Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation - Mirage [12", LP]

Only recently discovered JOSEFIN ÖHRN + THE LIBERATION (by a song on a free CD that came with Mojo Magazine) and i was instantly hooked. Psychedelic motorik seductive rock; think of a mixture of Moon Duo, Goat, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Charlotte Gainsbourg. MIRAGE is simply a superb album. Sister Green Eyes, the song that was featured on that CD, is still one of my favourite songs, but Rainbow Lollipop, The State I'm In, Rushing Through My Mind and album closer Imagine You are equally excellent. I'm certain that this album will be making many spins on my record player this year.

Label: Rocket Recordings
Cat.nr.: LAUNCH096
Year of release: 2016

SIDE A:
01. The State (I'm In)
02. Sister Green Eyes
03. In Madrid
04. Rainbow Lollipop
05. Endless Ocean

SIDE B:
01. Looking For Your
02. Rushing Through My Mind
03. Circular Motion
04. Where I'm Going
05. Imagine You

Amber Arcades - Fading Lines [12", LP]

AMBER ARCADES' debut album FADING LINES saw the light of day last week. Annelotte de Graaf, an artist with a dayjob at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service, is the mastermind behind the project. She recorded the album in NYC with the help of producer Ben Greenberg (who'd worked with Beach Fossils, a.o.) in two weeks time, after years of savings to make it happen. Musicians on the album play in bands like Quilt and Real Estate. The result is absolutely great. Ten varied but perfectly written indie-pop songs, ranging from garage pop, beat and doo-wop to dreampop and krautrock. Mostly dreamy, gentle and quiet songs. Bands that come to mind are for example Stereolab, Bettie Serveert, DIIV, Mazzy Star, the Sundays, the House Of Love and Toy. The song Turning Light is my favourite at this moment, but that might just as well change over the coming days, since i just got the album. It's an upbeat krautrock song and a bit different than the others, for that matter.
With Fading Lines, she's established herself as one of the Netherlands' finest indie artists. I'll be seeing her live in two weeks, so i really look forward to that.

Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVNLP126
Year of release: 2016

SIDE A:
01. Come With Me
02. Constant's Dream
03. Fading Lines
04. I Will Follow
05. Perpetuum Mobile

SIDE B:
01. Right Now
02. Apophenia
03. This Time
04. Turning Light
05. White Fuzz

Ringo Deathstarr - Pure Mood [12", LP]

PURE MOOD by RINGO DEATHSTARR is already out for some time now. Despite the fact it was listed at #13 in my Finest Vinyl of 2015 list, i hadn't had the time yet to write something about it. It's their fifth album, and i must say it's yet another awesome release by this Austin TX trio. And it's loud! Heavy Metal Suicide reminds me of the louder songs by Smashing Pumpkins (like Bullet With Butterfly Wings or Zero) while Big Bopper definitely has a Slow-vibe (one of MBV's best songs).

Show Me The Truth Of Your Love on the other hand is as gently as can be. My favourite track is Guilt. I think it's actually one of the best songs they ever did, with Alex' sweet vocals over a a really powerful groove. Also this song sounds a bit like Smashing Pumpkins, which in this case isn't all that weird because Jeff Schroeder plays some guitar on it. All in all, this album rocks. Colour Trip is still my favourite Ringo Deathstarr album, but this one comes probably right after that now. And if i'd had the time to play it more often before i made that yearlist, it would've been in the top 10 somewhere. Ah well, who cares. Club AC30 made 500 vinyl copies: 250 on "lemonade yellow" and 250 on "minty green". I've got that last version as you can see on the picture, and it looks pretty cool.

