There Is Life After Birth

First post of the year! And it's about time to clear up that list of recommended releases to the right. The last record to make the list, before I start one for 2010, is Santa Monica Swim & Dive Club and their mini-album Mild Honey (great Beach Boys reference!). SMS&DC is Tim Sendra, previously of such notable pop ventures as Veronica Lake and Madison Electric. According to Myspace, he's been using the alias since 2003. The seven songs on the record sound as playful as anything he has recorded though computer recording makes for better sound quality then the old 4-track. While not chronicling independent pop on the otherwise very dependent Allmusic, Sendra's got another blog called None More Twee, together with co-author Margaret. He's just posted his faves of 2009, so check it out.

Albums
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart s/t (Slumberland)
Pocketbooks Flight Paths (HDIF Label)
Burning Hearts Aboa Sleeping (Shelflife)
Pens Hey Friend, What You Doing? (De Stijl)
Wavves Wavvves (Fat Possum)
Shrag s/t (WIAIWYA)
Knight School The Poor & the Needy Need to Party (Lostmusic)
The Besties Home Free (Hugpatch)
Butcher Boy React Or Die (HDIF Label)
The Loves Three (Fortuna Pop)
Cats On Fire Our Temperance Movement (HDIF Label)
Tenniscoats Temporacha (ROOM40)
Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career (4AD)
Blank Dogs Under and Under (In the Red)
Blackberry Wine Modern Living: A Survival Handbook (Pony Proof)
Cola Jet Set Guitarras y Tambores (Elefant)
The Wave Pictures If You Leave It Alone (Moshi Moshi)
Woods Songs of Shame (Shrimper)
Eat Skull EUSTA Kill (self-released tour CDR)
Eat Skull Wild and Inside (Siltbreeze)
Liechtenstein Survival Strategies In a Modern World (Fraction Discs/Slumberland)
Bricolage s/t (Slumberland)
Girls At Our Best! Pleasure (Cherry Red reissue)
Mr. Wright Diary of a Fool (Series Two)
Cheap Red s/t (555)
The Relationships Space (Big Red Sky)
Let's Wrestle In the Court of the Wrestling Let's (Stolen)
God Help the Girl s/t (Rough Trade)
Slow Club Yeah So (Moshi Moshi)
The Beets Spit On the Face of People Who Don't Want to Be Cool (Captured Tracks)
Thee Oh Sees Help (In the Red)
Ye Olde Maids God Blesses Us, Mother Dresses Us (Art Fag)
Vivian Girls Everything Goes Wrong (In the Red)
A Sunny Day In Glasgow Ashes Grammar (Mis Ojos)
Tyvek s/t (Siltbreeze)
Ray Rumours Le Pont Suspendu (Stitch-Stitch)
The Clientele Bonfires On the Heath (Merge)
Pants Yell! Received Pronounciation (Slumberland)
Grass Widow s/t (Make a Mess)
Another Sunny Day London Weekend (Cherry Red reissue)
Hurrah! Tell God I'm Here (Cherry Red reissue)
The Claim Black Path – Retrospective 1985–1992 (Cherry Red)
The Ogdens Hellish Mad Rush (Firestation)
The Close Lobsters Forever, Until Victory! (Fire)
Ty Segall Lemons (Goner)
Afternoon Naps Parade (Happy Happy Birthday to Me)
Bunnygrunt Matt Harnish & Other Delights (Happy Happy Birthday to Me)
The Crayon Fields All the Pleasures of the World (Chapter)
Rose Melberg Homemade Ship (WIAIWYA)
The Mantles s/t (Siltbreeze)
The Fresh & Onlys s/t (Castle Face)
The Intelligence Fake Surfers (In the Red)
Christmas Island Blackout Summer (In the Red)
The Fresh & Onlys Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist)
The Procedure Club Music For Leisure Time (Series Two)
The Medusa Snare Cinderella (Squirrel)
The Pearly Gatecrashers But Wait, There's More (Plastilina)
Hollows s/t (Addenda)
The Gladeyes Psychosis of Love (Lil' Chief)
The Brunettes Paper Dolls (Lil' Chief)
The Manhattan Love Suicides Louder and Longer (Squirrel re-release)
Brilliant Colors Introducing (Slumberland)
Theoretical Girl Divided (Memphis Industries)
Real Estate s/t (Woodsist)
Wetdog Frauhaus! (Captured Tracks/Angular)
Tesco Chainstore Mascara Good Foundations (Bubblegum)
Voluntary Butler Scheme At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea (Split)
Box Elders Alice and Friends (Goner)
Fireflies Autumn Almanac (Littlemusic)
The Electric Pop Group Seconds (Matinée)
Northern Portrait Criminal Art Lover (Matinée)
Zoey van Goey The Cage Was Unlocked All Along (Chemikal Undergound)
Fungi Girls Seafaring Pyramids (Play Pinball)
Santa Monica Swim & Dive Club Mild Honey (Little Pocket)

