Indietracks Festival / all things C86 and indiepop!

[Flex Your Head]

It's now three weeks since Murray's brilliant collection of songs arrived at my home. Means I will now be moving onto CD 3 as playing one each week to death. Will certainly lift the gloom from that Monday morning feeling.

Hope you enjoy it. What were your faves from Disc 2? I was looking at your post re Disc 1...

Have been playing CD 1 from Flex's collection almost constantly when in the car this past weekend. Some really great stuff and the shorter songs are just prefect. Personal favourites so far include The Blue Minkies- Tough Punks Are Square, The Sea lions- On and Off and The Legends. To be honest though its all brilliant.

The Blue Minkies were brilliant, pretty much my favourite band ever from Brighton. I've got about 33 tracks by them and am meant to be releasing a retrospective thingie at some point, but barely have any free time and am lazy; not a great combo.
Here's a live pic of them; 1 point for identifying the guitarist on the right of the shot.


The Sea Lions are from Oxnard, California but have that 80's jangly UK indiepop sound down to a tee. I love them so much even though (maybe necause?) the vocals are as flat as Stephen Pastel's. I was chatting to a couple of them at a small gig in London last year and they're really really into anarcho punk and hardcore (they cover Black Flag on a recent split 7"). I thought I knew a lot about that whole scene, but they were talking about tiny little obscure bands from places like Yeovil who only ever released a cassette recorded in their bedroom back in 1982.
You can (and should) buy their CD for about £6 on ebay now, p&p included )


The Legends from Sweden originally pretended to be a 9-piece band playing fuzzy pop songs, but are in fact just one man; Johan Angergård. He founded Labrador Records and is also in Club 8 and Acid House Kings. He is a pop genius yet people throw that phrase at knobs like Simon Cowell. The 'Up Against The Legends' LP from 2004 has been in my all-time Top 10 since it was released. Again, You can (and should) buy their CD for about £6 on ebay now, p&p included.

If you only have a spare 2.5 minutes today, make sure you spend it watching this:



(I might be slightly tipsy.)

 

[Grassman]

from...."places like Yeovil.."

Yeovil had a big indie scene in the 80s/early 90s, not just the lovely Chesterfields, but The Beat Hotel, Basinger, Bubblegum Splash and others I'm struggling to recall. A group of us from Tun Wells were on holiday in the West Country in, I think, 1989 and we thought we'd visit Yeovils bi-weekly Indie club (based helpfully in nearby Sherbourne). Of course we turned up on the wrong week and ended up having a scuffle(!) with the locals who didn't like the cut of our jib - or our red Lada.

 

[Staly]

I was chatting to a couple of them at a small gig in London last year and they're really really into anarcho punk and hardcore (they cover Black Flag on a recent split 7"). I thought I knew a lot about that whole scene, but they were talking about tiny little obscure bands from places like Yeovil who only ever released a cassette recorded in their bedroom back in 1982.

Have you heard of Anarka and Poppy? They were part of that scene but only ever recorded one single which never got released. I'm supposed to be going to their first gig in 30 years in Preston in a couple of weeks because their drummer's a friend of a friend. Supporting Zounds. I love all that stuff....

Perhaps we should start an anarcho punk thread?

 

[Flex Your Head]

Have you heard of Anarka and Poppy? They were part of that scene but only ever recorded one single which never got released. I'm supposed to be going to their first gig in 30 years in Preston in a couple of weeks because their drummer's a friend of a friend. Supporting Zounds. I love all that stuff....

Perhaps we should start an anarcho punk thread?

Never heard of Anarka and Poppy, but there were soooo many bands in that scene who barely ever got heard beyond their local following. This site does a good job of remembering them all - http://killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/

Have to admit that I hardly ever listen to the anarcho stuff any more, but I do love to reminisce and that would probably get me right back in to it again. Have you read any of the Ian Glasper books? Maybe we should start a new thread, but it'd probably get over-run by Exploited, Special Duties and 4-Skin fans!
Mind you, I could post a link to The Rapid Pips - my old US influenced hardcore band - only ever recordings, from Newhaven Boys' Club circa 1985. Louder, faster, shorter, harder!

Also, did you know that Sean at Rough Trade who compiled most of the RT Shops Indiepop double CD is a massive anarcho fan too? He's a member of the brilliant Hard Skin (spoof Oi?), Wat Tyler and used to run the Rugger Bugger label. Nice bloke.

