09 Apr 2008 Part 2

14 iced bears- self titled
14 Iced Bears were a British indie pop band associated with the C86 music scene. Formed in Brighton in 1985, by Rob Sekula and Nick Emery [1] the band featured a shifting line-up of musicians across their seven-year existence, centred around songwriter and vocalist Rob Sekula and guitarist Kevin Canham. The name came form a pack a biscuits that Emery and Sekula creatively changed from 15 to 14. Their jangly indie pop was characterised by a fuzzy protopunk-influenced guitar sound, and saw them receive modest critical acclaim in Britain's music press as well as prompting disc jockey John Peel to recruit them to record a couple of sessions for his programme on BBC radio.
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guitaro- heaven
A canadian shoegaze/noisepop-band formed in 1997. Last.fm says "Futura Black" is their only album, but i got this from somewhere and it's great. Heavy, epic shoegaze. The band and album name pretty much says it all.
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the happy birthdays- self titled EP
Yet another band I have almost no info on. Three girls from Stockholm doing wonderful pop in the vein of american indiepop from the nineties and UK pop eighties style with nods to C86 and Sarah. 'sounds like it's self released.
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have a nice life- deathconsciousness
Have a Nice Life is a two-piece outfit from Connecticut that includes a member of the hardcore band, In Pieces; although, this double CD collection has nothing in the way of sound that can compare to that outfit in any sense of the word. Instead, Have a Nice Life actually has a sound that pulls from a variety of influences like Joy Division, Swans, The Cure, etc. and is vaguely reminiscent of some "Brit pop;” but even trying to describe the band's sound in those terms does not fully explain it. The band also attempts to take on some fairly intellectual discourse surrounding a medieval heretical Christian group, called the Antiocheans, by including a thick booklet regarding the controversy, mystery, and persecution of the group over the course of their existence. The concept and execution of Deathconsciousness: The Plow that Broke the Plains & The Future is largely impressive and ambitious, specially so considering that Have a Nice Life funded, produced, and recorded the whole project on their own over the course of six years.
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lassie foundation- face your fun
There are those albums that we encounter that bring us back to our youth. This happens to be one of those albums for me. The Cure, New Order, Psychedelic Furs, Big Country: these are the bands of my youth. Lassie captures the essence of the 80's and updates it for today. Face Your Fun is energetic, fun, and catchy. It is indie-pop at its best. What is more is that the musicianship is fantastic. Campuzano brings his signature bass work to this disc along with Happy's subtle use of the vibraphone. Shroeder's guitar is soaring and perfect with Everett's percussion and his vocals. Everett has definitely grown as a vocalist and shows his growth with powerfully effective vocals. "Money Money" is a great song.
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loop- heaven's end
The Stooges first album. the MC5. Can. Suicide. Mix the aforementioned bands with late '60s psychedelia, droning fuzz, and douse the whole thing in washes of reverb and you'll get an idea of what Loop is about. Their albums are enigmatic, hipnotic, repetitive, and yes, that is a recommendation. Spacemen 3, Ride, the Telescopes, all these fellow so called "shoegaze" groups truly pale in comparison.
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midnight oil- diesel and dust
Amazon.com
Few would claim that Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett is the world's greatest rock vocalist, but he clearly means what he sings. On Diesel and Dust, Garrett and company serve up a collection of solid pop-rock songs that follow the groundwork laid by their early albums. Intrinsic to their sound is a guitars-bass-drums attack spiced occasionally with horns and keyboards and capped with Garrett's throaty vocals. Garrett's lyrics on Deisel and Dust are noteworthy because they are not about love or personal relationships but instead address larger issues. "Beds Are Burning" is a call to return the land expropriated from Australia's aboriginal peoples, while "The Dead Heart" and "Bullroarer" celebrate their rich cultural heritage. Many bands and artists have made some sort of political or social concern apparent in their work, but few have done so as consistently, dedicatedly, and tunefully as Midnight Oil. --Al Massa
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saxon shore- four months of darkness
Saxon Shore is an American instrumental post-rock band consisting of members from Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Similar to Caspian and This Will Destroy You.
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