I has always wondered why the UK has not produced a band in the same vein as the All Girl American Summer Fun Band - I guessed it was the weather.

However it looks like it now is a reality in the shape of Bristol based Colliding Lemons. The band claim numerous influences which each of the five band members have brought with them including the likes of Blondie, The Pixies, The Donnas etc. I also hear the echoes of Bristol's musical history via Sarah Records coming through especially the more jangly guitar pop that label put out in it's early years. There are also elements of various aspects of girl groups from down the ages from the likes of The Modettes and the girl sounds of the sixties.

Whether it rains or shines I guess you can call them the All Girl British Winter Fun Band!

The band have not released anything as of yet nor do they have a website or any downloads. However head to My Space page to hear their fun packed tunes.

The band are playing Purr in Bath on December 15th.

The Manhatten Love Suicides debut album is out now on CD on Magic Marker Records. You can order it here. A Vinyl version of the album, which features two extra tracks and a 7" single, will follow on Sqiurrel Records. I wrote about the band previously here.

Sky Larkin's debut single One Of Twos backed with Young Lungs is out on Dance To The Radio on January 27th 2007. It's a limited edition 7" single of 500 copies so you had better pre-order it quick as it will shift fast.

For those who prefer digital downloads I see the Rough Trade Digital store is up and running. The format is mp3 at 320 k/bits which is pretty high quality to say the least. Mind you I would have still preferred a lossless format like FLAC. I downloaded a couple of tracks and picked up a remix of All In My Head by Good Shoes and an exclusive track by El Perro Del Mar.

Talking about Good Shoes their new single The Photos on My Wall is released on Christmas Day. You can pre-order all three formats for £4 here.

Matt Bailey is a singer/songwriter who reminds me of Rodney Allen with a sense of humour thrown in. Matt himself thinks his music has something of The Brilliant Corners or The Chesterfields about it and listening to the four tracks available on My Space he does have a point. The music is quirky with the vocals/lyrics to match.

Matt Bailey - Somewhere Sordid

[My Space link]

Turpentine are a melodic female fronted band out of Buenos Airies, Argentina who lean on the slightly heavier side of Shoegazing or Dream Pop as it seems to be known now. They have released two EP's in the past year and both are available on the net with the tracks being better than average although as with this type of music there is a time and a place to listen to it.

Turpentine - X-Large

The complete EP's are available here.

Treeball are a indie pop band out of Helsinki, Finland have released their second album of 2006 titled I Dream Of Eclectic Sheep. It's available as a free digital download in high quality AAC and mp3 and I have been impressed with the tracks I have played so far. It's atmospheric, melodic indie rock that fits fine with the gloomy London weather.

Treeball - Sweet Murder (Song For Doug Yule)

Download the whole album from their site.

[My Space link]

indie-mp3 fave Lucky Misu has released his third free EP download of the year. There is a change in direction in his soundwhich has now has moved to a darker but not morbid electronic sound. However it's still high quality stuff that deserves a wider audience.

Lucky Misu - Trampolines

The full EP can be downloaded from his site.

[My Space link]

The Hellfire Sermons who released a number of singles in the 1980's and 1990's have posted two new tracks to their My Space page which are taken from their 19 track album Hymns Ancient and Modern to celebrate it's release on i-tunes.

The album rounds up the bands singles, flexi-discs and cassette only releases and is released on the Bus Stop Label.

The Hellfire Sermons - Not Nailed Down

More tracks can be downloaded from the bands page on Music Download.com.

[My Space link]

Lucky Soul are releasing their third single on December 11th 2006. It's a limited edition 7" EP called Ain't Never Been Cool. Along with the title track it also features the b-sides Struck Dumb and I Gots The Magic. The single is the follow up to the excellent Lips Are Unhappy and My Brittle Heart singles both of which should find a place in my end of year lists!

The band are also working on their debut album The Great Unwanted. You can read about it's progress here.

The band also playing The Fly (London) tonight and have a New Year's Eve Party at the Hope and Anchor in Islington on, funny enough, New Years Eve.

