Anything or anyone who reduces the creative process of songmaking to a public vote only has themselves to blame if they end up beaten to death by the ' music is not a competition ' brigade. The logic of something like the Scottish Alternative Music Awards is fundamentally warped - it turns artistic expression into a popularity contest and it asks musicians to become competitors. But, to be fair, these issues really only come into play if people take it more seriously [...]
It's been a couple of months since the last update on this site about the Save BBC Introducing in Scotland campaign and some of the most important developments have happened in that period, so here's a wee round-up of what's been going down and where things stand with regards to the future of the show. December 14, 2011: Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop invites the campaign team to meet her at Holyrood. We bring along a fairly [...]
I've seen Admiral Fallow so many times over the past couple of years that I notice nerdy things when they play live: they've got a brass section with them at the ABC1 therefore singer Louis Abbott doesn't parp "ba-ba-ba-ba" during Subbuteo's trumpets parts... Joe Rattray has completely ditched the double bass in favour of a conventional bass guitar... some of the lyrics in new song Beetle In The Box ("I eat your words and you mark my mistakes / We set the dictionary up [...]
From pedal bicycles to ATMs, from telephones to TVs, from fridges to, er, flushable toilets... Scotland has a proud history of invention and innovation. This long and distinguished heritage even extends to music. It was a Scot ( John Broadwood ) who gave the world the first piano footpedal, you know. Let's look at a few new projects that could shape how music in this country and beyond is commercialised for tourism, heard at gigs and purchased. MUSICAL MYSTERY TOUR THAT PUTS [...]
Thanks to everyone who showed an interest in The Pop Cop's fourth annual competition to find the Best Scottish live music photograph of the past year. There were 72 entries and these are the ones judge Harry Benson picked out as his favourites, with the winner bagging a pair of tickets to three different music festivals - Belladrum , Loopallu and Insider - plus two Golden Tickets to all the King Tut's Summer Nights gigs, not to mention their photograph displayed on this website's sidebar for [...]
Look at their cute wee faces. That's the Music Alliance Pact team in the montage. I co-ordinate this lot, and each and every one of them are as passionate about the music scene in their countries as I am about mine. The Music Alliance Pact (MAP) shares free music on the internet once a month through a network of blogs in more than 35 different nations. What we do is 100% legal. All the blogs obtain written permission from the copyright holder before they submit a track for inclusion in MAP and the mp3s are hosted by individual [...]
If there was a market for writing 140-character instant reviews of pop videos as they appear on music TV stations then Aidan Moffat certainly has it cornered. The former Arab Strap man has been tweeting for just over a year now, mostly late at night, mostly while claiming to be intoxicated (but with suspiciously impeccable grammar and spelling). Those who have been following him on Twitter will know that few pop stars escape his QWERTY quashings other than perhaps The Saturdays, Nicola Roberts and the love of his life, Cher Lloyd - but even she had to put [...]
Welcome to the 40th edition of the Music Alliance Pact, which takes a monthly snapshot of the world's best new acts according to music blogs from their countries of origin. For the first MAP of 2012, I've gone for Make Sparks , who have been getting stronger and stronger with every release and have a penchant for making attention-grabbing promo videos (see The Pop Cop feature here ). Keep an eye out for their new Part Of The Masquerade EP which comes out on February 28. Click the play button [...]
Given that a musician's talent derives from their hands, logic dictates that these special people should be above-average in bed and in the kitchen. While The Pop Cop's undercover investigation into our music scene's top 10 lovers remains ongoing, you will have to content yourself with the Scottish Musicians' Cookbook. Scottish musicians and cooking have more in common than you might realise: Joe Quimby of Take A Worm For A Walk Week and Remember Remember fame is best known for his passionate and occasionally unhinged blog Glasgow Mega Burrito which is devoted to [...]
It's easy to forget that less than 10 years ago King Tut's was one of very few options for small gigs in Glasgow. Back then, its only rivals were Nice 'N' Sleazy, Cathouse, 13th Note Cafe and the now-defunct 13th Note Club/Barfly. (There was also Strawberry Fields, but nobody in their right mind would step in there more than once.) Fast-forward to the present day and a heap of alternatives have sprung up in Glasgow: Stereo, Mono, The Captain's Rest, Bloc, Flat 0/1, Stairway as well as slightly larger venues in Classic Grand, Oran Mor and ABC2. King [...]
