Resolver by Veruca Salt

The very nature of a break-up album is that of catharsis, that journey the artist takes you on from the first note to the last second with the whole gamut of emotions in-between. The music becomes your guide through some intense feelings. Some of the greatest, most critically acclaimed albums ever recorded have been inspired…

The Beach by Alex Garland

Sometimes a book becomes so impossibly huge that the author runs in the opposite direction. The Beach is one of those books. Alex Garland is one of those authors. I remember seeing his debut in Borders, the Glesga branch I spent most of my college years hanging about in. Oh, you could lose yourself in…

Beaucoup Fish by Underworld

I tried so hard to get away from Trainspotting. It belonged to my brother, my sisters, their friends. Somehow, I felt it couldn't belong to me. I was at Cumbernauld High School, still trying to create myself, work out what I liked and what I didn't like. Now, here's the important detail: what I liked…

Tinderbox by Siouxsie And The Banshees

I always knew where to find new music. Sometimes, that new music came from old bands long since gone. As a teenager in search of a perspective grander than what I saw outside the window of a council house in Cumbernauld, I'd find myself turning to music and books to give me something that wasn't…

Your New Favourite Band by The Hives

Some bands are too fun to be denied. Fundamentally, for me, there's something really exciting about a cool-as-fuck garage rock band. Their music is a loud racket, the sound of my emotions. These bands look cool with their music playing, just as cool when they stand for photographs. The Donnas. The Cramps. The Kills. Black…

Vibrate You by King Adora

King Adora arrived before quickly vanishing completely, a standout cameo in a really shit film. Though they're gone, Vibrate You is still here, always somewhere close to me. Hands up if you form emotional connections with albums? 2001 was a strange time which demanded strange music made by odd people. I knew I wanted to…

Benefactor by Romeo Void

Let's have it right: no other band sound, or made sounds like Romeo Void. It isn't just the saxophone or the synths. Romeo Void had something else that set it apart from other songwriters and musicians - her name is Debora Iyall and her writing was fundamentally rooted in poetry, while her appearance was striking…

The Fifth Release From Matador by Pizzicato Five

Pizzicato Five were an oddity of a band among a collection of odd bands - my collection, in fact. In a cupboard full of CDs, all arranged in order of how much I loved them, Pizzicato Five were always near the top row, alongside other dear favourites, the songs that gave me an escape route…

Alisha Rules The World by Alisha’s Attic

I really want to wash those dishes up. 1996 was a vintage year for my CD rack. Keith Flint stood in a tunnel, monochromatic yet brighter and more colourful than anything else around. Britpop approached a zenith, Jarvis Cocker's arse made The Brits relevant, Alanis made us reach for a dictionary to check the actual…

I Am Lisa Simpson

It's Morrissey's fault I even knew about the special Smiths inspired episode of The Simpsons. Somehow I hadn't got around to unfollowing Morrissey Official on Facebook, so the news appeared on my feed, promoting what seemed to be a wonderful tribute to one of the greatest pop groups ever to emerge from the neon lit…