When are you gonna see, I carved your name in the cherry tree

Well I really hope Teenage by Veronica Falls is released as a 7" on Slumberland soon, maybe gorgeous coloured vinyl too. I saw them a couple of years ago in Leeds supporting Teenage Fanclub and was well impressed but then when I listened to their records they seemed much darker with almost goth tendencies, but this is pop music the way it should be. It rushes along and leaves you breathless, then you go and play it all over again.

I heard about it on Xanthi's songs for girls to sing blog. (Sorry I stole your post title but I had to.)

Cheer up, Fucking cheer up , it might never happen, in fact it already has

Why is everyone so surprised that the Wolfhounds have returned with a stunning new single? Cheer Up is full of chugging guitars , insistent wiry lead guitar, a chorus so catchy that when you  sing it to miserable bastards it will be impossible for them not to crack a smile. Only January but it's my single of the year.

this old heart is beating for her, the sweetness in her spark is gonna make me stay

Well here goes with my top 8 singles of 2012 in no particular order. Well I bought them in 2012 maybe some were released sooner… links to have a listen are here too, I hope someone finds a song they've never heard before and likes it enough to buy it.

Cassolette - Stay Heavy (Cloudberry) (soundcloud)
Close Lobsters - Steel Love (Firestation) (soundcloud)
Alpaca Sports - Just For Fun (Dufflecoat) (soundcloud)
Go Kart Mozart - New World In The Morning (Brum) (youtube)
Sad Day For Puppets - When You Tell Me That You Love Me (acoustic) (Fastcut) (youtube)
The June Brides - January Moon (Slumberland/Occulation) (soundcloud)
Lightships - Sweetness In Her Spark (Domino) (soundcloud)
Lets Say We Did - The Stars Above Looked Bright And Green (Nesna) (soundcloud)

Should all the stars shine in the sky, they couldn't outshine yoursparkling eyes

But now you're gone everything has gone, will you remember me?

I like going to the dentists when everything is fine, like today!

Going to try and grow some veg again this year, couldn't get into the swing of it last year. Started today, digging over the first raised bed, didn't last too long, I forgot how much it hurts my back!

True it's a dream mixed with nostalgia, But it's a dream that I'll always hang on to, That I'll always run to, Won't you join me by the riverbank

 I can't believe I didn't write a single entry on here all last year, will try and be a bit more productive this year. The river at Hurworth on Wednesday.

Cup of tea and a date slice at Richmond indoor market cafe

 William Morris book. £2 British Red Cross, Richmond. Shame someone ripped three of the pages out of it.

indie pop ain't noise pollution

Roque Ruiz the man behind Cloudberry isn't one to mince his words or keep his thoughts to himself , any one who has read his blog or the inserts that accompany his 7"'s will testify to this, I may not agree with all of what he has to say but I do applaud him for actually standing up and saying exactly how he feels, no matter who he might hit in the crossfire or what shots get fired back at him. He lives for his label, pumping every available money into it, he is constantly discovering new bands and old bands from yesteryear. I do try and keep up with his output but it's not easy . I've just caught up with some of his recent-ish releases and I am really impressed with them, not to take anything away from past releases but these last few have  taken the label even higher .

Zipper - Holidays in Moscow starts off nice and gentle and then turns nice and noisy. Not sure what instrument is doing the lead parts but I love the sound, a melodica is listed on the sleeve but they must have ran it through a distortion pedal to get that pure sound of joy.

Oh! Custer - Forget It  The sleeve is beautiful , the back looks old and sun bleached a nice effect, while we are on about effects if F.M. Cornog from East River Pipe is reading this and wondering where is echo/delay unit disappeared to , maybe you should give Oh! Custer a ring. Both songs also remind me of a slightly lo-fi Cavalcade.

Gold-Bears - Something to think about is danceable and catchy in equal measures. Full of those early MBV drum rolls and trebly guitar noise, this has to be the best song released on Cloudberry so far, but this is an e.p. and So Natural is as well, Jeremy reckons he sucks on guitar if this true then judging by the guitar solo on this song then my guitar playing must be absolute garbage! Yeah Tonight on the b-side is one of those rare pop moments when the flip side is as good as the A. I've just read in Cloudberry fanzine number 6 that they have an LP out on Slumberland, how did I miss that?

