Norma Kelly — Siga aquele carro (Follow that car)
b/w A Canção Que a Guitarra Não Tocou (Mocambo 1968)
Lil’ pop gem from Brazil circa 1968. Can’t find much else about Norma Kelly, but this is one groovy little dancefloor ditty.
First heard this on Give the Drummer Some a while back… download link in the comments!
The Sunshines — Quando Eu Precisei
from SELVAGENS - Brazilian 60’s Punk Artyfacts
Got some great nuggets of garage to share this week. This first installment is ‘Quando Eu Precisei’ (When I Needed), a 1967 track from The Sunshines, a late-60s group from Rio de Janeiro. Very hip bassline on this and some dreamy xylophone-esque keys, too. (grab the Selvagens (Wild) comp at Garage Latino)
On the way later this week, more garage from about as far from Rio as you can get — pre-Revolution Tehran. Stay tuned…
Dent May — Best Friend
from Do Things (June 12, 2012)
Dent May—easily one of my favorite pop singers out there right now. Puts on a fantastic show too. This guy is one part Brian Wilson, one part Elvis Costello and one part nightclub crooner. Oh yeah, can’t forget his Mississippi roots, either.
His new album comes out in a couple months.. until then, feast on this. And some older gems too…
Razika — Why Have We To Wait
from Program 91 (2011)
This precious album of oh-so-catchy Norwegian pop easily made it onto my most-listened-to-in-2011 list. This particular track is a Pussycats cover, and the chorus will slay you (original here).
And now.. these vintage-1991 kids have landed in NYC. The girls have been cavorting around town, visiting the Apple Store and Coney Island too (good choice!).
I know what they’re doing tonight, too, if you’re curious. Playing at Glasslands! So come out and support them! And if you’re down in the Lone Star state right now, they are en route to SXSW.
Luxury — Stupidest Thing
from Stupidest Thing b/w What Kind of Question’s That? 7” (Angry Young Records, 1978)
Oh hell yeah. Raging power pop from Des Moines, Iowa’s Luxury, on their debut 7”. Cool fucking band name. Berserk guitar solos. Nice.
B-side is great too, and totally different. Go grab it at Tomorrow Belongs to You.
The Bats — Not My Girl Anymore
from How Pop Can You Get? (1982)
Power pop bliss… this recording of the tune is from the excellent (and out of print) Numero comp Yellow Pills: Prefill (2005).
My Friend Wallis — Better Things to Do (2012)
Some things get better with age. Forests, for example. They’re not called “Old Growth” for nothing, kid. Time has also been treating My Friend Wallis.. aka Crystal Dorval.. extremely well. Here’s she’s back with a dreamy jam and a beautifully shot video to match—all around the perfect antidote to purge those woods of any BlairWitchian evil and darkness!
Met Crystal Dorval when she was playing bass for Mac DeMarco on tour in the summer of ‘10 and after exchanging emails, instantly fell in love with her dreamy lo-fi sound. Hers is as fresh as a forest fern… Gawd, so jelly of all these North West bands that get to shoot videos like this in their backyards.
“Shot on the fly” by PalaisNouveau. Single will be on a 7” split available from Student Loan Records on February 25th. You can check out more on Crystal’s Bndcmp.
Cher — All I Really Want To Do
live on Shindig! (1965)
Cher’s take on the Dylan classic…the hit single from her debut album of the same name. Rumor has it she got the idea to cover it when she heard the Byrds play it at Ciro’s on the Sunset Strip, in spring 1965.
No vocals from Sonny here—he just struts around hamming it up (not hard to do with his Prince Valiant cut)
The Tigers — Seaside Bound (1967)
This is what 1967 sounded like in Japan. No doubt that ザ・タイガース (Za Taigaasu, sounded out) are some fucking cool cats… look at that cover!
Weird Dreams — Holding Nails
from Holding Nails 7” (2011)
Another replay-worthy single from East London’s Weird Dreams.
Weird Dreams — Hypnagogic Lullaby
from Hypnagogic Lullaby EP (2011)
East London’s Weird Dreams dropped this EP earlier this year on Sleep All Day Records, and it’s a gem. The songs, like this one, are beautiful glossy pop, swimming in a sea of guitars. They put out a sweet 7” single on Halloween… and have a debut LP in the works. Should be out around Feb 2012!
Catch them on soundcloud. Buy the EP digital here.
Grapefruit — Ain’t it Good
from around (1968)
Am I the only one who thinks it’s indecent to use a grapefruit as an ashtray?
Apropos the psychedelic pop band Grapefruit, an act signed to Apple Records in 1968 (which seems to have no presence anywhere on Tumblr…)
The Pussycats — Why Have We To Wait
from Mrrr Mrrr Mrrr (1966)
Pop perfection from Norwegian beat group The Pussycats. I love how you can hear the drum pedal squeaking in those opening hits.
Was turned on to these guys by fellow Norwegians Razika, a group of teen skatalites who covered this track in most adorable fashion on their new album Project 91. Great album, that as well.
As a sidenote, I had a hell of a time finding this recording—I got this lo-fi copy by soundflowering a Pussycats best-of comp on Grooveshark. If you have any leads, (or Norway iTunes access) please message me!
Chrisma — Aurora B.
from Hibernation (1979)
More from Chrisma, this time more glammy synth-pop than minimalist rock, with a Lynch-style video to match. Be warned that the video is slightly spicy.
Razika — Vondt I Hjertet (Pain in the Heart)
from Program 91 (Smalltown Supersound; 2011)
Razika is four Norwegian 20-year-olds who’ve known each other since age six, and have been playing music together for oh, a quarter of their lives.
These girls don’t growl. They don’t yell. What they excel at is Norwegian honey torture — dripping heart-melting pop into your ears until you want to scream “stop it! STOP IT!!!”
Regarding their ska-pop sound, FADER asked the girls earlier this year which ska bands they liked:
The Specials, Madness. But actually we listen most to Norwegian ska bands from the early ’80s. Friends of our parents played in this band Program 81 and we named our record after that band. They’re really great. They both sang in Norwegian and in English so when we discovered them we were like, Oh we can try that as well.
Norwegian ska bands from the early ’80s? The time is ripe for discovery, my friends.
Catch Razika at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg this Friday night. Or visit them on soundcloud // myspace // facebook.
