Brighter - Looks Like Rain

An unusually upbeat number from Brighter, most of whose material was much more on the soft and fluffy end of the indiepop spectrum. Maybe since this one was on a label called Sturm und Drang instead of their usual Sarah they thought they should ratchet it up a bit. Or maybe not.

Anyway, it's one of the b-sides to the 1990 "Next Summer" flexi. The video appears to be some randomer's family photos.

The Mayfields - Season's Pass

Another great tune from the long-lost Mayfields, sounding very much like the Razorcuts here. I think you will agree it's a dreadful shame they didn't leave us with more before they disappeared.

This appeared on the K7 compilation Somethings Burning in Paradise, from 1988.

Adorable - Sunshine Smile

Adorable's first and best-known single. It wasn't one of my favourites of theirs, but as b-list shoegaze hits go, I think it's aged better than a lot of its contemporaries. I still maintain they would have been taken more seriously if they hadn't combined such a twee-sounding band name with a twee-sounding title for the first song anyone ever heard of theirs.

From 1992.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

The thing I really like about this song is that it manages to be a supreme accomplishment without much obvious effort, like I'm not sure Kate and her band even fully grasped themselves what an amazing piece of work they were creating. Contrast with "Wuthering Heights" which, though I love that too, does have the air of "trying very hard" about it.

I remember when this album was released - God, I'm old - and this wasn't what I would have considered one of its highlights, based on either my own opinion or the songs that seemed to get noticed from it. "Running Up That Hill", "The Big Sky", "Cloudbusting" - those were everywhere, but this one barely registered at the time. Isn't it funny how often those turn out to be your favourites?

Whipping Boy - Twinkle

Whipping Boy are one of those classic Irish alternative bands who people on this island get all misty-eyed thinking about but I bet hardly anyone outside Ireland knows who they are. See also: Microdisney. I don't think they were great and I have real qualms about some of their lyrics, but on the basis of their strongest material (like this song) you'd have to agree they deserved wider acclaim than they ever received.

This is from their second album, Heartworm, from 1995.

Young Prisms - Feel Fine

Blissed-out fuzz from San Francisco. Nice to listen to in the right frame of mind, though I think they're best taken either in small doses, or with a significant amount of drugs (if you're so inclined).

This is from their debut album, last year's Friends for Now.

New Amusement - Jamboree

One of my favourite Irish tracks of the past couple years, this is a super-high-octane one with chiming, blistering guitars (that's always a good combination) and the type of anthemic melody that you rarely get in a song at this pace. It was all over the radio a while ago, so I'm surprised there doesn't seem to be a video for it.

It's from their 2010 full-length debut My Captain, on Any Other City records.