Dream Diary

Dream Diary

Dream Diary are pop from none other than Brooklyn, NY. However, unlike much of the pop currently bursting out of the city, Dream Diary's sound seems to owe less to the fuzzy garage spirit than most – settling much more cozily into the early Sarah Records area. Listening to the two songs currently on their MySpace ("Bird In My Garden" and "Is He Really Mine?"), my mind started shouting out Sea Urchins! Brighter! Poppyheads! Their songs are classic, unabashedly indiepop – crafted exclusively for anyone with a heart worth melting. They're currently without a label, and I see no plans for a release yet, but hopefully something won't be too far off.

Listen to Dream Diary on MySpace!

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Wednesday Shoegaze Mélange

Mmmmmm Wednesday.

Hello hello! This post, like the others, is a quick five-song mix of random songs that I love a lot. However, today there's a theme, which unless you're blind, you should be fairly aware of already. Anyway, I don't have too much to say, except that if you've never heard some of these before, I would urge you to do so, cause you might just fall in love. It's hard not too, sometimes.

[MP3]: Slowdive :: Alison
from the Souvlaki LP [Creation Records, 1993]

[MP3]: Secret Shine :: Temporal
from the Untouched LP [Sarah Records, 1993]

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine :: Cigarette In Your Bed
from the You Made Me Realise EP [Creation Records, 1988]

[MP3]: Eternal :: Sleep
from the Breathe 7" [Sarah Records, 1991]

[MP3]: Ride :: Like A Day Dream
from the Play EP [Creation Records, 1990]

Well! Okay! Bye! Also, I may do a part two of this sometime cause as I was picking songs, I ran across a lot more than five that I wanted to post, and I'd like to post them sometime. So yeah, awesome.

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I'm Back! / The Sea Urchins: Pristine Christine 7"

"Pristine Christine" (SARAH1)

The Sea Urchins' Pristine Cristine 7" marked the very first sounds to come out the door of Sarah Records back in 1987. Though it may have not been apparent at the time, the song "Pristine Christine," would end up being a pretty solid (for the most part) display of things to come for Sarah Records. Those bright jangly guitars, joyful choruses, and beautifully simple guitar solos are some of my favorite things ever and they're all right here on this record. "Pristine Christine" is the single's obvious highlight, but while a bit more toned down, "Sullen Eyes" is definitely one of my favorite Sea Urchins tracks ever. There's a bit more Sea Urchins info to be found at Twee.net if you care to investigate. Well, enjoy, and keep those requests coming!

The Sea Urchins
Pristine Christine
[Sarah Records, 1987]
DOWNLOAD IT (.ZIP file, 18mb)

Tracklist:
1. Pristine Christine
2. Sullen Eyes
3. Everglades

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Aberdeen: Byron 7"

"Byron" (sarah093)

I think a week or so ago someone said something along the lines of "Do Aberdeen next!" in the comments of the "You Should All be Murdered" post, and well, I know it wasn't exactly next, but here's my absolute favorite Aberdeen single. Byron was released in 1994 and was the band's first single on Sarah Records, and well, ever. All three tracks on the single are great, but there's no argument really that A-side "Byron" is the definite highlight.

In my opinion, "Byron" the best song the band ever wrote. It opens with a faint synth before drums and tambourine come in, but the song doesn't really get going until the beautiful guitar enters. The way the delayed guitar picking plays off the twinkling piano/keyboard, and vice versa, is just mesmerizing (and wildly dancable). Also worth noting is lead singer Beth Arzy's voice, as it is probably the band's best instrument, floating breathlessly over the music, turning into more of a dream than a song. Anyway, if you like Aberdeen then you'll love this (if you don't already have it), but if this is new to you then I hope you give it a listen and love it as much as I do! More info on Aberdeen can be found at Tweenet. Like always, please feel free to leave any requests in the comments.

Aberdeen
Byron
[Sarah Records, 1994]
DOWNLOAD IT (.ZIP file, 18mb)

Tracklist:
1. Byron
2. Toy Tambourine
3. Fran

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Even As We Speak: Peel Session

I couldn't find a photo of the band that was big enough, so I made this... I guess it works.

Aside from maybe two or three other records, Even As We Speak's Feral Pop Frenzy is one of my all -time favorite Sarah releases. It's basically flawless and so is the Peel Session they did on January 9, 1992. They played three tracks from Feral Pop Frenzy and one non-album track, "Stay With Me." The quality on this is fantastic and as far as I know this is the only recorded version of "Stay With Me." I hope you like it as much as I do!

Even As We Speak
Peel Session 1/9/1992

Tracklist:
1. [MP3]: Falling Down The Stairs
2. [MP3]: Stay With Me
3. [MP3]: Straight As An Arrow
4. [MP3]: Sailors' Graves

Egg Records in the UK are supposed to be releasing a sort of end-all-be-all Even As We Speak comp sometime in the next couple months comprised of the band's first 17 tracks ever released, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

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The Field Mice: Missing The Moon 12"

Missing The Moon (Sarah057)

I didn't intend to post two Sarah releases in a row (this one being a 12" single, rather than a 7"), but that's the just the way it ended up going I guess. It all doesn't really matter though because if you've heard this record you know it's awesome, and if you're hearing it for the first time, it's gonna be awesome.

One of their very longest songs, "Missing The Moon" blended indiepop and electronica perfectly, in a way that a many bands have tried to do, but haven't quite succeeded in doing. It opens with a nice soft synth that bleeds right into a busy layer of keyboards, with drums following right along. Whenever I listen to this song I just want it to go on forever and ever, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

The b-sides, "A Wrong Turn And Raindrops" and "An Earlier Autumn" contrast the overly electronic sound of "Missing The Moon" really well, both of them being nice relaxing acoustic tracks. Listen to it on repeat and by the time the b-sides are over, you should be ready for "Missing The Moon" again! More info on The Field Mice at Tweenet.

The Field Mice
Missing The Moon
[Sarah Records, 1991]
DOWNLOAD IT (.ZIP file, 21mb)

Tracklist:
1. Missing The Moon
2. A Wrong Turn And Raindrops
3. An Earlier Autumn

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Another Sunny Day: You Should All Be Murdered 7"

"You Should All Be Murdered" (sarah022)

These days I listen to a lot more older stuff than new stuff, and some of this old stuff is out-of-print/hard-to-find/M.I.A./whatever, so I guess what I'm trying to say is I think it'd be pretty fun to post a lot more old singles than I currently do. They're all out of print 7"s basically, so I'm assuming it's cool to spread them around and stuff. Anyway, yeah I hope some people like the idea of this, I think it'll be more enjoyable and fantastic.

The way I see it is there's no better way to get going than to share with you what is probably my favorite single ever: Another Sunny Day's grimly titled "You Should All Be Murdered" b/w "Horseriding" and "Green." Released on Sarah Records back in 1989, it was one of the label's most popular records ever, likely due to the leading track's overall "Smiths-ness." Deritavive or not, it really doesn't matter, it's an amazing song and an amazing single and one of my favorite songs ever.

Another Sunny Day
You Should All Be Murdered
[Sarah Records, 1989]
DOWNLOAD IT (.ZIP File, 15mb)

Tracklist:
1. You Should All be Murdered
2. Horseriding
3. Green

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