Blur - Into Another (Parlophone, 1993)

Gently psych, pre-Britpop b-side.

Some lovely guitar work from Graham Coxon, creating curly clouds whimsy as Damon does his best Syd Barrett impression in the verses before releasing the tension with a soaring, anthemic chorus. B-side of 'For Tomorrow'.

Download Blur 'Into Another' (indie, Britpop, mp3) (Divshare)

New Order - Regret (The Fire Island Mix) (London, 1993)

Dancefloor melancholy

Almost Deep House smooth, this Fire Island remix really suits the laid-back, slightly melancholy feel of 'Regret'. Junior Boys Own's mastery gives the track some space and more propulsive beat but leaves the song pretty much intact, save for extended the instrumental coda.

Funnily, this is a more 'Balearic' sound than that of famously Ibiza-influenced 'Technique'.

Download New Order 'Regret (The Fire Island Mix)' (Alternative, mp3) (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)

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

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)

Blur - For Tomorrow (Visit To Primrose Hill Extended) (Food, 1993)

Kinks-y slice of string-laden London loving.

Was this the start of Britpop? I know that 'The Drowners' came out first but I prefer not to sully Suede's name with the label Britpop, they were better than that.

Despite the scent of sulphur and cynicism that, for me, Damon Albarn carries with him, 'For Tomorrow' is a delight (as is the 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' album). This extended version let's the song stretch out, a breathless bike ride, looking out over London.

Download Blur - For Tomorrow (Visit To Primrose Hill Extended) (indie, Britpop, blur mp3)

One Dove - Breakdown (Cellophane Boat Mix) (Junior Boys Own, 1993)

A Dub House symphony. Epic. Beautiful.

'Morning Dove White' - also touched by the hand of Andrew Weatherall - is up there with 'Screamadelica' for me in distilling the emotions and dynamics of Dub and House into a sumptuous cocoon of sound. You could call it Post Club Soul. Maybe it doesn't need a label.

'Breakdown' is a teasing, irresistable web of shuffling beats, reverb-happy piano, meandering bass and dubbed-out effects, bouncing subtly around the soundfield. It settles into a laidback groove and Dot Allison unleashes an angelic soliloquy to lost love.

A perfect companion piece to the Dub Symphony version of 'Higher Than The Sun' and the Lemonentry Mix of Saint Etienne's 'Pale Movie'. A seriously under-rated album.

Download One Dove - Breakdown (Cellophane Boat Mix) (Junior Boys Own, One Dove mp3) (Box.net)

Sub Sub ft Melanie Williams - Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use (Robs Records, 1993)

The band Doves could've been...

Only kidding I think Doves are good too and they made good use of their love of the dancefloor in their Northern-tinged indie yearning.

However, Sub Sub's 'Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use' is a delightful slice of sleek, euphoria. Perfect for this or any other Friday.

Download Sub Sub ft Melanie Williams - Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use (Robs Records, 1993)

Gene - For The Dead (Demo Tape, 1993)

Early promise on Gene's demo tape.

I received a copy of the Gene demo from their publicists of the time who must have handled a band who I fawned over. To be honest, I fell in love with 'For The Dead' and picked up the 7" when it eventually came out.

However, I never really took to Gene much beyond that track though it still stands up as a nicely-structured, well-crafted song with a certain loucheness, 'Drowners'-style dynamics and a very telling Morrissey growl towards the end.

Download Gene 'For The Dead (4-Track Demo)' (Britpop, indie, Gene mp3) (Rapidshare)

The Boo Radleys - I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been... (Creation, 1993)

Delightful skronk-then-sweet vignette.

Blessed with one of the greatest (and longest) songtitles of all time, this was tucked away on the b-side of 'I Hang Suspended'.

'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer' starts with a soup of skronk and primordial, I've-just-been-listening-to-My-Bloody-Valentine-in-the-bath-with-my-head-under-the-water atmospherics before bursting into a sweet, joyous piece of Martin Carr songwriting.  

