LIST 83 - 23/12/11 (Christmas special)

Hello there,

Time, alas, for the final That Music List of 2011, and as in the previous two years we finish off with an assortment of lesser-known and unheralded (or even unharktheheralded) festive songs.

Actually, I should qualify these as being for the greater part lesser-known, as the Frank Kelly track was actually a top 30 hit upon original release. This comedy track pre-dates his metamorphosing into Father Jack Hackett by all of 11 years - which reminds me, I hope they're going to show the priests-trapped-in-the-lingerie-department episode of Father Ted again this Yuletide. Quality.

All that remains for me to do, then, is to thank you all again for your continued interest in That Music List, and to assure you that it will return in the new year after its usual winter hiatus - I've still a backlog of so much stuff to play through during that time, never mind start to compile it into lists! Very best wishes of the season to you all, and let's make a date sometime in 2012.

Cheers,

J x



MJ HIBBETT & THE VALIDATORS – I Got You What You Want For Christmas (macho megamix) (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjRzIFtjC78

JESSY & THE JINGLE BELLES – Dear Santa (live in Boston) (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbfQKX5-zcQ

SCREAMING MALDINI – Restless Hearts and Silent Pioneers (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z04FSeP27oY

SONIC YOUTH – Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7sa1eFGUuI

THE PIPETTES – Santa’s On His Way (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5fxdcKu_8k

FRANK KELLY – Christmas Countdown (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJoXCwkPVi8

MOMUS – Little Lord Obedience (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iej3qBEKILE

GRUFF RHYS – Slashed Wrists This Christmas (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPlZ0d-huTc

HENRY ROLLINS – ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFUgRRYmLvk

YO LA TENGO – It’s Christmas Time (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b8dT_OpHuQ

ELASTICA – Father Christmas (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbLQYXkOfjI

SPEARMINT – Oklahoma (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPLx5bokNb8

THE VANDALS – Oi! To the World (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKk-2Pu2N8g

FANTASTIC EVERLASTING GOBSTOPPER – Schoolgirl Psychedelia (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah9U5BHoiF4

DANIEL JOHNSTON – Rock Around The Christmas Tree (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xntRjBdwYAg

BERT JANSCH – In The Bleak Midwinter (1974)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ZYxTPhXA8

ATOM & HIS PACKAGE – What WE Do on Christmas (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGC0ga4ifUE

QUASI – Merry X-Mass (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SnOwOMKzf0

WILD BILLY CHILDISH & THE MUSICIANS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE - Poundland Christmas (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVvVzmyDFfA

EMMY THE GREAT & TIM WHEELER – Home for the Holidays (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URCNMEbgd_w

LIST 82 - 16/12/11 (a second Then And Now special)

Hello again,

Just this and the festive special to go in terms of Lists this year - hasn't it flown by again.

As the title indicates, this is the second ever List (after #66 back in September) given over exclusively to Then And Now, i.e. one song by the featured artist from the present, followed by one from as far back into their history as it amuses me to delve. Where at all possible, I'm still trying to avoid including artists (both in this special and in That Music List in general) whose recording history only dates back as far as this century, though in the fulness of time that's going to be harder to maintain. There's only so many old gimmers with mikes and gee-tars still out there creating stuff, when all is said and done...

The Sigur Ros track is purported to be new - it's certainly previously unreleased, at least, and features now on a new best-of. Equally the Stephin Merritt track is appearing at last on a compilation of rarities, out-takes and unreleased works, so may be a bit older than the 2011 date I'm compelled to give it as a previously unavailable entity.

A quick word about the new Fall album - it's patchy as anything, and the diversion into metal for one track is particularly catastrophic. Conversely "Mask Search", included here, is one of the best things they've done for ages, as well as at long last perfectly encapsulating the moment at which Mark E Smith finally turns into Captain Beefheart doing an impression of Eight Ace from Viz comic.

See if I'm wrong about that. And see also if you can't help crack a smile at the year's best non-seqitur committed to plastic ANYWHERE this year!

J x



SIGUR ROS – Lúppulagið (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR_uuIFszJU

SIGUR ROS - Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akYuy2FMQk4

THE FALL – Mask Search (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNtQ-jzKFgQ

THE FALL – Big New Prinz (live on The Other Side of Midnight) (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygQmJ59E4Q

ULTRAMARINE – Find A Way (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBe-uC08hp8

ULTRAMARINE – Saratoga (remix) (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZtEVzbBiA

MAGAZINE – Burden of a Song (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNoDsHksjbI

MAGAZINE – Definitive Gaze (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPPWWkhRT8I

STEPHIN MERRITT – Forever and a Day (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixF2Z-i5sA

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – Swinging London (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDIStmjCd0

BRIAN ENO – Bless This Space (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7gvUMn6_YM

BRIAN ENO – King’s Lead Hat (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp0k_o8gfQI

DARREN HAYMAN – I Taught You How to Dance (2011)
http://vimeo.com/31658589

HEFNER – The Hymn for the Cigarettes (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wcslx9RL-c

SPECTRUM – Mary (long version) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7OYRKFaRg

SPECTRUM – How You Satisfy Me (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9yApVj3z84

BILLY BRAGG – Never Buy the Sun (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uWw7kuiCss

BILLY BRAGG – Milkman of Human Kindness (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Goxm0x4dTw

GRUFF RHYS – Post Apocalypse Christmas (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3JqmNuRN8

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS – Do or Die (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_mwctoW7t8

LIST 81 - 09/12/11 (1981 special)

Hello again,

Yes, you've read the title right - it's a 1981 special. Having managed to do 20th-anniversary Lists for each of the last three years planted the seed in my mind to try to go back an extra decade, and in the end I wasn't too hard pushed to find a nice sample.

Quite a few of these emanate from childhood, 1981 being both the first year (as a ghastly, precocious, trivia sponge of a six-and-a-half-year-old) that I used to watch Top Of The Pops religiously and the first I was gifted a radio, and from then on the appetite for music developed quickly and voraciously. Mind, watching the disembodied head of John Lydon floating menacingly around the TV screen c/o the BBC vision mixer's trickery could easily have put me off TOTP for life. That was frightening!

The version of "We Could Send Letters" included is that from the original 7" release, and thus from Aztec Camera's debut; whilst "Tally Ho!" is the debut single from The Clean and could as a result conceivably lay claim to being one of the cornerstones on which Southern Hemisphere indiepop developed. Discuss!

A List of songs all from the same year clearly doesn't lend itself to a Then And Now feature, but I hope the conclusion of a song by the Teardrop Explodes leading into a song about the Teardrop Explodes passes muster as an alternative. [sings] I hope it does. It really doooooooooes... Thankyou.

J x



XTC – Smokeless Zone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt9f4Lh4OD8

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED – Flowers of Romances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_0bBGjL70

AZTEC CAMERA – We Could Send Letters (original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_6Y4oT7UQ

FSK – Teilnehmende Beobachtungen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5bqD040YjM

WIRE – Our Swimmer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUwb5De18PQ

NEW ORDER – Everything’s Gone Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRgHSxWnhqk

THE HIGSONS – I Don’t Want to Live with Monkeys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbnX_oLnJQA

SUGARHILL GANG – Apache (Jump On It)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQObWW06VAM

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY – Release the Bats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R8pECW3UHs

IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – Spasticus Autisticus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKnBgJG9A8E

ANTI-PASTI – Let Them Free
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5x1amsbnG0

THE DURUTTI COLUMN – Enigma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v0-GHSZuCA

JOHN COOPER CLARKE – Tw*t
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5QMT-JUt4

THE CLEAN – Tally Ho!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVkC8W_-a-8

SCRITTI POLITTI – Lions After Slumber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1ieWRclcfs

DEAD KENNEDYS – Too Drunk to F*ck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ7pgElCPXE

YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS - Clicktalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-bdMST0ljI

YOKO ONO – Walking on Thin Ice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft7-xEiwvJw

KIRSTY MACCOLL – There’s a Guy Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL2GmaI3Xus

THE TEARDROP EXPLODES – Passionate Friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGkrkcoTILc

THE FRESHIES – I Can’t Get “Bouncing Babies” by the Teardrop Explodes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvU8MddmEkw

LIST 80 - 02/12/11 (1991 special, part two)

Hello there,

It's the second and final part of the 1991 retrospective this time, with many bases covered once again - any List that includes Po! and Public Enemy can't be accused of being samey, I reckon.

