Fortuna POP! - CDs

Some five years after their debut album Honey, I'm An Artist had the indie kids swooning in jangle-pop ecstasy, Airport Girl return with a radically altered sound, a glistening downbeat country-pop hybrid that is sure to win them at least as many new admirers as it will alienate existing fans. A brave move then, but one that's more than justified by the rich seam of quality songwriting mined here and the luxuriant arrangements that set off singer-songwriter Rob Price's sonorous, throaty vocals.

Here is a band finding a new level of maturity, growing and changing, the music reflecting the uncertainties and troubles of adult life.From the world-weary plea of the piano-led Hold Me Through The Night to the heartbreaking country sigh of I've Seen Mexico a sense of regret pervades the album, none more so than on the desperate, hurt-racked How Long Can This Go On?. More upbeat are the jazz-tinged Don't Let Me Down Again and The Weather Song, its Sketches Of Spain intro belying its true nostalgic nature, while Show Me The Way, as pure a declaration of love as one could wish for, could have come straight from the Go-Betweens' masterpiece 16 Lovers Lane.

Throughout there is judicious use of violin, cello, trumpet, harmonica and melodica to subtly create moods and textures within the songs, along with a willingness to experiment, as the intro to Ode To The City and the sea shanty of Twice Around The Bay bear out, that lifts the album far beyond standard indie fare.The kids at the club may be momentarily fazed by Airport Girl's new direction, but ultimately any listener will be rewarded by an album of great musical and emotional depth.

Tracklisting:
1. There's A Crisis In Your Past 
2. Hold Me Through The Night 
3. Don't Let Me Down Again 
4. Ode To The City 
5. I've Seen Mexico 
6. The Weather Song 
7. Twice Around The Bay 
8. How Long Can This Go On? 
9. Show Me The Way 
10. Low Coin (Lullaby) 
11. Bullfighting 

A six minute long indiepop classic b/w exclusive B-side.

"Like Belle & Sebastian meet Denim, which is the stuff of genius"  (Melody Maker)

Tracklisting:
1. The Foolishness That We Create Through Love Is The Closest We Come To Greatness 
2. Striking Out On Your Own

For Fans Of : The Go! Team & Saint Etienne.

By day she's mild-mannered Brooklyn-based music teacher Sharon Hagopian¦ but by night she's smart and sassy electro-pop indie star Cannonball Jane, maker of 2006's first truly great pop album.

Sounding more like the work of a group the reality however is rather different. It's just hard to believe that there's not more than one of her! Recorded entirely at home, Sharon's studio set up of beatboxes, samplers, tambourines, guitars, turntables, piano, kid's keyboards and effects shines through on Street Vernacular, creating a mind-bendingly brilliant mix.

From the Saint Etienne tones and Carole King-esque piano riff of Slumber Party onwards, Street Vernacular combines such diverse influences as Run DMC, The Go! Team, The Aislers Set, Ladytron, My Bloody Valentine, The Shangri-Las, Solex, The Go-Gos, Luscious Jackson and Devo, while remaining fresh, exciting and innovative at all times.

Tracklisting:
1. Slumber Party
2. Hey! Hey! Alright!
3. Such Is The Score
4. Breaker Breaker
5. Taxi
6. Add A Wrap
7. Fine Reminder
8. Brave New World
9. Automatic Knockout
10. Let's Go
11. The Force Of Gravity

For Fans Of: The Concretes, The Cardigans, Peter, Bjorn and John, Swedish Pop

With the current vogue in music for all things Swedish it was perhaps surprising that one of the best and most important Swedish bands of recent years, the exquisitely melancholic yet danceable Club 8, had seemingly vanished from the scene.

Of course founder member Johan Angergård had been busy both in his role as chief of the hugely influential Swedish label Labrador and with his other bands The Legends and the Acid House Kings, but still, three years had passed without so much as a note.

Finally, in May of this year, Club 8 returned to have a massive blog hit with the amazing Tropicalia-influenced Whatever You Want. Now, with their long-awaited sixth album The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming, Club 8 are set to take their rightful place at the top table of Swedish pop.

Initially inspired by a love of The Smiths and Sarah Records Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and Johan Angergård (all instruments) released their debut album as Club 8, Nouvelle, on Spanish label Siesta.

However, it was with their more dance-orientated next album The Friend I Once Had and its beguiling mix of bossa nova, glittery guitars and shiny pop melodies that they took their first big step forward, the single Missing You becoming a club and radio hit in Spain and a college radio favourite in North America.

Constantly changing, the self-titled follow-up was both darker and slower, labelled as both trip-hop and chill-out, before the band diversified again with the semi-electronic, slightly experimental but intensely emotional Spring Came, Rain Fell (2002) and the more guitar-based Strangely Beautiful (2004).

During this time the band's reputation spread, with live shows across Europe, USA and South East Asia where they are at least partly responsible for the thriving Indonesian music scene.

