There is something annoyingly inconsistent about Mogwai, rather like the post-rock scene they inhibit. On the one hand they can furnish unparalleled montages of sound that sees grown men snivel, yet on the other hand they can bleat about for endless minutes in the search for a winning avenue of sound and fall helplessly on their faces. From this point of view ‘Ten Rapid’ remains their high watermark, a series of early recordings without the flab, each piece offering fluid ideas designed to shatter cheap speakers. The Mogwai standard is to play the quiet/loud bits in quick succession often when you least expect your eardrum to be perforated. ‘Helicon Part 1’s trick is that it builds to the crescendo sequentially; the rotund bass forages melodically, while a twinkling guitar saddles up in the foreground. When the avalanche of noise descends there is a clear indication as to what instrument is doing what and you can’t help forgive the band their beards, bare feet and flap caps. The live version of this song on the BBC Government Commissions is equally impressive, appearing a little less controlled and shining a light on the subtleties that were lost in the studio recording. KD

Mogwai - Helicon Part 1

Album: Ten Rapid
Year: 1997

There are just some bands that have the added cool factor, not that they do anything that is inherently swish just a feeling of aloofness that can’t be canned. The Stone Roses, (the) Verve and Ride all had it, apart from blazing great swathes of mercurial noise in our faces they had the poise and laidback swagger of people who were born to be in a band. Ride had 2 gifted writers (although, quite what has happened to Beatles cover band boy Andy Bell is a mystery) who never really saw eye to eye but when they did they had the imagination to create guitar-fused masterpieces. ‘Taste’ was released as part of the ‘Fall’ EP, one of several EP’s that they put out in the early nineties. The EP’s artwork showing a colony of snow covered penguins roving the desolate landscape is a delightful guide to the delicacies that await inside. ‘Taste’ has Mark Gardener’s wispy vocals floating like a ring of smoke amid the multi-layered cascading guitars. He doesn’t say a great deal but the delivery is so sweet that his playful aah’s are much more effective than any words could be. This is hugely uplifting music that will shuttle you away like a daydream on a particularly boring day at work. As the taste just slips away you can’t help experiencing the childhood euphoria you last felt that day spent at the seaside. KD

Ride - Taste

Watch The Video

Album: Taste EP
Year: 1990

Despite the fact that they’ve kissed and made up with their new band The Tears, it’s unlikely that Bernard and Brett will ever reach the transcendent glories of their opus ‘Dog Man Star’. Their break-up could have marked the end for Suede but they persevered commendably for several more albums. With Butler gone, Anderson needed another foil and he came in the shape of young whippersnapper Richard Oakes (rather unfairly nicknamed little dick in the music press). The new partnerships’ first outing ably proved that Suede could quite capably recover from losing one of their muses. ‘Together’ arrived as a b-side on the ‘New Generation’ single and outpaced the lead song through the sheer kinetic energy in the grooves. Anderson vocals are marginally skewed as are the all-consuming guitar chops. The momentum hardly falters and leads spectacularly to guitars as psychedelic monoliths at its epicentre. All the players lay down markers, Simon Gilbert is notably flamboyant on drums and Mat Osman plucks at his bass like a man scrambling for toughened roots at the edge of a cliff. This is Suede leaving the melancholic drama behind, pushing their creative impulses to breaking point and finally realising that being in a band can be good fun. KD

Suede - Together

Album: New Generation EP
Year: 1995

What is it about graffiti artists that have them pricing their art so low? All it takes is a single couplet sung by a French girl and they are off baring their imaginative creations to the world. As you’d expect from the purveyors of such simplistic themes Maximo Park inhabit a world populated by the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs but don’t let this put you off as Maximo Park have much the better songs. Their debut ‘A Certain Trigger’ (released on electronic label Warp) bustles along with imaginative verve, the energetic new wave ethic is omnipresent and there are enough short sharp tunes to populate a Franz Ferdinand record. ‘Graffiti’ is a pleasing example, guitars spin vociferous melodies, the momentum is punctuated by a slow/fast percussion and Paul Smith’s word volleys seamlessly wrap up the tidy package of sound. KD

