Something Else Mix #3

This was going to be a simple "this sounds like this" post about the similarities between 80's/90's pop group The Shop Assistants and the new dirty garage pop group Vivian Girls. But the more I listened to the two groups the more I realized that there are a hell of a lot of new bands that sound a hell of a lot like classic C86 groups (not to mention the shambolic glory of The Modern Lovers).

And then the news came this morning that the Shop Assistants singles collection Will Anything Happen is FINALLY getting reissued. And so, in a fit of productivity, I got this mix together.

Tracklist:
1. Love is All "Wishing Well"
2. The Modern Lovers "I Want To Sleep In Your Arms"
3. 14 Iced Bears "Come Get Me"
4. Orange Juice "Love Sick"
5. The Close Lobsters "Just Too Bloody Stupid"
6. Josef K "Chance Meeting"
7. Fire Engines "Candyskin"
8. caUSE Co-MOTION! "Who's Gonna Care?"
9. The Shop Assistants "I Don't Want To Be Friends With You"
10. Vivian Girls "Where Do You Run To"
11. Black Tambourine "Black Car"
12. Kurt Vile "Freeway"
13. The Honeydrips "I Wouldn't Know What To Do"
14. Tallulah Gosh "Tallulah Gosh"
15. Loft "Why Does The Rain"
16. Crystal Stilts "Converging in the Quiet"

It should be noted that many of the older tracks on this mix come from the wonderful CD86 compilation.

Download Something Else Mix #3 (M4A version for iTunes with artwork and chapter titles) here.

Download Something Else Mix #3 (MP3 version with artwork) here.

Squeeze "Argybargy"

In honor of Squeeze's impending "reunion" (only a sorta reunion...its only Glen Tillbrook and Chris Difford...no Jools Holland...sigh) show at the Showbox on September 16th, I purchased the painfully excessive double disc version of their finest album Argybargy.

But why a TWO DISC version of an LP that is 3.99 or less in every Half Price Books in the US? Quite simply because it's the ONLY version of this album on CD, a fact that is fully absurd. Can't get an LP on yr iPod...well, okay, you CAN. But I can't.

There are probably no better pop singles of the era than "Pulling Muscles (From a Shell)", "Another Nail in My Heart" and "If I Didn't Love You", the latter of which contains on of my favorite lyrics of all time ("Singles remind me of kisses/Albums remind me of plans"). Some of the other tracks can be a bit clunky, but on the whole I find the album quite a bit more charming than the "singles and filler" clusterfuck that was Cool For Cats or the Argybargy follow-up, East Side Story.

This expanded edition of the album has a cracking live show on the bonus disc (if you want it you'll just have to shell out the bucks for it...not everything in life is free internet-mooch), which has me fully excited to see the band in just under a month. Well, not too excited. I know better than to get my hopes up lest I be shocked into a coma when gaggle of middle-aged men lurch onto stage. But, if they play "Vicky Verky", I'll probably scream.

Download Squeeze Argybargy Disc #1 (Original Album + Bonus Tracks)

Orange Juice "You Can't Hide Your Love Away Forever"

This record seems almost genetically created to fit into the "Things Eli Likes" catagory. Let's just see what we have here: Warblely, almost obnoxious vocals. Fey, heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics. Huge poppy hooks. Pasty white band members. Sly, Beatles-referencing album title. Yup. Pretty much just what I like.

This was Orange Juice's first proper full-length after a run of increasingly amazing 7"'s on the Postcard label. The released version is substantially different from the version that was re-issued as part of the The Glasgow Schoolby Domino in 2005. While that version was scrappy and raw, this proper version sparkles with a weird disco sheen that hints at the slightly yucky, white-bred funk that the band would adopt in it's subsequent releases.

But as far as I'm concerned, this is Orange Juice is all of its nervous, awkward glory. Members of both Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian have said that this band was a huge influence of their musical endeavors and, frankly, Orange Juice sound like the perfect amalgam of both those bands.

Download: Orange Juice You Can't Hide Your Love Away Forever