The Pop Cop - on the beat of Scotland's music scene.

Music Alliance Pact - July 2009

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:01:00 +0000

This month's explanation of the Music Alliance Pact comes courtesy of The Guardian: "MAP is an international group of bloggers who each month simultaneously post a list of tracks by their countries' best new bands, with one suggestion from each MAP member."

We're now up to 26 participating countries thanks to new arrivals Japan and Venezuela. The blurbs below are written by the blogger who picked the song and you can download any track for free with a right-click and save, or alternatively get the whole lot in a single album by following the link at the end of the post. Obviously, The Pop Cop's choice is the best ;o)

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 Maple Leaves – Easy Speak
Even though Glasgow's pedigree of producing twee, folky-pop bands (Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura) is strong, few have been as relentlessly joyous as Maple Leaves. With their dreamy girl-boy vocals and penchant for colouring their songs with flute, piano and acoustic guitar, Maple Leaves are guaranteed to put the spring into anyone's summer.
b July 20, The Flying Duck, Glasgow
b July 31, Twisted Wheel, Glasgow
b August 13, Oran Mor, Glasgow (free)
b August 16, Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

AMERICA: I Guess I'm Floating
4 Spanish Prisoners – Kiss The Lawn Goodbye
Brooklyn's Spanish Prisoners, fronted by Leo Maymind, create fractured power-pop in the vein of The New Porno's Dan Bejar (Destroyer). They're currently working on a new album but in the meantime they've released a free three-song EP - download it here - from which Kiss The Lawn Goodbye is taken.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Mi Pequeña Muerte – La Música Nueva
Mi Pequeña Muerte means "my little death" so you're probably thinking this is not a particularly optimistic band. That was true for Hospital, their 2004 debut album, which was loaded with melancholic indie-rock tunes and moaning vocals. But this is 2009 and believe it or not, the band's third album is called Un Futuro Brillante ("a brilliant future"). Maybe that was just pure irony, but in this new effort they define themselves with shiny sounds and instruments, including horns and Moog synthesizers.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 Boat Beam – The Rain Pauly
So it turns out that Josephine of Sparkadia is now in this gorgeously gentle folky trio in Madrid called Boat Beam, and they seem to be kinda popular (check their MySpace). How crazy is that? I could listen to The Rain Pauly for days.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
4 Nancy – Keep Cooler
Five-piece band Nancy have played just a few shows in Brazil and may be more well-known outside the country. They were the first Brazilian band on virtual label RCRD LBL and have been featured on BBC Radio's Introducing programme, showing their soft indie tunes. Nancy's members live in different cities and countries so the band's debut album, Chora Matisse!, was composed on the internet through emails and IM.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
4 Rah Rah – I've Got Faith
When I had to submit my ballot for the Polaris Music Prize (think a Canadian version of the Mercury Prize), the one album that was toughest for me to leave off was Rah Rah's amazing Going Steady. As I've Got Faith shows, the band combine the best elements of Broken Social Scene (with the constant sense they're just barely keeping everything together) and Arcade Fire (in its epicness), with the end result being a sound that's all their own.

CHILE: Super 45
4 Pedropiedra – Sol Mayor
Pedro Subercaseaux has been involved with music for almost a decade. Having explored such diverse styles as cumbia, hip-hop, electronica, pop and rock, he has been part of several projects such as Hermanos Brothers, Tropiflaite, Yaia and CHC, gathering a good amount of success along the way. This year Subercaseaux has decided to release his debut solo album, under the moniker Pedropiedra, in which he demonstrates his great ability to craft catchy pop-oriented melodies.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
4 The Works – Live And Direct (featuring Jams F. Kennedy)
It's time to bring some urban tunes to all ye faithful readers of the Music Alliance Pact. Enter The Works aka producers Twelve Beats and Terry Tester, whom I stumbled across quite recently and whose intriguing fusion of hip-hop and electronica I haven't been able to shake off since. Minimalist, yet rich on details. Hardly moving, but always taking you places. Their debut release, Yokohama EP, is out now and streamed in full on their MySpace.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Friendship – The Graveyard Shift
Tired of indie bands showing off their 'African influences'? Well, get ready for one more, although this is done with a lot more bite, distortion and general sense of fun than most.

FINLAND: Glue
4 Neufvoin – Robot
Neufvoin are an up-and-coming indie band who create beautifully-arranged catchy pop melodies with guitars, synthesizer textures and a few other instruments. Apparently, they also like playing with bots and droids. Robot is taken from their debut Robokop EP, six songs produced by Rubik frontman Artturi Taira that journey many different musical landscapes.

FRANCE: ZikNation
4 Jessica Fichot – Un, Deux, Trois (1,2,3)
Born in America to a French father and Chinese mother, chanteuse and songwriter Jessica Fichot was raised in France in a multicultural environment. She is a lot like her hometown of Paris: French at heart, but with a soul that's truly international. Her multi-ethnic upbringing colors the songs on her debut album.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
4 Bonaparte – Gigolo Vagabundo
Bonaparte are a Berlin-based artist collective from all across Europe. Their sparkling weird-folk is powered by Balkan pace and electronic rhythms. Outfitted with crazy costumes, they are one of the most exciting German live acts around.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 Sudden Weather Change – Prey Mode
Sudden Weather Change are a five-piece rock band from Reykjavik who have been compared to Sonic Youth and Pavement. Prey Mode is taken from their debut album, Stop! Handgrenade In The Name Of Crib-Death 'nderstand, which came out in April on the Icelandic Kimi Records label and will be released in Europe and America in September.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 The Holy Roman Army – Elegy
Ireland has already produced its fair share of amazing records so far this year and we can now add The Holy Roman Army's album to that list. How The Light Gets In is the brother and sister duo's debut and it's filled with ambient and electronic flourishes with an organic heart. Perhaps it's not a surprise they are a doctor and a psychologist respectively. Elegy is a perfect example of the band's yearning for something emotional between the city's streets.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 Iori's Eyes – Anchor
Iori's Eyes are a boy and a girl from Milan who play gentle pop with a dreamy touch. Their music brings together a folk mood and a post-rock background. Their songs sound as fragile and delicate as little toys, but definitely know how to be surprising and poignant. Iori's Eyes just released their debut EP, And Everything Fits In The Yellow Whale, and I can't wait to listen to a proper album.

JAPAN: JPOP Lover
4 LITE – Ghost Dance
LITE are a Tokyo-based instrumental band who play experimental rock with striking, groove-heavy basslines. Formed in 2003, their spirit is similar to Mogwai, 65daysofstatic, Battles, Toe and Envy. In May, LITE visited America for the first time, going out on tour with legendary bass guitarist Mike Watt.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
4 Hello Seahorse! – Universo 2
Hello Seahorse! is the year's most acclaimed Mexican indie band. With their third album, Bestia, the trio have made the transition into a multi-dimensional group with a masterwork under their belt. Bestia shines in between ghosts and hazy sonic beauty, in a universe of its own, and proves Hello Seahorse! have total control over their romanticized and passionate, sublime creations.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
4 Urbantramper – Southern Hemisphere Blues
Urbantramper are a five-piece from Wellington who are part of a loose collective known as Treeninja. The band produce introspective pop songs that reflect an endearing, naive angst about their place in the world. This is a group with a manifesto! They're currently considering issues of music distribution, copyright and the impact of these on the nature of the relationship between musician and audience. Urbantramper have a strong back catalogue and a new album due in September.

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 Silverdrop – Real Life
It's July, it's summer and it's time for some fresh and shiny indie-pop from Norwegian six-piece Silverdrop. These are definitely sounds for the sunny days and the band's new recordings are even more bouncy and energetic than the songs I've heard from them before. Silverdrop are currently working on their debut album.

PERU: SoTB
4 Francois Peglau – Spring Lovers Song (Si Tú Quieres)
Francois Peglau's songs do not need much explanation, they just happen. They are simple and beautiful - they could be borne from a whistle on a bus or a nice sunny day with friends. Francois moved to London two years ago and Spring Lovers Song (Si Tú Quieres) is his most recent song.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
4 Andrew Thorn – ME Jane
Andrew Thorn is João Pedro Coimbra, a Portuguese composer/musician/producer and founder of the extremely successful duo Mesa. Andrew Thorn is João's way of exploring his creativity beyond Mesa's sound. The debut EP, Brutes On The Quiet, was released independently (Mesa is signed to Sony/BMG) on July 13 and ME Jane is the first authorized download by the artist and a MAP exclusive.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
4 Melting Carousel – Several Other Universes
Melting Carousel are an indie-pop band from Timisoara with an eclectic approach, ranging from alternative pop to jazz.

SINGAPORE: I'm Waking Up To...
4 Force Vomit – Liberator
Surfing and punk-rock in the city state of Singapore don't necessarily go hand in hand due to the lack of any noteworthy waves (both literally and metaphorically). Enter Force Vomit, the antithesis of Singapore's two shortcomings with their brazen brand of surf-punk that takes the piss out of Singapore's sanitized idiosyncrasies and semblance of normal life. Sounding like a Dick Dale number cut by switchblades, Liberator should easily find a place in a Tarantino film.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
4 Dringe Augh – Tutelar
Singer-songwriter Dringe Augh offers lovely songs full of lively guitar play. Over the years he has recorded several demos and his first official EP, Individually Wrapped, was released in June. On the new version of Tutelar, Dringe is accompanied by delightful female vocals from Eunjie Song of modern folk duo Sogyumo Acacia Band.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 MAKTHAVERSKAN – German Boy
I was stumbling around the net (MySpace in particular) and came across this band called MAKTHAVERSKAN. I have since learned they are signed to Luxury. Consider this your introduction to the new 'it' band from Gothenburg. They are agit-pop combined with post-punk and a little bit of Joan Jett tunefulness.

VENEZUELA: Barquisimeto Musical
4 Gonzalo Teppa – De Conde A Principal
Gonzalo Teppa is a musician, composer and a breathtaking double-bass player. Born in Barquisimeto, he has wowed audiences in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, USA, Colombia and Bolivia. Downbeat Magazine has selected him as solo artist of the year twice. De Conde A Principal is a version of an original work from Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero. It belongs to his latest work, Contrabajos De Aldemaro.

To download all 26 songs in one file click here.

Live review: T in the Park 2009

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:59:00 +0000

FRIDAY

The honour of opening this year's T in the Park falls to SAVING AIMEE. It would be easy to say they've been listening to 80s new wave pop, but more realistically they've been listening to the Last.fm playlists of teenage emo girls such is their wholly unimaginative attempt to latch onto a fad that will pass long before the Hertfordshire band have figured out that synths, angular haircuts and expensive sneakers are no substitute for writing a song that actually has some weight.

JAMES MORRISON at least knows his role in the grand scheme of things, playing inoffensive love songs to the masses at the Main Stage. The highlight of an instantly forgettable set (and no You Make It Real - shame on you Morrison!) was when he attempted a Scottish accent when urging the crowd to "have yerself a bonny day, alright" and ended up sounding like a Rasta.

