theblackenedair

the shadow ring | city lights

2011-11-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

first album.

lp released by dry leaf discs in 1993.

get.

50holehead | climax tailings

2011-11-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

...and suddenly 2 months have gone by... anyway, hopefully you've downloaded the may queen in july comp and enjoyed one of the standout tracks by 50holehead - in which case, here's a whole album of the same quality.

tim whalen was an american living in tokyo. possibly he still is. i have no idea. at the time he had his own label (didn't everyone?), semi-roar, releasing his own stuff alongside the likes of italy's onq, argentina's reynols and nottingham's warser gate. he would also send me little clear plastic bags that i used to package later releases in. handy.

this was my 50th release.

tape released by kylie productions in 1999.

get.

new bad things | freewheel!

2011-09-03T22:28:00.001-04:00

the debut album by nbts...

lp released by candy-ass in 1995.

get.

various | the may queen in july

2011-09-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

this is the best tape compilation i did, and i never bloody released it. i spent 2 years compiling it, was very excited about it, but then its completion coincided with the collapse of my tiny empire in 2000. oof.

anyway, at 2 x c60 it's a monster - 42 tracks in all - and it's basically dedicated to four-track pop, so expect lots of hiss along with the tunes.

and there really are plenty of tunes to be had here, from:

::: charlie mcalister
::: father
::: southern charm pageant
::: remora
::: crayola summer
::: inca eyeball
::: girlboy girl
::: mad planets
::: courtis
::: werewolves on hashish
::: in tundra
::: tegan fraid (age 3)
::: hood
::: caleb fraid
::: 50holehead
::: jalopy
::: michelle glaw
::: fink
::: plundershop
::: warser gate
::: smirkworthy
::: elk
::: catkins of jazz
::: food
::: november 1959
::: frank peck
::: will simmons
::: drekka
::: i hail taxis
::: cocker spaniels
::: ring
::: mandorris
::: crosseyed
::: my place in space
::: shy rights movement
::: swingset
::: wagstaff
::: princeton reverbs colonnial
::: george willard
::: fernando

2 x c60 nearly released by kylie productions in 2000.

part 1.
part 2.

the shadow ring | the music of the shadow ring

2011-09-01T22:06:00.003-04:00

debut 7" from graham lambkin and co. as intriguing as the cover art.

7" released by dry leaf discs in 1993.

get.

father | night classes

2011-08-31T22:46:00.003-04:00

as promised, here's a third father tape, and the last one i have, and indeed the last one i know about. anyone know if there were others?

the eagle-eared will spot a few duplicate tracks on this one to the other two, though slightly different versions.

quality.

at some point i'll rip the 555 7", though i suspect someone else has beaten me to it.

tape released by cakehole in 1996(?).

get.

father | dancing major

2011-08-29T21:56:00.000-04:00

only just getting round to posting this one because for a long time i couldn't figure out the tracklisting, but finally i've realised where i was going wrong and now it's all sorted. give this a listen and you may understand my confusion.

anyway, i released this one, and very proud of that i am too. father were brilliant. if you've got the 555 7" of the same title then you should know what to expect: brilliant pop songs poking through a thick layer of hiss and warped time signatures.

sadly i did this rip a long time ago and it's only at 128k, but then somehow that seems appropriate anyway.

i've got some more father stuff, including the night classes tape and one or two tracks destined for a compilation that never made it. on their way.

tape released by kylie productions in 1995.

get.

inca eyeball | he has a brain the size of a fifty pence piece

2011-08-24T21:25:00.000-04:00

this record blew me away at the time just by its very existence - an actual 12" lp by inca eyeball?! they're an acquired taste i guess, one that i acquired on my very first listen.

"for best results, pretend that you like this record."

it has 117 songs.

lp released by fusetron/carburetor in 1995.

get.

various | neon signs in a dralon sky

2011-08-23T21:22:00.003-04:00

the first release from fisheye, the label from paul wild, who ran the distro of the same name. for a while there fisheye was the best source of decent underground tapes, records and zines in the uk. and the label released some quality stuff too.

unsurprising then that this cassette represents a pretty decent snapshot of that scene, with sounds both noisy and tuneful from the uk, us and down under.

it features: children at play, paste, tea culture, prick decay, brown tower, omit, the shadow ring, hood, scaredy cat, calvin party, goosewind, wizard ho ho, moist, refrigerator, polyp, 70 gwen party, derv, lichtenstein girl, superfluous, bucknalls, jack geek, my deviant daughter, earl + osram, the golden mile and w.o.r.m.

for a full tracklisting view the discogs page.

tape released by fisheye in 1994.

get.

into paradise | churchtown

2011-08-18T14:52:00.000-04:00

probably their best album. "yesterday's men" has what i believe is normally termed a "killer hook" - and yet manages to remain delightfully miserable.

like many great records, i picked this up from the bargain bin of rival records in bath back in the day. good times.

cd released by ensign in 1991.

get.

into paradise | for no one

2011-08-16T15:10:00.000-04:00

mini album of swan songs.

cd released by setanta in 1993.

get.

into paradise | down all the days

2011-08-15T15:00:00.003-04:00

cd released by setanta in 1992.

get.

into paradise | angel

2011-08-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

b-side "sleep" is one of those songs that hasn't left my head since 1991.

cds released by ensign in 1991.

get.

various | current affairs

2011-08-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

this is a digital version of a compilation i put together for my own enjoyment in november 1991 of some of my favourite tunes at the time.

this of course was in the days before itunes and therefore the days before the shuffle button and the playlist, when you'd either have to listen to an entire album straight through or waste a lot of battery time fast forwarding on your walkman to your favourites. or you just made your own playlist on a trusty c90 instead.

mostly contemporary and basically fairly predictable for a dedicated nme-reading 17-year-old, listening to it now - almost exactly 20 years later - makes me glow like the ready brek kid. and i still listen to many of these bands and these very records today.

the above image is a scan of the cover i made for the original. i often wonder what happened to the kids in the photo.

::: my bloody valentine - lose my breath
::: simon & garfunkel - homeward bound
::: the wedding present - mothers
::: chapterhouse - then we'll rise
::: neil young & crazy horse - cinnamon girl (live)
::: ride - unfamiliar
::: daisy chainsaw - get real pleasure
::: thousand yard stare - 0-0 a.e.t.
::: tubeway army - are 'friends' electric?
::: ned's atomic dustbin - selfish
::: lush - sweetness and light
::: kingmaker - when lucy's down
::: power of dreams - does it matter
::: ratcat - getting away (from this world)
::: hole - garbadge man
::: bleach - decadance
::: the cure - pictures of you
::: ride - chelsea girl
::: neil young & crazy horse - cortez the killer (live)
::: babes in toyland - the quiet room

get.

