Shoegazing doesn't get much of a mention on indie-mp3. I am not sure how strong as a genre it was once you started scratching away at the surface but I do feel, in parts, that it was one avenue of progression (degression?) from the C86 scene. In any case it did provide a diversion in the early 1990's from the cash-in dance remixes of indie bands that were all the rage - despite The Chapterhouse remix album of course!
Shoegazing now seems to be labelled dream-pop and that is more than an apt description for Canadian band The Airfields.
The Airfields have an excellent download EP, titled "City State" available consisting of three great tracks my favourite being the epic "Leaps & Bounds" with it's many twist and turns. Great stuff - now where is my Slowdive t-shirt!
The Airfields - Leaps and Bounds
The Airfields - City State
The Airfields - If You Don't Believe
The band are currently working on their follow up to the "City State EP" which is due for release later this year.
Revolution In The Head has posted a "home made" compilation album of Belle and Sebastian covering the likes of The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and The Smiths amongst others which you can get here.
Edit: They have posted some more including a cover of Kraftwerk's The Model.
Edit: They have posted some more including a cover of Kraftwerk's The Model.
This is a rapidshare link to an excellent Orange Juice/Edwyn Collins Discography which originated from the Rip It Up Yahoo Group.
Last week Mocking Music posted the C86 tape but the tracks are now offline and they have not yet reposted the tracks elsewhere.
In the interim I have decided to post the tape myself via rapidshare.
C86 Part 1
C86 Part 2
C86 part 3
These are my own encodes (vbr 220) and not the ones from the Mocking Music post.
If you do not know how to use Rapidshare then see this guide. It's worth shelling out $5 for an account rather than wait for the download limit to renew.
Chuzzlewit will shortly be releasing their latest album "An Experimental Index of the Heart". Greg Prickman has been recording under the name Chuzzlewit for nearly 10 years now and has recently been joined by Rachel, who has added a new dimension to Chuzzlewit's recordings, as demonstrated by the track below which is a great lo-fi indie-pop song.
Chuzzlewit - All the Rivers Leave Their Beds
Listen to more songs via the band's My Space page.
Pre-order An Experimental Index of the Heart
Love Ends Disaster - Free Download Single
0 Comments Published by Tom on Friday, July 29, 2005 at 11:54.
Love Ends Disaster follow up their excellent "Stories for the Dislocated EP" with a free three track download single.
The band are also going into the studio to record their second EP and will be appearing on the Collateral Music compilation which is raising funds for UNICEF amongst others.
The Electric Cafe (Mark Day) remix of Ginko Disco takes the guitars one step further via it's electroclash beat and is a fine example of a remix. It's good to see indie bands broaden their horizons by getting electronic artists involved and these days a remix has much more meaning than the cannon fodder remixes put out by the record labels at the height of the indie-dance days - Talk Talk or Railway Children remixes anyone?
Love Ends Disaster - Ginko Disco (Electric Cafe Remix)
Download the other two tracks from their homepage.
Au Revoir Simone have certainly made some of the most beautiful pop music I have heard all year. They hail from New York and they released their debut album " Verses Of Comfort, Assurance And Salvation" on the Japanese label Rallye in March. How did I miss it? They have also signed to Moshi Moshi in the UK.
How best to describe them? Stereolab would be a starting point but there is more to their synth (casio?)based pop than that. Just listen to these dreamlike tracks and judge for yourself.
Au Revoir Simone - Back In Time
Au Revoir Simone - Through The Backyard
Buy Verses Of Comfort, Assurance And Salvation
French Disco, who may have named themselves after a Stereolab song, hail from San Francisco and describe themselves as "the type of dream pop that sounds like Would-Be-Goods gone shoegaze". The band have released their debut EP titled "Twilight Idols" from which the following two songs are taken. "Idoles du Soir" certainly is dreamy affair, almost cineramic for the most part whilst "A Picture of Arthur Bacon" demostrates the versatility of the band with it's driving, shimmering and almost hypnotic beat.
French Disco - Idoles du Soir
French Disco - A Picture of Arthur Bacon
Buy Twilight Idols
Bliss Aquamarine is a non-profit, diy tape label and doubles up as an indie, alternative and underground music fanzine. Issues 21 to 25 of the fanzine are on-line and they have some good articles on Matinee, Slumberland, Shelflife and also review singles and albums. Well worth a look as is the aricle on the Sea Urchins.
