You can now buy the self-titled debut album from Burning Codes from our record label Indiecater!

Burning Codes are showing why it is sometimes better to lead by what comes from inside rather than follow what is going on all around. Paul Archer (with a little help from his brother the Reindeer Section-er Iain) plays an early Verve/Spiritualized card that is augmented with several of his own creative aces. So what you get is a restrained strum that threatens to explode into life at any moment and a set of church going vocals that veer enigmatically between angelic and devilish. Burning Codes are unsigned and are yet to release a record so seem ripe for exploitation. Bulging coffers, adoring fans and a back catalogue of laser guided melodies awaits. All you gotta do is let them light your fire. KD

Burning Codes - Go

Burning Codes - For All Time

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Soon....
Year: 2007

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David Kitt is the son of a prominent politician. David Kitt’s music was the father to a sister of thought that for 2 albums saw him become Dublin’s most vital creative force. His light has dimmed considerably despite a measured improvement on last years ‘Not Fade Away’. But if you were compiling a ‘best of’ the majority would be plucked from ‘Small Moments’ and ‘The Big Romance’. The latter was a superb mix of acoustic and electronica and Kitt’s constantly inventive vocal subtleties. ‘Another Love Song’ (a small moment) is flawed, there are blemishes in the playing and some of the higher notes are missed (the whole album was culled from demo's). It matters not a jot though, because the song is refreshingly honest, innocent and played from the heart. Kitt’s younger cousin provides the secondary vocals and it’s a wistful combination that fully blossomed on a cramped Whelan’s stage around the time ‘Small Moments’ was released. Prepare for the mother of all crying sessions. KD

David Kitt - Another Love Song

Watch The Video To You Know What I Want To Know

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Small Moments [US] Small Moments
Year: 2000

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Take this as your introduction to alt country. Unless you’re already smitten with the genre this gentle tune from Chicago’s Utah Carol is an altogether ringing endorsement. ‘Rodeo Queen’ is the boy/girl/husband/wife duo’s third album and pitches them alongside those early Mojave 3 tunes that cowboys like to whistle to. ‘Ruby’ is a perty little thing, subtle and alert to every creative possibility within its own narrow environs. Grant Birkenbeuel and JinJa Davis vocals entwine so wonderfully you could easily miss the inventive background noises. In fact, despite initially sounding straight forward this tune blooms into a fully fledged opus after half a dozen listens. If you'd like more loveliness ‘Rodeo Queen’ is an instantly amiable experience that will remain with you for the longest time. KD

Utah Carol - Ruby

Watch The Video To Angel

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Rodeo Queen
Year: 2007

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Don’t you just love those songs that creep up on you. One minute you are minding your own business washing the dishes and then suddenly the sound of summer emerges from your hard drive. ‘Hideaways’ is so awash with the sleepeye from California dreamin you could almost be in the company of a set of Wilson siblings. Tony Carbone is the architect and even though it may have been 5 years since his band last released a full length the time away seems to have been well spent soaking all manner of sucrose melody. ‘Hideaways’ is just one example of the fresh fruit available on ‘The Kiss’, Bikeride’s 5th album. The winning formula includes moments of genius such as the Carbone’s multi-layered vocals, lean electro string assaults and a momentum that is as acrobatic as 70’s eastern block female Olympian. Before you know it this tune will be spilling from all your friends stereos and soon the whole world will genuflect at Carbone’s masterful altar. KD

Bikeride - Hideaways

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: The Kiss
Year: 2007

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File this under smouldering cool, a song so effervescent it could heat a small apartment. Ride were the quintessential shoegaze band and the leading lights in a small army of bands to emerge from Oxford in the early nineties. Their first 2 albums are essential while later albums struggled under the strain of disintegrating friendships. Mark Gardener had the ethereal vocals while Andy Bell coaxed wondrous emissions from his guitar. Too bad the latter has fallen into the laps of pub rock and too bad the former is constantly overlooked despite an impressive post-ride career. ‘Vapour Trail’ was absent from the original release of Ride’s debut ‘Nowhere’ but is essential in understanding the bands early giant steps. There are persistent rumours that Ride may be reforming (there is even an online petition!) and for once it seems like a scintillating prospect. KD

