Iceland Airwaves festival was held here in Reykjavik for the tenth time approximately two weeks ago. Everything went smoothly despite the cold shadow of depression looming overy the country, and over 130 bands and solo artists (not counting DJ's) performed during the five days. I'm told though that Robots in Disguise refused to leave the stage after their allotted time and staff members had to actually turn them off.

Apart from the official smorgasboard of gigs, there are always an equal number of off-venue gigs all over the city. Those are actively promoted by Iceland Airwaves as well, though not arranged by them. Furthermore, aside from the announced off-venue gigs there are also a handful of concerts who don't make it into any schedule, and my fondest memory of this festival is one such concert, held in front of a handful of people at the Kimi Records headquarters, by the band Hellvar, supported by Mexican shoegazing solo artist Halo Between. No more than eight people showed up, including me and my 14 month old daughter who bobbed her head to the infectious tunes. And I got my wish granted, that the band play their song "Nowhere" which I repeatedly play anywhere I can, also here. It's somewhat gloomy and sad, yet infectious and toe-tappingly awesome.


Hellvar - Nowhere

What little I heard of Halo Between was good too, unfortunately I was somewhat distracted during his set.




Another interesting band was Half Tiger, which is half Icelandic, quarter Norwegian, quarter English and based in London. The band has been around for a year now and are recording their debut album in their own studio in Cricklewood. Their song "Natalie now" has the makings of a hit. Unfortunately their set at Airwaves was somewhat hampered by technical difficulties.

Half Tiger - Natalie now (clip)

[Hellvar Myspace]
[Half Tiger Myspace]
[Halo Between Myspace]

Time for another irregular look at what has been tickling my fancy over on the increasingly frustrating My Space. Still, with a little effort and a whole heap of luck you can still dig out some gems. Starting with:

The Aint Rights - a three piece band that list their influences as being The Shop Assistants, The 13th Floor Elevators and The Sonics amongst many others. They're fairly spot on as the band make a noise that sits between noisy c86 pop and 1960s garage rock. The recordings on My Space are suitably lo-fi but on songs like 'Happy Girl' and 'Bad Boy' the songs shine through. I've not been able to track down their EP (as yet) that came out in 2007. Either way this garage tinged indiepop is certainly the sort of noise that gets me going.

the boy.the girl.and all the world are an altogether different proposition. The band play nice and unassuming indiepop. The influences that they list are not bands I'd normally pick up on (The Magic Numbers, Noah and the Whale and The Kooks to name three) - but the band certainly have an ear for some fine tunesmithery. They're worthy of further investigation and as they are playing London on Saturday (at The Wilmington) I may well chance my arm and see them live. As songs like 'Six Unhappy Days' and 'What Do I Mean' sound to me like a less in your face Good Shoes.

Postcode are a band from Douglas on the Isle of Man. The band are an interesting proposition mixing up pop harmonies with a harder indie guitar sound. To these ears they recall bands like Six By Seven, Urusei Yatsura and Pixies. This is probably not the most fashionable sounding band around at the moment - but if you like adrenalin filled indie sounds you could do a lot worse than listen to 'It's Amazing, It's Fantastic' or 'McClusky Youth'.

Cause Co-Motion! take time out to compile their singles from the last four years, which were previously available on the indies What’s Yr Rupture?, Cape Shok, Can’t Cope and Slumberland.

Proper shambly C86 style pop, as done by early Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits et al is in evidence on Only Fades Away the opening track. Second track Baby Don’t Do It is tinny and harsh yet exuberant and fun! All the songs scream pop; all last around 1 minute 30 and aren’t built to last.

This Just Won’t Last has more coy vocals and shambling ethics, This Time Next Year is all spindly guitars, while Take A Look is a dead ringer for early BMX Bandits. Which Way Is Up? is snotty and impatient and Don’t You Know? is a cut above, hollow sounding and rumbling, sounding like its bounding down the wrong side of the tracks. Say What You Feel carries this on somewhat scuzzy and tinny guitars bearing a certain menace.

When Will It Finally End? chips away at you and Who’s Gonna Care? is a ring a ding ding little tune. You Don’t Say feels more structured and restrained, but works well for it and finally Cry for Attention that closes the album is more of a whimper.

