unpopular

All Tied Up

 

That's 24 CDs rght there, all tied up nicely with a starry ribbon and ready for archiving.

All the most Unpopular artists of 2013

Adorable Advance Base Agony Aunts The All-About Allo Darlin' The Almighty Rhombus Alpaca Sports Amor de Días Anaesthetics Ancient Times Anna Bradley Anthony Reynolds featuring Colin Wilson the aquadolls Arms of Tripoli Astrid Madberg Astro Children Au Revoir Simone The Ballet Beach Arabs Beach Vacation Beat Hotel Beat Radio BELLE GHOUL Best Friends Big Wave Big Wave Riders the bilinda butchers Bird Nest Roys The Bitter Springs Black Hearted Brother The Black Tambourines  Bloods Blooper The Blue Aeroplanes Blue Hawaii BMX Bandits Border Boys Bored Nothing Bow Wow Wow The Boy Least Likely To Break It Up Breathe Out Brown Bubblegum Lemonade Bypassers Camperdown & Out Capitals Chalk And Numbers Chaos Chaos Charlie Big Time Cherry Glazerr The Chills The Choo Choo Trains Chris T-T & The Hoodrats A Classic Education Cloud Club 8 Coach Station Reunion Colour Me Wednesday Comet Gain Cosines The Courtneys CRISTINA QUESADA Crystal Stilts The Dambuilders Dan Mariska & The Boys Choir Dark Furs Darren Hanlon Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament Day Ravies Daybehavior Dean Wareham Dear Georgiana Death And Vanilla Death Masks The Death Of Pop Delay Trees The Delphines The Dentals Dick Diver Dios Mio Dog Fish Cat Bird Dog Party Dora Maar Dot Dash The Doyleys Dream Boys Dutch Barn Elen Never Sleeps Elizabeth Morris Emily Reo Esterhazy Eva On The Western Castle Island The Eversons The Fabergettes The Fall Fat Children The Feelies Finnmark! Firestations The Flamin' Groovies The Flatmates Flies on you Flowers Francisco the Man French for rabbits Fulhäst FURY THINGS Future Bible Heroes Gal Gracen Galoshins Gang Of Four Gayze Georgiana Starlington GERMANS Ghost Wave Ginnels GIORGIO TUMA with LAETITIA SADIER Girl President the girl with the replaceable head Go Violets Golden The Gooch Palms The Good Sports Goodman Grand Rapids Grant Hart The Great American Novel Hacia Dos Veranos The Hang Ups Harvey Williams Has a Shadow Heathers Heaven HEHFU HELEN LOVE Hibou His Clancyness Hong Kong In The 60s Howth The Human Hearts Hurrah! I Am A Man With A St Tropez Tan I DREAM IN TRANSIT The Indelicates The Intercepteurs Jack Hayter James X. Boyd & The Boydoids Jeff Mellin Birds Of California Jim Ruiz Set Jonnie Common Josef K Just Handshakes The Keepsies Kestrels Kid Canaveral Kids On A Crime Spree King Krule The Kinks Kitchens Of Distinction The Left Outsides Let's Active Life Model lispector Literature Lizard Kisses Lloyd Cole Lockets Lost Tapes Lowpines Magazine THE MAGIC THEATRE The Magnetic Fields Major Leagues makthaverskan Males Manors Marc Riley With The Creepers Mariage Blanc Mark Crozer & The Rels Mark Wynn The Market Squares Martha Mavis Gary Mazzy Star McCarthy The Mentalettes Michael Head And The Red Elastic Band the Middle Ones Mirror Parties Mmdelai MONEY Monnone Alone moscow olympics The Motorcycle Boy Mount Kimbie Mount Sharp Movieland Music For Voyeurs Mutual Benefit My Favorite The Naima Train Neil Jarvis The New Slave The Nightingales No Ditching North Highlands Northern Portrait One Man Bannister ONSIND Orphans Os Drongos The Oscillation Pale Spectres Palms Paperfangs Paradise Parasite Diet The Pastels Paul Handyside Paul Messis Paul Simpson Pauline Murray And The Invisible Girls Pet Cat Phil Ochs Pin Group Piper Laurie & Sissy Spacek The Pleasures Pale Poledo Pony Time Popstrangers Post Prefab Sprout Princess Chelsea The Prophet Hens PUPS RADSTEWART Randolph's Leap Raw Geronimo Reverieme Revolutionary Corps of Teenage Jesus vs. Suicide Rexine The Rich Hands Rockingbirds Rose Elinor Dougall The Rosy Crucifixion Royal Shoals Ruthann Friedman Sacred Paws Sad Day For Puppets Sailors of Neptune Salad Boys Sambassadeur Sauna Sauna Youth Say Jansfield SCARS Scott Fagan Sea Pinks The Sea Urchins Sebadoh Secret Beach Secret Goldfish The Secret History September Girls SEX DREAM Sexual Objects Shambles Miller The Shangri-Las Sharpie Crows Shy Boys The Siddeleys Skelocrats Skytone Sleaford Mods Sleuth Small Reactions So Sexual Soft Arrows Songs Songs For Walter Sonic Youth The Sorry Kisses Sourpatch The Space Agency The Spook School The Stammer Stephen Duffy Stereolab Stevie Jackson Still Corners Strange Relations Street Chant The Style Council The Superman Revenge Squad Band Sweet Valley Slumber Party The Sweets Swiss Alps t:dy t:wns T54 Talking Heads Tape Waves Tear Talk The Teardrop Explodes Testbild! Thee AHs This Many Boyfriends Tiger Trap Tiny Fireflies Toy Toy Love Transistors Trick Mammoth Trwbador Tullycraft Tusindfald TV Girl Twin Library Typsy Panthre Tyrannosaurus Dead Velcro Veronica Falls The Very Most The Very Things The Vickers Victoria and Jacob Vital disorders Wah! Wake The President The Wasps the Wave Pictures The Wednesday Club Weekender Westkust The Wharves Whirr The Wild Ones The Wild Swans The Wildes The Wind-up Birds Without Feathers The Wolfhound World Of Twist Yeah Jazz THE YEARNING The Yellow Melodies YOOFS The Young Sinclairs Younghusband 10,000 Maniacs 14 Iced Bears 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 24 - Prophet Hens, Trick Mammoth, Astro Children, Mavis Gary and Males

