The Just Joans have been steadily building quite a following on the strength of their live performances and the Virgin Lips EP, released on the WeePOP! label at the start of the year. The followup, 'Hey Boy... You're Oh So Sensitive' is out now and can only add to their reputation as a band worth watching.

As with other WeePOP! releases, it comes on a 3" CD lovingly packaged in a tiny envelope with illustrated booklet, pin badge, candy and hand-written note. In an era of digital everything, it's nice to have something tangible which has clearly taken some effort and love to create.

There are seven songs crammed onto that little CD, and the title track gets things off to a great start. It gently pokes fun at that particular breed of indie kid with NHS specs, V-neck jumper and a Woody Allen box set, although you sense that tongue is firmly in cheek. After all the band is more than a little twee itself, on record at least.

Second song, 'What Do We Do Now?' has been a staple of their live sets for a while, and it's good to hear it get an outing here. As with so many of their songs it's a tale of small-town angst, or rather that of someone who has moved to the big city and struggles to stay in touch with friends from back home. The Just Joans know how to do nostalgia-tinged melancholy, and this is one of the better examples.

Singing duties on the remainder of the EP are shared between three or four members of the band, male and female, which is one of the reasons they're sounding so much fresher and more varied than on early releases. Another is that the arrangements and recordings are starting to do justice to the songs, everything falling just the right side of lo-fi.

The standard is high throughout, but particular highlights are 'Grant Kelly', an ode to the mysterious new boy in town (where the oft-touted comparisons to The Shangri-Las start to make sense), and the eerie 'Ballad of Napperscone', written by Paul McDermott of short-lived Glasgow band The Poppadoms. As with the Virgin Lips EP, most of the songs here are augmented with clips from TV programmes or films, a touch that could have grated if done heavy-handedly, but never does.

If you've enjoyed their previous releases, this is a must-have. If you're still not alive to the charms of The Just Joans, order this EP and you soon will be. Highly recommended.

'Hey Boy... You're Oh So Sensitive' is limited to 160 copies and is available now direct from WeePOP! for £4.

[Myspace link]

I hadn't heard anything from The Carrots since I last wrote about them and their freely available demo EP in 2006. It seems the band were sued by a Spanish band of the same name and went into hiatus. However the Spanish band have since broken up and The Carrots have not just one but two EP's out on the Spanish label Elefant Records - oh the irony!

The EP's are titled Doing Our Part and Beverley. Both contain re-recordings of the tracks originally aired on the aforementioned demo CDR.

Like their label mates The School the band seek inspiration from the girl groups of the 1950/60's with Motown Records, The Ronettes and The Crystals being the most cited (and obvious) influences. The band, whose members have also played in the likes of Yellow Fever, Finally Punk and Voxtrot, have also applied a modern touch to a vintage sound in the same way as The Pipettes or Lucky Soul have done in recent years.

However you would be forgiven if you thought some of the tracks come from an obscure compilation from years gone because they sound like vintage songs complete with doo wops. If songs like Jimmy Don't Cry, Kissing & Telling or the title tracks from both EP's were sneaked in a 1960's time capsule you would be none the wiser to the fact that they were recorded in the 21st century such is the bands perfectionism when it comes to recreating that classic sound.

The songs, which are about heartbreak, high school dramas, love and death all clock in under that magic three minute mark. It really is excellent stuff. Forget about carrots improving your eyesight - devouring these will improve your hearing experience and music collection!

You can buy EP's via Elefant Records on limited edition 7" single or digital download.

Those demo recordings can be downloaded from here.

[My Space link]

Having heard The Sugars music before and been a big fan, I must admit to being more than a little disappointed by this, their third single on Bad Sneakers.

Black Friday is a rumbling Franz Ferdinand style tune, with a touch of rockabilly and some affected showmanship to the vocals. It's not great, more of a groove than a tune, and not a very good one at that.

B-side Isle Of Sirens is worse, a wailing pitiful effort that sounds lost at sea. It tries to sound vocally different to other bands but fails to come up with something worth replacing them with.

