My love for certain record labels is well documented with NYC based, while retaining its Scottish roots, Tarbeach Records up there amongst my favourites. A fact that is ably demonstrated by the inclusion of The Cundeez Teckle and Hide and New York Junk‘s Dreaming (shortly to be available for ordering on red vinyl) amongst my favourite albums of the year.
It is probably the only record label that I can say, hand on heart, that I own every pone of their releases. Here’s to another successful year in 2021 from Tarbeach.
Last Night From Glasgow…
This year though, one record label stands out amongst the others. When you may have been sick and tired of everything about 2020, one of the highlights the super trouper beams sought out was the phenomenally successful Last Night From Glasgow. A not for profit label that has grown exponentially over recent years, with 2020 feeling like the equivalent of them smashing the ball out of the stadium and winning the World Series with an enviable home run.
While others despaired at not being able to leave the house I worried about not having enough time in the house to listen to the seemingly unending “care packages” I received as part of my ongoing membership.
In recent months I have tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to reduce my time on social media as I am all too aware of its negative effect on my mental health. Try as I might I am always drawn back, over the year this has meant changing my habits, removing myself from certain groups and avoiding individuals. The basic fact remains, if I spend just one day away from Facebook, I seem to miss another momentous announcement from Last Night From Glasgow. Already, the releases schedule or 2021 is bulging fit to burst…
Albums of 2020
But what of 2020 for anyone who has missed out?
My favourite albums list for 2020 featured several releases from this most outstanding of labels, and if I didn’t stop where I did, guaranteed there would be have been more.
If you didn’t catch my list, the LNFG releases that featured were the upliftingly enriching songs of Mt Doubt and their album Doubtlands (also featuring the vocals of another of the labels stars, Annie Booth), the original C86ers Close Lobsters and their atmospheric jangly guitar masterpiece Post Neo Anti and sticking with the jangly guitar vibe but adding a brass section are The Muldoons whose album Made for Each Other (on LNFG offshoot Hive) completely sold out of its first run within a couple of months.
Edit
Also high in the mix were outstanding works from Paul McGeechan and a cast of wonderful guests on the second Starless album Earthbound, and an album that brought me to tears when I first heard it. It captures my attention so fully every time I listen to it I find it impossible to do anything other than sit and give it my full attention, such is its beauty. I have sat and tried to find the words to write about it but end up just getting lost in the music, hence I’ve never reviewed it. It is Edit from the sensitive talent that is Joe McAlinden.
McAlinden has form here, as songs like Breathing Space and Everyday I Fall Apart turned me into an emotional wreck and were constants on my CD player at the time of their release. At a time when I was particularly low, they felt like someone understood how I felt and was speaking directly to me. Edit is an exquisite work of art, and represents just one of the diverse albums available on the Komponist imprint of the label.
There are other tenuous links there too with SEIL LIEN featuring on the Starless album and Carla J. Easton having released music via the label in the past.
Past Night From Glasgow
I’ve started writing a separate post about re-releases and compilations of the year. High on that list is the classic debut Sisters from Glasgow’s very own The Bluebells which, of course, was the debut release on further Last Night From Glasgow offshoot the punningly titled Past Night From Glasgow, which was created to do just what it has done, and release vinyl remasters of classic albums. Already the future schedule for this offshoot promises to be popular with a re-release of seminal indie rockers BMX Bandits and their classic album Star Wars.
This year the label also introduced me to a band I hope to hear a lot more of in the future, releasing their tracks Four Deuces, a song which blew me away on first listen, and Crocodiles (on a split 7″ with Out of the Swim), Deer Leader deserve to be massive to match the epic soundscapes they produce.
Beautiful EPs from Slow Weather (featuring the aforementioned Annie Booth & Chris McCrory from Catholic Action) and the folky Celtic Americana sounds of Mark W Georgsson were also spinning regularly on my turntable keeping me sane throughout lockdown.
Isolation Sessions
And of course there was the truly remarkable double album of LNFG bands covering other LNFG bands songs on the Isolation Sessions, with some astonishing covers all recorded during the initial lockdown and all the restrictions that brought with it. All proceeds were for a great cause, supporting independent music venues and retailers across Glasgow who suffered, and continue to suffer due to ongoing restrictions and lockdowns. Some of the artists and label supremo Ian Smith were featured in this Louder Than War article.
2021 releases
Next years release schedule is already burgeoning with new albums scheduled from the likes of The Gracious Losers, Hadda Be (formerly known as Foundlings), Sister John, Life Model, Annie Booth and Broken Chanter and the aforementioned Trashcan Sinatras re-release. In addition Hive has releases scheduled for Loa in Slacks, Ace City Racers, Wojtek the Bear and Ross & the Realifers…phew
Another coup for 2021 is a vinyl remaster/re-release of the wonderful Trashcan Sinatras magnum opus, I’ve Seen Everything (LNFG also releasing a double a-side 7″ of their recent singles Ways and The Closer You Move Away From Me) and making this available as part of all membership packages.
