Oh I do like me some electronic music from time to time. Goes back to the days when Underworld and Orbital could take your brain to another dimension. Booka Shade are due to perform in Ireland at the Trinity Ball in the next few weeks and it should be some event for the darkly trousered and skimpily dressed ones. Made up of 2 Berliners Booka Shade have been tailoring their rhythms for over 15 years through the various incarnations that dance has found itself morphing into. ‘In White Rooms’ is a mature exploration, high on quality side alleys full of plum beats and unexpected diversions. It stands up superbly to repeat exposure, fitting most occasions that require a purpose built slice of electronic endeavour. KD

Booka Shade - In White Rooms

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

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Considering how seminal their debut was it is perhaps a little odd that the Stone Roses are not cited more often as influences. In an effort to redress the anomaly the Diggs do hail the Mancs as the inspiration behind their music. When you take a listen to ‘Everyones Starting Over’ you may struggle to find a resemblance but the Diggs earnest delivery is hard to resist (and after all they are signed to Sugarspun Records so that sorta counts!). In fact the tunes rapid trawl through the indie rock manual is both reassuring as it is damn uplifting after a day filled with sound of office telephones. Timothy Lannen sounds a tad detached from an energetic jangling riff as his drummer pounds out a beat that’ll challenge the faint hearted. It’s taken from the bands debut ‘Commute’, a follow up is promised for later this year.KD

The Diggs - Everyones Starting Over

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

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Ohbijou might not be win any prizes for obvious band name (concentrate and it does reveal itself) but if you can manage the linguistic acrobatics then this bands ‘Swift Feet For Troubling Times’ LP should be your next record store purchase. Casey Mecija is responsible for the ethereal vocals, which manage to sound equal parts adorable urchin and alluring object of desire. Her band are a giant collective from Toronto with each member attending to his or her duties with startling finesse. There are slender brass interludes, cello breaks, flirtations with the glockenspiel and Mecija’s haunting words. Take ‘Steep’ as a gentle introduction, a song to swoon over as it gradually builds to a fragile crescendo. KD

Ohbijou - Steep

Watch The Video That's Introduces Ohbijou

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Swift Feet For Troubling Times
Year: 2006

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Here is a pretty noise for a sunny Sunday morning from Philadelphia’s AM/FM. The duo take the indie pop template as favoured by the Apples in Stereo, the Shins and Gerling, then slow it down, speed it up while all the same time attaching perky harmonies to make the journey as pleasant as one to the beach. Although Brian Sokel and Michael Parsell have been quiet of late they have a couple of releases that are well worth rediscovering. ‘Gone in Three’ is taken from ‘The Sky Is The New Ground’ (a nudge at the quiet is the new loud movement of the time) EP from 2002 and maps a trajectory for fans of off-kilter belters that have the essence of pop at heart. KD

AM/FM - Gone In Three

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy EP: The Sky Is The New Ground
Year: 2002

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This is the 3rd time I’ve featured a cover of ‘Song To The Siren’. Not that the original was bad, in fact Tim Buckley’s original is a completely moving piece of work. It’s just that the vast array of covers seem, more often than not, near as inspired as the initial take. James Yorkston is the latest artist to work his magic and his sparse application will knock you sideways. Yorkston has been making waves recently as his 3rd album ‘The Year Of The Leopard’ stealthily positions itself as a folk classic. Listen to ‘Summer Song’ and watch as you morph into a contemplative monk. Yorkston’s voice betrays its earlier incarnation with Huckleberry, a punk rock outfit with a penchant for heaping on the decibels. Nowadays all Yorkston needs is a rocking chair and a acoustic guitar to sweep anyone within earshot into his lair of softly drafted dramas. Highly recommended. KD

James Yorkston - Song To The Siren

Watch The Video To Steady As She Goes

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: The Year Of The Leopard
Year: 2006

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On their myspace Love As Laughter describe their music as tropical among other things. And do you know what it kinda fits when you listen to the simple charms of ‘Dirty Lives’. There’ll be no labouring over complex lyrics or ingenious chord structures on this little ditty as it pretty much does what you’d expect from a chirpy indie number. Wonder how it's going to play beside Modest Mouse’s random classics as the bands tour the states together throughout May. Sam Jayne of Love As Laughter has a good CV having previously worked with Beck on his ‘One Foot In The Grave’ album. ‘Dirty Lives’ has already appeared on a forgettable teen drama, lifting the scene it appeared on to a place where such things rarely ascend. I guess you could call it the Lync effect. KD

Love As Laughter - Dirty Lives

Watch The Video (by Chad Vangaalen)

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Laughter's Fifth [US] Laughter's Fifth
Year: 2005

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If you’ve got anything to contribute whether it be a clue to a great new band that nobody has heard about or a piece of music that has been lost in the mists of time but deserves a right old shout out please get in touch by clicking here. For your efforts you may even enter the newly inaugurated mp3hugger Hall of Fame, a special page on this site dedicated to contributors of particularly high standing. So start rummaging through those dusty old CD drawers or throughout the wide expanses of the www. Your efforts could result in immortality with a permanent placing on a website that many musicians have commented on as ‘a site I have never heard of’. KD

