Happy Monday! Very jealous of all who attended Glas-goes Pop! It seems like everyone had a wonderful time at that festival. I was looking at photos on Facebook, of many friends, and made me wonder when I’ll be back in a pop festival! Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long!

The Photocopies: Sean Turner’s project is back with 5 new songs on the “Departure” EP. It seems he is becoming quite a prolific indiepop songster. Originally from London, Sean, has been releasing a bunch of songs in the last couple of years, all of them packed with jangle power!

Rachel Love: Rachel is back with a new EP titled “Stories from Another Time EP”. I definitely need to order this one as it is available on CD and at a very affordable price of 5 pounds sterling. There’s no excuse to get the latest four songs from the ex-Dolly Mixture. On top of it all I’ve heard her gig at Glas-Goes Pop was one of the biggest highlights! How I wish I had been there!

Hazel: Jakarta band Hazel sounds really good. They are on the label Tarsius Records and they recently released a new single titled “Over My Head”. It is really ace! They also mention that they are working on an EP for later this year. Definitely let’s keep an eye open, they sound ace!

Jim Nothing: this coming September Jim Nothing from Christchurch, New Zealand, will be releasing  the album “In the Marigolds”. It will bee available on vinyl and will have 12 songs. Two of the songs are available to preview, “Yellow House” and “In the Marigolds”. They are great! They are lo-fi pop catchy songs with boy/girl vocals. It is a really great surprise this band, as I wasn’t aware of them before. Can’t wait to hear the full album.

Poster Paints: and lastly this is also great news. I’ve recommended many times the Glasgow du formed by Simon Lidell and Carla Easton due to their EPs and singles. Well, this October the band is releasing their first album! It will be self-titled and will include 10 songs. Three of them are up on Bandcamp for our/my listening pleasure. Essential I would say!

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Fremantle, Australia. I have interviewed a few Perth bands like The Honeys or The Mars Bastards. The Palisades too. There are quite a few fantastic bands that hailed from there. I am now surprised to discover a band I had never heard about before, The Childlike Primitives.

They have a Soundcloud account that is quite new, 3 months!

The songs here are “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “I the Assassin”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring (instrumental)”, “Lucy”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Ice Rink Dancer”, “Girl in Chains”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha”, “Boredom”, “Crazy Black Days”, “Show me to my Bed”, “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “The Human Voice”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice” and “Mystery Man”.

There is not much info about each of the songs but some do have a little info. “Spring (instrumental)” was recorded on a 2 track reel to reel by Ivan. “Ice Rink Dancer”‘s bass line is from the old Courageous Cat cartoon. “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice”, “Mystery Man” and “The Human Voice” were the last recordings the band did with singer/songwriter Ivan Bray.

The next place to look is the band’s Facebook page.

This actually takes me to yet another Soundcloud page!! With even more songs!!

The first collection of tracks date from the mid 80s. These include home recordings, jam sessions and practices. These songs are: “Fish Trumpet!”, “Another Man’s Dream”, “Casio and Ivan”, “I’m a Contortionist”, “Desolate Gestures”, “Did You Say Something?”, “Fly By Night”, “Charred and Blackened”, “Take Off Your Crown”, “Art is…”, “Summer Interlude”, “The Isolated Parade of a Chanting Funnel”, “Lucy Said, (She’s Coming on Strong)”, “The Heavenly Blue” and “Sleeping Sons”.

The second collection of songs are better recordings and taken from cassettes during practice sessions. These date from 1987 to 1989. The songs on this second collection are: “Melancholy Intro”, “The First Glorious Rush Around the Garden”, “I Once Saw Her Face”, “Everything but the Girl”, “Ice Ring Dancer”, “In the Room”, “Famous Last Words”, “The Secret Inside”, “My Babies So Nonchalant About Love”, “The Red Trees”, “Old”, “Ulysses”, “Love and Life” and “Nature’s Sweet Decay”.

The last collection has the studio recordings the band did at Initiation Studios with Mark One as engineer. Here also are mixed in as intros sound bits of Ivan Bray and the band riffing that were recorded on a tape deck. The songs are “When Reason Has Lied”, “The Plea”, “The Human Voice”, “The Chant of Empty Seas”, “The Criminal Voice”, “Sunflower”, “She Lay Outside my Door”, “Sad Lost Monkeys”, “Mystery Man”, “Laughs the Splendid Light”, “Hail Our Love”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Future’s Bed” and “The Orchard of One Hundred Trees”.

What else do we find about them? That they played at the Stoned Crow along The Caretakers every Thursday night. The band also plaayeed at The Cave Bar, at least on one occasion where Pink Fluffy Bunnies, Sad Music Billy’s, Elf & the Goon Gut Babies and Accelerated Man were on the bill.

From what I see the person behind the Facebook and Soundcloud pages is Martin Phillips. He mentions too that there was a 1988 album called “The Homesick Gypsies” that the band recorded with Rob Grant at Poon’s Head Studios. The songs from this album are on the first Soundcloud link I shared. The tracklist order for this album is: “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring”, “Lucy”, “I the Assassin”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” and “Girl in Chains”.

What else can I add? On the photos it looks like the band was a five-piece.

I then stumble upon a Party Fears from October-November 1991. There it mentions Martin and Ivan Bray were starting a band called ARC. There is also a mention of The Childlike Primitives who were to play their first show in about a year at the Carnivale Day inn Forrest Place on October 15. It mentions Mark One had replaced Dorian Day in the band.

And that’s what I could find. Any more info about the band will be appreciated. For example… did they release anything? Tapes?

