#The Pastels

[slicedupapple]

The Pastels Playing With Strawberry Switchblade in Glasgow, Scotland, 1982.

[guessimdumb]

The Pastels - Heavens Above (1982)

I was watching a documentary Teenage Superstar about the Glasgow music scene in the early 80s, and it featured this song, the Pastels' first single (which I think I still own). Absolutely brilliant, lo-fi, shambolic, perfect pop.

It's even better in my dreams

[tweehearts]

STEPHEN PASTEL, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS.

[leclercskiesahead]

Beautiful colours

[upforabit]

In Martha's Vineyard, There is no sound

Two hundred years ago, Signer's arms moved to and fro

But there is music, There are sign choirs

In western gardens west

Lies an old canoe of fiberglass

Under the jawbones of a whale, Propped up against the garden rail

And through their pointed archway, Can be seen volcanic hills

Can you feel the footsteps of your fore-bearers?

Underground how would the wind sound?

Do you remember a bird in the muffled box?

Caterpillar doomed on the hill -

Earth tones reverberate

Elaborate windy gate

Speak slow speak low, And they'll send you a sign

Speak slow speak low, And they'll send you a sign

Speak slow speak low, And they'll send you a sign

Speak slow speak low, And they'll send you a sign

[oh-well-i-just-do]

the pastels - i wonder why (1983)

featuring backing vocals from jill bryson and rose mcdowall of strawberry switchblade

[casimirt]

Dear Readers,

I'm literally crying over Good Omens right now.

This is what I wanted, OK? This is the pastels?

AND THIS IS WHAT I GOT?!

[bandcampsnoop]

7/9/24.

I remember listening to The Go! Team (Brighton, England), "Thunder, Lightning, Strike" in 2004 and thinking the rules of music had changed. This was catchy yet so different. I think I heard about it through Pitchfork - I just remember reading "cheerleading" in their review.

Here we are, 20 years on, and this is what is promised to be the final reissue of "Thunder, Lightning, Strike". Monorail Music has an exclusive edition that comes with a 7" of both The Pastels and The Orielles covering "Hold Yr Terror Close". There is also a CDr of demos.

Listening to this again, I can't help but think of just how different this was (and is). And no wonder I then fell in love with "Proof of Youth". The Go! Team also made me go back and listen to Big Audio Dynamite, Win, and The Nectarine no. 9.

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

The Pastels (1989)

[wheniwakeupiwanttobe]

over my shoulder ~~ but im dying to meet you

design mockup

[tiredsoundsofagnes]

just made the sickest fucking poster for my new indie club. tried to fit in as many icons as possible

also if you're in malmö then, you should 100% come. i play all killer no filler.

[spilladabalia]

The Pastels - Crawl Babies

[tweehearts]

throw aggi off the bridge is such an insane song when you think about it. i love it so much. pam wanted that girl GONE!!!

[boywifeineu]

Finding music through samples that other artists use is a really fun thing to do and I think the best artist for doing this with (for me at least) is Dean Blunt. Aside from the fact that like I’m such a massive fan of his music it is kind of ridiculous how he samples stuff like it’s not even weird or super out there necessarily but it’s just like… idk. every song he samples is just so cool and also just a good song on its own and I have a few bands that I want to talk about that I found through these samples. 1/4

The Pastels

Ok like the most iconic sample Dean Blunt has yes I know - but also "100" is a hit for a reason and "Over My Shoulder" is like so gorgeous and Dean Blunt's additions to the track are so good. I think I heard this song at first just out of the blue and I was like "oh my god. The Dean Blunt song!" but last summer I actually took the time and started getting into "Truckload of Trouble" as a whole. I have very fond memories of this album from spending a weekend up at a cottage with my friends - specifically, there was a moment on the trip where most of us were in the car going to get groceries and "Firebell Ringing" came on. We had a group playlist sort of thing and I sort of felt bad because I think there were a disproportionate amount of tracks from me on there. Part of the reason for this saturation was because I put like 6-7 songs by The Pastels on there. At this time I was really obsessed with Firebell Ringing - mostly because Katrina Mitchell's vocals were really catchy and the repeating sequence at the end of the track was cool too, although, maybe not the best for a car full of people wanting to hear their own music (maybe I was just nervous about my song suggestion getting good reception though). As time went on I slowed down listening to The Pastels a fair bit but certain songs are still really incredible to this day. Recently, I have found myself gravitating to "Nothing to Be Done" alot. I think I might just really love back and forth vocals in general and on this track its really lovely. It really doesn't feel like a love song from the first few seconds but immediately when the verse starts it just transforms into this very loving track. I don't think The Pastels are the most talented musicians, and a fair number of their tracks definitely fall flat for me; but I still really enjoy returning to them on occassion and listening to the ones I really love.