I saw Camera Obscura last night at The Water Rats. They were simply sublime despite the horrendous heat and then the over the top air conditioning battling out for environmental supremacy! I have never seen them before and can safely say that the gig is in my top five for the year and of course they played "Eighties Fan". The band certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves which is always a good sign.

Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan (Real Media Video)
Camera Obscura - Books Written For Girls (Synonyn remix) (wma file)

It dawned on me the other day, standing in a crowd of about 3000 people watching sigur ros play, that I'd actually seen them before, probably about 10 years ago. Back then they had long hair, Jónsi had already started using the bow and they played for a crowd of maybe 30 people at 5 p.m. in a small downtown venue in Reykjavik. I wasn't very interested in them then, and not until this sunday evening did I finally start to get excited about them. In fact I was flabbergasted, what a great piece of show they put on, at times so delicate that people whispered, and the whole of the 3000 people were quiet, and slowly nudged their way around if they needed to move, and at other times I counted 17 instruments all blaring away at the same time, creating a majestic wall of sound. Spectacular, spectacular!

They have a new video avilable on their web site, this time accompanying the song Hoppípolla, which I don't however find a particularily interesting song. It's a nice video, following the escapades of a gang of "senior citizens" who wreak havoc on the unsuspecting public, and each other. Too bad the "high resolution" version of the video is really crappy, and the low res version is just plain unusable.

When I was young, growing up with my parents, it was customary to listen to the news on the boring grown-up radio channel while we had our dinner. Preceding the news were the "news of deaths and funerals" where an indifferent, yet slightly sad voice announced all deaths in the preceding days, and where and when the funeral was to take place. I haven't heard these announcements in many years now, but then again I haven't turned on the "boring" radio channel since I moved out from them, and still being relatively young I do not expect to hear any sad news of my old friends just yet. However this "newsflash" was accompanied by it's own theme song, which is where this ties in with the aforementioned sigur ros, because they covered the song which is called "Dánarfregnir og Jarðarfarir" (News of deaths and funerals), or at least it's thusly named in their version of it.

For us Icelanders it's an oddly macabre song because of this; although it's meaning may be lost on others it always reminds us of death, and the sad monotonous voice bringing the ill tidings on the airwaves. Oh yes, and it's the final song in the moving film "Englar Alheimsins", fittingly accompanying the movie's final scene. So cheer up and download it here:

sigur ros - Dánarfregnir og Jarðarfarir

On another note related to sigur ros, there once was a band called Soðin Fiðla, an abominable name which directly translates as "Boiled Violin". In my opinion though they were a great band and it's a shame they only made one album, which was more of an E.P. than actual L.P. It's a good indie-rock album with lots of broken chords and noise akin to Ride or The Pixies. And sigur ros' singer, Jónsi, sings backing vocals in the only song available for download:


Soðin Fiðla - Fyrirmynd

Boiled Violin's EP "Ástæðan Fundin" is for sale on the Bad Taste website.

Lucky Misu have recently released their latest web only EP. Titled "Vivalla" it features five tracks and is the follow up to the "Fist Fight" EP I mentioned here.

Lucky Misu is now just Daniel Bergstrom who shares a studio with Bobby Baby. And of course they are Swedish.

This is a cracking EP keeping with the lo-fi indie-pop vein opf the previous EP but the songs sound much more mature and warmer than the Fist Fight EP. My favourite tracks are the title track and the Electralane style noises that is known as "The Barn".

Lucky Misu - Vivalla
Lucky Misu - The Barn

Download the whole EP as a Rar file. Visit the Lucky Misu site to download the previous EP which is still available.

Heiða Eiriksdottir has been a prolific rock musician for many years now, and her voice has often, much to her irritation, been compared to Bjork's. She's from Keflavik, the cradle of rock in Iceland, and her former projects include the band Unun and Heiða og Heiðingjarnir (Heiða and the Heathens), but currently she leads the computer-based rock trio Hellvar along with her spouse Elvar. They have recently acquired the assistance of Flosi from the incomparable rock band Ham and all put together they put on quite a live performance, she with her heavily applied trademark make-up, the guys almost tripping in their goatees, lots of noise, heavy beats and her angelic voice, which in no time can turn to an infernal scream ready to rip out her tonsils, usually not until the last song though, in case that actually happens.