With The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming Club 8 have evolved yet again and made a truly different and very special album that packs a heavy personal emotional punch.

The sweet transience of life and the closeness of death come wrapped in the shape of twelve perfect pop songs in a summer dress, the mix of sunshine and melancholia as unique as it is profoundly moving. A glorious return to say the least.

Exquisite¦ lovely vocals¦ indie pop bliss (Pitchfork).

Tracklisting:
1. Jesus, Walk With Me
2. Whatever You Want
3. Football Kids
4. Hope And Dreams
5. Everything Goes
6. Heaven
7. When I Come Around
8. Leave The North
9. In The Morning
10. Sometimes
11. Where Birds Don't Fly
12. The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming

1. I Dreams And Visions
2. Home
3. Linked
4. Tender Shock Experiment
5. Little Dancing Solos
6. Clouds
7. Plastic Cowboy
8. Anna's Calling
9. The Hours Coming
10. Magic Queen
11. Theme
12. Falling

For Fans Of: Sonic Youth, Pavement, Yo La Tengo.

London's Finlay  were childhood friends inspired by the scratchy recordings of Drag City and Sub Pop bands. Their debut album I Dreams and Visions  was released on Fortuna POP! in late 2003, described variously as a ragged and wonderful sliver of a debut (Kerrang! KKKK), clever, spiky lo-fi post rock (Uncut) and a skelter stitch together of heroic and inspired pop music¦ as brilliant as such casually sculpted sidewalking can get." (Careless Talk).

Finlay's new 10-song album was recorded with Simon Trought (Jim Reid, Television Personalities, Comet Gain).

More sonically cohesive than their debut, Finlay remain in thrall to their american alt-rock influences, as illustrated by the opening two tracks of skewed noise pop, but 2 years on-and-off in the studio has widened the scope of their ambition.

The extraordinary Mary IV is the first song to depart from the template, a 9-minute epic about teenage jam sessions and the literal fall of Mary, a real woman encountered by Finlay many years ago and a recurring character in their songs.

As achingly melodic as Mary IV is ambitious, Hanging Crowds, Conan: the College Years and the lo-folk ballad Something New, demonstrate another, softer side to Finlay, in keeping with the themes of memory and nostalgia that run throughout the record, while the catchy 'Fuck Honey' and the Quickspace-influenced Phantasmagoria show their knack for a pop song remains intact.

Rightly renowned for their blistering, unpredictable live sets, a Truck Festival main stage appearance alongside British Sea Power and Futureheads and shows with Death Cab for Cutie included.

Tracklisting:
1. Rad Wagon
2. Tread On Flowers Pt. 1
3. Mary IV
4. Fuck Honey
5. Hanging Crowds
6. This One
7. Conan: The College Years
8. Something New
9. Phantasmagoria
10. Tread On Flowers Pt. 2 (Annabella Crushes)

After touring like maniacs on the run for a couple of years, Herman Dune finally took a break. In 2010, Cosmic Neman recorded and toured with his other duo Zombie Zombie, while David-Ivar took some time off to write and draw (with art exhibitions in New York, Paris and Milan).

1. Tell Me Something I Don't Know  
2. Ah Hears Strange Moosic 
3. Be A Doll And Take My Heart 
4. Where Is The Man? 
5. Lay Your Head On My Chest 
6. Monument Park
7. In The Long Long Run 
8. Your Love Is Gold 
9. The Rock 
10. Just Like Summer 
11. My Joy 
12. Magician

Get your fuzzy pop thrills with the wonderful punk rock melodies of Milky Wimpshake's 'Lovers, Not Fighters'. It contains 14 tracks of pop, punk, romance and (personal) politics and includes the classic No. 1 smash hit single (yeah. in my world, ok?) 'Dialling Tone', cover versions of Spraydog's 'Lemonade' and old folkie Phil Och's 'Do what I have to do', as well as their coruscating indictment of Jack Straw's tenure at the home office, 'Jack Ass'.

The genius of Wimpshake in that they make you do things you wouldn't normally do, like jumping up and down grinning from ear-to-ear while listening to a lyric about Noam Chomsky. As the fanzine 'In Love With These Times' wrote, 'There's really no need for the Buzzcocks to reform while we have Milky Wimpshake'. Yay!

Former Uberlord of the Slampt record label, pete dale's punkpop three piece deliver an album full of fuzzy pop tunes, bus-stop romance and political awareness. crammed with the pure idiot joy of never selling out or growing up. for their vision of a socialist indie-pop utopia where everyone is free to staple their fanzines in peace, we salute them (nme), if you like the Buzzcocks, the brilliant corners or have a secret fond place in your heart for the pooh sticks 'on tape', you'll probably love this record, (jyoti mishra)

Tracklisting:
1. Scrabble
2. Philosophical Boxing Gloves
3. Dialling Tone 
4. Do What I Have To
5. Second Generation Middle-Class Dropout
6. White Liberal Guilt
7. Newport
8. Didn't We? 
9. Lemonade 
10. Jack Ass
11. Bourgeois Blues '99
12. Too Much, Too Drunk
13. Etymology 
14. Lovers Not Fighters

Classic fizzing punk-pop with smart, witty lyrics from Newcastle's anarchist indiepoppers.