Cause Co-Motion! - This Just Won't Last
Cause Co-Motion! - Who's Gonna Care

Cause Co-Motion! myspace
It's Time! is out on Slumberland Records on October 28th

Crystal Stilts are yet another band from the fertile breeding ground that is Brooklyn and this is their debut album.

Lead track The Dazzled kicks things off in a wonderfully sleazy way, world weary and careless. Sluggish in other hands, but not in these. They follow that with Crystal Stilts, the song, which is very Jesus & Mary Chain, with a twang of Duane Eddy guitar. The drums are a keen point, especially on this song, being limited and supplying only the necessary beat.

Graveyard Orbit has a suitably downbeat shuffle, but with some gentle organ and almost crooning vocals, Prismatic Room is graceful, having lovely guitar arcs and swelling keyboards while The Sinking is more upbeat and rattles along nicely. It shows how in thrall they are to the Mary Chain, but not in a bad pastiche way.

Things sound different on Departure, which is a bit drony, a little Joy Division. Shattered Shine has a bit of the Velvets and some nice mouth organ, while the drums kick Bright Night along nicely, although the vocals are a bit irritating on this, being too moany. By Spiral Transit the vocals and music are becoming ghostly, floating off into the ether and The City In The Sea closes proceedings, one final sigh before the end.

Crystal Stilts - Shattered Shine
Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts

Crystal Stilts myspace
Alight Of Night is released by Slumberland Records on October 28th

Trev briefly wrote about New York band Knight School the other week and after his post received a few positive comments about the band I decided to check them out, y'know editors prerogative and all that!

The band have recently finished recording their début CDR entitled The Poor & Needy Need To Party and all four tracks currently being streamed on My Space are all taken from this release.

Trev hit the nail on the head with his description of the band and I really like the garage feel clashing with the indie pop vibes especially on the shorter songs. Nothing to do with my attention span but they seemed to have more going for them, packing more in. These songs are pretty raw and stripped down which is the way this type of music should be listened too.

Knight School - No One Likes Me No More
Knight School - Pregnant Again

San Diego's The Muslims are another band who have been attracting attention of late by fellow bloggers and after listening to their music it's hard not to hear why. Others have compared them to The Strokes, Velvet Underground, The Replacements, Dead Milkmen, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club etc. To me they sound like a good old fashioned rock and roll band.

The Muslims - Right and Wrong
The Muslims - Beside Myself

Buy the Right and Wrong 12" from here complete with a sleeve with bullet holes rendered by an ex cop. This 12" version includes a free CD with three extra tracks. You can pre-order the forthcoming Parasites/Walking With Jesus 7" from I Hate Rock N' Roll.

Fire Escape put me onto the band. Head over here to read what he wrote.

The Smittens' third album has been out for a few months now but it wouldn't be right to let it pass without a mention, however tardy. I have to hold my hands up and admit that I'm not exactly an impartial listener - I named my new indiepop club night after a song from this album after all, so it's safe to say I'm a fan.

Although they write simple songs bordering on the twee (alright, massively twee), don't forget that The Smittens are a talented group of musicians. Singing duties are shared more-or-less equally between Colin Clary, Dana Kaplan and Max Andrucki, which gives the album a pleasing variety. No-one sings more than two in a row, and Dana's sweet-little-girl voice could scarcely be more different from Max's Stephin-Merrit-esque baritone.

You want highlights? 'Half My Heart Beats' is an instant classic, regardless of any bias on my part. It's one of several songs on the album that has more than a hint of a doo-wop influence, and that's no bad thing as far as I'm concerned. 'Something Sassy' features a cameo from Tullycraft's Sean Tollefson, and is therefore ace by default. 'Gumdrops' is a little twee-pop gem of the kind Colin Clary can write at will. Those are my favourites, but there are no clunkers at all here.

The Coolest Thing About Love is available now on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records. Sadly there are no free mp3s available from the album, but there's a selection of downloads from other releases on the band's website.

[Myspace link]

Papillons noirs is a new London Belfast 7” single imprint. We'll be issuing
brilliant singles by Komon, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Cloetta Paris in the
very near future. Our first release is Chicagoian stargazer Fireflies'
moonlight ride through the French band's cherry blossomed classic.