Head to their Myspace page and be their friends if you like, or start by downloading these two excellent songs:

Hellvar - Give Me Gold
Hellvar - Electric Toy
Hellvar - Speedmental

Another name crossed off my must check this lot out list. I cannot tell you to much about The Patty Winters Show as their website is being redesigned. They are a London band and make a sound not to dissimilar to the likes of Persil or The Wedding Present in their earlier years and Sounds XP describe them here as having a genuine C86 sound rather than a twee one which seems to be associated with C86 (and a bit too much so for my liking but that's another story!).

The Patty Winters Show - You've Have No Idea
The Patty Winters Show - People That Talk All The Time And Never Have Anything To Say
The Patty Winters Show - Save Face

Alternatively stream the tracks via their My Space page.

There is an interview with the band here with a further three tracks to download.

The Sounds XP Night was excellent. We chose three bands with a diverse range of sounds and none disappointed on the night. Wintergreen had some great songs none more so than Clockwork Mice which sounds as good live as it does on vinyl. The Bridge Gang were the best I have ever seen them as I drunkenly enthused to Jose and Brett at the end of the night. They were simply fantastic and it cannot be too long before they are snapped up by a big label. They will be releasing 7" single early next year though on Brille Music titled "Pangs Of Guilt" which is a reworking of the track that appears on their Demo CD.

I have never seen or even heard The Schla La Las before but they were entertaining and had some catchy songs. They have an EP out at the moment titled the "Demos" EP and you can also download it on i-tunes.

We also had the writers spinning some tunes and I had a 40 minute stint playing the likes of Santa Dog, Lucky Soul, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, The Charades, Persil and many more! I'm getting the hang of this dj'ing lark now....

We hope to arrange another night early next year. If it is as half as good as last nights then we would have a good time.

Le Sport's latest limited edition EP has now sold out. Don't despair as the label Songs I Wish I had Written have made the whole EP available as a freedownload. I have reviewed the EP for Sounds XP here.

Le Sport - Business Girls
Le Sport - I Comes Before U
Le Sport - Business Girls (Cat5 Remix)
Le Sport - I Comes Before U (Ben Morris Remix)

Checking a couple of old favourite MP3 blogs today I have found my personal holy grail of downloads. They both come from 1987. They both feature The Darling Buds. First up is a gig recorded live at Raffles Nightclub in Port Talbot, South Wales. I was at this gig and I was a fresh faced, soon to be 17 year old. I just remember being blown away by The Darling Buds. I also remember drinking Holsten Pils and trying to snog the pretty indie girls (but, that's another story). That gig wasn't the start of my love all things C86 and indie, but it was pretty damn close. I remember a few months before I had seen The Primitives at the same club and had been equally blown away. Back to the Darling Buds gig, I obviously can't remember that much about it, some 18 years on but the thing that stuck in my mind was the band ran out of songs at the end of their set and did a few songs again, because the crowd wanted more. Happy Memories.

Head over to The Burning World to download the entire gig. Prepare to fall in love with The Darling Buds. Again. Like I just did.

The rather wonderful Perfumed Garden also has a Peel Session for download from April 1987. This again, comes highly recommended. Oh to be 17 again.

I also found this link - that gives you a potted history of the band. For me The Darling Buds will always mean 1987 and having fun, their later glossy sounding LPs hold little for me. These downloads capture the band I loved (and still do love).

Believe it or not I saw the first Christmas display in a shop here in London on the late summer bank holiday - that's the 31st August for those not in the UK. I don't know about elsewhere but by the time Christmas does come round I am heartedly sick of it because you have been subjected to marketing for over three months. And there is me thinking it has religious connotations......

