Return to The Hot 100 2011: The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

49 Doune The Rabbit Hole

Beautiful line-up
Waving a two-fingered furry salute at mammoth music festivals and their corporate sponsored-ways, this non-profit festival near Dunblane was one of the summer festival season’s highlights. Performers included The Vaselines, Trembling Bells, Remember Remember, Dam Mantle, Sweet Baboo, Ben Butler & Mousepad, RM Hubbert, Conquering Animal Sound and more, with well picked ale and food stalls, magic, and comedy to further sweeten the deal. (CS)

48 Fish & Game

Fringe theatre innovaters
The long-running Glasgow-based theatre/live art company proved that persistence pays off this year. Alma Mater, a gorgeous, haunting reworking of the innovative iPad theatre technique they originally premiered at Scotland Street School, was one of the biggest critical successes of the 2011 Fringe. (KI)

47 Conquering Animal Sound

Great tunes for a bear hunt
Jamie Scott and Anneke Kampman produced one of the loveliest albums of the year in 2011 without much fuss whatsoever. Kammerspiel is the perfect record to take with you if you’re ever planning to get lost in a deep forest. In between doing Björk better then Björk they played a gig in The List's very own office courtyard as part of Detour’s Wee Jaunt, and Scott released a solo EP as The Japanese War Effort. (JE)

46 Words Per Minute

Eclectic media platform goes amazeballs
The Arches-based spoken word, music, film and performance showcase was on fire this year. Highlights included an event as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Unbound strand and a Sex Special in November. They were also namechecked on Radio 4 as a leading UK literary salon. (BD)

45 Glasgow Film Festival

Cinema City’s silver screen shindig
While Edinburgh’s film fest faltered in 2011, the GFF strutted confidently onwards. Local hero Mark Millar (last year’s number one, this year’s 36) headed an excellent comics-and-movies strand, while prog-horror legends Goblin played a glorious one-off gig. (NB)

44 John Byrne

Renaissance man
The playwright and painter continues to work at an enviable pace, with a major retrospective at Edinburgh’s Open Eye gallery in August, to coincide with the launch of a biography and children’s book, Donald & Benoit: The Story of a Cat and his Boy. Byrne’s work also appeared in Shadows of the Divine at Edinburgh’s New College, and he is the subject of a rather fetching likeness in the newly reopened Scottish National Portrait Gallery. (AR)

43 Andrew Dixon

Creative Scotland’s Mr Big
The main man at Creative Scotland (the body created from the merger of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen) made a solid start to his tenure at the top, encouraging interaction between business and the arts, and self-sustainability within cultural organisations. Good ideas for austere times. (JE)

42 Ann Louise Ross

A very good turn
A long-serving member of Dundee Rep’s permanent acting ensemble, Ann Louise Ross has mostly appeared on the Royal Lyceum stage this year, turning in two terrific performances, as no-nonsense suffragette Mary Barfoot in Stellar Quines’ excellent Age of Arousal and as a punk rock La Corbie in the revival of Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. (AR)

41 PCL

Music promoters
Ok, inhale. Bright Eyes, Com Truise, Josh T Pearson, Girls, Vivian Girls, Warpaint, Matthew Dear, Bon Iver, Yo La Tengo, Stag & Dagger festival … Running out of breath yet? No? United Fruit, The Vaccines, Spiritualized, CSS, No Mean City Festival, St Vincent – all gigs and artists put on this year in Glasgow and Edinburgh thanks to the concert promoting services of PCL. And, exhale. (CS)

40 Alan Bissett

Renaissance man has a riot
For the Falkirk-born playwright, author, scriptwriter and teacher, this was another frenetic old year headlined by Pack Men, his review-friendly follow-up to 2001 debut Boyracers. Bissett’s short film The Shutdown was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA while he’s recently nabbed best writer in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards. (BD)
We talked to Bissett in August about Pack Men - read the interview here.

39 Daniel Sloss

Fife comic comes of age
Turning 21 on 9/11 might not be seen as an achievement per se, but playing the biggest gigs of his life (such as the Glasgow Pavilion) on his The Joker tour surely can. His continual rise to superstardom was furtherly announced with a strong four-star Fringe showing and scooping Best New Comedian at the Scottish Variety Awards. (BD)
In August, Sloss showed us around his home town - read it here.

38 Found

Eat your art out
The busy Edinburgh art-pop trio released their third album Factorycraft on Chemical Underground, released their ‘Anti Climb Paint’ single as an edible, playable chocolate record pressed by Fife baker Fisher & Donaldson and played the List-curated RBS Lates event at the National Museum of Scotland. Coming in 2012: collaborations with Aidan Moffat (see number 13) and King Creosote (number 5). (DP)
Found talked to us about Factorycraft back in March - read the interview here.

