Tea for three!!! are three jolly teenagers from a suburb outside of Stockholm, called Hässelby. Emily, 17 years old, provides the vocals, Tobias, 16 years old, plays synth and Victor, also 16, plays guitar. The band is just 3 weeks old, and has published their first song on Myspace.
They cite as their influence bands on labels such as Matineé, Shelflife, Sarah, Él and Slumberland and write that they "work together trying to write nice pop-music about our daily life here in Hässelby, where this kind of pop-music hardly exists."

Say hi to them on Myspace and listen to their debut song, Nincompoops there. It seems I can't link to it directly, I wonder if Myspace has permanently disabled this otherwise usually haphazard feature.

P.s. I was wondering for a short while what label "Él" was. Seems like I found it here.

Nixon, the Dutch band not the Swedish one, have finally succumbed and got themselves a my space page. To celebrate this fact they have posted a couple of new songs.

The band, who I have previously described as part sixties, part indie-pop and part alt. country, have expanded from a duo to a three piece which is a move I think improves their sound. Head here to stream/download.

April 28th - an indiepop night with a difference - live bands and dancing aboard a 1950s steam train! at the Midland Railway Butterley, Ripley, Derbyshire
http://www.indietracks.co.uk/
Our train contains a fully stocked bar and disco carriage, with music fed through all the carriages, and three live bands playing in the station:

Pocketbooks - "Pocketbooks are jangly indie, undeniably fey and all glockenspiels, hand claps and boy/girl harmonies - general brilliant ye olde indiepop you don't hear enough of nowadays." (November 2006 - Tasty Fanzine)

Slow Down Tallahassee Taking their inspiration from the paintings of Henry Darger, the writings of Dorothy Parker and Pablo Neruda, girl groups, playground gangs, paperback romances, tear-jerking pop, this Sheffield band have a burning ambition to write an album full of the greatest, most thoughtful pop hits that this country has ever seen.

Tottie -the simplicity of acoustic guitar well compliments her frank and open lyrics on life, love and the often over looked problems had by nice boys getting into clubs. One to watch for 2007.

Guest DJs on board the train:
Spiral Scratch
Offbeat
Tasty Fanzine

(All the information above is copied from Indie Tracks Homepage.)

Unforunately I kind of live on the wrong side of the pond so I can´t attend. What might be even worse is that I also miss Cats on Fire´s gig in Stockholm this evening due to prior commitments. But I leave the bitterness out of this, put on the Lucksmiths single T-Shirt Weather and have my breakfast outside on the balcony.

Hope you all will have a nice weekend!

The Milestone Corporation have a new EP out at the moment as a free digital download. It's the follow up last years Big Night Out EP and is titled Songs About Steven.

In between the releases the band have been busy playing gigs in their native Sweden and facing an upheaval when their old drummer decided to leave the band. After recruiting a replacement the band headed into the studio and Songs About Steven are the first fruits.

Like most Swedish bands TMC look towards the UK for inspiration. However, unlike their contemporaries, the band look towards the 60's and Brit-pop rather than the C86 era we automatically assume that a Swedish band will take their cues from. Whilst indie rock isn't generally the first thing I would play parts of this EP are not bad at all. But on the other side of the coin!

Parts of it gets a bit too MOR for my liking and Black Bag and Girl have some moments where I cringe as the band get caught at the crossroads not knowing what they actually want to produce. On the other hand with Steven the band demonstrate, when looking to the sounds of Manchester (Stone Rose, Oasis) for inspiration, they can make a pretty good sound indeed.

The Milestone Corporation - Steven

If you want a physical medium both EP's can be ordered from the bands website where the rest of the EP can also be downloaded.

[My Space link]

Swedish outfit Double Dan have posted two new songs on their My Space page. The songs are about love, longing and lust. Of the two I prefer A Picture of You which is more of a European indie pop sound whilst the other, When The Sun Falls, harks towards a American sound as per The Shins. Not sure who does the backing vocals on A Picture of You but they have a great voice.

Members of Double Dan are currently in or have been in bands such as Starlet, Club 8, Poprace & The Acid House kings

Double Dan - A Picture Of You

Tracks from previous releases are still available on their site including a couple from their previous guise Ambassadeurs.

