I can't go back to savoury now

The spirit of Kenickie lives on in Don't Look At Me (I Don't Like It), the fantastic new single from Lancaster's own The Lovely Eggs. Singer Holly previously fronted all-girl punk combo Angelica, and this new Lovely Eggs single is, for me, right up there with the Angelica classic Why Did You Let My Kitten Die (which, I was startled to realise, is now over a decade old).

But yes, Don't Look At Me (I Don't Like It) is one of those rare songs that make you remember why you fell in love with pop music in the first place. Ooph! And look - the video features Mr John Shuttleworth!



The Lovely Eggs' second album, Cob Dominos, is released on February 14th through Cherryade Records

Pirate Aggro

Eric Idle and chums spoof Bob Harris and The Old Grey Whistle Test in this clip from the largely forgotten mid-seventies sketch show Rutland Weekend Television. The comedy is very much of its era (i.e. it's a bit un-PC at times) but from what little I've seen of seventies Whistle Tests it seems to hit its target pretty accurately. There's a song from the ever-excellent Neil Innes too.



Also from Rutland Weekend TV, here's George Harrison as you've never seen him before (unless you happened to watch the RWT Christmas Special on Boxing day 1975, in which case here's George Harrison as you've rarely seen him before!).



If you enjoyed those clips, why not do as I am and make your way through the entire series of Rutland Weekend Television, which is, rather thrillingly, available to stream on YouTube via the MontyPyhoNET channel. Hurrah.

A second helping of Swedes

As a postscript to my Swedish Spotify playlist from the other day, here are some additional songs that were omitted but really ought to have made the original list. Some of them weren't included because they weren't available from Spotify, while others missed out because, basically, I forgot all about them until later. Anyway, I'll try and keep the list of additions as brief as possible, but apologies if it goes on a bit - basically, there are far too many great Swedish songs to choose from!















Agent Simple - Make A Right At Jordfallsmotet mp3

Girlfrendo - Heartbreakers mp3

Ronderlin - Reflected mp3

Lucky Lucky Pigeons - Who Smells Marshmallows? mp3

Action Biker - ICA Lappis mp3

Special mention also to Freewheel's Starfriend, Tonight I Have To Leave It by Shout Out Louds, Airport by Like Honey, We're From Barcelona by I'm From Barcelona, Peter, Bjorn & John's Young Folks, Eggstone's Water, 2006 by Hello Saferide, Let's Kill Cupid by Kissing Mirrors and scores of others that'll doubtless come to me about five seconds after I submit this post!

Song of the Day

A cursory blog search has revealed that I haven't linked to today's featured song on here since November 2007. Long overdue for an encore then. From 1987, it's the Brilliant Corners with the utterly fantastic Delilah Sands. And look, there's a video!



Brilliant Corners - Delilah Sands mp3

Definitely made for these times (Spotify playlist #1)

I've just put together a Spotify playlist featuring 32 of my favourite Swedish pop songs from the past two decades. You're very welcome to have a listen if you've got the time, the inclination and, crucially, access to Spotify.

Sharks patrol these waters

Newcastle's Sharks Took The Rest's sound is an eclectic one, embracing many different genres from jazz to folk and trip-hop to classical. Add to this singer Beccy Owen's haunting Kathyrn Williams-esque vocals and the band's mellow, baroque-pop stylings and you've got a recipe for musical success that's already caught the collective ear of the more discerning DJs on our nation's airwaves, including Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson and Radcliffe & Maconie.

Sharks Took The Rest release their debut five-song EP, Grounds for Hearts to Swell on February 14th through Bandcamp from where, naturally, you can pre-order it and listen to it in its entirety (although perhaps not in that order).

The tracks are all gorgeous but my absolute favourite is probably Ancestors, a live version of which you can watch right here.

New album from Andreas Mattsson!

Forgive the exclamation mark, but the arrival of any new Andreas Mattsson-related release has been incredibly exciting news for me for over fifteen years now - ever since I first heard Make Up by Popsicle and instantly found myself a new favourite band - and his new album Kick Death's Ass, due on February 18th, is the first we've heard of him for nearly five years since 2006's brilliant solo debut The Lawlessness of the Ruling Classes. (Well, apart from producing and contributing to Hello Saferide's last album, which was admittedly pretty great also.) So yes, a momentous day.

Appropriately, with today being football transfer deadline day and all, Kick Death's Ass (shame about the spelling of "Arse" there, but nobody's perfect) sees Andreas switch labels from Hybris to Razzia Records from where you can pre-order the album. I cannot wait to hear it, but suppose I'll just have to.