Lucky Soul - Struck Dumb
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy

[My Space link]

Anne Bacheley has been making beautiful lo-fi indiepop for the past couple of years out of her native France. I was first introduced to her music via the I Wish I Was Unpopular record label and her wonderful - 'Mixtape Babies' CD single. Last year she released a CDr of songs that were originally available for free to download - and they still are. She has just released a new and very limited EP on Mimikaki records called 'Station Life'.

Anne Bacheley - Lost Weekend from the new EP.
Anne Bacheley - Teenage Wasteland from the free to download CDr release.

Visit's Anne's great little website for a whole host of downloads, videos and art.

The following has been posted elsewhere on the net but I think is pretty relevant to readers of this blog. It's from the internet radio station Dandelion Radio:

1975 was the last time BBC Radio 1 listeners experienced a Christmas without a Festive Fifty, for it was set up the following year, by the legendary DJ John Peel. The Festive 50 has been an institution on BBC Radio 1 since it was set up as an annual listeners poll in 1976. Now, after 30 consecutive years (excluding a couple of lapses) of Festive Fifties (the last two being run in the absence of the much-missed DJ, by Rob Da Bank and Huw Stephens), Radio 1 has decided, for a variety of good reasons, to not run a Festive Fifty for 2006. However, Dandelion Radio is proud to announce that John Peel’s old programme team has asked us if we would take up the baton of hosting this annual yuletide music fest, “The Festive Fifty”,

We're not the BBC, and don't have the same resources, so we can't exactly replicate what has gone before. However, we can and will produce a Festive Fifty in the spirit of its originator. For full details and how to vote, click here.

I was made aware of The Haywains when I was doing a review of The Westfield Mining Disaster (for Paul Towler of The WMD was once a Haywain) for my Lostmusic site. And when I played the songs on The Haywains My Space I instantly thought they were ideal for Indie MP3. This is the sound of indie pop from a bygone era. The band's My Space page explains it better than I could - "Formed way back in 1988, The Haywains, based near Bristol, played three-chord buzzy guitar indie-pop with bittersweet lyrics and sixties style melodies. Part of the 'twee' pop underground and the fanzine culture that held the scene together, The Haywains were familiar faces at London's 'Waaaaaah!' nights aswell as Bristol's Tropic Club and Louisiana."

Paul Towler now plays in a new band, as already mentioned, The Westfield Mining Disaster. A more grown up take on indie pop I'd argue. But still rather good.

The Haywains - Dusty Springfield
The Haywains - Bye Bye Boyfriend
The Westfield Mining Disaster - Not Everybody Gets To Be A Rolling Stone

Svensk Indie is a new compilation recently released here in the UK, and I guess elsewhere, covering eighteen years of Swedish indie pop and looks to be pretty essential. The track listing, whiuch I copied from It's A Trap and contains missing Swedish letters, is:

Tracklist:
CD1:
01. Happydeadmen - Silent sigh city
02. Wannadies - The beast cures the lover
03. Easy - Cloud chamber
04. Eggstone - Wrong heaven
05. This Perfect Day - This friendship of ours
06. Popsicle - Hey princess
07. Brainpool - At school
08. Suredo - Average cell
09. Bob Hund - Fem meter upp i luften
10. Cardigans - Rise & shine
11. Hardy Nilsson - Hela hj�rtat mitt
12. Broder Daniel - Luke Skywalker
13. Honey Is Cool - Georgia
14. Kent - N�r det bl�ser p� m�nen
15. Fireside - Left rustle
16. Bear Quartet - It only takes a flashlight to create a monster
17. Cloudberry Jam - Elevator
18. Souls - Expensive
19. Yvonne - Modern love
20. Drowners - Summer break my fall
21. Bad Cash Quartet - Amuse you

