Hailing from a basement in Seattle, Math and Physics Club may give you the ridiculous idea that many indie-poppers are inherently nerds. Which I of course wholeheartedly support. And ridiculous ideas are more often than not very good ideas. James, Charles, Kevin, Saundrah and Ethan got the idea to record a demo in the aforementioned basement, in 2004, and submitted the demo to some of their favorite record labels.

Now, I've always held firmly onto the belief that if one doesn't try, nothing happens, so trying can't possibly make things worse. And indeed, a few weeks later Matinée Records, home of f.e. The Lucksmiths and Pipas, got in touch with them, and released a 4 song EP in february 2004.

Furthermore, July 1st saw them release a split "7 single with Acid House Kings, Love Ninjas and Sambassadeur. You can check out all their releases here.

And they're performing at the NE Popfest in october. See what they look like live in this toe-tapping video to the song Weekends away. And here are a couple of songs:

Math and Physics Club - Weekends away
Math and Physics Club - Movie ending romance

Stream some more from they MySpace page.

Birds On Holiday are a new band forming in Sweden earlier this year. They are made up of brother and sister Jesper and Josefin Klein. Like, as it seems all musicians in Sweden do, they have played in other bands. Jesper is the bassist in Speedmarket Avenue and was joined by his sister in My Sweet Life. They are also joined by Peter Eriksson who drummed in the aforementioned band.

The band have four songs available on their My Space page and I have been giving them a listen these past couple of days. These are lovely indie pop tunes although as I am a sucker for twee female vocals I prefer the tracks where Josefin sings although that's not to say you should dismiss the others. They also write the words and music to the songs seperately and it seems they are both as talented as each other in this respect.

The best of the bunch is The Pigeon And The ..... - don't you just hate the way My Space cuts off song titles! Sadly there is no sign of a CD on there home page. As they have been working on 8 new songs hopefully there is one on the horizon soon.

Birds On Holiday - The Pigeon

Birds On Holiday - Take Me To The Sunshine

Sky Larkin have posted a new track on My Space and it makes me wonder when this lot are going to get signed. It's called One Of Two and mighty fine it is too. I have also added to the latest soundsxp podcast which differs from the indie mp3 podcast.

The band are playing a few gigs in September mainly in their home county of Yorkshire. However they play London on the 12th at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch so it's not all bad news!

Is it me or have they have a line-up change recently?

Sky Larkin - One Of Two

Read my previous posts about the band.

It's quite remarkable that when people discuss the C86 tape and era they associate it with "twee" or "jangle pop". Bands who claim to be influenced by that era make music in the same vein. Whilst I, and you will not be surprised to hear otherwise, agree that there is nothing at all wrong with that I am amazed that most people overlook the "noise merchants" (for the want of better words) who contributed more tracks than the so called jangle bands to said tape. These include The Shrubs, A Witness and Big Flame all of whom recorded for the excellent Ron Johnson label.

These bands made some great records as did the likes of The Wolfhounds and Bogshed who sounded like nothing else on earth. John Peel, when confronted with band's music for the first time, described them as "shambling" a term now ironically used to describe the jangle pop bands from that period such as The Pastels and The Shop Assistants.

For some reason bands today have not really been influenced by the likes of the aforementioned acts although that changes with this release from Sarandon who sound like they could have been written about 20 years ago with the bands named above.

Lets quickly get the album into perspective. It's a compilation of their four 7" EP's released so far. It has 28 tracks, lasts for little under 35 minutes with the longest effort being slightly under two minutes. Indivdually Sarandon do not sound like any of the bands previously mentioned. However if you mix them all together, with a bit of post punk thrown in, you may get some idea of what they sound like. The band make further references to the C86 era and these not soley based on their sound either. Previous EPs were titled The Big Flame and The June Bride with vocal appearances by Alan Brown (Big Flame) and Phil Wilson (June Brides).

The songs here, complete with bitter & twisted taunting vocals, pour forward with even the shortest ones packing a bigger punch than some of the other songs/albums I have been reviewing recently. It's an audio assault as well as being pure punk pop fun - get it!

[Wrath Records - Out Now!]

It's been a while since there has been a podcast but I have managed to put together another mix over the bank holiday weekend just gone.

