rararabbits

Broadcast

2010-02-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Trish Keenan that Luisa took last year, together with a song from their tour EP. Perhaps they have some copies left, I'd try contacting them via Warp / their forum.

Broadcast - In Here the World Begins

MWA HA HA HA HA

2009-10-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

From a great (and sadly out of print) compilation on The Viper Label. Boo!
Round Robin - I'm the Wolfman
Gary "Spider" Webb - The Cave (part one)
Kip Tyler - She's My Witch
The Frantics - Werewolf

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part three): The Fizzbombs

2009-10-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

Two from the Surfin' Winter EP. I remember buying this at a little record shop in Romford, the same place I got the Vaselines "Dying for It" 12" (and the Sewer Zombies album, come to that). I used to make long(ish) journeys from Grays in search of vinyl, then queue at the bus stop with my records tucked under my arm afterwards, flushed with success and getting increasingly soggy (my memory has overlaid a veil of drizzle over all my record-hunting expeditions, although I'm prepared to entertain the possibility that it may not have rained every single time).

Record shops seemed like arcane and wonderful places then, and required some legwork to find. I was just discovering that there were delights beyond the scope of Woolworths music section; sometimes Woolies would surprise me, though, and a Mary Chain single would appear amidst the usual chart fodder, like some migratory bird with glossy black plumage newly arrived from stranger climes.

Anyway. The Fizzbombs. Various members of Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes were involved, though I couldn't have told you that at the time: I probably bought it based on the cover and song titles. I lucked out; sometimes I think it's my favourite EP ever. "Test Pilot" is one of the few songs to feature my name (though more for the sake of lyrical expedience than any inherent glamour, I think: not many male names rhyme with "day").

The Fizzbombs - Beach Party
The Fizzbombs - Test Pilot

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part two): Bubblegum Splash

2009-10-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

This is Side A of their "Splashdown" EP. I love her flat, artless vocals. Is that a slight speech impediment, or just part of her accent? There have been some great speech impediments in music, of course: Claudine Longet had one. So did Nikki Sudden. Coincidentally (or not), various Bubblegum Splashers became Jane from Occupied Europe, and you can download all their records here . I haven't (yet).

I like the idea of one-shot artists. More bands should split up after one single.

Bubblegum Splash - Plastic Smile + Just Walked Away

Noisy(ish) femme pop week (part one): The Fat Tulips + The Rosehips

2009-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Floral frenzy: the Fat Tulips and the Rosehips on Sweet William. It's a flexi, if you hadn't guessed. The Fat Tulips song is pre-Sheggi, and it's rather lovely. The Rosehips' gleeful desecration of "Ask Johnny Dee" sounds as if it was recorded by someone waving a dictaphone in the vague direction of their practice room, and is none the worse for that. If it was released today, it would doubtless be labelled "sh*tg*ze", and then we'd all be sorry.

The Fat Tulips / The Rosehips - You Opened Up My Eyes + Ask Johnny Dee

Magick Heads

2009-10-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

Autumn makes me listen to The Bats: both evoke a kind of crisp, comforting melancholy. The best record Robert Scott has been associated with is, I think, the Back of her Hand single by The Magick Heads. The A side is available on the Where In The World Is Wendy Broccoli? compilation, so I shan't post that; here's both songs from the B side instead.

PS There's a new (well, new old) Bats single on the way from Slumberland, of course.

The Magick Heads - Don't Worry Son + Hear From You

Cristina

2009-10-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

It's raining in LA.

Cristina - Ticket to the Tropics

Crayon Fields, Marmoset

2009-09-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

I am in Michigan, the roads are dark and carpeted with flattened wildlife. The air is muggy and there are many shades of green, though leaves are beginning to blush.

I ordered the Crayon Fields album from Japan (extra songs), it's rather lovely. Singer blokey must be in love, he addresses "you" so often that it's almost blush-worthy. This song is a little Moose-esque, don't you think? A little.

The new Marmoset is good, too. They're a mysterious and curious-looking bunch.

