Saloon - If We Meet In The Future 8 out of 10

Second effort from Reading's only exponents of Kraut-folk

If summer is finally here, as seems to be the case, then here is the perfect soundtrack for drifting down the river in a boat. Amanda Gomez and chums have toned down the drone and hewn an album of gorgeous, heat-hazed langour that calls to mind the pastoral tones and unhurried ebb and flow of Talk Talk after they went bonkers.

The delicate leaf storm of "Dreams Mean Nothing" is one of the most beautiful songs you will hear this or any other year, "Intimacy" has got so much skip and bounce htat it could be an actual proper grown-up hit, and topping it all off, Gomez's enchanting voice - the kind that makes you develop a crush on her even though you don't know what she looks like. Music to lick ice lollies to.
PETE CASHMORE

Saloon - If We Meet In The Future ****, very good

Second album from Reading Krautockers

Saloon ended 2002 with their track "Girls Are The New Boys" voted No 1 in John Peel's Festive 50. This second album features even more potential vote winners. While reliant on Stereolab's Kraut-Parisian sound, Saloon's masterful blending of mournful folk violins and nocturnal acoustics casts a woozy atmospheric shadow. "Que Quieres?" and "Kaspian", for instance, are emotionally bruised mini dramas. Elsewhere, Amanda GOmez's aromatic vocals turn the riffing motoriks of "Happy Robots" and "The Sound of Thinking" into balmy pop delights. Throughout, Saloon's light touch makes a strong impact. Wonderful.
NEIL DAVENPORT

Saloon - If We Meet In The Future
Who says pop and politics don’t mix. Saloon have unwittingly made the strongest case for further European integration since Tatu hit these shores. Okay, so they’re from Reading not Russia but observe the facts. They play Kraut-rock with the influence of a certain Anglo-French band (we’ll come onto that in a minute), and have songs in Spanish (?Que Quieres?) alongside ones named after Italian volcanoes and Soviet seas (Vesuvius and, erm, Kaspian).

Not that they or anyone around them would admit to sounding anything at all like their Franglais mentors, Stereolab. Hey, it’s not as if we mean the art-installation-soundtracking, disappearing-up-their own-Moogs ‘Lab but the once mighty groop responsible for the likes of ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’. And it’s not to say that they don’t bring their own distinctive persona into the mix. Amanda Gomez’s vocal is soft and sweet throughout and, unlike Laetitia Sadier, actually comprehensible, and the backing is lusher and warmer.

‘If We Meet In The Future’ is definitely a record of two halves though. Whilst the opening five tracks are undeniably satisfying, it’s the latter half where they come into their own. Dreams Mean Nothing is so gorgeously languorous and lovelorn it could break hearts from Stockholm to Sofia via Seville. Just when you think that that may be the peak, The Good Life tops it by opening and closing with a naggingly familiar keyboard prod encompassing a glorious tune between and Intimacy reveals the sound of Ladytron embracing this beautiful summer and ditching the dispassionate vocals in favour of honeyed, pastoral tones. To close, The Sound Of Thinking builds towards a pulsing climax before the non-more-Mogwai titled I Could Have Loved A Tyrant floats away on a bed of twinkling percussion and lulling strings into the deepest blue horizon.

And thus Saloon easily pass the five musical tests laid out in order to justify entry into the big league. Should we still need a referendum, I can only implore you to vote ‘Yes’. It’s well worth losing (ten) pounds for.
James S

SALOON If We Meet in the Future Track and Field HEAT 17
LAST YEAR’s (This Is) What We Call Progress was a stunning start. On its follow-up, this folktronic quintet sound, if anything, too relaxed; as though the pressure that produced the precise experimentalism of their debut has given way to complacent insularity. That said, Absence contains everything that makes Saloon special: Amanda Gomez keens a wistful vocal, “If we meet in the future/I’ll know you my friend,” while, New Order-like, the guitar picks out a rival melody and the viola saws. “In another park, on another train/I won’t feel regret again”, she sings, and you know that, despite the release date, she means parks piled with autumn leaves and trains clattering through barren lands. But sometimes feyness intrudes: even folktronica, you feel, requires discipline as well as whimsy.
Two stars / good
DAN CAIRNS

Saloon - If We Meet in The Future (Track and Field)
I've been trying to think of a way to combine and compare this record with corny automobile quips however this is nigh on impossible for two reasons. The first is that saloons are increasingly on the wane in favour of the hatchback where as Saloon are intent on ruling the world, well the space pop world at least.
Secondly it's ludicrous to compare such beautifully driven pop to anything as dull as a car. There are few band's who create such a divine sound as Saloon, melding gentle electronica with jagged yet silky rock forcing the listener into a world of dream.
When the delicate note changes and high hat brushing introduce us to the band on Vesuvius we're off floating around the room in Mary Poppins style. The rich spaced out world Saloon create is due to the looped, repetitive note changes and shoe gazing chord play. It's incredibly natural and tranquil in its volume without becoming chill-out ambience, so rare in music using synths and electronics. However, without the angelic vocals of Amanda Gomez Saloon simply wouldn't be the force they are, her beautifully monotone voice sends shivers down the spine before delivering a shatteringly gorgeous chorus.
Each song is a gem to fall in love with and to, especially the more fragile Kaspian, a delicate folk pop meander ready to dissolve at any point. It's the more accessible The Good Life which stands out, heart achingly joyful pop music that has a simple yet perfect beat in accompaniment designed to have us swaying and dancing with our lovers. Together for five years Saloon truly deserve their rightful place as pop uber lords and this will record will do them little harm at all.

