The new podcast is now on MixCloud. This is the March episode and the theme was “the movies”. In this episode I interviewed the great Baltimore band Expert Alterations. We had to leave Soundcloud because they have very odd copyright rules that they wouldn’t let me upload the Watoo Watoo song even though it was the band itself who chose and gave me the song. I know MixCloud is not as user friendly but we needed to find other options as we wanted to post right away the podcast as we were a bit late about it. Oh! And the clip has already being guessed, so you can dismiss that. Anyways, I really hope you like the songs I chose this month! Let me know what you thought!

This week I promised to go through the remaining bands that will play NYC Popfest. There are some news this week though that are important to notice. That is that the schedule has been announced as well as the DJs. When it comes to DJs we will have the NYC indie party, Mondo, on Friday and So Tough So Cute, the Malmö indie party, on Saturday. When it comes to Mondo I wish their set is much more indiepop than their usual fare (Maz always delivers, but the other teammates usually pick one or two indiepop songs in their hour-long sets) and from Daniel, the indie giant from Malmö, well, it’s been a long time since I attended to his party, but I tell you that by far he has been the best DJ I ever danced to in London Popfest years ago. At the Buffalo Bar that time he set the dancefloor on fire. If he does that again in NYC it will be more than memorable!

So now instead of going alphabetically, I’ll go through the days and venues and will review only the bands that I haven’t done yet. Sounds good?

Souvenir Stand:
The NYC (? I thought they were from Jersey) band will be opening Popfest. At 8:00pm at the Cake Shop they will show everyone their 60s tinged indiepop that has remained a bit of a secret. I haven’t been able to catch them live, even though in the past few months they’ve played some gigs, but I’ve liked their songs, even including one of them on the 8th Cloudberry fanzine. Seems though that I will miss them this time again as I usually work till 9pm. Which is a shame. I’m very curious. I’ve only seen Stephanie Cupo (the band’s leader and brain and a big Beach Boys fan it seems) perform as a saxophonist in the new My Favorite lineup. Never with her band. So I hope that they play some of the pre or post Popfest shows that will happen as I’d like to hear their new tunes.

Roman a Clef:
A round of applause to Maz for finding this NYC band. I had no idea of their existence. They are VERY good. Who are they? Where do they play? Do they play often? Why haven’t I head nothing about them? Do I live under a rock or do they live under a rock? I hope I can catch some of their set. As I said I leave around 9pm. Maybe I can escape a bit earlier. They are on at 8:45pm at the Cake Shop. I read some reviews saying they are the second coming of Prefab Sprout. Maybe they are right. This sounds very timeless, like it could become a classic. That song “PSBTV”, is just genius. The band was formed by Ryan Newmyer of A Sunny Day in Glasgow (who I was never a big fan, go figure) and Jen Goma. Kurt Feldman (the only Pains I was never keen of to be honest, go figure) produced them. This band is a winner. I suspect though that they will sign to a hipster record label and become a hipster band in the future. That scares me a bit, but I will enjoy them in the meantime. Terribly good this!

Young Romance:
I missed them some years ago at Indietracks. My friend Jennifer insisted that I was going to like them. I didn’t pay much attention!!! I don’t know why. I’m very bad when people recommend me bands, but I’m usually good when Jennifer does. She really likes them. Could have been the band’s name perhaps? Or the idea that the are just a duo who I believe are married or are a couple? I get an itch with bands like that with the exception of the beloved Tiny Fireflies. I feel bands get a bit too softy by working with someone who they love, like they can’t really get into strong arguments, like they will always agree on things. It’s just an idea. I’m getting carried away. Young Romance is quite nice. It’s not really my style of indiepop, but the girl definitely has very different vocals and there is a lot of strength in that. I can’t say if I like or not, though I’m close to the latter. I think I will wait until I see them live. From the two songs on their bandcamp, I like one, and the other one doesn’t tell me much. Guess which?

Papa Topo:
Friday at 10pm at Cameo the Barcelona band will play their first show in this continent. I’ve been terribly lucky and I’ve seen them twice. Once with the original lineup, with the very missed Paulita on vocals, at Indietracks, and later with the current lineup in Madrid Popfest. Papa Topo’s sound has changed during these years, becoming a bit more sophisticated and produced you could say. My heart is closer definitely to their early, rawer, sound, but I also really like what they do now. A lot! They still have the sense of humour that always have characterized them, and Adrià has his pop sensibility still intact when it comes to crafting perfect melodies. Papa Topo has already had their songs in Mexican soap operas, but can they conquer, like their city-mates Cola Jet Set, the English speaking indiepop fans of NYC? I really hope so! Can’t be missed this show! Papa Topo’s “Oso Panda” will be a crazy singalong I’m sure!

WORKING:
This one comes from Rhode Island. And it’s on Shelflife. I guess I haven’t heard of an indiepop band from Rhode Island since Small Factory. Which other ones come from that tiny state? I was in Providence two years ago I think. That was a nice road trip. It seems they write their name all in caps. So WORKING. What difference does that make? I don’t know. The cool thing about WORKING is that Catherine, the vocalist, used to be in the GREAT GREAT band The Best Wishes in the 90s. That makes me giddy and happy. Do you think they will have copies of their old 7″s at NYC Popfest? I would love that too. And will they have any physical releases for WORKING too? I’d be interested. I see on their bandcamp that some magazine recommends them to people that like Joanna Gruesome or Black Tambourine or Velocity Girl. I think none of those bands sound like WORKING. The tempo of WORKING is much slower, their songs are more introspective and perhaps at points have a rockier edge than a poppier edge. They remind me instead of some Aussie early 90s bands. I like this nonetheless, it works for them. What I also love is the drawing Jen Corace did for them as their cover artwork.  They’ll be on at 2:30pm at the free show, it’s lunch time. But I think I won’t be missing them.

Wallflower:
They appear in the last Cloudberry fanzine and they are one of my weaknesses. I know they are recording a new album as we speak and I hope and dream to be able to release a 7″ by them in the near future. It’s definitely one of my favourite Japanese contemporary bands by far. I’ve been lobbying for people to book them here in the West, Indietracks, Popfest, and I’m so happy someone has listened to me! Wallflower are definitely a band that no one should miss and they will be playing on Saturday at 8pm at the Knitting Factory! I’ll be there and in front row! Looking forward to meeting Masami-san!

Veronica Lake:
A true classic of American 90s indiepop. A couple of singles that are beautiful and haven’t aged at all. I tried to interview Tim for the blog some time ago, maybe two years ago but never received his answers. Shame, would have been nice to hear from him about his band. I would think at that time he didn’t expect that it will reform for a Popfest. Will Pam Berry join them for Threnody? Probably not, but you can dream too. I think this should be a very special gig especially for all the nostalgia fans that will attend the festival.

The Spook School:
I love them and they are playing for a second year straight NYC Popfest. I’m never keen with repeats as I like same opportunities for everyone but I understand that their following is growing and growing. On top of that they are ace people so even though I have my “rules” I can understand why they are booked again.

Sapphire Mansions:
They weren’t on the poster originally, so I guess they are a recent addition. I’ve seen them a couple of times opening for some bands here in NYC. They are definitely not my thing, the word that comes to mind when I hear them is “mess”. The keyboards give me a bit of a headache too. Oh dear, if this is indiepop then I don’t know what indiepop is.

Starry Eyed Cadet:
Perhaps the best new band to appear in the US. I played one of their songs on my podcast and I have already written about them on the blog. It was one of the first bands I passed on to Maz to check out and consider for Popfest. Glad that the band can make it. And happy that Maz booked them too! The California band, who I believe has ties with the delicious Marine Life, has a lot to offer and even though there are no physical releases as of yet, I’m sure will start making a buzz after Popfest. Lots of potential here! Loving the songs, great indiepop craftmanship!

Palms on Fire:
Definitely a great addition to Popfest is the first Russian band ever to play an indiepop festival! I would have never expected this, but it’s happening. I don’t know much about them, though last year they sent me their latest EP to check it out. And back in 2011 their first ever EP too. I was really surprised by it. Sadly I never heard from other Russian indiepop bands. Ok perhaps one or two, but it wasn’t like a true explosion of bands. Simple and cute tunes, not pretentious at all, they remind me of Red Sleeping Beauty and of course The Shermans. With Palms on Fire the keyboards do work beautifully.  Looking forward to their live set on Sunday at Littlefield at 6pm!

Seabirds:
Seabirds is a nice band from Nottingham that released one 7″ on Matinée Recordings in 2013. The band includes Ian from Horowitz and that makes me like them automatically (but I will admit I still prefer Horowitz fuzz pop much better). I saw half of their show once at Indietracks but that was some time ago too. A good refresher will come in handy.

#Poundsign#:
Who would have thought. There are many 90s indiepop bands playing this year. And perhaps my favourite of them all were #Poundsign#. If you remember I have already showcased them as an interview in the blog and Cloudberry released a 3″CD of Strega, a band with very close ties with #Poundsign#. On the last podcast the clip was a song by podcast which our friend Vidar already guessed. So it’s obvious, I like #Poundsign#, and I like them a lot. Could be one of the best gigs of Popfest, this one is really special and unmissable!

