The Boo Radleys - Spaniard (Creation mp3, 1992)

Widescreen, Spaghetti Western-meets-Shoegaze doozy.

'Spaniard' is the opening track from The Boo Radleys' 'Everything's Alright Forever' album.

The use of the trumpet right up-front seems to signal their intent to break-free of the noise-pop confines. It succeeds and ushers in one of the best albums of that or any other era whilst paving the way for another one ('Giant Steps').

Download The Boo Radleys 'Spaniard' (indie, Shoegaze mp3, Creation mp3) (Mediafire)

Tahiti 80 - A Love From Outer Space (Tore Johansson Mix) (Atmosphériques, 2001)

AR Kane given a machine pop makeover. 

Tore Johansson, producer of The Cardigans and Saint Etienne's fantastic 'Good Humor' amongst other things, gave French indie poppers Tahiti 80 a machine-tooled, almost Ace of Base makeover on this AR Kane cover.

Some of the airy mystery of the original is lost but it's still has a beguiling, swirling romance and sounds like it was spun from pure sugar.

Download Tahiti 80 'A Love From Outer Space (Tore Johansson Mix)' (indie mp3) (Mediafire)

Prefab Sprout - Pearly Gates (Kitchenware, 1989)

Paddy McAloon ponders The End.

454 posts into the blog and no Prefab Sprout - until now.

Another graduate of the Academy of the Underrated, Paddy McAloon, is a songwriter of no little genius, capable of breathtaking beauty both lyrically and musically.

'Pearly Gates' is from their 'Protest Songs' album which was a quickly recorded follow-up to 'Steve McQueen' that wasn't released until after the chart-bothering 'From Langley Park To Memphis'. It is perhaps the most gentle and thoughtful set of protest songs ever, ending with this rumination on death.

Happy Sunday.

Download Prefab Sprout 'Pearly Gates' (songwriting genius, Prefab Sprout mp3) (Rapidshare)

Trashcan Sinatras - Circling The Circumference (Single Version) (Go! Discs, 1990)

Almost supernaturally melodic, yearning, fizzy indie pop.

Scandalously un-rewarded on their first outing, Trashcan Sinatras have had something of a renaissance in the last few years. Their trio of early-90s albums is a joy but they have supplemented their legacy with two great new records, especially the comeback album 'Weightlifting'.

'Circling The Circumference' is a headlong rush downhill on a sunny but bracing winter morning. A non-stop fizz of guitars, vocals and melody.

It sits alongside the majesty of Aztec Camera's 'High Land, Hard Rain', The Smiths' 'The Queen Is Dead' and Big Star's '#1 Record'. It's that good.

Download Trashcan Sinatras 'Circling The Circumference (Single Version)' (indie, Postcard, Trashcan Sinatras, mp3) (Rapidshare)

Alex Chilton/Big Star - Holocaust (Live at CBGB) (1978)

Ragged, emotional live version of the This Mortal Coil-inspiring late Big Star classic.

Rough, raw and dilapidated run through what was already an emotionally bleak song. Hard to listen but testament to Alex Chilton's genius and talent.

Famously covered by This Mortal Coil of course.

Download Alex Chilton/Big Star 'Holocaust (Live at CBGB)' (alternative rock mp3) (Mediafire)

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Happy House (Demo) (1980)

Harder, early version of one of Siouxsie and the Banshees' finest moments.

Spiralling guitar and thumping drums present and correct, just less spangle and polish than the version that ended up on the 'Kaleidoscope' album and as a single.

Edgy and direct, this is Siouxsie and the Banshees at their frantic, twitchy, bewitching best.

Download Siouxsie & The Banshees 'Happy House (Demo)' (indie, alternative, Goth, Post-Punk mp3) (Mediafire)

Tahiti 80 - Yellow Butterfly (Atmospheriques, 1999)

Divine, Stereolab-esque indie-Krautrock-pop.