It's not all bad as this Christmas release from The Help Me Please testifies. It's a free download Christmas single titled "Hear the Bells Ring" and is the follow up to the excellent "A Little Love" EP released a couple of months ago and carries on in the lo-fi vein but with added casio effects. Jingle Bells!

The Help Me Please - Hear The Bells Ring

Read more about The Help Me Please on their blog and stream some songs via their My Space page.

Pete and The Pirates are a new band on me - maybe if they came from Stockholm or Gothenburg I might have picked up on them earlier. Anyway they seem to have been around for a couple of years now attracting rave reviews about their live appearances and their unique sound. Rough Trade compared them to "the Englishness of the Mystery Jets or Wire despite sounding like neither". I think I know what they mean. They have been on my check out this lot pile for a while now and I finally got a round to it this past weekend. And I am mighty glad I did. A band that certainly lives up to the hype on the various message boards and forums I have seen them recommended on.

Pete and the Pirates - Sonny (m4a)
Pete and the Pirates - Electric (m4a)
Pete and the Pirates - This Thyme

You can buy Pete and the Pirates CD's from Stolen Recordings

Just a reminder about the Sounds XP Night being held this Wednesday. If you make it come and say hello!

SoundsXP.com presents:

The Schla-La-Las

All girl 5-piece, they’re sassy and sexy and sound like the Shangri-Las, if Thurston Moore was the guitar roadie. They have matching frocks and their own theme song. What more could you want?

The Bridge Gang

London three-piece fronting angsty scuzzed up rock. Think a good looking Pixies and Nirvana minus the shotgun wounds.

The Bridge Gang - Sarah's Brother
The Bridge Gang - London Sky Tonight
The Bridge Gang - The Gallery

The Bridge Gang Myspace Page

Wintergreen

Classy pop with chugging guitars, bloopy synths, tinkly pianos and shiny, sunny harmonies. Like Mercury Rev writing rude words in Belle and Sebastian's prayer book with the Aphex Twin's crayon.

Wintergreen - Squirrel In The Wallspace
Wintergreen - Are Our Future
Wintergreen - The Rule Of Small Things
Wintergreen - Three Heads

Wintergreen My Space Page

+ SoundsXP DJs

Where: The Purple Turtle, 61-65, Crowndale Rd, Camden
When: Wednesday 23rd November 2005. Doors open at 8pm

How much: £5 on door (£3 with flyer)

Tom's recent post about Celestial and The Crack Babies brought back memories of a wonderful band called Daisy Hill Puppy Farm who around 1987-88 made a few eardrums bleed profusely in various concert locations in Reykjavik, figuratively speaking. Their wall of noise and feedback, like The Crack Babies obviously heavily influenced by Jesus and Mary Chain, was released on two vinyl records and those I have ever since repeatedly dragged from their resting place during parties and blasted to high heaven. In fact, it's absolutely mandatory to play this music as loud as humanly possible, and the recordings bear witness to the music having been recorded exactly like that.

Since then Daisy Hill's front man has moved on to become a respected composer, working with f.e. Marc Almond, Barry Adamson and Emiliana Torrini, and writing music for theater and films, though to all of us who lived to see Daisy Hill Puppy Farm play he will always be known as Joe Daisy.

Daisy Hill Puppy Farm's records probably aren't available anywhere now, but here's some info on their first 7". They did have a lot of very good original songs on these vinyl records, however the only one I can find in digital form is their cover of Blondie's Heart of Glass. Play it loud!

Daisy Hill Puppy Farm - Heart of Glass

Loveninjas have released their follow up to their debut EP "I'm Really Sorry (That I Killed You)". Titled "Keep Your Love" it is released on Labrador and features four tracks of which the title track is available as a free download.

Loveninjas - Keep Your Love

There are previews of the other three tracks on the Labrador site.

From the debut EP:

Loveninjas - Meet Me Here

You can now subscribe to feeds for both the Sounds XP Podcast and the indie-mp3 blog via the RSS buttons in the menu bar.

