The Revolving Paint Dream

Wow, how come I've not discovered The Revolving Paint Dream until now? Perfect 60s psychedelic pop, reinterpreted in inimitable early Creation records style. It seems like the Creation back catalogue just wants to keep on delivering a car boot full of new discoveries for me, and the collector in me wants to have them all.

Have a read of The Beautiful Music's introduction to Revolving Paint Dream, and download the two tracks they have available - I want to don some paisley and grow my fringe even longer as a result of listening to "Flowers In The Sky" and "Green Sea Blue". What a great blog, too - I think I'll be reading it quite often now!

Buy Flowers In The Sky: The Enigma of The Revolving Paint Dream at Cherry Red.

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

I am back in Brisbane for the moment, working terribly hard, seeing friends at every opportunity and catching up with my mum. After work on Friday night, I reacquainted myself with some of my favourite shops in the city - I bought myself some great records at Egg Records, a beautiful A.P.C. skirt from Apartment (I would have an entire wardrobe of A.P.C. if I could), and a copy of Camera Obscura's fourth album, My Maudlin Career, from Rockinghorse.


I've listened to the album three times now, and once again I'm in love with these Glaswegians, who resurrect the finest Northern Soul and sixties heartbreak to create achingly pretty songs of love and despair. Opener "French Navy" introduces their hallmark sound once again with a tale of falling in love with a traveller, leading into ten more songs which veer from the solemn to the soul-shakin', new stories shared with each track. My Maudlin Career isn't a huge departure from Camera Obscura's established sound, but then again, when the sound is as finely honed and sensational as this, there's little need to tinker with the recipe.

Tracyanne Campbell's vocals are as rich as ever - since I've already stolen her haircut, I wonder how I can steal her voice and songwriting talent? I think I may need to steal this look of Tracyanne's, too - divine.


As the title track came on in the car yesterday afternoon, my friends all commented, "Who is this? It's so pretty!" Play this to anyone, Camera Obscura fan or not, and you'll no doubt win them over with the soaring nature of the piano, the arrangements, everything. It's like a fine meal at an excellent restaurant - rich, but not overpowering, exceptional quality and leaves you feeling satisfied and wanting more.

Record Store Day

Given that:
a. Yesterday was Record Store Day; and,
b. I have not been record shopping for a long time,

it made perfect sense that I should head out and support some record stores here in Melbourne by partaking in one of my favourite activities in the world! With Knock Yr Socks Off Scott as my guide and Belle & Sebastian playing on the iPhone stereo, I was introduced to some new record stores and hauled quite the bounty!

Albums!
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (80s Beserkley reissue)
The Steinbecks - The Steinbecks (Drive-In Records)
The Waitresses - Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Once Upon A Time/The Singles
The Triffids - Love In Bright Landscapes (an excellent compilation of Triffids tracks from 83-85, and includes a couple of my personal favourites, including "Red Pony" and "Property Is Condemned".)
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA (OK, this one was $5, then with 20% off at Record Paradise, I figured I could buy it for all of four smackers.)

Singles!
Amelia Fletcher - "Can You Keep A Secret?" (Fierce, 1991) - I was exceptionally excited to find this!! In all honesty, I quite like the A-side, but, um, it's quite hard to tolerate hearing a dance version of "Wrap My Arms Around Him". Argh!
Hurrah! - "Hip-Hip Flowers" (Kitchenware)
Orange Juice - "I Can't Help Myself" (On "Holden Caulfield Universal")
Meat Whiplash - "Don't Slip Up"/"Here It Comes" (Creation, 1985) - I have never seen this single anywhere before, and Licorice Pie had two copies there.
Saint Etienne - "Hobart Paving"/"Who Do You Think You Are" double A-side (Heavenly, 1993) - two of my favourite Saint Etienne songs, together on the one single.
Honeybunch - "Hey Blue Sky!" (Bus Stop, 1989) - Melbourne seems to be the place to find Honeybunch singles. I'm certainly not complaining!
Shockheaded Peters - "I, Bloodbrother Be" (El, 1984)
Bill Wyman - "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star" (A&M Records, 1981)
Patti Smith Group - "Because The Night" (Arista, 1978)

Licorice Pie in Prahran is one of the best record stores around, and my visit there was long overdue. Almost all these records came from there, and even then I had to leave some behind - most notably, a copy of the Television Personalities' The Painted Word. Since I already have the Vinyl Japan CD re-issue of it, I couldn't really justify it. Also, might I note that they had a copy of Bad Dream Fancy Dress's Choirboys Gas on LP, which I promptly made Scott buy, as it is one of the best El records releases. I'd have snapped it up myself!

cheap red

Hi Internet, I am alive but have been more than insanely busy of late. Work, travel, work, etc. Busier than I've ever been in my life. Which has meant that it's taken me until this afternoon to listen to Stewart Boyracer's new band, Cheap Red. It seems like all the right people have been saying good things about this band, and deservedly so - the songs are sweet, noisy, lo-fi and instantly loveable. Combining the talents of Stewart and Jen from Boyracer with Akina and Arland from Kanda, I can't wait to hear their debut double CD - one disc of the originals and another of remixes. What a way to step out into the world!

I'll admit my ignorance and say that I've never heard Kanda, but given this endorsement, I'll make sure I hunt them down after this.

Also, 555 has a re-issue of Boyracer's Happenstance available for you to add to your collection! Limited to 100 copies, you should grow your Boyracer collection. I added Boyfuckingracer to mine the other week, and it's the type of noisy noisy noise we all love about Boyracer.

Buy 555 Recordings here!