You can now buy this song on one of our Indiecater compilations here!

When I think of Teenage Fanclub I think happy thoughts. These same happy thoughts have started to appear of late and it has nothing to do with the Glaswegians. The object of my affections is actually from the other side of the Atlantic, Idaho to be precise. The band are called the Very Most and are driven by the melodic machinations of one Jeremy Jensen. ‘Congratulations Forever’ is only the bands second LP and it has been several years in the making. And it is probably unfair to tag them as the U.S. Teenage Fanclub because they also do a pretty mean Camera Obscura impression. Exciting isn’t it but don’t just take my word for it, sneak a peek at ‘Good Fight Fighting’ and start counting down the days to April 26th when ‘Congratulations Forever’ is officially unfurled. Hooray, looks like the summer has arrived early. KD

The Very Most - Good Fight Fighting

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Very Most
Year: 2008

According to reputable publications Cloud Cult have released a new album. It comes barely a year after ‘The Meaning of 8’, a sprawling affair that I’ve yet to fully tame. If that album (their 7th) is anything to go Cloud Cult appear to have its fingers in lots of different pies. The result is enjoyable but you really have to work hard to appreciate where they are coming from. There are some moments of lucidity though like on opener ‘Chain Reaction’ which while quite dense has a fine sugar coating. Initially you could be forgiven for thinking that you are listening to the Album Leaf but Craig Minowa’s voice slowly takes centre stage and not even the presence of several sharp strings can detract from it. Cloud Cult may have their roots in the 1990’s but their environmentally conscious stand may eventually see them acclaimed as one of the noughties brightest (energy saving) lights. KD

Cloud Cult - Chain Reaction

Watch The Video To Chemicals Collide

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Cloud Cult
Year: 2007

Fancy winning yourself a Snow Patrol DVD signed by the band? I have one and want to give it away to anyone who can design a beautiful new banner for this site. mp3hugger has been on the road for almost 3 years now and it's time it got itself a distinctive image. In letting your creative juices flow please bear in mind what goes on here. So, for example, if you can somehow recreate the notion of an mp3 being hugged then you'd probably be in with a good chance of scooping the grand prize. I'll leave this open for about a month or so and remember I'm not expecting miracles so sloppy DIY efforts of all shapes and sizes will be accepted. This DVD is going to be offloaded no matter what so if your crayon inspired effort is the sole entry Gary Lightbody's handy work will be winging its way to you. Entries can be sent to mp3hugger at yahoo dot com or to the usual contact address.

P.S. Just in case you're confused, the image above is of a non-angry David BANNER (groan).

‘We started when we were about 13 playing Christmas songs at school, and then we decided to write our own songs. The first ones were about hobos, boxes, and foxes.’ Ok, let’s draw a collective ahhh. These are the words of a bunch of 17 year olds from Connecticut who call themselves the Seascape. Pretty neat name I think you’ll agree and the good vibes continue to flourish as you listen to the perfect little tunes that they produce. It’s early days but already the potential is there to see. ‘Person Place or Thing’ is one of 2 new tunes that they sent me on and it highlights Seascape's willingness to experiment and change tact at every stage of a songs life cycle. It may sound like it is going to fall apart at any minute but believe me that is a precious art in itself. ‘Person Place or Thing’ is also at various points quite brilliant. Forget that the Seascape are teenagers they have already proven they are a bona fide awesome proposition. KD

The Seascape - Person Place or Thing

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: In all good records stores soon!
Year: 2008

So perhaps Beta won the format war after all with VHS rapidly going the way of the dodo and Beta sites appearing all over the place. Oh you know what I mean. VHS or Beta are a collective from Kentucky who peddle a not terribly original brand of electro rock. But then a lack of originality doesn’t always equal music that is surplus to requirements. ‘Burn It All Down’ sounds familiar, like something from a dusty 80’s compilation, but there is no denying the fun that can be had when it pours from the speakers. The monstrous guitar riff is undoubtedly primeval but it is given a contemporary lease of life by the unrelentless pumping beats. Like Daft Punk if they’d forgotten to pack their vocoders. KD

