Cloudberry Records has been one of my highlights of 2007. Quality release after quality release via limited edition of three track 3" CD's has raised the standard just that bit higher. Are there any others to take up the Cloudberry gauntlet in 2008? I hope so!

Cloudberry also post one mp3 from each release which by my reckoning means there are over seventy free mp3s on the site. Today indie mp3 and Skatterbrain have compiled their favourite 10 tracks from those freely available. My ten (volume two) present 28 minutes of glorious indie pop & shoegazing tagged and replay-gained for your listening pleasure.

But hold on! Anyone who leaves a comment for this post (how about posting your favourite ten from those available?) will have their name put into a hat and the first two drawn out at random will win a copy of the Nothing Matters When We're Dancing EP (Cloud 502) which features tracks from Komon, The Jealous Sea, Soda Fountain Rag, Sunny Summer Day and The Pristines. For an increased chance of winning visit Skatterbrain and comment on the Cloudberry post over there too. Closing date is 4th January 2008. COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

Track-listing with links to the bands My Space pages.

Horowitz - Pop Kids Of The World Unite (taken from Cloud 005)
Summer Cats - Discothéque (taken from Cloud 006)
Soda Fountain Rag - Walking With My Angel (taken from Cloud 012)
Hari and Aino - Second Song (taken from Cloud 021)
The Felt Tips - Treat Me Gently (taken from Cloud 028)
The San Marinos - Can it Get Better Than This (taken from Cloud 038)
The Bridal Shop - Marine Thing (taken from Cloud 040)
The April Skies - A Lifetime in the Sun (taken from Cloud 046)
The Faintest Ideas - Skip the Bridge (taken from Cloud 064)
The Margarets - Someone Heavenly (taken from Cloud 067)

Download here (zip file, 29 MB)

Lost Music, the gig promotion partner of indie mp3 will be putting on a Cloudberry Records gig on at the end of February 2008. Confirmed to date are Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Strawberry Story, Manhattan Love Suicides and one more to be confirmed. DJ's will be spinning Cloudberry releases only. More details will be posted once the line up is confirmed.

Happy new year from all of us at indie mp3 and here's looking forward to 2008!

Afternoon Naps, whose album Sunbeamed could well be my favourite album of 2007, have a new single out on January 1st 2008 on Cloudberry Records.

It's called Can't Stop The Weather and a track from the EP has been made available. Clean Bill Of Health begins like an indie Lust For Life but soon settles down into an indie pop rhythm with some nice organ chords in the background.

One of the EP's tracks is called Happy All The Time. I guess I will have to wait until the CD drops through my door to find out if it's a Flatmates cover or not!

Afternoon Naps - Clean Bill Of Health

[My Space link]

FINEST ALBUMS of 2007





1. Trembling Blue Stars "The Last Holy Writer" (Elefant)

Field Mice, Aberdeen, Brighter, Harper Lee...

Emmas House, Byron, Inside Out, Train Not Stopping...

Idyllwild. Finest song of the year and up there with the very best.

November Starlings at youtube
Interview Indie-mp3



2. Love Dance "Result" (Marsh-Marigold)

October, Cefalù, Sicily

Honesty, Honestly nine times in a row
Are you happy? or are you scared to get happy?

3. Fireflies "Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Moon"

(Lavender / Music Is My Gilrfriend)

We Heard The Fireworks

myspace

4. Anna Järvinen "Jag fick feeling" (Häpna)

First thought: Has Harriet Wheeler changed mother tongue?

Second thought: This is lovely.

Ps, Tjörn

Götgatan at you tube



5. Sambassadeur "Migration" (Labrador)


Subtle Changes

myspace

6. Taken By Trees "Open Field" (Rough Trade)

Lost And Found at youtube



7. Cats On Fire "The Province Complains" (Marsh-Marigold)

Higher Grounds

Draw In The Reins at youtube
Mesmer And Reason at PSL

8. Butcher Boy "Profit In Your Poetry" (How Does It Feel To Be Loved?)


Profit In Your Poetry

Fun at youtube



9. The Dreamers "Day For Night" (Friendly Noise)




Michael

myspace



10. Friday Bridge "Intricacy" (But Is It Art?)




Love And Nostalgia

myspace

I first wrote about Bubblegum Lemonade back in June 2006 on my old Lost Music webzine. They were a band I found through My Space and it's no surprise that some 18 months later I am sitting here - listening to the their debut EP on the fabulous Matinée Recordings. The EP starts with a gurgle of electronics - before the song itself kicks in. 'Ten Years Younger' is the jangled up long lost cousin of The Velvets 'I'll Be Your Mirror'. This is a really great little song. I love it.