Tracklisting:

Sunny Day Sets Fire - Brainless - My Space Link
Wintergreen - Droning Starlight - My Space Link
Mighty Six Ninety - Keeping You In Mind (Electro Mix) - My Space Link
Regina - Minua Ollaan Vastassa - My Space Link
Boy Omega - Burn This Flag - My Space Link
The Tidy Up's - Dizzy Heights
April Fools Day - Lucky T Shirt - My Space Link
The Legends - Lucky Star
Assembly Now - It's Magnetic (Luke Smith Remix)- My Space Link
Starflower - Dance Till Morning Light - My Space Link

Subscribe to the podcast here or download direct here (30mb)

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

Since Friday I have been posting rarities by "Sarah" bands that I have come across over the past few months. Today sees the last post in that mini series and normal posting (where I actually need to start writing something!) resumes tomorrow. So to wrap up here are some live perfromances.

The Field Mice file contains live recordings from various concerts in France, Germany and England between 1989 and 1991. I'm not sure where these files originate from, apart from boot-legged tapes, so any clues would be welcome.

The Brighter file contains a concert recorded at the long gone Islington Powerhaus in London on the 15/05/1991. Despite the low bitrate of the files the recordings are of a high quality and I am wondering if they came from a semi-official release of some sort. Anyone know?

The Sea Urchins "Live In London" was a commercial release on Fierce Records in 1993. However I believe it is long out of print so I have decided to post it - if there are any objections I will remove it.

Field Mice - Live (81mb)
Brighter - Live (23mb)
Sea Urchins - Live in London (54mb)

On another note I have switched from Rapidshare to Sendspace over the past couple of days. I hope this resolves the problems readers were having with rapidshare.

15 more tracks for you today. Enjoy.

The Field Mice - Demos (Sendspace, 54mb)

I have just come across the Furtive 50 website which has posted some festive 50's from years gone by. Essential stuff.

Another site I have finally sussed out (doh!) is John Peel Every Day. Look in the menu for the link and password to and for the mp3 files.

On another note I picked up Ken Garner's In Session Tonight for a bargain £25 on e-bay. One happy boy here....

Total Gaylord Records will have a total of 4 bands from their roster on this years New England Popfest! schedule, which incidentally is not in England but in USA. The first I'm pulling out of the bag is The Lil' Hospital. If I'm not mistaken too badly it seems to share a member with both Shumai and The Besties, Frank E. Korn being their drummer. America seems to be smaller than I thought. All in all there will probably be a total of 10 people performing at the Popfest, despite there being around 27 bands.

Founded by one Kevin Alvir, the story of the band is one I'm all too familiar with myself. To quite their MySpace page:

It started as an extra-curricular activity for Kevin Alvir. Needing to express his love for the Aislers Set and the Television Personalities, Kevin recorded very pop songs in his basement using a 4-track, a cheap drum machine, and an electric guitar under the moniker "the Hospitals." Since Kevin didn't have any friends that shared his liking for pop music or to play with, he decided to call his tapes, The Lil'Hospital.

Have a listen to some songs I copied from MySpace:

The Lil' Hospital - Fast learners
The Lil' Hospital - Heavy Metal
The Lil' Hospital - Big sister in Hollywood

Some Field Mice for you today. Amongst the tracks today are a Peel Session, Black Session and assorted demos. These tracks are higher quality than others I have found. More demos tomorrow.

Field Mice - Sessions & Demos (Sendspace, 103 mb)

I will be honest with you - I was never a fan of Brighter at the time but after hearing these demo recordings I may go back and investigate. I have Laurel stashed somewhere.

Anyway as with yesterday I don't know when these were recorded or even what the song titles are for most of them. Does anyone know? If so please drop me a line.

Brighter - Demos (sendspace)

EDIT: Jon writes;

Track 7 became 'I wish I'd never said that', on Keris's (Brighter Frontman) only release with a band called Hal, between Brighter and Harper Lee. I haven't heard the others - maybe they'll be on the Matinee Brighter compilation. It's well worth checking out the Harper Lee stuff.

INTERVIEW NUMBER 2
with Ville Hopponen of Cats on Fire
buy their newly released CDEP at Fraction Discs

____________________________________________________

1. Was it a hard decision for the band to let Fraction discs carry your release, or was it an obvious such?

It was a hard decision at first, because the songs felt kind of like demos and they began to feel a bit old, but then we decided that we should record one new song and remaster the old ones, so we were very satisfied with the result in the end. And even though the recordings of the demosongs are a bit old, the songs still feel like they are a good representation of us. As a label, Fraction feels perfect since they are really enthusiastic and extremely nice people and seem to really know what they are doing, plus they haven't lost interest even after all our usual indecisiveness. We tend to take things quite seriously so we are perhaps a bit too wary of things sometimes, but now it seems to work out fine.



