coming to an end.

And if anyone has the credentials, it’s McPhee. It’s a natural migration from his 2024 book, “Postcards From Scotland”, in which he chronicles the radical transformation of Scotland’s independent music scene from 1983-1995. In itself the title is an echo of the influential indie label startup, Postcard Records, created by Edwyn Collins and Alan Horne.
Their ground breaking acts, Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, kickstarted the Scottish Indie revolution.

Logistics : 3 discs and 67 tracks (inc 4 unreleased), all compiled chronologically : Voluminous liner notes, including band biographies, short n sweet summaries of each track, archival imagery and a sleevenote essay from McPhee.

Without meaning to trivialise the subject, it’s impossible to resist the temptation to list some of the more amusing band names, obviously designed to catch the eye. (it worked).
Biff, Bang, Pow: Christine’s Cat: Spare Snare: Lugworm: Trout: The Yummy Fur: Nostril (and their even better song, knowingly titled ‘Token Song About Foreign Politics”). There are more, but we’ll stop here.

Many of the bands took off as a result of appearing on the NME cassette, “C86”.

AI : “The term,C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a specific jangle pop and indie genre, characterized by melodic song structures and DIY ethics. The tape sold an estimated 40,000 copies, became the NME’s best-selling compilation, and inspired a week of gigs at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in July 1986.”

It gave Primal Scream, The Soup Dragons and The Shop Assistants, all three here on Postcards… a leg up. The Soup Dragons enjoyed a ten years career before disbanding, only to restart life in 2023.

The not so successful Shop Assistants still made their mark, culminating in two of their recordings being voted onto John Peel’s “Festive 50” in consecutive years.

Primal Scream have stayed in business since, releasing 12 albums, most recently the challenging ‘Come Ahead’ in 2024.

Plenty more bands here who made it nationally and internationally… The Jesus and Mary Chain, Mogwai, King Creosote, Belle And Sebastien, The Delgados, Arab Strap, BMX Bandits, The Orchids (whose single gave this compilation its title), Spirea X (A Primal Scream spinoff), The Vaselines, and more.

Heady times, as Scottish bands created a slice of pop music history, putting their names on the UK map, celebrating the inventive musical exploits of a nation punching well above its weight. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 13 April 2026

DOGMA Fate Unblinds (MNRK Heavy)
SEVENDUST Threshold (Napalm Records)
OH HIROSHIMA Broken Sunlight (Pelagic Records)
HARSH Back To Life (Fireflash Records)
KING KRAKEN Call To War (indie)
HIGHWAY QUEEN Bring Me Home Tonight (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 13 April 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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