Sang froid

Speaking of buried treasure from the 1980s, I can't recommend the Femmes Sous Cellophane comp highly enough. If you like your pop continental cool, female-fronted, and artastic, there are 21 choice cuts to keep you in a Francophilic state of mind. I'm pretty sure it's out of print, but, you know, the Internet. Here are two of my favorites tracks, more material to soundtrack your alternate mental re-creation of that decade.

Juliette et les Indépendants - Un Jour Anglais
Première Classe - La Fille Qui Rit

(FYI — I'll most likely be laying low next week, or most of it, at least. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day/night.)

86ed

I sure love me a good compilation, which is no big news if you're a regular around here. There are a couple ways at it — some lovingly dig deep and serve up forgotten music in particular styles (like anything by the Numero Group); others go broader and synthesize many different aspects of a place or time (i.e. any of the sprawling Nuggets editions). One that does both and is rarely far from my mind is the C86 cassette (now available as the CD86 disc; I don't think they're calling it mp386 yet). If you're already familiar, I'll spare all the talk about "jangly," "shambling" pop and just say it's an embarrassment of Anglo pop riches, one after another.

The title is kinda apt. It comes from its release year of 1986. And while many of the bands clearly took inspiration from early to mid '60s guitar pop, it's all filtered through a very mid '80s Smiths-esque sensibility, deftly eliding the '70s. See. 80s. 60s. Fun. But I digress.

Most of these bands had little career to speak of, so each tune feels like an especially noteworthy moment in the sun. You could throw a dart at a board and pick a winner. But I'm especially fond of this one, with its strummy, rainy day dreaminess. A rainy moment in the sun? Hmm...

The Raw Herbs - He Blows In