We’ve been excitedly following the Scottish Album of the Year Award since it was announced last month. Just this week, a panel of judges met and decided on just ten shortlisted albums from the longlist of 20 Scottish albums, all released in 2011. The winning album will be announced at an awards ceremony at Glasgow Film City on Tuesday 19th June, where each of the shortlisted acts will receive a £1,000 prize, and one luck winner will pocket the sizeable  £20,000 award. All ten shortlisted finalists will receive an artwork from the winner of a unique SAY Award art commission. The art commission, will be created by graduates from one of Scotland’s art schools.
In alphabetical order, the shortlisted nominees are:

• Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat “Everything’s Getting Older”
• Conquering Animal Sound “Kammerspiel”
• Happy Particles “Under Sleeping Waves”
• King Creosote & Jon Hopkins “Diamond Mine”
• Mogwai “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will”
• Mungo’s Hi Fi “Forward Ever”
• Remember Remember “The Quickening”
• Rustie “Glass Swords”
• Tommy Smith “Karma”
• Twin Atlantic “Free” (public vote winners)

With previous years successes fresh in their minds, Stag & Dagger have upped their game yet again with a selection of forward thinking bookings across the best venues Glasgow has to offer. The full list of acts and venues is as follows:

ABC1
Django Django
The Phantom Band
White Denim

ABC2
Vigo Thieves
The New Picadillys
A Plastic Rose
Passenger
To Kill a King

CCA5
Willy Mason
Washington Irving
Eleanor Friedberger
Will Hansen
Chasing Owls

Stereo
Forest Swords
EMA
Bear In Heaven
Miaoux Miaoux

Chambre 69
Vitamins present: Unknown to the Unknown
Checan
DJ Haus & Makaveli
Capraca
Shaun and Sam Vitamins

The Art School
Niki and the Dove
Still Corners
Jonquil
Post War Years
White Arrows

Nice N Sleazy
Holy Mountain
Milk Music
Bwani Junction
Random Impulse
Adam Stafford

Captains Rest
Discopolis
Hidden Masters
Still Flyin’
The Hearbreaks
Ryan Keen
Holy Esque
Die Hard
Hot Panda
Michael Anguish

The Glasgow leg of Stag & Dagger is on Saturday 19th May in across several venues in Glasgow. Tickets are available from TicketWeb and the ABC box office.

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Soulsville Sings The Blues ducks down the back alleys of The Blues & chews some cud with some Country crooners. Featuring the likes of Elmore James, Spade Cooley, Babs Gonzales & The Washboard Rhythm Kings.

Tracklist

1. Lightnin’ Slim – Mind Your Own Business
2. Flatt & Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Breakdown
3. Spade Cooley – Swingin’ The Devil’s Dream
4. Washboard Rhythm Kings – Shoutin’ In The Amen Corner
5. Velma Cross & The Highsteppers – I’ll Be Oh So Good
6. Helen Humes – Knockin’ Myself Out
7. Babs Gonzales – Get Out That Bed & Get That Bread
8. Howlin’ Wolf – Moanin’ At Midnight
9. Joe Hill Louis – I’ll Get To Heaven On My Own
10. Elmore James – Twelve Year Old Boy
11. Skip James – I’m So Glad
12. Duke Ellington – Portrait Of Mahalia Jackson
13. The Strollers – Bitter Dreams

radiomagnetic.com/soulsville

Our resident Jazz maestro, Andy Watt, returns with a veritable smorgasbord of jazzy delights, all delivered in Andy’s trademark laid back style.

This episode features music from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, dBass, Miles Davis and lots more.