VHS Or Beta - Burn It All Down

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: VHS Or Beta
Year: 2007

If blogs did segues then this one would probably be the best. Born In The Flood come from Hermann, Missouri you see. I suppose the question you gotta ask yourself when you listen to the quartet is whether you can believe in them or not. ‘Anthem’ is quite capable of sending the listener down the pro or anti route. For me Nathaniel Rateliff successfully pours his emotions into his fiercesome delivery banishing any doubts one might have about his intentions. Ok, he may only be defending the tune he just wrote but isn’t it refreshing to hear some anger instead of the same old snotty nosed emotional fretting. The spiralling guitars heighten the tension and in parts I am reminded of the Mclusky’s red-hot ‘Alan Is A Cowboy Killer’. If you find yourself in the anti brigade let ‘Low Flying Clouds’ reel you back in with its Kings of Leon stylings. KD

Born in the Flood - Anthem

Born in the Flood - Low Flying Clouds

Watch The Video To Low Flying Clouds

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Born In The Flood
Year: 2007

Although the name might summon up awkward questions there is denying the Hermit Crabs way with a swish tune. Led by Melanie Whittle (ex of California Snow Story) this Glaswegian band have found a nice little sponsor by way of the irrepressible Matinée Recordings. Hermit Crabs peddle that distinctive Glaswegian twee pop sound, nothing sounds overcooked and the ingredients are organic in nature. ‘Saw You Dancing’, the bands debut, came out late last year and includes the chipper ‘Friend's Folk Festival’. Bouncy and flush with adolescent themes it would likely fog up every thick-rimmed spectacle from here to Northern Scotland. KD

The Hermit Crabs - Friend's Folk Festival

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Hermit Crabs
Year: 2007

This is about as far away from the normal hugger choice of song that you’re likely to hear this year but I am still besotted with it. It comes from Cork sean nós Iarla Ó Lionáird (also Afro Celt Sound System) who I discovered on a trip down to Galway last weekend (thanks bri). At first I thought it was Sigur Ros but the vocals as gaeilge gave the game away. ‘Cu-Cu-Ín’ is taken from Ó Lionáird's 2005 LP ‘Invisible Fields’ which was recorded in his home studio in Kilkenny and a lavish affair it turns out to be. There is something altogether natural about the way the song plays out, as if it was recorded in the middle of a frozen forest as its inhabitants go about their business undisturbed. Ó Lionáird successfully marries the old with the new to create an entrancing middle ground. Most of all ‘Cu-Cu-Ín’ is a dead cert for relaxation suites the world over, once you enter one you may never want to leave. Spellbinding. KD

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Cu-Cu-Ín

Watch The Video To I Am Asleep

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Iarla Ó Lionáird
Year: 2005

I was hooked on this straight away for the simple reason that it employed the jangliest of Byrds riffs. The best part is that the Ludlow Lions’ ‘Other People's Ghosts’ has much more than that to offer, once you’ve let the tunes multi-faceted approach bed down. As with most things bright and new at the moment Ludlow Lions come from Brooklyn. Aside from the riproaring music they have one other ace up their sleeve in the shape of singer Brendan Coon. This ain’t your average, bog standard, common, so-so indie vocalist. No our Brendan pours character into his voice and we should be thankful that Ludlow Lions allow him to showcase it to maximum effect. If you are guided by voices then the Ludlow Lions self-titled debut could become your new head coach. KD

Ludlow Lions - Other People's Ghosts

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Ludlow Lions
Year: 2008

Storkboy Choons has reawakened my electro glands so I am eagerly lapping up anything danceable that comes my way. ‘I Feel Electric’ fits the bill perfectly as you’ll gather yourself from the opening sequences which come complete with some perfectly arranged synths. The song may never quite build on that auspicious beginning but Simone Rubi and Terri Loewenthal present a good case for a return to days of disco. I’m thinking Donna Summer were it not for this year’s love Feist on guest vocals. Rubies also prove they have a talent for ingenious collaborations as none other than the Studio have remixed the b-side to ‘I Feel Electric’. Rubies debut album ‘Explode From The Center’ is out now. KD

Rubies - I Feel Electric

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Rubies
Year: 2008

You can now buy this song on one of our Indiecater compilations here!