And with that, even though there are two to be announced bands in the lineup for the evening show of Saturday, I conclude my very personal review of the bands for Popfest. You don’t have to agree with me obviously, you might dislike and hate many of the bands I like, and vice versa, and that’s cool. In any case, in general, I think the lineup is really fantastic and if there are two or three bands I don’t like it’s good too, we need a little break to get fresh air, chit chat, or even grab a bite. So it works perfectly!

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It’s a Wednesday today, but I want to go over a band called Why Thursday?

There’s not much online about them and I believe that has to do that they came a bit too late. Their only release was in 1994! That’s tough, who was into jangly and catchy pop then, a bit Madchester and all? 1994 was more of a britpop time, right? And also, that their only release was a CD-single, well, that makes it a bit worse. If it only had been a 7″ perhaps collectors would go ga ga for it.

Self-released and three songs in it: “Strawberry Kisses”, “With You There”, and “From the Outside”.

I really like the cover artwork, a strawberry drawn with large strokes, vector friendly. It was designed by the band. All songs were written and performed by Why Thursday?

From the contact information it seems that the band was from Tunbridge Wells, in Kent.
Royal Tunbridge Wells (often shortened to Tunbridge Wells) is a large town in western Kent, England, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of central London. The town has a population of around 56,500. The town came into being as a spa in the Restoration period and had its heyday as a tourist resort under Beau Nash when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains popular and derives some 30% of its income from the tourist industry.

The only other information on the back is the lineup of the band. We know that the band was formed by:
Marc Axtell on drums
Stuart Bristow on bass
Alex Brown on lead vocals & acoustic rhythm guitar
Nick Carpenter on backing vocals & keyboards
Curtis Fray on lead & rhythm electric guitar

Aside from this I couldn’t find any other information about the band. The songs are all really good and would love to find a copy of the single too. Does anyone remember them? Did they have any other releases perhaps? Any other recordings? Anyone attended to any of their gigs? I would love to know more about them!

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Listen
Why Thursday? – Strawberry Kisses

Time to review the NYC Popfest bands. I think I’ll do half of them this week, and the other half the next. So let’s start with that!

Beverly:
Didn’t know about this NYC band. Strange as I live in NYC. Or maybe not strange as there are usually not many indiepop bands in NYC. Well, in this case it’s kind of like this. I wouldn’t consider this band indiepop exactly. It’s nice rocky/noisy/pop. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s enjoyable, but I don’t go crazy for them. I’m sure hipsters like it so I won’t do much googling about them, I’m just listening to their songs. If I see them will depend if I need to get dinner or not at the time when they are playing. Not my cup of tea really.

Brideshead:
Okay, this a band I can’t stop thanking NYC Popfest for bringing to New York!!!! Wow! I never thought I would see them. Since the first time I heard them, by downloading a video of “Shortsightedness” from Chris Jigsaw on soulseek, on the pre-Youtube days. When I heard the jingle jangly guitars and I bought their records on Apricot and Shelfife I always LOVED this band from Wiesbaden. It’s really exciting this, how many times a German indiepop band gets booked in the US? This doesn’t happen. And after missing Busch in Berlin last year, I think this is definitely a treat for me. Not to be missed by anyone.

The Catenary Wires:
This is happiness. I never saw Talulah Gosh or Heavenly or Marine Research. I was lucky to see Tender Trap some three times or so. Once in NYC Popfest. For those of who don’t understand why I am mentioning these bands that’s because The Catenary Wires are a duo, a duo formed by Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey. Two indiepop legends. I’m very happy that they were announced for Popfest. They were already announced for Indietracks and they were traveling to Japan to tour these past weeks. I was a bit jealous of course. I want to hear Amelia singing. And I want their upcoming album too that supposedly will be out in June. Will they have copies for Popfest? I hope so!

The Chandler Estate:
I had no idea about them until a few minutes after the band lineup announcement. It was the only band that I googled that day. I think this was because I happened to like the name of the band. To my surprise this band consists of three ex-members of My Favorite! Oh dear. And I was the one who released the My Favorite reissue last year. How could that be? Well, for once they haven’t played live yet, Popfest will be their debut. They haven’t released anything yet either though an EP is scheduled for late spring. I’ve only heard the one song, “El Camino Real” and it’s top stuff! I would have included it in the new podcast if I knew about it earlier. I have big expectations for this band!

Club 8:
Finally. How did Maz convinced them to play a Popfest will be a mystery. I know every year every Popfest and every Indietracks try to book them. Either them or any of the band Johan is in. It never happens. But then you seem them go play far far away to Indonesia. And you think, oh damn, at least it’s kind of fair they don’t get that many bands but I can’t stop feeling a bit jealous. I’ve always liked Club 8, being perhaps my favourite of all those bands say Legends, Poprace, Acid House Kings. Though I like them all, Club 8 has a special place in my heart. I think that has to do with Karolina vocals. They are beautiful really. Some people were a bit critical of their last album, that it wasn’t the same, etc., etc. I thought it was brilliant. Another band that I won’t be able to miss. Already it seems that it will be a difficult year to chit-chat with friends!

The Darling Buds:
I never expected to see them. I knew they had reformed some years ago, many years ago actually, in 2010. Why no Popfest would book them was a question I asked myself constantly. Why Indietracks didn’t baffled me. I mean, they are from Wales, how hard can it be? I saw The Darling Buds playing other festivals, non-indiepop festivals. And the years passed and passed. And nothing changed. Why would I imagine someone was going to book them? I don’t know. I know that in the 80s people were either into The Primitives or The Darling Buds. I wasn’t there. I like them both. I’ve seen the first, but never the second. Now it’s time. For the fan in me, I hope to get a photo with Andrea Lewis of course. I did last year with The Popguns haha. Sometimes I’m just a child. Can’t miss them.

Expert Alterations:
Definitely one of the best bands to appear in the US in the past few years. In the new podcast I interview them and talk a bit about the band and Popfest. Great guys too. They are Television Personalities flavoured. They seem to have taken the right influences from the O Level to the McTells. Crash-pop from Baltimore. I’ve seen them once before at the Cake Shop and they are really good. Soon they’ll be releasing new material and re-releasing old. Seems like this will be their year. If you haven’t listened to them, well now it’s time to.

Eternal Summers:
Didn’t they play Popfest some years ago? I can’t remember. This is another one of the few bands I’m not keen to checking out. Not really the sound I like to be honest. I don’t like bands with guys with beards much either. They must have to be really good like Royal Landscaping Society to sport a beard. Sorry. High standards. It’s not bad this, just not true indiepop for me, not my thing.

Jessica & The Fletchers:
Fantastic indiepop from Barcelona. True lovers of indiepop. These youngsters love Amelia Fletcher and they named after her last name. I actually can’t wait for them meeting Amelia haha. That could be fun! Noisy, poppy, they sound as if they were from one of those 80s tape compilations that I love digging obscure bands. And hey, their first release was on tape. Today actually I was listening to a new song of theirs aptly titled “Air Ballon Road” (!!!). It has everything to be a hit! It’s no secret then that I have big hopes for this band, I feel they have a superb future in indiepopworld. On top of that I can call many of their members friends of mine which makes me so happy that they are crossing the Atlantic to hang out!

The Just Joans:
I’ve tried and tried many times to like them. My friends have insisted that they are brilliant and I have to like them. I just can’t. I’ve tried. I swear I’ve tried.

The Loft:
Well, who doesn’t want to see a classic indiepop band from the good old days. One of the bands everyone will agree is very important to what happened after. I want to see them. “Up the Hill and Down the Slope” is a classic of classics. A remarkable single. Pete Astor is a fantastic vocalist too! But am I crazy to say that I’m more into the bands that came after, like Weather Prophets or my favourite The Caretaker Race? I feel I’m alone in this thought! Anyhow, seeing The Loft is a true treat and I am terribly happy that NYC Popfest has pulled this one. I saw once Pete Astor at The Lexington in the UK, him playing solo with his guitar. It was lovely really, he has that charm a frontman has to have. And I loved the little stories between songs. I think this will be a very special gig even though I’m not the #1 fan of The Loft, I think I’m going to love this gig.

Lunchbox:
They reformed not so long ago. Jigsaw must have had a lot to it. Lunchbox was a staple of American indiepop of the late nineties, early 2000s. They released mostly on Magic Marker. Two albums and a 7″ with them. Before that one 7″ on Love Train. Now they are back releasing an album on Jigsaw and soon a 7″. Fuzzed guitars, 60s catchy hooks, and nice arrangements of horns are their trademark as well as their boy/girl vocals. The indiepop from the nineties is back!

Pale Lights:
One of the bands that repeats NYC Popfest. They played some years ago at the free show of a Saturday afternoon. So it makes sense for them to repeat because not many people attend that free show. Now I’m sure (and I hope) they will play at night. Pale Lights are one of the few indiepop bands in NYC and they are a true favourite of mine. All of their release have been top-notch by the way if you haven’t gotten them yet. The band of course counts with Phil who used to be in The Soft City (who Cloudberry fans will remember), Comet Gain, Velocette and Cinema Red & Blue among others. Even though he has been known better for drumming, he sings, and he does it very well. He plays guitar too and the sounds he comes up with, the melodies too, reminds me of Felt, but with a poppier, catchier edge. I’ve seen them often when they play here in the city and I can’t stop recommending them to those who don’t know them. On top of that it’s one of the few contemporary bands that have gotten interviewed by this blog. That must mean something!

