hydroplane/the cat's miaow

walking drunk home through the snow
christ i've never felt this cold
thank god i've got this coat
'cos i've never felt this cold

so perfect!

Hydroplane: "Grand Central" (remix) and "World Without You" (the latter is an alternate version, based on a "Louie Louie"-esque sample, and even better than the album version!)

The Cat's Miaow: "Neu Monotonic FM"

...plus related bands Pencil Tin, the Shapiros, and Huon.

http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2ANKFG1PS9M4T1PJD4WYVW2PF6

http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2W9K9N4AIBXC93PPNSCCIFIFKB

Wow - yet again I have been listening to one of those two Cat's Miaow compilations (36 tracks, probably only 45 minutes) - and how magnificent it is. How gentle and mysterious, how moving, how modest in its absurdly swift endings, how devastatingly true. 'Don't pretend I don't know / everything about you and me'. And those titles! 'What Time Is It There?', 'D'you Think It'll Snow Tonight?', they go on and on.

Oddly enough, I just pulled it out today too for the first time in...8 years maybe? They'll never be appreciated as much as they deserve.

i'm sad that the mooted '06 hydroplane album never came out (or was even made?)

this band melts my heart. i was a fool to sell my copies of the two comps, but i did find one of them again... i only wish i had the full band version of "hollow inside".

my friend had some bart cd that had a buncha cat's miaow songs as unlisted bonus tracks...

but yeah, so many beautiful songs... now i need to find "songs for girls to sing" again..

xp to the 10th power: good golly four years later and i didn't even know these got reissued until now!!!!!!

there's still a small number of songs that never made it to those library comps - 'talking to trees' being one good example. i also think quite a few of their covers didn't make it either - including their version of 'you trip me up' and the seekers cover..

fortunately i have all the early tapes - i think i got the very last copy of little baby sour puss from toytown..

you lucky bastard... i remember trawling through audiogalaxy back in the day searching for all those tracks that weren't on the comps

i'm digitising all my tapes at the moment (a damn sight easier than vinyl that's for certain) so they're sure to be on some birdie num num site in the short term future

whoo!! i'll be on the lookout

the bart & friends CD (10 songs about cars & girls) had 21 bonus cat's miaow tracks on it, one of which is their cover of you trip me up. it's got stuff that isn't on either of the library records reissues... wish those were still available.

man the first hydroplane CD is good.

ah good point.. it seems to have the balance of their cover versions on it..

i've just pulled out the tapes and the only uncomped songs from LBSP are "cheek" and "wimp out". from pet sounds, "indian summer" and a version of talking to trees are uncomped, and "tundra" and "bulb" from fucked up are uncomped too.. everything else is on the three discs..

the cover of "lodi" on the bart & friends CD is, for me, definitive.

bart & friends are recording new stuff at the moment, first new songs in 8 years, the 'friends' this time featuring members of lucksmiths and fred astereo.. and hopefully with guest vocals from a certain legendary female indiepop vocalist.

Wonderfully cryptic there on that last point. But I have a guess or two.

there is an ilx connection of sorts

ilx -> momus -> él records -> would-be-goods -> jessica griffin?

haha as nice as that would be, no

nuts!

new bart & friends EP out nowww

http://www.lostandlonesome.com.au/release_detail.php?id=67&desc=bart-and-friends-make-you-blush

I bought the new EP today and am enjoying it. Did he really not release anything for 10 yrs? Last thing I have is the "I Was Lonely" EP. Twee.net says there is also a 7 inch, but I have never seen that.

the 7" was a blue vinyl thingy on clover records, also (like the new EP) features a pam berry guest appearance

i think it's safe to say the releases should become a little more frequent again now

http://www.clover-records.com/catalog/blue-moon.html

Ah thanks for that link.

another bart & friends ep is in the can - 'stories with the endings changed' featuring scott summer cats/earthmen singing on half the tracks. should be out within the next couple of months.

Nice!

Electricsound's picture made the SF paper.

http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/San-Francisco-Popfest-4-day-indie-rock-festival-5496299.php?cmpid=hp-hc-entertainment

Dang, I hadn't realized they were over here!

oh dear. hope their shows go well though, bart certainly deserves more attention for these songs.

I can't believe I am missing the show and I know I probably won't ever see him again. Their bill seems pretty good, lots of young shoegazers will go for the Bilinda Butchers. It is my wife's 40th that day and she still sort of complains about the Lucksmith's show I took her to :/.

um wow!! thanks for posting

If you guys didn't know, Bart and Pam Berry are doing Cat's Miaow and Shapiros songs at NYC popfest next weekend.

I love this stuff so much

Classic. “Aurora”, “Hollow Inside”, “The Phoebe I Know”, “Firefly”...

So I've been binging this, also Clock Strikes Thirteen, early Clientele (as always) & The Relict. Any other extremely similar vibe artists out there I should be checking out?

Super Falling Star are in this wheelhouse!

Thanks! I have to hear more. The first track I listened to was fantastic but not as ghostly(?) dreamlike sounding as all these bands are. Not sure exactly what the common thread is.

But they all make the experience of looking at old mundane photographs very melodramatic.

the ghostly Super Falling Star tracks aren't on Spotify or Youtube... you'll have to track down the 7"s

(you want the Someday 7" and the split single with Fuxa)

Do you know Screen Prints, Evan? Kind of a poppier, lofi clientele with budget baroque flourishes.

and very moody but in a slight twee way like cats miaow

https://youtu.be/WY4LmrdDBk

they have stuff that’s more upbeat too

No, never heard! Thank you

some of Linda Smith's songs probably fit this vibe:

But Is She Happy

Confidence

There's a ....

(all of her cassettes are free to download here

Bart & Friends and the Shapiros were mentioned here a decade ago, but perhaps not Pencil Tin. I notice that album is all on Youtube at present.

https://youtu.be/2IJ4FSybfYo

Selected Cannanes and Ashtray Boy (et al) tracks are not a million miles away, from the Bart-sung songs at least.

Anyone know of anyone willing to sell their Hydroplane/Cat's Miaow collection? The former weirdly hard to come by despite the general discogs going rate remaining pretty low. Like they all got snatched up for cheap and that's that.

it does remind me of pondering whether the cat's miaow bliss out disc is "ambient" or some kind of platonical ideal of "ambient pop"

oh, that's on the darla bandcamp page. but is it only 16 minutes? all the ones i have are extended jams

this (the new hydroplane) is lovely. “incident at westall” is really haunting

This is such a great crepuscular 'clocks have just gone back' album

At this point I'd assumed Kerrie Bolton saw her indie adventures as an ancient footnote to her career as, you know, an actual mezzo-soprano, singing opera, etc. Not necessarily something she was likely to revisit. Bless.

Incidentally, that there song title (plus what lyrics I can parse) suggest *this* haunting 'incident': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westall_UFO

There was a Hydroplane song that Peeel played a bit in 1995 or maybe 1996 which I loved a lot but never sought out

20 years later: this turned out to be New Monotonic FM, which didn't come out in 95 or 96, but is 100% the one

Bump to say this is wonderful stuff