The Passport Label

The Passport Label releases the brilliantly uplifting Gold Canary by Cloud Control on February 22 2010. With tribal chants travelling alongside steady percussion and then exploding with a cosmic breakdown, Gold Canary could very well be likened to David Byrne and Fela Kuti holding hands in space. The b-side, Vintage Books draws on inspiration from the great melody makers of our time, with inventive pop melodies and old-time girl/boy harmonies from an era when pop music was pure and, well, just made you smile.

The Holidays present Golden Sky - a sun-drenched tune that channels warm nights and cloudless skies. The song blends wild percussion, sing-a-long chant choruses, falsetto vocals and squawking guitars into an action-packed, yet equally sublime journey. B-side Heavy Feathers complements the lead track perfectly. A little more downbeat than the elation of Golden Sky, Heavy Feathers is a dreamy, hazy come-down evoking the relaxed atmosphere of The Caribbean.

MARCH 2008

The Panics are no strangers to UK shores; having worked on their debut album A House On A Street In A Town I'm From and their second album Sleeps Like A Curse in Manchester. The Panics have a very close connection with the city, having been “discovered” by co-founder of the Happy Mondays, Gaz Whelan and then Pete Carroll and signed them to the band's label, littleBIGMAN.

Psychedelic and beat influenced Australian four-piece The Silents are the next band to release a 7” on The Passport Label. 23 is a brooding song with dizzying harmonies bleeding into tripped-out garage-rock, dark corners are explored and uncovered, and past, present and future collide head-on. With swinging beats, barking guitars and weaving harmonies, The Silents channel their delusional thoughts into that age-old musical smoke signal, the Pop Song.

theredsunband's The Eagle is officially Passport-approved and has its UK visa issued in the form of a 7" and download on September 29. The Eagle is a punchy, dark rock song with tight harmonies, yet it still retains a dreamy, atmospheric feel. At just over two minutes, it is perfectly succinct. B-side Like An Arrow is smart and melodic, with the haziness of Mazzy Star and the pop sensibility of The Shins.

Both tracks are taken from theredsunband's outstanding new album, The Shiralee. Following on from their debut, the band's second album takes the melancholy dreaminess of their sonics and the innocent introspection of their lyrics and further distills it to create a more confident and more assured theredsunband. With its fast pace and sharp claws, The Eagle single epitomises this coming of age.