Maps - It Will Find You (Mute, 2007)

Luminous electronic Shoegaze

Maps is the nom-de-Shoegaze of solo artist James Chapman. 'It Will Find You' was a single of no little shimmering beauty from his 'We Can Create' debut album.

It builds layer-upon-layer of gauzy melody around a puttering drum pattern. It has the open space and stately grandeur of Slowdive's classic 'Catch The Breeze' but is machine-based Shoegaze rather than guitar-based. So maybe it should actually be called Fingergaze instead?

Download Maps 'It Will Find You' (shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

Phelan Shepherd - Weaving Song (Leaf, 2006)

Luminous, angelic folktronic instrumental

Listen closely to this delightfully finger-picked folky tune and, amid the sweeping cello, pootling tones and gorgeous ambience, you can hear the sound of someone tapping away at a keyboard.

Peculiar. A comment on the replacement of weaving with more desk-based workforms? Who knows.

Download Phelan Shepherd 'Weaving Song (Leaf, folk, mp3) (Divshare)

Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More (Deltasonic, 2007)

Strident 60s-inspired clattering breakbeat pop

Candie Payne emerged on the back of a handful of killer 7"s that dealt in the breakbeat 60s pop stylings of early Saint Etienne. Moody, strident and full of atmosphere.

This third single was the title track of her debut album and crackles with a certain Portishead/Spy Theme vibe. It's devastatingly good.

Download Candie Payne 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More' (Deltasonic, indie pop, mp3) (Divshare)

Cat Power - The Greatest (Matador, 2006)

Sweet, resigned, Dusty-style ballad-ing

Real fans of Cat Power probably hate this album as it smooths her idiosyncracies into a 'Dusty In Memphis' sweep of country-soul.

The title track and album opener, is a piano led essay in wistfulness and gentle regret. It sparkles with Cat Power's insouciant charm, meandering along behind sparse drums and an almost drunken violin.

Download Cat Power 'The Greatest' (Matador, indie, mp3) (Divshare)

Shop Assistants - Train From Kansas City (Live at ULU, 1986)

Storming Shangri-Las cover.

Buzzing, stomp-a-long cover of the Shangri-Las' 'Train From Kansas City' by C86 heroes, The Shop Assistants. Great vocal, nice bass/drum stomp and a buzzing guitar. Ace.

Download The Shop Assistants 'Train From Kansas City (Live at ULU)' (C86, Indie, ULU) (Divshare)

Stereolab - French Disco (Duophonic, 1993)

Spectacular rush of frothing indie/Krautrock pop.

It's funny to think that this track was originally just track 4 on the 'Jenny Ondioline' EP. Yet it ended up on compilations including 'Classics From John Peel's All-Time Festive 50', 'Indie Top 20 Volume 19' and - yes - 'Generation X: The Definitive Sound of 90s Indie'. And onto Friday night TV on The Word.

'French Disco' is certainly a classic of Stereolab's own micro-genre. Splashy Farfisa, metronomic bass, jangling then crushing guitar and aloof vocals.

Sounds as fresh now as it did then

Download Stereolab 'French Disco' (Duophonic, mp3) (Divshare)

New Order - Here To Stay (Full Length Vocal) (London, 2002)

The last great New Order record?

It's all got a bit messy in New Order land but this track from the '24 Hour Party People' soundtrack can hold its head up against former glories courtesy of some production magic from The Chemical Brothers.

A gleaming, chrome-plated synthesis of alternative rock and dance with no bobbins lyrics, glorious propulsive beats, Barney's trademark guitar and some fine bass runs from Hooky.

Brings a tear...

Download New Order 'Here To Stay (Full Length Vocal)' (indie dance, mp3) (Divshare)

The Man From Delmonte - My Love Is Like A Gift You Can't Return (Bop Cassettes, 1989)

Sprightly indie pop wordsmithery.

Manchester's The Man From Delmonte shoulda been moderately successful, dealing in cute, wordy, melodic indiepop.

Excellently long-titled 'My Love Is Like A Gift You Can't Return' was their shot at cross-over hit, busting some 'Love Me Do' harmonica, rattling along, sounding like a twee version of The Smiths had they stuck with their skiffle influences.

Download The Man From Delmonte 'My Love Is Like A Gift You Can't Return' (indie pop, mp3) (Divshare)

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Get Better (Extended) (Playtime, 1991)

Corking, groovy indie funk juggernaut.

Long version of the opening track from New Fast Automatic Daffodils' debut album. It's a rhythm-heavy monster with a tight, bass-led groove. It's 'baggy' alright but more intense and taut and aggressive.