With the festive period hoving into view, it's probably worth me pointing out that the appearance of Kirsty MacColl as a guest on Billy Bragg's track here, plus in a solo capacity next week, is as close as you're going to get to seeing F******** O* N** Y*** on That Music List. Familiarity can sometimes breed contempt, and I never liked the song much in the first place.

It'll be the eleventh anniversary of her passing on December 18th, and I wish more folk would mark the occasion by championing any of her many, many better other tracks, from the painfully autobiographical "Soho Square" to the commentary of "Free World". Go discover.

In that spirit of discovery, finding out just how heavily drenched in shoegaze Moonshake's debut single had been was a complete revelation to me - I missed it completely first time around. The Boo Radleys' fuzzy beginnings were better known to me, but less so "Tortoiseshell" even so. It's a pleasure to include this earlyish b-side as well. Teenage Fanclub's wrecking of "Like A Virgin", conversely, may be something you'd want to file under "play once and then destroy"...

J x


POPPY FACTORY - Stars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05f7vzFULYI

FOREHEADS IN A FISHTANK – Happy Shopper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1mgj9G0ntg

BLUEBOY - Clearer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTpe17LeF9s

CUBIC 22 – Night in Motion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYBlxKP0bXU

BILLY BRAGG - Sexuality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liNnCKPeEv0

MOONSHAKE - Gravity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-cmrJBIvGM

PUBLIC ENEMY – Can’t Truss It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c&ob=av3e

THE FATIMA MANSIONS – Bertie’s Brochures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAMwzwY-UsQ

THE BOO RADLEYS - Tortoiseshell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1g7o5z7JMw

808 STATE – In Yer Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRCXqRHk6JU

THE PIXIES – Alec Eiffel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf20Effo6ds

THEY GO BOOM! – Body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e03P4HlljZA

SLINT – Good Morning, Captain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoH5MPIgM7c

LFO – We Are Back (remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFtRDuj2SsI

TEENAGE FANCLUB – Like a Virgin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPw1ddI89Wg

PO! – Fay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FDerh1nBaM

THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU – It’s Grim Up North
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtSdJaPCSI

LIST 79 - 25/11/11 (1991 special, part one)

Good evening,

Well, you didn't think you were going to escape the whole year without one or two "songs from 20 years ago this year" Lists, did you? (see also Lists #10, #11, #22 and #23 in 2009, plus #44 and #45 in 2010). They've just had to wait whilst the welter of other material has been worked through.

There are some songs on this first installment whose inclusion is a particular source of personal pleasure. "Countdown" endures to this day as both my favourite Pulp song of all time, plus - along with Wir and The Frank And Walters tracks included - a constituent of the playlist on the first evening that I switched over to Mark Goodier's Evening Session permanently (having merely dabbled with it a bit previously) and turned my back on the horrors of Key 103 forever!

(NB that's not to say I wasn't already listening to Peel as well, but supplementing that with some of the other better shows at the time on Radio 1, rather than persisting with the Fab FM direction Key 103 had taken after its post-Piccadilly Radio, post-Mark Radcliffe reimagining, took a little longer).

"Missing The Moon", meanwhile, was and remains just about the best single Sarah Records ever released in my humble opinion. It really does feel like a stare out into the heavens in music form - vast, celestial, and perfect.

No apologies, by the way, for including a bit of that 'ardcore techno that started to fill the charts around this time - I did, for the greater part, love it to bits ("Quadrophonia" in particular has aged far better to this pair of ears than I was necessarily expecting). No apologies either for a nice bit of judderjudderbleuurrrgghh from Extreme Noise Error - merely a year later, they'd find themselves involved with a chart-topping duo, an awards ceremony and an expired ovine - with hilarious consequences, as the sitcoms always say!

J x


CARDIACS - Day is Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRctRAWNi2w

PULP - Countdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GjBFDFln90

DJPC – Insomniak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cGtx7vdLs

TH’ FAITH HEALERS – Reptile Smile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0_PGCnwik

THE FIELD MICE - Missing The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HgffFOL32s

GARY CLAIL ON-U SOUND SYSTEM – Human Nature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfMwWxgXB3g

MORRISSEY – Pregnant for the Last Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLkSF29BC7c

CURVE – Clipped
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAIaLbcKb0

BLUMFELD – Ghettowelt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHZ64s9gxP0

QUADROPHONIA - Quadrophonia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PkD--DD0TM&NR=1

THE FALL – Edinburgh Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbMG1v7qDqs

PIXIES – Motorway to Roswell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jo3F29JSfs

THE FRANK AND WALTERS – Fashion Crisis Hits New York
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex5H5YgV7LU

WIR – So And Slow it Grows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxRb1axy_A

EXTREME NOISE TERROR – Knee Deep in Shit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuXBjv9pxI

THE POPGUNS – Crazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZjaYGj6T_k

HOLE – Teenage Whore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cF_IpAwUQ

THE HOLLOW MEN – The Moon’s A Balloon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFQLQcNp77w

ELECTRONIC – Get The Message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7sVSSb2mU4&ob=av2n

LIST 78 - 18/11/11

Hello again,

More because of the shortage of weeks rather than of new material, this is the last "standard", non-themed List of 2011, with anniversary specials, a second Then And Now special and the usual festive denouement all on their way in the coming weeks. There is, rest assured, a lot of 2011 stuff still to upload in the new year.

It's great to be able to welcome back one-time Festive 50 number ones Los Campesinos! this week with a splendid return single from an equally splendid parent album, even if the "Hello Sadness" video does owe quite a bit to the one for LCD Soundsystem's "Drunk Girls" (not included here to compare and contrast, as we've already had it up once and you know how things work here...)

Standard Fare's new album is another source of huge excitement for me, ditto Hibbett's; whereas the discovery of the fabulous Colour Me Wednesday is just embarassingly overdue. Then And Now features Mazzy Star, unexpectedly reactivated and still as majestic as ever they were; whilst there is no song that's been played on my laptop more in the last fortnight than Telex's malevolently sarcastic, slow-motion version of "Rock Around The Clock". I do have to wonder on this evidence whether the likes of Felix Kubin own a few Telex LPs. I'd not be at all surprised.

