Stains On A Decade

There was once a compilation of Felt songs called ‘Stains On A Decade’. I always thought it was a terrific title because it could be read in various ways. On some days it feels self-deprecatingly ironic. On others, a delicately profound observation on the nature of art. Thinking back on decades then, I’m drawn again to the notion of how I have documented, in some way, the decade just disappeared by compiling collections of songs into mixes that have dropped on a regular basis into the withering environment of the Interwebs. Fleeting sonic polaroids of moments, each exquisitely passed over in favour of the next. Favourites forever changing. And because I’ve been suffering from early fifties ennui and end of half term flu I decided to drag every song from every mix into one playlist called (and this will come as no surprise) ’Stains On A Decade’. There are 4017 discrete songs and altogether those songs take up 35GB of space on my computer. Rather marvellously it would take ten days to play. The playlist starts with ‘Monday’s Rain’ by The Clientele and ends with ‘The End’ by The Beatles. The former an accident, the latter a crude decision to put a punctuation mark in the timeline of Unpopularity. Not a full stop. Certainly not an exclamation mark. Perhaps a question mark. Or then again a semi-colon separating decades. A pause for breath. And we’re off again. Already with a third mix of the new decade pre-programmed and nearly ready to roll. It’s the best one yet. After the last one and until the next one. Now where’s the paracetamol?

Unpop 186

You should be sitting down

Saturday – The Electric Soft Parade (from ‘Stages’ LP. Bandcamp)
Charmed – The Room in the Wood (digital single. Bandcamp)
The Hook – Use No Hooks (from ‘The Job’ LP. Bandcamp)
Alexandra – RVG (7″ single. Bandcamp)
Fitzroy – The S-Bends (from ‘Nothing Feels Natural To Me’ LP. Bandcamp)
Life on Fire – Mapache (from ‘From Liberty Street’ LP. Bandcamp)
I Will Please You – The Hanging Stars (digital single. Bandcamp)
I Tried and I Tried and I Failed – Darren Hayman (from ‘Home Time’ LP. Bandcamp)
Bad Mood – Basic Plumbing (from ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ LP. Bandcamp)
Perfect Game – Nah… (digital single. Bandcamp)
Been In The Dark – Jeanines (from 7″ single. Bandcamp)
All Compasses Go Wild – Close Lobsters (from ‘Post Neo Anti: Arte Povera in the Forest of Symbols’ LP. Bandcamp)
Sweet – Porridge Radio (from ‘Every Bad’ LP. Bandcamp)
Red Lady – Whyte Horses (from ‘Hard Times‘ LP)
My Sweet Lord – Hurray for the Riff Raff (from ‘My Dearest Darkest Neighbour’ LP. Bandcamp)
Isn’t It a Pity – Galaxie 500 (from ‘On Fire’ LP reissue. YouTube)
Love Sports – Pia Fraus (from ‘Empty Parks’ LP. Bandcamp)
Good Instead of Bad – Dana Gavanski (from ‘Yesterday is Gone’ LP. Bandcamp)
Scarlet and Blue – Sairie (from ‘Scarlet and Blue’ EP. Bandcamp)
Irene – Ben Watt (from ‘Storm Damage‘ LP)

You will like me when you meet me

Almost complete playlist on The Spotify

Complete playlist on The Mixcloud

Catching Up

Running behind, catching up. Always catching up and then falling behind. Up, behind, down, around. Repeat repeat repeat.

So it’s Tuesday. It’s Thursday. It’s Saturday again and never again, again. Drip the honey on your tongue, slip the tunes around your torso. What did we miss? What did we miss? Modernity insists on progress wrapped in nostalgia. Persists within anxiety cloaked in need.

We nearly missed RVG. Out of Melbourne out of Adelaide out of place out of time. A set of raw but ravaging live recordings released in 2017 and a single in 2019 that blinks in the blur of a Liberty Belle cascade on a Wide Open Road. See, it makes me clumsy. Forces me to stop. Start. Start. St-st-st-stutter step stop. Suede sweeps of charity shop jewels. Toys we lost in the floods and cares we found in the flames. The fleeting preening of a genderless Manics berating themselves in mirrors cracked and foxed. Delicious is over-used and this music is why.

We nearly missed S-Bends, who are also Australian and also sound exquisitely out of time and place. A gentler sound but scratchy enough to leave tender bruises. A five year old debut EP that is full of empty desire and the echoes of our dreams of tomorrow. A cover of a Rowland S. Howard number and a string of digital singles in 2019 wrapped up with luxurious extras in a set called ‘Nothing Feels Natural To Me’. Perhaps, perhaps, but this sounds naturally awkward and delicately poised on the edge of a forever that resonates to the sound of Jonathan Richman’s little dinosaur hitting (the) Pavement. The darkness trembles and eases a subtle wayward nervous smile. A song about visiting an I.C.U. at Christmas feels violently personal and churns my stomach. So good to be reminded we are alive. A song about inheriting an ’81 Datsun Pulsar that shivers with regret. A song called ‘Two States’ that hovers betwixt and between. Here nor there. Her not here. Slow-mo dreaming of Peugeots in the Sahara and the sound of Magpies and mogadon rain on the roof.

