Archive for January, 2009

No contest

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

If the careers of David Sneddon, Michelle McManus and Leon Jackson are anything to go by, TOMMY REILLY can look forward to a future of obscurity, humiliation and indifference… which would be a right shame because this latest Scottish winner of a national TV talent contest deserves much better.

The 19-year-old singer-songwriter beat 7,000 other hopefuls from the UK to be crowned T4′s Orange Unsigned Act champion last weekend, with Glasgow band Hip Parade coming second. Tommy’s prize was a modest £60,000 advance, which isn’t even enough to buy half a house in his hometown of Torrance, but it will at least allow him to record and release an album.

And there’s a fair chance it’ll turn out to be rather decent. Tommy may not be the greatest of singers or guitarists (his cover of Mr Brightside suggested his best instrument is actually the piano), but he is gutsy, honest, unpretentious and unmistakably Scottish-looking.

Judging by his lyrics, which cutely namecheck Glasgow hotspots, he also seems to be crushingly unlucky in love. He sings about forcing himself to drink coffee in Ashton Lane in a bid to pull (I Don’t Like Coffee) and being dingied by a girl he met in the ABC (current single Gimme A Call).

Curiously, however, he decided not to use his best song by far during his television appearances, Cards On The Table, which highlights his self-proclaimed Frightened Rabbit influence.

So perhaps the best is yet to come from Tommy Reilly, but either way he is one of the good guys. Gaun yersel’, pal!

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The Homecoming hero

Monday, January 26th, 2009

If you live in Scotland you won’t have been able to escape the fact that 2009 has been branded Homecoming year, a marketing ploy dreamed up by the Scottish Government with two aims:

1. To convince expats to return and pay their taxes in Scotland instead.
2. To lure rich Americans people with tenuous tartan ancestry into booking golfing holidays in Scotland.

Quite why us Scottish residents are being targeted by a TV campaign makes absolutely no sense then, and neither does the SNP’s decision to feature staunchly patriotic Scots such as Sir Sean Connery (resident of the Bahamas) and Lulu (resident of London) in their cringeworthy advert singing Caledonia. It’s a wonder they didn’t wheel out Rod Stewart.

The question is, who on earth would be tempted to give up a life of sunshine for a return ticket to Scotland? How about one of the most successful and exceptional contemporary singer-songwriters you’ve never heard of…

ALEXI MURDOCH was raised in Elgin and Glasgow, but he has been living the American dream in Los Angeles for the past six years, embarking on a terrifically fruitful solo music career that has seen combined sales of his Four Songs EP and stunning debut album Time Without Consequence run into the hundreds of thousands.

Although there is no getting away from comparisons to Nick Drake with his finger-picking style of acoustic guitar playing, Alexi’s vocal palette is much deeper and richer, lending itself quite beautifully to a quality of songcraft we come across perhaps once or twice a year at best.

Last year, while Alexi was on holiday in Greece where his parents live, he received an email from a Canadian friend asking if he would come on board as support for her autumn tour. And so Alexi found himself spending the months of September, October and November visiting pretty much every major city in North America with Alanis Morissette.

Alexi’s songs have been played on episodes of The OC, House, Prison Break, Dawson’s Creek, Ugly Betty, Dirty Sexy Money, Grey’s Anatomy and Without A Trace, as well as films like Garden State and Gone Baby Gone. Yet so inconspicuous is the 35-year-old in his home country, a rare Scottish live appearance at the 2006 Indian Summer festival in Glasgow saw him described in the official website as “highly-praised dark folk songs from this American newcomer”.

Now, though, he has moved back to Scotland, living the quiet life by the sea on the west coast as he plans the next stage of his unique career. Perhaps this will be the year his compatriots finally sit up and take notice of an amazing talent that walks among us. Alexi Murdoch is a homecoming hero to be proud of if ever there was one.

4 Alexi Murdoch – All My Days
4 Alexi Murdoch – Blue Mind

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Win two tickets to see Joe Brooks

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

JOE BROOKS is going to be big – so big, in fact, that you’ll probably come to resent him by the time success, fame and infinite wealth have brainwashed his young mind.

Perhaps we’re being a bit presumptuous. Joe isn’t your typical 21-year-old from Southampton. Not only is he a Christian, but he’s the kind of Christian who likes to let strangers know he’s a Christian. He has built homes for the poor in Tanzania, he once quoted Mother Teresa on his website and he lists his main influence as “The Big Man Upstairs”. We’re guessing that doesn’t mean Gary Barlow is his neighbour.

Despite a genuinely massive MySpace profile and fans aplenty on both sides of the Atlantic, he has so far resisted the temptation to commit himself to a record label, although the slickness of his songs and the operation behind him suggests that someone with a large wad of cash is carefully pushing Joe in the right direction.

For starters, he’s supported by Gibson guitars, only uses Elixir strings and endorses Adobe (WTF?!). He also uses blonde girls in hot pants to promote his merchandise empire. A Christian and a capitalist then.
But let us judge the boy on his music. His acoustic-based melodies are very much in the style of Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz and his gentle vocal delivery is easy on the ears. Indeed, this is the perfect time to start preferring his early stuff and catch him in small venues before the relationship loses its intimacy.

And on that subject, The Pop Cop has a pair of free tickets to give away for Joe’s gig at King Tut’s on Tuesday. To be in with a chance of winning, just answer this ridiculously easy question:

What city is Joe Brooks from?

Email your answer, name and address to thepopcop@gmail.com no later than Sunday, January 25. Good luck.

4 Joe Brooks – Holes Inside
4 Joe Brooks – Getting Away

b January 27, King Tut’s, Glasgow (tickets)

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