#c86

[balleralbumcovers]

EPIC ALBUM COVER #396

Guedeon Della - Doggy Language

Released: 1994 (Elefant)

C86, slacker rock, twee pop

[edienotsedgwick]

<3 Big jacket update <3

After months of figuring out what to make my back patch I realised the perfect inspo was Heavenly’s “riot twee” shirt design! It felt very me (although I did take some creative liberties with the colours)

I’m insanely proud of this! It came out so clean and accurate to the original design and I didn’t even use a stencil for it! Also the lace detail around the edge turned out beautiful too. I’ve only been making patches/DIY properly for a year now but I’ve seen myself improve so quickly and I’m glad this is a representation of how that has culminated.

Until another big idea strikes again I might leave the jacket alone for a little while and focus on some pants I’ve started which has no particular theme - it’ll just be more music I like of multiple styles jumbled together.

I cannot wait until it is cold enough again to wear this to a gig (even though there’s only one-two other people in my scene who fully get my twee(mo) self amongst a sea of punks, hardcore kids, and metalheads)

[yamacaps]

[dustedmagazine]

Touch Girl Apple Blossom — Graceful (Perennial/K)

Touch Girl Apple Blossom luxuriates in radiant jangle, the band’s two guitarists — Olivia Garner (who also sings) and John Morales — joining in sunshine soaked spirals of pop-rock sound. “Sunshine Reminds Me Of,” an early single, beckons from the first warm day of the season. The sound is well in line with the jangle-pop of Sharp Pins, the happy-into-sad glow of the Cords, and the lo-fi tunefulness of Good Flying Birds, a band that they’ll be touring with this summer.

The band is a foursome out of Austin, Texas with one previous, buzzy EP. Garner, the main songwriter, previously played guitar in noisy, shoegaze-y Hotline TNT. Bassist Dustin Pilkington, who also contributed a couple of tunes, has been in roughly a dozen Austin bands, notably hardcore punk’s Discreet and Total Abuse. John Morales and drummer Daniel Powell also play in much loved Austin post-punk band Guiding Light, but none of that will really prepare you for the sweet C86 tunefulness of this first full-length.

Consider, “Vacation” for instance with its ebullient guitar vamp, which might remind you, if you’re old enough, of the Friends of Distinction’s “Grazing in the Grass.” But instead of the soul swagger of that tune, this song is layered over with Garner’s dreaming, drifting, cool girl vocals. The song scrambles and glides at the same time, its furiously mobile bass and drums pushing ahead, while the chorus unspools indolently.

“Heartgo” shows a little more of the band members’ punk roots, erupting into action on a rupturing drum fill and slashing and burning through noisy openings. But then it settles into a swinging pop groove, as light and airy as a soap bubble. “Where does the heart go?” croons Garner, as the guitars clang, the drums pound, the bass thunders; it’s a pop song with spine and friction. They have a lot in common with current day Slumberland/K/Perennial guitar pop bands, but if you want to reach back a little further, the spike-y vulnerability of the Pastels comes to mind.  

Spring comes earlier to Austin than some other places, so I’d imagine that the single “Spring Reminds Me Of” has already gotten a pretty good airing on the nice days, streaming out of open car windows and drifting through the windows of local bars. If you’re looking for a song of the summer, you could do worse.

Jennifer Kelly

[tweehearts]

C-86 era my bloody valentine, 1986. that’s the girls from lush in the last picture!

[daggerzine]

Belle & Sebastian on 5/17/26 at the Knight Concert Hall (at Adrienne Arsht Center) in Miami!

This was my 9th time seeing Glasgow, Scotland's chamber pop band Belle & Sebastian (and I've seen them in 6 different states). They're one of my all-time favorites, and I did not want to miss their Miami show. Leader/singer/occasional guitarist Stuart Murdoch was in extra good spirits this night (he usually is), as was the rest of the band (guitarist Stevie Jackson looked quite dapper in his suit).  As always with their live shows, it was one for the ages.

On this tour, the 30th anniversary show, they were doing two nights in most cities, doing their debut Tigermilk on one night and then If You're Feeling Sinister on the next night. In Miami, they only did one night, ...Sinister, but I wasn't going to complain.

They played ..Sinister from beginning 'til end and it was pure joy to hear classics like "Seeing Other People," "Me and the Major" (with Stevie Jackson blowing a mean harmonica), "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying" and "Judy and the Dream of Horses" (see the pic below of Stuart with the horse head on during this one) to name but a few (there's but honestly not a band song on the record, in fact, most are classics). 

They then came back out and did a sort of greatest hits/requests set and we got to hear "Dog on Wheels" (real early single), "I'm a Cuckoo," "The Boy with the Arab Strap' (always a fan favorite), and ended it with a gorgeous rendition of "Sleep the Clock Around" (another one of my all-time faves). 

....but it didn't end there. 

They came out for two more "Piazza New York Catcher" and "Funny Little Frog" before bidding adieu to the very appreciative Miami crowd. This bunch never puts on a bad show. They didn't when I first saw them in 2001, and they didn't on this night. 

Do not miss this band, ever. 

(posted 5/31/26)

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

you made me realise • slow • thorn • cigarette in your bed • drive it all over me

Have you listened to you made me realise by my bloody valentine (1988)?

Yes, the entire album!

Partially, some but not all songs

No, but familiar with it

Haven't heard of it before

Voting ended onMay 10

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[bandcampsnoop]

2/17/26.

Texas Two are an Bogor, Indonesia band who have described themselves as "inspired by acts like Free Loan Investments, 14 Iced Bears, Henry's Dress, The Tall Dwarfs". At times I've been overwhelmed by the nascent Indonesian pop scene. That, coupled with the fact that many of the bands don't physically release a lot of their music means that much of this scene hasn't really been covered here.

Thanks to Japanese label galaxy train, "Chronovisor" is getting a cassette release. This is an eight-track whirlwind release for which the Bandcamp page states of Texas Two: "If you dig into C86 movement you might be like their outputs. they played some minimalist DIY pop music with some fuzzy guitar like Shop Assistants, Henry's Dress, Bubblegum Splash, The Vaselines, Aggi, Sex Sux and etc."

Make sure you listen to the last track. None of those previous comparisons prepare you for the all out guitar sludge assault of "You're All I Loved". Such a great way to end the album.