Northside

Oh God, it's Northside. I was going to write off May as a bit of a washout, it's been a long month with various crap, capped off with the laptop I use to copy the music on this page playing silly fuckers. But then I found a tune flitting in and out of my head that I guess I heard on a radio in passing and I couldn't shake it. Nor, I have to say, could I work out what it was; all I could remember was the odd snatch here and there and half a chorus. Then I found out. It was Northside. And not Shall We Take A Trip?

No, it was this; the add-it-to-the-list-of-Ian-Broudie-produced Northside - Take 5. If only it had been Dave Brubeck.

Now, Northside divide opinion like few other of the 1990s Manc-indie-dance-flare-wearing-sub-Mondays groups. I don't mind them in a "haha! I remember that! (now) way", but not everyone would be prepared to spend £1.99 on the 7" and still own it. I'm sorry.

The Wiki says, rather sterily (is that a word?):

"Northside are a band from Oldham, England that borrowed heavily from the Madchester scene of the time...Formed in 1989, they released their only (and well respected) album Chicken Rhythms on Factory Records in 1991...Northside were considered a real goup of the 1990's scene."

Should you want more, and I'll understand if you don't, there's a Myspace page and a Facebook group (what sort of knob has one of those..?) Ahem.

Anyway, probably most famous for Shall We Take A Trip? the band actually released three singles, the above being the last, and an album. Hands up who owns that!

Sod, it, enjoy the Dave Brubeck jazz-lite number as well.

Oh, and you can buy the "Best" of Northside here.

Paris Angels

Paris Angels were part of the great Manchester indie/dance crossover explosion of 1990 and were well up there with the best of them. Although sadly nowhere near popular and remembered as some of their contemporaries, the Paris Angels were just as good, if not better.

The seven piece band featured, amongst others, Paul Wagstaff (latterly of The Mondays) on guitar and were regulars in the Hacienda scene that made "Madchester" the terrifying behemoth of dance and bad trousers that it became.

The Wikipedia amd 24 hour party people pages have what you need to know.

This is Paris Angels - Perfume, the band's first single from 1990, number 6 in the 1990 Festive Fifty, which beat such luminaries as The Happy Mondays, The Orb and the mighty New FADS. The 1990 Festive Fifty, as an aside, is a list of probably the 50 most indie songs ever put together; how many have you got in your collection?

And the video, thank you youtube.

Eat

Eat were a cracking band; formed in London in the mid-1980s by indie genius Ange Dolittle (latterly of criminally over looked band Dolittle). Splitting in 1990 due to "musical differences", not least Ange's heroin addiction, the original bluesy-folky-cajun inspired Eat reformed with a new line-up in 1992 as the seminal indie pop band we now know and love; something we should all be glad for.

Big in the UK, but never breaking the big time in the States, Ange and Eat gave it all up in 1995; playing to empty rooms in an abortive tour being the final straw.

There's a good Wikipedia entry and the biography at Forgotten Band Planet is particularly good, so we won't cover too much old ground. Instead, enjoy Eat - Mr and Mrs Smack from the Plastic Bag EP, it's a lovely bit of swooping indie pop; one more reason to be glad for Eat.

You can buy Eat's second album "Epicure" here. You should

Circus Circus Circus

We're going with another request for this month's first entry. Circus Circus Circus (also more conveniently for the typer known as Circus X3) were brought to my attention by my mate Dan who'd been digitising his collection of bloody terrible goth singles when this little gem popped up in the middle.

I have to admit here that the only thing that seems to exist anywhere is a MySpace page for the band, but that tells us what we need to know.

The band were formed in Beckhenham, South London in the mid-80s and comprised Doug Hart on vocals, Ric Clark and Mark Shaw on guitars, Richard Bentley on bass and Rich Spicer on drums. From the press cuttings available the band seem to have been a well-produced, slick and stylish five-piece who could belt out a cracking tune. I never saw them live, but they sound a bit like The Shadows.

Still, they obviously toured extensively and released a number of singles and at least one album so someone reading this will know more about them to fill in the gaps.

So, in the meantime feel free to enjoy the (unfortunately crackly) musical stylings of Circus Circus Circus - Inside the Inside Out Man. I rather like it, it's a nice bit of jingly-jangly indie pop and one more added to the list of obscurities.

The Sedgwicks

A more than mysterious band here; The Sedgwicks were, as far as I can tell, from Kent, released two singles in 1992 or possibly 1993 and disappeared without trace. Having said that of course, I can only find any trace of the Stolen Smiles EP that this track, the eponymous The Sedgwicks - Stolen Smiles comes from.

It's a cracking bit of jingly-jangly and I'd love to know more about the band, so sorry this is a bit short, i'm kind of hoping anyone who stumbles across this knows more than the internet does; plus it's been a hectic month and I've not had the time to sit down and do anything that passes for research!

The Bodines

Not much comes out of Glossop (except for Stuart Hall and Shaun Ryder of course), so it's nice that we can visit there today with The Bodines.