2. Cats on Fire has recently played a handful of gigs in Sweden, Emmaboda and Bräkne-Hoby, for example. I have also heard that some of the members have intentions to move abroad. What further plans does the band have for the future?

Mattias and Kenneth are moving to Sweden for a while as exchange students, so we definitely can't play as often as now, but I think we are on quite steady ground so I think it will work out. We feel we have achieved quite a lot in connecting musically with each other so it just feels too important to let go just because we will be living in different cities. It took a few lineup-changes before we arrived at the current one, and it just feels like it's perfect, we really do see eye-to-eye on many things and work very well together and sort of have the same ambitions. A full-length album will be released in the autumn on the German Marsh-Marigold label, we are now in the final stages of mixing it, so that should be exciting. We won't be able to practice as much but we are definitely going to do concerts anyway. The album will consist mainly of new songs, and a few older ones re-recorded.



3. According to your taste, how would you describe the music-scene of today in Finland (and worldwide if you like)?

Oh, that's a hard one. Everything metal is very big in Finland, and obviously I'm not even slightly interested in that. It doesn't even irritate me anymore, I just don't care. It's gone way too far. It just seems that nothing really counts if it isn't sort of "in your face" or vulgar in some way and that's really boring. It seems to spill over into every musical direction, everything has got to have that "rocking" thing or whatever, sometimes it feels like everyone that plays in a band in Finland really want to play guitar solos with their legs spread widely and be some kind of star, regardless of what kind of music they are actually playing. To me, these things just feel like they have got very little to do with making beautiful music, and more to do with the notion that it's somehow "cool" to be in a band, which it isn't. (sorry about the ranting.... )
Anyhow, the indie-scene, compared to Sweden, is quite small, but it really seems to be growing rapidly, and there are a few very good bands around. I get the sense that finally something really good is happening with the Finnish indie-scene, whereas a few years ago it wasn't really that exciting. One problem here seems to be that there are quite a few good bands, but there are too few clubs, record labels, places to play, and all sorts of people involved in different aspects of the music scene, which really is a shame, but I think this thing is growing too.



4. Finally, there are some kind of obvious influences in Mattias way of writing lyrics, (Morrissey) but can you tell us a bit more about what music/artists the other members of the band likes and dislikes?

I can't really answer for the others, but I think we all listen to quite a lot of different music, but of course there are many things we all like. At least I think we all have in common that we always try to find new (well, not necessarily literally new) things and I could perhaps say that no one is particularly limited to listening to a certain style of music. I just like things that sound beautiful, and you never know where you might find that. I should guess that the others see it in about the same way too. My personal favorites right now happen to be mostly things I have listened to lots over many years but always come back to once in a while. A lot of Felt. Other favorites right now are Fosca, Denim, Morrissey, the Radio Dept, Lee Hazlewood, Love, Television Personalities, Carpenters, Bob Dylan, the Kinks, Leevi & the Leavings, the Honeydrips, and the Mare.


My favorite:
Sarah Records 7": Hmm..... tricky one. I'll have to go with the Field Mice "Emma's house" since that was the first one I heard and that I still like a lot.

Actor/Actress: No one really comes to mind right now. Does Homer Simpson count? Probably someone from one of Kaurismäki's films, like Kati Outinen.

Film: Spontaneously "Lost in translation", but if you asked me another day it might as well be something by Monty Python. Or "Breathless" by Godard. Or "Planet of the Apes" since it's kind of funny.

Album (ever, right now): This is just too hard to answer. Right now I would say Felt "Poem of the River", and the "ever" part could probably be Felt "Forever breathes the lonely word"

Author : Haven't read anything all summer except Bob Dylans autobiography, which I quite like. So, right now, Bob Dylan.

visit Cats on Fire at:
http://www.catsonfire.net/

I know nothing about these demos which I came across recently with some by Brighter and The Field Mice, both of which I will post over the coming weekend. Not sure when they were recorded etc etc so if anyone has any further information or higher quality file please let me know. Anyway one for the curious!

Another Sunny Day - Demos (You Send It)
Another Sunny Day - Demos (Rapidshare)

Another Sunny Day on Twee Net

EDIT: Harvey Williams has posted some information about these demos - see the comments for more.

Leading on from yesterday's post I have found out that Boy Omega has a new EP coming out in October 2006. Titled The Grey Rainbow it features seven tracks and will be released on riptide recordings who are a German label. The label has made available one of the tracks titled Burn This Flag. More on the release can be found here.

