Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha (1991) deluxe ed (2009)

"This is what started it all. From album to album, the trio of Saint Etienne change musically like a chameleon changes its colors - and each change can be appreciated in a different way. There's something special about Foxbase Alpha, though. Sure it's a little rough around the edges (not having the help of the mixers from albums like Tiger Bay and Continental), but this album has a warmth all its own - a sort of timelessness, if you will. Some of the songs on the album are achievements that the Etienne have yet to top. 'Nothing Can Stop Us' is an amazing song, and it WILL put you in a good mood, no question. 'London Belongs To Me' washes you away in a dreamy sea of gentle vocals and synths. And of course, there's 'Spring', an utterly charming and innocent number. Those are my favorites, but I haven't even mentioned their outstanding covers - 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young, 'Kiss And Make Up' by the Field Mice... I could go on and on.

I love all of Saint Etienne's albums, and I appreciate each of them for what they are - it takes guts to make a pop record one year and a techno one the next, at the risk of seriously alienating some fans. Foxbase Alpha, though, is on a pedestal in my heart. Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, and Sarah Cracknell may have gone on from here to explore newer, stranger, and wilder sonic frontiers, but this, their first foray into music, is simply magical."



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Orange Juice - The Glasgow School (2005)

From allmusic (4.5/5):

"Orange Juice's three albums, along with compilations of various shapes and sizes, have floated in and out of print throughout the years. This hasn't made it convenient for anyone curious about the band, whether the interest was sparked by Haircut 100, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Belle & Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, the unlikely mainstream success of Edwyn Collins' "A Girl Like You," the history of post-punk, or the birth of indie pop. The Glasgow School, released in 2005 by Domino, contains the band's four singles for Postcard, the bulk of Ostrich Churchyard (a disc released in 1992, containing early versions of what would become 1982's You Can't Hide Your Love Forever), a Stars on 45-style version of "Simply Thrilled Honey," and a crude cover of the Ramones' "I Don't Care." For a lot of people, the material here (dating no later than 1981) is where Orange Juice begins and ends. The band signed to Polydor soon after the latest song on this disc was recorded, and they promptly gave their sound a coat of shiny wax -- so they helped invent indie pop, only to abandon it before their first album. Though the notion extends throughout Orange Juice's discography, they were nothing if not fearless. What other way is there to describe lyrics like "I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn's/I was hoping to impress/So frightfully camp -- you laughed," or their wholly convincing (if occasionally gawky) way of bouncing the jangly folk-rock of the Byrds off the fat-bottomed disco drive of Chic, all the while creating an identity all their own? Both the singles and the Ostrich Churchyard takes are as crafty as they are crude, and if you can't get past the amateurishness, there's plenty of winsome attitude to win you over. This disc serves as proof that, along with Josef K, Associates, Altered Images, Simple Minds, Cocteau Twins, and the Scars, Orange Juice helped make Scotland a very productive resource during the post-punk/new wave era"



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Pulp - This Is Hardcore (1998) + This Is Glastonbury

From allmusic (4.5/5):

""This is the sound of someone losing the plot/you're gonna like it, but not a lot." So says Jarvis Cocker on "The Fear," the opening track on This Is Hardcore, the ambitious follow-up to Pulp's breakthrough Different Class, thereby providing his own review for the album. Cocker doesn't quite lose the plot on This Is Hardcore, but the ominous, claustrophobic "The Fear" makes it clear that this is a different band, one that no longer has anthems like "Common People" in mind. The shift in direction shouldn't come as a surprise -- Pulp was always an arty band -- but even the catchiest numbers are shrouded in darkness. This Is Hardcore is haunted by disappointments and fear -- by the realization that what you dreamed of may not be what you really wanted. Nowhere is this better heard than on "This Is Hardcore," where drum loops, lounge piano, cinematic strings, and a sharp lyric create a frightening monument to weary decadence. It's the centerpiece of the album, and the best moments follow its tone. Some, like "The Fear," "Seductive Barry," and "Help the Aged," wear their fear on their sleeves, some cloak it in Bowie-esque dance grooves ("Party Hard") or in hushed, resigned tones ("Dishes"). A few others, such as the scathing "I'm a Man" or "A Little Soul," have a similar vibe without being explicitly dark. Instead of delivering an entirely bleak album, Pulp raise the curtain somewhat on the last three songs, but the attempts at redemption -- "Sylvia," "Glory Days," "The Day After the Revolution" -- don't feel as natural as everything that precedes them. It's enough to keep the album from being a masterpiece, but it's hardly enough to prevent it from being an artistic triumph"



Also included is a bonus disc entitled This Is Glastonbury, a live show.

