The Radio Dept are another one of those Swedish Pop bands harking back to the golden ages of C86 and Twee. Signed to the excellent Labrador Records in their native land they have had their latest single the "Ewan" EP released earlier this month in the UK via XL Recordings (Shelflife in the US). Taken from the album "Lesser Matters" it's one lush tune and was released too late to be in my 2004 lists!
Radio Dept - Pulling Our Weight
Radio Dept - Why Won't You talk About It
Radio Dept - Against The Tide
Radio Department artist pages - on Labrador/on XL Recordings/on Shelf Life
Buy:
I don't know about you but the watching and reading about the events in South East Asia are some of the most shocking I have seen or read. I personally do not know anyone who was in South East Asia at the time (or I hope no one I knew was there) but my sisters neighbours went to Phuket for Christmas so let's hope they are safe. The human race's ability to destroy itself through war, bloodshed and terrorism is shocking and horrific enough but when nature strikes it seems nothing can prepare you for the horrors that follow.
Here are some UK based appeals if you wish to make an on-line donation. As a member of Oxfam I urge you to do so. These are both UK charities and if you are donating from the UK please remember to tick the GIFT AID box so more goes towards the appeal and not the UK taxman.
Oxfam On-line Donation
DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal
Here are some UK based appeals if you wish to make an on-line donation. As a member of Oxfam I urge you to do so. These are both UK charities and if you are donating from the UK please remember to tick the GIFT AID box so more goes towards the appeal and not the UK taxman.
Oxfam On-line Donation
DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal
Steve at Turquoise Days is doing his bit for the appeal for the Tsunami and the shocking events that followed in South East Asia.
He writes on his blog:
If you follow this link and click on the record label button you will see details of two CDs we released, one is a compilation CD called "A Boy, A Girl & A Rendez-Vous" featuring the likes of The Lucksmiths, Aislers Set, Aberdeen, White Town and The Sugargliders. The other is a full length CD by a band called Callow who fans of The Pernice Brothers & American Music Club may like. If you'd like one, or both, email me with your name & address and we'll send you them free of charge. BUT what we'd like you to do is make a donation to the disaster relief efforts by clicking on the link below.
Go to his blog page for more.
He writes on his blog:
If you follow this link and click on the record label button you will see details of two CDs we released, one is a compilation CD called "A Boy, A Girl & A Rendez-Vous" featuring the likes of The Lucksmiths, Aislers Set, Aberdeen, White Town and The Sugargliders. The other is a full length CD by a band called Callow who fans of The Pernice Brothers & American Music Club may like. If you'd like one, or both, email me with your name & address and we'll send you them free of charge. BUT what we'd like you to do is make a donation to the disaster relief efforts by clicking on the link below.
Go to his blog page for more.
I was hoping to get one last music post in before the winter solstice kicks in for sure but events have conspired against me. I am away most of the holiday period and don't return until the beginning of the new year. This of course means the blog and the main site will not be updated until then. I am sure some of the other mp3 blogs will still be active so check them out. Take care, have a good time and be safe.
I mentioned The Faint on one of the Music Download Com posts. These are some pointers obtained from Brians Radio Blog.
Here is a link to the FC Kahuna remixes of I Disappear whilst here are some tracks from 2001's "Dust".
The Faint - Official Site
The Faint - Music Download com Page (with tracks to download)
The Faint - Epitonic Page (with tracks to download)
Buy the Faint:
Wet from Birth
Danse Macabre
Blank-wave Arcade
I have updated the indie mp3 radio station.
As a tribute to the late John Peel I am playing the tracks that made up the Festive 50 from 1983 (1986 was too obvious)! However I am missing two tracks. These are Luddites - Doppleganger and Sophie and Peter Johnson - Television (Peel Session). If you have them please let me know.
EDIT: Someone has sent me the album version of the Sophie and Peter Johnson track so I have now added that to the playlist.
The radio station can be found here. Information about how to listen is on the site's radio page.
I was due to see Morrissey last night but a severe headache put paid to that and my £35 ticket! In preparation of the morning after I had already started drafting a post and that follows:
I was a Smiths fan - not one of those madly devoted fools but had a great appreciation of their music,. When the band split I didn't care too much for Morrissey's solo output despite "Suedehead" being a great single and took my allegiance to Electronic, Johnny Marr's band with New Order's Bernard Sumner. Morrissey also made some very foolish race related comments which only alienated him further. The albums I heard didn't impress me until I heard "You Are The Quarry" which was one of my surprises of 2004. An excellent album but certainly does not merit a deluxe edition that has already appeared in the shops!
