Sunny pop

Make it feel like a pretty summer's day on holiday on this freezing cold November night! -

I've just been enjoying bopping to this whilst watching fireworks from my window!

I still miss Kenickie, and there's still not been anyone quite like them.

Brighton graffiti

Enjoyed this pretty cassette tape themed graffiti whilst wandering round Brighton recently. There was plenty of it, all around the city. This was on the downward walk from the train station to the sea front.

Had heard that Rounder Records was rumoured to be closing down, and spent a while trying to find the store - it was always a little tricky to find. Sadly, when we found the square where it was based, was faced with this mural tribute:

Resident Records survives, as do a large number of great little second hand shops, but it is sad to see this loss. Memories of one particular day trip, on a scorching hot day, when I bought Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, plus a Royskopp album, and sat on the beach and walked all along the cliff tops, listening to both discs on my CD Walkman...

This visit, I had a good browse about the many music shops, and I bought The Last Shop Standing, the DVD about the closure of hundreds of independent record shops in the last couple of decades - the film is worth any music fan's time, as is the book. When the film flashes up that once there were over 2,000 shops, and now we are down to a little over 200, I must admit, I got a bit tearful. I love Borderline Records in the Laines. In fact the guy from this place was featured in the aforementioned DVD, and he's a very helpful, nice bloke. The carrier bags given with our purchases that day were outstanding, and I shall scan in a photo soon. I could buy a lot from here - it specialises in 60s/70s stuff, particularly psychedelic/garage/rock, and all kinds of specialist genres. My last purchases here was a sound recording of Jack Kerouac's poetry with live jazz music. My companion bought a compilation of 60s French female singer-songwriters, plus something by Brigitte Bardot.

Brighton was fantastic, as ever. I enjoyed the way that as soon as I got into Brighton, music played wherever I seemed to turn. The first cafe we happened to step into featured a Belle and Sebastian album playing, whilst cafe staff sung cheerfully along. Then wandering around the lanes, I smiled to hear one of my favourite Best Coast songs playing loudly into the street - from, not any kind of overtly music type store or hangout, but a bag/jewellery shop. On one of my last visits, I loved stumbling across a pub that was in the middle of a folk sing-a-long, and I had great fun sitting round the live musicians in the cosy, snug pub setting.

Wimbledon book exchange

I smiled when passing the book exchange in the waiting room on platform 5 of Wimbledon train station - a fanzine was placed on the window sill inside! I have been thinking of leaving my mini zines there for a while but every time I pass, I've forgotten and am empty handed. Not so today - today I could leave a lovely handful of the latest mini issue of The All Thrills No Frills Music Bill.

The zine I picked up in return was a railway walkers' enthusiasts magazine - excellent! not what I'd ever usually read so I enjoyed that little peek into this world - of lists of railway bridges, reports on disused railway line walks, and updates on minutiae changes to stations all round the UK. A strange breed of people - but I am the music fan equivalent so I identify, frankly.

I've thought of at least three people I could pass this little magazine onto and no doubt will. It feels good leaving your zine in random places. I finally had my first feedback from a stranger via a comment on here, and it felt good to have that communication, to know that someone gets what I'm doing and enjoys it.

Mix tape heaven - literally!

I've just been poring over stacks and stacks of somebody's old compilation tapes! They were in the bargain box outside a shop. Yellowing pen ink, italic handwriting, themes, puns, and me unable to contain myself from proclaiming: Mega City Four! See See Rider! Ride! The Cure! Julian Cope! Birdland! Also umming curiously - Young Gods, Tim Pope, Fuzztones, Therapy?, Pet Shop Boys. Never Enough by The Cure seems a favourite. I love the perfect tryptich of - Now They'll Sleep by Belly / Leave them All Behind by Ride / Treason by Teardrop Explodes! I am an absolute romantic about this sort of thing. So ecstatic to unearth and have access to such stuff - it's personal. Somehow I knew it was a male who had made the tapes, and I proved right. I can't wait to listen to all this and write more on this topic! I am also curious about the Pixies mix versus what Pixies mix someone made me about eleven years ago. I love music fandom!

October/November interim issue out now!

I'm pleased to have finished the latest mini issue of The All Thrills No Frills Music Bill, for October/November!

