"your confidence is made by teflon"

Today is my 27th birthday. In honour of this, Pocketbooks are releasing an EP entitled Waking Up and have made an mp3 from this available for free download. Okay, so it's nothing to do with celebrating my existence, but it is jolly good timing and makes me very happy!

Waking Up will be released on 19th March but you can pre-order it from Make Do And Mend Records in the UK, and Valiant Death in the US. The tracks on it will be Waking Up / Falling Leaves / Love Is The Stick You Throw / Don't Stop

Pocketbooks - Don't Stop mp3 (left click)

I love this song already! Those genderblender harmonies, those witty lyrics! It's typical of Pocketbooks and they're sounding tighter and more assured than ever before. I hear this is true of their live performances too, so if you fancy going to see them, upcoming gigs are:
Saturday 23 February - Betsey Trotwood, London (Atomic Beat Records/Spiral Scratch) with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Wednesday 12 March - Buffalo Bar, London (Goonite Club) – with The School
Saturday 22 March - Islington Academy Bar (Feeling Gloomy)

The rest of the EP can be streamed on last.fm and you can find out more about Pocketbooks and where to buy their music at their website. Go! Go! Go!

Three of a kind #28

Three very different bands today, with one thing in common - they write their own theme tune and sing their own theme tune.

No waffling, let's get straight into it with The Monochrome Set's eponymous theme song, which was released as a single on Rough Trade back in 1979.

The Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set mp3 (available for 7 days)

To find out more about The Monochrome Set, visit their official website or myspace page. Also have a listen to lead singer Bid's current band Scarlet's Well and bassist Andy's Would-Be-Goods.

Next we have a band whose name takes longer to say than their songs take to listen to. Well...almost! I present the All Girl Summer Fun Band's Theme Song:

All Girl Summer Fun Band - Theme Song mp3 (available for 7 days)

If you hear their songs and want to hear them again, visit the All Girl Summer Fun Band's website where you can buy both their albums (which are bloody brilliant!). They've lost a member to motherhood since I last checked in and apparently a new album is in the works. Exciting!

Finally here's previously blogged about The Hi-Life Companion's Hi-Life Theme.

The Hi-Life Companion - Hi-Life Theme mp3 (available for 7 days)

Hear more at their myspace page and find out when The Hi-Life Companion's album will be released (soon please, chaps!) from their website.


Are there any other notable theme tunes I should know about? (aside from The Monkees, obviously!)

"You've broken the record, no-one even comes close"

The Hi-Life Companion are a little bit vague about themselves. "At the last count there were at least seven people in, or contributing to the band. Members come and go. Some members don't even know they are members!" they say. Actually I think I might be one of those members who doesn't know, y'know. Send those royalties this way, chaps! However, they are certain that the Bristol-based band is loosely formed around brothers Matt and Jon Troy (Jon is also the drummer for Airport Girl). Also some of the band like beer and some of the band like chocolate (we have so much in common...).

Now here's what I know: I have now heard seven songs by The Hi-Life Companion and have liked them all. They're another one of those genderblender bands which mix male and female vocals so beautifully. Their laid-back sound lets the melodies and arrangements seep through you, until you wake up one morning humming their tunes and wondering if anyone has ever put them on record, because they damn well should, before realising that you can't claim the credit for the loveliness that's been echoing around your head.

Earlier this month, they released a three track single on Cloudberry Records, that bastion of good taste. Generously, they've made a track from that single available. Download it below (right click and save as).

The Hi-Life Companion - You're The Greatest mp3

You can listen to the other two tracks from that single plus one other on the Hi-Life Companion myspace page. (I think Night Comes Down is my personal favourite - trumpets and babababa-ing rarely leads to disappointment!) But you want to have them all to own and keep and play whenever you want, don't you? For a measly $5 as well!

Apparently an album, Say Yes!, is in the pipeline and this makes me very happy indeed. I'll be first in the queue to get hold of it. Until then, you can visit The Hi-Life Companion's website to find out the latest news.

Say yes to The Hi-Life Companion - you won't be sorry!