Pop! #13: Gwen Gladeyes - Lullabye

When I first contacted Auckland, New Zealand duo The Gladeyes about The Pop! For Kids Project a year ago, I quickly learned the band was soon going to go on hiatus, because Jade would move far far away to Sweden. Thankfully, Gwen then decided to try to record something on her own, and today you can be witness of how well she succeeded! Lullabye is a lovely, dreamy song about the magic of dreaming, and about how everything is possible in your dreams. And if you dream hard enough, in real life too, of course.

The Gladeyes' discography is filled with gems like this. You can buy their two albums from their bandcamp (from where you can also download a lot of free songs) or at Lil' Chief Records. The future of The Gladeyes seems somewhat uncertain, but if Gwen can make such pretty music all by herself, I don't think we need to really worry.

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Pop! #12: Sweater Girls - I'm a little dinosaur

Jackie! Joey! Diana! Tatiana! Cary! They're not all girls, but they're all Sweater Girls. They're a sparkly indiepop band from Los Angeles, California, who make jangly guitar songs influenced by, they say, "friendships, loneliness and laughter."

So far, the 'Girls' have released two 7" singles and one split cassette on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records, and I've loved their sound since the very first time I heard their debut 'Do the sweater' one and a half years ago. Fresh from their facebook page comes the exciting news that they've just finished recording their debut full length which we can expect this year.

Especially for The Pop! For Kids Project the band recorded a lovely and warmly sincere cover of the great Jonathan Richman classic 'I'm a little dinosaur', which I haven't been able to stop playing since they sent it to me. I'm quite certain you (and your kids) will love it too!

You can buy Sweater Girls' records here.

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Pop! #11: When Nalda Became Punk - Truffaut, the dog

When Nalda Became Punk are a lo-fi punky popgroup from Vigo, Spain. The band started out as a solo project for Elena Sestelo, but earlier this year she was joined by Roberto Cibeira and José Oliveira. This summer the trio released their debut single (theme song When Nalda Became Punk) as a 7" on Pebble Records. Earlier, WNBP released a couple of lof-fi demo's to the internet, which can be heard on the band's myspace, bandcamp or soundcloud. Mix the sounds of their listed influences like Heavenly, Clap your hands say yeah!, Helen Love and Belle & Sebastian and add a charming Spanish accent, and you should get a pretty good idea of what to expect from this band.

Their lovely song contribution to TP!FKP is Truffaut, the dog, a sweet but edgy (and catchy!) song about Elena's own cool sausage dog. It's obviously a song born out of friendship, but also with the knowledge of the dog's nature mixed in. "You wag your tail / But you always wag your tail." It's been claimed that, small and cute as they are, sausage dogs are perhaps the most aggressive dogs around. When Nalda Became Punk know it too: "You use your eyes to look kind /But it doesn´t work when you bite."

Elena was so kind to provide the complete lyrics and lovely, specially made cover art for the song, both of which you can download below.

You can still buy the When Nalda Became Punk 7" here.

[MP3] [cover] [lyrics]

Pop! #10: World Of Fox - Pure imagination

World Of Fox is Simon Fox from Birmingham, England. Simon usually makes lovely, mostly acoustic music as Fox, World Of Fox, Lonesome Fox, and other fox monikers. In the past, he sometimes also used to be a bit louder as a member of the band Grover. For The Pop! For Kids Project, World Of Fox recorded a wonderful version of the classic Pure imagination, originally sung by actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Pure imagination is a magical song with a beautiful melody written by Leslie Briscusse and delightful lyrics by Anthony Newley. World Of Fox takes this beauty and turns it into something intimately his own, a great new perspective on such a well loved tune. I can only say: very well done!

World Of Fox released two albums, Respect and Jeane, simultaneously on the last day of last year on the Where It's At Is Where You Are label. You can stream all Simon's releases on his website, and download some for free as well.

This weekend Simon will be playing at the Indietracks festival on Saturday afternoon in the church.

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Pop! #9: Liechtenstein - How much is that doggie in the window

Liechtenstein from Sweden have been spoiling us with perfect popsongs since 2007. Most recent example is the lovely new single, Meantime. Especially for this project the girls recorded an absolutely wonderful version of the classic How much is that doggie in the window. The song was written by Bob Merill in 1952, and made famous by Patti Page and Lita Roza in the following year. Almost 60 years later, Liechtenstein manage to keep all the charm of those famous recordings but add their own little magic to it, effortlessly owning the song from start to finish.

An interview I did with Liechtenstein in 2008 is still online on my other blog, for those of you who want to find out more about this great band. (Since the interview, Ulrika has taken Naemi's place on the bass.)

You can buy Liechtenstein's records from here and here.