Another lost gem, recently rediscovered. Tahiti 80 are a French band whose debut album 'Puzzle' dealt in a bright and breezy but nicely layered line in demure indie pop.

'Yellow Butterfly' is a simple pop song on the surface but beneath lies a web of interlocking instrumentation. It's decidedly Stereolab-esque in the way of 'French Disko'. The Krautrock-ing rhythms are augmented with a web of interlocking bass and drums but the melodies above are awash with sweet brass and vocals.

The b-side features a fairly faithful cover of The Left Banke's classic of baroque pop 'Desiree'. But that's one for another day...

Download Tahiti 80 'Yellow Butterfly' (Krautrock, indie pop mp3) (Divshare)

Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb - I Wanna Live (Elektra, 1972)

Source material for This Mortal Coil. Lovely Neil Young-ish pedal steel country folk rock.

Really nice slice of gentle, reflective folk rock, laced with pedal steel, lush harmonies and subtle drums, the vocals building in intensity as song progresses.

Long out-of-print, it's best-known as a track on This Mortal Coil's 'Blood' album - along with covers like The Byrds' 'I Come And Stand At Every Door' and 'Chris Bell's 'You And Your Sister'.

The original is less other-worldly than the This Mortal Coil cover, naturally, and it's notable that Ivo Watts-Russell renamed it 'I Want To Live' to move it away from the sunny US West Coast and into an icy Europe.

A very beautiful song.

Download Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb 'I Wanna Live' (Folk Rock, This Mortal Coil Original, mp3) (Mediafire)

Kings Of Convenience - The Eternal (Joy Division Cover) (Source, 2001)

Papa M-ish Joy Division cover. Perkily morose, if that's possible.

Kings Of Convenience bring out the drum kit to add a level of procession to this Joy Division cover. It has the feel of David Pajo's Papa M material, acoustic-based country post-rock gothic balladry. Quite a narrow genre really so it's nice to hear someone else rising to the challenge...

The song is based around a springy, cubic acoustic guitar pattern that takes on the main riff, set against the crisp, pure vocal. The drums and rolling bass add structure and some beautiful reverbed and distorted guitar make burst into life and make it a truly great cover. Sacrilege or otherwise.

Download Kings Of Convenience 'The Eternal (Joy Division Cover)' (indie, acoustic, mp3) (Badongo)

Race Horses - Man In My Mind (Fantastic Plastic, 2009)

Wild-eyed glam-inflected Cope-y pop. Great stuff.

I encountered Race Horses in the midst of a bill of otherwise noisy noisemongers at Corsica Studios last year. They swapped instruments like Proggers but played like their lives depended on it, careering through a stream of songs as melodic but idiosyncratic as this one.

'Man In My Mind' is a whirlwind of cooing backing vocals, xylophone, heavy drums, strident vocals, rumbustuous guitars and driving bass. It opens like the Clangers are trying to make contact with a Sky satellite using a Moog but soon hits its stride.

There's a great tension in the band between melody and song and the desire to push the sonic biscuit. It results in a delightfully busy and imaginative stream of consciousness pop moment.

Download Race Horses 'Man In My Mind' (indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Mixtape - This Mortal Coil Original Versions

Top quality collection of tracks that were reborn across This Mortal Coil's classic albums.

Having recently forked for the ridiculously beautiful This Mortal Coil boxset (beautiful except for the price, actually) I've been reminded what a wonderful thing This Mortal Coil was. A combination of exquisite covers and original material, TMC leads the listener to some great albums from Gene Clark, Big Star, The Byrds, Chris Bell and, more recently, Gary Ogan and Bill Lamb.

It's inspired me to collect together some of the This Mortal Coil original versions into a mix. And quite a mix it is too.

Melancholy Country, psychedlic-tinged Folk Rock, decimated post-Powerpop melancholy and New Wave. All these were put through the TMC mixer and assimilated into Ivo Watts-Russell's vision (with the help of John Fryer and a cast of diverse musicians, of course). As a consequence, it's sometimes quite a shock to hear the originals which can be somewhat less ethereral. All these songs are beautiful though.