J x



DUM DUM GIRLS – Bedroom Eyes (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBSs3-RfLKk

KIDO YOJI – Call A Romance (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHDo5Ms51Es&NR=1

HOLY F*CK – Latin America (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd5gVwbRlvk&ob=av2e

MJ HIBBETT & THE VALIDATORS – Theme from Dinosaur Planet (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whAtQONZA8o

DESTROYER – Poor in Love (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=j3bEjqyBA40

COLOUR ME WEDNESDAY – Purge Your Inner Tory (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4xY4zImmP8

IRON AND WINE – Me and Lazarus (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa6WS6hp8XM

THE HIT PARADE – The Queen of Mousehole (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6ZS1-67o9I

SCROOBIUS PIP – The Struggle (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HCXh9WQSo

THE GARLANDS – You Never Notice Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgRjnarcMSk

MAZZY STAR – Lay Myself Down (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB4tjppaVXE

MAZZY STAR – So Tonight That I Might See (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UXnBjSVBOg

HYDE & BEAST – Never Come Back (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpFDZOlVP_U

BART AND FRIENDS – A Summer’s Dream (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKx_EN9_cWc

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY – Trembling Hands (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F0QsjIflZw

STANDARD FARE – Darth Vader (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxmz3vcnxFc

TELEX – Rock Around the Clock (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XGXHDMIJw4

LOS CAMPESINOS! – Hello Sadness (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V5SiMKkZrs

SUN ARAW – Crete (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWe3pxGFw8

LIST 77 - 13/11/11 (a second cover versions special)

Hello again,

The third and final List of this weekend's bumper crop is the second cover versions special, to follow-up the one that was List #62 back in August. As stated the other day, it wasn't necessarily the intention to do another one so soon, but the sheer volume of interesting enough material I unearthed in the interim made it a possibility.

...And so much of that material is new or nearly new - 10 of the tracks hail from this year, as opposed to just one in the first covers List. Including two readings of The Smiths' There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is cheating, I suppose, except one is an indiepop version from 2011 and the other a classic piece of laptronica from over a decade earlier, so I'm good with that if you all are. Yes? Hoped so. ;-)

Elsewhere covers feature of everyone from Nirvana to Olivia Newton-John, from Big Black to Prefab Sprout, and from The Auteurs to Lonnie Donegan. Oh, and two bands have stabs at The Field Mice. Not literally stabs, of course. The bands would get in trouble for that. And we don't endorse stabbing any indiepop bands, past or present. Even if The Field Mice did break all our hearts when splitting up. They did so.

J x



THE MAXINES – Sweet Nothings (live at the Northern) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Leydtn7yp0

LITTLE ROY – Come As You Are (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1aEo4SkOWg

THE FALL – Mr Pharmacist (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56dxJjXbnjg

F*CK-OFF MACHETE – Physical (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58RCo-xwGwQ

ELSDON SMITHERS – Starstruck (Auteurs cover) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNkdfMharU4

THE WEDDING PRESENT – Cumberland Gap (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBDkPUDuj2s

SINEAD O’CONNOR – Song to the Siren (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmhG4bDr7yw

SEAPONY – Emma’s House (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6bQElp290U

BABY FORD – Children of the Revolution (Inca Mix) (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_DYSbRWOtE

LIANNE HALL – Love Is A Stranger (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhKJWn13Kpg

DUM DUM GIRLS – There is a Light That Never Goes Out (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrgKtFVKTmI

SCHNEIDER TM – The Light 3000 (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnEC35485DM

TREMBLING BLUE STARS – Kidney Bingos (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOco90LU4E

DARREN HANLON – Together in Electric Dreams (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-PHJnmz2Cz0

THE MIDDLE ONES & ACE BUSHY STRIPTEASE – Heterosexuality Is A Construct (2011)
http://www.vimeo.com/23204195

COACH STATION REUNION – Lions In My Own Garden : Exit Someone (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I32qy-vceh4

IMPOSSIBLE TYMES - Coach Station Reunion (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSToaHKHI8

MAN... OR ASTROMAN? – Destination Venus (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svABrRXAa04

THE PRIMITIVES – Need All The Help I Can Get (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xibkh0FknTg

MAGAZINE – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) (1980)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfTqrQ-FZOM

ST VINCENT – Kerosene (live at Bowery Ballroom) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhCo7PoVpA

LIST 76 - 12/11/11 (25th anniversary of Indie Top 20 - part two)

Hello again,

Herewith as promised part two of the Indie Top 20 retrospective, and lots of happy musical memories for me. Should it interest, and I doubt it will, the chopped-down version of Triangle by The Field Mice exclusive to volume 10 was my first encounter of Sarah Records - some years later, I got a letter from Matt Haynes suggesting not many other people, if any, have got into the label via that track specifically. Fine as it is, the full nine-minute-and-then-some version from the Skywriting album absolutely knocks it out of the park, but you fine people know that already.

More through accident than skill, there are actually two connections between this List and indiepop mainstays Milky Wimpshake, who might rightfully have featured on one of these volumes had they had their time, what, 15 or 20 years earlier? True Love Will Find You In the End, here read by Spectrum, has been a staple of the Wimpshake's live sets for well over a decade (as part of a mash-up of sorts with a cover of Jonathan Richman's Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste), whilst Brilliant Corners' Delilah Sands was apparently the inspiration behind Alice Nebulae from last year's Wimpshake long-player My Funny Social Crime.

Cover versions all the way tomorrow as part of this weekend's triple whammy. For the time being, though, over to Thurston et al for a cover version of sorts from all of 25 years ago;

J x



CICCONE YOUTH – Into the Groove(y) (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZJTcQWuZ3Q

THE SUNDAYS – Joy (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD9ZRlvnh7w

THE GOD MACHINE – Home (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsmq0UJa0ZI

THE CHESTERF!ELDS – Ask Johnny Dee (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHTkE4f_WpA

COMPULSION – Mall Monarchy (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktDeuXe1AjY

SPIRITUALIZED – Run (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9gLF8XVQ4

THE WOLFHOUNDS – Happy Shopper (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5isRcKysUec

PALE SAINTS – Fine Friend (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAlp_5_iq1Y

COOKIE CREW – Females (Get On Up) (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVa65PG5gks

POP WILL EAT ITSELF – RSVP (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GtHA5Nf1nU

SLOWDIVE – Alison (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol787NjpBS4

THE PIXIES – Dig for Fire (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xekfBhiqfig

THE BRILLIANT CORNERS – Delilah Sands (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33wian1Jmxk

SPIREA-X – Chlorine Dream (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axXGAxbJGxM

WIRE – Silk Skin Paws (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFn_mGFs1Vg

SPECTRUM – True Love Will Find You in the End (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9od_Ggh7uOM

THE FAMILY CAT – Steamroller (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL48CZRC9NE

THE FIELD MICE – Triangle (Indie Top 20 Vol. 10 edit) (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BhnUCRN0N4

LOOP – Arc-Lite (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qc_pXs22ug

SANDIE SHAW – Nothing Less Than Brilliant (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rExVKb4dZxs

LIST 75 - 11/11/11 (25th anniversary of Indie Top 20 - part one)

Hello again,

As telegraphed last week, this is both the first of three Lists this weekend alone and the first of two dedicated to my favourite compilation series of them all.

Indie Top 20 was devised by Beechwood Music and first released on cassette in 1986, with a line-up strong on the prevailing C86-era scene but broader than just that in remit - in essence, if a good song of any genre was released on a label with independent distribution, it would be considered for inclusion. Hence the appearance over the first few volumes, for example, of pronk gods Cardiacs, African-American vocal ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock, Manchester acid house figurehead A Guy Called Gerald and any number of purveyors of goth, dance and rock alongside the perhaps more expected jangly guitar fare.

This was "indie" as I understood it, how it always was, and how it should have remained before the term got horribly misappropriated during the 1990s - "Indie" the state of being, rather than a guitar-based genre.

Ironically, Indie Top 20 was at least partly complicit in the gradual misuse of the term "indie" - covertly with the inclusion of one or two major label releases on volume 17 in mid-1993, and rather more explicitly on volume 18 a few months later. "Let's face it", opined Tim Millington, who had taken over the compiling of the series from founders Chet and Bee Selwood half a dozen renewals earlier, "who gives a toss who the distributor is as long as the music is good?"