In my humble opinion this is the second best 7" this year. So far only beaten by The Pains of Being Pure at Hearts "Everything With You"

Pick up your own copy of Fireflies 7 " here:
Papillon Noir

It's been a bit quiet on the Aberfeldy front this past year or so. After two cracking albums on Rough Trade the label and the band parted company. Now after a couple of line up changes Aberfeldy have now been picked up by 17 Seconds Records, the sister site of the 17 Seconds music blog, for their new release.

Claire (or is it Come On, Claire?) is a delightful little single that has it's roots firmly planted in the indie pop propagator. There are lovely noises here which sound like they are being emitted via the BBC Radiophonic Workshop whilst the lyrics and vocals are as catchy as ever especially when it comes to the chorus. Flip side Talk Me Round isn't as accessible on the first listen or two but soon wins me over with it's charms that creep up on my ears somewhat subliminally. Claire fits snugly amongst the bands already impressive roster of singles that include Vegetarian Restaurant and Hypnotised. Highly recommended.

Some free music to kick the week off:

Champagne Riot - Scandanavian Warfare

Taken from their brand new single Paris & I which is out now on Shelflife Records.

A Classic Education - We can Always Run To Hawaii

A new song and not one from their excellent debut 12" which you can buy direct from the band.

The Melting Icecaps - Selfish Bachelor
The melting Icecaps - How To Appear Well Adjusted

Totally free and most excellent new download single from ex Luxemborg chap David Shah.

Au Revoir Simone - Sad Song (Pacific Remix)

Taken from the band's new remix album Reverse Migration.

The Legends - Seconds Away

I have posted it before and I am going to post it again. Superb comeback track from Johan of Labrador Records, Acid House kings, Club 8 etc etc!

Sceneslow - vapour trail disappears sometime and...

A free album mixing shoegaze with ambient sounds direct from Japan. More than a hint of a Ride influence too.

Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts

Taken from their forthcoming album due out on Slumberland Records.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You

Another repost but boy what a track. The best free track on the net right now? If you know better than let me know. The debut album, due in Feb 2009, is going to be a cracker.

Here are some pics taken from our Lost Music Presents gig this past Friday night. Sarandon headlined but Pocketbooks were the stand out band on the night for me. I haven't seen them for a while and they were magnificent to say the least. As you can see Billy Idol enjoyed them too. Emma from The Pocketbooks also sang with Sarandon which meant we heard their brand of noisy C86 pop from a different angle.

More pictures can be found here including pixs of Pete Green and The Arndales. A big thanks should be given to Ian Pocketbooks and Ant from The Arndales for doing the sound on the night. Cheers fellas.

Finally there is a nice interview with Pocketbooks over at All That Ever Mattered.

Cloudberry Records officially released two more 7" vinyl singles today.

First is Whistler by Minisnap whilst the second is Je Suis Animal's Painted In My Face.

Like all their releases you can try before you buy!

Minisnap - Whistler
Je Suis Animal - Painted In My Face

Buy direct from the label.

[My Space link]

A Labrador Press Release. Why reinvent the wheel?

Pallers - new band on Labrador! (free MP3 download)

Labrador proudly present Swedens newest band – Pallers. “Humdrum" was produced in Spain with a view over the Mediterranean. During one week of constant sunshine they created the darkest and finest electronic music we’ve heard in a long time. This is dance music for the lazy, the blazers and for the slightly depressed.

Pallers - Humdrum

"Our heads are flooded after decades of intense listening, and when we create we pour it all out. One leg is always standing in the green grass of pop while the other leg is out on its own, wandering between places such as dancefloors, sandy beaches, cold concrete and a weightless existence in a bed or a hammock." PALLERS

"Humdrum" will be released on 12" vinyl on December 3 backed by a remix by Ultracity, a Pallers Delight Version and the future blazer-favourite "Slow down quickly.

Track list:
A1. Humdrum
A2. Humdrum (Pallers Delight Version)

B1. Slow Down Quickly
B2. Humdrum (Ultracity Epic Remix)

The Labrador shop is here.

