Lovers of earlier Creation, Sarah Records, Belle and Sebastien, Camera Obscura and all manner of airy jingle-jangle indie-pop could do worse than immerse themselves in the catalogue of London-based imprint Fortuna Pop.
Founded in the mid-'90s by Sean Price, its most successful exports include 'Allo Darlin' (whose self-titled debut album issued in 2010 is a highlight), ex-Hefner frontman Darren Hayman and Tender Trap, as well as the odd release by the queens of jangle-pop, The Primitives. 'Allo Darlin' have a third album planned for late summer/early autumn so now seems as good as any to check out a handful of albums already released this year. Considering that, in Price's words, Fortuna Pop is run as a hobby, he's done pretty well with most of its output during the last eighteen years or so.
Comet Gain - Paperback Ghosts - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
The band's seventh album is a bleary-eyed trample through Americana, twee-pop and psychedelia which reminds me of Wilco in places, The Pastels in others and sports some rather fetching tunes such as the pretty The Last Love Letter, which wouldn't sound amiss on a Felt album, 'Sad Love' And Other Short Stories and Sixteen Oh Four, a dead-ringer for a Go-Betweens song (more Forster than McLennan, methinks). Without wishing to accuse Comet Gain of being derivative, they're actually right on the money with much of Paperback Ghosts' songwriting and deserve a hearty slap on the back for keeping this skill alive (they've been going for 22 years, mark you). A worthy purchase.
The Proper Ornaments - Wooden Head - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
FP's website states that this thoughtful duo of Max Claps (great name) and Robert Syme nestles neatly in a world full of Love (the band AND the emotion), Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys and they're right. But there's also Triptides, Teenage Fanclub and Paul Weller in the mix as well. And probably Stereolab - because they've written a song with that very title. Wooden Head's contents are mildly druggy, hazy and melodic, chaotic even but rarely dull. In fact, come rain or shine, there'll be a place for the trippy Step Into The Cold, the woozy Sun and the lo-fi Tire Me Out. All tastefully glued together by way of an 8-track set-up, Wooden Head is a stoned, blissed-out affair of the heart.
Flowers - Flowers - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
With a name like Bernard Butler seated in the producer's chair, you'd half-expect something heavier than this. But Flowers are as fragile as their name suggests, musically hovering somewhere around label-mates 'Allo Darlin' and folky Kathryn Williams. Heralded as a name to watch, Flowers can certainly knock out some gems when they want to - opener Young is summer all wrapped up, while Lonely is as cute as you can get. If Flowers needs anything it's a bigger sound and less songs - across fourteen songs, things start to flag after ten songs even though they're shorter in length than most. Still, if they can compose simple vignettes like If I Tell You and Be With You, Flowers may continue to grow.
Chain and the Gang - Minimum Rock and Roll - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Quite unlike anything else on Fortuna Pop, CATG's mainstay catalyst is Ian Svenonius of Nation Of Ulysses with a somewhat ramshackle approach to, er, rock and roll. He'll probably hate being compared to Jarvis Cocker or Band Of Holy Joy's Johny Brown but, hump it, I've said it. So it's a half-sung, half-spoken style backed up by retro blues-pop that works on occasion, fails on others and mystifies regularly. It all sounds like it was recorded in a shed on a Tascam, and why not? Mum's The Word and I'm A Choice (Not a Child) are the best of a bonkers bunch.
Martha - Courting Strong - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
'These GCSEs are really getting to me' proclaim Martha - you can almost smell the sherbet dib-dabs and bubble-gum stained football cards being dealt behind the bike-sheds. Mind you, being from Durham, there'd probably be something a bit stronger in their satchels. If they were still at school, that is. Presumably they're not - they look a bit older than 15 - because they've concocted an album full of tales about learning, losing lighters, love, youth, the past, the present, the future, diet-pills and probably a kitchen-sink in there somewhere. Martha's music is DIY, lo-fi and great fun in its own charming way. On the heavier side of Fortuna's roster, Courting Strong sounds like a big old broken heart soaked in (to quote their song-title) Gin and Listerine with a toe in twee and an elbow in the ribs.
Comet Gain - Paperback Ghosts - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
The band's seventh album is a bleary-eyed trample through Americana, twee-pop and psychedelia which reminds me of Wilco in places, The Pastels in others and sports some rather fetching tunes such as the pretty The Last Love Letter, which wouldn't sound amiss on a Felt album, 'Sad Love' And Other Short Stories and Sixteen Oh Four, a dead-ringer for a Go-Betweens song (more Forster than McLennan, methinks). Without wishing to accuse Comet Gain of being derivative, they're actually right on the money with much of Paperback Ghosts' songwriting and deserve a hearty slap on the back for keeping this skill alive (they've been going for 22 years, mark you). A worthy purchase.
The Proper Ornaments - Wooden Head - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
FP's website states that this thoughtful duo of Max Claps (great name) and Robert Syme nestles neatly in a world full of Love (the band AND the emotion), Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys and they're right. But there's also Triptides, Teenage Fanclub and Paul Weller in the mix as well. And probably Stereolab - because they've written a song with that very title. Wooden Head's contents are mildly druggy, hazy and melodic, chaotic even but rarely dull. In fact, come rain or shine, there'll be a place for the trippy Step Into The Cold, the woozy Sun and the lo-fi Tire Me Out. All tastefully glued together by way of an 8-track set-up, Wooden Head is a stoned, blissed-out affair of the heart.
Flowers - Flowers - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
With a name like Bernard Butler seated in the producer's chair, you'd half-expect something heavier than this. But Flowers are as fragile as their name suggests, musically hovering somewhere around label-mates 'Allo Darlin' and folky Kathryn Williams. Heralded as a name to watch, Flowers can certainly knock out some gems when they want to - opener Young is summer all wrapped up, while Lonely is as cute as you can get. If Flowers needs anything it's a bigger sound and less songs - across fourteen songs, things start to flag after ten songs even though they're shorter in length than most. Still, if they can compose simple vignettes like If I Tell You and Be With You, Flowers may continue to grow.
Chain and the Gang - Minimum Rock and Roll - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Quite unlike anything else on Fortuna Pop, CATG's mainstay catalyst is Ian Svenonius of Nation Of Ulysses with a somewhat ramshackle approach to, er, rock and roll. He'll probably hate being compared to Jarvis Cocker or Band Of Holy Joy's Johny Brown but, hump it, I've said it. So it's a half-sung, half-spoken style backed up by retro blues-pop that works on occasion, fails on others and mystifies regularly. It all sounds like it was recorded in a shed on a Tascam, and why not? Mum's The Word and I'm A Choice (Not a Child) are the best of a bonkers bunch.
Martha - Courting Strong - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
'These GCSEs are really getting to me' proclaim Martha - you can almost smell the sherbet dib-dabs and bubble-gum stained football cards being dealt behind the bike-sheds. Mind you, being from Durham, there'd probably be something a bit stronger in their satchels. If they were still at school, that is. Presumably they're not - they look a bit older than 15 - because they've concocted an album full of tales about learning, losing lighters, love, youth, the past, the present, the future, diet-pills and probably a kitchen-sink in there somewhere. Martha's music is DIY, lo-fi and great fun in its own charming way. On the heavier side of Fortuna's roster, Courting Strong sounds like a big old broken heart soaked in (to quote their song-title) Gin and Listerine with a toe in twee and an elbow in the ribs.