See the full list of all releases in 2020 and in previous years below.
There are several membership options available as well as the opportunity to purchase individual items. Treat your elf to a membership as a New Year present – after all, you can’t go out and spend all your hard earned cash on over-priced entry to a nightclub and on over-priced booze…
Website – Pricing Details
Releases
A list of releases on Last Night from Glasgow and its various offshoots appears below. Full details can be found on the LNFG website (links provided)
Last Night From Glasgow
2016 (d = digital release)
- LNFG1 – Mark W. Georgsson – The Ballad of the Nearly Man 7″
- LNFGUSB1 – Stephen Solo – Pii
- LNFG2 – Emme Woods – I Don’t Drink to Forget 7″
- LNFG3/LNFGUSB2 – TeenCanteen – Say it all With a Kiss
- LNFG4 – Be Charlotte – Machines That Breathe
- LNFGUSB3 – BooHooHoo – DebutHooHoo
- LNFGd1 – Mark W. Georgsson – Oh My Dear Friend
- LNFGd2 – Sister John – He Came Down
2017 (d = digital release)
- LNFG5 – Mark W. Georgsson – Faces and Places
- LNFGd4 – Emme Woods – I’ve Been Running
- LNFGd5 – BooHooHoo – Fire
- LNFG6 – TeenCanteen – Sirens 10″
- LNFGUSB4 – Stephen Solo – Pii2
- LNFGd6 – Medicine Men – Out of the Light
- LNFG7 – Medicine Men – Into the Light
- LNFGd7 – Sister John – Sweetest Moment
- LNFGd8 – Smirk – Sun Rose
- LNFGd9 – Radiophonic Tuckshop – Running Commentary EP
- LNFGd10 – Mark W. Georgsson – A Banjo Lament
- LNFGd11 – Medicine Men – Bruised Peach
- LNFSFd1 – Annie Booth – Chasm (in conjunction with Scottish Fiction)
- LNFG8 – Sister John – Returned From Sea
- LNFG9/LNFSF01 – Annie Booth – An Unforgiving Light (Scottish Fiction)
- LNFSFd2 – Annie Booth – Over My (Scottish Fiction)
- LNFGd12 – Sun Rose – Minima
- LNFG10 – Sun Rose – The Essential Luxury
- LNFGd13 – bis – You Wrecked My Christmas
- LNFGd14 – Radiophonic Tuckshop – The Winter Garden Playtest
- LNFSFd3 – Annie Booth – Solitude (Scottish Fiction)
- LNFGd15 – Mark W. Georgsson – Dance (Around the Fake Fir Tree)
- LNFGd16 – Medicine Men – Golden Packets
2018 (d = digital release)
- LNFGd17 – The Gracious Losers – Where the River Meets the Sea
- LNFGd18 – Sister John – Friends
- LNFGd19 – L-Space – Suneaters
- LNFGd20 – L-Space – Money Can Be Exchanged for Goods and Services
- LNFGd21 – Various Artists – The ABC of LNFG
- LNFG11 – Zoe Bestel – Transcience
- LNFGd22 – Zoe Bestel – Eye for an Eye
- LNFO01 – Carla J. Easton – Wanting What I Can’t Have (in conjunction with Olive Grove Records)
- LNFGd23 – The Gracious Losers – Moonlight Parade
- LNFGd24 – L-Space – Backup Baby
- LNFGd25 – Cloth – Demo Love
- LNFGd26 – Stephen Solo – LocoCoco
- LNFG12 – The Gracious Losers – The Last of the Gracious Losers
- LNFG13 – L-Space – Kipple Arcadia
- LNFGd27 – Cloth – Tripp
- LNFGd28 – Cloth – Tripp – Wuh Oh Remix
- LNFG14 – Joe Kane/Radiophonic Tuckshop – Joe Kane/Radiophonic Tuckshop
- LNFG15 – L-Space – Blue Flowers
- LNFG16 – Domiciles – Only You
- LNFG17 – Cloth – Holder
- LNFGd29 – Joe Kane/Radiophonic Tuckshop – Jennifer & Lucifer
- LNFGd30 – Cloth, Domiciles, L-Space – Three Bands
2019 (d = digital release)
- LNFG18 – Sister John – Sister John
- LNFG19 – bis – Slight Disconnects
- LNFGd31 – Sister John – I’m the One
- LNFGd32 – bis – Sound of a Heartbreak
- LNFG21 – Foundlings – Foundlings
- LNFGd33 – Foundlings – Enemy
- LNFGd34 – Sister John – Airport
- LNFG22 – Fenella – A Gift From Midnight
- LNFG23 – Annie Booth – Spectral
- LNFG24 – Domiciles – For a Reason
- LNFGd35 – Medicine Men – Back on Board
- LNFOG02 – Broken Chanter – Wholesale (Olive Grove)
- LNFG26 – Sister John – Nothing Else
- LNFGd36 – L-Space – Music for Megastructures
- LNFG27 – Loudmammoth – Let Go
- LNFGd37 – bis – There is No Point (Other Than the Point There is no Point)
- LNFGd38 – Sister John – Eight Years
- LNFG28 – The Martial Arts – I Used to be The Martial Arts
- LNFG29 – Domiciles – This is not a Zen Garden
- LNFG30 (LNFOG03) – Broken Chanter – Broken Chanter (Olive Grove)
- LNFGd39 – The Martial Arts – New Performance
- LNFGd40 – The Girl Who Cried Wolf – Second Best
- LNFGd41 – Stephen Solo – Pii3
- LNFGd42 – Domiciles – Sinking Sun
- LNFGd43 – Kohla – T O U C H
- LNFG31 – Cloth – Cloth
- LNFGd44 – Broken Chanter – Should We Be Dancing
- LNFGd45 – bis – (I Wanna Go Out With) Someone Else
- LNFGd46 – L-Space – I Never Knew/Tigers in the Street
- LNFGd47 – Medicine Men – Getaway Driver
- LNFGd48 – Foundlings – I Love You All
- LNFGd49 – Lemon Drink – A Song For You
- LNFGd50 – Cloth – Felt
- LNFGd51 – The Girl Who Cried Wolf – Oops!
