THE LEGENDARY BANG Mozzer is Dead 7" (Old Bad Habits)
Four live tracks on gold vinyl from this early 1990s German band who had releases on the Marsh Marigold label, and also appeared on Mind the Gap/Season Records' International Pop compilation 7" alongside The Sugargliders, Red Sleeping Beauty, and the one-off Field Mice offshoot The Yesterday Sky, which is where I first heard them. This single was planned right at the start of Old Bad Habits, and given the catalogue number OBH 004; after some delay it has finally been released. The title track was written in 1990 and performed at a 2013 reunion gig celebrating the 25th anniversary of Marsh Marigold, while the other three tracks feature the original line-up, from a gig circa 1991.
Mozzer is Dead speaks for all the indie kids who felt betrayed by Morrissey: "All the good times we had are gone now Mozzer is dead". The song has the classic indiepop sound expected for the era in which it was written: melancholic, thoughtful pop accompanied by a Field Mice-ish melodic bass line and guitars that rattle, chug and swirl. Last Night is lo-fi buzzsaw pop in best late 80s style. Male and female singers belt out a super-catchy 60s-tinged tune with lots of ba-ba-bas, backed by squalling ramshackle noise. This would have sounded right at home on 53rd & 3rd or Subway back in the 80s. Bitterness is raggedy lo-fi pop with clattering drums, while Louise Brooks is sweet pop juxtaposed with a big noisy drum roll, the piece lasting just a few seconds.
Pure nostalgic fun, full of DIY spirit, so great! Limited to 200 hand numbered copies, with double-sided wraparound sleeve, sticker and badge. Get it at oldbadhabitslabel.bandcamp.com

DARK MATTERS In Search of Something Beautiful 12" (Old Bad Habits)
The Old Bad Habits Label is mostly known for noisy indiepop with a DIY punk spirit, but they will occasionally surprise us with a complete outlier such as this. Dark Matters is the project of Greek electronic artist Vaggelis Mourelatos, who is joined here by various guest vocalists and musicians. This EP features five tracks written as part of a soundtrack during Vaggelis' stay in Finland. The title track sets the ethereal, soaring soprano voice of Panagiota Tsiri to a combination of brooding soundscape and trance-inducing dancefloor pulse, along with hammered dulcimer that lends a world music feel to the piece, the overall sound coming across something like a mixture of Dead Can Dance and Enigma. Come Closer is a blend of neoclassical music and electronic pop with a dark, heady atmosphere, while Haunted brings together soulful pop and woozy, dreamlike electronica. Homeland is a kind of 21st century blues set to trip-hop beats and flowing sax. The instrumental piece Outside closes the EP with its combination of stark cinematic soundscaping, dancey electronica and hypnotically repeating melody. The music here blends alternative and mainstream influences in a way that never sounds incongruous, and displays a great deal of originality and talent. Limited to 180 copies, available at oldbadhabitslabel.bandcamp.com

DRAGGED UP Hex Domestic cassette/download (Cruel Nature)
Glasgow's Dragged Up come from an eclectic mix of musical backgrounds, the membership being drawn from bands ranging from psychedelic folk-rockers Trembling Bells to the experimental/industrial project VOM. The tape's title is reflected in its artwork, featuring a devil-head inverted pentagram with washing instruction symbols around its edge as if they were occult symbols, including a tongue-in-cheek instruction to wash at 666 degrees. The satanic references suggest metal, but Dragged Up actually sound like the kind of band who would have been lauded by noisepop fanzines back in the 1990s. Hex Domestic pairs crunchy noise and indiepop jangle in a 90s US DIY manner that would have sounded right at home on K. Fairytale in the Super Arcadia is a multi-part mashup of all sorts of stuff, there's lopsided lo-fi alt-folk giving way to angular garage punk-pop, occult recitations, and stream of consciousness lyrics with bizarre juxtapositions. Hurricane is lo-fi, off-centre noisepop with a punk spirit and an excitable DIY enthusiasm. Whilst not sounding like them per se, it would sit well alongside 90s fanzine faves like Bis, Urusei Yatsura, or assorted bands on the Slampt label. Blaming the Weather's psychedelic folk-rock aspects remind the listener of the band's connections with Trembling Bells, while the piece also takes in elements of post-rock and noisy 90s tape label music, along with poetic recitation that merges the surreal with the hyper-real. A band and label that show the true DIY tape label spirit is still alive. The cassette was limited to 100 copies and sold out quickly at the label, but the EP can still be downloaded at the band's Bandcamp page. Label info at cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com

