New blog for anyone interested

I'm not gonna post on this blog anymore, but I've got a fresh new blog:

http://janglepopboutique.blogspot.com/

The best obscure jangle pop songs you'll ever hear in your life

Tages - Contrast (1967)

Tages were a Swedish rock and roll/psychedelic/folk band formed in the early sixties near Gothenburg.
The band released a number of singles and LPs in their native Sweden to considerable success, making the Swedish Top Ten more than a dozen times. Though remembered as one of the finest non-English speaking bands of the 1960s, they failed to ever really break into the US or UK markets. The Tages also produced one of the worlds first psychedelic albums, named "Extra Extra" in 1966. Then they wanted to create a pop-music that was totally Swedish by learning old Swedish folk-music. Finally, psychedelia had reached Sweden. Nonsensical lyrics were combined with a strange musical arrangement, and hey presto, a new change in direction had been made. Together with their producer, Anders Henriksson, Tages now began producing incredibly clever and interesting music, as can be heard on the two 1967 LPs, "Contrast" and "Studio". Contrast only has four covers (plus one especially written for them by producer Henriksson and Thorstein Bergman). Criticism of society, love songs, psychedelia, everything can be found on this LP. After this, they produced their fifth and last album named "Studio" in Abbey Road Studio 1967. The album is very influenced by Swedish folk music and psychedelia. The album is also remembered as the finest album from the sixties, which was from an non-English speaking country. It is also remembered as "The Sgt Pepper Of Sweden", not because it sounds like The Beatles but because it is totally original. In 1968 the band released the very remembered single "Fantasy Island", this was followed up by their last single; "Halcyon Days". Several band members went on to form Blond, a short-lived pop band that released one LP in US before disbanding in 1970.

Genre : Psychedelic Pop
Country : Sweden
Label : Parlophone

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Brilliantine - My Life and the Beautiful Game (1999)

Brilliantine is the brainchild of Dave Derby, who fronts the Dambuilders, and who has also played bass with Lloyd Cole. Recorded in Derby's home studio during the 1998 World Cup Soccer Tournament, My Life is English pop, with catchy riffs and polished production.

The friends who helped record My Life and The Beautiful Game include Phoebe Summersquash on vocals and percussion, Kevin March and Robbie Adams on drums and percussion, and Dominique Durand and Rainy Orteca on vocals. The producers were Robbie Adams and Lloyd Cole.

From tracks like "Better Life" to "U-Bahn Girl" to "Experimental Lifestyle," My Life and The Beautiful Game has an English pop feel, with plenty of loops and smart backing vocals. Enjoy this easy slice of ear candy.

Genre : Indie Pop, Jangle Pop
Country : England
Label : Deep Reverb

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The Relict - Tomorrow Is Again (2003)

Well I’ll be damned if this isn’t the sweetest thing you’ll hear all year as I can’t think of anything that barely comes close other than maybe the recent Gravenhurst release in terms of the Nick Drake reference points, but as they say more of that later. The debut album by the Relict who feature former Clientele member Innes Phillips aided Pam Berry of the Pines and Lupe Nunas of the Pipas.
‘Tomorrow is Again’ features 12 songs of such melodic depth and texture as to have your head dizzy with delight, collecting together several new choice cuts that sit neatly aside a few lost gems from long sold out singles releases including the captivating debut ‘Southern Way’ which even to this day still sends shivers down the spine, however they disappointingly omit the gorgeous ‘Out of Time’ which appeared on the split release with Below the Sea which was this listeners introduction to the band all those years ago.
Like the Clientele, the Relict furrow the path of sensitivity, the sounds invoke vague 60’s memories yet are etched with a curious contradictory quotient of uplifting melancholia, summery harmonies and languid autumnal melodies and pierced with such a faintly fragile nature that you fear that their delicate stature will crumble at the slightest movement. If your looking for reference points then familiarising yourself with the likes of Damon and Naomi with Ghost, latter period Velvet Underground, Clock Strikes 13, several early releases from the Go Betweens canon won’t go amiss, oh yeah and a firm appreciation of Nick Drake should go some way to revealing the kind of exalted spheres this lot occupy.
For the most part ‘Tomorrow’ is a docile feast of captivating spectral harmonies playing hide and seek in the evening shade with love lorn melodies, it’s those memories of love’s past that evoke a caring fondness, from the breathlessly breezy lulling of ‘Time spent with you’ that opens the collection to the closing apologetic softness of ‘Darling I know’, The Relict tenderly caress the senses holding the emotions prisoner like in their gently teasing grip, replete with tumbling pastoral chords, the naked arrangements some how come to joyous life sparkling and exuding their aura of spellbinding passions, the irresistible incandescent ‘Held in glass’ featuring the drifting vocals of Abigail Marvell aligned to some deliciously gentle spun acoustics which hints at a classic fragile beauty at its core, while the trembling ‘Childlike’ is just oozes with sublime intent. Then there’s the spine tingling out of time elegance of the ghostly ‘Along the Avenue’ subtly recalls the ghostly tremors of the Stranglers ‘Feline’.
‘Tomorrow is Again’ is a truly enchanting experience, dare you miss it? Best listened to wrapped up with a loved one. (LosingToday review)