Tracklist

1. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Charlie Brown Theme – Decca
2. Phronesis – Suede Trees – Edition
3. dBass – Style – White
4. Get The Blessing – OCDC – Naim Jazz
5. Brad Mehldan – 26 – Nonesuch
6. Miles Davis – Treugre – Columbia
7. Gregory Porter – Work Song – Motema
8. Julian Siegel – One Mint Julip – Basho
9. E.S.T. – 3 Falling Part II – Act
10. Wallace Roney – Water Time  - High Note
11. Lars Danielsson – Liberetto – Act
12. Roy Hargrove – Everybody Wants To Be A Cat -Sony

radiomagnetic.com/entropy

Listen online, stream and download the Soulsville Sings The Blues podcast on Radio Magnetic for the best in blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and more. Soulsville is also a monthly club night at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club.

Soulsville Sings the Blues returns, with plenty more rhythmic blues as well as a wee taste of the world of calypso. Featuring the likes of Jimmy Nolen, The McGuire Sisters, Duke Ellington & Ella Fitzgerald.

Tracklist

1. Jimmy Nolen – The Way You Do
2. Leon D. Tarver & The Chordones – I’m A Young Rooster
3. The McGuire Sisters – Delilah Jones
4. Little Esther – The Storm
5. Duke Ellington – Daybreak Express
6. The Spaniels – Stormy Weather
7. Wilbur De Paris – In A Persian Market
8. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan – Stone Cold Dead In The Market
9. Cal Green & His Orchestra – The Big Push
10. Jelly Roll Morton’s New Orleans Jazzmen – Oh, Didn’t He Ramble
11. Stefan Grossman – Not You Or I My Dear

The Radio Magnetic blog brings you the latest gigs, clubs, festivals and music news from throughout the UK and worldwide.

The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is not far away from revealing its longlist of 20 albums that will be eventually whittled down to just one on Tuesday 19 June when the winner of the inaugural Scottish Album of the Year Award will be revealed.

This new national prize, which has been established to reward and promote both diversity and creativity of music and art in Scotland and celebrate the most exceptional albums released by Scottish artists, has been developed by the Scottish Music Industry Association, in partnership with Creative Scotland. The SAY Award will place its focus on artistic merit rather than sales figures, genre or label affiliation, offering £20,000 to the winning album and £1,000 to each of the nine runners-up. The links between art and music will also be celebrated with a £20,000 commission offered to graduates from Scotland’s four principal art schools, one successful graduate producing an original unique artwork for each of the shortlisted finalists.

The choice of which albums deserve to enter the 20 strong longlist will be the job of 100 impartial ‘Nominators’, including our very own Andy McColgan, who have been invited by the SMIA to participate and drawn from genres and sectors across the music industry and the arts.

Each nominator will pick a total of five of their favourite eligible releases from 2011 and rank them in order of preference (1st = 10 pts; 2nd = 8pts etc.) before sending their ‘Top 5′ to the SMIA for collation and scoring.

After all of the Nominators’ submissions have been calculated and verified by an independent auditor, the 20 highest-scoring albums will be announced as The SAY Award Long List.

What’s even better is that courtesy of the SAY Award App and through the SAY website, you can instantly access this Long List and over the course of four weeks from Monday 16 April, you’ll have the chance to listen to all twenty albums.

Every weekday from Monday 16 April one album from the long list will become the Album of the Day: available to stream in its entirety (and free of charge) for 24 hours. Oh and even if you miss an album through the week don’t worry because you’ll be able to stream all five albums that have been played over the week on the Saturday and Sunday.

While you listen away to the top 20 albums the 11 judges will be deciding based solely on musical and artistic merit which of the 20 album long list deserves to go on the 10 album shortlist.

But there is power in your lugs too! As you will have the chance to pick a band to be placed on the shortlist for 24 hours on Monday 14 May. During this time you can vote for your favourite album from the Long List with the album receiving the most public votes securing a place on the Short List. If the Judging Panel’s Short List does not include the public’s choice then they’ll have to relegate one of their choices in order to make way for the public’s favourite.

The judging panel will then be asked to get back round the table one last time for the award ceremony on Tuesday 19 June, when they will choose a winner of the inaugural Scottish Album of the Year Award.