The Crayon Fields - Disappear
Marmoset - You, Blueberry Muffin

Thank You, Friends

2009-09-03T23:42:00.001-07:00

If the forthcoming Big Star box set strikes you as a bit pricey, maybe this compilation on Ace/Big Beat will tide you over 'til you can scrape together the readies? It's full of good stuff, from oddball one-offs (stately/eerie instrumental "The Batarang") to early Chris Bell projects (Icewater) and implausibly neglected power pop (the Hot Dogs); the first disc plays somewhat like a garage/psych comp with crisp, clear, inventive production (anathema to some garage fans, I suppose), while the second is devoted to Big Star and their fellow-travelers.

The Avengers - Batarang
Icewater - Feeling High
The Hot Dogs - Let Me Look at the Sun

Two girls...

2009-09-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

...one shadowy, one missing.

Gentle Despite were on Sarah Records; beyond this, I know very little about them. I picked up their "Torment To Me" EP at the Matinee sale. The A side is nothing to write home about, but the B side is a piece of slow-burning loveliness.

A.C. Marias was (is?) Angela Conway, a video director associated with Wire; Bruce Gilbert was also involved in their album. It's minimal stuff - tick-tocking drum machines, effects-laden guitar loops, ghostly choirgirl vocals - and sometimes a little too somnolescent for its own good. There's some loveliness here, though.

Gentle Despite - Shadow of a Girl
A.C. Marias - One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing

PS: while searching for an appropriate image for this post, I stumbled across this site, which appears to be the work of, um, invisible woman fetishists...

Shameless self-promotion

2009-09-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

I entered a travel writing contest (theme: "oasis" - not the late, unlamented Mancunians) and I'm through to the second round. To get to the finals, I need a bunch of votes in the next week or so. You can, if you're feeling implausibly altruistic, sign up for an account here and vote for me.

They just need a name and email, not your detailed family history, so it's a fairly swift and painless process.

Then you can click here and click the green "add to wishlist" button beneath the photo to vote for me.

Here are the links to cut and paste if you'd rather do it that way:

http://www.trazzler.com/signup

http://www.trazzler.com/trips/tate-modern-in-camberwell-greater-london-se1-9-gb

Pimping over, back to the usual, increasingly sporadic posting.

Daisy Hill Puppy Farm

2009-08-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I'll sell the new Legends album. I didn't like their debut record at first; too manicured, too polite. Eventually, I came to appreciate it for those qualities: it's like a bonsai garden version of a noisepop album, every squeal of feedback and "Be My Baby" drumbeat carefully positioned. ProToolsCandy.

Public Radio was pretty "meh". Without the peppiness of the debut, the sense of references being ticked off a list became oppressive: a Cure bassline here, a recycled Joy Division melody there, grey wipe-clean surfaces everywhere. The new one, Over and Over has a higher average bpm, but leaves me just as cold. Does Johan Angergård feel compelled to make this stuff, or is it just a stylistic exercise? Does that matter? I grew up listening to indiepop that sounded like it was recorded in a shed (and often was): ramshackle; borderline chaotic; bashed out with enthusiasm compensating for ability. Even something as feedback-swathed as "Seconds Away" on the Legends album sounds...flat packed, somehow. Assembled by tight-lipped Swedish androids with meticulously-organized record collections.

Which is all by way of an elaborate build up to some old skool noisy Scands: Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. The band hailed from the bleak wastes of Iceland (or the cosy suburbs of Iceland, for all I know) and were active in the mid-to-late 80s . I first heard their Mary Chain-esque desecration of "Heart of Glass" on Peel: pastiche of a sort, too, but done right. I've been looking for their 7" since then, and finally picked it up on ebay last month (though sadly without the Debbie Harry poster insert pictured above). I see that their management was based in Station Parade, Barking, Essex: maybe 20 minutes from my hometown. I could probably have nabbed a copy back in the day without too much effort.

Daisy Hill Puppy Farm - Rocket Boy + Heartbreak Soup
Daisy Hill Puppy Farm - Speedball + Heart of Glass

PS: I finally discovered the "gain" knob on my USB turntable. Are these loud enough? Do let me know.