Alright, that should cover half of the bands or almost half of them. Next week a preview for the remaining ones!

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Some weeks ago I covered The Man Upstairs here. Today I will cover Commotion Upstairs. But no, no relationship between the bands. Well, as far as I know!

What do I know about this very obscure band that only released one 7″? Well, barely anything.

The 7″ has some clues. Of course there are four songs on it, two on each side. On the A side we have “Lift Me Up” and “Not Like That”. On the B side we have “Too Bad” and “Fake”. The songs are all credited to Adams while A1 and B2 also have credits to Manning. Alright so we have some last names.

On the back sleeve we have some first names. We get:
Ben – vocals, guitar
Reiner – guitars
Lee – bass guitar
Ian – drums, vocals

To which of them do the last names belong?

Let’s move onto what it says on the back sleeve. First off there’s a small description of the band. This would mean to me that the 7″ was mostly a sampler than a proper release. Perhaps trying to bait a big label to sign them. It says:
“With a mixture of jangling guitars, upbeat rhythms, infectious lyrics, and hard work, Commotion Upstairs bring you their debut EP sampler listen… watch it happen… then decide”.

The record was recorded in one day during February 1989 at Backtrack Studios in London. Engineered by Ollie and produced by the band. There’s an address in London if you wanted information of the band. The address is in Brockley, next to Hilly Fields Park, in the south of London. I remember staying in the area many many years ago but never got to see this park even though I was very close to it.

The record was released by Suacy Records (catalog TT 17). Who were Saucy Records? Can’t find much though by the catalog number 17 you’d think there would have been previous releases.

On Youtube there are two songs to listen. On one of them the designer of the artwork has commented. Doesn’t say much aside that his youth has flashed before him by listening the song “Fake”. This one is perhaps my favourite song of mine from the four.

The other song online is “Too Bad”. This one is really nice too. The cool thing on this one is that there are some more comments. A Colin Francies says he was in the original lineup of the band and he mentions Ben, Ian, Ken, Dave and Colin as the original members. Of course not all of them appear on the back of the sleeve. Colin says there was a demo recorded also at Backtracks:
“I. think there was 4-5 tracks we did over a short period of time.The only songs i can remember right now are ‘Sorry and The Barriers’ ,it was a long time ago.They are only on tape cassettes as far as i know,i and a few others left the group soon after that.Good times,good music.”

Last but not least the fantastic blog From a Northern Place shares another song, “Not Like That”. And it’d beautiful too. All so jangly!!!

Now I try to mix and match the last names with the first names. But no luck. Couldn’t find them.

It seems they played many shows in the late 80s in London at least. But I can’t find anything else online about them. Can anyone help out to find what happened to this brilliant sounding indiepop band?!

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Listen
Commotion Upstairs – Fake

This week indiepop is happy. Indiepop has something exciting to look forward to. I’m saying that because the lineup for NYC Popfest 2015 has been unveiled.

About Popfest I’ve written so many times. We all know how great it is and how we hope to last forever. The bands, the friends, the atmosphere, the passion, everything comes together for a weekend. This year the weekend on Thursday  May the 28th possibly at 8pm and will run until midnight of the 31st. 4 days packed with great music.

The venues are the same as last year sans Spike Hill. Instead of the Bedford Avenue venue we will be heading to Baby’s Alright for the afternoon free show of Saturday. Then the usual Cake Shop on Thursday, Cameo on Friday, Knitting Factory (including the dance party) on Saturday, and Littlefield on Sunday.

Ticket are available already as 4-day passes. They are $70.

The lineup for this year includes:
Beverly (NYC)
Brideshead (GERMANY)
The Catenary Wires (UK)
The Chandler Estate (NYC)
Club 8 (SWEDEN)
The Darling Buds (UK)
Expert Alterations (MD)
Eternal Summers (VA)
Jessica & The Fletchers (SPAIN)
The Just Joans acoustic (UK)
The Loft (UK)
Lunchbox (CA)
Pale Lights (NYC)
Palms on Fire (RUSSIA)
Papa Topo (SPAIN)
#Poundsign# (CA)
Roman a Clef (NYC)
Seabirds (UK)
Souvenir Stand (NYC)
THE SPOOK SCHOOL (UK)
STARRY EYED CADET (CA)
Univers (SPAIN)
Veronica Lake (MI)
Wallflower (JAPAN)
Wildhoney (MD)
Working (Rhode Island)
Young Romance (UK)

DJs haven’t been announced yet, but a safe bet is that Maz and Mondo will be DJing after the gigs at Cameo. Who’ll DJ on Saturday seems to be a mystery but I feel that, by looking at the attendees on Facebook to the event, it’s pretty obvious who’ll be DJing that day!

Next week I’ll go through the bands that will be playing and recommend the ones that I like the most. There are some I don’t know much about, especially the local ones (!), that I need to do a little research first. But all in all, especially if you see the state of indiepop at the moment, this is a pretty strong lineup that brings so many exciting bands to town that I never thought I would ever see live!

In the meantime I would love to know who else is coming to NYC for this? Which are your favourite bands playing this year? Which bands are missing? Or any other ideas/suggestions about Popfest? How can it be better? Etc, etc. Let’s discuss that next week when I tell you what you can’t miss!

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cumbersome: large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; unwieldy.

Back in the day I interviewed Philip Suggars from the band Candie Maids (sadly the photos are gone, this post was done before the blog was hacked for the first time). Maybe some of you remember that. I later interviewed him about his other band CC Baxter and actually included one of their brilliant songs on a CD accompanying the fanzine that I was releasing then. He also put me in touch with Hayley from the The Doris Days. Great guy indeed! Well, if you remember the Candie Maids only released a split-flexi. Their song was called Threadbare. Today I want to go over the other band on that flexi: Cumbersome.

When I asked Philip about Cumbersome he told me:
Cumbersome were friends of ours and we sort of morphed into a collective for a bit where we shared members and even played joint gigs, I think. In Cumbersome Waz and I played as bassist and guitarist though we didn’t write their material. More than anything though Paul Griffin, the lovely man who fronted the money for the pressing, liked both bands and wanted us to be on the same flexi. The Cumbersome track on the EP did get played on John Peel.

Indeed, Cumbersome also hailed from Brighton. The flexi was aptly named “Sexy Flexi” and it didn’t include a catalog number. The song that was included in the Sexy flexi was “Billie”. This song was recorded on September 15th of 1987 at “Backlash” recording studios in their city. This flexi was available free with the “Especially Yellow” fanzine that was released in December of that same year.

We know from the sleeve that Cumbersome were:
Veronica on vocals/lyrics
Greavsie on drum programmes
Bobby on guitars, bass guitar and keyboards

Bobby was also involved in the artwork of the flexi alongside some Candie Maids.

Sadly aside from this information there seems to be nothing written about them online. Sure it’s hard when a band only leaves 1 song recorded. But it’s such a nice song that you wonder about their other recordings, because there has to be more of them, right? I’m sure there are. If anyone remembers them, knows what are they doing now, or anything at all, please use the comments section! I would love to know what happened to them!

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Listen
Cumbersome – Billie

Last week of February. This year is going fast!

I’ve been trying to work on the new podcast this week but I haven’t had the time. Seems it will be out sometime in mid-March now. So far we’ve got 955 plays in total. I’m pretty sure we’ll reach the 1000 mark when we publish the next episode, so I’m very excited about this. I honestly didn’t expect it. I thought at best by now we’d be having 100 plays! Now if only there were 1000 sales of records in 3 months, then we could be a very prolific label releasing all the bands you dream of haha.

I’ve been promised to get the last song that I’m missing for the CD that comes with the new fanzine this week. If this happens, as I really hope it does, the long delayed fanzine will start shipping next week. I hope the wait is worth for all of you that have started pre-ordering since two weeks ago. I think it will be. Even though it’s taken forever to print this zine, I’m very proud of it, the interviews came out pretty good.

Aside from that I’ve started working on more releases that I’ll be telling you about in the months to come. You’ll get to know about them first on the blog and the podcast, so please keep an eye on us.

Next week NYC Popfest should be announcing their lineup. I’m really thrilled about it. I know already some bands that are playing and seems it’s going to be a good one once again.

But the big news this week was the announcement, the first announcement, of some of the bands playing at Indietracks this year. I was very critical last year and because of that I said I wasn’t going to be going this year. It’s pretty expensive to travel in the summer to the UK these days and well, if you do, you want an ace lineup. This year, it seems, the lineup is already looking better than the previous edition. Definitely Cinerama is a great headliner for me, as a big Wedding Present fan, I haven’t had the chance to see David’s other band play live. So that would have been really cool. Then Desperate Journalist are a favourite band of mine for a long time now. I requested them last year, though I was told they didn’t want to play. Now it’s good that they are playing, more indiepopkids should know about them.

