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Back In Yellow
Ever wonder what Tali White has been up to post-Lucksmiths? Yup, that’s right, he’s been advertising Yellow Pages!
Source: youtube.com
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From last week’s NME, of all things. Unisex is of course a heartmeltingly gorgeous album that deserves the recognition.
Source: facebook.com
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Here’s the glorious opening track of Fat Tulips’ 1990 7” EP Four Songs For Simon to add a little sunshine to this grey, drizzly Sunday (it is here in Belfast, anyway). Fat Tulips released many records in the ’90s, mostly through their own Heaven Records imprint. The early ’90s (when the US grunge sound was filling the airwaves) have in retrospect been referred to as the ‘dark ages of indiepop’ but there was still a lot of great POP! being made at this time, the Fatties being a prime example. Labels such as the aforementioned Heaven and Waaaaaah! were proper cottage industries operating out of the eye of the mainstream music press motivated purely by their love for indiepop.
PS - Of course the almighty Sarah were still around then and I for one do not belong to the school of thought that the quality of their releases had declined by then (or ever).
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]This song, released today via the usual online digital outlets is the first taste of The Shins’ new album - Port Of Morrow, which is to be released on the 20th of March on singer James Mercer’s own label - Aural Apothecary. Every time I listen to it, I love it a bit more, which is always great. Not the massive departure I was expecting after reading a magazine interview with Mercer at the weekend but certainly a little more ‘rock’ than they usually are, with crunchy guitars and hard-hitting drums (courtesy of Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney). The lyrics are a bit less cryptic than Mercer usually writes, too. It’s about him starting a new life with his wife (around the time he fired the old Shins lineup). Great to have them (him) back after such a long break.
Source: simplesong.theshins.com
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The Obliteration Room
This fantastic (and simple) idea for an installation currently at the Queensland Gallery Of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia) started off as a room completely painted and furnished white. Children visiting the gallery are given coloured dot stickers to stick wherever they want in the room which, as can see below, have gradually created a huge explosion of colour. The artist responsible is the Japanese Yayoi Kusama.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
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Happy birthday Amelia Fletcher
Amelia Fletcher is 46 today! Here’s a few reminders of why she’s the first lady of indiepop, in backwards chronological order.
Do You Want A Boyfriend? by Tender Trap (2010). After 2 fairly lacklustre albums in the early-mid ’00s, Tender Trap exploded back into action in 2009 as a 5 piece, adding Katrina Dixon on stand-up drums and Elizabeth Morris (of Allo Darlin’ fame) on guitar (who has now been replaced by Emily Bennett of the brilliant Betty And The Werewolves) to the existing line-up of Amelia, Rob Pursey and John Stanley. The new songs were full of sparkle and a raw energy that was missing from their earlier, more electronic records. And now with 3 female voices at their disposable, they could add some lovely girl group-esque harmonies to the mix, such as on this song - a highlight from the brilliant Dansette Dansette album of 2010. Perfect heaven, indeed.
Space Manatee by Heavenly (1996). After the closure of Sarah Records in 1995, Heavenly recorded one more album (Operation Heavenly) before retiring the name due to the tragic death of drummer (and Amelia’s brother) Matthew Fletcher. This much underrated indiepoppunk song was released as a single on Wiiija in 1996. Fact fans - Cathy Rogers who featured in Heavenly from 1992 and the sequel band Marine Research created and hosted TV’s Scrapheap Challenge.
Talulah Gosh by Talulah Gosh (1987). Talulah Gosh need no introduction to indiepop fans. Along with the likes of The Pastels, Shop Assistants and Razorcuts, they were leaders of the movement known variously as c86, cutie, anorak, twee, and indiepop. This is their classic eponymous single that came out on Stephen Pastel’s 53rd & 3rd label in 1987.
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Pushy Parents
With a four track single released last Monday, Pushy Parents sees the return of Roger Gunnarsson and Amanda Aldervall. Some of you may know Amanda as the singer from the fabulous Free Loan Investments - one of the finest pop bands to appear in the golden age of Swedish indiepop. She also released an excellent solo album earlier this year under the name The Andersen Tapes and performed my stand-out show of London Popfest 2011. Roger Gunnarsson… where to start? He also played with Amanda in Free Loan Investments but is perhaps best known for Nixon - his old solo project which he has resurrected for a new single on Cloudberry Records (expect to see that very soon).
Pushy Parents are very different to Roger and Amanda’s previous band. The sound is much fuller and recalls Phil Spector to me. My stand-out is the gorgeous Dear John which is every bit a timeless pop classic with it’s dreamy synthesized strings, twinkling keys and Amanda’s ever wonderful vocals.
You can listen to the whole thing on Spotify here and buy the 7” from Elefant Records. Limited to 500 copies.
And here’s the video for Secret Secret! No, these kids aren’t actually the band!
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Roger Gunnarsson interview (February 2010)
Back in early 2010 I interviewed an indiepop hero of mine - Mr. Roger Gunnarsson. This was originally published on my old blog which is no longer online.
Hi Roger! The Garlands have a new split single out on Atomic Beat Records. Please tell us about it and how it came to be.
