Bunnygrunt - Favorite Food

Lo-fi punkish twee from St Louis, Missouri. I never saw Bunnygrunt, but listening to this makes me flash back to a million gigs in people's garages during my US East Coast visits of the mid-1990s. Anyway, haven't they got one of the best names ever?

From a 1993 EP, Standing Hampton.

Technical difficulties

Blogger is acting up again, so let's give it a rest for a day. See you tomorrow!

Girl of the World - 5 Years Old

1993 single from a pre-Cat's Miaow band of Bart and Cameron. I think it's almost got a bit of a Britpop tinge to it. They went on to better things.

Graeme Elston - Take Me Back to Ealing

Lovely track from Graeme Elston (Eva Luna, Love Parade etc) which I think is an exclusive to last year's Indietracks compilation. There's a very '80s soft jangle-pop feel to it; it's one of those songs you'll swear you've heard before, even if you haven't.

Dead Angle - Why Don't You

Lo-fi fuzzy girlpop from an LA band who used to be the Tartans (well, most of them anyway). It's familiar, but I still can't get enough.

Released last month on Loglady Records, part of a split 7" with Terry Malts.

The Minutemen - Doctor Wu

The Minutemen were such geniuses in their own right, I feel a bit guilty that their first appearance here is with a cover (of a Steely Dan song, of all things). I suppose the reason for that is that much of their music is the kind that I cerebrally appreciate without necessarily enjoying, if you know what I mean. Though lumped in with the LA punk scene, it would always be more accurate to describe them as post-punk - and even within that genre they were unique, drawing on jazz and funk influences to a degree almost unheard of by their contemporaries. Unfortunately, not being a fan of either jazz or funk, I couldn't really get into a lot of their stuff. But I always felt kind of bad about it.

In any event I did love this one, first of all because I thought it was brilliant that they covered it in the first place - an '80s punk band covering Steely Dan? Seriously? - and secondly because I love what they did with it, the dual vocals where one person sounds like he's trying to do a faithful version and the other is clearly taking the piss. As I said...geniuses.

It's from their 1984 (third) album Double Nickels on the Dime.

Full Sun - Anxious

Here's some very lo-fi punk-pop from what appears to be this band's second release, Bare Floor, from earlier this year. The first release was called High Ceiling. I'm sensing a pattern here.

They're from Indiana and have a bit of a late 1980s Homestead Records feel to them, though with a bit more melody. This one's dead catchy, anyway.

Julian Cope - Sunspots

A great tune from Julian's second solo album, Fried, from 1985. Sometimes I think it's one of the most straightforward pop songs on the album, other times I think it's just weird in a different way. I'm actually particularly fond of the horns.

Lone Justice - Ways to be Wicked

The first single, a Tom Petty cover, from their self-titled 1985 debut album. I didn't care for this at all back in the day but Maria McKee and her massive voice got their charms into me eventually and I grew to love it. Still not sure about a lot of the rest of the album, though.

The Would-Be-Goods - The Camera Loves Me

1988 single and title track to the Would-Be-Goods' debut album, a collection of ornate and sophisticated twee girlpop with lyrics and vocals so contrivedly upper-crusty I almost feel like a class traitor just listening to them. I always thought they had a bit of the novelty act about them, though they're not without their charms.

Baffin Island - You Make Two Weeks Two Days

As much as I love the idea of EardrumsPop - I mean, free downloadable indiepop, what's not to love - I do think you have to be willing to wade through a fair amount of mediocrity to get to the really good stuff. Fortunately, tracks like this one make it worth the wade (sorry). It's a Mel Hermit Crab/Jeremy Very Most collaboration, a charming '60s-influenced bubblegum girlpop tune from a 2010 EP which you can get here.

The Stupid Cupids - Big Blue Bus

Definitely up there with the worst band names ever to appear on this blog, though in fairness, the Stupid Cupids weren't a real band so much as one of the many identities used by Paul Chastain and Ric Menck (the Springfields, Velvet Crush) over the years. And besides, it's hardly like they were trying for a good name.

