The end is NYE

There are few things that define the Scots race more than Hogmanay. But does anyone else think it somewhat ironic that New Year's Eve is the one day we choose to celebrate like there's no tomorrow?

If you are mental enough to abandon the comfort, safety and queue-free environment of your toasty warm home, there's a wide variety of live music to watch while you sip tepid beer from a plastic glass.

In the capital, Edinburgh have a bit of everything. Their main Concert in the Garden event hosts ned favourites KASABIAN as well as dodgy disco from CALVIN HARRIS and local heroes IDLEWILD. The nearby Waverley Stage will see KING CREOSOTE play in the shadows of his Castle, with lad band wannabes FIGURE 5 in tow.

Glasgow boasts an all-Scottish affair for their main attractions, with Dryburgh upstarts THE VIEW headlining at George Square with support from Bishopbriggs chanteuse AMY MACDONALD. So plenty of louts and pouts there then. If you prefer to get your kicks indoors, head to the ABC for their electro night of BIS and ERRORS.

2 MANY DJ'S clearly want to milk the occasion for all it's worth as they are doing their thing at the Colours club night at both Edinburgh and Glasgow - and you'll have to spend more than £40 for the privilege of hearing the Soulwax duo play other people's records.

Aberdeen has gone for TRAVIS and SANDI THOM. An easy night for the cops there then.

And finally, Stirling bagged THE PROCLAIMERS. Hopefully, the punters won't give Charlie Reid a hard time after he was exposed in the News of the World. Watch out, ladies.

See you in 2008, pop kids!

4 Amy Macdonald - Caledonia

b George Square, Glasgow

4 Bis - Eurodisco

b ABC, Glasgow

4 Calvin Harris - The Girls (Radio edit)

b Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

4 Errors - Mr Milk

b ABC, Glasgow

4 Figure 5 - Bone Idle

b Waverley Stage, Edinburgh

4 Idlewild - Last Night I Missed All The Fireworks

b Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

4 Kasabian - Club Foot
b Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

4 King Creosote - Home In A Sentence

b Waverley Stage, Edinburgh

4 The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Nite mix)

2 MANY DJ'S: b The Arches, Glasgow and City Nightclub, Edinburgh

4 The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

b Stirling Castle, Stirling

4 The View - Don't Look Back Into The Sun (The Libertines cover)
b George Square, Glasgow

4 Travis - Blue Flashing Light
b Castlegate, Aberdeen

"I was talking to Helena Christensen. She wanted to party but I told her I was married."

The National live at Rockefeller Music Hall, Oslo, 02/12/07

Date: December 2, 2007
Time: 19.00
Location: Rockefeller Music Hall, Oslo
Interview subject: Matt Berninger, The National
Background info: The National are a band from Cincinnati, Ohio but now based in Brooklyn, New York. They comprise Matt Berninger (vocals) and two pairs of brothers - Aaron Dessner (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar) plus Bryan Devendorf (drums) and Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar). Their fourth album Boxer was The Pop Cop's album of the year.

The Pop Cop went on a 1262-mile round trip to interview THE NATIONAL in Oslo. If you think that's dedication, it's nothing compared to the band themselves, who played 114 shows in 223 days from May to December. Their relaxed and charming frontman Matt Berninger greeted us with a warm handshake at gig No.109 to talk candidly about everything from religion and politics to superstars and supermodels.

Do you enjoy Christmas?
When I was a little kid I loved it but then I went through a phase of social anxiety around the big family stuff during adolescence when I was a grumpy, weird kid. Holidays always kinda freaked me out. Now my sister has two little daughters and it’s a much smaller, nuclear Christmas. There’s something nice about just being with your mom and dad and your brother and sister and your brother-in-law. My wife Carin will be there too and watching her kids open presents...[pauses] I’m starting to really like Christmas again.

How was the band’s European tour?
We went to Zagreb three years ago and there were 60 people at that show, which we were actually really surprised about because I think it was before Alligator came out. This time there were 1200... I don’t know if we’ve sold any records there but people certainly have it! It was loud, as was Glasgow and Ireland, none of us could hear anything. Even the slow songs like Racing Like A Pro, everybody was screaming at the top of their lungs [does hoarse mock-yell] “YOU’RE... MIND... IS...!”. I’m assuming many bands/musicians have that weird moment when something they wrote in their bedroom is being sung back to them by 1000 people they’ve never met.