There's so much going on in Scotland throughout the year, it would be easy to overlook some significant events. To help minimise that risk, here's a schedule of the biggest and best musical happenings in 2012 to pencil in your diary. I'll keep this post updated throughout the year with any major new announcements and confirmed dates should you wish to bookmark it for future reference. January 5-19: King Tut's New Year Revolution , Glasgow January 19-February 5: Celtic Connections [...]
Happy New Year! If your 2012 resolution is to discover some hot new bands then today's your lucky day. At the last count there were 762 Scottish musicians on Twitter , so narrowing that down to the eight I think you should listen to isn't an easy or pleasant task, let me tell you. But here are the ones I'd put my money on, plus my two favourite non-Scottish newcomers... FRIENDS IN AMERICA ( Facebook / Twitter ) (Glasgow) Crisp [...]
The calendar flips over from 2011 to 2012 this weekend and, given that Scotland is the world's self-anointed Hogmanay party hotspot, expectation levels tend to be high. There's little danger of the occasion not being risen to, though, with an abundance of top-quality live musicians and DJs out 'n' about the country who have the unenviable task of leading sozzled punters into a countdown to oblivion. If, like most people, you don't intend to figure out how you'll be bringing in the Bells until December 31, this guide to Scotland's musical treats on New Year's Eve might come [...]
Merry Christmas, you! If you're sick of hearing the same old, tiresome tunes for the umpteenth time and Michael Bublé's Christmas album isn't quite putting you in the festive mood then fear not, salvation is here in the form of the best songs of 2011, which really ought to be combined with the tracks singled out in the best albums of 2011 post if you want the comprehensive guide to what's been rocking The Pop Cop world this year. You'll find a smattering of Music Alliance Pact favourites, some ace album tracks, a tune [...]
When I was compiling this list of the 10 albums I most enjoyed in 2011, I found myself at complete odds with what the vast majority of critics and media types have been frothing over. Acclaimed releases by muso darlings PJ Harvey and Bon Iver did little for me, and even closer to home, I still struggle to see what all the fuss is about with Scottish bloggers' favourite Everything's Getting Older by Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat. There was one album I continually revisited this year (actually, there were two but the Endor record came out in 2010) [...]
I didn't know what to get you for Christmas... so I came up with an idea. The Jukebox player on the right-hand side of this blog was launched 17 months ago and, since then, 39 people have paid £5 each to get a track on it for a month, raising a total of £180.06 (after PayPal took their cut). I pledged to use every donation "to support grassroots music" and now you're about to find out what I blew the budget on... I've been a huge fan of [...]
Last month The Pop Cop launched an appeal for Scottish bands to send in their T-shirts, partly because doing something charitable in the run-up to Christmas (all of the ones which were sent in are being donated to refugees and asylum seekers by Unity Centre Glasgow) is not the worst thing in the world, but more so because there's something quaintly romantic about band T-shirts that felt feature-worthy. Like it or not, strangers will instantly pigeonhole you into a genre if you wear such a T-shirt in public - either they'll know what kind of [...]
Music blogging is such a selfish discipline, an autonomous vanity project in which you attempt to convince readers that your music taste is clearly so much better than the blog next door. The quirky thing about having such an opinion-driven cartel is that you end up with lots of authors but very little authority. That might help explain why the opportunity to join forces with other bloggers in an effort to wield collective influence is so tempting. Around 30 UK music websites, The Pop Cop included, contributed to a poll called The Blog Sound [...]
December 2, 2011: The first batch of T in the Park 2012 tickets are on sale from 9am this morning. Katie Sutherland has ditched the moniker Pearl And The Puppets and is now going by her real name. She has also signed up to PledgeMusic to encourage fans to help fund the release of her debut album by reserving their copy in advance and purchasing exclusive goodies. December 1, 2011: Hog The Street have chosen a shortlist of 10 acts who will take part in a "busk-off" [...]
The Save BBC Introducing in Scotland campaign is in its 60th day so it seems like a good time to let you know how things are progressing as we've made some enormous strides. November 9: We were invited to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh to meet Joan McAlpine MSP , who has been the campaign's most vocal and proactive supporter within the Scottish Government's zanily-designed corridors. She and her researcher Gail Lythgoe were tremendously receptive - they were keen to find out what help we needed/wanted to move [...]
The Pop Cop
My Funny Valentines
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