Maximo Park - Graffiti

Album: A Certain Trigger
Year: 2005

Ryan Adams current double album ‘Cold Roses’ requires an intensity of concentration but buried inside the multi-tracked opus are some of the most delicate sounds of 2005. The ex Whiskeytown singer is nothing if prolific with an attractive penchant for drifting between alt-country and straightforward rock and roll. On ‘Meadowlake Street’ the singer carves open his heart to present a paean to lost love. Vocals are fragile and beguiling with the acoustic backdrop perfectly instilling the sense of hopelessness when your fountain of happiness is beyond reach. The focused fury that arrives from nowhere is gleaned from memories rather than your typical Hollywood ending. Sadly it seems, for the present time at least, love remains hell. KD

Ryan Adams - Meadowlake Street

Album: Cold Roses
Year: 2005

A creaking door, bogeymen lurking in the shadows and an over active imagination can be the only explanation for Sound Team’s ‘Don’t Turn Away’ because it’s quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Ok, there are ingenious nods to the underrated Clinic but who else could get away with unrehearsed church bells, drum beats recorded inside a cardboard box, indiscernibly juicy vocals and a keyboard that for all intensive purposes sounds like the midnight calls of a Mogwai. I guess that's what happens when ideas run riot in the recording studio you've built for yourself. The Austin band are about to release their ‘Work’ EP on an unsuspecting world and if ‘Don’t Turn Away’ is anything to go by they will have a very intense spotlight cast in their direction before too long. And if they sell a few records perhaps they'll have plenty to eat after midnight too. KD

Sound Team - Don't Turn Away

Album: Work EP
Year: 2005

When you get an opening salvo as memorable as ‘I was in a car crash, its not a hard luck story, on my back in the road with bits of me around’ its time to sit up and take notice. The song captures one mans world-weariness as he experiences clinical incompetence, political shallowness and the loneliness of old age during an altogether unpleasant hospital stay. You’d think that such a downbeat tale could have your reaching for the poison but the sharp humour and ingenious playing makes it rather jaunty. A memorable circular riff bolsters the tirade but its not until the swooping trumpet kicks in that it all goes supernova. With the words being spoken rather than sung the sentiments are easily translated making this one of the best short audio dramas you’ll hear in a while. Sadly Animals That Swim’s clever cleverness meant a wider audience eluded them and their albums lacked the persuasive feel of their finer moments.

Animals That Swim - Pink Carnations

Album: Workshy
Year: 1995

Sonic Youth are akin to a twin tub that destroys the colours on garments yet from time to time the newly rainbowed apparel displays a unique and satisfying take on high fashion. Throughout their career the band have been consistently inconsistent in their output. One minute they are parading a spellbinding mix of jangling guitars and low-slung vocal theatrics, the next they are in throes of sonic epilepsy that is too wayward to be considered ingestible. Their exalted status is no doubt down to their longevity and the fact that every now and then they pin down a stone cold classic. ‘Unwind’ is one such, extending over 6 minutes; it is effortless in its simplicity yet buoyant enough to reveal new subplots on every play. Thurston Moore provides the stoned impassioned delivery while guitar chords shimmer endlessly in the background. The gradual descent into a smorgasbord of electrics is inevitable but the slow recovery back to twinkling chords ensures a happy ending every time.

Sonic Youth - Unwind

Album: Washing Machine
Year: 1995

Despite the daft name Thee More Shallows seemed to have nailed down the prototype for a new elaborate wing in the house of rock. Their 'More Deep Cuts' album has a fresh exuberant feel to it, as if something exciting is being rolled out. Each cut is a distinct, multi-layered affair that reveals itself over repeated listens which just about explains the albums 3-year conception. 'Freshman Thesis' and '2am' are the highlights throwing imagination from the speakers like a Halloween fireworks display. '2am' has Dee Kesler as Lou Reed, the tumbling xylophone riff holds court as the bouncy drumming attempts to keep up. As the ascending barrage of noise envelopes you appreciate the scene as the singer tries the sleep in a city that doesn’t. There are flashes of Grandaddy and a host of post-rock entrepreneurs but this San Francisco band are out there setting their own mountain high standards.

