Thursday 29 March 2018

EP Review - Hopeless Romantic by High Sunn (2017) (PNKSLM Recordings)



When his mother attended pre-natal scans to ensure little High Sunn was in rude health, it is rumoured that the rhythmic percussive heart beat noise was accompanied by a sprightly twang, as the mercurial infant plucked away at the high end of his umbilical chord and gave an embryonic wave to his adoring parental fans.

Monday 26 March 2018

Compilation Review - Stardust by The Sea Urchins (1992) (Sarah Records)



Janglepophub have featured The Sea Urchins three times in its #DailyJanglePop series' that are undertaken on our various social media platforms. Considering the fact that this band never actually released a full length album it is amazing to see our followers falling over themselves to 'like', re-tweet,  re-blog and all other manner of things that express cyber appreciation for this band. In fact apart from the 'likes' afforded to old favourites such as R.E.M and The Housemartins, my google-nerd statistics furnish me with the indisputable fact that this band are third in the 'love in' stakes.

Saturday 24 March 2018

Interviews - Alfie Firmin (Vestiges)



Vestiges are an early twenties three piece based in Wimbledon, South West London, consisting of Marcus Lennartsson, David Placht and Alfie Firmin who burst onto the janglepop scene with their superb debut album, 'Evelyn' in late 2017.

Having reviewed the album very soon after release it was obvious this band made quite an impression among JPH readers who voted two consecutive tracks from the album into their top 20 monthly playlist tracks.

EP Review - Shine and Scatter by Strange Passage (2018) (Synchro System Records)



Some bands just don't subscribe do the whole social media promotion thing. Whereas most bands are sharing the very face out of Facebook, tumbl(er)ing around with the young crowd and re-tweeting and liking even the merest of hashtagof their name, Strange Passage (and indeed their label, Synchro System Records) are most notable by their sheer absence within the cyber corridors of the all pervading social media/musical promotion conventions.

Thursday 22 March 2018

Album Review - Happy Now by The Wild Kindness (2018) (20 Sided Records)



In my youth I had a mate called Phil. This lad was notable for a couple of things. he was an absolute animal on the football pitch, not in the 'he was a tough tackling tigerish midfielder manner', but more a clumsy oaf that would accidentally break people. Eventually he snapped the leg of his best friend  in a game, despite the fact they were on the same team. He acquired the moniker 'Mad Dog' thereafter, which he is still referred to as today.

Sunday 18 March 2018

EP Review: For The Ones Who Love You by The Pantones (Self Released)



Teenagers understand 'stuff'. They can write nineteen text messages in the time it takes me to find the 'H' for 'hello'. Or, at least they could do, if they still used texts and had not moved onto whatever it is that has replaced that 'what is up' application these days. They also know that 'cloud' has two meanings, with one of them being something to do with technology and have moved onto Instagram because Facebook is so 2015.

Friday 16 March 2018

Album Review - The Loch Ness Mouse by The Loch Ness Mouse (2016) (Voices of Wonder) (Tune J Music)



For some reasons I am something of an intermittent devotee of sophist-pop. It tends to hit me in phases and is usually either triggered by listening to something by Steve Wynn or Prefab Sprout or  is reignited by an appreciation for a recent release, in this case the recent Candy Opera, 45 Revolutions Per Minutes album.

Thursday 15 March 2018

Album Review - Bright Yellow Bright Orange by The Go-betweens (2003) (Trifekta Records)



After a 12 year hiatus, phase II of The Go-Betweens started with the The Friends of Rachel Worth album (2000). At the time this album was slightly denigrated from two perspectives. Initially a large number of music snobs, who could not actually recall their late 1980's heyday, presumed that they would be a 'quirkfest' reflecting bands such as Pavement and Belle & Sebastian who had declared themselves devotees.

Tuesday 13 March 2018

Album Review - Life By The Yellow Melodies (2017) (The Beautiful Music)


Most reviews I have read so far, refer to this release as 'jangly indie-pop'...If this is the case then why does it sound so original compared to the absolute plethora of bands that can legitimately lay claim to be  releasing music under such a banner?

Sunday 11 March 2018

Album Review - H.M.S, Fable by Shack (1999) (London Records)




Grange Hill was a UK kids TV show in the 70/80/90's about life in an inner London school. It was a massive hit among the youth who lapped up the twice weekly tales of characters such as 'Gripper Stebson' (school bully), Benny (school football star), Tucker (the charmer) Roly (fat kid) and the likes of Paula Yates and Caffy (Cathy) and their variety of love trysts.

Thursday 8 March 2018

Album Review - Watercourse by Sea Pinks (2017) (CF Records)


The Sea Pinks hail from Belfast Northern Ireland. The north of this 'Emerald Isle' is the bit that gets all agitated over religion, national concepts and all manner of other antiquated historical trivialities that the remainder of the United Kingdom has long since lost any passion for. However it does retain a sense of mainland in one thing...the dismal grey wetness that tends to engulf the country like a particularly malevolent blanket.

Wednesday 7 March 2018

Interviews: An Interview with The BV's



If you have been conducting some sort of social experiment in which you live the life of a hermit and punish yourself  yourself further by freeing your life from the hanging chimes of jangle-pop, you may well have missed the fact that The BV's have done more in the last year (see my previous review here) than many other bands achieve in their lifetime.


JPH managed to get both of them in the same room together prior to their gig with The Monochrome Set amd playing at the Madrid Popfest where we talk about addictions to reverb, Madrid Popfest bribes, a DIY ethos, passionate record labels and hanging onto a sense of reality.

Tuesday 6 March 2018

EP Review - The Fierce Crack (EP) by This Poison! (1987)



In the annals of jangle-pop / indie-pop history Scottish band This Poison! seem to have spent much of the last three decades being summarily and completely unfairly dismissed as something of a poor man's The Wedding Present and of course there are certain notable comparisons.

Monday 5 March 2018

Album Review: Step Outside Love by the Black Cillas (2014) (Firestation Records)



In my London University days, Kentish Town's Bull and Gate Pub was one a hive of activity for young music snobs. As such I used to regularly make the hour plus voyage from West to East London to see the coolest of bands that 'were not quite making it' (at the time a minimum requirement of 'cool').

Sunday 4 March 2018

Interview - Arie van Vliet of Lewsberg


Regular readers of the Janglepophub blog and our various social media sites, may well remember the embarrassing spectacle of this middle aged Editor waxing lyrical and becoming acutely fanboy about 2017's The Downer EP from Rotterdam band Lewsberg (see review HERE).
After hunting them down via the world reducing wonders of social media I was delighted to be granted an interview with the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Arie Van Vliet, who talks 'soggy supergroups', Rotterdam's appeal to hipsters. our last visiting rights to the Vicar and his wife in the upcoming Vicars Cross Pt 2, abstract views of emotions and the will to avoid the 'charming Rotterdammers' tag.

Friday 2 March 2018

Album Review - Earl Grey by Girl Ray (2017)


The star of Girl Ray has been firmly in the ascendancy since the 2016 single Trouble was released by musical scene makers Moshi Moshi Records. The sort of critical acclaim that it garnered is usually only reserved for the sort of bands that have strange obtuse haircuts but have somehow managed to tap into some unfathomable essence that appeals to the post teen / pre-mature adult inhabitants of commercially successful indie.

Thursday 1 March 2018

Readers Choice Playlist (February 2018)


February 2018 saw janglepophub feature 129 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, including releases from unsigned acts that are denoted in yellow.

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).