Various - Pow! To The People
Track & Field started as a club, then added gigs to their roster of happenings in October 1999 as they built a reputation for ultra melodic, sixties-flavoured soulful pop which impacts on brain and feet simultaneously. For the last few years they’ve opened London ears to some of the best independent music from across the world through hundreds of gigs and a fair few records. The double album is a beautifully balanced collection of bands that have played live for Track & Field, spanning the range of independent music from jangle pop to indie-electronica to low-fi folk.

Of Montreal’s Everything About Her Is Wrong has the most cleverly barbed lyrics since Wire’s Mannequin set to a pristine Californian pop tune. Hey Lover by The Aislers Set is a pristine girl group song, sounding as if it had been recorded in New York in 1965 and discovered on a rare acetate only yesterday. Comet Gain’s Look At You Now You’re Crying is the saddest tale of kitchen sink desperation, guitars loudly leaking buckets of tears alongside Rachel’s very English, very soulful voice. The Clientele offer up the purest Love-song. Galveston proves that The Ladybug Transistor’s Gary Olson has the perfect, most resonant voice for singing Jimmy Webb songs. Add to this Woodchuck, The Amazing Pilots, Kicker, Saloon, Tompaulin, Herman Düne, the Loves’ Velvet Underground stylings - the list of great songs and bands is 36 long. Cane 141’s The Grand Lunar is mournful and elegant, while Mid State Orange’s Association-influenced crystalline pop is light streaming through curtains on a summer Sunday morning. The Tyde’s How Am I Supposed 2 is a stunning stoner-pop love song, with a piano riff so addictive that the song should be prescription only. By the end of disk two I’m a glassy-eyed melody junkie looking for his next fix of sweet, soulful, slightly downbeat pop music.

As a labour of love it’s outstanding. I’ve personally been turned on to so many great bands through these gigs and hopefully this album will open them up to a bigger audience. If I wanted to produce a classic mixtape, I wouldn’t bother: it’s already all here. The album proves there’s more to music than what the radio and the NME choose to tell you. It typifies and defines independence: as soon as you realise that there must be an alternative, you’ll start noticing the signs; there’s a signpost (36 of them actually) before us right now. Brothers and sisters, the real rock revolution starts here.

The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye
Although straight out of Brooklyn, NYC, The Essex Green steer a drastically different course to their more raucous city buddies. Like chalk next to the proverbial garage rock cheese, The Essex Green flounce and swoon like flowered-up bastions of the Woodstock era, crafting breezy pop sounds as pure and dazzling as the summer sun. With bellowing harmonies that only bloused hippies would dare sing, and a gentle, rolling narrative that caresses full-flung optimism like a beaded Wondermint cradling their potent stash of hashish, ‘The Long Goodbye’ is a sunfried bevy of power-pop strokes and city rock dashes. Capturing the sound and spirit of the late psychedelic era there’s no better way to spend the summer solstice than in the company of The Essex Green.
Matt Brown

The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye
Collegiate country hymns from eager NY trio
The art-school sleeve makes one thing certain : if you're looking for greasy, plank-spanking rockers you're in the wrong place. The shuffling alt. country softness of Lazy May and Southern States carry the lonely twang of big mountains and empty roads.
Tim Wild

The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye
They might not sell a million, but this Brooklynite art school are taking on indie twees like Belle and Sebastian. Though only 38 minutes in length, The Long Goodbye still packs in 12 languorous love songs and sounds all the better for its brevity. The group consists of present and former members of Vermont outfit, Guppyboy, and Ladybug Transistor. They also once recorded an entire album under a completely different name - The Sixth Great Lake. A veritable musicologist's fantasy, innit?
SUNNY CROCKETT

The Loves - Shake Yer Bones EP
My 7" slice of black plastic rotates pleasingly on the turntable: the perfect format for the lo-fi indieness in which Cardiff's Loves have been dealing for years.
This EP is slightly different, because whereas previous recordings have veered into material only their mothers and John Peel could love, there's a wealth of tuneful Americana here.
The title track reminds one of Simon's slightly discordant, affected, yankish drawl, but get over that hurdle and the song oozes cool quite surprising in one of the country's premier cardigan-wearing outfits. "Don't Spin Out" and "Cool" involve nicely before "Mary Woronov" closes with a riff naggingly reminiscent of Blondie's "One Way or Another". One way or another, a surprisingly easy-access introduction to The Loves.
JAMES MCLAREN

Herman Dune - Mas Cambios (4/5)
Herman Dune are two Swedish brothers displaced in the US, singing the blues with lopsided grins. Their voices - one high with wistful optimism, the other rough and ready for life to disappoint him - melt under the shared acceptance that love, life and geography are impossible.

Theirs is a hazy world. Random thoughts and visions somehow reveal profound truths in these pared-down folk songs, in which strange ideas collide with carefully stored details. The unlikely combination of a recorder and an electric guitar wheezes under sassy, self-pitying vocals to conjure a morning-after mood in Red Blue Eyes.