Copy the link for the podcast feed to i-tunes, i-podder or pod spider etc so it automatically updates when a new podcast is uploaded and subscribe using the link to the indie mp3 blog in your RSS reader such as Sharp Reader. I have been unhappy with the Feedburner feed and will be starting from yesterday's post for the new blog feed.

Or simply visit this blog instead but choice is a nice thing.

For those interested I have been using FeedEdit to create the RSS feeds.

I've just noticed that The Fat Tulips have overhauled their website. The indie popsters from Nottingham have long since called it a day but their website is worth a look especially as they now have a new Fat Tulips Sample player complete with a dancing tulip! Oh the history of the band is a good read too! The band have also made a track available free to download. It's a cover version of Spandau Ballet's new romantic classic (erm alledgely!) "To Cut A Long Story Short".

The Fat Tulips - To Cut A Long Story Short

Buy Starfish by The Fat Tulips.

Following her Some Place New EP release on the net label Corpid the ever wonderful Bobby Baby now has a four track remix EP released on the same label. Featuring mixes of three of the tracks from Some Place New EP the label states that they are available in "4 brilliant remixes ranging from house do downbeat to spacedisco". It's a shame these are not in lossless as I would have played them at the Sounds XP night next week.

Bobby Baby - Lads are fun (Drei Farben House "Boy In The Cardigan" Remix)

Download the rest of the EP from Corpid

Bobby Baby also has a track released on the Dive Records Mini Compilation I of II EP. The track is titled "Later" and you can download the EP from Dive Records. Finally there will be a Bobby Baby EP coming in February 2006 which will be released on a new English independent record label called Red Letter Day Records.

I saw Audrey last night supporting The Chalets at the Camden Barfly. Their debut self titled EP is one of my favourites of the year and is a beautiful record with their minimalist melancholy filled tunes.

However in a busy and pretty cramped venue like the Barfly this was sadly wasted with their music, which is almost spiritual at times, drifting far over the heads of the chattering masses who had come to see The Chalets. I'm not sure why they were on the same bill to be honest and by the end the looks on the bands faces spoke volumes although there was a small enthusiastic section of the audience who were trying to rally them.

I caught a few songs by The Chalets who are quite entertaining judging by their releases so far but after feeling so disappointed for Audrey (and some of the annoying people in the crowd) we headed back off to the pub for another pint of Old Bob!

Sadly after witnessing the appalling The Sam I Am this fast became the most disappointing gig I have been to this year. A shame!

However this track is a contender for tune of the year in my lists:

Audrey - Box, And Fights

Buy the EP from Stereo Test Kit Records

Celestial - Nothing Happens Twice
Decoration - Intercom
Santa Dog - Delicate
Le Sport - Business Girls
The Besties - Pirate Song
The Crack Babies - Honey Believer
Dorotea - My Guilty Conscience

Some glorious indie pop from Sweden, Leeds, Bristol and The States. Celestial have not yet released anything but this jangle pop track highlights their potential. Decoration who sound a bit like the Leed scene circa 1988 have just released their debut album and the Santa Dog track is the title track from their debut EP - Kristin Hersch eat your heart out. Le Sport give us their Pet Shop Boys influenced new single whilst American cuties The Besties provide a taster for their new album due out in February next year. Finally The Crack Babies come over all JAMC 1985 era and Dorotea close with a track from their current release. All good stuff i'm sure you will agree!

All tracks made freely available by the bands. Good on 'em.

Download from here. (mp3, 128 k/bits 20mb)

If anyone downloads these podcasts let me know what you think of them.

Celestial is a new musical project from Sweden and has received assistance from the founder member of the Crack Babies. He has a blog here where I first learnt about the band.

Celestial are working on a demo at present and one of the tracks have surfaced on their My Space Page. "Dream On" is a lovely little tine that reminds me of some of the early releases on Creation Records (except for "Upside Down Of Course")and other eaerly 1980's jangle pop. It's that good and I look forward to hearing the demo when it has been completed.