Here’s to a new decade. Same as the old decade. Running behind, catching up. Catching up and then falling behind. Up, behind, down, around. Repeat repeat repeat.

Stains On A Decade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avtK9Bz0sPg

We borrow our post title from a compilation by Felt, and it feels an apposite one for what follows: A decade of Unpopular mixes.

There were mixes on the blog before 2010 of course, and we are slowly going back to fix download links on those posts. Not entirely certain why, as there are only ever likely to be of handful of people interested at any given point in time, but… it feels like the Right Thing To Do. Also we hate leaving things broken.

And so, to the lengthy list. TEN YEARS!!

MIX TITLE	DATE	DOWNLOAD LINK
Not Blue Monday	Jan-10	https://app.box.com/s/v743w6obkdq12vn2426k3p0nzx4e93lq
Walking Back To Waterloo	Feb-10	https://app.box.com/s/i8pgu63t2ijvh30406w38jsdrd3mgwyu
Melancholy March	Mar-10	https://app.box.com/s/ak9l0u609kkn7c02lc8dxa73ilhnukio
Yesterday	Mar-10	https://app.box.com/s/5qt8eapjmxfdyr6bn1onipl7u39zwikw
Today	Mar-10	https://app.box.com/s/w3c0d9hlhntr4psmzjr6isph10tp92m6
Tomorrow	Mar-10	https://app.box.com/s/jegcb51ldiuxlzl07uldajv61l0kdkvs
April In Paris	Apr-10	https://app.box.com/s/qwz8igszqnes9fbqw270ccj21d5qeq4p
Daisies For The Eigth Of May	May-10	https://app.box.com/s/pr6j0wlbyzvha288r2035bqu427l0ni8
June Evenings	Jun-10	https://app.box.com/s/5snqox7td35as3i7rpnppxlcvku1bblm
Sunset Studies	Jun-10	https://app.box.com/s/tik9218teu2b4vnv3qdopizxz9xlzbnh
July, You’re A Woman	Jul-10	https://app.box.com/s/np22c2ihqh9bvjyxusm2h5fmx14u40qf
The Edge of August	Aug-10	https://app.box.com/s/mtctpa6nfrw6li5cn1fw4zc4f3umrn10
Sweet September	Sep-10	https://app.box.com/s/cub9e1aj0qib61u4r0es3vwccxac1ar0
October Is Eternal	Oct-10	https://app.box.com/s/2kb8gra4ndkag133s4k6p87omajzspc9
Dance To The Skeleton Hand	Oct-10	https://app.box.com/s/mgbdft3db0gjx3z40ag0feyt2ryub1ph
December Slow	Dec-10	https://app.box.com/s/bpzsm4mmzb8jn6letjv7vhxrp5gern8l
Go way. Leave. Disappear	Dec-10	https://app.box.com/s/inauiperckmrmuwwx0xb26i4tfrk4cmj
Those Days, Those Nights	Jan-11	https://app.box.com/s/uopkgpz52ubafqnwpimcas5fvlo157e1
Kiss For Fun	Feb-11	https://app.box.com/s/uopkgpz52ubafqnwpimcas5fvlo157e1
Get High In The Afternoon	Feb-11	https://app.box.com/s/uopkgpz52ubafqnwpimcas5fvlo157e1
It’s My Heart and I Want You To Break It	Mar-11	https://app.box.com/s/cjzkzwuuqrtwgwgr2nwnhe80gc5xk9xm
Everyone Feels That Way Sometimes	Mar-11	https://app.box.com/s/llgrllux2oogm2ongn9cshcgho7ss1wd
1983 – Convenience Erases Love	Apr-11	https://app.box.com/s/a9a75ium7ux64ifxmzoxxob67pp8g02j
Flying Into The Sun	Apr-11	https://app.box.com/s/57bu291o2vona588y7slyxwo7xep9rfi
Unceremonious Splendour	May-11	https://app.box.com/s/eseb5epiqdgvmvl2byjuqvy96dh07pxf
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Harder	May-11	https://app.box.com/s/n7eyawrnqe8nd2f6iwtrlpedwotuz58v
Closer To You Now	Jun-11	https://app.box.com/s/v3sl4svo2ano2og4el24mqhb8wavlxa4
So You’re Saying There’s A Chance?	Jun-11	https://app.box.com/s/98tg5qr8jeeac0a9c63evf2msq9geo83
Summer Feel	Jul-11	https://app.box.com/s/le933jgjud0fkez67d591xb7sa46er40
Summer Heatwave Heat	Jul-11	https://app.box.com/s/p3buf9ysjxmpa090ju04myhszru9s0t6
Summer Time	Aug-11	https://app.box.com/s/zphy0juxnrm2ltrbmq662ztamq3aea3o