Enjoy.

'This Mortal Coil Original Versions - A Mixtape' tracklist:
1. Song To The Siren / Tim Buckley
2. Alone On Piano / Colin Newman
3. The Jeweller / Pearls Before Swine
4. I Am The Cosmos / Chris Bell
5. Strength Of Strings / Gene Clark
6. Drugs / Talking Heads
7. You And Your Sister / Chris Bell
8. With Tomorrow / Gene Clark
9. I Must Have Been Blind / Tim Buckley
10. Holocaust / Big Star
11. Kangaroo / Big Star
12. Til I Gain Control Again / Emmylou Harris
13. I Come And Stand At Every Door / The Byrds
14. Help Me Lift You Up / Mary Margaret O'Hara
15. Morning Glory / Tim Buckley
16. I Wanna Live / Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb

This Mortal Coil - The Inspirations by Occasional Rain on Mixcloud

The Human League - The Black Hit Of Space (Virgin, 1980)

It's wasn't all New Romantic handbags and gladrags...

As great a single as 'Don't You Want Me' was, this is pretty great too. A much more amateurish (in a good way) take on cutting edge electronic pop, 1980-style.

The lyrics are incongruous in the extreme. They might be rubbish but they're brilliant, telling of a record so awesome it creates a black hole. A record that's not just climbed to number one in the charts, it's gone "into minus figures".

The music is wobbly like the theme tune from a sci-fi version of Crossroads and it certainly keeps interesting company. Cabaret Voltaire. Kraftwerk. Wendy Carlos. Gary Glitter...

Intriguing and awkwardly funky.

Download The Human League 'The Black Hit Of Space' (electronic pop mp3) (Mediafire)

Clinic - The Return Of Evil Bill (Domino, 2000)

Compulsive, knockabout Freakbeat magic from the mysterious Clinic.

I haven't really kept up with Clinic since this album even though it's a doozy. I did catch them live last year is an armpit of a venue and they blasted out a mighty set. In scrubs and surgical masks. Quite a sight.

Clinic deal in a hybrid of Freakbeat, indie, Krautrock and, on this occasion, dub-style melodica. It's a heady, potent brew that rides in on the melodica before making off on a lively, one-note riff.

'The Return Of Evil Bill' could be an alternative theme for the sixties version of Batman. A version of Batman where someone has put Harpic and/or Brasso in the water. Time has become elastic and the walls start to bleed as mini-skirted dancers 'cut a rug'. Or something like that.

Well worth a listen as a taster for a great album.

Download Clinic 'The Return Of Evil Bill' (garage, alternative, mp3) (Mediafire)

Tarentel - The Waltz (Temporary Residence, 1999)

Fifteen minutes of staggering beauty from post-rock magicians Tarentel.

Originally released on their Travels In Constants disc in 1999, this was rounded up on a great compilation of singles and stuff on 2002's 'Ephemera' compilation. I recommend it highly (direct from Temporary Residence).

'The Waltz' is almost Necks-like in it slowly evolving sound. A gentle, uncoiling tracks that builds from rotating guitar patterns, evolving into a sweeping, keening, droning simmer.

After ten minutes it develops an intricate post-rocking coda, drums pattering out a cuboid rhythm, guitars picking honeyed melodies, adding a little more strident guitar as it builds back up. Hypnotic.

Epic and awestruck, it's somewhat like Explosions In The Sky without the loud bits.

Very beautiful.

Download Tarentel 'The Waltz' (post-rock mp3) (Mediafire)

Ride - Chelsea Girl (Demo) (1989)

Sweeter, Buffalo Springfield-meets-The Field Mice version of the Ride classic.

Whither the blizzard of distortion and the maelstrom of drums? And vocals?

This demo version of Ride's 'Chelsea Girl' sounds like The Field Mice have just necked a bag of sherbet and washed it down with two litres of Sunny Delight.