Mp3's from espew
Morrissey - Will Never Marry
Morrissey - Suedehead
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die (Live)
Morrissey - Irish Blood English Heart (Live)
I was a Smiths fan - not one of those madly devoted fools but had a great appreciation of their music,. When the band split I didn't care too much for Morrissey's solo output despite "Suedehead" being a great single and took my allegiance to Electronic, Johnny Marr's band with New Order's Bernard Sumner. Morrissey also made some very foolish race related comments which only alienated him further. The albums I heard didn't impress me until I heard "You Are The Quarry" which was one of my surprises of 2004. An excellent album but certainly does not merit a deluxe edition that has already appeared in the shops!
Mp3's from espew
Morrissey - Will Never Marry
Morrissey - Suedehead
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die (Live)
Morrissey - Irish Blood English Heart (Live)
Helen Love, the Welsh pop punker with a fixation on Joey Ramone has a couple of exclusives posted on the official site. Head over there and sign up and you can download two Christmas Ditties including "Merry Christmas I Don't Wanna Fight". There is also a cover version of The Clash track "Tommy Gun".
Love, who had a track on the recent Indiepop compilation has been recording for years and seems to be having a bit of a revival at the moment. This will soon see the release of a new single "The BubblegumKillers EP" which will feature the excellent "Debbie Loves Joey"
Music.Download.Com Roundup - Sixpack!
2 Comments Published by Tom on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 19:35.
A round up of some tunes I have downloaded from Music Download Com recently.
Rainer Maria - The Double Life
French Disco - A Picture Of Arthur Bacon
Private Lessons - False Alarms
The Dudley Corporation - Divil The Bit
Former Friend - A Greener Sunday
Manishevitz - Hate llene
There are also available are a number of mp3's from The Faint. They sound very 1980's with a hint of The Cure about them. Not that I like the Cure that much. I really like the single "I Disappear" which is also available. Download them from here.
Rainer Maria - The Double Life
French Disco - A Picture Of Arthur Bacon
Private Lessons - False Alarms
The Dudley Corporation - Divil The Bit
Former Friend - A Greener Sunday
Manishevitz - Hate llene
There are also available are a number of mp3's from The Faint. They sound very 1980's with a hint of The Cure about them. Not that I like the Cure that much. I really like the single "I Disappear" which is also available. Download them from here.
The Mighty Lemon Drops circa 1985-1988 were one of my favourite all time bands and I saw them live more than any other band - must be well over 20 times! I will not discuss them here. Instead head to my Droppies pages which covers them in more detail.
The Mighty Lemon Drops - Pass You By (Live)
If that track has whetted your appetite then head along to my aforementioned pages where you can download the whole concert which is from a gig at Newcastle University in 1986. Posted with the blessing of the Droppies Dave Newton too!
Buy:
Young Gifted and Black Country
Rollercoaster
All the Way
The Walnut Dash have an album out on Vinyl Japan at the moment. Called "Titbits" it's a compilation of their singles so far with two new tracks.
A part of the album's promotion the band have made available their 2001 single "Going Straight" available in mp3 format. And mighty fine it is too! Download it from the album page on their site and listen to the rest of the album in Real Audio while you are at it.
Buy Titbits from Vinyl Japan or Amazon
Anhrefn ((Disorder in English) were a left leaning punk band from Wales in the early eighties and were probably the first band to tour internationally and record punk rock only in the Welsh language.
I once had the excellent "Sheep Skateboards and Wellies" album but this has been long lost. My interest in the band has been rekindled on another forum and rumour has it they may be reforming.
You can download the album, including skips and jumps, and the bands only Peel Session from here.
Band Interview
Buy "Sheep Skateboards and Wellies" from Workers Playtime
Now That's What I call Indie-ish!
0 Comments Published by Tom on Monday, December 06, 2004 at 11:39.
A collection of links from espew, mpee3
The Wedding Present - Flying Saucer From Hit Parade Vol.2
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Cut Dead From Psychocandy
The Pixies - Subbacultcha From Trompe Le Monde
The Housemartins - Happy Hour From London Nil Hull 4
Throwing Muses - Not Too Soon From Not Too Soon
Stereolab - Long Live Life from Captain Easychord
Cinerama - 146 Degrees from Disco Volante
The Wedding Present - Flying Saucer From Hit Parade Vol.2
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Cut Dead From Psychocandy
The Pixies - Subbacultcha From Trompe Le Monde
The Housemartins - Happy Hour From London Nil Hull 4
Throwing Muses - Not Too Soon From Not Too Soon
Stereolab - Long Live Life from Captain Easychord
Cinerama - 146 Degrees from Disco Volante
Billy Mahonie, who have recorded a Peel Session, have made their Nightmare EP available as a free download. The EP contains new tracks recorded in 2003 and a downloadable cover in pdf format. The band play a form of Krautrock meeting a instrumental soundtrack or two.
The bands site is here whilst the EP can be downloaded from here.
Got the pointer to this from Turquoise Days.
Cathal Couglan (ex Microdisney/Fatima Mansions) has put up his 1996 album "Grand Necropolitan" as a free download on his site.
As Couglan states "please remember that downloading MP3 files damages the music industry - so do it early, often and cheerfully..."