70 gwen party | the optical glass empire

2011-08-10T10:24:00.000-04:00

the second and equally hard to find album.

again, rip courtesy of SirHenry67 - thank you!

lp released by snape in 1992.

get.

70 gwen party | devil wrapped & ginsung buried

2011-08-09T03:51:00.000-04:00

first album, second release, from victor n'dip and lurgin pin.

rip courtesy of SirHenry67 - thank you!

lp released by snape in 1990.

get.

animals that swim | madame yevonde

2011-08-08T08:54:00.000-04:00

cracking.

7" released by elemental records in 1993.

get.

back from the dead...

2011-08-06T15:09:00.002-04:00

... sort of.

posts will be pretty sporadic, and may stop again after a brief flurry. but i'd like to get this going again. we'll see if that's physically possible, what with having zero free time and all that.

pure morning | two inch helium buddah

2011-03-22T17:32:00.000-04:00

before there was clinic there was pure morning. slightly less twang.

i seem to remember hearing that john peel played this entire album on his show...

cd released by radar in 1996.

get.

kill laura | the glossy ep

2011-03-18T15:05:00.001-04:00

more excellent indie from the largely forgotten kill laura. this is more chirpy than the previous klee 12"s.

cds released by manchester records in 1995.

get.

kill laura | unloverlike

2011-03-17T22:04:00.000-04:00

2nd ep from kill laura, another belter.

12" released by klee in 1994?

get.

reid | rebreg extract

2011-02-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

second single from frog records, and i remember really rating this at the time, but now i'm struggling to get past the singer's voice. still, some nice elevate/slint style instrumentation. the drummer's next band was the wonderful ganger.

7" released by frog in 1994.

get.

shiva affect | rest is easy

2011-02-08T17:00:00.001-05:00

first and only 7" by shiva affect, featuring an alternative version of the title track to the one that appeared on the album.

if you've never heard this band, then hopefully the info that the record was produced by graham sutton of bark psychosis should tell you all you need to know.

7" released by frog in 1994.

get.

various | make a wish

2011-02-07T17:00:00.000-05:00

first post in a month and first mixtape in a while too. these are all relatively recent chillwave-ish songs. chillwave is obviously a horrific term, but there is a certain reverby thread that runs through these.

lie back and think of the jesus & mary chain.

::: wild nothing - cloudbusting
::: twin sister - lady daydream
::: washed out - belong
::: crystal stilts - shake the shackles
::: still corners - don't fall in love
::: la sera - devils hearts grow gold
::: beach house - i do not care for the winter sun
::: boy friend - d'arrest
::: mean wind - kingdom come
::: sleep∞over - la-rose
::: school of seven bells - bye bye bye

get.

pitman | it takes tea

2011-01-02T10:12:00.003-05:00

brilliant third (?) single from nottinghamshire "miner" mc pitman...

7" released by son records in 2003.

get.

culver/total | untitled

2010-12-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

limited to just 50 copies, this is an early collaboration between lee stokoe and matthew bowers, 3 pieces of superb atmospheric noise. i remember lee telling me at the time that he liked to lie down and let the noise wash over you, revealing itself in layers, and i can totally see what he means from this.

i subsequently offered to release a 7" by the duo, but sadly the kylie empire collapsed before this happened. i still have the master though so perhaps i should post it up here.

tape released by matching head in 1996?

get.

various | huggy nation/kisser boy kisser girl

2010-12-22T21:37:00.006-05:00

i've posted a couple of tracks from this before (in 2006!), but never ripped the whole thing, so here it is in all its glory. this is still one of the best compilations i've ever heard, partly because it contains some fine songs, but mainly for the spirit and energy it conveys. i bought it from a then rare visit to rough trade in covent garden and was immediately inspired to do it myself. the whole concept is so rough & ready, it was hard to listen to it and not want to have a go.

anyway, for the uninitiated, this comp encapsulates the emerging brighton riot grrrl scene, with huggy bear at its epicentre, featuring:

huggy bear
blood sausage ("fuck you & your underground" is probably still my favourite song from that scene)
ascension
the legend!
furbelows
mambo taxi
limpstud
mambo taxi
gabby lionheart
noosong
derv

the tape is full of snippets of film dialogue and uncredited music, some of which is identifiable and some not. as such sometimes it's hard to say when a track finishes and another begins so i just stuck with the official tracklisting. anyway...

tape released by soul static sound in 1992.

get.

various | deliberately lo-fi

2010-12-13T15:38:00.002-05:00

this is the first thing i ever released, and in time-honoured tradition it's a mixed bag, with some bands you probably know (hood, boyracer, 70 gwen party) and tons that (perhaps rightfully) you don't.

listening back now for the first time in a long time, on balance i'd say it's not bad for a first effort. not great, but not terrible either. a bit like the label as a whole.

this was ripped from the master tape, but still very much lives up to its title.

tape released by kylie productions in 1995.

get.

in heaven | aquanova

2010-12-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

i was sent this tape to review in '93 (i think), and i liked it straight away. i don't know anything about the band except they're from devizes in wiltshire (uk), and as far as i can tell this tape comprises all the songs they released. meller welle produkte released a 7" with 3 of the songs, plus i included the title track in my first ever release, "deliberately lo-fi" (which i'll get round to ripping eventually).

anyway, they have a very early 90s sound - think early bark psychosis, slowdive, butterfly child with added haze and distortion - and while it may have dated a little, regular visitors should realise this is right up my street.

tape self-released in 1993.

get.

casette boy | di + dodi do die

2010-12-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

excellent first offering from cassette boy, a cheeky cut & paste job lampooning the melodrama surrounding the death of england's rose.

7" released by barry's bootlegs in 2000.

get.

girl of the year | halo

2010-12-07T17:00:00.000-05:00

the internet barely remembers this band, which is a shame. mind you, i found a review i'd written years ago of a carter usm gig that told me i'd seen goty supporting, and i don't remember them either. hm.

i had the first 2 girl of the year singles, and liked them both, but somehow managed to misplace them somewhere, possibly about the house, possibly in a skip. anyway, i got this (3rd?) one off ebay recently...