The haphazard guitar that slashes the sweetness of In the Summer Camp leaves you wondering whether it is the hymn to childhood it appears or a more awkward adult goodbye.

Best of all is the beautiful You Stepped on Sticky Fingers, where the itchy rhythms cease and Herman Dune savour a moment of recognition as the Rolling Stones album is broken underfoot but a heart suddenly starts beating.
BETTY CLARKE

Herman Dune - Mas Cambios (8/10)
The Dune brothers could almost have stepped off the celluloid of some outsider art flick : a pair of thick-bearded Swedish militant vegetarians, holed up in a house just outside the decaying fairground of New York's Coney Island, making some of the most mournful music imagineable. But their third album, "Mas Cambios", is very real.

The clear antecedent here is classic outsider country troupe the Palace Brothers : the Dune brothers' voices are so similar - one enigmatic and cracked, one hillbilly-high - to Will and Ned Oldham back in the day, it's actually faintly eerie. But the likes of "Sunny Sunny Cold Cold Day" have a strange magic all of their own, a commune of voices rising in baying chorus to toast these brittle hymns to melancholy.
LOUIS PATTISON

Herman Dune - Mas Cambias
“Mas Cambias” – more changes. The title comes from signs on the New York Transit System but could equally apply to the whole world of Düne. They hung (and hang) around with the ‘anti-folk’ movement, that collection of heart-on-their-sleeve low-fi emotional troubadours, and sounded like Leonard Cohen had gatecrashed the Velvet Underground’s picnic. While various anti-folkers still play on the album, now it feels like Herman Düne are a few stops on, writing songs not just for their mates but ones that are universal and accessible, though no less individualistic.

The album is the sound of a long sigh, filled with loss and longing. It’s the best resurrection of the romantic poets Keats, Byron and Shelley since Dylan in the 60s. Their romanticism is off-kilter, as in In The Summer Camp and they express the controlling, paranoid nature of romance in the otherwise singalong Show Me The Roof: “I wish I could watch over your naps…/ installing myself in/like a huge fucked up comforting software/ taking over anything that could make you worry”. They quote Daniel Johnson on the sleeve that “love is for losers”. It might mean that only losers fall in love, which seems echoed by Red Blue Eyes: “my breed is a melancholy one/ I’m skinny and slow with a hairy chest”. Yet that song has the opposite message that love is best appreciated by those who have and lose it. It lists the things the writer loves and has a fatalistic attitude to loss that is entirely positive: “I love it when night falls on Hoboken/ it’ll fall again/ truer word was never spoken”. In my humble opinion, it’s the best thing they’ve ever written and among the very best things I’ve heard this year.

Musically, it’s powerful without needing to be especially loud. The Silvertone guitars produce a warm buzzing while the recorders, ukulele and toy instruments add charming low-fi touches. Neman’s drums and percussion are unobtrusive but essential, adding light and shade. On A Sunny Sunny Cold Cold Day is full of reverb with off-beat lyrics (they write very well but there’s an attractive quirkiness if you study the words because English isn’t their first language). The Static Comes From My Broken Down Heart is a simple country sound with a tone of sweet melancholy, helped by Laura Hoch’s sympathetic backing vocals. My Friends Killed My Folks is a noir thriller, nervous and edgy while At Your Luau is quick and bongo-tastic, full of braggadocio and regret.

The album is a collection of jewels, a mini-masterpiece of melody, humour and playfulness as well as a comforting melancholy that connects on an emotional level with the listener. “Mas Cambios” is the way of the world; make it your own personal motto too.
GED

Herman Dune - Mas Cambias
Although lacking some of the immediacy of their previous long-player, "Switzerland Heritage", "Mas Cambias" is a fine piece of work, demonstrating how utterly affecting pop music can be when played by peoplewho really care. Swedish chain-smoking vegan animal rights activist brothers Andre and David-Ivar Herman Dune and drummer Neman care enough to get a bunch of their Brooklyn anti-folk chums to sing all over their album and call them the Flower Choir. They write lyrics so bare and uncomplicated ("When your cellphone batteries run out, I'll fill them up for you" from "The Static Comes From My Broken Heart") that you can't help but sing along second time around. They don't use a bass guitar, but there's no annoying holes in the sound (White Stripes: get a new guitar sound). They're also unashamedly Americanised, which should feel like some sort of cultural treason, but comes off as one of their sweetest attributes; they're all funny accents and Velvet Underground motifs still, but it's a charming, universal pop sound. The final track is titled "This is So Not What I Wanted", which might read like a line from Friends, but it plays like heartbreak caught on tape. By lovely men. With Beards. Smoking. And if you're not moved by "Show Me The Roof", with its lazy-anthem chorus and disarmingly pretty sentiment you will die lonely and afraid.
BRIAN PENNY

Of Montreal - Jennifer Louise
They've got it all; wit, charm, humour, great tunes, Dottie Alexander, lyrical genius and a guitarist with a broken foot (who is normally found performing in the quite brilliant Marshmallow Coast.) Jennifer Louise is the most obvious choice of single from the recent Track & Field LP, an upbeat sing-a-long tale about a long lost relation who hits it big sparking off a somewhat unsurprising interest in her affairs. The B side is more rocking, buy the album though, it's a real grower but you'll be rewarded for your attention.