That rated an atonishing statement given the compilation's original raison d'etre, and was made to appear all the more so as the subsequent volumes became ever more in thrall to the New Wave Of New Wave and eventually Britpop, narrowing in scope all the while.

More bizarre still, at least some of the final, mid-20 numbered volumes were officially endorsed by Melody Maker, which of the two weekly music magazines of the time favoured a broader musical remit more in tune with Indie Top 20's earlier sentiments - "C96 bands", Romo, DIY indiepop (from labels such as Slampt and Vesuvius), rural psychedelia, post-rock, intelligent hip-hop, etc, rather than the rather more Britpop-loving NME.

"Depressingly generic", one of Melody Maker's own reviewers wrote of the final volume of Indie Top 20, "Remember when the term 'indie' actually meant something?" Quite.

For each of this and tomorrow's List (number 76), I set myself the task of finding one track from as many Indie Top 20s as I could fit onto our usual notional blank CDR of just under 78 minutes, starting at volume one and finishing when I ran out of space. In the event, this happened to be after volume 20 on both Lists, about which I'm not especially sorry. Truth be told, it was hard enough to find two tracks I really liked on volumes 18 to 20 as it was!

The earlier editions, and particularly those from around 1988-1991, posed a slightly different problem, as there are so many tracks I loved from the releases around that time that many of them have already appeared in previous Lists. Nevertheless, I think I've been able to put together a couple of reasonably representative Lists from the material still available - see what you think. Do note that the selections are not in any sort of chronological order - I know this. Don't write in! ;-)

J x



TALULAH GOSH – Talulah Gosh (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxY4Q2TmQAw

THE SHAMEN – Jesus Loves Amerika (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWaQmQyTF24

FRANK BLACK – Hang On To Your Ego (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzA29tCwyR4

SUICIDE – Rain of Ruin (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usWFc2BPuig

THE STONE ROSES – Made of Stone (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0whFVTxZs8

1,000 VIOLINS – Please Don’t Sandblast My House (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Fe5PcSuOc

THE FARM – Stepping Stone (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPx6U6E45jQ

THE BOO RADLEYS – Lazy Day (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSSgUwXJ3ic&ob=av2e

DANIELLE DAX – Big Hollow Man (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqhym59ypUI

STEREOLAB – Lo Fi (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcPhwzsv6VA

CARDIACS - Is This the Life (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUDLA1LAzDo

ELASTICA – Stutter (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ie4x8hWYYE&ob=av2e

INSPIRAL CARPETS – Move (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75ENlCgERcQ&ob=av2e

SP!N – Scratches (In The Sand) (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX0V_Dfz9Aw

WELFARE HEROINE – Cry-Blood (Dub) (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-iimm8wYh0

REVOLVER – Heaven Sent an Angel (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy-cQJcz6DE

THE BLUE AEROPLANES – Broken and Mended (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpFsMqjorfo

DAISY CHAINSAW – Love Your Money (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaZWCGs7tFw

RIDE – How Does It Feel to Feel? (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElMjB1RrjhQ

SAINT ETIENNE – Nothing Can Stop Us (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSuxnF8dOPU

LIST 74 - 04/11/11

Hello again,

One more general mixture for you this week, but herewith advanced notice that I'm hoping to get THREE Lists uploaded next Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Two of them will commemorate the fact that 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of my favourite compilation series ever - and it's *not* Now That's What I Call Music, before anyone asks... The third will be our second-ever Cover Versions special, which I've been able to complete way ahead of the originally scheduled 2012 date simply on account of the welter of things I've been able to find for it.

Back to this week, then. The inclusion of the Dag For Dag and Moon Duo tracks serves as a reminder to me that, even this far into 2011, there is still a ton of great stuff from last year that I've still not got to the bottom of yet; and the video for the Fujiya & Miyagi track should provide an answer for those of you wondering what the scary, staring bloke out of the Never Mind The Buzzcocks identity parade is up to nowadays!

J x



THE PIPETTES – Boo Shuffle (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opSPgHQYiM0

ASH – True Love 1980 (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=HXl8m_IJhpY

HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS – Record Shop (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNNW3X7Z2Q

THE VICTORIAN ENGLISH GENTLEMENS CLUB – A Conversation (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUT3E7xh0BA

BIBIO – Pretentious (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1UsieqKob0&NR=1

MOON DUO – Catch As Catch Can (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40YHKbsbA5A

GRUFF RHYS – Sensations in the Dark (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBg_h9kmRhk

ATARI TEENAGE RIOT – Blood in My Eyes (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at0KNQtWF_o

ATARI TEENAGE RIOT – Kids Are United (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIwUOII7hg

THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR – Clutching Stems (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LezbUhQScUI

GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU – Gopuru (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhgDqY7_RGs

NEW BUFFALO – I’ve Got You And You’ve Got Me (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wpN3bOBNA

COMET GAIN – You're Just Lonely (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_FuXf_GPlA

FUJIYA & MIYAGI – Sixteen Shades of Black and Blue (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhkyjcmBldM

THE PRESETS – Girl and the Sea (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVvzBvjEz6s

COVERGIRL – Paris Burns (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lWaxtNKiw8

PLANNINGTOROCK – Living It Out (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDXpSg9DD5c

DAG FŐR DAG – Hands and Knees (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPpm2XLRKI

D/R/U/G/S – Love / Lust (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Jsxfe24oE

VETIVER – Wonder Why (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpAXq7sq8s

LIST 73 - 28/10/11

Hello again,

Ah, longevity. We may have seen REM off in the last few weeks but a veteran of an even longer recorded career, Tom Waits, hoves back into view with a new release which extends his innings to a - gulp -38th year. I wasn't even born when he started. Wasn't far off, mind.

Bibio, Casiokids and Moon Duo are personal highlights among the smattering of welcome returns this time around, and the Bart And Friends track is no less lovely than that of antecedent band The Cat's Miaow (which also spawned Hydroplane). I'm advised there is another Bart album due so imminently it may already be out at the time of typing this - much catching up for me to do.

J x



BIBIO – Excuses (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPCLbJujU8E

CANCEL THE ASTRONAUTS – Funny for a Girl (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGhBKzfj21s

2:54 – Cold Front (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mLax4Zf2S8

CASIOKIDS – Det Haster! (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BSeVFWiZnA

BAFFIN ISLAND - You Make Two Weeks Two Days (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JORQ-KdQgE

THE LOVELY EGGS – Watermelons (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM3zwcKMqFk

SEAPONY – Blue Star (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNhzm3ERyPI

DJANGO DJANGO – Wor (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvOiFmjExx4

BLANCK MASS – Chernobyl (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_MLTbZ5CDk

TOM WAITS – Bad As Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ta3H-ck6s&ob=av2e

TOM WAITS – Earth Died Screaming (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8reJvRWXKI

THE MUMMERS – Fade Away (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKGUsUnh7OU

VOM VORTON – Save An Insect, Save The World (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx93w2WWozQ

MITCHELL MUSEUM – What They Built (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8Zdp_itdQ

TELEX – Temporary Chicken (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zMSLfIO52U

HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR – Painted Eyes (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFCcITmcoI

MOON DUO – Mazes (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvYUUes4O1Q

ASH – Space Shot (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K06oxJbI6Y

BART AND FRIENDS – These Words Are Too Small (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JNvVFJ9oME

EMA – Milkman (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrKAR32WKU

GIL SCOTT-HERON & JAMIE XX – I’ll Take Care of You (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvpgVXEBPSA

LIST 72 - 21/10/11

Hello again,

No apologies at all for starting with the reliably, endearingly deranged Lovely Eggs this time, given that between this List and the next your editor will have seen them in action in both Sheffield and Leeds.

