Life's Too Short For Lists...

Even with the endless time I have on my hands on the frosty riverbanks, between glorious battles with the Taff's Rainbow Trout, I find it hard to comprehend anything involving end of year lists, Dogging Tales just came on TV adding further discouragement to my already fragile willpower, but even so, there's a page that needs filling, and as the self proclaimed king of filler material, here’s a list with some of the music that shined like the stars on a crisp clear night through the murky fogs, shady shadows, and heaps of shit of 2013:



The All About - Suburban Heart (Bandcamp)

Cherry Glazerr - Papa Cremp (Bandcamp)

The Death of Pop (Bandcamp)

Ballboy - Merry Christmas To The Drunks, Merry Christmas to the Lovers (Bandcamp)

Just Handshakes - Say It (Bleeding Gold Records / Bandcamp)

Major Leagues - Weird Seasons EP (RipeTV)

The Indelicates - Diseases of England (Corporate Records)

Flowers (Odd Box Records / Bandcamp)

Winter Villains - February (Barely Regal Records / Bandcamp)

I Like The Go GO (Bandcamp)

Makthaverskan - Makthaverskan II (Luxury / Bandcamp)

Tullycraft - Lost in Light Rotation (Fortuna POP!)

TV Girl - Lonely Women (Bandcamp)

The Courtneyes - The Courtneys - S/T (Hockey Dad Records / Bandcamp)

The Bobby McGee’s - Bon Bons (Je Vien Rechercher Mes) (Youtube)

The Spook School - Dress Up (Fortuna POP!)

Tyrannosaurus Dead - Pure // Apart + Bed Dread (Odd Box Records / Bleeding Gold Records / Bandcamp)

Laura Cantrell - No Way There from Here (Shoeshine Records)

Alpaca Sports (Bandcamp)

Eddie Argos and the Lo-Fi Punk Rock Motherfuckers - Volume 1 (Corporate Records)

Songs for Walter (Bandcamp)

Au Revoir Simone - Move in Spectrums (Moshi Moshi)

The Star You Fell In Love To Comes Out On Christmas Eve (Christmas Mix)

Christmas is in the air along the frosty river banks, the grass sparkles like the stars with the morning frost, our mortality shines clearer and brighter than them all at this time of year. In the ice, reflections of Christmas’ past stare back; scalextrics with dodgy transformers, Frank Fish with his latex waders shagging that snow-woman he built after one too many candle-wax-whiskies, family members no longer swimming in our waters doing the rounds on Christmas day, pints of Baileys going down the hatch like cold cans of lilt, aching hearts wandering the streets searching for that feeling lost somewhere along the way as ever familiar landscapes whisper in the darkness.

I was young once
I was seduced by
The rebellion
Of youth

I was young once
I was seduced by
The rebellion
Of you 

String together some threads, sing, drink, and dance to the ghosts of the past and things that don’t last!

The Star You Fell In Love To Comes Out On Christmas Eve:

1. Fast Sledge Past Blurred Robin - Symphonika
2. Pray for Murderers - Ballboy
3. Christmas Eve - Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
4. Santa from Santa Fe - Lawrence Welk and his Champaign music
5. Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby
6. Christmas Wrapping - Waitresses
7. Countdown to Christmas - Glam Chops
8. I’m Getting Pissed for Christmas - Peter and the Test Tube Babies
9. Come Round Here On Christmas - I Like The Go Go
10. Red Santa - Lucky Lucky Pigeons
11. The Christmas Wars - Darren Hayman
12. December 1986 - Lucky Delucci
13. Christmas Teardrops Neath’ Mistletoe - Just Joans
14. Heavenly Christmas - A Smile and a Ribbon
15. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl
16. Abominable Snowman in the Supermarket - Jonathan Richman
17. Outer Space Santa - The Lennon Sisters
18. I Believe In Father Christmas - Keith TOTP & His Minor UK Indie Celebrity All-Star Backing Band
19. Tyrannosaurus Rex for Christmas - Lovely Eggs
20. Don’t believe in Christmas - The Junior Varsity
21. Boogie Woogie Santa - Swing Republic
22. All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit - Half Man Half Biscuit
23. Lonely This Christmas - Carter USM
24. Stop the Revelry - Shrag
25. This Town - The Thlyds

Silver Tides

If FRRH #4 ever makes it out of my medieval printer it’s sure to be holding hands with a mixtape wearing this gem around its neck.

