Thursday 26 April 2018

Album Review - Cake by Trashcan Sinatras (1990) (Go Discs!)


'Stuff' is unavoidable. Fair enough you can enjoy stuff, but most of the time the very essence of stuff is that it tends to get in the way. For 'stuff' is the term in life for 'those' events that, from a retrospective perspective, have prevented you from doing or achieving the things in life you should have done. Ultimately 'stuff' differs form mere 'excuses' due to the authenticity of the effect it has on the course of your life.

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Album Review - Around the House by The Chook Race (2016)


Jangle-pop is increasingly changing. Perhaps some would say dying? Somehow the current movement within the genre is seeing numerous bands crank the voice decoder up to maximum 'echo spooky', add more distortion than a politicians promise to anything that threatens to even consider becoming melodically beautiful, before drifting off into areas previously only really occupied by shoegazey sorts and their mystical grumpiness.

Saturday 21 April 2018

EP Review - Kiwis by Kiwis (2018) (Snap! Clap! Records)



Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a particular passion for the aesthetic that the numerous variants of Spanish pop have been providing, especially over the last half a decade or so, with bands such as The Yellow Melodies, Autoescuela*, Melenas*, Giorgio Bassmatti, Teri vs Tori and Alpaca Sports, all receiving glowing reviews or various levels of my unique fanboy affections as reference points in the reviews of other bands.

Friday 20 April 2018

Compilation Review: London Weekend - Another Sunny Day (1992)



On Friday nights I like to drink beer with my mates in our pub. Amid the debates about sport and the usual old jokes / stories that we have all heard a 1000 times but still find ridiculously funny (as only inebriated men can) we sometimes address things that genuinely matter, that are genuinely important, to such an extent that it is not beyond the wildest stretches of the imagination to presume that President Trump and that Russian fella who got him the gig, probably talk about similar things.

One such such topic that my beer addled friends and I discussed, that I am convinced would have been addressed by the Donald and Mr Putin over a beer when less important matters of state had been addressed for the evening is 'What Sarah Records band is most typical of the whole Sarah Records aesthetic'.

Now Donald may well have flicked his poerfectly lacquered hair off his orange brow and placed a temporary cessation on his favourite hobby of cursing Mexican chaps, in order to argue the point that Brighter were 'the' Sarah Records band. Which would obviously cause Mr P to stop the training preparation for his World Cup hooligan squad and counter with Blueboy, thus risking immediate nuclear reaction or at least a 'your fired' from 'The Don'.


Luckily for us, despite the dutch courage emanating from several weak lagers, my friends and I were eventually able to reach consensus that Another Sunny Day were probably the most 'Sarah type band' of all the Sarah Records bands. The initial reason for this is that ASD were effectively a Harvey Williams side project of whose most prominent successes at the time were emanating from another Sarah band in The Field Mice, which incidentally, is rumoured to be Theresa May's (British PM) choice of  music which she takes a rare moment off from avoiding the implementation of Brexit.

This 'side project' ethos just seems to fit in with the Sarah ethic, who always seemed to have started things offs to foster a love of a certain kind of music and then seemed almost surprised when it took off and desperately tried to keep it as informal as possible. This they did with their 'other' bands like ASD inasmuch that they grew the stock of the band without ever releasing an album or a proper EP.  For ASD it was just a bunch of 'jewell in the crown' singles, lovingly released of vinyl. Sarah were effectively the ultimate singles label and ASD were, in our opinion, their ultimate singles band as can be seen on this brilliant compilation which includes all of the Sarah output.

Rio



As such this compilation is totally filler free and symbolizes the 'quality not quantity ethos' of the label with tracks such as The Smiths William it Was Really Nothing inflected You Should All Be Murdered, the twee-festivals of I'm in Love With a Girl Who Doesn't I Exist and Rio (see above). and the jangling beauty of Can't You Tell it's True (see below) and Things Will Be Nice, being the torch bearers for a compilation that is an essential purchase for any Twee / jangle / indie pop fans.

                                                           Can't You Tell it's True



Another Sunny Day may not have received the plaudits that Trump, Putin and May's 'Sarah band' favourites did...but if me and my pub mates were running the world, they would!