Londinium

2009-08-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to the reissue of Foxbase Alpha a lot recently and tripping over nostalgia. The album takes place in a utopian, pick'n'mix version of London, of course; my real experience of London was probably more akin to this:

The Members - Solitary Confinement

A tiny box in Finchley, six feet by fifteen, sink and stove at one end, shower at the other. Enough floor space to lie down, or to pace back and forth three steps each way. Fuses that popped when I tried to turn on more than one electrical device at a time (a workman eventually confirmed that all the electrics were hooked up in some mysterious way to the shower). Scaffolding bars outside the window, in a piece of symbolism that would be rejected by the most vulgar film director as far, far too obvious.

So, for all the things I miss (the Photographers Gallery, the Rothko room at Tate Modern, the ICA, Hampstead Heath, good curry, seeing The Clientele play in a succession of tiny venues), I should be happy in LA.

Je Suis Animal

2009-02-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

I don't really care for most modern indiepop; the kind that gets lauded on blogs, anyway. Je Suis Animal are rather wonderful, though. This is from their new(ish) single on Cloudberry, which you can buy here. It's easier to get their album now it's available in the UK, too.

Je Suis Animal - Photograph

*NB: I've re-posted all the vinyl rips in slightly louder form after Weesee complained that I'd taken Jonathan Richman's "music shouldn't hurt a baby's ears" dictum to silly extremes...

The Mountain Movers

2009-02-09T21:02:00.001-08:00

Daniel Greene's other band (one of them, anyway). There's an interview with him here.You can buy the new album from Safety Meeting. Mine was two hundred and fiftysomething out of an edition of three hundred, so don't hang about. It sounds great: warm, clearly separated tones, not compressed within an inch of its life.

The Mountain Movers - Let's Open Up the Chest
The Mountain Movers - You Know Who I Speak Of

Outrageous Cherry / Sportique

2009-02-08T23:28:00.001-08:00

As promised, a couple of 7" single sides. Can you spot the subtle thematic link?

There's a new Outrageous Cherry album imminent. As for what Gregory Webster is up to, who knows. Something, hopefully. You can buy the Sportique single here.

Outrageous Cherry - I've Been Obsessed
Sportique - Obsessive

Butterflies of Love (slight return)

2009-01-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

After the super soaraway success of Butterflies of Love week (four downloads), here's both sides of their second single. Long out of print, so I've broken my self-imposed restriction on posting whole records here. If you feel consumed by guilt at downloading it, consider buying the new Fortuna Pop compilation here, a snip at $somethingquitecheap.

I just bought a new USB turntable, so more vinyl in the weeks to come, probably. Excuse the crackles.

The Butterflies of Love - It's Different Now
The Butterflies of Love - I'll Never Be Long Gone

The Room

2009-01-25T14:48:00.001-08:00

From The Apartments to The Room. This isn't just thrown together, you know...

The Room - Whirlpool
The Room - New Dreams for Old (single version)

The Apartments

2009-01-15T12:37:00.001-08:00

The Apartments - All You Wanted
The Apartments - The Shyest Time

Kendra Smith

2008-12-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

Doomy-voiced Opal siren. Now living in the wilds of Northern California knitting pump organs out of lentils, or something like that. Here's two from the Guild of Temporal Adventurers EP and one from Five Ways of Disappearing.

Kendra Smith - Stars Are In Your Eyes
Kendra Smith - She Brings The Rain
Kendra Smith - Valley of the Morning Sun

The Beau Brummels

2008-12-17T22:11:00.001-08:00

Up there with the Byrds in my estimation. The first two albums (produced by Sly Stone - yep, that one) found the perfect midpoint between Merseybeat and folk, overlaid with Sal Valentino's beautifully plangent voice. Their later records (Triangle and Bradley's Barn) moved into gently psychedelic orchestral Americana; it makes perfect sense that Ron Elliott later played on Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle. They built up a sizable stack of unreleased tracks over their short lifetime as a band. Here's two from the Magic Hollow box set, along with a rare-ish B-side. 'Galadriel' might test your tolerance for late 60s Tolkien-related whimsy, but stick with it.