7" released by badlands in 1995.

get.

want | on a plane

2010-12-06T14:09:00.001-05:00

the debut - and possibly only solo - release from want, an indie pop from trondheim, norway. also the first release on mykdroner, a 7" only label that embraced norway's noise and indie scenes beautifully.

7" released by mykedroner in 1996.

get.

beanmix | you don't want me anymore

2010-12-05T13:49:00.001-05:00

as far as i can tell this is a one-off collaboration between then-prominent-on-the-4-track-cassette-scene bands orange cake mix and beanpole. the result is some slightly muddy, and in hindsight not terribly exciting lo-fi indie pop - the type the scene was awash with at the time.

7" released by mykedroner in 1997.

get.

various | does your dog moult?

2010-12-04T14:11:00.002-05:00

first and only release from the label and possibly a case of putting all your eggs in one basket, given the quality of bands featured, featuring as it does paste, refrigerator, the keatons and kennedy, plus snog 6 - who were never heard of again.

7" released by happy dog rekordz in 1993.

get.

catapult | blue is the color of...

2010-12-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

the only other record i have by catapult, maybe not quite so good but still up there.

anyone have the architecture album they did?

7" released by clairecords in ?.

get.

catapult | hummingbird

2010-11-27T23:12:00.001-05:00

superb one-sided 12" of shoegazey indie rock. i know nothing about this band, but i like this record a lot.

12" released by bbptc in 1997.

get.

remington super 60 | lost kid

2010-11-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

i don't know anything about this band except they're from norway and this was (i think) their first release. no idea what everything else they did was like, but i like this off-kilter indie pop.

7" released by mykedroner in 1998?

get.

metrotone | two spirals

2010-11-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

the a-side is rather forgettable plinky plonk, but the flip does a pretty good impression of people like ellis island sound, state river widening, etc.

7" released by mykedroner in 1998.

get.

charlie mcalister | i lock the door apon myself

2010-11-09T17:00:00.000-05:00

unique southern bluegrass stylings from south carolina. eat this, mumford.

7" released by bbptc in 1997?

get.

70 gwen party | the killing of victorian britain

2010-11-08T17:03:00.000-05:00

70 gwen party's last record. noam noam noam.

7" released by snape in 1997.

get.

70 gwen party | scorching the antichrist

2010-11-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

a particularly apocalyptic single this, even more bleak than usual, if that's possible.

7" released by snape in 1992.

get.

70 gwen party | the searl brothers

2010-11-05T17:00:00.000-04:00

definitely one of my favourite 70gp records, like depeche mode if dave gahan had been savagely murdered (er sort of).

7" released by snape in 1993.

get.

70 gwen party | through the heart of sunday

2010-11-04T16:56:00.000-04:00

their second to last 7" release.

7" released by snape in 1995.

get.

70 gwen party | howard hughes

2010-11-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

two angry stabs of anti-murdoch/nme/etc rage. delicious.

7" released by snape in 1994.

grrrr.

kg | from innocence to catastrophe

2010-11-02T17:14:00.000-04:00

deliciously noisy stuff on what i believe is kg's 3rd single... and in case you're wondering, this is the french kg, not kicking giant.

7" released by clairecords/tinseltones in 1997.

get.

minmae/electroscope | life and hope in the psychozoic era/electroscope

2010-10-29T19:12:00.000-04:00

been meaning to do this one for a while. these two might be curious bedfellows but somehow this split lp works well. maybe that's because both bands are bloody great. here you can hear minmae edging from their early flying saucer attack fuzz to their later more precise indie rock stylings, while electroscope plough their own unique radiophonic furrow, somehow combining futurism, retro electronics and childlike sensibility. methinks these days they'd find a very welcoming home on asthmatic kitty.

lp released by (the always excellent) rocket racer & airborne virus in 2000.

get.

photo stolen from discogs as i can't be bothered.

peanut | taylor come home

2010-10-28T16:40:00.000-04:00

a complete mystery this record. i bought it when it came out purely because it's on dishy recordings, home of delta and hellfire sermons, and loved it. sadly i never learned who taylor/ian travis is. the record is perhaps summed up by this google translation of the one related blog entry I could find:

I have no fucking idea what this is, but it comes as my 7 "favorite for 3 years. I found in a thrift store that was next to a brothel where he used to go to fuck. It Dishy seal, I do not know what the hell it is. From what I found online this label took some things for a group called Delta to see which were the cabbage in a pussy of gold. Well, Peanut are no less and this single has a face A BRUTAL. A slow song, eternal, rhythm, simple as hell and with a deep voice coil Tindersticks brutal but better. Seriously, is a gem, is the best song in the world and who knows what hell is. Luckily I found it, so that what has been heard, thank God. The B side barely hear it, has been overwhelmed by the previous topic. This makes a guy named Ian Travis, of Liverpool, no fucking idea. Well, he did, the single is 93 and I doubt continue playing.

7" released by dishy recordings in 1993.

get.

that petrol emotion | hey venus

2010-10-27T19:17:00.000-04:00

i ripped this for the b-side - a perfect example of the baggy remix, whereby tpe suddenly discover the dance element to their music.

i put this song on a lot of compilation tapes around that time.

7" released by virgin in 1990.

get in.

boyracer | railway

2010-10-26T17:45:00.000-04:00

i'm sure this is available on a million indie pop blogs already but it was next on the pile so...

boyracer's first single innit.

7" released by fluff in 1992.

get.

velvia | genial

2010-10-25T17:05:00.001-04:00

this is one from my norwich days, when sessions magazine (remember that?) asked me to interview this local band for a feature. i believe this is their only record, which is surprising as it has a big commercial rock sound that should have done pretty well.

pretty different from most of the stuff on this blog, but i've always had a soft spot for it. sometimes a bit of bombastic rock really hits the spot, y'know? makes me think of "stars" by hum, if that helps...

7" released by noisebox in 1997.

if i type form instead of from one more time i'm going to kill myself.

mlehst/brume | unsual methods

2010-10-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

two prime examples of icy industrial ambience. i was a particular fan of all brentnall's mlehst - like labradford if you stripped away any semblance of humanity.

7" released by bandaged hand produce in 1996.

get.

fridge/portal | deadly cube/hydroelectric

2010-10-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

early release by fridge and portal's debut. you want it.

7" released by earworm in 1998.

hit it.

i'm being good/small things | in glorious space age stereo: gods with proboscis

2010-10-20T17:30:00.001-04:00

after a 6-month hiatus we return to the fray - possibly only to return back to the murky depths almost immediately, but still...

the first pieces of music committed to vinyl by both i'm being good and small things, and the only material not available for purchase on the infinite chug website. if you have no idea who these people are then get your downloading finger ready...

