Bands

Wouldn't be much of a page without band links, would it?

Belle & Sebastian are probably my favorite band that's still together. Scottish pop with lovely folk leanings. A bit like...nothing, really! A little bit like a lot of things, a lot bit like nothing. Check out this webpage, run by the band.

The Labyrinthine Greenhouse is a website run by the band the Clientele that the band have put together. They haven't even released a debut album yet, but I've become quite taken with them. So if you are too or you're just curious, this site has plenty of well-updated information.

The Magnetic Fields are an intriguing band with New Wave-y synthesizers, gorgeous vocals, and no real way to classify them well. Check out this site maintained by an equally intriguing girl.

Record Labels

Ah, the stuff that dreams are made of. Here are some of record labels that I like.

Fabulous Friends is a new label that's run by Roger Gunnarson of Nixon. Their first release is a single by the drummer from Hefner, under the moniker Ant.

Insound is an internet-only mailorder that I've noticed fairly recently. The people who work there are really nice and they seem to be putting a lot of effort into providing a community in addition to their mailorder, with web chats and essays by people from the indie scene. Have a look.

Shelflife Records is a great label run by Ed, formerly of the Autocollants and other great groups. They have releases by the Autocollants, the Castaway Stones, the Acid House Kings, Majestic, Skypark and more fantastic releases on the way.

Matinée Recordings is an excellent American label that has been steadily increasing its output of lovely records, with past and recent outings by the Fairways, Harper Lee and Sweet William, you should most certainly have a look at Matinée's current and future releases. Oh, and they're also on Indiepages, so I guess they're sort of a neighbor of Sandcastle's.

Shinkansen Recordings is run by Matt Haynes, formerly of Sarah Records. Shinkansen has many wonderful albums and singles in its own right, with more amazing things coming out soon. They've released recordings by bands like Trembling Blue Stars, Blueboy and Cody. Superb english pop.

Twee Kitten Records is, as they put it, a 'global media empire.' In addition to being a record label, you can find more things on the Twee Kitten website than you'd ever have time to examine, but give it a go. Notable is their very affordable mailorder, which seems to be where a lot of people get their Sandcastle releases.

Miscellania

This is for those links related to neither bands nor record labels. All of these sites aren't necessarily pop-related, mind you.

The Coalition for the Future of Music is an organization dedicated to making sure artists have a say in the future distribution of music over the internet. Finally, someone who's not an extremist on this issue, and who I never find myself disagreeing with!

Shredding Radio is an internet radio station run by Mel of the Shredding Paper 'zine. You can listen to it via streaming MP3. There are 50 new songs each day, and it's just whatever he feels like putting up, so some of it is old, and some is new, as it should be. From what I've seen, this is the internet radio station most similar to my own tastes. Go see if it's up your alley.

Imprint are the exceedingly nice printers who did the Nixon sleeves, and they rock. If you're thinking about printing sleeves or anything of that nature, this is the place you should go.

Indiecentre is 'an independent label information site.' Basically if you run a record label or have ever thought about it, this is the place to go. They have updated contact info on every aspect of the process, and (this is the best part, IMO) even reviews by people who've used the services. This would have been SOOO useful if I'd known about it before I started Sandcastle, but even now I find it very handy.

Ad's Indiepop Links is a very large list of links related to indiepop. Probably the most complete and concise list of links as such, relating to indiepop. We're on there, go have a look.

MacAddict is an excellent source for Apple news.

And Wired.com is an excellent source for news on everything else.

Sandcastle Communications
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e-mail: cellophanesky@mac.com