It pains me to write this after their early promise, but if they get Anna back onto lead vocals then things should start to turn around again.

[My Space link]

Perennial underachievers South are back with their fourth album, this time on Genepool Records. To me they’ve always been one of those bands plugging along churning out tepid songs to no one in particular.

But I head into You Are Here with an open mind. Opening track Waster sounds like its being dragged along the grey streets of London to an almost certain death. This sets the tone for Opened Up but the whimsical Lilac Time style tunes Better Things and The Pain turn things around somewhat. Tell Me continues the album in a chirpy, if somewhat wishy-washy vein but She’s Half Crazy is a bizarre volte-face, being insipid white boy funk.

Almost as strangely There Goes Your Life is an odd kind of electro-funk. The problem is at this stage of the album the production appears to have gone to pot and everything sounds muddy. Even mariachi trumpet bursts can’t really save Lonely Highs. Sound Receivers starts with a low filthy riff and employs it from time to time in an effort to sound like Weezer. This it achieves, if Weezer were stuck in a cupboard.

Every Light Has Blown is a whimsical, meandering lullaby and Zither Song tinkles along like a snow swept winter scene but neither are enough to rescue the shambolic album.

[My Space link]

The next night we have lined up is another Sunday night at The Enterprise, Chalk Farm. Tickets are on sale now for just £4 - you can buy them from We Got Tickets. It will be £5 on the door.

Indurain
With releases on Cloudberry and Plastilina Records - this Anglo-Swedish duo - play lilting electro tinged folky indiepop. This is their debut london show and it should be a treat! After a sold out Cloudberry 3″ single Johan and Mikko embarked into a new trip where melancholy meets happiness, where elegance meets dancey beats and wet Wednesday afternoons meet Sunny Sundays on the beach (or a pub in Camden!)

Sparky’s Magic Piano
Another duo - this time hailing from London. Sparky’s Magic Piano self released the rather wonderful debut LP “Feel the Beat and Do it Anyway!” - which is shimmering piece of electro tinged pop music.

“listening to sparky’s magic piano was an unexpected delight, and i encourage you to do the same.” ToHellWith.co.uk

The Kick Inside
Coming upto London for their debut Capital city gig are this quartet from Bristol. They play a firey brand of jangle pop - recalling the hey day of 80s indie sound (Think Brilliant Corners, The Chesterfields and a hint of The Smiths). The band have recently played as support to Horowitz in their home town at a Big Pink Cake night. We can’t wait to see them!

Molloy
Molloy are a five piece from London that play insanely catchy electro pop. They played the 2nd ever Lostmusic show back in May 2007. So we’re delighted to have them back. They’re colourful, fun and above all else - great live.

Pitchfork are reporting that The Jesus and Mary Chain are finally set to release a 4 CD set collecting up rare B sides, alternate versions, demos and even a smattering of never released songs. The Boxset is set to be released by Rhino records in September. It's full title is "The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities". The tracklist is over on Pitchfork and it seems to run in chronological order - starting with early demos - right through to their final B side recordings for Creation in 1998.

Sadly, the Boxset is not a complete set as it misses a few live only recordings (like Mushroom, which did appear on Barbed Wire Kisses back in 1988). But for fans of The Jesus and Mary Chain this is sure to be a must own release.

Just seen news of this double CD from the good folk at Make Do And Mend Records in conjunction with the Indietracks Festival. It will feature 45 songs from bands playing at this unique festival, ranging from dancefloor fillers and punk-pop explosions to dreamy acoustic folk and gorgeous summer harmonies.

The festival takes places on 26 and 27 July and this CD is designed to compliment the whole thing. A cracking idea.

It's summer compilations galore. Trev's written about the Eardrums one. Here is another one from Labrador. They say that the Labrador summer sampler 2008 is a summerish mix of recent favourites from The Sound of Arrows, The Radio Dept. and Club 8, lost classics from Acid House Kings, Caroline Soul and Chasing Dorotea and sun packed songs by [ingenting] and lots more.