37 Gary McNair

Captain Crunch
We named him as one of our young theatre-makers to watch in March and we’ll stand by that after a year in which he’s written for the National Theatre of Scotland, directed a Douglas Maxwell number at Glasgow’s Southside Studios and, most memorably of all, shredded money and messed with our irony-detectors on the Edinburgh Free Fringe in Crunch. Just don’t lend him a tenner. (LE)
Read more about Gary in our rising stars of Scottish theatre article, published in March.

36 Mark Millar

Scotland’s superhero hits factory
Last year’s number one but it’s been a relatively quiet year with the comics (Ultimate Avengers, Superior) and magazine (CLiNT) work ticking over nicely, plus a role as ambassador for the Glasgow Film Festival (see number 45). Though next year will be huge. Tony Scott has picked up Nemesis for a big screen adaptation and Matthew Vaughn is attached to Superior while Millar’s currently working on his own directorial debut Miracle Park – a very Glaswegian take on superheroes. (HN)
Millar was no. 1 in last year's Hot 100 - read the interview here.

35 LuckyMe

Art and music collective
Another very big year for the record label and party-makers. Co-founder Hudson Mohawke (see number 6) and labelmate Rustie (number 11) continued to pick up ever more heat worldwide; Montreal’s Ango released his bendy house and hip hop flavoured debut EP through them; Rustie and HudMo played at an NYC label showcase, plus there was an Edinburgh festival party with Machinedrum, EclairFifi, Konx-Om-Pax and others. To paraphrase their own website, really though, thanks for being around. (CS)
Mike Slott, Eclair Fifi and Machinedrum had a chat with us prior to their Edinburgh festival party - read the interview here.

34 Connell & Florence

Comedy writers, producers and prolific Tweeters
Iain Connell and Robert Florence were busy in 2011 with a second series of Burnistoun on BBC 1. They also founded production company/comedy label Bold Yin with long-term comedy associate Joanne Daly, and Florence was on Twitter approximately 23 hours a day. (LM)
Read our review of series 1 of Burnistoun here.

33 BrewDog

Controversial brewers with solid foundations
The Fraserburgh brewery has built a reputation for its bolshily-marketed ales ‘for punks’, but 2011 was the year their bar empire took off. New premises in Edinburgh and Glasgow joined the existing Aberdeen boozer, with more in Newcastle and Camden planned very imminently. (DP)
Brewdog Edinburgh opened just in time for inclusion in the 2011 Eating and Drinking Guide - read about it here.

32 Remember Remember

Golden Graeme
Interview: Solo project swells to band to tackle Graeme Ronald’s complex compositions

31 Soma

20 years of Glasgow’s best dance label
Scotland’s biggest and most consistently excellent record label reached its 20th anniversary this year. And Slam (otherwise known as Stuart MacMillan and Orde Meikle) weren’t about to sit on their laurels – they turned it into a year-long bash, hosting birthday parties across Scotland (and the UK) plus issuing a career-encompassing three CD Soma Classics compilation (which included an unreleased Daft Punk track). Now we just can’t wait for their 30th. (HN)
See our interview with MacMillan and Meikle here.

30 Kevin Macdonald

Filmmaking where eagles dare
Macdonald’s vision for global clip-fest Life in a Day resulted in a special cinematic collaboration back in January. His Roman romp The Eagle may not have clicked with audiences, but he’s set to bounce back in 2012 with a Bob Marley doc and an adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s children’s book How I Live Now. (EH)
Read our original article on Life in a Day here.

29 National Museum of Scotland

Revived cultural institution
One of Edinburgh’s favourite tourist attractions reopened in July after a £47m facelift courtesy of architect Gareth Hoskins and exhibition designer Ralph Appelbaum. The museum now has a new entrance hall and restaurant and a restructured collection comprising 8000 new items, and it also became an unlikely music venue with the first in a series of List-curated RBS Lates events. (DP)
We got a sneak peek around the museum prior to its opening in July, and got some well-kent Edinburgh faces to reminisce about their favourite museum memories - read about it here.

28 Tracer Trails

DIY music promoter
A one-woman force behind the central belt’s more offbeat music events. 2011 saw Emily Roff’s Tracer Trails co-launch Music is the Music Language, run Retreat! Festival IV, and tour the incredibly well-received (and one of our gigs of the year) Archive Trails; where folk ballads mingled with drone, poetry and puppets. (CS)
Read our in-depth feature on Archive Trails.

27 Junction 25

At the crossroads of great things
The dynamic young people’s theatre company was formed six years ago but broke through in a major way at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011 with the award-winning I Hope My Heart Goes First, a witty, thought-provoking insight into the painful, joyful process of growing up that marked the company out as one to watch (and one of our theatre productions of the year). (AR)
We talked with Junction 25 co-director Jess Thorpe prior to the Fringe run of I Hope My Heart Goes First - read the interview here.