Ride - Vapour Trail

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Ox4 - The Best of Ride [US] Ox4 the Best of Ride (Bonus CD)
Year: 1990

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Although better known for ‘Sweet Harmony’ Liquid will always be high in my affections due to this infectious piece of retro artistry. The tune is perfectly of its time, an addictive synth so reminiscent of the old skool manoeuvres of yore. And looking back despite the truckloads of nasties being consumed there was a certain innocence to it all. Illegal dances, don’t be holding big happy gatherings in the middle of the country m’laddy, you might scare those four-legged bovine who have a different sort of grass on their minds. I never really got into it myself being the spotty indie kid that I was but in the late 80's/early 90's rave was so ubiquitos it was hard not be affected by its energy. Whether the hardcore remember is another thing altogether. KD

Liquid - Time To Get Up

Watch The Video To Sweet Harmony & other Rave Classics

More Info: Liquid Myspace & The History of Rave
Buy Album: [UK] Original Rave Anthems [US] Original Rave Anthems
Year: 1993

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Ray Weiss is still an angry young man yet he could write several tomes about his adventures in the music industry thus far. He started his first band the Medics while still at school but despite being courted by a number of labels including Island decided against compromise. Whether he’ll regret this decision remains to be seen but following a particularly messy part of his life (breakfast bowls of whiskey) he formed Le Rug. ‘Bleenex’ is the bands first album and even though it currently only has a limited run this could be one piece of work that's gonna see many more reissues. Weiss rarely keeps the aggression in check so there are some wonderful examples of rollicking melodies bursting out of tracks like ‘The Loveless Fuzz’. From the word go a cavalcade of noise emerges from the speakers and in the process reveals more soul than a bumper drift net harvest. Word to the Weiss. KD

Le Rug - The Loveless Fuzz

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Bleenex
Year: 2007

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Apart from the outrageously talented Mew I couldn't think of another Danish band until that is I ran into Slaraffenland (the land of milk and honey). Based in Copenhagen this is a collective that is going places as much for the multifaceted gems on their new album ‘Private Cinema’ as their praised SXSW show earlier this month. ‘Polaroids’ is a complex treat that reinvents itself midway through. The initial scenes pitch synths that appear like hurtling shadows in deepest space yet by the finish it’s almost as if we’ve wondered upon a gloriously assembled Jaga Jazzist piece. This is so far removed from daytime playlists as you’re likely to hear but the lavish inventiveness deserves a wide audience. KD

Slaraffenland - Polaroids

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy The Album (out May 15th): Private Cinema
Year: 2007

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Panda Bear of Animal Collective has gone all eponymous on us with his new outfit and the new album ‘Person Pitch’ is an unlikely runner in the best of 2007 stakes (with ‘Bros’ challenging for song of the year so far). Panda (Noah Lennox) was also one half of Jane with Scott Mau forming the hind legs. Their one and only release was ‘Berserker’ on the increasingly fashionable vinyl format (may surpass CD sales in the not too distant future) and this is the haunting title track. It is what’d you expect from Panda Bear, enigmatic electro lines, spooky vinyl crackles and a voice that emanates from the furthest reach of a long since abandoned well. It’ll either charm or scare the pants off you but whatever your reaction it will leave an indelible impression. KD

Jane - Berserker

Watch The Video To Panda Bear's Bros

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Berserker
Year: 2005

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Had you only tuned into Sonic Youth over the last couple of albums you’d have encountered a band in full melodic bloom. Where the New Yorkers had for many years occupied the experimental hot house they have recently ditched their sometimes infuriating capacity to furrow new ground without paying due attention to listenability. ‘Sonic Nurse’ and last years ‘Rather Ripped’ have instead concentrated on classic song structures where jangling chords have been twinned with sly lyrical vignettes. The results are pleasing on the ear and often provide mesmerising treats such as ‘Incinerate’. Ok, there is nothing inherently ground breaking in the sound but ‘Incinerate’ still carefully exposes aching melodic nerves before dousing them with cups of hot expresso hatred. A painful lullaby for broken hearted adults. KD

