Three of a Kind #96

It's been flipping ages since I've roused myself to rip some old vinyl for use on a blog post, so it's high time I rectified this sorry state of affairs I reckon. In which case, please accept these three seemingly random yet suspiciously decent choices from my stack of early-mid-90s indie twelve-inchers.

Cud - Rich & Strange mp3

I've always had a soft spot for Cud, despite the fact that they once released a single with the cringingly awful title Purple Love Balloon (which still didn't stop me buying it on picture disc). I was so gormlessly naive at the time, though, that I didn't even make the connection between the titular balloon and its saucy connotations until years later. Take a ride in your purple love balloon indeed!

Bleach - Shotgun mp3

I've done absolutely no research for today's post (which will obviously come as a massive shock to everybody reading this), but if memory serves Bleach hailed from Ipswich and were quite a hit with John Peel. They sound a lot like the early Lush on 1991's Shotgun, too, which is never a bad thing. There's even an attempt at what I can only describe as some middle-class white girl shoegazey rapping here. Marvellous!

My Life Story - The Lady Is A Tramp mp3

My Life Story were one of the most under-rated bands of the Britpop era for me. Oh yes, you can keep your Blurs and Oasis' (Oasisis?) - give me Jake Shillingford and his hi-octane brand of orchestral pop any day of the week. This band were so good that they could even afford to consign songs as fine as the one above to obscure b-side status (this was one of the extra tracks on the Funny Ha Ha 12"). Listen to the way Jake pronounces some of the words, like he's the Queen of Sheba or something ("The Lady's always thaar, Camden Tiyn to Leicester Sqaar"). Magnificent. And how can you not love a band who christen their information service Sex & Violins? Impossible!