Listen online, stream and download Radio Magnetic’s specialist jazz programme, Entropy, presented by Andy Watt.

Our resident jazz impressario, Andy Watt, returns with another edition of Entropy with one small addition. Mr Watt is joined in the studio by his jazz loving daughter Anna (3) so expect lots of spilled juice, tantrums, demands for chocolate and many trips to the toilet, and that was just Andy!

As a stressed looking Andy commented leaving the studio “Its not easy speaking into the mic when you have someone sitting on your shoulders… Shambolic but fun and at least the music was good.” And so say all of us.

Tracklist

1. Dave Douglas – Play It Momma – Bluebird
2. Nicholas Payton – Drucilla – Nonesuch
3. Tied and Tickled Trio – Ghost All Around – Morr
4. Matthew Bourne – I Aint For Johnathon Flockton – Leaf
5. Gregory Porter – 1960 What? – Motema
6. James Farm – Chronos – Nonesuch
7. Bill Wells – Time Takes Me So Back – Karaoke Kalk
8. Adrien Moignard – Some Skunk Funk – Dreyfus
9. Branford Marsalis – Hope – Decca
10. Richard Galliano – Bohemia After Dark – Dreyfus
11. Ella Fitzgerald – Love Me or Leave Me – Verve

radiomagnetic.com/entropy

Listen online, stream and download the Soulsville Sings The Blues podcast on Radio Magnetic for the best in blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and more. Soulsville is also a monthly club night at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club.

Soulsville Sings The Blues returns with another delve into musics shady past, featuring Rhythmic Blues from the likes of Johnny Otis, Lightnin Hopkins, Dinah Washington & The Three Barons.

Tracklist

1. Jonny Otis with Johny “guitar” Watson – Early in the Morning Blues
2. Lester Williams – I Can’t Lose with the Stuff I Use
3. Jack McVea – Wine – O
4. The Three Barons – The Milkshake Stand
5. Jimmy Witherspoon – Voodoo Woman Blues
6. James Wee Willie Wayne – Bad Morning Blues
7. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Gone with the Wind
8. Willie Mabon – I’m Mad
9. Big Maybelle – Gabbin’ Blues
10. Cab Calloway – The Scat Song
11. Lazy Lester – Sugar Coated Love
12. Dolly Cooper – My Man
13. John J. Moses – Night Out
14. Dinah Washington – Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair
15. The Five Keys – How Long

Download and stream a selection of recent mixes from some of our favourite DJs, producers and artists, every week on Radio Magnetic.

Our friends at LuckyMe have just unleashed number 5 in the series of Hudson Mohawke’s Slow Jam mixes for Valentines Day. Make sure you get the free download at the Official LuckyMe site. Sex music at it’s finest. Enjoy.

hudsonmohawke.com

thisisluckyme.com

Listen online, stream and download the Soulsville Sings The Blues podcast on Radio Magnetic for the best in blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and more. Soulsville is also a monthly club night at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club.

DJ Tsatsu presents the very first episode of Soulsville Sings The Blues, playing his selection of blues, rhythm & blues, rock n roll and more from the first half of the 20th century, with tracks from Bo Diddley, Howlin Wolf, Slim Harpo and Little Esther.

Tracklist

1. Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton – Hound Dog
2. Little Walter – It Ain’t Right
3. Howlin’ Wolf – Just Like I Treat You
4. Little Esther – Hollerin’ and Screamin’
5. Lonnie the Cat – I Ain’t Drunk
6. Call the Police – Jimmie Lunceford
7. The Larks – Who Walks in When I Walk out
8. Slim Harpo – I’m a King Bee
9. Bo Diddley – I Love You So
10. Dale Hawkins – Suzie Q
11. Tarheel Slim – Number Nine Train
12. Josh White – Jerry
13. Silver Quintette – Sinners Crossroads