Seth Smith is the quintessential indie hero. Toiling away at his day job he recorded a CDR and made the grand gesture of burning off a run of 15 copies. Remarkably some of the songs fell into the adoring laps of the right people and pretty soon the CDR was being officially distributed as the ‘Thank You’ EP. Fast forward a couple of years to 2007 and Smith and chums, collectively known as Dog Day, see their debut LP ‘Night Group’ released to widespread acclaim. It is easy to see why when you catch a few minutes of the Nova Scotia quartet’s stock of lovable audio vignettes. I mean by now ‘Sleeping, Waiting’ has probably swept you off your feet. It’s shorter than most clocking in at less than 2 minutes but when a band plays this fast they tend to fit a lot in over a short time. Fuzzy and brash it may be but at certain junctures ‘Sleeping, Waiting’ is clinical in its distillation of the classic indie sound. KD

Dog Day - Sleeping, Waiting

Watch The Video To Lydia

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Dog Day
Year: 2007

Not really a song, more an aural texture, something you could see being used to maximum effect in a car advert. And it comes from an unexpected source, namely the man who propelled those nineties noiseniks Medicine. Perhaps time has rounded those rough edges but as any Medicine fan would probably testify there was always a fine tune beneath the squalls of crawling guitars. ‘Out Cold’ is a foray to the land of electronica so perhaps recent collaborations with Dan Snaith of Caribou have somewhat rubbed off. The song is awash with soft fragrances but has a pleasing sense of adventure that means it has the wherewithal to meander down corridors that are bedecked in colourful canvasses. What a lovely change of direction, something sweet to make the medicine go down you might say. KD

Brad Laner - Out Cold

Watch The Video To June Gloom

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Brad Laner
Year: 2007

Today we had a flurry of snow in Dublin, you know the sort of snow that is as fluffy as a rabbit’s tail until it hits the ground at which point it promptly disappears. I’m looking outside now and nothing remains, not even a mound of ice where once stood a hopeless snowman. All this global warming means that the closest thing we are likely to get to a white scene will come in the aftermath of a accident involving an avonmore dairies vehicle. So in a vain and slightly tenuous attempt at recreating the magic of falling snow please find attached a wonderful track from Winterpills. Taken from their sophomore ‘The Light Divides’ is bedecked in some fine vocal boy/girl tangos and instrumentation that seems to levitate mid air despite coming all over heavy in parts. The band have a new album out later this year so the next thing to melt might just be your heart. KD

Winterpills - Broken Arm

Watch A Live Winterpills Video

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

I do hope we haven’t heard the last of Sydney’s Gerling. With frontman Darren Cross twiddling gamely with his new solo project the E.L.F. it seems that the trio’s days could be numbered. Such a shame really because they straddled that near perfect divide between dance and indie. It all started so promisingly on their debut (a lost classic if ever there was one) ‘Children of Telepathic Experiences’ back in 1997 with startling songs like ‘Enter Space Capsule’ and ‘Death To The Apple Gerls’ popping out all over the place. The follow up ‘When Young Terrorists Chase The Sun’ swayed more towards dance but it spawned their biggest minor hit to date ‘Dust Me Selecta’. ‘High Jackers Manual’ is even better and underlines the bands energetic style that preceded the Go! Team’s template by several years. Despite its title ‘High Jackers Manual’ is perhaps the closest we’ll ever get to a non-prescription cure for the blues. KD

Gerling - High Jackers Manual

Watch The Video To Death To The Apple Gerls

More Info: Fan Site & Myspace
Buy Songs: Gerling
Year: 2001

Most Sunday’s I tend to settle down like most men of my advanced years with something less taxing on the stereo. An acoustic whisper or a pleasant dollop of ambient normally does the trick and serves as a calming ointment for the week ahead. Today for some reason though I have an overwhelming desire to blast some fresh beats from the speakers. So this remix of Seabird’s new tune ‘Let Me Go On’ perfectly fits the bill. Olaj whoever he is manages to sprinkle magic dust on the better sequences of the original and fills the gaps with an inspired frenzy of activity that'll titilate those dancing toes. Seabird are a fresh faced 4-piece from Cincinnati, struggling like most new bands to get themselves heard and release their debut album. That said they have EMI on their side, which should give them a fighting chance at the very least. KD

Seabird - Let Me Go On (Olaj's Let Me Go Off Mix)