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The Submarines - Declare a New State! (2006)

From allmusic (3.5/5):

"How better to accurately convey the pain of breaking off a long-term relationship than to write and record songs about it with your ex-significant other? Apparently, Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti couldn't think of a more appropriate way, and what came out of those sessions (which eventually led to their reconciliation and marriage) was Declare a New State!, their first album as the band the Submarines. Needless to say, it's sad, pretty music that finds them reflecting about themselves and where they went wrong, never blaming anyone specifically but never accepting full responsibility, either. Each of them (they sing tracks both together and separately) puts pretty much everything out in the open for everyone to hear ("On Super Tuesday I wanted to die...I'll never vote again," Dragonetti whimpers in "Vote," referencing their breakup, which happened on the eve of the 2004 California presidential primary), leaving little to hide behind. This actually becomes kind of tiresome; it's as if the Submarines don't quite trust their audience to get their not-so-subtle references. In "Brighter Discontent," Hazard sings lines like "I rearranged the place a hundred times today/But the ordering of objects couldn't hide what's missing" and "All these things should make me happy...to be home again," rendering her point quite clear, but as if there were a possibility you might not understand her implications, she throws in a bridge with the phrase "Love is not these belongings that surround me/Though there's meaning in the memories they hold" to really drive things home, a gesture that while perhaps innocent enough, is not necessarily welcome. There are some wonderfully poignant lyrics in Declare a New State! as well ("You got a way with words/Just sentiment without revealing how you feel," Hazard states in the gorgeous "The Good Night") that work well with the gentle guitar arrangements and melodies (which don't so much jump from the record as blend smoothly in with the layers of instrumentation) the band chooses to employ. It's all very nice, but there's not much that sticks when all is said and done, which is the album's biggest problem: its lack of distinctive qualities. It's not boring -- there are still a lot of drums and the occasional indie electronica effect on the record, but it's not going to leave any long-lasting impression, either. The music on Declare a New State! was certainly a useful tool for Dragonetti and Hazard, but it's a little too self-involved to do as much for anyone else."

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The Postmarks - By the Numbers (2008)

From allmusic (3/5):

"In 2008, the Postmarks released a new song digitally every month, each song being a cover version of a tune featuring a number in the title that corresponded to the number of the month -- a pretty good idea to fight off the blahs of a tanking music industry and the rigors of recording an album all at once. The songs were all collected and released in November under the title By-the-Numbers. While many of the songs the group selected to cover are intriguing (Ride's "OX4" and the Ramones' "7-11"), inspired (the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Nine Million Rainy Days"), or totally left-field (the Ventures' "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue"), many are also somewhat obvious (the Bond theme "You Only Live Twice," Jobim's "One Note Samba"), ill-suited for the group (the Byrds' "Eight Miles High," David Bowie's "Five Years"), or just plain wrong (Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds"). Luckily, the band treats each song, even the less interesting ones, with a great deal of care and sympathy, wrapping them in warm clouds of reverb and gentle instrumentation that capture the autumnal melancholic beauty that their first album had. Tim Yehezkely's vocals prove up to the task of interpreting each song wonderfully as well (save the version of "Five Years," which just wasn't made for hushed reflection); she gives the sad songs a bucketload of pathos and keeps things somewhat breezy on the more lighthearted tracks. Some songs work better than others, mainly the ones that seem like strange picks. Their take on "OX4" strips away the epic nature of Ride's original and gets to the core of the song's intrinsic loneliness. (Oddly enough, the song ends up sounding more like the Cure than the version of the Cure's "Six Different Ways" the band attempts later.) Also defying expectations are the sprightly girl group-inspired "7-11" that comes complete with Spector-ized percussion, a surprisingly rocking version of Blondie's "11:59," and a totally surprising overhaul of "Eight Miles High" that turns the song into a Morricone-esque epic. Apart from a couple fumbles, By-the-Numbers turns out to be a successfully executed concept and a very pleasant listen. A proper follow-up with original compositions would have been preferable, but as holding patterns go, this one is just fine."

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The Rosebuds - The Rosebuds Make Out (2003)

From allmusic (4/5):

"The Rosebuds are a hook-laden, energetic indie group from North Carolina plucked right out of Merge's backyard. Their debut long-player, The Rosebuds Make Out, is a strong and memorable record that sounds fresh on repeated listens. The disc is split between up-tempo rockers and weepy ballads. The rockers are what reach out and grab you on initial listens. Tracks like the goofy "My Downtown Friends," "What Can I Do?," and the buoyant "Kicks in the Schoolyard" are pop songs with sharp-as-roses hooks. Ivan Howard has a perfect rock voice, elastic and sharp, able to carry the tunes easily and with verve. For the most part the instrumentation on the record is spare, with guitars leading the way, but the occasional use of big, clunky, unironic synths make ballads like "Wishes for Kisses" and "Back to Boston" sound like a cross between the Cure and the Anniversary. Which is not a sound too many bands have these days. You can also hear bits of the Pixies, Yo La Tengo, and an old-school Merge band, Spent, in there too; all bands that combine energy with melody and end up right square in classic indie rockville. The only track that lets the side down a bit is the last track on the record, the overly long and repetitive "Make Out Song." Despite that minor hiccup, Merge has really picked a winner here; The Rosebuds Make Out is a sweet smelling bunch of songs by a very promising new band."