The Projects - Entertainment
Entertainment is edgy, fractured post-punk spliced with spacey Europop. The initial, staccato effect is like the Slits or Kleenex until it glides into a warm bath of swirly synth noises and Lisa’s caressing French-pop tones. It’s lo-fi but high quality. The B-side What To Do, which is no longer in their live set, is a meaty garage rock riff which collides with synthy twizzles and ends in sampled electronica, a bit like the Standells playing Stereolab at Space Invaders

.

Dressy Bessy - Little Music : Singles 1997 - 2002
The first rays of sunshine outside and on cue we get the perfect summer record, a long playing platter of 60s tinged indie from those bubble headed cuties from Denver. This one is a veritable treasure trove of long deleted US-only early singles, demos and comp releases, saving the discerning pop picker a fortune on international money orders on eBay.

Fronted by the airy, saccharine sweet Tammy, and accompanied by the fuzzy but melodic guitar of the double shifting John Hill (he also strums for Apples in Stereo), it breezes along with all the fluffy care free abandon of a kitten on a motorised pink slipper. The amazing thing though is the consistent quality. Without checking the inner sleeve track list it’s impossible to ascertain what might have been a B-side, a demo or number one Stateside smash hit. Ok I jest about the latter. This may be sugary pop but just like our very own C86 revolution it’s much too underground for Dwight Spiegelhacker the third, who would glaze over at the relatively simple production and mildly psychedelic guitars. Dwight’s loss is our gain.
PAUL M

Dressy Bessy - Little Music
Regular readers will know of my affection for Dressy Bessy and it will no doubt come as no surprise then when I say that this is fantastic. Even though these are non-album tracks the quality is impressively high. Songs like Live To Tell, Princess, Fuzzy and especially Superstar Everything are among the best the band have done. Alongside the normal fuzzy pop that you expect there are some clean guitars on growers Gloria Days, Instead and the highlight of the Kindercore Christmas Two album All The Right Reasons. 18 tracks including the whole of the normally over priced California EP and their surprisingly mature sounding fuzz-tastic debut EP. Time to shake your shimmy man, do your little dance, me thinks!

Of Montreal - If He Is Protecting Our Nation... Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children
Of Montreal aren't "of montreal" at all. They're of Athens, Georgia. But you wouldn't expect a band who write songs called "My What a Strange Day with a Swede" to care about biographical accuracy, would you? In fact, it's best you accept, right from the beginning, that of Montreal don't care much for anything sensible. Like endings to songs, for example, they don't so much as end as wander off looking for their friends. This usually follows three minutes of smiling lunacy that you could call "psychedelia" if it didn't sometimes sound like Hootie and the Blowfish. We shouldn't get off on the wrong foot though (particularly as one track - a curving slice of new wave that puts Blondie back in their drainpipes - is called, "There's Nothing Wrong With Hating Rock Critics"), "Friends" incidental music it is not. It's just that Of Montreal's happy melodic attitude to music occasionally crosses over with other bands who have a happy melodic attitude to music. Which is good (The Beach Boys) and bad ("Wake Up Boo"-era Boo Radleys).
There are plenty of genuinely gorgeous moments, like the opening of "Cast In The Haze (been there four days)" : "I'm happy today because I'm in love [...] I hop off the train singing your name." And lots in the way of swivel-eyed silliness: "There's a hole in my sock where my shoe always bites it." So it goes well with spring. But if you like your pop accessible, straight-up and infectious, rather than brain-bending, kooky and made out of nuts, stay well away.
DJ

Of Montreal - If He Is Protecting Our Nation... Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children
The album, coinciding with the end of the UK tour, is pieces of everything: song sketches, full-blown tunes, B-sides and rare singles. For the fan, it’s a bit of a feast. For the OM virgin, it’s not the best place to start (that’s ‘Aldhils Arboretum’) but it proves how chock-full of clever ideas they are.

Girl From NYC (named Julia) is acoustic, introverted and romantic before it bursts with electric melody and anxiety. My, What A Strange Day With A Swede is like an off-centre Beatles record, with a regular song with lovely melody in there only twisted and turned upside down. Spooky Spider Chandelier, a sketch rather than a song, has a wonderful otherness with Japanese vocals from Yoko Sawai. Cast In the Haze, an old US single, is dreamy psychedelia with a ladleful of melody and sprinkles of oddness. The love of melody is reflected in the cover of the Zombies’ merry Friends Of Mine. Complete with a roll call of friends who are couples, there’s a humorous sleeve note that announces “in the time it took for the record to be released, they all split up”! Most striking is the recent B-side There Is Nothing Wrong With Hating Rock Critics. A study of the psychology of rock writing, you long for a sheet of the tongue in cheek lyrics. In a punk rock style, is Kevin really singing: “I’m not confused like you twits, you Lester Bangs wannabes”? I hope he is! This song takes on the mantle of greatness the more I hear it.