1 [Ingenting] - Här Kommer Solen
2 The Sound of Arrows - Danger!
3 Sambassadeur - Final Say
4 Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face
5 Pelle Carlberg - I Love You, You Imbecile
6 Club 8 - You And Me
7 Johan Hedberg - Grammisgalan
8 The Radio Dept. - Freddie and the Trojan Horse
9 Sambassadeur - Subtle Changes
10 Tribeca - Her Breast Were Still Small
11 Chasing Dorotea - Dark Angel
12 The Mary Onettes - Explosions
13 The Legends - Darling
14 Leslies - Take A Look
15 Irene - By your side
16 Pelle Carlberg - Go to Hell, Miss Rydell
17 Club 8 - Jesus, Walk with Me (The Sound of Arrows remix)
18 Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Trumpets and Violins
19 Acid House Kings - Start Anew
20 Irene - Little Lovin
21 The Radio Dept. - Pet Grief
22 Club 8 - Whatever you Want
23 Acid House Kings - This Heart Is A Stone
24 Loveninjas - Little Black Friends
25 [Ingenting] - Släpp In Solen
26 Caroline Soul - Been Turning (Into Something Bad)
27 Acid House Kings - Sunday Morning
28 Johan Hedberg - Var Dig Själv
29 The Legends - Make It All Right
30 The Sound of Arrows - Danger! (Ice cream shout)

Labrador Summer Sampler

Skatterbrain also has a summer mix out. It can be downloaded here.

Oh, a classic:



Found any more? Then leave the links in the comments.

Eardrums Music is a blog (it was new to me, today) that have seemingly branched out and become a free download label. They have released a two volume set - entitled - Summer's here! Eardrums Compilation 2008 - Vol 1 and 2.

I've just downloaded both and they contain gems from the likes of Pocketbooks, The School, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, The Charade, Northern Portrait, Still Corners, Stars in Coma and a whole host of others. Some tracks are new and exclusive, some are new but have been released elsewhere - albeit in limited formats. Either way it's all available for download from the Eardrums Music webpage with nice PDF's and artwork. Splendid stuff.

It reminds me of the first incarnation of Lostmusic Recordings where I had about 7 releases for download - all exclusive and all free. I think it might be time to revive that idea.

Here is the third dip into My Space bands that I have found or been found by over the past few weeks. This time we have The Mother Z's and Help Stamp Out Lonleiness.

The Mother Z's are from Illinois in the USA. The duo consist of Andy and Becca, brother and sister no less. And they've a very laid back feel to their pop sound. Mainly acoustic in their approach the music they make is soothing and gentle. When Andy started recording songs he was aiming for a a soul/motown vibe and if anything it's like a lo-fi indiepop take on that sound. They also list bands like The Violent Femmes and The B52s as influences - and although they don't have the verve of either The B52s or The Violent Femmes - they do have a handful of goodsongs for streaming on My Space. The band have also recently appeared on Series Two Records compilation (although I can't find out which one at the moment).

Help Stamp Out Loneliness explain themselves rather well on their My Space. So quoting it seemed apt:"Help Stamp Out Loneliness grew from a seed when old flatmates Colm and Bentley from twee band Language of Flowers decided to take a sabbatical from the drug fuelled ultra-violent world of C86 and start a lounge-gaze-krautpop band instead (whatever that is). They were soon joined by Ben and Louise on drums and organ respectively and a little later by Katherine (piano) and finally Lucille (vocals)." The sound that they've managed to come up with is rather wonderful - 'The Lino Heart' has Cure bass lines and St Etienne pop sensibilities. The other 3 songs on their My Space page are also rather fab. Go take a listen.

Betika are an eight piece band from Bournemouth, who have been going for quite some time now - adding and subtracting members around a core lineup as they’ve gone on.

The band is fronted by two singers, called Carolyn and Dave, and this allows for some lovely boy/girl harmonies. The rest of the group are made up of all the instruments you’d want in an 8 piece indiepop orchestra – melodica, flute, oboe, banjo, recorder, clarinet and stylophone.

Since 2001 they’ve released a series of EPs, a mini album, and a very impressive full album called Halflove, which is probably the best place to start if you want to explore Betika’s back catalogue of releases.