This is an interesting story in today's Guardian. Studies show that people who illegally download music buy more from legal download services! They spend £5.52 a month compared to £1.27 by those who do not illegally download. It's a shame the study did not look at if they spend more on CD's as well. More on this story on BBC Online and The Register.
Also note that Chocoreve has posted two more Belle & Sebastian shows from 2004 and 1998.
Belle & Sebastian Live Shows (and more)
0 Comments Published by Tom on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 at 15:00.
Chocoreve have a number of Belle & Sebastian live shows available for downloading.
The downloads are available via Rapidshare. If you do not know how to use this service then see this guide.
On another note I see that the tracks posted on this blog are collated via The Hype Machine which describes itself as:
The Hype Machine is an experiment that gathers songs posted on MP3 blogs and presents them in an easy to consume manner. It lets you easily listen to the new music that has been posted today by a great variety of bloggers - discover and fall in love with something new!
This means you can stream all the tracks I have linked to which you can do via here.
Finally I wrote a post about a band called Mynah back in May this year. The CD is now available and you can get one sending your name, address, and a nice note to mynah(at)monumentalpeople dot com. Alternatively you can download the EP from here but I would plump for the actual CD as my copy is beautifully packaged and is another example why digital downloads will not replace CD's (he states optimistically!!!)
Non CD Tracks:
Mynah - Dog Faced Girl (Live)
Mynah - Two Note Song
More here.
The downloads are available via Rapidshare. If you do not know how to use this service then see this guide.
On another note I see that the tracks posted on this blog are collated via The Hype Machine which describes itself as:
The Hype Machine is an experiment that gathers songs posted on MP3 blogs and presents them in an easy to consume manner. It lets you easily listen to the new music that has been posted today by a great variety of bloggers - discover and fall in love with something new!
This means you can stream all the tracks I have linked to which you can do via here.
Finally I wrote a post about a band called Mynah back in May this year. The CD is now available and you can get one sending your name, address, and a nice note to mynah(at)monumentalpeople dot com. Alternatively you can download the EP from here but I would plump for the actual CD as my copy is beautifully packaged and is another example why digital downloads will not replace CD's (he states optimistically!!!)
Non CD Tracks:
Mynah - Dog Faced Girl (Live)
Mynah - Two Note Song
More here.
Kicker - New Album and Exclusive Download
0 Comments Published by Tom on Monday, July 25, 2005 at 09:52.
Kicker released their new album "Our Wild Mercury Years" last week which you can buy from Track & Field. The label states:
Following on from their 'Fivefortyfives' collection, "Our Wild Mercury
Years' is Kicker's debut album. Influenced by The Go-Betweens, Felt, Northern Soul, Dusty, Fairport and a dash of french pop, it is a diary of five years in the life of a boy/girl London beat group operating on the margins of a big scarey city, trying to carve out a slice of the New Pop Dream.
The band have also set up a My Space page where you can listen to some songs and also download an exclusive mp3 titled "Paraguay" as well as a track from the "Fivefortyfives" album titled "No More Tears".
The band say that they will be changing the tracks that are available now and again so keep checking the page which can be found here.
Other tracks:
Kicker - Chancifer
Kicker - On Your Floor
Kicker - Tomorrow Always Comes
Mocking Music has posted the C86 cassette in it's entirety. Read the post and download it from here.
Bobby Baby (aka Malmo based Ella Glockenspiel) has released an EP on net label, Corpid. The tracks are Lads are fun, Seven feet, The some place new, Lovsonr and Bobby. The latter two are new recordings.
I wrote about Bobby Baby previously.
Bobby Baby - Lovsnor
Bobby Baby - Bobby
For the rest of the EP head to Corpid. Bobby Baby's homepage also has a wealth of good tunes to download.
Ella has also hooked up again with Korro, her old partner from Alien She, who now records under the name Steso Songs and they have produced a new track.
Bobby Baby & Steso Songs - Flip Flop
Steso Songs proves that pop songs played on a Casio has not yet ceased to be an art form. Her tracks are certainly worth listening too.
Steso Songs - Psychoman
More on Steso Songs songs page.
Download last weeks featured tracks.
The Chills - I Love My Leather Jacket/The Great Escape (8.95mb)
Link will be deleted in a week.
This weeks featured tracks can be found here.
The Chills - I Love My Leather Jacket/The Great Escape (8.95mb)
Link will be deleted in a week.
This weeks featured tracks can be found here.