[My Space link]

Set On You by Leeds based The Acutes is the follow up to last years excellent When I Left Work Today début. It's a much more poppier and less frantic effort this time round and the track has a nice summery feel flowing through it. Flip side Rumba slows things down further being a lo-fi meets the pub blues mix. These two are capable of making some pretty decent distinct tunes indeed!

Wild Beasts début single Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants was unique and owed much to singer Hayden Thorpe's vocals. I felt that in time the novelty value of Thorpe's vocals would wear off. Whilst they haven't (just yet) on new single Through Dark Night the song itself is the aural equivalent of spaghetti junction and I am left wondering what the purpose of this messy affair is.

Flip side Please, Sir is much more clever, being a night out on the town at the indie opera and may have been the better choice for the a-side.

Den Baron is one man's solo project hailing out of Christmas Island allegedly but Germany may be more accurate!

There have been two releases on Apricot Records in the past and now My Space is being used to showcase both old and new tracks.

I'm not sure which was are old or vice versa but there is some good stuff here. The music is typical of a bedroom artist using a four track and whatever instruments they can get their hands on. Mix that with influences as diverse as punk, C86, easy listening etc. then you get some good results and I bet in some cases better than bands who have used expensive studios.

Of the four tracks on My Space I prefer Paris and Schizo simply because they possess some nice and catchy keyboard noises on them!

Den Baron is currently recording some tracks for a new album, release date unknown. In the meantime head to his My Space page and download the tracks.

I was surprised how busy the Luminaire was tonight as the Leeds based band Manhattan Love Suicides were in town for their début London show put on by the promotional arm of Lost Music.

First up were Silver Springs. The band didn't do it for me with their take on a folkish, alt. Americana sound. At times the frontman sounded like Galaxie 500's Dean Wareham but their songs didn't grab me by the throat nor warrant my attention and some were a bit too long in length. However they did their job as a lively opening act, fuelled by their friends and relatives in the crowd.

The Gresham Flyers were next up and despite owning a single of theirs I have never seen them live before. As the old football cliché goes this was a game of two halves. The band, who have a poppy guitar/keyboard driven sound complete with boy/girl vocals, demonstrated how good they could be on songs such as the single Shiftwork. However the flip side was that they also had some below par songs in the set which denied them any consistency. The six band members shifted places & instruments throughout and they closed with a song about how special Factory Records was. Luckily they didn't sing about Northside!!!

The Manhattan Love Suicides have won many plaudits with their self titled début album. The band hit the stage clad in black circa 1985/86 with the guitarist and bass player donning black glasses whilst singer Caroline posed on stage swigging from her bottle of red wine. However there was some real substance to their style and the band churned out song after song in a Shop Assistants/Fizzbombs meets the chainsaw fuzziness of The Primitives way. Despite having some slower songs none were aired and this was 23 minutes of fast & frantic noisy guitar pop music, the way it should have be played. My one small gripe was they weren't loud enough. Maybe the soundman's ears had burst in during the sound check!!! Still it was a splendid sound indeed.

Silver Springs on My Space
The Gresham Flyers on My Space
Manhattan Love Suicides on My Space

The Margarets are another in the long line of Swedish bands playing music inspired by the UK music scene of the 1980's (The Garlands/Liechtenstein/Days etc). They formed in September 2006 playing their first gig a month later.

They have four songs available on their my space page. The band are currently unsigned and they don't have a website presence other than My Space. Despite being Swedish the songs are quintessentially English such as Cockney Life with singer John's vocals sounding like Gregory Webster from The Razorcuts/Sportique. There is more than a hint of Subway records here as well and comparisons could be made with The Chesterfields for starters.

Even the band name gives the effect of England with it's pastures green and church spires glistening in the sunlight. Songs with titles like Countryside just give further ammunition to those impressions. If you like bands like aforementioned and the likes of The Relationships or Celestial then you will enjoy these tunes.

The songs need further polishing and maybe, as in the case of Sally, reduced in length. They are demos after all. However their is plenty of promise here and I look forward to hearing more soon!

The Margarets - Cockney Life

homepage: http://www.rip-it-up.tk/

(I will get back with more information about this event later on

The self titled début album from The Mary Onettes is due for release on Labrador on the 25th April 2007.