7" released in 1994 on destroy all music.

hit me.

mixtape | the quiet before: post-slint post-rock vol. 2

2010-04-27T21:49:00.001-04:00

of course they can also be prone to pretentiousness and a general air of self-importance, but sometimes you need that in a band, you know?

::: godspeed you! black emperor - storm
::: ganger - cats, dogs and babies jaws
::: maserati - 12 16
::: rodan - tooth fairy retribution manifesto
::: dianogah - eating cake
::: god is an astronaut - radau
::: the mercury program - over this land
::: shipping news - the march song
::: emery reel - his hammer is my axe
::: set fire to flames - steal compass / drive north / disappear
::: mono - the flames beyond cold mountain

get.

mixtape | the quiet before: post-slint post-rock vol. 1

2010-04-26T21:34:00.005-04:00

this new primer covers what you could call the "post-slint" side of post-rock; these are bands that tend to start quiet then get really loud then get quiet again. they tend to be on very good terms with their distortion pedals. they tend not to involve singers. they are frequently exhileratingly predictable (i went through a phase of being "off mogwai" because it always feels like you know what's coming next, until i realised i wanted to hear it anyway). they tend to have very muscular bass sounds.

i like all of those things.

::: slint - good morning, captain
::: from monument to masses - the quiet before
::: caspian - loft
::: if these trees could talk - signal tree
::: mogwai - burn girl prom queen
::: june of 44 - mooch
::: explosions in the sky - first breath after coma
::: because of ghosts - the content is irrelevant
::: canyonsofstatic - maps and mazes

get.

podcast | curious beast 4.5

2010-04-14T20:53:00.001-04:00

thinking that number 4 was lost in the mists of time thanks to my tardiness in posting it, crayola went ahead and did another. and be thankful he has - this one is dedicated to the cover version and his selection is pretty damn special.

::: 14 iced bears - coming down (originally by the united states of america)
::: pale saints - fell from the sun (originally by opal)
::: the shrubs - another age (originally by phil ochs)
::: terry & jerry - bias binding (originally by yeah yeah noh)
::: polysics - my sharona (originally by the knack)
::: rapeman - just got paid (originally by zz top)
::: the creepers - baby's on fire (originally by brian eno)
::: big flame - testament to the slow death of youth culture (wake me up when it's over) (originally "wake me up before you go-go by wham!)
::: television personalities - biff bang pow! (originally by the creation)
::: a witness - tomorrow never knows (originally by the beatles)
::: the membranes - voodoo chile (originally by jimi hendrix)
::: harry pussy - showroom dummies (originally by kraftwerk)

get.

trans am/wingtip sloat | split ep

2010-04-08T21:58:00.000-04:00

i think i may have screwed up the tracklisting for the wingtip sloat side - one of those rips were 4 songs are listed but somehow you have 5. but never mind, it doesn't spoil the listening pleasure of these 2 bands. this release came with issue 3 of tuba frenzy. whatever happened to fanzines anyway.

12" released by tuba frenzy in 1996.

get.

podcast | curious beast 4

2010-04-06T11:48:00.002-04:00

finally a new podcast, though crayola actually recorded this last halloween - it's just taken me this long to get it online - prompted by the fact that he's just sent me another. so look out for that in a week.

meanwhile, this one is brimming with ace tunes, as always.

::: labor exchange band - anti-dam militia's march
::: birthday party - nick the stripper
::: summer cats - fulton girls
::: harry pussy - 1986
::: yat-kha - karangailyg kara hovaa
::: host - young and bulletproof
::: international karate plus - give it a name
::: au pairs - we're so cool
::: chorchazade - pie maker
::: rumblefish - theatre king
::: sisterhood of convoluted thinkers - sable
::: kenickie - come in
::: yummy fur - pink pop girls
::: red monkey - cakey pig
::: medusa - rockin' it
::: opal - my only friend

get.

whirling pig dervish | full feather lovesuit

2010-03-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

from the same glasgow scene as dawson, stretcheads etc, this is wpd's first bit of vinyl. lives up the band name.

7" released by gruff wit in 1991.

get.

navigator | when the wires fall

2010-02-28T10:25:00.002-05:00

third single from navigator. the b-side, "impossible without...", is i believe my favourite song of theirs - really lovely.

7" released by noisebox in 1997.

get.

navigator | a little astronomy

2010-02-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

bares the same slightly menacing air and reverbed guitar feedback of killtaker but edges toward the (moderately) lusher sound of later releases.

7" released by noisebox in 1996.

get.

navigator | killtaker

2010-02-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

navigator's debut single, displaying a relatively more traditional approach to song composition, coming across like idaho fronted by stuart staples. brooding & noisy.

7" released by noisebox in 1996.

get.

earwig | past

2010-02-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

finally got my hands opn this cd comp of their first 3 eps, along with the second ep itself. just one more to go and i've got the set. anyway, this has all the tracks on except two i believe, for some odd reason. not listened to it yet, but i know it's going to be good!

cd released by la-di-da in 1991.

get.

re-upping... slowly

2010-02-05T17:29:00.002-05:00

my rapidshare account expired a while ago so lots of links are now dead, but i'm slowly replacing them in between nappy changes and cuddles. if you have any immediate requests let me know...

inca eyeball | quattro symbolos

2010-02-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

inca eyeball go digital - 99 tracks on shiny cd proudly recorded on the usual crappy tape deck. nice.

cd released by spirit of orr in 1997.

get.

new bad things | society

2010-02-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

for alyssa... no cover image - no idea what happened to my copy...

lp released by lissy's in 1996.

get.

various | big-bollocked bonfire blow up

2010-02-02T16:56:00.000-05:00

mmm must rip my fabric lp.

::: emperor julian - red rag
::: joeyfat - perfumery, incendiary
::: hood - attempts to revive the victim failed
::: wat tyler - everything i do
::: ligament - way good otis
::: fabric - friend

7" released by ka-boom! in 1995.

get some.

sonic youth | battery park, nyc july 4th 2008

2010-01-29T16:47:00.000-05:00

sadly i have yet to experience the true 'youth live experience - that atp show where they crapped out 50mins of drones doesn't count. i had a ticket to see them last year here in atl but in the end couldn't go. so until that happens i'll lap up documents like this. this was the buy early exclusive thingy from last year. the sound quality is great and the band of course rocks.

lp released by matador in 2009.

get.

c.o.m.a. | i can't listen anymore

2010-01-27T16:30:00.000-05:00

this 7" was one of the first freebies i got when i started doing fanzines, along with a comp cd from the same label. c.o.m.a. went on to gain no notoriety whatsoever, despite the good review i gave it.

maybe it was the novelty of getting something for free from a stranger, or maybe it actually is a good record, but i still find myself humming "again and again and again" to myself. this reeks of bedsit angst, from the 4-track/drum machine production to the anguished repetitions of the vocals. it's like big black if steve albini was too tired to be angry any more.

