Due to reasons outside our control there has been a very late revision to the SoundsXP gig on 1st February 2006 at the Purple Turtle in Camden. Two cracking new bands have been added, The Bridge Gang and The Known Unknowns. The Bridge Gang, of course, won the SoundsXP Writers Poll Best Live Act Award for 2005.

The full line-up now reads:

Pete and The Pirates,
The Bridge Gang,
Theoretical Girl,
The Known Unknowns

Plus Sounds XP DJ's

Ticket price is £4 or £3 with flyer.

Nixon are a Dutch duo and should not be confused with the Swedish and American acts of the same name. They have experimented with the full band line-up but have reverted back to a duo. I have previously described their sound as "part 1960's, part indie-pop, part alt country" and on their latest release, The One Summer Day EP I see no reason to remove that tag.

All their tracks are bitter sweet love songs. From the ones of despair (I try to do the right thing, but somehow it just turns out wrong on Worry Waltz) to the searching for that perfect girl ( I travelled through time, Over oceans and seas, That’s when I met her, This young lady, She’s the fairest of ladies, That I’d ever seen on One Summer Day) - it's all here.

The trouble is where do Nixon go from here? This is the third internet EP release. They (dare I say it?) could be getting a little too cosy in their comfort zone. I would like to see them break out of it and give the full band experiment another go. It may do wonders for their creativity, songwriting and give those tunes an extra dimension. Instead of the songs being just nice they could be something.

The EP is a free internet only release. Download it from the Nixon Site.

Nixon - One Summer Day

The Bodines were formed in Glossop, Manchester in 1985 comprising of Mick Ryan (vocals, guitar), Paul Brotherton (guitar), Tim Burwood (bass) and Paul Lilley (drums).

After debut single on Creation "God Bless" Lilley was replaced by John Rowland. Their next single was their most well known track "Therese" which featured on the NME C86 tape. After one final single for Creation, "Heard It All", they signed to the major label Magnet Records. They produced three singles for Magnet including a remixed Therese but all failed to chart as did their only album "Played" which made #97 in the UK album charts during the summer of 1987. "Played" was produced by Ian Broudie who later had his own success as The Lightning Seeds.

The lack of commercial success saw the band being dropped by Magnet and John Rowland left to play for The Rainkings.

The band re-emerged in 1989 with Burwood and Rowland being replaced by Ian Watson and Spencer Birtwistle (also played in Laugh, Intastella and the Fall) and released one single for Manchester's Playhard Records. They also contributed two tracks for a Playhard compilation before splitting for a final time.

Part of the C86 scene they, like most bands of the era, never commercially fulfilled their potential. But hey, who cares, when gems liked God Bless and the wonderful Therese have been left behind. Mick Ryan went onto form Medlark 11 in the early 1990's releasing a couple of singles and album on Creation Records.

The tracks here are the last single and a b-side from the 12" version.

The Bodines - Decide
The Bodines - The Groove

For more information on The Bodines and the chance to download mp3's of some tracks from Played visit my Bodines site, Slip Slide.

If anyone has any further cuttings, interviews, scans etc to add to the site please let me know.

The Orange is the most obscure of the bands selected for the track of the week, releasing on one EP on Flying Nun. This is psychedelic tinged pop. It seems to me more UK psychedelic influenced than US, The Orange are best know as the first band of Andrew Brough who went onto to join Straighjacket Fits and is now in Bike. The Orange are Andrew Brough, Jonathan Moore and Peter Bragan. They have a further single listed on the Flying Nun catalogue that was never releases. I don’t know why and haven’t heard that!

Orange - What's In A Name?

Links:

More on Andrew Brough

This is part two of a four week series by Egg Records Jim Kavanagh on New Zealand indie-pop.

Buy Egg Records Releases

After their heroics in the last round Leyton Orient fell at the latest hurdle, beaten 2-1 away at another premiership team, Charlton Athletic. Still it took an injury time winner from the Addicks to end the O's hopes!

Sadly I was unable to attend, failing to get one of the 6,000 tickets on offer to the O's (who brought them as many season ticket holders missed out?!) although until the last minute it looked like a replay was in the offing. Oh well, here is to promotion.

I love the art of the remix. It can bring new life to a track (Cornershop's Brimful Of Asha) or turn it into a thing of beauty as mixes by Andrew Weatherall, Global Communications or Phone can testify. So on paper the thinking behind Future Retro is a good idea. Take a bunch of 1980's classic synthpop orientated singles and bring them up to date with the cream of the crop of 21st century remixers. Sadly the term "classic" is the compilation's downfall. Some of the tracks were bad enough first time around and do not really need re-evaluating after all this time. They should be confined to the musical grave without the remixer equivalents of Burke and Hare digging them up.