The first few beats are not the start to the 12-inch of 'Bizarre Love Triangle', much as you might wish they are. Instead we are talking about a particularly Irish bent of electronica from Neosupervital. Tim O’Donovan is in charge and the self professed eighties nut realised a dream last year by supporting synth Gods the Human League in Dublin. ‘Rachel’ displays one man showmanship (now extended to a quartet mind you) to great effect, with the pitter patter of tiny drums, the cool hum of a traditional bass chord and the furtive machinations of a korg soaking up the shadows. It all comes across as very primitive, an aloof throwback to another time where the robots were adept at infecting those rewind-that-song-and-listen-again membranes. If O’Donovan had been born in Berlin he’d probably be a living legend by now, instead he fiddles about in a sharp suit and dark shades wrestling plans from another bag of catchy synths. KD

Neosupervital - Rachel

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: Neosupervital
Year: 2006

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All told 2005 was a wonderful year for the album. Forget the doomsayers there is still plenty scope for the long player to inflict its charms on an ipod carrying world. Top of the list in that exceptional year was Mew’s opulent ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’, a rip roaring prog masterpiece with notions of shoegaze. That might sound like an odd classic but believe me it is a truly lovable piece of work. Coming from the same neck of the woods and possessing a similar sound are the Kissaway Trail. Their eponymous debut is slowing revealing itself to be the stuff of greatness. Nothing flags itself immediately but instead grows steadily in your infections until it becomes vital. Textured guitars are at the forefront of the bands sound and they are dispatched with such emotion it’s easy to get lost in the sonic haze. Thomas L. Fagerlund and Søren B. Corneliussen supply the vocals with elegant grace and an almost childlike sense of wonder. Ok, I need to calm down, need to calm down….ALBUM OF THE YEAR. KD

The Kissaway Trail - Eloquence And Elixir

Watch The Video To Smother + Evil = Hurt

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: The Kissaway Trail
Year: 2007

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There is a band called the National, they make nice music but I am unable to get past their lead singers voice. Too much Crash Test Dummies turns me onto the next available file. That’s why Out of Clouds get my instant attention as frontman Joel Göranson's tonsils are capable of a unique form of levity that will always prove attractive. Out of Clouds are from Gothenburg, don’t have a record label despite producing tunes embellished with ample sugar rush such as ‘Like A Lily’. Ok, it might have a short shelf life but for those half a dozen listens you’ll feel good about yourself. The piano keys are perfunctory, the bass is steadily tugged, the sound fills out and then blooms spectacularly as instrument and humanity create coital audio. KD

Out Of Clouds - Like A Lily

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy EP: Into Your Lovely Summer
Year: 2006

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Ireland was a very bleak place to be in the 1980’s. No jobs and no prospects meant that emigration was the only viable option for many. It sends a chill down my spine just thinking about it. On the music front U2 were the beacon and in their trail came a slew of like-minded souls. Chief among them was the Tom Dunne led Something Happens. The quartet had a large audience at home but failed to gain international recognition. Despite a decent back catalogue only one or two of their tunes deserve a place in the annals of Irish rock history. In fact if you were to take away the pre-Clocks pianoness of ‘Parachutes’ most people would struggle to name another Something Happens tune. The bands debut album remains their most vital release despite the thrashy production values. It lent favourable comparisons to REM and it had a sweet C86 sound as evidenced by ‘Forget Georgia’. Here is a tune that is surely ripe for a decent cover with guitars coated in jangle and Dunne’s vocals limbering up to the task with softly delivered charm. Now, where's that Paisley shirt? KD

Something Happens - Forget Georgia

Watch The Video To Hello....

More Info: Wiki & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Been There, Seen That, Done That [US] Been There, Seen That, Done That
Year: 1988

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So is the female of the species more deadly than the male? Well, ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’ went a long way to answering the eternal question as Cerys Matthews pitted her venomous tongue against the matey demeanor of Tommy Scott from the Liverpudlians Space. The encounter led to a crafty sing-along laced with sparkling (!) black humour that had cult hit written all over it. Space were responsible for a slew of engaging songs and Matthews blazed a trail with Catatonia and with ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’ coming at the peak of both their powers it was always going to be a delightful prospect. The song tells the tale of tainted lovers whose unabashed hatred is tempered by the magic of Tom Jones music. While the vocal interplay is undoubtedly the tune’s central gift it’s hard not to be taken in by the Spacemen’s signature oddball atmospherics. KD

Space with Cerys Matthews - The Ballad of Tom Jones

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Space Info: Official
Buy Album: [UK] Spiders [US] Spiders
Year: 1996

Cerys Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Never Said Goodbye [US] Never Said Goodbye
Year: 2007

