Unpop 263 – Advent 2025

Christopher and His Kind – Stephen Hero (from ‘Convalescence’ LP)
4am – Blueboy (from ‘A Life in Numbers’ LP)
Comments In The Streams – The Gentle Spring (from ‘Looking Back At The World’ LP)
My Love Will Bring You Home – Allo Darlin’ (from ‘Bright Nights’ LP)
Waiting – Montjuïc (from ‘Things Must Change’ LP)
Flower Lab – Rural Tapes (from ‘Oneiric’ LP)
Still Life – Me Lost Me (from ‘This Material Moment’ LP)
Omakase of Time – Cassandra Jenkins (from ‘My Light, My Massage Parlor’ LP)
Wellington Bells – Ben Holton (from ‘Flowers Made Of Light’ LP)
Hooded Crow – Andrew Rumsey (from ‘Collodion’ LP)
That’s What the Music Is For (When the Fair’s Over) – The Apartments (from ‘That’s What the Music Is For’ LP)
A Different Day – Stuart Moxham (from ‘Winter Sun’ LP)
With You I Can Hear My Own Voice – Jens Lekman (from ‘Songs for Other People’s Weddings’ LP)
Ten Years Gone (feat. Bruce Springsteen) – The Waterboys (from ‘Life, Death And Dennis Hopper’ LP)
The Sound and the Summer – Suede (from ‘Antidepressants’ LP)
A Sunset – Pulp (from ‘More’ LP)
Take Me To The Pilot – Saint Etienne (from ‘International’ LP)
We Were Paintermen – Comet Gain (from ‘Letters To Ordinary Outsiders’ LP)
Cold at Night – the Mountain Goats (from ‘Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan’ LP)
Walking Contradiction (feat. Steve Ignorant) – Sunny War (from ‘Armageddon In A Summer Dress’ LP)
Brushstrokes of Reunion – Manic Street Preachers (from ‘Critical Thinking’ LP)
St Ives New School – Gwenno (from ‘Utopia’ LP)
Tristwch – Adwaith (from ‘Solas’ LP)
The Field – Blood Orange Feat. The Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek & Daniel Caesar (from ‘ Essex Honey’ LP)

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Unpop 262

The cover illustration is a linocut print of a robin at a wintry Unpopular pond.

Intro – Carson McHone (from ‘Pentimento’ LP)
Winter Breaking – Carson McHone (from ‘Pentimento’ LP)
The Woods – Annika Norlin (from ‘Mentor’ LP)
Cold at Night – the Mountain Goats (from ‘Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan’ LP)
With You I Can Hear My Own Voice – Jens Lekman (from ‘Songs for Other People’s Weddings’ LP)
Beverly Penn – The Waterboys
Coming Down – The United States Of America (from ‘The United States Of America’ LP)
Dark Streets of London feat. Spider Stacy – Stick In The Wheel feat. Spider Stacy (digital single)
Cry Baby (feat. Valerie June) – Sunny War (from ‘Armageddon In A Summer Dress’ LP)
The Gallopers – The Would-Be-Goods (from ‘Tears Before Bedtime’ LP)
Diamanté Dress – Cheap Feel (from ‘Good Credit’ EP)
Fool’s Errand – The Attendant (from lathe cut single)
The Black Crow Knows – Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians (from ‘Element of Light’ LP)
There Are Rivers – FLOWTING CLOWDS (from 7″ single)
Sentiments – Malena Zavala (from ‘If This Life Could Start Again’ LP)
Chapter III – Lay lone – anrimeal (from ‘Half Fool Half Empty’ LP)
Arna – Cate Francesca Brooks (from ‘Lofoten’ LP)
First Moonbeams Of Adulthood – Andrew Wasylyk (digital single)
The No-sound of Falling Snow – LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR (from ‘Colours Yet To Be Named’ LP)
A Dream Of A Beach During A Storm In Winter – The Form Group (from ‘Provincial Echo’ LP)
Voices from an Abandoned Village – Foster Neville (from ‘Through Lands Of Ghosts’ LP)
We never do find out (coda) – Ghostwriter & Michael Paine (from ‘Morrow’ LP)