Download New Fast Automatic Daffodils 'Get Better (Extended)' (Playtime, Baggy, Indie Funk, mp3) (Divshare)

Aztec Camera - Lost Outside The Tunnel (Postcard Version) (Postcard, 1980)

Bossa Nova version of the song that eventually graced 'High Land, Hard Rain'.

At first I thought this was a drum machine demo but it's just that the drums are incredibly tight at the start of this version recorded for the b-side of Aztec Camera's debut 7" on Postcard.

A giddy, Romantic swirl, 'Lost Outside The Tunnel' is Roddy Frame at his most melodramatic. A sizzling Latin rhythm is augmented with bouncy bass, lashings of Spanish guitar and Frame's impassioned croon.

Download Aztec Camera 'Lost Outside The Tunnel (Postcard Version)' (Postcard, indie, pop, mp3) (Box.net)

The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope (Creation Records, 1985)

Archetypal indie from early Creation days.

Before Creation thought that The House Of Love would take over the world and long before Oasis actually did, The Loft were the great, pale hopes of the label.

'Up The Hill And Down The Slope' is a really nice record that embodies the left-of-the-mainstream approach to guitar pop in 1985.

The vocal is slightly off-key and strained, the guitars jangle and the drums are a skiffle shuffle meted out on cardboard boxes. However, The Loft manage to eke out a rockabilly-tinged slice of jangly pop.

And, of course, it gave the excellent Creation bio-book 'My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize' its title.

Download The Loft 'Up The Hill And Down The Slope' (Creation, indie, CRE15T, mp3, vinyl rip) (Divshare)

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Drop Out Orchestra Rework) (2012)

Another tasty Drop Out Orchestra remix.

Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer' given a gentle, rolling chilled House makeover.

Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (Paisley Park, 1987)

More exquisite lo-fi funk genius from his purple period.

I've listened to 'Sign Of The Times' a lot recently after not touching it for years. It's by no means a perfect album but it's a great use of the double album, taking risks, experimenting, throwing in some sure-fire hits and sprawling out over four sides of vinyl.

'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' is a cute slice of lo-fi, skeletal funk. It's whimsical (obviously) and funny and playful.

Prince recounts a tale of a liaison with Dorothy Parker who is somehow waiting tables in a late night diner from beyond the grace. They exchange what contemporary youth would call 'banter' and she makes a pass at him. Of course.

With lyrics like "I needed someone with a quicker wit than mine. Dorothy was fast" it's just Prince at his absolute peak.

Download Prince - The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (lo-fi funk, mp3) (Divshare)

187 Lockdown - Gunman (East West, 1997)

Fantastically non-cerebral Speed Garage workout.

There were definitely better-crafted, more genre-bending records to emerge during the wave of Speed Garage/UK Garage in the late 1990s. However, 'Gunman' by 187 Lockdown has an enduring straightforwardness to it that I love.

One might even go as far as to say it's a gloriously 'dumb' record with its repeated "selec-tah" and gunshot samples and the obligatory chant of "re-wind!".

And, no, it's not as soulful as 'Anytime' by Nu-Birth or 'Gabrielle' by Roy Davis Jr. or as innovative as MJ Cole's 'Sincere' but it has a charm of its own.

Download 187 Lockdown 'Gunman' (Speed Garage, UK Garage, mp3) (Divshare)

Aphex Twin - Tha (Apollo, 1992)

Dreamy ambient electronica.

I have to admit that the definition of 'indie' is often somewhat stretched on this blog. However, the burbling, subterranean lo-fi of Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' surely qualifies as indie techno. It doesn't gleam like chrome-plated futurism of Derrick May or Model 500 or have the precision of Carl Craig's minimal funk.

'Tha' is almost murky, with a fug or background noise and an indistinct putter of kick-drum buried in the mix.

Spellbinding stuff though.

Download Aphex Twin 'Tha' (Ambient, Electronica, Techno, mp3) (Divshare)

Moonshake - Home Survival Kit (Too Pure, 1992)

Nick Drake-sampling dub soup.

B-side action from the peerless Moonshake sees NIMBY-bating lyric pitched against a soupy dub that incorporates pattering percussion, scraping guitar and a Nick Drake sample.

Download Moonshake 'Home Survival Kit' (Too Pure, mp3) (Divshare)

Venus - No. 1 Fan (Sweet Jesus) (PVC, 1994)

Wall Of Sound heavy proto-Britpop from Brum.