The years that Betika took perfecting Halflove shows, and the songs are well written and are full of a wide range of different influences. The album contains upbeat danceable beats of By Default or the synth led Thunderstorm to a more laid back approach on songs like Girlshaped or Robot (2).

Yet through all these styles Betika always retain a superb grasp of what a good melody for the song would be.

There are quite a few more downloads on the Betika website (which contains a blog) and there are some songs for streaming on the bands myspace. As an added bonus, Carolyn and Dave also sometimes perform the songs as an acoustic two piece, known as MicroBetika.

Betika - Girlshaped (acoustic)
Betika - The Bierdigan (live)

[Myspace link]

The Vermont Sugar House are songwriters Martin King and David Platten and sometime collaborator Richard Jones, all formerly of Manchester jangle pop band The Desert Wolves.

Carlton Gardens is the follow up to their EP on Cloudberry earlier this year. The label describes it as the band début long player but in reality it is a collection of songs featuring re-recordings of nine year old songs with various versions and mixes also thrown in

The aforementioned Cloudberry EP proved to be a mix and match experience to these ears and the album also follows this path. Whilst I hear elements of Badly Drawn Boy, The Bible, Blue Nile, Lloyd Cole - you know mature jangle pop with a serious side - the songs rarely excite despite their good intentions. Whilst perfectly crafted the majority lack liveliness, charm or something to hold onto with many far outstaying their welcome.

There are exceptions. Braveheart, originally a single in 1999, raises the temperature being full of energy and manages to grab your attention throughout. Other highlights include Solo Living, Walking Distance and Absolutely but these are few a far between with the negatives eventually far outweighing the positives.

The album for me is a huge disappointment mostly being all style and no substance. File under indie pop for the coffee table crowd.

Vermont Sugar House - Walking Distance

Carlton Gardens is out now on Firestation Records and can be picked up in the UK in Rough Trade.

[My Space link]

I have stumbled across a handful of decent bands via My Space this past few days. I'm going to round them up, two at a time. Starting with The Lucid Dream and The Monorals.

The first are The Lucid Dream a quintet from Carlisle, England. The band are very much influenced by bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stooges and Spiritualized. The band have 3 songs for streaming on My Space and they're all fairly good. Pick of the bunch is 'I Got The Devil' which comes closest to the Mary Chain sound. If I had one criticism it would be that the three songs are all very different - one sounding very Spiritualized, another in debt to The Mary Chain and the other 60s Garage rock. It seems the band could be all three things - the trick is trying to meld all their influences into one co-herent sound. Despite this reservation - they're worth a listen.

Oh, there is something about the summer. Sunshine streaming in through my window (I'll conveniently ignore the force 9 winds blowing the trees silly). Then I stumble onto the My Space page of UK based band. They are called Play People. There are four members of the band - Ralph, Clint, Nancy and Keith. There is little other information on the website to give us a clue as to what they're all about. So, as is always best, just sit back and listen to the tunes.

The first song I hear is a gorgeous 60s tinged pop song. It's called 'Goes Out' and it's one of the most infectious songs that I have heard in a while. Next up I hear 'Oh What A Life' which during the chorus has a hint of Strawberry Switchblade's Since Yesterday about it. The verses's remind me of something else - but I can't quite put my finger on which band. The other two songs 'Meet Me Saturday' and 'She Knew' are just as much fun. Now all I need to do is find out some more information about the band.

Buttonhead are not a folk band. Any suggestion they are seems to upset them. So I thought I'd get that out of the way first.

But if they're not folk - what are they? Simply put Buttonhead are a bunch of contradictions. Cute, noisy, abrasive and tuneful all at once. In some senses this is a long way from indiepop. But at other times it just works. I guess a constantly changing aural scenery is the best way to sum up Buttonhead.

There are pounding guitars a plenty on their free download EP - 'Weetabix Gigabyte' - but it also punctuated by jerky arrangements and sometimes histrionic vocals. This is all slightly left field and experimental but just as you think you have the band all worked out - they cross over and come over accessible and tuneful - which is not an easy path to tread - it sure makes for an interesting listen and I think I like it.

