Last Days of 1984 - Wave Life

I've been kind of neglecting the local scene lately, so here's one to make up for that. Last Days of 1984 are more electronic than I would normally be into, but their stuff is nicely atmospheric and (most importantly) there are good tunes underneath it all. Here's one from their 2010 debut album, Wake Up to the Waves.

The Specific Heats - End of an Error

From Brooklyn and they sound like it, although (as you might guess from the cover art) they do have a slightly more psychedelic tinge than most of their contemporaries. Only slightly, like.

Title so good you wonder why nobody ever thought of it before.

Love Dance - Skisse #3

An absolutely stunning, upbeat shoegazey pop tune, the kind of song you fall in love with over and over again.

It was released earlier this year on the Beko 100 digital comp.

Bedroom Eyes - Norwegian Pop

I could make up a good excuse for not posting yesterday, but why bother? Truth is I went out with friends after work and got plastered. So sue me.

Here's a great '80s-ish pop tune by Bedroom Eyes, who is really called Jonas Jonsson and is Swedish. From his 2010 album The Long Wait Champion.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Birthday Kiss - Starting to Come Back to Life

Wonderful song from this new(-ish) project of Ben from The Lodger (but featuring someone called Sarah on vocals). It has a real '60s feel but not in a psychedelic or Phil Spector sort of way - this is more up the Sandie Shaw alley. It dates from last year, I think.

Annemarie - Lovely Afternoon

One of the leading lights of Indonesian indiepop - and with the quality of bands coming out of there in recent years, that's quite a compliment indeed. What makes Annemarie stand out is their singer, Rima, who may well have the sweetest voice I have ever heard in my life. It's almost unreal.

This is a track from Fall to Fall, a 2011 split EP with Italian band Tiny Tide.

Sometimes Always - Disch-Me

Indonesian one-man "band" who sounds like he listens to Ecstasy and Wine-era My Bloody Valentine a lot. Not that there's anything wrong with that. This is a 2011 track that I think may be only available online.

Tiny Fireflies - Snow

I liked this band as soon as I first saw their name, before hearing them or knowing anything else about them. How could a band called Tiny Fireflies not be filled with indie twee wondrousness? Then I found out they were actually a collaboration between members of Tiny Microphone and Fireflies, the same members who also collaborate as Very Truly Yours, and I still didn't need to hear them to know I would love them. And then I finally actually did hear them and even with my high expectations they still knocked me out. This is almost unbearably gorgeous, I could listen to it for hours.

You can get it here. Do yourself a favour.

 

Fanzine - Low

A very Dinosaur Jr-esque number from this London band, the title track to their debut LP, released last year. Heavier guitars than I would normally like on my lo-fi but when the tune's as catchy as this one I can't really complain.
    

Dream Diary - Something Tells Her

Yet another Brooklyn band, this one specialising in clear pure indiepop that brings to mind such greats as the Razorcuts and Poole. This is from their 2011 debut album, You are the Beat.

Golden Grrrls - Beaches

Absolute cracker of a debut single by this Glasgow trio, released last year. It's got a bit of lo-fi, a bit of shoegaze, a bit of Twilight Sad and some really cool tribal drumming. More please!

 

Whistler Post - Sebastian Says

One of a number of great bands to come out of Indonesia over the recent past. This 7" was released last year and reminds me a lot of the Nightblooms (for those unfamiliar, that means it sounds like the Cardigans on shoegaze). Very nice.

Dignan Porch - Like It Was Again

One of my favourite songs of the past couple years and I can't believe I haven't posted it yet. It's simple and sweet and could actually break your heart if you were in that sort of mood.

It originally appeared as "Like It Was" on their 2010 debut album Tendrils, but was re-recorded, re-titled (sort of) and re-released for last year's Deluded EP. Which is a wonderful release, if you don't mind the atrocious cover art (seriously, this is what-were-you-thinking??? territory).

Oh, and they're from Tooting.