 

[Staly]

Never heard of Anarka and Poppy, but there were soooo many bands in that scene who barely ever got heard beyond their local following. This site does a good job of remembering them all - http://killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/

Have to admit that I hardly ever listen to the anarcho stuff any more, but I do love to reminisce and that would probably get me right back in to it again. Have you read any of the Ian Glasper books? Maybe we should start a new thread, but it'd probably get over-run by Exploited, Special Duties and 4-Skin fans!
Mind you, I could post a link to The Rapid Pips - my old US influenced hardcore band - only ever recordings, from Newhaven Boys' Club circa 1985. Louder, faster, shorter, harder!

Also, did you know that Sean at Rough Trade who compiled most of the RT Shops Indiepop double CD is a massive anarcho fan too? He's a member of the brilliant Hard Skin (spoof Oi?), Wat Tyler and used to run the Rugger Bugger label. Nice bloke.

I used to like Wat tyler - Justify Your Book.

I've read all the Ian Glasper books apart from the latest one about 90s punk, which is on my ever lengthening "must buy" list. Do the Rabid Pips get a mention?

Anarka and Poppy were included on one of the recent Overground anarcho compilations: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-Capitalism-Anarcho-Vol-4-Various-Artists/dp/B000HIVH6Q/ref=pd_sim_m_h__3. I'd not listened to much of this stuff for years, but these resparked my interest. I'd forgotten what a great band Rudimentary Peni were....

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Have to admit that I hardly ever listen to the anarcho stuff any more, but I do love to reminisce and that would probably get me right back in to it again.

Being that my real affections lie at the twee end of Indie-pop, anarcho punk is very much not my bag. But the second part of your sentence is so true.

This wonderful thread has has massively re-stoked my love of not just this stuff, but music generally. I've bought more CDs since this thread started than in probably the five years previous.

Thank you all x

 

[Staly]

Being that my real affections lie at the twee end of Indie-pop, anarcho punk is very much not my bag. But the second part of your sentence is so true.

This wonderful thread has has massively re-stoked my love of not just this stuff, but music generally. I've bought more CDs since this thread started than in probably the five years previous.

Thank you all x

Go on, give Rudimentary Peni a go. You know you want to really.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Go on, give Rudimentary Peni a go. You know you want to really.

I'm always prepared to give stuff a go...

YouTube throws up Cacophony, which didnt bode well, and lived 'up' to expectation!

Then I tried 'Farce'. Emblazoned across the bottom of the sleeve, are the words "Don't pay more than 80p". They needn't have worried...

 

[simon swagbag]

This wonderful thread has has massively re-stoked my love of not just this stuff, but music generally. I've bought more CDs since this thread started than in probably the five years previous.

Thank you all x

Similarly, I've been up in my loft more times since this thread started than in probably the five years previous.
I still can't believe my copy of Pristine Christine is worth over £100!

 

[Staly]

I'm always prepared to give stuff a go...

YouTube throws up Cacophony, which didnt bode well, and lived 'up' to expectation!

Then I tried 'Farce'. Emblazoned across the bottom of the sleeve, are the words "Don't pay more than 80p". They needn't have worried...

Cacophony's a tough listen, I'll give you that. farce is pure pop though....

 

[tinycowboy]

It's not exactly anarcho punk, but my children were chortling into their pasta as I told them about Extreme Noise Terror songs lasting less than a second and consisting solely of the lead singer shouting "Hurrrrr!" accompanied by a drumbeat, a bass note and a truncated guitar chord.

Like HKFC, this is not really my bag, but, also like HKFC, this thread has helped me realise that C86 was probably the most influential musical genre in my life - due to a combination of it being the first time I felt part of a musical movement (at the age of 15/16), the first music I liked that I felt was "cool", the tunes, John Peel on the radio, the clothes, etc. I think music became the main thing in my life at this point. Couldn't wait for Mondays after school, searching through the 7" and 12" new releases at the record shop. Exciting times....