There are two examples of a good remix on this album. One is where a beat has been added but not much more has been interfered with. The Infusion remix of the Cure's The Walk and Echo and the Bunnymen's Lips Like Sugar Way Out West remix are prime examples of this with pretty effective results. The other example is where the original is stripped away and rebuilt or restructured from scratch. Such is the case with the Elite Force remix of White Lines and the Sparks remix of Morrissey's Suedehead which are far and away the best tracks on the album.

The trouble is there are too many mediocre tracks given the remix treatment and staleness of the originals means that there is not too much to work on. INXS Need You Tonight and Depeche Mode's Shake The Disease remain lifeless after the plodding beats of the remix treatment. Howard Jones (I mean Howard Jones! - I blame reality TV!) and the likes of B-Movie and Book Of Love fare no better.

Of the remaining tracks there are some pretty decent mixes scattered about. The Crystal Method remix of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle is a good effort but the fragileness of the original, especially Barney's vocals, is lost. Yaz's (what happened to the "oo"?) Situation (Richard X mix) is given yet another remix after the mauling it received on Mute at the end of the 20th century and comes out the better for it and Devo's Girl You Want is given a fresh lick of paint by Black Light Odyssey.

Sadly such a glorious opportunity to give today's audience an insight of the vibrancy of 1980's club culture is wasted with this release but I think that is down to the music taste and final choices of the compiler (producer Craig Degraff) rather than the material available from this period. It is not a question of whether you liked the originals as a remix could have changed the track (and your view) completely but in the end this is an album that will appeal to US new waver types but sadly to no-one else. 7/10 for Grandmaster & Melle Mel, Morrissey, New Order, Yazoo, Echo & the Bunnymen, Devo, New Order & the Cure. 0/10 for the rest.

You can stream tracks from the album here (Real Player) or here (Windows Media Player).

The Let's Be Honeys, also known as one Nils Folke Valdemar, released their latest EP Popsongs For My Poor Self on Yellow Mica Recordings earlier this week.

This is lo-fi bedroom stuff at it's best with well crafted songs and constructed lyrics. There are three tracks available on Nil's site with No Love being my favourite because i'm a sucker for wispy female backing vocals.

Let's Be Honeys - No Love
Let's Be Honeys - Bizarro World
Let's Be Honeys - Lionheart

Buy the EP from Yellow Mica Recordings

There is an article about The June Brides in today's Guardian.

The band had a compilation released on Cherry Red towards the end of last year and reformed playing an acoustic set earlier this month.

The June Brides - We Belong (live 04/01/2006)

Buy Every Conversation - The Story of the June Brides and Phil Wilson

I have finally had the time to get another podcast together and what a cracker it is too! I have shied away from talking on the podcast this time as I need a bit more practice!

By the way can you get stereo microphones for the PC?

The Tacticians - London's Alright
Annemarie - The Living Model
The San Marinos - We're Beautiful
Celestial - Nothing Happens, Twice
Tillmanns - Run
The Relationships - Scene
Irene - Baby I Love Your Way

Subscribe to the Podcast or download direct (16mb)

Remember I appreciate any feedback on the podcasts and if you want your music played send a CD to the site address.

All tracks were made freely available by the artists at the time this podcast was put together.

Cherry Red Records follow their Subway Organisation and Flatmates compilations with two new releases featuring Subway Acts.

Electric Guitars In Their Hearts (CDMRED294) is a best of The Chesterfields compilation and features 27 tracks covering the whole of the bands career whilst Liar (CDMRED295) wraps up the best of The Charlottes, who also recorded for Cherry Red, and contains all their studio output. Both compilations are due to be released on 30th January 2006 in the UK.

Shame about the Rain / Completely and Utterly / Ask Johnny Dee / Sweet Revenge / Best of Friends / Two Girls and a Treehouse / Nose out of Joint / Love Mountain / Oh Mr Wilson / What's your Perversion / Pop Anarchy / Sob Sob Story / Everything a boy could ever need / Goodbye Goodbye / Last Train to Yeovil / Let it Go / Lunchtime for the wild youth / Alison wait / Blame / Male Bimbo / Fool is a Man / Down by the Wishing pool / Glad for you / Fountain of youth / Hangover eve / Something Happening /The Berlin Walk

The Chesterfields - Love Mountain

Sadly Davey Chesterfield was killed in a hit and run incident in 2004 so this is a fitting tribute to him.

