1. We All Fall Down - Solvent UK
(Solvent UK) From the EP 'Solvent UK' © Solvent UK 2005
www.solvent-band.co.uk
A great track to kick us off. A six-track Solvent CD is currently available to buy at gigs. Watch out for a new album, 'Nasca Lines', early in 2007.
2. Shake It All Up - The Rockets
(Mills) © The Rockets 2005
www.myspace.com/therocketsuk
"We're from Cambridge and we've got riffs! What more could you want?". I agree.
These guys know how to use the space between the chords like no one else since Led Zeppelin, and I love
the Lydon-esque sneer in the vocals as he sings "Shake it...."
3. Wonderful But Strange - Equinox
(Morgan) © Equinox 2005
www.myspace.com/equinoxrock
This song should act as a relationship balm. If we were all cool enough
to feel like this, it would solve a lot of problems.
"Now I realise that I can never make you change.
You are who you are; wonderful but strange..."
And a great guitar solo too! Reminds me of 'Another Girl Another Planet'.
4. Teach - Badwell Ash
From the album 'In A Giant's Hand' (Hope Street Music)
© S. Charlesworth 2006
www.badwellash.com
Great vocals! You can buy the full ten-track album on the Badwell Ash website for only £6.
5. She Got Good - The Ninth Plan
(Brown)© Andy Brown 2005
www.myspace.com/theninthplan
Lovely jangly sound. It puts me in mind of early Stone Roses. Maybe?
6. Disco Heaven - The Swings
(Morgan) © S.L.Morgan 2005
(ThreeFour Records)
www.myspace.com/wearetheswings
"Eccentric, quirky and upbeat ... whimsical but thoughtful tunes." The Explorer Magazine August 2006
"Turn it up and go. Right up to eleven..."
Check out their website, and also the ThreeFour Record label.
Also a big thanks to their drummer, Anna, for designing our sleeve. Visit her site at:
www.lo-ficreative.co.uk
7. The Hardest Word - The Morning People
(Inglis) © S. Inglis 2006
www.themorningpeople.com
They always have good lyrics, this band....
"The hardest word is just five letters long,
If you believe the hits of Elton John.,
But he and Bernie never tried,
To get sulphanilamide into a song,
It wouldn't have belonged..."
Also watch out for Paul Daniel's wig...!
8. Seattle's Filled With Stars - Aidy
(Killens) © Adrian Killens 2004
www.aidy.com
A beautiful song, about Kurt Cobain. I love the guitar, and the delicate little keyboard touches.
You can buy this and other Aidy tracks on CDBaby
9. Slow Learner - Boo Hewerdine
(Hewerdine/Littlefield)
From the album 'Harmonograph' © MVine Ltd 2005 Chrysalis Music Ltd/CC
By kind permission of
Red Grape Records
www.boohewerdine.net
The album is a beautiful collection of songs, sung in that pure breathy voice. What a great line this is:
"My heart bends, it just don't seem to break...."
10. Brown Dog - Friendly Society
(Friendly Society) © Friendly Society 2006
www.myspace.com/friendlysociety
This track has a lovely lazy, summery feel. These lines would fit nicely into 'Madame George' I think:
"The kids are skipping school again.
Round the corner they're swigging gin..."
11. Wastin' My Time - The Shivers
(Archer/Palmer) From the EP 'Extended Player of the Year'
(Hope Street Music)
© Shivers Music 2005
www.theshivers.co.uk
What an amazing voice that guy has! Great band. Exile on Regent Street?
12. The Booze And The Drugs - The Broken Family Band
(Adams/Broken Family Band)
From the album 'Balls'
(Track and Field Organisation)
Published by Mute Song
www.thebrokenfamilyband.com
Check out this fantastic album from one of the best bands to come out of Cambridge.
However you categorise it - twisted country punk? - it's a collection of fine songs.
They nick the best facets of 'alt country': simple chords, heart-rending vocals and
songs with real stories, but they never seem to buy into the whole ethos, like say Elvis
Costello did on Almost Blue. It always seems totally subversive somehow. Which
is definitely a good thing...
13. New Brighton - Dear Old Blighty
(Lambert) © Dear Old Blighty 2005
www.dearoldblighty.co.uk or
www.myspace.com/dearoldblighty
This is a new mix of the song you may already know, with some subtle background strings.
Sadly Dear Old Blighty have split up and gone their separate ways. You can keep up with what
they're doing individually by clicking on these links:
Kerry: www.myspace.com/regrepsa
Paul: www.myspace.com/underthestreetlamp
14. Decay Day On High Pay - This Interview
(This Interview) © This Interview 2005
www.thisinterview.com
This could have been a great hit single. It's got everything: catchy chorus, David McWilliams-style
bitcrushed vocal, spacey middle eight section.... Great.
Latest news: This Interview have also called it a day. But they have three new songs on mySpace.
Check them out at
www.myspace.com/thisinterview
15. Morrissey's Tongue - The Visions
(McDonald)
(R*E*P*E*A*T Records)
www.myspace.com/thevisionsband
What a great song this is. Fantastic lyrics. Remember the first time you heard The Smiths?
"I could procrastinate for all the state of Denmark,"
"So naturally I felt a little queer,"
"Being still so young, when Morrissey's tongue,"
"Slipped into my ear..."
Latest news:
The band split up in August 2006, five years after the formation of The Dawn Parade in 2001, ten months after the first gig as The Visions at the end of 2005, and following John Peel sessions, gigs in America, and the completion of an unreleased debut album.
Under the title 'The Dawn Parade', a definitive 'Best Of' album is now available on R*E*P*E*A*T* Records. I strongly advise you to check it out on the link above.
16. Are You Real? - Opaque
(Moony/Opaque) From the album 'The Last Moustache' (Drip Dry Records)
© Moony 2006
www.bandopaque.com
Peterborough's finest? As well as writing great songs, Moony, the lead singer from Opaque,
is involved in all sorts of brilliant community activities,
through the Muddy Promotions organisation. Various local festivals, such as the Grass Roots Festival,
the Glass Onion (a Music and Arts Community centre in Peterborough), and much more.
www.muddypromotions.org.uk
17. Mono Lake - New World Record
(Jakins/New World Record) © New World Record 2006
Management by Heavenly
www.newworldrecord.net
"Imagine you're in San Francisco, and you've hired a car, and you're driving
out East towards Yosemite, and you go up and up over the Sierra Nevada, along the
Tioga Pass road, right over the top, and when you get to the other side, you look
down into the desert, and you see this vast blue eye looking up at you ... from the desert..
and it's a lake. A blue lake with a little island in the middle that looks like a pupil.
And it's a deep deep blue, and it's a great sight, and it's .. Mono Lake..."
Cambridge Riffs Podcast February 2006.
Mind you I still haven't worked out why it's called Mono Lake. Great lyrics though:
"Inarticulate like a heart attack..."
18. Falling Down - James Chadwick
(Chadwick)
From the
Folkwit Records sampler © J. Chadwick 2006
www.james-chadwick.co.uk
Thanks to Folkwit Records for allowing us to play this beautiful song. Check out their website
and buy the sampler, for only £2.50!
This is a beautiful song, but shot through with sadness, like so many of James's songs. We love him though...
"All around the darkness is rising,
There's nothing we can do today.
Our dreams have gone, our dreams have gone,
All is lost, nothing is won,
See the empire we made,
Falling down...."
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