The band sound like some of the nosier aspects of the 1980's but with a poppier take. There is plenty of influences from the likes of the Jesus and Mary Chain and a number of bands from England's north western Counties.

The Mary Onettes - Lost
The Mary Onettes - Void

You can listen to the album in full at Last FM and/or pre-order it from the Labrador shop.

[My Space link]

I recently found out about this tiny record label, Cloudberry Records, which only releases 3 inch CD's. I got so excited about the idea of these tiny nuggets of pop that I went ahead and ordered all the releases, which are 9 so far, without even bothering to listen to any of the samples on the website.

Somehow I feel like I'm getting a bag full of candy, I don't know exactly what I'm gonna get but it's surely going to be delicious. But how come I order something I don't even know what is? Well, first, it's cheap, each item is $5, shipping included, no matter where you order from, and secondly, the label is run by a guy named Roque, which also contributes excessively to a blog that some of you might know, Mira el Pendulo. I've found many a precious item over there so I'm quite confident that Roque's selection of indiepop singles will not dissapoint me.

Back in december Roque released a C-06 cassette which I believe Tom mentioned here somewhere before. Right here as a matter of fact. I wrote Roque and asked about the 3 inch singles, about which he says that after the C-06 compilation he had an urge to continue releasing music, and so "thought about this idea of little 3 inch CD-R singles like early Marsh Marigold, 100 singles as Sarah Records, inside a zip-loc bag like Popgun Records, a minimalistic and simple design".

"I started this, expecting to release two singles a month, but thanks to the bands and their interest Im putting out 4 a month right now..." he says, and adds that the 3 inch single "distills the essence of a band in a moment, it's much more immediate than an album, and what's pop? Pop is that, a moment."

Cloudberry Records' releases so far are by Celestial, Princess Niko, Apple Orchard, Peace in our Time, Horowitz, Summer Cats, Astrolab, Stars in Coma and Oh! Custer.

Cloudberry Records website
Cloudberry Records on Myspace
Roque is also busy with another label, Plastilina Records, as if one wasn't enough!

Some MP3's to whet your appetite:

Oh! Custer - Post
Stars in Coma - Revanche
Summer Cats - Discothéque
Horowitz - Popkids of the World Unite!

Professor Pez hail from Bergen in Norway, and quite likely they are right up your alley. They play some delightful indiepop songs, and have released two full length albums which were for the most part recorded in the band members' various bedrooms. It seems they might be heading to the USA this fall. Heres how the band got started:

It all started when Petter got a guitar for Christmas. Most of his friends were in bands and it kind of annoyed him that he wasn´t able to play any instruments. Two months later he had made his first songs and his friend Pål invited him over to record the songs on his fourtrack tape recorder. The recordings soon became a weekly ritual, and every Monday they would continue recording new songs of dubious quality.

Professor Pez - The Perfect Test
Professor Pez - Indiepopkids
Professor Pez - Imperial Airways

Even more songs can be found on their homepage, professorpez.com
Visit them on Myspace

Russ reviewed the new Psychotic Reaction single A Moment Of Clarity last week and spoke very highly of it.

The single is now available as a free download and you can download it from either the bands Last FM or My Space pages.

Spoilt Victorian Child, which I forgot to mention had risen from the dead, have an excellent post about The Brilliant Corners.

Sadly they didn't post Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him which features Amelia Fletcher. The good news is that the video is on You Tube. There is also an unofficial my space page for the band.

Celestial takes elements of early Creation Records, Sarah Records and even aspects of 1960's pop putting them in a mixer which results in one of the best albums of 2007 to date in the shape of Dream On.

Celestial is Andreas Hagman and he is joined on some of the tracks by Malin Dahlberg (from We Are Soldiers We have Guns) who provides some exquisite backing vocals. A number of these songs have previously appeared on previous CDR releases but have now been re-recorded and their full potential has been realised especially in the case of Nothing Happens; Twice and Dream On which shimmer in the afterglow.

The easiest way to describe Dream On is jangle pop. Hazy guitars, poppy melodies, soulful and sometimes mournful vocals - it's all here. There are elements of The Loft, The Bodines, East Village and the Field Mice to name but a few and Celestial use their influences to great effect rather than sounding like a direct copy of any of those bands. Most important of all is how fresh and enthusiastic these songs actually sound.