Left It Out To Shine - The Prophet Hens (from 'Popular People Do Popular People' LP)
Delphine (With A Purpose) - Trick Mammoth (from Digital Double A-Side)
Gaze - Astro Children (from 'Proteus' LP)
Pin Me Up - Mavis Gary (from 'Pin Me Up' LP)
So High - Males (from 'Run Run Run / MalesMalesMales' LP)

All hail the new sound of Young Dunedin. I swear to god there is something magical in the air down there. Certainly something was fuelling this impressive production line of insanely addictive, quirky off-kilter Pop in 2013. Of course, being on the other side of the world it is entirely possible that every year has seen some kind of wonderful development in New Zealand Pop that I just have not been aware of, but nevertheless one does suspect that 2013 will be seen as one of remarkably fine vintage.

So this final advent entry kind of breaks all the rules* by throwing a full fist of songs firmly in your face, and no apologies for that. Indeed such was the breadth and depth of sounds coming out of New Zealand this year that the difficulty was keeping it to just five. Of those five, the (almost) common thread is the wonderful Fishrider Records imprint who released the terrific Prophet Hens, Males and Trick Mammoth records. Indeed you may recall Fishrider from last years’ advent series with The Puddle and Opposite Sex records, and the good news is that they will once again hook up with Exeter’s finest Occultation label to issue the debut Trick Mammoth full length ‘Floristry’ in the UK. In fact, Trick Mammoth are another connecting thread between four of these cuts, for this fabulously talented trio weave their tentacles into into Males (Sam Valentine), Astro Children (Millie Lovelock) and Mavis Gary (which actually is the solo trading title of Adrian Ng). These kids really were on fire this year. Ditto Prophet Hens, whose ‘Popular People Do Popular People’ was half an hour of the finest contemporary concoction of that legendary (mythical?) ‘Dunedin Sound’.

Can’t wait for 2014.

     
*No Rules, man!

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 23 - The Chills

Molten Gold - The Chills (digital single)

I had to double-check the date on the sleeve of the 2004 ‘Stand By’ EP to believe that this really was the first new recording by Martin Phillips and The Chills in almost a decade*. And really what more reason do you need to celebrate? For has there ever been a less then great record by The Chills? Even the sprawling sketchbook collection of 2000’s ’The Secret Box’ was packed to the brim with rough gems sparkling in the grime of the Pop landscape.

And then as if this joyous single was not enough of a treat Fire Records also unleashed the aptly titled ‘Somewhere Beautiful’ live collection towards the tail end of the year. 

Perfection.

 

* I think we can safely say that 'How times flies’ is now officially the subtitle to this year’s Unpopular Advent series... 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 22 - Lloyd Cole

Kids Today - Lloyd Cole (from 'Standards' LP)

If you had told me even back in October that one of my favourite records of 2013 would be by Lloyd Cole I would have laughed in your face, asked you what you’d been drinking and could I have a wee nip of it too please? Not that I had anything against Lloyd as such. I mean, yes, back in 1984 the ‘Rattlensakes’ album was certainly one of my most played discs, and even into 1985 I was spinning ‘Lost Weekend’ and the ‘Easy Pieces’ set on a regular basis but gosh, yes, I suppose also I fell into believing the music press backlash when they started laughing about Cole’s golfing or whatever it was… Besides which there were a million and one other fresher, more exciting sounds to explore so no regrets and all that.