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Listen
The Chidlike Primitives – Homesick Gypsies

Just wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Maimargaritas: Mai, from Las Margaritas and My Light Shines For You has uploaded to Bandcamp 6 rough demos she recorded between 2020 and 2021. This is really lovely, you get a different feeling compared to her more “polished” recordings. She has even titled this compilation “Maquetas: No Sé Grabar”, something like ‘Demos: I don’t know how to record”. But yeah, even within this lo-finess we find some superb quality to the songs.

Shoken Boys: hailing from Tel Aviv, the Shoken Boys have just released a 5-song EP titled “The Shoken Boys”. The band is formed by David, Yaniv, Amit and Amir and they make some punchy pop! This is the first time I listen to them but previously they have put out many more records.

Bear Cat: this is a band from back in the day but they have just showed up on Bandcamp. Bear Cat came from Auckland, NZ, and knew how to make some lovely folk-pop songs, kind of in the middle between Jonathan Richman and The Moldy Peaches. On Bandcamp you can find 5 of their releases, I am linking you the first self-titled single.

Peel Dream Magazine: LA based band is back with “Pad”. On this album to be released by Slumberland and Tough Love on October 7, Joseph Stevens continues his sonic exploration, getting a bit further away from indiepop. So we’ll have to see how that goes. The track available to preview, also called “Pad”, hasn’t won me over. But there are 14 more… and I am hoping I enjoy this as much as his previous efforts.

This Poison!: and finally the Peel Session from November 30, 1987, is available as a double CD from the great Precious Recordings of London! This is a must have for all indiepop fans. Four songs and the quality packaging of this label makes me terribly happy about this one. Legendary band, legendary songs!

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Before being in the wonderful Small Factory David Auchenbach had been in another fantastic but much more obscure band, What Now.

The band was around in the mid-80s I believe. I am basing that assumption on the dates of their releases listed on Discogs.

A self-titled demo tape was put together in 1984. That tape had 3 songs, “Very Near”, “Can’t Say No” and “Alright”. On this tape the band consisted of Dave on guitar and vocals, Mark Jones on drums and Pete McClanahan on bass. The first two songs had been recorded at Celebration Sounds while the last one at home. All the recordings date from May of 1984.

The band was an important one in Providence, Rhode Island. But they played in other towns as well. I’ve read about a gig they played in Springfield, Massachusetts supporting Eight Route Army.

The band’s only proper release came out in 1985 on Incas Records (WN 101). This label has one of the coolest logos I’ve ever seen. It is a cholita or a paisana, a typical Andean woman with her typical hat. Lovely really. The record was titled “Small Record with Four Songs” and as it is obvious had four songs: “Noisemaker” and “All My Life” on the A side and “The End” and “Anthem” on the B side. The songs had been recorded and mixed at White Dog Studio (in Newton, MA) by Lou Giordano as the producer and engineer. Also credited for engineering job is Kevin Galvin. The mastering was done at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen.

On this record the bassist had changed. Now we find Dave McCaffrey. The design is credited to David A with assistance by D. Clay and Bella.

The band did appear on two compilations, so that’s worth pointing out. On “City History”, a 1987 double LP compilation on Big Bubble Records (BB 066) the band contributed the song “Can’t Say No”. I believe all the bands on this record hailed from Providence. The bands included had many musical styles, from new wave and power pop to hardcore.

Hyped 2 Death would release sometime in the 2000s a unofficial compilation called “Homework #5 U.S. DIY and Post-Punk 1978 -83: V-toZ”. This compilation would include What Now with the song “Anthem”.

As I mentioned earlier, Dave Auchenbach would later be in one of the most important indiepop bands the US has had, Small Factory. He was in a band before What Now too, one called The Parents. I haven’t listened to it yet though. Would be good to track some songs down. Another band I’ve heard he was in but I don’t know anything about is Flora Street.

Pete McGlanahan, the band’s first bassist would then be in a band called Warrior Soul.

David McCaffrey would be in a few bands including Frank Black and the Catholics, Miracle Legion, Polaris and the Halo Bit.

I look for more info and notice the excellent Wilfully Obscure dedicated a small post to them in 2013.

Sadly I couldn’t find more details about the band. But MAYBE someone will help us and find more info about them. That’d be fantastic. The songs are not exactly indiepop but they have a great sound, they are melodic. I especially enjoy “All My Life” and “Anthem”.

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What Now – The End

Not many news today. So I want to give you the second hint of my next release. They released a 3″ with Cloudberry many years ago with 3 songs. Can you guess now?

Northern Portrait: one of the most anticipated albums this year for me is “The Swiss Army” by the one and only Northern Portrait. The Danish band is back after years of silence with 10 songs that Matinée is releasing on vinyl and CD on August 3! So, yeah, it is out today! Wow! If you want to preview some songs, head to Soundcloud where you’ll find “At Attention” and “Once Upon a Bombshell”. This is jangle glory. Pure class. Oh! How I wish I could see the Copenhagenites live again!

Amor Butano: the newest release on Elefant Records series New Adventures in Pop is a 10″ by the Valencia three-piece Amor Butano. The trio is formed by Diego, Raquel and Sara. They make catchy and very 80s techno-pop. The record will have 8 songs, and you can preview 4 of the songs on Bandcamp. The “Ultravioleta” 10″ will be out on September 16.

The Silent Love: Jakarta-based The Silence Love has been around for a decade and so it is no surprise to see them release a new album called “Decade”. Influenced by The Field Mice, Brighter and Blueboy, this new album has 14 solid pop songs. The album is available now digitally thanks to Tarsius Records.

The Death of Pop: another great band that is back is the sout-coast of England brother duo The Death of Pop. They are returning this September with the “For a Minute EP”, a 4-song popstatic record. As far as I know it will be released as digital-only, and if you want to preview it, there’s the opening and title track available to listen!

