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A Teenage Fanclub Education: Monorail Music

It’s dead easy to list the most obvious influences of Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub. He’s read them so often, founding band member Norman Blake can rattle them off at the drop of a tam: Big Star, Byrds, Beach Boys. Pigeonholing the Fanclub’s melodic-yet-rocking sound becomes a little more dicey. Though most of the cornerstones of power pop—Posies, Flamin’ Groovies, Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, Tommy Keene, Alex Chilton—don’t think much of the label, it seems to be the only one that’s stuck. If they keep this up for another five years or so, Teenage Fanclub, which opened for business in the mid-’80s when Blake met fellow Scots Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love, might surpass the Groovies for career longevity, a career award that usually precedes only the obit in a band’s publicity dossier. And yet, the group’s new album, Shadows (Merge), is as vital as anything TFC has ever cut, adding fuel to the proposition that some artists come up with their best work after turning 40. Blake and Love will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with Blake.

Monorail

Gerard: Monorail Music is possibly the best record store in Scotland, and if you ever find yourself in Glasgow with some time to spare, you should check it out. It’s in the city centre, at Kings Court. The shop was founded around seven years ago by Dep Downie and Stephen Pastel. They stock all sorts of new and secondhand vinyl, CDs, even the odd cassette, the occasional mug. It’s a great place. Apart from the chance of some new music, one of the best things about Monorail is that it’s located inside a vegan cafe/bar called Mono, so you can have something to eat before or after you have a look at some nice records.

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