Set against a polite drum machine beat, the song and melodies are present and correct. It's a sun-doused stroll, gentle and more plaintive where the single version is almost desperate.

All in all, very much in thrall to Sarah Records but the bent-strings and layers of guitars and arpeggios - to me, anyway - also suggest a degree of West Coast/Byrds/Buffalo Springfield about them.

Sweet.

Download Ride 'Chelsea Girl (Demo)' (indie Shoegaze mp3) (Mediafire)

Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling - Give A Little Love (Session) (2007)

Lovely version of the debut album track - before the break-up.

Rough'n'ready but gorgeous session version of this track from 'Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down'. Just guitar, voices and rudimentary percussion.

It's Noah and the Whale in deeply thoughtful mode, a little bit miserabilist, like Lloyd Cole really, but nicely melodic.

Laura Marling is in good voice, though is playing back-up to Charlie Fink's song. The prism that hindsight gives you to view this through is, of course, interesting.

Download Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling 'Give A Little Love (Session)' (indie, acoustic, folk pop mp3) (Divshare)

Brad - Buttercup (Epic, 1993)

A guilty, post-Grunge pleasure.

I think Brad was some sort of Pearl Jam off-shoot and I wouldn't have heard this track if it wasn't the first track on the review copy I was sent. The rest of the album is po-faced, generic Grunge horseshit so I've only listened past this track once or maybe twice.

However, 'Buttercup' is a lilting, gently frazzled slice of soft rock that drifts by on the LA breeze.

How did they manage that?

It slides, lazily, into being on almost impossibly slow, rolling drums and a drowsy bass meander. The vocals are subtly earnest and sweet and the whole thing is just the right side of comatose and "Blues-y".

Happy Sunday.

Download Brad 'Buttercup' (Grunge, alternative rock, mp3) (Mediafire)

Th Faith Healers -Jesus Freak (Live at the Sausage Machine) (Too Pure, 1990)

Scuzzy, frantic stuff. Th' Faith Healers - and Too Pure's - debut release.

Lo-Fi live hurtle through 'Jesus Freak'. Screes of Sonic Youth guitar and remarkable straight line speed interspersed with lurching, almost retching interludes.

Th' Faith Healers would go on to release better, more considered records - as would Too Pure - but this splatter of noise and wonder has myriad charms in its breathless release.

Download Th' Faith Healers 'Jesus Freak (Live at the Sausage Machine)' (lurch, indie, alternative, mp3) (Mediafire)

Download the whole of 'Now That's Disgusting Music' compilation over on Archive:Live+Rare

Bloc Party - Banquet (Live, 2005)

Reminder of what a great band Bloc Party promised to be.

When I stumbled across Bloc Party's early output I was blown away by their tight, tight, tight take on angular but melodic indie rock with duelling, strafing guitars and yelping vocals. I think Foals, who I also love, were quite taken with them too.

In the intervening albums since their debut, Bloc Party seem to have been torn apart by their diverse ambitions. Singer Kele, it seems, wanted to go in a more electronic, pop direction, the rest of the band more than happy with their guitar-based dynamic.

It's great when bands want to move forward, try new approaches and develop but, with Bloc Party, the perfection of their initial sound, hasn't been improved upon. 'Banquet', their debut single, is still a thrilling listen especially in this live take from 2005.

Not sure why Kele feels the need to point out that "this isn't a tea party, it's a rock'n'roll concert" at the beginning. Maybe some indie kids had got out their rug and picnic hamper in front of the stage?

Download Bloc Party 'Banquet' (indie, alternative rock, mp3) (Mediafire)

Kings Of Convenience - Manhattan Skyline (A-ha Cover) (Source, 2001)

Great cover of the A-ha song in the sweet, intimate KoC style.

I re-discovered this when going through a box of CD singles in the loft over Christmas. Aside from being brilliant in their own songwriting, Kings Of Convenience did a nice line in b-side covers. More will surely appear here over the next few weeks...