Genre : Indie Pop
Country : England
Label : Vegas Morn Records
MySpace

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Roadside Poppies - One Day You Won't Feel a Thing (2007)

Roadside Poppies are an English indie pop band, formed in Cambridge, in 2006, by Matloob Qureshi. They played the Kaninkanon V Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 15 September 2007.

Core band members Qureshi and White first met in the context of the Cambridge music scene. Qureshi invited White to join the fledgling outfit after White's previous band, Colonel Bastard, folded in 2006. Roadside Poppies released their first EP on Scottish indie label WeePOP! before recording their first album, 'One day you won't feel a thing', as part of the 2007 RPM Challenge. After a series of gigs played in Cambridge, Oxford and London, UK, the band undertook their first European tour in the summer of 2007, playing two dates in Denmark and Sweden. They played the IndieTracks Festival in Butterley, Derbyshire on 27-28 July 2008. The White-penned single 'Cute Susan' was included on the official festival compilation CD, issued by Make Do and Mend Records.
Roadside Poppies has been subject to a changing lineup. The 'One day you won't feel a thing' album was written and recorded while key member Martin White was temporarily based in Geneva, Switzerland. The 2007 Scandinavian tour was conducted without singer/violinist Naomi Irvine, who had quit the band earlier that summer. In July 2007, Roadside Poppies announced they were looking for a new female vocalist, and Cambridge-based vocalist Abby Baker was subsequently recruited. In autumn 2007 guitarist Nick left the band and relocated to Manchester, to be replaced by Adam. In January 2008, the band saw the departure of singer/songwriter Qureshi, who relocated to Copenhagen. Qureshi and White continued to collaborate at a distance, writing and recording a second album for the 2008 RPM Challenge, titled 'Mended hearts and broken bones.' The "broken bones" of the album's title refer to a road accident suffered by Qureshi, which occurred at the time of recording the album. By summer 2008, the band had acquired new Copenhagen-based Danish members, including vocalist Lena and guitarist Morten.

Genre : Indie Pop, Jangle Pop
Country : England
MySpace

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The Margarets - Love Will Haunt You Down (2005)

The Margarets was started in 1991 by Rune Berg, Alex Rinde, Ante Rune, Ronnie Michael André Giskeødegård Larsen, Lars Berg and Kai Valderhaug.
The band was working for about four years before the band members were split because of their education in different states of Norway,
After their education they were all gathered together again with an exception of Kai Valderhaug In Oslo, under the name Jupiter Starfish. They changed the name back to The Margarets eventually. The band was a great fan of the Beatles and copied their music style, which is evident in their song Rubber Rubbish that has some sort of tune that is reminding me for an instance of The Beatles.
After they had swapped from Jupiter Starfish to The Margarets they started working on a debut album What Kept You.
The Margaret’s got a big hit on the album with their song Rubber Rubbish. When the debut album was released in Mars 2002, it was sold more than 30.000 records. There are certain theories that the title what kept you was their choice for the album because it took more than ten years to make the debut album itself.

Love Will Haunt You Down is the 2nd album of the band.

Building on the strength of their common upbringing, The Margarets have easily absorbed the influence of The Beatles, The Smiths and The Byrds to create their own unique brand of pop. The quality of the writing is both heart-warming and razor-sharp, the songs patiently honed - during the calm before the storm - by brothers and cousins clinging to the smallest of islands amid a tiny archipelago off western Norway; a tight crew if ever their was one.

