Stars - Elevator Love Letter (Setanta, 2003)

Cute electro indie pop gem.

'Elevator Love Letter' by Canada's Stars is a delightful cascade of sweet yearning and regret set to a gently clattering beat, swoons of synth and pulsing acoustic guitar.

Bittersweet with divine melodies, it has a kinship with the likes of The Postal Service and is four minutes of joy.

Download Stars - Elevator Love Letter (Arts & Crafts, Electropop, mp3 download) (Divshare)

Kevin Shields - City Girl (Emporer Norton, 2003)

All-too-rare appearance by MBV's Kevin Shields.

As a tribute to the scarcely credible news that, no-really-this-time-they'll-definitely-come-out, the My Bloody Valentine remasters might come out in May, here's one of the few new tracks Kevin Shields has released since 'Loveless' came out in 1991.

For two years, I used to get emails from Amazon that let me know that the latest (re)release date for the remastered version of 'Loveless' was actually fiction and, no really, the release date was now the twelth of never. Allegedly, a compilation of the Creation EPs is due out in May but, well, I'm not holding my breath and, aside from a few odds and sods, I've got these peerless tracks anyhoo.

But listening to this track from the 'Lost In Translation' and its nonchalent, laconic charm, it's hard not to hanker after something more - new or otherwise - from the guitar of Kevin Shields.

Download Kevin Shields - City Girl (Lost In Translation, My Bloody Valentine, mp3) (Divshare)

Caribou / Manitoba - If Assholes Could Fly, This Place Would Be An Airport (The Leaf Label, 2003)

Tight, funky dancefloor electronica.

Beautifully spring, tight, tech funky electronica business from 2003 before Dan Snaith was forced to change is nom de tronica from Manitoba to Caribou.

Intelligently mental stuff from the ever-reliable Leaf Label that just stops short of a 'woo!... yeah!' moment.

Download Caribou / Manitoba - If Assholes Could Fly, This Place Would Be An Airport (The Leaf Label, techno, electronica, mp3) (Divshare)

Trespassers Williams - Vapour Trail (Bella Union, 2003)

Languid version of the Ride shoegaze classic.

Now, let's be honest, it couldn't be better than the original. However, Trespassers William's slow, soft version of the closing track on Ride's perfect debut album is a joy.

The jangling, ringing guitars of the original are replaced with a steady piano line and yearning, male Shoegaze vocals are replaced with a blissed-out female take and heavenly backing vox. Beautiful.

Download Trespassers Williams 'Vapour Trail' (shoegaze mp3, Ride cover, mp3) (Mediafire)

Pleasure 'Joyous (DJ Harvey Re-Edit)' (Nuphonic, 2003)

Slinky, sinuous dancefloor jazz action, originally released in 1977. Acceptable sax interlude (skronk).

Is it Rare Groove? Dancefloor Jazz? Funk? Soul Jazz?

DJ Harvey loops and tightens Pleasure's supple 'Joyous' into a total masterpiece. Ten minutes of warm, tense, teasing soulful funk that sits nicely alongside Kenny Dope's 'Can U Handle It' or Polmo Polpo's strung-out version of Arthur Russell's 'Kiss Me Again And Again' via a tense Average White Band guitar.

Opening at breakneck pace, it breaks down into an urgent section section then expands into a vocal breakdown, smooth and soulful. Then it winds up via some unrestrained guitar soloing as the epic, Chic-style strings sweep in. Even the sax is acceptable, veering into a dirty, skronky realm that Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler would appreciate.

It's a constantly evolving track. Genius.

Download Pleasure 'Joyous (DJ Harvey Re-Edit)' (rare groove, re-edit mp3) (Mediafire)

Luke Haines & The Auteurs 'Unsolved Child Murder (Das Kapital Version)' (Hut, 2003)

Majestic version of classic single by The Auteurs. They should have been massive.

I'm reading Luke Haines' second volume of vitriolic memoir at the moment (Post Everythingavailable at all good bookstores now). He recounts a tale of emerging from a meeting at his label (Virgin/EMI's faux Indie, Hut), where he is effectively told he is being dropped, with a £75,000 budget to record a back catalogue album. One last blag against the major label system resulting in this album of string-drenched versions of his greatest 'hits'.

Haines is a fascinating artist, seemingly hamstrung by his own cussed singularity. Maker of at least two truly great records, he seems both in thrall to the idea of being popular but totally disgusted by it at the same time. Legend has it that The Auteurs' 'New Wave' only narrowly missed out on the Mercury Music Prize.

'Unsolved Child Murder' is a gentle, rolling vignette, sung sensitively against a lazy strum and a wash of strings. Where other songwriters would sneak in dark subject matter under cover of such beautiful music, Haines flags it up with a title like that. A curmudgeon, a true star.

Download Luke Haines & The Auteurs 'Unsolved Child Murder (Das Kapital Version)' (songwriter, indie, ballad mp3) (Mediafire)

Devics 'Red Morning' (Bella Union, 2003)

Languid, moody, downtempo melancholy. 


Devics seem to have passed into history now with pianist Dustin O'Halloran now releasing solo albums. They released a sequence of albums on the Bella Union label back before it had its breakout hits with Fleet Foxes et al.

'Red Morning' is a taster of their 'The Stars Of Saint Andrea album which is currently available from the Bella Union online store for very reasonable £5.99.