Then of course I’d LOVE to see The Catenary Wires. I saw that they were just touring Japan alongside the Primitives. How lucky are the Japanese to get to see Amelia and Rob playing their new songs! I cross my fingers that they will also come to NYC.

Though they are repeating, The School and The Fireworks, are two indiepop powerhouses. They have been releasing top quality records for some years now. I will be sad not to see them, especially my dear friend Matthew who didn’t go last year to Indietracks but who I was lucky to see at The Chills gig (and also for some very strange veggie Indian buffet!). Both bands I’ve been lucky to see before so I don’t feel much pain of missing them.

Buried among all these fancy names in the announcement are Los Bonsáis from Spain. This band is top class. You better catch them if you go. I saw them once at Madrid Popfest and they were super good. On top of that, their releases are delicious, starting from the great artwork that Helena comes up with, to the beautiful melodies Nel and her craft with pop wizardry. I still recall their Spanish version of the Vaselines “Son of a Gun”, it was a true highlight of that Madrid Popfest!

Then The Tuts and Fire Island Pines are definitely worth checking out. I have followed both bands on and off and I would be very curious to check out their live set. Of course seeing Bunnygrunt on the bill makes me giggle, but then I remember that I love their early indiepop period, their rockier and garage-ier sound from these days is not really up my street. Still one can always hope that they play so many of their amazing songs like “Inanimate Objects” or  “I Am a Curious Partridge”.

More bands will be announced and, even though I’ll be absent as I said, I’ll try to point to you which ones you should check. And if there’s something or someone that I’ve missed let me know!

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Today I want to go through a band that has always been of interest to the indiepop collectors: The Man Upstairs.

I’ve been looking for their records for a long time with no luck. So I’ll start there, with their records.

1982. Their first release ever comes out on Clock House Records. The songs included in this 7″ were “Summa” and “Gospel According to Mark”. The producer for this record was Cliff Bradbury. The cover by Graham Sharpe. This record is both listed on Discogs and Rateyourmusic. Strangely enough these songs are not mentioned in The Man Upstairs website.

1985. A new 7″. Discogs has it listed as Jazz, Rock / Soul-Jazz. There’s a lot of jazz in this one definitely. I’m much more familiar with this record. The A side has “Sad in My Heart” and the B side has “Country Boy” Most indiepop collectors are crazy about the second song. Me too.
This record was released by Sideline Records. Catalog SIDE 1.
On the back sleeve of this record we learn about the lineup:
Nigel Sewell – lead vocals
Carolyn Bennett – vocals
Rupert Knowlden – percussion/vocals
Tim Simpson – bass/vocals
Alan Smyth – guitar/vocals

The photography and design for this record was courtesy of David Travis and Best Boy. I really like the design for this one, the blue/white/black combo works for me (very Cloudberry too!). The record was produced by the band.

1986. “Consumer EP” Their last release. This one also on Side Line Records, but now the catalog is WIDE 1. There’s a 12″ and a 7″ version. Discogs doesn’t have listed the 7″ one. On the 12″ we have the songs: “Consumer Song (American Club Mix)”, “Shouldn’t Try”, “Country Boy”, “Sad in My Heart (Russian Club Mix)”, “I Bet They’re Really Missing Me Downstairs”. The 7″ has “Consumer Song” and “Shouldn’t Try”. On this record only three members are listed as part of the band: Carolyn, Rupert and newcomer Chris (guitars, bass, vocals). Production was in charge of Bruce Hart, Alice Marsh and the band.
There are some other credits, David Travis and Best Boy again on photo and design. Boy in Bath is Gerry Colvin and Special thanks to Alice Marsh for also playing bass and vocals on “Shouldn’t Try”.

That Gerry Colvin that’s mentioned in the “Consumer EP”, is Gerry from Terry and Gerry fame. Terry and Gerry was a British pop band, formed in the early 1980s by Terry Lilley and Gerry Colvin in Birmingham, UK. Unusually for the time the band was based on a skiffle sound making use of a washboard for percussion instead of a drum kit. Terry Lilley played double bass. Gerry Colvin sang lead vocals and played acoustic guitar.

Last stop on this search for more information about this really obscure band. Their website. Yes, they have a website. That’s pretty strange isn’t it? Though to be honest the website seems to be unfinished. I don’t know when they started building it but it seems that halfway through they stopped adding information. There’s no contact page even though there’s a contact button. Also there are 4 “home” buttons. But going through we can find a full fledged Music section were you can listen so many songs like:
Early days 1982-83
– He’s Got the Lot
– Summer
– Sorry Mate I Only Work Here
– No Idols (rehearsal)
– Into the Red (rehearsal)
– Hanoi (rehearsal)
– Consumer Song (demo)
– They Wanna Be Like You (demo)
– Cars (demo)

Demos 1984-87
– Cry Cry Baby (demo)
– One Kiss at Sunset (demo)
– Jack (demo)
– Ba Ba Ba Ba (demo)
– One Lump or Two? (demo)
– Country Boy (demo)
– When Jealousy Starts Again (demo)
– Ballroom Dancing (demo)
– Harlem Nocturne (demo)
– Housewife’s Choice (demo)
– Sad in My Heart (demo)
– Consumer Song (demo)

Mini album 1985
– My Way
– Sad in My Heart
– Country Boy
– Barratt Homes
– Consumer Song
– Person in Front
– Cry Cry Baby
– I Bet They’re Missing Me Downstairs

Album 1988
– No Smokes
– Cry Cry Baby
– I Can’t Be Anything
– Desperate Dan
– Raging Fool
– Sad in My Heart
– Lipstick Shuffle
– Consumer Song
– Sixties Song
– Big Fish
– Country Boy
– Gerald Pulls it Off
– Shouldn’t Try

So, a bunch of new songs to listen. Also would this mean that they had the intention to release these? And in these formats? And notice that the songs from that 1982 7″ are not listed. Maybe they were from another band? Can anyone shed some light about it?

Let’s move now to the press section of the website. Here there are a bunch of cool clippings of the press. We know that the Birmingham band went through a major change in the line-up in mid 1983 which resulted in the band writing a completely new set of songs a selection of which could be heard on a tape they seem to have been sending to the different magazines and press outlets. They mention too that the band has played extensively all over the country both as headliners and opening for bands like The Smiths for example!

Then on another clipping  we notice that Nigel Sewell is the same Gerry Colvin from Gerry and Terry according to Music Week August 1985. Here it is mentioned that the mini-LP was to be released the same year as the “Sad in My Heart” 7″. On another clipping we learn that they supported The Chevalier Brothers in Bangor during Welcome Week. Also in this same section we find the designs for some of their demo tapes which are really cool, don’t miss them.

I like this description by Phil Preece from the NME:
There are five of them. They sing and play. They smile while they do it. You will too. This is the music of the post angst period. Their whole set is a mix of washing machines and rhumbas. Blender-menders and scat. They take us on a trip to the land where the vacuum cleaner is king. Oh yes, and they’re as trendy as hell. Book them.

That’s more or less all I could dig about them. Maybe you can fill in the blanks?

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Listen
Man Upstairs – Country Boy

How is it going? I’m freezing today, it’s so damn cold in NYC. I’ve spent Sunday working on a 1000 piece jigsaw with no intention of going out at all. I hope you are enjoying it a bit better. I should have worked on the indiepop-list mixtape/CD swap, but I didn’t. It’s great that it is back. Funny thing was that the person who I’m trading with is a friend, someone I know, in the UK. So I feel I kind of know what kind of music he’s going to like. Still it’s always a challenge. Should be my homework for this week.

Aside from that all is up to date in Cloudberry HQ. The fanzines should be arriving from the printer this week. I’m very excited about this number. Have you pre-ordered yet? There’s a mix of old and new in the zine and the CD includes a bunch of exclusive songs that are really good. Also, you’ll get to know a bunch of release announcements if you read it.

I’ve been looking for new music too. And there’s some stuff to look forward. As I’ve been doing for the past few months, I’ll do a breakdown of what you should be paying attention and buying. And just in case, most of these bands I recommend are not my friends or people I know or by any way associated to the label. I didn’t even get a free copy. I just think as no one else is doing it anymore, someone has to keep an eye on indiepop news, right?

– The Would Be’s, a favourite Irish band of mine from the 80s, who made a comeback some years ago with a lovely album are releasing a new single this March on the FIFA label from Ireland as well. I don’t know much about this release, you can’t listen to it yet, but it should be great.  I only it will include the song “Bittersweet”. Also the Would Be’s will be releasing on 12″ for Record Store Day in April (oh, shame as I do hate this day, such a gimmick) their 1990 Peel Session. I definitely want to get it. But how? This day makes it impossible. Perhaps on eBay for three times the price? Who knows. But if you can get it, get it!

– Starry Eyed Cadet are a band from San Francisco, California, and they are really good. I discovered them some months ago as a friend asked me to give him ideas of American bands for a festival. Then they only had one song on their bandcamp. I remember showing them to Lisle from Fireflies and him liking them too a lot. Anyhow, now they have just released a digital EP with 5 songs. It’s brilliant. Hope this gets a physical release and that I get to see them live!

