Do you like pop music? Do you like snappy visuals? Well, 2006 was a pretty good year for both. I’m a big fan of Camera Obscura’s loving recreation of early 60s advertising, the Long Blondes’ wittily cinematic split screens, the Bicycles’ endearingly DIY-goofiness, Love is All’s invigorating live performance, and the Golden Dogs’ all-out energetic charge through one of the great unknown pop anthems of the last decade.

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During the mid-to-late 1980’s in the UK there were a bunch of bands playing intelligent, jangly, melodic pop music. A lot of so-called people found most of these bands (like the Loft, the Bodines, Close Lobsters) to be overly awkward, unpleasantly earnest or too pencil-necked to be pop musicians; all of those complaints are actually positives in my book. Possibly due to the UK music critics being the people who disliked them so much, most of these groups never got very popular (though the June Brides did hit the cover of the NME on what must have been a slow week) and most of them have been forgotten. Thanks to the occasional reissue and the magic of You Tube, we can rediscover some of the gawky, angular brilliance of late ’80s UK guitar pop…..

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Finding out that the release of the Brunettes new album Paper Dolls is somewhat imminent was enough to cheer us up on a cloudy, slightly manic Tuesday. Looks like it comes out in February of next year, which will be here before you know it once we get the holidays out of the way. Even better is the news that the first song from the album has seen the light of day and it’s a stunner. Built on funky dance floor beats, glitter-dusted keyboards and slaphappy bass, “Red Rollerskates” is reliably witty, cute and fun. It’s also surprisingly disco-fied, especially Heather’s shimmery vocals. If this is what the rest of the album sounds like, I’m stoked! The video is charmingly homemade and fun too. Just like their videos always are….

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Despite having one of the more unfortunate band names in recent memory, the Boston trio called Pants Yell! have been responsible in the past few years for some very fine indie pop that conjures up early Go-Betweens and mid-period Lucksmiths. The group’s 2007 record Allison Statton was a slept-on gem, their new album Received Pronunciation may get some more notice since it’s being released (next Tuesday) on hot label Slumberland. The video for “Somebody Loves You” is pleasantly DIY dorky and sweet, showing the band to be just regular joes with a knack for making near-perfect guitar pop.

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Not only are they the best emo-pop band around, Hellogoodbye are also aces at making videos that display all the rambunctious and awkward charm of their music. Whether it’s a lovingly recreated summer camp homage for “Here (In Your Arms),” good time beach antics on “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn” or wistful high school hi-jinks on “Baby It’s Fact,” the group — and especially endearingly geeky singer Forrest Kline — knows how to make videos work for them. On their new single “When We First Met,” they match the buoyantly poppy tune with a super cute video that tells the story of a couple through the length of their hair. Okay, it’s twee and precious, but it’s also very, very sweet and if you don’t like it you’re a crankypants.

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Le Corps Mince de Francoise are three Finnish girls who like glittery eye junk, wacky headgear and riding their bicycles through the city at night. So far, so good, right? On their new single “Something Golden” they also set their sing-song, outer space voices next to some truly thick and unhinged synthesizers, a naggingly catchy processed guitar line and a skittish hip-hop beat to create a sound that fans of Yelle or Bjork might really get into. Something tribal, something goofy and something totally pop and fun.

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The Nightblooms don’t get a lot of mentions these days when people gush over the great shoegaze groups of yesteryear. Maybe it’s because the luckless Dutch quartet were stuck on the sad-sack Seed label. Maybe it’s because even though they were lumped in with the gauzy-pedal brigade they were more likely to rip the top of your head off than waste time gazing into their footwear. Check this video of “Blue Marbles,” a song from their eponymous 1992 album, for proof of that. They sound like Mudhoney with the girls from ABBA singing over the top. Really, they do! Add them to your list of ’90s bands to rediscover, and do your best to track the album down. You won’t be disappointed.

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You can’t argue this one. Kid ‘N Play are the jam! Forget Kid’s eraserhead (if you can), forget Play’s ill-advised moustache. Forget about how the “real” rappers thought they were too soft, too pop (as if such a thing is possible). Just remember how their songs never fail to rock the party. 1988’s 2 Hype is one of the great party rap albums of the golden age, full of straight up jams produced by Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor. The hooks are huge, the rhymes are tight and Kid had actually had some pretty impressive flow at times. And that first House Party movie is pretty hilarious too. Especially if you are as big a fan of “one crazy night” films as me. Let’s check out a couple of their finest video moments and get this day rolling….

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