Heaven Is Above Your Head

It Doesn't Have to Be So Simple

2008-07-22T14:09:00.005+02:00

The most promising Swedish band at the moment is Cocoanut Groove. It's been way too long since there was a band influenced by sunshine pop round these parts. Coming from the northern city of Umeå I guess a big dose of Roger Nichols and Curt Boettcher is essential to get through the winters. And considering that the city has previously given us bands like The Tidy Ups, Everyday Mistakes and Funday Mornings it is proof that a few more years in the cask have ripened their taste.

Remi was kind enough to give me a copy of their first single (released by his Phonic Kidnapping label) when I was last in London. "The End of Summer on Bookbinder Road" is a classic sunshine pop song and I included it in one of my summer mixes below. But it didn't quite prepare me for the brilliant set at Rip It Up this weekend, which showed us that they have a lot more than one really good single in them. The songs maintain a ridiculously high standard and I honestly can't wait for the album. It's been delayed a good deal but should be out on Swedish label Fridlyst soon. The opening cover of "Coconut Grove" was an extra treat and I'm very glad I got to see them now, because unfortunately their appearance at Indietracks this weekend has been cancelled. While you're waiting for the album and more gigs (they seem to have one in Bristol coming up) you can pick up the 7" from here, and listen to this tune that they are giving away on Myspace.

CLOUD 68 Cocoanut Groove - Midsummer Dreaming

Take Me to Where I Should Have Been and Not Before

2008-07-14T17:22:00.004+02:00

Continuing the streak of 80s indiepop here, because I thought I'd given you Remember Fun's "Hey Hey Hate" long ago but it turns out I was mistaken. I've had the flexi for a while, and if you don't know it it was number 7 in the Sha-La-La series (and shared with Emily). It is perhaps the best embodiment of what all those things like Are You Scared to Get Happy?, Hungry Beat, Trout Fishing In Leytonstone and people like Hurrah! and The Siddeleys seemed to have stood for. Pop with an agenda and a radical sense of style. Were they naive, or has POP today simply lost its spirit?

Of all the bands that never managed to get a proper record out in the late 80s, Remember Fun is the band I feel most sorry for. They married 60s jangle (covered WCPAEB's "Transparent Day" they did too) to adhoc tonalities and lyrics infinitely more pressing than Roger McGuinn's, often with a resulting austerity that Wake the President have occasionally come close to capturing. Especially if you listen to Matinée's retrospective ep. Those songs were all previously released and except for "Train Journeys" are among their least melodic. It was hard to resist posting "Car" simply becuase of its sheer political incorrectness today. It tells the tale of the nuisances of collective transport and delivers applaudible lines such as "even if it's ecologically right it's a pain in the backside" and "it's better killing the earth than killing myself". But you need to go back to all those lost tracks from long-forgotten tapes to truly grasp their greatness. Egg Records gave us a taste what these hiss-laden old things can sound like remastered, when they put "Cold Inside" and "Apple of My Eye" on the Souvenirs From Egg Records sampler. Their promised Remember Fun cd will hopefully include all those songs - the dreamy "Clearly Blurred", the barely audible perfection of "P.S. Elaine", the never-before-heard (at least by me - help!) "Never", and "Hey Hey Hate".

CLOUD 67 Remember Fun - Hey Hey Hate

COIR 007: It's Easy, It's Cheap - Go to It!

2008-07-13T23:05:00.005+02:00

The next club night is in Glasgow, cause I'm there for most of August anyway. COIR 007 is presented together with The Flying Duck and their regular Friday night club Back Tae Mine, with Gavin Dunbar from Camera Obscura as resident dj. What we've done is to bring some bands in, so it opens a few hours earlier and it will also be free to get in during this time - worth to remember. Of course I will also be playing records with a guest.

The Just Joans will be headlining and they don't need an introduction, at least not if you're from Motherwell. They've released an album and two eps so far, the latest (Hey Boy... You're Oh So Senstive!) is mentioned if you scroll down a bit, but suffice to say it's a work of genius. The band is now fronted by David and Katie, but they started out already in 2005 with slightly different members. Last Tango In Motherwell (cassette release and eventually cd-r) is a lo-fi masterpiece in class with The Moldy Peaches' only record. You can still get it, from here. If you haven't heard any of the songs you must check out "Coia's Empty" below! Chris who's selling the cd also recorded The Just Joans as part of his Last Night From Glasgow series in 2006: bands played seven songs in his flat and they were then posted on YouTube over a week. I've collected all the links for you here. Great stuff!