Finally full marks for the anti-war stance on the cover. While most bands are waiting to decide their stance based on their accountants’ advice on the effect on their US record sales, Of Montreal declare “we don’t want to fight in your beast war” with a surrealistic cover that has George Bush spurting the finest crude from a derrick set at groin level, all over a one-clawed child in an ‘America’ t-shirt. It’s striking and bizarre but effective and a welcome sign that pop’s found its conscience again.

of Montreal - If He is Protecting Our Nation…Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children
As the press release for the record states, by the time this is in the shops, George ‘Basil’ Bush may well have dragged the USA, and our very own puppet nation, into an unwarranted massacre. Well, as the bombs start to fall in Basra despite little conclusive evidence regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction, we are about to open the most dangerous of chasms weeks earlier than planned. Meanwhile, in South Africa 1 million people will meet their death by the end of the year because of the AIDS catastrophe, which could have been avoided 10 yrs ago with monetary aid from some of the oil hungry war barons. Instead Britain is spending £1.75 billion on an unworthy conflict, while the US, which has its own growing poverty problem, is spending untold amounts on ‘smart bombs’. Well done boys, well fucking done.

So, before this review turns into a political critique, it’s a relief to pick up a record that recognises the world’s problems via its title before it shows us how it really should be on this beautiful planet. There are no protest songs or political manifesto’s here, just pure unadulterated pop fun that those in power should be made to listen to. But then again, the strange, complex and most importantly fun sounds Of Montreal produce just wouldn’t make sense to the uneducated likes of Bush and his wife, Mr Blair. If He is Protecting… is a compilation of b sides, outtakes and recent covers, like the brilliant Zombies song Friends of Mine, which does the 60s psych/garage kings more than justice – coming on like an anthemic West Coast version of All You Need is Love. The fantastically titled There is Nothing Wrong With Hating Rock Critics is a clear indication of the bands maturing sound, having appeared on the recent single Jennifer Louise. Over sharp psychedelic sounds, Barnes sings that if you don’t like Of Montreal, something must be wrong with you and I tend to agree with their view point.

As with the rest of Of Montreal’s back catalogue the strange borders on the ridiculous – but that’s where the band succeed, they’re here to lighten up our lives so you can’t help but enjoy them. On the ludicrous Christmas Isn’t Safe for Animals the song stops half way through for several people to say “Why rent, when you can have your own washer and dryer for just $225? Put it on your Sears card!” Why indeed! You sometimes get the feeling that Barnes is simply talking to himself when he adds his vocals over the clever instrumentation. However, on Cast In The Haze (been there four days) his vocals are touchingly melodic and his harmonies partner the acoustics and organ perfectly as he sings “I’m happy today/because I’m in love”. Some Of Montreal can leave one cringing when the tune seems to go missing for a few seconds, but on the whole the band are one who deserve your affection and this record is no different. Someone should blast If He is Protecting…at top volume on Capitol Hill, until Georgie starts smiling and laughing at something other than a country’s misery. CHRIS PARKIN

Homescience - "Songs for Sick Days" (Track & Field)
Homescience wear their Americana influences proudly and affectionately on this beautiful album. Over the space of 50 minutes, these 22 songs curl around you like a duvet on a flu-ridden day, warm, tender, letting you know it's OK to feel a little bit sorry for yourself. The two opening tracks give a flavour of things to come. Little Wings is a downbeat lo-fi acoustic tune which starts "You cut off my head/But I wont be dead/'Cos little wings will sprout from my shoulders". You know that you're in for something a bit odd, gothic, special. The vocal style recalls the fragile, melancholic delivery of Mark Linkous, and indeed throughout the album I am reminded of the power of those seemingly simple, uncluttered and heartbreaking songs of Sparklehorse.

Then there's the carefully put together Don't Shirk, a sort of Pet Sounds chewed over by the Flaming Lips, with a vocal melody and slight non-committal rhythm. It sounds brilliant. And unbelievably the whole album is like this: lo-fi, intimate, sad melodies, mainly acoustic, sometimes electric, sometimes floating, sometimes rhythmic (Song, one of the most straightforward countryrocktype tunes here, is a gentle singalong about a song that you can call your own, natch), sometimes with the odd sound experiment (the backwards sample of train and birds on Complete Train Kit).

Homescience may hail from Scotland but you wouldn't know it - "We've been here livin' whiskey for days/Tumbleweed could just take me away/From the brownstones and pains/To my home on the range/The stestons' ten gallons of NYC rain" they sing over the clip-clop rhythm and bar-room piano on Livin' Whiskey. And boy, you're with them. Americana being a state of mind, of course.

In Homescience and Songs for Sick Days we have something homegrown and special, that may point to the likes of Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips, but avoids the pretentious excesses and pitfalls that they can suffer from. If you've ever liked the more focussed songs of these bands then I suggest you will like this. Now for my sicknote - "Dear boss, cannot come into work today*.You cut off my head*".

Homescience - Songs For Sick Days
Ce qui frappe à l'écoute de ce deuxième album d'Homescience, c'est le mimétisme confondant avec Mercury Rev, tant au niveau de la musique que de la voix et du chant précieux. Y'a pire me direz-vous, d'autant plus que les écossais ont au moins la bonté de nous épargner le pompiérisme grandissant desdits américains… De plus la production fait instinctivement penser aux smile sessions des Beach Boys, voire aux Beatles, pour le son chaleureux et un rien désuet, et surtout pour cette façon de s'amuser avec les sons et d'embellir d'effets discrets et originaux des compositions acoustiques a priori simples. Pour preuve, écoutez le très bon Don't shirk dont l'intro fait irrémédiablement penser à un Good vibrations repris par Mercury Rev et malmené par les Flaming Lips. Bref, autant d'arguments qui vont dans le sens de ce Songs for sick days… Une seule réserve toutefois : si les compositions ont le mérite de toujours aller à l'essentiel de par leur concision, 22 titres ( !) ça fait un peu beaucoup et ça finit par être poliment ennuyeux.
Guillaume C.