– As you know I’m no fan of tapes but the Leeds band Colour of Spring have just released a tape that includes “Honey” and “Skin” that you can stream from their bandcamp, the latter being my favourite. Much darker than their previous offering, the lovely and jangly “Next Year”, they are getting much more shoegazy, much more MBV. For 3 pounds you get the cassette and also a download that includes additional B-sides. Wonder why aren’t they on the tape? Decisions they call them. Worth checking out.

– Horsebeach released a top class album not so long ago. Now the Manchester band is back with a 7″ that includes “Disappear” and “Let You Down”. It’s clear that they are doing well as they have pressed 500 copies and only 31 (at the time of writing this post) are remaining. Wish Cloudberry could pull that! The record will be released in March and pre-orders are now available for 5 pounds plus crazy UK shipping (US shipping is crazy too, I’m not blaming anyone). I’m ordering my copy now. Great stuff!

– Mikael Carlsson is back with The Honeydrips. That is important news definitely for everyone that loves Swedish indiepop. On February 18 he is releasing with Luxury Records an album called “In the City”. I pre-ordered it some days ago from Bengans just to get an exclusive fanzine that comes with it. I have no clue what the fanzine is about, it didn’t say I don’t think, but it doesn’t matter. I trust the taste of Mikael. The voice of Dorotea can hardly do anything wrong, right? I found this link where you can preview the album. Seems it’s top-secret on the Luxury soundcloud but exclusive on this Wondering Sound site that probably is getting a good bunch of hits now (kidding). Thanks for the comeback Mikael!

Alright, now let’s let the musicians make more music and I’ll come back next month with some more recommendations 😉

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I google August Avenue. I find a card company in New Zealand, a kitchen and bath and towels company on Etsy, a Photography company in Chicago,  and of course none of them are what I’m looking for.

I stumbled by luck onto August Avenue. I reckon they must be pretty obscure. I can’t find absolutely nothing online aside from two “videos” on Youtube. There’s this user called “odash76” who “having been a long time supporter of the North East music scene, he decided to have a trawl through the vaults and see what gems he could unearth”.

I looked into all the stuff he has been digitising, and there’s a lot of different music styles. The common thread is the geographical location. The one band that caught my attention was August Avenue. But I’ll see if I cover some more from the bands he (or she) has made available.

I love hear these guitars I think as soon as I play for the first time August Avenue. There are 6 songs total on this demo tape called “Half Seven Already?”. They are classic jangly guitar pop from the late 80s. The uploader thinks this tape was released in 1987, possibly mostly sold at their gigs. I wonder who saw them live. Who did they support. Maybe some bigger indiepop names? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Of course the question is always why didn’t they release anything proper. It’s a shame with strong songs like these, on the A side “My Beautiful Wall”, “Thinking” and “Simon” and on the B side, “Get a Bag on Your Head (remix)”, “Failing Now” and “Shaun”.

I can’t recognize the guy on the cover photo. There’s a contact telephone number and a name. Michael. They thank Lee and Will. Who are they? August Avenue were Bill Angus on guitar/vocals, Michael Baines keyboard/guitar, Nigel Cope bass and Baz (Belsen) Davies drums. No more personal details about the band.

A Youtube user comments that he is pretty sure that they played at the Dovecot Arts Centre back in the day. He saw posters with their name but can’t recall if he saw them live. More mystery.

The user who uploaded the demo is truly a brilliant guy. He has also uploaded a full gig!! You can check it here. This is a live performance from 1987 recorded from the mixing desk at Rumpoles in Middlesbrough. There are a bunch of songs not included in the tape like “Fool’s Gold”, “Clear Blue Water”, “Kangaroo Law”, “Strength in Purpose”, “Don’t Be Sorry”, “Any Time Go”, “8.46” and “Who Am I?”.

Now I play again “Failing” with that nervous and fast guitar and heavy drumming. So good. And then I switch back to “Thinking”, my favourite and perhaps the most classic indiepop song of the demo! Though of course you don’t want to miss the opening song “My Beautiful Wall”!

Sadly that’s all there is about this very obscure band on Youtube (and the web). But maybe someone out there remembers them and can tell me more about them? Thanks, many thanks, in advance!

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Listen
August Avenue – Thinking

This time around the clip from the podcast was guessed almost immediately. It was an easy song indeed, The Fat Tulips’ “So Unbelievable”. So next time around I’ll make it a bit harder, though I don’t know if people will guess it as they couldn’t with My Favorite’s “Le Monster” from the January podcast.

Speaking of that song by The Fat Tulips I’ve always wondered how it ended up being played in the Nickelodeon show “The Adventures of Pete & Pete”. How did they end up in the ears of those responsible for choosing the songs? It’s true that they played other indiepop bands in the show like Racecar or some of the Stephen Merritt projects, but a UK band is a bit rare don’t you think? Though it’s true that Sheggi moved to America and all. Maybe someone knows? And perhaps if someone knows if there are any other series that have used indiepop songs in it? It’s an interesting topic I think.

You know, indiepop people are usually working in creative fields, so it would be normal for the music to appear more in commercials and TV. But it really doesn’t. Are we shy about what we listen? Or the world is not yet ready for our melodies? What do you think? Or perhaps I’m just idealizing popkids and it’s just a very few that actually work in creative fields?

I personally don’t know many people working in TV or the film industry. I do know many working in creative agencies though. I’m a bit clueless in this, maybe the people who chose the songs have very specific job position? Perhaps they studied something very specific as well? Something like “music chooser”? Or like “licensing expert”? How does that work? Who are these people that in the shadows are picking some songs, and why are they not picking more songs from the vast pool of indiepop?

And I ask it because this would also help the economy of indiepop, these licenses would definitely contribute bands and labels in a shrinking indie and diy industry. Perhaps it would have saved many labels that have been calling it a day during the past two years. Kids in the industry perhaps should try to get our songs out there? Would be a great way to keep our industry healthy.

This is just an idea of course, as I said I don’t know how the whole process works. It may be more difficult than just pitching the songs at a meeting. But I do think that considering that our licenses will definitely be cheaper than many of the famous artists and perhaps from other genres, it’s not a farfetched idea. Don’t you think?

I’m just throwing this idea, perhaps it’s something we should all look together, for different opportunities out there? What about someone representing a bunch of labels and artists from indiepop and pitching our songs and getting us new chances to get our songs out there? A model like that could work? Have this been explored before?

So many questions. What do you think about this? Could we make a splash in the media in a total different way?

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A kite is an aircraft consisting of one or more wings tethered to an anchor system.. Kites were invented in China, where materials ideal for kite building were readily available: silk fabric for sail material; fine, high-tensile-strength silk for flying line; and resilient bamboo for a strong, lightweight framework.

Today I got a message from Howard who runs the Facebook and Twitter page Indiepop Saved My Life. He asked me if I have ever heard or blogged about a band called The Kites. He attached a Youtube link for a song called “Larry’s Back“. I  have never heard this. Who are The Kites?

I have no clue at all. They are very jangly. Very classy. Elegant. Chiming. A lot early 90s indiepop. The first clue I find is on the description on “Larry’s Back”. This was the first song on the flexi included with the August ’94 issue of Waste Management Today. Waste Management Today?

Was it a fanzine? I googled it. No luck. A magazine? I would say the first option sounds more reasonable. Strange name though for a fanzine, but I guess I’ve seen stranger.

The band was around the early 90s. Sound-wise it makes a lot of sense. I look for information on this flexi and I can’t find any. I do know though that there was another song included and it’s “Rachel Head“. I can’t find any Rachel Head that they could have dedicated the song to. It’s a common name. But no famous person that I can think has that name. Perhaps it was a tribute to a friend of theirs? This song is also a cracker, brilliantly delivered.

The same user that uploaded these songs, a Mick Chuzzard, has uploaded a third song, “Faster“. This song is said to have been the single from a record released in 1994 on Happy Accident Records. I’m guessing there was a B side at least. But I can’t find anything about this record or the label. Would it be a safe bet to guess that Mick was part of the band? Could be, The Kites seem very obscure. At least he must be someone close to the band.

That’s all I could find. Definitely this is a mystery I’d love to be solved. Where can I find this single and the flexi? Are there more songs recorded? Actually, where are they from? the UK? the US? So many questions but three very solid guitar pop songs that everyone will enjoy a lot!

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Listen
The Kites – Larry’s Back

The new Cloudberry Podcast is out now! This one is our 3rd episode, the 2nd for 2015. This is the “winter” edition as it makes a lot of sense, at least for us in New York, when February is usually the coldest month of the year.

This time around no one guessed the clip I played on the previous episode, so you’ll get to hear “Le Monster” by My Favorite first. I thought this was very easy to guess! So I’m playing a way easier clip this time around for you to guess. I hope you can, because if not, I’ll be very disappointed!

On this third episode Toni is again working on the production and I’m still selecting the songs and making you laugh with my funny accent. The team is still going strong. We have a bunch of new sounds from around the world, some classics, some obscure songs, and so on.  A good mix I think! Also we have a very cool guest: Victoria Linares from Franny & Zooey and The Prams. There’s a very fun interview with her you don’t want to miss!

