The Rosslyns
@therosslyns
"ultra-obscure lo-fi UK bedroom pop", signed to Harriet Records (US) & My Secret World (UK). We can’t be ‘indie’, because we’re distributed by Virgin Music. Essex (then), Essex Road (now).
Amazing slew of 21st century singles, too. Here is my Sarah 7" (my overlap with Trevor's selection!) cuddling up to JSHs 10 to 14, which spanned the 2010s... #weekendsingles
I also feel kind of sad that I’d never get to meet them to say thank you…
34 years ago, give or take. We never got many fanzine mentions, so even your mate’s homemade 'zine counts... Thanks, Ben, wherever you are - still blush at this now!
Found it - you led me to this fairly ace fundraising compilation, jampacked with loads of other Australian (and American) bands who would be (or already are?) right up your street. "Indie Aid Abroad: A Little Help for East Timor".
more 2026 product in heavy rotation (ex-Napalm Death edition) #nowplaying
Here's the vinyl. Teen Anthems are a 90s band who we *would* love to see re-form
#5DebutAlbums2026 ROCK, s/t. Collaboration between MALK (who put out an APB for a singer on the socials) and Chris Adams (Hood, Bracken, On Fell, genius) who serendipitously answered the call. Divine, ethereal, layered pop. Maximum music, as they used to say on Radio 1.
#5DebutAlbums2026 Sev Dah "Eternal Flame" Excellent techno set, themed (like a dozen of his previous 12" singles) around the heroism of Yugoslav soldiers & partisans, this time over the liberation of Sarajevo. Immaculately realised.
#5DebutAlbums2026 Gremlinz & Jesta "The Lee Garden Historical Preservation Society". Took them 20 years to get to this consistently deft DnB album on Metalheadz, named after the Chinese restaurant in Toronto where the duo used to meet to swap ideas.
#5DebutAlbums2026 Value Added (V++) "Tell Us Like We Are". Avant-garde rock trio, all M.E.S. and brimstone, helmed by Some Velvet Sidewalk's Al Larsen. A fantastic and idiosyncratic guitar record, with terrific sleeve art too.
#5DebutAlbums2026 Goodbye Wudaokou “Mirror Skies”. From the north-west (of England), a debut of heartfelt songcraft and nascent beauty on YaoYiZhen. Think there were barely 20 copies of this, but luckily it was subsequently reissued by the ever-prolific Subjangle!
#5DebutAlbums2026 The Ekphrastics "Special Delivery" - quirky, clever & always-melodic album from Frank Boscoe (Wimp Factor 14, Vehicle Flips) and band. First of three Ekphrastics albums in three years on Harriet, his label alma mater.
#5DebutAlbums2026 Farma G’s £10 Bag! Farma G and Chester P (Taskforce, Highbury Estate) are local and UKHH heroes - but it wasn’t until 2022 that Farma made his solo album debut. Ace guest apps too, from Soweto Kinch, Kashmere, Jehst, Juga-Naut et al.
You should! And did you know there was a volume 2...? Listened to this one a lot when it appeared 2002-ish. Though I suspect "Still I Rise" remains their most popular tune...
yes! and reminds of what an incredible imprint Swarf Finger was over that period. This, "A Label Supreme", is one of my favourite label comps ever. Right up there with my many other Brizzle record label loves (Mobstar, Sarah, Subway, UVB-76...)
Mark E. Smith, "The Post Nearly Man" #5DebutAlbums9599 Essentially this is beyond good or bad - what you might fancy if you find the Fall (who were all over the place at the time, iirc) a little too accessible... I mean I think I mostly like it, just maybe not all in one go?
Bouquet. If you know, you know. Got to see these live, too (just the once). Seminal tweecore pioneers who eventually got around to this long-player, towards the end of the 90s... #5DebutAlbums9599
Lock-Up "Pleasures Pave Sewers" Lock-Up may have started as a Napalm Death side-project, but proved a terrific groove-rooted, grindcore band in their own right & built up a v. solid discography over the years (lighting up the Camden Underworld more than once) #5DebutAlbums9599
Spraydog's "Citrus Bitumen", on Ferric Mordant. A fantastic outfit from the North-East who we got to see in a few support slots down south - this was a skewed, fuzzy, distorted tangle of slackery pop. #5DebutAlbums9599
Wandering Lucy "Leap Year" Another debut on the marvellous K Records, recorded by Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic. Engaging, vulnerable and pretty pop music. #5DebutAlbums9599
Rakim “The 18th Letter” The master of half-rhyme. Obviously not up there with the four stellar EB&R albums, but on its own terms this is absolutely fine? Especially the “Guess Who’s Back?” and “It’s Been A Long Time” 45s. #5DebutAlbums9599
Delayed response, as stumbled across this fine Falling and Laughing cd-EP and fanzine! All of 16 years ago, apparently. Always something a bit different / special about them.
Gentle, earnest, mellifluous indiepop from the Musical Chairs on their only LP - a split on Raindate Records & Harriet Records in 1998. #5DebutAlbums9599
Back to Melbourne for this Tim Best LP - previously songwriter for Girl of the World, who never managed an album proper. Not as instantly endearing as GotW, but well worth a spin. Have just spotted the legendary Josh Meadows (Steinbecks, Sugargliders, Leaf Mosaic) played bass! #5DebutAlbums9599
Bows "Blush" #5DebutAlbums9599 Saw them in King's Cross in '99 (supported by Pete Astor as Ellis Island Sound!) and was blown away. Ran out and bought this and it seemed tame by comparison... But coming back to it now, appreciate it much more - blissed-out & equal parts junglist and trippy.
Now this is fire, a definite contender for #5DebutAlbums9599 - 57th Dynasty's "The Spoken Word" mixtape. V influential Brixton collective who don't get the credit they should. Dark, grimy, pioneering.