Chemikal Underground’s Celtic Connections – Glasgow ABC

Chemikal Underground

If you’re looking to name a contemporary independent Scottish label, there’s a chance Chemikal Underground will be the first. Originally set up by The Delgados to release their debut single, they quickly established themselves as the most important label in Scotland since Postcard releasing records by the likes of Arab Strap, Mogwai, Aereogramme, Bis, Mother & The Addicts and even Interpol (albeit only one record by them). Tonight’s gig, as part of Glasgow’s annual Celtic Connections festival is a celebration of Chemikal’s fifteenth birthday, with a selection of the labels current offerings on stage to help, and Vic Galloway hosting in between.

Travelling from ‘the other place’ to Glasgow, this writer only gets the middle of the evening’s entertainment, four bands who certainly maintain the label’s image of having an eclectic but cohesive roster. Zoey van Goey, are an indiepop five piece whose overall ‘sound’ is difficult to pin down, but they’re entertaining if nothing else. There’s something of a less-twee Belle & Sebastian about them, but perhaps if B&S had been weaned on post-rock, as well as Felt.

Next is the debut performance from The Unwinding Hours, formed from the ashes of Aereogramme (disbanded in 2007). They instantly create an atmosphere, beginning with sparse guitars before getting louder and more epic, slightly reminiscent of The Twilight Sad, if a little less dour. The highlight of their set has to be during their last song, ‘The Final Hour’, when the it changes from sparse instrumentation to an ear-splitting, trouser-flapping din, forcing numerous members of the audience out of their skin. Unfortunately some of the material verges a little bit on the MOR side of things, but with moments like that up their sleeve, it’s certainly worth giving them a chance.

Lord Cut-Glass are label founder and former Delgado Alun Woodward’s new project, making literate pop music, which certainly has echoes of his former band, if augmented with Scottish and gypsy folk influences, and even ska rhythms at one point.

Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells are an interesting prospect for the long time Strap/Moffat fan, especially if one’s never heard them together before. Moffat sits behind the drums, Wells a the piano, and they are accompanied by (member of Moffats’ sometime backing-band The Best-Ofs) Stevie Jones on double bass. At first it comes across as not incredibly interesting lounge jazz, and that doesn’t even change terribly much when Moffat’s gruff Scots tones are introduced. Things improve dramatically when Moffat plays a low, ominous drone on a Shruti box, matched by Jones’ bass, while the vocalist relates a dark if humorous tale of a schoolchild breaking into his old house. From there (a hitherto undetectable influence on Moffat’s music) Tom Waits is very much audible, and it’s a satisfying progression, whetting the appetite for their forthcoming album.

Then it’s back to Auld Reekie, with (perhaps the most well-known ex-Delgado) Emma Pollock and The Phantom Band still to come. More’s the pity as both are fine acts and would doubtlessly serve to underline the overall feeling one gets from the evening: that Chemikal’s role in (not just Scottish) contemporary music is as vital as it has ever been, and should continue to be so, as long as they continue as they have and keep releasing records by bands they like. Here’s to the next fifteen years.