Fickle Finger Playlist #0002 (From Bristol to Brooklyn)

Hello all and thanks for coming to have a listen to Fickle Finger #0002. 

This time around we have a couple of mini themes grabbing the attention of the Fickle Finger with a handful of tracks selected from both the Bristol (UK) jangle-pop scene (predominantly of the 80/90s) and the current Brooklyn (NY) scene.

The other selections are just random tracks that the Fickle Finger has pointed at recently that have left an impression on me.

Enjoy !!!

Album Review - Bike Ride by Seeking Madras (2018) (Self Released)

One of my many faults is a limited imagination. A can of soup welded to corrugated iron will never be modern 'art' to me, just as the Star Wars 'Wookie' will always be a bear that looks like 'Bungle' off Rainbow (Brits of a 'certain age' will get the reference!). Similarly I will usually dismiss psychedelic music as a plethora of mad-haired druggies tripping their nether regions off, whilst dressed as wizards and playing guitars. My other main fault is stereotyping.

Album Review - London 0 v Hull 4 by The Housemartins (1987) (Go! Discs)

The Housemartins were largely ignored upon the release of their first two singles. Both Flag Day and the ultimate ear-worm Sheep failed to break the UK top 40 . However the third single from this album rectified this, with Happy Hour (see below) charting at number 3 and cementing both the commercial and critical acclaim for this album and forcing 'all things Hull' into the public consciousness, just as The Smiths were starting to implode internally.

EP Review - Pretty Sad by Pretty Sad (2014) (Shelflife Records)

Sometimes things just drift away from you in life. I was certain I would play for England at football and probably would have done if a pesky severe lack of ability had scuppered my ambitions. 

Equally I wanted to start a record label and probably would have if my fertility had not defied all medical notions advice about nicotine/alcohol excess to sire three beautiful children, who despite being cherubic in most other ways, somehow manage to suck the financial vitality out of my wallet like a trio of malevolent vacuum cleaners with no obvious off button.

An Interview with Sandra Zettpunkt (The Legendary Bang and Die Fünf Freunde)

As part of our recent tribute to the Marsh Marigold label of Germany (see the article Fake Compilations - The Marsh Marigold Showcase (1989-2018) we posted last month) I dismissed my natural 'fanboy' shyness and mustered enough courage to contact one of Europe finest indie music DJ's over the last 20 years (all details can be found at the Golden Glades Radio Show website including archived playlists of some of the best music you have never heard about) who just happened to play in two of my favourite Marsh Marigold bands, The Legendary Bang and Die Funf Freunde's drummer, Sandra Zettpunkt.

Album Review - The City and Horses - I Don't Want To Dream (2009) (White Shoe Records)

As a lad I was good at football (or soccer as those for whom the word football is just too long prefer to call it). I was captain of my school and played for my district and county (province or state) teams. Virtue of this I was something of 'the man' (top jock) in my school and readily accepted the plaudits and benefits that came with it. This basically entailed having more female attention than my 'challenging' looks and personality would naturally deserve.

EP Review - Dappled by Holm (2018) (Tough Love Records)

Holm is the solo project (he sings, plays all instruments and mixes all of the tracks) of Danish multi-instrumentalist Mikkel Holm-Silkjaer, who I am only aware due to the frenzied love in that one of our Twitter followers bestows upon another band that he is in, called Urban Achievers.

Album Review: Life After Ridge by TWIG (2008) Plastilina Records)

I have a high pressure job. Despite the fact that so many of my peers and colleagues who are exposed to a similar level of boardroom stress have suffered some sort of mental breakdown over the years ranging from mild anxiety disorders and bouts of depression to several instances of actual suicide. I manage to avoid this by being able to relax. 

Fickle Finger Playlist (#0001)

Welcome to the first Fickle Finger. This series of of guided playlists will simply include bands that the fickle finger of Janglepophub's aural attentions has pointed to over the preceding weeks and then write a couple of paragraphs on each so that you can know a bit more about them when you are listening.

Album Review: Tennis Club by Tennis Club (2017) (Spirit Goth)

Despite living hundreds of miles away from surf territory (Joplin, Missouri), Tennis Club (consisting of Wilson Hernandez and Tehya Deardorff) manage to ooze the best that surf rock and all things 'dude' can offer, whilst still imbuing their own inimitable muted punk vibe to create an extremely original and endearing aesthetic.

Album Review: The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional (1986) (Hot Records)

I was 17 when The Triffids released this album. At this age I was happy to be enjoying the initial furtive fumblings of my first serious relationship, had a good set of long term mates and was limiting the sort of trouble I ended up in to the sort that was considered as 'oh he is just a bit of a lad' rather than the 'oh he got in with the wrong crowd' sort that used to be wheeled out by the mothers of various 'naughty boys' I knew when the police turned up at their door. In summation I was a happy product of a happy childhood and although I did not realize it at the time, I ended up being eternally grateful to my parents for this. 

Readers Choice Playlist (May 2018)

mAY 2018 saw Janglepophub feature 121 tracks on our album reviews / #dailyjanglepop on our various social media sites. These covered a vast array of janglepop nuanced tracks from the 1960's - 2018.

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

Album Review: Iowa Super Soccer - Stories Without Happy Endings (2010) (Gusstaff Records)

There is always a place in music for pretty. Especially pretty female fronted jangle-pop and Polish band Iowa Super Soccer are the sort of band who would have been front runners in ensuring this continuity if anyone outside of Poland had actually heard of them !?

Album Review - Periodicity by Ardivan Walks (2018) (753408 Records DK)

I like Americans. I like them not only because they appear to be the only other country in the world who seem to like the British for anything other than their pound infused spending power, but also because spending any amount of time with them (I spent several long work assignments over there) means that you are instantly caught up in their infectious enthusiasm that encompasses even life's minutiae.

Album Review: Hands On by Thousand Yard Stare (1992) (Polydor)

Despite being superb live and releasing a handful of brilliant early 90's EP's (1990's Weatherwatching debut being the pick of an impressive early career), Thousand Yard Stare never really achieved the accolades they deserved due to what can only be considered as reverse snobbery.

Album Review - The Roves by The Roves (One Man Movement)

The Rokes are superb live. Although initially they are something of a conundrum. For it is not entirely usual that four of the most normal looking burly lads, who could have just finished their fourth pint in a pub on any of Britain's High Streets, would forego the raucous indie rock their outward appearance suggest they are naturally aligned to, in favour of cajoling the audience around a tour of all things 1960's pop.

Album Review - Butter Dish by Holy Tunics (2018) (Meritorio Records)

Despite the fact that the increasing digitization of music can tend to diminish the chances of definitive musical scenes developing, sometimes even the much denigrated evils of technology (typified by the new vinyl and cassette revolution) cannot prevent the creation of erstwhile organic musical movements within a particular geographical area. Once such scene that has definitely developed over the last few years is the indie/jangle-pop scene, in and around the area of Brooklyn, New York.

Album Review - Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies (1980) (Stiff Records)

I once watched a documentary about a tribe in Papua New Guinea where young teens climb up a 300 foot rope ladder to some rickety old platform and throw themselves off with only a vine rope of 299 feet saving them from certain death. The pain of the various dislocations is supposed to send them into manhood.