Next up we get 'The Tomorrow People' which again reaches back into the 60s for it's major reference point - namely the beautiful jangle sounds pioneered by The Byrds and given a slight C86 make over. Another top song. And so the EP continues there are 4 wonderful songs on here and this is what I consider an essential purchase for anyone with a jangle pop bone in their body - Bubblegum Lemonade have made a great EP that takes on board a lot of C86's original reference points and created something of real beauty. Buy it.

I first wrote about The Psychotic Reaction back in 2005. I was taken with their slightly offbeat approach and skewed indie-rock sound. Fast forward over two years and I am landed with a copy of 'Genre Music Is The Enemy' on CD. This is a 7 song mini LP or maxi EP (I never know what to call these in between releases). And it's a far more coherent record and dare I say a far more conventional one. The band have obviously improved over the two years - and I am warming to this new CD with each player. - although I do find myself wanting the band to continue to push outwards with their sound exploration. I find it hard to pin point the bands exact influences - but there's a strong sniff of post-punk about the band - mix in a dose of noisy guitars and some 1960s psychedelic sounds and you've pretty much got what The Psychotic Reaction are about. The whole EP is available to download free from the bands Last.fm page - I'd start with the psychedelic sounding 'Somethings Got To Give' which seems to be haunted by the ghost of Syd Barrett. All in all, a decent little EP - without ever really hitting the heights I think the band maybe capable of.

The Psychotic Reaction - Web Page - My Space

A new joint release on Lavender and Music Is My Girlfriend, Fireflies is a one man band from Chicago, USA. I have listened to this LP a fair few times now and I can't be sure I have properly heard it yet. "Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Moon" is a fragile recording - so much so as it threatens to vanish as you play it.

This is straight from the Sarah Records school of indiepop - whispered vocals over the top of gentle guitars that chime or strum nicely throughout the record. But like I said - it's like the record is nearly there - the songs glide along, one after another and after a few songs it all merges together and I have trouble picking out songs. That's never a good sign. I find it hard to really embrace Fireflies as there is not enough to keep my attention from wandering - this is a pleasant record - that never really grabbed me in the way I hoped it would after first playing it. Still, it will appeal to fans of the gentler end of the indiepop genre.

Fireflies on My Space.

The Royal We were, if I can believe the internet, a band that was formed when Jihae Simmons hot footed it over from the USA to the UK to find a twee pop wonderland - yes - that was enough to have me reaching for the sick bag. But not to judge before hearing I duly took a listen to the songs on My Space and decided that I should get a copy of the LP. Jihae was obviously well informed as she set her target to be Glasgow when coming to the UK - a city that has a rich indiepop history. She duly arrived, had a laugh, formed a band and recorded this record. 8 songs long. Apparently she has since ditched the band to return to America. Either way - this is either an in joke that went too far or a very good piece of fun pop. To my ears it's probably both. The music itself is on the poppy and catchy end of of the indiepop spectrum (with some cheesy glam pop overtones) -calling in references from T Rex, Blondie and it all ends on a cover of Chris Isaacs 'Wicked Game'. This is how I imagined early Dressy Bessy might have sounded had they recorded their first flushes in Glasgow rather than the USA.

Seeing as I am fairly late to the party I can't really form an opinion on whether the band ever intended to be a 'serious' band or not. As I said before you get 20 odd minutes of fun on this record and at the end of the day that's what really matters. I haven't the time or the inclination at the moment to fully try and get what The Royal We were all about. Maybe it was all about the indiepop songs and as that's all I have to judge them on, I'd say they did a pretty good job.

Regular readers of indie-mp3 may recall that we abandonded the idea of a readers poll last year. To determine what the readers of this site were listening too we hit upon the idea of asking them to nominate the best track they legally downloaded which we then compiled in order to burn to CDR.

It worked pretty well and we are going to do it again so please nominate your favourite downloaded track. The criteria is:

• It should have been released in 2007 (although I might let you have a track from last year!)
• It must have been a legal download (no P2P, Bit Torrent or other downloads)
• It wasn't obtained from a paid for music store (i-tunes, e-music etc)
• It was downloaded from a bands website, my space page, record label page etc
• It must be in mp3 format

Send your nomination including the link to the track itself or the website you downloaded it from to 2007NOSPAM@indie-mp3.co.uk removing the NOSPAM bit. If you can send the actual mp3 that would be even better. Closing date for nominations/entries is 31/12/2007.