[My Space link]

19 songs, all around a minute long, on one 7”. How ace is that?
There’s a lot of good stuff here, of which follows some of the best. The Jesus’ Jimmy Tractor is I, Ludicrous fed through the Jesus and Mary Chain mincer. The Video Club’s Teen Sex Pirate Radio is a bleeping frenzied fumble in the pub car park, The Star Fighter Pilot’s Stalk Tonight is the sound of Japanese robotics and Micropenis give us All I Need, a lo-fi Bis for your delectation. Combine The New Royal Family with Alexander’s Festival Hall and Eddie Argos and you get a cross between Chic and The Village People in the form of I Wish I Was Gay while Party On Jupiter by Hyperbubble is somewhere between space pop and Plastic Bertrand.
Onto Side 2 and you get Billy Ruffian, whose The Windsor Uplift is The Fall do surf pop and Page After Page by Captain Polaroid, its less well formed relation. The 33 seconds of Town Bike’s Cock Muff Bumhole is the undoubted highlight, outdoing Helen Love in a spurt of surf sixties pop and a tirade of potty mouth lyrics. The final notable track is by Rocket Uppercut, who sound like a baby Ash from the good old days.
Novel ideas like this don’t always work, but this one does thanks to some wise band selection.

Just A Minute is released by Filthy Little Angels on October 27th.

Further to my review of their latest EP here is an exclusive track taken from the Lights Are Getting Low EP by Baby Grand. On Best and Brightest you can hear why I compare them to the likes of The Hermit Crabs and Camera Obscura. It's a cracking track!

Baby Grand - Best And Brightest

Buy Lights Are Getting Low EP by Baby Grand direct from the bands My Space page.

[My Space link]

I reviewed The Color (how that spelling plays havoc with a British spellchecker!) Wheels' enjoyable self titled début album almost a year ago now.

The band, who hail from Poughkeepsie, have been receiving good reviews for the album and have now announced an eight date US tour. If the album is anything to go by they will be worth catching if you are in any of these places:

Nov 7 - New Paltz, NY @ Bacchus
Nov 8 - Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands
Nov 9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
Nov 10 - Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge
Nov 11 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Howler's Coyote
Nov 12 - Buffalo, NY @ Broadway Joe's
Nov 14 - Rochester, NY @ Monty's Krown
Nov 15 - Oswego, NY @ The Raven

The Color Wheels - Green Means Go

You can buy the album from Viper Bite Records as well as a number of digital download stores. You can stream the whole album here.

[My Space link]

Lost Music Presents @ the Enterprise (with guest DJ Rocker from Dandelion Radio!)

Sarandon
Making their first (and possibly only) appearance of 2008 are this English trio - after releasing one of the LPs of the year (Kill Twee Pop!) expect twisted short pop songs with immaculate jerky rhythms.

“An undeniable low-key genius.” - the wire

“This is articulate, quintessentially British pop.” - plan b

“Eternally recording the perfect John Peel Session” - guided missile

” Scratchy, thumpa-thumpa, shouty and great, and a minute later it’s over. ” - artrocker

Pocketbooks
Pocketbooks are the premiere indiepop band from London, combining melodic boy/girl harmonies, spiralling guitars and delicate piano lines. Expect a sprinkling of dazzling 60s soul alongside some sparkling indiepop charm! They’re taking time out from recording their debut LP to appear at this show.

“It’s pure snowshaker pop, and more dressing-table than kitchen sink” - Simon Armitage

Pete Green
Fresh from releasing his second single (Platform Zero EP) on our very own label - Pete returns to London to play his sparkly pop songs. We love him and we think you will too.

Arndales
Arndales make a beautiful indiepop racket (think the noisy end of c86) . So expect to hear some loud guitars, catchy tunes and a smattering of awkward rhythms all combining to make some of the best in your face songs of 2008.

There will be a guest DJ Rocker (Dandelion Radio/The Flatmates) and dancing after the bands until 1am.

Enterprise (opposite Chalk Farm lUL)
2 Haverstock Hill, Camden, London, NW3 2BL
Doors 8pm
£5 advance from We Got Tickets
£6 Flyer
£7 Door

Further to the recent single Apathy by Liechtenstein here is the video for the flip side Security By Design.



[My Space link]

Lights Are Getting Low by Baby Grand is the follow up to the excellent Coming True EP.

The band have taken their lo-fi sound and added layers of delicious guitar melodies and energetic horn playing whilst Gerri White's vocals are as luscious as ever. These songs, which deal with relationships, infidelity, etc, are gentle, beautiful and folk-ish tinged. They will have you closing your eyes and swaying to the wind whilst leaves fall to the ground all around you. You are truly transported to some place else such is the effect of listening to songs like Best and Brightest or Don't Look Down.

