Buzzcocks - You Say You Don't Love Me

I'm too busy for a proper post today, so here's a song that really speaks for itself. Enjoy.

Panda Kopanda - You Reached Into My Heart

Panda Kopanda are a Belfast band with a super-DIY ethos and a sound that brings to mind all the best of American indie rock (Death Cab, Elliot Smith etc). Their debut album This Hope Will Kill Us was released last year to a great critical response but I'm not sure they've been heard from since...at any rate I haven't noticed any Dublin appearances, and I think I would, they're so good.

This is an older track that I got from their myspace page ages ago but I don't think it was ever released on anything. Dunno why, because it's the Pandas at their most sublime.

Hazel O'Connor - D-Days

Here's a fabulous piece of early '80s new wave from one of the true (if underappreciated) stars of the genre. I must track down Breaking Glass again, her 1980 cult classic film. I remember being awed by it when I saw it as a very young teenager just becoming acquainted with the "new music" (or whatever it was called then) scene.

Incredible video too. In a manner of speaking.

Coast - You Can Look

I saw Coast, a Scottish Britpop band based in London, a number of times in the mid-1990s and they always put on a pretty good show but they never really seemed likely to go anywhere. And indeed, they didn't. Their EPs (I don't think they ever made it to an album) haven't aged particularly well either, although I still enjoy the odd one from them.

This was a b-side to their first single, "Polly's Domain" from 1995.

The Kinetiks - Bite the Bullet

The Kinetiks are no more, but during their several years of existence they livened up the Dublin scene with their unusually appealing take on the modern indie-rock sound. This was my favourite, an irresistible 2008 single which I just couldn't stop playing for weeks on end. RIP.

Romeo Void - Flashflood

San Francisco's Romeo Void weren't exactly a one hit wonder, but it's fair to say that there are probably a lot of people who'd remember one particular track of theirs even if they didn't remember their name. That particular track, "Never Say Never", had an exceptionally attention-grabbing lyric in the chorus which very nearly took the song into the realm of novelty status. The rest of the song's lyrics were actually very astute and literate, and kind of sinister in fact, but of course it was the gimmicky chorus that got all the attention and led to some people dismissing them as a gimmicky band.

It didn't help that their only other single of any renown, "A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)", was blandsville central.

They put out three albums in the early 1980s, with a sound that wasn't atypical of the American college rock of the time. What did distinguish them from the others, however, was Debora Iyall: an ethnic (Native American) woman with a powerful voice, insightful lyrics and a mind of her own, which didn't always rub music industry types (or audiences) the right way. I met her once in the late 1980s, in the queue for the ladies' at a Big Music Event, and I have to say I was a little bit awestruck by her even though I was never a huge fan of her band.

They did have their moments though, and this is certainly one of them - a sad and lovely tune from their 1982 second album Benefactor.

Marine Girls - Lazy Ways

My holidays are over, I'm back at work, the weather is crap and I have a cold. So what better to cheer me up than some Marine Girls?

They're best known now as Tracey Thorn's pre-Everything But The Girl band, which is a shame not only because they were so wonderful in their own right but because it means the contributions of her bandmates get overlooked. The truth is that Jane Fox was equally as responsible as Tracey for making them one of the best-loved indiepop bands ever, and Gina Hartman and Alice Fox's roles shouldn't be overlooked either. Tracey of course was technically the best singer, but if it's technical ability you're looking for this really isn't your band anyway. If I were to pick out my favourite Marine Girls songs there'd be a fairly even split between Jane's and Tracey's.

This is one of the best Jane ones, the title track to their second and final album.