THE HOT 100
5 OF OUR NEW FAVOURITE BANDS
WITH ALLY MCCRAE 1 HECTOR BIZERK One MC (Louie) and one drummer (Audrey). No one epitomises Scotland’s raw hip hop talent more than Hector Bizerk. Check out their Livin Off Rhyme EP and their Loosely Speaking battle gigs. facebook.com/hectorbizerk
2 BWANI JUNCTION These Edinburgh afro-indie-sounding lads have just released their debut album Full Cocked (hehe) and somehow on top of all that, they found time to paint the Forth Rail Bridge blue. Check out their ‘Two Bridges’ video on YouTube: facebook.com/bwanijunction 3 TEKLO Akira Kiteshi, Hostage and Rustie all made big waves in the UK and beyond, but an even younger breed of dubstep producers also broke through onto our radars. Teklo is a 21-year-old producer who left the very walls of my studio trembling with his frantic, manic bass sound. soundcloud.com/teklo
4 DISCOPOLIS I fell for Discopolis’ luscious, euphoric, sun-kissed beats in a big way in 2011, and I wasn’t alone. Watch their Reading Fest show to see what I’m on about: bbc.in/discopolisreading (See also page 26). 5 UNITED FRUIT (pictured). They give me faith in rock‘n’roll. After releasing their debut LP Faultlines this summer they spent the autumn inducing uncontrollable arm-flailing all over Europe with a tour which ended with a sold out show in Glasgow’s Captain’s Rest. facebook.com/unitedfruit
■ Hear Ally's show at bbc.co.uk/ radio1/allymccrae and on Radio 1 every Sunday at midnight.
38 THE LIST 15 Dec 2011–5 Jan 2012
the forefront of the New 52, a complete relaunch for DC comics that has reinvigorated the entire industry. He wrote the new Action Comics (a monthly Superman title) while also melding his love of comics with his own life in the fascinating autobiography Super Gods. (HN)
UNCOMPROMISING AUTEUR 8 LYNNE RAMSAY
Ramsay’s long-awaited return with We Need to Talk About Kevin showed a new maturity to her work allying a virtuoso visual style with a stronger sense of narrative. The result was one of the best British films of the year. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another decade for the next one. (AH)
TURNER PRIZE WINNER 7 MARTIN BOYCE
See panel (right).
LUCKYHIM 6 HUDSON MOHAWKE
Surely deserving of recognition solely for invading the hipster/mainstream middle ground that is the cover of the Guardian Guide, Ross Birchard – Glasgow’s boy wonder of the hip hop/electro/rave crossover scene – by his own admission went full club anthem with the release of the ‘Satin Panthers’ EP on Warp. He also moved to London and played a roadblocked date at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s. (DP)
This year was thankfully less about motorbikes and more about movies for the affable former Jedi, marking the start of what promises to be McGregor’s finest run of work yet. He brought depth to Glasgow sci-fi Perfect Sense and charm to US indie Beginners. Next up, kicking ass in Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire. (PG)
COMICS SUPER GOD 9 GRANT MORRISON
11 RUSTIE SWORDS AND POLLOKSHIELDS
The LuckyMe and Numbers man, now signed to Warp (see also HudMo at six for Glasgow producers who fit that description) put out Glass Swords, his first full-length LP, this year, which our reviewer summarised as a mix of, ‘electro, trance, Kanye-style dance-pop and oriental prog-synth.’ Whatever the hell it is it’s sent Russell Whyte to the top of many people’s end-of-year lists. Some big production gigs beckon. (JE)
10 EWAN MCGREGOR THE MOVIE STAR NEXT DOOR
Not content with writing some of the most mind-bendingly entertaining comics in history (2011 included the brilliant Joe the Barbarian and Batman Inc), Grant Morrison was at