It turns out that the Jason Reece of Midnight Masses is the self same Jason who wrote one of the best albums this century (‘Source Tags & Codes’ if you must know). While his main band continue to freefall after that epic high there are grounds for optimism given the early movements of this supergroup of sorts (Here We Go Magic, TV On The Radio members also contribute). This is the closest thing I’ve heard to mount a serious challenge to the utter redemptive bleakness of that Late Cord record from 2006. ‘Walk On Water’ is the sound of the undead discussing the merits of purgatory before realising that like or not they are stuck there for eternity. Lucky us if they continue their wonderful dialogue. Even the drunks at the back will bow to this sublime artistry. KD

Midnight Masses - Walk On Water

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Midnight Masses
Year: 2009

It’s been a while since we’ve featured a Labrador band on mp3hugger but thankfully the new Mary Onettes album ‘Islands’ means that wrong can now be righted. And like many things from that label POP seems to be the operative word. Or more precisely POP music that emerged from the dayglo ‘80’s, because ‘Puzzles’ triggers a hotch potch of memories, among them OMD, Erasure, T’pau, Fiction Factory and quite bizarrely the more recent phenomenon that is the Frank and Walters. While it lacks the chiselled chorus of their classic ‘Lost’ it nonetheless shoulder pads with epic production values and leg warms with a gloriously grand ambition. Proof if it were needed that real bands still stalk the underground. KD

The Mary Onettes - Puzzles

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Mary Onettes
Year: 2009

It’s creeping closer, the shop tills are beginning to ring and fairy lights will soon be adorning every dwelling in the city. Yep, don’t you just love the build up to Christmas? This year is going to be a bit more exciting than usual for us. Not only is baby hugger on the way (3 weeks time), a new house to move into (1 day shy of 3 weeks) but we are holding our first ever Indiecater gig in Whelan’s in the middle of December. We’ve invited 3 special acts for the occasion. Irish audiences should know the Ambience Affair and Storkboy Choons but our main act is travelling all the way from the good oul United States of America to be with us on the 12th. They are of course called the Very Most, a band who have spent more time in mp3hugger’s ears than any other act these past few years. Hard to resist their pristine melodies, charm and downright way with an indie pop tune so it seems sorta right that they should be releasing their brand new album on the occasion of the inaugural Indiecater night. Tickets are just €8 and are available to buy from the indiecater site right now. We promise it’ll be more headnod than eggnog. KD

This Year, Christmas Came November 4th

Watch The Video For Good Fight Fighting

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

Ok, this is more than a little odd (I’ll stop short of saying it is scary even if it is the scariest night of the year); a band in 2009 without a website or a myspace page. Yep, despite at least 8 seconds scouring google for all its worth it appears as if the Wales' Black Hand Laser Band are cyber virgins. It’s as if someone in authority had told them it was the psychedelic sixties and info that resides on non-geographically defined locations was only for those with mind-altering tendencies. The lack of info although mildly annoying hardly detracts from the vast open sound of ‘The Open Hour’. Right from Dracula’s organ to the beautifully paced BJM momentum Black Hand Laser Band display enough creativity to have their very own wiki page assembled in their honour some time soon. Be ghoul. KD

Black Hand Laser Band - The Witching Hour

More Info: A Tiny Severed Pinky Worth Of Info

This is so Mew the Danish lads should be calling up to nearby Oslo to pick up their royalties. But as Mew’s current album is scaring me from their door (and this despite ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’ being by some distance my favourite album of 2005) I have instead become utterly consumed by another Scandinavian beauty. ‘White Shade’ is taken from last years ‘Lake Toba’ record and specialises in peculiarity. There are elements of at least half a dozen different songs here but the patchwork somehow manages to sound a convincing whole. The only pity is that it is so short, there’s acres of background to be coloured but instead the quartet choose to extenuate the illusion. KD

