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We started the year with three shiny, colourful, erm, rounded singles by LA PEQUEÑA SUIZA, CYBER YE-YE and MOHAGONNY. LA PEQUEÑA SUIZA is another new, exciting young pop band, amateur but with talent enough to create delicate instrumental jangly moments close to Le Mans´ early moments. CYBER YE-YE have a weird story behind, you won´t believe it but they are kitsch astronauts obsessed with internet, girlie sixties pop and fashion. They are cheesy, they are camp, they are glamorous with a capital G, and forget about Velvet Goldmine! To end with, MOHAGONNY are part of a new international experimental scene, which luckily enough has not been named yet by the British press. Like Isan, My Cherie For Painting or Metrotone, they are atmospheric and special. They used to release under the name of Mahogany, they come from New York and they made one of the most beautiful singles of the year.
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Second pack is featured by a single including songs recorded a decade ago: Nic Dalton, some years before joining the Lemonheads, fronted a lo-fi, home music project called LOVE POSITIONS. Accompanied by the sweet gentle vocals of Robyn St Claire he recorded several eps and singles with bonds to Shop Assistants and the C-86 thang. One of the songs, “Into Your Arms”, would be covered by The Lemonheads several years later, making it a smash hit worldwide. So listening to the original version is a real must! ME ENVENENO DE AZULES is formed by two brothers (eat your heart out, Gallaghers!) with a remarkable talent to write sensitive, acoustic songs with very moving lyrics in Spanish. Three originals plus a cover version of Ray Davies’ “Scattered” (“Confundido”) conform one of the best debuts in ages! To complete this issue, we’ve got a single by BRIAN, the one who released the unforgettable “Understand” in the early nineties. After a lapse of seven years he came back with a long-awaited second album on 1999, and we decided to celebrate this return by putting out a single with our favorite album song (“We Close 1-2”) plus some extra tracks.
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Third issue includes two bands that appeared on our “Casablanca” compilation. COLOR FILTER is the aka of Ryuji, a Japanese chap who excels at composing and recording dreamy pop bubbles, where wah wah guitars are blended with suggestive electronic effects. Some shy, understated female vocals complete the set, materialized in songs as beautiful as “Sitting in the sand”, the title track. Also in “Casablanca”, ISAN are getting more and more legendary thanks to their kindergarten lo-fi techno, pretty close to Plone. They sound as an impossible cross between Autechre’s chrome rhythms and Young Marble Giants’s naïve sweetness. They will soon be considered one of the most indispensable acts of the avant-garde electronics of today. The Spanish representation in this issue is PURÉ, a young outfit from Madrid which show an amazing self-confidence in their debut. Every song is a surprise: they sometimes sing in French, weird guitar bridges, toy-like jazz instrumentals... they will become huge
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And the century’s last issue brought us three excellent singles: one of them signed by the kings of German electronic “isar listening”, that is ISAR 12. Four tasty, absolutely irresistible electronic delights. If you enjoyed their contribution to “Casablanca”- which featured a cameo by our beloved Laetitia Stereolab- you’ll simply love this single. This time the guests are Gus Gus’ vocalist and Mr Peter Thomas himself -yes, the legendary creator of “Space Patrol Orion”-. THE CLIENTELE come from Britain, They play exquisite, delicate and hypermelancholic music, with a strong connection to the more transparent and fragile sixties pop. “I want you (more than ever)” is a marvellous song, which will make all Belle and Sebastian fall in love with them instantly. To complete this issue, nothing better than some samplepop by TRANSISTOR SIX, moniker chosen by an English painter called Frances Castle to sign her retrofuturistic watercolor music. With a very limited equipment (a computer, a four-track recorder, little else) she manages to build up colourful firework set pieces, pretty close to Pram or Broadcast clockwork surrealism.