NME C86 - A Rough Trade Records Compilation (1986)

C86-style pop music has been making a bit of a resurgence as of late, all thanks to bands like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and The Raveonettes. Which is a good thing- because at some point fans of those bands will have to stumble upon this gem, (once) a cassette that I picked up at House Of Music (Manoa Shopping Center, Havertown, PA) sometime in the late '80s and (now) a digital file somewhere in the recesses of my hard drive. I wonder what the original tape would be worth if I still had it? (I just did an eBay search, couldn't find this actual cassette but some of its contemporaries; going for anywhere from $1.50 to $8.00; which sadly, isn't as much as I thought...)

Anyway, if you're a fan of fuzzed out and jangly twee indie pop, here's where it started- the following bands owe as much a debt to both The Jesus & Mary Chain and The Smiths for their impetus as the two bands I mentioned above owe to the entire movement in general...

1. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops - Happy Head
3. The Soup Dragons - Pleasantly Surprised
4. The Wolfhounds - Feeling So Strange Again
5. The Bodines - Therese
6. Mighty Mighty - Law
7. Stump - Buffalo
8. Bogshed - Run to the Temple
9. A Witness - Sharpened Sticks
10. The Pastels - Breaking Lines
11. Age of Chance - From Now On, This Will Be Your God
12. The Shop Assistants - It's Up to You
13. Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers
14. Miaow - Sport Most Royal
15. Half Man Half Biscuit - I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart)
16. The Servants - Transparent
17. The Mackenzies - Big Jim (There's no pubs in Heaven)
18. Big Flame - New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)
19. Fuzzbox - Console Me
20. McCarthy - Celestial City
11. The Shrubs - Bullfighter's Bones
22. The Wedding Present - This Boy Can Wait

Various Artists - NME C86 (1986; NME Magazine/Rough Trade Records)
-link opens to YouTube video-

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)

This album is an absolute treasure- it's one of those records you put on and it transports you to a completely different place, I still have a hard time believing it's only nine years old; I swear it's been around longer, I want to cut it down and count the rings someday so I can say "I knew this was older..."

It exists in a place (genetically) right around Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea; an intensely crafted homage to both the fragility of the soul and warm 4-track recordings, draped in inadvertent fuzz from the levels being too high; all these song "fragments" that leave it sounding unfinished yet it's a ridiculously fully accomplished thesis statement from a self-described loner that doesn't really want to be a loner.

Sort of a lo-fi bedroom folk version of OK Computer from the Pacific Northwest.

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001; K Records)

Destroyer - Thief (2000)

This should be subtitled: The Portrait of a Starving Artist at the Turn of the Century...

Destroyer (Dan Bejar) is the most talented of all his New Pornographer band-mates; that's right (I'm looking at you both, Neko and A.C.), and if you doubt this assertion, why are they covering a bunch of his older solo songs and playing them now? Because Bejar's tunes from 10 years ago are better then theirs now. Fact.

Anyway, Destroyer has three records from the last ten years that I consider my favorite of the decade, and I'll post them in the coming weeks. Just to let you know, they just re-issued this record as a 2xLP with 1998's City Of Daughters; buy it!

Destroyer - Thief (2000; Cave Canem Records)

The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2003)

Recipe for making an amazing pop album: add one part broken drum machines, one part toy keyboards, one part concept record about death, one part heavy LSD consumption, mix together in a studio where some/all of the equipment is falling apart/completely fucked-up/useless, fold in some fuzzy guitars, swirl, liberally add some catchy-ass hooks, swirl some more, add a little anti-hipster douchebag-ism, and pour evenly out of your speakers.

This record is what the Flaming Lips would sound like if they had no money (or ProTools. Or massive egos. Or that stupid fucking bubble Wayne Coyne lives inside of.) This record sounds as if it’s about to become a humongous fucking mess every song but manages to not only completely keep it together, it’s as coherent a mesh of 13 songs anywhere on this best-of list.

It’s fun, it’s pop, it’s accessible and inclusive- it takes absolutely all the seriousness and pomp out of “indie elitism”.

The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2003; Alien8 Recordings)