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Pop! #8: The Indelicates - The sad gnome song

The Indelicates are an English popgroup formed around Julia and Simon Indelicate. In their usual 'grown up' style they mix influences from folk, punk, classical music and indiepop/rock, resulting in edgy, catchy and original songs with great melodies and insightful lyrics. The Indelicates' contribution to this project is quite a bit different, but no less fun. It's an amusing (but sad) little tale of a gnome who doesn't have very much room in his mushroom house. The song was recorded a couple of years ago, but hasn't appeared on any of their releases so far, even though it had a record label named after it!

You can buy The Indelicates' records here, here, here and here.

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Pop! #7: Mascot Fight - Dance like robots

Mascot Fight are a joyful sounding English indiepop quartet, who make songs with lyrics full of social commentary and wit. I was excited when they promised to contribute a song especially written and recorded for this project. The result is this, the bouncy and very catchy Dance like robots. It's lovely. If you like this song you'll be up for a treat with their albums. Most songs tell nice stories that lift you up, make you think or laugh for a minute, and put your mind in a unique place for a while. But now first: "...come on let's dance everyone, let's all dance like robots!" With a tune like this, who could possibly resist?

You can buy Mascot Fight's albums here, or give them a listen first, here.

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Pop! #6: Monkey Swallows The Universe - Inspector Flamingo

Nat Johnson is widely known for making beautiful pop music with gorgeous vocals and melancholy melodies. For this reason I asked Nat for a contibution from her and her new band the Figureheads, but what I got instead is at least as nice: an unreleased song by her previous band Monkey Swallows The Universe. "We did put it up on our website for a bit just after we split as it was the only thing we'd recorded that no one had heard, but otherwise it's not been available," says Nat. Written by her in a silly mood in 2007, this is actually a delightful song perfectly suited for this project: a lovely melody and an entertaining story, with sweet intrumentation that fits this song perfectly. And then there's that voice of course.

Monkey Swallows The Universe were an English acoustic folk-pop/indiepop band, centred around the original founding duo of Nat Johnson and Kevin Gori. When the band disbanded in 2008, Nat went solo for a short while and is she's now making pretty music with her new backing band The Figureheads.

You can buy Nat Johnson's releases here and here, and Monkey Swallows The Universe's albums are also still available, here.

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Pop! #5: A Smile And A Ribbon - Honey bee

This next contribution by A Smile And A Ribbon from Sweden is really something very special. The foundation of the recording of this traditional nursery rhyme was built in 1986: it's vocals and piano by a then four year old Rebecca Mehlman plus the voice of her father making the announcements. Then in the present day Rebecca and Martin Lindqvist took that old recording and added the rest of the intruments. The result is this really intimate and innocent, previously unreleased song.

For those of you still unfamiliar with A Smile And A Ribbon, make sure to at least download the three free MP3s from their last.fm website to hear what a grown up Rebecca sounds like. You might just find yourself a new favourite band richer.

You can buy A Smile And A Ribbon's wonderful records here, here and here, or see what the band's up to on myspace and facebook.

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Pop! #4: Zipper - Tamagotchi

Zipper from Spain make heartwarming pop songs with a punky edge, sung in both Spanish and English. This catchy tune is about 'the most faithful pet that I have ever seen', the toy Tamagotchi (remember those?). It was one of the first songs David wrote for Zipper, but it has never found its way to an official release. This live recording with English vocals from Maria is from 2002, and premieres on the internet today especially for this project.

An interview I did with Zipper a while ago is still online on my other blog, for those of you who want to know a bit more about this band.

You can buy Zipper's music here, here and here. Oh, and here!

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Pop! #3: Vom Vorton - The world is round

English Vom Vorton is Tom Morton, previously known as the singer and guitarist of the band Lardpony. Besides being Vom Vorton, Tom is currently also active in the band Of Mice And Mental Arithmetic. For this project, Tom kindly wrote and recorded this fun and 'educational' song about the great big ball we're all living on.

Very generously, you can download all of Vom Vorton's music for free from his website.

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Pop! #2: MJ Hibbett - Monster Island

MJ Hibbett is an English singer-songwriter (or 'folkpop-poet', according to The Guardian), often recording with his Validators. 'Monster island' is the witty story of a kid who to his shock discovers that he and his parents are monsters. This great song was kindly composed and recorded solo by Mark especially for this project.

Buy MJ Hibbett's albums on Artists Against Success.

[MP3]

Pop! #1: Doctor Ew - Goodnight, my day is done

Doctor Ew is Drew Smith, one of the four singing and songwriting members of the lovely Canadian indiepop band The Bicycles. 'Goodnight, my day is done' is a sweet little (previously unreleased) lullaby composed by Drew, and a very lovely way to kick off this project.

The Bicycles' and Doctor Ew's albums are for sale on Fuzzy Logic Recordings.

[MP3]