The names of all those responding will be put into a hat and the first one drawn out will win some goodies that we have lying about here at indie mp3 including albums and badges.

Last years compilation is still available. You can download it from here.

Other indie-mp3 compilations:

Best of indie mp3 2004/06
CD06 - The Original C06 Compilation

moscow olympics
a. still
b. talk like this

Yesterday the finest 7" single of the year was released.

Hope you will treat yourself to a copy over at Fraction Discs


Listen [ myspace ]

Well 2007 has been a great year. Indie mp3 merged with Lost Music in August and if the past four months are anything to go by you should be in for a great 2008. We have put on some great gigs as well as releasing two cracking singles. Unlike Trev I am not voting for them below! Indie MP3 now has contributors from Iceland, USA, Germany, Sweden not forgetting London and Oxford. Thanks to all of them and their contributions.

Highlights of 2007? The indie pop revival in the UK from Derby to Sheffield, London to Nottingham and from Stoke to a railway museum in the Derbyshire countryside for indie tracks. It's all go y'know! Head over to Anorak which now seems to be the premier indie pop forum of choice for chat and debate.

Is not all in the UK though. Cloudberry Records has been the label of 2007 with over 70 releases this year alone all issued on delightful 3" CD's featuring indie pop from around the globe. There will be some 7" releases in 2008 so keep them peeled. Also watch out for a Cloudberry special on this blog soon and we hope to put on a Cloudberry Records gig early next year.

Other labels of note include Atomic Beat, Yay Records, Wee Pop! and of course our very own Lost Music label.

Enough yacking - here are my lists or more accurately what my brain allows me to remember!Singles:

1 Maia Hirasawa - And I Found This Boy
2 Fanfarlo - You Are One Of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us
3 The Bridge Gang - London Sky Tonight
4 Sofia Talvik - Blaa Linjen Hem
5 Fanfarlo - Fire Escape
6 Those Dancing Days - Hitten
7 Liechtenstein - Stalking Skills
8 Horowitz - Tracyanne
9 Felt Tips - Boyfriend Devoted
10 BMX Bandits - Take Me To Heaven

Special mentions for Pocketbooks Cross The Line, The Soundcarriers I Had A Girl, Kid Canaveral Smash Hits, Sarandon Joes Record, both Slow Club releases and I am sure I have missed a few out somewhere!

Worst Single Heard: Hello Wembley with Up Great Britain closely followed with anything by Lorraine and Mumm Ra.

Best Cover Version:

1 Camera Obscura - Souper Trooper

Albums:

I must admit to be getting a bit bored by albums these days and if they are not under 30 minutes long my interest starts to wane. I guess I am a singles man at heart. These are the albums I have played the most this year and are not in any particuliar order.

Love Dance - Result
Celestial - Dream On
Afternoon Naps - Sunbeamed
A Smile And A Ribbon - The Boy I Wish I Never Met
Cats On Fire - The Province Complains
Orbital - Live At Glastonbury 1994-2004
Irene - Long Gone Since Last Summer
BMX Bandits - Bee Stings
Gigs:

Some excellent gigs this year including Cats On Fire & A Smile And A Ribbon in a very hot and eventually short lived Horse and Groom in Shoreditch. I enjoyed Liechtenstein because they sounded like so many other bands on each of their songs and Manhattan Love Suicides who encapsulate a certain era. Fanfarlo did it for me live though - indie pop with trumpets. It's the way to go.

1 Fanfarlo
2 Cats On Fire
3 Electric Pop Group
4 Radio Dept
5 Bridge Gang/Olympians
6 Manhattan Love Suicides
7 Strawberry Story
8 Horowitz
9 A Smile and A Ribbon
10 Liechtenstein

Honourable mentions to Navvy, The School, Darren Hayman, Sarandon and all those I have enjoyed but forgotten about. It's been a long year okay!

Worst Gig - The Orchids at indie tracks. By far!

Well that's my round up for 2007. I am sure that if I read this tomorrow I will change my mind. Feel free to post your top 10's, 5's or even 1's in the comments if you think I have missed something out or that you think I need to hear it!

Thanks for reading indie mp3 and I hope we can grab your attention in 2008 which promises to be an exciting year in more ways than one!