Former Lives: and lastly let me introduce you to this Burlington, Vermont, solo project. The force behind it is Sean Joseph Klassen (and his dog Bruce Beagle). He released in May a 12″ EP titled “Ceremony of Leaving” that sounds ace. At the time of writing this post there were 6 copies left out of a 100. The EP has 5 songs, all of them ready to be listened!

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Once more following the queue of stoneeydkiller. He/she is way too quick in finding pop gems on the web. I think there is a new upload on Youtube every day. I feel it will be impossible to catch up, but I am trying here. Whenever I find a band I think sounds great, I try to track down any more info I can find. So that’s what I’ll do today with The Rhythm Method.

On Youtube the song that this enigmatic and mysterious account has uploaded is titled “Buildings”. And it sounds great, really. It dates from 1985 and tells us the band hailed from Derby. We also get a lineup for the band: Andy Smith on vocals, Mark Samson on guitar, Russell Woodward on guitar, Andy Sheppard on bass and backing vocals and Matt on drums. No last name for the drummer?

Then I start digging the web. Trying to find anything that relates to this band. And suddenly I find something. It is the Soundcloud account of the vocalist, Andy Smith, who looks like he relocated to London. The account was last updated 6 years ago, with the bulk of uploads 9 years back.

This account was put together when he was nostalgic and started looking back at the many bands he has been, he says. He recorded in studios, basements and radio stations. He started restoring his stuff that goes back to 1978 to the present.

The first song I find is by a band called The Silicon Chips. This one dates from 1979 and sounds great. Andy mentions that this band would evolve into The Rhythm Method.

He mentions that with The Rhythm Method they were never comfortable playing live. That the original spark had gone. This made Andy more studio bound after The Rhythm Method was no more.

Another interesting detail I find is one about the song “Buildings”. It mentions that the band’s new drummer played an electronic drumset on the song and they added an extra guitar player from his first band ever after school. Which band was that? And who was this guitarist?

Another band Andy was in, before The Rhythm Method, was called Room at The Top. It was an acoustic duo with Dave Lewin. This was in the mid-80s. He seems to have been in a band called The Dirty Stopouts as well, but not sure around which years he was on this one.

The earliest band he has uploaded seems to be The Party which dates from 1978.

And then I find another song by The Rhythm Method! It is called “Cold War“.  This song was recorded in 1985 at the time when Russia and America were at each others throats and there was tension in the air, according to Andy.

Another cool project he had was called Tender Loving Care who recorded the song “A Lover’s Disguise” in 1986. Seems this one didn’t last long, but do check the song, it’s really good.

And that’s it.

Not much more info, and no more songs. Just two by The Rhythm Method. I am sure there must be more of them. Also why no releases? I’ve googled all over, with different combinations of keywords but no luck. Hopefully someone remembers the band and can fill the blanks!

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The Rhythm Method – Buildings

Last Friday I had the chance to meet Jari from Tampere in NYC. He was in town for a few days, where he even played an open mic show at Otto’s Shrunken Head. Jari as you may know was/is in two superb Finnish bands, Cessna and Artisokka. He was telling me that there is a third Artisokka album coming up while we were having beers in the Lower East Side, at a strange beer hall called The Grand Delancey. It is within a food court/market, on a basement. They have a huge list of beers but what surprised me was that now and then, among all the terrible music that was being played, you’d hear a song by The Bats, or one by Orange Juice. Quite surprising.

It was a nice afternoon talking about music, the bands, the scenes… and about New York, Finland, Europe, and whatnot. It was fun!

Chorusgirl: here’s some fantastic news. Chorusgirl is back! The band is now Silvi’s solo project and there’s a new album in the horizon! It will be called “Colapso Calypso” and is coming out on October 14. Will be released by Reckless Yes on vinyl and CD and will include 10 songs! Right now we can preview one of the tracks, “Don’t Go Back to ’89”, which is ace. There is also a video for the song that I am also enjoying. Definitely an album not to miss!

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo band is a common sight in this blog. Always following the Norwegian band formed by Christian and Cato. Their latest release is a digital single, the second single, from the band’s upcoming 4th album “Fake”. The album will be available digitally in August. So, very soon!

The Variable Stars: it seems there is a superb fantastic scene now in the Bay Area. Lots of great bands. You wonder why there’s not sort of a compilation introducing many of these bands. The Variable Stars are not new though. They were from the early 2000s. The good thing ois that all their songs have been compiled on a tape called “All Signs Point to Life”. I just wish it wasnt a tape as I have no patience for tapes! The one song I’ve had the chance to listen on Bandcamp is really really good. Titled “Junkfood Romance” it sounds like heaven to my ears. Like the perfect mix of influences. The tape is out on August 15.

Thee Smashing Times: amazing news here too. The Smashing Times from Baltimore, another band I enjoyed immediately at first listen have signed to Meritorio Records and will be releasing an album titled “Bloom” on October 21. 13 songs will be in this album, and we can preview the last of the songs on the record! It is called “Mother Nature is Son” and as expected is great. Definitely another album I need to get later this year.

The Happy Somethings: the English band has just put out a compilation CD with Subjangle! Called “Running Away with the Happy Somethings”, the comp collects many of their songs, from their two albums, EPs and singles, as well as new tracks recorded for the occasion. In total you can find 20 songs here and the album is quite limited. Just a few copies were available at the time I wrote these lines!

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A lot of my recent finds come thanks to that unknown indiepop soldier that is stoneeyedkiller on Youtube. If you haven’t seen his work finding indiepop gems, make sure to check it out and subscribe. Right now that I have not much time in my hands I am following his steps and trying to find more info of the bands I like the best from his posts.