MAJOR LEAGUES | ‘SILVER TIDES’

‘Weird Season’ EP out December 6!

Trick or Treat Dancefloor

I've got some time to kill and I'd like it if you'd kill some time with me

1. Plastic Angels - LAKE R▲DIO
2. Hide and Seek - Flowers
3. Bed Dread - Tyrannosaurus Dead
4. Graveyard - Joanna Gruesome
5. Bury Me Now - Oli Spleen
6. Dig Up The Graves - Tullycraft
7. German Ghost Cat - Baby Ghosts
8. Trick or Treat Dancefloor - Cherry Glazerr
9. Gravitron - Au Revoir Simone
10. Here Come The Martian Martians - Jonathan Richman
11. Superstition Has Its Uses - Flipron
12. Frankenstein Twist - Crystals
13. Killing Time - Veronica Falls
14. Just a Ghost - I Am A Man With A St Tropez Tan
15. Who Ya Gonna Call Goatbuster! - The Spook School

Old Friends Are Older Now

Cold Winds Are Colder Now

1. We Are Nothing Alike - The Indelicates
2. Easier To Cry - TV Girl
3. Mosaic - Fear Of Men
4. Endless Drain - Major Leagues
5. Oyster Boy You're A Blast - Tyrannosaurus Dead
6. Nasty Habits - The Wild Ones
7. As Long As I Have You - Alpaca Sports
8. Surfing Cats - The Notes
9. Don't Hang Around - The Death Of Pop
10. Nick's Song - Songs For Walter
11. Heat Wave - The All About
12. Wish You Were Beer - The Great American Novel
13. BRAINS - Mega Emotion
14. Motherquake - DJ Freh & Diplo
15. Purge Your Inner Tory - Colour Me Wednesday
16. We Are All The Lo-Fi Kids - Helen Love
17. (Here's to) The Ghosts Of The Past - Dot Dash
18. This Town (Song For Karen) - The Thlyds

Hold My Hand As It All Slips Away...

... And we''ll wash up together on Arizona Bay!

1. Arizona Bay - Art Brut
2. She Smokes In Bed - TV Girl
3. Buried In The Ground - Tyrannosaurus Dead
4. Dig Up The Graves - Tullycraft
5. Stay A While - Beach Vacation
6. Alice - Dick Diver
7. Supermarket - Eddie Argos And The Lo Fi Punk Rock Motherfuckers
8. You Should Fall In Love With Me - Ballboy
9. Goat - French For Rabbits
10. Beautiful Despair - Comet Gain 
11. Bill Drummond - Wake The President
12. Moon / Two Out Of Ten - Songs For Walter 
13. Boat Song - Flowers
14. Lost For Days - The Notes
15. Cold Hands - Pants Yell!
16. Dovahkiin - The Indelicates 

Can I Always Dream with You?

 



































3am and I'm all alone / just a memory and a diet coke

1. Dead Dreamer - Glass Teeth
2. Stamping On Snails - Songs For Walter
3. Diet Coke - TV Girl
4. 1992 - Tynrannosaurus Dead
5. Dreaming - Seapony
6. Pale - Young Romance
7. You Held My Hand - Flowers
8. Buried Alive - Veronica Falls 
9. Welcome to Váxjó - Ballboy
10. Elks Lodge Riot - Tullycraft
11. Dead and Alice - Just Handshakes
12. Antabus - Makthaverskan 
13. The Ghost of Stephen Hawking's Legs - Baby Ghosts
14. Washington Weather - Beach Vacation
15. Fine Fine Fine - The Mentalettes
16. I Don't Want To Get Used To It - Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament
17. Thorns - Winter Villains

My Heart Was Broken Long Before I Met You

There's no money, there's barely any love, but I see you... and you're not alone

1. Asleep - Makthaverskan
2. Not Alone - The Indelicates
3. Gary Glitter Fan Convention - The Bitter Springs
4. We Knew Your Name Until Your Heart Stopped - Tullycraft
5. Nobody's Son - Race Horses 
6. Alchemy - Fever Dream
7. Soft - Tyrannosaurus Dead
8. Concrete - Breathe Out
9. Can You Tell Me One Thing - The Organ
10. When We Were Still Friends - Herman Dune
11. Tina Waymouth - This Many Boyfriends 
12. December 1986 - Lucky Delucci
13. Vesper Two - Trick Mammoth 
14. Bright Lights - Just Handshakes
15. Hymn For The Alcohol - Hefner
16. Roll Me in Cotton - Ooberman
17. The Air - Winter Villains 
18. Colors and the Kids - Cat Power

