The Cat's Miaow

An Australian band from the early 90s that, over the course of just a handful of years, made a sublime smoothie of easy, buzzy four-track indie pop. A Kiss and a Cuddle is a collection of their earliest four-track cassette recordings and it's seriously one of the best singles comps out there.

Graceful, quiet lo-fi that evokes plenty of others—D.C. shoegaze, the Magnetic Fields, Heavenly—but doesn't feel derivative in the slightest, thanks largely to Kerrie Bolton's sweet, ethereal vocals, unusually fresh, often jazzy drums, and a warm, frenetic bass that dances around the edges of all their pieces.



They did a number of covers, too, like one of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," which are deeply touching and elegant.