'Red Morning' starts with warm acoustic guitar and stately drum machine, adding in a yearning female croon and understated bass guitar. A curling synth tone weaves in and out of the mix creating a sense of unease, anticipation.


It's a delicious, oozing slab of moodiness that brings Beach House to mind or maybe the later records of the Cocteau Twins. Very lovely.

Download Devics 'Red Morning' (shoegaze, indie, alternative, mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Green Man 2011: Iron & Wine 'Such Great Heights' (Sub Pop, 2003)

Rustic, Americana version of the Indie/Electro pop classic.

Iron & Wine headline this year's Green Man Festival and have a rich back catalogue to draw from.

This re-setting of The Postal Service's insistent, yearning indie pop is a simply delightful means of conveying the song. The dry, dusty guitar and vocals render the song's inner beauty, erm, beautifully.

Originally released as an extra track on a Postal Service EP, Sub Pop went on to release it as an Iron & Wine single in its own right. It's that good.

Download Iron & Wine 'Such Great Heights (Postal Service Cover)' (folk, electronica mp3) (Mediafire)

Green Man 2011: Explosions In The Sky 'Memorial' (Temporary Residence, 2003)

Epic, post-rock soundscaping from their breakthrough record.

Friday night headliners at the Green Man Festival, Explosions In The Sky stretch the loud-quiet, fast-slow dynamic to breaking point. It's a mighty fine sound, especially live, that ranks alongside Fridge (Green Man faves of yesteryear), Sickoakes, Super Numeri, Slint and labelmates The Drift, who would be a major coup for Green Man 2012 (hint, hint).

'Memorial' is from their 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' album which was the first album of theirs to be released in the UK (on Bella Union). The album is dominated by long, segued pieces but 'Memorial' is relatively concise, setting some epic, skyscraping exposition alongside some delicious and delicate quiet stuff.

Download Explosions In The Sky 'Memorial' (post rock mp3) (temporaryresidence.com)

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) 'Me and Guiliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)' (Touch and Go/Warp, 2003) (mp3)

A monstrous piece of funked-up party madness from the impossibly named !!! (apparently to be pronounced as "Chk Chk Chk or any three hard sounds").

There's cowbell, there's a unrelentingly funky bassline, there's choppy guitar and there's an almost whispered vocal, setting up a juggernaut of post-punk-funk.

I guess it's fair to say that in the way !!! have obviously heard PIL or Pigbag or A Certain Ratio, Friendly Fires have definitely heard this 2003 classic. LCD Soundsystem were listening too.

The intensity is built and maintained over nine minutes through an angry pulsating chorus, a strung-out almost shoegazey section with shimmering delayed guitar, a tight, tight breakdown before hitting an outro of just drums and accapella vocals. It's structured like a club track, building, breaking down, building again, breaking down and then going mental.

Available to buy - you know, with money - on their Warp debut UK album 'Louden Up Now'.


Download !!! (Chk Chk Chk) 'Me and Guiliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Arab Strap 'Why Can't This Be Love? (Live)' (2003)

Arab Strap were responsible for quite a sequence of unlikely cover versions over their career. Bonnie Tyler and Kiss also received the loving, but drunken, caress of the Arab Strap cover version.

This heartfelt, melancholy, but almost falling apart version of Van Halen's strident synth-rocker 'Why Can't This Be Love?' was recorded live at the Cottier Theatre in Glasgow 2003 and sold on their European tour that year, an album that went by the name 'The Cunted Cirus'. Bless them.

Download Arab Strap 'Why Can't This Be Love? (Live Van Halen cover)' (mp3) (Rapidshare)

Suede 'The Asphalt World (Live at the ICA)' (2003)

In anticipation of the repeat performance of the whole of their 'Dog Man Star' album live in May, here's one of the best tracks from their farewell gigs at the ICA in 2003.

It's a decidedly progressive, elongated, mini-cab drive through the sodium-lit city streets. Your cab driver is one Brett Anderson and, rather than opining on the growth of inward migration on his "manor", he's blasting the purple prose about a filly that he knows and supplies narcotics to. Don't know if that's better than casual racism but rather than being sordid, it is, in fact, a rather romantic and beautiful song.

Epic, spiraling guitar leads the way on what was was effectively Bernard Butler's farewell to the band. It explodes into a frantic squall of guitar, drums and expressive bass before drifting away into ambience.

A perfect partner for the equally epic 'Stay Together'. But that's one for another day.

Download Suede 'The Asphalt World (Live at the ICA, 2003) (mp3) (Rapidshare)

Download the whole of the 'Dog Man Star Live at the ICA)' show over on Archive: Live and Rare mp3s.

Death Cab For Cutie 'Transatlanticism' (2003)

Imbued with a gorgeous sense of longing, this is Death Cab For Cutie just about at the peak of their powers. Building on their particular brand of bittersweet indie pop, by this album they were able to deliver widescreen epics like this.

Opening with plaintive piano chords and gentle vocals, it's a hymn to the pain of separation and the joy and anticipation of being reunited. The song builds steadily, on crisply pounding drums and the most poised and perfectly spare guitar, before spiralling through the repeated "I need you so much closer" refrain, creating an irresistible wave of optimism and hope for reconciliation.

A beautiful song that means a lot to me, especially the gorgeous string quartet version that the Celebration String Quartet performed at my wedding. Now, I wish I had an mp3 of that version.