CD2:
01. Club 8 - Missing you
02. Doktor Kosmos - Le punkrocker
03. Plexus - Elektroplux
04. H�kan Hellstr�m - K�nn ingen sorg f�r mig G�teborg
05. First Floor Power - We are the people
06. David & The Citizens - Now she sleeps in a box in the good soil of Denmark
07. Hell On Wheels - Soda
08. Silverbullit - Magnetic city
09. Knife - Kino
10. Embassy - It never entered my mind
11. Marit Bergman - This is the year
12. Differnet - Conflictionary
13. Radio Dept - Against the tide
14. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Rent-a-wreck
15. Andreas Tiliander - Back to the USA
16. Jens Lekman - Maple leaves
17. Tough Alliance - Take no heroes
18. Audionom - Dc2
19. El Perro Del Mar - This loneliness
20. Frida Hyv�nen - Once I was a serene teenage child
21. The Concretes - On the radio

Another album to add to the list!

What Presence?! was a 7" Orange Juice single released in 1984. Some of these singles came with a free bonus cassette (well it was 1984 after all) featuring three live tracks recorded earlier that year.

Orange Juice - Dying Day
Orange Juice - Simply Thrilled Honey
Orange Juice - In A Nutshell

For more info about the band:

Orange Juice on Birdpoo
Orange Juice on Wikipedia

There's not much guitar-strumming in this post of mine, but it features a nice song anyway. I posted this a short while ago on Noisedfisk, but since I have no idea if anyone is actually reading it I'd like to post it here also. It features a woman in her thirties with a voice not entirely unlike Alison Shaw of Cranes, and a 61 years old guy.

Although Iceland is a beautiful country, has the cleanest air, best water and the most beautiful women, there are days that many Icelanders wish they lived elsewhere. In fact, this includes most if not all days between september and june, when the wind blows fiercely from all directions, and showels snow, sleet, rain or hail in your face and through every crack and crevice in your clothes. It's dark when you wake up and go to work, and dark when you go home again. Then we wish we'd been born in Hawaii or Honolulu.

With this fact in mind a young and talented musician named Magnús Þór wrote a song which was released on his debut album back in 1972. He used the artist name Megas and the album was also named Megas. This first album of his spawned heated discussions and is still the subject of much controversy, because he dared to poke mercyless fun at Iceland's greatest heroes; the national poet, the hero of indiependence, the fierce warriors of the Icelandic sagas and last but not least Ingólfur Arnarson, the founder of Reykjavík, the nations now proud capital.

In the song he says that we speak fondly of this Ingólfur in speeches, but deep down inside we wish that his ship had sunk on the way here; meaning that he did us no favour when settling this miserably windy rock in the middle of nowhere.

Megas has since had a colorful and no less controversial career in music, he's been branded a drug-addict, and a pervert even, but is still releasing records, that I, for one, enjoy mightily. And despite this controversy, and the fact that his music was for a long time banned by the Icelandic national radio, he is now generally regarded as a master songwriter and an admirable poet.


Enter Magga Stína who's also a highly talented musician, who first sprang onto the stage in around 1989 with her band Risaeðlan. The band was signed to the Sugarcubes' Bad Taste label and released a few poptastic and fun albums, chock full of unusual popsongs laden with violins, saxophones and bongos. A few weeks ago she released an album which is a tribute to Megas, containing eleven of his songs sung by her, some of them previously unreleased. And one of them is the controversial song about Iceland's first settler, and here I offer you both versions of this beautiful song, which I think may be enjoyable to listen to though you may not understand the lyrics. And tell me who you think is a better singer! :o)

Magga Stína - Um óþarflega fundvísi Ingólfs Arnarsonar
Megas - Um óþarflega fundvísi Ingólfs Arnarsonar

Furthermore, on the off chance that I will be flogged by the Icelandic Association of Musicians, here are, for a limited time, two of my very favorite Megas songs. Both are hummable and the former is toe-tappping to say the least:

Megas - Ragnheiður biskupsdóttir (from the album Millilending)
Megas - Dauði Snorra Sturlusonar (from the debut album; Megas)

More info on Megas

I will plug this as Lostmusic is too modest!