There is not a lot of information about Buildings & Trees on their website. All it states is that "Buildings & Trees is a band of 4 with 3 singers, 2 guitarists, 1 drummer and 1 bass player. They started in 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden, playing harmonic pop with echoes of the past, present and future."
I found some more information on their music download.com page; "The sole purpose of making pop hits is for our own pleasure. All external appreciation we get is just an extra, like cucumber mayonnaise on hot dogs, says the drummer Fredrik Magnusson."
Well I don't like the sound of cucumber mayonnaise but I do like the sound of Buildings & Trees with their brand of indie pop which does not sound too dis-similar to the likes of 80's indie outfits such as The Chills for example.
Buildings & Trees - Without The Light
Buildings & Trees - 245 (We call Her Boxy)
There are three more songs at music download.com with plenty more on their homepage.
The Envelopes are an English based band but it's members are French & Swedish. They currently have a limited edition 7" single out at present titled "It Is the Law" which is a taster for their album "Demon" which is due out on 01 August 2005. Both are released on Rex Records.
The single is wonderful. Plan B described it as "The Envelopes breeze into town like a happy slab of C86 Pavement" and that certainly does it justice. I especially love the way the female vocals slowly emerge, jostling for space with the male vocals and then both immerse you in indie-pop dreaminess. Quality stuff.
The Envelopes - It Is The Law
You can stream the above and two other tracks via the band's My Space page.
The band are playing tonight at London's Metro and you can read a review of the single at SoundsXP.
Whilst having some time off I caught up with some blogs I haven't visited in a while. This included Last Sound Of Summer who had a post on a London, but originally from Yorkshire, based band called Decoration.
And what a revelation this lot were and there is more than a hint of Leeds legends The Wedding Present about them. Described by Manchester Music as "...(Decoration) bring out everything good you remember about the early Leeds / Hull guitar scene, but add in a dash of early C86 and Creation Records and you’ll also hear much more modern flavours of jangly emotive pop" the tracks I've heard more than live up to this criteria.
Decoration - Intercom
I was impressed enough to order the singles. You can do the same too here.
Visit the Last Sound Of Summer post where you can download a BBC session from earlier this year.
I had better put aside some of my next month's salary as the Swedish CDR label, Bedroom Records, have a few releases lined up. These are from Back In Judy's Shack, Friday Bridge and Happy Go Lucky.
Back In Judy's Shack play electronic pop (think along the lines of 4AD band Insides), Friday Bridge are inspired by the 60's with Saint Etienne thrown in and Happy Go Lucky is the brand of lo-fi the Swedes do so well!
Only the first band currently have previews from the imminent release but the others have mp3's from previous work for downloading.
Back In Judy's Shack - Burning Cold
Back In Judy's Shack - Silence
Friday Bridge - Cherry Cookies
Friday Bridge - The Lady Julie
Happy Go Lucky - I Hope I'll Never See U Again
Happy Go Lucky - What Ever Made U Think
The Rough Bunnies have a new website. Head over there and download Rough Bunnies Pirate, a free nine track download album featuring a selection of their output so far including tracks as The Flame and Inside Riot. Tis good, very good!
I have been neglecting my inbox of late and have a ton of stuff to wade through so it's time for another roundup I suppose.
First up are two artists who have made albums available for downloading. I have had a listened to tracks from each and whilst both different they both warrant a download in their own right. The Hypertonics new album "Vigilante Ballast" comprises six tracks with political punk as their main influence. Download it from here and note that they have their entire back catalogue available for downloading too.
Bullette is singer/songwriter Monika Bullette whose debut album "The Secrets" has been getting rave reviews across the net. With inspirations ranging from Nick Cave to Edith Piaf there should be something for everyone. I've not got time for a review (sorry!) but Spoilt Victorian Child reviewed the album in May. Download it from here.
The next batch is dedicated to Electronica - I don't listen to indie all day you know! ;)
Malaventura are from Spain and described themselves as "Electroacoustic indietronica ". Their descrption goes further:
"The new record of Malaventura (Malaventurados) have twelve tracks completely news with something in common, all are played with the guitar like principal instrument. Acoustic guitar or electric, mixed with electronic drums and synths, toy instruments and all kind of noises. Is a very particular return to the base. Folk, rock, electronics, experimental, punk, ambient"
Their download page can be found here.