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

Could well be possible that if the whole shoegaze thing is alien to your ears that ‘The Soft Attack’ may sound a tad underproduced. What you’ve got to understand though is that the Daysleepers (I mean the name alone) have successfully reconvened a sound that has been reappearing in fits and starts since the early part of the century. The genre originated a full decade earlier when its prime movers Slowdive, MBV, Chapterhouse, Lush and Ride were at their peak. ‘The Soft Attack’ best bits come early on when the hazy guitars and ethereal vocals are at their most dynamic. Just listen to that swell of chords and make like its 1992 all over again. The Daysleepers are putting the final touches to their debut ‘Drowning in a Sea of Sound’ and it should finally surface later this year. KD

The Daysleepers - The Soft Attack

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Daysleepers
Year: 2006

Such finesse, so quick over the ground to share its uncluttered vision, a faultless triumph over mainstream’s empty gestures. Hardly surprising then that Blonde Redhead operate out of the capital of cool New York. It has been a long road for the band and their 7th album ‘23’ came a full 14 years after their debut. And as you'll hear on ‘Spring and by Summer Fall’ the band have lost none of their enthusiasm, not even wild horses (fact) could put the brakes on them on this form. And those Sonic Youth comparisons persist, something that in other hands could become an albatross but Kazu Makino and brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace have the nouse to carry it off with distinction. KD

Blonde Redhead - Spring And By Summer Fall

Watch The Video To Melody

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Blonde Redhead
Year: 2007

Towards the end of ‘1800s’ it starts to sound as if another song is clouding the listening experience. It becomes clear at the end however that in the background a ferocious blend of drumbeats is doing it’s damndest to be heard. ‘1800s’ is a work of many parts and may take a few spins to turn the puzzle into something resembling a comfortable listen. This can be off putting but you should be able to figure out that it is worth it from the word go. We’re Moving On are from Toronto and released the ‘Argh! Umph! Ahhh!’ EP last year. Sort of appropriately named actually given the feast of surprises supplied by ‘1800s’ and the array of instruments that must have been wheeled into the studio to execute it’s ramshackle nature. KD

We're Marching On - 1800s

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: We're Marching On
Year: 2007

It may be about as past it as a Glen Madeiras haircut but boy does this tune get the memories flooding back. Times spent in a remote outpost in the West of Ireland where the arrival of the weekly piece of vinyl was always something to was celebrated (the 10 mile cycle in the dark to pick up the Joshua Tree at it’s midnight launch was an adventure of Marco Polo proportions). Back then Dave Fanning’s Fab 50 represented the highlight of my musical year and was eagerly committed to tape (an offence akin to downloading mp3’s today!). Who cares if the same songs turned up every year, this was the sound of the underground amid the piecing din of cow’s calfing. I’d often miss the crucial Top 10 due to the inconvenience of having to go to Christmas Eve mass but there was always next week’s RTE guide to get the full rundown. In those internet disabled times it was a famine for new band discoveries, gives me a shiver even thinking about it. ‘The Love Parade’ was a 12-inch purchase and was backed up by the less sonically clothed but no less enjoyable ‘Girl In A Million’. For a song that sounded so futuristic in 1985 ‘The Love Parade’ has not aged too badly at all and you’ve got to applaud the cleverly camouflaged blue theme. The good old times, give me a break. KD

The Dream Academy - The Love Parade

Watch The Video

More Info: Fan Site & Myspace
Buy Songs: The Dream Academy
Year: 1985

It is surprising given their alarming brilliance that we haven’t heard more about Electric Penguins. Back home in Dublin the group may as well be from East Java considering the amount of fuss that is made of them. Ah well, perhaps they prefer it that way, gives them more time to tinker with their rust ridden instruments. You see the trio are obsessed by the junkyard yet precious vehicles of electro making noises the Mellotron, the Moog and the incomparable Farfisa (remember them Inspiral Carpets). With these base ingredients and Mark Cummins’ singing Electric Penguins fashioned a stellar debut in 2006 that was cheekily named ‘Goodbye To The Electric Penguins’. There are nods to Air and Kraftwerk yet Electric Penguins give the impression that there's more to them than mere revivalists on tracks like ‘Soft Landing’. Bedded on a layer of acoustics, late sixties vocal representations ‘Soft Landing’ sounds like a drug free Clinic after their surgical masks were removed. Organ donations required. KD

