Chiquita y Chatarra show what Spain is good for

This was a golden find. Rocking garage rock jams from Amelia Díaz Duarte and Patricia Àlvarez Alonso, Chiquita Y Chatarra is one of those bands that could easily fit into a previous era of music, but doesn't sound confined or restricted by misplaced nostalgia. Worth every second, and can be downloaded for free from their bandcamp site.

Go Cozy make Shoegaze Goodness

I found this Maryland band through Space Rock Mountain, and it has been a favorite of mine since then. Making mopey, reverb heavy pop songs, Go Cozy is something that should interest anyone who enjoys a well crafted mournful tune.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - "There, There, My Dear"

Birmingham's self-described "young soul rebels" were the answers to their own prayers. Dexy's Midnight Runners' second album fades in with a ponderous sequence of gauche radio hits ("Purple Haze," "Holidays In The Sun"), skipping across the dial until frontman Kevin Rowland (in the time-honored tradition of being so fed up that he can only communicate through rock and roll) commands the band to "Burn It Down."

Though it lacks the parsimony of "Radio Radio" or the verve of "Clash City Rockers," the song doubles down on that familiar sentiment. On the surface, Dexy's took themselves so seriously that they made it difficult for anyone else to do the same. From their all-band uniforms (reinvented drastically with each of their three albums) to their smash-and-grab cultural politicking (which invoked corporate rock hegemony and the Northern Irish "Troubles" in the same breath), the group didn't just court their own mythology--they fabricated it. And, for the most part, Dexy's did it well. Their cool was anything but effortless (as the press photo above shows), but it worked, both at face value and as commentary on identity performance.

The band's tendency toward pastiche occasionally hampered the songs, which rarely veered from the sound of Northern Soul on amphetamines (less a rhetorical turn of phrase than a description of the scene), but Rowland could write a chorus, and the band had two number-one hits in the UK to show for it. 

For bonus reading, McSweeney's sums it all up a lot quicker. 

"There, There, My Dear" from Searching For The Young Soul Rebels (1980)

A summer with Gorky’s – Middle Period

Gorky’s was a pretty prolific Welsh band that put out a slew of singles, EPs, and full lengths in their history. One of my favorite records came from what I call their “middle period”, when they moved away from the psychedelic extremities of the pop scene and started to play more traditional poppy music. Spanish Dance Troupe was released by Mantra Records in 1999, and saw the band refine their sound to a significant degree. The first single provided here, “Poodle Rockin’” still has the noise and chaos of the early records, but the record was really the voice of a band coming to terms with their more mature stage in their career. The second song here, which the title of the record is taken from, is one of the best British pop songs of the 90s. Doubt me? Well, see for yourself and get ready to be schooled.

Poodle Rockin'


Spanish Dance Troupe

The Drunken Draculas get drunk

Steven Nunez and I play in a band called The Drunken Draculas, and we have a recording diary going at the moment. you can check it out here, and proper songs will be up shortly.

Summer Sun and Coralie Clement

Coralie Clement plays that hip, French café music that every American Francoph is sure to appreciate. She has released a slew of records over the last 7 years, but her first is still my favorite. Sounding like a recent Woody Allen soundtrack, with a laidback and untailored lyrical approach, Coralie is worth a spin on an afternoon drinking wine and enjoying the sunny weather.

Here is a video from said record.

A summer with Gorky’s - Early Singles

With this being the summer of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, here are two tracks from the band's early period. As is the case with most of their early material, they are mostly in Welsh and have that psychedelic playfulness that is all in vogue these days.

Both of these songs can be found on a recent retrospective from the group, “20: Singles & EPs 94-96” released by Sanctuary Records but originally released in limited quantities on the Welsh label Ankst. You can buy it here, and download some of their early songs here.



(Merched Yn Neud Gwallt Ei Gilydd)


(Bocs Angelica)


And a video for "Merched...". Feel the early 90s British psychedelic pop!

Vasquez: Instrumental Scottish Tech. Rock

Most of the time, I'm a pop grinch -- unless it has three verses, a refrain, and a key change for the final chorus, I'm all but legally obliged to stay 500 feet away*. Vazquez are the kind of band that make me feel like the Grinch at end of the story, though, when his heart grows three sizes bigger and he wonders if there's room for technical rock in there, too. The Edinburgh three-piece's self-titled EP conjures up powerful-sounding metaphors: a particle collider, where hooks appear and vanish in milliseconds, or a subterfuge that churns a flood of sound into melodic lines. Mixed metaphors aside, these songs are dense but approachable, and schizophrenic in a way that rewards multiple listens.

*Which makes me more of a pop sex offender. 

Ital Tek - Babel

A great new video form Planet Mu's Ital Tek.

Valleymakers: Gorgeous Chamber Folk or Why Every Day Is Canada Day

It's OK to be jealous that they thought of a better band name than you, but be happy that they're putting it to good use. Valleymakers' self-titled EP is gorgeous and knows it. And, for all of the bands that come out of Montreal, they turn the lineage into something meaningful: Leonard Cohen's close-to-God sparseness gives way to lush, quietly cathartic orchestration. The best argument I've heard for virtuousity in a long time.

"It's My Body In The Tree You're Tearing" from Valleymakers EP, available to stream and purchase here.