Inspiral Carpets - She Comes In The Fall [12"]

Not really a band i've ever been particularly into, the INSPIRAL CARPETS, but they made a few nice singles. Dragging Me Down is still my favourite while Caravan and Bitches Brew come second and third, but SHE COMES IN THE FALL is not bad either. Ran into this 12" at the Utrecht recordfair last spring and it was pretty cheap so i couldn't refuse buying it. If only i'd known in advance that i would discover the album where the song comes from (Life) a few hours later at the same fair for just a few bucks more. Ah well, it's got a nice cow-cover.

Label: Mute
Cat.nr.: DUNG 10T
Year of release: 1990

SIDE A:
01. She Comes In The Fall
02. Commercial Reign

SIDE B:
01. Sackville

Field Mouse - How Do You Know [7"]

Never heard of the band FIELD MOUSE before, and i actually bought this 7" just because of the B-side. Stumbled upon their cover of Julee Cruise's Falling on Youtube and then found out it came from this single, so i ordered it. It's a great dreampop version of the Twin Peaks tune. But the song HOW DO YOU KNOW on the A-side is pretty cool as well. The single's pressed on some kind of purple/black/grey swirl mix. Until now, they released only this 7" and one other 7", plus a few download-only tracks. Really a band to watch and let's hope they'll release a full album sometime.

Label: Lefse Records
Cat.nr.: LEFSE044
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. How Do You Know

SIDE B:
01. Falling  (Twin Peaks Theme)

Medicine - To The Happy Few [12", LP]

Little over a year ago i got into the band MEDICINE and i never expected that they'd release something new. But guess what? In the same year that My Bloody Valentine finally release their long-awaited successor of Loveless, their american counterparts (as some people always considered them to be) come up with a brand new album called TO THE HAPPY FEW. You could even call it a triumphant return. Really good stuff - the more i listen to it, the better i think it is. It's got that typical Medicine-sound (mechanical noises, shrill guitars) but somewhat more organic, and certainly better produced than their earlier work. It's actually more psychedelic than shoegaze. My favourite song of the album (at this moment at least) is All You Need To Know. It's got a bit of a Flaming Lips vibe.
Oh yeah, one funny detail: the last song, Daylight, ends in an eternal groove. A loop that goes on and on and on. I only noticed it after a minute or so, when i thought that the song's end lasted just a bit too long ;)
Anyway, To The Happy Few is definitely a contestant for my Top 10 list for 2013.

Label: Captured Tracks
Cat.nr.: CT-183
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Long As The Sun
02. It's Not Enough
03. Burn It
04. Holy Crimes
05. The End Of The Line

SIDE B:
01. Butterfly's Out Tonight
02. All You Need To Know
03. Find Me Always
04. Pull The Trigger
05. Daylight

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now [7"]

Last week i paid a visit to the second-hand store again where i had bought that David Bowie single from the Dutch Top 40 archive earlier. Decided to have a closer look at the other singles from that source that they had standing there, and i really found some cool things in there this time around. I recon you can look at those singles in two ways: either you look at them as unique pieces with some historical value (being from the archive of the official Dutch Top 40 Foundation, from a time when there was only one official radio station in Holland), or consider them as mutilated releases with a stamp and a sticker on the centre label, and no original sleeve anymore. I'm still not really sure what to think of them, but at least for me personally it feels a bit special since i am aware that i might have heard this very vinyl being played on the airwaves at the time. On the other hand i really do regret that they don't have picture sleeves anymore. Especially in the case of this single by THE SMITHS. Either way, i buy them for the songs. I wasn't even aware when i picked this out of the crate that it would be a rather rare release.
When the single William, It Was Really Nothing was released in the UK it had besides the song featured on the B-side of this 7" (Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - which was the B-side for the UK 7" as well) also the song HOW SOON IS NOW on the B-side of the 3-track 12". And when it was time to release the 7" single in Holland and How Soon Is Now had become a popular tune in the alternative clubs in the meantime, Megadisc decided that that song would actually be a much better choice to release as A-side. So they kept the same catalogue number RT166 and William was completely dropped, in favour of How Soon. And instead of the green sleeve that the (first pressing of the) UK single had, the colour was lilac for this one. Following the success of this song in Holland, How Soon was then also released as single first in America and later, the following year, also in the UK (as RT176 with Well I Wonder as B-side).
From what i've read, there were two versions made of this Dutch edition: one on Megadisc and one on Rough Trade which said "Made in EEC". The last one being the most rare, apparently. And that's exactly the one that i dug up. So in this case it would've been better i guess when this was a regular copy with the original sleeve. On the other hand, all the singles from this archive are in such good condition (NM+ at least) that as for the audio i probably would never have found one in such condition.