Lostmusic is delighted to release the online EP ‘Drabantg’ by Marching Band, a Swedish duo. They make sweet and melody rich guiitar pop music. This is easily the best sounding release ever on Lostmusic. The Marching Band could easily be something big in 2007. Get in early and hear what this wonderful band are capable of now, for free.

The band’s bio reads thus: “Marching Band (formerly known as Second Language) is Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind. We live together and make life hard for our other flatmates by creating music at inappropriate hours. Two bikes, one laptop, three microphones and a shameless use of other peoples instruments is the recipe for a Marching Band recording. We’ve have been writing songs together for 1.5 years now, and it is getting better and better. Our music is (hopefully) dynamic, hum-worthy and witty. Lately the songs tend to go in unexpected directions. If our songs puts a smile on your face and makes your life a little less dull Marching Band has completed its mission. When not recording Jacob is bidding on glockenspiels on internet auctions and Erik is trying to get some reading done without falling asleep.

And all I can really add, is this - if you like hummable tunes, download this EP. If you like Swedish indiepop"

Link - Lostmusic Recordings

Considering this is the label where you first heard the likes of The Crack Babies, Trip and Celestial I guess you can say this is another essential download.

The Lovekevins release a new 7" single next week and it's the first 7" single release from The Songs I Wish label. It's the follow up to the Max Leon and Blame The English singles.

The Lovekevins - Private Life Of a Cat

[My Space link]

Labrador have released the début album by The Loveninjas. It's called The Secret Of The Love Ninjas and includes the recent single I Wanna Be Like Johnny C. You can stream the whole album via the labels Last FM page and.or you can buy it here.

The Loveninjas - I Wanna Be Like Johnny C

[My Space link]

Talking about Last FM I have set up a page for the fledgling label Sounds eXPerience which is the label myself and a couple of other contributors to Sounds XP have set up. Have a listen!

There are still a few copies of the Piney Gir single left so you had better hurry if you want one. The next release will be by The Schla La La's. It's been mastered and the artwork has been done and it's off to the pressing plant any time now.

Yesterday I mentioned the Sideroom blog and now a friend of Sideroom has created a blog in a similar vein. It's called Poppen-Em With Jonny B and the first mix features Aussie indie pop and the likes of The Acid House Kings. Well worth a download.

I recently found out about the Sideroom blog.

The blog posts mixes taken from the writers 7" singles collection and there are plenty of tracks to keep any fans of indie and jangle pop interested. Well worth a listen and a download especially as they are distributed in 320 k/bits mp3!

There are many complaints that C86 wasn't diverse enough in the music it collated or it did not include other types of music from the same era. To hear what else was "going down" in 1986 visit the Dalston Oxfam Shop and download (or not as the case may be) the Hit Mix 86 Tape which is a continuous mix of 1986 hits. I kid you not!

I know absolutely nothing about Magic Roundabout apart from this single which was released on Science Fiction Records/Globe Of Bulbs in 1987. There is nothing about them on Twee Net. The singers voice was one of those female vocals I was a sucker for at the time! Who were they, where did they come from and did they release anything else? If anyone knows drop me a line.

I have forgotten who supplied me with these tracks (was it you Jon?) but I am pretty sure I was also sent a live set from the band. I will see if I can find it amongst my stash of CDR's.

EDIT: See the comments regarding the history of the band.

Magic Roundabout - Up
Magic Roundabout - She's A Waterfall

Traffic Lights Pretend To Be Stars is the lo-fi project of a 22 year old German chap called André. The songs are pretty pleasant enough and worth the politeness of a listen but is there enough here to enable Traffic Lights Pretend To Be Stars to stand out from the ever increasing My Space crowd. I'm not too sure to be honest. By the way maybe I am showing my age or lack of knowledge of so called popular culture here but who the hell is Lindsay Lohan?

Traffic Lights Pretend To Be Stars - Lindsay Lohan

To demonstrate the point I mentioned above Traffic Lights Pretend To Be Stars are up against the likes of Hugh Noble who also runs Actionpop! Records and who makes a similar type of music.