Boy Omega - Burn This Flag

Now Age of Chance were definitely not one of the jangle pop bands that appeared on the C86 tape. The cycling gear industrialists made a sound a bit different to your Pastels, Wedding Present etc. None more so than on the cover version of Prince's Kiss.

Anyway I noticed via the Age Of Chance Yahoo group that Mark at ireallylovemusic has interviewed AOC founding member Geoff Taylor and it's a really good interview for those who like all things related to C86, especially Taylor's thoughts on the whole "scene".

Age Of Chance Official Site
Age Of Chance Information Site
Age Of Chance My Space page

Stereo Test Kit Records have made available another free download EP from Boy Omega. It comes with three tracks, artwork and is the second mp3 single taken from the excellent The Black Tango album released in May this year.

Boy Omega - Explode

You can download the rest of the EP from here. The first free EP is still available at the same link.

Boy Omega have also announced that they are playing four UK dates in September. The dates are:

14-September: Glasgow / The Admiral Bar
15-September: Coventry / The Tin Angel
16-September: Larmer Tree Gardens, Salisbury / The End of the Road Festival
18-September: Leeds / The Brudenell Social Club

Stream and download other tracks from My Space.

San Diego's Mighty Six Ninety return with another slice of pure pop and Keeping You In Mind is the follow up to the previous single on Kids Believable.

Not much has changed between the two and to be honest why should it? It still drips with the 1980's British influences such as The Smiths and what sounds like the back catalogue of Factory Records. To say this is a catchy song would be a damning understatement as it's got it all - strong vocals, attention grabbing lyrics, soaring guitars and melody. A very strong contender for my single of the year so far. After that flip side With Me is never going to maintain the pace but singer/guitarists Rich Gardner's' vocals have never sounded stronger and certainly cements the bands place as one of 2006's most promising acts.

The single is available on 7" only (500 copies) and just like Factory Records, with the sleeve for New Order's Blue Monday single, Kids are set to make a loss on each single sold. They have put all their profits into a stunning gatefold sleeve which is designed by acclaimed NY graffiti artist Crash.

You can stream the a-side and other tracks via My Space whilst you can pick up the single, which is out now, direct from Kids.

[Kids - Out Now]

The Everlasting EP features four new songs which are not found on Guthrie's Continental album which was released a month or two ago. Like the album the EP consists of instrumental pieces harking back to Guthrie's earlier ambient work with the Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd. The EP opens with Bordertown which shifts & mesmerises the listener with the rest of the EP being variations of the same theme. The title track is the standout as Guthrie and his guitar playing weave underlying currents which manage to catch your attention as you begin to surf on the audio "waves". Blissful dream-pop.

[Rocket Girl Records - Out Now]

To be honest I am not sure what to make of Piskie Sits. With a name like that I don't want to dislike them it's a but and a big one at that. The music is pleasant enough but there is certainly nothing to grab you by the short and curlies with the new single What's The Point and you could be left wondering how apt that title is. The songs are melodic affairs but it's hardly new or inspiring and after several plays I am just left shrugging my shoulders.

[Wrath Records/28/08/2006]

Label mates The Scaramanga Six have been around for a while now and new single Baggage starts off sounding like the theme tune of the 1960's Batman series. However it all goes downhill after this bright start with the bands brand of eccentric rock becoming somewhat annoying to these ears.

Listening to b-side Vesuvius I was thinking there was something Cardiacs like about them when I read that they have been working with the Cardiacs main man Tim Smith on several new tracks which makes me wonder why it is pretty dull stuff. Answers on a postcard.

[Wrath Records - Out Now]

Bobby Baby has another remix EP out on Netlabel Corpid. Her voice is so well suited to the slowed down beats of the remixers you have to wonder why she doesn't front an electronica act. That way she may get the recognition she and her voice/writing deserves. These remixes are melancholic affairs and the Peloton remix of Goodbye Love is the stand out, expanding and improving on the original. Lovely stuff and it will not cost you a penny/dime/euro etc etc either!

[Corpid - Free Download only release]

Please note that due to the amount of spam I have been getting I have deleted the blog@indie-mp3 etc etc address. On my return home from 8 days away I had just over 1000 pieces of spam of which half were to the aforementioned address! The other spammed address is also being deleted which is a shame as it was my first ever e-mail address and I have had it since 1998! So please delete the blog address from your contact lists and use the form under contact us in the menu instead. Thanks.