I have to confess to loving the A-ha original - a guilty pleasure maybe, but great minor key pop nonetheless.

The interlinking of guitars and harmonies that Kings Of Convenience achieve is incredible. It's like they're whispering in your ear, so close and gentle is it. They turn the crunchy frustration of the original into a wistful soliloquy, drifting gently on the breeze.

Download Kings Of Convenience 'Manhattan Skyline (A-ha Cover)' (indie, acoustic, mp3) (Mediafire)

New Music - AU 'Solid Gold' (The Leaf Label, 2012)

A new year, more great new music.

I know nothing about AU but usually trust Leaf to come up with something special (see Triosk, Nancy Elizabeth, Efterklang, Phelan Shepherd, Beige and a host of others). So I gave this a listen and was blown away once it hit its uncategorisable stride.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what it is. It opens like a pub/folk song sung by John Grant before breaking into a frantic, rolling burst of kinetic percussion and fiddling. It builds to a frenzy then pauses momentarily before moving into Battles territory, an irresistable meld of hi-life guitar, clattering percussion and rollicking pace. Then it mutates again with simmering sax from Colin Stetson, tuba and trombone, all amidst a frenzy of mind-bending drumming.

Something of a trip and a great start to 2012.

Available as 7" or download from The Leaf Label shop.



AU - 'Solid Gold' by theleaflabel

The Cardigans 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' (Trampolene, 1994)

Black Sabbath given the saccharine indie-pop treatment. Works beautifully.

Crikey, this is nearly twenty years old. Gave myself a fright there.

Somehow, rendering classic Black Sabbath in a sweet, almost simpering indie pop carousel manner works perfectly. The malevolent revenge fantasy of the original is completely subsumed into the pastel coloured pop merry-go-round of The Cardigans' world.

Delightful.

Download The Cardigans 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' (indie pop, Black Sabbath cover, mp3) (Mediafire)

The Pooh Sticks 'The World Is Turning On' (Zoo, 1993)

Sweet, sugar-rush of indie pop joy.

The Pooh Sticks dealt in a tooth-rotting strain of indie-pop and found their way via C86 and a string of indie labels in the mid-to-late 1980s onto a major label. The results included this slice of frantic, sun-drenched buzzsaw pop.

The echoes can be heard in Teenage Fanclub, TPOBPAH and many more. It's proper songwriting, perfectly structured with great dynamics and a muscular rhythm section that provides an edge to the rush of indie pop vocals.

Beautiful.

Download The Pooh Sticks 'The World Is Turning On' (indie pop, C86, mp3) (Mediafire)

The B-52's 'Give Me Back My Man' (Island, 1980)

Offbeat, new wave pop moment.

The B-52's have been responsible for some very suspect musical moments over the years but this is a gem from their early period. I was introduced to it as a b-side on one of the reissues of  'Rock Lobster'.

'Give Me Back My Man' is a real ear-worm that combines elements of new wave pop (think The Cars rather than Klaxons, Talking Heads at their most joyous, Blondie's cool older brother) but subverts them gently with random noises and adroit melodies. Cindy Wilson's vocal sits at the centre of it all, impassioned and compelling.

Download The B52s 'Give Me Back My Man' (alternative, new wave mp3) (Mediafire)

Lush - De-Luxe (4AD, 1990)

Shimmering guitars. Oozy vocals. Impressionistic lyrics. Delicious dynamics. Shoegaze classic.

My introduction to the wonder of early Lush - probably via The Chart Show - was this wonderful EP. Produced by Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie it adds a hazy layer of mystery to the more straightforward sound of the previous 'Scar' mini-album.

'De-Luxe' opens with a spiralling, picked riff then simply bursts into a Shoegaze wall-of-sound and seems to climb, climb, climb in intensity. Layer-upon-layer of guitars and interlocking female harmonies create a wonderful, enveloping sound.

Bizarrely, it's also the basis for much Guitar Hero action.

