For this lover of all things gnarled, rock, metal and punk, synth-pop presented a series of challenges and, once these had been hurdled, an even greater number of epiphanies. None of them were as ...

The brilliant, frustrating career of the Associates is not short of myths. Summon a Top Of The Pops clip of “Club Country”, their second hit from May 1982, and the captions will suggest that the band ...

The original MacKenzie/Rankine Associates recorded two albums proper: The Affectionate Punch (1980) and Sulk (1982). The compilation Fourth Drawer Down (1981) was issued between the two. Each has just ...

Scottish musician and record producer had a wide-reaching influence on indie artists from Björk to Belle and Sebastian Alan Rankine, one half of celebrated Scottish indie band the Associates, has died ...

Davie Scott chats to Alan Rankine about The Associates' second studio album Sulk, including the single Party Fears Two.

Listening again to these albums – especially Sulk - my words feel woefully inadequate to describe them, like I’m a worm trying to munch on marble. It can’t be done.» ...

The making of classic Scottish pop and rock albums with musician Davie Scott.