08
Feb
It’s the taking apart that counts
Anything or anyone who reduces the creative process of songmaking to a public vote only has themselves to blame if they end up beaten to death by the ‘music is not a competition‘ brigade.
The logic of something like the Scottish Alternative Music Awards is fundamentally warped – it turns artistic expression into a popularity contest and it asks musicians to become competitors.
But, to be fair, these issues really only come into play if people take it more seriously than need be. The key question you have to ask is this: Is the world an ever-so-slightly better place for this awards ceremony existing than not?
If you can appreciate it as something that brings exposure to artists who need and deserve it, if you can recognise that external acknowledgement of talent and aptitude is a means of giving confidence to a musician, and if you can see that its message, motives and methods are honest and positive ones then there’s absolutely no need to feel guilty about enjoying such an event.
Music may not be a competition, but it is certainly a community. And given that the organiser of completely different Scottish music award has shown himself to be abusive, chauvinistic and incompetent, it’s heartening to see a decent guy like Richy Muirhead and his SAMAs project grow from strength to strength.
Launch party – February 8, Bloc, Glasgow featuring live music from A Fight You Can’t Win + Athos + Brown Bear & The Bandits (free)
Awards ceremony – March 1, The Garage, Glasgow (tickets)
BEST LIVE ACT
Admiral Fallow
Miniature Dinosaurs
PAWS
Song Of Return
The Little Kicks
We Were Promised Jetpacks
BEST ROCK/ALTERNATIVE
Aerials Up
Fatherson
Iain McLaughlin & The Outsiders
Johnny And The Giros
Lady North
Little Eye
BEST ACOUSTIC
Amber Wilson
Beerjacket
Brown Bear & The Bandits
Colin James Murphy
I Build Collapsible Mountains
Mike Nisbet
BEST ELECTRONIC
Discopolis
Fridge Magnets
Miaoux Miaoux
Niteworks
Rustie
Teklo
BEST METAL
A Fight You Can’t Win
Autumn In Disguise
Constellations
Lost In Echoes
Ten Tonne Dozer
The Recovery
BEST HIP HOP
Bigg Taj
Hector Bizerk
Madhat McGore
Profisee
Stanley Odd
Team Kapowski
BEST NEWCOMER
Athos
Bwani Junction
Davey Horne
Forest Fires
Oskar Empire
Vukovi
Nominees picked by regional judges Craig Johnston, DF Concerts (Glasgow); John-Paul Mason & Tallah Brash, Electric Circus (Edinburgh); Ross Calder, AGP/Cafe Drummond (Aberdeen); Jamie Macdonald & Murray Cameron, Netsounds Unsigned (Inverness); Stephen Hume, Tolbooth (Stirling); David Bell & Richy Muirhead, A Quiet Night In/SAMAs (Ayrshire).
One Response to “It’s the taking apart that counts”
February 8th, 2012 at 15:28
Amber Wilson comfortably in the lead there, despite my excellent bandana and tattoos
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