Electric Penguins - Soft Landing

Watch The Video To Lonnie

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Electric Penguins
Year: 2006

‘No Getting Over You’ falls into that difficult category of song that you know you like but you can’t reason why. As far as I can work out there is no chorus, the tune just sorta floats along like a helium filled balloon that’s at the discretion of the wind. The breeze in this case is supplied by Maya Saxall, the helium comes via the 3 others in the band behind her. Saxall’s vocals are breathy, at times Sinead O’Connor in nature but forever in a flap trying to make themselves heard. And it’s not like the music is distracting, for most of the time it is positively languid but somehow seems to reinvent itself every now and then. Said The Shark are from Copenhagen and will release their second album ‘Silly Killings’ next month. ‘No Getting Over You’ is from their 2006 release, the curiously titled, ‘Always Prattling On About Wolves’. Great white hopes you could say. KD

Said The Shark - No Getting Over You

Watch The Video To In This Heat

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Said The Shark
Year: 2006

Reading's Chapterhouse were not in any way the perfect band but they succeeded over a short time in writing a couple of perfect songs. ‘Pearl’ is one such, a tour de force that ranks among the best that shoegaze ever threw up (!). ‘Mesmerise’ was another and marked a totally different direction, part electronic but still beating with the mighty heart of an indie classic. The eye-catching video was an advert for summer days, swimming pools, lido’s and long shaggy hair and pretty much summed up the carefree butterfly of the song it showcased. From the off a piano trickle signals the start of something great with the bulging electro brass heralding the arrival of some wonderfully realised ethereal vocals that were so beloved of the dream poppateers. It may be 17 years old but this tune still sounds like it still can’t go to the toilet by itself. Don’t hold back, a cherubic wonder like this deserves a pinch in the cheek. KD

Chapterhouse - Mesmerise

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Chapterhouse
Year: 1991

Birdland were 4 non-brunettes, 2 of them were siblings. They existed for a short time between 1989 and 1992 but still managed to get the video to this song played on Top of the Pops (it meant something in those youtube free times) after it broke into the UK Top 40. The short jerky tunes that Birdland turned out matched their unpredictable on/off stage antics. In fact said behaviour saw them thrown off a priceless Jane’s Addiction tour after just one date. Lukewarm reviews of their eponymous debut in 1991 marked the beginning of the end for the quartet but worse was to follow soon afterwards when their label Lazy Records went bust. ‘Sleep With Me’ is a pretty simple affair, within the first couple of seconds you’ve heard the riff that underpins the whole tune and Robert Vincent’s sneer isn’t exactly revolutionary but my does it pack a punch. Perfect mixtape material as you can imagine, check those cassette filled shoeboxes in the loft, I’m sure this one is there in scrawled bic. Simple times, great music. KD

Birdland - Sleep With Me

Watch The Video

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Birdland
Year: 1990

Last time we checked Montreal’s Under Electric Light was heading down a dream pop path that triggered a tingle of delight in our gut. Almost 3 years on and I’m glad to report that nothing much has changed, Danny Provencher is still infatuated with the early 90’s and his softly floating pieces of dream pop illuminate his latest offering the ‘After The Blue’ EP. I wonder how this must sound to someone who has yet to sample the delights of Ride, Chapterhouse or Slowdive. Armed with the knowledge it is a lush reminder of how the pioneers stole our hearts with clouds of fuzz and sweeping vocals. Under Electric Light have the art of the shimmer down to a tee and surely rank alongside Celestial as one of the finest purveyors of contemporary shoegaze. KD

Under Electric Light - This Moment

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Under Electric Light
Year: 2008

What a strange little song, part pretty, part stained but a story you won’t be able to put down. It may only be a workaday scenario of star-crossed lovers but Jeremy Warmsley details it with such grace it makes for a fascinating drama. There is scope for a neat little indie pop tune here but the London singer songwriter forsakes it by adding variable crunching beats and electronic wheezes. And the funny thing is that it works wonderfully, a boy and a girl in a relationship where honesty is the first victim deserves a tarnished yet likeable soundtrack. Belle & Sebastian so often serve up harmonious ditties where the words utterly belie the music. Jeremy Warmsley ditches such confusion and goes the whole hog so whether you are a student of lyrics or just of the music that accompanies them you won't fail to get the drift. KD

