Top Albums of 2021

Honestly, I’m pretty over lists at this point. They’re arbitrary and don’t really reflect anything but someone’s tastes, except here where they reflect the tastes of three individuals…because that’s how we roll. So, take this list with a grain of salt. These are the records we thought were the best, which mostly just means these are the ones we listened to on repeat throughout the year! Feel free to leave a comment on what you think we missed, or why we’re dumb; we love good comment trolls.

Also, because this list is really about crediting the art that made us happy, we wanted it to make you happy too, so we included purchasing links where we could. Read more

Swansea Sound Announce Live at the Rum Puncheon

Surprise! We’re working with Swansea Sound! The band, made up of members of Pooh Sticks and Heavenly (as well as Catenary Wires and Talulah Gosh) will be releasing Live at the Rum Puncheon on November 19th; it’s a join affair with various media available; we’ll be handling the cassette version here in the States on ATH Records. While a few of the tracks have been tossed out as early singles, not to mention the incredible E-Bay auction, everyone involved felt it only worked to announce the album with a brand new track for you all to enjoy! Plus, if you head to the band’s site, you can hear the song in Cymraeg. We’ll keep you up to date with things, but we wanted to celebrate and with you all and tell you how stoked we are to be part of this. Keep up to date with various ways to grab the album by checking in on the group HERE.

The Catenary Wires Release Face on the Rail Line Video

The forthcoming LP from The Catenary Wires is high upon our list of anticipated releases this year, and now we’ve got another single to give us a little peek at what’s inside. As soon as the video plays, I honestly felt like I was at home in the 80s listening to my dad’s record collection; the core vocals of Amelia and Rob over that light strum just held this nostalgic breath in my lungs for an instant. But, as the song progresses, there are some little details like the slight buzz around the 1:07 mark (and again later) that kind of ties the band to their modern peers. In a weird way, it feels like your favorite indiepop stars spent the weekend holed up with J Spaceman, and I mean that in the most positive light possible. The little turn at 2:13 doesn’t do anything to hurt either, sweeping emotion through your bedroom speakers. Look for their new LP Birling Gap on June 18th via Skep Wax/Shelflife.

Introducing Skep Wax Records

One thing we remembered – and re-lived – in 2020 was the spirit of indie DIY. We wrote songs, recorded them at home, took our own pictures, made our own videos. So we decided it was about time to start a label. The first physical releases on Skep Wax will come out next spring. We will be co-releasing the next Swansea Sound single with US label HHBTM and Japanese label Formosa Punk, and we will co-release the new Catenary Wires songs with US label Shelflife. Its great to be working alongside these other labels. We always loved the idea of the International Pop Underground, and in 2021 we hope to breathe new life into it. If we discover we are any good at running a label, we will start thinking about releasing other bands music on the label. Very excited about this!

You can see all the work at Skep Wax Bandcamp.

Follow on the socials: @skepwax

 

ATH Takeover: Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey – the Introduction

Thanks for having us ATH. Its a real honour to be allowed to take over the hall for a day! Our home – in rural Kent, England – is a long way from Texas, and we haven’t left it very often for the past few months, so its exciting to go on a long journey and hang out with you in Austin.

2020 has been a strange old year, and a terrible one for many people. Like everyone else, weve spent much of it in lockdowns of one sort or another. We’ve been pretty lucky compared to many. The worst of it for us is that we’ve not been able to play live shows. On the upside, being stuck at home has meant we’ve had the time to create lots of new things. So we thought wed take a look back on our 2020 the stuff we made, and a few things weve enjoyed listening to.

Follow them over on twitter via @heavenlyindie or @catenarywires

Heavenly Share So Little Deserve Video + Announce Singles Compilation

One of the great thing about the vinyl resurgence has been the reemergence of hard to find gems through various reissues. If you’re like me, and a Sarah Records fan, those original hits can be hard to find, and if found, quite pricy! But, thanks to Damaged Goods, we’re all being gifted the deserved compilation treatment for Heavenly; they’ve organized all the singles for A Bout De Heavenly: The Singles. Now, we could go on and on and rave about the band’s signature sound, trace lineage back to Talulah Gosh or move forward to current projects like Catenary Wires/European Sun…but don’t you just want to hear Amelia sing? I love how her voice soars over that jangling jittery guitar as everything falls into messy pop euphoria for the chorus. We all deserve such great pop music. This never before seen video has just recently been digitized from Super 8 footage Rob had.

He had this to say about the video: “This video has never been made public before. We didnt like it at the time, but now I think its the best one. I only had a couple of rolls of Super 8, which is one of the reasons its in slow motion: I had to make a little go a long way! I love the footage of Mathew in this video, though the fact that he is clearly so happy in it makes it a bit hard to watch.”

Enjoy the video and Pre-Order the LP.

Rock n’ Recipes: European Sun

A little over a week ago European Sun released their self-titled LP on one of my favorite labels WIAIWYA. But, despite being a relatively new band, the pedigree of the members is really special for all the indiepop fans (Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, Short Stories)…enough heavy-hitters to pique your interest I would reckon. We caught up with the bunch via email to chat a bit and a recipe for “Steve’s Daal.” Click on below for a great read…and be sure to listen to the entirety of the self-titled LP.

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The Year in Indiepop…According to Nathan

As we’re all looking back on the year 2019, I tend to gravitate towards lists with little agenda, other than to shine a light back on the year in the areas I adore. For one, the indiepop scene. Now, there’s always a great big debate about what indie pop is, so for all intents and purposes, I admit that I just don’t care, so the genre’s purists can yell at me later. Now, this may read as a best of, but merely this is the stuff that stuck out in my brain, so if I missed something, I love you and I’m sorry. Honestly, it just gave me a chance to make a fun playlist (2+ hours!) full of hits for all you pop fans.

 

 

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