What was it like meeting Michael Stipe and Mike Mills of REM after your London show?
They were really nice. Michael’s very charming and sweet. He’d seen us once before at a festival and came up afterwards and introduced himself to me. He said, “Hey, how are you doing? I’m Michael.” Obviously, he’s Michael! He’s such an icon. Not the least bit weird. I don’t know why you always expect famous people to be weird - I always do. But most of the time they aren’t. Bruce Springsteen, who I didn’t meet personally but the other guys did, was just very down to earth and easy to talk to. You can ask them stupid questions about songs and they’re happy to talk about it. I asked Mike Mills, “How do they stay friends?” because it’s hard, you live on a bus. And he said something like, “Well, just remember you were friends before the band started.”

It was Scott’s birthday that night so he got a cake backstage after the show and Michael and Mike sang Happy Birthday. It’s funny, Scott has also had Gwen Stefani sing Happy Birthday to him. Scott and his wife Liz, who is a fashion designer for Gwen’s label L.A.M.B., were in LA and Gwen and Gavin Rossdale asked them to come to their house where they had a big cake for him. He’s had all these celebrities singing Happy Birthday to him.

When that kind of stuff happens I immediately email all my friends. Helena Christensen came up to me after a show once, so [mimes typing gesture] ‘I was talking to Helena, I couldn’t hang out too long. She wanted to party but I told her I was married’.

Have you ever heard a National song on the radio?
Yeah, it’s happened a couple of times. It’s been weirder when I’ve been walking down the street and heard our song coming out of Gap. My aunt was at a highway reststop and heard Fake Empire in the restroom.

Can you play any instruments?
I’m lucky to be in a band but I never learned how to play anything. When I was a kid I took piano lessons but I was bad at it. It caused me so much anxiety that it left a bad taste. Art was the thing I did. I drew and painted and I would take art classes all the time in school. I listened to endless college rock and The Smiths. I kinda became that artsy-fartsy guy but I never learned how to play a guitar.

Mr November was partly written about John Kerry. Does American politics inspire you?
It comes into our music in small, non-political ways if that makes any sense. For instance, Fake Empire has no political message in it at all, but it has been interpreted that way. That song is just as much about trying to forget politics. It was never intended to be a critique of American apathy or whatever - maybe there’s a bit of that, but it’s more a self-critique of my own apathy and not wanting to pay attention any more.

When Bush won a second time, I think most liberal thinking...[pauses] it was so depressing. I just put my head in the sand, tried not to think about it and hoped to wake up four years later and it would be over. If there’s a theme on Boxer that’s definitely one of them - trying to escape from thinking about the things that are just too depressing and difficult to figure out. It's getting really exciting now, though.

Does religion influence your thinking?
Probably only on the level of being frustrated with people taking the easy road with religion... not making decisions on things that are abstract. In America, the reason we have George Bush twice in a row is because, according to Religious Rights, gays are against God. That’s just a silly, absurd thing and that’s where religion just fucks the world up [looks up and shakes his head]. If it ever comes into songs it’s because I’m annoyed with it. On the other hand, I do absolutely respect and understand faith and I do have faith in something spiritual [starts picking at bit of sticky tape on table]. But organised religion bugs me a lot.

Is the band’s documentary [A Skin, A Night] finished?
It’s in its final stages of editing. It’s not a full-on documentary. Vincent Moon was with us in the studio for just a short period while we were making Boxer, then he was with us on tour for a little while. It will probably come out with a CD of live material and other unreleased things, B-sides and stuff, that’s the idea. Hopefully it will be out early next year.

What direction will the next album take?
I don’t know. Right now - and this might be a failed experiment - we’re trying to write songs that are very simple and straightforward. That’s my idea. The other guys are like, "Fuck that!". We didn’t know what Boxer was going to be like until it was almost finished, so we have no idea what to do next.

4 The National - Lucky You

Boxer Day

And the winner of the Best Album award for 2007 is...

THE NATIONAL - BOXER

No record has come close to affecting us this (or any other) year quite as much as Boxer has. What made it all the more remarkable was that our love affair with Alligator, The National's magnificent 2005 album, was still going strong when Boxer was released in May.

In truth, it took us a good few listens to begin to appreciate the greatness within. Fake Empire and Slow Show were instant classics that seemed to stand head and shoulders above everything else. But strangely, magically, new favourites seemed to emerge weekly.

