Journal

Hello all-
While we're awfully busy getting ready for the SF Popfest this weekend, we couldn't wait to tell you about the great new Slumberland release out next week.


*** Clap your hands for Kids On A Crime Spree ***
About a decade ago Mario Hernandez (of Ciao Bella & From Bubblegum To Sky) was casually sitting on a Stockholm couch when a friend put on the "Back To Mono" box set and Hernandez's life was forever changed. As time passed he kept coming back to the idea of a simple pop song that wasn't really that simple — a happy melody with a dark underpinning in the lyric — and he knew that it wasn't enough to just listen. He had to make his own version of this great sounding stuff. Kids on A Crime Spree is the result of this obsession.

After living in New York for a spell to more fully immerse himself in the culture that spawned the music he loved, Hernandez moved back to California and began recording in earnest. …

'60 Minutes In The Anorak City' - A dissection of a mix-tape.

The mix-tape!
So quickly did they become retro. Mix-Cds, I-pods and Online Playlists all rapidly eradicated the art of the mix-tape, an art so smugly and erroneously eulogised in Nick Hornby's 'High Fidelity'.
I used to love mix-tapes....not necessarily making them for friends or potential girlfriends, but really just for myself. Small, compact, contained snapshots of a time and place. Reminders of a Summer, or of a girl.....or both! Of all the myriad mix-tapes I've scattered across the land there is still one that I have and still cherish dearly, and still play every now and again. I made the tape in the late Summer of 1988 as a way capturing my state of mind following, what I felt at the time, had been the greatest Summer of my life so far.
The cassette was/is a BASF C-60 and I titled the compilation 'One Hour In The Anorak City', an ironic reference to Sarah Records who had just begun around this time. …

Here are some sugary treats
[url=http://www. HERE

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/33/l_85a190decf2e48a29544f3be93cab44c.jpg

Sunny Day, they defined the twee sound for me – lofi pop.
-Big Dolly Mixture fan, this may not be their best song but it’s the most twee sounding.
-Heavenly (not the French power metal band), Hearts & Crosses – a fucked up song about date rape, listen to the lyrics and that upbeat keyboard, an awful contrast.

SIDE A The Classics
Another Sunny Day – Anorak City
Golden Dawn – My Secret World
The Wake – Angel Treads
Shop Assistants – Road
The Springfields – Are We Gonna Be Alright
The Marine Girls – In Love
St. Christopher– You Deserve More than a Maybe
Black Tamborine – We Can’t Be Friends
14 Iced Bears – Unhappy Days
Vaselines– The Day I Was a Horse
Slow Children – East Berlin
Strawberry Story – I Still Want You
Tiger Trap – You & Me
Cub – New York City
Go Sailor – Long Distance
…

hello folks-
at last we're ready to unleash two albums that we've been working on for quite a while, and we couldn't be more excited.

::::: Crystal Stilts' long-awaited debut album out now :::::
Following on from their great EP on Woodsist and a summer of packed shows and increasing anticipation, we are very proud to bring you Alight of Night, an album that more than delivers on the promise of their early singles.

So what's it like, you ask? There is a definite flavor of Velvet Underground to be had, but Crystal Stilts' spectral avant-garage also takes in such far-flung references as: the spooked 60s Texas psych of 13th Floor Elevators, the dark, experimental DIYism of early Flying Nun/Xpressway groups Pin Group and Plagal Grind, and a post-punk minimalism that brings to mind early Rough Trade and Factory releases. There is definitely a strong pop element as well, with the buzzsaw bubblegum of early Mary Chain b-sides and Meat Whiplash coming to mind.

…

Hey folks,

My name is Kyle, and I helped start a website called hipsterbookclub.com. On July 12th, at 4pm, the fine folks at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena have invited us to host an event, read from our latest issue, answer questions, etc. To coincide with our July music issue, we've invited San Diego funster pop kids Red Pony Clock to come play with us. It's a free show, open to all ages. We'd love it if you'd come down and hang out with us.

Add the show to your last.fm calendar!



<3,
Kyle




(Please forgive me for the next bit of word-spreading. I just want people to come down, you know? I'm sure you understand)

Pants Yell!/Colin Clary/The Diskettes/Elliott the Letter Ostrich/The Mathletes/Ponies in the Surf/La Guerre des Tuques/This Bank Holiday/Sinkcharmer/New Grenada/Patience Please/Winter Vacation/The Pizazz/The 32-Bit Handhelds/Tullycraft/Wally Pear/Vehicle Flips/Bunnygrunt/Quiet Bears/Land of Ill Earthquakes/Love Dance/3ColorNegative/Rusty…

Katey

Pale Saints - Throwing Back the Apple
The Delgados - All You Need Is Hate
My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine
Heavenly - Modestic
Jarvis Cocker - Auschwitz to Ipswich
Microdisney - Singers Hampstead Home
of Montreal - Disconnect the Dots
Talulah Gosh - Talulah Gosh
The Popguns - Landslide
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
The Raincoats - Fairytale in the Supermarket
The Indelicates - We Hate the Kids
Josef K - Sorry for Laughing

Marianthi

The Masters of Hemisphere - My Cloud
Second-Hand Furniture - Nice Try, Sunshine!
Shonen Knife - Miracles
The Besties - Bone Valley Deposit
14 Iced Bears - Miles Away
The Depreciation Guild - Digital Solace
Barcelona - Sunshine Delay
The Airfields - Happy and Safe
James Dean Driving Experience - Drop Dead Darling!
Go Sailor - Windy
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - A Teenager in Love
A Smile and a Ribbon - A Little Late to Be Polite
La Monja Enana - Como Lovecraft
Bow Wow Wow - C30, C60, C90, Go!
Boyracer - I've Got It and It's Not Worth Having
…

Tonight I played records and drank whiskey with Clare Wadd.

This is what she played:
The Frank and Walters - Colours
Baxendale - Music For Girls
ROC - Hey You Chick
Stars - Your Ex lover Is dead
British Sea Power - How Will I Ever Find My way Home

ChoColat - Like A Starberry
Even as We Speak - Drown
Fastbacks - Wrong Wrong Wrong
This Poison! - Poised over the pause button
Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage

Hefner - The Greedy Ugly People
Death Cab For Cutie - The Sound of Settling
Wedding Present - Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Ballboy - Public Park
Primal Scream - Velocity Girl

Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1
Jesus & Mary Chain - Upside down
Neil Diamond - Delirious Love
14 Iced Bears - Come Get Me
Orchids - Peaches

delgados - All You Need Is Hate
House of Love - Shine On
Field Mice - Sensitive
Blueboy - Joy Of Living
Dweeb - Scooby Doo
Spearmint - We're Going Out

Stars - Take Me To The Riot
Clouds - Get Out of My Dream