Homescience - Songs For Sick Days
No matter how hard the editor of Uncut will try and convince you, at the end of the day The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev are only good bands. OK so most of their output is far more inventive than your average chart band but for me neither can hold out over the length of a full album (come on it was only really The Dark is rising and a Drop in Time that were exceptional on All is Dream). The real heroes of the "fantasy / childrens musical" genre, as I choose to name it, are none other than Sparklehorse. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot is easily one of the best albums I've ever heard, but its follow up, Good Morning Spider, never really hit the same dizzying heights and by the time It's A Wonderful Life came out, I'd lost interest. And so here are Homescience to deliver the follow up that never was.

The fragile voice, the unashamed love of pop, country and toy instruments, the gentle sentiments, the hope, the ability to carve a song out of any situation, the downright openhearted unrequited love. It's here in abundance.

If I was to pick one song out of the twenty two I think track twelve is the standout. Imagine the perfect harmonius slow pop of Kincaid and Grandaddy's love of technology whilst happy robots watch in awe and clap in time. Maybe 14 tracks would have sufficed but when you've got so many good songs how do you choose which ones to leave out? Most bands would kill for just six or seven songs this good and maybe that explains a lot.

Saloon - Girls Are The New Boys
A cursory glance could afford Reading's Saloon little more than feckless indie-schmindie status, but the carefree romp of "Girls Are The New Boys" hints at more with its delicate chorus and suprisingly abrasive conclusion. The electric backbone of "Solitude" builds upon this promise with singer Amanda's toasted marshmallow vocals proclaiming words of wisdom over the top ("Don't give up on yourself," she purrs), before all is delivered with "I Am the Cheese", a former live favourite of the band trembling between "Things Lost In The Fire"-era Low, The Sonora Pine and The Gentle Waves, all strings and cobwebs and shivering beneath the stars.

Saloon may have some of the trappings of sugar coated chamber pop, but these are suppressed enough to let the songs (rather than the paisley shirts) shine through - and on the evidence of this record, they show themselves in fact to be one of Reading's best kept secrets. second only to that little record shop in the arcade near the train station.
Karl Kremin

Saloon - Girls Are The New Boys
I've come to the conclusion that Saloon are the perfect 7" band, a whole album is too much but 5 minutes in their company is nothing short of bliss. The brilliantly titled "Girls Are The New Boys" begins with a nagging two note viola riff set to driving Teutonic beats as Miss Saloon gently seduces you with her sweeter than honey tones. And 3 and a half minutes later the drummer gets bored and exploeds into action as the guitarist and viola-ist fight to see who can play the fastest. The result? A New World just like the other world. Take a look inside.

Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum
Fragrantly funny loveliness from quirky Athens, Georgia collective
In contrast to the recent crop of bands purveying twee 60's-style sunshine pop, the latest from of Montreal comes as a relief. While they, too, are feeling the hippie spirit - their artwork leaves us in no doubt that they believe free love and flower power are groovy, baby - they blend retro psychedelia with a healthy sense of irony: here, witty lyrics are just as important as sweet melodies and honeyed harmonies. An irreverent and enjoyably silly listen.
NICK DAWSON

Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum
Fiendish, grinning psychedelic idiocy.

If you swooned for Chicagoan semi-dwarf Bobby Conn's blend of power ballads and gay songs about golf, you'd be an idiot to miss this. Of Montreal are from Athens, Georgia but REM they ain't. A deviant bunch of paisley pop freaks, their multi-tiered songs will give those with a detailed knowledge of Anglodelic ancients XTC's back catalogue more than a few deja vu moments.

Everyone else should just swoon at how beautifully arranged the effortlessly quirky 'Aldhils Arboretum' is. A special note for 'Jennifer Louise' which, aside from sounding like prime-period Pulp, may be the first great pop song about pestering a distant cousin on the off chance that she might have some money. Indisputably strange but secretly brilliant.
8/10
Jim Wirth

Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum
I remember being slightly disppointed when I first got Cocquelicot, but after giving it the attention it deserved it soon revealed its brilliance in all its brilliant colours. And so Aldhils Aroboretum has taken several listens to grow. The normal crazy characters are there but this time you've got to search a little harder to find them, like the "crankily elderly lady next door who accuses us of burning down her barn" and harry the alcoholic neighbour asking for a trip to the liquor store in Isn't It Nice?, a swaying tune of domestic bliss, not disimilar to the Gay Parades Neat Little Domestic Life and Natalie the lonely girl who buys herself a Yorkshire Terrier and names it Effie in the pub sing-a-long piano and trumpet epitaph of Natalie and Effie. And of course Louis Capouche, the cute little lost orphan in the album highlight Kid Without Claws, which sets the template for the majority of the album. It's more of a return to the rocks roots (but still with a generous helping of pop!) in a Nicki Lighthouse kind of way, and more straightforward songwriting, though with of Montreal mothing is really that straightforward.