These Are The Days	Aug-11	https://app.box.com/s/22c8nw8r3hg888auup1g6v1pgxtv0xxn
Crashing The Sky	Sep-11	https://app.box.com/s/wufjpqt3p2umyp99tp5h07hbmj3hvpej
Your Love Is Calling My Name	Sep-11	https://app.box.com/s/4ong3crzgoy6j7f109l4s9fchoppf14g
Who Tripped On The C(h)ord?	Oct-11	https://app.box.com/s/qrr37e7fxjrsmur73lwb0rf3lcej3i9d
It Was Dark And I Welcome The Calm	Oct-11	https://app.box.com/s/oi348hd3x9brogattiy64g9j7z155eer
Say It’s Now	Nov-11	https://app.box.com/s/bs7fee8ca58vd15doihfeoi28oo9lwng
Can we go to a bar?	Nov-11	https://app.box.com/s/1yq4lq7wmtj59l420r5e0s34rgfz4xqx
More than a myth but less than a fable	Dec-11	https://app.box.com/s/unat71dcgvb1m5iqpfk27voxnr9l6f5f
Who Took The Booze	Dec-11	https://app.box.com/s/b25rs4rg9m1uh6s70bnzl0qx002b5eb5
What Sound is This (Face A and B)	Jan-12	https://app.box.com/s/5zwbmk06e7yhp8comkr5phv5h59tnpns
There All The Tine Without You	Jan-12	https://app.box.com/s/pr76eum3ie0ivjfixsxsw6mhnpnorvu0
The Rolling Stones	Feb-12	https://app.box.com/s/rie7mu2f1cu4l34lvj3fxmmh059fui3d
We Make Believe	Feb-12	https://app.box.com/s/cut5fe54gxfbhgu6gjpsq04js20zg9wn
No One Ever Tells You	Mar-12	https://app.box.com/s/sx4ckii72ihac3tctk9f3vr5hzszf6cy
In My Room	Mar-12	https://app.box.com/s/votdwy2d80nmwkh0jqcqph5qm7gbgukz
Sunbeam Blood Shine	Apr-12	https://app.box.com/s/f53ui91o7f3e31z0vg4pctwceih227l3
The Sands	Apr-12	https://app.box.com/s/01ij10t0eztr7s3ntm0wxa7dyq66jdxe
You Against The Rest Of Us	May-12	https://app.box.com/s/91v79m7k4s4lzlp1ad5n0dzfmg42mkl8
I See You’ve Got Horses	May-12	https://app.box.com/s/lx6w1swmgdqenak79kuwq0rm86z1ifjr
I Remember You	Jun-12	https://app.box.com/s/j9jkey2vwlduipukutcpkwehd5lry8i7
Records Are Sacred When You’re 17	Jun-12	https://app.box.com/s/j9jkey2vwlduipukutcpkwehd5lry8i7
In My Reverie	Jul-12	https://app.box.com/s/wcpgm965knuaranmxedw4enr6twmofcw
S Is For Secrets	Jul-12	https://app.box.com/s/1yo5rparbj9wcuiv9172f3usicu6g63r
Revolution Summer	Aug-12	https://app.box.com/s/4vdudok0fkwnuvai4xkv9dsn4nktt40g
Beach Blanket	Aug-12	https://app.box.com/s/u8qtue9ko6wsb3rf6cpm8xojkz58jhx9
White Lines Are Slicing Up Our Skies	Sep-12	https://app.box.com/s/whc72tq641tc64ckpa3rjsum1mhx5q7p
A Boy Needs A Bike	Sep-12	https://app.box.com/s/47dn88yqvlloo7kzl6q2puglwa8uhd1c
Crazy Love	Oct-12	https://app.box.com/s/ddygor2be9c66kaolb2ygexpc5ylzipx
Living In A Village	Oct-12	https://app.box.com/s/i14o8m4e8hmz9bcry6e9js78ukl6a5e5
Claimed By The Sea	Nov-12	https://app.box.com/s/uyhi36qob2smrholm9thlow23l920u4b
Miss You	Nov-12	https://app.box.com/s/nhc76auvsa36y3gvvs3eg8czadk7j3wz
Lights and Radios	Dec-12	https://app.box.com/s/iehaza325fbpqqxti3dpubffw04aj1zh
Merry Christmas to the Drunks, Merry Christmas to the Lovers	Dec-12	https://app.box.com/s/ctqxxfwn89czm1nye9w0z0pm6ttrndw8
Cornered	Jan-13	https://app.box.com/s/23lzen2173css1fkt5z6
Once We Were School Kids	Jan-13	https://app.box.com/s/8ffk6vob9utk6lfgqlvo
Shine On Me	Feb-13	https://app.box.com/s/gpotqbmbncop2p88bzm6
These Songs Will Make You Love Me	Feb-13	https://app.box.com/s/4g3l8zqhosgwggmwao8v
Home Is Where My Head Is	Mar-13	https://app.box.com/s/076731bcyilhkpu6q0q2
My Old Haunts	Mar-13	https://app.box.com/s/171b567dadudxatke35i
I know We’re Special	Apr-13	https://app.box.com/s/fau5cbho52242i4vrvy6
Monument to a Lost Cause	Apr-13	https://app.box.com/s/p88tmn2gvxc868wcsgko