Hugh has a new album titled The Road Rash 2 LP out on Actionpop! Records early next year.

Hugh Noble - To Sweden

Actionpop! will also be releasing a compilation titled Champions of Breakfast which features a number of artists featured on this site including the likes if Jad Fair, Postal Blue, Mount Eerie, Prewar Yardsale, Stars in Coma, The Wave Pictures, All Of My Brothers Girlfriends and plenty more. Stream a number of releases via the label's My Space page.

Finally Panda Kopanda, the Northern Irish indie rock band who have been featured on these pages before release their 2nd EP later this month. It's called Ocean of Fire and the band have made a track from the EP available for downloading. [MS link]

Panda Kopanda - Open Ground

Bedroom Eyes who come from Östersund are another Swedish indie pop band. They have a CDR EP out called Embrace In Stereo at the moment and because it's available in limited numbers in Sweden only they have released it as a free digital release.

It's get's off to a promising start with Motorcycle Daydream. It's short, frantic, packed full of harmonies and just the thing to clear out any cloth ears. Dancing Under The Influence, despite it's somewhat yokel banjo sound at the start manages to redeem itself but still remains messy to this listener despite Penny Century's Julia Hanberg supplying backing vocals which are pretty sweet sounding. The Skywriter makes me slightly uncomfortable with it's obvious nod to stadium rock and I am wondering if the promising start to the EP was a smokescreen to the rest of the bands output.

However don't despair as it finishes with one of the best songs you will have heard all year in the shape of Blueprint For Departure which I simply cannot stop playing. It expands on the jangle pop aspirations of the first track, but with Hanberg once again supplying additional vocals, they brings out the best of not only the song but also the vocal performance of frontman Jonas Jonsson. It's sublime and if it's not in your end of year favourites there is something wrong with you!

As you may have guessed this EP is well worth it for the latter track alone although the first is great but not as essential. The others you can take or leave depending on your mood.

Bedroom Eyes - Blueprint For Departure

The rest of the EP, including artwork can be found here.

[My Space link]

The Swedish indie pop band Salty Pirates, whose track Black Minds White Lies was on the excellent Kids At The Club compilation, have posted a new song on their My Space page and website.

It's called Shark Attack and whilst on first listens it seems to be a bit weaker than the aforementioned track further plays will demonstrate it's strengths.

Salty Pirates - Shark Attack
Salty Pirates - Black Minds White Lies

Lost Music wrote a piece on the band in August.

[My Space link]

Well, thanks again to Mira El Pendulo for introducing me to spine-tingling and toe-tapping pop music, this time from Norway. The Ethnobabes are indeed the not-so-distant relatives of the Swedish Cardigans, and their song "My Favorite Fool" bears a striking resemblance to The Cardigan's "Life" album, albeit at triple the speed and with a dash of distortion added.

Described by one critic as "a candy fanatic's dream, a teeth-rotting, cute-sounding female pop band", they're masterpiece seems to be 2002's full-lenght album Stargazer. Their last release was on the norwegian label Perfect Pop in december 2005 and I sincerely hope they will continue to make more delicious popsongs in the future.

The Ethnobabes - My favourite fool
The Ethnobabes - Make some sound

One more Ethnobabes song, as well as a handsome selection of mp3's by other Perfect Pop bands can be found here.

Don´t know to much about the person behind the name
Strawberry Fair,

but for now "I Can´t Do Anything" is more than enough.

Listen!

I just came across this excellent band, The Magick Heads, on the Mira El Pendulo blog tonight, and can't wait to post about it. I can't read a word on that website, but I gather this from other sources: The band was formed in New Zealand in 1991, and was led primarily by guitarist Robert Scott and singer Jane Sinnott. They released two albums on the Flying Nun label, Before We Go Under in 1994 and Woody in 1997. Soon after the latter album the band disbanded. Robert also played in the bands Clean and Bats, of whom I know nothing, but both seem to have been released by Flying Nun also.