Label: Club AC30

Cat.nr.: AC3012111

Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:

01. Dream Again

02. Heavy Metal Suicide

03. Stare At The Sun

04. Show Me The Truth Of Your Love

05. Big Bopper

06. Guilt

07. California Car Collection

SIDE B:

01. Frisbee

02. Boys In Heat

03. Never

04. Old Again

05. Acid Tongue

Sway - The Millia Pink And Green [12"]

SWAY is a band i'd only vaguely heard about before, but it wasn't until the end of last year when Saint Marie Records posted about doing a reissue of "shoegaze renaissance classic" THE MILLIA PINK AND GREEN, that the band caught my attention. This EP truly is an amazing piece of work. Originally released only on CD in 2003, this could indeed be called a shoegaze (or better: dreampop) renaissance classic. Very few modern dreampop releases reach this level. In recent years, only We Are The Dreamers comes close, in my opinion. These kinds of bands were the torchbearers that kept the shoegaze underground scene going during the years of absence of godfathers like MBV, Slowdive and Ride. Sadly the band Sway doesn't exist anymore since a few years, but founding member Andrew Saks still makes ambient electronic music under the name ASAKS.

Label: Saint Marie Records
Cat.nr.: SMR057
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Fall
02. Sounds Like Everyone

SIDE B:
01. Sullust
02. Ever And Ever
03. Opentillate
04. Channel (bonus track;not on original CD)

Tame Impala - Live Versions [12", LP, Limited Edition]

Less than two weeks until it's Record Store Day again! For me, this LIVE VERSIONS LP by TAME IMPALA was one of the highlights of last year's edition. I don't buy a lot of live albums on vinyl, but since these versions are pretty different from the studio versions, i thought i'd make an exception. Besides, Tame Impala is simply a great band. They recently announced that there'll be a new album soon so i'm pretty stoked for that. I don't know exactly how many were made of the green vinyl edition like the one i have, because there are also black copies floating around, and the album also shortly has been available as regular release a few months later. But it sure looks and sounds good.

Label: Modular
Cat.nr.: MODVL 184
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. Endors Toi
02. Why Don't You Make Up Your Mind?
03. Sestri Levante
04. Mind Mischief
05. Desire Be, Desire Go

SIDE B:
01. Half Full Glass Of Wine
02. Be Above It
03. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
04. Apocalypse Dreams

Whirr / Nothing - Split EP [12"]

When two of my current favorite bands release a split EP, i'm extremely stoked of course. WHIRR and NOTHING both provided two excellent tracks, and the result is one of the strongest EP releases of this year. While Whirr makes modern shoegaze, Nothing leans more towards nineties alternative rock on this release. For example Chloroform has a great Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream-era) vibe to it, which i like a lot. I saw Nothing last week in Amsterdam and they really rocked. Now let's hope Whirr will do a European tour as well soon. The EP is single-sided and there's a nice etched B-side that shows both bands' logos as eyes of the well-known "Nirvana smiley". It was hard to make a photo, but at least you'll get the idea:

There were several pressings made of this EP. Mine is the cream/green marbled one (1000 made) and there's supposed to be a DVD included as well, but that didn't come with my copy unfortunately.

Label: Run For Cover Records
Cat.nr.: RFC 109
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. WHIRR - Ease
02. WHIRR - Lean
03. NOTHING: Chloroform
04. NOTHING: July The Fourth

SIDE B:
etching

Various Artists - A Psych Tribute To The Doors [12", LP]

Normally i'm not a really big fan of tribute albums, because for every good cover song on such a compilation there's usally at least five really bad ones, but every now and then there's one that's just too good to not to buy. Besides for example The Bridge (Neil Young), Psychedelic Sounds Of The Sonic Cathedral (Roky Erickson) and I'm Your Fan (Leonard Cohen), A PSYCH TRIBUTE to THE DOORS is one of those. When i heard about this release early this year and saw that there would be covers featured by The Black Angels, Dead Meadow and The Raveonettes to name but a few, i really had to check out online how their versions of classic Doors songs sounded and i liked it so much that i had to find this album. The artwork is pretty cool and the album is pressed on nice marbled green vinyl. Besides the three bands i already mentioned, i really like what Elephant Stone, Dark Horses, Dead Skeletons and Wall Of Death made out of it. But The End by The Raveonettes is my favourite track on this album, that's for sure. They really gave it their own sound and i just love it.

