A song for the traveler

On my most recent trip to Ireland, my homesickness was exacerbated one evening as I sat by a turf fire in Westport, Co. Mayo, listening to Danu's rendition of "Co. Down." It's a stirring and poignant tale of one soul pining for another, a song worthy of its own blog entry if I was in the business of chronicling Irish folk and trad, another passion of mine. (The tune also earned composer Tommy Sands a 2004 BBC Folk Award for "Best Original Song.")

When the track ended, I remember thinking how a similar themed song -- only more positive in nature -- would be the perfect follow-up, a pick-me-up to counterbalance the despondency of "Co. Down," and how my choice would be Mogwai's "Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home." It's another track for the traveler, only instead of lamenting the distance between an individual and their loved ones in a way the Irish have seemingly perfected, this Glasgow post-rock outfit celebrates it.

"Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home" -- from the band's debut album, Young Team -- opens with the voice of a female ("If the stars had a sound it would sound like this," she tells us) before it's overtaken by a somber, flowing bass line and ringing guitars that lull the listener into a state of introspection. Then, two-thirds of the way through, all contemplation is washed away with a bevy of melodic guitars, a smile-inducing wave of sound that indicates the members of Mogwai likely have a record such as Spiderland in their collections.

Yes, one is indeed a long way from home, but there's no need to remain transfixed on those who remain behind, half a world away; amid the track-closing rush of guitars, Mogwai accentuates the positives of separation: the spirits and revelry in strange locales, the new-found connections, the freedom.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home" by Mogwai.

Scotland's most beautiful voice

Out behind James Mackenzie's cottage in Auchterhouse, just outside of Dundee, there once stood a garden shed. James allowed his son, the eldest of his six children, to keep his dogs there.

When the son was just 11, he was nipped by the racing bug; as he grew older, he became quite taken with breeding and racing whippets. He was damn good at it, too. He bred three racing champions, was one of the leading trainers on the U.K. scene, and was a well-known face on the European racing circuit.

The son brought his mutts everywhere. One well-known tale had him dragging the dogs into a friend's flat, where the animals -- much to his mate's dismay -- proceeded to shit all over the clean floors. Other stories talked of him booking rooms at lavish hotels solely for his beloved dogs.

It was said the son adored these animals because of the qualities they exhibited -- qualities he found lacking in humans, like grace and nobility. "With animals, there was no agenda," a friend said, "no bullshit."

James' garden shed is no longer there. He burned it to the ground one January morning in 1997 . . . after discovering the body of his son inside. Close to the dogs he loved so dearly, Billy was lying in a makeshift bed, wrapped in a duvet, clutching a photo album. Beside him was an empty bottle of Paracetamol, the contents of which had been mixed with a prescribed antidepressant, Amitriptyline. A suicide note was left behind, apologizing to his family; however, it gave no tangible reason why he had taken his life.

Folks around the world mourned Billy's death. And not just dog racing fans, either. Music fans, too. Scotland had lost its most beautiful voice.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "18 Carat Love Affair" by Associates.

Lowlife, the pitch, and other things

During a mid-1980s interview with music journalist Thomas Lappin, Will Heggie and Grant Macdowell -- one-half of the dream pop outfit Lowlife -- confessed to being fans of the English football team Preston North End, mainly on account of the Lilywhites' status as one of the worst squads in the country.

It was a fitting choice, really, seeing how a few parallels could be drawn between PNE and the band. Following the release of their 1985 EP, Rain, big-time success was alluding Lowlife; same for Preston North End, which was relegated to England's Fourth Division following the 1984-85 season. Meanwhile, during that same time frame, a rival of sorts was tasting success. In the case of Lowlife, it was Cocteau Twins (they were Heggie's former band, after all), which released the critically acclaimed Treasure; for the Lilywhites, it was nearby Blackpool, which nabbed the runner-up spot in the Fourth Division, thus earning promotion.

(Okay, so maybe this little exercise was just an excuse to chat about sports. So sue me.)

Football teams aside, Lowlife crafted some terrific dream pop in the mid-1980s. Built around Heggie's moody bass lines and Craig Lorentson's dry vocals, the music combined the forlorn themes of Joy Division with the atmospheric renderings of The Chameleons. Actually, "dream pop" may be a misleading misnomer, as Lowlife's music often took on the soundtrack for a night terror.

"Cowards Way" is a perfect example. It's moody, it's murky, it's a jittery treatise on sheer despair and the soul-tearing contemplation that precedes a suicide. "My life has got a hold of me and it will not release," Lorentson laments. "If only I could break away and lay myself to rest."

Heat it for yourself. Download: "Cowards Way" by Lowlife.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

A punk band that's pissed off and . . . middle-aged?

Okay, it's an unusual combination, seeing how the "youth" part of the equation is absent, but then again, The Zips are an unusual band. Formed in Glasgow in 1978, the quartet were just a blip on the U.K. punk radar. Their eponymous EP was released in April of '79, with the "Radioactivity"/"I'm Not Impressed" single coming one year later. By the close of 1980, guitarist Brian Jackson -- who had initially helped bring the band together -- had packed his bags for Australia and The Zips were finished.

Then something a bit remarkable happened: After a 21-year hiatus, The Zips reformed (with replacements for Jackson). And much to their fans' satisfaction, the most recent tracks have as much bite as their previous material. The group's 2004 Dumbstruck EP features songs with politically charged titles such as "Govern Meant," and dishes out criticism towards Messrs. Bush and Blair.

So yes, pissed off and middle-aged. And for the moment, it works for The Zips.

The track listed below, "I'm In Love," was off their self-titled LP, which was released by Detour Records. According to the band's web site, it was cut during a November of '78 recording session at Burns' Howff, a popular Glasgow nightspot. Funds for the record came from a local record shop owner named Charlie "Hannibal" Hayes, a name and face lost in the annals of Scottish music history.

Ultimately, the song and the EP became a hit: renowned DJ John Peel expressed his fondness, while the initial press of 500 copies sold out quickly.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "I'm In Love" by The Zips.

Toasting Restricted Code

He once traveled throughout the U.K., his band doing opening gigs for synth pop superstars The Human League. Today, as his web site puts it, he "travels to Bordeaux, and the magnificent Chateau Beychevelle, to taste through 50 years of wine history."

During a March of '81 Peel session, he busted through a rendition of "Yakov Bok," a song that takes its title from The Fixer, a novel about a rural Ukrainian handyman jailed for a crime he did not commit. Now, he's tasting (and writing about) wine such as the Ukraine's Massandra Pink Muscat.

Yeah, Tom Cannavan has come a long way since his days fronting the Scottish post-punk band Restricted Code. He's since put away the guitar and departed the indie music scene. (Though he is still listening; his "Best of 2005" picks listed Antony & The Johnsons' I Am A Bird Now as his favorite "thing" from last year.)

Today, Cannavan dedicates his creative energies to wine, which he admitted has been a fancy of his since his school days. He's been running wine-pages.com since 1995, making it one of the Internet's oldest wine sites. He's editor of Fine Expressions, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to wine and other spirits. He's also penned a book.

The song presented here is "From The Top," which was Restricted Code's first single on Bob Last's Pop: Aural label. It's a danceable number with a robotic-sounding bass and bursts of jangly guitar. Think latter-day countrymen APB, only with darker tones. Of course, one can't help but wonder what wine Cannavan would suggest to compliment it.

Hear it for yourself. Download: "From The Top" by Restricted Code.