Category: Downloads

The Ninja Stars – Spirograph Heroes

Email read fail.  This band (The Ninja Stars) emailed me back in January.  Somehow I read it, tonight.  And clicked the link and I was lucky that it worked.

They say:

“We have been exploring the delights of cheap keyboards, distorted percussion + vox, no reverb & no compressors this time. We haven’t got a clue where we’re going the next time. We arranged, recorded and produced everything in 2 days, putting much effort into catching the restless energy of being spontaneous. We sure had fun.”

And I find the songs they sent me weirdly addictive.  Not like anything I have been listening to for a long while.  Simple songs and haunting vocals.

The Ninja Stars – Kick Out My Teeth
The Ninja Stars – Spirograph Heroes

This Danish duo released this EP on Kaptajn Bjørneklo back in January.  I guess I am better late than never, I suppose.

Link:  The Ninja Stars | Band Base (free EP download)

Glen Or Glenda

glen-or-glendaI’ve managed to track down a few more old Shimmy Disc release that were long lost to me. Glen or Glenda (a name taken from an Ed Wood movie) is another Kramer project – this time teaming up with Tammy Lang (apparently a soap opera star in the US).

Glen or Glenda, as far as I am aware, only released one LP back in 1998.  ‘Reasons in the Sun’ and it’s another sub Bongwater type of release, indeed Tammy takes over the Ann Magnuson role with applomb. The LP never really scales the heights reached by Bongwater – but there are plenty of keepers over the course of the 17 songs that make up the LP. Their cover of the Leonard Cohen standard ‘Suzzane’ is a stand out moment – whereas their take on Tommy Roe’s ‘Dizzy’ (made famous by The Wonder Stuff back in the early 90s) is a little perplexing. Elsewhere we get some originals – most notably ‘My Bubblegum Is Pink’ which is probably my favourite song on the whole LP. It has a country feel.

Glen Or Glenda – Suzanne
Glen Or Glenda – My Bubblegum Is Pink

Small Crew – Rambling/Sunday Strut

Small Crew have been flashing on my radar for the past few months and their previous free download single Kamikaze Girls/It’s Not Too Late To Wait was promising enough, especially lead song ‘Kamikaze Girls’ which was a nice sounding piece of pop music where I could hear a touch of early Suede in the mix.

This new 2 song free download single is a step up in class. ‘Rambling’ reminds a little of Belle and Sebastian. And not in a bad way. ‘Sunday Strut’ is an instrumental that goes in several direction all at once – with it’s Duanne Eddy guitar and then a massive riff (which is borrowed from somewhere, but I can’t place the where. I know it’s from a 70s band. Answers in the comments please). Both of these songs sound like they could have been recorded by different bands.  In this case this is no bad thing, as I like both styles that Small Crew are showcasing on these downloads.

Link: My Space

Download: Rambling | Sunday Strut