Buy The Chesterfields - Electric Guitars In Their Hearts

The Charlottes - Liar

Are you Happy Now / Cold / Stubborn / See the Danger Shine / Everything to me / In My Hair / Love Happy / Love in the Emptiness / Be my Release / Could there ever be / Liar / Prayer song / See me Feel / By my Side / Mad girls love song / Beautify / Love in the Emptiness [alt version] / Were going Wrong / Blue / Venus

The Charlottes - Could There Ever Be

Buy The Charlottes - Liar

The track of the week is back! This week sees the start of a four week series on New Zealand indie-pop by Egg Records Jim Kavanagh. Thanks Jim!

Look Blue Go Purple are most definitely portents of the Dunedin sound, but with a difference. This all female 5 piece added vocal harmonies and a touch of keys and flute to the mix to create their own brand of dreamy guitar pop somewhere between the Dunedin sound, the Raincoats and to the quieter Paisley Underground bands.

The band included four singer/songwriters - all with styles that were distinctive without ever straying from the band's overall sound. LBGP, of all the FN bands, seemed to add a bit more of a NZ feel to their music maybe it was the cover art or some of the eerie sounds but there is something rootsy and odd in there. Before the band called it quits at the end of 1987, ending they had recorded three EPs for Flying Nun. Those EPs are now collected onto a compact disc entitled "COMPILATION”.

Their second EP, "LBGPEP2" went all the way into New Zealand's Top 20. This featuring probably bets known song 'Cactus Cat'. I have selected another “100 Times” for this Track of the Week.

Look Blue Go Purple - 100 Times

Buy Look Blue Go Purple - Compilation
Buy Egg Records Releases

The Liberty Ship were formed in 2000 and hailed from Nottingham. They were formed by ex Bulldozer Crash member Marc Elston who quickly recruited Tim Wade (Bass) and Rachel Eyres (Guitar and Vocals). They were later joined by Steve who replaced the drum machine which had been in attendance at their early gigs.

Since 2002 they have recorded for the US label Matinee although they had one release on Sunday Records, the former home of Bulldozer Crash. The band released their debut album Tide in 2004 to much acclaim.

The Liberty Ship produced classy C86 inspired indie-pop (they have been compared to bands like Hurrah, East Village and The Bodines) expanding past the jangly folk-rock group Marc first had in mind.

Due to other commitments the band are currently on ice but before going their seperate ways they recorded some demos which Marc has kindly allowed to be made available on this blog.


The Liberty Ship - The Silent Hour
The Liberty Ship - Wooden Man
The Liberty Ship - Taking Care Of Business
The Liberty Ship - Second Best Man
The Liberty Ship - Jackdaw
The Liberty Ship - Cubans In The Bluefield

Download the Zip File

Buy The Liberty Ship recordings.

It would be easy (and damn right lazy) for me to call Manchester's The Whip a New Order clone but this was my first impression when hearing Frustration. It sounds so much like the Salford lads circa Power, Corruption & Lies it's uncanny. Then again it's better than making a track which sounds like their Republic period!

However once you get over the initial shock or surprise, depending on your point of view, Frustration is one killer single. With it's gruff vocals and dark electronic beats it's an ode to all what Manchester has stood for and achieved musically for the past 25 years.

Sadly the remix by fellow Mancunians Performance is a letdown and wanders off aimlessley without any style or substance (no "New Order" pun intended).

The Whip are Bruce Carter and Danny Saville who used to be in Nylon Pylon. Frustration will be released as a limited 7" single on Kids on 13th February 2006.

The Whip - Frustration

EDIT: Victorian English Gentlemen's Club are no longer playing due to having to go into the studio. Shame their (expletive deleted) of a manager neglected to tell us that - respect eh?


As part of our eternal quest to bring you the finest punky pop, we are proud to unveil three more stunning acts who'll be performing under the SoundsXP banner in February. First up is fuzzy electro bleepster Theoretical Girl. She'll be followed by the melodic charms of Reading's Pete and the Pirates. Finally, top of the bill is marvellous Welsh scuzzy rockers Victorian English Gentlemen's Club. We spoil you, we really do.

Anyway it all takes place at Camden's Purple Turtle on February 1st and costs a paltry £5 or £4 if you present this flyer.

Of course the Sounds XP DJ's will be out in force and I have got the 23:00 to 00:00 hrs slot.


Pete and the Pirates
Whats On?
This Thyme
I'll Love
Nuana


Theoretical Girl
Dancehall Deceit (Demo)

Oddly enough many bands I fell in love with when discovering the alternative and indie scene pretty much failed to impress me with their later work. Thus I have long since abandoned pursuing new material with bands whose late-eighties/early nineties stuff impressed me considerably. Writing for this blog might make up for this, and because of it I'm now listening to the album "Further From The Truth" by the gloomy yet romatic band And Also The Trees.