Label: Cleopatra Records
Cat.nr.: CLP1557
Year of release: 2014

SIDE A:
01. ELEPHANT STONE - L.A. Woman
02. THE BLACK ANGELS - Soul Kitchen
03. PSYCHIC ILLS - Love You Two Times
04. DARK HORSES - Hello, I Love You
05. CAMERA - People Are Strange
06. DEAD MEADOW - The Crystal Ship

SIDE B:
01. SONS OF HIPPIES - The Soft Parade
02. DEAD SKELETONS - Riders On The Storm
03. WALL OF DEATH - Light My Fire
04. CLINIC - Touch Me
05. VIETNAM - Roadhouse Blues
06. THE RAVEONETTES - The End

The Charlottes - Things Come Apart [12", LP]

THE CHARLOTTES were a band from the Cambridge area in the UK. A favourite band of BBC's John Peel (they did a Peel Session in 1989 as well) and their drummer was Simon Scott who later joined Slowdive. Awesome music, loud and distorted, with female vocals. A bit like early My Bloody Valentine. This album, THINGS COME APART, was originally released in 1991 on Cherry Red. Optic Nerve Recordings decided to do a limited reissue on green vinyl this year, with two bonus tracks which were B-sides to their "Liar" EP in 1990. "Venus" is of course the Shocking Blue song, and a way better version than Bananarama did (duh!). Inside the gatefold sleeve are some pics of old concert tickets of shows where they supported Ride. Those were the days! There were 500 numbered copies made of this reissue; I've got # 070.

Label: Optic Nerve Recordings
Cat.nr.: OPT4.004
Year of release: 2013 (originally released in 1991 on Cherry Red)

SIDE A:
01. Liar
02. Prayer Song
03. See Me Feel
04. By My Side
05. Mad Girl's Love Song

SIDE B:
01. Beautify
02. Love In The Emptiness
03. We're Going Wrong
04. Blue
05. Venus

Tropical Popsicle - Dawn Of Delight [12", LP]

This album by TROPICAL POPSICLE was released earlier this year. I bought it shortly after it came out, but didn't write something about it so far, i noticed while compiling my Finest Vinyl list for 2013. It didn't make it to the list but was definitely a runner-up. DAWN OF DELIGHT is a cool mix of garage and psychedelic music (and some post-punk, like the song Ghost Beacons - my favourite song of the album). Think Velvet Underground meets Wire, or Jesus And Mary Chain meets Echo And The Bunnymen; or something like that. Like said they didn't make it to my top 10, but if i would've made one for silliest band name or weirdest album cover of the year, they would have had a fair chance to win it. Seriously. But having said that, the music is really good and i look forward to hear more from them in the near future.

Label: Talitres
Cat.nr.: TAL070LP
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Always Awake In Shadows
02. The Age Of Attraction
03. Ghost Beacons
04. The Beach With Now Footprints
05. Tethers
06. View From The Dihedral Wall

SIDE B:
01. Canyons
02. Cathedral City
03. Havana
04. The Omnipresent Heart Shield
05. Queen Of New York
06. Universe Of God Shadow

Lush - Ladykillers [7"]

Like Single Girl and 500, LADYKILLERS is a coloured vinyl single in a clear pvc sleeve. It was released as the second single from the Lovelife album. The song is uptempo and very much britpop, and pretty different for that matter than LUSH in the early nineties (the Lush i love). But like already mentioned earlier when i wrote about the Single Girl single; a nice addition to my Lush collection. The B-side is a cover of The Rubinoos '70s powerpop classic I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (here changed into I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend, obviously).


Label: 4AD
Cat.nr.: AD 6002
Year of release: 1996

SIDE A:
01. Ladykillers

SIDE B:
01. I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend

Iggy Pop & Zig Zags / Betty Davis - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up [7"]

Light In The Attic Records celebrates their 10-year anniversary with a series of limited coloured 7"es, and this is one of the first of them. ZIG ZAGS have teamed up with IGGY POP for a cover of IF I'M IN LUCK I MIGHT GET PICKED UP on the A-side of this 7", while the original version by BETTY DAVIS (once Mrs. Miles Davis, for one year in the late sixties) is on the B-side. Iggy and his buddies created a great sludgy version of it, with riffs that Black Sabbath would be jealous of. But the original raw and punky funk song definitely ain't bad either, i must say.