Friday Afternoons
Lookin Like Rain
East Kilbride
I Hear You're the Man Now, John
Coia's Empty
Back to Highschool
Five Beer Bottles

The Catalysts is mostly Glasgow-based Ulric Kennedy, but hopefully he'll get a full band together for the night. The first band he was in was powerpop legends The Mixers (featured on Dan Treacy's All For Art and Art For All compilation). In 1985 he formed the The Catalysts with Dannie from The Mixers, but soon got involved with The Golden Dawn instead. That band (not 60s garage greats 'Golden Dawn') released two singles on Sarah Records and Ulric recorded his own demos for the label, but they weren't released until 2003 when German label Felicité put them on a 7". The brilliant, new ep Autumn Everywhere came out recently on Cloudberry. "Let's Build a Dyson Sphere" by The Golden Dawn is in the player here now. A dyson sphere seems like an interesting thing, check it out here. A Catalysts tune's coming up soon as well.

CLOUD 66 The Just Joans - Coia's Empty

Constellations Reel From My Sky Into Yours

2008-07-13T21:39:00.002+02:00

This post comes more in amazement over the fact that digital zoom actually works in good light, than over El Perro Del Mar's performance today.

This is her.

She did a good set backed by a band that looked and sounded like Eggstone, but with all probability wasn't.

In front of a big crowd.

For free (that can also mean 'free maintainance' but doesn't).

When the Moon Is At Its Rest

2008-07-12T20:20:00.006+02:00

Johan or Fredrik asked me to do some mixes of soft, breezy sounds to play in the mornings at Rip It Up. I gladly obliged since I've mainly been making loud things lately. The titles are from "In the Morning" by the Gibb brothers, of which The Autumn Leaves' perfect version is featured on the Saturday one. This is what you'll be waking up to.

She Falls From the Sky

2008-07-12T12:30:00.006+02:00

It's not without reason I let Slipslide's "Summer Song" conclude my 'pop' summer mix. I keep coming back to Graeme's songs. Maybe it's nostalgia for a memory I don't have. Guitar sounds from childhood. The way he sings "yesterday I felt alright, but just now I am so happy I might hurt myself" in their Melodie Group cover on Matinée 50. And all those other lines that crop up in my head intermittently. So I used the player here to make a playlist of some of the songs I've been listening to recently - by Slipslide, Love Parade and Pure. Hope you catch them before they're gone.

All My Dreams Kept Up to Date About You

2008-07-11T20:01:00.005+02:00

Thanks to Alistair for linking to this excellent article about Hurrah! (with an interesting answer from Paul himself). It revolves around the b-side (or aa-side) to their monumental second single "Hip Hip". It's called "Flowers" and is eloquently described by Daniel, but I can't see that anyone has uploaded it? Apart from the single, it's only available on the Boxed compilation lp.

At the end of the article you'll find links to places you can download the The Sound of Philadelphia comp from as well as their Kid Jensen session (the versions of "Lonely Room" and "Saturday's Train" are the same as on the cd, it should be said). Tell God I'm Here is also worth a listen, but perhaps he didn't find this? Since I'm responsible for The Sound of Philadelphia floating about, I thought I'd set "Flowers" bobbing downstream too. Cause it's not on the compilation, strangely, and neither is "Tame". Hungry Beat's Kevin Pearce is quoted in the article, and here are his liner notes to The Sound of Philadelphia - enlarge for comfort.

CLOUD 65 Hurrah! - Flowers

Hey, Hate Hate

2008-07-10T16:42:00.007+02:00

What could be more fitting after mentioning The Desert Wolves than a post about James Dean Driving Experience? Another year and still no sign of that retrospective. And I suddenly realise that there haven't been any JDDE songs on this blog, which means it doesn't qualify for Sad Pop Obscurist status. I clutch my temples in woe! Luckily, Richard comes to rescue and courtesy of him I present you with "Lonely Hearts XI Versus the Rest of the World" a song only available on their self-released cassette that followed their flexi, thus JDDE-2. Having already ticked off Audrey Hepburn they quite naturally went for Bridgitte Bardot to adorn the cover. As twee.net will tell you, this tape was unleashed on an unknowing world in 1988 and also featured a demo version of "Drop Dead Darling" and the single version of "Dean's Eleventh Dream".

CLOUD 64 James Dean Driving Experience - Lonely Hearts XI Versus the Rest of the World

In Love With Other People

2008-07-05T21:00:00.004+02:00

A Cloudberry release I didn't mention before is the ep from The Vermont Sugar House. Not because it is undeserving but because their recent album has been on my list of things to rave about for some time. As The Desert Wolves (pictured above) is one of the bands I'm most fond of, I was delighted to find out last year that Martin King and David Platten are still recording. I picked up the single "Braveheart" that Firestation, ever the faithful servants of ageing pop musicians, put out as early as 1999. It wasn't as jangly as 1989, but the songs were great and King's voice is still (un)cool.

The album Carlton Gardens came out in March, but actually it's a collection of recordings spanning their whole 'career', including both single-sides and the three songs released by Cloudberry. Seeing as Indie-mp3's review wasn't very favourable I'd like to point out straight away that it's good. The problem, that everyone I've spoken to keeps coming back to, is of course that four of the songs are included twice - differently mixed. Surely nothing but a case of indecision, they could have asked anyone's advice and cut it down to the ten songs and 39 minutes it ought to have been. In fact listening to it again, skipping the versions, it sounds so much stronger!