MAPLE LEAVES are possibly one of the newest bands ever to play T in the Park, this being only their sixth gig, but you could never tell given how nerveless and assured they are performing their simple, feelgood pop songs. Despite their moniker, Maple Leaves are from Scotland but try telling that to the three middle-aged Canadian tourists who rocked up to the T Break tent halfway through the set decked in red and white jester hats and bomber jackets emblazoned with "Toronto Maple Leaves", clearly expecting to find a taste of home.

Whatever happened to IDLEWILD? It wasn't so long ago that the world looked theirs for the taking. Now we find Roddy Woomble singing the once brittily brilliant Roseability as though he's serenading a sheepdog in his favourite Highland retreat. Even Rod Jones' scissor-kicks look like half-hearted attempts to cling on to the memory that Idlewild were once a rock band, and a very good one at that. 100 Broken Windows? Somebody better take a look at that.

T in the Park gives The Pop Cop our first eagerly-awaited opportunity to see CAMERA OBSCURA live but within a few minutes we wonder why we even bothered making the long trek to the Futures tent. The band shuffle on stage with their faces tripping them, singer Tracyanne Campbell whinges "apparently this is the future" and as beautiful as their songs are, they do nothing to deserve the enthusiastic response from their fans. What an ungrateful bunch. Are they always this miserable? Later that night keyboard player Carey Lander tweets "I hate festivals. So there." Happy enough to pick up the cheque, though.

Camera Obscura could certainly take a few lessons in entertainment value from the YEAH YEAH YEAHS. Karen O sprints onto the Radio 1/NME Stage sporting an outlandish winged frock and dares the crowd to match her levels of bonkersness. They bring out the East Kilbride Pipe Band to play bagpipes during the last two minutes of Skeletons, before whipping the crowd into a frenzy for set-closer Date With The Night which is so manic they can (just) be forgiven for playing a stripped-down version of Maps.

KINGS OF LEON are in their rightful place, headlining the Main Stage, which is precisely where you want to see your rock 'n' roll heroes. Sex On Fire and Use Somebody will undoubtedly be two of the songs which will define this decade's music, but it's somehow reassuring that it has taken them four albums to get to these heights. Greatness should be earned. And the fact that Matthew Followill can pull off playing guitar while drinking from a straw proves they're still cool as fuck.

SATURDAY

MUMFORD & SONS are an inspired choice to kick off the second day's proceedings at TITP, being the perfect post-hangover pick-me-up, all lush harmonies and gorgeous melodies. We've said it on these pages before, but their debut album (scheduled for release in October) is shaping up to be an absolute classic with the likely inclusion of majestic songs such as The Cave, Sigh No More, Little Lion Man and Awake My Soul.

PAOLO NUTINI has raised his game immeasurably since we last saw him at the Barrowlands in 2006. This is the guy who used to settle his pre-concert nerves by getting wasted then spend entire gigs singing at his shoes like some rambling drunk. But he has sorted himself out and he nails his Main Stage appearance to perfection with a performance of real maturity and class.

"I've waited ten years tae see this band. Tim is a legend. A pure legend!" A football top-wearing ned standing next to me three rows from the front is possibly more excited about the prospect of watching JAMES than I am. And that's very excited indeed. When Ring The Bells bursts out of the giant speakers I expect some sort of unrestrainable one-man pandemonium from my new best friend; instead, I turn around and notice that his eyes have welled up and he's just standing there, utterly affected by the experience. It's possibly the most moving thing I've ever seen at T in the Park.

The good ship BROKEN RECORDS have 25 minutes to convert another batch of new fans at the BBC Introducing stage. For long-time supporters like The Pop Cop, the airing of a previously unheard song with a working title of Encore - tantalisingly described as "the next single" by frontman Jamie Sutherland - is most rewarding. Driven by a scratchy violin riff, the song is played fast and is as instantly appealing as anything the Edinburgh band have done, i.e. perfect radio material. With a bit of luck (they've got everything else going for them) it might be the one that breaks them into the wider population's consciousness.

It's standing room only in the King Tut's Tent for GLASVEGAS, who are to blame for the embarrassing chants of "Here we fucking go" that populated T in the Park sets throughout the weekend. The 'working-class heroes' with the £100 Ray-Ban sunglasses open with a monumental Geraldine, with reverb and guitar squalls bouncing off the canvas, not to mention several litres of alcohol hurled into the air by their moronic followers. They bring on Angela McCluskey, who looks and sings like someone's gran, to absolutely murder The Proclaimers classic Sunshine On Leith. The Pop Cop leaves in protest, but not before one Glasvegas fan uses the side of the tent as a toilet. Honestly, Scotland would be a better place without this band.

Celtic and Scotland footballer Scott Brown necks the drinks backstage at T in the Park

Thankfully THE KILLERS save the day with a crowd-pleasing 100-minute performance, the pick of the bunch being its bookends - Human and When You Were Young. As a unit The Killers are never anything other than flawless musicians so there's always a risk they might be going through the motions, but tonight Brandon Flowers is in engaging form and it's job done from the Las Vegas boys.

SUNDAY

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM'S Brian Fallon must be the most content singer of any rock group we've ever seen - he smiles when he talks, he smiles when he sings, he smiles when he's just standing still. Maybe it's because his band - and their stupendous second album The '59 Sound in particular - are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Or maybe it's because today is his fifth wedding anniversary. "She's stuck with me even though we make no money," Fallon tells the audience. "Thanks to you guys for making my wife's mum not think I'm a chump!"

THE SCRIPT are today's James Morrison, although they do at least have a couple of undeniably brilliant, catchy songs in Breakeven and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Resistance is futile - god knows we've tried.

REGINA SPEKTOR isn't usually this unchatty but maybe she's daunted by the size of the crowd hanging on her every word in the King Tut's Tent. Backed by a violin, cello and drums and, of course, her classical piano playing, she finally seems to have found the perfect musical arrangement to showcase her sublime talents. The reaction to the heartbreaking Samson takes the New Yorker aback, with wild applause lasting long after the final note has ended.

The Main Stage is strangely subdued for BLOC PARTY. They just seem out of their depth. For starters they've never managed to figure out how to play their songs in a way that sounds anywhere near as fulfilling as on record, and if you have to ask the crowd if they are having fun three times - as Kele Okereke did - then you know something's not quite right.

The atmosphere doesn't pick up too much for ELBOW, but at least they can put it down to the mellowness of their songs. To their credit, they introduce the 'reverse Mexican wave' to T in the Park (entire audience puts their hands in the air then ducks down from front to back) and you can't really go wrong with ending your set with On A Day Like This.

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS are starting a riot in a packed T Break tent, and if there were any questions over how popular this young band have become in such a short space of time then here was the answer. The crowd sang back every word like a football anthem and the sheer unstoppable energy of their performance brought back memories of Idlewild when they were punkish upstarts.

Why SNOW PATROL were billed as co-headliners is a mystery. It's hard to say who their lacklustre performance bored most - the band or the audience, most of whom seemed willing to tolerate their set as it meant getting decent tactical position for Blur. The lack of fanfare that greeted anything they played from their most recent album A Hundred Million Suns pretty much sums up how far and fast their star has fallen.

You have to feel for MY COUSIN I BID YOU FAREWELL, who are bestowed the dubious honour of headlining T Break at the same time as the final night's main attractions. The tent may be sparsely filled but the triple salvo of Neverland, The Contented Hearts and What We Are Eating Tonight makes it a privilege, not a sacrifice for those who made the effort to watch them.

Every great story needs a dramatic ending and BLUR certainly provided that. The sight of Graham Coxon on his back during Beetlebum, wrestling with his guitar on the floor just hours after he had risen from his hospital bed with food poisoning, summed up just how special their appearance was for all sorts of reasons. After Country House, Damon Albarn asks "do you want another one like that?" before launching into Parklife. When that ends, he repeats the question. The cheers are even louder as the iconic drum beat of Song 2 intensifies into a blitz of chaos. Albarn grins wildly as the crowd catches its breath. "That was the best ever," he says. The best ever, in fact, is saved till last with The Universal, as Blur bid a stirring, magical farewell for possibly the last time. It really did happen.

All photos © The Pop Cop

4 James - Ring The Bells
4 The Killers - Under The Gun
4 Mumford & Sons - The Cave
4 Paolo Nutini - It Must Be Love (Madness cover)

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:50:00 +0000

4 Thomas Western - Your Front Door

Hometown: Derbyshire, England
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/thomaswestern
Pigeonhole: Daniel Johnston, Tim Buckley
Buy more: Quite Early One Morning EP (iTunes)

Step Away From The Computer #9: T in the Park

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:07:00 +0000

The police have a blimp which floats above T IN THE PARK with their cameras trained on the chaos below. What they'll see from up there is as accurate a snapshot of Scotland's youth as you could find - teenagers running about like maddies, personal hygiene non-existent and alcohol consumption levels that make a mockery of the RDA.

That may seem a little intimidating, but T in the Park is generally very safe, incredibly good-natured and, this year certainly, rammed full of the biggest bands walking the planet.

Location:
Balado, Kinross.

Fascinating fact:
One for the ladies: There is a little-known toilet at T in the Park that includes hair dryers, straighteners and freshening-up products. It's signposted "Refresh" and is situated between the Futures Stage and the campers entrance. Oh and it also costs £2 to use it.

Date:
Friday, July 10 - Sunday, July 12.

Weather forecast:
Friday
morn-afternoon-evening

Saturday
morn-afternoon-evening

Sunday
morn-afternoon-evening

Festival history:
This is its 16th year.

Total number of acts:
167

Cost of a ticket:
£182.42

So each act is worth:
£1.09

Big-hitters:
Kings Of Leon, The Killers, Blur, Snow Patrol.

Organiser's propaganda:
"Healthy T is the place to unwind with the most delicious, nutritious food from around the globe, all at a price which won't hurt your pocket". Organic burger: £5.

Must-hear:
4 Blur - The Universal (Sunday, 9pm, Main Stage)
4 Bloc Party - Flux (French Version) (Sunday, 4pm, Main Stage)
4 Broken Records - Thoughts On A Picture (Saturday, 7.15pm, BBC Introducing Stage)
4 Elbow - Grounds For Divorce (Sunday, 5.30pm, Main Stage)
4 Regina Spektor - Laughing With (Sunday, 3.40pm, King Tut's Tent)
4 We Were Promised Jetpacks - Back To The Bare Bones (Sunday, 6.3opm, T Break Stage)
4 The Gaslight Anthem - Old White Lincoln (Sunday, 12.50pm, Radio 1 NME Stage)
4 General Fiasco - Ever So Shy (Sunday, 2.05pm, Futures Tent)
4 Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure (Friday, 7.10pm, Main Stage)
4 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Friday, 8.40pm, Radio 1 NME Stage)

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:01:00 +0000

4 Hello Saferide - I Was Definitely Made For These Times

Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/saferide
Pigeonhole: Camera Obscura, Emmy The Great

Step Away From The Computer #8: Electric Bay

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:45:00 +0000

ELECTRIC BAY is the most secretive music event in Scotland - and for good reason. Run by Dundee-based band Make Sparks, the local council and police have banned the organisers from advertising it because it's classed as a "private party" not a festival (for legal reasons). Even the Electric Bay homepage is a private Bebo site that you can only view if you add them as a friend.

