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)

Primal Scream 'Velocity Girl' (NME/Rough Trade, 1986)

The Scream in fey, Byrds-ian jangle mode.

You have to hand it to them - 'Velocity Girl' is 82 seconds of sweet, catchy, direct indie pop beauty.

Reverb-drenched drum simplicity, spiralling melody from the plectrum of Jim Beattie, fey vocals in praise of a girl "with vodka in her veins".

Perfection - though not a perfection that even hinted at the dub-dance-jazz-madness that they would eventually unleash with 'Screamadelica'.

Download Primal Scream 'Velocity Girl' (indie pop, mp3) (Mediafire)

Download the full NME C86 compilation over on the Archive:Live+Rare blog

The House Of Love 'Scratched Inside' (Fontana, 1990)

'Shine On' b-side (Fontana version), yearning and edgy with chiming guitars.

Tidy, strung-out b-side from The House Of Love when they were in their pomp, just after leaving Creation Records for the major label dollars.

Download The House Of Love 'Scratched Inside' (indie, alternative mp3)

Primal Scream 'If They Move, Kill 'Em (My Bloody Valentine Arkestra)' (Creation, 1998)

Mad-eyed, dubbed-out overhaul of Primal Scream by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields.

I thought I'd post something touched by the genius of Kevin Shields just to celebrate the latest email from Amazon telling me that the remastered version of My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' has had its release date moved back again - having been originally slated for 2008.

This total overhaul of Primal Scream's 'If They Move, Kill 'Em' was the last release on Creation Records. And it's a doozy.

Shields freaks out the dubby rhythmic undercarriage, adding tablas and a dirty great breakbeat. But that's nothing. On top of that he adds swathes of drifting melodic flute, loops of what sounds like feedback, low-down filtered wah-wah guitar and tops it off with a drunken Sun Ra brass section.

It's a headfuck of a track that slowly increases in intensity to the point where it's a simmering cauldron of noise and competing sounds. A glorious headfuck, though.

Download Primal Scream 'If They Move, Kill 'Em (My Bloody Valentine Arkestra)' (indie, alternative, Creation Records, mp3) (Mediafire)

Super Furry Animals 'God! Show Me Magic' (Creation Records, 1996)

Helter-skelter power popping genius. From Wales. In the nineties.

Crikey, they knew how to bang out a single, didn't they. 1996's 'God! Show Me Magic' is an irresistable gem that features some of that nee-nee-neeeeeee guitar abuse that all Creation records had to have in the early 1990s. Makes you think that Alan McGee had patented it or something.

The song bursts into life, thrashes around gleefully for 110 seconds and then sods off.

And it's got a picture of Bill Hicks on the label.

The b-sides are a quirky bunch. 'Death By Melody' is a psychedelic, clunk-about with lyrics that seem like they're taking the piss out of Oasis' spoon-moon-June-doubloon-Martin Clune(s) rhyming style. 'Dim Bendith' is an epic, space odyssey style freak-out with heavy, multitracked vocals. Like Pink Floyd driving an ice cream van. In space. Coming through the medium wave. In Welsh.

Genius.

Tracklist:
1. God! Show Me Magic
2. Death By Melody
3. Dim Bendith

Download Super Furry Animals 'God! Show Me Magic' EP (indie alternative mp3s, zip) (Mediafire)

The Springfields 'Tranquil' (Seminal Twang, 1991)

More jingly-jangly powerpop-meets-twee wonderment from Ric Menck and Pauly Chastain's pre-Velvet Crush band.

'Tranquil' was released in the same burst of activity that saw them issue forth the 'Wonder' 7" on Sarah Records. This time it was a 7" on the excellently-named Seminal Twang label - which also put out a wonderful 7" by Melody Dog.

The A-side - 'Tranquil' - is a beat-driven, head-lolling slice of fey, twee pop that laments the likelihood that singer Ric Menck isn't going to Get The Girl. "I'll spend all of my life, thinking about her" goes the chorus' 12-string-enhanced refrain.

To add to the Primal Scream homage on their 'Wonder' 7" and the cover The Pastels' 'A Million Tears' on the b-side, 'Tranquil' is a cover of a song by The Clouds (you can get it over on the Take The Pills blog). The Springfields must have done a Masters in Scottish Indie Pop as The Clouds, it turns out, were a band featuring Norman Blake who was later, of course, to end up 1) in Teenage Fanclub and 2) on Creation Records alongside Ric Menck and Paul Chastain's Velvet Crush. Small Indie world...