This pleasant and fun little tune was released on a 1987 Bus Stop flexi, and was later re-recorded by another Chastain/Menck alter ego, Choo Choo Train, under the title "Big Blue Buzz".

Cosines - Winter A-Go-Go

I know I promised you something ultra-twee yesterday, but I don't like to be predictable. Here instead is a fabulous piece of indie keyboard pop. It's a Yo La Tengo cover, but Alice Hubley (of Arthur and Martha)'s marvellously nasal vocals add considerable weight to what was, in my view, an all too typically vapid YLT original. You can download it for free here.

Rites of Spring - For Want Of

This is a little bit, well, quite a bit heavier than most of what gets posted on this blog and I don't expect it'll be to all readers' tastes. Maybe I'll post something ultra twee tomorrow, just for balance, like.

Rites of Spring anyway were sort of the original "emocore" band, bursting out into the US (specifically DC) hardcore punk scene in the mid-1980s with performances that allegedly left their audiences in emotional smithereens. Their lyrics were unusually personal and introspective and it's hard to imagine your average combat-boot-wearing spikey-Mohawk-head getting much out of them, but somehow they managed to spawn the development of an entire punk subgenre - quite unintentionally, I'm sure.

This was always my favourite of theirs and plus, it contains what is probably the defining emo lyric: If there's nothing here, then it's probably mine. Genius.

 

Ultra Vivid Scene - Guilty Pleasure

Track from the second UVS album, Joy 1967-1990. It's a bit overproduced - some would argue that's par for the course on this record - but catchy enough you stop noticing after a while.

All My Friends - Up and Down the River

Pleasant little indiepop tune from a 2008 EP by this Glasgow band featuring members of Butcher Boy. Bonus points for clocking in at exactly two minutes.

Another holiday

I know I just took one, but I'm taking another one. Because I can. See you on Monday!

The Good-Natured - Rose

More electro-pop, while I'm in the mood. This one was released on a 2009 Eardrums Pop compilation called Birdsongs, Beesongs, which is quite fitting because the song is quite reminiscent of The Bird and the Bee.

Now if only they'd come up with a better name...

They Go Boom!! - Everything is Weird

A rare Bring On Bull foray into synthy music. TGB's music actually did have much in common with the type of bands that label was better known for; it was only the instruments they played it on that made them different.

This is actually the least twee song on this 1993 EP. And ironically I also think it's the best.

The Smittens - Gumdrops

I was going to post an Indietracks 2012 exclusive but unfortunately my electronics aren't co-operating, so here's something wonderful from a few Indietrackses back. I'm still on a high after the wonderful weekend gone past.

The Church - Too Fast for You

1981 single, also released on the (self-titled) UK version of their debut album. The guitars are quite lovely in this one, apart from a brief interlude before the final verse where they get a bit wankery. I always thought the Church's sound in this era promised more than it delivered but this is one of the high points.

I'm off to Indietracks for the weekend - see you Tuesday!

Colour Me Wednesday - Holiday From Your Life

Here's another one that I knew I would like before I ever heard it, just from the band's name and song title. To say I was not disappointed would be something of an understatement. In fact, I fucking love this song. They're cute as buttons, too.

It's from a 2011 demo. How good will they be when they start making proper releases?

Neighbors - Henry's Party

From the recently-released second album, John in Babeland, by these very Pavement-influenced Seattle lads. I'm still on the fence about them, but this is pretty good.

Pink Floyd - Bike

Guaranteed to be the only Pink Floyd song you'll ever see on this blog. And if you don't already know why it deserves a post here, just listen. You're in for a treat.

Deadly video, too, whoever made it.

The Golden Rule - Now I Hear the Train

This is a really nice little piece of gentle jangly guitar pop. Chicago band, from a self-titled 2009 EP.