Celestial - Dream On

Also give the other tracks a listen that you can stream or download from the My Space page such as "Nothing Happens Twice" which is a delicious slice of indie pop.

Talking about the Crack Babies it's worthwhile downloading their tracks available from the "Smoking At Gas Stations" EP that was released earlier this year. I wrote a review of it here.

The Crack Babies - Shine
The Crack Babies - Honey Believer

Trucker Cleavage are a Swedish band who formed in 2001. They describe themselves as "Trucker Cleavage melts American collegepop with Swedish melancholy but is not ashamed of its Beatlesque melodies".

I have listened to the two mp3's from their latest release Eastman which features two tracks"Single Mother" and "Get Home".

I must admit that I did not find the latter at all inspiring and it went on a bit to long for me in an indie drawn out ballard type of way. It reminded me of the bands who were signed by the dozen in Liverpool and Manchester during the early 1990's. However the former was an excellent track highlighting some real potential with the catchiness of it's melody and chorus.

Trucker Cleavage - Single Mother
Trucker Cleavage - Get Home

Alternatively stream their songs via My Space. You can also download other tracks from the bands music page.

The excellent Perfumed Garden site has posted a 1986 session by The Flatmates.

The tracklist is:

1. Tell Me Why
2. Love Cuts
3. Happy All The Time
4. Thinking Of You

I suggest heading over there and download it now!

If you have not visited the Perfumed Garden before I suggest you do so as there are plenty of wonderful sessions to download including a few from the C86 era.

I had a great time at The Penelope Tree last night and a big thanks to Chimes and Hattie for letting me play. I had so much I wanted to play but my set list resembled something like this:

The Clouds - Get Out Of My Dream
The Shop Assistants - Safety Net
The Fire Engines - Meat Whiplash
The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
Mighty Lemon Drops - Pass You By
Bodines - Therese (extended)
Motorcycle Boy - Big Rock Candy Mountain (extended)
My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae Smile
Darling Buds - You've Got To Choose
The Wedding Present - Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?
The Field Mice - Missing The Moon
Mighty Mighty - Law
The Acid House Kings - 7 Days
Sambassadeur - Between The Lines
The Legends - He Knows The Sun
The Charade - Monday Morning

A nice mix of old and new me thinks with The Vaselines, Bodines and The Charade getting the most reaction. Well I have got the bug now so I have to see if anyone else will let me play :p

Stéphane from Nosie Fisk dropped me a line to tell me about a French Radio podcast dedicated to Creation Records.

The track list is:

The Pooh Sticks - "I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well" (Fierce) The House of Love - "Christine" (Creation) The Creation - "Biff ! Bang ! Pow !" (Diablo) Biff ! Bang ! Pow ! - "Someone Stole My Wheels" (Creation) Television Personalities - "A Life of Her Own" (Fire) The Weather Prophets - "Hollow Heart" (Creation) Felt - "Penelope Tree" (Cherry Red) My Bloody Valentine - "Loomer" (Creation) The Mike Flowers Pops - "Wonderwall" (London Records) Super Furry Animals - "God! Show Me Magic" (Creation) Teenage Fanclub - "I Don't Want Control of You" (Creation) Edward Ball - "Controversial Girlfriend" (Creation) Kevin Rowland - "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Creation) Primal Scream - "All Fall Down" (Creation) Primal Scream - "Swastika Eyes" (Creation)

Visit the PopNews or download the podcast direct from here.

A site dedicated to Creation Records can be found here.

Just a reminder that I will be dusting down some C86 classics and giving them a spin alongside some of the cream of the Swedish indie pop crop at The Penelope Tree tomorrow night (Sunday 13th November).