Big Blue World is the latest surprise. He has uploaded a 1990 song titled “Factory Lights” that sounds ace. Also gives us the band lineup, Andrew Jardine on guitar and vocals, Mick Rivett on bass and Jon Corkill on drums.

I want to think that the band named themselves after the Paul Haig’s song “Big Blue World” that he released in 1984. Maybe?

The band did get to put out a record, a 12″ in 1989. It was released by White Mountain Records (BBW 01) and included three songs, “Deviation” on one side and “Deceiving Myself” and “Winter Skies” on the flipside. It was a double A sided single.

The songs had been recorded at The Music Room in Peterborough. Did they hail from there? I also look into their label and the only other artist listed with two releases in this label is Nick Rowe who is described as a new age musician.

What about the Music Room? I should be familiar with this studio, The Pleasure Heads recorded there, and I wrote a post about them. Also The Charlottes’ classic “Are You Happy Now” was recorded there.

The producers for this single were the band and Baz Voce. Baz also is listed as the engineer. Also  it is important to mention that another band member is listed here, Ian “Nobby” Clarke on guitar.

Then there’s a strange release: Craig Thomson and Big Blue World’s “I Want You to Want Me”. Did the band become the backing band for the Australian actor and singer that was on the Aussie soap opera “Home and Away”. The record was released on 7″, 12″ and CD, and it included a cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” on the A side and “Foolish Pride” on the B side. The producer for the A side was Duncan Bridgeman while the B side was produced by Ian and Dave Morgan. The 12″ release included a 12″ mix and a 7″ mix for “I Want You to Want Me”.

This release was put out by Telstar (TOMOCD1) and The Brothers Organisation.

Then we find a Soundcloud account by Mick Rivett. Here there’s a trove of songs! He last updated this account 3 years ago. The three songs from the 1989 release are there, but there’s more: “Factory Lights”, “The Love of May”, “Waterfall”, “Lost Town”, “Live Down the Life”, “Temple of Broken Dreams”, “Your Character”,  “Thee Home Road” and “It’s All Down to You”.

They don’t have any more info, no details when you click on the songs. Thanks to the photos we see that they played a place called Gaslight. But that’s it.

No more info, but a bunch of great songs. Maybe we will find more about them in the future. I really hope so!

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Big Blue World – Factory Lights

Weekend is here! Not much news today from me. So let’s jump straight to the indiepop recommendations!

Herr Wade: the project formed by Sebastian and Jørn is back with three songs! One song is about Sebastian’s hometown, “Altenberge” and the other two are “Askim” and “Ja, Nein, Vielleicht”. All of them are superb really! It is no surprise of course as we know Sebastian was in Nah and The Grindcore Poppies and Jørn in The Loch Ness Mouse!

Plastic Girl in a Closet: here is a new version of the album “Eye Cue Rew See” that the Japanese band released in 2014. This new version was produced by Yuji from the band. According to them, the sound on this version is clearer, tighter and louder. The album includes 11 songs that were also released in 2022 by an American indie label.

Moon in June: another superb sounding Japanese band! Hailing from Tokyo the band is back after a few years. “Evergreen” is the band’s first release since 2020. In this EP the band puts out 6 wonderful songs that have been compared to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

Puzzles y Dragones: always excited to hear a new song by the Madrid band! They know how to make perfect pop songs. Their latest single is “El Final de mi Felicidad”. This song will be included in the band’s upcoming second album that should be released this winter by El Genio Equivocado. Superb!

The Crystal Furs: the Portland, Oregon, band have been recommended a few times on the blog. So let’s do it again. Their newest single is “Charlatan” and sounds great. This song will be included in the band’s next album, “In Coastal Light”. This album will be released on CD and vinyl too!

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I stumbled now on a Soundcloud account that was last updated 10 years ago. It has a bunch of great songs. Some are indiepop and maybe some aren’t. I am only know listening one by one and discovering them.

The sad part is that there is no information about the band. Will I be able to find out any info about them?

The first song I listen is called “I Could Never Tell”. There’s a photo of a guitar player. An electric guitar on this photo. Black leather jacket. Looks like the 80s? Early 90s?

The next song is titled “I Don’t Understand What that Means Baby”. No info again. Photo of the same guy, acoustic guitar now. Then there’s “Dead to Rights” a lovely jangly song, and “Restore the Monarchy”, a rockier number.

“Kiss the Wall, Stroke the Floor” is possibly my favourite song here. It has great melodies, amazing jangly guitars. A superb track, reminiscent at times of Choo Choo Train.

Other songs you’ll find here are “Ringing Water”, “Legalise It”, “She’s a Natural”, “The Lesson”, “Stark Naked Truth”, “Are You Gonna Fuck Me Then?”, “Mantra”,”Captain Self”, “Drug, a Living Pyre”, “Nativity Greyhound”, “Rich Girlfriend Tree”, “Motif”, “Elixir (‘e licks ‘er)”, “Widescreen”, “Did It Ever Cross Your Mind?”, “Warm Black Hole”, “Glorious Unfinished 12th”, “Magic 8 Ball AKA I Was Born at Woodstock (dog version)”, “Waving and Drowning”, “Whole Lotta Nothing”, “Wild Horses”, “Esperanto”, “Legalise It (dub veersion)”, “Alison”, “You Are My Friend”, “VU What Goes On”, “Different Drum”, “Solar System of Lurrrve” and “Trigger Cut”.