7" released by landspeed records in 1991.

get.

simon wickham-smith & richard youngs | worried about the weather

2010-01-26T16:00:00.002-05:00

another fine record from fourth dimension, featuring the first-rate collaboration between simon wickham-smith and richard youngs. such instruments as thai harp, electric guitar and bolivian flute were used in the recording, but i challenge you to pick them out. instead your ears are pleasured by the sighing of angels, albeit angels that work in some kind of industrial plant.

7" released by fourth dimension in 1993.

ride me big, sheldon.

mixtape | bliss: a shoegazing primer

2010-01-22T11:34:00.005-05:00

by way of dipping my toes back into the blogwater, here's the shoegazing mix i posted a while back, repackaged to match the other compilations i've done recently. here's whast i said last time:

shoegazing as a music genre has popped in and out of fashion since its media inception around 1990. but these days it seems more popular than ever, with various blogs, compilations and new bands dedicated to celebrating and replicating the layered sounds popularised by just a handful of bands.

shoegazing will always have a special place in my music collection because its arrival coincided with my own musical "awakening", transforming me from someone who liked a bit of music, this and that, bits and bobs, to a rabid indie guitar fan. so i've followed this most recent revival with interest. and one thing that has bugged me is the revisionism of the higher profile commercial compilations out there. i think the issue these compilers find is that in reality there just weren't that many bands that were doing the shoegazing thing at the time - at least not to any real degree of success.

like most music scenes, it was largely a media fabrication to help shift copies of the nme. that there was a cluster of bands clearly drawing from similar influences is true, but their number was pretty small. so that's why you end up with compilations littered with the likes of lush, swervedriver, curve, spiritualized and so on - good bands in their own right, but just because you share labels and bills doesn't mean you share sound too.

so i decided, largely for my own entertainment on a wet weekend, to compile my own shoegazing primer for the uninformed out there.

::: my bloody valentine - emptiness inside
okay, so mbv aren't really shoegazing, but without them you can bet the scene would never have existed, so it would be churlish to omit them. you know about this band already.

::: ride - decay
the big guns of the scene who set the template for the others to follow: one word band name, four track eps, one word record names, a sound that blends 60s psychedelia and pop sensibility with blistering noise and tons of reverb - a sound that the band themselves admit owes a large debt to both mbv and the house of love. sadly they never bettered their debut album.

::: the boo radleys - sometime soon she said
in between aping dinosaur jr and a commercially successful stint as britpop whores, the "do badleys" released a handful of pitch perfect shoegazing eps and one album ("everything's alright forever") with a heavy emphasis on the psychedelics. they repeated the formula with follow up "giant steps", a critical success but to my ears a record digged by rubbish self-production, before eventually gifting breakfast djs everywhere with "wake up boo!".

::: bleach - dipping
the underdogs of the scene, never achieving any major commercial success. true to form, they released a couple of blinding eps but their debut album marked the beginning of an artistic and public decline. their sound featured the scene's characteristic wall of guitars, but it's metronomic repitition and salli's upfront singing/rapping style gave them a harder edge that has more in common with the camden "lurch" scene than their home counties chums.

::: moose - i'll take tomorrow
critical darlings whose first three eps are classics of the genre, but the band quickly left the sound behind, with subsequent records owing much more to country music than the chorus and distortion pedal. a brilliant band.

::: medicine - aruca
not really part of the scene in a physical sense, given they're yanks, but they were signed to creation and they have clearly listened to mbv more than a couple of times. the americans insisted on calling the genre "dreampop", belying the vast amounts of distortion on offer.

::: pale saints - sight of you
the band themselves would probably have scoffed at being included at the time, but the similarities in sound can't be denied on their first few records, even if they had more of that customary 4ad quirk to them.

::: slowdive - morningrise
it's impossible to think of shoegazing without thinking of slowdive, and i think it's fair to say that their dreamy, chorus-heavy washes of sound have been just as big an influence on later generations of "nu-gazing" (ugh) bands as mbv. and in rachel goswell they had the scene's pin up girl.

::: the telescopes - flying
i hesitate to include the telescopes, since they always had a much stronger garage influence than the others, a darker edge that links them in my mind at least with bands like spacemen 3 and loop. but for a couple of records at least they were slap bang in the heart of things.

::: the ecstasy of saint theresa - swoon
teost crept out of czechoslovakia in 1991. despite years of communist isolation, it seems a few western records were in at least limited circulation. while geographical and ideological barriers meant the band weren't able to physically participate in the escne, thanks to the support of john peel their records made their own valuable contribution in my house at least.

::: drop nineteens - winona
another contribution from across the atlantic, this thunders along like the bostonites they were. basic british elitism means they were generally considered mere copyists at the time, but they definitely had their moments.

::: moonshake - gravity
yes i know, moonshake were not a shoegazing band, and yet their debut ep indicated the contrary. the band would later admit that having signed to creation (home to ride, slowdive etc) they ought to tow the party line. unsurprisingly after this release they jumped ship to too pure,a much more natural home.

::: chapterhouse - treasure
along with ride and slowdive, chapterhouse were subject to a certain amount of inverted snobbery thanks to their home counties' backgrounds. they also had the thankless task of following nirvana's performance at reading in 1991. however, their debut album remains one of the best records of the 90s. sadly they subsequently disappeared down into an ambient black hole.

honourable mentions/deliberate omissions:

adorable: another creation band, but definitely not shoegazers, got that?
beatnik filmstars: their first ep, "themes from foreverdrone" was pure shoegazing. everything else they released: not so much (but still good though).
catherine wheel: songs like "black metallic" and "texture" do qualify them in so much as it means they had effects pedals and knew how to use them. but so did fuzzbox.
curve: yes they had dense layers of guitar noise, but they were too busy twiddling knobs on the mixing desk to look at their shoes.
lush: wikipedia etc will have you believe lush were a shoegazing band, but while they certainly shared plenty of stages (and houses) with moose etc, if it wasn't for the robin-guthrie-patented reverb layer pasted all over their records, they would be "just" a solid indie schmindie band.
revolver: their one good song is a ride rip-off.
spiritualized: no, no, no.
stereolab: like lush, part of "the scene that celebrates itself" (tim gane played occasional guitar in moose), not shoegazing.
swervedriver: generally lumped in because they were signed to creation and released eps, but they were much heavier and clearly in thrall to us college rock.
ultra vivid scene: i don't get this one.