INTERVIEW NUMBER 1.
with Jimmy Tassos at the American indiepop label Matinée Recordings

among the releases: airport girl, bella vista, brighter, edson, ego, the fairways, the guild league, the happy couple, harper lee, kosmonaut, the liberty ship, lovejoy, the lucksmiths, math and physics club, melodie group, monterey, pale sundays, the pines, the pipas, razorcuts, remember fun, the siddeleys, simpático, slipslide, the snowdrops, sportique, sweet william, tender trap, the visitors, the windmills, would be goods, the young tradtion

_________________________________________________

1. Could you please tell us a bit about the ideals behind this label, how it all started, and what inspired you?

Matinée started in 1997 with a plan to release a series of ace 7” singles, and we continued along that path for the first few years, eventually adding cd singles and albums to the mix as appropriate. At the time I had a serious policy job in Washington, DC and the label was a creative outlet for me. Over the years it took more and more of my time until I left my job to focus on the label and work as a consultant. Since then we moved to California and the label has grown to encompass releases from 32 different artists. In addition to some current indie favorites we have released retrospective CDs from bands near and dear to this website (Razorcuts, Brighter, The Siddeleys, The Visitors, and Remember Fun).


2. If there was one thing that you could change with the music-industry, what would that be?

Base magazine reviews and radio plays on merit of the songs instead of who is spending the most on advertising or plugging. Luckily there are some ace zines and radio stations that do this but it’s a constant battle to get noticed with so many releases any given week. Still, I can generally count five days after sending off promos and expect my mailbox to be full of ad solicitations from magazines.


3. What is your relation to the artists you have released, for example, have you met most of them, how do you choose artwork etc, please feel free to tell us anything you like.

I have met nearly all of the Matinée artists and have become close friends with many. It is much easier to work with somebody once you have met face to face so I make this a priority whenever possible. I am involved with artwork on every Matinée release. There are a few bands that present nearly finished artwork but others give me a blank canvas which is always great fun. Some releases have 10 or more sleeve designs before we finalize our choice. The artwork is almost always collaborative and the delays are mostly mine because I agonize over little details that most people never notice.

4. Finally, your upcoming release is a Brighter compilation due in early September. Do you have any further plans made already, and what are your wishes for the label in the future?

We just released great EPs from Harper Lee and Lovejoy that should be on every hipster’s shopping list already. Next up is the fantastic 20-track Brighter compilation ‘Out To Sea’ you mentioned which includes classics from the Sarah Records catalog along with six previously unreleased songs. Also coming soon is the debut full-length from Seattle’s Math and Physics Club who, in the span of just over a year, have become one of the top selling Matinée artists to date. The new album is a modern masterpiece that deserves to break through to the masses and just might be the best album we’ve ever released. We are also just finalizing negotiations with a brilliant new Matinée band but we’ll keep that a secret for a few more weeks. Check the website in September for more details! Next year is our ten year anniversary too so we’ll try to celebrate accordingly with shows in California and someplace in Europe since most of our bands are still there. It’s time for a proper Matinée festival don’t you think?

My favorite:

song released on Matinée: ‘Train Not Stopping’ by Harper Lee, although ‘Graduation Day’ from Math and Physics Club is a serious challenger and ‘Wallflower’ from the forthcoming Brighter compilation cannot be overlooked.

season: summer

festival: Greek (generally the best in every town). That’s not what you were looking for I know but…

animal: cat

albums ever: I don’t have much patience for albums to be honest. Give me a good EP or one great song and I’m happy. Some of the greatest songs ever recorded (aside from Matinée releases) include ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ by The Smiths, ‘Obscurity Knocks’ by Trash Can Sinatras, and ‘Happy When It Rains’ by Jesus and Mary Chain, plus undoubtedly something from The Bodines, The House of Love, The Brilliant Corners, The Colourfield, Adorable, James Dean Driving Experience, Orange Juice, Biff Bang Pow!, Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, The Housemartins, East Village, The Wild Swans, The Jam, Fun Boy Three, The Servants, The Wedding Present… Lots of 80s bands, I know. For contemporary pop I count on Clearlake and The Radio Dept. to keep me happy. Thank you!

Check out Matinée Recordings webpage at www.indiepages.com/matinee

The Salty Pirates hail from Halmstad in Sweden. The band met during High School and they started to play together about four years ago. I first heard the band a couple of weeks ago when I got my hands on a copy of the How Does It Feel To Be Loved? indiepop compilation - 'The Kids at The Club' . The Salty Pirates are featured with the super infectious indie pop anthem - "Black Minds, White Lies". It was then that I decided to check out the bands My Space page. Since then I have delved into the Salty Pirates sound and I am hooked. Addicted. I suggest that you will be too, if you just give in to the catchy choruses and delightful melodies. Ahem. Yeah, you get it. I like them.