I first heard the song "Slow Pulse Boy" in an alternative radio show back in probably 1988. I was lucky enough to record it on a cassette and played that cassette to shreds for many months afterwards, this ultimately compelling me to buy their first album which somehow found it's way to into the only decent record store in Iceland. Indeed the guy who sold it to me was the one hosting that radio show, and I am forever indebted to this man whose name shall now be immortalized; Sigurður Ívarsson.

Now, And Also The Trees is a strange band, and I'm inclined to think there's nothing like it. Their trademark sound, at least on the early recordings, which I first mistakenly thought was keyboards, is actully guitar "awash with with heavy flange, chorus and delay" to quote a reviewer much more capable than me of describing the music. They have what I can imagine as being sort of gloomy Byronian romantical aura about them, and strong and very visual lyrics, conjuring up images of foggy dark forests, ruins and abandoned, ivy-covered mansions in an eerie british landscape, or so I imagine. "Gothic" is probably the word I'm looking for, although the only goth band I know is Fields of the Nephilim which I do not associate with this band.

And Also The Trees were formed in 1979, and amazingly are still playing and releasing material. Their first album was produced by Laurence Tolhurst of Cure fame, and indeed they were The Cure's supporting band on a tour in 1981. Most of what they released after their 4th album has gone way past me and now I'm catching up on that material, which for the most part seems more mellow and less creepy. Just a little less though. Gone are the throbbing bass lines which had a considerable influence on myself as a bass player, and they seem to be somewhat taking it easy on the flangers now. I've decided to post a few tracks to get you interested, and I strongly recommend the first albums, the self-titled debut, Virus Meadow and Millpond Years.

From the self-titled debut album (1984): Impulse of Man
From Virus Meadow (1986): Slow Pulse Boy
From Millpond Years (1988): The House of the Heart
From Further from the Truth (2003): The Untangled Man

Visit their official web site here.

In around 1987-1988 when my musical tastes were rapidly evolving away from the likes of Howard Jones, Thompson Twins and Elton John, one of the things that fascinated me and helped me burn the bridges behind me were song that for the most part consisted of overwhelming walls of guitar noise, drowning out such sillyness as singing and drumming. In particular I got fond of an album called Star Booty released by one such noisy band called Bitch Magnet. Unlike Howard Jones' and Elton John's work, this album is still to this date one of my favorite, along with it's counterpart Umber, but these two albums were later released together on CD. Oddly enough Bitch Magnet seems to be mostly forgotten and the picture above is the only one I could find on the whole internet.

I never really knew anything about the band, but now I've found out it was formed in Oberlin College in Ohio in 1986 by one Sooyoung Park. He later went on to form a band called Seam, and if i'm not mistaken currently plays in a band called ee. Although formed in Ohio, Bitch Magnet was based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1989 their debut album "Star Booty", produced by Steve Albini, was released on an indie label named Communion.

While Star Booty was rather an EP than a full lenght album, 1989 saw the release of the full-length LP "Umber" which was excellent, and in 1990 they released "Ben Hur" which for some reasons never gets played while I return again and again to it's two predecessors.

All in all, Bitch Magnet was a good band, and I recommend buying the Umber/Star Booty CD for some pure guitar-noise enjoyment. In the meantime here are three songs to whet your appetite:

From Star Booty - Sea of Pearls
From Star Booty - Circle K
From Umber - Big Pining

And by the way, although I severely severed some ties to various artists back then, I still occasionally put those old flames back on the turntable. And Thompson Twins were a remarkable band. Too bad Joe Leeway left.

Now, being a sucker for videos, here's one I found recently with the oh so cute band The Boy Least Likely To. It's likely to steal the hearts of everyone interested in twee-pop, the song is called "Be Gentle With Me" and here it is. You'll need a quicktime player for this one. And if you'd rather like an mp3 download here's another song:

The Boy Least Likely To - I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star

I mentioned liking Lil' Hospital the other day, when listening to the Cwistmas Twee album out on Total Gaylord Records a while ago. To my considerable enjoyment I found out they've released a whole album, apparently today, called "Heavy Metal". Might I suggest you check out the Total Gaylord Records' web shop for more info, or Lil' Hospital's web site, their Myspace page, or even download this video of their recent live performance. Here are some songs available for download from the myspace page:

Lil' Hospital - Heavy Metal
Lil' Hospital - Kampus Katy

I thought I would provide a condensed round up of some bands who have e-mailed me or I have come across over the past month or two. I would have liked to have expanded on the artists (and I may well do in the future) but this is all time permits these days. And something is better than nothing. Let's get the ball rolling!

