A garden of earthly XTC delights

XTC fans can celebrate a sumptuous new musical offering from Andy Partridge, leader of the British band: He’s releasing a nine-CD box set -- eight volumes of the collected “Fuzzy Warbles” demos with a bonus disc -- on his own record label, Ape House Records.

The material covers nearly 30 years -- from cloudy cassette versions of early XTC songs to fully realized masters. Some tracks are early versions of songs that were never released; others are goofy experiments.

“I was sick of the bootleggers selling demos and rare recordings,” he said from his home in England. “I never made a great deal of money in the business, [so I decided to] bootleg myself. That way I can remix something cleaner if it’s muddy.”

The collection serves a dual purpose -- as a home-recording primer, with an accompanying booklet detailing every piece of equipment used; and as the diary of a songwriter’s growth.

“I never intended it to be like that,” he says. “It’s more like a chart on a schoolroom wall ... looking through layers of geological cake.”

XTC has maintained a cult following spanning several generations, particularly among musicians. The early, choppy, visceral sound has been reproduced by such contemporary bands as Franz Ferdinand, the Futureheads and Blur. Partridge himself might be the most perceptive pop chronicler of Anglian life since Ray Davies, but the group’s live performances, aside from a handful of TV and radio appearances, ended in 1982.

“We were poisoned by the amount we were obliged to do,” says Partridge.

“Bands are a gang thing,” he says. “Up to 25, you have that gang mentality, that energy....

“Look,” he says, “bands either make great records or great shows. Never both.”

Casey Dolan

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Mandell finally hears her voice

OVER the course of five albums, an EP and various soundtrack contributions, songwriter-chanteuse Eleni Mandell has resisted becoming affixed in the public imagination with any specific genre.

The local indie darling -- who has been anointed best songwriter by LA Weekly and best singer by Los Angeles magazine -- seems equally at ease applying her sultry alto to bluesy punk, power pop-rock (as frontwoman for the Grabs), alt-country, sophisticated cabaret and even three-part harmonies with another of her various side projects, the Living Sisters. And Mandell’s sexed-up cover version of Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris” (used in a Carl’s Jr. TV commercial featuring a bikini-clad Paris Hilton) sold a few thousand iTunes downloads.

But on Mandell’s sixth album, “Miracle of Five” (due in February), the native Angeleno makes a strenuous effort to sound like someone in particular: herself. “It’s not somebody else’s version of country music -- I feel like I really found my voice,” she says. “It’s just me doing what I do: a mood record that’s very beautiful and magical sounding.”

Toward that end, producer Andy Kaulkin (president of Anti- Records) put Mandell’s slow-burn singing style and conversational lyrics at the forefront of the mix by using a recording technique the singer had never tried before. He recorded her vocals and acoustic guitar first, then overdubbed the other musicians -- Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline and X drummer DJ Bonebrake (playing vibes) among them.

“I have a low register and can’t really project my voice as well as I’d like,” says Mandell, 37. “So not having drums or electric guitars in my headphones made me just relax and play the songs like I write them. Just me and my guitar.”

Chris Lee

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A shout-out for in-line skating

PHARRELL WILLIAMS’ contribution to the action sport-hip-hop continuum -- that is, the rapper-producer’s sponsorship of the Ice Cream Skateboard Team -- seems to be inspiring other rappers to follow suit. Enter the Diplomats Official Skate Team, a professional in-line skating squad sponsored by Dipset (a Harlem, N.Y., hip-hop crew that includes Cam’ron and Juelz Santana).

In a recently posted YouTube.com video, team members Ramelle Knight and Calvin Sayles are shown hurtling up and over banked ramps and doing impossibly long one-footed rail slides -- impeccably tricked out, of course, in Dipset T-shirts and caps.

“You can do all that dirt on skates,” rapper and Diplomat Records Co-Chief Executive Jim Jones explains, taking in the video’s in-line action, “get away from police -- all of that. Rollerblades are in season!”

-- Chris Lee