The Seven Inches – Openness and Honesty EP

The first release on Indie-mp3 Records is by Leeds based band The Seven Inches. The title track is a gorgeous piece of bright pop, to match other current purveyors in that field, The Smittens and Pocketbooks. It just sounds so classic indie pop, albeit with a discordant guitar break, an a capella bridge and a great brass coda. It’s chirpy, catchy and great fun. The Rowing Song clocks in at less than a minute and sounds like a cross between a second wave mod tune and a keyboard led sixties pop song. Finally, To Boldly Go is a brash Brilliant Corners, surfing a tune along with insistent vocals. It wheels around itself in giddy excitement and streams effortlessly to the end.

Openness and Honesty EP is out now on Indie-mp3 Records
The Seven Inches myspace is here

The Kick Inside – Oh, Vanity!

Oh I love this. It’s chirpy guitar pop from the mid eighties, guitars picked at ten to the dozen, diving this way and that, twisting you in circles. The rest of the tune fits lovely around this spindly guitar line, just the right foppish vocals, drum fills and cool attitude. It’s Always The Quiet Ones isn’t quite as good, the singer going for a more Morrissey like moan, and the song sounding like the Smiths after a trip to Africa. It’s not bad; it just feels a bit too awkward for its own good.

Oh! Vanity is out now on Odd Box Records
The Kick Inside myspace is here

Blue Roses – I Am Leaving

Once she was Laura Groves, now she is Blue Roses and this is the second single from the forthcoming self titled album. Gentles waves of synth and choral sighs usher I Am Leaving in. Then comes the shrill voice, like a folky Kate Bush. It also reminds you of early Joanna Newsom, how the voice was a tad grating at times, but you knew it was worth persevering with. Tune wise it’s very Nick Drake with added electronic flourishes, very Green Man Festival. I have a slight liking for it; one that I’m sure will only grow with time. Moments Before Sleep is more mysterious, vocally more like Kate Bush straight. The spectral feel of this song could see her ride in on Bat For Lashes coattails.

I Am Leaving is out now on XL Recordings
Blue Roses myspace is here

The Bobby McGee’s – L’Appropriation Bourgoisie De La Bobby McGee’s

And so the debut album from The Bobby McGee’s arrives and all the weirdness that holds. Tractatus Logico-Musica is a skiffling Beefheartian opener to the album, all weird and wonderful. A Note On The Watson Problem is a mumbling, shrill incoherent mess, while the jazzy, shoop shoop of We Never Sleep is another reason I’m often reminded of the Bonzos when listening to The Bobby McGee’s. The wonderfully named Buckfast At Tiffany’s is a surreal a capella nursery rhyme, Prick Up Your Ears is an eerie chanson and Goodbye Blue Monday fuses aboriginal rhythms, twee indie, saxes and smoky nightclubs. A Masonic Youth is Bis with balls, while Kabhi Khushi, Khabie Gham is a beautiful little song, sounding like a fair maiden singing it in a medieval garden. It’s Faster Stan is a wonderful jiggly rolling tune and Wovon Man Nicht Sprechen Kann, Daruber Mus Man Schwen sees the guy doing his best Ivor Cutler, while the girl and music come on all madrigal style. The Torment Of Existence Weighed Against The Horror Of Non-Being ends the album on a surprisingly low key note, a sweet little tune with barbed lyrics, which sums up The McGee’s well.

L’Appropriation Bourgoisie De La Bobby McGee’s is released by Cherryade on June 29th
The Bobby McGee’s myspace is here

Starsurfers – EP

This is the debut EP from Italian trio Starsurfers. It begins with Undersurface which plays on the riff from Rocket From The Crypt’s On A Rope and builds a rather pleasing groove around it. The vocals are somewhat buried in a murky mix, which is a shame as there appears to be a decent song trying to break out. White Love follows a similar formula to the above, even down to the problems. I can’t peg down the familiar riff, but look somewhere near the Hives and you won’t be far away. Miracle seems more interesting, a stoner groove something like a blissed out Secret Machines. Hypnoise is a weird little new romantic thing, while Pleasure Generators is Queens of the Stone Age light. 4 You ends the EP, a lovely blissful thing. It’s a mixture of styles for sure, but one that works more than it doesn’t.

