XIII Oceans

Had a bit of a surf this morning and stumbled onto YouTube and thought I’d mention a couple of songs that have caught my ear recently. The first, amazingly, didn’t get to number one which I am flabbergasted about. It’s Alphabeat’s simply brilliant Fascination. What a belting pop song and I’m too painfully aware that I’m beginning to sound like an old folk talking about the latest sounds so no need to remind me.

Getting a lot of airplay on the radio is Gabrielle Cilmi with Sweet About Me which is one of those songs that you’ll either love of hate because of her voice.

If all that pop posturing and corporate singalong gloss is too much for you, here’s a couple of lost American alternative cuts that raged against the machine in the much darker days before corporate indie took over the charts. Both of these are personal favourites. Sadly I was unable to find any video to go with the first of these, which isn’t surprising because indie music in those days meant the most basic homemade style vids, if you even got a vid. I can remember a Pale Saints video that was absolutely terrible. I had a look at it again and yes it’s just as bad now.

First up is a live performance of Catatonic by Babes In Toyland. Fronted by the very alluring Kat Bjelland I was fortunate enough to catch Babes In Toyland a couple of times and they were electric, if a bit light on melody at times.

Second up is one of those really early videos for bands that are putting out music on their own label. It’s Bongwater with The Drum. About as basic a video as you can get and although it’s pretty far away from being their best song it has excellent pop sensibilities and I’m tshows that it is possible to do great cover versions that are better than the original.

Coincidentally both Babes In Toyland and Bongwater features in John Peel’s Festive 50 for 1991.