The Loft, adds to previous collections and includes reunion recordings (including three previously unreleased songs), a
Gideon Coe session, and live recordings from their 1984 performance at
The Living Room. The live recording includes songs that never were recorded in the studio. Back in ‘84, The Loft were a promising entry in the vast swarm of Creation talent, and seemed more likely than others to make it big. Trailing in the wake of
The Smiths, they were right in the thick of guitar-based indie pop. Reveling in their influences, including
The Velvet Underground,
Television, and
Modern Lovers, they released two killer singles: “Why Does the Rain” and “Up the Hill and Down the Slope”. Both were fantastic and sound fresh even today, but the band parted ways and moved on to other bands (
09 02 2021
INSPIRED BY PUNK, angered by Thatcher and in love with ’60s culture, the UK indie scene produced some of the greatest (and oddest) pop records of all time. It all began on December 28, 1976 at Indigo Studios on Gartside Street in Manchester. The Buzzcocks had just recorded and mixed four songs destined for the Spiral Scratch EP. A month later the EP would be released on the band’s own New Hormones label, in the process spawning a scene of musicians, songwriters and labels hell-bent on doing it for themselves. Forged in the political turmoil of the late ’70s and early ’80s, labels such as Postcard, Creation, Factory, Zoo and Rough Trade emerged as maverick flag-bearers of a new eclectic indie aesthetic. The DIY revolution had begun and British pop would never be the same again.