Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible

One of the fiercest brit-rock records of the 90's: punk-rock power chords, post-punk bass lines and some 70s hard rock loudness along with militaresque melodies: a classic of extreme teen angst.
Can't believe I hadn't uploaded it yet...

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(320 kbps)

Adorable - Footnotes 92-94

Adorable - Footnotes 92-94

Anthology of the singles and the best from this great British alternative rock act. Adorable played highly emotional shoegazing rock with steroids: forget the angelic vocal harmonies of Ride and Slowdive, most of the songs here feature impenetrable guitar walls and loud bass playing, with ambient guitar effects to keep the connection with other bands of the scene quite strong (their playing was still different from the rising britpop scene). The vocals here resembles some kind of raucous crooning rather than those traditional incorporeal shoegaze singing.

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(192 kbps)

The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic

The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic

[I'm testing this new file hosting site, since Mediafire is not safe anymore]

Recent power-pop revival with a dose of extremely loud garage-rock riffing. The songwriting and two guitar interactions are really impressing.
The band is sadly famous for a car crash that killed all the members but one.

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(average bitrate: 256 kbps)

Mercury Rev - Everlasting Hits

Mercury Rev - Everlasting Hits

It's been so long since I last made one of my anthologies: time to make a Mercury Rev Greatest Hits, then.
Mercury Rev is my absolutely favourite band, so it has been quite painful to pick only 24 songs.
I decided for an iPod-friendly tagging, with all the songs in one folder, numbered from 1 to 24, but you can just divide them in 2 cd's and burn them (I didn't check the duration, in case just move one song from one cd to the other); first cd is the noisy/lysergic one, second one is the baroque/soft one.

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(192 kbps - or more)

Tracklist:

CD 1 

1. Racing The Tide

2. Chasing a Bee

3. Bronx Cheer

4. Everlasting Arm

5. Sweet Oddyssee

6. Syringe Mouth

7. Blue and Black

8. Frittering

9. Something for Joey

10. Car Wash Hair

11. Empire State

12. Downs are Feminine Balloons

CD 2 

1. Holes

2. Hercules

3. Senses on Fire

4. Opus 40

5. Spiders and Flies

6. Tides of the Moon

7. The Funny Bird

8. In a Funny Way

9. The Dark Is Rising

10. Snowflake in a Hot World

11. Butterfly Wings

12. Little Rhymes

Whipping Boy - Heartworm

Whipping Boy - Heartworm

The second record by Irish shoegazing band Whipping Boy. It was published by a major label and has in facts many early 90s heavy rock influences, along with that typical shoegaze grace and delicacy and a very lyrical approach to songs.

A great record with lots of classics, but I still prefer their debut, Submarine.

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(192 kbps)

The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights

The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights

The return of Scott Walker and his "brothers" Gary and John: a very noir recording with a blend of new wave, soul, Berlin Trilogy Bowie and some experimental excursions. Side A, entirely composed by Scott Walker, is enormously better than side B, that still has a couple of aces in the track list.

The title-track has been covered by David Bowie, while noise-rock terrorists Sightings recently covered the avant-pop juggernaut "The Electrician".

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(320 kbps)

Big Country - The Crossing

Big Country - The Crossing

It's funny how the early/mid Eighties are generally considered "the age of plastic" of pop music, an era of ultra-clean futuristic sounds, early digital instrumentations and over-polished productions. That was the surface, the exterior: the early Eighties were actually the era of rediscovery of ancient roots and folk traditions through the use of modern technology and innovations.
On one side Japan, Sakamoto, Bill Nelson and even The Cure were exploring the Middle and Far East, on the other side a new wave of ex punk rockers converted to a new form of electric guitar-driven celtic rock, based on Scottish folk melodies and early 80s guitar playing. Swirling chorus sounds, ancient folk melodies echoing from the vibrations of an e-bow, loud guitar squalls processed through a guitar synthesiser to make them sound like an orchestra of bagpipes. Past, present and future in one record, plus the bonus of a huge rhythm section and epic guitar duels, courtesy of one of the most skilled line-ups ever.

Now rejected or simply ignored by indie-rock audiences, this record used to be considered a classic. Dated? Maybe, but it's a clear and genuine picture of the ambitions of a generation of talented and imaginative young musicians.

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(320 kbps)