Northern Portrait – Criminal Art Lovers

It’s October 1987 and Stephen Morrissey has spent the past five years changing the face of contemporary music forever. He’s appeared on TOTP with gladioli emerging from the back of his trousers and The South Bank Show is heralding his recently disbanded band as being wholly unique with the understatement of being “the most original English band of recent years”. The eighties had seen a troubled transition in music, with punk having somehow evolved into new romantic, New Order moved from doom to disco and Bruce Springsteen being hailed as the future of rock n roll. The Smiths stood high and mighty amongst the decade’s offerings and did indeed play the leading role in creating the seeds of the rich period to follow. Fast-forward then to the first decade of the new century and we have seen something of an unhealthy musical return to the eighties. If we are to herald the likes of La Roux and Lady Ga Ga as being worthy of major accolade, then we have not progressed surely? Interpol and Editors have contributed arguably the only credible eighties influenced material and so we surely need another Smiths to send us blazing into the next decade – introducing Northern Portrait.

Dylan in the Movies

I came very close to not even listening to this band after I saw the name. Bands named after other bands tend to turn me off. I’m glad I didn’t, though. Their latest single, Josephine If You Only Knew is a nice, somewhat, gentle pop song. If you’re looking for a nice pop song to listen to on a lazy Sunday, pull this one out.

I think it goes without saying that Brian Sullivan, musical brainchild of the band, is influenced by Belle and Sebastian. He has also been influenced by Morrissey and has been quoted as saying, “Morrissey is a big influence. He has this unabashed audacity in making music that comes from a place of emotional honesty, which can be sad, yet there’s something inevitably uplifting.” You can tell in his latest single, he’s doing well to follow in his mentor’s footsteps.

The album “Josephine If You Only Knew” will be released in 2010 and will be followed by a U.S. tour.

Dylan in the Movies – Josephine If You Only Knew

Myspace

Shrag Breeding Like Rabbits!

Shrag release their new single Rabbit Kids on December 14th on Wiaiwya. It’s backed with Erratic Fictions. Both sides of the single are available for streaming on the bands my space page. You can pre-order it here.

The band also headline the Sounds XP Christmas bash at the Brixton Windmill on Thursday 10th December. Tickets are just £4.50 in advance from wegottickets. Also on the bill are The Blue Velvets, Standard Fare and The Understudies.

My Space

Tesco Chainstore Mascara – Good Foundations

A few years back we discovered a spate of indiepop bands with somewhat humerous names on My Space here at indie-mp3 and have covered them ever since. Two of them Bubblegum Lemonade & Strawberry Whiplash have now seen succesful releases on Matinee Records whilst the third, Tesco Chainstore Mascara, seem to have more false starts than a clapped out Trabant leaving me to snuggle up to a few mp3’s I managed to download from My Space in the day when they did such a thing. If digital downloads wore out like vinyl then they would be in the landfill ages ago.

However a few weeks ago and just when I least expected it their début long player drops through the letterbox. It’s been a mainstay on the stereo ever since. The band, who consist of Dave (vocals/instruments) and Katie (vocals), have created one of the most enjoyable 30 minutes you are likely to have this or any other year. Good Foundations is chock a block full of pop tunes that no self respecting indiepop dj should be without. From the opener Writers Block to the closer System Restore these 1960’s influenced songs will get the listener bopping, nodding, smiling and doing whatever else you do when listening to good records. Just try not to keep it to yourself ok?

And back to the other two aforementioned bands? Seems that Laz from both taught David to play the guitar and write songs ages ago. He also co-wrote and appears on Stuck Together, one of the albums highlights. As for those mp3’s?  Those songs that kept me so warm are here and if you have heard anything as good or better than Sun’s Shinin’ For You and Just The Weight You Are this year then I wanna hear about them pronto.

The verdict – poptastic as those dj’s would say!!!

Good Foundations is out now on Bubblegum Records.

My Space

Boyracer – Free X-mas EP

Boyracer have made available a free Christmas EP in a range of formats. You can download it from here. The band have also re-recorded the Naked EP. Stuart Boyracer says:

I recently became aware of a bunch of Boyracer stuff posted on a blog site. Which was mostly okay, quite flattering really. But they had posted the original 7inch of the Naked EP, and it occurred to me, “wow, that’s a really shit record”. I don’t really want people to hear it at this point, as it’s undoubtedly the worst record I ever made as Boyracer. So I thought I would re-record the tracks, as the songs are still pretty good. So here it is! Everything was recorded pretty much in one or two takes, and knocked together quite quickly over the past weekend. 17 years later, here you are…

You can name your price for this release here.

:Kinema:

I have a new unsigned band hailing from Brighton. They go by the name :Kinema:. They will be releasing an ep in February. Until then, we’ll have to enjoy their clean synthpop cover of Animal Collective’s song “My Girls“. You can also hit up their
Myspace page and listen to another song as well.

After I listened to the two songs, I’m seeing a lot of potential. I’m anxious to hear the ep. They remind me of The Whitest Boy Alive.

:Kinema: – My Girls

Myspace

Travis DeVries

Former lead singer of The Turn-ons, Travis DeVries, has gone on his own to release the album “Death to God”.  When I hear his stuff I tend to think about the early Britpop scene and bands like The Stone Roses or maybe Ride. The album was recorded in Seattle back in 2007 but is only now getting released. That’s alright. As long as we finally get our hands on it.

Travis DeVries – Slowing Down

Myspace

Scared To Dance – 27/11/2009 Guest DJ MJ Hibbett

We’re very excited to announce that MJ Hibbett will be our guest DJ this month! With his band the Validators, they released Regardez, Ecoutez et Repetez in May which is shaping up to be one of our albums of the year. This is only the second time he’s DJ-ed so who knows what he’ll play!

The night runs from 8pm till 1am as usual and entry is free. It takes place at the Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell, London 8pm – 1am.

You can visit his website at: http://www.mjhibbett.net/
AND why not join in on his Christmas song?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXlSQW3RK0E
Facebook event: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?e … 593&ref=nf

Hyperbubble – Phasers On Stun

Hyperbubble are a duo consisting of Mr & Mrs DeCuir once of Pink Filth. They have been around for a couple of years now although Phasers On Stun (trekkies?) is the first chance I have had to hear them. They make pure synth pop and my first thought when I heard the lyrics is how similar it was to Helen Love only for the aforementioned to chip in with some vocals half way through.

There are two further remixes but the opening single mix is the one that gets the thumbs up from me. As it’s a maxi single (didn’t know those still existed) it comes with two further tracks. Beach Party UFO is vinatge 1980’s synth pop whilst Disgow Glasgow moves the sound on a decade being of a rave/indie dance persuasion. It’s retro fun and bouncy throwaway pop music to the boot.

Phasers On Stun is out now on Bubblegum Records.

My Space | Homepage

New Date From The Primitives

For those who missed The Primitives excellent return at the Buffalo Bar last month you can get another chance to see them in London next year.

The band have announced a date at London’s Scala on the 29th April 2010 when they play a night for Club AC30. Tickets are available direct from the venue’s ticket office or from Ticketweb.

No other dates have been announced as yet – keep ‘em peeled.