A couple of the songs towards the close show a different side to both band and album. These songs are gentle and hint at alt. country/folkish roots, none more so on Pale Blue Eyes which is their own song and not a cover of the Velvet Underground track. It's a beautiful song and Dahlberg's stunning vocals come to the fore.

This is a great album and whilst it's too early to say if it will become a jangle pop classic it's pretty close to being so.

Celestial - Fragile Heart
Celestial - Dream On

Dream On is out now on Skipping Stones Records.

[My Space link]

Upstairs at the Horse & Groom in the back streets of Shoreditch is a new venue on me. It's a nice, small room but not to compact with excellent sound quality although the searing heat was somewhat off putting. However it was a worthy sacrifice for this fine gig put on by those people at Spiral Scratch.

The last time I saw Pocketbooks they were, putting it politely, a shambles. It's amazing what a smaller venue and a stripped back line up (they became a three piece tonight) can do to a bands sound. Andy's vocals were strong and not lost as they been on previous live appearances. Emma, minus her keyboard, was brimming fall of confidence. This was despite minimal eye contact with the crowd and until tonight I haven't actually taken in what a great voice she has. I am not saying the band should head down to an acoustic sound as per Monkey Swallows The Universe but maybe they should give it some thought as I always envisaged them sounding this way.

Sweden's A Smile And A Ribbon were a joy, scoring high on the tweemometor. Despite apologising for the sombre content of some of the songs the band obviously were happy to play live and that showed on their faces. Taking their cue from the likes of Talulah Gosh and Dolly Mixture they played a wonderful and fun jangle pop set. The band are a core of two but expand to a five piece and, in complete contrast to what I have said about Pocketbooks tonight, the songs known to me such as Book Cover and Pebbles sounded all the better for it. Some may find their sound a bit too sugary sweet but I for one was happy to gorge in the candy store!

Headliners tonight are Finlands's Cats On Fire who, for some reason, been compared to the Smiths which is a comparison I cannot hear myself. Maybe it's because of frontman's Mattias Björkas quiff and a tendency to dance like Morrissey when time permits. Cats on Fire are a pop band with a capital P and their music is a fine blend of indie pop with alternative folk roots. Björkas is the star of the show (he knows it) and in the right world his face will be adorning teenage girls bedroom walls. The band are in the UK promoting their début album release The Province Complains and tonight they go down a treat with set comprising style and panache. Highlights are the sets last two songs, both taken from last years excellent Draw In The Reins EP, with Higher Grounds and the self titled track lead track being a treat to anyone's ears.

Cracking stuff!

The UK based Swedish/French band The Envelopes have a brand new double a-sided 7" single scheduled for release on the 30th April 2007.

The tracks are Smoke In The Desert, Eating The Sand, Hide In The Grass with Party on the flip. Both tracks can be streamed from the bands My Space page. The band also state that a track from the single will be available as a free download from their site tomorrow (13/04/2007)

There is a new album in the pipeline too. The new material is their first from their colloboration with Per Sunding from Eggstone.

The band are also appearing in London a few times over the next week or two commencing this forthcoming Saturday (14/04/2007):

Apr 14 - Chalk at the Scala
Apr 17 - White Heat at Madame Jojo´s
Apr 19 - Camden Crawl, Enterprise
Apr 20 - Camden Crawl, The Purple Turtle
Apr 21 - Clash Club, Luminare

[My Space link]

All Things, Forest is the fourth album from Brooklyn's Palomar and is their first release since 2005's digital only 3.5 EP.

On the first couple of listens it is easy to presume that Palomar have headed for a more rockier sound in pretty much the same vein as Dressy Bessy did on Electrified. However repeated plays eventually suggest otherwise despite the increase in tempo.

The band have obviously gained a new source of energy and All Things, Forest is all the better for it with a much more mature and polished sound. The songs have pretty strong melodies and are well crafted with Rachel Warren's vocals outstanding throughout. The slower songs are headed for territory previously frequented by Electralane but it is on the faster, and sometimes more aggresive songs, that they shine brightest. Whilst the songs do not sound as naive and carefree as they did on previous albums Palomar have still managed to create one of the better indie pop albums of 2007 to date.