Download these Wedding Present albums for free from e-music!
3 Comments Published by Tom on Sunday, December 05, 2004 at 13:58.
A shameless affiliation plug! I subscribe to e-music which is a digital download site for independent labels (no soddin' napster, My Coke or i-tunes here!).
They do a deal where you get a one week or 50 free mp3 trial. Download these or any other albums for free then either cancel your trial or sign up. I have discovered many a good album on e-music such as those from The French Kicks, The Like Young, The Shebrews etc so I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Non-US subscribers should bare in mind that some of the albums are not available outside the US. Sadly this includes the most of the albums on Labrador and Belle & Sebastian. So if anyone from the US wants to download me The Leslies album as part of their trial then I would be most grateful and of course download something back from emusic as part of the deal!
They do a deal where you get a one week or 50 free mp3 trial. Download these or any other albums for free then either cancel your trial or sign up. I have discovered many a good album on e-music such as those from The French Kicks, The Like Young, The Shebrews etc so I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Non-US subscribers should bare in mind that some of the albums are not available outside the US. Sadly this includes the most of the albums on Labrador and Belle & Sebastian. So if anyone from the US wants to download me The Leslies album as part of their trial then I would be most grateful and of course download something back from emusic as part of the deal!
I have still not got my ideas for unsigned bands and demos off the ground yet. However seeing as the blog is getting far more hits than the main pages I thought I would mention the ones received in the past week here.
First up is Chris Price. Chris is a one man composer and band and his track is very 1980's. The Washington Post does mentions that fans of his have compared him, amonst others, to New Order. Now I wouldn't go that far but his track "Charge Me Up" is enjoyable none the less.
Dirty Box described themselves as a mix between Punk, Rock, and Indie. They have an album out next year and on their site are three rough mixes. I wasn't to taken with "Celebrate with a Parade" but "Indie Cock" was a likeable, if sounding very familiar romp across those genres described earlier. Visit their site to download a third track "Come On You".
Panda Kopanda (great name!)have two demos available on their site. They have been getting some good press according to their site:
Sweet and revealing ... 'See If You Like It' is sonically blinding"
"Their songs convey a delicate beauty and emotion that makes Panda Kopanda unique among local acts ... they create rich harmonies and weave surging guitars in tunes that are structured, but never desert their roots in lo-fi slackerdom."
"Letting Go" is a bit too rocky and samey for me but "Where I Belong" is a nice indie poppish tune that should appeal to most people. The bands sound is well polished and I will be heading back to their site to see if there are any tunes in the future.
Chris Price - Charge Me Up
Dirty Box - Celebrate With A Parade
Dirty Box - Indie Cock
Panda Kopanda - Letting Go
Panda Kopanda - Where I Belong
First up is Chris Price. Chris is a one man composer and band and his track is very 1980's. The Washington Post does mentions that fans of his have compared him, amonst others, to New Order. Now I wouldn't go that far but his track "Charge Me Up" is enjoyable none the less.
Dirty Box described themselves as a mix between Punk, Rock, and Indie. They have an album out next year and on their site are three rough mixes. I wasn't to taken with "Celebrate with a Parade" but "Indie Cock" was a likeable, if sounding very familiar romp across those genres described earlier. Visit their site to download a third track "Come On You".
Panda Kopanda (great name!)have two demos available on their site. They have been getting some good press according to their site:
Sweet and revealing ... 'See If You Like It' is sonically blinding"
"Their songs convey a delicate beauty and emotion that makes Panda Kopanda unique among local acts ... they create rich harmonies and weave surging guitars in tunes that are structured, but never desert their roots in lo-fi slackerdom."
"Letting Go" is a bit too rocky and samey for me but "Where I Belong" is a nice indie poppish tune that should appeal to most people. The bands sound is well polished and I will be heading back to their site to see if there are any tunes in the future.
Chris Price - Charge Me Up
Dirty Box - Celebrate With A Parade
Dirty Box - Indie Cock
Panda Kopanda - Letting Go
Panda Kopanda - Where I Belong
Indie pop and C86 has a great affinity with Scotland. Bands such as Orange Juice, Josef K, Fire Engines, Shop Assistants, Jesus & Mary Chain, Meat Whiplash, Motorcycle Boy etc have had a lasting impact. Bands such as Belle & Sebastain, The Delgados and Ballboy amongst others carry the tradition on.
You can read all about the current indie scene in Scotland at the excellent Jockrock.
Ballboy's new album, "The Royal Theatre" was released last week. Buy it here. You can download the first single from the album, courtesy of Jockrock below.
Ballboy - The Art Of Kissing
You can read all about the current indie scene in Scotland at the excellent Jockrock.
Ballboy's new album, "The Royal Theatre" was released last week. Buy it here. You can download the first single from the album, courtesy of Jockrock below.
Ballboy - The Art Of Kissing