Bright Lights	May-13	https://app.box.com/s/vzr7ds21izjcfk6hfltc
Monument	May-13	https://app.box.com/s/jfycdrrsv2z2ezlu7uca
In This Place	Jun-13	https://app.box.com/s/ae8bsbaor38lio12yy1z
It’s Not A Summer Without You	Jun-13	https://app.box.com/s/r9bdvy0x4qoh34aycloo
Something More	Jul-13	https://app.box.com/s/8j917b37frf726xovkm8
Left It Out To Shine	Jul-13	https://app.box.com/s/hps8wap9fxo0yu58u3gn
Hay Fever	Aug-13	https://app.box.com/s/sypph6oqtfnm733sa4th
You Held My Heart	Aug-13	https://app.box.com/s/j5aif8psrvfmrq9n3boe
(here’s to)The Ghosts Of The Past	Sep-13	https://app.box.com/s/5dmsf4mo1xzb52jq8nfx
Reunion Message	Sep-13	https://app.box.com/s/2zjrn822ena43s7gozqa
Is The Sky The Limit?	Oct-13	https://app.box.com/s/gaz6ppu3j179h736p6on
Nothing But Love	Oct-13	https://app.box.com/s/aihnb6sbh0bjxc4so051
Tiny Moments, Tiny Omens	Nov-13	https://app.box.com/s/7d13plufn04k3t7kilrm
Gaze	Nov-13	https://app.box.com/s/m08ppu16z0q68l7xkynn
Now and Forever	Dec-13	https://app.box.com/s/p8276v3u6ti0cfbq2rp9
A Very Unpopular Christmas	Dec-13	https://app.box.com/s/ip35pi64ozbbmi5216id
A Brief Moment	Dec-13	https://app.box.com/s/lc54fki1yt6lj0b0hgz2
Days of Being Wild	Jan-14	https://app.box.com/s/hlmhhfpg3s7sloelo042
Like It Used To Be	Jan-14	https://app.box.com/s/3xgl242jijvjrhed1gos
Things I Should Not Do	Feb-14	https://app.box.com/s/5qm5o7pemtmdylkydqn4
Who Would Want To Be Loved?	Feb-14	https://app.box.com/s/ejrltc11e6vnc1pv90d9
Competition Diffidence and Glory	Mar-14	https://app.box.com/s/745x7q2sq1yweojlyxvu
Dreams Please Too	Mar-14	https://app.box.com/s/22ypkfsr0moofjlml5fh
Love Gets You Twisted	Apr-14	https://app.box.com/s/vvhse3qd0t2859lgkyxq
Coffee In The Morning	Apr-14	https://app.box.com/s/b95p1cpxxz6v7th9wcl3
Chasing All The Good Days Down	May-14	https://app.box.com/s/6um73pld1mpevtpzj0lc
We Cannot Hope To Compete With Such Colours	May-14	https://app.box.com/s/iu6ivcvt246pd32mhq22
Into The Sun	Jun-14	https://app.box.com/s/041ger6mjieulroubz9z
Midsommar	Jun-14	https://app.box.com/s/g3rcea8cbuu49z62ud1i
Tinted Windows	Jul-14	https://app.box.com/s/pjms43m9fe23o1j0g0xu
Another Day	Jul-14	https://app.box.com/s/c5qxa0r93xkdcy6gpd4q
Holiday	Aug-14	https://app.box.com/s/7jvrxo38xviy7w1r9uth
Chardonnay Summer	Aug-14	https://app.box.com/s/dvinqngpeu6nxmtacuj2
Summer’s Gone	Sep-14	https://app.box.com/s/enal8bibx599hq9g2w81
Serious Things Are Stupid	Sep-14	https://app.box.com/s/8mg0ctmzgtixlf1ntr6d
19	Oct-14	https://app.box.com/s/v1jmcsi9iq505k6faehh
Memories of You	Oct-14	https://app.box.com/s/whtimtbppligqu6tisbt
We’ve Run Out Of Road	Nov-14	https://app.box.com/s/1er666md7c00nlm4dtsi
Woke Up To A Storm	Nov-14	https://app.box.com/s/jv0e3p9wqxookc3mapz1
Shapes and Patterns	Dec-14	https://app.box.com/s/19m1pibntx6sqpdpuzk1
Have A Balloon	Dec-14	https://app.box.com/s/9b4m7e4fzv16mgwawy74
Walk In The Afterlight	Jan-15	https://app.box.com/s/dih9chvpedvyb4fmqfy8
This Morning We Are Astronauts	Jan-15	https://app.box.com/s/rnf45spf9qjc945kgtwmh15uesi3q111
They’re Still Cooler Than You	Feb-15	https://app.box.com/s/itnfyuscru2b8eqrp8o2ws0upvckx58u
Through the Skylight	Feb-15	https://app.box.com/s/8pcbuqnrwv55ruachokjzubvdytnpv02
They Look At Us	Mar-15	https://app.box.com/s/zfde0g9nuby91r390kow8toehvrd00du
Take Away An Impression	Mar-15	https://app.box.com/s/y696jpzk56bge11nes6t4duyl7wzm1vi