Palomar - Our Haunt

All Things, Forest is out now on Misra Records.

[My Space link]

To win a copy of the album drop us a line and tell us what the title of Palomar's second album was. Closing date is 27th April 2007 and first name drawn out of the hat wins.

Aa – gAame (Gigantic Music)

As the quest for attention grabbing band names get all the more competitive, here come the next in line Aa, or Big A Little a as they’re better known. But regardless of that, this album sounds like it’s going to hell in a hand blender. There’s a big dollop of shouting, a bit of Stump, primitive percussion and cheap synths all grinding into a great and surprisingly listenable mulch. For some variation they chuck other elements into the mix. There are Red Indians on Manshake and tribal drumming on New Machine, but soon the album trails off into a minimal dullness. For half an album though, these guys have come up with something disturbing and cool.

The Boggs – Forts (Gigantic Music)

After a turbulent few years, The Boggs (primarily Jason Friedman) return with a new album. It’s certainly worth the wait and has a feel of The Decemberists and Beirut about it mainly, in spirit at least. At other times, such as on Bookends it digs deep to source the spirit of pyschobilly and gives it a more cuddly edge. So I So You is the Kooks being done over by Tenpole Tudor and Melanie In The White Coat wilfully recalls the Pogues. And these are the bits that lift Forts up from being merely good to something great.

Monkey Swallows The Universe – Little Polveir (Loose)

Probably one of the best bands around currently, Monkey Swallows The Universe are back with a single which is, at least on first impressions, not as good as their previous efforts. Of course by saying that, you need to bear in mind that their other singles have been of a very high standard. Little Polveir is still really good, a delightfully jaunty tune sung by a sweet female voice, reminiscent of Frente but without the nausea.

Captain Polaroid – Other Short Stories And Better Works Of Fiction (Filthy Little Angels)

I can’t tell you a lot about Captain Polaroid, there doesn’t seem to be much out there. What he is, is a man who’s made a wonderfully lo-fi album with scratchy guitars and rudimentary keyboards that will delight the soft hearted of you. You’ll find him shambling and stumbling like early Mary Chain on When The Calendar Comes Down, buzzing with the faint hope of a tune on Just Like You and on Wintertime Ending alone with his guitar while his voice aches with sadness, all the while sounding like it’s coming through a broken radio.

The Psychotic Reaction – A Moment Of Clarity / Overdraft Blues (Seasalter Sounds)

The Psychotic Reaction are great, they allow themselves to follow their instinct and it always sounds like they don’t know what they’re going to do next until they do it. As it is, A Moment Of Clarity ends up as all over the shop organ led pop with vocals that dip in and out. It really shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. Overdraft Blues is an insane instrumental, a dying man’s drunken waltz.

The June Umbrella are an indie rock outfit from Oregon, USA. The band is fronted by Brian Hall who formed the band in 2005 and there now seems to have a settled line up. The band, who list the likes of Pedro The Lion, Mew and Death Cab For Cutie amongst their influences, released their self titled début EP in February 2007. It consists of eight tracks although the promo copy I received features just three and, after playing it a few times, I am in limbo at where to place it.

The music is very atmospheric with both melodies and Hall's sometimes excellent vocals fading in and out at will. However it is hard to distinguish between each track which seem to follow the same pattern or formula. Maybe the songs would make sense in the context of the whole EP but these three songs together just don't work for me. Harvest and Cold Snow definitely sound out of place.

There seems to be a template for this type of music coming out of the States at the moment and never mind being able to distinguish between songs it's hard enough to distinguish between the bands! A little bit more originality may possibly give The June Umbrella a slight edge in the overall scheme of things but in the meantime I'm afraid you can either take it or leave it.

[For The Eardrums likes the EP. Read what they think]
[Buy the EP from CD Baby]
[Buy the EP from i-tunes]
[My Space link]

The Wedding Present will be playing a series of concert dates in October 2007 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the release of their debut album, George Best. For the British leg of the tour the band will revisit each of the towns played on the original George Best tour of 1987. Furthermore, the album will be played in its entirety as part of the set each night.