I really love the sparse, acoustic songs like "Just Wandering Around" and "Solo Living" that happily offer themselves up for compositional dissection. Ally Boo contributes some great vocals to "Walking Distance" and "Technicolour Memories" and it's easy to sing along to "I Only Ever", half forgetting they're not The Desert Wolves anymore. "You took my world, now take the rest of me" and then a stolen guitar solo. That's the strongest song here, along with the gloriously melodious old b-side "Absolutely". But now I'm forgetting the epic (as in six minutes long) "Vanishing Point", referencing the film of the same name. Let's be honest, they could have done so much worse. And you can do better than just listening to these songs. It's simply a matter of how many songs you want - three or ten?

Earlier this year Uwe from Firestation told me there's a retrospective coming out soon with the near-mythical Men of Westenesse. I can't wait to hear this as "The Coldest Water" is such a perfect song (included on that momentous tape called A Sandwich and a Sweater). After I mentioned that two years ago, Guy (wonder if it's the same Guy being thanked in the Carlton Gardens sleeve?) from the band got in touch and said there were some more songs lying around, so I hope that had something to do with the release. Actually that post got comments from members of The Pooh Sticks and The Williams as well!

You Charged My Heart With an Unfathomable Bill

2008-07-04T21:08:00.006+02:00

At long last I will get to see Twig in the flesh. In two weeks, at Rip It Up. Of course you've picked up the "Ciao Ciao Bomb"/"Wentworth" single already? It's in the list to the right if you look close enough. They also have lots of songs on Myspace, some of which I'd like to see on the upcoming album Plastilina promises will be out this summer (along with the Blue Train and Bollweevils retrospectives!). If that wasn't enough you can now hear that old, dog-eared volume called "At the Library" (from 2004, but there is even older material around) in the new sidebar player.

Northern Portrait, sadly, are not playing (although I have a feeling the arrangers are sitting on something even bigger) but they have a track for download here. I would have given you the link to the Rewind website, where the other 80s covers part of the project are featured, but it attacks you with loud annoying music that there is no escape from. The rest of the covers submitted look quite boring to say the least, so you don't need to see it. "Some People", as the Danes' choice is called, was originally recorded by Cliff Richard. As you may have read in the previous post, they have a new ep out this month on Matinée.

Like the Twig 7", the other Cloudberry stuff is only listed by catalogue numbers in my list, cause it's simply too much. But as Roque makes a point of letting the music speak for itself, there are a few things that might interest you. The Firekites was a band started by Iain from The Mayfields after the split. The music is a bit more dreamy, with a female vocalist, and actually this was their demo that made the rounds in the early 90s! There's no reason why these songs shouldn't have been released back then, as a photocopied review from an old local newspaper makes clear, so well-done Roque to succeed where others have failed! Get "Good Times" on the label's website, and "Victoria Summer" is on the second of my two summer mixes below. A fourth song called "Kansas" is on the ep that comes with the third issue of Roque's fanzine (this also holds an exclusive Arc Lamps song which is better than an estimated 90% of the music written about here all year).

The Hillfields first ep came out earlier this year, at no. 78, and is still available! Their hit ("Spoon" of course) is not on this, but an ep for a Cloudberry/Lostmusic event called What's All the Fuzz About. That you cannot acquire legally, but it's not unlikely it will appear on a future release from the band. Any fan of Flying Nun outfits like The Chills and The Verlaines will dig the three songs on A Visit EP, and if you don't believe me download "The Front Room" from Cloudberry HQ. Why no Indietracks slot though?

The Andersen Tapes is believe it or not Amanda from Free Loan Investments and The Busy Band. I have an mp3 dated 2006, so I guess she's been using the pseudonym for at least that long. All the songs on the ep, which is her first release, are brilliant and she's also got a track on this:

...a Cloudberry compilation that comes with the next issue of the awesome Bottlerocket fanzine. It's also got a 'new' Nixon song, which I'm certain is a huge event for most people. The ep title is from a Dolphin 7 split-flexi with The Gravy Train and The Lavender Faction - I know you wondered.

No.s 95-97 are all essential: the new jangle explosion from The Catalysts would not even have been rejected by Sarah Records; The Parallelograms make the songs from the sold out Atomic Beat split-7" available again, adding new must-have "Orchard Square"; The Mai 68s is a new UK band blessed with a Joe Foster production and I'm greatly looking forward to their Indietracks set; "College" by The Sunny Street is the best I've heard from them yet. And the last releases (yes, he's stopping at 100) will all be just as remarkable, I can assure you.