Spares	Apr-15	https://app.box.com/s/gy7edkbp4gaxmsa4npxwnjk9gmxx6da7
The First Song of Spring	Apr-15	https://app.box.com/s/dqmlif3dzn5hafxxngaux0ld92jvyato
Shadow and Shape	May-15	https://app.box.com/s/434tfwxy8h6cr685l2v220mje5901c1o
There Are Two	May-15	https://app.box.com/s/duw00u40dzl8i3baukpb9cdsy33uxo0s
Landscapes	Jun-15	https://app.box.com/s/l8ogjdkglwwp9s6eqbwwccf66m9aw00x
Neverland	Jun-15	https://app.box.com/s/8jtgt1y3d4isg8180uuucfu7dwl3ipkp
Impossible Love	Jul-15	https://app.box.com/s/grog80hw4wlcdr7lj03402c7u28dy97i
Resilience	Jul-15	https://app.box.com/s/bqppwt35s85tbkbw53xrvmdnx93kub62
Fake Beach	Aug-15	https://app.box.com/s/ii8faphnkyfyq6pboiset2r9up9hckt3
Shadows	Aug-15	https://app.box.com/s/oendxglmy9f6uyqjh2ocly7r3z42e3wo
September Skies	Sep-15	https://app.box.com/s/oendxglmy9f6uyqjh2ocly7r3z42e3wo
No Memory	Sep-15	https://app.box.com/s/iw14v4c3zvpu7ercyqlespe3vawzrbg0
Things I Hold	Oct-15	https://app.box.com/s/68q2sd288blcmosfyu3smfnnv1sh0edr
Just Drifting	Oct-15	https://app.box.com/s/wiocbqtnsr5fbnjcw61k57bi1bc7qv58
Abstract Objects	Nov-15	https://app.box.com/s/z08wge07wzel3wf5ga32a1h8nmpmb8ey
Breaker	Nov-15	https://app.box.com/s/4khmr9nlvdb3k45ylnl6rtaoo13wub1t
A Shot In The Dark	Dec-15	https://app.box.com/s/m2gxc3p01pfs5oemi7adjzaxa80h7lbk
Depth of Field	Dec-15	https://app.box.com/s/tl9bq1yoho3h2mmk03rwi8qhirknijyi
Feathers and Dreams	Jan-16	https://app.box.com/s/m7q0ttim3t18jdb8euf2hivh7s43nitt
How To Recognise A Work Of Art	Jan-16	https://app.box.com/s/sclqud58u7vdimynfxv8rto6qti6v6pn
Play it as it lays	Feb-16	https://app.box.com/s/ow4y9feydjlc85ykvhw4u304sx1gtwb5
Metal and Shells	Feb-16	https://app.box.com/s/iab5oroxru3yhi2tm4pufrgdamc1jup3
My Only Friend	Mar-16	https://app.box.com/s/j9hbipzuhdvqkl0rem3ble8hy30fb9fz
Dial Tone	Mar-16	https://app.box.com/s/c2hkby05obo1g2mug267ofiht1qq6f0p
Just a Memory	Apr-16	https://app.box.com/s/9evjvpdqdkkojiq4iqj0cy9j5qucrnbd
How It Feels	Apr-16	https://app.box.com/s/f7j1gqf0wpo66f1qx9q79isq8ysmzty6
Lying in the Sun	May-16	https://app.box.com/s/4bfsjfj42l4bgiy9c1tl2l7198a9el7d
Fedback On A Concrete Wall	May-16	https://app.box.com/s/ozk34givm5kwd6nb9h6ol5vd21odvxx6
Yesterday Was	Jun-16	https://app.box.com/s/h4zq3mqg3fiw9najvsk0u6vp90bx2oiu
Black hearts	Jun-16	https://app.box.com/s/iigamn4gtbkharpoz2knf9sebjh5u11d
Unpop 133	Jul-16	https://app.box.com/s/f6sn68pm2bxiol6kuicfzzfvhihse4m5
Unpop 134	Jul-16	https://app.box.com/s/fzezs6jpntps0hynlqoph27o318g60dk
Unpop 135	Aug-16	https://app.box.com/s/z7ac6kiau8emvew71u6bkeqv9lfx5911
Unpop 136	Aug-16	https://app.box.com/s/npqdfa6ivgl63ez2xtjqoow3yf35s29x
Unpop 137	Sep-16	https://app.box.com/s/bsju2tpjkkamal1naa7swc27k8zr31hy
Unpop 138	Sep-16	https://app.box.com/s/3pdsqoidv1ahucw78firmbh9kff3o1o2
Unpop 139	Oct-16	https://app.box.com/s/s404ywtzthfe82e75ij6mye0kb9fwtxx
Unpop 140	Oct-16	https://app.box.com/s/pxscpthgaoc1ifwhocaksr6w82yq74gi
Unpop 141	Nov-16	https://app.box.com/s/hfuf2dn564ugjyqzljmmnfj3kcrtzx71
Unpop 142	Nov-16	https://app.box.com/s/dno92mmpwerlmnfsm3ql3mbqbc9a9wji
Unpop 143	Dec-16	https://app.box.com/s/8fwnzqjqlxa4wsfefhqm6mxcolf5vyiu
Unpop 144	Dec-16	https://app.box.com/s/bqzbhohcdhckn7f0cvx7b93bluagexoa
Unpop 145	Jan-17	https://app.box.com/s/jvee2kkgzip4l0a493dmaya90vpv0oe8
Unpop 146	Feb-17	https://app.box.com/s/dcvqyd9e448ou4vkw7ic7f62zctx2h8x