The band have loads of songs to download from their web page and my space. As their home page says - "We're trying to fight the commercialism that's infecting the music industry today. That's one off the reasons why we've put up our songs on the site so you can download them for free." Amen to that. Although I'd still love to be able to buy a real CD or 7". I am old fashioned like that. Anyways, I have chosen my three favourites as a starter for ten. Go enjoy the Salty Pirates.

Salty Pirates - Black Minds, White Lies
Salty Pirates - The Couple on The Bus
Salty Pirates - Wake Up Alone

Jim Reid, the former Jesus and Mary Chain singer has been busy over the past 12 months recording a few radio sessions (BBC Radio 2 and Radio 6). He has also released a couple of singles on the Transistor Records record label. The first of which was a split single with Jim taking one side of 7" single with 'Song For A Secret' and the other side being 'Can't Stop The Rock' by Sister Vanilla (his sister, Linda's band). The second single 'Dead End Kids' was released in mid July.

Initially when Jim started doing some low key solo shows he was just assisted by Phil King (Felt, Lush) on guitar. And these small intimate shows slowly grew and early this year he managed to get a full band together, that as well as featuring Phil King, now has Loz Colbert (Formerly of Ride) on Drums and Mark Crozer on Bass. The band have played a few gigs up and down the country and recently played a cracking gig at Bar Academy in Islington, where Jim even dusted down a a few Mary Chain songs (45 rpm, Never Understand and Moe Tucker) as well as 'Vegetable Man' in tribute to Syd Barrett (Originally covered by The Jesus and Mary Chain as the B side to their creation classic 'Upside Down' in 1984).

I've not posted for what seems like an age on Indie MP3, so as way of a reintroduction here are a whole host of Jim related songs. I have include a two session recordings ('Dead End Kids' and 'Song For A Secret') and two live recordings ('Stranded' - originally recorded by Aussie punks The Saints and the aforementioned 'Vegetable Man').

Jim Reid (with Phil King) - Dead End Kids (Radio 6 Session, October 05)
Jim Reid (with Phil King) - Song for A Secret (Radio 2 Session, December 05)
Jim Reid (with Phil King) - Stranded (The 12 Bar Club, January 5, 2006)
Jim Reid (with full band) - Vegetable Man (The Bar Academy Islington, July 19, 2006)

The awesome Besties from Brooklyn have made a toe-tapping video to their "Prison Song" from the album Singer. It features a prison, an elevator, rooftop, slamming doors, stripping and a good deal of fun:

It's time for another round-up of stuff I have been recommended (and liked!) or have come across recently.

Voxtrot have four London dates lined up next week. Sadly i'm back off to my Welsh bolt hole tomorrow so I am going to miss them. Hopefully you will not do the same.

The dates are.

Sat 12 - London, UK - Queens Of Noize[secret venue] 18+
Mon 14 - London, UK - Trash [The End & AKA] 18+
Tue 15 - London, UK - White Heat [Madame JoJo's] 18+
Wed 16 - London, UK - Playlouderecordings Party [Playlouder/State 51] 18+

For the Belle & Sebastian fans out there Kirstens Postcard has put togther a compilation of cover versions. Titled A Century Of Covers you can read about it and download from here.

Talking about compilations take a butchers at the one Crayola has posted on his blog xPQwRtz. It's even got Bob on it. Top stuff and I recommend that you download it ASAP!

Sunny Day Sets Fire Indie Folk pop - one for the B&S and Aberfeldy Fans. I really like Brainless which was apparently a single and I have had no joy in tracking it down so if the band are reading this hint hint! I will try and cover this lot in more detail in the future.

Kazakstan have been recommended to me. They are a Swedish progressive indie rock band. They have two full tracks to download and whilst not up my street they are pleasant enough.

April Fools Day are from Barcelona and make some fine tunes, none more so than Lucky T Shirt. Investigate more.

For Those Who Know hail from Austin, Texas and made their debut EP available for free on-line. The press release states that "Comparisons have been made to the Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine". I have not managed to listen to all the tracks but those that I did were pretty good. Download it from here.

Thieves Like Us (10 points for the New Order reference) are another Texan band who draw influences from the UK late 70's/early 80's indie scene (Joy Division, The Smiths etc) and therefore sound remarkably like Interpol and other US bands who hark back to that period. Judge for yourself. I like this!

Interetc Is a new blog with music & film reviews and worth a read.

I will be back posting on the 21st August although no doubt Magnus will be continuing his excellent series on Popfest. Talking about series I will resume the Sarah Records one on my return.