Well, The Garlands routine is usually that I start writing a melody line and a lyric draft, and then me and Christin [Garlands vocalist] put the pieces together into a song. The two songs on the Atomic Beat split 7” are the newest ones we have, and I hope they give the direction of what The Garlands will sound like on stage and on the next release (whatever that might be). I’m really proud of those songs and the dynamic sound we managed to capture despite the recording being made on my home computer.
At the London Popfest next month, The Garlands are playing their second ever show. Please tell us a little about what we can expect and who will make up the band.
London will be The Garlands’ second gig ever. The first gig ever will be a few days before in Sweden, so the live version of The Garlands is really new. Personally i’m not really interested in playing live anymore, so Christin put together a live band with a bunch of fantastic friends from other bands, such as Strawberry Fair, Kissing Mirrors, The Happy Birthdays, Action Biker and so on. At the moment I haven’t really heard them play live (they are rehearsing without me), but i’m sure it will be fantastic.
Do you listen to much current indiepop music? Do you have any favourites or recommendations?
I think my indiepop peak was when I was 25 (about 10 years ago that is) and since then I never really lost my love for it, but kind of lost my old sense of finding new bands. Christin gives me a lot of good tips and at the moment i’m listening a lot to Tim Ten Yen and Northern Portrait.
Your project – Nixon, has been a solo venture for about a decade now. Can we expect any more solo material from you in the future, under the Nixon banner or otherwise?
Yes, it’s my intention to someday soon record another Nixon album. I’ve been saying that for 6-7 years though, so maybe that soon shouldn’t be there. The thing is that when I started to do the Nixon albums in the early ’00s, I did them all by myself. Then I met Amanda and started Free Loan Investments, and then I discovered the joy of not hearing my own voice singing my songs.
And since then i’ve just been postponing my solo efforts, because I like it so much more to have someone else to sing. But then again, I get a lot of fantastic feedback from people on a bunch of really obscure records I did long ago, so I should really do something new under the Nixon banner. This interview made it a little closer to happen.
Do you have a preference between making music solo or with a band?
What I like the most is to write songs. I’ve always been too impatient when it comes to studio work, and i’ve never been fond of rehearsing or playing live. I would probably like those things more if i’d been a better musician, but i’m really grateful that i’ve had the chance to mainly work as a songwriter in the bands i’ve been in. So regarding your question I think the ‘band’ answer suits me quite well, because I could stay in the background and write the songs.
Besides Nixon and your bands Free Loan Investments, The Happy Birthdays and The Garlands, please tell us about the other music projects you have been involved with.
A few years ago europop act Sally Shapiro did a cover version of the old Nixon song – Anorak Christmas, which kind of led me into more electronic music. The Nixon sound was always based on drum machines and synthesizers, so it wasn’t that much of a change. But in 2004 me and my friend Matilda started to make music under the moniker Cloetta Paris, which is some kind of twee-europop I guess. Blog-disco, some might say.
Even though the sound of it differs a bit from my previous indiepop bands, I still write the songs the same way. I think that would happen even if you put me in a nu metal band or something. I can’t really think of any other way to do a song. Whatever music i’ve liked in my life, it’s always been melodic pop. My record collection is full of obscure and unknown records, but they’re all very pop and not very odd musically, and the same goes for my own music I think.
Your old band Free Loan Investments are one my absolute favourites. Do you think you will ever work together again?
The main reason for FLI splitting up was that we were getting busy with other things, like work and studying, so instead of feeling bad from saying no to gigs and making records, we decided to quit, and I think all of us felt that as a relief. Me and Amanda [FLI vocalist] still see each other every now and then, and make new songs, and maybe that is a sign of FLI still existing in a way, but I don’t think there will be any more live gigs with us.
There is an online group (on Last.fm) dedicated to you entitled Roger Gunnarsson is a fucking hero. How do you feel about such adulation?
Well, that is crazy in so many ways. Just the fact that some people know who I am in faraway places is weird enough, and even more so when they come together in some kind of movement on the internet. Of course i’m really, really flattered.
I’ve always liked to be anonymous. Standing in the back row of all photos in school, never had my photo on records, using a band name for my solo project and so on. I think that might be a part of why people bother to put all my stuff together like that. It’s a jungle of obscure releases in various countries, different pseudonyms, one-off releases and that kind of triggers some people to find it all. So when I first heard about the Last.fm group I got kind of worried that it was some kind of discussion group with my name on it, but it’s pure love and sometimes I go there to see if someone new has joined, haha.
Besides music, what else do you enjoy?
What I like the most is being at home, I think, because that’s where all the fun things happen. I recently moved from an apartment to a house, and right now I spend a lot of time taking care of that. Not that i’m a handy man or anything, more that I love to sort my record and film collection. I have a whole basement for that now. I also enjoy housework a lot. Mostly cooking, but also classic boring stuff like tidying. I would be a perfect housewife, I think. When it comes to outdoor activities I avoid city life the best I can, and love to have it as quiet as possible.
My interests don’t go very well with my interest in making music i’ve realised. Most people doing music also like being part of the scene, but i’ve never really felt like a part of that. And sometimes I feel really bad about letting people down with never doing any live gigs (or never even going to see other bands’ gigs), so I think it’s fantastic that The Garlands are starting up a live band without me now. That will leave me to the thing I love the most – writing songs.
Thank you for taking the time to chat, and for being my first ever interviewee!
Thank you, Tim!
