Eternal - Breathe

I think I've pretty much covered all the great Sarah bands at this point, so here's one of the minor ones. Eternal stood a bit apart from most of their labelmates by tending more towards shoegaze than twee - their guitarist actually went on to play in Slowdive. Like Slowdive, they were a little too background-musicky for me to get really excited about.

As far as I can tell they only put out the one three-song 7", of which this was the highlight. It has a bit of a Bowie "Heroes" thing going, I think. No doubt unintentional.

The Specials - Ghost Town

I don't really have to say anything about this one, do I? An absolute classic. And as relevant today, sadly, as it ever was.

Small Factory - The Giant Merry-Go-Round

It's a source of great sadness to me that I will never be able to make the Small Factory post I want to make. That's because it would require the technology to go back in time to 1992, grab Small Factory as they were then and transport them not onto a crappy mpeg to view in your browser but actually off the screen and into your living room. Because no recording will ever, ever capture what Small Factory were live. I know it's a cliché but you really did have to be there.

This recording, a b-side to their second single "What to Want", comes closer than most to capturing their live spirit. Still pretty far off though.

Swirl - People I Know

Two Australian bands in a row, possibly a first for this blog. Not that I've really been paying attention.

Swirl were a vaguely shoegazey band from Sydney, active in the early 1990s. I didn't really think they were anything special. Probably the most notable thing about them was the uncanny resemblance between their singer's voice and that of the Razorcuts' Gregory Webster.

This was their first single, a lot closer to indiepop than most of what was to follow.

The Go-Betweens - That Way

This is actually the first Go-Betweens song I can remember hearing. Not sure why since it wasn't a single or anything, but some very intelligent person with good taste played it for me anyway. Thanks, whoever you were.

It's from their second album, Before Hollywood.

Talitha K - Your Silence

A wonderful piece of twee indie girl-pop from Scotland, mid-1990s. Part of the Waaah! singles club which you can download from here.

Brown Recluse - Night Train

Baroque pop from Philadelphia...they certainly don't sound like a band who takes its name from a poisonous spider.

This is a song that appeared on a 2009 EP, The Soft Skin. Slumberland. Need I say more?