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Return2Genesis – Fisty Kendal (from ‘Return2Genesis’ LP)
Doll’s House – The Orb (from ‘ Buddhist Hipsters’ LP)
Playground Soldiers – Swimming Lesson (from ‘Playground Soldiers’ LP)
Sunrise Over Old Earth – Pyramid Eyes (from ‘Awake in Deep Time’ LP)
Xmas – Mark Van Hoen (from ‘The Eternal Present’ LP)
A Modern Shopping Experience – The Balloonist (from ‘Wulfrun’ LP)
Chuffy – The Hardy Tree (from ‘Analysing A Ghost By Electronic Means’ LP)
The Box of Delights – The Rowan Amber Mill (from ‘The Wolves are Running in the Wildwood’ LP)
Verglas – Jodie Lowther (from ‘Moonmaskas’ LP)
Join Me To This – Earth (from ‘Dominie Hooper (from ‘In This Body Lives’ LP)
Crystal Cave – Pictish Trail (from ‘Life Slime’ LP)
Thought for the Day – O_RLLY (from ‘Half Life’ LP)
Sennen – Ride
England’s Glory – Max Wall
When Britain Was Great – European Sun (from ‘When Britain Was Great’ LP)
Secret Coda – Wreckless Eric (from ‘England Screaming’ LP)
Ca C’est L’amour – Franck Pourcel
To Wimbledon With Love – The Wombles
Love Song For The Dead Che #2 – Northern Picture Library
Exorcist Silhouette – Stephen Hero (from ‘Convalescence’ LP)
Oh My Love – John Lennon
The Family Coach – The Lilac Time (from ‘Looking For A Day In The Night (2025 Reissue)’ LP)

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A Hundred Years Hence – The Spell of Sarnia

Did you know that the Roman name for the island of Guernsey was Sarnia? It was certainly new knowledge for me and for this snippet alone I would have been happy to have read Mrs Baillie Reynolds’ 1925 novel ‘The Spell of Sarnia’. There is a great deal more to take from the book though, for this is a thoroughly engaging story of romance, mystery, folklore and witchcraft. It might be overthinking things to suggest that the book is also a reflection on the erosion of ancient traditions in the face of the capitalist obsession with ‘growth’, but if you perhaps squint just a little then the traces of such threads can surely be seen. Odd, perhaps, in a book written by a woman who married a stockbroker, but then again it can certainly be unfair to suggest that every person intimately engaged in the realms of commerce and the pursuit of capital must be tainted by wickedness. Sorely tempting, but unfair.

In terms of plot, the novel is fairly straightforward. A relatively impoverished descendent of Guernsey aristocracy returns to the island to find his ancestral home turned into a Country Club run by someone who seems to be a rather shady character. Returnee connects with an aunt who recounts the tale of the mythical ‘lost’ perfume ‘Sarnian Bouquet’ which was concocted by her brother, a perfumier turned to the demon drink by lost love. The ‘mystery’ element of the book then concerns the search for the lost ‘prescription’ for the perfume and this in turn introduces the threads of folklore, witchcraft and ultimately romance, all of which combine nicely in a very pleasing tapestry.

This narrative tapestry seems to be a blend of truth and fiction, fittingly so for a story that revolves around the idea of a ‘lost’ perfume that is itself a magical blend of secret ingredients. My 1949 reissue of the novel further muddies these waters by including advertisements encouraging one to “Build up and herd of Golden Guernseys” complete with photograph of an impressive looking beast, alongside ones for ‘Perfumes of Guernsey’ by C.Stonelake and Co., a pharmacist business that professes to be operated by the descendants of the ‘Pierre Dulac’ character in the novel. There is also a reproduction of a note, dated October 1925 and apparently signed from Baillie Reynolds, to one W. (Or possibly JW) Stonelake who apparently told her the story of the lost ‘Sarnian Bouquet’ perfume from which her tale sprung. And oddly enough (or perhaps not), ‘C.Stonelake and Co.’ Is also the publisher of the 1949 edition… A Stonelake Pharmacy does appear to still operate on the island. All intriguing little connections if one cares for such things.

For someone who was not a native or long term inhabitant of the island, Baillie Reynolds’ nevertheless infuses the book with what feels like a convincing sense of place. True ‘donkeys’ (or ‘ânes’), as the Guernsey inhabitants are traditionally called, might disagree, but for an idle tourist like me there are plenty of references to real places that once can locate on maps (the Pleinmont headland, the causeway to Lihou) to get a sense that the writer has a genuine warmth for the place.

Similarly, the folklore elements (including the tale of how the Guernsey Lily came into being, which naturally involves fairies) feel convincing but never overpowering. The involvement of witchcraft also strikes me as being admirably balanced. There are visions in crystal balls, mesmeric trances, pentagrams drawn on rocks and an amusing confusion of a goat as a satanic presence, but none of it feels either sensationally tokenistic nor wearisomely involved and detailed. Anyone looking for a darker supernatural thriller type affair might feel disappointed, but for someone like me who finds such things rather trying, ‘The Spell of Sarnia’ hits something of a sweet spot.