Tracklisting:
1. Alice Nebulae 
2. Broken Again 
3. Itchy Feet On A Tuesday Night 
4. Share A Little Love With Me 
5. One Good Use For My Heart 
6. Patchwork 
7. Thursday 
8. Cherry Pop  
9. Lorraine 
10. Murdering Pigs In London 
11. Clicking It 
12. Fuck The Rules 
13. Eyeball To Eyeball

Controversial solo folk album from Milky Wimpshake/Red Monkey singer Pete Dale (guest appearances from members of the Futureheads and Spraydog) For Fans Of: Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Phil Ochs & Futureheads.

Pete Dale returns here with a collection of topical folk songs. Dealing with controversial issues such as terrorism and civil liberties, Pete tackles his subjects with his trademark lyrical dexterity and wit, over a rich musical backdrop that veers from simple acoustic guitar to New Orleans swing.

Pete Dale is seen by many as the spiritual godfather of the now-thriving North-East music scene (cf. Futureheads, Maximo Park, Field Music), and as überlord of the highly politicised Slampt label.

In a recent NME interview, Futurehead Ross Millard described how Pete's DIY attitude inspired him to form a band.

Mixing honesty, integrity and intelligence with imaginative arrangements, backed by the excellent playing of his cohorts, Pete Dale has fashioned an album as brave and outspoken as those produced by his hero Phil Ochs.

Tracklisting:
1. Why I Am A Terrorist
2. I.D.on't
3. Menwith Hill
4. Saint Bob?!
5. One More Parade
6. When The Morning Comes
7. Music Rules
8. Money (That's What I Hate)
9. Meat-Eating Hippies
10. Talking Newcastle Nuclear Nightmare
11. Two Chord Trick
12. The Return Of The Repressed
13. Ballad Of The New Orleans Flood
14. Betrayed By Folk
15. McCarthy In 2005

if quiet is indeed the new loud, sodastream positively shout from the roof tops with their third and latest album, a minor revival. while carefully crafted pop melodies, thoughtful lyrics and skilful arrangements all play significant parts in a minor revival.

Previous releases have been on  tugboat, rough trade, sanctuary and acuarela. significantly, a minor revival features contributions from machine translations' J. Walker and Marty Brown from art of fighting. 

a minor revival is an album independent in outlook and universal in appeal. for fans of Low, Belle & Sebastien and Nick Drake.

Tracklisting:
1. Out
2. Blinky
3. Brass Lines
4. Chorus Line
5. Horses
6. Undone
7.Mrs Gray
8. Nervous
9. Constant Ships
10. Otherwise Open
11. America
12. The Women's Revue
13. WeekendX

For Fans Of: Low, Nick Drake, The Go-Betweens, Will Oldham.

Over the course of 10 years, 3 albums, countless months in the backs of vans throughout Europe and North America, the duo of Karl Smith and Pete Cohen have been progressively expanding the musical world of Sodastream from scratchy lo-fi and barely whispered mournful melancholy through to lush expansive pop with horn sections and singalongs.

But now they're home, and settled, and on Reservations, their 4^th album, a darkness has settled in. Karl Smith and Pete Cohen effortlessly jump from acoustic introspection and instrumentals to raucous singalong shanties without any hint of affectation. Even with the additions of horns, harmonicas, and the drums of Marty Brown (Art of Fighting and Clare Bowditch's Feeding Set) on their studio albums, the core of their sound remains the same as it is live.

Sodastream's previous albums, Looks Like A Russian, The Hill for Company and A Minor Revival, along with many EPs and live recordings, have been released throughout the world on some of the most renowned indie labels including Tugboat, Rough Trade, Drive-in Records and Acuarela Discos. Over the years they have played with and supported many of their heroes and musical legends, many of whom have been labelmates along the way.

They've shared stages with Low (at the Union Chapel), the Mountain Goats, Thalia Zedek (who collaborated on their last EP), Yo La Tengo, and Lambchop.

A love of Sodastream is never far away from being an obsession. More musically and lyrically assured than ever, Reservations takes you on a bittersweet journey, deep into the heart of what Pitchfork Media singled out as one of the most relevant Australian bands since the Go-Betweens.

Tracklisting:
1. Warm July
2. Anti
3. Twin Lakes
4. Tickets To The Fight
5. Anniversary
6. Michelle's Cabin
7. Firelines
8. Reservations
9. Don't Make A Scene
10. Young And Able