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Metric - Live it Out (2005)

From allmusic (3.5/5):

"In an effort to prove Metric frontwoman Emily Haines was not the only dominating personality behind the Canadian indie rock group's first album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, the second album hammers home the fact that it's more of a group effort. Production duties were handed to guitarist James Shaw and Haines' trademark synths take a back seat to screeching guitars and more cohesive playing as a quartet. Despite the added punk rock punch the guitar gives, the bite of their debut is dulled by a weaker set of songs, with only minor aesthetic changes to mask the slight sophomoric slump. Live It Out desires to be a major step forward (Emily Haines would release her first solo album, Knives Don't Have Your Back, a year later), but the best moments on the album are the ones that recapture what made the debut such a compelling piece of '80s retro -- showcasing Haines' trademark keyboards and her effective cooing vocals, which manage to sound both cloyingly sexy and gutturally raw at the same time. "Poster of a Girl" transforms a few rudimentary French lyrics and an unassuming keyboard intro into a spacy, groovy dance track. "The Police and the Private" is an effectively simple and haunting keyboard-heavy song that shows Haines' best vocal performances are the down to earth ones (something she thankfully discovered on her solo album). As with Old World Underground, Haines has a tendency for collegiate-level prose when the band gets political, and songs like the "Combat Baby" knockoff "Handshakes" have a smug, elitist attitude about them, without providing much insight into their political beliefs. The first single, the hooky "Monster Hospital," is a light-hearted punk song with great non-sequitur lyrics, but the overdubbed guitars and big production typically reserved for an alternative rock album don't fight the overall motif of Live It Out. There's a reason Haines was featured on the cover of Old World Underground and it's possibly this: she's what separates Metric from other '80s revivalist groups."

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Velocity Girl - ¡Simpatico! (1994)

From allmusic (4/5):

"The problem with Copacetic was the dingy production, so for Simpatico, Velocity Girl hooks up with the Smiths' first LP producer John Porter. Flaw corrected. Perhaps too much? Some have expressed the opinion that Porter has neutered them somewhat, and indeed, the rawer edges have largely been relinquished, but so what? They sound great now, much tighter, more convincing, more together. Constant touring has obviously toughened and synchronized them, so credit them for a lot of thankless, hard work. Simpatico, at the least, is a three-times-better version of their first LP, which is the small flaw now -- they don't seem to have enlarged their scope much, still clinging to the chiming guitar version of the Wedding Present meets the Shangri-La's they started with long ago -- remember when My Forgotten Favorite was on so many of our turntables? And the problem with narrow scopes is that some of the songs just aren't going to click as much as the better versions of the same thing. But if they aren't going to change their sound, or to a lesser extent, their style; at least they can keep getting better at it, and that is the case, so there are more big delights. "Drug Girls" has a sharp chorus, and the best song, "Rubble," adds a New Order bass and acoustic. "Hey You, Get Off My Moon" at least attempts a slow ballad, and "What You Left Behind" and the single "Sorry Again" are big-time hooky. Porter seems to have worked Sarah Shannon into singing stronger and more firmly. It's time to move on, but for now, there's plenty to enjoy. "

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Outrageous Cherry - Nothing's Gonna Cheer You Up (1997)

From allmusic (4.5/5):

"The third release by Outrageous Cherry, Nothing's Gonna Cheer You Up, shows the band filtering classic sounds of the past -- the jangle-rock of the Byrds, Big Star, and early R.E.M., and the dark minimalism of the Velvet Underground -- through '90s lo-fi technology. The band has a very talented songwriter in guitarist/singer (and producer) Matthew Smith -- if he was writing songs like the ones on N.G.C.Y.U. back in the '60s, he'd have several hits on his hands. The opening track, "I've Never Seen Your World," sets the tone for the rest of the album, and is a perfect example of what to expect from the other cuts (cleanly strummed guitars, echoey and distant vocals, primitive drumming a la V.U.'s Moe Tucker, etc.). Many of the tracks contain strong melodic hooks that create a comforting sense of familiarity, which is the ultimate sign of great songwriting. Other standout tracks include "Panavision 70," "Genevieve," and the title track. This is definitely Outrageous Cherry's best and most accomplished album yet, a guaranteed delight for fans of fuzzed-out, sticky-sweet '60s pop."

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