Depreciation Guild - spirit youth

Unhappily this is probably the final album the Depreciation Guild will release as they announced an intention to wind up the band recently but happily its an amazing album to go out on. The Depreciation Guild were one of my finds of 2010, a band that mixes shoegaze, pop, 80s melodies, and chiptunes. It does sound like an indie anorak's wet dream but i have so far managed to not disgrace myself, in public anyway.

"Dream about me" lets talk about that song. Have you heard it yet? If not then do so now as its wonderful, a beautiful pop song complete with key change and 80s melodies. Actually at times this album does sound a bit like the last great album from 80s pop not a 2010 indie album but don't worry there is plenty of noise, chiptune electronica and modern indieness on here too.

Maybe they decided to split now because they couldn't really refine the band's sound any more? It does feel like a total refinement of the more edgy material on their earlier releases. Very pop tastic. In fact probably the best pop record of 2010 and one of the best indie records too. Not that the vast majority of people who like "pop music" will ever hear this. That is maybe an even bigger shame than this being the end of the Depreciation Guild.

• Spirit Youth (Amazon)

Century 21

Pure childhood nostalgia : the amazing TV series of Gerry Anderson like Thunderbirds and Stingray. TV21 was a comic off-shoot of the amazing universe his team created and this is the first collection of comic strips from that comic of the late 60s and early 70s which i personally never read before though i do have an old Thunderbirds annual somewhere...

The stories are fast paced and exciting though lack depth somewhat. The bad guys always seem to manage to pull out a secret underground base out of nowhere. The likeness of the characters also varies which makes it a bit confusing sometimes to tell who is who, though of course the characters were puppets. When an artist went too far to make their drawings match the puppet it looked a little odd. So basically you can't win. These are just minor niggles though, the stories are an amazing thrill ride. Just read them as you would when you were 12.

Freed of the restraints of puppets the comics show a lot more physical action by the characters than on TV of course. Characters get into fist fights, fall down mountains or even get tied to ballistic missiles as in the case of Lady Penelope (sure i dreamed of that once - when a boy i hasten to add). The futuristic toys are still there too of course and this is where the true nostalgia hits me. Nostalgia for an age when the future was impossibly exciting and positive. These are comics written before the Oil Shock of course.

The Century 21 future doesn't have economic and environmental collapse, religious fundamentalism or resource depletion. Instead it has hypersonic nuclear powered airliners, cities in the stars and Lady Penelope in her pink Rolls-Royce.

MV : "The kiss off" by The Icicle Works

Trip Top 10 Records & Top 10 Songs of 2010

End of year list-mania et cetera. Not best 2010 albums/songs but ones i have been listening to this year...

Top 10 Records

1) The Mirage - tomorrow never knows
2) Secret Shine - all of the stars
3) The Monkees - head OST
4) Harper Lee - he holds a flame EP
5) The Fox - for fox sake
6) Various - 94 Baker Street : The Pop-Psych Sounds of the Apple Era 1967-1969
7) The Orchids - she's my girl (single)
8) The Aerovons - resurrection
9) The Fauns - self-titled
10) The Zombies - odessey and oracle

Top 10 Songs

1) Do i have to do this all over again - The Monkees
2) Mrs Busby - The Mirage
3) Party drive - East River Pipe
4) Look in the sky - The Fox
5) Liar - The Charlottes
6) Second hand love - The Fox
7) Astral cowboy - Curt Boettcher
8) Black & white rainbow - The Iveys
9) Oblivion - Secret Shine
10) Young adult friction - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Action Painting! - classical music

One of the earlier Sarah bands Action Painting!'s first single "these things happen" was Sarah 28 but we had to wait until Sarah 73 for the follow-up and what glory it was too. The sub-2 minute title track is a fabulous noise drenched pop thrash.

B-side "Sensation No 5" is another energetic pop song, this time acoustically driven. Action Painting! deserved more fame than they got, as far as i know only releasing a few singles in their time though apparently one of them did manage to get on Top Of The Pops in Shampoo's backing band. Nowadays a couple of guys from the band still record as part of Socialist Leisure Party.