Unlike The Gay Parade and Cocquelicot there doesn't seem to be a definite theme running through, one thing that does stand out though is a now apparent fear of growing old. Emphasized in Old People in the Cemetery "there's nothing sadder than an old woman in the cemetry / picking leaves off her husband's tomb / knowing that her only wish is she will die and join him soon" and in Ode to the Nocturnal Muse where, though jokingly, he exclaims "I can't wait to be old / growing senile together / holding hands / and completely out of our heads". For now though Mr. Kevin Barnes remains young and his ever fantastic mind keeps churning out the goods and ever impressing me with his great but sometimes mind numbingly obvious songs, such as Jennifer Louise, his cousin that he has met but once still he "just wonders about you / wonder if you ever think about me."

If you haven't already been won over by the wonderful world of of Montreal then this is the perfect starting place and once this one has won you over, go check out their older stuff, you won't be disappointed.

Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum
What do we know about of Montreal? They’ve released about six albums, though this is their first proper release in the UK. Some of those have been – gasp! - concept albums. They moonlight in other bands like Great Lakes and Marshmallow Coast. And judging by Kevin Barnes’ lyrics and David Barnes’ artwork, they don’t see the world like anyone else.

of Montreal are poppy like the Beatles circa Sergeant Pepper, harmonic like the Beach Boys, psychedelic and whimsical like Syd Barrett, often all within the same song. Songs are sharply drawn vignettes, beautifully observed but all slightly out of kilter and offering a surreal take on life. Time signatures change mid-song leaving you slightly disoriented. It’s pop music with a slightly bitter tang. Doing Nothing is fresh sounding Monkees, very melodic with fluttering guitars but with enough twists to suggest that the band aren’t following a pop formula. Or try Jennifer Louise: full of melody, with perfect harmonies, but lyrically it’s a stalker’s tale of unrequited love for a cousin (coming from Athens, Georgia you’d have thought they knew better). Pancakes for One is pure 60s pop the way the DBs used to interpret it: guitars jangling the senses, melodies soothing them and gorgeous harmonies served up like lashings of comfort food. Old People in the Cemetery is blackly humorous but moving too: “old people…unprepared to come to terms/with the fact that we’re all food for worms/ do they think a prayer could make a difference now?”. It’s tuneful and melodic with a calypso beat happy tone and a string section reminding us of the grave situation. Isn’t It Nice is a song of praise for country life, melodic and superficially hearty but evolving into a sinister warning about the people you meet there: “Larry, our alcoholic neighbour, at 10am asking for a ride to the liquor store” and “cranky elderly lady who accuses us of burning down her barn”. And however rhythmic and poppy Death Dance of Omipapas and Sons for You is, and it is, that title alone puts it in the “ma, they’ve been at the mushrooms again” box.

There’s a knowing innocence about all this and, while the whimsy can be a little strong at times, the range of pop styles, and the intelligence that applies them, makes this worthwhile listening. You might not get all of it first time, but you’ll want to keep listening till you do.
Reviewed by Ged

The "Exclusive" Fanzine
Issue 8

Kicker - Fivefortyfives
that's kicker the band, not the equally august german football magazine. we don't normally review german football magazines.

long awaited - by us - "5x45s" does what it says on the tin, allowing us to listen to kicker's resumé to date without the usual attendant gaps of cuing one of the singles up, playing it at the wrong speed, dropping the needle, etc. of course, we know that's the attraction of vinyl, too, but in these digitally obsessed times...

it's all rich and warm, if sparsely produced, conjuring images of analogue recording and dansette playback, motown melodies and (inescapably) the comet gain and velocette axis which we understand is, or at least was, represented in their six-strong line-up. kicker take guitar, bass, drums and sixties organ and supplement them with strings or brass where necessary to produce a sound which is undeniably an ode to the past, but that is usually lively enough to justify their role in the present. the only exception to the over-riding northern soul feel is probably "turning left", which is more obviously a recording made under the influence of the tim gane / miss mend school of archness, but that still works perfectly well.

the release order of the singles is also mixed up, so that the cd starts with a bang with one of their very strongest tunes, "boy, have you got it ?" and then hops around between both the preceding and subsequent platters. to be honest, from their first single "get rid of him", to the inspirational 2002 effort "no more tears" with its sparkling exhortation to just live life - one of the very best singles of this year - the quality control is pretty smooth, so newcomers will be treated to a coherent whole (fans of the saturday people's album, for example, might recognise the retro-pop sensibilities). as such, it will certainly tide us over until single six arrives...

Kicker - Fivefortyfives
It's amazing that the band that has had the most releases on the label remains the least known. Listening to this compilation of their five singles so far it amazes me yet more. Why aren't this band huge?

12 stabs of northern soul influenced moog-a-licious pop gems peppered with toe tapping, hip-swinging beats of which the wonderful "Boy Have You Got It?" the country tinged "No More Tears", with its heart achingly honest spoken word outro, "besides you owe me" it concludes and the stomping "The Falling Leaves" standout.

Sometimes, like on "Chancifer", they sound like a northern soul version of the highly underrated Tiger but for the most part they sound like 1966 down at the northern soul dance party.