Having grown in size from a tent in a field to a beach and surrounding farmland, the capacity has doubled this year to 500, with most punters only aware of the event through word of mouth.

Location:
Lunan Bay, near Montrose.

Fascinating fact:
Make Sparks were the last ever Scottish band to play legendary New York venue CBGBs.

Date:
Friday, July 3 - Saturday, July 4.

Weather forecast:
Friday

Saturday

Festival history:
This is its third year.

Total number of acts:
25

Cost of a ticket:
£45 - available by emailing ailsalaurie@hotmail.com or calling 07932 544912

So each act is worth:
£1.80

Big-hitters:
The Xcerts, Sucioperro, Unicorn Kid, The Hazey Janes, Jocasta Sleeps.

Organiser's propaganda:
"Festival? What festival?"

Must-hear:
4The Xcerts - Growing Old (Saturday, 21.00)
4Jocasta Sleeps - Beautiful Dreams (Friday, 22.45)
4The Hazey Janes - Get Down (Saturday, 00.15)

Live review: Silversun Pickups @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:19:00 +0000

How do you gauge the popularity of a band like SILVERSUN PICKUPS? Their deliciously dirty rock songs have earned some priceless pop culture cameos on video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band as well as The OC, but the Californians themselves have only sporadically popped their heads above the parapets of the American underground in their 10-year existence.

Clearly the promoters who lured them to Glasgow were caught by surprise at the appetite in Scotland for their über-cool Sonic Youth meets Smashing Pumpkins anthems, having originally booked the quartet to play at the smaller Stereo before hastily upscaling the venue to Oran Mor.

Brian Aubert certainly lives up the role of big-time frontman, possessing just the right amount of roguish charm that lets him get away with refusing to high-five a fan ("I'm contractually not allowed to touch you") while regaling the crowd with a tale about an ill-fated introduction to the evils of Buckfast on a previous visit to the country.

Silversun Pickups' stock has soared this year on the back of their well-received second album Swoon and two of its meatier highlights, the jaggedly atmospheric The Royal We and single Panic Switch, do little to help the moisture situation among the sweat-drenched fans on a sticky, humid night.

But that's nothing compared to the frenzy that greets their signature tune Lazy Eye - from debut record Carnavas - which is still head, shoulders and any other body part you care to mention above every other song in their set, with blasts of punch-the-air guitar distortion whirling around Nikki Monninger's classic bassline and Aubert's quite wonderful shriek. You could listen to Lazy Eye every day for the rest of your life and die happy. That's not a bad idea actually.

4 Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
4 Silversun Pickups - Kissing Families
b December 14, SECC, Glasgow (supporting Placebo) (tickets)

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:01:00 +0000

4 LoveLikeFire - William

Hometown: San Francisco, America
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/lovelikefire
Pigeonhole: The Stills, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Step Away From The Computer #7: Insider

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:28:00 +0000

INSIDER was organised at very short notice to make up for the absence of the Outsider Festival, which had been due to take place in the Aviemore area this weekend before being cancelled due to the economic downturn.

Although booked-up Outsider acts such as Teenage Fanclub, King Creosote and Malcolm Middleton aren't playing, Insider can congratulate itself for luring the next generation of Scottish talent to the Highlands for what should be a pretty fine weekend.

Location:
Inshriach House, near Aviemore.

Fascinating fact:
Insider is the only festival in the world that doesn't charge a booking fee (OK, that probably isn't true but it's the first one we've come across anyway).

Date:
Friday, June 26 - Sunday, June 28

Weather forecast:
Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Festival history:
This is its first year.

Total number of acts:
25

Cost of a ticket:
£40

So each act is worth:
£1.60

Big-hitters:
Woodenbox, Over The Wall, Mitchell Museum, Ross Clark & The Scarfs Go Missing, Isoceles, Rags & Feathers

Organiser's propaganda:
"A mouth-watering banquet of home-grown music, spectacular theatrics, spit-roasts, high-jinks and sensory delights."

Must-hear:
4 Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers - Situations (Friday)
4 Over The Wall - Gimme Five (Saturday)
4 Washington Irving - The Magician (Saturday)
4 Rags & Feathers - No Tomorrow (Sunday)

** Bonus - Michael Jackson tribute:
4 Aereogramme - Thriller
4 KT Tunstall - I Want You Back

Sound as a pound

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:05:00 +0000

The Pop Cop recently had a candid conversation with Peter Kelly, aka BEERJACKET, in which we discussed the possibility of him leaking his then soon-to-be-released new album, Animosity, onto the internet.

Surely a man in his position, with a loyal but local fanbase, would have more to gain by allowing his songs to reach the widest possible audience. After all, how many folk actually pay for music these days? And if record labels no longer know how to make money from records, what chance has he got?
But the Glasgow singer-songwriter was adamant that it wasn't in his best interests and, you know what, he was dead right.

It soon dawned on me that Beerjacket is actually in a very envious position for an artist these days. He's not famous enough for people to be uploading his albums (Animosity is his sixth) onto the usual filesharing forums yet his acoustic songs have a special quality – something that isn't aligned to a misguided trend or a desperate quest for credibility – that ensures those who hear them are only too happy to part with cash to own them. Well, there isn't exactly another option.

There are far more reckless ways to spend £4.99, which is all it costs to download Animosity on Amazon, or alternatively you can find it in Avalanche, Glasgow if you want a sleek black digipak version to hold in your hands.

If you've had your head turned to his charms by some recent Scottish blogging love on Song, By Toad, Rokbun and Aye Tunes, not to mention last Saturday's Daily Record ("comparisons with Elliott Smith are unavoidable – no bad thing if you like your tunes") and a full-page feature in The Herald Magazine, above – possibly unprecedented for an unsigned musician – then you'll be keen to catch up on what you've missed.

So to that end we've provided a taster of each of his six albums, which should put you on the road to fully appreciating the man behind the Beerjacket.

4 Beerjacket - Oh My Head (Oh My Head, 2004)
4 Beerjacket - Joy For The Sad (Great Unhappiness, 2004)
4 Beerjacket - Please Be Kind (Accident History, 2006)
4 Beerjacket - Dance Dance Dance (The Slow Lane Is Faster, 2006)
4 Beerjacket - Belong In (A Boy Of Action, 2007)
4 Beerjacket - Tongue (Animosity, 2009)

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:15:00 +0000

4 Slow Club - It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful

Hometown: Sheffield, England
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/slowclub
Pigeonhole: Mates Of State, The Moldy Peaches

Step Away From The Computer #6: The Garden Party

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:20:00 +0000

THE GARDEN PARTY dares to be different. With its origins traced back to Sao Paolo guerrilla street artists and private parties, it's finally going overground as a 2000-capacity antidote to festival behemoths like T in the Park. And it's probably the only event in the world where the dancefloor is located on a tennis court. Game on!

Location:
Kelburn Castle, near Largs, Ayrshire.

Fascinating fact:
The Garden Party had to be cancelled last year because Strathclyde Police's staffing bill would have been more than double the organisers’ production costs.

Date:
Saturday, June 20 - Sunday, June 21.

Weather forecast:
Saturday

Sunday

Festival history:
This is its first year.

Total number of acts:
51

Cost of a ticket:
£72

So each act is worth:
£1.41

Big-hitters:
The Aliens, James Yorkston & The Athletes.

Organiser's propaganda:
"We aim to attract a certain type of festival goer: responsible, musically aware, free-spirited, fun-loving individuals who are looking for a fresh and inspiring musical experience."

Must-hear:
4The Gillyflowers - Country Boy (Village Stage, Sunday)
4James Yorkston - A Calvinist Narrowly Avoids Pleasure (Garden Stage, Saturday)
4The Aliens - Robot Man (Garden Stage, Sunday)
4Alex Cornish - The King Of Hearts (Village Stage, Sunday)

Music Alliance Pact - June 2009

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0000

It's Music Alliance Pact time. You may have noticed that every month we try to describe the concept of MAP in a new way. This month we're going for... a simple but devastatingly effective way to get a song heard by hundreds of thousands of people in over 20 countries and five continents.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 The Seventeenth Century – Traffic
If Arcade Fire's Wake Up moved you to your core then get ready to fall in love with Traffic. It has that soaring choral majesty, that sprawling orchestration and The Seventeenth Century clearly possess ambitions that are no less lofty. Having had a listen to the young Glasgow band's forthcoming In The Place EP, we can say without hesitation that you're looking at the best new band in Scotland.
b July 24, The Wickerman Festival, Dumfries & Galloway (tickets)

AMERICA: I Guess I'm Floating
4 Janelle Monae – Sincerely, Jane
The name Janelle Monae might ring a bell - she has guested on several OutKast songs and recently signed to Diddy's Bad Boy label. After seeing her energetic performance at Bonnaroo a few days ago I can say that she'll be one to keep a close eye on. Even if Sincerely, Jane doesn't do much for you, check out some live clips on YouTube to get the whole picture.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Le Microkosmos – Es Un Hermoso Verano Lunar
Guillermo Beresñak and Pablo Retamero got together in January 2008 in Buenos Aires. From this union came Le Microkosmos, an electronic ensemble in constant search for new musical experiences with synths, programming, instruments, vocals and orchestral sampling. This quest led them to create their own cosmos from each sound, such as this acoustic-electronic ballad taken from their brand new album, Y Vas Donde Sonrisas Te Dan Esos Encapuchados De Un Mundo Nuevo.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 Dappled Cities – The Price
One of Australia's, if not the world's, most exciting indie-rock bands, Dappled Cities are back with their third album, Zounds. It was written and recorded after an extensive period of touring their previous offering Granddance, a classic album in the minds of many critics. The Price is a fantastic taster for old and new fans alike, worthy of immediate playlisting.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
4 Júlia Says – Cá
Júlia Says have just released their second independent EP, Menos é Mais ("Less Is More"), in which the duo go deep inside electronica with some strong influences of dance-rock. The name of the band was taken from a children's story and it's a thing that helps us to connect to the fragile melancholy and beauty of Cá.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
4 Wildlife – Sea Dreamer
How awesome is this song? So much so that when I saw them perform it during a soundcheck at a show in Ottawa recently, everyone in the room just watched in stunned silence and then exploded in wild cheers when it was done. To put that in context, that kind of thing never happens. But Sea Dreamer, in all its pounding, pulsing, marching-gleefully-into-the-apocalypse glory, is amazing enough to be the exception.