Although Kick Death's Ass is still a couple of weeks away, the album's brilliant first single, AA, is already available to buy as a download here, and can be streamed using the fancy Soundcloud gismo below. It's classic Mattsson right from the very start, and buying it will constitute the best 80p you'll spend all week.

AA - ANDREAS MATTSSON by RAZZIARECORDS

Now if you'll excuse me, I have an album to pre-order. Roll on February 18th!

Song of the Day

Like most bands I've been enamoured with over the years, I'll have written about Brainpool here before - but I don't think I've featured their 1995 single In A Box To You - until now. If The Wannadies were The Beatles of Swindie and Popsicle The Kinks, then Brainpool were at the very least The Rolling Stones. Or something. Anyway, if it's joyous, life-affirming power-pop with lots of fa-fa-fas you're after, look no further!



Brainpool - In A Box To You mp3

S.P.O.C.K around the clock

A slice of classic mid-nineties Swedish synth-pop today, courtesy of the Star Trek-loving S.P.O.C.K. - I'm guessing they must be quite keen on that show, anyway, bearing in mind a) their name b) the fact that they like to don Starship Enterprise uniforms on stage & c) because one of their most famous songs is called Never Trust A Klingon. Oh, and d) their band members include one "Android" and a "Captain Eddie B Kirk".

So yes, they're possibly a *bit* wacky. Maintaining the space theme (I'm not a massive authority on S.P.O.C.K but it would seem that pretty much everything they ever recorded was sci-fi related in some way), today's song, Astrogirl, is chuffing brilliant if, like me, you're a fan of the whole cheesy electro Europop thing. Knocks Star Trekkin' by The Firm into a cocked hat too (not difficult, admittedly).

S.P.O.C.K. - Astrogirl mp3

Crushed by the wheels of industry

Cripes, just discovered I missed out on the release of a new I, Ludicrous single in September. Strange really as I'm sure it would've been record of the week on all the major music networks. Ho ho ho. Here it is anyway, and just in time for the new working week: Clerking Til I Die.



Download it here

Jonny Jonny Ooh!

A band comprising Euros Childs from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake sounds like a pretty wonderful proposition, doesn't it? Well such a band now exists! They're called Jonny and they sound every bit as accomplished and effortlessly melodic as you'd expect a combo featuring this pair of indiepop luminaries, to sound.

Jonny's self-titled debut album will be released on the 31st of January, with lead single Candyfloss appearing two weeks before that. (Warning: watching the following video may well make you crave a certain kind of spun sugar confection.)



Mildly Interesting Floss Fact: Candyfloss is, as you may know, called "Cotton candy" in the U.S. and "Fairy floss" in Australia. I think I like the Aussie name best.

Late last year, Jonny released a free download single, which included the following paean to Gloria Estefan. (I feel like I should add the words "of all people" to the end of that sentence, but that would seem a tad churlish. Good song though.)

Jonny - Gloria mp3

The Orange Juice

Hello again! I trust you had an at least bearable Christmas and New Year. Mine was so diverting I managed to forget I had a blog to run. Speaking of which, let's get this thing cranked into life again, shall we?

The Sweptaways returned last month with their own inimitable take on Oh My Darling Clementine "supported by" Swedish fruit juice purveyors Brämhults, who it seems have a tradition of getting different acts to interpret the song on their behalf at this time every year (well, they've done it for the past two years at least). Here is that Sweptaways version in its entirety. As you might expect, it's rather good.




The Sweptaways - Oh My Darling Clementine mp3

Song of the Day

The Go-Betweens go country and western - with outrageously catchy consequences.

As Grant explained in the sleeve notes of The Go-Betweens 1978-90:

"I've always liked country music. This is a typical mix of pathos and sentimentality in the tradition of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. It comes close to pastiche but The Go-Betweens seldom genre-hop so this is what it is."

The Go-Betweens - Don't Call Me Gone mp3

New Acid House Kings & Christmas round-up

After a break of six years (six years!), Sweden's twee pop maestros Acid House Kings are back with new single Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? Thankfully for them, after such a long absence, the song's a corker and well worth the extended wait. The band's new album, Music Sounds Better With You, will be out on Labrador in the spring.

Acid House Kings - Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? mp3

The rest of this entry's devoted to Christmas songs so readers of a curmudgeonly nature may wish to look away now.

