Best Kept Secret is a prolific, and highly recommended tape label that specialises in indiepop and other melodic music. Most of the music is of a high quality, and the tapes have some of the most professional packaging I've ever seen from a tape label.

We Are Not Alone is an ongoing series of compilation tapes, of which BKS has recently released three new volumes. Wide Open Road zine referred to a Magoo review which described said band as My Bloody Valentine wannabes, and rightfully described this remark as 'laughably ignorant'. However, Stu then went on to say 'I don't believe any group today lives in the shadow of a band who stopped releasing records ten years ago'. He might not believe it but I do ... just think of all the bands who are influenced by (for example) The Beatles, who stopped making records even longer ago. I mention this here as the first track on We Are Not Alone vol 2, by Moonbabies, is dreampop with an experimental edge, pretty close to the sort of thing MBV were doing. A lot of the other bands on this tape are less obviously MBV-like, but are still firmly within the dreampop/shoegazer genre, a style many people believe ceased to be made some time in the early 90s. Not so! Just because the press don't rave about it any more doesn't mean it no longer exists. Also appearing on this volume are Sauvie Island Moon Rocket Factory and Sunstorm, who are just as atmospheric as a shoegazer band, but aren't shoegazer as such, more psychedelic. There's also Onq, with an atmospheric, dark and slightly experimental sounding song.

We Are Not Alone vol 3 contines the shoegazer/dreampop/noisepop theme, some of it derivative of the original shoegazer scene, but other tracks are a modern interpretation of the genre. Includes Full Of Emptiness, w/trem (the instrumental part of their song is very similar to MBV), Tea (not the Isle of Man band, this one is from California), Aether Flux (sort of shoegazing meets electronica), Hazel Bionic, Girlinky, Activity Set, Kitset, Eta Carinae and Autobot City, as well as experimental tracks from Anthony Distefano and Don Campau, a drone-based spacerock instrumental from The High Impedance, off-centre indiepop from Michael J Hex and post-rock from Circle Brothers and New Waver.

Vol 4 has a similar overall theme - mostly dreampop, and a type of indiepop that isn't quite dreampop but fits in OK with dreampop. Bands include Chuzzlewit (who normally make melancholic pop. This is still melancholic pop, but swathed in an atmospheric and spacey soundscape. I wouldn't normally class Chuzzlewit as a shoegazer band, but this track is different from the sort of music I normally associate with them), Electric Bird Noise (an atmospheric instrumental - not strictly dreampop or post-rock but containing elements of both) and Coastal (a slow and melancholic pop song).

Kaye has a tape called Pink Sky At Night. This begins with On Stone, a very well written, piano-led instrumental that could be called easy listening if that phrase didn't carry connotations of blandness, and could be called modern classical if that phrase didn't carry connotations of tunelessness. The rest of the tape is song-based; one of the songs is called Princess of Twee, but despite the title, don't expect excruciatingly cute pop. Kaye's music, whilst being pop, also has folkish elements, and occasionally brings to mind a female fronted, keyboard-oriented version of The Kitchen Cynics. Kaye isn't just influenced by folk-style music but folk music in the truest sense, ie traditional songs that pass down the generations. The Blackbird is a traditional song which reminds me of Steeleye Span, a band I like very much and have been listening to a lot lately - although again it's more keyboardy than them. Whilst I'm on the subject of Steeleye Span, if you think it's amusing that I like them, then you're probably someone who only knows them for their biggest selling song All Around My Hat, which has a chug-along rhythm and brings to mind Status Quo playing folk. If this is the only song of theirs you know, you're missing out. Many of their other songs recorded in the 70s are real things of beauty. Anyhow... back to Kaye. Feel is a very poppy song, having hints of commercial discopop, but the overall result is something much more subtle than this. Finally there's a very nice, delicate song with French lyrics, Chanson de Nuit. Kaye is a very talented songwriter, I'd like to hear more from her.

It seems Kaye comes from a musical family - her brother has a band I've not yet heard, and her sister Kizzy has a tape out on BKS, called Rusty Grass and a Green Box. Many of the tracks here are sparsely arranged songs that will probably be lazily categorised as folk by the sort of people who think anything with an acoustic guitar is folk, but there is occasional evidence that Kizzy is also influenced by real folk music. Deeply is one such track, as it has a folkish melody, but the overall song has an atmospheric, soundscapey feel. Something for the Woods is a fairly eerie violin instrumental which again has a traditional folk influence. Other tracks also include violin but it's played in a style that's closer to classical music. This provides rather an atmospheric mood, as do the echoey, almost choral sounding vocals on some of the tracks. Like her sister, Kizzy also speaks French, and has a song with French lyrics on here. Kizzy's music is rawer and more lo-fi than Kaye's, but there's still a talent at work here, and a willingness to experiment.

Will Simmons has been releasing homemade music for some time now, and BKS have recently put out a tape of his called Songs for Sore Ears. Most of the music is lo-fi pop, usually with an off-centre/quirky feel. There's also Volcano Honeymoon which is Latin-flavoured easy listening music. I've heard some of Will's other music before but not much of it has really grabbed me. From what I recall of the music I heard before, it was a mixture of instrumentals that were a bit too weird, and songs that were a bit too downbeat/depressing for my personal taste. Whilst there's a few examples of this on here, most of the tape is more listenable. Singing in Cinders is one of my favourites - a good lo-fi pop song.