Celestial - Saving Up Her Wishes (For Another Christmas)
Fireflies - X-Mas Song
Helen Love - (Merry Christmas) I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight
The School - Kiss In The Snow
A Smile And A Ribbon - Heavenly Christmas

Two new releases on the Wee Pop label to write about.

First up is the Photo EP by The Darlings who are an indie pop band with plenty of alt-country influences. Their original songs are lovely, cute and in the case of Emily pretty funny. I just hope she isn't listening. They finish with a pretty good ukulele driven cover of AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long. Shake yourself now Angus!

Sticking with the Australian theme is the Matches EP by Melbourne's The Motifs which crams six songs in under ten minutes. This is dreampop at it's loveliest and the size of the songs matches the 3" CDs!. Yours and Mine is my favourite track as it sounds like the theme to Candlewick Green but in truth all the songs are delightful as each other.

The Darlings - Emily
The Motifs - Tell Me More

Buy both from here.

This three track demo from The Vatican Cellars has more promise about it than many of the run of the mill single releases I have been sent these past few months.

The band have been put together by Simon Hughes who was the guitarist for Piney Gir as well as The Birthday Girl (aka the Schla La Las). As well as taking influences from those two the Vatican Cellars also play a emotional and dark blend of pop music. All three songs are semi-acoustic ballads hinting at folk, country as well as contemporary pop music. Pick of the bunch is Silence and Shadow which is one beautiful melancholic song. In parts it reminded me of Johnny Cash and Lloyd Cole alongside contemporaries such as The Left Outsides or Kelman.

Stream the demo via My Space.

The fact that Urbnri have got rave reviews from rags such as the Sun and the Daily Record suggests that Young Free & Simple should be thrown straight into the bin. And after listening? Well it sounds like XFM cannon fodder with it's fusion of rap and rock (that hasn't been done before has it?) but I wouldn't turn the radio off because, whilst the music is devoid of all originality, singer Kev Tait has a pretty decent voice which surely could be put to better use elsewhere. It's backed with two remixes which suggest the EMF revival is well under way and in full swing.

Young Free & Simple is out on 28th January 2008. You can stream the single here.

Oooohhh! I haven't listened to a decent bit of ska for a while and it's a music form that takes me back to my childhood of two tone and all things nutty boys! Imperial Leisure are a London based ten piece and In A Letter is their début single. It's everything you expect. Quick fire vocals, a brass section, a couple of MC's and if you damn well didn't know it a pretty decent tune to the boot. This is the sort of music that gets you up and dancing around your own living and it's music that not only excites but puts a smile on your face. I bet they are blinding live too! One band who would be absolutely delighted if you sent them to Coventry!

In A Letter is out now on Org Records. Check them out here.

Asobi Seksu become the latest band to cover The Ramones Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight). It sounds like a 1960's girl group who have turned shoegazers albiet with a chainsaw guitar edge. It's backed by New Years which seems to be the b-side of every single they put out these days! Luckily it's a great track summing up what a great band Asobi Seksu are in a late eighties/early nineteen nineties retro kind of way.

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) is out now and you can stream it from here.

The 5-spårs EP is the solo debut release from Johan Hedburg of Suburban Kids with Biblical Names and sees Labrador closing 2007 with their most disappointing release to date.

I am not sure if something is lost in translation here (the EP is sung in Hedberg's native Swedish) but all five songs on this EP sound somewhat cold and distant. Whilst the music, which is best described as lo-fi electronica, is pretty much okay Hedburg's deadpan Germanic vocal style spoils the beats somewhat. At it's best it's like a young Laibach making music for the first time whilst at it's worst it sounds like a party political broadcast set to music.

For those who want to broaden their horizons with Swedes singing in their own language try Hedberg's label mates [ingenting] and also Vapnet or Säkert!

Johan Hedburg - Grammisgalan
Johan Hedburg - Var dig själv

Buy direct from Labrador.

This coming Saturday 22 December 2007 sees the latest Ten Year Plan.

For those new to the concept this quarterly club plays music between a ten year period and the TYP Christmas shindig will see music between 1979 and 1988 getting a spin.

I am been lucky enough to play at two of the three nights so far and Saturday will see my hat trick appearance. I will be dj'ing alongside Rocker (Dandelion Radio and ex Rosehips/Flatmates), Stevan 'Wiggy' Bennett (ex Grooveyeard) and of course the founder of the night Chimes.

The night takes place upstairs at the Old Crown, New Oxford Street, London between 20:30 and 02:00 hours. More details at the Ten Year Plan site as well as the clubs Facebook and Event pages.