CHILE: Super 45
4 Valentina Fel – Circo Podrido
Full of aggressive beats, explosive sampling and social protest lyrics, Valentina Fel is the most logical evolution of a riot girl - punk almost in the realm of grime, do-it-yourself attitude with dancehall as a commodity and flamenco-injected defiance. Her long-awaited upcoming debut -to be release in the next few months - promises to be a massive earthquake in the dancefloor that nobody could anticipate.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
4 Vomit Supreme – Versus Love
A new project by Mattis Jakobsen and Malte Hill of Straight To Your Face, Rock Hard Power Spray guitarist Frederik Valentin and recently joined by bassist Karsten D. Johansen (Strawberry Slaughterhouse), Vomit Supreme have long been an All Scandinavian favorite. Punk aggression spoon with pop hooks and with the mighty Versus Love spearheading their campaign, world domination should be nigh.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Fanfarlo – I'm A Pilot
I'm A Pilot, the opening track on Fanfarlo's debut album Reservoir, sets the scene for what's to follow. It's a rich, heady brew of heavily orchestrated indie-pop which at times even feels like it's pulling its punches. It's the sound of a young band comfortable in their own grandiosity and as Reservoir carefully unfolds, it's impossible not to be swept along. From now until July 4 you can download the album from the Fanfarlo website for just $1, so you've no excuse for not owning it.

FINLAND: Glue
4 TV OFF – Car Is On Fire
What a summer hit song! Cool and sexy! Singer Sara delivers delicious pop melodies over Markku's electro bits and sounds. This duo from Helsinki are putting the final touches to their debut album, but they have already gained attention around the world, playing in London and Tokyo. Soon TV OFF will take over the world.

FRANCE: ZikNation
4 Phoenix – 1901
For too long Phoenix have been overshadowed by Daft Punk and Air, but no more. Even though Phoenix are four albums into an increasingly fruitful career, 1901 is possibly the most immediate and loveable thing they've ever created. An anthem for indie kids, a dancefloor filler for disco dwellers. It's for everyone really.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
4 High Voltage Humans – Laser Symphony (Catastrophy)
High Voltage Humans are a Munich-based electronic duo. The featured song is heavily energetic and balances guitar riffs with synth melodies sounding a bit like 80s space electro. It's a concrete four-to-the-floor flour-dust explosion.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 For A Minor Reflection – Óhljóð
For A Minor Reflection are a quartet from Reykjavík who play energetic, melodious, instrumental post-rock. They have earned comparisons to Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Óhljóð, which means "discordant noise", is taken from their 2007 debut album Reistu Þig Við, Sólin Er Komin Á Loft... ("Rise and shine, the sun's up...") on Blippr.com. Guitarist Kjartan Holm's older brother Georg plays bass in Sigur Rós, whom they supported on tour last year.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 Sleep Thieves – Osumi
Taken from It Was Only A Satellite, the debut EP from this Dublin three-piece, Osumi showcases the bleep-assisted electronic edge of their sound before diverting into heady post-rock guitar progressions, while singer Sorcha repeats a mantra atop like a prototype Natasha Khan. Their yearning indie-electronic-pop sound is reminiscent of Lali Puna, Broadcast and The Notwist.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 My Awesome Mixtape – Me & The Washing Machine
I would have never expected to listen to an Italian band mix diverse sounds such as Anticon and The Postal Service, but when I heard My Awesome Mixtape I just had to change my mind. Infectious melodies and tight grooves, these young kids just seem to be unstoppable.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
4 Los Amparito – Por Medio De La Lectura
Los Amparito is the mind-blowing, eccentric and absolutely sublime project of Carlos Pensina. He is relatively well known in Mexico's indie scene for his more electronic act Pepepe, but Los Amparito have enormous potential to break into international boundaries. This sound is like a distorted Mexican mirror of traditional music mashed with its own repetition, flourishing vocals and colorful sequences resulting in something between Animal Collective, Amparo Ochoa and El Guincho.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
4 Lisa Crawley – Brother
Lisa Crawley is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who stands out from the crowd because of her voice and the playful arrangements of her folk-pop songs. Brother, from her second independently released EP Hello, Goodbye And Everything Inbetween, would be great on the basis of its plinky-plonk piano alone, but it's the trombone that lifts it to another level.

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 Firetop Mountain – How Can You Dance At A Time Like This?
Firetop Mountain are four boys and a girl from the Oslo area, who play indie-rock with a strong melodic focus. Just last week they released their debut album Indians Aren't Afraid Of Heights on their own label. Their music is sometimes powerful and energetic - songs you want to jump around to - and other times more laid-back and sensitive. Good songwriting all the way.

PERU: SoTB
4 Mi Jardín Secreto – Yo No Quiero Bailar Esta Noche
Mi Jardín Secreto's debut album, La Ciencia Y El Arte De La Falsificación, contains 11 songs that flit between new wave, alternative rock and the sound of modern bands. The theme of the lyrics is a mixture of the warmth and coldness of the city of Lima, with characters who have adventures in a place and climate familiar to us all.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
4 :papercutz – A Secret Search
What started as Bruno Miguel's music project is now a trio with female vocalist Marcela Freitas and multi-instrumentalist Francisco Bernardo. After appearances on various international compilations :papercutz are now signed to Montreal's Apegenine label, who released their debut album Lylac in February. In April, they were winners of the 'off the beaten track' category in The People's Music Awards in London.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
4 Luna Amara – Floodmoses
Luna Amara have been around for almost 10 years, during which they've managed to create an image and a name for themselves in Romania. From mellow alternative to angry metal sounds, their music is powerful and never fails to deliver its message. Floodmoses is taken from their recently released third album Don't Let Your Dreams Fall Asleep.

SINGAPORE: I'm Waking Up To...
4 Concave Scream – Fiction
We visit one of Singapore's finest indie bands of the 90s with Concave Scream. Fiction, taken from their third album Three, hints at the flavors of DJ Shadow, The Cure, U2 and Butler-era Suede. It is a fine tune that could sum up the entire record with its use of ethereal vocals, otherworldly chorus-effected guitar lines and a blistering rhythm section. These days, Concave Scream are pushing the envelope of their musical whimsicality by releasing an instrumental fifth album that can be found on their website.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
4 The Plastic Day – I Miss Me Myself
Post-punk/grunge trio The Plastic Day released their first full-length album, 30 Seconds Between The Dreamer And The Realist, only last month but already they've gotten unusually high coverage in Korea-related English language media online. With an intense rock sound paired with English lyrics, there's no reason why they won't get even further. I Miss Me Myself might be one of the softer songs on the album, but it's one that instantly spawns an impulse to hit the repeat button.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 Chuck Morgan – The Best Of You
I don't know if there's a term for the sound of Chuck Morgan. The last post I did on this Gothenburg-based troubadour tried to peg him as "romantic indie-pop". His new song, The Best Of You, continues that sound but adds even more electronic beeps and blips to the mix.

To download all 24 songs in one file click here.

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:01:00 +0000

4 Jose Vanders - Puppets

Hometown: London, England
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/vandersmusic
Pigeonhole: Regina Spektor, Kate Nash

Step Away From The Computer #5: RockNess

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:15:00 +0000

The organisers of ROCKNESS have a habit of plucking headliners a decade after their heyday. They had Fatboy Slim in 2006, The Chemical Brothers and Manic Street Preachers in 2007, Fatboy Slim (again) and Underworld in 2008 and now The Prodigy and Placebo in 2009.

Given that RockNess has become a rare, lasting success story on the Scottish music festival calendar, there's clearly a lot of people in the Highlands just gagging for a 90s dance revival.

Location:
Dores, near Inverness.

Fascinating fact:
This will be the third straight year The Cuban Brothers have played RockNess.

Date:
Friday, June 12 - Sunday, June 14.

Weather forecast:

Festival history:
This is its fourth year.

Total number of acts:
125

Cost of a ticket:
£152

So each act is worth:
£1.22

Big-hitters:
The Flaming Lips, Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal, Orbital, The Prodigy, Biffy Clyro, Placebo, Super Furry Animals.

Organiser's propaganda:
"The most beautiful festival in the world."

Must-hear:
Saturday
4Just Jack - Embers (Main Stage)
4Super Furry Animals - Something 4 The Weekend (Fat Sam's Stage)
4Frightened Rabbit - Be Less Rude (Fat Sam's Stage)
4The Wallbirds - The Avenue (Fat Sam's Stage)
Sunday
4Biffy Clyro - Drop It (Main Stage)
4The Wombats - My Circuitboard City (Main Stage)
4Official Secrets Act - So Tomorrow (Main Stage)
4Placebo - Every You Every Me (Clash Arena)
4Dotjr - Use Somebody (Kings Of Leon cover) (GoNorth Stage)

Live review: Derren Brown - Enigma @ Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:20:00 +0000

When people talk about their idols or heroes, I never think about musicians or rock stars - I opt for people like David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Sasha Baron Cohen, Tim Berners-Lee, Steven Gerrard and Derren Brown. So an invitation to watch the last of that fantasy dinner-party list perform in Scotland was not something to be passed up lightly.

In the midst of raucous applause, DERREN BROWN'S stage show finished with an appeal to any reviewers in the audience not to reveal any of the secrets or "give away the ending". This article won’t do that but it does detail some of the format, so if there is a chance you might one day see his Enigma tour (which he is about to take on a two-month run in London and will no doubt become a best-selling DVD before being broadcast on Channel 4) then you might want to direct your browser elsewhere.

The show starts with a low-key entrance, the smart-suited Derren playing a guess-the-word-in-the-hat game using random clues offered by an audience member in the front row, which weren't very random at all. The suggestions "bread" and "earth", for instance, were correctly guessed by Derren as "Jesus". Randomness (and the theory that most people are unable to make genuinely random choices) is a theme the Londoner touches on frequently throughout the evening.

He chooses almost all of his volunteers (about 20 in total) by throwing frisbees into the audience which frustratingly never landed anywhere near me, thereby foiling my desire to become part of a Derren Brown stage show. Even a wholehearted attempt to succumb to Derren’s audience-wide hypnosis experiment didn't affect me as it did about two dozen others dotted around the Concert Hall, who were moved to rise to their feet in a trance-like state.

In a city like Glasgow, I always fear the locals will show themselves up as being cringingly inarticulate when a microphone is thrust upon them (and for good reason if you ever listen to radio phone-ins) but the audience reactions were priceless. When one shaggy-haired young Scot has his mind read to the extent that Derren correctly names two childhood purchases (a wrestling sticker book and a Cornetto... how about that for specific), the guy shrieks “no way”, flails his hands around and rushes off stage shaking his head at the inexplicability of it all. The crowd were no less impressed by the feat, as I discovered what 2000 people gasping in unison actually sounds like.

Another young frisbee-catcher ends up bursting into tears when she receives a message from beyond the grave. That reaction would seem predictably dramatic if it was an American audience, but given that Scots are notoriously reluctant to overindulge in public displays of emotion (PDE anyone?), the moment seemed particularly moving. However, on reflection, unless you genuinely believe that this lady's dead grandmother Rena actually engraved her name into a coin in the Royal Concert Hall, it does seem quite an insensitive manipulation, especially when Derren himself has often publicly poured scorn on the authenticity of mediumship.

Undoubtedly, part of the appeal of watching any magician is in trying to figure out how the hell they do what they do. And in 95% of the set-pieces, I couldn't even make an educated guess, never mind try to explain it with logic. While Derren is a master of many crafts, and a unique human being, it is easy to overlook the fact he still employs many of the tried and trusted techniques used for centuries by illusionists, such as sleight of hand and misdirection.