The Beau Brummels - She Reigns
The Beau Brummels - Galadriel (demo)
The Beau Brummels - Black Crow

Nivens

2008-12-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

Northumberland's finest. You can get the CD here.

Nivens - Summertime
Nivens - Judy Garland
Nivens - I Love Me

Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes

2008-12-10T00:03:00.000-08:00

Three from Nixon.

Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes - Heaven and a Higher Place
Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes - Goodbye Misery
Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes - Hold Me Now

Incidentally, the 1000 Violins files should be working again.

The Wolfhounds

2008-11-30T17:04:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I listened to all the Wolfhounds albums in quick succession; a pleasingly abrasive (if cumulatively rather dour) experience. You can buy the Lost But Happy compilation (or download the albums, if you don't mind intangibles) here.

The Wolfhounds - Stars in the Tarmac
The Wolfhounds - Me
The Wolfhounds - Rent Act

Claudine Longet

2008-11-24T19:07:00.000-08:00

A few years back, I found all Claudine's albums on CD in the bargain basement of Berwick Street Record and Tape Exchange. At the time, I know nothing about her, but I was taken by the cover designs, particularly the Princess-Leia-gone-awry cover of Colours. A little online digging convinced me that I should buy them. Inevitably, they'd all gone by the time I returned.

I've been making up for that oversight ever since. Last week, I finally acquired the CD of her 1970 A&M swansong, Run Wild Run Free. Here's three songs from that, including a novel hoedown-tinged arrangement of 'Everybody's Talkin''; this being Claudine, it's a whispery, dreamy kind of hoedown, of course.

Claudine Longet - Everybody's Talkin'
Claudine Longet - Love Can Never Die
Claudine Longet - Golden Slumbers

Mighty Mighty week! part three

2008-11-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

No longer at this year's Christmas Twee, apparently, but it sounds as if they might be playing out next year...

Mighty Mighty - Little Wonder
Mighty Mighty - Lionheart
Mighty Mighty - When You Trusted Me

Mighty Mighty week! part two

2008-11-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Bubblegum from here.

Mighty Mighty - Throwaway
Mighty Mighty - Love So Strong
Mighty Mighty - Is There Anyone Out There?

The Would-Be-Goods

2008-11-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've been reading The Towers of Trebizond. It made me think of The Would-Be-Goods: a terribly English protagonist in exotic climes. Jessica Griffin has done a fair bit of globe-trotting, lyrically (and in actuality, for all I know). Here's a song about an aspiring traveller, a bonus track from the first CD issue of The Camera Loves Me. And the tale of a different kind of fish out of water, from their new album, Eventyr. You can (and should) buy it here.

The Would-Be-Goods - Bayswater Blues
The Would-Be-Goods - Melusine

Mighty Mighty week! part one

2008-11-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

Collectively, the frizziest hair in indiepop. The intro to 'Yours Truly' prefigures 'Babies' by Pulp, perhaps.

Mighty Mighty - Yours Truly
Mighty Mighty - Man or Boy
Mighty Mighty - Let's Call it Love

JoJo

2008-11-16T21:41:00.001-08:00

It's Time for Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers came out in 1986. It would probably be among my favourite three or four records by Jonathan if I were nerdy enough to have such a list, which I am, sort of. It has some of the rowdiest guitar on a JR record since the Modern Lovers' debut. It also has the lovely 'Neon Sign', one of his 3rd album Velvets moments.

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - Let's Take a Trip
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - Neon Sign
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - Double Chocolate Malted

Ugly Things

2008-11-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

Three Australian garage greats from the sadly out of print Ugly Things CD.

The Black Diamonds - I Want, Need, Love You
Machine Gun Kelly's Rejects - I'm Going Back
The Elois - By My Side

Francoise Hardy

2008-10-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

The Chesterf!elds

2008-10-27T15:22:00.001-07:00

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

Saturn V

2008-10-20T16:00:00.001-07:00

Post-Razorcuts, pre-Sportique, underrated.

