Various Artists Chem087cd+dvd
When Glasgow band The Delgados started Chemikal Underground 11 years ago to release their single […]
When Glasgow band The Delgados started Chemikal Underground 11 years ago to release their single “Monica Webster” b/w “Brand New Car,” they likely didn’t think that it would go on to influence the next generation of Brit-pop kings and queens. Folks like Bis, Radar Bros, Mogwai, and Arab Strap would all rise to relative fame with the push that the label provided. And though a number of the bands have since broken up, their wistfully morose tunes (see Arab Strap’s drumbox-driven “I Work in a Saloon”) continue to define the darker, non-Belle and Sebastian side of Glasgow’s once ridiculously prolific scene. Hell, even American flourishes like Interpol’s gothy “5” are thrown in. But the real treat here is, without a doubt, the accompanying DVD, featuring videos that most of us without Top of the Pops access would never see, including seven from Arab Strap alone. Brilliant.