Yo! Welcome to the GIGANTIC blog. The primary purpose of this place is to promote music that we’re into, and that we’d like other people to hear too. We want to try and help break new bands and tracks, and also like to dig up old classics that we think need more exposure. Essentially, we want to help makes tunes Gigantic. Of course, we do enjoy throwing out the big pop and electro bangers as well, we’re not music snobs.
25/01/12
Burns Baby Burns, Gigantic Inferno
Eesh, I’m having a serious cringe at that blog title, but hey, it’s late at night and my brain is grinding. Tonight is Burns Night, when people all over the world celebrate the life and poetry of late, poet Robert Burns. I’ve used it as an excuse to post up some songs from some great Scottish musicians and artists.
I put a posts out through the Gigantic Facebook and Twitter accounts to get people to suggest their favourite artists. The response has been amazing, and when you start to list all the great Scottish acts it’s pretty mind-blowing. For a country of its size the amount of talent they have produced is astounding. From monster draws like Biffy Clyro and Franz Ferdinand, to indie heroes Arab Strap and Belle & Sebastian, and electronic pioneers such as Boards Of Canada and Hudson Mohawke. To top it all off most of AC/DC were born in Glasgow. Mentalism.
You could easily do a years worth of posts about Scottish music, and there are probably entire blogs dedicated to Scottish music, but I’m only going to pick out three tunes.
The first track is one that no one suggested, but that I felt was a good place to start. The band are Big Country, and this is their biggest hit ‘In A Big Country’. Weirdly, Scotland isn’t a big country, but this is a great pop song. I think the fantastic Dogs Die In Hot Cars owe a big debt to these guys.
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Big Country – In A Big Country (right click to download)
It turns out I’ve decided to post up these songs in chronological order, as next up is Teenage Fanclub. I’ve been looking for an excuse to post up ‘What You Do To Me’ for ages, and this is the perfect time. I still love Bandwagonesque, probably because it reminds me so much of my childhood. Teenage Fanclub played at the first gig I ever went to, sandwiched between The Breeders and Nirvana. Will I ever get tired of telling people about my first gig? I don’t think so. Anyway, I wish everyone in the world knew this song, so that I could play it at my DJ sets and sing in peoples faces. Alas, it mainly resides in the hearts of the indie few.
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Teenage Fanclub – What You Do To Me (right click to download)
Continuing in chronological order, the last song is from the underrated Sons & Daughters. They’ve dropped off the radar in the last few years, and their third album more or less passed me by completely, but in the early days they were awesome. It looked like they were going to break through with their second album, but it never quite happened for them. I was going to post ‘Dance Me In’, as it’s their anthem, but I decided to go for something different and picked ‘Darling’ instead.
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Sons & Daughters – Darling (right click to download)
Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions, I now have a big list of new music to get stuck into.
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