Sheffield duo Slow Club are giving last year's festive EP Christmas, Thanks For Nothing a belated release in the US. From it, here's their energetic and faithful rendition of the Darlene Love / Phil Spector classic, Christmas, Baby Please Come Home, a song I still love despite U2's best attempts to tarnish it forever.

Slow Club - Christmas Baby Please Come Home mp3

Buy Christmas, Thanks For Nothing at Moshi Moshi

Dublin's Indiecater Records have released a new Christmas compilation - their third - featuring mostly original seasonal compositions from the likes of Dolfish, Natalie Prass, Paisley and Charlie, The Very Most, Kate and After, Boca Chica, Ali Millstein, Adam and Darcie, Standard Fare, The Gorgeous Colours and Royal Fores. You can stream the entire album here while the agreeable country stylings of Boca Chica's offering can be downloaded below.

Boca Chica - Not On Christmas Eve mp3 (right click)

Christmas was better in the eighties - at least it was according to The Futureheads on their new single of the same name. And who could possibly argue with them, apart, perhaps, from anyone who didn't spend their formative years in that decade? Anyway, I'm with the Futureheads on this. The single's released on December 19th and is rather good. Here's the promo vid:



Finally, as you're doubtless well aware, John Lennon died thirty years ago today. We're marking the occasion here with a super version of Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by blog favourites Daryll-Ann.

Daryll-Ann - Happy Christmas (War Is Over) mp3

Get away

"Party all summer long with The Holiday CD - 16 original hits!" boast CBS Records on the front cover of their 1987 funtime compilation. If we must, CBS, if we must. But something's wrong with this picture. Take a closer look at the track listing below and tell me what's wrong with it (apart from the obvious).

1) Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
2) Mel & Kim - Respectable
3) Bananarama - Venus
4) The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way
5) Miami Sound Machine - Dr Beat
6) Kool & The Gang - Fresh
7) Spagna - Call Me
8) Boney M - Hooray, Hooray, It's A Holi-Holiday
9) Typically Tropical - Barbados
10) Ottowan - D.I.S.C.O.
11) Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita
12) Modern Talking - Brother Louie
13) Modern Romance - Everybody Salsa
14) Denise LaSalle - My Toot Toot
15) K.C. & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up
16) Opus - Live Is Life

You're absolutely right, it's the choice of Wham! song: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go? Pfft! Maybe I could have let this go if Wham didn't have an actual, completely obvious song tailor-made for a holiday compilation in their repertoire. But I mean, hello, does Club Tropicana not ring any bells? The drinks are free, and there's enough fun - and sunshine - for everyone. Either the decision to eschew that in favour of Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (on holiday?) was one serious piece of lateral thinking or someone's missed a song title open goal here.

Now, you might argue that dredging up the whole subject of a mildly contentious choice of song on an obscure summer compilation almost a quarter of a century on is only exacerbating matters; hell, you may even say that it's an utter irrelevance in an age where there are a million more serious things to get het up about; but by gum this rankles with me. What were they thinking?

Anyway, I need to calm down. Here's some more holiday music!

Pullover - Last Christmas mp3

For more on Pullover click on their label at the bottom of this post and you'll be whizzed away to a post I wrote about them a few years ago. Before you go, here's another of their songs which, while not being suitable for a holiday compilation in any way, is also dead good.

Pullover - Holiday mp3

Not always touched by your presents, dear

Right, well, it's December the 4th so high time to crack open the Christmas songs I reckon. Thanks once again are due to Spike, this time for putting me onto today's funny folkers Garfunkel & Oates - a sort of cynical, clued-up female American version of Flight of the Conchords. The best compliment I can pay G&O is that their songs don't suffer one bit in comparison with their more famous folking comedy forebears. Have a listen to the Christmas-present-woe-inspired Present Face and the wonderfully sardonic Year End Letter and see what you think.

Garfunkel & Oates - Year End Letter mp3 (right click)

Garfunkel & Oates - Present Face mp3 (right click)

On a non-seasonal but equally hilarious note, have a look at the vid for Pregnant Women Are Smug, quite possibly the greatest song title ever!



Mildly Interesting Pop Fact (not had one of these for a while): The duo's name was inspired by the Garfunkel's Restaurant chain and Robert Falcon Scott's stoical sidekick Captain Oates. This is a lie, obviously. The name comes, as you may well have deduced, from the perenially-in-the-shade-of-their-more-illustrious-partners Art Garfunkel and John Oates (of Hall & Oates fame).

Garfunkel & Oates's website