Hailing from Northampton in that cradle of liberty: Massachusetts, Spouse claim on their website to "follow in a tradition of great song writing while breaking new ground in sonic expression". While what I'm listening to doesn't at first glance seem to be actually groundbreaking, it is quite enjoyable. One can hear The Pixies influence in the songs "Dumbest joke" and "Wonder woman" and there is indeed hint of Pavement in "Kiss or wave goodbye".

They have released 3 full-lenght albums, an EP and 2 singles it seems. They have quite a few mp3's for download here and the albums can be bought and pre-listened here. Here are a few goodies for you listening enjoyment:

Spouse - Dumbest joke
Spouse - Are you gonna kiss or wave goodbye
Spouse - Wonder woman

Last saturday saw one of my teenage dreams coming true when Throwing Muses held a concert here in Reykjavik, finally. What a thrill it was for me and the probably 100 or so other's who actually knew the band and were present. With no mucking about and no inane chatter between songs Kristin and her cohorts rolled over the audience with many of their very best songs ever, including my favorite, "Colder" from the album House Tornado. I got a nice spot, sitting on the stage right beside the bass amp, and for a while I was wondering if my ears would start bleeding. I sat there slack-jawed, staring at the amazingly talented bass player whose performance left me humbled. What an amazing band they still are. Check out this page for some mp3 goodies.

The concert was the annual Innipukinn festival and supposed to be sharing the stage with Throwing Muses (but cancelling at the last minute) were the excellent punkish band Æla, which I wrote about earlier here.
At the time they were recording an album which was supposed to be released before christmas. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and the album saw light of day just last month. It's 15 songs of playful punk songs much in the vein of Purrkur Pillnikk from which they derive obvious influence. In the true icelandic spirit their bassist is also a member of Jan Mayen.

Purrkur Pillnikk was fronted by one Einar Örn of later Sugarcubes fame. Some critic said that Æla's singer was now achieving what Einar had always wanted to do. Others are not equally pleased with his performance. However I can guarantee that their live performances are joyous occasions with the lanky singer wobbling precariously on a chair, and, with his guitar hooked up to a wireless system, he often runs around the place, usually on the tables of shocked onlookers.

To digress a little; Purrkur Pillnikk, was active from 1981 - 1983, and their bass player is now a respected poet, the guitarist is an equally respected novelist. Einar Örn continues to make noise with his current project, Ghostigital, and you can listen to what he's up to now here.

Check out some mp3's:

Æla - Hent'essu í mig (from the new album "Sýnið tillitsemi, ég er frávik")
Æla - Magnarinn (early demo recording)
Purrkur Pillnikk - Undantekning
Purrkur Pillnikk - Surprise
Jan Mayen - On a mission
Jan Mayen - Damn straight

Dýrðin have signed to US label Skipping Stones Records. Their self-titled debut will be out October 3, 2006 and the band are also playing Popfest in October. Skipping Stones have kindly made two tracks available.

I have to say that without being prejudiced, as the bands bassist Magnus contributes to these very pages, that both these tracks are excellent and if these tracks are a taster for the album then we are going to be in for a treat indeed. Simple and effective pop tunes.

Dýrðin - Bubble Girl
Dýrðin - Popp & Co

Stream and download some older tracks from My Space.

Listening to The Bridge Gang is an ideal way to start the week. Listening to the Bridge Gang's new single Blue Sky Grey is an even better start! Thanks to bassist Lucy who has kindly supplied me with mp3's of the new single and it's b-side you too can do the same. It's a bit different to their normal sound and the band have said they will never play it live after recording it in one take.

The single, which is the follow up to debut single Pangs Of Guilt, will be released in September on Brille Records on limited 7" vinyl (500 copies). In the meantime London readers of this blog should try and catch them live as believe me they are simply one of the best live bands you would wish to see.

The Bridge Gang - Blue Sky Gray
The Bridge Gang - Money Will Roll Right In

Stream tracks and check gig listings via their My Space page

Fronted by one Henning Ohlenbusch who writes and sings all of School for the Dead's songs, the band hails from that delightful town Northampton, Massachusetts which incidentally is also the home of the New England Popfest this year, and where such celebrities as Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon may be seen roaming the streets at night.