Anyway, 'Tranquil' is anything but and it hurtles along, winding up to climax with a wonderful two-note guitar solo and is gone.

Sweet.

Download The Springfields 'Tranquil' (indie pop mp3, Mediafire)

Swervedriver 'Never Lose That Feeling (Never Learn)' (Creation, 1993)

Career high-point, matching open-road guitar abuse, expansive dynamics and some Stooges-style free-blowing sax.

It's odd in hindsight the Swervedriver were initially considered as part of the Shoegazing movement alongside Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse, Lush, Revolver et al. There are waves of guitar abuse and FX pedal manipulation, but it's an infinitely more muscular, aggressive, rock sound that they deal in.

'Never Lose That Feeling (Never Learn)' was a standalone single that came out between the first two albums - their debut, the awesome 'Raise' and follow-up 'Mezcal Head'. It was a near-twelve minute epic, stretched across one side of a 12", making something of a statement.

It gets straight into the action with drums and distortion-edged riffing, building up waves of feedback and skree. Once they've done with the song proper at the four minute mark, it's gloves-off and they take us for a ride through a slowed down section, dubbing-up the bass and applying waves of shimmering feedback. A sax appears through the fog of guitar, Steve Mackay-style, and blows up a storm over the undulations of the track's next six minutes of wide-open space.

Download Swervedriver 'Never Lose That Feeling (Never Learn)' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Available on the reissued version of 'Mezcal Head'. Got my copy for a fiver.

Shonen Knife 'On Top Of The World' (A&M, 1994) (mp3)

Japanese Indie Poppers Shonen Knife deliver a beguiling take on The Carpenters' peace-and-love classic for the 'If I Was A Carpenter' covers album.

A bog-standard boom-tish drum pattern and resolutely-root-note bass guitar line are overlaid with slashy guitar. It's cute and straightforward and a strangely appropriate setting for the re-scanning of the lyric which is reworked so that it sounds like the words were written for a different song.

Shonen Knife were on Creation in the mid-nineties and seemed to release an endless stream of this upbeat, naive rock. For me, it doesn't bear repeat listening but this track always makes me smile.

Download Shonen Knife 'On Top Of The World' (mp3) (Mediafire)

The Boo Radleys 'Zoom' (Creation, 1994)

Loitering on a 'Giant Steps'-era b-side is this wistful take on Fat Larry's Band's end-of-night smoocher.

'Zoom' is rendered simply on acoustic guitar, a smattering of tambourine and a trumpet solo. It's a laid-back but sweet take, just played for the love of the song. With all the Boos' usual production layers stripped away Sice and Martin's harmonies shine through.

Download The Boo Radleys 'Zoom' (mp3) (Divshare)

Ride 'Like A Daydream' (Creation, 1990)

Wow. That intro still sounds as citrus fresh as it did the first time I put the needle onto side one of the 'Play' EP.

A backwards cymbal creates a rush of sound, breaking into wonderfully urgent distorted guitar. Then you're hit with peals of melodic lead guitar. The track practically hurtles through its three minutes leaving you breathless as the guitars rush to the end.

And so the sad-choirboy shoegaze vocal style was unleashed on the world (well, a few thousand sixth-formers/students in the UK - and maybe it was the Pale Saints what did it first) and Ride had their breakthrough record. Just immaculate.

Hopefully it's sunny where you are today and this sounds good.

Download Ride 'Like A Daydream' (mp3) (Mediafire)

The Jesus & Mary Chain 'Just Like Honey (Demo)' (Blanco Y Negro, 1985)

This song, in its single version, worked so perfectly at the end of 'Lost In Translation', the blurred, gentle feedback creating a beautifully hazey mood.

Especially around their first couple of albums, The Jesus & Mary Chain were more notorious for their aggressive, feedback-drenched anthems and live gigs/riots. However, this song was the opening track on their debut album ('Psychocandy') so right from the start they were trying to emphasise songwriting over their (or Alan McGee's) mischief-making.

In its demo form 'Just Like Honey' is just as sumptuous and sweet and reminds me a little of the twee pop which other Glasgow luminaries like The Pastels and Melody Dog are more famous. The acoustic take with just bass drum, tambourine hits and guitar works perfectly, casting the song in a more sun-dappled, positive light.