Lukestar - White Shade

Watch The Video

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

Crikey, it must be at least 2 weeks since we’ve had a Brooklyn band on here. How feckin’ remiss of me, apologies to the epicentre of cooldom, I shall try and rectify the error of my ways by introducing the Subjects to you all. ‘Winter Vacation’ (appearing appropriately enough on the darkest Monday in Ireland for yonks) is a tropical delight, feature an off-centre shuffle and all manner of colourful moving parts. It’s taken from the band’s latest EP (‘New Soft Shoe’) and is certain to be propping up the bar in our Top 42 songs of the year (appearing here in a few weeks). The Subjects are most probably so called because they were once 2 teachers and 2 students (at the same time) who decided the chemistry was sufficient to form an indie pop engine. Their instincts were sound as ‘Winter Vacation’ is perfection. KD

The Subjects - Winter Vacation

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Subjects
Year: 2009

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so taken by an album. Back as far as ‘Funeral’ I’d say. You know one of those LP’s where every track is vital, where turning it off midway through would feel wholly disrespectful. The love affair began in early summer when Ryan Hover of Candy Claws got in touch asking if we’d take a listen to his album ‘In The Dream of The Sea Life’. From the off we were awestruck and that feeling has if anything blossomed. The album bubbles with melodic creativity, the thrills mature wonderfully and the shivers I’m now feeling aren’t swine flu but the euphoria of listening to one of the most remarkable albums of the decade. ‘Lantern Fish’ should sway your thinking but listening to all 10 cuts on indiecater might just also kidnap your affections. KD

Candy Claws - Lantern Fish

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Candy Claws
Year: 2009

The pristine jangle swooped high above the unedifying brouhaha that about a dozen open browsers tend to create. As you can imagine it took some time to find the source but 11 closed windows later and the instrumental gold had revealed itself to be the soundtrack to a promo for an Irish recording studio. Several emails/texts ensued and before long the mp3 was in hand (or more precisely in ear) and once again causing lump in throat moments. ‘Rise Fore The Human Race’ stirs up something inside of me, it has a fluid delivery and the fact that it is an instrumental hardly seems to matter as the music speaks volumes. A couple of seconds was all it took to steal my affection but it will remain in the upper echelons of the library of music I turn to time and again. Thanks to Ryan from Shiversaint and Dermot from Ashtown Studios for making this happen. KD

Shiversaint - Rise For The Human Race

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Shiversaint
Year: 2008

Just another in the long list of bands who couldn’t think of a name for themselves and decided to turn on the telly for inspiration. The Boston Celtics picked the sports news for their eureka moment and somehow it fits as they are confirmed basket cases. ‘Send It Out (That Way)’ is more than a little creepy (the band have a Halloween compilation for free download on their myspace), as if the duo had climbed into a vat of treacle with a poltergeist and forgot to turn off the 8-track. It’s a delicate shuffle really, pockmarked by witty asides and misadventures that are cuter than they are cloying. They are planning a Christmas song for us so I better be very nice to them from now on. KD

The Boston Celtics - Send It Out (That Way)


More Info: Official
Buy Songs: The Boston Celtics
Year: 2009

Guess there was little point in mourning the death of shoegaze all those years ago when in truth it has continued to thrive in darkened tiny pockets on both sides of the water. The Pains of Being Young At Heart, Mew and M83 have refocused things of late proving that all the doubters were shortsighted after all. Away from the main stage there are even more thrills to be had (if you have not fallen for A Sunny Day In Glasgow or our own South Ambulance you are missing out) like the softly focused Floridians Starring Me who have just released their new 7-track CD ‘Parallels Are Endless’. This is the title track, which manages to conceal its offbeat tendencies in the icing of a tender piece of dreampop cake. KD

Starring Me - Parallels Are Endless

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Starring Me
Year: 2008

You’ll be hearing a lot more about these Dublin lads (or ladies?) sometime very soon but not from me because I know about as much as you. Yep, despite glazing over every visible particle of their myspace I cannot glean a single fact apart from an impression that they have a certain sense of humour (how come I’ve never heard that Inisman joke before?). But lackage of factoids aside Alphamono are an act to celebrate, someone to challenge the emerald electronic crown currently residing at the Dying Seconds residence. And this was achieved with a tune that is liberal in its use of the vocoder (it was never the same after Cher took her perm to it). But ‘Laynod’ has something, a spark, a heart, a personality that indicates that creativity is stirring. Turns out indications were correct as I’ve already heard ‘Fanfaidh Me’ and it’s rekindling my love for nicely turned out chilled up bleeps. KD