There was the no-nonsense driving rock of Apartment Story, the U2-ish guitar sounds of Guest Room and, more recently, the screeching, spiky brilliance of Brainy. The fact we didn't get these songs immediately seems almost unthinkable now but, for us, it makes Boxer an even more rewarding listening experience.

In terms of musicianship and lyrical creativity, Boxer is without parallel. We can't think of another album in which the drumming is the first thing that stands out and gives every song an immediate sense of intensity.

The rest of the band are also at the peak of their powers, while singer Matt Berninger finds new ways to express the depths of his imagination with lyrics such as "Looking for somewhere to stand and stay/ I leaned on the wall and the wall leaned away" and "Tiptoe through our shiny city with our diamond slippers on/ Do our gay ballet on ice/ bluebirds on our shoulders".

And so it was our pleasure and privilege to meet Matt (above), who accepted the award for Boxer on behalf of The National.

THE POP COP: Well done, Matt. Your band is the winner of The Pop Cop's inaugural award for the Best Album of 2007. How does it feel?
MATT: Nice...[looks at award] I was thinking, ‘That’s not our album cover’.

THE POP COP: It’s our website logo.
MATT: Now I remember. That’s awesome. Cool. Thank-you very much. We’ll hang this in the bus.

THE POP COP: What has Boxer meant to you this year?
MATT: In terms of our career as a band, it has been a big thing for us. Alligator started people paying attention so we knew we had an opportunity to walk through the door that was cracked open by it.

When we finished Boxer none of us had a clue what people were going to think. It doesn’t have some of the loud, screaming songs that were on Alligator so there was a moment of ‘we may have blown it’. We didn’t know what kind of record we were making but when it was done we were all really happy. It’s very satisfying and validating for us to say that people have responded to it. It’s changed things for us a lot.

THE POP COP: Are you surprised at just how much people have loved Boxer?
MATT: It has had great reviews but we’re just starting to get a sense of overall how many people it has reached from how many people have been coming to shows. We’ve never played in front of so many people on a tour so it’s starting to sink in now that it’s a huge step for us. We’re all excited and a little surprised that it’s connected so well.

We’ve always been climbing, scraping, trying to knock on doors and scratch through the windows, but it feels like we’ve finally gotten somewhere. It’s not like we’re international stars or anything but the cement has dried and we’re standing firmly in a place that we never knew if we’d ever get to.

The Pop Cop will bring you the rest of our exclusive interview with Matt Berninger very soon...

4 The National - Brainy

The best albums of 2007 [10-2]

As much as we'd like to pretend otherwise, The Pop Cop's daily ritual of deciding what music to listen to usually starts with a lot of involuntary gesturing that could only be eloquently described as "hoo-ing and ha-ing". Then, after surveying the sheer magnitude of tunes from which to choose from, comes the inevitable look of despair... the kind that would be expected from a death row inmate who had just been asked to pick their last meal from a menu.

More often than not, what eventually finds its way on to the PC playlist is a random selection of mp3s which provide a quick-fix for whatever mood we are in that morning. And this may explain why we found it much easier to list our best songs of 2007 than agree on what our favourite albums of the year were.

The problem is that many people, ourselves included, are often reluctant to risk their precious time listening to new albums which come with a guarantee of duration, but not of quality. So when one comes into The Pop Cop's life which manages to grab our attention AND hold it... well, that makes us very happy.

We can genuinely say our favourite records of 2007 are very special to us indeed. Here are the ones that made our top 10.

• 10. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Blue CD-R [taster: Ladies Of Cambridge (aka Boston)]
• 9. DAMIEN RICE – 9 [taster: Coconut Skins]
• 8. RYAN ADAMS – Follow The Lights EP [taster: If I Am A Stranger]
• 7. MIKA – Life In Cartoon Motion [taster: Love Today]
• 6. OKKERVIL RIVER – The Stage Names [taster: Plus Ones]
• 5. FRIGHTENED RABBIT – Sing The Greys [taster: Music Now]
• 4. THE SHINS – Wincing The Night Away [taster: Phantom Limb]
• 3. ARCADE FIRE – Neon Bible [taster: Ocean Of Noise]
• 2. FEIST – The Reminder [taster: The Park]
• 1. THE NATIONAL - Boxer [see post]

The best songs of 2007

Trust us to be awkward. Rather than do a run-of-the-mill list for our favourite songs of 2007, we have instead made them into a fantasy double album for your listening pleasure.

