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)

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)

The Young Knives - The Decision (Transgressive, 2005)

Post-punky indie pop delight.

From the once-mighty Transgressive Records, came this little 3" CD gem. Just two tracks but when one of them is the XTC-ish spiky pop of 'The Decision' that'll do.

It rolls and clanks, loping along on a dragging drum beat, all yelping vocals and twisty-turny, nonsense lyrics.

"I'm the Prince Of Wales, I'm the Prince Of Wales, And if all else fails, I am that Prince Of Wales."

Good tune though.

Download The Young Knives 'The Decision' (indie mp3) (Divshare)

Pavement - Conduit For Sale (Big Cat, 1992)

Spindly-then-shouty indie mastery.

'Slanted & Enchanted' = Gel Pen bonus find situationz.

Early singl sparx memory blast.

Elton John combs scrubland for signz of Rickie Lee Jones' Dreft spill while Alex Lifeson returnz Smokie and the Bandit VCR tape for thrift shop bonus.

Great early Pavement b-side.

Download Pavement - Conduit For Sale (indie rock mp3) (Divshare)

New Music - Nightmare Boyzzz 'Nuclear Summer' (Happenin Records, 2011)

Slightly ramshackle but fizzing with noise and melody. 

Stumbled across this via Facebook and took a listen. To be honest, the band don't look promising and the name is terrible but 'Nuclear Summer' is an unexpected delight.

The song opens with sweet falsetto vocals a la Glasvegas and storms into rough-and-ready punky indie rock with a Power Pop edge. There are echoes of Big Star sweetness in the melody department, waves of trashy indie rock guitar a la The Strokes or The Libertines. All wrapped up in a breathless headrush of momentum.

There's a lot of energy in its three minutes duration but it hangs together - just - and is a real earworm. Can't wait for my 7" copy to arrive.

Enjoy.

Availabe as a 7" from Happenin Records or a download via their Bandcamp page.

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)

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)

Strangelove 'Wolf's Story' (Kennel Club, 1994) (mp3)

Rare track from the under-rated alternative rockers Strangelove.
Proggy, yearning stuff from Strangelove.

Strangelove released a handful of albums through the early 90s, a brooding, prog-tinged, passionate alternative rock sound. A little like Levitation but without the curlicues and on less acid, though they did share a drummer in Dave Francollini.

Seemingly influenced by Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, maybe even Magazine, they toured extensively but remained on the fringes during Britpop in the shadows of bands like Suede, the Manics, Radiohead (who they supported on tour), Gene and, mainly, Mansun. They were signed to Food (the label that brought you Blur). Their song 'Time For The Rest Of Your Life' was great and persuaded me to invest in their debut album - will have to blog about that one soon.

'Wolf's Story' is another track from the Kennel Club #2 10" single alongside Breed, The God Machine and tomorrow's post by Tindersticks.

The song opens with a dark, rolling groove and a compelling, urgent vocal from Patrick Duff and some expansive guitar work from Alex Lee, especially as the song builds to a climax.

Nice.

Download Strangelove 'Wolf's Story' (alternative rock, mp3) (Mediafire)

New Music - Big Deal 'Chair' (Mute, 2011)

More electric folk from Big Deal.

Very impressed with Big Deal's two 7" releases so far - 'Homework' and 'Talk' - and have managed to catch them live too.

They make a fairly simple boy-girl vocals plus electric-acoustic guitar set-up work really well, mixing sweet harmonies with an edge of distortion. A little bit Sebadoh, a little bit early PJ Harvey, but very much their own thing.

'Chair' is followed swiftly by their debut album which is released on August 29th.

Big Deal - Chair by Big Deal

Blessed Ethel 'Rat' (2 Damn Loud, 1994)

Strident, punkish indie rock, UK-style from Blessed Ethel

Two minutes of feisty, raw indie rock that starts out brooding in a Siouxsie And The Banshees, minor key kind of way before building to an earworm of a chorus.

Rough around the edges but well catchy, it's like a brattish, untrained version of Sleeper or a pre-punk (as opposed to post-punk) version of Elastica.

Download Blessed Ethel 'Rat' (indie mp3 download, Mediafire)

Chia Pet 'Hey Baby' (Kokopop, 1992) (mp3)

Buzzsaw indie pop railing against casual sexism on the streets of Brooklyn, 1992.

Short and sweet, this song burst its way into the indie pop scene of 1992 by way of simultaneous Single Of The Week status in the NME and Melody Maker. Its delightfully sneered, arch vocal recounts a series of sexist interludes in singer Christina Kelly's day - "I'm just walking down the street minding my own business, construction worker says Nice Tits..."

The music is dominated by staccato violin (played by Jane Pratt, then editor of US alt bible Sassy magazine), buzzsaw guitar and the shoutalong chorus, creating a frantic slice of indie rock/indie pop, produced by the mythic Kramer.

Play it again and again and again, it's a Repeater.

Download Chia Pet 'Hey Baby' (mp3) (Divshare)

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.

Midway Still 'You Made Me Realise' (Roughneck, 1991) (My Bloody Valentine cover)

A gruff-er, more straightforward indie-rocking cover of My Bloody Valentine's epic 'You Made Me Realise'.

Shoes are resolutely not being surveyed by the frantic Midway Still. Instead the power trio just blast out the song with distortion and verve.

Download Midway Still 'You Made Me Realise' (mp3) (Mediafire)