MV : "This love is fucking right!" by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

New video channel

I've set up a dedicated Youtube channel for this blog, on it i shall upload obscure indie tracks from years lost. Only songs which don't seem to be around already of course. If you are the owner and want me to take it down its cool, let me know et cetera. One of the first i uploaded is the wonderful Brighter song "falling" from a 1990 flexi.

The Field Mice - September's not so far away

There are many reasons to admire early-90s indie and Sarah/C86 indie in particular, one major reason was the cover artwork. Simple for budgetary and technical reasons the resulting covers are often modern day minimalist masterpieces. One i particularly like is of this Field Mice single which is just a bit of orange text and a few shapes on a white background. Lovely.

Enough artistic musings, what is the actual music like? The title track is yet another beautiful piece of guitar pop from the Mice, with a fast pace you can shuffle to at the indie disco. "Between hello and goodbye" is one of my favourite Field Mice tracks (though there are quite a few songs in this category). A slower acoustically driven song with an irresistible soaring melody. This single is just perfect pop in every single way!

MV : "Oceans and blue skies" by Swallow

Psychedelia Vol 4

This is the fourth compilation Northern Star Records have put out of contemporary neo-psychedelia and noise tracks. You get plenty for your money thats for sure, there are 35 songs on here by bands which i have either heard of before like Insect Guide and Sennen and the majority who i haven't... though some of them like The See See i want to hear a lot more of (which is how a compilation should be!)

Some tracks are maybe, lets say, less than stellar but the majority are superb. 93MillionMilesFromTheSun's "waiting there" is a highlight, one of the songs of the year for sure, a true noise epic. The See See's "keep your head" is another highlight, a more straightforward psychedelic pop song but superbly done.

The modern noise music scene is almost impossibly diverse and wide nowadays so how can anyone truly find out whats going on, especially if you are a newcomer, well a compilation like this is a good way to start.

MV : "Always on my mind" by Reading Rainbow

Off their new album.


READING RAINBOW always on my mind from amanda finn on Vimeo.

The Dreamscape - blackflower

The Dreamscape are rather obscure, they only released a couple of singles of which this is one. Later on i found out they were a side project of a couple of members of Secret Shine but at the time i just thought they were yet another mysterious C86 dreampop band producing beautiful music and disappearing after one or two singles...

And this single is beautiful, the A side is the best song by a margin (not that the B side "Evergreen" is bad), "Blackflower" is a lovely song with ethereal keyboards and female vocals that, while a bit flat, perfectly suit the song. One of my favourite songs from that era, taking me back to a time i used to go to town once a week and find amazing 7" singles like this.

You really should check the song out, it will be pretty hard to find the 7" single anywhere in the shops (though having said that there appear to be a couple on Ebay) but fear not as both songs are on Youtube, here is the A side.

Cinebook Recounts 2 : The Falklands War

To someone like myself who remembers the Falklands War of 1982 very vividly (maybe the most abiding TV memory of my childhood) a graphic novel telling the story of that war at first appears very strange. But then again graphic novels of WW2 seem fine and for some people they were vivid memories too so why not?

And indeed this is a very beautiful piece of work with excellent artwork. To fit the whole conflict into the confines of one volume was difficult i bet and at times the story races along at breakneck speed and also puts somewhat odd speech into the "characters'" mouths in order to advance the narrative sufficiently. I did notice a couple of inaccuracies with the events portrayed here but something only a military or history geek would really pick up on.

This is a very good piece of work, it should be required reading for British children to see how a British colony was regained nearly 30 years ago despite great difficulties and great cost.

• The Falklands War: Cinebook Recounts Series (Amazon)

93MillionMilesFromTheSun - EP1

Doncaster shoegaze noiseniks 93MillionMilesFromTheSun released this EP last month and its available as a free download (see link below). I love this band with their multi-layered feedback noise, they could easily have been one of the original shoegaze bands yet also are totally modern too.

"When I Look Up, I see Nothing" is my favourite track with its shimmering reverb feedback. "Never Understand" is a JAMC track and so true to the original's sound yet also with an original touch. Its fantastic. So a great EP, it also includes 2 tracks by Falling Saints and a poem!

