Second Hand news

Freakin' hell. It used be that when you had 22 people lined up together it was a football match. Now it's called THE SECOND HAND MARCHING BAND, Scotland's multi-multi-instrumental supergroup extravaganza.

Putting to one side their actual music (which is rather scrumptious), it's how they manage to cope with the logistical nightmare of their existence that blows our minds. Getting this number of musicians fully rehearsed is hard enough, but fitting them all on a single stage for a gig is a whole other problem - it's not as if they're playing the SECC every week.

From what we can gather, co-founder Pete Liddle is the leader and his tremulous vocals give The Second Hand Marching Band a distinctive edge that ensures they're not just another group with guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, triangles, accordions, trumpets, tenor horns, saxophones, trombones, glockenspiel, castanets, marching drums, melodicas, woodblocks, tambourines, bells, violins, flutes and clarinets.

Impressively, their A Dance To Half Death EP has been recorded with a healthy dose of restraint and never feels overwhelmed by the sheer weight of sounds. They're certainly more Beirut than Polyphonic Spree.

Assuming you're now suitably intrigued enough to want to see them in the flesh, The Second Hand Marching Band are taking part in Gimme Shelter 4, which sees the homeless charity bringing together a quality line-up of acts in Edinburgh and Glasgow including Broken Records and one-quarter of Frightened Rabbit (i.e. Scott Hutchison doing an acoustic set) - click on the posters for full details.

4 The Second Hand Marching Band - A Dance To Half Death
4 The Second Hand Marching Band - We Will Convince You

b November 22, Tolbooth, Stirling (with De Rosa) (tickets)
b November 30, Mono, Glasgow (free)

Music Alliance Pact - November 2008

Vive la revolution! Following the wild success of the inaugural Music Alliance Pact last month, we've been working our wee socks off to collate November's selections, now expanded to 14 countries thanks to the additions of ambassadors from Canada and Norway.

Just to remind you, MAP is a venture set up by The Pop Cop in which the hottest music blogs from Planet Earth pick their favourite song of the month by an artist from their country then simultaneously post the entire collection of songs on their own sites on the same day.

There's some ridiculously good tunes to be heard this month, so enjoy the best that the world has to offer, starting with Scotland's very own boy wonder Beerjacket...

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 Beerjacket – Drum
Beerjacket is a young man with an acoustic guitar whose backing band comprises a tambourine and a drum machine. Stylistic comparisons to Elliott Smith or Jose Gonzalez wouldn't be far off, while his prolific output of albums offer an endearing lo-fi sound that lets the quality of his songs and the calibre of his songwriting steal the show.
b November 26, Bloc, Glasgow (free)

AMERICA: I Guess I'm Floating
4 City Center - Summer School
Brooklyn's City Center is the solo work of Fred Thomas from Saturday Looks Good To Me, focusing on ornamental, experimental pop songs created from found sounds, manipulated samples and Thomas's own guitar and vocals. While there's no official debut yet, he has released a handful of 7"s and there are over 30 free MP3s up for grabs at his blog. Look for a debut sometime in 2009.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Sync Filmico – El Polvo De Tus Sentimientos
With heavy influences from alt. rockers like Radiohead and Jaime Sin Tierra, this song is from Sync Filmico's second album, El Mar. It was released this year on CD and as free MP3 download from their website. Their first record was published under a Creative Commons license and can also be downloaded for free.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
There's a lot of buzz surrounding the new material from Melbourne's The Temper Trap and no wonder, because the first taste of their 2009-due album, Sweet Disposition, is a delay-driven melody fest. Recalling the sounds of '80s U2, Sweet Disposition was recorded in the UK with famed producer Jim Abbiss, who has worked with some little-known acts like Arctic Monkeys, DJ Shadow, Bjork and Massive Attack.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
4 Ketch Harbour Wolves – So Long To The Ground
Even by the standards of Canadian indie rock, Ketch Harbour Wolves are pretty under the radar. Dead Calm Horizon is one of the best albums of the year - and free for download on the band's site no less. Imagine that The National were transported to the Canadian wilderness and started writing songs about rural living and you'd have a good idea of where Ketch Harbour Wolves are coming from. The results are, simply put, hauntingly gorgeous.

DENMARK: Pastries, Peppers And Canals
4 Heidi Mortenson – It's True
Highly regarded as the queen of experimental, unpredictable music, Heidi's website says that she "makes colorful and textured songs with a nerdy and dazed approach; her sound grows from playful experiments and inventive production. Add emotional drive, a mentalist flavor and soul of old cartoon" - and who are we to argue?