Nothing* Is Ugly

2008-07-02T22:32:00.005+02:00

Except some things... But V-Sign is definitely not among them. A new record label started by Andy Wake over 15 years after his previous label (Medium Cool) was put put on ice. And "everything* is beautiful" is just about the best motto ever. Slightly disappointing however, is his reluctance to release things on vinyl - or even cd. If he thinks that the kids don't buy vinyl he couldn't be more wrong. Some of this year's fastest selling records have been vinyls - like the Pains of Being Pure At Heart & Parallelograms split-single and the Vivian Girls album. There's plenty of vinyl in my shopping list here in the sidebar too. So, the first V-Sign item is a download single from Manchester group Daybreaks, who are not really my cup of tea but still I would have liked it a lot more on a slab of plastic. But you should make up your own mind after listening to "Here I Am" on Myspace.

In other record label news Matinée promises releases from The Electric Pop Group, The Guild League, Strawberry Whiplash, Would-Be-Goods and maybe Keris Howard this year. And that is on top of the imminent eps from Bubblegum Lemonade and Northern Portrait! It's about time I said something about Northern Portrait's first ep The Fallen Aristocracy since the next one is almost here.... I remember hearing "Crazy" and "A Quiet Night In Copenhagen" for the first time and not quite believing they were from Denmark. With even just an ounce of their perfection they could have swept the floor with every Danish pop band in recorded history. In full glory they are comfortably playing ball in Sweden's premier pop league, scoring a few goals past Happydeadmen even. That's the band I keep returning to when trying to describe Northern Portrait's music; they have almost exactly the same sound, with the twin jangle of acoustic and electric guitars. That first time was at the start of my new degree last autumn and I was sitting behind a uni computer in one of the cellar room, earphones plugged in, wondering to myself if I was actually humming along audibly. Now I can sing along all I want to, cd spinning in my stereo, and I do, because these four songs are all could-be radio hits. I tried to get Northern Portrait to play at Don't Die On My Doorstep when we had bands, as they're just a bridge and a tunnel away but I think they still haven't done any gigs. And right now they are probably busy mastering the new ep Napoleon Sweetheart and then recording for the full-length. No rest for us.

At the same time I got The Electric Pop Group's Sunrise EP, following up on their debut album. That was good, but what an improvement this is! (Decent artwork does it a world of good as well.) The first time I heard these guys I wondered how they could simply have appeared out of thin air. They didn't. I just recognised Martin was one of the members of the bygone and scarcely noticed Aquadays - that's why that guitar-playing sounded so familiar... His current band garners surprisingly frequent namechecking of Brighter and Razorcuts for not sounding very much like them. On the new ep there's song called "Summer's Day" which is the first to land in Brighter territory because of the novel use of acoustic guitar and the lack of a drum track where previously they have relied completely on the combination of three electric guitars. All the songs are solid, competent compositions - all by Erik it would seem? In "I Could See the Lights" they are at their most accomplished, the major-to-minor chord-change in the chorus of "This Is the Town" is effectual and it's nice that the drum beats are a little more varied than before. There are still lots they can do with the arrangements, the bpm control on the drum machine, and there's still a few to many chorus repeats. All four songs are over 3:30 actually, which is ok on an ep but for the next album I hope they've cooked up some up-tempo hits that can be played after "Does Love Last Forever?" on the dancefloor!

Make It Last Forever... Or Maybe Just a Lifetime

2008-06-29T22:43:00.006+02:00

Last night was crazy - the best thing since playing in Nottinghamn. The new venue was great for Don't Die On My Doorstep and our guest dj turned in a set that could easily rival Brogues'. Ah, half the age but all the good taste... The playlist is up on Myspace along with some photos. There was some great music before we started as well - the owners know their punk/powerpop/garage, which is comforting to know. And Rebecka was more than delighted to spot three Exploding Hearts numbers. I've since fallen in love with them too!

Suitably refreshed we undertook the walk over to So Tough! So Cute! where Lisa from Taramasalata had the dancefloor heaving to Indochine. We somehow managed to get past a bouncer who inconcievably claimed that they weren't letting any more people in! What was he trying to do? Spare Retro from our amenably spent cash? It was about 2.15 am and they were lining up the hits. I danced for 45 minutes straight and Daniel and Lisa's best spins were, respectively: "Rainbow Sky" by Fat Tulips (honestly, I've been singing TODAY THE RAINBOW'S IN THE SKY, WHICH MAKES ME WONDER WHY, I'M IN LOVE WITH YO-O-U, TILL I SAW YOU SMILE MY WAY, AND I THOUGHT THAT I HEARD YOU SAY, YOU FELT THE SAME WAY, YOU FELT THE SAME WAY, YOU FELT THE SAME WAY TOO all day) and "This Boy Can Wait" by The Wedding Present (by request that one... from me of course!). And "You Can Hide Your Love Forever" has never sounded better. And by god I can't remember hearing "Sun Serious" since I played that at Taramasalata some years ago.