Then there’s “Horse of Mud” which was played on John Peel’s on May 17, 1992). Peel mentions that it is a single sided single but he isn’t sure if it was available in the shops. He also mentions that the song was to appear on a compilation with Delicious Monster and other bands.

I think then that this is going to be the best piece of info to follow. I find the demo version on Youtube. This had been uploaded by Martin Smith, the leader of the band. Great. He mentions that the band played about 20 times, mostly supports in north London. The band’s first gig was supporting Suede at the Camden Falcon in August 1991. They also opened for Luna at their first London Show at the Camden Underworld in February 1992.

Someone called David Pascoe wrote about this song too on his blog “The Smell of the Greasepaint and the Sound of John Peel“. His posts dates from 2019. Martin has commented on the blog and has shared another Soundcloud account for another project of his, The Lyke of Wych. He also mentions that Andrew Mueller wrote a few nice reviews about Winterset.

On The Lyke of Wych it says that Martin is now living in Kent. There’s a bunch of great songs here too worth checking out.

So I find the 7″ on Discogs. It was released by Beechwood Music with catalog number 7EXPO2 in 1992. As mentioned, just a single sided record. On the label we see that the song is credited to Martin Smith and that it was produced by Chris Nagle. It was recorded at Blackwing Studios in London.

Two of their songs also appeared on another Beechwood Music release. It was a compilation titled “Expo 1” (EXPO1) that came out in 1992. The songs they contributed were “Restore the Monarchy” and “Horse of Mud”. Now I remember why Beechwood Music was familiar. In this compilation they had included Autumn Parade who I wrote about ages ago. The other bands on it were Curveball, Chimera and The Electric Groove Temple.

This compilation was released on CD, vinyl and cassette! It was compiled by Colin Simmons and Tim Millington.

Not much more info online, but this was quite a good find! I want to guess the band started more as a jangly indiepop band and went on a rockier path.

Would also be nice to know why only a single-sided 7″? Who were the members and what other bands had they been involved with?

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Listen
Winterset – Kiss the Wall, Stroke the Floor

I received the songs for Cloudberry’s next release and they are fantastic! This will be a very special release as it is sort of a comeback. More news soon, but I think everyone will be thrilled with this one. I can hint you the band hailed from Sweden. Is that enough to guess? Maybe I will give you more hints in the following posts…

The Chesterf!elds: Spinout Nuggets is going to be releasing a new 7″ by the legendary Yeovil band on August 26. The 7″ is almost sold out at the label’s page. So act quick. The record will include two songs, “Mr Wilson Goes to Norway” and “Year on the Turn”. Great stuff!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: a mini-LP just for Bandcamp, just digital. “Still Clouds at Noon” has 8 songs and is coming out this Friday. Right now we can only preview three tracks, “All Night”, “Violent Pictures” and “Everything You Ever Loved (ver. 2)” and as usual with the San Fran band, it is really good!

Aggi: “Aggi Hates You (Completely)” is a collection of songs, 10 to be precise, by this wonderful Indonesian band. This is the whole output of the band and Jigsaw Records has put it together on a CD which is available now. I would say this is essential for any indiepop lover as the songs are thrilling, fun, and catchy!

Mañana el Espacio: and continuing with Jigsaw Records they also have put out a CD for this Venezuelan band that we love here in this blog.  “Casi Nada es Para Siempre” is a new album by this Caracas projects that wear their influences on their sleeve. It is a superb album and quite a surprise of course as it comes from a country that doesn’t normally produce indiepop bands!

Devoted Fans: and finally another San Francisco band. This one is the solo project of Ryan Lescure and is quite new I believe. It is a bedroom project and he has put out an EP a few days ago titled “July”. The EP has 4 songs and he says he will continue releasing EPs in the next months to eventually put them together on a tape.

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Let’s not confuse them with the more well known band The Gargoyles from Hull that were also active in the 80s. These Gargoyles hailed from Sydney, Australia.

It may be cool to write about the Hull band one day. Probably can find lots of good info. But what about this Sydney band that I have just discovered thanks to the unending work of stoneeyedkiller.

The band was a four-piece formed by Jeremy Scott on guitar and vocals, James Cruickshank on guitar, Michael Armiger on bass and Craig Speers on drums.

They have a Soundcloud account where 8 years ago they uploaded 6 songs, “Police Car”, “Railway”, “Sink or Swim”, “Shirley MacLaine”, “The Other Side of Love” and “Cosetta”.

There are some more details about some of the songs.

For example “The Other Side of Love” was recorded at Oxford St. Studios in 1986 and featured Juliet Ward (from the Widdershins) on backing vocals. James plays keyboard in this track too and he wrote the song.

“Shirley MacLaine” and “Railway” were recorded at the same time and same studio but was written by Jeremy. Whereas same info for “Sink of Swim” but this one is a James Cruickshank song.

“Cosetta” was also recorded in 1986 and was written by Jeremy and James.

Lastly “Police Car” is a live recording at Kings Head Tavern in Sydney, 1985. This song was written is a cover of Larry Wallis’ original. On this track bass is credited to Greggie on bass and Zoltan, Lord of Snare on drums.

Now what surprises me is that “Railway” is the same song I knew by the Widdershins. What was the connection here? I thought it was an original by the Widdershins but not? In the “Bottle Man’s Wife” record by the Widdershins Cruickshank and Scott are credited for the song. Wow. It does make sense that James revisited this song. He was part of this fantastic band, the Widdershins, but never knew this song was older than the band. I did try to interview Greg Appel about the Widdershins after the Lighthouse Keepers interview we did but sadly didn’t hear back from him.