I am not certain why I suddenly decided to listen to ‘Standards’ so late in the year. I had let it pass me by on its release, vaguely aware but deeming it unnecessary to investigate. We all of us miss so many little treasures along the routes of our lives like this of course, and it is no judgement. Those lives can often feel too full already and anyway the thought of digging something just because it is the fashion du jour feels somewhat hilariously pointless at my age. Not that I imagine Lloyd Cole’s record was promoted as being fashionable. Was it? I see by flicking through YouTube that he appeared on that dreadful ‘Later'* show with Jools Holland. Oh my.

Regardless, ‘Standards’ has ended up one of my most played records of 2013. From the terrific opening salvo of a muscular** reading of John Hartford’s wonderful ‘California Earthquake’ and the fine ‘Women’s Studies’ with it’s arch, wry lines about Josef K, Fast Product, Prague and Edinburgh and the surreptitious nod to Johnny Thunders all the way through to the splendid ‘Blood On The Tracks’ Dylan feel of the beautiful and bruised ‘Diminished Ex’ it never failed to disappoint; never faltered in its pursuit of excellence.

Best of all for me was ‘Kids Today’, a cut I found hilarious, touching, and of course filled with innumerable spot on references charting the flow of Yoof Culture all the way from the 1940s through to the present day. It combined wry amusement at the way Teenagers of all eras have been painted in the same hues by the generations grown older and, well, that very sense of ‘teenagers today…’ of a generation itself suddenly finding itself grown older too. Only he managed to capture it less clumsily. Oh, and that closing line about the Vivienne Westwood shirt was just killer.

Delving back through some of Cole’s previous records was an equally enjoyable journey and reveals a veritable glut of delights for me revel in, much of it showing the influence of Americana, though in hindsight that should come as no surprise for if anything The Commotions records displayed a distinct penchant for the culture of the USA too. But if Cole’s work is coloured by American Folk and Country traditions then it does so in much the same vein as Richard Buckner’s (who Cole now reminds me of a great deal and vice versa): with a hugely knowledgable, appreciative nod but with a singular vision for moulding something distinctive and individual from the base materials. 

A marvellous (re) discovery.

 

*I think I have only once knowingly watched ‘Later’, when Denim appeared many, many years ago. I am sure lots of great musical performances have been recorded on the show, but really. Jools Holland….
**’muscular’ is not something I often use as a compliment, and it is certainly not used here in the Sam Fussell manner. No, I mean rather the lean, toasted whippet musculature of the racing cyclist. And no offence Lloyd, but obviously I’m only talking about the sound here...

A Brief Moment

 

Croon like Grant McLennan <and download the mix right there. Oh no, you can't. You were too late...

Cadiz - Michael Head And The Red Elastic Band (from 'Artorius Revisited. YouTube.)
The Young Mr. Ruiz - Jim Ruiz Set (from 'Korda 2 Komp'. Bandcamp)
Dreams - Astrid Madberg (Soundcloud)
Poison Ivy - Rose Elinor Dougall (from 'Future Vanishes' EP. Soundcloud)
I Wish It Would Snow - Kitchens Of Distinction (from 'Folly' LP)
A Brief Moment - danmariska (from 'Bummer Songs' LP. Bandcamp.)
Blackpool Tower (John Peel Session, 25 June 1991) - World Of Twist (from 'Quality Street: Expanded Edition')
Midnight Boycow - Sexual Objects (from 'Unpopular Culture / Social Insecurity' package. Bandcamp)
Jessica Says - Dora Maar (from 'Dora Maar' tape. Bandcamp)
Heathwaite Wood - Ginnels (from 'Plumes' LP. Bandcamp)
sinus infection - the aquadolls (from 'Stoked On You' LP. Bandcamp)
Summers End - Typsy Panthre (from 'Korda 2 Komp'. Bandcamp)
The Colour And Light Around Me - Anthony Reynolds featuring Colin Wilson (from 'Rocket Girl 100' LP. Bandcamp)
As We Turn - Toy (from 'Join The Dots' LP)
Miss Out These Days - His Clancyness (from 'Vicious' LP)
Harvest Rex - Say Jansfield (from 'Unpopular Culture / Social Insecurity' package. Bandcamp)
A Quiet Night In Copenhagen - Northern Portrait (from 'Ta!' compilation LP)
Deep Pool - The Hang Ups (from 'The Hang Ups' LP. Bandcamp)
The Dreamer Song - The Boy Least Likely To (from 'The Great Perhaps' LP)
The Long Way Home - The Magic Theatre (from 'The Long Way Home' LP. Bandcamp)

my briefcase of regrets

 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 21 - Chris T-T & The Hoodrats

Jesus Christ - Chris T-T & The Hoodrats (from 'The Bear' LP)

In the first Unpopular advent back in 2008 I reflected on Chris’ ‘Capital’ album and pondered how his "blend of powerfully focused anger and deeply humanist empathy [might] grow as a rallying point of reference; a jumping off point for considering new ways forward that learn from our histories’ mistakes”. Well, ever the optimist, eh? 