It might be just a shade too populist to appeal to true aficionados of the weird (or indeed of the Wyrd) but nevertheless I can just about imagine someone in the 21st Century making a soundtrack album for an imaginary film of ‘The Spell of Sarnia’. Someone like Drew Mulholland perhaps, or Alison Cotton, whose marvellous ‘The House of the Famous Poet’ features in the new Riz Ahmed movie ‘Relay’. I would certainly listen to such a thing, just as I would certainly recommend tracking down a copy of ‘The Spell of Sarnia’.

Unpop 261

The cover illustration is a linocut print of Sidmouth Pier in East-Devon. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

Omakase of Time (Parlor Version) – Cassandra Jenkins (from ‘My Light, My Massage Parlor (Parlor Version)’ LP)
Changing Weather – Ben Holton (from ‘Flowers Made Of Light’ LP)
Timber – Kieran Hebden + William Tyler (from ‘41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s’ LP)
Caochan – Susannah Stark (from ‘Minor Gestures’ LP)
Empowered Woman – C8xx (digital single)
Flower Lab – Rural Tapes (from ‘Oneiric’ LP)
Somewhere, Nowhere – Nightbus (from ‘Passenger’ LP)
The Fallow Girl – Rapid Eye Electronics Ltd. (from ‘Archons Come In Dreams’ LP)
Petrichor – Jodie Lowther (from ‘Moonmaskas’ LP)
On Silbury Hill – United Bible Studies (from ‘Strange is the Coastline’ LP)
Here in Silence – The Owl Service (from ‘A Tribute to Sandy Denny’ EP)
Chalkhills And Children – XTC (from ‘Oranges & Lemons’ LP)
Melinda (More or Less) – Curved Air
Kisses – Tchotchke (from ‘Playin’ Dumb’ LP)
Cherry Plum – Railcard (from ‘Railcard’ EP))
Favourite Pair of Shoes – Lande Hekt (from ‘Lucky Now’ LP)
Transfixed Gaze – Tulpa (from ‘Monster Of The Week’ LP)
No North Star – Massage (from ‘Coaster’ LP)
Still Life – Me Lost Me (from ‘This Material Moment’ LP)
Seen and done it all – The Claim (from ‘Armstrong’s Revenge and Eleven Other Short Stories’ LP)
A Different Day – Stuart Moxhan (from ‘Winter Sun’ LP)

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P~1 – The Orb (from ‘ Buddhist Hipsters’ LP)
A Landscape Of Roads – Swimming Lesson (from ‘Home Electronics’ LP)
Silver Trees – Henry Badowski (from ‘Life Is A Grand’ LP)
Headache for Michelle (12″ Version) – Au Pairs (from ‘Stepping Out of Line – the Anthology’)
The Art of Falling Apart – Soft Cell (from ‘The Art of Falling Apart’ LP)
Room At The Top – Quatermass 3 (from ‘Quatermass III’ LP)
Armies of the Lord – the Mountain Goats (from ‘Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan’ LP)
Adios, Mariquita Linda – Artie Shaw
Grandmother – Big Thief feat. Laraaji (from ‘Infinity’ LP)
Teenage Daydream – Alex E.T. (from ‘Color Of Strange‘ LP)
Walking Contradiction (feat. Steve Ignorant) – Sunny War (from ‘Armageddon In A Summer Dress’ LP)
Gun in Every Home (Nebraska Outtakes) – Bruce Springsteen (from ‘Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition’ LP)
Salvation Song – The Lilac Time (from ‘Looking For A Day In The Night’ LP)
Angela Starling – Rollerskate Skinny (from ‘Horsedrawn Wishes’ LP)
A Song For Seasons – epic45 (from ‘Reckless Engineers’ LP)
It’s a Casino Life – The Apartments (from ‘That’s What the Music Is For’ LP)
Eyes Down – The Bats (from ‘Corner Coming Up‘ LP)
for violet – ann annie (from ‘el prado’ LP)

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Unpop 260

The cover illustration is a linocut print of a derelict barn and caravan in a yard deep in the Mid-Devon lanes. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