valerie bert n ernie

*coming soon* more post rock mixes - this time the post-slint side of things... plus i will post some actual original records, not just recycled mixes, honest.

i'll be back

2010-01-02T14:20:00.003-05:00

as you may have noticed, this blog is on a temporary hiatus, but i will be back soon. maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sometime and for etc.... if you're wondering why, perhaps the nature of this song will explain it:

::: rockabye baby! - no surprises

various | gigantic 2

2009-11-20T16:22:00.001-05:00

i was one of the lucky 50,000 or so who got to see nirvana's second performance at the reading festival in 1992. it was my first visit, just for the day, and i'll never forget bouncing up and down with everyone else to "in bloom" trying to save my reading fest poster from getting crushed while clutching a plastic bag containing this great indie compilation cd.

put together by melody maker, it's a pretty good survey of the early 90s indie scene with a good smattering of bands demonstrating the scene's inherent quirkiness. so i'm glad it didn't get crushed to bits.

::: the breeders - i just want to get along
::: pale saints - a deeper sleep for stephen
::: cocteau twins - the high monkey-monk
::: see see rider - rosey singer
::: mazzy star - ride it on
::: souled american - buck dancer's choice
::: the clean - i wait around
::: galaxie 500 - flowers
::: lush - scarlet
::: the shamen - pro-gen
::: kitchens of distinction - shiver
::: lightning seeds - 15 reasons
::: band of holy joy - right as rain
::: pussy galore - seattle
::: loop - blood
::: the sugarcubes - eat the menu
::: marc almond - my death
::: cranes - untitled
::: birdland - hollow heart

cd released by melody maker/rough trade in 1990.

get.

70 gwen party | knee deep in evil

2009-11-19T16:00:00.001-05:00

deliciously abrasive and uncompromising single from victor n'dip and lurgin pin.

7" released by snape records in 1992.

get.

dub sex | splintered faith

2009-11-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

dub sex get a brief mention in the associated bands of "death to trad rock", with john describing them as having "tight, menacing songs underpinned by some great drumming and dub bass undertow". despite this, and recording 4 peel sessions in a short space of time, they remain largely forgotten these days.

they released one album, which i don't have, plus a bunch of singles, collected on this here record. "swerve" was the "hit", but "time of life", "kicking the corpse around" and "then and now" show they had plenty more up their sleeves.

get.

(image stolen from rate yr music as i can't find my copy.)

podcast | curious beast 3: death to trad rock

2009-11-10T17:07:00.002-05:00

whoops, went a bit quiet there for a bit... back again with another podcast.

i've been hugely enjoying john robb's "death to trad rock" book. for the uninitiated it covers all those difficult, angular, wonky uk bands from the 1980s that small numbers of men can't talk about without getting slightly breathless and/or misty-eyed.

sarandon has the distinction of being the only contemporary band to be included*, and while we wait for the release of the accompanying compilation album, crayola has dun a podcast:

ac temple - all hail discordia
dandelion adventure - fly on the wall documentary
bogshed - the story of bogshed
the membranes - penal landscape gardener
colgates - annotations of brian
death by milkfloat - ttyf
world domination enterprises - hotsy girl
pigbros - the way things currently are
stretchheads - housewife up yr fuckin' arse music
dog faced hermans - yellow girls
dawson - white colonial
the ex - state of shock

get. *link fixed*

* edit: simon morris has corrected me - there's ceramic hobs too!

mixtape | our tunes: dodgy dance music from school

2009-11-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

i think this was probably the funnest compilation i've done so far, chiefly i think because i haven't heard many of these songs since i was at school so it was a bit like bumping into old friends. except of course this is a collection of mostly terrible cheese, so for friends read enemies.

anyway, hearing some of these songs takes me back to an era when simon bates and his excruciating "our tune" segment ruled the uk airwaves and the kid next to you was nodding his head along to snap! on his aiwa "personal stereo". and i had a minor obsession with marilyn monroe and iron maiden postcards. ah, those were the days...

::: snap! - the power
::: the shamen - move any mountain
::: black box - ride on time
::: soho - hippychick
::: betty boo - where are you baby?
::: c+c music factory - gonna make you sweat (everybody dance now)
::: kicks like a mule - the bouncer
::: altern 8 - active 8
::: nenh cherry - manchild
::: n-trance - set you free
::: n-joi - anthem
::: shampoo - trouble
::: stereo mc's - connected
::: the klf - 3am eternal (live at the ssl)
::: utah saints - something good
::: lisa stansfield - all around the world

download at your own risk.

mixtape | 3 slices of indie pop perfection

2009-11-01T22:02:00.003-05:00

you know, much as i like all the awkward, angular stuff like big flame and all the "clever" post rock, sometimes you just want songs that give you a bit of a cuddle.

::: shop assistants - it's up to you
::: mccarthy - the well of loneliness
::: los campesinos! - miserabilia

coming up next: a seriously dodgy mix of mostly terrible songs that were popular when i was at school. bet you can't wait.

mixtape | bleak house: a uk post rock primer (vol 2)

2009-10-31T08:16:00.000-04:00

and without further ado, here's volume 2. this one picks up at 1994 and ends in 2007 with the slo-core bliss-out of epic45.

i should point out that these two mixes focus on the "experimental" side of post rock. a primer on the sturm und drang noisy side (mogwai etc.) is coming soon.

::: main - rail
::: pram - life in the clouds
::: hair & skin trading company - *
::: 'o'rang - little brother
::: navigator - driving bell
::: state river widening - unsung couples
::: third eye foundation - a galaxy of scars
::: fridge - five four child voice
::: rothko - april 18 / undone
::: hood - closure
::: epic45 - the stars in spring

fill your boots.

mixtape | bleak house: a uk post rock primer (vol 1)

2009-10-30T18:00:00.001-04:00

after a 2-week break it's time to get back into the fray. and here's a mix that i've been tinkering with for a while now. if you're a last fm user and a fan of post rock, then you're probably aware of samuel macklin's uk post rock group and therefore of the compilations he's been posting. in which case, here's my version.

post rock, by definition, is hard to define, but i think the original premise of post rock as a genre was the idea of the rock song deconstructed. think of it as an evolution of the dub/beefheart/punk melange of post punk, with added jazz and house music, plus a genuine sense of space combined with an "anything goes" approach. kind of.

i've sequenced the compilation in basic chronological order, so you get a rough idea of the evolution, though of course i'm not included any of the actual influences, just the influencers (if that makes sense). volume 1 covers the period 1981 to 1994.

anyway, like i said, this is just my take on it. i started to write about each track individually, but really you don't need my waffle.

