♫ SHINDU - Happy House (MP3)

As many of you may be aware, I'm a huge fan of the sacrilicious - things that people say should never be done because they go against everything that's right and holy - of course, I'm mainly talking here about music rather than anything truly ghastly or serious - like cancerous smog or sad budgies IRL.

Basically, I think this SHINDU cover of Happy House is one of my favourite, up-beat dancey fun stuff tracks of the moment! Truly, the original is one of my all time loves but there's certainly room for both in my world - how about in yours?

Skeeter Davis - The End of The World (Video)

♫ Life Without Buildings - The Leanover (MP3)

♫ Life Without Buildings - New Town (MP3)

Life Without Buildings are of course waaaayyyy famous - but honestly, I never liked any of their subsequent releases post this, their first 7".  YES, in this rare case, I am one of those pretentious sounding dweebz who bought the band's first release when it came out and never liked the production on any of their subsequent releases.

I heard 'The Leanover' on John Peel and travelled up to London and bought it from a rekkid shop on Berwick Street - got it home and listened to it repeatedly by myself smoking out of my bedroom window. It was so magically emotional and weirdly compelling that I got completely obsessed.

I've bought and lost two copies of this 7 inch since then, and with each time it got rarer and harder to find - and only just recently did it pop up again on eBay for me snatch up. Such is the crazy emotional tie with these songs that when I finally heard them again after nearly 10 years, I actually burst into tears - an amazing first for me!

Of course, it's difficult to pin point exactly what lead singer Sue Tompkins was going on about, such is the seemly surreal non-sensibility of the lyrics, but I always read both as love songs; about first love, nervousness and tentative eye contact, excitement, feeling unloveable, feeling loved, break ups, fun and silliness, fights, nostalgia, relationship difficulties and sweetness, all rolled up into one, like a cut-up style love story where the beginning, the end and the middle are all happening at the same time.

You'll never hear be this mushy over another pair of tracks so please indulge me this once; and I hope you enjoy listening to them, at least a fraction of the amount I clearly do! Ha!

Sisters of Mercy - Dominion (Video)

So just recently, I got around to fixing my rekkid player's broken needle (after maybe a year of putting it off/being scared of not understanding how to fix it) and SUCHLY I've been able to rip a lot of the vinyls I've been waiting to play to share with you! LUCKY YOU! This is a long post as I have a lot to say of these - CLEARLY! Haha! Also included the artwork as I think they're amazing. These are all good quality, mono rips complete with all the pops and crackles that come with old vinyl!

First up is the Finnish all girl rock group PIM, who were only a recent discovery to me and with whom with I am very obsessed, but sadly know very little about. I can't figure out whether they were a novelty band or not, which you'll get more when you watch the videos. I'm praying that they're not but of course, I'll still love them if they were.  They only released 3 singles of which I have 2; the 2 I'm sharing with you below!

PIM

♫ PIM - Drink It (B) // PIM - Lies (A) - MP3s

♫ PIM - Fade Away (A) //  PIM - Move On (B)- MP3s

DRINK IT is undoubtedly their BEST BEST BEST track. The lead singer, NINNI, has a thrilling drunken warrior woman slurring shriek which lends itself PERFECTLY to the lyrics. The A side, Lies, is nearly as amazing, a bit softer and haunted. Their third, Fade away was release two years after, in 1987, so who knows what they were doing for all that time - I like to imagine they were terrifying and exciting Finland with live shows, drinking and causing trouble. Both tracks from this final single are great - mainly due to Ninni's vocals but they're not a patch on the first IMHO.

I'm always obsessed when non-English-speaking bands over-pronounce words of their lyrically simple tracks - that sounds a bit patronising and possibly racist but it's completely not how I mean it - honestly - I mean it as a compliment! This is especially apparent on Lies. The translation strips back any wordy pretentiousness and results in something that feels purer and more honest; it nearly always gives me tingles!

I sadly don't have their cover of These boots are made for walking so if anyone has it, please get in touch - especially for the B-side as you can't hear it anywhere! Their videos give you an amazing taste of PIM's stunning brilliance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaa3B0j2g8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAt4PKVyV1Y

SALMA & SABINA

♫ Salma & Sabina - Toba Toba (Mamma Mia) (MP3)

♫ Salma & Sabina - Ho Jayegi Badnami (Money Money Money) (MP3)

Anyone who knows me will have, at some point been forced to listen to my low quality mp3s of this album - it has it's own cult following after appearing online a few years ago. Since then, I've been searching for it in a real physical format so I could have better quality versions, sadly with no success. I finally found the vinyl in Rough Trade East, last year - WHY WAS IT THERE, I don't know but none the less, I nearly vomited with pure joy.

It's not just the novelty of hearing ABBA in another language that I love about this album - I think Salma and Sabina add their own magic to the tracks, making the songs actually seem weirdly less tacky! I've picked my two favourites from the album but honestly, they're all good - I'm sure you'll be able to track down the rest on the internet in the meantime, but I plan on ripping the whole lot eventually.

SUE WILKINSON

♫ Sue Wilkinson - You Gotta Be A Hustler If You Wanna Get On (A) // Sue Wilkinson - Double Dealing (B) - MP3s

An English artiste this time! I've already posted the video to this a while ago on the blog with a promise of an MP3 to follow, so here I am, FINALLY delivering. Hustler was a novelty track released in 1980 and was apparently re-recorded from the original of 'You've got to be a scrubber...' which was sadly never released.