Sonic Youth - Incinerate

Watch The Video To Bull In The Heather

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Rather Ripped [US] Rather Ripped
Year: 2006

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One for the hippy in all of us and the sort of effortless retro heeled sound to get you through a Sunday afternoon hangover. Arthur & Yu are the first act to be signed to the Sub Pop offshoot Hardly Art. The duo are from Seattle and their debut album ‘In Camera’ is to be released this summer. Before that comes out A&Y are going to feature on the new Dntel record and one can only imagine how luscious their warm vocals will sound amidst the scattershot electronica. ‘Come To View’ feels like it was put down on analog tape and played out on well-worn vinyl. Sonya Westcott and Grant Olsen’s vocals intertwine so seductively you may even hear the pitter patter of your heart. KD

Arthur & Yu - Come To View (Song For Neil Young)

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: In Camera
Year: 2007

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I was going to post on Stellarband during Paddy's week but held back because I was in a flux about which song of theirs to choose. You see their ‘He Looked One Way, She Looked the Other’ EP is one of those records that needs to be played as a whole before the majesty truly registers. Picking an individual track could likely dilute the joy that this band can create. In the end I plumped for ‘Maps and Things’, a cherisable slice of indie pop that is as fragile as it is beguiling. Stellarband are Brian Durnin, Steve Lynch and Jimmy Wynne and they plunder the same sources as fellow Dubliners the Thrills without resorting to faux americanisms. The band are currently recording their first album titled ‘Player of the Year’. Watch them fly. KD

Stellarband - Maps and Things

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: He Looked One Way, She Looked the Other
Year: 2007

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I’m writing this and praying that this is not a prophetic moment for later on at Croke Park. Until then we’ll saviour the atmosphere and lift the roof in the home of the GAA. You know the way I’m always banging on about how Sweden continually pulls great bands out of the bag. Well, this band are probably my favourite Scandanavian’s of the whole lot. South Ambulance are purveyors of the purest melody, wrapped in a shoegaze coating. They are daft beyond repair but their lyrics just expose the joyful giddiness in the music. And if that wasn’t enough they have recorded a wonderful version of ‘Kinky Love’ from ace blast from the past outfit the Pale Saints. South Ambulance’s effervescent debut was recently re-released on Rachel Goldstar’s Rollerderby Records (having being original printed on Labrador) and it is a work of pure imagination.KD

South Ambulance - Saturdays For Sad Excuses

South Ambulance - Kinky Love

Watch The Video To Die 5 Times Times 5 (steve?)

More Info: Official (Shades please) & Myspace
Buy Album: Here & Here
Year: 2005

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[Segueness is a curious random occurrence where two tunes ultimately beat as one]

Fujiya & Miyagi are a three piece from Brighton on the cusp of setting their new album ‘Transparent Things’ on the world. They cite Serge Gainsbourg as a major influence. Funny that as OMR are a French duo that sport a Kate Radley like being in Virginie Krupa. OMR’s smouldering sound did not exactly set the world on fire when their sophomore album was released last year. Pity that because songs like ‘So and So’ and ‘Superheroes Crash’ deserve a public airing. For the moment the clever money seems to be on Fujiya & Miyagi (if that name is easily pronounceable, there's a hint in the song). ‘Ankle Injuries’ is unlikely to become a terrace favourite yet the theme could be enough to have ‘Superheroes Crash’ at a vital part of the season. Just another candidate in the endless search for that perfect moment of segueness a la ‘An Cat Dubh’ and ‘Into the Heart’ from U2’s ‘Boy’ album. KD

