Vote Rozi!

'Actually' by Rozi Plain. LOST MAP RECORDS www.lostmap.com Taken from the forthcoming album, FRIEND.

Rozi Plain's brilliant new single Actually is part of this week's BBC Radio 6 Music Rebel Playlist. The track with the most votes at the end of the week secures a regular airplay on the station.

As part of team Lost Map, I'd appreciate it if you could vote for Rozi. We're a small, truly independent record label (we fit round a small pub table) and radio play really does wonders for the artists and for everyone working hard behind the scenes.

Here's the link. No registration or nothin' else needed, just a click: BBC 6 Music Rebel Playlist - Vote Now

Thanks!

Lost Map

Last week, my good friend Johnny (aka The Pictish Trail) announced that he is finishing up things with Fence Records, a label he has headed alongside King Creosote for many years, and is starting a new project with many of the artists involved. Today he launched Lost Map, a record label from Eigg.

To fans of Fence Records and the Scottish music scene, this is big news. It's big news to me too, having worked on a whole bunch of different odds & ends for Fence over the past wee while. Posters, album artwork, music videos and, um, Hott Loggz have all put food on my table (at least a couple of Mars Bars-worth).

More than that, I've been a fan. A big fan. Not as big a fan as some (there are some giant fans out there), but a good fan. An honest fan. A hairy fan. I bought my first Fence 'record' in 2000, Fence Sampler #03, from Avalanche in Edinburgh. It's still one of my favourites. That CD got me through college. From there, I bought albums, read zines, attended dozens of gigs (+5 Homegames), made friends and, eventually, got on the books. Fence has been a part of my life for 13 years and has influenced my work, my taste in music and helped me pass my driving test.

The what-the-hell-is-even-going-on events of the last few days have unsurprisingly caused much (mostly positive, I'm happy to say) a-twittering and a-beefering (?), but I don't wanna talk about that. I'm sad to see the end of this iteration of Fence, but I look forward to seeing whatever direction Kenny Creosote steers it in next. I also look forward to seeing where Lost Map goes too (hopefully to the Bahamas) because, if Johnny's involved, it'll be bloody good. You can like 'em both, y'know, that's ok.

So aye, Lost Map. I'm involved in a pretty major way. I could probably give myself a proper title but I can't handle the pressure / scrutiny, so I'll go with Chief of Winging It. I'll be working closely with Johnny on all the visual stuff - doing a fair amount of it myself and hopefully also getting some other artists involved where I can. We do have an art-direction direction, but fully intend to stay loose and playful as we go. The last thing we want is something cold and clinical so please forgive the wonkiness.

What you see on lostmap.com right now is our starting point. The above animation is hidden behind the main banner and will play when you click. It was made incredibly quickly and features a wee snippet of music from the upcoming Monoganon album, F A M I L Y, which is set to be the first full-length Lost Map release. It's brilliant, by the way. Incidentally, John B. Monoganon (MonogaJohn?) is good value on Vine.

From here on out, things'll get colourful.

Visit the site to download a free sampler, featuring music by Monoganon, Rozi Plain, The Pictish Trail, Kid Canaveral, eagleowl, Seamus Fogarty and Randolph's Leap. You can also follow @lostmaprecords on Twitter and like Lost Map on Facebook.

Stay tuned x