Kicker - Fivefortyfives
Bitterscene nights at the Bassment have a brilliant reputation thanks to lively gigs by bands like Kicker. If you were foolish enough to miss them there is some consolation.Luckily,all indie-pendently minded hipsters can savour the sound of Kicker on Fivefortyfives - a fine compilation of their first five vinyl singles.

They've repaid the Bitterscene support by thanking them in the slleevenotes and by making one of the best indie releases of the year. Kicker make all-nighter raids on the the vaults of Northern Soul then melt the tunes with their burning indie spirit. The wonderful Boy Have You Got It? and Gone And Forgotten recreate the sublime Sixties sound of Decca records. So wonderfully retro yet so refreshingly now. Be careful though, Jill Drew's sexy soulful voice will inspire you to raid record fairs for rare Billie Davis and Dana Gillespie vinyl - she's that good! The groovy vibe continues through the liberating and heartmending emotion of Get Rid Of Him. Kicker outshine Stereolab on the infectious On Your Floor and No More Tears and Turning Left is what 'Lab fans really wanted after the complete space-pop of Ping Pong.

There is another side to Kicker. When Phil Sutton sings they transform into an equally impressive Felt/Yo La Tengo hybrid band. The Long Way Down, Chancifer and Baby Don't Worry are lush lo-fi treasures. Fivefortyfives will give you goosepimples - it's too good to ignore. Let's hope Kicker keep their road atlas open and travel back to Chelmsford soon.
Don Blandford

Great Lakes - The Distance Between
This is the second album from the Athens, Georgia trio (which also includes various other Elephant 6 type people) and it carries on the off-centre Sixties melodic garage pop sound of before bit takes it to a more lush place than I previously remember. Aside from the three cover versions (Mike Nesmith's "Some of Shelley's Blues", The Zombies "This Will Be Our Year" and The Bee Gees (!)"Morning of My Life") that whilst fitting in perfectly with their sound are not their own and do not have a lot of "value added", there are 8 songs of Beach Boys style HUGE orchestral guitar pop. It is unashamedly retro, sounding like 60's / 70's guitar pop and why I should love this and not the Beatles copyist retro of Oasis I don't know. Probably because this is not "blokey" at all, it's orchestral and vulnerable and all that matters is it puts a big fat smile on my big fat face.

Great Lakes - The Distance Between
The formula remains the same as previously yet the vision is slightly altered with the inclusion of some garage-y guitars on Sister City, ( a great song unexplainably ruined by a totally unnatural key change in the middle 8) and added experimentalism sd hinted on the instrumental tracks of their debut album.The slow moving Ever So Over and schoolroom Beatles echo that is Now is When both meander off into experimental city or at least just inside the gates of the mythical city. The fact that there is three cover versions (The Zombies is the only one I recognise) annoys me slightly, why a band with so much talent must rely on other people's songs will forever mystify me. All three songs, however, are exectued brilliantly and fit in with the general feel of the album.

There's no doubt about which song is gonna win over the most fans. The brilliant "Conquistadors" is a fantastic epic blues-y garage beast of a tune. Two minutes of perfect pop lead into a four-minute guitar wigout. Several time changes later and an excerpt from Suede's Metal Mickey and you're left speechless, your fingers bleeding from playing along on your red shiny air guitar.

Great Lakes - The Distance Between
This is a collection, but not of greatest hits, though the quality is so good you’ll want to return to them. The album collects songs not on the ‘Great Lakes’ album but released in various other formats, mostly in the US. As most of these formats were singles or compilations, the hook-rating of the songs is very high. Great Lakes are associated with the Elephant 6 camp so you know roughly what to expect: wayward psychedelia, sixties garage pop laden with hooks and smothered in melody, married to a modern pop sensibility but rather quirky and off-centre. Although a couple of tracks are fillers, most are substantial and lovely pop numbers. Ever So Over is a full Beach Boys production, stately and elegant, with Jamey Huggins’ languid voice massaged by mournful viola and harmonica. It’s nearly 5 minutes of slow burning melody gently emerging from the tightly layered track. Sister City in contrast is all guitar riffs and feedback, shorter and more direct but just as melodic and instantly infectious. There are three covers, all of which fit perfectly into the Great Lakes pure-pop universe, being linked by their melodic edge and catchy tunes. Mike Nesmith’s Some of Shelley’s Blues is pop-heavy country-rock. The Bee Gees’ Morning of My Life is very simple and sweet and builds in sound as the verses get progressively more surreal. Their cover of The Zombies’ This Will Be Our Year is wonderfully melodic with a pretty sentiment delivered perhaps even better than on ‘Odessey and Oracle’. There’s a lovely use of horns and strings and the whole thing sounds pretty timeless. The first two minutes of Conquistadors are amazing West Coast pop, kicking off like T-Rex meets a country-rock Byrds, with stunning piano fills. It’s hookier than a family wedding at the New Order bassist’s house. Guitars then go off like someone dropped a lit match in a box of fireworks and it ends in a bit of a guitar/piano wigout but just for a while we’re planting the flag on planet pop and everything is gorgeous. There are lots of external events to remind you that it can be a pretty shitty world sometimes so it’s good that Great Lakes are there to stroke your brow and show you some of the finer things in life.
Reviewed by Ged