We'll Define a Good Time For Ourselves

2008-06-27T15:52:00.003+02:00

Another title quoting One Happy Island? Yes, it just has be a new ep! Secret Party That the Other Party Doesn't Know About is out now on UK label WeePOP!. Following up on winter's Pulaski Park EP, it starts off with a new dancefloor filler every bit as good as "Florida, Dear". It's called "Temporary Tattoo" and even mentions unicorns, yay! They go on with some great lyrics to "Earth's Circumference" and then the ukuleles are brought out for "Shorthand" and "Mothball". Did I say you can get it on 7" vinyl too? An album next, please.

Summer Cats is an Australian band featuring Scott of Summershine act The Earthmen and they're probably the only band to mention The Peppermint Trolley Company among their influences! They seem to have released a LOT of singles. Last year they had an ep on Cloudberry, their old hit "Hush Puppy" on a split with Eux Autres' ancient "Other Girls", and the Scratching Post EP. The latter was an Australian release that collected the tracks from the former, adding "Super Computer". This year has seen another split (mentioned in the post below), a new 7" and a new 3" ep! Maybe they're just trying to release something on every good label there is? The ep is on WeePOP! and I got it with the One Happy Island ep just today. It's called Passion Pop and I think most of the songs here are better than "Let's Go!". Best are the shambolic title-track and the scathing "Bed Wetter"!

Third in the parcel, and the most recent WeePOP! release is The Just Joans' new offering Hey Boy...You're Oh So Sensitive!. It's without doubt the best thing I've heard from them, and the label! Fuller arrangements and songs that range from the funniest to the saddest I've heard in a good while. The opening title-track takes a swipe at twee, starting with a guy saying "Hiya ladies, any of yous into Talulah Gosh?" in a mumbling, Scottish brogue. The whole lyric is brilliant, but here's a bit: "Dolly Mixture homemade t-shirt, Woody Allen six-disc box set, Marks & Spencers v-neck jumper - any chance I can get your number?" After that things take a turn for the tragic with "What Do We Do Now?", a heartfelt ballad about moving and growing up. I mean, "Lookin Like Rain" on Virgin Lips was sad but if you've seen the video for it it doesn't seem too serious. But "I'll always think of you whenever I smell cider, but it won't be the same... again" is like the negative opposite to "I'm drinking Irn-Bru and thinking of you" (as sung by The Orchids). And the next song "Ma Baby (He's Boring)" is bleaker than "You Made Me Forget Me Dreams" by B&S: "he yawns and just rolls over, he's circled rings in the Argos". "Grant Kelly" is about the new, popular boy in town and picks things up a bit. But as the record ends with "The Kisses At the End of His Txts" (naturally "don't mean a thing") there's definitely a feeling that the melancholy has won out. But then again, all you have to do is press the play button again and go back to "Hey Boy..."! There are a couple more videos of them from their first gig (at Tchai Ovna in 2006) on YouTube - a historic document for sure.

I Buy What the Sunshine Sells Me

2008-06-27T15:36:00.005+02:00

I just got my splits from SLR! No. 3 is on white vinyl and has one of the best Sunny Street songs so far. On the other side A Sunny Day In Glasgow gives The Pastels' "Sometimes I Think About You" and electronic reworking. I'll get to see them soon - in Glasgow as a matter of fact.

But my favourite is no. 4, because the sleeve (printed with an oldschool letterpress) is even cooler and it's on grey vinyl. Then of course there's the fact that "Come Saturday" by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart is just about one of the best singles of the year and it sounds better than ever on record. Summer Cats take possession of the other side with the near Earthmen-buzz of "Let's Go!". This Australian band seems to have a busy release schedule, and there'll be more on them already in the next post!

A Betrayal of Cake and Breadcrumbs

2008-06-25T17:48:00.002+02:00

You should all be familiar with Texas girlgroup The Carrots, who appeared a few years ago with a demo ep they let everyone who wanted to download for free. After some legal problems (they were sued by Spanish group Carrots - since split up) they are back with some proper releases. Elefant picked them up (best signing since The School!) and now you can get two 4-track eps in one go: Doing Our Part and Beverly! The Carrots have/had members in lots of other local bands like Voxtrot and The Old-Timerz, but they're better than all of those together. Here's a track from an ep they sold on tour, containing all cover versions. This one, of course, originally by The Ronettes.

CLOUD 63 The Carrots - Best Part of Breaking Up

If the Answer Is Love I Don't What the Question Is

2008-06-25T16:51:00.007+02:00

I just answered some question for Sam, and interview will probably be in the next issue of A Layer of Chips. It's mostly about A Smile and a Ribbon stuff. And I've also contributed to the fine Indietracks livejournal and that should appear even sooner.

The picture above is of the pier leading out to Kallbadhuset from Ribersborg beach here in Malmö. There's a nice caff out there that got two stars in the Mayfields Guide. It was actually taken last year - I was going out there today but then the sky clouded over. And I thought maybe Brogues wanted to see what he's got to look forward to!