::: dif juz - heset
::: ar kane - sperm whale trip over
::: bark psychosis - i know
::: my bloody valentine - instrumental
::: talk talk - after the flood
::: earwig - every day shines
::: moonshake - seen and not heard
::: papa sprain - bathtime
::: butterfly child - lunar eclipse
::: disco inferno - the last dance
::: insides - darling effect
::: laika - coming down glass

get.

moving

2009-10-16T22:17:00.001-04:00

just to warn you, i'm in the middle of moving house, so things are going to be a bit quiet here until i get everything sorted out. i'm sure you can handle it.

scarce | all sideways

2009-10-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

bet you haven't listened to this song in a long time eh? (if ever.)

::: scarce - all sideways

mixtape | up! 7 songs to get you up & out

2009-10-10T13:42:00.002-04:00

7 songs guaranteed to make you get out of your seat and jiggle a little - if you're me anyway. seriously, if i was djing in the pub at atp in camber sands i'd be playing all of these songs. the room might be empty but i'd be having a brilliant time.

::: fool's gold - nadine
::: guillemots - trains to brazil
::: miracle fortress - whirrs
::: mazarin - chasing the girl
::: vampire weekend - horchata
::: akron/family - everyone is guilty
::: clinic - the return of evil bill

get.

mixtape | 3 slices of indie fuzz/pop

2009-10-09T18:00:00.001-04:00

all three of these songs popped into my itunes at once. there must be something in the water at the moment (or maybe it's the pot). the kind of music that makes me excited about limited edition 7" singles, like the last 15 years didn't happen, like there was no such thing as itunes.

::: pens - high in the cinema
::: vivian girls - can't get over you
::: pains of being pure at heart - higher than the stars

*bonus* a classic of yore:

::: velocity girl - crazy town

get them all.

del amitri | nothing ever happens

2009-10-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

not sure this really can be classed as a power ballad, but it's certainly a ballad and round these parts del amitri aren't on any "cool" lists, so in my mind this fits the bill.

i was introduced to del amitri while slaving away clearing tables in a tourist trap in bath. i got talking to a girl (it's always a girl isn't it) about music and she taped "waking hours" on one side and that edie brickell album on the other. nothing ever came of the girl, but i did listen to the tape. not my usual fare but the earnestness of a number of the songs dug its claws into me and have yet to let go.

this is a song destined to play over that scene where the girl sits and hugs herself and cries on a bench in a park overlooking the city.

::: del amitri - nothing ever happens

photo nicked from here.

mixtape | loose fit: a baggy primer

2009-10-08T18:00:00.001-04:00

like my britpop urge, i've recently been listening to a fair bit of baggy, that scene where former indie no-hopers popped a few e's and suddenly discovered that "there'd always been a dance element to our music". thus bands like the farm and the soup dragons, after years of toiling in indie obscurity all of a sudden were on top of the pops.

the real kings of the scene of course were happy mondays and the stone roses, closely supported by organ ginders insprial carpets and the charlatans. you know all this already of course.

for me baggy kicked off with the james single "come home" and a 30-second experimentation with white socks and tracksuit bottoms after looking at pictures of inspiral carpets' audience in select. oh, the folly of youth etc.

so, once again, here's my own personal journey through baggy, with paris angels song thrown in for a laugh (be grateful it wasn't bridewell taxis). no major surprises here i don't think...

::: the stone roses - she bangs the drums
::: james - come home (flood mix)
::: the farm - groovy train
::: happy mondays - dennis and lois
::: paris angels - perfume (all on you)
::: primal scream - come together (farley mix)
::: the soup dragons - lovegod
::: insprial carpets - move
::: electronic - get the message
::: jesus jones - right here, right now
::: the high - up and down
::: northside - shall we take a trip
::: new fast automatic daffodils - big
::: the charlatans - then
::: candy flip - strawberry fields forever

grab it.

headbutt | disillusioned

2009-10-07T16:41:00.000-04:00

here's the other headbutt record. on the always excellent fourth dimension label...

7" released by fourth dimension in 1994.

get it.

insides | clear skin promo

2009-10-06T18:00:00.000-04:00

not had a chance to listen to this properly yet, but this is a 12" promo geurnica/4ad put out to promote insides' "clear skin" record. this record was of course a single, long long track, so it's not surprising on the promo you get a couple of edited versions. plus there's "further distractions", an extrapolated version of a "euphoria" album track that was also included on the limited 7" extra.

according to this release's discogs page, the release of this promo against the band's will was what led them to leave the label. but i remember kirsty telling me in an interview that she had had to beg ivo to release "clear skin" in the first place since guernica was meant to be for one-off releases only. so who knows the truth of this.

12" released by guernica in 1994.

get.

image knicked from discogs as, frankly, i couldn't bother to get the camera out.

idaho | year after year

2009-10-05T18:39:00.001-04:00

wonderful, dreamy first album from idaho, the vinyl crackles just enhancing the overall intimate experience for me.

lp released by caroline in 1993.

get. *link fixed*

papa sprain | flying to vegas

2009-10-04T18:00:00.002-04:00

first-class debut ep from gary mckendry & chums. if you've listened to the demos already then you've heard the lead track already. and if you've listened to the "may" ep then you'll already be familiar with the dreamy ambient style of "spout". my favourite is "rich", all thumbclicks and gary's intimate "back home/my room/with your letters", reminiscent of no one except his cohort butterfly child.

my copy is a bit crackly and judders a little at the outer edges. bummer.

12" released by h.ark! in 1991.

get.

**bonus**
::: papa sprain - flying to vegas [remix] (from "volume one")

for more about papa sprain, take a look at this post on bubblegum cage iii.