- LNFGd52 – Domiciles – Want/Need
- LNFGd53 – Kohla – Gorgeous
- LNFGd54 – Close Lobsters – All Compasses Go Wild
2020 (d = digital release)
- LNFGd55 – Broken Chanter – Beside Ourselves
- LNFGd56 – Loudmammoth – In Blue
- LNFG33 – Close Lobsters – Post Neo Anti
- LNFGd57 – Starless – Breakdown
- LNFGd58 – Lemon Drink – Gomez
- LNFGd59 – Kohla – Flux
- LNFGd60 – L-Space – Karoshi
- LNFGd61 – Mt. Doubt – Headless
- LNFGd62 – Lemon Drink – Better Run
- LNFGd63 – Slime City – Less Jools More Top of the Pops
- LNFGd64 – Life Model- Saskia
- LNFGd65 – L=Space – Feed the Engines
- LNFGd66 – Close Lobsters – Godless
- LNFGd67 – Starless – Paper
- LNFGd68 – Andre Salvador & the Von Kings – I Love You (Don’t Laugh)
- LNFGd69 – Mt.Doubt – Caravans on a Hill
- LNFG34 – Medicine Men – A Different Port
- LNFG35 – Starless – Earthbound
- LNFGd70 – Deer Leader – Four Deuces
- LNFGd71 – Various Artists – Isolation Sessions EP
- LNFGd72 – Cloth – Old Bear – Justin Lockey Remix
- LNFGd73 – Mt. Doubt – Dark Slopes Away
- LNFGd74 – In the Forest – On the Run/Nicol & Elliott – The Storm
- LNFGd75 – Mark W. Georgsson – One of a Kind
- LNFGd76 – Close Lobsters – The Days Drift Away (Canopy of Dust Remix)
- LNFG36 – Mark W. Georgsson – Comes a Time
- LNFG37 – Various Artists – Isolation Sessions
- LNFG38 – Mt. Doubt – Doubtlands
- LNFG39 – Slow Weather – Clean Living
- LNFG40 – bis – Music for Animations
- LNFG41 – Deer Leader – Crocodile/Out of the Swim ft Laura Hickli – Machine 7″
More details of all releases can be found here: LINK
Komponist
2019
- LNFGK01 – The Site of Future Rome – Beast Rotations
- LNFGK02RY – Peace Tape – Abstract Works (in conjunction with Reckless Yes)
2020
- LNFGK03 – L-Space – Music for Megastructures (expanded)
- LNFGK04 – Yasuyuki Uesugi – Artificial Mass
- LNFGK05 – Woeful Bat – Sound Slug
- LNFGK06 – Kevin Daniel Cahill – Lo
- LNFGK07 – Joe McAlinden – Edit
- LNFGK08 – Tom Donnelly – Germinal
Full details of all releases here: LINK
Hive
2020
- LNFGH01 – Nicol & Elliott – My Heart Will Wait
- LNFGH02 – Vulture Party – Vulture Party
- LNFGH03 – David Luximon – Duty of Care
- LNFGH04 –
- LNFGH05 – The Muldoons – Made for Each Other
- LNFGH06 – Michael M. – Now That’s What I Call Disappointment
- LNFGH07 – Andre Salvador & the Von Kings – Andre Salvador & the Von Kings
- LNFGH08 – In the Forest – On the Run/Nicol & Elliott – The Storm 7″
- LNFGH09 – Lizabett Russo – While I Sit and Watch This Tree Vol 1
Full details can be found here: LINK
Past Night From Glasgow
2020
- PNFG01 – The Bluebells – Sisters
- PNFG02 – BMX Bandits – Star Wars
Full details of releases here: LINK