• Download EP

MV : "Skulls" by Manhattan Love Suicides

Insect Guide - dark days and nights

Leeds trio Insect Guide produce a lovely dark shoegazey and noisy pop on this their second album. It has feedback noise, cool female vocals (Su Sutton is one of my favourite singers right now) and bags of atmosphere. Despite the dark noise mayhem there is also a definite pop sensibility and some great hooks, on the title track especially.

Wall-of-sound indie guitar pop with a cool style and attitude. I just know that if i was in a band i would want it to be Insect Guide. They should be massive worldwide, they are in my heart already.

• Dark Days & Nights (Amazon)

MV : "David Hero" by Insect Guide

Great band!

Yoko Tsuno 4 : Daughter Of The Wind

This series gets better and better, the first 2 were admittedly a bit odd and hard to get into but Book 4 really builds on the wonderful mystery of #3 to give us a terrific adventure involving typhoons, international intrigue and hi-tech toys that look like they came straight out of a Gerry Anderson show.

What i like about these Yoko Tsuno stories is that the author isn't afraid to give the character a past, and some background story which really adds to the appeal of the character. Otherwise she would be just a pretty geek who gets involved with sci-fi adventures for some random reason. This story involves her family and the sort of scientific work they are involved in and as well as that we discover her childhood mentor.

Its a well paced and intriguing story and even has some ninjas in it. Any story with ninjas in is a win of course. If the third book reminded me a bit of a Famous Five or Scooby Doo mystery then this one is more like a Gerry Anderson or Japanese anime. Both work really well with a character like Yoko. The artwork too is truly superb. Highly recommended.

• Cinebook page
• Yoko Tsuno Vol. 4: Daughter of the Wind (Amazon)

MV : "Sugar coated" by The Nova Saints

Hard edged noise pop.

Lucky Luke 3 : Dalton City

The third book in Cinebook's sequence of Lucky Luke introduces the Daltons, a gang of desperate men who are luckily pretty stupid too. The Daltons escape from jail and set up their own outlaw town. In steps Lucky Luke, the man who shoots faster than his shadow, to bring them to justice.

Like the first 2 books this is a very enjoyable read with plenty of the humour those familiar with some of Goscinny's other works may find familiar. There is so much to enjoy here such as Luke's horse and its sarcastic quips, the Daltons all looking the same except for being different sizes and the rubbish telegraph operator. Its a great comedy western, it even has an overworked and overeager undertaker.

What i really enjoy about these stories is that even though Luke is a gunman without peer he seldom relies on his gunslinging to catch the bad guys rather using his cunning and trickery to enshare the bad guys in an intricate plan, though the storieswould be a lot shorter of course if he did!

Morris' artwork is fine though one criticism is that it suffers from "lazy colouring" with whole chunks of the same frame in the same colour though this was common in older comic strips (early Asterix for example). Its only a minor point though, this is a great read.

• Cinebook
• A Lucky Luke Adventure - Dalton City (Amazon)

MV : "November Starlings" by Trembling Blue Stars

I did get the new (last?) Trembling Blue Stars album today, going back to 2007's album however and we have this lovely song (and video).

MV : "Cath Carroll" by Unrest

The early 90s were just such an awesome time for music... much like now really.

The Charlottes - liar - the best of

Formed in 1988 The Charlottes were a female fronted indie rock band which created quite a stir in the 3 short years they were in existence. They fitted in between post-C86 girl-fronted pop bands and shoegazing with a look that maybe fitted with the former though sonically had much more in common with the latter with their guitar heavy melodies and a heavier beat.

This collects together much of their discography which only consisted of a couple of albums and a few EPs but their legacy is sound. "Liar" is the sub-title of the album of course and is their best and best known track. A hard and heavy indie noise song with female vocals that sometimes get lost a bit in the noise but never are defeated for long. A song that sums up The Charlottes in general to be honest.

• Liar: Best of the Charlottes (Amazon)

MV : "What will we do next?" by The Orchids

Back in the day The Orchids had two professional quality MVs made of which this is one.

Sea Dweller - love is coming

I love the internet, it allows one to discover and get music from bands that in previous pre-connected days you may never have known existed, like Sea Dweller a shoegazing band from Rome. This album collects together 2 of their earlier EPs into one solid album of dreampop noise.