*update*
defintely take a look at bubblegum cage if you haven't already - sam's post brought some former members of papa sprain out of the woodwork and revealed some recent recordings!

john davis | blue mountains

2009-09-28T18:00:00.000-04:00

for most people, if you know john davis at all, it's from his collaboration with lou barlow as folk implosion, a band i first heard via their chocolate monk cassette debut. "everyone" of course knows lou, but here's a later period album from the wispy-voiced other half of the duo.

to me, john's music is all about silence and fragility. my favourite song by him is his contribution to the shrimper compilation "abridged perversion", "i had a dream i was down by the ocean" - it's so dreamily wistful. i only got this album recently - his records are sadly hard to find these days - but on cursory listen it's very much in that vein.

as far as i can tell he hasn't released anything since he left folk implosion in 2000 - i wonder what he's doing now.

lp released by shrimper in 1997.

get it.

earwig | hardly

2009-09-24T17:49:00.001-04:00

first of the three early eps from earwig, forerunner to the much-admired-in-certain-small-circles insides. sadly i haven't tracked down the other two, at least at a price i'm willing to pay right now...

much thinner than the later womb-like insides, it has that almost harsh sound of early cocteau twins instead. and it's no worse off for it.

12" released by la-di-da in 1990.

get.

the swell season | in these arms

2009-09-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

like millions, i was thoroughly charmed by the film "once", and have listened to the soundtrack many times since. and now glen hansard and marketa irglova are releasing a new album at the end of october as the swell season. and judging by this preview track it's going to be lovely.

but the real question of course is, are they still together?

::: the swell season - in these arms

mixtape | new new buy buy

2009-09-23T20:35:00.002-04:00

a selection of great tunes from new new records... there seems to be a ton of good bands floating around and interesting labels releasing their records. if i had a million dollars i'd have ordered all of them, but for now i'll make do with these.

oh, and i think i found all of them via mbv music. thanks.

::: systems officer - shape shifter
::: early day miners - so slowly
::: the fresh & onlys - dude's got a tender heart
::: real estate - beach comber
::: the pains of being pure at heart - higher than the stars
::: jookabox - you cried me

get the set.

wolves! (of greece) | wolves! (of greece)

2009-09-23T16:44:00.001-04:00

this is the one and only release by nottingham's awkwardly punctuated wolves! (of greece), a one-sided 10" of songs that basically all run together. i could have chopped these up into individual tracks with fades etc but clearly that's not how the record is meant to be heard so i didn't.

anyway, wolves! is something of a uk hardcore supergroup, featuring as they do simon of bob tilton on vocals (doing his usual paranoid poet thing), plus various past/present members of gringo stalwarts like reynolds and lords. their sound is like a blizzard meeting a firestorm played through a massive amplifier. not sure why they only every released one record, but then there's something perfect about that.

10" released by gringo in 2004.

*removed as it's still available for sale, from gringo.*

headbutt | steam engine fragrance

2009-09-22T11:15:00.000-04:00

the first time i heard about headbutt was when a friend came back from a gallon drunk gig at the jericho tavern in oxford raving about this band that whacked a supermarket trolley as part of their set. for some reason i only ever got a couple of their records, and this is one of them. niiice.

7" released by dirter promotions in 1993.

get some.

podcast | curious beast: the blackened air 2

2009-09-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

a second podcast from crayola, including two of my favourite songs from bob hund (didn't they get ripped off by blur or something?) and martin white, plus a bit more talking this time!

::: bob hund - instället för musik: förvirring
::: besh o drom - 9s
::: xerobot - huffing
::: richard hell & the voidoids - the kid with the replaceable head
::: chocolate overdose - tricky nose
::: the dragsters - albino
::: kate bush - army dreamers
::: luminous orange - puppy dog mail
::: the coachmen - thurston's song
::: martin white - mystery fax machine girl
::: big black - fish fry
::: the membranes - kafka's dad
::: the bonzo dog doo dah band - my brother makes the noises for the talkies
::: nina hagen - hit me with your rhythm stick
::: tubeway army - something's in the house

fill your boots.

the reverse | shutterspeed

2009-09-15T17:28:00.002-04:00

the second ep in the trilogy, the most exciting thing for me about the recording of this (apart from the songs themselves) was using my new hartke bass stack. i miss it. also, we were recording in a studio/rehearsal complex that had an inhouse chef who made the most amazing sandwiches. i think you can hear the joy of those sandwiches in the recording.

i should mention that like most of the other stuff, this was engineered and produced by graham dominy, a really top bloke whose enthusiasm and support was endlessly validated for a band who constantly second-guessed themselves.

cd ep released by run out in 2007.

get.

mixtape | alright: a britpop primer

2009-09-14T19:11:00.000-04:00

so as i said the other day, i've been listening to a lot of britpop lately, and after a while i got tired of wading through all the shit (hello, northern uproar) and decided to make my own "best of". except this isn't really a best of as such, since that would basically have lots of songs by 4 or 5 bands and no one else. so instead consider this more of a primer of sorts: not necessarily the best but certainly pretty representative of the scene at the time.

as such i've focused only on the years 1994-1996, since that's when the scene was in its prime. i shan't go on about the roots of britpop and tony blair's cool britannia - there's plenty of guff about this elsewhere.

and it should be fairly obvious why i've chosen these particular songs. yes there are lots of other bands i could have included (echobelly, shed 7, embrace, kula shaker...), but these are the ones i liked. with two exceptions: boo radleys were a great band, but "wake up boo!" is an atrocity - but it didn't seem right leaving it out; and i found divine comedy really annoying at the time, but found myself hankering after this song the other day. so there you go.

whatever you made of britpop's empty triumphalism at the time, i think most of these songs have stood the test of time pretty well.

::: oasis - supersonic
::: ash - girl from mars
::: elastica - stutter
::: the bluetones - slight return
::: gene - sleep well tonight
::: dodgy - in a room
::: longpigs - she said
::: ocean colour scene - the day we caught the train
::: pulp - do you remember the time?
::: sleeper - inbetweener
::: menswear - daydreamer
::: suede - the drowners
::: the boo radleys - wake up boo!
::: supergrass - alright
::: the divine comedy - something for the weekend
::: blur - the universal (live)

get.

p.s. actually, come to think of it i disliked quite a few of these songs/bands at the time. blame the fog of nostalgia for my new-found enthusiasm.

queen | who wants to live forever?

2009-09-11T18:51:00.000-04:00

okay this is a stone cold classic. queen were my first love; i must have played their "greatest hits" tape a million times. and i defy anyone to not sing along to this, maybe while holding a microphone at the end of a short stick, maybe doing a bit of air guitar while marrying anita dobson, in leather chaps. admit it, i saw you, it's okay, you're safe.

::: queen - who wants to live forever?