Saturn V - Machinegun Head

BB

2008-10-14T23:20:00.001-07:00

Brigitte Bardot - Contact
Brigitte Bardot - Mister Sun

Medalark 11

2008-10-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

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

Sneaky Feelings

2008-10-11T16:27:00.001-07:00

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

Paris Angels

2008-10-09T12:16:00.001-07:00

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

The Sleepers

2008-10-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

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

Adventures in Stereo

2008-10-02T21:36:00.001-07:00

Songs from their first album, pretty record cover logos from here.

Adventures in Stereo - When We Go Back
Adventures in Stereo - Don't You Worry Little One
Adventures in Stereo - Waves On

Girls, Guitars

2008-09-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Three from an Ace Records compilation, Girls With Guitars, which recycles some of the tracks from the Girls in the Garage series (with better sound quality, obviously). It's a fun listen, though far from comprehensive (where are, say, The Luv'd Ones?), and a couple of the choices are a little questionable (the Lonnie Mack and the Charmaines track = male guitarist rocking out with occasional femme backing vocals). I was hoping a second volume would remedy some of the omissions, but it's yet to emerge.

The Girls - My Baby
Denise and Company - Boy, What'll You Do Then
The Daughters of Eve - Help Me Boy

1000 Violins

2008-09-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Big-voiced, vaguely psychedelic pop from Sheffield. Songwriter/guitarist Colin Gregory went on to mine a similar seam - unwieldy titles, gratuitous Summer of Love references, irresistible choruses - in The Dylans, to slightly lesser effect (to my mind, anyway). Here's three songs from Hey Man, That's Beautiful:

1000 Violins - If I Were a Bullet (Then For Sure I'd Find a Way to Your Heart)
1000 Violins - Locked out of the Love In
1000 Violins - Halcyon Days

...and three more from a German EP compilation, Locked out of the Love-In:

1000 Violins - All We Need is Cash
1000 Violins - I Was Depending on You to be My Jesus
1000 Violins - Lost to the World

Butterflies of Love week! part three

2008-09-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Two from The New Patient, one from Famous Problems, both available from Fortuna Pop.

The Butterflies of Love - Dream Driver
The Butterflies of Love - She's an Heiress
The Butterflies of Love - Ghostride

Comet Gain + Velocette

2008-09-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

'Hideaway' is unlikely to make it onto Broken Record Prayers, I suppose; there's probably not much love lost between D Feck and the first incarnation of his band. They went on to become Velocette, of course. Here's two by them, including a Paris Angels cover that's on the Japanese version of Fourfold Remedy.

Comet Gain - Hideaway
Velocette - Get Yourself Together
Velocette - Perfume

Butterflies of Love week! part two

2008-09-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Two singers, Jeffrey and Daniel Greene (unrelated). Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion contributes the occasional spectral backing ooooh, but not live, sadly. Not in Blighty, anyway.

Jeffrey is the tall, gangly, mumbly-sounding one, prone to lengthy disquisitions between songs ('ladies and gentlemen the supersonic Butterflies are about to perform another smash' etc etc) which drag on to disquieting effect.

Daniel speaks less and is the leader of the band, as Jeffrey frequently reminds us. He's the vaguely tremulous-sounding one, and looks a bit like a young Jack Nicholson.

There are other members of the band, some with hats, some without. Their keyboard player always looks uncertain and starey-eyed, as if recently released from some form of confinement. Perhaps New Haven does that to you.

If their debut album had come out in 1988 (when wry young men with reverb pedals roamed the alluvial plains) rather than 1999, they would have straddled the world of indie like a gangly colossus. As it is, they visit the UK every few years to play for the benefit of various Track and Field bods in murky backrooms. You can buy How to Know the Butterflies of Love on Amazon for a derisory sum, and you certainly should, because it's great.

The Butterflies of Love - Mt. Everest
The Butterflies of Love - Wild
The Butterflies of Love - Amethyst

The Butterflies of Love week! part one

2008-09-17T16:46:00.001-07:00

One of my favourite bands, for reasons I'll go on to discuss, or perhaps not. American's Newest Hit Makers was their first album. They didn't advertise its existence for a while, perhaps understandably. There's a lot of what musicologists might term 'arsing about'. There's some good stuff, too. It's kind of surprising to hear Jeffrey Greene singing out so much, if you're familiar with the honeyed mumble he adopted on later records.

