Well, perhaps Europop isn’t quite the right term. Eurindie perhaps. This podcast is stuffed full of splendid tracks from the rest of the European continent which we, as marvellously parochial and narrow-minded Brits, seem to forget exists half the time.
I have no real idea how much this music actually intersects with any of the local scenes to which it might belong, but it is certainly nicely in tune with the British scene as I know it at the moment. Scandinavia is inevitably rather over-represented, but I have managed to track down a Belgian, a little Dutch and something (tangentially) Italian to throw into the mix as well. And a special secret bonus surprise for right at the end, but wait for it patiently and don’t ruin it for yourselves by peeking.
The big thing I can’t get over is just how much I had to leave out of this podcast actually. I’d lazily assumed that it might be a little tricky to fill an entire playlist, but I could just as easily have filled two. So don’t whinge about what’s not on there, because I know, I know!
Toadcast #27 – Europop
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01. The Divine Comedy – Europop (00.06)
02. Mikrofisch – The Kids Are All Shite (05.52)
03. A Classic Education – Stay, Son (10.40)
04. Wolfkin – These Are Illusions (14.14)
05. Tafra – Cheesy Epic View (19.47)
06. Kottarashky – Chetiri (21.32)
07. Teitur – Catherine the Waitress (29.40)
08. Jens Lekman – No Time For Breaking Up (35.44)
09. Shout Out Louds – Parents’ Living Room (40.01)
10. The Tellers – Hugo (45.34)
11. Cats on Fire – Born Again Christian (49.47)
12. Yann Tiersen – Ginette (57.21)
13. Air – Alpha Beta Gaga (61.44)
14. The Raveonettes – That Great Love Sound (70.33)
15. Die Ärzte – Quark (73.41)
16. Bettie Serveert – I’ll Keep it With Mine (77.19)
17. Snake & Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band – Doom City (82.46)
18. Röyksopp – Remind Me (87.36)
19. Sigur Rós – Untitled (Álafoss) (90.50)
20. Snapline – S2 (102.59)
And here are a couple of songs which didn’t quite make the cut:
Teitur – We Still Drink the Same Water
The Teenagers – French Kiss
The Raveonettes – Here Comes Mary
Blood Music – Eagles in the Water
Hello Saferide – If I Don’t Write This Song Someone I Love Will Die
Tafra – I’m Sorry Brakne-Hoby
What is it with Scandinavian bands and an obsession with 80s British indie? Strictly speaking, actually, Finland is not a Scandinavian country, it is a Nordic one. I have to confess to not knowing whether this is true or even what it means, but it is something Finns I know always insist upon most passionately. They are NOT Scandinavian, they are Nordic. I don’t really follow – are there any other Nordic countries then? Wikipedia isn’t that helpful as it seems to conflate Nordic countries with Scandinavian ones, which seems to contradict what the Finns themselves are saying. But um… well, I suppose… ah yes, music! Of course. I knew I’d come here for something.
Cats on Fire may be the only Finnish band I have in my collection, and they are the second band from , erm, up there to release albums this year that squarely face the kind of Cure/Smiths jangly indie so prevalent in the UK in the 1980s. The first was the joyously superb Shout Out Louds – more of a Cure Pop sort of sound – and the second is this: Morrissey on uppers.
I played it when we had some friends round for dinner the other night and James, who is a big Morrissey fan, asked which album of his I was playing. It was on low so the mistake was understandable because Mattias Björkas’ voice sounds so similar, but the music is a little jauntier; as if Morrissey was playing a gig on The Magic Roundabout or something like that. Funnily enough, the keyboard sound for both this and the Shout Out Louds record show a degree of similarity, which may be the beginnings of a Scandin Nord whatever indie revival sound.
It’s more playful at times than a lot of the stuff I have compared it to so far. The melancholy moan of Heat & Romance is set off by some distinctly Inspiral Carpets-like organ in The Smell of an Artist, and Astray could almost be a children’s song. By and large though it sticks to the Morrissey template, but with far more success that I would actually accord the great man himself. Brilliant as he can be, I find a lot of Mozza’s solo stuff to be downright turgid and it does occasionally fail to quite get going somehow, but that is not an accusation I would level at this record, whose pace dips and sways perfectly throughout. In fact, had it not made its way to my waiting eardrums so late in the year it would have been a serious contender for my end of year lists of joy.
Cats on Fire – I am the White-Manteled King
Cats on Fire – Heat & Romance
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