Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sittin' Pretty and The Bats


Here are some sweet late 8o's Indie classics. Sittin' Pretty by The Pastels is the first and probably best album from those Scottish cult mainstays, The Pastels. Think The Vaselines, but maybe even a little better. Then we have Daddy's Highway by The Bats- vintage New Zealand "Kiwi" pop. You say you like The Clean and you're not from down-under? Well, chances are you need to dial in to The Bats, my friend. They are basically just Kilgour and Co's harmonizing jangle-pop cousins. Though The Pastels and The Bats hailed from different corners, I'd say their early albums share a sort of common energy. Both records seem like they could've been made by stepkids of the Velvet Underground, each laying down a sort of ragtag outsider pop right smack in the midst of the tired and unfortunate excesses of the late-80s. Its not like they were the only ones riding that train at the time, but these albums have qualities that just stand-out as similar. I bet that back then, emulating the Velvets probably still felt irreverent to all involved. I had a great time humming along to these records while I was cleaning our basement a few weeks back. And that's why I've paired them together for this post. Enjoy.
The Pastels- "Nothing To Be Done"
The Bats- "Made Up In Blue"
Mediafire download links:
The Pastels- Sittin' Pretty (refreshed 2/2/10)
The Bats- Daddy's Highway (refreshed 2/2/10)

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