Download The Boo Radleys 'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer' (indie, shoegaze, 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)

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)

#indiechristmas - Saint Etienne 'I Was Born On Christmas Day' (Heavenly, 1993)

A modern classic Christmas pop song. Saint Etienne try harder than everyone else at Christmas.

There are songs that become festive classics and songs that set out to be festive classics. Saint Etienne's 'I Was Born On Christmas Day' is, of course, of the latter school, Messrs Stanley and Wiggs toiling, no doubt, over the task in the summer of 1993 when they'd rather have been out in the London sun.

Tim Burgess delivers a suitably simpering vocal, offsetting Sarah Cracknell's breezy, must-have-the-turkey-on-by-9am energy. It rocks church bells, melodica, Ace Of Base bass farts but no sleigh bells.

Pretty much perfection though.

Download Saint Etienne 'I Was Born On Christmas Day' (christmas, indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

#indiechristmas - Cocteau Twins 'Frosty The Snowman' (Fontana, 1993)

Something of a departure but their rococo swirl suits the song. 

By 1993, the Cocteau Twins were on a major label and singer Liz Fraser had started singing much more comprehensible words rather than the esperanto of yore. As it was, the songs mainly seemed to be digs at long-term partner Robin Guthrie but on this occasion we got a full-blown recognisable lyric.

As a consquence, it wasn't such a shock to hear them deliver a Christmas EP. 'Snow' paired their warbling take on 'Winter Wonderland' with a swirling, cascading version of 'Frosty The Snowman'. The refractions of guitar and glissandos of vocal suggesting a crystalline snowscape.

Perfect.

Download Cocteau Twins 'Frosty The Snowman' (indie Christmas mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Catherine Wheel 'Crank' (Fontana, 1993)

Post-Shoegaze single with a more Metal-lic edge.

Catherine Wheel's debut album - 'Ferment' - is a splendid record, a crunchier, more muscular take on the Shoegazer scene, on the Swervedriver axis but with the more ethereal vocal style of Ride or Pale Saints. To be honest, it's probably the Shoegaze scene as viewed from the A&R office at a major label. Still a great album though.

'Ferment' didn't break Catherine Wheel and when they returned with their second album, they did so with a more unrestrained rock guitar sound.

'Crank' was the first single and is a perfect balance between soaring, heavenly melody and the widdly-diddly, high-fretboard guitar wankery that began to dominate from here on. It's a widescreen epic with massed ranks of vocals and sheets of vast guitar. Nice.

Download Catherine Wheel 'Crank' (indie, alternative, shoegaze mp3 download) (Mediafire)

The Boo Radleys 'Lazarus (Demo)' (1993)

Fascinating blueprint of the ground-breaking indie/jazz/dub masterpiece.

'Lazarus' in its full "Sun Ra meets the Rockers Uptown with Kevin Shields at the controls" guise is a wonder to behold. It's a breathtaking journey of a song, an explosion of joy from seeds of self-doubt. Trumpets erupting in a chorus that arrives from a tasty broth of dub and noise.

It sounds like a classic studio creation but this demo version reveals that it's nothing of the sort - Boo Radleys songwriter Martin Carr had scoped it all out in his demo. All the parts are there though the vibe is sketchier. You can hear the same mind at work on the previous demo I posted for 'Upon 9th and Fairchild'.

Total genius.

Download The Boo Radleys 'Lazarus (Demo)' (Creation Records, genius, indie mp3 download)

Download the complete 'Giant Steps - The Demos' over at archive:live+rare

Sebadoh 'Soul And Fire' (Sub Pop/Domino, 1993)

Heartbreaking poignance indie rock style.

Back when it started out - before the Franz Ferdinand, Wild Beasts, Arctic Monkeys et al - Domino was just a cool label licensing singles and the odd album from the US indie rock underground.