The Butterflies of Love - I Try Too Hard
The Butterflies of Love - I Read Her Diary
The Butterflies of Love - Walking the Dog

"We're flattered if you dance, we're not insulted"

2008-09-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Modern Lovers - 96 Tears

Teen Blast USA! Vol 2

2008-09-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm particularly fond of The Gnomes track, the perfect encapsulation of teen loserdom. The husky-voiced singer sounds implausibly cheerful about his miserable existence.

The Gnomes - Something's Going On
The Underground Balloon Corps - (Heart) Made of Soul
The Green Beans - Superstition

Teen Blast USA! Vol 1

2008-09-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

A nice garage comp that mixes minor chord melancholia with more stomping stuff. Even if the Jolly Roger and the Poppiteers track sucked, I'd feel compelled to post it here purely because of the band name.

Jack Bedient and the Chessmen - Double Whammy
Jolly Roger and the Poppiteers - Beautiful Lady in the Sky
Six Minus One - Other Side

The Feelies

2008-09-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Line Records. Were they legit? The muffled sound quality of their products suggests not. Regardless, they made a bunch of Feelies, Modern Lovers and dB's albums available at a time when they were otherwise out of print, so we'll spare them a season in purgatory. Their CD of The Good Earth appends a couple of cover versions from the No One Knows EP. Here they are for your delectation, together with one Feelies original. The album proper is due for reissue sometime soon (in an unambiguously legitimate form).

The Feelies - She Said, She Said
The Feelies - Sedan Delivery
The Feelies - Slipping (Into Something)

Luna

2008-09-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

I always like finding second-hand Japanese import versions of albums (pretty much the only way I can afford them). Partly because of the inevitable mistranslations in the lyric booklet, but mainly because there are always bonus tracks. Sometimes the tracks end up detracting from the album proper - what should end with a bang peters out with some B-side frippery. In the case of Bewitched, I think the bonus track (otherwise unreleased) forms the perfect conclusion - I much prefer it to the (perhaps appropriately) somnolescent 'Sleeping Pill'.

Luna - Sucking Ice Cubes

Girls At Our Best

2008-09-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Cherry Red have been threatening to reissue Pleasure for a couple of years now. In the meantime, here's 'Go for Gold', the perfect confluence of post-punk, disco and proto-twee.

Girls At Our Best - Go for Gold

American Spring

2008-09-05T11:51:00.001-07:00

Now that Pacific Ocean Blue is back in the racks, this is the Beach Boys-related artefact that most needs reissuing. 'Sweet Mountain' might be my favourite 70s Brian Wilson song. I love the girls' airy, mournful / resigned-sounding vocals, the twinkling synthesized backing, the doo wop-inspired chorus, Brian's curious accent ('it rained on de mountain') on the closing vocal tag. Their covers of two Dennis Wilson songs aren't exactly shoddy, either. This version of 'Fallin' in Love', powered by a tick-tocking drum machine, is different to the one on Pet Projects.

American Spring - Sweet Mountain
American Spring - Fallin' in Love
American Spring - Forever

Brilliant Corners week! part five

2008-09-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

A History of White Trash was their last album. It tones down the swagger of Hooked somewhat, with the exception of Automatic-era JAMC pastiche 'Electric Slam'. Good stuff throughout, although it never stood a chance in the post-grunge, pre-Britpop days of 93.

The Brilliant Corners - Get It Up
The Brilliant Corners - Around the Bend
The Brilliant Corners - Gushing

Brilliant Corners week! part four

2008-09-02T20:00:00.001-07:00

1990's Hooked was their shoegaze moment, according to TweeNet and Allmusic. It's nothing of the sort, of course; if anything, it's unabashedly RAWK...sometimes. If you can cope with something more muscular than The Fat Tulips, it's probably their strongest set of tunes outside of Somebody Up There Likes Me.

