apollo smintheus -

if we're keeping count of these things, yesterday we covered jazz instrumentals and jazz vocals, folk, "english" and two different sixties compilations and today we forge ahead with...



i've said it before and i'll say it again, this is a private and deeply held love of mind this world of floppy fringes, jangly guitars, lightly tapped tambourines and ba-ba-ba backing vocals. as belle and sebastian so wisely put it "we're four boys in our corduroys, we're not terrific but we're competent". to me it fuses the best of british pyschedelia and the best of british folk - as if they took the melancholy of folk and bolted it onto the pop brilliance of the best british psych songs and came out with this wonderfully shambly, sometimes terribly introverted and sometimes incredibly excitable hybrid genre. and i love it. deeply and wonderfully. having got most of the big guns out of the way last time, this time it's a chance to pick through some of the minor classics - still no chance of finding a copy of the anyways' single in a way i can turn it into an mp3. seriously, if anyone can find me a copy of their one album on cd i'd be forever indebted to you. it's also a chance to put on some of the classics i missed out last time. the new indie cd is an attempt to try and work out some of these bands closest relatives today. and failing. quite utterly. i found a handful that actually do seem to fulfil that remit and then decided to fill it with lots of other reasonably recent, new songs i quite liked. so any attempt to have a theme failed entirely - but it's turned out to be surprisingly good all the same i must say...

first of all, old school indiepop of sorts

1. the razorcuts - i'll still be there
2. the clouds - get out of my dream
3. the visitors - goldmining
4. the jasmine minks - cold heart
5. friends - you'll never see that summertine again
6. remember fun - train journeys
7. the church grims - mr watt said
8. the fieldmice - coach station reunion
9. the siddeleys - bedlam on the mezzanine
10. blueboy - my favourite things
11. slumber - wasteland
12. episode 4 - strike up matches
13. the man from delmonte - drive drive drive
14. the apple moths - everything
15. the chesterfields - ask johnny dee
16. the desert wolves - mexico
17. the close lobsters - foxheads
18. fat and frantic - i don't want to say goodbye
19. phil wilson - better days
20. accrington stanley - the new me
21. talulah gosh - talulah gosh
22. felt - sunlight bathed the golden glow
23. the fat tulips - so unbelievable
24. po! - northern wonder

my do we have some classics here. aside from the bog standard indie pop people like the fieldmice, the chesterfields, the razorcuts, felt and talulah gosh who usually turn up on these things there's a lot of little gems lying around these parts. the visitors' "goldmining" seems to have a small but dedicated following of sorts, deservedly so, and was written by a friend of atommickbrane of this parrish no less. the siddeleys' "bedlam on the mezzanine" has not only one of the best titles but is one of the best songs on any of these compilations - exciteable, fun, giddy pop joy. the blueboy track comes from a waaaah! records charity album based around "the sound of music" and is surprisingly wonderful. always good to hear the close lobsters on anything. fat and frantic show their more romantic side, the one not so evident on "last night my wife hoovered my head" for a start - they have quite a following still in christian circles of all things, and their live album "fat and frantic sing the greatest hits of wendy craig" is certainly... something else. a few gems from the leamington spa collections - i own the episode four song on original (and apparently very rare!) vinyl, am as impressed by the fact that the man from delmonte's manager used to be jon ronson as much as i am by the song itself and i adore BEYOND words the accrington stanley song. there's something of the straightforward, heartfelt big hearted pop song that the genre did so well about it. why it's not considered a classic is beyond me. the best song for me is the final one by po! po! have slowly crept up on me over the years from being a passing fondness to an outright love and this tribute to my once (and hopefully future!) neighbouring town of heptonstall and the graveyard there's most famous inhabitant is one of the shining jewels in their oeuvre

now the not quite new indie stuff

1. whistler - at 17
2. adam green - friends of mine
3. allen clapp - whenever we're together
4. the lucksmiths - the chapter in your life entitled san francisco
5. mark narkowicz - 1000 tears
6. they might be giants - where do they make balloons?
7. the tyde - henry VIII
8. the fiery furnaces - tropical iceland
9. robert cooper - brilliant
10. the would-be-goods - the morning after
11. the shapiros - paris kiss
12. the clientele - house on fire
13. hefner - the librarian
14. keith john adams - deserve it
15. the fabulous nobody - city of dreams
16. mia schoen - take it down
17. mystic chords of memory - we could send letters
18. ant - the cure for broken hearts
19. the montgolfier brothers - think once more
20. bart and friends - LAX
21. masters of the hemisphere - all your winning numbers
22. hopkirk and lee - my line is short
23. stars of aviation - love is only in your mind
24. airport girl - hey! crayola

first of all - i don't like airport girl! i bought the cd and thought "my goodness this is bad" but DID like - no in fact LOVE - the instrumental on the album. have always done. about the only reason i keep the record really. what else? aside from an incredibly loose idea of what "new indie" might be - they might be giants? REALLY? still sort of works on this. ah well. we have a lot of tracks from the wonderful library records compilation, the best of which to me is the robert cooper song and in the fabulous nobody and stars of aviation, bands i can thank the wondrous "robots and electronic brains" fanzine for nudging in my direction. if you don't know "robots" then you must - aside from the heaps of reviews you get a couple of free cds each issue (more if you subscribe) and it's opened up a lot of wondrous new avenues for me. the fabulous nobody particularly should be heard by a lot more people. are the would-be-goods "new"? only in as much as the would-be-goods of today strike me as a VERY different band from the one around during el, almost as if jessica griffin had formed a new band - just with the original name still. hopkirk and lee - sigh. what do i do when i get to the fourth box and i'm out of songs from "beneath the apple tree"? seriously, if there's any record of the last few years which have struck me as totally neglected classic it's this. also good to be supporting the solo career of one time leader of the wonderful zuno men, mr keith john adams who wonderfully sent me a polaroid of himself with a piece of paper with "CHEERS CHRIS!" written on it stuck in his mouth. it's THAT kind of touch which make you love people! heh heh