'Phonefreak Honey' by Sweet Jesus is a truly great lost single, a transgender Jesus & Mary Chain being pelted with candyfloss in a wind tunnel. Yes, that good.

After a few more singles and no success, singer/songwriter Ben Bentley reconfigured as Venus, slowed the tempo and got Phil Spector in to produce (in his dreams).

The result was 'No. 1 Fan' which has a wistful elegance and sounds like a demo for late period Suede, obsessed with fame and fandom. Less effects and artifice that Sweet Jesus but still a sweet tune.

Download Venus 'No. 1 Fan' (Sweet Jesus, Indie Pop, mp3) (Divshare)

The Chemical Brothers - Life Is Sweet (Daft Punk Mix) (Freestyle Dust, 1995)

Tasty slammer, made more slamming.

Daft Punk give Tim Burgess' vocal the heave and turn the twisty synthetic funk of the original into a straightforward juggernaut.

Download The Chemical Brothers 'Life Is Sweet (Daft Punk Mix)' (House, Big Beat, mp3) (Mediafire)

Chapterhouse - Delta Phase (Blood Music Global Communication Remix) (Dedicated, 1993)

Ambient reprocessing of shoegazer's forgotten album.

Chapterhouse's 'Blood Music' is - IMHO - not one of the great sophomore albums but it did come with a rather innovative 'retranslation' of the whole album by Global Communication.

It bears little resemblance to the original but is a rather pleasant hour of ambient noodle soundscaping in a similar vein to their ground-breaking '76:14' album.

Download Chapterhouse 'Delta Phase (Blood Music Global Communication Remix)' (Shoegazer, Ambient, mp3) (Divshare)

Grab the whole Chapterhouse 'Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis' album over on archive:live+rare

Luscious Jackson - Let Yourself Get Down (Big Cat, 1992)

Lo-slung, shambling funky hip hop girlz.

This album was actually the first release on The Beastie Boys' Grand Royale label, appearing in the UK on Big Cat, the label that put out Pavement's first releases over here.

The Beastie Boys reference is kind of relevant as Luscious Jackson deal in a funky, indie hip-hop sound. Later records got smoothed-out a little but the sound on 'Let Yourself Get Down' is groovy but a little lo-fi. It has a relentless flow and some neat sub-bass action and should still be heard on the most discerning dancefloors.

Download Luscious Jackson 'Let Yourself Get Down' (indie, hip hop, funk, rap, mp3) (Mediafire)

Listening Post - Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop/Bella Union, 2012)

More swirling loveliness from Beach House.

Beach House's 2010 album 'Teen Dream' was a duskily ethereal slow-burning classic. Soaring melodies amid the gentle ebb and flow of a million guitars refracted in a gauzy hall of mirrors. Superlative dreampop in the vein of Cocteau Twins and AR Kane and a cousin of beautiful Korallreven.

'Bloom' is evolution rather revolution, taking 'Teen Dream' as a starting point, adding more clarity in the vocals but more dreamy sheen in the music's candyfloss of sweet fogginess.

Listen to Beach House 'Bloom' in full (NPR.org)

Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man (Jeepster, 2000)

Indie Pop meets Northern Soul hipshaker.

This record passed me by first time round despite coming from Belle And Sebastian's golden period of dressing up and doing things their own unique way. I only discovered 'Legal Man's splendour when someone asked me to play it at their wedding a few years later.

So I gave it a spin and found that it was a perfect fusion of Northern Soul and Indie Pop with a sardonic lyric that borrowed heavily from the missives of the band's legal counsel.

Frug.

Download Belle and Sebastian 'Legal Man' (indie pop, Northern Soul, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

James Yorkston - Woozy With Cider (Domino, 2007)

Minimal, electro-folk, spoken word masterpiece.

Crikey, this is a beautiful record.

Usually rocking it on a folksy tip, 'Woozy With Cider' sees James Yorkston mutter extracts from his diary over a gentle, what you might term 'ambient', backing.

A simple tone-loop is joined by an oboe and very little else, just Yorkston's dulcet, self-deprecating voice. He ponders the lot of the modern acoustic troubadour, pausing to wonder whether anyone will buy his records and whether they might end up soundtracking adverts. For oranges. Or lemons.

An array of remixes were released with this single but, for the most part, they seem redundant. Maybe Four Tet could have done it justice but, really, this track itself is a recontextualising of his usual sound. All the familiar elements have been removed excepting his voice, which makes it all the more intimate. It's just Mr. Yorkston muttering his stream of consciousness, cider-breathed, into your ear, slumped over the bar in an after-hours ambient techno bar. Or something like that.