The details are:

BARTOK, 79-81 Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 between 8-12pm

Nearest tubes - Chalk Farm (5 minute walk)Camden Town - (9.23 minutes walk) or buses 29,134 or 24 from the West End

FREE ENTRY

The Penelope Tree plays:

The Would-Be-Goods, Delta 5, St Etienne, The Undertones, The Popinjays, Girls at our Best!, Ballboy, Felt, Piney Gir, Belle and Sebastian, Young Marble Giants, The Passions, Jilted John, Ruth Brown, Camera Obscura, Life Without Buildings, The The, Josef K, Comet Gain, Doris, Kicker, The Projects, Dexys, Microdisney, Wet Dog, The Schla la las, The Road Runners, Shangri-Las, Morrissey, Yum-Yums, Beach Boys: Ska, French Pop, Northern Soul, 60's pop & garage and early Rough Trade and the like...

Insisting they are a punk band, The Besties are nevertheless one of the finest Indiepop bands in US today...nay! in the universe, and they'll be releasing their first album on Valentine's Day 2006 on Skipping Stones Records. I had the pleasure of watching them play at Popfest in Northampton, MA. this year, and again in Cake Shop in NYC, and their setup, with Kelly and Marisa on Keyboards and Rikky on guitar, all of them singing and backed up by silly and primitive casio drum beats, works wonders. Their songs are simple and devoid of any pretentiousness, filled with the joy of making simple and catchy tunes with what they have, and no attempts at sounding professional...I think. Perhaps I'm offending them horribly now.

But no matter, you can look forward to their debut album, and in the meantime stream some songs from their Myspace page, visit their official home page, and find even more songs at download.com. My particular favorites are "Pirate Song" and "Space Song"; the latter sporting the lyrics "Tap-tapping on your plastic helmet, trouble breathing from the lack of atmosphere, baby we can climb aboard your rocket, honey you can take me far away from here..."

The Besties - Pirate Song
The Besties - 79 Lorimer Song

I mentioned The Good Shoes yesterday and could not find any tracks for you to download. Well it's your lucky day as here are seventeen tracks in mp3 and wma format posted by the band themselves.

Songs I Wish I Had Written is one of the many web shops I raid on a monthly basis. They recently set up their own label, launching it with a re-issue of Eurosport, now named Le Sport's debut "Tell No One About Tonight".


The label has had two more releases in the past week. First up is the follow up to the aforementioned single by Le Sport. It's a double a-side titled "I Comes Before U / Business Girls" and the single comes with a remix of both tracks.

Le Sport - I Comes Before U
Le Sport - Business Girls


The other release is the fllow up to their excellent "Blame It On The English" single by The Lovekevins. Titled the "Max Léon EP" it features four track, one of them being the earlier single.

The Lovekevins - Soviet.se

There is now also a video for Le Sports "Tell No One About Tonight" which can be downloaded here. (*mov)(26MB)

Buy both EP's from Songs I Wish I Had Written

Last night I headed to the Garage to see The Young Knives, Snow White, The Rumble Strips and The Good Shoes.

The Good Shoes were on first and I would have to say they were the best band on the night. Sounding remarkably like a cross between The Futureheads and the Glasgow Postcard scene especially on songs like "Never Meant To Hurt You" and the recent single "Small Town Girl". There are no songs to download but you can stream four tracks at the bands My Space page.

Next up were The Rumble Strips who I have featured before. Then I enjoyed their sub Dexy's Midnight Runners tracks which they had for download but last night I thought they were pretty dire. Even new single Motorcycle, which is released on Transgressive in January 2006, sounded jaded,dated and out of place. Maybe it was not a good night for them or me. Or both!

Snow White came on next. Allegedly banned from all Barfly venues for making "Anti-corporate" statements on a website this lot reminded me very much of Black Flag and SST records especially as in the small parts of the vocals I could make out had highly charged content. I was impressed enough to order the single from Pure Groove where you can find preview streams of their latest self titled EP. They are loud, very loud and you can download some tracks from their music page such as Walking Past 27 Pictures of an Ex-Girlfriend and I Really, Really Fucking Hate Led Zeppelin. Nice to see a young band who do not want to emulate the lets get drunk and fall over style of The Libertines.