Genre : Psychedelic Pop, Baroque Pop, Pop/Rock
Country : Norway
Label : Universal
MySpace

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The Margarets - Surf Alone

Radical Face - The Junkyard Chandelier (2003)

Jacksonville Beach, FL-based Radical Face is primarily Ben Cooper, who is also one half of similar quiet-is-the-new-loud duo Electric President. Both have inked deals with German label Morr Music. Highlighted with light orchestral flourishes and acoustic guitar, Radical Face's early recordings included an EP and album titled The Junkyard Chandelier. In March 2007 Morr issued Ghost, a concept album about houses retaining memories. — Kenyon Hopkin , All Music Guide

Genre : Indie Pop, Folk Rock, Acoustic
Country : U.S.A.
MySpace

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Tramway - A Brand of Lovin' (1991)

Tramway were an organ and jangly guitar male vocaled pop band from Bristol (England) with a Felt-gone-pop sound that is less 'easy' than most Siesta releases, but is of a very high quality. They have a song ('That Old, Old Feelin') that is almost a carbon copy of the Spring (the 1972 band fronted by Brian Wilson's then wife, who were THE MODEL for Adventures In Stereo) song 'Thinkin' Bout You Baby', which was written by Brain wilson and Mike Love. Tramway also do an instrumental cover of the Mary Poppins song "Life's a Country Holiday With Mary" that Dick Van Dyke sings in the scene where they ride calliope horses through a cartoon landscape. It's number 10 on the CD, though it's uncredited on the CD's graphics, which only show 12 of the 13 songs here. (Gullbuy.com)

Genre : Indie Pop, Jangle Pop

Country : England

Label : Siesta Records (Spain)

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The Lonelyhearts - Dispatch (2005)

The Lonelyhearts' Dispatch is a phenomenal album. If you read no futher - do grasp that.
Given the name of the band, the album cover - a bare floored but sunlit room complete with a bed all a mess - and track titles that include "sell the house, the car, the kids... I'm not coming back" - you likely shouldn't expect the next wave of electronic new wave to fill the air around you when putting the needle to this record. Then you get to the music and lyrics - the broken heart of the matter and you begin to realize this is an album of despair, setbacks and minor / major downfalls.. . just as the images and titles hinted at.
Two guys - John Lindenbaum and Andre Perry - from the SF,CA area are responsible for the emotion and effort on Dispatch, their second release (note: find debut album immediately). Hints of Black Strawberries-era Unbunny, the Kingsbury Manx (with a shot of sadness) and Neil Young (the acoustic style and the vocals at select times are spot on; see: "Patriot Axe") are all here for human absorption - all here fleshed out and realized in eleven songs that are bound by a common structure of loss. Example? See "Seasons Past": "I waited for you at Macy's / I sat with Santa Claus / I asked him for presents / He said I was old and lost" - Christ, that's some seriously sad shit, right? Imagine those lines being about a grown man and it gets infinitely poetic. Hand-stitched with minimal percussion, a couple of blue guitars, sparse synth and brief moments of studio ambiance/texture - The Lonelyhearts have forged an album that may have emerged from nowhere but will be kept company with repeated listens and an evangelical mission to get it heard. "Sherrif have you seen my boy?", a line from "Halo", the tale of (I gather) a father attempting to find his lost son reminds me of why I first fell for Al James of Dolorean and his lyrical imagery - The Lonelyhearts share this gift of chilling storytelling.
What I mean to say is Dispatch is a phenomenal album (see the start) that should be thoroughly enjoyed with the albums gifted lyrics in one hand and a deep, 90+ proof bottle in the other. The only time this album should be allowed to gather dust is when I die and fail to will it out to my lover.. . sad songs are (still) my new friends.
Seek this and share. Perfect. ( Somewhat Confusing to a Stranger review)

Genre : Indie Pop, Folk Rock, Acoustic
Country : U.S.A.
Label : DIY or Else Records
MySpace

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Tales of Jenny - The Ferg Sessions (2004)

Tales Of Jenny are (or were?) a York based band who got together in 2004 and recorded a seven song demo, all of which is available on their site. Chris Jones, the band's singer, explains more:
The band doesn't really exist in the strictest sense at the moment because we all left university and live all over the country - all with jobs, some with careers. I work part time and spend my days off trying to get enough interest in a non-performing band for someone to offer us a record deal and give everyone a reason to get back together. The last time we ever played together was to record the demo and it was recorded in 2004.
Let's hope they do get together again soon as the songs are amongst some of the finest I have heard from an unsigned band for some time and reminds me of a Subway-era Razorcuts (with apologies to guitarist Stuart!) so if you like C86 inspired jangling tunes then this band are for you. (indie-mp3.co.uk)

Genre : Indie Pop, Jangle Pop, Twee Pop
Country : England
MySpace

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Tales of Jenny - Trotsky of our Time