The Last Of England – Blood Orange (from ‘Essex Honey’ LP)
There’s More to Life Than Crooks – LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR (single)
Two Little Pigs – Jens Lekman (from ‘Songs for Other People’s Weddings’ LP)
Brand New Me – Saint Etienne (from ‘International’ LP)
AUTO – Sofie Royer (digital single)
Future Tree – Emma Pollock (from ‘Begging The Night To Take Hold‘ LP)
Little Wars – Alex E.T. (from ‘Color Of Strange‘ LP)
Let’s Make A Tulpa! – Tulpa (from ‘Monster Of The Week’ LP)
Dancing with the Europeans – Suede (from ‘Antidepressants’ LP)
Silver Lashings – Tigers and Flies (from ‘Smashing Scene’ EP)
I Wanna Be A Vampire – Steve Stoeckel (from ‘Chilling, Thrilling Hooks And Haunted Harmonies: The Big Stir Records Halloween Grimoire’ LP)
Rachel On The Rooftops – Aug Stone (digital single)
4am – Blueboy (from ‘A Life in Numbers’ LP)
Provincial Disco – The Wake (from ‘Tidal Wave of Hype’ LP)
Before We Prayed – Stuart Moxham (from ‘Winter Sun’ LP)
Slaw – Gruff Rhys (from ‘Dim Probs’ LP)
Tilt-a-Whirl – Glo-Worm (from ‘Glimmer’ LP)
Skipping Around – Tchotchke (from ‘Playin’ Dumb’ LP)
With Wings We’ll Soar The Heavens – Dead Famous People (from ‘Wild Young Ways‘ LP)
Sha La La – Zoot (from ‘Archaeology’ LP)
When You Said Goodbye – The Cords (from ‘The Cords‘ LP)
Lonely Planet Boy – New York Dolls
A Gift – Dean Wareham (digital single)
Time is an Angel – Cruise Control (from ‘Time Is An Angel’ LP)

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Fruits of My Tending – Carson McHone (from ‘Pentimento’ LP)
Thanks For Nothing – Thomas Jefferson Kaye (from ‘Thomas Jefferson Kaye’ LP)
All Night All Day – Big Thief (from ‘Infinity’ LP)
Alpenglow – Modern Nature (from ‘The Heat Warps’ LP)
Waiting – Montjuïc (from ‘Things Must Change’ LP)
Astraglossa – Lord Of The Isles (from ‘Signals Aligned’ LP)
Prior Slee’s Gateway – Carlisle City Council (from ‘Gateways To The City’ LP)
Cân Idris – Peiriant (from ‘Dychwelyd’ LP)
Driving Slow – herbal tea (from ‘Hear as the Mirror Echoes’ LP)
America – Lila Tristram (from ‘America’ LP)
Your Garden – Ben Holton (from ‘Flowers Made Of Light’ LP)
Garden (feat. Kronos Quartet) – Will Ackerman (from ‘Past Light’ LP)
Four Corners Of The Earth – Maurice Deebank (from ‘Inner Thought Zone’ LP)
Nowhere, Please – Martin Carr (from ‘The Canton Hours’ LP)
A Handful of Tomorrow – The Apartments (from ‘That’s What the Music Is For’ LP)
The Gown – The Bats (from ‘Corner Coming Up‘ LP)
Like Before – Piggietails (from ‘Piggietails’ LP)
There Are Rivers – Flowting Clowds (from ‘Earth, Sun, Moon / There are Rivers’ single)
The Boys’ Own Book Of Birds – Artmagic (from ‘The Songs Of Other England’ LP)
Wimbledon Sunset – The Wombles (from ‘Remember You’re A Womble’ LP)
Precipice – Indigo De Souza (from ‘Precipice’ LP)

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Unpop 259

(digital single)

The cover illustration is a linocut print showing the island of Ailsa Craig in The Firth of Clyde, Scotland

the ocean – ann annie (from ‘el prado’ LP)
MELT – Malena Zavala (from ‘Saw You Coming’ single)
Anything Might Happen – Avi C Engel (from ‘Mote’ LP)
Chapter I – Ana, silt – anrimeal (from ‘Half Fool Half Empty’ LP)
Overtake – Lila Tristram (from ‘America’ LP)
Love Not Fire – Blind Yeo (digital single)
Rivers Run Red – The New Eves (from ‘The New Eve Is Rising’ LP)
Vicky’s Box – Throwing Muses (from ‘Throwing Muses’ LP)
The Beautiful Changes – Julie Covington (from ‘The Beautiful Changes’ LP)
Hurricane – Dominie Hooper (from ‘In This Body Lives’ LP)
Cycling Song – Piggietails (from ‘Piggietails’ LP)
Wild Young Ways – Dead Famous People (from ‘Wild Young Ways’ LP)
The York Song – The Orchids (from ‘Lyceum’ reissue LP)
Take it (squeaky clean mix) – 14 Iced Bears (digital single)
How Much More – The Go-Go’s (from ‘I Wanna Be A Teen Again: North American Power Pop of the ’80s’ CD boxset)
(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame – Elvis Presley
The Winner Takes It All – Abba
Future Me – Radhika (digital single)
It’s The Way – Pete Dello And Friends (from ‘Into Your Ears’ LP)
Just like Me – Colin Hare (from ‘March Hare’ LP)
Never Let You Go – Felt (from ‘Me & A Monkey On The Moon’ LP)
It’s Gotten Quiet Round Here – Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars (from ‘Amazing Things’ LP)

