From folk to punk and electro, the 100 best Scots songs of 2018

Martin Williams started off with a shortlist of 350 tunes. Here’s the first half of his Hot 100

THE last 12 months have been another diverse and inspiring year for bands and artists from Scotland. There were triumphant chart returns for Chvrches, The

Proclaimers and Snow Patrol, while electronic dance music maestro Calvin Harris still proved a huge hit in the clubs and the charts, most notably with No1 hit collaborations with Sam Smith on Promises and Dua Lipa with One Kiss.

This is the first part of an essential playlist of 100 tunes from Scotland this year, from hip hop, alternative, dance and house to electronica, indie, punk, post-grunge, post-rock, nu and old folk. The second half will be published in tomorrow’s Herald on Sunday.

100 TOMORROW SYNDICATE – OKULOMOTOR

A kaleidoscopic sci-fi-influenced trip with the Pet Shop Boys where “colours warp your mind” from the Glasgow DIY collective who produced their debut album Future Tense “on a recording budget of £0”.

99 CALUM WOOD – TOMINTOUL TO GRANTOWN-ON-SPEY

Edinburgh composer, singer and guitarist Calum Wood was commissioned by Visit Cairngorms to produced a soundtrack for a new tourist route called the Snow Roads. This dramatic closing track has a cinematic post-rock punch mixing epic electric guitars with an infectious piano part.

98 YPSSKE – VERY RARE Young hip-hop newcomer from Larkhall offers a fresh stylishly infectious groove, a laid-back hook-laden vibe and… it’s very rare.

97 THE SPOOK SCHOOL – LESS THAN PERFECT

The Glasgow indie pop combo produce a jangling open-hearted anthem which became the second single from their third album Could it be Different?

96 FATHERSON – NOTHING TO NO ONE

Like much of the album, the Kilmarnock band’s song structures are far more complex than the normal indie fare. A relationship drama that appears to have a twist.

95 BETATONE DISTRACTION – SPACE

Standout track from the latest EP by the Aberdeen alt-rock combo is a cunningly designed shape-shifting demon.

94 SOPHIE – PONYBOY

The Scots-born, LA-based producer created one of the albums of the year with the subversive alterno-dance orientated album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides and this is just one of many scuzz-pop highlights.

93 GRAVELLE – TOUCH ME Disco meets goth as Livingston newcomers Monique Maurel and Kyle MacNaughton-Wright conjure up some exquisitely frenetic synth madness.

92 MR TC AND LO KINDRE – THE STORM (HEAP AMBIENT TRANCE REMIX)

Glaswegian sound wizards with a six-minute off-kilter trance Vs acid trip. MR TC, aka Thomas Lea Clarke, is a resident DJ at Glasgow’s Art School club.

91 ERLAND COOPER – SOLAN GOOSE

The Orcadian multi-instrumentalist produced an instrumental album where each track is named after the name of a bird common to the islands. This is the most captivating.

The Dumfries superstar’s chart-topping union with Sam Smith is given a pounding funky house makeover by the sharp Glasgow producer duo.

89 ALLIGATOR – SHADOW BY YOUR SIDE

Within seconds, you may think, oh no, not more Oasis wannabes. But this is an undeniable noise pop anthem from the Glasgow garage-indie combo which notched up 100,000 Spotify streams in one month. And, yes, it does sound like Oasis – at their best.

88 BIG MIZ – CALL DA COPS The Glasgow producer, aka Chris McFarlane, co-promoter and resident DJ at longstanding city club-night Offbeat, injects his Detroit and Chicago influences and chunky grooves into a fresh house-style feel with this beguiling mash of old and new synth twists and perilous laughter loops.

87 ZOE BESTEL – GREY SKIES The year’s voice of nu-folk is this 20-year-old songstress from Dumfries and Galloway who, when barely in her teens, got help with buying equipment and music recording through the Prince’s Trust.

86 KATHRYN JOSEPH – SAFE The self-described “luckiest little Scottish witch in the world” with one of the standouts from her wonderful second album.

85 VOODOOS – GARDEN ORNAMENTS

It’s no surprise Baby Strange frontman Johnny Madden was enlisted for a previous single and this buzzsaw manic pop thrill is one his band would kill for. A Glasgow band who sound like they are partying on their guitars.

84 CHEEENS – OPENING UP He may have been around slightly longer than some on the new wave of Scots drill and grime influenced hip hop but the Aberdeen rapper nails an infectious hook-laden no class R-rated message.

83 KT TUNSTALL – THE MOUNTAIN After a series of mis-steps, this strikingly soulful slow funker highlightswhat KT is capable of creating.

82 JOSEPH MALIK – TAKE A LEFT A jazzy soul harmonica-led strutter straight from Leith with a hip hop sensibility.

81 US – THE STARS THAT ARC ACROSS THE SKY

There’s a hint of U2’s With or Without You in this dreamy synth pop anthem featuring the now Sweden-based Andrew Montgomery, frontman of Scots 90s indie combo Geneva.

80 HALO TORA FT SOLAREYE – MAN OF STONE

This collaboration of the Glaswegian alt-prog five-piece and Stanley Odd rapper Solareye is an articulate hard-hitting spoken word ode to dealing with stress and anxiety which takes both into previously uncharted territories. Released in aid of the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

79 SEGA BODEGA & BROOKE CANDY – GAG REFLEX

An arrestingly blissed out electro weird-out from the always inventive Glasgow-raised producer who just gets better and better.

78 SWEATY PALMS – GREY EXISTENCE

One of the most exciting new guitar bands combine scuzzy garage production, filthy reverb, “simple is good” ethics, a Mark E Smith snarl, hooks to die for and the Govanhill Children’s Choir to beef up the chorus.

77 ST MARTIINS – NO IT’S ALL OVER Scottish Alternative Music Awards nominated Dundee duo St MARTiiNS blend moody jazzy flicks with catchy pop hooks to create this narcotically quirky jewel.

76 HALF FORMED THINGS – FEBRUARY

A dramatic multi-layered dream pop anthem from Edinburgh and the first single from the forthcoming debut album To Live in the Flicker.

75 OBJECTIFIED – (THINKIN ABOUT) CONVERTING TO ISLAM

Steeped in psyche ambiguity, this is intoxicating garage goth bile from Glasgow.