The Headliners were The Young Knives. Not sure why. Granted they were amusing to watch with their on stage banter but I would have liked them better if I saw them at Butlins. They were that sort of band. None of the songs were anything special but I can see why many people like them. I for one didn't and made my escape just before they closed their set. You can catch previews of their tracks here and they have a record out now on Transgressive.

This is not really a music related post. I just wanted to pass on to folks that Lostmusic.co.uk is currently down. Lostmusic is the site I currently run and some of you may have read it and noticed that it disappeared this past weekend. I hope to have the site back within the next week as I am in the middle of moving to new web hosts after my last webhosts failed to fix after a crash. They've now gone incommunicado - so I am trying to see what, if any, of the old site I can rescue.

Thanks to Tom for allowing me to post the lostmusic update on here.

On a musical note - check out the new Jim Reid (former Jesus and Mary Chain main man) single 'Song For A Secret' - it's out now on Transistor Records. I used to have a link on lostmusic to a live version recorded on BBC6 Radio. Those links are now redundant - but these links below, currently work.

Jim Reid - Dead End Kids
Jim Reid - Song For A Secret

It's time for one of those round-up posts I do when my in box starts to get out of control. As I have said previously (and this has upset some) if someone takes the time and effort to ask for a plug I will generally give them one regardless if I like the band or not.

First up is The Diggs who hail from New York City and who have been around since 2003. They describe themselves as "Guitar driven mid-nineties Indie rock coalesced with traces of English dream pop". Sadly their best track is only available on My Space for streaming. Titled "Everyones Starting" it blows their other tracks away and has a lovely hook, which I cannot place, running all the way through it.

The Diggs - Stagg

Visit their music page to download two more tracks or stream tracks from their My Space page.

Next up are Venice is Sinking a band who come from Athens, Georgia and who on their Music Download.com page claim Galaxie 500, Low and Echo and the Bunnymen as similar artists. I had a listen to the two tracks you could download I was not too taken by them which on first listen I put down to the vocals. "Pulaski Heights" is the slightly better track but again there is something about the vocals that I find a turn off and just cannot place at present. I may need a couple of more listens.

Venice Is Sinking - Pulaski Heights


I have featured Mesh before and Matthew (who is the one and only band member) has got a new EP out titled "Under The Covers" which as you may guess by the title is an EP of cover versions. Amongst the tracks he has covered are those from Belle & Sebastian and Tears For Fears. It's different!

Mesh - Judy & The Dream Of Horses
Mesh - Mad World

You can buy the EP from CDbaby.

Hopefully I will finish the round-up later this week but my Sounds XP review pile is growing!

SoundsXP.com are proud to announce a night of wonderful live music. The bands:

The Schla-La-Las All girl 5-piece, they’re sassy and sexy and sound like the Shangri-Las, if Thurston Moore was the guitar roadie. They have matching frocks and their own theme song. What more could you want?

The Bridge Gang London three-piece fronting angsty scuzzed up rock. Think a good looking Pixies and Nirvana minus the shotgun wounds.

Wintergreen Classy pop with chugging guitars, bloopy synths, tinkly pianos and shiny, sunny harmonies. Like Mercury Rev writing rude words in Belle and Sebastian's prayer book with the Aphex Twin's crayon.

+ SoundsXP DJs

Where: The Purple Turtle, 61-65, Crowndale Rd, Camden. Two mins from Mornington Crescent tube or five minutes from Camden tube.

Map of location can be found here

When: Wednesday 23rd November 2005. Doors open at 8pm.

How much: £5 on door (£3 with this flyer)

Lucky Soul are from Greenwich in South London. Their first single is due for release this month and it is being put out by Ruffa Lane Records. It's titled "Give Me Love" and will be backed by "Baby I'm Broke". A second single "My Brittle Heart" backed with "Lips Are Unhappy" will follow in early 2006.