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Copcut Lane – The Drain On The Balcony (from ‘Outsider Art’ LP)
Happy Ever After – Silver Synthetic (digital single)
Like a Bell – Cruise Control (from ‘Time Is An Angel’ LP)
I Remember Sunshine – Jake Holmes (from ‘So Close, So Very Far to Go’ LP)
Thanks For All The Beach Hut! – Martin Carr (from ‘The Canton Hours’ LP)
If U Want – Fell (from ‘Futility Rites’ LP)
Daffy Duck – Massage (from ‘Coaster’ LP)
Angles Mortz – Nightbus (from ‘Passenger’ LP)
Knock On The Sky – Andy Fosberry (Castles in Space Subscription Library Singles Club)
Spoons – Peiriant (from ‘Dychwelyd’ LP)
Caochan – Susannah Stark & Band (from ‘Minor Gestures’ LP)
Wellington Bells – Ben Holton (from ‘Flowers Made Of Light’ LP)
Bird’s-Eye View – Rural Tapes (from ‘Oneiric’ LP)
Opalescent – Lord Of The Isles (from ‘Signals Aligned’ LP)
Avebury – Ultramarine (from ‘Routine’ LP)
220Hz [Lomond Campbell remix] – Dot Allison (from ‘Subconsciousology [Lomond Campbell remixes]’ LP)
Seekers Who Are Lovers (EP Version) – Cocteau Twins (from ‘Otherness – EP’)
Take Me To The Pilot – Saint Etienne (from ‘International’ LP)
Generation Egoiste (Tout Tout D’Suite) – Generation Egoiste (from ‘Histoire De Coeur. Lost French Synth-Pop 7’ers & Euro-Bombs 1980-89’ LP)
I Want More – Fini Tribe (from ‘The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe: 1982-1987’ LP)
The Fifth Compass Point Dub – Trem 77 (from ‘The Fifth Compass Point’ LP)
A Drop In The Ocean – Dream Unit (from ‘All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985’ LP)

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Unpop 257

The cover illustration is a linocut print showing ‘Ingles Farm’ (from the Malcolm Saville ‘Lone Pine’ series of stories) in Shropshire, England. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

“C” Moon Cry Like a Baby – Simple Minds (from ‘Sparkle in the Rain’ LP)
Die In The Summertime – Manic Street Preachers (from ‘The Holy Bible’ LP)
Y Ddawns – Adwaith (from ‘Solas’ LP)
Heartthrob – Indigo De Souza (from ‘Precipice’ LP)
catch these fists – Wet Leg (from ‘moisturizer’ LP)
Alphabet Pony – The Kills (from ‘Midnight Boom’ LP)
Trick Pony – Charlotte Gainsbourg (from ‘IRM’ LP)
Sean Briggs (Is A Real Yes Man) – Cheap Feel (from ‘Good Grace’ EP)
Do You Remember ‘The Lites On The Water’- Comet Gain (from ‘Letters To Ordinary Outsiders’ LP)
Dropping Bombs on the Whitehouse – The Style Council (from ‘Café Bleu’ LP)
El Figaro – Swamp Children (from ‘So Hot’ LP)
Glad – Saint Etienne (from ‘International’ LP)
Farmers Market – Pulp (from ‘More’ LP)
Summer Song (Wishing You Were Here) – Slade (from ‘Slade in Flame’ LP)
Vacances A Deux – Kira (from ‘Histoire De Coeur. Lost French Synth-Pop 7’ers & Euro-Bombs 1980-89’ LP)
I Tune Into You – John Howard (from ‘All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985’ LP)
Someone Who Cares – Heavenly (from ‘Portland Town’ single)
Pacio’r Fan – Swansea Sound (from ‘Oasis v Blur’ single)
Chwyn Chwyldroadol! – Gruff Rhys (from ‘Dim Probs’ LP)
Keep Nothing – The Quarterlies (digital single)
Stop Go – Pete Astor (from ‘Unsent Letters – Home Recordings 1984-2024’ LP)
Nobody You’d Know – Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars (from ‘Amazing Things’ LP)
Saturday Son – Theatre Royal (from ‘A Change Of Weather’ LP)
Don’t Try To Explain – Neil MacArthur (from ‘Come Join My Orchestra: The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-73’ LP)