The Second Band - Wild Is The Wind. A different take on the Swedish indie pop scene. taken from their forthcoming release Your Darkside Is On The Phone.

Oppenheimer - Quirky Irish indie-pop from Belfast with plenty of surprises. Three tracks for streaming at their My Space page with Breakfast In NYC being my fave! I hope to get my hands on some of their stuff so I can review in greater detail!

More from My Space in the shape of All My Friends who are currently a home recording project but on the strength of their songs it shouldn't be to long before they are out and about. There are four songs to stream or download and I can best describe the music as 60's inspired indie-pop. Which is no bad thing in my book as these two tracks testify:

All My Friends - Sleepin' In Rough
All My Friends - Fraught & Frantic

The Hair are a band hailing from York. I listened to a couple of their tracks and they have plenty of ideas up their sleeves as well as energy and enthusiasm. They remind me a lot of stuff around in the early 1990's as well as bands around today such as Franz Ferdinand or Kasabian. They also seem to be having alot of fun which is what it is all about in the end.

The Hair - Bunny Boiler
The Hair - Hooker

They also have their a My Space page.

I wrote about Liger in October 2005. They now have a new release which is a split one with A Thousand Fuegos (Beat Is Murder netlabel). This may be an acquired taste for some but if you persevere with ityou may find something that pleases you.

Liger - Abortion 2
A Thousand Fuegos - When The River Ran Dry

Download the whole release (zip file) from here.

Looks like a good night. For more information head for here.

I have noticed that the feedburner feed had not updated since December 29th 2005. No amount of pinging, resyncing etc would get it back up and running again. I quite liked their stats service but it's not to be so I am now reverting back to the basic blogger atom feed.

The new RSS link is now http://www.indie-mp3.co.uk/atom.xml. Cut and paste this link into your RSS browser or subscribe via the menu.

I first mentioned My Darling You in May last year when I raved about their second CDR EP. Okay I said their songs leave you dizzy but you know what I mean.

They have now released their third EP titled "The Winter Will Take Us All" from which they have made available two songs. These are indie-pop songs full of punch and vitality. Or something like that! In anycase I like the air of eccentricity that surrounds their work especially on the second track which could almost be Billy Mackenzie in disguise. Listen to the songs and see what I mean.

My Darling You - Midsummer Party
My Darling You - Please Don't talk To Me I Fall In Love Easily

Buy the EP from Tomt Recordings.

This Years New Model who is one Niklas Gustafsson. I'm taking a guess that he is a Swede exiled in Britain judging by his name and website prefix but I am most probably hopelessly wrong on that score. He released his debut 7" in October on the German label Marsh Marigold last year and is currently recording his full length album.

I'm not making a pun on about the title of the song he has available for download but there is a hint of Edwyn Collins about his work as he sings his way through the song. With lines like "I'm sorry just because you made sense to me" This Years New Model just can't fail.

This Years New Model - Postcard

Irene hail from Gothenburg, Sweden and were originally one chap one Per (aka Boston). He played with some friends who enjoyed themselves so much that they stuck around and they all became a band.

They have recently released their debut single for Labrador titled Baby I Love Your Way. It's a slice of sixties influenced indie pop (think Beach boys or Phil Spector) spliced with a big chunk of Northern Soul.

Irene - Baby I Love Your Way
Irene - Stardust
Irene - The Game

You can also stream songs via the bands My Space page.

Buy direct from the Labrador shop.

Tillmanns released their debut 7", the Run EP on Fraction Discs on 11 January 2005.

Tillmanns are Anders Tillman and Bjorn Fridhol, and hail from Gothenburg, Sweden. With guitars, drum machines and synthesizers they have produced an excellent debut record full of ideas, hinting at their future potential.

Title track Run is a synth driven indie-pop song of the highest order, with the sound frequencies finding their way through the nooks and crannies of the listener's brain and then down to their feet. My London Love sounds like The Field Mice meeting New Order for a few beers around Piccadily Circus. Twist (Space Out) and Background continue to draw from the band's named influences (My Bloody Valentine, The Stockholm Monsters and The Wake) and do not disappoint, both throwing up images of spiralling colours being blown across a sparse, bleak landscape.

A truly great start to 2006!

Tillmanns - Run

Visit the bands site to download two unreleased tracks.

