Songs to the Siren

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Pacer

The Amps

30th October 1995 (LP)🇺🇸

The Breeders started as a side-project, and the Pacer LP was made as a side-project from that once the Breeders became a full-time thing. Although featuring a different name and line-up, these are still Kim Deal songs sung by Kim Deal, and I consider it to be, in effect, my favourite Breeders record.

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Hot Doggie

Colourbox

15th June 1987🇬🇧

Featured on the 1987 4AD Compilation “Lonely Is An Eyesore”, this track showed the sampling skills of brothers Martyn and Steven Young, recording as Colourbox. Soon after, under the M|A|R|R|S guise, they would have a UK number one hit single with a tune based largely on samples from other records - but Hot Doggie samples from TV and film.

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Ablaze

School of Seven Bells

12th February 2016 (LP)🇺🇸

The fourth and final LP from School of Seven Bells was completed without main songwriter Benjamin Curtis, who sadly died young in 2013. But it’s a fine record, and the opening track, Ablaze, is a highlight from 2016 - a year of many highlights.

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Dirge

Death in Vegas

13th September 1999 (LP), 24th April 2000 (Single)🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

This is the first of three songs featuring Scottish singer Dot Allison.

Here she features on vocals (and co-writing) on Dirge, the opening track from The Contino Sessions, a classic album by Death In Vegas.

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Nautilus

Anna Meredith

4th March 2016🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Scot composer and musician Anna Meredith combines electronica with classical instruments to produce music that has connections to past yet which still sounds fresh and modern.

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Keep Me

Pesky

24th July 2015🇬🇧

This is a great song. And Pesky is surely a genius name for a band of kids?

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Everything Is The Same

Pull In Emergency

9th June 2010 (LP)🇬🇧

I’m writing this in April 2020, as we approach the 10th anniversary of the release of Pull In Emergency’s eponymous album - and it’s almost certainly my most-played LP since it came out. It’s a very fine piece of work - from a band that were in their mid-teens when it was made.

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Torn

Natalie Imbruglia

27th October 1997 (single), 24th November 1997 (LP)🇦🇺

With Natalie Imbruglia’s take on the Ednaswap song “Torn”, I’d suggest that we are getting into the relatively small list of “covers that sound better than the original” - regardless of whether you consider the “original” to me Ednaswap or Lis Sørensen.

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Tiny Feet

The Heart Throbs

23rd June 1992🇬🇧

This is my most-played tune since I moved all my music into iTunes (now Apple Music) about 15 years ago - yet the version I play was never released.

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Supervixen

Garbage

15th August 1995🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇬🇧 🇺🇸

The opening track of the début album, and literally within 5 seconds it presents a hook so strong, I’m smitten for life with this song.

The “hook” is just a gap. Yet, to me, this is simply the greatest intro of all.

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