The Brilliant Corners - The Pope The Monkey and The Queen
The Brilliant Corners - Sandy Knows
The Brilliant Corners - Heaven Inside Her

Brilliant Corners week! part three

2008-09-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

1989's Joy Ride was mainly a mid-paced and pensive affair. I don't find myself returning to it too often. Thankfully, the CD appends the snappily-titled 'Why Do You Have to Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me' and its B-side, 'Shangri-La'. Both feature Amelia Fletcher, in accordance with then-current EEC Directive 86/123 Re: Compulsory Female Backing Vocals in Lovelorn Indiepop Records.

'Anticipation' is from the BBC Sessions album. Sounds a bit Josef K-ish to me.

The Brilliant Corners - Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?
The Brilliant Corners - Shangri-La
The Brilliant Corners - Anticipation

Brilliant Corners week! part two

2008-08-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Brilliant Corners - Oh!
The Brilliant Corners - Trust Me
The Brilliant Corners - Can't Wait That Long

*NB: the links are fixed, if you were having problems.

Brilliant Corners week! part one

2008-08-31T00:16:00.001-07:00

They came from under blackest Avonmouth skies with some faintly ropey rockabilly-tinged singles, suddenly became very good on the Fruit Machine EP, then made a classic album of kitchen sink indie with the best trumpet lines since The Pale Fountains. Here's three songs.

The Brilliant Corners - Trudy is a Squeel
The Brilliant Corners - Delilah Sands
The Brilliant Corners - Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

Love

2008-08-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

The other weekend I found two Love albums in a Lomita thrift store: Forever Changes (70s edition, butterfly label) and Reel to Real. The latter has a cover of such sublime ugliness it tips over into coolness. $6 for both. The asian lady behind the counter asked me if they sounded like the Beatles. I said maybe a little, but with more mariachi horns.

So here's three songs about Love, or alluding to Love, or seemingly unrelated to Love beyond the title.

The Anyways were from Oxford. They're The Relationships now. Their song title seems rather prescient, although I think they're singing about his wilderness years.

The Strands were Shack, pretty much, and Shack were Arthur Lee's pick up band in the UK. The castle reference makes me think this is about Arthur. He's sporting a kung fu look in the picture above, or maybe concealing premature baldness.

Hopkirk and Lee were...well, who knows.

The Anyways - The Ghost of Arthur Lee
Michael Head and the Strands - And Luna
Hopkirk and Lee - Free Arthur Lee!

Stephen (David Kilgour)

2008-08-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

My laptop was poorly, now its pallid plastic bosom is heaving with vitality. Anyway, onwards.

Stephen was David Kilgour in disguise, pretty much. 'Featuring future members of Chug', as it might say on a cover sticker with very limited marketing potential. David Kilgour was meant to be playing at the Silent Movie Theatre this Thursday. Now he's not, but there's still a film about him.

Stephen - Loved by You
Stephen - Little Audrey
Stephen - Don't Now Why

PF Sloan

2008-08-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ace Records have just brought out a new PF Sloan comp, gathering together the bulk of his first two albums and some rare single cuts. Sloan wrote a bunch of tracks for bands like The Turtles, Jan and Dean and The Grass Roots - in fact, he pretty much was The Grass Roots on their first single. He could seemingly turn his hand to anything, from harmony pop to the surfin' sounds of The Fantastic Baggys. His first two albums under his own name are mainly in the folk-rock vein, and while some of it hasn't aged well (I've never particularly cared for 'Eve of Destruction'), there are some great songs...particularly the later single sides, two of which are here.

PF Sloan - A Melody for You
Philip Sloan - I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth

Girls Will Be Girls

2008-08-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

...is the title of a 1999 girl group compilation put together by Mick Patrick and Malcolm Baumgart (also responsible for a bunch of excellent Ace Records comps). It's one of my favourite girl group discs, running the gamut from purest fromage to the rather soulful. 'Jet Set' by The Jet Set definitely falls into the former category ('discoteque go-go-go', indeed). Jessica James and the Outlaws is Peggy from The Angels in disguise. And Bernadette Castro lays down some promising groundwork for her career as, um, NY's State Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The Jet Set - Jet Set
Jessica James and the Outlaws - Give Her Up (Baby)
Bernadette Castro - A Girl in Love Forgives

The Bachelor Pad

2008-08-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

From Tales of Hofmann. It took me a long time to realize they meant Albert, rather than ETA - I figured they were just poor spellers. The Bachelor Pad were from Scotland. They sound as if they're on the verge of falling apart, drifting in and out of synch (and perhaps consciousness) but cohering just enough to establish the hook in your mind. An album's worth is slightly queasiness-inducing, but they made some cracking records.