Nervous Testpilot, according to his label's website, "is exempt from the rusty shackles of genre. He spits deliriously in the leering face of classification and then goes home to cook dinner. Welding synthesizers and a deft musical touch like a welding torch designed to weld synthesizers and deft musical touches, nervous_testpilot produces music that sounds like androids on crack talking to other androids on crack whilst you're on crack on a space station powered by crack in space."
Freedom Road Records will be releasing the nervous_testpilot EP "Determinance" on Saturday the 23rd of July 2005.
The Hypertonics - Prisoner To President
Bullette - I Can't Tell You Why I Am Smilng
Malaventura - Sambaal(edit)
Nervous Testpilot - Spacetime
First up are two artists who have made albums available for downloading. I have had a listened to tracks from each and whilst both different they both warrant a download in their own right. The Hypertonics new album "Vigilante Ballast" comprises six tracks with political punk as their main influence. Download it from here and note that they have their entire back catalogue available for downloading too.
Bullette is singer/songwriter Monika Bullette whose debut album "The Secrets" has been getting rave reviews across the net. With inspirations ranging from Nick Cave to Edith Piaf there should be something for everyone. I've not got time for a review (sorry!) but Spoilt Victorian Child reviewed the album in May. Download it from here.
The next batch is dedicated to Electronica - I don't listen to indie all day you know! ;)
Malaventura are from Spain and described themselves as "Electroacoustic indietronica ". Their descrption goes further:
"The new record of Malaventura (Malaventurados) have twelve tracks completely news with something in common, all are played with the guitar like principal instrument. Acoustic guitar or electric, mixed with electronic drums and synths, toy instruments and all kind of noises. Is a very particular return to the base. Folk, rock, electronics, experimental, punk, ambient"
Their download page can be found here.
Nervous Testpilot, according to his label's website, "is exempt from the rusty shackles of genre. He spits deliriously in the leering face of classification and then goes home to cook dinner. Welding synthesizers and a deft musical touch like a welding torch designed to weld synthesizers and deft musical touches, nervous_testpilot produces music that sounds like androids on crack talking to other androids on crack whilst you're on crack on a space station powered by crack in space."
Freedom Road Records will be releasing the nervous_testpilot EP "Determinance" on Saturday the 23rd of July 2005.
The Hypertonics - Prisoner To President
Bullette - I Can't Tell You Why I Am Smilng
Malaventura - Sambaal(edit)
Nervous Testpilot - Spacetime
Nixon have supplied indie-mp3 with an exclusive preview track.
Albert from the band says "it's the first track of what I guess will be a four track "ep" we will put on our website by the end of August. Well a virtual ep that is because we only release it through our website" He adds "looking forward to your description, I actually "nicked" your last description of our music for download.com!"
That description was "Part sixties, part indie-pop and part alt. country it's a mix that cannot fail" and this track "Crippled Clown", a bittersweet melodic foray into their alt country roots, is certainly their best track so far. Roll on to the rest of the EP!
Nixon - Crippled Clown
Lyrics to the song can be found here. See the previous post on Nixon here or head to their site to download three previously released EP's.
Download the previous weeks featured tracks, the Lurve EP by Screeming Custard. Link will be deleted in a week.
Screeming Custard - The Lurve EP (15mb) (via rapidshare)
The Help Me Please, one Jonas Johnsson, have just released their new CDR single. Titled "A Little Love" it features three tracks and is released on Snowbeam Records.
The Help Me Please - A Little Love
You can buy the EP from Songs I Wish I had Written Or Hello Surprise!
Tracks from the earlier releases can be found on The Help Me Please website.
How about this for a title? "The I wish that I could write at least one song that is as good as the Moonlings 'let's sell all our records and move somewhere else" EP was released a few years back by Sweden's Meta Band aka Martin Reissner.
He has since released another EP for Smashing Time from what I gather is simply titled "T".
However even more impressive is that Martin is releasing one mp3 per week in 2005 on his website as part of his lo-fi weekly series. I have been working my way through them and the result is mostly in favour of incredibly tight pop songs with some good melody and hooks to pull you in. However I have heard a dud or two but I will let you make your way through them all as that's part of the charm!
Meta Band - Drum machine punk in F-Major
Meta Band - Lo-fi Beard
(from "The I wish that I could write at least one song that is as good as the Moonlings 'let's sell all our records and move somewhere else" EP)
Meta Band - Things I'd Do For You
(from "T" Buy here)
Meta Band - Pop Loser #3
Meta Band - Summer of 94
(from the Lo-Fi Weekly Series - Download 19 (and counting!) tracks from here)
Little Hits is another mp3 blog I have discovered recently covering a wide range of music. The blog's author has recently ventured into C86 territory as this post on Talulah Gosh proves.