Each of the two albums will fit onto a standard 80-minute CD (people still use those, right?) so we recommend you follow the links at the bottom of the lists, download the albums in their entirety and burn, baby, burn. We have deliberately not rated the songs (they are like children to us... except that they shut up after three minutes) in any sort of order except a vaguely alphabetical one, so be assured that CD1 is every bit as close to our bosoms as CD2.

If you can really only be bothered to download an individual mp3 then you'll be glad to know we've made that possible for you too - just do the usual 'right click and Save Target As...' special move on the title of the track you want. Don't say The Pop Cop isn't good to you. If you agree with our choices or think we've forgotten something or helped you discover the best song ever, ever, ever... tell us in the comments section. You know it would make our day.

The Pop Cop Best Of 2007 CD1

• ARCADE FIRE - No Cars Go - For anyone who had witnessed the band play this epic song live pre-Neon Bible, it was a re-recording no one could argue over the merits of. Spellbinding.
• BEERJACKET - Belong In - As worthy an introduction to Glasgow's greatest man-with-a-guitar act as you could wish for. Finger-pickin' good and he might even be playing percussion on a kitchen sink somewhere in there.
• BIFFY CLYRO - Machines - The Killie rockers go all soft and gooey, but didn't they do it well. Genuinely affecting end to their Puzzle album.
• BLOC PARTY - Flux - The daddy of all indie-dance crossovers... you just knew they had something as genius as this in them.
• BRIGHT EYES - Four Winds - Conor Oberst writes his best song yet. Barnstorming folk and impossible to dislike.
• COCONUT RECORDS - Nighttiming - We've only just recently discovered this piece of retro funk, and it comes from a proper movie star no less. Who knew Jason Schwartzman (of Darjeeling Limited fame) was the disco king?
• FEIST - 1234 - Despite the risk of over-exposure on the iPod ad, resistance to the charms of a tune this summery was futile.
• FRIGHTENED RABBIT - Be Less Rude - Scotland's great hopes of 2008 show why they're just that. Immediate and immensely satisfying.
• INTERPOL - The Heinrich Maneuver - The only decent track off their third album but what a belter. Every bit as brilliant as its kindred spirit, Slow Hands.
• JIMMY EAT WORLD - Chase This Light - Unfailingly catchy driving anthem from the rock band everyone should fall in love with.
• KATE NASH - Foundations - She's unlikely to ever write anything as glorious again. Would be a novelty song if it wasn't for the fact we're still not sick of it after incessant spins.
• MALCOLM MIDDLETON - Stay Close Sit Tight - Forget the mass publicity of his Xmas single, this orchestral lullaby is how you should get acquainted with Falkirk's finest.
• MIKA - Happy Ending - Unapologetically over the top but screams out talent rather than ego. Conclusive evidence that pop music can have substance.
• MODEST MOUSE - Dashboard - More bonkers jerky pop from the Americans. Five albums in and they just keep getting better.
• OKKERVIL RIVER - Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe - Crazy title, crazy song really - it's like some sort of throbbing prog-pop masterpiece. We'll have what they're having.
• PLAIN WHITE T'S - Hey There Delilah - The new Time Of Your Life. It's like one of those simple inventions you wonder why no one else thought of first. Altogether now: "Oh, it's what you do to me..."
• THE NATIONAL - Fake Empire - Majestic introduction to the wonder that is Boxer. Has any song ever started and finished so gloriously?
• THE SHINS - Split Needles (Alternate Version) - B-sides aren't meant to be this good. Quite why the band thought the original that made it onto Wincing The Night Away was better is beyond us.
• WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS - Moving Clocks Run Slow - Remarkably accomplished beat-driven indie that just bursts with restless energy. Expect big things from these young Scots, The Pop Cop's best find of 2007.
  