Although he looks a bit sinister and ever so slightly unhinged, Derren’s quick wit and refreshing lack of arrogance ensured that the audience were keenly compliant participants in the Derren Brown experience, and there was little desire to second-guess his secrets or see his cocksureness cut down to size.

However, he didn’t get it all right. When a blonde, middle-aged Glaswegian woman was tasked with shuffling as set of seven large cards, Derren was clearly watching for one to remain at the bottom. However, after he gestured for her to stop, she decided to quickly cut the cards one more time, prompting Derren to make a couple of clumsy attempts to get her to continue shuffling before eventually asking her to do the whole thing again from the start.

That blip aside, the show was slick, gloriously varied and incredibly involving. The finale brought the entire audience to their feet - and group hypnosis wasn’t the cause this time. Then again, when Derren Brown is in the room who can say for sure what’s in your control?

4 Angels & Airwaves - Everything's Magic
4 Drugstore - White Magic For Lovers

Weekend Anthem

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:45:00 +0000

There comes a time when we have to free ourselves from the shackles of self-imposed restraint and just hit you with some damn good music. That time is now.

So every weekend we're going to start giving you an mp3 that will blow you away, probably created by a band or musician who isn't from Scotland since we can write about our compatriots any day of the week.

This feature is going to become a rather brief and functional weekly post, so don't expect any of The Pop Cop's usual prize-winning prose (ha!), just a song that comes with our strongest recommendation. Feel free to leave a comment to let us know whether or not it moves you. Here for your pleasure is the very first Weekend Anthem...

4 Stornoway - Zorbing

Hometown: Oxford, England
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/stornoway
Pigeonhole: Fleet Foxes, Belle & Sebastian

T Break 2009: The chosen ones

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

The winners of this year's T BREAK heats have been announced, thereby giving 16 unsigned acts the chance to fulfil their dreams of playing at T in the Park, although they don't get the 'special' passes that allow them to mingle with the proper stars backstage.

To enter into the spirit of turning music into a competition, we've made up a playlist of the chosen acts, and we're asking you to vote for your favourite in our second-ever readers' poll on The Pop Cop. Whoever receives the most votes will get nothing except a smug sense of satisfaction.

Barn Owl (Glasgow)
4 When No One Is Around

Brother Louis Collective (Glasgow)
4 Squealing Pigs

Dead Boy Robotics (Edinburgh)
4 Symmetry Of The Elusive Wolves

GIFT (Glasgow)
4 Workout Afterall

Gong Fei (Dundee)
4 Waving Umbrellas

Homework (Edinburgh)
4 Lifestyle No Style

Little Eskimos (Stirling/Clackmannanshire)
4 We Used To Be Lovers

Maple Leaves (Glasgow)
4 Kirsty

Mike Nisbet (Glasgow)
4 Coffee & Cigarettes

Ming Ming And The Ching Chings (Glasgow)
4 Show Off

My Cousin I Bid You Farewell (Glasgow)
4 What We Are Eating Tonight

Popolo (Dundee/Glasgow/St Andrews)
4 Or Optimism

Punch & The Apostles (Glasgow)
4 Asylum

Tango In The Attic (Glenrothes)
4 Blunderground

The French Quarter (Stirling)
4 Uni

Trapped In Kansas (Ayr)
4 Our Bodies On Fire

"Most of the record is based around all the shit things men do"

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Interview subject: Jamie Sutherland, Broken Records
Location: The Arches, Glasgow
Time: 23.30
Background info: Broken Records are a seven-strong orchestral indie-rock band from Edinburgh featuring Rory Sutherland, Ian Turnbull, Arne Kolb, Dave Smith, Andrew Keeney, David Fothergill and frontman Jamie Sutherland. Their debut album Until The Earth Begins To Part was released this week on 4AD.

There are few things more satisfying than watching all the pieces fall into place. When we first saw BROKEN RECORDS it was an awe-inspiring experience, but that feeling of wonderment was soon replaced by a determination that this grand, joyous, skyscraping music should get every bit of support and exposure The Pop Cop could muster. So we wrote about them, interviewed them and wrote about them some more. And if you've discovered and subsequently loved this band by reading our rantings then it's a case of job done.

Broken Records themselves have toured like gypsies for the past 18 months, only pausing to record their debut album. And now that Until The Earth Begins To Part is out, it seemed like the perfect time to catch up with singer and lyricist Jamie Sutherland to get a track-by-track take on what inspired the songs we've come to know and cherish.

01 Nearly Home
JAMIE: "I thought of big, grandiose things like Martin Luther King standing in front of lots of people, and tried to write a speech. It’s not meant to be political, though, it’s just bombastic. To be honest, it’s not as loud as I would have liked. There was a bit of a compromise because there are other instruments than guitars in there."

02 If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It
"I had a really shit job, I was sitting on the couch watching TV and it was miserable. The middle eight [“Sing to me, I love it when you sing to me”] was something my girlfriend said to me when I was moaning. It was meant to be an apathy song but it turned into an anti-apathy song. You can’t turn the TV off, you can’t opt out. I wanted it to sound like You Can’t Hurry Love and The Clash – and it sounds like The Levellers [laughs]. You can’t win them all."

03 Until The Earth Begins To Part
"That was the hardest lyric to write because we’d played it for ages and I didn’t have anything down for it, and when you don’t write something almost immediately nothing springs to mind. But I watched the Zeffirelli version of Romeo And Juliet, and I liked the idea of the suicide pact – ‘if I go then you’ll go with me’. And then it’s coming from the point of the guy when the girl says, ‘I don’t really want to’. The other idea is that if you’re lying on your deathbed and instead of asking your wife or girlfriend, go and be happy, find someone else, you want to say, ‘No, don’t ever fall in love with anyone else – remember me’. I like the conceit of that – that people are totally selfish most of the time. But maybe that’s just me."

04 A Promise
"A Promise is one that Davie and I wrote when we shared a flat. I’d been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash’s American recordings. There was one, On The Evening Train, which is a cover of a Hank Williams song, where he’s putting his wife on the evening train so to speak. I got thinking about what would happen if I lived with this woman for however long. It’s blissful and romantic."

05 Thoughts On A Picture (In A Paper, January 2009)
"It’s a terrible title but I just couldn’t think of one. I really hate using choruses as titles, it’s just so boring. Israel had gone into Gaza and there was a picture in the newspaper three weeks later of one of the soldiers coming out in the withdrawal and he looked shell-shocked from the whole thing. And I just thought, ‘Why did you do that? Are you just going to go home now? Because you’ve fucked up everything for everyone else’. And he knew it. It was a monologue, more the conscience side of it. From his point of view, not mine."

Did you find it easy to write?
"To be honest, I was really struggling. I always do. I hate lyrics. Most of the time I don’t feel particularly good at writing them. I can never write them beforehand – they always get put down in the studio because once they’re down, they’re final, you’re stuck with it. Before then I can never commit to them because I don’t like writing them and if you don’t feel you’re any good at doing something you tend to put it off for as long as possible."

06 If Eilert Løvborg Wrote A Song, It Would Sound Like This
"Eilert’s one of the oldest ones. It was the easiest lyric to write because the first couple of lines came as soon as I heard the accordion. I don’t know why ‘Heather’ was the name that came in but it has obviously been lurking about from my sixth-year reading of Henrik Ibsen [the Norwegian playwright whose play Hedda Gabler features the character Eilert Løvborg]. The music is cinematic so I just made the lyrics more pompous. I’m a massive fan of Tom Waits and he does the same thing. It’s an extension of storytelling, only you’re doing it to music."

07 Wolves
"I’d probably been listening to too much Bob Dylan. It’s nowhere near as good but I wanted to update Masters Of War. Lots of men playing power games with each other and everybody else living with it. I hate men basically. Guys in suits. Can’t stand them. Most of the record is based around all the shit things men do."

08 Ghosts
"There was a running theme of people dying but it’s not meant to be maudlin. I think I initially wrote it about my grandparents and then it was about my old boss at the Scottish Executive, who died of a brain haemorrhage. I wasn’t friends with her but I guess the whole point was that everyone touches you in some way, nobody is ever really forgotten. There are always going to be little parts of you that are shaped by somebody who said something."

09 A Good Reason
"I read an article in which Joe Strummer was described not as a lyricist but as a sloganeer, and I deliberately wrote A Good Reason’s lyrics as something you could write on a wall. I’m not even singing them, I’m just shouting them. A lot of these songs go back to early 2007 and the world has changed slightly since then. Obviously, Bush isn’t there anymore, you’ve got people moving out of Iraq and everybody’s filled with hope. So it sounds slightly dated and it’s a weird one to still be singing."

10 Slow Parade
"I wanted to get that sense of excitement of the first time you clocked on somebody you really want to be with. It’s supposed to be wilfully, stupidly romantic and it seems to make other people feel the same way and that’s why we finish with it. No matter what you do throughout the whole set if you finish on that song people will always leave on a good note and feel slightly more goodwill to their fellow man."

Is it your favourite Broken Records song?
"Yeah. I get a lot of fun from playing it. I’d still like to play it when I’m old… if we’re still doing this when I’m old!"
You can buy Until The Earth Begins To Part here.

4 Broken Records - A Promise
4 Broken Records - Lovers' Pact (demo)
b June 2, Moshulu, Aberdeen (tickets)
b June 3, King Tut's, Glasgow (tickets)
b June 4, Doghouse, Dundee (tickets)
b August 7, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness-shire (tickets)

Live review: Malcolm Middleton @ Mono, Glasgow

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:59:00 +0000

"If I knew it was going to be this sunny I wouldn't have brought the album out this week." You can always rely on MALCOLM MIDDLETON to waste little time in playing the miserable card, even at a free gig to mark the launch of his fifth record Waxing Gibbous.

The one-time Arab Strap guitarist has already announced that he intends to take a break from his solo career as he feels pigeonholed, but he really doesn't have anyone but himself to blame for that. If you expect a Malcolm Middleton set to have some dour but humorous banter, unnecessary singing of the c-word and an ironic mainstream cover then you'd be spot-on tonight.

The strange thing is that the reputation of the man does a disservice to his songs. OK, so he's not exactly a bundle of joy and his vocals are laden with world-weariness, but there's more than enough on Waxing Gibbous to take the listener to a happy place.

Lead single Red Travellin' Socks is fast and crazily catchy, Kiss At The Station is similarly perky guitar-pop with some gratifying cymbal use, while Shadows treads awful close to Chelsea Dagger territory as Middleton himself acknowledges ("I wake up every day sweating it sounds like The Fratellis"). You can also add the terrific Strokes-esque Subset Of The World to the list of upbeat songs from the new album, although that doesn't get an airing at Mono.

The set ends with We're All Going To Die - famously (in indie circles anyway) denied the Christmas No.1 spot by a mere 30 other songs - which, given that it is the only old tune he plays, seems like a wasted opportunity to show off the quality of his now-weighty back catalogue.

As appreciative applause from the crowd (or "freeloading music lovers" as the Falkirk man brands them) fills the muggy air of the busy venue, a punter cries out "one more song", to which Middleton instantly quips: "One? I was going to play five". And it's one we get - a cover of Run To You by Bryan Adams of course.

