Reconsiderations

I’ve recently been quite into the first several Apples in Stereo albums. I had a few of them on CD-R, copied from friends, but I guess I must not have listened to them much before, or maybe I did but it never stuck for some reason. I think maybe I thought based on their reputation that they were too sunny, too pop, or was put off by their Pet Sounds worship, or something. It’s strange, because I own a CD of theirs from Darla’s Bliss Out series which I’ve always liked. Anyway, as a result of my ongoing quest to re-rip stuff I have on CD-R (but not from my crappy see-through CD-Rs of course), I’ve been listening to Tone Soul Evolution, Her Wallpaper Reverie, and The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone. Just some great stuff on there; good all the way through, and a few songs you can’t believe weren’t written before. Some tunes reminds me a bit of Kinks worship era Lilys. Some of it is a bit on the lo-fi side, and the vocals are a bit buried at times, e.g. on Silver Chain. Anyway, here are a few favorite tracks…

What’s the #

Shine a Light

Silver Chain

Ruby

I Can’t Believe

Catherine Wheel is one of those bands that I totally loved, but for some reason never paid any attention to past their first two albums. Recently though I’ve finally been getting into their third album, Happy Days. Maybe I had turned away because there’s potentially a bit of a cheese or emo factor or something; it’s perhaps a bit embarrassing to like at this point, but here we are.

Judy Staring at the Sun (with Tanya Donelly)

Waydown

I gave their fourth album Adam and Eve a couple spins lately too, but haven’t been able to get into that one thusfar.

Leaving the ’90s behind for a moment, I for some strange reason just assumed the band xx would be lame, and passed up a chance to see them at SXSW a few years back, but in reality it turns out they’re fairly neat, catchily sparse.

Crystalised

Islands