Archive for February, 2009

Music Alliance Pact – February 2009

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

The 15th day of the month means Music Alliance Pact time, when the blogging community comes together to offer up their favourite song for the world’s ears. Think of it as the international invasion it’s OK to support.

Last month we welcomed Babylon Noise to the party – a development so significant it was reported by MTV Romania no less, and with a fair degree of enthusiasm by the young brunette presenter, who is clearly a big fan of the Moozeek Alliance Pact.

It’s a tough act to follow. Perhaps our newest representative, Mexico blog Club Fonograma, can persuade Salma Hayek to unveil a pair of pants with “MAP” emblazoned across her bum cheeks in her next movie.

Until then here is this month’s greatest tracks, starting with the mighty, mighty Broken Records…
SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 Broken Records – Nearly Home
Edinburgh seven-piece Broken Records signed to renowned label 4AD last month, the just reward for over two years of personal sacrifice and preaching to the soon-to-be converted with their relentless touring schedule. Devoted followers like myself have already amassed as many as 18 of Broken Records’ epic, swooning, orchestral songs in one form or another – enough to predict that their debut album, scheduled for release this summer, will probably be 2009’s best.

(more…)

Posted in thepopcop | No Comments »

Live review: Ray LaMontagne @ Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Gigs aren’t usually memorable for their silences. During the gaps that exist from the end of one song and the start of the next RAY LAMONTAGNE said virtually nothing to a 2,500-strong crowd who hung on his every word.

The silences made a handful of individuals so uncomfortable they couldn’t help but fill the void with the kind of embarrassing heckling that reminds you why Glaswegians should be banned from radio phone-ins. This is how the banter flowed about six songs in…

Glaswegian woman 1: “Say something, Ray!”
Ray: ” ”
Glaswegian woman 2: “We love you, Ray!”
Ray: ” ”
Glaswegian woman 3: “Hi, Ray, how are you?”
Ray: “Hi.”
[Euphoric applause]
Glaswegian man 1: “Do you know any Bob Dylan?”
Ray: “Sorry, I can’t help you.”
[Crowd goes bananas]
Glaswegian man 1: “Any chance you could play Jolene again?”
Glaswegian woman 2: “Any chance you could shut the fuck up?”
[Ray leaves the building]

Perhaps he just wanted to save his voice for what it is renowned for – enchanting songs like Burn In My Skin, Jolene and Trouble. And he sure belted them out with passion and gusto, stomping his right foot onto the floor like a petulant teenager. Ray LaMontagne certainly won’t be the last man to take the contents of his tortured heart and empty it into lyrics, but few make you feel every pinprick of emotion like he can.

However, such is the inherent perfection in that voice and the aptitude of the American’s backing musicians, his songs come across as carbon copies of the studio versions. Clearly this is a good or a bad thing depending on whether you want your live performances to faithfully reproduce the originals or be a bit more spontaneous.

If, like us, you’re in the latter category then you’ll probably understand why it was The People who provided the main talking points.

4 Ray LaMontagne – Achin’ All The Time
4 Ray LaMontagne – Crazy (Gnarls Barkley cover)

Posted in thepopcop | No Comments »

Woo who?

Monday, February 9th, 2009

If you’re hoping to woo someone special with a personalised gift on Valentine’s Day then two ideas will almost certainly have crossed your mind: poetry and a mix CD. The Pop Cop can help you with both of these…

Do this. Find a room you can be alone in, turn off the TV, phone and anything else that might distract you. Light a candle. Search deep into your heart and think intensely about your true love, about shared memories and how this unique person has brought unbridled joy into your life. Now write five lines of prose – no more than 100 words in length – onto the bottom half of a sheet of white A4 paper. Done that? Good. Fold the paper horizontally down the middle, fold it in half again and grip it with your fingers. Now take your hand towards the candle, drop the paper into the flame and do nothing until it has burnt to a crisp.

Never write poetry.

Now we’ve cleared that up you can get on with the business of creating a mix CD. Read carefully, this is a compact disc NOT an mp3 playlist – never underestimate the superiority of a gift that is able to physically exist in the universe we inhabit.

OK, we’re not actually going to tell you what to put on your customised compilation. This is a gesture of intimacy. It’s an emotional journey in song that describes the exclusive bond between the two of you.

Scratch that. You want to make their bottom lip tremble like a tumble dryer, right? Then you must give your partner songs that a) they won’t already know and b) that will make them never forget the day they first heard them.

We have just the things at the end of this post. The two MUMFORD & SONS tracks, which were recorded at Radio 1′s Maida Vale studio just a couple of weeks ago, will take your breath away. They’re so incredible we’ve been playing them both on repeat for over an hour at a time. Mark these words: Mumford & Sons will be the biggest band Britain has produced since Coldplay.

Your next dead certs are by EMMY THE GREAT, creator of 2009′s first truly glorious album. Her full-length debut First Love is released this week and not only is it an irresistibly rewarding listening experience, she is a lyrical genius as well. If you fell under the spell of The Reminder by Feist you’ll have a good idea of what kind of delights to expect.

Once these four songs have inspired your senses, you should have few problems filling the rest of that Valentine’s disc. Just keep away from the poetry.

4 Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (session)
4 Mumford & Sons – The Cave (session)

4 Emmy The Great – Dylan
4 Emmy The Great – Snow
b February 14, King Tut’s, Glasgow (tickets)
b February 15, Moshulu, Aberdeen (tickets)
b February 16, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh (tickets)