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Various Artists
Rough Trade Shops Indiepop 1
Mute
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Article
written by Tom B
Oct 22, 2004.
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Rough Trade has delved into 20 years of music history and compiled the latest release in the Rough Trade Shop series, Indiepop 1. But is it a wasted opportunity to explore the genre because it misses out on essential tunes, labels and because it contains tracks that have appeared on CD before?
Firstly what is Indiepop? Its origins lie in the remains of New Wave and post punk with bands such as the Fire Engines and Girls At Our Best both of whom are sadly missing from this compilation.
Postcard Records of Scotland then had an impact with their releases from Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and Josef K (just ask Franz Ferdinand) but the defining moment was the invention of the C86 movement by the NME who later compiled the infamous tape of the same name. And what about twee? That grew out of C86 and is an inspiration to the likes of Belle and Sebastian (missing from the CD) and Camera Obscura (who are featured).
The labels you suspected would be included are here: Creation, 53rd & 3rd, Sarah, Subway. The tunes? Well there are forty six of them. 1980's classics you should already own: "Safety Net" by The Shop Assistants, "Get Out Of My Dream" by The Clouds, "Sorry For Laughing" by Josef K and many more including The Groove Farm, The Field Mice and The Flatmates. Some tracks never released on CD appear including Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes "Splashing Along" and even better I, Ludicrous' "Presporous Tales". What do you think about that then Ken? "You Trip me Up" by The Jesus and Mary Chain is also included but "Upside Down" would have been the better choice because that was the record so many bands wanted to copy and were influenced by back in the day.
The 1990's saw a decline of UK acts and this is reflected by okay contributions from Lush, Bis and Spearmint. The American contingent are also represented by the excellent Dressy Bessy, The Magnetic Fields and the vastly over-rated Beat Happening. However I could think of many others culled from the likes of Slumberland or Matinee which deserved an inclusion. The weak point is tracks from the rest of the world. There are only two and both are pretty poor efforts by Juniper Bell (from Spain) and Love Is All (Sweden). The Swedish contribution is a sore point for me. Why are there no tracks from that Country's excellent Labrador label on the compilation? No Club 8, No Acid House Kings and nothing from the Legends either. Also why just pick bands from Europe? The Phillipines for one has a burgeoning indiepop scene and it would have been nice to give some bands from that country some well deserved exposure. Finally from today there are tracks from Camera Obscura and Aberfeldy, two bands from Scotland, the country that gave us indiepop in the first place.
And the omissions for various reasons, mainly licensing: No Orange Juice, no Fizzbombs or House Of Love, no "Anxious" by The Housemartins, no Mighty Lemon Drops (who were pop's saving grace between 1985-87), no Fat Tulips and no Bodines.
Is the revival over before it started? Not likely. A Primitives anthology was released last month, The Flatmates have compilations due on Claire Records and Cherry Red, a new live Mighty Lemon Drops album will be released next month and clubs like How Does It Feel To Be Loved, Bitterscene and Offbeat play the tracks and keep the genre alive each month.
Don't get me wrong - this has been on my player for the past two weeks and for an introduction I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing it. For the die hards like me who live, breath and er, eat Indiepop let's hope a second volume rectifies things and hey Rough Trade if you are looking I will compile it for you, unless of course you are scared to get happy!!!
Untitled Document
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