Download James Yorkston 'Woozy With Cider' (Electro, Folk, Ambient, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Drop Nineteens - Winona (Hut, 1992)

Shifting, droning, soaring slice of preppy Shoegaze.

No big fanfares seem to be marking the twentieth anniversary of Drop Nineteens' debut album but 'Winona' is a thrilling piece of slidey-guitared Shoegaze business.

Obviously in thrall to 'Loveless', Boston (USA, not Lincolnshire) band Drop Nineteens rise above their influences with the dreamy, melodic noise pop which sounds like about three records playing at once. The vocal and drums hold it all together as guitars churn and spin around, mixing sweetness with dischord.

Download Drop Nineteens 'Winona' (Shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

Do Make Say Think - Classic Noodlanding (Live, 2002)

Beautiful, rolling postrock grooving.

Utterly beguiling instrumental, jazz trumpet-tinged post rock from Do Make Say Think from the heady, post-Godspeed You! Black Emporer days on Constellation Records.

A tidy drum pattern kicks things off, leaving lots of space for guitar patterns and trumpet to weave in and out. A low slung bass underpins the groove and the track gracefully unwinds, ensnaring you with gentle twists and turns.

Download Do Make Say Think 'Classic Noodlanding (Live 2002)' (Post Rock mp3, Constellation) (Divshare)

The Supremes - My World Is Empty Without You (Motown, 1965)

Dark Motown misery-pop genius.

I'm not proposing to make a habit of it but this is such a great song that posting remix, cover and original in succession doesn't seem indulgent (to me, anyway).

Enjoy.

Download The Supremes 'My World Is Empty Without You' (Motown, mp3) (Divshare)

Afghan Whigs - My World Is Empty Without You (Sub Pop, 1991)

Jaw-dropping Motown cover.

Before turning their attention to 'Come See About Me', Afghan Whigs had dropped this frazzled, broken and pleading soul/grunge bomb.

The beat is a threatening rumble, the bass a low-slung metallic clang and Greg Dulli's vocal is one of tears and desolation. Periods of restraint and introversion are followed by the guitars cutting loose, creating a storm of emotional interference.

Splendid.

Download Afghan Whigs - My World Is Empty Without You (Motown, Sub Pop, mp3) (Divshare)

The Supremes - My World Is Empty Without You (Drop Out Orchestra Remix) (2011)

Slow and sinister dubbed-up remix of The Supremes classic.

A great Motown original which was covered to great effect by Afghan Whigs (must dig that one out and post it).

This version is slow house jam with a gentle 4/4 beat, a simple, spartan Fender Rhodes line and deep bass creating a sensitive new home for Diana Ross' vocal.

Very, very nice indeed.

Liz Phair - Never Said (Matador, 1993)

Gloriously lo-fi indie-rocking.

Liz Phair's 'Exile In Guyville' was (maybe still is) a classic album born of the swell of indie rock that was cultivated in 'Nevermind's backwash. It's urgent, fresh and melodic but raw and unadorned.

'Never Said' is a brash, dime store version of US radio rock. Think Tom Petty, The Cars, The Knack - but with a fuck-you insouciance and a 'Slanted And Enchanted' tour shirt.

The guitar is brash and buzzing, the vocal is mumbly but cocksure and the drums knock out a simple indie ass shake. Party like it's 1993.

Download Liz Phair - Never Said (Indie Rock, mp3 download) (Divshare)

Supermarket - Supermarket (Felt, Lawrence) (Icerink, 1992)

Minimal vocoder pop classic.

Somewhat like 'Around The World' by Daft Punk, this vocal of this record features only the word "Supermarket" repeated ad infinitum. Apparently, "around the world" is repeated 144 times in the Daft Punk classic. I haven't counted how many times "supermarket" is repeated.

Delightful, checkout-friendly spartan pop from the Saint Etienne-curated Icerink label. The story was that Supermarket was two boys from Denmark but it was, allegedly, Lawrence of Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart fame.

Download Supermarket - Supermarket (Icerink, Saint Etienne, mp3) (Divshare)

Included in the 'We Are Icerink' compilation which is featured over on Archive:Live+Rare.

New Order - Round And Round (Detroit Mix) (Factory, 1989)

Prime New Order given Techno body kit.

Listening to some classic Inner City reminded me of this gleaming but fluttering makeover of New Order's 'Round And Round'.

Inner City's Kevin Saunderson stretches the track out adding flickering sequencer and percussion lines to extrapolate the dance side of the New Order equation.

Download New Order 'Round & Round (Detroit Mix)' (Factory, 1989) (Divshare)