October 2007

23 Stirling FUBAR
24 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
25 Glasgow Queen Margaret Union
26 Manchester University
27 Liverpool Academy
28 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
29 Birmingham Academy
30 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
31 London Koko

Stuart Estell is, by his own description, a traditional singer and multi-instrumentalist. If you are wondering why this gets a mention on indie mp3 it is because he has posted a rather good cover of Pop Will Eat Itself's Black Country Chainstore Massacre.

You can read all about the cover version on Stuart's site.

Stuart Estell - Black Country Chainstore Massacre

I am not adverse to some traditional English folk music and checked out some of Stuart's other recordings where I found a cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven and a particulary nice Welsh hymn titled Arglwydd Dyma Fi which is played on a dulcimer and fits in with yesterdays Melys post!

The track (or tracks as the case may be) of the week returns. Trying to get some of the original indie mp3 spirit back from all these young upstarts on the net ;o)

Melys, which means sweet in Welsh, hail from Betws-y-Coed, forming in 1996. The band were favourites of the late John Peel and recorded seven sessions as well as other recordings for his show.

The band have released four albums the latest being 2005's Life's Too Short but it is a single taken from their second album Suikerspin that they may be best known for. Chinese Whsipers topped the Festive 50 for 2001 with it's mix of delicate vocals and then loud, thrashing melodic guitars.

I reviewed the bands last album for Sounds XP. Despite having a couple of good tracks the album was a disappointment and I felt many of the songs were getting bogged down. You can read the review here. The bands website has not been updated since that release and they commendably have no My Space presence so I am not sure what they are doing at present. If anyone knows drop us a line.

Melys - You Wannit Deep (Skinflick Mix)
Melys - Chinese Whispers

If anyone has the sessions dated 29/08/02 or 20/12/2001 I would be grateful for a copy.

The Pello Revolvers are previewing songs from their forthcoming Hasse K EP on My Space. The EP, which will be available on limited edition black vinyl CD, is released on April 25th 2007 on Lompis Records. A free download single consisting of one, maybe two tracks, from the EP will follow.

The tracks are being alternated and at time of writing the ones available were Rock N Roll Disease and See You In Hell. The former is mighty fine indeed with some great percussion. For those new to the band's music it is very alt folk mixed with a punk attitude.

The EP can be pre-ordered here.

When I saw The Duloks the other month I thought, that despite being an incredibly fun live act, they didn't have that many songs that made the grade. Their best song, and believe me it stood out by a mile, was (I'm Gonna Follow) Your Star Trail and it's no surprise to find that this will be the bands début single.

It's an incredibly catchy, addictive song about doomed love with lead singer Mira Duloks vocals at their finest. Sadly it goes all wrong with the other songs and the band try just a little to hard and run out of ideas in their quest to become the 21st century's answer to Half Man Half Biscuit. Only Bad Vegetarian gets any where with the lyrics chiding veggies who eat fish. I would recommend picking up for Star Trail but don't expect anything else. I am not sure if they have anything as strong to follow this but here is hoping to be proved wrong. Oh yeah - go and see them live. It's worth it for the banter alone!

The single is out on April 30th on Art Goes Pop.

[My Space link]

The Low Miffs have something of the air of Postcard Records about them and this is further enhanced as it has recently been revealed that ex Orange Juice/Josek K chappie Malcom Ross will be playing guitar with them on their forthcoming tour with The Horrors.

Both tracks on the new single Earl Grey b/w This Is The New have that art school mixed with indie disco sound which is a winner to this reviewers ears. Earl Grey also draws inspiration from the post punk sound of Joy Division and early New Order but I actually prefer the flip side which leans to Edinburgh and the Fire Engines rather than their Glasgow heroes. Excellent!

The single is out on April 30th on Art Goes Pop.

[My Space link]

Mumm-Ra continue their pillaging of the UK's alternative rock scene of the past 17 years in both their sound and choice of song title in the form of She's Got You High. If that has got you thinking of Blur then you are right on both counts as this could have been released on Food Records in the early 1990's and no one would have been the wiser. If pushed to admit it I would say it's not too bad a song and is a marked improvement compared to the previous single What Would Steve Do? However why do I get the impression this lot will be promoting hair gel and piss weak lager at venues up and down the country?

The single is out on Columbia Records on 14th May 2007.