This song has been on repeat the whole evening, while I've been struggling to no avail networking two computers at my home. Jane's lovely vocals and the jangling guitar eases the pain somewhat.

The Magick Heads - Before we go under

Asaka are an indie pop band from Stockholm, Sweden. The band have recorded four EP's over the past two years which I presume may have been CDR releases.

Their latest one was simply titled Autumn 2006 and it's available for streaming via their website or downloading/streaming via their My Space page.

I have got to say the songs I have listened to have been pretty impressive. The Birth Of The Cool is the stand out track for me with it's mixture of British & American influences, past & present, transforming into one of those sublime Swedish indie pop moments.

Asaka - How I Wish
Asaka - The Birth Of The Cool

[My Space link]

Slumberland Records are back with their first releases for over three years.

There are two new 7" singles from The How and The Crabapples. The former are Matt (Henry's Dress) and Stewie (Boyracer) whilst the latter features members of indie mp3 faves The Frenchmen and Black Tambourine.

Both singles are available direct from the label.

The How - I Was A Boy
The Crabapples - London Belongs To Me, Pt 2

[My Space link]

The Arrogants have made two more tracks available from their You've Always Known When Best To say Goodbye album. The band have slashed the price of their 23 track album to just $5.50 ($10.00 outside US) or you can download the whole thing for just $3. It's still available from Letterbox in the UK for £7. If you have not picked the album up yet then you are missing out on a treat.

The Arrogants - Future Classic
The Arrogants - Easy

[My Space link]

Collating some recent news and finds regarding The Man With A Suitcase:

A worthy cause if you ask me.

A benefit to raise money to pay for the production of a 4 cd box set of the complete works of the 1980's cult comedian `Ted Chippington', whose vaudeville surrealism predated Vic Reeves and whose ultra deadpan delivery and contempt for the very idea of jokes influenced a generation of comics without any of them even knowing who Ted was. Ted Chippington will not be performing or attending the event.

Tickets available here.

Ted has some new dates lined up for himself:

Nov 24 2006 Little Civic Wolverhampton
Nov 25 2006 Exeter Hall Oxford
Nov 27 2006 The Criterion Leicester

Sadly none in London as of yet.

The post on Frankosonic still has some tracks for downloading.

Pull Up from Snub TV



With Fuzzbox and The Nightingales



[My Space link]

Strange Idols, whose excellent new single It's No Fun is out now, were in session on Marc Riley's Radio Six Programme last night. Don't worry if you missed it as you can stream it here. You can stream and/or order the single from the bands My Space page. It's also available in digital format here. I haven't reviewed it yet but suffice to say it's excellent C86 inspired jangle pop.

The video for the single is below and there are a number of videos from a live performance from July this year on You Tube.



I caught Operahouse supporting The Wombats at last Friday's Wolfgang Bopp night and mighty fine I thought they were too. No homepage as of yet so head to their My Space page to stream some pretty good tunes. Wrecking Ball is my favourite. The sound is reminiscent of what is happening in London these days but the band have a touch of class about them.

Wild Geese have recently released the One Horse Town EP by Swedish singer/songwriter Erik Mattsson. The EP is available as a free download and features five songs. I found it surprising that under his influences there is no mention of Sonic Boom or Spacemen 3 because that's what Mattsson's music reminds me of albeit in a more gentler vein. It will also appeal to fans of Iron & Wine or Jose Gonzales.

You can stream most of them via Erik's My Space page.

Someone else after your listening attention is Gethin Pearson and The Scenery. They have an EP scheduled for release in January 2007 and you can get a taster for it by streaming their tracks via their My Space page. The music is a cross between folk & indie pop (as so much else is these days) but there is something here that should grab your attention.

The band have supported Audrey recently and they are playing The Hope and Anchor in Islington (London) on November 16th.

Paul Hartnoll is better known as being one half of Orbital.

Whilst older brother Phil is part of new duo Long Range Paul has a new album in the pipeline. This is preceded by Patchwork Quilt which is backed with the non album track Gloopy on a limited edition 12" release from Kids.

