Stars on 45

Love It All : JOHN MORILLION : From the album Love It All

Can't tell you much about this bloke except that he was born in France and has French nationality, but grew up in Yorkshire where he used to set up recording equipment and rehearse in abandoned churches, and most of the songs on the album were written whilst travelling around the USA on Greyhound buses.  The album demonstrates influences from all three countries.

Green And Gold : THE HOT TODDIES : Available for download here

Not doing brilliantly well with this week's selection, because I don't know much about these either. They are four ladies who hail from Oakland, California and have been making albums for the last seven years.

What I can tell you about this track is that it is a neat indie-pop song sung over a dirty funk beat. It is rather neat!

Ghost : SKIP THE USE : From the album Can Be Late

We return to a French theme here with Lille-based Skip The Use. Regarded by the French as their answer to Bloc Party (why anyone would want a version of Bloc Party). The comparison is, of course, absolute nonsense. This band are far more jaunty and danceable and the album takes its influences from everything from 80s pop to 70s hair metal and all stops in between

Volume 44

In Retrospect : BATTLESHIPS : Single only - available here

Another fine young band from Australia, rapidly becoming a breeding ground for quality musicians and songsmiths.  The most amazing thing about this band is that two of them lived one side of the continent in Queensland whilst the other two were in Sydney. Their songs were written over Skype.  Australian bands never feel hidebound by genre, but there is a distinctive Brit-pop feel to this

Traveller's Digest : LIBRARY VOICES : From the album Summer Of Lust

Regular readers / listeners to this blog will, by now, have picked up on my penchant for quality indie-pop songs. That is one of the reasons I have chosen this excellent, jaunty, little number for this week's post.

The other reason I have chosen it is that the band hail from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Why? Well, not only does my nephew's wife come from Regina but we have traced many of my wife's distant relatives to the same town. Accordingly, there is a slight chance that one of the band is related in some way to someone I'm related to

Confused? ... just enjoy the tune!

We Sing Electric : MR GNOME : From the album Madness In Miniature

No messing about on this track from Cleveland, Ohio's Mr Gnome ... actually a male / female duo along White Stripes lines We go straight into a fuzzy guitar riff, with vocals way back in the mix, which carries on for about a minute then stops to give way to a little guitar picking. The band then launch into some scuzzy blues-rock that would not have gone amiss on a late-60s British underground album.

Suddenly, the vocals come to the fore but still with a great guitar sound just behind them.

Warning! Listening to this track in the car may encourage speeding!