26 Anthony Baxter

Taking tycoons to task
With the infuriating but funny You’ve Been Trumped the Melrose-based filmmaker documented the Scottish government’s shameful flogging off of an Aberdeenshire nature reserve to the ridiculously-coiffed American tycoon/golf course developer Donald Trump. Baxter’s been blackballed ever since. He’s a real local hero. (MF)
We chatted to Baxter prior to You've Been Trumped's screening as part of the Take One Action Film Festival - read the interview here.

25 Greg McHugh

The Tank Commander tackles some Fresh Meat
Interview: Greg McHugh on developing his loveable oddball characters

24 Numbers

More electronic dispatches from Glasgow’s underground
The cutting-edge electronica club night and record label celebrated their eighth birthday in 2011. Numbers are no longer confined to Glasgow with regular nights in London and a slot on Rinse FM. Releases in 2011 included tracks from Redinho, Jamie xx, Lory D and Deadboy, plus core member (and definite one-to-watch) Jackmaster put out a Fabric mix. (HN)
Numbers collectivist Richard Chater had a chat with us recently about Numbers' New Year plans - read the interview here.

23 Ally McCrae

Champion of championing music
When he’s not drawing Radio 1 listeners’ attention to the best of Scottish music on the ‘BBC Introducing …’ radio show he presents, the lanky, ever-effervescent 24-year-old also runs the excellent Detour podcast/ inspired music event programme with good pal David Weaver (so good a pal that a tattoo on McCrae’s arm reads ‘David Weaver’). (CS)

22 Steven Moffat

You know Who

Interview: The writer behind Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes and The Adventures of Tintin

21 David Shrigley

Artist extending himself
Everyone’s favourite scribbler proved to be up for collaboration, his sublimely idiotic libretto for Magnetic North’s Pass the Spoon bouncing cheerfully off David Fennessy’s mischievous score and Nicholas Bone’s bold production. He’s now translated it into German. Next stop: action figures? (AJ)

20 Ali Smith

Invernesian writer in playful mode
The Booker Prize panel might have opted not to stick Ali Smith onto their shortlist for a third time, yet There but for the was another undoubted triumph for the Cambridge-based author with its playful wordsmithery, stark imagery and incisive critique of our celebrity-obsessed culture. (BD)

19 Cargo Publishing

Making books cool again
A digital imprint publishing the likes of Ewan Morrison, a sprawling and brilliant spoken word festival at Stereo, and an impending collaboration with iconic Californian publishing house McSweeney’s have made Cargo that rare thing – a publishing success story. A fact that young head honcho Mark Buckland (pictured above left, with Rodge Glass) can be proud of. Look out for a bigger and better Margins Festival next year. (JE)

18 David Greig

Wizard of theatre
After revving up with 2010’s Dunsinane, David Greig suddenly exploded into mastery with three astonishing new plays in a row: the yearning stage-ballad The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, the fizzily brilliant Monster in the Hall and Theatre Uncut’s unforgettable Fragile. (AJ)

17 David Mach

Making art on a grand scale
Fife-born artist Mach’s Precious Light stood out in an impressive programme of exhibitions at the Edinburgh Art Festival. The epic celebration of the King James Bible in its 400th year, arranged over three floors of the City Art Centre, tackled its subject in powerful, at times irreverent, fashion, with a mix of large-scale collages and enormous wire sculptures. (AR)

16 Electric Frog

Consistently inventive electrofests
What started two years ago as a one-day street carnival of mostly local talents has turned into Glasgow’s premier bank holiday clubbing weekender in one of the city’s finest underground venues, SWG3. Three events in 2011 featured the likes of Jeff Mills, Francois K, Erol Alkan, Green Velvet, Mogwai and The Fall. (DP)
Review: Electric Frog September Weekender
Review: Electric Frog Easter Weekender

15 Alasdair Gray

Creative polymath
While his literary output remains popular, it is as a painter that Alasdair Gray has received most acclaim in the past year. His work appeared in the British Art Show and the group exhibition Live Your Questions Now at the Mackintosh Museum, while he also unveiled a new 3D mural at the Ubiquitous Chip restaurant. Over in Edinburgh, Book Festival audiences were treated to a staged reading of Fleck, Gray’s take on the Faust myth, with Will Self in the title role. (AR)

14 David Mackenzie

Coming home to make movies
Having decided to relocate to Hollywood, Mackenzie changed his mind at the last minute, ditched the California sun and returned home to his beloved Glasgow, where, newly energised, he made two films back-to-back: You Instead and Perfect Sense, the latter proving to be his best yet. He’s also a major player in Hollywood studio-on-the-Clyde, Film City. (MF)