Unpop 147	Mar-17	https://app.box.com/s/6pbiv5qfnsuq7xx3c1ml5ni3avplel8z
Unpop 148	Apr-17	https://app.box.com/s/7co9vapixg1sn18jlgp57uxjv2fn2rze
Unpop 149	May-17	https://app.box.com/s/h4h18ovuxneo0o82ws6j7y8y30znmwnk
Unpop 150	Jun-17	https://app.box.com/s/sbweo2jrkfgqb5chicbanychmamjfqxy
Unpop 151	Jul-17	https://app.box.com/s/0jo4lv55hqitfmrnqpb7bhcwn9m2wfk7
Unpop 152	Aug-17	https://app.box.com/s/8w9ronq2luemmkaqu3gpmjntn2qoi205
Unpop 153	Sep-17	https://app.box.com/s/iat1iqtznp02823krgab2wyih8p52rsy
Unpop 154	Oct-17	https://app.box.com/s/c6uhguryqltb3zory2f52t48w2h04spj
Unpop 155	Nov-17	https://app.box.com/s/ykejjeguti9c8edaflkhww3wlqbgrzpt
Unpop 156	Dec-17	https://app.box.com/s/iij6duyhey8nz6n51x17pa9ptpbk7s3p
Unpop 157	Jan-18	https://app.box.com/s/3r16q4rxe3uc47xd4bvjsas2myc0w65l
Unpop 158	Feb-18	https://app.box.com/s/vwzi4m750mb418wjmwh4mptnlwo3u165
Unpop 159	Mar-18	https://app.box.com/s/i4pnwu7td4q96h9rite9b3b65on904zr
Unpop 160	Apr-18	https://app.box.com/s/kxft26cqk0z9ivr006f7o7xy7k09v1gh
Unpop 161	May-18	https://app.box.com/s/j0ezdesydfpxsnqmviw8qab6cn93r0oa
Unpop 162	Jun-18	https://app.box.com/s/b6c6qgys0kx95477y54qgcwc5d3jpz0m
Unpop 163	Jul-18	https://app.box.com/s/g83daiaigbqmzwfs84qt41b8fy8qb1sx
Unpop 164	Aug-18	https://app.box.com/s/pc2ooaunzuhjpi9kutyqus8m00kmfhus
Unpop 165	Sep-18	https://app.box.com/s/4vfejy8gj95o9iexrbyro2ceyzoeyg2r
Unpop 166	Oct-18	https://app.box.com/s/ienvn5vck2fh45kaapoukf7axsm7mz2v
Unpop 167	Nov-18	https://app.box.com/s/kotuta8ngppttes2x2g5jpl6hem4zvb https://app.box.com/s/r8ouhya989sq5kztoggdmrjqwhekom0o
Unpop 168	Dec-18	https://app.box.com/s/49yojuyzvcdgdgld075qw7rrupva6fyd
Unpop 169 – Advent 2018	Dec-18	https://app.box.com/s/5zt0j2hc4n3jammpua5uhidodp74ik34 https://app.box.com/s/a2f0k0g82wbh933gqmpj2vr8c4d5dvac
Unpop 170	Jan-19	https://app.box.com/s/suvzpsfb2bqf22fol9alkcnw54e01wi0
Unpop 171	Feb-19	https://app.box.com/s/fw13ouq2ulnj5pk9tddlqv413okpkzt8
Unpop 172	Mar-19	https://app.box.com/s/qmewnbe1ylnezh4a6m3840ai8dw3vghh
Unpop 173	Apr-19	https://app.box.com/s/cmsjxxb23kt8ma1y01ph0r6aq7nwx78g
Unpop 174 – At The Edge	Apr-19	https://app.box.com/s/42eoaait0obsfg2whkjjjuyj6akb77uf
Unpop 175	May-19	https://app.box.com/s/kgq39k69opd3i53q0jnlriaqzc5yu8oh
Unpop 176	Jun-19	https://app.box.com/s/mmijdpc2mch4r725cd2g98512zrjtos3
Unpop 177	Jul-19	https://app.box.com/s/h5gh8rfqu82vt0kxt6vy8z8ynlxysjjv
Unpop 178	Aug-19	https://app.box.com/s/t5i13ud0st6kam6hsqhxuuxhfe6xbgc5
Unpop 179	Sep-19	https://app.box.com/s/swy8z4mz4ezj7husv8psihn8dc54xic4
Unpop 180	Oct-19	https://app.box.com/s/q5ty5et1jqf2ul5ury6tf674uz43hmpw
Unpop 181-1 – I Set My Face To The Hillside	Oct-19	https://app.box.com/s/bkid9m69i6r1cyrvkh8aechd4zuzh20h
Unpop 181-2 – Bright Side Of The Hill		https://app.box.com/s/eguw7z9g6f2ffvwb5wmgawhidgpgzyaf
Unpop 181-3 – We Sat On The Hill		https://app.box.com/s/yjiehvpqvhlaylnphtieo5cg8o3owalf
Unpop 181-4 – High On A Hill		https://app.box.com/s/sa6ugui8q5o70g2lh05uuucahdlyzq62
Unpop 181-5 – Up The Hill Backwards		https://app.box.com/s/404wlxbfmfqj1o7ts53bglifgwxwca7t
Unpop 182	Nov-19	https://app.box.com/s/du52h8dkhpzbx58js48dtmynmekfvr2x
Unpop 183	Dec-19	https://app.box.com/s/ygn1nm2ho7dtencx0tmm39911j58410h
Unpop 184 – Unpopular Advent 2019	Dec-19	https://app.box.com/s/pp92nmbaqrqq1smz03rib1uu8fov9tc4
Unpop 185	Jan-20	https://app.box.com/s/nqnlb2iieshzwu3nvcbq6ey3cgjc1h5f