Album Review - III by Foliage (2018) (Z Tapes)


At the age of 20 I was at University. I was a tad immature. My primary concerns in life revolved around finding enough money to indulge my passions for beer, football, music and the search for 'loves' with whatever young female was blind enough or suffering from alcohol induced sub-par intellectual prowess to temporarily find me attractive. 

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Album Review - Lewsberg by Lewsberg (2018) (Self Released)


I have limited manual dexterity. In fact copulating baboons are usually considered to be less sausage-fingered than me. Occasionally in moments that may or may not involve alcohol, I am convinced that the long rectangular google typing box, goes all la bouche and mouths 'now what you absolute muppet' at me, as I affront it with my 97th typographical gerrorb (you see!) of the day.

Sunday 15 April 2018

Parsnip - Health (2017) (Anti Fade Records)




A few weeks ago I was having a cyber debate with some cyber friends, who share similar tastes in music. We consisted of one British guy (me), three Americans, a Scottish  fella (apparently he is not British?) and a Dutch lady. The debate centred around a hypothetical 'desert island' premise, asking if you were marooned and could only have the music of one continent with you, which one would you choose?

Friday 13 April 2018

Album Review - You are the Quarry - By Morrissey (2004) (Attack Records)


Morrissey proclaimed in numerous pre-release promotional interviews that this was definitely his 'best ever' album, stating that it had absolutely nothing to with any of his previous works - it was 'completely different'. As such I was expecting a release as revealing and innovative as it was marvelous, affording us an insight into exactly what state of mind our beloved icon was now in and just how he had been bearing up in his seven years of self imposed exile in Los Angeles.

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Album Review - Incidental Lightshow by The Armoires (2016)


I come from a small town in the UK. It has very little really apart from the head quarters of Thomas Cook, a very large mushroom processing factory, a large railway station and a stunning 9th century cathedral smack bang in the middle of the town centre.

I used to go to the cathedral a lot as a teenager when I was on some sort of a mission to try and understand religion and whether I believed or not. On more than one occasion I wondered into the cathedral to listen to the beautiful choirs that used to practice for their regular recitals.

Monday 9 April 2018

Album Review: Melenas by Melenas (2017) (Snap! Clap! Recs)


The Spanish are great at pop. They somehow manage to imbue a sort of twee essence to their sound and overall band personas that flirt with all the vital signs of twee (my recent favourites such as The Yellow Melodies and Autoescuela are characteristic examples) but ultimately retain far more indie chic. Spanish pop is as instantly recognizable as it is brilliant.

Thursday 5 April 2018

Album Review - September Love by Stephen's Shore (2018) (Meritorio Records)


The 2016 Ocean Blue EP by this band was voted the top release by the Janglepophub readership for that year...or at least I am convinced it would be if a) the Janglepophub blog existed in those days and b) if it had a readership. How do I know this then? Merely by judging the sheer excitement on our Twitter feed when the lead single from this album The Sun (see below), in a bid to entice those with money for physical artifact music into a pre-order. It is indeed superb and without the best track on the album.

The Sun



Monday 2 April 2018

Fake Compilation Series - Worry not... BMX Bandits Have It Covered !!!




The BMX Bandits are unique. Any band can get some of their members to pick up a guitar. Any band can search about for a delicious vocalist. What no other band has been able to do is to blend such guitars and vocals in the manner that these Scottish indie-pop stars have excelled at for the last 30 years plus.

Readers Choice Playlist (March 2018)


March 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 173 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop features on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

The top 20 is decided purely by the 7 day engagement rates of the janglepophub readership on our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and on the blog links (highest to lowest).

Sunday 1 April 2018

Album Review - Hangover Square by The Caretaker Race (1991) (The Foundation Label)


 

For those of you who follow the #DailyJanglePop series on the JPH Twitter handle, you may well have become increasing bored and/or delighted with the inclusion of numerous tracks by The Loft and Pete Astor's subsequent The Weather Prophets / solo work. All extremely recommended from all at Janglepophub Towers (i.e. me).