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