Bag of Joys were a quirky and funny band which never got the recognition I think they deserved. They will now however get some, since I've gotten their permission to post some of their excellent songs. The band was formed in Iceland in 1994 when a few friends who'd been making music together at home decided to start rehearsing properly and put together a live band. In 1995 they released a cassette called "Minnir óneitanlega á Grikkaland" of rather poor recording quality. The name roughly translates as "Kinda reminds me of Greece". It was limited to a total of 40 editions, and managed to get bad reviews which were then reprinted on the sleeve of their next publication, the 7" single "Nú á ég vermand vini". This single was released in 250 editions later that same year and the recording quality had improved somewhat.

In 1997 Bad Taste ltd released a series of smallish cd's with a few notable young underground bands, each CD containing around 7-9 songs, so these were kinda mini-LP's designed to get the bands some starting point, but not distributed or promoted widely it seems. I think all of these bands disbanded pretty soon after those releases, and never properly got off the ground. One of them was Soðin Fiðla mentioned in an earlier post, and one of them was Bag of Joys. The CD "Eins og ég var motta" ("Like I was a rug") was released in 1997, and here they had aquired a female vocalist named Lena. The recordings are great and the songs are sparkling with naivety and non-sensical lyrics, including a cover of "We like to do it" by a band I do not know called Avocado Baby. They had a well attended release party, and then promptly disbanded.

Since then they've occasionally resurfaced playing one concert in 2002 and at a wedding last year, and one member named Sighvatur, also known as Musikhvatur, has been seen lurking behind keyboards as member of Apparat Organ Quartet along with Jóhann Jóhannsson of Daisy Hill Puppy Farm.

Now, here are a few songs for your listening enjoyment in chronologial order. I do recommend starting with the CD.

From the cassette "Minnir óneitanlega á Grikkland":
- Hey
- Goldfinger
- Hummingbird Cookie

From the 7" "Nú á ég vermand vini":
- Trouble
- Skepnur ("Beasts")
- Fleskmangarinn og dvergatuddinn ("The fleshmonger and the dwarf-ox")

From the CD "Eins og ég var motta":
- Lovepotion
- Sveitasnakk
- Sappa oj
- We like to do it
- HA 498
- Í berjamó með Bag of Joys ("Picknick with the Bag of Joys")

A busy week hence the lack of real posts from me. Anyway:

The first EP from Celestial is now up in full on Lost Music Recordings. So head over there and download it. Why you are there download the second Celestial EP and excellent efforts from Trip and Crash Babies.

I got an e-mail from Javi who has set up a new blog devoted to indie. The one snag (or not depending on where you come from!)is that it's in Spanish. However the mp3's are clearly marked so head over to Lost & Found to download some unearthed indie-pop gems.

The Besties have dropped a line to say their new website is up and running. No audio on the site but you can download a few tracks at music download.com - I recoomend the Pirate song. I have featured this lot a few times now and The Power Of Twee has now given them, a mention too.

I wrote about The Left Outsides last week. Their debut CDR, Leaving The Frozen Butterflies Behind has had a release on the label at I Wish I Was Unpopular. Well worth £2.50 (or £3 outside Europe) of anyones money. See my post to download some tracks and where to get your grubby mitts on more.


Love Ends Disaster! have two new tracks available for streaming via their My Space page. Also included are two from their debut EP. Well worth a listen.

I'm drowning in e-mails and CDR's at present but keep 'em coming in. I've got a pile to review for this blog and Sounds XP but I am enjoying listening and writing about them all!

REPOST - Not long to go if you want to win a copy!

At the back end of 2005 The Legends released Hide Away, the second single taken from the Public Radio album.

I have two copies of this single up for grabs so if you want to win a copy just answer this simple question.

What was the title of the first single taken from Public Radio?

Answers, including your address, to blog@indie-mp3.co.uk no later than Friday 13th January 2006 and all correct entries will be placed in a hat and the first two drawn will win a copy.

The Legends - Hide Away

This month's Uncut contains an outline on plans by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)to stage commerations of the 20th anniversary of C86 in the summer. There will be evenings curated by unconfirmed C86 acts including an exhibition of fliers, posters, artwork and fanzines.

Bob Stanley, one time music journalist and member of Saint Etienne will also be working on a documentary covering the period.

There are also rumours of an event at a seaside holiday camp with original lineups of C86 bands alongside new groups with connections to C86.

Maybe that rumoured Shop Assistant reunion wasn't so far fetched after all!

I first wrote about Monkey Swallows The Universe in October last year. Since then the band have gone from a duo to a full five piece line-up.