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Blood Moon – HARESS (from ‘Skylarks’ LP)
the field – ann annie (from ‘the ocean / the field’ LP)
We All Rise with the Sun – Morgan Szymanksi and Tommy Perman (from ‘Songs for the Mist Forest’ LP)
Weeping Roses [Lomond Campbell remix] – Dot Allison (from ‘Subconsciousology [Lomond Campbell remixes]’ LP)
Shine – Mark Van Hoen (from ‘The Eternal Present’ LP)
Crop Circle 5am – Ultramarine (from ‘Routine’ LP)
Pharaoh – Modern Nature (from ‘The Heat Warps’ LP)
Incomprehensible – Big Thief Double (from ‘Infinity’ LP)
The Damage We Have Done – Lavinia Blackwall (from ‘The Making’ LP)
Machine Gun – Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau (from ‘Songs Originally Sung by Women Singers’ LP)
War – Gwenno (from ‘Utopia’ LP)
Corresponent – Lukas Creswell-Rost (from ‘Weight Away’ LP)
Into The Circle – Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee (from ‘Last Ride’ LP)
‘Til I Die – The Beach Boys
Everybody Is A Star – Sly & The Family Stone
Darkfall – Tim Didymus & Foster Neville (from ‘Ulla’ LP)
Bees – GNAC (from ‘The Echoes On Departure’ LP)
Arna – Cate Francesca Brooks (from ‘Lofoten’ LP)
Where The Water Meets The Land – Mark Fry (from ‘Not On The Radar’ LP)
The Lonely Cry of Lost Souls at Sea – Alison O’Donnell & Gayle Brogan (from ‘A Colloquy of Birds’ LP)

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Unpop 256

The cover illustration is a linocut print showing Whitby in Yorkshire, England. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

Like Breathing Statues – Cate Francesca Brooks (from ‘Lofoten’ LP)
Sunrise – Ultramarine (from ‘Routine’ LP)
Midsummer Boulevard – Ben Edge (from ‘Children of Albion’ LP)
Téte Brec, the Twinkling Hoard – Milkweed (from ‘Remscéla’ LP)
My Oh My – Dana Gavanski (from ‘Again Again’ EP)
Air On My Skin – Karen Vogt (from ‘Haunted Woodland Volume Five’ LP)
I Only Once Heard Them Singing – Firestations (from ‘Many White Horses’ LP)
Summer Night on the River – David Lloyd-Jones & Royal Scottish National Orchestra (from ‘2 Pieces for Small Orchestra’ LP)
Meadow Melting – The Balloonist (from ‘Dreamland’ LP)
Plainsong – Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee (from ‘Last Ride’ LP)
All I Want to Know – Imagination (from ‘In the Heat of the Night’ LP)
Don’t Be Scared – We Are KING (from ‘Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono’ LP)
This Perfect Friend – Tanita Tikaram (digital single)
Dancing On Volcanoes – Gwenno (from ‘Utopia’ LP)
1000 Years – Typsy Panthre (digital single)
Il Peggior Bar di Caracas – Molly Nilsson (from ‘Certe Notti’ 7”)
I Scare Myself – Thomas Dolby (from ‘The Flat Earth’ LP)
Praise Inverter – Spanned Canyons (from ‘The Only Perfect Way for This to End’ LP)