[My Space link]

From our friends at Popart.

Following the success of our split And What Will Be Left Of Them?/Brontosaurus Chorus single, we are proud to announce our next release...

Pop-Art: Covered At Christmas

A downloadable compilation album of PopArt covers. All proceeds will go to St Mungo's which is London’s leading charity for homeless people providing help both day and night.

We've always preferred to see PopArt as a device that not only gives artists and friends a place to exercise their creative muscles but also as something that can perhaps make the world a happier place, with this in mind we are pleased to announce that all proceeds our downloadable compilation "Pop-Art: Covered At Christmas " will be going to London's largest homeless charity "St. Mungo's".

The album features artists covering songs by other artists that have played at PopArt. The concept came about when Pocus Whiteface decided to cover Brontosaurus Chorus' "Now We're Making Out" while Brontosaurus Chorus were arranging their own cover of Laurel Collective's "Cruel Thing". Inspired not only by Radiohead's recent downloading exploits but also an urge to do something for charity, PopArt Records soon formed a plan, sent out some e-mails and could only hope that other artist would be keen to join in. Luckily, the idea caught the imagination of several of our favourite bands / artists and before long we already had cover versions from the likes of Pocketbooks, Monica Queen and MJ Hibbert (to name but three!)

Customers will be able to make a donation of their choice through the page on the PopArtlondon.co.uk website and will then be automatically emailed the link to download a .zip file containing the tracks, artwork and sleevenotes. To download the album, click "make a donation", complete the transaction and make sure you click "Return to PopArt" to begin the download.

The album features artists who have played PopArt events covering each other's music, and also includes a 12 page booklet with artwork and sleevenotes.

Tracklisting:

1. Mr Solo - Single (Luxembourg)
2. MJ Hibbett and the Validators - Songs About You (Language Of Flowers)
3. Pocketbooks - Talking Backwards (Fanfarlo)
4. Pocus Whiteface - Now We're Making Out (Brontosaurus Chorus)
5. Candythief - Wat U See Is Wat U Get (Milk Kan)
6. Brontosaurus Chorus - Cruel Thing (Laurel Collective)
7. The Sexual Hot Bitches - Burn Koko (Subliminal Girls)
8. Monica Queen - Lips Are Unhappy (Lucky Soul)
9. Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences - Vladimir (the Indelicates)
10. Metro Corskol feat. PhoeniX Phil - Love = Mutually Assured Destruction (Atoms For Peace)

The compilation is out today. Donate and download from here. Worth picking up for that Pocketbooks Fanfarlo cover alone!

Hee, I love lists, so when Indie Mp3 head honcho Tom asked us all to compile our favourite music-y type stuff from the past year, I couldn't resist rubbing my hands together in glee. What an absolutely fantastic year it has been for music, with some of the best new bands I've heard in ages creeping out of the woodwork, old faves releasing really fresh-sounding new records and, if that wasn’t enough, a clutch of live gigs to knock your socks off.

Most importantly though, 2007 has been Year Zero for a kind of friendly musical uprising, for talented bands and singer-songwriters from this country and beyond to inject some much-needed indiepop cool into the MySpace phenonemom. If a DIY ethos is the mainstay of this-here C86 thing, then surely the combination of MySpaceBook and all the fabulous bands I’m about to mention below is the proverbial marriage made in indiepop heaven. Social networking has always existed for these kids, it’s just a bit faster these days - which can only be a good thing!

OK, so here goes - my top things from 2007. Being the childish type that I am, I’ve actually saved the numbered format for my less-than-totally-serious lists at the bottom of this post!

Best Albums

This year has seen some fab newcomer albums released, including A Smile and a Ribbon’s The Boy I Wish I Never Met and Cats on Fire’s The Province Complains. Both bands have put on some great live shows this year, bringing their own special brand of Scandinavian cool to these shores. Neck ties and heart-shaped glasses ahoy! But my personal top of the pops are MJ Hibbett’s A Million Ukleleles, Darren Hayman’s self-titled second album and Euros Child’s Miracle Inn. Hmmm, I do like a side-serving of comedy with my pop songs.

