Real Numbers - Frank Infatuation b/w Leave It Behind(Ltd. 7")

FFO C86, Television Personalities, Shop Assistants, Wedding Present! 300 copies only!

Another July release from Market Square Records that deserves to not slip through the net is this absolute belter from Real Numbers. The A-side reminds of those jaunty but sad songs from my own personal year zero when the likes of The Pastels, The Wedding Present and the like were constants on my turntable. Though it also sounds like, well you know, now!

The flip is a slower though no less satisfying track, a dreamy floaty melody over a two chord backing. Lo-fi and heartfelt. Apparently the band have been around making records in their hometown of Minneapolis for quite some years but I'd not been hipped to this groove until now. Another notch of credibility for Market Square. If the vinyl is sold out don't forget today is a digital world too. So suppost the label and have the music on your mobile, mp3 player or ipod docking station. Hell, you couldn't do that in 1986!

300 copies only, housed in Risograph fold-over sleeves.

Click here for Real Numbers on Facebook.

Click here for Market Square Records.

Jessica & The Fletchers – Marble Fountain b/w Crystal Tears (Ltd. 7”)

Barcelona Indie-Pop outfit return with limited edition 7”!

Listening to Jessica & The Fletchers' latest 7” re-awakened something of my fading youth. Too young for punk or post-punk, and jaded by the time Brit-pop took over the charts, my own year zero was back in 1986. Or C86 if you prefer. A time when the likes of Talulah Gosh, The Shop Assistants and The Bodines were putting out great records, doing grass roots gigs and getting recognition in the weeklies. It was an all-too brief flowering but regained important ground from '80s perfectionists and pony-tailed professionals. More importantly it gave females an equal footing in making music, something which hadn't really happened since the very early days of punk (a move sadly hi-jacked by punk's second wave and the onset of Oi).

Jessica & The Fletchers describe themselves as a noise-pop quartet and that's pretty much on the mark; bittersweet lyrics are sweetly sung and backed up by fuzzy guitars. One part flowers, one part razorblades. With a sound that's deliberately amateurish, in the purest and best sense of the word, the lyrics are winsome with themes of young and innocent love, somehow apart from the modern world but also very much needed. The songs are short, with no needless solos, and all about the melody. Perfect fayre to be pressed onto their natural home of 7” plastic.

For fans of Sarah Records, Talulah Gosh, Jesus & Mary Chain and fans of spirited and catchy pure-pop in general. Limited to 300 copies, this 7” comes housed in a Risograph fold-over sleeve with a hand-numbered postcard fetauring the lyrics to both songs.

Click here for Jessica & The Fletchers on Twitter.

Click here for Jessica & The Fletchers on Facebook.