The band have made a available a free download single with the tracks Jimmy Down The Well & Sheffield Shanty. Both tracks are taken from the fothcoming album "The Bright Carvings" which is due for release on 20th February 2006.

Their record label, Sheffield Phonographic Corporation states "their bittersweet indiepop sounds have drawn comparisons with the music of Belle & Sebastian, Bright Eyes, Nick Drake, PJ Harvey and Mazzy Star".

Monkey Swallows The Universe - Jimmy Down The Well
Monkey Swallows The Universe - Sheffield Shanty

You don't know how long I have waited for a day like this.

EDIT: The O's have drawn Premiership Charlton away in the next round. I've got this feeling.......

Tender Trap's Language Lessons EP features two new tracks plus two from 2004's release on Spanish label Elefant, the ¿Como Te Llamas? EP. Anyone familiar with the work of Amelia Fletcher (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research) will know what to expect but those who are not are encouraged to go out and find out what the voice of the indie pop generation has to offer alongside longtime cohort Rob Pursey. They are joined in the band by John Stanley who is better known as DJ Downfall.

Lead track Talking Backwards with it's harmonies and chorus is a welcome return back to the early days of Heavenly's output rather than the electro-pop of the previous release. The other new track is Unputdownable is a mellowier but still pleasant affair showcasing the drumming of Claudia Gonsoon (Magnetic Fields) who has replaced the drum machine on the bands new material.

As for the two older tracks Friendster is a gentler song, being an ode to the forum of the same name whilst ¿Como Te Llamas? shows why it was the previous single with Amelia being joined on vocals by Luipe Nunez-Fernandez of the Pipas for an electro-pop extravaganza. In fact it sounds more like The Pipas but who is complaining? This is a great EP and is a welcome sampler for their new album "Talking Backwards" which will be released in the early part of this year.

The Language EP is out now on Matinee Records, limited to a 1000 copies.

• Tender Trap - Talking Backwards


• Tender Trap - Friendster


• Tender Trap - ¿Cómo te llamas?

Note all the above are Real Audio Files

I wrote about the bands of Amelia Fletcher last year. I'm not sure how many of the links are still active though!

The C86 tape was originally a tape you had to send away for from the NME. It later appeared as a limited run of 500 as a radio only copy before getting a full release on Rough Trade Records. The tape collated bands from the UK Indie Scene in 1985/86 with the angle that some (Bodines, Shop Assistants, Mighty Lemon Drops) would burst through on the commercial scene. This never happened although bands like The Wedding Present and Primal Scream scored success a few years later.

Another striking point, compared to the the "indie" scene today was how political some of the bands on the tape were. After all, at this time, the NME was a socialist music paper in all but name. Why was this? It was certainly a reaction to the policies of Thatcher's Conservative government which had ripped the heart out of the traditional working class industries and left them in ruins resulting in mass unemployment, poverty and depravation. The steel workers, the ship yard workers, the UK car industry and more importantly the miners who were crushed by Thatcher's government with help from the police and the British industrial ruling class, rendering the British trade unions all but useless. It's no wonder that bands like McCarthy and The Wolfhounds emerged carrying on the musical struggles of The Gang Of Four and The Redskins amongst others. It is also no surprise that many of the non-political bands on the tape came from those areas affected by Tory policies and formed bands, no doubt on benefits for some of the time, because of lack of work and it was better than being on the dole - a quote I read in many interviews with the likes of the Shop Assistants etc at the time.

What other impacts did C86 have? Leading on from punk anyone could be in a band playing shambling Ramones covers! I was even a stand up drummer for two weeks! It didn't matter if you couldn't play as it was all about passion resulting from the disillusion that was prevalent. I never saw as many fanzines as I did at the heights of 1985/86! Fanzines written in the bedroom, bands rehearsing and recording in the living room and 7" records, in plastic bags with paper inserts, distributed from the kitchen. A real cottage industry if there ever was one.

C86 certainly wasn't twee as you may have been lead to believe. Just listen to bands like Bogshed or A Witness. Twee came later with bands like Talulah Gosh and the likes of Sarah Records but was certainly inspired by the bands of 1985/86 as are many today such as Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian and American bands like Dressy Bessy.

Was C86 a definitive round up of the time? No, not really as it contrasted greatly to the sounds of it's predecessor, C81 which covered a wide range of genres unlike C86. As Alistair Fitchett writes the bands on C86, many who looked towards Orange Juice, Fire Engines and Josef K for inspiration but not these bands love of genres such as funk and disco, resulting in a lack of diversity on the tape (apart from maybe Age Of Chance and Mighty Mighty). No reggae, no dance, no dub but it had a little soul so to speak!