More electronica from Ireland, this time from 2 sources of which I know precious little. Ciaran McCausland and the fruity loops that come from his laptop are called Storkboy Choons. He and the as yet unidentified Colours Move seem to have struck up a particularly potent electronica partnership, which has already seen them support Casiotone For The Painfully Alone earlier this year. Both ply a similar sound, a brand of bleepage that should appeal to anyone who thinks ‘From Here We Go Sublime’ could yet become the future of machine generated audio. ‘Rockfield Symphony’ and ‘Winters’ are both hypnotic, near impossible to dance to I’d imagine but that’s what the visuals these two are dreaming up were made for. 10 years ago this may never have leaked from the imagination but mercifully a miniscule budget in this technological age is no barrier to rampant creativity. Wonderful stuff. KD

Storkboy Choons - Rockfield Symphony

Colours Move - Winters

Watch The Video To Colours Move's Winters

More Info: Storkboy Choons & Colours Move
Year: 2008

At this moment in time Super Extra Bonus Party are about as adventurous as you’re going to get from an Irish band. Like with all eclectic propositions it doesn’t always work and I must admit I found myself in fast-forward mode quite regularly during their eponymous debut. Probably down to my own blinkered tastes but by the finish I had come away with 2 absolute gems in ‘Softly’ and ‘Propeller’. Another one that lightly grazed my buds was the title track from their latest EP ‘Everything Goes’. The EP includes remixes from Jape (superb) and Cadence Weapon and a track I completely missed from the album called ‘Mushie Shake’ which turns out to be as fruity as an autumnal orchard. Quite like its creators there is something altogether bonkers going down but the madness does not compromise the strength of the tune, which displays all the glitchy promise of a softly focused Aphex Twin. SEBP play Whelans, Dublin this Saturday night. KD

Super Extra Bonus Party - Mushie Shake

Watch The Video To Propeller

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Super Extra Bonus Party
Year: 2008

Thought the Ting Tings were this years underground success story? Well then you probably haven’t peered into the very near future and witnessed what Vanilla Swingers are about to achieve. With their debut release and first live performance both happening next month now might be the time to start dropping their name in front of impressionable friends. Believe me by the end of the summer you’ll be feted for your uncanny ability to spot the next big things. To help you on your way, here are some facts. The Vanilla Swingers are Miles and Ann (nope I don’t know their surnames either), a London duo who can sound like certain great bands like Ultra Vivid Scene (‘I’ll Stay Next To You’) and Talk Talk (‘The Way’) who have been lost in the mists of time. Right now I can’t go anywhere without ‘Goodbye Lennon’, its leaden beats provide such a contrasting backdrop to the lithe piano lines and the sweetly conversational boy/girl vocals I may even start listening to huge 80’s ballads all over again. You saw them coming didn't you? KD

Vanilla Swingers - Goodbye Lennon

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Vanilla Swingers
Year: 2008

Ah yes the Pernice Brothers, perennial underachievers and sweet purveyors of gleaming pop jewels. If only the world would sit up and take heed it would quickly realise that easy on the ear melodies don’t necessarily have to come packaged with blandness. The Pernice Brothers (of which there are 2, Joe and Bob) are well into their second decade and have half a dozen albums to their name. ‘My So-Called Celibate Life’ should help you discover a lovelier you with its Teenage Fanclub vocal mannerisms and effervescent playing. You might also notice that it is shorn of the countrified pop that the band are best known for. There is a shimmering sun somewhere that has this song stuck on endless repeat. KD

The Pernice Brothers - My So-Called Celibate Life

Watch The Video To Someville

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Pernice Brothers
Year: 2005

There I was dissing (sorta) jangling chords in the last post and then Windermere go and break my heart all over again with this epic. This has many of essential aspects of the Slowdive sound, that hazy pulsing funnel of noise that levitates everything around it beyond the ordinary. In that regard Jakob Skjoldborg’s voice seems out of place but I guess to move forward you can’t be totally fixated with the past. Either way it is near impossible to ignore the overwhelming power of those guitar lines set to maximum reverb. When they hit their stride at 3 minutes in I feel myself getting dizzy at the beauty of it all. KD