The band have a My Space where you can stream lots of songs. You can also download the free EP here. The band were due to release their début single this past April - but I can't see any links to buy it from their My Space page. I guess it's been delayed.

The Kick Inside are a new band that come from Bristol in the west of England. They've hit my radar this past month or so and have recently played a Big Pink Cake night in Bristol where they supported the fabulous Horowitz. The band have five songs for streaming on their My Space and they're all rather good.

The band aren't a tribute to INXS, as their name might have suggested. Although they do hark back to the 80s and the hey day of Jangle pop - recalling bands like The Brilliant Corners, The Chesterfields and to a lesser extent The Smiths.

We're also delighted that the band will be making the trip up the M4 on Sunday 6th July for a Lostmusic Presents show at The Enterprise in Camden. The line-up for that show is just being finalised and we should be able to announce the full line-up shortly.

Betty and the Werewolves are a fun sounding four piece from London. Coming on like a cross between indiepop and old school rock'n'roll. Betty and the Werewolves sound like a good time band with their catchy pop'n'roll tunes.

Their My Space is adorned with three lovely songs for streaming including their début single which is due to be released at the end of July. 'Euston Station' is coming out on Damaged Goods records in 7" vinyl format as well as a download. The band have a host of London dates coming up over the next month - check their My Space for a full list of gigs.

The Puncture Repair Kit are a new band from Cambridge, England. They have four songs for streaming up on My Space and I have to say they make a very encouraging sound for a new band.

This is fairly cute indiepop with some strong tunes. Two of the songs are downloadable - those being 'Little Strange' and 'The Death Waltz'. I think my favourite of the four songs is 'Thank God We're Living In The Future' which is only available for streaming. Go take a listen, the band are worthy of a few minutes of investigation on My Space. So much so, I think I will check the band out when they come to London in July. The band have a few other live dates coming up in July - their full schedule is:

1st July -Portland Arms, Cambridge
5th July - Hardwick Carnival, Cambridge
15th July - Candid Cafe, Islington, London.

The Loves have created a new My Space page dedicated to uploading the sessions they did for John Peel. In all they recorded four sessions between May 2001 and December 2002.

The first session has been posted and it's the third session which they recorded on Valentines Day 2002 at Peel Acres. You can stream it from here.

Full details of this session can be found here whilst all the details of the sessions can be found here.

The band are currently putting the finishing touches to their third album simply called Three which will be released at the end of the year. The album will be preceded by a new single called The Ex-Gurlfriend in September.

[My Space link]

Two songs in and you could still have a conversation with those around you quite comfortably. It wasn't supposed to be like this? Where was that famed loudness? Had the UK Nanny States* health and safety regulations kicked in once more? After all there were free ear plugs on offer but we didn't need them. My natural pessimism was starting to get the better of me. Then slowly but surely the volume increased and by the end of the night people around me were covering their ears in pain.

Yep My Bloody Valentine had returned. If John Motson wrote music reviews he would be writing surprisngly this is the first time I have seen them headline. Those days supporting the Darling Buds and The Soup Dragons have really paid off you know. Er thanks John!

The set list varied to the one posted on the net from last Saturday's warm up show at the ICA but was still a mixture of tracks from Loveless, Isn't Anything and EP b-sides. They opened with Only Shallow and one of the cosmetic giants should sign up Bilinda Butcher to promote their wares as she still looks the same from where I was standing. Or should I have gone to Specsavers? She cut a wistful figure, barely raising her voice above the feedback. Actually you would have been forgiven if you thought Japancakes were here instead, doing their instrumental versions of Loveless, because the majority of the time you couldn't hear the vocals full stop! Did Shields actually sing or was he chewing gum? It was hard to tell. But it's what we like. Crank it up.

I don't normally notice lighting at the larger gigs (beer helps) but the strobe and slide shows complemented the music perfectly and also disguised the fact that the band barely moved with the exception of Colm on drums who still battered ten shades of shit out of his kit. Debbie Goodge didn't budge either in complete contrast to her younger days where she played her bass with a demonic frenzy. That said we gave the mosh pit a wide berth too. Thanks Father Time.

