Matinée Recordings continues to be one of my favourite labels. They specialise in the kind of indiepop that was around when I first got into non-mainstream music, but throughout the mid to late 90s there wasn't much of this kind of pop to be heard. Fortunately it seems to be making a comeback in the true indie scene, and Matinée is one of the main labels as they have a pretty frequent release schedule and put out consistently good quality records. Some of their recent releases are as follows.

Edson are a 6-piece band from Sweden and they have a 4-song CD Sunday, Lovely Sunday. This is janglepop which includes a variety of instruments, creating different moods - the title track has trumpet and flute which give it a sophisticated, grown-up feel, whereas September includes a glockenspiel, making it sound quite cute. September is my favourite track here, its chorus has vocal harmonies and is really catchy.

The Windmills released one single in the 80s but weren't heard of for some time afterwards. There wasn't much of a call for the type of janglepop made by them during most of the 90s, but this type of music is becoming more popular in the pop underground these days so their music doesn't sound anachronistic. Their Drug Autumn EP has four very 80s sounding jangly indiepop songs - good stuff.

An offshoot of The Windmills is Melodie Group whose Raincoat EP is very similar to The Windmills. These songs are perhaps not as strong as those on Drug Autumn but are still worth a listen for anyone into 80s style janglepop.

The Lucksmiths are an Australian band with a singing drummer. They've released a few things on Matinée, the latest being T-Shirt Weather, containing four indiepop songs. One of the tracks is a version of the Magnetic Fields' Deep Sea Diving Suit. I've only heard one or two Magnetic Fields songs and found them far too dour, and nowhere near as indiepoppy as I'd been led to believe they were, but this version by The Lucksmiths is in a similar style to the usual Lucksmiths material. The last track on here is a new version of Southernmost, from an earlier single, which this time has the addition of Hammond organ.

Lovejoy's Songs In The Key of Lovejoy album sounds rather Blueboy-ish on the whole, which is no surprise as the band consists of members of Blueboy, as well as Richard Preece (ex-Spinning Wheels, currently in Beaumont and Snowbound International Pop Club). Radio reminds me of a cross between Blueboy and Brighter. Not everything here is Blueboy-ish though, for example Thank Your Lucky Stars, which is noisier than everything else here but is still a pop song, and Sunset Sky which is an electronic instrumental. Fans of early 90s indiepop, particularly what Sarah were releasing, will love this album.

There are other new things out on Matinée but I'm yet to hear them. For info contact matineepop@hotmail.com

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