Special VAT In The Dark, Getting Pissed In The Park

That crate of Special VAT you bought to celebrate 10 years of Art Brut is clearly not enough, for in between discotheques Indietracks have announced the latest batch of bands for this years festival, and the list includes Helen Love, The Lovely Eggs, Alpaca Sports, The Wave Pictures, and Pale Spectres to name a few.

So double up on crates and get back to your discotheques and continue the celebrations, and if we all dream that Tullycraft, Darren Hayman, Ballboy, The Bobby McGee's, Half Man Half Biscuit, and any one of Eddie Argos' bands are announced with the next lot of bands, maybe we'll have one of the greatest line-ups of all-time on our hands!




Here's the press release:

NEW BANDS ADDED TO INDIETRACKS LINE-UP
Helen Love, The Wave Pictures and The Lovely Eggs are among 26 bands added today to the line-up for Indietracks, an indiepop festival held on July 26-28 at a picturesque 1950s steam railway in Derbyshire. 

Also joining the bill today are Haiku Salut, Monnone Alone, Alpaca Sport (Sweden), Anaesthetics, Big Wave, The Brilliant Corners, Cars Can Be Blue (USA), EXPENSIVE, The Fenestration, Finnmark!, Jupiter in Jars, Lardpony,  Making Marks (Norway), The McTells, The Middle Ones, The Mini Skips, Northern Spies (Sweden), Pale Spectres (France), Seabirds, The Soulboy Collective (Germany), Tunabunny (USA), Without Feathers and Woog Riots (Germany).
More than 50 bands are due to play the festival, held at the Midland Steam Railway, including Camera Obscura, The Pastels, Bis and Still Corners.


Helen Love’s bubblegum pop band formed in Wales in 1992, and have a cult following in indie circles with songs including "Long Live The UK Music Scene", "Shifty Disco Girl" and "Does Your Heart Go Boom?". The band, who are signed to Elefant Records, have previously recorded a session for John Peel and also had three songs in his Festive Fifty. Their songs have been covered by numerous bands, including Ash and Tullycraft, and they also composed the theme for fan Phill Jupitus’s Breakfast Show on BBC6 Music. Joey Ramone invited the band to play in New York and sang a duet with Helen on the album version of the song “Punk Boy”. This is the first show Helen Love has announced for over 10 years!  

The Wave Pictures have been described by The Guardian as writing “charming, witty pop songs shot through with Jonathan Richman’s gawky glee and Suede’s doomed provincial romanticism.” Since forming in Leicestershire in 1998 they have released 12 albums, including last year’s Long Black Cars, on Moshi Moshi Records. They have collaborated with a number of artists including Herman Dune, Darren Hayman, Daniel Johnston and Jeffrey Lewis.

Lancaster indie rock band The Lovely Eggs consist of married couple Holly Ross (former Angelica singer) and David Blackwell. They have released three albums and recorded sessions for BBC Radio One, BBC 6 Music and XFM. Last year they were tipped as one of Huw Stephens’ “ones to watch”, and have worked closely with comedian John Shuttleworth.  Their album Wildlife, released last year, included the Gruff Rhys-produced single Allergies, which won the BBC 6 Music Rebel Playlist and was also voted best single on Steve Lamacq’s 6 Music Round Table.
Tickets for Indietracks are now available at an early bird discount price of £65 (weekend) and £35 (day). These cheaper prices are available until 5pm on Saturday 11 May. After this date, prices will be £72 (weekend) and £38 (day). Weekend tickets for children aged 5-15 are £10, or £6 for a day ticket. Children under 5 get in free.

Around 50 indiepop bands from across the globe will be playing across four stages: the outdoor stage; the indoor stage, the church and on the steam trains themselves. The festival will also host a range of art and craft workshops and a selection of discos after the bands finish.
This is the seventh annual Indietracks festival, which takes place at the Midland Railway in Ripley, in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside. The site houses a whole range of lovingly restored steam diesels and locomotives. Festival goers are able to have unlimited rides on the steam railway over the weekend and full access to other railway attractions and museums.