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Zen And The Art Of Nonsense – John McKay (from ‘Sixes And Sevens’ LP)
No Motion – Disco Volante (from ‘All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985’ LP)
Heddiw/Yfory – Adwaith (from ‘Solas’ LP)
The Water – Indigo De Souza (from ‘All of This Will End’ LP)
Did You Hear? – Tchotchke (digital single)
Kingdom of Love – The Soft Boys (from ‘Underwater Moonlight’ LP)
Ten Years Gone (feat. Bruce Springsteen) – The Waterboys (from ‘Life, Death And Dennis Hopper’ LP)
Here I Come – The Bablers (from ‘Like The First Time’ LP)
Those Days Of Summer – Louis Philippe (from ‘The Road To The Sea’ LP)
Big Red Sun – Mark Fry (from ‘Not On The Radar’ LP)
Professor Yaffle’s Treacle Jam – The Rowan Amber Mill (from ‘Never Meant to Displease the Fields and the Trees’ LP)
She Moved Through The Fair – The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus (from ‘Rumours of Angels’ LP)
Koffee Pot – The Montgolfier Brothers (from ‘Think Once More’ anthology LP)
Move On Sunshine – Peter Hall (digital single)
Meadow Of Love – The Pale Fountains (from ‘The Complete Virgin Years’ boxset)
Just Beyond Your Smile – Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends (from ‘Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends’ LP)
Summer Is Here – Armstrong (from ‘HandiCrafts’ LP)
What’s Lost – Jeanines (from ‘How Long Can It Last’ LP)
Summer Lies – The Magnetic Fields (from ‘The Wayward Bus’ LP)
The View From Your Room – Lightheaded (from ‘Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming’ LP)
My Love Will Bring You Home – Allo Darlin’ (from ‘Bright Nights’ LP)
Such A Shame – Robert Forster (from ‘Strawberries’ LP)

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Unpop 255

The cover illustration is a linocut print showing hawthorn blossom and barns near the village of Gittisham in Devon, England. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

Multiplex – Mark Van Hoen (from ‘The Eternal Present’ LP)
Scattering the Sand Elements – Cate Francesca Brooks (from ‘The Scissors Cut the Silk’ LP)
Polyfusion (2025 Remaster) – Seefeel (from ‘Quique Redux’ LP)
Harmonic Rain – Morgan Szymanski and Tommy Perman (from ‘Songs for the Mist Forest’ LP)
The Spirit of the Trees – The Rowan Amber Mill (from ‘Never Meant to Displease the Fields and the Trees’ LP)
Bird in the Bush – Anne Briggs (from ‘Sing a Song for You’ LP)
In May You Sing All Day – Alison O’Donnell & Gayle Brogan (from ‘A Colloquy of Birds’ LP)
The Triumph – Virginia and Florence Astley (digital single)
Lark In the Clear Air – John Renbourn, Maggie Boyle, Tony Roberts & Steve Tilston (from ‘John Renbourn’s Ship of Fools’ LP)
Children of Albion (Guest Vocals Elspeth Anne) – Ben Edge (from ‘Children of Albion’ LP)
The Making – Lavinia Blackwall (from ‘The Making’ LP)
Instead of a Heart – Andrew Rumsey (from ‘Collodion’ LP)
Pro-Celebrity Standing Around – The Montgolfier Brothers (from ‘Think Once More’ anthology LP)
Meet My Maker – Matthew Bannister (from ‘One Man Bannister: The Dark Backward’ LP)
Searching For Lambs – Steeleye Span (from ‘Tempted and Tried’ LP)
Hedgehog’s Song – Geoff Smedley (from ‘Before The Day Is Done: The Story of Folk Heritage Records 1968-1975’ LP)
Flatbed Alfalfa Run To Pueblo, Colorado, Fall 1972 – Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee (from ‘Last Ride’ LP)
Magnolia Veil (In memory of David Lynch) – Birds In The Brickwork (from ‘Suburb Study #2’ LP)
In Heaven – Princess Chelsea (from ‘Everything Is Going To Be Alright’ LP)
Bourgeois Manqué – Dean Wareham (from ‘That’s the Price of Loving Me’ LP)

Download part one

Dreaming – Blondie (from ‘Eat To The Beat’ LP)
Union City Blue – Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes (7” single)
I Go Ape (session) – The Vultures (from ‘Liz Kershaw session’ EP)
On And On – Jeanines (from ‘How Long Can It Last’ LP)
Scatterflats – Action Painting! (from ‘Scatterflats’ EP)
One Of Those Dreams – The Bablers (from ‘Like The First Time’ LP)
Helping Others – Painting (from ‘Snapshot Of Pure Attention’ LP)
Computer – The Microbes (from ‘All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985’ LP)
Cloudburst at Shingle Street – Thomas Dolby (from ‘The Golden Age of Wireless’ LP)
The Relativity of Wrong – Jetstream Pony (from ‘Bowerbirds and Blue Things’ LP)
Somersaults – The Loft (from ‘Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same’ LP)
Tricky Questions – Allo Darlin’ (digital single)
Same Drop – Lightheaded (from ‘Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming’ LP)
Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You – Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires (from ‘Sounds Made By Humans’ LP)
Sundrenched Girl (Crazier) (Acoustic) – The Pale Fountains (from ‘The Complete Virgin Years’ boxset)
Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste – The Soft Set (digital single)
Sweetest Star – Robert Sekula (from ‘Asyd Mouse’ EP)
Goldmining – DAVID CHRISTIAN (from ‘TEENAGE HIGHS! (Indie Pop Gems Recalled)’ LP)
Bliss – The Pinefox
Flat On My Back – The First Division (live at ‘Exeter Goes Pop!’)
Seeing Stars – The Visitors (from ‘Miss’ LP)
Loline – The Bats (digital single)
The Tourist (feat. Barny Fletcher & Sugarfoot) – The Waterboys (from ‘Life, Death And Dennis Hopper’ LP)
Welsh Coastal Towns – Theatre Royal (from ‘A Change Of Weather’ LP)
Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit’sworldwouldfallapart – Manic Street Preachers (from ‘The Holy Bible’ LP)

