The Skinny
A Family Affair: The Gayfield Enterprise Demos
A hidden gem from the post-punk era, The Gayfield Enterprise Demos sees Kevin Low and Fiona Carlin’s stunning bedroom pop jams receive a long overdue first release Feature by Michael Lawson | 02 Mar 2021
One of the city’s foremost crate diggers, Glasgow DJ, producer and radio host Adam Low is used to unearthing overlooked oddities in secondhand record stores across the country. His latest sonic discovery – a collection of around 80 battered cassette tapes dug out from his parents’ loft – is far closer to home. “There were mountains and mountains of them to go through but I thought I’d give it a go during the first lockdown,” he recalls. “Initially I was looking for the stems with the view of potentially doing some remixes. Then I discovered that a lot of it was exactly the kind of music that I’m into – which was a bit of a shock.”
IN just a few sentences, Dr John Scally can discuss travel novels and 15th century trade links and still have time to mention Steve Jobs, Muriel Spark and Abraham Lincoln. It’s a body of knowledge that gives a taste of the world-class collections he’s been guarding and growing at the National Library of Scotland (NLS) for the past seven years as a transformation programme has made it bigger and more accessible than ever. The Edinburgh institution is the largest library in Scotland and a major European research site. Since 2015 it has beaten international rivals to acquire antique treasures, opened its Moving Image Archive in Glasgow’s historic Kelvin Hall and undertaken an ambitious digital shift that’s helped readers all over the country and the world get their eyes on popular and significant works.