[My Space link]

Band Of Horses hail from Seattle, USA and it's no surprise to hear that they have their state side releases on Sub Pop. This single on Kids label features one track from the recent Everything All The Time album alongside a non album one.

Sadly, despite the impressive PR, neither of these get my pulses racing. Both tracks could be described as epic in the Arcade Fire/Flaming Lips sense and whilst I can appreciate the appeal this may have to others both dulled the senses and is not something I would really want to listen to out of choice again. More worryingly I am not sure which direction the Kids label is now taking after their early burst of fine indie pop releases. This release doesn't allay any fears.

The Funeral is released by Kids on 21st May 2007.

[My Space link]

Last week All Girl Summer Fun Band challenged the band Blübird for the next interview. Blübird are two young girls, Úna, who is 13, Katie who is 12 and turning 13 this month. Like AGSFB, they hail from Portland, Oregon, the indie music capital of the USA. They have strong opinions on politics, a very catchy song about global warming, a guitar almost as big as themselves and nerve enough to call their president an idiot in a song.

How and when did you form the band?

Katie: We formed the band at Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in the summer of 2005.

Úna: When we first started the band, it was called Soundboard. That was for one show.

Katie: We wanted something unique, something different from the other bands.

Úna: They were called things like "Kitty Kat." But I guess Kitty Kat is kind of like Blübird.

Katie: Not really. (laughs) When we decided to stay together as a band, we had a lot of conversations over the phone on a band name.

Úna: We wanted to be called Furious George, but we looked on the Internet and there was already a band with that name that played at casinos in Las Vegas. Then we thought of other names …

Katie: … like Yukon Cornelius.

Úna: We decided on Blübird because it sounded cool and we liked the umlaut. It seemed very European.

Katie: It seemed cool. It sounded cool.

Úna: We like birds, but that had nothing to do with it.

Where did you learn to play your instruments?

Úna: I got my first guitar on my 8th birthday. I learned how to play at the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls that summer. I still take lessons.

Katie: I learned to play at the camp, too. I was 11. But I had no interest in drums at first, I thought they were really hard, I wanted to switch to guitar. Then the second day at camp, I got my first rhythm and stuck with them. We have practice at the rock camp everyother week and we learn a lot from our coach Marisa.

Tell me a little about your forthcoming album.

Úna: It's a five-song EP called "We Are Birds." It was recorded at the Old Library Studio in Portland.

Katie: They're all original songs, except one – "Little Yellow Lemon" by Cheralee Dillon. She's from Portland, too.

Úna: It took us two months to record it. It's coming out in May. You'll be able to buy it on our website and at our shows and at indie record stores and on CD Baby.

Katie: We wrote the songs from lyrics we kept in a notebook. They reflect how we're thinking at this time in our lives. The songs obviously say something about the problems in the world and things we would like to change.

Úna: We had a lot of lyric writing. We pieced most of the songs together from that notebook. Except "Global Warming." I wrote that in about five minutes.

Katie: You should have seen her, she just started writing like crazy. Then you could tell she felt really bad. Really depressed. Like the world was being ruined.

You are obviously very concerned about environmental issues, will this be a dominant theme in your songs?

Úna: Not just environmental issues -- political issues, social issues…

Katie: Like the song "The Way You Thought It Was" on our CD. There's the lyrics …
"Look what has happened/We fall from a ladder that has no ending point."
In a way that could be about a political issue, like the war…

Úna: … but it could be about any issue. Any situation that is bad. The song also has hope …
(Sings) "Our lives come to a halt/To see where we have stopped/On this unending road of determination."
… The next verse…
"We turn around, confronting the future/Finally looking away from the past."

Katie: Not only does it show how hectic our lives have become, but also that people can stop and welcome the good parts of life with open arms.

Can we really halt global warming?

Úna: Yes. Have hope. But we have to act quickly.

What are your current favorite bands/songs?

Katie: Death Cab for Cutie, "Marching Bands of Manhattan" definitely. Also, The Decemberists "O Velencia!"

Úna: Arcade Fire, especially "The Headlights Look Like Diamonds" and"Rebellion (Lies)." Oh, and Beck and Björk.

