The famous London shop/record label release a new collection of 'indiepop' songs that have been bothering their earbuds in 2009, including songs by Girls, Los Campesinos!, Vivian Girls and Boy Least Likely To. Prepare to be swaddled in fuzz, though – many of these songs stretch the 'indiepop' tag to its limit.
It could be argued, in a modern music industry crammed with instant downloads and single-purchase iTunes fiends, that compilations are becoming a redundant source of discovering new music - but it's albums like this that'll change your mind. Rough Trade's yearly compilations are always brimming with quality artists and usually throw up several new acts whose badge you want to pin to your schoolbag and Tipp-Ex onto your pencil case. 'Indiepop '09' is no exception, and collates the best international indiepop tunes – equal parts rambunctiousness and tweeness – for your listening pleasure.
There's an overwhelmingly fuzzy vibe to this year's collection of so-called 'popsters'; leading the charge is New York's celebrated The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, whose non-album track '103' is rolled in a delicious breadcrumb coating of melody and spark. The Legends are equally in thrall to The Jesus & Mary Chain with 'Seconds Away', while almost-forgotten Swedes Love is All – whose debut album '9 Times That Same Song' was a stonker in 2006 – paint an aural forget-me-not with the psychedelia-tweaked 'Wishing Well'.
For those who like their pop a little less harsh on the ears, there are tracks like the skirt-twirling silly fun of 'David Cassidy' by the brilliant Betty & the Werewolves, and Veronica Falls' 'Beachy Head', a swoonsome nightmare-pop, gothic-laced tune about the famous suicide spot. Newcomers Girls also get a look in with their squall-based drawl 'Morning', as do The Boy Least Likely To, whose 'Summer of a Dormouse' sounds like a gloopy Super Furry Animals frolicking with Badly Drawn Boy in a computer lab.
It's a perfect round-up of bands you might have missed, and under-the-radar bands who you've yet to discover. Fab.