Singles & EPs
Wake the President/Je Suis Animal split single (Electric Honey/Lucky Number Nine 7")
Very Truly Yours/The Understudies split ep (Cloudberry EP)
The Morning Paper/Moscow Olympics split single (Lostmusic 7")
The Specific Heats Back Through Tyme (Hugpatch EP)
Dum Dum Girls s/t (Zoo Music EP)
BMX Bandits Love (Elefant EP)
The Sea Lions Let's Groove (YAY! EP)
The Loves The Ex Gurlfriend (download EP)
The Felt Tips Bough & Sold (WeePOP! EP)
The Just Joans Love and Other Hideous Accidents (WeePOP! EP)
Electricity In Our Homes Silver Medal In Gymnastics (4AD 7")
Ipso Facto If... (Vinyl Junkie EP)
Dum Dum Girls Yours Alone (Captured Tracks 12")
Liechtenstein Everything's For Sale (Drill Building EP)
Mutating Meltdown Fantasy (M'Lady's 7")
Comet Gain Herbert Hunke (Germs of Youth 7")
The Voluntary Butler Scheme Multiplayer (Split 7")
The Bumblebees s/t (self-released ep)
Dum Dum Girls Longhair (HoZac 7")
Colin Clary Every Little Thing Counts (WeePOP! EP)
Brilliant Colors s/t (Make a Mess 7")
Brilliant Colors Highly Evolved (Captured Tracks 7")
The Mayfair Set Already Warm (Captured Tracks 7")
Blank Dogs Seconds (Captured Tracks 12")
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart Young Adult Friction (Slumberland 7")
Crystal Stilts Love Is a Wave (Slumberland 7")
The Bridal Shop In Fragments (Plastilina EP)
Woods Sunlit (Captured Tracks 7")
Little Girls Youth Tunes (Captured Tracks 7")
Kid Romance Fuck Punx (Captured Tracks 7")
Very Truly Yours Reminders (self-released EP)
German Measles Demos Sorry (Captured Tracks CS)
Little Girls Youth Tunes (Captured Tracks 7")
Vivian Girls Moped Girls (For Us 7")
The Artisans s/t (Cloudberry EP)
caUSE co-MOTION! Because Because Because (Slumberland EP)
Help Stamp Out Loneliness Torvill and Dean (Papillons Noirs 7")
Help Stamp Out Loneliness Pacific Trash Vortex (WIAIWYA 7")
Standard Fare/Slow Down Tallahassee split-single (Thee SPC 7")
Boy Genius Blame Love (Greenpop 7")
The Motifs People Like Us (Cosy EP)
California Gold s/t (self-released EP)
The Proctors s/t (Cloudberry EP)
Socialist Leisure Party Turktown Saints (Cloudberry 7")
Socialist Leisure Party Tactical POP! for Coffee Cadets (Shelflife EP + 7")
The Depreciation Guild Dream About Me (Kanine 7")
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart Higher Than the Stars (Slumberland 12")
The Champagne Socialists Blue Genes (Slumberland 7")
Eux Autres You're Alight (Bons Mots 7")
Eux Autres Strangled Days (WIAIWYA 10")
The Smittens/The Just Joans split single (WeePOP! 7")
Tender Trap Fireworks (Fortuna Pop)
Spectrals Leave Me Be (Captured Tracks 7")
The Drums Summertime! (Twenty Seven EP)
PENS/Crocodiles/Dum Dum Girls/Grafitti Island split single (Art Fag 7")
The Cavalcade Meet You In the Rain (self-released EP)
Brown Recluse The Soft Skin (Slumberland 12")
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart Come Saturday (Slumberland 7")
Sic Alps L. Mansion (Slumberland 7")
God Help the Girl Stills (Rough Trade 10")
Apple Orchard Leafy Lanes (Haymarket EP)
Wildwood Lights True Love Woes (self-released EP)
Real Estate Fake Blues (Woodsist 7")
The Mayfair Set Young One (Captured Tracks 12")
Grass Widow s/t (Captured Tracks 12")
Horowitz Super Snuggles (This Almighty Pop! EP)
Ty Segall/Black Time (Telephone Explosion split-12")
The Cave Weddings Bring Your Love (HoZac 7")
The Sugarplums s/t (self-released ep)
Strawberry Whiplash Picture Perfect (Matinée EP)
The Magic Kids Hey Boy (Goner 7")
Gregory Webster Promised Land (WIAIWYA 7")
The Girls At Dawn Never Enough (HoZac 7")
Woven Bones With You Alone (HoZac 7")
Ganglians Blood On the Sand (Captured Tracks 7")
Woven Bones Janie (Needless 7")
German Measles Wild (Captured Tracks 12")
Woven Bones Your Sorcery (Sweet Rot 7")
Christmas Island Nineteen (Captured Tracks 7")
The Cavalcade For You (Edition 59 EP)
Warm Morning Sleepy (Edition 59 EP)
Pale Man Made/Leaving Mornington Crescent (Cloudberry split-ep)
Leaving Mornington Crescent Corners (Susy EP)
Woven Bones The Minus Touch (Zoo Music 12")
Maria Love Is Something I Know Nothing About (YAY! 7")
Sea Lions/Watercolor Paintings (YAY! split-12")
The Mantles Bad Design (Slumberland/Dulc-i-Tone 7")
Stolen Hearts Heart Collector (Douchemaster 7")
Real Estate Suburban Beverage (Underwater Peoples 7")
The Blanche Hudson Weekend The Letters to Daddy EP (Squirrel 7")
The Girls At Dawn s/t (Captured Tracks 12")
Shrag Rabbit Kids (WIAIWYA 7")
Best Coast When I'm With You (Black Iris digital single)
Beachniks s/t (Captured Tracks 7")
The Garlands/The Sugarplums split (Atomic Beat 7")
Electricity In Our Homes We Agree Completely (Parlour 12")
Felt Letters 600,000 Bands (M'Lady's 7")
Fergus & Geronimo Harder Than It's Ever Been (Woodsist 7")
Fergus & Geronimo Blind Muslim Girl (Tic Tac Totally 7")
Fergus & Geronimo Tell It, In My Ear (Transparent 7")
The Flips s/t (Stankhouse 7")
The Metric Mile Trade Fours (digital EP)