Then some sad news. I see that James Cruickshank passed away in 2015. He has a Wikipedia entry with lots of info. His original name was James George Watson but he used his mum’s last name, Cruickshank. It seems James was well known in Australia thanks to being the guitarist and keyboardist of the band The Cruel Sea. He was also in the band Ladyboyz.

Then Michael Armiger. Well he was for a bit in the Go-Betweens when hee replaced John Willsteed. He was in many other bands including the Paul Kelly Band, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong, The Johnnys and Sean Kelly and the Iron Dukes. Also hee was in Roadhead and Atlas Strings as well as collaborating inn Cleopatra Wong. Sadly he also passed away in 2012.

I couldn’t find info about Jeremy Scott or Craig Speers. If they continued making music. But this was indeed a great find, and great songs. I wonder if they had more songs, and how come they are not more known as some of their members had been in important and relevant groups.

Will love to learn any more details anyone can share!

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Gargoyles – Sink or Swim

First week after holidays. Also first week going back to the office since the pandemic started. Two days a week for now I have to come to the office. The bad news of the weekend was that my refrigerator stopped working. I am hoping that can be solved asap from the landlord. But yeah, not the best situation! Hope everything is going well for you all!

Mo Dotti: time to discover this cool sounding noise pop band from Los Angeles. Their latest release dates from March and was a CD EP titled “Guided Imagery”. There is also a a cassette version of this I believe. The EP has 6 songs, one of them being a cover of The 6ths’ “All Dressed Up in Dreams”.

Cassettes on Tape: now to Chicago. There we discover this band that says they are heavily influenced by college radio and the 80s and 90s UK indie scene. They mention usual names like The Smiths and My Bloody Valentine so it is no surprise that their songs are quite nice. Their latest release is “Pinks and Greys”, a digital single.

The Bug Club: when I found out about this Welsh band a few months ago I was happily surprised. Now there’s great news about them. “Green Dream in F#” is an album they will be releasing on October digitally and CD and next February in vinyl. The album will have 14 songs, one of them, “It’s Art”, is available to preview.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs by Glenn Donaldson’s prolific project. These are “The World Should be Ashamed” and “Take the Long Way Through a Day”. I was wondering the other day if all of his songs would be compiled in a way or another, especially the ones that haven’t been on albums…

CIEL: and lastly the South Coast of England band CIEL. The second single of their upcoming EP “Not in the Sun, Nor in the Dark” has just been released. It is titled “Baby Don’t You Know” and it is a superb song. It has great melodies but at the same time has an edge. They also have a few gigs lined up in London coming up at The Victoria in Dalston and The Shacklewell Arms.

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I found an account on Youtube now, through a stoneeyedkiller post, by someone that was in a band called Marc and his Members. This band sounds ace, clearly influenced by The Smiths. So yes, had to find out more details about them.

11 years ago three videos were uploaded to Youtube. The band hailed from Germany, where from? Not sure yet. Let’s see if I can find that out. The account owner is called MrBassgott. No names. But let’s see what we find.

The first song I find is “Schoolboy“. This one dates from 1987 and was part of a 4 track demo I think. On the photo of the band we see they were a three-piece.

The second song is called “So Close“. This is also a demo but dates from 1988.

Lastly, there is a cool video of the band playing the Hamburger Journal in May of 1988. I don’t know which song this one is…

But there are some other details. We know now that the band hailed from Wilhelmshaven.

Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmshaven is the centre of the “JadeBay” business region (which has around 330,000 inhabitants) and is Germany’s main military port. The adjacent Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park (part of the Wattenmeer UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site) provides the basis for the major tourism industry in the region.

Then we know the band was around 1986 to 1990. Then from 1991 to 1992 there was a different lineup but kept the name.

The original members were:
Marcus Gensior on vocals and guitar
Jürgen Kussin on guitar and vocals
Andre Hofinga on bass
Ralf Neumann on drums
Thorsten Eckhardt on keys

Marcus was the one who usually wrote the band’s songs. And on the TV video the person playing keys was Volker Rath who was also the band’s manager.

On the Youtube channel there’s lots of stuff. For example I find a band called Certain Images that had thee same lineup. There’s a great song called “Some How” from 1989 that you wonder why they didn’t use the name Marc and his Members.

By now I have the feeling the channel is Andre Hofinga’s. There’s a few videos of his solo music as well of other bands he has been like Die Tip Tops and Die Citrusrüden.

I find a website for a musician called Marc Gensior. Is it the same Marcus Gensior from Marc and his Members? I wonder as I don’t see a mention of his 80s band on his website.

This is a great find and if someone does a new volume of obscure German indiepop they should be aware of them and have them for sure! I also wonder about their demo tapes. How many were there, and how many songs did they record. I would definitely like to hear more by them!

Edit: Just heard from the band BOB, they say that Marc and his Members opened for them at Wilhelmshaven on November 30, 1990 at the Kling Klang venue.

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Marc and his Members – Schoolboy

Back from holidays!

Orders placed during the last two weeks will be posted tomorrow.

Other than that, not much news. I had a good time in France and Belgium. Saw many museums, cathedrals, churches, and castles. Also lots of great food, though I am a bit tired of fries by now!

Was also lucky to meet Yves from Hands and Arms and Joanny who is part of the Paris Popfest team.

Anyways, next holidays are in September. In the meantime expect posts like usual.

Pipiolas: “El Verano que me Debes” is the name of the 10″ Elefant Records is releasing by this newish Spanish band. The  record includes just 4 songs packed with great pop tunes. The songs are not as immediate as other bands Elefant releases, but these are really lovely. The band is formed by Paula and Adriana who met at the Royal college of the Performing Arts where they studied acting.

