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diskant is an independent music community based in Glasgow, Scotland and we have a whole team of people from all over the UK and beyond writing about independent music and culture, from interviews with new and established bands and labels to record and fanzine reviews and articles on art, festivals and politics. There's over ten years of content here so dig in!

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Tweet Tweet

Posted: March 22nd, 2009, by Marceline Smith

So, you’re no doubt “hip” to the new thing that is Twitter – microblogging for the masses, social phenomenon etc. etc. Of course, us diskanteers have been on it for a while so I have added a handy list of links to our Twitter feeds over there on the left. We don’t have an official diskant Twitter because let’s face it, official Twitter feeds are hella boring, but instead you can keep up with us AS PEOPLE.

If you’re not on Twitter already then you’re missing out on knowing how Alex is getting on as a new resident of Texas, what Greg Kitten thought of the most recent episode of LOST and what technology I’ve broken today. Not to mention my real time updates of the daylight murder right outside my house. Awesome. It’s quality content like that which has made me the 14th most popular Twitterer in Glasgow.

Yeah, so come join us and you’ll get some extra free content throughout the day. I also heartily recommend the entertaining Twitterings of our blog friends Popjustice, Sweeping The Nation, I Like, and The Morning News.

Anyone else good we should be following? Leave a comment!

BROKEN ARM

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, by Simon Minter

Broken Arm’s ‘Shields Mystical’ CD is worth picking up for its fantastic cover alone:

Broken Arm - Shields Mystical

What’s more, it’s printed onto nice rough card so it’s a tactile delight.

What’s more, the music is great and it’ll be directly up your street.

What’s more, the band features diskant.net alumnus Hugues Mouton. A man you can trust.

Broken Arm, yo.

Shameless Self-Promotion ALERT: Dead or American & Souvaris @ The Captain’s Rest, Glasgow on Sat 1st Nov

Posted: October 30th, 2008, by Dave Stockwell

Apologies for this, but seeing as Souvaris has been an ongoing concern for over 8 years now and have visited many strange and exciting lands (and venues) in our time, it’s always been a minor scandal that we have never ventured over the Scottish border. HOWEVER! This will change on Saturday, as we will be coming to Glasgow FOR THE FIRST TIME to help local heroes Dead or American to celebrate the release of their second album “Thaumaturgy” (that’s the art/science of miracle production, fact fans) on Predestination Records. With only two bands, it’s going to be a proper PARTY and hopefully both bands will get the chance to stretch out a bit and let loose. When your songs are as long as ours, it can only be a good thing. IT’S GOING TO BE A DOOZY!

So that’s £4 in, doors at 8pm and it’s at the Captain’s Rest. See you there?

http://www.myspace.com/predestinationrecords

http://www.myspace.com/deadoramerican

http://www.myspace.com/souvaris

Informational Update

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, by Marceline Smith

Some things of note:

1. Yes, sorry, that was the last of the Chris Summerlin columns. You can still read all his other blog posts here, or how about a nice interview we did with Chris about Reynolds.

2. So, who’s up next? Simon Minter, that’s who. Simon was actually the editor of our columns section and did such a good job he even persuaded himself to write two columns, one about music and one about films. I’ll start posting these up as of next week. He also did all the cute column banners, did you know?

3. Don’t forget you can still buy our 10 year anniversary zine which has content not available on the website and can be read on the bus without the use of a fancy iPhone or whatever. It’s just one pound, people! Buy it here.

4. There’s something of a zine resurgence going on, have you noticed? This of course is A Good Thing and I will write more later.

5. And finally, PROOF that the diskant 08/08/08 party did actually happen thanks to this lovely video by Alice. Be amazed by the indie tombola, Findo Gask’s video projections and Sunnyvale driving a very long distance. Luckily for you, Alice didn’t document the part where we all got woken up at 8am by an orange march outside my house + torrential rain. Rock and Roll.


a long way to Glasgow from Alice Peapods on Vimeo.

Last chance!

Posted: August 10th, 2008, by Marceline Smith

HEY, YOU! Today is your last chance to enter the giveaway for a Wil Forbis book and CD. All you need to do is post any old comment on this post and you could be the winner. It really is that easy.

Also, photos of the diskant party are starting to turn up online – see some by me, Stu and Emma. I’ll be updating the 08/08/08 page with any more photos or reviews I spot so keep a lookout there and let me know if I miss anything.

Thank you thank you!

Posted: August 9th, 2008, by Marceline Smith

YAY. Thanks so much to everyone that made last night a success. It was so much fun and we made a lot more money than I could have hoped for. Enormous thanks to Findo Gask for being both awesome and all-round good guys and to Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element (and Alice!) for driving all the way from Oxford only to be awoken at 8am this morning by the orange marchers. They were also awesome.

Big thanks also to Claire and Jo for manning the Tombola – which went down a storm with almost every prize won – and to Alasdair, Nicolette, Chris, Stew and everyone at the CCA. And of course, everyone who came down, paid their money and had fun. You all rock!