Download Lush 'De-Luxe' (indie, shoegaze mp3) (Rapidshare)

The House Of Love 'Shine On (Fuck Version)' (Creation, 1988)

Brittle, stripped-back version of The House Of Love's second-greatest moment.

All the thrilling bombast and shimmering anticipation of the single version is stripped back to just Guy Chadwick and a guitar. Reveals the tension and classicism of the songwriting. As well as that Guy Chadwick was somewhat plummy of intonation.

Originally given away as a flexi at a House Of Love gig, this mp3 is lifted from the wonderfully-titled 'Pensioners On Ecstasy' compilation (1990). Listen carefully and you'll hear that it's actually mastered from the flexi itself. How very Creation Records.

Download The House Of Love 'Shine On (Fuck Version)' (indie alternative rock) (Badongo)

Th' Faith Healers Peel Session (1991)

Classic Peel Session by Th Faith Healers - frantic, groovy, clanging, lurching Krautrocking genius.

Headfuck Disco fodder of the highest order from a band that emerged during Too Pure's golden period. Moonshake, PJ Harvey, Stereolab, Seefeel and Pram - all on the same label? What the hell was in the water at Too Pure Towers?

'Coffee Commercial Couple' is a driving beast of a tune, seemingly improvised vocal snippets adding to the intrigue. A juggernaut.

'Bobby Kopper' begins spartan and sinister before a snarling vocal is matched by a rolling, almost Stray Cats guitar. The rhythm section keeps it all grooving along nicely.

'Jesus Freak' is a trashy, messy scrawl of guitar with frenzied vocals and strung-out interludes.

Great stuff.

Download Th' Faith Healers 'Coffee Commercial Couple' (Peel Session, 1991)
Download Th' Faith Healers 'Bobby Kopper' (Peel Session, 1991)
Download Th' Faith Healers 'Jesus Freak' (Peel Session, 1991) 

Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime (Same As It Never Was) (Liquid People Dub)' (White Label, 2001)

Classic Talking Heads re-rubbed for the discerning dancefloor.

This take on on of Talking Heads' finest moments builds on the perpetual motion of the original with heavy filtering on the vocals, a nice repetitive 'blip', a lithe deep house rhythm.

Top piece of remix business.

Download Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime (Same As It Never Was) (Liquid People Dub)' (post punk, alternative, remix, mp3) (Mediafire)

Pulp 'This Is Hardcore' (Live at Wireless 2011)

A triumphant, epic performance from the live comeback.

'This Is Hardcore' is probably the single that signalled the end of Pulp's mainstream career. A bitter, twisted ballad of self-disgust and disillusionment.

It shouldn't work in the wide open spaces of a festival-style gig but it's just so big in scope and almost operatic in scale that it stands up to scrutiny.

Download Pulp 'This Is Hardcore (Live at Wireless 2011)' (indie Britpop mp3) (Box)

Billy Bragg 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' (Go! Discs, 1986)

Heartbreakingly beauty wrought from six strings and a voice*. Incredible.

One of the endlessly fascinating things about music is how, using the same tools, some people can create magic and some create dross.

Whenever I go back and listen to Billy Bragg I'm taken aback at how he created tension, passion and heartbreak using the simplest of palettes. Totally at odds with the prevailing production values of the time.

Maybe it's the storytelling or the intensity - who knows, but this is a magical record.

* Okay, there's a bit of tambourine towards the end and some bongo and flute on the outro.

Download Billy Bragg 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' (indie mp3) (Mediafire)

Destroyer - Leave Me Alone (New Order cover) (Mojo, 2012)

Nice cover of the 'Power, Corruption and Lies' classic.

The stand-out track from the current Mojo covermount CD see Destroyer deliver a lovely cover of this early New Order gem.

Interweaving lines of guitar give way to a calm verse that has a slight Postal Service vibe to it. The intensity builds with the guitars coming back in, spiralling off into infinity.

Download Destroyer 'Leave Me Alone (New Order cover)' (indie alternative mp3) (Badongo)