Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons (1996)



Hailing from Boston these guys and girls sounded like the bastard children of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Seriously I don't fucking know what to write here. While their oddly-tuned, angular guitars and mumbled, half-heard vocals are undoubtedly homage to the noisy gods and goddesses of indie rock mentioned, their sound has something else which I cannot describe, but I’ll do my best. In a way they sound like they’re making music and fucking around with the formula of 90's indie rock for their own amusement. Their sense of humour shines through in the interludes and the more experimental tracks on this album such as ‘You Can’t Be Told It, You Must Behold It’, ‘Do Any of You Know Anything About Love?’ and the oddly bizarre yet fascinating ‘Untitled’. Of course when the band are playing it (almost) straight they are seriously good. The almost metal riffage and screeching guitars of ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas’ makes this song a particular standout and for some nice hazy, shoegazey guitar goodness feast your ears and imagination on ‘Two Girls Kissing’. The highlight of the album of course is the magnificent ‘Sunn’ which gives you some wonderfully inventive use of guitar sounds married to some tantalising melodies. In short it’s one of the best shoegaze songs ever.

Between this album and their full-length debut Blonder Tongue Audio Baton you can’t go too far wrong for some quality 90’s indie rock with a twist. I chose this album over their debut because the songs are just that bit more memorable and the experimental moments are that bit more out-there and intriguing. Then there’s that mouthful of an album title which I can never seem to decode.

Recommended Songs: ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas’, ‘Sunn’, ‘Untitled’


Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991)



Their uneven debut album A Catholic Education had all the signs of a band on their way up but missing that special little spark. Lo and behold that little spark came on 1991’s Bandwagonesque and the band were forever to be worshipped as power-pop and slacker torch-bearers. One of the first things about this album you’ll notice is how unmistakably 90’s it is. You can almost feel your hair going floppy just by listening to it. You could argue that the oh-so 90’s production sounds badly dated but to me it’s almost part of its charm, with songs as good as these that shouldn’t matter one bit in the slightest. Nearly every song on this twelve track album will remind you why you love 90’s indie rock, right from the epic opener ‘The Concept’ up to the epic instrumental closer ‘Is This Music?’ Meanwhile songs like ‘Metal Baby’, ‘What You Do to Me’, and ‘Alcoholiday’ will remind you what it’s like to be helplessly smitten with someone.

Listening to the lyrics of ‘Guiding Star’ always makes me feel some kind of reassurance in myself and reminds me that my life isn’t going to go around in circles. Even the entire album has a warm and blissful tone to it which makes you feel great on the inside. 1995’s Grand Prix and 1997’s Songs From Northern Britain are also well worth checking out for reasons of their own but Bandwagonesque is the best starting point in my view. It’s also well known that this album pipped Nirvana’s Nevermind to become Spin Magazine’s number one album of 1991, deservingly so.

Recommended Songs: ‘The Concept’, ‘Guiding Star’, ‘Is This Music?’