Shifty Disco, a collaboration between the Rotator label and Nightshift magazine, was the first CD singles club in the UK. Originally all the bands on the label were from Oxford where the label is based, but they've now released stuff from all over the place, as far as the USA. A selection of their CD singles have been by Howlite (noisepop/indie-rock), Creeper Lagoon (a chance to hear an early single from this indie-rock band who subsequently signed to a major), Multiscreen (catchy noisepop with punkish vocals, followed by a more subdued song), Overground (Drugs is countrified stuff with jokey lyrics, but the second track is totally different, sounding more like the more popular kind of indie music from the early 90s. This single comes with a lyric sheet folded to look like a packet of drugs!), Four Storeys (their first track is laid-back indiepop to start with, then goes into a psychedelic instrumental bit, before going back to the original song. The second track is country-psych-rock-pop), Pluto Monkey (an ex-Dawn of the Replicants band doing eccentric pop - I use the word 'pop' loosely. Dawn of the Replicants were so diverse that some of their songs appealed to me and others didn't, but this single is as good as the best of the Dawn of the Replicants stuff) and Vigilance Black Special (the first song is serious pop, complete with trombone, that comes across like an indie version of the 'crooners' of years gone by. The second track also has a trombone but has more emphasis on the darker side of indiepop than easy listening 'crooner' music). When joining the singles club you get one single per month for a year. To join send £30 (UK)/£45 (elsewhere) to Shifty Disco, 65 George Street, Oxford OX1 2BE.

Shifty Disco isn't just a singles club - they have some releases which are more generally available, such as the Agony single by Unbelievable Truth. They're probably sick of being described as "Thom Yorke's brother's band" rather than a band in their own right, but the truth is, they don't sound all that dissimilar to Radiohead. They're not identical by any means but are doing a kind of guitar music with slightly angsty melodies, which is of the same genre as Radiohead's more laid-back material.

Every year Shifty Disco release a compilation CD with the lead tracks from each of the singles club releases - the one I have is vol 2, which has noisepop/indie-rock from Howlite, Crackout, Kilter, The Samurai 7, Multiscreen and Creeper Lagoon, experimental electronica from Pan Tonic, jazzy stuff with darkly humorous lyrics from Joey Herzfeld, dancey stuff with punkish vocals from The Sect, off-centre pop from Nork Law, jokey country from Overground and odd electronic stuff with someone reeling off a list of things associated with Christmas from Spunkle. I believe they've released another volume since but I don't have it so can't tell you much about it...

Shifty Disco have released a collection of songs from the Channel 4 series Sounds Of The Suburbs, presented by John Peel. I don't have the full album but a 9 track sampler including The Samurai 7, Radio Sweethearts, Nought, Reviver Gene, The Jones Machine, Back To Base, Lianne Hall, Exploding Thumbs and Comatose. The music ranges from punk-pop to country to dub to acoustic music and more in between. I remember the programme didn't show the full band Nought but James Sedwards solo, playing guitar with a drill. This was a dreadful row, but the Nought track here is good, an instrumental that would appeal to Cardiacs/Monsoon Bassoon fans.

The Elephant 6 band Beulah have their When Your Heartstrings Break album out in the UK on Shifty Disco. This band sound influenced by 60s bands such as the Beach Boys and the Beatles but instead of just being a carbon copy of any 60s stuff, they mix the 60s elements with a more modern indiepop sound which is sometimes noisy, and some tracks have strings and wind instruments. If I had to pigeonhole this I'd say it was powerpop but whereas a lot of powerpop bands sound pretty much the same as each other, Beulah aren't afraid to bend the rules and incorporate a number of not-particularly-powerpop sounds into the music. Although influences are evident here, Beulah are in no way a ripoff band, they have plenty of their own ideas too. This is a very good album.

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