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Mumford & Sons – Roll Away Your Stone
Here's some new folky goodness for you. Not folky as in the beardy sense, mainly because the kids in Mumford & Sons are probably too young to grow beards. Led by Marcus Mumford, this west London band peddle a sparkly, breezy, bluegrass-infused folk-pop, and given that they've been together for less than a year, they've arrived remarkably fully-formed.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 Hellvar – Nowhere
Together the two boys and two girls of Hellvar stir up a cocktail from electronica to new wave with a twist of lime. Debut album Bat Out Of Hellvar was released at the end of 2007 and was the first release on new Icelandic label Kimi Records. The band have toured in the USA, Germany and China.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 Cap Pas Cap – We Are Men (Thatboytim remix)
Cap Pas Cap are heavily inspired by rock music on the fringes - no wave, punk and Krautrock. As a taster for a debut in 2009, the band will release the We Are Men 12" in December with one original track and three hi-grade remixes from Decal, Jape and this from Thatboytim. As well as playing in Cap Pas Cap, members of the band run the Skinny Wolves label which releases stuff from the likes of Indian Jewelry, Telepathe and Effie Briest.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 Did – Ask U2
If I could have Foals playing at my house tonight, I would surely call Did as opening band. Four young guys from Turin who play "yellow punk-funk" with pop melodies. They have a free download debut EP out now on Kirsten's Postcard label. Dance!

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 My Little Pony – I Don't Know Pt.1
"The band, not the brand" seems to be a statement that will follow Norwegian indiepop orchestra My Little Pony forever. They recently released their debut album Think Too Much to great critical acclaim and new fans include one of Norway's biggest pop stars, Marit Larsen. My Little Pony are a pure pop band, where strong melodies and interesting lyrics make the framework of their music, but they also mix in several other genres in their indiepop universe, from bluegrass and Afro-jazz to reggae and more folk-oriented elements.

PERU: SoTB
4 Cemeterio Club – Stereoman
Cemeterio Club's history can be summed up in numbers - a 10-year career, four studio albums, three acoustic albums, one lengua MTV. Led by Jose Arbulú, they are a clear example that good rock sung in Spanish exists. Here’s Stereoman from their latest album, released last year.

SPAIN: El Blog De La Nadadora
4 Espanto – Profesora De Primaria
Espanto are a duo formed by Luis and Teresa, who come from a small city in the north of Spain. After releasing a series of extraordinary demos, their first CD, Cantando En Tu Siesta compiled their best songs up till 2007. Their music is basically pop, with references that range from Television Personalities to The Magnetic Fields.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 Hajen – Sharks
Hajen has a very limited repertoire (three MySpace demos to be exact), but she's just the type of artist that deserves the wider recognition the web can provide. She may not be completely ready for primetime but her uniquely Swedish take on the piano pop of Tori Amos and Regina Spektor is impressive. Hajen means shark in Swedish so it seems appropriate to highlight her theme song. With its warning of "sharks in the water, sharks up on land" you can bet this is not simply a tale of danger in the ocean.

• If you would prefer to download all 14 songs in one go, click here

The day the music died

A few days ago the plug was pulled on Xfm Scotland, thus ending any interest we had in switching on the radio.

In a move that makes as much sense as using a vacuum cleaner on a beach, the station's owners (headed by Richard Park, the Fame Academy judge who desperately attempted to pass himself off as the BBC's Simon Cowell) have replaced it with dance-orientated Galaxy Scotland.

What makes this decision so inexplicable is that popularity in dance music is at its lowest ebb in decades, while the indie scene has never been in a healthier state.

Just look at the facts. This year alone The Hold Steady, Fleet Foxes, Sigur Ros, MGMT, British Sea Power, Vampire Weekend, The Raconteurs, Elbow, Noah And The Whale, Bloc Party, Kings Of Leon and Biffy Clyro have all been in the top 20 of the UK album charts.

Meanwhile, Scotland's live music scene continues to thrive with sell-out gigs taking place every night, some great new venues popping up and at least half a dozen major music festivals in the summer calendar - an incredible number for a country of our size.

Xfm Scotland was far from perfect. Their playlists were somewhat predictable, but there was no better alternative for those seeking alternative music. The station came into its own during the evening shows, with DJs like Jim Gellatly working wonders to root out the best local talent (we discovered THE STREETLIGHT CONSPIRACY and THE STATE BROADCASTERS among many others through him) and giving them a priceless platform to reach a like-minded audience.

It's a sorry state of affairs when the only place left to hear decent music on the radio these days is at ASDA.

4 The Wombats - Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (XFM session)
b November 12, The Picture House, Edinburgh
b November 13, Carling Academy, Glasgow (tickets)

4 The Streetlight Conspiracy - Best On The Radio
b November 15, Box, Glasgow

4 The State Broadcasters - Let's Make T-Shirts
b November 15, Meridian, Leith
b November 22, Nice 'n' Sleazy, Glasgow

Live review: Okkervil River @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

It's good to have your faith in humanity restored every now and again. First, America elects Barack Obama as President, then we see proof that plenty of people in Glasgow appreciate the wonder of OKKERVIL RIVER - on tonight's evidence alone there are at least 500.