The Bachelor Pad - Country Pancake
The Bachelor Pad - I Want to Hold Your Head
The Bachelor Pad - Girl of your Dreams

Able Tasmans Week! (part four)

2008-08-07T17:43:00.001-07:00

From The Shape of Dolls EP and Store in a Cool Place.

The Able Tasmans - The Shape of Dolls
The Able Tasmans - My Name is Peter Keen
The Able Tasmans - Mary Tyler Moore

Surf Bunny (slight return)

2008-08-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

While I'm thinking of gloriously inept female-fronted surf pop, here's Trudy Van and the Realm, from Teen Blast Vol 2; they're from New York, apparently.

Trudy Van and the Realm - Do the Surf

Able Tasmans week! (part three)

2008-08-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Three from Hey Spinner.

The Able Tasmans - Dileen
The Able Tasmans - Wednesday (She's Coming 'Round)
The Able Tasmans - Theory of Continual Disappointment

Girlfrendo

2008-08-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

Two songs from the Japanese version of Surprise! Surprise! It's Girlfrendo, including their cover of Ginny Arnell's 'Dumb Head'. And 'First Kiss Feelings...', just because it's a fine pop song.

I saw them play the Garage a while before the album emerged. Could Comet Gain have been supporting? It seems possible. I don't remember much about it. They played 'The Wee Wee Song' (inevitably - Peel had been playing it lots). Golden Boy was very blonde. I bought 'Friday Nite Lovebite', perhaps the last 7" single I bought at a gig.

Girlfrendo - Photosession in a Photobooth
Girlfrendo - Dumb Head
Girlfrendo - First Kiss Feelings vs Everyday Sensations

Able Tasmans week! (part two)

2008-08-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

More from A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down.

The Able Tasmans - Sour Queen
The Able Tasmans - Fa Fa Fa Fa
The Able Tasmans - Virtues Asunder

Surf Bunnies

2008-08-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

Two tracks from the girl group comp Surf Bunnies and Hot Rod Honeys. The Westwoods track is an answer record to The Trade Winds' 'New York's a Lonely Town'; it's a Jack Nitzsche arrangement with Gracia Nitzsche on lead vocals and Marilyn Wilson on backing vocals. It sounds a little muffled, but I think this gives it a strangely appealing quality. I know nothing about D.D. Hope, but she sounds splendidly bratty.

The Westwoods - I Miss My Surfer Boy Too
D.D. Hope - California Surfer

Able Tasmans week! (part one)

2008-08-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

From A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down (out of print, like the rest of their stuff). Mystifyingly perceived as a second-tier Flying Nun band when they are, perhaps, the best.

The Able Tasmans - What Was That Thing You Said?
The Able Tasmans - I See Now Where
The Able Tasmans - And We Swam the Magic Bay

The Crayon Fields

2008-08-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

...are from Melbourne. You can buy their album here.

The Crayon Fields - Would It Be So Strange?
The Crayon Fields - Living So Well

Debsey Mixture

2008-07-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

From the Japanese 'Dreamism!' EP ('girl group from strawberry 80's sweet') and the Spanish version of 'Some Dusty', respectively.

Dolly Mixture - My Rainbow Valley
Birdie - She Can't Lose

We Are Icerink

2008-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

Golden - Don't Destroy Me
Elizabeth City State - Year of the V-Neck
World of Twist - New Electric Pop and Soul

Moose

2008-07-31T12:52:00.001-07:00

Moose - Yves Klein Blue

Hello.

2008-07-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Slapp Happy - Blue Flower