What do they sound like? Firstly they are a female fronted band and remind me very much of Saint Etienne, Broadcast and early Cardigans especially on "My Brittle Heart" which is already a mainstay on my playlist.

Lucky Soul - Give Me Love
Lucky Soul - Baby I'm Broke
Lucky Soul - My Brittle Heart
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy


You can also stream all the tracks from the bands My Space page.

I received an e-mail telling me that these are not podcasts because I don't use RSS to update my files. Well as Blogger does not fully support RSS they are going to be in just plain download as mp3 format for a while to come! Actually this site does have an RSS feed which is in the menu bar opposite.

Track Listing

The Envelopes - Sister In Love (Clor Remix)
Hormones In Abundance - Rubinoos T-Shirt
Pelle Carlberg - Riverbank
We Are Soldiers We Have Guns - Damn Those TV Shows
Paisley Riot - Devil Only Knows
Lucky Soul - Brittle
Santa Dog - Katy (Live)

Sounds XP Podcast 02/11/2005

mp3 128 k/bits (19.7mb) Running Time 22mins.

Mix put together from tracks made legally available on the net by artists.

Mix Notes: A Swedish dominated mix with a mournful track from We Are Soldiers We Have Guns, a pop beauty from Pelle Carlberg and a cracking remix from Clor of the Envelopes new single.

UK represented by South London's Lucky Soul on a Saint Etienne trip, Wolverhampton's Paisley Riot with a energetic romp and Bristol's Santa Dog with a live version of Katy which is great if you can forget the start sounds like Mike Oldfields' Moonlight Shadow!

Twee Pop Love! is an indiepop blog that I've recently discovered, and a very nice one. They have a "Hub" which I'm too technically inhibited to actually try out at the moment, but through which you can apparently connect to other users and share music. On their site they say that it's for "people interested in Twee, Jangle, C-86, Sophisticated Pop and Indiepop". Sounds cool, but what's even more cool for me is the blog, and their mix cd's which they've made publicly available on the site, for a limited time. Check out their Folk Punk Love! mixcd, and the Twee Pop Love! mixcd, which includes Twee Pop from all over the world, including Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Japan, UK and USA.

Artists on the mixcd inlude Javelins, Tullycraft, The Boy Least Likely To, Dýrðin, The Parcels and a whole lot of others, so head straight to Twee Pop Love! right now.

Paisley Riot are a four piece outfit hailing from Wolverhampton. They formed in 2004 and started playing live dates in early 2005 in order to promote themselves.

They have now released a web only three track EP titled "Crackerjack" and it is not bad. Describing themselves as Energectic Guitar Pop they are not far wrong! The tempo of the tracks crash backwards and forwards hooking the listener in for more. However it's the vocals that stand out for me. I just can't place them but it reminds me of something - maybe some old 1980's power pop band like The Power Of Dreams but I cannot be sure. However the tracks are worthy of a listen and "Devil Only Knows" is my favourite.

Paisley Riot - Devil Only Knows

Head over here to download the rest of the EP as well as some more tracks taken from their April 2005 Demo.

Stream tracks from Paisley Riot's My Space Page.

The Envelopes have released their second single from their album "Demons" which is surely a contender for album of the year. Titled "Sister In Love" it also includes remixes from Test Icicles and Clor.

I have covered the Envelopes many times on this blog so here is a quote from elsewhere:

Described by the seminal Artrocker magazine as ‘a ray of purest sunshine in your sordid grey little world' . ‘Sister in Love' is a sub three minute pop moments about sex and family, from the coolest band to emerge out of Sweden and France via York ever!

The band have placed all the tracks on-line for preview purposes:

The Envelopes - Sister In Love
The Envelopes - Sister In Love (Test Icicles Remix)
The Envelopes - Sister In Love (Clor Remix)

Head to the bands site to download two more b-sides including an acoustic version of their last single "It's The Law".

You can buy incredibly high quality mp3's and i-pod compatible AAC files online. Oh and get the video and artwork for free. Five tracks for £2.98!

Buy Demons