Apologies to anyone reading who was at Oran Mor - you don't need us to tell you that there are few bands who can boast such a repertoire of smart alternative indie rock songs, or that Will Sheff is the kind of effortlessly engaging and charismatic frontman you can't take your eyes off.

There's a simple way of telling just how much this group can get under your skin. Most people would have fallen in love with Okkervil River after hearing their 2007 breakthrough album The Stage Names, but given the enthusiasm afforded by the crowd to older gems Black and For Real it's clear that recent converts have found themselves irresistibly drawn to investigate their sizeable back catalogue.

And even though the Texans' new record The Stand-Ins is a bit patchy, there's no doubting that Lost Coastlines is a phenomenal pop song to rank up there with Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe and Unless It's Kicks as among the finest moments of this or any other Okkervil River gig.

Cruelly, the band are forced to cut their encore from three songs to one because the venue has to turn into a super-trendy Sunday disco to cater for the hundreds of West End clubbers queuing to get in (note the sarcasm), so we can only speculate that Okkervil River might have been planning to play The President's Dead and dedicate it to George Bush. In the end, though, a barnstorming Westfall goes down a treat.

4 Okkervil River - The President's Dead (from The Pop Cop to Mr Bush)
4 Okkervil River - Black (live)

Live review: Sigur Ros @ Carling Academy, Glasgow

SIGUR ROS exists in The Pop Cop's world in a way that no other band does. We have absolutely no idea what most of the Icelanders' songs are called without looking them up since the Sigur Ros listening experience invariably involves putting on their albums from start to finish. A rare thing these days.

The band have done away with their string and brass members for this tour, but it's testament to the holy racket these four guys can make all on their own that the lack of orchestration was really only noticeable at Glasgow's Carling Academy in just two songs in the two-hour set, Hoppípolla and Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur.

They open with the eerie restraint of Svefn-G-Englar, which it's easy to forget was the Sigur Ros signature tune for a good five years pre-Planet Earth. Compare that to their latest album's euphoric crowd-pleaser, Við Spilum Endalaust, which finds the group traversing comfortably in three-and-a-half-minute pop shoes.

This new-found confidence extends to the once painfully shy Jónsi Birgisson, who at last seems to be coming out of his shell as a frontman. He encourages the crowd to join in the "oh-oh-oh-ohs" during Með Blóðnasir and gets an enthusiastic response to his request for some flamenco handclapping on Gobbledigook, easily the most memorable song of the night as Icelandic post-rock support band For A Minor Reflection are invited to the stage to pound a few extra drums before the ceiling bursts open in an explosion of technicolour ticker-tape.

The gig is full of such gratifying crescendos. Festival morphs into a rock instrumental, cymbals crashing gleefully, and Orri Dýrason's drumming speeds up so fast during Hafsól that a bulky speaker shakes off its ledge and topples onto the back of his shoulders. He doesn't even flinch.

Out of the noise comes touching beauty. The three-way piano/xylophone intro to Sæglópur is heavenly, while All Alright is afforded a reverential pin-drop silence from 2,500 devotees.

That soon makes way for the epic, 12-minute finale of Popplagið (Untitled #8). Bassist Georg Hólm drives the staccato rhythm, Orri batters his instrument as though he's plugged in and Jónsi closes his eyes and howls into the microphone before dramatically sweeping his guitar to the front of the stage looking like a cross between a World War II general and Dracula.

As the final note is struck, beads of sweat are dripping down the necks of all four guys. They looked exhausted. Sigur Ros haven't even remembered to tell the crowd they've just played their last song, but their exit is swiftly followed by a final return to the stage for a farewell bow. My god, they deserve it.


4 Sigur Ros - Heima
4 Sigur Ros - The Little Match Girl

To absent friends

In our previous post we lamented about the fact that major labels were targeting music blogs and announced that we were boycotting Columbia artists on The Pop Cop as a show of support for fellow Scottish website 17 Seconds.

Bloggers have understandably been asking themselves this same question: "Has writing under the threat of legal action now become more trouble than it's worth?" - sadly, our compatriot Ross Pearson, who founded The Devil-Tips blog, concluded that the answer was 'yes'.