Download The Jesus & Mary Chain 'Just Like Honey (Demo)' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Slowdive 'Catch The Breeze (Peel Session)' (1991)

Derided as bedwetting ninnies at the time, history has been kind to Slowdive. They've become recognised as one of the more innovative of the original shoegazers, respected by a host of contemporary pedal merchants alongside others such as Pale Saints, Moose and, of course, My Bloody Valentine, though MBV were a much bigger deal than being mere shoegazers.

The cover of their debut album 'Just For A Day' pretty neatly sums up the sound of the early records: blurred smears of sound, indistinct but engaging, best viewed as an Impressionistic whole.

'Catch The Breeze' was the first track of theirs that I fell in love with. It comes in with a hit of melody and strident drums. Compared to the melancholy shimmer of the first two EPs, 'Catch The Breeze' is an orgy of reflective harmony with cascades of guitar in the verses and arcs of sky-scraping guitar in the chorus.

The Peel Session version is a little harder and more live-sounding (obviously, I suppose) and the track fades off to infinity, the guitars bouncing through their sumptuous delays.

Download Slowdive 'Catch The Breeze (Peel Session)' (Shoegaze mp3) (Box.net)

The Boo Radleys 'Upon 9th And Fairchild (Demo)' (Creation Records, 1993)

The Boo Radleys' 'Giant Steps' album is another testament to the frequent good sense/taste of the people behind Creation Records.

Having been signed on the back of the noisenik squall of the 'Ichabod and I' album, the Boos had been left alone to deliver the shimmering plateaus and fizzing noise-pop of 'Everything's Alright Forever'. The follow-up, though, was to see the band producing themselves and delivering the stunning smorgasbord that is 'Giant Steps'.

Taking in pure pop (Wishing I Was Skinny), heavy beat-driven stomp pop (I Hang Suspended), noisy freak-outs (Run My Way Runway), psychedelic heavy metal ballads (Spun Around), breathtaking dub symphonies to reminiscence and regret (Lazarus), it's a stunning achievement that forever be overshadowed for the majority of the population who survived Brit Pop by the one-dimensional bubblegum of 'Wake Up Boo!'

Today's track is the subtly dub-inflected skip of 'Upon 9th and Fairchild'. Marrying a rich dub rhythm section bounce for the verses with a frenetic skank-y run for the chorus, it's a veritable feast. Shimmers of squawking feedback and choppy off-beats add colour and the lyrics of self-imposed isolation add to the dislocation between verse and chorus. Check out the almost fully-formed demo version - Martin Carr's make it sound like songwriting's the hardest job in the world, but it's a good job he persevered.

Download The Boo Radleys 'Upon 9th And Fairchild (Demo Version)' (mp3) (Rapidshare)

Download The Boo Radleys 'Upon 9th And Fairchild (Album Version)' (mp3) (Rapidshare)

The Telescopes 'You Set My Soul' (Creation Records, 1992)

Emerging with a caressed semi-acoustic twang, three tracks into their debut (and only) album for Creation, 'You Set My Soul' was something of a revelation from a band more noted for psychedelic feedback bliss-outs like 'The Perfect Needle' and other delights on the album like 'Splashdown' which start relaxed and plaintive but burst into crunchy distortion and sky-saw guitar solos. Instead 'You Set My Soul' has a rather post-Spirit Of Eden (Talk Talk's late 80s masterpiece) glow.

Buoyed along by a deliciously springy double bass line and expertly brushed drums, the feel is as blissed-out as usual for The Telescopes but the sound is crisp and clean and acoustic, and sets the tone what is a very lovely, laid-back meander, no distortion or solo-ing disturbing the haze.

The sound is wonderfully subtle and restrained, coloured with details like occasional piano flourishes and some gorgeous close-miked guitar, occasional dubby echoes and very, very underplayed harmonica (headphones only to hear that one, I think).

Effortlessly cool and perfectly underplayed, a total classic that probably didn't make it onto the soundtrack of the Creation Records film, Upside Down. However, it absolutely should be there as it demonstrates that it was the freedom, experimentalism and support for artists that made the label special. Not the T-Rex pastiches.

Download The Telescopes 'You Set My Soul' (mp3, Box.net)

Primal Scream 'Higher Than The Sun (Live at Olympia)' (2010)

Ah, Screamadelica - the point at which the gobshite rock'n'roll suicides of Primal Scream emerged from an Ecstasy-induced rebirth as genre fusing visionaries. Not sure how that happened - I think Andrew Weatherall has a lot to do with it, though - but 'Higher Than The Sun' was the point at which I did a volte-face and dug the Scream.