Sea Dweller can be loud, such as on "Every inch" with its soaring guitars and even louder as on "She whispers" with its sonic attack. This album has a chunky beat too that sounds wonderful hammering through your speakers (and then through your ear drums). There is a delicate edge and some great pop moments too even an 80s-ish feel to some songs at times. This album is a winner. Bellisima!

• Sea Dweller website

The Field Mice - the Autumn store EP

Early-ish on in Sarah Records history came this EP split over 2 parts (and 2 7" singles) that presented some of the best pop singles by The Field Mice. The quality of the 5 songs is just incredible. "The World To Me" for example with its infectious fast beat and chorus is pop gold.

"Song Six" is also high-tempo but with very potent lyrics about how some men treat women. "If you need someone" is a beautiful jangly pop song with its yearning vocals. "Anyone else isn't you" is a classic sad slow C86 pop nugget. Some bands would be happy to release just 1 song of this quality never mind this many in 1 go. There is many reasons the Field Mice are called one of the best bands on Sarah and this EP has 5 of them.

Also have to love the cover design of the 2 singles, a simple geometric design which (intentionally?) reminds us of a mouse!

MV : "Helen Reddy" by the Trembling Blue Stars

Forged from the ashes of the Field Mice and Northern Picture Library (and including at various times Keris from Brighter, Harvey Williams and Beth from Aberdeen) the Trembling Blue Stars is the ultimate post-Sarah band. New (and possibly last) album out tomorrow!

Yoko Tsuno 3 : The Prey and the Ghost

Yoko Tsuno is a young Japanese woman who, like many people in the comicverse, always seems to have a knack of getting into trouble or being in the right time and place to get involved with a new adventure...

The first 2 books in the Yoko Tsuno i found a little difficult to get into because of the fantasical themes including aliens, time travel, cloning et cetera which stretched credibility a little far for a story which is drawn and written like a classic children's or young person's adventure. However this book is a (fairly) straight forward mystery adventure in a haunted Scottish castle and is very enjoyable indeed.

Its maybe a little unfair to criticise the earlier books in this way because the theme of most Yoko Tsuno books tends to be science fiction or fantasy but i felt this story worked a lot better than the first 2 released by Cinebook.

When she almost runs down a girl running seemingly for her life Yoko is drawn into an adventure that involves mysterious deaths, ghosts and strange goings on. As the adventure draws on Yoko finds she maybe isn't in a ghost story after all but maybe something that is more Earthly yet also more deadly.

Yoko Tsuno by Roger Leloup is a beautifully drawn comic strip and this issue has an engaging and interesting story which brings to mind classic mystery dramas especially those set in ancient castles full of hidden passages and rooms!

• Cinebook page
• The Prey and the Ghost: Yoko Tsuno 3 (Amazon)

MV : "Wasted" by Insect Guide

The more i hear of this band the more i like them.

Eternal - breathe EP

If i was put on the spot and asked to name my favourite ever records it would be an impossible task apart from the 7" category. There can only be one in that category : Eternal's one and only single for Sarah Records which bought us 3 of the best shoegaze noise pop songs of all time. Eternal is largely unknown in the annals of indie pop these days though they had quite an influence on a number of people, they also included Christian Savill later of Slowdive.

Three songs then, "Sleep" and "Breathe" are mere sparkling yet delicate examples of shoegazey noise pop, "Take me down" is just something else. A downbeat drone of a song with continuous feedback noise and an almost inconsequential beat and vocal. One of my favourite songs of all, be sure to check out the demo version on Youtube too which is a bit slower and not as noisy.

Only a couple of thousand copies of this single were made, alas mine has gone long ago though you can get and hear all 3 songs very easily online.

MV : "Waiting there" by 93MillionMilesFromTheSun

In noise there is a beauty.

Blake & Mortimer 1 : The Yellow "M"

Having reviewed the latest Cinebook translation of Blake & Mortimer a few weeks ago i thought it best to start back at the beginning to the first book The Yellow "M" (though actually the 6th in the series by Edgar P Jacobs).

Why are the Blake & Mortimer books so wonderful? And they are. Well one reason surely has to be because of the wonderful period and reality they are set in, Britain in the post-war 1940s (though it could be any time in the 30s or 40s) and with a large dollop of interwar period weirdness, occultness and classic mystery.