This is indie pop at it's finest. Why this Sacramento based six piece are not getting more praise/plaudits is beyond me. Maybe they should move to Scotland because if you like Camera Obscura, The Hermit Crabs, California Snow Story or Belle and Sebastian then this is for you.

Lights Are Getting Low is out now. Buy direct from the band's My Space page.

[My Space link]

Sportday Megaphone are a bleepy hook laden DIY bedroom pop machine. They are also the work of one Hugh Frost and his debut CD has recently been released on Sunday Best Records. The songs that are available for streaming on My Space are all really good. I think my favourite is currently 'Black Plastic'.

This is beat happy DIY electro pop blurs the bounderies. It's not indiepop, it's not full on electronica. It's somewhere just inbetween. It reminds me of Mutt Ramon, Plastic Fuzz and Datapuddle. I've just ordered the CD and I hope it's all as good as what I can hear on the My Space page.

Many months after the first series of My Space round ups - here are a few bands that have caught my ear this past week or so:

Knight School - another band coming out of New York (see Crystal Stilts, Pains of Being Pure At Heart etc) and they make a great shambling c86 via The Bats inspired noise - recalling the Vaselines to these ears. They're well worth a few minutes of your time. Start with 'Pregnant Again' and work through all four songs on their page.

The Fnords - This Scottish band are a great mixture of surf, punk and trashy rock'n'roll. If you've ever danced to The Cramps or fallen over to The Slits - give this 3 piece a listen. This is the sort of sound that makes me want to get up and move. Cracking Stuff.

Berlin Berlin - They've only got one song up for streaming. But what a cracker it is. 'The Other Side' swaggers with the best of them nestling somewhere between The Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division. To me it sounds like the band take their cues from the early Mary Chain b sides like 'Hit' or 'Everythings Alright When You're down'. I'd be curious to hear whether they have any other songs as good as this one.

datapuddle are a quartet. Steve Puddle and Alex Data joined together to form datapuddle with a bunch of electro-gizmos, battered old spanish guitars and anything else that happened to be lying around, so says their bio. They were then joined by a rhythm section to complete the line up. Their new LP 'MonkeySkyMonkey' is the first I have heard by this quartet and it's a nice little record that is best described as fairly low key electro pop. It reminds a touch of Mutt Ramon. After a couple of listens to the LP online - I am slowly getting hooked on the LPs quirky pop charms.

They've made a couple of songs available for download for free from the LP:

Datapuddle - SloGo
Datapuddle - Locational Assist

You can buy the digital version of the LP for just £3.99 (encoded at 256k VBR).

The band are officially launching the LP on 29th November at Cross Kings in London. I sadly can't make this date - but I am sure it will be a cracker.

And here is a video for 'Rhythm Gremlins' which must be from an earlier release as it doesn't seem to be on the new LP.



Links: datapuddle | MonkeySkyMonkey (stream the whole LP here) | My Space

Edit - the band are actually a quartet not a duo - thanks to Alex for clearing that up.

It doesn't take long to guess who The Cindy's named themselves after. If the name of the band isn't a clue then the feedback drenched demo's and the Jim Reid like vocals should give further hints.

The bands two demo's up on My Space are pure candy - pscycho candy that is with Screamin' Cindy and She Crashed sounding like You Trip Me Up and The Living End respectively. So that's a big thumbs up from me then. The band, who look very young, are just starting out so I am looking forward to hearing some more from them in future. Promising stuff!

The Cindy's - Screamin' Cindy

[My Space link]

Utah Rangers are a Swedish duo. Old Statistics is a compilation of sorts containing recordings made in 2006 and 2007 taken from their self released CDR's.

The music is reminiscent of some of the indie/dance crossover bands from the early 1990's mixed with sounds that their contemporaries in Sweden make. These include The Strip Squad, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and the Tough Alliance to name but a few.

It's the swirl of guitars, drums, synths and vocals that live life in the fast lane that give these songs a sense of excitement and drive. Over the 12 minutes here these songs take you on an exhausting ride through beats and melodies with barely time for the listener to pause for breath between each one before play is pressed again. An audio adrenaline rush!

Utah Rangers - Theme Song

The Old Statistics EP is out now on Anorak Records.