No apologies, either, for including some typically adept, peerless plucking from the late Bert Jansch at the end of the List. A colossus astride the Folk Revival for over four decades and as relevant and revered now as then, his is certainly one of music's most significant and sad losses of 2011.

J x



THE LOVELY EGGS – F*ck It (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOsFadmH584

CATHERINE A.D. – Going Wrong (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwh806w0HY8

CARIBOU – Odessa (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiSa7THgxrI

ARNAUD REBOTINI – Personal Dictator (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXVcP1lifwE

HERMAN DUNE – Be A Doll (And Take My Heart) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buzf7MBkZFY

POSTAL SERVICE – Such Great Heights (2003)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wrsZog8qXg

DOWNDIME – The Chosen One (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVOjnKVcnkw

GIRLS – Honey Bunny (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuDoYhQI2o

THE PRIMITIVES – Never Kill a Secret (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ3wx2WevLQ

THE PRIMITIVES – Stop Killing Me (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1so-4rS38A

LINKWOOD – B1 Untitled (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqewpf4oJjg

EVANS THE DEATH- I’m So Unclean (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZTebot8rJU

SCREAMING MALDINI – Secret Sounds (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN81xpZ5ido

POCKETBOOKS – Harbour Lights (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5bTTgd5_2w

A HAWK AND A HACKSAW – Cervantine (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYjfBZxhUzU

DRUNKEN BUTTERFLY – Der letzte Mann (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKq0kR28U1I

LANA DEL RAY – Video Games (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO1OV5B_JDw

HAIKU SALUT – Snaffle (live at Indietracks) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f5ShWQqzWU

BERT JANSCH – Blackwater Side (1966)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-xpa9GWuo

LIST 71 - 14/10/11

If Tiswas or Dick & Dom ever went into making music videos for other acts, then the Lisa Hannigan promo included this time around might be what they'd come up with. Aggressive but beautifully choreographed slapstick / gunging, all Lisa's own idea, and impressively all done in the one take, first time up.

Having also let herself be drenched in melted chocolate (albeit for an Oxfam Make Trade Fair campaign) in the recent past, one wonders whether she's making up for lost time fun-wise in these post-Mr Rice days...

Fun also seems to be on the agenda for Be Like Pablo, whose perky new single has elevated them in my estimations somewhat after never really getting the track they donated to the Indietracks compilation two years ago.

Elsewhere we have a Beastie Boys then and now; some quality techno japery of the sort Peel would have adored; a Field Mice song and the band who named themselves after it; and Darren Hayman looking alarmingly like Mike Read when rendered in Lego. Another uneventful List, then...

J x



KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS – Don’t Make a Fool out of Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogqcc0CkMIo

DOBLE PLETINA – Música Para Cerrar Las Discotecas (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3NsKaKOnZQ

FIELD MUSIC – Measure (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x257xocl4_k

BE LIKE PABLO – The Post-It Song (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4wRJrIvr3k

LISA HANNIGAN – Knots (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYdPtcx-4mo

OMD – Sister Marie Says (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALQsqR1rmLM

YUCK – Get Away (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7vyrFhFE8

ARNAUD REBOTINI – All You Need Is Techno (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjOYZ2gu4AI

BEASTIE BOYS – Make Some Noise (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgLMslbDuY

BEASTIE BOYS – Gratitude (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdJ5e70Q8mw&ob=av2e

LOVE INKS – Leather Glove (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Scb5-Iv5Lc

ZOEY VAN GOEY – You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EwBNm1Uhs0

SLEIGH BELLS – Tell ‘Em (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJ05P-71gY

FISHBOY – Alyson Revere (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv1-eqMkVYA

DARREN HAYMAN – My Dream Train (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQEHx1w9yU

BLACK MILK – Brain (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldp-arHXRJg

THE FIELD MICE – Coach Station Reunion (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm3J8yY-3As

COACH STATION REUNION – Johnny Cash (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgM0wxhiZg

EL HOMBRE PERCHA – Bocadillos de Jámon (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcdEIBT9KVA

KATIE KIM – Jennifer (live at the Daghdha Space Theatre, Limerick) (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSUrax_sME

LIST 70 - 07/10/11

Hello again,

No huge preamble this week, folks, but rather just a simple invitation to enjoy - among other things - some brand new product from everyone's favourite enduring US geek duo, yet another project involving Swedish indiepop kingpin Roger Gunnarsson, the delectable but lesser-spotted Mr Lekman, and Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral (and have plans for Jim Beglin, by the sounds of it...).

The Lou & Ginny track, meanwhile, washed up whilst I was searching for a write-up on some obscure mid-80s Marvel Comics characters. At this remove I can't for the life of me think how, but the best discoveries (and this girl-power late-1950s rock'n'roll nugget is certainly one of those) are often the accidental ones.

Hmmm, so that's just a medium-large preamble this week, then!

J x



ELECTRICITY IN OUR HOMES – Apple Tree (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJLCXb7r1Hk

TUNABUNNY – Only At Night (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-WohwiAd-4

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS – Never Knew Love (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJk_4cnsWWA

MIKROFISCH – Mauro Farina (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ppHCAbD4c

TOM VEK – Aroused (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49ZVEt2X3GA&ob=av2e

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – Fix It So She Dreams Of Me (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH66IB64UBA

SNOB SCRILLA – Heartbreak Scorsese (2009)
http://www.vimeo.com/5078027

SLOW DOWN TALLAHASSEE – Angel of Death (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SfQiw_mGU

TIMES NEW VIKING – No Room to Live (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_R9dkoWFHI

DJ SHADOW – I Gotta Rokk (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0mrwAFUuGM

DJ SHADOW – High Noon (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-flSzjEzP64&ob=av2n

LAURA J MARTIN & THE SIMONSOUND – Inside Your Bones (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2J7d3z9v7I

CSS – Hits Me Like a Rock (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atbY03rKrdA

BOB LOG III – My Shit Is Perfect (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76NeaxNpfQ

THE ANDERSEN TAPES – Visual Explanations (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zldsVAcRIIg

LOU & GINNY – Do I Do Right? (1958)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNvzO2dVGR4

JENS LEKMAN – An Argument With Myself (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805cOEz4-wE

COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES – Vorms (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsR-NtSRx8M

LIST 69 - 30/09/11

Hello again,

A general mixture for you again this week, including what must be the best ever stab at marrying doo-wop and shoegaze (The Louche FC); the engine room of New Order reimagined in spooky, sparse, acid splashes (Gillian and Stephen); a fantastically creepy track from the godmother of Welsh indie that I've somehow managed to overlook for nearly two years (Annalogue); and a reminder that the finest Nottingham band ever to walk the Earth isn't, wasn't and ain't ever gonna be any of these mentioned in the Guardian's article on the city's music scene this week (The Melons).

The joy of the week's latest musical discoveries has, however, been overshadowed markedly by the discovery today that Peter Sykes, guitarist with This Many Boyfriends, died of a brain haemorrhage earlier in the week. Upwardly mobile following a couple of great singles in recent months (of which "Young Lovers Go Pop!" concludes this List in Peter's memory) and one of the star turns of Indietracks 2010, the band will doubtlessly be much the poorer without him as member and friend. That Music List offers its unreserved condolences to Peter's family and friends.