I should remind you to buy some records. I don't usually take kindly to bands who try really hard to get reviewed but This Is Ivy League and The Very Most are two great American bands that I would have discovered later, on my own, even if I hadn't been sent a bunch of mp3s. I remembered Ivy League from Indiepages' demo section last year and when Twentyseven Records sent out the debut lp from This Is Ivy League (as they're now called) to virtually everyone a while ago, I liked it even more than the first time around. But the Brooklyn duo's songs have grown on me even more since then! The sound is quite varied and has drawn comparisons to groups as different as Blueboy, Simon & Garfunkel and Belle & Sebastian - but all of these can be traced to indivdual songs. I would say myself that the jangling "Don't Waste Your Love On Me" (in the sidebar a while ago) sounds a lot like The Zebras. The obvious hit "Celebration" is justly called so, and it sounded fantastic at Taramasalata earlier this month with it's Byrdsy break. When the riff comes back in again you feel like jumping through the roof! And "A Summer Chill" is on one of my summer mixes below.

I noticed Fire Escape Talking wrote about The Very Most here, but I'd forgotten about that. He's right, of course. Congratulations Forever is a brilliant album and the band sounds quite a bit like last year's favourites Afternoon Naps, although they are far from new to the game. Great song-titles only add to pleasure: "Sod Off", "Spilt, Spilt Milk" (included on Same Drum, see below) and "The Word Almost". Go forth and purchase.

You Hold Your Tongue As She Holds Your Hand

2008-06-24T13:01:00.004+02:00

There is enough proof of Dom Mariani's genius for even the most ruthless power pop court in Perth - The Stems (pictured above), DM3, The Stoneage Hearts... he was even in The Summer Suns for a while. But the thing that really nails the lifetime sentence is his partnership with Darryl Mather (The Lime Spiders) in The Someloves. They produced one perfect album (perfected by producer Mitch Easter) called Something Or Other and released in 1989. After all that time spent getting the jangle just right, they must've been devastated that the vinyl was mastered slightly too fast! Not until 2006 when Half a Cow reissued it as a double-disc called Don't Talk About Us: The Real Pop Recordings of the Someloves 1985-89, was this redeemed. This album is the best power pop record I've heard and one of the best examples of janglepop if that was ever a genre! So many perfect songs - their first single "It's My Time" (on the legendary Australian label Citadel) and it's b-side "Don't Talk About Us", "Know You Now"... and this song right here.

CLOUD 62 The Someloves - I Didn't Mean That

My Hand Your Pocket

2008-06-24T11:49:00.005+02:00

As you all know, Minisnap is The Bats without Robert Scott. And they are now my top priority to see when I go to New Zealand. Not because Scott's not in the band, but because their new album Bounce Around (great title!) easily outsmarts the latest Bats long-player in the pop playground. It's even better than earlier outings In My Pocket EP (2002) and March Hare EP (2004) led us to believe! The fact that it's the first Minisnap album and the Bats'... sixth, might have something to do with it. But most of all it's to do with Kaye Woodard's unique and always interesting songwriting. In fact this album doesn't sound very 'kiwi' at all, as it lacks the trademark Flying Nun guitar-strum and endlessly rolling beat. The rough guitars and rollicking, bouncy rhythms puts it closer to some Scottish bands, or maybe Australian groups like The Lighthouse Keepers (just to name an ancient one!). The only song that sounds remotely batlike is "Crooked Mile" (not a Honeybunch cover) and it's a beautiful little jangler, but not the best song of the set. Danceability is always an advantage, which puts opener "New Broom" in a fairly promising position. But the song here is "Rehash" because it's great too!

This is all well and good, but you've yet to hear the best part. You, yes you, can own this artifact! And all you have to do is to give their label, Pocket Music, a negligible sum in return - it's as easy as that.

CLOUD 61 Minisnap - Rehash

Tapes For Tea

2008-06-18T22:03:00.006+02:00

I foolishly missed The Ruby Suns the other week, because they came on so early. I mean, it said 7 pm on the website but no one trusts Debaser and their stage times anymore. At least I got to chat with them for a bit and they were very nice and tired. Well, I confess going to the show had more to do with the free entry and their home being New Zealand, rather than having listened to new album Sea Lions on repeat endlessly. Other good reasons might have been that their singer's surname is McPhun and that they're on the Lil' Chief label, which has a Sinistereen among their ranks. Anyway, there's a fair chance I get to see them in Auckland next year.