Unpop 185

It’s not sad

Nocturne – Landshipping (digital single. Bandcamp)
Crank Resolutions – Meursault (from ‘All Creatures Will Make Merry’ LP. Bandcamp)
New Dawn – Withered Hand (from ‘Ten Years’ EP. Bandcamp)
Catch – Dana Gavanski (from 7″ single. Bandcamp)
Lucid I Would Dream – Miranda Lee Richards (from ‘Existential Dream’ LP. Bandcamp)
Two States – The S-Bends (from ‘Nothing Feels Natural To Me’ LP. Bandcamp)
Her Father’s Son – East Village (from ‘Hotrod Hotel’ LP. Bandcamp)
Heavy Blue – The Hanging Stars (digital single. Bandcamp)
Set Me Up Boys – Teeniest (digital single. Bandcamp)
You and Your Sister – sparkle*jets u.k. (from 7″ single. Bandcamp)
He Will Always Come Back – Chaos Chaos (from ‘Withershins’ LP reissue. YouTube)
Lilac – Porridge Radio (digital single. Bandcamp)
Roles Reversed – The Electric Soft Parade (from ‘Stages’ LP. Bandcamp)
No Rock Save In Roll – Cornershop (digital single YouTube)
Hard Times (feat. John Grant) – Whyte Horses (from ‘Hard Times‘ LP)
The Kids Are Having None of It – Frazey Ford (digital single. YouTube)
Shadows Break – Mega Bog (from ‘Dolphine’ LP. Bandcamp)
Chi Mi Bhuam – Burd Ellen (digital single. Bandcamp)
Thicket – Mark Tranmer (from ‘Further Woodland’ LP. Bandcamp)
Afterwards – Josephine Wiggs (from ‘We Fall’ LP. Bandcamp)

It’s more than that

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6oPFfu8SObFSRX892CQS5O?si=SmF3_DKSRf-g1KY-ZAeQ4w

Partial playlist on Spotify

Full playlist on The Mixcloud

Unpopular Advent 2019

Download the entire mix of songs as a ZIP file here.

Teigngrace – The Diamond Family Archive (from ‘Black Autumn’ LP. Bandcamp)
Sweet Lemeny – Alula Down (from ‘Betwixt and Between 5’ cassette. Bandcamp)
Sweet Lemany – Burd Ellen (from ‘Silver Came’ LP. Bandcamp)
Severing – HARESS (from ‘Haress’ LP. Bandcamp)
God’s Food – trappist afterland (from ‘Insects In Amber’ LP. Bandcamp)
Thistle and Briar – Vic Mars (from ‘Inner Roads and Outer Paths’ LP. Clay Pipe)
The Girl I Left Behind – Alison Cotton (from 10″ EP. Clay Pipe)
Dark Place – Rozi Plain (from ‘What A Boost’ LP. Bandcamp)
Hissing Waves – The Leaf Library (from ‘The World Is A Bell’ LP. Bandcamp)
The Actress In The Background – Lispector (from ‘Small Town Graffiti’ LP. Bandcamp)
Night Sweats – Lloyd Cole (from ‘Guesswork‘ LP
Meander – Elizabeth (from ‘The Wonderful World Of Nature’ LP. Bandcamp)

Winter in the Dark – Jeanines (from ‘Jeanines’ LP. Bandcamp)
A Council Boy – MICK TROUBLE (from “Here’s The Mick Trouble LP’. Bandcamp)
The Godfrey Brothers – Comet Gain (from ‘Fireraisers Forever!’ LP. Bandcamp)
Can I Just Call U – Young Guv (from ‘Guv II’ LP. Bandcamp)
Fighter – GospelbeacH (from ‘Let It Burn’ LP. Bandcamp)
Remain – Robert Forster (from ‘Inferno‘ LP)
An Antidote for Strychnine – The Mountain Goats (from ‘In Leagues With Dragons’ LP. Bandcamp)
Accidental Beauty – Vetchinsky Settings (from ‘Underneath The Stars, Still Waiting’ LP. Bandcamp)
Water Water – Emily Fairlight (from ‘Mother Of Gloom’ LP. Bandcamp)
Chance – Angel Olsen (from ‘All Mirrors’ LP. Bandcamp)
Contact – Big Thief (from ‘U.F.O.F.’ LP)
Forever Chords – Strand of Oaks (from ‘Eraserland‘ LP)
Footsteps – Modern Nature (from ‘How To Live’ LP. Bandcamp)
Hercules – The Claim (from ‘The New Industrial Ballads’ LP. Bandcamp)

https://open.spotify.com/user/unpop/playlist/45icu8DR3XYfnhTa2oETEy?si=P2SHydJhTDu3NwxHunoJOA

Almost accurate/complete playlist on Spotify.

