bumbleBEAR was formed from the ashes of 80s label Bear. Bernard who ran Bear passed the label onto Jimmy and friends in 1999, and the name was changed because although both labels were indiepop/indierock, Jimmy's taste in music within the indie sphere differed from Bernard's. Jimmy intends bumbleBEAR to be a label you can trust as it specialises in one style. The sort of label where you can buy records you've never heard just because they are on that label. bumbleBEAR is the indiepop side of the label (although not exclusively, as we will see); there is also a sublabel Honey which is described as being more rock, experimental and electronic, but I don't have any of their releases.

Bunsen Honeydew have a 7" on bumbleBEAR, Transistor. The title track is the noisier end of shoegazing, sounds similar to how Ride sounded in the early 90s. Tiny For Louis is an instrumental that begins with some experimental sounds, spacey bleeps and drones, then it gets more melodic, but the melody is subtle, more atmospheric than catchy. Very different from the A-side; this could be by a totally different band. Whilst the A-side fits broadly into the 'indie' category, it's not exactly pop, and the B-side is much more of an experimental thing. I think they set up their Honey label after this was released, but judging by the description of that label, this 7" would fit it more on Honey than bumbleBEAR. Both tracks are recommended though, and if you dig shoegazer and/or experimental & post-rock, you could do a lot worse than check this out.

Much more indiepoppy is the All Sixes and Sevens 7" by Bugs Eat Books, which includes four songs. Their brand of pop is a blend of ramshackle twee pop, 80s jangle and the Elephant 6 sound. A really great jangly band - would like to hear more from them. 8:16 (And Time To Kill) is especially catchy.

Build Your Own Radio is a compilation CD consisting of bands I'd heard of before (Bello Lamb, Six Cents & Natalie, My Favorite, I Am The World Trade Center, The Wee Turtles) and those I discovered through bumbleBEAR. The Boys' Star Library's A (Very) Brief History of the Radio is powerpop in the Elephant 6 sense and features the interesting themed effect of a fake radio-being-tuned sound. There is also a radio theme to the lyrics of a handful of other tracks, though it doesn't continue throughout the album. There is a track from Bunsen Honeydew which is different again from both tracks on the 7" - this is pure pop, no noise or experimentation to be heard! Overall the comp is very much indiepop, but encompasses a variety of moods, from lighthearted and catchy to lo-fi to slightly off-centre to powerpoppy to electronic to melancholic to noisy to jangly to country-tinged. These all work well together though and this is a remarkably consistent compilation, especially considering its length (26 tracks). A brilliant album this - if you're new to indiepop it gives you a good idea of the sort of sounds that make up this overall genre, and if you're already into indiepop you can't miss it!

The Boys' Star Library have a CD on bumbleBEAR, If I Was Born A Girl... Starts with an experimental instrumental that's very untypical of the rest of the album. Their usual sound is super-tuneful powerpop and more laid-back and atmospheric pop that's still got plenty of melody. Great stuff!

Where Do You Live by Gray Home Music has 9 tracks of homemade-sounding, but not too lo-fi, indiepop. Sometimes the songs are melancholic, sometimes not, and sometimes you get atmospheric sound effects in the background. It's a very low-key sound and I'm often reminded of the more understated songs by Grandaddy.

Sabado Domingo is basically the solo project of Dan Skinner, although various guest backing vocalists and instrumentalists appear on selected tracks on the album The First Day Of Our Reinvention. Songs vary from those with acoustic or largely acoustic instrumentation and full band ones, one of which (Trouble) is noisy but tuneful, and others which are just tuneful. Jet Planes even has a circus music influence and a keyboard that sounds like a harpsichord. Morning to Nighttime features some guitar playing and singing that is a direct ripoff of the tune to Help Me Rhonda, but it does also include some atmospheric flute playing at the end to make up for that lapse in originality.

I also have two CDs that were originally self-released but have now been absorbed into the bumbleBEAR catalogue. The first of these is Pop And Fade by The Emily Rock Group, originally out on their own Collectible Escalators label. This is brill noisepop bordering on indierock. Not yer ordinary noisepop/indierock though - some songs are slightly off-kilter and others are totally quirky with lots of changey bits. Diamonds On Your Eyes is indie-country-surf similar to The Palantines. Highly recommended - I'd like to hear more from this band.

The other originally self-released CD is Staring Into Spaces by Mike Skinner, which has six tracks which are called 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The first part of 1 is just percussion and a rumbling bassline, then there's just vocals and minimal percussion, then more rumbling bass and additional percussion adds to the backing - a very unusual track. 2 has loads of feedbacking noise behind the vocals. 3 is a drone with percussion then some electronic bleepery comes in, then some other sound effect like huge iron doors slamming shut, then there's some more droning accompanied by tribal-style drumming, that eventually explodes with a shimmering (for want of a better word) effect. 4 continues the tribal-influenced percussion but this time adds a minimal vocal section. 5 has more drumming, plus a bit of triangle, a hypnotic keyboard which is a bit fairground-ish but more repetitive and less tuneful, then some sinister, deep, rumbling notes. 6 has percussion and the odd sinister note in the background, then a surprisingly bright-sounding guitar comes in, then a song that could be pop if the instrumentation wasn't so odd, then a violin part that is melodic but experimental as it spans a number of styles - I can hear bits of folk, Arabian music and classical in there. Then there's some harsh, crashing percussion, then some more rhythmic percussion, some odd background noises and the return of that surreal, dreamlike keyboard, then a very poppy song with a 60s-ish chorus, that also has shades of gospel music. Then there's more percussion that gradually fades out. A pretty strange release for bumbleBEAR, much more experimental than usual, but it has some interesting and original ideas.

bumbleBEAR is a fine discovery - definitely a label to keep an eye on! Contact them at info@bumblebear.com

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