4 Malcolm Middleton - Red Travellin' Socks (album version)

4 Malcolm Middleton - New Heart
b June 26, Tolbooth, Stirling (tickets)
b June 27, The Tunnels, Aberdeen (tickets)
b June 28, King Tut's, Glasgow (tickets)
b August 22, Sounds In The Grounds, Stornoway

Summer in the city

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Not that you'd know it by sticking your head out of the window, but it is in fact summer in Scotland right now so that means walking not just to get somewhere, taking an interest in sports other than football, attending hastily-arranged barbeques and spotting beautiful people coming out of hibernation.

It goes without saying that suitable music is needed to match that new-found bounce in your step, so to that end we've picked out one gig in every city in the country to whet the appetite and given you a suitably summer-soaked tune to get you buzzing. Don't get too mental now.

DUNDEE
General Fiasco, June 1, Doghouse (tickets)
(also playing Inverness, Stornoway, Ullapool, Fort William, Glasgow)
4 General Fiasco - Rebel Get By

ABERDEEN
Jamie T, June 17, Moshulu (tickets)
(also playing Edinburgh, Balado)
4 Jamie T - Sticks And Stones

GLASGOW
Acrylic Iqon, June 18, Oran Mor (free tickets)
4 Acrylic Iqon - Gentlemen, We Can Rebuild Him

EDINBURGH
Snap!, June 19, Corn Exchange (tickets)
4 Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer

INVERNESS
Jocasta Sleeps, June 25, Hootananny
(also playing Edinburgh, Glasgow, Montrose, Fife, Aberdeen, Dundee, Bathgate)
4 Jocasta Sleeps - Crayfish Cocktail

STIRLING
Malcolm Middleton, June 26, Tolbooth (tickets)
(also playing Aberdeen, Glasgow, Stornoway)
4 Malcolm Middleton - Subset Of The World

PERTH
The Xcerts, July 5, Ice Factory
(also playing Edinburgh, Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Dundrennan)
4 The Xcerts - Just Go Home

"I want to make this really clear, I did not beat up Amy Macdonald"

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Interview subject: Stina Tweeddale, Boycotts
Location: Beanscene, Glasgow
Time: 12.30
Background info: Boycotts are a punk-pop band based in Glasgow and all the members have nicknames. There's singer and lyricist Stina Tweeddale (Stina Twee), guitarist Joe Gillies (Josef K), bassist Graham Young (Dragon) and drummer David Dunsmore (Hardcore Dave). Stina and Joe are high school friends from Edinburgh, while Graham and David are Hamilton boys.

Stina Tweeddale, 20, used to play solo acoustic sets at open-mic nights in Edinburgh, but she headed west to study economic and social history at Glasgow University, where she is just about to complete her third year, and did what all proud parents hope their child will do... she started a band.

BOYCOTTS may only have been around for a year but they already stand out from the pack thanks to some absorbing three-minute alternative pop tunes like Beat On The Dancefloor (the Music Alliance Pact choice for May) and Luella And Lies, not to mention a glamorous frontwoman which, let's face it, is a bit of a rarity these days.

THE POP COP: Is image important to you?
Stina: “I know people pay attention to us because I’m a girl in a band but it doesn’t bother me. I suppose there are a lot of groups of four boys with side-fringes. I’ve always thought of myself as one of the lads anyway. I don’t need straighteners, unlike the rest of the band. Joe has more cleansing products than me.”

What inspires your lyrics?
“I used to write a lot of ‘nobody understands me’ stuff but it gets really tedious. Most of the songs are about relationships with people, not just love interests, except Scarper which is about Virginia Woolf. It’s the only one that’s fictitious.”

What is Luella And Lies about?
“It’s about when someone you know, say in a past relationship, has not been a nice person. They’ve broken up with you and they’ve started seeing this other person. It might be going really well just now but they can’t hide the fact that they're a dick. Luella is the designer Luella Bartley. It’s about buying nice things for someone and then treating them badly. People seem to like that one.”
Stina's idols are Morrissey, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits and Jenny Lewis, but her father has been the biggest influence on her music path. Sandy Tweeddale has made a living as a full-time musician since he was a teenager and plays in Blues'n'Trouble, a well-respected band on the blues circuit, as well as Blue Hyenas.

Is it safe to assume your dad taught you how to play guitar?
“No. My mum forbade him! She would say, ‘Music ruins lives’. She was so scared I was going to take up music and not go to uni. But when I was in first year at school, we were offered free music tuition and I chose guitar. All I wanted to do was be able to walk into the room when my dad was there, pick up his guitar and play a G chord then an A chord and say, ‘Look what I can do.’ I kept it a secret for about a year. Then one day I went home and played a wee song for him. And he said, ‘I knew you were doing this’. My mum had told him months ago but he didn’t let on. It totally ruined my surprise. I had worked so hard as well.”

Is your mum OK with you being in a band now?
"It’s fine now, she’s got over the fear. My mum always cries when I sing. The first Boycotts gig my parents came to was in January at Limbo in Edinburgh. As soon as mum saw me, she was like [exaggerated shriek] ‘Oh, you’re going to be famous’."

Why did you not stay in Edinburgh?
“It’s so boring. It’s beautiful but it’s not a good place to grow up and everything’s really expensive. When I came to Glasgow I couldn’t believe that anywhere you go is as cheap as chips. You can buy a vodka for 70p. For me, that was a total revelation! I do love Edinburgh but Glasgow is definitely where I call home. I was always coming through here to see gigs and that was one of the reasons I decided to go to Glasgow Uni.”

How do you juggle your studies and your band?
“It’s hard work. I do enjoy my degree - if I didn’t, I would have given up by now. But if anything was to happen to the band it would be dropped at a hat. I know that’s really bad and I should be grateful that I’m at uni but the band comes first. Don’t tell my mum that, she’d go mental! I never pay attention in class - all I do is daydream about my band even though it’s the most unstable thing I’ve ever done. I also work part-time at Firewater."

Someone told me that Amy Macdonald got beaten up by some girls in Firewater a couple of years ago? Did you heard that one?
“Really? That’s hilarious. It might have been me. No, really, it wasn’t. I want to make this really clear, I did not beat up Amy Macdonald. I might have paid someone to do it but I didn’t lay a finger on her. I think she’s alright, actually. I’m just jealous. Honestly, pure jealousy. [laughs] Why didn’t I get it instead of her? I could play the main stage of T in the Park.”

4 Boycotts - Luella And Lies
4 Boycotts - Locked Out (live)

b May 23, Nice 'n' Sleazy, Glasgow (Stag & Dagger) (tickets)
b May 30, Busby's, Montrose (Montrose Music Festival) (free)
b June 25, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
b June 26, Hootenanny’s, Inverness,
b June 27, The Waterfront, Wick
b June 28, The Greenside Hotel, Glenrothes
b June 29, The Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
b July 3, The Doghouse, Dundee,
b July 18, Harley’s Bar, Bathgate
b August 7, Harley’s Bar, Bathgate
b August 8, QMU, Glasgow (supporting Carl Barat)
b August 14, The GRV, Edinburgh
b August 15, ABC 2, Glasgow (EP launch) (tickets)
b August 20, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh (The Mill) (free)
b August 21, The Doghouse, Dundee
b August 22, The Greenside Hotel, Glenrothes
b August 24, Snafu, Aberdeen
b September 19, The Captain’s Rest, Glasgow

p.s. The winner of the Stag & Dagger competition was Catherine Lamont from Glasgow

Step Away From The Computer #4: Stag & Dagger

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Stag night: [noun] A party or weekend away held for a bachelor shortly before he gets married. May involve he and his party dressing up in weird or outlandish costumes, drinking to excess, gambling, stripper(s) and pranks.

OK, so take away the gambling, strippers and pranks, allow the ladies in and add some of the hippest bands around and you've got yourself STAG & DAGGER, a new entry on the Scottish festival calendar, and another 'one ticket = many venues in one night' affair.

Better still, we've got a pair of tickets to give away to one reader of The Pop Cop. To be in with a chance of winning, just answer this question: Apart from Glasgow, which other two cities are part of the Stag & Dagger festival?

Now email thepopcop@gmail.com with the subject 'Stag & Dagger Comp' and include your name, address and answer. Over-18s only. All correct entries will go into a metaphorical hat and one winner will be drawn after the closing date on Wednesday, May 20 at 10am.

Location:
Half a dozen venues in Glasgow – ABC 1, Art School, Nice 'n' Sleazy, Captain’s Rest, Stereo, Classic Grand.

Fascinating fact:
Frightened Rabbit brothers Scott and Grant Hutchison will be playing as a two-piece for the first time since 2005.

Date:
Saturday, May 23.

Weather forecast:

Festival history:
This is its first year in Scotland.

Total number of acts:
31 (not including DJs)

Cost of a ticket:
£17.50

So each act is worth:
56p

Big-hitters:
Cold War Kids, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, The Aliens, BMX Bandits, Cursive, Dananananaykroyd, Boycotts, Meursault, The Phantom Band.

Organiser's propaganda:
"It promises to be bigger and better than anything... ever!"

Must-hear:
4 Cold War Kids - Well Well Well (John Lennon cover), ABC 1
4 Frightened Rabbit - Last Tango In Brooklyn, ABC 1
4 Over The Wall - Glasgow, Captain's Rest
4 The Aliens - Setting Sun, Stereo
4 The Joy Formidable - Whirring, Art School (Vic Bar)
4 The Twilight Sad - Reflection Of The Television, ABC 1
4 Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers - Draw A Line, Stereo

Music Alliance Pact - May 2009

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Xenophobia; cheese; campness; political voting; broken English; fake smiles; gimmicks, backstabbing. Yes, Eurovision Song Contest weekend is here and it's so bad it's good.

Perhaps, in some subconscious level, Eurovision inspired our decision to launch the Music Alliance Pact, the monthly multinational inter-blogging extravaganza. Scary thought.

As ever, we've rounded up the world's most clued-up music bloggers and persuaded them to share their favourite song from their homeland and write a few words about it. Then post the entire list on their own websites. We start with a band called BOYCOTTS, the selection of the Scottish jury. Douze points!

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 Boycotts – Beat On The Dancefloor
Boycotts have been in existence for barely a year but it's still no surprise they've got people in Scotland very excited indeed. The Glasgow-based quartet's edgy guitar-pop pushes all the right buttons, but the ace in the pack is their enchanting frontlady, Stina Twee, all youthful exuberance and 'don't screw with me' lyrics.