Alphamono - Laynod

Watch The Video To Fanfaidh Me

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Alphamono
Year: 2009

Exclamation points in a band’s name doesn’t necessarily make the music they create any more interesting, if anything it’s a pain for those of us onliners not familiar with the shift key. But, allowances will definitely be awarded for acts from my home town especially when they ditch the fiddle for some decent electronics and traditional indie sensibilities. C!ties debut self-titled EP is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but is populated with enough ideas to point to an act with oodles of potential. The ‘C!ties’ EP casts its net far and wide, is loud in places, tender in others and downright unclassifiable elsewhere. ‘!’ is by far my favourite moment, not going anywhere in particular it would have made a most wonderful audio interlude on No Disco if that ship were still sailing. Sorta like Super Extra Bonus Party where they to ditch the superfluous audio widgets. Elsewhere tracks like ‘Satellites’ and ‘4+1=5’ start out wonderfully before somewhat losing their way in a haze of faux drama. This EP is available for free download from the C!ties myspace and with a bit of luck it should soon be knocking the concrete smile off Sharon Shannon’s face. KD

C!ties - !

More Info: Official & Myspace
Download Songs: C!ties
Year: 2009

Not sure quite how some indie music making folks get it on with the opposite sex given the amount of time they spend in their bedrooms twiddling with their computers and laying down chords. That said long may they cluster in the dusty half light if it means pale beings like Ryan Beal (aka Norse Horse) continue to conjure underground magic of this ilk. Norse Horse has some very obvious reference points but his exhaustive repeating electronica and vocals hovering like winter fog does more than enough to distinguish itself from the maddening. ‘Swamp Trotter’ is from his new CDR (and cassette, respect) ‘Secret Geographies’ which is selling for pennies from Family Time Records. The tune travels at a slow canter, hardly moving from its original declaration yet it never feels worn. This norse horse will surely stay the course. KD

Norse Horse - Swamp Trotter

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Norse Horse
Year: 2009

For those of you old enough to remember a time when you couldn’t rely on a hard drive to preserve the music from your past I understand your pain. Mixtapes for all the accolades are a pain in the reflection stakes, especially if the last time you used a working player Gabriella Sabatina was creating all sorts of dribbles (she subsequently butched up something awful). One song that made a late push for entry onto my Golden Greats (copyright Lawrence Gogan) mixtape came from the Charlatans greatest (and most aged) album ‘Some Friendly’. Back in 1990 ‘The Only One I Know’ was everything (The Stone Roses apart), the hair, the video, the shuffle, the ‘Looking For The Orange One’ t-shirt all infected my life to such a degree I must have been close to intolerable. I remember one Christmas eve playing the album to death in our banger as me and my Dad drove around the markets. By the end he was so brainwashed that almost despite himself he had amassed half a dozen pudding bowls (for DIY mop styling later) and several pairs of chinos (very unbaggy like it must be said) that could have fit a man twice his size. I sniggered, turned on my floppy fringe and promptly tripped on a wind propelled Joe Bloggs trouser leg. Fine times but looking back I wish there had been a digital depositary that I could have used to amass all those songs, instead I’ll have to leaf through several years worth of unlabelled spools. Oh yeah, Tim Burgess looks really silly nowadays. KD

The Charlatans - Believe You Me

More Info: Wiki & Myspace
Buy Songs: Some Friendly
Year: 1990

If this song wasn’t enough I then find out that the Travelling Band are soon to be joined on stage by none other than Dodgy (yep, those self same underrated 90’s rascals). But, back to matters in hand, here is a new band from rainy Manchester with a particularly sunny disposition and not a particularly British sound. ‘Only Waiting’ is stripped of studio fandango yet still packs plenty of punch through some lovely morning after vocals and perfectly pitched instrumentation. Why shout it from the rooftops when you’re hovering majestically over earth in a zeppelin. And they also do a nice understated reworking of one of the highlights from the best album ever released (it’s called ‘Waterfall’). What’s not to like? KD