OMR - Superheroes Crash

Fujiya and Miyagi - Ankle Injuries


Watch The Video To Superheroes Crash

More OMR Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Superheroes Crash
Year: 2006

More Fujiya & Miyagi Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Transparent Things [US] Transparent Things
Year: 2007

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God knows the OC doesn’t have it all its own way. Grey’s Anatomy is also pushing the indie bandwagon into sitting rooms that would otherwise have never experienced sounds from outside out of the top ten. Sweden’s Carina Johansson and Ola Frick are probably beside themselves because the splendiferous chorus inside ‘War On Sound’ has had many a eye trained on their back catalogue. So much so that the song is getting the full single treatment this very month. It will also appear on Moonbabies 3rd album ‘Moonbabies At The Ballroom’. ‘Ghost of Love’ came out at the same time as ‘War on Sound’s first incarnation on the mini-album (hmmm) of the same name in 2005. And what a bouncy electro thrill it is too, like a cross-bred M83/Stereolab terrier that could fetch elegantly wasted synths for hours on end and still sport a wagging tail at the end. KD

Moonbabies - Ghost of Love

Watch The Video To War On Sound

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] War on Sound [Us Import] [US] War on Sound
Year: 2005

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Pretty topical eh? What with Carrey going mad all over the screen because of these digits. He should have skipped the puzzle, laid down on a comfy beanbag and listened to Blonde Redhead’s take on the numerics. And who better to untangle them than a trio (formerly a quartet) who met in a diner in NYC and decided they wanted to write music together and be called after a song by a band (DNA) who wrote another one about a man called Tom who owned a diner (gasp). The most common appraisal of Blonde Redhead is that they sound like early Sonic Youth but on ‘23’ they sound more like Mahogany as much for the fiery shoegazisms as for the deliciously discordant melodies. Imagine, BR have been around since 1993, we could be talking Pulp like successes here if '23' has its wicked little way.KD

Blonde Redhead - 23

Watch The Video To Equus

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] 23 [US] 23
Year: 2007

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In the pantheon of indie rock classic’s Rogue Wave’s ‘Endless Shovel’ must come out near the top. It possesses all the elements of a winning tune, a flexible musical aesthetic, a chorus and bridge that bleed into each other and an overpowering feeling that an adventurous streak is being observed at all times. What makes the tune all the more surprising is that it comes from a relatively young band. ‘Endless Shovel’ sparkles with a knowing edge that you’d expect from industry veterans (Built To Spill, Sebadoh) yet Rogue Wave are only 2 albums in. The band have gone through a tough time of late with drummer Pat Spurgeon’s illness but thankfully things are looking better of late. Rogue Wave’s time will come and Zach Rogue will rightly be hailed as a Malkmus for the new millennium. KD

Rogue Wave - Endless Shovel

Watch The Video To Publish My Love

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Out Of The Shadow
Year: 2003

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We already had a bit of Gaeilge this week so why not a bit of French too from the Montreal collective Malajube. I was put off this band for the longest time due to their name, without hearing a note I had dismissed them. I was saved by one of the greatest gifts afforded by the MediaMonkey mp3 player, that being the auto DJ facility wherein the fabulous Gallic thrills of ‘Montreal –40C’ hoved into earshot quite by chance. Not only is it quite unlike most of the fodder that passes for indie rock these days but it also has an ebullient charm not witnessed since the last time the Go! Team ran amok in a recording studio. Pierre Lapointe lends his vocals to a tune that has the kinetic power of an atomic bomb filled with 100% goose down. So even though I may be coming late to the Malajube party I have no worries as this is one celebration that is going to run and run. Malajube have toured with Snowden and in a combination made in audio heaven will hook up with the Arcade Fire to perform in Paris this very evening. Malajube's imperious second album 'Trompe l'Oeil' is out now. KD

Malajube - Montreal -40°C

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Trompe LâOeil [US] Trompe-L'Oeil
Year: 2006

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