Best Singles

This is much, much harder – singles are definitely what indiepop is all about. It’s simply too hard to choose between them so the only way to do this is to write a list of top stuff, in no particular order – Euros Childs’ Horseriding; Scaremongers’ Nodding Dog/ You Can Do Nothing Wrong in My Eyes; Pete Green’s Everything I Do is Gonna Be Sparkly; Girls Aloud’s Sexy! No, No, No (OK, so not indiepop, but great to dance to nonetheless); Roadside Poppies' Cycling and Crying; The School’s All I Wanna Do. The Go Team's Grip Like A Vice..…the list goes on. You'll have to decide which you think is best, because I can’t!

Best Live Events







9.Ukeleles- MJ Hibbert devoted an album to them, Darren Hayman is seemingly obsessed, the Bobby McGees use them to great effect, they’re much easier to play than guitar and you can get pink-coloured ones, hooray!

8.Guitar Hero and Singstar – Sadly I own neither, but the briefest of experiences have firmly convinced me that there’s lots of music fun to be had from home game consoles. Gone are the days of slipping into a semi-comatose trance playing Mario Kart.

7.Debating the Mighty Boosh – The issue still rages on. Is the new series any good? Is it worse than the past episodes? Or is it all just a big load of irrelevant, this was ironic-in-1999 rubbish? Let’s have a heated debate! (And Tom, this does count as a music thing, because I’m sure there was some link on the Bowlie forum, or something….)

6.Scrabble – Play it on Facebook, take your fold-up version on the train or simply play it at home with your folks, there’s nowt like it to improve your word power!

5.Changing words in songs to reflect where you’re playing – Make out like you’re on Top of the Pops circa-1995 and prove to everyone you’re playing live!

4.Boys in cardigans – Ooh, just about my favourite thing ever. I currently have a particular penchant for the zip-up kind, but I’ve seen a lot of buttoned-types doing the rounds this year.

3.PopArt’s Indie Win, Lose or Draw – A sure-fire gameshow hit at their all-dayer events earlier this year, complete with memorable catchphrases such as “It’s time to start drawing, it’s time to start scoring”. I really hope I can get away with playing this with The In-Laws this Christmas.

2.Steam trains – Heritage railways of the world unite – now! This was the year of the steam train, basically due to the success of Indietracks. The Kids tell me that Lethal Bizzle filmed his last video in an old-style train carriage, so the trend officially started here.

1.Making the Effort – aka Trying is Good. This has got to be the overall number one thing this year. Simply everyone was making the effort, from fun-packed fanzines and badges at the Spiral Scratch all-dayer and WeePOP! Records' lovingly hand-crafted 3” CDs, to Mr Solo’s PopArt drawing competitions and Pocketbooks’ home-made shakers and songsheets at Indietracks. Making the Effort is definitely top of all indiepop things this year – it’s what makes the everyday unique, and it really marked out some of the most special musical moments over the last 12 months.

So – that’s it – my lists for 2007 – I hope you enjoyed them! Hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and New Year, and let's look forward to an even more music-packed 2008!

Spilt Milk are a new London based band. 'Frank' is their debut release on new London label - Happy Release Records (previously responsible for singles by Dirty Hands and Molloy). The single comes out on 21st January 2008 and the band have a number of gigs coming up to support the release. These being:

22nd December - London - Betsey Trotwood
8th January - London - Rhythm Factory
22nd January - London - Single launch @ The Comedy
23rd January - London - Acoustic show @ The Blag Club, Notting Hill

I have to say I have taken quite a shine to the lead song 'Frank'. It's a great pop song - with a tune that will get right under your skin from the first listen. This is one fun and catchy guitar pop song. The 'B' side is called 'Little Habits' which is a somewhat shuffling and quirky affair. It's not as instant as the 'A' side but it's not half bad in its own right - but I am playing the song 'Frank' a lot more at the moment - a song that has a real indiepop disco floor filler potential.

A weird old album this one. Another Shifty Disco release and what appears from My Device's day-glo website to be their second. It's very much like a debut though, a jumble of ideas with no real coherent direction. It's not a bad album per se, it's just that they seem to have ram raided the current musical trends for ideas and in the haste of their smash n grab, have grabbed odd bits that don't really fit together. So there are elements of emo, punk-funk, angular guitar pop, nu-rave and many others all blended together into an unholy mess.
Having said that a lot of people will love this album because it pushes all the right buttons. Maybe with a clenched fist, but it achieves the same result. And even though I'm still not convinced the album is worth checking out for Everything Is Inflatable, which in being psychotically deranged, is fantastic. More like this track please!