Domino introduced us to Pavement, Plush, Gastr Del Sol, Papa M/Aerial M. And they gave the UK indie underworld this Sub Pop single by Sebadoh, the band Lou Barlow formed after being dumped out of Dinosaur Jr.

'Soul And Fire' is an almost tortuously sad slice of heartbreak indie (is that a genre? It is now!). The guitars veer from sweet to gently serrated, the drums mark out a gentle pace and the vocals are resigned. Sad rock.

Download Sebadoh 'Soul And Fire' (indie rock, indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Kruder & Dorfmeister 'High Noon' (G Stone, 1993)

Very deep shit from kings of dubbed-out, jazzy hip-hop flavoured instrumentals.

Very, very languid stuff. Brown slabs of moody keys slide over a brushed drum shuffle. Hasn't dated a day to my ears.

File alongside Red Snapper, DJ Shadow, Isolee 'Beau Mot Plage', Ultramarine 'Saratoga' and then forget about the filing and listen to 'Girma's Lament' by Karl Hector & The Malhouns.

Download Kruder & Dorfmeister 'High Noon' (trip-hop, downtempo mp3) (Mediafire)

Molly Half Head 'Vivid Whitsun (Single Version)' (Playtime, 1993)

Edgy, Magazine-indebted mood-rock from Manchester.

I interviewed Molly Half Head for my student newspaper back in the day. I remember being quite taken-aback when the bassist and guitarist told us, with an unnerving intensity, that if Molly Half Head wasn't successful, that would be it for them, they'd have to jack music in and get jobs on building sites.

It seemed like both a lot of pressure to heap onto a couple of student journalists and also quite an optimistic view of the influence of the Aston University student paper.

I thought Molly Half Head's debut album - 'Sulk' - was great though and they got a good write-up. Admittedly, I hadn't heard Magazine back then but 'Vivid Whitsun' made a big impact on me and was my first encounter with the wonders of the loop pedal.

This version pre-dates the album and is a little less polished. It features the same elements though - arcs of guitar, the constant serrated guitar loop and spacious but menacing rhythm section. It's topped with singer Paul Bardsley's distinctive vocal sound and lyrical preoccupations - reflections on childhood loneliness mainly, playing with an Action Man, that kind of thing.

Looking back they predated the Manic Street Preachers 'Holy Bible' album which used the same influences as their starting point. They also make me think of British Sea Power, though more downbeat and less bombastic.

Molly Half Head didn't make it, though they did get to make a second album. Shame.

Download Molly Half Head 'Vivid Whitsun (Single Version)' (alternative indie rock download, mp3, 320k, Mediafire)

Tindersticks - A Marriage Made In Heaven (Rough Trade Singles Club, 1993)

Gorgeous collaboration between Tindersticks and Huggy Bear's Niki Sin in homage to Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.

One-off collaboration between Tindersticks and Huggy Bear's Niki Sin from 1993. It was released as part of the Rough Trade Singles Club which maintained a pretty spectacular level of quality across its collection of seven inch vinyl releases. The series effectively documented some of the key players in the early nineties indie alternative scene with exclusive singles by The Auteurs, Butterfly Child, Mercury Rev, Mazzy Star, Ultramarine (a remix of indie electronic bliss-out 'Saratoga'), Levitation and not forgetting Sweet Jesus.

'A Marriage Made In Heaven' is a bright and breezy tune that wears its Lee 'n' Nancy fascination very much on its sleeve. And the single's sleeve too.

Stuart Staples and Niki Sin manage to deliver a bristling chemistry whilst the band create a jaunty pace led by bright guitar chords, rolling rhythm section and some driving strings.

It's more in line with Tindersticks 'City Sickness' or their cover of David Bowie's 'Kooks' on the 'Unwired' EP rather than their shambling cover of 'We Have all The Time In The World' or their later soundtrack work with Claire Denis.

Download Tindersticks 'A Marriage Made In Heaven' (indie mp3 download, mp3, Box)