Records Make Great Pets is a new series of compilations to highlight independent music around the world which each volume concentrating on a single country. The first volume is the sounds of Sweden and amongst the fifteen tracks there are contributions from Club 8, Sambassadeur, Speedmarket Avenue and many more.
The compilation is out now (in the UK) and is on Stereo Test Kit Records.
A quick chance to post some Swedish Music from Labrador. * indicates the song appears on the compilation.
Sambassadeur * - Between The Lines
Club 8 - Spring Came, Rain Fell
Chasing Dorotea * - The Anchor Song
Laurel Music - No One Wants Forever
Over the weekend my latest order from Songs I Wish had Written arrived. Included was a sampler from an Australian label called Book Club Records titled " Pop, Scissors, Paper" and I was more than a tad surprised by two of the bands. These were Arbuckle and The Golden Circles. Sadly there do not seem to be any home pages for either band so this information comes from various Australian sites. I do know though that both bands hail from Brisbane.
Arbuckle
While Arbuckle are still a young band, they are quickly joining the ranks of the finest purveyors of indie pop in South East Queensland. With their debut EP the four-piece found themselves performing at all the local venues and picking up a loyal following.
Now with the bands second offering, No Heroics, existing fans are bound to be impressed and Arbuckle are looking to attract a whole new wave of listeners. No Heroics was recorded at Sydney’s Milk Bar Studios in 3 days and was produced by ex-Custard front-man David McCormack with the help of Greg Wales (Big Heavy Stuff, 78 Saab). Combining quirky lyrics and infectious beats Arbuckle create what can only be described as “intelligent pop songs”
(Via here)
You can buy Arbuckles "No Heroics" EP from Shock Records.
The Golden Circles
The Golden Circles is a seven-piece atmospheric pop band featuring:
Deborah Cavallaro (vocals, marimba & guitar), Becky Jurss (vocals, accordian & glockenspiel), Greta Kelly (violin & percussion), Leon Dufficy (theremin, guitar, bass & keys), Ben Tolliday (guitar, bass & cello), Julian Harris (drums) and Rodney Turpin (trombone & percussion).
Playground is The Golden Circles’ debut album – a collection of luscious pop tunes written by the incomparable Deb Cavallaro (formerly of Dragster & Wondrous Fair) and produced by Ben Tolliday (Trinkets).
(Via here)
This is a link to an Interview with the Golden Circles.
If anyone can tell me more about these bands, including where I can purchase "Happy Thing", then I would be obliged. In the meantime, due to a lack of existing mp3's, I have taken the liberty of posting the tracks from the sampler. Both tracks I am sure agreed are excellent examples of indie pop and are enough to put a smile on anyones face. If this causes offence please let me know and the tracks will be removed.
Arbuckle - Office Affairs
The Golden Circles - Happy Thing
Arbuckle
While Arbuckle are still a young band, they are quickly joining the ranks of the finest purveyors of indie pop in South East Queensland. With their debut EP the four-piece found themselves performing at all the local venues and picking up a loyal following.
Now with the bands second offering, No Heroics, existing fans are bound to be impressed and Arbuckle are looking to attract a whole new wave of listeners. No Heroics was recorded at Sydney’s Milk Bar Studios in 3 days and was produced by ex-Custard front-man David McCormack with the help of Greg Wales (Big Heavy Stuff, 78 Saab). Combining quirky lyrics and infectious beats Arbuckle create what can only be described as “intelligent pop songs”
(Via here)
You can buy Arbuckles "No Heroics" EP from Shock Records.
The Golden Circles
The Golden Circles is a seven-piece atmospheric pop band featuring:
Deborah Cavallaro (vocals, marimba & guitar), Becky Jurss (vocals, accordian & glockenspiel), Greta Kelly (violin & percussion), Leon Dufficy (theremin, guitar, bass & keys), Ben Tolliday (guitar, bass & cello), Julian Harris (drums) and Rodney Turpin (trombone & percussion).
Playground is The Golden Circles’ debut album – a collection of luscious pop tunes written by the incomparable Deb Cavallaro (formerly of Dragster & Wondrous Fair) and produced by Ben Tolliday (Trinkets).
(Via here)
This is a link to an Interview with the Golden Circles.
