This is one of those mysterious records that I’m sure any ardent record collector will have several examples of. I have literally no idea where it came from – I certainly don’t recall purchasing it – and I don’t know who Tillmanns are, or why a release on Fraction Discs was something I’d be interested […]
Category: 7″
THE ELEMENT OF CRIME: The Things You Do For Love (7″, Soul Static Sound SOUL 2, ?)
I really like this record’s packaging. A simple, cardboard sleeve, with a folded-over photocopied sheet of paper glued on, and – on the back of the sleeve – a hand-stamped Soul Static Sound logo and catalogue number. This was a second-hand purchase – from, as I remember, a record shop in Wellington, Telford called Langland […]
AMERICA-UK: There’s A Place (7″, Easy! Tiger MUSE001, 1997)
1997, the year of Tony Blair’s Labour Party victory in the general election… and the year of release of this single. Some kind of political statement is being made, perhaps, with the cover art (unless it’s just a sly interpretation of the artist’s name). Tony and Cherie, eating a tasty burger, Tony wearing a tie […]
CONFETTI: Whatever Became Of Alice And Jane (7″, Sunday SUNDAY 012, 1992)
It doesn’t get much more cutesy indie-pop than Confetti. If it does, Sunday Records probably released the records involved. As well as several Confetti singles, they also put out releases by the Fat Tulips, Strawberry Story and Po! in their early days. The American-based label, whose postal address situates them in the excellently-named Rolling Meadows, […]
THE STATIC WAVES: Wear The Suit (7″, Sound Of New York, ?)
The Static Waves were a fuzzy indie-pop-noise kinda band from the mid-nineties*, a member of which I was in touch with via the fanzine/mail scene of the time. As far as I remember, I’d had a couple of their demo tapes and then I was very pleased to hear they’d decided to release their own […]
BABYLON DANCE BAND: Someday (7″, Trash Flow TF03, 1990)
I’ve mentioned before the pile of American indie 7″ singles that I once bought from eBay (both here and here), and this is another from that batch. Now, I have no idea whatsoever who Babylon Dance Band are, or how they fit into any kind of lineage of music. I’d never heard of them before […]
THE MAGIC SHOP/THE VISITORS: It’s True/Goldmining (7″ flexi, Sha-La-La BA BA BA-BA BA 008, 1987)
A flexible slice of indie-pop history, this – the Sha-La-La label was the precursor to Sarah Records; they released a number of flexidiscs that were generally sold with fanzines. They all had fantastically evocative, two-colour wraparound sleeves, which tended to use imagery that was much the style of the time (and the genre): 1960s/1970s-esque pictures […]
ALLEN CLAPP: A Change In The Weather (7″, Four Letter Words 004, ?)
This record – as a package – is a little thing of beauty. Some aspects of it that appeal to me are: The sleeve: it’s a type of standard seven inch single inner sleeve, elevated to the status of The Cover by way of some really nice, what look to be hand-stamped (or perhaps screen-printed) […]
LOIS: The Trouble With Me (7″, K IPU 40, ?)
No release date is given on this record, but I think it came out in the very early 1990s. Lois Maffeo was an intrinsic part of the more indie-pop end of the nascent American Riot Grrl scene of that time, and part of the excellently-named Courtney Love, who for ever after would need to be […]
GOD IS MY CO-PILOT/GAG: Grow Your Own Country Wide Primary School Band EP (7″, Guided Missile GUIDE 003, 1995)
If you’re keen-eyed, you may spot the remains of a sticker on the front of this record’s sleeve. I tried my best to remove it, I really did, but it was stuck on with some kind of industrial-strength super-super-glue, and what you see that’s left is a pretty good outcome, I can tell you. If […]