Starsurfers EP is self released and available from their myspace.

The Bobby McGee’s – L.O.V.E. / Go Tiger Go!

Ahead of their new album The Bobby McGee’s released a new three track 7” on Twee As Fuck. L.O.V.E. is a sweet school assembly grade song, with a bit of a deranged shouty chorus. I love the sweet vocals on the verses though, which are whimsical and fun. The single is completed with Go Tiger Go! which races along like a ferocious Ivor Cutler and lastly Harold & Maude, which is a sweet, yet creepy lullaby.

L.O.V.E. / Go Tiger Go! is out now on Twee As Fuck
The Bobby McGee’s myspace is here

Golden Silvers – Arrows Of Eros

Arrows Of Eros is a lovely song, all squelches of keyboards, slight percussion and a very eighties feel, without seeming cloying or affected. It is however basically what the Mystery Jets do at their best, and from that point of view, feels like a bit of a swizz. It’s a strange thing that a band can ape a time of long ago, and end up sounding more like something recent, yet even more derivative. Having said all this, if you don’t know Mystery Jets then you can just love the song. Also here is The Shoes remix, which adds nothing whatsoever.

Arrows Of Eros is released by XL Recordings on 15th June
Golden Silvers myspace is here

Kid Harpoon – Stealing Cars

The first single from the debut album he’s been recording with Trevor Horn, Stealing Cars is a great big pop song, a huge fun rush. It’s something that could be a big hit, it has an edge that will appeal to alternative fans, yet enough hooks to cross the commercial divide. Don’t Cry On Me is better, a big searching song, with some jaggedy White Stripes riffs and a big blast at the charts. It seems like an obvious tilt for success, but the more discerning fan may bore of this quickly.

Stealing Cars is released by Young Turks on July 20th
The Kid Harpoon myspace is here

Heritage Centre – I Will Protect You

Following on from a single and their debut EP, Dublin’s Heritage Centre are back with a new single. I Will Protect You is a delight to me, as it reminds me of The Smoking Popes, a much ignored American band, who traded on a beefed up Morrissey vocalist and some restrained and cultured power pop tunes. I Will Protect You has the wonderful grace to ape this, but also to be its own wonderful thing. Whatever is another thing in the same vein, this one more airy and joyously surfing the tune home, like Weezer in their heyday. Additional track You Are Something is more delicate, probably the one that could be a hit for them. It combines the above influences with a bouncy feel and an edge for the commercial.

I Will Protect You is self released and out now. Pop by Heritage Centre's myspace to get it.

Member Of The Wedding – Chapter & Verse EP

The new EP from Glasgow three piece Member Of The Wedding starts with No Idea, which falls somewhere between Jonathan Richman and the BMX Bandits, beautifully crafted simplistic slightly country pop. Stoop To Conquer finds the singing reminding me of Cathal Coughlan, but in a benign moment, quietly de-stressed and with nothing to rail against. The song seems resigned to its fate, despite its lyrical content. Leave The City Behind is the best so far, it seems like it’ll fall apart at any minute, and reminds me of the outsider music of Daniel Johnston, in a spooked out country style. Closing track Friend Of A Friend Of A Friend is even better, vocally reminding me of Nick Cave at his most brooding, musically chirping along in a subdued way.

Chapter & Verse EP is out now on Cosy Recordings
Member Of The Wedding myspace is here

Various – Last And First

This Spanner Records compilation showcases six new band. Kicking things off, Snowday fancy themselves as a slacker rock band, mixed with some sun soaked Californian pop. It’s not bad, but a little ineffectual and ends up a little murky. Lean Tales are slightly gothic, a little ethereal, but not that memorable. Godsmania are a sweet little indie pop band, and their Look In Your Eye is a stammering tune, sung from what sounds like a sad viewpoint. Broken Down Lorry is a great name for what sounds like one man and his guitar, and a world weary voice. When his song is called Here Come The Hoodies he has every right to be suspect. It’s a plaintive if upsetting tale. Temba’s Dancer is a nuclear horror sounding tune, with an insistent stabbing chorus paraphrasing Elton’s Tiny Dancer. The horror spikes up as the song progresses, violins and weird synths helping this effect. The best thing here though is Stoliday’s Look At The View, a whispering light vocal cascading over a folkish, yet electronically subnormal tune. It’s beautiful and has to be heard to be believed.

