14 Iced Bears - Hold On

Yet another C86 band that weren't actually on C86, Brighton's 14 Iced Bears distinguished themselves somewhat by having a more psychedelic tinge to their music. You can definitely hear the Syd Barrett influence and I suspect they might have been Rain Parade/Paisley Underground fans as well.

Their second album, Wonder, from 1991 on Borderline Records, doesn't seem to be really highly regarded by a lot of indie heads but I for one think it's fantastic. This is the opening track.

The Lovelies - Bright New Day

Don't know much about this band but they were from Portsmouth, England; they had a few releases on Elefant Records in the mid-1990s, and they sound quite a bit like the Wedding Present with violin. Works for me.

This is from their debut single, "Nothing La-Di-Da".

The Colourfield - The Colourfield

I've posted before about my Terry Hall fixation, and it's a good thing he's had such a long and varied career that I can keep posting stuff he's done in his different incarnations without looking like I'm repeating myself.

The Colourfield marked a fairly dramatic departure from his previous output. You can see the transition from the first FB3 album to Waiting to this, of course, but it's still a much larger leap than FB3 were from the Specials. I was pretty young when it came out but even I remember being surprised by it.

This, their first single, has a sort of early Bunnymen feel to it; there's little on the rest of their debut album (Virgins and Philistines) that's quite as strong, but as a snapshot of the mid-1980s version of Britpop it'll do.

Gang of Four - Damaged Goods

I'm a bit pressed for time today so here's one that (hopefully) needs no introduction. Can you believe this song is almost 32 years old?

It still sounds this good live, by the way, or at least it did when Gang of Four played Dublin a couple years ago. I'm always a bit dubious about band reunions, but one was definitely worth it.

Tidal District - Don't Turn Your Back On the Bear

Here's a recent single by a Dublin indie-rock band. I've seen Tidal District a couple times and always been impressed by their sharp songwriting skills and the fierce intensity they bring to their live set. All the more so since they look to have an average age of around 20.

Sadly, it seems they are no more.

The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

I've already noted my mixed feelings about the Stranglers, but here's one of their songs that I do think is outstanding. It's actually remarkable that this was their first single, released in 1977 - such extensive use of keyboards must have seemed very weird for a band so closely associated with the burgeoning punk scene. It certainly doesn't sound very 1977 to me. But what do I know, in 1977 I was probably still listening to the Muppets or something like that.

10,000 Maniacs - My Mother the War

Here's another band who I would never believe used to be good if I didn't actually remember them when they were. 10,000 Maniacs started out sounding like a bunch of middle class art students - which they probably were - with rather ludicrously pretentious lyrics and song-titles (Google "Poor de Chirico" if you don't believe me) but you hardly noticed over the angelic voice that sang them. The music, too, was a lot more creative than their later recordings would suggest; I suppose you'd have to say they were "interesting" back then, even if you didn't exactly like them. Unfortunately the downhill slide started early and virtually nothing from the mid-1980s on is really bearable to my ears.

This is a relatively straightforward one from their first full-length album, 1983's Secrets of the I Ching.