More photos and stuff laters but for now my head hurts. You can still buy copies of the excellent and hilarious diskant zine and the diskant fun badge set so there’s still some fun to be had if you couldn’t make it down.

diskant zine action

Posted: August 4th, 2008, by Marceline Smith

As the diskant party approaches, everything is starting to come together. I now have fifty copies of the diskant zine, a 32 page photocopied jaunt through the last ten years of diskant. It’s basically lots of short bits of writing that caught my eye as I trawled the archives but makes for a fantastically good read.

Here’s the content line-up:

Summer 2008 Catch-up by the diskant team (June 2008)
Bargain Bin Culture by Wil Forbis (April 2002)
– Honey Is Funny by Chris Summerlin (April 2003)
– Mild Head Injury by Simon Minter (July 2002)
– Some Kind of Monster by Dave Stockwell (September 2004)
Instal 05 by Marceline Smith (October 2005)
The Owls Are Not What They Seem by Alex McChesney (July 2006)
Magik Markers, twice by Joe Luna (May 2006)
Liquid Blue by Fraser Campbell (June 2005)
Super Quick Primavera Roundup by Ollie Simpson (June 2007)
– “Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him” by Ross McGivern (December 2003)
Slint by Chris Summerlin (April 2005)

The unlinked items are columns which we will be re-posting at some point in the future. However, you can read them NOW (or in a few days anyway) by purchasing a copy right here in my shop for a mere £1. You can also buy copies at the diskant 08/08/08 party of course.

If you’re one of the people involved in the above works of genius, email me for your free copy.

New stuff on diskant, and a giveaway!

Posted: August 3rd, 2008, by Marceline Smith

Even though I am up to my eyeballs in diskant party planning, I still find the time to give you new interviews to read. It’s amazing isn’t it?

First up is a long-overdue Talentspotter profile of the lovely SUNNYVALE NOISE SUB-ELEMENT who have just released an album of live tracks and remixes and will be bringing their own particular brand of genre-defying experimental electro-rock all the way from Oxford to our 10 year anniversary party (THIS FRIDAY!).

Acid Logic by Wil ForbisIn the other corner is the mighty WIL FORBIS, Acid Logic founder, musician, diskant columnist and general good guy. No wait, bad guy. Oh, whatever. With his book just published and his Bargain Bin Culture columns dusted off and re-posted on diskant, I thought it was time to catch up with the man himself. It’s a pretty damn good read if I do say so myself.

Wil has also kindly offered up a copy of the book and his latest CD for a giveaway right here on diskant. Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll get Wil to pick someone as a WINNER in a week’s time. Flattery is probably the way to go. All joking aside, this really is a fantastic book so get on it, or buy your own copy by clicking on the image to your right.

This contest is now closed.

diskant party prizes

Posted: July 31st, 2008, by Marceline Smith

Maybe you thought we were joking about the whole indie tombola idea but no sir. I have been pestering everyone even vaguely connected to diskant and the prizes have been rolling in. You can go see them all here on Flickr.

There’s still a few more to turn up but so far you could literally be winning any of the following:

– CDs by Part Chimp, Envy, Growing and Torche, a deSalvo 7″ and a label sampler from Scotland’s most tremendous record label, Rock Action.
– Singles and lovely embroidered patches from Brighton’s Blood Red Shoes, currently taking the world by storm (and thus dashing all hopes of The Oedipus reforming for our party).
– Albums by Polaris, Bilge Pump and Hirameka Hi-Fi plus lots of samplers from the UK’s best groomed label, Nottingham’s Gringo Records.
– Stacks of joy from indie legend Alistair Fitchett including 7″s on his Unpopular Records label, a full set of I Wish I Was Unpopular CDRs, badges and a special edition package of original drawings.
– Hilarious emo-broidery cross stitch samplers from Glasgow’s craft legends Miso Funky.
– 5 sets of CDs by The Marcia Blaine School For Girls, Like A Stuntman, The Village Orchestra and the Some Paths Lead Back Again compilation on London’s friendly experimental label Highpoint Lowlife.
– CDs from Oxford’s electro noise terrorists, Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element
– A lovely 7″ single from Leeds band Sailors
– Handcrafted jewellery, Scrabble bracelet and lots of badges by Glasgow’s crafty t-boo
– Postcard sets of seaside joys and badges by I Like, Scotland’s most uniquely interesting blog.
– A signed copy of our own JGram‘s book, the tale of the first person in the UK to get sacked for blogging.
– Vinyl box sets and handmade accessories from my own little venture, Asking For Trouble
– No tombola is complete without a bottle of Kia-Ora, some Mr Kipling french fancies and some Babycham so they’ll all be there too, fear not!

Get ye down to the CCA in Glasgow on 08/08/08 for a chance to win! If you’ve never encountered a tombola before (what have you been doing with your life?!), then take it from me; the odds are you will win something.

More info here >>

diskant party update

Posted: July 17th, 2008, by Marceline Smith

diskant 080808 gig poster

Poster time! Sadly we were too late for Summerlin poster action so flag-waving cupcakes is where it’s at. Who doesn’t like happy party cupcakes?

I have also made some diskant and pie-related badges which we’ll be giving away FREE until they run out so get there early. If you miss out, or can’t make it to Glasgow, you can buy a set right here for just £1.50.

diskant badges

Are you excited yet? More info here of course.