Highlights for me were Thorn and Soon with the latter's rhythmic beat - no wonder it was turned into a Balearic classic by Andrew Weatherall - being the only variation on a theme getting the night's loudest cheer from the audience.

They close with Feed Me With Your Kiss and then You Made Me Realise which still ends with the band's indulgence of white noise. Newcomers thought it was a joke but 10 minutes in hands were clasping on ears, headphones were going on - anything to block out the "noise". Then it was over. Lights on, everyone out. It's great. No interaction with the audience - no speaking, no thanks, no whoops during the songs and certainly no smiles from the band members. But plenty of good music. Just the way it should be.

The band appear at the Roundhouse, London until Tuesday 24th June before moving onto Manchester and Glasgow. They then head to the Festival Circuit and the USA.

[My Space link]

*thanks to any UK right wing tabloid/rag.

Lostmusic is delighted to be teaming up with London’s weePOP! Records and we’re hosting their 1st year anniversary on Sunday 22nd June. The night features 4 bands that have all released sparkly 3″ CDr singles on weePOP! during the past year. And they’ll be a free CD for the first 30 people who turn up!

The line up is as follows:

The Just Joans (My Space)
A “shangri-las” esque tribute to small town teenage angst! Brimming with humour and boy/girl coloquial scottish vocals, keyboards/pianos, banjos and acoustic guitar, this is a perfect slice of skewed pop music!

Little My (My Space)
Little My & friends are an assortment of 8 to 15 peeps stolen from various Cardiff & Bristol bands who are forced to play 1 - 2 minute songs whilst wearing animal ears in public.

Mexican Kids At Home (Website)
Folky slacker pop on a tatty Skateboard! Be preapred to be charmed by this quintent!

The Darlings (My Space)
The Darlings are a five piece alt-country inflected indie-pop band, led by Elisabeth Darling. And for this night only Elisabeth is starting the whole night with a solo show!

Tickets are on sale from We Got Tickets for £5.
It will be £6 on the door.

MP3's:
The Darlings - Emily
Mexican Kids At Home - Start A One Man Band
Little My - All but the meeps beep
The Just Joans - Bellshill Station

Video:
The Just Joans - Lookin' Like Rain

I had the misfortune of being nowhere near NYC during the last weekend when the annual NYC Popfest was held there. Apparently it was a blast. Bill Pearis has written some interesting reviews of the shows over here, and I nicked a few MP3 files from him, a small selection of the bands playing there.

The Besties - Zombie Song
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - This Love is Fucking Right
Pants Yell! - Shoreham Kent
Cats on Fire - Higher Ground
From Bubblegum to Sky - I Always Fall Apart
Mahogany - The Wiew From The People Wall
My Teenage Stride - Theme from Teenage Suicide (pictured)
Tullycraft - The Neutron
Oh! Custer - Post

There are more MP3s over on Sound Bites. I sure hope to be there next year, not least because New York is a wonderful city to begin with, me thinks.

Additionally, Jennifer has a few videos of Cats on Fire and My Teenage Stride performing at NYC Popfest over at http://www.youtube.com/absolutelywilde.

More vids:
Tullycraft perform "Twee" and "Every Little Thing".
Cats on Fire perform "Mesmer and Reason"

[NYC Popfest on Myspace]

Je Suis Animal hail from Norway. The band was conceived in a British art school and it's members, both British and Norwegian, eventually settled in Oslo in 2004 and set about creating their special brand of psychedelic indiepop inspired by a smorgasboard of C-86 bands along with My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab to name a few. February saw the release of their debut album, Self-Taught Magic From A Book, on Perfect Pop Records, and no later than this month the album was also released in Australia.

Their songs tell tales of murder mysteries, magic and primitive art, as well as themes of sex, spying and Norwegian explorer - Roald Amundsen. They'll be heading over to UK this summer, scheduled to play at Indietracks festival, as well as dates in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Northampton. Here's a few MP3 tasters, I'm particularily fond of the story of Roald Amundsen.

