Black Notebooks

Yet another side to Andrew Weatherall was revealed shortly after his death when his studio accomplice Nina Walsh shared a set of YouTube playlists he’d compiled to help inform their work. They were made under multiple usernames as Weatherall, never a digital native, kept creating accounts then forgetting the logins – but fans have since compiled them into a single list. The tracks compiled lean to dark Americana, heartbroken 80s indie and psyche/garage rock curios but vary wildly, with big left of centre names like Nico, Captain Beefheart, Bob Marley and Leonard Cohen butting up against obscurities and new music like Rival Console’s wide-skies electronica and Moonlandingz’ sleaze ballad featuring Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka Self Esteem. The eighties tracks from Aztec Camera, Durutti Column and 4AD acts create a beautiful circularity with the recommendations pre-acid house Weatherall used to make in the Boys Own fanzine, and the overall effect of the playlist is of a glimpse into the psyche of the man at his most introspective.