Various Swell Sounds is a new collaborative playlist series from Shana Hartzel of Swell Tone, Jon Chin of Cereal and Sounds, and myself. Instead of constantly exchanging tracks amongst each other, we have decided to work together to bring them to more ears. Every month, we will match a selection of our old and brand new favourites to a specific theme, as decided on a revolving basis month by month.

It only comes around every four years, so this month we’ve hopped aboard the World Cup hype train. We encountered a bit of a hitch when realising that there aren’t a wealth of football/soccer related indie tunes, especially when 2/3 of the curating team reside in the US. Thus, Beautiful Games was born, a playlist that widens the net to encompass all sports, and plays a little loose with the sound and style, meaning this might not the most cohesive list you’ll ever get from us. Still, that’s cool. The World Cup is all about a diverse clash of styles, after all.

Find the tracklisting below, though due to Spotify’s limited library, that version isn’t quite complete.

1. Parquet Courts – Total Football
2. Speedy Ortiz – Basketball
3. Ex Hex – Don’t Wanna Lose
4. Amyl and The Sniffers – Cup of Destiny
5. Queen Moo – Goals
6. Darla – Hey Ref, Let the Boys Play!
7. Varsity – Smash
8. Gulfer – Baseball
9. The Lagoonas – Beach Golf Course
10. Summer Flake – Shoot and Score
11. Methyl Ethel – Shadowboxing
12. John Maus – Touchdown
13. The Fall – Kicker Conspiracy
14. Slow Ref – Playing the Game
15. Stephen Malkus and The Jicks – Chartjunk
16. Hello Shark – Big Game
17. The Mountain Goats – Song for Sasha Banks
18. Another Michael – Football
19. Deerhoof – Basketball Get Your Groove Back
20. Super Furry Animals – Venus & Serena
21. Sports Coach – I’d Trade My Whole Team for a Dog
22. Ian Sweet – #23
23. Mothers – No Crying in Baseball
24. Spartan Jet-Plex – Sport
25. Strange Ranger – Sioux Falls
26. Her’s – Speed Racer
27. Frog – Nancy Kerrigan
28. Belle & Sebastian – The Stars of Track and Field
29. Natalie Prass – Short Court Style
30. Songs: Ohia – The Big Game is Every Night

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Dreaming of Notting Hill is a three song EP of new wave-style music, driven by synths and supported with post-punk vocals to give a satisfyingly retro feel. If you can imagine John Maus teaming up with Small Black and The Cure to soundtrack a melodramatic 80s teen movie where the misunderstood hero finds herself walking home alone from the disco time and time again, then it would probably sound a lot like this. And yes, that’s a compliment. Check out opening track ‘KiwiKisses’ below:

You can buy the album now over at the Vacant Magic Bandcamp page on a pay-what-you-can basis. Cassettes are in development so keep your eyes peeled if tapes are your thing.

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We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves is the third album, scheduled for release on June 27^th by Upset the Rhythm (June 28^th in the US on Ribbon Music). The album is as strange as it is interesting, combining melancholy vocals with synths and drum machines reminiscent of a soundtrack to a 80s movie. I find myself getting a strange impression when listening that is hard to put a finger on. It’s almost as if John Maus is a fictional character/artist in some dystopian novel or film, part of a weird otherworldly time where past and future are confused. SPIN describe him as ‘retro-futurist’, a term I find suitably contradicting for an album like ’We Must Become…’.

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