hydroplane/the cat's miaow

funny that, drive-in records is from my birth city. i heartily support all drive-in ventures not only because it was my first exposure to indie music, but because mike babb has a cool guitar and is a gentlemen.

I agree with Keith about preferring Bart's vocal. Bart is considerably under the impression he has a terrible voice but I find it really appealing. The Bart & Friends CDs are the ones I listen to the most of all the CM/Hydro/B&F stuff. I like Kerrie's voice but it tends to be very samey, which is why I haven't listened to the recent Hydroplane stuff as much as I used to listen to the first album and the CM stuff.

"Crepe Paper Airplane" is by Buddha On The Moon, not Hydroplane.

The new EAWS stuff is out soon on Gifted Records out of Sydney.

The Cat's Miaow were quite a breath of fresh air when they first appeared - their rise to "cult fame" as it were happened in a very B&S fashion - almost completely word of mouth. To this day, Cat's Miaow and Hydroplane stuff still sells barely anything in Australia, which is a total shame.

Bart's Library Records label is of course completely brilliant and you would be foolish to not buy everything on it.

There's really nothing I don't know about Hydroplane and CM so ask away (if there's anything left you want to know)..

He's right, you know. Why, there's this fine release, for one.

hydroplane "failed adventure" 7"

i'd have to go digging through my singles to find the cat's miaow "must have"....

for best results at finding copies of these...

http://www.tonevendor.com/

the tone vendor guys are all up into this sort of thing... darla probably can hook you up as well.
m.

...
m.

The only other track I have in YSI-able format is the track "Questions I Can't Answer" from the Darla100 compilation, but that's originally a b-side from 1998, so I doubt it's that. I'd put it up anyway but I'm on dialup right now and the first one took longer than expected...

"i wish i could find a copy of the first hydroplane cd, i lost mine and i want to have it again.

-- fortunate "

I have a copy you can have if you want it. I rather have someone enjoying it, than it being under the bed in a box. This email works if you want to send me an address to mail it to. I hope you mean the cd with the balloons on the cover, either balloons or some amusement park thing.

they did have rather a lot of 7" singles, didn't they? i think i have six or seven.

"the next Hydroplane album due out with a bit of luck around about 2006."

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.

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.

probably scarce because I'm not sure more than 200-300 copies were pressed up

Not sure if they're quite that scarce across the board... hopefully not the case for the majority!

just saw that bart & friends put something out last year… https://www.discogs.com/release/18017359-Bart-Friends-Tolmie-Wild-Thymes

did anyone hear it?

No I’ve had it on my want list though!

Hydroplane S/T gets a (first ever) vinyl reissue!

https://hydroplaneband.bandcamp.com/album/hydroplane

It's weird how little Hydroplane I've actually heard given that those Cat's Miaow compilations never get old for me. Probably time to round up them there FLACs.

there's a compilation and another lp also available on bandcamp

Two compilations!

Very handy, those are going in my cart for sure. Still have my Drive-In CD version of the self-titled all this time (but realized I should give it an upgraded rip, which I'm doing right now.)

That CD is hard to find. I’m really grateful for this reissue. The rarities compilation is very appreciated as well.

some kind ILXor (svend) sent me their copy many years ago for free because mine had cracked in half!

I've got all the singles and EPs, but I'm buying all the stuff they have available on bandcamp anyway just 'cos I want 'em to feel loved.

https://thecatsmiaow.bandcamp.com

More!

Songs ’94-’98 is a smart selection of material from The Cat’s Miaow, an Australian indie-pop group that gifted their decade with some of its finest songs. Released on World Of Echo, the album draws from the group’s string of excellent seven-inch singles, a small clutch of compilation contributions, and features one previously unreleased song, “I Take It That We’re Through”, recorded in 1998. Part of the burgeoning international pop underground of the nineties, The Cat’s Miaow’s legend has only built over subsequent decades, as more people discover this most quixotic and curious of groups: a recent appearance on A Colourful Storm’s compilation of Australian indie-pop, I Won’t Have To Think About You, is testament to their enduring influence. In part emulating the selection of tracks on the 1997 CD-only compilation, Songs For Girls To Sing, Songs ’94-’98 is also the group’s first ever full-length 12” vinyl collection – and if you score a copy of the initial edition, there’s an extra 7” featuring all the songs from their “Third Floor Fire Escape View” recording session

you can really hear the g500 from the first bar of that sample track

i think i must have at least some of this, probably in that box of 7"s i haven't even opened for 15 years

I'll take the whole box off your hands if that is any indication of the type of other stuff inside.

this is the only thing i recognise on discos

https://www.discogs.com/release/1614464-Various-Drive-In-Season

(discogs)

A good one! Love the Shapiros track.

bought specifically for the Singing Bush (Even As We Speak) track

bookmark has Songs 94-98 in this week's mail-out so i guess it's available now

bookmark = boomkat records

Yeah it shipped!

hadn’t realised they’d put out something in september last year - https://open.spotify.com/album/79Vmp7aenB22URxNIlSPQu?si=QI1Pm-T0S-CcFV1_XJN0kA

and this got put up on streaming - https://open.spotify.com/album/6AYJI4CqAMwCxXFwqrrp6B?si=CCra3q9IRwO0pzVyZEhNqQ

The "Shelley Street" EP was released to streaming last month - here's the playlist on YT.

Four of the five tracks were previously released on the "Songs for Girls to Sing" CD (the fifth is "Revant De Toi"). I remember back in the day that this CD was insanely cheap from Drive-In, like $6 ppd or something, and I'd just buy a bunch and give away to friends.

Most of this show is on YT here.
(Note that unfortunately the Spiritualized cover "Let It Flow" gets cut off! The intact video for that song is on the "Munch Part Two" video compilation on Season Records, which used to be on YT but now I can't find it? I have the videotape...somewhere.)

Aaaand just now while browsing the videos uploaded by Season Records, I found this 25-min show from the Cat's Miaow from Nov 2023!! Damn, they sound great!!

What the...a new Hydroplane album?!

https://hydroplaneband.bandcamp.com/album/a-place-in-my-memory-is-all-i-have-to-claim

It's out TODAY!!

Reminder that the self titled is an ambient/indiepop masterpiece ...for anyone that clicked this thread by accident I guess

"ambient" as a description perhaps overkill? Minimal dreamy atmospheric

And the new one is GREAT of course - I never had any doubts there

What a nice surprise that it exists at all

in the context of Indie Pop I'd say Hydroplane are definitely ambient

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