I’ve had “Sunkissed” by Friends Again stuck in my head… again. It’s easily one of my favorite 80s pop singles and tends to get lodged in my brain for lengths at a time (“You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS”). For the completist side in you, I’ve posted every version I have in my collection.

“Sunkissed” from the “Sunkissed” 7″ (Moon 2)

“Sunkissed (Extended Version)” from the “Sunkissed” 12″ (Moon 212)

“Sunkissed (New Version)” from “The Friends Again EP” 7″ (FAEP 1)

Lyrics:
And from the embers (oh yeh my my)
Hold it like an outlawed fawn honey
You thought it finished (oh yeh my my)
You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS
Now’s your chance to radio soul city
And lose yourself in her special words
If ever I have a dollar again
I’m going ot hold on ’til that eagle grins
(Let’s just cruise along now baby)
Miles and miles I’m melting in your sun
Miles and miles I’m melting in your smile
I’m melting in the glare of your sun
Melting in the glare of your sun

And in the chambers (oh yeh my my)
You’ve got to pull that sword right out of that stone honey
And when you’re finished (oh yeh my my)
You’ll be calling for ACTION STATIONS
Now’s your chance to radio soul city
And lose yourself in a special world
If ever I have a dollar again
I’m going to hold on ’til that eagle grins
(Let’s just cruise along now baby)
Miles and miles I’m melting in your sun
Miles and miles I’m melting in your smile
I’m melting in the glare of your sun
Melting in the glare of your sun

Friends Again on Last.fm

The Slaves released their “Save Me From Yesterday” album in 2006 and while I thought most of those songs were just okay, the title track has really stuck with me. They didn’t really break out of Sweden at the time the album was released, so I figure it’s worth mentioning here.

Listen to The Slaves – Save Me From Yesterday

Buy from iTunes

www.myspace.com/theslavesswe

I recently purchased a new cassette deck (Tascam 122 mkIII – yes, Merry Christmas to me!). My old Denon deck was busted and worn and played everything at helium speed. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with tapes — at one point I just wanted to dump them all and be done trying to find places to store them. Luckily that didn’t happen and now I’m enjoying mixtapes I made back in the 90s. I also found some crazy Autocollants demos, some rare indiepop comps, and a tape simply titled “Dope Rap” (probably from my junior high days – ha!). Long story short, I’m going to start digitizing and posting the stand-out stuff here.

For this post, I thought I’d start off with something good… a song from the “Everlasting” tape compilation by A Riot of Colour called “Put To Sleep,” which I believe is exclusive to this release. I was hoping we’d see their retrospective cd on Egg Records released this year, but for now, have a listen to this song here. More cassette tape posts to come…

Listen to A Riot of Colour – Put To Sleep

Here’s a flyer that was included with the tape:

(click to view)

www.eggrecords.co.uk
twee.net/bands/r/riotofcolour.html

A little Christmas present from Champagne Riot. Download the mp3 single of “December Slopes” for free! The song was originally issued on the Cloudberry Records compilation “Last Train To Christmas.” A demo from 2004 “Wrong Turn Right” is included as the “B-side.” Happy holidays!

Download it here!

Listen to Champagne Riot – December Slopes

www.champagneriot.com

“Secret Eyes” by Cloetta Paris on Skywriting Records gets my Number 1 for 2008. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve played this album since it was released back in April. I wouldn’t say I’m a big Italo disco fan (okay, I do love Sally Shapiro as well, so maybe that automatically qualifies me?). I’d be more apt to say I’m a Roger Gunnarsson fan (aka Clive Reynolds, Free Loan Investments, Nixon, etc). I can hear his influence all over this record. Genius!

Top 10 albums of 2008
1. Cloetta Paris – Secret Eyes (Skywriting)
2. Thieves Like Us – Play Music (SeaYou)
3. Auburn Lull – Begin Civil Twilight (Darla)
4. Moscow Olympics – Cut The World (Lavender Recordings)
5. British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade)
6. M83 – Saturdays = Youth (Mute)
7. Air France – No Way Down (Sincerely Yours)
8. autoKratz – Down & Out In Paris & London (Kitsuné)
9. Julie Ocean – Long Gone and Nearly There (Transit of Venus)
10. Twig – Life After Ridge (Plastilina)

Podcast #2 – Top 20 songs of 2008
(in no particular order)
1. Air France – No Excuses
2. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday
3. British Sea Power – Waving Flags
4. Days – Motion
5. M83 – Kim & Jessie
6. The Breeders – Walk It Off
7. Auburn Lull – Dub 1
8. Cloetta Paris – Secret Eyes
9. autoKratz – Reaktor
10. Thieves Like Us – Your Heart Feels
11. Northern Portrait – Crazy
12. Twig – Ciao Ciao Bomb
13. Julie Ocean – Ten Lonely Words
14. Vivian Girls – Wild Eyes
15. Bubblegum Lemonade – I’ll Never Be Yours
16. Cocoanut Groove – The End of Summer On Bookbinder Road
17. The Ruling Class – Flowers
18. Moscow Olympic – What Is Left Unsaid
19. Ulrirch Schnauss – Stars
20. spc eco – You’re Alright

Listen to the Shelflife Records podcast: Subscribe using iTunes or subscribe to the feed.

In honor of Christmas, Cosy Recordings (Sweden) has some free mp3 singles available for download by The Autumn Apples and The Garlands.

Get them here!

Listen to The Autumn Apples – Christmas in Mono

www.myspace.com/cosyrecordings
www.myspace.com/theautumnapples
www.myspace.com/garlandssweden

Swimteam is the latest project by Brian Young, Chris Chez, and Bill Miller. They’ve played together in a few bands prior including The Ideal Husbands (who covered “Statues” for the Shelflife OMD comp) and The Promise (at one time were the best guitar pop band in the Inland Empire). Brian also recorded some songs under the name Sometimes I Wonder (he covered Laura Watling’s “My Fondest Wish” on Shelflife 50). We were hoping to do a release together a few years back, but that never came to be.

Listen to Swimteam – Like You Always Do (demo)

www.myspace.com/jointheswimteam
www.myspace.com/siwswim
Artwork by Brigette Barrager