Blog: Too Much Apple Pie

Cripes, just discovered I missed out on the release of a new I, Ludicrous single in September. Strange really as I'm sure it would've been record of the week on all the major music networks. Ho ho ho. Here it is anyway, and just in time for the new working week: Clerking Til I Die. Download it here

A band comprising Euros Childs from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake sounds like a pretty wonderful proposition, doesn't it? Well such a band now exists! They're called Jonny and they sound every bit as accomplished and effortlessly melodic as you'd expect a combo featuring this pair of indiepop luminaries, to sound. Jonny's self-titled debut album will be released on the 31st of January, with lead single Candyfloss appearing two weeks before that. (Warning: watching the following video may well make you crave a certain kind of spun sugar confection.) [...]

Hello again! I trust you had an at least bearable Christmas and New Year. Mine was so diverting I managed to forget I had a blog to run. Speaking of which, let's get this thing cranked into life again, shall we? The Sweptaways returned last month with their own inimitable take on Oh My Darling Clementine "supported by" Swedish fruit juice purveyors Brämhults, who it seems have a tradition of getting different acts to interpret the song on their behalf at this time every year (well, they've done it for the past two years at least). [...]

The Go-Betweens go country and western - with outrageously catchy consequences. As Grant explained in the sleeve notes of The Go-Betweens 1978-90 : "I've always liked country music. This is a typical mix of pathos and sentimentality in the tradition of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. It comes close to pastiche but The Go-Betweens seldom genre-hop so this is what it is." The Go-Betweens - Don't Call Me Gone mp3

After a break of six years (six years!), Sweden's twee pop maestros Acid House Kings are back with new single Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? Thankfully for them, after such a long absence, the song's a corker and well worth the extended wait. The band's new album, Music Sounds Better With You , will be out on Labrador in the spring. Acid House Kings - Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? mp3 The rest of this entry's devoted to Christmas songs so readers of a curmudgeonly [...]

• Boca Chica - Not on Christmas Eve

"Party all summer long with The Holiday CD - 16 original hits!" boast CBS Records on the front cover of their 1987 funtime compilation. If we must, CBS, if we must. But something's wrong with this picture. Take a closer look at the track listing below and tell me what's wrong with it (apart from the obvious). 1) Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go 2) Mel & Kim - Respectable 3) Bananarama - Venus 4) The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way 5) Miami Sound Machine - Dr Beat 6) Kool [...]

Right, well, it's December the 4th so high time to crack open the Christmas songs I reckon. Thanks once again are due to Spike, this time for putting me onto today's funny folkers Garfunkel & Oates - a sort of cynical, clued-up female American version of Flight of the Conchords. The best compliment I can pay G&O is that their songs don't suffer one bit in comparison with their more famous folking comedy forebears. Have a listen to the Christmas-present-woe-inspired Present Face and the wonderfully sardonic Year End Letter and see what you think. [...]

Many thanks to Spike for drawing my attention to this (and for coming up with the title!). Naked man runs down snowy Brighton street with only a teatray and amused onlookers for company - with hilarious consequences! Garageland - Nude Star mp3 Kathryn Williams - Madmen and Maniacs mp3

EardrumsPop is a net label run, unsurprisingly, by our friends from the Eardrums blog, which releases, among other things, unfailingly enjoyable and melodic free monthly download singles. The latest of these is by the ineffably ace Baffin Island - a collaboration between Idaho combo The Very Most and Glasgow's own Hermit Crabs. Tim from the Eardrums team explains where the band's name comes from along with a bit more about their sound: "Baffin Island is the exact midpoint on the map between their homes in Boise and Glasgow and their musical style can also [...]

Regular visitors will have noticed that we may have taken our eyes off the ball, blogwise, of late. Slightly. But all that's going to change. Oh yes. Starting right here, I intend to update this blog at least once in a blue moon. Or maybe even twice. We'll see how it goes. No point trying to run before you can walk, etc. So, anyway, what better way to get back into the swing of things than to tackle some of the many email submissions we've received of late yet have thus far stubbornly failed to act upon. I'm [...]