  Click here to download CD1 as one file

The Pop Cop Best Of 2007 CD2

• AMY MACDONALD - Mr Rock & Roll - Jaunty and slick acoustic goodness from Glasgow's new pop kid on the block. Shrewd beyond her years.
• ARCADE FIRE - Intervention - Proof that the songs from Funeral could be bettered. Orgasmic organs heralded the return of the kings.
• ARCTIC MONKEYS - Flourescent Adolescent - The hilariously sharp lyrics and slapstick melody made it a real gem on an otherwise disappointing second album.
• BAND OF HORSES - Is There A Ghost - There are only 14 words in this song but the swelling guitars and echoey vocals lift it to heights of greatness.
• BLOC PARTY - I Still Remember - Utterly impeccable feelgood anthem that is as catchy as the plague.
• DAVID GRAY - You're The World To Me - Soppy man love, but in a good way. Quite possibly his best effort in eight years.
• FEIST - I Feel It All - The queen of the underground couldn't stay a secret for much longer with songs this pulsating. As lively as a box full of horny rabbits.
• FINK - This Is The Thing - The one from the Mastercard advert. Moody, beautifully restrained and very special indeed.
• JIMMY EAT WORLD - Big Casino - Arena-shaped joyful power rock of the 'have to hear it every day' variety.
• MARK RONSON feat. AMY WINEHOUSE - Valerie - How this pisses all over The Zutons' original. The only woman who can turn jazz into something to get excited about.
• MAXIMO PARK - Our Velocity - Frantic, 100mph indie pop from the most hyperactive band on the planet. Only an asthma attack could be more breathless.
• MIKA - Grace Kelly - Now that's how you make a good first impression. Absolutely flawless and a lesson in originality from the best thing to happen to the business end of the charts in years.
• OKKERVIL RIVER - Unless It's Kicks - Takes a single guitar riff and refuses to let go. Just begs to be played loud.
• RILO KILEY - Silver Lining - Funky, sexy dream pop. Jenny Lewis and Co are almost too slick and polished to be called an indie band these days.
• SUGABABES - About You Now - Completely irresistible. The hottest thing to happen to a dancefloor in our lifetimes.
• THE NATIONAL - Slow Show - The best song ever made? Actually, that last sentence shouldn't even have a question mark.
• THE SHINS - Turn On Me - Unputdownable and, unlike most Shins numbers, singalongable too. My, they spoiled us this year.
• TIMBALAND feat. NELLY FURTADO and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - Give It To Me - Put down your umbrella, this was the greatest R&B song of the year by miles. The man with the golden touch does it again.
• VOXTROT - Introduction - Touchingly beautiful and sparkling opener to the Texans' debut album. Lovely stuff indeed.
  
  Click here to download CD2 as one file

Glasvegas or bust

When it comes to music publications, there are two things you can guarantee about the month of December:
1. An end-of-year 'Best Of' list is imminent.
2. A 'Hot Tips' list for next year will be right behind it.

Regular visitors to The Pop Cop will notice we haven't lowered ourselves to such formulaic, clichéd and utterly unoriginal practices. Why? We're still working on our lists! Seriously, it'll be the highlight of our year.

In the meantime, we've been putting our hands to our mouths in mock shock at everyone else's choices - let's face it, we're not going to agree with anyone except ourselves on something this important. For instance, those crazy kids at NME put Daddy's Gone by GLASVEGAS at No.2 in their top tracks of 2007 list. (True story: The Pop Cop turned down an offer from editor Conor McNicholas to write for NME in 2002 on principle of it being such a repulsive read.)

Now, we're not about to start tearing strips off a band as new and as Scottish as Glasvegas on a website that promotes new and Scottish music... but second best song of the year? Please. We can only put it down to the novelty factor of English folk hearing our slang words such as "wan", "aboot", "fur" and "want" (when it rhymes with "pant") in song. It's no wonder their manager Alan McGee described the band as "rockabilly neds".

Before you go thinking McGee has his finger on the pulse, in the same article he also wrote that Glasvegas couldn't "give a toss about the NME and major labels". That'll be the same Glasvegas who are playing on the NME Awards tour and about to announce their major label deal with Columbia Records.

If you want to find out who we think is more worthy of hot tips and pop hits, keep your browser pointing this way in the next few days...

4 Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone (single version)

b December 19, Nice 'n' Sleazy, Glasgow (sold out)
b December 20, Club de Mar, Ayr
b February 21, Barrowlands, Glasgow (supporting The Wombats)

Where are the fans, Healy?

In this all-embracing era of borderless fanbases and the capability to spread music from a studio to a study in the click of a mouse, it would seem almost impossible for the popularity of a band as prominent as TRAVIS to decline so rapidly and steeply.

It was little more than five years ago, in March 2002, that Glasgow's most famous musical exports sold out four nights at the SECC at the peak of their fame, having at that point delivered three albums of increasingly mesmeric songcraft - Good Feeling, The Man Who and The Invisible Band.

