the cavalcade

I've spent the past couple of weeks being exceptionally busy (nothing new there) and showing the lovely Kris around Melbourne. It's been fun! We've been record shopping, seeing excellent bands (including The Motifs and a new Melbourne discovery, Pop Singles) and spinning the best songs anybody would ever want to hear. But now, as Kris flies back to Sweden, I have returned to Brisbane for a couple of weeks of work, but also some relaxation and use of fast internet once again. Oh for small joys!

As part of this fast internet utilisation, I'm going to listen to all manner of bands I've been meaning to listen to. Bands such as The Cavalcade, who hail from Preston, in northwestern England and sound like they've stepped straight off a Blueboy b-side. 

Bruce recommended these guys to me a few weeks ago, and I'm glad I've followed up, because I could listen to these beautiful pop songs all evening long. Craig Phillips's vocals come from the school of singing that Swedish indiepop bands have mastered so well - earnest harmonies that reinforce the heartfelt emotions from the soaring, clear guitar lines. If any one of the tracks playing on their myspace page were to be included on a mixtape, I'd instantly have assumed it was a lost eighties indie band. Their love of classic indiepop is evident - the guitars unmistakably pay tribute to Maurice Deebank, and the melodies come courtesy of an education rich in The Sea Urchins and The Field Mice. What is not to love?

Best of all, you can secure yourself some fine recordings from The Cavalcade courtesy of both Cloudberry Records (a split 3" with Boa Constrictor, featuring the lovely 'Meet You In The Rain'), as well as directly from the band! Their debut EP can be ordered via Paypal - just drop them a message via myspace, and full listening contentment awaits. 

moped girls

Blimey, I feel like I have been in hiding for months - I bury my head in work for a few weeks and all of a sudden there's a million bands I need to listen to, and new releases from bands I adore that I didn't even realise were out!

Take the Vivian Girls, for example - I hardly even realised they had released a new 7" recently! 'Moped Girls' continues with the same casually noisy insouciance that has come to define these three Brooklyn girls. Reggie the cat is a pretty cool addition to the film clip, too.

Released on For Us, you can buy yourself a copy of 'Moped Girls' here.

two killer shows...

There are two amazing shows coming up in the next week*, half a world away from each other, which you should be attending if you are even remotely nearby either of these two cities!

If you are located near the Whitest Suburb in Melbourne, like me, head to the Old Bar on Johnston Street for a ridiculously good night of pop. Mid-State Orange! Last Summer Cats show before they embark on USA domination! First Motifs show since they conquered Europe! I'm prepping my dancing shoes already.

Of course, if you want to make me cry, you will be attending this:

Clearly, any show containing three of my favourite bands from the past 12 months or so has to be incredible, but this is seriously beyond belief. Far out, I could see just ONE of those bands, I'd be delirious, but with that line up AND with Twee as Fuck AND Kevin from WYR? spinning discs, I couldn't think of anything better right now, especially when all I seem do these days is listen to Cause Co-Motion on repeat.

I think this is what you call mega New York jealousy (and mega, mega heartbreak).

* I'm sure there's definitely more than two amazing shows coming up in the next week, but these are clearly the only two I really, really care about. If you know of others that will make me exceedingly jealous, please feel free to tell me about them and I will no doubt take a photo of myself weeping with extreme jealousy.

tuesday night catch up #3: thieves like us

OK, last one for the night. When I was about 18 or so, Shelflife Records was one of my favourite record labels, releasing records by the likes of the Acid House Kings, The Shermans and the Free Loan Investments that swept my late teenage heart away in a shimmering sea of pop music. Those fine folk behind Shelflife have made a killer resurgence recently, and one of their latest, from Thieves Like Us, shows what Midas touch this label has. 

Shy, crushworthy lyrics combined with synths straight out of early 80s northern England deliver 'Really Like To See You Again' straight into your consciousness, Express Post style. It's the perfect 11pm track, when you've just eyed up the cute boy or girl over the other side of the dancefloor, but you don't want to sidle up too soon. You know you'll head over when they start playing The Smiths or Pet Shop Boys at 2am. You know what I mean. 

The four tracks on this 12" EP will all make you want to shimmer rather than shake on the dancefloor, and, with a mere 500 copies pressed, you'd be hard pressed to find a more glamorous release for your next discotheque. 

Buy 'Really Like To See You Again' from Shelflife here.

tuesday night catch up #2: pocketbooks

If you can't already tell, I have once again been super busy and am becoming more and more infrequent at this blogging business. It's awful, especially when there is so much to listen to and I'm stuck doing work (and watching Master Chef, uh oh) all the time. Gah! Hence, I am spending my Tuesday night catching up on everything great of late.

Anyway, some of my favourite blogs have already written about this, and I'm going to do the same - London's Pocketbooks will be releasing their new single, "Footsteps", via iTunes on June 15. It's a super little love song that will get your shoes shuffling straight away. Then, in July, the brilliant How Does It Feel To Be Loved? label will be releasing their debut record, Flight Paths, which I highly recommend for you to purchase, because it will add some extra sunshine to your summer or brighten those misty winter mornings, if you'll be spending your July hibernating indoors from the cold like me.

You can get your feet shuffling along already by downloading 'Footsteps' here!

tuesday night catch up #1: music that i like

Well, I guess you can gather what I like from reading my blog, but Music That I Like is the name of Everett True's excellent new blog, featuring many of his archived musings from Plan B as well as, hmm, a couple of new rants and raves. Mostly raves, though - who wants to write rants all the time? Not me.

In particular, you should read his interview with the beautiful, tragic Ronnie Spector. I wouldn't know what to say to her - I would just want her to sing.

hefner recollections

While I was out and about today, I found a copy of Hefner's excellent We Love The City on LP from Heartland Records. Upon arriving home, those opening lyrics to the title track brought back a flood of memories:

This is London, not Antarctica, so why don't the tubes run all night?

You are my girlfriend, not Molly Ringwald, so why won't you stay here tonight?

It's made me realise that Hefner are a band which I associate so many fond memories with. Of course, the aforemention

ed song's chorus of, We love the city, because it lets us down, rang particularly true for me back in Brisbane, even if the song was about how depressing London can be, but it's but one of many Hefner tracks which have struck me for many different reasons across many stages of my life. 

The Fidelity Wars

This was the first Hefner album I ever purchased, in 2000 from Red Eye Records in Sydney whilst on holiday down there. I was in year 11 at the time and became interested in the band after reading about them in Select. Upon hearing 'The Hymn For The Cigarettes' for the first time, I was even more hooked. Darren Hayman's terrific lyrics inspired the budding writer in me - all that angst mixed with sadness and

 rejection. At the time I had no hope of meeting anybody who I could sh

are this with, so it has been great to talk about Hefner with other fans at various points.

We Love The City

This was given to me by one of my favourite people in the w

orld, Lina, on my first trip to Sweden in 2003. I spied it in her CD collection, got super jealous, then became ecstatic when she so kindly gave it to me at the end of my visit. I remember listening to the title track for the first time when I did hit London, and never had it felt so right. Last year at my first How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, I was super excited to dance to 'The Day That Thatcher Dies' - such fun! 

Boxing Hefner

I only bought this recently, from an indiepop listee off ebay. To be honest, I haven't listened to it all that much, but I really wanted a copy so I could have 'Christian Girls' on CD. What a song! I only heard this for the first time last year (shameful!) when the lovely Andrew from Pants Yell! put it on a really excellent mix for me. Great song, and I am sure, a great collection of other tracks for me to soon fall in love with.