FREE MUSIC: Fuck me, we're twee. Malmo duo A Smile And A Ribbon have it all going on, from floral print style to glockenspiels, referencing girl groups and glitter kids equally. The Boy I Wish I Never Met is the title track from their recent debut album, and we feel Amelia Fletcher can look down at her spiritual children in glee.
HEY YOU GET OFFA MYSPACE: If we're any judge of the way the indie hive mind works, Leeds' The Chiara L's could be your new favourite band soon enough. We've reviewed them before on the Myspace blog when introduced to them at Indietracks but now they have a single deal it's time to bring them to wider attention. That they're actually named after singer Chiara Lucchini might be seen as taking it a bit far but they're very definitely a band for the post-Long Blondes world, the sound starting in the mid-80s sphere of the Shop Assistants and taking notes along the way from the Raincoats, Peel-era Altered Images, riot grrl and the ten years ago era of glitter-encrusted girl indiepop, hugely infectious and which would in a slightly earlier era have been feted by all the fanzines.
VISUAL REPRESENTATION: In the days up to the 10th you couldn't move on the net for Radiohead embeds as people tried to second-guess what In Rainbows would sound like from muffled, red-tinged live cameraphone videos. The best Radiohead online video presence, naturally, has nothing to do with modernity and has more to do with the sheer incongruity of their surroundings. Observe Andi Peters 'amusingly' introducing "the new Bucks Fizz" at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party of 1995 or indeed the blitzkrieg and surprise slapstick element at the end of Anyone Can Play Guitar at the MTV Beach House. As someone famously not an immense fan of world touring lipsynching doesn't seem to be Thom's greatest strength, as proved by this Spanish TV go at Just (note Johnny Greenwood suddenly discovering his lefthandedness). But, you know, no matter what animated hissy fits he throws at sound engineers or what not exactly Comedy Store compere levels of heckler response he deploys, Thom likes a laugh really.
VIRAL MARKETING: As November inevitably approaches the number of albums being held back for 2008 by the label increases, and as those details won't have been released yet there's not much we can yet do about them. Misty's Big Adventure have an album, Funny Times, out under their own auspices in a couple of weeks, though, and here's Serious Thing. And for the incongruous sake of it, here's their soundtracking an Irish anti-littering advert.
FALLING OFF A BLOG: Can You See The Sunset From The Southside? feels like one of those blogs everyone is supposed to know, so often does it turn up on blog rolls apart from ours. Let's rectify that: pop-punk slanted it may be at the moment, but it's doubtful you'll find it wanting.
EVERYBODY GET RANDOM: Something for those awaiting the Led Zep reunion - 23 John Bonham drum tracks recorded for In Through The Out Door in 1979. Feel the thunder.
IN OTHER NEWS: Craig Robinson, already noted for his Minipops pixellated pop stars and others, has now constructed One To A Hundred, every number in order ripped from a random selection of songs. Try it as a parlour game.
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