No Suits in Miami: this is a must have for me. The Swedish band from Lund released their album “Nothing Ever Happens” earlier this year, but now the American edition, released by Shelflife is finally available. I’ve praised this band time and time again and is one of my favourites of the last few years. So don’t miss it.

Monogamy: now a Chicago band that sounds great. If you like bedroom pop, lo-fi pop, this will be up your street. The band is releasing a lathe cut 7″ on July 29 with two songs. It is very limited, 50 copies. The A side is available to preview and is titled “Never Seen You Dance” and is really good!

Lande Hekt: Bristol’s Lande Hekt is a favourite too. I have reviewed them a few times and always loved their songs. Now here is some great news. On September 23 the band is releasing an album! It will be titled “House Without a View” and will include 11 songs. We can now preview “Gay Space Cadets”, just the one song. The album is going to be released on CD and vinyl and on UK and US versions!

Ribbon Stage: who are these New Yorkers? Never heard about them! And they love Dolly Mixture and the Shop Assistants! Wow! I need to go and check them out when they play live. The band is releasing an 11-song album  on October 12 and will be titled “Hit with the Most”. One song to preview, “Playing Possum”, but what a fun song it is!

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It’s been years since I thought I had to find out more about The Best Wishes, write about them, feature them on the blog. I don’t have an answer why it has taken such a long time, but it is better late than never.

The Best Wishes were an American band that released a 7″ single and a split 7″ single with Bella Vista. I don’t own any of these records, which is a shame, but I have heard a few of their songs and always enjoyed them.

Their first release was the “Shoebox Full of Love EP” in 1997. It was released by the Secret label (SHHH 7), the label that had released The Rosehips compilation. This was the label run by Leonard from Bella Vista. And even though I never interviewed him about Secret, I did interview him about the great Bella Vista.

300 copies were made of this record that featured Catherine Holt and Josh Feldman. The EP included 5 songs, “Luckiest Love”, “Sticker Box” and “Love is for Saturdays” on the A side and “Can’t Wait for Summer” and “Boy of my Dreams” on the B side. The songs had been recorded in October of 1996 at Tummy Button.

Catherine would contribute vocals to a Musical Chairs’ song called “Brand New Day”, but not sure if she was involved in other bands. Josh in the other hand was in caUSE co-MOTION! and in Sapphire Mansions.

The band’s second release was the split 7″ with Bella Vista. This time around it was released on Turn Up the Treble! (02). This label was Josh’s record label. Each band contributed two songs, and we find The Best Wishes’ on the B side. They were “I Never Wanted Any of This” and “Beautiful Morning”. This last track was actually a cover of the wonderful Snowbirds (another band that I need to feature on the blog). On this song David Klein, from caUSE co-MOTION!, The German Measles, What Next? and arno Kleni!, contributed guitar.

Other than these releases the band had the song “Boy of My Dreams” on a Shelflife compilation tape called “I’ve Got it Now… A Popfest Compilation” that was put together for the 1997 NYC Popfest.

Then in 1998 they appeared on “Seven Summers International Pop Volume 2” released by Kindercore (KC023) and TweeNet. On this CD comp put together by the great Peter Hahndorf  the band contributed the song “The Best Sort of Wishes”.

I find some info about their time at NYC Popfest 97. Mike Appelstein mentions that The Best Wishes stayed at his place inn Hoboken. I believe The Best Wishes hailed from Connecticut, but I might be wrong. He also mentions that the band had some great songs that weren’t included in the EP. He also gives us some of his own insights:
The Best Wishes, aka The Artists Formerly Known as Shoebox Full of Love. Of all the bands that played on Friday, I was especially glad they got ap appear, because Catherine and Josh have been making shimmery pop songs in their bedrooms and dorm rooms for a few years now and releasing them on poorly-distributed cassette and 7″ releases. Along with the Receptionists, Vehicle Flips, Kitty Craft, the Moonlings and the like, the Best Wishes epitomize the best by-product of the lo-fi revolution — private, melodic, quietly winning songs that come across almost as musical journal entries. At Fez on Friday night, Catherine and Josh played about half old Shoebox Full of Love material (“Can’t Wait for Summer,” “Luckiest Love,” “Boy Of My Dreams,” etc.), and maybe half new songs that were just slightly edgier. What I hadn’t noticed up until Friday was just how distinctive Josh’s drumming is. He is like a college-aged Dave Weckerman and Stan Demeski, except he does it all himself with just a floor tom, snare and cymbal. They were model houseguests, and our post-show dinner at Kiev was fun, too. Some friendly advice to you all: stick to the obvious dishes when you go to Kiev. Do NOT order stuffed cabbage. Just trust me. Don’t.

So were they called Shoebox Full of Love previously?

And that’s all I could find about them. Who remembers them? Where can we find more songs by them?

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The Best Wishes – Luckiest Love

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Last post until… July 22. I’m going on holidays after 3 years… Also be aware that for the label, all orders that are placed starting today until the 22nd will be posted on July 23rd. Thanks again!

See you soon!

Detergente Líquido: Alberto Rodway, Laura Arias, Ernesto Rodríguez, Fran Muñoz and Félix García are behind this Spanish band that released last June a cassette album called “Contumacia en Primavera” on the very good Japanese indiepop label Galaxy Train. The first pressing of this tape is still available. The tape has 11 songs and comes with a lyric sheet in Spanish and English as well as band and label stickers.

Desario: the newest release on Sunday Records is Desario’s “Signal and Noise”.  This 9 song album is coming out on July 15 on both CD and vinyl. The band from Sacramento, California, know how to make some superb dreampop as we can see on the two songs available to preview, “Strange Shapes” and “Things We Left Behind”.

