Who releases stuff on cassette these days? Well, Tiny Lights do. Probably one of, if not our favourite, label at the moment. Their latest release is by The Railway Club and contains the tracks; “Broken Strings” and “Angel in the House”. Don’t worry if you don’t have a tape deck anymore there is a download code enclosed. This may seem like cheating and against the “International Indie Ethics Charter” but it means you can listen to the tracks without splashing out on some ancient equipment or getting a time machine!!!

But once you’ve found the medium to listen to the music what does it sound like? It sounds great actually. The Railway Club remind me of Prefab Sprout, great 80s indie tunes, a bit of Union Choir and a kind of dreamy pop reminiscent of the Blue Nile. The whole Tiny Lights roster have a “sound”, it doesn’t mean they all sound the same but it does mean you can listen to them all day and love them all. With the Railway Club single I was sent a Tiny Lights compilation which includes 8 bands. All of whom are excellent. Some we have featured before; Lake Poets, O’Messy Life, Styles Make Fights and Fantasy Rainbow. Others are new to us; Acrobatic Society, Tissue Culture and Blank Maps. We said this when they sent us their Christmas compilation, they sound like a proper label. Like Creation. Like Factory. Like the great labels of the 80s they have a feel and a sound to them. I honestly enjoyed every track on this compilation.

Back to the Railway Club. I have listened to them on my ipod for a while and the track I love the most is not one of the two off the single but the one on the compilation; “Clouds”. How confident are they that they can afford to give a track as good as this to a compilation? Don’t get me wrong the two on the single are great but Clouds is something else.

So do you believe me? I have a copy of the cassette and a copy of the compilation. Both sure to be collectors items very soon. And you can win them both in our simple competition. Question: Factory records had a great band with a name very similar to the Railway Club. Who were that band? Answers on a postcard to The Northern Line. First correct answer wins both. (Actually an e-mail, tweet or any other form of communication will win. First off the blocks gets the lot)

LINKS:

RAILWAY CLUB: http://therailwayclub.co.uk/

TINY LIGHTS: http://tinylightsrecordings.com/

By peter on July 31, 2012