[My Space link]

Keith John Adams did an extraordinary thing this year where he recorded 43 new songs for people who pre-order his 'Unclever' LP. Keith has now sorted out a little web page for all 43 songs.

From the webpage:

Keith says: "At the 2007 CMJ festival in New York, Mike from HHBTM Records suggested I write personal songs for the first 25 people who pre-order the album, Unclever, which was due out at the end of the year. They'd each give me a story about themselves, and I'd compose and record a bespoke song just for them. I loved the idea and foolishly upped it to 40 songs, though in the end it was 43."

The process: "I wrote and recorded the lot in about 6 weeks, usually doing 2 a day. I'd sit there with an e-mail of a story and a cup of coffee, and give myself an hour or so to come up with the concept and lyrics. Then I'd go into my little home studio and work feverishly to come up with the music. I had one SM57 microphone, my guitars, a cheap keyboard and a tiny drum-kit. After 3 hours or so I usually had something usable. All of them are, I suppose, sort of overworked demos. I thought it'd be a chance to recycle some old ideas but in the event it was easier to just let my mind flow and improvise completely new stuff. I'd given myself several days off, but by song 30 I was losing it. I sent Mike a message saying I couldn't finish the songs. He responded by telling me to just get on with it and stop moaning!"

And that's how it worked. Head over here to listen to (and download) all 43 songs. Or you can download the whole lot in one big zip file.

This Year's Model are a quartet from Sweden and they make spikey, yet tuneful indiepop. The guitars jangle in all the right places. They've made some songs available to download on their website as My Space are still having issues allowing bands to offer their music up for free download.

They have a recently (2008) recorded song available for download on their webpage:

This Year's Model - No More Easter (Rough Mix)

The band released an LP - "The Clock Strikes Ten" back in 2007 on Marsh Marigold from where this track is taken:

This Year's Model - Ten O'Clock Murder

There are 5 songs for streaming over on My Space

You want melody friendly female fronted indiepop? Look no further than Marlovers. This four piece from Spain have been around since 2005 and have made a couple of demo releases (but as far as I can tell - no proper releases). When they started out they were called Marlo - but this changed last year to Marlovers. I only stumbled upon the band on My Space a few weeks back and I've since become a firm fan of this shimmering pop band. My favourite on the site at the moment is 'Cooking Bedroom'. Go take a listen or you can watch the video for their song 'Like A Movie':

One of the most surprising comebacks in the indie pop world these past couple of years has been that of Strawberry Story. However comeback they did and their early shows (Monkey Chews/Buffalo Bar) were entertaining to say the least. I didn't catch them at indie tracks but those who did thought the band were disjointed and that a spilt was imminent. That was sadly confirmed on a My Space blog posting towards the end of last month.

Summer Scene was released a week before the split. The title track is vintage Strawberry Story with loud fuzzy guitars complete with Hayley's childlike vocals tearing up a strip. It's two minutes of indie pop joy. Sadly things come to a halt with Andrew which summarises the bands weakest points. Hayley's slow candy infected vocals soon begin to grate rendering the song un-listenable. Luckily it's back on fuzzy path with For The Love Of Billy. This is the sound that band did so best. It's what I remember them for and I thank them for that!

Of course they are best known for Ashlands Road and the label have stated that Molly Ringwald is better than that classic track. I see where they are coming from. Although the song does sound like a speeded up version of the former it's not as classy but that said it's still a wonderful track. The EP ends with Kiddie which features the actual words written by a Great war soldier writing back home to his loved one from the trenches. It's touching and poignant. A bit like what Strawberry Story were at times.

Strawberry Story - Molly Ringwald



Summer Scene is out now on Anorak Records. The whole EP can be streamed via My Space.

[My Space link]

Jonny Cola & The A-Grades is the band formed by Alex, formerly of Luxembourg, which includes members of The Rocks and Ataraxy. The double a-side We're All Going To Die/Heroics is the bands début single.

The band's sound is very 1970 glam rock-ish, plain and simple. Talk about wearing your influences on your sleeve. On We're All Going To Die, which isn't a cover of Malcolm Middleton by the way but does borrow part of the chorus, it's hard not to let yourself get transported back in time to a land of platform shoes and gold spandex suits. On Heroics it all goes a bit Bowie especially on the vocals. There are also parts of Bonnie Tyler's hit Holding Out For A Hero too. Gene Hunt would love it. Certainly not serious or essential but it's damn right enjoyable.

