"As the founder of Summersound Records, label manager at Labrador Records and the force behind three prominent indie-pop outfits, Johan Angergård has become a bit of an impresario in the underground scene in his native Sweden. A founding member of the Acid House Kings nearly two decades ago, Angergård helped define a twee brand of guitar-driven pop which inspired cardigan-clad followers such as Belle & Sebastian and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. His three solo records under the Legends moniker have all been distinctive, impressive efforts, channeling the Jesus and Mary Chain, early albums by the Cure and Depeche Mode-flavored synth-pop, respectively. However, Angergård’s most enduring legacy may very well be his work with Karolina Komstedt as Club 8, which released its seventh full-length album, “The People’s Record,” last month. The duo’s career has led listeners on an arc away from their jangly infancy through records incorporating mellow bossa nova and chilled out drum machines."
"For example, the third track, the spoken/sung “My Sister”, follows the story of the narrator’s younger sister from their childhood pillow fights in which she’d wield a Stanley knife, to her temporary blindness, to causing the death of their mother – and cat – by smoking in bed, through the scandal of moving in at 15 with a gym teacher, to becoming partially paralysed when, in a rage, he hits her over the neck with a Bullworker, finishing with her premature death at the age of 32."
"Tilly & The Wall's roots lie in a band called Park Ave., which was one of the always-prolific Oberst's pre-Bright Eyes efforts. Park Ave. played saccharine, pointedly amateurish, yet relentlessly infectious sing-along pop, with a "My locker is stuck again!" lyrical purview that made sense, considering that its authors were actually living through such amplified teenage crises at the time, rather than exploiting them for forced pathos (cough Dashboard Confessional cough). Park Ave. also included Tilly & The Wall's Jaime Williams and Neely Jenkins, and their output, while just a hair above the Langley Schools Music Project in terms of musicianship, was ridiculously infectious, and revealed a songwriting acuity that was drastically disproportionate to its members' nominal experience."
"The first draft of Lennon's lyrics for "I'm Only Sleeping", written on the back of a letter from 1966, suggests that he was writing about the joys of staying in bed rather than any drug euphoria sometimes read into the lyrics. While not on tour, Lennon would usually spend his time sleeping, reading, writing or watching television, often under the influence of drugs, and would have to be woken by McCartney for their songwriting sessions. In a London Evening Standard article published on 4 March 1966, Maureen Cleave, a friend of Lennon, wrote: "He can sleep almost indefinitely, is probably the laziest person in England."
"Stepping out of Pink Floyd’s shadow, Gilmour had championed the British folk-rock band Unicorn, around the time of Wish You Were Here, producing their very good third album Too Many Crooks (1976). One of the tracks on it, ‘No Way Out of Here’ penned by Unicorn bandleader Ken Baker, impressed Gilmour so much that he covered it for inclusion on his solo album, modifying the title to ‘There’s No Way Out of Here’, but preserving the feel, structure and tone of the original. It was even released as a single and Gilmour staged an excellent live performances to help promote it, however without the Pink Floyd ‘handle’, it flopped in the charts."
"Tilly and the Wall are an indie rock group which formed in Omaha, Nebraska, United States in 2001. The band consists of Derek Pressnall (vocals, guitar), his wife Jamie Pressnall (tap dancer), Neely Jenkins (vocals, bass), Kianna Alarid (vocals, recorder, bass) and Nick White (keyboards). The band has gained notoriety for having a tap dancer provide percussion instead of a drummer (although drums and drum machines are occasionally used on some of their recordings, and Pressnall is usually complemented by Alarid and Jenkins stomping on the floor)."
“It’s like a hearty song, and it’s about a hearty thing. It’s just about love that comes when you’re carrying a child, when you give birth to a child and stuff when you become a parent. It’s the animal instinct, it’s a protection feeling that you’ve never felt before for anything […] I am a different person than I was two years ago. Women are extraordinary creatures really, you know, I mean the fact that we can give birth, what the bodies can do is pretty amazing, and feed, feed children with your own body […] It’s a pretty cool thing really, and it does change you, it makes you a lot more confident and happy in yourself makes you more thankful.”
"The lyrics of the song reference the ancient Greek god Cronus (Saturn in Roman mythology). According to Greek and Roman mythology, after Cronus overthrew his father, the god Uranus, it was prophesied that Cronus's own sons would overthrow him. To prevent this eventuality, he devoured his newborn children, the gods Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Cronus was eventually overthrown and imprisoned by his youngest son, Zeus."
"Over six minutes long, "Second Skin" was nearly an epic. It's all jangly right-angled, with sounds shifting through the ether, as drums and singular guitar riffs drift into focus, while Mark Burgess' vocals are mostly underneath the heady mix. It was easy, too, to see where the band drew inspiration. But, good as Second Skin is, and it's still one of the band's best, what made the Chameleons so precious was their ability to make anything completely, uniquely their own."
"When the first song on the Headlights' debut full-length, "Your Old Street," begins -- a string group pulling and bowing in melancholic unison, a soft, plaintive cymbal, a lonely guitar -- it seems as if the tone -- sad, pretty indie pop -- has been set for the rest of the album. Yes, there are some hints of electronic instrumentation in the tinny keyboards and the guitar even gets aggressive as the song comes to a close, but mostly it's just another well-crafted pop song, sung perfectly by Erin Fein and Tristan Wraight, with the right mix of orchestration and empty space, of despair and joy."
"Edward II (known also as EII, and previously as Edward the Second and the Red Hot Polkas and e2K) are an English band which play a fusion of world music, English folk and reggae. Active from 1980, the band broke up after losing several key members in 1999, relaunching as "e2K" in 2000. In 2003, the band dissolved once more, but have since reformed for a one-year reunion tour in 2009 under the "Edward II" name, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the breakup of the original band. They reformed in 2015 specifically to produce the Manchester's Improving Daily project, which includes the release of new recorded material and a book. The project is designed to celebrate a collection of tunes written in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, published as Broadsides and currently held in Manchester Central Library. In 2021 Edward II released the album "Dancing Tunes", bringing their own unique style to a collection of traditional and historic Jamaican calypso and mento songs that pre-date reggae as we know it today."
