Popup - Chinese Burn

Glasgow four-piece Popup are earning themselves a reputation that's taking them to the USA next month, but second release 'Chinese Burn' doesn't reveal why. Its fast, abrasive guitars and yelping vocals don't distinguish them from any other troupe of art-punk wannabes, unless you consider Scots-accented sloganeering a rare and precious talent. B-side 'Stagecoach' has a silly, leftfield charm, sweetly sympathetic about a girl who cannae catch a bus. But despite such a promising debut single as 'Lucy What You Trying To Say', Popup continue to be better experienced on stage than on disc. [Ally Brown]