If anyone can tell me more about these bands, including where I can purchase "Happy Thing", then I would be obliged. In the meantime, due to a lack of existing mp3's, I have taken the liberty of posting the tracks from the sampler. Both tracks I am sure agreed are excellent examples of indie pop and are enough to put a smile on anyones face. If this causes offence please let me know and the tracks will be removed.
Arbuckle - Office Affairs
The Golden Circles - Happy Thing
Splinter Magazine is a new publication and has a devisive fanzine feel about it. Whilst it covers the alternative scene today the first issue has some excellent articles on the Field Mice, Sarah Records and other articles to interest the C86/indie-pop fan.
If you cannot find it (see their site for list of stockists) you can order it on-line and they accept paypal.
Sticking with the theme of new Irish bands (see previous post, Belfast's The Bete Noires have currently been plugging their latest EP with some London gigs. The band, again more indie rock than indie pop, have drawn comparisions to the likes of Sugar.
The tracks, whilst not hardly original (but what else is these days?) are most enjoyable and delivered with some style compared to other bands I could mention.
The Bete Noires - My Political Friend
The Bete Noires - What We Lost In
Plenty more tracks are available from their site.
You can buy a CD compiling their three releases so far from here.
The Eclectic come from Dublin, have been around in some form or another since 2002 and have just released their first CDR/Demo "Songs For A Blank Canvas".
The tracks, which can be described as epic in parts, have hints of British Sea Power or the Doves about them. I will not hark on about them to much as my SoundsXP colleague Johnnie C has reviewed them here. Just to say the tracks are growers despite being rockier than my usual fair.
The Eclectic - Shatterproof
The Eclectic - Blank Canvas
You can download another track from the bands download page.
Blue Skies is a new blog dedicated to the C86/Indie Pop scene. It's run by a Manila (Phillipines) based chap called Jun Eric Pilar (also known as C86Eric) and already he has linked to some tasty morsels such as his excellent post on a band called Hey Paulette!
It's also nice to see that Turquoise Days has re-emerged from it's self imposed slumber!
It's also nice to see that Turquoise Days has re-emerged from it's self imposed slumber!
Bristol's excellent Santa Dog have just released their second EP. Titled "Chemical" the EP consists of four excellent tracks with "Katy" being my favourite. I have previously described the band as having a similiar sound to Throwing Muses but I can also hear hints of Faith Over Reason, The Sundays and the vocals of Alison Shaw amongst their tracks. That doesn't mean that the band have no originality of their own as they are slowly but surely creating their own distinctive identity.
The EP can be purchased here.
See a previous post here where two acoustic versions of the songs found on the EP can be downloaded.
The Pipettes have just released their second single "ABC" on Trangressive Records. Sadly this is now sold out as it was a limited run of 500 but as the band have recently been signed to Memphis Industries we may get to hear some more from them.
In the meantime you can console yourself by downloading their recent XFM session from 5th July 2005. The tracklist was:
1. We Are The Pipettes
2. Becki on the phone
3. Tell Me What You Want
4. It's Not Love
5. Why Did You Stay
(via here).
Congratulations to Natalya who has won herself a copy of #2 by Suburban Kids With Biblical Names in the competition I ran recently - well done!
Also thanks to all those replying in the Internet Explorer Problems Thread. I will try all the suggestions at the weekend.
Also thanks to all those replying in the Internet Explorer Problems Thread. I will try all the suggestions at the weekend.
I'm round a friends house at the moment and have logged onto his PC. He only has IE where as I use Firefox. I notice that Firefox renders the blog perfectly but it's a mess in IE. The main problem is that the menu/sidebar is placed at the bottom of the page. I have had a look at the template and cannot see any problems. Does anyone else who uses Blogger have any ideas?
I've also noticed that the home page of the main site is also rendered horribly with the text for some reason being orange which is the colour of the H1 and H2 tags and not the standard text. Again it renders as it should in any gecko based browser but in IE! Oh well IE and CSS eh?
Should I just abandon IE users all altogether when it comes to design (and fails to adhere to Web Consortium standards) or should I work on a fixing the front page as well?
What do you think?
I've also noticed that the home page of the main site is also rendered horribly with the text for some reason being orange which is the colour of the H1 and H2 tags and not the standard text. Again it renders as it should in any gecko based browser but in IE! Oh well IE and CSS eh?