But did The People literally have too much of a good thing? While other big-hitters get away with delivering underwhelming albums (Oasis, for example, have made it a habit since 1997), Fran Healy and Co's decidedly average 12 Memories somehow managed to drive away the majority of their followers.

And disconcertingly, they haven't returned, even though this year's The Boy With No Name shimmers with the kind of instant melodies that have influenced the likes of Coldplay, Keane, Stephen Fretwell, The Feeling and Amy Macdonald.

Travis are arguably Scotland's most successful band of all time and while they may be irked that their heyday is behind them, you can be sure they appreciate the fans who have stuck by them even more. After all, it's in tough times that you find out who your real friends are.

4 Travis - River (Joni Mitchell cover)

b December 30, Barrowlands, Glasgow
b December 31, Castlegate, Aberdeen

Free for all

With Christmas fast approaching, there's no choice but to adhere to the trusty 'if you don't ask, you don't get' policy when it comes to receiving that CD on your Amazon wishlist.

If, however, you are brave (foolish) enough to instead opt for the 'hope for the best' approach, you might as well start counting down the days until you find yourself unwrapping Top Gear - Seriously Cool Driving Music which, blimey, looks quite decent actually now that we've viewed the tracklisting.

Alternatively, should you like your music to be Scottish and cost as little as possible (some might say the two go perfectly together... hey, it's not a stereotype, that's how it is around here!) then look no further than THE MARTIAL ARTS.

Who they? Glad you asked because we didn't have a clue either until we received an email the other day from the Glasgow band's singer, Paul Kelly. He informed us that the quartet are signed to Groover Recordings in Sweden, which probably explains why almost all of their reviews come from sources with Scrabble-winning names such as Arbetarbladet, Dalademokraten, Musiklandet, Borlänge Tidning and Sundsvalls Tidning ("Tidning" being the Swedish word for "newspaper"... obviously).

And since this is the season for giving, The Martial Arts are letting internet-savvy music lovers - that'll be readers of The Pop Cop then - download their entire album Your Sinclair for free. Yes, you read right, that's all 10 tracks of the band's jangly Happy Days-esque retro pop and your conscience could be no more clear had you just bought eggs of the free-range variety. You can sample the goods below but we guarantee you'll soon be clicking here to get the whole package.

4 The Martial Arts - Finale

b December 15, 13th Note Cafe, Glasgow

Bloc, shock and two smoking singles

You have to hand it to BLOC PARTY. The last time an indie rock band made a song that was as impulsive, unprocessed and startling as Flux was ten long years ago. And that was called Paranoid Android.

The question of whether Kele from the Bloc and his chums can actually pull off a live version of the single - a four-minute electronic masterpiece that was surely designed to be blasted out of dancefloor speakers - will soon be answered.

In the meantime, this one-off effort has been indecently squeezed between tracks nine and ten of a re-released version of the Londoners' 2007 album A Weekend In The City. Christmas is the season for milking after all.

Funnily enough, we seem to remember Bloc Party's label pulling off an identical stunt in 2005, with the group's mighty pop anthem Two More Years subsequently finding itself hurriedly tagged onto the end of debut record Silent Alarm.

It just goes to show, you can't put a deadline on creativity.

4 Bloc Party - Flux

b December 12, SECC, Glasgow

Hip, hip hurrah

Sons And Daughters live at Grand Ole Opry, 06/12/07

SONS AND DAUGHTERS' craftily disguised country influences seem a whole lot more obvious when they're playing the Grand Ole Opry, a homage to Nashville in Glasgow where the venue's dress code is usually stetsons and cowboys boots.

However, this was a night when the city's indie scenesters took over the building. And, let's be honest, we had it from all sides - the reluctant crowd participation, the gig promoters' £1 guestlist charge and Sons And Daughters' own anti-encore stance ("bands who do encores are ego-maniacs") were clear signs that having a fun night out wasn't top of the agenda.

Thankfully, hotpant-wearing Adele Bethel's vocal squealing and Scott Paterson's guitar screechery never fail to be a winning combination, as they ramped up the drama of Medicine, Dance Me In and Taste The Last Girl (mischievously introduced by Adele as "this isn't a song about love").

Given the band's faultless live renditions of tracks from their first two records, it was the material from their unreleased 2008 album This Gift that gave the clearest indication of just how much they have to offer.