Previous headliners at Indietracks have included Teenage Fanclub, Edwyn Collins, Allo Darlin’, The Hidden Cameras, The Wedding Present, Los Campesinos!, Summer Camp and The Vaselines.
Tickets are available by calling the railway direct on 01773 747 674 or visiting www.indietracks.co.uk/tickets.html

Pop Music For People That Don't Like People

 

Art Brut Top of the Pops, Art Brut's epic 10 year journey from 'Emily Kane' to 'Axl Rose', with 'Sealand' and 'Arizona Bay' in between is available to stream for 7 days here. It includes brand new songs, rare b-sides, live versions, and is without any doubt the greatest 'best of' of all time.

Forget your plans for the next few days, grab a crate of Special VAT and make enemies in the kitchens of multiple house parties to the sweet sounds of Art Brut, with all the intention of waking up under a pile of stranger's coats. Alternatively just buy the album. Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot!

You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

so kiss me before we run out of days

1. This Song Will Make You Love Me - The Great American Novel
2. Debbie Loves Joey - Eddie Argos
3. Boy - Chalk and Numbers
4. What a Day - The Death of Pop
5. German Ghost Cat - Baby Ghosts
6. The Art of Kissing - Ballboy
7. Family Hold Back - Songs For Walter
8. London Bound - Just Handshakes
9. Twisting to an Auld Tune - The Bobby McGee's
10. Kate Cleaver's House - Hefner
11. Who Would Want to Be Loved? - Kid Canaveral
12. You Can Hide Your Love Forever - Comet Gain
13. Angel Interceptor - Ash
14. Round and Round The Sun - Flipron
15. East Coast - A Little Orchestra ft Gordon McIntyre
16. Henrietta Maria - Darren Hayman and The Long Parliament
17. Julie (remix) - Jens Lekman
18. Hearts Are Trump - TRIO
19. True Love Will Find You In The End - Crybaby

I Heard You Shagged a Girl in the Record Shop...

...aye, it was quite nice for 15 minutes, but it wasn't half as good as you

1. All The Sad Young Literary Men - The Great American Novel
2. Katy Too - Johnny Cash
3. Ghost Next Door - Baby Ghosts
4. We're Gonna Get Fucked - The Death of Pop
5. Record Shop (MJ Hibbett remix) - The Bobby McGee's
6. Broken Toy - Veronica Falls
7. Runner - Go Violets
8. Popgirly - The Electric Pop Group
9. Put That Girl - Fat Children
10. Let Me Sleep - Island Twins
11. Glitter on Mars - Punks On Mars
12. Avant Garde Music - Ballboy
13. Losing My Glue - Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern
14. Sergio - The Secret History
15. Jean's Waving - Amor de Dias
16. So Sad To Say Goodbye (Baffin Island remake) - Tiny Fireflies 
17. Bad Comedian - Art Brut

Shallow Footprints in the Snow

And you go, shallow footprints in the snow
Leave the darkness in this hole
I watch until you go
I wonder if you know

Snow mix for a snow day

1. Fast Sledge Past Blurred Robin - Symphonika 
2. Shallow Footprints in the Snow - Ballboy
3. Me and the Major - Belle and Sebastian 
4. Fallen Snow - Au Revoir Simone
5. Melting Ice - Ladytron
6. N to the Ice - Lucky Lucky Pigeons
7. Ice & Snow - Sambassadeur
8. Snow Fell - The Consultants
9. The Ice Storm, Big Gust, and You - Tilly and the Wall
10. Abominable Snowman in the Market - Jonathan Richman
11. Ice Hockey - Art Brut
12. We Dress Up Like Snowmen - The Wave Pictures
13. Snow - JJ72
14. A Snowflake Fell (and it felt like a kiss) - Glasvegas
15. Uner the Snow - Cast King
16. Listen, the Snow is Falling - Galaxie 500
17. Here Come the Ice Wolves - Ooberman

Shallow Footprints in the Snow from PopMiwsig on 8tracks Radio.

Old and New

All the Christmas Discotheques are over and done with,  some tears have fallen others remain prime for dropping as the January blues hit as hard as ever, but do not fear for there is light at the end of the tunnel.