After numerous albums, of which this must be something like the thirteenth, Anton unleashes his best work to date. Anyone familiar with his live shows will know the wacky persona which, although working well live, has sometimes grated on record. The Automatic Door however is a lovable bundle of fun.

The hippy-ish fuzz pop for which Ant is best known is present and correct and better than ever. You Can Move A Mountain, Beyond The Vally Of The Dolphins and the title track are among the best he's ever written. Alongside that, there's the standout tracks in the form of the woozy and drunken Ring Never Bell and the chaotically psychedelic I've Been Craving Lately.

The album also sees a new label, Oxford's own Shifty Disco doing the honours this time. My suggestion is that you check out this album, see Ant live and the delve into the back catalogue where many delights are to be found.

Today we have an exclusive download of a track from Sparky's Magic Piano taken from the Feel The Beat and Do It Anyway album I reviewed here.

You Like Her is one of my favourite tracks from the album and in the aforementioned review I compared this track to the likes of The School and Pocketbooks.

Further to the review there will be a single on Cloudberry Records next year!

Sparky's Magic Piano - You Like Her

Buy the album here.

Stream the whole album via Last FM.

[My Space link]

The lovely Emma from Pocketbooks has a nicely written blog called Quick As Rainbows.

If you head over somewhat sharpish to her Christmas mix post you will find an Christmas song from Pocketbooks which will not be around for long. It's called Christmas In Your Sights and should be played at your office Christmas party rather than Wizzard, Wham or flippin Slade!

Download from here.

Sincerely Yours have released a free download single by The Honeydrips whose (Lack Of) Love Will Tear Us Apart single has been one of my favourites of the year. It's called Hej Då Karolin.

As it's in Swedish I have no idea if it's a Christmas song or not but I am guessing towards the latter being a simple love song instead. It's got some great lush orchestral sounding arrangements which is the more surprising when you consider when The Honeydrips play live the backline is supplied via mobile phone!

The Honeydrips - Hej Då Karolin (zip file)

[My Space link]

Michael Knight are a Dublin-based indie pop group. Their debut LP 'Youth Is Wasted On The Young' came out in 2006 on Villain Records. I've only recently heard the LP and it is well worth a listen. The singer Richie Murphy has one of those classic pop voices - recalling Stephen Merritt or Neil Hannon - at their finest. All this is backed by a band that are at ease making some swooning indie pop sounds. The band have a new LP due out in February 2008 (I think it's going to be called 'I'm Not Entirely Clear How I Ended Up Like This') and it will be released on Yes Boy Ice Cream Records. Certainly a band to watch out for in the coming months. Here is a video the band made for 'Leaving Town' (it's a song on their debut LP).

This is the second part of an interview with Club 8. This time it´s Johan Angergård who have been kind enough to answer a few questions. As you probably know he spends most of his time with music in one way or another. The first part of the interview is to be found here

What would be the perfect imaginary setting for a Club 8 gig?

An underwater theatre with red plush furniture and panorama windows.

How do you structure the songwriting between your different projects?

Normally I only write songs for one band at the time. I’ve tried doing it differently, but it rarely works that well. Each band is a little world of it’s own and it’s confusing jumping in and out of different worlds. A Legends album starts with an idea of a particular kind of music I want to make. It’s usually something that I lack in my record collection, something I have a strong urge to hear but can’t hear unless I make the music myself. And also, it’s music that neither Club 8 or Acid House Kings would like to make. For example "Up against the Legends" is too noisy for the Kings and to direct and up tempo for Club 8 (i.e. for Karolina). "Facts and figures" is synthpop and neither band would like to do such and album. Some songs could be done with Club 8 as well as Acid House Kings, but it’s quite few. Melancholic, slower music works best with Club 8 and direct more catchy songs fits Acid House Kings better. Very very (very!) simplified The Legends is about sounds I want to explore; Club 8 is about expressing emotions as strongly and open hearted as possible and Acid House Kings is about writing the perfect pop song.

I was dj:ing in Lund when Irene and Laurel Music where playing live. What songs do you think I should have included to make that an perfect evening?

Every DJ set should end with The Smiths "Asleep". But before that The Jesus and Mary Chain "Upside down", Johan Hedberg "Grammisgalan" and Don Lennon "Gay fun" makes a lovely evening.

My favorite:

city: I usually prefer the country-side, but Bandung was beautiful and Barcelona is always fun.

place: Österlen

season: This year it’s autumn. This year’s summer was kind of failure.

colour: Black

weather: Sunshine and snow.

film: Woody Allen in the 70’s and the 80’s and Ingmar Bergman.