The Travelling Band - Only Waiting

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Travelling Band
Year: 2008

You may have guessed it by now but we’re pretty partial to a good dollop of Princeton (they appeared on our last compilation). So you can imagine the broad smiles when we heard that ‘Cocoon of Love’, the band’s debut, was about to arrive. Yep, with twilight hours appearing earlier and earlier it’s always a good idea to have something from a different age (namely Summer) belting out from the nearest stereo. Tends to frighten the ghouls away and that feeling of regret because we've failed to replace the windows in time for the colder months. ‘Calypso Gold’ is a sprightly cherub, bouncing it’s way through almost 4 minutes without the slightest sense of adulthood. Class acts are made of these. KD

Princeton - Calypso Gold

Watch The Video To Martina and Clive Krantz

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Princeton
Year: 2009

The crux of this wonderful tune reminds me of something else but I can’t pinpoint it, could be another Italian band. Le Man Avec Les Lunettes come from Brescia and are led by Alessandro Paderno. Prolific set they appear to be too with a great pile of releases put out since they formed over 5 years ago. ‘The Blogger And The Dandy’ appeared on a Series Two compilation from the band called ‘La Belle Epop’ and is a near surreal experience. At times it gets woozy, almost ragged yet the tune that pulls the levers is utterly captivating. I’ve had it on repeat for the last 24 hours and it’s still gently tickling my insides. KD

Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - The Blogger And The Dandy

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Le Man Avec Les Lunettes
Year: 2008

Gotta pity Autumn, I mean it’s not even mid October and already some of us are beginning to think of evenings by the fire admiring that brightly lit Christmas tree in the corner. Yep, it seems that Winter has a stronger hold on our senses despite the often colourful nature of it’s nearest competitor. Well, perhaps our old friends the Very Most can finally put Autumn on the pedestal it deserves via their new EP of the same name. ‘Autumn’ is TVM’s 3rd release on indiecater in 2009 and the good times just keep rolling. ‘Autumn Air’ is a effervescent indication of the fare on offer with its lush streams of cascading harmonies and intricate vocal interplay. You should know by now that every new Very Most song is something to cherish; they remain the contented person’s most essential indie pop combo. KD

The Very Most - Autumn Air

More Info: Autumn & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Very Most
Year: 2009

The shutter comes down on mp3hugger for 24 hours as another weekend of international football is upon us. This time Ireland face the Italians who only need a point to qualify, a win for us would have them sweating a little in the last round of games next Wednesday (Cyprus you owe us dear). Croker will be full as will most of the supporters given that today is Saturday, kick off is not until 8pm and there is a German beer festival in full swing in the city centre. Fitting then that a random search for football phraseology threw up Oppenheimer and their shiny gem ‘Only Goal And Winner’, this act are the true heirs to the Ash juggernaut which has completely stalled of late (or at least is spluttering uncontrollably). Finger nails, prepare for a right auld seeing to later on. KD

Oppenheimer - Only Goal & Winner

More Info: Myspace
Buy Songs: Oppenheimer
Year: 2008

We could probably all the tell the game was up when Niall absconded and they started using gimmicks like cute girls on keyboards but we all just chose to close our eyes and block our ears and just dream that the most underrated band to emerge from these shores would finally reach the promised land. The return while glorious in its live incarnation never truly ignited in the studio but no matter how many times the Franks shimmer into view smiles are guaranteed to follow. Sigur Ros may have invented their own language but this Cork threesome were there nearly a decade earlier. It was funnier too especially as it spouted from a collection of hairstyles as lavish those found in Africa's largest pride. Here’s a cover of Tone Lōc’s ‘Funky Cold Medina’ that the band released as a b-side on one of their iconic early singles (After All). Despite a suspended official website the F&W are current planning a small tour around wee Scotland. With Christmas coming some dates back home are inevitable. KD

The Frank & Walters - Funky Cold Medina

More Info: UnOfficial & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Frank & Walters
Year: 1992