Je Suis Animal - Roald Amundsen
Je Suis Animal - Hotel Electique
Je Suis Animal - Beginning of Time

Good as the MP3's are, my favorite song of theirs so far is "The Mystery of Marie Roget", whose title also graces a story by Edgar Allan Poe. This video is also quite remarkably well done, I say:

[Myspace]
[Perfect Pop]

Sadly I was not at the ICA this past weekend which saw the start of My Bloody Valentine's comeback tour and have to wait until this weekends gigs at The Roundhouse. The set list was:

Only Shallow
You Never Should
Honeypower
I Only Said
Cigarette In My Bed
Thorn
Nothing Much To Lose
To Here Knows When
When You Sleep
Slow
Blown A Wish
Soon
Feed Me With Your Kiss
Sueisfine
You Made Me Realise

As usual these days someone filmed part of the show. Here is opener "Only Shallow".



EDIT: Burning World has the concert from the 13th available for downloading.

[My Space link]

Ace Bushy Striptease are a relatively new band from Birmingham who have been together for less than a year.

Their musical style is a big old mix of diverse good things. At various points they pick up on hardcore tempos and shouting and hitting the back of the bass, and at other points they sing lovely pop melodies. 'Mervyn and Issac find a CD' is a stand out song for me, where the short explosive choruses are sandwiched between little discussions of what to do with the CD.

They also definitely rate the concept of brevity, and the majority of songs come in at around the minute mark, making their energetic live sets a short sharp burst of enthusiastic music. They make a free fanzine for every gig too!

There are songs which available for download on the Ace Bushy Striptease website, and I think there should be more soon - but they're also releasing a track on an upcoming compilation called 'Two Thousand and Ace' on Brainlove Records.

Ace Bushy Striptease - Mervyn and Issac find a CD
Ace Bushy Striptease - Michael Kightly Is Pretty Rad
Ace Bushy Striptease - Flying Bayonets

[Myspace link]

You/Me are an electronic pop act from Stockholm in Sweden.

Taking influence from the some of the more laid-back moments of electronica acts (they cite influences such as Aphex Twin), You/Me use light drum rhythms and keyboards to create the back drop for some memorable tunes, which are sung by timid vocals.

The songs are fragile and seem to have so much space in them, and they should appeal if you're into electronic pop bands like The Postal Service.

There have been some releases on CD-R, although the two songs below have been downloaded from the myspace over the last few months. The myspace is updated frequently so it’s worth checking back there frequently if you like what you hear – there’s a few live tracks on there at the moment.

You/Me - Jean Luc Picard
You/Me - Stockholm City

[Myspace link]

Indurain have released their new EP on Plastilna Records which is titled What You Get For Being Naive.

The EP opens with The Moment which is one infectious piece of electro pop with the band drafting in a bass player to give it some extra oomph. Let's not forget the backing vocals either which are used with great effect throughout the song making it a worthy lead and ultimately the stand out track on this EP.

Sadly things go slightly awry for me from that point in as the band seems to have an identity crisis and seem to be undecided if they are a lo-fi, sometimes folkish inspired, band or whether they are a fully fledged electro pop act. Whilst tracks like If I had A Film are pleasant enough to listen too they soon fade as there is nothing about them which sticks in the memory long term. It's only when Indurain head back to the electro pop dancefloor with The Secret Life that they excite again.

Maybe it works better live and I will be able to find out as they will be playing at Lost Music Presents on July 6th. In the meantime grab the EP for the excellent The Moment and The Secret Life. If the other tracks work for you then that's a bonus!

What You get For Being Naive is out now on Plastilna Records and is distributed world wide. See the label's website for stockists.

[My Space link]

The Manhattan Love Suicides compilation of their limited edition vinyl EP's including one on our very own Lost Music Records is released on Monday via Squirrel Records in the UK. It follows on Magic Marker which has different sleeve art in the US in August.

The compilation is called Burnt Out Landscapes and also includes the now out of print EP they released on Cloudberry Records, a remastered version of the session they did for Woxy.com and four new recordings!