Blübird - Global Warming
Blübird - The Way You Thought It Was

Video for "Global Warming"
Blübird official home page

Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls
Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls on Myspace
There is a documentary in the making about the camp, which will open in theaters next Autumn. More on that here.

And yes, the band challenges Raining Jane for the next interview!

I'm pretty sure I (magnusk) am the last person in the world to hear of this band, but I'd nevertheless like to give them a mention since this is a most addictive song to say the least. After a few listens I was sure I'd be sick of it in a few days, but now, a few days later, I find it every bit as enjoyable as the first time, not least thanks to the fun video which accompanies it. It is also probably the largest indie band in the known universe. And they're not from Barcelona but rather Jönköping in Sweden.

So let's all singalong with Emanuel Lundgren, Frida Öhnell, Cornelia Norgren, Philip Erixon, Micke Larsson, Johan Mårtensson, Anna Fröderberg, Johan Aineland, Martin Alfredsson, Erik Ottosson, Tina Håkansson, David Ljung, Christofer Olofsson, Daniel Lindlöf, Mattias Johansson, Tobias Granstrand, Emma Öhnell, Mathias Alrikson, Jonas Tjäder, David Ottosson, Maria Eriksson, Olof Gardestrand, Marcus Carlholt, Julie Witwicki Carlsson, Rikard Ljung, Henrik Olofsson, Jacob Sollenberg, Fredrik Karp and Johan Viking:



Visit their official page
Visit them on Myspace

Some of you might know Rose Melberg as a former member of the band Tiger Trap, yet others will remember her as one half of The Softies, along with Jen Sbragia currently of All Girl Summer Fun Band. Well, Rose hasn't sat idly by these past years, and recently released a CD called Cast Away The Clouds. Now I'm told this album is also available on vinyl, and it should be available from Double Agent Records. It includes a bonus track, "The Time Has Come", originally by one Anne Briggs.

Other news of vinyl releases include a scrumptious pack of singles released by Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. They're only available all together, as part of a "Singles Club". 13 singles will be distributed in 3 shipments over the next year, each one split between two bands, and the lineup is:

Apples in Stereo / Poison Control Center
Of Montreal / James Husband
M Coast / the Minders
Tullycraft / The Smittens
Boyracer / The Faintest Ideas
Casper & the Cookies / The Marbles
Bunnygrunt / Phil Wilson (June Brides)
All Girl Summer Fun Band / Cars Can Be Blue
The Love Letter Band / Tender Forever
Circulatory System / New Sound of Numbers
Fishboy / Baby Calendar
Keith John Adams / Velcro Stars
Ideal Free Distribution / Red Pony Clock

It's limited to 450 copies, and last I checked there were still some left. There will not be a second pressing, so you might want to squander away before it's too late, and while you still have something left from your last paycheck. The singles club, including all of these beforementioned singles mind you, runs at $60 in USA, $65 in Canada and $80 for the rest of the world. It can be ordered on this page here, or you could email mike @ hhbtm.com for more info.

And here's a video for Rose Melberg's song "Take Some Time":

I have just noticed that Richard from Bubblyworld has made all the releases on his old Waaaaaah! label available as free downloads.

So if you fancy downloading slices of indie pop history and to download tracks by the likes of The Fat Tulips, Field Mice, Screeming Custard, Dalek Beach Party, Strawberry Story plus many more I suggest you head over there right now!

(Repost)

Getting back to what indie mp3 was originally set up for today see's the posting of a flexi which was originally distributed with the So Naive fanzine in 1987 (88?) which features an early working of the Darling Buds favourite Spin alongside a long forgotten Bubblegum Splash track. It had the delightful serial number BONKON001!

Bubblegum Splash - If Only
The Darling Buds - Spin

You can read all about Bubblegum Splash here where you can also download the Splashdown EP.

Mixtapes and Cellmates, the Swedish shoegazer/indie pop outfit, have released their self titled début album last week. It is out on the No Method label and features 10 tracks including the recent single Quiet.

The album can be purchased direct from the label's shop or on mp3 from Klicktrack.

The band and label released the Quiet single in February 2007 as a free download and it comes complete with a pretty excellent remix by Cat Burglar. It's a zip file and can be download from here.

The remixes of the bands single If There Is Silence, Fill It With Longing are still available and can be downloaded from here.

[My Space link]