Club 8 play London's Luminaire on 10th January 2008. Details and ticket information can be found here.

Club 8
Club 8 [ Myspace ]

The Legends
Acid House Kings
Labrador

I have seen The Chiara L's a couple of times now and was very impressed with their performance at indie tracks where the bands mixture of indie/electro pop combined with a sound reminiscent of 1970's Blondie went down a right treat.

As I have written previously the band have in the shape of front woman Chiara a poweful figure similar to the women of punk such as Pauline Murray (Penetration), Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex) or Judy Evans (Girls At Our Best). They have also been compared by others to the Darling Buds and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with those elements I have previously described fitting those comparisons perfectly.

Knives is the bands début single albeit in download format only and sounds like the post punk bands mentioned above remixed for the 21st century. Sounding raw and fresh they put the synths and guitars through a heavy load coupled with the shouty but impressive vocals of their Italian frontwoman. Whilst she is no doubt the focal point of the band this isn't a one woman show and their live performances testify to that.

Like fellow Leeds outfit Sky Larkin the Chiara L's are making some of the more exciting music of 2007. Treat yourself to this Christmas cracker!

Knives is out now. Buy it here.

You can listen to the single on My Space. Give Odio a listen as well - it's great and sums up all what I love about the band.

[My Space link]

Sparky's Magic Piano are London based consisting of Oliver Bartlett (no relation) and Marion Turnball. They have just released their self released début album titled Feel The Beat and Do It Anyway and it's the best way I have found to spend thirty six minutes recently.

The majority of the album is delicate electro pop similar to those Saint Etienne produced bands that appeared in the beginning of the 1990's like Supermarket or Golden. This is clearly evident throughout the album and on songs like Mend or Something Somewhere it really stands out. This is due in no small part to Marion's voice. The band also have their indie pop side and on glockenspiel driven tracks like You Like Her they could easily give contemporaries like Pocketbooks and The School a run for their money.

One tribute I can pay is that songs like Something Somewhere or Kaleidoscope are strong enough to be singles in their own right. Cloudberry are you listening? The album also has plenty of variety - I swore I heard a bit of two step in there at some point alongside some experimental synth riffs that wouldn't sound out of place in a Wintergreen set. Truly I get nothing but a positive vibe from listening to this. Let's hope it isn't overlooked during the Yuletide stampede.

Buy the album from here.

Stream the whole album at Last FM

If you prefer digital downloads you can buy from the bands indiestore where you can also preview the whole album.

[My Space link]

The Christmas singles are now coming thick and fast and I decided this year I would refrain from posting them. But!

Sofia Talvik who is responsible for one of the years better singles in the shape of Blaa Linjen Hem has released a free Christmas single in the shape of a single simply entitled Christmas. It comes in three versions and can be download direct from here in a zip file complete with artwork.

[My Space link]

Finnish band Regina have two mixes of their free Christmas single Naina Mustina Iltoina available.

Regina - Naina Mustina Iltoina
Regina - Naina Mustina Iltoina (Schmamix)

[My Space link]

These Christmas songs seem to be a Scandinavian thing. Norway's Soda Fountain Rag also has a free song available.

Soda Fountain Rag - Jullåten 2007

[My Space link]

One Little Indian, the home of Bjork, Mixtapes & Cellmates and Asobi Seksu amongst others have a free x-mas album available to download via their My Space page. Asobi Seksu have also released a cover of the Ramones track Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) as a single. Sadly it's not a free one!

If you come across any more (2007 tracks releases only) then let me know via the comments and I will add them to this list.

Top Ten Singles

I'm afraid there is a little self release bias here. The two singles we have released on Lost Music Records are easily amongst my favourites of this year. It seems weird trying to place them in a top ten. I love both the singles (The Manhattan Love Suicides and The Fischers) equally. They are, for me, easily among some of the best releases of the year. I really do. Hence they both get placed in this year’s top ten. It’s been a very good year for singles. The continued resurgence of the 7” record has given me an increased appetite for the single and this year has seen a bumper crop of releases – so much so that many great singles failed to make the top ten – honourable mentions to Town Bike, Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, Screaming Tea Party, The Pains of Being Pure At heart, Pocketbooks, Strawberry Story, Hermit Crabs and Das Wanderlust. But here is my top ten singles of 2007:

10 The Scaremongers - Nodding Dog/ You Can Do Nothing Wrong (In My Eyes) (Corporation Pop)