For reasons I can't remember now I'd crossed this lot off my list of bands to put up, goodness knows why, they're as indie as they come. Again, I'm not going to repeat stuff that's easy to find on the internet, but the biography from here sums up what we need to know:

"The Bodines emerged from Glossop in Derbyshire. Fronted by the floppy-fringed Michael Ryan, they became one of the better-known outfits from a crop of jangly indie bands that sprang up around that time... The group's debut album, 'Played' (produced by Ian Broudie, later to enjoy success as a recording artist as the Lightning Seeds) was a fine jangly pop artifact, but it only scraped in to no. 94 in the album charts, in the summer of 1987. "

And there's Ian Broudie again. He gets everywhere. The wiki page and Indie mp3 page have loads more stuff, so go and enjoy there. This particular mp3, The Bodines - William Shatner is taken from a Canadian live bootleg 7" single, which is worth a mention alone.

I'm a fan of the band, they really did produce some cracking indie pop and were much better than their lack of success would lead you to believe. I'm glad I put them back on the list, they certainly deserve to be remembered, not least because Therese, their second single was considered such a yardstick for their genre that it was on the NME's legendary C86 tape; which is always worth getting hold of if you can (or you can buy the updated CD86 version here, which is still as good.)

Do The Indie Kid

Firstly apolgies. This isn't a post about an indie band and it's not mine. It is however, a work of genius from the mind of MJ Hibbett, the man who previously unleashed "hey, hey 16k" on the world.

This is "Do the indie kid" and it's the greatest thing I've seen in a long time


Even better, if you go here you can buy the song on 7" vinyl. I would. Well, I have.

Normal service will be resumed soon. Promise. Probably with The Bodines.

Th' Faith Healers

Once more into the London-based world of swooping, swirling indie rock today with Th' Faith Healers, a rather good band that plied their trade on the indie circuit from (probably) 1990 to 1994; and jolly good they were too, despite what is universally considerd to be an unhealthy fixation with Krautrock.

The band were really good live, produced some belting singles and almost had a crack at the really big time (not least as they supported The Breeders on a US tour) but unfortunately never really converted fanbase and critical success into the commercial fame they probably deserved before splitting. They re-formed in the early 2000s for one more crack at the big time, but apart from a short tour and a couple of re-releases, they've not really been seen since 2006, so they are ripe for a mention here.

The All Music Guide tells you most of what you'll need to know and this is a really good Faith Healers fan site which fills in a lot of gaps, so again I'll not copy left, right and center and suggest you pop over there for a read. Oh, and of course the band have, as is fashionable, one of those new-fangled Myspace pages for even more.

Here you go, have Th' Faith Healers - My Loser, an only available in the US on blue vinyl limited edition 7" and everything.

I can heartily recommend buying Th' Faith Healers' Peel Sessions by clicking here

Pop Will Eat Itself

Time for some spring cleaning of the indie notebook I carry around in my dapper manbag. I've been meaning to put Pop Will Eat Itself on here for ages, but keep getting side-tracked by obscurities and bands I'm only just discovering; so it's nice to finally get round to putting on a band I really used to like. I do keep forgetting that some of these bands, although they're "famous" to me and most of the people that read this page, there are still people that have never heard of them. Poor people.

So, another bunch of West Midlands scamps, cut from the same cloth as Ned's Atomic Dustbin, The Wonderstuff and the Senseless things to name but a few, PWEI were probably one of the most prolific and well known of the early 1990s indie bands; they knocked out singles and albums at an incredible rate and, along with CUD and Carter, were probably one of the most recognisable and critically acclaimed bands of the time.

You knew where you stood with PWEI, if one of their records came on in a club then everyone would be up and dancing and you knew that when the NME had a photo of Cint Mansell on you were going to get a good story. You knew that you were going to get a good show if you went to see them live and by crikey you knew a single was going to be a good shouty sing-a-long of a bit of vinyl.

Of course, the Wikipedia Page covers most of what you need to know and this Pop Will Eat Itself - Bulletproof; is a taster of what we're missing. Although, of course, they did play a comeback tour in 2005...

You can buy Pop Will Eat Itself's best of "PWEI Product 1986-1994: The Pop Will Eat Itself Anthology" by clicking here. You really should.

The Popguns

Well well, April again and I just realised that not only did I miss the anniversary of putting this tosh on a too-full internet, but I also missed the chance to put Kylie in as a hilarious April Fool's joke. Well, PWL were an independent label...

Ah well. Instead, why not have another of Brighton's jingly-jangly massive, yes it's The Popguns ladies and gentlemen, and here recorded from the lovely one-sided promo pictured; always the best way to hear a piece of indie pop if a flexi disk is not readily available.

The Popguns score several points on the "How Indie Are You?" Facebook application of life. Not only are they from the aforementioned Sussex seaside indie wonderland, but they had a lady singer and, get this, the ex-drummer from the Wedding Present; one Shaun Charman. Marvellous stuff.

The wikipedia page is a little sparse and their 'official' page hasn't been updated since 2003, but we do know that they banged out a load of cracking singles and albums (discography here), bashed around from 1988 to 1996 and made the Festive 50 at least once (certainly 1989 with Landslide) and certainly had a touch of the Wedding Present about them. OK, they might not have had David Gedge's angst down, but they certainly had lyrics that were deeper then you might have thought from first listen.

So this is The Popguns - waiting for the Winter; the height of twee. Lovely stuff.

You can buy The Popguns best of "Another Year Another Address: the Best of the Midnight Years" by clicking here