The Yellow M is a mysterious super criminal who is terrorising London, even stealing the Queen's crown! As Blake & Mortimer investigate the criminal they uncover the mysterious technology of the Mega Wave, mind control and murder!

As with all of the Blake & Mortimer books the story is intense, you certainly get your money's worth as far as word count is concerned! The plot is deep, intricate and complex though also reminds one of old serials with dastardly bad guys putting our heroes into peril after peril. Some have criticised these books for being too wordy, for explaining everything that is going on even when it is obvious from the pictures but this to me just adds to the classic serial feel. You can just imagine the narration by someone with a very posh clipped RP accent.

It is also so beautifully drawn in the clear line style. This isn't just a comic book, it isn't just a work of art, its a precious treasure. So precious the Yellow M would be sure to try and steal it...

• The Yellow 'M': Blake and Mortimer 1 (Amazon)
• Cinebook website

Blind Mr Jones - over my head

Its often dangerous and usually pointless to highlight anything as "the best" or your all-time favourite as you choice usually changes over time or you forget other contenders to the title. However i have no hesitation in naming Blind Mr Jones the best original shoegazing band. What who? Not Slowdive or Chapterhouse? Well they were good but Blind Mr Jones captured the scene and explored the sonic possibilities of shoegazing more than any other band in the early 1990s.

This compilation brings together everything Blind Mr Jones recorded, thats two albums and a couple of EPs. I used to have it all from the fabulous "Over my head" EP to the latter album that was rather disappointing (so much so i can't remember its title at the moment). What did Blind Mr Jones sound like, an often ethereal delicate sound together with hard fuzz noise. On songs like "Henna and swayed" the tones spark memories of one's childhood and other nostalgia. On the impressive "Dolores" BMJ blast you with a sheer wall of noise.

CD #2 has their later material which more straight forward indie rock than their earlier fuzz drenched stuff. I didn't like it that much at the time though the songs in hindsight were more intelligent and mature. Just lacking the right amount of noise. The addition of a flute did give a new dimension to their later sound though often the flute arrangements are a little obvious.

This compilation gives me a wonderfully nostalgic feeling for the sounds of the early 90s but maybe that feeling also has a bittersweet edge due to lamenting a band who were criminally overlooked and really should have been massive.

• Over My Head: The Complete Recordings (Amazon)

MV : "Lovely crawl" by Fleeting Joys

Great bit of modern shoegazing and acid video.

East River Pipe - the gasoline age

East River Pipe are another of the ex-Sarah bands i am currently rediscovering though the band, in actuality all the work of FM Cornog, has had a career both pre and post Sarah Records. This album (ERP's 4th) dates from 1999 (and thus is in the post-era of course).

The title of the album and some of the song titles indicate a bit of an automobile or travel theme or trying to escape for a better life as is the theme of the epic "Atlantic City" and its tale of going to try and make it rich at the casinos. Like all ERP albums this is an exploration in lo-fi pop with delicate and beautiful melodies, sentimental and fragile but sometimes with a hard edge kicking in at exactly the right moment.

FM Cornog is a master craftsman of pop music and like all of his music this captures your heart and takes you to a strange and slightly desperate yet life affirming world. This is beautiful pop and its also wonderful Americana.

• Gasoline Age (Amazon Link)

MV : "Sorry again" by Velocity Girl

Stateside C86.

The Bardots - eye-baby

The astonishingly good Bardots only released two studio albums of which this is the first. The Bardots were neither from the C86 or shoegazer scenes but could maybe occupy the same space as bands from both. Ultimately their hard edged guitar pop with doom laden vocals coming in 1992 was maybe a year too late as the indie scene had largely moved on unfortunately.

So what were the Bardots like? A typical Bardots track has screeching jangly guitars, big choruses and downer lyrics. The effect was often fabulous, any band that can do songs about self-harming with a bright jangly guitar backing has to be nothing short of awesome.

I find it hard to put it into words how much i love this band to be honest. Listening to this or the follow-up V-neck is just a roller coaster of intense pop thrills, deep emotions and passion. And when you have ended your ride you just want to get on again and again. 