Further Reading

For more on C86 read the excellent essay by Krister Bladh which has contributions by The Legend!, Amelia Fletcher, Alistair Fitchett and me amongst others.

C86 entry on Wikipedia

Tracklisting

Side One

1. Primal Scream / Velocity Girl
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops / Happy Head
3. The Soup Dragons / Pleasantly Surprised
4. The Wolfhounds / Feeling So Strange Again
5. The Bodines / Therese
6. Mighty Mighty / Law
7. Stump / Buffalo
8. Bogshed / Run to the Temple
9. A Witness / Sharps And Sticks
10. The Pastels / Breaking Lines
11. The Age of Chance / From Now On This Will Be Your God

Side Two

1. Shop Assistants / It's Up To You
2. Close Lobsters / Firestation Towers
3. Miaow / Sport Most Royal
4. Half Man Half Buiscuit / I Hate Nerys Hughes
5. The Servants / Transparent
6. The MacKenzies / Big Jim(there's No Pubs In Heaven)
7. Big Flame / New Way(Quick Wash And Brush Up...)
8. We've Got Fuzzbox... / Console Me
9. McCarthy / Celestial City
10. The Shrubs / Bullfighter Blues
11. The Wedding Present / This Boy Can Wait

C86 - Side One
C86 - Side Two

If posting this tape causes offence to any of the bands featured on the it or any publishers then please contact me in the first instance.

Monday

"KICKING OFF" this week, as carpentry fans would say, are The Close Lobsters, with perhaps the worse version of 'Another Girl, Another Planet' ever attempted. We are talking signifiers here - watching a band who specialise in a rather straight forward attempt on advanced beat-pop opt for a cover version of a wad of screaming guitar seems to indicate that someone is seriously lost in the cultural icon field.

The Close Lobsters sound remarkably like Subway Sect at one or other early part of their career, and one's immediate thought is why? Why revive a cul-de-sac?

Still at least they are trying. No such commendation can go to The Soup Dragons. They sing pleasant songs, play loud guitars and their singer sounds like Pete Shelly. They get reviewed in cliches because they sing cliches. When they eventually grow up (on their time scale, that should be when they reach 45) they'll perform faithful versions of Flag Of Convenience songs.

And then The Shop Assistants. They continue to drag themselves down by performing Ramones parodies. Back and forth the chord shapes, go, little sketches of tunes mumbling along with them. Why they waste their time with these songs is beyond me. Actually it isn't beyond me, because for all their abilities, The Shop Assistants still subscribe to this horrid music-is-guitars, wasn't 1978 a wonderful school of though?

Beyond that, however there are good things about them. Alex projects personality and presence and all those sort of things, as opposed to just standing there and using nasty trousers as a statement. Their 'Train From Kansas City' is not performed as a touchstone, a cred point, but with some kind of understanding of the song. 'Somewhere In China' has ambience, atmosphere, could have been 'Taking On Tiger Mountain By Strategy' and is a use of the guitar medium that goes beyond thrashing limitations. And I Like the amateurish sentiments of 'All That Ever mattered' even though it is rendered as a vague chug. The Shop Assistants have claims to adulthood; I imagine they are happy in their work, but I can only pray that they get fed up of chugging soon.

Tuesday

McCarthy surprised us. Having already burdened us with the weakest track on the C86 cassette, they ignored the pointer of it's wimp pop and proceeded to display a fine strain of puritanical '79 Factory-ish rock, seasoned with chopped guitars, sliced drumming and vocals reminiscent of a male Virginia Astley (if but for the clarity of tone). Nervous and hence distant on a stage that dwarfed them, McCarthy handled their craftsmanship with care. No nonsense, no messing, mere beauty, straightlaced engine division. The new single 'Red Sleeping beauty' - no sweat (literally).

Miaow have a VOICE in Cath Carroll. Gently hiccupping, lifting, warmly cajoling - the voice exceeds the framework (in tempis: Annette Peacock), stepping to one side of the quirkily (ignore the overuse) structured songs, never better when non-lyrical. The music, a jilting twangg!, an easy vibrating noise which can occasionally wear a little, caught the attention pleasantly enough before side tracking itself again, acting as an adequate vehicle for the hidden intricacies in the VOICE. promising.

The Wolfhounds - from the drunken lurch of a singer too caring to stand straight to the last gangly head bent in concentration over a battled embittered guitar - were the band of the night. The Wolfhounds, fuelled by exhilaration, disgust, necessity and anger, tore apart the gaping chasm in front of them and filled it with a heady anti-