I dropped off the first batch in a couple of pubs/bars and at the Stuart Hall library yesterday. I suddenly realised I had not changed the date on the front cover to 'October/November', though, so the first batch will be oddities, and I shall edit and reprint my next batch! So if you've got one of these wonky ones, lucky you - who knows, a future collectors' item?

Indie pop fans will recognise that Neil Armstrong is on the cover this issue - as doctored lovingly by Allo Darlin' on the inner sleeve of their last album, Europe! I thought it apt, given the inclusion of an Allo Darlin' review, plus a nice tribute to the space man. When I was about 8 years old, I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, you know.

I am going to do a deal for anyone who has not got all three of the mini issues, and you can get them for flat rate cost: £1.10 which covers copying and postage. Get in touch if interested as I still haven't figured out a way to link to Paypal yet! I keep forgetting to ask people's advice...

Town Bike

Town Bike are my new favourite band!

 

I saw them playing on the same bill as Tender Trap, at the Buffalo Bar, recently, and they were fab! Seeing them play live, and hearing their lovely Merseyside tones, I really want to go and have some more musical adventures in Liverpool, as it's been years since I went there!

There shall be a gig write up about Town Bike (and Tender Trap!) in the new mini issue of the paper version of The All Thrills No Frills Music Bill. I am literally just putting the finishing touches to it all! More news on here soon!

Back to Town Bike. They are wonderful punk pop, of the sort that I used to sing along to in 90s indie radio/bedroom/homework land. I love that the singer has a professional pop sounding voice that is also sugary fun and rides atop frantic indie punk guitar rock.

They have a song with an addictive chorus about how 'you fucking broke my bastard heart!' - it's sung with such sweetness and light, innocent as well as sweary, I love how it sounds. You can still download it for free.

http://townbike.bandcamp.com/album/bastard-heart-crazy-crazy-nights-single

Shamefully, I have only just woken up to the neatness of Band Camp. On one page, you can find a new band and listen to and/or download their discography (usually for a small cost), and you've got photos of the band, and upcoming gig listings on there too. So useful! Myspace didn't quite do it as well, I like this kind of site a lot. I will mainly be listening, then buying the physical music, as I don't rely on downloaded music very much and prefer records in my house!

Anyway, once again, I love Town Bike! Come back to London again very bloody bastard soon (as they say!).

Tilly and the Wall return !!

I've never felt the absence of a band quite as I have felt Tilly and the Wall's the last three years or so.

I've been craving new music or gigs from them ever since; have sadly missed the lively brightness they instantly instigate whenever they're around. No bands have taken their place in my heart. I emailed their label earlier this year, in fact, fearing that the band had split. I remembered that one of the band had become a mother in the last few years, and I wondered if it meant the band were no longer active.

In the summer, I had a surprisingly hard task trying to find a record shop that stocked or could order in a copy of their debut album, Wild Like Children. It was the perfect birthday present for a friend, music to bolster the mood, with inspired female vocals, and incredible energy. A couple of record shops told me the album had been deleted. I since tracked it down (though after the friend's birthday, which is a shame), in a second hand record shop. The thought of this album being unavailable for ever more fills me with a certain amount of despair - my own copy is scratched to heck due to it being such a life-saver/life-enriching for many years. It will always make me smile and feel glad again. I don't exaggerate when I declare it one of my all-time favourite albums. From start to finish, I am in head over heels in love with this album.

If I hadn't have picked up a copy of Stool Pigeon magazine today from Flashback Records, I would probably remain oblivious for quite some time to the fact that, actually, the band have just last week released a new album, and two limited edition singles!

I'm so excited to hear this news, and I can't wait to get hold of a copy of the album!

I found this recent interview here.

They're currently touring the US, and I wonder if early next year they may make it over to Europe/the UK?! I will be all of a fever at such news. They're the only band that can get me dancing and feeling truly free, with abandon.

There are several tracks up and about the internet to sample, including the single Defenders, which is really growing on me, and has many typical Tilly trademarks, but with a new sound and mood to it as well. I love the children's backing vocals.

http://soundcloud.com/teamlove

It's the first single from the new album, Heavy Moods. It carries on where they left off with experimenting with a more dance-based and electric guitar sound, with elements of hip hop.

Now I am sitting on the edge of my proverbial seat, awaiting Tilly and the Wall fever anew - a visit to the UK, tour dates, interviews, and plenty of smiling, clapping, tapping, and dancing.... I hope it's soon!

http://officialtillyandthewall.tumblr.com/