• Eye-Baby (Amazon)

Lucky Luke 1 & 2

Recently i have tended to go for European comics of the more serious and clear line style though Asterix is my first love and Lucky Luke is very much in that vein and the first 2 Cinebook released Lucky Luke volumes "Billy The Kid" and "Ghost Town" were even written by the co-creator of Asterix the unsurpassed René Goscinny and drawn by the equally talented Morris.

Drawn in a similar style to Asterix and also similarly humorous yet intelligent Lucky Luke does differ quite a bit from the famous ancient Gaul. Luke is a drifter cowboy who can draw his sixgun faster than his shadow. Luke wanders the Wild West sorting out unfairness and wrongdoing where ever he finds it. Unlike Asterix Luke doesn't have a sidekick unless you count his horse who occasionally talks and delivers Snowy like sarcasm where needed.

I enjoyed both of these volumes and as Cinebook have published over 20 more to date (and in French the series is in the 70s by now) there will be plenty more to enjoy in the years to come. Goscinny and Morris pack a lot of story into each volume and the humour is often subtle and multi-layered. The only question is over Luke himself, i found it not that easy to warm to his character and would probably like a bit of back story. Maybe that will come after reading further volumes...

• A Lucky Luke Adventure : Billy the Kid (Lucky Luke) (Amazon)
• A Lucky Luke Adventure : Ghost Town (Lucky Luke) (Amazon)

MV : "I hate milk" by Air Miami

Air Miami were a band in the mid-1990s that grew out of the earlier indie band Unrest, this is my favourite song of theirs.

Secret Shine - untouched

With their third studio album due for release on Christmas day and their second album from 2008 still doing the business for me i thought it was time to rediscover Secret Shine's first album though we have to go back all of the way to... 1993. This was one of my all-time favourite releases from Sarah Records and having a listen to it for the first time in years i was reminded just how brilliant this album is.

This album put the band firmly into shoegazing territory of course with swirling guitars, delicate female vocals, feedback noise but the songs! Songs like "Temporal" (one of my favourite songs of all time) and "Into the ether" are just unbeatable. All the songs are really, there are no duff tracks on here. All the songs are just in varying degrees of brilliance. The production is good too with pounding drums with a bit of space echo and grinding guitar noise. I suppose some may say Secret Shine were just part of the shoegazing scene. But so what, the scene rocked as do this band.

• Untouched (Amazon)

MV : "Liar" by The Charlottes

Why was the late 80s/early 90s so ace? Because of songs like this...

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

I don't really like the band's name which is a little clumsy but that is the only criticism i can think of for New York's The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. This is modern day C86 indie gold. Cutie pop with lots of cuteness but not cloying. Lovely energetic pop songs with exuberance and sweet melodies a plenty.

Favourite track is "Young adult friction" (love that title too). Its got the best pop hook i've heard for ages. Actually this is one of the best albums i've heard for ages too. Fantastic stuff.

• Pains of Being Pure at Heart  (Amazon)

MV : "Helmet on" by East River Pipe

Apparently made by a student for a film project for the epic track by East River Pipe, one of the highlights of the latter days of Sarah Records. Truly fabulous song and fabulous MV too.

Blake & Mortimer 8 : The Voronov Plot

The Blake & Mortimer comic series, originally by Edgar Jabobs and now carried onwards by a number of different writers and artists, are among my favourite comic series. Beautifully drawn in the clear line style they are a high point of European comics with their intricate tales of espionage and weird science set in the early postwar world. I am going to start reviewing the comic books i buy on this blog and i might as well start with the latest one i have got...

In this latest volume released by Cinebook Blake & Mortimer are drawn into a taut cold war drama involving extraterrestrial derived biological weapons, renegade scientists and KGB agents and a battle of wits across Moscow, London and ..er.. Liverpool on the eve of the space race.

As with all of the Blake & Mortimer books there is a lot of story squeezed into one volume. At times maybe it may seem the story is a little dense but then again you are definitely getting your money's worth!

• The Voronov Plot: Blake & Mortimer Vol. 8 (Amazon)
• Cinebook website

Sennen - destroy us EP

Modern day shoegaze noise merchants Sennen released this EP last year. Overall its fine though i personally found it a little bit souless and cold. The New Order cover "Bizarre love triangle" is the best track on here which is maybe slightly worrying. The instrumentals on here sound a bit like they hadn't enough ideas to pack out the EP. Its not bad... its just not great.

