Speedmarket Avenue: "I Can Tell By Her Eyes"

After being smitten with Speedmarket Avenue's new record Way Better Now for the past several months, I decided it might be a nice idea to look into their earlier releases – a great idea, indeed. 6 years ago a pre-Sibille Attar Speedmarket Avenue released a four track 7" EP called Is Anything Ever Done? on tiny little Modesto Records in Sweden. The first track, "I Can Tell By Her Eyes" is probably the best song Speedmarket Avenue have ever written. Not that the new record isn't fantastic, but this song is just too too good. It's chock full of horn blasts and this little reverbed guitar picking that pops in now and then and it's just perfect. It's the little things, yknow? You should totally listen to it!

[MP3]: Speedmarket Avenue :: I Can Tell By Her Eyes (Highly Rec'd!!!)

As far as I know, you can actually still order the 7" from Modesto's website HERE. It's says to check on Indiepages, but I'm not seeing it there, so I'm guessing they're no longer distributing it. It's worth whatever the shipping may be though, I assure you.
Way Better is out now on Elefant Records, and if you don't have it, get it!
Speedmarket Avenue on MySpace!

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Everything With You!

Everything With You 7" cover art

My infallible love for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart is no secret at all. I think I summed it up to the best of my cheesy abilities in the fanzine included with their Atomic Beat split 7" earlier this year. What they're doing is beautiful and perfect and wonderfully genuine – AND not to mention – totally fucking consistent! Have they got a bad song? Nope. And they probably never will as long as they keep moving in the direction they're headed in. Their new single "Everything With You" is the perfect noisy pop song. Kip and Peggy's vocal harmonies sound gorgeous floating above the ringing guitar wash and OH HEY SOLO! "Everything With You" is the first single from their previously mentioned debut LP and will be out on the mighty Slumberland Records (US) and Fortuna POP (UK) in the fall. BUT! You can go hear it right now streaming on the Pobpah MySpace and bask in it's life-affirming fantasticness!

God I love pop songs.

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The Pains on Being Pure at Heart: "The Tenure Itch" @ Cake Shop

Well not only did I miss Popfest this year, but then I also missed Twee As Fuck NYC back in June! Luckily, there was video evidence of the beautiful-ness that occurred at both events. I remember The Pobpahs played this song back in um, March, and I looooooved it! The premise of the song is pretty hilarious, too, as I mentioned here. Archie Moore has done the mixes for their debut LP and it should be out sometime in early 2009! It will surely be nothing shy of amazing!!



I feel like I've been posting nothing but videos lately, so if you're not into that, I'm not sorry, cause I'm into that!

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The Smittens: "Gumdrops"

Unintentionally, we now have two Colin Clary related posts in a row! Here's the brand new video for "Gumdrops" from their fantastically-titled new record, The Coolest Thing About Love. The video stars a library, a librarian, a cat, a bunch of dancing kids, a bunch of dancing Smittens, and a bunch of extreme cuteness! As Colin would say... Yow!

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Colin Clary and the Magogs: "Shape of This Town"

Oh man oh man oh man! This song is the best song! I can't get that guitar out of my head and the video is just way too much fun. Way tooooooo much!



Happy Friday!!!

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We played for hours, looking for the fucking flowers

Pete and Pete

Not only was Pete and Pete the greatest television show to ever exist, but it also had a soundtrack better than any show ever had or ever will again. It's no secret that someone behind the show was a huge Stephin Merritt fan, as the the series is peppered with a little bit of everything he's ever done – Mag Fields, 6ths, Gothic Archies – it's all there. Everybody's heard those songs though. Right now I'd like to highlight what I think was the best song ever used on the show – the song that came bursting out of the speakers in "35 Hours" as Big Pete popped in a Kreb Zeppelin 8-track. The song, "Flowers" is, of course, NOT by Kreb Zeppelin, but by Dunedin band Chug. Chug featured the lovely voice of Norma O'Malley (from Look Blue Go Purple) and released several records on New Zealand's Flying Nun label in the early to mid 90s, but "Flowers" still remains the only song I've ever heard from them. It appeared on their very first 7" in 1992. It's a noisy, charging song and couldn't be more perfect for a sunny day. Listen! You Must! "This is gonna be goooooooooooooooood!"

