Another little glimpse into the most obscure of obscurities: this single came out on French indie-pop label Alienor in the nineties, presumably in a pretty low run. Alienor were one of the many labels I’d regularly buy up new releases from. Back then, the way we’d find out about new things wasn’t the instant hit […]
Category: Indie-pop
VARIOUS: Different For Domeheads (LP, Creation CRELP5, 1985)
Creation Records don’t half cop a lot of flak these days; mainly, I guess, as a side effect of bringing Oasis to the masses (I love them myself, but you can’t sell that many records without a lot of people getting snarky), and also perhaps because of head man Alan McGee’s increasingly out-of-touch, I-used-to-be-somebody ranting […]
AVOCADO BABY: Queenboy And The King Girl (7″, Slampt 10, ?)
Good old Slampt, possibly one the UK labels closest to the ideals and dynamics of those legendarily inclusive US independents like K, Kill Rock Stars, Dischord and so on. I was led into their world through my tangential involvement in Riot Grrl; moving quickly from receiving a mixtape from a friend containing a Huggy Bear […]
VERONICA LAKE/CRAYON: Sleepyhouse/This Dream Is Gone (7″, Cher Doll CHER 001, 1992)
It doesn’t get much more DIY indie pop than this… hand-finished, sprayed, brilliant wraparound sleeve, hand numbered in pencil (number 130 out of just 400 copies), a couple of inserts included. I love it. How could anybody ever prefer a slimline jewel-cased CD over the artistry so obviously inherent in this record’s packaging? (Not that […]
THE WEATHER PROPHETS: She Comes From The Rain (12″, Elevation ACID 1TX, 1987)
This is a 12″ packaged in one of those thin sleeves without a spine. I never much liked this kind of sleeve, it always seemed too insubstantial for a record of this size, as if it wasn’t giving enough kudos to its contents, or something. Give me a 12″ with a spine and I’m predisposed […]
JANE BOND & THE UNDERCOVERMEN: Politically Correct (LP, Dreamworld BIG DREAM 001, 1986)
This was stumbled upon in a charity shop in Reading, at some point in the mid-1990s. Dreamworld Records was run by The Television Personalities, so I figured that this album should be interesting and of quality, or at the very least – being catalogue numbered as ‘001’ and therefore an early release for the label […]
HURRAH!: Tell God I’m Here (LP, Kitchenware 208 201, 1987)
Years and years ago my great old pal Matt (who I unfortunately lost touch with and now haven’t seem for a long time) made me a brilliant mixtape, that I was listening to regularly until very recently. It was a combination of whacked-out drug music (including a ten-minute Timothy Leary trip and some very early […]
THE FOREVER PEOPLE: Invisible (7″, Sarah SARAH 54, 1991)
Sarah was one of the first labels that I got truly fanatical and collectorish about, diligently buying up all of their releases and doing my utmost to plug gaps in my collection of their earlier releases. I liked the fact that they were so consistent and principled about their business – releasing music that they […]
MOONSHAKE: Eva Luna (LP, Too Pure PURE 16, 1992)
I’d been after this record for ages and couldn’t track it down anywhere – nothing on eBay, nothing from any mail-order outlets, nothing in any second-hand record shops – and then who would have thought it, I came across a copy in one of the many fine charity shops in the Headington area of Oxford. […]
STEREOLAB & BRIGITTE FONTAINE/MONADE: Caliméro/Cache Cache (7″, Duophonic Super 45s DS45-25, ?)
Not sure what year it was when this record came out, but I’d hazard a guess that it was something like ’97 or ’98 perhaps. Who knows. Does it matter? Is it important to place records in some kind of grand chronological schema? To me it is, dammit, I love the chronology. This followed that […]