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Hope you enjoy it. What were your faves from Disc 2? I was looking at your post re Disc 1

Thanks for the band profiles Murray. No idea who the female Blue Minkie is but guessing she is from Brighton. I really enjoyed CD 2 and played it virtually non stop driving to Wolverhampton at the weekend. The track I was so much looking forward to ' I'd run into oncoming traffic for Clare Grogan' by Roadside Popper did not disappoint. Other favourites included Strawberry Fair, Tender Trap ( Who I think are Brighton based) The Fireworks and The Danny Says. My overall winner is a relatively simple song which I find incrediably catchy and am hooked on. That's Angela Jones by Bertiebees. (I thinks that's who it is- not got listing with me) A great collection overall though and to think just a few weeks ago I had not heard any of them!

 

[Flex Your Head]

Go on, give Rudimentary Peni a go. You know you want to really.

Not the most user-friendly introduction to the whole anarcho sound I remember feeling genuinely quite scared when I first heard Vampire State Building, and Nik Blinko's artwork is terrifying in more ways than one. I went to see one of their rare gigs at the Richmond (in Brighton), but the power went just before they were due to play and could not be repaired. Tsk!

For those with very low expectations, you can hear 30 second snippets of my old hardcore band, here - http://www.last.fm/music/Rapid+Pips/Slamming+and+Thrashing,+Jammin g+and+Bashing (you can download the whole songs if you like... but no-one will )) We were called The Rapid Pips after this famous phrase which shows my age; "when you hear the rapid pips, insert your money."

Thanks for the band profiles Murray. No idea who the female Blue Minkie is but guessing she is from Brighton. I really enjoyed CD 2 and played it virtually non stop driving to Wolverhampton at the weekend. The track I was so much looking forward to ' I'd run into oncoming traffic for Clare Grogan' by Roadside Popper did not disappoint. Other favourites included Strawberry Fair, Tender Trap ( Who I think are Brighton based) The Fireworks and The Danny Says. My overall winner is a relatively simple song which I find incrediably catchy and am hooked on. That's Angela Jones by Bertiebees. (I thinks that's who it is- not got listing with me) A great collection overall though and to think just a few weeks ago I had not heard any of them!

The Blue Minkie with the guitar is the lovely Steph from Shrag, and her new band Summer Hunter.

Roadside Poppies (from England and Denmark) played Indietracks in 2008 which is where I bought the CDEP. They did make all of their stuff available for free on their website, but I can't seem to find the link to the tracks anymore. I've got another 8 songs by them; if you like I could maybe stick them on to a disc with a load of Bartlebees stuff? I absolutely love The Bartlebees; them and Razorcuts are the two bands I most regret never having managed to see live.

Roadside Poppies at Indietracks on the church stage.


I love this fan-made video for 'She Loves Monsters' -

 

[Flex Your Head]

Ooh, you can stream the whole Joanna Gruesome album here:

http://pitchfork.com/advance/214-weird-sister/

I particularly recommend tracks 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

They've just landed the support slot on the Los Campesinos! tour. Won't be long till it's the other way round ;o)

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I love this fan-made video for 'She Loves Monsters' -

That is fantastic. Love it

 

[shaun_rc]

Indietracks Festival 2013. The thread for all things C86

The Blue Minkie with the guitar is the lovely Steph from Shrag, and her new band Summer Hunter.

I heard a rumour that Summer Hunter have already split up. Hope not though, they are/were good...

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Does anybody have a Forget me nots ep, called 'To Fay Wray'. I was searching for it online, in my further attempt to replace the music from all my long lost vinyl, but no luck. I did just buy Hullabaloo for 1p though (£1.26 postage...).

Also, I had a 7" (or maybe 12") of a solo recording by Brix Smith, called Spin this Web. Does anyone remember that?

 

[tinycowboy]

Also, I had a 7" (or maybe 12") of a solo recording by Brix Smith, called Spin this Web. Does anyone remember that?

I'll add it to your list HK - by The Adult Net.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'll add it to your list HK - by The Adult Net.

Is that right? Thanks. For some reason, I was CERTAIN that it was her on her own.

Senility beckons.

The amazon fairy just sorted tonight's drive..

 

[tinycowboy]

Senility beckons.

I'm sure you're not the first person to confuse the solo releases of Brix E Smith with those of The Adult Net

The amazon fairy just sorted tonight's drive..

I hope you're better at keeping tabs on unlistened to CDs than I am - I must have 20 or 30 of them that I've never played - a solo car journey is always good though: YOUR choice, YOUR volume.