Caucus - Wondering Ones Starting like a long lost Hurrah song and then turning into something that can really only be described as a dreamy-RIDE-like pop tune.The b-side is a cover of a Rocketship song that I've not heard before, a band I have to admit I missed out on, I was lost in the indie wilderness at the time I think, luckily I was rescued by Jimmy Matinee who did introduce me to them but not this song I love you like the way I used to do which manages to fuse all the MBV years together into one  dynamite of a song.

Persian Rugs - Always All , this is Canadians somehow managing to sound like Australia to me and bands like the Falling Joys and The Killjoys. You must then flip it over for I Have Been Assured my favourite of the two with it's girl/boy vocals and an almost beatle-esque bridge and some mighty fine slide guitar too.

Very Truly Yours - Sleep In The Clouds  I could listen to the voice of the girl from Very Truly Yours forever, really I could, it's as beautiful as a biggest blue sky on the sunniest summer afternoon. This song has me floating away especially the bit at the end when the strings come back in on there own, …..mmmmm.

Youngfuck -  Black Tulips / 204,7 Electric heartbeats push these songs along, one side makes me feel sad the other lifts my spirits. One side is like the Wake the other New Order, Cloudberry it seems have discovered a new band for Factory Records.

This should really be in a fanzine but I've no idea when/if I'll do another, I'll probably just stick to writing about what I like here. Please visit the Cloudberry Records web site and have a listen to some of the songs to see if I'm right or wrong about them.

something about your face i wish that you were mine

Play People - Never let me down e.p.  (this almighty pop! 010) coming soon!!!!! (oh la-la, oh la-la)

ride another wave, moving on your own

Sunrain - Born Alone e.p. (this almighty pop! 009) coming soon!!!!!

I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to

Soon very soon . . . .

It was 20 years ago today, well 20 years and a few weeks actually but i'm sure no one is counting

 

There should be a Bulldozer Crash compilation coming out soon once all the tracks have been gathered up. It will be a co-release between Jigsaw and Pebble records. Also coming even sooner is number six of This Almighty Pop! fanzine and the last two releases on the cd-r label.  Sorry to everyone involved for taking so long.

 

your technique it leaves me weak, my heart knows it's the beat I seek

      
As much as I like indie music I do like other pop songs as well. I've recently been revisiting my 7" vinyl collection and here's a few that kind of go together, well in my mind they do. Rather than just put up the songs and nothing else here are some meaningless words about them. . . . Joboxers weren't they made up from ex-members of Subway Sect? The b-side of this one was co-written by Vic Goddard. Won't Turn Back was recommeded to me by Malcolm from the Gravy Train a long time ago,  The Vapours always reminded me of the Jam especially this song, Time UK featured Rick Buckler, The Redskins had a few classic 7"s, it was between this one and Lean On Me. The Faith Brothers were from around the same time, I hope some these songs seem quite apt at this moment in time. Does any one write protest songs with good tunes any more? Robert Lloyd with a song that should have been a hit, I know I say it all the time about songs that I think are great but most of these could have or should have been.  Microdisney's was, I'm nearly certain a video for it was on the chart show. Squire another band that were almost the Jam or maybe wanted to be the Who, like The Moment did, I had an LP by them but it's long since gone. Boys Wonder had all the style and a tune to excite and a Sid James sample, I'm sure some indie band did that before them. The Gents another Mod band who once played at Newton Aycliffe Youth Center, I missed it but I work with the person who organised it when he was only 14. The Big Sound Authority were one of Weller's discoveries and a good one at that. The Mari Wilson song is a b-side and it sounds that good. The Small Town Parade were another Paul Bevoir band. Quite a modish collection at times, so to finish it off , little bit of 'plastic punk' from the Leyton Buzzards who eventually turned into Modern Romance.

