Weepop! Records

Since I was a young lad stuck in my room listening to Lamacq whilst studying for my exams, I have had a favourite record label. This is unashamedly the mark of an indie geek/snob. Over the years, Fantastic Plastic, Jeepster, Fence and Matador have all found themselves in my good books. Now a new label has come and dethroned them all. That label is the magical, WeePop! Records.

It seems like a long long time since I’ve seen a more committed little label run with the sole intention of adding a little sunshine in our otherwise weary world but WeePop! do it was a grace and charm only seen in small DIY labels. Since their first release in June, the team has amassed a fine group of bands and artists. Most excitingly are Scottish popsters The Just Joans, Pocketbooks side project, Sunny Intervals and Desmond Reed, a young and overtly talented troubadour from Massachusetts. His Guinea Pigs EP is released via WeePop! and like all of their releases is strictly limited and produced on a micro 3” CD. I advise you to grab hold of it ASAP. It’s a charming collection of laid-back pop songs, which sounds like a down-tempo Apples in Stereo crossed with a less jangly Teenage Fanclub all performed by a prozac happy Ryan Adams. It’s a musically and lyrically accomplished body of work from a guy who is clearly intent on making very classy tunes. A full album release is hopefully not too far away and if this is anything to go by, it should be an absolute beast!

Desmond Reed - Neat

I Love Erlend Oye

This is no lie. I LOVE Erlend Oye.

Here's a man who has made nothing but world class music since as long as I can remember. The Kings of Convenience records are some of the finest tentative Nordic folk ever committed to record, "Versus" is some of the most proficient remixes made (granted, Erlend can little less credit for this) but it's still worth gushing over. Then we come to the poorly handled DJ-Kicks release which slipped out a few years back. I must admit to only picking this up in a Virgin (now Zavvi?!?!) sale for £3, well after listening to it I felt like I should have gone back and given them an extra £20. It's that ruddy good!

So it was with child-like eagerness that I listened to the Whitest Boy Alive record. Did it disappoint? Did it chuff! What a fabulous collection of tunes. From a multi-national outfit originally founded to make dirty industrial dance music. They did a crap job because the spawn is a heavenly slice of chart friendly indie-pop and is void of anything slightly programmed or dance-like. It's so damn good that it starts putting Peter John and Bjorn to shame "impossible" you cry? Well dear Blogger, hear for yourself:

Whitest Boy Alive - Burning