Both tracks are not to different from Orbital's Output in that they are both slices of progressive dance music albeit with a hint of science fiction soundtracks complete with bleeps and blobs. If you are a fan of Orbital then you going to love it. If not give it a listen - I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Patchwork Quilt is out on Kids Records, December 4th 2006.

[My Space link]

It's two tracks a piece from Pajo and Audrey on this split EP. The tracks from the latter may be familiar as they both appeared on the recent Visible Forms album which was their hauntingly beautiful debut. Both Mecklenburg and Six Yields are representative of said album and if their ethereal and orchestral music doesn't grab you nothing will.

Pajo is David Pajo formerly of the guitarist of Slint/Zwan/Tortoise/For Carnation. The tracks here are far removed from his current band, the metal outfit Dead Child. Very similar sounding to Audrey and the other music Stereo Test Kit is putting out present. Dark, gloomy, eerie and predominately acoustic based with the titles (It's You That Burns and Celebrity Death] giving you some clues as regards to the songs content.

Well worth picking up and another release that demonstrates how vital a label Stereo Test Kit is becoming.

Audrey - Mecklenburg

The Split EP is out on November 13th on Stereo Test Kit Records.

Audrey [My Space link]
David Pajo [My Space link]

Molloy are another one of these London based bands cropping up whose sound is synth driven and their appearance harks back to the early 1980's New Romantic Movement.

If that's a disturbing vision don't worry as their music more than does them justice than the description I have given them. The band have a self produced EP out and three of it's tracks can be downloaded from their website.

I am sure you will be able to hear a wide range of influences on these tracks but the Molloy's sound is more or less original. Much of this reminds me of music from the charts when I was at secondary school and that's really giving my age away now! Sadly their best track is not available for downloading but you can stream Tracy via My Space. Summing up it's not blindingly essential but fun never the less.

Molloy - Dirty Church
Molloy - This is Fucking Brilliant

[My Space link]

Blimey. Just how old are these kids?

Lost Penguin have released one single on Fake Product called Mr Whippy and they will be releasing the follow-up Pleasurewoods Kills in early December.

They sound like The Aphex Twin put in a blender with BIS, Huggy Bear and a whole heap of indie & punk attitude resulting in the sort of noise John Peel would have been proud of. Stream the b-side of the new single on My Space. Called I Believe I Can Fly it's one of the most brazen tunes I have heard all year and lead singer Charleigh Blue's voice reminds me of Lesley Rankine when she was in Silverfish.

DIY noise merchants. I like.

Lost Penguin - Mr Whippy

[My Space link]

Not since JJ72's October Swimmer will vocals, such as those provided here by Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe, get you either applauding or cursing when you first hear them.

The vocals are well out of the ordinary (as is the song title) on Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants and they are jaw dropping on first listen. Pitching his vocals somewhere between Brian Moloko, The Pirates of Penzance and Anthony (he of the Johnsons) they provide the perfect balance for the bands jazzy, almost funky, approach to indie pop. Additionally the vocals present a "glam" edge to the music being more Bowie than say Sweet. It's toned down on The Old Dog but the high pitch makes an appearance for good effect.

Only time will tell if the novelty of Thorpe's Falsettos will start to wear off but until then have a listen to something quite unique!

[My Space link]

Coincidently coming after Larryhag wrote his piece on Lovejoy (who is one Richard Preece) did the said England Made Me EP drop through the letterbox onto my mat. After a few listens I can see why Larryhag is excited about his music.

Brightness Falls is the lead track and it will more than invoke comparisons with the Lightning Seeds Pure which was Love Vigilantes by New Order anyway!

Are You Analogue or Digital could be a 21st Century update for Kraftwerk's Spacelab on a night out with The Model. In The Rain is a cover of the June Brides track which first appeared on that band's Tribute album earlier this year and was far and away the best cover on the whole thing.

