Once in a while you come across a song for the first time and you can't stop listening to it, over and over. Not in the way a song can go bad on you ("Hey Ya," "Crazy"), but in the way you still love it months and hundreds of listenings later. My current obsession is Dirty Mags by Blueboy.

I was late to the Twee Pop party, and only recently discovered Blueboy, and the label they recorded for, Sarah Records. Sarah was known for it's stable of Twee and Indie Pop bands, and Blueboy was no exception to this. Dirty Mags is a stand-out from this understanding, it's vibe and tone and carries a more harder, brit-pop, shoegaze sound. Dirty Mags was the lead track on a three song EP released on Sarah in 1995 shortly before the label shuttered.

Blueboy - Dirty Mags

More story and song lyrics after the jump.

Alerted to its impending arrival by EW of all places, I'd been expecting the release of Keren Ann and Bardi Johannsson's pet project Lady & Bird for several weeks before it actually hit the shelves here in the States. In that period, a smattering of mixed reviews came out and a partial from the last track floated around the blogs...removing a lot of the hope I had for the record. Fortunately, almost everything I'd read and heard before the album came out was wrong.

Beginning with moments of shimmering 60's folk and pop, it winds its way through psychedelia and back, invoking a feeling along the lines of what you'd expect from a husband and wife duo record made in Britan in 1967.

The songs Keren and Bardi have written themselves shine as the backbone of the record, leaving the stage set for their two particular covers: The Velvet Underground's "Stephanie Says" and the theme from M*A*S*H, "Suicide is Painless". In the hands of Lady and Bird, the latter becomes the epic 60's ballad that would have it was meant to be, had it come in time for the summer of love.

An excellent example of the tone of the record, check out "Walk Real Slow":

Lady & Bird - Walk Real Slow

The Liverpool duo Johnny Boy released their debut single, the deftly named, You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve, in 2004 to critical acclaim. Produced by James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers), the song is part Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and partJoy Division "Atmosphere." Band member Davo describes it's unique sound as, "Church bells, boy-girl vocals, loops, twists, warps, walls of sound and edgy guitars combined to rekindle the idea of Sandinesta-era Clash having an, erm, shootout with Phil Spector."

In June of 2006 Johnny Boy released their full-length album, however for unknown reasons, it's currently only available in Wales, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and as far as we can tell, sadly through no internet music stores.

Until someone snaps up this duo (Lolly Hayes and Davo) and gives them a proper release schedule, please sample their brilliant and infectious debut single, and try and not dance.

Johnny Boy on MySpace

Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation ...

The morning sun is coming through the curtains this morning, diffused just enough for these bleary eyes to stay open. An evening spent out until the wee hours last night has given these early hours of the day a tiny, almost fragile, feeling and I seem to have found music to appropriately go with it.

Parenthetical Girls currently have a fluid lineup, but for the recording of Safe As Houses the lineup consisted of Zac Pennington, Sam Mickens, and Jherek Bischoff and an assorted cast of characters including Rachel Jensen and Owen Ashworth (of Casiotone fame). While the band's previous working relationship with Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu often still shows, the band has tempered their sound to be very much their own, softening and polishing the abrasiveness down to a minimum.

Buying the album is almost worth it for the art direction alone, with paintings of the band members as the cast of a relationship, one that is intimate but strained, mirroring the album and evoking the feeling when love has left and been replaced by dread and lovers are left with awkward pauses and shudders at touches.

Parenthetical Girls - Keyholes And Curtains

July 23rd was the Camera Obscura show here in Seattle, which while I am super glad we went, it wasn't be cause of Camera Obscura. It was because of Georgie James.

Super twee band from Washington DC, formed by John, the ex-drummer of Q and Not U and his friend Laura...the band looked like the Muppets and sounded like the sweetest power pop these tired ears have heard in a good while. They also came out on stage with boundless energy, despite the fact that it was 100 degrees. Camera Obscura on the other hand, while musically perfect with their 6 piece on stage, trudged through their set as though they really wished they weren't there. Schtick or not, we stood outside and chatted with Laura Burhenn (the keyboardist and vocalist from Georgie James) about karaoke during the Camera Obscura set.

Yeah, karaoke. We invited the band back to our local hangout bar for karaoke because apparently they'd been dying to do some since their first tour stop, but alas they got sucked into the sad hipster bar next door for a show after-party. So we hung out at karaoke anyway, which happened to be underwear karaoke (due to the heat) and I was without underwear! You might think that this would have deterred me from singing, as everyone else who took the mic was in their drawers, but no...no it didn't. I just tied my shirt to look like a bra and fucking jammed out on "Gin and Juice" and Paula's "Vibeology". No, seriously. There are photos. It's unfortunate.

And no, your MP3s today are not of me singing, but rather of the wonderfuls Georgie James (and you're better for it). Enjoy "More Lights", and ode to suburban insecurity.

Georgie James - More Lights