Good Noise: Volume 30
I promised I would do this on time - i.e. last weekend - and then I didn’t. But here it is now, just in time before the next weekend comes around…and another edition of Good Noise. So, this time, I’ve racked my brains for good classic indie tunes, so here’s your five for this week:
1) The first band was a band I never got into when they were together - but I heard this song on a compilation tape my boyfriend made for me some years ago, and the song really grew on me - so much so that I think I might have to go and find this band’s Greatest Hits album. The band is Gene, the song is FABULOUS chilled-indieness that just REEKS of the 90s:
Gene - Sleep Well Tonight: www.myspace.com/drawntothedeepend
2) Again, another band that I never really got into during their heyday - Suede - my only real knowledge of them was their singles, and Brett Anderson’s pouting and camp flouncing around - qualities that were much sent up by Newman and Baddiel in their famous Live and In Pieces show at Wembley…anyway, I digress…the reason that I have a mad keenness for this tune at present is because I am currently ploughing my way through a 6-DVD set of Eddie Izzard that I recently bought for my birthday. The third DVD is called ‘Glorious’ and utilises this much as the ‘theme’ tune, so to speak. So, obviously, apart from the fact it’s a great tune, I now also think of Eddie Izzard strutting around whenever I hear it…I can totally understand why he picked it to use, because it’s a great song to strut onto stage to and feel wonderful:
Suede - Filmstar: www.myspace.com/suede90
3) One of my favourite bands from the 90s, it’s difficult not to love Oxford’s cheeky indie-pop Supergrass…unless you had a hatred of men who looked a bit like Richard Beckingsale in his hairy hairy Porridge era : ) I like this song because it’s very laid-back and summer-y, it’s well written, it’s got hand clapping in it, and it sounds a bit like 70s rock with the vocal effects….and there’s lots of ‘ahhhhhs’ and ‘ooooooohs’:
Supergrass - Seen The Light: www.myspace.com/supergrass
4) Yet another band that I missed out on during the 90s, but I know that I would probably like their stuff….so perhaps a trip to the shops is needed for me this weekend to stock up on not only a Gene album, but also an album by Echobelly too. Lead singer Sonja had a good voice, and from the singles of theirs that I know, they wrote great songs, and this is one of them….which has a FANTASTIC opening riff….it’s S0 90s, it makes me shiver. It’s an unusual song in that I prefer the verses to the chorus - which gets a bit mainstream and sounds too similar to genre-mates Sleeper:
Echobelly - King Of The Kerb: www.myspace.com/echobellykingofthekerb
5) The final recommendation for this week is Spacehog - a band rather like Bush, in that they didn’t do so well over here, but went down rather well in the US. I can’t quite remember how I got into their music…when I do I’ll tell you, I’ve got an idea they’re on the soundtrack for Brit-film Shooting Fish. This song is the one that has the bit at the beginning that used to be used on the One-2-One advertisements…and do you remember what they morphed into? Yes, T-Mobile. Anyway, just a lovely floaty indie anthem, and this has lots of ‘ooooooooohs’ in it, so like the Supergrass song, this also gets an automatic thumbs-up:
Spacehog - In The Meantime: www.myspace.com/spacehogmusic