Entire mix streaming on the Mixcloud

Unpopular Advent 2019 – Day 24

The Claim – ‘Hercules’ from ‘The New Industrial Ballads’ LP

Back in March of this year we told you about the welcome reissue of The Claim’s ‘Boomy Tella’ LP. It was so good we told you twice. Thirty years, we mused. Blinks of eyes and all that. We hinted too that there was a new LP by The Claim due for imminent release and that first glimpses suggested it would be a peach. We were not wrong.

Thirty years is a long time between albums. Not even the Stone Roses or My Bloody Valentine took that long. It’s apt then that The Claim wholeheartedly embrace this span of time on ‘The New Industrial Ballads’, both suggestively through sound and explicitly through, well, through a song called ‘Thirty Years’ in which Vic Templar revisits his ‘Mike The Bike’ tale, riffing both on nostalgia and retro-futurist sci-fi. And Elvis. Of course Elvis.

‘Thirty Years’ is a telling element of ‘The New Industrial Ballads’ because it would make little sense to anyone not already entirely familiar with the flip side to The Claim’s ‘Birth Of A Teenager’ 7” for Bob Stanley’s CAFF label. Its inclusion here shows that The Claim are comfortable acknowledging their place in time. They could have been contenders and then they weren’t. Yet like Forster’s figure in ‘Remain’ the Claim are no Terry Malloy characters filled with bitterness and recrimination. Certainly fires still burn fiercely in their collective belly, but we cannot live on anger alone. We find balm where we can. Seek succour in our communities, however small they may be. The Claim, in the end, are comfortable with their audience. Forever Unpopular. Just look at the recent UK Election results.

The songs of The Claim have always felt firmly rooted in a deep sense of social justice and empathy with the disenfranchised, the forgotten, the ignored. In this they have always pulled inspiration from Folk traditions both lyrically and musically. These musical threads are most clearly visible in the two bookends of the set. Album opener ‘Johnny Kidd’s Right Hand Man’ is an instrumental that strums its way into our hearts whilst closing track ‘Under Canvas’ is two minutes of gorgeously delicate guitar picking atop which David Read sings a deceptively simple tale of love, betrayal and, erm, camping. When we tell you it could be a great lost track by Mick Head then you surely know how much we treasure it.

Between these two bookends of restraint however The Claim certainly stretch themselves and coalesce into a group confident in their capabilities. Quite simply, they sound tremendous. On the fabulous ’Just Too Far’ they reference Dave Edmunds’ ‘Queen Of Hearts’ and throw in a line about how “Doves put Pounding on the jukebox just for us”. Both great points of connectivity. On ‘The Haunted Pub’ they recollect The Kinks looking for redemption in the early ‘70s. Cliffe Hillbilly Boys, if you will. ‘Mrs Jones’ meanwhile is a gorgeous slow-motion waltz around a haunted dancehall, a copy of a Shena Mackay collection of short-stories stuffed in its back pocket.

Then there are cheeky suggestions to the summer of ‘Boomy Tella’’. That summer thirty years ago when we left the UK for two months and came back to find everyone wearing flares and the ‘baggy beat’ behind every damned song in the world. ‘Music/Pictures’ could be a Stone Roses b-side from when they wanted to be Velocity Girls (think ‘Mersey Paradise’) whilst ‘Hercules’ certainly cranks into gear on a funky drummer groove as if to say ‘we could have done this thirty years ago and joined the party but instead we chose to leave the love-in’.

‘Hercules’ is certainly the number we come back to most often on ‘The New Industrial Ballads’ for it is perhaps the songs that encapsulates what makes The Claim so special. We are firmly in Ken Loach social commentary territory here, with references to tower blocks, boarded-up shops, ‘Big Society’ and DWP ‘fit for work’ assessments. No surprise then to see the spectre of Loach’s ‘Cathy Come Home’ amongst the “run-down housing”, glaring at us with barely concealed contempt, despairing at how every generation never seems to learn from the errors of those who go before. Damned to repeat the same mistakes. For better or (more likely) for worse.

When Read concludes his depiction of contemporary England (and it is, increasingly, a depressingly isolated England) with the lines “Gather up all sympathies and mould them into Hercules” we are left to contemplate the meaning. Is the suggestion here that our collective empathy for others in our communities has somehow been transmuted into steel to make military aircraft (an inditement of increasingly militarised societies) or that they have been hijacked and coalesced into some mythical figure of Populist Power? Either way, it is not an especially optimistic conclusion.

It is fitting then that The Claim choose to marry this rather gloomy outlook with music that is affirmative and robust. The song grooves around its inner despair, spiralling in and out over the second half of its length in largely instrumental exuberance and collective hope in spite of it all.

Thirty years. Bent to it again but with heads held high.