Windermere - Trailer Park

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Windermere
Year: 2004

Quite despite myself this blog tends to go through phases where the only music that is being posted is of one variety or another. For a while I couldn’t abide by anything that didn’t sound like Explosions In The Sky, at one stage I couldn't distance myself from all things electro pop and just right now I seem to be going through a mini experimental folk explosion. It feels good to be honest to be away from those sometimes tiresome jangling chords (who am I fooling?) especially when you have a band like Mothfight (I’ve left out both exclamation marks in their name so I can add emphasis about how great they are when the time is right) in melody freefall. Chances are Mothfight won’t be troubling the mainstream any time soon but aren’t the best acts those that can just be our little secret. The Austin quartet are ridiculously young and attired in the sort of garb you'd expect your favourite new band to wear. The ‘Hopscotch’ single is their sole recorded release but why stop at the music when there are posters, buttons and greeting cards emblazed with lots of Mothfight insignia to be had. Exclamation with a capital !!! then. KD

Mothfight - Hopscotch

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Moth!Fight!
Year: 2007

So maybe there is something to this Folk revival after all. Certainly a few minutes in the company of Johnny Flynn (and the Sussex Wit) should have you clambering for more. His cites Shakespeare among his influences but thankfully what emerges is altogether less taxing on the grey matter. Perhaps he keeps that particular wordsmith aside for his acting pursuits. Up to now all that has emerged is a couple of fine singles but there is an album called ‘A Larum’ on the way. ‘The Box’ has a freewheelin’ narrative supplied by Flynn’s rich vocals and is ably backed up some softly clattering instrumentation. You are perfectly within your rights to clap along or move about as if in the grip of a particularly euphoric barndance. KD

Johnny Flynn - The Box

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Johnny Flynn
Year: 2008

Thank you Animal Collective, for without you we would unlikely have ever traipsed upon Au. When I’m listening to Au though I’m thinking of them in their ‘Banshee Beat’ phase (the best one). Au for people who prefer real names is Luke Wyland (although he frequently calls upon the luxuriant charms of Becky Dawson’s voice), for those who don’t he used to call himself Luc (in a previous musical incarnation). With a self-titled LP already down cool hand Luke is preparing himself for the release of ‘Verbs’ wherein he and his collage of alter egos and friends should go interstellar. ‘RD vs D’ is a preview of the action and it is knockdown perfect, full of wispy drifting vocals and piano lines dispatched with the accuracy of a tap dancers best moves. And right where you think it can’t get any better in pipes a glorious circus troupe of brass. Pinch yourself, you are still alive, this is not heaven. KD

Au - RR vs D

Watch The Video To Boute

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Au
Year: 2008

For some reason this tune reminds me of ‘Shadow Falls’ from Hello, Blue Roses. Not exactly sure why but there's something indescribably addictive about the sparseness. There is no semblance of chorus (or generic song elements for that matters), just lightly pounding (often indiscriminate) drums and the fanciest of dual layered ethereal vocals. Pikelet (aside from being a tasty pancake) consists of Evelyn Morris who comes from Melbourne. Her self-titled debut came out last year and was the product of her vision alone. Besides the glacial vocals she puts the generally sidelined instrument the accordion to much use. And despite what you might think the result is both illuminating and magical. Rampant experimentation on this scale normally sets sail from Icelandic shores. KD

Pikelet - A Bunch

Watch The Video To Bug In Mouth

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Pikelet
Year: 2007

First some insight from wikipedia ‘the Van Allen Radiation Belt is a torus of energetic charged particles (plasma) around Earth, held in place by Earth's magnetic field’. Ok, glad that’s out of the way so on with the music. Pittsburgh's The Van Allen Belt are a seriously interesting proposition, a gargantuan 4-piece with the amalgamated sound of the Polyphonic Spree/Go-Team in their sights. Not only do they somehow manage to recreate what was prevalent when studio’s and big name producers actually affected how a hit record sounded but they also come fitted with a conscience unbowed by conventional thinking (see ‘Slanted To The Left’). The result is a refreshing epic and as much as it sometimes sounds retro I can’t escape the feeling that the Van Allen Belt are somehow going to form the crux of the future. For an insiders view on how contemporary America really ticks their debut ‘Meal Ticket To Purgatory’ proves to an essential listen.

The Van Allen Belt - Baby Boomer Backstroke

The Van Allen Belt - Alaska Dreamin'

And if that wasn't enough, take a listen to this bonkers express of a tune from the Van Allen Belt offshoot known as Nonstop Everything (Ben Ferris). Now where have you heard that tune before, well you may be hearing it at the coolest wedding ever very soon. Introducing the jiviest bunny ever. KD

Nonstop Everything - Electric Rolling Abba

More Info: More Free Downloads & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Van Allen Belt
Year: 2008