The band are playing a number of dates in London over the next month. The single is released on 3rd November 2008 on BBA Highland.

[My Space link]

Squaresville are a band from Denmark. They recently contributed a fine version of 'Teenage Lust' to The Jesus and Mary Chain covers project. On the strength of this I was sent a self titled four song EP. And it's good stuff. The band take in influences ranging from the already mentioned Mary Chain through to Ride and Tompaulin and other guitar loving noisepop bands.

My favourite of the four songs on offer is probably 'Give me a riot and some tale of love' although 'Beautiful Hind' runs it a close second with it's clean opening guitar sound that recalls bands like The Bats and the rest of the Flying Nun stable.

Squaresville - Teenage Lust

(My Space)

Adam John Miller from The Manhattan Love Suicides has a new solo guise and it's called The Medusa Snare. Fans of the Manhattans will probably be right at home with his take on scuzzy rock n roll with influences like The Cramps, The Clean and The Velvet Underground bubbling to the surface. I am a fan of this kind of thing and it's not massively removed from the noise that The Manhattan Love Suicides make. Although it's is different enough to be enjoyed on its own.

The debut CD by the Medusa Snare is set for release on Squirrel Records shortly. The single will be called 'Cinderella EP' with the following five songs on it:

Slow Motion (stream on My Space)
Belenkaya
Ixtab (stream on My Space)
N.C.Y
Blow

If the songs on My Space are anything to go by we're in for a treat with The Medusa Snare.

The Manhattan Love Suicides have just released their umpteenth single - Veronica B/w The 10th Victim. Safe to say - it's wonderful. A more rock n roll sound running through it's grooves but still utterly brilliant. It's out now on Squirrel Records.

If this wasn't enough the band have another single ready for November. Another 2 track single - Kessler Syndrome B/w Don't Leave Me Dying. The band have also recorded two more tracks "Misery City" and "Churches Burn" and these will feature on a split single on our very own Lostmusic Records - expected January 2009.

And the band that keep on coming - keep on with some upcoming compilation appearances:

"Stolen Car" on a Bruce Springsteen covers album.
"Superboy & Supergirl" Tullycraft cover for Magic Marker 10th Anniversary compilation.
"Snakedriver" Jesus & Mary Chain covers project on Lostmusic Records.

...and finally work is underway for their next album-proper which should be ready for March/April 2009.

New York band Crystal Stilts came to me highly recommended. A number of people sang their praises to me (all at roughly the same time too) and then a few weeks ago I read a little review of them over on the always excellent Fire Escape Talking.

I've since managed to get hold of a few MP3s and it has taken a long while for the band to get under my skin. But under my skin they have got. The sound they make has faint echoes of Joy Division to my ears - albeit poppier and less dense sounding. There is distinct early 80s feel to what is going on. The sound on these songs is kind of ragged, loose and roomy and over the course of the last month or so I come to enjoy these songs more and more. So I recommend you give the band a few listens before deciding. A band worth taking the time over. I look forward to hearing more by the band - they have an LP out at the end of October - it's going to be called 'Alight of Night' (Slumberland Records). They also have a mini LP (where these MP3s are from, I'd guess) on Woodist. I shall be getting both as soon as funds allow.

Welsh psychedelic popsters The Loves have a new album out soon called Three. Leading up to this over the next couple of months they will be releasing three free download singles all with two new b-sides.

The first of these singles has been released and it's called The Ex-Gurlfriend. It's meant to be downloadable from here but since My Space has changed the mp3 player I have not be able to download direct from the site so I am hosting them right here on indie-mp3.

The Loves - The Ex Gurlfriend
The Loves - Jonny Angelo Blues
The Loves - Around and Around

[My Space link]

Decoration headlined our Lost Music Presents show last night. Support was from The Kick Inside, The Postcards and The Hillfields. It was the launch night for their brand new album See You After The War. I have to say the band were absolutely fantastic live and that was one of the best performances I have seen this year. Yes they sound very similar to vintage Wedding Present but when a band are as good as this who cares?

Tracks from their new album are currently available for streaming on My Space - go and give them a listen.





More pix can be found here.

This is the video for a new track called Square Mile taken from the new album. Trev posted recently but hell let's post it again!



This is a video for an older track called Escape Routine.



[My Space link]