Thursday, October 30, 2008

Francoise Hardy



Three songs from her hard-to-find One Nine Seven Zero album. It's largely comprised of English reworkings of her older songs; these are English tracks which were Frenchified for Soleil.

The picture is from Jean Marie Perier's website. There's plenty more pretty stuff there, although sadly he's recently introduced (perhaps inevitably) rather hideous digital watermarks on the pictures.

Francoise Hardy - Song of Winter
Francoise Hardy - Strange Shadows
Francoise Hardy - Magic Horse

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Chesterf!elds



OK, not for Christmas, exactly, but you can't complain about getting a present early. This is an excellent (and somewhat rare) track from their split single with Japanese band Johnny Dee. It really should have been on their recent(ish) best of.

The Chesterfields - Open to Persuasion

Monday, October 20, 2008

Saturn V


Post-Razorcuts, pre-Sportique, underrated.

Saturn V - Machinegun Head

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Medalark 11


A later incarnation of The Bodines, pretty much, with a slightly increased emphasis on choppy ACR-influenced groove. These are my two favourite songs on their debut (and only) album, Shaped Up, Shipped Out; perhaps not coincidentally, they're both reworked Bodines tunes.

Medalark 11 - Coffee
Medalark 11 - I Call Your Name

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sneaky Feelings


Along with the Able Tasmans, perhaps the most consistently underrated Flying Nun band. They don't have the ragged goofball drone of early Clean; in fact, they don't really fit the archetype of the Dunedin Sound at all. It'd be tempting to describe them as power pop, but that implies a degree of muscularity they rarely show. Perhaps 'sixties-tinged popular music bearing faint traces of the Sound of Young Scotland' would be a more apt (if less snappy) tag.

Here's three songs from their three albums, none included on their recent(ish) best of, Positively George Street.

Sneaky Feelings - In the Shape of a Heart
Sneaky Feelings - It's So Easy
Sneaky Feelings - Someone Else's Eyes

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Paris Angels


Remembered (if they're remembered at all) for 'Perfume', or for stealing Kingmaker's instruments (reason enough for their canonization), The Paris Angels were a much better band than their 'baggy also-ran' status would suggest. Someone (LTM, maybe) really needs to reissue Sundew.

The Paris Angels - Fade
The Paris Angels - What Goes On
The Paris Angels - Louise

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Sleepers

Nothing to do with Louise Wener and her cohorts, this mob emerged from Mansfield, Ohio in 1966. The perfect combination of fuzztone crunch and jangle, compiled on Teenage Shutdown Vol 9 - Teen Jangler Blowout.

The Sleepers - I Want a Love