  At first that light appears to be the light of an oncoming train as Race Horses and Shrag have sadly announced that they will split after the next couple of shows. Shrag leave behind a trail littered with gems that rocked from the first distorted chord of ‘Forty Five 45s’to the last spike of ‘Tendons’, and Race horses leave us a feast with dishes of the indie-most subtleties to raging pop melodies, and the finest collection of oversized charity shop shirts you're likely to see. Race Horses will play one last show at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on Saturday 9^th February, where Marged Wedi Blino will captivate hearts for the last time. They will be sorely missed but have left their mark, Pop will stumble on as it always does, and new flowers will blossom on their graves. 

And flowers are starting to appear already. Legendary indie-poppers Tullycraft have a new single that overflows with the pop mastery of old with more than just a spoonful of Bis’ ‘This is fake DIY’. The single will be released on Fortuna POP! with the album set to follow in the spring.

If Tullycraft returning isn’t enough for you to dance your way out of the blues how about a new Pulp single and the return of Bowie, who is as evoking as ever as he takes over the internet with his first release in 10 years.

Tyrannosaurus Dead's new EP ‘Pure // Apart” is due for release in May on London's Odd Box Records. New track "Sadie" is available for your listening pleasures at Bandcamp. It's a Pop riot shimmering with fuzzy guitars. And just when you think it can’t get any better enchanting Dream-Poppers Veronica Falls are also set to release new LP ‘Waiting for Something to Happen’ in February.

Along with this wave of brand-new epicness a rare January rainbow has led me to a chest of nuggets that remained hidden from me last year, Boa Constrictors being at the top of the pile with their Garage-Beach Boy melodies and Winona Ryder posters.

Here’s hoping that your 2013 is filled with the best Discotheques and your next one is right around the corner! 

Old and New

1. Mostyn a Diego - Radio Luxembourg
2. Forty Five 45’s - Shrag
3. Old and New - Race Horses
4. After You - Pulp
5. Lost in Light Rotation - Tullycraft
6. Sadie - Tyrannosaurus Dead
7. I rote My Baby - Boa Constrictor
8. Waiting For Something To Happen - Veronica Falls
9. Mates - Race Horses
10. Something's Going To Happen Soon - Ballboy
11. Half a Century - The Delphines
12. Under Your Spell - Desire
13. Waiting in the Wings - Big Wave Riders
14. True Love Will Find You In The End - Crybaby
15. Allergies - Lovely Eggs
16. Cornered - Fat Children
17. Rather Die - Burnt Palms
18. As Long As I Have You - Alpaca Sports
19. On The Town - The Puddle
20. I Didn’t See It Coming - Belle and Sebastian
21. Absolute Peace - I DREAM IN TRANSIT
22. Where Are We Now? - David Bowie

A Ghosts Broken Heart

I was busy getting my Discotheque on when people were posting their best of 2012 mixes so here's a late mix with some good shit that I enjoyed last year. 2013 is already promising great things with the return of the legen...wait for it...dary Tullycraft, a new album from Veronica Falls, and maybe a new Ballboy LP. So here's hoping that your Discotheques go deep into the mornings. If you like the music buy the records, and Stay off the Crack!!

A Ghosts Broken Heart:

1. Killing Time - Veronica Falls
2. A Ghosts Broken Heart - French for Rabbits 
3. Sisters - Race Horses
4. Cover The Walls - Internet Forever
5. Just For Fun - Alpaca Sports
6. You Make Me Sick (Like The American Dream) - PRIS
7. If I Wanted a Job (I'd Have Been Born a Cunt) - The Thlyds
8. Tendons - Shrag
9. Wrath of God - Crystal Castles
10. Superstition Has Its Uses - Flipron
11. Shithead - Potty Mouth
12. Cut and Run - Flowers
13. Don't Lie - Hannah Lew
14. I Wonder Who She's Kissing Now - TV Girl
15. Friday Afternoons (Down The Union) - Just Joans
16. Free - Dexys
17. Tougher Than a Soldiers Boots - Songs For Walter
18. Cats Run Free - Tigercats
19. Another Bed - The Twilight Sad
20. Care - Westkust
21. Swollen Hearts, Bitten Tongues - Young Romance 
22. Heart On Fire - Hedgehog
23. Plastic Angels - LAKE R▲DIO (ft Paislienne)

Download mix here or listen here:

A Ghosts Broken Heart - Best of 2012 from PopMiwsig on 8tracks Radio.