Looking back from 2013 (where DID those five years slip away to?) and of course it’s the glass half empty view that seems to have held sway: "everyone will continue as they were, throwing resources into propping up a terminally broken ideology and buying their heroes from X-Factor.” In truth of course the gaps in society have simply widened. Rich and poor. Have’s and have-not’s. Mainstream and Unpopular. Certainly Chris is still out there dreaming, fighting and making magnificent records.

‘The Bear’ was a wonderfully strange beast indeed, at times feeling like a gang of mystical outcasts roaming a post-apocalyptic landscape and preaching from notebooks filled with scraps penned and highlighted under a psilocybin fuelled harvest moon. And none the worse for that, obviously. Through it all there was unconcealed anger and vitriol coupled with remarkable gentility and empathy with the dispossessed; at its heart a deep sense of humanity and a love that refuses to turn a blind eye. Nowhere was it better captured than on ‘Jesus Christ’, a song with a gloriously religious soul taking potshots at the Religious zealots; preaching love and fun in the face of the hate and fear peddled apparently wherever one cared or dared to look in 2013.

“It’s a fucked up world out there” indeed. 

 

 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 20 - Dick Diver

Water Damage - Dick Diver (from 'Calendar Days' LP)

Now really, how on earth could one possibly resist the tendrils of Lucksmiths, Go-Betweens, Triffids and gosh, any number of the most magical antipodean musical heritage you might care to bring to the party that weaver their way through a record so charmingly smooching the spring rain? Not to mention the ‘Tender Is The Night’ reference. ‘Calendar Days’ was eleven songs long and thirty five minutes short. Once upon a time all albums were as eloquently succinct. Few have been finer.

 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 19 - Ginnels

Dont Mean It - Ginnels (from 'Plumes' LP)

Ginnels would probably have completely passed me by were it not for the generosity of former Becalmed label boss Jorge and his new Tenorio Cotobade imprint, on which the fabulous and beautifully sleeved ‘Plumes’ collection appeared. Essentially a compilation of tracks from their three previous self-released titles (get those on their Bandcamp), the fourteen cuts on ‘Plumes’ displayed Dublin’s Ginnels credentials as leaders of the great Feelies’ fan club to sensational effect. Nowhere did it sound finer than on the opener ‘Don’t Mean It’: two minutes and five seconds of glorious uptight Pop shivering in the phosphorescent glow of midnight street lamps. Tinny, trebly and knee-tremblingly tremendous.

 

Unpopular Advent 2013 Day 18 - The Secret History

Eleanor (The City & Sea) - The Secret History (from 'Americans Singing In The Dark' LP)

‘Killed in the suburbs by My Favorite’ and ‘This Melodica kills fascists’ are two of the things it says on Michael Grace Jr’s Twitter page. In my wilder moments I might suggest this is all you need to know; might darkly mutter that if those words mean nothing to you then you don’t deserve to hear 'Americans Singing In The Dark’ and that you can all just piss off back to your whatever the heck it is you listen to anyway. But it’s the season to be jolly, so I’ll push that character back into his dreary box and tell you that, by golly, The Secret History made a second album that glistened with the magic of Dr Marten boot boys sprinkled in glitter cavorting with Modernist besuited bedroom balladeers. 

There is a great article available here in which Michael outlines twenty five albums that were in some way influential in the writing and making of ‘Americans Singing In The Dark’. It’s as much a wonderfully telling portrait of Grace as it is of the album, and that’s as these things should be after all. On Dylan he says “Bob Dylan is IMHO the greatest songwriter that ever was. Boring, I know. But if you wanted to be Jack Kerouac as well as Sid Vicious when you first sniffed glue behind a 7-11, then maybe you understand. Heck I wanted to be Herman Melville more than I wanted to be Tony Hawk which explains a lot of the scrapes and bruises I had in the early 90s.” Which I think is just magic, and in honesty I often imagine Grace as some kind of Ringolevio character, or as a member of Bruce Davidson’s legendary Brooklyn Gang, and I suspect he’d quite dig those kinds of references too.

Here’s another one I think he would appreciate: ‘Americans Singing In The Dark’ was, in my mind at least, a kind of 2013 American equivalent of ‘Back In Denim’ - a literate and intensely personal Protest Record: very much of it’s time yet like the best protest songs full of timelessly acute observations and reflections. Certainly it is one of this year’s essential records.