Two songs into the set brought the zippy goodness of Chains, a song exuding such instant appeal it really ought to have been elevated to single status (Gilt Complex and Darling are both ahead in that queue), especially since the Glaswegians harbour ambitions of dining next to Franz Ferdinand at the top table of the Domino Christmas party.

Depending on how cynical you feel, the slew of other newies either confirmed Sons And Daughters have that ever-so-slick, rapid-beat sound of theirs honed to perfection, or that their third album won't cross any musical boundaries that they've crossed already.

4 Sons And Daughters - Dance Me In (Optimo mix)

b February 15, ABC, Glasgow
b February 16, The Queens Hall, Edinburgh

Little keen men

There are many things to look forward to in 2008, not least the likelihood of global warming making Scotland's climate that bit more appealing. In terms of new music, though, The Pop Cop's mostly keenly anticipated debut album is Morning Tide by THE LITTLE ONES.

The LA band have a lot going for them, what with their deft ability to craft dreamy pop songs filled with imagination and absent of contrivance. And The Little Ones are obviously doing something right if they're being compared to The Beach Boys and The Shins.

There's nothing more satisfying than the sight of a band clearly enjoying their job on stage and watching these guys, who are every bit as happy as they sound, would thaw even the coldest of hearts. A bit like global warming then.

4 The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover (single version)

b December 8, AECC, Aberdeen (supporting Kaiser Chiefs)
b December 9, Ironworks, Inverness (supporting We Are Scientists)

The mad Scientists

The worst crime a performer can commit on stage is forgetting that their primary duty is to entertain. Thankfully, that has never been an issue with WE ARE SCIENTISTS, a band whose between-song exchanges deserve to be aired on prime-time TV, such is the worth of their wit.

Of course, their chosen pursuit is music, not comedy, and the Californians also deliver the goods on that score with frantic indie rock favourites of the calibre of Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt, This Scene Is Dead and The Great Escape.

But perhaps a new vocation is calling WAS. In between their current tour dates they are hosting something called Brain Thrust Mastery seminars. The free, non-music sessions are apparently designed to help students take control of their lives, but with the topics up for discussion so ridiculously titled (Mind Sound, Time Vision Performance and Emotional Intuition Transfer) we can only assume/hope they are meant to be ironic.

Or maybe it's all just part of their cunning masterplan to win over the hearts and minds of the young. If so, it seems to be working.

4 We Are Scientists - Hoppipolla (Sigur Ros cover)

b December 6, Strathclyde Union, Glasgow (Brain Thrust Mastery seminar, 1pm)
b December 6, SECC, Glasgow (supporting Kaiser Chiefs)
b December 7, Fat Sams, Dundee
b December 8, AECC, Aberdeen (supporting Kaiser Chiefs)
b December 9, Ironworks, Inverness

Full House

Crowded House live at SECC, 30/11/07

You'd be hard pushed to find any music fan with a good word to say about the aural aircraft hangar that is Glasgow's SECC, so you could understand if we weren't drooling with anticipation at the prospect of squinting to see four dots called CROWDED HOUSE there last Friday for their all-seated gig. How foolish we were to underestimate them.

We defy anyone to suggest the sound was anything other than crisp-clear. Was it the band's doing or some super-engineer? Who knows, but they managed the impossible - by the end of the night the gig almost felt intimate.

The set was a 70-30 mix of the beautiful pop that has sold millions together with tracks from their most recent album Time On Earth. Understandably, it was the classics that made it so special. A pounding, bassy Private Universe kicked things off, while the timeless splendour of Distant Sun was fondly greeted with a mass singalong.

But while Crowded House themselves couldn't be faulted for entertainment value with their constant bantering and in-band put-downs, it was only after their invitation to the audience to abandon their seats that the concert changed from good to great.

With the band able to see the whites of their followers' eyes, the quartet gleefully responded, lifting the tempo with Mean To Me, Something So Strong and the mighty Locked Out, three songs any rock group would be proud to call their own. During Weather With You, Neil Finn even went for a mad dash round the entire SECC, high-fiving everyone he met along the way, prompting bassist Nick Seymour to yell "You're as mad as a seagull!" to his erstwhile leader from the stage.

While Neil, Nick and Mark Hart clearly haven't lost any of the camaraderie that made them such endearing live performers over a decade ago, the ridiculously talented new drummer Matt "Shredder" Sherrod adds youthful exuberance to a band who have rediscovered the joy of playing together.

4 Crowded House - Locked Out (live at Sydney Opera House, 1996)