J x



PAPA TOPO – La Chica Vampira (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVw8Y_t9QuE&ob=av3n

ALCIAN BLUE – Frozen Sleep (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsSWuTtntdQ

DARREN HANLON – I Waited for the 17 (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktXU7tYsvk

ANNALOGUE – Tony Wilson (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfJrPphAkfw

THE LOUCHE FC – Only in a Dream (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOMSPdGvYmI

ACID HOUSE KINGS – Under Water (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6GzGpgaVrs

THE RETROSPECTIVES – It’s All Mine (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DChQj49E33E

I’M BEING GOOD – Thaddeus, Mask Of Thaddeus (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKKhXYvwnI

I’M BEING GOOD – Flat Response (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVH3K_JVb4Q

SCROOBIUS PIP – Let Em Come (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ8TzuqpSQs

LONEY, DEAR – My Heart (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpPOynTcFuo

THE MELONS – Fast Lane (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ErDg_iyWo

LYKKE LI – I Follow Rivers (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZYbEL06lEU

DUTCH UNCLES – Cadenza (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMti9fN0VBQ

TENDER TRAP – Dansette Dansette (live at Indietracks) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XqeOBPaKE8

GILLIAN AND STEPHEN – FF (Gabe Remix) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfS64He49jk

THIS MANY BOYFRIENDS – Young Lovers Go Pop! (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZdPu9fnvkE

LIST 68 - 23/09/11 (a farewell to R.E.M.)

So that's that, then - Buck, Mills and Stipe (and up to a point Berry) are finally calling it a day after an impressive (if you like longevity) 31 years and 15 albums together, and that seemed as good a reason as any to challenge myself to compile a List which wasn't simply just Shiny Happy People and the other best-known hits. Indeed, fewer than half the tracks ultimately chosen even went top 40 in the UK.

Although I'd stop short of the assertion from Stewart Lee (looking forward to seeing you at the Lexington this Sunday, sir) that; "there's [not] anyone whose career trajectory has been so disappointing, starting so brilliantly and end[ing] up just so dreadful", it was nevertheless harder to find stuff either of merit or genuine curiosity value from the second half of the act's career than the first. No matter, at least in "Staring Down..." there is an inclusion that is both relatively recent and by the looks of it never to be released in any studio-recorded form.

I'm not entirely content with the final List, as there was no clip of "Chance" (one of the b-sides to "Everybody Hurts", and among my very favourite REM tracks ever) among the usual repositories of choice. The band's unfortunate habit for comedy cover versions is catered for courtesy of their interpretation of "Tom's Diner", though, likewise their penchant for side projects of various shapes and degrees of seriousness.

J x



R.E.M. – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It... (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Cuyahoga (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APn_r6_VLCo

R.E.M. – At My Most Beautiful (1999)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXs66BPooY

13111 [Bill Berry] – My Bible is the Latest TV Guide (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEqTAX02tgg

R.E.M. – Near Wild Heaven (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC7er_6dpsI

R.E.M. – Bad Day (2003)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyk-Vdd_Qrk&ob=av2e

R.E.M. – Stand (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKqLl_ZEEY&ob=av2e

KRISTIN HERSH ft MICHAEL STIPE – Your Ghost (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igPvSBDt43I

R.E.M. – So. Central Rain (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msWi0c4tHV8&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Überlin (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZITh-XIikgI&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Tom’s Diner (Live) (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq_h9fbSws

R.E.M. – Sweetness Follows (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKTIelUzZEM

THE FULL TIME MEN [ft. Peter Buck] – I Got Wheels (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NaK-ZJzxf0

R.E.M. – Crush with Eyeliner (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycvJHQUqU1M&ob=av3e

R.E.M. – Exhuming McCarthy (demo) (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGWT_eMpFBk

R.E.M. – Daysleeper (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcKeKt8C1k&ob=av3n

HINDU LOVE GODS [Berry, Buck, Mills & Warren Zevon] – Raspberry Beret (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQmz8Cx8pbM

R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe (1981)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac0oaXhz1u8&ob=av3n

R.E.M. - Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance (live premiere at Dublin Olympia) (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUs-Ko-oPKE

R.E.M. – Nightswimming (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ6Kh8klM4&ob=av3e

LIST 67 - 16/09/11

Hello again,

Back to a general mix of stuff this week, including something close to the "compare and contrast" feature Annie Nightingale regularly used to run. If Let's Whisper's borrowing of the chorus to The Field Mice's "Willow" for their new single wasn't by design, I'll eat my socks! Either way, it's a lovely track, and a trip to York to see them play with Standard Fare a fortnight hence is already in the diary.

Inclusions of tracks by the recently dearly departed usually concern musicians, but the loss of snooker referee Len Ganley this week just gone absolutely had to be commemorated with an appearance of "his" song here.

Elsewhere, and with the seventh anniversary of his passing not so many weeks away now, I wonder what Peel would have made of "About A Girl", part of an entire Little Roy album comprising roots reggae covers of Nirvana tracks (and this 20 years to the week since "Nevermind" was released, though not all the tracks on Roy's work are from that album). I reckon he'd have bloody loved it. I know I do.

J x



TODDLA T – Take it Back (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAqENlABNQk

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – The Len Ganley Stance (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSd74XdZ_E

I’M FROM BARCELONA – Always Spring (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W0-9ii8ycE

PAISLEY AND CHARLIE – Julia Misbehaves (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8HRiigMY9A

ST VINCENT – Cruel (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itt0rALeHE8&ob=av2e

LIANNE HALL – Telephone in a Foreign City (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpjbNqGKS6U

CASSOLETTE – Cars (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU_U1wt3EwY

DAVID WRENCH – A Radical Song (1816 / 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CbWtjPHmNM

THE RAPTURE – How Deep is Your Love? (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRSe-V28Mmk

THE RAPTURE – The Chair That Squeaks (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHxnsPsrVSA

LET’S WRESTLE – In Dreams Part II (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6woVBFWrmPU

LET’S WHISPER – All Happy Endings (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTXPLFxzlI

THE FIELD MICE – Willow (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJFzQz4Png

AUSTRA – Lose It (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LJtMrhb558

TINARIWEN – Tenere Taqhim Tossam (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOV5jEa-vwc

THE VERY MOST – Patricia (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTV5t8Iyk4

LITTLE ROY – About A Girl (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3mT_haHXRU

DARREN HANLON – The Unmade Bed (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-HEWb0eeRw

LIST 66 - 09/09/11 (Then And Now special)

List regulars will be familiar with the "Then And Now" feature, wherein a recent song by a long-established act is listed alongside something from as far down the other end of their career as possible.

Such was the backlog of "Then And Now" candidates I'd somehow managed to accummulate in recent weeks, it seemed perfectly feasible to devote an entire List to them and them alone. So here it is. Its arrival in the same week as Polly Jean Harvey scooped her second Mercury Music Prize represents a coincidence of timing I'd usually fail miserably to pull off successfully if I'd tried to!

J x



PJ HARVEY – The Words That Maketh Murder (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va0w5pxFkAM

PJ HARVEY – Rid Of Me (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36G15OR6jvY

THE STREETS – Going Through Hell (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ulRwXIzbo

THE STREETS – Don’t Mug Yourself (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veAIHDGghP4

THE HIT PARADE – The Boy Who Loves Brighter (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=328IrHZE6zY

THE HIT PARADE- I Get So Sentimental (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjG5TeaHvjY

MOGWAI – Letters to the Metro (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBTax_2Qh10

MOGWAI – Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZr6u9fT1I

PETE ASTOR – The Perfect Crime (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSxJVOqe7s8

THE LOFT – Up The Hill And Down The Slope (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnJLsP7cHG8

BJORK – Moon (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sWdeMRJIRA

BJORK – Bænin (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXKw3Y1Ie_E

DRUGSTORE – Sweet Chili Girl (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUAgFJL0cMI

DRUGSTORE – Fader (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9Aoe7i1tA

LADYTRON – Ambulances (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjf7JkQqwfE

LADYTRON – Paco! (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woK8sqt-V5U

LOW – Try To Sleep (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgc0I0zsYs

LOW – Throw Out The Line (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9j3_z793O8

TODDLA T ft ROOTS MANUVA – Watch Me Dance (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rw9yeS6nqA

ROOTS MANUVA – Witness (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbuSdXKtJX4

LIST 65 - 02/09/11

Hello again,

I'm sure I mourned the passing of Trembling Blue Stars in one preamble last year on That Music List when including "All Our Tomorrows" from their final album. Since then, of course, there has actually been a final EP and a final final EP, too, the latter of which I finally acquired this week just gone.