Looking forward to your feedback on what we can do better next time and what have you liked this time around. It helps! 🙂

On other Cloudberry news, the fanzine is almost there. This past weekend I finished writing it and doing the layout. Now it’s just time to get it ready for pre-press so it can be printed. I believe it will be ready by the end of February or early March as the latest. There’s already a pre-order button on the website and there you’ll also learn that the zine includes interviews with Boyish, The Haywains, The Royal Landscaping Society, My Light Shines For You, The Occasional Flickers and Don’t Cry Shopgirl, as well as the tracklist for the CD EP compilation “The Intolerable World”.

After this release we’ll get all our focus on the next Cloudberry Cake release: “Fibi Frap”. So we are very pumped this year to put out as many records as we can. We are going to try to have a very good run for the next two years. At least we have the word from so many favourite bands to be part of the Cloudberry family!

I want to leave a question though to all readers of the blog. As you know I started this blog in 2008, so I’m wondering what would you say has changed, what is different, when you compare 2008 and 2015 indiepop? Would love to know your thoughts. I have a bunch of ideas, but I wonder what others see different as well! So yeah, leave some comments about that, would be interesting to have a discussion!

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In 1989 a compilation called “New Reaction” comes out. The label was New Reaction and the catalog number was UNREST 15.  There are a bunch of indiepop songs in it from the likes of Pure Passion, You, Me & Him, The Quarry, Call Me Clive, The Herbs (who have been covered in the blog) and the band I’ll be trying to dig some information out today, Candid Bench.

I honestly don’t know what a Candid Bench is, but the song they included in this LP compilation is just brilliant. It’s called “How Embarrasing For You” and you want to listen to it right away. Head down, download it, listen to it, and then come back to this line.

My friend Uwe from Firestation Records once wrote about this song on his missed blog saying: Wow! Once heard a track by them called “How Embarassing For You“. I was blown away ‘cos this tune sounded sooo much like The Brilliant Corners at their best! Would love to hear more!! Band was around the late 80’s, no further infos. 

And it’s true, the sound of the song does remind one of The Brilliant Corners!! You wonder how this song didn’t end up being a proper single. Those trumpets!!

When I dig about them on Google I come across some Youtube videos (well, more of a still image) by a band Candid Bench. The first one is called “Drag You Under“. In the description for the song it says “celebrating 25 year”. I think this may as well be the Candid Bench I’m looking for. The song is not exactly similar to the beauty of “How Embarassing For You” but I can imagine them being the same band.

The other link on Youtube is for the song “Another True Story“. This is guitar pop too, and again a bit less jangly than the song in the compilation, but again it can be the same Candid Bench. It’s catchy, it sounds like indiepop from the late 80s and there’s some trumpets. This must be the same Candid Bench that Uwe was looking to hear more from.

I find out also that Reaction Records was a sub-label of a heavy metal label called Ebony Records. This is definitely strange.

Then I stumble on The Brilliant Cornersforum where it says that Candid Bench supported the Brill Corners pretty much every time they played at the Charlotte in Leicester. This makes me think the band was from Leicester. In that same forum there is mention of several tapes with Candid Bench recordings.

The Leicester link will make me find their Soundcloud page. Though the three songs here, “Archibold”, “Big Mouth Lush” and “The Charmer”, are less poppy and more rockier, I can picture them being the same Candid Bench whose trail I’m following. Luckily there’s a good amount of information about the band here, even a full bio which I’ll copy here:

Candid Bench – The first incarnation of The Bench was formed in 1986. Inspired by The Smiths, Half Man Half Biscuit, the six school mates from Anstey in Leicester, with guitarist/songwriter Richard Kettle at the helm, were soon playing gigs at local venues such as OJ’s and The Princess Charlotte in support slots alongside the likes of The Brilliant Corners and CUD.

The Manchester scene of 1990 proved to be an important influence on the band and they moved into funkier musical territory. Supporting the likes of The Real People, The Bridewell Taxis and Northside. A glittering future looked assured and prestigious support slots were secured at venues in London such as the Camden Underworld. Then, as they often do, things began to go wrong. One band member quit to go to uni while another moved away.

Yet the core members still retained their ambitions, which were aided when two close friends and ex schoolmates Lee Preston and Martin Findlay took it upon themselves to learn to play bass and drums. By 1995 the band were ready to push things forward; demos were recorded and gigs planned. The Bench were then dealt another blow when singer and founder member Gaz experienced some kind of spiritual transformation whilst living as a tramp in Barcelona and subsequently moved to deepest Norfolk to concentrate on his gardening.

Nothing much happened in the next two years until another couple of ex school mates, vocalist Neil Broughton and a new guitarist joined the band. They quickly constructed a new set and were again ready to gig. After a handful of appearances at the Charlotte including support slots with Clearlake, Regular Fries and Elbow, the new guitarist quit the band. Once again the band had taken one step forward, only to then take two steps back.

Finally a replacement guitarist was found in the rather rotund shape of Shane Bordoli, yet another ex schoolmate of yesteryear. And so in the year 2004 The Bench are, in the words of Elton John, still standing and looking to get themselves some of the long overdue credit
their obvious talents so richly deserve.

And that’s about all I could find about this band. It seems nothing was properly released sadly? Or was there? Does anyone out there know? I would be very grateful to know more! That song, “How Embarassing for You” is really something else, it’s just glorious indiepop!

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Listen
Candid Bench – How Embarassing For You

This seems a bit of an off week. Or more of a week in between. I’m working on several ideas and releases at the moment like the next podcast or the fanzine, but I will make a proper update next week. And of course, for those who didn’t read last week’s post, you have to know that the SHINE! CD is out now and that you all should order it because it’s fabulously good.

So what is new this week in indiepop world? Seems pretty quiet, right?

Let me review them some new releases that might have escaped your radar as there are no indiepop blogs anymore. Oh dear. The death of the blog and I continue doing this.

On January 1st The Wolfhounds, who reunited in 2005 after disbanding in 1990, released a new record called “Middle Aged Freaks”. I had the luck to see them live two times already and they were, as expected, really powerful and direct. Happily they played my favourite song of theirs, “Anti-Midas Touch”. What a song that is. One of the best of the C86 period for sure. Anyhow, let’s talk about the present then and I definitely recommend at least checking out this new album, the first in 24 years, on their bandcamp. It’s only 8 pounds plus shipping (yes, I have to order it too) and it includes a collection of 13 songs that have been written since 2012 (some of them you might know from previous 7″s).  It’s out now on Oddbox Records.

Another record I plan buying at some point (this week I already spent a lot on records believe me) is the Artic Flow’s new 7″ on Box Bedroom Records. It seems to be sold out though. So I may need to dig around, maybe some mailorder still has copies. For those who like dreamy pop, soft vocals, jangly guitars, and electronic drums, you know, that classic sound a la Harper Lee, Brigher, the sort of records the Spanish label Little Treasure releases, then this will be up your street. It’s deliciously good. There were only 150 copies pressed on this deluxe edition that included postcards and more souvenirs. There are 8 tracks in this 7″, though some of them are really small tiny instrumentals. You get really 4 proper songs and they are all top stuff. Beautifully packaged really. You can listen to it on the band’s bandcamp.

Skittle Alley, the band from our good friend Fanou, has a new album out now on Discos de Kirlián. French band on Spanish label. Good combo.  I believe that this album (or mini-album?) of 8 songs has only been pressed 100 times. There are 50 copies of the digipak in brown and another 50 in blue. The blue looking nicer if you ask me! You can also stream all the songs on the label bandcamp. Seems everyone are streaming every song from every release these days! Must be a trend. Nobody wants to be surprised by a B side? In any case, the CD is only 5 euros plus shipping, an unbeatable price. I also read that this year Limoges Popfest better known as Pop & Merguez, where Fanou is one of the enthusiastic organizers, is making a comeback. It’s fantastic news indeed!!

Another record to get this year is the latest from Japan’s Boyish. “Sketch for 8000 days of Moratorium” is the name of the latest work from this superb band that is very dear to the Cloudberry family (we released one 7″ by them, you have it right?). This is a great new effort by this dreamy and shoegazy band. I played one of the songs from the album in our first podcast and an interview to the band will be included in the next fanzine. You want to listen to this beauty? Well head to their bandcamp and expect to be blown away though there are only 3 songs available to stream. Boyish seem to think old school like Cloudberry, if you want to listen to the whole, why not invest in the CD? I’ve listened to it and I’m telling you, it’s truly terrific.