CANDYMOUSE Last of the True Believers CD/DL (Old Bad Habits)
Teatime Records was one of the labels I came across back when I first started exploring indie pop; they released a string of great records by bands such as Mousefolk, The Candy Darlings, The Spinning Jennys, The Glory Box and others, which have all stood the test of time for me and I still rate the label as one of my favourites from the genre's classic era. In more recent years, the label was resurrected, and members of the first two bands mentioned above formed a new band, Candymouse, who recently took part in the Athens Pop Underground Fest organised by Old Bad Habits, and have joined forces with this label to release this new 5-song EP.
Last of the True Believers (single edit) is a rollicking indie pop anthem with equal room for jangle and noisy fuzz, celebrating the anyone-can-do-it attitude of DIY music in lyrics about being a "pointless little indie band" with "out of tune guitars", making it clear to their opponents that "this is how the song is meant to sound, you can't tell me that it isn't". They follow this with a pair of covers from their earlier bands which have only ever been played live at the Athens festival: The Candy Darlings' classic That's Where Caroline Lives, an ultra-melodic jangler with a tune that's been stuck in my head for days, and Crazy Mixed Up Kid, one of my favourite Mousefolk tracks, the version here combining the punky pop of the original with the drawn-out haze of shoegaze and neo-psychedelia.
Boxed Up (Late Nite Version) gives early 90s-ish indie pop an electronic overhaul, taking in house-like piano riffs, whooshing pulsating spacey synths, dance beats, and dub-ish echo effects. The EP closes with the full-length album version of Last of the True Believers, which includes a spoken word section that looks back on the "sneering, unsympathetic sound engineers" they encountered at their first gig. A really fantastic EP, an absolute must for indie pop fans. I eagerly await their forthcoming LP on Old Bad Habits! This EP was available at the Athens Pop Underground Fest, but anyone who was unable to attend can still get copies from the band at teatimerecords.bandcamp.com

HANFORD FLYOVER Garden of Earthly Delights 7" (Fruits de Mer)
NICK NICELY Mike Hall is Calling 7" (Fruits de Mer)
THE SAND PEBBLES Sometimes a Great Notion 7" (Fruits de Mer)
ANTON BARBEAU Dogstar 7" (Fruits de Mer)
Fruits de Mer Records returns to its roots as a 7" single label with this batch of new releases, each limited to 300 copies. Hanford Flyover provide two covers of songs by The United States of America, the pioneering 60s band known for their use of tape loops and early synths. The Garden of Earthly Delights is superb retrofuturistic folk-pop with shades of Broadcast and L'Augmentation, taking in swooshing analogue synths and garagey organ riffs, while You Can Never Come Down comes across like a meeting of 60s R&B and 70s spacerock.
nick nicely's Mike Hall is Calling is experimental psychedelia, ever-changing with different styles melding into one another in the manner of a dream; you get sophisticated vintage film theme music, trip hop beats, Indian music, and bizarre soundscaping, all topped off with a sort of inside-out, underwater vocal effect. This is backed with Wonderful Day, a wild, improvisational psychedelic jam.
Long-running Australian band The Sand Pebbles make their first appearance on Fruits de Mer with Sometimes a Great Notion, off-kilter psychedelic indie rock shrouded in a squall of scratchy violin and searing guitar, and Desire Lines, an inventive blend of hazy, drawn-out psychedelia, languid violin, spiky post-punky bits, and a Kraftwerk-inspired motorik rhythm.
Anton Barbeau is joined by Barry 'The Fish' Melton (ex-Country Joe and the Fish) on anthemic fuzz-rocker Dogstar, while solo B-side Queen of Eyes, originally by The Soft Boys, is a gloriously psychedelic mix of lyrical idiosyncrasy and pealing, swirling guitars.
All singles here are highly recommended - get them at www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

PAUL LAKE Dear Mr Fantasy lathe cut 7" (Fruits de Mer)
Very limited lathe cut single from The Chemistry Set's Paul Lake, in which he revisits a couple of cover versions he used to play as a teenager in bands prior to The Chemistry Set. Dear Mr Fantasy, originally by Traffic, features Paul's wife Helen on recorder, lending an ethereal psych-folk feel to the track, while the intense, extravagant guitar solo places the piece much more firmly in rock territory. Child of the Moon, a 1968 Rolling Stones B-side, comes across like a continuation of their psychedelic phase from the previous year. Paul Lake increases the psychedelia-factor even more, adding an at times almost sitar-like guitar sound, and a bombastic, near-classical organ solo, accompanying a melody almost identical in places to The Beatles' Rain. With only 80 copies being made, this promises to be a sought-after artefact. Copies are being made available on a lucky draw basis; contact Fruits de Mer Records to reserve your copy.

LA NOUVELLE MUSIQUE Time Ticks Slowly lathe cut 7" (Fruits de Mer)
Extremely limited lathe cut 7" from this London psych-folk duo. Time Ticks Slowly taps into the late 60s/early 70s singer-songwriter current, coming across like a mixture of Vashti Bunyan and a female Nick Drake, the song backed by a combination of understated acoustic guitar and sumptious orchestration and vocal harmonies. Easily up there with all the well-regarded musicians in the folky singer-songwriter vein. Water to Wine, meanwhile, is a cinematic violin and piano instrumental inspired by the film Down by Law. The 7" sold out immediately but the A-side track is available to download at newmorningblues.bandcamp.com. More info on Fruits de Mer at www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

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