When DIRTY BEACHES take to the stage in Dundee and Glasgow this Monday and Tuesday, the gig blurb says, “Singer/guitarist Alex Zhang Hungtai does the one-man band thing to create sparse, lo-fi sounds in the vein of Kurt Vile and Ty Segall.” Being a leftfield artist from Canada, there’s an automatic air of cool. This despite innovative local* artists like Alex Botten doing this sort of thing expertly for over ten years and few people paying attention.
IN THE LAND OF HYPOCRISY
*Yeah I know, Alex lives in Birmingham now but he lived in Scotland for long enough!
Who gets attention in the press and music scenes will always be a fickle thing.
No-one’s denying that the likes of forward-thinking artists on FENCE RECORDS are brilliant. Of course they are. But there are other fucking artists out there. Then again no-one will slag you off if you sit on the fence (ho ho!) and promote something universally accepted as not shit. Once you’re on the Scottish indie bingo card, it gets easier for people to rhyme it off.
Same old, same old.
Music is about passion and how much we invest emotionally in the music we listen to. The more we invest the more we want to see that band or artist do well. That principle applies whether you’re an obscure music blogger, radio DJ, small venue owner, or in charge of the most powerful live music promotions company in Scotland.
People are biased. They often champion based on who their friends are and what bands they’re connected to. That’s not much different to any other industry.
Having put myself down for two tickets to see DIRTY BEACHES and THE YAWNS in Glasgow (Nice n Sleazy on Tuesday 7th May), I figured I should go listen to some of this Canadian guy’s music. Verdict? Thumbs up.
There’s a lot of it available on bandcamp so you can easily satisfy your curiosity.
Listening to it, my first thought was that Alex Botten does this sort of thing at least as well if not better. Writing a post on his work would take a long time though, such is his proficiency and breadth of projects – and not just music.
We’ll tackle that another day.
For now, I recommend people check out the links in today’s post and if you’re looking for something to do in either Dundee or Glasgow next week, go to one of the shows. You’ll find UK and European gig dates over at the DIRTY BEACHES blog.
Alrighty, I have a Fat Goth homecoming gig to get to and doors are at 8pm.
Until next time.
ALEX BOTTEN’S ARTIST SITE
DIRTY BEACHES BLOG
DIRTY BEACHES WIKI
DIRTY BEACHES BANDCAMP
PS – if you’ve read anything in this post as a criticism of Fence, you’re an idiot. My point is that the Scottish music scene bingo card needs a fucking update.