Label: Light In The Attic
Cat.nr.: LITA 45 020
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Iggy Pop & Zig Zags - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up

SIDE B:
01. Betty Davis - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Say No To Love [7"]

Another nice single by THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART from their Belong album: SAY NO TO LOVE. Just like the other ones from that album, it's on coloured vinyl.
And Lost Saint on the B-side is actually one of my favourite TPOBPAH songs.

Label: Slumberland Records / Fortuna Pop
Cat.nr.: SLR 120 / FPOP 96
Year of release: 2010

SIDE A:
01 Say No To Love

SIDE B:
01. Lost Saint

A Place To Bury Strangers - Ego Death 2010 Tour EP [12"]

This EGO DEATH 2010 TOUR EP by A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS is a pretty much sought after release. I was fortunate enough to buy one recently (2012) at an APTBS show, so i don't know if there has been a re-press or if this is a copy they still had lying around. Anyway, a nice EP with besides Ego Death in 3 versions (one of them by Baroness' Allan Blickle), some non-album tracks and a remix of the title track of the album where the single's taken from: Exploding Head.

It does not really show on the picture above, but the vinyl colour is olive green. Pretty dark, but if you hold it against the light it looks like this:

Label: Mute

Cat.nr.: -

Year of release: 2010

SIDE A:

01. Ego Death (Radio Edit)

02. It's A Fast Drivin' Rave-Up With A Place To Bury Strangers

03. Alive

04. You Still Love Me

SIDE B:

01. Ego Death (Allen Blickle Remix)

02. Exploding Head (RX Remix)

03. Ego Death (Figo Remix)

Iggy Pop - I'm Bored [7"]

No idea why exactly someone decided to reissue an old single of IGGY POP from his New Values album, because that's certainly not the man's best period. A replica of a single from his earlier two albums (Lust For Life and The Idiot) would've been more interesting as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, this I'M BORED single (originally released in 1979) was reissued in a limited run of 2000 numbered copies for Record Store Day 2012, on green vinyl.The one i have is # 1498/2000.

Label: Arista
Cat.nr.: 88691961117
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. I'm Bored

SIDE B:
01. African Man

School Of Seven Bells - Silent Grips [7"]

This single by SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS was released in the same year as their Alpinisms album, but SILENT GRIPS is not featured on that album. Neither is the B-side, which is a Wire cover. A limited release of 2000 copies on green vinyl.

Label: Suicide Squeeze
Cat.nr.: S073
Year of release: 2008

SIDE A:
01. Silent Grips

SIDE B:
01. Used To

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction & Come Saturday [7"]

This one's about two 7"es at the same time. It should've been about three, but unfortunately i do not own the Everything With You 7", which is the oldest of the three singles lifted off THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART's s/t debut album.

Both the album and its three singles have the same cover art. The album's in black, and the single that i miss, is in blue. There's also a limited CD EP with this cover, in yellow. I especially like the fact that the vinyls are the same color as the cover art (maroon and green in this case, respectively).
Radio-friendly indie rock, that's what this is. Many people call this shoegaze but if it can be compared at all to My Bloody Valentine and the likes, it would be their pre-Creation (mid 80's) period. Great catchy tunes though, and a very sympathetic band.

YOUNG ADULT FRICTION
Label: Slumberland Records / Fortuna Pop!
Cat.nr.: SLR 92 / FPOP 84
Year of release: 2009

SIDE A:
01. Young Adult Friction

SIDE B:
01. Ramona


COME SATURDAY
Label: Slumberland  Records / Fortuna Pop!
Cat.nr.: SLR 103 / FPOP 85
Year of release: 2009

SIDE A:
01. Come Saturday

SIDE B:
01. Side Ponytail