Smoke Fairies - She Sells Sanctuary (Co-Op/V2, 2012)

Arresting take on The Cult's classic.

Smoke Fairies' recent album is a delightful thing. Intertwining vocals recalling Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny, angular drums recalling something more Post Rock-y.

This shuffling, sweeping version of The Cult's 'She Sells Sanctuary' is available on a bonus CD (from all good independent stores, etc).

Red House Painters - Silly Love Songs (Island, 1996)

Extended, anaesthetised take on chirpy Wings classic.

This record has a strong risk of coming over as some sort of conceptual joke but this extended, jammed-out version of Paul McCartney & Wings' chirpy 70s pop song actually works. The 70s AM radio sheen is replaced by desolate distorted guitar and time is slowed to glacial pace with some massive reverb the drums.

Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek's trademark yelp isn't heard until we're over five minutes into the track but, surprisingly, his rendering of the chorus sounds sincere.

It's a track that could result in a fairly harrowing Valentines Day should someone be unlucky enough to pick the wrong version in itunes. That would be a pretty disastrous eleven minutes of awkwardness in an otherwise lovey-dovey mixtape.

Download Red House Painters 'Silly Love Songs' (slowcore mp3) (Divshare)

Dinosaur Jr - Start Choppin (Blanco Y Negro, 1992)

Riffmungus.

Proto-Grunge, buzz pop, power chord, rifftacular, screaming doozy. A choir of fuzz guitars lay down great sheets of metallic riffing and J Mascis croons a laconic ditty.

Download Dinosaur Jr 'Start Choppin' (Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, mp3) (Divshare)

Jeff Buckley - Everybody Here Wants You (Columbia, 1998)

Prince-y, slow jamming beauty

Perhaps better known for the sky-soaring, expansive alt rock of his 'Grace' album, this is effectively a demo for his never-recorded second album. It's still heartbreakingly beautiful but it really grooves where 'Grace' went for widescreen guitars.

Download Jeff Buckley 'Everybody Here Wants You' (Alternative, 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

British Sea Power 'I Am A Cider Drinker' (Rough Trade, 2005)

Maximum quirkiness as The Wurzels get a makeover.

At the moment I'm reading Roy Wilkinson's book about the imagination, gestation and initial years of the almost mythically quirky British Sea Power. It's a subject he should know about - he managed them until 2005 and two of his brothers are in the band.

A joyful book, it luxuriates in supporting - and, often, seemingly superfluous - detail but speaks breathlessly about their desire to create something unique and special around the band. It paints them as a weird hybrid of Dad's Army, a Prague suburb's amateur boxing club and Paris Fashion Week as re-imagined by Lord Baden Powell.

Which brings us to this tour single from 2005. On the other side, it features The Wurzels turning 'Remember Me' into a scrumpy-powered knees-up. Conversely, British Sea Power turn in a hungover-sounding cover of The Wurzels' finest moment.

Where The Wurzels original is a Saturday night knees-up, British Sea Power render 'I Am A Cider Drinker' as the wasteland of the morning-after-the-night-before. It's a stunned alternative rock ballad, hymning the destructive power of the fermented apple.

Download British Sea Power 'I Am A Cider Drinker' (alternative rock mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Roy Wilkinson's book 'Do It For Your Mum' is highly recommended and available (in an edition of 2,011, of course) direct from the author.

Big Black 'Kerosene' (Touch & Go, 1986)

Irresistable force. Classic Albini.

You know what you're getting with Steve Albini. Shellac, his current band, are awe-inspiring. His 'production' work just lets the natural energy of a band ring true. His words are caustic and unpleasant.

And this slice of prime Big Black is caustic and driving and features one of his imaginative tales told from the point of view of some backwoods, pig-fucking idiot.

What's not to like.

Download Big Black 'Kerosene' (alternative rock mp3) (via Touch & Go)

Shellac 'The End Of Radio' (Live Peel Session, 2005)

Almost pure tension and threat from the masterful Shellac.

This live version recorded for John Peel is nine 'The End Of Radio' is almost nine minutes of teasing, edgy implied power, the band never quite unleashing the deluge of noise that Shellac's power threatens.

It displays a masterful control of dynamics, building, building and building. The bass is a foghorn blasting through the track, guiding it into the dark, the drums pile on the tension and suspense, Albini alternates between what seems to be a stream of consciousness monologue and derranged, serrated guitar.

What a band.


Download Shellac 'The Sound Of Radio (Peel Session)' (alternative post-rock mp3)

Pixies 'Gouge Away' (Live, NYC, December 2004)

Brooding, controlled malevolence from the first round of comeback shows.

Building, building, building from understated threat to hollering rage. Kim Deal adding the sweet trills and rolling bass that made the Breeders rock.

Quite a good band.

Download Pixies 'Gouge Away' (Live, NYC, December 2004) (alternative rock 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)

New Order 'Thieves Like Us (Instrumental)' (Factory, 1986)

Just staggering stuff. New Order at their majestic, silvery finest.

I bought this New Order 7" in the bargain bin in WH Smith way back when. That's hard to believe for a number of reasons, not least because I can hardly believe it could have been 25 years ago.

Mind you, the idea of a piece such monumental poise and indie alternative beauty being available in the bargain bin also smacks of unreality. I guess it was only because the size of their ultra-hardcore fanbase was enough to launch them into the upper reaches of the charts for a week before they fell rapidly the next. Probably because they'd played the song shambolically live on Top Of The Pops.

Anyway, WH Smith's loss of margin was my gain as this seven-inch had 'Shellshock' on one side and an edited instrumental of 'Thieves Like Us' on the other.

'Thieves Like Us' glides, serenely on cushion of stately synths, sequencers burbling away and Hooky's bass picking out a trademark melody. The overall effect is of an uplifting rush, airborne, looking down over the harsh beauty of the city below. Like you're flying over Hackney in a Learjet.

It's called love. And it belongs to us. Indeed.

Download New Order 'Thieves Like Us (Instrumental)' (indie alternative mp3, Factory Records, FAC143) (Mediafire)

Buffalo Tom 'Taillights Fade' (Situation Two, 1992)

Trailblazing wistful indie rock genius.

Taking their cues from the rumbustuous, ragged guitar scree of Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom were a more thoughtful version of Nirvana - certainly with a stronger country influence - unleashing powerful waves of loud-quiet guitar attack.

Sadly, they never really broke through but did leave behind a string of lovely, panoramic tracks like 'Taillights Fade', some raging indie rock monsters and a single on Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne's legendary Caff label. 'Birdbrain' and 'Velvet Roof' are good places to start.

'Taillights Fade' is a rolling, resigned track that conjures images of end-credits, our lone hero driving off into the dark orange haze of the desert at dusk, Sebadoh's 'Soul and Fire' (mp3) playing on the stereo.

Download Buffalo Tom 'Taillights Fade' (indie rock mp3 download) (Mediafire)