Label: Rough Trade
Cat.nr.: RT166
Year of release: 1984

SIDE A:
01. How Soon Is Now

SIDE B:
01. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want

Elliott - False Cathedrals [12", LP]

What can i say. I totally fell in love with this album, the second by ELLIOTT, when it came out in 2000. They released another album after this (Song In The Air, from 2003) and i saw the band live for the first time shortly after that. It was pretty amazing. But later that same year they sadly called it quits. I had FALSE CATHEDRALS only on CD and it was in my player every now and then. But somewhere around 2008/2009 i probably lost interest, or anyway i can't recall that i've played it since then.
But then, only a few months ago, i discovered that it had been repressed by Revelation last year for the first time in 12 years, since its original release. Only 500 copies were made and i didn't hesitate a moment and ordered one. Luckily it wasn't sold out yet. And since then, spinning rounds on my record player, the magic has come back! Never particularly been into the whole emo thing at the time - but this album, people... this really is an absolute masterpiece.

Label: Revelation Records
Cat.nr.: Revelation:95
Year of release: 2012 (originally: 2000)

SIDE A:
01. Voices
02. Calm Americans
03. Blessed By Your Own Ghost
04. Drive On To Me
05. Calvary Song
06. Lipstick Stigmata

SIDE B:
01. Dying Midwestern
02. Shallow Like Your Breath
03. Superstitions In Travel
04. Carving Oswego
05. Lie Close
06. Speed Of Film

Tamaryn - Tender New Signs [12", LP]

The TENDER NEW SIGNS album by TAMARYN is something i -sadly- completely missed when it came out during autumn 2012, so i bought it only a few months ago after i had i stumbled upon some songs on Youtube. Absolutely delicious shoegaze/dreampop! The band Tamaryn is actually singer Tamaryn Brown (a girl from NY) and Rex John Shelverton on guitar. On bass and drums on this album there's Jeremey Bringetto and Matthew Bajda from Rex John's other band Bellavista. Together they've been in a couple of bands, like Vue (on Sub Pop) and Portraits Of Past, a screamo band from the mid '90s on Ebullition Records. Interesting background.
Really a shame that i missed this LP last year. I'll definitely be on look-out for new stuff they'll release from now on, that's for sure.

Label: Mexican Summer
Cat.nr.: MEX125
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. I'm Gone
02. While You're Sleeping, I'm Dreaming
03. Heavenly Bodies
04. No Exits
05. Prizma

SIDE B:
01. The Garden
02. Transcedent Blue
03. Afterlight
04. Violet's In A Pool

Stone Temple Pilots - Purple [12", LP, Limited Edition]

Just got back from summer holidays, and i didn't post on this blog for nearly a month so there's a lot of catching up to do. This amazing limited edition of a recent reissue on Music On Vinyl for example was one of the latest things i bought right before my vacation. PURPLE is yet another great grunge classic that Music On Vinyl has released, and the limited edition consists of 1500 numbered copies on purple (duh) vinyl. My copy's number #329. The song Vasoline on this album was one of my favourite songs when it originally came out in 1994.
During my absence, the label has released STONE TEMPLE PILOTS debut album Core as well, so i'll be writing something about that one pretty soon as well, i assume.

Label: Music On Vinyl
Cat.nr.: MOVLP 816
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Meatplow
02. Vasoline
03. Lounge Fly
04. Interstate Love Song
05. Still Remains
06. Pretty Penny

SIDE B:
01. Silvergun Superman
02. Big Empty
03. Unglued
04. Army Ants
05. Kitchenware & Candybars