Lastly Made In England is an epic, driving song that hints at sadness and loss amongst the pounding drum beat. The whole EP has the feel of the eighties accompanying it and it's hard to disagree with the consensus that this will appeal to fans from The Smiths to the Human League and The Trembling Bluestars to The Lucksmiths. Smashing stuff!

Lovejoy - Brightness Falls (Real Audio Stream)

The Juliet Kilo is the one man band project of David Levin. Currently residing in Boston, this soft-spoken bearded young man has a passion for weird electronic gadgets from which he can squeeze the most amazing sounds. Coupling these weird electronics with a guitar... well... or a banjo, David has produced some beautiful songs which he is currently releasing on limited edition CD's available from his website. Taking his artist name from the NATO offficial phonetic alphabet, he also has an interest in Iceland which luckily made him head my way in august to play two shows in Reykjavik, one along with his Boston neighbours Pants Yell!

From the EP "Please Excuse Me If My Heart Stops Beating":
The Juliet Kilo - 45 miles ago I promised I would stop
The Juliet Kilo - The tools for what you hands can't do
From the new EP "Careers in Radio":
The Juliet Kilo - Poison Water

The latter, despite having fewer songs, is better in my opinion, it has more melody per song, in fact I love all the songs on it, whereas the former tends to weer off towards electronic insanity and leave me stranded in a sea of puzzlement.

Visit The Juliet Kilo on MySpace

Dave Newton was in more bands than you could shake a stick at including The Wild Flowers, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Blue Aeroplanes and Fonda to name but a few.

Dave now has his own My Space page and is worth a look at the pictures including those from bands in his teenage years including Lowest Class (pictured).

Dave is a better man than me as he lists Fullers ESB as one of his influences. I will stick with the London Pride thanks!

If you want to know what's rocking his boat these days tune into his weekly show on Little Radio.

The Ballet is a new name on me and I have spent the past day or two playing their songs via My Space. The band have pressed their own debut album Mattachine! and it is now in it's second pressing. They have started being picked up on blogs and have recently supported the likes of Voxtrot.

And what do they sound like? Well this is sugar sweet indie pop at it's finest and the songs available are all excellent examples of this! My favourite In Your Head stays and just does that. It's infectious sound will be imprinted into your brain for a while to come.

The Ballet - In My Head
The Ballet - I Hate The War

You can buy the album direct from the band.

[My Space link]

Both Fire Escape Talking and The Rain Fell Down blogs have posted their reviews of the C86 event that took place last Saturday night.
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The Mary Onettes released their debut single for Labrador earlier this week. You can stream the whole EP here, buy the CD direct from Labrador or buy it in mp3 from Klicktrack.

The Mary Onettes - Lost
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Wanlight have posted some new work in progress tracks on their My Space page. They have also more or less finished their next album. However the band have recently left Labrador and are without any deal at present and are looking for a new label and management. The new tracks are heading intro a new dancier direction and I like their track Discoinsomnia which is an ode to Giorgio Moroder.

Wanlight - Discoinsomnia
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Talking of Swedish bands with a disco beat Shade Tree also have more new tracks up on My Space. Killing Time is my fave, it's very Rae & Christian like. Maybe Sweden is going through it's own indie dance phase!

Shade Tree - Killing Time
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Finally just time to tell you about a new blog called indie pop ain't noise pollution. No music tracks posted as of yet but some interesting reading!

The Tacticians have already been responsible for one of the best debut singles of the year so far with London's Alright and to prove it was no fluke they have got better with the follow up Girls Grow Up Faster Than Boys.

With a title like that you may think they may sound like the Smiths and there is more than a hint of Morrissey's song writing around. However the best way to describe the band is as an urban folk band. It's amazing how much can be packed into just over three minutes - harmonies, a catchy chorus, a great story and a theme we can all identify with or, as is the case with me, remember about!

The AA side Get A Move On is apparently a northern soul inspired track but it far surpasses any genre boundary constraints placed upon it and I found it reminding me of The La's with it's infectious hooks and attention grabbing vocals.

The band launch the single at London's Fly on November 8th. The single is out now on Dancing Giraffe.

[My Space link]