Love, eh? Fucking, fucking love. It’s all confusion, uncertainty, fear, disappointment, lies, betrayal, bitterness, festering malevolence and ultimately, a murderous desire for recompense. The Scots seem to get this better than anyone. Is it the weather, the diet, the endless rolling miles of heather? I don’t know much about Scots, but I do know they bake exceedingly good love songs.

Fuck It, I Love You – Malcolm Middleton: see? Love is an admission of defeat from the very off!

Pure For – The Beta Band

Working in a Goldmine – Aztec Camera

Did I Say? – Teenage Fanclub: the sun breaks through the clouds and we have a sweet moment of optimism. It can’t last; this is Scotland and the weather’s shite.

I Wear Your Ring – Cocteau Twins: ‘Men are so nice, Men are so useful, He pleases me fine,’ sings Liz. I think. You can never be sure.

Rainbow – Lone Pigeon: the music of a pale and fragile ghost.

Sometimes Always – The Jesus and Mary Chain: the stroppy druggy scruffbags scrubbed up when Hope called by the studio, and they produced this shimmering diamond.

Weightlifting – The Trash Can Sinatras

Bad Boyfriend – Garbage: you can take the girl out of Jockland, but you can’t take Jockland out of the girl.

I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School – Mogwai: honestly, who needs lyrics with a title this good?

The Buildings Aren’t Going Anywhere – The Zephyrs: about a brief and heartbreaking reunion with a flame who’s moved on in every sense.

All Over the World, Girls Are Dreaming – Jock Scot: sweet, drunken delusion.

Love Detective – Arab Strap: the Strap knows that a lasting relationship can only be built on a solid foundation of mistrust.

Evelyn – De Rosa

I’ve Tried Everything – Eurythmics: but have you tried running him through the neck with a sharpened knitting needle, Annie? No? Works for me.

Regret – The Blue Nile

I Don’t Want to See You – Camera Obscura

And She Would Darken the Memory – The Twilight Sad: listening to The Twilight Sad is like reading social services case notes set to music.

Tomorrow Forever – Angelfish: Shirley’s band before Garbage, kind of rock-star practice, and evidence that she was always a proper miserabilist.

Fuck You, It’s Over – Glasvegas: John Higgs chose this one as his closer as well. It is the perfect full stop.

PS: Gotta say I’m loving this club. I’ve never been much of a joiner, but this is fun. I enjoy making compilations, but the best bit is getting the jiffy bags in the post, wondering what’s inside… Kind of like a birthday, except better because music is always what I want, even when it’s music I don’t much like. Thanks for letting me belong.