Jeremy Warmsley - 5 Verses

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Jeremy Warmsley
Year: 2006

For some reason you’d think they’d come from Scandinavia but instead Michael Talbott and The Wolfkings call San Francisco their home. The name references a South Californian myth and there is an equally mystical quality to the music they make. It takes 13 people for the Wolfkings to operate at full pelt but given the hushed quality of the output I’d wager at least half that number are employed on quiet-making duties like door closing and shushing any potential interrupters. And their efforts are duly rewarded when you cock an ear to the pristine nature that goes by the name of ‘Goodnight’. Everything is its right place; the tinkling piano, the beautifully strung out bass line and Talbott’s deep hum for a vocal just melt into a grand sonic tapestry to caress your weary senses as you drift off. KD

Michael Talbott and The Wolfkings - Goodnight

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Michael Talbott and The Wolfkings
Year: 2006

I’ve got to be honest I know absolutely zip about hip-hop or rap, in fact I’m not sure I even know what the difference is. Of course I got in on the Beastie Boys circa ‘Ill Communication’ and the Streets imperious second album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ is something I often return to but apart from ‘Stan’ that is my only contact. I heard ‘Kenji’ quite by chance, during one of those aimless shuffling sessions where any one of a couple of thousand tracks could end up playing. As soon as it had run its course though I found myself replaying it several times to try and absorb every word that had been sung. ‘Kenji’ is an emotive piece of music, instrumentally attractive and lyrically innovative and slick it will stay with you long after it has stopped playing. It is the work of Mike Shinoda as Fort Minor, a side project of his away from his main band Linkin Park. KD

Fort Minor - Kenji

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Fort Minor
Year: 2005

For a while in the mid nineties it seemed that Mansun could devour the world. They had a carefully cultivated image, wrote intelligent p-opuses and had the critics deep inside their pockets yet they never quite cracked it. Perhaps it didn’t help that the monolith known as Oasis stalked the earth during their most creative spells, who needs a Chad that loves you when you could just as easily do it with a doctor in a helicopter? For all of Mansun’s dramatic endeavour’s it was their periodic bows to accessibility like on ‘Wide Open Space’ that they will be best remembered for. ‘Wide Open Space’ even came complete with several dishy makeovers which in those hugely bleeptastic times was an essential move. Mansun called it a day in 2003 but have over the last while been spilling their grand discography in the shape of free downloads from their myspace page. See for yourself what a fine legacy they have left us. KD

Mansun - Wide Open Space

Watch The Video

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Mansun
Year: 1996

And Little Big Adventure’s yang could well be Dallas’s Tree Wave. Well it’s certainly louder and more aggressive but reading their bio it seems that the music they make comes from, presumably soundcard enhanced, computers made in the 1970’s – something that would probably sit quite easily with LBA. ‘Sleep’ is Tree Wave’s contribution to the SXSW 2008 mp3 fest and a sparkling ditty it is too even if it is taken from a release, the ‘Cabana’ EP, which dates back to 2004. ‘Sleep’ is the ingenious love child of Orbital’s ‘Style’ and the frothy pronouncements of Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier. In truth it is Lauren Gray that provides the vocals and you’ve got to applaud her generosity along with that other Tree Waver Paul Slocum for dropping the code to a synthesiser program for the Commodore 64 on the aforementioned ‘Cabana’ release. It has the makings of a great story and could even spawn a new generation of (Donkey) kongwriters. KD

Tree Wave - Sleep

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Tree Wave
Year: 2004

If I drove a car then this would be the sort of music that would blare from its mono speakers. It’s just not possible to fall into a bout of unseemly road rage with spiralling electro nodes filling your ears with smiley thoughts. For that is what ‘I Want to Be a Villain Too’ specialises in, sophisticated lounge music for people on the move even if movement is achieved through peddling. Little Big Adventure doesn’t let the finer details of his existence slip out too easily but return trips to his web spaces are rewarded by the arrival of new songs to download gratis. His myspace profile has had 468 reads, a remarkable statistic given the quality of the goods offer. Anonymity made all the more confusing by the existence of another Swedish outfit of the same name. Arggghh, play my calming ‘I Want to Be a Villain Too’ play. KD

Little Big Adventure - I Want To Be A Villian Too

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Little Big Adventure (no need they're free)
Year: 2007