Vinyl Bill's 3rd tape on BKS, Controlled Trucking, is out now. Contains several lo-fi-ish pop songs with atmospheric and (recent not 60s) psychedelic elements, interspersed with tracks in other styles, such as Control Theme 1 (a fairly experimental piano instrumental), Mine Evermore (more straightforward pop than they normally make), Banderas (shoegazing meets psychedelia meets Spanish music), Blue Dog (instrumental post-rock), Faces (a song with a prog-style guitar solo at the end) and Evermore Part Three (an instrumental with hints of dance music and traditional Indian music). A very diverse tape, but held together by the general lazy, hazy, psychey feel a lot of this stuff has.

Remora's Some Future's Past tape contains a mixture of atmospheric post-rock and minimal, lo-fi, sombre pop, usually with repetitive song structures. There are a handful of songs that are just over 3 minutes long, but most are very short. One such track is called 2 and is 42 seconds long - this sounds like it could be the intro from a Hood song, circa 1993. Citizen Jane has a dark, foreboding atmosphere. Tore again sounds similar to early 90s Hood. The vocalist who sings most songs here has a depressed-sounding voice that adds to the sombre atmosphere. Warrenton is in a similar style but it has a different singer, J Seckle, whose voice is far less melancholic. Rivulets fans will be interested to know that Nathan Amundson appears as a guest musician on a couple of tracks.

The Whales' tape Music Should Be Seen And Not Heard is a collection of instrumentals that all run into each other, but it doesn't just sound like one long track as the melodies and moods of the pieces are all distinct from each other. Some are experimental/lo-fi, some plinky-plonky keyboard tunes and others are indiepop without the vocals. Solaris is the standout track for me, a guitar/synth/drums-based piece with a very strong melody.

The strangely named Uncletoe's Portasound have a tape called Covered, which is, as the title suggests, a collection of cover versions. All sorts of stuff gets covered on here, from well-known indie/alternative bands to 60s classics to 80s synthpop and soft rock. Their version of REO Speedwagon's Keep on Loving You is done in a style that mixes shoegazer-type atmospheric noise with experimental synth sounds. They make The Stone Roses' Elephant Stone sound like twee janglepop, but it still has that dancey beat that all the early 90s baggy/Manchester bands were using. Radiohead's Creep is turned into some sort of atonal expreimentalism. But Not Tonight by Depeche Mode is made into cute synth-based indiepop. I don't think I know the original of She's King, but this version is like twee pop mixed with spacerock. Their version of The Beatles' Taxman is a mixture of funk, baggy, psychedelic rock and experimental music. Basically Uncletoe's Portasound make mainstream songs more palatable for underground music fans - songs I don't like or am indifferent to are made to sound good by this band (although their version of Creep was a bit too weird for me). I'd be interested to hear some original material from them.

Followers of the tapes scene will probably be aware of Cliff Brown Jr (aka C Browne Jr). He is also in a band, Nozomi, who have a tape called I'm in the Overseas. The music is pretty similar to Cliff's solo material - ie 60s/70s influenced pop and rock with a large helping of psych and blues thrown in. There's a bit of country in there too. Titles like Goodbird, Peace and Love and Atomic Workers' Union suit the songs. There's also a song called Rock and Roll which is appropriately named. A superb collection of songs that Byrds fans might go for, although this doesn't sound exactly like them.

Garfield's Birthday have put together a collection of demos and a live song for their tape Chrome Jungle. This includes covers of Teenage Fanclub and Simon & Garfunkel songs, and both of these bands seem to be influences on the band's own material. Garfield's Birthday essentially make melodic pop; mostly it's powerpop, some is quieter indiepop, and occasionally there'll be a track that's more folkish (I mean the sort of stuff that was classed as folk in the late 60s, not traditional folk songs). They're obviously fans of Withnail & I as there are samples from the film in between each song. This may be demo material but it's by no means a collection of messy recordings. If you're one of those people who switches off at the word 'demo', expecting rubbish, you'll be missing out if you ignore this tape. If you appreciate tuneful music, give Garfield's Birthday a listen.

Mans Wieslander plays bass with the excellent Moonbabies. He's also in the Moonbabies side project Campo Mondo, as well as a powerpop band I've not heard, Elevator Adam. It seems he normally records for a BMG subsidiary - surprising that a major label recording artist would also release songs through a tape label! This is lo-fi, homemade sounding music that seems like it's been recorded on a 2nd hand tape as there are very brief snippets of other songs in between some tracks, that don't sound as though they're supposed to be there. Also some songs cut off when they don't seem finished. Just the sort of sloppiness I normally hate, but don't be put off if you hate this sort of thing too, as the actual songs are not sloppy; they're tuneful and well written. There's the occasional quite quirky song but most stuff here, if recorded on a bigger budget, in an expensive studio, with expensive instruments and more musicians, probably could appeal to a wider audience. It's not traditionally mainstream music, but as 'alternative' music is more popular now, a lot of people could go for these songs. On this tape, the songs are very raw and only hometaping fans will appreciate them in this form, but if you can see through the rough recordings and cheap-sounding drum machine, you will hear songs with a potential to be liked by many. I would guess that this is probably a collection of home demos of songs that may eventually end up on major label releases (if they haven't already). I'd be interested to hear what Mans' non-demo stuff sounds like.

For more info on this excellent tape label, contact Alessandro at bks@telemar.it

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