One of the many things I love about fuelling this blog is that from time to time it throws up bands that are so deliciously different. I can remember listening to Pittsburgh’s the Van Allen Belt for the first time and wondering ‘what the hell is this’. Thankfully it wasn’t a shrug of the shoulders and move on kind of reaction but it still took quite a few listens before I comprehended their raison d'être. Even now the variety and downright epic nature of their debut album ‘Meal Ticket To Purgatory’ can be an exhausting experience. I sometimes start it in the morning, take in a few tracks in late afternoon and finish it off with a fluffy cocoa when the sun goes down. It’s a remarkable record that is funny, opinionated and full of tunes that should be helping people everywhere beat the recessionary blues. The Van Allen Belt are no strangers to these parts as they’ve already appeared on Indiecater Vol. 2 and Ben from the band gave us the tinseltastic ‘There Is No Santa, Little Boy’ via his side project Nonstop Everything last December. So we are really delighted to make it a hat-trick of appearances as ‘Meal Ticket To Purgatory’ is given the Indiecater treatment. You can buy the grand opus for just €4 and to give you a taster for what’s in store here is the incomparable ‘Baby Boomer Backstroke’. KD

The Van Allen Belt - Baby Boomer Backstroke

More Info: Indiecater & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Van Allen Belt
Year: 2007/2009