People in my blogospherical neighbourhood have been talking about Zipper since forever but I had somehow managed to ignore the Spanish band until this very morning. Now I am hooked to the one song I know: Former Friends. Tom linked to it last week but it has been on Cloudberry’s website for about a year now. That just goes to show my ignorance.

What matters though is that this is brilliant gem, of the kind that they used to make in Oxford in 1986 or in Gothenburg in 2004. It took me a while to find out which language they sing in (it turns out to be English after all), but that is a good thing in my book. There is a full length album out too, 11, and the band will come and play London and Stoke-on-Trent next month, which is great news, especially if you happen to live in or near one of these cities.

Oh how nice it is, after months of listening mostly to girl groups –well, and The Lucksmiths, of course–, to listen to some fresh, happy indiepop again. So the news that The Garlands' debut EP will be released in a week from now is as welcome as the arrival of spring.

And since we’re talking about sweet pop bands: Dutch blog Alankomaat linked to a lovely short song by Indonesian White Shoes & The Couples Company, sung in their native language. Equally sweet, though sung in a language better known to me, are the four songs that Hot Out Herre posted of The Best Wishes a while ago.