Life Without Buildings were a post-punk band formed in Glasgow in 1999. Reminiscent of such Glaswegian forebears as Josef K as well as the jerky and sparse late-70s Rough Trade sound, their closest influence may nonetheless have been the early Talking Heads. Releasing only a trio of singles in 2000 and the exciting debut album Any Other City in 2001, they disbanded in 2002. A posthumous concert document Live At The Annandale Hotel has just been released.

Short-lived as Life Without Buildings were, they're very much worth checking out. The band's most noticeable characteristic, wrapping itself over economical drums and bass and melodic guitars, is Sue Tompkins's uniquely chirpy and sca-sca-scatting talk-sung vocal work. Preceding this decade's post-punk revival, and tweaking modern pop sensibilities instead of just plundering the past, Life Without Buildings offered something refreshing that was missing from pop music at the turn of the millennium. Stream three songs over at MySpace and give a listen to "Young Offenders":



This is a Filling in the gaps post.