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You may not have heard of Iain Archer but you most certainly will have heard some of his songs on the radio. The Bangor artist has already picked up a Ivor Novello award for his contribution to Snow Patrol’s ‘Final Straw’ album but we can forgive him his past mistakes (!) with a tip top new solo album called ‘Magnetic North’ to be savoured. As well as making his own music Iain is also actively involved in producing his brother’s highly recommended Burning Codes outfit who were featured on these very pages last month. ‘Boy Boy Boy’ is actually taken from Archer’s last album ‘Flood The Tanks’ and although it may lack a distinct chorus it has the chutzpah to reel you in with its freckled vocals, light acoustics and airy organic backgrounds. Remember this is a man who took an active part in that supergroup the Reindeer Section (which also included Gary Lightbody) so you can be assured that his goods will be altogether fetching. KD

Iain Archer - Boy Boy Boy

Watch The Video To Minus 10

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

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Ok, I have only listened to this song once but already I am in love. So let’s get to know it together. First, this Sioux Falls band has a name that fits in with the current fancy for elongated monikors. We’ve already had Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and You Say Party! We Say Die! so perhaps We All Have Hooks For Hands doesn’t so daft after all. This is more a collective than a band since at full throttle it takes 9 rowers to sail the good (pirate) ship Hooks For Hands. ‘Jumpin' Jean-Luc’ has a deliciously awkward charm and like most of the bands work it takes the Go! Team’s unrivalled energy, the Boy Least Likely To's knowing innocence and mixes it with Animal Collective’s furtive melodies. The result is a dotey mess with the irregular timing of falling sweat beads from the ceiling of an over populated indie disco. So as a precaution while listening it may be better to keep your mouth closed in case the rabid noise sets off a chain of events that results in slightly embarrassing foot movements. Looks like Los Campesinos! have some transatlantic competition. KD

We All Have Hooks For Hands - Jumpin' Jean-Luc

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

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When I think of Kirsty McColl I think of 4 things. The abiding memory is her feisty performance on the best Christmas song of them all 'Fairytale of New York' with the Pogues. And to think she wasn't even the first choice to vocal spar with Shane McGowan. Secondly, and I have to thank Weetabix for their cassette giveaways of the mid eighties for this, there is the irritation that was her tune 'There's A Guy Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis'. Rubbish title, rubbish song. Thirdly her horrifying and untimely death in Mexico still unsettles and the fact that she left behind 2 young children makes it all the more tragic. Finally, and on a happy note, there was her exuberant reworking of Billy Bragg's 'A New England'. Everything about this cover is magical, as soon as the song races from the traps it evokes feelings of spontaneity and a unique joie-de-vivre. Bragg's version was laden with acoustic's and his own brand of Northern angst but it is dwarfed by this ecstatic reworking. KD

Kirsty MacColl - A New England

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More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] The Best of Kirsty Maccoll [US] The Best of Kirsty MacColl
Year: 1985

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‘Amongst four blazing nights between Xmas 2006 and the year of 2007, we recorded a single/ep in the middle of the mountains of centre-north Italy. We worked late at night with the wind blowing away and the dogs outside barking away at us. The studio was way up high, overlooking two valleys down below.’ So goes the story of the recording of a Classic Education’s first record. While the elements conspired the 3 musicians from Bologna were equally inspired. The easiest thrill from the sessions is provided by ‘Stay, Son’ but ‘Victories At Night’ just has the edge because it unveils itself in a much more seductive manner. With A Classic Education you are guaranteed atmosphere and a stateside approach to indie rock, which is both a pleasing and appetising template to adopt. ‘Victories At Night’ absorbs several fragments from Tapes ‘n Tapes ‘Manitoba’ and adds a rollicking vocal towards the end. It’s all very exciting, the start of something big. KD

A Classic Education - Victories At Night

More Info: Official & Myspace
Debut EP: On the way...
Year: 2007

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Bedroom pop is equally at home in its creative and consumptive states. Normally the domain of the introspective student population it can also offer a relaxing alternative for those of us who prefer to exist outside the shackles of the real world. And laptopper/guitarist Felix and Me fits the bill to perfection. Little is known of the Swedish music maker and perhaps its better that way. Didn’t it keep Belle and Sebastian on the lips of their burgeoning fanbase for years, the less you know the more intriguing an artist becomes. ‘Felix is Here’ isn’t gonna blow your socks off but its understated charm, pleasant beats and generally happy demeanour could have you pulling back the curtains on a world full of possibilities outside. KD

Felix and Me - Felix is Here

More Info: Official & Myspace
Year: 2007

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While it would be unfair to label Stuart Staples a complete miserablist there’s no doubting that his best work has been inspired from the sort of feelings that most would like to hide away in a cupboard. Since Staples has struck out on his own we may have seen the last of his Tindersticks project, an intermittently brilliant Nottingham collective he fronted. Many of their great tunes arrived early on their eponymous debut from 1993. Tindersticks signature sound was defined by Dickon Hinchliffe orchestral textures and Staples deep baritone voice, much of which can be heard on ‘City Sickness’ which drips with deeped seethed melancholy yet paradoxically has an undoubted uplifting quality. KD

Tindersticks - City Sickness

Watch The Video To Travelling Light

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] 1st Tindersticks Album [Includes Bonus Disc] [US] Tindersticks
Year: 1993

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