Thee More Shallows - 2am

More Info: Thee More Shallows
Buy Album: [UK] More Deep Cuts [US] More Deep Cuts
Year: 2004

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In the early days it was like a secret club. With a debut in short supply, interviews at an absolute premium, grainy abstract photos and shorts pity essays included with all releases a legend was moulded. At first it seemed like the band couldn't put a foot wrong, new material easily stood up to the intense scrutiny from their invisible army of fans. The intelligence in the lyrics was matched only by the wholesome melody. This music didn't slap you in the face, it cajoled you slowly until you copped that every other band were altogether less useful. 'Push Barman To Open Old Wounds' chronicles those first steps from Art College Project to one of the most impressive acts in the world. 'Slow Graffiti' initially appeared at the tail end of 'This Is Just A Modern Rock Song' EP (their EP's proved conclusively that the single still had a role to play). 'Slow Graffiti' details how twee pop could muster more resonance than all the synchronised movements of a certain Mancunian set of siblings. It begins in that true Belle & Sebastian spirit with Stuart Murdoch alone with his voice, at times it sounds as if he is stretching to reach the high notes but this just adds to the occasion. The winning effect comes by way of trundling stop/start bowl of faded drums, oboe, trombone and a hoarse guitar riff. The song slowly garners momentum and doesn’t relinquish control until your urges are sated. After hearing this you'll realise it's worth suffering a century of fakers if the rewards for patience uncovers a band like Belle & Sebastian every now and then. KD

Belle & Sebastian - Slow Graffiti

Album: This Is Just A Modern Rock Song EP
Year: 1998

With a feather lifted from Roddy Woomble's rapidly disintegrating peak cap (cf 'When I Argue I See Shapes') 'Another Wound' leaves the blocks in record-breaking fashion. The Ponys may be relative newcomers but they are about to have an almighty impact. Their anglophile tendencies are obvious, yet they mask what they've borrowed behind romper-stomper ditties. This a 3 minute pop sensation, shimmering sounds are fashioned from the likeliest of sources and a centre as ebullient as a Wimbledon starlet sees Jered Gummere swing from his own ripened tonsils. Their sophomore effort ‘Celebration Castle’ is awash with similar sonic belters that are primed to replace any other fixes you may have grown accustomed to. While we’ve always had horses for courses, the time may have arrived to try some Ponys for choruses. KD

The Ponys - Another Wound

Album: Celebration Castle
Years: 2005

Ridiculously shunted from his previous incarnation Manitoba, Dan Snaith has conjured yet more bedroom masterpieces on his third LP ‘The Milk Of Human Kindness’. The goalposts haven’t shifted all that greatly with Snaith still intent on colouring life with electronic portraits of the colourful kind. ‘Barnowl’ closes the album in the giddiest of ways. A rollicking good time pummels forth via clockwork synths, breathy vocals, masked eastern influences and the sneaking feeling that the bogeyman could be about to turn up at any time. You may have trouble moving your body to it, but it'd take a heavy set of manacles to stop those hearty foot commotions. As far as Caribou is concerned it's only a matter of time before the only thing that's going ‘who who’ is the subject of this song. KD

Caribou - Barnowl

Album: The Milk Of Human Kindness
Year: 2005

Put a guitar, bass, drums and voice together and the sonic possibilities stretch to infinity. The trick is to come up with something that is worthwhile, something that can move the listener. Explosions In The Sky achieve this effortlessly and considering they don't even employ a singer makes their music all the more remarkable. Their third album 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' is a post-rock masterpiece (see also Mogwai, Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You Black Emperor) with rich hook filled guitar escapades in plenty supply. 'Your Hand In Mine', 'The Only Moment We Are Alone' and 'First Breath After Coma', are particularly inspired. The latter starts out like a frosty morning, a jinking guitar solo and sparse bass flutter like swallows in a blue sky. The percussion is frenetic but controlled building slowly to the point where the guitars run freely. It’s the sort of music you can easily get lost in; the all-encompassing nature is total save for some intermittent reindeer bells. This is music for a virtual world, one where the only violence that is committed targets helpless 6 stringed instruments. KD