The session for Woxy.com, which they recorded during last years SXSW, is also available on line in it's unmastered form and if you can't wait for the album you can download it now.

The Manhattan Love Suicides - The Full Woxy.com Session

The Manhattan Love Suicides - Last Stand (from the Cloudberry EP)

Buy Burnt Out Landscapes.

[My Space link]

The latest two singles in Slumberland Records Searching For The Now series have just been released.

Shoegazers A Sunny Day In Glasgow open part three with their take on The Pastels Sometimes I Think About You and it's refreshingly different from the original as every cover version should be.

It's plenty of shimmering guitars accompanied by hushed vocals which reminds me of Seefeel in a strange sort of way. French but London based The Sunny Street provide another one of their delicately crafted laid back indie pop tunes with Pottery & Glass which is worth writing home about.

Part four sees in my opinion two of the best indie pop bands in the world right now coming together. When it comes to the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart I certainly do not remain impartial and on Saturday Comes the band yet again deliver another fuzzed up moment to cherish. It's joyous in the extreme.

Melbourne's Summer Cats seem to have a plethora of releases out at the moment. Let's Go is another pop nugget which is guaranteed to get even this old indie kid dancing. Neither band can do no wrong at the moment and this, like the whole series, is essential listening.

Order both parts from Slumberland's shop. If you act quickly you can get both singles plus p&p to the UK for under eight quid!

I reviewed parts 1 and 2 here.

[My Space link]

Swedish band Bonnie & Clyde have just released their new single on Bonjour Recordings. Sticking with the criminal theme it's called The Great Tram Robbery and comprises of four tracks, one of which has been made available by the band.

Guess There's No One is a great song with hints of girl groups, both old and new, going up against a mix of jangle pop and shoegaze sounds.

Bonnie & Clyde - Guess There's No One

It's the follow up to their Cloudberry EP last year which is still available.

Bonnie & Clyde - First Fall

The band are pencilled in to play London on October 10th. Visit the bands My Space page to order both EP's.

[My Space link]

La Famille Catastrophe, who I haven't written about in ages, have posted two new songs to their My Space page. If you like gentle and sometimes humorous lo-fi indie pop then these songs could be for you.

Simon is also in indie mp3 faves Mutt Ramon who have been quiet since their EP on the Italian label My Honey label last year. There was news of a new EP on their blog last November but nothing since. Let's hope something arrives soon!

Mutt Ramon - Just My Honey (from the Lasten Musiikki EP)

Buy a Mutt Ramon CD or two.

[My Space link]

Lonely Planet by Summer Cats is the latest 7" offering from Cloudberry Records and could well be the finest thing that label has released to date.

This is a song which wants to get you straight onto the indie pop dance floor. All the essential ingredients are here from the girl/boy vocals, the organ, the hand claps, the guitars being in the right place at the right time and the oh so perfect length of the actual song! In short it's a brilliant pop record full stop!

Flip side Lazy Susan is also short and sweet evoking memories of a Postcard era Go Betweens but it fades from view when compared to the a-side despite being strong enough it it's own right. Tough luck Susan - Life's a beach eh?


Lonely Planet is out now on Cloudberry Records.

[My Space link]

There are a couple of songs that spring to mind when remiscing about The June Brides and I am sure that Every Conversation is one of those at the top of most peoples list. It certainly was for one person in Japan who named their record label after the song.

Going one step further the said label has managed to release a 7" single with two covers of the song including one by The June Brides frontman Phil Wilson and the other by those twee pop killers Sarandon.

The original track was a trumpet lead folkish stomp through London's early 1980's indie pop stomping ground.Here both acts strip the song back to it's raw roots before heading off in opposite and very different directions. Wilson goes down the acoustic path giving the song a gentle swagger whilst Sarandon do what they do best and create a short, sharp and loud shock to the system. These are two great versions of one of the songs that influenced modern day indie pop so track it down as it's pretty limited!

Every Conversation is out now on the label of the same name. It's available direct from the label or you can find it in Rough Trade UK.

[Phil Wilson My Space link]
[Sarandon My Space