13 Aidan Moffat

Falkirk’s bard
He meant it when he said 2011 was the year he’d play live again, a lot. There were his spit-out-pint-hilarious Valentine’s shows, then a European tour, an Arab Strap reunion in aid of Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’s 20th birthday, plus the raw beauty of his spoken word/avant-jazz album with Bill Wells, Everything’s Getting Older. His Arches Christmas Revue is on Tue 20 Dec. (CS)

12 Karla Black

Turner-nominated artist
2011 was the year Karla Black shrugged off the mantle of ‘one-to- watch’. Her startling sculptures, which incorporate non-traditional materials such as foodstuffs, makeup and medicine, went on display in the British Art Show and at this year’s Venice Biennale. These exhibitions, as well as her solo show at Berlin’s Galerie Capitain Petzel, won her a place on the Turner Prize shortlist. (AR)

11 Rustie

Swords and Pollokshields
The LuckyMe and Numbers man, now signed to Warp (see also Hudson Mohawke 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
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)

9 Grant Morrison

Comics super god
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 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)

8 Lynne Ramsay

Uncompromising auteur
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)
Interview: Lynne Ramsay

7 Martin Boyce

Turner prize winner
Interview: Martin Boyce on winning the Turner Prize

6 Hudson Mohawke

LuckyHim
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. Interview: Hudson Mohawke (DP)

5 King Creosote

Mercury-nommed musical monarch
Praise be for the year that KC finally, deservedly, ruled OK. A Scottish institution for his running of the Homegame festivals (this year’s hits: the last Homegame for a while, Bun Fight at the OK Karail, Haarfest, Flamin’ Hott Loggz, etc), he came to national prominence when his gorgeous collaboration with Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine, earned itself a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Although this did distract from the fact he also released a solo album (Thrawn) and a split single with Kid Canaveral, and recorded yet another album which had to be postponed to 2012. (DP)

4 Liz Lochhead

Playwright and national poet
In a career that has spanned some 40 years, it’s unlikely that Liz Lochhead has experienced such a prolific year as 2011. The crowning achievement was her appointment as Scotland’s national poet, the Makar, following the death of her close friend, Edwin Morgan. This led to her creating a new poem for the opening of the current session of the Scottish Parliament, ‘Open the Doors Again’, and the publication of a major anthology of works to date, A Choosing. But there has also been a renewed interest in her dramatic works, with revivals of Educating Agnes and Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off playing to enthusiastic audiences at the Royal Lyceum. Glasgay!, too, sought out her services, commissioning a new play about her predecessor Morgan’s final days. And, having recently reaffirmed her commitment to Scottish independence, Lochhead’s tenure as Makar looks set to be a lively one. (AR)

3 Emeli Sandé

Tulisa from N-Dubz she ain’t
Two years ago, a down-to-earth Glasgow medical student called Emeli Sandé was interviewed by The List ahead of the MOBO Awards. She was up for best song, for her collaboration with rapper Chipmunk on the hit ‘Diamond Rings’. Since then she's become the go-to stunning chorus-singer for the stars of grime-pop – Wiley and Professor Green among them.

But that’s not all. Sande's own debut single – the catchy Massive Attack-alike ‘Heaven’ – shot to number two in the charts in August. She also picked up 2011 MOBO and Scottish Style Awards and booked herself onto Coldplay's tour as support. All the signs (and the newly quiffed hairstyle) point towards superstardom. The album is out in February. Expect to see a huge amount more of her from then onwards. (JE)

2 Tilda Swinton

Getting great films made
It's a case of always the bridesmaid, never the bride for Tilda Swinton, as once again, she just misses out on our number one spot. Not even in 2008, the year she picked up a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her breathlessly tense performance in Michael Clayton, did we mighty gods of List deign to stick her in the top slot.

The truth is, of course, that Swinton doesn't need our accolades. She's a bone fide Hollywood superstar, who consistently refuses to make dull Hollywood films. Even her turns as the White Witch in the Narnia movies brightened up an otherwise drab franchise. Last year she brought impeccable melodrama I Am Love to cinema screens, demonstrating her ability to speak Russian-inflected Italian in the process. This year, she wowed once again as a distraught mother in Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin.

So, she's a damn fine actor, but Swinton herself has said that her greatest gift is to use contacts and clout to help filmmakers get their films made (I Am Love being the perfect example). Not content with helping the international indie film scene, she's also a strong supporter of Scottish cinema, and this year opened her contact book in aid of the ailing Edinburgh International Film Festival. Fashion icon, film lover, generous patron of the arts, and possibly the female actor of her generation – all we can say is, better luck next year Tilda. (JE)

1 Peter Mullan

Actor/director master of both Brit indie flick and Hollywood blockbuster
Interview: Peter Mullan on Tyrannosaur, Neds, BAFTAS and War Horse

Return to The Hot 100 2011: The definitive list of Scottish creative talent