I've included the B-side here for completeness sake but honestly, I HATE IT - it's a weird faux country song with ditsy cutesy misogynistic lyrics which are most probably ironic, but it's not explicitly enough, and the more I listen to it the more angry I get. Haha! So, my recommendation is that you download and then delete it after one listen.

After months of slogging my guts out drawing and writing, my first ever solo zine, NANCY, is finally completed and ready for you all to purchase! The over ridding theme is girliness in gay boys but hopefully it has an appeal for most people - it also features music, anime, goth stuff and other bits!

I said in the zine that I'd put up some videos that pertain to what I was talking about - I guess it'll give you an idea of the topics that come up! Click read more to see them!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GdgEXaF2sk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoM4OXQVCcE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeOJeTPhNxU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v15dqcwIh68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNEolxBmso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7uCga4zQDE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyv4bPwUJws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxisjomvvSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeoEe_A4Xio

Miniature mixtape selection for you you guyz! These are all tracks heavily on rotation in my headphones on my way into work - think the upbeat is keeping me going through these frrreeezzziiinnngggg times - hopefully it'll do the same for you! recommend you play them on shuffle and mostly ENJOY!

NEW

♫ MEN - Off our backs (MP3)
these guyz were amazing at Ladyfest last weekend - JD is a super charismatic frontmanz. I could only be draw to them because of obvz the Le Tigre similarities but I'm stopping myself over-thinking it so I can just enjoy! queer dance party music!

♫ The Go! Team - T.O.R.N.A.D.O. (MP3)
heavy noisefest joyousness - loving the rap on this! not sure I could ever play this in a club without everyone getting angry shaky fists tho! ha!

♫ Crystal Castles - Not In Love (ft. Robert Smith) (MP3)
sigh forever robert smith singing about sad-love VS . crystal castles classic casio chaos (ha - I got carried away with alliteration here - but I'm sure you understand!)

♫ Rihanna - S&M (MP3)
off her new album - which I totes heart. upbeat stomping pop. if she's using S&M as a metaphor then it's so thinly veiled that I think I don't get it. Maybe she likes S&M... which I can't imagine she actually does - but then it takes all sorts to make a pop world!

♫ Far East Movement - Like a G6 (MP3)
trashy electro-rap-pop-disco. haha - now, don't trash me until you've given this a good go! it's disposable for sure but I've been completely in love with it since I heard it used in Gossip Girl. APPARENTLY it's 'BLOWING UP' in all the clubz in merica! And who can resists a song with the word slizzard! like a polished pop spank rock - AMAZING

OLD

♫ Debbie Deb - When I Hear Music (MP3)
sigh debbie - she has a sad story but 'when I hear music' is the cutest electronic dance party track from 1984.

♫ Mantronix - Got To Have Your Love (MP3)
CLA-SICK electro-funk (ewww the word funk) - it's so simple but so catchy it's unbearable! I always shy away from playing this because it's slow but think I might JUST DO IT at the next unskinny bop! BE THERE!

♫ Mc Luscious - Boom! I Got Your Boyfriend (MP3)
early 90s GIRL RAP! I don't really know why this isn't a club classic! I can't remember how I stumbled across this track - I think it may have been one of those related videos on YouTube (they're the best)! BOOM! WARNING: the moaning around 2:12 is a bit TMI. haha!

♫ Stevie V - Dirty Cash (MP3)
late 80s - hip house (apparently that's the genre name) haha! another downbeat disco track that I'm always afraid to play! I love it when she says 'Iii want yourrr monneeey' - LOVE the male crap rap interlude! The girl rap is AMAZING on the other hand which makes it all amazing!

(PS hope you like the animated gif - i made it myself using old videos and stills n'stuff)

With HALLOWEEN officially over now I have to admit, I still have this Morrissey song, firmly stuck in my head like a terrible earworm. I've actually always have an inexplicable dislike of Morrissey and The Smiths generally but it feels like my barriers are coming down a bit in my old age! Ha! Plus the video is purely amazing - guest starring KATHY BURKE!

HELL HOUSE 2 was an amazing success - thanks for all of you that came - be sure and see if your goofy faces made it onto the MOST CAKE! In the mean time, WATCH OUT - there's going to be MORE music updates coming yr way (random choon for you).

I can't express to you my over-whelming joy at coming across all-girl 80s rock group the Pandoras. They're fast and furious guitar power-pop and I'm going to sacrilegiously offer up that the lead singer,  Paula Pierce (RIP), has a raw vocal sound similar to an early Courtney Love.

I wouldn't normally do this, but as it's too tough to pick a track, I'm going to direct you to the whole of the first album, available on this blog, BUFFALO TONES. The second album is available on Spotify and is also rammed full of gems (one particular track is my favourite from this album It Felt Alright). Now I've found them, I'm not sure how I'm going to wean myself off them TBH and the more I fall in love with them, the more I keep asking myself why they're not more famous! 'DO THE HUMP! DO THE HUMP!'

Devil Lives in My Husband's Body - Pulsallama

We contributed this song to DirtyConverse disco's mixtape given away at their September club! It's an all time favourite and I actually only just discovered that there was a video for it.

It's impossible to play in a club environ-mon because it's like a spoken word story with a chorus so I was thrilled to be able to contribute it to the mixtape!

We'll be DJing at the next DirtyConverse Disco, October 9th! Put it in yr diary kidz!!