Explosions In The Sky - First Breath After Coma

Buy Songs: Explosions In The Sky
Year: 2003

While the Bluetone Roses moniker that was hoisted on them did an enormous disservice to the much superior Manchester band with King Monkey at the helm, this Mark Morris led project had initially, at least, some worth. Their first 3 singles ‘Are You Blue Or Are You Blind’, ‘Bluetonic’ and ‘Slight Return’ were fabulous examples of jangling pop, but sadly the bands albums were lumpen affairs that illustrated a remarkably limited potential. Funny then that one of their greatest tunes, 'Castle Rock', should be a b-side on the ‘Cut Some Rug’ single. Things don’t start out too promising as the guitars plod along aimlessly but out of the blue some dandy riffs fly about and Morris sends a shudderingly melodic vocal to the base of your spine. It’s all over in a blink of an eye but then spontaneous joy generally is. While the Bluetones are unlikely to fill little more than a footnote in the annals of indie history they have several recordings that they can be proud of. KD

The Bluetones - Castle Rock

Album: Cut Some Rug EP
Year: 1996

Criminally underrated, the Boo Radleys ably continued the proud liverpudlian tradition of producing brilliant pop bands. While they initially pottered away in the guitar heavy shoegaze scene it was their 1993 album ‘Giant Steps’ that signalled their true intentions. Martin Carr was the prolific songwriter who for a time in the mid nineties was unable to put a foot wrong with the bands b-sides often eclipsing their more illustrious neighbours. ‘Giant Steps’ excelled in contemporary psychedelia, the schizophrenic song structures were often too skewed to be consumed on a first listen but once digested the masterly song writing was evident. Lazarus is one of the albums many highlights. The 12-inch version holds the exuberant trumpets back for a bit but this is not to detract from the songs power. The Jah Wobble like bass and drugged out delivery is a masterclass in dub and perfectly rolls out the red carpet for the aforementioned brass. Add in Sice’s crystallised down a telephone line voice and what you have is a classic song waiting for a future generation to embrace it. KD

The Boo Radleys - Lazarus (12-inch version)

Album: Giant Steps
Year: 1993

Rollerskate Skinny are perhaps the closest anyone got to producing the multi-layered genius of My Bloody Valentine. Fronted by floppy fringed Ken Griffin they were an explosive live outfit, perforating eardrums one moment, applying cotton rimmed remedies the next. Their 2 albums are forgotten gems; the sophomore effort ‘Horsedrawn Wishes’ alone expelled enough fluid ideas to maintain a healthy career. ‘Speed To My Side’ perfectly displays the bands kaleidoscope approach; all manner of instruments are thrown into the blender but somehow the dish is delicately cohesive. Griffins voice holds true as guitar pedals are stomped on, feedback streams from a bank of 10-foot high speakers and several banshees wail from the unused abattoir next door. Griffin once described Rollerskate Skinny’s music as ‘controlled melodic chaos’ and on this evidence it's easy to see why. KD

Rollerskate Skinny - Speed To My Side

More Info: IMC
Buy Album: [UK] Horse Drawn Wishes [US] Horsedrawn Wishes
Year: 1996

hugger recommends eMusic

The electronic windowlicker may have had the critics on his side for most of the nineties but many of his offerings were about as appealing as long fingernails scraping down a blackboard. On occasions, however, he dropped his nocturnal guard to dramatic effect. 'Goon Gumpas' is as cute as the video it inspired (huge teddy bears bouncing on oversized beds) with sweeping organ flourishes and digitalised strings plucked in pretty patterns. This is the sound of little red riding hood in the forest after the successful introduction of myxomatoses for bad wolves. Heck, even my hairy eared grandma has nice words to say about it. KD

Aphex Twin - Goon Gumpas

More Info:
Buy Aphex Twins: [UK] Richard D. James [US] Richard D. James Album
Year: 1996

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mp3hugger is an indie mp3 blog based in Dublin, Ireland that started in September 2005. Its purpose is to introduce music to people who may not otherwise get to hear it. The mp3s on this site are only available for 6 days. My intention is not to violate copyright laws. If you are owner (copyright or creator) of an mp3 posted here and are unhappy about its use, please email me and I will delete it immediately. In June 2008 mp3hugger set up a record label called Indiecater. It has nice stuff that you can listen to and buy if you like it enough.

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