Thankfully, I managed to catch another early gig today. San Francisco-based (although SF, CA on the poster might have led some to believe they were Finnish-Canadian) duo Eats Tapes visited the Krets gallery, playing early due to football being on screen in the park nearby at 9 pm. I sure didn't see anyone in yellow and blue, throats itching to belt out some unintelligible chants! Eats Tapes were very cute and well-behaved, and didn't show any signs of munching away at the equipment at all once we turned our backs. They had heard that people didn't dance in Malmö, but we showed them what complete nonsense that was. As I read they are used to roof parties in Brooklyn and the like, I don't think they had very high hopes for the twenty or so people who had turned up. They even started out with having everyone participate in a Rock, Scissors, Bag tournament. The winner got one each of all of their merchandise, but I folded in the final alas. Beaten, I didn't feel much like dancing myself but their crazy, rather twee, and as far from minimal as imaginable techno had me and the rest of the crowd moving in scarce five minutes. After a 15 minute set, with VISUALS and SMOKE, they'd turned the tiny white cube into a teatime micro-rave, as someone aptly described it. With no oxygen left and the windows worse fogged-up than when The Hepburns played there in mid-winter, everyone shouted for more. So they continued for another quarter of an hour!

You know, the funniest thing happened right in the middle of everything... An old gentleman with flappy cap on his head walked in the door carrying a flower plucked from a tree in his hand. He proceeded to do the rounds, letting everyone smell the flower, then handed it to the nearest person, bowed and skipped along back to the door. I don't know if anyone managed to capture the mystery guest on film, so in the meantime you'll have to make do with a photo from the Sumi Ink Club exhibition last year (taken by Jonatan Jacobson).

Oh, if you're after the new DDOMD flyers, I left some next door at Café Glassfabriken. There will also be a handful at UFF, Rundgång, På Besök, Musik & Konst and various other places tomorrow.

Esurient For Change

2008-06-17T20:16:00.002+02:00

These flyers are printed tomorrow, but there won't be much time to distribute them... Therefore you can print this and bring it along, if you want a copy of the cd!

Also I've decided not to have a club night in July, mainly because I'll be at Rip It Up, Indietracks and then in Glasgow. Perhaps I can do something in Glasgow instead? The next one will thus be on August 30th, and we might have a guest for that already. Brogues will be coming back to do a set at So Tough! So Cute! the weekend before, so if you're planning a trip to Malmö that would be a good week.

Hard Sounds For Gentle People

2008-06-11T22:04:00.005+02:00

The cruelty continues. Here's another compilation you won't get... unless you turn up at the next Don't Die On My Doorstep night with flyer in hand! Or you can pray that we'll have some spares.

CLOUD 60 V/A - Same Drum

1. Comet Gain – The Kids At the Club

2. Saturday Looks Good to Me – I Wish I Could Cry
3. Thee Midniters – Jump, Jive and Harmonize
4. The Untamed – Kids Take Over
5. The E-Types – So I Hang On
6. The School – I Don't Believe In Love
7. Mika Miko – Sleepover Slumber Party
8. Betty Davis and the Balconettes – God of Hate
9. Tiger Trap – Baby Blue
10. Would-Be-Goods – Pinstriped Rebel
11. The Very Most – Spilt, Spilt Milk
12. The Catalysts – Where the Rainbow Ends
13. The Claim – Mary Stavin
14. The Rain Parade – What She's Done to Your Mind (7” version)
15. The Ropers – Transparent Day
16. Paul Chastian – Am I Right
17. #Poundsign# – Disaster
18. The Parcels – Oh, What a Busy Day
19. Vivian Girls – Going Insane
20. Slow Club – Run to Ur Grave

Where the Hipsters Roll Like Children

2008-06-11T21:16:00.020+02:00

As Pocketbooks have just made their new song "Summertime" available on the Indietracks blog, I thought I might as well go ahead and do my summer mixtape. Usually it's a stretch to find enough hits with 'summer' in the title (especially when limiting yourself to songs you haven't used for previous ones). But this year I found myself with such a wealth of summer hits (a scan for 'summer' threw up well over 100 files!) that I had to spread them out over two cds. And both are much better than my average summer mix! What's the difference between them then? Well, I put all the jangle/sunshine/girlgroup/psych ones on the first cd and the ones that were just... pop on the second. I'm going to upload these as zip-archives with pdf covers as soon as possible. But there's sort of a hook... I'm going to force you to choose between them! You send me an email and I'll give you the password for the archive you've downloaded. I know what you're thinking... don't even try using different email accounts! To make the choice easier you can read the tracklistings by clicking on the covers below to enlarge them, and I can tell you that I will personally take most pleasure in listening to the psych one.

CLOUD 59A V/A - A Summer Melting (My Mind)

CLOUD 59B V/A - A Summer Spelling (It)

Picked one? The email address is in the sidebar and covers are here and here.

On the E-List

2008-06-10T18:11:00.002+02:00

People have been exclaiming 'eeeeeee!' all over the internet in excitement over Indietracks. Is it really happening again? How are we going to be able to see all those bands in two days? With three stages this time, gigs will inevitably clash. Here's my list of what I'm most looking forward to. Please don't let these clash, Stuart! Otherwise the cloning will be a fact.