And last but not least I suggest checking Foam of the Daydream. This band includes ex-Help Stamp Out Loneliness’ Bentley Cooke and D Lucille Campbell. I remember Bentley from Indietracks and waiting outside the Travelodge for cabs. And of course I saw HSOL play at the festival. That was one hell of a show. I’m glad they’ve continued making music but they should promote it more!! They’ve just put out under this new name a 7″ on Pierre’s Freakscene label and it includes a WONDERFUL song called “Chloe’s Lung”. The B side is the same song with a different mix, a darker mix. Wish it had been another song because you feel they can only pen precious songs, so you end up wanting more! In any case, head to bandcamp and order it. You won’t regret it! A true new favourite band! As I like it so much and because I love the book they were inspired on to write this song, I want to copy/paste the press promo text:
When the regretted Help Stamp Out Loneliness released their instant classic and eponymous album late 2011, Bentley Cooke and D Lucille Campbell started to write new demos for an always difficult second coming.
Michel Gondry with “Mood Indigo” isn’t the only one to have found inspiration on Boris Vian’s novel ”L’Ecume Des Jours” (Froth On The Daydream), the story of a man who marries Chloe,living the hi-life dream until she develops an illness that can only be treated by surrounding her with flowers.
Vian’s masterpiece is a perfect canvas for Bentley’s signature Indie/Kraut and the unique androgynous dark edge of Dee’s voice. This vivid and luminous tale gradually turns into disillusion and death.
In a similar way,Chloe’s Lung will be the last collaboration between Cooke and Campbell; unfortunately, during a last series of european gigs, HSOL suddenly split up despite an ever growing fan base.
Foam On The Daydream presents the two versions of Chloe’s Lung respectively choosen by Bentley and Dee, they come on a 7” wrapped with a luxuriant poster illustrated by the artist Sarah Lippett.
Beautiful.

And that’s all folks!

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Bomb And Dagger – band, feat; Debbie Debris (voc,keys), Alison Statton (b.voc) (ex Young Marble Giants, Weekend), Spike Reptile (gtr) (later Table Table), Phil Moxham (perc) (Young Marble Giants), Dale Reynolds (gtr) (later Table Table), Ant Davies (bass, keys), Kirby (drms), Andrew Moxham (perc) (Young Marble Giants), Dean Roderix (drms) Ant moved to London and now lives in Edinburgh and played in many bands, he says, ‘Lots of great memories… I remember playing an unusual gig in a Curry House somewhere near the Docks and seeing a review of our gig in the NME .’

This small info comes from the Link2Wales site. Do you recognize some of those names? Come on, at least you should know Alison Statton, Phil Moxham and Spike. No? You could find lots of information about them I’m sure if you just google them. So I won’t go there. But I want to cover today another band they were involved in and no one seems to know or remember.

There is a small page on the Z Block label that has a better introduction to the band:

Bomb & Dagger formed by Debbie Debris & Spike in 1984 during the miners’ strike and many of the early performances were to raise funds for the striking miners’ families. The earliest line-up (left) featured Alison Statton and Phil Moxham (Young Marble Giants & Weekend) as well as Kirby Stevens, Dale Reynolds and Anthony Davies. Bomb & Dagger became a popular live act on the jazz circuit, performing regularly at the Brecon Jazz Festival, TV and radio sessions, touring Europe and supporting many top African artists including Hugh Masekela. These recordings include tracks from the cassette LP ‘Peace, Bread & Land’ and their single ‘Wake Up’

Here in this site you can stream all the songs they recorded. In there we also learn that Bomb & Dagger were named after a notorious meeting house in Tiger Bay, that the band gained a reputation as hardcore political activists, and that they had played also at Geneva’s Festival de’La Batie.

The songs are listed as if they were part of a CD called “Peace, Bread & Land”. I wonder if these songs were reissued at all on CD. The website dates of 2007. Would be good to know if these songs are available in high quality.

Definitely this is not your usual indiepop fare. But it has so many ties, and many songs are just so good pop songs that they really paint a picture of the time, of those mid 80s.

The records are not easy to find at all. But let’s go through Discogs and see what we can learn about these records. Their first 7″, their only 7″, was released in 1986 on SSR Wales (catalog BDSS 01). The A side was “Wake Up” and the B side was “No Real Place”.  It was engineered by John Davies.

The other listing Discogs has is that from them appearing on the compilation “0222 A Compilation of Cardiff Bands” that was released by Popdy (catalog Popdy 101). In this compilation also appears the band Papa’s New Faith that I should definitely cover as they are truly great! Anyhow, the song that Bomb and Dagger contributed in this LP was “Strike”. I like that Discogs mentions on the notes that 2 of the bands on it went to form Super Furry Animals and Catatonia. Funny, I guess some care about those bands!

Ah Cardiff! Such good times I had there. Lovely town. Drinking Brains beer, visiting the castle. I hope to visit again in the near future. And now that Cardiff hosts Wales Goes Pop! there are even more reasons.

The other interesting fact I could dig about this forgotten band are two videos on Youtube, two songs being played when they appeared on the Welsh program “Juice”. The songs are “Trouble” and “Separate“.

And that’s more or less what’s available online about this sought after band. Especially by Japanese collectors. Anyone know anything else about them? Were all their songs reissued on CD really? Would be great to know!

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Listen
Bomb and Dagger – Strike

It’s a week now since publishing the new podcast. Time to start working on the February episode! So far the feedback for the last one has been very kind and positive, and I hope you keep giving us feedback as it helps us make it better. Now though, I’m looking forward for anyone that can guess the clip I played on this past episode. Anyone has a clue? If you do, let me know your guess and you can pick the opening song for the next episode!

On more important news, the Shine! CD is arriving home this Friday and most orders will be posted next Monday. Have you pre-ordered it yet? This is a release I’m very proud of, and I think most of you, dear blog readers, will like it. Please support the label and the blog by buying it. It will mean a lot so we can keep releasing records!

What else is happening in the indiepop world? Well, definitely the most important news this week came from Spain.

Madrid Popfest announced the last bands for their bill: Espíritusanto, Wild Honey, Lavandera, Night Flowers, Loor a los Heroes and Secret Shine. Top stuff! But the festival also had another announcement and that was that this was going to be their last Popfest. Yes, their last. This of course was a surprise for many and a disappointment for others. But I think, after 5 Popfests they have made a fantastic run and at it’s definitely not a bad moment to call it a day.

I don’t know exactly the reason why they are calling it a day.

Madrid Popfest is organized in a much different way than other Popfests. Their selections are defined by votes of all the people involved in the organization. It’s very democratic. That seemed like a very healthy way to bring indiepop bands to their city of Madrid. Right? They were setting an example.

I’m very grateful with Madrid Popfest. I attended twice, and I’m sad I won’t be attending this last one. The first one I attended is very dear to my heart for various reasons. The second was a reaffirmation that my friends in Spain are top class. I have only good memories, of dancing, of Djing, of singing out loud, of getting to see so many favourite bands. And of Mahou beer, of the calamari sandwiches at el Brillante. Damn so good. The cheap lunch menus around town. Record shopping for 80s Spanish pop 7″s at la Metralleta. I was always happy, and I hope to visit Madrid again, even if there’s no Popfest.

The organizers always made me feel at home. So many memories, so many photos. I always saw bands treated in the best ways possible. I think the legacy of Madrid Popfest will live on. I hope someone picks up after them, perhaps Barcelona Popfest? Could be exciting!

Again, I really hope Madrid Popfest is a success on it’s last edition. From my part, all the best of luck to them, great friends, fabulous music fans, and among the most passionate indiepop people I’ve ever met, on their future enterprises. May the force be with you 😉

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So this week I’m preparing the podcast and I’m looking into some of the obscure bands that I’ll post here and that I will eventually showcase in the podcast. This time around I want to introduce you to a band called The Blind Mice from the UK. I just got their “Nothing” 7″ the other day from Uwe and it seems there’s some information we can dig from them.

First stop on our investigations takes us to Alistair Fitchett’s blog, Unpopular. He actually recommends this same single I just got. He compares the sound of the band to The Wedding Present. The other interesting bit of information is about Graham Bell who used to run the Davy Lamp label that released their records.  Seems Graham Bell, at least up to 2010 when this post was written, was living in Los Angeles and had a weekly radio about soccer called ‘An Englishman in LA’.

There’s also a comment from a Spencer Jordan on this same post where he mentions that there were at least 2 other singles and also an LP to the name of The Blind Mice. He also says that the band was way better live that on record, that “Nothing” and “Tattooed Legend” (their second single) were both single of the week in the Sounds magazine when they were released (88 and 89). He mentions that the guitar player of the band, Guy Hunt, was an American living in the UK but now he is back in the USA. The rest of the band were from Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire. He also points out that there is a video on Youtube for an entire gig at the Square in Harlow (the label Davy Lamp was based in Harlow).  You can watch it here.

Let’s go back a bit into Davy Lamp. I knew about them thanks to the compilation “Not Just Mandela”, that has that track by The Internationalists (as well as Billy Bragg, Housemartins, etc). The label also released records by Paul Howard and Jo Clack (The Sullivans) and Reel by Reel.

Discogs lists a tape, “Falling at Your Feet”, released by Davy Lamp in 1987 (no catalog number). This tape included six songs and it might have been their first release. The songs were “It’s Over”, “Room Full of You“, “All Alone“, “At God’s Door“, “It’s Only Skin” and “Dishrag Blues“. I’m linking to the songs on Youtube if you want to have a listen.

