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Carla J. Easton - Work in Progress EP

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, I moved to a new house and then was waiting for the Internet to be connected. That is all sorted now, so normal service can resume. We are still outside the box for this week’s entry from Carla J. Easton. I first became aware of Carla when I happened to see her band, TeenCanteen, at the 2014 Wales Goes Pop festival. I really enjoyed their set, and so after returning home from the gig, looked up what studio material (if any) was available. At the time there was just the one release, their debut single ‘Honey’, which was released as an extremely limited-edition and long since sold out cassette, so I contented myself with purchasing the download instead. I did however pick up the sparkly glitter 7” of their follow up single, ‘You’re Still Mine’, when it was released, along with debut album Say It All with a Kiss, a couple of years later. Concurrent to her work with the band, Carla also released a solo album under the name Ette, Hom...
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Papernut Cambridge - Second Sun E.P.

We’re still outside the box for this week’s entry, and this is one of the most recent cassettes I own. I first became aware of Papernut Cambridge through their links to Darren Hayman (he and fellow former Hefner bandmate Jack Hayter are members, along with frequent collaborator Robert Rotifer), however they are very much (former Death in Vegas guitarist) Ian Button’s band. I bought a bunch of their stuff a few years ago, then bought this limited-edition cassette only EP upon release in 2017. It’s limited to only 50 copies and is oddly a C61 tape, containing the six tracks in mono on Side A, and then again, albeit in stereo, on Side B. I also have a feeling that I’ve never actually listened to this before, so let’s rectify that now.   Artist: Papernut Cambridge Release: Second Sun E.P. UK Record Label: Eggs in Aspic UK Release Date : 31 st March 2017 UK Single Releases from Album: N/A   Opener ‘Second Sun I’ is a laid-back gentle example of the band’s psych-pop sound, cloc...
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Something for Kate, Alex Lloyd, Coldplay

We remain outside the box for this week’s entry, and we also continue with the Australian theme from last year. What we have is another tape from Kathy, this one sent to me in late 2001. It consists of three live sets recorded from Triple J over the course of the summer (well summer in the UK, winter in Oz) of 2001, so let’s get to it!   Artist: Various Album: Something for Kate, Alex Lloyd, Coldplay UK Record Label: N/A UK Release Date: 2001 UK Single Releases from Album: N/A   Something for Kate – Live at the Wireless: First up we have a set recorded by Something for Kate for Live at the Wireless (recorded on the 16 th of July and first broadcast on the 30 th of the same month). Something for Kate were actually a pretty big deal in Australia at the time, having just released their third album Echolalia a few weeks previously, which reached number two on the ARIA Albums chart. I don’t think I’d really heard anything by them before receiving this tape, but I do remembe...
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Various Artists - Roz's Oz Mix for Jodie

We stay outside the box for this week’s entry, and it’s another compilation tape of Australian music, this time courtesy of my friend Roz. I recounted here how I became a fan of the Whitlams, and when the band announced their first ever show on these shores, several UK based fans (mostly ex-pat Aussies) on the mailing list decided to arrange a meet up prior to the show. Roz was instrumental in the organising of this, and a great time was had by all. We became friends and over the course of the next few years attended a number of gigs together, and at some point, she made me this tape of 80s and 90s Australian indie music. As with most of these tapes it’s a long time since I’ve listened to this, so I’m looking forward to revisiting it. There are a fair few connections to both the Whitlams and Candle Records on this one, so for no real reason, I think I’ll point these out as I go.   Artist: Various Album: Roz’s Oz Mix for Jodie UK Record Label: N/A UK Release Date: 2002 UK Single Re...
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Val Doonican - Memories Are Made of This (18 Golden Love Songs)

Another excursion outside the box this week, and it’s a definite curio in the collection. Remember when I mentioned here that whilst packing to move house in 2014, I found two cassettes that I had no recollection of acquiring? Well, as mentioned in that post, one was Programmed for Fitness with the Green Goddess, the other was today’s entry. I think I may have bought this cheaply in a charity shop intending to gift it to David as a joke, but I obviously never got around to doing that. What we have here is Memories are made of this (18 Golden Love Songs) by Val Doonican. I can’t say the Big Valbowski is particularly my cup of tea, but I did like his, erm, “cameo” in ‘The Intro & The Outro’ by the Bonzo Dog Band. Anyway, unsurprisingly I’ve never listened to this before, and I’m not sure how much I’ll find to say about most of it, but the (arbitrary) rules I’ve set myself are that I have to listen to every tape, so here we go.   Artist: Val Doonican Album: Memories are made of...
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Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy / Smog - Knock Knock

  This week we delve back into the box once again, and it’s another tape that David copied for me in the summer of 2001. What we have here is a twofer, with Daisies of the Galaxy by Eels on side 1 and Knock Knock by Smog on side 2, so without further ado let’s get to it! Artist: Eels Album: Daisies of the Galaxy UK Record Label: DreamWorks UK Release Date: 28th February 2000 UK Single Releases from Album: 'Mr. E's Beautiful Blues' and 'Flyswatter' Mark Oliver Everett (aka E) has been making music since the mid-1980s, he signed with Polydor in the early-1990s and released two solo albums A Man Called E (1992) and Broken Toy Shop (1993). Whilst touring in support of the latter he began working with drummer Jonathan “Butch” Norton, and in 1995 the two of them teamed up with bassist Tommy Walter to form Eels. Shortly thereafter they signed with the fledgling DreamWorks label and like most people in the UK, I’m fairly sure I first heard Eels when Radio 1 started...
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Alex Lloyd - Live / Area-7 + Whitlams

Today’s tape is another excursion outside the box and is actually the second tape that Kathy sent to me. As I recall she sent this at the same time as Songs from Down Under, so the summer of 2001. It’s a bit of a mish-mash featuring an Alex Lloyd radio set, some early Whitlams tracks, a selection of tracks from Area-7’s latest album and various other tracks she thought I might enjoy.   Artist: Various Album: Alex Lloyd – Live / Area-7 + Whitlams UK Record Label: None UK Release Date: 2001 UK Single Releases from Album: None   Alex Lloyd – Melting, Desert, Black the Sun, What a Year, Lucky Star  and  Snow: Six tracks recorded for Triple J’s Live at the Wireless programme sometime in 1999. I first heard Alex Lloyd in the year 2000 when ‘Black the Sun’ was Mark & Lard’s record of the week, and liked what I heard enough to mention him to Kathy not long after we started e-mailing. She was also a fan, and so made sure to include this set when she sent me some tapes fo...
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