The collaboration with Robert "Josh" Hampson of Loop, plus the cover of Wire's "Kidney Bingos" starring Caesar from The Wake, are all likely to feature in the coming weeks; but how sad to have to think that after 16 years of perfect releases, TBS contributions to That Music List thereafter will be solely in the plundering-the-archives rather than the new-product sense.

Very much still present as well as past tense are Comet Gain, whose records remain the best ways of guaranteeing that what you're hearing is actually Comet Gain music played by Comet Gain members! That might sound like stating the obvious to most, but those who witnessed their, um, enigmatic appearance at Indietracks three years ago will know that this can occasionally be rather less of a given! Something from the new album, along with a classic from 14 years ago, get an airing here.

Other highlights this week include the first recorded output of 2011 from the likes of Allo Darlin' and Francois & The Atlas Mountains; a double helping of outer space tunes; further evidence of Ladytron's incredibly high stock as a singles band; and something very pleasing involving just two bass guitars and a load of dogs. Really really.

J x



DETOX CUTE & THE BEAUTY JUNKIES – Billy Liar (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJydYq8Ylk

KIDS – Summer Frights (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1llww4xTHsE

DINOSAURS ARE STILL ALIVE – Hive Mind (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3DCFnsoOU4

ALLO DARLIN’ – Darren (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EmpYVA7WHE

THE FOLK IMPLOSION – Natural One (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYerwwTV5qc

GOLD-BEARS – So Natural (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31mGXf6uI5Y

FRÀNÇOIS & THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS – Piscine (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdxVMJ9UxnM

C*NT SPARRER – Because You’re Young (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIWBwEqBPZQ

LADYTRON – White Elephant (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cKEy0BFfQw

COMET GAIN – Ballad Of Frankie Machine (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9vZ26uCrQ

COMET GAIN – Strength (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU7m6J9Nve0

DOS – Number Eight (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFrgJBCtCmE

ULRICH SCHNAUSS & JONAS MUNK – Chasing Rainbows (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc0r3LewPZU

FITNESS FOREVER – Palma De Mallorca (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgXk_W659Q

EVANS THE DEATH – Threads (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdk9x3CEca4

KAKI KING – Falling Day (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSo995g2kjc

TREMBLING BLUE STARS – Sunrise on Mars (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=9AljtMzdqLE

STEREOLAB – Sun Demon (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXq9-8hI2zw

THE HOBBES FANCLUB – The Boy from Outer Space (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyTnoTEIgTM

THE WEDDING PRESENT – The Queen of Outer Space (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsOAf_5XSaI

NIKI & THE DOVE – The Fox (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUhOgSZHv9o

THE SCHOOL – I Love Everything (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3pM63IKfDY&ob=av2e

LIST 64 - 26/08/11

Hello again,

Still the Indietracks festival of this year casts its influence over That Music List all of four weeks on, albeit this time in the most delightful form of a brand new White Town single with a video filmed entirely at the festival itself!

Jyoti Mishra wasn't actually on this year's "official" line-up, for want of a better expression, but as indiepop royalty - and indiepop royalty from just up the road from the Butterley venue, at that - his presence at this event is always a cause of cheer.

That new output seemed like as good an excuse as any to make White Town the Then And Now subject for this week, so there's something he put out 14 years earlier included as well (and not "Your Woman", either).

Elsewhere, Moustache Of Insanity continue to be this year's gift that keeps on giving, courtesy of an indiepop-bitcore crossover b-side that sets the plot and gameplay of the old Donkey Kong arcade game to music; and it's also a pleasure to welcome back to action the likes of Howling Bells, Sourpatch, Lo-Fi-FNK, Rosie Taylor Project and Peter Bjorn & John for the first time in a while.

The inclusion of "Mathematically Safe" will confuse some, but it's one of only a couple of songs I could find which mentions Cartmel - the home of sticky toffee pudding, Britain's most cheerily eccentric racecourse, and my favourite place on earth. I'm off up there tomorrow for more pudding, racing and eccentricity. Self-indulgent, moi?

Oh, and the other song I could think of was an Eliza Carthy number. But you probably all shouted that at the screen way ahead of me. :-)

J x


MASCOT FIGHT – That’s A Photocopier (Not A Chair) (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpok7_M8JpA

TIGERCATS – Banned at the Troxy (2011)
http://www.vimeo.com/23626034

TENNISCOATS – Baibaba Bimba (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVZBDoitcRo

MOUSTACHE OF INSANITY – The Monkey and My Princess (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swaASu0b13Q

THE ROSIE TAYLOR PROJECT – Sleep (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOfnem7SSQ

CULTS – Go Outside (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxVIK0ZJvtA

STANDARD FARE – Suitcase (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amml6E2XtNU

WHITE TOWN – She’s A Lot Like You (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWwgPVCBqTU

WHITE TOWN – The Death of My Desire (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97tEw8PpM54

WHITE WISHES – Come And Say Hello (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qJoO660N8

NICOLE ATKINS – Vultures (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTAZHTKY6qU

THE DEIRDRES – Milk is Politics (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7xRpo58SVo

LO-FI-FNK – Boom (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBSxpeEoSjY

PETER, BJORN AND JOHN – Dig A Little Deeper (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKiQhT4F9c0

KEY LOSERS – Cheap Display (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3gbM7dmtRk

PANDA BEAR – Last Night at the Jetty (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzNq03e7e8

SOURPATCH – Cynthia Ann (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7pZjnNWgIA

CASSOLETTE – Not Just Anyone (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwy82EsOMp8

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – Mathematically Safe (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBt0nsgCWgk

HOWLING BELLS – Into the Sky (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0wkapy1FBU

VERONICA FALLS – Bad Feeling (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2uQnrOV6xo

THE HERMIT CRABS – About You Before (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQnrHdFeD34

LIST 63 - 19/08/11

Hello again,

Back to a regular, non-themed mish-mash once more for this week, though with Victoria And Jacob's inclusion I'm ensuring the memories of Indietracks 2011 continue to linger on (and there's plenty more where that came from yet...).

Apropos of Victoria And Jacob, many thanks to the correspondent who pointed out that the Victoria And Jacob whose cover of "Blackbird" I included the other week almost certainly wasn't the actual synthpop duo Victoria And Jacob who played at Butterley. Does that mean that after 60-odd Lists and over 1,200 tracks I've finally dropped a factual bollock? Alas, it would appear so. Placing something in this List from the real Victoria And Jacob was therefore the least I could do. That and thrashing myself with a broken bottle and listening to the Viva Brother album by way of punishment.

Actually I didn't listen to the Viva Brother album. I'd been bad, but not *that* bad...