It’s pretty interesting that a bunch of their songs are on Youtube, isn’t it? Their next release was the “Nothing” 7″ in 1988. The B side was “Just Like We Do“. The record was recorded live at Flightpath Studios in Cambridge. It was Davy Lamp 10. The credits go like this:
Bass, vocals: Gary Bennett
Drums: Craige Quainton
Engineer: Tim Harding
Guitar: Guy Hunt
Guitar, vocals: Dave Alexander
Producer: Blind Mice
Vocals: Mark Wilson
Written by: Blind Mice

Design and printed by: Craig Quainton

Something interesting in the back cover is that it says that Davy Lamp was suponsored by the Latton Bush Centre. Who were they? The Latton Bush Centre, managed by Harlow Council, provides accommodation for businesses, voluntary organisations, NHS services and community groups. Facilities are also available to hire for conferences, training, workshops, exhibitions, dance classes and other functions.

Hmm… interesting….ded aThe second single was the “Tattooed Legend” one. This was Davy Lamp 11 and was released as I said earlier in 1989. The B side was “Your Heart“. The artwork credits for this record are credited to Davy Lamp and Jo Sladen, whereas the production and engineering credits for Blind Mice and Tim Harding. This was recort the same place as the previous record and there are etchings on the record, on the A side it says “Not Blonde” and the B side “Not Dumb”.

In 1990 they released their full length called “Something’s Wrong”. This one included ten songs, “Bearded Circus Lady“, “G.V.”, “U.S.A.“, “It’s Over”, “Nothing“, “Something”, “Brosette“, “Magalluf“, “Child…” and “Butlins chalet. This was Davy Lamp 14. Now we see that on drums there’s been a change, we have Bob Porter who also plays the tambourine. Also there are credits now for Gary Bennett playing keyboards.

Next stop, ReverbNation. Here it says they com from Saffron Walden in the UK. Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) north of Bishop’s Stortford, 18 miles (29 km) south of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of London. The town retains a rural appearance and has buildings dating from the medieval period onwards. In 2001 the parish had a population of over 14,313. This could make some sense when you think of them recording in Cambridge their records.

They have a Facebook page where you should become a fan. This is the link. We notice that this page covers three different bands, Thin Red Line, Giant Mice and Blind Mice. Wonder if they are listed like that chronologically. The page has been updated a bunch of time during the last year.

The last appearance I could find by them is from a 1987 tape sampler on Cordelia Records. There they had one song called “Now That’s…: The Happy Peasants”.

There are definitely a bunch of more songs online. On ReverbNation we see songs like “English Rose”, “Billy Mills” or “Laying the Track“. On Youtube there are also other songs like “A Hollowed Bed“, “Plain Boy“,  “Laura“, “Fast Rain“, “Sheila’s Gone Donuts!“, “Whispering Glades“, “There’s Something Wrong“, “Wandering Star” and even a promo video for “It’s Not Heaven“.

Enough songs for a proper and nice CD compilation don’t you think? I wonder if they ever thought releasing it!

Do you remember anything about them? Would love to know more about this great guitar pop band, they have really great tunes, catchy and energetic, and it’s pretty strange to me why they are so obscure to indiepop fans these days!

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Listen
The Blind Mice – Nothing

I’m going to look into hosting the episodes of the podcast on the web server for download, for those interested. I think this will be my project for this week. In the meantime the second episode is out now. In it all the sections I introduced in the pilot episode are back, from the cover of the month to the guess the song contest! I hope you like it!

Also I want to give big thanks to Cristina Quesada for being part of the show as the guest interviewee. It was quite fun to talk in English with her, something I’ve really never had the need to as we can understand each other perfectly in Spanish. It was lovely really. In the interview she tells some details of her forthcoming album on Elefant that should be out in the first half of 2015.

And of course thanks to Toni for doing the producer job again! We are learning through making these podcasts and we’ve listened to everyone’s feedback. I think we both have done a better job compared to the our first try. But I think most thanks should go to Toni as he has been terribly busy with school work, it’s impressive that he has managed to put this together!

This past week had some important news in indiepopworld. I think a very important one is that Firestation has released two retrospective CD albums: The Auctioneers and The Sullivans. I’m especially fond of the second release as the song “Senseless” by The Sullivans is one of my favourite songs ever. I remember there was this user on Soulseek, his nickname was something like “leglangly-stance”, something like that. My memory of those years are not the best. The thing was that he had this folders full of compressed files, .zip files, with very rare ripped vinyl. I discovered so much music from him. The Sullivans was one of them. And that song was like pure bliss. The girl/boy vocals are just delicious. It’s an unstoppable song. I could imagine a split single with this song and Comet Gain’s “Strength”, don’t you?

The second news is that Twee.net published the results of the poll. As usual the turnout of voters is not big but still it’s quite representative I think. Firestation was voted best label with 6 votes and they have it well deserved. The not so good thing is that Cloudberry got a single vote! Alarming! Well I don’t think so. I think Cloudberry only released 4 records during 2014. That’s a small output to what we are used to. I’m sure that definitely affected the perception of voters. So, this year we must do things better! Somehow we have! At least get 2 votes. 1 vote is unacceptable! Though I honestly thank very much the one person who trusted us their vote. You are the best!

There were very good news though, we were voted best blog and also best indiepop site. Two categories were we killed it! I’m happy about getting these votes. I think the blog has been very constant since 2008 when I started it. I always think people don’t really read it and don’t care much for the format, but when I get this sort of feedback it’s really amazing. It’s really unexpected too. So I’m very happy.

I guess indiepop-site would mean blog too in this case. And in a way it makes sense as there are really no indiepop-sites anymore. In any case, I’ll take it! Hopefully the quality of the blog keeps getting better especially now with the podcast.

Out of curiosity let’s cover some of the other Twee.net results.

Alvvays making a splash this year topping both Best Band, Best Album, Best New Band and Best Song. Seems their album, catered for indie fans really and not indiepop kids, has all the proper ingredients to be loved. I actually liked it, especially in a very quiet year. It has possibly 3 or 4 very good songs (the most popular “Archie, Marry Me”, the best one  “Atop a Cake”, “Next of Kin” and “Adult Diversion”) , and the rest are fillers, but that’s enough these days, right?

For Best mailorder Jigsaw Records won and I think that’s not much of a surprise as Jigsaw is really helping the whole scene with their releases, their low prices, their sales, and even shipping records for labels to Europe. What Chris has been doing is truly amazing so he deserves it. He got my vote in this category for sure.

Best Paper Fanzine award went to Candy Twist. Again I voted for Dennis’ zine this year. If it’s a quiet year for indiepop then it’s even quieter for indiepop zines, but Dennis keeps doing it and that effort and passion is well  supported by indiepop. Totally fair for him to win!

And that was it. Oh right, there’s another category, but they are not really my thing the winners. For best gig, if you want to know, I voted for My Favourite at NYC Popfest, Slowdive at Terminal 5 and Royal Landscaping Society at Indietracks.

Well that was it, a big thanks to Peter Hahndorf for organizing again the poll this year. I look forward for a much better 2015!!! And come on, a band on Polyvinyl can’t win so many awards, we are indie, aren’t we? 😉

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And so we turn to our obscure band of the week: The Strand.

strand: the shore of a sea, lake, or large river.

I’m guessing that’s the meaning of the band’s name. Of course, strand can mean other things, but the sleeve artwork of the one 7″ I know by them has a blue dolphin. A simple connection, dolphin, beach, makes me assume this.

There’s very little information about this band. Only this week I got this single from Uwe. It’s not an expensive one and you can definitely find it on eBay or discogs for a fair price. I found one blog post about them dating from 2011 on the blog by Cino Pacino, “The Roofy Leak”.

He says that he doesn’t know much about the band either, just that the singer doesn’t like dolphins because apparently, in the song lyrics, dolphins have stolen his drinks. These lines are of course part of the A side (and also B side as a remix) “You Saw Me Swimming (The Dolphin Song)”.

This record is what I love calling proto-indiepop. This 7″ was released in 1983 on Albion Records in the UK (catalog ION1042). I don’t know much about this label but it seems they released a whole bunch of stuff! Among the most known bands we have the dBs and Katrina and the Waves. So mostly a “new wave” label.

We know that the record was produced by a Bob Andrews and the credits for the songs  on the label have 5 last names: Woods, Ludkin, Rushton, Bradbrook and McAree. From the back cover we get to know that:
Eric – voice, guitars
Diane – vocals
Rob Rushton – premier drums
Paul J. Bradbrook – bass

That leaves me guessing that Eric and Diane were either Woods, Ludkin and McAree?

There are some more credits here, Bob Andrews and Dean Klevatt played keyboards, and Dick Hanson played the flugel horn. The design of the sleeve is credited to The Design Team and there’s a photo of the band on the back taken by Rick Mann.

And that’s where again I hit a wall. There’s nothing else about them. There seems to be other The Strand bands during this same period, but the last names don’t match. So I want to think this is their one and sole single as it’s really excellent. It’s super catchy, and the boy/girl vocals are just infectious! Top stuff really!

Does anyone out there can shed some light about them?!

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Listen
The Strand – You Saw Me Swimming (The Dolphin Song)