25 Smash Hits from the vaults of Fortuna POP! including tracks by Bearsuit, Comet Gain, The Lucksmiths, The Loves, Sodastream, Fanfarlo, The Butterflies Of Love, Airport Girl, Milky Wimpshake, The Aislers Set, Cannonball Jane and many more! All for fiver!
For Fans Of: Indie pop, noise pop, folk pop¦ Fortuna POP!
Fortuna POP! is an independent UK record label responsible for a whole shed-load of great releases. Strictly a one man operation, the label has been run from bedrooms and kitchen tables in spare time away from the day job - the evenings, the wee early hours and weekends - for nigh on 18 years.
Unless you count 0% interest credit cards and having to re-mortgaging your flat, the label is completely self-funded. There is no single Fortuna POP! sound, just an ear for a good tune and the love of a finely turned lyric.
Be True To Your School is a compilation of the label's finest moments to date. There are too many great tracks to go into detail (read the booklet instead for the whole inside story).
There are too many great tracks to go into detail (read the booklet instead for the whole inside story) but it kicks off with the lo-fi hip-hop instrumental of Discordia, erstwhile Melody Maker Single of the Week, followed by the Sonic Youth-meets-Blur blast of Finlay. Next is Tender Trap, led by the indiepop legend Amelia Fletcher (cf Los Campesinos), followed by Australian modern-folk duo Sodastream, here in unusually upbeat full band form.
There's the drunk school orchestra madness of the ever inventive Bearsuit, the sassy hip-hop sampling latina pop of Cannonball Jane, the Pulp-meets-Studio 54 swirl of The Chemistry Experiment, and the bubblegum 60s pop of The Loves from their Sunday Times Album of the Week, followed by Tom Paulin spin-off micktravis with local nightclub singer Garfield Grieve on lead vocals.
Glen Campbell eat your heart out. Then there's the incredible Rob A Bank by Connecticut's The Butterflies Of Love, a song that caused John Peel to applaud on air, the MBV guitars of Spraydog, a Lulu cover courtesy of riot girls International Strike Force, the completely mad and joyous Pixies pop of Twinkie and the fabulous orchestral pop of the hotly tipped Fanfarlo.
Nearly at the end now. There's jangly international indiepop heroes The Lucksmiths, the comic genius (you decide) of MJ Hibbett, the lo-fi New York punk of Taking Pictures (Fortuna POP!'s first ever release), Airport Girl's stream of consciousness Americana, Mogul's trashy synth pop and Milky Wimpshake's peerless punk pop.
Finally there's San Francisco's The Aislers Set with a track from their Times Album of the Week, the quintessentially English Would-Be-Goods ex of él records, the indiepop classic that is You Can Hide Your Love Forever by Comet Gain, and bringing it all to a close, the gentle elephant 6 pop of Homescience. It's all here. Be true to your school.
Tracklisting:
1. Y Sun Over Discordia / Discordia
2. Home / Finlay
3. Oh Katrina / Tender Trap
4. Blinky / Sodastream
5. Itsuko Got Married / Bearsuit
6. Catchy Monkey / Mark 700
7. Take It To Fantastic / Cannonball Jane
8. You're The Prettiest Thing / The Chemistry Experiment
9. Xs and Os / The Loves
10. Yvonne / micktravis
11. Rob A Bank / The Butterflies Of Love
12. Dialling Mitt / Spraydog
13. I'm A Tiger / International Strike Force
14. TK1 / Twinkie
15. Talking Backwards / Fanfarlo
16. T-Shirt Weather / The Lucksmiths
17. Work's All Right (If It's A Proper Job) / MJ Hibbett
18. Fallen Angel / Taking Pictures
19. Between Delta And Delaware / Airport Girl
20. Starving Hungry In Tescos / Mogul
21. Dialling Tone / Milky Wimpshake
22. The Walk / The Aislers Set
23. Too Old / Would-Be-Goods
24. You Can Hide Your Love Forever / Comet Gain
