No. 13 Animals That Swim - All Your Stars Are Out

Picture discs; they're a bit rubbish aren't they? As is invariably the case with the medium, this plays like someone is hoovering in the background and pops and clicks from start to finish. Which is a great shame as its an absolutely lovely song. It was also their last single, sadly, before they all went off to pursue what were almost certainly more lucrative careers. The b-side, While You Were Learning To Fly, is, for once, a cracking tune too; a glaring omission from their final LP. Whilst putting this together,I discovered they did briefly re-form in 2011 and put out a single on iTunes. Who knows, perhaps they'll reunite again some day and I'll finally get to see them live.

Next up, we'll be heading for more populist and more geographically local sounds.

No. 12 Animals That Swim - The Moon And The Mothership

More loveliness from Animals That Swim. This 2001 single pre-empted their final album, Happiness From A Distant Star. It's a lovely thick slab of vinyl and a cracking tune. The b-sides are oddities; a short instrumental and a spoken word piece describing methods of covertly consuming alcohol whilst working in a bar. There's a video too, which has a lo-fi, low budget charm as well as featuring a space-hopper, for no entirely obvious reason. This is one of only 500 of these lovelies (number 390 to be precise); feel free to gaze upon it in envious awe.

No. 11 Animals That Swim - Pink Carnations E.P.

Almost certainly my last post of 2014 and on to a personal favourite, Animals That Swim. If I were to draw up a list of bands that never got the recognition they deserved (and you know that in my head I have), Animals That Swim would certainly feature. This is the earliest 7" of theirs that I own, though it was actually their fifth single. Pink Carnations is a fine example of their style; beautifully observed commentaries on everyday life. It also appears on their first album, Workshy, from 1994; a fine record, though their next full-length release, I Was The King, I Really Was The King, was, arguably, their career best. If you know nothing of the band, I'd thoroughly recommend their entire back catalogue. Oddly Spotify has only a couple of their singles, though it does include The Greenhouse, which is a damned fine starting point; "asthma man grows pot in greenhouse" etc.

This also plays with the 7" format rather pleasingly, it actually includes 5 tracks and plays at 33 rpm. The additional tracks are unspectacular, out-takes from the Workshy sessions I suspect.

Animals That Swim would also feature on another of my lists; bands that I consider favourites but never saw live, along with the likes of Danielle Dax and the Cocteau Twins. I believe they rarely ventured far beyond the capital, which made them hard to see in Leeds or Sheffield.