1. The Manhattan Love Suicides
2. The Zebras
3. The Wave Pictures
4. Esiotrot
5. The Lodger
6. The Voluntary Butler Scheme
7. Gregory Webster
8. Comet Gain
9. The Wedding Present
10. The Just Joans
11. Still Corners
12. The Smittens
13. Liechtenstein
14. Milky Wimpshake
15. The Occasional Flickers
16. The Good Natured

I'm quite sure about the first ten at least. Any glaring omissions/undeservingly low placements might be because I've seen some bands before. But, anyway: eeeeeeeee! Scheduling will be worse than purgatory... I don't even want to think about it.

Your Mind's Somewhere Else But Your Lips Are Smiling

2008-06-10T17:23:00.004+02:00

I'm surprised it's already a year since I moved back to Sweden, and since I started writing this. And I'm even more surprised when people tell me they're actually reading it. I would have done it anyway, but thanks... I guess! There's too much POP to keep up with these days so we can all use some help. Like when I yesterday checked in to Slumberland's site, only to find that Mike has JUST announced that no.s 3 and 4 of Searching For the Now are ready for pre-order now. "Come Saturday" by the Pains should be enough for anyone to scrape together the $7 for the two split-7"s, but they also hold new songs from The Sunny Street, A Sunny Day In Glasgow (Pastels cover, yay!) and Summer Cats from Australia whom I am starting to like more and more. Also, I can't wait to see that artwork up close! And if you haven't listened to ISY#3 yet, now is a good time boys and girls. Who needs twee handclaps when there are summertime handclaps? Move your feet to the beat.

With the latest CLOUD post we've reached 50 on this blog, and as I did a review after the 86 DROPs on my old blog I think it's time to do the same here. It might also be interesting for you to know that you are not alone. Here's the Top Ten From Pop Heaven.

1. The Foxgloves - I Dreamt Love Was a Crime (217 dls)
2. The Pussywillows - The Boat That I Row (200 dls)
3. Strawberry Fair - Give Up (186 dls)
4. Les Calamités - Le supermarché (115 dls)
5. The Chemistry Set - The Dreams That I Saw Yesterday (112 dls)
The Deirdres - Fun to Pretend (112 dls)
6. The Draytones - As High As I Can (102 dls)
7. Pencil Tin - Smile (95 dls)
8. Apple Orchard - Dreaming (As the Summer Fades) (93 dls)
All My Friends - Think of Rain (93 dls)
9. The Castaway Stones - My Friend Bobby (86 dls)
10. Days - A Part of the World (82 dls)

You Can Play These Songs With (Three) Chords

2008-06-10T16:29:00.009+02:00

I've been wanting to do some sort of tour diary for the ASAAR tour, because a lot funny (and some definitely not funny) things happened. My photos have been up here for a while actually, but I'll use a few to illustrate these posts.

Our trip began with a 1,5 hour wait at Copenhagen Airport as our Sterling flight was delayed. But we got to Stoke-On-Trent in time, with Pete picking us up at the station and managing to drive the six of us (!) to the venue in his sedan. The Band Stand, as it is called, is a typical rock venue (but quite nice at that) and sitting in the backyard Rebecca could've sworn we were in This Is England. The show was probably the worst of the tour, me playing a new guitar I'd never touched before, and I'm not sure the rest of the band enjoyed it as much as I did. After all, Sunny Inside is not about getting all the people in Stoke to see the bands, but doing it because it's fun - and because they can. We played to about 12 people, but they were really into it. AND of course it was good to see MJ Hibett and Horowitz again. The acoustics were great, with the wooden walls and stone floor. And great to speak to Rocker at last, mostly about the old Bristol scene. In the car back to Pete's house he told me about the plans for a Flatmates reunion, but they had to convince Debbie to sing on the new songs because Martin's vocal tracks were terrible! Martin is doing pretty well otherwise apparently, so they probably don't need the money anyway. (Can you imagine how much money there would be in a Flatmates reunion?! They'd get filthy rich, I tell you.) Rocker had seen Rodney Allen recently - he's still under 40. And The Rosehips... both Rocker and Pete were in The Rosehips. The thing I like most about The Rosehips is that on their second single, not only the lyrics but the chords are written down. Complete with pedagogic illustrations of the chord shapes. All of Horowitz' songs are just bar chords, I learned. Ian's still a better guitar player than me though! It was very nice to talk to Ian the morning after, over some acoustic noodling. About songwriting, the real message of "Popkids of the World Unite", a new Horowitz tune that I felt honoured to hear (and even more that Ian wanted my opinion on it!). The enthusiasm easily rubs of and I thought it was an amazing 24 hours. Great people to hang out with and a nice and quiet warm-up gig.

Not to mention all the POP stuff I was given. Like the Rosehips comp on Secret that's only five years old but still impossible to find. And a cdr of demos! A few were never properly recorded, so here's a lost treasure for you.

CLOUD 58 The Rosehips - Cracked It (demo)