El Vacío de Romeo: another Spanish band, this time from Seville. The duo formed by Francisco Naranjo and Diego Ruiz has just released “Ñ Inglesa”, a 5 song-EP. The bio tells us that the duo has been making music since the late 80s, but I must say I’ve never heard about this band before.

Space Daze: so Jigsaw Records is releasing a CD compilation of all the previous online releases by the ex-Seapony project Space Daze. This CD includes 34 songs! Wow, this is very well worth getting. The compilation is titled “Prior to Being” and is actually the 2nd compilation of digital releases by the band.

Louïse Papier: and lastly, a band from France. Makes sense, I am traveling there later tonight. But this band hails from Brest. I won’t be near that city. I hope to visit one day of course. Louïse Papier is formed by Blanche Leblond and Victor Gobbé and their first release is “Les Idées Roses” and sounds great. It is a synth-pop EP, with clear influences of the 80s. My favourite song is the title song.

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Another Youtube account that has some treasures. That is the account of a UK musician called Ian Matthews.

There he has uploaded two “videos”. One is for their song “Trousers”, a studio version recorded back in the 80s and the other is a gig!

The “Trousers” song has been put together over a live performance at The Cartoon in Croydon in 1988. Did the band hail from this area in the South of London?

The live gig is also from that same venue, The Cartoon. Also from 1988. There the band played 7 songs, “Please”, “Promises”, “Throw Your Love Away…”, “Take Me Away”, “Trousers”, “She’s So Cool” and “Northern Souls”.

On this last link we get the names of the band members, Ian Matthews on guitar and vocals, Mick Taylor on guitar, Greg Jones on bass and John McCarthy on drums.

Later on Ian would be in a band called Hunkydory! in the early 90s and more recently on a project called Promis & Matthews where he collaborated with Jose Promis.

I was also curious about The Cartoon. I found an article about it on a website called Closed Pubs. The pub closed in 2006 and was located in West Croydon on a street called London Road.

Not much more on this band, but hopefully we can hear more studio versions of their songs. “Trousers” is a superb jangle pop song!

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GIFT – Trousers

Penultimate post before going on holidays and happy 4th of July to US readers!

The Photocopies: a new EP from Sean Turner’s project The Photocopies! The Londoner who know lives in Michigan, has been making some superb indiepop in the last few years. Subjangle had released a CD for him. And now a new 4 song EP where he sings about problematic relationships.

Neil Brogan: I wasn’t that crazy about the Belfast band Sea Pinks but I really enjoy Neil’s solo work. His latest release is “Things Keep Getting in the Way”, a delicious slice of pop music. This will be released as a very limited CD, just 50 copies, and will include not just this song but 11 more!! The rest of tracks are not on Bandcamp, but listening to this first single out of this album you know it is going to be quality.

The Chesterf!elds: 38 years since the Yeovil classic band formed, and 28 after their last release, they are putting out “Our Songbird Has Gone”! This 7″ seems to be sold out now. It was announced a few days ago and it seems there is no chance to get a copy! The A side is “Our Songbird Has Gone” and the B side is “Girl on a Boat (NYC Popfest 2016 Souvenir)”. The title song is a tribute to band member Dave Goldsworthy who was killed in a hit and run accident in 2003.

Helen Love: a summer single from Wales top band! “Come Out Sunshine” is out now as a digital single from Alcopop! Records. Not much more info about this release, other than it is great!

Slo Moon: and the last recommendation today is another digital single. This one comes from Savannah, Georgia, and it is a dreampop track. Titled “Please Don’t Wake Me, I’m Dreaming”, the song has a cinematic vibe. It swoons and has a really nice melody.

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Back in 2018 Nick Degg shared three songs by the band Hey Red Bus on his Youtube channel. These were : “Rings and Things“, “I’ve Seen the Rain” and “Street Angels“.

The songs are accompanied by photographs of the band.

And other than that he doesn’t give us many details. Just that the songs come from tapes dating from 1985 and that the band hailed from Stoke.

We know from the photos that Hey Red Bus was a four-piece. Four lads. Nick Degg was one of the band members. But who were the other ones? I think that maybe one of them was called Phil? Anyone could confirm?

Nick is now a poet of course. He has a Facebook page of course. He published the book “I Come from a Town” in 2021.

Then I find an entry on Stokebeat about a band called The Ya-Yas. It seems that Hey Red Bus evolved into Captain Cat and later into The Ya-Yas. Would be fantastic to find recordings by these bands. Here Nick finally gives us details about Hey Red Bus! He says:
“The first incarnation was HEY RED BUS formed in Hanley in 1985, we used to see each other at gigs, record fairs, and early Hacienda nights. PHIL HEATH (Gtr & Vocal) and PAUL HORVATH (Bass) were the nucleus, and NICK DEGG (Gtr) and MARK BOSSONS (Drums) joined soon after. The first gig was at The Antelope on 1st Aug 85 followed by a clutch of other local gigs, before support slots with James, and Green on Red at The Gatehouse/Stafford.
The sound was pretty different for the time, being more atuned to a Manchester/Liverpool audience. Only five years later on hearing The La’s ‘There She Goes’ I realised how far ahead we were, as thats the closest I have heard anyone sound since.
In late ’86 PHIL wanted to concentrate on his guitar playing, which was already superb, so JON HILL came in on vocals, and MARK left to be replaced by PAUL BURGESS on drums. Also we swapped from Rickenbacker and acoustics to a Telecaster and Gibson semi accoustic so the sound became fuller and more “Stonsey”. It was around this time we became CAPTAIN CAT.”

That’s all I could find but it wasn’t little. More than I expected. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this great sounding band soon!

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Listen
Hey Red Bus – I’ve Seen the Rain