Some music demands your full attention, but albums like Loidis’ One Day (2024) seem more interested in hovering on the edge of your consciousness, its four-four insistence inducing the locked-in flow state of a high-level athlete. Unimposing though it is, this glitchy electronica is tactile enough to engage, loaded with heavily processed vocal samples, ambient squirms and offbeat found sound. Neither mellow nor hyperactive, the pace set by Loidis is all its own. 

The vaunted history of Postcard Records as Scotland’s first bona fide DIY label is fading from collective memory, but its back catalogue will always be cherished by indie rock aficionados. A real gem is Josef K’s The Only Fun In Town (1981), a post-punk barnstormer adorned with rapidly shifting time signatures, hyper-literate lyrics and endorphin-rush guitar playing. Despite a band name referencing Kafka’s terminal gloom, theirs is a sound fizzing with the vigour, joy and intensity of talented upstarts charting new territory.  

Other O listens: Odelay by Beck (1996), Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides by Sophie (2018), One Two by Sister Nancy (1982).

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