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Unpop 254

The cover illustration is a linocut print showing a hawthorn tree and the Stiperstones in Shropshire, England. Original prints are available in the UNPOPSHOP

I Don’t Know How I Made It (feat. Taylor Goldsmith) – The Waterboys (from ‘Life, Death And Dennis Hopper’ LP)
Never Read The Signs – Ian M. Bailey (from ‘Lost In a Sound’ LP)
New Memories – Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears (from ‘Head In The Sand’ LP)
Back Home – Silver Synthetic (from ‘Rosalie’ LP)
Listening To Bobby Charles – Gary Louris (from ‘Dark Country’ LP)
Save Me Jesus – Bobby Charles (from ‘Bobby Charles’ LP)
Hooded Crow – Andrew Rumsey (from ‘Collodion’ LP)
No Sooner Here (Than It’s gone) – Matthew Bannister (from ‘One Man Bannister: The Dark Backward’ LP)
Marigold – The Ocean Blue (from ‘Cerulean’ LP)
ten years dialogue (from ‘Grosse Point Blank’)
Ten Years – The Loft (from ‘Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same’ LP)
Pictures Of Anna – Louis Philippe (from ‘The Road To The Sea’ LP)
A Thing That Used to Be – Snails (from ‘Just Look Around’ LP)
We Are Dreams – Peter Hall (digital single)
Hang in for Us Both – Dana Gavanski (from ‘Again Again’ LP)
The Magic Wasn’t There – Julie Covington (from ‘The Beautiful Changes’ LP)
The Kick Inside – Kate Bush (from ‘The Kick Inside’ LP)
I Nearly Forgot, But I Went Back – Julie Driscoll (from ‘1969’ LP)
Alice – Joan Armatrading (from ‘Whatever’s For Us’ LP)
Another Side – Nicolas Godin & We Are KING (digital single)
I’ll Always Love You (But Don’t Look Back) – Imagination (from ‘Body Talk’ LP)
Pictures of Adolf Again – Bill Fay (from ‘Time of the Last Persecution’ LP)

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Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan (from ‘The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 : Rare And Unreleased, 1961-1991’ LP)
Not On The Radar – Mark Fry (from ‘Not On The Radar’ LP)
88 Seconds In Greensboro – Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark (from ‘Crush’ LP)
On The Quarter Days (Radio Edit) – Prolapse (digital single)
Papists F.C. Theme – Papists F.C. (digital single)
In A Hole – The Jesus and Mary Chain (from ‘Psychocandy’ LP)
Mynd I Lawr – Ffa Coffi Pawb (from ‘Dalec Peilon’ LP)
Losing Your Grip (Censorship Sucks! Version) – Meat Whiplash (from ‘Collected/Contextualized’ LP)
Good Thing (session) – The Vultures (from ‘Liz Kershaw session’ EP)
THROWAWAYS – DAVID CHRISTIAN (from ‘HOMEMADE THROWAWAYS’ LP)
And When You’re There – The Chills (from ‘Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs’ LP)
Martin Scorsese – Cheap Feel (digital single)
Room for Everybody (Never Let Go of the Joy) – Hachiku (from ‘The Joys of Being Pure at Heart’ LP)
The Shape’s Gonna Shift My Way – Anna Hillburg (digital single)
Reverence (Basic Design’s Reverent Roller Disco Remix) – numün (from ‘Opening (remixes)’ LP)
The Open Fields – The Balloonist (from ‘Dreamland’ LP)
Secret Place – da Googie + Cara Tivey (from ‘The Golden Thread’ LP)
A Weight Starts To Lift – Firestations (from ‘Many White Horses’ LP)
Crossbones Lament (Guest Vocals Angeline Morrison) – Ben Edge (from ‘Children of Albion’ LP)
End Transmission – Micro Moon (from ‘Figure in a Landscape’ EP)

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