We went to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain last week, and what a top night out it was. Brilliantly idiosyncratic covers of great songs and some genuinely hilarious onstage banter (e.g. after they'd re-entered the stage from the wings after exiting in advance of the first encore: "You can't get out that way".) I love the way they drop the 'U' word into the songs from time to time too - with (genuinely) hilarious consequences. Anyway, you'll doubtless know all about this seven and sometimes eight-piece combo (unless you've been terribly remiss or remote from the [...]

Too predictable? Maybe. But any excuse to feature such a great song.

After self-pity comes bitterness; here are three prime musical examples, especially recommended if you like your Swedes bitter. And trust me, if you've ever been dumped (as I'm sure most of us will have at one time or another) you'll not hear a more staisfying, or indeed better, bitter song all year than Lucky You . Let the catharsis commence. The Wannadies - Lucky You mp3 Hello Saferide - Last Bitter Song mp3 The Bear Quartet - What's Your Virtue? mp3

Rol at Sunset Over Slawit has revealed the first instalment of his list of favourite self-pity songs today. What a splendid idea. I think I may already have blogged this song fairly recently, but it's perfect for the self-pitying theme, I think, and fairly obscure, so hopefully I won't be treading on his toes by posting it here. Oh, and once again, it's by a Swedish artist. Mutts - Somebody Has To Be Me mp3 Now, stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get over to Rol's blog a [...]

"David Rappaport trumpet" There you go. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Trumpets & Violins mp3 Action Biker - TV Star mp3 (continuing the Swedish theme)

Labrador favourites who seem to have fallen off the radar singing about European cities beginning with the letter 'P' is the slightly tenuous theme linking our songs today. Acid House Kings have been in the studio laying down some new tracks (man) for what seems like an eternity now; while the previously fairly prolific ex-Edson frontman Pelle Carlberg's website hasn't had an update for getting on for a year and a half. I wish they'd hurry up and come back, anyway, as I dunno about you but I miss these guys! Geographical themes aside, the following are up [...]

Anyone who's read any (well, most) of my previous contributions to this blog will know that I am more than a tad taken by this Swedish indiepop malarkey, and need no second - or indeed first - invitation to blather on about it. In fact, such is my infatuation with all things 'Swindie' that I've probably said all I have to say on most of my favourite Swedish acts on Too Much Apple Pie, over the past few years. But this doesn't, of course, stop the music itself being great. So what I thought I'd do now, like, [...]

Another serendipitous charity shop find today, New Wave Hits of the 80s Volume 1 - a rather splendid US-released compilation featuring, as it does, 16 poptastic classics from... umm... 1979, mostly. A splendid piece of lateral thinking, or a bit of a ricket? It doesn't really matter when the songs are as good as the ones here; and I suppose they had to start somewhere . Anyway, those not-actually-new-wave-hits-of- the-eighties-at-all runners and riders in full: 1. Ca Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand 2. Warm Leatherette - The Normal [...]

One great song, three superior versions. But which is your favourite? I'll probably get lynched for this but I'm quite partial to the Tracey Ullman version myself. Probably only because that's the one I grew up with, mind. *dives for cover* Mildly Interesting Pop Fact : (courtesy of Davy in this guestbook entry ): Stiff Records overdubbed Tracey Ullman's vocal onto Kirsty MacColl's original backing track for that record. The hi-pitched 'Baby!' half way through is Kirsty (uncredited). [...]

Of all the things to blog about, I never saw myself blogging on a papal theme more than once... In fact, I'm not the only one with a wholly Holy hang-up - Kippers has also plugged the pontiff on this blog. Anyway, ahead of the Pope's visit to the UK (I can barely contain my excitement, can you?), here's a warning from Norway's most tuneful master criminal, Arne Hansen, to Benedict XVI to remember to use the central locking. [...]