Such an irrefutable piece of genius has that kind of effect. Yes, 'Loaded' was a good indie-dance floor-filler, but it didn't fuse deep, deep dub reggae with ambience and Pharoah Sanders, now did it? And it didn't have Jah Wobble on the mind-expanding 'A Dub Symphony In Two Parts' version either.

Recently reissued in a mind-boggling hundred-quid tin or as a more palatable double CD version, Screamadelica is one of the great albums of the last twenty years even though it was cobbled together from tracks conceived in isolation rather than recorded as a whole album.

They've also started to perform the whole of 'Screamadelica' live and this track is taken from the first shows last year at Olympia. A lot of 'Screamadelica' was never performed live at the time. 'Higher Than The Sun' was but the 2010 live version turns it into even more of a head trip with free-er sax and over 13 minutes of blissed-out joy.

Download Primal Scream 'Higher Than The Sun (Live at Olympia)' (mp3, Mediafire)

Primal Scream official website

Various Artists 'Doing It For The Kids' (Creation Records, 1988)

This is the budget-priced compilation (15 tracks on one LP for a couple of quid!) that introduced me to the world of Creation.

From the jangle of Felt, The Jasmine Minks, early Primal Scream (All Fall Down) through the hooverphonic garage rock flavours of The Times and The Jazz Butcher to the mellower side of My Bloody Valentine with 'Cigarette In Your Bed' (wonderfully mis-titled on this release as 'Cigarette In My Bed' - details, details, boys) to the wimpy, bedwetter balladry of Emily's 'Reflect On Rye'.

'Doing It For The Kids' also introduced the other facets of Creation. Heidi Berry's plaintive Sandy Denny-influenced string-laden folk was a particular favourite. I was also introduced to Momus's bitter and twisted electro-pop here too and was a firm fan of the Tender Pervert album. The song included on DIFTKs was the majestic 'A Complete History Of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17-24)' which sounds as utterly fantastic and depraved/deranged listening to it now as it did back then.

The track I've uploaded is the gentle, pastoral electronic ballad 'Jetstream' by Pacific. I know nothing about them and, upon investigation, the rest of their album really wasn't very good. Loved this track and this label though.

Download Pacific 'Jetstream' (mp3)

Download Momus 'A Complete History Of Sexual Jealousy (Parts 17-24)' (mp3)

New Film - Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (2011)

Just found this trailer for the must-see biopic of the record label that introduced me to a lot of great music over the years - The House Of Love, My Bloody Valentine, The Boo Radleys, Momus, Primal Scream, Ride, Swervedriver, Super Furry Animals, Felt...

Presumably the film is somewhat based on David Cavanagh's excellent book My Magpie Eyes are Hungry for the Prize and hopefully won't overlook the importance of the lean, indie years in order to salivate over the BritPop Boom.

Download My Bloody Valentine's 'Cigarette In My Bed' (mp3) as featured on the 'Doing It For The Kids' compilation to celebrate.

View the new trailer for Upside Down: The Creation Records Story on Thread Of Light my indie/alternative video blog.

Or check out a clip of Alan McGee's hair from Snub TV in 1989 over on Thread Of Light, my tumblog.

My Bloody Valentine 'To Here Knows When' (Creation Records, 1991)

Ah, the smeared, disorientating melodic magma of 'To Here Knows When'. It heralded the release of the what might be the best album ever made - 'Loveless' of course - moving My Bloody Valentine's sound away from the pummelling beats of 'Soon' and towards the murky soundworld of that trademark album.

By this stage Kevin Shields - MBV's genius in chief - was locked into a spiral of tinnitus-inducing recording and escalating studio costs, losing himself in his quest for the perfect drone. The bankrupting of Creation and all that is well documented elsewhere (and in the new Creation Records film) but 'To Here Knows When' best represents the quest to create a sound that serves to immerse and blanket the listener.

Encountering the track for the first time, the smudged waves of guitar and highly treated vocals wash over an enwrap you, shifting focus and confusing your mind-ears. At first it doesn't make sense - in much the same way as listening to 'Bitches Brew' for the first time is incomprehensible - but through repeated exposure it all begins to make beautiful sense.



Unofficial My Bloody Valentine website

Upside Down: The Creation Records story - film website