AMERICA: I Guess I'm Floating
4 Lands & Peoples – Awake
Baltimore-based Lands & Peoples seem to have a knack for hypnotherapy. With a commanding ethereal ambience and gorgeous catatonic tensions throughout, Awake is an eye-opener from start to finish. You'll ask, "How have I not heard of them?" and "I can't believe they aren't signed!" Well, believe it. There's an album in the works coming out later this year (perhaps self-released), but for now you can listen to more gems at their MySpace page.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Les Mentettes Orchestra – Hold On
Les Mentettes is a psychedelic pop band who just released a five-song EP with orchestral arrangements conducted by former Orquesta de Salón member Manuloop. It's a free release so if you like Hold On you can legally download the other tracks as well. They are currently playing this record live with a full orchestra in several venues around Buenos Aires.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 Jonathan Boulet – A Community Service Announcement
I only recently discovered the very talented Jonathan Boulet's music online, and upon hearing this song immediately purchased his album from iTunes. It is simply amazing that the 20-year-old produced and recorded everything himself in his garage. Big future for this guy.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
4 A Banda de Joseph Tourton – #3
A Banda de Joseph Tourton only have a few songs on the internet and released a digital EP last year, but they are already one of the most interesting of the new generation of alternative groups in Brazil. They create instrumental songs full of groove, emotion and originality, making the next step in mangue beat's (a musical movement from Brazil's northeast) history, going through post-rock, jazz and their regional culture influences.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
4 Green Go – Brains For Breakfast
For a year or two now, my friends in Toronto have been raving about Green Go to me and now that their debut album, Borders, is out, it's easy to see why. As songs like Brains For Breakfast show, the band create infectiously catchy pop with shouted group vocals and bouncy riffs that sound like they'd make for a big, sweaty blast of fun in concert.

CHILE: Super 45
4 Mutrone – Bristol
A mix of experimentation, psychedelia and improvisation are the foundation elements from which Mutrone build solid sound walls comprising samples, effects and a dynamic reminiscent of the machine-like structures of krautrock. With two albums, Oscillatore and Centinela, both released under a Creative Commons licence, the four guys in Mutrone have discovered an exciting way to bring the real sounds of the city into the machine.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
4 Sinusstøv – Who Am I?
The translation of their name is "Sinus Dust" but there's nothing at all dusty about Claus Pedersen and Søren Friis Dam's musical output. Who Am I? is lush, sweeping and crackling electro, showered in the melancholy Scandinavians have to live with and everybody else finds moving. Another grand testament to the incredibly healthy state of Danish electronica.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Blue Roses – Doubtful Comforts
Another month and I'm sticking with all thinks folky, although we're leaving London for Shipley in Yorkshire which is the home of Laura Groves. She has recently rebranded herself as Blue Roses and released an amazing self-titled album (on XL). Of all the young folky female artists I've enthused about here and on my blog, she's possibly the best.

FINLAND: Glue
4 Delay Trees – Desert Island Song
Indie-pop quartet Delay Trees have just self-released their seven-song debut CD, Soft Construction EP. Desert Island Song is the opening track and the beginning of a dreamy trip through tender pop melodies and bits of psychedelia. It is a very promising start for these guys.

FRANCE: ZikNation
4 Walter – Le Dernier Bastion
In the beginning, they were two, playing in parks, festivals and concert halls. Six years and three musicians later, Walter keeps riding French roads offering a tasty blend of reggae, blues and folk, spreading messages of love, respect and peace. They'll be back in studio by the end of the year to record their next album.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
4 Schlachthofbronx – Good To Go
Schlachthofbronx defined a whole new genre called Munich bass. This bastard relies heavily on Kuduro, baile funk, dub and dancehall but also likes to play with elements of Bavarian folk and synthpop. Good To Go has never been released officially but turned on the crowd at their sweaty gigs all over central Europe.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 Retro Stefson – Papa Paulo III (Re-edit version)
Retro Stefson was founded in late 2006 by a group of eight teenagers, school friends from Austurbæjarskóli. They write catchy, semi-pop/semi-rock crossover songs and give great live performances. Last year the band released their debut album Montaña on the Icelandic Kimi Records label. The band’s principal songwriter is Unnsteinn Manual Stefánsson. The lyrics are in English, Spanish and Icelandic.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 Super Extra Bonus Party – Radar
The first single from Super Extra Bonus Party's second album Night Horses sees them joined by Cadence Weapon on a stomping live band/electro-hop crossover. It's a good indication of a band who don't like to stick to genres for too long. Night Horses also features pop, acoustic folk, instrumental rock and electronic goodness with guest vocals from Mr. Lif, R.S.A.G., May Kay of Fight Like Apes, Ann Scott and Heathers.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 Buzz Aldrin – Small Bad Talk With Koala Friends
Obsessive rhythms, nagging guitars, alienated voices, dirty synths and strangely beautiful songs that are greater than the sum of their parts. Think of Liars, think of Wire, think of Pere Ubu, or don't think: just dance. This young trio show a driving strength when on stage and they are improving with every gig.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
4 Mr. Racoon – Ferry 3
Mr. Racoon is one of several projects by Roberto Polo, among them 60 Tigres and Fuck Her, Or The Terrorists Win. This is by far his most charming moment yet. His music unfolds the very best of a prolific songwriter that, as opposed to what his music may sound like, is a maximalist taking the lo-fi production and his shimmering voice to heroic amplitudes. Ferry 3 is a cut from his third album Katy, released earlier this year through the free storage music website Delhotel Records.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
4 The Sing Songs – Pamphlet Baby
The Sing Songs sing songs, saccharine sweet pop songs. What gives them their staying power are the lyrics. Where you might expect girl loves boy, boy loves girl, instead you get the story of a woman dealing with the death of her baby by walking the streets with a pram, delivering pamphlets. To date the band don't have any releases but this song has been included on a compilation issued by Real Groove magazine to celebrate New Zealand music month.

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 Maribel – Flesh & Blood
Oslo-based Maribel released their long-awaited and brilliant debut Aesthetics only a few days ago, and the Norwegian critics gave them full scores in the reviews. The band play dreamy, noise-drenched, multi-layered shoegaze with almost psychedelic elements. There are obvious references in their sound to bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Spacemen 3, Pale Saints and even The Velvet Underground, but Maribel definitely do their own thing and they do it their own way. Maribel and Aesthetics is highly recommended, and will be this Norwegian blogger's soundtrack to the spring of 2009.

PERU: SoTB
4 Diablos Azules – Porno Music
It is time for a classic night: trumpets, breaks, ska and contagious melodies that immerse people in the most insane of their intentions. It is perhaps no surprise the band are called Diablos Azules ("Blue Devils"). Porno Music is the best legacy of their existence – an old song which is still fresh and gets revived every time someone goes to a party in Lima.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
4 The TiMaria – Pretty Girls Are Pretty High
Last year, a man was organizing a gig with a three-band bill but had just two booked. When he was creating the poster, he made up the name TiMaria and included this fictitious group as the third act of the night. (Un)fortunately, he didn't erase the name before the posters went to press and ended up with a stock of paper to throw away. However, he persuaded his friends, André Moinho and Nuno Rancho, who live in small villages around the city of Leiria, to form a band in 15 days so that he could use the posters and save the planet. And so, with the addition of Nuno's younger brother, Luis Jerónimo, The TiMaria ("Aunt Maria") was born. Their debut record will be released in September or October.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
4 Semiosis – Recovery
Semiosis is the post-rock/ambient/electronic project of Seidiu Alexandru and Serban Ilicevici, two young guys from Craiova. They have just released their debut album, Pictural, and it has received a lot of positive feedback. Pictural is considered the first Romanian post-rock album and is available for free download here – it's a must if you enjoy listening to this preview.

SINGAPORE: I'm Waking Up To...
4 The Fire Fight – Fires At Night
The Fire Fight are an indie-rock band that have set the local scene on fire with their firebranded musicality and heartfelt lyrics. Fires At Night is the first track from their demo, The Green EP. Brandishing straight-up indie guitar rock that combines the intensity of Bloc Party and the poetic ebb and flow of The One AM Radio, Fires At Night draws the listener into its warmth and, like a slow burning furnace, purifies the experience. Perhaps the best thing about The Fire Fight is their lyrical optimism in a world spiraling into nihilism, as singer Josh Tan pleads that music is for "the hope that burns in your eyes".

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
4 Stretching Journey – 060
Post-punk band Stretching Journey put out a self-titled album on its own last month. The band is not afraid to blend a plethora of genres into their music and as a consequence of the lo-fi production, several of their songs ended up with a slight psychedelic edge. The album opens with 060, which has a progression and a beat influenced by Los Bunkers, whereas the style of the chorus is inspired by Korean dance-pop act Koyote.

SPAIN: La Página De La Nadadora
4 Sundae – Arte y Ensayo
The Field Mice, My Bloody Valentine, The Radio Dept. and The Cure are four good references for this band who have even been namechecked by the famous label Shelflife with their second demo. Sundae are like the best shoegaze pop inherited from Sarah Records, but this time from Seville.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 Robert Svensson – I Was Summer, You Were
I can't tell you one quaint biographical detail about Robert Svensson – he's a mystery to me. But I am now an instant fan on the strength of I Was Summer, You Were. The song exists to share these two sets of lyrics: "I was summer and you were November" and "I was architecture and you were the wrecking ball".

To download all 25 songs in one file click here.

"We just had to stand there taking envelopes of money. It was like The Godfather. If you marry a Sicilian, you do OK"

thepopcop@gmail.com (The Pop Cop) — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Date: May 3, 2009
Time: 14.00
Location: The Left Bank, Glasgow
Interview subject: Stuart Murdoch, Belle & Sebastian/God Help The Girl
Background info: Let’s go back nine years. It’s a late afternoon in spring and I’m a passenger in a car. We’ve rolled up to a set of red lights at a pedestrian crossing on Gibson Street in the West End of Glasgow. After a couple of seconds the lights change to flashing amber. There’s not a soul around but the car doesn’t move. Still they flash, on and off, on and off. Why won’t he drive on? It feels like minutes have passed. Nobody says a word. I glance nervously at the rear-view mirror, another vehicle approaches from behind. I crack. “Stuart, I think it’s OK to drive thr-”. The lights turn green. Stuart hits the accelerator.

The last time I met Stuart Murdoch, most of the interview was conducted while he drove around town in his 1973 Ford Granada. Nine years later, I’ve somehow ended up a passenger in his car again, only now it’s a decidedly more modern black Astra, stuffed with Fruit Pastilles and Polo wrappers. Stuart was running late and didn’t want to leave me waiting at our pre-arranged Hillhead Underground meeting place, so he picked me up and we head, with terrifying inevitability, towards Gibson Street. This time the lights stay green.

Stuart takes a right and executes a textbook reverse park. As I open the door to get out, I ask him if I need to push down the button. He shakes his head. We start walking away from the car. “But it’s not locked,” I insist. Stuart doesn’t reply. Without breaking stride, he puts his hand in his left pocket, clicks the key, and the reassuring clunk of the central locking does its job. Smooth.

We head into The Left Bank and the waitress ushers us to a table smack bang in the middle of the cafe. It’s not the most discreet spot for an interview, so Stuart folds his arms over my dictaphone to make this look more like an everyday conversation in a coffee house. The man is clearly clued up in tape recorder camouflage techniques.
“I’ve got a little Toshiba one," he says. "I quite often get song ideas when I’m walking along, so I turn the thing upside down and pretend I’m on the phone and sing into it. Nobody would know.”