J x


BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – Come On Sister (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aOl3V1A13I

ART BRUT – Lost Weekend (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_IGqNoB4eI

GIORGIO TUMA – Imaginary Soundtrack for Yuri Norstein (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVOiKrt9wxs

THE NOTES – Awake (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5TlYiuHuQ

AIAS – Quan Tornis Demà (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UovGuICkr0E

SKINNY GIRL DIET – Eyes (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEeTz8DyA5Y

AT SWIM TWO BIRDS – I Must Be Losing You (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LetipiaJbMU

WENDY JAMES – Municipal Blues (Live) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQycE7TUWLQ

PATRICK WOLF – House (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCoJXqGn_kg&ob=av2e

PRINCESS CHELSEA – Monkey Eats Bananas (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YeLuDgzxCM

BEARSUIT – When Will I Be Queen? (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4VIZ0JpDD4

BEARSUIT – Hey Charlie Hey Chuck (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8PSeQNlpBQ

VICTORIA AND JACOB – There is a War (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyycTPMbZOs

NODZZZ – Ye Olde Indian Towne (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz7illy2VUY

GRUFF RHYS – Shark Ridden Waters (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usGdERPWoPU

TTC – Leguman (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9mm9Lhaxmo

PEACH KELLI POP – Doo Wah Diddy (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIGbmGkiauU

THE HIT PARADE – There’s Something About Mary (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3T6xyIowLc

SPAGHETTI ANYWHERE – Girlfriends with Boyfriends (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHlJhDXPSmQ

SLEIGH BELLS – Infinity Guitars (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fheYx_ZPU18

THE UNTHANKS – Starless (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7p49EwkmkI

FOXES! – The Panda Bear Song (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2HTVyln5FI&NR=1

LIST 62 - 12/08/11 (cover versions special)

Hello again,

Don't worry - last week's absence doesn't presage another huge hiatus from That Music List. I just came back to a larger post-Indietracks workload than I'd envisaged. Needless to say, it was another stellar weekend down in Butterley, and maybe all the better for the smaller number of well-known acts than previously as it meant more nice surprises.

If it doesn't seem too divisive to nominate favourites, I'd have to go for Haiku Salut, Moustache Of Insanity, The Wendy Darlings, The Garlands, Frankie Machine, Amore De Dias, The Hidden Cameras, Edwyn Collins, Tiny Fireflies, Very Truly Yours, Math & Physics Club, White Town (impromptu acoustic set), Oxo Foxo (both of her lovely, kids-oriented sets) and above all The Sweet Nothings. The superb set of the last-named on the Sunday afternoon was all the more joyous, having continued to see these Sheffield chums of mine come on leaps and bounds in recent months (not least during their July tour).

As usual, such a shame that it had to come to an end after three perfect days, but also as usual, there are treasured memories from the weekend to take to the grave. Really really.

This week's List comprises cover versions and cover versions only, though not all obvious or well-known by any means and only one bothered the charts in the interpretation presented. This List has been in the compiling for quite some time, with Wanda Jackson's "You Know I'm No Good" practically the first thing added weeks ago, before the original performer's tragic passing. If not originally included as a tribute to Amy Winehouse, then, I certainly don't mind anyone regarding it as such.

Returning to the Indietracks theme, finally, two clips from that festival feature in the List, including the one which garnered the most votes (by some margin) when the official Indietracks blog polled readers just before this year's renewal as to what their favourite ever performanceat Butterley was. For those who may need a clue before reading further down, think of a keyboard-prodding Spaniard dressed as a spaceman...

J x


FELIX KUBIN – Lighting Strikes (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO9ZmgImYSI

WANDA JACKSON – You Know I’m No Good (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYLZ-zDmSJQ

CARDIACS – Suzannah’s Still Alive (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YMs5QwHmMc&NR=1

EUX AUTRES – My Love Will Not Let You Down (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYNNDcB2Eto

JAMES FIGURINE – Blinded by the Lights (200x)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9BdHIpk1E0

THE MOTORCYCLE BOY – Run Run Run (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCr4ZyI2r8I

THE JUST JOANS – All The Umbrellas in London (live in London) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSFwaNqBxhQ&NR=1

DAVE STEWART & COLIN BLUNSTONE – What Becomes... (1981)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbB5V-RE8uw

THE SUNNY STREET – What Is Love (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twg05hhisFY

THE FIELD MICE – Burning World (live in London, 16/02/91) (1991)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bms5BDWHKSs

THE HIGH LLAMAS – At the Chime of a City Clock (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZgH_0IL5Jc

WORLD OF FOX – Jeane (live at Indietracks) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQOQ2sP3AkU

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK - Outdoor Miner (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGZOjHmLKD0

ACE BUSHY STRIPTEASE – Roly Poly (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZw80s8QwyE

LYKKE LI – After Laughter (Comes Tears) (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J4N4jFBTmY

THE CAT’S MIAOW – Baby I Love You (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csOnDYwDo8c

FATHER MURPHY – There Is A War (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbCaVtvqfJI

KATHY McCARTHY – Grievances (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQTWmi6Uxs

TRACEY THORN & JENS LEKMAN – Yeah! Oh Yeah! (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lddn8XQMp24

LAETITIA SADIER – Summertime (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgqcC5eCJxs

LA CASA AZUL – Love is in the Air (live at Indietracks) (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ke48Ql9yqw

LIST 61 - 29/07/11 (Indietracks Festival special, part two)

Hello there,

As promised, herewith part two of my preview of The Best Music Festival Of Them All (that's not up for discussion, incidentally :-) ), and also as promised I've put it up a few days before the usual Friday List day. Between the two lists, I think I've managed to find something for all bar about six of the performing acts - apologies to those concerned.

One or two new contenders for my favourite single of the year in this list, too, not least the splendid effort by Crystal Stilts. The rest isn't half bad, either. Really really. Enjoy!

J x


BERLIN BRIDES – Ballad for the Touch-Deprived (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYOIqjHUisc

MILKY WIMPSHAKE – Alice Nebulae (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0By-GJyFGfU

MODEL VILLAGE – 19 (live at Roadtrip Bar, Hoxton) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P32KhxgM4Kw

SUBURBAN KIDS WITH BIBLICAL NAMES – Europa (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvQ7OhClwwA

CRYSTAL STILTS – Shake The Shackles (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJoMTgANXPc

NEXT TIME PASSIONS – Painter Girl (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFot_54Rqzo

THE SWEET NOTHINGS – Peace, Love and International Socialism(live at the Brixton Windmill, 07/05/11) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9hBFEzpvDM

CHRIS T-T – We Are the King of England (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ftk1Z4uQlY

WORLD OF FOX – Grumpy Man Blues (Shed session) (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIEIbORBsww

MATH AND PHYSICS CLUB – We’re So DIY (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_LMGTKhRfI

HOROWITZ – I Need A Blanket (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4UPXbFbYu8

BAND Á PART – Una Persona Normal Con Gafas De Metal (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbmFurLSQsc

PERU – Drift On (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwap4DCsMwY

VICTORIA AND JACOB – Blackbird (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qHWNQgyqmY&NR=1

POCKETBOOKS – Camera Angles (Ian and Emma live acoustic) (2011)
http://www.vimeo.com/24486478

THE GARLANDS – Open Arms (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtSlqQaCK2o

HAIKU SALUT – Piano Suite (live at The Maze, Nottingham) (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZtCCjCs8c4

ZIPPER – Lunes Por La Mañana (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMBcb3hcqEE

THE WHATEVERS – Rhapsody in Blue Jeans (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weTAQvk6uiU

ACE BUSHY STRIPTEASE – Michael Kightly is Pretty Rad (live) (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxm7cmzolk

TINY FIREFLIES – Don’t Wait Until I Fall Asleep (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpCmmPDa6Ok

JONNY – Candyfloss (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNcjy_R3_jE

HERMAN DUNE – Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY_wuw2u5lY

THE WENDY DARLINGS – Girls from Japan (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3-unX95S6o