Magic Roundabout "Sneaky Feelings"

Unexpectedly, Third Man Records has released a fun slice of lost 80s indiepop in the form of Magic Roundabout's "Sneaky Feelings" which bears all the hallmarks you could wish for (dual tambourine action! Moe Tucker/Bobby Gillespie thump! roughed-up guitars! insouciant vocals!) from a mid-80s, Manchester-based collective who supported some of the greats such as The Pastels and My Bloody Valentine in their day. The provenance of this release is great: the 2 songs on the 7" (the other's title and lyrics name-check Gerard Langley of The Blue Aeroplanes for added period colour) were turned up by Ian Masters of Pale Saints and then reworked for release by His Name Is Alive's Warren Defever. Tonight's mission is to locate a copy of the 7" as it seems to have sold out at a bunch of the usual UK places - it was only released less than a fortnight ago - as is so often the case in 2021. In the spirit of recent posts on Not Unloved, there's a VHS-res (actually, upon reflection, it's better than that) video of "Sneaky Feelings" to enjoy:

For sale for Carey Lander's chosen charity: Original 1997 Camera Obscura demo (all funds to Sarcoma UK)

Thanks to everyone who bid on a shared the link to this blog and to the auction itself.  Bidding closed at a fabulous 470.00 GBP.  Thanks, also, to the winning bidder for their tremendous generosity for a great cause.

A little over a week ago Carey Lander from Camera Obscura tragically succumbed to bone cancer at 33.  I didn't know her well - we only shared a laugh or two on a couple of occasions - but I loved her keyboard work with Camera Obscura and those I know who knew her always spoke of her with great affection.  She was a lovely presence round town and will be missed.  In the last few months Carey raised an amazing amount of money for the cancer charity Sarcoma UK.  In her honour, I'd like to make some sort of contribution so I'm selling an extremely rare 1997 homemade Camera Obscura demo tape via ebay.  This predates the group's beautiful first single, 'Park and Ride'.  100% of all funds raised will go to Sarcoma UK and postage is free to anywhere in the world.  Please take a look at the listing and it would be much appreciated if you would pass it on to anyone who might be interested.

Thanks for your help,

brogues

>> The 7 day listing is here <<

David Pollock's touching obituary for The Scotsman is here. 

Update @ 11:12pm:

Some interesting details about the tape/artwork from the official Camera Obscura Facebook page:

"An extremely rare item is being auctioned for Carey's Sarcoma UK campaign. An original 1997 demo tape from us. Not sure how many of these we made back in the day, realistically it was probably 10-20, I doubt any of us still have one lying about (I certainly don't). The sleeve was taken from an old photograph taken in Spain, and given a bit of a Peter Saville design-style tracing paper cover like New Order's Low Life album. Worth bidding on to help a great cause, and certainly an interesting and fairly unique piece of Obscura history."