[MP3]: Chug :: Flowers (Hiiiiiighly Recommended!)

Have a great day! :)

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Wake Up, See the Sun, What's Done Is Done

It's a good morning for some beautiful Ride songs.

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Paint A Dream

I dont think I've ever actually mentioned The Morning Paper on here before, which is a shame, because their great. Luckily their new video for their wonderful song "Paint A Dream" reminded me to talk about them a little bit more. They make some of sweetest, haziest, fuzziest, pop songs I've ever heard without guitars in them – the musical equivalent of waves crashing on the shore. They also – if I'm not mistaken – share an Ida with The Bridal Shop. And to top it all off, they have a new record out on Skipping Stones that you should most surely get your hands on. Walk to the beach and give it a listen, there's no better way to hear it!

Get the CDr EP or digital download HERE!
The Morning Paper on MySpace!

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Horse Shoes "I Can't Decide"

Jacob Graham of Horse Shoes – crooning, surely

Horse Shoes are from Orlando, Florida. Now, Orlando isn't the last place I'd expect to find an excellent indiepop band – but, it IS the last place I'd expect find one this dead pretty. Horse Shoes' songs are dreamy it hurts. Songs like "Midnight Running Club" and the amazing "I Can't Decide" recall many a Sarah Records band, but I'd say their closest contemporaries lie somewhere between The Bridal Shop and Apple Orchard. No songs up for download, but you should DEFINITELY head over to their MySpace and at the very least, give "I Can't Decide" a spin. As I type, I'm listening "The Imperial School" and I've decided that it is also fantastic, especially when the distortion comes on. There's an impending EP on the way care of the lovely Shelflife Records. Yay!!!

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"If You Like Everything, There's Nothing Left To Love" Tracklist!

Hello everyone!!! I know I've been a lazy blogger lately, but I hope that will be changing soon! Another thing I've been lazy about is that compilation I mentioned a month or so ago! I was originally planning (hoping) that I would get it finished and done by the end of June. As you can see, that clearly didn't happen. However, it is still 100% happening, and I'm still very very excited about it! Here's the tracklist, which I promised to reveal weeks upon weeks ago!



I think it's a wonderful bunch of songs! Lots of new or unheard songs from some of my (and hopefully your) very favorite bands! I'm now shooting for the end of Summer or earlier, depending on quickly I can get it all wrapped up. I will update in more detail when I feel that I can announce an actual official release date! Excitement!!!

xoxo
Matt

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Holiday Flyer :: Snowballing [Fingerpaint Records, 1994]

Something I haven't been doing for a while that I said I was going to try to do more is focus on old records – good ones, of course – so I'm going to actually start doing that more, starting now.

Roseville, California's Holiday Flyer were formed around 1993 by siblings John and Katie Conley and they remained a duo until their second LP, The Rainbow Confection. While I love their other records, my favorite thing they ever did still remains their first single, "Snowballing." It was released in 1994 on Fingerpaint Records, before their move to Silver Girl Records, and finally, Darla. It is my personal opinion that there is no finer record for falling asleep to than "Snowballing" and I'm thinking you might feel the same after you here it. John and Katie create something similar to the, um, softness, of The Softies, but with a certain warmth – mostly due to the hum of organ and keys – that you can't quite get from Rose and Jen, though the vocal harmonies are just as disarming. The late zine Caught In Flux once said of Holiday Flyer, "[they're] comforting like a cup of hot chocolate...on a drizzly weekend morning." Indeed. That particular description could be no less perfect if I said myself. If you have a heart, get this, and it will feel better.

[ZIP]: Holiday Flyer :: Snowballing 7" [Fingerpaint, 1994]
A1. Snowballing
B1. Roll Those Eyes Over Here
B2. Her Star

Have a lovely, rainy Monday!

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