Ross emailed us this today:

"It's quite gutting, I got this email from somewhere saying that if I kept up posting tracks online that blah blah blah they are going to take legal action against me. It didn't really bother me that much but Blogger.com kept deleting my posts that whatever this person/law (whatever) wanted taken down with no warning. It's happened a couple of times and more often the last few months and it was just getting me down so I'm resigning from the blog business for a while. Might start it up again later once i'm on a lull at uni again but it's looking doubtful. It was quite disheartening to see posts just disappearing. I'm still reading The Pop Cop though. Keep going."

The reason we regard this as a truly sorry day is because the spirit of solidarity that exists between bloggers in Scotland is very real. This is not a domain populated by egos and one-upmanship. There is no rivalry or competitiveness since what we do is driven only by a shared passion for finding and enthusing about good music.

The sickest part of all is that those responsible for crushing this passion are faceless, clueless record company employees who should be doing the very job of those they are persecuting: promoting the music industry.

It would be so easy to let ourselves get dragged down by the doom and gloom, but salvation from the suppression comes from remembering just how healthy the music scene is in this country. Therefore, in tribute to The Devil-Tips, we're going to let the three finest Scottish bands around have the final say in this post.

BROKEN RECORDS have made available 16 songs in either demo, single or session form - but in our opinion Ukulele Song is the best of the lot and below we're offering you the only version anyone can get their hands on, recorded at The Bongo Club earlier this year.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT released a hot contender for the greatest album of 2008, a fact borne out by their mushrooming popularity. We're letting you hear their rarest song which can only be found as a bonus track on the Australian edition of The Midnight Organ Fight.

And finally we've got a firecracker of a tune from new Fat Cat Records signings WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS, recorded live at Caves in Edinburgh this summer.

4 Broken Records - Ukulele Song (live)
b November 6, Avalanche, Edinburgh (5.30pm, free)
b November 8, Elvis Shakespeare, Edinburgh (2pm, free)
b November 9, Avalanche, Glasgow (4pm, free)
b November 9, Oran Mor, Glasgow (supporting Okkervil River) (tickets)
b December 20, The Picture House, Edinburgh (tickets)

4 Frightened Rabbit - Don't
bNovember 14, Corn Exchange, Edinburgh (supporting Death Cab For Cutie) (tickets)
bNovember 29, King Tut's, Glasgow (sold out)
bDecember 9, Liquid Room, Edinburgh (tickets)
bDecember 10, Fat Sams, Dundee (tickets)
bDecember 11, Moshulu, Aberdeen (tickets)

4 We Were Promised Jetpacks - Short Bursts (live)
bNovember 25, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh (tickets)

It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone...

You may not have noticed, but several posts on The Pop Cop have been disappearing in the middle of the night without warning.

We first realised something was amiss when we received an email from Lindsay from The Next Big Thing. He had remembered reading our Glasvegas album review and was intending to link to it from his own site, only to be left scratching his head when it was nowhere to be found.

We've since republished it (we keep back-up copies of everything) but, perhaps naively, our initial thought was that some Glasvegas hater had somehow infiltrated our Blogger account and started deleting posts. So we emailed Google Support to ask if they could shed any light on the matter. Silence.

It was only when we read about an almost identical incident last week on the Edinburgh-based blog 17 Seconds that things became clearer. Their tale was even more extreme. They had done an exclusive and lengthy interview with Glasvegas singer James Allan back in January and had posted a few of the band's demos at the bottom of the piece. However, a full nine months later the original post was removed, with 17 Seconds receiving a takedown notification from Blogger (Google) which read:

"Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account."

But what makes this development so incredulous is that these were mp3s that the band themselves had actively circulated on the internet, as guitarist Rab Allan himself confirmed in an interview with Twisted Ear: "We put all our early demos up online for people, as we wanted them to know the words to the songs before they were coming to the gigs."

Now that the band are signed to major label Columbia, though, staff there are seeking out blogs which have written about Glasvegas and sending legal letters to Google to force them to delete the posts if they contain mp3s of the band's songs (as The Pop Cop album review originally did) - even if they are just demos.

Bearing in mind that the majority of music bloggers are genuine fans who spend hours of their own time promoting artists for no financial reward, it's disgusting behaviour that borders on bullying and it has convinced us to boycott writing about Columbia artists ever again, which frankly is no great loss since Glasvegas are one of the few credible ones on their roster.

The whole row has been discussed on other Scottish blogs such as Song, By Toad and The Vinyl Villain and from reading the feedback there it's clear that many people don't think Glasvegas themselves are immune from blame. In fact, we can tell you that the band have been made personally aware of the situation but have chosen not to comment on it.

While we'd be amazed if Glasvegas don't abhor their employers' campaign to target decent folk who have been championing them for months, we do have some sympathy for the band as they're in an impossible position. After all, it's always said that you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you.

Ultimately, though, they are the ones who will end up the biggest losers of all when the blogging community turns its back on them.

4 The Shins - Gone For Good (alternate version)