Last And First is out now on Spanner Records

A Camp – Love Has Left The Room

The second single from A Camp’s second album is Love Has Left The Room, which reminds me of the Byrds’ Goin’ Back at points, but is also much more glamourous and dramatic, Nina singing, nay crooning beautifully. They’ve really gone for it on these songs, as exemplified on Us And Them, another amazingly beautiful song. These songs should be on a film, except no-one has filmed anything worthy of them yet, everything else seems drab in comparison. Us And Them has slowed things down to an effortless sashay, before we get Boys Keep Swinging, which is a fairly faithful rendition of the Bowie song, albeit with the female vocals. It still works though and sounds pretty great.

Love Has Left The Room is out now on Reveal Records
A Camp myspace is here

Fever Fever – Keys In The Bowl / Stage Shoes

This is the debut single from Norwich’s Fever Fever, a double a-sided 7” no less. Keys In The Bowl is fairly by numbers shrieky girl punk pop, although the guitars rock far more than anything else of this ilk, the drums are military and the vocals cheerleader like. It’s quite the conundrum. Stage Shoes passes by at a blistering pace, and while it’s a pretty decent tune, it’s all too much of a blur to make anything out. An interesting debut, albeit not one that stands out in the crowd.

Keys In The Bowl / Stage Shoes is out now on Cherryade
Fever Fever myspace is here

The Lovely Eggs – If You Were Fruit

The Lovely Eggs played a gig for me last year, and their ramshackle charm saw them as the night’s winners, most people agreeing this was the case. This album can only see them carry on gathering fans by the bucketload. The lead track of this, their debut album is Sexual Cowboy, a song that is harder than their previous stuff, a hard riffing blast with some yelled invitations at the end. I Like Birds But I Like Other Animals Too seems stroppier than previously, Holly’s vocals at turns cute and angry. Musically its riot grrl meets lo fi grunge. Mices employs a neat trick I’ve heard once before, where Holly and David sing across each other. Otherwise it’s a surreal nursery rhyme with some tantrum explosions of expression. Luna Café starts sweetly, and descends into interpreting the inside of Tom Waits head, while inhabiting his body. Where’s My Animal? is a surprisingly straight forward little ballad, but If You Were Fruit is an odd updated take on the If I Had A Hammer theme, done in disjointed, Steptoe & Son style ballad. Oh The Stars is a whimsical thing, based around a game I used to play when I was little, where you describe something and what its in, and so on, until you get to the universe. O Death hits on The Lovely Eggs formula again, alternating between sweet lo-fi rhymes to screaming banshee choruses, while Have You Ever Heard A Digital Accordion? riffs like Albini era Wedding Present, the strikes to emphasise the over rhyming chorus. Baulk Cushion is sweet and wheezy, it sounds like an asthmatic youngster trying to keep up with his friends in the forest. It’s fun, if not quite normal. Hey There Woodsman has all sorts of weird percussion including bicycle bells and horns, and wobbles along on a precarious ledge. America closes the album, claustrophobic and disturbing, a weird and wonderful end to an excellent album.

If You Were Fruit is out now on Cherryade
The Lovely Eggs myspace is here

Boy Genius – Blame Love

Brooklyn’s Boy Genius are issuing this 7” single, in advance of the release of their second album. Blame Love has a twisted moan of vocals, with some lovely female backing vocals. It reminds me of The Brilliant Corners or maybe Bob, one of those slightly off kilter mid eighties indie pop bands who still made ridiculously catchy pop. The Backyard on the flip side makes me think of a mysterious middle ground, somewhere between the wonky pop of The Loft and the suburban country sound of The Rockingbirds. It’s a good place to be especially as the sun starts to stream in through the window.

Blame Love is self released and out now. Buy it from their myspace page.