Tullycraft - Every scene needs a center (Magic Maker/ 2007)

Every Scene Needs a Center is exactly what you would expect from Tullycraft. Their fourth and latest album is fun, super-catchy twee pop. Singer-songwriter Sean Tollefson celebrates and gently tweaks the ephemera of the indie pop scene in songs such as "The Punks Are Writing Love Songs" and "Bored To Hear Your Heart Still Breaks," a sardonic gibe at mopey emo singers like Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. A new expanded version of the band adds more musical muscle to Tollefson's catchy, tongue-in-cheek tunes.

Tracklist

1.The punks are writing love songs
2.Fangs on bats
3.Georgette plays a goth
4.Bored to hear your heart still breaks
5.Clique at night vandals
6.Dracula screams of tiger style (Parts 1&2)
7.The lonely life of the UFO researcher
8.A cursed miss Maybellene
9.If you take away the Make-Up (Then the vampires they will die)
10.Misgiving
11.The neutron
12.One essex girl
13.The secret history of devil's paw
14.We know you're cute, you told us

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Math and Physics Club - Baby I'm yours EP (Matinée/2007)

Standard sun-dryed indie love pop by the way of Saturday Looks Good To Me or The Lucksmiths, Seattle's poppers Math and Physics Club release their third Ep that really should be released mid-Spring rather than late Autumn, this is a re-recording of a demo sent to Matinée in 2004. Baby, I'm Yours is twelve minutes of sweet guitar tunes to contest with their stupendous full-length debut from last year. Enjoy!

Tracklist

1. Baby, I'm yours
2. Nothing Really Happened
3. In This Together
4. Do You Keep A Diary

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My Sad Captains - Bad Decisions CDSingle (Fortuna Pop!/2007)

My Sad Captains are making inroads into the mainstream consciousness, but they're doing it with little in the way of condescension, keeping a sharp kind of pop virtue . Their ultra-melodic debut single is the sound of a perfect summer, all hooks, harmonies and handclaps. Ed Wallis' vocals mesh perfectly with Cathy Lucas' voice in a pop confection that combines the bright jangle of the Go-Betweens and the dark majesty of the Silver Jews. They spoil you with their flipside too (any less talented band would have put these out as separate A sides). 'Here And Elsewhere' is slower but just as gorgeously harmonic as the top side, containing all the pop nous of a band like Sparklehorse (who they've just covered for a forthcoming tribute album). As I write this, my lunchtime drink sums them up perfectly: naturally sparkling.

Tracklist

1. Bad decisions
2. Here and elsewhere

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After-School Sports - A Short Melodrama EP (Cosy Recordings/2007)

Bedroom pop, known for its simple charm and... high school-ish spirit, is done quite a bit of justice by this Swedish mystery-tet (who's in this band???). While the similarities to other fixtures of indiepop stardom such as Pipas or The Clientèle may be nearly crippling at various moments, "A short melodrama" is diverse, beautiful, executed well, and most certainly re-playable. Also involved are production values to rival Daniel Johnston, case in point; "Sweet Catrin Dannenmaier". Not a bad thing in either case. The collection includes a cover of Lily Allen's "Smile". I'd like to say this is what that song should have sounded like in the first place. Forget the original. The twee pop community will greet After-School Sports with open arms.
- Paul Bredenberg

Tracklist
1. A Short Melodrama (intro)
2. Charlie's 18th Birthday
3. Ebay Love
4. Smile
5. Almost Left my BF for His Casio
6. Sweet Catrin Dannenmaier
7. Roe Deers, Cats and Mice
8. Wind Up
9. The Good Night Fable (outro)

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