They released "The Chain CD" in 2003, and I gather from they're website that it was distributed for free. If you didn't get it, you can still get it here. The LP "The New You" was released in 2004 and can be bought from here. And all of the songs can be sampled in the SFTD-Player at this location. The best song in my opinion is "Photobooth Curtain", however since that one isn't available for download, here are a few others that are:

School for the dead - One lady dancing
School for the dead - Everybody loves Martha
School for the dead - Uncomfortable

After the challenge that I set to compile your own version of C06 went unanswered I tried to do it myself. I ended up compiling a list of tracks that make up the best of the tracks (of those still available on the net) I have posted to date. So here it is then, ready to burn onto CDR, the best music I have found and brought to you since the blog has been up and running!. Enjoy!

Good Shoes - Small Town Girl
Decoration - Intercom
Dyrdin - Hunangsdropar
Santa Dog - Delicate
Pocketbooks - Everyday Is A New Adventure
Celestial - Nothing Happens, Twice
The Arrogants - Love Sick
The Bridge Gang - Sarah's Brother
Amida - Class Of 2000
Sambassadeur - New Moon
Paisley Riot - Devil Only Knows
The Besties - Pirate Song
Surburban Kids With Biblical Names - Rent A Wreck
Sky Larkin - Keepsakes
Tales Of Jenny - Tuesday Girl
The Left Outsides - Leaving The Frozen Butterflies Behind
The San Marinos - We're Beautiful
Mutt Ramon - Silver Moon Boots
The April Skies - Rise & Rise Again
The Charade - Dressed In Yellow & Blue
Wan Light - That Grim Reality
Laura Cantrell & Gordon McIntire - I Lost You (But I Found Country Music)
Annemarie - The Living Model
Spaghetti Vabune! - The Chocolate Song
Audrey - Box, And Fights

Download here.

All tracks have been made freely available by bands/labels at the time this compilation was posted/compiled.

Ponies in the Surf say on their web page:

We think music is the most beautiful and profound thing possible in this world, and we try our best not to commit too many crimes against it.

And indeed siblings Camille and Alexander McGregor won't be arrested in the near future for crimes against music. Described as "acoustic psych-folk duo from Boston" they melodies are gentle and even sleep inducing in a good sense. Kinda like Sigurrós... with a dash of Pink Floyd even. They are labelmates with the excellent Pants Yell! on Asaurus Records, where they've released the LP "Ponies on Fire" in december 2005.

And they'll be blasting away on october 6th at the New England Popfest.

Ponies in the Surf - Little boy lost
Ponies in the Surf - Fairy in my house
Ponies in the Surf - Ventricle

Ragnhild Hogstad Jordahl from Bergen, Norway is Soda Fountain Rag. To be honest there is not much information about her on her My Space page but all you really need to know is that she makes the most wonderful indie pop tunes and that's what matters. She will swap one of her CD's with it's handmade covers for a Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse Comic though.

The music, for which she plays all the instruments, is unsurprisingly lo-fi but also has elements of 1960's girl bands and jangle pop.

I have been listening to the songs available on my space and I cannot fault any one of them. My harder problem is deciding which one is my favourite and I have plumped for You Can't Stop Me. And to be honest Ragnhild I have no intention stopping you either - until you branch out into Jazz Funk of course!!!

Soda Fountain Rag - You Can't Stop Me
Spoa Fountain Rag - Army Of Silent Kids

Download and stream tracks from My Space. You can also download even more songs here.

And What Will Be Left Of Them? release the debut single for the new The Little Hellfire Club label. And the good news for you and me is that it is a free download EP featuring three tracks. The download EP is a taster for their next release for the label which is the CD single Come With Me which you can pre-order on the site. If you have not heard the band before they are a mix of electro pop with a hard rock edge and are very entertaining live!

AWWBLOT? - Wet Week In July

You can download the other two tracks and the artwork from here or stream the whole EP via My Space.

One of the best songs I've heard in the past weeks is undoubtedly "A l´été de la Saint-Martin ´68" by the czech band Miou Miou. Though from the Czech Repbublic they apparently prefer to sing in the language of love; french. And they also make music for cartoons!

I quote their page:

Miou Miou came into existence during the spring in 2003 and the debut EP "6 chants pour les chats" is studio documentation of their early coaction. The Miou Miou sound is shaped by two dissolving guitars, legendary East Germany organ Vermona and girlish voice with French lyrics. Music recording is also supplemented by stringed instruments, metalophone, electronic fxs and sampling.

There are samples of their songs from their album "La Grande Finale" available on their website here, they can also be streamed from their Myspace page or you can start by downloading these two full songs which I found at another blog and expertly copied over to my server. Get them while they're hot!

Miou Miou - A l´été de la Saint-Martin ´68
Miou Miou - Mon minet

And here is a video for the song "Rendre Temps".