Friday, April 4, 2008

april favourites

Another Friday night, another night of watching Midsomer Murders and writing blogs. Yay! I'd like to share some recent favourites of mine with you.

Blogs
You Shall Know Our Discography
features all manner of obscure, underground, weird and wonderful records from the pre-millennium indie world. I did a search for the Cannanes and came across a post on "A Love Affair With Nature", then came across another post about the Boyracer record I bought in New Zealand. It will be really interesting to have a listen to more of these posts!

The Finest Kiss writes the type of intelligent, informative live reviews I could but dream of conjuring up. Recent reviews include Ladybird and The Ruby Suns, both of which I saw earlier this year and, accordingly, wrote amateur reviews for. Read the reviews on The Finest Kiss instead to ascertain just how I felt on these evenings.

The Indietracks festival will be held over the weekend of 26-27 July 2008 at the Midland Railway in Derbyshire, England. If I was a millionaire heiress without a care in the world, I would be dancing away at this event, but sadly I must leave this to all the other lucky souls out there. But just so I know what I'm missing out on, I'll be reading the Indietracks blog for the latest updates and interviews with bands. If you are lucky enough to be going, make sure you see The Zebras!!

Another podcast for you: Hey Hey Honeypop! doesn't just have the cutest name around, but some of the best pop playlists going around. I love themed mixes, and the last one, on love, was delightful, covering all aspect of the subject. Pop songs really do solve everything, especially with affairs of the heart.

Buys
My mailbox has been busy recently - I finally bought a copy of the Summer Cats/Eux Autres split 7", featuring the cutest artwork around, as well as Pants Yell!'s "'83 in '07" 7". It's terrible that it's taken me so long to buy these, but now they're safe in my paws, I don't want to let them go. In fact, I'm pawing for more.

Soon to arrive in my mailbox: the Je Suis Animal album (at last!!), and the Manhattan Love Suicides' "Clusterfuck" 7". Suffice to say, this record addiction ain't slowing down any time soon.

Songs
The Shuffle function really is a godsend when I can't be bothered deciding what I want to listen to on my journey to and from work, playing many a' track I've nary listened to. Recent Shuffle highlights included The Rondelles, who were one of my favourite bands around '02/'03, when I was going through a big K Records phase, as well as lots of Denim and Tiger Trap.

One track in particular has really caught my ear of late - 'Just Me And You' by Jane Birkin, off 1975's "Lolita Go Home".


What a beautiful woman! Oh to have one of her namesake handbags. I haven't heard too many of her solo albums, but I love what I have heard. She's just so intriguing, and when she sings her French songs in her plum, breathy English accent, it makes me wish I spoke French even more.
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8 comments:

Fire Escape said...

If you haven't already heard 1969's Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg album, I urge you to do so. It's an amazing record. You really need to hear Orang-outan.
And you're right, the Eux Autres single, Other Girls, is fantastic. It's dirty and scuzzy and wildly poppy, just like Serge'n'Jane and The Vaselines.

alex said...

I'm listening to Orang-outan - I love the sleazy guitars and Jane's racy vocals. Thank you for the recommendation! I really should buy one of the Gainsbourg retrospectives rather than hunting down his 80s records...

Anonymous said...

Nice to see a mention for The Rondelles!! I'm gonna put a track by them in my next 'I Smiled Yesterday' podcast (which I do with my pal Andrew) for Slumberland. Probably 'Revenge' ..

alex said...

Oooh I LOVE 'Revenge'. What a great band. BTW I love the Slumberland podcasts and the last one you did was really really good.

Anonymous said...

Ooh ... thanks for listening! Glad you liked it :)

Anonymous said...

Do you know the story about Jane having to pay for her (first and maybe only?) Birkin bag? Hermès presented her with the finished item, and she was about to walk out with it, when they reminded her she had forgotten to pay for it!

alex said...

That's incredible! One hopes Hermes have since repaid her with many a free bag. A few years ago, on the Arabesque tour, I think Hermes hosted an evening for her in Sydney. Could you imagine?

Anonymous said...

Ha, I imagine she'd have a well-developed sense of humour about such things by now.
I found the article where I read the story of her having to pay (here) and she says she's only ever had two Birkin bags, the 2nd of which she auctioned off for charity. More recently, she's given up using her Birkin bag at all in favour a sporran!