Should I just abandon IE users all altogether when it comes to design (and fails to adhere to Web Consortium standards) or should I work on a fixing the front page as well?
What do you think?
Captain Polaroid released his debut album in May 2005. Titled "Spitting facts, Splitting Fractions" it features ten tracks described by The Plastic Ashtray as a "pop gem hidden behind lo-fi leanings" and I can find no better definition.
I really enjoyed this album and the songs are pretty strong backed up by some fine lyrics. Examples include the excellent "No Words To Explain Yourself With", "Seven Days To A New You" and "When A Flawless Plan Turns Into A Masterpiece Of Total Disaster".
I also like his attitude and current DIY ethos to recording:
I am not interested in record labels or being on the cover of the NME. All I want is for people to hear and appreciate what I have to say in the only way I know how.
If it's possible for the existence of talented artists with nothing to say, then is there a prospect for someone with something to say but very little merit musically?
I know who I would rather hear! Enjoy the track - I hope to produce a review for SoundsXP at some stage.
Captain Polaroid - Your Mistake Is Thinking That You Have Won
The album costs a bargain £2.50 and can be purchased here.
You can also download and burn, free of charge, an EP complete with cover-art from Captain Polaroid's download page.
Tales Of Jenny are (or were?) a York based band who got together in 2004 and recorded a seven song demo, all of which is available on their site. I've been in touch with Chris, the band's singer and he explains more:
The band doesn't really exist in the strictest sense at the moment because we all left university last year and live all over the country - all with jobs, some with careers. I work part time and spend my days off trying to get enough interest in a non-performing band for someone to offer us a record deal and give everyone a reason to get back together. The last time we ever played together was to record the demo and it was recorded exactly a year ago.
Let's hope they do get together again soon as the songs are amongst some of the finest I have heard from an unsigned band for some time and reminds me of a Subway-era Razorcuts (with apologies to guitarist Stuart!) so if you like C86 inspired jangling tunes then this band are for you.
Tales Of Jenny - Trotsky Of Our Time
Tales Of Jenny - Tuesday Girl
Five more songs are available form their website.
Sadly I cannot tell you a thing about Hemstad as there is no English version of their homepages and I cannot read or speak Swedish.
All I know is that their tunes are great! The tracks are all instrumentals, inspired by 60's hammond rifts and the best way I can describe them is like the Inspiral Carpets without the annoying vocals. These tracks are great and I have been enjoying playing them all morning.
Hemstad - Kaserntorgets Charkdisco
Hemstad - PANG! Där Är Hon!
There are plenty more mp3's available here.
Update: The band have an English blog and it seems that Stefan, the bloke behind Agent Simple is in the band. Should be understandable really as I found them via a link on his page!
It is not often I do reposts but I am going to make an exception in this case. I am just aching for The Besties album to be released which now has been pushed back to summer 2005.
I first ran across this band on music download.com and instantly brought their description of the band:
The Besties coat their twee melodies in a fine lo-fi gauze. A girl coyly sings about being from outer space while keyboards, guitars, and a drum machine twinkle away in the background. Whatever they lack in professionalism they make up for in melody, offering soft sweetness in a world gone loud.
You know what? They were not far wrong. The Besties tunes are wonderful little pop nuggets just dying to be heard by one and all. They could be described as indie pop fairy tales judgng my the titles. Go on and get listening! The Besties are for life, not just for Christmas. Erm, I think........ And even more surprising for me they are not even Swedish as they hail from Brooklyn, New York.
The Besties - Space Song
The Besties - Western Song
You can download three more songs from their music download.com page.
Sing Sing, the band formed by Emma Anderson (formerly of Lush) and Lisa O`Neill have their long awaited second album due for release later this month. Titled "Sing Sing And I " it is due to be released on July 12th. You can pre-order it here.
They have made a track from the album available as a free download - note that it is in a zip archive.
Sing Sing - Lover
The band are holding `An Evening with Sing-Sing` on July 11th (day of album release) at The Luminaire, 307-311 Kilburn High Rd, London, NW6 7JR. Entry is free and they will be playing live acoustically. The band will be spinning a few tracks as well no doubt including tracks from the new album.
As promised the review to the Bridge Gang gig the other night has been posted on SoundsXP. A fellow contributor, not me, wrote the review but we have come to the same conclusion.
See the weeks earlier post on The Bridge Gang for tracks to download and forthcoming gigs.
See the weeks earlier post on The Bridge Gang for tracks to download and forthcoming gigs.