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.