I've heard enough to make me want more but i'd like a little more warmth... or more feedback noise terrorism. To me thats the same thing anyway.

• Destroy Us (Amazon Link)

MV : "Everything with you" by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Got their album today. Great stuff.

MV : "Grip" by Aspidistra

One i have put up on my Youtube channel, ancient 7" single downloaded as an mp3, converted to a movie in iMovie then put up for the enjoyment of all who love obscure noise.

1992

For some reason i have quite a few indie CD singles from 1992 but few if any from other years. Its a curious situation, i suspect caused by these 1992 singles lying hidden somewhere while i threw out many indie treasures during past moments of madness. So what have we got, a couple of Ride singles for a start including the epic "Leave them all behind" in its 8 minute long glory. Now this is the sort of song perfect for a jukebox as you certainly would get your money worth.

There are a couple of Ned's Atomic Dustbin singles too, from their late career i think (never was much of a fan but they did the odd good song) plus some obscure bands now largely forgotten i suspect like Eat and Sensitize. Many of these probably coming from bargain bins in shops like Swordfish.

What this post is about i'm not sure except that it has reminded me how much got thrown away. If only...

The Cavalcade - many moons

This is a wonderful debut album by a new band, well a duo anyway. "Recorded in a bedroom" it claims, well it might very well be but Preston's The Cavalcade sounds very good. Well crafted indie guitar pop with more than a touch of the C86 about it. You need to hear "Voices" you really do which is maybe the best song on here.

• Many Moons (Pebble Records)

The Bardots - we are fiasco EP

The Bardots are a special band to me, part of my all-time top 3 of indie bands along with The Orchids and Brighter. Unlike the other two though they were not a Sarah or C86 band though they certainly did have some jangly guitars on occasion. They were probably born a little too late and missed the late 80s and start of the 90s when their noise-edged pop with doomed lyrics would have gone down better than it did in the baggy beat early 90s. Fear not you can listen to them now again as i am.

This EP came in between their 2 studio albums. Actually "We are fiasco" was the first Bardots song i ever heard when John Peel played it and i became an instant fan. Its the main track on this 4 song EP. A great pop song with downer lyrics, Bardots to a tee. "Applepain" also provides some feedback noise terrorism and "Miss another" is another great pop melody.

• We Are Fiasco (Amazon Link)

MV : "We always move too slow" by The Cavalcade

Got these guys album this week, best new band in Britain!

The Orchids - she's my girl EP

Imagine my surprise at the weekend when not only did i find out The Orchids, one of the best Sarah bands and a band beloved by me back in the 90s, had reformed but they were about to release their second album since reforming!

This EP was released earlier in the year, seeing an Orchids album with 2010 on it is certainly a very strange experience. One i will enjoy getting used to. So The Orchids, it seems like they have never been away. On the rocky driving "She's my girl" the essential pop melodies are all there and "The lost star" is a delicious exploration into electronic pop as The Orchids often made back in the late Sarah days.

Of course they are older now and sound it slightly to be fair, but it is in a more world-weary mature way than say being boring and rubbish. This EP could easily have been released by Sarah back in 1995 but at the same time it couldn't. So get it.

• She's My Girl EP (Pebble Records)

MV : "Maybe tomorrow" by The Iveys

Later Badfinger et cetera, as the Iveys i thought they were pretty damn good.

A Sarah Records documentary

This is something that has been in development for some time apparently but i've only just found out about it, these guys are making a documentary about Sarah Records! They are asking for help, i just wish i still had all my old 7" singles. I did have much of the Sarah discography, especially from Sarah 40 onwards but all my vinyl went into a skip on one day of madness.

MV : "Cradel snatch" by Revolver

Great song by one of the original shoegazers.

The Fauns

This wonderful bundle of joy arrived in my letterbox this morning. With my rediscovery of C86 and shoegazing its all very well dusting off ancient relics in my attic, i also need some "fresh meat" and The Fauns are that meat, so to speak. Think Slowdive and you won't be far off how The Fauns sound. Lush and exquisite shoegazing dream pop and its absolutely fantastic.

• The Fauns  (Amazon Link)
• Lovestruck MV