1. just got lucky / the joboxers
2. won’t turn back /vic goddard   
3. news at ten / the vapours   
4. playground of privelige / time uk
5. keep on keeping on / the redskins
6. the country of the blind / the faith brothers
7. something nice / robert lloyd and new four seasons
8. town to town / microdisney
9. does stephanie know? / squire   
10. 1, 2, they fly / the moment
11. goodbye jimmy dean / boys wonder   
12. new direction / the gents..   
13. this house / big sound authority
14. you look so good / mari wilson
15. sunday way of life / small town parade   
16. hanging around / the leyton buzzards

I guess I'll never be a popklubb d.j.

yeah, she is my cactus cat, she is my best friend, yeah, she is my cactus cat and our love will never end

Here is volume two

 

download here

catch me please I think I'm falling down

Inspired by May's Popklubb which was a girl group/female singers only night here is Michelle Flunkie's choice vinyl cuts full of snap, crackle and lots of pop that she thinks should have been played, maybe some of them were?

download here

just when you thought it could get no worse . . . .

something's gone wrong and I know I'm not to blame, a quirk of fate makes every day the same

Here for you listening pleasure are 4 previously unreleased songs by Bulldozer Crash. They were recorded in between the Sarah Said 7" and What Happens Now 7". We recorded them over two days at the same studio that the Sarah Said 7" was done, Durham Street Studios in Hartlepool.  We were hoping to be joined on the day by Lee 'Patrick' Skelly to play drums and engineer the session but he disappeared just before we got there so we had to fend for ourselves. We did plan to finish  the songs off one day but we never got around to it. So here they just as we left them back in 1992. There is also a sleeve and insert included in the download folder.

bulldozer crash unreleased demo's

kiss-kiss-kiss like you mean it

This almighty pop stars Play People have just released their third single on the Savoy Discs record label, this time it's a 3 track pop e.p. called Feel Good. The songs are all hook laden pop tunes that make me feel sad and nostalgic for days long gone. Listen out for some ukele and a little dubreq stylophone action too. Track 3 "What I Mean To Say" (nukele version) is my favourite for today, that chorus could be by one of those Micky Most produced pop band's from the 70's, nice. If you would like a copy of your own order it here . If you haven't picked up the band's 7" Goes Out on Cloudberry now might be a good time before it sells out.

I'm a little bit behind the times with Bye Bye, Duffel Boy number one fanzine which came out in the summer, but I've just nabbed myself a copy from Caramel distro those stockists of fine fanzines for over a year now. It's written by Pete Green whose "Everything I Do is Gonna be Sparkly" song occasionally shows it's face and brings a smile to mine when shuffle is engaged on my ipod. The fanzine has a great interview with Stuart Indie Tracks, the mighty Horowitz and a nice article by Marianthi which made feel like I really should be doing more. It's a bargain at 70p! Caramel also sent me a free copy of Wishful Thinking an indie pop publication full of bands nearly all new to me as well as a nice interview with Ed from Shelflife.

walk out to winter

On friday Popklubb shares it's birthday with my daughter, so I'm not going to be able to make it. I've still done my mix cd even though I won't be there to swap it with anyone. It's a little obvious with winter approaching, but someone might enjoy it.



Walk Out To Winter

1.Walk Out To Winter / Aztec Camera
2.Winter / The Loft
3.Strawberries Are Growing in My Garden (And it's Wintertime) The Dentists
4.Winter On Victoria Street / The Clientele
5.Lonely Winter / The Bee Gees
6.Winter In / Gene Clark
7Winter Is Blue / Mike Crowther/Vashti Bunyan
8.Winter Is Gone / Nick Drake
9.The Winter Proper / The Lucksmiths
10. I smell winter / The Housemartins
11. Through The Winter / Saint Etienne
12. Winter Plume / The Adventure Babies
13. A Winters Sky / The Pipettes
14. A Girl In Winter / Ben Watt
15. Winter Seems Fine / Dolly Mixture
16. Summer Becomes Winter / Brighter
17. The Cold Swedish Winter / Jens Lekman
18. Another mellow winter / Mellow
19. Winter / James Iha - Let it come down
20. Dead Of Winter / Eels
21. White Winter Hymnal / Fleet Foxes
22. A Hazy Shade Of Winter / Simon & Garfunkel

r.i.p. jonathan

Jonathan Whitfield who played bass for Kosmonaut , sadly died in a motorcycle accident during the early hours of Saturday morning.

never realised (jonathan's song).mp3 live at the cluny, newcastle upon tyne 31.10.2002