How to sum up Dreamy Records? There's no real label sound as such, but many of their releases could be classed as 'unusual pop', being quirky without being pretentious, and others are a kind of low-key, minimalist, understated pop.

Tuesday Weld's first release on Dreamy is a CD called The Valentine EP. This is, of course, not the actress but a one-man-band called Stephen Coates, whose music has been described as 'antique beat' and 'progressive nostalgia'. This is a recreation of 30s jazz and 'crooner' music, mixed with modern electronica and the occasional modern lyric (like the reference to fast food in Anything But Love). The only other 30s style music I've heard lately was by The Fabulous Nobody, and even that doesn't have that much in common with this. This is quite possibly a unique concept.

Tuesday Weld is/are now called The Real Tuesday Weld, and a single and album have been released under this name. The single is a 7" called I Love The Rain. Packaged in a retro-looking sleeve, the first two tracks here remind me a bit of The Busy Signals with their DIY hip-hop beats and staccato samples, but there is of course the added 30s influence that was evident on The Valentine EP. The last track, Amelia Earhart Blue, is an old-fashioned Continental-influenced instrumental, a bit like some of the stuff Trespassers W have done. The album is When Cupid Meets Psyche, and it includes guest appearances from Martine Roberts and Clive Painter from Broken Dog, as well as some other people whose names I don't recognise. There's 15 tracks on here, mixing lo-fi electronica, indiepop, 30s jazz, easy listening and a bit of funk (in Terminally Ambivalent Over You).

Lauren Hoffman is a singer-songwriter who once had a record deal with Virgin, but now has her own label, Free Union, and is also a producer, and a promoter of singer-songwriters at the Tokyo Rose Club in Charlottesville, VA. All this, and she's still only in her early 20s! Her album From The Blue House is self-released but promoted by Dreamy, who have also released a single by her (Song For A Boy). The songs on the album are sometimes slightly Michelle Shocked-esque jazz-blues, sometimes country-tinged, sometimes folky (in the American sense of 'folk' not the English sense), and sometimes a more modern type of singer-songwriter music where the guitars can be fairly noisy. Tracks like the easy listening pop meets jazz of Whoever You Are and the straightforward country and western Sugarpie are a bit too middle of the road for these ears, but there are also some much more listenable songs here. Two of the best tracks have been released by Dreamy; Song for a Boy is the same version as on the album, and there's also a demo version of Look Like Shit. Even though I'm not keen on every song on the album, there's no denying that Lauren Hoffman is a talented songwriter, who writes intelligent lyrics with real meaning.

After releasing a handful of EPs on Dreamy, Arco now have an album on the label, Coming To Terms. Arco make melancholic music that doesn't sound exactly like, but creates a similar mood to, the more sombre Sarah bands such as The Field Mice and Brighter. Babies' Eyes brings to mind The Hit Parade (or at least their Sarah single, I don't know their other material) and the strings in Movie make me think of Sarah-era Harvest Ministers. One thing that's different about Arco is that very occasionally they threaten to rock out - just a bit, mind! In comparison with real rock bands, this is NOT rock, but Arco sometimes inject a few loud parts into their otherwise hushed music. There's also country hints in Alien, and the trumpet in Accident gives it an easy listening feel. Overall though, these are sad songs in an old-school indiepop style.

Following his albums on Che in the mid 90s, and his various experimental limited editions (such as a cassette set in concrete, a DAT sealed in a glass jar of oil, a 3" CD in a cardboard cube, and a 7" strip of master tape), Kirk Lake has a new, self-titled, album on Dreamy. On the whole this is a collection of fairly dark and at times slightly off-centre underground pop with an occasional jazz influence, as heard in Everyday Lingers and The Wedding Song (the latter is also blues-tinged). But then there's The Adventures of an Abstract Detective, which is the song from Lake's CD inside a cardboard cube. This sounds rather out of place amongst the tuneful songs here, as it's an experimental piece with spoken vocals and electronic sounds that are as strange as Lake's art projects. If you like Jamie Owen's solo material, take note, as he is one of the guest musicians on this album.

Santa Sprees are Anthony Dolphin and Katherine Marshall, who judging by their accents are American, but they're based in Tokyo, and there are also various Japanese guest musicians playing on their album. The album is Keep Still, and the music on it is off-centre lo-fi pop reminiscent of early Grandaddy and assorted Elephant 6 bands. The 'oompah-oompah' keyboard sound in Make Up Dust is identical to that used by Apples In Stereo. As well as this sort of music, there's a song here, Ra Is Rising, which is like an American folk song with a gospel touch.

Graham, who is Graham Darnell, has an album called Never, And Maybe Not Even Then. Some of the songs are rather cute, but most of the time an air of sadness pervades the album. The keyboard based songs often make me think of Harvey Williams' solo recordings, and the guitar based ones, which tend to be even more melancholic, remind me a bit of Frank Peck and his band Shy Rights Movement, and also a bit of Brighter. A few of the keyboard based tracks also have Frank Peck-ish melodies.

The latest Dreamy release isn't actually out at the time of writing this, but will be out later this month (November 2001). This is a compilation CD, A Wish On A Star, which features some artists who have other records out on Dreamy, and some who don't. Most of the songs are laid-back pop, often with a melancholic feel, some lo-fi and some less so; some stripped down and some with more sophisticated touches. The bands/artists in this style are Santa Sprees, M Ward (of Giant Sand), Broken Dog, Dudley Klute, Graham, Flare, Jamie Owen, Rivulets, Silver Springs, Ursula, Arco, Cole Marquis, The Witch Hazel Sound, Stars on the Water (great to see them on here - their song is excellent) and Izumi Misawa. There are a few tracks that are in a different vein - (The Real) Tuesday Weld's first song is 30s music hall meets hip-hop and the second track is sophisticated easy listening pop; S. Hotel also appear influenced by pre-50s music; and Summer Hymns are still pop, but more upbeat than most of the bands here.

Info on these and other releases from tracy@dreamyrecords.com

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