Stuart’s new project is called God Help The Girl. It is a film that the 40-year-old is still in the process of writing, but the soundtrack that accompanies it can’t wait. Fourteen tracks have made it on to the album, which is released on Rough Trade in June, with four leftovers earmarked for a future EP.

Catherine Ireton is predominantly the lead singer, but there are cameos from several others including The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, while two guest vocalists – American pair Britanny Stallings and Dina Bankole – were found through an online competition set up by Stuart.

Did you feel like Simon Cowell sifting through all those wannabes?
“A little bit. But I must admit, I’ve never watched any of those programmes. I am aware that there is a phenomenon called... is it called X Factor? [I nod] This is my little thing and it would have happened regardless of the latest fads. At first I thought I was going to have a girl group, three singers together. They would move into the same house and be a force, but that never happened. We had about 380 audio auditions and 50 videos on top of that. [Stuart sighs] By the end, I didn’t listen to some of them all the way through but I pretty much knew.”

Stuart submitted the first draft of the God Help The Girl film to the producer last October (“he politely suggested I needed to write some more”) and is working on another version.

What’s the concept of the movie?
“The main protagonist is Eve, the girl who sings most of the songs on the record. She starts off in a mental hospital, at her lowest ebb. She’s not too crazy but she’s crazy enough. She’s in there for a long time and she discovers that she can write songs and she sees that as her way of getting out of the trouble she’s in. She makes it out of hospital eventually and runs into James and Cassie and the three of them make music over the course of a summer and become really close.”
If you are familiar with the Belle & Sebastian biography, you might recognise that Eve’s predicament bears uncanny parallels with Stuart’s own life story. Before forming Belle & Sebastian, Stuart spent seven years saddled with ME, a condition that sapped his energy and often left him housebound, crippling him for most of his twenties.

The film is biographical, isn’t it?
[Stuart takes a gulp of coffee] “There are biographical strands with Eve being in such a poor way. But I had to make Eve’s condition more dramatic because I would challenge anybody to write a good drama about ME. It’s like watching paint dry. Maybe one day somebody will make a good film about ME... it would be a sleeper hit [laughs]. Sorry.”

How did you ultimately get better?
“I tried lots of different therapies and doctors and eventually – and this happens to Eve in the story – I went to a healer. She was a Christian healer and I wasn’t a signed-up Christian at the time but the woman said, ‘You don’t have to be to benefit from this so don’t worry about it’. She charged me nothing. She just put her hands over me and said I might feel a bit warm. I was just lying there and felt very relaxed. She spent a whole hour, just moving around. I went away and thought that was the end of it. About a week and a half later I had what could only be described as a nervous breakdown and had the worst six months of my life, mentally as well as physically. But my physical condition got better from that point and I spent the next three of four years slowly recovering from ME. It might sound like a crazy story but she really helped me.”

Do you regard that as the turning point?
“Absolutely. Absolutely! [Stuart gets visibly animated] The turning point of my LIFE. I’ve tried to track that woman down since but she moved from Mosspark and her neighbours don’t know where she went. I think she cut hair in hospitals and while she did that she gave the old ladies healing, although they didn’t know it. I’m not going to name her but I do wonder where she is.”

It was through ME that Stuart met his best friend Ciara MacLaverty, a fellow sufferer who has campaigned vigorously to raise awareness for an illness that she had for 20 years. Her ‘miracle’ fix was a treatment programme, developed by a Scottish doctor, called Mickel Therapy which, incidentally, has also cured two other chronic-fatigue sufferers I know personally. Like Stuart’s healer, Mickel Therapy is unavailable on the National Health Service despite a 92% success rate.
“Back in the day, and probably still to this day, ME was a network because there’s not the support through the NHS," he says. "So you have to find out things from people around you. Ciara and I formed our own ME club in the West End of Glasgow for like-minded sufferers and we used to hang out. The funny thing is, when I was feeling a lot better and Ciara was feeling really low, I used to try healing on her, just for half an hour. I don’t know whether it did any good but I tried [Stuart laughs]. I think you’ll find what’s for you if you go looking for it.”

Stuart has become more open about the subject of religion as he has grown older. After our 2000 interview, he sent an additional quote by email which I segued into the published article. It read: “My favourite book is the Bible, and my favourite book in the Bible is St John, and I’ve lifted freely and happily from that since I read it.” Similarly, religious references have become commonplace in Belle & Sebastian’s songs. If You Find Yourself Caught In Love is a paean to “the man above”, while the band’s last album, The Life Pursuit, opens with the lyrics “morning prayers”. His recent online diary entries are also peppered with religious content: “May 3, 2009: What I meant to talk about tonight was hymns. The greatest hits of God! I’m going to write hymns one day.” And, it’s so blatant you might have overlooked it, his new project is called God Help The Girl.

Do you feel a duty to spread the Word?
“If you’re a Christian, there’s meant to be a feeling of mission. But I think it’s mission enough just to act in a certain way. People will be drawn into stuff if it appeals to them. I would never chase somebody up the street with a club trying to get them to convert.”

Does it concern you that society as a whole, certainly in Britain, seems to be becoming less religious?
“Organised religion has fallen away for many reasons over the past 20 or 30 years. It doesn’t bother me at all. Come on, it’s not like I’ve got shares in the Church of Scotland. People might turn away from the Church but a lot will end up finding spirituality elsewhere. You can’t really expect in this day and age when we’re a world culture for us to simply accept Christianity when we’re a “Christian country”. The areas where other faiths and religions cross over are much greater than many people would imagine. But I can see people’s problems with organised religion, I’ve got no argument with that. I’m not into tribes. I wouldn’t go to war on anybody’s behalf.”

Do you think about death?
“Not so much, but I do have a constant notion about another life, another place. I think about spirituality. It lives with me like another dimension all the time. It guides me along. I hope that doesn’t make me sound like a Holy Joe or pious but I like to lean on that stuff. It makes life so much more interesting. Maybe this developed out of my ME years of nothingness. I wasn’t able to work and live as much as other people. Sometimes you’re only on 30%. You’ve got to fill in the other 70% yourself and that can be when spirituality jumps in, so maybe some people just don’t need it or their lives are full enough.”
Stuart officially joined the Church last month, along with his wife of two years, Marisa Privitera. An American born to Italian-Cuban parents, she appeared on the cover of The Life Pursuit and was pictured topless on the front of Belle & Sebastian’s Fans Only DVD, with her modesty preserved by a carefully-position book.

How did you meet Marisa?
“I met her briefly in Boston and then we met again at the Benicassim music festival in Spain. I think it was 2002. We met at the go-karts and she’d had a couple of gins and I told her to be careful. [He pauses] She’s phoning just now!”
Stuart digs into his pocket and plucks out his vibrating mobile - the kind you’d describe as a ‘brick’ - and has a brief, predominantly one-way, conversation (“Yeah... oh yeah... I’ll do that”) before he takes up the story again.
“She always hates that bit when I say that she’d had a couple of drinks. So she went on the go-karts and smashed it straight into the bales of hay and broke her foot. I was going to Barcelona and she had a couple of days before she went back to the States, so I had to carry her around the city. You get to know someone pretty well that way.”

Marisa moved to Scotland to do a Masters degree in film. They got married in New York and spent their honeymoon in Sicily, where they were invited to a typically Italian celebratory dinner with the extended Privitera family.
“We just had to stand there taking envelopes of money," he says. "It was like The Godfather. I’m telling you, if you marry a Sicilian, you do OK.”

How did you propose?
[Nervous laugh] “I didn’t exactly get down on one knee but we talked around it for a while. So I said, ‘Look, I’ll get hitched if we go to New York and do it in the public office and we don’t tell anyone’. So that’s what we did. That’s as magic as it gets! She always feels ripped off. She says, ‘I can’t believe I’ve got the most unromantic guy. You write all those songs and you can’t even say such-and-such. If only they knew the truth.’ I can’t imagine being married to any other person because she’s so tolerant of my entrenched ways. I’m a pain in the arse.”
Stuart’s relationship with Marisa and the way his eyes light up when he talks about her couldn’t be more different from his affair with former bandmate Isobel Campbell, which was largely kept hidden until she quit the band in 2002.
“If it wasn’t common knowledge then it was probably my fault," he admits. "I was a little bit ‘one foot in, one foot out’ with that and I put my hand up and say that’s not an ideal way to run a relationship. It’s definitely not an ideal way to run a band. It had, shall we say, an interesting dynamic that really wasn’t very positive. In saying that, for a couple of years the static between us was like an engine that ran the band for good or bad. I hear from Isobel less than it’s possible to hear from a person who lives in the same town as you. I’ve maybe bumped into her twice since she left, which is quite a feat. Just shows you how much we had in common.”

Is Morrissey still an idol for you?
“Yeah, a little bit. But I wouldn’t really want to meet him. I don’t think he’d be that nice. I’d rather keep him as an idol of the 80s - The Smiths, the first solo album. Whenever Morrissey plays the same festival as us he cancels. Up until a few years ago I would have really liked to have met him and hung out, had a coffee, but like I say, he just kept cancelling when we played. I figured he didn’t want to meet us.”

Do you have any other idols?
“I think Andy Murray is pretty great. Who would have seen that coming? A Scottish tennis player in the top three. It will be a great psychological weight lifted from the country if and when he finally wins a major. I think that would have happened if Colin Montgomerie had ever won a major.”

On April 23, exactly two months ahead of its release date, the full God Help The Girl album leaked onto the internet. However, Stuart isn’t too troubled.
“The hard fact is, we’re going to make a lot less money," he acknowledges. "Our sales will go like that [arrows hand done], they have done. But up until the point where I’ve having to seriously think about getting another job to get by, I can’t really complain. What’s the point in getting mad? The internet is a sort of approximation of what Belle & Sebastian was all about when we started. It’s a democratisation. It’s not so much them and us anymore. When we started we felt we weren’t different from the audience and they got that feeling from us, and that has been carried on with the internet. You maybe lose a bit of glamour on the way but it’s good for music.”

4 God Help The Girl - Perfection As A Hipster (Gary Olson vocal)
4 God Help The Girl - The Psychiatrist Is In (Catherine Ireton vocal)

The Pop Cop - on the beat of Scotland's music scene.

Music Alliance Pact - July 2009

Live review: T in the Park 2009

Weekend Anthem

Step Away From The Computer #9: T in the Park

Weekend Anthem

Step Away From The Computer #8: Electric Bay

Live review: Silversun Pickups @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

Weekend Anthem

Step Away From The Computer #7: Insider

Sound as a pound

Weekend Anthem

Step Away From The Computer #6: The Garden Party

Music Alliance Pact - June 2009

Weekend Anthem

Step Away From The Computer #5: RockNess

Live review: Derren Brown - Enigma @ Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

Weekend Anthem

T Break 2009: The chosen ones

Which is the best T Break act?

"Most of the record is based around all the shit things men do"

Live review: Malcolm Middleton @ Mono, Glasgow

Summer in the city

"I want to make this really clear, I did not beat up Amy Macdonald"

Step Away From The Computer #4: Stag & Dagger

Music Alliance Pact - May 2009

"We just had to stand there taking envelopes of money. It was like The Godfather. If you marry a Sicilian, you do OK"